Pieces from the late 1960s combine these ideas with expressionism and a violent character, for example "Eight Songs for a Mad King" which is about King George III. Written for a singer and a small group of instruments the singer has to shout and screech at times, and also act. He wrote an opera "Taverner" about the Renaissance composer John Taverner. The orchestral piece "St Thomas Wake" (1969) uses many different styles of music, including foxtrots (played by a twenties-style dance band), a pavan by John Bull and Davies's own modern style. Many works from this period were performed by the Pierrot Players which Davies founded with Harrison Birtwistle in 1967 (they were reformed as The Fires of London in 1970 and stayed together until 1987).
Mathematics played a part in Davies’ music. In his work "Ave Maris Stella" he used a magic square. "Worldes Blis" 1969 shows the beginning of his more mature style. Some people think it is similar to Jean Sibelius.
After his move to Orkney, Davies often used Orcadian (the adjective of “Orkney”) or more generally Scottish themes in his music. He sometimes set the words of Orcadian writer George Mackay Brown. He wrote a number of other operas, "The Martyrdom of St Magnus" (1976), "The Lighthouse" (1980, his most popular opera), "Resurrection" (1987), and "The Doctor of Myddfai" (1996). Davies also became interested in classical forms, completing his first symphony in 1976. He wrote eight numbered symphonies since, a Sinfonia Concertante (1982), as well as the series of ten "Strathclyde Concertos" for various instruments (pieces he wrote when he worked with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra). In 2002, he began work on a series of string quartets for the Maggini String Quartet to record on the Naxos record label (the so-called "Naxos Quartets"). His most recent one is No.9 (2006).
Davies also wrote a number of lighter orchestral works such as "Mavis in Las Vegas" and "An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise" which featured the bagpipes and was played at the Last Night of the Proms in 1992 (with a bottle of whisky being passed round). He also wrote music for children including the operas "A Selkie Tale", "The Great Bank Robbery" and "The Spider's Revenge", and film music for Ken Russell's films "The Devils" and "The Boy Friend".
Maxwell Davies's short piano piece "Farewell to Stromness" entered the Classic FM Hall of Fame in 2003.
Davies died on 14 March 2016 on Orkney from leukemia. He was aged 81.
Take That
Take That are an English boy band from Manchester. They formed in 1989, and between then and 1996, when they broke up, they sold 19 million records.
They reformed in 2006 and went on tour, without Robbie Williams. Williams rejoined the band in 2009, doing the Progress sessions. In 2011 Williams and Take That toured Europe on their Progress Live tour to promote the album. in October of the same year Williams chose to leave the group again to focus on his solo career, however, in 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020 Williams has performed with the group occasionally.
Jason Orange left Take That in September 2014 and Take That became a 3 piece band. Take That released their seventh album called III in 2014. The band continued as a 3 piece for Wonderland in 2017 and Odyssey in 2018
Current
Former
Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams were in Take That. Williams left in 1995 after taking drugs and soon the 4 remaining members split up in 1996. Take That returned to the music business in 2005, released their come-back album called Beautiful World and then went on tour in 2006. 2010 saw the return of Williams and in 2011 Take That took a hiatus and Barlow become a judge on the British TV talent show "The X Factor UK" in that year. Donald then became a judge on the German version of the dancing talent show "Got To Dance" in 2013. Williams left the band in 2012. Barlow ended his time on The X Factor UK to focus on the group in 2013. In early 2014 it was announced that the band would release their seventh studio album in late 2014. In September 2014 it was announced that Orange had decided to leave the band. The group then became a 3-piece boy band without Orange or Williams. Their seventh studio album called III was released in 2014. Their first single of III called "These Days" was released in November 2014. The second single of III called "Get Ready For It" was released in January 2015 and was also featured in the 2015 film "". The third single of III called "Let in the Sun" was released in March 2015.
Ambulance
An ambulance is a type of vehicle made to carry sick or injured people. Normally, ambulances go to people in emergencies to take people to hospital. Examples of emergencies include heart attacks, strokes, serious bleeding, broken bones, chest pain, serious head injuries, trouble breathing, and people injured in situations like car crashes and falls.
The first ambulances were used on battlefields, when horse-drawn carts carried badly wounded soldiers to field hospitals after the battle. Horse-drawn ambulances became commonplace in Europe and North America in the 19th century, as hospitals became common. Automobiles replaced horses in the early 1900s. Today's ambulances are vans which are converted into small mobile clinics. They can provide first aid, emergency care, various medicines and life support, and carry patients to hospital.
Ambulances normally have emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics who work on them. They carry medicines and special equipment that can keep people alive. They also carry advanced tools for delivering babies in an emergency and restarting a heart.
Ambulances are normally called by dialing a special emergency number, which is different from country to country. In the United Kingdom, this number is 999; United States 911; Europe 112. An emergency medical dispatcher then sends an ambulance.
An ambulance usually has two crew members. That way, one can drive while the other looks after the patient in the back. A "paramedic" will have at least a year of medical training, and can do fairly advanced treatment. Not all ambulance staff are paramedics. Those with less training are known as "emergency medical technicians" (EMTs) in some countries such as the United States, and "emergency care assistants" (ECAs) in the United Kingdom. In some countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, ambulances may have doctors or nurses on board.
In the past, ambulances only gave patients a ride to hospital, or only had a first aid kit. This is still true in some parts of the world. In modern times, ambulances will have far more equipment and medicine. In some countries, an ambulance is like a mobile doctor's clinic.
As well as medicine and bandages, ambulances often have these things:
When driving in an emergency, ambulances can break some road laws. For example, they can drive over the speed limit and through a red traffic light. They have flashing lights and sirens to warn traffic along the way.
Air ambulances became more common in the late 20th century. Helicopters carry the same kind equipment as a typical ground ambulance. In the United States, the Coast Guard runs a public air ambulance service using helicopters. There are also privately owned air ambulance services that provide for a wider range of needs, including international transport.
Air ambulances are especially important in countries with low population density (few people, living in a vast area) such as Canada, Russia, midwest USA, Sweden or Finland. They can often save a life of a patient who would otherwise die because he could not be carried fast enough to hospital by other means.
Gan language
Gan is the language of Jiangxi and some others provinces in China.
It is spoken by 20 to 50 million people in southern China.
Gan has 9 dialects, and Nangchang dialect is representative.
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