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Cê

cê is an album by Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Caetano Veloso. Released on 1 September 2006 on Mercury Records, the album took its title from the colloquial Portuguese word meaning you. It was written with Veloso's band in mind, which was chosen in part by guitarist Pedro Sá. cê received positive critical commentary; several critics specifically noted the album's lyrical focus on human sexuality. ## Title and cover The word cê is a shortened version of the Portuguese personal pronoun você, meaning you. Veloso says that cê is a more "colloquial" version of você, used often in everyday speech. When he writes lyrics, Veloso typically writes the word você, but sings cê when performing. The inspiration for the album's title came when he wrote cê instead of você and thought of it as an appropriate title. Veloso designed the album's cover himself, as he had done before for three other albums. He went through a long design process in which the cover's colors, fonts, and text positioning were changed frequently. Veloso chose the color purple for the cover's background because it is mentioned multiple times in the album itself. ## Band and recording Veloso wrote most of the album's material with its band in mind and played the music as a complete unit with the band. Guitarist and percussionist Pedro Sá had already been confirmed as a participant on the album, and he was invited to pick other musicians for it. cês primary recording was completed in two weeks as a result of the extensive rehearsals conducted in the few months prior, and the extended recording process, including the production of rhythm tracks, extended for another six weeks. When asked about the "tightness" of the album's sound by The Boston Globe'''s Siddhartha Mitter, Veloso responded that he had intended for the songs to be realized in this manner and that the young musicians he had hired to work on the album allowed him to do this. ## Lyrics and themes cês lyrical subject matter received attention from nearly every critic reviewing it, described as "carnal" by New York Times reviewer Nate Chinen. Brazilian music expert Dário Borim Jr. wrote, "Veloso's disc as a whole displays a plethora of poetic representations and pervasive preoccupation with sex and gloom." In particular, Borim noted the album's theme of unconventional sexual roles and Veloso's uncertainty of his sexual orientation. Concerning the album, Caetano says that cê: > resulted from a mutation, from a desire to make a rock album without my name, and then make a samba album (Zii e Zie, released in 2009). I ended up not doing either one. ## Reception cê received a rating of 75 out of 100 on the online review aggregator Metacritic, which corresponds with "generally favorable reviews", based on 12 reviews. Writing for The New Yorker, music journalist Sasha Frere-Jones described the album as closest to indie rock, compared to Veloso's previous records—"'cê' resists the anodyne charms of Brazilian pop, favoring loud, blocky rhythms more common to American garage bands." Frere-Jones went on to describe the fluidity of the album, falling very loosely into the rock music genre classification. Ben Ratliff, of The New York Times, noted that cê fell on the "petty end of the emotional spectrum" and that its compositions were raw and unpolished. AllMusic's Philip Jandovský rated the album with three out of five stars. He wrote that cê, while not poor, lacked the creative spark that is Veloso's trademark. Conversely, Mallory O'Donnell of Stylus Magazine, who gave the album an A− rating, saw it as one of Veloso's better recent works, compared to 2004's A Foreign Sound, in particular. Village Voice critic Mike Powell also compared cê to A Foreign Sound and noted that cê's relative simplicity was its "triumph". cê'' was awarded the Latin Grammy for Best Singer-Songwriter Album. ## Track listing All songs by Caetano Veloso. 1. Outro - 3:00 2. Minhas Lágrimas - 5:09 3. Rocks - 3:36 4. Deusa Urbana - 3:46 5. Waly Salomão - 3:24 6. Não Me Arrependo - 4:08 7. Musa Híbrida - 4:21 8. Odeio - 5:58 9. Homem - 4:46 10. Porquê? - 3:53 11. Um Sonho - 3:23 12. O Herói - 3:44 ## Personnel - Caetano Veloso – lead vocals, acoustic guitar; backing vocals on "Deusa Urbana"; choir on "Waly Salomão" - Pedro Sá – guitars; choir on "Waly Salomão"; bass on "Não Me Arrependo" - Ricardo Dias Gomes – bass, Fender Rhodes electric piano - Marcello Callado – drums; backing vocals on "Outro" ## Charts ### Weekly charts

New York State Route 114

State highway in Suffolk County, New York, US

New York State Route 114 (NY 114) is a state highway, including two ferry crossings, on the far eastern sections of Long Island in New York in the United States. It serves as a connector between the two "forks" of Long Island, crossing Shelter Island in the process. This is the only connection between the North and South forks east of Riverhead. NY 114 is the easternmost signed north–south state route in all of New York. Additionally, the route is the last in a series of sequential state routes on Long Island. The series begins with NY 101 in western Nassau County and progresses eastward to NY 114. NY 114 was assigned in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and has remained intact since. The highway has had two proposed spurs by Suffolk County that were failed to be constructed. NYSDOT has also marked most of the road as New York State Bicycle Route 114 (NY Bike Route 114) with diversions onto local streets in Sag Harbor, and north and west of the northern terminus along NY 25 in Greenport. ## Route description The southern end of NY 114 is at a four-way intersection with NY 27 (Main Street), just west of the downtown area of East Hampton. Southeast of the intersection, the road continues east as Dunemere Lane, which leads to the Maidstone Club. The road proceeds north as Buell Lane for 0.6 miles (0.97 km) before reaching "Five Corners", a complex intersection that was converted to a traffic circle in October 2018. Following the roundabout, NY 114 quickly relinquishes its status as a local road and becomes a two-lane rural highway with a 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) speed limit known as the East Hampton–Sag Harbor Turnpike. The wooded landscape between these two resort towns is dotted with large manors and estates, many of which are set far back from the roadway. The road has two main intersections along this rural stretch, a signalized intersection with Stephen Hands Path (unsigned CR 113), which services the Northwest Harbor area, and Wainscott Northwest Road, which leads to the East Hampton Airport and the community of Wainscott. After several miles, NY 114 finds itself in the village of Sag Harbor. This colonial whaling port is today a village of boutiques and shops along the waterfront of Sag Harbor Bay, an arm of Peconic Bay. NY 114 makes several turns as it navigates the village's centuries-old street pattern. Just before crossing the Sag Harbor Cove, the road meets the northern terminus of the village's Main Street, an extension of County Route 79 which leads south to Bridgehampton. After leaving Sag Harbor, NY 114 encounters a modern roundabout at the intersection of Short Beach Road (County Route 60 or CR 60) and Tyndall Road. NY 114 makes a turn through the roundabout and then travels one more mile through North Haven before reaching the first of two ferries along its route. Shelter Island's two ferries, both of which technically carry NY 114, are operated by two different companies. The South Ferry (between North Haven and Shelter Island) and the North Ferry (between Shelter Island Heights and Greenport) are privately owned and were founded in 1830 and 1880, respectively. On Shelter Island itself, NY 114 acts as the main thoroughfare, once again turning along different local roads. It traverses the length of the island and ends in historic Shelter Island Heights at the North Ferry terminal. Once across to Greenport, NY 114 ends quickly at NY 25, again just a block or so from the heart of the village. Despite the short distance between the North Ferry terminal and the northern terminus, NY 114 includes three streets in Greenport. Northbound Route 114 runs on Third Street from the ferry terminal to NY 25. Southbound NY 114 runs along Fifth Street then one block later turns left onto Wiggins Street, where it heads eastbound until it passes the historic Greenport Railroad Station, and terminates at Third Street and the North Ferry terminal. The portion of NY 114 within Greenport is maintained by the village. ## History In 1840 the Bull Head Turnpike Company built a private toll road known today as the Sag Harbor Turnpike, which operated successfully until a competing railroad line opened in the 1880s. In 1906 the town of Southampton took control of the now dilapidated road and removed the toll gates. NY 114 was assigned to its current alignment as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and is known in part as the Sag Harbor Turnpike. The bridge carrying NY 114 between Sag Harbor and North Haven is an arched bridge that serves as a village landmark. In 1999, residents successfully fought state proposals to replace it with a girder bridge. Instead, the bridge was replaced with a new, wider bridge with ornamental lamps that closely resembles the original and is in the same location. Suffolk County once had plans to upgrade CR 59 (Long Lane) into a four-lane highway bypassing East Hampton to the north. Another formerly proposed Suffolk County built realignment was the North Haven Spur (CR 44), which was planned for a future bridge to Shelter Island. In October 2018, the village of East Hampton completed the construction of a new \$1.6-million roundabout at the intersection of NY 114 (Buell Lane), Buell Lane Extension, and Toilsome Lane. The complex five-way intersection had 23 vehicle collisions reported to the local police from 2003 to 2008, and upgrades has been proposed since 2009. The improvement was jointly funded by NYSDOT and the village of East Hampton. The NYSDOT has set aside \$13.1 million to repave the 8-mile (13 km) section of NY 114 between Stephen Hands Path in East Hampton and the South Ferry in North Haven. The project is in planning stages and is scheduled to take place in 2021. ## Major intersections ## See also

Lords of the Earth

Play-by-mail game

Lords of the Earth (LOTE) is a play-by-email game, first published by Thomas Harlan in 1983 during a growing era of PBM games. Initially played by postal mail, the game featured mixed moderation—computer moderated with some human assistance. By 2002, the publisher processed turns by email (PBeM). Lords of the Earth comprises multiple campaigns, each one a separate game. Campaign 1 is the oldest, set in the mid-1800s in the "Age of Air and Steam". Other campaigns begin from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE. Settings were global in scale, with one campaign featuring an outer space setting. Campaigns are open-ended, with no set victory conditions. A game lasts about 25 years. Fifty or more players compete as leaders of various types of nations. Map features include varied terrain, religions, wealth, and ability to resist others using diplomacy or warfare. A reviewer in the early 2000s noted positives and negatives about the game, observing that some players went to great lengths to win, even "using false identities or smear campaigns". ## Play-by-mail genre Play-by-mail (PBM) games feature a number of differences from tabletop games. The typical PBM game involves many more players than an average tabletop game can support. PBM game lengths are usually longer, depending on a number of factors. Turnaround time is how long a player has to prepare and submit "orders" (moves and changes to make in the game) and the company has to process them and send back turn results. The average turnaround time in the 1980s was two weeks, but some modern PBM games are play-by-email (PBEM) with shorter turnaround times of twice per week or faster. Open ended games allow players to strengthen their positions without end, with players continually entering and leaving the game. Examples include Heroic Fantasy and Monster Island. Conversely, closed end games typically have all players starting on equal terms, with rapid, intense, player vs. player gameplay that ends when a player or group achieves some victory condition or is unopposed. Examples include Hyborian War and It's a Crime. The complexity of PBM games can range from the relatively simple to the extremely complex. Once a player has chosen a game and receives an initial game setup, gameplay begins. This generally involves players filling out order sheets for a game (see example image) and sending them to the gaming company. The company processes the turns and returns the results to the player, who completes a subsequent order sheet. Diplomacy—interaction among players—is also frequently an important, and sometimes indispensable, part of gameplay. The initial choice of a PBM game requires consideration as there is a wide array of possible roles to play, from pirates to space characters to "previously unknown creatures". Close identification with a role typically increases a player's game satisfaction. ### History The earliest play-by-mail games developed as a way for geographically separated gamers to compete with each other using postal mail. Chess and Go are among the oldest examples of this. In these two-player games, players sent moves directly to each other. Multi-player games emerged later: Diplomacy is an early example of this type, emerging in 1963, in which a central game master manages the game, receiving moves and publishing adjudications. According to Shannon Appelcline, there was some PBM play in the 1960s, but not much. For example, some wargamers began playing Stalingrad by mail in this period. In the early 1970s, in the United States, Rick Loomis, of Flying Buffalo Inc., began a number of multi-player play-by-mail games; these included games such as Nuclear Destruction, which launched in 1970. This began the professional PBM industry in the United States. Professional game moderation started in 1971 at Flying Buffalo which later added games such as Battleplan, Starweb, and others, which by the late 1980s were all computer moderated. For approximately five years, Flying Buffalo was the single dominant company in the US PBM industry until Schubel & Son entered the field in roughly 1976 with the human-moderated Tribes of Crane. Schubel & Son introduced fee structure innovations which allowed players to pay for additional options or special actions outside of the rules. For players with larger bankrolls, this provided advantages and the ability to game the system. The next big entrant was Superior Simulations with its game Empyrean Challenge in 1978. Reviewer Jim Townsend asserted that it was "the most complex game system on Earth" with some large position turn results 1,000 pages in length. In the early 1980s, the field of PBM players was growing. Individual PBM game moderators were plentiful in 1980. However, the PBM industry in 1980 was still nascent: there were still only two sizable commercial PBM companies, and only a few small ones. The most popular games of 1980 were Starweb and Tribes of Crane. It was in this environment that Thomas Harlan launched Lords of the Earth. ## Development Lords of the Earth Campaign 1 started in 1983. It focused on nation development versus expansion by conquest. Thomas Harlan designed the original rules. In 1995, the game was run by postal mail and had mixed-moderation—hand moderated with computer assistance. By 2002, the game was play-by-email (PBeM). The same year, there were more than twenty active campaigns run by multiple gamemasters globally. The base rules were supplemented with a Renaissance and Industrial addition. A subsequent Modern Age rulebook combined all rules editions for the campaign. Gamemasters for subsequent campaigns could adjust Harlan's original rule set. Leslie Dodd added a diplomacy addendum to Campaign 42. In 2006 and 2007, Thomas Harlan and Martin Helsdon published the latest versions of the basic rulebook (encompassing 1000 to 2000 CE), a Modern Era supplement (covering the 1400s to 1800s), and a Space Age supplement (mid 20th to mid 21st century). Campaign 1 was the first of many Lords of the Earth settings. In 2002, Martin Helsdon asserted that the first campaign (LOTE01) might have been the "longest continuously running PBM" game after over twenty years of play. Campaign 1 included players from across North America, as well as Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. ## Gameplay Each player represents a nation, with more than fifty players competing in certain campaigns. Various nation types are available, depending on the campaign, such as barbarian, seafaring, secret nations, religious groups, and merchant consortia. Map regions have varied terrain, religions, wealth and the ability to resist others using diplomacy or warfare. Game turn periods begin at five years each and decrease as the game continues. The game is open-ended, with no set victory conditions. One game takes about 25 years. According to Warren Bruhn, campaigns have started in periods from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE. The game setting comprised 24 Geographic Zones. Although the global scale became typical, game settings have included outer space as well. As campaigns progress, nations' technology levels increase. By 2002, Campaign 1 gameplay had progressed from the year 1000 to 1752 CE. It was set in the "Age of Air and Steam" which was global in scale. Global calamities were much more frequent in Campaign 1 relative to other campaigns. Gameplay spans combat, economics, intrigue, and social and cultural topics. Combat ability progresses with tech levels around cavalry, infantry, warship, and Siege capabilities. According to Martin Helsdon, in the game players can "found universities, build cities, create trade routes, massacre populations, enforce religious conversions, engage in both overt and covert warfare, forge alliances, break treaties, and sometimes suffer the dread dynastic failure, when their nation implodes". Engaging in diplomacy and developing public works contributes to success, with the latter returning outsized dividends for new players. Player interaction is significant, occurring by phone, email, and online discussions. ## Reception Martin Helsdon reviewed the game in various issues of Flagship magazine in 2002–2003. He noted drawbacks such as lengthy rules and "GM burnout". He recommended the game, stating that it "is an intriguing and frustrating game with a depth and a breadth not equalled by any other I have encountered". He noted that some players took gameplay overly seriously, even "using false identities or smear campaigns". Andrew Barton reviewed the game in a 2000 issue of Flagship, noting positives and negatives about the rules. He stated that "Lords of the Earth allows you to ... role-play whole nations. I don't know of another PBM game quite like it". ## See also - List of play-by-mail games

Ashton Court

Mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England

Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The mansion and stables are a Grade I listed building. Other structures on the estate are also listed. Ashton Court has been the site of a manor house since the 11th century, and has been developed by a series of owners since then. From the 16th to 20th centuries it was owned by the Smyth family with each generation changing the house. Designs by Humphry Repton were used for the landscaping in the early 19th century. It was used as a military hospital in the First World War. In 1936 it was used as the venue for the Royal Show and, during the Second World War as an army transit camp. In 1946 the last of the Smyth family died and the house fell into disrepair before its purchase in 1959 by Bristol City Council. The estate developed from the original deer park and is Grade II\* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. It is the venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court Festival, Bristol International Kite Festival and the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. It is home to charity The Forest of Avon Trust. ## Early history Ashton Court dates back to before the 11th century. It is believed that a fortified manor stood on the site, given to Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, by William the Conqueror. In the Domesday Book it is referred to as a wealthy estate owned by the Bishop of Coutances, with a manor house, a great hall, and courtyards entered through gatehouses. The property passed through successive owners and at the end of the 14th century it was considerably expanded when Thomas De Lions, a nobleman originally from France, obtained a permit to enclose a park for his manor. The house was owned by the Choke family for some time. In 1506 it was sold to Sir Giles Daubeney, a knight and a Chamberlain of Henry VII. Henry VIII gave the estate to Sir Thomas Arundel in 1541 and four years later in 1545 Sir Thomas sold it to John Smyth. The Smyth family owned the property for the next 400 years. Smyth also bought the land which had been owned, until the dissolution of the monasteries, by Bath Abbey. He used the land to extend the deer park, bringing him into conflict with the residents of Whitchurch, who complained that he had used common land. ## Thomas and Florence Smyth Thomas Smyth (1609–1642) was the first member of the family to make major alterations and additions to the original manor house. He was a Member of Parliament and a successful lawyer. In 1627, at the age of only seventeen he married Florence daughter of John Poulett, 1st Baronet Poulett of Hinton St George. In 1635 Thomas added a new southern front which was in the style of Inigo Jones. It was described by Collinson in 1791 in the following terms: > The front is in length one hundred and forty three feet and consists below of three rooms; the western one of which is a fine apartment ninety-three feet long and twenty feet wide and contains several family and other portraits. The back part of the house is very ancient and the court leading to the park westward is called Castle Court from its having been embattled and still retaining an old gateway similar to those adopted in baronial mansions. The second court contains some of the offices and its entrance from without is under a low doorway between two lofty turrets one of which contains a bell and clock. The stables and corresponding offices in the front court are of ancient date. The whole contributes to a very venerable and picturesque building. Further major additions were made to the building by Sir John Hugh Smyth (1734–1802). He inherited the estate in 1783 and added the new library to the north west of the house. Sir John also asked the famous landscape designer Humphry Repton for advice about the east front of the house. Repton drafted a plan but Sir John's death halted any further work on the house. However Repton's landscape designs were implemented by Sir John's successor Sir Hugh Smyth. In his book Humphry Repton gave a detailed description of the old and newer parts of the house before the library additions and included a drawing of the eastern front of the house as he saw it in about 1790. ## Sir John Smyth As reported by Esme Smyth, Ashton Court's last resident, Sir John Smyth (1776–1849) was responsible for the remodelling of the house. In about 1940 she was interviewed by Raymond Gorges, who was researching a book, and she gave him an engraving of the house showing the additions that she said were made by Sir John. Sir John was a bachelor. He was said, by Lady Emily Smyth, to be devoted to horses and kept an extensive stud. His importance as a major builder of Ashton Court is verified by John Evans who in 1828 wrote a book about Bristol and its surrounding area. He said: > This seat of Sir John Smyth is a stately edifice ... It has of late been much enlarged with stables nearly as extensive as the house and also a park enclosed by a wall which is twelve feet high in the lowest part. Two handsome lodges have also been added, one of them built from a gothic design. ## Sir Greville and Lady Emily Smyth Sir Greville Smyth inherited the property in 1852 and remained a bachelor until he was 48 years old. During that time he undertook extensive renovations. He also kept a very impressive garden which was described in detail in gardening magazines and newspapers. In 1872 he commissioned the well-known architect Benjamin Ferrey to make additions which were described as follows. > The Western Wing has been rearranged but the principal parts of the works have been concentrated in the central portion of the buildings. This part has been raised considerably and in a great measure rebuilt and is surmounted by two octagonal towers which rise to a height of 72 ft. There is a covered passage running the south side of the courtyard which opens out into the court by the arcading of five bays. Even more extensive alterations were made between 1884 and 1885. Shortly before he married Emily, the widow of George Oldham Edwards, he employed the notable Bath architect Major Charles Edward Davis to transform the house. The work took 18 months to complete. A detailed description of the alterations was given in the Bristol Mercury. in 1885. He converted the stables in the south east wing to living areas which included a huge museum for his natural history collection. He built a grand hall with richly carved oak panels. In the west wing he built a massive carved oak staircase with twist bannisters and introduced perpendicular windows. He also built a winter garden by enclosing the clock court. This is now the Winter Garden Bar. The following description of this elaborate room with a waterfall fountain is given in this newspaper article as follows: > This leads through two arched entrances to one of the most charming winter gardens of which any private mansion in the western counties can boast. It has been formed out of what was formerly the open clock tower court which has been supplied with a glazed iron roof. Round the tessellated flooring have been formed the gracefully curved flower borders edged with glazed tiling surmounted with rockery. This rock work covered with moss and filled in with water plants luxuriant grasses and ferns margins an ornamental sheet of water of serpentine form from the surface of which jets of water are thrown into a huge basin shell – one of the largest of the kind we have seen. It is ingeniously constructed to form a waterfall the streams descending to a second basin shell just above the sheet of water. Around this are some the choicest ferns and palms. From the roof hang clusters of incandescent laps, interspersed with baskets filled with gracefully drooping ferns and from the surface of the water lilies modestly rise. Also in the 1880s 4 acres (1.6 ha) of formal gardens were laid out including a terrace garden, which is now a lawn, a wilderness garden with basin fountain and a rose garden. Avenues of sequoias and cedars were planted along with other specimen trees. In 1891 Lady Emily Smyth held an interview where she outlined further details of these alterations made by Sir Greville. She also gave a few details of some interesting secret rooms and passages in the medieval part of the building on the western side which she referred to as "Drax's Kennel" and "The Fox's Hole". Sir Greville Smyth died in 1901 and Lady Emily Smyth died in 1914. The next and last residents of the house were Gilbert and Esme Smyth. They lived there for the next thirty years. Gilbert died in 1940 and Esme in 1946 and the house was left to their daughter Esme Francis Cavendish. She and her husband tried to sell the house immediately in 1946 to help pay the death duties. However the Cavendish family did not succeed until thirteen years later in 1959 during which time the house was unoccupied and started to decay. It was sold at this time to Bristol City Council who still owns it today. ## Archives Archives of the Ashton Court estate (including estate management and estate office papers) and personal papers of the Smyth family are held by Bristol Archives (Ref. AC) (online catalogue). Bristol Archives also holds photos and papers about the redevelopment of Ashton Court mansion and stables (Ref. 43326) (online catalogue) and (Ref. 45390) (online catalogue). Other records relating to the Ashton Court estate are also held by Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and the University of Bristol Special Collections. ## Architecture Due to successive remodellings and enlargements the architecture at Ashton Court is complex and seldom what it seems. The core of the house, a 15th-century manor, has been obliterated by later wings, which have in turn been remodelled and altered, most substantially around 1635. Therefore, the plan of the house has evolved as irregular with many juxtapositions and little cohesion; while the majority of the house was built in the 17th century, a time of classical architecture, remodelling and alteration to the fenestration has created an overall Gothic appearance. In the early 19th century, the house was given a 300 feet (91 m) long facade in an attempt to provide some uniformity and some classical grandeur. However even here, the architecture does not remain faithful to a single style. At the centre of this facade is a much altered Tudor gatehouse, probably built in the 16th century as a portal to the 14th-century manor house. In order to create the long facade, the existing stables, to the right of the gatehouse, were converted to domestic use and given seven bays of Gothic mullioned windows. To the left of the gatehouse, the flanking south-west wing is of a different style. This classically designed wing has been attributed to Inigo Jones, but without supporting evidence; as with a similar attribution at Brympton d'Evercy, also in Somerset, it seems to be based solely on the alternating segmental and pointed pediments over the groundfloor windows, and ignoring the irregularities in their spacings and placings, which Jones is unlikely to have countenanced. To give the long facade with its two wings of contrasting architectural styles a uniting, common feature, the third story of oval windows of the left-hand wings, which was then topped with a Jacobean balustrade was repeated above the Gothic right-hand wing; however, inexplicably the attempt at classical unity was broken by the use of castellations instead of a balustrade on the right-hand side. Overall, its length, contrasting styles, high gatehouse and lack of symmetry give the facade a collegiate rather than domestic appearance. The focal point of the facade, the gatehouse, has multi-faceted turrets at its corners, In 1885, the gatehouse was given a Gothic makeover, which included raising its height and adding the fan vaulting to the ceiling of the passage leading, not to a great base court, as such grandiose architectural feature would suggest, but to a small glazed inner courtyard (the Winter Garden). The north wing was included in the remodelling work of 1805 and given ogee headed windows in the delicate Strawberry Hill Gothic style, popular at turn of the 19th century; it was a forerunner of the more medieval ecclesiastical Gothic style that was to characterise the architecture of the 19th century, and employed at Ashton Court during the 1885 alterations. ## Recent history During the First World War the estate was used as a military hospital, and in the Second World War was requisitioned by the War Office and used in turn as a transit camp, RAF HQ and US Army Command HQ. The estate was the venue for the 1936 Royal Show. One of the exhibition buildings, despite its temporary nature, was an innovative piece of modernist architecture still remembered as the Gane Pavilion. It was designed by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer as a show house for the Bristol furniture manufacturer Crofton Gane. For most of the 20th century Ashton Court was the venue for the North Somerset Show, however this is now held in Wraxall. In 1946, the last resident of Ashton Court Dame Esme Smyth, died. After the house became derelict, it was taken over by the City in 1959. Restoration has been an ongoing process since then, but even after extensive investment by both the council and from Heritage Lottery Fund grants, presently only about a quarter of the building is occupied or usable. The available facilities of the house are rented out for business conferences, parties and weddings. In 2013 a fire damaged the northern wing. It was contained by Avon Fire and Rescue Service, otherwise the rest of the building would have been at risk. Between 1974 and 2007 the Ashton Court Festival was held in the grounds of the estate. The festival was a weekend event which featured a variety of local bands and national headliners. Mainly aimed at local residents, the festival did not have overnight camping facilities and was financed by donations and benefit gigs. Starting as a small one-day festival in 1974, the festival grew during succeeding years and was said to be Britain's largest free festival until changes brought on by government legislation resulted in compulsory fees and security fencing being introduced. After problems were caused by a temporary move to Hengrove Park in 2001, due to the foot and mouth crisis, and a washout in 2007, the organisers declared bankruptcy in 2007. The mansion house and stables have been designated by Historic England as a Grade I listed building. The house is listed on the Heritage at Risk Register and described as being in "slow decay". The lower lodge to Ashton Court and attached gates, railings and bollards, which were built in 1805 by Henry Wood, are Grade II\* listed buildings. The lower lodge was fully refurbished in 2016 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is now named Ashton Gatehouse. The building is now a heritage site managed by Ashton Park School. The garden and perimeter walls and railings are also listed. Since 2018, the mansion house has been managed by Bristol charity Artspace Lifespace, allowing the building to be open to the public for a variety of events. ## Location and surroundings The house stands within a large estate spanning the boundary between Bristol and North Somerset, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the city centre. It is on the western side of the River Avon close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the suburb of Leigh Woods and the Leigh Woods National Nature Reserve which are east of Ashton Court. To the north and west is open countryside. The estate was previously much larger than it is today and included areas which are now suburbs of Bristol including Ashton Gate, Ashton Vale and Southville where the Greville Smyth Park is located. The land for the park was donated by the Smyth family and then landscaped by the city council. The estate covers 850 acres (340 ha) of woods and open grassland laid out by Humphry Repton. It includes two pitch-and-putt golf courses, a disc golf course, an orienteering course and horse riding and mountain bike trails. Bristol's weekly parkrun event (a free, timed 5 km run organised by volunteers) is held at Ashton Court. There is a deer park which was started in the 14th century and extended in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are still two areas of the estate with deer enclosures. The park contains a great variety of wildlife; much of the site (an area of 210.31 hectares) was notified in 1998 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the presence of rare woodland beetles including: Ctesias serra, Phloiotrya vaudoueri and Eledona agricola. The 2.37 hectares of Ashton Court Meadow is managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust. It contains a wide range of flowering plants, including wild carrot, yellow-wort and field scabious. Some unusual parasitic plants are also found here, such as common broomrape which feeds off clovers, and yellow rattle, which feeds partly off grass. Clarken Combe, at the western edge of the estate, is a woodland area with a range of plant species, including narrow-lipped helleborine, which grows here in small numbers under beech. In 2002 a 700-year-old oak tree, called the Domesday Oak, was selected by The Tree Council as one of 50 Great British Trees. In 2011 a crack appeared in the trunk and oak support beams were fitted to support the tree. The supports were only partly successful and a section of the tree collapsed; the remaining part of the tree was pruned to reduce the weight of the surviving section. ## See also - List of Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset

Extra Large Medium

"Extra Large Medium" is the 12th episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. Directed by John Holmquist and written by Steve Callaghan, the episode originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 14, 2010. In "Extra Large Medium", the show's main character, Peter, discovers that he has supposedly developed "extrasensory perception" (ESP) after his two sons, Chris and Stewie, go missing during a family hike in the woods. Soon after being rescued, Chris decides to ask out a classmate at his school, named Ellen, who has Down syndrome, and eventually takes her on a romantic date, which he goes on to regret. Meanwhile, Peter begins performing psychic readings, but is eventually discovered to be faking his ability once he is approached by the town's police force. The episode generated significant controversy. Former Governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who is referenced briefly in the episode as being the mother of Ellen, took offense to the episode's portrayal of Down syndrome, due to her son being diagnosed with the disorder. Andrea Fay Friedman, who was also diagnosed with Down syndrome and portrayed the character of Ellen, publicly refuted Palin, instead supporting executive producer and series creator Seth MacFarlane, who defended the episode, and was also supported by Bill Maher, the host of Real Time. The episode got more criticism from the Parents Television Council during its original broadcast. Despite the controversy, critical responses to the episode were mostly positive; critics praised its storyline, numerous cultural references, and its portrayal of a person with Down syndrome. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 6.42 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Jennifer Birmingham, Jackson Douglas, Andrea Fay Friedman, Phil LaMarr, Michele Lee and Nana Visitor, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, for the episode's song entitled "Down’s Syndrome Girl", at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Both Walter Murphy and MacFarlane were recognized for their work on the music and lyrics. "Extra Large Medium" was released on DVD, along with 11 other episodes from the season, on December 13, 2011. ## Plot When the Griffin family decide to go for a hike in the local woods, Chris and Stewie get lost while chasing after a floating butterfly. As a result, they go missing for several days, with only limited supplies. As Lois is at her wits' end, she decides to see a psychic medium who assures her of the children's safety and well-being. Eventually the boys are found and rescued by Bruce, and returned to their home in Quahog which only furthers Lois' psychic obsession to the annoyance of a skeptical Brian. In defiance of Lois' assertion that extrasensory perception exists, Brian has Peter perform a cold reading on a passerby in the park in order to demonstrate that psychic readings are purely an act, and not real. However, Peter is struck by his success as a medium, convincing himself that he actually has extrasensory perception, and decides to capitalize on it by opening his own psychic readings business and performing in front of a live audience. Soon after, Peter's bluff is finally called when Joe requests his help in a frantic search for a missing person who has been strapped to a bomb. Peter stalls for time during the search (as he just wants to feel the victim's daughter's breasts), eventually resulting in a gruesome death when the bomb explodes, prompting Peter to flatly admit that he actually has no psychic powers whatsoever. Meanwhile, during the time when Chris and Stewie were lost in the woods, Chris promises to ask out Ellen, a classmate of his who has Down syndrome. After their rescue, Stewie helps prepare Chris for a date by dressing him up, and instructing him on how to act through a prolonged musical number. During the date, however, Chris becomes exasperated when Ellen turns out to be pushy and demanding. Chris admits that he had bought into a stereotype of people with Down syndrome being different, and she tells him to leave. Stewie consoles Chris by congratulating him for demonstrating courage, in asking her out on a date, as he had promised to do. ## Production and development The episode was directed by series regular John Holmquist, and written by series show runner Steve Callaghan before the conclusion of the eighth production season. Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors, with Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman working as staff writers for the episode. Composer Walter Murphy, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for "Extra Large Medium". Actress Andrea Fay Friedman, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth, and who has appeared on several television shows, including Saving Grace and Life Goes On, voiced the character Ellen. Before performing on the show, Friedman stated in an interview that she had never watched Family Guy, but found it to be "funny" after watching several episodes from the series. In developing Friedman's character, her physical appearance was largely used in creating Ellen, in addition to adding a "bossy" personality to the character, which Friedman was reluctant to perform at first. She eventually "had a nice time" performing the script, however, as it was her first voice acting performance. "Extra Large Medium", along with the eleven other episodes from the first half of Family Guy's eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on December 13, 2011. The sets include brief audio commentaries by various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes and animatics, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "And Then There Were Fewer", a mini-feature entitled "The Comical Adventures of Family Guy – Brian & Stewie: The Lost Phone Call", and footage of the Family Guy panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International. In addition to the regular cast, voice actress Jennifer Birmingham, actor Jackson Douglas, Andrea Fay Friedman, voice actor Phil LaMarr, singer Michele Lee, and actress Nana Visitor guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Lori Alan, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin and writer John Viener also made minor appearances. Recurring guest voice actors Patrick Warburton and Adam West made guest appearances as well. ## Cultural references Peter mentions starring in Starlight Express, which is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber; although Peter's role as shown onscreen has little to do with the actual performance. While Stewie and Chris are lost in the forest overnight, Stewie plays a guessing game with one of the answers being Thornton Melon. Stewie looks at the television audience wondering why the majority of them chose Thornton Melon, then Stewie notes that Thornton Melon was the character that Rodney Dangerfield played in the 1986 film Back to School. It was in fact a quote by Henry David Thoreau. Stewie's reference to a newspaper headline saying "Stewie Defeats Truman" is a takeoff of the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline, which erroneously predicted that Thomas E. Dewey would defeat Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election. Peter's new career as a psychic is a parody of John Edward and his TV series Crossing Over. While the police depend on Peter to help them find someone, Peter stalls by pretending to channel the spirit of Lou Costello; his exchange with Joe about the missing man, Mr. Hu who lives on First Street, is a takeoff of the famous Abbott and Costello routine "Who's on First?". Also, there was a cutaway to the Enterprise from the original Star Trek series showing Spock winning the lottery (with the numbers 18, 24, 41 and 72), then cussing at everyone shortly before leaving. Nana Visitor voices the Enterprise viewscreen, while series writer and producer John Viener voices Spock in the cutaway. ## Reception "Extra Large Medium" was broadcast on February 14, 2010, in the United States as part of the animation television night on Fox. It was preceded by an episode of The Simpsons, and Family Guy creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane's spin-off, The Cleveland Show. It was followed by MacFarlane's second show American Dad!. The episode was viewed by an estimated 6.42 million viewers, according to the Nielsen ratings, despite airing simultaneously with the 2010 Winter Olympics on NBC, Undercover Boss on CBS and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC. The episode also acquired a 3.2/8 rating in the 18–49 demographic beating The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show and American Dad!, in addition to significantly edging out all three shows in total viewership. The episode's ratings were slightly up from the previous episode, "Dial Meg for Murder". Reviews of the episode were positive, citing the episode as "a pleasant surprise." In a simultaneous review of the episodes of The Simpsons and American Dad! that preceded and followed the episode respectively and The Cleveland Show, Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club commented that she felt that the Chris plot line was "hung together in a way the storylines usually don't on this show," adding that, "I'll give the show points for both degree of difficulty and pulling off something I didn't think it would." In the conclusion of her review, VanDerWerff rated the episode as a B−, beating only The Cleveland Show episode "Buried Pleasure". In a slightly less positive review, Ramsey Isler of IGN gave the episode a 7.7 out of 10, and began his assessment of the episode by stating, "This one will certainly get some politically correct Down syndrome advocates all riled up, but Family Guy is nothing without a little controversy." Isler went on to call the plot "uneven in quality," but with "some moments that could be in the Family Guy 'greatest hits' archive." Television critic Jason Hughes of the TV Squad called the Abbott and Costello joke "hilariously appropriate", and stated that the episode's portrayal of a person with Down syndrome was "refreshing." On July 8, 2010, the episode's song entitled "Down Syndrome Girl" was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Series creator Seth MacFarlane and composer Walter Murphy were nominated for their work on the song's lyrics and music. On July 24, 2010, MacFarlane gave a live performance of the song at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, to an audience of nearly 4,200 attendees. At the Creative Arts Awards on August 21, 2010, "Down Syndrome Girl" lost to the USA Network series Monk. ### Controversy At one point, Ellen states that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska, which strongly implies that her mother is Sarah Palin, the only woman to have served in the office of governor in the state. Palin's daughter Bristol publicly stated on her mother's Facebook profile on February 16, 2010, that she took offense to the episode, feeling that it mocked her brother, Trig, who has Down syndrome, commenting, "If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed. All they proved is that they're heartless jerks." Sarah Palin also criticized the episode in an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, calling those who made the show "cruel, cold-hearted people." The writer of the episode, Steve Callaghan, addressed Palin's criticism of the episode at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 24, 2010, in talking about the upcoming ninth season of the show, stating, "This season, I decided that I'd even things out and write something that would offend smart people." In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Seth MacFarlane responded to Palin's criticism, saying that the series always uses satire as the basis of its humor, and that the show is an "equal-opportunity offender." In addition, Andrea Fay Friedman, who voiced Ellen, and who herself has Down syndrome, also responded to the criticisms saying that the joke was aimed at Sarah Palin and not her son, and that "former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor." In a subsequent interview, Friedman rebuked Palin, accusing her of using her son, Trig, as a political prop to pander for votes, saying that she has a normal life and that Palin's son should be treated as normal, rather than like a "loaf of French bread." Later, MacFarlane addressed both Palin's statement and Friedman's rebuttal in an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher calling Palin's outrage a presumptuous attempt to defend people with Down syndrome, and characterizing Friedman's statement as her way of saying that she does not need feigned pity from Palin. Family Guy cast member Patrick Warburton stated that he objected to the joke, saying, "I know that you have to be an equal-opportunity offender, but there are some things that I just don't think are funny." While frequent MacFarlane critic Parents Television Council touched on the Palin controversy in its assessment of the episode, the rest of the show's content—which contained "mean-spirited pot-shots, explicit language, and strong sexual content"—earned the watchdog group's "Worst TV Show of the Week" title. The PTC specifically cited the Broadway-style song, which the PTC said "contained all the stereotypes of mental retardation" and "disturbing sexual references," and the climactic scene in the subplot, where Peter pretends to be a psychic, which the PTC said also contained sexual humor.

Żydokomuna

Anti-communist and antisemitic canard

Żydokomuna (, Polish for "Judeo-Communism") is an anti-communist and antisemitic canard, or a pejorative stereotype, suggesting that most Jews collaborated with the Soviet Union in importing communism into Poland, or that there was an exclusively Jewish conspiracy to do so.[^1] A Polish language term for "Jewish Bolshevism", or more literally "Jewish communism", Żydokomuna is related to the "Jewish world conspiracy" myth. The idea originated as anti-communist propaganda at the time of the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1920), and continued through the interwar period. It was based on longstanding antisemitic attitudes, coupled with a historical fear of Russia. Most of Poland's Jews supported Józef Piłsudski's controlled government; after his death in 1935, rising levels of popular and state antisemitism pushed a small minority, several thousand at most, into participating in, or supporting, communist politics, which were relatively more welcoming to Jews. This was seized upon and inflated by antisemites. With the Soviet invasion of Poland and Stalin's 1939 occupation in eastern Poland, the Soviets used privileges and punishments to encourage ethnic and religious differences between Jews and Poles, characterized by Jan Gross as "the institutionalization of resentment". The stereotype was also reinforced because, as noted by Jaff Schatz, "people of Jewish origin constituted a substantial part of the Polish communist movement", even though "Communist ideals and the movement itself enjoyed only very limited support" among Polish Jews. A growing Polish embrace of the antisemitic stereotype of Jews as communist traitors erupted into mass murder when Nazi Germany invaded Soviet eastern Poland in July 1941. The stereotype endured into postwar Poland because Polish anti-communists saw Poland's Soviet-controlled Communist government as the fruition of prewar communist anti-Polish agitation and associated it with the Soviets' appointment of Jews to positions of responsibility in the Polish government. It was also reinforced by the prominent role of a small number of Jews in Poland's Stalinist regime (in particular, Jakub Berman and Hilary Minc). Michael C. Steinlauf noted that Jewish communists, despite their small number, have gained a notorious reputation in Poland, "believed to have masterminded the enslavement [of that country]" and became "demonized" as part of the Żydokomuna canard. ## Background The concept of a Jewish conspiracy threatening Polish social order may be found in the pamphlet Rok 3333 czyli sen niesłychany (The Year 3333, or the Incredible Dream) by Polish Enlightenment author and political activist Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz; it was written in 1817 and published posthumously in 1858. Called "the first Polish work to develop on a large scale the concept of an organized Jewish conspiracy directly threatening the existing social structure," it describes a Warsaw of the future renamed Moszkopolis after its Jewish ruler. See "Judeopolonia" article for more. At the end of the 19th century, Roman Dmowski's National Democratic party characterized Poland's Jews and other opponents of his party as internal enemies who were behind international conspiracies inimical to Poland and who were agents of disorder, disruption and socialism. Historian Antony Polonsky writes that before World War I, "The National Democrats brought to Poland a new and dangerous ideological fanaticism, dividing society into 'friends' and 'enemies' and resorting constantly to conspiratorial theories ("Jewish-Masonic plot"; "Żydokomuna"—"Jew-communism") to explain Poland's difficulties." Meanwhile, some Jews played into National Democratic rhetoric by their participation in exclusively Jewish organizations, such as the Bund and the Zionist movement, even as other Jews zealously participated in national institutions such as the Polish Army and Józef Piłsudski's ideologically multicultural Sanation regime. ## History ### Origins According to Joanna Michlic, "the image of the secularized and radically left-wing Jew who aims to take over [the country] and undermine the foundations of the Christian world" dates to the first half of the 19th century, to the writings of Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and Zygmunt Krasinski; by the end of the 19th century it had become part of the political discourse in Poland. The phenomenon, described with the term Żydokomuna, originated in connection with the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and targeted Jewish Communists during the Polish–Soviet War. The emergence of the Soviet state was seen by many Poles as Russian imperialism in a new guise. The visibility of Jews in both the Soviet leadership and in the Communist Party of Poland further heightened such fears. In some circles, Żydokomuna came to be seen as a prominent antisemitic stereotype expressing political paranoia. Accusations of Żydokomuna accompanied the incidents of anti-Jewish violence in Poland during Polish–Soviet War of 1920, legitimized as self-defense against a people who were oppressors of the Polish nation. Some soldiers and officers in the Polish eastern territories shared the conviction that Jews were enemies of the Polish nation-state and were collaborators with Poland's enemies. Some of these troops treated all Jews as Bolsheviks. According to some sources, the anti-Communist sentiment was implicated in anti-Jewish violence and killings in a number of towns, including the Pinsk massacre, in which 35 Jews, taken as hostages, were murdered. During the Lwów pogrom during the Polish–Ukrainian War, 72 Jews were killed. Occasional instances of Jewish support for Bolshevism during the Polish–Soviet War served to heighten anti-Jewish sentiment. The concept of Żydokomuna was widely illustrated in Polish interwar politics, including publications by the National Democrats and the Catholic Church that expressed anti-Jewish views. During World War II, the term Żydokomuna was made to resemble the Jewish-Bolshevism rhetoric of Nazi Germany, wartime Romania and other war-torn countries of Central and Eastern Europe. ### Interwar period During the period between the two world wars, the myth of Żydokomuna became intertwined with that of the "criminal Jew". Statistics from the 1920s had indicated a low Jewish crime rate. In 1924, 72 percent of those convicted of crimes were ethnic Poles, 21 percent "Ruthenians/Ukrainians", and 3.4 percent Jews. A reclassification of how crime was recorded, which now included minor offenses, reversed the trend. By the 1930s, Jewish criminal statistics showed an increase relative to the Jewish population. Some Poles, particularly as reported within the right-wing press, believed these statistics confirmed the image of the "criminal Jew"; additionally, political crimes by Jews were more closely scrutinized, enhancing fears of a criminal Żydokomuna. Another important factor was the dominance of Jews in the leadership of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP). According to multiple sources, Jews were well represented in the KPP. Notably, the party had strong Jewish representation at higher levels. In January 1936 the national composition of the central party authorities were as follows: out of the 19 KC (central committee) KPP members 11 were Polish, 6 were Jewish (31,6%), 1 was Belarusian and 1 Ukrainian. Jews made up 28 out of the 52 individuals of the "district activists" of the KPP (53.8%), 75% of its "publication apparatus", 90% of the "international department for help to revolutionaries", and 100% of the "technical apparatus" of the Home Secretariat. In Polish court proceedings against communists between 1927 and 1936, 90% of the accused were Jews. In terms of membership, before its dissolution in 1938, 25% of KPP members were Jews; most urban KPP members were Jews, which was a substantial number, given an 8.7% Jewish minority in prewar Poland. Some historians, including Joseph Marcus, qualify these statistics, alleging that the KPP should not be considered a "Jewish party", as it was in fact opposed to traditional Jewish economic and national interests. The Jews supporting the KPP identified as international Communists and rejected much of the Jewish culture and tradition. However, KPP, along with the Polish Socialist Party, was notable for its decisive stand against antisemitism. According to Jaff Schatz's summary of Jewish participation in the prewar Polish Communist movement, "[t]hroughout the whole interwar period, Jews constituted a very important segment of the Communist movement. According to Polish sources and Western estimates, the proportion of Jews in the KPP [the Communist Party of Poland] was never lower than 22 percent. In the larger cities, the percentage of Jews in the KPP often exceeded 50 percent and in smaller cities, frequently over 60 percent. Given this background, a respondent's statement that 'in small cities like ours, almost all Communists were Jews,' does not appear to be a gross exaggeration." It was the disproportionately large representation of Jews in the communist leadership that led to Żydokomuna sentiment being widely expressed in contemporary Polish politics. However, the total number of Jewish Communists was low at 5,000–10,000 members or less than 1% of the Polish-Jewish population. According to some bodies of research, voting patterns in Poland's parliamentary elections in the 1920s revealed that Jewish support for the Communists was proportionally less than their representation in the total population. In this view, most support for Poland's Communist and pro-Soviet parties came not from Jews, but rather from Ukrainian and Eastern Orthodox Christian Belarusian voters. Schatz notes that even if post-war claims by Jewish communists that 40% of the 266,528 Communist votes on several lists of front organizations at the 1928 Sejm election came from the Jewish community were true (a claim that one source describes as "almost certainly an exaggeration"), this would amount to no more than 5% of Jewish votes for the communists, indicating the Jewish population at large was "far from sympathetic to communism". According to Jeffrey Kopstein, who analyzed the communist vote in interwar Poland, "[e]ven if Jews were prominent in the Communist Party leadership, this prominence did not translate into support at the mass level." Only 7% of Jewish voters supported Communists at the polls in 1928, while 93% of them supported non-communists (with 49% voting for Piłsudski). The pro-Soviet Communist party received most of its support from Belarusians whose separatism was backed by the Soviet Union and had been radicalized between 1922 and 1928 by a combination of Polish discrimination against them and Soviet interference in Polish politics; whereas 7% of Jewish voters supported Communists in 1928, 44% of Eastern Orthodox voters did, including around 25% of Orthodox Ukrainians and a figure likely rather higher than 44% among Belarusians. In Lwów, the CPP received 4% of the vote (of which 35% was Jewish), in Warsaw 14% (33% Jewish), and in Wilno 0.02% (36% Jewish). Among communist voters, Jews were not particularly prominent either, as only 14% of the communist vote came from Jews, less than the 16% which came from Catholics, and most of the rest coming from Orthodox Christians. While one viewpoint explains the high level of Jewish support for Pilsudski, higher than any other group, as Jews turning to him as a protector, another view holds that when faced with threats of a "nationalizing" ethnic Polish state, whereas Belarusians tended to turn to pro-Soviet "exit" strategies and Uniate Ukrainians threw their weight behind ethnic interest parties, Jews instead took a different strategy of showing their loyalty to Poland. Kopstein concluded: "Even in the face of both public and private prejudice, ... [m]ost Jews were thus politically neither "internationalist" nor ethnically exclusionary, as a large vote for the minority parties in 1928 would have indicated. Rather they were casting their lot with the Polish state. ... Our data do not speak to whether Jews were disproportionately represented among the leadership of interwar Poland's communist parties. Yet even if this were true, ... it means the Jews did not vote communist even when their co-ethnics were leading the communist parties." ### Invasion of Poland and the Soviet occupation zone Following the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, resulting in the partition of Polish territory between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (USSR), Jewish communities in eastern Poland welcomed with some relief the Soviet occupation, which they saw as a "lesser of two evils" than openly antisemitic Nazi Germany. The image of Jews among the Belarusian and Ukrainian minorities waving red flags to welcome Soviet troops had great symbolic meaning in Polish memory of the period. Jan T. Gross noted that "there were proportionately more communist sympathizers among Jews than among any other nationality in the local population". In the days and weeks following the events of September 1939, the Soviets engaged in a harsh policy of Sovietization. Polish schools and other institutions were closed, Poles were dismissed from jobs of authority, often arrested and deported, and replaced with non-Polish personnel. At the same time, 100,000 Jewish Poles fought to defend Poland against the Nazi-Soviet invasion, while at least 434 Polish Jews who had been awarded officer rank by the Polish Army were murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn Massacre because of their loyalty to Poland. Many Poles resented their change of fortunes because, before the war, Poles had a privileged position compared to other ethnic groups of the Second Republic. Then, in the space of a few days, Jews and other minorities from within Poland (mainly Ukrainians and Belarusians) occupied newly vacant positions in the Soviet occupation government and administration—such as teachers, civil servants and engineers—positions that some claimed they had trouble achieving under the Polish government. What to the majority of Poles was occupation and betrayal was, to some Jews—especially Polish Communists of Jewish descent who emerged from the underground—an opportunity for revolution and retribution. Such events further strengthened Żydokomuna sentiment that held Jews responsible for collaboration with the Soviet authorities in importing communism into divided Poland. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, widespread notion of Judeo-Communism, combined with the German Nazi encouragement for expression of antisemitic attitudes, may have been a principal cause of massacres of Jews by gentile Poles in Poland's northeastern Łomża province in the summer of 1941, including according to Joanna B. Michlic the massacre at Jedwabne. Doris Bergen writes that "it was often precisely those Polish gentiles most deeply implicated in Soviet crimes who were quicket to take the lead in attacks on Jews—attacks that would serve both to deflect the anger of their neighbors and to curry favor with the new Germans occupiers." Though some Jews had initially benefited from the effects of the Soviet invasion, this occupation soon began to strike at the Jewish population as well; independent Jewish organizations were abolished and Jewish activists were arrested. Hundreds of thousands of Jews who had fled to the Soviet sector were given a choice of Soviet citizenship or returning to the German-occupied zone. The majority chose the latter, and instead found themselves deported to the Soviet Union, where, ironically, 300,000 would escape the Holocaust. While there was Polish Jewish representation in the London-based Polish government in exile, relations between the Jews in Poland and Polish resistance in occupied Poland were strained, and armed Jewish groups had difficulty joining the official Polish resistance umbrella organization, the Home Army (in Polish, Armia Krajowa or AK), the heads of which often referred to them as "bandits". More acceptance was found within the smaller Armia Ludowa, the armed branch of the Polish Workers' Party, leading to some Jewish groups operating under their (and other Soviet partisan groups') auspices or protection, further strengthening the perception of Jews working with Soviets against the Poles. ### Communist takeover of Poland in the aftermath of World War II The Soviet-backed Communist government was as harsh towards non-Communist Jewish cultural, political and social institutions as they were towards Polish, banning all alternative parties. Thousands of Jews returned from exile in the Soviet Union, but as their number decreased with legalized aliyah to Israel, the PZPR members formed a much larger percentage of the remaining Jewish population. Among them were a number of Jewish communists who played a highly visible role in the unpopular Communist government and its security apparatus. Hilary Minc, the third in command in Bolesław Bierut's political triumvirate of Stalinist leaders, became the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Industry, Industry and Commerce, and the Economic Affairs. He was personally assigned by Stalin first to Industry and then to Transportation ministries of Poland. His wife, Julia Minc [pl], became the Editor-in-Chief of the monopolized Polish Press Agency. Minister Jakub Berman—Stalin's right hand in Poland until 1953—held the Political propaganda and Ideology portfolios. He was responsible for the largest and most notorious secret police in the history of the People's Republic of Poland, the Ministry of Public Security (UB), employing 33,200 permanent security officers, one for every 800 Polish citizens. The new government's hostility to the wartime Polish Government in Exile and its World War II underground resistance—accused by the media of being nationalist, reactionary and antisemitic, and persecuted by Berman—further strengthened Żydokomuna sentiment to the point where in the popular consciousness Jewish Bolshevism was seen as having conquered Poland. It was in this context, reinforced by the immediate post-war lawlessness, that Poland experienced an unprecedented wave of anti-Jewish violence (of which most notable was the Kielce pogrom). According to Michael C. Steinlauf, the Polish communists who took power in Poland were mainly KPP members who sheltered in Moscow during the war, and included many Jews who thus survived the Holocaust. In addition, since Jews were excluded from the government of the Second Polish Republic, other Jews were attracted by the openness of the Communist government to accept them. Some Jews changed their names to Polish sounding names, fueling speculation of "hidden Jews" in subsequent decades; however, Steinlauf says that the reality of Jewish representation in government was "nowhere near" the Żydokomuna stereotype. In parallel, Steinlauf writes that 1,500 to 2,000 Jews were murdered between 1944 and 1947 in the worse spate of anti-Jewish violence in the history of Polish-Jewish relations. These attacks were accompanied by classic blood libel, brought international notoriety to Poland, and reinforced the notion that the Communist government was the sole force that could protect the Jews. However, most Jews were convinced by the widespread pogroms that Poland held no future for them. By 1951, when the government banned immigration to Israel, only 80,000 Jews remained in Poland and many of them did so since they believed in the Communist government. The combination of the effects of the Holocaust and postwar antisemitism led to a dramatic mass emigration of Polish Jewry in the immediate postwar years. Of the estimated 240,000 Jews in Poland in 1946 (of whom 136,000 were refugees from the Soviet Union, most on their way to the West), only 90,000 remained a year later. Regarding this period, Andre Gerrits wrote in his study of Żydokomuna, that even though for the first time in history they had entered the top echelons of power in considerable numbers, "The first post-war decade was a mixed experience for the Jews of East Central Europe. The new Communist order offered unprecedented opportunities as well as unforeseen dangers." ### Stalinist abuses During Stalinism, the preferred Soviet policy was to keep sensitive posts in the hands of non-Poles. As a result, "all or nearly all of the directors (of the widely despised Ministry of Public Security of Poland) were Jewish" as claimed by Polish journalist Teresa Torańska among others. A recent study by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance showed that out of 450 people in director positions in the Ministry between 1944 and 1954, 167 (37.1%) were of Jewish ethnicity, while Jews made up only 1% of the post-war Polish population. While Jews were overrepresented in various Polish Communist organizations, including the security apparatus, relative to their percentage of the general population, the vast majority of Jews did not participate in the Stalinist apparatus, and indeed most were not supportive of Communism. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk has quoted Jan T. Gross, who argued that many Jews who worked for the Communist party cut their ties with their culture (Jewish, Polish, or Russian), and tried to represent the interests of international communism only, or at least that of the local Communist government. Leszek W. Gluchowski wrote: > It is difficult to assess when the Polish Jews who had volunteered to serve or remain in the postwar communist security forces began to realize, however, what Soviet Jews had realized earlier, that under Stalin, as Arkady Vaksberg put it: "if someone named Rabinovich was in charge of a mass execution, he was perceived not simply as a Cheka boss but as a Jew, while if someone named Abramovich was in charge of a mass epidemic countermeasure, he was perceived not as a Jew but as a good doctor." Among the notable Jewish officials of the Polish secret police and security services were Minister Jakub Berman, Joseph Stalin's right hand in the PRL; Vice-minister Roman Romkowski (deputy head of MBP), Dir. Julia Brystiger (5th Dept.), Dir. Anatol Fejgin (10th Dept. or the notorious Special Bureau), deputy Dir. Józef Światło (10th Dept.), Col. Józef Różański among others. Światło, "a torture master", defected to the West in 1953, while Romkowski and Różański would find themselves among the Jewish scapegoats for Polish Stalinism in the political upheavals following Stalin's death, both sentenced to 15 years in prison on 11 November 1957 for gross violations of human rights law and abuse of power, but released 1964. In 1956, over 9,000 socialist and populist politicians were released from prison. A few Jewish functionaries of the security forces were brought to court in the process of de-Stalinization. According to Heather Laskey, it was not a coincidence that the high ranking Stalinist security officers put on trial by Gomułka were Jews. Władysław Gomułka was captured by Światło, imprisoned by Romkowski in 1951, and interrogated by both, him and Fejgin. Gomułka escaped physical torture only as a close associate of Joseph Stalin, and was released three years later. According to some sources, the categorization of the security forces as a Jewish institution—as disseminated in the post-war anti-communist press at various times—was rooted in Żydokomuna: the belief that the secret police was predominantly Jewish became one of the factors contributing to the post-war view of Jews as agents of the security forces. The Żydokomuna sentiment reappeared at times of severe political and socioeconomic crises in Stalinist Poland. After the death of Polish United Workers' Party leader Bolesław Bierut in 1956, a de-Stalinization and a subsequent battle among rival factions looked to lay blame for the excesses of the Stalin era. According to Gluchowski, "Poland's Communists had grown accustomed to placing the burden of their own failures to gain sufficient legitimacy among the Polish population during the entire Communist period on the shoulders of Jews in the party." As described in one historical account, the party hardline Natolin faction "used anti-Semitism as a political weapon and found an echo both in the party apparatus and in society at large, where traditional stereotypes of an insidious Jewish cobweb of political influence and economic gain resurfaced, but now in the context of 'Judeo-Communism,' the Żydokomuna." "Natolin" leader Zenon Nowak entered the concept of "Judeo-Stalinization" and placed the blame for the party's failures, errors and repression on "the Jewish apparatchiks". Documents from this period chronicle antisemitic attitudes within Polish society, including beatings of Jews, loss of employment, and persecution. These outbursts of antisemitic sentiment from both Polish society and within the rank and file of the ruling party spurred the exodus of some 40,000 Polish Jews between 1956 and 1958. ### 1968 expulsions Żydokomuna sentiment was reignited by Polish Communist state propaganda as part of the 1968 Polish political crisis. The political turmoil of the late 1960s—exemplified in the West by increasingly violent protests against the Vietnam War—was closely associated in Poland with the events of the Prague Spring which began on 5 January 1968, raising hopes of democratic reforms among the intelligentsia. The crisis culminated in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on 20 August 1968. The repressive government of Władysław Gomułka responded to student protests and strike actions across Poland (Warsaw, Kraków) with mass arrests, and by launching an anti-Zionist campaign within the Communist party on the initiative of Interior Minister Mieczysław Moczar, also known as Mikołaj Diomko and best known for his xenophobic and antisemitic attitude. The officials of Jewish descent were blamed "for a major part, if not all, of the crimes and horrors of the Stalinist period." The campaign, which began in 1967, was a well-guided response to the Six-Day War and the subsequent break-off by the Soviets of all diplomatic relations with Israel. Polish factory workers were forced to publicly denounce Zionism. As the interior minister Mieczysław Moczar's nationalist "Partisan" faction became increasingly influential in the Communist party, infighting within the Polish Communist party led one faction to again make scapegoats of the remaining Polish Jews, attempting to redirect public anger at them. After Israel's victory in the war, the Polish government, following the Soviet lead, launched an antisemitic campaign under the guise of "anti-Zionism", with both Moczar's and Party Secretary Władysław Gomułka's factions playing leading roles; however, the campaign did not resonate with the general public, because most Poles saw similarities between Israel's fight for survival and Poland's past struggles for independence. Many Poles felt pride in the success of the Israeli military, which was dominated by Polish Jews. The slogan "Our Jews beat the Soviet Arabs" was very popular among the Poles but contrary to the desire of the Communist government. The government's antisemitic policy yielded more successes the next year. In March 1968, a wave of unrest among students and intellectuals, unrelated to the Arab-Israeli War, swept Poland (the events became known as the March 1968 events). The campaign served multiple purposes, most notably the suppression of protests, which were branded as inspired by a "fifth column" of Zionists; it was also used as a tactic in a political struggle between Gomułka and Moczar, both of whom played the Jewish card in a nationalist appeal. The campaign resulted in an actual expulsion from Poland in two years, of thousands of Jewish professionals, party officials and state security functionaries. Ironically, the Moczar's faction failed to topple Gomułka with its propaganda efforts. As historian Dariusz Stola notes, the anti-Jewish campaign combined century-old conspiracy theories, recycled antisemitic claims and classic communist propaganda. Regarding the tailoring of the Żydokomuna sentiment to Communist Poland, Stola suggested: "Paradoxically, probably the most powerful slogan of the communist propaganda in March was the accusation that the Jews were zealous communists. They were blamed for a major part, if not all, of the crimes and horrors of the Stalinist period. The myth of Judeo-Bolshevism had been well known in Poland since the Russian revolution and the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1920, yet its 1968 model deserves interest as a tool of communist propaganda. This accusation exploited and developed the popular stereotype of Jewish communism to purify communism: the Jews were the dark side of communism; what was wrong in communism was due to them." The Communist elites used the "Jews as Zionists" allegations to push for a purge of Jews from scientific and cultural institutions, publishing houses, and national television and radio stations. Ultimately, the Communist government sponsored an antisemitic campaign that resulted in most remaining Jews being forced to leave Poland. Moczar's "Partisan" faction promulgated an ideology that has been described as an "eerie reincarnation" of the views of the pre-World War II National Democracy Party, and even at times exploiting Żydokomuna sentiment. Stola also says that one of the effects of the 1968 antisemitic campaign was to thoroughly discredit the Communist government in the eyes of the public. When the concept of the Jew as a "threatening other" was employed in the 1970s and 1980s in Poland by the Communist government in its attacks on the political opposition, including the Solidarity trade-union movement and the Workers' Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników, or KOR''), it was completely unsuccessful. ## Relation with other antisemitic beliefs According to Niall Ferguson, Jews were in some ways treated better under Soviet rule than under Polish rule, leading to better integration in civil society. This was quickly seized on and exaggerated by Poles as proof of the "alleged affinity between Judaism and Bolshevism." Age-old fear of Russia coupled with anti-communist and antisemitic attitudes supported this belief, and in turn amplified ideas of an alleged Jewish "conspiracy" for world domination. According to David Wyman and Charles Rosenzveig, to those who believed in Żydokomuna, Bolshevism and communism were "the modern means to the long-attempted Jewish political conquest of Poland; the Żydokomuna conspirators would finally succeed in establishing a 'Judeo-Polonia.'" According to Jaff Schatz, this had perverse results "because antisemitism was one of the main forces that drew Jews to the Communist movement, Żydokomuna meant turning the effects of antisemitism into a cause of its further increase." Discussion of the Żydokomuna myth and its relation to the broader subject of Polish-Jewish relations remains a sensitive subject in Polish society. Omer Bartov writes that "recent writings and pronouncements seem to indicate that the myth of the Żydokomuna ... has not gone away", as evidenced by the writings of scholars like Marek Chodakiewicz, who contend there was Jewish disloyalty to Poland during the Soviet occupation. Joanna B. Michlic and Laurence Weinbaum charge that post-1989 Polish historiography has seen a revival of an "ethnonationalist historical approach". According to Michlic, among some Polish historians, "[the myth of żydokomuna] served the purpose of rationalizing and explaining the participation of ethnic Poles in killing their Jewish neighbors and, thus, in minimizing the criminal nature of the murder." ## See also - History of the Jews in Poland - History of the Jews in Russia: Jews in the revolutionary movement - Jewish Bolshevism ## Explanatory notes [^1]: Krajewski, Stanislaw (2000). "Jews, Communism, and the Jewish Communists" . In András Kovács (ed.). Jewish Studies at the CEU: Yearbook 1996–1999. Central European University.

HMS Thunderer (1872)

Royal Navy Devastation-class turret ship

HMS Thunderer was one of two Devastation-class ironclad turret ships built for the Royal Navy in the 1870s. She suffered two serious accidents before the decade was out and gained a reputation as an unlucky ship for several years afterward. The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1878 and was reduced to reserve in 1881 before being recommissioned in 1885. Thunderer returned home in 1887 and was again placed in reserve. She rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1891, but was forced to return to the UK by boiler problems the following year. The ship became a coast guard ship in Wales in 1895 and was again placed in reserve in 1900. Thunderer was taken out of service in 1907 and sold for scrap in 1909. ## Background and description The Devastation class was designed as an enlarged, ocean-going, version of the earlier Cerberus-class breastwork monitor. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 285 feet (86.9 m) and were 307 feet (93.6 m) long overall. They had a beam of 62 feet 3 inches (19.0 m), and a draught of 26 feet 8 inches (8.1 m). The Devastation-class ships displaced 9,330 long tons (9,480 t). Their crew consisted of 358 officers and ratings. They proved to be steady gun platforms and good seaboats, albeit quite wet forward. Their low forecastle caused them problems with head seas and limited their speed in such conditions. Thunderer had two Humphry & Tennant two-cylinder horizontal direct-acting steam engines using steam provided by eight rectangular boilers; each engine driving a single propeller. The engines were designed to produce a total of 5,600 indicated horsepower (4,200 kW) for a speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph), but Thunderer reached a maximum speed of 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h; 15.4 mph) from 6,270 ihp (4,680 kW) during her sea trials. The ship carried a maximum of 1,800 long tons (1,829 t) of coal, enough to steam 4,700 nautical miles (8,700 km; 5,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The Devastation class was armed with four RML 12-inch (305 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns, one pair in each of the gun turrets positioned fore and aft of the superstructure. Shortly after completion, Thunderer's forward turret's weapons were replaced by more powerful RML 12.5-inch (318 mm) guns. While both gun turrets were rotated by steam power, the new forward guns were loaded by hydraulic power, unlike the original guns which were hand worked. Thunderer was the first ship to have hydraulic loading gear. From 1874, the forward turret alone was converted to hydraulic power operation for training (turret traverse), elevation and ramming. This allowed the turret crew to be reduced from 48 to 28; the aft turret remaining hand-worked as a comparison. Power operation was considered successful, although it was later implicated in the 1879 explosion. The Devastation-class ships had a complete wrought iron waterline armour belt that was 12 inches thick amidships and tapered to 9 inches (229 mm) outside the armoured citadel towards the ends of the ship. The armour plates were tapered to a thickness of 10–8.5 inches (254–216 mm) at their bottom edges respectively and they extended from the upper deck to 5 feet 9 inches (1.8 m) below the waterline. The armoured citadel protected the bases of the gun turrets, the funnel uptakes and the crew's quarters. The sides of the citadel were 12 inches thick around the bases of the turrets and 10 inches thick elsewhere. The turrets were protected by two 7–6-inch (178–152 mm) plates, separated by a layer of teak with the turret face having the thicker armour. The magazine were protected by a 6-inch forward bulkhead and a 5-inch (127 mm) one aft. The conning tower ranged in thickness from 9 to 6 inches in thickness. The ships had a complete 3-inch (76 mm) upper deck that was reinforced by another 2-inch (51 mm) thick inside the citadel. ## Construction and career Thunderer, the fifth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was laid down on 26 June 1869 at Pembroke Dockyard, Wales. Construction was subsequently halted for a time in 1871 to modify the ship to improve her stability and buoyancy by extending the breastwork to cover the full width of the hull which increased the ship's freeboard amidships and provided additional accommodation for the crew. The ship was launched on 25 March 1872 by Mrs. Mary Meyrick, wife of Thomas Meyrick, MP. Two years later she was transferred to Portsmouth Dockyard to finish fitting out. On 14 July 1876, Thunderer suffered a disastrous boiler explosion which killed 45 people. One of her boilers burst as she proceeded from Portsmouth Harbour to Stokes Bay to carry out a full-power trial. The explosion killed 15 people instantly, including her commanding officer; around 70 others were injured, of whom 30 later died. This was the Royal Navy's most deadly boiler explosion through the whole century. A model representing the failed boiler was made and is now in the Science Museum, London. The explosion was caused because a pressure gauge was broken and the safety valve had corroded in place. When the steam stop valve to the engines was closed, pressure in the boiler rose and could not be released. The four box boilers were the last in service in the Navy and operated at what would even then would have been considered a relatively low pressure, for more modern boilers, of 30 psi (210 kPa). The boiler was repaired and the ship was completed on 26 May 1877 at a cost of £368,428. Thunderer was commissioned in May 1877 for service with the Reserve Fleet Particular Service Squadron and was then assigned to the Channel Squadron. During this time, she was fitted with experimental 16-inch (406 mm) torpedoes. She sailed for the Mediterranean in 1878 under the command of Captain Alfred Chatfield. Leaving Gibraltar for Malta in November 1878, Thunderer ran aground and was damaged. She was refloated and resumed her voyage. She was repaired at Malta. The ship suffered another serious accident on 2 January 1879, when the left 12-inch 38 ton gun in the forward turret exploded during gunnery practice in the Sea of Marmora, killing 11 and injuring a further 35. The muzzle-loading gun had been double-loaded following a misfire. According to Admiral of the Fleet E.H Seymour, "Both turret guns were being fired simultaneously, and evidently one did not go off. It may seem hard to believe such a thing could happen and not be noticed, but from my own experience I understand it. The men in the turret often stopped their ears, and perhaps their eyes, at the moment of firing, and then instantly worked the run-in levers, and did not notice how much the guns had recoiled. This no doubt occurred. Both guns were at once reloaded, and the rammer's indicator, working by machinery, set fast and failed to show how far the new charge had gone." The accident contributed to the Royal Navy changing to breech-loading guns, which could be more conveniently worked from inside the turrets. The fragments of the destroyed gun were re-assembled and displayed to the public at the Woolwich Arsenal. The committee of inquiry decided that the gun had been double-loaded, but this view was widely questioned, including by Sir William Palliser, designer of the Palliser shell used by these guns. Palliser's view instead was that the shot had been obstructed by a portion of the millboard disc rammed above the shell. Hydraulic power-ramming was thought to be implicated in the double loading as the telescopic hydraulic rammer had not made the double loading obvious, as a manual ramrod would have done. One piece of evidence supporting the double loading theory was the presence of an additional stud torn from a Palliser shell, found amongst the wreckage within the turret. She was repaired at Malta. Thunderer was then regarded as an unlucky ship and was placed in reserve at Malta in 1881 and had her machinery overhauled. Her armament was augmented with a pair of 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo launchers and a half-dozen 1-inch (25 mm) Nordenfelt guns on the hurricane deck. She was recommissioned in 1885 and remained with the Mediterranean Fleet until she was paid off at Chatham Dockyard. The future King George V served aboard Thunderer in 1885–86. The ship was assigned to the Portsmouth Reserve in January 1888 before beginning a major modernisation the following year. Her guns were replaced by four breech-loading 10-inch guns. To improve her defence against torpedo boats, her Nordenfelt guns were replaced by six quick-firing (QF) 6-pounder 2.2 in (57 mm) and eight QF 3-pounder 1.9 in (47 mm) Hotchkiss guns. Thunderer's machinery was replaced by inverted triple-expansion steam engines and cylindrical boilers. Their increased output of 7,000 ihp (5,200 kW) increased her speed to 14.2 knots (26.3 km/h; 16.3 mph) and their more economical consumption of coal allowed the coal storage to be reduced to 1,200 long tons (1,219 t). The ship rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in March 1891, but was forced to return home in September 1892 with persistent boiler problems and she was reduced to the Chatham reserve. Thunderer became the guard ship at Pembroke Dock in May 1895 and remained there until she returned to the Chatham reserve in December 1900. The ship was refitted there as an emergency ship in 1902, but was taken out of service five years later. Thunderer was sold for scrap for £19,500 on 13 September 1909. The Devastation class became more popular among the civilian population and in the Royal Navy as the ships got older. Rear-Admiral John Wilson, a former captain of the ship, stated in a meeting of the Royal United Services Institute discussing the most acceptable types of battleship in 1884, > "I also agree with my friend Captain Colomb that we have no type of ship to my fancy equal to the Dreadnought or the good old Thunderer. Give me the Thunderer, the hull of the Thunderer; she had bad engines, she was not arranged as I would like inside, she was badly gunned as we all know, and she had not enough light gun or sufficient armaments; but she carried 1,750 long tons (1,780 t) of coal, could steam at 10 knots from here to the Cape, and could fight any ship of her class on the salt water."

RAF Lossiemouth

Royal Air Force main operating base in Moray, Scotland

Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and known for its close proximity to flight training areas in Scotland and its favourable local flying conditions. Since the closure of RAF Leuchars in 2015, Lossiemouth is the only operational RAF station in Scotland and is one of two main operating bases for the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 in the United Kingdom. It is home to four front-line fast jet units which operate the Typhoon: No. 1 Squadron, No. 2 Squadron, No. 6 Squadron and No. 9 Squadron. All four Squadrons contribute to the Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North capability which provides continuous protection of UK airspace. It is also home to No. 120 Squadron and No. 201 Squadron, both flying the Poseidon MRA1 in the maritime patrol role. It has also been designated as the future home of the RAF's new fleet of three Boeing Wedgetail AEW1 airborne early warning and control aircraft, with deliveries commencing in 2023. There are a number of non-flying units at RAF Lossiemouth including No. 5 Force Protection Wing and an RAF Mountain Rescue Service team. The airfield opened in 1939 and was operated by the RAF, predominantly as part of Bomber Command, until 1946 when it transferred to the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and became known as RNAS Lossiemouth or HMS Fulmar. Lossiemouth was used as a training station by the FAA until it was handed back to the RAF in September 1972, after which it has largely operated as a fast-jet base. ## History ### Construction (1938–1939) Construction started during the summer of 1938, when 220 hectares (540 acres) of agricultural land was acquired in order to accommodate the airfield. The land was cleared of vegetation and buildings and by the spring of 1939 several wooden huts were present. Group Captain P.E Maitland was the first station commander and took up post in March 1939, with the station formally opening on 1 May 1939. The first unit to take up residence at Lossiemouth was No. 15 Flying Training School RAF (15 FTS), initially equipped with thirteen Airspeed Oxfords and five Hawker Harts. Aircraft were stored in the open until the first hangars were completed in August 1939. That same month tragedy struck when three crew members were killed during a mid-air collision between two Oxfords. ### Second World War (1939–1945) At the outbreak of the Second World War, a detachment of Seaforth Highlanders was sent to Lossiemouth to guard the station, and anti-aircraft defences were installed. Flying activity increased, with 15 FTS receiving more Oxfords and Harts and the introduction of the North American Harvard; eleven Fairey Battles were also delivered for storage. The first front-line aircraft to operate from Lossiemouth were a detachment of twelve Vickers Wellington bombers belonging to No. 99 Squadron, arriving in November 1939 to take part in attack missions targeting the German cruiser Deutschland, which was operating between Iceland and the Shetland Isles. January 1940 saw detachments of Handley Page Hampdens from No. 44 Squadron and No. 50 Squadron arrive to take part in offensive patrols over the North Sea. However, the operation was short-lived as a result of bad weather, with the aircraft returning to their home base in mid-February. A detachment of No. 9 Squadron spent a short period of time operating Wellingtons during April 1940, before being replaced by No. 107 Squadron and No. 110 Squadron, which were equipped with Bristol Blenheims. During this period the first loss to enemy action of an aircraft operating from Lossiemouth occurred when three Blenheims were shot down over Norway. It soon became apparent that the frequent detachments of bomber aircraft were disrupting the training programme at Lossiemouth, and therefore, due to the strategic importance of the station as a base for bomber aircraft, it was decided to relocate 15 FTS to RAF Middle Wallop in Hampshire. On 27 April 1940, after the unit's departure, Lossiemouth transferred to No. 6 Group of RAF Bomber Command and No. 20 Operational Training Unit (20 OTU) was established, initially operating Wellingtons and Avro Ansons. No. 46 Maintenace Unit (46 MU) was also formed in April 1940. 46 MU's role was to modify and fit out new aircraft before they were forwarded to front-line squadrons. A variety of aircraft were serviced, including Hawker Hurricanes, de Havilland Tiger Moths, Hawker Audaxes, and a de Havilland Hornet Moth. The unit primarily used six Robin and eight Super Robin hangars; however, due to a shortage of space, many aircraft were stored in fields outside the station. Lossiemouth's first satellite airfield, located at Bogs of Mayne 10 mi (16 km) to the south and known as RAF Elgin, opened in June 1940. One officer and two aircrew were killed on 26 October 1940 when RAF Lossiemouth was attacked by the Luftwaffe for the first time. The attack by three Heinkel He 111 bombers resulted in the destruction of two Blenheims and damage to two Miles Magisters, two Tiger Moths and a Hurricane. Three hangars were also damaged, the resultant holes from cannon fire still visible today. One of the Heinkels crashed on the airfield, having either been hit by ground fire or destroyed by its own bombs. All four of the crew are buried in a Lossiemouth churchyard. As a result of the raid, Hurricanes of No. 232 Squadron were moved to RAF Elgin to protect the area from attacks. Flying activity in early 1941 was limited due to the poor condition of the airfield; improved weather in the Spring increased activity from 20 OTU and 46 MU, as well as from continued bomber detachments. Operational sorties were predominately undertaken by Blenheims of No. 21 Squadron, No. 82 Squadron, No. 110 Squadron and No. 114 Squadron. By the winter of 1941, the airfield had become so muddy that the Wellingtons of 20 OTU were temporarily relocated to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The increased activity by 46 MU resulted in two satellite landing grounds (SLG) being established to store aircraft off-site. These were at RAF Black Isle (42 SLG) where Bristol Beaufighters were kept and RAF Leanach (43 SLG) near Culloden, where Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires were stored. Lossiemouth was used during 1942 as a base to launch several unsuccessful missions to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, which at the time was operating in Norwegian fjords. The first missions were undertaken in January 1942 by a detachment of thirteen Short Stirlings of No. 15 Squadron and No. 149 Squadron and thirteen Handley Page Halifaxes of No. 10 Squadron and No. 76 Squadron. Further attempts were made during April by Avro Lancasters of No. 44 Squadron and No. 97 Squadron and Halifaxes of No. 10 Squadron. Lancasters of No. 9 Squadron later joined the operation. 1942 also saw numerous accidents involving 20 OTU aircraft, many of which resulted in death and serious injuries. These accidents were attributed to a combination of fatigued aircraft, inexperienced crews and poor weather. Wellingtons of 20 OTU were also involved in strategic bombing raids on German cities throughout 1942, the training aircraft being required to help reach the target number of 1000 bombers per raid. The airfield's first surfaced runways, (06/24 5,997 ft (1,828 m); 09/27 4,498 ft (1,371 m); 01/19 4,200 ft (1,280 m)), were constructed by an engineering battalion of the US Army Air Force in late 1942 and helped to reduce interruptions to flying as a result of the grass strips being affected by poor weather. A new control tower was also constructed. In September 1943, Wellingtons of 'C' Flight 20 OTU, moved to the second of the Lossiemouth satellite airfields, RAF Milltown, located 3 mi (4.8 km) to the south-east. By now 46 MU were concentrating their work on Bristol Beaufighters and Lancasters and the SLG at RAF Leanach had been replaced with a new site at Dornoch golf course, which became known as RAF Dornoch (40 SLG). 20 OTU received its official crest in 1943, with two examples cast in concrete being constructed at Lossiemouth and RAF Elgin. The crest at Lossiemouth no longer exists and although little now remains of the airfield at Elgin, the concrete crest is a war memorial for those who served there. Further operations against Tirpitz took place between September and November 1944. Operation Catechism finally resulted in the German battleship being sunk near Tromsø on 12 November 1944. Thirty-eight Lancasters of No. 9 Squadron and No. 617 Squadron launched from Lossiemouth, Kinloss and Milltown and destroyed the vessel with Tallboy bombs. Nearly 50 years later, No. 617 Squadron transferred to Lossiemouth and was based there between 1993 and 2014. Examples of the Tallboy, Grand Slam and Up Keep (bouncing bomb) were on display within the squadron site. In July 1945, after the end of hostilities in Europe, 20 OTU was disbanded and 46 MU continued to prepare aircraft for operations in the Far East. After the war ended, 46 MU began the enormous task of breaking-up surplus aircraft for scrap. At one point there were around 900 aircraft on the airfield awaiting disposal. On 28 July 1945 Lossiemouth was transferred to No. 17 Group of RAF Coastal Command, with the arrival of No. 111 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit from the Bahamas shortly thereafter. By August 1945, the unit was operating forty-one Consolidated Liberators, ten Halifaxes and a North American Mitchell; the unit was disbanded in July 1946. ### HMS Fulmar (1946–1972) Lossiemouth transferred from the Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) on 2 July 1946 and became known as Royal Navy Air Station (RNAS) Lossiemouth or HMS Fulmar. On the FAA taking control, No. 46 MU moved to RAF Elgin. Lossiemouth was used as a basic training station for FAA pilots who moved on to RNAS Culdrose (HMS Seahawk) in Cornwall for instrument training. RAF Milltown also transferred to the FAA, became known as HMS Fulmar II and operated as a Deck Landing Training School. The last stage of training was practised at Fulmar II before students could land on HMS Theseus in the Moray Firth. The first FAA squadron, No. 766 Naval Air Squadron, arrived in August 1946 and operated Supermarine Seafires and Fairey Fireflies until its departure to RNAS Culdrose in 1953. In the late 1940s, to replace poor quality war-era facilities, seven hundred new married living-quarters were constructed in the nearby towns of Lossiemouth and Elgin, with the first opening in September 1949. The practice of constructing living-quarters off-station differed from that of the RAF, which typically constructed such accommodation within the boundaries of their airfields. In 1952 and early 1953, Lossiemouth's runways were upgraded and extended to their present lengths; during that time aircraft temporarily operated from Milltown. The Naval Air Fighter and Strike Training School transferred to the station in 1953 and over the next decade many aircraft types operated from Lossiemouth in the training role, including Supermarine Seafires, Fairey Fireflys, Hawker Sea Hawks, Hawker Sea Furys, Supermarine Scimitars, De Havilland Sea Venoms and Hawker Hunters. Four Gloster Meteors were used as target-towers. One of the first squadrons of the recently established Federal Germany Navy was formed at Lossiemouth in May 1958 under the NATO cooperative policy. No. 764 Naval Air Squadron had responsibility for training German crews on twelve Sea Hawks, which operated in German Navy markings. A commissioning ceremony was attended by British and German naval and political figures. In 1958 it was announced that station facilities were to be upgraded at a cost of £3 million, including the refurbishment of living accommodation and the creation of the Fulmar Club social club. Princess Alexandra opened a new officers mess in July 1965. The Blackburn Buccaneer arrived in March 1961 when No. 700Z Naval Air Squadron was created as an Intensive Flying Trials unit to evaluate the aircraft's weapons, systems and performance. Initially, the squadron operated two aircraft and then five by the end of 1961. The first operational Buccaneer squadron (No. 801 Naval Air Squadron) was established on 17 July 1962, followed by No. 809 Naval Air Squadron in January 1963 and No. 800 Naval Air Squadron in March 1964. The Buccaneer was capable of delivering nuclear weapons as well as conventional weapons for anti-shipping warfare and was typically active over the North Sea during its service. Buccaneers also embarked on aircraft carriers HMS Victorious, Eagle, Ark Royal and Hermes. On 28 March 1967, Buccaneers from Lossiemouth bombed the shipwrecked supertanker Torrey Canyon off the western coast of Cornwall, to ignite the oil and avoid an environmental disaster. The mid-1960s saw further investment in facilities at Lossiemouth including new living quarters and messes. The 1966 Defence White Paper saw the withdrawal of most British military forces stationed East of Suez during the 1970s, reducing the need for aircraft carriers and fixed-wing naval aviation such as the Buccaneer. The aircraft had been considered by the RAF for a medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft. As a result, No. 736 Naval Air Squadron began training RAF air and ground crews on the Buccaneer in 1969. Between September 1967 and March 1970, the Fleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot, Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown was station commander; it was his last command. The late 1960s saw the FAA reduce its activities at Lossiemouth, although Fairey Gannets of No. 849 Naval Air Squadron were transferred from RNAS Brawdy to Lossiemouth on 13 November 1971. The Buccaneer force was reduced in size with several squadrons departing or disbanding in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The last Buccaneers, of No. 809 Naval Air Squadron, left on 25 September 1972, leaving the only Fleet Air Arm aircraft left being the Gannets and search and rescue helicopters. ### Return of the Royal Air Force (1972–1991) The station was returned to Royal Air Force control on 28 September 1972, with the first RAF squadron operating from the new RAF Lossiemouth being 'D' Flight, No. 202 Squadron in the helicopter search and rescue role. The Jaguar Conversion Team (designated No. 226 Operational Conversion Unit on 1 October 1974) arrived in May 1973 to train the RAF's first SEPECAT Jaguar crews. By late 1974, No. 6 Squadron and No. 54 Squadron were operational. In August 1973, No. 8 Squadron and their twelve Avro Shackleton AEW.2s, operating as airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, moved to Lossiemouth from nearby RAF Kinloss. The Shackleton was an interim aircraft for the RAF AEW requirement, which saw the gradual replacement of Fleet Air Arm Fairey Gannets, culminating in the disbandment of No. 849 Naval Air Squadron in November 1978. Towards the end of the 1970s, two non-flying defence units took up residence at the station, starting with the arrival in December 1978 of No. 48 Squadron RAF Regiment equipped with Rapier surface-to-air missiles. July 1979 saw the formation of No. 2622 (Highland) Royal Air Force Auxiliary Regiment for ground defence. From 1978 to 1980, No. 2 Tactical Weapons Unit operated the Hawker Hunter from Lossiemouth. The Buccaneer made a return to Lossiemouth in the 1980s as RAF maritime strike aircraft, the first arriving in November 1980 when No. 12 Squadron transferred from RAF Honington in Suffolk, followed by No. 208 Squadron in July 1983. The remainder of the RAF Buccaneer fleet arrived in October 1984 when No. 237 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU), took up residence. Although the Buccaneer training unit, No. 237 OCU also had a reserve role of overland laser designation in support of RAF Jaguars. ### Operation Granby During the 1991 Gulf War, personnel from all three Buccaneer squadrons took part in Operation Granby, the aircraft's first combat operation. Following a short-notice decision to deploy to the Middle East, the first batch of six aircraft were brought to readiness in under 72 hours, including the adoption of desert-pink camouflage and additional war-time equipment. The first six aircraft departed from Lossiemouth for Muharraq in Bahrain at 04:00 on 26 January 1991. Twelve Buccaneers operated as laser designators and it became common for each attack formation to comprise four Tornados and two Buccaneers; each Buccaneer carrying a Pave Spike laser designator pod, one as a spare in case of equipment failure. The Buccaneer force became known as the 'Sky Pirates' in reference to the maritime history of the Buccaneer. Each aircraft had a Jolly Roger flag painted on its port side, alongside nose art featuring female characters. In recognition of their Scottish roots, the Buccaneers were also named after Speyside whisky such as Glenfiddich, Glen Elgin and The Macallan. Hostilities ended in late February 1991, the Buccaneers having flown 218 sorties without loss, designating targets for other aircraft and later dropping 48 Paveway II laser-guided bombs. ### Transition to Tornado (1991–1999) The replacement for the ageing Shackleton AEW.2, the British Aerospace Nimrod AEW.3, suffered considerable development difficulties which culminated in the aircraft being cancelled during 1986, for an off-the-shelf purchase of the Boeing Sentry AEW1. The last Shackletons were retired in July 1991 and No. 8 Squadron transferred to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, to equip with their new aircraft. It had been planned for the Buccaneer to remain in service until the end of the 1990s, having been extensively modernised in a process lasting up to 1989; the end of the Cold War stimulated major changes in British defence policy, many aircraft being deemed surplus to requirements. To allow for the early retirement of the Buccaneer, twenty-six Panavia Tornado GR1s were modified to GR1B standard to allow use of the BAe Sea Eagle missile for maritime strike operations. The reduction of the Buccaneer fleet began on 1 October 1991 when No. 237 OCU was disbanded, followed by No. 12 Squadron in September 1993. No. 27 Squadron, then at RAF Marham, disbanded and re-formed at Lossiemouth as No.12 Squadron, operating the Tornado GR1B. In 1992, No. 237 Field Squadron of the Territorial Army was formed with responsibility for Airfield Damage Repair (ADR). This squadron became part of No. 76 Engineer Regiment (Volunteers) of the Royal Engineers, responsible for ADR in the north of England and across Scotland. The Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit, renamed No. 15 (Reserve) Squadron, arrived from RAF Honington in Suffolk on 1 November 1993. The last Buccaneers were withdrawn in April 1994 when No. 208 Squadron disbanded. No. 617 Squadron then transferred to Lossiemouth from RAF Marham in Norfolk, with its Tornado GR1Bs. No. 48 Squadron RAF Regiment and their Rapiers left Lossiemouth for RAF Honington on 1 July 1996. Group Captain Graham Miller was station commander between 1995 and 1998 and later achieved the rank of Air Marshal, holding the post of Deputy Commander at Allied Joint Force Command in Naples from 2004 until his retirement in 2008. No. 15 (R) Squadron increased in size in 1999 after the closure of the Tri-national Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) at RAF Cottesmore. The squadron became the RAF Tornado GR4 Operational Conversion Unit, training pilots and weapon systems operators for posting to front-line Tornado squadrons at Lossiemouth and RAF Marham. The squadron accepted aircrew straight from advanced flying training at RAF Leeming and RAF Valley and provided refresher courses for experienced aircrew returning to the Tornado GR4, following other tours of duty. The squadron also trained aircrew officers from foreign nations posted to the UK on two to three-year exchange tours. ### 21st century To concentrate the Jaguar fleet in one place, No. 16(R) Squadron with eleven aircraft and around 100 personnel departed Lossiemouth for RAF Coltishall in Norfolk in July 2000, bringing to an end Lossiemouth's 27-year association with the Jaguar. After the arrival of No. 14 Squadron and its Tornado GR1s from RAF Brüggen in Germany during January 2001, Lossiemouth became the busiest fast-jet station in the RAF. In May 2001, No. 51 Squadron RAF Regiment was re-established, to join No. 2622 RAuxAF Squadron, under the new No. 5 Force Protection Wing Headquarters. #### F-35 Lightning II and threat of closure The Ministry of Defence announced in November 2005 that Lossiemouth would be the main operating base for the RAF's new F-35 Lightning II fleet, which was expected to enter service in 2013. In 2010 The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) cast doubt on whether the F-35 would be based at Lossiemouth and raised fears in the local community that the station could close. On 7 November 2010 up to 7,000 people took part in a march and rally in Lossiemouth in support of retaining the RAF station, including Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond and other politicians. With Moray being the area in Scotland most dependent on military spending, it was feared the closure of RAF Lossiemouth and the confirmed closure of nearby RAF Kinloss, would lead to economic uncertainty and much more unemployment. A petition with more than 30,000 signatures was delivered to 10 Downing Street by campaign members on 11 January 2011. In July 2011 the Ministry of Defence announced that Lossiemouth would remain open with Lossiemouth's Tornados moving to RAF Marham. RAF Leuchars in Fife would close and transfer to the British Army, with the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4s and responsibility for Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North (QRA) moving to Lossiemouth. In March 2013 the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the F-35 Lighting II would be based at Marham. #### From Tornado to Typhoon After the SDSR, No. 14 Squadron disbanded on 1 June 2011, reducing the number of Tornados based at Lossiemouth. In 2012, a new combined mess for junior ranks and senior non-commission officers was completed, replacing separate buildings constructed in the 1960s, which were demolished. The new facility was opened by the then station commander Group Captain Ian Gale and the Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Grenville Johnston. Following the announcement in 2011 that Lossiemouth would remain open, £17 million was spent in 2013 refurbishing the airfield for the arrival of the Typhoon, with a further £70 million set aside for later. Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) facilities were built in the northern hardened aircraft shelter (HAS) complex and alterations were made to hangars 1 and 3 and new ground-support IT and communication systems. In March 2014, three Typhoons from RAF Leuchars arrived at Lossiemouth to take part in Exercise Moray Venture, a week-long operation to test new facilities ahead of the aircraft's arrival later that year. In preparation for the transition to the Typhoon, No.12 Squadron and No.617 Squadron disbanded on 1 April 2014, leaving No.15 (R) Squadron as the only remaining Tornado unit at Lossiemouth. The first Typhoon unit, No. 6 Squadron, transferred from RAF Leuchars to Lossiemouth on 20 June 2014. Nine aircraft arrived in formation in the shape of a number 6. No. 1 Squadron followed on 8 September 2014, when responsibility for Quick Reaction Alert (North) was transferred from RAF Leuchars to Lossiemouth. The third Typhoon squadron based at Lossiemouth, No. 2 Squadron, arrived in January 2015. In preparation of the squadron's arrival, work commenced in October 2014 to refurbish the southern HAS complex, which was formerly occupied by No.617 Squadron. The nine aircraft shelters were refurbished, a hard-standing for a flight-line capable of accommodating eight aircraft was built, new flood-lighting was installed and the dining facilities were improved. A new headquarters building was constructed on the site of a World War II era K-type hangar (K20). The building has space for engineering and logistics facilities, a survival equipment section, classrooms and office space. This allowed No. 2 Squadron to operate independently from other squadrons at Lossiemouth. In May 2015, construction began on a new 250 m × 16 m (273 yd × 17 yd) section of taxiway to provide improved access between the QRA facilities in the northern HAS site and runway 23/05. The new taxiway was constructed by 53 Field Squadron, part of 39 (Air Support) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, based at nearby Kinloss Barracks. The project was completed in September 2015. No. 15 (R) Squadron disbanded as a Tornado unit on 31 March 2017. Aircraft and crews were absorbed into front-line squadrons at RAF Marham where refresher training on the Tornado was carried out. To mark the occasion, on 17 March 2017, five Tornados from the squadron carried out a flypast of the former RAF base at Leuchars, the weapons range at RAF Tain and Aberdeen International Airport, before performing a simulated airfield strike on RAF Lossiemouth in front of base personnel, families and friends. A disbandment parade was held on 31 March 2017, signifying the end of twenty-four years of Tornado operations at Lossiemouth. Over 750 current and former squadron personnel attended the ceremony where the "Sands of Kuwait", a tune written to commemorate the 1991 Gulf War (the squadron's last battle honour), was played on the bagpipes and a Tornado fly-past took place. The final infrastructure required to support the Typhoons was completed in June 2017, when Rolls-Royce opened its Typhoon Propulsion Support Facility; this is operated by a combination of civilian and RAF personnel and provides engineering support for Typhoon Eurojet EJ200 engines. On 4 March 2016 Lossiemouth was announced as the preferred option to accommodate an additional Typhoon squadron and 400 personnel. Four Typhoon FGR4s were assigned to No. 9 Squadron (Designate) at Lossiemouth in February 2019. The unit re-equipped as an aggressor and air defence squadron operating Typhoon Tranche 1 on 1 April 2019, thereby continuing in unbroken service upon the Tornado's retirement at RAF Marham. #### End of search and rescue (SAR) operations In 2006, government announced its intentions to privatise the RAF Search and Rescue Force (the search and rescue (SAR) helicopter service). A ten-year contract worth £1.6 billion was signed in March 2013 with Bristow Helicopters to run the service from 2015 with new AgustaWestland AW189 and Sikorsky S-92 helicopters. SAR helicopter operations in the north-east of Scotland ceased at Lossiemouth and moved to Inverness Airport, located 30 mi (48 km) to the west. 'D' flight of No. 202 Squadron disbanded on 1 April 2015 and its Sea King HAR3s were stored at RAF Valley, Anglesey, bringing nearly 43 years of search and rescue operations at Lossiemouth to an end. The Sea Kings had been a familiar sight in the skies above Scotland, having been involved in the Piper Alpha disaster, Lockerbie bombing and appearing in local and national media. A farewell party to be held by 'D' Flight personnel to thank the local community for their support, was cancelled by RAF officials. There was widespread criticism of the decision but the RAF considered that the event could contravene campaigning rules for the UK general election, as it could be perceived as being political. Morayvia, a local charity bought the former Lossiemouth Sea King 'XZ592' from the Ministry of Defence in March 2015. The aircraft is now on display as part of Morayvia's Science and Technology Experience Project at Kinloss. #### Arrival of Poseidon On 23 November 2015, the UK announced its intention to order nine new Boeing MRA1 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the SDSR. In June 2017, it was announced that No. 120 Squadron would be the first Poseidon squadron. The unit reformed in early 2018 and by February 2019 air and ground crews from the unit and the Poseidon Line Squadron had commenced training with the US Navy at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. Construction of a new hangar and support facility for the Poseidon fleet, known as the Poseidon Strategic Facility, begun in April 2018 and was completed in July 2020. The 33,000 square metres (360,000 sq ft) facility was built on the northern side of the airfield and includes maintenance facilities capable of accommodating three aircraft simultaneously, a tactical operations centre, training & simulation facilities and accommodation for two squadrons. The building was constructed by Robertson Group with a contract value of £132m. In August 2021, it was named the 'Atlantic Building', reflecting its maritime warfare role. As Lossiemouth's airfield was largely set-up for fast-jet operations, the runways and associated operating surfaces required resurfacing and alterations to safely accommodate regular Poseidon operations. Work on the £75 million contract commenced in May 2020, with the airfield being closed between 10 August and 16 October 2020 whilst the intersection of the two runways was resurfaced. During the closure, routine Typhoon training operations were relocated to the airfield at Kinloss Barracks and the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) Force for the north of the UK temporarily relocated to Leuchars Station. The RAF's first Poseidon arrived in the UK from the US in February 2020, initially operating from Kinloss. It was later joined by a second aircraft before both moved to their new home at Lossiemouth in October 2020. The fleet was completed in January 2022 when the ninth aircraft was delivered to Lossiemouth. No. 201 Squadron reformed at Lossiemouth during 2021 as the second unit operating the Poseidon, sharing the fleet with No. 120 Squadron. ## Facilities The RAF Lossiemouth site extends to 580 ha (1,400 acres) and accommodates two runways, the main runway (05/23) is 2,764 m (9,068 ft; 3,023 yd) long and the secondary runway (10/28) is 1,850 m (6,070 ft; 2,020 yd) long. Hangars at Lossiemouth date from the Second World War and comprise three C-type, one J-type, six L-type, four K-type and a Bellman type. The northern HAS complex has nine shelters and QRA facilities and the southern complex has a further nine shelters. Both HAS complexes were constructed in the 1970s. The airfield boundary has changed over the years and several former Super Robin hangars, dating from the Second World War are outside the current airfield boundary, although they are no longer in military use. An example is within the grounds of Gordounston School. Former airfield dispersals are also evident in the same vicinity. During the Second World War the airfield was defended with eight pillboxes, at least six of them Type 27 pillboxes, one rectangular and the other Type 22 or Type 24. BAE Systems operates the Typhoon Training Facility (North), which is home to four Emulated Deployable Cockpit Trainer (EDCT) flight simulators. The expansion of the facility from two to four EDCTs was completed in April 2018. During the Tornado's tenure at Lossiemouth, the station was home to two Tornado GR4 flight simulators, operated by Thales UK. Aviation fuel is supplied to Lossiemouth through a 40.6 mi (65.3 km)-stretch of the CLH Pipeline System which connects the airfield to a fuel depot in Inverness. In common with other military establishments in Scotland and Northern Ireland, CarillionAmey, a joint venture between Carillion and Amey, provide hard facilities management and maintenance at Lossiemouth. In March 2015, the UK government ruled out Lossiemouth as well as nearby RAF Kinloss as candidates for a new spaceport due to opposition from the Ministry of Defence, which cited over-riding operational factors. The decision was criticised by local politicians. In 2021, construction started on a new fire station and new Oshkosh Striker vehicles were introduced. ## Role and operations RAF Lossiemouth's mission statement is "Sustain Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North and deliver global operations". The Engineering & Logistics Wing is responsible for maintaining engineering support and supply including weapons and survival equipment on aircraft. It is also responsible for the maintenance and repair of aircraft not currently flying on squadrons and the station support equipment and vehicles. The Operations Wing plans and controls all flying and major exercises on station and manages all activities that have a direct impact on flying operations. This includes intelligence gathering, weather forecasting and communications systems. The Base Support Wing manages all support functions for the station's infrastructure and personnel, such as health and safety, medical centre, non-flying training, accommodation, family support and the deployment of Station personnel. Moray Flight of No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron (Royal Auxiliary Air Force) was established in 2013 to support NATO maritime patrol aircraft and the UK Maritime Air Operations Centre when deployed to Lossiemouth. The unit is also supporting the introduction of the P-8A Poseidon at Lossiemouth. RAF Lossiemouth is the parent station of Tain Air Weapons Range which is located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the north west. With the closure of nearby RAF Kinloss and the transfer of the station to the British Army in July 2012, the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) became the RAF Lossiemouth MRT. The team continued to operate from their purpose-built base at Kinloss Barracks for over two years, until they moved into a 'D' Flight No. 202 Squadron hangar in February 2015. ### Command Group Captain Jim Lee was appointed as the Station Commander of RAF Lossiemouth on 8 July 2022. In July 2017 a spaniel named Dee was made the official station mascot and given the rank of Sergeant. Dee is a former RAF Police working dog and specialised in explosives detection. He retired from operational duties when his leg was amputated as a result of an injury. ### Typhoon operations The Typhoon FGR4 provides the RAF with a multi-role combat capability for air policing, peace support and high intensity conflict. Lossiemouth Typhoon squadrons have operated against ISIS in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Shader and have participated in the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission where they operated from Ämari air base in Estonia. Lossiemouth's four Typhoon squadrons are responsible for maintaining the Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North mission (QRA(I)N). Aircraft and crews are held at a high state of readiness, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to respond to unidentified aircraft approaching UK airspace. QRA missions range from civilian airliners which have stopped responding to air traffic control, to intercepting Russian aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-95 Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack. ### No. 5 Force Protection Wing No. 5 Force Protection Wing HQ provides operational planning, command and control to two RAF Regiment field squadrons attached to the wing, No. 51 Squadron RAF Regiment and No. 2622 (Highland) Squadron's (RAuxAF), whose purpose is to protect RAF bases at home and abroad from ground attack. No. 2622 Squadron consists primarily of RAF Regiment gunners also trained as infantry and has a limited number of personnel in support duties. The unit provides officers and gunners to supplement the regular RAF Regiment on overseas operations and exercises. It is the only squadron in the RAF or RAuxAF to have its own Pipes and Drums band, which formed in 1999 and is open to both Service and civilian members. It is also the only operational squadron to have spent its existence based at Lossiemouth. Both squadrons have seen action on Operation Telic in Iraq and Operation Herrick in Afghanistan, with No. 51 Squadron also involved in Operation Shader against ISIS. No. 4 RAF Police Squadron also falls under the command of the wing and has responsibility for policing and security in Scotland and northern England. ### Air Training Corps – Highland Wing Lossiemouth is home to the Highland Wing of the Air Training Corps. A new Air Cadet Regional Centre was opened in October 2014, which contains the Highland Wing headquarters, activity centre with a flight simulator, radio communications training room, IT Suite and several briefing rooms. Overnight residential accommodation for 48 cadets and 8 adult staff is also provided. The centre was named after and opened by retired Group Captain Phil Dacre. ## Based units Flying and notable non-flying units based at RAF Lossiemouth. ### Royal Air Force No. 1 Group (Air Combat) - Combat Air Force - No. 1 Squadron – Typhoon FGR4 - No. 2 Squadron – Typhoon FGR4 - No. 6 Squadron – Typhoon FGR4 - No. 9 Squadron – Typhoon FGR4 - ISTAR Force - ISTAR Air Wing - No. 8 Squadron – Wedgetail AEW1 (from 2024) - No. 120 Squadron – Poseidon MRA1 - No. 201 Squadron – Poseidon MRA1 - Poseidon Line Squadron (PLS) - Poseidon Tactical Operations Centre (TOC) No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support) - Air Security Force - No. 2 RAF Police & Security Wing - No. 4 RAF Police (Typhoon) Squadron Headquarters - Combat and Readiness Force - No. 5 RAF Force Protection Wing - No. 5 Force Protection Wing Headquarters - No. 51 Squadron RAF Regiment - No. 2622 (Highland) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment - Support Force - 85 Expeditionary Logistics Wing - RAF Lossiemouth Mountain Rescue Team - RAF Music Services - RAF Lossiemouth Voluntary Band No. 22 (Training) Group RAF - Air Training Corps – Highland Wing Headquarters ## Future ### Lossiemouth Development Programme The Defence Infrastructure Organisation formally announced the Lossiemouth Development Programme (LDP) in October 2016. The LDP involves £400 million being invested in RAF Lossiemouth for buildings and airfield infrastructure to allow the additional Typhoon squadron (IX(B) Squadron) and new Poseidon aircraft to operate from Lossiemouth, such as a new control tower, Defence Fire and Rescue Service facilities, single and family living accommodation. Professional consultancy firm WYG Plc was appointed as programme manager of the LDP. In February 2017 an environmental impact assessment (EIA) screening opinion for redevelopment work was submitted to Moray Council, the local planning authority. The submission to Moray Council outlined the following proposed works at the station: - Redevelopment of existing buildings and construction of new buildings to accommodate the Poseidon aircraft and additional Typhoon squadron. - Construction of a new hangar and support facility for the Poseidon fleet. The facility will be located on the northern side of the airfield and be capable of accommodating three aircraft. It will include a tactical operations centre, an operational conversion unit, squadron accommodation, training and simulation facilities. It is to be constructed by Robertson Northern with a contract value of £132m. The first turf was cut for the Poseidon facilities by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson on 19 April 2018. - Refurbishment and/or extension of hangar no.2 and support facilities for the additional Typhoon squadron. - Construction of a replacement airfield fire station - Construction of new living accommodation (for officers, senior non-commissioned officers, junior ranks and transit accommodation) providing approximately 450 bedrooms across three and four-storey high buildings. - Construction of support buildings including Typhoon synthetic training facilities and in-flight catering facilities. - Demolition of buildings. - Construction of a replacement air traffic control (ATC) tower and control room facility, up to 26 m (85 ft) high. The new tower is to be sited in a different location to the existing 1940s tower which is 14 m (46 ft) high and which is to be demolished. - Existing aircraft taxiways are to be resurfaced, widened or re-routed and new aircraft taxiways and aprons are to be constructed. - Initially there were no proposals to carry out work on the existing runways, however this later changed and the runways will be resurfaced. Moray Council determined that the proposed works did not meet the requirement to go through the EIA process. ### E-7 Wedgetail In December 2020, the RAF announced that its new fleet of Boeing E-7 Wedgetail AEW1 aircraft were to be based at Lossiemouth. The Airborne early warning and control aircraft will replace the E-3D Sentry AEW1 fleet which was retired in 2021 and was operated by No. 8 Squadron at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. As of early 2023, the arrival date for the aircraft had been delayed to 2024. The construction of technical facilities to support Wedgetail operations started in October 2022. ## Previous units and aircraft List of past, present and future flying units and major non-flying units permanently based at Lossiemouth. Source: Unless otherwise indicated details sourced are from: Hughes, Jim. (1993), Airfield Focus 11: Lossiemouth. Peterborough, GMS Enterprises. , pp. 22–23 ## Heritage ### Station badge and motto RAF Lossiemouth's badge, awarded in May 1974, features a snowy owl facing forwards with expanded wings pointed downwards. The owl sits on two crossed claymore swords. The snowy owl can be found in Scotland and compared to humans have a well-developed ability to see at night. This symbolised the use radar for the airborne early warning mission carried out by No. 8 Squadron which was based at Lossiemouth when the badge was awarded. The owl also reflects the wisdom being provided by the Jaguar Operational Conversion Unit at the time. The claymores, a type of historic Scottish sword, represent the location of the station in Scotland and the potential for attack. The station's motto, Thoir an aire, translates from Scottish Gaelic as "Be careful". ## Community relations and media The RAF and local community of Moray enjoy good relations, as demonstrated in 1992 by the station receiving the Freedom of Moray from the then Moray District Council. The freedom was granted in recognition of the role RAF Lossiemouth has played in the defence of the nation and in particular, the greatly valued contribution which has been made by the station to the day-to-day life of Moray. The connections between RAF Lossiemouth and Moray were further strengthened on the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant between Moray Council, other community partners and the RAF in 2012 and again in 2016. The co-operation was recognised in November 2016 when the Ministry of Defence awarded Moray Council an award for its supportive attitude towards the armed forces. The RAF contributes to the local community in spending, employment and activities in the wider community. In 2010, Highlands and Islands Enterprise wrote that RAF Lossiemouth contributed £90.3m to the local economy and supported 3,370 jobs in Moray. The RAF organise the annual charity Lossiemouth Raft Race, in which military and civilian teams race home-made rafts along the River Lossie, adjacent to Lossiemouth's East Beach. The race was established in 1976 and is attended by thousands of onlookers. A Family and Friends Day also takes place where military families and civilians with connections to the station are invited to a small air-show, held each May. The RAF have also provided photo opportunities for aviation enthusiasts during exercises such as Joint Warrior. The RAF Lossiemouth station magazine is called the Lossie Lighthouse, in reference to the nearby Covesea Skerries Lighthouse. The magazine is distributed to station personnel, their families and the local community. It is also available online at the RAF Lossiemouth web page. RAF Lossiemouth has featured in several television and radio documentaries – - Shackleton – The End of an Era was a 1984 programme produced for Granada TV examining the history of the Shackleton aircraft and featuring No. 8 Squadron whilst at Lossiemouth. - The Old Grey Ladies of Lossiemouth produced by Grampian TV, captured the final months of Shackleton operations in 1990 before their withdrawal from service. - Rescue was a thirteen part series which followed the Sea Kings of No. 202 Squadron 'D' Flight for a year and was shown on Grampian TV in 1990. - 'Gloria Hunniford at RAF Lossiemouth' was a BBC Radio 2 programme broadcast in 1993 in which TV and radio presenter Gloria Hunniford talked to personnel from Lossiemouth and accompanied a helicopter crew on an air sea rescue training exercise. - JetSet was a six-part series produced by STV in 2006 which followed trainee Tornado GR4 crews as they passed through a six-month operational conversion course with No.15 Squadron. The programme was narrated by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, whose brother Colin McGregor was a Tornado pilot at Lossiemouth prior to his retirement in 2007. ## See also - List of Royal Air Force stations - List of air stations of the Royal Navy

Medieval Merchant's House

Restored 13th-century building in England

The Medieval Merchant's House is a restored late-13th-century building in Southampton, Hampshire, England. Built in about 1290 by John Fortin, a prosperous merchant, the house survived many centuries of domestic and commercial use largely intact. German bomb damage in 1940 revealed the medieval interior of the house, and in the 1980s it was restored to resemble its initial appearance and placed in the care of English Heritage, to be run as a tourist attraction. The house is built to a medieval right-angle, narrow plan design, with an undercroft to store wine at a constant temperature, and a first-storey bedchamber that projects out into the street to add additional space. The building is architecturally significant because, as historian Glyn Coppack highlights, it is "the only building of its type to survive substantially as first built"; it is a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument. ## History ### 13th to 15th centuries The Medieval Merchant's House was built in about 1290 on French Street, Southampton, then a major port and a large provincial town with a population of around 5,000, grown rich from the trade with England's continental possessions in Europe. The area of Southampton around French Street had been re-planned earlier in the century, reducing the numbers of farm animals kept in and around the houses, driving poorer merchants and craftsmen into the less desirable northern half of the city, and creating a quarter of large, impressive houses, often built in stone with tiled roofs. The original house was designed for use by John Fortin, a prosperous wine merchant, with a vaulted cellar for holding stock, a shop at the front of the property and accommodation for the family; much of it was built in stone, but it featured a timber front, a fashionable design for the period. At least 60 other houses similar to the Medieval Merchant's House were built in Southampton at around the same time. By the 1330s, Southampton's prosperity was in a slow decline. In 1338 there was a successful French attack on the town, during which various buildings were burned and castle was damaged. The house may have been one of those damaged in the raid, as the south-western corner of the building collapsed around that time and had to be quickly rebuilt; other alterations, including the addition of a fireplace, may have been carried out at the same time. Southampton's economy collapsed in the aftermath of the attacks and never fully recovered. The character of French Street began to change, as many houses were sub-divided or redeveloped to fit in more buildings. The Medieval Merchant's House ceased to be used by major merchants and by 1392 appears to have been rented out to tenants by Thomas Fryke and John Barflet, the latter a descendant of John Fortin, for whom the house was originally built. During the 15th century the economy of Southampton improved as a result of the Italian wool trade and the presence of many foreign merchants. The Medieval Merchant's House was acquired by a sequence of established Southampton merchants, but it remained intact as a detached dwelling, unlike many other properties in the neighbourhood that were combined to form the larger homes that became more fashionable in the late 15th century. In the middle of the 16th century, however, Southampton's economy collapsed once again as trade with Italy declined, taking with it the prosperity of French Street. A new parlour was installed in the house, and a floor was added halfway across the open hall to produce additional sleeping space. ### 16th to 20th centuries The house was transformed into three cottages during the 17th century, which involved a new door and additional fireplaces being added. The economy and status of Southampton did not begin to improve until the 18th century, when it became a noted cultural centre. In 1780 the three cottages were converted back into a single building, owned by a Mrs Collins as a lodging house for actors. During the Victorian era Southampton saw a huge expansion of its maritime docks and the construction of a new railway line. The Medieval Merchant's House was converted again, and had become a beer-shop by 1883, and a popular public house called the Bull's Head. ### Late 20th and 21st centuries When the Second World War broke out in 1939 the house was being used as a brothel. In 1940 Southampton was heavily targeted during the Blitz. German bombs seriously damaged the house, revealing its medieval interior, and as a result Southampton City Council bought the property. In 1972 it was passed to the Secretary of State for the Environment, before being placed into the care of English Heritage in 1984. The decision was taken to restore the Medieval Merchant's House as a tourist attraction, and the necessary work was carried out between 1983 and 1985. Academic Raphael Samuel has noted that the restoration was heavily influenced by the late-20th-century tradition of living history, in which "reinterpretation" gives way to "retrofitting". The process was also constrained by the damage that had occurred to the post-medieval parts of the building during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following archaeological investigations, the house was restored as closely as possible to its medieval condition, removing later material. Where the original medieval parts of the house had been lost, the work was based on archaeological reinterpretation. The finished house was fitted with replica late-13th-century and 14th-century furniture, and the uniform for the English Heritage staff running the house was originally medieval in design. The Medieval Merchant's House on 58 French Street remains a tourist attraction and is a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument. ## Architecture The Medieval Merchant's House today faces onto French Street and combines walls built of Bembridge and Purbeck stone with a timber frontage. The layout of the house follows a medieval right-angle, narrow plan design, in that the hall stretches away from the street to conserve frontage, and there is no internal courtyard built into the design. Architecturally the house is important because, as historian Glyn Coppack highlights, it is "the only building of its type to survive substantially as first built". At the front of the house, on the ground floor, is a reconstructed medieval shop front, from where the owner would have conducted his mercantile business. Behind this is the central hall, originally designed with an open hearth in the middle, but now fitted with a 14th-century Flemish chimney, plastered so as to resemble brickwork. A hallway runs along one side of the hall; hallways were a traditional feature of the period, although the fashion was eventually abandoned because of the difficulty of lighting them effectively. At the rear of the property is an inner private room, with a decorative ceiling. Beneath the house is an undercroft, or cellar, designed to store barrels of wine at a constant temperature; the brick floor is 18th-century in origin, however. This is an architectural feature found in several other English coastal and river medieval towns, including Winchester and London. On the first floor the house is split into east and west bedchambers, linked across the central hall by a gallery. The east bedchamber is at the front of the house, and projects out into the street—this was a feature used to add space to houses, and is also seen in properties in Shrewsbury, Tewkesbury and York. Some of the makers' marks of the original builders can still be seen on the timbers in the room. The west bedchamber more closely resembles its 19th-century appearance rather than the medieval, as the Victorian-era ceiling has been left in place. The roof of the house is an identical replacement for the medieval original, tiled with Cornish slate. ## See also - Economy of England in the Middle Ages - Barley Hall, a similar medieval building subject to interpretative restoration - King John's Palace, a Norman merchant's house also in Southampton

Ariarathes I of Cappadocia

4th-century BC king of Cappadocia

Ariarathes I (Old Iranian: Aryaraθa, Aramaic: Ariorath or Ariourat; Ancient Greek: Ἀριαράθης, romanized: Ariaráthēs; 405/4 BC – 322 BC) was the last Achaemenid Persian governor (satrap) of the province (satrapy) of Northern Cappadocia, serving from the 340s BC to 331 BC. He led defensive efforts against the Macedonian invasion, commanded by Alexander the Great, and later fought at the Battle of Gaugamela under Darius III, the last King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, Ariarathes continued his resistance against the Macedonians, ruling concomitantly as an Achaemenid remnant and a precursor to the Kingdom of Cappadocia. He is regarded as the founder of the Iranian Ariarathid dynasty. Ariarathes was eventually captured and executed in 322 BC by the Macedonian Perdiccas. His territory was seized, whereafter it was contested between several of Alexander's successors and former generals. However, Ariarathes's dynastic successors regained control over Cappadocia in 301 BC and ruled over the kingdom until 96 BC when they were deposed by the Roman Republic. ## Name "Ariarathes" is the Hellenized form of an Old Iranian name, perhaps \*Arya-wratha ("having Aryan joy"). The name is attested in Aramaic as Ariorath or Ariourat, and in later Latin sources as Ariaratus. ## Biography Although details of Ariarathes I's life are scant, it is known that he was born in 405/4 BC to Ariamnes and had a brother named Orophernes (Holophernes). He founded the eponymous Ariarathid dynasty, an Iranian family that claimed descent from Cyrus the Great, the first King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and Anaphas, one of the seven Persian conspirators who killed the Pseudo-Smerdis. During the reign of Artaxerxes II (r. 404–358 BC), King of Kings of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Ariarathes and his family served as minor officials in the satrapy of Cappadocia, which was governed by Datames at the time. Sometime after the assassination of Datames in c. 362 BC, possibly after the ascension of Artaxerxes III (r. 358–338 BC), Cappadocia was divided into a northern and southern satrapy. This change was implemented in response to the excessive power that Datames had amassed during his governorship as well as to improve the efficacy of the administration. By the 340s BC, Ariarathes had become satrap in Northern Cappadocia, having succeeded his father Ariamnes, overseeing territory that would later become the Kingdom of Pontus. The stability of Ariarathes's territory enabled him to send provincial troops with Artaxerxes III on the Achaemenid campaign to pacify Egypt. During the reign of King Darius III (r. 336–330 BC), Macedonian forces led by Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 BC) invaded Persian territory. Cappadocia and the neighbouring satrapy of Phrygia became rallying points for the Achaemenid resistance. Defensive efforts were hampered by losses such as the death of Mithrobuzanes, governor of the southern Cappadocian satrapy, who was killed at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC. However, the Macedonian-appointed replacement, Abistamenes, failed to establish his authority over this newly conquered territory and he later vanished into obscurity. Cappadocia continued to be an important focal point of Achaemenid resistance and was also used as a staging area for a campaign to retake western Anatolia. Fortunately for Ariarathes, his territory was largely unaffected by the invasion and he was able to establish himself as a key figure leading the resistance, and subsequently commanded troops at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. After the Persian defeat at Gaugamela, the end of the Achaemenid Empire and its replacement by Alexander's Macedonian Empire, Ariarathes continued to resist the Macedonians from his base at Gaziura (Gazioura) as an independent monarch until his death. In 323 BC, following the death of Alexander, Cappadocia was granted to Eumenes, but he was unable to dislodge Ariarathes and consolidate his hold, as Cappadocia had not been properly subjugated by Alexander. This situation was exacerbated by Eumenes' failure to obtain support from the other Macedonian satraps. He then turned to Perdiccas, regent of the incumbent Macedonian ruler Philip III Arrhidaeus (r. 323–317 BC), who, needing to bring more loyal governors to his side, agreed to assist Eumenes in capturing Ariarathes's domain. In the summer of 322 BC, Perdiccas, the royal court, and the battle-hardened royal Macedonian army entered Cappadocia. Ariarathes, who was reputed to be quite wealthy, apparently managed to muster a force composed of locals and mercenaries to face Perdiccas, but was defeated and captured. He and most of his family members were crucified that same year. ## Coinage Ariarathes I minted campaign coinage at Sinope and Gaziura inscribed with legends in Aramaic, the imperial language of the Achaemenids. On the reverse of one of Ariarathes's Gaziura coins, a griffin is depicted attacking a kneeling stag with Ariarathes's name is inscribed as 'rywrt. The obverse of the same coin depicts a Zeus-like impression of the God Baal with wreath and sceptre in his left hand. In his right hand, on which an eagle is perched, the seated figure holds ears of corn and a vine-branch with grapes. The obverse features the inscription b'lgzyr ("Ba'al Gazir", i.e. "Lord of Gaziura"). Stylistically, this particular issue of coinage by Ariarathes resembles the coins issued by Achaemenid satrap Mazaeus at Tarsos in Cilicia. The Iranologist Mary Boyce and the historian Frantz Grenet note that the Zeus-like depiction of a seated Baal could actually be portraying the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda or Mithra. Coins of Ariarathes minted at Sinope stylistically resemble Greek issues from the same city, but feature Ariarathes's name in Aramaic. On the obverse of the Sinope issues, the head of the local nymph Sinope is depicted wearing a sphendone within a border of dots. On the reverse, an eagle with wings aloft a dolphin is depicted, under which is inscribed Ariarathes's name. ## Successors A few years after the death of Ariarathes I, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, a former general of Alexander, executed Eumenes and seized control of Cappadocia. Control of the region then passed to Lysimachus (r. 306–281 BC), King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon, but was captured thereafter by Seleucus I Nicator (r. 305–281), Basileus of the Seleucid Empire, both of whom were Diadochi ("successors") of Alexander. Southern Cappadocia, deemed more strategically important to the Seleucids than its northern counterpart, spent a brief period under Seleucid control. Then, in about 301 BC, around the time of the Battle of Ipsus, Ariarathes I's nephew Ariarathes II managed to restore Ariarathid control over Southern Cappadocia with Armenian military assistance. Ariarathes II subsequently ruled Southern Cappadocia under Seleucid suzerainty. After the deaths of Lysimachus and Seleucus, Northern Cappadocia, once held by Ariarathes I, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Pontus, founded by Mithridates I. Around the same time (c. 280 BC), in Southern Cappadocia, Ariarathes II was succeeded by his son Ariaramnes. In c. 255 BC, Ariaramnes, or his son and successor Ariarathes III of Cappadocia, declared independence from the Seleucids. Ariarathes I's successors ruled the Kingdom of Cappadocia until 96 BC when they were replaced by the Ariobarzanids due to Roman intervention.

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Nasafi

10th-century Isma'ili theologian

Abu'l-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bazdawi al-Nasafi (or al-Bazdahi, al-Nakhshabi) (died 943/945) was an early 10th-century Isma'ili missionary (da'i) and theologian. In c. 937 he succeeded in converting the Samanid emir, Nasr II, to Isma'ilism, and ushered in a period of Isma'ili dominance at the Samanid court that lasted until Nasr's death. In the subsequent persecution of the Isma'ilis, launched by Nuh I, al-Nasafi himself fell victim. As a theologian, he is generally credited with being among those who introduced Neoplatonic concepts into Isma'ili theology. His doctrines dominated indigenous Isma'ilism in the Iranian lands in the 9th–10th centuries, but were denounced as antinomian by Isma'ili theologians aligned with the Fatimid Caliphate. ## Life Al-Nasafi's life is mainly known through later, and mostly hostile Sunni sources, chiefly the Kitāb al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim and the Siyāsatnāmā of Nizam al-Mulk. To these is added al-Tha'alibi's mirror for princes, the Ādāb al-mulūk, which was not published until 1990. As his nisbah indicates, Muhammad al-Nasafi was born in the village of Bazda near Nasaf or Nakhshab (in modern Uzbekistan). Some early 20th-century scholars like Louis Massignon and Wladimir Ivanow read the nisbah as al-Barda'i, indicating an origin from Barda'a, but this has been shown to be erroneous. He succeeded Husayn ibn Ali al-Marwazi as the chief Isma'ili missionary (da'i) of Khurasan and Transoxiania, in the northeastern fringes of the contemporary Islamic world. The area was ruled at the time by the Samanid dynasty under Nasr II (r. 914–943). From early on, al-Nasafi focused his efforts in converting members of the Samanid court at Bukhara, leaving a certain Abu al-Hasan ibn Sawada as his deputy in Marw al-Rudh. His initial efforts apparently failed, and al-Nasafi had to leave Bukhara and returned to his native Nasaf. In c. 937/8 he succeeded in converting several high-ranking Samanid officials to Isma'ilism; Nizam al-Mulk provides a list of these initial converts, whose accuracy is open to question, as many of these names are otherwise unknown: al-Nasafi's compatriot Abu Bakr al-Nakhshabi, a boon companion of the Emir, Abu Ash'ath, the Emir's private secretary, Abu Mansur al-Shaghani, inspector of the army, the chamberlain Aytash, Hasan Malik, governor of Ilaq, and the chief court steward (wakīl khāșș), Ali Zarrad. Returning to Bukhara in person, with their aid al-Nasafi finally managed to convert Emir Nasr II and his vizier, Abu Ali Muhammad al-Jayhani. Al-Tha'alibi's account however ascribes the final conversion of Nasr to two other figures, the da'i Ibn Sawada and the secretary Abu al-Tayyib al-Mus'abi. Backed by the emir and his court, al-Nasafi began preaching openly, and even extended his missionary efforts into Sistan. The Isma'ili secretary, al-Mus'abi, even appears to have become vizier in 941/42, succeeding al-Jayhani. These developments provoked a vehement opposition among the Sunni establishment, and especially the Samanids' Turkic soldiery. According to the story as relayed by Nizam al-Mulk, they began to conspire for a coup, even going as far as offering the throne to one of their commanders. According to Nizam al-Mulk, the Emir's son, Nuh I (r. 943–954), got wind of the conspiracy and persuaded his father to abdicate in his favour. As the British historian Samuel Miklos Stern noted in 1960, "it is difficult to disentangle the legendary elements from the true facts" of Nizam al-Mulk's account, especially since the Fihrist does not mention a military plot, but has Nasr 'repenting' of his conversion, and al-Tha'alibi's account does not even have Nasr abdicating in favour of his son. Based on al-Tha'alibi, Nasr appears to have remained on his throne until his death in April 943, and it is very likely that he died as an Isma'ili, but that a long illness forced him to withdraw from public affairs earlier than that. Al-Tha'alibi reports that after Nasr's death and the accession of Nuh, the Isma'ilis tried to convert the new emir as well, but failed. According to Ibn al-Nadim, Nuh held a public theological debate, in which the Isma'ilis were defeated, but al-Tha'alibi contends that this happened in a private session, and that al-Nasafi's subsequent request for a public debate was denied. Shortly after, Nuh launched an anti-Isma'ili pogrom—according to Nizam al-Mulk, the troops spent seven days killing Isma'ili followers in Bukhara and its environs—in which al-Nasafi and many of his followers perished. The dating of this event is unclear, with both medieval and modern sources variously placing it in AH 331 (943 CE), AH 332 (944 CE), or even AH 333 (944/45 CE). Despite the implication in the medieval sources of a systematic anti-Isma'ili purge, this does not appear to have been the case, as several Isma'ili officials—including Ali Zarrad and Abu Mansur al-Shaghani—remained in their place during Nuh's reign. Furthermore, al-Nasafi's son Mas'ud, known by the sobriquet Dihqan, survived, and continued the Isma'ili missionary effort. ## Teachings and writings He is considered the first Isma'ili theologian to introduce concepts from Neoplatonic philosophy into Isma'ili cosmological doctrine. As Stern writes, "he founded Isma'ili philosophy by adopting a form of the current Islamic Neoplatonism, and his system remained the standard Isma'ili doctrine in Persia in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries". Sunni sources hold that al-Nasafi was subservient to the Fatimid caliphs, but modern scholars have concluded that he belonged to an independent line of the Isma'ili missionary movement (da'wa) that had come into existence during the late 9th century, before the schism of 899 between pro-Fatimid and 'Qarmatian' Isma'ilis. Al-Nasafi and his followers still subscribed to the original precepts of early Isma'ilism, that centred on the return of the seventh Isma'ili imam, Muhammad ibn Isma'il, as the Mahdī. In c. 912, al-Nasafi wrote a theological treatise, the Kitāb al-Maḥṣūl ('Book of the Yield'). It was widely circulated, but it has not survived, except in extensive quotations in the work of the later da'i, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani. He espoused the idea that the sharīʿa, the religious law of Islam announced by Muhammad, was suspended with the coming of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, and that the subsequent era was one of lawlessness, which would last until Muhammad ibn Isma'il's imminent return, when the true, inner meaning of religion would be revealed. These views were denounced as antinomian by more mainstream Isma'ili theologians belonging to the Fatimid-sponsored da'wa, but were popular with the dissident Isma'ili Qarmatians. The Kitāb al-Maḥṣūl was thus attacked by al-Nasafi's contemporary da'i, Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi, in the latter's Kitāb al-Iṣlāḥ ('Book of the Correction'); in turn, al-Nasafi's successor, Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani, wrote the treatise Kitāb al-Nuṣra ('Book of the Support') in defence of al-Nasafi. Two other manuscripts, held at a private library in India, are also ascribed to al-Nasafi.

Brockton station (MBTA)

Railway station in Brockton, Massachusetts

Brockton station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Brockton, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Middleborough/Lakeville Line and is a stop on the CapeFLYER seasonal line. The station consists of a single full-length high-level platform which is fully handicapped accessible. It is located adjacent to the BAT Centre, the primary hub for Brockton Area Transit Authority local bus service. The first station in the town (then called North Bridgewater) opened in 1846 on the Fall River Railroad. The railroad helped Brockton grow into a major manufacturing center. In the 1890s, Brockton was the site of the state's first major grade crossing elimination program, which included the construction of a massive stone viaduct and a pair of station buildings designed by Bradford Gilbert. Passenger service ended in 1959, and the station was demolished during an urban renewal program in the 1960s. After two decades of planning, the modern station was opened for commuter rail service by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1997. ## History ### Early history The Fall River Railroad opened from Myricks to South Braintree on December 21, 1846, including a stop at the town of North Bridgewater. The line went through several mergers and became part of the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad system in 1854. Unusually among larger cities in Massachusetts, Brockton was never a railroad junction; east-west branches were built from Bridgewater proper before North Bridgewater became a major manufacturing area. A charter for a branch from Stoughton to North Bridgewater was applied for in 1845 – before the railroad had even been completed – but nothing became of the plan. The first North Bridgewater station was a one-story structure located south of Center Street on the west side of the railroad tracks. (Until 1895, most railroads in southeastern Massachusetts had left-hand running, with Boston-bound trains on the western track). It was replaced by 1878 by a Victorian-style station located close by at Church Street, also west of the tracks. Commuting from North Bridgewater to Boston on the railroad was possible after 1854, and North Bridgewater was the outer terminus of some trains in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The railroad became the Old Colony and Newport Railroad in 1863, and finally the Old Colony Railroad in 1872. The town was renamed Brockton in 1874, with the railroad station changing its name on May 7. The railroad was a key part of the town's burgeoning shoe industry and rapid growth, which caused Brockton's population to double from 1877 to 1887. ### Grade crossing elimination On June 21, 1890, the Massachusetts General Court passed An Act to Promote the Abolition of Grade Crossings, which allowed town officials or a railroad company to petition the state superior court to create an independent commission to determine whether a grade crossing could and should be eliminated. The costs of such eliminations were to be paid 65% by the railroad, not more than 10% by the town, and the remainder by the state. The small local cost provided towns incentive to petition for crossing eliminations to prevent public thoroughfares from being blocked by trains. Numerous municipalities soon agitated for crossing eliminations, with Brockton's April 1891 petition the first of the lot. Shortly before then, the Old Colony Railroad announced plans to replace the aging and undersized Brockton station with a more appropriate structure. The station design was well-received, but its at-grade design – which would have precluded crossing eliminations – was seen as a threat to the economic future of the city. Brockton then had no fire station east of the railroad, adding fire safety concerns to the more widespread issue of pedestrian safety. Frequent delays for fire engines responding to calls caused higher insurance rates and lower land values in the eastern part of the city. The 1890 law had only authorized municipalities to eliminate crossings with public roads; however, many crossings in Brockton were private roads that the city did not have the right to modify. On June 15, 1892, the General Court authorized Brockton to include private roads in its grade separation project. As the petition to consider elimination of all grade crossings in the city was under way, city engineer F. Herbert Snow prepared a preliminary plan. The proposal called for tracks to be raised and streets lowered through the city center, and the tracks lowered and streets raised in the Campello village to the south. Brockton station and Montello station to the north would be completely replaced and relocated, while Campello station would be replaced on its existing site. The railroad was initially opposed to the expense of the plan; however, city engineers made a convincing case that grade separation would only be more expensive in the future, and the two parties reached an agreement in June 1893. The New Haven Railroad leased the Old Colony Railroad in 1893 and continued with the project. The Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners approved the grade separation project on April 21, 1894, allowing construction to proceed. Snow oversaw the design and construction of the project until its completion. The final quadruple-tracked stone viaduct was 0.7 miles (1.1 km) long, with stone arch bridges spanning five downtown streets; seven new bridges over the railroad were built near Montello and Campello. A total of 9,000 feet (2,700 m) of track was raised up to 15 feet (4.6 m); an additional 5,100 feet (1,600 m) was lowered up to 12 feet (3.7 m). A pair of massive stone passenger stations were constructed north of Centre Street in Brockton, with a smaller station pairs at Campello and Montello – each with a pedestrian tunnel connecting the two buildings. The stations were designed by Bradford Gilbert, who had previously designed a number of other Old Colony stations including those still standing at Bridgewater, Canton Junction, and North Abington. The pair of Brockton stations was built of Milford pink granite with brown trim and slate roofs in the Richardsonian Romanesque style then common for railroad stations in the area. The main station was 33 by 140 feet (10 m × 43 m), with the secondary station 30 by 108 feet (9.1 m × 32.9 m). A platform next to each building served the outer tracks, while the inner pair of tracks was fenced off to allow express trains to safely pass at speed. The western two tracks and stations were constructed first, allowing service to continue without interruption on existing tracks until that half of the modified tracks were completed. A massive new freight yard was constructed just north of downtown Brockton; smaller yards were built at Montello and Campello to handle local freight. The grade separation and station construction were completed by early 1897. The finished project, with its stone stations and bridges, was well-received; a number of other cities modeled their grade separation efforts on Brockton's success. However, the work cost \$2,236,411 (), of which the railroad paid the majority. Despite the operational benefits, railroads thereafter became much more wary of large grade separation projects: > Brockton ought to be more than satisfied, for no other city will get so complete a work in abolishing grade crossings. A prominent official of the railroad recently told me that the railroad company made a mistake in being induced to expend \$2,000,000 in a little city like Brockton, to abolish crossings. He said that the railroad company would never again be induced to engage in such an elaborate expenditure in a like undertaking ### Closure and revival Passenger rail service around Boston began declining in the 1920s, starting with branch lines. By 1954, Brockton was served by 13 daily round trips, for six of which it was the outer terminus. Only two of the four tracks remained at the station. After the completion of the parallel Southeast Expressway, remaining passenger service on the Old Colony Division was ended by the New Haven Railroad on June 30, 1959. The bridge over the Neponset River was destroyed by fire in 1960; the need for a replacement bridge drastically increased the cost of restoring passenger service. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was founded in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail service; the agency restored service on several other lines, but southeastern Massachusetts remained without passenger service. The line continued to be used for freight service by the New Haven and its successors Penn Central and Conrail. The station buildings were torn down in the late 1960s during an urban renewal project. A new police station, which lacked the grandeur of both the former railroad buildings and the former police station, was constructed on the eastern site in 1967. It was built atop the retaining walls of the former station; the walls and several stone stairwells to the street remain intact. In the 1970s, calls began to restore service on the former Old Colony Division. On January 27, 1973, the MBTA purchased most of Penn Central's commuter rail rights-of-way in southeastern Massachusetts, including the Middleborough main line from Braintree to Campello. A 1974 state analysis of restoring commuter rail service indicated that the Brockton platforms were still extant, but would need refurbishing for use. From 1984 to 1988, Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad seasonal commuter and excursion service stopped in Brockton at the former station site. In 1984, a state-directed MBTA study found that restoration of commuter rail service would be feasible. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released in May 1990, followed by a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in 1992. Both the DEIS and FEIS included conceptual plans placing Brockton station between Crescent Street and Lawrence Street, south of the former location and just outside the downtown core. However, the station was instead constructed at the previous site, accessed behind the police station. The accessible full-length island platform occupies the former inner track spaces, with the line's two current tracks location where the outer tracks originally were. The Middleborough/Lakeville Line and Kingston/Plymouth Line opened for commuter service on September 29, 1997. On February 15, 1999, the Brockton Intermodal Centre (BAT Centre) opened one block away as a terminal for Brockton Area Transit Authority local bus service. The \$4 million bus station was designed to imitate the architecture of the former railroad station. The project also included a 250-space surface parking lot. In December 2001, the state congressional delegation secured \$1 million to support construction of a parking garage at the bus terminal. The garage opened on April 30, 2004. The seasonal weekend CapeFLYER service to Cape Cod began stopping at Brockton in 2015. ## Bus connections BAT Centre, the Brockton Area Transit Authority (BAT) bus terminal, is located east of the station across Commercial Street. Most BAT routes connect there: - Route 1 Montello Street Via North Main Street - Route 2 S. Plaza/Campello Via Main Street - Route 3 VA Hospital Via Belmont - Route 4 Westgate Via Pleasant - Route 4A Westgate Mall Via N. Warren - Route 5 Brockton Hospital Via Centre St. - Route 6 Massasoit Via Crescent St. - Route 8 Southfield Via Warren & Plan St. - Route 9 Pearl Via W. Elm & Torrey - Route 10 Lisa & Howard Via N. Quincy & Court - Route 11 Cary Hill and the Village - Route 12 Ashmont - Route 14 Stoughton

Robert Bortuzzo

Canadian ice hockey player

Robert Bortuzzo (born March 18, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bortuzzo was drafted 78th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Bortuzzo played junior hockey with the Fort William North Stars with whom he won a Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) championship and Dudley Hewitt Cup. He was eventually drafted by the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and later traded to the Kitchener Rangers. During his time in the OHL, Bortuzzo drew comparisons to Fedor Tyutin and was praised as "a legitimate prospect" by NHL scouts. He spent three seasons with the Rangers before beginning his professional career with the Penguins organization. Bortuzzo played seven seasons with the Penguins organization, during which he was named to the 2011 AHL All-Star Game. Bortuzzo was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues on March 2, 2015, in exchange for Ian Cole. During the 2018–19 season, Bortuzzo won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Blues, becoming the first SIJHL alumni to do so. ## Early life Bortuzzo was born on March 18, 1989, in Thunder Bay, Ontario to parents Oscar and Susan. His father was a major junior ice hockey goaltender who was drafted by the Kitchener Rangers in 1977 and inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. His grandfather Sergio volunteered at Thunder Bay's DaVinci Centre and they host an annual bocce tournament in his name. ## Playing career Growing up in Thunder Bay, Bortuzzo played both baseball and ice hockey. He co-captained his little league baseball team to the Senior League World Series after narrowly missing the Little League World Series three years prior. Bortuzzo was drafted by the Windsor Spitfires during the 2005 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Priority Selection but chose to complete the 2005–06 season with the Fort William North Stars of the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL). During that season, he led the team to a league championship, Dudley Hewitt Cup but they failed to qualify for the 2006 Royal Bank Cup final. Although he went pointless in five games during the 2006 Royal Bank Cup Final, Bortuzzo called it a "great experience and definitely a great learning curve." ### OHL Upon completing the season with Fort William North Stars, Bortuzzo was acquired by the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2007 draft on May 31, 2006. After attending the team's training camp, he recorded his first career OHL goal on November 2, in a 4–2 loss to the London Knights. Leading up to the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Bortuzzo drew comparisons to Fedor Tyutin and was praised as "a legitimate prospect" by Mark Seidel, a scout for the NHL Draft. Although the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Bortuzzo 48th overall North American skaters he was drafted in the third round, 78th overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins. On September 4, 2007, Bortuzzo was invited to the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL camp, but was re-assigned to the Rangers for the 2007–08 season. During his second season with the team, Bortuzzo helped the Rangers set a new franchise record for points in a season as he scored the game winning goal in a 4–3 win over the Saginaw Spirit. The Rangers eventually won the Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the OHL team who finished the regular season with the best record. Bortuzzo helped the team qualify for the 2008 Memorial Cup and, in spite of a shoulder injury, recorded eight assists and a plus-18 rating. Former Penguins director of player personnel Jay Heinbuck spoke highly of Bortuzzo's play during the tournament saying, "He's got a good work ethic, he doesn't get beat one-on-one, he has good puck skills. I don't envision him being an offensive defenseman, but his passing is above average." During the offseason, Bortuzzo attended the Penguins 2008 Conditioning Camp, although he missed the beginning of the 2008–09 season due to a shoulder injury and subsequent recovery. Upon his return to the line-up, Bortuzzo played in the remaining 23 games and managed one goal and 16 assists. He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins on May 27, 2009, to conclude his major junior career. Bortuzzo finished his tenure with the Rangers accumulating 49 points in 138 regular-season games. ### Pittsburgh Penguins After attending the Penguins training camp, Bortuzzo was reassigned to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on September 23, 2009, to begin the 2009–10 season. He recorded his first career AHL goal during the second period of a 5–3 loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack on November 19. In his rookie season, Bortuzzo tallied 12 points, 109 penalty minutes, and a plus-13 rating in 75 games. After attending the Penguins training camp, Bortuzzo was re-assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on September 29, 2010, to begin the season. Following a game against Norfolk Admirals on December 11, Bortuzzo, Jesse Boulerice, and Stefano Giliati were each suspended one game as a result of their actions. By January, he had recorded two goals and 16 assists in 45 games and was tied league-wide for third amongst AHL defencemen with a plus-17 rating. As a result, he was selected to compete in the 2011 AHL All Star Classic, where he scored two goals. Bortuzzo concluded his second season with the Penguins with 26 points in 79 games and earned a league-wide best plus-28. For the third consecutive year, Bortuzzo attended the Penguins training camp, although he was placed on their injured reserve to begin the season. He also missed the team's final Rookie Tournament contest against the Blackhawks due to a lower body injury. Bortuzzo ended up missing all of training camp and the beginning of the season to recover from his injury. When he was medically cleared to play, he was assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, whom he played two games with before being called up to the NHL for his debut on November 4. The following day, Bortuzzo made his NHL debut against the Los Angeles Kings as a replacement for an injured Ben Lovejoy. He subsequently became the first SIJHL alumni to skate in a National Hockey League game. After going scoreless in his debut, he was returned to the AHL for a few games before earning another recall. While with the Penguins, Bortuzzo was injured during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on December 8, 2011, from a hit by Zac Rinaldo. He was out for several weeks with a concussion but was able to return to action in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton later that season on January 7. As the most tenured player on the team, he helped them qualify for the 2012 Calder Cup playoffs, where they eventually lost in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals to the St. John's IceCaps. Bortuzzo completed the regular season with 21 points in 51 AHL games. Prior to the 2012–13 season, Bortuzzo signed an AHL contract to stay with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The 2012–13 lock-out-shortened season saw Bortuzzo's role continue to increase on the team, playing in 15 of Pittsburgh's 48 regular-season games. On February 2, 2013, Bortuzzo scored his first NHL goal, against goaltender Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils; the Penguins went on to win 5–1. During the Penguins' lengthy run to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, Bortuzzo did not make an appearance, being a healthy scratch every game. Entering his seventh season with the Penguins organization, Bortuzzo made the team's opening night roster for the first time during his tenure. In the 2013–14 season, Bortuzzo saw his playing time continue to increase, in part due to rampant injuries among the Penguins defensive core. He played in 54 of Pittsburgh's 82 regular-season games, recording ten assists. On April 26, 2014, Bortuzzo played in his first career Stanley Cup playoffs game, against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the 2014 playoffs, after Brooks Orpik sustained an undisclosed upper-body injury in the series' previous game. In his debut, he played 13:36 minutes during 5-on-5 play. After suffering an injury during training camp, Bortuzzo joined the Penguins 2014–15 line-up on October 20, 2014. He sat as a healthy scratch at various times to begin the season before eventually scoring his first goal of the season on November 8, 2014. As a result of injuries to the Penguins blueline, Bortuzzo was paired with rookie Derrick Pouliot and accumulated five points in 13 games. In spite of this, he was suspended two games for interference against Jaromír Jágr during a game against the New Jersey Devils on December 4. By January, key members of the Penguins defence had returned from injury, resulting in him moving to a third pairing with Simon Després. ### St. Louis Blues After playing in 38 games for the Penguins and accumulating six points, Bortuzzo was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for defenceman Ian Cole. He made his St. Louis Blues debut on March 5, 2015, against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. Bortuzzo played out the remainder of the 2014–15 season with the Blues, recording 2 points in 13 games. At the conclusion of the season, the Blues signed Bortuzzo to a two-year contract in order to keep him on the team. Although the Blues qualified for the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, he was unable to compete due to an upper-body injury. On October 7, 2015, Bortuzzo was named to the Blues' opening night roster to begin the 2015–16 season, although his ability to play was questioned due to a preseason injury. He suffered a lower body injury during a game against the Montreal Canadiens on January 17, 2016, and missed one game to recover. Bortuzzo made his post-season debut with the team during the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs in the Western Conference Second Round against the Dallas Stars. Coach Ken Hitchcock paired him with Kevin Shattenkirk because "One's a defending player and one's an attacking player....Our feeling is we need more attacking right now. [Bortuzzo] is a guy that jumps up on the play, really attacks. He plays on his toes and he's good at joining the rush and making plays from the red line in." Although they beat the Stars, the team eventually lost to the San Jose Sharks during the Western Conference Final. Although Bortuzzo was named to the Blues' opening night roster to begin the 2016–17 season, he suffered a lower-body injury during a loss to the Detroit Red Wings on October 27, 2016, and missed ten games to recover. Upon returning from his injury, Bortuzzo was consistently paired with Colton Parayko until he was re-injured on December 3 during a game against the Winnipeg Jets and placed on injured reserve. As he was entering the final year of his contract, Bortuzzo signed a two-year, \$2.3 million extension to stay with the team on December 29. At the time of his singing, he had recorded two points, a goal and an assist, in 11 games while also averaging 13:48 of ice time. Bortuzzo ended up missing a total of 16 games to recover from his injury against the Jets and returned to the Blues line-up on January 12, 2017, against the Los Angeles Kings. He suffered another injury on March 31 against the Colorado Avalanche which delayed his 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs debut until Game 2 against the Minnesota Wild. He played a total of 10 games before the Blues were eliminated from the postseason. On October 2, 2017, Bortuzzo was named to the Blues' opening night roster to begin the 2017–18 season, paired with rookie Vince Dunn. Seven days later, Bortuzzo was fined \$3,091.40 for a cross-check delivered to the New York Islanders' forward Brock Nelson. As the season continued, Bortuzzo sat as a healthy scratch five times and was injured in his career-high 55th game of the season. He missed five games to recover from his left knee injury but returned to the Blues line-up on March 3. In spite of his injury, Bortuzzo set career highs in goals and points with four goals and 13 points. Bortuzzo competed with the Blues in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, during which he hit Nashville Predators forward Kevin Fiala in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round, causing a season ending injury. The Blues ended up losing to the Predators in six games, sending the Predators to their first conference final in franchise history. During a pre-season game prior to the 2018–19 season, Bortuzzo elbowed Washington Capitals defenceman Michal Kempný and was subsequently suspended for the remainder of the pre-season and one regular season game. Upon returning for the regular season, Bortuzzo suffered a lower-body injury in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 20 and was placed on injured reserve. He was eventually taken off injured reserve on November 30, 2018, more than a month after the initial injury. During a Blues practice on December 10, 2018, Bortuzzo fought teammate Zach Sanford. The two got a few punches in on one another before being separated by coaches. At the time, St. Louis had lost eight of their last 11 games. Five days later, the Blues signed Bortuzzo to a three-year, \$4.125 million contract extension worth \$1.375 million per season through to the end of the 2021–22 season. By January 2019, the Blues were in last place around the entire league resulting in a coaching and goaltender change. The changes proved to be successful as Bortuzzo ended the regular season playing in 59 regular-season games and accumulating 10 points as the team qualified for the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars to qualify for the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks. After losing in Game 1 of the Finals, the Blues and Sharks returned for Game 2 at the SAP Center, where Bortuzzo scored the game-winning goal at 16:34 of the second period in an eventual 4–2 win. The Blues ended up winning the series and met with the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals. Bortuzzo and the Blues beat the Bruins in seven games to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, and become the first SIJHL alumni to do so. Although he was scratched for the final game of the series, Bortuzzo was rewarded for his efforts with a Day with the Cup. During the 2019–20 season, Bortuzzo continued to improve his play while in the Blues' line-up. In a game against the Calgary Flames on November 21, 2019, Bortuzzo played a season-high 17:52 of ice time and earned a plus-five rating in the 5–0 win. Three days later, Bortuzzo was suspended for four games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for injuring Nashville Predators winger Viktor Arvidsson by repeatedly cross-checking him. Upon returning to the Blues' line-up on December 2 against the Chicago Blackhawks, Bortuzzo commented on his suspension by saying "The temperature of the game is high at times. Again, I'm not a malicious player. I'm not out here trying to injure people and I stand by that." When the Blues met the Predators again on February 15, Bortuzzo fought twice during the game, with Arvidsson and Jarred Tinordi, as the team lost 4–3. ## Career statistics ## Awards and honours

Battle of San Lorenzo

1813 battle in the Argentine War of Independence

The Battle of San Lorenzo was fought on 3 February 1813 in San Lorenzo, Argentina, then part of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. The royalist troops, were composed of militiamen recruited in Montevideo under the command of militia captain Antonio Zabala that was defeated by the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers, under the command of José de San Martín. This battle was the baptism by fire for this military unit, and for San Martín in the Spanish American wars of independence. Montevideo, a royalist stronghold during the Argentine War of Independence, was under siege by José Gervasio Artigas. Those in the city raided population centres along the nearby rivers for supplies. San Martín, who shortly before had arrived in Buenos Aires and formed the regiment, followed the royalist ships to San Lorenzo. The area around San Lorenzo formed a large empty plain, so the regiment hid inside the San Carlos Convent during the night and San Martín studied the battlefield and the enemy ships from the tower. The battle started at dawn, when the grenadiers made a surprise pincer movement to trap the enemy forces. One column was led by San Martín, and the other by Justo Germán Bermúdez. San Martín fell from his horse, and was nearly killed, but Juan Bautista Cabral and Juan Bautista Baigorria intervened and saved him. The royalists were defeated, but continued to raid villages for some time afterwards. This battle was the only one that San Martín fought in the modern territory of Argentina. The city of San Lorenzo keeps historic memorials of the battle and it is referenced in the San Lorenzo march. ## Prelude Although Buenos Aires had suffered a difficult period in its war for independence, its prospects were improving by 1812. Even though the defeats of Manuel Belgrano during the Paraguay campaign and Juan José Castelli in the first Upper Peru campaign had generated a political crisis, Belgrano's victory at the Battle of Tucumán had given new hope to the revolution, which would be strengthened shortly afterwards with the victory at the Battle of Salta. Montevideo, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata since the May Revolution, was under siege by both an army from Buenos Aires led by José Rondeau and a Uruguayan one led by José Gervasio Artigas. The city, however, maintained its river fleet over Buenos Aires and their vessels raided the coasts of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers to gather supplies, despite the siege. Montevideo organized a fleet to destroy the gun batteries at Rosario and Punta Gorda, two population centres along the Paraná, but were prevented from doing so as Buenos Aires dismantled them knowing that they could not be defended. The royalist troops that would raid San Lorenzo comprised eleven minors vessels of varying sizes, two hundred and fifty militiamen and fifty sailors. They moved into the Paraná through its tributary, the Paraná Guazú River, slowed down by headwinds. The Second Triumvirate promoted José de San Martín to colonel and instructed him to follow them with the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers and stop the raids. San Martín was influenced by Napoleonic warfare and trained the regiment with the most recent military techniques used in the Napoleonic Wars. San Martín moved the regiment from Retiro to Rosario, nearing the river at San Pedro and San Nicolás. He was following the Spanish ships and moved at night to avoid detection. San Martín had one hundred and twenty men for this action, reinforced at Rosario by a militia of seventy men under the command of Celedonio Escalada. Those reinforcements included twenty-two rifleman, thirty cavalry, a small cannon and men armed with knives. Escalada had made other actions against the royalists before this battle. San Martín discovered that the royalists intended to pillage the San Carlos Convent and pressed the march to arrive there first. One-hundred royalists landed on San Lorenzo, but the only food available to them was some chickens and watermelons. Aware of the risk of pillage, the population had removed the cattle from the area before the royalists arrived. Escalada arrived in San Lorenzo before the bulk of the patriot army, but the dust trail from the path to Rosario revealed their presence. Escalada attacked them but their ship had a longer range than his cannon, keeping him at bay. He was forced to retire when he found a Paraguayan prisoner who had escaped from the ship. The Paraguayan disclosed the size of the royalist army and their plan of attacking the convent with a larger force, suspecting that the local money was kept in it. They did not attack the convent right away, requiring time to prepare the two field cannons. Escalada returned with San Martín and relayed the news. The march from Retiro to the convent took only five days, thanks to the cadet Ángel Pacheco. Pacheco moved ahead of the regiment and prepared horses in advance at the relay positions. The whole army arrived on scene during the night of 2 February and hid inside the convent. They entered through the rear door and were not allowed to light fires or speak during the night. San Martín studied the enemy and the battlefield from the convent's tower, using a monocular. ## Battlefield The battle was fought at the location of the modern city of San Lorenzo, Santa Fe which is next to the Paraná River, at the point of its widest flow. The west bank of the river was tall and steep, forming a natural obstacle, and ships could only land troops and materials on that side of the river using man-made paths cut into the side. The battlefield was near one of these paths, shaped like a ladder, after which the terrain was a big plain with scattered bushes. The San Carlos Convent, the main nearby building, was a short distance away from the river. The location was not an easy place to defend without artillery, as the plains made surprise attacks difficult. Except for the convent itself, the terrain did not offer any natural barriers that the patriots could exploit. Nevertheless, the flat terrain was ideal for cavalry manoeuvres, and the distance between the church and the west gully gave enough room for a cavalry charge. The royalists, on the other hand, could support their troops with their ships from the river. Without a supporting navy, or local batteries, San Martín had no means to attack the ships. Although the small path allowed them passage to the ships, it could force the royalist forces to bottleneck during a retreat while the long range guns of the ships protected them. San Martín studied the battlefield and readied the plan for the operation during the night, when the grenadiers were hidden inside the convent. ## Battle The grenadiers left the convent at dawn, preparing their formations behind the convent. San Martín returned to the tower to watch the enemy who disembarked at sunrise, 5:30 in the morning. He mounted his horse, gave a short harangue to the troops, and headed to battle. His strategy was to divide his cavalry forces into two columns, of nearly sixty horsemen each, and make a surprise pincer movement to trap the enemy forces. The cavalry would not use their guns, relying instead on sabre and spear attacks. The right-hand column was headed by Justo German Bermúdez, and the left-hand one by San Martín. The royalists marched in two columns with the two cannons, a deployed flag and military drummers. The clarion of the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers sounded for the first time, marking the beginning of the battle. San Martín's column was the first one to reach the enemy. The two cannons and the cannon fire from the ships defended the royalists, but they were quickly outmanoeuvred by the sabre attacks and, unable to form a square, had to retreat. The advantage of surprise and the speed of the cavalry charge allowed the regiment to defeat the larger royalist army who had almost double their number of soldiers. When Bermúdez and his column joined the battle the royalists were not able to stand their ground and were routed, retreating in disarray under covering fire from the ships. Bermúdez led the attack at this point as San Martín had fallen from his horse. San Martín did not mention Escalada in his first battle report, initially leading historians to infer that they stayed within the convent during the battle. However it is currently considered that they took part in the battle, as suggested by the royalist battle report and a later report from San Martín which clarifies that only twelve grenadiers stayed in the convent. The combat took around fifteen minutes and left forty royalists dead and many injured, including Zabala. Fourteen patriot grenadiers died in the combat and two more would die afterwards due to combat injuries. Manuel Díaz Vélez fell from his horse in the gully, was mortally injured and captured by the royalists. Bermúdez was shot in the patella and died a few days later. Hippolyte Bouchard captured the Spanish flag after killing the standard-bearer. ### Cabral's intervention Despite the victory, the remaining royalist forces could not be pursued as the column led by Justo Bermúdez had moved further than calculated for. This delayed the meeting with San Martín's column whose horse was killed by enemy fire, leaving with his leg trapped under the corpse of the animal. These factors led to the columns not meeting up and allowed many royalists to escape. A royalist, probably Zabala himself, attempted to kill San Martín while he was trapped under his dead horse where he suffered a sabre injury to his face, and a bullet wound to his arm. Juan Bautista Cabral and Juan Bautista Baigorria intervened and saved San Martín's life. Cabral was mortally wounded during the rescue and San Martín reported that after Cabral was hit he said "I die happy, we have defeated the enemy". The exact moment this was said is unclear as the word after could have meant immediately after; during the ongoing battle; or some hours later during Cabral's agonising decline. San Martín wrote the battle report under a nearby tree. Fray Herminio Gaitán considers that Cabral's last words would have been in the Guaraní language, his first language, and that as San Martín also spoke Guaraní he would have translated them for the battle report. Juan Bautista Cabral is commonly known as "Sergeant Cabral", but he was a private at the time of the battle. San Martín's report mentions him as "the grenadier Juan B. Cabral", and historians like Bartolomé Mitre, Herminio Gaitán, Gerardo Bra and Norberto Galasso support the idea. Mitre considers that Cabral was promoted posthumously, but there are no documents confirming that. ## Aftermath Even though the Battle of San Lorenzo is acknowledged in Argentine historiography as an important battle for Argentine independence, it had little military influence in the conflict. Much of the recognition the battle generated is because San Martín fought in it, as the size of the forces involved and the length of the clash would normally mean it was considered a military engagement rather than a real battle and it did not influence the development of the Argentine War of Independence. This victory did nothing to prevent further raids from royalist ships as there were new raids at Tigre on 18 August 1813 and yet another one at San Fernando on 22 August. William Brown ended the royalist naval supremacy the following year. San Martín did not take hostages or ask for ransoms, but rather he instructed his people to avoid further conflicts and to try to restore peaceful relations with the royalists. Zabala requested assistance for his wounded soldiers, which San Martín provided and he invited Zabala to share a large breakfast, which he accepted. San Martín was aware that the new enlightened ideas at stake in the Napoleonic Wars influenced many of the Spanish military, and expected to convince Zabala that absolutism was a bad cause to defend. He succeeded, as Zabala joined the patriot forces under San Martín's command during his administration in Mendoza. José Gervasio Artigas, leader of the popular resistance at the Banda Oriental, sent an agent to San Lorenzo to congratulate San Martín for his victory. San Martín also met with John Parish Robertson, who informed Britain about the battle. ## Legacy There are many Argentine memorials and places named after the battle, including three cities in Greater Rosario: Puerto General San Martín, Capitán Bermúdez and Granadero Baigorria are named after José de San Martín, Justo Germán Bermúdez and Juan Bautista Baigorria respectively, all of whom were involved in the battle. The Sargento Cabral Department at the Chaco Province is named after Juan Bautista Cabral, even though he was not a sergeant as described. The most popular homage to the battle is the name of the football club San Lorenzo de Almagro, named after both the battle and Saint Lawrence. The city of San Lorenzo preserves the site of the battle and a dedicated historic complex. The San Carlos Convent is still a working convent, but has turned part of its buildings into a museum. It has retained San Martín's cell, the room used for medical treatment of the injured soldiers, urns of the dead soldiers and other related items to the "March of San Lorenzo" as well as the history of the convent. The mayor of San Lorenzo, made an agreement with the Argentine Armed Forces in 2008 that the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers would have a permanent presence at the site. The battlefield is known as the "Field of Glory", and it was turned into a park on 20 May 1913, by president Roque Sáenz Peña. There is a monument with two symbolic wings of victory, an eternal flame and nine memorials for the 16 patriot soldiers who died in the battle. The memorials are for the nine origins of those soldiers: the Argentine provinces of Corrientes, Santiago del Estero, La Rioja, Córdoba, San Luis and Buenos Aires, as well as Chile, France and Uruguay. Although Uruguay did not exist at the time of the battle, the Banda Oriental province is considered a predecessor of modern Uruguay. The pine tree (Pinus pinea) where San Martín wrote the battle report is known as the "Historic Pine", and has an estimated age of more than two hundred years. The convent, the battlefield and the Historic Pine were declared National Historic Monuments of Argentina on 24 September 1940 by law 12.648. The Historic Pine was declared a "Historic Tree" in 1946 by decree 3.038. ### Songs The Battle of San Lorenzo is the theme of the San Lorenzo march. The military march was composed in February 1901 by Cayetano Alberto Silva following a proposal from Representative Celestino Pera. It was first officially played on 30 October 1902 at the inauguration of the monument to General San Martín in Rosario. The lyrics were written by professor Carlos Javier Benielli in 1908. The march became famous in other countries and, according to the Argentine British Community Council, it has been considered in Europe to be one of the five best military marches ever written. The military bands of Uruguay, Brazil and Poland, amongst others, include it in their musical repertory. The Battle of San Lorenzo was also mentioned as an Argentine victory in the first Argentine National Anthem, along with the battles of San José, Suipacha, Las Piedras, Salta and Tucumán. There is also a brief reference to the battle in the march Mi bandera ("My flag"), which is about the flag of Argentina. However, the march includes a historical inaccuracy: "Here is the flag that one day triumphantly rose in the middle of the battle and, full of pride and gallantry, went immortally to San Lorenzo." Thar is incorrect as the current flag of Argentina was not widely used until 1814 or 1815. The Battle of Salta was the only conflict of the Argentine War of Independence fought in current Argentine territory under the modern flag of Argentina. The San Martín National Institute states, by oral tradition, that the grenadiers of San Lorenzo did not use any flag for the operation.

View (Shinee song)

2015 song by Shinee

"View" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band Shinee for their fourth Korean-language studio album Odd (2015). Band member Jonghyun wrote the lyrics, while LDN Noise, Ryan S. Jhun, and Adrian McKinnon handled the composition and production. The song was released on May 18, 2015, as the album's lead single by SM Entertainment. The song incorporates deep house and pop, featuring stripped-down instrumentation. The lyrics are about how people's senses are intensified by love. "View" received generally positive reviews from music critics, who regarded it as K-pop's first foray into deep house. In 2019, Billboard placed the song on its decade-end list of the greatest K-pop songs of the 2010s. It was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards. The song reached number one on the Gaon Digital Chart, and has sold over 724,000 digital copies in South Korea as of December 2015. An accompanying music video was released to YouTube on May 19, 2015, and features Shinee going on an adventure with female fans and performing choreography to the song. To promote the song, the band performed "View" on several South Korean music programs, including Music Bank, Show! Music Core and Inkigayo. ## Music and lyrics The lyrics of "View" were written by Shinee's lead vocalist Jonghyun. For the composition and production, the band's label SM Entertainment enlisted British production duo LDN Noise, including Greg Bonnick and Hayden Chapman, who had previously written and produced songs for K-pop groups Red Velvet, Got7, and Shinhwa. South Korean composer Ryan S. Jhun and Adrian McKinnon are also credited as writers and producers of the song. "View" is an uptempo 1990s-inspired deep house and pop song, a departure from the group's signature R&B sound. Some music critics have also characterized its sound as Italo house and UK garage. Regarding the choice of the genre, Jonghyun told Dazed, "On the musical side, deep house is a genre that's been developing internationally for a long time, but I think our song 'View' is the first song within K-pop to weave in that sound, and bring it to the masses. We wanted it to feel new and sophisticated." Ahead of its release, member Minho stated that he was worried how the new sound would be received by the audience. "View" incorporates a light synth production and relies on stripped-down instrumentation. The chorus has a repetitive, saccharine structure and employs bass over Disclosure-esque beats, similar to the band's 2013 single, "Everybody". Having a sensual sound, the song portrays the beauty of love as a "mixture of diverse senses". In the lyrics, the group discuss how people's senses are intensified by love. The lyrics are noted for their use of synesthetic imagery. ## Critical reception "View" received generally positive reviews from music critics who praised the group for experimenting with deep house and considered the song K-pop's first foray into the genre. Scott Interrante of PopMatters praised the song's production, writing that the house beat was "as infectious as any big pop hook despite its simplicity". Interante further wrote that "'View' floats along unpretentiously in a way that seems boring on first listen but which is increasingly appealing the more time you spend with it." Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum of MTV described it as "a great, laid back summer jam" even though "the song fools us into thinking it's an uptempo ballad before reaching its techno peak at the chorus". IZM's Lee Ki-seon said that the song's production blended with the group's vocal performance and deemed "View" as an album highlight. Billboard writer Jeff Benjamin lauded the track, saying, "By going against what's expected, Shinee actually ends up taking more of a risk by doing less and it pays off handsomely". In another review for the same magazine, Jessica Oak and Benjamin hailed it as "another ambitious release to add to the boy band's discography". Idolator listed "View" at number three on its list of "Best K-Pop Songs of 2015". On behalf of the publication, Peterson wrote: "'View' sounds like it was lifted straight out of a gay New York nightclub in the early nineties, which is about the highest possible praise one can give a record like this." Billboard also ranked it on the magazine's year-end list and as one of the greatest K-Pop songs of the 2010s. ### Accolades "View" achieved the top spot on various South Korean weekly music programs, winning nine music show awards. At the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards, the song received nominations for Song of the Year and Best Dance Performance – Male Group, winning the latter. It was also nominated for the Digital Bonsang at the 30th Golden Disc Awards. ## Release and commercial performance In May 2015, Shinee announced the release of their fourth Korean-language studio album, Odd. It marked their first Korean release in one and a half years since Everybody (2013). The band released the full track list on May 10, which revealed "View" as the third track on the album. In the lead-up to the release of "View", the group released photo and video teasers for the track, which served as a promotional tool for their return. Shinee premiered the song at their three-day concerts held at Seoul Olympic Park Gymnastics Gymnasium between May 15 and 17. It was released for digital download and streaming by SM Entertainment on May 18, 2015, the same day as the release of the album. Upon release, the song debuted at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart on the chart issue dated May 23, 2015, and sold 180,319 digital units within its first week of release. The following week, it climbed to the number one spot, selling another 77,304 digital units. It was the fourth best-performing song on the Gaon Monthly Chart for May 2015, selling 267,582 downloads. As of December 2015, the song has sold over 724,659 digital units in South Korea, becoming the 78th best-selling single of 2015. Additionally, it became the 41st best-performing single on the Gaon Digital Chart of 2015, based on digital sales, streaming, and instrumental track downloads. "View" peaked at number two on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart. ## Promotion The music video for "View" was released to YouTube on May 19, 2015. It was directed by Shin Hee-won and was filmed in Thailand. For the video, choreography by American choreographer Ian Eastwood was commissioned. The visual utilizes a light, Instagram-like filter and shows the group performing before being kidnapped by a legion of female fans. The video is interspersed with scenes showing the members lifting beers from stores, using strangers' pools, and breaking into deserted warehouses to party with their fans. There are also a few scenes where they perform choreography to the song. According to Shinee, the fashion styles featured in the video were inspired by various retro trends. Benjamin praised the video's fashion styles, writing that "the guys very well may boast the best fashion they've ever rocked in their K-pop videos too with fit muscle shirts and sportswear." Meanwhile, Taylor Glasby from Dazed interpreted the video as "creepy, fanfic-style". It was the most viewed music video on YouTube by a South Korean music act in May 2015. To promote the song and Odd, Shinee performed "View" on several South-Korean music programs, including KBS's Music Bank, MBC's Show! Music Core, and SBS' Inkigayo.

L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...

2001 single by Mylène Farmer

"L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." (English: "The Story of a Fairy Is...") is a 2001 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was one of the singles from the soundtrack album for the film Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (known in France as Les Razmokets à Paris). With its lyrics written by Farmer and the song being composed and produced by her long-time songwriting collaborator Laurent Boutonnat, "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." was released on 27 February 2001. The song describes the fairy Mélusine with "childish" lyrics that contrast with double entendres and puns referring to sexual practices. Although the single had no music video nor airplay promotion, it received generally positive reviews from critics and reached top-ten charts in France and Belgium. ## Background and writing Rugrats in Paris: The Movie was the second in a trilogy of films based on the children's animated television series Rugrats, which features the adventures of a group of toddlers. After filming, the producers wanted to record a soundtrack for the movie with mainly French songs, as well as a few in English. Several singers were contacted, including TLC member Tionne Watkins, the 1990s boys band 2Be3, Sinéad O'Connor, Cyndi Lauper and Mylène Farmer. Persistent but unconfirmed rumours claimed that Madonna, as the founder of the Maverick company producing the soundtrack, had expressly asked Farmer to participate in the album. Farmer accepted, but preferred to produce a new song instead of licensing the rights to one of her old compositions. The recording label Maverick signed a contract for an unreleased song, with lyrics written by Farmer and music composed by her songwriting partner Laurent Boutonnat. This was the first time that the singer had recorded a song especially for a movie. An English version was canceled in favour of a French version, and eventually the song only played for about 15 seconds in the movie. The first title chosen, "Attrapez-moi", was also quickly abandoned as it was too similar to the Pokémon's cry of "Attrapez-les tous". ## Music and lyrics "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." is a synthpop song. It tells the story of a mischievous and malicious fairy, Mélusine, here embodied by Farmer. Lyrically, the song uses words referring to magic, baffling several of Farmer's fans as the lyrics seem to be closer to the themes found in songs by young singers such as Alizée. The lyrics also contain several double entendres and puns which refer to sexual practices. The song's title itself is ambiguous and can be deemed sexually suggestive as it contains a pun in French alluding to spanking: in French, the title "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." could be phonetically understand as meaning "L'Histoire d'une fessée..." (translation: "The Story of a Spanking"). ## Release In Europe the soundtrack release was postponed until 7 February 2001 because Farmer had bought the song's royalties and finally decided to release it as a single, 14 days later. It was only released as a digipack CD single, in which the song's lyrics are written inside, and there was no promotional format. For the second time in the singer's career – after the song "XXL" – the single cover does not show her, but a drawing of a fairy from the film by Tom Madrid. The song began circulating online a month before the soundtrack's release and was well received by many fans who felt that it could be a hit. The song did not receive much radio airplay, with only Europe 2 playing it regularly. "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." was also released on the soundtrack of the film in a longer version than the CD single version, and was later included on Mylène Farmer's greatest hits album Les Mots. It was also released as the third track on the European CD maxi "Les Mots", released in the Switzerland on 4 September 2002. ## Critical reception The song was generally well received by critics, who particularly noted the puns. According to author Erwan Chuberre, the lyrics are "as funny as disillusioned" and Farmer uses puns that "highlight her immoderate pleasure for impolite pleasures", with a music he deemed "effective". Author Thierry Desaules said that the song appears to be a childish fairly tale, but is actually structured in a perverse enough way to address the adult public, as the allusions to the spanking can be seen as references to sadomasochism. Journalist Benoît Cachin wrote that her puns are "of the funniest" and that the singer included in the lyrics "some very personal thoughts", including sadness; he added that Farmer appears to be "fun, dynamic and delightfully mischievous" on this song. ## Chart performance On 3 March 2001, the single debuted at a peak of number nine on the French SNEP Singles Chart, providing Farmer her 22nd top ten hit. In the following weeks, the song fell steadily and remained in the top 50 for nine weeks and a total of 15 weeks on the chart. This chart performance was surprising given that the song was aired little on radio, the film met a mixed commercial success in France and there was no music video, no promotion on television, and only one format. According to Instant-Mag the beauty of the single's cover undoubtedly helped increase sales. In Belgium, the single started at number 23 on 15 March 2001, climbed to number 11, then peaked at number 10. Thereafter, it dropped and fell off the Ultratop 50 after 13 weeks. On the 2001 Belgian singles year-end chart, "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." ranked at number 89. ## Formats and track listings These are the formats and track listings of single releases of "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...": - CD single – Digipack ## Official versions ## Credits and personnel These are the credits and the personnel as they appear on the back of the single: - Mylène Farmer – lyrics - Laurent Boutonnat – music, producer - John Eng – artistic director - Gena Kornyshev – stylist - Tom Madrid – drawings - Requiem Publishing – editions - Polydor – recording company - Henry Neu – design - Bertrand Chatenet – mixing ## Charts ### Peak positions ### Year-end charts ### Sales ## Release history

Lady Henrietta Berkeley

English aristocrat

Lady Henrietta Berkeley (c. 1664–1706) was an English aristocrat notorious for having an affair with her elder sister's husband, Lord Grey of Warke. The affair began in 1681 when Berkeley was not yet an adult and was discovered by her mother the following year. Berkeley was removed to the family seat at Epsom then escaped and went into hiding in lodging houses in London, under the protection of Grey. Her father, George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, sued her lover in a trial which became a sensation in 1682. At the court of the King's Bench, Berkeley claimed to have left home with Grey of her own free will and also to have married William Turner, who was Grey's servant. After a scuffle with her father outside court, she was briefly imprisoned with Turner for her own safety. When Grey was implicated in the Rye House Plot the following year, the couple fled to Cleves, with Turner in their entourage. At the time, Berkeley was pregnant and it is not known if she returned to England with Grey for the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. She died in London in 1706. ## Scandal Lady Henrietta Berkeley was born to Lady Elizabeth and George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, in 1664 or later. She was one of six daughters and there were also two sons. At some point in 1681, Berkeley began an affair with Ford Grey, Lord Grey of Warke, who was married to her elder sister Lady Mary. The affair was discovered by her suspicious mother, Lady Elizabeth, in 1682, when she sent another sister (Lady Arabella) to check for evidence in Berkeley's room at Berkeley House (later Devonshire House) in London. A letter was discovered in which Berkeley had written "My sister Bell did not suspect our being together last night; for she did not hear the noise. Pray come again Sunday or Monday; if the last, I shall be very impatient". Lady Elizabeth banned the lovers from seeing each other and took Berkeley to the family seat at Durdans in Epsom, outside London. Lady Mary was also there and she invited her husband to visit, not knowing about his adultery. Lady Elizabeth had been too mortified to tell either Lady Mary or the Earl of Berkeley about the scandal and therefore was forced to host Grey for several days. When he left, Berkeley escaped from the house the same night and followed him back to London. Berkeley then stayed at various lodging houses in London and her family set a reward of for anyone who could tell them her whereabouts. A note announcing the reward in the September 1682 London Gazette described her as "a young lady of a fair complexion, fair haired, full breasted, and indifferent tall". Grey told her parents that he was still in contact with her but refused to tell them where she was. ## Trial The Earl of Berkeley sued Lord Grey and his accomplices for conspiring to debauch his daughter. The prosecution charged Grey with "inveigling the Lady Henrietta Berkeley away, and causing her to live an ungodly and profligate life, carrying her about from place to place, and obscuring her in secret places, to the displeasure of Almighty God, the utter ruin of the young lady, the evil example to others, offending against the king's peace, his crown and dignity". At the court of the King's Bench, when the jury were about to retire to consider the case, Berkeley sensationally announced that she had left her home of her own free will and declared that she was now the wife of a William Turner, who happened to be a servant of Grey. The Lord Chief Justice, Francis Pemberton, told her "You have injured your own reputation, and prostituted both your body and your honour, and are not to be believed". When the court broke up, Berkeley's father endeavoured to take his daughter away, but she resisted. Swords were drawn and in order to break up the scuffle, the judge decided Berkeley and her alleged husband were to be detained in the prison below the King's Bench for their own safety. They were subsequently released. Grey was found guilty by the jury but received no punishment, as other events took precedence. After he was involved in the Rye House Plot of 1683 to assassinate both King Charles II of England and his brother (and future king) James, Duke of York, Grey was arrested then managed to escape when his guard fell asleep. The reportedly pregnant Berkeley fled with him to the Netherlands in June, their entourage including William Turner. In July, Grey was indicted in his absence for high treason. They travelled to Cleves (then part of Brandenburg-Prussia); but afterwards nothing can be said for certain about Berkeley's movements. It is unclear whether she returned to England soon afterwards or carried on living in Europe and only moved back much later. Grey returned to England as a leader of the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, then obtained a pardon from King James II, regaining his honours and later becoming 1st Earl of Tankerville. ## Death and legacy Berkeley died on 10 August 1706 in Tonbridge, Kent. Although it is not clear if they were still lovers, Grey, who died in 1701, had left her a life annuity of . She left a sum of in her will, of which went to her niece Elizabeth Germain. Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister was a contemporary novel which drew on the events of the scandal and was published anonymously in 1684. It is believed to have been written by Aphra Behn. Later, in the 19th century, George William MacArthur Reynolds wrote that Berkeley "unfortunately sacrificed her good name and affections of doting parents at the instigations of a consummate scoundrel".

Anasazi (The X-Files)

"Anasazi" is the twenty-fifth episode and season finale of the second season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on May 19, 1995. It was written by series creator Chris Carter based on a story he developed with lead actor David Duchovny. The episode was directed by R. W. Goodwin, and featured guest appearances by Peter Donat, Nicholas Lea, Mitch Pileggi and Floyd Red Crow Westerman. The episode helped explore the overarching mythology, or fictional history of The X-Files. "Anasazi" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.1, being watched by 9.6 million households in its initial broadcast; and received positive reviews from critics. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully come into possession of a tape containing classified government files, and attempt to decipher its contents. Meanwhile, Mulder's mental health begins to deteriorate, and a mysterious corpse is discovered on a New Mexico reservation. "Anasazi" is part of a three-episode storyline, with the plot carrying on in the third season episodes "The Blessing Way" and "Paper Clip". Series creator Chris Carter worked closely with series star David Duchovny, who shares a story credit with Carter for the episode. Because the series was filmed in Vancouver, the producers painted a disused quarry in Vancouver with 1,600 US gallons (6,100 L) of red paint and also composited in images shot in New Mexico and a blue sky in order to make the New Mexico rock quarry featured in the episode. ## Plot In the desert on a Navajo Indian reservation in New Mexico, a teenage boy comes across a boxcar buried in the ground. He retrieves the corpse of an alien-like figure from the boxcar, which he takes back to the reservation and presents to the residents, including a Navajo elder named Albert Hosteen. Shortly afterward, Kenneth Soona, a computer hacker known as "The Thinker", breaks into the Defense Department database and downloads secret files related to extraterrestrial life, putting them onto a digital tape. When the Syndicate, a secretive group of government officials, learns of the breach, the Smoking Man tells them that he has already resolved the matter, although this is a lie; in fact, notification of such a development was "the phone call [he] never wanted to get." The Lone Gunmen visit Mulder and inform him that Soona wants to meet with him and are interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. When Mulder goes out to his apartment hallway to investigate, he finds that one of his neighbors has shot her husband. Soona gives the digital tape to Mulder at a discreet meeting in a park. An excited Mulder returns to FBI headquarters, only to find that the tape is encrypted. Scully believes the encryption is based on the Navajo language and takes the tape in order to investigate. When Skinner calls Mulder to his office to question him about the tape, Mulder physically attacks him. Scully is brought before an FBI panel led by Skinner and is questioned about Mulder's actions. Scully is told that Mulder faces dismissal from the FBI, and that she will suffer a similar punishment if she has lied to them. On Martha's Vineyard, the Smoking Man visits Mulder's father, Bill, and informs him of his son's likely possession of the tape. Scully meets with a Navajo translator, who refers her to a code talker. Mulder is called away to see Bill; when Scully arrives at his apartment, she is grazed by a bullet shot through his window. When Mulder arrives at Bill's residence, his father prepares to reveal the truth about everything. However, Bill is shot and mortally wounded by Alex Krycek. When Mulder contacts Scully, she tells him to flee the scene. After Mulder arrives at her apartment, Scully takes his gun from him while he sleeps. Scully brings the gun to the FBI for comparison against the bullet that killed Bill. When Mulder awakens, he becomes angry and suspicious towards Scully. Later returning to his building, Scully finds his water being contaminated. As Mulder is entering in his building, he spots Krycek, whom he disarms and prepares to kill. However, Scully shoots him to prevent him from doing so, allowing Krycek to escape. Scully brings an unconscious Mulder to New Mexico and, when he awakens, reveals that his behavior was caused by a drug placed into his water supply and that she shot him because if he had killed Krycek, it then would have been harder to prove his innocence in his father's death. She then introduces him to Hosteen, who has been translating the files on the tape. Scully reveals that the tape contains information on both her and Duane Barry. Hosteen introduces Mulder to his grandson, who drives him to the buried boxcar. Just before Mulder heads in, he is called by the Smoking Man, who is able to trace Mulder's location through the call. Mulder heads inside the boxcar, finding a pile of the dead creatures, each with smallpox vaccination scars on their arms. The Smoking Man arrives by helicopter with eight armed commandos and, not finding Mulder inside, orders the boxcar to be burned. ## Production Series creator Chris Carter noted that the episode's creation "was the culmination of a lot of ideas. Generally, when we pitch stories to the staff everyone comments on them, and Darin Morgan called this the kitchen sink episode, because it had so much in it, he didn't know how we would pull it off. But I'm very proud of the script. David Duchovny and I worked quite closely on the story and he had a lot of input, and then I sat down and wrote the script". He felt that the episode ended the season in the best manner possible, asking more questions than it answered. The episode tried to make similar cliffhangers as the previous season finale, with revelations such as Mulder's father being part of the conspiracy and later killed to "prove anything could happen in The X-Files". To create the New Mexico rock quarry in this episode, the producers painted a disused quarry in Vancouver with 1,600 US gallons (6,100 L) of red paint, and also composited images shot in New Mexico and a blue sky to make it look more authentic. The painting of the quarry was achieved with a series of cranes, and required the permission of local environmental groups. When early seasons of the show were re-released in 16:9 widescreen for home video and streaming services in 2016, this practical effect became noticeable as sections of gray, unpainted quarry were visible at the edges of the frame which would not have been viewable on 4:3 televisions at the time of the original broadcast. To create the impression of a buried train carriage, a depression had to be blown into the ground and thirty-two dump trucks worth of debris removed. Series creator Chris Carter makes a cameo appearance in this episode as one of the senior FBI agents questioning Scully. The tagline for this episode is Éí 'Aaníígóó 'Áhoot'é, which means "The Truth is Out There" in Navajo. ## Reception "Anasazi" premiered on the Fox network on May 19, 1995, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on February 27, 1996. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.1, with an 18 share, meaning that roughly 10.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 18 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 9.6 million households. In a retrospective of the second season in Entertainment Weekly, "Anasazi" was rated an A, being described as "mind-blowing if frustrating", with it being noted that the episode "made fans want to fast-forward through summer." Writing The A.V. Club, Zack Handlen rated the episode an A−, noting that the episode "has a lot of really strong moments" and praising Duchovny's acting. However, he felt that the episode marked the point at which the series' overarching mythology would begin to lose focus, explaining that "it's troubling that instead of answering any big issues here ... the show only gives us new directions". Chris Carter said of the episode, "I'm proud of the way it came together, what it did for the series, and the overwhelmingly positive response it has gotten. I'm very pleased beginning season three with where this episode put us—which is that it posed more questions than it answered." He later said in 2005 that the episode brought a lot of interest to the show due to the apparent death of agent Mulder. The episode, along with both other parts of the story arc, were listed concurrently as the second-best episode of the series by Den of Geek's Nina Sordi. Sordi noted that the plotline "laid the groundwork for the mythology arc for the rest of the series", adding that it "brought much more significance to what is to come". Some reviewers have critiqued the treatment of indigenous peoples and culture in the episode. While writing a largely positive review of the episode, Jess Camacho of Multiversity Comics argued that "Anasazi" is "awful when it comes to dealing with Native American people, specifically their very valid conflicts with the U.S. government. It has really fallen back on some stereotypes and doesn't do very well in handling things." Likewise, Eleanor Hersey, in an article published in the Journal of Popular Film & Television argues that "The X-Files is certainly guilty of romanticizing and stereotyping the Navajo" in the episode.

Economy of England in the Middle Ages

Overview of the economy of England during the Middle Ages

The medieval English saw their economy as comprising three groups – the clergy, who prayed; the knights, who fought; and the peasants, who worked the landtowns involved in international trade. Over the five centuries of the Middle Ages, the English economy would at first grow and then suffer an acute crisis, resulting in significant political and economic change. Despite economic dislocation in urban and extraction economies, including shifts in the holders of wealth and the location of these economies, the economic output of towns and mines developed and intensified over the period. By the end of the period, England had a weak government, by later standards, overseeing an economy dominated by rented farms controlled by gentry, and a thriving community of indigenous English merchants and corporations. The 12th and 13th centuries saw a small development of the English economy. This was partially driven by the growth in the population from around 1.5 million at the time of the creation of the Domesday Book in 1086 to between 4 and 5 million in 1300. England remained a primarily agricultural economy, with the rights of major landowners and the duties of serfs increasingly enshrined in English law. More land, much of it at the expense of the royal forests, was brought into production to feed the growing population or to produce wool for export to Europe. Many hundreds of new towns, some of them planned, sprung up across England, supporting the creation of guilds, charter fairs and other important medieval institutions. The descendants of the Jewish financiers who had first come to England with William the Conqueror played a significant role in the growing economy, along with the new Cistercian and Augustinian religious orders that came to become major players in the wool trade of the north. Mining increased in England, with the silver boom of the 12th century helping to fuel a fast-expanding currency. Economic growth began to falter by the end of the 13th century, owing to a combination of over-population, land shortages and depleted soils. The loss of life in the Great Famine of 1315–17 shook the English economy severely and population growth ceased; the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 then killed around half the English population, with major implications for the post-plague economy. The agricultural sector shrank, with higher wages, lower prices and shrinking profits leading to the final demise of the old demesne system and the advent of the modern farming system of cash rents for lands. The Peasants Revolt of 1381 shook the older feudal order and limited the levels of royal taxation considerably for a century to come. The 15th century saw the growth of the English cloth industry and the establishment of a new class of international English merchant, increasingly based in London and the South-West, prospering at the expense of the older, shrinking economy of the eastern towns. These new trading systems brought about the end of many of the international fairs and the rise of the chartered company. Together with improvements in metalworking and shipbuilding, this represents the end of the medieval economy, and the beginnings of the early modern period in English economics. ## Invasion and the early Norman period (1066–1100) William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, defeating the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings and placing the country under Norman rule. This campaign was followed by fierce military operations known as the Harrying of the North in 1069–70, extending Norman authority across the north of England. William's system of government was broadly feudal in that the right to possess land was linked to service to the king, but in many other ways the invasion did little to alter the nature of the English economy. Most of the damage done in the invasion was in the north and the west of England, some of it still recorded as "wasteland" in 1086. Many of the key features of the English agricultural and financial system remained in place in the decades immediately after the conquest. ### Agriculture and mining #### English agriculture Agriculture formed the bulk of the English economy at the time of the Norman invasion. Twenty years after the invasion, 35% of England was covered in arable land, 25% was put to pasture, 15% was covered by woodlands and the remaining 25% was predominantly moorland, fens and heaths. Wheat formed the single most important arable crop, but rye, barley and oats were also cultivated extensively. In the more fertile parts of the country, such as the Thames valley, the Midlands and the east of England, legumes and beans were also cultivated. Sheep, cattle, oxen and pigs were kept on English holdings, although most of these breeds were much smaller than modern equivalents and most would have been slaughtered in winter. #### Manorial system In the century prior to the Norman invasion, England's great estates, owned by the king, bishops, monasteries and thegns, had been slowly broken up as a consequence of inheritance, wills, marriage settlements or church purchases. Most of the smaller landowning nobility lived on their properties and managed their own estates. The pre-Norman landscape had seen a trend away from isolated hamlets and towards larger villages engaged in arable cultivation in a band running north–south across England. These new villages had adopted an open field system in which fields were divided into small strips of land, individually owned, with crops rotated between the field each year and the local woodlands and other common lands carefully managed. Agricultural land on a manor was divided between some fields that the landowner would manage and cultivate directly, called demesne land, and the majority of the fields that would be cultivated by local peasants, who would pay rent to the landowner either through agricultural labour on the lord's demesne fields or through cash or produce. Around 6,000 watermills of varying power and efficiency had been built in order to grind flour, freeing up peasant labour for other more productive agricultural tasks. The early English economy was not a subsistence economy and many crops were grown by peasant farmers for sale to the early English towns. The Normans initially did not significantly alter the operation of the manor or the village economy. William reassigned large tracts of land amongst the Norman elite, creating vast estates in some areas, particularly along the Welsh border and in Sussex. The biggest change in the years after the invasion was the rapid reduction in the number of slaves being held in England. In the 10th century slaves had been very numerous, although their number had begun to diminish as a result of economic and religious pressure. Nonetheless, the new Norman aristocracy proved harsh landlords. The wealthier, formerly more independent Anglo-Saxon peasants found themselves rapidly sinking down the economic hierarchy, swelling the numbers of unfree workers, or serfs, forbidden to leave their manor and seek alternative employment. Those Anglo-Saxon nobles who had survived the invasion itself were rapidly assimilated into the Norman elite or economically crushed. #### Creation of the forests The Normans also established the royal forests. In Anglo-Saxon times there had been special woods for hunting called "hays", but the Norman forests were much larger and backed by legal mandate. The new forests were not necessarily heavily wooded but were defined instead by their protection and exploitation by the crown. The Norman forests were subject to special royal jurisdiction; forest law was "harsh and arbitrary, a matter purely for the King's will". Forests were expected to supply the king with hunting grounds, raw materials, goods and money. Revenue from forest rents and fines came to become extremely significant and forest wood was used for castles and royal ship building. Several forests played a key role in mining, such as the iron mining and working in the Forest of Dean and lead mining in the Forest of High Peak. Several other groups bound up economically with forests; many monasteries had special rights in particular forests, for example for hunting or tree felling. The royal forests were accompanied by the rapid creation of locally owned parks and chases. ### Trade, manufacturing and the towns Although primarily rural, England had a number of old, economically important towns in 1066. A large amount of trade came through the Eastern towns, including London, York, Winchester, Lincoln, Norwich, Ipswich and Thetford. Much of this trade was with France, the Low Countries and Germany, but the North-East of England traded with partners as far away as Sweden. Cloth was already being imported to England before the invasion through the mercery trade. Some towns, such as York, suffered from Norman sacking during William's northern campaigns. Other towns saw the widespread demolition of houses to make room for new motte and bailey fortifications, as was the case in Lincoln. The Norman invasion also brought significant economic changes with the arrival of the first Jews to English cities. William I brought over wealthy Jews from the Rouen community in Normandy to settle in London, apparently to carry out financial services for the crown. In the years immediately after the invasion, a lot of wealth was drawn out of England in various ways by the Norman rulers and reinvested in Normandy, making William immensely wealthy as an individual ruler. The minting of coins was decentralised in the Saxon period; every borough was mandated to have a mint and therefore a centre for trading in bullion. Nonetheless, there was strict royal control over these moneyers, and coin dies could only be made in London. William retained this process and generated a high standard of Norman coins, leading to the use of the term "sterling" as the name for the Norman silver coins. ### Governance and taxation William I inherited the Anglo-Saxon system in which the king drew his revenues from: a mixture of customs; profits from re-minting coinage; fines; profits from his own demesne lands; and the system of English land-based taxation called the geld. William reaffirmed this system, enforcing collection of the geld through his new system of sheriffs and increasing the taxes on trade. William was also famous for commissioning the Domesday Book in 1086, a vast document which attempted to record the economic condition of his new kingdom. ## Mid-medieval growth (1100–1290) The 12th and 13th centuries were a period of huge economic growth in England. The population of England rose from around 1.5 million in 1086 to around 4 or 5 million in 1300, stimulating increased agricultural outputs and the export of raw materials to Europe. In contrast to the previous two centuries, England was relatively secure from invasion. Except for the years of the Anarchy, most military conflicts either had only localised economic impact or proved only temporarily disruptive. English economic thinking remained conservative, seeing the economy as consisting of three groups: the ordines, those who fought, or the nobility; laboratores, those who worked, in particular the peasantry; and oratores, those who prayed, or the clerics. Trade and merchants played little part in this model and were frequently vilified at the start of the period, although they were increasingly tolerated towards the end of the 13th century. ### Agriculture, fishing and mining #### English agriculture and the landscape Agriculture remained by far the most important part of the English economy during the 12th and 13th centuries. There remained a wide variety in English agriculture, influenced by local geography; in areas where grain could not be grown, other resources were exploited instead. In the Weald, for example, agriculture centred on grazing animals on the woodland pastures, whilst in the Fens fishing and bird-hunting was supplemented by basket-making and peat-cutting. In some locations, such as Lincolnshire and Droitwich, salt manufacture was important, including production for the export market. Fishing became an important trade along the English coast, especially in Great Yarmouth and Scarborough, and the herring was a particularly popular catch; salted at the coast, it could then be shipped inland or exported to Europe. Piracy between competing English fishing fleets was not unknown during the period. Sheep were the most common farm animal in England during the period, their numbers doubling by the 14th century. Sheep became increasingly widely used for wool, particularly in the Welsh borders, Lincolnshire and the Pennines. Pigs remained popular on holdings because of their ability to scavenge for food. Oxen remained the primary plough animal, with horses used more widely on farms in the south of England towards the end of the 12th century. Rabbits were introduced from France in the 13th century and farmed for their meat in special warrens. The underlying productivity of English agriculture remained low, despite the increases in food production. Wheat prices fluctuated heavily year to year, depending on local harvests; up to a third of the grain produced in England was potentially for sale, and much of it ended up in the growing towns. Despite their involvement in the market, even the wealthiest peasants prioritised spending on housing and clothing, with little left for other personal consumption. Records of household belongings show most possessing only "old, worn-out and mended utensils" and tools. The royal forests grew in size for much of the 12th century, before contracting in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Henry I extended the size and scope of royal forests, especially in Yorkshire; after the Anarchy of 1135–53, Henry II continued to expand the forests until they comprised around 20% of England. In 1217 the Charter of the Forest was enacted, in part to mitigate the worst excesses of royal jurisdiction, and established a more structured range of fines and punishments for peasants who illegally hunted or felled trees in the forests. By the end of the century the king had come under increasing pressure to reduce the size of the royal forests, leading to the "Great Perambulation" around 1300; this significantly reduced the extent to the forests, and by 1334 they were only around two-thirds the size they had been in 1250. Royal revenue streams from the shrinking forests diminished considerably in the early 14th century. #### Development of estate management The Normans retained and reinforced the manorial system with its division between demesne and peasant lands paid for in agricultural labour. Landowners could profit from the sales of goods from their demesne lands and a local lord could also expect to receive income from fines and local customs, whilst more powerful nobles profited from their own regional courts and rights. During the 12th century major landowners tended to rent out their demesne lands for money, motivated by static prices for produce and the chaos of the Anarchy between 1135 and 1153. This practice began to alter in the 1180s and 1190s, spurred by the greater political stability. In the first years of John's reign, agricultural prices almost doubled, at once increasing the potential profits on the demesne estates and also increasing the cost of living for the landowners themselves. Landowners now attempted wherever possible to bring their demesne lands back into direct management, creating a system of administrators and officials to run their new system of estates. New land was brought into cultivation to meet demand for food, including drained marshes and fens, such as Romney Marsh, the Somerset Levels and the Fens; royal forests from the late 12th century onwards; and poorer lands in the north, south-west and in the Welsh Marches. The first windmills in England began to appear along the south and east coasts in the 12th century, expanding in number in the 13th, adding to the mechanised power available to the manors. By 1300 it has been estimated that there were more than 10,000 watermills in England, used both for grinding corn and for fulling cloth. Fish ponds were created on most estates to provide freshwater fish for the consumption of the nobility and church; these ponds were extremely expensive to create and maintain. Improved ways of running estates began to be circulated and were popularised in Walter de Henley's famous book Le Dite de Hosebondrie, written around 1280. In some regions and under some landowners, investment and innovation increased yields significantly through improved ploughing and fertilisers – particularly in Norfolk, where yields eventually equalled later 18th-century levels. #### Role of the Church in agriculture The Church in England was a major landowner throughout the medieval period and played an important part in the development of agriculture and rural trade in the first two centuries of Norman rule. The Cistercian order first arrived in England in 1128, establishing around 80 new monastic houses over the next few years; the wealthy Augustinians also established themselves and expanded to occupy around 150 houses, all supported by agricultural estates, many of them in the north of England. By the 13th century these and other orders were acquiring new lands and had become major economic players both as landowners and as middlemen in the expanding wool trade. In particular, the Cistercians led the development of the grange system. Granges were separate manors in which the fields were all cultivated by the monastic officials, rather than being divided up between demesne and rented fields, and became known for trialling new agricultural techniques during the period. Elsewhere, many monasteries had significant economic impact on the landscape, such as the monks of Glastonbury, responsible for the draining of the Somerset Levels to create new pasture land. The military crusading order of the Knights Templar also held extensive property in England, bringing in around £2,200 per annum by the time of their fall. It comprised primarily rural holdings rented out for cash, but also included some urban properties in London. Following the dissolution of the Templar order in France by Philip IV of France, Edward II ordered their properties to be seized and passed to the Hospitaller order in 1313, but in practice many properties were taken by local landowners and the hospital was still attempting to reclaim them twenty-five years later. The Church was responsible for the system of tithes, a levy of 10% on "all agrarian produce... other natural products gained via labour... wages received by servants and labourers, and to the profits of rural merchants". Tithes gathered in the form of produce could be either consumed by the recipient, or sold on and bartered for other resources. The tithe was relatively onerous for the typical peasant, although in many instances the actual levy fell below the desired 10%. Many clergy moved to the towns as part of the urban growth of the period, and by 1300 around one in twenty city dwellers was a clergyman. One effect of the tithe was to transfer a considerable amount of agriculture wealth into the cities, where it was then spent by these urban clergy. The need to sell tithe produce that could not be consumed by the local clergy also spurred the growth of trade. #### Expansion of mining Mining did not make up a large part of the English medieval economy, but the 12th and 13th centuries saw an increased demand for metals in the country, thanks to the considerable population growth and building construction, including the great cathedrals and churches. Four metals were mined commercially in England during the period, namely iron, tin, lead and silver; coal was also mined from the 13th century onwards, using a variety of refining techniques. Iron mining occurred in several locations, including the main English centre in the Forest of Dean, as well as in Durham and the Weald. Some iron to meet English demand was also imported from the continent, especially by the late 13th century. By the end of the 12th century, the older method of acquiring iron ore through strip mining was being supplemented by more advanced techniques, including tunnels, trenches and bell-pits. Iron ore was usually locally processed at a bloomery, and by the 14th century the first water-powered iron forge in England was built at Chingley. As a result of the diminishing woodlands and consequent increases in the cost of both wood and charcoal, demand for coal increased in the 12th century and it began to be commercially produced from bell-pits and strip mining. A silver boom occurred in England after the discovery of silver near Carlisle in 1133. Huge quantities of silver were produced from a semicircle of mines reaching across Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland – up to three to four tonnes of silver were mined each year, more than ten times the previous annual production across the whole of Europe. The result was a local economic boom and a major uplift to 12th-century royal finances. Tin mining was centred in Cornwall and Devon, exploiting alluvial deposits and governed by the special Stannary Courts and Parliaments. Tin formed a valuable export good, initially to Germany and then later in the 14th century to the Low Countries. Lead was usually mined as a by-product of mining for silver, with mines in Yorkshire, Durham and the north, as well as in Devon. Economically fragile, the lead mines usually survived as a result of being subsidised by silver production. ### Trade, manufacturing and the towns #### Growth of English towns After the end of the Anarchy, the number of small towns in England began to increase sharply. By 1297, 120 new towns had been established, and in 1350 – by when the expansion had effectively ceased – there were around 500 towns in England. Many of these new towns were centrally planned: Richard I created Portsmouth, John founded Liverpool, and successive monarchs followed with Harwich, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, Royston, Baldock, Wokingham, Maidenhead and Reigate. The new towns were usually located with access to trade routes in mind, rather than defence, and the streets were laid out to make access to the town's market convenient. A growing percentage of England's population lived in urban areas; estimates suggest that this rose from around 5.5% in 1086 to up to 10% in 1377. London held a special status within the English economy. The nobility purchased and consumed many luxury goods and services in the capital, and as early as the 1170s the London markets were providing exotic products such as spices, incense, palm oil, gems, silks, furs and foreign weapons. London was also an important hub for industrial activity; it had many blacksmiths making a wide range of goods, including decorative ironwork and early clocks. Pewter-working, using English tin and lead, was also widespread in London during the period. The provincial towns also had a substantial number of trades by the end of the 13th century – a large town like Coventry, for example, contained over three hundred different specialist occupations, and a smaller town such as Durham could support some sixty different professions. The increasing wealth of the nobility and the church was reflected in the widespread building of cathedrals and other prestigious buildings in the larger towns, in turn making use of lead from English mines for roofing. Land transport remained much more expensive than river or sea transport during the period. Many towns in this period, including York, Exeter and Lincoln, were linked to the oceans by navigable rivers and could act as seaports, with Bristol's port coming to dominate the lucrative trade in wine with Gascony by the 13th century, but shipbuilding generally remained on a modest scale and economically unimportant to England at this time. Transport remained very costly in comparison to the overall price of products. By the 13th century, groups of common carriers ran carting businesses, and carting brokers existed in London to link traders and carters. These used the four major land routes crossing England: Ermine Street, the Fosse Way, Icknield Street and Watling Street. A large number of bridges were built during the 12th century to improve the trade network. In the 13th century, England was still primarily supplying raw materials for export to Europe, rather than finished or processed goods. There were some exceptions, such as very high-quality cloths from Stamford and Lincoln, including the famous "Lincoln Scarlet" dyed cloth. Despite royal efforts to encourage it, however, barely any English cloth was being exported by 1347. #### Expansion of the money supply There was a gradual reduction in the number of locations allowed to mint coins in England; under Henry II, only 30 boroughs were still able to use their own moneyers, and the tightening of controls continued throughout the 13th century. By the reign of Edward I there were only nine mints outside London and the king created a new official called the Master of the Mint to oversee these and the thirty furnaces operating in London to meet the demand for new coins. The amount of money in circulation hugely increased in this period; before the Norman invasion there had been around £50,000 in circulation as coin, but by 1311 this had risen to more than £1 million. At any particular point in time, though, much of this currency might be being stored prior to being used to support military campaigns or to be sent overseas to meet payments, resulting in bursts of temporary deflation as coins ceased to circulate within the English economy. One physical consequence of the growth in the coinage was that coins had to be manufactured in large numbers, being moved in barrels and sacks to be stored in local treasuries for royal use as the king travelled. #### Rise of the guilds The first English guilds emerged during the early 12th century. These guilds were fraternities of craftsmen that set out to manage their local affairs including "prices, workmanship, the welfare of its workers, and the suppression of interlopers and sharp practices". Amongst these early guilds were the "guilds merchants", who ran the local markets in towns and represented the merchant community in discussions with the crown. Other early guilds included the "craft guilds", representing specific trades. By 1130 there were major weavers' guilds in six English towns, as well as a fullers' guild in Winchester. Over the following decades more guilds were created, often becoming increasingly involved in both local and national politics, although the guilds merchants were largely replaced by official groups established by new royal charters. The craft guilds required relatively stable markets and a relative equality of income and opportunity amongst their members to function effectively. By the 14th century these conditions were increasingly uncommon. The first strains were seen in London, where the old guild system began to collapse – more trade was being conducted at a national level, making it hard for craftsmen to both manufacture goods and trade in them, and there were growing disparities in incomes between the richer and poorer craftsmen. As a result, under Edward III many guilds became companies or livery companies, chartered companies focusing on trade and finance, leaving the guild structures to represent the interests of the smaller, poorer manufacturers. #### Merchants and the development of the charter fairs The period also saw the development of charter fairs in England, which reached their heyday in the 13th century. From the 12th century onwards, many English towns acquired a charter from the Crown allowing them to hold an annual fair, usually serving a regional or local customer base and lasting for two or three days. The practice increased in the next century and over 2,200 charters were issued to markets and fairs by English kings between 1200 and 1270. Fairs grew in popularity as the international wool trade increased: the fairs allowed English wool producers and ports on the east coast to engage with visiting foreign merchants, circumnavigating those English merchants in London keen to make a profit as middlemen. At the same time, wealthy magnate consumers in England began to use the new fairs as a way to buy goods like spices, wax, preserved fish and foreign cloth in bulk from the international merchants at the fairs, again bypassing the usual London merchants. Some fairs grew into major international events, falling into a set sequence during the economic year, with the Stamford fair in Lent, St Ives' in Easter, Boston's in July, Winchester's in September and Northampton's in November, with the many smaller fairs falling in-between. Although not as large as the famous Champagne fairs in France, these English "great fairs" were still huge events; St Ives' Great Fair, for example, drew merchants from Flanders, Brabant, Norway, Germany and France for a four-week event each year, turning the normally small town into "a major commercial emporium". The structure of the fairs reflected the importance of foreign merchants in the English economy and by 1273 only one-third of the English wool trade was actually controlled by English merchants. Between 1280 and 1320 the trade was primarily dominated by Italian merchants, but by the early 14th century German merchants had begun to present serious competition to the Italians. The Germans formed a self-governing alliance of merchants in London called the "Hanse of the Steelyard" – the eventual Hanseatic League – and their role was confirmed under the Great Charter of 1303, which exempted them from paying the customary tolls for foreign merchants. One response to this was the creation of the Company of the Staple, a group of merchants established in English-held Calais in 1314 with royal approval, who were granted a monopoly on wool sales to Europe. #### Jewish contribution to the English economy The Jewish community in England continued to provide essential money-lending and banking services that were otherwise banned by the usury laws, and grew in the 12th century by Jewish immigrants fleeing the fighting around Rouen. The Jewish community spread beyond London to eleven major English cities, primarily the major trading hubs in the east of England with functioning mints, all with suitable castles for protection of the often persecuted Jewish minority. By the time of the Anarchy and the reign of Stephen, the communities were flourishing and providing financial loans to the king. Under Henry II, the Jewish financial community continued to grow richer still. All major towns had Jewish centres, and even smaller towns, such as Windsor, saw visits by travelling Jewish merchants. Henry II used the Jewish community as "instruments for the collection of money for the Crown", and placed them under royal protection. The Jewish community at York lent extensively to fund the Cistercian order's acquisition of land and prospered considerably. Some Jewish merchants grew extremely wealthy, Aaron of Lincoln so much that upon his death a special royal department had to be established to unpick his financial holdings and affairs. By the end of Henry's reign the king ceased to borrow from the Jewish community and instead turned to an aggressive campaign of tallage taxation and fines. Financial and anti-Semite violence grew under Richard I. After the massacre of the York community, in which numerous financial records were destroyed, seven towns were nominated to separately store Jewish bonds and money records and this arrangement ultimately evolved into the Exchequer of the Jews. After an initially peaceful start to John's reign, the king again began to extort money from the Jewish community, imprisoning the wealthier members, including Isaac of Norwich, until a huge, new taillage was paid. During the Baron's War of 1215–17, the Jews were subjected to fresh anti-Semitic attacks. Henry III restored some order and Jewish money-lending became sufficiently successful again to allow fresh taxation. The Jewish community became poorer towards the end of the century and was finally expelled from England in 1290 by Edward I, being largely replaced by foreign merchants. ### Governance and taxation During the 12th century the Norman kings attempted to formalise the feudal governance system initially created after the invasion. After the invasion the king had enjoyed a combination of income from his own demesne lands, the Anglo-Saxon geld tax and fines. Successive kings found that they needed additional revenues, especially in order to pay for mercenary forces. One way of doing this was to exploit the feudal system, and kings adopted the French feudal aid model, a levy of money imposed on feudal subordinates when necessary; another method was to exploit the scutage system, in which feudal military service could be transmuted to a cash payment to the king. Taxation was also an option, although the old geld tax was increasingly ineffective due to a growing number of exemptions. Instead, a succession of kings created alternative land taxes, such as the tallage and carucage taxes. These were increasingly unpopular and, along with the feudal charges, were condemned and constrained in the Magna Carta of 1215. As part of the formalisation of the royal finances, Henry I created the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post which would lead to the maintenance of the Pipe rolls, a set of royal financial records of lasting significance to historians in tracking both royal finances and medieval prices. Royal revenue streams still proved insufficient and from the middle of the 13th century there was a shift away from the earlier land-based tax system towards one based on a mixture of indirect and direct taxation. At the same time, Henry III had introduced the practice of consulting with leading nobles on tax issues, leading to the system whereby the Parliament of England agreed on new taxes when required. In 1275, the "Great and Ancient Custom" began to tax woollen products and hides, with the Great Charter of 1303 imposing additional levies on foreign merchants in England, with the poundage tax introduced in 1347. In 1340, the discredited tallage tax system was finally abolished by Edward III. Assessing the total impact of changes to royal revenues between 1086 and 1290 is difficult. At best, Edward I was struggling in 1300 to match in real terms the revenues that Henry II had enjoyed in 1100, and considering the growth in the size of the English economy, the king's share of the national income had dropped considerably. In the English towns the burgage tenure for urban properties was established early on in the medieval period, and was based primarily on tenants paying cash rents rather than providing labour services. Further development of a set of taxes that could be raised by the towns included murage for walls, pavage for streets, and pontage, a temporary tax for the repair of bridges. Combined with the lex mercatoria, which was a set of codes and customary practices governing trading, these provided a reasonable basis for the economic governance of the towns. The 12th century also saw a concerted attempt to curtail the remaining rights of unfree peasant workers and to set out their labour rents more explicitly in the form of the English Common Law. This process resulted in the Magna Carta explicitly authorising feudal landowners to settle law cases concerning feudal labour and fines through their own manorial courts rather than through the royal courts. These class relationships between lords and unfree peasants had complex economic implications. Peasant workers resented being unfree, but having continuing access to agricultural land was also important. Under those rare circumstances where peasants were offered a choice between freedom but no land, and continued servitude, not all chose freedom and a minority chose to remain in servitude on the land. Lords benefited economically from their control of the manorial courts and dominating the courts made it easier to manipulate land ownership and rights in their own favour when land became in particularly short supply at the end of this period. Many of the labour duties lords could compel from the local peasant communities became less useful over the period. Duties were fixed by custom, inflexible and understandably resented by the workers involved. As a result, by the end of the 13th century the productivity of such forced labour was significantly lower than that of free labour employed to do the same task. A number of lords responded by seeking to commute the duties of unfree peasants to cash alternatives, with the aim of hiring labour instead. ## Mid-medieval economic crisis – the Great Famine and the Black Death (1290–1350) ### Great Famine The Great Famine of 1315 began a number of acute crises in the English agrarian economy. The famine centred on a sequence of harvest failures in 1315, 1316 and 1321, combined with an outbreak of murrain, a sickness amongst sheep and oxen in 1319–21 and the fatal ergotism, a fungus amongst the remaining stocks of wheat. Many people died in the ensuing famine, and the peasantry were said to have been forced to eat horses, dogs and cats as well as conducted cannibalism against children, although these last reports are usually considered to be exaggerations. Poaching and encroachment on the royal forests surged, sometimes on a mass scale. Sheep and cattle numbers fell by up to a half, significantly reducing the availability of wool and meat, and food prices almost doubled, with grain prices particularly inflated. Food prices remained at similar levels for the next decade. Salt prices also increased sharply due to the wet weather. Various factors exacerbated the crisis. Economic growth had already begun to slow significantly in the years prior to the crisis and the English rural population was increasingly under economic stress, with around half the peasantry estimated to possess insufficient land to provide them with a secure livelihood. Where additional land was being brought into cultivation, or existing land cultivated more intensively, the soil may have become exhausted and useless. Bad weather also played an important part in the disaster; 1315–16 and 1318 saw torrential rains and an incredibly cold winter, which in combination badly impacted on harvests and stored supplies. The rains of these years were followed by drought in the 1320s and another fierce winter in 1321, complicating recovery. Disease, independent of the famine, was also high during the period, striking at the wealthier as well as the poorer classes. The commencement of war with France in 1337 only added to the economic difficulties. The Great Famine firmly reversed the population growth of the 12th and 13th centuries and left a domestic economy that was "profoundly shaken, but not destroyed". ### Black Death The Black Death epidemic first arrived in England in 1348, re-occurring in waves during 1360–62, 1368–69, 1375 and more sporadically thereafter. The most immediate economic impact of this disaster was the widespread loss of life, between around 27% mortality amongst the upper classes, to 40–70% amongst the peasantry. Despite the very high loss of life, few settlements were abandoned during the epidemic itself, but many were badly affected or nearly eliminated altogether. The medieval authorities did their best to respond in an organised fashion, but the economic disruption was immense. Building work ceased and many mining operations paused. In the short term, efforts were taken by the authorities to control wages and enforce pre-epidemic working conditions. Coming on top of the previous years of famine, however, the longer-term economic implications were profound. In contrast to the previous centuries of rapid growth, the English population would not begin to recover for over a century, despite the many positive reasons for a resurgence. The crisis would dramatically affect English agriculture, wages and prices for the remainder of the medieval period. ## Late medieval economic recovery (1350–1509) The events of the crisis between 1290 and 1348 and the subsequent epidemics produced many challenges for the English economy. In the decades after the disaster, the economic and social issues arising from the Black Death combined with the costs of the Hundred Years War resulted in the Peasants Revolt of 1381. Although the revolt was suppressed, it undermined many of the vestiges of the feudal economic order, and the countryside became dominated by estates organised as farms, frequently owned or rented by the new economic class of the gentry. The English agricultural economy remained depressed throughout the 15th century; growth at this time came from the greatly increased English cloth trade and manufacturing. The economic consequences of this varied considerably from region to region, but generally London, the South and the West prospered at the expense of the Eastern and the older cities. The role of merchants and trade became increasingly seen as important to the country, and usury gradually became more widely accepted, with English economic thinking increasingly influenced by Renaissance humanist theories. ### Governance and taxation Even before the end of the first outbreak of the Black Death, there were efforts by the authorities to stem the upward pressure on wages and prices, with parliament passing the emergency Ordinance of Labourers in 1349 and the Statute of Labourers in 1351. The efforts to regulate the economy continued as wages and prices rose, putting pressure on the landed classes, and in 1363 parliament attempted unsuccessfully to centrally regulate craft production, trading and retailing. A rising amount of the royal courts' time was involved in enforcing the failing labour legislation – as much as 70% by the 1370s. Many land owners attempted to vigorously enforce rents payable through agricultural service rather than money through their local manor courts, leading to attempts by many village communities to legally challenge local feudal practices using the Domesday Book as a legal basis for their claims. With the wages of the lower classes still rising, the government also attempted to regulate demand and consumption by reinstating the sumptuary laws in 1363. These laws banned the lower classes from consuming certain products or wearing high-status clothes, and reflected the significance of the consumption of high-quality breads, ales and fabrics as a way of signifying social class in the late medieval period. The 1370s also saw the government facing difficulties in funding the war with France. The impact of the Hundred Years War on the English economy as a whole remains uncertain; one suggestion is that the high taxation required to pay for the conflict "shrunk and depleted" the English economy, whilst others have argued for a more modest or even neutral economic impact for the war. The English government clearly found it difficult to pay for its army and from 1377 turned to a new system of poll taxes, aiming to spread the costs of taxation across the entirety of English society. #### Peasants' Revolt of 1381 One result of the economic and political tensions was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, in which widespread rural discontent was followed by an invasion of London involving thousands of rebels. The rebels had many demands, including the effective end of the feudal institution of serfdom and a cap on the levels of rural rents. The ensuing violence took the political classes by surprise and the revolt was not fully put down until the autumn; up to 7,000 rebels were executed in the aftermath. As a result of the revolt, parliament retreated from the poll tax and instead focused on a system of indirect taxes centring on foreign trade, drawing 80% of tax revenues from the exports of wool. Parliament continued to collect direct tax levies at historically high levels up until 1422, although they reduced them in later years. As a result, successive monarchs found that their tax revenues were uncertain, and Henry VI enjoyed less than half the annual tax revenue of the late 14th century. England's monarchs became increasingly dependent on borrowing and forced loans to meet the gap between taxes and expenditure and even then faced later rebellions over levels of taxation, including the Yorkshire rebellion of 1489 and the Cornish rebellion of 1497 during the reign of Henry VII. ### Agriculture, fishing and mining #### Collapse of the demesne and the creation of the farming system The agricultural sector of the English economy, still by far the largest, was transformed by the Black Death. With the shortage of manpower after the Black Death, wages for agricultural labourers rapidly increased and continued to then grow steadily throughout the 15th century. As their incomes increased, labourers' living conditions and diet improved steadily. A trend for labourers to eat less barley and more wheat and rye, and to replace bread in their diet with more meat, had been apparent since before the Black Death, but intensified during this later period. Nonetheless, England's much smaller population needed less food and the demand for agricultural products fell. The position of the larger landowners became increasingly difficult. Revenues from demesne lands were diminishing as demand remained low and wage costs increased; nobles were also finding it more difficult to raise revenue from their local courts, fines and privileges in the years after the Peasants Revolt of 1381. Despite attempts to increase money rents, by the end of the 14th century the rents paid from peasant lands were also declining, with revenues falling as much as 55% between the 1380s and 1420s. Noble and church landowners responded in various ways. They began to invest significantly less in agriculture and land was increasingly taken out of production altogether. In some cases entire settlements were abandoned, and nearly 1,500 villages were lost during this period. Landowners also abandoned the system of direct management of their demesne lands, which had begun back in the 1180s, and turned instead to "farming" out large blocks of land for fixed money rents. Initially, livestock and land were rented out together under "stock and lease" contracts, but this was found to be increasingly impractical and contracts for farms became centred purely on land. Many of the rights to church parish tithes were also "farmed" out in exchange for fixed rents. This process was encouraged by the trend for tithe revenues being increasing "appropriated" by central church authorities, rather than being used to support local clergy: around 39% of parish tithes had been centralised in this way by 1535. As the major estates transformed, a new economic grouping, the gentry, became evident, many of them benefiting from the opportunities of the farming system. Land distribution remained heavily unequal; estimates suggest that the English nobility owned 20% of English lands, the Church and Crown 33%, the gentry 25%, and the remainder was owned by peasant farmers. Agriculture itself continued to innovate, and the loss of many English oxen to the murrain sickness in the crisis increased the number of horses used to plough fields in the 14th century, a significant improvement on older methods. #### Forests, fishing and mining The royal forests continued to diminish in size and decline in economic importance in the years after the Black Death. Royal enforcement of forest rights and laws became harder after 1348 and certainly after 1381, and by the 15th century the royal forests were a "shadow of their former selves" in size and economic significance. In contrast, the English fishing industry continued to grow, and by the 15th century domestic merchants and financiers owned fleets of up to a hundred fishing vessels operating from key ports. Herring remained a key fishing catch, although as demand for herring declined with rising prosperity, the fleets began to focus instead on cod and other deep-sea fish from the Icelandic waters. Despite being critical to the fishing industry, salt production in England diminished in the 15th century due to competition from French producers. The use of expensive freshwater fish ponds on estates began to decline during this period, as more of the gentry and nobility opted to purchase freshwater fish from commercial river fisheries. Mining generally performed well at the end of the medieval period, helped by buoyant demand for manufactured and luxury goods. Cornish tin production plunged during the Black Death itself, leading to a doubling of prices. Tin exports also collapsed catastrophically, but picked up again over the next few years. By the turn of the 16th century, the available alluvial tin deposits in Cornwall and Devon had begun to decline, leading to the commencement of bell and surface mining to support the tin boom that had occurred in the late 15th century. Lead mining increased, and output almost doubled between 1300 and 1500. Wood and charcoal became cheaper once again after the Black Death, and coal production declined as a result, remaining depressed for the rest of the period – nonetheless, some coal production was occurring in all the major English coalfields by the 16th century. Iron production continued to increase; the Weald in the South-East began to make increased use of water-power, and overtook the Forest of Dean in the 15th century as England's main iron-producing region. The first blast furnace in England, a major technical step forward in metal smelting, was created in 1496 in Newbridge in the Weald. ### Trade, manufacturing and the towns #### Shrinking towns The percentage of England's population living in towns continued to grow but in absolute terms English towns shrunk significantly as a consequence of the Black Death, especially in the formerly prosperous east. The importance of England's Eastern ports declined over the period, as trade from London and the South-West increased in relative significance. Increasingly elaborate road networks were built across England, some involving the construction of up to thirty bridges to cross rivers and other obstacles. Nonetheless, it remained cheaper to move goods by water, and consequently timber was brought to London from as far away as the Baltic, and stone from Caen brought over the Channel to the South of England. Shipbuilding, particular in the South-West, became a major industry for the first time and investment in trading ships such as cogs was probably the single biggest form of late medieval investment in England. #### Rise of the cloth trade Cloth manufactured in England increasingly dominated European markets during the 15th and early 16th centuries. England exported almost no cloth at all in 1347, but by 1400 around 40,000 cloths a year were being exported – the trade reached its first peak in 1447 when exports reached 60,000. Trade fell slightly during the serious depression of the mid-15th century, but picked up again and reached 130,000 cloths a year by the 1540s. The centres of weaving in England shifted westwards towards the Stour Valley, the West Riding, the Cotswolds and Exeter, away from the former weaving centres in York, Coventry and Norwich. The wool and cloth trade was primarily now being run by English merchants themselves rather than by foreigners. Increasingly, the trade was also passing through London and the ports of the South-West. By the 1360s, 66–75% of the export trade was in English hands and by the 15th century this had risen to 80%; London managed around 50% of these exports in 1400, and as much as 83% of wool and cloth exports by 1540. The growth in the numbers of chartered trading companies in London, such as the Worshipful Company of Drapers or the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, continued, and English producers began to provide credit to European buyers, rather than the other way around. Usury grew during the period, and few cases were prosecuted by the authorities. There were some reversals. The attempts of English merchants to break through the Hanseatic league directly into the Baltic markets failed in the domestic political chaos of the Wars of the Roses in the 1460s and 1470s. The wine trade with Gascony fell by half during the war with France, and the eventual loss of the province brought an end to the English domination of the business and temporary disruption to Bristol's prosperity until wines began to be imported through the city a few years later. Indeed, the disruption to both the Baltic and the Gascon trade contributed to a sharp reduction in the consumption of furs and wine by the English gentry and nobility during the 15th century. There were advances in manufacturing, especially in the South and West. Despite some French attacks, the war created much coastal prosperity thanks to the huge expenditure on shipbuilding during the war, and the South-West also became a centre for English piracy against foreign vessels. Metalworking continued to grow, and in particular pewter working, which generated exports second only to cloth. By the 15th century pewter working in London was a large industry, with a hundred pewter workers recorded in London alone, and pewter working had also spread from the capital to eleven major cities across England. London goldsmithing remained significant but saw relatively little growth, with around 150 goldsmiths working in London during the period. Iron-working continued to expand and in 1509 the first cast-iron cannon was made in England. This was reflected in the rapid growth in the number of iron-working guilds, from three in 1300 to fourteen by 1422. The result was a substantial influx of money that in turn encouraged the import of manufactured luxury goods; by 1391 shipments from abroad routinely included "ivory, mirrors, paxes, armour, paper..., painted clothes, spectacles, tin images, razors, calamine, treacle, sugar-candy, marking irons, patens..., ox-horns and quantities of wainscot". Imported spices now formed a part of almost all noble and gentry diets, with the quantities being consumed varying according to the wealth of the household. The English government was also importing large quantities of raw materials, including copper, for manufacturing weapons. Many major landowners tended to focus their efforts on maintaining a single major castle or house rather than the dozens a century before, but these were usually decorated much more luxurious than previously. Major merchants' dwellings, too, were more lavish than in previous years. #### Decline of the fair system Towards the end of the 14th century, the position of fairs began to decline. The larger merchants, particularly in London, began to establish direct links with the larger landowners such as the nobility and the church; rather than the landowner buying from a chartered fair, they would buy directly from the merchant. Meanwhile, the growth of the indigenous England merchant class in the major cities, especially London, gradually crowded out the foreign merchants upon whom the great chartered fairs had largely depended. The crown's control over trade in the towns, especially the emerging newer towns towards the end of the 15th century that lacked central civic government, was increasingly weaker, making chartered status less relevant as more trade occurred from private properties and took place all year around. Nonetheless, the great fairs remained of importance well into the 15th century, as illustrated by their role in exchanging money, regional commerce and in providing choice for individual consumers. ## Historiography The first studies into the medieval economy of England began in the 1880s, principally around the work of English jurist and historian Frederic Maitland. This scholarship, drawing extensively on documents such as the Domesday Book and the Magna Carta, became known as the "Whiggish" view of economic history, focusing on law and government. Late Victorian writers argued that change in the English medieval economy stemmed primarily from the towns and cities, leading to a progressive and universalist interpretation of development over the period, focusing on trade and commerce. Influenced by the evolution of Norman laws, Maitland argued that there was a clear discontinuity between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman economic systems. In the 1930s the Whiggish view of the English economy was challenged by a group of scholars at the University of Cambridge, led by Eileen Power. Power and her colleagues widened the focus of study from legal and government documents to include "agrarian, archaeological, demographic, settlement, landscape and urban" evidence. This was combined with a neo-positivist and econometric leaning that was at odds with the older Victorian tradition in the subject. Power died in 1940, but Michael Postan, who had previously been her student but later became her husband, brought their work forward, and it came to dominate the post-war field. Postan argued that demography was the principal driving force in the medieval English economy. In a distinctly Malthusian fashion, Postan proposed that the English agrarian economy saw little technical development during the period and by the early 14th century was unable to support the growing population, leading to inevitable famines and economic depression as the population came back into balance with land resources. Postan began the trend towards stressing continuities between the pre- and post-invasion economies, aided by fresh evidence emerging from the use of archaeological techniques to understand the medieval economy from the 1950s onwards. A Marxist critique of Postan emerged from the 1950s onwards, captured in the academic journal Past & Present. This school of thought agreed that the agrarian economy was central to medieval England, but argued that agrarian issues had less to do with demography than with the mode of production and feudal class relations. In this model the English economy entered the crisis of the early 14th century because of the struggles between landlords and peasant for resources and excessive extraction of rents by the nobility. Similar issues underpinned the Peasants Revolt of 1381 and later tax rebellions. Historians such as Frank Stenton developed the "honour" as a unit of economic analysis and a focus for understanding feudal relations in peasant communities; Rodney Hilton developed the idea of the rise of the gentry as a key feature for understanding the late medieval period. Fresh work in the 1970s and 1980s challenged both Postan's and Marxist approaches to the medieval economy. Local studies of medieval economics, often in considerable detail and fusing new archaeological techniques and rescue archaeology with historical sources, often ran counter to their broader interpretations of change and development. The degree to which feudalism really existed and operated in England after the initial years of the invasion was thrown into considerable doubt, with historians such as David Crouch arguing that it existed primarily as a legal and fiscal model, rather than an actual economic system. Sociological and anthropological studies of contemporary economies, including the work of Ester Boserup showed many flaws with Postan's key assumptions about demography and land use. The current academic preference is to see the English medieval economy as an "overlapping network of diverse communities", in which active local choices and decisions are the result of independent agency, rather than a result of historically deterministic processes. ## See also - Medieval demography - History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066) - History of the English penny (1154–1485) - John and William Merfold

Poole

Poole (/puːl/ ) is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is 21 miles (34 km) east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. The town had an estimated population of 151,500 (mid-2016 census estimates) making it the second-largest town in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the conurbation has a total population of nearly 400,000. The settlement dates back to before the Iron Age. The earliest recorded use of the town's name was in the 12th century when the town began to emerge as an important port, prospering with the introduction of the wool trade. Later, the town had important trade links with North America and, at its peak during the 18th century, it was one of the busiest ports in Britain. In the Second World War, Poole was one of the main departing points for the Normandy landings. Poole is a tourist resort, attracting visitors with its large natural harbour, history, the Lighthouse arts centre and Blue Flag beaches. The town has a commercial port with cross-Channel freight and passenger ferry services, which connect with the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well as the French port town of Saint-Malo, Brittany. The headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is in Poole, and the Royal Marines have a base in the town's harbour. Despite their names, Poole is the home of The Arts University Bournemouth, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and a significant part of Bournemouth University. ## History The area around modern Poole has been inhabited for at least the past 2,500 years, with nearby Christchurch Harbour evidencing human activity dating back to the Neolithic period at Hengistbury Head. During the 3rd century BC, Celtic-speaking people known as the Durotriges moved from hilltop settlements at Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings to heathland around the River Frome and Poole Harbour. The Romans landed at Poole during their conquest of Britain in the 1st century and took over an Iron Age settlement at Hamworthy, an area just west of the modern town centre. The town's name may have originated around the post-Roman or Anglo-Saxon periods, and seems to have originally applied to the harbour. It is derived from the late Brittonic or early Old English words pol meaning a pool or creek. By the middle to late Anglo-Saxon period, Poole was included in the Kingdom of Wessex. The settlement was used as a base for fishing and the harbour a place for ships to anchor on their way to the River Frome and the important Anglo-Saxon town of Wareham. Poole experienced two large-scale Viking invasions during this era: in 876, Guthrum sailed his fleet through the harbour to attack Wareham, and in 1015, Canute began his conquest of England in Poole Harbour, using it as a base to raid and pillage Wessex. Following the Norman conquest of England, Poole rapidly grew into a busy port as the importance of Wareham declined. The town was part of the manor of Canford but does not exist as an identifiable entry in the Domesday Book. The earliest written mention of Poole occurred on a document from 1196 describing the newly built St James's Chapel in "La Pole". The Lord of the Manor, Sir William Longspée, sold a charter of liberties to the burgesses of Poole in 1248 to raise funds for his participation in the Seventh Crusade. Consequently, Poole gained a small measure of freedom from feudal rule and acquired the right to appoint a mayor and hold a court within the town. Poole's growing importance was recognised in 1433 when it was awarded staple port status by King Henry VI, enabling the port to begin exporting wool and in turn granting a licence for the construction of a town wall. In 1568, Poole gained further autonomy when it was granted legal independence from Dorset and made a county corporate by the Great Charter of Elizabeth I. During the English Civil War, Poole's puritan stance and its merchants' opposition to the ship money tax introduced by King Charles I led to the town declaring for Parliament. Poole escaped any large-scale attack and with the Royalists on the brink of defeat in 1646, the Parliamentary garrison from Poole laid siege to and captured the nearby Royalist stronghold at Corfe Castle. Poole established successful commerce with the North American colonies in the 16th century, including the important fisheries of Newfoundland. Trade with Newfoundland grew steadily to meet the demand for fish from the Catholic countries of Europe. Poole's share of this trade varied but the most prosperous period started in the early 18th century and lasted until the early 19th century. The trade followed a three-cornered route; ships sailed to Newfoundland with salt and provisions, then carried dried and salted fish to Europe before returning to Poole with wine, olive oil, and salt. By the early 18th century Poole had more ships trading with North America than any other English port and vast wealth was brought to Poole's merchants. This prosperity supported much of the development which now characterises the Old Town where many of the medieval buildings were replaced with Georgian mansions and terraced housing. The end of the Napoleonic Wars and the conclusion of the War of 1812 ended Britain's monopoly over the Newfoundland fisheries and other nations took over services provided by Poole's merchants at a lower cost. Poole's Newfoundland trade rapidly declined and within a decade most merchants had ceased trading. The town grew rapidly during the industrial revolution as urbanisation took place and the town became an area of mercantile prosperity and overcrowded poverty. At the turn of the 19th century, nine out of ten workers were engaged in harbour activities, but as the century progressed ships became too large for the shallow harbour and the port lost business to the deepwater ports at Liverpool, Southampton and Plymouth. Poole's first railway station opened in Hamworthy in 1847 and later extended to the centre of Poole in 1872, effectively ending the port's busy coastal shipping trade. The beaches and landscape of southern Dorset and south-west Hampshire began to attract tourists during the 19th century and the villages to the east of Poole began to grow and merge until the seaside resort of Bournemouth emerged. Although Poole did not become a resort, like many of its neighbours, it continued to prosper as the rapid expansion of Bournemouth created a large demand for goods manufactured in Poole. During World War II, Poole was the third-largest embarkation point for D-Day landings of Operation Overlord and afterwards served as a base for supplies to the allied forces in Europe. Eighty-one landing craft containing American troops from the 29th Infantry Division and the US Army Rangers departed Poole Harbour for Omaha Beach. Poole was also an important centre for the development of Combined Operations and the base for a US Coast Guard rescue flotilla of 60 cutters. Much of the town suffered from German bombing during the war - in which the Municipal Borough lost 75 civilian lives - and years of neglect in the post-war economic decline. Major redevelopment projects began in the 1950s and 1960s and large areas of slum properties were demolished and replaced with modern public housing and facilities. Many of Poole's historic buildings were demolished during this period, particularly in the Old Town area of Poole. Consequently, a 6-hectare (15-acre) Conservation Area was created in the town centre in 1975 to preserve Poole's most notable buildings. The Poole explosion of 1988 caused 3,500 people to be evacuated out of the town centre in the biggest peacetime evacuation the country had seen since the World War II. ## Governance ### Council On 1 April 1997, the town was made a unitary authority following a review by the Local Government Commission for England Poole Borough Council was created, and the town, once again, became administratively independent from Dorset. The borough reverted to its previous title of the Borough and County of the Town of Poole, which recalled its status as a county corporate before the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888. For local elections, 42 councillors were elected across 16 wards and elections take place every four years. The last elections were held in 2015. The council were based at Poole Civic Centre in Parkstone. On 1 April 2019, the borough being combined with Bournemouth and Christchurch to form the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority, with the first elections taking place in 2019. Whilst the Conservatives were the largest party, the council remained under no overall control, with a Unity Alliance Administration being formed of other parties. Poole's Sheriff, a position created by the town's charter of 1568 and just one of 16 Sheriffs in England and Wales, is Julie Bagwell. ### Parliamentary representation #### UK Parliament Poole is represented by three parliamentary constituencies in the House of Commons; Poole, Mid Dorset and North Poole, and Bournemouth West. The borough constituency of Poole has existed since 1950. Previously the town had been a parliamentary borough, electing two members of parliament from 1455 until 1865 when representation was reduced to one member. In 1885 the constituency was abolished altogether and absorbed into the East Dorset constituency until its reintroduction in 1950. Robert Syms (Conservative) has been the Member of Parliament since 1997. At the 2015 general election, the Conservatives won a majority of 15,789 and 50.1% of the vote. The UKIP won 16.8% of the vote, Labour 12.9% and the Liberal Democrats 11.8%. The county constituency of Mid Dorset and North Poole was created in 1997 and includes the north-east of Poole, Wimborne Minster, Wareham and extends into rural Dorset. At the 2015 general election, the Conservative candidate Michael Tomlinson gained the constituency from the Liberal Democrats with a majority of 10,530 and 50.8% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats won 28.2% of the vote, UKIP 12.2% and Labour 6%. The boundary of the Bournemouth West borough constituency was extended to include the Poole local council wards Branksome East and Alderney in 2010. It is represented by Conor Burns, a Conservative Member of Parliament, who retained the seat with a majority of 12,410 and 48.2% of the vote in 2015. #### European Parliament Between 1979 and 2020, Poole was represented in the European Parliament. From 1979 to 1984, Poole was part of the Single-member district of Wessex and was represented by Conservative Member of the European Parliament James Spicer. From 1984 to 1994, Poole was part of the Dorset East and Hampshire West constituency and from 1994 to 1999, Poole was part of the Dorset and East Devon constituency represented by Conservative Bryan Cassidy. Poole was included in the South West England constituency for elections to the European Parliament from 1999 to 2020. ### Coat of arms The design of the coat of arms originated in a seal from the late 14th century and were recorded by Clarenceux King of Arms during the heraldic visitation of Dorset in 1563. The wavy bars of black and gold represent the sea and the dolphin is a sign of Poole's maritime interests. The scallop shells are the emblem of Saint James and are associated with his shrine at Santiago de Compostela – a popular destination for Christian pilgrims departing from Poole Harbour in the Middle Ages. The arms were confirmed by the College of Arms on 19 June 1948, and at the same time, the crest (a mermaid supporting an anchor and holding a cannonball) was granted. Following local government reorganisation in 1974, the 1948 arms were transferred to Poole Borough Council. In 1976, the council received the grant of supporters for the coat of arms. The supporters refer to important charters given to the town; to the left is a gold lion holding a long sword representing William Longespee who in 1248 granted the town's first charter; on the right is a dragon derived from the Royal Arms of Elizabeth I who granted Poole county corporate status in 1568. The Latin motto – Ad Morem Villae De Poole, means: According to the Custom of the Town of Poole, and derives from the Great Charter of 1568. ## Geography Poole is a complex shore of the English Channel; it lies on the northern and eastern edges of Poole Harbour, 97 miles (156 km) west-southwest of London. The oldest part of the town (including the historic Old Town, Poole Quay and the Dolphin Shopping Centre) lies to the south-east of Holes Bay on a peninsula jutting into the harbour, although much of the land to the east of the peninsula has been reclaimed from the harbour since the mid-20th century. To the west is Upton and Corfe Mullen and across the northern border at the River Stour lies Wimborne Minster. At the eastern edge of Poole, the town abuts Bournemouth and the settlements of Kinson, Winton and Westbourne. To the south of Poole along the coast lies Poole Bay, which has 3 miles (4.8 km) of sandy beaches from Sandbanks in the west to Bournemouth in the east. Urban areas and districts of the town Poole is made up of numerous suburbs and neighbourhoods, many of which developed from villages or hamlets that were absorbed into Poole as the town grew. Alderney – Bearwood – Branksome – Branksome Park – Broadstone – Canford Cliffs – Canford Heath – Creekmoor – Fleetsbridge – Hamworthy – Lilliput – Longfleet – Merley – Oakley – Newtown – Oakdale – Parkstone – Penn Hill – Sandbanks – Sterte – Talbot Village – Wallisdown – Waterloo – Whitecliff The natural environment of Poole is characterised by lowland heathland to the north and wooded chines and coastline to the south. The heathland habitat supports the six native British reptile species and provides a home for a range of dragonflies and rare birds. Development has destroyed much of the heath but scattered fragments remain to the north of Poole and have been designated Special Protection Areas. The town lies on unresistant beds of Eocene clays (mainly London Clay and Gault Clay), sands and gravels. The River Frome runs through this weak rock, and its many tributaries have carved out a wide estuary. At the mouth of the estuary sand spits have been deposited, enclosing the estuary to create Poole Harbour. The harbour is the largest natural harbour in Europe and the second-largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney Harbour. It is an area of international importance for nature conservation and is noted for its ecology, supporting salt marshes, mudflats and an internationally important habitat for several species of migrating bird. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area and a Ramsar site as well as falling within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The harbour covers an area of 15 square miles (11 sq nmi; 39 km²) and is extremely shallow. The main shipping channels are 7.5 metres (25 ft) deep the average depth of the harbour is 48 centimetres (1 ft 7 in). It contains several small islands, the largest is Brownsea Island, a nature reserve owned by the National Trust and the birthplace of the Scouting movement and location of the first Scout Camp. Britain's largest onshore oil field operates from Wytch Farm on the south shore of the harbour. The oil reservoirs extend under the harbour and eastwards from Sandbanks and Studland for 6.2 miles (10 km) under the sea to the south of Bournemouth. Situated directly to the east of the Jurassic Coast, Poole is a gateway town to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes 95 miles (153 km) of the Dorset and east Devon coast important for its geology, landforms and rich fossil record. The South West Coast Path stretches for 630 miles (1,010 km) from Minehead in Somerset, along the coast of Devon and Cornwall and on to Poole. The path is England's longest national trail. ### Climate Due to its location on the south coast of England, Poole has a temperate climate with a small variation in daily and annual temperatures. The average annual mean temperature from 1971 to 2000 was 10.2–12 °C (50.4–53.6 °F). The warmest months in Poole are July and August, which have an average temperature range of 12 to 22 °C (54 to 72 °F), and the coolest months are January and February, which have a range of 2 to 8.3 °C (35.6 to 46.9 °F). Mean sea surface temperatures range from 6.9 °C (44.4 °F) in February to 18.5 °C (65.3 °F) in August. The average annual rainfall of 592.6 millimetres (23.33 in) is well below the UK average of 1,126 millimetres (44.3 in). ### Green belt Poole lies at the centre of a green belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties. It is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the towns in the South East Dorset conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building. Poole has areas of green belt to the north and west of the district, mostly on the fringes of the shared border with the Purbeck and East Dorset districts. These cover landscape features and greenfield facilities including the rivers Stour and Sherford and their floodplains, the Stour Valley Way, Canford Heathland, Dunyeats Hill and Corfe and Barrow Hill nature reserves, Upton Country Park, Pergins Island, and the Wimborne District Society of Model Engineers miniature railway. The small communities at Merley, Canford Magna, Oakley and Oakley Hill are separated from the main urban area, and while inset, are not covered by green belt. However, the isolated hamlets of Knighton, Merley Hall and Ashington are 'washed over', and development is limited in these locations. A specific function of the restrictions is to prevent further urban encroachment towards Wimborne Minster, to help maintain its historic character and surroundings. ## Demography Poole merges with several other towns to form the South East Dorset conurbation which has a combined population of over 465,000, forming one of the South Coast's major urban areas. In the 2011 census, the population of the borough of Poole was 147,645, an increase from 138,288 in 2001. The town has a built-up area of 25 square miles (65 km²), giving an approximate population density of 5,532 inhabitants per square mile (2,136/km²) in 60,512 dwellings. The population has grown steadily since the 1960s, inward migration has accounted for most of the town's growth and a significant part of this has been for retirement. Housing stock has increased by over 100 per cent in the past 40 years from 30,000 in 1961 to approximately 62,700 in 2004. Compared to the rest of England and Wales, Poole has an above-average number of residents aged over 65 (20.3%), but this is less than the Dorset average of 22.2%. The largest proportion of the population (24.8%) is between the ages of 45 to 64, slightly above the national average of 23.8%. Population projections have predicted a continual growth; a population of 151,481 is estimated by 2016. The district is overwhelmingly populated by people of a White ethnic background, 95.98% of residents are of White British ethnicity, well above the rest of England at 86.99%. Minority ethnic groups (including those in White ethnic groups who did not classify themselves as British) represent 4.0% of Poole's population. The largest religion in Poole is Christianity, at almost 74.34%, slightly above the United Kingdom average of 71.6%. The next-largest sector is those with no religion, at almost 16.23%, also above the UK average of 15.5%. The average house price in Poole is high compared to the rest of the UK and the surrounding south-west region. The average price of a property in Poole in 2008 was £274,011; detached houses were on average £374,150, semi-detached and terraced houses were cheaper at £226,465 and £217,128 respectively. An apartment or flat costs on average £216,097, more than any other part of Dorset. The average house prices in Poole are boosted by those in Sandbanks which had the fourth-most expensive house prices in the world in 2000; in 2007 the average house price was £488,761. A study in 2006 by the National Housing Federation reported that Poole was the most unaffordable town in which to live in the UK. ## Economy Poole's economy is more balanced than the rest of Dorset. In the 1960s, prosperity was fuelled by growth in the manufacturing sector, whereas the 1980s and 1990s saw expansion in the service sector as office-based employers relocated to the area. The importance of manufacturing has declined since the 1960s but still employed approximately 17% of the workforce in 2002 and remains more prominent than in the economy of Great Britain as a whole. Sunseeker, the world's largest privately owned builder of motor yachts and the UK's largest manufacturer, is based in Poole and employs over 1,800 people in its Poole shipyards. Other major employers in the local manufacturing industry include Lush, Siemens and Ryvita. Poole has the largest number of industrial estates in South East Dorset, including the Nuffield Industrial estate, Mannings Heath, Arena Business Park, Poole Trade Park and the Branksome Business Centre. The service sector is the principal economy of Poole; a large number of employees work for the service economy of residents or for tourists. During the 1970s, Poole's less restrictive regional planning policies attracted businesses wishing to relocate from London. These included employers in the banking and financial sector, such as Barclays Bank (who operated Barclays House as a regional headquarters in Poole), American Express Bank and the corporate trust division of Bank of New York Mellon. Other important service sector employers include the national headquarters and college of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the UK headquarters of Fitness First, Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth. Poole is also the headquarters for clothing company Animal, cosmetics manufacturer, Lush, and Merlin Entertainments, the world's second-largest theme park operator after Disney. The Dolphin Shopping Centre is Poole's main retail area and the largest indoor shopping centre in Dorset. It opened in 1969 as an Arndale Centre and underwent three major refurbishments in 1980, 1989 and 2004. The centre provides 47,000 square metres (510,000 sq ft) of retail space with 110 stores and two multi-storey car parks with 1,400 parking spaces. A pedestrianised high street with shops, bars, pubs and restaurants connects the Dolphin Centre with the historic Old Town area and Poole Quay. Tourism is important to the Poole's economy and was worth an estimated £158 million in 2002. Poole's Harbour, Quay and the beaches are some of the main attractions for visitors. Visitor accommodation consists of hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfast rooms located around the town, particularly in Sandbanks and the town centre. Rockley Park, a large caravan site in Hamworthy, is owned and operated by Haven Holidays. Poole is served by the Port of Poole. Since the 1970s, Poole has become one of Britain's busiest ports. Investment in new port facilities in Hamworthy and the deepening of shipping channels allowed considerable growth in cross-channel freight and passenger traffic. The port is a destination for bulk cargo imports such as steel, timber, bricks, fertiliser, grain, aggregates and palletised traffic. Export cargoes include clay, sand, fragmented steel and grain. Commercial ferry operators run regular passenger and freight services from Poole to Cherbourg, St Malo and the Channel Islands. The Royal Marines operate out of the harbour at RM Poole, established in Hamworthy in 1954. The base is home to special forces unit the Special Boat Service and a detachment of the Royal Marines Reserve. In 2008, 105 fishing boats were registered and licensed to the port and held a permit issued by the Southern Sea Fisheries District Committee (SSFDC) to fish commercially. It is the largest port in terms of licences in the SSFDC district which covers the coastline of Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and one of the largest registered fishing fleets in the UK. However, the fleet is gradually declining because of rising fuel costs and restrictive fishing quotas introduced by the European Union. A large number of unlicensed boats also operate charted or private angling excursions. ## Landmarks Poole Quay is a visitor attraction to the south of the town centre lined with a mixture of traditional pubs and listed buildings alongside new bars, redeveloped warehouses and apartment blocks. Once the busy centre of Poole's maritime industry, all port activities moved to Hamworthy in the 1970s as the Quay became increasingly popular with tourists. The Grade II\* listed Customs House on the quay-front was built in 1814 and now functions as a restaurant and bar. Nearby the Grade I listed Town Cellars, a medieval warehouse built in the 15th century on the foundations of a 14th-century stone building, houses a local history centre. Scaplen's Court, another Grade I listed building, also dates from the medieval era. Poole Pottery has been redeveloped into an apartment block. Boats regularly depart from the quay during the summer and provide cruises around the harbour and to Brownsea Island, the River Frome and Swanage. Public artworks along the Quay include Sea Music – a large metal sculpture designed by Sir Anthony Caro, and a life-size bronze sculpture of Robert Baden-Powell created to celebrate the founding of the Scout Movement on Brownsea Island. At the western end of the quay, near the mouth of Holes Bay, is Poole Bridge. Built in 1927, it is the third bridge to be located on the site since 1834. Poole Guildhall has played a varied part in the history of the town. A Grade II\* listed building, the Guildhall was built in 1761 at a cost of £2,250. The new building included an open market house on the ground floor and a courtroom and offices for the town council on the first floor and has also been used as a court of record, magistrates' court, court of admiralty and a venue for quarter sessions. Between 1819 and 1821 the building was consecrated as a parish church while the old St. James Church was pulled down and replaced with the present church. During the Second World War, the building was used as a canteen and meeting room for American soldiers before the invasion of France. The showers and washing facilities installed at this time were later converted into public baths which were used until the 1960s. The building was converted for use as the town museum between 1971 and 1991 but stood empty for the next 16 years. After a renovation project funded by Poole Borough Council, the restored Guildhall opened in June 2007 as a Register Office for weddings, civil partnerships and other civic ceremonies. Poole has several urban parks – the largest is Poole Park adjacent to Poole Harbour and the town centre. It opened in 1890 and is one of two Victorian parks in Poole. Designated a Conservation Area in 1995 and awarded a Green Flag in 2008, the park comprises 44.3 hectares (109 acres) of which 24 hectares (59 acres) include the park's human-made lake and ponds. The park contains two children's play areas, a miniature railway, tennis courts, a bowling green, a miniature golf course, an Italian restaurant and an indoor ice rink for children. A cricket field and pavilion at the eastern end are home to Poole Town Cricket Club and water sport activities such as sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and rowing take place on the large lake. A war memorial stands in the centre of the park as a monument to Poole citizens killed during the First and Second World Wars. The park hosts several road races such as the Race for Life and the annual Poole Festival of Running. Poole's sandy beaches are a popular tourist destination extending 3 miles (4.8 km) along Poole Bay from the Sandbanks peninsular to Branksome Dene Chine at the border with Bournemouth. The beaches are divided into four areas: Sandbanks, Shore Road, Canford Cliffs Chine and Branksome Chine. Poole's beaches have been awarded the European Blue Flag for cleanliness and safety 21 times since 1987, more than any other British seaside resort and in 2000 the Tidy Britain Group resort survey rated Poole's beaches among the top five in the country. Along the seafront, there are seaside cafés, restaurants, beach huts and numerous water-sports facilities. Royal National Lifeboat Institution Beach Rescue lifeguards patrol the coastline in the busy summer season between May and September. ## Religious sites Poole falls within the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth. Poole has many sites of Christian worship including five Grade II\* and five Grade II listed churches, but no notable sites of worship for any other major religious groups. The Grade II\* St James' Church is a simplified Gothic Revival style Church of England parish church in the Old Town which was rebuilt in 1820. The previous church on the site was first mentioned in documents from 1142 and had been extensively rebuilt in the 16th century, but in 1819 it was deemed structurally unsafe by a surveyors report. The United Reformed Church hall, also in the town centre, is a Grade II\* building built in 1777. The other Grade II\* churches are: St. Peter's Parish Church in Parkstone which was first built in 1833 and replaced in 1876; St Dunstan of Canterbury Orthodox Church, also in Parkstone, an Antiochian Orthodox church, formerly the Anglican Church of St Osmund, in a Neo-Byzantine style building; and the Parish Church of St. Aldhelm in Branksome, built by the architects Bodley and Garner in 1892 in the Gothic Revival style. Described by English Heritage as "one of Poole's most important landmarks", the Gothic Revival church of St Mary's in Longfleet, built in 1833, is one of Poole's Grade II listed churches. There are also two Christadelphian meeting halls in the town. ## Sport and recreation Poole Harbour and Poole Bay are popular areas for recreational pursuits such as: sailing, windsurfing, surfing, kitesurfing and water skiing. The harbour's large areas of sheltered waters attract windsurfers, particularly around the northern and eastern shores. Water skiing takes place in the harbour in a specially designated area known as the Wareham Channel. The waters around the harbour, Poole Bay and Studland Bay are also popular for recreational angling and diving. The beaches at Sandbanks are often used for sporting events such as the Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Festival, and the annual British Beach polo Championship. Since 1999 the town's Rossmore Leisure Centre has hosted the GMPD Poole Gymnastics Competition every October with the Holiday Inn Express hosting some of the competitors as well as previously a Disco on the Saturday evening which has since been scrapped, hundreds of competitors from across the country compete each year, the competition celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2019. Following a 2-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic it is hoped it will return in 2022. ### Sailing Poole Harbour is one of the largest centres for sailing in the UK with a number of yacht clubs such as the: East Dorset Sailing Club, Lilliput Sailing Club, Parkstone Yacht Club, Poole Yacht Club, Sandbanks Yacht Company and the Royal Motor Yacht Club. Parkstone Yacht Club hosted the OK Dinghy World Championships in 2004, the J/24 National Championships in 2006 and the J/24 European Championships in 2007, with the 2020 J24 Worlds hosted here also and are the organisers of Youth Week and Poole Week – two of the largest annual dinghy regattas of their type in the country. ### Football Poole's oldest football team is Poole Town F.C., a semi-professional team who play in the Southern Football League – the seventh tier of the English football league system. Established in 1880, the team has had erratic success at their level; they have never risen above non-League levels but once reached the third round of the FA Cup. They played at Poole Stadium until 1994 and have since settled at Tatnam Farm, sharing the school playing field with Oakdale Junior School. Poole's other football teams are Hamworthy United, formed in 1970, and play in the Wessex Premier League, and the amateur team Poole Borough F.C. who play in the Dorset Premier League. Poole is one of the largest towns in England without a professional football team. ### Speedway Poole's motorcycle speedway team, the Poole Pirates, were established and began racing at Poole Stadium in 1948 in the National League Division Three. The team now races in the top tier of league racing (the Elite League) which they won in 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2014. Poole Stadium is also a venue for greyhound racing; race nights occur three days a week throughout the year. ### Scouting Poole has three of the oldest Scout Association groups in the world, 1st Parkstone Air Scout Group holds records dating back to February 1908 and 1st Hamworthy Scout Group has records dating back to October 1908; both groups were formed out of the original Boys' Brigade units that had members take part in the original Scout Camp in 1907. Broadstone Group has records dating back to December 1908 and was home to the first King's/Queen's Scout. ### Nature parks Working with the Dorset Wildlife Trust, Poole Council has opened two nature parks: - Holes Bay Nature Park, opened in 2015, includes Upton Country Park. The bay is an important feeding and roosting site for wetland birds. - Corfe Barrows Nature Park, opened in 2016, is a group of eight natural sites, including Happy Bottom Nature Reserve, that is being jointly managed for wildlife and people in the north of the borough. ### Walking Poole Tourism has developed and waymarked a number of trails and circular walks, collectively called the Poole Harbour Trails. ### Cycling Poole has over 50 miles (80 km) of cycle network, including the Castleman Trailway, the Poole Heritage Cycle Route and the Bourne Valley Greenway. ## Culture The 'Beating of the bounds' is an ancient annual custom first carried out in 1612, which revives the traditional checking of the sea boundaries awarded to Poole by the Cinque Port of Winchelsea in 1364. The Admiral of the Port of Poole (the mayor) and other dignitaries, and members of the public sail from the mouth of the River Frome to Old Harry Rocks to confirm the mayor's authority over the water boundaries of the harbour and check for any encroachments. As there are no physical landmarks that can be beaten at sea, traditionally children from Poole were encouraged to remember the bounds of their town by taking part in the 'Pins and Points' ceremony involving the beating of a boy and pricking of a girl's hand with a needle. In modern times, the acts have been symbolically carried out. Poole's Summertime in the South is an annual programme providing various events on Poole Quay and Sandbanks from May until September. During June and July, live music, street entertainment and a large firework display take place on Poole Quay every Thursday evening. In August, the entertainment moves to the beaches at Sandbanks. Poole's Lighthouse is the largest arts centre complex in the United Kingdom outside London. Built in 1978, the centre contains a cinema, concert hall, studio, theatre, image lab and media suite and galleries featuring exhibitions of contemporary photography and modern digital art. The venue underwent an £8.5 million refurbishment in 2002, paid for by the Arts Council England, the Borough of Poole and private donations. The centre's concert hall has been the residence of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's main concert series since their former base at the Bournemouth Winter Gardens closed in 1985. Situated in the centre of the Old Town, Poole Museum illustrates the story of the area and its people and the collections reflect the cultural, social and industrial history of Poole. Displays include the Poole Logboat and a detailed history of Poole from the Iron Age to the present day. The museum has a floor devoted to the history of Poole Pottery and some of the company's products are on display. Entrance to the museum is free. ## Transport The A350 road is Poole town centre's main artery, running north along Holes Bay and on to the A35, and as a single carriageway to Bath and Bristol. To the east, the A337 road leads to Lymington and the New Forest. The A35 trunk road runs from Devon to Southampton and connects to the A31 on the outskirts of the town. The A31, the major trunk road in central southern England, connects to the M27 motorway at Southampton. From here the M3 motorway leads to London, and fast access may also be gained via the A34 to the M4 north of Newbury. Poole Bridge, a narrow bascule bridge constructed in 1927, connects the town centre and Hamworthy. Approval for a second bridge was given by the Department for Transport in 2006 and the £37 million Twin Sails bridge was completed in 2012. A road link to Studland and the Isle of Purbeck across the narrow entrance of Poole Harbour is provided by the Sandbanks Ferry. Poole is also home to the Poole Heritage Cycle Route. The A35, continuing as the A338 from the County Gates Gyratory, connects Poole to Bournemouth. Most local bus services are run by morebus who are based at the town's bus station and have served Poole since 1983. morebus operate networks across Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Salisbury, in addition to operations on the Isle of Purbeck and the New Forest. Other services are run by Bournemouth-based Yellow Buses and Damory Coaches. Poole is connected to towns and villages along the Jurassic Coast by the First Hampshire & Dorset X54 service, which runs along a 32-mile (51 km) route to Wareham, Wool, Lulworth Cove and Weymouth. Poole is also a calling point for National Express Coaches, which have frequent departures to London Victoria Coach Station. There are also direct services to the Midlands, the North of England and to Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Poole has four railway stations on the South West Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth. From east to west these are Branksome near the border with Bournemouth, Parkstone, Poole railway station in the town centre and Hamworthy. Services are operated by South Western Railway and consist of up to three trains an hour (fast, semi-fast and stopping services) to and from London, and twice an hour to and from Weymouth. Poole is a cross-Channel port for passengers and freight. Ferry services from Poole Harbour to Cherbourg are provided by Brittany Ferries who operate one round trip per day using the Barfleur The Condor Ferries fast ferry Condor Liberation provides seasonal services to Guernsey, Jersey and St. Malo, Brittany. Bournemouth International Airport in Hurn, on the periphery of Bournemouth, is the nearest airport to Poole – 10 miles (16 km) from the town centre. Ryanair, easyJet and TUI Airways operate from the airport and provide scheduled services to destinations in the UK and Europe. ## Education Poole has eleven infant schools, seven junior schools, ten primary schools, nine secondary schools, three special schools, five private schools and one college of further education. Two of Poole's secondary schools are grammar schools which maintain a selective education system, assessed by the eleven-plus exam. Poole High School is the largest secondary school in Poole with 1,660 pupils. The Bournemouth and Poole College attracts over 16,000 students a year and is one of the largest further education colleges in the country and the leading provider of academic and vocational education in Dorset. It has two centrally located main campuses in Poole and Bournemouth. From the 2007 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results, Poole was ranked 18th out of 148 local authorities in England based on the percentage of pupils attaining at least five A\* to C grades at GCSE level including English and maths (54.5% compared with the national average of 46.8%). Parkstone Grammar School was the most successful secondary school in Poole for GCSE results in 2007: 100% of pupils gained five or more GCSEs at A\* to C grade including English and maths. Canford School also achieved 100% and Poole Grammar School was the next best performing school with 98%. Poole High School achieved 39% and the worst performing school was Rossmore Community College where only 19% of students achieved five or more A\* to C grade results. Poole's grammar schools were also the best performing for A-level results. Poole Grammar School was the 60th most successful school/sixth form in the country in 2007: each student achieved on average 1071.4 points compared to the national average of 731.2. Parkstone Grammar School students averaged 1017.9 points. Bournemouth University was designated as a university in 1992 and despite its name, the university's main campus (the Talbot Campus) and buildings are within the boundaries of Poole Borough; a smaller campus is situated in Bournemouth itself. Media courses are the university's strength, and recent teaching quality assessments have resulted in ratings of 'excellent' for courses in the areas of communication and media, business and management, catering and hospitality, archaeology and nursing and midwifery. The Arts University Bournemouth was designated as a university in 2012 and is located at Wallisdown. It offers undergraduate, foundation degree, postgraduate and further education courses in contemporary arts, design and media. ## Public services Home Office policing is provided by the Poole and Bournemouth Division of Dorset Police which has one police station in Poole on Wimborne Road in the town centre. Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service provides statutory emergency fire and rescue services for Poole and are based at Poole Fire Station in Creekmoor which opened in 2008. The former fire station on Wimborne Road was demolished in 2008 and was replaced with a joint fire and police divisional headquarters which opened in 2009. Poole Hospital is a large acute hospital in Longfleet with 638 beds and is part of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. It opened in 1969 as Poole General Hospital, replacing Poole's Cornelia Hospital which had stood on the site since 1907. The hospital is the major trauma centre for East Dorset and provides core services such as child health and maternity for a catchment area including Bournemouth and Christchurch. Specialist services such as neurological care and cancer treatment are also provided for the rest of Dorset. The South Western Ambulance Service provides emergency patient transport. Waste management and recycling are co-ordinated by Poole Borough Council in partnership with Viridor. Locally produced inert waste is sent to landfill for disposal. Recycle waste is taken to Viridor's Materials Recycling Facility in Crayford for processing. Poole's distribution network operator for electricity is Scottish and Southern Energy. The water supply and sewerage systems are managed by Wessex Water; groundwater sources in Wiltshire and Dorset provide 75% of drinking water, the rest comes from reservoirs fed by rivers and streams. ## Media Poole has one local newspaper, the Daily Echo, which is owned by Newsquest. Published since 1900, the newspaper features news from Poole, Bournemouth and the surrounding area. Issues are produced Monday through Saturday with an average daily circulation of 13,579. For local television, Poole is served by the BBC South studios based in Southampton, and ITV Meridian from studios in Whiteley. Local radio stations broadcasting to the town include BBC Radio Solent, Wave 105, Heart South, Nation Radio South Coast, Hits Radio Bournemouth & Poole and Hot Radio. ## Notable people The town has been the birthplace and home to notable people, of national and international acclaim. Former residents include British radio disc jockey Tony Blackburn, the artist Augustus John, John Lennon's aunt and parental guardian Mimi Smith, and The Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien who lived in Poole for four years during his retirement. Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th-century explorer, naturalist and co-formulator of the theory of evolution by natural selection, moved to Poole in 1902 when he was 78 years old and is buried in Broadstone cemetery. Notable people born in Poole include the Suede guitarist Richard Oakes, Greg Lake of the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the author John le Carré, the novelist Maggie Gee, stage actor Oswald Yorke, actress Louisa Clein, cellist Natalie Clein, boxer Freddie Mills, the writer and actor David Croft, and James Stephen, the principal lawyer associated with the British abolitionist movement. Edgar Wright, the director of films such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End was born in Poole and out of the five previous British winners of the Miss World title, two have hailed from Poole: Ann Sydney and Sarah-Jane Hutt. Harry Redknapp, the former Tottenham Hotspur F.C. manager, and his son Jamie Redknapp, a former England national football team player, have owned homes in Sandbanks. Former Blue Peter presenter Katy Hill was also born in Poole. Molly Kingsbury who competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games was born in Poole. The actress Susannah Fielding featured in This Time with Alan Partridge. Current Arsenal footballer Ben White was born in Poole. Current Chelsea footballer Tino Anjorin was born in Poole. Chad Gould currently lives in Poole. Hampshire cricketer Scott Currie and his older brother Bradley Currie were also both born in Poole. ## Twin towns Poole is twinned with: - Cherbourg in France (since 1977) ## See also - Compton Acres - List of Dorset Beaches - List of places in Dorset - UK coastline

Hurricane Karl (2004)

Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2004

Hurricane Karl was a large and powerful Cape Verde hurricane during the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the eleventh named storm, eighth hurricane, and the sixth and final major hurricane of the 2004 season. Karl formed on September 16, originating from a strong tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa. It rapidly intensified, becoming a major hurricane on two occasions. Karl peaked as a strong Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale on September 21 with 145 mph (233 km/h) winds. It weakened as it moved northward, becoming extratropical on September 24 in the north Atlantic before it was absorbed by another system on September 28. The extratropical storm affected the Faroe Islands, but no damage was reported there, nor were there any fatalities. ## Meteorological history Karl originated in a strong tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on September 13. The wave gradually became better organized, and it was declared Tropical Depression Twelve about 670 miles (1,080 km) west-southwest of the Cape Verde islands on the morning of September 16, as it headed westward in the open tropical Atlantic following the periphery of the subtropical ridge. That afternoon, the depression continued to rapidly organize and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Karl. Due to healthy outflow around an upper-level anticyclone over Karl and a favorable environment with the warmest sea surface temperatures of the year, rapid deepening began on the evening of September 17, with the storm developing a small eye and being upgraded to Hurricane Karl. With water around 28 °C (82 °F) and low wind shear, the cyclone continued to rapidly intensify on the morning of September 18. The intensity leveled off somewhat that afternoon as a strong Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph (180 km/h). Late in the evening of September 18, Karl attained Category 3 status, becoming the sixth major hurricane of 2004. On September 19, Karl continued to strengthen, maintaining a well-defined eye, and strengthening late that day into a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 135 mph (217 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 948 mbar. Early on September 20, the storm weakened slightly as a result of an eyewall replacement cycle, weakening back to a strong Category 3 hurricane. At this time Karl began to turn sharply northward into a weakness in the subtropical ridge. After intensification stopped on September 20 due to the eyewall cycle and slightly increased wind shear, Karl quickly restrengthened that evening over very warm water, and early on September 21 reached its peak intensity as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph (233 km/h) winds and a minimum central pressure of 938 mbar. That morning, as Karl was moving northward, another eyewall replacement cycle began to take place and vertical shear increased, again weakening the storm temporarily. The trend continued into the evening, and the storm weakened to a Category 2 hurricane by early on September 22. The weakening trend slowed and eventually leveled off that afternoon with Karl remaining a Category 2 hurricane as the storm turned towards the north-northeast. Late that evening, Karl began to restrengthen once again as wind shear diminished. The intensification continued into the morning of September 23, as Karl became a major hurricane a second time, reaching a final peak of 125 mph (201 km/h) winds. Cooler waters and increased shear soon prevailed, however, and the storm quickly weakened, dropping to a Category 1 hurricane by late that evening as the low-level circulation became detached from the mid-level circulation due to the strong southwesterly vertical wind shear. Early on September 24, Karl continued its north-northeast track over the open north-central Atlantic and continued to gradually weaken. It started to come in contact with the baroclinic zone and began to lose tropical characteristics, while still a Category 1 hurricane. Karl became extratropical shortly afterward over the northern Atlantic at about 47°N, with its winds dropping below hurricane strength shortly thereafter. The extratropical storm made landfall on the Faroe Islands with hurricane-force wind gusts. As an extratropical low, the cyclone moved northeastward and eastward across the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, eventually reaching Norway before it was absorbed into another extratropical low late on September 28. ## Impact Karl made landfall on Norway as an extratropical storm with sustained winds near 70 mph (110 km/h) and with wind gusts up to 89 mph (143 km/h). No damages or deaths were reported, and no ships came directly into contact with Karl; the strongest winds reported were from the ship Rotterdam, which reported 52 mph (84 km/h) sustained winds in the north Atlantic while Karl was a Category 1 storm in extratropical transition. ## See also - List of Category 4 Atlantic hurricanes - Hurricane Kate (2003) - Hurricane Maria (2005) - Hurricane Katia (2011) - Hurricane Lorenzo (2019)

Indestructible (Disturbed album)

Indestructible is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Disturbed. A self-produced effort, Indestructible is the first Disturbed album that did not feature Johnny K, the producer of Disturbed's previous three albums, The Sickness, Believe, and Ten Thousand Fists. Indestructible was recorded at Groovemaster Studios in Chicago, Illinois. The album features two songs, "Perfect Insanity" and "Divide", that were written by Disturbed prior to their first album, The Sickness, but were never previously released. The album shows Disturbed abandoning the nu metal sound prominent on previous three albums and features significantly darker themes than any of the their previous work, according to the band. Some of the lyrical themes involve actual experiences that vocalist David Draiman had endured over the course of the past few years prior to making the album, including "bad relationships", a motorcycle accident that he was involved with, and an incident of suicide. To match the aggressive attitude and nature of said themes, Draiman told the other band members to create darker, more textural music than they have before. Despite these themes, the title track, "Indestructible", is meant to encourage those in the military that are fighting in wars and boost their morale. Indestructible was released on June 3, 2008 in CD format, and also as two different limited edition and special edition digipaks, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, making it the third consecutive number one debut by Disturbed on that chart, which had only been achieved by five other rock bands prior to the album's release. The album also shipped over 253,000 units in its opening week. Indestructible was met with mixed reviews by critics, earning a score of 57% on review-aggregating website Metacritic, based on six reviews. The album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2009 for shipping over 1,000,000 copies in the United States. The single "Inside the Fire" was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. ## Recording and production After touring in support of the band's previous album, Ten Thousand Fists, the band took a break. During this time, drummer Mike Wengren got married, and guitarist Dan Donegan had a child. In February 2007, after the break was over, the band went to Groovemaster Studios in Chicago, Illinois and began writing music. Indestructible is Disturbed's first self-produced effort, without Johnny K acting as producer, as he did on the band's previous albums, The Sickness, Believe, and Ten Thousand Fists. The band was comfortable with self-producing, despite having Johnny K produce two consecutive number-one albums, and this being their first time without him. As vocalist David Draiman reasoned, "we learned it, and we'd like to try [self-producing]." Early in the writing process, Donegan created guitar riffs. The rest of the band then listened to the riffs, and wrote the rest of the music, with the riffs being the base. As Donegan commented, "The writing process is ... pretty much the same since the beginning ... of this band. It's always been riffs; something musically that I'll come up with [that begins the writing process]." Wengren commented, "We're always tossing around riffs and beats, but it isn't really until we get home and we are able to clear our minds, decompress for a little bit, and then hit it, especially Danny and I, and just start throwing the riffs and the beats out, that the music starts to finally come to life." Bassist John Moyer left the studio during the recording process, due to his wife being pregnant. Donegan and Wengren sent him demos through e-mail, and he continued to write bass lines for the songs from his home studio. Regarding electronics on the album, Donegan said, "When the basic guitar, bass, [and] drums were being laid down, at first I didn't really see a whole lot of room for some of the electronics, but as the songs were starting to develop, I was just in that frame of mind to try and toy around with some of the electronics." When the instrumentation was completed, Draiman began to write melody lines for each song. Draiman commented, "I'm a big believer in the vibe of the music and the feel of it, how the song makes you feel musically should dictate what it is to be about and so if you start with something that has meaning, but the music doesn't support the meaning, then what good is it?" The first song completed musically was "The Night", and Draiman completed the melody line in three days. This caused Draiman to tentatively call the record The Night. As Draiman recalled, "The instrumentation was so cool and so dark and textural that I right away kind of jumped into it." When the first batch of songs were completed, the band sent them out to their record label, Reprise Records, and waited for their approval to continue writing more songs. After they received approval, they wrote the rest of the songs featured on the album. Wengren commented, "We thought it would be pretty cool, especially for the fans, if we brought back maybe a song or two, that were actually written during the same period that The Sickness songs were written. Danny brought in some old demo tapes, I'm talking twelve years old, back when 'Down With the Sickness' and 'Stupify' [sic], and all that stuff was written, this was actually written before that." The songs that Wengren was referring to were "Perfect Insanity", and "Divide". The band also recorded a version of the song "Midlife Crisis", which was originally performed by Faith No More. Draiman comments, "We took the song, revamped it and modernized it to our current level, and the version's killer." However, the song did not make it into the final track listing of the album, and is instead featured on Covered, A Revolution in Sound. This version of "Midlife Crisis" later appeared on The Lost Children, the band's first compilation album. One song, titled "Emptiness", was never fully recorded ever by the band. ## Title Indestructible took the longest amount of time to title when compared to Disturbed's previous records, according to Wengren. The band had originally wanted to title the record The Night, because it was the first track to be completed, and it defined the musical direction the band wanted to use with Indestructible. The record had a song whose working title was Defend, but it eventually was re-titled "Indestructible". When the title was changed, the band felt the title had, as Donegan reasoned, "made a bigger statement". Draiman said they titled the record Indestructible because the title "... kind of symbolizes the fact that we're still fucking here, that we haven't been destroyed, that we withstood the test of time." Regarding the choice of the title, Moyer commented, "Usually there's some name or phrase that sort of sums up, you know, what the vibe of the record's about, so this one's Indestructible, and it is an aggressive record, this record's about kicking ass." Donegan, commenting on the meaning of the title, stated, "We feel that we've become indestructible to be able to survive this long in the business, and continuing a success with it." Draiman concluded, "We have been through a lot. No matter what gets thrown at us, as a band, no matter what happens in the musical environment, we're still here, we're still viable, and still standing." ## Musical style and lyrical themes Vocalist David Draiman states that, lyrically, the album was inspired by various occurrences of bad luck that happened to him. "I had a motorcycle accident, and I had my garage burn down with most of my vehicles," Draiman commented. "... I've had really bad relationships that I've been in and out of. They've left their mark", he concluded. The song "Indestructible" is "an anthem for soldiers", Draiman comments. "It's meant to be something that would make them feel invincible, take away their fear, make them strong and that's what this whole body of work on this record does. It's music to help you feel strong," he concludes. Cuts such as "Deceiver" and "Inside the Fire" are about "really bad relationships". "Inside the Fire" is about "standing over the body of my girlfriend, who just killed herself, and the Devil is standing over me, whispering in my ear to kill myself," says Draiman. The song "The Night" is, "just kind of meant to portray the night almost as like a living entity that sets you free. You're enveloped by it, enmasked by it," Draiman comments. The band's vocalist also says the song "Perfect Insanity" is about "toying with the idea of insanity. Coming at you from the perspective from the individual who is [insane] and warning people around him, particularly his love interests, about his psychotic tendencies." Draiman says the track "Divide" "is meant to detract from the idea 'oh, let's all be one, let's all be united!' Fuck that, be yourself, be an individual, stand out, make your mark, make an impact." Commenting on the meaning of the song "Façade", Draiman says it is, "... a song from the perspective of a girl in a relationship where she's abused ... she's thinking about killing him, like you see on the news." To match the themes Draiman had in mind, he told his bandmates, "give me your darkest, nastiest, [most] aggressive tribal rhythmic shit you can throw at me". Prior to the release of the album, guitarist Dan Donegan supported this, stating, "musically, it's a lot ballsier than we've written [before]." He continued, saying, "[We're] trying to get a good blend of the elements of the past three CDs to try to evolve into something fresh and new for us as well." Dan Marsicano of 411mania commented on the song "Perfect Insanity", claiming it has "...a short but sweet shredding solo, double bass drum work, and fast picked riffing...". He goes on to propose the same for the song "Divide", saying it "follows the same pattern [as "Perfect Insanity"], with aggressive guitar work followed through by Draiman's vocals..." Marsicano also proposes that "Inside the Fire" has "...a memorable solo and a dark theme surrounding it," and says that "The Night" is an "epic-sounding track that has one of the best solos that Donegan has ever done and a catchy chorus." Chris Akin of Metaleater proposes that the album is full of hooks, and that guitarist Donegan takes a "much more 80s approach", due to his guitar solos. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone proposes that the album contains "meticulously constructed guitar skronk, serrated verses and cathartic refrains". ## Promotion The marketing campaign for Indestructible began in late 2007, with a strategy of releasing content for fans early and often. Promotion began with distributing stickers at live events. Reprise Records also partnered with Hot Topic retailers, who thereafter put an Indestructible album teaser on all Disturbed merchandise, and eventually began selling a limited edition 7" vinyl record with two songs from the album on it. In March 2008, Disturbed performed a concert in Kuwait for the United States military stationed there. The concert was streamed live on MySpace, and more than three million people viewed it. In February 2008, an audio sample was posted on Disturbed's MySpace profile to promote Indestructible. The sample, titled "Perfect Insanity", is actually a song written early in the band's career that never previously appeared on an album, but was expected to appear on the album. The track was later made available for download, in its entirety, on Disturbed's website for promotional purposes. Another sample, titled "Inside the Fire", appeared on Rock on the Range's MySpace profile in March 2008. The track was anticipated to be the first single released from the album, with a music video directed by Nathan Cox. On March 24, 2008 "Inside the Fire" debuted on more than sixty radio stations. It was released for digital download the next day. On May 2, 2008 the music video for "Inside the Fire" debuted on Disturbed's website. In April 2008, a limited edition pre-order digipak of Indestructible was made available for order exclusively through Disturbed's website. The limited edition package featured the entire album, a B-side track entitled "Run", a DVD featuring a documentary about the making of the album and some instructional videos, a "wrap-around" poster, a special VIP laminate which grants access to special Disturbed events through 2009, and a special code which grants access to the "Inside the Fire" special website add-on. Another special edition pre-order of the album was on iTunes Music Store, and featured three live bonus tracks, as well as the entire album. Yet another pre-order of the album allowed customers who pre-ordered the album through Best Buy retailers to download the two songs, "Inside the Fire", and "Indestructible" as playable content on the video game Rock Band. Three songs from Disturbed's first online concert performance at DeepRockDrive were mastered and featured on the EP Live & Indestructible. On August 20, 2008 a music video directed by Noble Jones for the album's third single and title track, "Indestructible", was posted on Disturbed's website. The single was released digitally on September 29, 2008, and the music video was officially available for purchase the next day, packaged with the EP Live & Indestructible. Jones also directed the music video for the fourth single from Indestructible, "The Night", in January 2009, and it was released in late March 2009. ## Critical reception Critical reception for Indestructible was largely positive. Being the first self-produced effort by the band, they had more leeway to create music without any outside interference, suggests 411mania writer Dan Marsicano. He concludes that the self-production also led to a lack of guidance, though, which ultimately works against the album, rather than helping it. Guitarist Dan Donegan's guitar work was praised, and About.com writer Chad Bowar notes many songs on the album are guitar-driven. Metaleater writer Chris Akin also praises Donegan, saying, "If there is growth in the band, it's in the guitars. Dan Donegan takes a much more 80s approach than he has on past recordings." AllMusic writer James Monger praised Indestructible, suggesting that rather than taking melodic elements from acts like Pantera, like Disturbed's previous records are suggested to, the album takes musical elements from acts such as Metallica or AC/DC. Indestructible did, however, receive criticism. IGN writer Jim Kaz proposes that vocalist David Draiman has an "overly-forced" vocal delivery. Kaz also finds, "The tunes are largely similar in style and structure ... In essence, there's very little that stands out." He goes on to say that the album already seems obsolete, "There's just too much of the very recent past on Indestructible to move away from it. So in effect, it sounds a bit dated ... already." It is also suggested that, although possessing a reliably solid foundation, the album lacks a meaning behind its drive: "They wind up sounding a little lost on Indestructible, stabbing their weapons without any reasons behind each parry," says PopMatters writer Andrew Blackie. ## Commercial performance Indestructible shipped over 253,000 units in its opening week. It is also Disturbed's third consecutive studio album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and remain in the top ten for five weeks, making Disturbed one of six bands to ever achieve three consecutive number one debuts. It also peaked at number one in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Indestructible was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in July 2008, for shipping over 500,000 copies in the United States, and was certified platinum in April 2009, shipping over 1,000,000 copies in United States. The album has also sold over one million copies worldwide. The album's lead single, "Inside the Fire", received significant radio airplay. The single remained at number one on Mediabase's Active Rock chart for fourteen weeks, setting a record as the longest running number one single on that specific chart. "Inside the Fire" was also nominated for a 2009 Grammy award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. The title track, "Indestructible", also reached number one on Mediabase's Active Rock chart, making it Disturbed's second number one song on that chart in 2008. ## Track listing The three bonus tracks, "Run", "Parasite" and "Midlife Crisis" are included on the band's B-side compilation The Lost Children. ## Charts Album Singles ## Certifications ## Personnel Disturbed - David Draiman – lead vocals - Dan Donegan – guitars, electronics - John Moyer – bass, backing vocals - Mike Wengren – drums, percussion Production - Dan Donegan – production - David Draiman – production - Mike Wengren – production - Tadpole – engineering, Pro Tools - Justin Wilks – assistant engineering - Cameron Webb – Pro Tools - Neal Avron – mixing - Nick Fournier – mixing - Ted Jensen – mastering - Joey Lawrence – photography - David Finch – cover illustration - Matt Taylor – art direction and design The Making of Indestructible DVD - Directed by Rafa Alcantara - Produced by Adam Cook and Twentyfourcore Productions - Production assistant – Dan Fusselman - Edited by JT Smith and Rafa Alcantara - DVD post producer – David May - DVD associate producer – Raena Winscott - DVD Authoring – Jim Atkins for Media Services

King Alfred's Tower

Folly tower in Somerset, England

Alfred's Tower is a folly in Somerset, England, on the edge of the border with Wiltshire, on the Stourhead estate. The tower stands on Kingsettle Hill and belongs to the National Trust. It is designated as a Grade I listed building. Henry Hoare II planned the tower in the 1760s to commemorate the end of the Seven Years' War against France and the accession of King George III, and it was erected near the site of Egbert's Stone, where it is believed that Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, rallied the Anglo-Saxons in 878 before the Battle of Edington. The tower was damaged by an aeroplane in 1944 and restored in the 1980s. The 49-metre-high (161 ft) triangular tower has a hollow centre and is climbed by means of a helical staircase in one of the corner projections. It has a statue of King Alfred and a dedication inscription. ## Location The tower stands near the site of 'Egbert's Stone', where it was said that Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, rallied the Saxons in May 878 before the important Battle of Edington (historically known as the battle of Ethandun), where the Danish army, led by Guthrum the Old was defeated. It is the start of the Leland Trail, a 28-mile (45.1 km) footpath which runs south-west to Ham Hill Country Park. ## History The project to build the tower was conceived in 1762 by the banker Henry Hoare II (1705–1785). The tower was intended to commemorate the end of the Seven Years' War against France and the accession of King George III. > Alfred's Tower is a monument to the genius of English landscape, many of whose loveliest haunts it commands, and to a man who certainly deserves to be remembered as among the great benefactors of the English scene. In 1765 Henry Flitcroft, a Palladian architect, designed the tower. Building began in 1769 or early 1770, and was completed in 1772 at a cost estimated to be between £5,000 and £6,000. There may have been some delay due to difficulty in obtaining the bricks. In addition to the commemorative function, the tower was also intended to serve as an eye-catcher for those touring the parkland of the Stourhead Estate. In April 1770, when the tower was just 15 feet (4.7 m) high, Hoare is quoted as saying: "I hope it will be finished in as happy Times to this Isle as Alfred finished his Life of Glory in then I shall depart in peace." The tower was damaged in 1944 when a Noorduyn Norseman aeroplane crashed into it in fog, resulting in the death of the five American aircrew and damage to the uppermost 10 metres (33 ft). It was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1961. Restoration work in 1986 included the use of a Wessex helicopter to lower a 300-kilogram (661 lb) piece of masonry onto the top. The statue of King Alfred was also restored at this time, including the replacement of his missing right forearm. ## Architecture The triangular tower is over 40 metres (131 ft) high with a girth of 51 metres (167 ft). Each of the three corners of the triangular structure has a round projection. The centre of the tower is hollow, and to stop birds from entering the space a mesh has been added at roof level. The viewing platform, which has a crenellated parapet and offers a view over the surrounding countryside, is reached by a 205-step spiral staircase at the corner furthest from the entrance. The brick tower has Chilmark stone dressings and is surmounted by an embattled parapet. The south-east face of the tower has a Gothic-arched entrance door, a statue of King Alfred, and a stone panel bearing an inscription (see below). This is the face that most visitors see first when walking from Stourhead garden or from the nearby car park. ### Inscription Around the Stourhead estate are several inscriptions. The plaque of the inscription is in poor condition and needs restoration. It was drafted in 1762 and installed in 1772. The stone tablet above the door on the east face of the tower reads: > > ALFRED THE GREAT AD 879 on this Summit Erected his Standard Against Danish Invaders To him We owe The Origin of Juries The Establishment of a Militia The Creation of a Naval Force ALFRED The Light of a Benighted Age Was a Philosopher and a Christian The Father of his People The Founder of the English MONARCHY and LIBERTY ## In popular culture The tower is mentioned in Thomas Hardy's poem "Channel Firing" (written in April 1914) as a place "far inland". ## See also - Scrabo Tower, County Down

Cold-core low

Cyclone with an associated cold pool of air at high altitude

A cold-core low, also known as an upper level low or cold-core cyclone, is a cyclone aloft which has an associated cold pool of air residing at high altitude within the Earth's troposphere, without a frontal structure. It is a low pressure system that strengthens with height in accordance with the thermal wind relationship. If a weak surface circulation forms in response to such a feature at subtropical latitudes of the eastern north Pacific or north Indian oceans, it is called a subtropical cyclone. Cloud cover and rainfall mainly occurs with these systems during the day. Severe weather, such as tornadoes, can occur near the center of cold-core lows. Cold lows can help spawn cyclones with significant weather impacts, such as polar lows, and Kármán vortices. Cold lows can lead directly to the development of tropical cyclones, owing to their associated cold pool of air aloft or by acting as additional outflow channels to aid in further development. ## Characteristics Cold cyclones are stronger aloft than at the Earth's surface, or stronger in areas of the troposphere with lower pressures, per the thermal wind relationship and the hypsometric equation. The hypsometric equation dictates that colder atmospheres have less room between pressure surfaces, which corresponds to the concept of lower atmospheric thickness, and the thermal wind relation indicates that in this situation, the wind increases with height. It also means that an isolated pool of cold air aloft is associated with the feature. Because of its cold center, the center shows an area of thickness minimum. Since the temperature at any given radius is similar and parallel to the orientation of the pressure gradient, and therefore the wind, it is barotropic in nature. The movement of cold-core cyclones can be erratic since they are separated from the main belt of the Westerlies, which would otherwise steer them progressively to the east. Most cloud cover and precipitation in association with cold lows occurs during the daylight hours as sunlight warms the Earth's surface, destabilizing the atmosphere and causing upward vertical motion. The development of severe weather, particularly tornadoes, can occur near the center of these systems over land during any season of the year. During winter, when cold-core lows with temperatures in the mid-levels of the troposphere reach −45 °C (−49 °F) move over open waters, deep convection forms which allows polar low development to become possible. ## Importance to cyclones within the subtropics and mid-latitudes Kona lows, most extratropical cyclones, and tropical upper tropospheric cyclones are cold core lows. In the eastern half of the north Pacific ocean and north Indian ocean, the formation of a weak circulation underneath a mid to upper-tropospheric low which has cut off from the main belt of the westerlies during the cold season (winter) is called a subtropical cyclone. In the case of the north Indian ocean, the formation of this type of vortex leads to the onset of monsoon rains during the wet season. East coast lows form near and east of where a cold core low interacts with a sea surface temperature (SST) gradient along the east coast of continents, such as Asia, North America, southern Africa, and Australia within a pre-existing area of high pressure. Those offshore the East Coast of the United States, which normally form in the months between October and April, are termed nor'easters. Not initially associated with weather fronts, they form in tandem with blocking anticyclones at higher latitudes, which leads to a slow poleward movement up the SST gradient. East coast lows can persist for up to a week. Some East coast lows develop rapidly, becoming meteorological bombs. There is a 4.5 year cycle in the formation of East coast lows near Australia, in years in transition between warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) ENSO years. These systems can develop strong wind, heavy rains, waves over 10 metres (33 ft) in height, and eye features on weather satellite imagery. Upper-level lows are usually the cause of heavy rainfall and storms in southeastern Australia, particularly during La Niña years. ## Importance to tropical cyclones The summer tropical upper tropospheric trough in the Southern Hemisphere lies over the trade wind region of the east central Pacific and can cause tropical cyclogenesis offshore Central America. In the western Pacific, tropical upper tropospheric lows are the main cause for the few tropical cyclones which develop north of the 20th parallel north and east of the 160th meridian east during La Niña events. Trailing upper cyclones and upper troughs can cause additional outflow channels and aid in the intensification process of tropical cyclones. Developing tropical disturbances can help create or deepen upper troughs or upper lows in their wake due to the outflow jet stream emanating from the developing tropical disturbance/cyclone. In the western North Pacific, there are strong reciprocal relationships between the areas of formative tropical cyclones and that of the lower tropospheric monsoon troughs and the tropical upper tropospheric trough. Tropical cyclone movement can also be influenced by TUTT cells within 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi) of their position, which can lead to non-climatological tracks, such as eastward movement within the tropics or westward movement in an area where the Westerlies normally dominate. Normally, an ocean temperature of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F) spanning through a depth of at least 50 metres (160 ft) is one of the six requirements needed to maintain the special mesocyclone that is the tropical cyclone. Cooler air temperatures at a higher altitude (e.g., at the 500 hPa level, or 5.9 km) can lead to tropical cyclogenesis at lower water temperatures than normal, as a certain lapse rate is required to force the atmosphere to be unstable enough for convection. In a moist atmosphere, this lapse rate is 6.5 °C/km (19 °F/mi), while in an atmosphere with less than 100% relative humidity, the required lapse rate is 9.8 °C/km (29 °F/mi). A recent example of a tropical cyclone that maintained itself over cooler waters was Alex of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, which became a hurricane over waters at only 20 °C (68 °F). At the 500 hPa level, the air temperature averages −7 °C (18 °F) within the tropics, but air in the tropics is normally dry at this level, giving the air room to wet-bulb, or cool as it moistens, to a more favorable temperature that can then support convection. A wet-bulb temperature at 500 hPa in a tropical atmosphere of −13.2 °C (8.2 °F) is required to initiate convection if the water temperature is 26.5 °C (79.7 °F), and this temperature requirement increases or decreases proportionally by 1 °C in the sea surface temperature for each 1 °C change at 500 hpa. Under a cold cyclone, 500 hPa temperatures can fall as low as −30 °C (−22 °F), which can initiate convection even in the driest atmospheres. This also explains why moisture in the mid-levels of the troposphere, roughly at the 500 hPa level, is normally a requirement for development. However, when dry air is found at the same height, temperatures at 500 hPa need to be even colder as dry atmospheres require a greater lapse rate for instability than moist atmospheres. At heights near the tropopause, the 30-year average temperature (as measured in the period encompassing 1961 through 1990) was −77 °C (−132 °F). ## See also - Cut-off low - Cold pool

Bahar Mustafa race row

In 2015 a racial controversy developed in the United Kingdom surrounding the activities of Bahar Mustafa, a representative for Goldsmiths Students' Union. The incident resulted in media and academic discussions regarding race relations and the impact of police investigations on free speech. A Londoner of Turkish Cypriot ancestry, Mustafa worked as the welfare and diversity officer of Goldsmiths Students' Union and was a self-described feminist and anti-racist activist. In early 2015 she organised several events at Goldsmiths, University of London in which white students, and in another case both white and male students, were banned. This attracted national attention, with commentators criticising this as racial segregation and accusing Mustafa of racism and sexism, which Mustafa denied. Further controversy surrounded her alleged posting to Twitter "KillAllWhiteMen" and for referring to a fellow student as "white trash". A petition was launched calling for Mustafa to be sacked; a vote of no confidence initiated by Goldsmiths' students failed to gain sufficient support to remove her from the position. The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into Mustafa's comments; they initially charged her on two counts, but dropped proceedings after concluding that they were unlikely to secure a conviction. This police investigation attracted media attention, with commentators from across the political spectrum describing it as an affront to free speech. Amid an investigation into allegations of bullying, in November 2015 Mustafa resigned from her position at Goldsmiths. ## Controversy ### Initial incident and response A 28-year-old from Edmonton in northeast London, Mustafa was the welfare and diversity officer of Goldsmiths Students' Union. She described herself as a "working class, Turkish Cypriot, queer, disabled woman and activist" whose political views were "intersectional, queer, feminist, [and] anti-racist". In February 2015 she was criticised by The Spectator after organising a Goldsmiths Students' Union social event and screening of Dear White People for black and minority ethnic (BME) students only, with white people being banned from attending. The Spectator stated that this event represented "racial segregation at a British university" and highlighted the double standards of holding an event from which white people were banned when a white-only event would certainly be prohibited. In April 2015, Mustafa again attracted attention while planning an event devoted to challenging the "white-centric culture" of student occupations and diversifying the student curriculum because—on the event's Facebook page—she asked that only women of color attend the event. In her original post she stated: "Hey, I made as many of you hosts so please invite loads of BME [black and minority ethnic] Women and non-binary people!! Also, if you've been invited and you're a man and/or white PLEASE DON'T COME just cos I invited a bunch of people and hope you will be responsible enough to respect this is a BME Women and non-binary event only. Don't worry lads we will give you and allies things to do." The feminist scholar of creative writing Prudence Chamberlain later noted that such a situation was "not at all uncommon in the organisation of diversity events". Mustafa herself later described her events as being "not unlike women and black caucuses that have been a proud tradition of the trade union movement for decades". Mustafa's comments attracted national media attention, and generated anger from both student publications and the wider press. Many accused her of sexism, as well as racism. Speaking anonymously, the president of one student union criticised Mustafa, stating that she was contributing to a campus environment in which white, cisgender males were given the impression that "they can't say anything for fear of retribution", resulting in life becoming "very difficult" for them. The anonymous president added that it was "laughable" and ironic that Mustafa thought that her events are "diversifying the student community in the name of feminism and multiculturalism". The Spectator similarly saw irony in Mustafa's comments, stating that "it is astonishing" that a racially exclusionary event "is deemed acceptable. It wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else in Britain – so why on earth is it being tolerated at a British university?" The Tab expressed the view that there was "a huge difference" between holding events that catered primarily to women and ethnic minority students and events which banned anyone who was not a woman or ethnic minority from attending. ### Response and further controversy Mustafa deleted the Facebook post, and responded to her critics in a video uploaded to Eastlondonlines.co.uk, in which she dismissed criticism of her actions as "an outrageous distortion of fact". Here, she stated that: "There have been charges made against me that I am racist and sexist to white men. I want to explain why this is false. I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men, because racism and sexism describes structures of privilege based on race and gender. And therefore women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist because we do not stand to benefit from such a system. In order for our actions to be deemed racist or sexist, the current system would have to be one that enables only people of colour and women to benefit economically and socially on such a large scale and to the systematic exclusion of white people and men, who for the past 400 years would have to have been subjected to block colonisation. We do not live in such a system, we do not know of such a history, reverse racism and reverse sexism are not real." Mustafa's justification of her actions caused more public controversy. The BBC found commentators who supported Mustafa's definition of racism as a form of structural inequality, whereas others disagreed with her, believing that anyone could be racist to those of another race and that this was a case of double standards. Further controversy surrounded her alleged posting to Twitter "KillAllWhiteMen", which was described as racist. In another tweet, made from her official Twitter account as a student union representative, she accused student activist Tom Harris of being "white trash". She later apologized, acknowledging that her use of the official account was "not professional". She told Vice that she had never tweeted "#KillAllWhiteMen", but defended those who did, saying that it "is something that a lot of people in the feminist community use to express frustration" and that it is not a literal command for androcide. She also stated that she had received rape and death threats following the media coverage. A petition was established on Change.org that called for Mustafa to be removed from her position at the union for "hate speech"; as of 23 May it had gained 18,000 signatures. Within Goldsmiths itself, a group of students petitioned for a vote of no confidence in Mustafa, but by May their petition had gained only 165 signatures, representing 1.8% of the union's membership; according to the union's regulations, 3% of members' signatures were required in order to trigger a referendum regarding Mustafa's continued employment and thus she remained in her position. Writing in The Independent, Max Benwell stated that the hashtag \#KillAllWhiteMen was "obviously tongue-in-cheek" before adding that "no-one actually thinks that she was actually calling for a male genocide, do they?". ### Police investigation In May 2015, the Metropolitan Police revealed that they were investigating Mustafa's tweets. In October, they charged Mustafa with two offences, sending a threatening message and sending a menacing or offensive message via a public network. She was ordered to appear at Bromley Magistrates Court on 5 November. However, on 26 October the Metropolitan Police dropped the charges, revealing that they had discontinued their criminal case against Mustafa because there was "not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction". Under the Victim's Right to Review Scheme, one of the complainants in the case then requested that the Crown Prosecution Service review their decision to terminate criminal proceedings. Robert Sharp, a representative of the freedom of speech advocacy group English PEN, expressed the view that the police had been excessive in their dealings with Mustafa, stating his view that the fact that the case had "gone on so long is a chill on free speech". Sharp believed that advancing criminal proceedings was not in the interests of the public because Mustafa's comments were "clearly a joke... It was a political statement, however inadvisable it was for an elected students' union official to post it." Sharp's analysis was later quoted by the academic David Harvey in his discussion of how social media technologies were influencing law-making. Praising the police's decision to terminate the charges in The Guardian, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff believed that there had been a double standard in the fact that police had investigated Mustafa for her comments but not the online trolls who had harassed her. Brinkhurst-Cuff nevertheless stated that "there's no denying that Mustafa has made some mistakes", in particular by adopting approaches "that many would consider extreme." A commentator for The Tab concurred, commenting that although Mustafa might be "a bore and a killjoy", that "doesn't make [her] a criminal". Among those to publicly express support for Mustafa's position using Twitter were right-wing commentators Katie Hopkins and Milo Yiannopoulos. Mustafa stated that she was "so embarrassed" to receive Hopkins' support, regarding her as "an attention-seeking, classist idiot". She added that both Hopkins and Yiannopoulos were "not my allies—I did not ask for their support, and I don't want it." ## Aftermath In November 2015, Adrihani Rashid, the President of Goldsmith Students' Union, resigned from her position amid allegations that she had been bullied by Mustafa. Mustafa and the union's campaigns and activities officer were said to have created a "hostile" working environment for Rashid, undermining her and "badmouth[ing]" her to other students, as well as accusing her of acting "undemocratically" when Rashid refused to endorse solidarity statements backing student protesters and occupiers. Goldsmiths called for a full investigation into the allegations, with the union agreeing to do so. In a statement, the union stated that it "takes these allegations very seriously, and having raised these with the Trustee Board, will be instigating an independent inquiry". Amid these allegations, on 20 November Mustafa publicly stated that she was resigning from her job with the student union. She informed reporters from The Evening Standard that "I am resigning for the preservation of my mental and physical health. I am still committed to the independent investigation which I am confident will shed light on the structural issues that have led to the mental and physical breakdown of all sabbatical officers". In March 2018, Mustafa—now describing herself as "a communist, anti-fascist, and feminist organiser"—spoke out on the Munroe Bergdorf race row incident. She criticised the decision of the Labour Party to dismiss Bergdorf from her role and drew comparisons between the way she and Bergdorf had been treated by both the right-wing media and sectors of the political left. ## See also - Munroe Bergdorf race row incident

2012 Critérium du Dauphiné

The 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné was the sixty-fourth running of the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling stage race; a race rated as a World Tour event on the UCI calendar, the highest classification such an event can have. The race consisted of eight stages, beginning with a prologue in Grenoble on 3 June, and concluded in Châtel on 10 June. The race was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation, the same group that organises the Tour de France. It was viewed as a great preparation for July's Tour de France, hence why a majority of the contenders for the general classification of the major tour participated in the Dauphiné. It featured mountainous stages as well as an individual time trial quite similar in length to those that awaited the riders in the Tour. The race was won for the second successive year by rider Bradley Wiggins, who claimed the leader's yellow and blue jersey after the first stage, extending his race-leading advantage after winning the fourth stage individual time trial, and ultimately maintained that advantage. Wiggins became only the third rider to win the Dauphiné and Paris–Nice – a race that Wiggins had won in March – in the same year after Jacques Anquetil (1963 and 1965) and Eddy Merckx (1971) had previously done so. Wiggins' winning margin over his team-mate and runner-up Michael Rogers was one minute and seventeen seconds, and 's Cadel Evans completed the podium, nine seconds down on Rogers. In the race's other classifications, rider Cayetano Sarmiento won the King of the Mountains classification, Evans won the green jersey for the points classification, 's Wilco Kelderman won the young rider classification, with finishing at the head of the teams classification by over thirteen minutes, after placing four riders inside the final overall top ten placings. ## Participating teams As the Critérium du Dauphiné was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Four other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 22-team peloton. All twenty-two squads that competed in the Dauphiné contested the Tour de France later in the year. The twenty-two teams that competed in the race were: ## Schedule The route for the race was announced on 27 March 2012. ## Stages ### Prologue 3 June 2012 — Grenoble, 5.7 km (3.5 mi), individual time trial (ITT) The Dauphiné began with its traditional short individual time trial stage, with a near-flat course around the streets of Grenoble; the city was hosting the prologue of the race for the fourth time in fifteen years following prior starts in 1997, 2000 and 2007, the last of which was won by the 2011 race winner Bradley Wiggins, then riding for the team. With rain expected to disrupt the stage, as it had done so in the 2011 prologue, teams decided to spread their time trial specialists across the field in order to maximise their potential of winning the stage. For the first rider to depart the start in Grenoble, 's Lieuwe Westra, weather conditions were dry. Westra ultimately recorded a time of 6' 46" for the stage, which was good enough for a top-12 stage placing after all 175 riders had taken to the course. Westra's time was beaten shortly afterwards by rider Carlos Barredo, who went four seconds quicker around the course, 5.7 km (3.5 mi) in length. Barredo held the top spot for around quarter of an hour, as his time was marginally beaten by Andriy Hryvko, a four-time Ukrainian champion in the discipline, riding for the team. Soon after, the eventual stage-winning performance was recorded by the Australian national champion Luke Durbridge, for . Durbridge set a time of 6' 38", in the favourable conditions; he held on to his spot throughout the expected changeable weather that was a factor in the remainder of the running order. Following a rain shower that effected the racing during the middle portion of the stage, the later riders to take to the course did have dry roads to contend with but the wind had picked up and made conditions more difficult than what the earlier riders had for their passages through the parcours. Durbridge's time remained untroubled to the end, despite the best attempts of defending champion Wiggins, who finished just 1.35 seconds in arrears in second place, having started last of the 175 competitors. Thus, Durbridge took his first stage victory at World Tour level, which gave him a clean sweep of the jerseys post-stage, for holding the lead of the overall, points and young rider classifications. Other overall contenders Tejay van Garderen (), 's Tony Martin, Jérôme Coppel (), as well as van Garderen's team-mate Cadel Evans and 2010 winner Janez Brajkovič () all lost time in comparison to Wiggins; Martin placed best in fifth position, although Evans also made the top ten, in ninth place. ### Stage 1 4 June 2012 — Seyssins to Saint-Vallier, 187 km (116.2 mi) With no fewer than six categorised climbs during the 187 km (116.2 mi) parcours, the first mass-start stage was not ideally suited towards the sprinters, but was favourable towards puncheurs, as the final of the six climbs – the third-category Côte de la Sizeranne – came just 9 km (5.6 mi) from the stage's finish in Saint-Vallier. Six riders – Giovanni Bernaudeau (), rider Markel Irizar, 's Maarten Tjallingii, Nicolas Edet of , Sep Vanmarcke () and rider Yukihiro Doi – advanced clear of the main field in the early running of the stage; the sextet managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of over thirteen minutes around a quarter of the way through the stage. Around the same point, a crash involving Pierrick Fédrigo () and Samuel Sánchez () brought both riders down. Neither rider returned to the main group, as Fédrigo lost over six minutes and Sánchez almost four times that; losing almost 24 minutes, after reports that he had been suffering with broken ribs. He was taken to hospital after the stage, where he was diagnosed with bruised ribs. The teams of several of the general classification contenders were prevalent on the front of the peloton as they set about reducing the advantage that the breakaway group of six riders were holding over them. The gap had been reduced to around the three-minute mark with 50 km (31.1 mi) left of the stage to cover. Another big crash happened some 20 km (12.4 mi) later with 's Simon Gerrans, rider Pim Ligthart and Dan Martin of among those to hit the tarmac. moved forward, and pulled the gap under two minutes and caused the breakaway to splinter through pressure. Bernaudeau – who had figured at each of the mountain passes to the point – and Doi failed to stay with their companions as they approached the day's final climb, the Côte de la Sizeranne. Tjallingii was also dropped by the remaining members of the breakaway, while in the main field, Alexander Vinokourov () and Andy Schleck of – who had been criticised by team manager Johan Bruyneel for his poor opening half to the season – were both struggling off the back of the group. Both riders lost over three minutes by the stage end. As the lead group approached the top of the Côte de la Sizeranne, Irizar attacked from the group of the remaining three breakaway riders, while Vanmarcke and Edet were joined by rider Pierre Rolland, who had escaped the confines of the main group itself. Another three-rider move went forwards from the peloton as Rolland's team-mate Cyril Gautier, 's Luis León Sánchez and rider Philippe Gilbert got clear by several seconds. Irizar held a slim advantage, but overshot a corner and was eventually caught with around 5 km (3.1 mi) to go. As Irizar was caught, Jérôme Coppel of counter-attacked, and was eventually joined by Cadel Evans – a team-mate of Gilbert at – and 's Andrey Kashechkin, who finished third in the race in 2007. The trio managed to hold off the closing peloton into the finish, where Evans managed to fend off the advances of Coppel and Kashechkin to take the stage win. rider Nacer Bouhanni led home the peloton just four seconds in arrears, and with race leader Luke Durbridge () not featuring in the split peloton, Bradley Wiggins assumed the race lead for ; Evans moved up to second, one second behind Wiggins. ### Stage 2 5 June 2012 — Lamastre to Saint-Félicien, 160 km (99.4 mi) Just like the previous day's stage, the second stage of the race also comprised six categorised climbs, packed into the 160 km (99.4 mi) route through the Ardèche region, with the highest point coming at the summit of the second-category Col de Montivernoux. The finish in Saint-Félicien came at the end of a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) climb, which would more or less rule out the sprinters more obviously than the first stage parcours. rider Rémi Pauriol and 's Maxime Méderel broke clear of the peloton in the opening stages, and they were subsequently joined by a group which contained a number of overall race contenders including maillot jaune et bleu wearer Bradley Wiggins (), Vincenzo Nibali of and rider Sylvain Chavanel. The group was eventually reabsorbed back into the main group after around 20 km (12.4 mi) of racing. After a period of stability within the main group, a four-rider move consisting of three French riders – David Moncoutié representing , Blel Kadri of and 's Christophe Kern, who won a stage during the 2011 race – as well as Colombia's Cayetano Sarmiento, riding for the team, advanced clear of the field and quickly established an advantage over them; of those, Kadri was best-placed at just eleven seconds behind Wiggins prior to the stage. marshalled the front of the peloton as a result, not letting the gap over four minutes at any point. Behind, there were several moves in order for riders to bridge a gap between the main field and the leaders; at the Col de Lalouvesc with 40 km (24.9 mi) to go, the leaders only held a gap of around half a minute over their chasers. Five riders tried to do so, but only one was able to stay in between the breakaway and the peloton. 's Anthony Roux was the rider in question, and he set off after the quartet up front, and was able to reach them with around 7 km (4.3 mi) remaining of the stage. However, the peloton was not far behind, and the breakaway did not last much longer after that. With the field back together, several riders attempted solo moves off the front of the peloton, including Kadri's team-mate Mikaël Cherel, but all were unsuccessful. The group remained together into the climb towards the finish; and headed the group, protecting their main riders Nibali and Cadel Evans from any potential trouble. World time trial champion Tony Martin tried to get clear within the final kilometre for but could not sustain a gap over everyone else, and rider Daniel Moreno timed his sprint perfectly, to take his third win of the season, ahead of French pair Julien Simon () and 's Tony Gallopin. Wiggins finished ninth to maintain his one-second overall lead over Evans, who was seventh. ### Stage 3 6 June 2012 — Givors to La Clayette, 167 km (103.8 mi) With a lengthy individual time trial and three mountainous stages left during the itinerary, the third stage was billed as the sprinters' one remaining chance at a stage victory at the Dauphiné. As such, the parcours of the stage suited them; although there were three categorised climbs during the stage – a third-category climb and two fourth-category passes – they were all within the first half of the stage. Two riders – Spanish pairing Luis Ángel Maté of and rider Egoi Martínez – went clear almost immediately after the start of the stage, making the early breakaway from the field, and the duo managed to extend their advantage over the main field to around five-and-a-half minutes, within the first 20 km (12.4 mi) of the stage. Behind the lead pair, 's Giovanni Bernaudeau was the first rider from the peloton to cross the fourth-category climbs, and regained the lead of the mountains classification from rider Blel Kadri. `and looked to set the tempo on the front of the peloton, in the hopes of getting their respective sprinters John Degenkolb and Nacer Bouhanni towards the front if a sprint finish materialised. It was those two teams who gradually brought back Maté and Martínez for the majority of the parcours, but as the race drew nearer La Clayette, more teams put men into the relay and the breakaway was ended inside the final 15 km (9.3 mi). held their riders on the front of the peloton in the closing stages, with Sylvain Chavanel, seventh overall, being protected by his team-mates before setting the pace at times. Degenkolb's chances for the stage ended with around 2 km (1.2 mi) remaining due to a puncture. Philippe Gilbert attacked for with 1.5 km (0.9 mi) to go, gaining an advantage of a few seconds but was caught with around 300 m (980 ft) left.` `looked to get Tony Gallopin in position for the sprint, while behind, Ricardo Garcia () clipped the barriers, and fell back into the path of the sprint causing the majority of the field to be hampered; all riders that were impacted by the crash were eventually given the same time. Up front, Edvald Boasson Hagen () launched his sprint off the wheel of Gerald Ciolek (), and won the stage by a bike length from Ciolek with 's Borut Božič completing the podium. Due to the crash in the closing metres and the resultant nullification of any time gaps, Boasson Hagen's team-mate Bradley Wiggins maintained his one-second lead in the general classification over Cadel Evans (), despite his earlier reservations of holding the lead into the time trial due to the skinsuit type provided by the race organisation compared to that of his team. Evans also lost the lead of the points classification to Gallopin, who achieved his third consecutive top-ten finish at the line; adding the points jersey to the young rider jersey that he had already achieved, after Boasson Hagen was dropped the previous day.` ### Stage 4 7 June 2012 — Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse, 53.5 km (33.2 mi), individual time trial (ITT) Unlike the third stage time trial in 2011, in which the course used in Grenoble largely set the route for the penultimate-day time trial in the Tour de France a month later, the time trial in the 2012 event was held on an independent course, running from west-to-east between Villié-Morgon and Bourg-en-Bresse, with an undulating parcours that only amounted to a 61 m (200 ft) difference in altitude from start to finish. As was customary of time trial stages, the riders set off in reverse order from where they were ranked in the general classification at the end of the previous stage. Thus, Arnaud Gérard of , who, in 172nd place – of the 175 starters – trailed overall leader Bradley Wiggins () by thirty minutes and forty-nine seconds, was the first rider to set off on the stage. However, he was not the first to finish as he was passed by the two riders directly behind him on the start order, that started at one-minute intervals, Dan Martin of and 's Travis Meyer. Meyer recorded a time of one hour, seven minutes and fifty seconds as he was first to reach the line; his time held for around a quarter of an hour, as no rider could get within twenty seconds of his time, until his team-mate Luke Durbridge, the prologue winner and incumbent under-23 world time trial champion crossed the finish line in a time of one hour, four minutes and forty-nine seconds, just over three minutes quicker than Meyer. Durbridge's time held top spot for over two hours, as the majority of the field failed to match his time for the 53.5 km (33.2 mi) course. It was not until Wilco Kelderman of the team – starting 143rd as opposed to Durbridge starting 19th – had set quicker times at each of the intermediate timing points that Durbridge's time came under threat from another rider, and Kelderman ultimately beat Durbridge's time by twelve seconds, despite almost overshooting the final corner, narrowly avoiding the barriers on the outside of the corner. At the end of the stage, Kelderman stated that his performance came as "a surprise", taking the lead of the young rider classification from Tony Gallopin () in the process. The first of four riders to start within the final twenty-five riders, Chris Froome got within eight seconds of Kelderman's time, but it was not until another of the team's riders, Michael Rogers, that the lead changed hands. Although he trailed at the first intermediate point, Rogers overhauled the time of Kelderman at the finish by fourteen seconds; he held the lead into the final five starters, where it was then taken by the world time trial champion Tony Martin, riding for the team. Martin bettered the time of Rogers by 37 seconds, but it was not to last as Wiggins was cementing his overall lead. Wiggins made up a deficit of seven seconds to Martin at the first intermediate point, and turned it into a 36-second lead in the space of 22 km (13.7 mi), eventually taking the stage victory by 34 seconds over Martin. Such was Wiggins' performance, which he later deemed "satisfying", that he was almost catching Cadel Evans () on the road, despite Evans starting two minutes before Wiggins; Evans ultimately finished the stage in eighth position, 1' 43" down on Wiggins' time. rider Andy Schleck, another of the overall contenders for the Tour de France along with Evans and Wiggins, lost over ten minutes to Wiggins on the stage after a crash and a puncture. ### Stage 5 8 June 2012 — Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans to Rumilly, 186.5 km (115.9 mi) The first of three mountainous stages to conclude the Dauphiné, the fifth stage of the race was seen as a precursor to the tenth stage of July's Tour de France, with the majority of the day's route making up the parcours of that stage to be held on 11 July. Three categorised climbs were part of the 186.5 km (115.9 mi) parcours of the day, notably the hors catégorie Le Grand Colombier – making its début in the race – with an average gradient of 6.9%, reaching up to an altitude of 1,501 m (4,925 ft), but the summit of the final climb – the Col de Richemond – came with 45.5 km (28.3 mi) remaining of the stage. Mini-attacks set the course of the early running of the stage, which was carried out a quick pace, with the peloton covering 48.3 km (30.0 mi) in the first hour of racing. After rider Blel Kadri escaped out of the peloton to take the honours at the first summit of the day, the Côte de Corlier, it was not until the uncategorised Col de la Berche several kilometres later that a group of riders managed to get clear. A total of ten riders went clear, and quickly gathered a five-minute lead over the rest of the field. At the foot of Le Grand Colombier, another seven riders formed a chase group on the road ahead of the peloton, which was later reduced to just Christophe Kern () and Brice Feillu (), after Kern had upped the pace in the group. At this point, Kern's team-mate Kévin Reza was dropped from the lead group, and the peloton itself had been slimmed to around fifty riders, with Sylvain Chavanel () and David Millar () – both in the top ten of the general classification overnight – along with 's Alexander Vinokourov among those that did not feature within the peloton. On the descent from the climb, a group of riders including Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and Tejay van Garderen broke out from the peloton, in the hope of pulling Evans nearer the overall lead of 's Bradley Wiggins, following his time loss the previous day in the individual time trial. Having caught Kern and Feillu on the road, the group lost ground to the peloton and with Wiggins later joining up with the group, Evans' efforts were in vain; with the group now back together as a whole, their efforts went back to the original break. Kern was part of another six-rider wave that went clear on the descent from the Col de Richemond, with the highest-placed rider being ninth-placed Luis León Sánchez of . took up station on the front of the main field, not allowing Sánchez to gain too much ground. The gap peaked out at around the 30-second mark and with nobody looking to help Sánchez with the pace-making in the group, they sat up and allowed to be reabsorbed into the peloton. 's Arthur Vichot attacked out of the lead group with around 7 km (4.3 mi) to go, and soloed away from his breakaway companions to take the victory by 26 seconds from the rest of the group. The peloton crossed the line around one minute down on Vichot, with Wiggins maintaining his 38-second overall lead as he was part of that group. ### Stage 6 9 June 2012 — Saint-Alban-Leysse to Morzine, 167.5 km (104.1 mi) The queen stage of the 2012 Dauphiné, the penultimate stage consisted of six categorised climbs during its 167.5 km (104.1 mi) parcours, the first of which coming after only 11 km (6.8 mi) with the first-category Col de Plainpalais. After a pair of third-category passes, the field tackled another first-category climb, the Col de la Colombière coming with 65 km (40.4 mi) remaining of the stage. Inside the final 40 km (24.9 mi), the day's two remaining climbs were ascented; the third-category Côte de Châtillon, and the race's second and final hors catégorie climb, with the Col de Joux Plane – reaching an altitude of 1,691 m (5,548 ft) – being the start of the run-in towards Morzine, with the summit of the climb coming with 12 km (7.5 mi) to go of the stage. Nineteen riders went clear of the peloton almost immediately after the start of the stage; among those riders were the two combatants for the mountains classification, Blel Kadri of and 's Cayetano Sarmiento. Sarmiento took out maximum points at each of the first two climbs, and thus extended his points advantage that he held over Kadri. With 's Tiago Machado being the best-placed rider of the group at almost six minutes down on overall leader Bradley Wiggins (), Wiggins' team-mates were leading the peloton around four minutes down on the lead group. rider Andriy Hryvko, who had been in the top three earlier in the race, then joined the group after attacking out the front of the peloton. 's Brice Feillu accelerated out of the lead group on the Côte de Châtillon, and soon picked up a gap of over a minute ahead of his former breakaway companions, while the peloton had fallen a little further away from Feillu, as they were almost four-and-a-half minutes behind on the climb. `rider Anthony Roux attacked out of the peloton, holding station off the front for a period of time but was soon brought back by the peloton, still led by with assistance from Jurgen Van den Broeck's outfit. The group was brought back on the Col de Joux Plane, with only Feillu remaining off the front, almost 90 seconds clear. Nairo Quintana of the then attacked out of a diminishing favourites group, later followed by 's Cadel Evans. Quintana was too far ahead for Evans to catch him back, and eventually achieved his first World Tour victory by sixteen seconds ahead of Evans, with 's Daniel Moreno leading a group of eight riders, including Wiggins – and team-mates Michael Rogers and Chris Froome – as well as Van Den Broeck, across the line eight seconds later. With 's Tony Martin being dropped on the stage, Wiggins opened up his lead to 1' 20" over Rogers, with Evans moving into third – taking the points classification lead in the process – ahead of Froome. 's Andy Schleck, one of the favourites for July's Tour de France, abandoned during the stage citing a knee injury from his time trial crash.` ### Stage 7 10 June 2012 — Morzine to Châtel, 124.5 km (77.4 mi) Although the stage was relatively short at 124.5 km (77.4 mi) in length, the parcours still featured five categorised climbs – of which one was to the finish in Châtel – reaching its highest point with the first-category Col du Corbier. Mini-attacks set the course of the early running of the stage, with the field remaining as a whole for the first hour of racing after the attacks were closed down within minutes. It was not until a third of the way through the stage – some 40 km (24.9 mi) in – that a move was allowed to be established on the road, as rider Pierre Rolland, 's Jérôme Coppel and Lieuwe Westra of accelerated out of the peloton. They were later joined by five more riders as pairing Sylvain Chavanel and Stijn Vandenbergh, 's Dmitry Fofonov, Yaroslav Popovych of and Christophe Le Mével representing the team provided some assistance to the breakaway move. Coppel was the best-placed rider of the octet, as he was in fifteenth place overall overnight around four-and-a-half minutes down on race leader Bradley Wiggins (); as such, the breakaway's advantage was not allowed to gather momentum and the gap remained between two and two-and-a-half minutes for the majority of the stage. allowed to carry out most of the work in the peloton, with Wiggins keeping an eye on their rider Cadel Evans, who had made a late-race attack the previous day and gained time back to Wiggins. Coppel, Westra and Rolland, the break initiators, then went clear again on the second-category Côte de la Vernaz, but the peloton were still closing in on them, after chasing down a group that had got clear on the climb. Vincenzo Nibali () remained off the front, and tried to close down the leaders. Rolland and Coppel dropped Westra on the descent from the following Col du Corbier climb, where he was eventually joined by Nibali, but the solo move that he had put in was starting to show as he could not stay with Westra, and was eventually caught by the -led peloton with around 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining. Westra was caught not long after that as the lead duo's advantage was diminishing by the kilometre, as they held a half-minute lead into the final 8 km (5.0 mi). 's Alexandre Geniez attacked out of the main group, and caught his two countrymen up the road but the breakaway was not to succeed as they were caught with 2.3 km (1.4 mi) to go. took the front in the hope of a second stage win for Daniel Moreno, but Fabrice Jeandesboz attacked in the final kilometre for but was closed down by Richie Porte, protecting his team leader Wiggins. Moreno and 's Luis León Sánchez battled it out for the stage honours, with Moreno edging out his compatriot for the victory. Wiggins crossed the line ten seconds behind the nine-man lead group, but was sufficient enough for a second consecutive Dauphiné title by 1' 17" over team-mate Michael Rogers. Evans later stated that he was beaten by "the better rider", but remained pleased with his performance of third place, a stage victory and the points classification title. ## Classification leadership In the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received a yellow jersey with a blue bar. This classification was considered the most important of the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race. Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing highly in a stage. For the first three mass-start stages – stages 1, 2 and 3 – the win earned 25 points, second place earned 22 points, third 20, fourth 18, fifth 16, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 20th. For the prologue, individual time trial and final three stages, the win earned 15 points, second place earned 12 points, third 10, fourth 8, fifth 6, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 10th. There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a red and white polka-dot jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists. Each climb was categorised as either hors, first, second, third, or fourth-category, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. Hors catégorie climbs awarded the most points, with 20 points on offer for the first rider across the summit; the first ten riders were able to accrue points towards the mountains classification, compared with the first eight on first-category passes and the first six riders on second-category climbs. Fewer points were on offer for the smaller hills, marked as third-category or fourth-category. The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1987 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.

O'Connell Street

Key street of Dublin, Ireland

O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry Street. The Luas tram system runs along the street. During the 17th century, it was a narrow street known as Drogheda Street, named after Henry Moore, 1st Earl of Drogheda. It was widened in the late 18th century by the Wide Streets Commission and renamed Sackville Street (Sráid Saicfil) after Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. In 1924, it was renamed in honour of nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell, whose statue by John Henry Foley stands at the lower end of the street facing O'Connell Bridge. The street has played an important part in Irish history and features several important monuments, including statues of O'Connell and trade union leader James Larkin, as well as the Spire of Dublin. It formed the backdrop to one of the 1913 Dublin lock-out gatherings, the 1916 Easter Rising, the Irish Civil War of 1922, the destruction of Nelson's Pillar in 1966 and the Dublin Riots in 2006. In the late 20th century, a comprehensive plan was begun to restore the street to its original 19th-century character. ## Location O'Connell Street is located on the north side of Dublin city, and runs northwards from O'Connell Bridge towards Parnell Square. The street is approximately 1,980 feet (600 m) long and 150 feet (46 m) wide, with two broad carriage ways at either side of a central pathway occupied by various monuments and statues. It has previously been part of the N1, a major road from Dublin to Belfast. There are two Luas tram stops along the street, O'Connell GPO and O'Connell Upper. The street has a number of bus stops for Dublin Bus and other bus companies, with many cross-city and north-bound services stopping there. ## Development ### Drogheda Street O'Connell Street evolved from the earlier 17th-century Drogheda Street, laid out by Henry Moore, 1st Earl of Drogheda. It was a third of the width of the present-day O'Connell Street, located on the site of the modern eastern carriageway and extending from Parnell Street to the junction with Abbey Street. ### Sackville Street (Gardiner's Mall) In the 1740s, the banker and property developer Luke Gardiner acquired the upper part of Drogheda Street extending down to Henry Street as part of a land deal. He demolished the western side of Drogheda Street creating an exclusive elongated residential square 1,050 feet (320 m) long and 150 feet (46 m) wide, thus establishing the scale of the modern-day thoroughfare. A number of properties were built along the new western side of the street, while the eastern side had many mansions, the grandest of which was Drogheda House rented by the sixth Earl of Drogheda and sat on the corner of Cathedral Street. Gardiner also laid out a mall down the central section of the street, lined with low granite walls and obelisks. It was planted with trees a few years later. He titled the new development Sackville Street after the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of Dorset. It was also known as 'Sackville Mall', and 'Gardiner's Mall'. However, due to the limited lands owned by the Gardiners in this area, the Rotunda Hospital sited just off the street at the bottom of Parnell Square – also developed by the family – was not built on axis with Sackville Street, terminating the vista. It had been Gardiner's intention to connect the new street through to the river, however, he died in 1755, with his son Charles taking over the estate. Work did not start until 1757 when the city's planning body, the Wide Streets Commission, obtained a financial grant from Parliament. For the next 10 years work progressed in demolishing a myriad of dwellings and other buildings, laying out the new roadway and building new terraces. The Wide Streets Commission had envisaged and realised matching terraces of unified and proportioned façades extending from the river. Because of a dispute over land, a plot on the northwest of the street remained vacant; this later became the General Post Office (GPO) which opened in 1814. In 1764, an English traveller named John Bush visited Dublin and made the following assessment of the street: "There are on this side (north of the Liffey) many spacious and regular streets: one in particular in the north-east part of the town. Sackville-Street, about 70 feet wide or nearly, with a mall enclosed with a low wall...". Bush, however, bemoaned the failures of the builder for not having aligned the street with the Rotunda Hospital at its northern end. The street became a commercial success upon the opening of Carlisle Bridge, designed by James Gandon, in 1792 for pedestrians and 1795 for all traffic. ## 19th century Sackville Street prospered in the 19th century, though there was some difference between the Upper and Lower streets. Lower Sackville Street became successful as a commercial location; its terraces are ambitiously lined with purpose-designed retail units. Consequently, a difference between the two ends of the street developed: the planned lower end is successful and bustling next to the river, and the upper end features a mixture of less prominent businesses and old townhouses. Upon his visit to Dublin in 1845, William Makepeace Thackeray observed the street was "broad and handsome" but noted the upper section featured less distinctive architecture and had a distinct lack of patronage. During the 19th century, Sackville Street changed in character from the Wide Streets Commission design into a boulevard of individual buildings. One of the world's first purpose-built department stores was such a building: Delany's New Mart 'Monster Store' which opened in 1853 was later purchased by the Clery family. It also housed the Imperial Hotel. Across the road, another elaborate hotel was built next to the GPO: the Hotel Metropole, in a high-French style. Similarly, the Gresham Hotel opened on numbers 21 and 22 in 1817 to the north of the street in adjoining Georgian townhouses and was later remodelled, as it became more successful. As the fortunes of Upper Sackville Street began to improve in the second half of the century, other businesses began to open such as Turkish baths, later to be incorporated into the Hammam Hotel. Standard Life Assurance built their flagship Dublin branch on the street, while the Findlater family opened a branch of their successful chain close to Parnell Street, as did Gilbey's Wine Merchants. The thoroughfare also became the centre of the Dublin tramways system, with many of the city's trams converging at the Nelson Pillar. By 1900, Sackville Street had become an important location for shopping and business, which led to it being called "Ireland's Main Street". During the 19th century, the street began to be known as "O'Connell Street" though this was to be considered its "nationalist" name. The Dublin Corporation was anxious as early as the 1880s to change the name but faced considerable objections from local residents, who in 1884 secured a Court order that the Corporation lacked the powers to make the change. The necessary powers were granted in 1890, but presumably, it was felt best to allow the new name to become popular. Over the years the name O'Connell Street gradually gained popular acceptance, and the name was changed officially, without any protest, in 1924. ## Easter Rising and Independence On 31 August 1913, O'Connell Street saw the worst incident in the Dublin lock-out, a major dispute between workers and the police. During a speech given by workers' rights activist James Larkin, police charged through the attending crowd and arrested him. The crowd began to riot, resulting in two deaths, 200 arrests and numerous injuries. During the Easter Rising of 1916, Irish republicans seized the General Post Office and proclaimed the Irish Republic, leading to the street's bombardment for a number of days by the gunboat Helga of the Royal Navy and several other artillery pieces which were brought up to fire on the north of the street. The thoroughfare also saw sustained small arms and sniper fire from surrounding areas. By Saturday, the rebels had been forced to abandon the GPO, which was burning, and held out in Moore Street until they surrendered. Much of the street was reduced to rubble, the damaged areas including the whole eastern side of the street as far north as Cathedral Street, and the terrace in between the GPO and Abbey Street on the western side. In addition, during the chaos that accompanied the rebellion, the inhabitants of the nearby slums looted many of the shops on O'Connell Street. The events had a disastrous impact on the commercial life of the inner city, causing around £2.5 million worth of damage. Some businesses were closed up to 1923 or never reopened. In the immediate aftermath of the Rising, the destruction of the street resulted in the majority of major claims to the Property Losses (Ireland) Committee. The Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act 1916 was drafted with the aim of controlling the nature of reconstruction in the local area. The aim was to rebuild in a coherent and dignified fashion, using the opportunity to modernise the nature of commercial activity. Under the act, the city was to approve all construction and reject anything that would not fit with the street's character. The reconstruction was supervised and by City Architect Horace T. O'Rourke. With the exception of its Sackville Street façade and portico, the General Post Office was destroyed. A new GPO was subsequently built behind the 1818 façade. Work began in 1924, with the Henry Street side the first to be erected with new retail units at street level, a public shopping arcade linking through to Princes Street, and new offices on the upper floors. The Public Office underneath the portico on O'Connell Street reopened in 1929. O'Connell Street saw another pitched battle in July 1922, on the outbreak of the Irish Civil War, when anti-treaty fighters under Oscar Traynor occupied the street after pro-treaty Irish National Army troops attacked the republican garrison in the nearby Four Courts. Fighting lasted from 28 June until 5 July, when the National Army troops brought artillery up to point-blank range, under the cover of armoured cars, to bombard the Republican-held buildings. Among the casualties was Cathal Brugha, shot at close range. The effects of the week's fighting were largely confined to the northern end of the street, with the vast majority of the terrace north of Cathedral Street to Parnell Square being destroyed, as well as a few buildings on the north-western side. In total, around three-quarters of the properties on the street were destroyed or demolished between 1916 and 1922. As a result, only one Georgian townhouse remains on the street into the 21st century. Because of the extensive destruction and rebuilding, most of the buildings on O'Connell Street date from the early 20th century. The only remaining original building still standing is No. 42, which has been owned by the Royal Dublin Hotel since 1972. This house was originally the home of the State physician and professor of anatomy at Trinity College, Robert Robinson and later Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Commercial Club. The building dates from 1752 and was designed by Richard Cassels. There were plans to incorporate the house into the hotel to provide additional bars and function space in 1975 and 1978, but the work was never carried out. Permission was sought in 1982 to demolish the house, but this was refused. Apart from the GPO building, other significant properties rebuilt after the hostilities include the department store Clerys which reopened in August 1922. and the Gresham Hotel which reopened in 1927. ## Regeneration Despite improvements to the street's architectural coherence between 1916 and 1922, the street has since suffered from a lack of planning. Like much of Dublin of that time, property speculators and developers were allowed to construct what were widely accepted to be inappropriately designed buildings, often entailing the demolition of historic properties in spite of its Conservation Area status. Frank McDonald dates the turn in the Street's fortune as the blowing up of Nelson's Pillar, contending that the loss of the pillar led to a decline in the character and overall cohesion of the area. The loss of the Pillar was also the loss of a significant landmark, a meeting place, and a popular tourist spot on the north side of the city. Several Victorian and 1920s buildings were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the earliest examples was the demolition of two house facades by CIÉ in 1961 to make way for the passenger information bureau. The new structure has a glazed curtain wall with stained glass panels by Evie Hone. Another demolition was of Gilbey's at the northern end of the street. This building featured a high Victorian romanesque facade, a porch, and a crested roof. It was demolished in March 1973, with two stone heads of Gladstone and Palmerston salvaged and set in above the new entrance. Originally designed as a mixed development with retail and offices, the entire building was rented by Dublin City Council from 1975, and then set out the ground floor as a sound-proofed council chamber. The Metropole and Capitol cinemas next to the GPO were demolished in 1973, McDonald noting this removed the central social hub of O'Connell Street. As well as being cinemas, the Capitol had lounges, meeting rooms, cafes and a restaurant, while the Metropole had a ballroom, restaurants and bars. The site was levelled and redeveloped for British Home Stores. It occupied the site, with Mothercare and Habitat, until 1992 when it closed the store. It was then taken over by a branch of Penney's. Findlater's grocer and wine merchant's premises on the corner of O'Connell Street and Cathal Brugh Street was demolished in 1972 and replaced with a five-storey office block with retail at ground level. This is among the newer buildings that disrupted the proportions that had been strictly enforced across the streetscape by O'Rourke during the reconstruction in the 1920s. Among the last intact Wide Streets Commission buildings on the street dating from the 1780s, numbers 40 and 41 were demolished in 1968 to make way for the Royal Dublin Hotel. Designed by Patrick Carr, it was the first hotel built in Dublin since the Gresham in the 1920s and opened in 1970. This hotel was in turn demolished after its closure in 2008 and has remained a vacant site. Along with the other vacant site beside the former Carlton Cinema, and the Carlton itself have been part of a plan to develop the site as a large shopping centre that would connect with Moore Street. The so-called "Carlton site" encompasses almost six acres facing onto O'Connell, Moore, Parnell and Henry Streets. This vacant site immediately to the right of the Carlton was Gill's bookshop and a branch of Penney's until 1979 when it was purchased by the Bank of Ireland. Gill's was destroyed by fire while vacant and later collapsed in September 1979, leading to both buildings being levelled. Many of the older buildings were replaced with fast-food restaurants, shops and offices, that continue to be the main features along O'Connell Street in the 21st century.The street was given attention with Dublin City Council's O'Connell Street Integrated Area Plan (IAP) which was unveiled in 1998 with the aim of restoring the street to its former status. The plan was designed to go beyond simple cosmetic changes, and introduce control of the wider area beyond the street's buildings, including pedestrian and vehicle interaction, governance and preservation of architecture. Work on the plan was delayed, and reached approval in June 2003. The main features of the plan included the widening of footpaths and a reduction in road space, removing and replacing all trees, a new plaza in front of the GPO, and new street furnishings including custom-designed lampposts, litter bins and retail kiosks. The plan included the Spire of Dublin project, Dublin's tallest sculpture; constructed between December 2002 and January 2003, occupying the site of Nelson's Pillar. Numerous monuments were restored, including those of late 19th century Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell, radical early 20th-century labour leader Jim Larkin, prominent businessman and nationalist MP Sir John Grey, and the most challenging of all: the conservation of the O'Connell Monument standing guard at the southern entrance to the thoroughfare. This project was worked on for a number of months by an expert team of bronze and stone conservators before being unveiled in May 2005. All public domain works were completed in June 2006, finalising the principal objective of the IAP at a cost of €40 million. The loss of mature trees during this work has been cited as exposing and further highlighting the issues with the streetscape. Work was disrupted by a riot centred on the street which erupted on 25 February 2006. A protest against a planned Loyalist march degenerated into vandalism and looting, with building materials from the works in progress being used as weapons and for smashing windows and fixtures. O'Connell Street has been designated an Architectural Conservation Area and an Area of Special Planning Control. This means that no buildings can be altered without Dublin City Council's permission, and fast food outlets, takeaways, cafes and amusement arcades are strictly controlled. In June 2015, Clerys suddenly closed after it was bought out by investment group Natrium Ltd, with the loss of over 400 jobs. In 2019, plans were announced to turn the premises into a four-star hotel. The street is used as the main route of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, and as the setting for the 1916 Commemoration every Easter Sunday. It also serves as a major bus route artery through the city centre. The modern tram, the Luas, has undergone an extension and trams now run once again through O'Connell Street. It only travels in one direction, the return loop, to link the system at St. Stephen's Green, runs via Marlborough Street, parallel with and east of O'Connell Street. ## Statues Current and former monuments on O'Connell Street from south to north include: Daniel O'Connell: designed and sculpted by John Henry Foley and completed by his assistant Thomas Brock. Construction began in 1866 and the monument was unveiled in 1883. William Smith O'Brien: by Thomas Farrell. Originally erected in 1870 on an island at the O'Connell Bridge entrance to D'Olier Street, it was moved to O'Connell Street in 1929. Sir John Gray: by Thomas Farrell. Both the plinth and statue were carved entirely of white Sicilian marble, it was unveiled in 1879. Gray was the proprietor of the Freeman's Journal newspaper and as a member of Dublin Corporation was responsible for the construction of the Dublin water supply system based on the Vartry Reservoir. James Larkin: by Oisín Kelly. A bronze statue atop a Wicklow granite plinth, the monument was unveiled in 1980. Anna Livia: by Eamonn O'Doherty. Constructed in granite and unveiled on 17 June 1988, it became quickly known for its nickname "The Floosy in the Jacuzzi". It was removed in 2001 as part of the reconstruction plans for O'Connell Street and moved to the Croppies' Acre Memorial Park in 2011. Nelson's Pillar, a 36.8 m (121 ft) granite Doric column erected in 1808 in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson, formerly stood at the centre of the street on the site of the present-day Spire of Dublin. Blown up by republican activists in 1966, the site remained vacant until the erection of the Spire in 2003. Father Theobald Mathew: by Mary Redmond. The foundation stone was laid in 1890, and the monument was unveiled in 1893. In 2016, the statue was removed to cater for the Luas tram extension to the north of the city. It was restored in 2018 to a new location near The Spire. Charles Stewart Parnell: Parnell Monument by Irish-American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The 37 ft high obelisk sits on a Galway granite pylon, was organised by John Redmond and paid for through public subscription and unveiled in 1911 at the junction with Parnell Street, just south of Parnell Square. ## See also - List of streets and squares in Dublin - Streets and squares in Dublin

Is That Alright?

2018 song by Lady Gaga

"Is That Alright?" is a song from the 2018 film A Star Is Born and soundtrack of the same name, performed by American singer Lady Gaga. It was produced by Gaga, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson, and Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair; writing credits include all of them besides Lukas Nelson and Aaron Raitiere. The track is sung by Gaga's in-movie character, Ally, as a loving ode to Bradley Cooper's character, Jackson. It plays during the end credits of the original, theatrical cut of A Star Is Born, while appearing in the wedding scene in its extended, Encore edition. The song charted within the top 30 in Hungary, Scotland, and Slovakia. It received positive reviews, with critics complimenting Gaga's vocals. ## Background and composition "Is That Alright?" first appeared as a snippet shared by Lady Gaga on September 25, 2018, in a teaser for her film, A Star Is Born, for which the song was written. The video gave a minute-long preview of the track, along with various clips from the movie. It later appeared as the twenty-fifth track of the standard version of the movie's soundtrack album, released on October 5, 2018. "Is That Alright?" is a power ballad with piano instrumentation. It is a "vulnerable" love song, composed in "the same vein" as the soundtrack's "Shallow" and 'I'll Never Love Again". The song's writers and producers were Gaga, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson, and Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, with Lukas Nelson and Aaron Raitiere providing additional writing. Talking about the writing process for the film, Blair said that "for every song that made it onto the album", they "wrote at least four others, in various iterations", which gave options when they had to decide which songs to keep for the story. He also added that "Is That Alright?" became his favorite song which ultimately ended up on the soundtrack. The track is performed in the key of G major with a moderate tempo of 105 beats per minute in common time. It follows a chord progression of G–G/B–Em–C during the verses and G–Em–G/B-G during the chorus, and the vocals span from E₃ to E₅. Gaga's singing style shifts from belting to soft whispers in the song. ## Use in film and lyrical content "Is That Alright?" played during the end credits in the original, theatrical cut of A Star Is Born. It is Ally's pledge to Jackson (the main characters of the movie, played by Gaga and Bradley Cooper), where she vows to love him until the end of her life. USA Today wrote that the track is "painting an evocative picture of their whirlwind romance as Gaga alternates between tender storyteller and throaty power belter", declaring "I want you at the end of my life... Wanna see your face when I fall with grace at the moment I die." Screen Rant thought the song "gives audiences another glimpse at what makes their relationship truly special", with Ally, "the up and coming singer ... put[ting] her heart into every verse." A Vulture article argued that by placing "Is That Alright?" at the very end of the story, it can be interpreted as "a tragic ode to future dreams that'll go unfulfilled." The same outlet pointed out the "lunatic level of adoration and tenderness" from Ally's character in the song, underscored by the "Nothing you say wouldn't interest me" line in the lyrics. A deleted scene from A Star Is Born, involving Ally's performance of "Is That Alright?", got featured between the DVD/Blu-ray extras of the film in February 2019. After a one-week long limited release in cinemas the following March, an extended cut of the movie was released to home media in June 2019, titled A Star Is Born: Special Encore Edition. This version of the movie gives a longer scene of Jackson and Ally's wedding reception and reinstates "Is That Alright?" into the story. Ally sits down at the band piano, grabbing the microphone, and says to Jackson: "When we gave our vows at the altar, I just didn't get to say everything I wanted to say. So I wrote it down, and I brought it here. I hope it's okay if I love you forever, Jack." She then sings "Is That Alright?". Slate's Heather Schwedel said the track originally was "a bit of a mistery", but the Encore edition "fills in why this song existed in the first place" with the "sweet" extra scene. ## Critical reception "Is That Alright?" received positive reviews from journalists, who complimented Gaga's vocals and found the track emotional. A column by Vulture regarded the song "more reminiscent of Adele than Lady Gaga", an opinion concurred by The Guardian, where it was analyzed as one of the tracks from the soundtrack which could have been "in the songbooks of Elton John or Adele for years". Wren Graves of Consequence called it a "big Broadway ballad", evoking the Wicked's "Defying Gravity" (2003) and Evita's "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (1976). It reminded Bustle's Tatiana Tenreyro to Gaga's own ballads, "Speechless" (2009) and "Million Reasons" (2016), though she added, "this one has lyrics that feel even more vulnerable, showing how much Ally desires Jackson's love and sees him as The One." In his review of the soundtrack, Chris DeVille of Stereogum felt that the "blustery piano ballad 'Is That Alright?' and 'Always Remember Us This Way' [...] would work as Joanne bonus tracks, and they're at least as good as "Million Reasons", that album's one true hit." According to Joey Morona from The Plain Dealer, "Is That Alright?" is a "moving" love song with Gaga's "signature emotion and power". He felt the song is on the same level as the album's "Shallow" and "I'll Never Love Again", envisioning a "three-song race" for an Academy Awards nomination in the Best Original Song category. Vulture's Natalie Walker claimed it is the best track from the soundtrack, thinking "the vocal and energetic bipolarity of this song is what makes it so endlessly affecting". She further added: "High notes are impressive, midrange belting is powerful, light and airy falsetto moments are pretty; the tessitura in which the verses of 'Is That Alright' exist strips Gaga bare of any vocal pyrotechnics, and all we are left to focus on are the specifics of her yearning pleas for all-encompassing intimacy." Gaga's singing "at the bottom of her range" recalled Beyoncé's 2009 single, "Halo" for Walker. Hunter Harris, from the same website, similarly praised "Is That Alright?", calling it "arguably A Star Is Born's greatest song", and noted how director Bradley Cooper "made amends" by including the track in the actual movie in its later Encore version. Paris Close at iHeart believed "the number is every bit of warm and vulnerable and fearless as the singer-songwriter belts her heart out to her beloved." Daniel Megarry of Gay Times felt the track was "tear-jerking", while Mike Neid at Idolator highlighted Gaga's "soaring" voice "over an evocative production". Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian remarked the lyrics "on the page" are "almost ludicrous, but on record it grabs your ribcage". He further added that the song's "earnestness is [...] completely sold by Gaga", and suggested the song could become popular on wedding receptions. At The Ringer, Alyssa Bereznak appreciated "the structural conceit of this song: a stream-of-consciousness outpouring of tender sentiment, followed by a forceful chorus full of demands for eye contact and eternal matrimony, capped off with a sweet, searching question". Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick opined the song "may be a predictably constructed soapy piano ballad but in the plotline's context of a lovelorn woman grasping for joy in a doomed romance, it won't leave a dry eye in the house." For The Washington Post's Bethonie Butler, "Is That Alright?" is a "sweet but cheesy ballad." Adam White of The Independent deemed it one of the more forgettable tracks of the soundtrack, though he noted "Gaga belting her heart out against a piano melody as if her life depended on it". ## Chart performance "Is That Alright?" is one of five tracks from the soundtrack which managed to enter the Billboard Hot 100, appearing on the chart at number 63, while also charting at number 85 on the Canadian Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 23 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart and it was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 200,000 track-equivalent units in the country. In Australia, the song debuted at number 97 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and improved one position the next week. It peaked at number 40 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart. Additionally, the song reached number 19 on Billboard's Euro Digital Songs chart, 22 on the Hungarian Single Top 40 chart, 20 on the Scottish Singles Sales Chart, 12 on the Slovakian Singles Digitál Top 100 chart, and 33 on the Spanish Physical/Digital chart. In 2021, "Is That Alright?" was awarded a gold certification from the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV) for track-equivalent sales of 25,000 units in Poland. ## Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of the A Star Is Born soundtrack album. ### Management - Published by Sony/ATV Songs LLC / SG Songs LLC (BMI) / Happygowrucke / Creative Pulse Music/These Are Pulse Songs (BMI). - All rights administered by These Are Pulse Songs, BIRB Music (ASCAP) / BMG Rights Management (US) LLC - Warner Tamerlane Publishing Corp. / Super LCS Publishing / One Tooth Productions (BMI), Warner-Barham Music LLC (BMI) - Extra administration by Songs of Universal (BMI) / Warner-Olive Music LLC (ASCAP) admin. by Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP) - Recorded at Five Star Bar (Los Angeles). Additional recording at Shrine Auditorium, EastWest Studios, The Village West (Los Angeles). - Mixed at Electric Lady Studios (New York City) - Mastered at Sterling Sound Studios (New York City) ### Personnel - Lady Gaga – songwriter, producer, primary vocals - Mark Nilan Jr. – songwriter, producer, piano - Nick Monson – songwriter, producer - Paul "DJWS" Blair – songwriter, producer - Lukas Nelson – songwriter - Aaron Raitiere – songwriter - Benjamin Rice – recording - Bo Bodnar – recording assistant - Tom Elmhirst – mixing - Brandon Bost – mixing engineer - Randy Merrill – audio mastering ## Charts ## Certifications and sales

Final Blackout

1948 SF novel by L. Ron Hubbard

Final Blackout is a dystopic science fiction novel by American writer L. Ron Hubbard. The novel is set in the future and follows a man known as "the Lieutenant" as he restores order to England after a world war. First published in serialized format in 1940 in the science fiction magazine Astounding Science Fiction, Final Blackout was published in book form in 1948 by The Hadley Publishing Co. Author Services Inc. published a hardcover edition of the book in 1988, and in 1989 the Church of Scientology-affiliated organization Bridge Publications said that a film director named Christopher Cain had signed a contract to write and direct a movie version based on the book. The novel was generally well received by literature critics, and is seen as an early classic of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. It has received positive mention in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily News of Los Angeles, and has been used in a science-fiction writing class at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. ## Publication history The story appeared in print in a 3-part serialized format, beginning with the April 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Final Blackout was first published in book form in 1948 by The Hadley Publishing Co. in an edition of 1,000 copies and with a new preface by Hubbard. The book was re-released in a hardcover format in 1988 by the Church of Spiritual Technology subsidiary company Author Services Inc. In 1989, Young Guns film director Christopher Cain optioned the rights to Final Blackout and developed a script for a possible film-version of the book. The film was not made. According to the Church of Scientology company Bridge Publications, Cain signed a contract to write a screenplay based on the book and to direct the film. "The book is massive in scope and transcends time. It's a powerful look at the idiocy and futility of war. I look forward to making 'Final Blackout' into a major movie", said Cain in a press release put out by Bridge Publications. An audiobook was released by Bridge Publications in 1991 and read by Planet of the Apes actor Roddy McDowall, who also voiced audiobook versions of Hubbard's novels Battlefield Earth and Fear. ## Plot A lieutenant (known in the book only as "The Lieutenant") becomes dictator of England after a world war. The Lieutenant leads a ragtag army fighting for survival in a Europe ravaged by 30 years of atomic, biological and conventional warfare. As a result of the most recent war, a form of biological warfare called soldier’s sickness has ravaged England, and the U.S. was devastated by nuclear war. At the start of the novel, a quarantine placed on England due to the soldier's sickness prevents The Lieutenant from returning to England from his encampment in France. The Lieutenant commands the Fourth Brigade, which is composed of one hundred and sixty-eight soldiers from multiple nations, leading them throughout France in search of food, supplies, arms and ammunition. Soon, Captain Malcolm informs The Lieutenant that all field officers are being recalled to General Headquarters (GHQ) with their brigades to report to General Victor, the commanding officer at GHQ. Upon the brigade's arrival at GHQ, The Lieutenant is informed by General Victor and his adjutant Colonel Smythe that he is to be reassigned and will be stripped of his command. He is confined to his quarters and is told his entire brigade will be broken apart and assimilated into another brigade. Meanwhile, in the barracks at G.H.Q., the Fourth Brigade learns of crucial news through back channels: the existence of a vaccine for the soldier's sickness, and General Victor's plans for their brigade. The men decide to rebel, and break through the defenses of the barracks, free The Lieutenant and kill Captain Malcolm. The Fourth Brigade successfully escapes G.H.Q. in France and begins to make their way to London, along with other soldiers who are dissatisfied with General Victor's command. A battle ensues between General Victor's men and The Lieutenant's troops. The Lieutenant and his expanded Fourth Brigade eventually successfully take control of London and subsequently all of England and Wales. The Lieutenant's government runs smoothly for years, until the battleship USS New York arrives from the U.S. carrying two United States Senators and Captain Johnson, captain of the New York and commander of the U.S. fleet. Under threat from the U.S. battleship, The Lieutenant negotiates terms to transfer power to the Senators' associates – General Victor and Colonel Smythe. If anything happens to General Victor and Colonel Smythe, the country would be controlled by its officer corps, chaired by the Lieutenant's confidant, Swinburne. In addition, The Lieutenant requests that immigration of Americans to England be kept to no more than 100,000 per month, and demands that a favorable price be set for the purchase of land from their English owners. After these terms are established, The Lieutenant opens fire on General Victor and his men and a battle ensues. General Victor, Colonel Smythe, The Lieutenant, and several of The Lieutenant's men are killed. Years later The Lieutenant's men still control England, and a flag flies honoring his memory. A memorial plaque at Byward Gate on Tower Hill reads: "When that command remains, no matter what happens to its officer, he has not failed." ## Reception Final Blackout is seen as an early classic of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. In his book The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Donald H. Tuck described the book as "Hubbard's masterpiece". Thomas D. Clareson writes in Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction that prior to formalizing Dianetics and Scientology, Hubbard was "perhaps best known for Final Blackout". In his book Scientology: The Now Religion, George Malko writes that Hubbard's works including Slaves of Sleep, Kingslayer, Typewriter in the Sky, Fear, Death's Deputy, and Final Blackout "were eagerly welcomed by devoted fans". In his 1967 book Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz writes that the book "... was a stunning achievement, certainly the most powerful and readable 'warning' story that had appeared in science fiction to that date." Moskowitz comments: "The progress of today's events has made much of Final Blackout prophetic". Astounding reviewer P. Schuyler Miller described the book as one of the most "memorable" serials the magazine had published, saying it would be a "lasting volume." Roland J. Green of the Chicago Sun-Times called the book "One of the highwater marks of his [Hubbard's] literary career", and "perhaps the best single novel yet of what the Pentagon once so charmingly christened 'the broken-backed war' after a nuclear exchange". Jon Stone of NewsNet5.com described Final Blackout and Fear as "pulp in composition and not great in length, they are straight stories with few or no elements of Hubbard's other career", and compared the "pages of battles and tactics" in Final Blackout to Hubbard's later work Battlefield Earth. Final Blackout and Fear are often cited by critics as the best examples of Hubbard's pulp fiction works. Chuck Moss of Daily News of Los Angeles called the book "extremely good science fiction". The book has been included in the curriculum of a science-fiction writing class at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Cal Poly Pomona professor Steve Whaley told The Press-Enterprise that he thinks Hubbard was a "damn good storyteller". Karl Edward Wagner cited Final Blackout as one of the thirteen best science-fiction horror novels.

Bank of America Tower (Manhattan)

Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Bank of America Tower, also known as 1 Bryant Park, is a 55-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is located at 1111 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) between 42nd and 43rd Streets, diagonally opposite Bryant Park. The building was designed by Cookfox and Adamson Associates, and it was developed by the Durst Organization for Bank of America. With a height of 1,200 feet (370 m), the Bank of America Tower is the eighth tallest building in New York City and the tenth tallest building in the United States as of 2022. The Bank of America Tower has 2.1 million square feet (200,000 m²) of office space, much of which is occupied by Bank of America. The building consists of a seven-story base that occupies the entire plot, above which rises the tower. Its facade is largely composed of a curtain wall made of insulated glass panels. The building's base incorporates the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, a New York City designated landmark, as well as several retail spaces and a pedestrian atrium. The Bank of America Tower received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum green building certification upon its opening; however, because of its high energy use, the building was exceeding citywide emissions limits by the early 2020s. Seymour Durst had acquired land on the site starting in the 1960s, with plans to develop a large building there, though he was unable to do so because of the presence of other property owners. His son Douglas Durst proposed a large office skyscraper at the beginning of the 21st century and continued to acquire land through 2003. After Bank of America was signed as an anchor tenant, work on the building started in 2004. Despite several incidents during construction, the building was completed in 2009 at a cost of \$1 billion. In addition to Bank of America, the tower's tenants have included Marathon Asset Management, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and Roundabout Theatre Company. ## Site The Bank of America Tower is on the western side of Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas) between 42nd Street and 43rd Street, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. While its legal address is 1111 Avenue of the Americas, it is known as 1 Bryant Park. The building's Bryant Park address arose because its namesake tenant Bank of America, which wanted the tower to be easily related with Bryant Park to the southeast. The government of New York City does not consider 1 Bryant Park to be a real address, as Bryant Park is not the name of a street, but Bank of America applied for 1 Bryant Park to be a "vanity address" under city planning law. The land lot is rectangular and covers 87,863 sq ft (8,162.7 m²). The site has a frontage of 437.5 ft (133.4 m) on 42nd and 43rd Streets and a frontage of 200 ft (61 m) on Sixth Avenue. The building is surrounded by 149 stainless-steel bollards, placed on the sidewalks at intervals of 5 feet (1.5 m). The Bank of America Tower, as well as 4 Times Square to the west, comprise the entire city block. Other nearby locations include the Town Hall theater and the Lambs Club to the north, The Knickerbocker Hotel to the southwest, Bush Tower and 1095 Avenue of the Americas to the south, and Bryant Park to the southeast. The site is directly bounded to the south and east by New York City Subway tunnels. ### Previous buildings Historically, the area had been composed of hills and meadows, and a stream ran on the western boundary of the site. Prior to the Bank of America Tower's construction, the site was occupied by several structures. The neighborhood had been occupied by row houses with backyards in the late 19th century, which were demolished for commercial development in the early 20th century. Many of the former structures on the site were stores, restaurants, and theaters. There was a pair of two-story buildings at 1111 Avenue of the Americas and 105-109 West 42nd Street just before the tower's development. A 20- or 22-story commercial building, the Remington Building, stood at 113 West 42nd Street. The Hotel Diplomat, a 13-story structure at 108 West 43rd Street that had operated since 1911, occupied the northern part of the site. The block also had a Masonic Temple, as well as the eight-story Roger Baldwin Building at 132 West 43rd Street, once headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union. The northern side of the Bank of America Tower incorporates the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (originally Henry Miller's Theatre), which was rebuilt when the tower was erected. ### Subway entrance Immediately outside the Bank of America Tower is an entrance to the New York City Subway's 42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue station, which is served by the . The entrance is designed to harmonize with the lobby adjacent to it. The subway entrance consists of a glass enclosure with a pair of staircases, which lead north and south from Sixth Avenue to the station's underground mezzanine. The subway entrance has an elevator as well. On the subway entrance's glass roof is a BIPV installation, which produces some electricity for the structure. As part of the building's construction, a passageway was built under the north side of 42nd Street connecting the Bryant Park complex with the Times Square–42nd Street station. However, the passageway remained closed even when the building was completed. As part of the reconstruction of 42nd Street Shuttle from 2019 to 2022, the passageway would have been opened and a new entrance would be built on the north side of 42nd Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Because the Durst Organization did not want to pay for an underpass between the new shuttle platform and the Bank of America Tower's passageway, a parallel ramp between the two stations was built instead, leaving the Bank of America Tower's passageway unused. ## Architecture The Bank of America Tower was developed by Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization and designed by Cookfox Architects for Bank of America. Adamson Associates served as the executive designer. Severud Associates was the structural engineer, Jaros, Baum & Bolles was the MEP engineer, and Tishman Realty & Construction was the general contractor. Numerous other consultants, engineers, and contractors were involved in the building's design and construction. The building contains 2.1 million square feet (195,096 m²) of office space. It has three basements and has 55 above-ground stories. The Bank of America has two spires: an architectural spire to the south, rising 1,200 feet (370 m), and a wind turbine on the north, rising 960 feet (290 m). The height to the architectural spire makes the Bank of America Tower the eighth tallest building in New York City and the tenth tallest building in the United States as of 2021. When only roof height is counted, the building rises to 944.5 feet (287.9 m) on the south end and 848 feet (258.5 m) on the north end. The Bank of America Tower was the first commercial skyscraper in the U.S. specifically designed to attain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification, the highest green building certification available from LEED. The Bank of America Tower was imitated worldwide as a model for sustainable architecture in skyscrapers. The energy-efficiency features increased the building's construction cost by 6.5 percent, but they were projected to save \$3 million a year in annual energy costs and increase productivity by another \$7 million annually. When the building opened, the effectiveness of the environmental features was lessened by its high occupancy rates. As a result, the building was given a "C" grade (on an "A" through "F" scale) on a citywide energy-efficiency ranking system in 2018. Another consequence was that the building risked being penalized for excessive carbon emissions under a 2019 law. Bloomberg reported in 2022 that the building could exceed city emissions limits by an estimated 50 percent by 2024, resulting in an annual fine of \$2.4 million. ### Form and facade The building contains a seven- and eight-story base that occupies the entire plot. The tower rises above the eastern portion of the plot, covering 32,500 square feet (3,020 m²). The facade contains several diagonal planes, which are designed to reduce wind resistance compared to a rectangular massing. Serge Appel of Cookfox said the tower's massing would conform with Bank of America's wish for "an iconic form" and would maximize views of other buildings. One section of the building has a roof garden covering 4,500 square feet (420 m²). The building's three basement levels reach as deep as 55 feet (17 m) below grade. At the lowest stories, the Bank of America Tower's floor plan resembles a rectangle, though the northeast and southwest corners protrude by about 15 feet (4.6 m). The southeast corner, facing Bryant Park, is a right angle at the lowest one-third of the building. However, it is a wedge-shaped chamfer on the upper two-thirds of the tower, giving each successive story a different shape. During the planning process, the architects considered orienting the Bank of America Tower diagonally so it faced Bryant Park, but they ultimately decided to keep the base aligned with the Manhattan street grid as an "urban gesture". The upper stories are aligned diagonally to the street grid because of the sloped facades on upper stories. #### Tower facade The facade of the Bank of America Tower is, for the most part, composed of a glass curtain wall covering over 700 thousand square feet (65,000 m²). The curtain wall includes vertical and sloped sections at the base, as well as double walls and screen walls in the upper stories. The glass panels at the base are set between horizontal and vertical mullions. Each story has full-height panels with insulated glazing. The tops and bottoms of each panel are composed of fritted glass, but the middle of the panel is transparent to allow views of the surroundings. In total, 8,644 panels are used in the curtain wall. On upper stories, the mullions between windows appear to be vertical, but they run in a slight diagonal to accommodate the sloped facades. The curtain wall was partially inspired by the New York Crystal Palace, a 19th-century exhibition building that occupied what is now Bryant Park. Inspiration was also derived from the Durst family's collection of crystals. According to Richard Cook of Cookfox, the curtain wall was meant to express the idea that "the ideal of modern banking is open, clear, transparent". The Bank of America Tower's curtain wall was specifically designed to meet LEED standards, allowing natural light into the lobby and offices during the daytime. Above the main entrance on 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue is an installation of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs), which produce small amounts of energy for the building. Some spandrels on the eastern facade also contain BIPVs. The southeast-corner chamfer is designed with a double-glazed wall, which deflects sunlight during the summer. The double-insulated curtain wall panels cover 20,825 square feet (1,934.7 m²). The curtain wall allows 73 percent of visible light to enter but deflects all ultraviolet rays. The curtain wall design keeps heat out of the building during summer and keeps heat inside during winter. Above the main entrance, there is an oxidized-bamboo canopy. Extending 25 feet (7.6 m) outward from the lobby, the entrance canopy continues indoors as the ceiling of the lobby. #### Stephen Sondheim Theatre The facade of Henry Miller's Theatre (now the Stephen Sondheim Theatre) is protected by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as an official city landmark. It is preserved on 124 West 43rd Street at the base of the Bank of America Tower. The facade was designed in the neo-Georgian style by architects Paul R. Allen and Ingalls & Hoffman. The facade measures about 50 feet (15 m) tall, 86 feet (26 m) wide, and 4 feet (1.2 m) thick. Because of the theater's landmark status, the facade could not be damaged in any way, nor could it be removed temporarily. Furthermore, even though the theater was reconstructed as part of the Bank of America Tower's construction, the new theater could not be any taller than the old facade. The landmark facade was temporarily attached to a three-story steel support frame when the tower was built. The theater facade protrudes from the glass curtain wall that surrounds it on all sides. Above the theater facade is a billboard attached to the curtain wall. The theater's ground-story facade consists of a water table made of granite, above which is a brick facade. There are five rectangular doorways at the center of the facade, each containing a recessed pair of metal doors; above these doorways are stone lintels with urn symbols at the center and rosettes to the far left and right. There is a marquee above the three center bays of the ground story. As of September 2010, the marquee displays the words "Stephen Sondheim", reflecting its rename from Henry Miller's Theatre. The five center openings are flanked by a pair of segmental-arched gateways with wrought-iron gates; paneled keystones above their centers; and wrought-iron lanterns flanking each side. These gateways formerly were the theater's alleys. The rest of the landmark theater facade is made of red brick in common bond and is split into two end pavilions flanking five vertical bays. Each bay is delineated by projecting brick pilasters topped by decorated Corinthian-style capitals of terracotta. The five center bays have rectangular window openings at the second story, with stone keystones and brick voussoirs atop each window, as well as iron balconies curving outward. On the third story, there are three round-arched windows at the center, flanked by two blind openings with brick infill; they also have stone keystones and brick voussoirs. The end pavilions have arched brick niches at the second story and terracotta roundels on the third story. Above that is a terracotta frieze with the name "Henry Miller's Theatre" carved in the center and triangular pediments above the end pavilions. A parapet runs at the roof of the landmark facade. ### Structural features #### Substructure Underneath the site is durable Hartland bedrock. The southern lot line is adjacent to the 42nd Street Shuttle's cut-and-cover tunnel. The eastern lot line is adjacent to the IND Sixth Avenue Line tunnel (used by the ), which was built using both cut-and-cover and mining. Before the tower was constructed, the contractors made two sets of borings to extract samples of the composition of the ground. The borings found that the rock profiles of the site varied widely. Around Sixth Avenue, there was generally competent rock at a depth of 10 to 20 feet (3.0 to 6.1 m), but near the former stream bed on the western boundary, the rock had a dip extending about 50 feet (15 m) deep. The hard rock mostly consists of gneiss and schist, but there are rock joints that slope downward into the building's site. The foundation consists of spread footings under the building's columns. An existing foundation wall on the eastern lot line was repurposed into a retaining wall, which holds back the soil above the layers of rock. The retaining wall is stabilized by a set of pillars spaced every 10 feet (3.0 m) and measuring 4 by 4 feet (1.2 by 1.2 m). A rock anchor is used to tie down each of these pillars. During construction, rock bolts were used to reinforce the cut-and-cover section of the subway tunnel under Sixth Avenue, while a combination of anchors and bolts was used to reinforce the mined section of the tunnel. Seismometers were used to record movement around the tunnel. #### Superstructure The Bank of America Tower's superstructure is built with steel and concrete. The mechanical core, containing the stairs and elevators, is surrounded by concrete shear walls that encase a light steel framework. The rest of the structure is made of steel. The mixture used in the superstructure's concrete is 45 percent slag, a byproduct of blast furnaces. By using slag, the builders avoided emitting 50,000 metric tons (49,000 long tons; 55,000 short tons) of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas, which would have been produced through the normal cement manufacturing process. The slag accounts for 68,000 cubic yards (52,000 m³) of the concrete used in the Bank of America Tower. In addition, 60 percent of the steel in the superstructure is recycled material. A large proportion of the building's materials were sourced from within 500 miles (800 km) of New York City. Vertical loads from the center of the building are distributed into the tower's core. The steel beams rest directly on the tops of the two highest elevator banks, where the loads are relatively small. Two perpendicular supporting trusses are placed above the two lowest elevator banks to distribute the larger vertical loads from higher floors. Diagonal columns are also used to carry vertical loads inward. The centers of the perimeter columns are spaced every 20 feet (6.1 m) and begin sloping inward at different heights. At locations where vertical and diagonal columns intersect, tie beams and connections are installed to counteract horizontal loads. Horizontal trusses are used at the 3rd, 4th, 11th, and 12th stories, where the southeast corner columns all slope inward; the trusses carry lateral loads from the columns to the mechanical core's shear walls. Box columns, measuring 24 by 24 inches (610 by 610 mm), are used at the base to carry the higher loads of the upper stories. The floor slabs are made of 3-inch (76 mm) composite metal decks. The slab-to-slab distance, or the height between different stories' floor slabs, is 14.5 feet (4.4 m). The perimeter of the tower stories is typically 40 feet (12 m) from the core, and the filler beams underneath the floor slabs are 18 inches (460 mm) deep. At the northeast and southwest corners, the perimeter is 55 feet (17 m) from the core, so these beams are cantilevered from the perimeter. The engineers considered using thicker filler beams and additional columns, but these were both rejected because they reduced the amount of available space. The tips of the cantilevered beams are connected vertically to distribute live loads among several stories. Above Stephen Sondheim Theatre, plate girders transfer the vertical loads to the side walls of the theater's auditorium. A Vierendeel truss was also installed so views from the facade's windows were not blocked. The screen walls above the tower's roof are cantilevered by beams measuring 8 or 10 inches (200 or 250 mm) thick and 8 inches wide. The beams were designed to be as thin as possible while also supporting the mechanical equipment. The tower's architectural spire is about 300 feet (91 m) tall. It contains a cylindrical mast that extends from the roof, where it measures 58 inches (1,500 mm) wide, and tapers to a width of 26 inches (660 mm) at its pinnacle. Sections of pipe, measuring 12.75 inches (324 mm) in diameter, are bolted to the mast in a triangular pattern. The spire is lit by LEDs, which the general public can control through Spireworks, a free app. The app allows five users at a time to control the lights for two-minute periods. ### Mechanical and environmental features The tower has a cogeneration plant, which can provide up to seventy percent of the building's energy requirements. It is variously cited as being capable of 4.6 megawatts (6,200 hp), 5.1 megawatts (6,800 hp), or 5.4 megawatts (7,200 hp). The cogeneration plant is powered by natural gas and is used to power the offices and the core mechanical systems, such as lights and elevators. Because of the building's high peak-hour energy use, the Durst Organization estimated that the cogeneration plant could provide 35 percent of the tower's energy needs during peak times. There is also a wind turbine on the roof's shorter spire. A very small proportion of the power is provided by a 1,000-U.S.-gallon (3,800 L; 830 imp gal) tank of organic waste. On average, the tank receives 2 short tons (1.8 long tons; 1.8 t) of organic waste every day, which is turned into methane, thereby generating 75 kilowatts (101 hp) a day. The Bank of America Tower is also connected to the main New York City power grid but, unlike all other Midtown skyscrapers, it is linked to an electrical substation in Lower Manhattan.There is an ice-storage plant in the basement, which creates ice at night, when energy costs are lower than in the daytime. It consists of 44 tanks that can each hold 625 cubic feet (17.7 m³) of glycol. Water is combined with glycol and then kept inside the tanks at around 27 °F (−3 °C). The air-conditioning system consists of various chillers ranging between 850 and 1,200 short tons (760 and 1,070 long tons; 770 and 1,090 t). The air-conditioning system is designed so different chillers operate only as necessary, thereby reducing energy consumption. For heating, the groundwater in the underlying bedrock is kept at a consistent 53 °F (12 °C). Heat is drawn from the bedrock during the winter, while excess heat is absorbed into the bedrock during summer. There are air-intake openings just above the top of the base. Further air intake openings are placed 850 feet (260 m) above ground, near the roofline. These openings filter the air intake throughout the building, distribute it through the interior, and then filter the air again before ventilating it. The filters over the intake openings have a minimum efficiency reporting value of 15, making them among the most efficient filters on the MERV scale. The filtration systems are able to extract 95 percent of particulates, in addition to ozone and volatile organic compounds. This is in contrast to similar systems being manufactured around the time of the Bank of America Tower's construction, which only extracted 35 to 50 percent of particulates and minimal ozone or volatile organic compounds. The Bank of America Tower is designed so it uses 45 percent less water from the New York City water supply system than conventional buildings of similar size. The tower contains a rooftop greywater system, which captures rainwater for reuse. When the building was being constructed, New York City received an average of 48 to 49 inches (1,200 to 1,200 mm) of rainfall every year, which amounted to an annual rainwater collection of 2.6 million U.S. gal (9,800,000 L). Additionally, about 5,000 U.S. gallons (19,000 L; 4,200 imp gal) of groundwater is collected daily. Four holding tanks, each with a capacity of 60,000 U.S. gallons (230,000 L; 50,000 imp gal), are placed at different heights throughout the building. The rainwater is used for functions such as flushing the toilets; all of the building's 300 toilets contain dual-flush handles. Only wastewater from the toilets is sent to the city's sewage system, while the rest is treated and recycled, reducing sewage outflows by 95 percent compared to similarly sized building. Also as a water-saving measures, none of the building's urinals use water. On average, each of the 200 urinals saves about 40,000 U.S. gallons (150,000 L) of water annually. ### Interior The tower includes three escalators and a total of 52 elevators. Schindler Group manufactured the elevators and escalators. The elevators from the base to the tower stories are grouped in five elevator banks: two at the ground level, for general tenants, and three on the second story, for Bank of America workers only. Four of the elevator banks contain eight cabs each, while the fifth bank of elevators contains six cabs. The elevators contain a destination dispatch system, wherein passengers request their desired floor before entering the cab. #### Lobby The lobby is 38 feet (12 m) tall and is visible from Sixth Avenue. The elevator core and security checkpoints to the upper stories are next to the lobby. The lobby is decorated with materials such as Jerusalem stone and cream-colored leather paneling. About 9,000 square feet (840 m²) of Jerusalem stone was used. The floor of the lobby is made of white granite and contains air conditioning and radiant heating, while the west wall facing Sixth Avenue is clad in stone. The white granite was imported from Tamil Nadu in India and covered 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²) total, including 25,000 square feet (2,300 m²) of floor tiles. The lobby ceiling is made of carbonized bamboo. According to Cookfox, the lobby's design was intended to form "a layered connection to the public realm of Bryant Park". Cookfox also used dark oxidized stainless steel for the lobby, in contrast to the lighter aluminum and stainless steel in public areas or the "warmer" colors used in the tower's core. The entrance to each elevator bank contains dark-steel doorways. A 40-foot-wide (12 m) by 16-foot-tall (4.9 m) arch marks the entrance to the general tenants' elevators on the north side of the lobby. Dark steel was also used for the surfaces of the security desks and turnstiles at the security checkpoints. Structurally, the lobby is designed with columns that could withstand additional weight if one of the columns was damaged. #### Other lower-level spaces The building's Urban Garden Room at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue, north of the lobby, is open to the public as part of the city's privately owned public space (POPS) program. It was designed by Margie Ruddick and sculpted by her mother Dorothy Ruddick. The room covers 3,500 square feet (330 m²) and is surrounded by a glass wall that separates it from the lobby. The room contains plants such as ferns, mosses, and lichen, some of which are planted on structures like a 25-foot-tall (7.6 m) arch or a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) slab. Dorothy Ruddick had created the four sculptures in the space shortly before her death. The Durst Organization had wanted to create an actual garden, but it dismissed this idea because the sunlight would not have been sufficient to illuminate a garden. Shortly after the garden opened in 2010, about three-fourths of the plants were replaced because they had died. The interior of Henry Miller's Theatre, which was not protected by landmark status, was completely rebuilt to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Its interior was designed to meet LEED Gold standards. The rebuilt theater has 1,055 seats, compared to the 955 seats of the original theater. Designed by Cookfox, the theater has artifacts from the original structure. For the theater's reconstruction, Severud and Tishman had to excavate the theater as much as 70 feet (21 m) below street level, since the new theater could not rise above the old facade. The theater is acoustically isolated from the upper stories to avoid disrupting Bank of America's traders above. There are several commercial spaces at the Bank of America Tower's base. One of these is a Burger & Lobster restaurant in the basement, first floor, and second floor, with an entrance from the pedestrian arcade that connects 42nd and 43rd Streets. The restaurant is designed with 24-foot-tall (7.3 m) windows facing 43rd Street; a staircase connecting the entrance and second-floor dining room; a lobster sculpture; and red dining booths. A Bank of America branch is also located at 115 West 42nd Street. There is also a Starbucks on the 43rd Street side. An enclosed pedestrian walkway, known as Anita's Way, runs through the western end of the building and connects 42nd and 43rd Streets. Measuring 30 feet (9 m) wide and 30 feet high, it serves as an entrance to Stephen Sondheim Theatre and as a performance space. The passageway is named after Anita Durst, Douglas Durst's daughter and a leader of arts organization chashama. The organization had occupied a site on 42nd Street that was demolished to make way for the Bank of America Tower. #### Office space Each of the office floors has a ceiling measuring 9.5 feet (2.9 m) high. The office stories use a raised floor structural system to allow utilities and mechanical systems to be built underneath the floors. The finished office floor is about 14 inches (360 mm) above the floor slab. The office stories also contain dropped ceilings, above which are some of the mechanical systems. Air conditioning is pumped through the underfloor plenum system. The interior lighting system is designed to emphasize the southeast-corner chamfer at night. The upper stories span up to 90,000 square feet (8,400 m²). Bank of America's offices, spanning the first through 36th and the top floor, were designed by Gensler. The bank required 50 foot-candles of lighting for its offices, but conventional light fixtures could not do this without wasting energy. As a result, a custom lighting fixture was manufactured for the bank's offices, which could be controlled by a dimmer, though the fixtures could save energy regardless of the presence of a dimmer. Partitions between work cubicles are designed to be 48 inches (1,200 mm) tall, and furniture and carpets were designed with a "warm" brownish color scheme. The offices themselves are arranged in 5-foot-wide (1.5 m) modules to align with the subdivisions of the facade and ceiling. For offices placed near the tower's perimeter, furniture and opaque partitions were arranged perpendicularly to the curtain wall. One-third of all the space in the building was devoted to the bank's trading floors in 2013. ## History ### Planning The Durst family had started acquiring property on the city block bounded by Broadway, Sixth Avenue, and 42nd and 43rd Streets in 1967, when Seymour Durst bought a building that housed White's Sea Food Restaurant. Seymour Durst planned to redevelop the area east of Times Square with office skyscrapers, but he canceled these plans in 1973 amid a declining office market. Several other failed proposals followed for what would become 1 Bryant Park's site. One such proposal took place in the early 1980s, when Seymour Durst proposed selling his land to Joseph E. and Ralph Bernstein, but reneged after learning that the Bernsteins were acting on behalf of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, creating acrimony between the Dursts and the Bernsteins. Further proposals for the current site were made in 1987, when a tower for Morgan Stanley was proposed just before the Black Monday, and in 1990, when a building for Chemical Bank was proposed. Seymour Durst erected the National Debt Clock on one building at the site in 1989. By the next year, Seymour Durst had acquired 20 lots, including the Henry Miller Theater and the Hotel Diplomat. Though Seymour Durst died in 1995, his son Douglas Durst continued to acquire land on the block, developing 4 Times Square on the western half in the late 1990s. Douglas's daughter Anita convinced him to allow her arts organization chashama to temporarily use one of the empty storefronts on the site. In 1998, the New York City and state governments offered to condemn the remainder of the block via eminent domain so Durst could acquire the lots and develop a headquarters for Nasdaq there. The Bernsteins filed a lawsuit against New York state to prevent their land from being seized through eminent domain. The Nasdaq plan was canceled the next year. #### Early plans In 1999, the mayoral administration of Rudy Giuliani encouraged Douglas Durst to build a 2-million-square-foot (190,000 m²) tower and a 1,500-seat Broadway theater on the site. At the time, Durst had acquired 85 percent of the city block. Joseph Bernstein owned four lots on 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, while Susan Rosenberg owned a lot on the southwest corner of 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue. In addition, the Brandt family owned the Pix Theater and Richard M. Maidman owned the Remington Building on 42nd Street. Durst began negotiating with the Brandts for their land, and he started discussing with real estate company Tishman Speyer to jointly develop the site. By late 2000, Durst and Tishman Speyer were nearing an agreement to develop a tower on the site. The planned office tower would be called "1 Bryant Park", though Durst was still negotiating to acquire the rest of the block. By early 2001, only the Bernstein, Maidman, and Rosenberg lots remained to be acquired, though Maidman and Bernstein were loath to sell to Durst. This prompted the government of New York state, under the Empire State Development Corporation, to consider acquiring the remaining land via eminent domain. Bernstein's Triline Trading filed a lawsuit against the Empire State Development Corporation in April 2001. Triline alleged that the state was conspiring with Durst to depress the value of the Bernstein plots. The Maidmans, meanwhile, were trying to redevelop their building at 113 West 42nd Street into a hotel designed by Isaac Mizrahi. The family had torn up a contract that would have allowed Durst an option to buy their property in exchange for a billboard on Maidman's building. Durst filed complaints against Maidman in June 2001, alleging that debris from Maidman's building was falling onto land that Durst owned, causing "considerable damage". Durst's failed attempts to buy out Bernstein and Maidman resulted in two non-contiguous plots: the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, completely surrounded by Bernstein's plots to the north and west, as well as the remainder of the block, which encircled 113 West 42nd Street between Bernstein's property to the east and 4 Times Square to the west. 1 Bryant Park, which would occupy the plot around 113 West 42nd Street, was to cost \$600 million and contain 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²). Durst also planned to build a 30-story hotel at the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue for \$60 million. Despite the September 11 attacks later in 2001, Durst proceeded with plans to build 1 Bryant Park to designs by Fox & Fowle Architects. Shortly after the attacks, Durst told city and state officials that he was willing to develop the 1 Bryant Park site, even if it meant a lower rate of return. Durst proposed that the state condemn Bernstein's and Maidman's lots to increase the size of the skyscraper he wished to build. State officials expressed interest in this plan. Joseph Bernstein also withdrew his lawsuit against the state. #### Bank of America and final plans In December 2001, Richard Maidman agreed to sell his building to Durst, who had offered \$13 million. Though Maidman's building was in the process of being converted to a hotel, Maidman said he was prompted to sell during the city's recovery from the September 11 attacks, saying that he did not wish to prevent office space from being developed. Durst had already received \$115 million in credit from the Bank of New York and other lenders, which in theory allowed him to start demolishing the site before a tenant had been secured or a construction loan had been obtained. Susan Rosenberg continued to occupy the corner of Sixth Avenue and 43rd Street through 2003, though she was willing to enter into a contract with Durst to sell the building there. However, Rosenberg said she wanted to be the last tenant to sell. Durst negotiated with Joseph Bernstein who, along with some partners, owned the remaining parcels on the block. Fox & Fowle were still the architects of the proposed tower through at least early 2003. Meanwhile, by March 2003, Bank of America was looking for a new headquarters for its operations in Midtown, which would allow the bank to consolidate its New York City offices from several locations. One site under consideration was Durst's lot at Bryant Park, though the bank was also discussing with other developers including Brookfield Properties. By May 2003, Bank of America was close to signing an agreement with Durst to occupy half the proposed office tower. The city government had supported the construction of the tower, while the state government was considering condemning the remaining land. This drew opposition from Rosenberg and from Bernstein's partnership, who said they would rather negotiate with Durst than have their property seized by condemnation. Further, Bernstein was also planning to redevelop his property with a 30-story hotel and wished to offer Durst \$40 million for the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue. In mid-2003, Durst announced he would request \$650 million in tax-free Liberty bonds, allocated for September 11 recovery efforts, to finance the building's construction. This request, along with a similar one for the New York Times Building three blocks southwest, received public criticism. At a hearing the September, members of the public expressed their opposition to the usage of tax-free bonds for the project. Some opponents criticized Durst's donations to New York governor George Pataki, which they saw as corruption. Other critics said the bonds should be used for projects in Lower Manhattan, which was more heavily affected by the attacks, instead of Midtown. The city's Industrial Development Agency approved the bonds anyway. Bernstein spoke against the planned use of eminent domain to seize his land. The New York state government told Durst it could use eminent domain on the remaining lots, even though the land to be condemned was not in a "blighted" area, if he could sign an anchor tenant for the planned building. Durst and Bank of America announced in December 2003 that they would jointly develop a 51-story tower at 1 Bryant Park, to be designed by Cookfox. The bank would occupy about half of the building's planned 2.1 million square feet (200,000 m²) of office space. Shortly afterward, Bernstein and his partners agreed to sell their land for \$46 million, or \$384 per square foot (\$4,130/m²), to Durst and Bank of America. Only the corner lot at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue remained to be acquired. The announcement of Bank of America's tenancy had spurred interest in office space leasing among smaller companies, as well as investment in the stretch of 42nd Street between Bryant Park and Times Square. 1 Bryant Park was also to be one of several buildings around Times Square being developed for financial services companies. Durst notified the operators of Henry Miller's Theatre that the theater would have to be closed and demolished to make way for 1 Bryant Park's construction. Consequently, the old theater closed in January 2004. By that month, Durst had acquired the final property and was planning to move the National Debt Clock. ### Construction Durst and Bank of America received final approval to issue Liberty Bonds for the building's construction in February 2004. Because of the high cost of steel during early 2004, the Durst Organization decided not to proceed with construction until later that year. Meanwhile, all tenants were obliged to move out by that February, with demolition to begin that May. A groundbreaking ceremony for the building was hosted on August 2, 2004. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred the day that terror threats were made against some of the city's major banks and finance companies, leading Pataki to say, "This is probably the best day we could choose to break ground." Shortly after the groundbreaking, a frame was built to support the facade of Henry Miller's Theatre. The theater's interior was demolished using manual tools, and the contractors installed sensors to detect any vibrations on the facade. After construction began, the Durst Organization reported a high amount of demand for the remaining office space. Though Bank of America's space would cost the bank less than \$100 per square foot (\$1,100/m²), prospective tenants offered to move into the remaining space even at rents of over \$100 per square foot. Among those was law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore which, in early 2005, expressed an interest in relocating to the building. Bank of America itself was looking for several hundred thousand square feet near its new offices. In early 2006, Bank of America leased another 522,000 square feet (48,500 m²) of space, bringing its total occupancy in the building to 1.6 million square feet (150,000 m²). Bank of America planned to operate six trading floors of between 43,000 and 90,000 square feet (4,000 and 8,400 m²), as well as the first through 36th stories and the top floor. At the time, only 450,000 square feet (42,000 m²) of space remained unoccupied. Law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld had leased some space by late 2006, paying more than \$100 per square foot. Among the other tenants at the Bank of America Tower was Generation Investment Management, a firm cofounded by environmentalist and former U.S. vice president Al Gore. By the middle of that year, the building was almost fully pre-leased, with average asking rents of \$150 per square foot (\$1,600/m²). Durst and Bank of America announced in May 2007 that it planned to refund the \$650 million of Liberty Bonds that had been distributed for the building's construction. Though the refund was approved, the financial crisis of 2007–2008 delayed the refinancing for over a year. The building was topped out with a ceremony on June 26, 2007. A construction container fell from a crane in October 2007, causing damage to the tower and injuring eight people. After the accident, the city government ordered a temporary halt to the construction of the Bank of America Tower. The building's spire was installed by December 15, 2007. By mid-2008, the scaffolding over the facade of Henry Miller's Theater was being dismantled. Several construction accidents occurred that year. In August 2008, a 1,500-pound (680 kg) glass panel fell onto a sidewalk, hurting two passersby. The window had gotten stuck near the top of the tower while it was being pulled by a winch; this led the New York City Department of Buildings to issue three violations. A Tishman spokesman said 9,400 facade panels had already been installed at the time. A month later, a debris container fell, shattering a facade panel and causing several shards of glass to fall to the street, though no one was injured. Yet another incident occurred that November, when a worker fell from a scaffold and was injured. ### Usage #### Opening The first workers started moving into the Bank of America Tower in 2008. The building was refinanced in June 2009 with a \$1.28 billion package from a group of lenders led by Bank of America; this financing replaced the Liberty Bonds. The Aureole restaurant opened within the base of the building later that year. Also in late 2009, Henry Miller's Theatre reopened within the base of the Bank of America Tower. By January 2010, signs with the building's name were being erected at the entrances. Durst and Bank of America held a grand opening for the tower in May 2010. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Gore praised mayor Michael Bloomberg and other people involved in the project. The building was certified as a LEED Platinum office building that month, except for the theater, which was certified as LEED Gold. This made the Bank of America Tower the first U.S. office building to be certified as platinum. At the time, the building was appraised at \$2.2 billion. Shortly afterward, Durst and Bank of America refinanced \$1.275 billion in construction loans with Liberty bonds and a commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) loan from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Henry Miller's Theatre at the building's base was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre that year, after musical composer Stephen Sondheim. #### 2010s to present Only a few years before the Bank of America Tower's construction, the surrounding area had contained discount stores and homeless encampments, but its completion caused an immediate change to the vicinity. Following the building's completion, asking rents at many Bryant Park buildings rose to \$100 per square foot. After the tower was completed, Sam Roudman of The New Republic magazine reported that the Bank of America Tower used twice as much energy overall as the Empire State Building due to the Bank of America Tower's high energy usage. According to Roudman, although platinum was the highest LEED green-building certification available, the Bank of America Tower emitted more greenhouse gases than all other similarly-sized buildings in Manhattan. Bryan Walsh of Time magazine wrote that it was the high energy usage of the building's trading floors, rather than the building itself, that created such high emissions. Among the early retail tenants was Starbucks, which leased a location in the base in 2011. The Bank of America Tower lost power during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, as it was the only Midtown skyscraper connected to an electrical substation downtown. In mid-2013, the Durst Organization employed Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm to install and maintain two honeybee hives on the building. Also during 2013, asset management firms QFR Management and TriOaks Capital Management, as well as insurance underwriter Ascot Underwriting and hedge fund QFR, signed leases for space in the building. In 2016, Burger & Lobster signed a lease for a restaurant space in three stories next to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. This brought the Bank of America Tower to full occupancy. Durst and Bank of America refinanced the tower in 2019 for \$1.6 billion, composed of a \$950 million CMBS from Bank of America as well as \$650 million of Liberty Bonds. At the time, Bank of America occupied the largest share of space in the building, though investment manager Marathon Asset Management, law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and Stephen Sondheim Theatre's operator Roundabout Theatre Company also took up some space. The building was appraised the same year at over \$3.5 billion, ranking it among the most valuable office buildings in the city. Starbucks signed a new lease at the building's base in late 2020. That year, the Aureole restaurant closed and was replaced by the Charlie Palmer Steak restaurant. ## Reception When the building was being developed, a writer for The Village Voice said that the tower "looks like it's going to be alien too, with its reflective mirror sides". David W. Dunlap of The New York Times said that the tower, "rising like an icy stalagmite, is a three-dimensional reminder that big banks now dominate New Yorkers' consciousness." Justin Davidson of New York magazine called the Bank of America Tower "a bulky glass stele that executes a modest twist to lend itself an air of grace". Conversely, Christopher Gray of the Times called the tower a symbol of how "Bryant Park, once synonymous with the worst of New York City, has become a brand name". Another writer for the same newspaper said the skyscraper was a "psychological and economic lift to a city that was still reeling from the destruction of the World Trade Center" in the September 11 attacks. The Bank of America Tower was the subject of several exhibits and media works during its development. For example, the building's environmental features were displayed in a Skyscraper Museum exhibit in 2006. These features were also described in a podcast that the New York Academy of Sciences launched in June 2008. Furthermore, in November 2008, the building was featured in its own documentary on the National Geographic Channel. In June 2010, the Bank of America Tower was the recipient of the 2010 Best Tall Building Americas award by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Additionally, the building received an Award of Merit during the 2011 Annual Lumen Gala, a convention for New York City's lighting industry. ## See also - Buildings and architecture of New York City - List of tallest buildings in New York City - Tallest buildings in the United States

Russian military deception

Russian military doctrine

Russian military deception, sometimes known as maskirovka (Russian: маскировка, lit. 'disguise'), is a military doctrine developed from the start of the 20th century. The doctrine covers a broad range of measures for military deception, from camouflage to denial and deception. Deceptive measures include concealment, imitation with decoys and dummies, manoeuvres intended to deceive, denial, and disinformation. The 1944 Soviet Military Encyclopedia refers to "means of securing combat operations and the daily activities of forces; a complexity of measures, directed to mislead the enemy regarding the presence and disposition of forces..." Later versions of the doctrine also include strategic, political, and diplomatic means including manipulation of "the facts", situation, and perceptions to affect the media and opinion around the world, so as to achieve or facilitate tactical, strategic, national and international goals. Deception contributed to major Soviet victories including the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, and Operation Bagration (in Belarus): in these cases, surprise was achieved despite very large concentrations of force, both in attack and in defence. The doctrine has also been put into practice in peacetime, with denial and deception operations in events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Prague Spring, and the annexation of Crimea. ## Development of the doctrine The Russian doctrine of military deception has evolved with time, and it encompasses a number of meanings. The Russian term маскировка (maskirovka) literally means masking. An early military meaning was camouflage, soon extended to battlefield masking using smoke and other methods of screening. From there it came to have the broader meaning of military deception, widening to include denial and deception. ### Historical antecedents The practice of military deception predates Russia. The Art of War, written in the 5th century BC and attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tsu, describes a strategy of deception: "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness". Early in Russia's history, in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, Prince Dmitry Donskoy defeated the armies of the Mongol Golden Horde using a surprise attack from a regiment hidden in forest. The tactics of that battle are still cited in Russian cadet schools. ### Before World War II The Russian Army had a deception school, active in 1904, disbanded in 1929. Meanwhile, military deception was developed as a military doctrine in the 1920s. The 1924 Soviet directive for higher commands stated that operational deception had to be "based upon the principles of activity, naturalness, diversity, and continuity and includes secrecy, imitation, demonstrative actions, and disinformation." The 1929 Field Regulations of the Red Army stated that "surprise has a stunning effect on the enemy. For this reason all troop operations must be accomplished with the greatest concealment and speed." Concealment was to be attained by confusing the enemy with movements, camouflage and use of terrain, speed, use of night and fog, and secrecy. "Thus 'in Soviet military art during the 1920s the theory of operational maskirovka was developed as one of the most important means of achieving surprise in operations.'" The 1935 Instructions on Deep Battle and then the 1936 Field Regulations place increasing stress on battlefield deception. The Instructions define the methods of achieving surprise as air superiority; making forces mobile and manoeuvrable; concealing concentration of forces; keeping fire preparations secret; misleading the enemy; screening with smoke and technical deception; and using the cover of darkness. In the 1939 Russian invasion of Finland, white winter camouflage was worn by Soviet troops. ### 1944 concept The 1944 Soviet Military Encyclopedia defines military deception as the means of securing combat operations and the daily activities of forces; misleading the enemy about the presence and disposition of forces, objectives, combat readiness and plans. It asserts that it contributes to achieving surprise, preserving combat readiness and the survivability of objectives. ### 1978 concept The 1978 Soviet Military Encyclopedia defines deception similarly, placing additional stress on strategic levels, and explicitly including political, economic and diplomatic measures besides the military ones. It largely repeats the 1944 Encyclopedia's concept, but adds that > Strategic maskirovka is carried out at national and theater levels to mislead the enemy as to political and military capabilities, intentions and timing of actions. In these spheres, as war is but an extension of politics, it includes political, economic and diplomatic measures as well as military. ### Modern doctrine Russian military deception is broadly equated with maskirovka, but other Russian terms are also used in the area, including the "fog of war", tuman voyny. Khitrost means a commander's personal gift of cunning and guile, part of his military skill, whereas deception is practised by the whole organization and does not carry the sense of personal trickiness; nor need the Russian use of deception be thought of as "evil". Indeed, Michael Handel reminds readers, in the preface to the military analyst David Glantz's book, of Sun Tzu's claim in The Art of War that all warfare is based on deception; Handel suggests that deception is a normal and indeed necessary part of warfare. The goal of military deception is however surprise, vnezapnost, so the two are naturally studied together. However, the military analyst William Connor cautioned that in the Soviet sense, the doctrine covered much more than camouflage and deception. It had, he suggested, the connotation of active control of the enemy. By the time of Operation Bagration in 1944, Connor argues, the Russian doctrine of military deception already included all these aspects. The meaning evolved in Soviet practice and doctrine to include strategic, political, and diplomatic objectives, in other words operating at all levels. This differs from Western doctrines on deception, and from information warfare doctrines, by its emphasis on pragmatic aspects. According to the analyst James Hansen, deception "is treated as an operational art to be polished by professors of military science and officers who specialize in this area." In 2015, Julian Lindley-French described strategic maskirovka as "a new level of ambition" established by Moscow to unbalance the West both politically and militarily. In military intelligence, the Russian doctrine roughly corresponds to Western notions of denial and deception. The United States Army's Glossary of Soviet Military Terminology from 1955 defined maskirovka as "camouflage; concealment; disguise." The International Dictionary of Intelligence from 1990 defined it as the Russian military intelligence (GRU) term for deception. Robert Pringle's 2006 Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence defined it as strategic deception. Scott Gerwehr's The Art of Darkness summarized it as deception and operational security. The historian Tom Cubbage commented that military deception was enormously successful for the Soviets, and whatever the United States might think, for the Soviet Union it was something to make use of both in war and in peacetime. An article in The Moscow Times explained: "But маскировка has a broader military meaning: strategic, operational, physical and tactical deception. Apparently in U.S. military terminology, this is called either CC&D (camouflage, concealment and deception) or more recently D&D (denial and deception). It is the whole shebang—from guys in ski masks or uniforms with no insignia, to undercover activities, to hidden weapons transfers, to—well, starting a civil war but pretending that you've done nothing of the sort." In his comprehensive study, Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War, Glantz summarized the Russian doctrine as involving both active and passive deception and surprise. For the Soviets, deception permeated all levels of war. And since they thought of war as just an extension of politics by other means, deception could and should be used and constantly considered in politics before a war began, if it was to work effectively. The American defence researcher Charles Smith identified different dimensions of Russian military deception. He divided it into multiple types—optical, thermal, radar, radio, sound/silence; multiple environments—aquatic, space, atmosphere—each involving active or passive measures; and organizational aspects—mobility, level, and organization. The levels are the conventional military ones, strategic, operational, and tactical, while organization refers to the military branch concerned. Finally, Smith identified principles—plausibility, continuity through peace and war, variety, and persistent aggressive activity; and contributing factors, namely technological capability and political strategy. Smith also analyzed the Soviet doctrine, considering it as "a set of processes designed to mislead, confuse, and interfere with accurate data collection regarding all areas of Soviet plans, objectives, and strengths or weaknesses". ## In practice ### Beginnings The Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 was cited by Smith as an early example of the successful use of deception; a regiment had hidden in the forest, and the battle is seen as the beginning of the freeing of the Russian lands from Tatar rule. At least three elements, namely deception, concealment, and disinformation with false defensive works and false troop concentrations, were used by Georgy Zhukov in the 1939 Battles of Khalkhin Gol against Japan. The deceptions included apparent requests for material for bunkers, the broadcasting of the noise of pile-drivers and wide distribution of a pamphlet What the Soviet Soldier Must Know in Defence. In his memoirs Zhukov described them as such, noting that they were worked out at army group or "operational-tactical" level. ### Rzhev-Vyazma, 1942 The first offensive to have its own deception operation was in Zhukov's part of the attack on the Rzhev-Vyazma salient to the west of Moscow in July and August, 1942. The offensive was conducted by Ivan Konev's Kalinin Front on the north, and Zhukov's Western Front with 31st Army and 20th Army on the south. Zhukov decided to simulate a concentration of forces some 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the south near Yukhnov, in the sector of his 43rd, 49th and 50th Armies. He created two deception operation staffs in that sector, and allocated 4 deception (maskirovka) companies, 3 rifle companies, 122 vehicles, 9 tanks and other equipment including radios for the deception. These forces built 833 dummy tanks, guns, vehicles, field kitchens and fuel tanks, and used their real and dummy equipment to simulate the unloading of armies from a railhead at Myatlevo, and the concentration of armour and motorized infantry as if preparing to attack Yukhnov. The radios communicated false traffic between the simulated armies and Front headquarters. The real tanks and other vehicles made tracks like those of troop columns. When the Luftwaffe attacked, the deception units returned fire and lit bottles of fuel to simulate fires. The deception had the immediate effect of increasing Luftwaffe air strikes against the railhead and false concentration area, while the two railheads actually in use were not attacked, and the Wehrmacht moved three Panzer divisions and one motorized infantry division of XL Panzer Corps to the Yukhnov area. Meanwhile, the real troop concentration to the north was conducted at night and in thick forests. Zhukov's attack began on 4 August, and the 20th and 31st Armies advanced 40 kilometres (25 mi) in two days. The Russians claimed that surprise had been achieved; this is confirmed by the fact that German intelligence failed to notice Zhukov's concentration of 20th and 31st Armies on Rzhev. Other small offensives on the same front had poorly planned and executed deception measures, but these were largely unsuccessful. The successful deception for the attack on Rzhev showed that military deception could be effective, but that only certain Red Army commanders applied it correctly. ### Battle of Stalingrad, 1942–1943 Military deception based on secrecy was critical in hiding Soviet preparations for the decisive Operation Uranus encirclement in the Battle of Stalingrad. In the historian Paul Adair's view, the successful November 1942 Soviet counter-attack at Stalingrad was the first instance of Stavka's newly discovered confidence in large-scale deception. Proof of the success of the Soviet deception came, Adair notes, from the Chief of the German General Staff, General Kurt Zeitzler, who claimed early in November that "the Russians no longer have any reserves worth mentioning and are not capable of launching a large-scale attack." This was two months before the German 6th Army capitulated. Hitler's own self-deception played into this, as he was unwilling to believe that the Red Army had sufficient reserves of armour and men. Further, the many ineffective Red Army attacks to the north of Stalingrad had unintentionally given the impression that it was unable to launch any substantial attack, let alone a rapid army-scale pincer movement. Careful attention was paid to security, with greatly reduced radio traffic. The Germans failed to detect the creation of five new tank armies. Troop movements were successfully concealed by moving the armies up only at night, and camouflaging them by day on the open, treeless steppes. Strategic deception included increasing military activity far away, near Moscow. At the sites of the planned attack, elaborate disinformation was fed to the enemy. Defence lines were built to deceive German tactical reconnaissance. Civilians within 25 kilometres (16 mi) of the front were evacuated, and trenches were dug around the villages for Luftwaffe reconnaissance to see. Conversely, along the uninvolved Voronezh Front, bridging equipment and boats were prepared to suggest an offensive there. The five real bridges that were built for the attack were masked by the construction of seventeen false bridges over the River Don. To the south of Stalingrad, for the southern arm of the pincer movement, 160,000 men with 550 guns, 430 tanks and 14,000 trucks were ferried across the much larger River Volga, which was beginning to freeze over with dangerous ice floes, entirely at night. Overall, Stavka succeeded in moving a million men, 1000 tanks, 14,000 guns and 1400 aircraft into position without alerting their enemy. Despite the correct appreciation by German air reconnaissance of a major build-up of forces on the River Don, the commander of the 6th Army, Friedrich Paulus took no action. He was caught completely by surprise, failing either to prepare his armour as a mobile reserve with fuel and ammunition, or to move it on the day of the attack. The historian David Glantz considered that the concealment of the scale of the offensive was the Red Army's "greatest feat". ### Battle of Kursk, 1943 Deception was put into practice on a large scale in the 1943 Battle of Kursk, especially on the Red Army's Steppe Front commanded by Ivan Konev. This was a deception for a defensive battle, as Hitler was planning to attack the Kursk salient in a pincer movement. The Soviet forces were moved into position at night and carefully concealed, as were the extensively prepared defences-in-depth, with multiple lines of defence, minefields, and as many as 200 anti-tank guns per mile. Soviet defences were quickly built up using deception techniques to conceal the flow of men and equipment. This was accompanied by a whole suite of deception measures including feint attacks, false troop and logistics concentrations, radio deception, false airfields and false rumours. In mid-June 1943 German army high command (OKH) had estimated 1500 Soviet tanks in the Kursk salient, against the true figure of over 5100, and underestimated Soviet troop strength by a million. The historian Lloyd Clark observes that while the Wehrmacht was "feeding on intelligence scraps", the Soviets were "mastering maskirovka". The result was that the Germans attacked Russian forces far stronger than those they were expecting. The commander of the Soviet 1st Tank Army, Mikhail Katukov, remarked that the enemy "did not suspect that our well-camouflaged tanks were waiting for him. As we later learned from prisoners, we had managed to move our tanks forward unnoticed." Katukov's tanks were concealed in defensive emplacements prepared before the battle, with only their turrets above ground level. Glantz records that the German general Friedrich von Mellenthin wrote > The horrible counter-attacks, in which huge masses of manpower and equipment took part, were an unpleasant surprise for us... The most clever camouflage of the Russians should be emphasized again. We did not ... detect even one minefield or anti-tank area until ... the first tank was blown up by a mine or the first Russian anti-tank guns opened fire. ### Operation Bagration, 1944 The 1944 Operation Bagration in Belarus applied the strategic aims and objectives on a grand scale, to deceive the Germans about the scale and objectives of the offensive. The historian Paul Adair commented that "Once the Stavka had decided upon the strategic plan for their 1944 summer offensive [Bagration], they began to consider how the Germans could be deceived about the aims and scale of the offensive... the key to the maskirovka operation was to reinforce the German conviction that operations would continue along this [southern] axis". In particular, the Stavka needed to be certain that the Germans believed the main Soviet attack would be in the south. The Soviet plan successfully kept the German reserves doing nothing south of the Pripyat marshes until the battle to the north in Belorussia had already been decided. Stavka succeeded in concealing the size and position of very large movements of supplies, as well as of forces including seven armies, eleven aviation corps and over 200,000 troop replacements. As for the strategic offensive itself, its location, strength and timing were effectively concealed. Stavka and the Red Army applied the doctrine of military deception at three levels: - Strategic (theatre-wide): Stavka hid the location, strength, and timing of the attack, with dummy troop concentrations on the flanks displayed to the enemy before the battle, other offensives timed to work as diversions, and forces left where the enemy expected an attack (three tank armies in Ukraine), away from the true location of the attack (Belarus) - Operational: the Red Army hid the locations, strengths and objectives of each force - Tactical: each unit hid its concentrations of troops, armour and guns The German Army Group Centre (where the main attack fell) underestimated Soviet infantry by 40%, mechanised forces by 300% and the number of tanks as 400 to 1800, instead of the 4000 to 5200 in fact arrayed against them. The German high command (OKH) and Adolf Hitler grossly underestimated the threat to Army Group Centre, confidently redeploying a third of its artillery, half its tank destroyers and 88% of its tanks to the Southern front where OKH expected the Soviet attack. Only 580 German armoured vehicles were in place for the battle. In the battle, Army Group Centre was almost totally destroyed, losing its Fourth Army encircled east of Minsk, its 3rd Panzer Army (LIII Corps encircled in Vitebsk), and its Ninth Army encircled east of Bobruisk. In military historian Bruce Pirnie's view, "the Germans were more completely fooled prior to Operation Bagration than they had been prior to Operation Uranus [at Stalingrad]". Pirnie concluded, based largely on Bagration and Uranus with a look at other Second World War operations, that the Soviet military deception in Bagration was unsophisticated, but "clever and effective". The Soviets succeeded in distorting OKH's intelligence picture, given that German intelligence had to rely mainly on radio intercept, aerial photography and agents left behind in the territory they had once held. Stavka deceived OKH by playing to their three sources of information; Stavka systematically denied the Germans real intelligence on Red Army forces as they concentrated for the attack, and revealed other real and simulated forces in other places. However Stavka may have come to do this, it "played well to the Germans' mental attitude". Hitler's own reckless optimism and determination to hold on to captured territory at all costs encouraged him to believe the picture suggested by the Russians. Meanwhile, his advisors believed the Soviet Union was running out of men and materiel, with much less industrial production than it in fact had. Thus they underestimated the forces ranged against them, a belief encouraged by continued deception operations. Pirnie points out that it did not have to succeed in every aspect to be successful. In Belarus, the German armies involved had a good idea of the locations and approximate timing of Operation Bagration, but the higher levels, Army Group Centre and OKH failed to appreciate how strong the attacks would be, or the intention to encircle the Army Group. The "combination of display and concealment, directed at the highest command levels, typified their most successful deception." ### Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 The Soviet intelligence services and the Soviet military used deceptive measures to conceal from the United States their intentions in Operation Anadyr, which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. According to CIA analyst James Hansen, the Soviet Army most likely used large-scale battlefield deception before the Cuban Missile Crisis "more frequently and with more consistent success than any other army." The soldiers involved in Anadyr were provided with winter clothing and informed they would be going to the east of the Soviet Union. On board ship, intelligence officers allowed the 40,000 soldiers involved on deck only during the hours of darkness. The force, including missiles, reached Cuba before US intelligence became aware of it. Anadyr was planned from the start with elaborate denial and deception, ranging from the soldiers' ski boots and fleece-lined parkas to the name of the operation, a river and town in the chilly far east. Once America had become aware of Soviet intentions, deception continued in the form of outright denial, as when, on 17 October 1962, the embassy official Georgy Bolshakov gave President John F. Kennedy a "personal message" from the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev reassuring him that "under no circumstances would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba." Hansen's analysis ends with a recognition of the Soviet advantage in deception in 1962. In Hansen's view, the fact that the Killian Report did not even mention adversarial denial and deception was an indication that American intelligence had not begun to study foreign D&D; it did not do so for another 20 years. Hansen considered it likely that with a properly-prepared "deception-aware analytic corps", America could have seen through Khrushchev's plan long before Maj. Heyser's revealing U-2 mission. In Hansen's view, it would take four decades before American intelligence fully understood the extent of Soviet deception before the Cuban Missile Crisis, especially the way the Soviets hid the truth of its strategic missile deployment behind a mass of lies, on "a scale that most US planners could not comprehend". ### Czechoslovakia, 1968 The Soviet Union made substantial use of deception while preparing for their military intervention of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The historian Mark Lloyd called the effect on the Prague Spring "devastating". When the Kremlin had failed to reverse the Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček's liberal reforms with threats, it decided to use force, masked by deception. The measures taken included transferring fuel and ammunition out of Czechoslovakia on a supposed logistics exercise; and confining most of their soldiers to barracks across the northern Warsaw Pact area. The Czechoslovak authorities thus did not suspect anything when two Aeroflot airliners made unscheduled landings at night, full of "fit young men". The men cleared customs and travelled to the Soviet Embassy in the centre of Prague. There they picked up weapons and returned to the airport, taking over the main buildings. They at once allowed further aircraft to land uniformed Spetsnaz and airborne troops, who took over key buildings across Prague before dawn. Reinforcements were then brought in by road, in complete radio silence, leaving NATO electronic warfare units "confused and frustrated". ### Ukraine, 2014 The 2014 annexation of Crimea was described in the West as maskirovka. As the BBC writer, Lucy Ash put it: "Five weeks later, once the annexation had been rubber-stamped by the Parliament in Moscow, Putin admitted Russian troops had been deployed in Crimea after all. But the lie had served its purpose. Maskirovka is used to wrong-foot your enemies, to keep them guessing." The area was swiftly occupied by so-called little green men, armed men in military trucks who came at night, with no insignia, so that even pro-Russian activists did not understand what was happening. They were later revealed as Russian special forces, but at the time Vladimir Putin denied this. Time magazine reported in April 2014 that the troops in eastern Ukraine described themselves as Cossacks, whereas analysts in Ukraine and the West considered at least some of them to be Russian special forces. Their obscure origins made them seem more menacing and harder to deal with. The article observed that the wearing of face masks (actually, balaclavas) was typical of the Russian tradition of military deception, making asking why they were worn, as one masked separatist remarked, "a stupid question". In April 2014, the Huffington Post asserted that "President Putin's game plan in Ukraine becomes clearer day by day despite Russia's excellent, even brilliant, use of its traditional maskirovka". The subsequent war in the Donbas region of Ukraine has also been described as a Russian maskirovka campaign. As with Crimea, the conflict began when armed 'rebel' forces without military insignia began seizing government infrastructure. Unlike the action in Crimea, there were no Russian military bases to deploy soldiers from. Support for Russia amongst the local population was not as high, and Donbas was larger and less isolated than the peninsula. A variety of deceptions were practised. Russia sent "humanitarian" convoys to Donbas; the first, of military trucks painted white, attracted much media attention, and was described as "a wonderful example of maskirovka" by a US Air Force General. Regular Russian troops were captured by Ukraine numerous times, making denial of their involvement increasingly implausible. ## See also - Active measures - Fear, uncertainty and doubt - Maneuver warfare - Operational art - Proxy war - Salami tactics - Soviet deep battle

The Worship Project

The Worship Project is the fifth self-released album by American Christian rock band MercyMe. Produced by the band and recorded by Jim Bryson (the band's keyboardist), the album was released on October 14, 1999. In contrast to the band's previous efforts, which were influenced by grunge music, The Worship Project is a worship album. MercyMe wrote songs for the album using a basic verse–chorus style so as to be easy to learn and sing along to and to easily fit on a PowerPoint screen. The album incorporates alternative, rock, and pop musical styles, as well as "rootsy" elements like organs and violins. Like most independent albums, The Worship Project did not appear on any record charts after its release and received little attention from music critics, with the exception of a review in the UK Christian music magazine Cross Rhythms. However, the album was much more successful than the band's previous efforts, selling over 60,000 copies within a year. The band would release one more album before signing with INO Records and releasing their first major studio album, Almost There (2001). Several songs from The Worship Project were included on the album, including "I Can Only Imagine", which became the band's breakthrough single on Christian and mainstream radio and the best-selling Christian single of all time as of March 2018. ## Background and composition MercyMe was formed in 1994 by vocalist Bart Millard, guitarist Mike Scheuchzer, and keyboardist Jim Bryson. The band later brought on drummer Robby Shaffer and bassist Nathan Cochran in 1997. Prior to the release of The Worship Project, MercyMe had released four Christian alternative rock albums, drawing influence from the grunge style popular at the time. While playing live, however, the band realized that their original songs from these albums failed to connect with their audiences. In contrast, their covers of popular worship songs were received positively, leading the band to decide to write and produce a whole album of original worship songs. The Worship Project was MercyMe's first attempt at producing their own corporate worship songs; the band blended this style with their style as a rock band. According to Millard, the album was written over three days; the band "decided to lock [themselves] in an old Sunday school room" to write the songs for the album. With the exception of "Beautiful", which was written and composed by Cochran, the lyrics on the album were written by Millard, while the music was composed by the entire band. The band utilized a simple verse–chorus format when writing songs the album, with the songs being designed to easily fit on a PowerPoint screen. The only song on the album not to utilize this format, "I Can Only Imagine", was included at the last minute, and only because it was important to Millard, who wrote the song reminiscing about his father's death. The album was recorded at The Pig Sty in Fort Worth, Texas. It was produced by the band, engineered and mixed by Bryson, and mastered by Eric Wolf at Wolf Mastering in Nashville. The Worship Project has been described as being a worship album, drawing influences from rock, pop, and alternative music. Mike Rimmer of Cross Rhythms noted the album occasionally features "rootsy" elements as well as "Hammond–style organs" and "faint violins". The album's opening song, "Here With Us", had been described as a rock song. In the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, Mark Allan Powell described "Happy Little Love Song" as being a "Pearl Jam–type anthem fit for arenas". Powell also described "Hearts Sing Louder" as being influenced by Smash Mouth, and felt "It's My Joy" had a "bluesy rhythm" with "70s organs"; the song also samples "Joyful, Joyful We Adore You". ## Release, reception, and impact The Worship Project was released on October 14, 1999. The band also issued The Worship Project Kit, which included the album as well a devotional and the words and chords to the songs. The album was sold through the Internet as well as bookstore signings. Copies of the album were produced by the band in their garage. Like most independent albums, The Worship Project did not appear on any record charts and met with limited fanfare. In the October 1, 2000 edition of Cross Rhythms, Mike Rimmer gave the album seven out of ten stars. Rimmer praised the album as being "miles better" than most major–label worship albums, but felt that "there’s still something missing in the overall approach". Rimmer said the album was a "good effort" but "falls short of being amazing". Sales for The Worship Project far exceeded sales of the band's previous records – according to Millard, whereas their previous albums would be lucky to sell 1,000 copies in a year, The Worship Project sold over 60,000 copies within a year. Millard estimated the album's overall sales at 100,000 – other sources peg the album's sales as of 2006 at 60,000 or 65,000 copies. The difficulty of selling the album directly, in addition to having to book and manage for themselves, led the band to pursue a contract with a record label. The band would release one more album, 2000's Look, before signing with INO Records and releasing their 2001 album Almost There. Two songs from The Worship Project were re–recorded and included on Almost There – "I Can Only Imagine" and "Cannot Say Enough". "I Can Only Imagine" was released as the album's second single and became the band's breakthrough hit, topping the US Christian radio charts and receiving a GMA Dove Award for "Song of the Year" before becoming a hit on US mainstream radio in 2003. It became the first single by any artist in the Christian music genre to be certified platinum and was certified triple platinum in June 2018. It has sold 2.5 million copies as of March 2018, making it the best-selling Christian single of all time. Another song from The Worship Project, "Hearts Sing Louder", was included on the band's 2011 Family Christian Stores–exclusive album The Worship Sessions. ## Personnel (Credits from the album liner notes) MercyMe - Bart Millard – lead vocals - Mike Scheuchzer – guitar, background vocals - Jim Bryson – keys - Robby Shaffer – drums - Nathan Cochran – bass guitar, background vocals Technical/Misc. - Jim Bryson – engineering, mixing - MercyMe – producer - Eric Wolf – mastering - Shatrine Weik – design ## Track listing Credits and track list from the album liner notes. After the song "Beautiful" concludes, there is a hidden track: an acoustic version of "I Can Only Imagine"

Maria Maria

1999 single by Santana

"Maria Maria" is a song by American rock band Santana featuring the Product G&B, included on Santana's 18th studio album, Supernatural (1999). The song was written by Wyclef Jean, Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, Carlos Santana, Karl Perazzo, and Raul Rekow, while Jean and Duplessis produced it. The track samples the drum beat from "God Make Me Funky" by American jazz fusion band the Headhunters, and the melody riff was inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan song "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit". Interspersed with guitars and other strings, "Maria Maria" is driven by a hip hop beat. At the 2000 Grammy Awards, the song won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals before it experienced commercial success. "Maria Maria" was released on September 14, 1999, to American urban radio and was issued worldwide throughout the following year. It reached number one in Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the US, it stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 weeks and reached number one on two other Billboard listings. In 2018, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Hot 100, Billboard compiled its list of the top songs since the ranking's inception, on which "Maria Maria" appeared at number 122. The song's success has inspired numerous sampling usages, plus a restaurant chain named after the track. ## Background "Maria Maria" was written by Wyclef Jean, Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, Carlos Santana, Karl Perazzo, and Raul Rekow. Jean and Duplessis conceived the song with Carlos Santana while Jean's previous musical group, Fugees, was on tour in San Francisco. During a Drink Champs podcast interview, Jean said that he came up with the song's composition by reworking a 1993 Wu-Tang Clan song titled "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit", borrowing the instrumental that plays during the title lyrics. The track also samples the drum beat from the Headhunters' song "God Make Me Funky" from their 1975 debut album, Survival of the Fittest. Jean asked the Product G&B, a musical duo composed of Marvin Moore and David McRae, to sing on the track after the two had telephoned a nearby music studio in New York to speak to a friend. Rapper and Fugees member Pras Michel answered the call, at which point Moore and McRae immediately decided to meet him at the studio. Jean soon added the duo to his record label, Yclef. ## Composition Jean and Duplessis produced "Maria Maria" while the Product G&B provided the lead vocals. Musically, "Maria Maria" is a hip hop song with Latin influences, punctuated by Spanish guitars and Carlos Santana's electric guitar. Tom Breihan of online publication Stereogum called the recording a "rap song [...] with no actual rapping". The song's describe a woman named Maria who observes the tumultuous circumstances of the world around her and wishes for a more pleasurable existence. Carlos Santana sings additional vocals, performing the "Ahora vengo mama chula" chants, as does Jean, who created his intermittent lyrics by freestyling. Duplessis plays the bass guitar while he and Jean collaborated on the drum programming. Additional instrumentalists who contributed to the recording include Jeremy Cohen on violin, Daniel Seidenberg and Hari Balakrishnan on viola, and Joseph Hébert on cello. The track was mixed, engineered, and mastered at three studios in New York City and at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. ## Release and promotion "Maria Maria" first appeared as the seventh track on Supernatural, which was released in the United States on June 15, 1999. Three months later, Arista Records serviced the song to US rhythmic contemporary and urban radio on September 14, 1999, three weeks after previous single "Put Your Lights On" was sent to rock-oriented radio. Contemporary hit radio officially added "Maria Maria" to its playlists on November 23, 1999. On January 25, 2000, the song was issued in the US as a CD single, a maxi-CD single, a cassette single, and a 7-inch vinyl single. The CD and cassette contain a remix of "Maria Maria" by Jean plus "Migra", the eighth track on Supernatural. The maxi-CD includes additional remixes while the 7-inch single has the album's lead single, "Smooth", as its B-side. In Europe, a two-track CD single and a maxi-CD were distributed, with the latter format issued on February 7, 2000. Both formats contain various mixes and instrumentals of "Maria Maria". The maxi-CD was also issued in Australia. In the United Kingdom, the single was due to be released in late June 2000 to coincide with Santana's tour there, but it was delayed several times. It was eventually issued on July 24 as a CD and cassette containing the radio mix of the track plus Jean's remix and the Pumpin' Dolls remix. To promote the song, an accompanying music video was made, directed by Marcus Raboy and filmed from November 19–20, 1999, in Los Angeles. It features Santana, Jean, and the Product G&B performing the song in front of a large group of people, during which a woman arrives and begin dancing with them. In January 2000, MTV and BET added the video to their playlists. ## Critical reception "Maria Maria" received generally positive reviews from music critics. On October 23, 1999, Billboard reviewed the song, preferring the original version over the Wyclef remix and writing that it "sounds cooler than an autumn breeze on the airwaves", noting that its simplistic nature does not detract from the quality and pointing out that its classic yet modern sound works well. British columnist James Masterton referred to the track as a "perfect summertime soundtrack" and called Jean's contributions to the track "unmistakable". In February 2000, before the song became a commercial success, it won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, one of the eight awards Santana accrued for that night. British trade paper Music Week listed the track as a "recommended" single in July 2000, calling Jean's contribution "a touch of magic". Retrospectively, in August 2022, Breihan reviewed the single for his "The Number Ones" column, giving the track a grade of 6 out of 10. He wrote that the song's beat and chants are the most engrossing parts of the composition, but the track does not live up to expectations, concluding, "It ultimately sounds like little more than a brand extension for all the parties involved, and that's really what it was." ## Commercial performance On the Billboard Hot 100, "Maria Maria" debuted at number 15 on the chart dated February 12, 2000, becoming that week's highest debut with 55,000 sales. The following week, the song jumped to number eight, giving Santana two simultaneous top-10 hits, along with "Smooth", which was at number five. After rising above "Smooth" on February 26, the song took five more issues to reach number one, garnering 102,500 weekly sales on April 8. It topped the chart for 10 weeks, dropping to number eight on June 17, and stayed on the Hot 100 for 26 weeks in total. On other Billboard rankings, the song reached number one on the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for four weeks and on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for three weeks. It also peaked at number two on the Mainstream Top 40, number seven on the Rhythmic listing, and number 12 on the Adult Top 40. At the end of 2000, Billboard ranked the song at three on its year-end edition, and in 2009, the same publication placed the track at number 14 on its decade-end ranking. In 2018, the Hot 100 published an all-time chart for its 60th anniversary, on which "Maria Maria" appeared at number 122. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the song a platinum disc in March 2000, denoting shipments of one million units. In Canada, "Maria Maria" peaked atop the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart on April 17, 2000, and also appeared on the Adult Contemporary Tracks and Top 30 Dance rankings. In Europe, "Maria Maria" was the second-best-selling single of 2000, topping the Eurochart Hot 100. The song stayed at number one in Switzerland for five weeks, earned a platinum certification from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and came in at number two on the country's year-end chart for 2000. In Sweden, the single reached number one for two weeks, while in both France and Germany, it remained atop the charts for four weeks. It also reached number one in Hungary in March 2000. Elsewhere in continental Europe, the song entered the top 10 in nine other nations, including Austria, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Belgium's Wallonia region, where it entered the top three. In the Czech Republic and Spain, the single achieved top-20 placings. In July 2000, the song debuted and peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart and at number 21 on the Irish Singles Chart. The song also charted in Australia and New Zealand, topping off at number 49 in both countries and spending two non-consecutive weeks within the top 50 on both national charts. ## Legacy Carlos Santana worked with chef Roberto Santibañez and California business Dudum Sports and Entertainment (DSE) to open a restaurant chain named after the song in 2007. The menu, created by Santibañez with assistance from Santana, contains traditional Mexican food with alterations, including duck tacos, zucchini-filled poblanos, chipotle sauce, and salmon filet. Only four of these restaurants are operational, with two in northern California, one in Arizona, and one in Texas. Five painters and visual artists were recruited to design the restaurants' decor, which was inspired by Santana's music. In 2017, "Maria Maria" was sampled by DJ Khaled on his song "Wild Thoughts", which features Rihanna and Bryson Tiller. This single reached the top 10 in many countries, peaking at number one on the UK Singles Chart. Santana, who co-signed the track, said that it brings the original guitar riff "to a new dimension" without sacrificing his song's summery essence, which he called "timeless". In 2023, Dutch DJ and producer Essam Jansen recorded a dance music version of the track under the name Tech It Deep. This version climbed to number 63 on the UK Singles Chart on the week of May 5, 2023, by which time the original version had re-entered the chart at number 51. ## Track listings US CD and cassette single 1. "Maria Maria" – 4:21 2. "Maria Maria" (Wyclef remix) – 4:21 3. "Migra" – 5:54 US maxi-CD single 1. "Maria Maria" (album version) – 4:21 2. "Maria Maria" (Wyclef remix) – 4:21 3. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls radio edit) – 3:56 4. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls club mix) – 8:36 5. "Maria Maria" (Wyclef Remix instrumental) – 4:21 6. "Migra" (album version) – 5:54 US 7-inch single 1. "Maria Maria" – 4:21 2. "Smooth" (featuring Rob Thomas) UK CD and cassette single 1. "Maria Maria" (radio mix) – 4:21 2. "Maria Maria" (Wyclef remix) – 4:21 3. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls remix) – 3:56 European CD single 1. "Maria Maria" (radio mix) – 4:21 2. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls club mix) – 8:36 European maxi-CD and Australian CD single 1. "Maria Maria" (radio mix) – 4:21 2. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls radio edit) – 3:56 3. "Maria Maria" (Wyclef remix) – 4:21 4. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls club mix) – 8:36 5. "Maria Maria" (Wyclef remix instrumental) – 4:21 6. "Maria Maria" (Pumpin' Dolls club mix instrumental) – 8:36 ## Credits and personnel Credits are taken from the Supernatural booklet and Stereogum. Studios - Mixed at The Hit Factory (New York City) - Engineered at The Hit Factory (New York City) and Fantasy Studios (Berkeley, California, US) - Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City) Personnel - Wyclef Jean – writing, drum programming, production - Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis – writing, bass, drum programming, production - Carlos Santana – writing, additional vocals, guitar - Karl Perazzo – writing - Raul Rekow – writing - The Product G&B – lead vocals - Joseph Hébert – cello - Daniel Seidenberg – viola - Hari Balakrishnan – viola - Jeremy Cohen – violin - Andy Grassi – mixing, engineering - Michael McCoy – mixing assistant - Chris Theis – engineering - Steve Fontano – engineering - Chuck Bailey – engineering assistant - Jason Groucott – engineering assistant - Ted Jensen – mastering ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ### Decade-end charts ### All-time charts ## Certifications ## Release history

MIND MGMT

American comic book series

MIND MGMT is an American comic book series created by Matt Kindt and published through Dark Horse Comics. The first issue was released on May 23, 2012 to positive reviews and received a second printing in April 2013. The series continued to receive positive coverage during its run, but Kindt's art style was a common point of criticism. The series concluded with issue 36 in August 2015. The story has been collected into six hardcover and three omnibuses. The story is about Meru, a true crime writer who searches for the truth behind a mysterious airline flight and discovers a secret government agency of super spies, espionage, and psychic abilities. Henry Lyme, the former top agent, has gone rogue and is working to dismantle the organization. The film rights were optioned by 20th Century Fox in December 2012. Producer Ridley Scott and screenwriter David J. Kelly began pre-production in January 2013. A television adaptation was announced in 2017. ## Publication history ### Development The idea for MIND MGMT came from the title, which one of Kindt's friends gave to him. He worked on the concept for over a year, and the plot was outlined in a twelve-page synopsis. After partnering for one of Kindt's previous works, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson asked Kindt to pitch another book. Kindt sent the proposal for MIND MGMT and was happy when it was accepted because Dark Horse was "the only publisher able to pay me a living wage and also let me do exactly what I wanted no matter what." The series was initially approved for over 50 issues, but Kindt pruned away excess material and reduced the run to 36 issues. Despite the reduction in length, the final product is still almost identical to the original pitch. Diana Schutz, editor of 3 Story, was originally slated to work with Kindt again, but the project was handed to newly promoted editor Brendan Wright very early in production. Kindt described their input as "invaluable" and considers Wright to be a collaborator. Although Dark Horse had approved 36 issues, there was still a chance the book could sell poorly and receive an early cancellation. The decision would be made after receiving the final sales number for the third issue, meaning Kindt was only guaranteed six issues. Not wanting to risk the series being cut off in the middle of a story, he designed the first six issues to stand alone if necessary. Kindt pencilled two endings for the last page of issue six so he would be prepared either way. Kindt took on additional comic scripting work while making MIND MGMT, but MIND MGMT was always his top priority. He scripted six issues at a time, then worked on the art during the hours his daughter was at school. At any given time, he would have one issue completed and ready to print. Kindt said naming characters was the hardest part during the story's creation. Meru Marlow, the main character, is named after a Webster University student who attended a class taught by Kindt. Henry Lyme, another main character, is a reference to "Harry Lime" from the Orson Welles film "The Third Man" and is visually based on Zach Galifianakis in "The Hangover". Other supporting cast get their names from a mix of real people, film references, and even everyday objects, like Perrier mineral water. MIND MGMT was Kindt's first solo monthly series. After creating several original graphic novels, Kindt felt the format was becoming too "easy" from a creative standpoint. He wanted to create a monthly series partly out of nostalgia, and to create a dialogue between readers and himself during publication. As an incentive to draw in readers who would otherwise wait for the collected edition, each issue included material which was not reprinted in the collected editions. Kindt stated he was enjoyed the experience and the increased interaction with fans, even to the point of saying he may never do another graphic novel. ### Publication A six-page preview of the first issue was included with 3 Story: Secret files of the Giant Man, a one-issue continuation of another work by Kindt, in April 2012. The same month, three short stories were released online for free to promote the series. They were later printed as issue \#0 in November 2012. The first issue was published May 23, 2012, and the series ran monthly through November 2012. In December, a short chapter appeared in Dark Horse Presents vol 2 \#19 as a prologue to the second story arc. The series returned to a monthly schedule in January 2013. The first issue was reprinted at a discount price in April 2013. Additional short chapters appeared in Dark Horse Presents vol 2 \#31 (December 2013) and Dark Horse Presents vol 3 \#7 (February 2015) and acted as introductions to the fourth and sixth arcs respectively. A one-page bonus strip written by Alex di Campi and drawn by Kindt was included in the third issue of Archie vs. Predator, published jointly by Dark Horse and Archie Comics in June 2015. The final issue (#36), also known as NEW MGMT \#1, was published on August 26, 2015. A 200-page hardcover collecting issues \#0–6, collectively titled "The Manager," was released April 3, 2013. It was followed by "The Futurist" (collecting issues 7–12, Dark Horse Presents \#19 short, and five strips originally published as webcomics on i09), "The Homemaker" (collecting issues 13–18), "The Magician" (collecting issues 19–24 and the Dark Horse Presents vol 2 \#31 short), "The Eraser" (collecting issues 25–30) and "The Immortals" (collecting issues 31–36, and the Dark Horse Presents vol 3 \#5 short). In 2013, Kindt mentioned the possibility of MIND MGMT annuals or additional mini-series exploring the history of the series. In 2018, he crowdfunded a read-along comic and vinyl record with voice actor Clint McElroy through Kickstarter. In 2018, the 36 issues of Mind Management were collected into three volume softcover "Omnibus" edition for publication in 2019. The first volume, published February 21, gathered the issues \#0-#12 along with reprinting content from the individual issues that was not published in the hardcover graphic novels. A new four issue miniseries, MIND MGMT: Bootleg, was released between July and October 2022. Each issue was drawn by a different artist, including Farel Dalrymple (#1), Matt Lesniewski (#2), David Rubin (#3), and Jill Thompson (#4). ## Plot ### The Manager MIND MGMT is a government agency of spies, formed during or after World War I, who have psychic abilities. Henry Lyme is recruited as a child, and becomes their greatest agent. The work exhausts him, and Lyme is retired to Zanzibar. While there, he has a breakdown and loses control of his abilities, causing the city's inhabitants to murder one another. Lyme decides MIND MGMT is too dangerous to exist, and flees. In an effort to cover his escape, he accidentally causes everyone aboard a plane with him to develop amnesia. Meru, a true–crime writer, investigates the amnesia flight two years later. She finds a lead in Mexico, where she meets a CIA agent named Bill. They are attacked by two former MIND MGMT agents, but escape. Meru eventually locates Lyme, who tells her his story. Meru learns she was a child in Zanzibar during the massacre and was saved by Lyme. He erased her memory of the event and arranged a foster family for her. During her investigative career she has located Lyme several times, but he continuously causes her to forget. She leaves determined to expose the truth about MIND MGMT, but falls asleep instead. Waking in her apartment, she decides to uncover the truth behind the amnesia flight. ### The Futurist When former MIND MGMT agent The Eraser tries to reform the agency, she tries to have Meru assassinated. Lyme recruits Meru and fellow former agents Perrier and Dusty to stop the Eraser. At Perrier's insistence, they also team with Duncan "The Futurist" Jones, an agent who can see his own future. Duncan is aware of Lyme's manipulation of Meru, and insists he will not go along if Lyme continues to lie to her. Lyme agrees, but does not confess the truth to Meru. Believing the best way to stop the Eraser is to prevent her from contacting other former agents, the quintet travel to the MIND MGMT headquarters, Shangri-la, for a master list of all MIND MGMT personnel. There, Meru finds a library which contains the history of the world and reads the book containing her life. Meanwhile, three of the Eraser's allies engage Lyme and the others. Now aware of how Lyme has manipulated her, Meru helps stop the Eraser's crew but chooses not to remain with Lyme. She instead leaves with Bill, the CIA agent who is revealed to have been a MIND MGMT sleeper agent with whom she was previously romantically involved. ### The Homemaker After the events at Shangri-la, all parties know the present whereabouts of the sleeper agent Megan, code named "The Homemaker." However, they are unaware she was originally a mole for the Russian MIND MGMT counterpart known as Zero. When Lyme and Duncan try to activate her, they also awaken her Zero training and Megan begins to orchestrate the self-destruction of her subdivision through subterfuge. As the groups prepare to recruit Megan for their various agendas, Lyme, Eraser, and Meru reflect on how they arrived at their present position. Lyme regrets his multiple manipulations of Meru, and is currently on a mission of atonement. Meru is still adjusting to her recently awakened memories of her own training as a MIND MGMT agent. The Eraser dreams of her dead husband, a former MIND MGMT agent, and the night she was framed for his murder. As the Homemaker's plan climaxes in a massacre, Eraser, Lyme, and Meru all arrive at the same time. Megan joins the Eraser in order to take revenge on MIND MGMT for leaving her in her undercover status after the agency was dismantled. Meru and Bill reunite with Lyme, Duncan, Perrier, and Dusty. While she is unable to forgive Lyme's previous actions, Meru decides he is the lesser evil in the present situation. ### The Magician Meru, Lyme, and their allies travel to Germany to find the Magician, another former agent. They arrive during one of the Magician's acts and Meru unintentionally negates her abilities, ruining the performance. This angers the Magician, who decides to ally herself with the Eraser out of spite. The Eraser's recruits use the Magician's help to set a trap for Lyme, Duncan, and Perrier. Lyme is beaten into a coma and left for dead, although he is found by passersby and taken to a hospital. Duncan and Perrier escape, but are now disconnected from Meru and the others. Meanwhile, Meru, Bill, and Dusty follow up a different lead in Hong Kong. They too are attacked by the Eraser, resulting in Dusty and Bill's deaths. Meru escapes, and is now more resolved than ever to stop the Eraser. ## Critical reception The series debuted with positive reviews, and the first issue sold 7535 copies in May 2012, making it the 236th best selling issue by units for the month. Reorders caused the first two issues to sell out at the distribution level. Reviewing for Comic Book Resources, Kelly Thompson gave the first issue 4.5 stars out of 5, and described the quality as "simply sublime". Kindt's art style is a common area of criticism for the book. Writing for iFanboy, Paul Montgomery said "Kindt's aesthetic won't win over every reader, [but] his watercolors lend perfectly to the story's themes and tone". Reviewer Colin Smith initially felt the art was a weak point the good story could not overcome, but changed his mind after subsequent issues. Later issues continued to receive praise; however, sales for later issues fell until bottoming out with 4706 orders for issue seven. Sales then began to increase, with 5842 orders for issue ten. The final issue had estimated sales slightly over 6,000. When the first hardcover collection was released, it was on the New York Times bestseller list for two weeks. Seth Peagler of the HeroesOnline blog praised the first storyline, describing the series as "one of the most underappreciated, innovative monthly comics on the stands today". In January 2014, the Young Adult Library Services Association included the first hardcover of MIND MGMT on their top ten list of great graphic novels from 2013. The following month, it was at the top of the New York Times list of comic books that should be adapted to television. The series appeared on numerous comic media "Best of" lists in 2012, 2013, and 2014. ## Collected editions ## In other media Talks with 20th Century Fox for a film adaptation began in December 2012, and the project was optioned for one year in early 2013. In late January 2013, Ridley Scott was announced as producer for the film with Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg. Kindt acted as a consultant for the film and shared the complete outline for the story with Scott and David J. Kelly, the screenwriter. He believed Scott had "a good take on it" and did not mind if it was not a faithful adaption. The option was renewed twice to give the screenwriter more time to work. By July 2017, the rights had moved to Universal Cable Productions, who was developing MIND MGMT as a TV series with Daniel Cerone as the showrunner. In 2022, plans for a film had resumed with Curtis Gwinn as executive producer. In March 2020, a Kickstarter for the board game MIND MGMT: The Psychic Espionage was launched. The game features art by Kindt. The game is a hidden movement game, was designed by Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim and would be published by Off the Page Games. The game is set to have a Shift System which will add rules and components in small tuck boxes designed to help the losing side for a future play. Each tuck box is set to have an 8-page mini comic written and illustrated by Matt Kindt.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

2014 puzzle-adventure game

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a 2014 puzzle adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in June 2014. Set during World War I, the game follows four characters who help a young German soldier find his love in a story about survival, sacrifice and friendship. Players solve puzzles by interacting with various objects and people. The characters are accompanied by a dog named Walt who helps players solve puzzles. Collectible items hidden in each chapter reveal facts about the war. The development team's goal was to assist players to remember World War I during its centenary in 2014. The team stayed away from creating a war game or a first-person shooter and focused instead on depicting the trials and tribulations of soldiers on both sides during the war. To ensure the game was historically accurate, the team listened to first-hand accounts of the war, read letters written by enlisted soldiers and traveled to the remains of wartime trenches in France. As the team had no experience working on a puzzle game, they took inspiration from old LucasArts adventure games as well as titles like The Cave. Valiant Hearts utilizes UbiArt Framework which was previously used in Rayman Legends. Upon release, The Great War received generally positive reviews. Critics praised the game's themes, visuals, animation, and music, and applauded the developer for enabling players to learn more about history while playing the game. However, the reception to the game's story and gameplay was mixed. Valiant Hearts was nominated for several year-end awards, including Best Narrative at The Game Awards 2014. Ubisoft later released the game on additional platforms including iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia. A direct sequel, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, was released on 31 January 2023 on Netflix. ## Gameplay Valiant Hearts is a side-scrolling, puzzle-based, adventure video game which takes place during World War I. Players assume the role of four characters: Frenchman Emile, his German son-in-law Karl, American soldier Freddie, and Belgian nurse Anna. The game comprises four chapters split into several sections. Each section requires the player to clear an objective to progress through the story. Most of these involve solving puzzles by obtaining certain items needed for the situation. Other sections include wartime segments requiring the player to survive heavy gunfire, stealth sections where the player must avoid being detected by enemies, and rhythmic car chase sections set to classic songs. Each character can interact with objects, perform a melee attack to knock out guards or smash through debris, and throw projectiles. There are also some traits unique to each character. Emile has a shovel which lets him dig through soft ground, Freddie can cut through barbed wire, and Anna can treat patients for injuries, which requires the player to time button presses. Players can issue various commands to a dog named Walt, who is able to squeeze into small areas, hold on to and fetch certain items, activate switches, and move around without being suspected by the enemy. The game features optional collectible items hidden in each segment, facts about the war that are unlocked as the game progresses, and a hint system the player can use if they are stuck on a section after a certain amount of time. ## Plot The story begins in the year 1914. The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. In defense of Serbia, Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary, and Austria's ally Germany declares war on Russia in response. Anticipating war, France (who is allied with Russia) begins deporting German citizens. Karl, one of the deported Germans, is separated from his wife Marie and their son Victor, and drafted into the German army. Likewise, Marie's father and Karl's father-in-law Emile is drafted into the French army. After completing his training, Emile is thrown into combat during the Battle of the Frontiers. His unit is wiped out, and he is wounded, captured, and forced to cook for the Germans. His captor is Baron Von Dorf, who uses many advanced weapons like chlorine gas and zeppelins to defeat his foes. Karl recognizes Emile while serving under Von Dorf, but the Allies attack Von Dorf's camp and Karl is forced to flee. After he is rescued from the rubble by Walt, a German Army medical dog, Emile escapes in the confusion and meets Freddie, an American who volunteered to join the French army after his wife was killed in a German bombing raid led by Von Dorf. Freddie and Emile meet Anna, a Belgian veterinary student who doubles as a battlefield nurse. She is tracking Von Dorf since he is forcing her father to develop advanced war machines. The three chase Von Dorf's zeppelin from Ypres to Reims. When it crashes, Von Dorf escapes with Anna's father in a biplane. Karl survives the crash and is captured and taken as a prisoner of war. Anna accompanies Karl to the prison to make sure he recovers from his wounds. Emile and Freddie continue their pursuit to exact revenge on Von Dorf and rescue Anna's father. They assault Fort Douaumont at Verdun where Von Dorf is hiding and capture his newest war machine, a large armoured tank. Although they rescue Anna's father, Von Dorf escapes again. While Emile is separated, Freddie continues his pursuit and finally corners Von Dorf during the Battle of the Somme, defeating him in a fist fight atop his ruined tank. Despite his desire for revenge, Freddie realizes he will not gain anything by killing Von Dorf and spares his life. For his repeated failures, Von Dorf is demoted and sent away from the front lines, a fate worse than death for the status-obsessed man. Meanwhile, in a French prisoner of war camp, Karl learns his son is ill. Determined to reunite with his family, Karl escapes the camp. Unbeknown to this, Emile believes he was killed while trying to escape. Karl encounters Anna, who helps drive him back to his farm at occupied Saint-Mihiel, but they are both captured by the Germans. Karl escapes when the Allies stage another assault that reaches his farm. He discovers it has been shelled with chlorine gas. Karl saves Marie's life by giving her his gas mask, but he succumbs to the gas. Anna arrives and saves Karl's life. When he recovers, Karl is finally reunited with his wife and son after three years of war and exile. Back on the front lines, Emile is forced into the bloody and suicidal Nivelle offensive. As his commanding officer constantly forces his troops into the line of fire and to their deaths, Emile finally reaches his breaking point and strikes the officer with his shovel, inadvertently killing him. He is court-martialed and sentenced to death by firing squad despite the protests of other soldiers. In his final letter to Marie, Emile expresses his hatred of war, his grief at Karl's apparent death and his inability to save his son in law, and hopes that she and her family can find happiness. Emile is executed, and some time later, Karl and his family (with the newly adopted Walt in tow) visit his grave to mourn him. The story ends in 1917 when the United States officially enters the war and sends its army to Europe to fight on the Western Front. The final message states that "Even though their bodies have long since returned to dust, their sacrifice still lives on. We must strive to cherish their memory and never forget..." ### Coming Home In 1916, the German diver Ernst makes a living salvaging sunken ships off the coast in order to avoid the war. However, he is caught in the midst of the Battle of Jutland and despite his best efforts to save drowning sailors, his own ship is sunk in the crossfire. Ernst himself is rescued by the passing submarine blockade runner Germania, and he is accepted as a new crew member. One month later, the Germania docks at Baltimore in the then neutral United States, where Ernst befriends James, a dock worker and Freddie's brother. They both bond over their mutual love for music and promise to play together again after the war. However, upon their return to Germany, the Germania is seized by the German Imperial Navy and converted into U-Boat 155 while Ernst is drafted to become part of its new German Navy crew. After the entry of the United States into the war in 1917, James decides to enlist with the Harlem Hellfighters despite Freddie's warnings. After completing training, James boards a transport ship bound for Europe but it is spotted by the U-Boat 155. Ernst is ordered to torpedo the transport but he spots James on board the ship and deliberately misses his torpedo attack. Meanwhile, Freddie teams up with RAF pilot George and they both play a key role in winning the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Elsewhere, Anna and Walt are working at a hospital in Sainte-Menehould where she briefly reunites with Freddie right before the town is bombed by the Germans and she risks her life to save wounded civilians. Meanwhile, James' unit finally arrives in France, and are transferred under French command so they can fight on the frontlines. James is deployed to Sainte-Menehould, where he meets Anna and is reunited with Freddie. Despite the run of good fortune, James is quickly reminded of the reality of the war when one of his comrades is killed by a German sniper. With her duties in Sainte-Menehould finished, Anna heads to her next assignment in Vimy to train British medics. At the British camp, George is alerted by Walt of the presence of a German spy, and they follow the spy through an underground tunnel to the German lines. George manages to recover the intelligence the spy had stolen, and then escapes by stealing a German plane. On the way back to British lines, George catches sight of and takes a picture of the movement of large amounts of German troops and passes the information on when he lands back at base. In 1918, Russia withdraws from the war with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, allowing Germany to concentrate its forces for the German spring offensive, attacking the Entente lines in a massive assault. James is caught up in the fighting, and he and his unit are able to repel the Germans with heavy losses. Their determined defense would earn the Hellfighters their nickname, and they are invited to Paris to perform a jazz concert, though that does not erase James' memories of the horrors he had witnessed on the frontlines. At sea, Ernst hears of mass mutinies among German naval crews and is inspired to sabotage his U-boat's torpedoes. He is caught in the act, but the U-boat is sunk by the Royal Navy. Ernst manages to escape but is captured by the British as a prisoner of war. Back on land, the failure of the spring offensive leaves German forces vulnerable, and the Entente embarks on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. During the fighting, Freddie is gravely wounded protecting James from an artillery blast, and George airlifts him to a field hospital where Anna treats him. James continues to lead the attack. After treating Freddie, Anna receives word that Germany has agreed to sign an armistice, and she rings a church bell to notify both sides to cease hostilities. With the war over, Freddie and Anna decide to travel to America, having fallen in love with each other. George's exploits finally earn him the respect of his fellow RAF pilots. James decides to stay in France to help clean up the battlefields and reunites with Ernst, who is now in a POW work detail. However, James receives a letter from Anna and is distraught to hear that Freddie was killed after getting into a confrontation with a pair of racist thugs. Saddened at the loss of his brother, James fulfills his promise to Ernst as they play a solemn song together to mourn Freddie. ## Development Artist Paul Tumelaire began working on Valiant Hearts: The Great War as a solo project in 2011. Additional team members from Ubisoft Montpellier, including directors Yoan Fanise and Simon Chocquet-Bottani, joined to work on the gameplay and the story a half-year later. As 2014 was the centenary of World War I, the team wanted to create a game grounded in history. The title was intended to help players remember the war and to suggest the game is also about love. According to the team, the incidents from World War I "touched" them because their great-grandparents had been involved in the war. Initially, the developers put equal emphasis on both the storyline and its gameplay. However, the gameplay became secondary to the story. The team believed that portraying World War I as a shooter would have made it too violent, and the game would have needed a narrative with a villain and had to depict one of the belligerents as evil. Instead, the team tried to create a game about the trials and tribulations of both sides during the war, showing how individuals lived their lives and struggled to survive. The game does not allow the characters to be actively killed by other in-game characters; the developers hoped to show the human side of the war and feared that allowing players to kill would muddle the message they wanted to convey. The game introduces four characters, and the story switches between them. This enabled the team to create an emotional story with better pacing and ensure that each story beat ends with a cliffhanger. While the story began with some light-hearted moments, the tone of the story became progressively darker and solemn as the war wages on. The team did not want players to feel overpowered and designed the title as a slow-paced puzzle video game which does not involve much violence. Gameplay mechanics are simple so the game is accessible, but the team introduced different contexts for the use of the gameplay mechanics to ensure they would not become stale. The walking pace of characters was slow to illustrate they are ordinary human beings. According to the team, the presence of these slow puzzle-solving segments helped make the rare action sequences more powerful. As none of the creative leads had experience working on a puzzle game, the team looked at design documents from old LucasArts adventure games for inspiration. They were also inspired by titles including The Cave, Machinarium, and Limbo. To ensure the game was historically accurate, the development team listened to first-hand accounts of the war from team members' families, read letters written by soldiers, and traveled to the trenches in France. The information and stories they collected were then incorporated into the title as collectibles to let players gain new knowledge about the war. Ubisoft also partnered with the producers of the documentary film Apocalypse World War I to incorporate archived materials into the game. However, the game's cast of protagonists is not based on any historical figure as the team did not want to "cross the line between reality and fiction". To create an "immersive soundscape", the audio team inspected archived documents from the French Foreign Legion, and the development team recorded themselves making various screaming sounds. The game is powered by Ubisoft's UbiArt Framework game engine, which was used previously in smaller Ubisoft titles including Child of Light and Montpellier's own Rayman Legends. The team opted to use a cartoonish visual, as they believed that this art style helped them to retain "respect for the people who went through ... [the war] while also making it accessible". Speech bubbles serve as the main way of showing conversations between characters, since they help to convey a complicated story in a simple manner. Another reason for their use was to avoid having to deal with different languages. The game's cutscenes are similar to a comic book, showing the player something happening far away from the characters using comic viewpoints. Ubisoft officially announced the game on 13 September 2013. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One via digital download on 25 June 2014. An iOS version of the game was released on 4 September 2014. Players who purchased the game before 6 November received a free copy of a digital interactive comic book named Valiant Hearts: Dogs of War, which stars Walt and his sister. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch on 8 November 2018, and for Google Stadia on 14 July 2022. ## Reception ### Critical reception The game received generally positive reviews from critics upon release according to review aggregator Metacritic. Joe Juba from Game Informer praised the game for successfully depicting a human story that showed a side of war that was rarely depicted. Polygon's Danielle Riendeau described the title as "a playable history lesson" noting the game's fictional story, and real-life history resonates with "unexpected intensity". Carolyn Petit of GameSpot admired the game's emphasis on helping people rather than killing them—an uncommon theme in video games. Daniel Krupa from IGN called the game a "beautiful, harrowing experience", while Philippa Warr of PC Gamer noted that the title might have worked better as an "animated comic book adventure" as she felt that the narrative and the interactive components clashed, leaving players feeling detached. The game's narrative was praised. Chris Carter of Destructoid called the story cohesive and praised its theme of friendship and family. He singled out the beginning of the game for being touching, calling it an "emotional tear-jerker". Eurogamer's Christian Donlan felt that the story suffered from tonal inconsistencies, though he noted that the game worked best when it was "working on an intimate level", singling out a scenario where players have to escape from a prisoner-of-war camp as an example. Petit praised the game's mix of delightful scenes and war segments, which made the game's tone more diverse, and made "the devastation of the game's grimmer scenes more impactful". Juba disliked the game's thin storytelling because the lack of conversation between the characters was not sufficient to tell a nuanced story. Daniel Krupa, writing for IGN, disagreed, saying that despite the strangely intelligible sounds, the game's messages were successfully conveyed to players. Riendeau noted that she became emotionally invested in the characters and that seeing them in dangerous situations during the war created tension and a sense of urgency for players. The gameplay received generally positive reviews. Carter liked the puzzles, which were accessible and not overly challenging to solve. Critics commonly criticized the game's boss encounters, which have been described as out-of-place and frustrating. Donlan felt that the puzzles were uninspired and that the stealth sections were basic. Juba described the gameplay as shallow and felt that the game was not interesting to play. He also noted that the gameplay did not change or evolve throughout the game's campaign. Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar and Petit, however, enjoyed the gameplay's variety; Petit noted that there were a lot of imaginative scenarios. Krupa also liked how each chapter of the game introduced an element of World War One as a new puzzle or a new gameplay mechanic for players to learn, though he noted the game's low replay value. Riendeau called the puzzles intuitive, though she noted that some segments were exaggerated to suit the story. Carter praised the collectibles, which feature real-life photos from World War I, for adding context to the game and Montpellier studio for educating players about the war. However, Sullivan and Krupa felt the collectibles obstructed the flow of the game. The game's graphics received positive comments. Carter noted that the game looked beautiful with a cartoony art style which fit the narrative. Donlan called the game a "visual delight", praising the graphics, saying the hand-drawn art style elicits a sense of "human warmth" in the players. Ludwig Kietzmann of Joystiq agreed, saying that the art style and the animation made the game "inescapably heartfelt" and believed that it helped players to empathize with the characters. Petit called the visuals gorgeous and liked the endearing character designs. She also praised the game's attention to detail, which made the game more immersive. Juba praised the game's soundtracks, calling it "evocative" and "bittersweet" reflecting the game's tone. Krupa called the art direction the game's most striking aspect adding that playing through the game is similar to "watching a wonderful piece of animation". ### Accolades ## See also - 11-11: Memories Retold, a video game by the same director commemorating the centennial of the armistice

Bengal famine of 1943

Famine in British India during World War II

The Bengal famine of 1943 was an anthropogenic famine in the Bengal province of British India (present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal, Odisha and eastern India) during World War II. An estimated 2.1–3 million people died, in the Bengal region (present-day Bangladesh and West Bengal), from starvation, malaria and other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Millions were impoverished as the crisis overwhelmed large segments of the economy and catastrophically disrupted the social fabric. Eventually, families disintegrated; men sold their small farms and left home to look for work or to join the British Indian Army, and women and children became homeless migrants, often travelling to Calcutta or other large cities in search of organised relief. Bengal's economy had been predominantly agrarian, with between half and three-quarters of the rural poor subsisting in a "semi-starved condition". Stagnant agricultural productivity and a stable land base were unable to cope with a rapidly increasing population, resulting in both long-term decline in per capita availability of rice and growing numbers of the land-poor and landless labourers. A high proportion laboured beneath a chronic and spiralling cycle of debt that ended in debt bondage and the loss of their landholdings due to land grabbing. The financing of military escalation led to wartime inflation. Many workers received monetary wages rather than payment in kind with a portion of the harvest. When prices rose sharply, their wages failed to follow suit; this drop in real wages left them less able to purchase food. During the Japanese occupation of Burma, many rice imports were lost as the region's market supplies and transport systems were disrupted by British "denial policies" for rice and boats (a "scorched earth" response to the occupation). The Bengal Chamber of Commerce (composed mainly of British-owned firms), with the approval of the Government of Bengal, devised a Foodstuffs Scheme to provide preferential distribution of goods and services to workers in high-priority roles such as armed forces, war industries, civil servants and other "priority classes", to prevent them from leaving their positions. These factors were compounded by restricted access to grain: domestic sources were constrained by emergency inter-provincial trade barriers, while aid from Churchill's War Cabinet was limited, ostensibly due to a wartime shortage of shipping. More proximate causes included large-scale natural disasters in south-western Bengal (a cyclone, tidal waves and flooding, and rice crop disease). The relative impact of each of these factors on the death toll is a matter of debate. The provincial government never formally declared a state of famine, and its humanitarian aid was ineffective through the worst months of the crisis. It attempted to fix the price of rice paddy through price controls which resulted in a black market which encouraged sellers to withhold stocks, leading to hyperinflation from speculation and hoarding after controls were abandoned. Aid increased significantly when the British Indian Army took control of funding in October 1943, but effective relief arrived after a record rice harvest that December. Deaths from starvation declined, yet over half the famine-related deaths occurred in 1944, as a result of disease, after the food security crisis had abated. ## Background From the late 19th century through the Great Depression, social and economic forces exerted a harmful impact on the structure of Bengal's income distribution and the ability of its agricultural sector to sustain the populace. These processes included increasing household debt, a rapidly growing population, stagnant agricultural productivity, increased social stratification, and alienation of the peasant class from their landholdings. The interaction of these left clearly defined social and economic groups mired in poverty and indebtedness, unable to cope with economic shocks or maintain their access to food beyond the near term. In 1942 and 1943, in the immediate and central context of the Second World War, the shocks Bengalis faced were numerous, complex and sometimes sudden. Millions were vulnerable to starvation. The Government of India's Famine Inquiry Commission report (1945) described Bengal as a "land of rice growers and rice eaters". Rice dominated the agricultural output of the province, accounting for nearly 88% of its arable land use and 75% of its crops. Overall, Bengal produced one third of India's rice – more than any other single province. Rice accounted for 75–85% of daily food consumption, with fish being the second major food source, supplemented by small amounts of wheat. There are three seasonal rice crops in Bengal. By far the most important is the winter crop of aman rice. Sown in May and June and harvested in November and December, it produces about 70% of the total annual crop. Crucially, the (debated) shortfall in rice production in 1942 occurred during the all-important aman harvest. Rice yield per acre had been stagnant since the beginning of the twentieth century; coupled with a rising population, this created pressures that were a leading factor in the famine. Bengal had a population of about 60 million in an area of 77,442 square miles, according to a 1941 census. Declining mortality rates, induced in part by the pre-1943 success of the British Raj in famine reduction caused its population to increase by 43% between 1901 and 1941 – from 42.1 million to 60.3 million. Over the same period India's population as a whole increased by 37%. The economy was almost solely agrarian, but agricultural productivity was among the lowest in the world. Agricultural technology was undeveloped, access to credit was limited and expensive, and any potential for government aid was hampered by political and financial constraints. Land quality and fertility had been deteriorating in Bengal and other regions of India, but the loss was especially severe here. Agricultural expansion required deforestation and land reclamation. These activities damaged the natural drainage courses, silting up rivers and the channels that fed them, leaving them and their fertile deltas moribund. The combination of these factors caused stubbornly low agricultural productivity. Prior to about 1920, the food demands of Bengal's growing population could be met in part by cultivating unused scrub lands. No later than the first quarter of the twentieth century, Bengal began to experience an acute shortage of such land, leading to a chronic and growing shortage of rice. Its inability to keep pace with rapid population growth changed it from a net exporter of foodgrains to a net importer. Imports were a small portion of the total available food crops, however, and did little to alleviate problems of food supply. Bengali doctor and chemist Chunilal Bose, a professor in Calcutta's medical college, estimated in 1930 that both the ingredients and the small total amount of food in the Bengali diet made it among the least nutritious in India and the world, and greatly harmful to the physical health of the populace. Economic historian Cormac Ó Gráda writes, "Bengal's rice output in normal years was barely enough for bare-bones subsistence ... the province's margin over subsistence on the eve of the famine was slender." These conditions left a large proportion of the population continually on the brink of malnutrition or even starvation. ### Land-grabbing Structural changes in the credit market and land transfer rights pushed Bengal into recurring danger of famine and dictated which economic groups would suffer greatest hardship. The British Indian system of land tenure, particularly in Bengal, was very complex, with rights unequally divided among three diverse economic and social groups: traditional absentee large landowners or zamindars; the upper-tier "wealthy peasant" jotedars; and, at the lower socioeconomic level, the ryot (peasant) smallholders and dwarfholders, bargadars (sharecroppers), and agricultural labourers. Zamindar and jotedar landowners were protected by law and custom, but those who cultivated the soil, with small or no landholdings, suffered persistent and increasing losses of land rights and welfare. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the power and influence of the landowners fell and that of the jotedars rose. Particularly in less developed regions, jotedars gained power as grain or jute traders and, more importantly, by making loans to sharecroppers, agricultural labourers and ryots. They gained power over their tenants using a combination of debt bondage through the transfer of debts and mortgages, and parcel-by-parcel land-grabbing. Land-grabbing usually took place via informal credit markets. Many financial entities had disappeared during the Great Depression; peasants with small landholdings generally had to resort to informal local lenders to purchase basic necessities during lean months between harvests. As influential Bengali businessman M. A. Ispahani testified, "...the Bengal cultivator, [even] before the war, had three months of feasting, five months of subsistence diet and four months of starvation". Moreover, if a labourer did not possess goods recoverable as cash, such as seed or cattle for ploughing, he would go into debt. Particularly during poor crops, smallholders fell into cycles of debt, often eventually forfeiting land to creditors. Small landholders and sharecroppers acquired debts swollen by usurious rates of interest. Any poor harvest exacted a heavy toll; the accumulation of consumer debt, seasonal loans and crisis loans began a cycle of spiralling, perpetual indebtedness. It was then relatively easy for the jotedars to use litigation to force debtors to sell all or part of their landholdings at a low price or forfeit them at auction. Debtors then became landless or land-poor sharecroppers and labourers, usually working the same fields they had once owned. The accumulation of household debt to a single, local, informal creditor bound the debtor almost inescapably to the creditor/landlord; it became nearly impossible to settle the debt after a good harvest and simply walk away. In this way, the jotedars effectively dominated and impoverished the lowest tier of economic classes in several districts of Bengal. Such exploitation, exacerbated by Muslim inheritance practices that divided land among multiple siblings, widened inequalities in land ownership. At the time, millions of Bengali agriculturalists held little or no land. In absolute terms, the social group which suffered by far the most of every form of impoverishment and death during the Bengal famine of 1943 were the landless agricultural labourers. ### Transport Water provided the main source of transport during rainy seasons, and throughout the year in areas such as the vast delta of the coastal southeastern Sundarbans. River transport was integral to Bengal's economy, an irreplaceable factor in the production and distribution of rice. Roads were generally scarce and in poor condition, and Bengal's extensive railway system was employed largely for military purposes until the very late stages of the crisis. The development of railways in Bengal in the 1890s disrupted natural drainage and divided the region into innumerable poorly drained "compartments". Rail indirectly brought about excessive silting, which increased flooding and created stagnant water areas, damaging crop production and sometimes contributing to a partial shift away from the productive aman rice cultivar towards less productive cultivars, and also created a more hospitable environment for water-borne diseases such as cholera and malaria. ### Soil and water supply East Bengal and west Bengal have different soils. The sandy soil of the east, and the lighter sedimentary earth of the Sundarbans, tended to drain more rapidly after the monsoon season than the laterite or heavy clay regions of western Bengal. Soil exhaustion necessitated that large tracts in western and central Bengal be left fallow; eastern Bengal had far fewer uncultivated fields. The annual flooding of these fallow fields created a breeding place for malaria-carrying mosquitoes; malaria epidemics lasted a month longer in the central and western areas with slower drainage. Rural areas lacked access to safe water supplies. Water came primarily from large earthen tanks, rivers and tube wells. In the dry season, partially drained tanks became a further breeding area for malaria-vector mosquitoes. Tank and river water was susceptible to contamination by cholera; with tube wells being much safer. However, as many as one-third of the existing wells in wartime Bengal were in disrepair. ## Pre-famine shocks and distress Throughout 1942 and early 1943, military and political events combined with natural disasters and plant disease to place widespread stress on Bengal's economy. While Bengal's food needs rose from increased military presence and an influx of refugees from Burma, its ability to obtain rice and other grains was restricted by inter-provincial trade barriers. ### Japanese invasion of Burma The Japanese campaign for Burma set off an exodus of more than half of the one million Indians from Burma for India. The flow began after the bombing of Rangoon (1941–1942), and for months thereafter desperate people poured across the borders, escaping into India through Bengal and Assam. On 26 April 1942, all Allied forces were ordered to retreat from Burma into India. Military transport and other supplies were dedicated to military use, and unavailable for use by the refugees. By mid May 1942, the monsoon rains became heavy in the Manipur hills, further inhibiting civilian movement. The number of refugees who successfully reached India totalled at least 500,000; tens of thousands died along the way. In later months, 70 to 80% of these refugees were afflicted with diseases such as dysentery, smallpox, malaria, or cholera, with 30% "desperately so". The influx of refugees created several conditions that may have contributed to the famine. Their arrival created an increased demand for food, clothing and medical aid, further straining the resources of the province. The poor hygienic conditions of their forced journey sparked official fears of a public health risk due to epidemics caused by social disruption. Finally, their distraught state after their struggles bred foreboding, uncertainty, and panic amongst the populace of Bengal; this aggravated panic buying and hoarding that may have contributed to the onset of the famine. By April 1942, Japanese warships and aircraft had sunk approximately 100,000 tons of merchant shipping in the Bay of Bengal. According to General Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of the army in India, both the War Office in London and the commander of the British Eastern Fleet acknowledged that the fleet was powerless to mount serious opposition to Japanese naval attacks on Ceylon, southern or eastern India, or on shipping in the Bay of Bengal. For decades, rail transport had been integral to successful efforts by the Raj to forestall famine in India. However, Japanese raids put additional strain on railways, which also endured flooding in the Brahmaputra, a malaria epidemic, and the Quit India movement targeting road and rail communication. Throughout this period, transportation of civil supplies was compromised by the railways' increased military obligations, and the dismantling of tracks carried out in areas of eastern Bengal in 1942 to hamper a potential Japanese invasion. The fall of Rangoon in March 1942 cut off the import of Burmese rice into India and Ceylon. Due in part to increases in local populations, prices for rice were already 69% higher in September 1941 than in August 1939. The loss of Burmese imports led to further increased demand on the rice-producing regions. This, according to the Famine Commission, was in a market in which the "progress of the war made sellers who could afford to wait reluctant to sell". The loss of imports from Burma provoked an aggressive scramble for rice across India, which sparked a dramatic and unprecedented surge in demand-pull price inflation in Bengal and other rice producing regions of India. Across India and particularly in Bengal, this caused a "derangement" of the rice markets. Particularly in Bengal, the price effect of the loss of Burmese rice was vastly disproportionate to the relatively modest size of the loss in terms of total consumption. Despite this, Bengal continued to export rice to Ceylon for months afterwards, even as the beginning of a food crisis began to become apparent. All this, together with transport problems created by the government's "boat denial" policy, were the direct causes of inter-provincial trade barriers on the movement of food grains, and contributed to a series of failed government policies that further exacerbated the food crisis. ### 1942–1945: Military build-up, inflation, and displacement The fall of Burma brought Bengal close to the war front; its impact fell more strongly on Bengal than elsewhere in India. Major urban areas, especially Calcutta, drew increasing numbers of workers into military industries and troops from many nations. Unskilled labourers from Bengal and nearby provinces were employed by military contractors, particularly for the construction of American and British airfields. Hundreds of thousands of American, British, Indian, and Chinese troops arrived in the province, straining domestic supplies and leading to scarcities across wide ranges of daily necessities. The general inflationary pressures of a war-time economy caused prices to rise rapidly across the entire spectrum of goods and services. Economist Utsa Patnaik writes of John Maynard Keynes's deliberately inflationary policies, designed to reduce the consumption of the poor and move resources away from India's general population to finance war spending, leading to price increases that dramatically diminished people's consumption of food. The rise in prices was "not disturbing" until 1941, when it became more alarming. Then in early 1943, the rate of inflation for foodgrains in particular took an unprecedented upward turn. Nearly the full output of India's cloth, wool, leather and silk industries were sold to the military. In the system that the British Government used to procure goods through the Government of India, industries were left in private ownership rather than facing outright requisitioning of their productive capacity. Firms were required to sell goods to the military on credit and at fixed, low prices. However, firms were left free to charge any price they desired in their domestic market for whatever they had left over. In the case of the textiles industries that supplied cloth for the uniforms of the British military, for example, they charged a very high price in domestic markets. By the end of 1942, cloth prices had more than tripled from their pre-war levels; they had more than quadrupled by mid-1943. Much of the goods left over for civilian use were purchased by speculators. As a result, "civilian consumption of cotton goods fell by more than 23% from the peace time level by 1943/44". The hardships that were felt by the rural population through a severe "cloth famine" were alleviated when military forces began distributing relief supplies between October 1942 and April 1943. The method of credit financing was tailored to UK wartime needs. Britain agreed to pay for defence expenditures above the amount that India had paid in peacetime (adjusted for inflation). However, their purchases were made entirely on credit accumulated in the Bank of England and not redeemable until after the war. At the same time, the Bank of India was permitted to treat those credits as assets against which it could print currency up to two and a half times more than the total debt incurred. India's money printing presses then began running overtime, printing the currency that paid for all these massive expenditures. The tremendous rise in nominal money supply coupled with a scarcity of consumption goods spurred monetary inflation, reaching its peak in 1944–45. The accompanying rise in incomes and purchasing power fell disproportionately into the hands of industries in Calcutta (in particular, munitions industries). Military build-up caused massive displacement of Bengalis from their homes. Farmland purchased for airstrip and camp construction is "estimated to have driven between 30,000 and 36,000 families (about 150,000 to 180,000 persons) off their land", according to the historian Paul Greenough. They were paid for the land, but they had lost their employment. The urgent need for housing for the immense influx of workers and soldiers from 1942 onward created further problems. Military barracks were scattered around Calcutta. The Famine Commission report of 1945 stated that the owners had been paid for these homes, but "there is little doubt that the members of many of these families became famine victims in 1943". ### March 1942: Denial policies Anticipating a Japanese invasion of British India via the eastern border of Bengal, the British military launched a pre-emptive, two-pronged scorched-earth initiative in eastern and coastal Bengal. Its goal was to deny the expected invaders access to food supplies, transport and other resources. First, a "denial of rice" policy was carried out in three southern districts along the coast of the Bay of Bengal – Bakarganj (or Barisal), Midnapore and Khulna – that were expected to have surpluses of rice. John Herbert, the governor of Bengal, issued an urgent directive in late March 1942 immediately requiring stocks of paddy (unmilled rice) deemed surplus, and other food items, to be removed or destroyed in these districts. Official figures for the amounts impounded were relatively small and would have contributed only modestly to local scarcities. However, evidence that fraudulent, corrupt and coercive practices by the purchasing agents removed far more rice than officially recorded, not only from designated districts, but also in unauthorised areas, suggests a greater impact. Far more damaging were the policy's disturbing impact on regional market relationships and contribution to a sense of public alarm. Disruption of deeply intertwined relationships of trust and trade credit created an immediate freeze in informal lending. This credit freeze greatly restricted the flow of rice into trade. The second prong, a "boat denial" policy, was designed to deny Bengali transport to any invading Japanese army. It applied to districts readily accessible via the Bay of Bengal and the larger rivers that flow into it. Implemented on 1 May after an initial registration period, the policy authorised the Army to confiscate, relocate or destroy any boats large enough to carry more than ten people, and allowed them to requisition other means of transport such as bicycles, bullock carts, and elephants. Under this policy, the Army confiscated approximately 45,000 rural boats, severely disrupting river-borne movement of labour, supplies and food, and compromising the livelihoods of boatmen and fishermen. Leonard G. Pinnell, a British civil servant who headed the Bengal government's Department of Civil Supplies, told the Famine Commission that the policy "completely broke the economy of the fishing class". Transport was generally unavailable to carry seed and equipment to distant fields or rice to the market hubs. Artisans and other groups who relied on boat transport to carry goods to market were offered no recompense; neither were rice growers nor the network of migratory labourers. The large-scale removal or destruction of rural boats caused a near-complete breakdown of the existing transport and administration infrastructure and market system for movement of rice paddy. No steps were taken to provide for the maintenance or repair of the confiscated boats, and many fishermen were unable to return to their trade. The Army took no steps to distribute food rations to make up for the interruption of supplies. These policies had important political ramifications. The Indian National Congress, among other groups, staged protests denouncing the denial policies for placing draconian burdens on Bengali peasants; these were part of a nationalist sentiment and outpouring that later peaked in the "Quit India" movement. The policies' wider impact – the extent to which they compounded or even caused the famine to occur one year later – has been the subject of much discussion. ### Provincial trade barriers Many Indian provinces and princely states imposed inter-provincial trade barriers from mid-1942, preventing trade in domestic rice. Anxiety and soaring rice prices, triggered by the fall of Burma, were one underlying reason for the trade barriers. Trade imbalances brought on by price controls were another. The power to restrict inter-provincial trade was given to provincial governments in November 1941 under the Defence of India Act, 1939. Provincial governments began setting up trade barriers that prevented the flow of foodgrains (especially rice) and other goods between provinces. These barriers reflected a desire to see that local populations were well fed, thus forestalling local emergencies. In January 1942, Punjab banned exports of wheat; this increased the perception of food insecurity and led the enclave of wheat-eaters in Greater Calcutta to increase their demand for rice precisely when an impending rice shortage was feared. The Central Provinces prohibited the export of foodgrains outside the province two months later. Madras banned rice exports in June, followed by export bans in Bengal and its neighbouring provinces of Bihar and Orissa that July. The Famine Inquiry Commission of 1945 characterised this "critical and potentially most dangerous stage" as a key policy failure. As one deponent to the Commission put it: "Every province, every district, every [administrative division] in the east of India had become a food republic unto itself. The trade machinery for the distribution of food [between provinces] throughout the east of India was slowly strangled, and by the spring of 1943 was dead." Bengal was unable to import domestic rice; this policy helped transform market failures and food shortage into famine and widespread death. ### Mid-1942: Prioritised distribution The loss of Burma reinforced the strategic importance of Calcutta as the hub of heavy industry and the main supplier of armaments and textiles for the entire Asian theatre. To support its wartime mobilisation, the British Indian Government categorised the population into socioeconomic groups of "priority" and "non-priority" classes, according to their relative importance to the war effort. Members of the "priority" classes were largely composed of bhadraloks, who were upper-class or bourgeois middle-class, socially mobile, educated, urban, and sympathetic to Western values and modernisation. Protecting their interests was a major concern of both private and public relief efforts. This placed the rural poor in direct competition for scarce basic supplies with workers in public agencies, war-related industries, and in some cases even politically well-connected middle-class agriculturalists. As food prices rose and the signs of famine became apparent from July 1942, the Bengal Chamber of Commerce (composed mainly of British-owned firms) devised a Foodstuffs Scheme to provide preferential distribution of goods and services to workers in high-priority war industries, to prevent them from leaving their positions. The scheme was approved by Government of Bengal. Rice was directed away from the starving rural districts to workers in industries considered vital to the military effort – particularly in the area around Greater Calcutta. Workers in prioritised sectors – private and government wartime industries, military and civilian construction, paper and textile mills, engineering firms, the Indian Railways, coal mining, and government workers of various levels – were given significant advantages and benefits. Essential workers received subsidised food, and were frequently paid in part in weekly allotments of rice sufficient to feed their immediate families, further protecting them from inflation. Essential workers also benefited from ration cards, a network of "cheap shops" which provided essential supplies at discounted rates, and direct, preferential allocation of supplies such as water, medical care, and antimalarial supplies. They also received subsidised food, free transportation, access to superior housing, regular wages and even "mobile cinema units catering to recreational needs". By December of that year, the total number of individuals covered (workers and their families) was approximately a million. Medical care was directed to the priority groups – particularly the military. Public and private medical staff at all levels were transferred to military duty, while medical supplies were monopolised. Rural labourers and civilians not members of these groups received severely reduced access to food and medical care, generally available only to those who migrated to selected population centres. Otherwise, according to medical historian Sanjoy Bhattacharya, "vast areas of rural eastern India were denied any lasting state-sponsored distributive schemes". For this reason, the policy of prioritised distribution is sometimes discussed as one cause of the famine. ### Civil unrest The war escalated resentment and fear of the Raj among rural agriculturalists and business and industrial leaders in Greater Calcutta. The unfavourable military situation of the Allies after the fall of Burma led the US and China to urge the UK to enlist India's full cooperation in the war by negotiating a peaceful transfer of political power to an elected Indian body; this goal was also supported by the Labour Party in Britain. Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, responded to the new pressure through the Cripps' mission, broaching the post-war possibility of an autonomous political status for India in exchange for its full military support, but negotiations collapsed in early April 1942. On 8 August 1942, the Indian National Congress launched the Quit India movement as a nationwide display of nonviolent resistance. The British authorities reacted by imprisoning the Congress leaders. Without its leadership, the movement changed its character and took to sabotaging factories, bridges, telegraph and railway lines, and other government property, thereby threatening the British Raj's war enterprise. The British acted forcefully to suppress the movement, taking around 66,000 in custody (of whom just over 19,000 were still convicted under civil law or detained under the Defence of India Act in early 1944). More than 2,500 Indians were shot when police fired upon protesters, many of whom were killed. In Bengal, the movement was strongest in the Tamluk and Contai subdivisions of Midnapore district, where rural discontent was well-established and deep. In Tamluk, by April 1942 the government had destroyed some 18,000 boats in pursuit of its denial policy, while war-related inflation further alienated the rural population, who became eager volunteers when local Congress recruiters proposed open rebellion. The violence during the "Quit India" movement was internationally condemned, and hardened some sectors of British opinion against India; The historians Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper believe it reduced the British War Cabinet's willingness to provide famine aid at a time when supplies were also needed for the war effort. In several ways the political and social disorder and distrust that were the effects and after-effects of rebellion and civil unrest placed political, logistical, and infrastructural constraints on the Government of India that contributed to later famine-driven woes. ### 1942–1943: Price chaos Throughout April 1942, British and Indian refugees fled Burma, many through Bengal, as the cessation of Burmese imports continued to drive up rice prices. In June, the Bengal government established price controls for rice, and on 1 July fixed prices at a level considerably lower than the prevailing market price. The principal result of the fixed low price was to make sellers reluctant to sell; stocks disappeared, either on to the black market or into storage. The government then let it be known that the price control law would not be enforced except in the most egregious cases of war profiteering. This easing of restrictions plus the ban on exports created about four months of relative price stability. In mid-October, though, south-west Bengal was struck by a series of natural disasters that destabilised prices again, causing another rushed scramble for rice, greatly to the benefit of the Calcutta black market. Between December 1942 and March 1943 the government made several attempts to "break the Calcutta market" by bringing in rice supplies from various districts around the province; however, these attempts to drive down prices by increasing supply were unsuccessful. On 11 March 1943, the provincial government rescinded its price controls, resulting in dramatic rises in the price of rice, due in part to soaring levels of speculation. The period of inflation between March and May 1943 was especially intense; May was the month of the first reports of death by starvation in Bengal. The government attempted to re-establish public confidence by insisting that the crisis was being caused almost solely by speculation and hoarding, but their propaganda failed to dispel the widespread belief that there was a shortage of rice. The provincial government never formally declared a state of famine, even though its Famine Code would have mandated a sizable increase in aid. In the early stages of the famine, the rationale for this was that the provincial government was expecting aid from the Government of India. It felt then its duty lay in maintaining confidence through propaganda that asserted that there was no shortage. After it became clear that aid from central government was not forthcoming, the provincial government felt they simply did not have the amount of food supplies that a declaration of famine would require them to distribute, while distributing more money might make inflation worse. When inter-provincial trade barriers were abolished on 18 May, prices temporarily fell in Calcutta, but soared in the neighbouring provinces of Bihar and Orissa when traders rushed to purchase stocks. The provincial government's attempts to locate and seize any hoarded stocks failed to find significant hoarding. In Bengal, prices were soon five to six times higher than they had been before April 1942. Free trade was abandoned in July 1943, and price controls were reinstated in August. Despite this, there were unofficial reports of rice being sold in late 1943 at roughly eight to ten times the prices of late 1942. Purchasing agents were sent out by the government to obtain rice, but their attempts largely failed. Prices remained high, and the black market was not brought under control. ### October 1942: Natural disasters Bengal was affected by a series of natural disasters late in 1942. The winter rice crop was afflicted by a severe outbreak of fungal brown spot disease, while, on 16–17 October a cyclone and three storm surges ravaged croplands, destroyed houses and killing thousands, at the same time dispersing high levels of fungal spores across the region and increasing the spread of the crop disease. The fungus reduced the crop yield even more than the cyclone. After describing the horrific conditions he had witnessed, the mycologist S.Y. Padmanabhan wrote that the outbreak was similar in impact to the potato blight that caused the Irish Great Famine: "Though administrative failures were immediately responsible for this human suffering, the principal cause of the short crop production of 1942 was the [plant] epidemic ... nothing as devastating ... has been recorded in plant pathological literature". The Bengal cyclone came through the Bay of Bengal, landing on the coastal areas of Midnapore and 24 Parganas. It killed 14,500 people and 190,000 cattle, whilst rice paddy stocks in the hands of cultivators, consumers, and dealers were destroyed. It also created local atmospheric conditions that contributed to an increased incidence of malaria. The three storm surges which followed the cyclone destroyed the seawalls of Midnapore and flooded large areas of Contai and Tamluk. Waves swept an area of 450 square miles (1,200 km²), floods affected 400 square miles (1,000 km²), and wind and torrential rain damaged 3,200 square miles (8,300 km²). For nearly 2.5 million Bengalis, the accumulative damage of the cyclone and storm surges to homes, crops and livelihoods was catastrophic: > Corpses lay scattered over several thousand square miles of devastated land, 7,400 villages were partly or wholly destroyed, and standing flood waters remained for weeks in at least 1,600 villages. Cholera, dysentery and other water-borne diseases flourished. 527,000 houses and 1,900 schools were lost, over 1,000 square miles of the most fertile paddy land in the province was entirely destroyed, and the standing crop over an additional 3,000 square miles was damaged. The cyclone, floods, plant disease, and warm, humid weather reinforced each other and combined to have a substantial impact on the aman rice crop of 1942. Their impact was felt in other aspects as well, as in some districts the cyclone was responsible for an increased incidence of malaria, with deadly effect. ### October 1942: Unreliable crop forecasts At about the same time, official forecasts of crop yields predicted a significant shortfall. However, crop statistics of the time were scant and unreliable. Administrators and statisticians had known for decades that India's agricultural production statistics were completely inadequate and "not merely guesses, but frequently demonstrably absurd guesses". There was little or no internal bureaucracy for creating and maintaining such reports, and the low-ranking police officers or village officials charged with gathering local statistics were often poorly supplied with maps and other necessary information, poorly educated, and poorly motivated to be accurate. The Bengal Government thus did not act on these predictions, doubting their accuracy and observing that forecasts had predicted a shortfall several times in previous years, while no significant problems had occurred. ### Air raids on Calcutta The Famine Inquiry Commission's 1945 report singled out the first Japanese air raids on Calcutta in December 1942 as a causation. The attacks, largely unchallenged by Allied defences, continued throughout the week, triggering an exodus of thousands from the city. As evacuees travelled to the countryside, food-grain dealers closed their shops. To ensure that workers in the prioritised industries in Calcutta would be fed, the authorities seized rice stocks from wholesale dealers, breaking any trust the rice traders had in the government. "From that moment", the 1945 report stated, "the ordinary trade machinery could not be relied upon to feed Calcutta. The [food security] crisis had begun". ### 1942–1943: Shortfall and carryover Whether the famine resulted from crop shortfall or failure of land distribution has been much debated. According to Amartya Sen: "The ... [rice paddy] supply for 1943 was only about 5% lower than the average of the preceding five years. It was, in fact, 13% higher than in 1941, and there was, of course, no famine in 1941." The Famine Inquiry Commission report concluded that the overall deficit in rice in Bengal in 1943, taking into account an estimate of the amount of carryover of rice from the previous harvest, was about three weeks' supply. In any circumstances, this was a significant shortfall requiring a considerable amount of food relief, but not a deficit large enough to create widespread deaths by starvation. According to this view, the famine "was not a crisis of food availability, but of the [unequal] distribution of food and income". There has been very considerable debate about the amount of carryover available for use at the onset of the famine. Several contemporary experts cite evidence of a much larger shortfall. Commission member Wallace Aykroyd argued in 1974 that there had been a 25% shortfall in the harvest of the winter of 1942, while L. G. Pinnell, responsible to the Government of Bengal from August 1942 to April 1943 for managing food supplies, estimated the crop loss at 20%, with disease accounting for more of the loss than the cyclone; other government sources privately admitted the shortfall was 2 million tons. The economist George Blyn argues that with the cyclone and floods of October and the loss of imports from Burma, the 1942 Bengal rice harvest had been reduced by one-third. ### 1942–1944: Refusal of imports Beginning as early as December 1942, high-ranking government officials and military officers (including John Herbert, the Governor of Bengal; Viceroy Linlithgow; Leo Amery the Secretary of State for India; General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of British forces in India, and Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Commander of South-East Asia) began requesting food imports for India through government and military channels, but for months these requests were either rejected or reduced to a fraction of the original amount by Churchill's War Cabinet. The colony was also not permitted to spend its own sterling reserves, or even use its own ships, to import food. Although Viceroy Linlithgow appealed for imports from mid-December 1942, he did so on the understanding that the military would be given preference over civilians. The Secretary of State for India, Leo Amery, was on one side of a cycle of requests for food aid and subsequent refusals from the British War Cabinet that continued through 1943 and into 1944. Amery did not mention worsening conditions in the countryside, stressing that Calcutta's industries must be fed or its workers would return to the countryside. Rather than meeting this request, the UK promised a relatively small amount of wheat that was specifically intended for western India (that is, not for Bengal) in exchange for an increase in rice exports from Bengal to Ceylon. The tone of Linlithgow's warnings to Amery grew increasingly serious over the first half of 1943, as did Amery's requests to the War Cabinet; on 4 August 1943 Amery noted the spread of famine, and specifically stressed the effect upon Calcutta and the potential effect on the morale of European troops. The cabinet again offered only a relatively small amount, explicitly referring to it as a token shipment. The explanation generally offered for the refusals included insufficient shipping, particularly in light of Allied plans to invade Normandy. The Cabinet also refused offers of food shipments from several different nations. When such shipments did begin to increase modestly in late 1943, the transport and storage facilities were understaffed and inadequate. When Viscount Archibald Wavell replaced Linlithgow as Viceroy in the latter half of 1943, he too began a series of exasperated demands to the War Cabinet for very large quantities of grain. His requests were again repeatedly denied, causing him to decry the current crisis as "one of the greatest disasters that has befallen any people under British rule, and [the] damage to our reputation both among Indians and foreigners in India is incalculable". Churchill wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt at the end of April 1944 asking for aid from the United States in shipping wheat in from Australia, but Roosevelt replied apologetically on 1 June that he was "unable on military grounds to consent to the diversion of shipping". Experts' disagreement over political issues can be found in differing explanations of the War Cabinet's refusal to allocate funds to import grain. Lizzie Collingham holds the massive global dislocations of supplies caused by World War II virtually guaranteed that hunger would occur somewhere in the world, yet Churchill's animosity and perhaps racism toward Indians decided the exact location where famine would fall. Similarly, Madhusree Mukerjee makes a stark accusation: "The War Cabinet's shipping assignments made in August 1943, shortly after Amery had pleaded for famine relief, show Australian wheat flour travelling to Ceylon, the Middle East, and Southern Africa – everywhere in the Indian Ocean but to India. Those assignments show a will to punish." In contrast, Mark Tauger strikes a more supportive stance: "In the Indian Ocean alone from January 1942 to May 1943, the Axis powers sank 230 British and Allied merchant ships totalling 873,000 tons, in other words, a substantial boat every other day. British hesitation to allocate shipping concerned not only potential diversion of shipping from other war-related needs but also the prospect of losing the shipping to attacks without actually [bringing help to] India at all." Peter Bowbrick elaborates further on the British government's delay in shipping food, stating that Linlithgow's request for food shipments in December 1942 was half-hearted and that it was made on the assumption that Bengal already had a food surplus but that it was being hoarded, which is why it was ignored by the British metropolitan government. Further delays after April 1943 stemmed from the refusal to divert ships away from the preparations for Operation Overlord, whose failure would have been disastrous for the world and whose success was as a result prioritised above aid to India. Historian James Holland writes that the reluctance of Churchill to divert shipping to India stemmed from his moral calculus concluding that potentially hindering crucial Allied military campaigns in Sicily and Italy and delaying preparations for Operation Overlord by diverting merchant ships to India was too great a risk to undertake; Holland further noted that "ships could not be diverted from the far side of the Atlantic, for example, at the drop of a hat." ## Famine, disease, and the death toll An estimated 0.8–3.8 million Bengalis died, out of a population of 60.3 million. According to Irish historian Cormac Ó Gráda "the scholarly consensus is about 2.1 million". Contemporary mortality statistics were to some degree under-recorded, particularly for the rural areas, where data collecting and reporting was rudimentary even in normal times. Thus, many of those who died or migrated were unreported. The principal causes of death also changed as the famine progressed in two waves. Early on, conditions drifted towards famine at different rates in different Bengal districts. The Government of India dated the beginning of the Bengal food crisis from the air raids on Calcutta in December 1942, blaming the acceleration to full-scale famine by May 1943 on the effects of price decontrol. However, in some districts the food crisis had begun as early as mid-1942. The earliest indications were somewhat obscured, since rural poor were able to draw upon various survival strategies for a few months. After December 1942 reports from various commissioners and district officers began to cite a "sudden and alarming" inflation, nearly doubling the price of rice; this was followed in January by reports of distress caused by serious food supply problems. In May 1943, six districts – Rangpur, Mymensingh, Bakarganj, Chittagong, Noakhali and Tipperah – were the first to report deaths by starvation. Chittagong and Noakhali, both "boat denial" districts in the Ganges Delta (or Sundarbans Delta) area, were the hardest hit. In this first wave – from May to October 1943 – starvation was the principal cause of excess mortality (that is, those attributable to the famine, over and above the normal death rates), filling the emergency hospitals in Calcutta and accounting for the majority of deaths in some districts. According to the Famine Inquiry Commission report, many victims on the streets and in the hospitals were so emaciated that they resembled "living skeletons". While some districts of Bengal were relatively less affected throughout the crisis, no demographic or geographic group was completely immune to increased mortality rates caused by disease – but deaths from starvation were confined to the rural poor. Deaths by starvation had peaked by November 1943. Disease began its sharp upward turn around October 1943 and overtook starvation as the most common cause of death around December. Disease-related mortality then continued to take its toll through early-to-mid 1944. Among diseases, malaria was the biggest killer. From July 1943 to June 1944, the monthly death toll from malaria averaged 125% above rates from the previous five years, reaching 203% above average in December 1943. Malaria parasites were found in nearly 52% of blood samples examined at Calcutta hospitals during the peak period, November–December 1944. Statistics for malaria deaths are almost certainly inaccurate, since the symptoms often resemble those of other fatal fevers, but there is little doubt that it was the main killer. Other famine-related deaths resulted from dysentery and diarrhoea, typically through consumption of poor-quality food or deterioration of the digestive system caused by malnutrition. Cholera is a waterborne disease associated with social disruption, poor sanitation, contaminated water, crowded living conditions (as in refugee camps), and a wandering population – problems brought on after the October cyclone and flooding and then continuing through the crisis. The epidemic of smallpox largely resulted from a result of lack of vaccinations and the inability to quarantine patients, caused by general social disruption. According to social demographer Arup Maharatna, statistics for smallpox and cholera are probably more reliable than those for malaria, since their symptoms are more easily recognisable. The mortality statistics present a confused picture of the distribution of deaths among age and gender groups. Although very young children and the elderly are usually more susceptible to the effects of starvation and disease, overall in Bengal it was adults and older children who suffered the highest proportional mortality rises. However, this picture was inverted in some urban areas, perhaps because the cities attracted large numbers of very young and very old migrants. In general, males suffered generally higher death rates than females, although the rate of female infant death was higher than for males, perhaps reflecting a discriminatory bias. A relatively lower death rate for females of child-bearing age may have reflected a reduction in fertility, brought on by malnutrition, which in turn reduced maternal deaths. Regional differences in mortality rates were influenced by the effects of migration, and of natural disasters. In general, excess mortality was higher in the east (followed by west, centre, and north of Bengal in that order), even though the relative shortfall in the rice crop was worst in the western districts of Bengal. Eastern districts were relatively densely populated, were closest to the Burma war zone, and normally ran grain deficits in pre-famine times. These districts also were subject to the boat denial policy, and had a relatively high proportion of jute production instead of rice. Workers in the east were more likely to receive monetary wages than payment in kind with a portion of the harvest, a common practice in the western districts. When prices rose sharply, their wages failed to follow suit; this drop in real wages left them less able to purchase food. The following table, derived from Arup Maharatna (1992), shows trends in excess mortality for 1943–44 as compared to prior non-famine years. Death rate is total number of deaths in a year (mid-year population) from all causes, per 1000. All death rates are with respect to the population in 1941. Percentages for 1943–44 are of excess deaths (that is, those attributable to the famine, over and above the normal incidence) as compared to rates from 1937 to 1941. Overall, the table shows the dominance of malaria as the cause of death throughout the famine, accounting for roughly 43% of the excess deaths in 1943 and 71% in 1944. Cholera was a major source of famine-caused deaths in 1943 (24%) but dropped to a negligible percentage (1%) the next year. Smallpox deaths were almost a mirror image: they made up a small percentage of excess deaths in 1943 (1%) but jumped in 1944 (24%). Finally, the sharp jump in the death rate from "All other" causes in 1943 is almost certainly due to deaths from pure starvation, which were negligible in 1944. Though excess mortality due to malarial deaths peaked in December 1943, rates remained high throughout the following year. Scarce supplies of quinine (the most common malaria medication) were very frequently diverted to the black market. Advanced anti-malarial drugs such as mepacrine (Atabrine) were distributed almost solely to the military and to "priority classes"; DDT (then relatively new and considered "miraculous") and pyrethrum were sprayed only around military installations. Paris Green was used as an insecticide in some other areas. This unequal distribution of anti-malarial measures may explain a lower incidence of malarial deaths in population centres, where the greatest cause of death was "all other" (probably migrants dying from starvation). Deaths from dysentery and diarrhoea peaked in December 1943, the same month as for malaria. Cholera deaths peaked in October 1943 but receded dramatically in the following year, brought under control by a vaccination program overseen by military medical workers. A similar smallpox vaccine campaign started later and was pursued less effectively; smallpox deaths peaked in April 1944. "Starvation" was generally not listed as a cause of death at the time; many deaths by starvation may have been listed under the "all other" category. Here the death rates, rather than per cents, reveal the peak in 1943. The two waves – starvation and disease – also interacted and amplified one another, increasing the excess mortality. Widespread starvation and malnutrition first compromised immune systems, and reduced resistance to disease led to death by opportunistic infections. Second, the social disruption and dismal conditions caused by a cascading breakdown of social systems brought mass migration, overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor water quality and waste disposal, increased vermin, and unburied dead. All of these factors are closely associated with the increased spread of infectious disease. ## Social disruption Despite the organised and sometimes violent civil unrest immediately before the famine, there was no organised rioting when the famine took hold. However, the crisis overwhelmed the provision of health care and key supplies: food relief and medical rehabilitation were supplied too late, whilst medical facilities across the province were utterly insufficient for the task at hand. A long-standing system of rural patronage, in which peasants relied on large landowners to supply subsistence in times of crisis, collapsed as patrons exhausted their own resources and abandoned the peasants. Families also disintegrated, with cases of abandonment, child-selling, prostitution, and sexual exploitation. Lines of small children begging stretched for miles outside cities; at night, children could be heard "crying bitterly and coughing terribly ... in the pouring monsoon rain ... stark naked, homeless, motherless, fatherless and friendless. Their sole possession was an empty tin". A schoolteacher in Mahisadal witnessed "children picking and eating undigested grains out of a beggar's diarrheal discharge". Author Freda Bedi wrote that it was "not just the problem of rice and the availability of rice. It was the problem of society in fragments". ### Population displacement The famine fell hardest on the rural poor. As the distress continued, families adopted increasingly desperate means for survival. First, they reduced their food intake and began to sell jewellery, ornaments, and smaller items of personal property. As expenses for food or burials became more urgent, the items sold became larger and less replaceable. Eventually, families disintegrated; men sold their small farms and left home to look for work or to join the army, and women and children became homeless migrants, often travelling to Calcutta or another large city in search of organised relief: > Husbands deserted wives and wives husbands; elderly dependents were left behind in the villages; babies and young children were sometimes abandoned. According to a survey carried out in Calcutta during the latter half of 1943, some breaking up of the family had occurred in about half the destitute population which reached the city. In Calcutta, evidence of the famine was "... mainly in the form of masses of rural destitutes trekking into the city and dying on the streets". Estimates of the number of the sick who flocked to Calcutta ranged between 100,000 and 150,000. Once they left their rural villages in search of food, their outlook for survival was grim: "Many died by the roadside – witness the skulls and bones which were to be seen there in the months following the famine." ### Sanitation and undisposed dead The disruption of core elements of society brought a catastrophic breakdown of sanitary conditions and hygiene standards. Large-scale migration resulted in the abandonment of the facilities and sale of the utensils necessary for washing clothes or preparation of food. Many people drank contaminated rainwater from streets and open spaces where others had urinated or defecated. Particularly in the early months of the crisis, conditions did not improve for those under medical care: > Conditions in certain famine hospitals at this time ... were indescribably bad ... Visitors were horrified by the state of the wards and patients, the ubiquitous filth, and the lack of adequate care and treatment ... [In hospitals all across Bengal, the] condition of patients was usually appalling, a large proportion suffering from acute emaciation, with 'famine diarrhoea' ... Sanitary conditions in nearly all temporary indoor institutions were very bad to start with ... The desperate condition of the healthcare did not improve appreciably until the army, under Viscount Wavell, took over the provision of relief supplies in October 1943. At that time medical resources were made far more available. Disposal of corpses soon became a problem for the government and the public, as numbers overwhelmed cremation houses, burial grounds, and those collecting and disposing of the dead. Corpses lay scattered throughout the pavements and streets of Calcutta. In only two days of August 1943, at least 120 were removed from public thoroughfares. In the countryside bodies were often disposed of in rivers and water supplies. As one survivor explained, "We couldn't bury them or anything. No one had the strength to perform rites. People would tie a rope around the necks and drag them over to a ditch." Corpses were also left to rot and putrefy in open spaces. The bodies were picked over by vultures and dragged away by jackals. Sometimes this happened while the victim was still living. The sight of corpses beside canals, ravaged by dogs and jackals, was common; during a seven-mile boat ride in Midnapore in November 1943, a journalist counted at least five hundred such sets of skeletal remains. The weekly newspaper Biplabi commented in November 1943 on the levels of putrefaction, contamination, and vermin infestation: > Bengal is a vast cremation ground, a meeting place for ghosts and evil spirits, a land so overrun by dogs, jackals and vultures that it makes one wonder whether the Bengalis are really alive or have become ghosts from some distant epoch. By the summer of 1943, many districts of Bengal, especially in the countryside, had taken on the look of "a vast charnel house". ### Cloth famine As a further consequence of the crisis, a "cloth famine" left the poorest in Bengal clothed in scraps or naked through the winter. The British military consumed nearly all the textiles produced in India by purchasing Indian-made boots, parachutes, uniforms, blankets, and other goods at heavily discounted rates. India produced 600,000 miles of cotton fabric during the war, from which it made two million parachutes and 415 million items of military clothing. It exported 177 million yards of cotton in 1938–1939 and 819 million in 1942–1943. The country's production of silk, wool and leather was also used up by the military. The small proportion of material left over was purchased by speculators for sale to civilians, subject to similarly steep inflation; in May 1943 prices were 425% higher than in August 1939. With the supply of cloth crowded out by commitments to Britain and price levels affected by profiteering, those not among the "priority classes" faced increasingly dire scarcity. Swami Sambudhanand, President of the Ramakrishna Mission in Bombay, stated in July 1943: > The robbing of graveyards for clothes, disrobing of men and women in out of way places for clothes ... and minor riotings here and there have been reported. Stray news has also come that women have committed suicide for want of cloth ... Thousands of men and women ... cannot go out to attend their usual work outside for want of a piece of cloth to wrap round their loins. Many women "took to staying inside a room all day long, emerging only when it was [their] turn to wear the single fragment of cloth shared with female relatives". ### Exploitation of women and children One of the classic effects of famine is that it intensifies the exploitation of women; the sale of women and girls, for example, tends to increase. The sexual exploitation of poor, rural, lower-caste and tribal women by the jotedars had been difficult to escape even before the crisis. In the wake of the cyclone and later famine, many women lost or sold all their possessions, and lost a male guardian due to abandonment or death. Those who migrated to Calcutta frequently had only begging or prostitution available as strategies for survival; often regular meals were the only payment. Tarakchandra Das suggests that a large proportion of the girls aged 15 and younger who migrated to Calcutta during the famine disappeared into brothels; in late 1943, entire boatloads of girls for sale were reported in ports of East Bengal. Girls were also prostituted to soldiers, with boys acting as pimps. Families sent their young girls to wealthy landowners overnight in exchange for very small amounts of money or rice, or sold them outright into prostitution; girls were sometimes enticed with sweet treats and kidnapped by pimps. Very often, these girls lived in constant fear of injury or death, but the brothels were their sole means of survival, or they were unable to escape. Women who had been sexually exploited could not later expect any social acceptance or a return to their home or family. Bina Agarwal writes that such women became permanent outcastes in a society that highly values female chastity, rejected by both their birth family and husband's family. An unknown number of children, some tens of thousands, were orphaned. Many others were abandoned, sometimes by the roadside or at orphanages, or sold for as much as two maunds (one maund was roughly equal to 37 kilograms (82 lb)), or as little as one seer (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) of unhusked rice, or for trifling amounts of cash. Sometimes they were purchased as household servants, where they would "grow up as little better than domestic slaves". They were also purchased by sexual predators. Altogether, according to Greenough, the victimisation and exploitation of these women and children was an immense social cost of the famine. ## Relief efforts Aside from the relatively prompt but inadequate provision of humanitarian aid for the cyclone-stricken areas around Midnapore beginning in October 1942, the response of both the Bengal Provincial Government and the Government of India was slow. A "non-trivial" yet "pitifully inadequate" amount of aid began to be distributed from private charitable organisations in the early months of 1943 and increased through time, mainly in Calcutta but to a limited extent in the countryside. In April, more government relief began to flow to the outlying areas, but these efforts were restricted in scope and largely misdirected, with most of the cash and grain supplies flowing to the relatively wealthy landowners and urban middle-class (and typically Hindu) bhadraloks. This initial period of relief included three forms of aid: agricultural loans (cash for the purchase of paddy seed, plough cattle, and maintenance expenses), grain given as gratuitous relief, and "test works" that offered food and perhaps a small amount of money in exchange for strenuous work. The "test" aspect arose because there was an assumption that if relatively large numbers of people took the offer, that indicated that famine conditions were prevalent. Agricultural loans offered no assistance to the large numbers of rural poor who had little or no land. Grain relief was divided between cheap grain shops and the open market, with far more going to the markets. Supplying grain to the markets was intended to lower grain prices, but in practice gave little help to the rural poor, instead placing them into direct purchasing competition with wealthier Bengalis at greatly inflated prices. Thus from the beginning of the crisis until around August 1943, private charity was the principal form of relief available to the very poor. According to Paul Greenough, the Provincial Government of Bengal delayed its relief efforts primarily because they had no idea how to deal with a provincial rice market crippled by the interaction of man-made shocks, as opposed to the far more familiar case of localised shortage due to natural disaster. Moreover, the urban middle-class were their overriding concern, not the rural poor. They were also expecting the Government of India to rescue Bengal by bringing food in from outside the province (350,000 tons had been promised but not delivered). And finally, they had long stood by a public propaganda campaign declaring "sufficiency" in Bengal's rice supply, and were afraid that speaking of scarcity rather than sufficiency would lead to increased hoarding and speculation. There was also rampant corruption and nepotism in the distribution of government aid; often as much as half of the goods disappeared into the black market or into the hands of friends or relatives. Despite a long-established and detailed Famine Code that would have triggered a sizable increase in aid, and a statement privately circulated by the government in June 1943 that a state of famine might need to be formally declared, this declaration never happened. Since government relief efforts were initially limited at best, a large and diverse number of private groups and voluntary workers attempted to meet the alarming needs caused by deprivation. Communists, socialists, wealthy merchants, women's groups, private citizens from distant Karachi and Indian expatriates from as far away as east Africa aided in relief efforts or sent donations of money, food and cloth. Markedly diverse political groups, including pro-war allies of the Raj and anti-war nationalists, each set up separate relief funds or aid groups. Though the efforts of these diverse groups were sometimes marred by Hindu and Muslim communalism, with bitter accusations and counter-accusations of unfair treatment and favouritism, collectively they provided substantial aid. Grain began to flow to buyers in Calcutta after the inter-provincial trade barriers were abolished in May 1943, but on 17 July a flood of the Damodar River in Midnapore breached major rail lines, severely hampering import by rail. As the depth and scope of the famine became unmistakable, the Provincial Government began setting up gruel kitchens in August 1943; the gruel, which often provided barely a survival-level caloric intake, was sometimes unfit for consumption – decayed or contaminated with dirt and filler. Unfamiliar and indigestible grains were often substituted for rice, causing intestinal distress that frequently resulted in death among the weakest. Nevertheless, food distributed from government gruel kitchens immediately became the main source of aid for the rural poor. The rails had been repaired in August and pressure from the Government of India brought substantial supplies into Calcutta during September, Linlithgow's final month as Viceroy. However, a second problem emerged: the Civil Supplies Department of Bengal was undermanned and under-equipped to distribute the supplies, and the resulting transportation bottleneck left very large piles of grain accumulating in the open air in several locations, including Calcutta's Botanical Garden. Field Marshal Archibald Wavell replaced Linlithgow that October, within two weeks he had requested military support for the transport and distribution of crucial supplies. This assistance was delivered promptly, including "a full division of... 15,000 [British] soldiers...military lorries and the Royal Air Force" and distribution to even the most distant rural areas began on a large scale. In particular, grain was imported from the Punjab, and medical resources were made far more available. Rank-and-file soldiers, who had sometimes fed the destitute from their rations (defying orders not to do so), were held in esteem by Bengalis for the efficiency of their work in distributing relief. That December, the "largest [rice] paddy crop ever seen" in Bengal was harvested. According to Greenough, large amounts of land previously used for other crops had been switched to rice production. The price of rice began to fall. Survivors of the famine and epidemics gathered the harvest themselves, though in some villages there were no survivors capable of doing the work. Wavell went on to make several other key policy steps, including promising that aid from other provinces would continue to feed the Bengal countryside, setting up a minimum rations scheme, and (after considerable effort) prevailing upon Great Britain to increase international imports. He has been widely praised for his decisive and effective response to the crisis. All official food relief work ended in December 1943 and January 1944. ## Economic and political effects The famine's aftermath greatly accelerated pre-existing socioeconomic processes leading to poverty and income inequality, severely disrupted important elements of Bengal's economy and social fabric, and ruined millions of families. The crisis overwhelmed and impoverished large segments of the economy. A key source of impoverishment was the widespread coping strategy of selling assets, including land. In 1943 alone in one village in east Bengal, for example, 54 out of a total of 168 families sold all or part of their landholdings; among these, 39 (or very nearly 3 out of 4) did so as a coping strategy in reaction to the scarcity of food. As the famine wore on across Bengal, nearly 1.6 million families – roughly one-quarter of all landholders – sold or mortgaged their paddy lands in whole or in part. Some did so to profit from skyrocketing prices, but many others were trying to save themselves from crisis-driven distress. A total of 260,000 families sold all their landholdings outright, thus falling from the status of landholders to that of labourers. The table below illustrates that land transfers increased significantly in each of four successive years. When compared to the base period of 1940–41, the 1941–42 increase was 504%, 1942–43 was 665%, 1943–44 was 1,057% and the increase of 1944–45 compared to 1940–41 was 872%: This fall into lower income groups happened across a number of occupations. In absolute numbers, the hardest hit by post-famine impoverishment were women and landless agricultural labourers. In relative terms, those engaged in rural trade, fishing and transport (boatmen and bullock cart drivers) suffered the most. In absolute numbers, agricultural labourers faced the highest rates of destitution and mortality. The "panicky responses" of the colonial state as it controlled the distribution of medical and food supplies in the wake of the fall of Burma had profound political consequences. "It was soon obvious to the bureaucrats in New Delhi and the provinces, as well as the GHQ (India)," wrote Sanjoy Bhattacharya, "that the disruption caused by these short-term policies – and the political capital being made out of their effects – would necessarily lead to a situation where major constitutional concessions, leading to the dissolution of the Raj, would be unavoidable." Similarly, nationwide opposition to the boat denial policy, as typified by Mahatma Gandhi's vehement editorials, helped strengthen the Indian independence movement. The denial of boats alarmed the public; the resulting dispute was one point that helped to shape the "Quit India" movement of 1942 and harden the War Cabinet's response. An Indian National Congress (INC) resolution sharply decrying the destruction of boats and seizure of homes was considered treasonous by Churchill's War Cabinet, and was instrumental in the later arrest of the INC's top leadership. Public thought in India, shaped by impulses such as media coverage and charity efforts, converged into a set of closely related conclusions: the famine had been a national injustice, preventing any recurrence was a national imperative, and the human tragedy left in its wake was as Jawaharlal Nehru said "...the final judgment on British rule in India". According to historian Benjamin R. Siegel: > ...at a national level, famine had transformed India's political landscape, underscoring the need for self-rule to Indian citizens far away from its epicenter. Photographs and journalism and the affective bonds of charity tied Indians inextricably to Bengal and made their suffering its own; a provincial [famine] was turned, in the midst of war, into a national case against imperial rule. ## Media coverage and other depictions Calcutta's two leading English-language newspapers were The Statesman (at the time British-owned) and Amrita Bazar Patrika (edited by independence campaigner Tushar Kanti Ghosh). In the early months of the famine, the government applied pressure on newspapers to "calm public fears about the food supply" and follow the official stance that there was no rice shortage. This effort had some success; The Statesman published editorials asserting that the famine was due solely to speculation and hoarding, while "berating local traders and producers, and praising ministerial efforts". News of the famine was also subject to strict war-time censorship – even use of the word "famine" was prohibited – leading The Statesman later to remark that the UK government "seems virtually to have withheld from the British public knowledge that there was famine in Bengal at all". Beginning in mid-July 1943 and more so in August, however, these two newspapers began publishing detailed and increasingly critical accounts of the depth and scope of the famine, its impact on society, and the nature of British, Hindu, and Muslim political responses. A turning point in news coverage came on 22 August 1943, when the editor of The Statesman, Ian Stephens, solicited and published a series of graphic photos of the victims. These made world headlines and marked the beginning of domestic and international consciousness of the famine. The next morning, "in Delhi second-hand copies of the paper were selling at several times the news-stand price," and soon "in Washington the State Department circulated them among policy makers". In Britain, The Guardian called the situation "horrible beyond description". The images had a profound effect and marked "for many, the beginning of the end of colonial rule". Stephens' decision to publish them and to adopt a defiant editorial stance won accolades from many (including the Famine Inquiry Commission), and has been described as "a singular act of journalistic courage without which many more lives would have surely been lost". The publication of the images, along with Stephens' editorials, not only helped to bring the famine to an end by driving the British government to supply adequate relief to the victims, but also inspired Amartya Sen's influential contention that the presence of a free press prevents famines in democratic countries. The photographs also spurred Amrita Bazar Patrika and the Indian Communist Party's organ, People's War, to publish similar images; the latter would make photographer Sunil Janah famous. Women journalists who covered the famine included Freda Bedi reporting for Lahore's The Tribune, and Vasudha Chakravarti and Kalyani Bhattacharjee, who wrote from a nationalist perspective. The famine has been portrayed in novels, films and art. The novel Ashani Sanket by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay is a fictional account of a young doctor and his wife in rural Bengal during the famine. It was adapted into a film of the same name (Distant Thunder) by director Satyajit Ray in 1973. The film is listed in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. Also well-known are the novel So Many Hungers! (1947) by Bhabani Bhattacharya and the 1980 film Akaler Shandhaney by Mrinal Sen. Ella Sen's collection of stories based on reality, Darkening Days: Being a Narrative of Famine-Stricken Bengal recounts horrific events from a woman's point of view. A contemporary sketchbook of iconic scenes of famine victims, Hungry Bengal: a tour through Midnapur District in November, 1943 by Chittaprosad, was immediately banned by the British and 5,000 copies were seized and destroyed. One copy was hidden by Chittaprosad's family and is now in the possession of the Delhi Art Gallery. Another artist famed for his sketches of the famine was Zainul Abedin. ## Historiography Controversy about the causes of the famine has continued in the decades since. Attempting to determine culpability, research and analysis has covered complex issues such as the impacts of natural forces, market failures, failed policies or even malfeasance by governmental institutions, and war profiteering or other unscrupulous acts by private business. The questionable accuracy of much of the available contemporary statistical and anecdotal data is a complicating factor, as is the fact that the analyses and their conclusions are political and politicised. The degree of crop shortfall in late 1942 and its impact in 1943 has dominated the historiography of the famine. The issue reflects a larger debate between two perspectives: one emphasises the importance of food availability decline (FAD) as a cause for famine, and another focuses on the failure of exchange entitlements (FEE). The FAD explanation blames famine on crop failures brought on principally by crises such as drought, flood, or man-made devastation from war. The FEE account agrees that such external factors are in some cases important, but holds that famine is primarily the interaction between pre-existing "structural vulnerability" (such as poverty) and a shock event (such as war or political interference in markets) that disrupts the economic market for food. When these interact, some groups within society can become unable to purchase or acquire food even though sufficient supplies are available. Both the FAD and the FEE perspectives would agree that Bengal experienced at least some grain shortage in 1943 due to the loss of imports from Burma, damage from the cyclone, and brown-spot infestation. However, the FEE analyses do not consider shortage the main factor, while FAD-oriented scholars such as Peter Bowbrick hold that a sharp drop in the food supply was the pivotal determining factor. S.Y. Padmanabhan and later Mark Tauger, in particular, argue that the impact of brown-spot disease was vastly underestimated, both during the famine and in later analyses. The signs of crop infestation by the fungus are subtle; given the social and administrative conditions at the time, local officials would very likely have overlooked them. Academic consensus generally follows the FEE account, as formulated by Amartya Sen, in describing the Bengal famine of 1943 as an "entitlements famine". On this view, the prelude to the famine was generalised war-time inflation, and the problem was exacerbated by prioritised distribution and abortive attempts at price control, but the death blow was devastating leaps in the inflation rate due to heavy speculative buying and panic-driven hoarding. This in turn caused a fatal decline in the real wages of landless agricultural workers, transforming what should have been a local shortage into a major famine. More recent analyses often stress political factors. Discussions of the government's role split into two broad camps: those which suggest that the government unwittingly caused or was unable to respond to the crisis, and those which assert that the government wilfully caused or ignored the plight of starving Indians. The former see the problem as a series of avoidable war-time policy failures and "panicky responses" from a government that was inept, overwhelmed and in disarray; the latter being a product of wartime priorities by the "ruling colonial elite", which left the poor of Bengal unprovided for, due to military considerations. Sen does not deny that British misgovernment contributed to the crisis, but sees the policy failure as a complete misunderstanding of the cause of the famine. This misunderstanding led to a wholly misguided emphasis on measuring non-existent food shortages rather than addressing the very real and devastating inflation-driven imbalances in exchange entitlements. In stark contrast, although Cormac Ó Gráda notes that the exchange entitlements view of this famine is generally accepted, he lends greater weight to the importance of a crop shortfall than does Sen, and goes on to largely reject Sen's emphasis on hoarding and speculation. He does not stop there but emphasises a "lack of political will" and the pressure of wartime priorities that drove the British government and the provincial government of Bengal to make fateful decisions: the "denial policies", the use of heavy shipping for war supplies rather than food, the refusal to officially declare a state of famine, and the Balkanisation of grain markets through inter-provincial trade barriers. On this view, these policies were designed to serve British military goals at the expense of Indian interests, reflecting the War Cabinet's willingness to "supply the Army's needs and let the Indian people starve if necessary". Far from being accidental, these dislocations were fully recognised beforehand as fatal for identifiable Indian groups whose economic activities did not directly, actively, or adequately advance British military goals. The policies may have met their intended wartime goals, but only at the cost of large-scale dislocations in the domestic economy. The British government, this argument maintains, thus bears moral responsibility for the rural deaths. Auriol Law-Smith's discussion of contributing causes of the famine also lays blame on the British government of India, primarily emphasising Viceroy Linlithgow's lack of political will to "infringe provincial autonomy" by using his authority to remove interprovincial barriers, which would have ensured the free movement of life-saving grain. Utsa Patnaik's view is that the famine occurred due to high prices which reduced food consumption of the general population. According to Patnaik, this was caused by the British government's "profit inflation" policies, which were designed to finance war spending. A related argument, present since the days of the famine but expressed at length by journalist Madhusree Mukerjee, accuses key figures in the British government (particularly Prime Minister Winston Churchill) of genuine antipathy toward Indians and Indian independence, an antipathy arising mainly from a desire to protect imperialist power but sourced from racist attitudes towards Indian people. This is sometimes attributed to British anger over widespread Bengali nationalist sentiment and the perceived treachery of the violent Quit India uprising. Several historians have critiqued this view, with Tirthankar Roy referring to it as "naive". Instead, Roy attributes the delayed response to rivalry and misinformation spread about the famine within the local government, particularly by the Minister of Civil Supplies Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who maintained there was no food shortage throughout the famine, while noting that there is little evidence of Churchill's views influencing War Cabinet policy. For its part, the report of the Famine Commission (its members appointed in 1944 by the British Government of India and chaired by Sir John Woodhead, a former Indian Civil Service official in Bengal), absolved the British government from all major blame. It acknowledge some failures in its price controls and transportation efforts and laid additional responsibility at the feet of unavoidable fate, but reserved its broadest and most forceful finger-pointing for local politicians in the (largely Muslim) provincial Government of Bengal: As it stated, "after considering all the circumstances, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it lay in the power of the Government of Bengal, by bold, resolute and well-conceived measures at the right time to have largely prevented the tragedy of the famine as it actually took place". For example, the position of the Famine Inquiry Commission with respect to charges that prioritised distribution aggravated the famine is that the Government of Bengal's lack of control over supplies was the more serious matter. Some sources allege that the Famine Commission deliberately declined to blame the UK or was even designed to do so; however, Bowbrick defends the report's overall accuracy, stating it was undertaken without any preconceptions and twice describing it as excellent. Meanwhile, he repeatedly and rather forcefully favors its analyses over Sen's. British accusations that Indian officials were responsible began as early as 1943, as an editorial in The Statesman on 5 October noted disapprovingly. Paul Greenough stands somewhat apart from other analysts by emphasising a pattern of victimization. In his account, Bengal was at base susceptible to famine because of population pressures and market inefficiencies, and these were exacerbated by a dire combination of war, political strife, and natural causes. Above all else, direct blame should be laid on a series of government interventions that disrupted the wholesale rice market. Once the crisis began, morbidity rates were driven by a series of cultural decisions, as dependents were abandoned by their providers at every level of society: male heads of peasant households abandoned weaker family members; landholders abandoned the various forms of patronage that according to Greenough had traditionally been maintained, and the government abandoned the rural poor. These abandoned groups had been socially and politically selected for death. A final line of blaming holds that major industrialists either caused or at least significantly exacerbated the famine through speculation, war profiteering, hoarding, and corruption – "unscrupulous, heartless grain traders forcing up prices based on false rumors". Working from an assumption that the Bengal famine claimed 1.5 million lives, the Famine Inquiry Commission made a "gruesome calculation" that "nearly a thousand rupees [£88 in 1944; equivalent to £ or \$ in ] of profits were accrued per death". As the Famine Inquiry Commission put it, "a large part of the community lived in plenty while others starved ... corruption was widespread throughout the province and in many classes of society". ## See also - Famine in India - List of Bangladesh tropical cyclones - Drought in India - British Raj#Famines, epidemics, public health - Persian famine of 1917–1919 - Tebhaga movement

Blame It on the Alcohol

"Blame It on the Alcohol" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the television series Glee, and the thirty-sixth overall. The episode was written by Ian Brennan, directed by Eric Stoltz and first aired in the United States on Fox on February 22, 2011. This episode mainly centers on the issues of underage drinking, as the students of McKinley High School are coming drunk to school in increasing numbers. Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) plans an assembly to warn the students about the dangers of underage drinking, and asks glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) to have his students perform a song that sends positive messages about avoiding alcohol. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) throws a party for the glee club students where almost everyone gets drunk; the partygoers wake up to hangovers, and must perform various songs about alcohol while still under the influence. The assembly ends abruptly when a song that seems to glorify alcohol is interrupted by two of the singers vomiting over the others, which scares the entire high school into avoiding drunkenness. "Blame It on the Alcohol" was given a positive reception by many reviewers, though there was disagreement over the show's messages, including with regard to drinking alcohol. Rachel's party was lauded, as was the song performed during it, "Don't You Want Me"; the assembly song, Kesha's "Tik Tok", was also well received. This episode featured cover versions of four songs, which were all released as singles and made available for digital download. Three of the singles debuted on the Billboard Hot 100. The show's first original song appeared in this episode: "My Headband", sung by Michele as Rachel, which was not released. Upon its premiere, the episode was watched by over 10.58 million American viewers, and it earned a 4.4/12 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode's total viewership and ratings were slightly up from the previous episode, "Comeback", which was watched by 10.53 million American viewers, and acquired a 4.2/12 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic upon first airing on television. ## Plot Concerned about recent underage drinking incidents at McKinley High, Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) schedules a cautionary assembly and commissions the glee club to perform a song about the dangers of alcohol. Lead singer Rachel (Lea Michele) sings a song she has written, about her headband, to Finn (Cory Monteith); she realizes that she needs inspiration to write a song for Regionals, so she throws a house party for the club, which is also attended by former member Kurt (Chris Colfer) and his crush Blaine (Darren Criss). The attendees—except for Kurt and Finn—get drunk, and Rachel and Blaine share a long kiss during a game of Spin the Bottle, after which they perform "Don't You Want Me" as a karaoke duet. Blaine spends the night in Kurt's bed, fully clothed. Kurt's father Burt (Mike O'Malley) is not pleased about this level of intimacy under his roof and tells Kurt to ask for permission first next time. Kurt grudgingly agrees, but asks Burt to educate himself on gay relationships so Kurt can come to him for advice in the future. On Monday, the glee club members arrive at school hung over, and perform the song "Blame It". Club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is impressed with their "realistic acting", but thinks the song is inappropriate for the assembly as it glorifies drinking. Football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) prevails on Will to join her in a night out at a cowboy bar to reduce their stress; they perform the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer". Will gets drunk and once home, his intoxication is such that he marks all his students' papers with an "A+", and then drunk dials the school's guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) and leaves a sexually tinged message. Rachel asks Blaine out, and to Kurt's dismay he accepts. They argue, as Blaine suggests he might be bisexual, while Kurt denies the existence of bisexuality. Kurt visits Rachel after the date, and warns Rachel that Blaine is indeed gay, if temporarily confused. At the assembly, New Directions perform Kesha's "Tik Tok", but the song comes to an abrupt end when Brittany (Heather Morris) and Santana (Naya Rivera) throw up from intoxication. Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) publicly humiliates Will by playing the message he left on her voice mail—not Emma's, as he had meant to do—over the school's public address system while classes are in session. Figgins later rewards the club for their performance's success in scaring their fellow students into sobriety, in the belief that the glee club had been acting during the assembly. Figgins also tells Will that he will recommend him to his priest to get a handle on his drinking problem. Will realizes that it is hypocritical to tell the students not to abuse alcohol when he does so himself, and convinces the entire club to pledge not to drink until after their upcoming Nationals competition. He tells them he will also abstain, and urges them to call him for a ride home if they do drink, regardless of where they are or how late it is. At the Lima Bean, Rachel kisses a sober Blaine, which makes him realize he is indeed gay, but instead of being disappointed she is elated: she tells Kurt that her relationship with a man who turned out to be gay is "songwriting gold". ## Production "Blame It on the Alcohol" was written by co-creator Ian Brennan and directed by Eric Stoltz in his second time as a Glee director, his first outing having been the acclaimed fourth episode of the season, "Duets". A blind item about a "popular gay character" wondering if he might be bisexual after an "encounter" was published on February 10, 2011, by Michael Ausiello, Editor in Chief of the entertainment news website TVLine. A "firestorm of speculation" was set off, and centered on Blaine. Glee showrunner and co-creator Ryan Murphy sent an email to the Perez Hilton website, published on February 14, that stated, "Blaine is NOT bi. He is gay, and will always be gay. I think it's very important to young kids that they know this character is one of them." Within a couple of hours, Michael Jensen of the gay website AfterElton.com took note of Murphy's statement, and also of the then-current cover article on Criss in Out magazine, in which Murphy was quoted as saying, "Blaine will openly question whether bisexuality is real. I think that some people will love that discussion and some will not love it." Jensen pointed out that Murphy does not say that Blaine will not question his own sexuality, but clearly "decides he is, in fact, gay". Ausiello posted at about that time that Blaine was indeed who he was referring to in his original story, quoted from the same Out article as Jensen, and added a new one-sentence summation from Murphy on the coming episode: "I guess the moral of the story is don’t play spin the bottle while drunk on wine coolers." The show's first original song was included in the episode: "My Headband", sung by—and ostensibly written by—Rachel. In actuality, the song was written by Brennan, who wrote the episode, and composer James Scott Levine. The episode featured cover versions of "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League, sung by Criss and Michele; "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" by Rudy Toombs, as recorded by George Thorogood, sung by Morrison and Jones; "Tik Tok" by Kesha, performed by Morris and New Directions, and "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx and T-Pain in a rendition by New Directions with Amber Riley and Kevin McHale as leads. "One Bourbon" marked Jones's singing debut on Glee. Recurring guest stars who appear in the episode include glee club members Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink), cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), football coach Shannon Beiste (Jones), Principal Figgins (Theba) and Kurt's friend from Dalton Academy, Blaine Anderson (Criss). ## Reception ### Ratings "Blame It on the Alcohol" was first broadcast on February 22, 2011 in the United States on Fox. It received over 10.58 million American viewers upon its initial airing, according to the Nielsen ratings. The episode garnered a 4.4/12 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, tied for the highest of the night with NCIS. The episode's total viewership and ratings slightly increased from the previous episode, "Comeback", which was watched by 10.53 million American viewers and received a 4.2/12 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic during its original airing. With its Canadian broadcast, also on February 22, 2011, "Blame It on the Alcohol" drew 1.89 million viewers and placed fourteenth in the weekly program rankings. This was an improvement on "Comeback", which aired the week before, ranked eighteenth and was watched by 1.75 million viewers. In Australia, the episode was watched by 1.02 million viewers on March 7, 2011, which made Glee the sixth most-watched show of the night and twentieth of the week. In the UK, the episode was broadcast on April 11, 2011. It attained 2.53 million viewers—2.05 million on E4, and 483,000 on E4+1—and was the most-watched show on cable for the week. Viewership was marginally down from "Comeback", attracting 40,000 fewer viewers. ### Critical response Reaction to the episode was split. While the majority of reviewers were favorably impressed, some very much so, a significant minority were disappointed at the message the episode conveyed and the storytelling decisions. Among the former were Kevin Fallon of The Atlantic, who described it as "Glee at its best: cartoonish, outlandish, and loud—but still oh-so true to life." IGN's Robert Canning gave the episode a "great" rating of 8 out of 10, and called the main storyline "comical and human". Candace Bulter of ScreenCrave also gave the episode an 8 out of 10, and wrote, "This week's Glee puts on the beer goggles to put alcohol-related issues in perspective. The result is humorous and ironic, but leaves something to be wanted." Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club, wrote that "the underpinnings of the episode aren't terrible, just overstuffed" and gave it a "B−". MTV's Aly Semigran stated that the episode "left something of a sour taste", and added that while the show "always combines humor with serious life lessons, it seems there were none to be found here"; she called the episode "a wasted opportunity". BuddyTV's Jen Harper was also disenchanted by the episode, and concluded, "Geez Louise, Glee. What's happened to you?" Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times saw the show's message differently from Semigran, and wrote, "Leave it to Glee to tackle a potentially joyless, didactic topic like teenage drinking and somehow manage to entertain and surprise and get its important life lessons across." Time's Richard Corliss called it a "breezy, sharply written episode" and rated it in the "high-middle range" for the show. He concluded, "Last night’s hour of Glee was of the level a superior series sticks in mid-season between its 'important' episodes. If this is coasting, take me along for the ride." The scenes that featured Rachel's party were acclaimed by most reviewers. Fallon called them "a parade of the funniest sight gags, most uninhibited acting, and—interestingly enough—most relatable scenes Glee has produced in a while", and described Michele as "an acting stand out" who "handled the entire arc like a seasoned comedienne". His colleague Meghan Brown said it "showed Glee at its best", and added: "The dialogue was snappy, the group dynamic was clean and specific, and the kids seemed like actual kids." VanDerWerff also pointed out that the club members "really felt like kids, not like miniature 30-somethings", and said the party was the "best part" of the episode. Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone praised Finn's breakdown of "the five drunk girl archetypes, as demonstrated by the glee girls". Harper wrote that the party scenes "left a lot to be desired", and Patrick Burns, the third reviewer from The Atlantic, "waited for the Glee party to get out of control, or for someone to get hurt so that America's youth could be shocked and appalled by the dangers of drinking", but "the worst thing that happened was that Rachel tried to flip a gay guy". Kurt's scenes with Blaine and with his father evoked very divergent opinions from reviewers. Canning made mention of "a great conversation between Blaine and Kurt that felt very real for kids in this situation" and noted he was "glad it wasn't an easy talk for either of them". The Houston Chronicle's Bobby Hankinson agreed, and said of their "debate over the existence of bisexuality" that "it was refreshing to see Glee portray a conversation like it really goes down in reality. It’s also good to see them not treat Kurt like such a saint all the time." Semigran wrote that Kurt showed "an unflattering side of himself", and Gonzalez stated that she "was completely on Blaine's side here": Kurt "wasn't fair" and "was sort of unlikable" for once, though she did add that "he's allowed to be flawed". Blaine's "sudden confusion over his sexual orientation" was deemed a "false note" by Reiter, who called his "overwrought speech" at the Lima Bean "off-key". Harper was unhappy that "major plot points like a gay character thinking he might be bi or straight get instigated, sorted out and wrapped up within an hour", and said she thought it was "hurtful" for Blaine to "accept a date with Kurt's friend" after he and Kurt had "agreed to sort of work on a potential relationship between the two of them" in the "Silly Love Songs" episode. There were similar reactions to Kurt's scene with Burt, though reviewers agreed that Burt was being reasonable and Kurt was not. Gonzalez characterized Kurt as "more flawed in this episode than he has been, especially in that scene with his dad when he kept taking offense to his dad's miscommunicated guidelines for sleepovers", and Semigran described "Kurt's overreaction" as "even more unsettling" than his argument with Blaine. Corliss wrote that Kurt's "smackdown of his father has the odor of propaganda from the gayest show in TV history". Canning said he was "moved by Kurt asking his father to step out of his comfort zone and educate himself about what is gay men do when [they're] together", and Gonzalez enjoyed "the very realistic tension that exists between them as father and gay son". Harper was harshly critical of "the inane story line" where Sue regularly accused Will of being an alcoholic, to which Semigran also took exception. Reiter characterized "Sue throwing Aural Intensity's 'chipper homosexual' choir director down the stairs, twice" as a "false note" and said it was "particularly difficult to take", though VanDerWerff called it "kind of funny". Semigran was one reviewer who noted that Mercedes was wrong when she "complains that there are no songs that convey alcohol is bad". She suggested "Pink's 'Sober' or Pearl Jam's haunting cover of 'Last Kiss' or Simple Plan's moving '(Untitled) How Could This Happen to Me?'" as songs that New Directions could have done for the assembly. ### Music and performances The musical covers and performances for the episode were given a mostly positive reception by reviewers. Rachel and Blaine's duet of "Don't You Want Me" was called "the best number of the episode" by VanDerWerff. Semigran went further and said it was the "best number by far", and Hankinson went beyond that: "it may be one of my favorite Gleeformances of all time". Futterman called it "fun" and "flirty", and noted that "it pits Glee's most well-rounded pop vocalists against each other". Anthony Benigno of The Faster Times and Gonzalez both gave the performance an "A"; Benigno wrote that "it sounds like a modernized version of an old song and it totally, 1000% works", and Gonzalez declared that "Blaine needs to join New Directions so we can get more duets between him and Rachel". Harper, while she characterized it as a "really cute duet", said she was "not super-keen on seeing them pair up again". Brett Berk of Vanity Fair was even less enthusiastic, and gave it two stars out of five. Berk was more enthusiastic about "Blame It" and gave it four stars out of five; he wrote, "This should be the song they sing at Nationals". Gonzalez called it "one of the better R&B performances we've seen from the Glee gang in a while", and gave it an "A". Billboard's Katie Morgan thought that "this version might be better than the original", while Harper was quite sure, and declared that it was "way better than the Jamie Foxx version". Futterman, though she described it as a "very informed rendition", said that "the song was too clean-scrubbed to pass for a dirty club hit". Benigno, while he liked "the harmonies in the hook", said the song was "very skippable" and gave it a "B". VanDerWerff said it was "one of the least enjoyable numbers of this season". Benigno gave a "B+" to "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer". He noted that "Glee can slum with the best of 'em when the occasion calls for it", and added "it's the total lack of irony that ends up making this one so good". Gonzalez was "prepared to hate" the song, but that Jones and Morrison clearly "had fun recording this song", and since "country is 70 percent attitude", she ultimately gave it a "B". Bulter wrote that she "can’t wait for more of Beiste’s alto country vibes to be showcased". Morris as Brittany was lauded for her performance in "Tik Tok", which Bulter called the "performance of the night" and praised her "mad dance skills and awesome vocals". Reiter wrote that Brittany "owned that rendition", and CNN's Lisa Respers France gave "kudos to Brittany for her awesome performance". Benigno gave the song an "A−", noted that Morris has a better voice than the original artist, Kesha, and the rendition was a case of "a bunch of really talented kids making a simple song better". Futterman praised the "dance-centered performance", but said she wished Rachel or Mercedes had sung lead. VanDerWerff "really liked" Morris on the number, but said he "didn't buy" that it was the song selected for the assembly. ### Chart history Of the four cover versions released as singles—the original song "My Headband" was not released—three debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and appeared on other musical charts. On the Hot 100, the show's rendition of "Don't You Want Me" debuted at number forty-nine; it was at number fifty on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. The other two songs on the Hot 100 were "Blame It" at number fifty-five, which also made number sixty-one on the Canadian Hot 100, and "Tik Tok" at number sixty-one, which also made number fifty-six on the Canadian Hot 100. "Don't You Want Me" was also featured on the sixth soundtrack album of the series, Glee: The Music, Volume 5. "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" did not chart.

SMS Kolberg

Light cruiser of the German Imperial Navy

SMS Kolberg was a light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) during the First World War, the lead ship of her class. She had three sister ships, SMS Mainz, Cöln, and Augsburg. She was built by the Schichau-Werke; her hull was laid down in early 1908 and she was launched later that year, in November. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in June 1910. She was armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns and had a top speed of 25.5 kn (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph). Kolberg saw action in several engagements with the British during the war, including the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 and the Battle of Dogger Bank the following month. She also saw action against the Russians on two occasions, during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 and Operation Albion in November 1917. After the end of the war, she was ceded to France as a war prize and renamed Colmar. She served only briefly in the French Navy, including a deployment to Asia in 1924. She was stricken in 1927 and broken up two years later. ## Design Kolberg was 130.50 meters (428 ft 2 in) long overall and had a beam of 14 m (45 ft 11 in) and a draft of 5.58 m (18 ft 4 in) forward. She displaced 4,362 metric tons (4,293 long tons) normally and up to 4,915 t (4,837 long tons; 5,418 short tons) at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of Melms & Pfenniger steam turbines driving four 2.25-meter (7 ft 5 in) propellers. They were designed to give 19,000 metric horsepower (13,974 kW; 18,740 shp). These were powered by fifteen coal-fired Marine water-tube boilers. These gave the ship a top speed of 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph). Kolberg carried 970 t (950 long tons; 1,070 short tons) of coal that gave her a range of approximately 3,250 nautical miles (6,020 km; 3,740 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). Kolberg had a crew of eighteen officers and 349 enlisted men. The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, eight were located amidships, four on either side, and two were side by side aft. These were replaced in 1916–1917 with six 15 cm SK L/45 guns. She also carried four 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 anti-aircraft guns, though these were replaced with a pair of two 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns in 1918. She was also equipped with a pair of 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes submerged in the hull. Two deck-mounted 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tube launchers were added in 1918. She could also carry 100 mines. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides, and the deck was covered with up to 40 mm (1.6 in) thick armor plate. The main battery guns were fitted with gun shields that were 50 mm (2 in) thick. ## Service history ### Pre-war career Kolberg was ordered under the contract name Ersatz Greif and the contract for her construction was awarded to the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig on 24 August 1907. Her keel was laid down on 15 January 1908; work proceeded quickly and she was launched on 14 November. At the launching ceremony, Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) of Kolberg Dr. Schmieder christened the ship after his city. Fitting-out work took another twenty months and she conducted builder's trials in early 1910. She was commissioned on 21 June 1910 for full sea trials, though these were delayed twice by crew shortages. During trials she visited her namesake city on 30 April and again from 5 to 8 June 1911. On 13 June, Kolberg was finally pronounced ready for service; the following day, her first active duty commander Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain) Paul Heinrich came aboard the ship. On 15 June, Kolberg steamed from Danzig to Kiel, where she joined the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet, taking the place of the light cruiser Königsberg. She thereafter was ordered to accompany Kaiser Wilhelm's yacht Hohenzollern II to a sailing regatta held in the mouth of the Elbe and then for a visit to Bergen and Balestrand, Norway. She arrived back in Kiel on 2 August and five days later joined the rest of the fleet scouts in the Kattegat for annual fleet training. After the conclusion of the exercises in September, Kolberg took part in a naval review held off Swinemünde during a visit of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Kolberg thereafter underwent periodic maintenance, which prevented her from joining the rest of the reconnaissance force on a cruise to Norway. Kolberg began the year 1912 with training exercises in the North Sea in February. In March, she was again assigned to escort Hohenzollern for a cruise abroad; the two ships left Kiel on 5 March and steamed south through the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. They stopped in Gibraltar from 11 to 12 March before proceeding on to Venice, Italy on 17 March. The ships then began a tour of Mediterranean ports that lasted from 26 March to 10 May. During this period, Kolberg steamed from the island of Corfu to Brindisi, Italy on 11 April, where she embarked the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg to carry him to Corfu and then later back to Brindisi. Kolberg was in Genoa, Italy when she was recalled to Germany on 12 May. She stopped in Vigo, Spain on 16–17 May and arrived off Helgoland on 23 May, where she rejoined the High Seas Fleet. From 23 June to 9 July, she temporarily served as the flagship of I Scouting Group while the battlecruiser Von der Tann was under repair and the new battlecruiser Moltke had not yet entered service. The rest of the year was occupied with peacetime training exercises and routine cruises in the North and Baltic Seas. The same pattern followed in 1913 and the first half of 1914; Kolberg's service during this period was uneventful, apart from another period escorting Wilhelm II, who this time cruised aboard the HAPAG steamship Vaterland, on a tour of Norwegian ports in July 1913. ### World War I #### North Sea operations Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Kolberg and the rest of II Scouting Group were tasked with patrolling the German North Sea coast and supporting the torpedo-boat screen that kept watch for hostile sea forces. On 17–18 August, Kolberg and the light cruisers Strassburg and Stralsund went on a patrol out to the Broad Fourteens but encountered no British vessels. Kolberg was stationed in the mouth of the Ems river on the morning of 28 August, when the sound of distant gunfire alerted the crew to the Battle of Helgoland Bight, then underway. She, Stralsund, and the light cruiser Danzig immediately sortied to reinforce the German vessels in the bight, but they arrived too late to see action with the British cruisers. Kolberg reached the burning cruiser Ariadne and took off her surviving crew before the latter vessel sank. Kolberg was erroneously said to have been sunk in the battle in initial reports. On 9 September, Kolberg escorted the minelaying cruisers Albatross and Nautilus and the auxiliary minelayer Kaiser while they laid the defensive minefield "Alpha" on the western side of the German Bight. She escorted Nautilus again on 16–18 October to lay an offensive minefield off the Firth of Forth, but the presence of British warships in the Dogger Bank forced the Germans to break off the operation. Beginning in November, the German fleet began a series of raids on coastal British towns in the hopes of provoking part of the British Grand Fleet to sortie, which could then be cut off and destroyed by the High Seas Fleet. Kolberg participated in the first of these, the raid on Yarmouth on 2–4 November, where she supported the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group that were commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Franz von Hipper. During the operation, she covered Stralsund, which had been fitted to carry a load of naval mines that were laid off the British coast. During the subsequent raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December, Kolberg was also modified to carry 100 mines, which she laid off Filey Brigg while the battlecruisers shelled the ports. When the German forces withdrew, the weather became bad enough that Hipper ordered the other light cruisers to steam independently to the rendezvous with the main fleet; Kolberg had meanwhile joined up with the battlecruisers and proceeded with them. The heavy weather caused some damage to the ship, and so Kolberg had to be repaired from 16 December to 6 January 1915. A little over a month later, she saw action at the Battle of Dogger Bank, on 24 January 1915. The engagement began when Kolberg encountered the British cruiser HMS Aurora at about 08:10; both ships opened fire, drawing the British and German battlecruiser squadrons to the action. In the span of about fifteen minutes, Kolberg quickly scored three hits on Aurora, which replied with two hits of her own. One of the shells struck Kolberg below the waterline and the other shell hit the ship above the waterline; the hits killed two men and wounded two others. On 26 January, Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Karl von Restorff, the II. Führer der Torpedoboote (Leader of Torpedo Boats), raised his flag aboard Kolberg, making her his flagship. For the rest of 1915, she continued in her role with the fleet, participating in the sorties conducted by Admiral Hugo von Pohl and patrolling the German Bight. In August 1915, she and significant portions of the fleet were transferred to the Baltic for the Battle of the Gulf of Riga. Kolberg was part of the covering force for the I Scouting Group battlecruisers, she was assigned to serve as a flotilla leader for three and a half flotillas of torpedo boats, as part of an assault force into the Gulf of Riga. On 10 August she was tasked with bombarding Russian coastal batteries on the island of Utö and the harbor of Hanko in southern Finland. While shelling the positions, Russian destroyers sortied to intercept Kolberg, and the ensuing battle prompted Hipper to send Von der Tann to support her. Numerous reports of submarines in the area convinced the Germans to withdraw. A few days later, on the night of 13–14 August, Kolberg was present off the Irbe Strait at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Riga when she was attacked by Russian destroyers and coastal guns. On either 15 or 16 August 1915, a Russian submarine fired a single torpedo at Kolberg which missed. On 21 August, she returned to the North Sea, where she resumed patrol duties. Kolberg participated in the fleet operation on 11–12 September to cover a group of minelayers off the Swarte Bank, but she was in dock for maintenance during the sortie of 23–24 October, prompting Restorff to temporarily transfer to the cruiser Graudenz. On 12 November, KzS Max Köthner replaced Restorff. #### Baltic Sea operations In January 1916, Kolberg was transferred to the Baltic Sea naval forces. She was occupied with training exercises in February, and on 27 February she steamed to Libau, where she replaced the cruiser Elbing as the flagship of VI Scouting Group, which had been formed only on 15 January 1916. Kommodore (Commodore) Hugo Langemak raised his flag aboard the ship, though she served as his flagship only briefly, before being replaced by Strassburg on 12 September. By 1916, the naval war in the Baltic had become a stalemate, with neither side's fleet willing to engage the other, instead preferring to use minefields. As a result, Kolberg was primarily occupied with patrolling the Baltic and supporting minelayers. She operated primarily with Strassburg, the cruiser Augsburg, the torpedo boat V100, and VIII and X Torpedo Boat Flotillas. From 12 to 15 September, now-KAdm Langemak attempted to force his way into the Gulf of Riga to destroy the Russian pre-dreadnought battleship Slava, but the Germans failed to break into the gulf. Kolberg was thereafter transferred to Windau and Langemak shifted his flag to Augsburg. On 11 November, Kolberg returned to Libau, and a month later, she went to Kiel on 12 December to be modernized at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) there. The work lasted from 16 December to 11 May 1917, and included a reconstruction of her bridge that significantly changed her silhouette, the installation of two 50 cm torpedo tubes in deck launchers, and the replacement of her original battery with 15 cm guns. She left Kiel on 7 June to return to her unit, arriving in Libau four days later. Langemak briefly returned to Kolberg from 18 to 23 July before transferring back to Augsburg. Most of 1917 passed uneventfully for Kolberg until significant elements of the High Seas Fleet were transferred to the Baltic for Operation Albion, the conquest of the Gulf of Riga after the German Army captured the city during the Battle of Riga the month before. During the operation, Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Albert Hopman—who had replaced Langemak in December 1916—used Kolberg as his flagship. At 06:00 on 14 October, Kolberg, Strassburg, Augsburg, and the old aviso Blitz, with escorting torpedo boats and minesweepers, sortied from Libau. The ships broke through the Irbe Strait and began minesweeping operations in the Gulf of Riga. They were attacked by Russian 12-inch (300 mm) coastal guns on their approach and were temporarily forced to turn away. By 08:45, however, they had anchored off the Mikailovsk Bank and the minesweepers began to clear a path in the minefields. Two days later, Strassburg and Kolberg joined the dreadnoughts König and Kronprinz for a sweep of the Gulf of Riga. In the ensuing Battle of Moon Sound, the battleships destroyed Slava and forced the pre-dreadnought Grazhdanin to leave the Gulf. Later that day, Kolberg moved into the Gulf and engaged a Russian coastal battery at Woi on Moon Island for ten minutes, starting at 13:35. The Russian guns did not return fire, so Kolberg ceased firing, and at 14:25, anchored in the Kleinen Sound with Strassburg. A landing party of forty men was assembled to capture the Russian guns at Woi; they landed on the island at 15:45 and by 17:30, the landing party had captured the guns and rendered them inoperable. On 4 November, Kolberg steamed from Arensburg to Windau, where she embarked Prince Leopold of Bavaria, the Ober Ost, the supreme commander of German forces on the Eastern Front. She carried Leopold back to Arensburg before returning him to Windau on 11 November. From there, Kolberg steamed to Libau to reembark Hopman. KAdm Ludolf von Uslar replaced Hopman on 7 December; Uslar raised his flag aboard Kolberg that day, but he remained aboard only for a short time before she was recalled to Kiel for an overhaul; she left Libau on 29 December, and the shipyard work lasted from 1 January to 17 March 1918. During this period, she had a pair of 8.8 cm Flak guns installed. The Russian government had agreed to an armistice with the Central Powers in December 1917, and while Kolberg was in the shipyard, the Baltic Sea reconnaissance force was dissolved on 24 January. A new command, the Befehlshaber der Sicherung der Ostsee (BSO—Commander of the Defense of the Baltic Sea) was created, with separate western and eastern divisions. On returning to service, Kolberg became the flagship of the western division of the BSO, KAdm Hermann Nordmann, though he was replaced by KAdm Walter von Keyserlink on 28 October. Kolberg was transferred to the "Sonderverband für die Ostsee" (Special Unit for the Baltic Sea) on 28 March, which was tasked with supporting the German intervention in the Finnish Civil War. Kolberg took part in the attack on Hanko by the 14th Jäger Battalion. She later replaced the battleship Rheinland, which had been stationed in Åland to support German forces there. She remained there until 19 May, when she was replaced by Stralsund; Kolberg left Mariehamn in Åland the following day, bound for Kiel. She arrived there on 22 May and was returned to the BSO. The ship briefly patrolled the Little Belt before returning to the Baltic on 18 June, resuming her role as Uslar's flagship. Uslar's command had by that time been renamed the Befehlshaber der Baltischer Gewässer (BBG—Commander of Baltic Waters). She carried the Chief of the Marinestation der Ostsee (Baltic Sea Naval Station), Admiral Gustav Bachmann on a tour of Danzig, Libau, Windau, Reval, and Arensburg before disembarking him in Riga. From 3 to 23 July, Kolberg went to Kiel before returning to Libau. She went on a tour of the Baltic, stopping in Reval, Helsinki, Kotka, Hungerburg, Björkösund, and Hanko. The ship was assigned to IV Scouting Group under VAdm Friedrich Boedicker for Operation Schlußstein, a planned amphibious attack on the Russian capital at St. Petersburg, but the operation was called off on 5 September. Kolberg was then transferred back to the BBG and assigned as the station ship for Helsinki. On the way there, she stopped in Mariehamn, Jakobstad, and Nikolaistad. On 25 September, the ship went to Reval, where she received orders to return to Kiel, where she was to be decommissioned. She left the city two days later and arrived in Kiel on 29 September. Between 2 and 5 October, parts of her crew were transferred to the Naval Detachment in Crimea. Kolberg was decommissioned on 17 December, after the end of the war; she was not included in the list of ships to be interned at Scapa Flow, and so she remained behind in Kiel. ### Service with the French Navy Kolberg was stricken from the naval register on 5 November 1919, and subsequently surrendered to the French in Cherbourg on 28 April 1920, under the name "W". She was commissioned in the French Navy as Colmar in 1922. She was not significantly modified in French service, the primary change being the replacement of her 8.8 cm guns with 75 mm (3.0 in) anti-aircraft guns. Colmar also had a new aft deckhouse built and the 75 mm guns were installed on its roof. After the work was completed, she underwent sea trials for almost a year. In 1922, she was assigned to a colonial tour in French Indochina that lasted for three years. She left France on 19 June 1922 and arrived in the colony on 7 September. On arrival, she replaced the armored cruiser Montcalm as the flagship of the Division Navale de l'Extreme Orient (Naval Division of the Far East). She was in Vladivostok, Russia in 1923 when the Great Kantō earthquake hit Japan, so she steamed to Yokohama to assist in the relief effort. Several other cruisers joined her during her deployment, including the armored cruisers Jules Michelet, Victor Hugo, and Jules Ferry. In September 1924, Colmar and Jules Ferry contributed to a multi-national landing party of around 1,800 men drawn together due to violence in Shanghai. Colmar was recalled to France in November, and she arrived back in France on 11 February 1925. She remained in French service for only a few months, being deemed unfit for further service in November, when she was decommissioned. Over the course of 1926 and 1927, she was cannibalized for parts for the other ex-German cruisers in French service, and she was stricken on 21 July 1927. Ultimately, she was broken up for scrap two years later in Brest, France.

Joseph McCarthy

American politician (1908–1957)

Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread communist subversion. He alleged that numerous communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, he was censured for refusing to cooperate with, and abusing members of, the committee established to investigate whether or not he should be censured. The term "McCarthyism", coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today, the term is used more broadly to mean demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents. Born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, McCarthy commissioned into the Marine Corps in 1942, where he served as an intelligence briefing officer for a dive bomber squadron. Following the end of World War II, he attained the rank of major. He volunteered to fly twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer. These missions were generally safe, and after one where he was allowed to shoot as much ammunition as he wanted to, mainly at coconut trees, he acquired the nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe". Some of his claims of heroism were later shown to be exaggerated or falsified, leading many of his critics to use "Tail-Gunner Joe" as a term of mockery. McCarthy successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1946, defeating Robert M. La Follette Jr. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950, when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department. In succeeding years after his 1950 speech, McCarthy made additional accusations of Communist infiltration into the State Department, the administration of President Harry S. Truman, the Voice of America, and the U.S. Army. He also used various charges of communism, communist sympathies, disloyalty, or sex crimes to attack a number of politicians and other individuals inside and outside of government. This included a concurrent "Lavender Scare" against suspected homosexuals; as homosexuality was prohibited by law at the time, it was also perceived to increase a person's risk for blackmail. With the highly publicized Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954, and following the suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester C. Hunt that same year, McCarthy's support and popularity faded. On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure Senator McCarthy by a vote of 67–22, making him one of the few senators ever to be disciplined in this fashion. He continued to speak against communism and socialism until his death at the age of 48 at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, on May 2, 1957. His death certificate listed the cause of death as "Hepatitis, acute, cause unknown". Doctors had not previously reported him to be in critical condition. Some biographers say this was caused or exacerbated by alcoholism. McCarthy is the last Republican to have held, or won election to, Wisconsin's Class I Senate seat. ## Early life and education McCarthy was born in 1908 on a farm in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, the fifth of nine children. His mother, Bridget McCarthy (nee Tierney), was from County Tipperary, Ireland. His father, Timothy McCarthy, was born in the United States, the son of an Irish father and a German mother. McCarthy dropped out of junior high school at age 14 to help his parents manage their farm. He entered Little Wolf High School, in Manawa, Wisconsin, when he was 20 and graduated in one year. He attended Marquette University from 1930 to 1935. McCarthy worked his way through college by coaching, boxing etc. He first studied electrical engineering for two years, then law, and received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1935 from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee. ## Career McCarthy was admitted to the bar in 1935. While working at a law firm in Shawano, Wisconsin, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for district attorney as a Democrat in 1936. During his years as an attorney, McCarthy made money on the side by gambling. In 1939, McCarthy had better success when he ran for the nonpartisan elected post of 10th District circuit judge. McCarthy became the youngest circuit judge in the state's history by defeating incumbent Edgar V. Werner, who had been a judge for 24 years. In the campaign, McCarthy lied about Werner's age of 66, claiming that he was 73, and so allegedly too old and infirm to handle the duties of his office. Writing of Werner in Reds: McCarthyism In Twentieth-Century America, Ted Morgan wrote: "Pompous and condescending, he (Werner) was disliked by lawyers. His judgements had often been reversed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and he was so inefficient that he had piled up a huge backlog of cases." McCarthy's judicial career attracted some controversy because of the speed with which he dispatched many of his cases as he worked to clear the heavily backlogged docket he had inherited from Werner. Wisconsin had strict divorce laws, but when McCarthy heard divorce cases, he expedited them whenever possible, and he made the needs of children involved in contested divorces a priority. When it came to other cases argued before him, McCarthy compensated for his lack of experience as a jurist by demanding and relying heavily upon precise briefs from the contesting attorneys. The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a low percentage of the cases he heard, but he was also censured in 1941 for having lost evidence in a price fixing case. ### Military service In 1942, shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, McCarthy joined the United States Marine Corps, despite the fact that his judicial office exempted him from military service. His college education qualified him for a direct commission, and he entered the Marines as a first lieutenant. According to Morgan, writing in Reds, McCarthy's friend and campaign manager, attorney and judge Urban P. Van Susteren, had applied for active duty in the U.S. Army Air Forces in early 1942, and advised McCarthy: "Be a hero—join the Marines." When McCarthy seemed hesitant, Van Susteren asked, "You got shit in your blood?" He served as an intelligence briefing officer for a dive bomber squadron VMSB-235 in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville for 30 months (August 1942 – February 1945), and held the rank of captain by the time he resigned his commission in April 1945. He volunteered to fly twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer. These missions were generally safe, and after one where he was allowed to shoot as much ammunition as he wanted to, mainly at coconut trees, he acquired the nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe". McCarthy remained in the Marine Corps Reserve after the war, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He later falsely claimed participation in 32 aerial missions in order to qualify for a Distinguished Flying Cross and multiple awards of the Air Medal, which the Marine Corps chain of command decided to approve in 1952 because of his political influence. McCarthy also publicized a letter of commendation which he claimed had been signed by his commanding officer and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, then Chief of Naval Operations. However, his commander revealed that McCarthy had written this letter himself, probably while preparing award citations and commendation letters as an additional duty, and that he had signed his commander's name, after which Nimitz signed it during the process of just signing numerous other such letters. A "war wound"—a badly broken leg—that McCarthy made the subject of varying stories involving airplane crashes or anti-aircraft fire had in fact happened aboard ship during a raucous celebration for sailors crossing the equator for the first time. Because of McCarthy's various lies about his military heroism, his "Tail-Gunner Joe" nickname was sarcastically used as a term of mockery by his critics. McCarthy campaigned for the Republican Senate nomination in Wisconsin while still on active duty in 1944 but was defeated by Alexander Wiley, the incumbent. After he left the Marines in April 1945, five months before the end of the Pacific war in September 1945, McCarthy was reelected unopposed to his circuit court position. He then began a much more systematic campaign for the 1946 Republican Senate primary nomination, with support from Thomas Coleman, the Republican Party's political boss in Wisconsin. In this race, he was challenging three-term senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., founder of the Wisconsin Progressive Party and son of the celebrated Wisconsin governor and senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. ### Senate campaign In his campaign, McCarthy attacked La Follette for not enlisting during the war, although La Follette had been 46 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He also claimed La Follette had made huge profits from his investments while he, McCarthy, had been away fighting for his country. In fact, McCarthy had invested in the stock market himself during the war, netting a profit of \$42,000 in 1943 (over \$604,000 when adjusted for inflation in 2017). Where McCarthy got the money to invest in the first place remains a mystery. La Follette's investments consisted of partial interest in a radio station, which earned him a profit of \$47,000 over two years. According to Jack Anderson and Ronald W. May, McCarthy's campaign funds, much of them from out of state, were ten times more than La Follette's and McCarthy's vote benefited from a Communist Party vendetta against La Follette. The suggestion that La Follette had been guilty of war profiteering was deeply damaging, and McCarthy won the primary nomination 207,935 votes to 202,557. It was during this campaign that McCarthy started publicizing his war-time nickname "Tail-Gunner Joe", using the slogan, "Congress needs a tail-gunner". Journalist Arnold Beichman later stated that McCarthy "was elected to his first term in the Senate with support from the Communist-controlled United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO", which preferred McCarthy to the anti-communist Robert M. La Follette. In the general election against Democratic opponent Howard J. McMurray, McCarthy won 61.2% to Democrat McMurray's 37.3%, and thus joined Senator Wiley, whom he had challenged unsuccessfully two years earlier, in the Senate. ## Personal life In 1950, McCarthy assaulted journalist Drew Pearson in the cloakroom at the Sulgrave Club, reportedly kneeing him in the groin. McCarthy, who admitted the assault, claimed he merely "slapped" Pearson. In 1952, using rumors collected by Pearson as well as other sources, Nevada publisher Hank Greenspun wrote that McCarthy was a frequent patron at the White Horse Inn, a Milwaukee gay bar, and cited his involvement with young men. Greenspun named some of McCarthy's alleged lovers, including Charles E. Davis, an ex-Communist and "confessed homosexual" who claimed that he had been hired by McCarthy to spy on U.S. diplomats in Switzerland. McCarthy's FBI file also contains numerous allegations, including a 1952 letter from an Army lieutenant who said, "When I was in Washington some time ago, [McCarthy] picked me up at the bar in the Wardman [Hotel] and took me home, and while I was half-drunk he committed sodomy on me." J. Edgar Hoover conducted a perfunctory investigation of the Senator's alleged sexual assault; Hoover's approach was that "homosexuals are very bitter against Senator McCarthy for his attack upon those who are supposed to be in the Government." Although some notable McCarthy biographers have rejected these rumors, others have suggested that he may have been blackmailed. During the early 1950s, McCarthy launched a series of attacks on the CIA, claiming it had been infiltrated by communist agents. Allen Dulles, who suspected McCarthy was using information supplied by Hoover, refused to cooperate. According to the historian David Talbot, Dulles also compiled a "scandalous" intimate dossier on the Senator's personal life and used the homosexual stories to take him down. In any event, McCarthy did not sue Greenspun for libel. (He was told that if the case went ahead he would be compelled to take the witness stand and to refute the charges made in the affidavit of the young man, which was the basis for Greenspun's story.) In 1953, he married Jean Fraser Kerr, a researcher in his office. In January 1957, McCarthy and his wife adopted an infant with the help of Roy Cohn's close friend Cardinal Spellman. They named the baby girl Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy. ## United States Senate Senator McCarthy's first three years in the Senate were unremarkable. McCarthy was a popular speaker, invited by many different organizations, covering a wide range of topics. His aides and many in the Washington social circle described him as charming and friendly, and he was a popular guest at cocktail parties. He was far less well liked among fellow senators, however, who found him quick-tempered and prone to impatience and even rage. Outside of a small circle of colleagues, he was soon an isolated figure in the Senate. McCarthy was active in labor-management issues, with a reputation as a moderate Republican. He fought against continuation of wartime price controls, especially on sugar. His advocacy in this area was associated by critics with a \$20,000 personal loan McCarthy received from a Pepsi bottling executive, earning the Senator the derisive nickname "The Pepsi-Cola Kid". McCarthy supported the Taft–Hartley Act over Truman's veto, angering labor unions in Wisconsin but solidifying his business base. ### Malmedy massacre trial In an incident for which he would be widely criticized, McCarthy lobbied for the commutation of death sentences given to a group of Waffen-SS soldiers convicted of war crimes for carrying out the 1944 Malmedy massacre of American prisoners of war. McCarthy was critical of the convictions because the German soldiers' confessions were allegedly obtained through torture during the interrogations. He argued that the U.S. Army was engaged in a coverup of judicial misconduct, but never presented any evidence to support the accusation. Shortly after this, a 1950 poll of the Senate press corps voted McCarthy "the worst U.S. senator" currently in office. McCarthy biographer Larry Tye has written that antisemitism may have factored into McCarthy's outspoken views on Malmedy. Although he had substantial Jewish support, notably Lewis Rosenstiel of Schenley Industries, Rabbi Benjamin Schultz of the American Jewish League Against Communism, and the columnist George Sokolsky, who convinced him to hire Roy Cohn and G. David Schine, McCarthy frequently used anti-Jewish slurs. In this and McCarthy's other characteristics, such as the enthusiastic support he received from antisemitic politicians like Ku Klux Klansman Wesley Swift and his tendency, according to friends, to his copy of Mein Kampf, stating, "That's the way to do it," McCarthy's critics characterize him as driven by antisemitism. However, historian Larry Tye says that this is not the case. Based on accounts of his opposition to Soviet antisemitism, friendship with and employment of Jews, pro-Israel outlook, and testimony of colleagues to his lack of antisemitism, Tye suggests that those aspects his critics denote as antisemitic are rather byproducts of McCarthy's absolute lack of a filter and his inability to avoid colleagues colored by hatred. Tye says, "He certainly knew how to hate, but he wasn't that [antisemitic] kind of bigot." This perspective that McCarthy was not an antisemite is supported by other historians. Tye cites three quotes from European historian Steven Remy, chief Malmedy prosecutor COL Burton Ellis JAG USA, and massacre victim and survivor Virgil P. Lary, Jr: > Both willfully clueless and supremely self-confident, McCarthy impeded but did not derail a truly fair and balanced investigation of the Malmedy affair, — Steven Remy > It beats the hell out of me why everyone tries so hard to show that the prosecution [team] were insidious, underhanded, unethical, immoral and God knows what monsters, that unfairly convicted a group of whiskerless Sunday school boys. — Burton Ellis > I have seen persons bent on murdering me, persons who murdered my companions, defended by a United States senator. ... I charge that this action of Senator McCarthy’s became the basis for the Communist propaganda in western Germany, designed to discredit the American armed forces and American justice. — Virgil P. Lary, Jr. ### "Enemies within" McCarthy experienced a meteoric rise in national profile beginning on February 9, 1950, when he gave a Lincoln Day speech to the Republican Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. His words in the speech are a matter of some debate, as no audio recording was saved. However, it is generally agreed that he produced a piece of paper that he claimed contained a list of known Communists working for the State Department. McCarthy is usually quoted to have said: "The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department." There is some dispute with whether or not McCarthy actually gave the number of people on the list as being "205" or "57". In a later telegram to President Truman, and when entering the speech into the Congressional Record, he used the number 57. The origin of the number 205 can be traced: in later debates on the Senate floor, McCarthy referred to a 1946 letter that then–Secretary of State James Byrnes sent to Congressman Adolph J. Sabath. In that letter, Byrnes said State Department security investigations had resulted in "recommendation against permanent employment" for 284 persons, and that 79 of these had been removed from their jobs; this left 205 still on the State Department's payroll. In fact, by the time of McCarthy's speech only about 65 of the employees mentioned in the Byrnes letter were still with the State Department, and all of these had undergone further security checks. At the time of McCarthy's speech, communism was a significant concern in the United States. This concern was exacerbated by the actions of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War, the Soviets' development of a nuclear weapon the year before, and by the contemporary controversy surrounding Alger Hiss and the confession of Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs. With this background and due to the sensational nature of McCarthy's charge against the State Department, the Wheeling speech soon attracted a flood of press interest in McCarthy's claim. ### Tydings Committee McCarthy himself was taken aback by the massive media response to the Wheeling speech, and he was accused of continually revising both his charges and figures. In Salt Lake City, Utah, a few days later, he cited a figure of 57, and in the Senate on February 20, 1950, he claimed 81. During a five-hour speech, McCarthy presented a case-by-case analysis of his 81 "loyalty risks" employed at the State Department. It is widely accepted that most of McCarthy's cases were selected from the so-called "Lee list", a report that had been compiled three years earlier for the House Appropriations Committee. Led by a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent named Robert E. Lee, the House investigators had reviewed security clearance documents on State Department employees, and had determined that there were "incidents of inefficiencies" in the security reviews of 108 employees. McCarthy hid the source of his list, stating that he had penetrated the "iron curtain" of State Department secrecy with the aid of "some good, loyal Americans in the State Department". In reciting the information from the Lee list cases, McCarthy consistently exaggerated, representing the hearsay of witnesses as facts and converting phrases such as "inclined towards Communism" to "a Communist". In response to McCarthy's charges, the Senate voted unanimously to investigate, and the Tydings Committee hearings were called. This was a subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations set up in February 1950 to conduct "a full and complete study and investigation as to whether persons who are disloyal to the United States are, or have been, employed by the Department of State". Many Democrats were incensed at McCarthy's attack on the State Department of a Democratic administration, and had hoped to use the hearings to discredit him. The Democratic chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Millard Tydings, was reported to have said, "Let me have him [McCarthy] for three days in public hearings, and he'll never show his face in the Senate again." During the hearings, McCarthy made charges against nine specific people: Dorothy Kenyon, Esther Brunauer, Haldore Hanson, Gustavo Durán, Owen Lattimore, Harlow Shapley, Frederick Schuman, John S. Service, and Philip Jessup. They all had previously been the subject of charges of varying worth and validity. Owen Lattimore became a particular focus of McCarthy's, who at one point described him as a "top Russian spy". From its beginning, the Tydings Committee was marked by intense partisan infighting. Its final report, written by the Democratic majority, concluded that the individuals on McCarthy's list were neither Communists nor pro-communist, and said the State Department had an effective security program. The Tydings Report labeled McCarthy's charges a "fraud and a hoax", and described them as using incensing rhetoric—saying that the result of McCarthy's actions was to "confuse and divide the American people ... to a degree far beyond the hopes of the Communists themselves". Republicans were outraged by the Democratic response. They responded to the report's rhetoric in kind, with William E. Jenner stating that Tydings was guilty of "the most brazen whitewash of treasonable conspiracy in our history". The full Senate voted three times on whether to accept the report, and each time the voting was precisely divided along party lines. ### Fame and notoriety From 1950 onward, McCarthy continued to exploit the fear of Communism and to press his accusations that the government was failing to deal with Communism within its ranks. McCarthy also began investigations into homosexuals working in the foreign policy bureaucracy, who were considered prime candidates for blackmail by the Soviets. These accusations received wide publicity, increased his approval rating, and gained him a powerful national following. In Congress, there was little doubt that homosexuals did not belong in sensitive government positions. Since the late 1940s, the government had been dismissing about five homosexuals a month from civilian posts; by 1954, the number had grown twelve-fold. As historian David M. Barrett would write, "Mixed in with the hysterics were some logic, though: homosexuals faced condemnation and discrimination, and most of them—wishing to conceal their orientation—were vulnerable to blackmail." Director of Central Intelligence Roscoe Hillenkoetter was called to Congress to testify on homosexuals being employed at the CIA. He said, "The use of homosexuals as a control mechanism over individuals recruited for espionage is a generally accepted technique which has been used at least on a limited basis for many years." As soon as the DCI said these words, his aide signaled to take the remainder of the DCI's testimony off the record. Political historian David Barrett uncovered Hillenkoetter's notes, which reveal the remainder of the statement: "While this agency will never employ homosexuals on its rolls, it might conceivably be necessary, and in the past has actually been valuable, to use known homosexuals as agents in the field. I am certain that if Joseph Stalin or a member of the Politburo or a high satellite official were known to be a homosexual, no member of this committee or of the Congress would balk against our use of any technique to penetrate their operations ... after all, intelligence and espionage is, at best, an extremely dirty business." The senators reluctantly agreed the CIA had to be flexible. McCarthy's methods also brought on the disapproval and opposition of many. Barely a month after McCarthy's Wheeling speech, the term "McCarthyism" was coined by Washington Post cartoonist Herbert Block. Block and others used the word as a synonym for demagoguery, baseless defamation, and mudslinging. Later, it would be embraced by McCarthy and some of his supporters. "McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled," McCarthy said in a 1952 speech, and later that year, he published a book titled McCarthyism: The Fight For America. McCarthy sought to discredit his critics and political opponents by accusing them of being Communists or communist sympathizers. In the 1950 Maryland Senate election, McCarthy campaigned for John Marshall Butler in his race against four-term incumbent Millard Tydings, with whom McCarthy had been in conflict during the Tydings Committee hearings. In speeches supporting Butler, McCarthy accused Tydings of "protecting Communists" and "shielding traitors". McCarthy's staff was heavily involved in the campaign and collaborated in the production of a campaign tabloid that contained a composite photograph doctored to make it appear that Tydings was in intimate conversation with Communist leader Earl Russell Browder. A Senate subcommittee later investigated this election and referred to it as "a despicable, back-street type of campaign", as well as recommending that the use of defamatory literature in a campaign be made grounds for expulsion from the Senate. The pamphlet was clearly labeled a composite. McCarthy said it was "wrong" to distribute it; though staffer Jean Kerr thought it was fine. After he lost the election by almost 40,000 votes, Tydings claimed foul play. In addition to the Tydings–Butler race, McCarthy campaigned for several other Republicans in the 1950 elections, including Everett Dirksen against Democratic incumbent and Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas. Dirksen, and indeed all the candidates McCarthy supported, won their elections, and those he opposed lost. The elections, including many that McCarthy was not involved in, were an overall Republican sweep. Although his impact on the elections was unclear, McCarthy was credited as a key Republican campaigner. He was now regarded as one of the most powerful men in the Senate and was treated with new-found deference by his colleagues. In the 1952 Senate elections McCarthy was returned to his Senate seat with 54.2% of the vote, compared to Democrat Thomas Fairchild's 45.6%. As of 2020, McCarthy is the last Republican to win Wisconsin's Class 1 Senate seat. ### McCarthy and the Truman administration McCarthy and President Truman clashed often during the years both held office. McCarthy characterized Truman and the Democratic Party as soft on, or even in league with, Communists, and spoke of the Democrats' "twenty years of treason". Truman, in turn, once referred to McCarthy as "the best asset the Kremlin has", calling McCarthy's actions an attempt to "sabotage the foreign policy of the United States" in a cold war and comparing it to shooting American soldiers in the back in a hot war. It was the Truman Administration's State Department that McCarthy accused of harboring 205 (or 57 or 81) "known Communists". Truman's Secretary of Defense, George Marshall, was the target of some of McCarthy's most vitriolic rhetoric. Marshall had been Army Chief of Staff during World War II and was also Truman's former Secretary of State. Marshall was a highly respected general and statesman, remembered today as the architect of victory and peace, the latter based on the Marshall Plan for post-war reconstruction of Europe, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. McCarthy made a lengthy speech on Marshall, later published in 1951 as a book titled America's Retreat From Victory: The Story of George Catlett Marshall. Marshall had been involved in American foreign policy with China, and McCarthy charged that Marshall was directly responsible for the loss of China to Communism. In the speech McCarthy also implied that Marshall was guilty of treason; declared that "if Marshall were merely stupid, the laws of probability would dictate that part of his decisions would serve this country's interest"; and most famously, accused him of being part of "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous venture in the history of man". In December 1950, McCarthy teamed with right-wing radio star Fulton Lewis Jr. to smear Truman's nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense, Anna M. Rosenberg. Their smear campaign attracted allies in anti-Semites and extremists like Gerald L. K. Smith, who falsely claimed Rosenberg, who was Jewish, was a communist. Unlike other women targets of McCarthyism, Rosenberg emerged with her career and integrity intact. When the smear campaign fizzled out, journalist Edward R. Murrow said "the character assassin has missed." During the Korean War, when Truman dismissed General Douglas MacArthur, McCarthy charged that Truman and his advisors must have planned the dismissal during late-night sessions when "they've had time to get the President cheerful" on bourbon and Bénédictine. McCarthy declared, "The son of a bitch should be impeached." ### Support from Roman Catholics and the Kennedy family One of the strongest bases of anti-Communist sentiment in the United States was the Catholic community, which constituted over 20% of the national vote. McCarthy identified himself as Catholic, and although the great majority of Catholics were Democrats, as his fame as a leading anti-Communist grew, he became popular in Catholic communities across the country, with strong support from many leading Catholics, diocesan newspapers, and Catholic journals. At the same time, some Catholics opposed McCarthy, notably the anti-Communist author Father John Francis Cronin and the influential journal Commonweal. McCarthy established a bond with the powerful Kennedy family, which had high visibility among Catholics. McCarthy became a close friend of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., himself a fervent anti-Communist, and he was also a frequent guest at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He dated two of Kennedy's daughters, Patricia and Eunice. It has been stated that McCarthy was godfather to Robert F. Kennedy's first child, Kathleen Kennedy. This claim has been acknowledged by Robert's wife and Kathleen's mother Ethel, though Kathleen later claimed that she looked at her christening certificate and that her actual godfather was Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart professor Daniel Walsh. Robert Kennedy was chosen by McCarthy to be a counsel for his investigatory committee, but he resigned after six months due to disagreements with McCarthy and Committee Counsel Roy Marcus Cohn. Joseph Kennedy had a national network of contacts and became a vocal supporter, building McCarthy's popularity among Catholics and making sizable contributions to McCarthy's campaigns. The Kennedy patriarch hoped that one of his sons would be president. Mindful of the anti-Catholic prejudice which Al Smith faced during his 1928 campaign for that office, Joseph Kennedy supported McCarthy as a national Catholic politician who might pave the way for a younger Kennedy's presidential candidacy. Unlike many Democrats, John F. Kennedy, who served in the Senate with McCarthy from 1953 until the latter's death in 1957, never attacked McCarthy. McCarthy did not campaign for Kennedy's 1952 opponent, Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., due to his friendship with the Kennedys and, reportedly, a \$50,000 donation from Joseph Kennedy. Lodge lost despite Eisenhower winning the state in the presidential election. When a speaker at a February 1952 final club dinner stated that he was glad that McCarthy had not attended Harvard College, an angry Kennedy jumped up, denounced the speaker, and left the event. When Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. asked Kennedy why he avoided criticizing McCarthy, Kennedy responded by saying, "Hell, half my voters in Massachusetts look on McCarthy as a hero". ### McCarthy and Eisenhower During the 1952 presidential election, the Eisenhower campaign toured Wisconsin with McCarthy. In a speech delivered in Green Bay, Eisenhower declared that while he agreed with McCarthy's goals, he disagreed with his methods. In draft versions of his speech, Eisenhower had also included a strong defense of his mentor, George Marshall, which was a direct rebuke of McCarthy's frequent attacks. However, under the advice of conservative colleagues who were fearful that Eisenhower could lose Wisconsin if he alienated McCarthy supporters, he deleted this defense from later versions of his speech. The deletion was discovered by William H. Laurence, a reporter for The New York Times, and featured on its front page the next day. Eisenhower was widely criticized for giving up his personal convictions, and the incident became the low point of his campaign. With his victory in the 1952 presidential race, Dwight Eisenhower became the first Republican president in 20 years. The Republican Party also held a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. After being elected president, Eisenhower made it clear to those close to him that he did not approve of McCarthy and he worked actively to diminish his power and influence. Still, he never directly confronted McCarthy or criticized him by name in any speech, thus perhaps prolonging McCarthy's power by giving the impression that even the President was afraid to criticize him directly. Oshinsky disputes this, stating that "Eisenhower was known as a harmonizer, a man who could get diverse factions to work toward a common goal. ... Leadership, he explained, meant patience and conciliation, not 'hitting people over the head.'" McCarthy won reelection in 1952 with 54% of the vote, defeating former Wisconsin State Attorney General Thomas E. Fairchild but, as stated above, badly trailing a Republican ticket which otherwise swept the state of Wisconsin; all the other Republican winners, including Eisenhower himself, received at least 60% of the Wisconsin vote. Those who expected that party loyalty would cause McCarthy to tone down his accusations of Communists being harbored within the government were soon disappointed. Eisenhower had never been an admirer of McCarthy, and their relationship became more hostile once Eisenhower was in office. In a November 1953 speech that was carried on national television, McCarthy began by praising the Eisenhower Administration for removing "1,456 Truman holdovers who were ... gotten rid of because of Communist connections and activities or perversion." He then went on to complain that John Paton Davies Jr. was still "on the payroll after eleven months of the Eisenhower administration," even though Davies had actually been dismissed three weeks earlier, and repeated an unsubstantiated accusation that Davies had tried to "put Communists and espionage agents in key spots in the Central Intelligence Agency." In the same speech, he criticized Eisenhower for not doing enough to secure the release of missing American pilots shot down over China during the Korean War. By the end of 1953, McCarthy had altered the "twenty years of treason" catchphrase he had coined for the preceding Democratic administrations and began referring to "twenty-one years of treason" to include Eisenhower's first year in office. As McCarthy became increasingly combative towards the Eisenhower Administration, Eisenhower faced repeated calls that he confront McCarthy directly. Eisenhower refused, saying privately "nothing would please him [McCarthy] more than to get the publicity that would be generated by a public repudiation by the President." On several occasions Eisenhower is reported to have said of McCarthy that he did not want to "get down in the gutter with that guy." ### Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations With the beginning of his second term as senator in January 1953, McCarthy was made chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations. According to some reports, Republican leaders were growing wary of McCarthy's methods and gave him this relatively mundane panel rather than the Internal Security Subcommittee—the committee normally involved with investigating Communists—thus putting McCarthy "where he can't do any harm", in the words of Senate Majority Leader Robert A. Taft. However, the Committee on Government Operations included the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and the mandate of this subcommittee was sufficiently flexible to allow McCarthy to use it for his own investigations of Communists in the government. McCarthy appointed Roy Cohn as chief counsel and 27-year-old Robert F. Kennedy as an assistant counsel to the subcommittee. Later, McCarthy also hired Gerard David Schine, heir to a hotel-chain fortune, on the recommendation of George Sokolsky. This subcommittee would be the scene of some of McCarthy's most publicized exploits. When the records of the closed executive sessions of the subcommittee under McCarthy's chairmanship were made public in 2003–04, Senators Susan Collins and Carl Levin wrote the following in their preface to the documents: > Senator McCarthy's zeal to uncover subversion and espionage led to disturbing excesses. His browbeating tactics destroyed careers of people who were not involved in the infiltration of our government. His freewheeling style caused both the Senate and the Subcommittee to revise the rules governing future investigations, and prompted the courts to act to protect the Constitutional rights of witnesses at Congressional hearings. ... These hearings are a part of our national past that we can neither afford to forget nor permit to re-occur. The subcommittee first investigated allegations of Communist influence in the Voice of America, at that time administered by the State Department's United States Information Agency. Many VOA personnel were questioned in front of television cameras and a packed press gallery, with McCarthy lacing his questions with hostile innuendo and false accusations. A few VOA employees alleged Communist influence on the content of broadcasts, but none of the charges were substantiated. Morale at VOA was badly damaged, and one of its engineers committed suicide during McCarthy's investigation. Ed Kretzman, a policy advisor for the service, would later comment that it was VOA's "darkest hour when Senator McCarthy and his chief hatchet man, Roy Cohn, almost succeeded in muffling it." The subcommittee then turned to the overseas library program of the International Information Agency. Cohn toured Europe examining the card catalogs of the State Department libraries looking for works by authors he deemed inappropriate. McCarthy then recited the list of supposedly pro-communist authors before his subcommittee and the press. The State Department bowed to McCarthy and ordered its overseas librarians to remove from their shelves "material by any controversial persons, Communists, fellow travelers, etc." Some libraries went as far as burning the newly-forbidden books. Shortly after this, in one of his public criticisms of McCarthy, President Eisenhower urged Americans: "Don't join the book burners. ... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book." Soon after receiving the chair to the Subcommittee on Investigations, McCarthy appointed J. B. Matthews as staff director of the subcommittee. One of the nation's foremost anti-communists, Matthews had formerly been staff director for the House Un-American Activities Committee. The appointment became controversial when it was learned that Matthews had recently written an article titled "Reds and Our Churches", which opened with the sentence, "The largest single group supporting the Communist apparatus in the United States is composed of Protestant Clergymen." A group of senators denounced this "shocking and unwarranted attack against the American clergy" and demanded that McCarthy dismiss Matthews. McCarthy initially refused to do this. As the controversy mounted, however, and the majority of his own subcommittee joined the call for Matthews's ouster, McCarthy finally yielded and accepted his resignation. For some McCarthy opponents, this was a signal defeat of the senator, showing he was not as invincible as he had formerly seemed. ### Investigating the army In autumn 1953, McCarthy's committee began its ill-fated inquiry into the United States Army. This began with McCarthy opening an investigation into the Army Signal Corps laboratory at Fort Monmouth. McCarthy, newly married to Jean Kerr, cut short his honeymoon to open the investigation. He garnered some headlines with stories of a dangerous spy ring among the army researchers, but after weeks of hearings, nothing came of his investigations. Unable to expose any signs of subversion, McCarthy focused instead on the case of Irving Peress, a New York dentist who had been drafted into the army in 1952 and promoted to major in November 1953. Shortly thereafter it came to the attention of the military bureaucracy that Peress, who was a member of the left-wing American Labor Party, had declined to answer questions about his political affiliations on a loyalty-review form. Peress's superiors were therefore ordered to discharge him from the army within 90 days. McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to appear before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954. Peress refused to answer McCarthy's questions, citing his rights under the Fifth Amendment. McCarthy responded by sending a message to Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens, demanding that Peress be court-martialed. On that same day, Peress asked for his pending discharge from the army to be effected immediately, and the next day Brigadier General Ralph W. Zwicker, his commanding officer at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey, gave him an honorable separation from the army. At McCarthy's encouragement, "Who promoted Peress?" became a rallying cry among many anti-communists and McCarthy supporters. In fact, and as McCarthy knew, Peress had been promoted automatically through the provisions of the Doctor Draft Law, for which McCarthy had voted. ### Army–McCarthy hearings Early in 1954, the U.S. Army accused McCarthy and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn, of improperly pressuring the army to give favorable treatment to G. David Schine, a former aide to McCarthy and a friend of Cohn's, who was then serving in the army as a private. McCarthy claimed that the accusation was made in bad faith, in retaliation for his questioning of Zwicker the previous year. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, usually chaired by McCarthy himself, was given the task of adjudicating these conflicting charges. Republican senator Karl Mundt was appointed to chair the committee, and the Army–McCarthy hearings convened on April 22, 1954. The army consulted with an attorney familiar with McCarthy to determine the best approach to attacking him. Based on his recommendation, it decided not to pursue McCarthy on the issue of communists in government: "The attorney feels it is almost impossible to counter McCarthy effectively on the issue of kicking Communists out of Government, because he generally has some basis, no matter how slight, for his claim of Communist connection." The hearings lasted for 36 days and were broadcast on live television by ABC and DuMont, with an estimated 20 million viewers. After hearing 32 witnesses and two million words of testimony, the committee concluded that McCarthy himself had not exercised any improper influence on Schine's behalf, but that Cohn had engaged in "unduly persistent or aggressive efforts". The committee also concluded that Army Secretary Robert Stevens and Army Counsel John Adams "made efforts to terminate or influence the investigation and hearings at Fort Monmouth", and that Adams "made vigorous and diligent efforts" to block subpoenas for members of the Army Loyalty and Screening Board "by means of personal appeal to certain members of the [McCarthy] committee". Of far greater importance to McCarthy than the committee's inconclusive final report was the negative effect that the extensive exposure had on his popularity. Many in the audience saw him as bullying, reckless, and dishonest, and the daily newspaper summaries of the hearings were also frequently unfavorable. Late in the hearings, Senator Stuart Symington made an angry and prophetic remark to McCarthy. Upon being told by McCarthy that "You're not fooling anyone", Symington replied: "Senator, the American people have had a look at you now for six weeks; you're not fooling anyone, either." In Gallup polls of January 1954, 50% of those polled had a positive opinion of McCarthy. In June, that number had fallen to 34%. In the same polls, those with a negative opinion of McCarthy increased from 29% to 45%. An increasing number of Republicans and conservatives were coming to see McCarthy as a liability to the party and to anti-communism. Representative George H. Bender noted, "There is a growing impatience with the Republican Party. McCarthyism has become a synonym for witch-hunting, Star Chamber methods, and the denial of ... civil liberties." Frederick Woltman, a reporter with a long-standing reputation as a staunch anti-communist, wrote a five-part series of articles criticizing McCarthy in the New York World-Telegram. He stated that McCarthy "has become a major liability to the cause of anti-communism", and accused him of "wild twisting of facts and near-facts [that] repels authorities in the field". The most famous incident in the hearings was an exchange between McCarthy and the army's chief legal representative, Joseph Nye Welch. On June 9, 1954, the 30th day of the hearings, Welch challenged Roy Cohn to provide U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. with McCarthy's list of 130 Communists or subversives in defense plants "before the sun goes down". McCarthy stepped in and said that if Welch was so concerned about persons aiding the Communist Party, he should check on a man in his Boston law office named Fred Fisher, who had once belonged to the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive lawyers' association. In an impassioned defense of Fisher, Welch responded, "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness ..." When McCarthy resumed his attack, Welch interrupted him: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" When McCarthy once again persisted, Welch cut him off and demanded the chairman "call the next witness". At that point, the gallery erupted in applause and a recess was called. ### Edward R. Murrow, See It Now Even before McCarthy's clash with Welch in the hearings, one of the most prominent attacks on McCarthy's methods was an episode of the television documentary series See It Now, hosted by journalist Edward R. Murrow, which was broadcast on March 9, 1954. Titled "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy", the episode consisted largely of clips of McCarthy speaking. In these clips, McCarthy accuses the Democratic party of "twenty years of treason", describes the American Civil Liberties Union as "listed as 'a front for, and doing the work of', the Communist Party", and berates and harangues various witnesses, including General Zwicker. In his conclusion, Murrow said of McCarthy: > No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men—not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. > > This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. > > The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. Cassius was right: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." The following week, See It Now ran another episode critical of McCarthy, this one focusing on the case of Annie Lee Moss, an African-American army clerk who was the target of one of McCarthy's investigations. The Murrow shows, together with the televised Army–McCarthy hearings of the same year, were the major causes of a nationwide popular opinion backlash against McCarthy, in part because for the first time his statements were being publicly challenged by noteworthy figures. To counter the negative publicity, McCarthy appeared on See It Now on April 6, 1954, and made a number of charges against the popular Murrow, including the accusation that he colluded with VOKS, the "Russian espionage and propaganda organization". This response did not go over well with viewers, and the result was a further decline in McCarthy's popularity. ### "Joe Must Go" recall attempt On March 18, 1954, Sauk-Prairie Star editor Leroy Gore of Sauk City, Wisconsin urged the recall of McCarthy in a front-page editorial that ran alongside a sample petition that readers could fill out and mail to the newspaper. A Republican and former McCarthy supporter, Gore cited the senator with subverting President Eisenhower's authority, disrespecting Wisconsin's own Gen. Ralph Wise Zwicker and ignoring the plight of Wisconsin dairy farmers faced with price-slashing surpluses. Despite critics' claims that a recall attempt was foolhardy, the "Joe Must Go" movement caught fire and was backed by a diverse coalition including other Republican leaders, Democrats, businessmen, farmers and students. Wisconsin's constitution stipulates the number of signatures needed to force a recall election must exceed one-quarter the number of voters in the most recent gubernatorial election, requiring the anti-McCarthy movement to gather some 404,000 signatures in sixty days. With little support from organized labor or the state Democratic Party, the roughly organized recall effort attracted national attention, particularly during the concurrent Army-McCarthy hearings. Following the deadline of June 5, the final number of signatures was never determined because the petitions were sent out of state to avoid a subpoena from Sauk County district attorney Harlan Kelley, an ardent McCarthy supporter who was investigating the leaders of the recall campaign on the grounds that they had violated Wisconsin's Corrupt Practices Act. Chicago newspapermen later tallied 335,000 names while another 50,000 were said to be hidden in Minneapolis, with other lists buried on Sauk County farms. ### Public opinion ### Censure and the Watkins Committee Several members of the U.S. Senate had opposed McCarthy well before 1953. Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican, was the first. She delivered her "Declaration of Conscience" speech on June 1, 1950, calling for an end to the use of smear tactics, without mentioning McCarthy or anyone else by name. Only six other Republican senators—Wayne Morse, Irving Ives, Charles W. Tobey, Edward John Thye, George Aiken, and Robert C. Hendrickson—agreed to join her in condemning McCarthy's tactics. McCarthy referred to Smith and her fellow senators as "Snow White and the six dwarfs". On March 9, 1954, Vermont Republican senator Ralph E. Flanders gave a humor-laced speech on the Senate floor, questioning McCarthy's tactics in fighting communism, likening McCarthyism to "house-cleaning" with "much clatter and hullabaloo". He recommended that McCarthy turn his attention to the worldwide encroachment of Communism outside North America. In a June 1 speech, Flanders compared McCarthy to Adolf Hitler, accusing him of spreading "division and confusion" and saying, "Were the Junior Senator from Wisconsin in the pay of the Communists he could not have done a better job for them." On June 11, Flanders introduced a resolution to have McCarthy removed as chair of his committees. Although there were many in the Senate who believed that some sort of disciplinary action against McCarthy was warranted, there was no clear majority supporting this resolution. Some of the resistance was due to concern about usurping the Senate's rules regarding committee chairs and seniority. Flanders next introduced a resolution to censure McCarthy. The resolution was initially written without any reference to particular actions or misdeeds on McCarthy's part. As Flanders put it, "It was not his breaches of etiquette, or of rules or sometimes even of laws which is so disturbing," but rather his overall pattern of behavior. Ultimately a "bill of particulars" listing 46 charges was added to the censure resolution. A special committee, chaired by Senator Arthur Vivian Watkins, was appointed to study and evaluate the resolution. This committee opened hearings on August 31. After two months of hearings and deliberations, the Watkins Committee recommended that McCarthy be censured on two of the 46 counts: his contempt of the Subcommittee on Rules and Administration, which had called him to testify in 1951 and 1952, and his abuse of General Zwicker in 1954. The Zwicker count was dropped by the full Senate on the grounds that McCarthy's conduct was arguably "induced" by Zwicker's own behavior. In place of this count, a new one was drafted regarding McCarthy's statements about the Watkins Committee itself. The two counts on which the Senate ultimately voted were: - That McCarthy had "failed to co-operate with the Sub-committee on Rules and Administration", and "repeatedly abused the members who were trying to carry out assigned duties ..." - That McCarthy had charged "three members of the [Watkins] Select Committee with 'deliberate deception' and 'fraud' ... that the special Senate session ... was a 'lynch party'", and had characterized the committee "as the 'unwitting handmaiden', 'involuntary agent' and 'attorneys in fact' of the Communist Party", and had "acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute, to obstruct the constitutional processes of the Senate, and to impair its dignity". On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to "condemn" McCarthy on both counts by a vote of 67 to 22. The Democrats present unanimously favored condemnation and the Republicans were split evenly. The only senator not on record was John F. Kennedy, who was hospitalized for back surgery; Kennedy never indicated how he would have voted. Immediately after the vote, Senator H. Styles Bridges, a McCarthy supporter, argued that the resolution was "not a censure resolution" because the word "condemn" rather than "censure" was used in the final draft. The word "censure" was then removed from the title of the resolution, though it is generally regarded and referred to as a censure of McCarthy, both by historians and in Senate documents. McCarthy himself said, "I wouldn't exactly call it a vote of confidence." He added, "I don't feel I've been lynched." Indiana Senator William E. Jenner, one of McCarthy's friends and fellow Republicans likened McCarthy's conduct, however, to that of "the kid who came to the party and peed in the lemonade." ## Final years After his condemnation and censure, Joseph McCarthy continued to perform his senatorial duties for another two and a half years. His career as a major public figure, however, had been ruined. His colleagues in the Senate avoided him; his speeches on the Senate floor were delivered to a near-empty chamber or received with intentional and conspicuous displays of inattention. The press that had once recorded his every public statement now ignored him, and outside speaking engagements dwindled almost to nothing. Eisenhower, finally freed of McCarthy's political intimidation, quipped to his Cabinet that McCarthyism was now "McCarthywasm". Still, McCarthy continued to rail against Communism. He warned against attendance at summit conferences with "the Reds", saying that "you cannot offer friendship to tyrants and murderers ... without advancing the cause of tyranny and murder." He declared that "co-existence with Communists is neither possible nor honorable nor desirable. Our long-term objective must be the eradication of Communism from the face of the earth." In one of his final acts in the Senate, McCarthy opposed President Eisenhower's nomination to the Supreme Court of William J. Brennan, after reading a speech Brennan had given shortly beforehand in which he characterized McCarthy's anti-Communist investigations as "witch hunts". McCarthy's opposition failed to gain any traction, however, and he was the only senator to vote against Brennan's confirmation. McCarthy's biographers agree that he was a changed man, for the worse, after the censure; declining both physically and emotionally, he became a "pale ghost of his former self", in the words of Fred J. Cook. It was reported that McCarthy suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and was frequently hospitalized for alcohol abuse. Numerous eyewitnesses, including Senate aide George Reedy and journalist Tom Wicker, reported finding him drunk in the Senate. Journalist Richard Rovere (1959) wrote: > He had always been a heavy drinker, and there were times in those seasons of discontent when he drank more than ever. But he was not always drunk. He went on the wagon (for him this meant beer instead of whiskey) for days and weeks at a time. The difficulty toward the end was that he couldn't hold the stuff. He went to pieces on his second or third drink, and he did not snap back quickly. McCarthy had also become addicted to morphine. Harry J. Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, became aware of McCarthy's addiction in the 1950s, and demanded he stop using the drug. McCarthy refused. In Anslinger's memoir, The Murderers, McCarthy is anonymously quoted as saying: > I wouldn't try to do anything about it, Commissioner ... It will be the worse for you ... and if it winds up in a public scandal and that should hurt this country, I wouldn't care [...] The choice is yours. Anslinger decided to give McCarthy access to morphine in secret from a pharmacy in Washington, DC. The morphine was paid for by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, right up to McCarthy's death. Anslinger never publicly named McCarthy, and he threatened, with prison, a journalist who had uncovered the story. However, McCarthy's identity was known to Anslinger's agents, and journalist Maxine Cheshire confirmed his identity with Will Oursler, co-author of The Murderers, in 1978. ## Death McCarthy died in the Bethesda Naval Hospital on Thursday, May 2, 1957, at the age of 48. His death certificate listed the cause of death as "Hepatitis, acute, cause unknown"; previously doctors had not reported him to be in critical condition. It was hinted in the press that he died of alcoholism (cirrhosis of the liver), an estimation that is now accepted by modern biographers. Thomas C. Reeves argues that he effectively died by suicide. He was given a state funeral that was attended by 70 senators, and a Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass was celebrated before more than 100 priests and 2,000 others at Washington's St. Matthew's Cathedral. Thousands of people viewed his body in Washington. He was buried in St. Mary's Parish Cemetery, Appleton, Wisconsin, where more than 17,000 people filed through St. Mary's Church in order to pay him their last respects. Three senators—George W. Malone, William E. Jenner, and Herman Welker—had flown from Washington to Appleton on the plane that carried McCarthy's casket. Robert F. Kennedy attended the funeral in Wisconsin. McCarthy was survived by his wife, Jean, and their adopted daughter, Tierney. In the summer of 1957, a special election was held in order to fill McCarthy's seat. In the primaries, voters in both parties turned away from McCarthy's legacy. The Republican primary was won by Governor Walter J. Kohler Jr., who called for a clean break from McCarthy's approach; he defeated former Representative Glenn Robert Davis, who charged that President Eisenhower was soft on Communism. The Democratic candidate, William Proxmire, called the late McCarthy "a disgrace to Wisconsin, to the Senate, and to America." On August 27, Proxmire won the election, serving in the seat for 32 years. ## Legacy William Bennett, former Reagan Administration Secretary of Education, summed up his perspective in his 2007 book America: The Last Best Hope: > The cause of anti-communism, which united millions of Americans and which gained the support of Democrats, Republicans and independents, was undermined by Sen. Joe McCarthy ... McCarthy addressed a real problem: disloyal elements within the U.S. government. But his approach to this real problem was to cause untold grief to the country he claimed to love ... Worst of all, McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions. ### House Un-American Activities Committee McCarthy's hearings are often incorrectly conflated with the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). HUAC is best known for its investigations of Alger Hiss and the Hollywood film industry, which led to the blacklisting of hundreds of actors, writers, and directors. HUAC was a House committee, and as such it had no formal connection to McCarthy, who served in the Senate, although the existence of the House Un-American Activities Committee thrived in part as a result of McCarthy's activities. HUAC was active for 37 years (1938–1975). ### In popular culture From the start of his notoriety, McCarthy served as a favorite subject for political cartoonists. He was traditionally depicted in a negative light, normally pertaining to McCarthyism and his accusations. Herblock's cartoon that coined the term McCarthyism appeared less than two months after the senator's now famous February 1950 speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1951, Ray Bradbury published "The Fireman", an allegory on suppression of ideas. This served as the basis for Fahrenheit 451 published in 1953. Bradbury said that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 because of his concerns at the time (during the McCarthy era) about the threat of book burning in the United States. Bob Hope was one of the first comedians to make jokes about McCarthy. During his 1952 Christmas show, Hope made a joke about Santa Claus writing to let Joe McCarthy know he was going to wear his red suit despite the Red Scare. Hope continued to offer McCarthy jokes as they were well received by most people, although he did receive some hate mail. In 1953, the popular daily comic strip Pogo introduced the character Simple J. Malarkey, a pugnacious and conniving wildcat with an unmistakable physical resemblance to McCarthy. After a worried Rhode Island newspaper editor protested to the syndicate that provided the strip, creator Walt Kelly began depicting the Malarkey character with a bag over his head, concealing his features. The explanation was that Malarkey was hiding from a Rhode Island Red hen, a clear reference to the controversy over the Malarkey character. In 1953, playwright Arthur Miller published The Crucible, suggesting the Salem witch trials were analogous to McCarthyism. As his fame grew, McCarthy increasingly became the target of ridicule and parody. He was impersonated by nightclub and radio impressionists and was satirized in Mad magazine, on The Red Skelton Show, and elsewhere. Several comedy songs lampooning the senator were released in 1954, including "Point of Order" by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler, "Senator McCarthy Blues" by Hal Block, and unionist folk singer Joe Glazer's "Joe McCarthy's Band", sung to the tune of "McNamara's Band". Also in 1954, the radio comedy team Bob and Ray parodied McCarthy with the character "Commissioner Carstairs" in their soap opera spoof "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife". That same year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio network broadcast a satire, The Investigator, whose title character was a clear imitation of McCarthy. A recording of the show became popular in the United States, and was reportedly played by President Eisenhower at cabinet meetings. The 1953 short story Mr. Costello, Hero by Theodore Sturgeon was described by noted journalist and author Paul Williams as "the all-time great story about Senator Joseph McCarthy, who he was and how he did what he did." #### Post-censure reaction Mr. Costello, Hero was adapted in 1958 by X Minus One into a radio teleplay and broadcast on July 3, 1956. While the radio adaptation retains much of the story, it completely remakes the narrator and in fact gives him a line spoken in the original by Mr. Costello himself, thus changing the tone of the story considerably. In a 1977 interview Sturgeon commented that it was his concerns about the ongoing McCarthy Hearings that prompted him to write the story. A more serious fictional portrayal of McCarthy played a central role in the 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon. The character of Senator John Iselin, a demagogic anti-communist, is closely modeled on McCarthy, even to the varying numbers of Communists he asserts are employed by the federal government. He remains a major character in the 1962 film version. The 1962 novel Advise and Consent by Allen Drury features an overzealous demagogue, Senator Fred Van Ackerman, based on McCarthy. Although the fictional senator is an ultra liberal who proposes surrender to the Soviet Union, his portrayal strongly resembles the popular perception of McCarthy's character and methods. McCarthy was portrayed by Peter Boyle in the 1977 Emmy-winning television movie Tail Gunner Joe, a dramatization of McCarthy's life. He was portrayed by Joe Don Baker in the 1992 HBO film Citizen Cohn. Archival footage of McCarthy himself was used in the 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck about Edward R. Murrow and the See It Now episode that challenged McCarthy. In the German-French docu-drama The Real American – Joe McCarthy (2012), directed by Lutz Hachmeister, McCarthy is portrayed by the British actor and comedian John Sessions. In Lee Daniels' 2020 film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, McCarthy is portrayed by actor Randy Davison. R.E.M.'s song "Exhuming McCarthy", from their 1987 album Document, deals largely with McCarthy and contains sound clips from the Army-McCarthy Hearings. 'Joe' McCarthy is also mentioned in Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire". McCarthyism is one of the subjects of Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Lacuna. ### Reconsideration McCarthy remains a controversial figure. Arthur Herman, popular historian and senior fellow of the Hudson Institute, says that new evidence—in the form of Venona-decrypted Soviet messages, Soviet espionage data now opened to the West, and newly released transcripts of closed hearings before McCarthy's subcommittee—has partially vindicated McCarthy by showing that some of his identifications of Communists were correct and the scale of Soviet espionage activities in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s was larger than many scholars had suspected. In Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies, journalist M. Stanton Evans similarly argued that evidence from the Venona documents shows significant penetration by Soviet agents. Historian John Earl Haynes, who studied the Venona decryptions extensively, challenged Herman's efforts to rehabilitate McCarthy, arguing that McCarthy's attempts to "make anti-communism a partisan weapon" actually "threatened [the post-War] anti-Communist consensus", thereby ultimately harming anti-Communist efforts more than helping them. Haynes concluded that, of the 159 people who were identified on lists used or referenced by McCarthy, evidence only substantially proved that nine of them had aided Soviet espionage efforts—while several hundred Soviet spies were actually known based on Venona and other evidence, most were never named by McCarthy. Haynes' own view was that a number of those accused on McCarthy's lists above, perhaps a majority, likely posed some form of possible security risk, but a significant minority of others likely did not, and several were indisputably no risk at all. ## See also - List of deaths through alcohol - List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99) - List of United States senators expelled or censured

Gambler (song)

1985 single by Madonna

"Gambler" is a song by American singer Madonna from the soundtrack album to the 1985 film Vision Quest. The song was written solely by Madonna, while the production was handled by John "Jellybean" Benitez at her request. It was released as the second single from the film's soundtrack album on October 3, 1985, by Geffen Records. "Gambler" was never released as a single in the United States, at the request of Madonna's own Sire Records. The music video of the song is an excerpt from the film. Musically, "Gambler" is an upbeat synth-pop and disco song, featuring instrumentation from drums, electronic handclaps and percussion, which is accompanied by a bass synth and keyboards. The lyrics talk about Madonna asserting her self-independence. Critics gave a mixed review of the song, but it was commercially successful, reaching the top-ten in the charts of Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Madonna has performed the song only once, on her 1985 the Virgin Tour, which was documented on the live video release Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour. ## Background After the recording of "Crazy for You" for the 1985 coming-of-age drama film Vision Quest, Madonna decided to record two more songs, "Gambler" and "Warning Signs", both written entirely by her. However, only "Crazy for You" and "Gambler" made it onto the final track listing of the film's soundtrack album, with "Warning Signs" remaining commercially unreleased. Of the selection, music director Phil Ramone felt that "Gambler" was appropriate for the film's opening shots. Madonna explained that the song "is really the girl's point of view, because she's, like, an unstoppable person... She doesn't really need this guy". "Gambler" remained the last single written solely by Madonna until "Hey You" (2007). In a 1991 interview with Rolling Stone, she said that she got "lazy" to write songs without a collaborator. Madonna approached her then-boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez to produce "Gambler". As the song was recorded on the Geffen label, a commercial issue of the single, in the United States was suppressed, at the request of Madonna's Sire Records management. They feared that commercial availability of another Madonna single would have been detrimental to the other singles from the Like a Virgin album, and the already available, Geffen-distributed "Crazy for You". Hence, "Gambler" was neither commercially released nor sent for airplay in the United States. The UK 12-inch single contains the extended dance mix, instrumental remix, and the song "Nature of the Beach" by Black 'n Blue. The 7-inch single has the original version and "Nature of the Beach". The video for "Gambler" is similar to "Crazy for You", with Madonna singing the song along with clips culled from Vision Quest. Madonna filmed her performance on November 22, 1983, at the Big Foot Tavern in Spokane, Washington. On December 9, 2022, nearly 40 years after its release, the single was released, upon personal request by Madonna, to streaming services. ## Composition Musically, "Gambler" is an upbeat song that combines elements of synth-pop and disco, composed in the style of the songs on Madonna's self-titled debut album. The song features instrumentation from drums, electronic handclaps and percussion, which is accompanied by a bass synths and keyboards. The song starts with an initial four-chord chorus, and a brief three-chord verse, eventually reaching a middle eight, where Madonna's voice is in echoes. Near the end, the coda of the song uses a new musical sequence, with some whistling, and the line "You can't stop me now" ending echoes. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, the song is set in the time signature of common time, with a tempo of 100 beats per minute. Madonna's vocal range spans from B₃ to E₅. "Gambler" is composed in the key of D minor and has a basic sequence of Dm–G–Dm–G–Dm–G–Am as its chord progression. The lyrics have Madonna asserting her independence and daredevil attitude towards life, to a lover who, according to her, would not be able to understand or put up with her speed. ## Critical reception Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, compared the song to the music of the band Blondie and said: "The rapid movement through the various sections, can't save the song from being fairly ordinary, but it passes quick enough. Bit like 24-hour flu, really." Alex Henderson from AllMusic called the song "an ultra-infectious gem that, unfortunately, isn't on any of the [Madonna's] CDs" and felt that "'Gambler' is one of those songs that should have been a major hit but wasn't, whereas 'Crazy for You' soared to the top of the pop charts." Alfred Soto of Stylus Magazine, described "Gambler" as a "disco-punk, Flashdance edition" and called it "the most aggressive track of Madonna's career." Soto added, "'Gambler' is the only possible response to a slow dance in which you were left as unfulfilled as you were five minutes earlier. It deserves immortality beside 'Into the Groove' [...] The music is keyed to her vocals—insistent, strident, hip-thrusting; she slurs the line 'You're just jealous 'cuz you can't be me' like it's a shot of Rumplemints; meanwhile Animotion synths blow up her skirt." Robert Christgau gave a mixed review of the song. R. Serge Denisoff and William D. Romanowski, authors of Risky business: rock in film, felt that the song seemed "jammed into the movie with a plunger and little thought to appropriateness." The Motion Picture Guide of 1986 included the song as one of the soundtrack's standouts. In March 2023, Billboard ranked it as the singer's 92nd greatest song; Andrew Unterberger called it "the unofficial end of the Like a Virgin era, her final jolt of gooey synth-pop before moving onto weightier fare with True Blue. It's a blast, though it sounds like she could've tossed it off in the dressing room ten minutes earlier". Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez wrote: "['Gambler'] is what 'Dress You Up' would sound like after six vodka pineapples [...] To think what could have been had she brought a sneaking sense of vulnerability to what is, at heart, an emancipation proclamation, but it's an otherwise infectious marriage between Madonna's assertiveness and 'Jellybean' Benitez's all-pelvic-thrust production". Rolling Stone called it an "urgent-sounding dance track" whose "assertive feel jelled well with [Vision Quest's] theme, especially the story of its hard-to-get heroine (played by Linda Fiorentino)". The Guardian's Jude Rogers called it "an awkward, pleasingly punky track". ## Chart performance "Gambler" was released in October 1985 in the United Kingdom and debuted at position 20 on the UK Singles Chart. After two weeks it peaked at number four and was present for a total of 14 weeks. By the end of 1985, Madonna achieved up another record with the song, becoming the first female artist to have eight UK top-ten singles in one calendar year. The song was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 250,000 copies of the single. According to the Official Charts Company, the song has sold 295,000 copies there. In Australia, "Gambler" debuted on the Kent Music Report at number 51 and at number 17 in the top 50, reaching a peak of number ten. In Germany, the song debuted at number 39 on the Media Control Charts and reached a peak of number 25 after five weeks, being present on the chart for a total of 12 weeks. Across Europe, the song reached the top-ten of the charts in Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway. It also reached peaks of number 23 in Switzerland and number 45 in New Zealand. ## Live performance Madonna performed this song live only on the Virgin Tour in 1985. It was the first song of the second act of the show. Madonna wore a black, fringed micro-top and similar skirt, with her belly-button exposed, and a number of crucifixes in different sizes, hanging from different parts of her body. As the guitar intro of the song started, Madonna appeared on the side-stage and started dancing energetically with lights flashing on her. While singing the song, she sometimes opened her jacket and sometimes straddled the steel structure present on the stage. The performance ended with Madonna jumping off the side stage, onto the main stage. It was included on the video release, Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour, which was shot in Detroit. ## Formats and track listings - Standard 7-inch single 1. "Gambler" (LP version) – 3:54 2. "Nature of the Beach" (Black 'n Blue) – 3:45 - UK and Dutch 12-inch single 1. "Gambler" (extended dance mix) – 5:34 2. "Gambler" (instrumental remix) – 3:55 3. "Nature of the Beach" (Black 'n Blue) – 3:45 - Digital single (2022) 1. "Gambler" (7-inch version) – 3:51 2. "Gambler" (extended dance mix) – 5:34 3. "Gambler" (instrumental remix) – 3:55 ## Credits and personnel Credits are adapted from the soundtrack and 7-inch single liner notes. - Madonna – writer, vocals - John "Jellybean" Benitez – producer - Stephen Bray – arranger - Greg Fulginiti – mastering - John Kalodner – executive producer - Armando Gallo – photography - Tomcat – sleeve design ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Certifications and sales

Vengeance (2005)

World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view event

The 2005 Vengeance was the fifth annual Vengeance professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. The event took place on June 26, 2005, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event was a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Batista and Triple H, which Batista won by pinfall after executing a Batista Bomb. One of the predominant matches on the card was John Cena versus Chris Jericho versus Christian in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship. Cena won the match and retained the title after pinning Christian. Another primary match on the undercard was Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels in a rematch of their bout at WrestleMania 21. Michaels won the match by pinfall after executing Sweet Chin Music. Many of the existing feuds were settled following the event. Notably, Batista was drafted to the SmackDown! brand, thus ending his feud with Triple H. The feud between Kane and Edge also concluded after the event, as Edge entered an angle with Matt Hardy. The feud between Cena and Jericho, however, continued and led to a match at SummerSlam, which Cena won. ## Production ### Background Vengeance was an annual pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 2001. Like the 2004 event, the 2005 event was a Raw-exclusive PPV, only featuring wrestlers from that brand. The 2005 event was the fifth event in the Vengeance chronology and was held on June 26 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. ### Storylines The event featured six professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. The name of a wrestler's character was not always the person's birth name, as wrestlers often use a stage name to portray their character. All wrestlers were from the Raw brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being SmackDown!. The main feud heading into Vengeance was between Batista and Triple H, with the two battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. After Batista defeated Triple H at WrestleMania 21, they continued to fight over the World title at the next Raw pay-per-view, Backlash, which saw Batista retain the title. Following Backlash, a series of Gold Rush Tournament matches to determine a number one contender to face Batista for the World title took place with Kane, Shawn Michaels, Edge, and Chris Benoit winning in the first round of the tournament. In this round, Benoit forced Triple H to submit to the Sharpshooter, Benoit's submission finisher. On the May 23, 2005 episode of Raw, Batista faced Edge, who had beat out Michaels and Kane for an opportunity at the World title. Batista retained the title after he pinned Edge following a Batista Bomb. Following the match, Triple H attacked Batista with a sledgehammer and challenged him to a Hell in a Cell match. After making the challenge, Triple H performed a Pedigree to Batista on the World title. Batista accepted Triple H's challenge, which led to a contract signing for their scheduled match at Vengeance, which would be for the World Heavyweight title in a Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance. The other main feud heading into the event was between John Cena, Chris Jericho and Christian, with the three battling over the WWE Championship. On the June 6 episode of Raw, John Cena's SmackDown! tenure came to an end when he became the first wrestler selected by the Raw brand General Manager, Eric Bischoff, in the draft lottery. Cena was introduced as Raw's newest member in Chris Jericho's segment, the Highlight Reel, but Christian interrupted and called Cena a poser. This built on their existing rivalry, as Cena and Christian had an encounter at the Royal Rumble, in which Christian claimed that he was a better rapper than Cena. At the time, Cena was a member of the SmackDown! brand and Christian was part of the Raw brand. Over the next months, Christian began cutting promos denouncing Cena as a 'poser'. Cena rebutted Christian's comments by performing a freestyle rap about Christian, which quickly led to the two brawling in the ring. The same evening, Cena entered a feud with Bischoff by refusing to participate in Bischoff's "war" against the upcoming Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion show. On the June 13 episode of Raw, Bischoff booked a WWE title match between Christian and Cena at Vengeance, although Jericho protested the idea of Christian being the contender to face Cena for the title. Later that night, Cena and Jericho were placed in a tag team match and faced off against Christian and Tyson Tomko. Cena and Jericho won the match after Cena got the pinfall. After the match, Jericho turned on Cena and attacked him. Bischoff then changed the original match between Cena and Christian to a Triple Threat match at Vengeance that also included Jericho. One of the main matches on the undercard was between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels. At the start of the year, Angle and Michaels both participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2005 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. During the match, Michaels eliminated Angle. In retaliation, Angle returned to the match and eliminated Michaels and then attacked him outside the ring. The two engaged in a feud, which led to an Interpromotional match at WrestleMania 21, as Angle was part of the SmackDown! roster and Michaels belonged to the Raw roster. At WrestleMania 21, Angle got the win over Michaels by forcing him to submit to the Ankle Lock. On the June 13 episode of Raw, Angle was revealed to be the second draft pick for the Raw brand. That same evening, Michaels challenged Angle to a rematch at Vengeance, which Angle accepted. The Divas match set for Vengeance was between Victoria and Christy Hemme. On the May 30 edition of Raw, Christy Hemme won a bikini contest; defeating Victoria, Candice Michelle, Maria, and Lilian Garcia. After the contest ended, Victoria turned heel and attacked all of the participants, saving Hemme for last. In a backstage interview following, the evil Victoria expressed jealousy of Hemme, stating that she was tired of Hemme getting all of the attention. On the June 20 episode of Raw, it was announced in a backstage interview that Hemme and Victoria would face each other at Vengeance. Hemme stated that she couldn't wait to get her hands on Victoria, but during the segment, Victoria interrupted the interview by smashing a glass jar on the back of Hemme's head. ## Event ### Sunday Night Heat matches Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Rosey and The Hurricane (with Super Stacy) defeated The Heart Throbs (Antonio and Romeo) in a match taped for Sunday Night Heat. ### Preliminary matches The first match that aired was between Carlito and Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship. After back and forth action, Carlito removed the padding from one of the turnbuckles. Benjamin then hit his head on the exposed metal while performing a Stinger splash. Carlito pinned Benjamin with a roll-up, allowing Carlito to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Next was a match between Victoria and Christy Hemme. The match saw Victoria lift Hemme in the air and drop her down with force. Control of the match went back and forth, but the bout came to an end when Victoria countered Hemme's sunset flip. Victoria got the pinfall by using the ring ropes for leverage. The third match of the night saw Kane face Edge, during which both men took the upper hand. Snitsky interfered in the match, delivering a big boot to Kane. Moments later, Snitsky was quickly taken out by Edge after he accidentally hit him with his Money in the Bank briefcase. Kane performed a chokeslam and pinned Edge for the win. ### Main event matches This bout was followed by a WrestleMania 21 rematch that involved Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. In a brawling match, Angle had an Ankle Lock applied on Michaels. Moments later, however, Michaels recuperated and performed Sweet Chin Music on Angle before pinning Angle for the win. After the match, both men were given a standing ovation. An in-ring segment took place next between Raw's ring announcer, Lilian Garcia and Viscera. During the segment, Garcia proposed to Viscera. Before Viscera could have given an answer, he was interrupted by The Godfather. The Godfather gave Viscera advice about the life he would miss out on if he got married. This led to Viscera rejecting Garcia's marriage proposal and leaving the ring with the Godfather's hos and abandoning a crying Garcia in the ring. The fifth match was a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship between champion John Cena, Christian, and Chris Jericho. The match saw all three wrestlers take the advantage over one another. A spot in the match included Jericho applying the Walls of Jericho on Cena, but he released the move and performed a springboard dropkick on Christian, after Christian got up on the ring apron. Late in the match, Jericho reversed an Unprettier attempt by Christian by tossing Christian directly to Cena. Cena performed an FU on Christian and pinned Christian to retain the WWE title. The main event was a Hell in a Cell match between Batista and Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Triple H choked Batista with a chain and repeatedly hit him in the back with a steel chair wrapped with barbed wire. Batista regained the momentum by grabbing Triple H's sledgehammer and hitting him with it. Batista performed a spinebuster onto the steel steps on Triple H, which was followed with a Batista Bomb for the win to retain the title. After the Hell in a Cell match, Triple H was given a standing ovation by the audience. ## Aftermath Immediately after their Hell in a Cell match as an exclusive to WWE Home Video, Triple H (with Ric Flair) and Batista encountered backstage to put their differences aside and embraced with Triple H quipping "This is Evolution, baby", referring to their past as a stable, which had disbanded until 2014. In June 2005, the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery took place, in which wrestlers were drafted and traded between the Raw and SmackDown! brands. On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, Batista's tenure on the Raw brand ended, when he was SmackDown!'s final pick in the draft lottery. SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long scheduled a six-man elimination match between John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), The Undertaker, Muhammad Hassan, Chris Benoit, Booker T and Christian, in which the winner would receive the SmackDown! Championship, as the WWE Championship had been moved to the Raw brand. JBL won the match, but Teddy Long informed JBL that he did not win the SmackDown! championship. As the winner of the match, however, he would face Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 7 episode of SmackDown!, it was revealed that the match between JBL and Batista would take place at The Great American Bash. At The Great American Bash, Batista was disqualified for attacking JBL with a chair. JBL won the match, but did not win the title because titles cannot change hands by countout or disqualification unless otherwise stipulated. Following Vengeance, Eric Bischoff vowed to make John Cena's stint on Raw difficult. He "hand-picked" Chris Jericho to take the WWE title off Cena by booking a match between Cena and Jericho at SummerSlam. During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the face and Jericho as the heel, a vocal section of live crowds nonetheless chose to boo Cena during their matches, including at SummerSlam where Cena retained the title after executing an FU. After a successful tag team win at Backlash, in which Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan defeated Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. Michaels and Hogan were placed in tag team match against Kurt Angle and Carlito on an episode of Raw. The match saw Hogan and Michaels get the victory. During the post-match pose, Michaels superkicked Hogan, which knocked Hogan to the ground and turning Michaels heel for the first time since returning to the company in 2002. The following week, Michaels challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan accepted. In this match, Hogan maintained his perfect record at SummerSlam by defeating Michaels. The feud between Edge and Kane came to an end when Edge was put in an angle with Matt Hardy. On the July 11 episode of Raw, Hardy, who at the time was unemployed by WWE, made a surprise appearance, interfering in a match between Edge and Kane. The following week, as both Edge and Lita were walking towards the ring before a scheduled Steel cage match against Kane, Hardy attacked Edge from behind. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon officially announced Hardy's return to WWE, adding that Hardy would face Edge at SummerSlam. The following week, Hardy made his in-ring return, defeating Snitsky. After the victory, Hardy was attacked by Edge, and was carried backstage. In retaliation, Hardy counterattacked Edge in the locker room. At SummerSlam, Edge was given the win in the match after Hardy hit the ring post and began to bleed profusely, which caused the referee to stop the match. After a three-month hiatus, Triple H returned on the WWE Homecoming episode of Raw on October 3. He took part in a match, teaming up with Ric Flair, who was wrestling as a face, to take on Chris Masters and Carlito. The duo defeated Masters and Carlito; after the match, Triple H turned on Flair and hit him with a sledgehammer marked the end of Evolution after more than two years since 2003. This led to an angle between Triple H and Flair. At Taboo Tuesday, Triple H and Flair met in a Steel cage match, a stipulation chosen by the fans, for the Intercontinental Championship. The match saw Flair retain the Intercontinental Championship, after escaping through the cage door. ## Results

Cola Song

"Cola Song" is a song recorded by Romanian recording artist Inna for Body and the Sun (2015), the Japanese counterpart of her fourth studio album Inna (2015), and the American counterpart of her third studio album, Party Never Ends. It was made available for digital download on 15 April 2014 through Atlantic Records, which was the result of the singer signing a record deal with the label earlier that year. Initially planned to be named "Soy Latinna", the recording contains guest vocals from Colombian reggaeton performer J Balvin, who wrote and produced the song along with Andrew Frampton, Breyan Isaac, Thomas Joseph Rozdilsky and Andreas Schuller. The single is musically an electro house, electronic and Latin track which incorporates saxophone and horn in its instrumentation, and elements from Inna's previous collaboration with Schuller on "Piñata 2014" (2013). Music critics were generally favorable towards the single. While it was likened to Lana Del Rey's "Cola" (2012) and the appearance of J Balvin to that of Colby O'Donis on Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (2008), many reviews noted the song as being summery. Others pointed out its commercial appeal, where the single was predicted to become a summer hit alongside Jennifer Lopez's "I Luh Ya Papi" (2014). "Cola Song" received a nomination at the Radio România Actualități Awards gala in 2015 for Best Pop-Dance Song. Commercially, the single experienced success in Europe. While reaching the top 40 of the charts in various territories, it peaked at number eight on Spain's PROMUSICAE chart, and was certified Platinum there for sales exceeding 40,000 copies. In order to promote "Cola Song", an accompanying music video for the song was uploaded onto Inna's YouTube channel on 14 April 2014, being shot by John Perez in both Barcelona and Costa Rica. The visual portrays Inna performing to the song with three fellow background dancers or doing other activities in a tropical scenery, and was acclaimed by music critics who saw Inna's appearance as sexy, suggestive and lascivious. It was also nominated for Best Video at the Romanian Music Awards gala in 2014. For further promotion, the track was performed by the singer on various occasions, and was featured on dance video game Just Dance 2017 and used for the FIFA World Cup 2014. ## Background and release In 2014, Inna signed a record deal with Warner Music's Atlantic Records to release the single on 15 April; however, it was leaked onto the internet one day before. In an interview with Direct Lyrics before the availability of "Cola Song", the singer felt the track is very summery, and additionally confessed that she thought of collaborating with J Balvin after listening to his music during her tours in Latin America. The single was initially planned to be called "Soy Latinna", but after Inna presented the track to a private group of friends, they wanted her to sing the "Cola Song"—a title they created—ten more times to them, thus resulting in Inna deciding to change the name. The cover artwork for the single was revealed prior to the song's release, and portrays Inna posing in bikini. Umberto Olivio of Italian publication RnB Junk predicted that this image would precede a similar sound to Inna's previous songs "Caliente (2012) and "More than Friends" (2013). "Cola Song" was included on the American edition of her third studio album, Party Never Ends (2013), and was later featured on the Japanese counterpart of her fourth record Inna (2015), titled Body and the Sun (2015). The recording was released through Atlantic Records on 15 April 2014 simultaneously to iTunes Store in multiple countries. The 2020 Complete Edition of Inna, released to SoundCloud, would eventually include the song. ## Composition "Cola Song" was written by J Balvin, Andrew Frampton, Breyan Isaac, Thomas Joseph Rozdilsky and Andreas Schuller, while production was handled by the Colombian reggaeton performer along with Rozdilsky and Schuller. While featuring guest vocals from J Balvin, the song incorporates elements from Inna's previous collaboration with Schuller on "Piñata 2014" (2013). Musically, the recording is of the electro house genre and portrays a "subtle blend" of electronic and Latin music. According to German music website Dance Charts, "Cola Song" features "typical Romania-House" sounds, alongside offbeat-bass and "natural instruments" like a saxophone. Bradely Stern from MuuMuse wrote that the song incorporates a "horn-heavy" breakdown reminiscent of American singer Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty" (2013). During the lyrics, Inna sings, "We got that Coca-Cola bottle shape, shape, shape. We got that sugar, do you wanna taste, taste, taste?", which was associated with the singer's ended collaboration with Pepsi. ## Reception Upon its release, the track received positive reviews from music critics. While Sebastian Wernke-Schmiesing of music website Dance Charts expected "Cola Song" to become a summer hit and was positive towards its "earwom[y]" refrain, German portal Hitfire called the single's title "simple" and "trashy", while noticing "nonsense" lyrics and a "memorable" beat. MuuMuse's Bradely Stern described "Cola Song" as "fiesta-friendly, fresh 'n summery", and further called it "the most captivating and catchy [ode] to soda pop since — well, Godneys 'Soda Pop'. (And Lana's 'Cola', of course.)" Additionally, Stern likened J Balvin's contribution to the recording to that of Colby O'Donis's on Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (2008), and expected the recording to become a summer hit alongside "I Luh Ya Papi" (2014) by Jennifer Lopez. Jaromír Koc of Czech website Musicserver praised the beat and labelled the saxophone in the song "most pleasant". German website Salsa und Tango listed "Cola Song" in their list of 2014's summer hits. "Cola Song" received a nomination for Best Pop-Dance Song at the Radio România Actualități Awards gala in 2015. The song performed moderately on the Belgian charts. The recording further peaked at number 70 on Czech Republic's Rádio Top 100 chart and reached its peak position at number 15 on the Finnish Singles Chart after two editions. "Cola Song" was less successful in Germany, where it lasted within the top 80 for one sole week, but experienced major fame on Spain's PROMUSICAE chart. It debuted at number 40 and continued climbing up the charts until reaching number 11. While dropping a position lower the subsequent week, the recording reached a new peak position at number eight after two editions. "Cola Song" was certified Platinum in that territory in early 2015 for exceeding sales of 40,000 units. While the song achieved a top 40 ranking in several other countries—Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Switzerland and Mexico—it additionally peaked within the top ten on Poland's Dance Top 40. ## Music video An accompanying music video for the single was uploaded on Inna's YouTube channel on 14 April 2014. An additional clip where the song was played to anonymous people in Hollywood, Florida premiered on 3 April 2014, and a behind-the-scenes footage was released on 9 April 2014. The official video was shot in both Barcelona and Costa Rica by John Perez, who has previously worked with Colombian singer Shakira, Barbadian recording artist Rihanna and American performer Beyoncé. `The clip opens with Inna walking in a bikini and J Balvin doing rap movements, sporting a black T-shirt and pants along with red shoes. Subsequently, Inna is portrayed performing a synchronized choreography with two fellow background dancers while wearing a white body suit. For the second strophe of the song, Inna makes appearance in a darkened whole where she swims in a body of water, poses topless or dances along with the backup performers showed in the beginning. While further accompanying J Balvin for his rap cameo, the video ends with her staring at the camera before the screen becomes dark. Scenes interspersed through the main plot present Inna playing in sand and touching her body, angle shots of her standing on a rock, or shadowed singer and men with instruments in their hands.` Music portal Dance Charts was positive towards the music video, although expressing that viewers may neglect the music when watching it. Echoing this thought, Hitfire further wrote that it is "surely a contender for the hottest video of the year". While German magazine Klatsch-Tratsch noticed "much charm, naked skin and great moves" in the visual, Kevin Apaza of Direct Lyrics pointed out Inna "flaunting that smokin' hot body of hers as she soaks up the sun at the beach, [getting] wet in a lake and [performing] sensual choreographies." Website MuuMuse wrote that the visual is "quite important for showcasing Inna's ferocious moves and luscious assets, including her Coca-Cola shape — and especially her Coca-Cola shake", and French publications Purebreak and Pure People noticed Inna's "suggestive" and "lascivious" posing in bathing suits. Portal Cosmopolitan Staragora compared the music video to Inna's previous material, as the singer "appears little dressed in paradisiac landscapes: ocean blue lagoon, sunset, fine white sand, pretty girls [...]". Spanish website Jukebox wrote that the singer "[evokes] the similarity between her curvilinear forms and those of a bottle of Coca-Cola. It is not clear if it is an advertising for the drink or not, but there is no doubt that this fresh and summery video promotes the consumption of the soft drink", alongside stating that Inna "shines in trikini" and "dances in purest Latin style". Music portal Musicserver was more negative towards the clip; although stating that it "probably will please the male fanbase", the website concluded that, "Everyone already knows that it is sexy, so why offering the same for the tenth time?" The music video received a nomination for Best Video at the Romanian Music Awards gala in 2014. ## Live performances and usage in media "Cola Song" was set on the track list of concert tours that promoted the singer's album Inna and its Japanese counterpart Body and the Sun in Europe and Japan. She also provided live performances of the recording at festival Alba Fest held in Alba Iulia, Romania, and at the World Trade Center Mexico. On both occasions, the singer additionally sung a cover version of Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" (2015), with her interpreting a stripped-down version of "Endless" (2011) at the Mexican venue. Inna also opened the Untold Festival in 2016, and uploaded two videos on YouTube presenting her performing a stripped-down version of the recording—one on the roof of a building in Venice Beach, California, and the latter accompanied by an orchestra at Global Studios. Inna also delivered a performance of it at the 2018 Telehit Awards. "Cola Song" was used for American action comedy film Spy (2015) and the FIFA World Cup 2014, and was included on the competition's soundtrack. The single was further featured on dance video game Just Dance 2017, and Romanian singer George Papagheorghe impersonated Inna and provided a performance of the recording for Romanian reality talent show Te cunosc de undeva!. ## Track listing - Official versions 1. "Cola Song" (featuring J Balvin) – 3:18 2. "Cola Song" (featuring J Balvin) [Whyel Remix] – 3:56 3. "Cola Song" (featuring J Balvin) [ZooFunktion Remix] – 4:06 4. "Cola Song" (featuring J Balvin) [Lookas Remix] – 2:58 ## Charts and certifications ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ### Certifications ## Release history

Dust II

Video game map in the Counter-Strike series

"Dust II", also known by its filename de_dust2, is a video game map featured in the first-person shooter series Counter-Strike. Dust II is the successor to "Dust", another Counter-Strike map, and was developed by David Johnston before the official release of the original Counter-Strike game. It was designed with the aims of simplicity and balance, based on its symmetrical design and two points, over which the two teams must fight for control. The map was first released in March 2001 for the original Counter-Strike game and is present in all games in the series. Apart from graphical updates, it underwent minimal changes after its initial release, before receiving a significant visual revision in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in October 2017. The map has been popular with players since its initial release, and both its original and revised design in Global Offensive have been positively received by players and mapmakers. ## Design Dust II is a video game map featured in the first-person shooter series Counter-Strike. The map is set in a dusty environment based on Morocco according to Jess Cliffe, co-designer of the original Counter-Strike game. Like the other maps in the game, players are divided into two teams: Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists. The Terrorists have a limited time in which to plant and detonate a bomb; the Counter-Terrorists try to stop them from planting the bomb or to defuse it if it has already been planted. The Terrorist side must gain control in one of two locations to plant the bomb; these sites are easily accessible to the Counter-Terrorists at the beginning of the round. The map has a few main choke points: "Middle", "Long A", and "B Tunnels". Of its layout, the map's creator David Johnston wrote: "...Dust was little more than a figure-of-eight that had grown a pair of arms and legs, centralizing the battles but providing tactical wiggle room." The main choke points contain tactically important positions and areas. Middle has three main areas: Catwalk, an elevated pathway that leads to Short on A site; Lower Tunnels, a tunnel leading from Middle to Upper Tunnels; and Middle Doors, that has a set of open double doors at Middle, which leads to the Counter-Terrorist's spawn. At Long A, there are another three important areas before approaching the A Site. Long Doors are the two sets of open double doors that lead from the Terrorist's spawn to Long A; Pit is a sloped area where players can hide or use for cover near Long Doors; and Counter-Terrorist spawn, located right of Long A from A Site, is where the Counter-Terrorists spawn. B Tunnels has two main areas; Upper Tunnels and Lower Tunnels. Upper Tunnels leads to the B site or Terrorist spawn; Lower Tunnels leads to Upper Tunnels or Middle. Johnston stated in a blog post that, in making Dust II, he "had to ensure that this new map had everything in common with Dust, without actually being Dust". He began identifying what made Dust unique and Johnston kept the simple structures, ramps, crates, and "Dust doors"; these were elements he knew had to stay. Though, he wanted to add other elements, an area with close combat and an area with long-range fights, which turned into B Tunnels and Long A. Compared to Dust, he was patient in using the "trim" feature, an element that separated certain objects; he said he, "tried to use the trim very carefully, only exactly when needed, and not just as filler". He set certain rules for himself with trimming so that he did not overuse or under-use it; overusing would make the map too complex and under-using would make it too flat. Another thing different from Dust is that Dust II did not undergo any other major layout changes. ## History Dust II was developed by David Johnston for the first game in the series as a conceptual sequel to the existing Dust map. Chris "MacMan" Ashton helped provide textures for the map. Johnston originally titled it "Dust 3" because he did not think it was a worthy successor to Dust; before the game's launch it was retitled Dust II. The map was designed to be simple and balanced. During the initial development of the map, "Long A", a long pathway that leads towards the "A Site", was not present. It existed in the map because of space limitations of the engine. During development, map features such as caverns that would have provided cover, a window in "B Site", and a longer ramp in the Counter-Terrorist's Spawn to A Site were removed. After its initial release on March 13, 2001, as part of Counter-Strike 1.1, the map received minimal changes following updates to the rest of the game, but received small graphical updates and lighting changes. It also received graphical updates in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike's Xbox release. ### Counter-Strike: Source Counter-Strike: Source was allowed to use Valve's new Source game engine and changed some of the physics. Dust II received a graphical update and new objects that would affect gameplay were added. New doors were added and a crate at "Middle" was made easier to climb. A raised ceiling made firing down from T spawn onto Mid Doors easier. ### Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive featured more graphical updates and changed all of the doors from wooden doors to metal doors, making them much more difficult to penetrate. In an update on February 3, 2017, Dust II was removed from the Active Duty Competitive Pool, a group of whitelisted maps for professional games, in the competitive game mode. It was instead replaced by "Inferno" and, at the same time, given its own exclusive map group in the Casual and Deathmatch game modes. In October 2017, Valve released a beta remake of the map, which improved upon player readability, visuals, and movement. A week later, the updated version was made public. In April 2018, the map was put back in the Active Duty Competitive Pool, replacing "Cobblestone". In November 2022, Valve removed Dust II from the Active Duty Competitive Pool in favor of "Anubis". ### Counter-Strike 2 During the development of Counter-Strike 2, alongside all other maps in Global Offensive, Dust II received graphical upgrades. The map was referred to by Valve as a "touchstone" map, meaning that it received graphical and lighting enhancements but would retain relatively the same layout. ## Reception Dust II has been in every Counter-Strike game to date and, as of the 2017 updates, continues to receive positive reception from mapmakers and players. Shawn "FMPONE" Snelling, a Counter-Strike mapmaker, said: "Valve has given the map a very cohesive and 'tactile' look, making it easier to get a read on your surroundings". Mitch Bowman of PC Gamer praised the 2017 update, stating: "It's a healthy overhaul that makes some modest but interesting changes without reinventing the wheel." Professional Counter-Strike players have mixed opinions; some players enjoyed the update and its changes, while some were disapproving. Jake "Stewie2K" Yip criticized the addition of a car to the map, saying, "you can hide behind it well, and I just think it's kind of overpowered". ### Impact and legacy Dust II has existed since 2001 and has been subject to imitation, spin offs, and disapproval from the gaming community. In February 2017, the map was removed from the Active Duty Competitive Pool in Global Offensive, a group of maps played in professional competitions. The map was removed in favor of a revamped version of a map titled Inferno. There was an immediate backlash to this change from professional players and community members; according to Peter "ptr" Gurney, Valve "[took] out a map that's balanced and put a map in that literally has at least 4-5 problems I can think of right away". Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey, another professional Counter-Strike player, said, "Why is everyone so surprised. Looks logical that [Dust II] is removed, the only one that has not been redone??", referring to the earlier reworking and refinement of other Global Offensive maps before this change. There have been several imitations and recreations of Dust II. In early 2014, it was reported that the map had been recreated in real life, though the location of its recreation is not known. Dust II has also been found in other games because of the work of modders. In 2018, Luke Millanta published a re-textured version of Dust II in which the maps original textures had been replaced by cyberpunk-themed materials. The map has seen imitations in games such as Far Cry 3, Far Cry 5, Crossfire, Minecraft, and Cube 2: Sauerbraten. In 2023, a user named Nic remade Dust II from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 over the course of a month, revamping the entire maps graphics to make them realistic. The game Dustnet explores the theme of the fragility of multiplayer experiences and player bases, and is set on the far future, entirely inside "the last copy of de_dust2 in the world". It includes a hidden homage to David Johnston, the original creator of Dust II, as well as numerous references to Counter-Strike and Quake.

Crimson Dragon

Crimson Dragon is a rail shooter primarily developed by Grounding Inc. and published by Microsoft Studios as an Xbox One launch title. The game was published in 2013 in the West, with a Japanese release the following year. Set on the planet Draco, the story follows a dragon-riding soldier hunting the source of a disease that threatens Draco's human colony. The gameplay features the player moving an aiming reticle and shooting enemies while the dragon flies through 3D environments either on a fixed track or freely within arena-like zones. The dragon can be moved using either a standard gamepad or the console's Kinect peripheral. Crimson Dragon was announced in 2010 for Xbox 360 under the title Project Draco, using Kinect-only controls. After changing platform, standard controls were added and elements of its graphics and music were changed. Several Panzer Dragoon staff worked on the game including director Yukio Futatsugi, designer Tomohiro Kondo, artist Manabu Kusunoki, and composer Saori Kobayashi. A spin-off tying into the narrative, Crimson Dragon: Side Story, was developed by Grounding and released in 2012 for Windows Phone. Upon release, Crimson Dragon received mixed reviews from critics. While praise was given to its core gameplay and art design, its graphical quality and progression systems saw frequent criticism. ## Gameplay Crimson Dragon is a rail shooter in which players take on the role of a dragon rider, navigating through 26 levels across the planet Draco. Levels are divided into sections lasting a few minutes each, featuring both enemies and environmental hazards. Most levels take place on rails, mixed in with boss encounters in a large open area. Some missions offer alternate paths unlocked on repeat playthroughs. Missions have a main objective, and optional objectives such as completing a battle within a time limit or not taking damage. Clearing a stage rewards in-game currency and experience points, along with items collected during gameplay such as revival gems and food which can be used to raise the dragon between missions. The player uses an aiming reticle to fire at enemies and incoming projectiles. The dragon has a lock-on attack for multiple enemies, as well as a more powerful attack that is aimed manually. Attacks are color coded green or red depending on their effectiveness against a selected target. The dragon can perform a dodge roll to quickly evade attacks, and change its position through standard movement. There are six dragon types with fixed elemental powers, statistics, and skills, as well as a selection of interchangeable secondary abilities. Each dragon type has a different evolved form which impacts their gameplay performance. The dragon is controlled through a standard Xbox One gamepad, optionally incorporating the console's Kinect peripheral. The Kinect functions map body movements to dragon movement and attacking, and uses voice commands to alter its position or activate its special attack. The game includes asynchronous cooperative play through Xbox Live, allowing players to hire each others' dragons and share in the rewards from each mission. There are also online leaderboards where players can post their completion scores. Online multiplayer was added in an update, allowing up to two player to join in on missions. The game also incorporates microtransactions, with revival gems being purchasable with real-world money. ## Plot Crimson Dragon takes place on Draco, a planet populated by dragons and human colonists; one century prior humans arrived on Draco from an overpopulated Earth, but have since lost contact and now fight a disease called Crimsonscale. The protagonist, a resident of the New Amara colony who can tame and ride dragons after surviving Crimsonscale, is drafted by New Amara's government into their Seeker defence forces. On orders from his superiors Sana and Cadmus, the protagonist pursues a dragon called White Phantom, who is spreading Crimsonscale through lesser dragons known as the White Reavers. During his missions, the protagonist discovers the original and prohibited Amara colony ruins, with Sana shielding him from government retribution and warning him to forget about it. In contrast, Cadmus sends the protagonist on missions surrounding the ruins, including finding an ancient body identified as a still-living Seeker. Once the protagonist defeats White Phantom, they see a vision through a portal in Amara, revealing that Draco has become part of Earth's Crimsonscale experiments to discover immortality. With each failure of Crimsonscale to produce perfect immortality, Earth's government reset Draco using alien technology discovered on the planet to perform a multiverse transference that wipes out the original population. Before the reset happens again, the protagonist leaves behind a message to seek out Amara and the White Phantom in the hope that the cycle will be broken. A post-credit scene shows Cadmus, who found the message, asking the protagonist to help find Amara. ## Development Crimson Dragon was directed by Yukio Futatsugi, noted for his work on the Panzer Dragoon series and Phantom Dust. He conceived of the project when talking to Microsoft Studios about developing a small-scale game that would use the Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360. Futatsugi had previously worked at Microsoft, which was struggling to break into the Japanese market with their Xbox console line. The proposal coincidentally came when his company Grounding Inc had spare development capacity to work on multiple projects. Many Crimson Dragon staff members previously worked on the Panzer Dragoon series. These included Panzer Dragoon II Zwei director Tomohiro Kondo as lead designer, and lead programmer Hitoshi Nakanishi. Concept art was created by Manabu Kusunoki and Phantom Dust art lead Takehiko Yamamoto, the latter joining later in production. The lead artist was Ryoji Nakamura. Futatsugi acted as director, while Toshiharu Tange and Yutaka Noma co-produced the game. The scenario was written by Tadashi Ihoroi of Studio Monado. The game was co-developed by Grounding Inc. and Land Ho Inc., with support from Iron Galaxy. Active production began in 2010 shortly before its announcement that year, with the original design only using Kinect controls. Following E3 2012, both in response to negative feedback around the Kinect-only controls and to bolster the launch line-up of the in-production Xbox One, Microsoft decided to shift the game onto the new console. The sudden change came as a shock to Futatsugi, but he was still overall happy to work on a system launch title. The porting process was difficult due to the team's small size. ### Design From its announcement through to its eventual release, the game was referred to by journalists as a spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon. Futatsugi and Microsoft's Phil Spencer did not use the term, with Spencer saying there were no direct references, and Futatsugi explaining that the design premise worked best as a rail shooter similar to Panzer Dragoon. Like his other projects, Futatsugi's interest in new technology drove the design. Compared to other titles at the time, Futatsugi was using a fairly small budget, creating the game as a niche title without expecting major sales. Speaking about the intended audience, Tange requested a project that would appeal to both "core gamers" and a wider audience in contrast to Futatsugi's earlier work which was seen as very niche. The team found it challenging to create a Kinect-driven rail shooter, as they wanted the game to be approachable for new players. The project became more challenging after shifting platforms due to balancing Kinect-based and gamepad-based control styles. Other changes stemming from the platform change were the additions of online elements, Kinect voice commands, and free flight missions. Just prior to release, based on feedback from play testers, the game balance was adjusted with increased experience rewards and lower prices for items, and adjustments to the difficulty. Throughout development, the game used Unreal Engine 3, with the final levels using a mixture of old and new graphical assets. Futatsugi included dragons over other potential mounts because the concept was "an awesome thing that everyone would dream of". The dragons were designed to have an organic appearance, contrasting against the weapon-like creatures of Panzer Dragoon. The dragon breeding system was included based on fan requests. In both versions, the role-playing elements of dragon growth were added to mitigate the difficulty for players and deepen the gameplay. Due to an intended focus on multiplayer, the scenario did not focus on a single character. ### Music The music of Crimson Dragon was created by Panzer Dragoon composer Saori Kobayashi, with Jeremy Garren of Pyramind Studio arranging her score and adding tracks. Given full creative freedom by Futatsugi, Kobayashi made an effort not to mimic her Panzer Dragoon scores. Her score was written while the game was still intended for the 360. After the platform change, Garren was brought in by Microsoft to redo Kobayashi's score in an orchestral style. Garren described arranging and expanding the score as "a big blur", and was unable to consult Kobayashi about the changes. Speaking in 2017, Kobayashi felt that while the change was not "a bad thing in and of itself", it was unfortunate that the original score went unused. Speaking in 2017, Garren felt guilty about the amount of changes he made to the soundtrack, finding the choral elements overdone. Despite these changes, all of Kobayashi's music was retained. Woodwind solos were performed by Chris Bleth, percussion by Mark Yeend, Jillian Aversa performed the solo vocal work, and the New York Film Chorale performed the chorus parts. A digital soundtrack album was released by Microsoft Studios's music label alongside the game on 22 November 2013. Kobayashi later stated that she would love to release her original soundtrack mixes if there was fan demand. She included remixes of two Crimson Dragon tracks in her intended musical style on Journey, an album of remixes created by Kobayashi and singer Yumiko Takahashi for their band Akane. The album was released on 29 September 2014 by Brave Wave Productions. ## Release The game was revealed under its Project Draco title at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, shortly after development began. Its final name was revealed in February 2012. Initially scheduled for release 13 June 2012 on the 360, the game was delayed indefinitely and an apology issued. The platform change was announced publicly at E3 2013. Crimson Dragon was a console launch title in all regions. It was first released in the West on 22 November 2013. An update was released in February 2014, adding online multiplayer and a new harder difficulty level. In Japan, the game released on 4 September 2014, with a unique dragon being offered for download for a month after release. Depending on its reception, Futatsugi was willing to extend long-term support for the game through downloadable content with new dragons and gameplay features. Also dependant on the game's success, Futatsugi expressed a wish to create a role-playing video game sequel, which would feature a strong lead character and follow on from the ending of Crimson Dragon, which also acted as an introduction to the world and enemies. ### Crimson Dragon: Side Story A spin-off project for Windows Phone, Crimson Dragon: Side Story, was developed by Grounding Inc. and published by Microsoft Studios on 12 September 2012. It is a side-scrolling rail shooter with gameplay adapted to phone-based touch controls. Futatsugi acted as producer and director, Ihoroi as writer, Kusunoki as concept artist, Yasunari Hiroyama as lead designer, Hideaki Takamura as lead artist, and Mark Swan as lead programmer. Kobayashi created both the music and arrangements, expressing satisfaction with her work. Side Story was based on the concept of a shooter for Windows Phone that would promote on the 360 release, sharing characters with the main game. It was planned to release the two simultaneously, but Side Story ended up releasing first. The narrative of Side Story follows Sana on a secret assignment from the New Amara government, where she uses a White Reaver to track the infection path of Crimsonscale carrier Dark Phantom. Her narration further details Crimsonscale's effects, granting a form of immortality to people at the cost of crippling deformity, with her father being one of its victims. Cadmus pursues Sana at one point, hinting at the cycle Draco is trapped in, and she discovers that the White Reavers are ancient humans converted into dragon-like carriers by Crimsonscale. After killing Dark Phantom, Sana vows to keep Crimsonscale from reaching Earth, while wondering if the infected humans are instinctively trying to reach home. ## Reception Crimson Dragon met with "mixed or average" reception, with review aggregate website Metacritic giving it a score of 55 out of 100 based on 39 reviews. Futatsugi and Garren attributed the mixed reaction from players to its online elements, and use of microtransactions. Several gaming websites outside reviews criticized the use of microtransactions in Crimson Dragon, further noting increasing player backlash against their growing presence in gaming. Destructoid's Chris Carter liked the gameplay and presentation overall, with his only complaints being occasional camera problems and the microtransactions. The four reviewers for Japanese magazine Famitsu enjoyed the gameplay, but several noted low-quality graphics and control issues, and one said the gameplay became monotonous due to a lack of variety. Martin Robinson of Eurogamer praised the art direction despite its technical quality, while criticizing the game as "a thin and troubled tribute to the original [Panzer Dragoon games], slim on the ambition, vision and art that made its predecessors what they were." Game Informer's Ben Reeves was also critical of the art and graphics, while also criticizing the music, controls, and shallow gameplay. Writing for the UK edition of Official Xbox Magazine, Jon Blyth praised the gameplay and art design, but faulted the game's microtransactions, RPG elements, and short length. Rob Slusser of GameTrailers enjoyed the Kinect implementation, but felt there was not enough content or polish for the game to gather more than a cult following. Edge Magazine praised the game's easier levels, while criticizing the game's difficulty spikes as forcing a choice between repeat playthroughs or paying for microtransactions. GamesRadar's Ryan Taljonick praised the on-rails sections and graphic design, but faulted the free roaming controls and lack of mission variety. Jose Otero of IGN felt that the open levels created control issues compared to the rail shooter sections, while also criticizing the game's graphics and AI-companions. Peter Brown, writing for GameSpot, praised the later levels for their design and challenge, but highlighted the camera controls as off-putting alongside the high difficulty. Justin McElroy of Polygon expressed frustration with both the core gameplay and its secondary systems, concluding that Crimson Dragon "manages to take riding on a sweet flying dragon and make it a bland, frustrating slog."

Fort Henry Bridge

Bridge crossing the Ohio River

The Fort Henry Bridge is a crossing of the Ohio River main channel in Wheeling, West Virginia. The tied-arch bridge carries two lanes in each direction of Interstate 70 (I-70), U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 250. The bridge opened after four years of construction work on September 8, 1955, costing \$6.8 million, \$1.8 million over budget. The bridge, along with the aging Wheeling Suspension Bridge, are the only two road links from Wheeling Island to downtown Wheeling. In 2009, the structure carried an average of over 60,000 vehicles per day. ## Description The long tied-arch bridge carries four lanes of concurrent highways I-70, US 40 and US 250 over the main channel of the Ohio River between Wheeling Island and downtown Wheeling, West Virginia. The bridge is the easternmost portion of a 1-mile (1.6 km) long chain of elevated structures spanning Wheeling Creek in Ohio, the Ohio River back channel, Wheeling Island, and the main channel. To the east of the bridge after an interchange in downtown Wheeling, I-70 and US 250 enter the Wheeling Tunnel. Besides the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the Fort Henry Bridge is the only fixed connection from Wheeling Island to mainland West Virginia. The bridge is named after Fort Henry, which in turn was named after Patrick Henry, the governor of Virginia Territory at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Truck traffic is prohibited from using the Wheeling Suspension Bridge and must take the Fort Henry Bridge to cross between downtown Wheeling and Wheeling Island. The bridge is owned and maintained by the State of West Virginia. Every year, the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. This is expressed in terms of average annual daily traffic (AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2009, WVDOT calculated that 60,070 vehicles used the Fort Henry Bridge over the main channel of the Ohio River. This represents a 334 percent increase in traffic from 1956, the first year traffic data was published, when 18,000 vehicles used the bridge. ## History Contracts to build the Fort Henry Bridge were let to the American Bridge Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, and Dravo Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Costing \$6.8 million, \$1.8 million over budget, and taking four years to complete, the Fort Henry Bridge opened to traffic on September 8, 1955 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony with then-governor William C. Marland in front of a crowd of 55,000 to 60,000 people. The bridge earned an Honorable Mention in 1955 from the National Steel Bridge Alliance, a part of the American Institute of Steel Construction, which recognizes the best steel bridges of the year. At the time of construction, the bridge was only the second tied-arch bridge across the Ohio River. The bridge was originally named the Ninth Street Bridge, and was designed to relieve traffic on the National Road's Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The roadway as originally opened carried four lanes with a 4 ft (1.2 m) median between each direction. During the first years of the bridge it carried US 40 and US 250 from Wheeling Island over the Ohio River main channel. In 1957 plans to add an Interstate Highway designation to the bridge were formed, with the Interstate 70 designation added by 1966. The bridge underwent a renovation in 1990 which included replacement of its bridge deck. The bridge, along with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Wheeling Suspension bridge were all closed in January 2005, stopping any traffic from Ohio or Wheeling Island from entering mainland West Virginia for an hour due to barges breaking loose during heavy flooding along the Ohio River. ## See also - List of crossings of the Ohio River - Interstate 470 Bridge, another tied arch bridge across the Ohio River at Wheeling

500 Fifth Avenue

Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

500 Fifth Avenue is a 60-story, 697-foot-tall (212 m) office building on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in the Art Deco style and constructed from 1929 to 1931. 500 Fifth Avenue was designed with a facade of bronze, limestone, and terracotta at the base; it is clad with brick above the fourth floor. While the lowest four floors contain a decorative exterior, little ornamentation is used above the base. The primary entrance is on Fifth Avenue, and storefronts are located at ground level. Upon its opening, the building contained design features including fast elevators, well-lit office units, and a floor plan that maximized the well-lit office space. The 1916 Zoning Resolution resulted in a structure that incorporated setbacks, resulting in the lower floors being larger than the upper floors. 500 Fifth Avenue was built for businessman Walter J. Salmon Sr. In the 1920s, prior to the building's development, the underlying land had become extremely valuable. Similarly to the much larger Empire State Building nine blocks south, which was constructed simultaneously, 500 Fifth Avenue's construction was highly coordinated. 500 Fifth Avenue opened in March 1931, but the structure garnered relatively little attention after the Empire State Building opened shortly afterward. The building was designated an official city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2010. ## Site 500 Fifth Avenue occupies the northwestern corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is adjacent to the Manufacturers Trust Company Building to the north and the Salmon Tower Building to the west, while Bryant Park and the New York Public Library Main Branch are across 42nd Street to the south. 500 Fifth Avenue occupies a land lot with frontage of 100 feet (30 m) along Fifth Avenue to the east and 283 feet (86 m) along 42nd Street to the south. It has a total lot area of 20,920 square feet (1,944 m²). The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10110; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes as of 2019. Mansions and other residences were constructed on Fifth Avenue in the late 19th century, and office and commercial buildings were being developed on the avenue by the beginning of the 20th century. By 1923, the Rider's Guide to New York City referred to the blocks of East 42nd Street between Park and Fifth Avenues as "Little Wall Street". The Real Estate Record & Guide called the area "the most valuable building site on Manhattan Island north of Wall Street". ## Architecture Shreve, Lamb & Harmon designed the building in the Art Deco style. It was built simultaneously with the Empire State Building nine blocks south, which Shreve, Lamb & Harmon also designed. William F. Lamb, a lead associate at the firm, called 500 Fifth Avenue "a thoroughly frank expression of the requirements of an up-to-date office building." Because the design lacks historicist details, writer Eric Nash described the building as "perhaps the closest realization" of Eliel Saarinen's design for Chicago's Tribune Tower. ### Form Because of limitations on building shape imposed by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, the building contains setbacks that make the lower floors larger than the upper floors. Varying designs were used on Fifth Avenue and on 42nd Street due to the different zoning requirements on each side. 500 Fifth includes numerous setbacks on each side, which are complex and asymmetrical. The first setback on 42nd Street is at a higher story than the first setback on Fifth Avenue. Namely, the Fifth Avenue side's setbacks are at the 18th, 22nd, and 25th stories, while the 42nd Street side's setbacks are at the 23rd, 28th, and 34th stories. The AIA Guide to New York City characterized the form as "a phallic pivot". At the time of 500 Fifth Avenue's completion in 1931, the heights of skyscrapers in New York City were limited by the perceived economic feasibility of the upper floors. For the lot that 500 Fifth Avenue occupied, this maximum height was considered to be 59 stories including a penthouse, or roughly 697 feet (212 m). Despite being similar in design to the Empire State Building, 500 Fifth Avenue never became as prominent due to its asymmetrical massing, its lack of spire, and its smaller proportions. The only original ornamentation on 500 Fifth Avenue's roof were large red digits reading "500", but these have since been removed. ### Facade The building's primary entrance is on Fifth Avenue about 70 feet (21 m) north of 42nd Street. Storefronts are located at ground level on the eastern and southern elevations. As a result of the creation of a special Fifth Avenue zoning district in 1929, new buildings on the avenue within Midtown had to include stores on their first two floors. The main entrance is flanked by triple-story pylons. Above the entrance is an allegorical limestone relief depicting the building's construction, which was carved by Edward Amateis. This relief depicts a gilded woman next to a model of the building, with a staff in her hand. Ornamentation depicting a pair of carved eagles is placed on the 42nd Street facade. Lamb cited several factors in the "modern architectural treatment" of 500 Fifth, including the ornamentation and material usage. Bronze, limestone, and terracotta were used on the base's facade. The second through fourth floors contained decorated limestone piers as well as light-green spandrels ornamented with chevrons and folds. There were also shallow reliefs with depictions of fountains and foliation. Above the fourth floor, the exterior was made mainly of brick. The facade above the fourth floor consisted of recessed brick spandrels with black terracotta panels, which provided "vertical accents" to the building. The idea for the terracotta-and-brick spandrels was probably taken from the Daily News Building, where a similar spandrel design was used. Little ornamentation is used above the base, except for terracotta panels with chevrons. The northern elevation of the facade is a largely uninterrupted brick wall with three vertical strips of black terracotta. In total, the building uses over 3.3 million bricks. ### Features 500 Fifth's design features included "fast and efficient" elevators, well-lit office units, and a floor plan that maximized the well-lit office space. Like the Empire State Building, 500 Fifth was designed from the top down; the floor plans within the upper stories were planned first, followed by the floor plans of the lower stories and the building's base. The main entrance leads to an outer lobby, the design of which was extensively modified after 550 Fifth Avenue's completion. The modern design of the outer lobby consists of pink-gray marble. A pair of griffins hold up a clock in the lobby and is the only historicist decoration in the space. The inner lobby is clad with gold and gray veined marble. The lowest two floors were designed with storefronts, set back from the full-height plate-glass windows on either side. There was also a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m²) banking space on the second floor, with space for a private elevator and staircase from Fifth Avenue, as well as a subbasement for a banking vault and storage area. Offices above the sixth floor were designed so that each unit was a maximum of 30 feet (9.1 m) away from a window or other source of natural light. The area of each floor could be between 2,150 to 18,000 square feet (200 to 1,672 m²). Office sizes ranged from the smallest units being 9 feet (2.7 m) wide to the largest units covering the entire floor; on average, there were 21 units on each floor within the base, and 9 units on each floor within the tower section. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, 500 Fifth Avenue has a gross floor area of 659,122 square feet (61,234.4 m²). Though the floor area is relatively small compared to other buildings of similar height, 500 Fifth Avenue nonetheless has had a high occupancy rate throughout its history. ## History ### Land acquisition From the 1890s to the 1910s, entrepreneur Walter J. Salmon purchased or leased several buildings along the northern side of West 42nd Street. His first acquisitions were 19 and 21 West 42nd in 1899 and 1901, respectively. In 1903, he signed a 20-year lease for the lot at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, which was occupied by the Hotel Bristol, an eight-story structure built in 1875. The terms of the lease enabled Salmon to convert the hotel to commercial and office use. In 1905, he leased the brownstone rowhouses at 11–17 West 42nd Street and the six-story building at 27–29 West 42nd Street, and the following year, he acquired the properties at 23–25 West 42nd. When Salmon leased the remaining buildings between 3–9 West 42nd Street in 1915, he controlled 858 feet (262 m) along the northern side of the street between Fifth Avenue and 29 West 42nd. His parcels totaled 50,900 square feet (4,730 m²), which was considered to be the "minimum size necessary for profitable redevelopment". Salmon's company, the Midpoint Realty Company, made an agreement with the site's owners, Gerry Estates Inc., for the corner lot's redevelopment in January 1922. Salmon signed a long-term lease for both the Bristol Building and the buildings at 3–9 West 42nd Street. In 1927, Salmon leased a four-story residence at 508 Fifth Avenue for his corner-lot development. The adjacent lots at 11–27 West 42nd would become the Salmon Tower Building, which was completed in 1928. However, the development of the corner site was delayed because of a legal dispute between Salmon and wool merchant Morton Meinhard, who was to provide half of the money for the site's development but did not have any say in the 1922 lease. The New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled in June 1929 that Meinhard was entitled to a half-stake in the site. ### Planning and construction In July 1929, Salmon announced his plans for the corner lot, a 58-story building at 500 Fifth Avenue, measuring 100 feet (30 m) along Fifth Avenue and 208 feet (63 m) along 42nd Street. The skyscraper was estimated to cost \$2.35 million () and be completed in late 1930. The Real Estate Record wrote that "the time appeared ripe for an improvement on this corner". The lot was considered the second-most-valuable undeveloped lot in Manhattan, behind 1 Wall Street. To finance construction, the developer issued \$7 million worth of sinking fund bonds, . Shreve, Lamb & Harmon were selected to design the new building. Because the zoning ordinances allowed higher buildings along 42nd Street than Fifth Avenue, Salmon merged the zoning lots of 500 and 508 Fifth Avenue, enabling him to construct a taller building than was usually permitted. This also required a separate design for the Fifth Avenue side of the building. Some 450,000 to 500,000 square feet (42,000 to 46,000 m²) of rentable office space would be provided, as well as space for banking on the second and third floors, and retail on the first floor. The plans called for numerous architectural features including setbacks and "light courts". The New York City Department of Buildings received plans for 500 Fifth Avenue in October 1929. The following month, the Bristol Building's tenants were evicted, and that December the Bristol Building was demolished. The site was cleared in January 1930 and excavation of the foundation began the next month. Similar to the Empire State Building nine blocks south, which was being constructed simultaneously by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, each structural component at 500 Fifth Avenue was planned in advance. According to architect Richmond Shreve, a lead associate at the firm, the former's construction "required feats of organization in some respects never before attempted." 500 Fifth Avenue was erected by general contractor Charles T. Wills Inc. and steel contractor McClintic-Marshall Co. Assembly of the steel frame commenced in March 1930 and, with a system of derricks being used to expedite construction, the frame was topped out by that July. The building thus became the tallest skyscraper on Fifth Avenue for less than a month, as the Empire State Building subsequently surpassed it. Installation of the brickwork commenced in April 1930, concurrently with the steel frame's construction, and was completed by that September. By the end of the year, the building was essentially complete. The construction process employed up to 2,200 workers, and ultimately cost \$4 million (). ### Use 500 Fifth Avenue officially opened on March 3, 1931. John Tauranac, in his book The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark, wrote that upon 500 Fifth's completion, "The Building Record and Guide was calling Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue 'the best known corner in the world'." In its early years, 500 Fifth Avenue was largely overlooked in the real estate community, as more attention was placed upon the Empire State Building, the world's tallest building at the time. Furthermore, office rental activity was affected by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Conversely, at the beginning of 1931, Fifth Avenue was experiencing high demand for storefront space, with only 12 of 224 stores being unoccupied. 500 Fifth Avenue, along with 608 Fifth Avenue and the Empire State Building, were expected to add a combined 11 stores. Despite other developers' speculation that Salmon would construct a three-story residence at the roof, Salmon said the corner was "just a little to prominent for real home life". Salmon had said in December 1930 that, although he foresaw it might take a long time to fill the space at 500 Fifth Avenue, "the enterprise was undertaken with the greatest faith in the future of midtown expansion and development." The 15th, 16th, and 20th floors were completely rented by May 1931. Rental activity continued and, by the end of the year, lessees included Electrolux, Western Universities Club, and several railroad companies. Other tenants in the mid-1930s included the Austrian and Japanese consulates; the Austrian consulate closed in 1938, when the country was taken over by Nazi Germany, and the Japanese consulate moved the following year to the International Building at Rockefeller Center. 500 Fifth Avenue was the original transmitter site for CBS Radio's New York City FM station (W67NY, later called WCBS-FM) in 1941. The Mutual Insurance Company leased the adjacent lots at 508–514 Fifth Avenue from the Manufacturers Hanover Corporation (then known as the Manufacturers Trust Company) in 1944. Because Salmon's existing lease of 508 Fifth Avenue ran through 1965, Manufacturers Trust subleased the lot at 508 Fifth Avenue from Salmon. The terms of the sublease specified that the portion of any structure at 508 Fifth Avenue could not be more than 63 feet (19 m) tall, or obstruct the adjacent skyscraper in any other way. The Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 508–514 Fifth Avenue was completed in 1954, and ultimately contained four stories and a penthouse. The Manufacturers Trust penthouse was set back from the lot line at 508 Fifth Avenue because it rose above the maximum height permitted in the sublease agreement. The land under 500 Fifth Avenue was owned separately from the building itself and, in 1955, the land was sold to Metropolitan Life Insurance, now known as MetLife. The New York Reading Laboratory, a reading room in the basement, operated during that decade. In 1980, a Yugoslavian bank on the 30th floor was bombed, with Croatian nationalists claiming responsibility, though no one was hurt and the structure suffered minimal damage. The facade was restored in the 1990s, and the building was owned by a Mexican investment group by 2004. Through the 21st century, 500 Fifth Avenue continued to be used as an office building. The LPC designated the building's facade as a landmark on December 14, 2010. ## See also - Art Deco architecture of New York City - List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets

Landing at Scarlet Beach

1943 landing in New Guinea

The Landing at Scarlet Beach (Operation Diminish) (22 September 1943) took place in New Guinea during the Huon Peninsula campaign of the Second World War, involving forces from Australia, the United States and Japan. Allied forces landed at Scarlet Beach, north of Siki Cove and south of the Song River, to the east of Katika and about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Finschhafen. The capture of Finschhafen allowed the construction of air base and naval facilities to assist Allied air and naval forces to conduct operations against Japanese bases in New Guinea and New Britain. After Lae had fallen sooner than the Allies had anticipated, they exploited the advantage. As a result of faulty intelligence, which underestimated the size of the Japanese force in the area, the assault force chosen consisted of only Brigadier Victor Windeyer's 20th Infantry Brigade. The landing at Scarlet Beach that took place on 22 September 1943 was the first opposed amphibious landing that Australian forces had made since the Landing at Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. Navigational errors resulted in the troops being landed on the wrong beach, with some of them coming ashore at Siki Cove and taking heavy fire from the strong Japanese defences in pillboxes. After re-organising, the Australians pushed inland. The Japanese put up stiff resistance on the high ground at Katika, but were forced back. By the end of the day, the Australians had secured their objectives. The Japanese launched a retaliatory air raid on the ships of the VII Amphibious Force, but US fighter aircraft defended the convoy and no ships were hit. Continued Japanese air attacks on the beachhead inflicted numerous casualties over the course of the battle. The next day the Australians commenced their advance south towards the village of Finschhafen, about 5.6 miles (9.0 km) south of the landing beach, with the 2/15th Infantry Battalion leading the way to the Bumi River. The Japanese had established strong defences along the river's southern bank, which the Australians attempted to outflank by sending a force to the west, climbing through steep terrain. Once they had located a suitable place to cross the river, they began wading across but were fired upon by a group of Japanese naval infantry who were positioned on a high feature overlooking the river. Despite taking casualties, the Australians were able to establish themselves south of the Bumi and at that point the 2/13th Infantry Battalion began to advance on Finschhafen from the west. Meanwhile, the 2/15th attacked the left flank of the Japanese that had opposed their crossing. After advancing up the steep slope under fire, sometimes on their hands and knees, the 2/15th took the position at the point of the bayonet, killing 52 Japanese in close combat. Australian fears of a Japanese counter-attack grew and they requested reinforcements from General Douglas MacArthur. The request was denied as his intelligence staff believed that there were only 350 Japanese in the vicinity. Actually, there were already 5,000 Japanese around Sattelberg and Finschhafen. The Australians received some reinforcements in the shape of the 2/43rd Infantry Battalion. The arrival of this unit meant that the entire 20th Infantry Brigade could concentrate on Finschhafen. The Japanese naval troops which were holding Finschhafen began to withdraw and Finschhafen fell to the Australians on 2 October. The 20th Infantry Brigade then linked up with the 22nd Infantry Battalion, a Militia infantry battalion that had cleared the coastal area in the south of the Huon Peninsula, advancing from Lae over the mountains. The Japanese withdrew into the mountains around Sattelberg. ## Strategy ### Allied At the Pacific Military Conference in Washington, D.C., in March 1943, the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved plans by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area (SWPA), for an advance on the Japanese base at Rabaul. On 13 June 1943, MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Brisbane instructed General Sir Thomas Blamey's New Guinea Force to > ...seize the Lae-Salamaua-Finschhafen-Markham River Valley area and establish major elements of the [Air Force] therein to provide from the Markham Valley area general and direct air support of subsequent operations in northern New Guinea and western New Britain, and to control Vitiaz Strait and protect the north-western flank of subsequent operations in western New Britain. Following the successful seaborne landing at Lae and airborne landing at Nadzab, Salamaua, Lae, and the Markham River Valley were all in Allied hands by 16 September 1943. Blamey then turned his attention to his next objective: Finschhafen. ### Japanese The bombing of Wewak, in which 100 Japanese aircraft were lost in August 1943, caused Imperial General Headquarters (IGHQ) in Tokyo to reconsider whether Eastern New Guinea and the Solomon Islands could be held. Concluding that it could not, IGHQ authorised the commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army to conduct a fighting withdrawal to a new defensive position in Western New Guinea, which it hoped would be ready in 1944. Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi, the commander of the Japanese XVIII Army in New Guinea, recognised the importance of the Finschhafen area, and had placed Major General Eizo Yamada, the commander of the 1st Shipping Group, in charge of defending it. To strengthen the defences there, Adachi ordered the 80th Infantry Regiment and a battalion of field artillery from the 20th Division at Madang to move to Finschhafen on 7 August 1943. The headquarters, artillery, and heavy weapons departed Bogadjim on 15 August, and travelled by sea, but the remainder marched along the coast. On 26 August, he assigned the 2nd Battalion, 238th Infantry Regiment, part of the 41st Division, which was in the area en route to join the rest of the 238th Infantry Regiment at Salamaua, to remain in the Finschhafen area under Yamada's command. The landing at Lae on 4 September made an Australian advance on Finschhafen appear imminent, and Adachi ordered the rest of the 20th Division, less the Nakai detachment in the Markham Valley, to move to Finschhafen. The main body, under Lieutenant General Shigeru Katagiri, left Bogadjim bound for Finschhafen on 10 September, but was not expected to arrive before October. In the event of an Allied attack before he arrived, Yamada was to hold the high ground around Sattelberg and prepare for a counter-attack. ## Geography The Huon Peninsula is situated along the north-east coast of Papua New Guinea, and stretches from Lae in the south on the Huon Gulf to Sio in the north along the Vitiaz Strait. Along the coast, between these two points, numerous rivers and streams cut the terrain. Of these, the most prominent are the Song, Bumi, and Mape Rivers. These waterways flow from the mountainous interior, which is formed through the conglomeration of the Rawlinson Range in the south, with the Cromwell Mountains in the east. These meet in the centre of the peninsula to form the Saruwaged Range massif, which joins the Finisterre Range further west. Apart from a thin, flat coastal strip, at the time of the campaign, the area was thickly covered with dense jungle, through which very few tracks had been cut. During planning, the Allies identified three areas as key and decisive terrain in the area: the beach north of Katika, which was later codenamed "Scarlet" by the Allies, the 3,150-foot-high (960 m) peak called Sattelberg 5 miles (8 km) to the south west, which dominated the area due to its height, and Finschhafen, possessing a small airfield and sitting on the coast in a bay which offered protected harbour facilities. Before the war, the town had a population of about 30 white and 60 native people. There were good anchorages for vessels of up to 5,000 tons in Dreger Harbour, Langemak Bay, and Finsch Harbour. The flat coastal strip provided a number of potential airfield sites. German names abounded in the area because the Territory of New Guinea was a German colony from 1884 until it was occupied by Australia in 1914. ## Prelude ### Intelligence Allied estimates of the number of Japanese troops in the Finschhafen area varied. Brigadier General Charles A. Willoughby, the Assistant Chief of Staff (G-2), and therefore the head of the intelligence branch at MacArthur's GHQ, considered Finschhafen to be primarily a transhipment point, and the troops there to be mainly from line of communication units. The fall of Lae ended its utility, so he reduced his estimate of the number of Japanese troops in the area to 350. Based on this appreciation, GHQ believed that Finschhafen would be a "pushover". There was reason to believe otherwise. A ten-man Allied Intelligence Bureau patrol that included three Australian officers, an American amphibian scout from the US Army's 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, a signaller from Z Special Unit, and native soldiers, was landed during the night of 11/12 September in rubber boats launched from two PT boats. The scouts were unable to obtain the hydrographic information they sought due to Japanese patrols in the area. A number of machine-gun nests were identified during their reconnaissance of the enemy positions before they were extracted on 14 September. As had happened during the Kokoda Track campaign and the Battle of Buna–Gona, estimates by Australian intelligence differed greatly from those at GHQ, as they used different methods. The intelligence staff at Blamey's Allied Land Forces Headquarters (LHQ), headed by Brigadier J. D. Rogers, had come up with a much higher figure of 3,000. I Corps produced an estimate of 1,800, which was passed on along with GHQ's estimate. The Allies' best source of intelligence, Ultra, shone no light on the matter. Finschhafen was mentioned in only five decrypted messages in the previous three months. Most of these were in the insecure Japanese Water Transport Code. Only after the capture of Japanese codebooks in the Battle of Sio in January 1944 were the Allies able to systematically break into the Japanese Army codes. In fact, Japanese strength in the area on 22 September was about 5,000. ### Planning Two contingency plans had been prepared by Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring's I Corps. One was a ship-to-shore operation by the 6th Division's 16th Infantry Brigade or the 7th Infantry Brigade, a Militia formation at Milne Bay; the other was for a shore-to-shore operation by a brigade of Major General George Wootten's 9th Division. The operation was codenamed "Diminish", which was in fact that of Finschhafen itself. In the plan produced by I Corps on 24 August 1943, Herring selected beaches immediately south of the Song River for the landing. Indications were that it was suitable for landing craft. Most of the Japanese defenders and defences were believed to be facing south in anticipation of an Australian overland advance from Lae. It avoided having to cross the Mape River, which was believed to be a significant obstacle. The landing beach became known as Scarlet Beach from the post-landing red screens and lights used to guide landing craft. The left end of the beach was marked with a solid red panel mounted on tent poles, the right with one alternating red and white. At night, the left would have a red light, and the right one alternating red and white. This scheme had first been used at Red Beach during the landing at Lae. To avoid confusion of having two Red Beaches, the landing beach was called Scarlet Beach instead. On 16 September, the day Lae fell, MacArthur ordered that Finschhafen be captured as soon as possible. The following day he held a conference at Port Moresby. He and Blamey selected the second contingency, a landing by a brigade of the 9th Division. Brigadier Victor Windeyer's 20th Infantry Brigade was chosen as it was still relatively fresh, and had experience with amphibious operations from the landing at Lae. The 6th Division's movement to New Guinea was postponed. Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, the commander of the VII Amphibious Force, had originally counted on four weeks break between the fall of Lae and the Finschhafen operation. On 9 September, he had told Herring that it would require a minimum of ten days. Under pressure from MacArthur, Barbey cut that to three days. This was too soon for Herring to get the troops together, and 21 September was selected as the target date. Herring briefed Windeyer on the operation on 18 September. Windeyer felt that the schedule was still too tight, and it was postponed one more day to 22 September. As at Lae, the first wave, consisting of two companies each from the 2/13th and 2/7th Infantry Battalions, would land in plywood LCP(R)s launched by the four destroyer transports, the USS Brooks, Gilmer, Humphreys, and Sands. The remainder of the assault would land in six LSTs, 15 LCIs, and six LCTs of the VII Amphibious Force, and 10 LCMs and 15 LCVPs of the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment. The total force would number about 5,300. The 9th Division would be limited to taking 15 days' supplies. One of the lessons of the Lae operation was the need for a naval beach party to take soundings, mark the beaches and channels, and handle communications between ship and shore. US Navy doctrine held that these should be composed of personnel drawn from the attack transports, but none were involved in the Lae or Finschhafen operations. For Finschhafen, an eight-man Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Beach Party was organised under Lieutenant Commander J. M. Band. A set of oblique aerial photographs of Scarlet Beach were taken on 19 September by the USAAF's 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, the only unit in SWPA with the equipment to take them, that showed a shallow sand bar along the southern half of the beach, rendering it unsuitable for landing craft. This left beaching space for only three LSTs. The landing plan was changed so only three of the six LSTs would beach with the initial assault, the other three returning to Buna, and arriving on the beach at 23:00 that night. Herring considered that spreading the LST arrivals might make unloading easier. Wootten noted that this would mean that one battery of 25-pounders, one light antiaircraft battery, a quarter of the engineer stores, and the casualty clearing station would have to arrive with the second group. Ironically, soundings taken by the RAN Beach Party after the landing revealed that the "sand bar" was actually a white shingle bottom, and in fact the beach was ideally suited to LST operations. The main point of disagreement between Herring and Barbey concerned the timing of the landing. Barbey and the Commander of Allied Naval Forces, Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender, did not want a repeat of what happened at Lae, when two LCIs were lost and two LSTs were badly damaged. Although the USAAF and RAAF attacked Japanese air bases in New Britain, this did not stop nine Japanese bombers and 10 fighters attacking Nadzab on 20 September. Moreover, some 23 Japanese warships were sighted in the harbour at Rabaul, and there were reports of Japanese submarines in the area. Accordingly, Barbey proposed landing at 02:00 under a quarter moon, which would allow his ships to unload and get away soon after dawn. Noting that it was the rainy season, and the sky would therefore likely be overcast, Herring doubted that the VII Amphibious Force would be able to locate the beach, and pressed for a dawn landing at 05:15. In the end, a compromise was reached on 04:45. Samuel Eliot Morison, the US Naval historian, noted that: "The Australians proved to be right; 'Uncle Dan's' outfit was not prepared for a neat night landing. The usual snafu developed". ## Landing ### First wave USS APc-15 produced 140 mimeograph copies of the VII Amphibious Force operation order, which was distributed by PT boat. They then departed for G Beach, 14 miles (23 km) east of Lae. While they were en route during the night, a Japanese raid on Buna sank an LCS(S), and damaged a dock and two merchant ships; nine people were killed and 27 wounded. USS LCI-31 developed engine trouble, and was forced to return to Buna. This left A Company of the 2/13th Infantry Battalion without its transport. The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel G. E. Colvin, arranged for them to travel on USS LCI-337, LCI-338, and LCI-342. Around sunset, six Sally bombers attacked the escorting destroyers. They dropped their bombs but scored no hits. The ships arrived off Scarlet beach on time, and the destroyers conducted a short 11-minute preliminary bombardment. It was doubtful if any Japanese positions were hit or any casualties inflicted. Low cloud trapped the smoke and dust produced by the bombardment. To the Australians, it was "dark as the inside of a cow". Scarlet Beach and Siki Cove were covered by bunker-type pillboxes made of logs, spaced about 50 yards (46 m) apart, and connected by shallow trenches. They held about 300 Japanese defenders. Japanese tracer fire started pouring from the shore. At this point, one Australian recalled "I realised that this was not an unopposed landing." It was the first opposed landing by Australian troops since the Landing at Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. Almost all the LCP(R)s in the first wave veered off course to the left, landing between Siki Creek and the rocks of the headland between Siki Cove and Arndt Point. All the boats landed successfully except for one carrying 11 Platoon of the 2/15th Infantry Battalion, which had broken down and was towed by the LCP(R) carrying 10 Platoon, delaying both. Another LCP(R) appeared and took the platoon in. But only three of the sixteen landed on Scarlet Beach. In some ways this was good, as it meant that the plywood landing craft were not subjected to intense machine gun fire, which might have caused heavy casualties; but there were still serious disadvantages to landing on the wrong beach. On the right, Captain T. C. Sheldon's B Company, 2/17th Infantry Battalion, accompanied by the anti-tank platoon and 10 Platoon the Papuan Infantry Battalion, landed roughly where they were supposed to, and pushed on to their objective, North Hill. The rest of the first wave was jumbled up. Major P.H. Pike found his A Company of the 2/17th mixed up with Captain Paul Deschamps' B Company of the 2/13th. Since the latter had further to travel, and there was no Japanese opposition, Pike agreed to hold his company back while Deschamps' moved on to his objective. Pike then moved his men inland 100 yards (91 m) and waited for daylight. C Company's task was to seize Arndt Point, but part of it was already there, facing a steep cliff. The only platoon to encounter serious opposition was Lieutenant C. Huggett's platoon, which had veered off to the right, and landed on Scarlet Beach near the mouth of the Song River. It came under fire from two Japanese machine gun posts there. With the help of an American Amphibian Scout, Lieutenant Herman A. Koeln, Huggett attacked the posts with grenades and small arms. Another Amphibian Scout, Lieutenant Edward K. Hammer, encountered a party of Japanese that he fired on. Koeln and Hammer were conspicuous because they were carrying the 10-foot (3.0 m) red canvas signs to mark the beach. The beachmaster, Lieutenant Commander John M. Band, was fatally wounded making his way to Scarlet Beach. He was posthumously awarded the US Navy Cross. ### Follow-up The second wave came in LCIs. These were craft that had no ramps; infantry disembarked from the down gangways. That they were not suitable for an assault landing was not overlooked, but they were all that was available. The first wave's mission had been to capture Scarlet Beach and the foreshore. Since that had not been done, they came under fire from the Japanese bunkers. Despite explicit orders not to, they replied with their Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. Some helped to suppress the Japanese machine guns, while others fired wildly and caused casualties among the Australian troops ashore. Like the first wave, they veered off to the left, adding to the chaos. At least three of the LCIs grounded on a sand bar, but were able to retract and make better landings, although still on the wrong beach. The Military Landing Officer, Major J. R. Broadbent landed with the first wave in the same LCP(R) as Pike. With him was an Amphibian Scout carrying the red signal light that was to mark the centre of the beach for later waves. They were unable to reach the correct location in time for the second wave, but were able to place it and switch it on in time for the third, so it was the first to land on Scarlet Beach. Although the first wave had landed seven minutes late, the second was fifteen, and the third was half an hour behind schedule. In the confusion, two LCIs collided, killing two soldiers and injuring eight. Some of the LCI captains were reluctant to drive their ships in hard enough, and many troops disembarked into water that was over their heads. Sergeant Iaking Iwagu, of the Royal Papuan Constabulary, landing with 9 Platoon of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, was awarded the George Medal for attempting to save Captain A. B. Luetchford, who was hit in deep water. The third wave found the Japanese bunkers still manned, and assaulted them. Most of the Japanese defenders withdrew rather than fight to the finish. Four LCMs of Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Brockett's Boat Battalion of the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment carrying Bofors 40 mm guns were supposed to arrive with the second wave, but due to some navigational difficulties, they were an hour late. They came in with the six LCMs and four LCVPs of the fourth wave, which was itself 40 minutes late, arriving at 06:10. The 11 LCVPs of the fifth wave reached the Scarlet Beach ten minutes later. By 06:30, the beach and the foreshore were clear of Japanese, and the destroyer transports and LCIs were on their way back to Buna. The amphibian engineers set up a portable surgical hospital to treat the wounded. Windeyer and his brigade major, Major B. V. Wilson, arrived in a landing craft from the destroyer USS Conyngham, and he established brigade headquarters in a Kunai patch 200 yards (180 m) from the beach. A Japanese soldier threw a hand grenade at them that killed one man and wounded the brigade intelligence officer, Captain Barton Maughan. The Japanese soldier was killed with an Owen gun. The sixth and final wave consisted of LST-18, LST-168, and LST-204. They had instructions to wait until the smaller craft had cleared the beach, and beached at 06:50. Each carried an unloading party of 100 men, drawn from the 2/23rd and 2/48th Infantry Battalions, and 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion, who would return with the LSTs. The unloading proceeded at a rapid pace. All the cargo was unloaded from two of the three when they retracted at 09:30, and headed off escorted by ten destroyers and the fleet tug USS Sonoma. The 2/3rd Field Company, 2/1st Mechanical Equipment Company, 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion, and the Shore Battalion of the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment prepared four beach exits. Stores were quickly moved off the beach to inland dumps. Some 5,300 troops, 180 vehicles, 32 25-pounders and Bofors 40 mm guns, and 850 measurement tons (960 m³) of bulk stores had been unloaded. Fifth Air Force fighters provided air cover from 06:45. A Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew over the beachhead at 09:10, and was shot down. A lone bomber showed up ten minutes later and attacked the LSTs on the beach, but missed. Two dive bombers attacked at 09:30, and were driven off, but not before inflicting casualties. The Bofors guns of the 10th Light Anti Aircraft Battery were attacked, and five men were wounded, one fatally. Over the next two weeks there was at least one air raid on the beachhead every day. The air raids proved an effective way of clearing the beach. A large attack by 39 aircraft of the 4th Air Army ran into bad weather and had to return to Wewak, but a naval air forces attack with 38 Zeke fighters and eight Betty bombers found the LSTs and destroyers near the Tami Islands on their way back to Buna at 12:40. The fighter cover was being changed over, so the Fifth Air Force fighter controller on board the destroyer USS Reid could deploy five squadrons instead of just three. They claimed to have shot down 29 fighters and 10 bombers. Antiaircraft gunners from the destroyers, LSTs, and Sonoma also engaged the bombers. While torpedo wakes were seen, no hits were suffered. Three Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters were shot down, but at least one pilot was rescued. The Japanese pilots claimed to have sunk two cruisers, two destroyers, and two transports. ### Consolidation A shortage of 9 mm ammunition for the Owen Guns was discovered, apparently because the ammunition was in the LST that had not been completely unloaded. An emergency airdrop was requested at 10:30. In Port Moresby, the 1st Air Maintenance Company prepared 30 parachutes, each attached to two boxes containing 2,560 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, a total of 153,600 rounds. This was loaded onto three USAAF B-24 Liberator bombers at Wards Airfield that took off at 16:55. They arrived over the Finschhafen area after dark at 19:15, where a drop zone in a Kunai patch was marked by men holding hand torches. Of the 115,000 rounds that were dropped, about 112,000 were recovered. Around daybreak, Pike's A Company, 2/17th Infantry Battalion, reached the village of Katika, which turned out to be a clearing with some dilapidated huts. His company came under fire from Katika Spur, the high ground to the west, which was strongly held by the 9th Company, 80th Infantry Regiment and a company of the 238th Infantry Regiment. The Japanese attempted to outflank A Company on its left, but ran into Capitan L. Snell's D Company, 2/15th Infantry Battalion. The Japanese positions were well-sited on the spur for an attack from the east along the track from Katika to Sattelberg, but at this point, Captain B. G. Cribb, the commander of D Company, 2/13th Infantry Battalion, came on the radio and announced that he was in contact with the Japanese to the west, and was going to attack from that direction. A furious fight ensured. The Japanese held their fire until the Australians were almost on top of them. Realising that the position was stronger than he had thought, Cribb withdrew after suffering eight dead and twenty wounded. Windeyer ordered the 2/17th to bypass the position and proceed to its objective, the high ground south of the Song River. The 2/15th was ordered to attack Katika Spur. The attack was delivered at 15:15 after a preliminary bombardment by 3 inch mortars, but the Japanese defenders had withdrawn, leaving behind eight dead. By nightfall, most of the brigade was on their objectives. The seventh wave, made up of USS LST-67, LST-452, and LST-454, arrived at Scarlet Beach at midnight. As with the previous wave, each carried an Australian labour force which unloaded the LSTs under the direction of the Shore Battalion. The LSTs retracted at 03:00 in order to be well clear before dawn. During the first day, Australian casualties were 20 killed, 65 wounded, and nine missing, all of whom were eventually found to be either dead or wounded. The VII Amphibious Force reported that three men had been wounded. ## Reinforcement Blamey relinquished command of New Guinea Force on 22 September, handing over to Lieutenant General Sir Iven Mackay. As one of his final actions before returning to LHQ in Brisbane, Blamey instructed Herring to arrange for the reinforcement of Finschhafen with an extra brigade and 9th Division Headquarters. That day, though, MacArthur, who also returned to Brisbane on 24 September, had issued an instruction that operations at Finschhafen were "to be so conducted as to avoid commitment of amphibious means beyond those allotted". Barbey therefore declined to arrange for the reinforcement of Finschhafen. Mackay took up the matter with Carpender, who likewise demurred. MacArthur feared that committing additional resources would tie them up, and perhaps result in losses, that would delay upcoming operations, relinquishing the initiative to the Japanese. Ironically, the delay in reinforcing Finschhafen would cause just that. Windeyer sent a signal on 27 September asking for another infantry battalion and a squadron of tanks, and Carpender agreed to ship the additional battalion. The following day Herring flew to Milne Bay to confer with Barbey about this. On takeoff from Dobodura, the B-25 Mitchell he was travelling in crashed. A flying fragment killed his chief of staff, Brigadier R. B. Sutherland, instantly. Everyone else on board escaped shaken but unscathed. The meeting was cancelled. Willoughby still clung to his original estimate of 350 Japanese in the Finschhafen area, but MacArthur authorised the extra battalion. It was arranged that the first LST departing Lae on the night of 28/29 September would stop at G Beach and collect the 2/43rd Infantry Battalion and a platoon of the 2/13th Field Company, a total of 838 men. They were taken to Buna where they transferred to the destroyer transports USS Brooks, Gilmer, and Humphreys. The next night they made a run to Scarlet Beach. The troops were landed and 134 wounded were taken back, but surf conditions prevented the most seriously wounded from being evacuated. While the 20th Infantry Brigade was engaged at Finschhafen, the 22nd Infantry Battalion, a Militia infantry battalion from Victoria, advanced along the coast from the Hopoi Mission Station towards Finschhafen. This advance, "constituting a minor epic in New Guinea operations", traversed increasing difficult terrain. Supply using vehicles was impossible; the 22nd Infantry Battalion was supplied by boats of the 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment. Stores were dropped off at advanced beaches and then carried from there by native porters. The 22nd Infantry Battalion fought a number of skirmishes against the Japanese 2nd Battalion, 80th Infantry Regiment, which was under orders to withdraw. The 22nd Infantry Battalion therefore discovered a series of well-prepared and strong positions which were either unmanned or soon abandoned. Along the way two Type 41 75 mm Mountain Guns that had been disabled were found, along with the bodies of the six natives who had hauled the guns, who had been bound and shot. The battalion reached Dreger Harbour on 1 October, where it made contact with the 20th Infantry Brigade. ## Advance on Finschhafen On 23 September, Windeyer ordered an advance on Finschhafen. Lieutenant Colonel Colin Grace's 2/15th Infantry Battalion reached the Bumi River at 12:40. It was 15 to 20 yards (14 to 18 m) wide and appeared fordable, but the banks contained barbed wire and strongly fortified Japanese positions. While Yamada was withdrawing towards Sattelberg, the Japanese marines of the 85th Garrison Unit remained in place. Yamada had no authority over the marines, and its commander, Captain Tsuzuki, saw no reason to conform to Yamada's actions. He intended to hold Finschhafen for as long as possible. Grace ordered Major Ron Suthers to outflank the Japanese position by moving through the foothills of the Kreutberg Range, as previously instructed by Windeyer. While not high, these were very steep and covered in thick vegetation. Suthers halted on the ridge for the night but resumed his advance in the morning, reaching the Bumi at 10:00. They again found the north bank defended but the south occupied, so attempted to find a crossing 150 yards (140 m) upstream. A Japanese sniper with a light machine gun killed B Company's commander, Captain E. Christie, and Lieutenant N. Harphain. Suthers then ordered Snell to make an assault crossing with D Company. This was done at 13:30, with the company crossing in waist-deep water. Only one man was killed in the crossing. During the afternoon, the 2/13th Infantry Battalion crossed the river to the bridgehead secured by B and D Companies. A large Japanese air raid at 12:30 by 20 fighters and 12 bombers struck the Australian positions around Launch Jetty and the Finschhafen airstrip. About 60 bombs were dropped. There were heavy casualties. The 2/3rd Field Company lost 14 killed and 19 wounded; the 2/12th Field Regiment lost two killed and 16 wounded, and the air liaison party's headquarters was hit, knocking out its radio set and killing Captain Ferrel, its commander. Another eight men were killed and 40 wounded in air raids on 25 September. During the night of 25/26 September, Japanese barges and a submarine were spotted offshore. Windeyer had to bring a company of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion back to protect the brigade area. Meanwhile, D Company of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion had moved along the track to Sattelberg with the intent of capturing that position. D Company reported that Sattelberg was unoccupied, but in fact had captured Jivevenang, not Sattelberg. When the mistake was realised and it attempted to take Sattelberg, it was found to be strongly defended. D Company therefore withdrew to Jivevenang. Unfortunately, the news of the capture of Sattelberg was passed all the way up the line to GHQ in Brisbane. The advance on Finschhafen continued on 26 September. Since the Salankaua Plantation was still reported to be heavily defended, Windeyer attempted to force the defenders to withdraw. He started with attacks on two hills to the south west of the plantation. B and D Companies of the 2/15th Infantry Battalion attacked what came to be called Snell's Hill. It was captured in hand-to-hand combat using bayonets. The Australians captured three 13 mm heavy machine guns and seven light machine guns, and buried the bodies of 52 dead Japanese defenders. The other feature, which came to be called Starvation Hill, was taken by C Company. However, their capture did not prompt the Japanese to leave the Salankaua Plantation. Windeyer realised that he needed to capture Kakakog Ridge. Torrential rain was falling, making it difficult to resupply the forward positions, particularly Starvation Hill. On 1 October eight Douglas A-20 Havoc bombers of the US 89th Bombardment Squadron attacked the Japanese positions in the Salankaua Plantation and Kakakog Ridge area at 10:35, followed by ten Vultee Vengeance dive bombers of No. 24 Squadron RAAF. This was followed by twenty 25-pounders of the 2/12th Field Regiment firing 30 rounds per gun. The attack was delivered but the assault companies were soon pinned down. "When a situation seemed desperate", historian David Dexter noted, "the Australian Army appeared to have the knack of producing a leader of the necessary character". Sergeant G. R. Crawford led 11 and 12 Platoons of the 2/13th Infantry Battalion in a bayonet charge on the Japanese positions covering Ilebbe Creek. Private A. J. Rofle, firing a Bren gun from the hip, silenced one of the Japanese posts causing the most trouble. He went on to silence another, but was wounded trying to take out a third. Crawford's furious assault swept all before it. One post remained on Crawford's left, which was attacked with 2-inch mortars and attacked by 8 Platoon. The Japanese abandoned the post and withdrew into the Salankaua Plantation. Rolfe and Crawford were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The 2/13th Infantry Battalion lost 10 killed and 70 wounded; between 80 and 100 Japanese marines died. The arrival of the 2/43rd Infantry Battalion meant that the 2/17th Infantry Battalion could be reassembled for the advance on Finschhafen, thus enabling the entire 20th Infantry Brigade to concentrate on that objective. On 2 October the 2/17th Infantry Battalion crossed the Bumi without opposition, and found the Salankaua Plantation unoccupied. In mopping up the area, it captured two Japanese stragglers and killed three. By evening Finschhafen was in Australian hands. Between 22 September and 2 October, the 20th Infantry Brigade had taken its objectives. It had lost 73 dead, 276 wounded and nine missing, all of whom were later accounted for as dead or wounded. The 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment had eight dead and 42 wounded. Two Americans were also killed in the Air Liaison Party. ## Aftermath MacArthur's decision to move swiftly against Finschhafen, coupled with Blamey's to envelop the Japanese defences by landing at Scarlet Beach, and Yamada's to avoid a decisive engagement that might result in the loss of all or part of his force, gave Windeyer the time and space he needed to take Finschhafen. Blamey's objective was therefore in Allied hands; but it was of limited use without Sattelberg. The Allied intelligence failure and subsequent dithering meant that the Japanese reinforced their position faster, and thus were able to seize the initiative. The Japanese launched a counter-attack on the Allied lodgement around Scarlet Beach. A three-pronged action, the counter-attack saw a diversionary attack to the north, while the Sugino Craft Raiding Unit attacked from the sea, and two infantry regiments assaulted the centre aiming towards the beach and the Heldsbach plantation. It had been intended that once the beachhead was overwhelmed, that the 79th and 80th Infantry Regiments would link up and then clear the Finschhafen and Langemark Bay areas; but the assault was poorly co-ordinated and failed to achieve sufficient weight to overcome the Australians, while also suffering from a lack of artillery. The seaborne assault was interdicted by US Navy PT boats, which inflicted heavy casualties, and was destroyed by Allied machine gunners on the beach. In the centre, though, the Japanese were able to break through to Siki Cove, and in the process isolated several Australian units, including those fighting on the western flank around Jivevenang, forcing the Australians to resort to air drops to keep their forces supplied. While the Japanese briefly managed to force the Australians to contract their forces around the beachhead, and Japanese aircraft were able to attack the Allied ground troops around the area over three successive nights between 19 and 21 October, the attack eventually ran out of momentum on 24 October, at which point the Japanese commander, Yamada, ordered his forces to concentrate around the high ground at Sattelberg, where they planned to make further attacks. Meanwhile, the Australians prepared for an assault against the Japanese strong hold that had been established around the abandoned Lutheran mission atop the Sattelberg heights before advancing towards the Wareo plateau to cut off key Japanese lines of communication.

Silent Alarm Remixed

Silent Alarm Remixed is the remix album to Silent Alarm, the debut album by British indie rock band Bloc Party. It was released on 29 August 2005 in the British Isles on Wichita Recordings, the band's primary label, and on 13 September 2005 in the United States through Vice Records to coincide with Bloc Party's worldwide touring schedule. The record peaked at number 54 on the UK Albums Chart. In the US, it achieved a peak of number four on the Billboard Top Electronic Albums. Bloc Party commissioned Silent Alarm Remixed to show that remixes and dance music were relevant to the band and to the rock landscape at large. The band members gave each of the original tracks to a number of musicians from different genres; Ladytron, Four Tet, and Nick Zinner were amongst those who reworked the songs. Critics often considered the record as showcasing the potential high quality of remix albums, although some reviewers treated it as disjunct and a poor marketing decision. ## Origins and release Bloc Party's critically acclaimed debut album Silent Alarm charted in 18 countries on four continents by the end of April 2005. The Japanese edition included three bonus songs which later appeared on Silent Alarm Remixed: "So Here We Are (Four Tet Remix)", "Plans (Mogwai Remix)", and "The Pioneers (M83 Remix)". The US double LP version contained another two tracks which later formed part of the track list: "Positive Tension (Jason Clark Remix)" and "Price of Gasoline (Automato Remix)". During the month of May, other musical acts were asked to remix the rest of the songs from the band's work. Frontman Kele Okereke has stated that the decision was taken because the band members wanted to show that dance music was significant to them as a rock quartet. Fellow Vice Records band Death from Above 1979 were the first act to be asked and covered "Luno" as a B-side to their June 2005 single "Black History Month". Engineers reworked "Blue Light" after supporting Bloc Party at several concerts during the first half of 2005. Before their fame, Okereke and lead guitarist Russell Lissack were regular visitors to Erol Alkan's Trash club in London; the early contact with the band led Alkan to rework their first single "She's Hearing Voices". The band had also performed at Dave Pianka's Philadelphia club and the gig inspired the owner to remix "This Modern Love" with Adam Sparkle into something more suited to a disco. Ladytron were early fans of the band and invited the quartet for a performance at their Liverpool club before reworking "Like Eating Glass" for the release. Whitey and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner were the only acts to be hired based on their respective musical credentials. Bloc Party spent the whole of August 2005 promoting Silent Alarm Remixed at several European festivals. The record was released on 29 August following the band's headlining slots at the Reading and Leeds Festivals on 26–28 August. The final track list included the Bloc Party EP edit of "Banquet" by Silent Alarm producer Paul Epworth. The cover art is a negative of the bare winter landscape by freelance photographer Ness Sherry used on Silent Alarm. ## Critical reception AllMusic's Heather Phares described the album as more consistent than most remix collections and noted that it functions well as a record in its own right. Priya Elan of NME explained that "the results are pretty much all quality" and that some of the tracks are better than the original songs on Silent Alarm. Rockfeedback's Thomas Hannan stated, "It's all very clever, but the most intelligent thing about it is that it makes you think about the original in a completely altered way." Pitchfork Media's Nitsuh Adebe was impressed with the album and indicated that it is "surprisingly good, and surprisingly often". Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone was less receptive and commented that the tracks are flawed in conception, because Bloc Party is not a disco-oriented band despite its propulsive rhythm section. Nick Southall of Stylus suggested that the inherent problem with record is that the vocals have been removed from the "sympathetic stereo-treatment and layering" of Silent Alarm. Liam Colle of PopMatters was not impressed by Silent Alarm Remixed and commented that "the new tricks aren't quite charming, or very tricky for that matter", because the album "reeks of a marketing brainstorm". Drowned in Sound's Mike Diver concluded that the disparate nature of the record's contributors denies it the coherency of the original. ## Composition Ladytron's mix of "Like Eating Glass" replaces the lead and rhythm guitars with looped synthesisers and adds a large amount of reverberation to the vocals; the resulting effect was described by Pitchfork Media's Nitsuh Adebe as "walking out of your apartment and thinking you can hear Bloc Party playing a festival six blocks over". Whitey reworked "Helicopter" in a minimalist fashion and introduced wolf howls and a xylophone staccato to the song. The musician's effects gave the track a rawer sound than the original version according to Heather Phares of Allmusic. "Positive Tension" was remixed by Jason Clark of art punk band Pretty Girls Make Graves under the pseudonym "Blackbox". The song includes elements of oldschool jungle. The Paul Epworth edit of single "Banquet", under his "Phones" moniker, is more sparse than the original and is closer to dance music than indie rock. Engineers' "Blue Light" was dubbed the 'Anti-Gravity' mix and resulted in an ambient track which Nick Southall of Stylus considered as good as Bloc Party's version. Erol Alkan's reworking of debut single "She's Hearing Voices" is a dub version over twice the length of the blueprint. The song accentuates the punk funk elements in Bloc Party's work. Alkan has noted that his priority was to get more out of the track's groove and melody since "the original is so fast it kind of flies by without you being able to recognise [its] beauty". Dave Pianka and Adam Sparkle's work on "This Modern Love" resulted in a musical construction akin to 1980s new wave bands Blondie and The Cure. M83 used several studio effects to create an ambient version of single "The Pioneers" by adding strings and synthesisers to the original composition. Automato's remix of "Price of Gasoline" infuses Bloc Party's blueprint with electronica elements. Solo act Kieran Hebden, under his Four Tet alias, provided the remix for "So Here We Are" and created a folktronica version of the original, reminiscent of the music once produced by Windham Hill Records according to Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone. Death From Above 1979's version of "Luno" is the only re-recording on Silent Alarm Remixed and is wholly in the dance-punk genre. Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong has stated, "It's a really aggressive take on our music." Mogwai's mix of "Plans" adds an extensive use of echo to the original song, while Nick Zinner's remix of "Compliments" created in Shibuya, Tokyo accentuates Okereke's whispers to create vocal effects similar to those of The Cure's Robert Smith according to Adebe. ## Track listing All songs originally written and composed by Bloc Party and remixed by each credited artist. ### Bonus tracks - "Banquet" (Cornelius Remix) – 10:47 (there is also a 4:37 version) – track 14 on the Japanese edition - "Tulips" (Minotaur Shock Remix) – 5:19 – hidden track begins at 5:21 of the last song on the UK and US editions and at 5:28 of the last song on the Japanese edition. U.S. Bonus Disc 1. "Storm and Stress" – 2:47 2. "Always New Depths" – 4:57 3. "Skeleton" – 3:16 4. "Plans" (Acoustic) – 3:22 5. "Storm and Stress" (Acoustic) – 3:13 Japanese Bonus Disc Two More Years EP 1. "Two More Years" – 4:07 2. "Two More Years" (Edit) – 3:44 3. "Banquet" (The Streets Mix) – 3:49 4. "Hero" – 4:09 Music videos 1. "Two More Years" 2. "Banquet" (The Streets Mix) 3. "The Pioneers" ## Release history ## Chart positions

The Boat Race 1958

The 104th Boat Race took place on 5 April 1958. Held annually, the Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. The race was umpired by former Cambridge rower Kenneth Payne and featured the first cox to follow his father in steering one of the boats. The reigning champions Cambridge won by 3+1⁄2 lengths in a time of 18 minutes 15 seconds, the third-fastest winning time in history, and took the overall record to 58–45 in their favour. ## Background The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). First held in 1829, the race takes place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions, having won the 1957 race by two lengths, and led overall with 57 victories to Oxford's 45 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877). Cambridge were coached by J. R. F. Best, James Crowden (who rowed twice for Cambridge, in the 1951 and 1952 races), Brian Lloyd (a three-time Blue, rowing in the 1949, 1950 and 1951 races), J. R. Owen (who rowed in the 1959 and 1960 races) and Harold Rickett (three-time Blue between 1930 and 1932). Oxford's coaches were Hugh "Jumbo" Edwards (who rowed for Oxford in the 1926 and 1930 races), J. H. Page, C. F. Porter and L. A. F. Stokes (who rowed in the 1951 and 1952 races. The race was umpired for the sixth time by the former British Olympian Kenneth Payne, who had rowed for Cambridge in the 1932 and 1934 races. In the buildup to the race, Cambridge's P. D. Rickett was struck down by influenza for a week and was unable to train. ## Crews The Cambridge crew weighed an average of 13 st 3 lb (83.7 kg), 3 pounds (1.4 kg) per rower more than their opponents. Oxford's crew had two rowers with Boat Race experience, including stroke G. Sorrell (who was rowing in his third race) and number four S. F. A. Miskin. Cambridge saw a single participant return in number three J. A. Pitchford. Two of the participants in the race were registered as non-British. Oxford's number six, Rodd Rubin, hailed from America while Cambridge's number five R. B. Ritchie was Australian. Cambridge's James Sulley became the first cox to follow in his father's footsteps: A. L. "Jimmy" Sulley steered the Light Blues in the 1928 race. Peter Rickett, the Light Blues' number six, also followed his father (and coach for this year) Harold, while R. B. Ritchie's father A. B. Ritchie and Russell Carver's father Humphrey Roberton Carver also rowed for Cambridge, in the 1922 and 1925 races respectively. Oxford's stroke, David Edwards was the son of coach Hugh "Jumbo" Edwards who rowed in the 1930 race while P. D. Rickett's father and coach Harold rowed in three races for Cambridge, from 1930 to 1932. ## Race Cambridge, who went into the race as favourites, won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station, handing the Middlesex side of the river to Oxford. In conditions described in The Times as "wretched" with fog and rain, the race started at 1:30 p.m. Although Oxford out-rated Cambridge, the Light Blues' length of stroke saw them hold a three-quarter length lead after the first minute. Continuing to pull away, Cambridge were clear by Beverley Brook, half a length clear by the time the crews passed Craven Steps and increased this to a length and a half by the Mile Post. A spurt from Oxford at the Crab Tree pub made no impression on the lead. Oxford were still out-rating by Cambridge three strokes per minute as they passed below Hammersmith Bridge, two lengths adrift of the Light Blues. By Chiswick Steps, the lead was three lengths where Cambridge saw off another spurt, with Oxford now rowing six strokes per minute faster than their opponents. Able to relax, Cambridge passed the finishing post three and a half lengths clear of Oxford in a time of 18 minutes 15 seconds, the third fastest winning time in the event's history. It was Cambridge's fourth consecutive victory and the fastest winning time since the 1948 race. A correspondent writing in The Times described the victory as a "great success" and attributed the win to Cambridge's "uniformity, precision, and properly covered blades ... not to the brilliance of any individuals in the boat." Jack Beresford, writing in The Observer, suggested that Cambridge's crew was "as good as any since the war" but that while Oxford "rowed gallantly and never gave up", their technique was inadequate. ## International selection Jonathan Hall and Francis David Badcock (from Oxford) and Russell Carver (from Cambridge) were all selected for the England team for the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games later in the year; Badcock was a reserve for the eights.

Daniel O'Connell (journalist)

Irish poet, actor, writer and journalist

Daniel O'Connell (II) (1849 – 23 January 1899) was a poet, actor, writer and journalist in San Francisco, California, and a co-founder of the Bohemian Club. He was the grand-nephew of Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847), the famed Irish orator and politician. O'Connell's strict classics-oriented education in Ireland stood him in good stead for his early career choices of teacher and journalist. In San Francisco, he formed friendships with artists and influential men who joined with him in presenting and promoting theatrical productions and in publishing books and newspapers. He wrote short stories for magazines and journals, and lived a life rich in food, drink, and the arts. A dedicated family man in America, O'Connell never lost his Irish poet's sense of overarching sadness joined with keen pleasure in the sensations of the physical world. ## Early career O'Connell was born to distinguished lawyer Charles O'Connell in 1849 in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, some two years after the death of his famed grand-uncle Daniel O'Connell. Young O'Connell attended Belvedere College, a Jesuit school in Dublin, but was called home at the deaths of his mother and sister in a coach accident. This tragic event was later judged to be the source of O'Connell's sense of the impermanence of the world. After the funeral, he was transferred without enthusiasm to Clongowes Wood College where he studied the classics for three years. O'Connell signed on with the Royal Navy as a midshipman. He travelled around Cape Horn to California in 1868. After disembarking in San Francisco, O'Connell took a position as professor of belles-lettres at Santa Clara College, then accepted an offer from St. Ignatius College in San Francisco to teach Greek. ## Writer O'Connell worked for a number of periodicals in the San Francisco Bay Area. He edited the Morning Herald, the San Francisco Times, the Bulletin, the Chronicle, the Wasp, the Bohemian and the Portico. He helped Henry George found the San Francisco Daily Evening Post in 1871. His best work includes "The Thrust in Tierce," a short story written for the Overland Monthly, and a yearly Christmas piece, "quaint, grotesque or poetical" usually describing the serio-comic antics of would-be San Francisco aristocrats with little claim to fame. ## Bohemian Club In 1872 with a group of other Chronicle newspaper staffers, O'Connell helped form the Bohemian Club. At first, the group rented a modest room as their clubhouse, and spent many evenings enjoying food, drink, music and the literary arts. Chronicle publisher M. H. de Young later wrote that the Bohemian membership of some of his employees was "not an unmixed blessing" because the "boys would go there sometimes when they should have reported at the office." De Young said that "very often" when O'Connell sat down to a good dinner, "he would forget that he had a pocketful of notes for an important story." "Dan," as he was called by his friends, was a very active Bohemian, and was described as the "Prince of the club" when he wasn't being toasted as "the rightful King of Munster." O'Connell took part in many Bohemian poetry readings and stage plays, including a turn as King Macbeth of Scotland in the witches' scene from Macbeth. O'Connell was the first member to formally announce an upcoming "Jinks" (literary and musical performance)—his turn at host, or "Sire", of an evening's entertainment took place 30 November 1872 with the stated theme of "Tom Moore and Offenbach." The Jinks events at the club were usually cheerful and sometimes boisterous. One of O'Connell's Jinks announcements joked that the "opening discordancy" of the presentation would be played by the Bohemian Club's own musicians, "who have done so much to lower the rents in this neighborhood." In 1876, O'Connell wrote the preface and edited a book of stories by William Henry Rhodes (a Bohemian who wrote under the pen-name "Caxton") entitled Caxton's Book. In 1878, O'Connell worked for The Mail, an early newspaper in San Francisco. With his adroit editing, O'Connell helped make famous the "Town Crier" column for the San Francisco News Letter, written by Ambrose Bierce, then by Ashton Stevens. In 1881, O'Connell published Lyrics, a book of poetry evincing a "Celtic strain." The poetry displays O'Connell's sense of sunt lacrimae rerum, that there will be tears with trials, and it expresses his bittersweet joy in life's evanescent pleasures. O'Connell wrote an Irish-themed play, The Red Fox, which was staged with moderate success in San Francisco about 1882. O'Connell wrote "Ghoul's Quest" for The Argonaut. In 1891, he published The Inner Man: Good Things to Eat and Drink and Where to Get Them, a collection of anecdotes and advice for the epicurean who finds himself in the San Francisco area, and a cautionary description of common 19th century food adulterants such as chemical dyes and powdered lead. O'Connell wrote the libretto for a romantic opera entitled Bluff King Hal, working with fellow Bohemian Club member Humphrey John Stewart who composed the music. The opera was performed at San Francisco's Grand Opera House in 1892, with artist and Bohemian Amédée Joullin designing the costumes and painting the scenery, and architect and Bohemian Willis Polk modelling and designing the scenery. O'Connell was elected honorary life member of the Bohemian Club in the late 1890s and was made club historian. ## Personal life In 1874, O'Connell married Annie Ashley, called Mabel, the daughter of California Senator Delos R. Ashley who had died the previous year. The marriage produced seven children. The O'Connell marriage was described by a close friend as a perfect union, "with kindred tastes and boy-and-girl love." With seven children who adored their father, the O'Connell home became a "small world where love reigned." Gipsy O'Connell, one of the daughters, later expressed that her favourite of her father's poems was "Sing Me A Ringing Anthem" from Lyrics. ## Death and remembrance O'Connell died suddenly in 1899 from a cold that turned into pneumonia. The New York Times published an obituary and printed a quatrain by the Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon incorrectly stating that it was one of O'Connell's: > Life is only foam and bubbles; > Two things stand like stone— > Kindness in another's troubles, > Courage in your own. In 1900, Ina Coolbrith, Bohemian Club librarian, edited a collection of O'Connell's poetry, entitled Songs from Bohemia, copyrighted to Mabel Ashley O'Connell. Coolbrith ended the book with "The Chamber of Sleep", the last poem by O'Connell, written ten days before his death. William Greer Harrison wrote in a memorial foreword that O'Connell was an avid outdoorsman of eternally sunny disposition. He mentioned his appreciation for good food and his fine chef's skill in delicate cookery. Harrison wrote of his flair for swordsmanship and his pleasure in fishing, and noted that during any of these activities, O'Connell could be seen pausing to write down on a scrap of paper an idea for a story. Mabel Ashley O'Connell died of grief a year after her husband. Harrison wrote that she "lingered here only long enough to say farewell to her many friends, and then joined her husband in the land that is hidden from material eyes, where love and life are one." Charles Rollo Peters (1862-1928), the San Franciscan painter, a very close friend of his, designed two memorials for him, the memorial seat at Sausalito and a further one, located somewhere in the Marin hills. This memorial consists of a bronze tablet affixed to an oak tree bearing the words “In loving memory of Daniel O ’ Connell, poet, philosopher, friend.” In an interview Rollo said: “There was a fitting celebration. Porter Ashe, Ned Hamilton and others recalled the good old days when “The Roseleaves ” fluttered about in madcap merriment. And then the tablet was left to Mother Nature and to the silence which is only broken by the soughing of the breeze through the branches and the music of the bee and the katydid . Only the wanderer in the hills or the devout pilgrim seeking out shrines of song will find the tablet on the oak. “Dan O ’Connell loved God ’s out-of-doors, ” said Peters when I asked him about the memorial . “He delighted in life in the open . He was an excellent shot, a skilled fly fisher and an expert yachtsman . So it seemed right to commemorate him in the hills and among the trees.” ## See also - O'Connell of Derrynane

Hurricane Pauline

Category 4 Pacific hurricane in 1997

Hurricane Pauline was one of the deadliest Pacific hurricanes to make landfall in Mexico. The sixteenth tropical storm, eighth hurricane, and seventh major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season, Pauline developed out of a tropical wave from Africa on September 16, 1997, moving across South America and into the Pacific Ocean. On October 5, the depression intensified into a tropical storm early the next day and by October 7, Pauline had reached hurricane intensity. It initially moved eastward, then turned northwestward and quickly strengthened to reach peak winds of 135 mph (217 km/h). It paralleled the Mexican coastline a short distance offshore before weakening and making landfall near Puerto Angel, on October 9, and dissipated the next day. Hurricane Pauline produced torrential rainfall along the Mexican coastline, peaking at 32.62 inches (829 mm) in Puente Jula. Intense flooding and mudslides in some of the poorest areas of Mexico killed between 230 and 500 people, making it one of the deadliest Eastern Pacific storms in recorded history. The passage of the hurricane destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of houses, leaving around 300,000 people homeless and causing \$447.8 million in damage (1997 USD). ## Meteorological history The origins of Hurricane Pauline were thought to have been spawned by a tropical wave, which moved off the coast of Africa into the tropical Atlantic Ocean on September 16, 1997. The wave subsequently moved across the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, before it moved across northern South America and entered the Pacific Ocean near Panama on September 26. On October 5, after a low-level circulation centre and an area of deep atmospheric convection had persisted on visible satellite imagery, the United States National Hurricane Center initiated advisories on the wave and designated it as Tropical Depression Eighteen-E. At this time the system was located about 290 mi (465 km) to the southeast of Puerto Ángel, Mexico and had started to move eastwards, as a result of a trough of low pressure over central America that had disrupted the normal steering currents. During that day, the system continued to develop with a banding feature wrapping more than halfway around the low-level circulation centre, before the NHC reported that the system had intensified into a tropical storm and named it Pauline during October 6. A strong high pressure system eroded the trough over southeastern Mexico, which turned Pauline to the northeast. An eye feature developed late on October 6, and early the next day Pauline intensified into a hurricane about 265 miles (426 km) southeast of Salina Cruz after turning to the north and northwest. Pauline rapidly intensified after becoming a hurricane with favorable conditions for continued development, and 18 hours after becoming a hurricane it attained a peak intensity of 135 mph (217 km/h). The winds of the hurricane weakened slightly to 115 mph (185 km/h), but on October 8 Pauline re-strengthened to reach winds of 135 mph (217 km/h) a short distance off the coast of Mexico. The hurricane turned more to the west-northwest while paralleling the southern coast of Oaxaca, and Pauline quickly weakened due to interaction with the mountainous terrain before landfall near Puerto Ángel as a 110 mph (180 km/h) hurricane early on October 9. The tropical cyclone continued to weaken as it paralleled the coast a short distance inland. On October 10, Pauline dissipated over the state of Jalisco. On October 10, the NHC issued their final advisory on the system after the first visible satellite imagery of the day, showed that Pauline had dissipated over the state of Jalisco and no longer had a well-defined low-level circulation. ## Preparations Early forecasts underestimated the peak intensity of Pauline by 65 mph (105 km/h). On October 7, about 41 hours before landfall, the government of Mexico issued a hurricane warning from Tapachula in Chiapas to Punta Maldonado in Guerrero. Shortly after Pauline made landfall, the warning was extended northwestward to Manzanillo, Colima, and later to Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. Pauline's turn to the west-northwest near landfall was unexpected, resulting in hurricane conditions with only a few hours notice in some areas. Authorities in El Salvador declared a national state of alert in response to the potential threat from the hurricane. Residents in flood-prone areas were warned of potential flash flooding. As the hurricane turned sharply to the northwest, there are no reports of damage or deaths from Pauline in the country. Officials in Puerto Madero closed port facilities to all ships, excluding ships in open seas seeking shelter. The government ultimately closed six major ports between Acapulco and Puerto Madero. State authorities in Oaxaca opened 75 emergency shelters and prepared 50 schools to house 10,000 people. ## Impact Few surface observations were taken during the passage of the hurricane, though officials reported that southern Mexico experienced the brunt of the storm. Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, near where Pauline made landfall, reported a peak wind gust of 70 mph (110 km/h) several hours before the hurricane moved through the area; no reports were available after that time. An anemometer in Acapulco reported a wind gust of 59 mph (95 km/h) with sustained winds of 46 mph (74 km/h). However, officials estimate Pauline might have been a hurricane while passing through the area. The hurricane produced very heavy rainfall along its path, with many areas receiving more than 15 inches (380 mm). According to the Comision Nacional del Agua, precipitation was recorded at 2,132 sites. The two highest reported rainfall totals are 27.1 inches (690 mm) at San Luis Actlan, and 32.62 inches (829 mm) at Puente Jula, near Paso de Ovejas. This made Pauline the wettest tropical cyclone in the history of Guerrero. In Acapulco, the hurricane dropped 16.9 in (430 mm) of rainfall in 24 hours. This broke the city precipitation record set originally in 1974; the 1997 total represented about 25% of the city's annual rainfall. Seas of about 30 ft (9.1 m) were reported along the Oaxaca coastline while the hurricane made landfall. Hurricane Pauline lightly affected the state of Chiapas, but severely affected Oaxaca and Guerrero, two of the poorest regions of Mexico. The area most impacted was the region in and around Acapulco. Throughout the country, Hurricane Pauline resulted in \$447.8 million in damage (1997 USD). A report issued by the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs reported 137 deaths three days after Hurricane Pauline. Four days after the passage of the hurricane, a Reuters news report stated there were 173 dead with about 200 missing, while the government of Mexico issued a statement reporting 149 deaths. Ultimately, media reports indicated a death toll of at least 230 people, and the Mexican Red Cross estimated 400 dead and at least 1,900 missing. The Church World Service estimated at least 500 people were killed. Relief Web suggests that 217 fatalities were reported and 600,000 people were impacted. Approximately 300,000 people were left homeless due to the storm. ### Environment The hurricane caused severe damage to the environment; 200 square miles (520 km²) of low-lying rainforest and pine and evergreen oak woodlands were greatly damaged in southern Mexico. Strong waves produced severe beach erosion in some locations. The erosion affected two nesting cycles for the olive ridley turtle, destroying about 40 million eggs. Nearly 806,000 nests were affected, and about 50% of these were wiped out. The deadliest and most intense hurricane to hit southern Mexico since 1959, the hurricane was the first documented hurricane strike on Pacific coral reefs. Crop damage was extreme, and 400,000 bags of coffee were lost. In the days after the hurricane, soybean and wheat prices increased. In all, Hurricane Pauline had a large effect on fauna in Southern Mexico. ### Oaxaca A state of emergency was declared for the state of Oaxaca shortly after Pauline made landfall. Abundant rainfall caused the River Los Perros to overflow its capacity, flooding 50 municipalities in Oaxaca. The flooding damaged 12 bridges, of which two were destroyed, and cut off some areas of electricity, drinking water, and telecommunications for several days. The passage of the hurricane affected thousands of houses, leaving roughly 250,000 homeless in the state. At least 110 people died in the state, with hundreds of thousands of residents and 1,278 communities being affected. Strong winds from the hurricane downed trees and power lines throughout southern Oaxaca. The storm temporarily isolated Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca and a navy base thereby cutting off communications from the rest of Mexico. In Huatulco, the winds blew down antennas at the local television station and destroyed at least 30 cardboard houses. A community near the airport of the city was hit hard, with several people left homeless. Heavy rainfall from the storm caused severe flooding in portions of Oaxaca and neighboring Chiapas. A total of about 500 entire communities were destroyed in Oaxaca; the areas worst affected were Zapotecos, Chatino, and Mixtecos. ### Guerrero Heavy rainfall led to severe mudslides and flooding throughout southern Guerrero. Entire communities were nearly destroyed, with some remaining flooded for a week after the hurricane. The flooding washed out or destroyed thousands of acres of crops, and killed thousands of cattle. The flooding and mudslides isolated more than 45,000 people from the outside world. The passage of the hurricane resulted in damage to houses, bridges, and electrical and water supply. About 400 mm (16 in) fell in the city in a three-hour span, resulting in rivers overflowing its banks. About 1,100 vessels were stranded at port, and 35 ships sunk. Damage to the coffee industry was \$80 million (1997 USD). One environmental agency remarked that it will take 15 years for coffee crops to recover. According to one preliminary estimate, 123 people died in Guerrero, primarily in Acapulco. Over 200 were missing by four days after the hurricane due to being washed out to sea or buried in mudslides. A total of 50,000 people were left homeless across the state. Striking the week after Tropical Storm Olaf, previously wet grounds combined with heavy rainfall from Pauline resulted in severe mudslides and flash flooding in shanty towns around Acapulco Bay. There, around 5,000 homes were destroyed with another 25,000 damaged, with 10,000 people left homeless in and around the city. The luxury resort hotels near the beach were largely unaffected by the hurricane, though residents in the shanty towns lost what little they had. Much of the city was covered in mud, and 70 percent of Acapulco was without water as a result of the hurricane. Most of the city's one million residents were left without power or telephone service. Overall, total damage was nearly \$300 million pesos. ## Aftermath Volunteers from the Mexican Red Cross quickly went to disaster areas with search and rescue teams, including using specially trained dogs to search for hurricane victims trapped under muddy areas of Acapulco. By four days after the storm each team was finding one or two corpses per day, with officials stating the search could take weeks. In Guerrero, the teams rescued a total of 35 people from hazard. Hours after the hurricane passed through the area, relief works traveled by boat through flooded areas to assist the worst-hit areas. The Red Cross provided food, water, clothing, blankets, water purification supplies, milk powder and other non-perishable foods, and medical supplies to those staying in government shelters in Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Chiapas. The Mexican Red Cross also set up shelters to house and feed hundreds of displaced people, and by four days after the storm, the Red Cross distributed 100 tonnes of relief supplies to hurricane victims. Medical workers were also deployed to the area to aid the injured. Officials set up emergency water purification plants in Acapulco, though water remained largely unavailable. Water trucks were sent to the city, with thousands standing in line for fresh water. Tourists in luxury hotels of Acapulco, for the most part generally unaffected by the hurricane, and rapidly recovered while other parts of the city remained devastated. Hotels were forced to use bottled water and ration their available water to as little as possible to provide water for the rest of the city. Extreme price gouging occurred in the city following the hurricane, with one consumer protection official reporting shopkeepers charging 200 percent more for milk, 500 percent more for tortillas, and 1000 percent more than usual for water. Even though the government was blamed for lack of warnings and water shortages, Ernesto Zedillo, the president of Mexico at that time, cut his vacation in Europe short to respond to the catastrophe. Government officials set up 39 aid centers for Acapulco citizens, though some residents were unable to get food and water. Some residents suspected than the President and his Institutional Revolutionary Party of taking aid supplies for their own purposes. The president promised to seek charges and decided to close aid centers in favor of opening soup kitchens. Despite having the food, the Mexican army did not set up the kitchens, nor was aid distributed at the aid centers. Most of Acapulco remained closed for at least a week after the hurricane. Initially, authorities around Acapulco gave preference to clean up tourist areas, which resulted in the scenic highway from the hotels to the airport being quickly fixed. Tourism greatly decreased following the hurricane, causing some hotels to charge 40 percent less than normal in an attempt to bring people back. One airline offered two plane tickets for the price of one from Mexico City to Acapulco. Most hotels were almost completely back to normal around a month after the hurricane. ### Donations The governments of Oaxaca and Guerrero asked UNICEF for assistance, specifically water tanks, water pumps, and construction material. International aid initially focused almost solely on the damage in Acapulco. By a week after the hurricane, 500 communities in Oaxaca remained isolated and without assistance, with several large communities in Guerrero not receiving any material aid by a week after the hurricane. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency organized about 7 tons of food and clothing, and sent a bus of 40 people to help isolated villages in southern Mexico. Around ten days after the hurricane struck, 20,000 people were still isolated from emergency crews and relief works, causing the president to suspect people could begin starving to death. Helicopters were initially sent to the remote areas, though severe fog and heavy rainfall after the hurricane grounded the operations. The government worked to bring food to remote mountain communities, though officials noted the serious risk in doing so. Three days after the hurricane, the American Red Cross sent an initial donation of \$25,000 (1997 USD), and also sent plastic sheets for temporary roofing and cleaning supplies such as mops, brooms, buckets, sponges, bleach, and cleaning chemicals. Local chapters also offered assistance. The chapter in San Antonio, Texas sent cleaning kits, and the chapter in Los Angeles delivered 2,000 comfort kits containing hygiene supplies and crossword puzzles for children. The German Red Cross also offered assistance. ### Diseases The floodwaters from the hurricane combined with raw sewage in many poor areas of southwestern Mexico, leading to a widespread threat for a spread of tropical diseases. As a result, government health workers opened vaccination centers in several cities along the Guerrero and Oaxaca coasts. Thousands were inoculated for typhoid fever and tetanus. Officials noted a potential threat for dengue and cholera as a result of the spoiled water. Health workers also stated mosquitos possessing malaria and dengue fever were likely to breed in large areas of leftover water. In Acapulco, about two days after the hurricane passed, the first day of sun in a week evaporated the areas of leftover water, spreading dust across the region with the deadly diseases. Residents were warned to boil their food and water for 30 minutes due to the threat for contamination by the dust. At least twenty cases of cholera and at least six cases of dengue fever were reported. Most significantly, there were 14,630 cases of malaria in 616 villages in Oaxaca due to Pauline; this represented about 80% of the malaria cases in Mexico during 1998. Army soldiers distributed chlorine tablets to disinfect water pools and wheelbarrows to remove rotting mud and sewage from their damaged homes. Two C-130 Hercules planes and twenty helicopters airlifted food and water to smaller villages south of Acapulco that were stranded for nearly a week after the hurricane. ### Retirement Less than a month after Pauline, Hurricane Rick struck the same general region, which brought additional rainfall and hampered relief efforts. Compared to Pauline, however, damage was minimal. Because of the high death tolls and the extent of damage in Mexico, the name Pauline was retired in the spring of 1998 by the World Meteorological Organization and will never again be used for a Pacific hurricane. It was replaced by Patricia in the 2003 season. ## See also - List of Pacific hurricanes - List of retired Pacific hurricane names - Timeline of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season - Other storms with the same name - List of Category 4 Pacific hurricanes - Hurricane Rick (2021) - Hurricane Agatha (2022)

Euclidean minimum spanning tree

Shortest network connecting points

A Euclidean minimum spanning tree of a finite set of points in the Euclidean plane or higher-dimensional Euclidean space connects the points by a system of line segments with the points as endpoints, minimizing the total length of the segments. In it, any two points can reach each other along a path through the line segments. It can be found as the minimum spanning tree of a complete graph with the points as vertices and the Euclidean distances between points as edge weights. The edges of the minimum spanning tree meet at angles of at least 60°, at most six to a vertex. In higher dimensions, the number of edges per vertex is bounded by the kissing number of tangent unit spheres. The total length of the edges, for points in a unit square, is at most proportional to the square root of the number of points. Each edge lies in an empty region of the plane, and these regions can be used to prove that the Euclidean minimum spanning tree is a subgraph of other geometric graphs including the relative neighborhood graph and Delaunay triangulation. By constructing the Delaunay triangulation and then applying a graph minimum spanning tree algorithm, the minimum spanning tree of $n$ given planar points may be found in time $O(n\log n)$, as expressed in big O notation. This is optimal in some models of computation, although faster randomized algorithms exist for points with integer coordinates. For points in higher dimensions, finding an optimal algorithm remains an open problem. ## Definition and related problems A Euclidean minimum spanning tree, for a set of $n$ points in the Euclidean plane or Euclidean space, is a system of line segments, having only the given points as their endpoints, whose union includes all of the points in a connected set, and which has the minimum possible total length of any such system. Such a network cannot contain a polygonal ring of segments; if one existed, the network could be shortened by removing an edge of the polygon. Therefore, the minimum-length network forms a tree. This observation leads to the equivalent definition that a Euclidean minimum spanning tree is a tree of line segments between pairs of the given points, of minimum total length. The same tree may also be described as a minimum spanning tree of a weighted complete graph, having the given points as its vertices and the distances between points as edge weights. The same points may have more than one minimum spanning tree. For instance, for the vertices of a regular polygon, removing any edge of the polygon produces a minimum spanning tree. Publications on the Euclidean minimum spanning tree commonly abbreviate it as "EMST". They may also be called "geometric minimum spanning trees", but that term may be used more generally for geometric spaces with non-Euclidean distances, such as L^p spaces. When the context of Euclidean point sets is clear, they may be called simply "minimum spanning trees". Several other standard geometric networks are closely related to the Euclidean minimum spanning tree: - The Steiner tree problem again seeks a system of line segments connecting all given points, but without requiring the segments to start and end only at given points. In this problem, additional points may be added as segment endpoints, allowing the Steiner tree to be shorter than the minimum spanning tree. - In the Euclidean traveling salesperson path problem, the connecting line segments must start and end at the given points, like the spanning tree and unlike the Steiner tree; additionally, each point can touch at most two line segments, so the result forms a polygonal chain. Because of this restriction, the optimal path may be longer than the Euclidean minimum spanning tree, but is at most twice as long. - Geometric spanners are low-weight networks that, like the minimum spanning tree, connect all of the points. Unlike the minimum spanning tree, all of these connecting paths are required to be short, having length proportional to the distance between the points they connect. To achieve this property, these networks generally have cycles and so are not trees. ## Properties ### Angles and vertex degrees Whenever two edges of a Euclidean minimum spanning tree meet at a vertex, they must form an angle of 60° or more, with equality only when they form two sides of an equilateral triangle. This is because, for two edges forming any sharper angle, one of the two edges could be replaced by the third, shorter edge of the triangle they form, forming a tree with smaller total length. In comparison, the Steiner tree problem has a stronger angle bound: an optimal Steiner tree has all angles at least 120°. The same 60° angle bound also occurs in the kissing number problem, of finding the maximum number of unit spheres in Euclidean space that can be tangent to a central unit sphere without any two spheres intersecting (beyond a point of tangency). The center points of these spheres have a minimum spanning tree in the form of a star, with the central point adjacent to all other points. Conversely, for any vertex $v$ of any minimum spanning tree, one can construct non-overlapping unit spheres centered at $v$ and at points two units along each of its edges, with a tangency for each neighbor of $v$. Therefore, in $n$-dimensional space the maximum possible degree of a vertex (the number of spanning tree edges connected to it) equals the kissing number of spheres in $n$ dimensions. Planar minimum spanning trees have degree at most six, and when a tree has degree six there is always another minimum spanning tree with maximum degree five. Three-dimensional minimum spanning trees have degree at most twelve. The only higher dimensions in which the exact value of the kissing number is known are four, eight, and 24 dimensions. For points generated at random from a given continuous distribution, the minimum spanning tree is almost surely unique. The numbers of vertices of any given degree converge, for large number of vertices, to a constant times that number of vertices. The values of these constants depend on the degree and the distribution. However, even for simple cases—such as the number of leaves for points uniformly distributed in a unit square—their precise values are not known. ### Empty regions For any edge $uv$ of any Euclidean minimum spanning tree, the lens (or vesica piscis) formed by intersecting the two circles with $uv$ as their radii cannot have any other given vertex $w$ in its interior. Put another way, if any tree has an edge $uv$ whose lens contains a third point $w$, then it is not of minimum length. For, by the geometry of the two circles, $w$ would be closer to both $u$ and $v$ than they are to each other. If edge $uv$ were removed from the tree, $w$ would remain connected to one of $u$ and $v$, but not the other. Replacing the removed edge $uv$ by $uw$ or $vw$ (whichever of these two edges reconnects $w$ to the vertex from which it was disconnected) would produce a shorter tree. For any edge $uv$ of any Euclidean minimum spanning tree, the rhombus with angles of 60° and 120°, having $uv$ as its long diagonal, is disjoint from the rhombi formed analogously by all other edges. Two edges sharing an endpoint cannot have overlapping rhombi, because that would imply an edge angle sharper than 60°, and two disjoint edges cannot have overlapping rhombi; if they did, the longer of the two edges could be replaced by a shorter edge among the same four vertices. ### Supergraphs Certain geometric graphs have definitions involving empty regions in point sets, from which it follows that they contain every edge that can be part of a Euclidean minimum spanning tree. These include: - The relative neighborhood graph, which has an edge between any pair of points whenever the lens they define is empty. - The Gabriel graph, which has an edge between any pair of points whenever the circle having the pair as a diameter is empty. - The Delaunay triangulation, which has an edge between any pair of points whenever there exists an empty circle having the pair as a chord. - The Urquhart graph, formed from the Delaunay triangulation by removing the longest edge of each triangle. For each remaining edge, the vertices of the Delaunay triangles that use that edge cannot lie within the empty lune of the relative neighborhood graph. Because the empty-region criteria for these graphs are progressively weaker, these graphs form an ordered sequence of subgraphs. That is, using "⊆" to denote the subset relationship among their edges, these graphs have the relations: Another graph guaranteed to contain the minimum spanning tree is the Yao graph, determined for points in the plane by dividing the plane around each point into six 60° wedges and connecting each point to the nearest neighbor in each wedge. The resulting graph contains the relative neighborhood graph, because two vertices with an empty lens must be the nearest neighbors to each other in their wedges. As with many of the other geometric graphs above, this definition can be generalized to higher dimensions, and (unlike the Delaunay triangulation) its generalizations always include a linear number of edges. ### Total length For $n$ points in the unit square (or any other fixed shape), the total length of the minimum spanning tree edges is $O(\sqrt n)$. Some sets of points, such as points evenly spaced in a $\sqrt n \times \sqrt n$ grid, attain this bound. For points in a unit hypercube in $d$-dimensional space, the corresponding bound is $O(n^{(d-1)/d})$. The same bound applies to the expected total length of the minimum spanning tree for $n$ points chosen uniformly and independently from a unit square or unit hypercube. Returning to the unit square, the sum of squared edge lengths of the minimum spanning tree is $O(1)$. This bound follows from the observation that the edges have disjoint rhombi, with area proportional to the edge lengths squared. The $O(\sqrt n)$ bound on total length follows by application of the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality. Another interpretation of these results is that the average edge length for any set of points in a unit square is $O(1/\sqrt n)$, at most proportional to the spacing of points in a regular grid; and that for random points in a unit square the average length is proportional to $1/\sqrt n$. However, in the random case, with high probability the longest edge has length approximately $\sqrt{\frac{\log n}{\pi n}},$ longer than the average by a non-constant factor. With high probability, the longest edge forms a leaf of the spanning tree, and connects a point far from all the other points to its nearest neighbor. For large numbers of points, the distribution of the longest edge length around its expected value converges to a Laplace distribution. Any geometric spanner, a subgraph of a complete geometric graph whose shortest paths approximate the Euclidean distance, must have total edge length at least as large as the minimum spanning tree, and one of the standard quality measures for a geometric spanner is the ratio between its total length and of the minimum spanning tree for the same points. Several methods for constructing spanners, such as the greedy geometric spanner, achieve a constant bound for this ratio. It has been conjectured that the Steiner ratio, the largest possible ratio between the total length of a minimum spanning tree and Steiner tree for the same set of points in the plane, is $2/\sqrt{3}\approx 1.1547$, the ratio for three points in an equilateral triangle. ### Subdivision If every edge of a Euclidean minimum spanning tree is subdivided, by adding a new point at its midpoint, then the resulting tree is still a minimum spanning tree of the augmented point set. Repeating this subdivision process allows a Euclidean minimum spanning tree to be subdivided arbitrarily finely. However, subdividing only some of the edges, or subdividing the edges at points other than the midpoint, may produce a point set for which the subdivided tree is not the minimum spanning tree. ## Computational complexity For points in any dimension, the minimum spanning tree can be constructed in time $O(n^2)$ by constructing a complete graph with an edge between every pair of points, weighted by Euclidean distance, and then applying a graph minimum spanning tree algorithm such as the Prim–Dijkstra–Jarník algorithm or Borůvka's algorithm on it. These algorithms can be made to take time $O(n^2)$ on complete graphs, unlike another common choice, Kruskal's algorithm, which is slower because it involves sorting all distances. For points in low-dimensional spaces, the problem may be solved more quickly, as detailed below. Computing Euclidean distances involves a square root calculation. In any comparison of edge weights, comparing the squares of the Euclidean distances, instead of the distances themselves, yields the same ordering, and so does not change the rest of the tree's computation. This shortcut speeds up calculation and allows a minimum spanning tree for points with integer coordinates to be constructed using only integer arithmetic. ### Two dimensions A faster approach to finding the minimum spanning tree of planar points uses the property that it is a subgraph of the Delaunay triangulation: 1. Compute the Delaunay triangulation, which can be done in $O(n\log n)$ time. Because the Delaunay triangulation is a planar graph, it has at most $3n-6$ edges. 2. Label each edge with its (squared) length. 3. Run a graph minimum spanning tree algorithm. Since there are $O(n)$ edges, this requires $O(n\log n)$ time using any of the standard minimum spanning tree algorithms. The result is an algorithm taking $O(n\log n)$ time, optimal in certain models of computation (see below). If the input coordinates are integers and can be used as array indices, faster algorithms are possible: the Delaunay triangulation can be constructed by a randomized algorithm in $O(n\log\log n)$ expected time. Additionally, since the Delaunay triangulation is a planar graph, its minimum spanning tree can be found in linear time by a variant of Borůvka's algorithm that removes all but the cheapest edge between each pair of components after each stage of the algorithm. Therefore, the total expected time for this algorithm is $O(n\log\log n)$. In the other direction, the Delaunay triangulation can be constructed from the minimum spanning tree in the near-linear time bound $O(n\log^* n)$, where $\log^*$ denotes the iterated logarithm. ### Higher dimensions The problem can also be generalized to $n$ points in the $d$-dimensional space $\R^d$. In higher dimensions, the connectivity determined by the Delaunay triangulation (which, likewise, partitions the convex hull into $d$-dimensional simplices) contains the minimum spanning tree; however, the triangulation might contain the complete graph. Therefore, finding the Euclidean minimum spanning tree as a spanning tree of the complete graph or as a spanning tree of the Delaunay triangulation both take $O(dn^2)$ time. For three dimensions the minimum spanning tree can be found in time $O\bigl((n\log n)^{4/3}\bigr)$, and in any greater dimension, in time $O\left(n^{2-\frac{2}{\lceil d/2\rceil+1}+\varepsilon}\right)$ for any $\varepsilon>0$—faster than the quadratic time bound for the complete graph and Delaunay triangulation algorithms. The optimal time complexity for higher-dimensional minimum spanning trees remains unknown, but is closely related to the complexity of computing bichromatic closest pairs. In the bichromatic closest pair problem, the input is a set of points, given two different colors (say, red and blue). The output is a pair of a red point and a blue point with the minimum possible distance. This pair always forms one of the edges in the minimum spanning tree. Therefore, the bichromatic closest pair problem can be solved in the amount of time that it takes to construct a minimum spanning tree and scan its edges for the shortest red–blue edge. Conversely, for any red–blue coloring of any subset of a given set of points, the bichromatic closest pair produces one edge of the minimum spanning tree of the subset. By carefully choosing a sequence of colorings of subsets, and finding the bichromatic closest pair of each subproblem, the minimum spanning tree may be found in time proportional to the optimal time for finding bichromatic closest pairs for the same number of points, whatever that optimal time turns out to be. For uniformly random point sets in any bounded dimension, the Yao graph or Delaunay triangulation have linear expected numbers of edges, are guaranteed to contain the minimum spanning tree, and can be constructed in linear expected time. From these graphs, the minimum spanning tree itself may be constructed in linear time, by using a randomized linear time algorithm for graph minimum spanning trees. However, the poor performance of these methods on inputs coming from clustered data has led algorithm engineering researchers to develop methods with a somewhat slower $O(n\log n)$ time bound, for random inputs or inputs whose distances and clustering resemble those of random data, while exhibiting better performance on real-world data. A well-separated pair decomposition is a family of pairs of subsets of the given points, so that every pair of points belong to one of these pairs of subsets, and so that all pairs of points coming from the same pair of subsets have approximately the same length. It is possible to find a well-separated pair decomposition with a linear number of subsets, and a representative pair of points for each subset, in time $O(n\log n)$. The minimum spanning tree of the graph formed by these representative pairs is then an approximation to the minimum spanning tree. Using these ideas, a $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation to the minimum spanning tree may be found in $O(n\log n)$ time, for constant $\varepsilon$. More precisely, by choosing each representative pair to approximate the closest pair in its equivalence class, and carefully varying the quality of this approximation for different pairs, the dependence on $\varepsilon$ in the time bound can be given as $O(n \log n + (\varepsilon^{-2} \log ^2 \tfrac{1}{\varepsilon})n),$ for any fixed dimension. ### Dynamic and kinetic The Euclidean minimum spanning tree has been generalized in many different ways to systems of moving or changing points: - If a set of points undergoes a sequence of dynamic insertions or deletions of points, each of these updates induces a bounded amount of change to the minimum spanning tree of the points. When the update sequence is known in advance, for points in the plane, the change after each insertion or deletion can be found in time $O(\log^2 n)$ per insertion or deletion. When the updates must be handled in an online manner, a slower (but still poly-logarithmic) $O(\log^{10} n)$ time bound is known. For higher-dimensional versions of the problem the time per update is slower, but still sublinear. - For $n$ points moving linearly with constant speed, or with more general algebraic motions, the minimum spanning tree will change by a sequence of swaps, in which one edge is removed and another replaces it at a point in time where both have equal length. For linear motions, the number of changes is at most slightly larger than $n^{25/9}$. For more general algebraic motions, there is a near-cubic upper bound on the number of swaps, based on the theory of Davenport–Schinzel sequences. - The minimum moving spanning tree problem again concerns points moving linearly with constant speed, over an interval of time, and seeks a single tree that minimizes the maximum sum of weights occurring at any instant during this interval. It is NP-hard to compute exactly, but can be approximated to within a factor of two in polynomial time. - The kinetic Euclidean minimum spanning tree problem asks for a kinetic data structure that can maintain the minimum spanning tree as its points undergo both continuous motions and insertions and deletions. Several papers have studied such structures, and a kinetic structure for algebraically moving points with near-cubic total time, nearly matching the bound on the number of swaps, is known. ### Lower bound An asymptotic lower bound of $\Omega(n\log n)$ of the Euclidean minimum spanning tree problem can be established in restricted models of computation. These include the algebraic decision tree and algebraic computation tree models, in which the algorithm has access to the input points only through certain restricted primitives that perform simple algebraic computations on their coordinates. In these models, the closest pair of points problem requires $\Omega(n\log n)$ time, but the closest pair is necessarily an edge of the minimum spanning tree, so the minimum spanning tree also requires this much time. Therefore, algorithms for constructing the planar minimum spanning tree in time $O(n\log n)$ within this model, for instance by using the Delaunay triangulation, are optimal. However, these lower bounds do not apply to models of computation with integer point coordinates, in which bitwise operations and table indexing operations on those coordinates are permitted. In these models, faster algorithms are possible, as described above. ## Applications An obvious application of Euclidean minimum spanning trees is to find the cheapest network of wires or pipes to connect a set of places, assuming the links cost a fixed amount per unit length. The first publications on minimum spanning trees more generally concerned a geographic version of the problem, involving the design of an electrical grid for southern Moravia, and an application to minimizing wire lengths in circuits was described in 1957 by Loberman and Weinberger. Minimum spanning trees are closely related to single-linkage clustering, one of several methods for hierarchical clustering. The edges of a minimum spanning tree, sorted by their length, give the order in which to merge clusters into larger clusters in this clustering method. Once these edges have been found, by any algorithm, they may be used to construct the single-linkage clustering in time $O(n\log n)$. Although the long thin cluster shapes produced by single-linkage clustering can be a bad fit for certain types of data, such as mixtures of Gaussian distributions, it can be a good choice in applications where the clusters themselves are expected to have long thin shapes, such as in modeling the dark matter halos of galaxies. In geographic information science, several researcher groups have used minimum spanning trees of the centroids of buildings to identify meaningful clusters of buildings, for instance by removing edges identified in some other way as inconsistent. Minimum spanning trees have also been used to infer the shape of curves in the plane, given points sampled along the curve. For a smooth curve, sampled more finely than its local feature size, the minimum spanning tree will form a path connecting consecutive points along the curve. More generally, similar methods can recognize curves drawn in a dotted or dashed style rather than as a single connected set. Applications of this curve-finding technique include particle physics, in automatically identifying the tracks left by particles in a bubble chamber. More sophisticated versions of this idea can find curves from a cloud of noisy sample points that roughly follows the curve outline, by using the topology of the spanning tree to guide a moving least squares method. Another application of minimum spanning trees is a constant-factor approximation algorithm for the Euclidean traveling salesman problem, the problem of finding the shortest polygonalization of a point set. Walking around the boundary of the minimum spanning tree can approximate the optimal traveling salesman tour within a factor of two of the optimal length. However, more accurate polynomial-time approximation schemes are known for this problem. In wireless ad hoc networks, broadcasting messages along paths in a minimum spanning tree can be an accurate approximation to the minimum-energy broadcast routing, which is, again, hard to compute exactly. ## Realization The realization problem for Euclidean minimum spanning trees takes an abstract tree as input and seeks a geometric location for each vertex of the tree (in a space of some fixed dimension), such that the given tree equals the minimum spanning tree of those points. Not every abstract tree has such a realization; for instance, the tree must obey the kissing number bound on the degree of each vertex. Additional restrictions exist; for instance, it is not possible for a planar minimum spanning tree to have a degree-six vertex adjacent to a vertex of degree five or six. Determining whether a two-dimensional realization exists is NP-hard. However, the proof of hardness depends on the fact that degree-six vertices in a tree have a very restricted set of realizations: the neighbors of such a vertex must be placed on the vertices of a regular hexagon centered at that vertex. Indeed, for trees of maximum degree five, a planar realization always exists. Similarly, for trees of maximum degree ten, a three-dimensional realization always exists. For these realizations, some trees may require edges of exponential length and bounding boxes of exponential area relative to the length of their shortest edge. Trees of maximum degree four have smaller planar realizations, with polynomially bounded edge lengths and bounding boxes. ## See also - Rectilinear minimum spanning tree, a minimum spanning tree with distances measured using taxicab geometry

Binky (polar bear)

Polar bear who lived at the Alaska Zoo

Binky (1975 – July 20, 1995) was a polar bear who lived at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. He was originally orphaned near Cape Beaufort, close to the Chukchi Sea in the Alaska North Slope, and was found in Northwest Alaska by David Bergsrud. Alaska Fish and Game was contacted shortly after Binky's discovery, and arrangements were made to find a zoo in the Contiguous United States. Anchorage had a small zoo at the time, with an elephant that local grocer Jack Snyder had won in a contest and a few other donated animals. Time was needed to find a sponsor to fund an enclosure at the Alaska Children's Zoo for Binky. Alaska Fish and Game employees came up with the idea of flying Binky to a number of the inland North Slope villages. Schools were let out in these villages so that the local children could come to the airstrip to see Binky. These events received major news coverage. The Anchorage Zoo was able to take Binky, who quickly became one of its most popular attractions, as well as a local hero. In separate incidents in 1994, Binky mauled two zoo visitors; these events received international news coverage. Binky died in 1995 from sarcocystosis, a parasitic disease. ## Early life Binky was found orphaned near Cape Beaufort, on Alaska's North Slope, in late April, 1975 by an oilfield worker. Efforts were made to locate his mother to no avail. By early May 1975, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) were contacted and began arrangements to find a zoo in the United States outside of Alaska to take Binky. Word eventually got around that a polar bear cub had been found, and the communities near Nome and people in Anchorage petitioned ADF&G to let Binky stay in Alaska. Anchorage had a small zoo at the time, (now known as the Alaska Zoo) with an elephant that one of the founders had won and a few other donated animals. ADF&G found ways to stall sending Binky outside of Alaska. Time was needed to find a "sponsor" to fund an enclosure at the Alaska Children's Zoo for Binky. ADF&G employees came up with the idea of flying Binky to a number of the inland North Slope villages. School was let out in these villages so that the children could come to the airstrips to see Binky. These visits received major news coverage. Finally things fell into place, and ADF&G allowed Binky to move to the Alaska Children's Zoo (later the Alaska Zoo) in Anchorage, where he quickly became one of the zoo's most popular attractions. His keeper commented in 1976 that Binky was a performer and cried in the evenings when his applauding, laughing visitors left for the day. Binky was initially placed in a 13 foot by 20 foot oval cage, which he quickly outgrew. The prospect of raising the estimated US\$150,000 (equivalent to \$815,770 in 2022) needed for a new, larger enclosure was uncertain, and zoo officials feared Binky would have to be sent to the Milwaukee Zoo. A fundraiser and open house were held to raise money for the effort, and a number of schools and businesses participated. Ultimately, the greatest contribution to the zoo's effort was the city's purchase of the zoo land for \$100,000, which the zoo agreed to buy back in 55 annual installments of \$2,500. Binky's new enclosure opened in May 1977. As Binky approached sexual maturity, zoo officials negotiated for the purchase of a female polar bear named Mimi from the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma. As the transfer was being finalized, however, Mimi died from a viral disease in Tulsa. In February 1979, young polar bear twins (Nuka, a female, and Siku, a male) joined Binky in his enclosure. Binky got along poorly with Siku, however, so Siku was given to a zoo in Morelia, Mexico, in 1981. As a full-grown bear, Binky weighed 1,200 pounds. He was an aggressive bear; in 1980, he bit off a zoo employee's finger. His keeper commented in 1983, "Binky is stubborn [and] independent, and he likes to play games. When he's really feeling obstinate, he walks halfway into his den and sits down. He knows I can't close it. He's a very smart bear." ## Maulings, celebrity, and death On July 29, 1994, 29-year-old Australian tourist Kathryn Warburton jumped over two safety rails to get a close-up photograph of Binky in his enclosure. When Binky stuck his head through the bars and grabbed her, she suffered a broken leg and bite wounds. Another tourist caught the event on tape. Binky kept the woman's shoe for three days before it could be retrieved by zoo officials, and the day after the attack, Alaska Star photographer Rob Layman took a photo of Binky holding the shoe in his mouth, an image which was printed in almost every press account of the incident. Warburton gave the other shoe to the Bird House, a bar in nearby Bird Creek that burned down in 1996. Six weeks later, on September 11, Binky was involved in another mauling. Drunken local teenagers approached the bear's enclosure, apparently hoping to swim in his pool, and one 19-year-old was hospitalized with leg lacerations after he was mauled. The zoo did not confirm that Binky was the attacker, but the bear had blood on his face following the incident. After these attacks, Binky received international news coverage. Binky merchandise was created, including T-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers, often adorned with the shoe photo or with the slogan "Send another tourist, this one got away". Local letters to the editor supported Binky during both incidents, most often arguing that polar bears' dangerousness should be respected. The zoo's director, Sammye Seawell, criticized Warburton's actions in the Anchorage Daily News, saying "[s]he violated the rules and jeopardized the bear's life." Though Seawell initially insisted that the attack would not change how the zoo was run, security around Binky's cage was upgraded to keep zoo visitors out. In 1995, Binky's cagemate Nuka suddenly became sick with the parasitic disease sarcocystosis, dying from associated liver failure on July 14, a week after her symptoms began. Shortly thereafter, Binky showed signs of the disease. On the morning of July 20, he went into convulsions and died. Zoo visitors left bouquets of flowers outside the bears' empty enclosure, and the zoo's memorial service saw a high turnout despite pouring rain. The bears were buried on zoo grounds. ## See also - Bear danger - Bear attack - List of individual bears

12th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)

Mounted regiment of the Australian Army

The 12th Light Horse Regiment was a mounted unit of the Australian Army. It was raised in New South Wales in 1915 as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) for service during the First World War. After fighting at Gallipoli as reinforcements, the regiment served in the Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire, seeing action in several notable battles including Beersheba, the capture of Jerusalem, Megiddo and the capture of Damascus. In the aftermath of the war, the regiment was used to suppress the 1919 Egyptian Uprising, before being disbanded in late 1919. In 1921, as part of a re-organisation of Australia's military following the disbandment of the AIF, the regiment was re-raised as a part-time unit of the Citizens Force based in New South Wales. It remained in existence throughout the inter-war years until it was amalgamated with the 24th Light Horse Regiment in 1936 as a result of manpower shortages. The 12th Light Horse Regiment was re-formed in 1938 and undertook garrison duties in Australia during the Second World War, having been converted first to a motor regiment and then to an armoured car regiment. It was disbanded in 1943 without having seen action and was never re-raised. Its honours and traditions are perpetuated in the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers. ## History ### Formation and training The 12th Light Horse Regiment was established on 1 March 1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales, and two days later began forming at Holsworthy as part of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which was raised for service overseas during the First World War. Drawing the majority of its personnel from outback New South Wales, the regiment was assigned to the 4th Light Horse Brigade along with the 11th and 13th Light Horse Regiments and was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Percy Abbott. Upon establishment, the regiment had an authorised strength of 25 officers and 497 other ranks, who were organised into a regimental headquarters and three squadrons, each of which consisted of six troops. Armed usually with standard infantry weapons instead of swords or lances, and mounted on Australian Waler horses, the Australian light horse regiments performed several roles and were similar to both cavalry and mounted infantry. They mainly fought dismounted, using their horses to obtain mobility that foot soldiers did not possess, but they could also conduct certain cavalry roles, such as scouting and screening, while mounted. Following this, the regiment undertook basic training including weapons handling, ceremonial drill, mounted and dismounted tactics and regimental manoeuvres. In late April, they marched through the centre of Sydney as part of a farewell before deploying overseas. On 11 June, after the brigade had concentrated, the regiment embarked upon the troopship SS Suevic. After four days steaming, the ship put into Adelaide, South Australia, where the regiment disembarked their horses due to concerns about death rates among horses travelling at that time of year. The men continued on their journey three days later, undertaking rifle and signals training on deck during the day. They crossed the equator in the early afternoon on 5 July; a short time later an epidemic of measles broke out. On 11 July, the 4th Light Horse Brigade received orders to interrupt its journey to Egypt and instead disembark at Aden, where an Ottoman attack was expected. They were briefly put ashore during this time and conducted a reconnaissance to the frontier, before undertaking a 6 mi (9.7 km) route march. The expected attack did not come and on 18 July the regiment re-embarked, arriving at Suez on 23 July. Moving into a camp at Heliopolis, near Cairo, after receiving a draft of 54 reinforcements and about 350 replacement horses, the regiment began a period of intense training and guard duties as they acclimatised to the local conditions. ### Gallipoli Elsewhere, the Gallipoli campaign had developed into a stalemate. The regiments of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades had already been sent to the peninsula as reinforcements; however, the failed August Offensive had resulted in heavy casualties for the Australians and further reinforcements were required. As a result, the regiments of the 4th Light Horse Brigade were broken up to make up the losses in the other brigades. The troops were not initially informed of this, and following a train trip to Alexandria on 25 August they embarked upon the transport SS Marquette and sailed to Lemnos Island where they were transferred to Prince Abbas. Early on the morning of 29 August, the regiment went ashore at Anzac Cove upon lighters, and later that afternoon received the news that they were to be broken up and distributed among the other New South Wales light horse regiments that were already ashore. The Machine-Gun Section and 'A' Squadron were sent to the 1st Light Horse Regiment around "Walker's Ridge", becoming that regiment's 'B' Squadron; 'B' Squadron went to the 7th Light Horse Regiment at "Ryrie's Post", adopting the designation of 'D' Squadron; and 'C' Squadron went to the 6th Light Horse Regiment around "Holly Spur" and "Lone Pine", becoming their 'D' Squadron. The Regimental Headquarters was absorbed by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade's headquarters, while Abbott took command of the 10th Light Horse Regiment. For the remainder of the campaign, about 600 men from the regiment – including a batch of reinforcements that arrived in early October – carried out mainly defensive duties before leaving with the last Australian troops to be evacuated from the peninsula on 20 December. They did not take part in any large-scale battles, but were involved in fighting off a number of sharp attacks. The exact number of casualties suffered is not known, but 18 men from the regiment are known to have been killed in this time. ### Sinai Following their evacuation from Gallipoli, the regiment was reconstituted on 22 February 1916 when all three squadrons assembled at Heliopolis. Under a new commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Royston – a veteran of the Boer War who had replaced Abbott after the latter had been sent to England – the regiment began to re-form. At the time of re-forming, it had been intended that the 12th would be assigned to the 5th Division as its divisional light horse regiment; however, it was decided to reduce the size of divisional light horse components to a squadron, and the 12th were removed from the 5th Division's order of battle. Although other units, such as part of the 4th and all of the 13th Light Horse Regiment, were sent to Europe to fight on the Western Front, the 12th, along with the bulk of the Australian light horse units, were to remain in the Middle East, where they would take part in the Sinai and Palestine campaign. Initially, the regiment was not brigaded and served as a detached unit. After conducting infantry training around Tel-el-Kebir in early April, the regiment crossed the Suez Canal along a new railway that was being constructed through the Sinai towards Palestine. Here it was established around Kantara and a position known as "Hill 70". The following month, Ottoman forces clashed with positions around the railhead and on 14 May, a British garrison was attacked at Dueidar, about 9 mi (15 km) away from the regiment's positions at Hill 70. Tasked with relieving the Royal Scots Fusiliers, two squadrons were dispatched. Delayed by a navigational error, and suffering from heat, the regiment arrived in some disorder. After this, they began work on constructing defences, while one squadron was detached to garrison Kasr-el-Nil; in early July they were sent on to Moascar. Later that month, the 12th were relieved at Dueidar and moved back to Heliopolis. While there, Lieutenant Colonel Harold McIntosh took command of the regiment following Royston's elevation to temporary commander of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. On 27 July the regiment, without its machine-gun section which had been detached to the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, was sent to Gebel Habeita to relieve the 9th Light Horse Regiment. After undertaking the first part of the journey to Seraphum by train, they marched the rest of the way. In early August, Ottoman forces launched an attack in the Battle of Romani. During this fighting, the 12th Light Horse Regiment provided flank protection, carrying out patrols, and was not directly engaged except for its machine-gun section. In early September, the regiment moved to Bayoud where they were attached to a British column along with the 11th Light Horse Regiment, a regiment from the City of London Yeomanry, and an artillery battery. Under the command of Major General A.G. Dallas, they carried out a raid in the Maghara Hills on an Ottoman position 37 mi (60 km) away. Upon arrival, after discovering that the Ottoman force was greater than expected, Dallas decided to limit the operation to a demonstration rather than a full attack. Within this plan, the 12th was allocated the task of advancing on the right flank during the attack. They proceeded to advance across the open ground on their horses, before dismounting to ascend towards the high ground. As the Ottoman fire increased, the 12th provided covering fire with machine-guns and rifles while the 11th came forward using their bayonets to clear the defenders from the forward position. The light horsemen were then ordered to withdraw, instead of assaulting the main position. In early October, while at Mageibra, the regiment received orders that they were to be remounted on camels and be re-designated as the "2nd Australian Camel Regiment", but largely the regiment continued to refer to itself by its old designation. This was due to a plan to convert both the 11th and 12th Light Horse Regiments to cameleers; however, it did not occur. In late October, the 12th were sent to the rear to rest, arriving at the railhead at El Ferdan on the Suez. 'A' Squadron established itself there, while 'B' and 'C' Squadrons and the Machine-Gun Section were sent to Ferry Post. During this time they undertook frequent patrols, with 'A' Squadron permanently detaching a troop to Badar Mahadat. ### Palestine In early 1917, the 4th Light Horse Brigade was reconstituted at Ferry Post on 13 February under the command of Brigadier General John Meredith. Assigned to the brigade along with the 4th and 11th Light Horse Regiments, the regiment's time of operating as a detached unit came to an end; they officially readopted the designation of 12th Light Horse Regiment at this time. For the next month they undertook training exercises before joining the advance into Palestine, while some men from the regiment were also detached to join Dunsterforce in Persia. In April, the regiment took part in the Second Battle of Gaza. Assigned the task of attacking the Atawineh Redoubt early in the morning of 19 April, the regiment dismounted about 2 mi (3.5 km) from it and advanced on foot. Initially, they made good progress and captured a ridge about 1 mi (1.8 km) from their objective without even firing a shot. As the defensive fire grew more intense, the men were forced to the ground and began fire and movement drills. Spread thinly across a 1,000 yd (900 m) front with just 500 men, the 12th was dangerously exposed as machine-gun fire began to inflict casualties, checking the Australians' advance. Nevertheless, the regiment held its position throughout the day until being withdrawn to a nearby hill that night, by which time it had suffered more than 30 percent casualties. These included the commanding officer, McIntosh, who was gravely wounded and subsequently died of his wounds. He was replaced by the second-in-command, Major Donald Cameron, who was later promoted to lieutenant colonel. The day after the attack, the 12th Light Horse Regiment dug-in and sent out patrols in preparation for a possible Ottoman counterattack. Although they were harassed throughout the day with sniper fire, the attack never came. After three days they were withdrawn back to Shaquth, where they worked to improve defences and conducted patrols for the next fortnight before dispatching two squadrons in early May to attack an Ottoman foraging party at Esani. The attack proved unsuccessful, as the Australians' approach was spotted, allowing the Ottomans and their Bedouin workers to withdraw before they could be engaged. A period of stalemate followed, during which time the regiment, along with the rest of the brigade, rotated between the forward position at Fara and other positions in support and reserve at Kukhari and Marakeb as preparations were made for a future offensive. The regiment's next major action came in October 1917. Conceived as part of an attack towards the Jerusalem to Jaffa line, the regiment took part in the Battle of Beersheba. During this battle, along with the 4th Light Horse Regiment, the 12th Light Horse carried out a successful mounted charge, advancing over open ground late in the afternoon to get under the Ottoman guns and capture the town and its vital water supplies. Late in the afternoon, the 12th Light Horse Regiment advanced, according to historian Henry Gullett, on a "squadron frontage in three lines" 300–500 yd (270–460 m) apart, with the 4th Light Horse Regiment to launch a "pure cavalry" charge, the troopers advancing with bayonets in their hands. Advancing over 6,600 yd (6,000 m), the light horsemen were subjected to rifle and machine-gun fire and artillery bombardment from the flanks and trenches to their front. Supporting artillery helped suppress the machine-gun fire from the flanks, and the speed of the charge made it difficult for the Ottoman gunners to adjust their range. The Ottoman trenches were not protected with wire and after jumping over the trenches, the light horsemen dismounted and hand-to-hand fighting followed. While most of the 4th Light Horse and some of the 12th Light Horse dismounted, the remainder stayed mounted, continuing their charge into the town. The British official historian claims "more than half the dismounted troops in the town were captured or killed," while 15 of the 28 guns in the town were captured by the Desert Mounted Corps and XX Corps. Over 700 Ottoman soldiers were captured and, more significantly for the Australians, over 400,000 litres of water secured. In achieving this, the 12th lost 24 men killed and 15 wounded; 44 horses were also killed, while another 60 were wounded or became sick. The success at Beersheba significantly reduced Ottoman resistance, but heavy fighting continued around Gaza and elsewhere, including the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, and the regiment remained at Beersheba for four days to receive remounts. Gaza fell in early November and, as Ottoman forces fell back, the British Empire troops followed them in pursuit. The 12th advanced further into Palestine as part of the plan to capture Jerusalem. On 7 November, during the Battle of Hareira and Sheria, the regiment joined the 11th Light Horse Regiment in an attack in support of the 60th Division around Khurbet Buteihah, but was forced to halt their charge and dismount amidst artillery and machine-gun fire as their horses needed water. The following day, the 12th was sent to Beit Hanun to contact the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, before searching for water around Sin Sin and Faluje, where they captured a number of Ottoman troops before rejoining the Australian Mounted Division at Huj. On 10 November, the 12th provided support to the 11th Light Horse Regiment when they came under attack at Hill 248 by a strong Ottoman counterattack, which was turned back. After moving on to Summeil the next day, one of the regiment's squadrons received heavy fire while providing flank protection to the 54th Division as it attacked to the south of Et Tine. Early on 14 November, in the aftermath of the Battle of Mughar Ridge, a reconnaissance patrol to Et Tine found it had been evacuated and the 12th occupied the town. In doing so, they secured a water source and a quantity of supplies, although a large amount of equipment was lost to a fire that had been set by the withdrawing garrison. The 12th then took up an observation position at El Dhenebbe to support the British flank before moving to Wadi Menakh on 18 November to water their horses. They were then ordered to launch an attack around Latron during the Battle of Nebi Samwil, but after moving to Abu Shushen where they dismounted, the regiment was recalled to Junction Station. From there, the following day amidst heavy rain they moved to Deiran. Three days later, the 12th encamped at Mejdel for a week of rest along with the majority of the Australian Mounted Division. After a brief respite, as the 4th Light Horse Brigade was sent to El Burj to relieve British forces there, the 12th went into reserve; the horses were sent back to Deiran, and dismounted patrols and reconnaissance parties were sent out. In early December, the 12th relieved the Scots Fusiliers in the Judean Hills to the north of Jerusalem. Supported by artillery, the regiment advanced and on 6 December established itself along the Khed–Daty–Kureisnneh line. Upon arrival, they moved into a defensive position about 900 yd (800 m) from Ottoman positions. Initially, it had only been planned for the unit to stay there for one night and as a result most of the cold weather equipment had been left behind. Nevertheless, the stay was extended and as winter came to Judea, heavy rain set in and the temperature dropped. Redoubts were established along the front for shelter, while the men also took to caves in the hills briefly to escape the elements, although these were soon abandoned when they were found to contain lice. On 11 December, the 4th Light Horse Brigade, having been relieved by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, was withdrawn back to Khed Daty, where they became the Australian Mounted Division's reserve formation. On 28 December, the brigade advanced to the Jurdeh–Kuddis–Nalin line to hold ground that had been captured as part of the advance on Jerusalem, and the 12th established itself at Kuddis. In early in January 1918, the regiment received orders to move to Belah, on the coast near Gaza. For the next three months they undertook training there. In March, the 4th Light Horse Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General William Grant, was inspected by the Duke of Connaught who, according to author Kenneth Hollis, likened the "snap and automatic precision" of their ceremonial drill to "a battalion of Grenadiers". The following month they moved to Selmeh, near Jaffa, to support the attack on the Ottoman position that had been established around Jiljulah and Kalkileh on the railway line that stretched north in the direction of Haifa. Although the 74th Division made some progress on the flank, the regiment's involvement in the attack was called off due to heavy resistance and the 12th, along with the rest of the 4th Light Horse Brigade, was sent to the Jordan Valley, which had been occupied by British Empire forces. Taking up positions near Jericho, they then sent out patrols to the Jordan and the river el Auja. ### Jordan and Syria In late April 1918, the regiment joined an attack on Es Salt, which was undertaken as part of a plan to capture the village so it could be used as a staging point for a further advance towards the railway junction at Deraa. The regiment's role in the raid was to advance up the eastern side of the Jordan River to capture a crossing 19 mi (31 km) to the north of Es Salt at Jisr ed Damieh to stop Ottoman reinforcements being sent to Es Salt from Nablus. Initially, the operation met with success, and although two of the 12th's squadrons met strong resistance and were stopped at the bridge on the Es Salt track, the village was secured by dusk on 30 April by troops of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. Throughout the night, the 4th Light Horse Brigade assumed defensive positions: the 12th in the centre with the 4th on their left and the 11th on their right. The following day, they were confronted by a force of around 4,000 Ottoman infantry along the Es Salt track, while another force of 1,000 infantry and 500 cavalry were further south, ready to force a second crossing. After coming under attack, and finding themselves hard pressed, the 4th Light Horse Brigade was forced back to the south, exposing the rear of the troops holding Es Salt. Over the course of next few days little progress was made by the British Empire troops and, despite the arrival of reinforcements, the commander of the operation, Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel, decided that it was necessary to withdraw from the position on 3 May. The regiment crossed the Jordan and two days later had returned to its previous positions around Jericho. Throughout May the regiment constructed defences around Musallabeh in temperatures as high as 50 °C (122 °F), and flies, scorpions, spiders and snakes also infested the regiment's camp. Many men from the 12th became sick with malaria and other conditions, before they were moved to Solomon's Pools, where the climate was more bearable. In late June, the regiment manned defences in the Jordan Valley before being sent to a camp amongst the olive groves at Ludd in early August. While there, the regiment received cavalry training and was issued swords, along with the rest of the Australian Mounted Division. The regiment departed Ludd on 18 September, taking up camp near Jaffa. Before dawn the next morning, the regiment led the Australian Mounted Division's advance towards Semakh and Tiberias, moving by day to a position near Nahr Iskanderun where they rested until midnight. The 12th then trotted on to Liktera, 37 mi (60 km) behind the original Ottoman front line. There the regiment rested again until midday before making for Keikur Beidas; encountering a number of surrendering Ottoman troops along the way, it arrived there in the afternoon but halted only briefly before continuing on to the mouth of the Plain of Esdraelon, where they bivouacked for the night. The next morning, the regiment moved to support the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, which had taken between 8,000 and 9,000 prisoners during the capture of Jenin. They also sent out patrols to the outlying villages and hills and established signal stations. On 22 September, following the 4th Light Horse Brigade's relief by the 5th Light Horse Brigade, the regiment was tasked with escorting 5,000 prisoners to El Lejjun before moving to Jisr ed Mejamie, along the Jordan River near its confluence with the Sea of Galilee at Lake Tiberias. From there, in the early hours of 25 September, the 12th Light Horse Regiment, along with the rest of the brigade and one regiment from the 5th Light Horse Brigade, departed to conduct a dawn attack during the Battle of Samakh before rejoining the division's advance to Tiberias. It was still dark when the advancing Australians came under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire from German and Ottoman positions near the railway station about 0.9 mi (1.5 km) away. In response, the 11th Light Horse Regiment conducted a mounted charge that was checked just short of the objective, and one squadron from the 12th advanced along the left flank on horseback, while the other squadrons attempted to draw fire. Once close enough, the squadron from the 12th dismounted and attacked with their bayonets, which forced most of the defenders out of the village, except the Germans defending the fortified railway station house. At this point, the defenders raised a white flag of truce, and as several Australians from the 11th and 12th Light Horse advanced to take their surrender, the Germans manning the station killed them. The Australians then attacked, clearing the building, and later refused to bury the German dead, which amounted to 98, leaving their bodies to be looted by villagers. In the battle, the regiment lost one man killed and 10 wounded; losses suffered by the horses amounted to 61 killed and 27 injured. The regiment then moved towards the high ground on the western side of the Jordan River. Mid-morning on 25 September they reached El Menarah. In the afternoon, after the garrison was seen to withdraw, they advanced in concert with a number of armoured cars and at 3:00 pm the regiment entered Tiberias, capturing 200 German and Ottoman troops and a large amount of stores. From there, on 27 September, they began the final advance to Damascus, crossing the Jordan River and, early the following day, established a divisional bridgehead around Et Min during the Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub. On 30 September, about 9 mi (15 km) from their objective, the 12th, along with the 4th, mounted a charge at Kaukab. Forming up with the 4th on their left, the regiment attacked across a maize field towards a spur near the Jebel es Aswad, advancing on a position that they believed was strongly held. In the end, the defenders did not fire a shot before withdrawing and the Australians took the position without suffering a casualty, capturing 12 machine-guns and taking 22 prisoners. The 12th then spent the night south-west of the city and the following day, 1 October 1918, it was one of the first Australian units to enter Damascus, sending patrols in ahead of the main advance. A period of guard duty followed before the regiment was withdrawn to the city's outskirts, suffering heavily from illness. Shortly after this, on 30 October, while the regiment was moving towards Homs, the Armistice of Mudros came into effect, ending the fighting. ### Disbandment Following the end of the war, the 12th Light Horse Regiment remained in the Middle East for a number of months, during which time, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Chambers, they were used to suppress the 1919 Egyptian Uprising. During the uprising, the 12th carried out security operations to protect infrastructure in the Ismailia area. As the situation was resolved, the regiment handed back its stores and equipment in preparation for repatriation back to Australia and most of their horses were transferred to the Australian Remount Depot at Moascar. Due to concerns about costs, availability of shipping and quarantine restrictions, the decision was made that the horses would not be returned to Australia, but that they would be sold to the British Indian Army for further service, or to local Egyptians. According to Hollis, though, many were also put down by the troopers due to concerns they might be mistreated. Mid-morning on 22 July the 12th Light Horse Regiment's personnel embarked upon the transport Morvada at Kantara. Cruising via Colombo, in Ceylon, the regiment made landfall at Fremantle on 17 August 1919. There the men were granted a brief period of leave before the ship continued on to Sydney. After stops at Adelaide and Melbourne, they arrived on 28 August, and the regiment was disbanded. During the war, the regiment lost 67 men killed and 401 men wounded. Members of the regiment received the following decorations: three Distinguished Service Orders (DSOs) and one Bar; five Military Crosses with one Bar; nine Distinguished Conduct Medals with one Bar; 14 Military Medals and 17 Mentions in Despatches. Two members of the regiment, Major Eric Hyman and Major Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh, were nominated for the Victoria Cross for their involvement in the fighting around Beersheba. The awards were never approved and instead they both received the DSO. ### Inter-war years and subsequent service In 1921, the Citizens Force was reorganised to replicate the numerical designations of the AIF units and perpetuate their honours and traditions. As a result, the 12th Light Horse Regiment was re-raised in the New England region of New South Wales and headquartered at Armidale. In re-forming, the regiment drew lineage from the Citizens Forces' 12th (New England) Light Horse, which had existed parallel to the AIF light horse regiment and had remained in Australia during the war. This regiment, through a complex series of reorganisations, traced its lineage to the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, which had been raised in 1903 and perpetuated units that had contributed personnel to fight in South Africa during the Boer War. During this time, the regiment was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, along with the 15th and 16th Light Horse Regiments. In 1927, when territorial designations were adopted, the 12th Light Horse Regiment became known as the "New England Light Horse". At the same time, the regiment adopted the motto of Virtutis Fortuna Comes ("Fortune is the Companion of Valour"). Initially, the strength of part-time units was maintained through both voluntary and compulsory service, but after the election of the Scullin Labor government in 1929–30, compulsory service ended and the Citizens Force was replaced with the all-volunteer "Militia". The economic hardships of the Great Depression and reduced training opportunities resulted in a decline in the number of volunteers and consequently a number units were disbanded or amalgamated. Amidst the austerity of the inter-war years, the regiment remained in existence until 1 October 1936 when it was merged with the 24th (Gwydir) Light Horse to form the 12th/24th Light Horse. These two units were later delinked in 1938 as the Militia was expanded following increased political tensions in Europe. In March 1942, during the Second World War, the 12th Light Horse was converted to a motor regiment, known as the 12th Motor Regiment. In September 1942, it was redesignated the 12th Armoured Car Regiment, and assigned to the 3rd Armoured Division. During this period a process of mechanisation resulted in the last of the light horse units giving up their horses. Throughout 1943, the Australian Army was faced with a manpower shortage and as the Japanese threat to mainland Australia decreased many Militia armoured units were broken up and their personnel sent to other units as reinforcements. As a result, the regiment was disbanded on 19 October 1943, having only undertaken garrison duty within Australia. When Australia's part-time military force was reformed in 1948 as the Citizens Military Force, the regiment was not re-raised in its own right, although an amalgamated unit known as the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers was established. Through this unit the 12th Light Horse Regiment's honours and traditions are perpetuated. ## Alliances The 12th Light Horse Regiment held the following alliances: - United Kingdom – The King's Colonials (Yeomanry); - United Kingdom – Royal Scots Greys. ## Battle honours The 12th Light Horse received the following battle honours: - South Africa 1899–1900; - First World War: Gallipoli 1915, Suvla, Sari-Bair, Egypt 1915–1917, Rumani, Palestine 1917–1918, Gaza–Beersheba, El Mughar, Nebi Samwill, Jerusalem, Jordan (Es Salt), Megiddo, Sharon, Damascus. ## Commanding officers The following is a list of the 12th Light Horse Regiment's commanding officers from 1915 to 1919: - Lieutenant Colonel Percy Abbott (1915); - Lieutenant Colonel John Royston (1916); - Lieutenant Colonel Harold McIntosh (1916–1917); - Lieutenant Colonel Donald Cameron (1917–1919); - Lieutenant Colonel Philip Chambers (1919).

Guy Berryman

Scottish bassist (born 1978)

Guy Rupert Berryman (born 12 April 1978) is a Scottish musician, songwriter and designer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Coldplay and electronic supergroup Apparatjik. Raised in Kirkcaldy, he started to play bass at an early age, drawing influence from the likes of James Brown, Kool & the Gang and the Funk Brothers. In 2020, he launched fashion label Applied Art Forms, mainly inspired by utilitarian clothing and working as both its creative director and designer. Berryman joined Coldplay with Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion at University College London, where he enrolled in a mechanical engineering degree but later dropped out. The band signed with Parlophone in 1999, finding global fame after the release of Parachutes (2000) and subsequent records. He has won seven Grammy Awards and nine Brit Awards as part of Coldplay. Having sold over 100 million albums worldwide as of 2021, they are the most successful group of the 21st century. ## Early life Guy Rupert Berryman was born on 12 April 1978 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. He was youngest son of engineer Rupert Berryman and his wife Elizabeth, whose family were merchants and factory owners in the region. Raised close to the Beveridge Park area, he said his childhood was one with "a huge sense of freedom", as he went out with friends and "just did whatever we wanted from a very young age", which included exploring the Raith Estate and the woods near it. Still during his childhood, he developed a passion for watches as well, exploring the ones his father had even though "the drawers were meant to be off-limits". Moreover, Berryman has said that listening to Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" was a pivotal moment in his life: "I can remember being maybe six years old, having this experience. I had obviously heard music in the background, in the house and stuff, but that was the first moment that I ever connected with music on a personal level and since then I've always been a huge fan of soul music and Motown, and that's what made me become a bass player. With his father involved in building the Channel Tunnel as a project manager, Berryman's family moved to Kent when he was around 12 years old, the same period in which he began to play bass. During his time at Edinburgh Academy, he played drums and trumpet for the school band. The lessons made him notice he was "a leftie who plays right-handed" and the bassist later founded a group named Time Out. His education was continued at Kent College, Canterbury. He then applied for a mechanical engineering at University College London, where he met Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, eventually forming Coldplay. ## Career ### Coldplay Berryman was the third member to join the band in 1997. Their college friend Kris Foof described him as "a quiet young man who had been put in 'Paris Block', the less populated block of rooms in Ramsay Hall. The rest of the band had been placed in 'New York Block', but not Guy, he was the outsider that the insiders all knew about, namely from his stockpile of musical instruments in his room". Martin affirmed having a wrong impression of Berryman when they first met: "He's not as scary as he looks [...] Everyone thinks he's moody, soft-spoken is better". Along with Buckland, they recorded a number of demos without having a drummer and, by November of that year, the trio called themselves Big Fat Noises. Champion then completed the performing line-up in 1998. Berryman later dropped out of his original degree and enrolled in a seven-year architecture program at The Bartlett, which in turn was abandoned to focus on playing bass. He worked as a bartender to pay rent. During the Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams (2018) documentary, the bassist mentioned the marketing campaign for X&Y (2005) was a very turbulent period for the band, as they had frequent arguments, particularly between him and Martin: "I was probably much more opinionated back then, which was a huge pain in the ass for everyone, I don't know if I was trying to get away from myself or if I wasn't comfortable with myself, but I definitely had a drinking problem". When the band were asked about their creative process in an interview for The Howard Stern Show, they claimed that while Buckland is usually more optimistic to either disapprove or give his input on Martin's initial ideas, Berryman tends to be more critical, concluding that if he does not like a certain song, "there's no point in ever playing it again". Conversely, he has been responsible for starting tracks such as "Magic" on his own, which was released as the lead single for their sixth album, Ghost Stories, in 2014. ### Apparatjik Berryman formed a supergroup called Apparatjik with Magne Furuholmen (from a-ha), Jonas Bjerre (from Mew) and Martin Terefe in 2008. Their debut single, "Ferreting", served as the musical theme of BBC Two's documentary series Amazon and was included in Songs for Survival, an album released in support of Survival International. Two years later, the quartet made We Are Here (2010) available for download through their official website and appeared at the CTM Festival on the same day. In March 2011, they played at Neue Nationalgalerie, took part in the Steirischer Herbst festival, and launched Apparatjik World, an iPad application with songs fans could help them produce. After 10 different versions of the project, a final edition titled Square Peg in a Round Hole (2012) was released as their second album. On 20 March 2020, they published a song named "Julia" on YouTube. However, as Berryman has not performed with the rest of the band since 2011, it remains unknown whether or not he contributed to the track's creative process. ### Business ventures In 2019, he created collectable quarterly magazine The Road Rat along with two friends and car specialists. They celebrate classic automobiles and do not cover on-diary stories, as "each issue is meant to be timeless". Berryman runs the project from his garage and works as its creative director. In the following year, he launched Applied Art Forms, a fashion label inspired by utilitarian, workwear, and military clothing. In an article for British GQ, he said "form and function are everything and, in designing the core pieces for this collection, I was driven by the need to create clothes that were the consummate expression of great design and perfect fabrics". The bassist added that his focus is on longevity and creating "styles that are relatively timeless, made from materials that will last and age beautifully". Instead of following the seasonal fashion calendar, Applied Art Forms makes occasional updates and additions. Still in 2020, Berryman co-founded Bodyhero, a plant-based products start-up. He donated part of his personal collection of clothes (which included Helmut Lang and Jil Sander pieces) to Marrkt in 2022. Proceeds went to Save the Children's relief efforts in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ### Other projects Berryman guested on Magne Furuholmen's debut album, Past Perfect Future Tense (2004), along with Champion. He played bass on the subsequent A Dot of Black in the Blue of Your Bliss (2008) as well. In 2007, he wrote "Guy Romance Theme" and co-wrote "Bass Theme" for the soundtrack of The Longest Night in Shanghai. His most notable hobby throughout the years has been photography, which included taking candid photos of his bandmates with disposable cameras on the Twisted Logic Tour (2005–07) and throwing them to attendees. He then provided pictures for the booklet of a-ha's ninth album, Foot of the Mountain (2009). Accompanied by Rik Simpson, the bassist founded a producing duo called The Darktones and contributed to Love You More (2010) and You&I (2011) by the Pierces. Berryman played instruments like the guitar, glockenspiel, omnichord, keyboards and percussion on the latter record. He also produced James Levy & the Blood Red Rose's Pray to Be Free (2012) and Hudson Hank's DayBreak (2013). During Music of the Spheres World Tour (2022–24), he curated a photo diary for NME and shot pictures for the concert run's official book. ## Musical style With a style described as "slick" and "relaxed", Berryman is usually seen using different models of a Fender Precision Bass, including editions such as Squier, Mustang, Jazz and Jaguar. The latter was used during the recording sessions for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008). He mentioned the first "proper" bass used after joining Coldplay was a Rickenbacker 4001, which can be seen on the music video for "Shiver". In 2003, his gear included two Ampeg SVT amplifiers, two 15" cabinets, one 8"x10" cabinet and a Tone Bender pedal for distortion. In 2012, it was reported he bought a custom-made Hiwatt bass rig. The 200-watt amp head was hand-built in the United Kingdom and paired with a 4x12 cabinet, loaded with Fane speakers. When asked about his musical taste, Berryman stated that while it was "hard to condense it down", he "could not live without the Beatles or Motown". Additionally, he affirmed being inspired by artists such as James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Kool & the Gang and the Funk Brothers. ## Personal life According to The Times, Berryman has an estimated wealth of £113 million as of May 2022. He is a known supporter of Raith Rovers, showing interest on photography, fashion and electronic gadgets as well. After six years of dating, he married interior designer Joanna Briston in 2004. The couple filed for divorce three years later, but remained "very much in each other's lives" while raising their daughter. In 2014, he became engaged to Dutch model Keshia Gerrits after dating her for two years. They have two children and live in the Cotswolds, where Berryman owns a workshop to restore rare cars collected over the years. Before refurbishing automobiles, he took flying lessons and wanted to repair a Spitfire and a Tiger Moth, but eventually got bored of the idea. He is also a collector of synthesisers, cameras and watches: "I'm a completist when it comes to collecting, so I have to restrain myself [...] At least with cars you have to have space to keep them all in. But you can get a lot of watches into a drawer". In 2020, Berryman founded Dawghaus, an online catalogue aimed at curating "the best in design" and promoting already established creations along with the others he thinks that deserve "more attention". He is the only Coldplay member to have a separate social media account. ## Discography ### With Coldplay - Parachutes (2000) - A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) - X&Y (2005) - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) - Mylo Xyloto (2011) - Ghost Stories (2014) - A Head Full of Dreams (2015) - Everyday Life (2019) - Music of the Spheres (2021) ### With Apparatjik - We Are Here (2010) - Square Peg in a Round Hole (2012) ### Solo credits - Past Perfect Future Tense (2004) – bassist - "Guy Romance Theme" (2007) – writer - "Bass Theme" (2007) – co-writer - A Dot of Black in the Blue of Your Bliss (2008) – bassist - Foot of the Mountain (2009) – photographer - Love You More (2010) – producer - You&I (2011) – producer - Pray to Be Free (2012) – producer - Daybreak (2013) – producer ## See also - List of people associated with University College London - List of British Grammy winners and nominees - List of best-selling music artists - List of highest-grossing live music artists - List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart - List of Billboard Hot 100 number-ones by British artists

Yu-chien Kuan

German university teacher and writer

Yu-chien Kuan or Guan Yuqian (Chinese: 关愚谦; 18 February 1931 – 22 November 2018) was a Chinese-born German sinologist, writer and translator. The son of a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official, he was denounced as a "rightist" and persecuted during the Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution. This drove him to escape from China using a Japanese passport stolen from his workplace. He landed in Egypt and spent a year and half in prison for illegal entry, before being admitted to West Germany in 1969 as a political refugee. In Germany, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg, became a sinology professor at the university and served as an advisor to politicians including Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. He published 26 books, including ten co-authored with his wife, Petra Häring-Kuan. He also collaborated with Wolfgang Kubin to translate the works of Lu Xun into German. ## Early life Kuan was born on 18 February 1931, in Guangzhou (Canton), Guangdong, Republic of China. His father, Guan Xibin (关锡斌), who later changed his name to Guan Yiwen (管易文), studied in France and graduated from Yale University in the United States. His mother, Yan Zhongyun (言忠芸), was a devout Christian. He was the youngest of three children, with a sister and a brother. Soon after Kuan's birth, his mother brought the children to live in Beiping (now Beijing). When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the family fled Beiping and became refugees, eventually settling in the Shanghai French Concession. Kuan grew up in Shanghai with his mother, while his father joined the Communist Party of China and fought in the anti-Japanese resistance. Kuan studied at St. Francis Xavier's College, a Catholic school. After the end of World War II, he ran errands for American soldiers stationed in Shanghai and perfected the English he learned at school through his interactions with them. ## People's Republic of China When the Communists won the Civil War and established the People's Republic of China in 1949, Kuan's father was appointed to a high position in the East China Military Region and served as an interpreter for Marshal Chen Yi, who became Mayor of Shanghai. Kuan also learned for the first time that his older sister had been an underground Communist Party member. In 1949, Kuan enrolled at the Beijing Foreign Language School (now Beijing Foreign Studies University), majoring in Russian, which was in high demand because of Communist China's close relations with the Soviet Union. After graduating in 1953, he worked as an interpreter for Soviet technical specialists in China. Kuan's westernized education and outlook were often at odds with the new communist ethos of China. While the revolutionaries took pride in wearing plain clothes or even rags, he preferred to be well dressed and was criticized as a bourgeois. In the fleeting liberal milieu of the Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1956, a politically naive Kuan wrote big-character posters criticizing the Communist Party, which became evidence against him in the subsequent Anti-Rightist Campaign, during which he was denounced as a "rightist" in 1958. After his denunciation, Kuan was banished to Qinghai province on the Tibetan Plateau. Initially working as a photojournalist in the provincial capital Xining, in 1959 he was sent to Riyueshan People's Commune to perform hard labour. He nearly starved to death during the Great Famine, before his father, by then a high-ranking official in the State Council, arranged to transfer him back to Beijing in 1962. He then worked at the Chinese People's World Peace Committee, an official organ in charge of managing foreign visitors. ## Escape from China When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Kuan, like many other "rightists", was again targeted for persecution. With his marriage already strained for personal reasons, his wife Meizhen (美珍), with whom he had a son, publicly denounced him. In February 1968, he was told to attend an upcoming struggle session against him. Convinced that he was to be tortured, he considered committing suicide before deciding to make a daring escape from China. As his work involved registering foreign visitors, Kuan had access to foreign passports. One of them belonged to the Japanese national Saionji Kazuteru (西園寺 一晃), who somewhat resembled Kuan. He took the passport, which contained an Egyptian visa, purchased a plane ticket to Cairo via Karachi, Pakistan, and fled China using Saionji's identity. Soon after he landed in Cairo, Kuan was arrested by the Egyptian police for illegally entering the country. The Chinese government denounced him as a "traitor" and demanded his repatriation, while the world's intelligence agencies fought over the prominent prisoner. In 1969, China dropped its repatriation request for reasons he never found out, while the United States, which had just accepted the famous Chinese defector Ma Sicong, offered him asylum. However, Kuan refused to go to the US because it had been at war with China in Korea and Vietnam, and he did not want to defect to an enemy country. ## Life and career in Germany After he was imprisoned in Egypt for a year and a half, the International Red Cross arranged to have Kuan accepted as a political refugee in West Germany, and he landed in Münster in 1969. He enrolled in the University of Hamburg and received his Ph.D. in Sinology in 1974. At the university he met his future wife Petra Häring. He was hired as a lecturer at Hamburg, and later became a professor. He trained several generations of German sinologists, and served as an advisor to German politicians, including Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, on Chinese affairs. After the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, China entered the reform and opening period under Deng Xiaoping. Kuan, the former "traitor", was allowed to visit China in 1981, and learned that his brother and ex-wife had both been imprisoned for six years because of his defection. His mother had already died two years before, but his father, and his son, who was by then an adult, were alive and well. In 2001, he published his autobiography Lang (浪, "Vagabond"), for which Wang Meng, China's former Minister of Culture, wrote the preface. Kuan wrote 26 books in Chinese, German, English, and Italian, ten of which were co-authored with his second wife Petra Häring-Kuan, also known by her Chinese name Hai Peichun (海佩春). Among them is the 2001 book Pulverfass China ("Powder Keg China"), for which the couple interviewed 200 people. He also worked with Wolfgang Kubin to translate the works of Lu Xun into German. ## Cancer and death Kuan was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. He decided to spend the remainder of his life seeing the world with his wife. The couple travelled around Europe, Asia, and North and South America, for almost two years. They only stopped when he felt too weak to continue. A few weeks later, he died in Berlin on 22 November 2018, at the age of 87.

MS West Honaker

American diesel-powered cargo ship

MS West Honaker was a diesel-powered cargo ship of the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) that was part of the "Corncob Fleet" of old ships sunk as part of the "gooseberry" breakwater off Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion. The ship was originally built as SS West Honaker, a steam-powered cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), a predecessor of the USMC. At the time of her completion in 1920, the ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS West Honaker (ID-4455) but was neither taken into the Navy nor ever commissioned under that name. West Honaker was built in 1920 for the USSB, as a part of the West boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built on the West Coast of the United States for the World War I war effort, and was the 28th ship built at Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in San Pedro, California. In 1926, West Honaker was outfitted with diesel engines that replaced her original steam engines as part of a pilot program by the USSB. After her conversion, she sailed on a New York – Australia route. On her second trip to Australia, from August 1927 to March 1928, she became the first diesel ship to circumnavigate the globe. In 1929, she began sailing for an around-the-world cargo service from the Pacific coast to South Africa By the late 1930s, she had been laid up, but was reactivated for merchant service prior to World War II. She sailed to Australia and New Zealand until after the United States' entry into World War II, and in transatlantic service to the United Kingdom for most of the time after that. In March 1944, she sailed from the United States for the final time, and was incorporated into the Corncob Fleet of old ships scuttled in June to make the "gooseberry" breakwater off Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion. This last voyage earned the West Honaker a battle star. ## Design and construction The West ships were cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the USSB for emergency use during World War I. All were given names that began with the word West, like West Honaker, the one of some 40 West ships built by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company of Los Angeles. West Honaker (Los Angeles Shipbuilding yard number 28) was completed in December 1920. West Honaker was 5,376 gross register tons (GRT), and was 410 feet 1 inch (124.99 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 54 feet 2 inches (16.51 m) abeam. She had a steel hull and a deadweight tonnage of . Sources do not give West Honaker's other hull characteristics, but West Grama, a sister ship also built at Los Angeles Shipbuilding had a displacement of 12,225 t with a mean draft of 24 feet 2 inches (7.37 m), and a hold 29 feet 9 inches (9.07 m) deep. West Honaker's power plant was a single triple-expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller, which moved the ship at up to 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h). ## Early career West Honaker was inspected by the United States Navy after completion for possible use as service collier and was assigned the identification number of 4455. Had she been commissioned, she would have been known as USS West Honaker (ID-4455), but the Navy neither took over the ship nor commissioned her. Destinations and cargo during West Honaker's first six years of service are largely unreported in sources. In 1926, however, she was the first ship in a USSB pilot program to replace steam engines of seven USSB-owned ships with diesel engines. West Honaker's 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) engine, reported by The Washington Post as the largest American-made diesel equipment to that time, was built by McIntosh & Seymour and installed at the Fore River Shipyard near Boston. An Associated Press news item reported that the ship's \$1,000,000 conversion, which extended the ship's cruising radius from 7,300 nautical miles (13,500 km) to 17,600 nautical miles (32,600 km), would lower her cost of operation by 15% annually. After her sea trials were complete, West Honaker sailed to Savannah, Georgia, where she began carrying cotton from that port to Bremen. In January 1927, the USSB established the Atlantic Australian Line, an all-diesel New York – Australia service, and assigned West Honaker to the company. The eight ships in the service—operated by the Roosevelt Steamship Company in conjunction with another USSB-line, the American India Line—sailed east from New York via the Suez Canal through the Indian Ocean and on to Australia and back via the same route. On 15 February, West Honaker sailed on her maiden voyage for the new service for Sydney, where she arrived on 5 April. On 26 August, she began her second voyage to Sydney, but instead of retracing her route on the return, she continued eastward around the world, becoming—according to The New York Times—the first diesel ship to circumnavigate the globe. Upon her return to New York on 2 March 1928, a reception was held at the Tompkinsville, Staten Island, pier where she had docked. The Roosevelt Steamship Company announced plans for West Honaker to continue in around-the-world service, making two voyages per year. ## South African service In February 1929, West Honaker was bareboat chartered by the USSB for the new Pacific–South Africa Line, an around-the-world venture under the management of J. J. Moore & Company. The Pacific–South Africa Line service—the world's only all-diesel around-the-world service, as described by the Los Angeles Times—sailed from Los Angeles to South Africa via the Straits of Magellan, across the Indian Ocean to Japan and China, across the Pacific to San Francisco, and back to Los Angeles. West Honaker's first voyage in the South African service was planned for November, but upon her arrival from New York to begin the service, it was discovered that she had cracks in her engine mountings and her cylinder head. West Honaker made her way to San Francisco, where parts were fabricated for the \$100,000 repair. This kept her out of service until March 1930. West Honaker departed on her long-delayed maiden voyage for the Pacific–South Africa Line in mid March, and began a second voyage for the line in late October. West Honaker's service continued uneventfully until early 1932. On 2 March of that year, West Honaker collided with steamer Ernest H. Meyer in a snowstorm on the lower Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon. Both ships suffered damage, but neither needed assistance to reach Portland. West Honaker had just finished undergoing general repairs in drydock in Portland prior to the collision, which caused about \$30,000 in damages. The USSB filed suit against the Portland Steamship Company for the cost of repairs, which were completed by mid March. In mid-June, the bareboat charters of the three USSB vessels still sailing for Pacific–South Africa—West Honaker, West Cusseta, and Crown City—were cancelled. At the end of each ship's voyage in progress, the ships were returned to the USSB. At the time of the announcement, West Honaker was in South African waters. The Los Angeles Times reported that preferential tariffs for British-flagged ships for lumber from British Columbia—a major cargo carried by the line—were responsible for the termination. It's not known when West Honaker completed her final trip, but in late June she was still shown in South Africa by a notice in The New York Times. After this mention, West Honaker disappears from contemporary news accounts. By 1939, West Honaker had been laid up in a reserve fleet in the James River. ## World War II In June 1940, the USMC opened bidding for the reconditioning of ten laid up cargo ships, which included West Honaker. According to the Los Angeles Times, the USMC, a successor to the USSB, was forced to act because of a "critical shortage" of U.S. Navy auxiliary ships. The Maryland Drydock Company of Baltimore was the low bidder for West Honaker, offering to recondition her for \$77,777. On 3 November, with her reconditioning complete, West Honaker sailed from New York. After transiting the Panama Canal a week after her departure, she headed for Brisbane, Australia, where she arrived on 13 December. After then calling at Sydney, Melbourne, Port Pirie, and Adelaide through 8 January 1941, West Honaker called at Melbourne and Sydney before departing for the United States on 18 January. Loaded with a cargo of wool intended for uniforms, blankets, and overcoats for the military, West Honaker arrived at New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 3 March. From late March to mid August, West Honaker made another, almost identical Australian circuit, adding a stop in Fremantle to her Australian itinerary. Almost immediately after her return to Boston, she began a third trip to Australia. After she arrived in Brisbane on 29 October, she made stops in Sydney and Melbourne. From Sydney she made a round trip to Nouméa, New Caledonia, and sailed from there to Wellington, New Zealand, where she arrived on 11 December, four days after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor that propelled the United States into World War II. West Honaker departed Wellington on 13 December and arrived at Boston on 28 February 1942. From Boston, she sailed to New York via Philadelphia. After sailing from New York on 29 April, West Honaker experienced some unspecified trouble, and was towed into Baltimore on 4 June. After spending almost three weeks in that port, she headed for Cape Town via Trinidad. She departed Cape Town on 24 August and sailed to Bushire, Abadan, Bandar Abbas, and Colombo over the next three months. After making a round trip to Calcutta from late November to late December, West Honaker arrived at Wellington on 26 January, sailing for New York via the Panama Canal three days later. West Honaker took on a load of grain and then proceeded in convoy from Boston to Halifax in early May, and on to Belfast Lough. After making a circuit to Avonmouth and Milford Haven, West Honaker sailed from Belfast Lough for New York on 25 June. She made one additional transatlantic roundtrip beginning in late August, carrying a cargo of explosives on her outbound trip, and returning in late October. West Honaker sailed 28 November from New York for Nuevitas, Cuba, and returned via Key West, Florida, in late December. Sailing again for the Caribbean on 6 February, she visited Guantánamo Bay and Antilla before her 28 February 1944 return to New York. At some point within the next month, West Honaker arrived at Boston. ## Final voyage Though her crew did not know it at the time, West Honaker had been selected to be one of the blockships for the Allied invasion of France, then in the planning stages. Blockships dispatched from Boston, like West Honaker, were loaded with "tons of sand and cement" before their final U.S. departures. West Honaker sailed from Boston on 25 March 1944 as a part of Convoy BX-101 to Halifax and, from there, Convoy SC-156 to Cardiff. In his book Beyond the Palisades, Cesar Poropat, West Honaker's chief engineer, reports that after the ship's cargo was discharged, the ship was suddenly boarded by shipyard workers who cut holes in "strategic places" and positioned "mysterious packs" around the hull. The crew suspected, correctly, that these packs were explosives and that the ship was being prepared for sinking. Though there is no specific mention of this occurring on West Honaker, other blockships selected for the Normandy beachhead had their existing antiaircraft weapons moved higher on the ship and supplemented by additional guns. Poropat recounts that after the shipyard workers departed, the crew were told to pack all their personal belongings—except for toiletries and one change of clothes—to be sent ashore. Each crewman was issued a backpack with K-rations, a special life preserver, and survival equipment. West Honaker departed Cardiff on 24 April for Oban where she arrived on 5 May. She was now a part of the "Corncob Fleet," the group of ships to be sunk to form the "gooseberries," shallow-water artificial harbors for landing craft. Once at Oban, Poropat reports that the ship's crew was told of their mission, but to preserve secrecy, they were not permitted to leave the ships. After spending five weeks at Oban—Poropat called it "the longest and most tedious five weeks" of his life—West Honaker finally moved out, sailing south through the Irish Sea to Poole. West Honaker was a part of the third "Corncob" convoy, which sailed from Poole on the night on 7 June, the day after the D-Day landings, and consisted of what one author called the "dregs of the North Atlantic shipping pool." Poropat relates that the Corncob ships crossed the English Channel under cover of darkness and, stripped of all unnecessary equipment, carried no radios, having only a signal lamp (with a spare bulb) for communication. Around midnight 7/8 June, during the slow voyage across the Channel, a German airplane hit West Honaker with two skip bombs. Because the ship, already prepared for a fast sinking for the blockship duties, began taking on water, a large portion of the crew, including Chief Engineer Poropat, abandoned ship. After drifting in the Channel for most of the rest of the moonless night, they were picked up in the morning by a British trawler and returned to the UK. In the meantime, the master of the ship was able to keep West Honaker in the convoy headed to Utah beach. Once at the designated location, the ships were positioned and scuttled over the next days, under heavy German artillery fire. Naval Armed Guardsmen manned the guns on all the gooseberry ships to protect against frequent German air attacks. All the while, harbor pilots—about half of the New York Bar Pilots Association, according to one source—carefully positioned the ships. West Honaker was sunk on 10 June about 400 yards (370 m) off the beach, but continued to serve as an antiaircraft platform manned by Navy gun crews until 14 June, and by Army crews after that date. West Honaker's naval gunners were awarded a battle star for participation in the Normandy Landings.

10-pounder Parrott rifle

The 10-pounder Parrott rifle, Model 1861 was a muzzle-loading rifled cannon made of cast iron that was adopted by the United States Army in 1861 and often used in field artillery units during the American Civil War. Like other Parrott rifles, the gun breech was reinforced by a distinctive band made of wrought iron. The 10-pounder Parrott rifle was capable of firing shell, shrapnel shell (case shot), canister shot, or solid shot. Midway through the war, the Federal government discontinued the 2.9 in (74 mm) version in favor of a 3.0 in (76 mm) version. Despite the reinforcing band, the guns occasionally burst without warning, which endangered the gun crews. The Confederate States of America manufactured a number of successful copies of the gun. ## Background Cannons needed to be strong enough to withstand the explosion that reduced the gunpowder charge to propellant gas. Bronze smoothbore cannons were in need of a larger gunpowder charge because there was windage – or space – between the shot and the barrel. Windage caused the propellant gases from the explosion to leak out, but it also reduced the stress on the gun barrel. With rifled cannon, the ammunition was designed to expand the shell so that there was no windage between the projectile and the gun barrel. This meant that a smaller gunpowder charge could hurl a rifled projectile farther, but it also meant that the gun barrel was subjected to greater stress. Bronze cannons rarely burst because the metal was more ductile. Cast iron was stronger than bronze, but it was also more brittle. This made cast-iron guns more prone to burst at the breech or muzzle. In 1836, when Robert Parker Parrott was an ordnance officer in the U.S. Army, he resigned to take a job with the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York. A few years before the American Civil War, gun manufacturers wrestled with problem of rifling cannons. Bronze was too soft of a metal for rifling, while cast iron was hard enough but too brittle. Parrott attempted to solve this dilemma by inventing a cast-iron rifled cannon that had a wrought-iron reinforcing band wrapped around the breech. Banded guns were not rotated when manufactured, so gravity acted on the bands as they cooled, making an uneven fit. Parrott solved the problem by rotating the gun barrel during the cooling process. The gun was first developed in 1860. Parrott later remarked, "I do not profess to think that they are the best gun in the world, but I think they were the best practical thing that could be got at the time". Despite the reinforcing band, the gun would burst unpredictably at the muzzle. or near the trunnions. The Parrott field guns were simple for the gun crews to operate and the guns were usable even if part of the muzzle was blown off. Another great advantage of the 10-pounder Parrott was its low average cost of \$180 per gun barrel. Compared to this, the bronze 12-pounder Napoleon cost \$550 and the 3-inch Ordnance rifle cost \$350 per gun. On 23 May 1861, the US government accepted the first ten 10-pounder Parrott rifles. The West Point Foundry helped the Federal war effort to such a degree that a joke made the rounds that the U.S. national emblem should be changed from an eagle to a parrot. The 20-pounder Parrott rifle (with banded breech) was also employed in field artillery units, but the 10-pounder Parrott was far more commonly used. ## Manufacture The West Point Foundry manufactured between 228 and 255 2.9-inch 10-pounder Parrott rifles, Model 1861 through the end of 1862. Because the Ordnance Department thoroughly trusted Robert Parrott, he acted as both gun founder and the inspecting ordnance officer, a unique arrangement. The gun barrels weighed between 884 lb (401 kg) and 917 lb (416 kg). The rifling consisted of three equally-wide lands and grooves. At first the guns were equipped with a tall, thin front sight at the muzzle and a pendulum hausse rear sight on the breech. The front sight was easily damaged, so this arrangement was soon replaced by a front sight on top of the right rimbase (adjacent to the trunnion) and a brass Parrott tangent sight mounted on the right side of the wrought iron band at a two o'clock orientation. On 24 September 1863, the Ordnance Board recommended that production of the 2.9-inch Parrott be halted and that existing guns be re-bored to 3-inch caliber. This decision may have been influenced by gun jams caused by accidentally loading the 2.9-inch Parrott with 3-inch ammunition. Between November 1864 and June 1865, 119 2.9-inch Parrott rifles were converted to 3-inch caliber, though none have survived. The West Point Foundry halted production of 2.9-inch Parrott rifles on 13 April 1863 and the 3-inch versions did not appear until 12 February 1864. Altogether, 279 of the new 3-inch Parrott rifles, Model 1863 were manufactured until 4 September 1865. In 1860, the West Point Foundry sold a Parrott rifle to the state of Virginia. The artillery piece was put through trials by none other than Thomas J. Jackson, a little-known Virginia Military Institute professor who later became the famous general. Impressed by its range and accuracy, Jackson gave it a glowing report, leading Virginia to order 12 more. These guns were probably of 2.9-inch caliber, but this is not certain. In any case, one of these Parrott rifles performed admirably at the Battle of Big Bethel on 10 June 1861. With the outbreak of war, the Tredegar Iron Works began manufacturing a copy of the 2.9-inch Parrott rifle for the Confederacy. Tredegar produced 80 2.9-inch Parrott rifles from 18 November 1861 to 20 February 1865. Other Confederate gun founders manufactured the Parrott rifles including A. B. Reading & Brother of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Street, Hungerford & Jackson of Memphis, Tennessee, and Bujac and Bennett of New Orleans. Five guns survived, but no manufacturer can be positively identified from their markings. ## Specifications The 10-pounder Parrott rifle was a muzzle-loader. It had a bore (caliber) with a diameter of 2.9 in (74 mm) and fired a projectile weighing 9.5 lb (4.3 kg). Its gun barrel was 74 in (188 cm) long and weighed about 890 lb (403.7 kg). The gunpowder charge weighed 1.0 lb (0.5 kg) and fired the projectile with a muzzle velocity of 1,230 ft/s (375 m/s) to a distance of 1,850 yd (1,692 m) at 5° elevation. The 10-pounder Parrott was manufactured with a right-hand gaining twist (increasing toward the muzzle). The twist rate was one turn in 16 ft (4.9 m). A smoothbore cannon's projectile typically retained only one-third of its muzzle velocity at 1,500 yd (1,372 m) and its round shot could be seen in the air. Meanwhile, a rifled projectile generally retained two-thirds of its initial velocity at 1,500 yds. and remained invisible in flight. However, a rifled projectile could become visible if the shell began to tumble out of control. Tumbling occurred when the shell failed to take the grooves inside the gun barrel or when the spin wore off in flight. The unusual 2.9-inch caliber was the same as that of a smoothbore 3-pounder gun, which fired a round shot with a diameter of 2.9 inches. Rifled projectiles were heavier than smoothbore shot because they were elongated. The 10-pounder Parrott rifle was mounted on the standard gun carriage for the M1841 6-pounder field gun. Because its projectile weighed more than a 6-pound round shot, the rifle's greater recoil could damage the gun carriage. The 6-pounder carriage weighed 900 lb (408 kg). The 10-pounder Parrott rifle fired case shot (shrapnel), common shell, and canister shot. The use of bolts (solid shot) was rare and it was generally not provided in the ammunition chests. Firing shell without the fuse would accomplish the same result as firing a solid shot from a rifled gun. Parrott ammunition was designed to be used. In an emergency, 3-inch Parrott rifles could also fire Hotchkiss and Schenkl ammunition. However, experience showed that Parrott projectiles worked best in Parrott rifles while Hotchkiss and Schenkl projectiles were most effective when fired from the 3-inch Ordnance rifle. That was because the 10-pounder Parrott rifling had 3 grooves while the 3-inch Ordnance rifling had 7 grooves. In particular, the Parrott rifle's gaining twist caused the Hotchkiss projectile's soft sabot to be torn off. One weakness of Parrott ammunition was the sabot's position at the projectile's base. This meant that the final impulse on the shell as it left the gun was on its base, potentially causing the shell to wobble. For two reasons, canister shot fired from rifled guns was less effective than canister fired from a 12-pounder Napoleon or a M1841 12-pounder howitzer. First, the rifled gun's 2.9-inch or 3-inch bore was narrower than the 12-pounder's 4.62 in (117 mm) bore and could hurl fewer canister balls. Second, the barrel's rifling caused the canister to be blasted in an irregular pattern. Union General Henry Jackson Hunt believed that the range of canister fired from rifled guns was only half the 400 yd (366 m) effective range of canister fired from the 12-pounder Napoleon. Federal batteries were organized with six guns of identical type early in the conflict. Each 6-gun battery required fourteen 6-horse teams and seven spare horses. The teams towed the six artillery pieces and limbers, six caissons, one battery wagon, and one traveling forge. Each caisson carried two ammunition chests and the limber carried one additional ammunition chest. The 10-pounder Parrott rifle carried 50 rounds in each ammunition chest. A memo from November 1863 specified that rifled guns should have 25 shells, 20 shrapnel (case shot), and 5 canister rounds in each ammunition chest. In March 1865, a memo recommended that each chest carry 30 shells, 15 shrapnel, and 5 canister rounds for rifled guns of the horse artillery. The gun required a crew consisting of 1 sergeant, 2 corporals, and 6 gunners, while 6 drivers managed the horses. ## History Captain Richard Waterman of Battery C, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, believed that the 10-pounder Parrott rifle was more accurate than the 3-inch Ordnance rifle at 900–1,500 yd (823–1,372 m) range. Union General Quincy Adams Gillmore liked the Parrott rifles, noting that untrained artillery crews could easily learn how to operate them. Confederate officer Edward Porter Alexander wanted to get rid of his 10-pounder Parrott rifles and replace them with M1841 24-pounder howitzers. One artillery officer reported that the Parrott percussion shells performed very well with only two shells failing to explode out of about 30. In the First Battle of Kernstown on 23 March 1862, the Union troops temporarily under the command of Nathan Kimball included 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery E (Clark's) armed with six 10-pounder Parrott rifles. At the Battle of Antietam on 17 September 1862, the number of 10-pounder Parrott rifles was 57 for the Union Army of the Potomac and at least 43 for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Union 10-pounder Parrott rifles were almost all massed in four or six gun batteries. Meanwhile, the Confederates distributed theirs by ones, twos, or threes in mixed batteries. The six-gun Union batteries included Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery (Pettit's), Battery A, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery (Tompkins's), Battery A, 1st New Jersey Light Artillery (Hexamer's), and Battery D, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery (Durell's). McCarthy's Richmond Virginia battery consisted of two 10-pounder Parrott rifles and two 6-pounder field guns. At the Second Battle of Corinth on 3–4 October 1862, Battery H, 1st Missouri Light Artillery was armed with a mix of 10-pounder Parrott rifles and 24-pounder howitzers. In 1862 alone, the US government ordered 270,699 Parrott projectiles. This included ammunition for Parrott rifles other than the 10-pounder. On 2 July 1863 during the Battle of Gettysburg, the six 10-pounder Parrott rifles of the 5th U.S. Artillery, Battery D commanded by Captain Charles E. Hazlett took position on Little Round Top. When General Gouverneur K. Warren pointed out that the guns would not be able to fire on their attackers, Hazlett replied, "The sound of my guns will be encouraging to our troops." The Parrott rifles were not used again after the end of the war. In October 1865, the Chief of Ordnance stated that the frequent bursting of Parrott rifles lowered confidence in the weapon and that the Ordnance department would look for a more reliable weapon. ## Civil War artillery

Running Back (Jessica Mauboy song)

2008 single by Jessica Mauboy

"Running Back" is the debut single of Australian R&B recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring American rapper Flo Rida. The track was written by Mauboy, Audius Mtawarira, and Sean Ray Mullins, and was produced by Audius. "Running Back" was released for digital download on 19 September 2008 as the lead single from Mauboy's debut studio album, Been Waiting. Mauboy felt "so excited and honoured" to work with Flo Rida, calling it a dream come true. The song peaked at number three on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for shipments of 140,000 units. In 2009, "Running Back" won 'Highest Selling Single' at the ARIA Music Awards, where it was also nominated for 'Breakthrough Artist Single'. It also won 'Urban Work of the Year' at the APRA Awards and 'Single Release of the Year' at the NT Indigenous Music Awards. The music video was directed by Fin Edquist, and portrays a fictional relationship between Mauboy and Flo Rida. The video has garnered over 1 million views on Vevo. The song has been performed live at the 2008 Sydney New Year's Eve event and on Australian Idol, where Mauboy was a former contestant of the show in 2006. ## Background and composition In September 2007, Mauboy became a member of all-girl pop group Young Divas, replacing one of the group's original members, Ricki-Lee Coulter, who had left to resume her solo career. Mauboy's management saw the group as a "perfect learning curve" about all that was positive and negative in the music industry. Together, they released their second studio album, New Attitude in November, and the album's lead single, "Turn Me Loose". After things went downhill for the group following the song's release, Mauboy went to the studio to begin working on her debut solo album Been Waiting, because she wanted to be a solo artist and it was always on her mind to become one. Mauboy began writing songs with Adam Reily, Israel Cruz, Brooke McClymont, and Audius Mtawarira. In June 2008, Mauboy told The Jakarta Post that her debut solo single would be released in August, with the album planned for a September release. Two months later, it was announced that Mauboy had left the Young Divas to resume her solo career. "Running Back" was written by Mauboy, Mtawarira, and Sean Ray Mullins, and was produced by Audius. "Running Back" is one of the three tracks Audius produced for the album. Mullins has stated that when he hears the song on the radio, "he's merely satisfied" that it fits the formula. "Running Back" was recorded at The Sound Academy in Sydney, New South Wales, and Phil Tan mixed the track at Soapbox Studios, Atlanta, Georgia. Mauboy and Flo Rida recorded their verses in separate studios. She said that the song is based on "one of my past experiences". In an interview with Take 40 Australia, Mauboy said working with Flo Rida was a dream come true, "I love urban music and have been a huge fan of Flo-Rida's from the moment I heard 'Low'. For him to now feature on my first single I just can't believe it! I am so excited and honoured." "Running Back" is an urban pop ballad, featuring "a restrained vocal performance from Mauboy." According to Davey Boy from Sputnikmusic, the song "is one-part smooth ballad with its twinkling piano loop and lovelorn lyrics, and one-part contemporary hip hop with its deceptively slinky vocals and effective—if phoned in—Flo Rida cameo." ## Release and reception "Running Back" was released for digital download on 19 September 2008. A digital extended play was released on 11 October; it includes a remix featuring Israel Cruz and a karaoke version to "Running Back", as well as two additional tracks. The CD single for "Running Back" was released in Australia on 18 October. Jarrad Bevan from The Mercury noted that Flo Rida "ads punch to her sultry hook", and added that "it's a hit, no doubt." Mawunyo Gbogbo from Groove On wrote, "'Running Back' is not only a hot track, but it's prompted many to take notice of this fresh new face in Australian R&B." "Running Back" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number thirteen and peaked at number three. Her next single, "Burn" was released in November and charted even higher when it peaked at number one. "Running Back" spent a total of thirty-one weeks on the chart. It also spent forty-five weeks on the ARIA Urban Singles Chart, where it peaked at number three. The song was certified double Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for shipments of 140,000 units. In 2009, "Running Back" won 'Urban Work of the Year' at the APRA Awards, and was nominated for the same category the following year. It was also nominated at the ARIA Music Awards, in the categories of 'Breakthrough Artist Single' and 'Highest Selling Single', winning the latter category on 26 November. "Running Back" also won 'Single Release of the Year' at the NT Indigenous Music Awards. At the MTV Australia Awards, "Running Back" was nominated for 'Best Collaboration'. ## Music video The music video for "Running Back" was directed by Fin Edquist and filmed in Melbourne during the first week of September 2008, during Flo Rida's visit to Australia. The video starts off showing a view of the city, before Mauboy appears on the balcony of a bedroom singing the first verse. When the first chorus begins, Flo Rida is seen wandering around in a different bedroom. During the second verse, Mauboy then appears inside the bedroom looking at a photo, packing her bags, and singing in front of a mirror. During this time, Rida is also seen standing in front of a mirror in his bedroom. As the video progresses, Mauboy makes her way towards the car, and Rida then raps his verse on the telephone to her. The video ends showing Mauboy back at the balcony at the bedroom. ## Live performances Mauboy performed "Running Back" on the elimination show of Australian Idol in October 2008, wearing a black dress and heels with her hair tied up in a bun. Mauboy was a former contestant of the show in 2006, and became runner-up to Damien Leith. She also performed the song at the 2008 Sydney New Year's Eve event. On 11 January 2009, Mauboy performed "Running Back" during a Twenty20 cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. At the 2009 MTV Australia Awards, Mauboy performed a medley of "Running Back" and "Been Waiting", which broadcast in 162 countries. She also performed "Running Back" at her first 'Live at the Chapel' concert, held at the Paddington Uniting Church in Sydney on 9 July 2009. In September 2009, Mauboy performed the song during Beyoncé's Australian leg of her I Am... World Tour, in which she served as a support act. She also became a support act for Chris Brown's Australian F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011, and performed "Running Back". For the performance, Mauboy wore a "skin-tight black spandex ensemble with silver glittery" boots. In January 2012, Mauboy performed the song during her Galaxy Tour in Australia, dressed in a black and gold dress and silver diamond high heels. A live version of "Running Back" was included on Mauboy's extended play iTunes Session (2014). ## Track listings - Digital download 1. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida – 3:45 - Digital EP 1. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida – 3:45 2. "Magical" – 3:26 3. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida & Israel Cruz (Remix) – 4:47 4. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida (Karaoke Track) – 3:47 5. "Breathe" – 3:50 - CD single 1. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida – 3:45 2. "Magical" – 3:26 3. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida & Israel Cruz (Remix) – 4:47 4. "Running Back" featuring Flo Rida (Karaoke Track) – 3:47 ## Personnel Credits are adapted from the liner notes for Been Waiting. - Jessica Mauboy – vocals - Audius Mtawarira – arrangement, production, vocal production - Sean Ray Mullins – arrangement - Flo Rida – featured vocals - Phil Tan – mixing ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Certification ## Release history

Sir Hereward Wake, 13th Baronet

British Army officer

Major-general Sir Hereward Wake, 13th Baronet, (11 February 1876 – 4 August 1963) was a British Army officer. Born into an historic and noble family, he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) as a second lieutenant in 1897. He served on the staff during the Second Boer War, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. During the First World War, he served again as a staff officer with the British Expeditionary Force. In 1917 he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier-general and appointed to the secretariat of the Supreme War Council (SWC). Wake led E Branch, responsible for advising the British military representative, General Sir Henry Wilson on enemy strength and supply. Wake's unit predicted the 1918 German spring offensive but countermeasures recommended by the SWC were ignored by the British commander-in-chief Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. Towards the end of the war Wake predicted that Germany would remain the predominant military power in Europe. After the war, Wake returned to his regiment and commanded its 4th battalion in British India. He was made an aide-de-camp to George V and promoted to major-general. Wake afterwards commanded the 12th Infantry Brigade and the 46th (North Midland) Division. Wake retired from the army in 1937 but maintained links, being appointed to the honorary role of colonel-commandant of the KRRC, and later chairing the Northamptonshire Territorial Army Association. During the Second World War, he commanded the county's Local Defence Volunteers, and was colonel-commandant of the 1st battalion of the Northamptonshire Army Cadet Force. He also held non-military roles as a Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Northamptonshire. He had an interest in history, was a member of the Northamptonshire Record Society and campaigned for the restoration of abandoned ironstone quarries in the county. ## Early life Hereward Wake was born in London on 11 February 1876, the eldest son of Sir Hereward Wake, 12th Baronet. The Wake family, owners of the manor of Courteenhall since 1672, claim descent from the Anglo-Saxon noble, Hereward the Wake, who led an armed opposition in East Anglia to the 1066 Norman conquest. This may have been an attempt to improve the family's English provenance in the 14th century, and it seems more likely the Wakes were descended from a 12th-century Norman immigrant. Hereward Wake was educated at Eton College. ## Military career ### Boer War Wake attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from 1896, and after graduating, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) on 17 March 1897. Wake served in South Africa during the Second Boer War from 4 November 1899. He was seconded to the staff on 13 March 1900, by which time he had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Wake was aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in South Africa (initially Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, later Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener) from 18 March 1900 to 1 March 1901. Wake saw action at the Battle of Colenso (15 December 1899), Battle of Spion Kop (23–24 January 1900), Battle of the Tugela Heights (14–27 February 1900) and the Relief of Ladysmith (1 March 1900). He was wounded in action during the war and was also twice mentioned in dispatches (on 3 February and 9 March 1900). Wake was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 29 November 1900 and, during this war, also received the Royal Humane Society's bronze medal for the saving of life. Also serving on Roberts' staff in South Africa was Major Henry Wilson, with whom Wake would be associated in his later career. Later in the war Wake commanded a company on operations in the Orange Free State, the Colony of Natal, the South African Republic and Cape Colony. Wake was appointed to the supernumerary rank of captain before 6 December 1902 and was appointed adjutant on 27 June 1903. He returned to England on 28 June 1904 and relinquished his appointment as adjutant on 26 June 1906. In 1908 he attended the Staff College, Camberley where Wilson was commandant. He was advanced to the regimental rank of captain on 22 December 1908 and at the same time joined the Naval War Course for training. In 1910 Wake was appointed a 3rd grade general staff officer and he worked at the War Office until 1911. ### First World War By 1914 Wake held the rank of major and, after the outbreak of the First World War, held a position as a War Office liaison officer with The Admiralty. Later that year he was appointed as a 3rd grade general staff officer to the general headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force. Whilst in France Wake, with Wilson, attended the death bed of Roberts, who had fallen ill while visiting the troops. In November he wrote an article for the journal of the Royal United Services Institute entitled The Four-Company Battalion in Battle. Wake transferred to the staff of I Corps in 1915 and became a 2nd grade general staff officer on 1 February 1916, returning to the War Office. Wake was appointed 1st grade staff officer on 1 March 1916 on the staff of the 61st Infantry Division and also received the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel. Wake was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier-general in 1917. Wilson was then the British military representative on the Allied Supreme War Council (SWC), based at Versailles, and selected Wake to join the organisation's secretariat in December. Wake headed the British E Branch, responsible for estimating the state of enemy manpower and materiel, the first time that such an in-depth study was attempted by the British. In this role he noted the difficulties the Allies had in estimating the strength of Austro-Hungarian forces on the Italian front. Wake's men were encouraged to think like their opponents and Wilson had them wear their caps back to front to remind them of this. Wake's unit predicted the German spring offensive by January of that year, presenting his findings to Leo Amery, who was the political representative to the SWC, and British prime minister David Lloyd George. He estimated that 100 German divisions would push back the British right flank and separate them from their French allies. Wake's findings and the recommendations of the SWC's A Branch for British countermeasures were ignored by the British commander in chief, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. When the German offensive came, and almost succeeded, Wake complained to Amery about the state of British military leadership. Amery noted in his diary that Wake and another SWC officer thought that there was "no one at GHQ [Haig's General Head Quarters] who has any brains or approves of brains in anyone else". Wake had asked Amery "what was to be expected with a fool like Haig and a liar like Petain [the French commander in chief]". Later in 1918 he made a number of tours of inspection of the Balkans on behalf of the British government. Towards the end of the war Wake was asked his assessment of the future balance of power in Europe. On 26 October he stated that Germany would remain the strongest military power for the foreseeable future. He cautioned against any attempt to create buffer states on Germany's eastern border, predicting that these would merely become German satellites. For his service during the war, Wake received the French Legion of Honour and the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1919. In addition, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, with the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war he maintained a link with army veterans, from 1922 he was the first president of the Roade and Courteenhall Branch of the Royal British Legion and presented them with a wooden hut to host their meetings. ### Later career Wake commanded 4th battalion, KRRC in British India from 1920 to 1923, was appointed an aide-de-camp to George V on 5 December 1930, then promoted to major-general on 23 May 1932. He commanded the 12th Infantry Brigade until placed on half pay on 23 August 1932. He returned to service on 1 April 1934 as commander of the Territorial Army's 46th (North Midland) Division, by this time he had also been appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Retiring from the army on 11 February 1937, on 20 January 1938, he became colonel-commandant of the KRRC, an honorary and ceremonial role. During the Second World War, Wake chaired the Northamptonshire Territorial Army Association and commanded the Northamptonshire Local Defence Volunteers. He was general officer commanding of the Northern Home Guard from 1940 to 1943. On 5 May 1942, Wake was appointed the first colonel-commandant of 1st battalion, Northamptonshire Army Cadet Force (this unit is now A Company of the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Army Cadet Force). Wake co-authored Swift and Bold, a history of the KRRC in the Second World War, published in 1949. ## Personal life and other interests Wake married Margaret Winifred Benson, the daughter of banker and art collector Robin Benson, at St George's Hanover Square Church, Westminster, on 30 October 1912. The Wakes lived at their ancestral home, Courteenhall House. They had seven children, including Hereward Wake who also served in the KRRC. One of their daughters, Diana Wake, was killed in a riding accident at Bicester Hunt Races on 11 March 1950, another married the son of Major-General Guy Dawnay. Wake inherited the baronetcy (as 13th baronet) upon his father's death in 1916. He was appointed as a deputy lieutenant for Northamptonshire on 29 July 1922. Wake was nominated for the position of High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in November 1925 and 1938, before he was appointed to the position in 1944. Wake had a keen interest in history and was an early member of the Northamptonshire Record Society, founded by his sister Joan Wake in 1920. During the inter-war years, he had at one time held command of Dover Castle and was responsible for handing over its keep to the Office of Works for preservation, having recognised its historic importance and the risk of fire posed by its use as a rifle store. Wake also played a key role in highlighting the damage caused to Northamptonshire by ironstone workings. He chaired a sub-committee on the issue for the county's branch of the Country Landowners Association and was a member of the Northamptonshire County Planning Committee. Wake opposed the findings of the Kennet Committee which recommended against any action to restore the workings. He played a role in persuading government to pass an act, proposed by Hugh Dalton, to mandate the restoration of all current ironstone workings and several thousand acres of former workings. In later life he lived in Hampshire but continued to monitor the progress of restoration on visits to Northamptonshire. Wake died on 4 August 1963.

Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson (died 1249)

Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson (died 30 May 1249) was a mid-thirteenth-century King of Mann and the Isles who was assassinated after a reign of less than a month. As a son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Mann and the Isles, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was a member of the Crovan dynasty. When his father died in 1237, the kingship was assumed by Haraldr Óláfsson. The latter was lost at sea late in 1248, and the following year Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson succeeded him as king. Only weeks after gaining the kingship, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was slain by a knight named Ívarr and his accomplices. The kingship was then seized by Haraldr Guðrøðarson, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's first cousin once removed, suggesting that the killers and the new king had colluded together. The assassination, therefore, appears to have been a continuation of the vicious family feud that had engulfed the Crovan dynasty since the late twelfth century, when Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's father and Haraldr Guðrøðarson's grandfather first contested the kingship of the Isles. ## Background Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was one of several sons of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Mann and the Isles, and thus a member of the Crovan dynasty. Although Óláfr is known to have had two wives, and no contemporaneous source names the mother of his children, there is evidence suggesting that their mother may have been Óláfr's second wife: Cairistíona, daughter of Fearchar mac an tSagairt, Earl of Ross. Specifically, the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century Chronicle of Mann states that, when Óláfr died in 1237, he was succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son, Haraldr Óláfsson. This source therefore dates Haraldr Óláfsson's birth to 1223, about the time when Óláfr and Fearchar allied themselves in marriage. The ancestral origins of Fearchar's family are unknown, although he appears to have been a native of eastern Ross. The Norse-Gaelic Crovan dynasty, founded by Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's paternal great-great grandfather, held royal power in the Isles from the late eleventh to the mid thirteenth century. This realm was known in Old Norse as Suðreyjar, a term that means "Southern Islands", in reference to the Hebrides and Mann. Various documentary sources, in the form of contemporary chronicles and sagas, reveal that during the dynasty's tenure of power, the kings of the Isles tended to acknowledge the authority of the kings of Norway. From the later twelfth- to the mid thirteenth century, the dynasty suffered from bitter factionalism and vicious kin-strife. Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's father, Óláfr, was a younger son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles. According to the chronicle, before his death in 1187, Guðrøðr Óláfsson instructed that Óláfr should succeed to the kingship. The latter was only a child at the time, however, and the Islesmen instead inaugurated Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, Guðrøðr Óláfsson's eldest albeit illegitimate son. As the first quarter of the thirteenth century began to wane, contentions between the half-brothers broke out into outright war. By the turn of the first quarter of the century, Óláfr managed to put aside the wife that Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson had assigned him; and afterwards married Cairistíona, thereby gaining her father's military assistance. As time wore on, Óláfr gained the upper-hand in the struggle, and at one point had Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's son, Guðrøðr Dond, blinded and castrated. The bitter conflict between the half-brothers ended with Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's treacherous death in 1229. For a brief period in 1230/1231, Óláfr co-ruled the kingdom with Guðrøðr Dond. When the latter was slain in 1231, Óláfr ruled the entire kingdom without any internal opposition until his own death in 1237. The main documentary source for the kings of the Crovan dynasty is the Chronicle of Mann, the only contemporary indigenous narrative-source concerning these men. The source itself survives in the form of a fourteenth-century Latin manuscript, which is in turn a copy of a chronicle probably first commissioned and composed during the reign of Magnús Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles. About fifteen percent of the chronicle is devoted to the strife between the half-brothers, and much of the rest of this source deals with the after-effects of the conflict. Although the chronicle's account of the half-brothers' struggle appears to be somewhat neutral, its treatment of their descendants is clearly slanted in favour of Óláfr's sons. In fact, it was only during the reign of Óláfr's son Magnús, that the former's sons finally overcame Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson's descendants once and for all. The chronicle, therefore, may have been composed to further legitimise king's descended from Óláfr. In consequence, even the chronicle's claim that Óláfr's father had chosen him as his successor may be suspect. ## Ascension and assassination Having succeeded his father, the chronicle reveals that Haraldr Óláfsson was soon ousted from power by representatives of Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway. After unsuccessfully repulsing these men, Haraldr Óláfsson voyaged to Norway, where he stayed for about three years, and thus reconciled himself with Hákon, who in turn reinstalled him as king in the Isles. In 1247, the thirteenth-century Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar states that Haraldr Óláfsson again journeyed to Norway, where he married Hákon's daughter, Cecilía, in the winter of 1247/1248. On the newly-weds' return voyage in the autumn of 1248, the chronicle and saga report that their ship foundered off Shetland, with all aboard lost. Upon learning of the catastrophe, Hákon immediately directed Eóghan Mac Dubhghaill to temporarily take up the kingship of the Isles on his behalf. According to the Chronicle of Mann, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson assumed the kingship of the Isles on 6 May 1249. This could mean that he and Eóghan shared a degree of authority in the Isles. In any case, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's reign was an extremely short one, lasting hardly a month, as the chronicle states that he was slain on 30 May 1249. Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's body was then interred at Rushen Abbey, the site of his father's final resting place. Following the killing, the chronicle reports that the kingship was seized by Haraldr Guðrøðarson, a grandson of Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson. Although the chronicle names Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's killers as a knight named Ívarr and his followers, the precise identity of Ívarr is uncertain. One man bearing the same name was Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's paternal uncle, Ívarr Guðrøðarson. Although the latter is noted by the chronicle, in an entry concerning his father's demise, nothing more is known of him, and it is unlikely that someone born before 1187 would have been active in 1249. The chronicle's Latin designation of "milite" ("knight") to Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's killer may be evidence that he was a member of the elite. The fact that this Ívarr is not accorded a patronym of any sort, however, suggests that he was not a member of a prominent family (such as the Crovan dynasty). In fact, he appears to be identical to the "domino Yuor' de Mann" ("Lord Ívarr of Mann"), who witnessed a Latin charter of Haraldr Óláfsson in 1246. Ívarr's identity aside, the chronology of events surrounding Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's killing suggests that Haraldr Guðrøðarson and Ívarr were allies. A particular letter of Henry III, King of England, dated April 1256, commanding his men not to receive Haraldr Guðrøðarson and Ívarr—the men whom the letter states "wickedly slew" Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson—further evidences an alliance between the two. In light of Ívarr's possible collusion with Haraldr Guðrøðarson, the slaying of Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson may be evidence that the continuing strife between the rival branches descended from the half-brothers, Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson and Óláfr, continued well into the mid thirteenth century. In fact, the killing is the last recorded example of regicide in the Norse-Gaelic realm, and may partly evidence the Europeanisation of the peripheral regions of the British Isles during the twelfth- and thirteenth centuries. As it turned out, the reign of Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's successor was short-lived, since Haraldr Guðrøðarson was recalled to Norway in 1250, for having unjustly seized the kingship. Once in Norway, the latter was detained from returning to the Isles, and is not heard of again. Within two years, Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson's brother, Magnús, was installed in the kingship. The latter reigned until his death in 1265, and was the last member of the Crovan dynasty to rule as king in the Isles. An after-effect of the inter-dynastic warring within the Crovan dynasty was the partitioning of the kingdom between rival factions. For example, from about 1187 to 1226, and for a brief period in 1229, the kingdom was divided between the half-brothers; and for a brief period in 1230/1231 it was divided between Óláfr and his nephew, Guðrøðr Dond. Although Haraldr Óláfsson appears to have reigned over a united kingdom, the years between his death and the installation of Magnús in 1252 is a murky period indeed, and it is possible that the kingdom was divided between rival factions during this brief span of years. Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson was evidently survived by a daughter, Maria. In 1305, a grandson of this woman pursued a claim to Mann. ## Ancestry

Operation Postmaster

Naval operation during the Second World War

Operation Postmaster was a British special operation conducted on the Spanish island of Fernando Po, now known as Bioko, off West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea, during the Second World War. The mission was carried out by the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in January 1942. Their objective was to board the Italian and German ships in the harbour and sail them to Lagos. The SSRF under the command of Major Gus March-Phillipps left Britain in August 1941 and sailed the Brixham trawler, Maid of Honour, to the Spanish colony. The British authorities in the area refused to support the raid, which they considered a breach of Spanish neutrality. Permission for the operation to go ahead eventually came from the Foreign Office in London. On 14 January 1942, while the ships' officers were attending a party arranged by an SOE agent, the commandos entered the port aboard two tugs, overpowered the ships' crews and sailed off with the ships, including the Italian merchant vessel Duchessa d'Aosta. The raid boosted SOE's reputation at a critical time and demonstrated its ability to plan and conduct secret operations no matter the political consequences. ## Background In 1941 the British Admiralty started receiving reports that German submarines were using the rivers in Vichy French parts of Africa as a base for refuelling. The unit selected to investigate the reports was the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) also known as No. 62 Commando. The SSRF was formed in 1941, and consisted of a small group of 55 commando-trained personnel working with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). While being under operational control of Combined Operations Headquarters, No. 62 Commando itself was under the command Major Gus March-Phillipps. Maid of Honour, a 65-ton Brixham yacht trawler, left Poole harbour on 9 August 1941, bound for West Africa. The five man crew were under the command of March-Phillipps. The remainder of the SSRF under the command of Captain Geoffrey Appleyard had departed earlier aboard a troop transport ship. On 20 September 1941 after six weeks under sail Maid of Honour arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Freetown was the agreed rendezvous for both groups, Appleyard's party having arrived at the end of August. After Maid of Honour's arrival in Freetown the search for the German submarine bases started. Sailing into the many rivers and deltas in the area, they failed to locate any submarines or evidence of a submarine base. SOE maintained a presence in West Africa, where it could observe Vichy French, Spanish and Portuguese territories with the intention of identifying and hindering any activities that threatened Britain's colonial possessions. While the commandos were searching for the German submarine bases, SOE agents had become aware of three vessels in the port of Santa Isabel on the Spanish island of Fernando Po 30 kilometres (19 mi) off the coast of Africa near the borders of Nigeria and the Guinea. The three ships were the Italian 8,500-ton merchant vessel Duchessa d'Aosta, the large German tug Likomba, and a diesel-powered barge Bibundi. Duchessa d'Aosta had a working radio which was considered a threat, with the potential to provide details of Allied naval movements. Her declared cargo was 3 million pounds of wool, 316,610 pounds of hides and skins, 1.3 million pounds of tanning materials, 4 million pounds of copra, 544,660 pounds of crude asbestos fibre and over 1.1 million ingots of electrolytic copper. The first page of the ship's cargo manifest, was not presented to the port authorities and the ship's captain refused to provide them with any details, which led to speculation it was also carrying arms or ammunition. In his visits to the island, SOE agent Leonard Guise kept the ships under observation, and in August 1941 submitted a plan to seize Likomba and disable Duchessa d'Aosta. Approval for the military operation in a neutral port was given by the Admiralty on 20 November 1941. To transport the raiders to the island, two tugs, Vulcan and Nuneaton, were provided by the Governor of Nigeria, Sir Bernard Bourdillon. The raiding force would consist of 32 men, four SOE agents, 11 commandos from the SSRF and 17 men recruited from the local population to crew the two tugs. The mission suffered a blow when the British General Officer Commanding (GOC) West Africa Command, General Sir George Giffard refused to support the mission. He declined to release the 17 men required, stating it would compromise some unnamed plans he had in mind, and that the act would be seen as piracy and could lead to repercussions. Responding to the concerns of the GOC West Africa, the Admiralty suspended the operation. The Foreign Office was also not in favour of the operation, and neither was the British Embassy in Madrid, which was concerned about the possible reactions of the Spanish government. The final go ahead, eventually supported by the Foreign Office, was not given until 6 January 1942, on the grounds that whilst suspicion of British involvement in the raid was inevitable, what counted was the avoidance of any tangible proof. As a safeguard the Admiralty also dispatched HMS Violet, a Flower-class corvette, to intercept the vessels at sea, which would provide the cover story that they had been intercepted while trying to make their way home to Europe. ## Mission SOE agent Richard Lippett had obtained employment with the shipping company John Holt & Co (Liverpool), which had business offices on the island. Having taken up the post he started to make preparations for the raid. He became aware that the crew of Duchessa d'Aosta were in the habit of accepting invitations to parties ashore and had held their own party aboard ship on 6 January 1942. Under the guise of a party-goer Lippett managed to gain information about the readiness of the ship for sea, crew numbers, and the watch arrangements. The raiders left Lagos in their two tugs on the morning of 11 January 1942, and while en route they practised lowering Folbots and boarding ships at sea under the command of Captain Graham Hayes. They approached Santa Isabel harbour and at 23:15 and 23:30 hours on 14 January 1942; both tugs were in position 180 metres (590 ft) outside of the harbour. Onshore, Lippett had arranged for the officers from Duchessa d'Aosta to be invited to a dinner party; 12 Italian officers as well as two German officers from Likomba attended. The boarding parties assembled on the decks of the two tugs as they entered the harbour. Vulcan, with March-Phillipps and his second in command Appleyard on board, headed for Duchessa d'Aosta. As they approached, a few men could be seen on the after deck of the merchant vessel, but they seemed to take no notice of the tug other than to shine a torch in its direction. At the same time, Folbots under the command of Hayes from Nuneaton, were being paddled towards Likomba and Burundi, which were moored together. Challenged by a watchman on Burundi, they persuaded him with their reply that it was the ship's captain coming back on board. The men from the canoes boarded Burundi and the two man crew on watch jumped overboard. After attaching explosive charges on the anchor chain, the commandos guided Nuneaton alongside Likomba to take her and the Burundi in tow. As soon as they were ready, the charges were blown and Nuneaton started to tow Likomba out of the harbour. Eleven men from Vulcan had managed to board Duchessa d'Aosta; while one group attached charges on the anchor chains, another searched below decks collecting prisoners. Blowing the anchor chains, Vulcan started to tow Duchessa d'Aosta out of the harbour. The explosions had alerted the population of the town, who started to gather on the pier, but no attempts were made to stop the ships from leaving. Several anti-aircraft emplacements opened fire at imaginary targets, believing the explosions to have been caused by an aerial attack, but the six-inch guns protecting the harbour itself remained silent. From entering the harbour to leaving with the ships under tow, the operation had taken 30 minutes, without any losses to the raiding party. Out at sea on 15 January 1942, March-Phillipps established a routine of watches and placed guards on the 29 prisoners they had taken. During the evening they started to have trouble with the tugs' engines and the tow ropes to the captured vessels. The next day Vulcan reached the location for the rendezvous and was "captured" at sea by HMS Violet. Nuneaton, suffering from engine trouble, managed to contact the Nigerian collier Ilorin by semaphore, which in turn contacted Lagos, and a ship was dispatched to tow them into port. ## Aftermath The Special Operations Executive had now demonstrated their ability to undertake operations, no matter the political consequences. Hugh Dalton, the government minister in charge of SOE, informed the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, of the outcome of the raid. He also stated his belief that..."other neutral governments would be impressed that Britain would if needed disregard the legal formalities of war in their efforts to succeed." The agent in charge of SOE Africa station submitted a report to the head of SOE Colin Gubbins reflecting on the success of Postmaster: "perhaps next time it will not be necessary for prolonged negotiations before undertaking a 30 minute operation." The Spanish government was furious about the raid, which was seen as a breach of the country's neutrality. The foreign minister Serrano Suner described the operation as an: > intolerable attack on our sovereignty, no Spaniard can fail to be roused by this act of piracy committed in defiance of every right and within water under our jurisdiction. Do not be surprised, if we return the answer which the case demands—that of arms. In Germany radio stations reported that a..."British destroyer had entered the harbour and dropped depth charges to blow up the anchor cables and the ship's crew were shot" and the 21 January 1942 edition of Völkischer Beobachter published an article with the headline "British Denials – Admiralty Lies on Act of Piracy". British Naval Intelligence issued their own communique: > In view of the German allegations that Allied naval forces have executed a cutting-out operation against Axis ships in the Spanish port of Santa Isabel, Fernando Po, the British Admiralty considers it necessary to state that no British or Allied ship was in the vicinity...As a result... of the German Broadcast, the British Commander-in-Chief dispatched reconnaissance patrols to cover the area. A report has now been received that a large unidentified vessel has been sighted, and British naval vessels are proceeding to the spot to make investigations." The details of the raid were being kept secret even from the British Chiefs of Staff, who were only informed on 18 January 1942, that Duchessa d'Aosta had been intercepted 230 miles (370 km) offshore and was being taken to Lagos. On Fernando Po itself, Richard Lippett, who had remained on the island, was taken in for questioning by the Spanish authorities on 17 January 1942. He managed to persuade them he had had nothing to do with the departure of the ships, nor had he spent any money on the party for the ships' officers. He was released from custody on 27 January 1942, but was refused permission to leave the island. He finally left secretly by canoe, arriving in British territory on 1 March 1942. In the aftermath of the operation, Maid of Honour was left in Lagos and eventually sold to the Sierra Leone government as a converted trawler. Duchess d'Aosta was sailed to Greenock and then managed by Canadian Pacific as the Empire Yukon for the Ministry of War Transport. Likomba was managed by the Elder Dempster Lines, who renamed it Malakel in 1947 and then sold it to Liberia in 1948. After the raid March-Phillipps was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, Hayes was awarded the Military Cross, and Appleyard a Bar to his Military Cross; Lippett and Guise were each appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire. Another commando, and the only professional sailor on the raid, Private Anders Lassen, was the first man to board Duchessa d'Aosta. For conspicuous efficiency in getting the ship under way, Lassen was given a commission in the field, and the immediate award of the Military Cross. March-Phillipps was killed during Operation Aquatint in September 1942. On the same mission, Hayes evaded capture and crossed the Spanish border, only to be handed over to the Germans who kept him in solitary confinement for nine months before he was executed by firing squad on 13 July 1943. Appleyard later joined the Special Air Service, and on the same day that Hayes was executed Appleyard was reported missing when his plane failed to return from a mission. Lassen also joined the Special Air Service; he was awarded two bars to his MC and promoted to major before receiving a posthumous Victoria Cross in Italy in 1945.

Convention of Alessandria

1800 Treaty during the War of the Second Coalition

The Convention of Alessandria (also known as the Armistice of Marengo) was an armistice signed on 15 June 1800 between the French First Republic led by Napoleon and Austria during the War of the Second Coalition. Following the Austrian defeat at the Battle of Marengo, they agreed to evacuate Italy as far as the Mincio and abandon strongholds in Piedmont and Milan. Great Britain and Austria were allies and hoped to negotiate a peace treaty with France, but Napoleon insisted on separate treaties with each nation. The negotiations failed, and fighting resumed on 22 November 1800. ## Background The War of the Second Coalition was the second war against revolutionary France by various European monarchies. The Second Coalition was led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and included the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples, various German monarchies and several other minor European states. Its aim was to contain the expansion of the French Republic and to restore the monarchy in France. French troops returned to Italy in 1799, following a brief period of absence which had precipitated the collapse of their Italian client republics. Napoleon Bonaparte, who had seized power in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, carried out a crossing of the Alps with his Army of the Reserve (officially commanded by Louis-Alexandre Berthier) in May 1800. This move, made almost before the passes were open, threatened Austrian General Michael von Melas' lines of communications in northern Italy. The French army then seized Milan on 2 June, followed by Pavia, Piacenza and Stradella, cutting the main Austrian supply route eastward along the south bank of the Po river. Bonaparte hoped that Melas' preoccupation with the Siege of Genoa, held by French General André Masséna, would prevent the Austrians from responding to his offensive. However, Masséna surrendered the town on 4 June, freeing a large number of Austrians for operations against the French. On 9 June French General Jean Lannes beat Austrian Feldmarschallleutnant Peter Ott in the Battle of Montebello. Bonaparte subsequently convinced himself that Melas would not attack and, further, that the Austrians were about to retreat. As other French forces closed from the west and south, the Austrian commander had withdrawn most of his troops from their positions near Nice and Genoa to Alessandria on the main Turin-Mantua road. The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between Bonaparte and Melas near Alessandria. Towards the end of the day, the French overcame the Austrian surprise attack. ## Convention At 4:00 am on 15 June 1800, von Melas sent General Johann Ferdinand von Skal and two captains to the French encampment with a flag of surrender. Napoleon, who had expected the Austrians to continue fighting, quickly accepted the surrender. A cease-fire was signed a few hours later. In the agreement, the Austrians agreed to evacuate to the left bank of the Bormida, and that hostilities would cease for forty-eight hours. The Austrians initially hoped to give up only Piedmont and Genoa, but Napoleon demanded they retreat to behind the Po and Mincio. The final agreement was formalized and signed as the Convention of Alessandria. On 15 June, the convention was signed. It caused the fighting to end, and the Austrians agreed to evacuate Italy as far as the Mincio and abandon all of their strongholds in the Piedmont and Milan, losing all that they had gained in 1798 and 1799. The Austrians agreed to give the French Tortona, Alessandria, Milan, Turin, Pizzighetone, Arona, and Piacenza by 20 June. They agreed to surrender by 24 June the fortress of Coni, the castles of Seva and Savona, and the city of Genoa; and the city of Urbino by 26 June. The land between the Chiesa, the Oglio, and the Po rivers was ceded to the French, and that between the Chiesa and the Mincio was designated a neutral zone, not to "be occupied by either of the two armies." The Austrians retained control of Tuscany, and the bulk of their army, with the French letting their soldiers retreat. ## Aftermath On 17 June, Napoleon left for Paris after the signing of the convention. He stopped in Milan that same day, and was greeted as a hero, with large crowds celebrating his arrival. The Cisalpine Republic was again established as a French client republic, and a temporary government was put in place until the signing of a peace treaty with Austria. Many strongholds listed in the convention were given up by the Austrians and their fortifications dismantled by the French, including Genoa on 24 June. Napoleon left Milan the same day, and stopped briefly in Turin and Lyon before arriving in Paris on 2 July. The victory consolidated Napoleon's political position in Paris as First Consul. French historian François Furet noted that the battle served as "the true coronation of [Napoleon's] power and his regime". General Officer Count Joseph Saint-Julien was sent to deliver the convention to Francis II, and it was soon ratified by the Court of Vienna. It proved to be only a temporary cease-fire, as Johann Amadeus von Thugut (and the Austrian government) refused to accept the terms and give up any of Austria's Italian holdings. Francis II, several hours before receiving the convention on 20 June 1800, had signed a treaty with Britain, in which Britain agreed to give Austria two million pounds sterling in exchange for Austria continuing the war with France. The treaty also prohibited negotiations between Austria and France without the involvement of Britain before 1 February 1801. Austria soon dispatched Saint-Julien to travel to Paris, carrying news of the treaty's ratification, and to further consider the terms of it. He arrived on 21 July and began negotiations. On 22 July he attended a meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at which Saint-Julien was persuaded to assume the position of an accredited diplomat and sign several preliminary articles on 28 July. Saint-Julien and Géraud Duroc were dispatched to deliver the news to Vienna. On 4 August, they arrived at Alt Oettiugen, the headquarters of Paul Kray. The negotiations were disavowed by Austria due to their treaty with Britain. Duroc was turned away and Saint-Julien was arrested for negotiating without instructions. On 29 September, the Convention of Castiglione was signed, extending the Convention of Alessandria; but further negotiations at Lunéville were fruitless, as Napoleon demanded separate peace treaties with England and Austria. On 22 November 1800 hostilities resumed. ## Historical opinion British general and military historian John Mitchell argued in 1846 that the French would have accepted many fewer concessions and wrote that "nothing equal to this ill-fated convention had ever been known in military history." The treaty was described by British historian Thomas Henry Dyer in 1877 as "one of the most disgraceful capitulations in history." Historian David Bell concluded in 2014 that a bulk of the Austrian army had survived the Battle of Marengo, and Melas was still in a position that he could have continued fighting. Prussian historian Dietrich Heinrich von Bülow, "the keenest contemporary observer of the 1800 campaign," said of the convention: "Bonaparte did not seize success; Melas threw it away." According to historian David Hollins, the victory allowed Napoleon to "secure his political power for the next 14 years."

React (The Pussycat Dolls song)

"React" is a song recorded by American girl group The Pussycat Dolls and was released by Access Records on February 7, 2020. It is the group's first song in over a decade, the last being 2009's "Hush Hush; Hush Hush", and is their first independent release since partnering with First Access Entertainment. "React" sees the return of Carmit Bachar who left the group before the release of their last album, Doll Domination (2008), although it does not feature Melody Thornton, who opted out of the reunion citing the desire to continue with her own solo music career. It was written by group member Nicole Scherzinger, along with Georgia Buchanan, Johan Gustafsson, William Simister, and Hannah Wilson. It was produced by Gustafson, Will Simms, and Swedish producer Ivares. A pulsating electropop and synthpop song, "React" is about a stagnant and turbulent relationship with lyrics that speak of wanting a more powerful reaction and excitement from one's lover. The group debuted "React" during a medley performance of their previous singles on The X Factor: Celebrity on November 30, 2019, and shortly after confirmed a concert tour for 2020 which was then pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The song was subsequently performed on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and G-A-Y as part of National Student Pride as well as being performed at other TV appearances in the UK and Australia. The X Factor performance generated in excess of 400 complaints with British broadcast regulator Ofcom regarding a perceived raunchy nature of the performance. The group subsequently answered complaints by noting that they were entertainers and their intention was to always be fierce, whilst empowering women to own their bodies. "React" received praise for its uptempo production, drawing comparisons to the group's 2006 singles "Beep" and "Wait a Minute". An official music video was released on February 7, 2020, and features pyrotechnics and water, as well as a dance routine involving chairs, inspired by the 1983 movie Flashdance. Critics called the release a successful return to music, further praising the video's synchronized choreography and backdrop of fire and water. Commercially, the song reached number two in Scotland, number nine in Hungary and Serbia, number ten in Israel, the top twenty on a number of international digital charts, as well as number 29 in the UK; becoming the group's eleventh top-forty single in the UK. Scherzinger noted that "React" could be followed by further new music from the group depending its success and their (then upcoming) concert tour. A remix of "React" produced by Cash Cash and an acoustic music video were also released in promotion of the song. Just over a year after the song's release, "React" was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting 200,000 units shipped in the UK. In 2022, the group would cancel their tour due to COVID-19 and call time on their reunion citing contract disputes between Scherzinger and Antin. ## Background Following the re-release of Doll Domination (2008) and the group's single 2009 "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)", tensions in the group rose due to Scherzinger being billed as a featured artist on the release. This would go on to lead to a public outburst by member Melody Thornton during the group's Doll Domination Tour. The group would then announce a hiatus, with group founder Robin Antin acknowledging that new members would be joining Scherzinger. By February 2010, Jessica Sutta, Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt and Thornton had announced their departures from the group, with Wyatt later acknowledging that "the group has fully disbanded." There was an attempt for new members to join Scherzinger in 2010, but by the end of 2010 Scherzinger too had left the group to pursue her solo career. Through 2017 and 2018, it was widely reported that the group were considering reforming. In October 2017, social media sites were set up for the group, further fueling speculation of a reunion and tour. It would be almost 2 years before any further news emerged, when in September 2019, Entertainment Tonight reported that Scherzinger had joined members of the band for new studio sessions. UK The X Factor judge Louis Walsh confirmed that the Pussycat Dolls would be performing on the finale of The X Factor: Celebrity on November 30, 2019. The band then confirmed their reunion on British radio station Heart, confirming that Bachar, Roberts, Scherzinger, Sutta and Wyatt had been recording new music and have announced nine tour dates around the UK in 2020. During the interview Scherzinger remarked that it had been around 10 years since the group's last tour and that the time felt right, "it's been a long time coming, but this feels like the perfect time to remind the world what it means to be a Pussycat Doll." The group also confirmed that if the reception to "React" was positive there would be more music to come. The Tour was then pushed back into 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the first new music from the group to Carmit Bachar since her departure in early 2008, prior to the release of the group's last album Doll Domination (2008). According to group founder Antin, Thornton would not be taking part due to her feeling like the time was not right. Thornton has since confirmed this during an interview with The Sun newspaper where she said, "I think it would be great for everyone to enjoy themselves and their lives, and whatever direction they want to go. I worked for years on the development of music and financed it myself. As a creative person I would like to make and release music myself." The group have stated that they are leaving the door open for Thornton and she would be welcome back if she decided to join them later down the line. ## Music and lyrics "React" is a pulsating electropop and synthpop song, with a dance beat, written by group lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, as well as Georgia Buchanan, Johan Gustafsson, William Simister and Hannah Wilson. Gustafsson is part of Swedish record production outfit Trinity Music who have previously worked with Pussycat Doll member Sutta. Buchanan, also known as Call Me Loop, noted that "React" was the first song she wrote for another artist. Gustafson, Will Simms and Swedish producer Ivares are responsible for producing the song, which is set to a production of 120 beats per minute. Scherzinger was working with Simms on new music and said that when she first heard "React" she was "excited to jump on it" because it was "really melodic, fresh, and current and new-sounding." "React" is themed around a turbulent relationship, where the lyrics "play with an overly nice man's emotions in the hopes of eliciting a more... powerful reaction". Lyrics include the phrases "Every time I leave, you pull me closer, I hang up the phone, you call me back. / Why don't you mess me 'round like you're supposed to? You're turning me cruel 'cause I'm just wanting you to react." ## Artwork The artwork for "React" was first unveiled on the group's official Instagram account on January 27, 2020. It features the group facing the camera dressed all in black. Scherzinger's outfit included "long latex sleeves and was paired with loose-fitted pants". Roberts and Sutta were featured slightly side on with their arms on Scherzinger's shoulders. "Roberts' outfit was legless and sleeveless on opposite sides and also displayed her toned torso. Sutta rocked a leotard with cut-out tights on the side." Meanwhile, to the far left, Wyatt wore a "low-cut leotard with huge shoulder pads and fishnet tights underneath" while Bachar appears on the far right with "strapless corset bodysuit and skintight pants." An alternate version of the cover featuring a black background and white text was used for the Cash Cash remix of the song. ## Release In mid January 2020, an early unfinished version of the song leaked online featuring Scherzinger's vocals. The Official Charts Company's Robert Copsey commented that the release strategy was very reminiscent of the 2000–2009 decade as the song was not available to download or stream after the group's debut performance of the song and a rough demo of the song was leaked online. Copsey said "all are pretty much unheard of in 2020, but the nostalgia of it all somehow made it feel right." On January 27, 2020, it was confirmed that "React" would be released on February 7, 2020, and it was made available to pre-order for digital download and pre-save on streaming outlets. The release was confirmed on the group's Instagram account and included the cover art for the single too. The Official Charts Company confirmed the song was being released by Access Records, making it their first independent release and first release in over a decade. Scherzinger told Rap-Up that being "able to release our music independently at this moment in time feels incredibly empowering". The group offered 20 fans the opportunity to learn the choreography for "React" at YouTube Space London, from choreographer Todrick Hall and get the opportunity to meet the group. Upon release of the song, the group celebrated the release with an exclusive photoshoot lensed by British fashion photographer Rankin, along with a featured spread in Hunger Magazine. Mushroom Records handled the release in Australia, which included the song being sent to radio stations for airplay. Scherzinger also released a TikTok video of her washing her hands to "React" on March 16, 2020, the feature covered by the Official Charts Company was part of a drive by celebrities to increase awareness of hygiene as part of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 3, 2020, the Cash Cash remix of "React" was released to digital outlets, and an exclusive acoustic performance was released by Hunger Magazine and Vero. On April 10, the group released a virtual breakdown video of the choreography for "React". Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the video features members of the group taking it in turns to teach parts of the group choreography. Each of the girls filmed their part individually. According to Brazilian website POPline, the group had recorded a remix in partnership with Brabo Music and featuring Pabllo Vittar for their appearance at São Paulo's LGBTIQA+ parade in 2020. The parade and group's performance was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ## Live performances "React" was debuted as part of a live medley performance on The X Factor: Celebrity finale on November 30, 2019, where the group the song alongside previous singles including "Buttons", "When I Grow Up" and "Don't Cha". The performance featured fireworks and waterfalls from the ceiling. BuzzFeed's Matt Stopera said calling the performance "iconic was an understatement". These same elements would later be recreated during the song's official music video. The performance was also praised by Rose Dommu from Out who said the group "ate their performance" and noted that the performance was inspired by the movie Flashdance (1983). E! also called the performance "epic", with Alyssa Morin saying that the group "made everyone's hearts flutter". Alongside the praise, 400 people complained to British media regulator Ofcom due to the "raunchy" nature of the performance and the group's decision to wear sheer PVC outfits on a family programme. On February 22, 2020, the group performed "React" for the second time on British Television as part of a medley on series sixteen of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, along with "Buttons", "Beep" and "Don't Cha". The performance took the form of a comedy skit and was used to poke fun the controversy caused by their previous performance of "React". As part of the performance, a TV test card flashed up on screen from ITV reading "we're sorry for the disruption... we're working hard to fix the issue and will return to normal family-friendly, not at all sexy, uncontroversial programming soon." The test card was revealed to be a backdrop which the group jumped through. Later the same night, The Dolls performed "React" and their previous singles as part of their headlining set at G-A-Y for National Student Pride. Later, during a performance on BBC 1's The One Show on February 26, the group experienced technical difficulties as "even though the track started playing and voices could be heard, the Dolls didn't move up on stage because it appeared that their earpieces weren't working." This led to some accusations from viewers that only Scherzinger was singing live, with Adam White writing for The Independent noting that during the technical issue, "some members of the group could be seen sharing concerned glances at one another, indicating that they could not hear the song". After being reintroduced to the audience, the song began to play at a louder volume. White remarked that it was noticeable how Scherzinger was "singing over the top of a separate pre-recorded track," however on the second go, "the group's performance went off without another hitch". The One Show since confirmed that the technical errors were the fault of the BBC and that the Pussycat Dolls were signing live over a backing track but could not hear the track due to an error on the production team's behalf. On March 5, 2020, the group performed "React" as part of a medley of singles for Nova FM 96.9's Red Room at Glass Island Sydney Harbour, Australia. They also appeared live on the Sunrise breakfast TV show to perform. The group also performed together on March 13, 2020, during the live Sport Relief telecast charity event. On April 3, 2020, the group performed an exclusive acoustic version of "React" in partnership with Vero and Hunger Magazine. ## Critical reception Rob Copsey from the Official Charts Company felt that the song was continuation of their discography from 2009, "it's a relief to be honest, as any attempt to fit in with the current pop landscape would have felt futile. That doesn't lessen the fact that 'React' is a proper, Pussycat Dolls banger." In writing for Yahoo! News Canada, Jazz Tangcay agreed with earlier sentiments saying that "React" is "a killer tune" with a "powerful dance beat". "A supersized sassy banger" is how Idolator's Mike Reid described "React", drawing comparisons to the group's 2006 singles "Beep" and "Wait a Minute". Reid concluded that the song was one of the "first standout releases of 2020 and deserves to be a chart-dominating smash". Similarly Daniel Megarry from Gay Times called "React" a fierce comeback and an "electro-pop banger with a massive chorus that gives us everything we want from the iconic performers." Paper featured "React" in their 'Bops Only: 10 Songs You Need to Start Your Weekend Right' playlist, and praised the "electro-pop banger" for its "infectious energy [that] is sure to get a rise out of longtime fans and new ones alike." Hunger also named "React" as in their list of "the only tracks you need to hear right now" for the week beginning February 10, 2020. Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone magazine praised the "catchy, bouncy pop tune" and stated "Thank God, the Pussycat Dolls are back". Matt Stopera from BuzzFeed called both the song and music video "instantly iconic". In an article commenting on the Cash Cash remix of "React", Idolator's Mike Wass commented that "React" was "epic" and it was a crime against taste that it did not become a "chart topping smash" and that the group had also served one of the "best dance routines of 2020". The remix was praised for upping the beats per minute (BMP) and dramatic breakdown, saying all in all that Cash Cash did the remix justice. ## Media reception ### Sexual image The group received some negative reception, particularly towards the groups' perceived sexual nature and dance moves and costumes during live performances of "React". After their debut performance of the song on The X Factor: Celebrity, over 400 viewers complained to British broadcasting regulator Ofcom around the raunchy nature of the performance. Responding to the criticism, Scherzinger compared the group's desire to be empowering to American singer Lizzo who is a strong advocate for body consciousness, saying: > If you have people like Lizzo leading the movement of accepting yourself and they don't get any criticism, then why are we getting this criticism? When we perform, we perform from a place of passion and power. We're not floundering out there just trying to be cute. We come like warriors out there and people feel empowered by that." During a performance on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, the group poked fun out of the negative attention they received by performing as part of a comedy skit where their performance was censored. Following the performance, member Carmit Bachar responded to reports that once again viewers had complained to Ofcom by saying "being on Ant & Dec's show was hysterical; they are so good at what they do and the way they made light of the whole censorship thing was amazing. It's great that we got to be silly with it and we had a blast." She supported early comments by Scherzinger that the intention and aims of the group's performances was always about empowerment, saying "everyone has an opinion on what we do, and while I think the power of a woman can be intimidating, it's all about the intention of our performances". Despite the comedic nature of the performance, the group's appearance on Saturday Night Takeaway resulted in further complaints to Ofcom. Roberts likened the groups' outfits to costumes and responded by noting that the group were entertainers. She said "we are wearing costumes... and they are sassy and fierce. We are owning our femininity and celebrating ourselves as women". Later, despite the BBC working with the group to put on a suitable performance pre-watershed during The One Show, 119 viewers complained about the performance of "React". The BBC defended the performance and released a statement saying "The Pussycat Dolls are well known for their dance routines and outfits and we announced at the start of the show that they would be appearing... we felt it was appropriate for the time slot and wouldn't fall outside the expectations of most viewers. However, we appreciate that some viewers didn't agree." ### Criticism of media coverage In March 2020, during an interview with Network Ten's The Project, Scherzinger acknowledged that the costumes for their recent performances and the music video for "React" were provocative but said "but we are women now and like literally as we say, (our bums) were hanging out and it takes courage to be that, you know it is vulnerable wearing as much as that, it takes a lot of courage to do it and we always do everything with confidence with the intent of empowering others and all of our women out there and anyone who feels they relate to us". Articles for both News.com.au and Junkee criticized hosts of The Project for focusing on a perceived sexual nature of their dance moves and for making the interview with Scherzinger awkward. One of The Project's hosts Waleed Aly asked questions such as whether the girls "fight over who wore the best tube tops and low rise jeans?". Jared Richards (from Junkee) said "it's a mess, absolutely dismissive of Scherzinger as a person and The Pussycat Dolls as an act... While sex appeal is a big part of The Pussycat Dolls, a group which started as a burlesque performance, there's a right and a wrong way to ask about it." During the closing segment of the interview, Scherzinger was cut off as she said "if you watch us, we dance with heart, we dance like warriors, we come from a real place of power..." As the music played, Scherzinger could be heard asking if the interview was about to cut to another segment. Viewers of the programme also disapproved of the hosts for the misogynistic nature of the interview. Music News also reported that hundreds of viewers complained about the segment via Twitter. ### Second break-up Following delays to the planned concert tour due to COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent reports emerged of a rift between Scherzinger and the group's founder Robin Antin. The media reported that Scherzinger was refusing to tour until contracts were renegotiated whereas Scherzinger claimed financial impropriety by Antin. Both parties would go on to sue each other for breach of contract. The tour was subsequently cancelled, making "React" the first and only song the group would release since reforming. ## Chart performance "React" performed best on the Scottish Singles Chart where it opened at number two behind "Blinding Lights" by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The song also debuted in the top-ten on the Media Forest Singles Chart in Israel, and Single Top 40 chart in Hungary. It made a number of top-ten and top-twenty debuts on Digital singles charts including number ten on the Australian Digital Tracks chart, number 12 on both the US Digital Songs and Canadian Digital Songs charts and then number 19 on New Zealand Hot Singles Chart. In the UK, "React" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 29 becoming the group's first chart entry since 2009's "Hush Hush; Hush Hush" and although it is their 11th top-forty entry, it is their first to miss the top-twenty. Hugh McIntyre from Forbes noted that all of the group's singles released in the UK to date have charted in the top-forty. As an independent release, the song was eligible for the UK Indie Chart where it debuted at number four. It also peaked at number three on the UK Digital Songs chart. The track peaked at number 23 in Ireland. In Switzerland, the song debuted at number 75, becoming their 11th chart entry but their lowest peak since "Wait a Minute" featuring Timbaland in 2007 which reached number 41. ## Music video ### Main video #### Development The Pussycat Dolls flew to Los Angeles the week of January 14, 2020, to film the music video for "React". The video was inspired by their The X Factor: Celebrity performance where the group performed on chairs and had a choreographed dance scene involving water; the video would incorporate some of these same elements. During the shoot, Scherzinger threw her back out, she said, "we worked so hard on the video in fact, I threw my back out, I threw a couple of ribs out but it is all for the love... we did it because did not want to disappoint!" "React" was directed by British duo Bradley and Pablo, with Robin Antin and Mikey Minden serving as creative directors. Scherzinger took a lead role in choreographing the routine alongside the other members of the group. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she said "The girls are all very experienced professional dancers so they always have their say on choreography as well. Everybody kinda has their own strengths and we really work well collectively as a group. But, yeah, I'm very opinionated and, as the girls know, I come with a lot of ideas and then we all work together to see what's best for business." #### Concept and synopsis On February 4, The Dolls released images from the music video showing the group "dressed in beige skintight PVC lingerie with matching thigh high boots, being drenched with water as they straddle chairs. Another image taken from the video shows the group in black leather outfits, reminiscent of the "Buttons" music video. The video is sequenced from several scenes and predominately features the group in two sets of leather and latex outfits, the first in black and the second in nude. In between the dance scenes, close-ups of the girls in on their own and in subgroups are shown, with some additional solo choreography performed by Scherzinger. Entertainment Weekly's Ruth Kinane described the overall concept of the video as "wild choreography" all performed while "drenched in water, backlit by flames". Rolling Stone described the accompanying visuals as a "dance-heavy video full of gravity-defying choreography." The video and dance routine also includes a move called the "human teepee" where the girls perform a split upside down. Pyrotechnics were also involved in the video, with Wyatt saying "it was the most intense thing I've ever done. We were in close proximity to the fire and we had soot coming out of our noses by the end of the shoot." CNN's Alaa Elassar summarised the overall synopsis and sequencing of the video's scenes as "fire, leather outfits, and lots of seductive dancing in the rain". #### Release and reception The music video for "React" was released on February 7, 2020, simultaneously alongside the song. Ruth Kinane from Entertainment Weekly described the video as full of "impressive and racy dance moves". Vulture's Zoe Haylock compared Scherzinger to looking like Kim Kardashian during some of the video, stating that "React" was a "2000s-choreography-focused video with costuming from 2020". She summed up her review by saying "we'll see what other high bars the Pussycat Dolls wanna set as they roll out the rest of their reunion". Similarly Chicago Tribune's Jazz Tangcay agreed, saying that the video was a throwback to previous music videos with "everything fans loved about them in the first place: great choreography". Also comparing the song to previous single, "Buttons", Tangcay said the group "display[ed] their fiery hot moves amid flames, water and, most dangerous of all, chairs". In writing for People, Dave Quinn praised the video saying "in true Pussycat Dolls fashion, the video is jam-packed with steamy visuals and killer choreography". Daniel Welsh from the Huffington Post called it "their most provocative video yet" and even though "Scherzinger takes centre stage", each "of the five band members get their moment in the spotlight". A review for CNN called the music video a sultry comeback for the group. Along a similar theme, 97.1 Wave FM's Ali Hill called the video "steamy" and a "worthwhile wait". Meanwhile, following a positive review of the song, Gay Times' Daniel Megarry said "[...] and don't even get us started on the music video. The outfits! The choreography! The hair flips! Our wigs? SNATCHED." GMA News also praised the video for proving that the group are "hotter than ever". "Showstopping choreography" is how New York Post's Zacharcy Kussin described the video. Within the first 90 minutes of the video's release, it had accumulated more than 340,000 views online; by the end of the first day, it had received over 1.5 million views. ### Remix videos On April 1, 2020, an alternative music video premiered on YouTube for the song's official remix which was produced by American electronic music trio Cash Cash. The remix video features the same footage and scenes from the original video with additional visual effects and edited sequencing. On April 3, 2020, an exclusive acoustic performance of "React" was directed by British photographer Rankin for the social media app Vero and Hunger magazine at Rankin's East London Studio. Writing for CelebMix, Katrina Rees said the "acoustic performance makes the sizzling single sound even better than before." She praised the new version of the song for putting the group's harmonies center stage ahead of dancing. The new version of "React" features a black and white music video with the girls sat on chairs, backed by a piano-led production. OK!'s Aylo Soguksu noted that the group's new version of "React" came with a "black and white video" that shows the group "performing in sexy black outfits". ## Track listing and versions Digital download / Streaming 1. "React" – 3:24 Digital download / Streaming – Cash Cash remix 1. "React" (Cash Cash Remix) 3:16 Streaming (video) – acoustic 1. "React" (acoustic) [presented by Vero] – 2:21 Brabo music remix 1. "React" (Brabo music) (featuring Pabllo Vittar) – 2:45 DJ club remix 1. "React" (Trace Adam remix) Ligotti Bootleg remix 1. "React" (Pussycat Dolls vs David Puentez) Notes - The Brabo remix of "React" was produced for the group's appearance at the LGBTIQA+ Parade in São Paulo which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This version was never officially released. ## Personnel and credits Song - Carmit Bachar – vocals - Matthew Brownlie – engineer - Georgia Buchanan – songwriter - Wez Clarke – mixing - Brian Cruz – Engineer - Leyre Granda – A&R, coordination - Andy Guerrero – assistant engineer - Johan Gustafson – bass, songwriter, drums, keyboards, producer, programming, sound effects, synthesizer - Ivares – producer - Paul Kennedy – coordination, production manager - Ashley Roberts – vocals - Nicole Scherzinger – lead vocals, songwriter - Jessica Sutta – vocals - Will Simms – bass, songwriter, drums, engineer, keyboards, producer, programming, sound effects, synthesizer - Dave Turner – mastering - Hannah Wilson – songwriter - Kimberly Wyatt – vocals Song credits adapted from AllMusic and press release. Music video - Bradley & Pablo – directors - Danny Hiele – director of photography - Ed Hoadley – post producer - George K – grading - Juliette Larthe – executive producer - Ross Levine – producer - Chris Roebuck – editor - Ted Thornton – executive producer Video credits taken from Bradley and Pablo website and Promonews. Live acoustic performance (video) - Rankin – director Credits taken from YouTube. ## Charts ## Certifications ## Release history Notes - except Australia where Mushroom Records handled the release.

Verna (30 Rock)

"Verna" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 70th overall episode of the series. The episode was written by co-executive producer Ron Weiner and directed by series producer Don Scardino. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 4, 2010. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jan Hooks guest stars as the title character of this episode. In the episode, Jenna Maroney's (Jane Krakowski) mother Verna (Hooks) comes to visit her, and Jenna turns to Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) for help. At the same time, Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander) moves in with Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) temporarily, and they both decide to make a pact to give up their bad habits. "Verna" has received generally positive reception from television critics. According to the Nielsen ratings, the episode was watched by 5.93 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.9 rating/8 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic. ## Plot Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) learns that her mother, Verna (Jan Hooks), has come to visit her. Jenna does not want to see Verna, though, as she knows that her visit will lead to her asking Jenna for money, so Jenna turns to her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), for help. Jack, who also does not get along with his mother Colleen Donaghy (Elaine Stritch), shows Jenna a presentation on how to deal with overbearing mothers. Jenna attempts to follow the presentation, but Verna surprises her by giving her back the money she has borrowed from Jenna and wanting to be in her life again, leading to Jenna ignoring what Jack has told her and reconciling with Verna, making Jack convinced that Verna has an ulterior motive for making amends with Jenna. Later, his suspicions come true when Verna admits that she sneaked her way back into Jenna's life solely to convince her to star in a reality show featuring them both. Jack tries to let Jenna know Verna's true intentions but cannot bring himself to tell Jenna as she is so happy. Instead, Jack pays Verna off to visit Jenna on a regular basis, letting Jenna believe her mother has changed her ways. At the same time, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) takes her staff writer, Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander) in as a roommate, and they both decide to make a pact to give up their bad habits: Liz eating junk food and Frank's smoking. As they continue living together, Liz is having a hard time adjusting to not eating junk food and suspects that Frank is still smoking, due to his calm behavior during the situation. To catch him in the act, she decides to hide a recording video camera equipped with night vision in her apartment. The next day, Liz shows the video to her staff writers, including Frank. However, instead of showing Frank smoking cigarettes, the footage shows Liz sleepwalking, "sleepeating," ordering pizza in her sleep, eating large amounts of junk food, and eating the cigarettes. However, it also shows Frank having an affair with a much older cleaning lady, whom he calls "mommy," thus embarrassing them both and breaking the pact. A subplot involves Pete not being able to have a moment alone at work because of Kenneth continuously talking to him. However, Pete ultimately finds a release by entering a fight club with homeless people and is able to tolerate Kenneth's jabbering. ## Production "Verna" was written by co-executive producer Ron Weiner and directed by series producer Don Scardino. This episode was Weiner's sixth writing credit, having penned "Secrets and Lies", "Señor Macho Solo", "Goodbye, My Friend", "Mamma Mia", and "The Problem Solvers". This was Scardino's twenty-fifth directed episode. "Verna" originally aired in the United States on February 4, 2010, on NBC, as the twelfth episode of the show's fourth season and the 70th overall episode of the series. This episode of 30 Rock was filmed on December 7, 2009. Comedian-actress Jan Hooks, best known for appearing on Saturday Night Live and 3rd Rock from the Sun, guest-starred as Verna Maroney, the mother of Jenna Maroney, played by Jane Krakowski. She reprised her role as Verna in the May 6, 2010, episode "The Moms". Hooks is eleven years older than Krakowski. Some television commentators have noted that Hooks's appearance on 30 Rock was her first acting job since appearing in the 2004 comedy movie Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. The episode opens with Liz Lemon having a dream in which she is married to Jack Donaghy and is giving birth to their child. Since its beginning, the series has occasionally hinted at a romantic relationship between Liz and Jack. In one episode, Jack passes Liz off as his live-in girlfriend to his ex-wife to make her jealous. In another episode, Jack's mother tells him that Liz is a perfect match for him, and in the same episode he has Liz listed as his emergency contact. In an April 2010 Esquire interview, series creator Tina Fey said that one of the plots the show will never do is have Liz and Jack get together. "Let me put the Internet at ease: Liz and Jack will never be together." Alec Baldwin was asked if the two characters will ever hook up; he responded "I sincerely doubt it, and I think the show is better off that way. Once they cross that line, all the tension goes out of those relationships. And I think the lesson we learned about both those characters is that they are married to their jobs and they are married to their work." ## Cultural references In the beginning of the episode, Liz dreams she is giving birth to Meat Cat, a fictional cartoon mascot for "cheesy blasters", her favorite cheese snacks. This episode made reference to the mascot as it was first introduced in the fourth season's premiere episode "Season 4". Many television reviewers have noted that Jack's presentation on how to deal with overbearing mothers, given the acronym "ASQ" (Always Speak Quietly), was a reference to Baldwin's "ABC" (Always Be Closing) speech seen in the film Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). The night vision video that Liz shows to her writing staff, in which she is seen sleepwalking, ordering a pizza and eating large amounts of junk food, was a parody of the 2009 horror film Paranormal Activity. ## Reception According to the Nielsen ratings system, "Verna" was watched by 5.93 million households in its original American broadcast. The rating was a 7 percent increase in viewership from the previous week's episode, "Winter Madness", which was seen by 5.585 million American viewers.[^1] The show claimed a 2.9 rating/8 share in the 18–49 demographic, meaning that it was seen by 2.9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 8 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. TV Squad's Bob Sassone enjoyed Jan Hooks' appearance, and said that her role as Jenna's mother was "good casting." His only complaint was that this episode had nothing to do with The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan, the fictional show on 30 Rock, and hoped that no other characters have to stay at Liz's apartment. "Laughter wasn't constant during ['Verna'], but the direction it moved in kept interest even when jokes were sparse. That being said, some of the material ... were pretty great by even the show's lofty standards", said Paste magazine's Sean Gandert. In his recap, Adam Mersel for TV Guide was complimentary, writing it had "spot-on one-liners, witty pop culture references, and a hilarious guest-star in Jan Hooks", and that "Verna" became his favorite episode of the season. Nick Catucci for New York magazine liked Liz and Frank's plot, noting that their bad habits featured here "culminated in the greatest few moments the show has had in some time." The A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin enjoyed this episode of 30 Rock, writing that the show "was firing on all cylinders. It was good for laughs aplenty but it also helped illuminate Jack's paternal relationship with Jenna, the source of some of Jenna's narcissistic craziness and the full measure of Jack's Oedipal hell." Margaret Lyons for Entertainment Weekly deemed "Verna" a solid episode from the show. Time contributor James Poniewozik enjoyed Hooks' performance, and that it was good to see Jane Krakowski's Jenna "get a story that was not solely about her being an insecure ninny." Not all reviews were positive. IGN contributor Robert Canning gave the episode a 7.9 out of 10 rating, and said that Hooks' role as Jenna's mother "helped the half hour, but this Jenna-centric episode still didn't blow me away." He noted that the main plot had funny moments but "there wasn't much else to invest in." Overall, Canning reasoned that this episode was very much a stand-alone one "built for some good jokes, and not exactly focused on storytelling. [...] An episode like 'Verna' can still bring a lot of laughs, but you can't help but feel like it's missing that extra something." Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for The Star-Ledger disliked both stories from "Verna", and wrote that it was a disappointing episode, and that it was "pretty weak overall." Meredith Blake, a contributor from the Los Angeles Times'', reported that despite Hooks' hilarious performance, the episode still felt a "little bit like filler", and that there "wasn't too much that was especially funny or memorable about it". [^1]:

Ayudhapurusha

Personified divine weapons in Hindu art

Ayudhapurusha is the anthropomorphic depiction of a divine weapon in Hindu art. Ayudhapurushas are sometimes considered as partial incarnates of their divine owners. The sex of the personified weapon is determined by the gender of the weapon in the Sanskrit language. The suffix "purusha" (man) is added to masculine weapons and "devi" (goddess) to female ones. The weapons Shakti, Heti (a Hatchet-like weapon) and Gada (mace), especially Kaumodaki (the mace of Vishnu), Dhanus/Dhanushya ("bow") are women. Chakra, especially Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra (discus of Vishnu), Shankha ("conch"), Padma (lotus), Ankusha (elephant goad), Pasha (noose), Trisula (trident), vajra (thunderbolt), Khadga (sword), Danda (a sceptre or club), Bana/Shara ("arrow") and Bhindi (sling) are depicted male. While weapons are personified in ancient Hindu epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the ayudhapurushas were depicted in sculpture starting from the Gupta era. They might be depicted as humans with the weapons against them or holding the weapon or with the weapon on their head or emerging from it. The most popular ayudhapurushas are associated with the god Vishnu and appear in his iconography. ## Textual references The first instance where weapons are personified in Hindu scriptures is in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Two daughters of the Prajapati Daksha, Jaya and Vijaya, are married to the sage Krisasva. For the destruction of rakshasas, Jaya bore fifty sons - powerful divine weapons who could take any form. Suprabha gave birth to fifty invincible sons who were called Samharas ("destroyers"). These magical weapons were known as Shastra-devatas – the gods of weapons - and were given to king Kaushika, who later became the sage Vishvamitra. The weapons served him and later his pupil Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. The Mahabharata states that at the time of the chakra-mushala conflict, the weapons of Krishna – another avatar of Vishnu, and his brother, Balarama, appear in human form from the heavens to watch the battle. They include Krishna's Sudarshana Chakra and Kaumodaki, and Balarama's Samvartaka (plough) and Saumanda (pestle). The Duta-Vakya ("envoy's message") of the Sanskrit playwright Bhasa (c. 2nd century BCE – 2nd century CE) describes an episode from the Mahabharata when Krishna goes as an envoy to Kauravas' court to broker peace between them and their cousins the Pandavas, on behalf of the latter. However, when the Kauravas try to arrest Krishna, Krishna assumes his Vishvarupa (universal form) and summons his weapons, who appear as humans. The ayudhapurushas include the discus Sudarshana Chakra, the bow Sharanga, the mace Kaumodaki, the conch Panchajanya, and the sword Nandaka, elaborate descriptions of whom are found in the text. This is the only Sanskrit play that depicts the weapons on stage as humans. The Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa mentions about dwarf-like ayudhapurushas denoting Vishnu's chakra, lotus, sword, bow, and mace. ## Textual descriptions Treatises such as the Vishnudharmottara Purana and various Agamas describe the iconography of the ayudhapurushas. Shakti is depicted as a red-hued woman seated on a wolf. The Danda is a fearful black-complexioned man with wrathful red eyes. The Khadga is also a dark and angry man. Pasha is depicted as a male snake with seven hoods. Dhvaja ("banner") is a yellow-coloured strong man with his mouth wide open. The Trishula is a handsome black-complexioned man with lovely eyebrows. The Shankha is described as a white male with adorable eyes. The Bana (arrow) is a red-coloured man with beautiful eyes, however the Vaikhaashagama describes it to be a black-complexioned eunuch with three eyes, dressed in white clothes and riding on the wind. The Dhanus (bow) is a red lotus coloured female with a stringed bow on her head. The Vishnudharmottara Purana describes Chakra as man with a fat belly and round eyes, decorated with various ornaments and holding a chamara (chowry) and with Vishnu's left hand on his head. The slim-waisted woman Gada holds a chowry in her hands and is adored with ornaments, with Vishnu's right hand resting on her head. While the Sudarshana Chakra is depicted as a subordinate figure with Vishnu, in many South Indian Vishnu temples, the Chakra as an ayudhapurusha is worshipped in its own shrine attached to the central temple. Here, the Chakra is regarded as an aspect of Vishnu and called Chakra-rupi Vishnu – Vishnu in the form of the Chakra. In the outline of the ordinary circular Chakra with a hexagram inscribed in it (shat-kona-chakra) – stands the personified Chakra in fierce form generally with eight arms. Often, Yoga-Narasimha, the lion-man ferocious aspect of Vishnu is depicted on the back of the Chakra sculpture. The Shilparatna describes that the fierce Chakra-rupi Vishnu should hold in his hands gada, chakra, a snake, a lotus, musala (a pestle), tramsha, pasha and ankusha. He is depicted as radiant as the sun and with protruding tusks from the sides of his mouth. Another description describes the Chakra as a sixteen-armed fierce form of Vishnu. He holds a chakra, shankha, bow, parashu, asi (sword), arrow, trishula, pasha, ankusha, agni (fire), khadga (sword), shield, hala (plough), musala, gada and kunta. Three-eyed and golden-coloured with protruding tusks, the Chakra stands in the shat-kona-chakra, with Narasimha on the reverse of the sculpture. ## Sculptural depictions An ayudhapurusha is generally depicted as a two-armed figure, prescribed to shown with a karanda mukuta (conical crown). An ayudhapurusha may be depicted as a dwarf, concurring with Kalidasa's description in the Raghuvamsa. Such icons are present in Rajgir, Mahabalipuram and Badami. They may be depicted as normal humans as in Udayagiri Caves and in the Sheshashayi Vishnu panel of the Gupta era (320–550 CE) Deogarh temple. At Deogarh, the Sudarshana Chakra is depicted against the Chakra/wheel and the Kaumodaki holding a gada. In another instance, the ayudhapurushas are depicted without their weapons, though C. Sivaramamurti opines that there is enough evidence to identify them as ayudhapurushas. The human Chakrapurusha depicted against the Chakra is seen on the chakra-vikrama coin of the Gupta ruler Chandragupta II where the Chakrapurusha – here denoting the wheel of sovereignty – is dedicated bestowing the three pellets of sovereignty to the king. The Gupta era and medieval sculptures often depict the ayudhapurushas in normal human proportions. Chola and Chalukya sculptors continued the trend, mostly focussing on the Sudarshana Chakra in a fierce multiple-armed human form. Sometimes, the ayudhapurusha is depicted emerging from the associated weapon. In another variation, the ayushapurusha stands besides the deity with folded hands (in anjali mudra posture) with the weapon depicted on the head as part of the crown or the weapon mark on the forehead. The Sudarshana Chakra with the Chakra on his head in Deogarh and Chola era bronzes of Chakra and Gada in similar fashion are some illustrations. In the last variation of the ayudhapurusha iconography, he/she holds the associated weapon. Common examples are the Sudarshana Chakra, the Shankha-purusha and Kaumodaki, mostly found in Uttar Pradesh and Bengal art. Sharanga with the bow in his hand and Nandaka with the sword as in Deogarh are other examples. In some cases, the weapon may be depicted as in both anthropomorphic and their true form. While the central icon of Vishnu may hold the weapons, the ayudhapurushas of the same weapon may stand at the feet of the central icon.

Paper Clip

"Paper Clip" is the second episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on September 29, 1995. It was directed by Rob Bowman, and written by series creator Chris Carter. "Paper Clip" featured guest appearances by Sheila Larken, Melinda McGraw and Nicholas Lea. The episode is one of those that explored the overarching mythology, or fictional history of The X-Files. "Paper Clip" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.1, being watched by 17.2 million people in its initial broadcast. "Paper Clip" has received highly positive reviews from critics; it is generally considered by both critics and cast/crew as being among the best episodes of the series. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate information gleaned from secret government records, finding that a Nazi scientist working as part of Operation Paperclip may have been responsible for creating a race of human-alien hybrids. "Paper Clip" concludes a three-episode storyline, carrying on from the second season finale "Anasazi" and the third-season premiere "The Blessing Way". The creators of the series likened themes of the episode to the Star Wars trilogy, referring to the revelations about Mulder's father, and Sophie's Choice, referring to how William Mulder was forced to choose Fox or Samantha to be taken. ## Plot Continuing from the previous episode, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) hold each other at gunpoint. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), the person lingering outside his apartment, bursts in and forces Skinner to put his gun down. He also demands that Skinner surrender the digital tape. Skinner insists on keeping the tape, saying it is their only leverage in exposing the conspiracy. The agents visit The Lone Gunmen, showing them an old photo featuring Bill Mulder, The Smoking Man, Deep Throat, and other members of the Syndicate. The Lone Gunmen also recognize Victor Klemper, a notorious Nazi scientist who was brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip. Melvin Frohike informs Scully of her sister Melissa's condition. Mulder persuades Scully not to visit Melissa at the hospital, since she could be targeted there. Furious that the wrong person was murdered, the Syndicate demands that the Smoking Man produce the tape. The Smoking Man promises to do so the following day. Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully visit Klemper, who says that the photo was taken at Strughold Mining Facility, a former mine in West Virginia. After the agents leave, Klemper calls the Well-Manicured Man and informs him that Mulder is alive. The news causes the Syndicate to further mistrust the Smoking Man. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Albert Hosteen visits Melissa while a suited man loiters nearby. Mulder and Scully arrive at the mining facility and, using the code for Napier's constant given to them by Klemper, unlock one of the reinforced doors inside. The agents discover a large complex of filing cabinets containing smallpox vaccination records and tissue samples. Mulder finds his sister Samantha's file and finds that it was originally meant for him. Meanwhile, Skinner tells the Smoking Man that he may have found the digital tape. The Smoking Man is agitated at this, insisting that he will not make a deal with Skinner and tacitly threatening his life. Hearing noise, Mulder heads outside and witnesses a UFO flying overhead; inside, small beings run past Scully. Cars full of armed soldiers arrive, forcing the agents to flee. The agents meet with Skinner at a diner in rural Maryland. Skinner wants to turn over the tape in exchange for their reinstatement and safety. After initially objecting, Mulder agrees to let Skinner turn the tape over. Skinner heads to see Melissa in the hospital and is told by Hosteen of the mysterious blue-suited man outside. Skinner chases the man to a stairwell where he is attacked by Alex Krycek and Luis Cardinal, who beat him unconscious and steal the tape. Krycek narrowly escapes an attempt on his life when his car explodes. He subsequently phones the Smoking Man, telling him that he has the tape and will make its contents public should anyone come after him. The Smoking Man lies to the rest of the Syndicate, telling them that Scully's would-be assassin was killed in the car bombing and that the tape has been destroyed with him. Mulder and Scully return to Klemper's greenhouse, finding the Well Manicured Man there. He admits to knowing Mulder's father and states that he helped gather genetic data for post-apocalyptic identification, data Klemper used to work on alien-human hybrids. Samantha was taken to ensure Bill Mulder's silence after he learned of the experiments. Mulder confronts his mother, who tells him that his father chose that Samantha be taken. At FBI headquarters, Skinner once again meets with the Smoking Man about the tape. The Smoking Man calls Skinner's bluff, knowing he no longer has the tape, but Skinner reveals that Hosteen and twenty other Navajo have memorized the contents of the tape and are ready to reveal it if either Mulder or Scully are harmed. Mulder meets with Scully at the hospital, who reveals that her sister died a few hours before. Mulder tells Scully that he believes that the truth is still in the X-Files. Scully tells him that she's heard the truth, and now what she wants are the answers. ## Themes Jan Delasara, in the book PopLit, PopCult and The X-Files argues that episodes like "Paper Clip", or the later episodes like "Nisei" and "731", show scientists "rework[ing] the fabric of life", which is causing the public's faith in science to fade drastically. Moreover, she notes that almost all of the scientists portrayed in The X-Files are depicted with a "connection to ancient evil", with the lone exception being Agent Scully. In "Paper Clip" one of the main scientists is an ex-Nazi. As the episode proceeds, his scientific pursuits soon begin to paint him as the archetypal scientist who "goes too far", a serious factor Delasara argues "'alienates' [the public] further from science and its practitioners". ## Production The aliens in this episode who run past Scully in the mining facility were portrayed by children aged eight and nine. The spacecraft spotted by Mulder was achieved by using a crane to lift lights over the building Mulder was outside. Napier's constant is used as a code to access the mining facility in the episode, though the code used is in error. Scully and Mulder use the code "27828" to unlock the door when in fact the first five digits of Napier's Constant are 27182. The mining facility is named for Dr. Hubertus Strughold, a real-life German scientist who was employed by the United States after World War II. The fictional Victor Klemper is based on Strughold, who was accused of conducting similar experiments on humans. The name is almost identical to a Victor Klemperer who was a German Jew that escaped persecution during World War II by fleeing to American-controlled territory. The Britannia Mine Museum, in Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada, stood in as the Strughold Mining Facility. This episode was dedicated in memoriam to Mario Mark Kennedy, an internet fan of the show who had died in a car accident in 1995. Story editor Frank Spotnitz said of the episode, "I love 'Paper Clip'. I was thrilled with the plot. I know it moved very fast for some people, but I actually think that for some of these shows you don't need to understand everything. I think it is more exciting to go at rocket speed. Everybody was on the mark in that one; David and Gillian's performances, Rob Bowman's direction, Chris Carter's writing—everything was just terrific in that show". Bowman, too, felt that the episode was a standout, and he actively wondered how any of his third-season efforts would be able to "top" it. In 1996 Mitch Pileggi called the episode one of the show's finest, particularly enjoying the line where he tells The Smoking Man to "pucker up and kiss my ass". Pileggi claims that is one of his favorite lines. The scene was used frequently to introduce him at X-Files conventions. The creators likened themes of the episode to the Star Wars trilogy, referring to the revelations about Fox Mulder's father, and Sophie's Choice, referring to how the Mulders were forced to choose Fox or Samantha to be taken. Carter included the motif of the white buffalo after reading a news story about the birth of a white buffalo calf, feeling that the image was so potent he did not mind that it did not entirely fit with the Navajo beliefs used elsewhere in the episode. ## Broadcast and reception "Paper Clip" premiered on the Fox network on September 29, 1995, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on September 19, 1996. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.1 with a 20 share, meaning that roughly 11.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 20 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. A total of 17.2 million viewers watched this episode during its original airing. "Paper Clip" has received highly positive reviews from critics, who generally consider it among the best of the series. In an overview of the third season in Entertainment Weekly, "Paper Clip" was rated as A−. It was called an "outstanding episode", although Scully's unwillingness to accept the paranormal after making contact was seen as "exacerbat[ing] a maddening trend". Writing for The A.V. Club, Emily VanDerWerff rated the episode an A+. She felt that its strengths came from its parallels with real world history, such as its handling of Operation Paperclip and the actions of the West during the Cold War, noting that "the compromises the United States and other Western nations made to survive the onslaught of communism in the Cold War were ones that should have made more of those nations' citizens take pause, stop to think about the cost of living free, but they almost never did". The episode, along with both other parts of the story arc, were listed concurrently as the second-best episode of the series by Den of Geek's Nina Sordi. Sordi noted that the plotline "laid the groundwork for the mythology arc for the rest of the series", adding that it "brought much more significance to what is to come".

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

2003 video game

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is a 2003 role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2014, Nintendo Switch Online Service in 2023, and remade for the Nintendo 3DS as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions in 2017. In the game, Mario and Luigi travel to the Beanbean Kingdom in order to combat Cackletta and Fawful, who stole Princess Peach's voice for the purpose of harnessing the power of a special artifact called the Beanstar. This game is the third role-playing game in the Mario franchise after Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario. Unlike those titles however, Superstar Saga features a lighthearted whimsical script and a greater emphasis on comedy and humor. The player controls Mario and Luigi simultaneously as they traverse the overworld, fight enemies, gain experience points, and find new items and gear. The battle system differs from traditional games of the genre, with more emphasis on timing and elaborate attacks called Action Commands. Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, Tetsuo Mizuno, and Satoru Iwata, the game was announced at E3 2003, later releasing the same year. Superstar Saga was critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising the game's writing and tone and criticism and mixed opinions on the gameplay and the top-down perspective respectively. Critics listed the game among the best games on the Game Boy Advance, and was labeled as Player's Choice. A Nintendo 3DS remake was released in 2017 and features updated graphics and music, amiibo functionality, and other quality-of-life improvements. It also features a new exclusive side story titled Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser. The original game was released as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in February 2023. ## Gameplay The gameplay of Mario & Luigi differs from most other role-playing games due to its focus on controlling Mario and Luigi simultaneously. During overworld sections, the directional pad controls one of the brothers' movement with the other one following closely. The leading brother can be switched between Mario and Luigi with the Start button. The brothers' other actions are controlled individually with the A (front character) and B (rear character) buttons respectively. The game begins with them being able to jump independently, and they gain access to hammers and a variety of other techniques as the game progresses. For example, Luigi's hammer can be used to squash Mario into a smaller size, allowing the latter to access small gaps, while placing Mario on Luigi's shoulders allows them to act like a propeller and hover across large gaps. Various enemies roam the overworld, and coming into contact with these enemies initiates a battle. Landing a hit on an enemy while on the overworld allows the player to deal pre-emptive damage or begin the fight with them stunned. The opposite is also possible. Battles in Superstar Saga are turn-based. Mario and Luigi are controlled with the A and B buttons respectively, regardless of their placement in the overworld. They can attack normally by jumping on enemies (available from the start), by hitting them with their hammers or by using their hand powers (after these abilities are unlocked at successive points in the game's story). Jump attacks allow the brothers to hit enemies from above, but will cause them to take damage if attempting to jump on spiked or flame-covered creatures. Hammer attacks can harm enemies on the ground, but will always miss against winged or floating ones. Finally, each brother has an elemental hand attack (fire for Mario and thunder for Luigi), with several enemies being either vulnerable or resistant to either element. Similar to previous Mario role-playing titles, such as Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario series, players can time button presses to make their attacks more effective, such as earning an extra jump attack or increasing the hammer's power. Introduced in this series is the way in which Mario and Luigi can defend themselves during an enemy's attack. When an enemy attacks, the brothers can either jump or use their hammer which, when successfully timed, allows them to dodge their attacks and even deal counter damage (for example: if they jump on top of a charging Goomba). Throughout the game, players can unlock Bros. Attacks, which use Bros. Points (BP) which requires players to cooperate between Mario and Luigi's actions to perform powerful combination attacks. Players can also use items such as mushrooms for healing, peppers for boosting stats and 1UP mushrooms for reviving fallen Bros. Defeating enemies earns experience points which help the Bros. level up and increase their stats, with players given the option to further increase the stats of one attribute every time they level up. Players can further improve their stats by equipping new gear to the Bros. or making them wear badges that give them special attributes. Like other Mario titles for the Game Boy Advance, Superstar Saga features the enhanced remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game, which was used in the four Super Mario Advance titles. The game also supports rumble functionality when used with the GameCube's Game Boy Player accessory. ## Plot Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is largely set in the Beanbean Kingdom, a country neighboring the Mario series' usual setting of the Mushroom Kingdom, mainly populated by Beanish people and Hoohooligans. The player characters are brothers Mario and Luigi, who travel to the Beanbean Kingdom to return the voice of Peach, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, after it is stolen by the Beanish witch Cackletta and her henchman Fawful. Among other characters are Queen Bean and Prince Peasley of the Beanbean Kingdom, who assist Mario and Luigi; and the thief Popple, who crosses paths with them throughout the game. The game opens with Cackletta and Fawful, disguised as ambassadors of the Beanbean Kingdom, visiting Princess Peach's castle in the Mushroom Kingdom to steal her voice, replacing it with explosives that drop from her speech balloon when she talks. Mario and Luigi are summoned to the castle, and meet Bowser, who had intended to kidnap Peach, but decides against it due to her explosive speech. The three team up to retrieve Peach's voice, and fly to the Beanbean Kingdom on Bowser's airship. Mid-flight, Fawful attacks them, and Bowser becomes separated from Mario and Luigi after a crash landing on the Mushroom Kingdom side of the Beanbean Kingdom border. After crossing the border and traveling through the Beanbean Kingdom by foot, Mario and Luigi meet Peasley and save him from a spell cast by Cackletta. They get invited to the Beanbean Kingdom castle, where Cackletta – disguised as the royal advisor Lady Lima – tricks them into helping her steal the Beanstar, a mystical item that when awoken by a noble and beautiful voice will grant any wish. Trailing Cackletta to Woohoo Hooniversity, they find her exposing the Beanstar to the stolen voice, causing it to go berserk. Mario and Luigi battle Cackletta, fatally injuring her; Fawful uses his vacuum-equipped helmet to retrieve her soul to save her. Mario and Luigi locate the Beanstar again, which Popple is trying to steal together with an amnesiac Bowser; when it again is exposed to Peach's voice, it shoots into the sky and explodes, scattering across the kingdom. Peach arrives in the Beanbean Kingdom, and Mario and Luigi learn that Birdo had been used as a political decoy during Cackletta's visit; it was because Birdo's voice was the one that had been stolen that the Beanstar went berserk. Fawful finds Bowser, weakened from the Beanstar's explosion, and places Cackletta's soul inside him; she takes control of the body, and takes the name Bowletta. She kidnaps Peach, and demands the Beanstar as ransom; Mario and Luigi collect the pieces, and meet with her to make the exchange. Bowletta refuses to return Peach, so Luigi disguises himself as Peach to be taken in her stead, and manages to reclaim the Beanstar, after which Bowletta uses Bowser's flying castle to attack the Beanbean Kingdom. Mario and Luigi enter the castle, and exorcise her soul from Bowser's body. Peasley blows up the flying castle, and Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser return to the Mushroom Kingdom. ## Development and marketing Superstar Saga, developed by AlphaDream and directed by Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars co-director Yoshihiko Maekawa, is said to take its inspiration from the Nintendo 64 game Paper Mario; the two games have similar graphics and gameplay. The producers of the game were Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario franchise, Tetsuo Mizuno, and Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo. The voice acting for Mario and Luigi in the game is provided by Charles Martinet, well known for providing the characters' voice in Nintendo's Mario franchise. The game's music was composed by Yoko Shimomura, who also previously composed the soundtrack for Super Mario RPG. Superstar Saga was revealed at E3 2003 under the name Mario and Luigi, where a playable demo of the game was available. In August and September 2003, a playable demonstration was also available at the European Computer Trade Show, the Games Convention, and Nintendo Gamers' Summit. To link in with the game's comedic themes, Nintendo organized an official competition between October and November 2003 in which contestants would try to submit the best knock-knock joke to win a Game Boy Advance SP and a copy of the game. Nintendo employed comedian Kathy Griffin to choose the winner. ## Reception Superstar Saga received "universal acclaim", according to the review aggregator Metacritic. The game's comical dialog and themes in particular were lauded by critics. Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell commented that "each line of dialogue and identifiable cameo is handled with a loving sense of humour." Despite this, RPGamer's Andrew Long labelled the plot as repetitive, and the game's characters as "a tad shallow". While also appreciating references to the heritage of the Mario series, critics praised the game for avoiding clichés common in previous games of the Mario series. The gameplay attained a mixed reception. Critics enjoyed the game's battle system, which deviated from role-playing game tradition. IGN's Craig Harris commented that "unlike most Japanese RPGs Mario & Luigi's turn-based battle involves the player at all times". Despite this novel approach to combat situations, some reviewers thought that the overall gameplay lacked innovation. GameSpy in particular criticized the game for an apparent lack of originality, commenting that "in terms of gameplay, there isn't much there that we haven't seen in the NES and SNES Mario and Zelda titles." Furthermore, some reviewers were disappointed by a perceived lack of difficulty in the gameplay as a result of targeting a younger audience. Edge and other gaming publications have criticized the controls for being occasionally confusing when considering the usage of jumping, hammers, and other combinations between the two characters. A common concern among reviewers is the overhead perspective, which critics have bemoaned for preventing them from judging pathway routes and an object's location in relation to its background. Besides this, the actual visuals were generally well received, as well as the setting and animations. The audio was commended for combining both originality and nostalgia, even though it looped frequently. GameSpot named Superstar Saga the best Game Boy Advance game of November 2003. In 2006, Superstar Saga was rated the 37th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list. In the same year, the game became part of the Player's Choice label. In 2007, the game was named the twelfth best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan. In the United States alone, Superstar Saga sold 1,000,000 copies and earned \$30,000,000 by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 14th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country. As of 2007, Superstar Saga has sold over 441,000 units in Japan and 1,460,000 in the United States. ## Remake A remake of Superstar Saga for Nintendo 3DS, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, was announced at E3 2017. The remake features updated graphics, maintaining the use of sprites, but with additional lighting effects akin to Dream Team and Paper Jam, as well as a remastered soundtrack and various quality-of-life improvements that were introduced in later entries of the series, such as the ability to save the game at any time, and to fast-forward cutscenes, among others. The game also features Amiibo functionality, tied to the existing Boo and new Goomba and Koopa Troopa figures. The game was released in October 2017. ### Plot The remake also adds an additional storyline, Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser, which follows Captain Goomba and features a real-time strategy battle system. #### Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser In the Bowser's airship travelling to Beanbean Kingdom, two Goombas, Captain Goomba and Private Goomp, trapped inside barrels ally to give the Goombas their deserved reputation by ceasing slavery by the Koopalings. However, Bowser's airship is crashed by Fawful. Captain Goomba awakens on Hoohoo Mountain and decides to rescue Bowser after witnessing him being shot in a cannon. Captain Goomba create an army and start his search. Upon learning that some of the minions -- including Private Goomp -- were brainwashed by Fawful trying to rescue Bowser and that his mission is competition with the Koopalings, Captain Goomba confronts Fawful only to fall off the mountain. Realizing Fawful is powerful, Captain Goomba ally once more with Private Goomp and form a varied army; the army travels across all the kingdom to recruit everyone. Meanwhile, the Koopalings get brainwashed by Fawful. Saving Larry, the latter joins them in the condition of finding the six others Koopalings. With Larry and Wendy on their side, the Minion's Army arrives back at Hoohoo Mountain, witnessing an amnesiac Bowser being saved as "Rookie" by Popple. The Minions pursue Popple -- saving Morton in the process -- to only find he has lost Bowser; the latter having been transformed into Bowletta. The army finds Roy and Bowser's airship. Upon repairing it, they learn from Fawful that Bowletta is in Bowser's Castle. The Minions fly there and recruit the remaining Koopalings, gaining their respects the Goombas always wanted. Bowser's army fully complete, the Minions confronts Fawful and his "Mecha" army; victorious, Fawful flees to join Bowletta but both are defeated by the Mario Bros in the meantime. Bowser's Castle explodes, and Bowser, back to normal, returns to the Mushroom Kingdom with the army. Bowser promotes Captain Goomba only to remember the latter was the cause of his amnesia, and starts to pursue him in anger.

Cody Bellinger

American baseball player (born 1995)

Cody James Bellinger (born July 13, 1995) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was selected by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB draft and debuted with the team in 2017. The son of MLB player Clay Bellinger, Bellinger helped his team reach the 2007 Little League World Series at the age of 11. He played high school baseball for Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona, and had committed to play college baseball for the Oregon Ducks before he was drafted. Bellinger spent two years in the Rookie Leagues before joining the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2015, where he was a mid- and postseason all-star, and helped the team to a California League championship title. A hip injury delayed his rise through the Dodgers' farm system in 2016, but he was called up to the major leagues in April 2017 to bolster a struggling outfield. Bellinger, setting a number of Dodgers single-season home run records, participated in both the 2017 MLB All-Star Game and in the Home Run Derby, and he was named the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year after the season. The following year, he was named the MVP of the 2018 National League Championship Series following an extra innings walk-off single that helped take the Dodgers to the 2018 World Series. He received the NL MVP, Silver Slugger, and Gold Glove Awards in 2019, as well as his second All-Star selection. Bellinger won his first World Series title with the Dodgers in 2020. A number of injuries to his shoulder, calf, and rib cage, however, caused 2021 to be a career-worst year for Bellinger in home runs and batting average. After another down year in 2022, Bellinger was non-tendered by the Dodgers and eventually signed with the Cubs following offseason. ## Early life Bellinger was born on July 13, 1995, in Scottsdale, Arizona, to Clay and Jennifer Bellinger. His mother works for Sotheby's International Realty, while his father played for the New York Yankees and Anaheim Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2002, winning three World Series in that span. Clay Bellinger also coached the Chandler, Arizona National Little League team, for whom his son played when they went to the 2007 Little League World Series (LLWS). Cody was only 11 years old at the time, one year younger than most of his LLWS teammates, but he helped to clinch a berth in the series with a four-runs batted in (RBI) performance in the Little League West Regional. Chandler advanced to the LLWS in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but was eliminated in the semifinals by teams from Lubbock, Texas and Warner Robins, Georgia. A few years later, Bellinger became a standout baseball player for Hamilton High School in Chandler. He was voted team MVP as both a junior and as a senior, and hit .429 in his senior season. Although scouts from the Yankees invited Bellinger to a pre-draft practice, most baseball teams were uninterested in using a high draft pick on Bellinger, who stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) but weighed only 170 pounds (77 kg) in his final year of high school, and who hit only one home run that season. ## Professional career ### Draft and minor leagues The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Bellinger in the fourth round, 124th overall, of the 2013 MLB Draft. At the time, he had committed to play college baseball for the Oregon Ducks. Bellinger chose to forego his commitment to Oregon in order to sign with the Dodgers for a signing bonus of \$700,000, approximately \$300,000 more than what was recommended for a fourth-round draft pick. He spent the season with the Rookie League AZL Dodgers, batting .210 in 162 at-bats, with one home run, 30 RBIs, and 25 runs scored. He showed some difficulties with plate discipline, striking out 46 times in 47 games, but showed potential by drawing 31 walks and recording 16 extra-base hits. He continued in Rookie ball the following season with the Ogden Raptors, batting .328 with 34 RBIs in 46 Pioneer League games. Assigned to the Class A-Advanced Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the 2015 season was Bellinger's first full year in the minor leagues. His prospect performance started to gain attention when, by June 11, he was fifth in the California League with 12 home runs, and was at least three years younger than every other top-five hitter. Although his .557 slugging percentage was comparatively low, this was due in part to the shape of the Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter, which limited home runs. After making an appearance at the midseason California League All-Star Game, Bellinger was also the selected designated hitter for the California League postseason All-Star team. Following the regular minor league season, he helped the Quakes to a Cal League championship title, registering three extra-base hits, including the game-winning home run, to complete their sweep of the San Jose Giants. For his performance, Bellinger was named the California League Championship Series MVP. He batted .264 for the Quakes, recording 30 home runs, 103 RBIs, and 97 runs in 478 at bats. After a strong spring training performance in which he batted .393 in 18 games, Bellinger opened the 2016 season with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League. He missed the first part of the Double-A season with a strained hip, and upon returning from the disabled list in May, Bellinger struggled to make contact, batting .150 through his first 50 at-bats. His drought snapped on May 16, with a walk-off grand slam against the Arkansas Travelers. He spent the bulk of the season in Tulsa, batting .263 with 23 home runs and 65 RBIs in 114 games, but was promoted to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers on September 3, in advance of the Pacific Coast League playoffs. He played in only three games for Oklahoma City that season, recording three home runs and six RBIs in the process. Having missed a month of the season with his injured hip, Bellinger played for the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League, earning All-Fall League team honors. In 20 games with Glendale, Bellinger hit .314 with three home runs, eight doubles, and 17 RBIs, and he was named a member of the AFL Top Prospects Team. During the 2016–17 MLB offseason, Bellinger and fellow Dodgers prospect Jose De Leon received an invitation to the MLB/MLBPA Rookie Career Development Program in Leesburg, Virginia, where top prospects from each club spend four days learning about life in the major leagues. He began the 2017 season with Oklahoma City, batting .343 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in the first 18 games of the year before receiving a call-up to Los Angeles. ### Los Angeles Dodgers #### 2017: NL Rookie of the Year and World Series Faced with a struggling and injured outfield, the Dodgers called Bellinger up on April 25, 2017, giving him the start in left field and eighth position in the batting order for that night's game against the San Francisco Giants. Bellinger scored his first major league hit that night, an infield ground ball towards third base. He was also the third Dodger since 1913 to be intentionally walked in his MLB debut, following Chico Fernández in 1956 and Dick Nen in 1963. Four days later, Bellinger hit the first and second home runs of his major league career in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, first in the seventh inning against Zach Eflin and again as the second of three consecutive home runs against closer Héctor Neris. His first career grand slam came the following week on May 6, helping take the Dodgers to a 10–2 victory over the San Diego Padres and Bellinger to five home runs and 14 RBIs in his first 11 major league games. With a total of nine home runs in the month of May, Bellinger tied Joc Pederson and James Loney for the most home runs by a Dodgers rookie in one month of the season, and his total of 11 home runs in 32 games made him the fastest Dodgers rookie in history to reach that mark. A series of multi-home run games in the month of June helped Bellinger to set several team and MLB records. On June 13, Bellinger became the fastest player in MLB history to record four multi-home run games, doing so in 45 contests; the previous record was set by Bob Horner with 63 games in 1978. He was also the first Dodger to have consecutive multi-home run games since Adrián Beltré in 2004, and was the third Dodgers rookie to record at least four multi-home run games in one season. In the first inning of an outing against the New York Mets on June 19, his 51st career MLB game, Bellinger tied Gary Sánchez and Wally Berger as the fastest players to reach 20 home runs. The next inning, he recorded an additional solo shot against Zack Wheeler to become the fastest player to 21 home runs. The following day, a first-inning hit off of Robert Gsellman helped Bellinger to become the first rookie in MLB history to record 10 home runs in a span of 10 games. With his sixth two-home run game of the season on June 25, Bellinger passed Mike Piazza's team rookie record for most multi-home run games in one season, and led the NL with 24 total home runs. He capped off the first half of the season with his first appearances in both the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and in the Home Run Derby. At the latter, Bellinger hit 27 home runs across two rounds, defeating Charlie Blackmon before falling to Aaron Judge of the Yankees in the semifinals. While facing the Miami Marlins on July 15, Bellinger became the first Dodgers rookie in history to hit for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs, and two runs. With his 35th home run of the year on September 2, Bellinger tied Mike Piazza's Dodgers rookie record; he broke Piazza's record the following day with a ninth-inning shot off of Padres closer Brad Hand. On September 22, Bellinger's 39th career home run both helped the Dodgers clinch the NL West title over the San Francisco Giants and broke Wally Berger and Frank Robinson's record for the most National League (NL) home runs made by a rookie. Bellinger finished his rookie MLB season hitting .267 with 39 home runs, 97 RBIs, and 87 runs scored in 480 at bats and 132 games. Bellinger's first MLB postseason began with the 2017 National League Division Series (NLDS) against the Arizona Diamondbacks, where his fifth-inning solo home run in Game 3 made him the youngest Dodger to hit a postseason home run in franchise history. His next postseason home run came against Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the 2017 National League Championship Series (NLCS); in doing so, he became the youngest player to homer in a Championship Series game since the 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera did so in Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS. Outside of home runs, however, Bellinger did not generate many hits: with three strikeouts in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, Bellinger set the MLB record with 29 strikeouts in a single postseason run. Despite the Dodgers falling to the Houston Astros in the World Series, Bellinger was the unanimous winner of the NL Rookie of the Year Award. #### 2018: NLCS MVP and World Series As he entered the 2018 MLB season, Bellinger was unfazed by the concept of a sophomore slump, in which an athlete's performance falters during their second professional season. He hit the first home run of the season, a two-run shot off of Josh Osich of the Giants to spur the Dodgers to a 9–0 victory and end Bellinger's opening 0-for-11 skid. That home run was also the 40th of Bellinger's career. He accomplished the feat in 136 games, making him the third-fastest MLB player to reach 40 career home runs. Bellinger was unable to sustain his rookie momentum through the start of June, however, and when manager Dave Roberts benched him on June 3, there were questions that Bellinger would be optioned back to the minors. Bellinger, meanwhile, used the benching to make a small adjustment to his stance in the batter's box, and he proceeded to record six hits in his next 13 at-bats, including home runs in four consecutive games. He played in all 162 regular-season games that year, batting .260 with 25 home runs and 76 RBIs in 557 at bats. Bellinger helped the Dodgers to capture the NL West title with the go-ahead two-run home run in a tiebreaker game against the Colorado Rockies on October 1. Once the Dodgers reached the 2018 postseason, however, he began to slump, not recording a hit in the four-game NLDS against the Atlanta Braves. Although he did not hit often during the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, the hits that Bellinger did have were impactful: his 10th-inning jumping catch in Game 4 kept the Dodgers alive, while a 13th-inning single in led the Dodgers towards a walk-off win. After hitting the go-ahead home run in Game 7 that clinched the National League pennant for the Dodgers, Bellinger was named the NLCS MVP for the 2018 season. Despite receiving his NLCS honor, Bellinger started only two games in the 2018 World Series, with manager Dave Roberts preferring to platoon almost every position. He successfully reached base only once in the five-game series, on a single, and was later caught stealing. The Dodgers lost the World Series to the Boston Red Sox in five games, and Bellinger was benched in the elimination game, giving the right-handed Enrique Hernández the start against left-handed Boston pitcher David Price. #### 2019: NL MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Bellinger started the 2019 season on a hot streak, leading MLB in runs, hits, batting average, and slugging percentage by the end of April. His 13th home run of the season came on April 27, breaking Matt Kemp's record for the most single-season home runs of any Dodger through the end of April. The home run also lifted Bellinger to 88 total bases by the end of April, three more than Chase Utley's 2008 record and the most of any batter in the live-ball era. His 97 total bases, 37 RBIs, and 47 hits before May 1 were all MLB records, while his 32 runs scored and 14 home runs tied existing records. Batting .431 in 132 plate appearances, Bellinger received his first Player of the Month honors for April 2019. By the All-Star break, Bellinger and Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers were the frontrunners for the NL MVP Award. Bellinger led with 72 runs, 73 RBIs, a .334 average, and a .431 on-base percentage, while his 31 home runs, .687 slugging percentage, and 1.118 on-base plus slugging (OPS) were all slightly behind Yelich. Bellinger also led MLB with 6.7 Wins Above Replacement. Bellinger received both his second All-Star game nod and his first All-Star start in 2019, opening the game in the NL outfield with Yelich and with Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves. He also received an invitation to that year's Home Run Derby, but turned it down in order to have a day off from baseball before the All-Star game. During a particularly frustrating Freeway Series game on July 24, Bellinger received his first MLB game ejection after arguing with home plate umpire Dan Iassogna over balls and strikes. Bellinger justified his decision by saying, "I'm trying to do the best I can to get on base, and it's hard to hit like that." On August 2, Bellinger hit his 100th career home run off of Eric Lauer of the San Diego Padres; he did so in only his 401st game, breaking Mike Piazza's Dodgers record of 422 games to 100 home runs. Two weeks later, Bellinger became both the first MLB player of the 2019 season and the youngest Dodger in franchise history to record his 40th home run of the year. Outside of these records, Bellinger's production began to slow after the All-Star break; he batted just .256 in the second half of the season, with a .906 OPS and only 13 home runs in the final 51 games of the year. Part of this was due to conversations with Dodgers staff about ignoring the MVP race in favor of staying calm and building to the postseason. Additionally, pitchers began avoiding throwing strikes to Bellinger where possible; he had 86 walks by September 5, a league-leading 19 of which were intentional. During that year's NLDS, the Washington Nationals bullpen capitalized on areas where Bellinger was comparatively weaker: he faced predominantly left-handed pitchers, who avoided throwing middle-of-the-road fastballs in favor of low and outside pitches that would let Bellinger either swing and miss, foul out, or take a walk. Bellinger finished the 2019 season with career highs in batting average (.305), home runs (47), and RBIs (115). He also received a trifecta of MLB awards, taking home the MVP award, the NL Gold Glove Award, and the NL Silver Slugger Award. He was the first Dodger in club history to take home all three honors in the same season. He also received two Fielding Bible Awards for his performance both in right field and as a multi-positional player in right field, center field, and at first base. With these titles, he became the first Dodgers outfielder to win any Fielding Bible Award and the first MLB player to pick up two in the same season. Bellinger rounded out the 2019 awards season with a selection to the inaugural All-MLB First Team, joining Yelich and Mike Trout in the outfield. #### 2020: World Series championship During the 2019–20 MLB offseason, Bellinger signed an \$11.5 million contract with the Dodgers for the 2020 season, breaking Kris Bryant's record for the largest single-season contract for a player in his first year eligible for arbitration. When MLB announced the indefinite suspension of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bellinger went back to Arizona and focused on tweaking his swing in a "stress-free environment". When the pandemic-shortened season began, Bellinger had a slow start, going 5-for-36 in his first eight games. Unlike in previous years, Bellinger was making weak contact with pitches, leading to a large number of groundouts. His numbers for the whole season saw a drop-off from the previous year: in 56 games of the shortened season, Bellinger hit only .239, with a .789 OPS and only 12 home runs. The 2020 season proved to be a struggle for many of MLB's top hitters: five of the 15 batters who showed the largest drop in slugging percentage were previous MVP winners or finalists, including Bellinger. Bellinger's drops in batting average and slugging percentage, the latter of which fell from .670 in 2019 to .354 in 2020, was explained by his constant experimentation with his swing, which prevented him from locking into pitches the way he had the season prior. Bellinger was once again a finalist for a Gold Glove Award in the outfield, but the award ultimately went to Trent Grisham of the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers were the first team to clinch a playoff berth in the 2020 season, developing a commanding lead over the NL West by September 16. They finished at the top of their division and went on to sweep the Brewers at the 2020 National League Wild Card Series. From there, the Dodgers faced the Padres in the 2020 NLDS, where Bellinger's defensive play in Game 2 allowed Los Angeles to hang onto their 4–3 lead and take the game. In the seventh inning, with Grisham on second base, Bellinger made a jumping catch to rob Fernando Tatis Jr. of a two-run home run. The 2020 NLCS started with the Dodgers down 3–1 in four games, but they were able to mount a comeback and push the series to seven games. Bellinger scored the go-ahead home run in that final game, clinching the Dodgers' place in the 2020 World Series. There, the Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in six games for Bellinger's first World Series championship and the Dodgers' first since 1988. Despite injuring his shoulder during the NLCS, Bellinger continued to play in the World Series, and he celebrated his Game 1 home run by foot-tapping his teammates rather than high-fiving them. After the season, Bellinger signed a one-year, \$16.1 million contract with the Dodgers for the 2021 season. #### 2021–2022: Injuries and regression Bellinger, who had repeatedly injured his right shoulder by diving for ground balls throughout his professional baseball career, underwent surgery for the affected arm in November 2020. He revealed later that, while celebrating his NLCS-winning home run that October, he had dislocated his shoulder by connecting too strongly with teammate Enrique Hernández' arm. Bellinger's recovery from the arthroscopic glenoid labrum surgery progressed ahead of schedule, and he was able to join the Dodgers for spring training in 2021. He suffered another serious injury on April 6 after colliding with Oakland Athletics pitcher Reymin Guduan. Bellinger was initially placed on the 10-day injured list before medical scans revealed that he had suffered a hairline fracture in his left fibula. He returned on May 29, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in an 11–6 loss to the Giants, but a sixth-inning walk allowed Bellinger to extend his on-base streak to 20 games. Bellinger's return from injury was marked by a career-worst offensive performance. In his first 11 games back, he struck out 14 times while recording only one extra-base hit. While his defense remained sharp in center field, by July 23, Bellinger was batting under .200 both at home and on the road. He admitted in August that his poor batting was due to lingering pain and weakness from both the shoulder and leg injuries, and Bellinger's batting grew stronger as he continued to exercise the affected areas. At the end of the month, Roberts made the decision to relegate Bellinger to a platoon role in the outfield, starting A. J. Pollock, Mookie Betts, or Chris Taylor against left-handed pitchers. Injuries to Pollock and Taylor, however, forced the Dodgers to renege on that platoon system shortly after its introduction. Bellinger suffered his third major injury of the season in September, when a collision with teammate Gavin Lux resulted in a fractured rib. By the time of the collision, Bellinger had already missed 46 games that season with his fractured fibula, and an additional seven with hamstring tightness. Bellinger finished the regular season batting a career-low .165, with ten home runs and 36 RBIs in 315 at bats. In the Wild Card Game against the St. Louis Cardinals, he reached base three times and stole twice. In Game 2 of the NLDS match against division rivals the San Francisco Giants, Bellinger's two-RBI double provided the go-ahead runs for an ultimate 9–2 rout of San Francisco. Bellinger's game-winning RBI single in Game 5 of the NLDS not only helped the Dodgers to defeat the Giants and advance to the NLCS, but it helped him tie Manny Ramirez and Gene Tenace's record of three career go-ahead hits in winner-take-all games. In Game 3 of the NLCS, the Dodgers were down 5–2 against the Atlanta Braves when Bellinger hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning. After Bellinger tied the game and cleared the bases, a single and stolen base from Chris Taylor, followed by an RBI double from Mookie Betts, helped the Dodgers win the game 6–5. The home run pitch from Luke Jackson, a 96 mph (154 km/h) fastball, crossed the plate while 4.12 feet (1.26 m) above the ground, making it very difficult to hit. It was Bellinger's first home run of the season that had been thrown outside the strike zone. Dave Roberts told reporters after the game that "it's just hard to imagine a bigger hit". Although the Dodgers went on to lose to the Braves in six games, Bellinger recorded 12 hits and seven RBIs in 34 postseason at bats. On December 23, Bellinger signed a \$17 million contract with the Dodgers, avoiding salary arbitration. In 2022, Bellinger had the lowest on base percentage of all qualified hitters in the majors at .265, he also had a .210 batting average with 19 home runs and 68 RBIs and struck out 150 times in 504 at bats. After the season, the Dodgers non-tendered him, making him a free agent. ### Chicago Cubs On December 14, 2022, Bellinger signed a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2024 with the Chicago Cubs. On April 14, 2023, Bellinger played his first game back at Dodger Stadium when the Cubs visited Los Angeles for a three-game series. On April 20, during a home game against the Dodgers, he went 1 for 2 with a home run, one RBI, and two hit-by-pitches in a 6-2 loss. On August 2, 2023, Bellinger was named the National League Player of the Month for the month of July. He had 8 home runs, 24 RBIs, and had a .400 batting average over that span. ## Batting style Bellinger, originally much weaker while batting than fielding, became a power hitter after making a change to his batting stance during the 2014–15 offseason. Working with Shawn Wooten and Damon Mashore, Bellinger incorporated a small hand and wrist movement into his "load phase", which prepared him to make strong contact with the ball. In response to concerns that he was "standing too tall and straight-legged" in the batter's box during the 2018 season, making it difficult to build momentum, Bellinger made a number of other changes during the 2018–19 offseason, including adopting a more relaxed position at the plate and aiming to hit under breaking balls rather than over. These changes, coupled with showing greater discretion in choosing when to swing, helped Bellinger make contact more frequently and with greater power during his MVP season. ## Awards and honors ## Personal life Bellinger has one brother, Cole, who is four years his junior. A standout pitcher for Hamilton High School, Cole was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 15th round of the 2017 MLB Draft. Cole played for two seasons in the Padres farm system before retiring from baseball in 2021. Bellinger has two children with girlfriend Chase Carter, both daughters, born November 2021 and April 2023. A character inspired by Bellinger makes a cameo appearance in the video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The player character must defeat Viking Otta Sluggasson, who wields a tree trunk like a baseball bat, during one story section. Bellinger, an avid gamer, recorded his movements using motion capture technology, with his own baseball bat serving as Sluggasson's weapon. ## See also - List of people from Chandler, Arizona - List of second-generation Major League Baseball players - Los Angeles Dodgers award winners and league leaders

USS Alaska (CB-1)

Lead ship of the US Navy Alaska class of large cruisers

USS Alaska was the lead ship of the Alaska class of large cruisers which served with the United States Navy during the end of World War II. She was the first of two ships of her class to be completed, followed only by Guam; four other ships were ordered but were not completed before the end of the war. Alaska was the third vessel of the US Navy to be named after what was then the territory of Alaska, and was assigned the hull number CB-1. She was laid down on 17 December 1941, ten days after the United States entered the war, was launched in August 1943 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, in Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned in June 1944. She was armed with a main battery of nine 12 in (305 mm) guns in three triple turrets and had a top speed of 33 kn (61 km/h; 38 mph). Due to being commissioned late in the war, Alaska saw relatively limited service. She participated in operations off Iwo Jima and Okinawa in February–July 1945, including providing anti-aircraft defense for various carrier task forces and conducting limited shore bombardment operations. She shot down several Japanese aircraft off Okinawa, including a possible Ohka piloted missile. In July–August 1945 she participated in sweeps for Japanese shipping in the East China and Yellow Seas. After the end of the war, she assisted in the occupation of Korea and transported a contingent of US Army troops back to the United States. She was decommissioned in February 1947 and placed in reserve, where she remained until she was stricken in 1960 and sold for scrapping the following year. ## Design Alaska was 808 feet 6 inches (246.43 m) long overall and had a beam of 91 ft 1 in (27.76 m) and a draft of 31 ft 10 in (9.70 m). She displaced 29,779 long tons (30,257 t) as designed and up to 34,253 long tons (34,803 t) at full load. The ship had a flush deck with a flared bow and a rounded cruiser stern. She had a large superstructure that included an armored conning tower with a tall tower mast, along with a smaller, secondary conning position further aft. She carried four OS2U Kingfisher or SC Seahawk floatplanes, with a pair of catapults mounted amidships. The ship was powered by four sets of General Electric geared steam turbines, each driving a screw propeller. Steam for the turbines was generated by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers, which were vented through a large funnel located amidships. The propulsion system was rated to produce 150,000 shaft horsepower (110,000 kW), generating a top speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at a speed of 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 12 in (305 mm) L/50 Mark 8 guns in three triple gun turrets, two in a superfiring pair forward and one aft of the superstructure. The secondary battery consisted of twelve 5 in (127 mm) L/38 dual-purpose guns in six twin turrets. Two were placed on the centerline superfiring over the main battery turrets, fore and aft, and the remaining four turrets were placed on the corners of the superstructure. The light anti-aircraft battery consisted of 56 quad-mounted 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns and 34 single-mounted 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon guns. A pair of Mk 38 gun directors aided gun laying for the main battery, while two Mk 37 directors controlled the 5-inch guns and a Mk 57 director aided the 40 mm guns. The main armor belt was 9 inches (229 mm) thick in the central portion of the hull, where it protected the propulsion machinery spaces and the ammunition magazines, thinning to 5 inches at either end. The main armor deck was 4 in (102 mm) thick. Her conning tower received 10.6 inches (270 mm) of armor plate on the sides. The gun turrets had 12.8-inch (325 mm) thick faces. ## Service history Alaska was authorized under the Fleet Expansion Act on 19 July 1940, and ordered on 9 September. On 17 December 1941 she was laid down at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 15 August 1943, sponsored by Dorothy Smith Gruening, the wife of Governor Ernest Gruening of Alaska, after which fitting-out work was effected. The ship was completed by June 1944, and was commissioned into the US Navy on 17 June, under the command of Captain Peter K. Fischler. ### World War II After her commissioning, Alaska steamed down to Hampton Roads, escorted by the destroyers Simpson and Broome. The ship was then deployed for a shakedown cruise, first in the Chesapeake Bay and then into the Caribbean, off Trinidad. On the cruise, she was escorted by the destroyers Bainbridge and Decatur. After completing the cruise, Alaska returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for some minor alterations, including the installation of four Mk 57 fire control directors for her 5-inch guns. On 12 November, she left Philadelphia in the company of the destroyer-minelayer Thomas E. Fraser, bound for two weeks of sea trials off Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. On 2 December, she left Cuba for the Pacific, transiting the Panama Canal two days later, and reaching San Diego on 12 December. There her gun crews trained for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft fire. On 8 January 1945, Alaska left California for Hawaii, arriving in Pearl Harbor on 13 January. There she participated in further training and was assigned to Task Group 12.2, which departed for Ulithi on 29 January. The Task Group reached Ulithi on 6 February and was merged into Task Group 58.5, part of Task Force 58, the Fast Carrier Task Force. Task Group 58.5 was assigned to provide anti-aircraft defense for the aircraft carriers; Alaska was assigned to the carriers Enterprise and Saratoga. The fleet sailed for Japan on 10 February to conduct air strikes against Tokyo and the surrounding airfields. The Japanese did not attack the fleet during the operation. Alaska was then transferred to Task Group 58.4 and assigned to support the assault on Iwo Jima. She served in the screen for the carriers off Iwo Jima for nineteen days, after which time she had to return to Ulithi to replenish fuel and supplies. Alaska remained with TG 58.4 for the Battle of Okinawa. She was assigned to screen the carriers Yorktown and Intrepid; the fleet left Ulithi on 14 March and reached its operational area southeast of Kyushu four days later. The first air strikes on Okinawa began that day, and claimed 17 Japanese aircraft destroyed on the ground. Here, Alaska finally saw combat, as the Japanese launched a major air strike on the American fleet. Her anti-aircraft gunners destroyed a Yokosuka P1Y bomber attempting to crash into Intrepid. Shortly thereafter, Alaska was warned that American aircraft were in the vicinity. About ten minutes later, her gunners spotted an unidentified aircraft, approaching in what they thought was a threatening manner; they shot down what turned out to be a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter, though the pilot was uninjured. Later that afternoon, Alaska shot down a second Japanese bomber, a Yokosuka D4Y. The following day, the carrier Franklin was badly damaged by several bomb hits and a kamikaze. Alaska and her sister Guam, two other cruisers, and several destroyers were detached to create Task Group 58.2.9 to escort the crippled Franklin back to Ulithi. On the voyage back to port, another D4Y bomber attacked Franklin, though the ships were unable to shoot it down. Gunfire from one of the 5-inch guns accidentally caused flash burns on several men standing nearby; these were the only casualties suffered by her crew during the war. Alaska then took on the role of fighter director; using her air search radar, she vectored fighters to intercept and destroy a Kawasaki Ki-45 heavy fighter. On 22 March, the ships reached Ulithi and Alaska was detached to rejoin TG 58.4. After returning to her unit, Alaska continued to screen for the aircraft carriers off Okinawa. On 27 March, she was detached to conduct a bombardment of Minamidaitō. She was joined by Guam, two light cruisers, and Destroyer Squadron 47. On the night of 27–28 March, she fired forty-five 12-inch shells and three hundred and fifty-two 5-inch rounds at the island. The ships rejoined TG 58.4 at a refueling point, after which they returned to Okinawa to support the landings when they began on 1 April. On the evening of 11 April, Alaska shot down one Japanese plane, assisted in the destruction of another, and claimed what might have been an Ohka piloted rocket-bomb. On 16 April, the ship shot down another three aircraft and assisted with three others. Throughout the rest of the month, her heavy anti-aircraft fire succeeded in driving off Japanese bombers. Alaska then returned to Ulithi to resupply, arriving on 14 May. She was then assigned to TG 38.4, the reorganized carrier task force. The fleet then returned to Okinawa, where Alaska continued in her anti-aircraft defense role. On 9 June, she and Guam bombarded Oki Daitō. TG 38.4 then steamed to San Pedro Bay in Leyte Gulf for rest and maintenance; the ship remained there from 13 June until 13 July, when she was assigned to Cruiser Task Force 95 along with her sister Guam, under the command of Rear Admiral Francis S. Low. On 16 July, Alaska and Guam conducted a sweep into the East China and Yellow Seas to sink Japanese shipping vessels. They had only limited success, however, and returned to the fleet on 23 July. They then joined a major raid, which included three battleships and three escort carriers, into the estuary of the Yangtze River off Shanghai. Again, the operation met with limited success. In the course of her service during World War II, Alaska was awarded three battle stars. ### Post-war On 30 August, Alaska left Okinawa for Japan to participate in the 7th Fleet occupation force. She arrived in Incheon, Korea, on 8 September and supported Army operations there until 26 September, when she left for Qingdao, China, arriving the following day. There, she supported the 6th Marine Division until 13 November, when she returned to Incheon to take on Army soldiers as part of Operation Magic Carpet, the mass repatriation of millions of American servicemen from Asia and Europe. Alaska left Incheon with a contingent of soldiers bound for San Francisco. After reaching San Francisco, she left for the Atlantic, via the Panama Canal, which she transited on 13 December. The ship arrived in the Boston Navy Yard on 18 December, where preparations were made to place the ship in reserve. She left Boston on 1 February 1946 for Bayonne, New Jersey, where she would be berthed in reserve. She arrived there the following day, and on 13 August, she was removed from active service, though she would not be decommissioned until 17 February 1947. In 1958, the Bureau of Ships prepared two feasibility studies to see if Alaska and Guam were suitable to be converted to guided missile cruisers. The first study involved removing all of the guns in favor of four different missile systems. At \$160 million this was seen as too costly, so a second study was conducted. This study left the forward batteries—the two 12-inch triple turrets and three of the 5-inch dual turrets—in place and added a reduced version of the first plan for the aft. This would have cost \$82 million, and was still seen as too costly. As a result, the conversion proposal was abandoned and the ship was instead stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1960. On 30 June, she was sold to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers to be broken up for scrap.

USS Matanikau

Casablanca-class escort carrier of the US Navy

USS Matanikau (CVE-101) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. She was named after the Actions along the Matanikau, a series of engagements during the Guadalcanal campaign. Built for service during World War II, the ship was launched in May 1944, and commissioned in June, and served as a training and transport carrier. Notably, some 1,332 aviators earned their qualifications on-board the carrier. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in October 1946, when she was mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in July 1960. ## Design and description Matanikau was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built, and designed specifically to be mass-produced using prefabricated sections, in order to replace heavy war losses in the early engagements of the Pacific War. Standardized with her sister ships, she was 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) long overall, had a beam of 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), and a draft of 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m). She displaced 8,188 long tons (8,319 t) standard, 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) with a full load. She had a 257 ft (78 m) long hangar deck and a 477 ft (145 m) long flight deck. She was powered with two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing 9,000 shaft horsepower (6,700 kW), thus enabling her to make . The ship had a cruising range of 10,240 nautical miles (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Her compact size necessitated the installment of an aircraft catapult at her bow, and there were two aircraft elevators to facilitate movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft. One 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by 8 Bofors 40-millimeter (1.6 in) anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, as well as 12 Oerlikon 20-millimeter (0.79 in) cannons, which were mounted around the perimeter of the deck. By the end of the war, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry thirty 20-mm cannons, and the amount of 40-mm guns had been doubled to sixteen, by putting them into twin mounts. These modifications were in response to increasing casualties due to kamikaze attacks. Casablanca-class escort carriers were designed to carry 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate more. ## Construction Her construction was awarded to Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington under a Maritime Commission contract, on 18 June 1942, under the name Dolomi Bay, as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. The escort carrier was laid down on 10 March 1944, MC hull 1138, the forty-seventh of a series of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers. She therefore received the classification symbol CVE-101. On 26 April 1944, she was renamed Matanikau, as part of a new naval policy which named subsequent Casablanca-class carriers after naval or land engagements. She was named after the Actions along the Matanikau, a series of engagements conducted as part of the larger Guadalcanal campaign. She was launched on 22 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Margaret Anna McLaren Grant, the wife of United States Representative Robert A. Grant; transferred to the United States Navy and commissioned on 24 June 1944, with Captain William Lawrence Erdmann in command. ## Service history ### World War II Upon being commissioned, Matanikau underwent a shakedown cruise down the West Coast to San Diego, arriving on 25 July. She then underwent a transport mission, taking on 191 passengers and 56 aircraft. She departed on 1 August, bound for the South Pacific. She stopped at Espiritu Santo and Finschhafen, before arriving at Manus Island on 23 August. There, she discharged the rest of her cargo, and took on a load of 112 passengers and 41 damaged aircraft, ferrying them back to the West Coast. She arrived back at San Diego on 19 September. This transport mission would be the farthest west that she would ever sail during the course of the war. On 14 August, she took on Composite Squadron 93 (VC-93), and began pilot qualifications, serving as a training carrier off the California coast. She continued these duties for eight months, qualifying an impressive amount of aviators. Between January and June 1945, 1,332 pilots earned their qualifications onboard Matanikau, and 12,762 landings were conducted on her flight deck during this period. For example, on 25 May 1945, Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadrons 454 and 321 (CVS-454 and CVS-321) made 602 landings throughout the day. During her period as a training carrier, Captain Francis Benedict Johnson took over command of the vessel, a position that he would hold for the rest of the war. She finished her duties as a training carrier, and departed San Diego on 28 July, yet again as a transport carrier, with 158 personnel and 68 aircraft being transported to the Marshall Islands. She arrived at Roi-Namur on 10 August, where she unloaded her cargo. She then reported to Pearl Harbor on 16 August. Whilst in Hawaii, news of the Japanese surrender broke. On 31 August, she departed Pearl Harbor, bound for the West Pacific, where she would support U.S. forces in their Occupation of Japan. She was assigned to the Ninth Fleet, and arrived at Ōminato Guard District on 11 September. She operated off the west coast of Japan, covering landings by U.S. forces, including the Eighth Army at Aomori on 25 September. Following the landings, she steamed south, and departed Tokyo Bay on 30 September, making stops at Guam and Pearl Harbor, before arriving back at San Francisco on 23 October. At San Francisco, she joined the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, which repatriated U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. She left the West Coast on 3 November, and steamed for Saipan, where she embarked more than a thousand personnel. She returned to California on 19 November, before making another run to the Marshalls between 21 November and 5 December. On 11 December, she once again departed, this time for the Marianas Islands, and as part of an operation independent of Operation Magic Carpet. She arrived at Guam on 27 December, where she took on a load of 795 troops of the 3rd Marine Division, and dropped them off at the Taku Forts, near Tianjin. There, the marines served in an advisory role, supporting the Kuomintang Republic of China in the Chinese Civil War. She left for the United States on 9 January 1946, and returned to port in San Diego on 29 January. She departed for Tacoma, Washington on 1 February, arriving on the 5th for inactivation. There, she was moored for the next eight months, before being decommissioned on 11 October. She was mothballed as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet, and she was reclassified as an escort helicopter aircraft carrier, CVHE-101 on 15 June 1955. She was reclassified as an aircraft ferry with the designation of AKV-36 on 7 May 1959. She was struck from the Navy list on 1 April 1960 and she was sold on 27 July 1960 to Jacq. Pierot, Jr. & Sons, New York for scrapping.

Mexican beaded lizard

Species of reptile

The Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) is a species of lizard in the family Helodermatidae, one of the two species of venomous beaded lizards found principally in Mexico and southern Guatemala. It and the other members of the same genus, including the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), are the only lizards known to have evolved an overt venom delivery system. The Mexican beaded lizard is larger than the Gila monster, with duller coloration, black with yellowish bands. As it is a specialized predator that feeds primarily upon eggs, the primary use of its venom is still a source of debate among scientists. This venom has been found to contain several enzymes useful for manufacturing drugs in the treatment of diabetes, and research on the pharmacological use of its venom is ongoing. Threatened throughout its range by overcollection and habitat loss, it is a CITES protected species. The Guatemalan beaded lizard (H. charlesbogerti) is one of the rarest lizards in the world, with a wild population of fewer than 200. ## Taxonomy The beaded lizards have one close living relative, the Gila monster (H. suspectum), as well as many extinct relatives in the Helodermatidae, whose genetic history may be traced back to the Cretaceous period. The genus Heloderma has existed since the Miocene Epoch, when H. texana ranged over most of North America. Because the helodermatids have remained relatively unchanged morphologically, they are occasionally regarded as living fossils. Although the beaded lizards appear closely related to the monitor lizards (varanids) of Africa, Asia, and Australia, the wide geographical separation and unique features not found in the varanids indicate the beaded lizards are better placed in a separate family. The species was first described in 1829 by Arend Wiegmann as Trachyderma horridum, but he renamed it Heloderma horridum six months later. Its generic name Heloderma means "studded skin", from the Ancient Greek words hêlos (ἧλος)—the head of a nail or stud—and dérma (δέρμα), meaning skin. Its specific name, horrĭdum, is the Latin word meaning rough or rude. ## Species The four subspecies of beaded lizards, elevated to full species in 2013, are: ## Description Adult beaded lizards range from 57 to 91 cm (22 to 36 in) in length. They are substantially larger than the Gila monster, which only reaches lengths of 30 to 56 cm (12 to 22 in). The snout-to-vent length of a beaded lizard averages 33 to 48 cm (13 to 19 in). The average body mass of an adult beaded lizard is 800 g (1.8 lb), about 45% heavier than the average mass of a Gila monster, with large specimens exceeding 2,000 g (4.4 lb). Maximum weight known is 4,000 g (8.8 lb) Although males are slightly larger than females, the beaded lizards are not sexually dimorphic. Both males and females are stocky with broad heads, although the males' heads tend to be broader. The beaded lizards' scales are small, beadlike, and not overlapping. Except for the underside, the majority of its scales are underlaid with bony osteoderms. Their base color is black and marked with varying amounts of yellow spots or bands, with the exception of H. alvarezi, which tends to be all black in color. The beaded lizards have short tails, which are used to store fat so they can survive during months of estivation. Unlike many other lizards, this tail does not regenerate if broken. Beaded lizards have forked, pink tongues that they use to smell, with the help of a Jacobson's organ; they stick their tongues out to gather scents and touch them to the opening of the organ when the tongue is retracted. ## Habitat and range Beaded lizards are found in the Pacific drainages from southern Sonora to southwestern Guatemala and two Atlantic drainages, from central Chiapas to southeastern Guatemala. Their habitats are primarily in the desert, tropical deciduous forests, and thorn scrub forests, but are found in pine-oak forests, with elevations from sea level to 1500 m. In the wild, the lizards are only active from April to mid-November, spending about an hour per day above the ground. The Mexican beaded lizard H. horridum is found in Mexico, from Sonora to Oaxaca. The Rio Fuerte beaded lizard (H. exasperatum) is found from southern Sonora to northern Sinaloa. The Chiapan beaded lizard (H. alvarezi) is found in northern Chiapas and the depression of the Río Lagartero in Huehuetenango to northwestern Guatemala. The ranges of these three species overlap, making them sympatric. The Guatemalan beaded lizard (H. charlesbogerti) is the only allopatric one, separated from the nearest population (H. alvarezi) by 250 km of unsuitable habitat. The Guatemalan beaded lizard is the most endangered of the species, if not of all lizards; it is found only in the dry valley of the Río Motagua in northeastern Guatemala; fewer than 200 are believed to exist in the wild. ## Ecology ### Diet The beaded lizard is a specialized vertebrate nest predator, feeding primarily on bird and reptile eggs. A semiarboreal species, it is found climbing deciduous trees in search of prey when encountered above ground. It occasionally preys upon small birds, mammals, frogs, lizards, and insects. Steve Angeli and Robert Applegate, noted captive breeders of the beaded lizard, have remarked that captive specimens do best on a diet of small vertebrates such as mice and rats. Confiscated wild-caught specimens can be made to feed by using egg on the prey item. ### Venom The venom glands of the beaded lizard are modified salivary glands located in the reptile's lower jaw. Each gland has a separate duct leading to the base of its grooved teeth. When biting, the beaded lizard hangs on its victim and chews to get its venomous saliva into the wound. Although its jaw grip is strong, its unsocketed teeth are easily broken off at their bases. The beaded lizard's venom is a weak hemotoxin, and although human deaths are rare, it can cause respiratory failure. It consists of a number of components, including L-amino acid oxidase, hyaluronidase, phospholipase A, serotonin, and highly active kallikreins that release vasoactive kinins. The venom contains no enzymes that significantly affect coagulation. Almost all documented human bites (eight in the past century) have resulted from prodding captive lizards with a finger or bare foot. While invertebrates are essentially immune to the effects of this venom, effects on vertebrates are more severe and varied. In mammals such as rats, major effects include a rapid reduction in carotid blood flow followed by a marked fall in blood pressure, respiratory irregularities, tachycardia, and other cardiac anomalies, as well as hypothermia, edema, and internal hemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, eyes, liver, and kidneys. In humans, the effects of bites are associated with excruciating pain that may extend well beyond the area bitten and persist up to 24 hours. Other common effects of bites on humans include local edema (swelling), weakness, sweating, and a rapid fall in blood pressure. Beaded lizards are immune to the effects of their own venom. Some compounds in its venom have been shown to have pharmacological properties relating to the possible treatment of diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and even HIV. One compound, a hormone named exendin-3, is marketed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals as the drug exenatide. A study in 1996 revealed that it binds to cell receptors in breast cancer cells and may stop the growth of lung cancer cells. ### Reproduction The beaded lizard becomes sexually mature at 6–8 years, and mates between September and October. Males engage in ritual combat that often lasts several hours; the victor mates with the female. The female lays her clutch of two to 30 eggs between October and December, the clutch hatching the following June or July. Young lizards are seldom seen. They are believed to spend much of their early lives underground, emerging at 2–3 years of age after gaining considerable size. ## Conservation The beaded lizard is surrounded by myth and superstition in much of its native range. It is incorrectly believed, for example, to be more venomous than a rattlesnake, can cause lightning strikes with its tail, or make a pregnant woman miscarry by merely looking at her. As a result of this superstition, locals often kill the lizard on sight. The seldom-seen lizard is poached and sold into the illegal exotic animal trade. It does not reproduce well in captivity, and its scarcity means a high price for collectors. As a direct result, the beaded lizard is protected by Mexican law under the category A (Threatened), and it dwells within the range of several protected areas. In Guatemala, it is protected by national legislation, and part of its range is within protected areas. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. Fewer than 200 lizards remain in the dry forest habitat of the Motagua Valley, and this species of beaded lizard (H. charlesbogerti) was facing extinction due to local extermination and loss of habitat for agricultural purposes. A conservation effort has been launched known as Project Heloderma to preserve the semiarid habitat of the Motagua Valley by the Nature Conservancy and partners such as ZOOTROPIC, CONAP, the International Reptile Conservation Foundation, Lincoln Park Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, and the San Diego Zoo. This effort has been successful in getting the Guatemalan government to list the beaded lizard under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species as an Appendix I animal, making it illegal to export the species. ## External - IRCF's Guatemalan Beaded Lizard Conservation Project - Mexican Beaded Lizard at the LA Zoo - Mexican Beaded Lizard at the Saint Louis Zoo - Protecting Guatemalan beaded lizards: Conservation Heloderma [Helodermatidae](Category:Helodermatidae "wikilink") [Venomous lizards](Category:Venomous_lizards "wikilink") [Reptiles of Guatemala](Category:Reptiles_of_Guatemala "wikilink") [Reptiles of Mexico](Category:Reptiles_of_Mexico "wikilink") [Reptiles described in 1829](Category:Reptiles_described_in_1829 "wikilink") [Taxa named by Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann](Category:Taxa_named_by_Arend_Friedrich_August_Wiegmann "wikilink")

The Millionaire Milkman

1910 film

The Millionaire Milkman is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film focus on Jack Cass, a young millionaire, who has affections for a society girl named Clara Moore. Jack receives a letter of warning about Clara's real interest, his money. Jack decides to decides to test his suspicions and the character of Clara, by having newspapers announce the ruin of his mind and his fortune. Clara calls Jack to confirm the story and breaks off the engagement. May Dustin, the orphan girl who Clara's family treats as a servant, expresses sympathy for Jack. Jack becomes infatuated with May and becomes the milkman to see her every day. The two are married and May learns that Jack had never lost his fortune. The cast and production credits are unknown. The film was released on December 16, 1910, and met with mixed reviews. The film is presumed lost. ## Plot Though the film is presumed lost, a synopsis survives in The Moving Picture World from December 17, 1910. It states: "Clara Moore is a society girl who has won the affections of Jack Cass, a young millionaire. He thinks she loves him, but it is really his money that she adores. Prompted by a letter of warning, Jack decides to prove his sweetheart's love. One reason is that he privately disapproves of the way Clara and her mother have treated a poor relation, an orphan girl, who has been left in their care. Instead of giving her a home, they make a servant of her. Jack's plot works like a charm. His faithful valet gives the newspapers the story of the failure of Jack's mind, and that young man's ruin. Clara reads it and when Jack calls and admits that the reports are correct, she returns his ring and says that all is over between them. In fact the only person in the house that shows any sympathy for Jack is the poor relation, May Dustin, and naturally he compares her with the heartless society girl. Jack wants to see more of May, and invents a unique way of doing so. He buys out the milkman who serves the family, and in that way is able to call on May everyday. Liking soon ripens into love, and May agrees to wed Jack, although thinking he has nothing in the world but a meager salary. After marriage she is told the truth and finds that her husband has money enough to supply her every wish. As for Clara, she has lost her only chance to win a prized millionaire." ## Production The writer of the scenario is unknown, but it was most likely Lloyd Lonergan. He was an experienced newspaperman employed by The New York Evening World while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. The film director is unknown, but it may have been Barry O'Neil or Lucius J. Henderson. Cameramen employed by the company during this era included Blair Smith, Carl Louis Gregory, and Alfred H. Moses, Jr. though none are specifically credited. The role of the cameraman was uncredited in 1910 productions. The cast credits are unknown, but many 1910 Thanhouser productions are fragmentary. In late 1910, the Thanhouser company released a list of the important personalities in their films. The list includes G.W. Abbe, Justus D. Barnes, Frank H. Crane, Irene Crane, Marie Eline, Violet Heming, Martin J. Faust, Thomas Fortune, George Middleton, Grace Moore, John W. Noble, Anna Rosemond, Mrs. George Walters. This film was an early example of the use of the character names Jack and May, which were repeatedly used by Lonergan in various productions. Film historian Q. David Bowers mentions that patrons who watched the film did not know the protagonist's name, as "it must have become a studio joke to decide who was to play Jack and who was to play May. In actuality, names such as Jack and May were used in printed synopses to keep track of who was who, but such names were usually not mentioned in the film's subtitles." The previous and first usage of the two leading character roles was in Dots and Dashes. ## Release and reception The single reel drama, approximately 1,000 feet long, was released on December 16, 1910. At least one theater advertised the film as a comedy instead of a drama. The film had a wide national release, theaters showing the film include those in Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Arizona. The film was shown in Singapore in 1913. The New York Dramatic Mirror praised the film for its well-execution, but it didn't miss a chance to balance it by criticizing the actor who played the milkman, "The Laura Jean Libbey style of romance is here presented with more than the usual success. ... The purchase of the milk delivery job was not convincing and the milkman talked too much at the camera; otherwise the picture is not seriously defective in detail." The Moving Picture World gave a positive review, concluding that "The life and action which characterize the Thanhouser productions are all present, while the photography is satisfactory and helps to make a good picture." An unrelated comedy film with the same title was released by Pathé Frères on December 25, 1912. ## See also - List of American films of 1910

Taiari / Chalky Inlet

Inlet in New Zealand

Taiari / Chalky Inlet is one of the southernmost fiords in Fiordland, in the southwestern corner of New Zealand's South Island and part of Fiordland National Park. As with the neighbouring fiords of Tamatea / Dusky Sound to the north and Rakituma / Preservation Inlet to the south, Taiari / Chalky Inlet is a complex fiord with many channels and islands along its roughly 28 km (17 mi) length. Most notably, this includes the sections Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound and Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound, which split at Divide Head in the middle of Taiari and each extend for roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) inland in a V-shape. Despite its remoteness, Taiari / Chalky Inlet has seen frequent waves of human interaction. Early European accounts suggest that a population of Māori inhabited the fiord for a time, while battles between iwi (tribes) are said to have taken place in neighbouring Rakituma, but the extent of this habitation is not known. The fiord was regularly visited by Europeans during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with explorers including James Cook and Jules de Blosseville giving many of the features their European names. As with the rest of the Fiordland coast, the fiord was briefly inhabited by crews of whalers and sealers, until declines in the population of these animals made the industry uneconomic by the 1830s. Following the departure of sealers from the fiord, human presence in Taiari has been at low levels, typically due to its isolation. Visits have been primarily for research or tourism, with photographs taken in the fiord during the late 19th century contributing to the campaign to establish the area as a national park. Unlike more developed fiords to the north (such as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi or Doubtful Sound / Patea), Taiari / Chalky Inlet has no defined land access, limiting human interaction to sea or air. This, along with pest control efforts on the islands within the fiord, has allowed for populations of native species to recover, although a number of invasive species remain a threat. ## Geography The geography of Taiari / Chalky Inlet is complex, as it is for the neighbouring fiord complexes of Tamatea / Dusky Sound to the north and Rakituma / Preservation Inlet to the south. There are two main entrances to the fiord from the Tasman Sea, separated by a string of islands – the Eastern Passage, which continues in a northerly direction into the main channel of Taiari / Chalky Inlet, and the Western Passage, which is connected to the eastern and main channel via a number of passages between islands. These include Bad Passage (separating Chalky Island and Motutawaki), Return Channel (separating Motutawaki and Great Island), and North Port (separating Great Island from the South Island mainland). Islands of varying sizes are found in the sound, including those at the entrance, which separate the Eastern and Western passages. Chalky Island (or Te Kākahu-o-Tamatea, so named as it was said to be the location where the explorer Tamatea laid down his cloak, or kākahu, to dry) is the most seaward of these, with both the island and the sound likely owing their English names to the white cliffs found on the island's seaward southern edge. Further from the sea are the Passage Islands, the largest of which is known as Motutawaki, from the Māori words motu for 'island' and tawaki, referring generally to large penguins such as the Fiordland crested penguin. Further still from the mouth of the fiord is Great Island, or Ōteauau, the largest island in the complex at 7.36 km² (2.84 sq mi). Great Island contains two small lakes – Lakes Dobson and Esau – and reaches a height of 185 m (607 ft) above sea level. Although it is less than 300 m (980 ft) from the South Island mainland, the island is free of possums and is the site of multiple pest control initiatives to prevent pests from accessing other islands via Great Island. Little Island sits in the narrow channel between Great Island and the South Island. Beyond this primary chain of islands, there is a small group of islands known as the Small Craft Harbour islands, located about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the fiord's mouth, near its divergence into two separate fiords. Closer to the mouth, the Garden islands are another small group, located on the eastern edge of the fiord, at the entrance to South Port. Approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) from the fiord's mouth, the fiord splits in two. Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound continues the roughly northeast–southwest orientation of the main length of Taiari, whilst Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound splits off from this in an east–west orientation. The head between these two fiords, on the northern edge of Te Korowhakaunu and the eastern edge of Moana-whenua-pōuri, is known as Divide Head in English. The Māori names of the point and the hill behind it are Te Tapuwae-o-Māui (the footprint of Māui) and Te Rereka-o-Māui (the leap of Māui) respectively. These names both come from the Māori creation myth for the fiord, in which the demigod Māui is said to have leapt ashore at that point. In one legend, Māui is said to have slipped over, with his extended arms creating both Te Korowhakaunu and Moana-whenua-pōuri in the process. In another account, Te Korowhakaunu already existed, with the mud and water kicked up when Māui's foot slipped creating Moana-whenua-pōuri. ### Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound The main length of Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound extends for 10.3 km (6.4 mi) from its head at the Dark Cloud Range, in a roughly westerly direction towards the main channel of Taiari / Chalky Inlet. The fiord is slightly shallower than the main channel of Taiari, reaching a maximum depth of 323 m (1,060 ft) compared to 374 m (1,227 ft) for the main fiord. A small string of islands, the Small Craft Harbour Islands, lies close to the sound's junction with the main channel of Taiari / Chalky Inlet. At its head, the fiord is split into two smaller coves, separated by the aptly-named Two Cove Head. The northernmost of these, Islet Cove, is fed by the Carrick River, one of the largest inflows into the entire complex. The other cove, Cliff Cove, does not have any inflows of the same degree. However, the cove marks the closest point between the Chalky Inlet complex and that of neighbouring Rakituma / Preservation Inlet, at just over 500 metres from Te Awaroa / Long Sound. The isthmus between the two fiords constitutes part of the Dark Cloud Range, which extends seaward to form the southern side of Te Korowhakaunu / Kanáris Sound and the eastern edge of Taiari / Chalky Inlet. This peninsula reaches a maximum height of 1,043 m (3,422 ft) at Treble Mountain, and was formerly given a name of French origin – Presqu'île Bréauté – by an 1826 French expedition, however this name fell into disuse. The name Cunaris Sound stems from this expedition, although the exact etymology is unclear. It was previously believed to be derived from the plural of the French name for the canary, canaris, in reference to the bellbirds prevalent in the area at the time. However, evidence has since suggested that the fiord was instead named after Konstantinos Kanaris, a hero of the Greek War of Independence, and in 2021 the spelling of the European portion of the name was altered to Kanáris Sound to reflect this naming origin. To the north of Kanáris Sound lie two hill formations, separated by a small glacial valley. These constitute the Tower Hills on the east and Te Rereka-o-Māui on the west, and consist of primarily schist and greywacke, with small portions of gneiss. ### Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound The hills that constitute the northern edge of Kanáris Sound also form the eastern edge of Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound. This fiord continues the northeast–southwest orientation of the majority of Taiari, beginning roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) from its junction with Te Korowhakaunu. Opposite the fiord from Te Rereka-o-Māui, the Kakapo Range continues roughly parallel to the fiord for much of its length with a maximum height of 1,130 m (3,710 ft) at The Stopper. The northern limit of the fiord consists of a small sheltered cove known as Lake Cove, into which the two primary tributaries of this branch flow. To the east of the cove, Cora Lynn Falls drains the outflow from a series of lakes (from upstream to downstream, lakes Purser, Carrick, and Cadman) that extend towards Tamatea / Dusky Sound. The second inflow into Lake Cove is Lumaluma Creek, which drains a large catchment area including multiple small tarns. Numerous small creeks flow along both edges of the fiord, fed by the 2-4 metres of rain which falls around the fiord annually. Moana-whenua-pōuri is significantly shallower than either Chalky Inlet or Kanáris Sound. Unlike many of the other fiords in the region, including the others in the Taiari complex, this fiord gets progressively shallower from its mouth, with no basins to speak of. The upper reaches of the fiord are as shallow as 60 m (200 ft), a depth equal to only the sill depth of Eastern Passage. ## History Not much is known about Māori habitation of Fiordland prior to the arrival of Europeans. The conditions in Fiordland were not hospitable to ongoing habitation, although expeditions for exploration, hunting, and gathering of resources such as pounamu took place soon after the arrival of Māori in New Zealand, roughly 700 years ago. More permanent occupation took place in the 18th century, when remnants of the iwi (tribe) Kāti Māmoe fled into the area following a Ngāi Tahu conquest of the South Island, constructing a pā on Matauira in neighbouring Rakituma / Preservation Inlet. Ngāi Tahu forces pursued Kāti Māmoe to this point, with the pā said to be the site of a battle between the two. Several European explorers noted evidence of Māori habitation in the fiords and surrounding areas, while evidence of seasonal habitation has also been identified through archaeological studies of the region. Captain James Cook was the first European to see Taiari / Chalky Inlet during his second voyage in 1773, naming both it and Chalky Island after the white cliffs on the island's seaward side. Cook did not enter the fiord, owing to poor weather conditions, and sailed past en route to Tamatea / Dusky Sound. The first Europeans known to have entered and explored the complex came in 1813, when the cutter Snapper entered the fiord and established a camp in the upper reaches of Edwardson Sound, which they so named after the ship's captain, Captain Edwardson. The Snapper left after a few months, returning in 1820 once they believed bird populations in the area had replenished. Edwardson's account of this return described the environment around Lake Cove and the changes which he witnessed from his first experience. The cove, which had been a lagoon impossible to enter by ship on their first visit due to dangerous tides and silt, had opened up into a deep harbour large enough to hold a whaling ship, with two large river inflows instead of one. Notes from Edwardson's visits were incorporated into a comprehensive account of the region by Jules de Blosseville, part of an 1826 French expedition. The French expedition named a number of features, although the majority of these have since been replaced by English or Māori names. These include Presqu'île le Chevalier at the northern edge of Western passage (now Cape Providence) and Presqu'île Bréauté (now the Treble Mountain peninsula). Other names, such as Kanáris Sound or Puysegur Point (in neighbouring Preservation Inlet) have been adapted from the French names from this expedition. From this point, European activity in the region came in waves, due in equal parts to economic and scientific endeavours. Sealers frequented the Fiordland coast throughout the 1820s, although this came to a quick end due to severe depletion of the seal populations making the activities uneconomic. The area was surveyed again around 1850 by HMS Acheron under Captain John Lort Stokes. One of the first accounts of the geological composition of the region was made by the ship's surgeon, who noted the occurrence of pink granite and the presence of coal. Further expeditions by other Europeans into the 1860s and 1870s built on this work, identifying with greater detail the distribution of potentially valuable resources within the region. This culminated in a brief gold rush and attempt at permanent settlement in Rakituma / Preservation Inlet during the 1880s, however despite reports of similar deposits in the headwaters of Taiari / Chalky Inlet, the activity did not spread and quickly dissipated. At the same time as these numerous sea-based voyages into the fiords, attempts at land-based expeditions were also undertaken. The most prominent of these was that of Alfred Henry Burton, a Dunedin-based photographer and part of the Burton Brothers photographic studio. Burton travelled extensively within Fiordland (as well as the rest of New Zealand) and made several trips during his career by both land (on horseback) and sea. His photographs of the unspoilt environment contributed to the campaign to establish the area as a National Park, which was eventually established as a "National reserve" in 1904 before officially becoming New Zealand's third national park with the passage of the National Parks Act 1952. Since this, Taiari / Chalky Inlet has seen low levels of human interaction, with its isolation preventing the development seen in fiords further north, such as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi or Doubtful Sound / Patea. There is no defined land route to the fiord, and as such it is very difficult to reach even by foot. Despite the remoteness, tourism to the area has been increasing during and since the Covid-19 pandemic. The large decline of international visitors resulted in some tourism operators in Milford Sound / Piopiotahi relocating their vessels further south, typically offering trips to Taiari / Chalky and Rakituma / Preservation out of Tamatea / Dusky Sound. Efforts have also been made in recent years to restore the cultural history of Māori within Fiordland. This culminated in 2019 with the renaming of multiple fiords to dual names, including the renaming of Chalky Inlet, Edwardson Sound and Cunaris Sound to their respective dual names. ## Ecology `Despite Taiari / Chalky Inlet's remote location, it did not escape the ecological impact of human settlement. The seal population of the fiord was decimated by hunters during the early 19th century, leading to the local collapse of the industry by the 1830s. As with the rest of New Zealand, a number of invasive species – including stoats, rats and possums – have been found in the area around the fiord.` In the years since human interaction shifted from primarily economic to scientific and environmental, efforts have been made to restore the environment and reduce the impact of human settlement. A 1977 study identified a number of invasive species to remove from the area, including noting the impact of deer on the area. Invasive species remain a threat to the fiord complex, with the invasive seaweed Undaria discovered in 2019. Owing to the small amount detected, active efforts are in place to eradicate Undaria from the fiord with control measures around the area in place. Similar efforts were launched in August 2022 in response to the discovery of stoat prints on Chalky Island, the outermost of three predator-free islands in the fiord. More than 100 stoat traps were set on the island in response to the sighting, with staff from the Department of Conservation seeking to capture it as part of wider pest control efforts in Fiordland. This was the beginning of an eight-month campaign, before the stoat was eventually caught in late April 2023. Aside from this stoat, pest control efforts on the islands in Taiari / Chalky Inlet have led to the eradication of pests from Great Island, the Passage Islands (including Motutawaki) and Chalky Island, all of which have been declared predator-free since 1999. This has allowed the islands to become a sanctuary for many native species which have been reintroduced to the area since 2002, including the mōhua, orange-fronted kākāriki, little spotted kiwi, and tīeke. Chalky Island is also home to the Te Kakahu skink, an endemic skink discovered in 2002 and confirmed as a separate species in 2011. The fiord also contains multiple petrel colonies, like many other fiords in the area. ## See also - List of fiords of New Zealand

Battle of Fakhkh

Battle in June 786 between the Abbasids and al-Husayn ibn Ali

The Battle of Fakhkh (Arabic: يوم فخ, romanized: yawm Fakhkh, lit. 'Day of Fakhkh') was fought on 11 June 786 between the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate and the supporters of a pro-Alid rebellion in Mecca under al-Husayn ibn Ali, a descendant of Hasan ibn Ali. Husayn and his supporters planned an uprising at Medina during the annual Hajj pilgrimage of 786, but their hand was forced by a confrontation with the local governor, al-Umari. The conspirators rose in revolt on the morning of 16 May, and seized the Mosque of the Prophet, where Husayn's supporters swore allegiance to him. The revolt failed to gather support among the populace, and the reaction of the Abbasid garrison prevented the rebels from establishing control over the city, and eventually confined them to the Mosque itself. After eleven days, the Alids and their supporters, some 300 strong, abandoned Medina and headed to Mecca. Informed of these events, the Abbasid caliph al-Hadi appointed his uncle Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Ali to deal with the rebels, with an army composed chiefly of the armed retinues of the various Abbasid princes who on that year had gone to the pilgrimage. In the ensuing battle, at the wadi of Fakhkh [ar] near Mecca, Husayn and over a hundred of his followers were killed, many others were captured, and some escaped by passing themselves off as pilgrims, including the future founder of the Idrisid dynasty in what is now Morocco. The uprising had a strong social character, with Husayn drawing inspiration from Zayd ibn Ali's 740 revolt, and itself impacted later Zaydi Shi'a practices. ## Background In 748–750, the Abbasid Revolution overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and established the Abbasid dynasty at the helm of the Islamic world. The change of dynasty was not a mere succession struggle, but the culmination of a broad social and political movement that rejected the Umayyad regime, which was widely regarded as oppressive, too dependent on and favouring its Syrian heartland to the exclusion of other areas, and more concerned with the worldly aspects of the caliphate than the teachings of Islam. A widespread belief at the time favoured replacing Umayyad dynastic rule with that of a "chosen one from the Family of Muhammad" (al-Rida min Al Muhammad), who alone would have the divine guidance necessary to interpret the Quran and create a truly Islamic government that would bring justice to the Muslim community, treating all Muslims equally regardless of their origin. In the first instance this meant the Alids, i.e., those claiming descent from Muhammad via Ali ibn Abi Talib. However, the Abbasids exploited the vagueness of the al-Rida min Al Muhammad slogan by portraying themselves as also being members of the wider 'Family of the Prophet' through their common descent from the Banu Hashim clan. This claim was rejected by later Shi'a writers, who restricted membership in the Family of the Prophet to the Alids and thus considered the Abbasids as usurpers, but this distinction was not so clear-cut at the time, and the Abbasid claims appear to have been widely accepted when they came to power. As a result, the relationship between the Abbasid dynasty and the Alids was ambivalent and underwent many changes. The Abbasids tried to secure Alid support, or at least acquiescence to their rule, through the award of salaries and honours at court. Nevertheless, many Alids, chiefly of the Zaydi and Hasanid branches, continued to reject the Abbasids as usurpers; several went into hiding and once again tried to rouse the discontented against the new regime. The second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur (r. 754–775), imprisoned several Alids, and had to face a major Alid revolt in Medina and Basra, headed by Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, in 762–763. A close relative of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya was al-Husayn ibn Ali. His father, Ali al-Abid, was Muhammad's first cousin, and his mother Zaynab was Muhammad's sister. Ali al-Abid was famed for his piety, and volunteered to share the fate of his relatives, who were imprisoned by al-Mansur. He reportedly endured imprisonment steadfastly, but died in 763. Husayn thus grew up in what the historian Laura Veccia Vaglieri describes as "an atmosphere of extreme piety and of secret hatred for the Abbasids". Nevertheless, Husayn had friendly relations with the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi (r. 775–785), who gave him money and released an Alid prisoner at Husayn's intercession. ## Outbreak of the revolt Shortly after al-Mahdi died in July 785, Husayn and his followers rose in revolt at Medina, hoping to take advantage of the as yet unstable position of al-Mahdi's successor, al-Hadi. The 10th-century historian al-Tabari records several traditions that suggest that the immediate cause of the revolt was a quarrel between Husayn and the Abbasid governor of Medina, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdallah, known as al-Umari. Al-Umari tried to regulate the Alids' movements in the city, and had three men, including Abu'l-Zift, a son of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, flogged and publicly humiliated for flouting the Islamic prohibition against the consumption of alcohol; this caused outrage among the Alids. The situation grew worse when it was discovered that Abu'l-Zift, for whom Husayn had vouched together with Yahya ibn Abdallah (a half-brother of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya), had fled the city. In the ensuing confrontation with al-Umari, Yahya ibn Abdallah and the governor exchanged insults and threats, making the situation untenable for Husayn and his followers. While this may have been the immediate spark for the uprising, from the subsequent passages of al-Tabari it is evident that a revolt had been planned for some time. Preparations included the recruitment of Kufans who were secretly lying in wait in the city, and the hope of assistance by sympathizers who performed the Hajj pilgrimage. The motivation for the revolt is unclear; later Shi'a writers claim that it resulted from the anti-Alid stance of the new caliph, al-Hadi, but given the short interval since al-Hadi's accesstion, this is unlikely; however, Veccia Vaglieri suggests that there are indications that in his final years al-Mahdi himself had turned from a conciliatory policy to hostility towards the Alids, causing great discontent among the Shi'a. Having quarreled with the governor, the conspirators decided to move on the next morning (probably 16 May). About 26 Alids and some of their supporters gathered at the Mosque of the Prophet, where Husayn took the pulpit dressed in white and wearing a white turban. The rebels reportedly forced the muezzin to pronounce the call to the morning prayer in the Shi'a wording. Most people turned away when they saw Husayn in the pulpit, but his followers started arriving and swearing allegiance to him as caliph and imam and as al-Murtada min Al Muhammad, 'the One pleasing to God from the house of Muhammad'. The appellation al-Murtada was evidently adopted as Husayn's regnal title in the fashion of the Abbasid caliphs. Whether out of the rivalry between the Hasanid and Husaynid branches, or because they thought that the uprising was doomed to failure, two of the Alids present refused their support. One of them, Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kadhim, who is considered as the seventh imam by the Twelver Shi'a, reportedly warned Husayn that his actions would only result in his death. In the meantime, Yahya ibn Abdallah went to arrest al-Umari at his residence, which adjoined the mosque. Alarmed by the Shi'a call to prayer, al-Umari had already gone into hiding. The assembled rebels were soon confronted by about 200 men from the local Abbasid garrison, with al-Umari and a certain Khalid al-Barbari, supervisor of the state domains at Medina, at their head. Khalid charged forward, aiming to kill Husayn, but was cut down by Yahya ibn Abdallah and his brother Idris; taking heart, the rebels attacked the Abbasid troops, who fled. With the Abbasid partisans repelled, Husayn addressed his followers, concluding his speech with a declaration and oath: > O people! I am the Messenger of God's offspring, in the Messenger of God's sacred enclosure, in the Messenger of God's mosque and seated in the Prophet of God's pulpit! I summon you to the Book of God and the Sunnah of His prophet, and if I do not fulfill that for you, then I have no claim upon you for obedience. The revolt failed to find many adherents; according to al-Tabari, "the people of Medina locked their doors". Next morning, the fighting between the partisans of the Alids (al-Mubayyida, the 'wearers of white') and the Abbasids (al-Musawwida, the 'wearers of black') spread throughout the city, with the Abbasids driving the Alids back. Fresh Abbasid troops under Mubarak al-Turki arrived next day, heartening the Abbasid partisans. After another day of fierce fighting, interrupted only during the hot noon hours, the Alids were confined to the area of the mosque, while the Abbasids used the nearby governor's residence as their base. The confrontation lasted for eleven days, during which the Alids, with their failure to secure the city evident, gathered supplies for travel. With about 300 followers, Husayn left the city on 28 May 786. In their wake, they left the mosque in a state of filth, defiled with the bones of the animals the beleaguered Alids had been eating, and its curtains cut up to make kaftans, leading to general indignation among the Medinese. ## Confrontation at Fakhkh With his 300 men, Husayn made for Mecca. On the way, he was joined by sympathizers from that city. In the meantime, al-Hadi assembled an armed response to Husayn's revolt. Several Abbasid princes were at that time returning from their pilgrimage to Mecca, which that year had been led by Sulayman ibn Abi Ja'far, a son of Caliph al-Mansur. One of the princes, Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Ali (first cousin of al-Mansur), had taken along a strong escort to protect his caravan from Bedouin attacks. Al-Hadi appointed Muhammad to deal with the rebels. Muhammad turned back to Mecca, where he was joined by the armed retinues of all of the Abbasid elites who had been in the city: the sources refer to 130 men mounted on horses and some mules, 200 on donkeys, and unspecified numbers of infantry. After a parade through the city that was probably designed to intimidate any pro-Alid sympathizers, the Abbasid army encamped at Dhu Tuwa at the edge of the city. As the Alids and their supporters drew near, the two armies confronted one another on 11 June, at the wadi of Fakhkh [ar], some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) northwest of Mecca. The Abbasid force was led by the princes al-Abbas ibn Muhammad and Musa ibn Isa on the left, Muhammad ibn Sulayman on the right, and the Khurasani commander Mu'adh ibn Muslim in the centre. The battle began at dawn, and the Alid forces focused on the Abbasids' left wing. When Muhammad ibn Sulayman was victorious on his wing, he led the Abbasid right and centre against the bulk of the Alid army, which had been "massed together as if they were a compact ball of spun thread", in the words of al-Tabari, resulting in a rout of the Alids. During the battle, the Abbasids offered a pledge of clemency (aman), but Husayn refused it, fighting on until he was killed. His severed head was taken to al-Hadi, who sent it on to Khurasan as a warning to the local Shi'a. Over a hundred of Husayn's followers fell, and were left unburied at the battlefield for three days; but others availed themselves of the aman to surrender. Abu'l-Zift was one of them, surrendering to his uncle, Muhammad ibn Sulayman; but he was killed by Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas at the urging of his father, al-Abbas ibn Muhammad, and Musa ibn Isa, leading to a fierce quarrel between the Abbasid princes. Of the Alids taken prisoner, a brother (Sulayman) and a son (al-Hasan) of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya were executed at Mecca, while al-Hadi executed at least three other Alid prisoners at Baghdad. Al-Tabari and other medieval Muslim authors report stories about al-Hadi's sorrow and regret over the necessity of the death of "the Messenger of God's own offspring", but modern historians doubt their authenticity, especially as other sources explicitly record the caliph ordering the execution of prisoners who had received aman at Fakhkh. Many Alids managed to escape the battle by mingling with the pilgrims. Among them were Yahya ibn Abdallah and his brother Idris. Idris eventually moved to the Maghreb, and in 789 established the Idrisid dynasty in the area of modern Morocco, while his brother Yahya raised a revolt in Daylam in 792. At the news of the Alids' defeat, al-Umari burned the houses of the Alids and their supporters and confiscated their properties. ## Impact Shi'a sources proclaim that Husayn's uprising had a "Zaydi" character, i.e., a social dimension which distinguishes it from the mostly "legitimist" revolt of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. The formula of the oath of allegiance sworn to Husayn was similar to that of Zayd ibn Ali in 740, including promises to defend the oppressed and redress injustices. Veccia Vaglieri points out that in Husayn's formula, "the duty of the subjects to obey him depended on his keeping the promises which he had made", something emulated a century later by al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, when he founded a Zaydi state in Yemen. During his brief residence in Medina, he also promised liberty to the slaves who joined him, but faced with protests by their masters that this was an unlawful act, he had to return some of them. The wadi of Fakhkh was thereafter known as al-Shuhada ('the Martyrs'), and assumed a prominent position in Shi'a martyrology, since in the number of fallen Alids, it was second only to the Battle of Karbala. The revolt's failure exemplified the weakness of the Alids' position, and also the relative success of al-Mahdi's policies in reducing the danger they posed to the regime. In its aftermath, many Alids dispersed from the Hejaz to the periphery of the Islamic world, in areas such as the Maghreb and northern Iran, with far-reaching repercussions, as they brought Alid loyalties to these regions.

Feng Tianwei

Singaporean table tennis player

Feng Tianwei PJG (Chinese: 冯天薇; pinyin: Féng Tiānwēi, ) is a retired Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Harbin, China, she permanently moved to Singapore at the age of 20 under the former Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2007 and commenced her international career in competitive table tennis the following month. Feng represented Singapore for the first time in the Olympic Games at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. On 15 August 2008, the Singapore team comprising Feng and her teammates Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu defeated South Korea 3–2 in the semifinals. The team lost to China in the final, obtaining the silver medal. This was Singapore's first Olympic medal in 48 years and its first as an independent nation. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Feng defeated Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan 4–0 to win the women's singles bronze medal, Singapore's first Olympic singles medal since the 1960 Summer Olympics. She would later won the bronze medal at the women's team event with Li and Wang against South Korea. This was the first time Singapore had won two medals at an Olympic Games. On 15 March 2015, Feng defeated Zhu Yuling and Liu Shiwen at the 2015 Asian Cup in Jaipur to be crowned Asian Cup Champion for the first time. At the same time, she broke China's 7 consecutive years of dominance in this tournament. On 25 October 2016, the Singapore Table Tennis Association announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Feng, citing the need for rejuvenation of the national team. However, STTA has confirmed to support her for future international competitions if she meets the selection criteria. A few months after her exit from STTA, she went on to beat then world number one and Olympic gold medalist Ding Ning 3–2 in the Chinese Table Tennis Super League. On 11 October 2019, Feng defeated Chen Meng, then ranked world number one, in 4 straight games, causing the biggest upset in the 2019 German Open. ## Early years Feng was born on 31 August 1986 in Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China. She is the only daughter of Feng Qingzhi, a granary worker, and his wife Li Chunping, an employee of a department store. Feng's parents, who were poor, lived frugally for years to pay for her table tennis training. Her father suffered from multiple sclerosis, but she was not told how severe his illness was. He died in 2002, weeks before Feng tried out for China's national B squad. Although Feng topped the qualifying matches a month later and was called up for the national team in 2003, she suffered from a long illness; a source close to her said it was "because she missed her father too much". Feng left China in 2005 to play in the Japanese professional league. While there she was spotted by Liu Guodong, then a coach with the Singapore Table Tennis Association, in 2006. In March 2007 she was invited to train in Singapore under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. She became a Singapore citizen in January 2008. ## Career as national player Feng made her international début for Singapore in June 2007 as an under-21 player at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pro Tour Volkswagen Korean Open. As a singles player, Feng was ranked 73rd in the world in August 2007. In 2007, she achieved a silver medal in the singles at the ITTF Pro Tour Chinese Taipei Open, her compatriot Li beating her to take the gold. Feng was a member of the silver medal-winning team at the World Team Championships in Guangzhou in 2008 and defeated the top seed Zhang Yining from China in the Quarter-finals of the Asian Cup held in Sapporo between 29 and 30 March 2008, eventually achieving second place behind China's Guo Yue. She rose to the top 10 world rankings within a year. ### 2008 Summer Olympics Feng represented Singapore for the first time at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the women's team tournament. She contributed to Singapore's 3–2 win against South Korea in the semifinals by defeating Dang Ye-Seo and Park Mi-Young in two singles matches. Feng's match against Park was closely fought, with Feng eventually overcoming Park 3–1. Singapore was assisted by the implementation of the expedite system when the game failed to be completed in ten minutes. The system unsettled Park, and Feng won two minutes after its introduction in the match when Park committed a service fault. Interviewed afterwards, Feng said: "I definitely did not expect that [Park's error]. It was a surprise and the best birthday present I've ever gotten." On 17 August 2008, Feng and her teammates achieved a silver medal in women's table tennis after losing to China in three matches. Feng played the starting singles match, winning the first game but eventually losing to China's Wang Nan 1–3. This was the first time Singapore had won an Olympic medal since its independence in 1965. The medal came 48 years after Tan Howe Liang won the country's first medal, a silver in weightlifting in the lightweight category at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Feng received byes into the third round of the women's singles tournament. Feng defeated South Korea's Dang Ye-Seo 4–0 in the third round, Netherlands' Li Jie 4–1 in the fourth round, but fell 1–4 to China's Zhang Yining in the quarter-finals. Feng made the world number one work for her win, with the final scores being 11–13, 14–12, 12–14, 10–12, 11–13. According to the Straits Times, Zhang leveraged on her experience by stalling for time at crucial stages of the game, which broke Feng's rhythm. Interviewed after the match, Feng said: "I'm sure I'll win a medal at the next Olympics." At a victory celebration in Singapore on 25 August 2008, Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, announced that Feng, Li and Wang would be presented with the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal). ### Competitions between 2008 and 2012 On 9 September 2008, Feng beat her compatriot Wang to clinch the bronze medal at the ITTF Women's World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Despite crashing out of the singles event earlier, Feng and her teammates Li and Wang won the top title at the ITTF Pro Tour ERKE German Open in Berlin on 22 November 2008. Feng won her first professional singles title at the Polish Open in Warsaw on 30 November 2008, in an all-Singapore final against Wang. Feng and Yu Mengyu also took silver in the doubles. On 2 December 2008, the ITTF announced that Feng was ranked sixth in the world. This made her the top Singapore female table tennis player and the highest-ranked player in the world not representing China. She was third in Today newspaper's list of athletes of the year for 2008. On 23 August 2009, Feng achieved her second Pro Tour singles title at the KAL Cup Korean Open in Seoul. Feng took part in the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos. She was a member of the Singapore women's team with Sun Beibei and Wang that defeated Thailand 3–0 to win Gold on 10 December 2009. On 14 December 2009, she and her partner Wang were defeated by compatriots Sun and Yu in an all-Singapore final in the women's doubles. The following day, in her maiden appearance at the Games, she achieved gold in the singles competition after defeating Wang 4–1. The Singapore Table Tennis Association made Feng the inaugural winner of its Best Player of the Year award on 12 February 2010. As of 8 April 2010, she had worked her way up to a second-place ranking in the world. On 3 May 2010, the Singapore National Olympic Council named her Sportswoman of the Year for 2009. The national table tennis women's team, composed of Feng, Li, Wang and Sun were awarded the Team of the Year prize at the Singapore Sports Awards. Together with Sun and Wang, Feng was a member of the team at the Liebherr World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow that defeated China, 17-time winner and the reigning world champion, with a score of 3–1. In the two games she played, Feng defeated Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning, ranked number one and four in the world respectively and Wang contributing another point to the team by defeating Liu Shiwen. This was the first time Singapore had lifted the Corbillon cup. ### 2012 Summer Olympics Feng represented Singapore at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and was the nation's flagbearer at the Parade of Nations segment of the opening ceremony. She entered the women's singles competition seeded sixth, and progressed until she was defeated 2-4 by China's Ding Ning in the semi-finals. She won against Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan 4–0 (11–9, 11–6, 11–6, 11–5) to take the bronze medal, becoming the second Singaporean to win an individual Olympic medal. Interviewed after her win, Feng said: "I'm really happy, although I feel it's come a little too suddenly. My form wasn't very good lately, so I didn't dare to carry too much expectations coming into the London Olympics. It was just a relief to win." Feng also participated in the women's team competition with Li and Wang. They were beaten 0–3 by Japan in the semifinals, but took the bronze medal by edging out South Korea 3–0. Feng defeated Kim Kyung Ah 11–9, 11–8, 4–11, 13–11, Li also successfully fended off Seok Ha Jung 11–5, 11–8, 6–11, 11–8. Li and Wang then succeeded in the doubles game against Seok and Dang Ye Seo 11–9, 11–6, 6–11, 11–5. This marked the first time Singapore had won more than one medal at an Olympic Games. Feng commented: "Against Japan, we gave ourselves too much pressure and lost the psychological battle. After that, I told myself that I must prepare myself well mentally and it's only when I do what I'm capable of that I can win." Singles Event Team Event ### 2013 Feng participated in many tournaments in 2013, achieving commendable results in several competitions. Notable ones include the Kuwait Open, 2013 World Table Tennis Championships and the 2013 Women's World Cup. 2013 Kuwait Open Feng participated in the 2013 Kuwait Open as the fourth seed in the women singles competition. She ended up as the runner-up, losing out to China's Liu Shiwen. In the semifinals, Feng, then world ranked 6th, stunned then world number one Ding Ning from China in an epic encounter that finished 4-3 in favour of Feng. 2013 World Table Tennis Championships Feng qualified for the women singles event of the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships as the fourth seed. She progressed to the quarterfinals as one of the only remaining players outside of China, before losing out to China's fifth seeded Zhu Yuling. She also participated in the women's doubles event with Yu Mengyu. Feng and Yu impressively secured the joint bronze medal alongside Chinese pair Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling. ; Singles ; Doubles (with Yu Mengyu) 2013 Women's World Cup Feng participated in the 2013 Women's World Cup and progressed to the semifinals, before losing out to Wu Yang of China. However, she defeated Hong Kong's Jiang Huajun in the bronze medal playoff, thereby attaining the bronze medal. ### 2014 Feng notched impressive results in 2014, winning several titles such as the Philippines Open, Australia Open, and most notably, Japan Open titles. She also attained the runner-up position in the Korea Open. Feng also impressed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning the gold medal in the Women's singles event, Women's doubles event with Yu Mengyu, and the Women's team event, alongside teammates Yu Mengyu, Lin Ye, Zhou Yihan and Isabelle Li. At the 2014 Asian Games, Feng secured two bronzes, one in the Women's singles event and the other in the Women's team event. Feng also led the Singapore Women's team to a bronze medal in the 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships. At the year-end ITTF Star Awards, Feng was nominated for the Female Table Tennis Star award, alongside star players Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen and Kasumi Ishikawa. 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships Feng led the Singapore women's team comprising Yu Mengyu, Isabelle Li and Yee Herng Hwee to a bronze medal in the 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships. Impressively, Feng won 10 out of 11 matches that she played throughout the tournament, losing only to China's Li Xiaoxia in the semifinals. ; Overall Team results ; Individual breakdown of Feng's matches 2014 Korea Open Feng participated in the 2014 Korea Open and advanced all the way to the finals, where she lost to Germany's Han Ying. On route to the final, she notably defeated China's rising star Wang Manyu, as well as teammate Yu Mengyu. 2014 Japan Open Feng participated in the 2014 Japan Open, a Super Series tournament, and clinched the gold medal after defeating Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa in the final. It was Feng's third title of the year, having won the 2014 Philippines Open and 2014 Australia Open, and also a week after coming in second place in the 2014 Korea Open. 2014 Asian Games Feng participated in the Women's singles and Women's team event at the 2014 Asian Games. She managed to clinch the bronze medal in the singles event, and managed to lead the Singapore women's team to a bronze medal at the women's team event. ; Singles event ; Team event ### 2016 Summer Olympics Feng participated in ITTF Asian-Olympics Qualifier (South-East Asian region) at Hong Kong from 13 to 17 April 2016. She was the winner for SEA group and was given a direct entry to the singles event at Rio de Janeiro Olympics, her third Olympics appearance. In the qualifier match, She defeated Nanthana Komwong in the Quarter-Finals, Suthasini Sawettabut in Semi-Finals & Yu in the Finals. According to July world ranking published by ITTF, Feng was seeded second in Olympics singles. This was her highest-ever Olympic seeding. The team consisting of herself, Yu and Zhou was seeded fourth. She reached the singles Quarter-Final but lost to Ai Fukuhara of Japan in 4 straight games. Feng, Yu and Zhou reached the semi-final of the team event but lost to China 0–3. In the bronze medal match, the trio was defeated by Japan 1–3. Singles Event Team Event ### 2019 Women's World Cup Feng defeated Bernadette Szőcs and Kasumi Ishikawa before losing to Zhu Yuling, 4-0, 4-3, and 2-4 respectively. She took the bronze medal after defeating Lily Zhang with a 4-1 score. ### 2020 Women's World Cup In the first ITTF event since the hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Feng was upset by Zhang. However, she later beat Zhang in a rematch in WTT Macau. ### 2020 Summer Olympics The 2020 Summer Olympics was Feng's fourth appearance at the Olympic Games, having participated in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal in the Team Event in the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics respectively, as well as a singles bronze in 2012. According to July's Olympic Qualification Ranking published by the International Table Tennis Federation, Feng was seeded sixth in the singles event. Feng received a bye in Round 1 and Round 2 due to her seeding. In Round 3, she defeated Spain's María Xiao, coming from 0-1 down to win 4-1. In the Round of 16, Feng faced Germany's Han Ying, an opponent she had not defeated before in all her previous four international encounters. Han won a tight first game 13-11, followed by an equally close 11-7 and 11-9 victory in games two and three, putting her 3-0 up. Feng fought back and took the next game 11-8 and led 7-3 in the fifth, but was unable to close out the game, which Han eventually won 11-8. Despite a valiant effort, Feng's singles campaign ended in a 1-4 defeat to Han Ying in the Round of 16. In the team event, Feng, together with Yu Mengyu and Lin Ye, defeated 13th seeded France 3-0 in the Round of 16, progressing to the quarterfinals. In the second match, Feng made a comeback from 0-2 down to win 3-2 against Prithika Pavade. In the quarterfinals, the 6th seeded Singapore team was handed an unfavourable draw against favourites China, the top seed and eventual gold medallists in the Women's Team event. In the first match (doubles), Yu and Lin lost 0-3 (5-11, 7-11, 5-11) to Chen Meng and Wang Manyu. In the second match, a close first and third game saw Feng lose 0-3 (8-11, 3-11, 8-11) to Sun Yingsha, who was the silver medallist in the Singles event. Olympics debutant Lin then lost the third match to Wang (11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 5-11), after a solid first game win. This wrapped up a 3-0 victory for China and signalled the end of Singapore's Table Tennis campaign in the 2020 Summer Olympics. It also marked the end of Feng Tianwei's Olympic table tennis career. Singles Event Team Event ### 2021 In March, Feng played at WTT Doha. She suffered an early-round upset in WTT Contender, but made it to the finals in the WTT Star Contender event, where she lost to Mima Ito of Japan. As a result of her finals run, Feng passed Kasumi Ishikawa in projected Olympic seeding and put herself in a strong position to take the Olympic fourth seed from Cheng I-ching. ### 2022 Feng took part in the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham. She won three golds in the women's team, singles and doubles events. In the singles event, she came back from three sets down to beat compatriot Zeng Jian 4-3 in an all-Singapore final. She partnered Zeng Jian to defeat the Australian duo Jee Minhyung and Jian Fang Lay 3-0 in the finals. Feng was also awarded the David Dixon Award, presented to the Commonwealth Games athlete who showcases an exceptional level of performance, commitment and fair play. She is the first Singaporean to win this award. ## Major tournament performance timeline \(W\) won; (F) finalist; (SF) semi-finalist; (QF) quarter-finalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (S) singles event; (WD) Women's doubles event; (XD) mixed doubles event; (T) team event. ## Key career records Legend : Gold Silver Bronze QR: Qualifying Round ## See also - List of Singapore world champions in sports

Louis I of Hungary

King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 to 1382

Louis I, also Louis the Great (Hungarian: Nagy Lajos; Croatian: Ludovik Veliki; Slovak: Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian (Polish: Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 1326 – 10 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Poland, to survive infancy. A 1338 treaty between his father and Casimir III of Poland, Louis's maternal uncle, confirmed Louis's right to inherit the Kingdom of Poland if his uncle died without a son. In exchange, Louis was obliged to assist his uncle to reoccupy the lands that Poland had lost in previous decades. He bore the title of Duke of Transylvania between 1339 and 1342 but did not administer the province. Louis was of age when he succeeded his father in 1342, but his deeply religious mother exerted a powerful influence on him. He inherited a centralized kingdom and a rich treasury from his father. During the first years of his reign, Louis launched a crusade against the Lithuanians and restored royal power in Croatia; his troops defeated a Tatar army, expanding his authority towards the Black Sea. When his brother, Andrew, Duke of Calabria, husband of Queen Joanna I of Naples, was assassinated in 1345, Louis accused the queen of his murder and punishing her became the principal goal of his foreign policy. He launched two campaigns to the Kingdom of Naples between 1347 and 1350. His troops occupied large territories on both occasions, and Louis adopted the styles of Neapolitan sovereigns (including the title of King of Sicily and Jerusalem), but the Holy See never recognized his claim. Louis's arbitrary acts and atrocities committed by his mercenaries made his rule unpopular in Southern Italy. He withdrew all his troops from the Kingdom of Naples in 1351. Like his father, Louis administered Hungary with absolute power and used royal prerogatives to grant privileges to his courtiers. However, he also confirmed the liberties of the Hungarian nobility at the Diet of 1351, emphasizing the equal status of all noblemen. At the same Diet, he introduced an entail system and a uniform rent payable by the peasants to the landowners, and confirmed the right to free movement for all peasants. He waged wars against the Lithuanians, Serbia, and the Golden Horde in the 1350s, restoring the authority of Hungarian monarchs over territories along frontiers that had been lost during previous decades. He forced the Republic of Venice to renounce the Dalmatian towns in 1358. He also made several attempts to expand his suzerainty over the rulers of Bosnia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and parts of Bulgaria and Serbia. These rulers were sometimes willing to yield to him, either under duress or in the hope of support against their internal opponents, but Louis's rule in these regions was only nominal during most of his reign. His attempts to convert his pagan or Orthodox subjects to Catholicism made him unpopular in the Balkan states. Louis established a university in Pécs in 1367, but it was closed within two decades because he did not arrange for sufficient revenues to maintain it. Louis inherited Poland after his uncle's death in 1370. Since he had no sons, he wanted his subjects to acknowledge the right of his daughters to succeed him in both Hungary and Poland. For this purpose, he issued the Privilege of Koszyce (now Košice in Slovakia) in 1374 spelling out the liberties of Polish noblemen. However, his rule remained unpopular in Poland. In Hungary, he authorized the royal free cities to delegate jurors to the high court hearing their cases and set up a new high court. Suffering from a skin disease, Louis became even more religious during the last years of his life. At the beginning of the Western Schism, he acknowledged Urban VI as the legitimate pope. After Urban deposed Joanna and put Louis's relative Charles of Durazzo on the throne of Naples, Louis helped Charles occupy the kingdom. In Hungarian historiography, Louis was regarded for centuries as the most powerful Hungarian monarch who ruled over an empire "whose shores were washed by three seas". ## Childhood and youth (1326–1342) Born on 5 March 1326, Louis was the third son of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Poland. He was named for his father's uncle, Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, canonized in 1317. The first-born son of his parents, Charles, died before Louis was born. Louis became his father's heir after the death of his brother Ladislaus in 1329. He had a liberal education by the standards of his age and learned French, German and Latin. He showed a special interest in history and astrology. A cleric from Wrocław, Nicholas, taught him the basic principles of Christian faith. However, Louis's religious zeal was due to his mother's influence. In a royal charter, Louis remembered that in his childhood, a knight of the royal court, Peter Poháros, often carried him on his shoulders. His two tutors, Nicholas Drugeth and Nicholas Tapolcsányi, saved the lives of both Louis and his younger brother, Andrew, when Felician Záh attempted to assassinate the royal family in Visegrád on 17 April 1330. Louis was only nine when he stamped a treaty of alliance between his father and John of Bohemia. A year later, Louis accompanied his father in invading Austria. On 1 March 1338, John of Bohemia's son and heir, Charles, Margrave of Moravia, signed a new treaty with Charles I of Hungary and Louis in Visegrád. According to the treaty, Charles of Moravia acknowledged the right of Charles I's sons to succeed their maternal uncle, Casimir III of Poland, if Casimir died without a male issue. Louis also pledged that he would marry the margrave's three-year-old daughter, Margaret. Casimir III's first wife, Aldona of Lithuania, died on 26 May 1339. Two leading Polish noblemen – Zbigniew, chancellor of Cracow, and Spycimir Leliwita – persuaded Casimir, who had not fathered a son, to make his sister, Elizabeth, and her offspring his heirs. According to the 15th-century Jan Długosz, Casimir held a general sejm in Cracow where "the assembled prelates and nobles" proclaimed Louis as Casimir's heir, but the reference to the sejm is anachronistic. Historian Paul W. Knoll writes that Casimir preferred his sister's family to his own daughters or a member of a cadet branch of the Piast dynasty, because he wanted to ensure the king of Hungary's support against the Teutonic Knights. Louis's father and uncle signed a treaty in Visegrád in July whereby Casimir III made Louis his heir if he died without a son. In exchange, Charles I pledged that Louis would reoccupy Pomerania and other Polish lands lost to the Teutonic Order without Polish funds and would only employ Poles in the royal administration in Poland. Louis received the title of Duke of Transylvania from his father in 1339, but he did not administer the province. According to a royal charter from the same year, Louis's bride, Margaret of Bohemia, lived in the Hungarian royal court. Louis's separate ducal court was first mentioned in a royal charter of 1340. ## Reign ### First years (1342–1345) Charles I died on 16 July 1342. Five days later, Csanád Telegdi, Archbishop of Esztergom, crowned Louis king with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár. Although Louis had attained the age of majority, his mother Elizabeth "acted as a sort of co-regent" for decades, because she exerted a powerful influence on him. Louis inherited a rich treasury from his father, who had strengthened royal authority and ruled without holding Diets during the last decades of his reign. Louis introduced a new system of land grants, excluding the grantee's brothers and other kinsmen from the donation in contrast with customary law: such estates escheated to the Crown if the grantee's last male descendants died. On the other hand, Louis often "promoted a daughter to a son", that is authorized a daughter to inherit her father's estates, although customary law prescribed that the landed property of a deceased nobleman who had no sons was to be inherited by his kinsmen. Louis often granted this privilege to the wives of his favorites. Louis also frequently authorized landowners to apply capital punishment in their estates, limiting the authority of the magistrates of the counties. William Drugeth, an influential advisor of Louis's late father, died in September 1342. He bequeathed his landed property to his brother, Nicholas, but Louis confiscated those estates. In late autumn, Louis dismissed his father's Voivode of Transylvania, Thomas Szécsényi, although Szécsényi's wife was a distant cousin of the queen mother. Louis especially favored the Lackfis: eight members of the family held high offices during his reign. Andrew Lackfi was the commander of the royal army during the first war of Louis's reign. In late 1342 or early 1343, he invaded Serbia and restored the Banate of Macsó, which had been lost during his father's reign. Robert the Wise, King of Naples, died on 20 January 1343. In his testament, he declared his granddaughter, Joanna I, his sole heir, excluding Louis's younger brother, Andrew, Joanna's husband, from becoming co-ruler. Louis and his mother regarded this as an infringement of a previous agreement between the late kings of Naples and Hungary. He visited his bride's father, Charles of Moravia, in Prague to persuade him to intervene on Andrew's behalf with Charles's former tutor, Pope Clement VI, the overlord of the Kingdom of Naples. Louis also sent envoys to his Neapolitan relatives and the high officials of the kingdom, urging them to promote his brother's interests. Their mother, Elizabeth, left for Naples in the summer, taking with her almost the whole royal treasure, including more than 6,628 kilograms (14,612 lb) of silver and 5,150 kilograms (11,350 lb) of gold. During her seven-month-long stay in Italy, she was only able to persuade her daughter-in-law and the pope to promise that Andrew would be crowned as Joanna's husband. According to the nearly contemporaneous chronicle of John of Küküllő, Louis launched his first campaign against a group of Transylvanian Saxons, who had refused to pay taxes, and forced them to yield in the summer of 1344. During his stay in Transylvania, Nicholas Alexander – who was the son of Basarab, the ruling prince of Wallachia – swore loyalty to Louis on his father's behalf in Brassó (now Brașov in Romania); thus the suzerainty of the Hungarian monarchs over Wallachia was, at least outwardly, restored. Louis joined a crusade against the pagan Lithuanians in December 1344. The crusaders – including John of Bohemia, Charles of Moravia, Peter of Bourbon, and William of Hainaut and Holland – laid siege to Vilnius. However, a Lithuanian invasion of the lands of the Teutonic Knights forced them to lift the siege. Louis returned to Hungary in late February 1345. He dispatched Andrew Lackfi, Count of the Székelys to invade the lands of the Golden Horde in retaliation for the Tatars' earlier plundering raids against Transylvania and the Szepesség (now Spiš in Slovakia). Lackfi and his army of mainly Székely warriors inflicted a defeat on a large Tatar army on 2 February 1345. Hungarian warriors were victorious in their campaign, decapitating the local Tatar leader, the brother-in-law of the Khan, Atlamïş, and making the Tatars flee toward the coastal area. The Golden Horde was pushed back behind the Dniester River, thereafter the Golden Horde's control of the lands between the Eastern Carpathians and the Black Sea weakened. A conflict between Louis's uncle and father-in-law (Casimir III of Poland and Charles of Moravia) led to a war between Poland and Bohemia in April. In this war Louis supported his uncle with reinforcements in accordance with the agreement of 1339. While Louis's armies were fighting in Poland and against the Tatars, Louis marched to Croatia in June 1345 and besieged Knin, the former seat of the late Ivan Nelipac, who had successfully resisted Louis's father, forcing his widow and son to surrender. The counts of Corbavia and other Croatian noblemen also yielded to him during his stay in Croatia. The citizens of Zadar rebelled against the Republic of Venice and accepted his suzerainty. Louis meanwhile returned to Visegrád. He dispatched Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia, to assist the burghers of Zadar, but the ban did not fight against the Venetians. #### Gallery ### Neapolitan campaigns (1345–1350) Louis's brother Andrew was murdered in Aversa on 18 September 1345. Louis and his mother accused Queen Joanna I, Prince Robert of Taranto, Duke Charles of Durazzo, and other members of the Neapolitan branches of the Capetian House of Anjou of plotting against Andrew. In his letter of 15 January 1346 to Pope Clement VI, Louis demanded that the pope dethrone the "husband-killer" queen in favor of Charles Martel, her infant son by Andrew. Louis also laid claim to the regency of the kingdom during the minority of his nephew, referring to his patrilinear descent from the first-born son of Robert the Wise's father, Charles II of Naples. He even promised to increase the amount of yearly tribute that the kings of Naples would pay to the Holy See. After the pope failed to fully investigate Andrew's murder, Louis decided to invade southern Italy. In preparation for the invasion, he sent his envoys to Ancona and other Italian towns before summer 1346. While his envoys negotiated in Italy, Louis marched to Dalmatia to relieve Zadar, but the Venetians bribed his commanders. When the citizens broke out and attacked the besiegers on 1 July, the royal army failed to intervene, and the Venetians overcame the defenders outside the walls of the town. Louis withdrew but refused to renounce Dalmatia, although the Venetians offered to pay 320,000 golden florins as compensation. Lacking military support from Louis, however, Zadar surrendered to the Venetians on 21 December 1346. Louis sent small expeditions one after one to Italy at the beginning of his war against Joanna, because he did not want to harass the Italians who had suffered from a famine the previous year. His first troops departed under the command of Nicholas Vásári, Bishop of Nyitra (now Nitra in Slovakia), on 24 April 1347. Louis also hired German mercenaries. He departed from Visegrád on 11 November. After marching through Udine, Verona, Modena, Bologna, Urbino, and Perugia, he entered the Kingdom of Naples on 24 December near L'Aquila, which had yielded to him. Queen Joanna remarried, wedding a cousin, Louis of Taranto, and fled for Marseille on 11 January 1348. Their other relatives, Robert of Taranto and Charles of Durazzo, visited Louis in Aversa to yield to him. Louis received them amicably and convinced them to persuade their brothers, Philip of Taranto and Louis of Durazzo, to join them. After their arrival, King Louis's "smile was replaced by the harshest expression as he unveiled with terrible words the true feelings he had for the princes and that he had kept hidden until then", according to the contemporaneous Domenico da Gravina. He repeated his former accusations, blamed his kinsmen for his brother's murder, and had them captured on 22 January. The next day Charles of Durazzo – the husband of Joanna I's sister, Mary – was beheaded upon Louis's orders. The other princes were kept captive and sent to Hungary, together with Louis's infant nephew, Charles Martel. Louis marched to Naples in February. The citizens offered him a ceremonious entry, but he refused, threatening to let his soldiers sack the town if they did not raise the taxes. He adopted the traditional titles of the kings of Naples – "King of Sicily and Jerusalem, Duke of Apulia and Prince of Capua" – and administered the kingdom from the Castel Nuovo, garrisoning his mercenaries in the most important forts. He used unusually brutal methods of investigation to capture all accomplices in the death of his brother, according to Domenico da Gravina. Most local noble families (including the Balzos and the Sanseverinos) refused to cooperate with him. The pope refused to confirm Louis's rule in Naples, which would have united two powerful kingdoms under Louis's rule. The pope and the cardinals declared Queen Joanna innocent of her husband's murder at a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals. The arrival of the Black Death forced Louis to leave Italy in May. He made Ulrich Wolfhardt governor of Naples, but his mercenaries did not hinder Joanna I and her husband from returning in September. Louis, who had signed a truce for eight years with Venice on 5 August, sent new troops to Naples under the command of Stephen Lackfi, Voivode of Transylvania, in late 1349. Lackfi reoccupied Capua, Aversa and other forts that had been lost to Joanna I, but a mutiny among his German mercenaries forced him to return to Hungary. The Black Death had meanwhile reached Hungary. The first wave of the epidemic ended in June, but it returned in September, killing Louis's first wife, Margaret. Louis also fell ill, but survived the plague. Although the Black Death was less devastating in the sparsely populated Hungary than in other parts of Europe, there were regions that became depopulated in 1349, and the demand for work force increased in the subsequent years. Louis proposed to renounce the Kingdom of Naples if Clement dethroned Joanna. After the pope refused, Louis departed for his second Neapolitan campaign in April 1350. He suppressed a mutiny that occurred among his mercenaries while he and his troops were waiting for the arrival of further troops in Barletta. While marching towards Naples, he faced resistance at many towns because his vanguards, which were under the command of Stephen Lackfi, had become notorious for their cruelty. During the campaign, Louis personally led assaults and climbed city walls together with his soldiers, endangering his own life. While besieging Canosa di Puglia, Louis fell into the moat from a ladder when a defender of the fort hit him with a stone. He dove into a river without hesitation to save a young soldier who was swept away while exploring a ford upon his order. An arrow pierced Louis's left leg during the siege of Aversa. After the fall of Aversa to Hungarian troops on 3 August, Queen Joanna and her husband again fled from Naples. However, Louis decided to return to Hungary. According to the contemporaneous historian Matteo Villani, Louis attempted to "leave the kingdom without losing face" after he had run out of money and experienced the resistance of the local population. To celebrate the Jubilee of 1350, Louis visited Rome during his journey back to Hungary. He arrived in Buda on 25 October 1350. With the mediation of the Holy See, the envoys of Louis and Queen Joanna's husband, Louis of Taranto, signed a truce for six months. The pope promised Louis that the queen's role in her husband's murder would again be investigated, and he ordered her to pay 300,000 gold florins as a ransom for the imprisoned Neapolitan princes. ### Expansion (1350–1358) Casimir III of Poland urged Louis to intervene in his war with the Lithuanians who had occupied Brest, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, and other important towns in Halych and Lodomeria in the previous years. The two monarchs agreed that Halych and Lodomeria would be integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary after Casimir's death. Casimir also authorized Louis to redeem the two realms for 100,000 florins if Casimir fathered a son. Louis led his army to Cracow in June 1351. Because Casimir fell ill, Louis became the sole commander of the united Polish and Hungarian army. He invaded the lands of the Lithuanian prince, Kęstutis, in July. Kęstutis seemingly accepted Louis's suzerainty on 15 August and agreed to be baptised, along with his brothers, in Buda. However, Kęstutis did nothing to fulfill his promises after Polish and Hungarian troops were withdrawn. In an attempt to capture Kęstutis, Louis returned, but he could not defeat the Lithuanians, who even killed one of his allies, Boleslaus III of Płock, in battle. Louis returned to Buda before 13 September. A papal legate visited Louis to persuade him to wage war against Stefan Dušan, Emperor of the Serbs, who had forced his Roman Catholic subjects to be re-baptised and join the Serbian Orthodox Church. To deal with the grievances of the Hungarian noblemen, Louis held a Diet in late 1351. He confirmed all but one of the provisions of the Golden Bull of 1222, declaring that all noblemen enjoyed the same liberties in his realms. He rejected only the provision that authorized noblemen who died without a son to freely bequeath their estates. Instead, he introduced an entail system, prescribing that the estates of a nobleman who had no male descendants passed to his kinsmen, or if there were no male relatives to the Crown, upon his death. At the same Diet, Louis ordered that all landowners were to collect the "ninth", that is one tenth of specified agricultural products, from the peasants who held plots on their estates. On the other hand, he confirmed the right of all peasants to freely move to another landowner's estates. The "general accord" between Louis and the royal couple of Naples "was accepted by both sides" during 1351, according to the contemporaneous Niccolò Acciaioli. Joanna I and her husband returned to the Kingdom of Naples and Louis's troops were withdrawn. Louis even renounced the ransom that Joanna I had promised to pay for the liberation of the imprisoned Neapolitan princes, stating that he had not gone to "war for greed, but to avenge the death of his brother". Louis continued to use the titles of his grandfather, Charles Martel of Anjou (the firstborn son of Charles II of Naples), styling himself as "Prince of Salerno and lord of Monte Sant'Angelo". Casimir III laid siege to Belz and Louis joined his uncle in March 1352. During the siege, which ended without the surrender of the fort, Louis was heavily injured in his head. Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, hired Tatar mercenaries who stormed into Podolia, Louis returned to Hungary because he feared a Tatar invasion of Transylvania. Pope Clement proclaimed a crusade against the Lithuanians and the Tatars in May, authorizing Louis to collect a tithe from Church revenues during the next four years. The pope stated that he had never "granted a tenth of such duration", emphasizing the link between his magnanimity and the release of the imprisoned Neapolitan princes. The pope also authorized Louis to seize the pagans' and schismatics' lands bordering on his kingdom. Although Louis signed an alliance with the Republic of Genoa in October 1352, he did not intervene in the Genoese–Venetian War, because his truce of 1349 with Venice was still in force. Louis married Elizabeth of Bosnia, who was the daughter of his vassal, Stephen II, in 1353. Historian Gyula Kristó says that this marriage showed Louis's renewed interest in the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula. While he was hunting in Zólyom County (now in Slovakia) in late November 1353, a brown bear attacked him, inflicting 24 wounds on his legs. Louis's life was saved by a knight of the court, John Besenyő, who killed the beast with his sword. According to Matteo Villani, Louis launched an expedition against the Golden Horde at the head of an army of 200,000 horsemen in April 1354. The young Tatar ruler, whom historian Iván Bertényi identified as Jani Beg, did not want to wage war against Hungary and agreed to sign a peace treaty. Although no other primary source mentioned that campaign and treaty, the Tatars made no plundering raids in Transylvania after 1354, which suggests that Villani's report is reliable. In the same year, Louis invaded Serbia, forcing Stefan Dušan to withdraw from the region along the river Sava. Under duress, Dušan initiated negotiations with the Holy See for acknowledgement of the popes' primacy. The following year, Louis sent reinforcements to Casimir III to fight against the Lithuanians, and Hungarian troops supported Albert II, Duke of Austria, against Zürich. The Venetian delegates offered Louis 6–7,000 golden ducats as a compensation for Dalmatia, but Louis refused to give up his plan to reconquer the province. He signed an alliance with Albert II of Austria and Nicolaus of Luxemburg, Patriarch of Aquileia, against Venice. Upon his order, Croatian lords besieged and captured Klis, a Dalmatian fortress that Stefan Dušan's sister, Jelena, had inherited from her husband, Mladen Šubić. In summer 1356, Louis invaded Venetian territories without a formal declaration of war. He laid siege to Treviso on 27 July. A local nobleman, Giuliano Baldachino, noticed that Louis sat alone while writing his letters on the banks of Sile River on each morning. Baldachino proposed the Venetians to assassinate him in exchange for 12,000 golden florins and Castelfranco Veneto, but they refused his offer because he did not share the details of his plans with them. Louis returned to Buda in the autumn, but his troops continued the siege. Pope Innocent VI urged the Venetians to make a peace with Hungary. The pope made Louis the "standard-bearer of the Church" and granted him a three-year tithe to fight against Francesco II Ordelaffi and other rebellious lords in the Papal States. Louis sent an army under Nicholas Lackfi's command to support the pope's troops in Italy. Louis marched to Dalmatia in July 1357. Split, Trogir, and Šibenik soon got rid of Venetian governors and yielded to Louis. After a short siege, Louis's army also captured Zadar with the assistance of its townspeople. Tvrtko I of Bosnia, who had succeeded Louis's father-in-law in 1353, surrendered western Hum to Louis, who claimed that territory as his wife's dowry. In the Treaty of Zadar, which was signed on 18 February 1358, the Republic of Venice renounced all Dalmatian towns and islands between the Gulf of Kvarner and Durazzo in favor of Louis. The Republic of Ragusa also accepted Louis's suzerainty. The Dalmatian towns remained self-governing communities, owing only a yearly tribute and naval service to Louis, who also abolished all commercial restrictions that had been introduced during the Venetians' rule. The merchants of Ragusa were explicitly entitled to freely trade in Serbia even during a war between Hungary and Serbia. ### Wars in the Balkans (1358–1370) Serbia started to disintegrate after the death of Stefan Dušan. According to Matteo Villani, an unidentified Serbian lord sought Hungarian assistance against his more powerful (and also unnamed) enemy in the late 1350s. Historians John V. A. Fine and Pál Engel write that the Serbian lord was a member of the Rastislalić family; Gyula Kristó and Iván Bertényi identify him as Lazar Hrebeljanović. Royal charters of 1358 show that Hungarian troops fought in Serbia in October 1358. The next summer Louis also marched to Serbia, but Stefan Uroš V of Serbia avoided battle. Louis and the royal army stayed in Transylvania in November 1359 and January 1360, implying that he planned a military expedition against Wallachia or another neighboring territory. A charter of 1360 said that a Romanian voivode, Dragoș of Giulești, restored Louis's suzerainty in Moldavia after a rebellion of local Romanians. According to most Moldavian chronicles, Dragoș, who is sometimes identified with Dragoș of Giulești and sometimes as Dragoș of Bedeu, departed "from the Hungarian country, from Maramureș" at the head of his retinue, crossed the Carpathian Mountains while chasing an aurochs and settled in the valley of the Moldova River in 1359. The same chronicles presented this "dismounting" by Dragoș as a decisive step towards the development of the Principality of Moldavia. Another Romanian voivode, Bogdan, who had rebelled against Louis and plundered the estates of the Romanian landowners loyal to the king already in the 1340s, departed from Hungary and invaded Moldavia in the early 1360s. Bogdan expelled the descendants of Louis's vassal, Dragoș, from the principality. According to John of Küküllő, Louis launched several expeditions against Bogdan, but their dates cannot be determined. Bogdan ruled Moldavia as an independent prince. Upon the pope's request, Louis sent Hungarian troops to relieve Bologna, which was besieged by Bernabò Visconti's troops. After Visconti lifted the siege, Louis's mercenaries pillaged the region and refused to cooperate with the papal legate; Louis had the commander of the army imprisoned. After a conflict emerged between Emperor Charles IV and Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, rumors spread about a conspiracy to dethrone the emperor in favor of Louis or Rudolf. Charles IV, Rudolf IV and Louis met in Nagyszombat (now Trnava in Slovakia) in May. The emperor and the duke mutually surrendered their claims to the other party's realms. Louis also persuaded the emperor to renounce his suzerainty over the Duchy of Płock in Poland. Louis decided to convert the Jews in Hungary to Catholicism around 1360. After experiencing resistance, he expelled them from his realms. Their immovable property was confiscated, but they were allowed to take their personal property with them and also to recover the loans they had made. No pogrom took place, which was unusual in Europe in the 14th century, according to historian Raphael Patai. Emperor Charles IV and Rudolf IV of Austria signed a treaty of alliance against the patriarch of Aquileia, who was Louis's ally, in August 1361. Fearing the formation of a coalition along the western borders of Hungary, Louis asked his former enemy, Louis of Taranto (Joanna I's husband), to send at least one of his brothers to Buda, and mediated a reconciliation between Rudolph IV and the patriarch. At a meeting with Louis's envoys in Prague, Emperor Charles made an insulting remark about Louis's mother, stating that she "was shameless", according to Jan Długosz's chronicle. Louis demanded an apology, but the emperor did not answer. In preparation for a war against Bohemia, Louis ordered the mobilization of the royal army and marched to Trencsén (now Trenčín in Slovakia). However, his supposed allies (Rudolf IV of Austria, Meinhard III of Tyrol and Casimir III of Poland) failed to join him, and the emperor initiated negotiations that lasted for months with the mediation of Casimir III. Louis was finally reconciled with Charles IV at their meeting in Uherské Hradiště on 8 May 1363. Louis invaded Bosnia from two directions in the spring of 1363. An army under the command of Palatine Nicholas Kont and Nicholas Apáti, Archbishop of Esztergom, laid siege to Srebrenica, but the fortress did not surrender. As the royal seal was stolen during the siege, a new seal was made and all Louis's former charters were to be confirmed with the new seal. The army under Louis's personal command besieged Sokolac in July, but could not capture it. Hungarian troops returned to Hungary in the same month. Pope Urban V proclaimed a crusade against the Muslim powers of the Mediterraneum upon Peter I of Cyprus's request on 31 March 1363. Urban V urged Louis to join the crusade, emphasizing that he was a powerful monarch, a devout Christian, and "well-placed to help". The next month the pope levied a three-year tithe on the church revenues in Hungary and asked Louis to support the papal officials to collect the tax. However, Louis made every effort to hinder the activities of the papal tax collectors, stating that he needed resources to cover the costs of his future wars against the infidels and the pope's enemies in Italy. Louis signed a treaty with Emperor Charles and Rudolf IV of Austria in Brno in early 1364, which put an end to their conflicts. In September, Louis visited Cracow to attend the large congress where Peter I of Cyprus attempted to persuade a dozen European monarchs to join the crusade. Louis was the only monarch to promise assistance, but later failed to fulfill his promise. At the congress, Casimir III of Poland confirmed Louis's right to succeed him in Poland if he died without a male issue. Louis, who had not fathered a son either, invited a distant relative of his, Charles of Durazzo, to Hungary in 1364, but did not make the young prince his official heir. Louis allowed the Jews to return to Hungary in the same year; legal proceedings between the Jews and those who had seized their houses lasted for years. Louis assembled his armies in Temesvár (now Timișoara in Romania) in February 1365. According to a royal charter that year, he was planning to invade Wallachia because the new voivode, Vladislav Vlaicu, had refused to obey him. However, he ended up heading a campaign against the Bulgarian Tsardom of Vidin and its ruler Ivan Sratsimir, which suggests that Vladislav Vlaicu had in the meantime yielded to him. Louis seized Vidin and imprisoned Ivan Stratsimir in May or June. Within three months, his troops occupied Ivan Stratsimir's realm, which was organized into a separate border province, or banate, under the command of Hungarian lords. The Byzantine Emperor, John V Palaiologos visited Louis in Buda in early 1366, seeking his assistance against the Ottoman Turks, who had set foot in Europe. This was the first occasion that a Byzantine Emperor left his empire to plead for a foreign monarch's assistance. According to Louis's physician, Giovanni Conversini, at his first meeting with Louis, the emperor refused to dismount and to take off his hat, which offended Louis. John V pledged that he would promote the union of the Byzantine Church with the Papacy, and Louis promised to send him help, but neither the emperor nor Louis fulfilled their promises. Pope Urban encouraged Louis not to send help to Constantinople before the emperor guaranteed the Church union. Louis stayed in Transylvania between June and September 1366, implying that he waged war against Moldavia. He issued a decree authorizing the Transylvanian noblemen to pass judgments against "malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians". He also decreed that testimony of a Romanian knez who had received a royal charter of grant weighed the same as that of a nobleman. In the same year, Louis granted the Banate of Severin and the district of Fogaras to Vladislav Vlaicu of Wallachia, who had accepted his suzerainty. Tvrtko I of Bosnia also accepted Louis's suzerainty after Hungarian troops assisted him in regaining his throne in early 1367. Louis made attempts to convert his pagan or "schismatic" subjects to Catholicism, even by force. The conversion of the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hungary a century before was completed during his reign, according to John of Küküllő. After the conquest of Vidin, he sent Franciscan friars to the new banate to convert the local Orthodox population, which caused widespread discontent among the Bulgarians. In 1366, he ordered that all Serbian priests be converted and rebaptised. He also decreed that only Roman Catholic noblemen and knezes were allowed to hold landed property in the district of Sebes in Temes County. Louis supported the religious orders, especially the Franciscans and the Paulines, for whom he and his mother set up dozens of new monasteries. Upon Louis's request, Pope Urban V sanctioned the establishment of a university in Pécs in 1367, with the exception of a faculty of theology. However, Louis did not arrange for sufficient revenues and the university was closed by 1390. Vladislav Vlaicu of Wallachia made an alliance with Ivan Shishman, a half-brother of the former ruler of Vidin, Ivan Sratsimir. Their united armies imposed a blockade on Vidin. Louis marched to the Lower Danube and ordered Nicholas Lackfi, Voivode of Transylvania, to invade Wallachia in the autumn of 1368. The voivode's army marched through the valley of the Ialomița River, but the Wallachians ambushed it and killed many Hungarian soldiers, including the voivode. However, Louis's campaign against Wallachia from the west was successful and Vladislav Vlaicu yield to him in next summer. Upon his initiative, Louis restored Ivan Stratsimir in Vidin. Ivan Stratsimir swore loyalty to Louis and sent his two daughters as hostages to Hungary. From the late 1360s, Louis suffered from a skin disease with symptoms similar to leprosy. Thereafter he became even more zealous and dedicated more time to praying and religious contemplation. After his meeting with Louis in 1372, the papal legate, John de Cardailhac, stated: "I call God as my witness that I have never seen a monarch more majestic and more powerful ... or one who desires peace and calm as much as he." He also changed the priorities of his foreign policy and began neglecting the Balkan states. Casimir III of Poland and Louis signed a treaty against Emperor Charles IV in Buda in February 1369. At their next meeting in Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia) in September, Albert I of Bavaria, and Rupert I of the Palatinate joined their coalition against the emperor and the Habsburgs. However, Emperor Charles IV persuaded the two Wittelsbachs (Albert I and Rupert I) to break off the coalition in September 1370. ### Union with Poland and reforms (1370–1377) Casimir III of Poland died on 5 November 1370. Louis arrived after his uncle's funeral and ordered the erection of a splendid Gothic marble monument to the deceased king. He was crowned king of Poland in the Cracow Cathedral on 17 November. Casimir III had willed his patrimony – including the duchies of Sieradz, Łęczyca and Dobrzyń – to his grandson, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania. However, the Polish prelates and lords were opposed to the disintegration of Poland and Casimir III's testament was declared void. Louis visited Gniezno and made his Polish mother, Elizabeth, regent before returning to Hungary in December. His uncle's two surviving daughters (Anna and Jadwiga) accompanied him, and the Polish Crown Jewels were transferred to Buda, which raised discontent among Louis's new subjects. Louis's wife gave birth to a daughter, Catherine, in 1370, seventeen years after their marriage; a second daughter, Mary, was born in 1371. Thereafter Louis's made several attempts to safeguard his daughters' right to succeed him. During a war between Emperor Charles IV and Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria, Louis intervened on the duke's behalf and the Hungarian army invaded Moravia. After the duke and the emperor signed a peace treaty, Louis and the emperor agreed upon the betrothal of their children early the next year. The Ottomans annihilated the Serbian armies in the Battle of Marica on 26 September 1371. Lazar Hrebeljanović, one of the Serbian lords, swore loyalty to Louis. Pope Gregory XI urged Louis to resist the Ottomans but also pleaded with him to send reinforcements to Italy to fight against Bernabò Visconti. A war broke out between the Republic of Venice and Francesco I da Carrara, Lord of Padova, who was an ally of Louis, in the summer of 1372. Louis sent reinforcements to Italy to assist Francesco da Carrara. The Venetians defeated the Hungarian troops at Treviso and captured its commander, Nicholas Lackfi, forcing Louis I to sign a peace treaty on 23 September 1373. Louis and the representatives of the Polish nobility started negotiations of Louis's succession in Poland in the autumn of 1373. After a year of negotiations, he issued the so-called Privilege of Koszyce on 17 September 1374, reducing the tax that Polish noblemen paid to the king by about 84% and promising a remuneration to noblemen who participated in foreign military campaigns. In exchange, the Polish lords confirmed the right of Louis's daughters to inherit Poland. Louis invaded Wallachia in May 1375, because the new prince of Wallachia, Radu I, had formed an alliance with the Bulgarian ruler, Ivan Shishman, and the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. The Hungarian army routed the united forces of the Wallachians and their allies, and Louis occupied the Banate of Severin, but Radu I did not yield. During the summer, Wallachian troops stormed into Transylvania and Ottomans pillaged the Banat. From the middle of the 1370s, the Lackfis' influence diminished and new favorites emerged in the royal court. James Szepesi was appointed judge royal in 1373, and Nicholas Garay became the palatine in 1375. The organization of central government was also modified to create a more centralized power structure. Louis's "secret seal", that he had always taken with him during his wars and journeys, was declared authentic, and Louis entrusted it to the secret chancellor who was always to accompany him. A new high official, the Lord Chancellor were authorized to use the great seal in the king's name in 1376 or 1377. Demetrius, Bishop of Zagreb, who was of humble origin, was the first to hold this new office. The Lord Chancellor became the head of a new central court of justice, called the court of "the king's special presence" in 1377. From around the same time, the royal free towns delegated jurors to assist the master of the treasury, who headed the court of appeal for the towns. A new official, the treasurer, took over the financial duties of the master of the treasury. The Lithuanians made raids in Halych, Lodomeria, and Poland, almost reaching Cracow in November 1376. A riot broke out in Cracow against the unpopular queen mother, Elizabeth, on 6 December. The rioters slaughtered about 160 servants of the queen-mother, forcing her to flee to Hungary. Taking advantage of the situation, Władysław the White, Duke of Gniewkowo, who was a male member of the royal Piast dynasty, announced his claim to the Polish crown. However, Louis's partisans defeated the pretender, and Louis made him abbot of the Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary. Louis appointed Vladislaus II of Opole his governor in Poland. In summer 1377, Louis invaded the territories held by the Lithuanian prince, George, in Lodomeria. His Polish troops soon captured Chełm, while Louis seized George's seat, Belz, after besieging it for seven weeks. He incorporated the occupied territories in Lodomeria, together with Galicia, into the Kingdom of Hungary. Three Lithuanian princes – Fedor, Prince of Ratno, and two princes of Podolia, Alexander and Boris – accepted Louis's suzerainty. ### Last years (1377–1382) Tvrtko I of Bosnia had himself crowned king, adopting the title of "King of Serbia, Bosnia and the Coastland", in 1377. Whether Louis had approved Tvrtko's coronation cannot be decided. A new war broke out between Venice and Genoa in 1378. Louis supported the Genoese and Trogir became the regular base of the Genoese fleet, which transformed Dalmatia into an important theater of war. Louis also sent reinforcements to Francesco I da Carrara to fight against the Venetians. The cardinals who had turned against Pope Urban VI elected a new pope, Clement VII on 20 September 1378, which gave rise to the Western Schism. Louis acknowledged Urban VI as the legitimate pope and offered him support to fight against his opponents in Italy. As Joanna I of Naples decided to join Clement VII's camp, Pope Urban excommunicated and dethroned her on 17 June 1380. The pope acknowledged Charles of Durazzo, who had lived in Louis's court, as the lawful king of Naples. After Charles of Durazzo promised that he would not claim Hungary against Louis's daughters, Louis dispatched him to invade Southern Italy at the head of a large army. Within a year, Charles of Durazzo occupied the Kingdom of Naples, and forced Queen Joanna to surrender to him on 26 August 1381. The envoys of Louis and Venice had meanwhile started negotiations on a new peace treaty, which was signed in Turin on 24 August 1381. According to the treaty, Venice renounced Dalmatia and also promised to pay 7,000 golden florins as an annual tribute to Hungary. Louis also stipulated that Venice was to transfer the relics of St Paul of Thebes to the newly established Pauline monastery at Budaszentlőrinc. Royal charters referred to military actions in Lodomeria and Wallachia in the first half of 1382, but no further information of those wars was preserved. Louis, whose health was quickly deteriorating, invited the representatives of the Polish prelates and lord for a meeting in Zólyom (now Zvolen in Slovakia). Upon his demand, the Poles swore loyalty to his daughter, Mary, and her fiancé, Sigismund of Luxemburg, on 25 July 1382. Louis died in Nagyszombat (now Trnava in Slovakia) in the night on 10 or 11 September 1382. He was buried in the Székesfehérvár Cathedral in a chapel that had been built upon his orders. ## Family Louis's first wife, Margaret, was the oldest child of Charles, Margrave of Moravia, and his first wife, Blanche of Valois. Margaret was born in 1335. The exact date of the marriage of Louis and Margaret is unknown, but it occurred between 1342 and 1345. Margaret died childless on 7 September 1349. According to the Chronicle of Parthénope, the Neapolitan princes whom Louis had imprisoned during his first campaign in Southern Italy proposed him to marry Queen Joanna I's younger sister and heir, Mary. She was the widow of Charles of Durazzo, who had been executed on Louis's orders. During the siege of Aversa in the summer of 1350, Louis met her envoy in the nearby Trentola-Ducenta and the terms of their marriage were accepted. However, Mary was forced to marry Robet of Baux after Louis left Southern Italy. Louis married his second wife, Elizabeth, around 20 June 1353. Elizabeth was the daughter of Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia, and Stephen's wife, Elizabeth of Kuyavia. Louis and his new wife were within the prohibited degree of kinship, because Louis's mother and his wife's grandmother were cousins, but they applied for a papal dispensation only about four months after their marriage. Historian Iván Bertényi says that this haste suggests that Elizabeth, who had been living in the court of Louis's mother, was pregnant at the time of the marriage. If this theory is valid, Louis's and his wife's first child was stillborn. Their next child, Catherine, was born in 1370 and died in 1378. The next daughter, Mary, who would succeed Louis in Hungary, was born in 1371. Louis's youngest daughter, Jadwiga, who was born in 1373, became queen regnant of Poland. ## Legacy Louis was the only Hungarian monarch to receive the epithet "Great". He was mentioned under this byname not only in Hungarian chronicles in the 14th and 15th centuries, but also in a 17th-century genealogy of the Capetians. Both his chivalrous personality and his successful military campaigns contributed to the development of his fame as a "great king". Louis waged wars in almost each year during his reign. Louis "always desired peace at home and war abroad for neither can be made without the other", according to Antonio Bonfini's late 15th-century chronicle. Historian Enikő Csukovits writes that Louis's military actions show that he continued and accomplished his father's policy through recovering Croatia and Dalmatia and waging wars in Southern Italy, in Lithuania and in the Balkan Peninsula. On the other hand, Pál Engel says that Louis's "expeditions often lacked a realistic goal and sometimes even a reasonable pretext ... it was war itself that gave him pleasure". In the age of Romantic nationalism, Hungary during Louis's reign was described as an empire "whose shores were washed by three seas" in reference to the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas. For instance, in 1845 the poet Sándor Petőfi referred to Louis's reign as a period when "the falling stars of the north, the east and the south were all extinguished in Hungarian seas". Poland remained an independent country during Louis's reign and its borders did not extend to the Baltic Sea, and Louis's suzerainty along the northwestern shores of the Black Sea was also uncertain. In Polish historiography, two contrasting evaluation of Louis's reign in Poland coexisted. The "pessimistic" tradition can be traced back to the views of the late 14th-century Jan of Czarnków, who was banished from Poland during Louis's reign. Czarnków emphasized that "there was no stability in the Kingdom of Poland" and the royal officials "continually pillaged the property of the poor people" during Louis's reign. According to the "optimistic" historiographic tradition, Louis continued Casimir the Great's policy of preserving the unity of Poland against the separatist magnates of Greater Poland with the assistance of lords from Lesser Poland. John of Küküllő emphasized that Louis "ruled neither with passion, nor with arbitrariness, but rather as the guardian of righteousness". Antonio Bonfini also described Louis as a just king wandering among his subjects in disguise to protect them the royal officials' arbitrary acts. Even Jan of Czarnków underlined that Louis "did not rule in an absolute manner; on the contrary, the foundations ... of [the Poles'] freedom were laid by him". New palaces and castles built at Zólyom, Diósgyőr and Louis's other favorite hunting places were "masterpieces of the highest European standards" of his age, according to historian László Kontler. Louis initiated the compellation of the Illuminated Chronicle, which preserved the text of earlier chronicles. The 147 miniatures decorating the Illuminated Chronicle testify the mastery of Hungarian workshops during Louis's reign.

Moneyball (film)

2011 American film by Bennett Miller

Moneyball is a 2011 American biographical sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller with a script by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin from a story by Stan Chervin. The film is based on the 2003 nonfiction book, "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game", by Michael Lewis. The book is an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team. In the film, Beane (Brad Pitt) and assistant general manager Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), faced with the franchise's limited budget for players, build a team of undervalued talent by taking a sophisticated sabermetric approach to scouting and analyzing players. Philip Seymour Hoffman also stars as Art Howe. Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Lewis's book in 2004, hiring Chervin to write the screenplay. David Frankel was initially set to direct with Zaillian now writing the screenplay, but was soon replaced by Steven Soderbergh, who planned to make the film in a semi-documentary style featuring interviews from real athletes, and having the real players and coaches on the team portray themselves. But before its July 2009 filming start, the film was put in turnaround due to creative differences between Soderbergh and Sony over a last-minute script rewrite. Soderbergh exited, and Miller was hired to direct, with Pitt becoming a producer and Sorkin hired for rewrites. Filming began in July 2010 at various stadiums such as Dodger Stadium and Oakland Coliseum. Moneyball premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on September 23, 2011, to box office success and critical acclaim, particularly for its acting and screenplay. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Pitt and Best Supporting Actor for Hill. ## Plot Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, is devastated by the team's loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 American League Division Series. With the impending departure of star players Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Jason Isringhausen to free agency, Beane needs to assemble a competitive team for 2002 with Oakland's limited budget of 41 million dollars During a scouting visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets Peter Brand, a young Yale economics graduate with radical ideas about evaluating players. Beane asks whether Brand would have drafted him out of high school; though scouts considered Beane promising, his career in the major leagues was disappointing. Brand says he would not have drafted him until the ninth round and intuits that Beane would've thereby turned down the Mets' offer and gone to Stanford on a full sports scholarship instead. Impressed, Beane hires him. Using Brand's sabermetric method, Beane signs undervalued players such as Chad Bradford, Jeremy Giambi, and Scott Hatteberg, and also trades for David Justice. The Athletics' scouts are hostile toward the strategy, and Beane fires the head scout, Grady Fuson, after a heated confrontation. Beane also faces opposition from Art Howe, the Athletics' manager. Howe disregards Beane's and Brand's strategy and uses a more traditional lineup. Early in the season, the Athletics are already 10 games behind first, leading critics to dismiss the new method as a failure. Brand argues that their sample size is too small to conclude that the method does not work, and Beane convinces the team owner, Stephen Schott, to stay the course. To get help on defense, Beane trades Giambi to the Phillies for John Mabry and the only traditional first baseman, Carlos Peña, to the Tigers, leaving Howe no choice but to use the team that Beane and Brand have designed. Three weeks later, the Athletics are only four games behind first. Before the trade deadline, Beane acquires the relief pitcher Ricardo Rincón from the Indians, and on August 13, the Athletics start a winning streak. Beane, superstitiously, refuses to watch games in progress, but when the Athletics tie the American League record of 19 consecutive wins, his daughter persuades him to attend the next game against the Kansas City Royals. Oakland is leading 11–0 when Beane arrives in the fourth inning, only to watch the Royals even the score by the top of the ninth. Thanks to a walk-off home run by Hatteberg, the Athletics achieve a then record-breaking 20th consecutive win. Beane tells Brand he will not be satisfied until they have changed baseball by winning the World Series. The Athletics win the American League West but lose to the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series, with an unseen baseball analyst explaining that some other tangibles of a player, such as drive and clutch performance, cannot be measured. The owner of the Boston Red Sox, John W. Henry, realizes that sabermetrics is the future of baseball. He makes Beane an offer to become the Red Sox general manager for a \$12.5 million salary, which would make him the highest-paid general manager in sports history. In Oakland, Beane discloses the offer to Brand and says that their strategy failed. Brand shows a video of a heavyset batter, Jeremy Brown, who hits a home run but does not realize it; Billy understands what Brand is trying to say and thanks him. In his car, an emotional Beane listens to a cover of "The Show" recorded by his daughter in which she tells him to "just enjoy the show.” In an epilogue, Beane turns down Henry's offer, but the Red Sox still end up winning the World Series two years later using Beane and Brand's model. ## Cast Film director Spike Jonze has a small uncredited role as Alán, Sharon's spouse. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick appears as Athletics co-owner Stephen Schott. ## Production ### Development and pre-production In May 2004, Sony Pictures acquired the rights to the Michael Lewis book, and had hired Stan Chervin to write the screenplay. By October 2008, Brad Pitt was being courted to star in the film, now being written by Steven Zaillian, and David Frankel was attached to direct. Frankel and Pitt met with one another during the week of the 66th Golden Globe Awards to discuss the project, but eventually Frankel would exit by February 2009, with Steven Soderbergh entering negotiations to direct. Soderbergh confirmed his involvement in May that year, and in talking about the film, stated "I think we have a way in, making it visual and making it funny. I want it to be really funny and entertaining, and I want you to not realize how much information is being thrown at you because you're having fun. We've found a couple of ideas on how to bust the form a bit, in order for all that information to reach you in a way that's a little oblique". Demetri Martin was cast to play Paul DePodesta in the film, with former Athletics players Scott Hatteberg and David Justice playing themselves, and interview segments featuring players Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra set to occur. Production under Soderbergh was set to begin in July 2009, and was to be shot on location at Oakland Coliseum. Art Howe, former manager of the team, was also set to appear as himself. Five days before its July 8 filming start date, Sony cancelled the film and entered it into "limited turnaround". The cited reason for the cancellation was that, upon a last-minute script revision by Soderbergh that added "an abundance of baseball details", studio executives felt the audience would feel alienated. It was also stated that the studio now felt the film was too "arty" for its \$58 million budget. Soderbergh was said to be unwilling to compromise, leaving Sony chairwoman Amy Pascal "apoplectic". Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. both turned down offers to pick up the project. Soderbergh revealed he exited the film in a September 2009 interview with The Orlando Sentinel, saying, "There have been a couple of times in my career where I've been unceremoniously removed from projects. I don't waste a lot of energy on it. It doesn't get you anywhere. As soon as it became clear that there was no iteration of that movie that I was going to get to direct, I immediately started looking around for something else to do". In December 2009, Bennett Miller was hired to direct the film, with the casting of Jonah Hill, who was replacing Martin as DePodesta, announced in March 2010. Upon his request as he felt the script no longer accurately depicted him, DePodesta's name was removed, with Hill now playing the role of Peter Brand. Aaron Sorkin was brought on to provide a rewrite of the screenplay. Pascal had specifically sought out Sorkin's involvement, in addition to Pitt joining as a producer, and bringing producer Scott Rudin on board as executive producer. Sorkin agreed on the condition Zaillian gave his blessing. Sorkin and Zaillian eventually worked on different drafts of the script independently of one another. Miller took three weeks to agree to do the film, and stated he wasn't interested in making a traditional sports film, seeking instead to make it "subversive to the genre. It's not really a conventional sports movie. It puts all that stuff on its head". Cinematographer Adam Kimmel was initially set to work on the film, but due to his April 2010 arrest for sexual assault, was replaced by Wally Pfister. In May, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright entered negotiations to join the cast, with Hoffman portraying Howe, and Wright as Beane's ex-wife. Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop and Kathryn Morris were added to the cast in July, though Morris's scenes were cut. Pratt described how he initially was told in his first audition for the role of Hatteberg that he was "too fat". He took three months to work out and shed 30 pounds, which led to him winning the role. Bishop, portraying Justice in the film, had grown up idolizing the player, and played baseball for the advanced A affiliate team of the Atlanta Braves at the time Justice was on their roster. ### Filming Filming was given a July 2010 start date with a reduced budget of \$47 million after Pitt agreed to a pay cut. Filming took place at Blair Field for eight days. Dodger Stadium was used to stand in for multiple different stadiums due to the limited budget. Roughly 700 extras were used for fans in the stadiums for the various baseball scenes. Scenes were shot at the Oakland Coliseum beginning on July 26. ### Music The score was composed by Mychael Danna, with whom Miller worked on Capote. Danna implemented the song "The Mighty Rio Grande" by This Will Destroy You throughout the film. Joe Satriani plays the 'Star Spangled Banner' at the first game of the 2002 season. Interestingly, In the film Brad Pitt's 'daughter', Casey Beane (played by Kerris Lilla Dorsey), performs a cover of Australian singer Lenka's song "The Show", which is included in the soundtrack of the film. Other notable songs featured in Moneyball's soundtrack is, "Give Up the Funk" , which has been featured in other films such as the 2006 film "Click", where Adam Sandler's character sings the song while dancing. ## Accuracy In regard to the film's accuracy, David Haglund of Slate and Jonah Keri of Grantland criticized the film and book for excluding pitchers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito and position players such as Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada. These players were discovered via traditional scouting methods, and were key contributors to the success of the 2002 Athletics. Former Oakland A's manager Art Howe has spoken publicly about his disapproval of his portrayal in an interview on Sirius XM. "It is very disappointing to know that you spent seven years in an organization and gave your heart and soul to it and helped them go to the postseason your last three years there and win over 100 games your last two seasons and this is the way evidently your boss [Beane] feels about you." Howe also said producers of Miller's version of the film didn't contact him to consult on his portrayal. Hatteberg also said that Howe was portrayed inaccurately, saying: "Art Howe was a huge supporter of mine. I never got the impression from him that I was not his first choice." He mentioned Howe and Beane had a "turbulent relationship". The San Francisco Chronicle made note of several inaccuracies in the film, notably that players such as Giambi and Bradford had already joined the team before the time period in the film, and that the Giambi and Peña trades did not occur at the same time. ## Release Moneyball premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2011, and was released theatrically on September 23, 2011, by Columbia Pictures. The film was also released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 6, 2011, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. ## Box office Moneyball grossed \$75.6 million in the United States and Canada and \$34.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of \$110.2 million, against a production budget of \$50 million. The film grossed \$19.5 million from 2,993 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind the 3D re-release of The Lion King. In its second weekend it grossed \$12 million (a drop of only 38.3%), again finishing second. ## Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, Moneyball holds an approval rating of 94% based on 265 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Director Bennett Miller, along with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, take a niche subject and turn it into a sharp, funny, and touching portrait worthy of baseball lore." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. The film appeared on 35 critics' top-ten lists for the best films of 2011, with two critics ranking it first and another ranking it second. Roger Ebert, in his four star review, praised the film for its "intelligence and depth", specifically highlighting the screenplay and its "terse, brainy dialogue." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found Pitt's performance "relaxed yet edgy and sometimes unsettling", and stated she couldn't see anyone but Pitt in the role. Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers also praised Pitt's performance, in addition to Miller's direction and the screenplay, which he referred to as "dynamite." Owen Gleiberman for Entertainment Weekly highlighted Hoffman's performance alongside Pitt and Hill, finding Hoffman "does a character turn that's as fresh for him as the crew cut that makes him look like a grizzled old-timer." Kirk Honeycutt was complimentary of the comedic chemistry between Pitt and Hill, which prompted Honeycutt to compare the film to The Bad News Bears and Major League. Brian Eggert, owner and film critic of Deep Focus Review, said "even if you don't care much for baseball or sports in general, traces of a very human underdog drama come through to render the experience a universally consumable one." In his review for New York magazine, while reviewing the film and Pitt's performance, David Edelstein found Pitt's performance made the film more focused towards Beane as opposed to the team. Dana Stevens of Slate found the film could be enjoyed by viewers who typically don't like sports movies. Stevens also highlighted Hill's performance, finding the role "gives him the chance to be funny, not by wisecracking broadly but by underreacting." In a mixed review written for Slant Magazine, Bill Weber praised Pitt's performance, but found the film formulaic, stating "But true to Hollywood's tireless efforts to fit square-peg material into roundish genre niches, this wavering, intermittently smart story of daring to think differently flattens its narrative into formula." Weber also felt the audience would endure "tonal whiplash", pointing to the scene of Beane and Brand executing various trades he felt was "played for Laughs", but found "the rhythm isn't snappy enough to draw laughs." Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle found the film to be filled with compromises, writing "Someone crammed Major League-style sports cliches into a more nuanced story about baseball and progress - and then tried to fit a Brad Pitt star vehicle inside of that. The result is an interesting but frustrating near-miss." Hartlaub also criticized the film's runtime. ### Accolades Moneyball received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Pitt), Best Supporting Actor (Hill), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. At the 69th Golden Globe Awards, the film received four nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Pitt), Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Hill) and Best Screenplay. ## See also - List of baseball films - List of films about mathematicians

Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc.

1988 legal case

Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc. 862 F.2d 204, 9 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1322 (9th Cir. 1988) was a court case between two video game manufacturers, where Data East claimed that their copyright in Karate Champ was infringed by World Karate Championship, a game created by Epyx. Data East released Karate Champ in arcades in 1984, and the game became a best-seller and pioneered the fighting game genre. The next year, Epyx published World Karate Championship for home computers, which sold 1.5 million copies. Data East sued Epyx, alleging that the game infringed on their copyright and trademark. The district court found that Epyx had infringed on Data East's copyright, but not their trademark, and ordered an injunction against distributing World Karate Championship. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit court reversed the decision on appeal, finding that the lower court erred in finding that the works were substantially similar. As a principle, there is no substantial similarity between the expression of two works if the expression is inseparable from the idea. The court also applied the scènes à faire doctrine that no one can own a generic scene, and the merger doctrine that no one can own the expression to an idea if there is only one way to express it. Although the games shared fifteen similarities, the court determined these were inherent to making a video game about karate, and lifted the injunction against Epyx. In the 1994 case Capcom U.S.A. Inc. v. Data East Corp., Data East used the same principle to defend its game Fighter's History from Capcom's accusations that they infringed Street Fighter II. This led most lawsuits about alleged video game clones to be settled between the mid-1990s through to the mid-2000s. This approach began to shift in 2012 with Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. and Spry Fox, LLC v. Lolapps, Inc., as graphical improvements have made it harder to dismiss similarities as a coincidence of technological limitation. ## Background ### Facts In 1984, Data East released an arcade fighting game called Karate Champ. The game was a commercial success in arcades, becoming the top grossing cabinet in both Japan and America. The game once again became a best-seller when it was re-released for home computers, becoming the first game to receive a "Diamond Award" from the Software Publishers Association for sales above 500,000 units. Karate Champ is considered the first fighting game, and the player versus player version is the first fighting game to allow two players to fight each other. In 1985, System 3 began producing a karate game of their own, when their programmer and artist walked off the project. They approached game developer Archer Maclean to salvage the project, who decided re-start development by emulating other popular arcade martial arts games, such as The Way of the Exploding Fist. The final product was International Karate, which was published as World Karate Championship by Epyx in North America. The game went on to sell over 1.5 million copies in the United States, as the first European-made game to top the Billboard software charts. The success of International Karate attracted scrutiny from competitors, and Data East alleged that the game had copied their game Karate Champ without authorization. Maclean began to receive questions about the games' similarities, and he responded that two games about organized karate matches are likely to be similar. There indeed were similarities such as the scoring systems, referees, and several fighting moves. Also the games both one combatant wearing white, and the other wearing red, with a bonus round between matches where the combatants break bricks and dodge objects. Data East sued Epyx for copyright infringement, as well as infringement in Karate Champ's Trademark and Trade Dress. ### Law Courts have used the substantial similarity test to determine whether one work has unlawfully copied another, while allowing copying in instances where the similarities are not owned by anyone. One of the most influential cases in this area was Atari v. Amusement World from 1981, where the court listed numerous similarities between the games Asteroids and its alleged clone, Meteors. Despite twenty-two similarities, the court determined that these were unprotected ideas that are inherent to the game concept of shooting rocks in space. At the time, it was one of the only cases to rule in favor of the defendant, based on the idea-expression distinction that copyright does not protect broad ideas, only unique expression. Using similar principles, the court concluded that the video game K.C. Munchkin! infringed several protected elements of Pac-Man, in Atari, Inc. v. North American Philips Consumer Electronics Corp. At the time, courts had started to apply complex copyright principles to video games to show that certain elements are ineligible for copyright protection. This includes the scènes à faire doctrine that generic scenes cannot be owned by anyone, as well as the merger doctrine that no one can own the expression to an idea if that's one of the only ways to express it. ## Ruling and appeal ### District Court The case was heard in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, where the court ruled that Epyx had infringed upon Data East's copyright, but not their trademark. One of the issues was whether Epyx had accessed Data East's game. Since they provided no evidence that they created their game independently, the similarities were strong enough for the district court to infer that Epyx likely purchased it and discovered the underlying program. Even though the district court acknowledged a few cosmetic differences between the games, they still concluded that the idea expressed in both games is identical. A major factor in the ruling was the determination that the average consumer, a 17.5 year old male, would subjectively regard the two games as substantially similar. The court ordered a permanent injunction against Epyx, and an impoundment that restrained Epyx from further sale or distribution of World Karate Championship. Epyx was required to recall all copies of the infringing work. ### Appeal Epyx appealed the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, alleging that the district court was mistaken about the substantial similarity between the games. Epyx did not dispute that Data East owned a valid copyright in Karate Champ, but disputed that there had been direct copying, and that the similarities between the games were evidence of copyright infringement. The central issue in the appeal was whether the similarities between the games were result of unlawful copying, or if they were the inherent result of making a game about karate. Writing for the appeal court, Judge Stephen S. Trott noted that copyright disputes seldom have evidence of one party directly copying another. Thus, Data East needed to provide circumstantial evidence that Epyx had copied them, including evidence that Epyx had access to Karate Champ while making World Karate Championship, and that the two games were substantially similar. To determine the question of substantial similarity, Judge Trott applied the framework used in the copyright case Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., with an additional analysis of elements that fall outside of copyright protection. An analysis of substantial similarity should exclude unprotectable elements, which are eliminated by applying the idea-expression dichotomy, the merger doctrine, and the scènes à faire doctrine. The court summarized the principle that "no substantial similarity of expression will be found when the idea and its expression are inseparable." The court found that the games shared fifteen characteristics. However, the court determined that these characteristics, "which consist of the game procedure, common karate moves, the idea of background scenes, a time element, a referee, computer graphics, and bonus points, result from either constraints inherent in the sport of karate or computer restraints." This echoed the analysis in Atari v. Amusement World, explaining that the variety of possible expression was limited by the technology, thus raising the likelihood that any game's expressive elements would merge with the idea. Since the two games were not similar enough to constitute copyright infringement, the question of access became moot. The court further explained that "the visual depiction of karate matches is subject to the constraints inherent in the sport of karate itself," and many of the similar elements are "indispensable, or at least standard" to creating a karate game. Since many of these features are stereotypical of karate, they are not protected by copyright. After excluding unprotectable elements, such as functional rules and generic scenes related to karate, the court determined that the remainder of the games were not substantially similar. Judge Trott further stated that a 17.5 year old male would not find the games similar, contradicting the finding of the lower court. The appeal ruled that the district court had erred in their analysis, and ordered the injunction to be lifted. ## Effects The case was among several early rulings that applied the scènes à faire principle to video games, and became cited in further cases. In the 1994 case Capcom U.S.A. Inc. v. Data East Corp., Data East found itself defending a claim that their game Fighter's History had violated the copyright in Street Fighter II. Data East responded to Capcom that any similarities between the two games were inherent to the fighting game genre and not protected by copyright, and moreover, Karate Champ was the first game in the genre. Data East successfully defended the claim, ironically by using similar reasoning that had been used against them in Data East v. Epyx. As a result, most lawsuits about alleged video game clones were settled between the mid-1990s through to the mid-2000s. The Data East v. Epyx case was also cited in Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, where the court said that unprotected expression could not support any finding of infringement. Even outside the software industry, Pasillas v. McDonald's Corporation cited the legal principles from Data East v. Epyx to explain that infringement cannot be proved through similarity between standard elements. ## Legacy This case is remembered for building on the legal reasoning in Atari v. Amusement World, where the courts first applied the scènes à faire principle to video games. It's also an early example of the courts dissecting the similarities between two video games, before determining if the similar elements are protected by copyright. At the time, the Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal observed that the decision would provide more clarity about what similarities are considered infringing, bringing video games into conformity with other audio-visual works. The University of Pennsylvania Law Review noted that these early rulings were shaped by the technical constraints of the era, excluding similarities that might result from the limited range of expression in early video game technology. Contrasting it with later rulings, intellectual property attorney Jack Schecter noted it among early cases where "courts seemed to have a difficult time conceiving of copyright protection that would extend beyond the strict confines of the art and sound assets included in a game." Swatee Mehta noted that the intrinsic-extrinsic test used by the Ninth Circuit almost always led to a finding of non-infringement. John Quagliariello similarly argued that this was one of several cases that made it near impossible for a video game copyright holder to win a lawsuit against a potential infringer, especially considering the cost of a lawsuit versus the risk of an unfavorable ruling. Attorney Stephen C. McArthur mentioned it among several rulings that were permissive of clones, until that pattern changed in 2012. Legal scholars have determined that the permissive approach to video game clones shifted in 2012, with the rulings in Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. and Spry Fox, LLC v. Lolapps, Inc. Courts have noted the increased graphical power of modern video game platforms, which opens up new possibilities for artistic expression compared to early cases such as Data East v. Epyx, when it was harder to express an idea in new ways. ## See also - Analytic dissection - Scènes à faire doctrine - Substantial similarity - Idea-expression divide - Brown Bag Software v. Symantec Corp.

Simon & Garfunkel

American folk music duo

Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They rank as one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include the three US number ones: "The Sound of Silence" (1965) and the two Record of the Year Grammy winners "Mrs. Robinson" (1968) and "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970). Other hits include "The Boxer" (1969), "Cecilia" (1970) and the four 1966 releases "Homeward Bound", "I Am a Rock", "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (a single in 1968) and "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (also a no. 2 cover hit for the Bangles in 1987/88), as well as the 1968 album track (and 1972 UK hit) "America". Simon and Garfunkel met in elementary school in Queens, New York City, in 1953, where they learned to harmonize and began writing songs. As teenagers, under the name Tom & Jerry, they had minor success with "Hey, Schoolgirl" (1957), a song imitating their idols, the Everly Brothers. In 1963, aware of a growing public interest in folk music, they regrouped and were signed to Columbia Records as Simon & Garfunkel. Their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (October 1964), sold poorly; Simon returned to a solo career, this time in England. In June 1965 "The Sound of Silence"—an acoustic song on the duo's debut album—was overdubbed with electric guitar and drums and in late 1965 became a US AM radio hit, reaching number one on Billboard'''s Hot 100 in the issued dated January 1, 1966 (initially keeping the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" off the top spot). The duo reunited to release a second studio album, Sounds of Silence (January 1966)—featuring the updated version of "The Sound of Silence"—and toured colleges nationwide. For their third release, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (October 1966), the duo assumed more creative control. Their music (mostly old material) featured prominently in Mike Nichols's blockbuster film The Graduate (released December 1967), including "The Sound of Silence", "Scarborough Fair" (a winter/spring '68 film tie-in hit single) and two very short acoustic versions of "Mrs. Robinson". Across 16 consecutive weeks between April and July 1968 the film's soundtrack album and the duo's next studio LP, Bookends (April 1968)—featuring the hit version of "Mrs. Robinson"—alternated at number one on Billboards Top 200. Simon and Garfunkel had a troubled relationship, leading to artistic disagreements and their breakup in 1970. Their final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water, released that January, became one of the world's best-selling albums. Following their split, Simon hit big on both the singles chart (13 Top 40 hits, 1972–86) and the album chart, including the acclaimed Graceland (1986). Garfunkel charted with hits such as "All I Know" (1973) and the two UK number ones "I Only Have Eyes for You" (1975) and "Bright Eyes" (Britain's top single of 1979), and briefly pursued an acting career, with leading roles in the Mike Nichols films Catch-22 (1970) and Carnal Knowledge (1971) and in Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing (1980). The duo have reunited several times; their 1981 concert in Central Park may have attracted more than 500,000 people, one of the largest concert attendances in history. Simon & Garfunkel won seven Grammy Awards—plus four Grammy Hall of Fame Awards—and in 1990 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Richie Unterberger described them as "the most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s" and one of the most popular artists from the decade. They are among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 100 million records. They were ranked 40th on Rolling Stone's 2010 list of the Greatest Artists of All Time and third on its list of the greatest duos. ## History ### 1953–1956: early years Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in their predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, New York, three blocks away from one another. They attended the same schools: Public School 164 in Kew Gardens Hills, Parsons Junior High School, and Forest Hills High School. They were both fascinated by music; both listened to the radio and were taken with rock and roll as it emerged, particularly the Everly Brothers. Simon first noticed Garfunkel when Garfunkel was singing in a fourth grade talent show, which Simon thought was a good way to attract girls; he hoped for a friendship, which started in 1953, when they appeared in a sixth grade adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. They formed a streetcorner doo-wop group called the Peptones with three friends and learned to harmonize. They began performing as a duo at school dances. Simon and Garfunkel moved to Forest Hills High School, where in 1956 they wrote their first song, "The Girl for Me"; Simon's father sent a handwritten copy to the Library of Congress to register a copyright. While trying to remember the lyrics to the Everly Brothers song "Hey Doll Baby", they wrote "Hey, Schoolgirl", which they recorded for \$25 at Sanders Recording Studio in Manhattan. While recording they were overheard by promoter Sid Prosen, who signed them to his independent label Big Records after speaking to their parents. They were both 15. ### 1957–1964: from Tom & Jerry and early recordings Under Big Records, Simon and Garfunkel assumed the name Tom & Jerry; Garfunkel named himself Tom Graph, a reference to his interest in mathematics, and Simon Jerry Landis, after the surname of a girl he had dated. Their first single, "Hey, Schoolgirl", was released with the B-side "Dancin' Wild" in 1957. Prosen, using the payola system, bribed DJ Alan Freed \$200 to play the single on his radio show, where it became a nightly staple. "Hey, Schoolgirl" attracted regular rotation on nationwide AM pop stations, leading it to sell over 100,000 copies and to land on Billboard's charts at number 49. Prosen promoted the group heavily, getting them a headlining spot on Dick Clark's American Bandstand alongside Jerry Lee Lewis. Simon and Garfunkel shared approximately \$4,000 from the song – earning two percent each from royalties, the rest staying with Prosen. They released two more singles on Big Records ("Our Song" and "That's My Story") neither of them successful. After graduating from Forest Hills High School in 1958, the pair continued their education should a music career not unfold. Simon studied English at Queens College, City University of New York, and Garfunkel studied architecture before switching to art history at Columbia College, Columbia University. While still with Big Records as a duo, Simon released a solo single, "True or False", under the name "True Taylor". This upset Garfunkel, who regarded it as a betrayal; the emotional tension from the incident occasionally surfaced throughout their relationship. Simon and Garfunkel continued recording as solo artists: Garfunkel composed and recorded "Private World" for Octavia Records, and—under the name Artie Garr—"Beat Love" for Warwick; Simon recorded with the Mystics and Tico and the Triumphs, and wrote and recorded under the names Jerry Landis and Paul Kane. Simon also wrote and performed demos for other artists, working for a while with Carole King and Gerry Goffin. After graduating in 1963, Simon joined Garfunkel, who was still at Columbia University, to perform again as a duo, this time with a shared interest in folk music. Simon enrolled part-time in Brooklyn Law School. By late 1963, billing themselves as Kane & Garr, they performed at Gerde's Folk City, a Greenwich Village club that hosted Monday night open mic performances. They performed three new songs—"Sparrow", "He Was My Brother", and "The Sound of Silence"—and attracted the attention of Columbia Records staffer Tom Wilson, a prominent A&R man and producer (who would later become a key architect of Bob Dylan's transition from folk to rock). As a "star producer" for the label, he wanted to record "He Was My Brother" with a new British act, the Pilgrims. Simon convinced Wilson to let him and Garfunkel audition in the studio, where they performed "The Sound of Silence". At Wilson's urging, Columbia signed them. Simon & Garfunkel's debut studio album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., produced by Wilson, was recorded over three sessions in March 1964 and released in October. It contains five compositions by Simon, three traditional folk songs, and four folk-influenced singer-songwriter songs. Simon was adamant that they would no longer use stage names. Columbia set up a promotional showcase at Folk City on March 31, 1964, the duo's first public concert as Simon & Garfunkel. ### 1964–1965: Simon in England; Garfunkel in college Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. sold only 3,000 copies on release. Simon moved to England, where he toured small folk clubs and befriended folk artists such as Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Al Stewart, and Sandy Denny. He also met Kathy Chitty, who became the object of his affection and is the Kathy in "Kathy's Song" and "America". A small music publishing company, Lorna Music, licensed "Carlos Dominguez", a single Simon had recorded two years prior as Paul Kane, for a cover by Val Doonican that sold well. Simon visited Lorna to thank them, and the meeting resulted in a publishing and recording contract. He signed to the Oriole label and released "He Was My Brother" as a single. Simon invited Garfunkel to stay for the summer of 1964. Near the end of the season, Garfunkel returned to Columbia for class. Simon also returned to the US, and resumed his studies at Brooklyn Law School for one semester, partially at his parents' insistence. He returned to England in January 1965, now certain that music was his calling. In the meantime, his landlady, Judith Piepe, had compiled a tape from his work at Lorna and sent it to the BBC in hopes they would play it. The demos aired on the Five to Ten morning show, and were instantly successful. Oriole had folded into CBS by that point, and hoped to record a new Simon album. Simon recorded his first solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook, in June 1965, featuring future Simon & Garfunkel staples including "I Am a Rock" and "April Come She Will". CBS flew Wilson over to produce the record, and he stayed at Simon's flat. The album was released in August; although sales were poor, Simon felt content with his future in England. Garfunkel graduated in 1965, returning to Columbia University to do a master's degree in mathematics. ### 1965–1966: mainstream breakthrough and success In the United States, Dick Summer, a late-night DJ at WBZ in Boston, played "The Sound of Silence"; it became popular with a college audience. It was picked up the next day along the East Coast of the United States. When Wilson heard about this new wave of interest, he took inspiration from the success of the folk-rock hybrid that he had created with Dylan in "Like a Rolling Stone" and crafted a rock remix of "Sound of Silence" using studio musicians. The remix was issued in September 1965, and it eventually reached the Billboard Hot 100. Wilson did not inform the duo of his plan, and Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it. By January 1966, "The Sound of Silence" had topped the Hot 100, selling over one million copies. Simon reunited with Garfunkel in New York, leaving Chitty and his friends in England behind. CBS demanded a new album to be called Sounds of Silence to ride the wave of the hit. Recorded in three weeks and consisting of rerecorded songs from The Paul Simon Songbook plus four new tracks, Sounds of Silence was rush-released in mid-January 1966, peaking at number 21 Billboard Top LPs chart. A week later, "Homeward Bound" was released as a single, entering the USA top ten, followed by "I Am a Rock" peaking at number three. The duo supported the recordings with a nationwide tour of the US including a performance during the first Spring Weekend of the University of Massachusetts Boston where the duo was the headline act. CBS continued its promotion by re-releasing Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., which charted at number 30. Despite the success, the duo was derided by some critics as a manufactured imitation of folk music. Since they considered The Sounds of Silence a "rush job" to capitalize on their sudden success, Simon & Garfunkel spent more time crafting the follow-up. It was the first time Simon insisted on total control in aspects of recording. Work began in 1966 and took nine months. Garfunkel considered the recording of "Scarborough Fair" to be the point at which they stepped into the role of producer, as they were constantly beside engineer Roy Halee mixing. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was issued in October 1966, following the release of several singles and sold-out college campus shows. The duo resumed their college circuit tour eleven days later, crafting an image that was described as "alienated", "weird", and "poetic". Manager Mort Lewis also was responsible for this public perception, as he withheld them from television appearances unless they were allowed to play an uninterrupted set or choose the setlist. Simon, then 26, felt he had "made it" into an upper echelon of rock and roll while retaining artistic integrity; according to his biographer Marc Eliot, this made him "spiritually closer to Bob Dylan than to, say, Bobby Darin". The duo chose William Morris as their booking agency after a recommendation from Wally Amos, also a friend of Wilson's. During the sessions for Parsley, Simon and Garfunkel recorded "A Hazy Shade of Winter"; it was released as a single, peaking at number 13 on the national charts. "At the Zoo", recorded for a single release in early 1967, charted at number 16. Simon began work for their next album around this time, telling High Fidelity he was no longer interested in singles. He developed writer's block, which prevented the duo from releasing an album in 1967. Many other successful artists at the time were expected to release two or three albums each year, and the lack of productivity worried Columbia executives. Amid concerns for Simon's apparent idleness, Columbia Records chairman Clive Davis arranged for up-and-coming producer John Simon to kick-start the recording. Simon was distrustful of label executives; on one occasion, he and Garfunkel recorded a meeting with Davis, who was giving a "fatherly talk" on speeding up production, to laugh at it later. The rare television appearances at this time saw the duo performing on network broadcasts as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Andy Williams Show in 1966, and twice on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. Meanwhile, director Mike Nichols, then filming The Graduate, had become fascinated with Simon & Garfunkel's records, listening to them extensively before and after filming. He met Davis to ask for permission to license Simon & Garfunkel music for his film. Davis viewed it as a perfect fit and envisioned a best-selling soundtrack album. Simon was not as receptive and was cautious of "selling out". After meeting Nichols and being impressed by his wit and the script, he agreed to write new songs for the film. Leonard Hirshan, a powerful agent at William Morris, negotiated a deal that paid Simon \$25,000 to submit three songs to Nichols and producer Lawrence Turman. When Nichols was not impressed by Simon's songs "Punky's Dilemma" and "Overs", Simon and Garfunkel offered another, incomplete song, which became "Mrs. Robinson"; Nichols loved it. ### 1967–1968: studio time and low profile Simon & Garfunkel's fourth studio album, Bookends, was recorded in fits and starts from late 1966 to early 1968. Although the album had long been planned, work did not begin in earnest until late 1967. The duo were signed under an older contract that specified the label pay for sessions, and Simon & Garfunkel took advantage of this, hiring viola and brass players and percussionists. The record's brevity reflects its concise and perfectionist production; the team spent over 50 hours recording "Punky's Dilemma", for example, and rerecorded vocal parts, sometimes note by note, until they were satisfied. Garfunkel's songs and voice took a lead role on some of the songs, and the harmonies for which the duo was known gradually disappeared. For Simon, Bookends represented the end of the collaboration and became an early indicator of his intentions to go solo. Prior to release, the band helped put together and performed at the Monterey Pop Festival, which signaled the beginning of the Summer of Love on the West Coast. "Fakin' It" was issued as a single that summer and found only modest success on AM radio; the duo were much more focused on the rising FM format, which played album tracks and treated their music with respect. In January 1968, the duo appeared on a Kraft Music Hall special, Three for Tonight, performing ten songs, largely taken from their previous album. Bookends was released by Columbia Records in April 1968, 24 hours before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which spurred nationwide outrage and riots. The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs in the issue dated April 27, 1968, climbing to number one and staying at that position for seven non-consecutive weeks; it remained on the chart as a whole for 66 weeks. Bookends received such heavy orders weeks in advance of its release that Columbia was able to apply for award certification before copies left the warehouse, a fact it touted in magazine ads. The album became the duo's best-selling to date, helped by the attention for the Graduate soundtrack ten weeks earlier, creating an initial combined sales figure of over five million units. Davis had predicted this, and suggested raising the list price of Bookends by one dollar to \$5.79, above the then standard retail price, to compensate for a large poster included in vinyl copies. Simon scoffed and viewed it as charging a premium on "what was sure to be that year's best-selling Columbia album". According to biographer Marc Eliot, Davis was "offended by what he perceived as their lack of gratitude for what he believed was his role in turning them into superstars". Rather than implement Davis' plan, Simon & Garfunkel signed a contract extension with Columbia that guaranteed them a higher royalty rate. At the 1969 Grammy Awards, the lead single "Mrs. Robinson" became the first rock and roll song to receive Record of the Year, and also won Best Contemporary Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. ### 1969–1970: growing apart and final album Bookends, alongside the Graduate soundtrack, made Simon & Garfunkel the biggest rock duo in the world. Simon was approached by producers to write music for films or license songs; he turned down Franco Zeffirelli, who was preparing to film Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and John Schlesinger, who was preparing to film Midnight Cowboy. In addition to Hollywood proposals, Simon declined a request by producers from the Broadway show Jimmy Shine (starring Simon's friend Dustin Hoffman, also the lead in Midnight Cowboy). He collaborated briefly with Leonard Bernstein on a sacred mass before withdrawing from the project due to "finding it perhaps too far afield from his comfort zone". Garfunkel began acting, and played Captain Nately in the Nichols film Catch-22 (1970). Simon was to play the character of Dunbar, but screenwriter Buck Henry felt the film was already crowded with characters and wrote Simon's part out. Filming began in January 1969 and lasted about eight months, longer than expected. The production endangered the duo's relationship; Simon had completed no new songs, and the duo planned to collaborate after filming ended. Following the end of filming in October, the first performance of what was planned to be their last tour took place in Ames, Iowa. The US leg of the tour ended in the sold-out Carnegie Hall on November 27. Meanwhile, the duo, working with director Charles Grodin, produced an hourlong CBS special, Songs of America, a mixture of scenes featuring notable political events and leaders concerning the US, such as the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy's funeral procession, Cesar Chavez and the Poor People's March. It was broadcast only once, due to tension at the network regarding its content. The BBC said that "one million viewers responded by turning the dial and watching the figure skating on NBC instead." Bridge over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel's final studio album, was released in January 1970 and charted in over 11 countries, topping the charts in 10, including the Billboard Top LP's chart in the US and the UK Albums Chart. It was the best-selling album in 1970, 1971 and 1972 and was at that time the best-selling album of all time. It was also CBS Records' best-selling album before the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1982. The album topped the Billboard charts for 10 weeks and stayed in the charts for 85 weeks. In the United Kingdom, the album topped the charts for 35 weeks, and spent 285 weeks in the top 100, from 1970 to 1975. It has since sold over 25 million copies worldwide. "Bridge over Troubled Water", the lead single, reached number one in five countries and became the duo's biggest seller. The song has been covered by over 50 artists, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Jim Nabors, Charlotte Church, Maynard Ferguson, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Michael W. Smith, Josh Groban, and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. "Cecilia", the follow-up, reached number four in the US, and "El Condor Pasa" hit number 18. A brief British tour followed the album release, and the duo's last concert as Simon & Garfunkel took place at Forest Hills Stadium. In 1971, the album won six awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. ### 1971–1990: breakup, rifts, and reunions The recording of Bridge over Troubled Water was difficult, and Simon and Garfunkel's relationship had deteriorated. "At that point, I just wanted out," Simon later said. At the urging of his wife, Peggy Harper, Simon called Davis to confirm the duo's breakup. For the next several years, they spoke only two or three times a year. In the 1970s, the duo reunited several times. Their first reunion was Together for McGovern, a benefit concert for presidential candidate George McGovern at New York's Madison Square Garden in June 1972. In 1975, they reconciled when they visited a recording session with John Lennon and Harry Nilsson. For the rest of the year, they attempted to make the reunion work, but their collaboration only yielded one song, "My Little Town", that was featured on Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel's Breakaway, both released in 1975. That year, Garfunkel joined Simon for a medley of three songs on Saturday Night Live, guest-hosted by Simon. In 1977, Garfunkel joined Simon for a brief performance of their songs on The Paul Simon Special, and later that year they recorded a cover of Sam Cooke's "(What a) Wonderful World" with James Taylor. Old tensions appeared to dissipate upon Garfunkel's return to New York in 1978, when the duo began interacting more often. On May 1, 1978, Simon joined Garfunkel for a concert held at Carnegie Hall to benefit the hearing disabled. By 1980, the duo's solo careers were not doing well. To help alleviate New York's economic decline, concert promoter Ron Delsener suggested a free concert in Central Park. Delsener contacted Simon with the idea of a Simon & Garfunkel reunion, and once Garfunkel had agreed, plans were made. The concert, held on September 19, 1981, attracted more than 500,000 people, at that time the largest ever concert attendance. Warner Bros. Records released a live album of the show, The Concert in Central Park, which went double platinum in the US. A 90-minute recording of the concert was sold to Home Box Office (HBO) for over \$1 million. The concert created a renewed interest in Simon & Garfunkel's work. They had several "heart-to-heart talks", attempting to put their disagreements behind them. The duo undertook a world tour beginning in May 1982, but their relationship grew contentious; for the majority of the tour, they did not speak to one another. Warner Bros. pushed for the duo to extend the tour and release a new studio album. Simon had new material ready, and, according to Simon, "Artie made a persuasive case that he could make it into a natural duo record." They quarreled again as Garfunkel refused to learn the songs in the studio and would not give up his longstanding cannabis and cigarette habits, despite Simon's requests. Instead, the material became Simon's 1983 album Hearts and Bones. A spokesperson said: "Paul simply felt the material he wrote is so close to his own life that it had to be his own record. Art was hoping to be on the album, but I'm sure there will be other projects that they will work on together." Another rift opened when the lengthy recording of Simon's 1986 album Graceland prevented Garfunkel from working with engineer Roy Halee on his Christmas album The Animals' Christmas (1985). In 1986, Simon said he and Garfunkel remained friends and got on well, "like when we were 10 years old", when they were not working together. ### 1990–2018: awards and final tour In 1990, Simon and Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Garfunkel thanked Simon, calling him "the person who most enriched my life by putting those songs through me"; Simon responded, "Arthur and I agree about almost nothing. But it's true, I have enriched his life quite a bit." After performing three songs, the duo left without speaking. In August 1991, Simon staged his own concert in Central Park, released as a live album, Paul Simon's Concert in the Park, a few months later. He declined an offer from Garfunkel to perform with him at the park. By 1993, the relationship had thawed, and Simon invited Garfunkel on an international tour. Following a sold-out 21-date run at the Paramount Theater in New York and an appearance at that year's Bridge School Benefit in California, they toured the Far East. They became acrimonious again for the rest of the decade. Simon thanked Garfunkel at his 2001 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist: "I regret the ending of our friendship. I hope that some day before we die we will make peace with each other," adding after a pause, "No rush." In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, for which the promoters convinced them to open with a performance of "The Sound of Silence". The performance was satisfying for both, and they planned a full-scale reunion tour. The Old Friends tour began in October 2003 and played to sold-out audiences across the United States for 40 dates until mid-December, earning an estimated \$123 million. A second US leg commenced in June 2004, consisting of 20 cities. Following a 12-city run in Europe in 2004, they ended their nine-month tour with a free concert along Via dei Fori Imperiali, in front of the Colosseum in Rome, on July 31, 2004. It attracted 600,000 fans, more than their Concert in Central Park. In 2005, Simon and Garfunkel performed three songs for a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert in Madison Square Garden, including a performance with singer Aaron Neville. In February 2009, Simon and Garfunkel reunited for three songs during Simon's two-night engagement at New York's Beacon Theatre. This led to a reunion tour of Asia and Australia in June and July 2009. On October 29, 2009, they performed five songs at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert at Madison Square Garden. In January 2010, Garfunkel developed vocal problems following damage to his vocal cords as the result of an incident in which he had briefly choked on a piece of lobster. Their headlining set several months later at the 2010 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was difficult for Garfunkel. "I was terrible, and crazy nervous. I leaned on Paul Simon and the affection of the crowd," he told Rolling Stone several years later. Garfunkel was diagnosed with vocal cord paresis, and the remaining tour dates were canceled. They reunited two months later to perform "Mrs. Robinson" at an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award tribute to director Mike Nichols, in what Rolling Stone suggested might have been their last performance together. Garfunkel's manager, John Scher, informed Simon's camp that Garfunkel would be ready within a year, which did not happen, damaging relations between the two. Simon continued to publicly wish Garfunkel better health and praised his "angelic" voice. Garfunkel regained his vocal strength over the course of the next four years, performing shows in a Harlem theater and to underground audiences. In 2014, Garfunkel told Rolling Stone that he believed he and Simon would tour again, but said: "I know that audiences all over the world like Simon and Garfunkel. I'm with them. But I don't think Paul Simon's with them." In a 2015 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Garfunkel said: "How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul? What's going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk?" Asked about a reunion in 2016, Simon said: "Quite honestly, we don't get along. So it's not like it's fun. If it was fun, I'd say, OK, sometimes we'll go out and sing old songs in harmony. That's cool. But when it's not fun, you know, and you're going to be in a tense situation, well, then I have a lot of musical areas that I like to play in. So that'll never happen again. That's that." In February 2018, Simon announced his retirement from touring. ## Musical style and legacy Over the course of their career, Simon & Garfunkel's music gradually moved from a basic folk rock sound to incorporate more experimental elements for the time, including Latin and gospel music. Their music, according to Rolling Stone, struck a chord among lonely, alienated young adults near the end of the decade. Simon & Garfunkel received criticism at the height of their success. In 1968, Rolling Stone critic Arthur Schmidt described their music as "questionable ... it exudes a sense of process, and it is slick, and nothing too much happens." New York Times critic Robert Shelton said that the duo had "a kind of Mickey Mouse, timid, contrived" approach. According to Richie Unterberger of AllMusic, their clean sound and muted lyricism "cost them some hipness points during the psychedelic era ... the pair inhabited the more polished end of the folk-rock spectrum and was sometimes criticized for a certain collegiate sterility." He noted that some critics regard Simon's later solo work as superior to Simon & Garfunkel. According to Pitchfork, though Simon & Garfunkel were a highly regarded folk act "distinguished by their intuitive harmonies and Paul Simon's articulate songwriting", they were more conservative than the folk music revivalists of Greenwich Village. By the late 1960s, they had become the "folk establishment ... primarily unthreatening and accessible, which forty years later makes them an ideal gateway act to the weirder, harsher, more complex folkies of the 60s counterculture". Their later albums explored more ambitious production techniques and incorporated elements of gospel, rock, R&B, and classical, revealing a "voracious musical vocabulary". In 2003, Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included Bridge over Troubled Water at number 51, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme at number 201, Bookends at number 233, and Greatest Hits at number 293. And in 2004, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, Rolling Stone included "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at number 47, "The Boxer" at number 105, and "The Sound of Silence" at number 156. ## Awards Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards are held annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Simon & Garfunkel have won 9 total competitive awards, 4 Hall of Fame awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. \|- \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="5"\| 1969 \| Bookends \| Album of the Year \| \|- \| rowspan="3"\| "Mrs. Robinson" \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Record of the Year \| \|- \| Best Contemporary Pop Performance – Vocal Duo or Group \| \|- \| The Graduate \| Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special \| \|- \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7"\| 1971 \| rowspan="2"\| Bridge over Troubled Water \| Album of the Year \| \|- \| Best Engineered Recording \| \|- \| rowspan="5"\| "Bridge over Troubled Water" \| Record of the Year \| \|- \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Contemporary Song \| \|- \| Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) \| \|- \| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals \| \|- \| style="text-align:center;"\| 1976 \| "My Little Town" \| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals \| \|- \| style="text-align:center;"\| 1998 \| "Bridge over Troubled Water" \| Grammy Hall of Fame Award \| \|- \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"\| 1999 \| "Mrs. Robinson" \| Grammy Hall of Fame Award \| \|- \| Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme \| Grammy Hall of Fame Award \| \|- \| style="text-align:center;"\| 2003 \| Simon & Garfunkel \| Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award \| \|- \| style="text-align:center;"\| 2004 \| "The Sound of Silence" \| Grammy Hall of Fame Award \| \|- Other recognition - Awit Awards (1969) – Single of the Year Foreign Division (for "The Sound of Silence") - Awit Awards (1969) – Album of the Year Foreign Division (for The Graduate) - Brit Awards (1977) – International Album (for Bridge over Troubled Water) - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) – Inductee - Vocal Group Hall of Fame (2006) – Inductee ## Discography Studio albums' - Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964) - Sounds of Silence (1966) - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966) - Bookends (1968) - Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970)

James Burrill Angell

American educator and diplomat

James Burrill Angell (January 7, 1829 – April 1, 1916) was an American educator and diplomat. He is best known for being the longest-serving president of the University of Michigan, from 1871 to 1909. He represented the transition from small college life to nationally oriented universities. Under his energetic leadership, Michigan gained prominence as an elite public university. Angell is often cited by school administrators for providing the vision that the university should provide "an uncommon education for the common man." Angell was also president of the University of Vermont from 1866 to 1871 and helped that small school recover from its financial difficulties brought on by the Civil War. Throughout the war, he was the editor of The Providence Journal and was a consistent vocal supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Angell served in diplomatic posts as America's minister to China from 1880 to 1881 and then to the Ottoman Empire from 1897 to 1898. On his mission to China, he was the primary American negotiator of the Angell Treaty of 1880 that curtailed the emigration of laborers to the United States, as well as a second treaty restricting the trade in opium. In the Ottoman Empire, he was responsible for the protection of American missionaries during the unrest following the massacre of Armenians. Angell was a member of a prominent Yankee family in Rhode Island, and many of his descendants became senior academics. ## Early life James Burrill Angell was born January 7, 1829, in Scituate, Rhode Island, the eldest of eight children of Andrew Aldrich Angell and Amy Aldrich, who themselves were distantly related; he was named after a former senator, James Burrill. The Angells had been a prominent family in and around Providence, Rhode Island, since its founding in 1636 by Roger Williams and his companion Thomas Angell. Though scant, there is evidence suggesting Thomas Angell's ancestors were relations of Henry I of England. Thomas Angell's grandson had settled the farm where James was born in 1710, the same year he founded the Angell Tavern, where Scituate's leaders held town meetings after its incorporation in 1730, and where men such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and the Marquis de Lafayette stayed during the Revolutionary War. Angell's grandfather built an inn on the site in 1810, and Angell credited his boyhood interaction with the travelers who passed through for some of his later success, saying, "... the knowledge of men I gained by the observations and experiences of my boyhood in the country tavern has been of the greatest service. ... The eminent political speakers were always entertained at our table, and some of them were very helpful friends in my later life." The building burned down in 1862, and the land was later submerged during the creation of the Scituate Reservoir. ### Education Angell attended the local school until the age of eight, when his parents placed him with a Quaker tutor who taught him arithmetic and surveying. At twelve, he left home to attend a seminary in Seekonk, Massachusetts, in order to study Latin, but after one term went to study at the Smithville Seminary, where he stayed until the age of fourteen. Unsure what career path to take, he had worked on the family farm for two summers, and also unsuccessfully attempted to find clerk jobs with Providence businesses. When his father informed him that he had the financial means to pay for college, Angell decided to attend Brown University. A year too young to enroll, he went first to University Grammar School in Providence, where one of his instructors was Henry S. Frieze, who would later serve as acting president of the University of Michigan while Angell was abroad on diplomatic assignments. In 1845, Angell began studying at Brown, which had a total of seven instructors on the faculty at the time. He graduated in 1849 and obtained part-time jobs working as an assistant librarian at the university and tutoring a boy whose eyesight prevented him from reading. In 1850, Angell came down with a cold and sore throat, but he refused to give his throat any rest from the daily exertion of reading aloud to his pupil. The resultant damage to his throat made extended speaking difficult for the rest of his life. ### Travels While Angell was recuperating, the father of his friend Rowland Hazard II, whose own grandson Rowland Hazard III would later be instrumental in the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous, suggested that Angell accompany Hazard on an upcoming winter tour of the South he was undertaking to help alleviate a lung ailment. The trip, which began on October 5, 1850, lasted seven and a half months and took Angell and Hazard throughout much of the South. The young men were introduced to the realities of slavery, including a whipping and a slave auction that Angell called "the most repulsive and disgusting spectacle we had ever seen". Upon his return, Angell had planned to attend Andover Theological Seminary and take up a career as a minister. A throat specialist, however, advised him to avoid any work that would require extended public speaking, and he instead found work in the office of Ellis S. Chesbrough, the city engineer of Boston. His brief tenure there ended when his friend Rowland Hazard, still suffering from lung ailments, invited him on another trip, this time to Europe. The pair traveled first to France, arriving just three weeks after Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte had staged a coup d'état, then later to Italy and Austria. While in Vienna, he received a letter from Francis Wayland, the president of Brown University, offering him a choice of jobs as chairman of either the Civil Engineering or Modern Language Department, with a year and a half of continued study in Europe. He chose the latter, and went to Paris for several months to study French, then to Braunschweig, Germany to study German, finally returning home in the summer of 1853. ## Professor and editor When Angell began his tenure as chair of the modern languages department at Brown University, President Wayland was in the midst of reorganizing the university away from its traditional roots. Additional study was offered in areas such as modern languages and engineering, Angell's own areas of interest, and students were given greater freedom to choose elective courses. Extension classes were initiated to bring instruction to the wider community, and Angell gave lectures on his experiences in Europe and on the topic of education. Among his own students, Angell singled out as especially memorable two future U.S. Secretaries of State, Richard Olney and John Hay. On November 26, 1855, Angell married Sarah Swoope Caswell, the daughter of Alexis Caswell, who was then a professor at Brown and became its president in 1868. Sarah's family was also long-established in New England, and she was a direct descendant of Peregrine White, the first baby born in Plymouth Colony. The couple had a son, Alexis C. Angell, on April 26, 1857. Wayland grew frustrated with a lack of funding for his reforms and resigned as president in 1855, and his successor, Barnas Sears, reversed many of the reforms. The study of modern languages was de-emphasized, leaving Angell unsatisfied with teaching duties that were now limited to only one-year courses. He began writing articles for The Providence Journal starting in 1854 and took over full responsibility for the editorial pages in 1859. After the editor and part-owner, Henry B. Anthony, was elected to the United States Senate in 1858, he proposed that Angell replace him as editor. Angell resigned his professorship in 1860 to become the full-time editor of the paper. Angell allied himself with the radical wing of the new Republican Party, and lent the paper's backing to the 1860 gubernatorial candidacy of abolitionist Republican nominee Seth Padelford, which failed when a coalition concerned about the economic effects of angering the South instead led to the election of fellow Republican William Sprague. In the presidential contest, Angell felt that Rhode Island's interests would be best served by the nomination of staunch abolitionist William H. Seward as the Republican candidate. But when the somewhat more moderate Abraham Lincoln was nominated, he put the power of the Journal behind Lincoln's candidacy, publishing favorable letters from his former pupil John Hay, who was by then working in Lincoln's law offices. In the end, Lincoln carried Rhode Island, 61.4% to 38.6%. Angell ran the Journal for the entire Civil War, and briefly considered buying it to run as a non-partisan newspaper (an idea which Senator Anthony rejected), but the workload took its toll on his health. In August 1866, when the University of Vermont requested that he come serve as its new president, he accepted the offer and moved to Burlington. ## University of Vermont The Civil War had depleted the University of Vermont of students and the funds that came with them. When he assumed the presidency in 1866, Angell's primary responsibility was to improve both the size of the student body and the university's finances. He oversaw the integration of a state agricultural college formed following passage of the Morrill Act in 1862, which had introduced land-grant colleges in the United States. This effort faced resistance both from classicists worried about the influence of the new college on the quality of education and from farmers who doubted the university curriculum had much to offer them, but Angell was able to build enough trust between the groups that the integration went forward, and both the finances and enrollment began to recover; the latter grew from 31 in 1866 to 67 in 1870. Angell traveled to state and county fairs around Vermont to attract publicity for the university and his fundraising efforts, and also secured donations from prominent alumni such as Henry J. Raymond, founder of The New York Times, and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. Due to a lack of funds to hire professors, he personally taught the university's courses in history, rhetoric, German, and international law. On May 8, 1869, the Angells had another son, James Rowland Angell, who later served as president of Yale University. On September 3 of that year, the University of Michigan offered Angell its presidency, following the resignation of Erastus Haven that June. He visited Ann Arbor with his wife, but he felt that he had a duty to complete his work at the University of Vermont and declined the offer. Michigan repeated the offer in 1871, his former teacher Henry S. Frieze having served as acting president while the regents searched for a permanent president. This time, Angell felt that the University of Vermont had made enough progress that he could leave it in good conscience, and he accepted the offer. He made a trip to Ann Arbor to deliver his inaugural address at Commencement on June 28, 1871, then returned to Vermont to complete the academic term before moving his family to Ann Arbor in September of that year. ## University of Michigan When Angell took over as the third president of the University of Michigan in 1871, it was the largest university in the country, with 1,207 students, 35 faculty members, and an annual budget of \$104,000. But it was still more a collection of colleges than an expression of the "German model" of university that had been envisioned by its first two presidents, Henry Philip Tappan and the recently departed Haven. Over the next 38 years, Angell oversaw growth and innovation that led to him being called "the chief architect of the modern state university". Unlike Tappan, Angell did not have an overriding vision of the future of education, but he introduced several changes early in his tenure, establishing a scientific course that no longer required Greek, dropping classics from the English course, and greatly expanding the number of elective courses. Michigan had begun admitting women the year before Angell arrived, one of the first large schools to do so, and Angell pushed for its continuation and became known as an advocate for coeducation for the rest of his career. Angell felt it was important for a president to teach courses, and he taught international law during his entire term. ### Controversies Angell's first decade in Ann Arbor was marked by several controversies. One involved his expressions of Christian piety in the course of official business, which drew criticism as aligning the state-funded university too closely with his personal faith. Detroit resident Stephen B. McCracken lodged a complaint in 1873 that said such Christian—and specifically Protestant—favoritism violated the state constitution, to the detriment of Catholics, Jews, spiritualists, and free thinkers. A state senate committee investigated and ultimately cleared Angell and the university, concluding that "the teachings of the university are those of a liberal and enlightened Christianity, in the general, highest and best use of the term." Angell recognized the need to make the Christian spirit he wished to cultivate more voluntary and less explicitly Protestant, first by dropping compulsory chapel attendance, then by hiring the university's first Roman Catholic faculty member, Eugene W. Hilgard. The question of whether homeopathic medicine should be taught at the university had been debated for decades before Angell's arrival, and in 1873 the legislature passed a law appointing two professors of homeopathy in the medical school, despite the testimony of Angell and others that doing so would be a great mistake that might ultimately kill the entire department due to the hostility of the medical faculty towards homeopathy. The regents refused to appoint the professors, saying it was impossible to teach both types of medicine in a single department but they would establish a separate school to teach homeopathy if the legislature funded it. Funding for a separate school was provided in 1875, and the School of Homeopathy was created. In spite of his earlier opposition, Angell worked to find qualified professors and to ensure the school provided the best possible instruction, and it coexisted with the medical school until it was closed in 1922. In October 1875, an audit of student laboratory fees in the chemistry department found a shortfall of \$831.10, attributable to one of two professors, Silas H. Douglas or Preston B. Rose. Rose at first mortgaged his house to make up the difference, but later Douglas was also found to be responsible. Charges and countercharges were made among the two men, various regents, and President Angell. Douglas was Episcopalian and Rose was Methodist, and their fellow churchmen joined in a bitter public debate over who was to blame. A two-month investigation by the state legislature produced a 740-page report, and the case ultimately went to the Michigan Supreme Court, where Douglas won a judgment against the university in 1881. One historian wrote that "no one who examines the voluminous records of the struggle ... can doubt that the University would have been a far stronger institution ... had there been no Douglas-Rose controversy". The six-year fight affected Angell as well, with one professor saying he "was never quite the same" afterwards. ### Growth of the university During his tenure at Michigan, the faculty size grew from 35 to about 400; the student body from 1,100 to over 5,000; the annual budget from \$104,000 to over \$1,000,000. The following schools or colleges were founded during his tenure: Dentistry, Pharmacy, Music, Nursing, and Architecture & Urban Planning. Concerned about the growing role of professionalism in collegiate sports and a loss of control by faculties over athletics on campus, Angell called for a meeting in 1906 of the presidents of the members of the Western Conference (now the Big Ten). At the Angell Conference, the presidents agreed to restrictions on the number of games, years of student eligibility, and ticket prices. An additional rule targeted Michigan football coach Fielding H. Yost's considerable outside income by requiring coaches be full-time employees of the university. In spite of Angell's efforts to institute more control, Yost convinced a majority of the regents to support him, and Michigan left the athletic conference for nearly a decade rather than abide by the new rules. ## Diplomatic posts Angell put his academic career on hold at several points in order to carry out a variety of diplomatic assignments, including serving as minister to the Qing Dynasty in China and the Ottoman Empire as well as negotiating maritime treaties with Britain and Canada. He remained president of the University of Michigan throughout, but took leaves of absence with acting presidents managing in his place. ### Minister to China In February 1880, Secretary of State William M. Evarts asked Angell to go to China to negotiate changes to the Burlingame Treaty that would reduce the flow of Chinese immigrants into the Pacific United States. Angell was nominated by President Hayes, confirmed by the Senate as minister to China and chairman of the treaty commission on April 9, 1880. Angell left for Peking that June with fellow commissioners John F. Swift and William Henry Trescot, and presented his credentials on August 16, succeeding George Seward. Henry S. Frieze was appointed acting president of the University of Michigan in his absence. The commission negotiated two treaties. The first, formally called the Treaty Regulating Immigration from China and dubbed by historians as the Angell Treaty of 1880, allowed the U.S. to regulate and limit the immigration of Chinese laborers, but not to prohibit it outright. The second was a trade treaty that outlawed the trade of opium and set tonnage dues and tariffs to be the same for both nations. The treaties, collectively, were signed on November 17, 1880, and the other commissioners returned home, leaving Angell in China to fulfill his duties as minister. After a year, he decided to return to academia and left China on October 4, 1881, taking a trip through Europe and returning to Ann Arbor on February 24, 1882. Angell was succeeded in his post by John Russell Young. Most of the provisions that the Angell Treaty had secured were negated by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Scott Act of 1888, which placed much stricter bans on Chinese immigration. ### Maritime commissions In the fall of 1887, President Cleveland appointed Angell to a three-man commission, along with William L. Putnam and Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard, to negotiate with the British government regarding fishing rights off the coast of Canada, which had been a source of misunderstanding between Canada and the U.S. since they were first agreed to in the Treaty of 1818. The results of these negotiations, the Bayard-Chamberlain Treaty, was signed on February 15, 1888, but subsequently failed ratification in the U.S. Senate, whose Republican majority had objected to the formation of the commission in the first place. On November 4, 1895, President Cleveland appointed Angell to the Deep Waterways Commission, along with John E. Russell and Lyman E. Cooley. The commission, created by Congress, was to negotiate an agreement between the U.S. and Canada regarding the creation of a waterway to allow ocean-going traffic between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. They undertook a feasibility study and forwarded proposals for further appropriations to Congress, but little was done, and it was not until 1959 that the St. Lawrence Seaway finally opened. ### Minister to the Ottoman Empire President McKinley asked Angell to serve as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire in April 1897, and he agreed on the condition he could return home after a year if he wished. Angell's nomination encountered brief opposition from Constantinople, first because of reports that he had accused Russia of fomenting unrest in the region, and then because Sultan Abdul Hamid II had confused Angell's Congregationalist faith with the Congregation of Jesuits, of whom he had a poor opinion. These objections were resolved by Angell's denial of the former report and clarification to the Sultan on the latter misunderstanding; the Senate confirmed him and he sailed to Europe on the SS Normandie in July, then on to Constantinople, where he presented his credentials to the Sultan on September 3, succeeding Alexander W. Terrell. The University of Michigan regents appointed Harry Burns Hutchins acting president in his absence, through October 1898. The pressing issue facing Angell in the Ottoman Empire was the protection of American missionaries during the unrest following the massacre of Armenians that had been carried out over the previous two years, as well as compensation for damage to their properties they claimed were caused by both the deliberate actions and the inaction of Turkish forces. He was mostly unsuccessful on this front, except for negotiating a \$50,000 surcharge on a warship the Ottoman Empire was purchasing from an American firm, with the understanding that this would be used to resolve the claims of damages (and which was eventually paid in 1901). Angell blamed this failure in part on the outbreak of the Spanish–American War causing American naval ships to leave the area and remove pressure on the Sultan. Angell and his wife toured the Middle East from January to March 1898, visiting Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut, and Ephesus. President McKinley was disturbed by a request from Angell to send American warships to "rattle the Sultan's windows"; he feared it would lead to an event like the sinking of the Maine, and approached Oscar S. Straus about taking over the post. Angell himself was becoming discouraged by his inability to win concessions from the Turkish government and submitted his resignation in May. He had his final audience with the Sultan on August 5 and left his post on August 13, traveling home by way of Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and France. ## Later years Angell's wife, Sarah Caswell Angell, died on December 17, 1903. In 1905, Angell submitted his resignation to the Board of Regents, feeling that at his age, he may be losing the qualifications for his position, but the board refused to accept it. By 1909, he had been in office for 38 years and this time the Regents accepted his resignation. . Angell's health began to decline while on a tour of Europe in the summer of 1911, when he suffered a stroke of paralysis in Germany following an exhausting excursion to Russia. He recovered sufficiently to return to Ann Arbor within a month, but his lingering weakness was blamed for a bout of pneumonia in September 1913. On January 24, 1916, he had a stroke that affected his eyesight, leaving him unable to read, and he grew weaker until he contracted pneumonia again. He died a few days later, April 1, 1916, and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery on April 3, with a line of university students formed on each side of the streets as his funeral cortege traveled through Ann Arbor. ## Legacy Angell's historic legacy is based on the transition of Michigan from a small local state college to a major national University featuring state-of-the-art research. He was a transitional figure, maintaining the small-college paternalistic interest in the welfare of individual students, and endorsing the traditional small-college mission to promote civility and character building. He introduced a broader mission including admission by merit; coeducation; teaching large classes by lecture; and an increasing emphasis on graduate studies. He introduced a broad curriculum ranging from the humanities to the social sciences, sciences and engineering, as well as traditional and modern professional fields. He appealed to the Michigan public for financial support, and provided a model that was followed by other ambitious university presidents. His moderation, natural tact, and political astuteness strengthened his leadership role, and his diverse background in foreign languages, literature, civil engineering, and newspaper work facilitated his approaches to every major interest group in the state. However, Angell was not as dynamic or innovative as the younger generation such as Charles W. Eliot, Daniel Coit Gilman, and William Rainey Harper. By 1909 he was obsolete in terms of the state-of-the-art in world-class universities, and was even accused of provincialism, inbreeding, and complacency. ### Notable descendants and relatives A number of James Angell's descendants and near relatives rose to prominence in their respective fields, largely also in academia: - Son James Rowland Angell was president of Yale University. - Son Alexis C. Angell was a Michigan Law School professor and U.S. District Judge. - Grandson Robert Cooley Angell was chair of the sociology department at the University of Michigan and president of the American Sociological Association. - Nephew Frank Angell was a psychologist at Cornell and Stanford universities. - Son-in-law Andrew McLaughlin, married to Angell's daughter Lois (b. 1863), was a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. - Granddaughter Constance Green was also a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. - Grandson James Angell MacLachlan was a Harvard Law School professor. ### Honors and appointments - Elected an associate fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1868. - Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1890. - Served as president of the American Historical Association from 1892 to 1893. - Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Brown University (1868), Columbia University (1887), Rutgers College (1896), Princeton University (1896), Yale University (1901), Johns Hopkins University (1902), University of Wisconsin (1904), University of Vermont (1904), Harvard University (1906), University of Michigan (1908), and Dartmouth College (1909). - Regent of the Smithsonian Institution from January 19, 1887, to January 15, 1912. - Awarded the First Class of the Order of the Sacred Treasure by Emperor Meiji in October 1909 for service to Japanese students. - Inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2008. ### Commemoration - Angell Hall, one of the most prominent buildings on the University of Michigan campus, is named after him. Designed by Albert Kahn, it was completed in 1924 at a cost of \$1 million, providing 152,000 square feet (14,100 m²) of classroom and office space. - Angell School, a kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, is named after him. - Angell School, a kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school in the Berkley School District, is named after him. - In 1910 sculptor Karl Bitter produced a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) bas relief depicting a seated Angell. It now resides in the lobby of Angell Hall. - A caricature of Angell by Ulysses Ricci's firm Ricci and Zari can be found carved on a corbel at the University of Michigan's Law Quadrangle. - The former University of Michigan honor society Michigamua renamed itself the Order of Angell in 2007, over the objections of some of Angell's descendants. - Sarah Caswell Angell Hall was a theater in Barbour Gymnasium (a women's gymnasium on the Michigan campus), named in honor of Angell's wife in 1905. The gymnasium was torn down in 1946. ## See also - History of Chinese Americans - History of Rhode Island - History of the University of Michigan

Peter II of Bulgaria

Emperor of Bulgaria from 1185 to 1197

Peter II, born Theodor, also known as Theodor-Peter (Bulgarian: Теодор-Петър; died in 1197), was the first emperor or tsar of the restored Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1197. He hails from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, although his exact place and date of birth are unknown. He and his younger brothers, Asen and Kaloyan, were mentioned as Vlachs in most foreign contemporaneous sources, but they were probably of a mixed Vlach, Bulgarian, and Cuman origin. In 1185, Theodor and Asen approached the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos in Thrace, demanding an estate in the Balkan Mountains. After the Emperor refused and humiliated them, they decided to incite a rebellion, taking advantage of the discontent that a new tax had caused among the Bulgarians and Vlachs. To convince their compatriots to join them, they had native prophets declare that Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica had abandoned the Romans in favour of the Bulgarians and Vlachs. Before the end of the year, Theodor was crowned Emperor of Bulgaria, taking the name Peter and adopting the insignia used only by emperors. The Byzantine army defeated the rebels, forcing Theodor-Peter and Asen to flee to the Cumans in April 1186. Returning in the autumn at the head of Cuman troops, they took control of Paristrion, firmly establishing the new state, regarded as the successor to the First Bulgarian Empire. The brothers made regular raids against nearby Byzantine territories in the early 1190s. Conflicts between Isaac II and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa during the Third Crusade enabled Peter to conquer new territories in 1190. Peter and Asen divided their realm around 1192, with Peter receiving Preslav and the north-eastern region. After Asen was murdered by a boyar in 1196, Peter appointed Kaloyan as his co-ruler in Asen's place. Peter was also murdered the following year. ## Names The Synodikon of Tzar Boril, composed in 1211, referred to him as "Theodor, called Peter", proving that Theodor was his original name. According to a widespread scholarly theory, he changed his name when he was crowned emperor, most probably in memory of Peter I of Bulgaria who had been canonized in the early 11th century. Historian Alexandru Madgearu says Theodor must have adopted the new name in reference to two leaders of 11th-century anti-Byzantine rebellions, Peter Delyan and Constantine Bodin (or Peter), rather than Peter I, who attempted to maintain peace with the Byzantine Empire. Theodore Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch, called him "the rebel Slavopetros" in a poem. Two chronicles about Frederick Barbarossa's crusade referred to him as "Kalopeter" (from the Greek expression for "Peter the Handsome"). ## Early life The year of Theodor-Peter's birth is unknown. He was apparently the eldest son of a wealthy shepherd from the Haemus Mountains, according to Madgearu. On the other hand, no source records that he or his brother, Asen, owned cattle. Madgearu says, they may have administered an imperial horse farm, adding that their estates were most probably located near Tarnovo. Historian Ivan Dujčev writes that the brothers were local chieftains in the Balkan Mountains. Theodor-Peter and his brothers were mentioned as Vlachsin sources written in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, but their ethnicity is subject to scholarly debates. The presence of many ethnic groups in the lands to the south of the Lower Danube in the 12th century is well documented, thus they were most likely of mixed Vlach, Bulgarian and Cuman origin. However, they chose to identify themselves as Bulgarians. Theodor-Peter and Asen approached the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos near Kypsela in Thrace (now İpsala in Turkey) in late 1185. They asked the emperor to recruit them in the imperial army and to grant them "by imperial rescript a certain estate situated in the vicinity of Mount Haimos, which would provide them with a little revenue", according to the Byzantine historian, Niketas Choniates. Choniates' words show that the brothers wanted to receive a pronoia grant (that is, the revenues from an imperial estate in exchange for military service). According to a scholarly theory, the brothers actually tried to convince the emperor to make them the autonomous rulers of Moesia, because Choniates notes that at a later stage of their rebellion, they "were not content merely to preserve their own possessions and to assume control of the government" of Moesia. Whatever their request was, Isaac II refused them. Asen was also "struck across the face and rebuked for impudence" at the command of the emperor's uncle, John Doukas. ## Uprising After their humiliation at Kypsela, Theodor-Peter and Asen returned to their homeland and decided to incite a rebellion. A formal speech, delivered in praise of Isaac II in 1193, stated that Theodor-Peter had been the "first to rebel" against the emperor. Madgearu notes that Michael Choniates describes Theodor-Peter as a "hateful and renegade slave", which also suggests that he was the instigator of the uprising. The brothers knew that the collection of an extraordinary tax, which had been levied in the autumn of 1185, angered the population, especially in the region of Anchialos (now Pomorie in Bulgaria). However, they could not provoke the discontented people into rebellion initially because their compatriots looked "askance at the magnitude of the undertaking", according to Choniates. Theodor-Peter and Asen decided to take advantage of the Bulgarians and Vlachs' devotion to the cult of the martyr saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki to persuade them to rise up against the Byzantine rule. Theodor-Peter and Asen built a "house of prayer" dedicated to the saint and gathered Bulgarian and Vlach prophets and prophetesses. At the brothers' instruction, the soothsayers announced "in their ravings" that God had consented to the uprising against the Byzantines, and Saint Demetrius would abandon Thessaloniki and "come over to them to be their helper and assistant" during the forthcoming rebellion. This "professional work of manipulation" was effective: all who were present willingly joined the brothers' movement. Niketas Choniates, who recorded these events, did not name the venue of the gathering, but Tarnovo is the most probable place according to modern scholars' views. ## Emperor ### Beginnings Taking advantage of the war between the Byzantine Empire and the Normans of Sicily, the rebels invaded Thrace and persuaded others to join them. Heartened by the victories, Theodor-Peter "bound his head with a gold chaplet and fashioned scarlet buskins to put on his feet", thus adopting insignia that had been used only by the emperors. Although Choniates does not mention that Theodor-Peter also styled himself emperor, the use of imperial insignia shows that he either had been proclaimed emperor, or at least laid claim to the title. Madgearu says, the coronation most probably took place before the end of 1185, because a priest, Basil, was allegedly made the head of the restored Bulgarian Orthodox Church in that year. Theodor-Peter laid siege to Preslav, which had been the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, but they could not capture it. The rebels again stormed into Thrace and carried away "many free [people], much cattle and draft animals, and sheep and goats in no small number" in early 1186. To prevent the rebels from crossing the mountain passes, Isaac II launched a campaign against them, but they occupied "the rough ground and inaccessible places" and resisted the attacks. However, a sudden "blackness" (associated with the solar eclipse of 21 April 1186) rose up and "covered the mountains", enabling the Byzantines to inflict a severe defeat on the rebels. ### Exile and return After the Byzantine victory, a courtier stated that Theodor-Peter and Asen were soon forced to yield to the emperor, describing Theodor-Peter as a bull who had broken the yoke. However, the brothers fled across the Lower Danube and sought assistance from the Cumans. The imperial troops "set up fire to the crops gathered in heaps" by the local inhabitants, but made no major efforts to capture the rebels' fortresses which were "built on sheer cliffs and cloud-capped peaks". Isaac II also failed to garrison the castles along the Lower Danube, enabling the refugees to return, accompanied by Cuman troops in the autumn of 1186. Theodor-Peter had promised rich booty and salary to the Cumans to talk them into supporting him, according to a letter that Niketas Choniates wrote on the emperor's name a year after the events. The same author attributes the leading role to Asen in the ensuing military campaign in his chronicle. The rebels and their Cuman allies invaded the Byzantine Empire and took control of Paristrion (or Moesia) between the Lower Danube and the mountains. Thereafter the unification of Moesia and Bulgaria "into one empire as of old" (namely, the restoration of the First Bulgarian Empire) became their principal goal. Around that time (in 1187 or 1188), Asen became Theodor-Peter's co-ruler. According to a scholarly theory, Isaac II acknowledged the independence of the territories under the rule of Theodor-Peter and Asen in a peace treaty signed in the summer of 1188. John Van Antwerp Fine writes, the brothers' realm "included the territory between the Balkan Mountains and the Danube". Madgearu proposes, territories to the south of the mountains, as far as the line connecting Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Ahtopol, were also incorporated into the new state. The supposed treaty is not mentioned by Choniates. Historian Paul Stephenson states that he has found no evidence in support of a treaty acknowledging the independence of the new state, but he also emphasizes that the territory to the north of the mountains was ruled by various Vlach, Bulgarian and Cuman lords who regarded Theodor-Peter and Asen as their sovereigns. ### Third Crusade Significant numbers of Bulgarians and Vlachs remained under Byzantine rule after 1188. Those who were subjected to the Byzantine governor of Braničevo harassed the crusaders of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, in July 1189. Around that time, Stefan Nemanja, Grand Župan (or ruler) of Serbia, seized parts of the Byzantine theme (or district) of Bulgaria. Nemanja and Theodor-Peter concluded an agreement against the Byzantines. Theodor-Peter wanted to take advantage of the crusaders' presence to expand his rule. He and his brother took control of "the region where the Danube flows into the sea" (present-day Dobruja) in the summer. He had already dispatched an embassy to Barbarosa in Niš in July, offering him "due respect and a promise of faithful assistance against his enemies". He sent a second envoy to Barbarossa, who had come into conflict with Isaac II, to Adrianople (now Edirne in Turkey) in December, offering "forty thousand Vlachs and Cumans armed with bows and arrows" to fight against the Byzantines. He also announced his claim to "the imperial crown of the kingdom of the Greeks" (or the Byzantine Empire). Barbarossa was indeed contemplating an attack against Constantinople, but he changed his mind and concluded a peace treaty with Isaac II in February 1190. On the day when the treaty was concluded, Isaac II's envoy tried to talk Barbarossa into a joint military action against the Vlachs, while Theodor-Peter's delegate again proposed an alliance against the Byzantines. However, Barbarossa, who wanted to continue the crusade towards the Holy Land, refused both offers. ### New conflicts After Barbarossa left Thrace, Isaac II was able to make new attempts to recover the lands lost to Theodor-Peter and Asen. In July 1190, he invaded the brothers' realms across the Rish Pass and dispatched a fleet to the Lower Danube to prevent the Cumans from crossing the river. However, the brothers had already strengthened their fortification and avoided direct confrontations with the invaders. The emperor decided to return to his capital after he was informed that Cuman troops had crossed the Lower Danube in September. The Vlachs and the Bulgarians ambushed the imperial army at a narrow pass and inflicted a major defeat on it. Isaac II escaped, but much of the army perished and the victors seized "the more valuable of the emperor's insignia", including his pyramidal crown and relics associated with the Virgin Mary. The Vlachs, Bulgarians and Cumans resumed their raids against Byzantine territories. They sacked Varna and Pomorie; they destroyed Triaditsa and seized the relics of Ivan of Rila, a saint especially venerated by the Bulgarians. Isaac II routed Cuman marauders near Plovdiv in April 1191. He made his cousin, Constantine Doukas Angelos, the commander of Plovdiv in 1192. Constantine prevented Theodor-Peter and Asen from making frequent pillaging raids against Thrace, but he was blinded after he tried to dethrone the emperor. Theodor-Peter and Asen rejoiced over Constantine's fate. According to Choniates, they said they were ready to make "Isaac emperor over their own nation, for he could not have benefited the Vlachs more than gouging out Constantine's eyes". At least two eulogies delivered in 1193 provide evidence that Isaac had succeeded in creating a rift between Theodor-Peter and Asen. An orator mentioned that Theodor-Peter had concluded a peace treaty with the Byzantines; the other described him as "a stumbling block to his brother" and an enemy to his own family, while describing Asen as a "most reckless and obdurate rebel". George Akropolites records that Preslav, Provadia and the "area around them" was still known as "Peter's land" in the 13th century. The sources suggest that the brothers divided the territories under their rule into two, most probably in 1192, according to Madgearu. Receiving the northeastern region, Theodor-Peter set up his capital at Preslav. Fine says the strife between the brothers was most probably soon rectified, because they jointly ordered the invasion of Thrace in 1193. ### Last years Asen was murdered in Tarnovo by the boyar Ivanko in the fall of 1196. Theodor-Peter soon mustered his troops, hurried to the town and laid siege to it. Ivanko sent an envoy to Constantinople, urging the new Byzantine Emperor, Alexios III Angelos, to send reinforcements to him. The emperor dispatched Manuel Kamytzes to lead an army to Tarnovo, but fear of an ambush at the mountain passes led to an outbreak of mutiny and the troops forced him to return. Ivanko realized that he could not defend Tarnovo any more and fled from the town to Constantinople. Theodor-Peter entered Tarnovo. After making his younger brother Kaloyan the ruler of the town, he returned to Preslav. Theodor-Peter was murdered "in obscure circumstances" in 1197. He was "run through by the sword of one of his countrymen", according to Choniates' record. Historian István Vásáry writes, Theodor-Peter was killed during a riot; Stephenson proposes, the native lords got rid of him, because of his close alliance with the Cumans. ## See also - Asen dynasty - Byzantine–Bulgarian wars - Bogomilism

Novomessor albisetosus

Species of ant

Novomessor albisetosus, also known as the desert harvester ant, is a species of ant found in the United States and Mexico. A member of the genus Novomessor in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was first described by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1886. It was originally placed in the genus Aphaenogaster, but a recent phylogenetic study concluded that it is genetically distinct and should be separated. It is a medium-sized species, measuring 6 to 8.5 millimeters (0.2 to 0.3 in) and has a ferruginous body color. It can be distinguished from other Novomessor species by its shorter head and subparallel eyes. Novomessor albisetosus is found in desert and woodland habitats, nesting underground or under stones. The ants are active during the morning and evening but not when it is midday or the middle of the night. They forage for foods such as insect pieces, plant tissues and fruit. They may forage individually but cooperate when transporting large food items. Army ants are known to prey on this species. Nuptial flights begin in June. Workers are considered matured when half of their time is spent outside. ## Taxonomy Novomessor albisetosus was originally identified by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1886, who first described the species as Aphaenogaster albisetosa. In 1895, Italian entomologist Carlo Emery classified Aphaenogaster as a subgenus of Stenamma, and N. albisetosus was renamed Stenamma (Aphaenogaster) albisetosum. Emery would later transfer the species to the newly erected genus Novomessor, a genus he described in 1915 that included Novomessor cockerelli. In 1947, American entomologist Jane Enzmann described a new form, Novomessor cockerelli minor. She distinguished it from N. cockerelli by its smaller size, lighter color and more sculptured body shape. This taxon, however, was synonymized with N. albisetosus two years later by American entomologist William Brown Jr. In 1974, Brown synonymized Novomessor with Aphaenogaster, and N. albisetosus was thereby moved to that genus. Brown notes that the characters supposed to distinguish the two genera are not strong enough when one considers the global fauna of this complex. However, entomologists Bert Hölldobler, R. Stanton and M.S. Engel revived the genus in 1976 on the basis that N. albisetosus and N. cockerelli had an exocrine gastral glandular system that was not found in any examined Aphaenogaster ant. In 1982, English myrmecologist Barry Bolton argued that basing the genus on such a feature could not justify the separation of Novomessor and Aphaenogaster. In 2015, a phylogenetic study done by entomologists B.B. Demarco and A.I. Cognato concluded that Novomessor was genetically distinct from Aphaenogaster, and the genus was revived from synonymy with N. albisetosus as one of the three known species. Morphologically, the promesonatal suture and the postpetiole are diagnostic for Novomessor ants and the three species share a closer relation with Veromessor than Aphaenogaster. They also have different behavioral and habitat characters that distinguishes them from other ant genera. Like N. cockerelli, N. albisetosus is commonly known as the desert harvester ant. ## Description Novomessor albisetosus is a medium-sized species with a moderately short body, measuring 6 to 8.5 millimeters (0.2 to 0.3 in). The body color of the ant is ferruginous (rust-colored), the legs are reddish brown and the petiole (the waist) and abdomen are brownish black. The first segment of the abdomen, however, is brownish yellow. The tibia has fine, clear bristles. The maxillae form a triangular isoscele, and the mandibles have three comparatively large teeth. The head is noticeably long, longer than its total width. The clypeus (a sclerite) is also longer than wide and is found in the middle of the head, forming two vertical stripes. Larvae of N. albisetosus measure 6.6 millimeters (0.3 in). The body is moderately stout and there is a slight constriction at the first and second abdominal somites (body segments containing the same internal structures). Spiracles are small and no spinules are on the integument. Body hairs are short and sparse; hairs on the head are sparse and also short. The antennae are small with three sensilla (sensory receptors), and the labrum (a flap-like structure that lies immediately in front of the mouth) is short. The mandibles are sclerotized, and the apex forms a long slender tooth that is medially curved. The maxillae are small with a spinulose apex. Larvae appear similar to those of N. ensifer, but N. ensifer larvae can be distinguished by the abundance of hair with long stouts found on the body. Several features allow N. albisetosus to be distinguished from other species in Novomessor. One such feature is that the head of N. albisetosus is shorter than that of N. cockerelli. The sides of the head in front of the eyes are also subparallel, but behind the eyes they become convex. N. albisetosus has spines that are more bent and curve downward, whereas the spines of N. cockerelli are bent inward. Both species share a similarly structured thorax, but the epinotal spines in N. albisetosus are just as long as the basal face of the epinotum (the dorsal aspect of the pronotum). Meanwhile, N. cockerelli has shorter epinotal spines. N. albisetosus has a heavier structure and a greater degree of opacity; its petiole is almost opaque. It is hairier than N. albisetosus, where the body is covered in coarse whitish-yellow hairs. The hairs taper from the base to the tip, but they appear blunt. The abdomen bears numerous hairs that are shorter than the hair found on the pronotum (a sclerite of the prothorax). The queens can be distinguished from each other by the cephalic structure, where the head of N. albisetosus is slightly longer than it is broad, whereas the heads of N. cockerelli are decidedly longer than broad. Also, the thorax of N. albisetosus is shorter and higher than in N. cockerelli. Differences in their sculptures and pilosity are less noticeable, but N. cockerelli has a shinier epinotum and the head is rugose. Males of N. cockerelli are smaller, measuring 6 millimeters (0.2 in) and have short heads, and the mesonotum is covered with weak rugosities. ## Distribution and habitat Novomessor albisetosus is native to Mexico and the southwestern United States, including the U.S. states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. In Mexico, the ant is found in the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora. The ant is less common than N. cockerelli. The eastern range of N. albisetosus is not well known, but it does not coincide with N. cockerelli. The easternmost record of N. albisetosus is near the Cernas Ranch in the Chisos Mountains of Texas. The mountains are close to northern Coahuila, so the ant is likely found in the Mexican ranges. In comparison to N. cockerelli, N. albisetosus is not found as far north and is found much further south. Both ants are found on the eastern side of the Sierra Madre Occidental until the topography changes in northwestern Chihuahua. Up north, the Sierra Madre Occidental breaks up into a number of ranges that communicate on the east of the Mexican Plateau, and, to the west, with the narrow Sonoran coastal plain where N. albisetosus and N. cockerelli are abundant. However, N. albisetosus is less widespread than N. cockerelli. The northern limit is mostly determined by its inability to survive in highland areas in central Arizona and New Mexico. In southeastern Wickenburg, Arizona, the range of N. albisetosus runs along the southern end of the area where the rise of the Mogollon Mesa begins; N. albisetosus is not found on top of the Mogollon Mesa. Nests are found at altitudes of between 2,146 and 5,840 ft (654 and 1,780 m) above sea level. The habitat of N. albisetosus ranges from desert to juniper woodland, as well as pine-oak woodland and riparian woodland/desert scrub. Nests are underground or beneath stones. Nests are noted for their coarseness; they typically have an irregular entrance 3 to 4 in (7.6 to 10.2 cm) across. These entrances are roughly constructed and descend steeply into the ground, appearing more like a rat's burrow than an ant's nest. Workers construct a disc around the central opening made out of coarse gravel and excavated soil. The discs in N. albisetosus colonies are smaller than those in N. cockerelli, but sometimes they may be absent (nests that are found under stones mostly lack discs). The center of the disc contains a thick pile of soil and gravel that has been formed into a rough crater. ## Behavior and ecology Novomessor albisetosus is active during the day and night, but does not forage in the middle of the night nor in the middle of the day when it is too hot. It is most active when air temperatures are between 68 °F (20 °C) and 104 °F (40 °C). Water is a limiting factor to their foraging periods; these periods were extended when ants were given supplements of seeds, suggesting that physical stress can affect activity patterns. When foragers do not form in files, they walk slowly and deliberately; it is doubted that they can move fast. Despite being previously known as individual foragers, N. albisetosus will recruit others when handling large prey items to carry them back to the nest in a cooperative manner. N. albisetosus can follow ant trails made by N. cockerelli, whereas the latter is unable to follow N. albisetosus trails. The ants consume a variety of foods, including insect pieces, seeds, plant tissues and pieces of fruit. However, they do not show a particular preference for seeds, and insect pieces only accounted for 6% of items collected by N. albisetosus. Insect pieces collected by workers are most likely from already deceased insects since the slowness of these ants would make successful predation difficult. Workers stridulate (produce sound by rubbing together certain body parts) when pieces of food they have found are too large to carry back. These stridulations can only be perceived by other workers who are either a short distance from the source or in direct contact. The ants are aggressive to intruders, especially non-resident N. albisetosus ants and N. cockerelli; Pogonomyrmex badius were completely eliminated whenever introduced to an N. albisetosus nest area. Army ants (Neivamyrmex) prey on N. albisetosus. Nuptial flights for N. albisetosus begin by June. Adult workers are considered mature when they spend more than half of their time outside rather than remaining inside the nest tending to the young. These matured adults (excluding the oldest ones) will revert to tending the brood and queen when almost all age groups are removed from the nest. In queens, the period of developing ovaries correlates with the age when worker ants are already present with the queen and brood. When workers no longer tend to the brood and queen, resorption of the ovaries occurs. ## See also - Wildlife of the United States

Mycena intersecta

Species of fungus

Mycena intersecta is a species of mushroom in the family Mycenaceae. First reported as a new species in 2007, it is known only from central Honshu, in Japan, where it is found growing solitarily or scattered, on dead leaves in lowland forests dominated by oak. The mushrooms have olive-brown caps up to 12 mm (0.47 in) in diameter atop slender stems that are 50 to 80 mm (2.0 to 3.1 in) long by 0.7 to 1.2 mm (0.03 to 0.05 in) thick. On the underside of the cap are the distantly spaced, whitish gills that have cross-veins running between them. Microscopic characteristics of the mushroom include the smooth, irregularly cylindrical cheilocystidia (cystidia on the gill edge), the absence of pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face), the diverticulate elements of the cap cuticle, the broadly club-shaped to irregularly shaped caulocystidia (cystidia on the stem), the weakly dextrinoid flesh (staining reddish to reddish-brown in Melzer's reagent), and the absence of clamp connections. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown. ## Taxonomy and naming The mushroom was first collected by Japanese mycologist Haruki Takahashi in 1999, and published as a new species (along with seven other Japanese Mycenas) in a 2007 publication. The specific epithet is from the Latin word intersecta or "intersected", and refers to the intervenose gills. Its Japanese name is Oriibu-ashinagatake (オリーブアシナガタケ). According to Takahashi, the fungus is best classified in the section Fragilipedes (Fr.) Quél., as defined by the Dutch Mycena specialist Maas Geesteranus. ## Description The cap of M. intersecta is initially conical to convex to bell-shaped, eventually reaching 8 to 12 mm (0.31 to 0.47 in) in diameter. When it is moist, it is partly translucent, so that the outlines of the gills underneath the cap can be seen. The cap is somewhat hygrophanous, and dry. Its surface is initially minutely pruinose (as if covered with a fine white powder), but this effect soon sloughs off, leaving the surface smooth. The cap color is initially olive-brown to yellowish-brown, then somewhat paler from the margin. The white flesh is up to 0.7 mm thick, and lacks any distinctive taste and odor. The slender stem is 50 to 80 mm (2.0 to 3.1 in) long by 0.7 to 1.2 mm (0.03 to 0.05 in) thick, cylindrical, and hollow. Its surface is dry, and colored pale olive-brown near the top, becoming olive-brown downward. Like the cap, it is at first pruinose, but smooths out in age. The base of the stem is covered with coarse white hairs. The gills are adnate to subdecurrent (running slightly down the length of the stem), and distantly spaced, with 16–19 gills reaching the stem. The gills are up to 1.5 mm broad, thin, somewhat intervenose, and whitish, with edges that are the same color as the gill faces. Takahashi's description does not include any discussion of the mushroom's edibility. ### Microscopic characteristics The basidiospores are roughly ellipsoid and measure 7.5–8.5 by 5–6 μm. They are thin-walled, smooth, colorless, and inamyloid to weakly amyloid—indicating a weak ability to absorb the iodine in Melzer's reagent. The spore-bearing cells, the basidia are 22–31 by 5.5–7 μm, club-shaped, and mostly two-spored. The cheilocystidia (cystidia on the gill edge) are 27–40 by 3–6 μm, abundant, and form a sterile gill edge. They are irregularly cylindrical to constricted, smooth, colorless, and thin-walled. Pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face) are absent. The hymenophoral tissue is made of thin-walled hyphae that are 5–18 μm wide, cylindrical, smooth, colorless, and weakly dextrinoid. The cap cuticle is made of parallel, bent-over hyphae that are 2–6 μm wide, cylindrical, and densely covered with warty or finger-like thin-walled diverticulae that are colorless and inamyloid. The layer of hyphae underneath the cap cuticle are parallel, olive-brown, and weakly dextrinoid, with short and inflated cells up to 22 μm wide. The stem cuticle is made of parallel, bent-over hyphae that are 2–4 μm wide, cylindrical, smooth to sparsely diverticulate. These hyphae curve outward to form club-shaped or irregularly shaped caulocystidia (cystidia on the stem) that are olive-brown, inamyloid, and thin-walled. They measure 13–29 by 3–7 μm, and are broadly club-shaped to irregularly shaped, and often have one to three knob-like excrescences. The stem tissue is made of longitudinally running, cylindrical hyphae that are 5–12 μm wide, smooth, colorless, and have a weakly dextrinoid in Melzer's reagent. Clamp connections are absent in all tissues of M. intersecta. ### Similar species The European species Mycena viridimarginata is somewhat similar to M. intersecta in appearance, but may be distinguished by its greenish-edged gills, cheilocystidia with abruptly tapering points, and clamp connections. ## Habitat and distribution Mycena intersecta is known only from Kanagawa, Japan. The fruit bodies are found solitary or scattered, on dead leaves in lowland forests dominated by the oak trees Quercus myrsinaefolia and Q. serrata.

Purupuruni

Group of lava domes in southern Peru

Purupuruni is a group of lava domes in southern Peru and a correlative geological formation. They are among the many volcanoes that exist in Peru and whose activity has been associated with the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America Plate. Purupuruni is associated with a geothermal field and a caldera. Volcanic activity occurred during the Pleistocene 53,000 ± 8,000 years ago but also during the Holocene about 5,300 ± 1,100 years ago; today the volcano is considered to be a low hazard volcano but is being monitored nevertheless. ## Geography and geomorphology Purupuruni lies in the Cordillera Occidental 48 kilometres (30 mi) north of the border with Chile, about 85 kilometres (53 mi) away from Tacna and only about 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the town of Tarata. The volcano is part of the Monumento Natural de Los Volcanes de Mauri geopark. The term Phuru means dung in Aymara. The Purupuruni volcano, also known as Purupurini, is a 0.85 kilometres (0.53 mi) wide complex of four large lava domes at an elevation of 5,117 metres (16,788 ft) or 5,315 metres (17,438 ft). The domes cover an area of about 3.5–7 square kilometres (1.4–2.7 sq mi), are up to 200 metres (660 ft) high and are isolated and little eroded. The domes are accompanied by intrusions and lava and pyroclastic flow deposits. The volcanism appears to come from fissure vents and the volcanoes have been affected by faulting. These deposits reach thicknesses of 10 metres (33 ft) and also occur on neighbouring volcanic centres. Purupuruni has formed on the rim of a depression, which is surrounded by eroded Quaternary volcanoes and appears to be a 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) wide caldera southwest of the domes. The volcano lies east-southeast from Yucamane volcano and just south of the Mauri River; the Mauri River is part of the Lake Titicaca watershed. The Borateras geothermal field with about 40 separate manifestations is associated with Purupuruni and neighbouring volcanoes such as Coverane and Jaruma across the Mauri River and west from Purupuruni respectively. The Borateras field is used as a spa at the Calachaca spa. The landscape is relatively dry and cold and thus vegetation is scarce. ## Geology The volcanic rocks are mainly andesitic and dacitic, and contain amphibole, biotite, olivine, plagioclase and pyroxene and are among the most differentiated volcanics in the area. They are part of the wider "Purupurini Volcanics", which are named after Purupuruni and also form other volcanoes in the region. ### Geological context Rock formations in the region include the Mesozoic Yura Group sediments, the Toquepala intrusive rocks, the 30-24 million years old Tacaza volcanic rocks, the 24-10 million years old Huaylillas volcanic rocks and the 10-3 million years old Barroso volcanic rocks; Purupuruni is considered to be part of this Barroso formation. Purupuruni and neighbouring volcanic centres have formed on the Cretaceous sedimentary basement. Volcanism in Peru occurs mainly in the southern part of the country, where there are about 300 separate volcanic systems including El Misti, Ubinas, Ticsani, Sabancaya and Huaynaputina. In the Tacna Region of Peru alone there are over 60 separate volcanoes, two of which, Tutupaca and Yucamane, have been active in historical time. In addition, there are a number of geothermal systems with temperatures of over 200 °C (392 °F) which could be used to produce geothermal energy. Volcanic and geothermal activity in the region is a consequence of the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America Plate at a rate of about 7–9 centimetres per year (2.8–3.5 in/year). ## Geologic history The volcanic centres in the area including Purupuruni are of Miocene to Pliocene age, and appear to be of Pleistocene age. Purupuruni formed during the last 100,000 years and appears to have developed between two interglacials; fission-track dating on glasses from Purupuruni has yielded ages of 53,000 ± 8,000 years ago but more recent surface exposure dating has yielded an age of 5,300 ± 1,100 years before present on one of the southern domes. The volcano is considered to be a low-hazard system and in 2018 the Peruvian Geological Institute announced it would begin monitoring Purupuruni and nine other volcanoes. Earthquake swarms in 2020 and 2021 do not appear to have been caused by volcanism; they are instead linked to local fault activity. Glacial erosion took place on Purupuruni during the Pleistocene, leaving moraines on the domes although research published in 2019 has found that the domes have not been eroded by glaciers even though evidence of glaciation occurs in the wider area. Alluvial, glacial and fluvial deposits occur in the region, with aeolian sediments consisting of volcanic ash mantling the volcanic structures.

James Meredith (soccer)

Australian association football player

James Gregory Meredith (born 5 April 1988) is a retired Australian soccer player who played as a left back English Football League clubs Chesterfield, Shrewsbury Town, Bradford City and Millwall and for A-League Men clubs Perth Glory and Macarthur FC. Meredith started his career with the Derby County youth system in 2004, signing a professional contract in 2006. He was loaned out to Cambridge United and Chesterfield before moving to Sligo Rovers. He returned to England with Shrewsbury Town, but after making only three appearances for them, joined A.F.C. Telford United on loan for most of the 2008–09 season. Meredith joined York City in 2009, playing in their victories in the 2012 FA Trophy Final and 2012 Conference Premier play-off final, the latter seeing the club promoted to League Two. Meredith signed for Bradford City in 2012, winning promotion to League One in his first season with victory in the 2013 League Two play-off final. Meredith moved to Millwall in the Championship in 2017 before leaving two years later. In 2019, he returned to Australia to play in the A-League for Perth Glory and then Macarthur, where he retired and moved into coaching in 2022. Meredith made two appearances for the Australian national team, both in 2015. He was a member of the Australian squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. ## Early and personal life Meredith was born in Albury, New South Wales. His father, Greg Pollard, was a squash player who ranked as highly as third in the world while playing in England. Meredith attended Scotch College in Melbourne, Victoria and grew up supporting South Melbourne FC and Manchester United F.C. Meredith was in a relationship with glamour model Maria Fowler after meeting her through social networking website Myspace, although the two broke up in 2007. ## Club career ### Early career Meredith was spotted playing soccer in Melbourne at the age of 16 by a Derby County scout. He was offered a trial by the club and he joined their youth system on a two-year contract in 2004. He progressed through the youth team and he signed a two-year professional contract with Derby on 19 July 2006. He joined Conference National club Cambridge United on a one-month loan on 19 October 2006 and he made his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Oxford United. He finished the loan with two appearances. He had a trial with Conference National club York City in January 2007, playing in a reserve-team match against Rotherham United. He joined League One team Chesterfield on a one-month loan on 19 February 2007, making one appearance as a left midfielder in a 2–0 defeat to Tranmere Rovers on 2 March. Following the expiry of the loan, Chesterfield opted against extending it. ### Sligo Rovers Meredith joined League of Ireland Premier Division club Sligo Rovers on a contract until the end of the 2007 season on 31 July 2007. He made his debut in a 2–0 defeat at Galway United on 24 August 2007 and he finished his time at the club with four appearances. ### Shrewsbury Town Meredith signed for League Two team Shrewsbury Town on 14 January 2008 on a one-and-a-half-year contract after training with the club, which included a clause that after making five appearances the contract could be renegotiated. He made his debut on 23 February 2008 in the 2–1 home defeat to Hereford United, finishing the 2007–08 season with three appearances, with his final match coming against Rochdale on the last day of the season. He was told that he did not figure in new manager Paul Simpson's immediate plans in July 2008, being left behind as the club travelled to Spain on a pre-season training camp. Meredith joined Conference North club A.F.C. Telford United on 16 October 2008 on a one-month loan, saying "I don't see it as a step down but as a step up, because I've become stagnant at Shrewsbury". Meredith signed a further one-month extension with Telford in November 2008 and he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Gateshead. The loan was again extended for a further month in December 2008, keeping him at the club until early January 2009. Telford were looking to extend his loan for the remainder of 2008–09, but a contractual hitch held this up. He eventually extended the loan on 8 January. Meredith played for Telford in both legs of the semi-final defeat to York City in the FA Trophy. He was handed a red card against Barrow in the semi-final of the Conference League Cup in March, which meant he would miss the Final because of a two-match suspension. He was substituted after breaking his nose in a 3–0 victory over Burscough in April. He played for Telford in the 2009 Conference North play-off Final on 8 May, which was lost 1–0 to Gateshead, meaning the team missed out on promotion to the Conference Premier. He finished the season with 46 appearances and one goal for Telford. ### York City He was offered a permanent contract by Telford after the end of the season, but he opted to join Conference Premier team York City on 22 May 2009. He made his debut in a 2–1 defeat to Oxford United on 8 August 2009. Meredith was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in a 1–1 draw against Oxford on 17 October 2009, which resulted in him being handed a one-match suspension for York's match against Luton Town. He signed a new contract with York on 29 March 2010 to keep him at the club until the summer of 2011. He played in both legs of York's play-off semi-final victory over Luton, which finished 2–0 on aggregate. He started in the 2010 Conference Premier play-off final at Wembley Stadium on 16 May 2010, which York lost 3–1 to Oxford. He finished 2009–10 with 56 appearances for York. Meredith had an operation on his knee during the summer of 2010. He made his first appearance of 2010–11 in the opening match, after starting a 2–1 defeat to Kidderminster Harriers on 14 August 2010. His first goal for York came in a 4–1 victory over league leaders AFC Wimbledon on 1 February 2011 after beating the offside trap to beat goalkeeper Seb Brown. He finished the season with 51 appearances and one goal. After rejecting two new contract offers with York, he eventually signed a new one-year contract with the club in May 2011. Meredith won the 2012 FA Trophy Final with York at Wembley Stadium on 12 May 2012, in which they beat Newport County 2–0. Eight days later he played in the 2–1 victory over Luton in the 2012 Conference Premier play-off final at Wembley, seeing the club return to the Football League after an eight-year absence with promotion to League Two. His 2011–12 season finished with 55 appearances and two goals for York, and was named in the 2011–12 Conference Premier Team of the Year alongside York teammate Matty Blair. ### Bradford City Meredith signed for League Two Bradford City on 29 June 2012 on a two-year contract. His debut came after starting in Bradford's opening match of 2012–13, a 1–0 victory away to League One team Notts County in the League Cup first round. Meredith scored his first goal for Bradford in a 3–1 home win against Cheltenham Town on 20 October 2012. He achieved promotion into League One in his first season with Bradford, playing in their 3–0 victory over Northampton Town in the 2013 League Two play-off final at Wembley Stadium on 18 May 2013. He finished the season with 44 appearances and 1 goal. Due to his strong performance as Bradford's starting left back during the 2016–17 League One season, Meredith was included in the PFA Team of the Year. He started for Bradford as they were beaten 1–0 by Millwall at Wembley Stadium in the 2017 League One play-off final. ### Millwall Meredith signed for newly promoted Championship club Millwall on 29 May 2017 on a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 1–0 loss away to Nottingham Forest in Millwall's opening match of the 2017–18 Championship season on 4 August 2017. Millwall terminated Meredith's contract by mutual consent on 31 July 2019. ### Perth Glory Meredith signed for A-League club Perth Glory on 27 September 2019 on a one-year contract. ### Macarthur On 9 December 2020, Meredith joined Macarthur FC. Following the 2021–22 A-League Men season, Meredith retired from playing and joined Macarthur's coaching staff. ## International career In March 2015, Meredith expressed his desire to play for the Australia national team. Australia coach Ange Postecoglou said at the time that he was open to selecting a number of new players to the national team, including Meredith. Meredith was first called up by Australia for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Jordan on 8 October 2015, for which he was an unused substitute as Australia lost 2–0. Meredith debuted for Australia on 12 November 2015, after being selected in the starting line-up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan, which the team won 3–0 at home. He only learned he would be starting on the morning of the match, and his family flew to Canberra from Melbourne to watch him. He made a second start in a win over Bangladesh four days later. Meredith had not featured for Australia again by August 2017, when he stated his aim to be recalled to the Australia squad following his move to Millwall in the Championship. He was named in Australia's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. ## Style of play Meredith primarily plays as a left back, although he has been described as being "versatile" and is able to play at centre back or in midfield. After signing for York in 2009, manager Martin Foyle described him as being "a very attack-minded, left-footed full-back with pace who can play the ball out from the back." ## Career statistics ### Club ### International ## Honours York City - Conference Premier play-offs: 2012 - FA Trophy: 2011–12 Bradford City - Football League Two play-offs: 2013 Individual - Conference Premier Team of the Year: 2011–12 - PFA Team of the Year: 2016–17 League One

Nikki Jean

American singer-songwriter (born 1983)

Nicolle Jean Leary (born August 25, 1983), better known as Nikki Jean, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Jean started out as a lead singer of a short-lived Philadelphia band called Nouveau Riche. She was introduced to rapper Lupe Fiasco when he was working on his 2007 album Lupe Fiasco's The Cool and achieved initial success as the featuring artist on his single "Hip Hop Saved My Life". She continues to collaborate frequently with him. After two years of co-writing songs with many different songwriters for her debut album, including Bob Dylan and Carole King, Jean released Pennies in a Jar in 2011. The album received positive reviews but commercially underperformed. Her solo career continued with three extended plays: the X-Mas EP (2013), the Champagne Water EP (2014), and Beautiful Prison (2019). ## Early life Nicolle Jean Leary was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on August 25, 1983. Her father was a government aid agency worker and her mother was a labor lawyer. Jean developed an early interest in songwriting after watching Irving Berlin's 100th birthday in 1983, and started learning the piano aged eight. Her mother's interest in folk music led her to learn the importance of writing lyrics that are easy to sing along to. Jean was also influenced by her mother's taste in Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, and grew up watching old musicals. She took the name "Nikki Jean" while in high school to distinguish herself from other people who shared her name. While attending Howard University, Jean met singer Nona Hendryx. Hendryx recommended she listen to Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro, which opened her up to chord structure. She also studied acting. ## Career ### 2005–2008: Nouveau Riche and Lupe Fiasco's The Cool After graduating in 2005, Jean was invited to perform at a Labor Day barbecue in Philadelphia by The Roots. Their member Dice Raw asked Jean to join his new band called the Disease (renamed Nouveau Riche two weeks later) after hearing her play piano in a studio. Jean accepted the offer and moved to the city, where she lived in the neighborhood of Manayunk. The five-member Nouveau Riche released two extended plays (EPs) when it was active from 2005–2008. As the lead singer, Jean co-wrote many of the band's songs. She uploaded videos on her YouTube channel "nikkijeanproject". Jean was working with producers Chris & Drop, who played one of Jean's songs to rapper Lupe Fiasco. Fiasco invited her to collaborate with him. She featured on two tracks on his album Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (2007): "Little Weapon" and the single "Hip Hop Saved My Life", which she co-wrote. She later went on the tour for the album. Jean's collaborations with Fiasco helped her gain wider recognition: a Billboard journalist wrote in 2011 that she was "previously best-known for her singing/writing stints on [The Cool]." Jean and Fiasco performed as one of the opening acts in Kanye West's 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour. ### 2008–2011: Pennies in a Jar In 2008, Jean sought out producer Sam Hollander for his work on Carole King's 2001 album Love Makes the World to discuss a direction for a future solo career. For her debut album, Hollander suggested that she travel around the United States to co-write songs with "the greatest songwriters" for her debut album. For two years, Jean wrote songs with writers such as King, Burt Bacharach and Bob Dylan, many of which were popular during the 1970s and 1980s. She believed her lack of mainstream success helped her secure collaborations, which allowed her to approach each writer as a fan. Dylan permitted her to complete "Steel and Feathers (Don't Ever)", a song of his that had been unfinished for over thirty years. She was originally signed to Columbia Records but was let go in late 2010 as her music seemed "more mature" than they anticipated; the album was instead released on July 12, 2011 by indie label S-Curve Records, titled Pennies in a Jar. She appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, Tavis Smiley, Weekend Edition Saturday and Live from Daryl's House to promote it. While the album received positive reviews from music journalists, its songs failed to chart except in Japan, where it reached the Top 10 singles. Hollander would later write in his autobiography, "In my mind, I'd totally failed Nikki. [...] I'd under-thought the greatest idea ever and hung her out to dry in the process. She deserved better. This was easily the biggest miss of my career, and man, it stung." ### 2011–present: Extended plays and further collaborations Jean later moved to Los Angeles. She released the X-Mas EP in 2013, and was a featuring artist on Ab-Soul's 2014 song "World Runners". On October 22, 2014, Jean released the first single from her second solo EP, "Champagne Water", featuring Ab-Soul. Vibe premiered the extended play of the same name on November 19, 2014, containing six songs which concern topics such as police shootings, heartbreak and religion. Jake One, Like, Double-O, Donnie Trumpet and Nate Fox serve as producers. She featured on several songs on Lupe Fiasco's 2015 album Tetsuo & Youth. Jean, Fiasco and The Roots performed "Little Death" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in February 2015. She and Fiasco also appeared for the first season of Why? with Hannibal Buress (2015). Jean later featured on songs from Fiasco's 2018 album Drogas Wave. In 2019, Jean released the seven-track EP Beautiful Prison through Rhymesayers Entertainment, with Fiasco featuring on the Jake One-produced single "Mr. Clean". She also released a short film called Be Free. ## Musical style and influences A soul and pop artist and songwriter who often features on hip-hop songs, Alison Stewart of The Washington Post described Jean as a "parallel universe's offspring of Carole King and Janelle Monae". Pennies in a Jar featured pop and soul music reminiscent of the 1960s–80s era in which many of her co-writers flourished. AllMusic's Andy Kellman said that the songs contained, perhaps, "a modernized hip-hop spin". He added that Jean had "a lithe, quietly potent voice", which other critics characterized as sincere. Her 2014 EP Champagne Water touched on contemporary societal issues, including police shootings and religion. Jean said that since childhood she listened to songwriters rather than singers: "Songwriters were my rock stars." ## Discography ### Albums - Pennies in a Jar (2011) ### EPs - X-Mas EP (2013) - Champagne Water EP (2014) - Beautiful Prison (2019)

MTV Unplugged (Mariah Carey EP)

MTV Unplugged is a live EP by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released in the United States on June 2, 1992, by Columbia Records. Following the success of Carey's previous two albums and the growing critical commentary on her lack of concert tours and unsubstantial televised performances, Sony organized a live performance show at the Kaufman Astoria Studios, New York on March 16, 1992. The show, titled MTV Unplugged, originally aired on MTV to help promote Carey's second album Emotions, as well as help shun critics who deemed Carey a possible studio artist. However, after its success, the show was released to the public as an EP, with an accompanying VHS titled MTV Unplugged +3. Upon release, the EP garnered generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom complimented Carey's vocals. Commercially, the album was a success, peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200, and was certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of two million copies within the United States. Additionally, the EP experienced strong success in several international markets, such as the Netherlands and New Zealand, where it reached number one and were certified 2× Platinum. MTV Unplugged peaked within the top-five in the United Kingdom, and in the-top ten in Australia and Canada. "I'll Be There" was chosen as the lead single from the album. Due to its critical success until that point, it was released one month before its parent EP, eventually becoming Carey's sixth chart-topper in the United States, and one of the few songs to do so by two different acts. Globally, the song was successful, topping the charts in Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, as well as reaching the top-five in Ireland and the United Kingdom. After its success, "If It's Over", a song from Carey's second studio effort Emotions was released, due to its exposure on the show and EP. ## Background After the release of Carey's second studio album, Emotions (1991), critics began wondering whether Carey would finally embark on a worldwide tour, having not toured to promote her self-titled debut album. Although Carey had done several sporadic award show appearances, as well as television program performances, critics began accusing Carey of being a studio artist, not capable of delivering or replicating the same quality vocals live, especially her whistle register. During several televised interviews, Carey addressed the accusations, claiming that she did not tour out of fear of the long travel times and distances, as well as the strain on her voice performing her songs back-to-back. However, in hopes of putting any claims of her being a manufactured artist to rest, Carey and Walter Afanasieff decided to book an appearance on MTV Unplugged, a television program aired by MTV. The show's purpose was to present name artists, and feature them "unplugged" or stripped of studio equipment. While live, the show allowed several musicians and back up vocalists, while recorded in an acoustic setting. The issues Carey faced once the show was booked was the content; she didn't know what material to present at the intimate concert. While Carey felt strongly of her more soulful and powerful songs, it was decided that her most popular content to that point would be included. Days prior to the show's taping, Carey and Afanasieff thought of adding a cover version of an older song, in order to provide something different and unexpected. They chose "I'll Be There", a song made popular by The Jackson 5 in 1970, rehearsing it few times before the night of the show. ## Synopsis Carey's performance was recorded on March 16, 1992, at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. The show featured a number of musicians, back-up vocalists and just a crew of ten, for filming and recording. Directed by Larry Jordan, who previously worked with Carey on the music video for "Someday". Dana Jon Chapelle was chosen as the sound mixer, having worked with Carey on her previous two studio albums. The show began with the song "Emotions" Carey entered the studio dressed in a black jacket and matching pants and boots. Prior to the song's studio introduction, Carey opened the song with an impromptu gospel and a cappella number, eventually leading to the song's chorus led by David Cole. This is the only song from the performance that was filmed in two takes, since the first was not to Mariah's liking. After the song, Carey introduced the band and staff; to her left was a four-piece string section with Belinda Whitney Barnett, Cecilia Hobbs-Gardner, Wince Garvey and Laura Corcos, while San Shea played the harpsichord and harmonium. The show's rhythm section was led by Gigi Gonaway on the drums, Randy Jackson on bass, Vernon Black on guitar, and Sammy Figueroa and Ren Klyce, both percussionists. Additionally, Carey had ten background singers on stage, led by Trey Lorenz and Patrique McMillan. The next song on the set-list was "If It's Over", a collaboration with Carole King. Walter Afanasieff replaced Cole on the piano, during which time a set of five male musicians were brought on stage. They were Lew Delgado, baritone saxophone; Lenny Pickett, tenor saxophone; George Young, alto saxophone; Earl Gardner, trumpet; and Steve Turre, trombone. They had been present during Carey's live performance of the song on Saturday Night Live a few months prior. As Carey introduced the song, she said "this next song I wrote with one of my idols, Carole King", beginning the performance shortly after. For "Someday", Cole returned to the stage, replacing Afanasieff on the keyboard. During the song, Carey would often place her index finger over her left ear, especially while using the whistle register. She later explained to the audience that it would help her in hearing herself more precisely, something needed to properly execute a higher ranged note. Once again, as Carey began "Vision of Love", her "first single ever", Afansieff swapped positions with Cole. The performance varied heavily from the studio version, as it was more low key and only used voices in a cappella form, without any heavy instrumentation. Prior to beginning the fifth song on the set-list, "Make It Happen", Afanasieff shared the organ with Cole, playing the bass while the latter handled the treble. After the song began, the back-up began "piling their vocals" over Carey's, according to author Chris Nickson, and allowed the song to attain a more "churchy feel". He felt the song was superior to the studio version, due to its stripped performance and vocals: > "The roughness of this version succeeded in a way the recorded version on 'Emotions' could never manage. In the sterile atmosphere of a studio, where perfection, technology, and overdubbing were the rules, spontaneity had no place. On the stage, it was valued, and this performance had it. Everyone pushed everyone just a little further, to create something wonderful, and judging by the response, the audience realized it, as did Mariah when the song was finished." Soon after completing "Make It Happen", Carey eagerly presented the final song on the set list, "I'll Be There". The way the song was arranged, Carey took Michael Jackson's lead, while Trey Lorenz sang the second lead, originally sung by Jermaine Jackson. After performing the song alongside a very simple arrangement and minimal instrumentals, the back-up singers began humming to the tune of "Can't Let Go", leading Carey to present "another final" song for the show. Several days after the concert, Carey sat down with Melinda Newman from Billboard, telling her of the experience recording the show, as well as her view on it from a creative perspective. She said "Unplugged taught me a lot about myself because I tend to nitpick everything I do and make it a bit too perfect because I'm a perfectionist. I'll always go over the raw stuff, and now I've gotten to the point where I understand the raw stuff is usually better." ## Release Originally, MTV planned to air the show several times during April 1992, it was normal for MTV Unplugged sessions to air around six times during the month of release, before being archived. Carey's version was met with critical acclaim and extended popularity, leading to it being shown more often than usual. Fans from around the United States made multiple requests for the show to be aired on television, and by the end of April 1992, Carey's episode of MTV Unplugged had aired over three-times as much as an average episode would. The concert's success tempted Sony officials to use it as some form of an album. However, Carey and Afansieff were already making headway on a new album set tentatively for release in 1993. This being so, Sony decided to release it as an EP, selling for a reduced price due to its shorter length. It became available for digital download on the iTunes Store on December 7, 2021. ### Video After the success of the EP's lead single "I'll Be There", Sony chose to release not only the EP, but a VHS accompaniment package; a video of the actual concert titled MTV Unplugged +3. Aside from featuring the seven song's performed at Kaufman Astoria Studios, it held three music videos; "Can't Let Go", "Make It Happen", and a rare remix version and video of "Emotions". The video peaked atop the Billboard video chart, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA, denoting shipments of 100,000 units throughout the United States. MTV Unplugged +3 garnered generally positive reviews from music critics. Allmusic editor Shawn M. Haney gave the video three out of five stars, praising Carey's vocals as well as her cover of "I'll Be There". Haney wrote "Gradually, the power and esteem of these tales lift to new heights and remain at a peak with the breathtaking, moment-making performance of "I'll Be There," a charming song first cut by The Jackson 5." Writing for the St. Petersburg Times, Sabrina Miller called Carey an "artiste" and wrote "Programs like MTV Unplugged showcase talent like hers with an exclamation point." Journalist and writer from The New York Times Jon Pareles branded the performance "shrewd", and claimed Carey's cover of "I'll Be There" "set off fireworks". A writer for Entertainment Weekly called the show a "vocal Tour de force", and wrote "in addition to her breathtaking pipes, she has developed a commanding stage presence." Additionally, they felt Carey's performance of "I'll Be There" was "killer" and concluded their review with "In the process, this rare public appearance reminded us there was a big-league performer inside that party dress." ## Singles After the decision to release the EP was made, Sony decided to release Carey's live version of "I'll Be There" as the only single, due to its critical success. The song debuted at number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Carey's highest debut on the chart at the time. After four weeks, the song topped the chart, becoming Carey's sixth number one song in the United States, and spending two weeks there. Its success across the globe was strong, peaking at number one in Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand; as well as reaching number two and three in the United Kingdom and Ireland, respectively; it also reached the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, Norway and Poland. "I'll Be There" was certified Gold by both the Australian Recording Industry Association and Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, denoting shipments of 35,000 and 7,500 units of the song in their respective countries. After its success, "If It's Over", a song from Carey's second studio effort Emotions was released, due to its exposure on the show and EP. It was given a very limited release, and only charted in Australia and the Netherlands, peaking at numbers 115 and 80, respectively. ## Critical reception MTV Unplugged garnered generally positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic editor Shawn M. Haney gave the album three out of five stars, praising Carey's vocals as well as her cover of "I'll Be There". Haney wrote "Gradually, the power and esteem of these tales lift to new heights and remain at a peak with the breathtaking, moment-making performance of "I'll Be There," a charming song first cut by the Jackson 5." Writing for the St. Petersburg Times, Sabrina Miller called Carey an "artiste" and wrote "Programs like MTV Unplugged showcase talent like hers with an exclamation point." Journalist and writer from The New York Times Jon Pareles branded the performance "shrewd," and claimed Carey's cover of I'll be There" "set off fireworks." A writer for Entertainment Weekly called the show a "vocal Tour de force," and wrote "in addition to her breathtaking pipes, she has developed a commanding stage presence." Additionally, they felt Carey's performance of "I'll Be There" was "killer" and concluded their review with "In the process, this rare public appearance reminded us there was a big-league performer inside that party dress." MTV Unplugged was included at number 10 in the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll list for the best EP's of 1992 along Erasure's Abba-esque. Carey was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the album. ## Commercial performance ### North America MTV Unplugged debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 with sales of 67,000 copies, on the week of June 20, 1992, becoming Carey's third consecutive top-ten album in the US. In its third week, the album peaked at number three, charting one spot higher than Emotions. In total, the album remained in the top-twenty for fourteen weeks, and on the chart for fifty-seven (making one re-entry). MTV Unplugged was certified four times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipment of two million copies throughout the country. As of November 2018, Nielsen SoundScan estimates actual sales of the album at 2.8 million in the United States. On June 20, 1992, MTV Unplugged entered the Canadian RPM Singles Chart at number thirty-seven, eventually peaking at number six five weeks later, becoming also Carey's third consecutive top-ten album in Canada. During the week of November 22, 1992, the album spent its last week on the chart, exiting at number eighty-seven after spending twenty-four weeks on the album's chart. To date, the album has been certified Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), denoting shipments of 70,000 units throughout the country. ### Europe and Oceania Outside the United States, the album experienced success in several European markets. In Austria, MTV Unplugged entered the albums chart at number thirty-nine, eventually peaking number twenty-one and spending a total of ten weeks on the chart. In France, the album peaked at number twenty-two, and was certified double-Gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), with estimated sales of 144,000 copies. In the Netherlands, the EP entered the MegaCharts at number sixty-six during the week of June 20, 1992. It eventually peaked at number one, staying there for three consecutive weeks, and a total of 116 weeks on the chart. The Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers (NVPI) certified the album double-Platinum, denoting shipments of 200,000 units throughout the country. On the Swiss Albums Chart dated September 13, 1992, the album reached its peak position of number nineteen. After only five weeks charting within the country, it was certified Gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). In the United Kingdom, the album debuted and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart, during the week dated July 18, 1992. After spending ten weeks on the chart, the album was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments of 100,000 units. In Australia, the album debuted at number thirty-four on the ARIA Charts, during the week ending July 12, 1992. Weeks later, it peaked at number seven, where it remained for four consecutive weeks, and a total of twenty-five weeks in the top 50, and thiry-three weeks in the top 100. The album was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of 70,000 copies. MTV Unplugged entered the New Zealand Albums Chart at number four during the week of August 2, 1992. After spending three weeks at number one, and a total of nineteen in the chart, the album was certified double-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). ## Track listing ## Personnel Credits for MTV Unplugged adapted from AllMusic. - Mariah Carey – arranger, producer, vocals - Walter Afanasieff – arranger, piano, producer - Vernon "Ice" Black – guitar - Henry Casper – background vocals - David Cole – piano - Laura Corcos – strings - Melonie Daniels – background vocals - Lew Del Gatto – baritone saxophone - Darryl Douglass Workshop Company – background vocals - Sammy Figueroa – percussion - Earl Gardner – trumpet - Winterton Garvey – strings - Greg "Gigi" Gonaway – Drums - Peggy Harley – background vocals - David Hewitt – engineer - Cecilia Hobbs – strings - Randy Jackson – bass - Ren Klyce – bells, celeste, timpani - Trey Lorenz – vocals - Patrique McMillian – vocals - Geno Morris – vocals - Peter Moshay – production coordination - Lenny Pickett – tenor saxophone - Cheree Price – background vocals - Kelly Price – background vocals - Dan Shea – harmonium, harpsichord - Liz Stewart – background vocals - Steve Turre – trombone - Spencer Washington – background vocals - Belinda Whitney-Barratt – strings - George Young – alto saxophone ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Certifications and sales

City Thameslink railway station

Central London railway station

City Thameslink is a central London railway station within the City of London, with entrances on Ludgate Hill and Holborn Viaduct. The station is on the Thameslink route between Blackfriars to the south and Farringdon to the north. The station opened in 1990 to replace Holborn Viaduct railway station. It was part of the Thameslink project that re-opened the Snow Hill Tunnel to provide a continuous north–south route across London. Originally named St. Paul's Thameslink, it was renamed City Thameslink the following year to avoid confusion with the nearby St Paul's tube station on the Central line. The station was refurbished in 2010–11 to increase capacity, and the timetable was revised in 2018 with the introduction of automatic signalling. ## Name and location The station is near the western edge of the City of London, close to its border with the City of Westminster. It has two entrances, one on Ludgate Hill and another on Holborn Viaduct, both of which access the two platforms. It is one of the few main line stations in central London that does not have an interchange with the London Underground; it is roughly equidistant from Chancery Lane and on the Central line. A planned Tube station in the immediate area, to be named , was ultimately never built. Although City Thameslink is a through-station, for ticketing purposes it is classed as a London terminus for Thameslink services to and from the south, for services from the North it is a Thameslink Terminal station which is a different fare. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and one of the "core stations" on the Thameslink route, along with St Pancras, Farringdon and Blackfriars. The name has come in for criticism as being uninspiring. London Buses routes 8, 15, 17, 25, 26, 40, 46, 59, 63, 76, 133, 341 and night routes N8, N15, N21, N25, N26, N63, N199, N242, N550 and N551 serve the station. ## History ### Opening The Thameslink line opened in 1988 after the Snow Hill tunnel, closed to passengers since 1916, was re-opened to provide a through route to Farringdon and King's Cross from South London. Initially, trains used the approach viaduct for the now-closed Holborn Viaduct station. The new service was an immediate financial success, and it was decided to redevelop the Holborn Viaduct site with a new station and business complex. The work was part-financed by the London property developer Rosehaugh Stanhope. Before Holborn Viaduct closed, a new line between Blackfriars and the tunnel was constructed on a different alignment slightly to the east and at a lower elevation, providing the opportunity to build 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of office space above the station on a 4-acre (1.6 ha) site. City Thameslink was built to replace Holborn Viaduct station. The total cost was estimated at between £360 and £450 million. Because of a proposed routing for the second phase of the Jubilee line through the area, part of the station was built to allow for a future interchange. Holborn Viaduct closed on 26 January 1990. All Thameslink services were suspended for 17 days the following May so that demolition work could be carried out. The station was opened by British Rail on 29 May 1990 as St. Paul's Thameslink, and was renamed to City Thameslink on 30 September 1991 to avoid confusion with the Central line station on the London Underground, which is several hundred yards to the east, to the north of St Paul's Cathedral. It was the first mainline station built in central London in almost 100 years. The station was designed by SAS International, who designed the original walls and panelling. In conjunction with construction of the new station, the area around the old Holborn Viaduct and Ludgate Hill stations was redeveloped and an old bridge across Ludgate Hill was removed. In 1992, following the demolition, an additional service tunnel was constructed connecting City Thameslink to Farringdon. When the Thameslink franchise was awarded to First Capital Connect (FCC) in 2006, the Thameslink service was re-branded but City Thameslink was not renamed. By late 2010, FCC had reverted to the Thameslink name. ### Recent events As part of the Thameslink Programme, an upgrade of City Thameslink station was completed in 2010. The upgrade was important because the closure of Blackfriars later in the year would lead to increased footfall. The platforms were made ready for future 12-carriage trains, and the passenger information system improved. New lighting, ticket gates and CCTV cameras were installed, and the service announcement system was upgraded to provide more accurate train times. SAS retrofitted the station interior, as they had done for the original 1990 construction, with enamel wall panels that fitted the original design specification. In a 2014 report, London TravelWatch suggested an underground passageway linking City Thameslink to St Paul's tube station to provide an interchange with the Central line that would benefit passengers travelling from the Central line catchment to Gatwick and Luton Airports. In 2018, Govia Thameslink Railway announced a major timetable change, which was implemented that May. The changes included a half-hour service across Central London, connecting City Thameslink with Gatwick Airport and Luton Airport Parkway. The signalling was upgraded to support automatic train operation through the station, along with the rest of the core Thameslink route, and British Rail Class 700 trains were introduced into the service. The following January, several evening services from City Thameslink to St Albans and Harpenden were reinstated, after a six-month absence. ## Services City Thameslink is served by trains operated by Thameslink on the Thameslink Route which run Monday-Saturday only with the station being closed on Sundays. Train services are operated using Class 700 Desiro City EMUs. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: - 4 tph to Brighton via Gatwick Airport - 2 tph to Horsham via Redhill and Gatwick Airport - 2 tph to Three Bridges via Redhill - 2 tph to Rainham via Greenwich, Woolwich Arsenal, Dartford and Gravesend - 4 tph to Sutton (two of these run via Hackbridge and two run via Wimbledon) - 4 tph to St Albans City (all stations) - 2 tph to Luton (all stations except Kentish Town, Cricklewood and Hendon) - 4 tph to Bedford (semi-fast) - 2 tph to Cambridge via Stevenage - 2 tph to Peterborough via Stevenage City Thameslink serves as the lost property office of the Thameslink line. A fee is charged for retrieving property.

Fort Manoel

Star fort in Gzira, Malta

Fort Manoel (Maltese: Forti Manoel or Fortizza Manoel) is a star fort on Manoel Island in Gżira, Malta. It was built in the 18th century by the Order of Saint John, during the reign of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, after whom it is named. Fort Manoel is located to the north west of Valletta, and commands Marsamxett Harbour and the anchorage of Sliema Creek. The fort is an example of Baroque architecture, and it was designed with both functionality and aesthetics in mind. After a brief French occupation which began in 1798, the British military took over the fort in 1800, and it remained in use by them until 1964. The fort was severely damaged in World War II, but it was restored in the early 21st century and it is now in good condition. Fort Manoel has been on Malta's tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1998, as part of the Knights' Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta. ## History ### Background and failed proposals In the 16th century, the Marsamxett Harbour was one of the two major harbours in the Maltese city of Valletta. In the centre of the harbour was an island, originally known as l'Isolotto and now known as Manoel Island after the fort, which overlooked the city. Shortly after Valletta's construction, the Order of Saint John realised this was a potential vulnerability in the city's defences. As early as 1569, it was proposed that a small fort with a cavalier be built on the Isolotto to prevent the enemy from taking the island and building batteries on it. This proposal was presented by Francesco Collignon. The threat was again highlighted by the Spanish military engineer Scipione Campi in 1577, and by Giovanni Battista in 1582. The next proposal to build a fortification on the island was made by the Italian military engineer Antonio Maurizio Valperga in 1670. He proposed a roughly hexagonal fort with a hornwork, in the Dutch style of fortification. The proposal was criticized by the Order's engineers, and a third proposal was drawn up by the Flemish military engineer Carlos de Grunenbergh in 1687. Grunenburgh's proposal consisted of a fort with four bastions and a ravelin, surrounded by a ditch, covertway and faussebraye. Other proposals were made in 1715, this time by the knight René Jacob de Tigné and a team of French engineers. There were several different plans, including building a coastal battery and a redoubt. Other plans included building a four-bastioned fort, or combining all three (fort, battery and redoubt) for the defence of the island. ### Construction Eventually, the final design was agreed in 1723, and it incorporated the work of de Tigné as well as Charles François de Mondion, the Order's military engineer. The new fort was to be square in shape, with four bastions and two cavaliers. The fort was financed by, and named after, the Portuguese Grand Master, António Manoel de Vilhena. He also set up the Manoel Foundation, a fund responsible for the maintenance and garrison of Fort Manoel and its outworks. The first stone was laid by de Vilhena on 14 September 1723, and work progressed rapidly. By 1727, the enceinte, cavaliers and gateway were complete. The ditch had been excavated by 1732, while the chapel, barracks, magazines and countermines were completed in around 1733. The fort was an active military establishment by 1734. When Mondion died in 1733, he was buried in the crypt under the fort's chapel. In 1757, Lembi Battery was added near Tigné Point, Sliema. The battery was funded by the Manoel Foundation and it was considered to be an outwork of Fort Manoel, since it was intended to prevent an enemy from bombarding the fort's northern flank. It was decommissioned following the construction of Fort Tigné in 1795. The construction of the latter fort was also partially funded by the Manoel Foundation. By 1761, Fort Manoel was considered to be as one of the best completed fortifications, and Comte de Bourlamaque has commented that the fort is a "modèle de fortification fait avec soin." ### French occupation The fort first saw use during the French invasion of Malta in June 1798, in the French Revolutionary Wars. At the time, it was commanded by the Portuguese knight Gourgeau, and it was garrisoned by the Cacciatori, who were a volunteer chasseur light infantry regiment, as well as a few men from the Birchircara militia. The fort surrendered after Grand Master Hompesch officially capitulated to Napoleon. A French garrison of a few hundred men took over the fort on 12 June. During the subsequent Maltese uprising and insurrection against the French, Maltese insurgents built Għargħar and Sqaq Cappara batteries to bombard Fort Manoel. The Maltese attacked the fort on a number of occasions, and the French retaliated with their own bombardment at least once. On 12 September 1799, a company of French troops from Fort Manoel attempted to silence an insurgent gun position in San Ġwann, but were repelled by the Maltese insurgents. ### British rule When Malta became a British protectorate in 1800, Fort Manoel was officially taken over by the British military that September. The piazza of Fort Manoel was the subject of the earliest known photographs of Malta, which were taken in 1840 by Horace Vernet while he was quarantined at the Lazzaretto but are now believed to be lost. In the late 19th century, the echaugettes on the bastions facing Valletta were dismantled to make way for gun emplacements. Later on, significant alterations were made to St. Anthony Bastion, when its gunpowder magazine was demolished to make way for a battery of three QF 12-pounder guns. The British military finally decommissioned the fort's guns in 1906, although it remained a military establishment. It was included on the Antiquities List of 1925. The fort saw use again during World War II, when a battery of 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft guns was deployed there. The guns were mounted in concrete gun emplacements and deployed in a semicircle in and around the fort. The fort suffered considerable damage to its ramparts, barracks and chapel as a result of aerial bombing during the war. The fort was eventually decommissioned in 1964. ### Recent history After being decommissioned, Fort Manoel was abandoned and fell into a state of disrepair. Parts of it were also vandalized. In 1970, the Royal Malta Yacht Club acquired part of the fort as its club house, and the yacht club remained there until it acquired new premises in Ta' Xbiex in 2008. In August 2001, the development company MIDI plc began restoration work on the fort. Phase One of the project, which included the restoration of the piazza and the reconstruction of the ruined chapel, was completed in 2009. The second phase, including the restoration of the outer fortifications and glacis, was approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in 2012. The restoration of Fort Manoel together with that of the nearby Fort Tigné cost a total of €30 million. ## Layout Fort Manoel is built in the shape of a square, with a pentagonal bastion on each corner, giving it the shape of a star fort. The four bastions are called St. Helen, St. Anthony, St. John and Notre Dame Bastions. St. Helen and St. Anthony Bastions are located on the seaward side, facing Valletta. They originally had echaugettes and gunpowder magazines, but the echaugettes on both bastions were dismantled in the 19th century, and the magazine on St. Anthony Bastion was demolished to make way for three QF 12-pounder gun emplacements. The magazine on St. Helen Bastion is still intact. The curtain wall linking these two bastions contains the main gate, which is protected by a lunette known as the Couvre Porte. St. John and Notre Dame Bastions are located along the landward side of the fort. Each bastion is protected by a low cavalier. The curtain wall between the two bastions is further protected by a pentagonal ravelin, which is largely rock hewn. A Piazza is located inside the fort, and it contains the rebuilt Chapel of St Anthony of Padua, several barrack blocks, an armoury and other buildings. A bronze statue of Grand Master Vilhena, possibly designed by Pietro Paolo Troisi, once stood in the square but it was removed in the 19th century and relocated to Valletta. It was later relocated again and it is now in Floriana. ## Ghost story The fort is supposedly haunted by the Black Knight, who wears the armour and regalia of the Order of St. John, and resembles Grand Master de Vilhena. In the 1940s, the knight began to appear out of thin air near the ruins of the Chapel of St Anthony of Padua, which had just been bombed in World War II. The apparition was reportedly seen by Maltese and English men within the fort. When the rubble from the ruined chapel began to be cleared, the workmen reported that the knight was supervising their work. When the crypt beneath the chapel was opened, it was found that it had been vandalized, and the remains of knights which had been buried there were scattered around. After the crypt was restored and the bones were reburied, the Black Knight stopped appearing. In 1980, the crypt was vandalized for a second time, and the Black Knight reportedly began to appear again. ## In popular culture - Fort Manoel is featured in the 2007 fiction book Il-Misteru tal-Forti Manoel (The Mystery of Fort Manoel) by Charles Zarb. - The fort served as a location for the shooting of the climactic scene of Baelor, the ninth episode of the TV series Game of Thrones, in 2011. - The fort hosted a Pit Stop during the eighth episode of The Amazing Race 25. - The fort was also used in the filming of the 2016 films Risen and Assassin's Creed. - The fort is also visible in the 2016 film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

Edward Soriano

American retired military officer (born 1946)

Edward Soriano (born 12 November 1946) is an American retired lieutenant general. He is the highest-ranking Filipino American officer to have served in the United States military, and the first promoted to a general officer. Born in the Philippines, Soriano moved with his family to the United States and graduated from Salinas High School before being commissioned as an officer through Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps at San Jose State University. Soriano served with infantry units throughout the United States, Korea, and in West Germany. Later, Soriano was a liaison officer during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and deployed during Operation Joint Endeavor; he retired in March 2005. Since retiring from the army, Soriano has worked for the aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman and has sat on various boards of directors. ## Early and personal life Born on 12 November 1946 in Pangasinan, Philippines, to Ilocos Sur natives, Soriano came to the United States in the early 1950s when his father, Fred Soriano, a soldier in the United States Army, was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia; he was six when he left the Philippines. Soriano's mother's name was Encarnacion. Soriano's father was a corporal in the 57th Infantry (Philippine Scouts) during World War II. After the surrender of American forces on Bataan to the Japanese, the elder Soriano became a prisoner of war and was subjected to the Bataan Death March. The elder Soriano later served in the Korean War, and again became a prisoner of war. During the Korean War, young Edward and the rest of his family moved from Guam back to the Philippines. His father later retired from the army as a major. In the 1960s, his family moved to Salinas, California, and Soriano later graduated from Salinas High School. His father's service inspired Edward Soriano to join the military. Soriano graduated from San Jose State University (SJSU) in 1970, and later earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Missouri. Soriano is married to Vivian Guillermo, who was born in the United States to Laoag natives. The couple have two children, Melissa and Keith. ## Military career Soriano was commissioned as an infantry officer through the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps at SJSU, in 1970. Soriano's first assignment was at the Recondo School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, which was followed by command of an anti-tank platoon in the 508th Infantry. Soriano was then sent to Korea where he commanded Combat Support Company, 1st Battalion, 23d Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, before he was transferred to command Company A, 3d Battalion, 47th Infantry, 3d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington. After attending the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Soriano served with the United States Army Recruiting Command in Albany, New York, before commanding Company C, 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division in Germany. Following his service in Europe, Soriano attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and University of Missouri, Kansas City, before serving in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans and in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel at The Pentagon. After his service in The Pentagon, he commanded 2nd Battalion, 41st Infantry, 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, before attending the United States Army War College and returning to The Pentagon. During operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Soriano served as the chief of the liaison team to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. After the conflict ended, Soriano contributed to the Secretary of Defense's Gulf War Report as the chief of the army section while serving in the Office of the Chief of Staff. In 1992, Soriano received his first assignment at Fort Carson, Colorado, as the commander of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. Following this command, Soriano returned to Germany to serve with the 3d and 1st Infantry Divisions, which included deployments to Bosnia for peacekeeping during Operation Joint Endeavor. Returning to the United States, he undertook various positions in Virginia and The Pentagon, including service as Director, Officer Personnel Management, within the Total Army Personnel Command. From 1999 to 2001, Soriano commanded the 7th Infantry Division and Fort Carson. Soriano served as Director of Homeland Security for United States Joint Forces Command from October 2001 to August 2002, which laid the foundations for what has become the Northern Command. Soriano's final assignment was command of I Corps and Fort Lewis, beginning in August 2002. Under his leadership, Fort Lewis became a force provider for Operation Iraqi Freedom, including the first deployment of the Stryker with the 2nd Infantry Division. In June 2004, as the commander of Fort Lewis, Soriano ordered the court-martial of Ryan G. Anderson, who was convicted of providing aid to al-Qaeda and was sentenced in September 2004 to life in prison with the possibility of parole after Soriano removed the death penalty as a possible sentencing option. In September 2004, Soriano met with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at Malacanang, who he had met before during Arroyo's state visit in May 2003, after being invited by General Narciso Abaya, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In November 2004, Soriano turned over command of I Corps and Fort Lewis to Lieutenant General James M. Dubik, and finally retired from active duty on 1 March 2005. ## Post-military career Since his retirement, Soriano has worked for Northrop Grumman as the Director of Training and Exercises for Homeland Security and Joint Forces Support. He has also sat on numerous boards of directors including Home Front Cares and Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs. Additionally, Soriano is the current president of the board of directors of the Mountain Post Historical Center at Fort Carson, and the vice-chairman of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce's military affairs committee. Along with retired Major General Antonio Taguba, Soriano has been active in ceremonies to provide facsimiles of Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal to surviving veterans and their family members. ## Awards and decorations Soriano received the following awards and decorations: ### Medals and ribbons ### Badges ## See also - Eldon Regua - List of notable Filipino American servicemembers

Ballard Carnegie Library

Library in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

The Ballard Carnegie Library is a historic Carnegie library in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The institution was preceded by a freeholders' library in the 1860s, which was eventually replaced in 1901 by a reading room organized and funded by a women's group. Various funds including a \$15,000 grant were used to create a new library for Ballard, then an independent city. The library opened to the public on June 24, 1904. It was the first major branch of the Seattle public library system after Ballard was annexed by Seattle in 1907, and also employed one of the first African American librarians in Seattle. The Ballard Carnegie Library remained in use until 1963, when a newer and more modern facility replaced it. After its sale, the old library building housed a variety of private commercial enterprises, including an antique shop, a restaurant and a kilt manufacturer. In 1976 it was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places by Seattle architect Larry E. Johnson, and formally added to the list in 1979. ## History In the late 1860s, when Ballard was a new settlement along the edge of Salmon Bay, a homesteader named Ira Wilcox Utter helped create a freeholders' library. In 1901, the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Ballard began raising money with fairs and socials for a new reading room on Ballard Avenue, which was moved and expanded several times. Having decided to build a proper library, the Ballard City Council established a library board in 1903 and applied to the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie for a grant to help underwrite the construction costs. The library was built on a lot of 100 feet (30.5 m) square, which was purchased for \$2,100. The costs for the building were raised by local businesses and citizens, with support from the earlier fundraising and book collections of the women's union and a \$15,000 grant from Carnegie. When construction was completed, the building included facilities such as a 500-seat auditorium and a men's smoking room (the latter of which was later converted into a reading room). Part of the construction work was done by a chain gang. Initially, the library had a cache of books provided by local residents and schools on standby for the completion and grand opening, as Carnegie's grant did not cover the initial costs of new books. An appeal was made to citizens to donate books and expand the collection. In 1907, the Seattle Public Library took control of the Carnegie library, when Ballard was annexed by the neighboring city. Early Scandinavian immigrants to the region made up a large proportion of the new facility's users (the Ballard area is noted for its significant historical presence of Scandinavian people). Early in the library's existence, it had a turnstile at the entrance to its book stacks, to count the number of book borrowers that passed through. Following the start of World War I, the Carnegie Library became the location of various community activities, such as the distribution of information on the ongoing war. It also hosted Red Cross and English language classes. In 1942, during World War II, one of the first African American librarians in Seattle, Lucille Smith, was assigned to the library. In 1956, Seattle voters approved a municipal bond to replace what was by then considered the "inadequate and impractical" library. The Ballard Carnegie Library was closed in 1963, when a new and larger public library was built in the area. The former library became an antique store. One of the cited reasons for the closure and sale of the library building was a number of expert claims that the building would not be able to withstand earthquakes (which have taken place in the Seattle area at numerous points in its history; the building has in fact survived several quakes in the meantime). From 2003 to 2010 the old library building was home to Carnegie's, a French restaurant. Other businesses it has been home to during the 21st century include Ström and Ström Consulting, offering legal and marketing services to mental health professionals; and Root Integrative Health, a holistic wellness center. The building is currently owned by Karoline Morrison and her husband, Dennis Beals, and has been occupied by the Kangaroo and Kiwi Pub since 2012. The area around Market Street where the building is located is a part of Seattle that has been quickly rising in land value; the area has been compared to Belltown, a growing Seattle neighborhood also being affected by gentrification. As the Carnegie Library building is without the City of Seattle's landmark status despite its NRHP status, it is at risk from new development. ## See also - List of Carnegie libraries in the United States

Johor Bahru

Johor Bahru (), colloquially referred to as JB, is the capital city of the state of Johor, Malaysia. It is located at the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia, along the north bank of the Straits of Johor, opposite the city-state Singapore. The city has a population of 858,118 people within an area of 391.25 km². Johor Bahru, which is the second largest GDP contributor among the first and second tier cities in Malaysia, forms the core of Johor Bahru District, the second largest district in Malaysia by population. It also forms a part of Iskandar Malaysia, the nation's largest special economic zone by investment. Johor Bahru serves as one of the two land border connections on the Malaysian side between the countries of Singapore and Malaysia, the other being the Second Link that links Iskandar Puteri to Tuas. It is the busiest international border crossing in the world; its direct land link to Woodlands, Singapore through the causeway is a key economic driver of the border city. Johor Bahru is categorised as Zone A of Iskandar Malaysia and is adjacent to Senai International Airport and the 16th busiest port in the world, Port of Tanjung Pelepas. During the reign of Sultan Abu Bakar, there was further development and modernisation within the city; with the construction of administrative buildings, schools, religious buildings, and railways connecting to Woodlands in Singapore. Along with most of Southeast Asia, Japanese forces occupied Johor Bahru from 1942 to 1945 during the Pacific War. Johor Bahru became the cradle of Malay nationalism after the war and a major political party known as the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was founded at the Istana Besar of Johor Bahru in 1946. After the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Johor Bahru retained its status as state capital and was granted city status in 1994. Today, it serves as the financial centre and logistics hub of southern Peninsular Malaysia. ## Etymology The present area of Johor Bahru was originally known as Tanjung Puteri, and was a fishing village of the Malays. Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim then renamed Tanjung Puteri to Iskandar Puteri once he arrived in the area in 1858 after acquiring the territory from Sultan Ali; before it was renamed Johor Bahru by Sultan Abu Bakar following the Temenggong's death. (The suffix "Bah(a)ru" means "new" in Malay, normally written "baru" in standard spelling today but appearing with several variants in place names, such as Kota Bharu and Indonesian Pekanbaru.) The British preferred to spell its name as Johore Bahru or Johore Bharu, but the current accepted western spelling is Johor Bahru, as Johore is only spelt Johor (without the letter "e" at the end of the word) in the Malay language. The city is also spelt as Johor Baru or Johor Baharu. The city was also once known as "Little Swatow (Shantou)" by the Chinese community in Johor Bahru, as most of Johor Bahru's Chinese residents are Teochew people whose ancestry can be traced back to Shantou, China. They arrived in the mid 19th century, during the reign of Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim. The city, however, is generally known in Chinese as Xinshan meaning "New Mountain" (Chinese: 新山; pinyin: Xīnshān) as "mountain" may be used to mean "territory" or "land", and the name "New Mountain" distinguished it from the "Old Mountain" (Jiushan) once used to refer to Kranji and Sembawang in Singapore on the opposite side of the Straits of Johor, where Chinese first cultivated pepper and gambier in plantations before the Chinese moved to new land in Johor Bahru to create new plantations in 1855. ## History Due to a dispute between the Malays and the Bugis, the Johor-Riau Sultanate was split in 1819 with the mainland portion of the Johor Sultanate coming under the control of Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim while the Riau-Lingga Sultanate came under the control of the Bugis. The Temenggong intended to create a new administration centre for the Johor Sultanate to create a dynasty under the entity of Temenggong. As the Temenggong already had a close relationship with the British and the British intended to have control over trade activities in Singapore, a treaty was signed between Sultan Ali and Temenggong Ibrahim in Singapore on 10 March 1855. According to the treaty, Ali would be crowned as the Sultan of Johor and receive \$5,000 (in Spanish dollars) with an allowance of \$500 per month. In return, Ali was required to cede the sovereignty of the territory of Johor (except Kesang of Muar which would be the only territory under his control) to Temenggong Ibrahim. When both sides agreed on Temenggong acquiring the territory, he renamed it Iskandar Puteri and began to administer it from Telok Blangah in Singapore. As the area was still an undeveloped jungle, Temenggong encouraged the migration of Chinese and Javanese to clear the land and to develop an agricultural economy in Johor. The Chinese planted the area with black pepper and gambier, while the Javanese dug parit (canals) to drain water from the land, build roads and plant coconuts. During this time, a Chinese businessman, pepper and gambier cultivator, Wong Ah Fook arrived; at the same time, the Kangchu and Javanese labour contract systems were introduced by the Chinese and Javanese communities. After Temenggong's death on 31 January 1862, the town was renamed "Johor Bahru" and his position was succeeded by his son, Abu Bakar, with the administration centre in Telok Blangah being moved to the area in 1889. ### British administration In the first phase of Abu Bakar's administration, the British only recognised him as a maharaja rather than a sultan. In 1855, the British Colonial Office began to recognise his status as a Sultan after he met Queen Victoria. He managed to regain Kesang territory for Johor after a civil war with the aid of British forces and he boosted the town's infrastructure and agricultural economy. Infrastructure such as the State Mosque and Royal Palace was built with the aid of Wong Ah Fook, who had become a close patron for the Sultan since his migration during the Temenggong reign. As the Johor-British relationship improved, Abu Bakar also set up his administration under a British style and implemented a constitution known as Undang-undang Tubuh Negeri Johor (Johor State Constitution). Although the British had long been advisers for the Sultanate of Johor, the Sultanate never came under direct colonial rule of the British. The direct colonial rule only came into effect when the status of the adviser was elevated to a status similar to that of a Resident in the Federated Malay States (FMS) during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim in 1914. In Johor Bahru, the Malay Peninsula railway extension was finished in 1909, and in 1923 the Johor–Singapore Causeway was completed. Johor Bahru developed at a modest rate between the First and Second World Wars. The secretariat building—Sultan Ibrahim Building—was completed in 1940 as the British colonial government attempted to streamline the state's administration. ### World War II The continuous development of Johor Bahru was, however, halted when the Japanese under General Tomoyuki Yamashita invaded the town on 31 January 1942. As the Japanese had reached northwest Johor by 15 January, they easily captured major towns of Johor such of Batu Pahat, Yong Peng, Kluang and Ayer Hitam. The British and other Allied forces were forced to retreat towards Johor Bahru; however, following a further series of bombings by the Japanese on 29 January, the British retreated to Singapore and blew up the causeway the following day as a final attempt to stop the Japanese advance in British Malaya. The Japanese then used the Sultan's residence of Bukit Serene Palace located in the town as their main temporary base for their future initial plans to conquer Singapore while waiting to reconnect the causeway. The Japanese chose the palace as their main base because they already knew the British would not dare to attack it as this would harm their close relationship with Johor. In less than a month, the Japanese repaired the causeway and invaded the Singapore island easily. Soon after the war ended in 1946, the town became the main hotspot for Malay nationalism in Malaya. Onn Jaafar, a local Malay politician who later became the Chief Minister of Johor, formed the United Malay National Organisation party on 11 May 1946 when the Malays expressed their widespread disenchantment over the British government's action for granting citizenship laws to non-Malays in the proposed states of the Malayan Union. An agreement over the policy was then reached in the town with Malays agreeing with the dominance of economy by the non-Malays and the Malays' dominance in political matters being agreed upon by non-Malays. Racial conflict between the Malay and non-Malays, especially the Chinese, is being provoked continuously since the Malayan Emergency. ### Post-independence After the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, Johor Bahru continued as the state capital and more development was carried out, with the town's expansion and the construction of more new townships and industrial estates. The Indonesian confrontation did not directly affect Johor Bahru as the main Indonesian landing point in Johor was in Labis and Tenang in Segamat District as well Pontian District. There is only one active Indonesian spy organisation in the town, known as Gerakan Ekonomi Melayu Indonesia (GEMI). They frequently engaged with the Indonesian communities living there to contribute information for Indonesian commandos until the bombing of the MacDonald House in Singapore in 1965. By the early 1990s, the town had considerably expanded in size, and was officially granted a city status on 1 January 1994. Johor Bahru City Council was formed and the city's current main square, Dataran Bandaraya Johor Bahru, was constructed to commemorate the event. A central business district was developed in the centre of the city from the mid-1990s in the area around Wong Ah Fook Street. The state and federal government channelled considerable funds for the development of the city—particularly more so after 2006, when the Iskandar Malaysia was formed. However, more than ten years of unbridled building construction in Iskandar, especially of higher-end high-rise apartments and commercial property, has led to a serious glut of such property in the region. Occupancy of high-rise accommodation has been predicted to fall to 50 percent, and commercial property to 65 percent, by the end of 2019 due to continued incoming supply. ## Governance As the capital city of Johor, the city plays an important role in the economic welfare of the entire state's population. There is one member of parliament (MP) representing the single parliamentary constituency (P.160) in the city. The city also elects two representatives to the state legislature from the state assembly districts of Larkin and Stulang. ### Local authority and city definition The city is administered by the Johor Bahru City Council. The current mayor is Dato' Haji Mohd Noorazam bin Dato' Haji Osman, which took office since 15 August 2021. Johor Bahru obtained city status on 1 January 1994. The area under the jurisdiction of the Johor Bahru City Council includes Central District, Kangkar Tebrau, Kempas, Larkin, Majidee, Maju Jaya, Mount Austin, Pandan, Pasir Pelangi, Pelangi, Permas Jaya, Rinting, Tampoi, Tasek Utara and Tebrau. This covers an area of 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi). Currently there are 11 council members in the city council, which consists of 3 Amanah members, 3 Bersatu members, 3 DAP members and 2 PKR members. In August 2021, mayor Adib Azhari Daud was arrested and taken into custody for allegedly accepting bribes from contractors while overseeing development of Johor Bahru. The arrest marks the first time an active Johor mayor has been arrested. ### Courts of law and legal enforcement The city high court complex is located along Dato' Onn Road. The Sessions and Magistrate Courts is located on Ayer Molek Road, while another court for Sharia law is located on Abu Bakar Road. The Johor (state) Police Contingent Headquarters is located on Tebrau Road. Johor Bahru's Southern District police headquarters, which also operates as a police station, is on Meldrum Road in the city centre. The Johor Bahru Southern District traffic police headquarters is a separate entity along Tebrau Road, close to the city centre. Johor Bahru's Northern District police headquarters and Northern District Traffic Police headquarters are co-located in Skudai, about 20 km north of the city centre. There are around eleven police stations and seven police substations (Pondok Polis) in the greater Johor Bahru area. Johor Bahru Prison was located in the city along Ayer Molek Road, but was closed down after 122 years operation in December 2005, its function being transferred to an expanded prison in the town of Kluang about 110 km from Johor Bahru. Other temporary lock-ups or prison cells are available in most police stations in the city, as in other parts of Malaysia. ## Geography Johor Bahru is located along the Straits of Johor at the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia. Originally, the city area was only 12.12 km² (4.68 sq mi) in 1933 before it was expanded to over 220 km² (85 sq mi) in 2000. ### Climate The city has an equatorial climate with consistent temperatures, a considerable amount of rain, and high humidity throughout the course of the year. An equatorial climate is a tropical rainforest climate more subject to the Intertropical Convergence Zone than the trade winds and with no cyclone. Daily average temperatures range from 26.4 °C (79.5 °F) in January to 27.8 °C (82.0 °F) in April with an average annual rainfall of around 2,350 mm (93 in). The wettest months, with 19 to 25 percent more rain than average, are April, November and December. Although the climate is relatively uniform, it does show some seasonal variation due to the effects of monsoons, with noticeable changes in wind speed and direction, cloud cover and amount of rainfall. There are two monsoon periods each year, the first one between mid-October and January, which is the north-east Monsoon. This period is characterised by heavier rainfall and wind from the north-east. The second one is the south-west Monsoon, which hardly affects the rainfall in Johor Bahru, where winds are from the south and south-west. This occurs between June and September. ## Demographics Johor Bahru has an official demonym where people are commonly referred to as "Johor Bahruans". The terms "J.B-ites" and "J.B-ians" have also been used to a limited extent. People from Johor are called Johoreans. ### Ethnicity and religion The Malaysian Census in 2010 reported the population of Johor Bahru as 497,067. The city's population today is a mixture of three main ethnicities - Malays, Chinese and Indians- along with other bumiputras. Malays comprise a plurality of the population at 240,323, followed by Chinese totalling 172,609, Indians totaling 73,319 and others totalling 2,957. Non-Malaysian citizens form a population of 2,585. The Malays in Johor Bahru are strongly related to the neighbouring Riau Malays in Riau Islands, Indonesia with significant populations of Javanese, Bugis and Banjarese among the local Johorean Malay population. The Chinese mainly are from the majority Teochew, Hokkien, Hainanese and Hakka dialect groups (with a minority of Cantonese, Henghua and Foochowese amongst the local Chinese), while the Indian community mainly and predominantly are Tamils, there are also small populations of Telugus, Malayalis and Sikh Punjabis. The Malays are majority Muslims, while the Chinese are predominantly Buddhists/Taoists and the Indians were mostly Hindus despite there is also a small numbers from the two ethnic groups that are Christians and Muslims. A small number of Sikhs, Animists and secularists can also be found in the city. The following is based on Department of Statistics Malaysia 2010 census. ### Languages The local ethnic Malays speak the Malay language, while the language primarily spoken by the local Chinese is Mandarin Chinese. The Chinese community is represented by several dialect groups: Teochew, Hainanese, Hakka and Hokkien. The Indian community predominantly speaks Tamil (also lingua franca among all Indians), with a minority of Malayalam, Telugu and Punjabi speakers. The English language (or Manglish) is also used considerably, albeit more so among the older generation, who have attended school during the British rule. ## Economy Johor Bahru is one of the fastest-growing cities in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur. It is the main commercial centre for Johor and is located in the Indonesia–Malaysia–Singapore Growth Triangle. Tertiary-based industry dominates the economy with many international tourists from the regions visiting the city. It is the centre of financial services, commerce and retail, arts and culture, hospitality, urban tourism, plastic manufacturing, electrical and electronics and food processing. The main shopping districts are located within the city, with a number of large shopping malls located in the suburbs. Johor Bahru is the location of numerous conferences, congress and trade fairs, such as the Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Housing and the World Islamic Economic Forum. The city is the first in Malaysia to practise a low-carbon economy. The city has a very close economic relationship with Singapore. There are around 3,000 logistic lorries crossing between Johor Bahru and Singapore every day for delivering goods between the two sides for trading activities. Many residents in Singapore frequently visit the city during the weekends; some of them have also chosen to live in the city. Many of the city's residents work in Singapore. ## Transportation ### Land The internal roads linking different parts of the city are mostly federal roads constructed and maintained by Malaysian Public Works Department. There are five major highways linking the Johor Bahru Central Business District to outlying suburbs: Tebrau Highway and Johor Bahru Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway in the northeast, Skudai Highway in the northwest, Iskandar Coastal Highway in the west and Johor Bahru East Coast Highway in the east. Pasir Gudang Highway and the connecting Johor Bahru Parkway cross Tebrau Highway and Skudai Highway, which serve as the middle ring road of the metropolitan area. The Johor Bahru Inner Ring Road, which connects with the Sultan Iskandar customs complex, aids in controlling the traffic in and around the central business district. Access to the national expressway is provided through the North–South Expressway and Senai–Desaru Expressway. The Johor–Singapore Causeway links the city to Woodlands, Singapore with a six-lane road and a railway line terminating at the Southern Integrated Gateway. #### Bus The main bus terminal of the city is the Larkin Sentral located in Larkin. Other bus terminals include Taman Johor Jaya Bus Terminal and Ulu Tiram Bus Terminal. Larkin Sentral has direct bus services to and from many destinations in West Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore, while Taman Johor Jaya and Ulu Tiram Bus Terminals serve local destinations. Major bus operators in the city are Causeway Link, Maju and S&S. It is possible to get around the city by bus, though the frequency of the bus might be an issue. #### Taxi Two types of taxis operate in the city; the main taxi is either in red and yellow, blue, green or red while the larger, less common type is known as a limousine taxi, which is more comfortable but expensive. Most taxis in the city do not use their meter. #### Railway The city is served by two railway stations, which are Johor Bahru Sentral railway station and Kempas Baru railway station. Both stations serve train services to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. In 2015, a new shuttle train service operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) was launched providing transport to Woodlands in Singapore. ### Air The city is served by Senai International Airport located at the neighbouring Senai town and connected through Skudai Highway. Four airlines, AirAsia (and its subsidiaries Indonesia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia), Firefly, Malaysia Airlines, Batik Air Malaysia and formerly Xpress Air, provide flights domestically as well as international flights to Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta, Surabaya, Hồ Chí Minh City, and Bangkok Don Mueang. ### Sea Boat services are available to ports in Batam and Bintan Islands in Indonesia from Stulang Laut Ferry Terminal, located near the suburb of Stulang. ## Other utilities ### Healthcare There are three public hospitals, four health clinics and thirteen 1Malaysia clinics in Johor Bahru. Sultanah Aminah Hospital, which is located along Persiaran Road, is the largest public hospital in Johor Bahru as well as in Johor with 989 beds. Another government funded hospital is the Sultan Ismail Specialist Hospital with 700 beds. Another large private health facility is the KPJ Puteri Specialist Hospital with 158 beds. Further healthcare facilities are currently being expanded to improve healthcare services in the city. ### Education Many government or state schools are available in the city. The secondary schools include English College Johore Bahru, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Engku Aminah, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Ismail, Sekolah Menengah Infant Jesus Convent, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (Perempuan) Sultan Ibrahim and Sekolah Menengah Saint Joseph. There are also a number of independent private schools in the city. These include Austin Heights, Excelsior International School, Foon Yew High School and the Sri Ara Schools. The other private universities are Raffles University Iskandar and Wawasan Open University. There are also a number of private college campuses and one polytechnic operating in the city; these are Crescendo International College, KPJ College, Olympia College, Sunway College Johor Bahru, Taylor's College and College of Islamic Studies Johor. #### Libraries The Johor State Library, also known as the Johor Public Library Corporation headquarters is the main library in the state, located off Yahya Awal Road. Another public library branch is the University Park in Kebudayaan Road, while there are other libraries or private libraries in schools, colleges, and universities. Two village libraries are available in the district of Johor Bahru. ## Culture and leisure ### Attractions and recreation spots #### Cultural attractions There are a number of cultural attractions in Johor Bahru. The Royal Abu Bakar Museum located within the Grand Palace building is the main museum in the city. The Johor Bahru Kwong Siew Heritage located in Wong Ah Fook Street housed the former Cantonese clan house that was donated by Wong Ah Fook. The Foon Yew High School houses many historical documents of the city history with a Chinese cultural heritage. The Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum on Ibrahim Road includes the history of Chinese migration to Johor along with a collection of documents, photos, and other artefacts. The Johor Art Gallery in Petrie Road is a house gallery built in 1910, known as the house for the former third Chief Minister of Johor, Abdullah Jaafar. The house features old architecture and became the centre for the collection of artefacts related to Johor's cultural history since its renovation in 2000. #### Historical attractions The Grand Palace is one of the historical attractions in the city, and is an example of Victorian-style architecture with a garden. Figure Museum is another historical colonial building since 1886 which ever become the house for the Johor first Menteri Besar Jaafar Muhammad; it is located on the top of Smile Hill (Bukit Senyum). The English College (now Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar) established in 1914 was located close to the Sungai Chat Palace before being moved to its present location at Sungai Chat Road; some of the ruins are visible at the old site. The Sultan Ibrahim Building is another historical building in the city; built in 1936 by British architect Palmer and Turner, it was the centre of the administration of Johor as since the relocation from Telok Blangah in Singapore, the Johor government never had its own building. Before the current railway station was built, there was Johor Bahru railway station (formerly Wooden Railway) which has now been turned into a museum after serving for 100 years since the British colonial era. Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque, located along Skudai Road, is the main and the oldest mosque in the state. It was built with a combination of Victorian, Moorish and Malay architectures. The Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple, located on the Trus Road, dedicated to the Five Patron Deities from the five Southern Chinese Clans (Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Cantonese & Hainanese) in the city. It was built in 1875 and renovated by the Persekutuan Tiong Hua Johor Bahru (Johor Bahru Tiong Hua Association) in 1994–95 with the addition of a small L-shaped museum in one corner of the square premises. The Wong Ah Fook Mansion, the home of the late Wong Ah Fook, was a former historical attraction. It stood for more than 150 years but was demolished illegally by its owner in 2014 to make way for a commercial housing development without informing the state government. Other historical religious buildings include the Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Hindu Temple, Sri Raja Mariamman Hindu Temple, Gurdwara Sahib and Church of the Immaculate Conception. #### Leisure and conservation areas The Danga Bay is a 25 kilometres (16 mi) area of recreational waterfront. There are around 15 established golf courses, of which two offer 36-hole facilities; most of these are located within resorts. The city also features several paintball parks which are also used for off-road motorsports activities. The Johor Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in Malaysia; built in 1928 covering 4 hectares (9.9 acres) of land, it was originally called "animal garden" before being handed to the state government for renovation in 1962. The zoo has around 100 species of animals, including wild cats, camels, gorillas, orangutans, and tropical birds. Visitors can participate in activities such as horse riding or using pedalos. The largest park in the city is Independence Park. #### Other attractions Dataran Bandaraya was built after Johor Bahru was proclaimed as a city. The site features a clock tower, fountain and a large field. The Wong Ah Fook Street is named after Wong Ah Fook. The Tan Hiok Nee Street is named after Tan Hiok Nee, who was the leader of the former Ngee Heng Kongsi, a secret society in Johor Bahru. Together with the Dhoby Street, both are part of a trail known as Old Buildings Road; they feature a mixture of Chinese and Indian heritages, reflected by their forms of ethnic business and architecture. #### Shopping Shopping malls in Johor Bahru include Komtar JBCC, KSL City, Johor Bahru City Square, R&F Mall, Holiday Plaza, Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru, The Mall Mid Valley Southkey, Toppen Shopping Centre, Plaza Pelangi, Galleria@Kotaraya, AEON Tebrau City, Paragon Market Place, AEON Permas Jaya, Pelangi Leisure Mall, AEON Mall Bandar Dato' Onn, Plaza Sentosa, Stellar Walk and Beletime Danga Bay. The Mawar Handicrafts Centre, a government-funded exhibition and sales centre, is located along the Sungai Chat road and sells various batik and songket clothes. Opposite this is the Johor Area Rehabilitation Organisation (JARO) Handicrafts Centre which sells items such as hand-made cane furniture, soft toys and rattan baskets made by the physically disabled. #### Entertainment The oldest cinema in the city is the Broadway Theatre which mostly screens Tamil and Hindi movies. There are around other five cinemas available in the city with all of them located inside shopping malls. ### Sports The city's main association football club is a Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. Its home stadium is Sultan Ibrahim Stadium has a capacity of around 40,000. There is also a futsal centre, known as Sports Prima, which has eight minimum-sized FIFA approved futsal courts; it is the largest indoor sports centre in the city. ### Radio stations Two radio stations have their offices in the city: Best FM (104.1) and Johor FM (101.9). ## Crime For several decades running, Johor Bahru is notorious for its relatively high crime rate, compared to other urban areas in Malaysia. In 2014, Johor Bahru South police district recorded one of the highest crime rates in the country with 4,151 cases, behind Petaling Jaya. In 2013, the city also accounted for 70% of crimes committed in the entire state of Johor, with a Johor police spokesman admitting that Johor Bahru remained a crime hotspot within the state. Crime in Johor Bahru has also received substantial media coverage by the Singaporean press, as Singaporeans visiting or transiting through the neighbouring city are often targeted by criminals. Among the more common criminal cases in Johor Bahru are robberies, snatch theft, carjacking, kidnapping and rape. Gang and unarmed robberies accounted for about 76% of the city's criminal cases in 2013 alone. Illegal car cloning is also rampant in the city. In addition, Johor Bahru's reputation for sleaze still exists, with some areas in the city centre turning into red-light districts, despite prostitution being illegal in Malaysia. ## International relations Several countries have set up their consulates in Johor Bahru, including Indonesia and Singapore, while Japan has closed its consular office since 2014. ### Twin towns – Sister cities Johor Bahru currently has seven sister cities: - Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. - Shantou, Guangdong, China. - Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. - Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. - Singapore. - Cotabato City, Bangsamoro, Philippines. - Istanbul, Turkey. ## In popular culture ### Movies - Punggok Rindukan Bulan (2008) ## Notable people - Christina Jordan (born 1962), Malaysian-born British politician - Vivien Yeo (born 1984), Malaysian actress based in Hong Kong - Gin Lee (born 1987), Malaysian singer based in Hong Kong - Ng Tze Yong (born 2000), national badminton player - Ronny Chieng (born 1985), Malaysian comedian and actor based in United States - Tunku Abdul Rahman Hassanal Jeffri (born 1993), racing driver and member of the Johor Royal Family ## See also - Johor Bahru landmarks - Johor Bahru Central District

Minden Blake

New Zealand flying ace

Minden Vaughan Blake (13 February 1913 – 30 November 1981) was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He was officially credited with destroying 10 enemy aircraft. Born in Eketāhuna, New Zealand, Blake earned bachelor's and master's degrees in science from Canterbury University College. In 1936, he joined the RAF after twice missing out on a Rhodes Scholarship and was posted to No. 17 Squadron. He participated in the Battle of Britain in 1940 as acting commander of No. 238 Squadron and then No. 234 Squadron, destroying several German bombers. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in January 1941. By mid-1942, he was commanding a fighter wing. He was shot down during aerial operations in support of the Dieppe Raid and became a prisoner of war. He had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order just a few days previously. After the war, he continued to serve in the RAF in a series of senior posts until 1958. In civilian life, he was a prolific inventor and developed a golfing aid that was a commercial success. He died in 1981, aged 68. ## Early life Minden Vaughan Blake was born in Eketāhuna, in the Manawatū District of New Zealand on 13 February 1913, the son of a schoolmaster, Charles Minden Blake, and his wife, Emma. He was educated at Southland Boys' High School from 1926 to 1929 and then Christchurch Boys' High School. He was heavily involved in sports, participating in cricket, soccer, and athletics. He would go on to become national champion in the pole vault in 1936. Commencing his tertiary education in early 1932, Blake entered the Canterbury University College and gained a Bachelor of Science degree three years later. His father financially supported his studies by purchasing a chicken farm and Blake developed technology for grading eggs. After graduating in 1934, he progressed to graduate studies, studying mathematics. The following year, he was one of the college's two representatives for a Rhodes Scholarship. He was not selected and a subsequent attempt in 1936 was also unsuccessful. In the meantime, he had graduated with a masters of science with second-class honours. He spent much of 1936 as a lecturer in physics at the university and then applied to join the Royal Air Force (RAF), intending to study engineering in England once he completed flying training. ## Military career The RAF accepted Blake's application and he left for England in November 1936. He began his flying training late the following month at the Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School at Brough Aerodrome, in Yorkshire. He was granted a permanent commission in the RAF as a pilot officer in March 1937, at the conclusion of his course, and was posted to No. 5 Flying Training School at RAF Sealand. He gained his wings in June and was selected for training on fighters, learning on the Hawker Fury biplane. He completed his training a few months later and was posted to No. 17 Squadron, which operated Gloster Gauntlets from Kenley. In September 1937 Blake was promoted to flying officer and became one of No. 17 Squadron's flight commanders. In March 1939, Blake received a further promotion, to flight lieutenant, and a few months later, the squadron moved to North Weald where it began converting to Hawker Hurricanes. He remained active in athletics, particularly in pole vaulting, becoming the RAF champion three years running from 1937 to 1939. ## Second World War On the outbreak of the Second World War, No. 17 Squadron was based at Croydon. A few days afterward, on 8 September, Blake suffered minor injuries in an aircraft accident. His Hurricane had suffered an engine failure during an attempted landing in the early evening and, overshooting the runway, he glided to a crash landing in the grounds of Purley Hospital. On his approach, the wing of his aircraft clipped the chimney of a building that Blake had been unable to see due to the fading light, which caused the Hurricane to flip as it landed. His head was gashed and he was heavily bruised. The engine failure was found to be the result of hay, from the cutting of the grass around the airfield, entering the air intake. For the first several months of the war, the squadron flew defensive patrols, mainly from Debden and Martlesham Heath. In April 1940, Blake was sent to join the staff at No. 10 Flying Training School at RAF Ternhill, Shropshire; he acted as an instructor in the advanced section of the school. After four months, he was posted to No. 238 Squadron, based at RAF St. Eval in Cornwall, to take over as its acting commander. Taking up his new role on 16 August, his new squadron was part of No. 10 Group, which covered the south west of England. ### Battle of Britain Within days of his arrival, Blake destroyed his first enemy aircraft, a Junkers Ju 88 bomber, near Trevose Head on 21 August. A few days later he shared in the destruction of a Dornier Do 17 light bomber. In September, No. 238 Squadron moved to RAF Middle Wallop, in Hampshire. Being much closer to London, it began to be called upon to assist No. 11 Group in defending the southeast of England. On 14 September, he destroyed a Ju 88 over Brooklands in Surrey. The following day, Battle of Britain Day, No. 238 Squadron was scrambled to help protect London from a large bombing raid. Blake led the squadron into an engagement with Heinkel He 111 medium bombers over Kenley. He claimed a destroyed He 111, which crashed on an airfield in Sussex. His own aircraft had been damaged in the attack and he made an emergency landing close by his victim. Later that month, the original commander of No. 238 Squadron returned to duty. Blake, promoted to acting squadron leader, took over as commander of No. 234 Squadron. Part of No. 10 Group and operating from Middle Wallop, it had suffered a number of losses and had moved to Cornwall for a rest period. The operational tempo was much lower and it was not until 24 November that Blake helped shoot down a Dornier Do 215 bomber. At the end of the month, the squadron provided a covering escort for the destroyer HMS Javelin, damaged in an encounter with German destroyers, into Plymouth. German Do 17 bombers mounted an attack on Javelin but Blake shot down one bomber and damaged another. ### Channel Front 1941–42 In January 1941, Blake's award of the Distinguished Flying Cross was announced. The published citation read: > Squadron Leader Blake has displayed fine qualities of leadership and has personally destroyed five enemy aircraft. By his splendid example he has set a high standard to his fellow pilots. Soon afterwards, the squadron moved to Dorset, where it was to operate from Warmwell. It began to re-equip with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa and changed duties; instead of defensive patrols, it began to undertake offensive operations to occupied France and Belgium. On 11 March, he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the same month was mentioned in despatches for his work as squadron leader. Blake shot down a Ju 88 in May 1941, followed by a Bf 109 just a few days later. On 10 July, while escorting Bristol Blenheims of Bomber Command on an attack on shipping at Cherbourg, the squadron was attacked by a formation of Bf 109s. He managed to destroy two of these but his Spitfire was damaged by enemy fire in the course of the encounter and he was forced to ditch in the English Channel. His aircraft sank before he could extricate himself. He was able to kick free and on reaching the surface inflated his emergency dinghy. He drifted towards the Isle of Man for several hours before being picked by an Air Sea Rescue Services launch. At the start of August, Blake was commander of a fighter wing made up of Polish squadrons, operating from RAF Exeter. His period in command was brief for on 21 September he was appointed wing leader at No. 10 Group's RAF Portreath. One of the last major engagements of the year for Blake was in October. He led a wing of Spitfires that was one of five such formations covering a bombing raid on St. Omer mounted by Blenheims. By this time, German defensive operations was causing high casualties among the RAF, which subsequently saw a reduction in these missions over the winter months. At the end of the year, he was promoted to acting wing commander. Blake continued on operations for the next several months, leading his wing on long-range patrols as far as Brest but during this time was also involved in the development of a gyroscopic gunsight for fighters. This combined a conventional deflector gunsight with aspects of a bombsight. In August 1942, his award of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) was announced, the published citation reading: > During the past 10 months, this officer has completed numerous sorties, including several attacks on enemy shipping. He has rendered valuable service and his leadership has been of the highest order. He has destroyed at least 9 hostile aircraft. A few days later, on 19 August, Blake led his wing in support of the Dieppe Raid. Taking off from RAF Thorney Island, they encountered a group of Focke Wulf Fw 190s. Blake destroyed one Fw 190 but was damaged himself. His canopy shattered from a cannon shell impact, and shards of perspex entered his eyes. He ditched his Spitfire in the English Channel, not far from the French coast, and took to his emergency dinghy. Despite the injuries to his eyes, he paddled towards England, helped by an outgoing tide. He spent nearly a day in the dinghy until he was retrieved by a German rescue launch and made a prisoner of war (POW). He was the highest-ranking officer of the RAF to be captured as a result of the Dieppe Raid and by this stage of the war, was credited with the destruction of at least ten enemy aircraft. ### Prisoner of war Because of the injuries to his eyes, Blake was hospitalised in France for three weeks before being transported to Germany by train. While in transit, he jumped from a window of the train but in doing so, he received injuries to a hand and lacerations to his head. He made his way to a nearby French farmhouse where he sought treatment. The owner of the farm, concerned for the safety of his family if the Germans were to discover Blake at his property, turned him over to the authorities. Blake spent most of the remainder of the war at Stalag Luft III, a POW camp located near Sagan, in Germany. By 1943 he was the senior RAF officer in charge of the camp's Block 104 and it was in this capacity that he met Leonard Trent, a fellow New Zealander with the RAF who had recently become a POW. During their leisure time, Trent introduced Blake to golf, fashioning a home-made golf ball and scrounging a club for practice. In return, Blake taught Trent basic gymnastic techniques, going as far to construct a set of parallel bars. By January 1945, the Soviet forces were advancing into Germany and the POWs at Stalag Luft III were force marched away to the west to a camp near Bremen. They were moved again in April but were liberated by the British on 2 May. ## Postwar career In the immediate postwar period, Blake spent several months in New Zealand on leave. During this time, he met and married Molly, née Seldon, from Christchurch. He returned with her to England to resume his career with the RAF. In early 1946, he was posted to Fighter Command headquarters as a staff officer. He was presented with his DSO by King George VI in an investiture at Buckingham Palace in February. He was again mentioned in despatches in early 1947 and was shortly sent on a course at the RAF College at Bracknell. His following post was at Transport Command headquarters working on operational matters. He remained keen on golf; when his fellow former POW Leonard Trent, also assigned to Transport Command at the time, visited its headquarters he noted the presence of a practice pad in Blake's office. Blake resumed his pole vaulting career and was again RAF champion, in 1946 and 1948–1949. He was in the running to make the British track and field team for the 1948 Summer Olympics. In 1950, Blake switched to personnel duties, this time for Bomber Command. A role at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) followed, when he was posted to Oslo as Inspector-General for Northern Command, NATO. During his time in Oslo, he won Norway's Amateur Golf Championship. His final role in the RAF was at the Air Ministry, in a planning position. He retired from the military in January 1958. ## Later life In his return to civilian life, Blake began working as a manager in a factory that produced car wax. After several months, he moved to Swansea to take up a position in a textile factory. This did not last long and he settled in Surrey, working for a company manufacturing electronics. Blake was an inveterate tinkerer and at his home in Surrey constructed a workshop to indulge his hobby. He soon developed a golfing aid, the 'Swingrite', and this was patented in 1965. The aid was a commercial success and made him financially comfortable. He also published books on golfing technique and advocated a new style of golf swing. A few years later, he was granted a patent for a safety-belt mechanism for vehicles. In 1979, Blake was a co-author, along with H. J. Weaver, of Suicide by Socialism. Blake died on 30 November 1981. There is a memorial to him at a building at Purley Hospital, where he crashed his Hurricane in the early days of the Second World War. The memorial includes a description of the accident.

2010 Singapore Grand Prix

Fifteenth round of the 2010 Formula One season

The 2010 Singapore Grand Prix (formally the 2010 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 September 2010, at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore. It was the fifteenth race of the 2010 Formula One World Championship, and the third Singapore Grand Prix held as part of the Formula One World Championship. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso won the 61-lap race from pole position. Sebastian Vettel finished second for Red Bull and his teammate Mark Webber was third. Alonso held off Vettel to maintain his start line advantage on the first lap. Lewis Hamilton, who started third, fought off teammate Jenson Button to retain his start position. The top two remained the same through the first and only round of pit stops. Webber's team, Red Bull, opted to pit him early allowing him to move ahead of Hamilton. The race was neutralised by the deployment of the safety car after Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna crashed on lap 31. Hamilton retired after a collision with Webber shortly after the race restarted on lap 36. Alonso maintained the lead for the remainder of the race under pressure from Vettel. The race was Alonso's second consecutive victory and his fourth of the 2010 season; he had started from pole position to win the two weeks earlier. The win moved Alonso to second place in the World Drivers' Championship, eleven points behind leader Webber. Hamilton's retirement dropped him to third, while Vettel's second-place finish moved him to fourth past Jenson Button. In the Constructors' Championship, Red Bull extended its lead over McLaren to 24 points, with Ferrari a further 40 points behind, with four races remaining in the season. Alonso's Grand Slam was the last by a Ferrari driver until Charles Leclerc at the 2022 Australian Grand Prix. ## Background The Singapore Grand Prix was the fifteenth round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship after taking a two-week break from the previous race in Italy. The event was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on 26 September 2010. The Grand Prix was contested by twelve teams with two drivers each. The teams, also known as constructors, were McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, Renault, Force India, Toro Rosso, Lotus, Hispania, Sauber, and Virgin. Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the green-striped side-walled super soft "options" and medium "primes" dry compounds, and the intermediate and full wet green-lined wet-weather compounds to the Grand Prix. The rules of 2010 Grand Prix races stipulated that all cars should use both types of tyre during a race unless the driver used any one of two wet-weather compounds. Each driver was limited to eleven sets of dry tyres for the weekend. Before the race, Red Bull driver Mark Webber led the Drivers' Championship with 187 points. He was ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second with 182 points and Fernando Alonso in third on 166 points. Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button was fourth with 165 points, and Sebastian Vettel was fifth on 163 points. Red Bull was leading the Constructors' Championship with 350 points; McLaren and Ferrari were second and third with 347 and 290 points respectively, while Mercedes on 158 and Renault with 127 points contended for fourth position. Singapore was a critical race in the championship as all five drivers had a chance to take the lead with a victory. The situation was made difficult for Alonso as he had used his allocation of eight engines following the Italian Grand Prix, and to replace one would incur a ten-place grid penalty. His rivals each had at least one untouched engine in reserve; Webber had two. Nevertheless, Alonso set himself the target to score points in Singapore. He also acknowledged that his car was not the fastest in the field and felt he needed five podiums in the season's five remaining races. Webber stated that he expected Singapore to be a tough weekend for him after he had retired from the event in 2008 and 2009, but felt there was still some time before a driver clinched the championship. After crashing out of the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton said he would push hard to stay in championship contention: "I'll take each race as it comes, but I'll also be making sure I get to the finish of the next five races, that's more important than anything. I go to Singapore to win." Hamilton felt Alonso was the favourite to win the Grand Prix and viewed the latter as his main rival for the Drivers' Championship which was shared by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Button himself believed Alonso would have an extra advantage as the latter's teammate Felipe Massa was out of contention for the title. The Marina Bay Street Circuit was resurfaced between turns three and seven, along with turns thirteen to seventeen, after drivers complained about its bumpiness following the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix. The Singapore Sling chicane was adjusted to allow for a more gradual curve to exist which enabled a safer exit for drivers. The outside wall at turn 21 was brought closer towards the race track to cover up half of a drain which was previously exposed to cars, and the pit lane was resurfaced to allow for a smoother exit for drivers rejoining the circuit. Hamilton, a vocal critic of the circuit's condition, described it as "dangerous" because it had remained uneven, and said the Singapore Sling chicane was "the worst corner I have ever driven in Formula One" despite the safety modifications made to it. The organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix introduced a new machine to clean the surface of the track after drivers had problems with a dusty and slippery track surface in the previous year's race. Two days before the first practice session, drivers expressed concerns over low visibility caused by rain showers combined with the glare from the circuit lighting. There were two driver changes for the Grand Prix. Hispania Racing announced that Sakon Yamamoto, one of the team's drivers since the tenth race of the season, was to be replaced for the weekend by the team's reserve driver Christian Klien because he was suffering from food poisoning. Several journalists noticed a seemingly healthy Yamamoto in the paddock, suggesting that he had been dropped for sponsorship reasons instead. Team principal Colin Kolles confirmed that the arrangement would be for one race and Yamamoto would return to the cockpit at Suzuka. Pedro de la Rosa was summarily dropped by Sauber and replaced by Pirelli test driver Nick Heidfeld, who last drove for the Sauber team in 2009. The change was made because of de la Rosa's poor performance relative to that of teammate Kamui Kobayashi, and Heidfeld's knowledge of the Marina Bay Street Circuit and the Yas Marina Circuit. Several teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. McLaren, Red Bull, and Williams all revised their front wings. McLaren's revision was designed to separate airflow into two separate channels, with both directing airflow around the outside of the car's front tyres. Red Bull's design, used in the Friday practice sessions, had two vertical slots to the rear of its endplate along with another to avoid creating a vortex when it operated with the planes and endplate. A previous design, debuted at the , was used both in qualifying and in the race. In addition, the team used a revised diffuser to allow for better management of airflow to the top of the diffuser's side section. Williams's design debuted for the first time and was designed to make the tyre act like a diffuser which took air in to improve its efficiency. ## Practice There were three practice sessions held in accordance with the 2010 regulations: two 90-minute sessions on Friday morning and afternoon and one 60-minute session on Saturday morning. The first practice session was initially held on a wet track with a clear sky after rainstorms earlier in the day left standing water on parts of the circuit, and high humidity slowed the drying process. These conditions meant drivers used intermediate tyres first before dry tyres were utilised in the session's closing minutes. Webber set the fastest time of the first session with a late lap of 1 minute and 54.589 seconds, one-tenth of a second faster than Michael Schumacher in second who was briefly quickest before Webber set his lap. Adrian Sutil, with a lap of 1:58.827, was third fastest, ahead of Vettel and Jaime Alguersuari. Button, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sébastien Buemi, Kubica, and Vitaly Petrov rounded out the session's top ten fastest drivers. In the second practice session, when the track was still damp in some sections, Vettel set the fastest time of the night, a lap of 1:46.660 on super-soft tyres; Webber finished with the second fastest lap. Button drove aggressively and battled Vettel for the fastest time throughout before he ended with the third quickest lap, half a second off Vettel's pace. Alonso, who was fourth fastest, ran wide at turn 17 while on a quick lap and slid down the access road at the next corner; he stalled while attempting to rejoin the track and abandoned his car requiring marshals to push his Ferrari away from the track. Hamilton, Barrichello and Massa were in positions five to seven. The two Mercedes drivers were eighth and tenth; with Nico Rosberg ahead of Schumacher, separated by Kubica. Sutil's Force India was launched into the air when he hit a kerb at the Singapore Sling chicane and his front-left suspension was broken upon landing requiring him to miss half the session, and Alguersuari's left-rear tyre made contact with a barrier but he avoided major damage to his car. Sutil was fined US\$10,000 (£6,300) by the stewards because he attempted to drive back to the pit lane in his damaged car and did not stop at a safe position on the circuit. Rain hit the circuit on Saturday afternoon, ending three hours before the session started, resulting in several damp patches on the circuit though the air temperature remained hot. Different sections of the circuit dried out at different rates making it difficult for drivers to tell precisely how wet or dry certain corners were. The teams ran intermediate tyres before switching to the super-soft tyre as the session progressed. Some drivers ran deep into turn five. Vettel was the fastest driver of the session with a time of 1:48.028 set in the last twenty minutes of the one-hour period. The time was four-tenths faster than championship rival Alonso. Hamilton, Massa, Rosberg, Webber, Nico Hülkenberg, Kubica, Sutil and Buemi completed the top ten ahead of qualifying. Hispania Racing driver Bruno Senna's right-rear tyre got onto a white line at the Singapore Sling chicane and spun. Senna later brushed a wall entering the Esplanade Bridge in the final minute and stopped his car, causing the yellow-flags to be shown; drivers were unable to improve on their lap times because of the limited time available. ## Qualifying Saturday evening's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part lasted twenty minutes and eliminated the cars that finished eighteenth or lower. The second session lasting fifteen minutes eliminated cars from eleventh to seventeenth. The final ten-minute session set pole position to tenth. Cars which competed in the final session were not allowed to change tyres before the race; these started the race fitted with the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times. It was held in dry weather conditions. Alonso was fastest in the first and third sessions, and clinched his second consecutive pole position with a lap time of 1:45.390 which he set on his first run of the third session. He was restricted to one timed lap in the second session because of an engine mapping problem, which meant Ferrari immediately re-programmed Alonso's engine upon discovering the issue. Alonso was joined on the front row of the grid by Vettel, who recorded a lap 0.067 seconds slower, and felt he could have taken pole position as he misjudged a gap while following Schumacher and brushed a wall exiting the Singapore Sling chicane. Hamilton qualified third and was happy with his starting position despite losing downforce on the track's final sector while running in teammate Button's tow. Button secured fourth and pushed hard in the final session which meant he had slight damage to his rear tyres on his first run, and could not get the optimum tyre temperature in the first section on his second run. Webber managed fifth and admitted that he was struggling to find a good rhythm when driving the circuit. Barrichello qualified in sixth. The two Mercedes drivers took seventh and ninth; Rosberg ahead of Schumacher. Rosberg believed that he should have performed better in qualifying than in the practice session, as he felt the soft tyres lacked grip; Schumacher was satisfied with his qualifying performance. The Mercedes drivers were separated by Kubica, in the faster Renault, who was happy with his lap time despite his car sliding from a lack of grip. Kobayashi rounded out the top ten qualifiers. Alguersuari, who qualified eleventh, was the fastest driver not advancing to the final session. His best time of 1:47.666 was 1.8 seconds slower than Vettel's pace in the second session. Alguersuari's time was followed by Hülkenberg, who was backed up by Sutil on his first run in the second session, and described his car's balance like "night and day". Hülkenberg was demoted five positions on the grid after the Williams team changed his gearbox after the race at Monza. As a consequence, Petrov inherited 12th position having pushed hard on a set of option tyres. He had lost control of his car after he went deep, under braking, heading for turn five (a corner that was damp from the earlier rain shower), with his right-rear wheel hitting the wall. Petrov's crash meant he took no further part in qualifying. He was ahead of Buemi, in the slower of the two Toro Rossos, who lost a large amount of grip and got stuck in traffic. Heidfeld took 14th ahead of his fellow countryman Sutil in 15th. Liuzzi had a problem with his front brakes on the first run of the second session and managed 16th. Timo Glock, Heikki Kovalainen and Lucas di Grassi were the quickest drivers unable to advance beyond the first part of qualifying. The eleventh row of the grid was filled by Jarno Trulli and Klien. Senna took 23rd. Massa was unable to set a timed lap as his gearbox seized without warning forcing him to stop on the circuit; Ferrari chose to replace his engine and gearbox as a precaution. Massa's engine change was his ninth of the season which incurred a ten-place grid penalty, but since he started from 24th position, the penalty was nullified. ### Qualifying classification The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold. Notes 1. – Nico Hülkenberg was given a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after the Italian Grand Prix. 2. – Felipe Massa failed to set a lap time after stopping on the circuit in the first part of the qualifying session. 3. – Ferrari replaced Massa's gearbox and engine – his ninth for the season – after his stoppage in qualifying; Massa could not be penalised (15 place penalty) because he had already qualified last after failing to set a time. ## Race The race began at 20:00 Singapore Standard Time (UTC+8). The conditions on the grid were dry and cloudy before the race; the air temperature ranged between 29 and 32 °C (84 and 90 °F) and the track temperature was 31 °C (88 °F); no rain was predicted during the race. Most drivers started on the super-soft compound tyre. Alguersuari started from the pit lane as his team discovered a coolant leak in his car. As the five red lights went out to signal the start of the race, Alonso maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner and withstood Vettel's attempt to pass him. Button got an early advantage over teammate Hamilton, but Hamilton fought him to retain third place. Barrichello fell from sixth to eighth place. Kubica passed Rosberg at the start but the German regained sixth position in the same lap. Further down the field, the early momentum was broken when Heidfeld, attempting to overtake both Force India cars at turn seven, hit Sutil's rear, damaging his front wing. Liuzzi subsequently went into Heidfeld's rear-end after the latter squeezed him towards the wall, causing front wing damage to his car. Heidfeld made a pit stop for a replacement front wing at the end of lap one, while Massa made his sole pit stop for the medium compound tyres. Liuzzi pulled over to the inside of the circuit on the third lap, at turn ten, with left-rear suspension damage resulting from contact with the wall. His retirement triggered the deployment of the safety car as marshals were required to push his car away from the track. Webber was the only top running driver to pit for the medium compound tyres during the safety car period on lap four. Red Bull had told Webber to enter the pit lane, assuring him that it was the right decision, though he questioned the move. Several drivers towards the rear also chose to pit. Racing resumed at the end of lap five when the safety car pulled into the pit lane. Webber immediately pushed hard and passed Glock for tenth position and a line of cars began to form behind Glock. Alonso began to pull away from Vettel as he set consecutive fastest laps. Webber passed Kobayashi at turn five to move into ninth on lap seven, and withstood an attempt to Kobayashi to reclaim ninth heading into turn seven. Hülkenberg and Petrov's wheels made contact and both drivers went off the circuit on the same lap; Hülkenberg managed to move ahead of Petrov with Massa taking advantage to pass Petrov. Webber caught Schumacher on lap 11 and passed the latter on the same lap at turn five after Schumacher ran wide. Vettel was told by his team to cool his brakes on the same lap as Alonso continued to extend his lead. Sutil got ahead of Glock for eleventh place three laps later and started to pull away from the queue behind Glock. Hülkenberg ran wide at turn seven on the same lap but did not lose any positions. Hülkenberg passed Glock in the first sector of the track for twelfth on lap 16. Vettel and Alonso traded fastest laps as they pushed hard in their efforts to build up a sufficient lead over Webber to maintain first and second positions after their pit stops. Massa, Petrov, Buemi and Alguersuari all passed Glock on lap 17 thus eliminating the queue of cars. By lap 20, Alonso was leading Vettel by 3.2 seconds; he, in turn, was a further 11 seconds in front of Hamilton. Button was in fourth, 20 seconds behind Alonso, with Rosberg 3.3 seconds behind the World Champion in fifth. Webber changed his engine settings to give him a higher top speed in an attempt to get past Barrichello and decrease the time gap to Hamilton on lap 22. He avoided colliding with an Armco barrier at the entry of turn eighteen one lap later. Hamilton was told to increase his pace on the 24th lap to try to stay ahead of Webber after the pit stop phase. But his car had a large amount of oversteer, as his rear, super-soft, compound tyres began to deteriorate, causing his lap times to drop off the leader's pace. Trulli drove to the pit lane and was pushed by his mechanics into the Lotus garage to retire with a hydraulic issue on lap 28. Hamilton made the first scheduled stop for tyres on lap 29 and re-emerged in eighth position behind Webber. Alonso and Vettel made simultaneous pit stops on the following lap; Alonso retained his lead despite Vettel's pit crew completing their pit stop first; Vettel avoided stalling and drove away in second gear. With newer tyres which provided more grip, Vettel recorded faster lap times than Alonso to close the time gap as the two came across slower cars. Kobayashi attempted to pass around the outside of Schumacher on lap 31 but the two made contact with Schumacher subsequently hitting a barrier. Kobayashi damaged his Sauber, losing control of his rear-end, and crashed at the exit of turn 18 after his front wing was knocked off entering the corner. Senna was slow to react and buried his Hispania nose-first into the barrier alongside Kobayashi. These incidents called for the race's second safety car period to allow removal of both cars from the circuit which were on the racing line. Klien was pushed into his garage to retire with a hydraulic problem on lap 34. The safety car pulled into the pit lane at the end of lap 35 and the race resumed with Alonso leading. Hamilton got a run on Webber who was caught behind di Grassi and lined up an overtaking manoeuvre on Webber, and overtook him on the Raffles Boulevard straight. Webber's front-right tyre hit Hamilton's left-rear tyre at turn seven. He escaped without significant damage, while Hamilton had a punctured tyre and pulled off the circuit to retire for the second consecutive race. Webber felt vibrations on the front of his Red Bull car. His tyre, which made contact with Hamilton's, had been pushed five millimetres (0.20 in) off its normal mounting on the rim, and Button drew closer to Webber who managed to maintain a good pace. On lap 37, Schumacher ran into the rear of Heidfeld's car and limped back to the pit lane to replace his damaged front wing creating sparks as it was dragged along the surface of the track, while Heidfeld retired after hitting a barrier. Button was urged by his McLaren mechanics on lap 42 to push Webber whose tyres were older, while Vettel gradually closed the gap with Alonso. Hülkenberg, in ninth, made an error on lap 44 which allowed Massa to momentarily take advantage, but he fought back to retain ninth position. Kubica sustained a right-rear puncture on lap 46 and made a pit stop on the same lap, rejoining in 13th. Upfront, Vettel had reduced the gap between himself and Alonso to one second by lap 50 as the pair continued to trade the fastest lap time. Glock started to slow on the circuit and drove to the pit lane to retire. It was later confirmed that his retirement was the result of an issue with his car's hydraulic system. With the advantage of having newer tyres which gave him more grip, Kubica passed Alguersuari, Buemi, his teammate Petrov, Massa, Hülkenberg, and Sutil (who was holding up a queue of five cars) within nine laps. Vettel continued to pressure Alonso in the closing laps as the pair began to encounter slower cars. Kovalainen and Buemi made contact in the final sector of the lap, with the latter spinning around in front of the Toro Rosso, who was quick to avoid a head-on collision. Kovalainen's car suffered a cracked fuel tank pressure release valve and he limped back to the pit lane, the rear of his Lotus catching fire during the final few turns. Kovalainen aborted the pit entry but did not make it much further as his car was consumed by the fire. Kovalainen stopped on the main straight and vacated his car to extinguish the fire himself after members of the Williams team handed him a fire extinguisher. As Kovalainen was off the racing line, yellow flags were waved in the final corners instead of a safety car deployment. Vettel drew to within two-tenths of a second behind Alonso as the final lap started, and came across Sutil, Hülkenberg, Petrov and Massa; both drivers managed to get past Petrov, and Alonso maintained the first position heading into the final sector of the track. The yellow flag for Kovalainen's car meant that Vettel's final chance of an overtake, into the final corner, was denied, and Alonso took the checkered flag on lap 61 to win the race, 0.293 seconds ahead of Vettel. Alonso secured his first grand chelem (winning the race from pole position with the fastest lap, while also leading every lap of the race) of his career, which was Ferrari's last until the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as the first since the 2008 French Grand Prix (both achieved across two drivers). Webber was third, 1.2 seconds ahead of Button in fourth. Rosberg, Barrichello and Kubica took the next three positions. Sutil held off Hülkenberg in the final sector of the track for eighth and ninth on the line with Massa in tenth. Petrov, Alguersuari, Schumacher and Buemi finished one lap behind Alonso, with di Grassi and Kovalainen (despite his retirement) the last of the classified finishers. ### Post-race The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Alonso said that his victory "meant a lot" for him to remain in contention for the Drivers' Championship and thanked his team for their efforts during the weekend. Alonso added that Ferrari would give "100 per cent" in the season's four remaining races and said the battle remained "very tight" despite scoring the most points out of all the drivers in the previous five races. Vettel said that he was hoping that Alonso would make a mistake but acknowledged that it was difficult to overtake on the circuit. He also said that attempting to overtake Alonso in the final stages of the race was "the only chance" that he had of winning the race and hoped that the remaining tracks would suit his Red Bull car. Webber stated that he was "very happy" with his third-place finish and said the entire race weekend was the toughest of the year on him. He also said that he did not feel comfortable throughout the weekend and that he was staying composed through certain sections of the race. Alonso's win has been regarded as one of the best of his Formula One career. Former Formula One driver Martin Brundle described it as: "one of those races in which two drivers elevate themselves on to a separate plane from their rivals." It reminded him of the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix where Schumacher won that year's world championship from his main rival Mika Häkkinen. Will Saunders of crash.net said in 2014 that Alonso: "had little right to wrestle a performance of such magnitude out of either himself or the Ferrari, yet he found another level that day." After the eventual conclusion of the championship in Vettel's favour by four points, Saunders said: "Alonso's performance in Singapore showed he would have been an equally deserving championship victor." ESPN listed it as one of Alonso's top ten races while driving for Ferrari. The stewards immediately investigated the accident between Webber and Hamilton on lap 37 and took no further action. Hamilton later reviewed the incident on video and was adamant that he was not at fault saying that he was "unlucky" for the second consecutive Grand Prix. Webber stated the contact nearly forced him to retire and compared the accident to Hamilton's collision with Massa at the Italian Grand Prix. Brundle felt Hamilton should have given Webber more space and agreed with the stewards' decision. Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima stated Webber was "very lucky" to make the finish and that if left hand high-speed corners were installed on the track, the tyre would have moved more frequently and lost its pressure. Horner had also admitted that Webber had been lucky with his tyre lasting for a long distance. Schumacher and Heidfeld's accident on lap 37 was investigated by the stewards who took no further action after deciding it was a "racing incident". Heidfeld felt Schumacher had braked too late and hoped that he would have had a better finishing position. Schumacher himself said that he was unhappy with his first race in Singapore but enjoyed the second half of the race. BBC pundit and former team principal, Eddie Jordan was highly critical of Schumacher arguing that the latter should have been sacked by Mercedes to prevent him from being "slaughtered" in the event he was unable to win another race. Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn came to Schumacher's defense and said his team was "happy" with his contribution. Motorsport pundits criticised Kovalainen's decision to stop his car on the pit straight after it had caught fire and argued that he was "irresponsible". Kovalainen defended his action arguing that it had not been safe to drive his Lotus into the pitlane. Nevertheless, Kovalainen's fire was voted the Moment of the Year by readers of Autosport magazine in December 2010 at the Autosport Awards held in London. Sutil was given a 20-second time penalty by the stewards as he was deemed to gain an advantage by taking the outside line at turn seven on the first lap. This demoted him from eighth to tenth and promoted Hülkenberg from ninth to eighth and Massa from tenth to ninth. Following a protest from Force India, Hülkenberg was issued a 20-second time penalty after the stewards deemed him to have gained an advantage by corner-cutting. This ruling demoted Hülkenberg to tenth while Massa moved to eighth and Sutil inherited ninth. Force India withdrew an appeal of Sutil's penalty following the decision, and Williams technical director Sam Michael said that his team had accepted the stewards' judgement. The stewards elected not to penalise Senna after examining a video of his collision with the stationary Kobayashi. Kobayashi admitted that he was at fault and Senna believed the marshals were late reacting to Kobayashi's accident and felt his own crash was unavoidable. As a consequence of the race, Webber increased his lead in the World Drivers' Championship. Alonso's victory moved him into second place, eleven points behind Webber. Hamilton's retirement dropped him to third place, nine points behind Alonso. Vettel's second-place finish moved him to fourth place, ahead of Button. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull drew further ahead of McLaren who was now twenty-four points behind. Ferrari remained in third on 319 points, forty points behind McLaren. Mercedes increased their points advantage over Renault to thirty-five with four races remaining in the season. ### Race classification Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold. Notes 1. – Heikki Kovalainen was classified because he completed over 90% of the race distance. 2. – Adrian Sutil was penalised 20 seconds post-race for illegally gaining an advantage at turn seven on the first lap. 3. – Following a protest by Force India, Hülkenberg was penalised 20 seconds post-race for illegally gaining an advantage. 4. – Jaime Alguersuari started from the pit lane following a coolant leak before the race. ## Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Constructors' Championship standings - Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. - Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Espenberg volcanic field

Historical volcanic area in Alaska, United States

Espenberg is a volcanic field in Alaska that contains the largest maars on Earth. It was active during the Pleistocene until 17,500 years BP, when a large eruption formed the 8 by 6 kilometres (5.0 mi × 3.7 mi) wide Devil Mountain Maar and deposited tephra over 2,500 square kilometres (970 sq mi), burying vegetation and forming the largest maar on Earth. Other maars in the field are the North and South Killeak Maars and Whitefish Maar, and Devil Mountain is a shield volcano. The large size of these maars has been attributed to the interaction between permafrost and ascending magma, which favoured intense explosive eruptions. Soils buried underneath the Devil Mountain Maar tephra have been used to reconstruct the regional climate during the last glacial maximum. The maars are part of the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. ## Toponyms "Killeak" means "East" in the Inupiaq language. Devil Mountain Maar is also known as "Qitiqliik" or "Kitakhleek" ("Double Lakes") and Whitefish Maar as "Narvaaruaq" or "Navaruk" ("Big Lake"). This volcanic field is also known as the Cape Espenberg-Devil Mountain volcanic field. ## Geography and geomorphology The Espenberg volcanoes lie on the northern Seward Peninsula in Alaska. They are the northernmost volcanoes of North America with late Pleistocene activity, lying just south of the Arctic Circle. Other volcanoes of the Seward Peninsula are found at Imuruk Lake. There are no roads in the area but the maars can be readily reached from the sea by following streams or by chartered bush aircraft. Espenberg is located on a peninsula between the Chukchi Sea to the north and west and Goodhope Bay to the east. From east to west lie North and South Killeak Maar, Devil Mountain Maar and Whitefish Maar; additionally there are cinder cones, lava flows and five small shield-like volcanoes such as Devil Mountain. Devil Mountain appears to be capped with an alignment of cinder cones with associated lava flows. Volcanologically, the field is situated in a back-arc region. Volcanic rocks from the field have basaltic compositions. Devil Mountain Maar is 8 by 6 kilometres (5.0 mi × 3.7 mi) wide and 200 metres (660 ft) deep, while North Killeak Maar, South Killeak Maar and Whitefish Maar are 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) and 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi) wide and the Killeak Maars reach depths of over 60 metres (200 ft); Whitefish Maar is much shallower with a depth of 6 metres (20 ft). Such dimensions make the Espenberg maars the largest known on Earth and the Espenberg maars comparable in size with calderas; other maars at lower latitudes are much smaller. The maars are mostly circular with the exception of Devil Mountain Maar which is partly separated by a small sand spit into the northern 5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi) wide North Devil Mountain Maar and the 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) wide South Devil Mountain Maar; formerly they were considered to be two separate maars. The water surface of the maars lies between 60–80 metres (200–260 ft) below their rim. Eight 0.1–1 kilometre (0.062–0.621 mi) wide and 50–100 metres (160–330 ft) deep crater-like depressions lie underwater in Devil Mountain Maar and similar but partly filled depressions are also found at the Killeak Maars. Layered volcanic deposits crop out in 10–40 metres (33–131 ft) high cliffs around Devil Mountain Maar and within gullies around the other maars. The maars are emplaced in over 300 metres (980 ft) thick lavas and sediments of Pleistocene age. The Singeakpuk River, the Kalik River, the Kitluk River, the Espenberg River and the Kongachuk Creek flow through the volcanic field; the Kitluk River drains Devil Mountain Maar. Other than volcanic constructs, plateaus, thermokarst lakes, dry lakes and yedoma hills dot the landscape. ## Climate, biota and human use At Kotzebue, 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of the volcanic field, annual temperatures fluctuate between 11.9 °C (53.4 °F) in July and −20.2 °C (−4.4 °F) in January. Annual precipitation there is about 230 millimetres per year (9.1 in/year), mostly falling during summer. The vegetation belongs to the Bering tundra ecoregion and is not uniform over the area. Green alder thickets and willow grow on the maar benches; at Tempest Lake north of Devil Mountain Maar the vegetation is characterized by a tundra featuring forbs, mosses, sedges and shrubs and is quite dense. Caribou used to be frequent in the area, and there are numerous fish in the maars. Native Americans used the maars as a source of fish and as hunting grounds, and remains of human activity have been identified at their shores. Devil Mountain was used as a lookout post, navigational landmark and as a source of rocks for sinkers and weights. In recent times, sediment cores were obtained from North Killeak Maar and Whitefish Maar; the former has been used to reconstruct the past climate of the region during the Holocene, including the occurrence of cold periods. The Espenberg volcanoes are part of the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. ## Eruption history The non-maar vents at Espenberg appear to be over 500,000 years old, given that they are covered with vegetation and the lavas shattered by frost, and are probably older than the maars. The Espenberg maars were originally considered to be of Holocene age, but research has shown that the latest eruptions occurred during the Pleistocene. Various dating methods have been used to determine the ages of the Espenberg maars: - Whitefish Maar might be 100,000 – 200,000 years old, perhaps 160,000 years ago. Sedimentation since the eruption has partly filled in Whitefish Maar and reduced its depth. - North Killeak Maar is over 125,000 years old, older than South Killeak Maar. - South Killeak Maar formed over 40,000 years ago. - Devil Mountain Maar is the youngest vent, it formed 17,500 years BP and is the most recent volcanic event of the area. Formerly it was believed that its northern half was 7,100 years old. All maars formed in one complex eruption sequence which in the case of Devil Mountain Maar probably lasted only a few weeks to months. During the eruption, numerous individual explosions and surges took place and emplaced base surges and Strombolian deposits, while frozen blocks of sediment were ejected from the vents. Devil Mountain Maar appears to have formed from the coalescence of several vents during the course of the eruption. Individual explosive events formed the depressions on the floor of the maars. Devil Mountain Maar deposited a tephra called the Devil Mountain Lake tephra over an area of 2,500 square kilometres (970 sq mi). It reached thickness of more than 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) over an area of 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi), burying soil and vegetation and falling into lakes. The soil found underneath the Devil Mountain Maar tephra is known as Kitluk paleosoil. Plant remains found buried underneath the tephra are well preserved and have been used to infer climatic and biotic conditions during the last glacial maximum in the region; vegetation at that time was apparently different from today and there was no widespread ice cover. The tephra is used as a tephrostratigraphic marker for the late Pleistocene. The eruption of the Killeak Maars also produced tephra deposits, which are also found in lakes and have similar compositions to the tephra of the Devil Mountain Maar. Their deposition disrupted local wetlands and altered the topography. ### Mechanism of formation Maars are after cinder cones the second-most common type of volcano. They form when magma interacts explosively with surrounding rocks, excavating broad but shallow craters on the surface. The Espenberg maars are the first known maars to have formed within permafrost; other large maars in permafrost have been found in the Pali-Aike volcanic field of Argentina. Interactions between magma and ice are different than these between lava and ice, as ice conducts heat only slowly and a large amount of energy is consumed during its sublimation; thus its melting and explosive evaporation occurs only slowly. The maars lie in c. 100 metres (330 ft) thick permafrost, which was probably thicker during the Pleistocene when the maars formed. The abundant ice would have produced a limited amount of water due to thermodynamic limitations of magma-induced ice melting, creating an ideal environment for highly explosive eruptions which may have been further intensified by the release of methane during the thawing of the permafrost. Landslides at the margins of the volcanic vents expanded the forming craters and supplied additional ice to the evaporation processes, ultimately yielding the large size of the Espenberg maars. The eruptions that formed the Espenberg maars occurred during fully glacial climate, while interglacial (including Holocene) eruptions on the Seward Peninsula have yielded lava flows; this implies that the glacial climate influenced the types of eruption that took place. The Espenberg maars have been used as analogues for certain craters on Mars.

Paul Dickov

Scottish footballer and manager

Paul Dickov (born 1 November 1972) is a Scottish football manager, former professional footballer and television pundit. Dickov played as a forward from 1990 to 2011, starting his career with Arsenal, where he won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1994, but often struggled to hold a place in the first team and spent time on loan with Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion before moving to Manchester City in 1996 who were then in Division One. Over six seasons at the club, Dickov experienced two promotions and two relegations, playing in three different divisions. Dickov left in 2002 to join Leicester City, where he stayed for two seasons and, in 2004, he signed for Blackburn Rovers, and was part of the team which qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2005–06. Upon the expiry of his Blackburn contract in 2006, he rejoined Manchester City and later went on to play for Crystal Palace, Blackpool, Leicester City again, Derby County, and Leeds United. In 2000, he made his debut for Scotland, against San Marino. In total he represented his country ten times, scoring one goal. In 2010 he became manager of Oldham Athletic before taking over at Doncaster Rovers in 2013. ## Club career ### Arsenal Born in Livingston, West Lothian, Dickov started playing football around the age of nine years playing for his local under-11 team Livingston United. Dickov continued to play for Livingston United each year and when he played in under-13 this is when he caught the eye of Arsenal Scout Malcolm McGregor. Dickov joined the youth ranks of Arsenal in 1989, before being promoted to the first team in 1990. Under George Graham chances were limited for Dickov as he struggled to break into the Arsenal team who were rich in talent with players such as Ian Wright. He was on the bench as the club won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1994,and beforehand he had been a member of Arsenal's squad during the first season of the Premier League. Whilst at Highbury he spent loan spells at both Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion. He left Arsenal in 1996 having made 26 appearances in all competitions, scoring seven goals. ### Manchester City Dickov joined Manchester City on 22 August 1996 in a transfer valued between £750,000 and £1 million, the final signing of Alan Ball's Manchester City management. He made his debut as a substitute against Stoke City on 24 August, a 2–1 defeat which was Ball's final match. Dickov made his first Manchester City start in the next match, in a 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic. Dickov joined the club in a period of turmoil; in his first season at Manchester City he played under five different managers (three full-time appointments and two caretakers). A regular starter under Asa Hartford, Steve Coppell and Phil Neal, he played less frequently under Frank Clark, and finished the season with five goals from 25 League starts. At the start of the 1997–98 season, Dickov did not feature in the first team, but was restored to the starting line-up following injuries to Uwe Rösler and Lee Bradbury. Dickov finished the season as the City's top scorer with nine goals, but the club were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history after finishing in 22nd place. Dickov, wearing the number 9 shirt, played a supporting role in a striking partnership with Shaun Goater in the 1998–99 season, scoring 16 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Lincoln City. After a slow start, his form improved in the later part of the season, leading to City manager Joe Royle nicknaming him "the crocus" due to him coming to life in the spring months. He scored an important equaliser against Wigan Athletic in the play off semi final first leg (which was also the last goal to be scored at Springfield Park). The sixteenth goal was particularly crucial, a 15-yard, top corner injury time equaliser in the final of the promotion playoffs against Gillingham. Dickov's 95th-minute goal took the game to extra time, and the Manchester team ultimately won to earn promotion to the First Division. This goal, scored past Vince Bartram, the best man at Dickov's wedding, was voted City's Greatest Ever Goal in a 2005 poll conducted by Manchester City. Dickov retained his place in the first team at the start of the 1999–2000 season. He started each of the first fifteen League games, despite suffering a facial injury on 26 September 1999 in which he lost a tooth. The run of starting appearances came to an end on 27 October, when he damaged knee ligaments in a match against Ipswich Town. During the subsequent absence, Manchester City signed Robert Taylor, and most of Dickov's appearances in the second half of the season were as a substitute. One of these substitute appearances was the final match of the season, a 4–1 win at Blackburn. Dickov scored the fourth Manchester City goal as City clinched promotion to the Premier League. When Manchester City returned to the Premier League for the 2000–01 season, it appeared that Dickov's chances of playing would be limited as City signed former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah and Costa Rican international Paulo Wanchope. However, Dickov earned a place in the team, his performances attracting the attention of Scotland manager Craig Brown, who called him up to the Scotland squad for the first time. City were relegated back into the First Division for the 2001–02 season and Kevin Keegan replaced Joe Royle as manager. Dickov found his first team opportunities at the club limited especially as the team had other strikers such as Paulo Wanchope, Shaun Goater and Darren Huckerby. Having fallen out of favour, on 22 February 2002 he moved to Leicester City for £150,000. ### Leicester City Dickov's Leicester debut came in a 3–0 defeat against Derby County. His first goals for Leicester came in his sixth appearance, when he scored both Leicester goals in a 2–1 victory against Blackburn Rovers, the club's first win for four months. However, Dickov only scored two more goals that season. Leicester finished bottom and were relegated. He scored a career-high of 20 goals in the 2002–03 season as Leicester made an immediate return to the top flight, finishing runners-up in Division One behind Portsmouth. He managed to score 13 goals in the 2003–04 season. Leicester were subsequently relegated to the First Division and Dickov moved to Blackburn Rovers, declining an offer of an improved contract from Leicester and exercising a contractual clause which allowed him to join a Premier League club for a nominal fee. On the final day of the 2003-04 season Leicester travelled to Dickov's former club, Arsenal, who were looking to make history by becoming the first English team since Preston North End to complete a top-flight league season unbeaten. Dickov scored the opening goal after 25 minutes, but Arsenal turned the game around to win 2-1 and become The Invincibles. ### Blackburn Rovers Dickov debuted for Blackburn Rovers as a half-time substitute against West Bromwich Albion on 14 August 2004. He scored his first goal for the club in the following match, a 3–2 defeat to Southampton. Dickov was involved in the majority of matches in the 2004–05 season, until a knee injury caused him to miss the last few weeks of the season. He finished the season with ten league goals. In 2005–06, Dickov found it hard to retain a regular place in the side, with manager Mark Hughes having signed forwards Craig Bellamy and Shefki Kuqi during the summer. A red card against West Ham United caused him to miss most of the first month of the season. He had a run of first team games in the autumn but starting appearances became fewer as the season progressed. He left the club in the summer of 2006 following the expiry of his contract. ### Return to Manchester City Dickov re-joined Manchester City on 26 May 2006, signing a two-year contract. He came on as a substitute in City's first game of the 2006–07 season against Chelsea, a 3–0 defeat. He then started the next three matches, including a 1–0 win over his former club Arsenal. Dickov suffered several injuries over the course of the season, including a back problem, a knee injury and a toe injury, the latter sidelining him for four months. Dickov made nine starts and seven substitute appearances in 2006–07, but failed to score a single goal. In May 2007 he announced his interest in pursuing a coaching role upon retirement. He was transfer listed by Manchester City in August. He joined Crystal Palace on a three-month loan on 31 August 2007. He played his first game for the Eagles in a friendly against Crystal Palace Baltimore, Crystal Palace's American counterparts, on Friday 7 September, playing the full 90 minutes. On 31 January 2008, Dickov joined Blackpool managed by Simon Grayson on loan until May. Two days later he scored on his debut for Blackpool, what proved to be the winning goal in the Seasiders' 2–1 victory against Leicester City, one of his former clubs, at Bloomfield Road. He had come on as a 70th-minute substitute and scored the winning goal in the 89th minute. It was his first goal since 2 January 2006. He went on to score five goals in his first five appearances for the club, and on 4 March he was named as the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA)'s Fans Championship Player of the Month for February. By the end of his loan, Dickov had scored six goals in eleven appearances. He returned to Manchester City after his loan before then being released at the end of the season. ### Return to Leicester City An initial bid from his former club Leicester City was rejected a week earlier, and after pondering other offers from Toronto FC and Blackpool, Dickov decided to rejoin Leicester on 7 August 2008, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 2–0 home win over Milton Keynes Dons on 9 August 2008, scoring his first goal in a 3–2 League Cup defeat to Fulham on 27 August. He made a total of 20 league games, scoring two goals as Leicester finished the 2008–09 season as League One champions. On 28 August 2009, Dickov joined Derby County on loan until January as cover. Due to an injury crisis Dickov found himself playing regularly at Derby, where his dogged style won over the support of the Derby fans. Dickov scored his first goal for Derby against Queens Park Rangers on 24 October 2009. After his loan spell at Derby ended, Dickov returned to Leicester in January 2010. He was released from his contract by Leicester on 1 February 2010 to find a new club. ### Leeds United On 3 March 2010, Dickov signed for Leeds United until the end of the season. It was initially thought that MLS side Toronto had beaten Leeds to Dickov's signature, however United eventually won the race for the Scot. Leeds also had to receive special dispensation from FIFA to sign Dickov due to the fact he had already played for two clubs this season, the maximum permitted. Dickov was named on Leeds' bench against Brentford and made his debut for Leeds when he came on as a late substitute. Made his impact as a Leeds player by getting booked immediately, scrapping with Brentford winger Ryan Dickson before the ball had come into play. Dickov made his first start for Leeds in a defeat against Millwall, after replacing the injured Jermaine Beckford in the starting line-up. At the end of the 2009–10 season Leeds finished second thus earning promotion to the Championship. Dickov's contract was not renewed after promotion. ## International career Dickov played in Scotland's run in the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, where he scored in the final, but went on to miss in the penalty shoot-out as Scotland lost to Saudi Arabia. He made his senior international debut on 7 October 2000, coming on as a substitute in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino. He made two further substitute appearances that year, against Croatia and Australia. Limited first-team opportunities at club level then meant Dickov was not selected for international duty for another two years. Good form at Leicester earned him a recall in September 2002. He made his first international start against the Faroe Islands. However, playing out of position on the wing, he was substituted at half-time as the faltering Scotland team drew 2–2 against a nation 62 places lower in the world rankings. In the return fixture a year later, Dickov scored his first international goal in a 3–1 win. His last cap came in a 1–0 defeat against Norway in October 2004. In total, Dickov earned ten Scotland caps and scored one goal. ## Managerial career ### Oldham Athletic On 9 June 2010, Dickov signed a one-year contract with League One club Oldham Athletic to become player-manager following the departure of previous manager Dave Penney. It was Dickov's first attempt at managing and expected to be his last club as a player. His first competitive game as Oldham manager ended in a 2–1 victory at rivals Tranmere with Dale Stephens scoring both goals, Dickov also praised the travelling army of Oldham Fans. On 4 September 2010, he made his debut coming on as a second-half substitute against Bristol Rovers. Dickov opted to build a youthful side and made controversial decisions at the start of the season to offload 2009–10 player of the year and club captain Sean Gregan as well as top scorer Paweł Abbott amongst other first team players. The team went into the New Year in ninth position, with games in hand on the teams above them, and being unbeaten at home in the league. Results in the second half of the season were less consistent and the team finished the season in the bottom half of the table. On 6 May 2011 Dickov announced that he would make only his second appearance of the season for the first team in the final match of the season, and would then end his playing career to concentrate on management. He then came on as a 77th-minute substitute the following day against Milton Keynes Dons. They finished the 2011–12 Season in 16th position in League One, one place higher than the previous season. On 27 January 2013, Dickov led Oldham to a shock 3–2 victory against Premier League team Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round but resigned on 3 February, primarily due to the team's poor league form. ### Doncaster Rovers On 20 May 2013, Dickov was appointed manager of Doncaster Rovers, who were promoted to the Championship having won the League One title in the 2012–13 season. Doncaster were relegated back to League One after just one season following a 1–0 final day defeat to Leicester City. On 8 September 2015, Dickov was dismissed as Doncaster manager due to poor performances. ## Style of play Although he was a striker, Dickov was better known for his tenacity than his goal-scoring exploits. In a 2003 interview with the Independent on Sunday he provided a summary of his playing style: "The ability to battle is one of the main parts of my game. I know my limits. I am not the sort who gets the ball and is then going to beat five or six players and stick it in the top corner from God knows where. But, whether I'm playing well or not, the one thing you will get from me is 110 per cent, upsetting defenders and basically giving them pain." Rio Ferdinand was mentioning his name as the biggest headache to deal with on the pitch. His combative approach resulted in Manchester City manager Joe Royle naming him "The Wasp", and during his time at Leicester he was known as "The Pest". ## Media career Dickov now works as a television pundit, namely for Manchester City TV. ## Personal life Dickov is married to Janet and the couple have three children: Lauren, Max, and Sam. The family lives in Cheshire. In March 2004, Dickov, along with Leicester City teammates Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair, was falsely accused of sexual assault while at a training camp in La Manga, Spain. All three were subsequently cleared when forensic tests showed the allegations were false. Dickov would later describe it as the "darkest period" of his footballing career. Dickov owes his family name to a Bulgarian grandfather. ## Career statistics ### Club ### International Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Dickov goal. ## Managerial statistics ## Honours Arsenal - UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1993–94 Manchester City - Football League Second Division play-offs: 1998–99 - Football League First Division promotion: 1999–2000 Leicester City - Football League First Division runner-up: 2002–03 - Football League One: 2008–09 Leeds United - Football League One runner-up: 2009–10 Individual - PFA Team of the Year: 2002–03 First Division

Mississippi Highway 311

Highway in Mississippi

Mississippi Highway 311 (MS 311) is a state highway located in Marshall County, Mississippi, United States. The route runs 12.960 mi (20.857 km) from MS 7 in Holly Springs north to U.S. Route 72 (US 72) in Mount Pleasant. The route is a two-lane undivided road its entire length and passes through rural areas. MS 311 was designated onto its current alignment in 1957, and was fully paved from a gravel road by the 1960s. ## Route description MS 311 begins at an intersection with MS 7 in the northern part of Holly Springs, heading northwest on two-lane undivided Mount Pleasant Road. The route passes through wooded areas with some homes and businesses as it comes to an intersection with the Holly Springs Bypass and makes a left turn to continue to the northwest and leaves the city. Upon leaving Holly Springs, the road continues through forested areas with some farm fields and residences. Farther north, the highway reaches the community of Mount Pleasant. MS 311 passes a few homes and businesses within Mount Pleasant before reaching its northern terminus at the US 72 intersection. At this point, the road continues north as Rossville Road. MS 311 is legally defined in Mississippi Code § 65-3-3. ## History MS 311 was designated in 1957 for a gravel road connecting Holly Springs to Mt. Pleasant. By 1960, the route was paved except for a small portion halfway between Holly Springs and Mt. Pleasant. In 1965, the remaining portion of MS 311 was paved. ## Major intersections ## See also - List of state highways in Mississippi

Sheila Varian

American horse breeder (1937–2016)

Sheila Varian (August 8, 1937 – March 6, 2016) was an American breeder of Arabian horses who lived and worked at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo Grande, California. She grew up with a strong interest in horses, and was mentored in horsemanship by Mary "Sid" Spencer, a local rancher and Morgan horse breeder who also introduced Varian to the vaquero or "Californio" tradition of western riding. She started her horse ranch, Varian Arabians, in 1954 with the assistance of her parents. Raising and training horses was her full-time occupation beginning in 1963. She used vaquero-influenced methods of training horses, although she adapted her technique over the years to fit the character of the Arabian horse, which she viewed as a horse breed requiring a smart yet gentle approach. Varian produced a number of influential Arabian horses whose bloodlines are found in a significant number of winning Arabian show horses in the United States. She began her breeding program with a small number of mares whom she bred to her national champion stallion, Bay Abi. She then acquired three mares from Arabian farms in Poland at a time when that nation was still behind the Iron Curtain and importation of horses to the United States was very difficult. These mares and Bay Abi formed her foundation bloodstock. As of 2016, the Varian horses at stud represent the sixth generation of her stallion breeding line, and her foundation mare lines have produced nine generations of offspring. For her accomplishments, Varian received recognition from the United States Equestrian Federation, as well as several awards from various organizations within the Arabian horse industry. For her contributions as breeder and as a horse trainer in the vaquero tradition, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2003. After she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013, she sought to place the 230-acre Varian Ranch into a conservation easement to protect the land from development, and in 2015 announced that the California Rangeland Trust would partner with her to purchase the development rights and to allow her long-time ranch manager, Angela Alvarez, to operate the horse breeding program after Varian. After Alvarez, the property would be gifted to the Trust to be sold, the conservation easement running with the land, and the Trust would try to find a buyer that would maintain the Arabian horse breeding program as well. Varian died on March 6, 2016, at age 78. ## Early years Varian grew up in Halcyon, California with a strong interest in horses, combined with a fondness for horse books such as the works of Marguerite Henry and The Black Stallion series written by Walter Farley. She credited Farley's books as the origin of her interest in Arabian horses. She was given her first horse, a Morgan-Percheron crossbred, at the age of eight, and rode bareback until she obtained her first saddle at age 12. Although her parents, Eric and Wenonah Varian, did not have an equestrian background, they always supported her interest in horses, allowing both her and her older sister the freedom to ride horses as much as they wanted. Varian matured to be 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and has stated that while she "struggled" with her height as a young person, she found comfort in riding horses: "all my troubles went away." Varian and her parents began using the farm name "Varian Arabians" in 1954. She credited her parents for helping her believe that she could do whatever she wanted to do and for trusting her own judgement, which gave her confidence in her own ability to work with horses. They worked as a team to build a horse business; Eric, an electrical contractor, built fences and managed the land, Wenonah studied pedigrees, and Sheila handled the horses. In time, their ranch expanded from 21 to 150 acres. As a young adult, Varian completed college at California Polytechnic State University and taught high school physical education for three years, until 1963, when running the Varian Arabian ranch became her full-time job. The ranch was self-supporting from 1963 on, with the short-term assistance of loans from Sheila's aunt, Dorothy Varian, which were promptly repaid. Ultimately, the ranch grew to 230 acres. ## The Varian horses Varian preferred the Arabian breed because "their instinctual interest in and appreciation for people runs deep in their genes. The Arabian's lightness and responsiveness are wonderful, as is their willingness to be your partner. And...they are beautiful. Arabian horses have never let me down." She valued horses with good dispositions and athletic ability as well as attractive appearance. She does not breed Arabians for a specific discipline, instead describes her breeding philosophy as "consistently continuing to breed for more quality and never losing disposition or athletic ability." Following these principles, Varian has produced some of the most influential Arabian stallions in the breed. When she was young, Varian developed an interest in finding the "perfect" horse. She soon realized that the way to achieve her goal was to begin breeding horses. Her first Arabian was the mare Farlotta (Lotnik × Farza), obtained in 1952. Farlotta became a finished spade bit horse who won both stock horse (reining) and western pleasure championships. Although loved and cared for by Varian, the mare had been neglected in her first two years prior to being purchased by Varian, and as a result of underlying health damage died at the age of seven. In 1959, Varian and her mother Wenonah purchased a two-year-old bay stallion named Bay-Abi (Errabi × Angyl). Trained and shown by Varian, he was the judges' unanimous choice for U.S. National Champion Arabian Stallion in 1962, later won U.S. National Top Ten awards in both Arabian English pleasure and Western pleasure, and thereafter was awarded the Legion of Merit. Even though he was not bred to any mares until after he was fully trained, and thus his first foals did not appear in the show ring until he was 7, he sired 275 registered Arabians, including 65 champions and 24 national winners. By 1961, Varian Arabians had a small number of mares. The most notable of her early champions was Ronteza, a daughter of the stallion Witez II out of the mare Ronna. Ronteza was the second Arabian Varian purchased, and she trained the mare herself. The pair, undefeated in competition against other Arabian horses, went on to beat 50 horses of all breeds to win the 1961 Reined Cow Horse championship at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. Varian was aware that both Farlotta and Ronteza were sired by stallions imported from Poland, out of American-bred mares, and believed this bloodline cross was a major source for the good qualities of these mares. Thus, Varian looked for Polish-bred Arabian mares to breed to her American-bred Bay-Abi. However, Poland was at that time an Iron Curtain nation, and importing horses from there directly to America was quite complicated. To accomplish her goal, Varian sought the assistance of British horse breeder Patricia Lindsay, who traveled to Poland and purchased three mares on Varian's behalf. The mares arrived in California in December 1961. They were Bachantka (sired by Wielki Szlem out of Balalajka, who was by Amurath Sahib), purchased from the Albigowa stud; Ostroga (Duch × Orda by Omar 11), from the Nowy Dwór stud; and Naganka (Bad Afas × Najada by Fetysz), from the Michalow stud. Bachantka and Naganka had been trained and raced in Poland. Bachantka had a record of 2/15 (0-1-3), and Naganka a record of 2/12 (3-4-1). After her arrival in the USA, Bachantka also had a brief but successful horse show career. Crossing Bay-Abi on these imported Polish mares proved particularly successful for Varian. As of 2016, the Varian ranch bred nine generations of horses descended from these foundation mares, and stood six successive generations of stallions descended from Bay Abi. The cross produced, among other champions, Varian's successor to Bay-Abi, the 1969 colt Bay el Bey (Bay Abi × Naganka), who was U.S. Reserve National Champion stallion twice, 1977 Canadian National Champion stallion, and a regional champion in English pleasure. At the time, the Arabian industry had little interest in western disciplines, so Varian competed with her horses in English riding classes. Of Bay el Bey, she commented, "He could easily have been an open reining horse, but I made him into an English pleasure horse because he could do it, he was so athletic." Her English champions also included Bay el Bey's full brother, Mikado, a gray stallion who was a champion park horse. Bay el Bey was best known for his offspring, who collectively earned him the nickname, "The Kingmaker." He sired 441 foals including three sons considered his finest: his own successor at Varian Arabians, Huckleberry Bey (whose dam was Taffona, a daughter of Raffon); U.S. Reserve National Champion Bey Shah (out of Star of Ofir, who was by Bask); and Barbary (out of Balalinka (Bask x Bachantka)), who won a total of seven national titles in halter and park horse competition. Barbary was purchased from Varian as a yearling by film producer and Arabian owner Mike Nichols. These three sons of Bay el Bey alone sired a combined total of 650 champions. Subsequent generations of Varian stallions continued the pattern of winning in the show ring and then producing champion show horses across multiple disciplines. Huckleberry Bey was 1979 U.S. National Reserve Champion Futurity Stallion, 1981 U.S. National Top Ten Stallion, and 1984 U.S. National Reserve Champion English Pleasure. He then became the leading sire of US National Champions for five years, and in 1999 his likeness was reproduced as a Breyer horse model. In turn, his son, Desperado V (× Daraska by Dar) became a leading sire of champions. In 2004 and 2005, Desperado V was ranked the leading Arabian sire by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), and was second in 2008 and 2009. By 2009, Desperado V had sired 75 national winners. In addition, another Huckleberry Bey son, Bravado Bey V (× Bachista V) was USEF's 10th-ranked leading Arabian sire in 2008. In 2010, of the top 25 leading sires of winning Arabian dressage horses since 1960, Desperado V was ranked number 2 (following Khemosabi), Bey Shah was number 4, Huckleberry Bey was tied for fifth, and Barbary was also on the list, in addition to five other grandsons of Bay El Bey. Over the years, she made use of outside bloodlines. She leased the young, then unproven stallion Khemosabi for his first breeding season in 1969. She also made use of horses owned by other ranches, such as the Polish import Bask, whom she linebred to his 3/4 sister, Varian's Polish import Bachantka, producing another significant foundation mare, Balalinka, dam of Barbary. In 2002, requiring an outcross stallion not closely related to her own horses, she purchased the Brazilian-foaled Jullyen El Jamaal, who has bloodlines not previously incorporated into the Varian program, as well as a line tracing back to Bay el Bey via Bey Shah. Varian continued to seek performance ability in her mares; in the Varian program, every mare is trained under saddle and must prove suitable as a riding animal. Varian did not originally work her ranch name into the names of her horses, but today all Varian-bred horses have a registered name suffixed with the capital letter "V". The Varian ranch also acknowledges the importance of the mares by using the first letter of each mare's name to start the name of their foals. Varian-bred horses are freeze branded with the Varian "V" logo. ## Training philosophy and vaquero tradition Vaqueros were the horsemen and cattle herders of Spanish Mexico, who first came to California with the Jesuit priest Eusebio Kino in 1687, with two expeditions in 1769, and the Juan de Anza expedition in 1774. They were the first cowboys in the region. She learned horse training methods that derived from this tradition. In her teens, she was mentored in horsemanship by Morgan horse breeder and cattle rancher Mary "Sid" Spencer. The Spencer property, called Forsyth Ranch, was near Arroyo Grande on land that is now under Lopez Lake. Spencer helped Varian learn the underlying principles of training and riding horses, how to work cattle in the mountains, and introduced her to vaquero training methods. Spencer also did all of her own ranch work including shoeing, gelding, horse training, baling hay, and truck repairs. She learned how to handle well-trained horses by riding one of the Spencer family's finished Morgans, a gelding named Little Horse. With Spencer's help, she also learned to recognize correct conformation and balance in horses. After learning traditional vaquero methods of training from Spencer and others, Varian modified her training methods in her twenties, after meeting Tom Dorrance. He introduced her to his "soft approach" of working with horses, and his methods were an additional influence on Varian's training philosophy. Varian utilized vaquero-influenced methods in training her horses, but believed that modern well-bred horses need a gentler approach, stating, "All good horses, like smart children, need good instruction, but they don't need harsh instruction." Varian was one of a very few experts in the 21st century who was still teaching about vaquero equipment, methods, and history. She had a strong interest in the history of the spade bit horse in California. The spade is an elaborate, complex bit that can only be properly used on a highly trained horse handled by a skilled rider. In the vaquero tradition, its use represents the highest level of trust and communication between horse and rider. The process of training the spade bit horse takes five to seven years to complete. Its emphasis has always been on producing a finely tuned working horse and partner, emphasizing quality rather than on how quickly the goal is reached. The conformation of the horse is also a factor; to become a spade bit horse, the animal must be bred to have a higher neck set and well-carried head. Varian compared the ride and handling of a horse trained in this manner to that of a Jaguar automobile. Traditionally, the vaquero method starts a young horse using a hackamore, which is headgear that uses a heavy rawhide noseband, called a bosal instead of a bit to control the horse. As the horse gains skill with a rider, it moves to lighter bosals, and next into a transitional period in its training; carrying a bridle with a type of curb bit called a "half breed" which is a modified spade bit worn in conjunction with a light bosal. The rider carries two sets of reins, one set on the bosal and one on the curb, giving this gear its name, the "two-rein." After several years in a two-rein, the horse graduates into the spade bit. Varian departed slightly from tradition. She started young horses under saddle at the age of three, beginning with a bridle and a snaffle bit because it sends clearer signals to a young horse, particularly one of sensitive disposition. She then introduced the traditional hackamore, and, after a couple of months to transition between the hackamore and the snaffle, began teaching neck reining, which allows a horse to be ridden one-handed. After a year or two, when the horse became light in the hackamore, she introduced the young horse to the two-rein, using a light bosal with either a "half-breed" or a low-port curb bit. Once the horse understood the bit, the bosal was removed and the horse was ridden in just the curb bit for a while until ready to go into the full spade bit, at which point the horse went back into the two-rein when the spade is first introduced. She introduced horses to the spade bit at the age of seven or eight, if they had suitable conformation and temperament to carry it. When she selected and fully trained a spade bit horse for her own personal use, that particular horse stayed with her for life and was never sold. Varian considered Arabians the most "people-oriented" of any horse breed. "No other horse will leave his food to come and see you." Noting that they are a "hot-blooded" breed, she viewed them as sensitive horses that will not tolerate harsh handling, but strongly disagreed with those who considered Arabians to be too high-spirited to be good trail horses. She emphasized teaching horses to have good manners. She roped off of her horses and took them into the mountains. She viewed Arabians as requiring a smart and gentle approach. She advocated for trainers who used the methods of master horsemen such as Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance, with Dorrance's philosophy being especially suitable for Arabians. She considered the breed to be inherently gentle, and pointed out that any horse can become "hot" if they are kept in a stall 24 hours a day, fed a lot of grain, and never ridden. Varian explained the nature of Arabian horses by analogy, comparing them to precocious children who show their ability with delight, but cannot be bullied or pushed around. ## Legacy and awards The Varian Arabian Ranch has been ranked multiple times as one of the leading Arabian breeders of winning horses by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), which since 2004 has ranked breeders based on points earned by horses shown in sanctioned USEF competitions. The ranch was first in calendar year 2008, and in the top ten from 2006 through 2010. In 2013, the Varian breeding program was ranked by Arabian Horse World magazine as the all time number one breeder of both English-type and Western-type Arabian horses. Sheila Varian as an individual was honored by the USEF with the 2001 Ellen Scripps Davis Memorial Breeders' Cup, awarded to an individual who consistently breeds outstanding show horses. Within the Arabian industry itself, Varian was honored in 2005 with the Arabian Breeders Association's lifetime achievement award, and was the Arabian Professional & Amateur Horseman's Association 2009 Breeder of the Year. Varian was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2003. She was honored for both her contributions as a horse breeder and as a trainer, but the honor represented, in many ways, her roots in the vaquero tradition. Other inductees that year included western artist Glenna Goodacre; musician, artist, cowboy poet and pickup rider Ann Secrest Hanson; and classic cowgirl trick rider and barrel racer Velda Tindall Smith (1908–1990). In November 2015, Varian announced that she would be working with the California Rangeland Trust to place her ranch into a conservation easement to protect it from development. She had begun the project with the intent that her longtime ranch manager, Angela Alvarez, would operate the horse breeding program after Varian was no longer able to do so, and then once Alvarez was no longer able to run the ranch, the property would be gifted to the Trust to be sold, the conservation easement running with the land, and attempts made to find a buyer that would also be interested in maintaining the Arabian horse breeding program. Varian was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013 and died on March 6, 2016, at the age of 78. At news of her death, the web site for the California Rangeland Trust crashed due to the high amount of web traffic, necessitating supporters of the trust to set up a backup crowdfunding site for donations to the conservation effort. ## See also - Russell and Sigurd Varian, uncles of Sheila Varian - John Osborne Varian, grandfather of Sheila Varian

Tal Vez

2003 single by Ricky Martin

"Tal Vez" (transl. "Perhaps") is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin for his seventh studio album, Almas del Silencio (2003). The song was written by Venezuelan singer-songwriter Franco De Vita, while the production was handled by Tommy Torres. It was released to radio stations by Sony Discos as the lead single from the album on March 25, 2003. A Spanish language rock ballad, it is a romantic song about regret, lost opportunities, and last chances. The song received widely positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its melody, lyrics, and Martin's vocals. It was ranked as one of the Top Latin Songs of the Century by Latin Times. "Tal Vez" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 4th Annual Latin Grammy Awards and won the awards for Hot Latin Song of the Year and Latin Pop Airplay Track of the Year, Male at the 2004 Latin Billboard Music Awards. The song was commercially successful, reaching number one in Argentina, Chile, Central America, Mexico and Venezuela, as well as Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks, Latin Pop Airplay, and Tropical Airplay charts in the United States. It spent a total of 11 non-consecutive weeks atop the Hot Latin Tracks chart, surpassing "Livin' la Vida Loca" as Martin's longest number-one single on the chart, and was the longest-running number one of 2003. The accompanying music video was filmed in La Boca near Buenos Aires, and directed by Kacho López and Carlos Pérez. It depicts the daily life of the residents of a building, including the singer. To promote the song, Martin performed it at the 2003 Latin Billboard Music Awards. The track was also included on the set lists for the One Night Only with Ricky Martin tour, the Black and White Tour, the Live in Mexico tour, the One World Tour, and the Ricky Martin en Concierto. ## Background and release Ricky Martin released his fifth studio album and English-language debut, Ricky Martin in 1999, which became his biggest commercial success, selling over 15 million copies worldwide. It was followed by another English album, Sound Loaded in 2000. He initially planned to release the third English-language album as his seventh studio album, which was supposed to be his first album in which he wrote or co-wrote all songs. Despite Martin and Sony Music Entertainment's original plan, he decided to release a Spanish-language album: > I woke up five months ago, and I said 'We're doing an album in Spanish.' Everyone went nuts. They said, 'You don't have time; you have to release an album in English because of timing issues with your career.' And that's fine. But I told them, 'In five months, you'll have a kick-ass album' [in Spanish]. He finished working on the album on March 8, 2003. Two days later, his then manager Angelo Medina talked about the album in an interview with El Nuevo Día. He revealed the album's title as Almas del Silencio, mentioning that it has been set for release in May. "Tal Vez" was released to radio stations as the lead single from the album on March 25, 2003. In Mexico, it was launched as a promotional CD single on the same date. Medina explained to Billboard that they asked Venezuelan singer-songwriter Franco De Vita to write the song, since "he's a composer that knows Ricky well; they have a connection". De Vita had previously composed Martin's 1998 song "Vuelve". "Tal Vez" was included as the second track on Martin's seventh studio album, Almas del Silencio, released May 20, 2003. The track was also later added to Martin's compilation albums 17 (2008), Personalidad (2015), and Esencial (2018). A salsa version of the song was recorded and was later included on the compilation album Baladas en Salsa (2004). ## Music and lyrics Musically, "Tal Vez" is a Spanish language rock ballad with a piano and string instruments. The track was produced by Puerto Rican musician Tommy Torres and runs for a total of 4 minutes and 39 seconds. According to the song's sheet music on Musicnotes.com, "Tal Vez" is composed in the key of B major with a groove of 58 beats per minute. Martin's vocals span from the low note of D₄ to the high note of G₅. Lyrically, "Tal Vez", which translates to "Perhaps" in English, is a romantic song about regret and is an "aching reflection on lost opportunities and last chances", according to the Los Angeles Times. The lyrics include, "Tal vez nunca te he dado lo que tu esperabas / Y no estaba cuando me necesitabas / Tal vez no te escuché / Tal vez me descuide / Tal vez se me olvido que yo te amaba" (Maybe I've never given you what you expected / And I wasn't there when you needed me / Maybe I didn't listen to you / Maybe I neglected you / Maybe I forgot that I loved you). ## Critical reception "Tal Vez" was met with widely positive reviews from music critics. Leila Cobo from Billboard described its melody as "soaring" and "catchy", explaining its lyrics as "simple - yet not simplistic". She also complimented Martin's vocals for being "raspier and more earnest than on past albums". An author of Daily News labeled it "a classy romantic ballad", and Miami Herald's Jordan Levin named it "a soaring ballad". An author of Radio Cooperativa described it as Martin's "most intense ballad". Writing for the El Paso Times, Melissa Martinez noted its similarity with previous ballads and stated: "The heartache just seeps through each word and leaves you wanting to reach out and make it all better." Mario Tarradell of The Herald-News gave the song a positive review, saying it is "an undeniable hit, a sweeping ballad that never turns cloying". An editor for El Tiempo likened Martin recording the salsa version of the song to trying on a different shirt size. Carlos Mario Castro from El Sabanero X named "Tal Vez" Martin's third-best song, mentioning that it "undoubtedly rescues the values inherent in the singer's Puerto Rican origin", following his crossover to English. In 2015, Univision staff ranked the track as Martin's eighth-best ballad, while Claudia González Alvarado from Chilango ranked it as his seventh-best ballad in 2021, naming it one of Martin's "most classic songs". MTV Argentina also ranked it as one of his best songs in 2020. In his review for Vogue in 2021, Esteban Villaseñor ranked the song among Martin's most popular songs. ### Accolades In 2013, Latin Times ranked "Tal Vez" at number 15 on their list of "The Top 35 Latin Songs of the Century". The song has received a number of awards and nominations. It was nominated for Song of the Year at the 4th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, but lost to "Es Por Ti" by Juanes. It won the award for Best Song at the 2003 Premios Tu Música. At the 2004 Latin Billboard Music Awards, "Tal Vez" won the awards for Hot Latin Song of the Year and Latin Pop Airplay Track of the Year, Male. The track was also nominated for Pop Song of the Year at the 2004 Lo Nuestro Awards. It was honored as Latin Song of the Year at the 2004 ASCAP Latin Awards. ## Commercial performance "Tal Vez" is one of Martin's most commercially successful songs in his career. In the United States, it debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart on the week of April 12, 2003, marking the first number one debut since February 7, 1998, and becoming the sixth song overall in the chart's history to do so. It spent a total of 11 non-consecutive weeks at this position, surpassing "Livin' la Vida Loca" as Martin's longest number-one single on the chart, and was the longest-running number one of 2003. "Tal Vez" also debuted at the top of the Latin Pop Airplay chart, where it spent thirteen weeks at this position, tying with "Tu Recuerdo" as his longest-running number song on the chart. In addition, it topped the Tropical Airplay chart. On the year-end charts, it was the best-performing Latin song and Latin pop song of the year in the US. The song also peaked at numbers 74 and 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot 100 Airplay charts, respectively. Besides the United States, the song reached number one in multiple Latin American markets. It topped the charts in Argentina, Chile, Central America, Mexico and Venezuela. ## Promotion ### Music video On March 31, 2003, La Nación revealed that Martin began filming a music video for "Tal Vez". The video was filmed in a factory in La Boca, a barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the same setting where the video for his hit "María" was set. It was produced by Paradiso Films under the direction of Kacho López and Carlos Pérez. The visual was aired on April 24, 2003, on Telemundo. The video depicts the daily life of the residents of a building, including Martin. According to El Universal, López managed to capture a real story about universal love, addressing the song's lyrics in the music video. The video won the award for Video of the Year at the 2003 Premios de la Gente. Cristal Mesa from mitú ranked "Tal Vez" as Martin's tenth best music video on her 2018 list, and an author of Cultura Colectiva listed it among the "13 Videos to Appreciate Ricky Martin's Talent and Sickening Good Looks". The video was uploaded on the singer's YouTube channel on October 3, 2009, but was made unavailable after receiving 27.5 million views. A remastered version of the video was also uploaded on Martin's YouTube channel on the same date, which has received over 65 million views, as of November 2021. ### Live performances Martin describes "Tal Vez" as a song he will "never stop singing". He gave his first live performance of the song at the 2003 Latin Billboard Music Awards on May 8, 2003. The track was included on the set lists for Martin's the One Night Only with Ricky Martin tour, the Black and White Tour, the Live in Mexico tour, the One World Tour, and the Ricky Martin en Concierto. He also performed the song along with his other hits during the 48th, 55th, and 61st editions of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in 2007, 2014, and 2020, respectively. ## Formats and track listings - Australian promotional CD single 1. "Tal Vez" (Radio Edit) – 4:21 2. Special Greeting – 0:13 - European promotional CD single 1. "Tal Vez" (Album Version) – 4:41 - US / Latin American promotional CD single 1. "Tal Vez" (Radio Edit) – 4:15 - US promotional CD single 1. "Tal Vez" (salsa version) – 4:07 ## Credits and personnel Credits adapted from Tidal and the US promotional CD single liner notes. Studio locations - Recorded at – Dharmik Studio, Bogart Recording (Miami, Florida), EQ's Studio (Miami, Florida), Capitol Studios (Hollywood, California), Sound Stage Studios (Nashville, Tennessee), and Diginote Studios (Miami, Florida) - Mixed At – Mix This! (Los Angeles, California) - Mastered At – Sterling Sound (Nashville, Tennessee) Personnel - Ricky Martin – vocal, associated performer, background vocal - Franco De Vita – composer, lyricist - Tommy Torres – producer, arranger, background vocal, tambourine - Dan Warner – acoustic guitar, electric guitar - David Campbell – arranger - Kevin Harp – assistant engineer - Tobin Reinfried – assistant engineer - Jamey Soule – assistant engineer - Alex Al – bass - Rudy Stein – cello - Steve Richards – cello - Larry Corbett – cello - Suzie Katayama – cello - Lee Levin – drums - Ted Jensen – mastering engineer - Bob Clearmountain – mixing engineer - Matt Rollings – piano - Chuck Ainlay – recording engineer - Bob St. John – recording engineer - Charles Dye – recording engineer - Richie Pérez – recording engineer - Steve Churchyard – recording engineer - Matt Funes – viola - John Hayhurst – viola - Jorge Moraga – viola - Bob Becker – viola - Joel Derouin – violin - Endre Granat – violin - Bruce Dukov – violin - Charlie Bisharat – violin - Ken Yerke – violin - Mark Robertson – violin - Peter Kent – violin - Natalie Leggett – violin - Sara Parkins – violin - Susan Chatman – violin - Mario DeLeon – violin - Michele Richards – violin - Gerardo Hilera – violin - Eve Butler – violin - Berj Garabedian – violin - Darius Campo – violin ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ### Decade-End charts ### All-time charts ## Release history ## See also - 2003 in Latin music - Billboard Hot Latin Songs Year-End Chart - List of Latin songs on the Billboard Hot 100 - List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Tracks of 2003 - List of number-one Billboard Latin Pop Airplay songs of 2003 - List of number-one Billboard Hot Tropical Songs of 2003