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425678 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee%20Road | Milwaukee Road | The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986.
The company experienced financial difficulty through the 1970s and 1980s, including bankruptcy in 1977 (though it filed for bankruptcy twice in 1925 and 1935, respectively). In 1980, it abandoned its Pacific Extension, which included track in the states of Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The remaining system was merged into the Soo Line Railroad , a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway , on January 1, 1986. Much of its historical trackage remains in use by other railroads. The company brand is commemorated by buildings like the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis and preserved locomotives such as Milwaukee Road 261 which operates excursion trains.
History
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railroad
The railroad that became the Milwaukee Road began as the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad in Wisconsin, whose goal was to link the developing Lake Michigan port City of Milwaukee with the Mississippi River. The company incorporated in 1847, but changed its name to the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad in 1850 before construction began. Its first line, long, opened between Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, on November 20, 1850. Extensions followed to Waukesha in February 1851, Madison, and finally the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien in 1857.
As a result of the financial panic of 1857, the M&M went into receivership in 1859, and was purchased by the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad in 1861. In 1867, Alexander Mitchell combined the M&PdC with the Milwaukee and St. Paul (formerly the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company) under the name Milwaukee and St. Paul. Critical to the development and financing of the railroad was the acquisition of significant land grants. Prominent individual investors in the line included Alexander Mitchell, Russell Sage, Jeremiah Milbank, and William Rockefeller.
In 1874, the name was changed to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul after constructing an extension to Chicago in 1872. The company absorbed the Chicago and Pacific Railroad Company in 1879, the railroad that built the Bloomingdale Line (now The 606) and what became the Milwaukee District / West Line as part of the 36-mile Elgin Subdivision from Halsted Street in Chicago to the suburb of Elgin, Illinois. In 1890, the company purchased the Milwaukee and Northern Railroad; by now, the railroad had lines running through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The corporate headquarters were moved from Milwaukee to the Rand McNally Building in Chicago, America's first all-steel framed skyscraper, in 1889 and 1890, with the car and locomotive shops staying in Milwaukee. The company's general offices were later located in Chicago's Railway Exchange building (built 1904) until 1924, at which time they moved to Chicago Union Station.
Pacific Extension
In the 1890s, the company's directors felt they had to extend the railroad to the Pacific to remain competitive with other railroads. A survey in 1901 estimated costs to build to the Pacific Northwest as $45 million ($ in dollars). In 1905, the board approved the Pacific Extension, now estimated at $60 million ($ in dollars). The contract for the western part of the route was awarded to Horace Chapin Henry of Seattle. The subsidiary Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway Company was chartered in 1905 to build from the Missouri River to Seattle and Tacoma.
Construction began in 1906 and was completed three years later. The route chosen was shorter than the next shortest competitor's, as well as better grades than some, but it was an expensive route, since Milwaukee Road received few land grants and had to buy most of the land or acquire smaller railroads.
The two main mountain ranges that had to be crossed, the Rockies and the Cascades, required major civil engineering works and additional locomotive power. The completion of of railroad through some of the most varied topography in the nation in only three years was a major feat. Original company maps denote five mountain crossings: Belts, Rockies, Bitterroots, Saddles, and Cascades. These are slight misnomers as the Belt mountains and Bitterroots are part of the Rockies. The route did not cross over the Little Belts or Big Belts, but over the Lenep-Loweth Ridge between the Castle Mountains and the Crazy Mountains.
Some historians question the choice of route, since it bypassed some population centers and passed through areas with limited local traffic potential. Much of the line paralleled the Northern Pacific Railway. Trains magazine called the building of the extension, primarily a long-haul route, "egregious" and a "disaster". George H. Drury listed the Pacific Extension as one of several "wrong decisions" made by the Milwaukee Road's management which contributed to the company's eventual failure.
Beginning in 1909, several smaller railroads were acquired and expanded to form branch lines along the Pacific Extension.
The Montana Railroad formed the mainline route through Sixteen Mile Canyon as well as the North Montana Line which extended North from Harlowton to Lewistown. This branch led to the settlement of the Judith Basin and, by the 1970s, accounted for 30% of the Milwaukee Road's total traffic.
The Gallatin Valley Electric Railway, originally built as an interurban line, was extended from Bozeman to the mainline at Three Forks. In 1927, the railroad built the Gallatin Gateway Inn, where passengers traveling to Yellowstone National Park transferred to buses for the remainder of their journey.
The White Sulphur Springs & Yellowstone Park Railway, originally built by Lew Penwell and John Ringling, primarily carried lumber and agricultural products.
Operating conditions in the mountain regions of the Pacific Extension proved difficult. Winter temperatures of in Montana made it challenging for steam locomotives to generate sufficient steam. The line snaked through mountainous areas, resulting in "long steep grades and sharp curves". Electrification provided an answer, especially with abundant hydroelectric power in the mountains, and a ready source of copper in Anaconda, Montana. Between 1914 and 1916, the Milwaukee Road implemented a 3,000 volt direct current (DC) overhead system between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho, a distance of . Pleased with the result, the Milwaukee electrified its route in Washington between Othello and Tacoma, a further , between 1917 and 1920. This section traversed the Cascades through the Snoqualmie Tunnel, just south of Snoqualmie Pass and over lower in elevation. The single-track tunnel's east portal at Hyak included an adjacent company-owned ski area (1937−1950).
Following the 1984 abandonment of the Pacific Extension, Tacoma Rail purchased all of Milwaukee's lines south of Tacoma. Starting in 1990, the Chehalis–Centralia Railroad began operating over the section from Centralia to Curtis. In 2010 the line was sold to the Port of Chehalis and in 2019, The railroad purchased the line from Chehalis to Ruth. In 2021 the section from Highway 6 West to Curtis was leased.
Together, the of main-line electrification represented the largest such project in the world up to that time, and would not be exceeded in the US until the Pennsylvania Railroad's efforts in the 1930s. The two separate electrified districts were never unified, as the Idaho Division (Avery to Othello) was comparatively flat down the St. Joe River to St. Maries and through eastern Washington, and posed few challenges for steam operation. Electrification cost $27 million, but resulted in savings of over $1 million per year from improved operational efficiency.
Bankruptcies
The Chicago, Milwaukee, and Puget Sound Railway was absorbed by the parent company on January 1, 1913. The Pacific Extension, including subsequent electrification, cost the Milwaukee Road $257 million, over four times the original estimate of $60 million. To meet this cost, the Milwaukee Road sold bonds, which began coming due in the 1920s. Traffic never met projections, and by the early 1920s, the Milwaukee Road was in serious financial condition. This state was exacerbated by the railroad's purchase of several heavily indebted railroads in Indiana. The company declared bankruptcy in 1925 and reorganized as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1928. In 1929, its total mileage stood at .
In 1927, the railroad launched its second edition of the Olympian as a premier luxury limited passenger train and opened its first railroad-owned tourist hotel, the Gallatin Gateway Inn in Montana, southwest of Bozeman, via a spur from Three Forks.
The company scarcely had a chance for success before the Great Depression hit. Despite innovations such as the famous Hiawatha high-speed trains that exceeded , the railroad again filed for bankruptcy in 1935. The Milwaukee Road operated under trusteeship until December 1, 1945.
During WWII the CMSt.P&P sponsored one of the Army's MRS units the 757th Railroad Shop Battalion.
Postwar
The Milwaukee Road enjoyed temporary success after World War II. Out of bankruptcy and with the wartime ban on new passenger service lifted, the company upgraded its trains. The Olympian Hiawatha began running between Chicago and the Puget Sound over the Pacific Extension in 1947, and the Twin Cities Hiawatha received new equipment in 1948. Dieselisation accelerated and was complete by 1957. In 1955, the Milwaukee Road took over from the Chicago and North Western's handling of Union Pacific's streamliner trains between Chicago and Omaha.The whole railroad industry found itself in decline in the late 1950s and the 1960s, but the Milwaukee Road was hit particularly hard. The Midwest was overbuilt with a plethora of competing railroads, while the competition on the transcontinental routes to the Pacific was tough. The premier transcontinental streamliner, the Olympian Hiawatha, despite innovative scenic observation cars, was mothballed in 1961, becoming the first visible casualty. The resignation of President John P. Kiley in 1957 and his replacement with the fairly inexperienced William John Quinn was a pivotal moment. From that point onward, the road's management was fixated on merger with another railroad as the solution to the Milwaukee's problems.
Railroad mergers had to be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and in 1969 the ICC effectively blocked the merger with the Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) that the Milwaukee Road had counted on and had been planning for since 1964. The ICC asked for terms that the C&NW was not willing to agree to. The merger of the "Hill Lines" was approved at around the same time, and the merged Burlington Northern came into being.
Early 1970s
The formation of Burlington Northern in 1970 from the merger of Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Burlington Route, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway on March 3 created a stronger competitor on most Milwaukee Road routes. To boost competition, the ICC gave the Milwaukee Road the right to connect with new railroads in the West over Burlington Northern tracks. Traffic on its Pacific Extension increased substantially to more than four trains a day each way as it began interchanging cars with Southern Pacific at Portland, Oregon and Canadian railroads at Sumas, Washington. The railroad's foothold on transcontinental traffic leaving the Port of Seattle increased such that the Milwaukee Road held a staggering advantage over BN, carrying nearly 80% of the originating traffic along with 50% of the total container traffic leaving the Puget Sound (prior to severe service declines after roughly 1974).
In 1970, the president of Chicago and North Western offered to sell the railroad to the Milwaukee Road outright. President William John Quinn refused, stating that it now believed only a merger with a larger system, not a slightly smaller one, could save the railroad. Almost immediately, the railroad filed unsuccessfully with the ICC to be included in the Union Pacific merger with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
By the mid-1970s, deferred maintenance on Milwaukee Road's physical plant, which had been increasing throughout the 1960s as it attempted to improve its financial appearance for merger, was beginning to cause problems. The railroad's financial problems were exacerbated by their practice of improving its earnings during that period by selling off its wholly owned cars to financial institutions and leasing them back. The lease charges became greater, and more cars needed to be sold to pay the lease payments. The railroad's fleet of cars was becoming older because more money was being spent on finance payments for the old cars rather than buying new ones. This contributed to car shortages that turned away business.
The Milwaukee Road chose at this time to end its mainline electrification. Its electric locomotive fleet was reaching the end of its service life, and newer diesel locomotives such as the EMD SD40-2 and the GE Universal Series were more than capable of handling the route. The final electric freight arrived at Deer Lodge, Montana on June 15, 1974.
In 1976, the Milwaukee Road exercised its right under the Burlington Northern merger to petition for inclusion based on its weak financial condition. The ICC denied it on March 2, 1977.
Final bankruptcy
Between 1974 and 1977, the Milwaukee Road lost $100 million, and the company filed for its third bankruptcy in 42 years on December 19, 1977. Judge Thomas R. McMillen presided over the bankruptcy until the Milwaukee Road's sale in 1985. The railroad's primary problem was that it possessed too much physical plant for the revenue it generated. In 1977, it owned of track, and 36% of that mileage produced a mere 14% of the company's yearly revenue. The approach taken by the bankruptcy trustees was to sell or abandon unprofitable or marginally profitable lines, leaving a much smaller railroad which could be profitable. Outright liquidation was considered, but not pursued.
Between 1977 and 1984, route distance was reduced to a quarter from its peak and a third from its total in 1977, shrinking to . The most extensive abandonment eliminated the Milwaukee Road's transcontinental service to the West Coast. While the Burlington Northern merger generated more traffic on this route, it was only enough to wear out the deteriorating track, not enough to pay for rebuilding. This forced trains to slow at many locations due to bad track. A final attempt to devise a plan to rehabilitate the Pacific Extension under the Milwaukee Road Restructuring Act failed. Operations ended west of Miles City, Montana, on February 29, 1980.The new, smaller railroad began earning small profits in 1982 (that same year, its two commuter rail lines, collectively known as the Milwaukee District West and Milwaukee District North Lines respectively, were turned over to the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Rail Corporation, a forerunner of commuter rail agency Metra). Still in reorganization, the Milwaukee Road attracted interest from three potential buyers: the Grand Trunk Corporation, the Chicago and North Western Railway, and the Soo Line Railroad. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the offers by both Soo Line and C&NW. Ultimately, Judge McMillen approved the former's offer on February 19, 1985. The Soo reorganized the property as The Milwaukee Road, Inc., prior to merging the Milwaukee into the company itself effective January 1, 1986.
The successor-in-interest to what remained of the Milwaukee Road after the Soo Line sale was its holding company, the Milwaukee Land Company, reverted to Chicago Milwaukee Corporation ownership (CMC). Without the railroad, CMC's primary function became disposal or redevelopment of Milwaukee Road real estate not sold to the Soo Line, which stretched from Bedford, Indiana, to Washington state. The larger properties were developed into big-box retail or industrial sites. The CMC itself was beset with legal and financial woes, filing for bankruptcy (under numerous versions of CMC/Heartland Partners), as a result of environmental cleanup costs and liabilities at former Milwaukee Road sites. CMC Heartland, and its various reincarnations, were dissolved in a final liquidation process that came to a close in 2010.
Much of the abandoned Milwaukee PCE line has become rail trails. The Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail (formerly the John Wayne Pioneer Trail) in Washington, Milwaukee Road Rail Trail in Idaho, Route of the Hiawatha Trail in Idaho and Montana, Route of the Olympian in Montana, Midtown Greenway in Minnesota, Bugline Trail in Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Road Transportation Trailway in Indiana all run on sections of the right-of-way among others. Today, both the Milwaukee Road and Soo Line Railroad trackage make up the Midwest US routes of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Milwaukee Road Historical Association now owns the Milwaukee Road trademarks/copyrights, except for the AAR reporting marks (MILW) used by the Soo Line Railroad (which does business in the American Midwest as the Canadian Pacific Railway).
Passenger train service
The Milwaukee Road aggressively marketed passenger service through much of its history, maintaining a high quality of service until the end of private intercity passenger operations in 1971. The Milwaukee prided itself on its passenger operations, providing the nation with some of its most innovative and colorful trains. The railroad's home-built equipment was among some of the best passenger equipment ever run on any American railroad. The Milwaukee's reputation for high-quality service was the principal reason that Union Pacific shifted its service to the Milwaukee Road for its "City" streamliners in 1955.
The Milwaukee Road's Pioneer Limited was one of the first named trains and its colorful Hiawatha trains were among the nation's finest streamliners. The post-World War II Hiawatha trains remain a high-water mark for passenger train industrial design.
Starting in November 1955, the Milwaukee Road assumed joint operation of the Union Pacific's City of Los Angeles, City of Portland, City of Denver, and Challenger trains as well as the UP/Southern Pacific City of San Francisco. After assuming operation of the UP's services, the Milwaukee Road gradually dropped its orange and maroon paint scheme in favor of UP's Armour yellow, grey, and red, finding the latter easier to keep clean.
The Milwaukee Road's streamlined passenger services were unique in that most of its equipment was built by the railroad at its Milwaukee Menomonee Valley shops, including the four generations of Hiawatha equipment introduced in 1933–34, 1935, 1937–38, and 1947–48. Most striking were the "Beaver Tail" observation cars of the 1930s and the "Skytop Lounge" observation cars by industrial designer Brooks Stevens in the 1940s. Extended "Skytop Lounge" cars were also ordered from Pullman for Olympian Hiawatha service in 1951. The Olympian Hiawatha set, as well as some full-length "Super Domes" were later sold to the Canadian National Railway.
Regional passenger trains that the Milwaukee Road operated from Chicago up to Amtrak's assumption of passenger operations in 1971 included the Twin Cities Hiawatha serving Minneapolis, the Sioux serving Madison, Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Express serving Milwaukee, and the Varsity serving Madison. Amtrak still operates several services on the Milwaukee Road's Twin Cities mainline. Daily long distance service to and from the Pacific Northwest is provided by the Empire Builder along the Chicago-St. Paul route after the train was rerouted by Amtrak on the first day of operations on May 1, 1971. Amtrak also operates corridor services as the Hiawatha Service along the Chicago-Milwaukee section of the route.
For years, the Milwaukee Road also operated an extensive commuter rail service in the Chicago area. One branch served the northern suburbs and extended into the outer suburbs of Milwaukee, while another branch served the western suburbs. These services passed to the Regional Transportation Authority in 1982 after the Milwaukee Road's bankruptcy. They are still operated today by Metra, Chicago's commuter rail agency, as the Milwaukee District / North Line and Milwaukee District / West Line. Canadian Pacific dispatches Metra trains while running freight trains on both of these lines via trackage rights.
In popular culture
The 1930 film Danger Lights was filmed in the Milwaukee Road's yard and shop at Miles City, Montana and on the main line.
See also
Milwaukee Road Roster
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company Historic District
Milwaukee Road Depot
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Milwaukee Road Historical Association
Milwaukee Road History at the Milwaukee Public Library
Milwaukee Road ski area and ski train history
Milwaukee Road history (Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers)
All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains - 1999 USPS Stamp Program
The Milwaukee Road
The Gene H. Lawson collection: The Milwaukee Road, a Museum of Pictures - Picture collection along the Pacific Extension 1910–1980 approx.
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Transportation Photographs - Ongoing digital collection of photographs depicting various modes of transportation in the Pacific Northwest region and Western United States during the first half of the 20th century. Includes images of the Milwaukee Road.
Railway companies established in 1847
Railway companies disestablished in 1986
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Former components in the Dow Jones Transportation Average
Predecessors of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Defunct Idaho railroads
Defunct Illinois railroads
Milwaukee Road locomotives
Defunct Indiana railroads
Defunct Iowa railroads
Defunct Kentucky railroads
Defunct Minnesota railroads
Defunct Montana railroads
Defunct North Dakota railroads
Defunct South Dakota railroads
Defunct Washington (state) railroads
Defunct Wisconsin railroads
Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Defunct Missouri railroads
Defunct Nebraska railroads
Defunct Michigan railroads
1847 establishments in Illinois
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1925
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1935
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1977
American companies disestablished in 1986
American companies established in 1846 |
425720 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenian%20Democratic%20Party | Slovenian Democratic Party | The Slovenian Democratic Party (, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (, SDSS), is a conservative parliamentary party; it is also one of the largest parties in Slovenia, with approximately 30,000 reported members in 2013.
It has been described as nationalist and right-wing populist, encompassing both national and social conservatism. Led by former Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša, the SDS is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), Centrist Democrat International and International Democrat Union.
SDS has its origins in the Slovenian anti-Communist pro-democracy dissident labour union movement of the late 1980s. The Social Democratic Union of Slovenia (later renamed Social Democratic Party and, in 2003, Slovenian Democratic Party) was first headed by trade unionist France Tomšič, then by the prominent Slovenian pro-independence and pro-democracy dissident Jože Pučnik, who resigned in 1993. The party was part of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS) coalition.
The party's early ideological orientation was liberal, social democratic, and civic nationalist, reflecting a broad and somewhat fragmented coalition. In the 1992 parliamentary elections, SDS barely passed the parliamentary threshold, joining a Liberal Democracy of Slovenia-led coalition government. In 1993, Janez Janša, another prominent pro-democracy dissident turned politician, became party leader (a post he has held continuously since); Janša also served as Minister of Defense between 1990 and 1994. In 1994, Janša was ousted from his ministerial post due to his involvement in the Depala Vas affair; SDS consequently left the coalition government. SDS largely remained in opposition for the following 10 years, gaining in popularity and shifting its ideological outlook rightwards in the meanwhile. In 1995, SDS absorbed the conservative National Democratic Party, a former DEMOS coalition partner.
In 2004, SDS placed first in that year's parliamentary elections, forming a centre-right governing coalition with Janša as PM. The government oversaw the country's entry into the European Union and NATO, and a period of rapid economic growth. The government faced allegations of curtailing media freedom. In the 2008 parliamentary elections, SDS was surpassed by the Social Democrats.
SDS placed second in the 2011 parliamentary elections but managed to secure support for a SDS-led coalition government, forming the second Janša Cabinet. The government took office in the midst of the European debt crisis, instituting widely disliked austerity reforms which helped spark a series of massive anti-government protests. Opposition to the government was further fueled by corruption allegations against Janša, including his alleged involvement in the Patria affair as well as a 2013 KPK report which found that Janša had violated corruption prevention measures. The SDS-led government collapsed in early 2013 after losing support of coalition partners.
At the time of the 2014 parliamentary elections, SDS leader Janša was serving a prison sentence for a bribery conviction (which was later overturned by the supreme court and subsequently expired upon re-trial); SDS placed second. SDS won a plurality of votes in the 2018 election, however, most of the other parliamentary parties made pre-election pledges not to join a coalition government with SDS. After the centre-left coalition collapsed in early 2020, two of the parties that had seen a change of leadership since the election reneged on their pre-election pledge, clearing the path for the third Janša Cabinet. The new SDS-led government took office during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, Janša has been described as an illiberal leader.
History
Origins
The Slovenian Democratic Party developed from the merger of two distinct political parties, being the legal successor of both of the Social Democratic Union of Slovenia and the Slovenian Democratic Union, member parties of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS) which defeated the Communist Party of Slovenia-derived parties in the first democratic Slovenian election in 1990, and carried out the democratization of Slovenia and its secession from Yugoslavia.
The Social Democratic Union of Slovenia had emerged from an independent, anti-Communist trade union movement in the late 1980s. Its first president was the trade union leader France Tomšič, who in December 1987 organized a milestone workers' strike which lead to the establishment of an independent trade union, Neodvisnost, thus following the example of the Solidarity movement in Poland, and, in 1989, the party (which was the first opposition party in the former communist world). Tomšič was replaced as leader by Jože Pučnik later that year while the SDU was renamed as Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (SDS). Pučnik was a former dissident who had been forced to emigrate to Germany as a political exile in the 1960s. Under Pučnik's leadership, The SDU gradually developed into a moderate social-democratic party, which combined the plea for a social market economy with the support of a welfare state based on a German, Austrian and Scandinavian social model.
The Slovenian Democratic Union was founded in January 1989 as opposition to the Communist Party of Slovenia, emphasizing establishment of the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental political freedoms, respect for minority rights, and Euro-Atlantic integration (the European Union and NATO). It functioned as a broad but somewhat fragmented coalition of several groups with different liberal, social-liberal and civic nationalist agendas.
In 1991, after a conflict between the leadership and membership of SDU, the Slovenian Democratic Union split into two parties – the social-liberal wing established the Democratic Party (DSS), while the conservative faction founded the National Democratic Party (NDS). Members who did not join one of these two parties joined the Social Democratic Party led by Jože Pučnik. Although the Social Democratic Party suffered a clear defeat in the 1992 election, barely entering Parliament, it formed a coalition with the winning Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) and entered the cabinet of Janez Drnovšek.
Janša became party leader in 1993 after Jože Pučnik resigned due to health issues (Pučnik later became the honorary president of the party, a function he held until his death in January 2003). In 1995, the National Democratic Party joined SDS, which thus became one of the legal successors of the Slovenian Democratic Union.
Janša served as Minister of Defense from 1990 to 1994. Janša has been accused of having abused his position to consolidate political power, engaging in arms trafficking to arm combatants in the Yugoslav Wars in violation of a United Nations arms embargo, and blackmailing prominent individuals, including politicians, businesspeople, journalists, and cultural and literary figures, by threatening to make public information (to which he was privy to in his ministerial role) regarding their previously undisclosed involvement with the former communist secret police.
In 1994, Janez Janša was dismissed by Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek from his role as Defence Minister because of his involvement in the Depala Vas affair (which centered around an incident in which military personnel arrested and mistreated a civilian off-duty undercover police associate that was attempting to obtain classified documents about the Ministry of Defence). SDS subsequently left the Drnovšek government as a result. The dismissal prompted protests by Janša's supporters and there were founded fears inside the government that Janša, backed by the nascent military, may refuse to relinquish power. A 2003 Mladina article alleged that Slovenia's military's special unit (MORiS) was in 1994 performing military exercises intended to prepare the force to carry out a military coup d'état. The police force was at the same time covertly preparing to secure the state and prevent a military takeover. In a press conference shortly prior to the article's publication, Janša pointed to documents detailing these police plans to secure state institutions to argue that a coup was in fact afoot against his Ministry. In a 1999 interview with Delo, Janša commented on the events of 1994, saying: "I held immense power in my hands. [...] And in 1994, when they were deposing me, there was a lot of suggestions that we not accept this removal. I could have done that. But I didn't." In 1995, Janša was charged for alleged illegal arms trafficking, but the case was never brought to trial.
SDS remained in opposition for the next 10 years, except for a brief period in 2000, when it entered a short-lived centre-right government led by Andrej Bajuk, while gaining popularity among – as described by one of its former supporters, Peter Jambrek – "lower, frustrated social strata".
A populist turn
After the year 2000, the party applied for membership in the European People's Party (EPP), adopting a liberal economic policy and later pro-austerity measures upon the late-2000 economic crisis, while retaining an atlantist foreign policy. The rightward shift culminated in the 2003 name change from Social Democratic Party to Slovenian Democratic party. The party was described as liberal-conservative or conservative-liberal in ideological orientation.
The party's radical populism, nationalistic, and xenophobic attacks was also observed by political analysts. Moreover, the local Slovenian Catholic Church supported it more than any other Slovenian political party. Even though not a nominally Christian party, the local church has stood fully and unconditionally behind it.
2004–2008: in power (first Janša Cabinet)
On 3 October 2004, SDS won the 2004 parliamentary election with 29.1% of the popular vote and 29 out of 88 seats. SDS then formed a coalition with New Slovenia (NSi), the Slovenian People's Party (SLS), and Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), holding a total of 49 parliamentary seats (out of 90).
The SDS-led government passed several pro-business measures, initiated the regionalisation of the country by giving more power to local governments, and, in order to please its coalition party, DeSUS - introduced economically non-sustainable changes in the pension system.
SDS has been accused of catering to the interests of the Slovenian Roman Catholic Church in exchange for political support. Nevertheless, the Church maintained a critical attitude towards some of the party's positions (the SDS-led Government has assumed a favourable attitude towards gambling tourism, stem cell research and passed a law recognizing same-sex civil unions, all opposed by the Roman Catholic Church).
Internal affairs
The government introduced measures to supervise, and to curtail the powers of the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency. The measures were strongly rebuked by the opposition and segments of the press as an attempt to discredit the secret intelligence service and cast a negative shadow on the policies of previous governments.
Freedom of the press
The first SDS government was the target of widespread criticism due to allegations of meddling in the independence of the press. The first SDS government has been accused of politicising the independent press by appointing political allies to leadership and journalist positioned in the state Slovenian Press Agency, daily newspaper Delo, regional newspaper Primorske novice, and public media and broadcasting organisation, RTV Slovenia. The government was accused of using state-owned funds and companies with controlling stakes in newspaper companies to purge critical editors and journalists.
State-owned companies also ceased purchasing adverts in the daily newspaper Dnevnik and weekly political magazine Mladina, two publications critical of the administration.
By changing the laws governing the administration of the public broadcaster RTV Slovenia, the government enabled increased political control of the state media organisation's editorial board and its board of directors by increasing the number of board members appointed by the government. The law faced a referendum challenge, but was approved by a tight margin as it also promised to lower compulsory contributions for the broadcaster's funding.
In a secret 2007 deal with the head of the Laško Brewery that owned the flagship national newspaper Delo as subsidiary, PM Janša secured editorial influence over the newspaper while Laško would be allowed to acquire a stake in a state-owned grocery store corporation. A new, government-friendly editor-in-chief was installed despite overwhelming opposition from the newspaper's staff, and nearly a dozen of the newspaper's journalists resigned in protest. The remaining journalists found reporting critically on the government increasingly difficult due to pressure from the new leadership. In 2008, after a souring of relations, the head of Laško accused Janša of threatening him with arrest if he refused to sell the Delo newspaper company.
In 2007, over five hundred journalists launched a petition against political pressures on the media. The petition accused premier Janša of limiting press freedom in particular, but was also more broadly aimed against all infringements of press freedom by either government, political actors in general, or media company owners. The International Press Institute voiced support for the petition and called on the government to create an independent body to investigate the claims of media influence. The Association of European Journalists warned in 2007 of Slovene media companies' boards interfering in journalistic autonomy, reprimanding journalists and fostering other conditions that prevent critical reporting about the government and lead to self-censorship while journalists are also being prevented from covering issues that may go against the interests of the owners. SDS foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel had previously advised media owners to consider thoroughly whether a battle with the government is in their interest.
SDS rejected accusations of impropriety, claiming the media was in fact controlled by leftist opposition groups.
Economy and finance
The first Cabinet of Janez Janša oversaw a period of rapid economic growth. GDP grew by nearly 5% between 2004 and 2006, reaching nearly 7% growth in 2007, making Slovenia the fastest-growing eurozone member for that year. The economic boom, however, was highly dependent on private debt, particularly corporate debt. Additionally, the Janša government failed to implement meaningful structural reforms or accumulate budget surpluses during the period of sustained growth, instead opting for pork barrel politics, reducing tax burdens while engaging in economic populist overspending, making the country particularly susceptible to the coming economic crisis.
Andrej Bajuk, Minister of Finance in Janša's first cabinet, listed the passage of comprehensive tax reform (which included the lowering of corporate taxes and taxes on juridical persons, a reduction of the tax burden on individual incomes, the flattening of income tax margin progression, an increase in tax deductions, and a simplification of the tax code), overseeing the implementation of the Euro and the privatisation of state-owned NKBM bank, and reducing public expenditure as the greatest accomplishments of the ministry during his term (2004–2008).
According to Janša, the most prominent economic challenge confronted by his government was a bout of inflation (which occurred during the 2007-08 period and was steepest for foodstuff prices). At the close of 2007, the inflation rate in Slovenia was the highest of any Eurozone member. Janša, Finance Minister Bajuk and other government officials pointed to high oil prices and a non-competitive internal food market as the main underlying causes for the inflation. Janša faced criticism for his statement regarding the issue made during a gathering of regional politicians and businessmen; Janša dismissed concerns regarding rising food prices, saying that "as long as there are loaves of bread in every city dumpster the situation isn't alarming". Economic Development Minister Andrej Vizjak similarly addressed cost of living concerns by saying that citizens "should not be loath to occasionally eat yesterday's bread", going on to say that the food price increases are an opportunity to address the overindulgence of Slovenian consumers.
2008–2011: in opposition
In the 2008 parliamentary election (held on 21 September 2008) narrowly lost against the Social Democrats, until then the main opposition party. It also lost one seat in Slovenian Parliament, falling to 28.
With the election of the Social Democrat leader Borut Pahor as Prime Minister of Slovenia, the Slovenian Democratic Party officially declared it would stay in opposition and form a shadow cabinet. The shadow government was formed in late December 2008, and it includes several independent members as well as members from other conservative parties.
In the 2009 European election, the SDS was the most popular party in Slovenia with 26.9% of votes, more than eight points ahead of the second-most popular party, the ruling Social Democrats.
In 2009, the MP Franc Pukšič left the Slovenian Democratic Party and joined the Slovenian People's Party; the SDS parliamentary group was thus reduced from 28 to 27 MPs.
2012–2013: a year in power (second Janša Cabinet)
In the 2011 snap parliamentary election (held on 4 December after the centre-left governing coalition collapsed due to internal conflict and inefficacy in passing meaningful economic reforms), SDS won 26.19% of the vote, gaining 26 seats in the National Assembly, thus making SDS the second-largest parliamentary party after the newly formed centre-left party, Positive Slovenia (PS) (headed by Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković), which won 28 MPs (28.5% of the total). However, SDS succeeded in forming a ruling four-party coalition government (which included the Civic List, New Slovenia, Slovenian People's Party, and Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia) (holding a combined total of 50 out of 90 parliamentary seats) some two months after the election after PS failed to form a coalition with a parliamentary majority. The coalition took power amid an alarming economic downturn (European debt crisis), the worst in the independent country's history. The country's economic woes were further exacerbated by credit agencies' lowering of Slovenia's credit rating amid the political tumult.
The coalition, headed by SDS, undertook drastic economic and financial reforms in an attempt to halt the economic downturn. Finance Minister Janez Šuštaršič pledged to speed up privatisation of state enterprises, cut public spending, and reduce budget shortfalls. Janša additionally pledged to cut taxes, remove regulations, lower the deficit, and raise the retirement age. The coalition passed laws transferring all state-owned enterprises into a single state holding company to accelerate privatisation efforts, and created a bad bank that would take on non-performing loans from the bad debt-ridden state-owned banks. It intended to cut profit and income taxes to boost the economy, and enact constitutional changes demanding balance budgets. It also passed sweeping and highly contentious austerity measures (the Law of Public Finance Balance (Slovene: Zakon o uravnovešenju javnih financ (ZUJF))), and reportedly planned further cuts to state spending. The ZUJF fiscal consolidation law included provisions lowering pensions (widely opposed by the public), cutting wages for public sector employees, reducing education funding, social transfers and benefits. The draft of the law sparked a public sector general strike, and the law faced the possibility of a referendum.
The SDS-led government proved impotent in stemming the economic troubles facing the nation. Despite the momentous reforms efforts, the economic troubles intensified, resulting in increasing levels of unemployment, plunging living standards, a fall in domestic spending, and large budget deficits. The fall in domestic demand, coupled with falling exports, resulted in a double dip recession. A 2016 article alleges that the sharp downturn in Slovenian economic outlook was a result of Janša's overdramatic public statements regarding the economic fitness of the nation. Janša reportedly made such ominous claims for political purposes as means of solidifying political power and as a negotiating strategy to strengthen his hand during negotiations with public sector unions. The PM's eerie pronouncements were taken at face value by foreign observers, however, creating a self-fulfilling feedback loop where gloomy statements made by top Slovene officials created more panic and dismay in the foreign press and various organisations, and vice versa, resulting in falling credit ratings and asset prices, and excessive capital injections/bailouts with funds borrowed at excessively high interest rates.
In late 2012, protests began to take place in Slovenia's second largest city, Maribor, against its mayor and SDS ally, Franc Kangler, who was being investigated due to allegations of corruption. The protests soon picked up momentum and spread across the country, becoming the largest in the independent republic's history. Protestors' main grievances were the harsh austerity measures imposed by the ruling government, looming sale-offs of state enterprises, and allegations of widespread corruption among the ruling elite. The protests also saw the worst violence in the nation's history as an independent state, with small groups of young, violent extremists - likely members of far-right and hooligan groups - clashing with police. In early 2013, the instability and public resentment was compounded after the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption revealed both PM Janez Janša and the leader of the largest opposition party (PS), Zoran Janković, violated anti-corruption laws by failing to report or account for assets in their possession and received income/payments. Janša also faced graft charges even before ascending to the premiership in 2012. He was one of the defendants being tried for corruption as result of a 2006 bribery scandal involving charges of accepting kickbacks to fund his party's electoral campaign. Media reports alleging Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency was "infiltrated" by members of SDS also surfaced. Amid mounting pressure from continuing anti-government protests, a strike of public sector workers, and the lowest public opinion ratings of any government in the nation's history, coalition partners began to depart from the coalition. The government finally collapsed after a vote of no confidence, and a PS consensus candidate, Alenka Bratušek, was appointed as PM (despite some protests that continued to demand a snap election).
2013–2020: return to opposition
On 20 March 2013, the second Janša cabinet was replaced by the cabinet of Alenka Bratušek, a four-party centre-left coalition led by the new leader of Positive Slovenia, Alenka Bratušek.
In June 2013, Janša was convicted in the Patria case, but appealed the verdict. In April 2014, the Higher Court upheld the two-year jail sentence passed on Janez Janša as result of the bribery conviction. In June of that year, Janša began serving out his sentence, 26 years after his imprisonment for leaking military secrets as a whistle-blower (his imprisonment, trial, and public reaction were a milestone in the Slovenian path to independence). Despite his imprisonment, Janša stood as candidate for MP.
In the May 2014 European Parliament election, SDS came in first place nationally, garnering 24.78% of the vote, and winning three MEP seats (out of eight allocated for Slovenia).
The party received 20.69% of the vote in the snap Slovenian parliamentary election held on 13 July 2014, and won 21 seats in parliament. The party remained in opposition, this time to the cabinet of Miro Cerar. Janez Janša was reelected as MP despite being imprisoned. The Constitutional Court decided not to deprive Janša of his MP mandate, and Janša was allowed leave while carrying out his political functions. The Constitutional Court suspended Janša's jail sentence in December, pending the ruling regarding his appeal of the Patria verdict. The Constitutional Court decided to annul the Higher Court's decision in April 2015, returning it to the lower courts for retrial. In September of the same year, the statute of limitations of the Patria case expired.
SDS representatives expressed the belief that the trial was politically motivated and that the imprisonment of the party frontman unfairly hindered their election efforts, declaring the elections illegitimate and "stolen", and demanded fresh elections. In 2018, SDS sued the state for alleged financial damages the party incurred due to the alleged election "theft", and lost the case.
With a campaign largely based on anti-immigration populist rhetoric, SDS topped public opinion polls heading into the 2018 parliamentary election. The incendiary electoral campaign sparked a rally under the title "Without Fear — Against the Politics of Hatred", with some 2,000-3,000 heart-shaped balloon-carrying marchers in attendance.
During the 2018 electoral campaign, SDS also begun to send postable questionnaires ("voter consults") to Slovene households. The questionnaires contained loaded questions and proposals (e.g. "... Do you support SDS's proposal that the healthcare system be set in order?"). The effort was apparently part of the party's electoral campaign, and likely fashioned on Hungarian "national consultations", which the country's ruling party has practiced for years.
SDS once again emerged as winner in the 3 June 2018 parliamentary election, garnering 24.92% of the vote and winning 25 MP seats. However, the party was unlikely to be able to shore up needed support for a governing coalition, as most parliamentary parties (List of Marjan Šarec, Social Democrats, Modern Centre Party, The Left, Party of Alenka Bratušek, and Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia) had declared that they would not participate in a coalition with SDS. Some two weeks after the 2018 election, Janša again met with Hungarian PM Orbán during a private visit in Budapest. Janša and Orbán also held a conference call with US president Donald Trump during the meeting. Janša stated he would be willing to relinquish his post as PM designate to some other SDS MP such a move would ease tensions and enable SDS to form a coalition government. Despite the concession, the PM post was eventually occupied by the leader of the second largest parliamentary party, Marjan Šarec, who succeeded in forming a centre-left minority government (without the participation of SDS).
After the 2018 parliamentary election, SDS failed to regain its traditionally strong showing of support in opinion polls which had been typical for the party while in opposition. Speaking to the media regarding the faltering performance, SDS officials blamed the government's alleged populist economic policies and a disproportionately hostile news media, while independent political analysts pointed to the big tent populist appeal of the ruling LMŠ party and its leader that attracted some traditionally conservative voters, and the momentous changes in the political environment and nature of SDS since 2011-2012.
2020–2022: third Janša Cabinet
In early 2020, the resignation of the finance minister due to intra-government disagreements regarding the crafting of a health insurance reform bill precipitated the resignation of PM Šarec, who called for an early election. SDS was however able to secure support for the formation of a new SDS-led government by forming a coalition with New Slovenia, Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), and Modern Centre Party (SMC). While all three parties had expressed clear opposition to a formation of a Janša-led government in the past, all had since experienced changes of leadership that was more amenable to such an arrangement. The news that SMC would be entering into a coalition with Janša resulted in the departure of the party's founder and first head, Miro Cerar, after whom the party was initially named ("Miro Cerar Party").
Janša was confirmed as PM on 13 March 2020. The coalition agreement signed between the 4 parties stipulated, among other things: the re-introduction of the draft and 6 months of mandatory military service, utilisation of private healthcare providers to reduce waiting times, an increase in public and private healthcare funds, promote apprenticeships in vocational school, a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050, decentralisation, decreasing public spending, an increase in funds for municipalities, tax reductions for performance pay, an increase in pensions, and an introduction of a universal child benefit instead of an income-based one.
2022- present: return to opposition again
In April 2022, liberal opposition, The Freedom Movement, won the parliamentary election. The Freedom Movement won 34.5% of the vote, compared with 23.6% for Slovenian Democratic Party. On 25 May 2022, Slovenia's parliament voted to appoint the leader of Freedom Movement, Robert Golob, as the new Prime Minister of Slovenia to succeed Janez Janša.
Ideology and policies
Originally a centre-left to centre-right political party, SDS gradually drifted rightward, eventually becoming a right-wing party.
Janša has been described as an illiberal leader. Commenting on the question of illiberal democracies like those in Hungary and Poland, Janša stated: "For me, all of these mainstream political orientations are equal, and equally legitimate. [...] I cannot agree to the division between liberal and illiberal democracy. Democracy is democracy [...] If I fight for the affection of my voters, in a free world, everyone is equal."
Deutsche Welle has described supporters of the party as "disagree[ing] with the majority of the population on more or less everything, starting with the history of World War II, where they cherish the memory of the German-allied wartime military guard."
Populism
During the European migrant crisis, SDS sharply intensified its nationalist populist rhetoric. The party came out in opposition of migrant quotas and advocated diverting financial resources from non-governmental organisations to security spending. Janša also lambasted the "degenerate left". The party's heated rhetoric and allegations of corrupt practices have led "to concerns among international observers about the direction of Slovenia, which is generally regarded as a regional success story" as SDS topped opinion polls heading into the 2018 parliamentary election.
The party has co-opted former US President Donald Trump's populist rhetoric, with Janša and the party echoing Trump's catchphrases "drain the swamp", "deep state", and "fake news". The party has also proposed requiring that for each new regulation, two existing regulations must be repealed, a proposal notably advocated for and enacted by Trump. Janša has also used the phrase "Slovenia first" on multiple occasions. Janša's rhetoric has been described as "Trumpian".
The party periodically sends questionnaire mailers to Slovene households. The so-called Consultations with Voters ask recipients to fill out answers to highly suggestive questions and enter their personal information to be eligible to receive various prizes.
Domestic policy
Economic policy
SDS has been described as broadly pro-market, and its economic policies have been characterised as neoliberal. SDS advocates for lower taxes and speeding up privatisation efforts.
Social policy
SDS introduced legislation allowing for same-sex civil unions while in government, but has opposed recognition of same-sex marriages. PM Janša was one of the few EU leaders to explicitly back the Hungarian government's right to prohibit the portrayal of LGBT persons and topics in mass media which could be seen by children.
Education policy
SDS advocates for the introduction of educational programs that would introduce "patriotic education from kindergarten through high school". The party holds that all expenses of compulsory curricular programs in private schools should be bourne by the state.
National security
Janša has expressed strong support for the re-instatement of mandatory military service for males with service lasting at least 6 months (with an option of 12 months of civil service for conscientious objectors).
In early 2016, SDS proposed the establishment of a national guard composed of some 25,000 "patriotic" volunteers. The guard would replace all current reserve formations of the Slovene armed forces, would be under direct command of the general staff, and would be mobilised during natural disasters or during "altered national security states" (like the European refugee crisis, which was ongoing at the time). Both sexes could enlist. MP Žan Mahnič stated the establishment of the formation was a priority of the party's electoral platform. The proposal was prompted by worsening global national security prospects, in part due to the "migrant crisis", an SDS representative claimed. Government representatives argued that such a formation is unnecessary as the current reserve formations are sufficient.
Judiciary and law enforcement
SDS advocates for trials to be open to the public (except in special circumstances).
Environment and climate change
During the first SDS government, PM Janša presented climate change as the major political and societal challenge of the era. In 2007, Janša stated that "climate change is not only a problem for the government and economy; it is a challenge for the wider society and every individual" during an international conference on the matter, stressing the dangers and opportunities associated with the issue. He called on the EU to lead the efforts to combat climate change. In 2008, Janša described an EU legislative package on energy and climate change as "one of the most important ... of the beginning of the 21st century", and as one of the priorities of Slovenia during its EU Council Presidency. In 2008, SDS MEP Romana Jordan Cizelj stated that "counteracting climate change is not an individual choice, but a global challenge requiring the effort of the society as a whole. [...] The data reveal changes in ecosystems due to antropogenic emissions and possible trends in the future. [...] It is still possible to act. But we must act decisively, swiftly, and in unison. First in coordination within the EU, and then in the global sense."
By 2018, the party seemed to have reversed its position on the issue, with MP Branko Grims prominently making multiple public statements, including in media statements and parliamentary discussions, that outright denied the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Grims has said that "the talk about the warming of the Earth is a big lie", that the Earth is in fact cooling, that climate change is being used as an excuse for allowing mass migrations and the expropriation of taxpayer funds (that are then embezzled by academics, the "eco-industry" and leftist lobbies), and that the political left is using the issue to exploit the youth. Grims has appealed to his background as a geologist to present himself as authoritative on the issue. Grims also controversially claimed that the black panther, which is ostensibly represented in the Carantanian panther sigil that has been adopted as the alternate Slovenian national symbol by some modern-era conservative political groups, was native to the Slovene region but became extinct due to global cooling during the Carantanian era (the claim was dismissed by experts who said the black panther had not been endemic to the region since at least the last ice age). In November 2019, Janša, discussing climate change, stated: "Times are different now, generations are growing up with an awareness that the environment is a value. Of course, some on the left scene, pervaded by cultural Marxism, have swiftly added catastrophic proclamations which are supposed to be caused by climate change. It is being preached how climate change is exclusively man-made, which is entirely unproven. Climate change has been occurring throughout the history of this planet and will continue to. To what extent we are influencing this is a big question. It is a fact that we are. It is a fact that environmental pollution of course in part affects the climate. But I think that it affects it much less than changes on the Sun, or, that is, things which humans cannot influence. This must be understood and it should not be made into ideology and the fame of new Molochs such as Greta."
Other policies
SDS has long advocated for a change in the Slovene parliamentary electoral system, namely the shift from the current proportional electoral system to two-round plurality voting. SDS argues this would result in more stable and effective governments.
SDS supports citizens' "legal right to bear arms", and has come out in opposition to further restrictions. It strongly opposed new EU regulation of firearms which the European Commission moved to pass after the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. SDS has backed legislation to loosen controls on civilian possession of firearms, firearm accessories, and other weapons.
SDS supports legalising the medicinal use of cannabis, but opposes legalisation of its recreational use.
SDS argues the current text to the Slovene national anthem—the 7th stanza of France Prešeren's A Toast ("Blessed be all nations/Which yearn to see the light of day/When where'er the Sun doth wander/The lands' strife shall be cast away/And when free every kinsman will be/Not fiends, only neighbours in foreigners we'll see!")—is "too internationalistic, and insufficiently patriotic", and advocates other stanzas from Prešeren's poem be added as text to the official anthem.
The party advocates a ban on "all public expression of ideas through the use of totalitarian symbols" and "all public displays of affection for totalitarian regimes". The party has denied accusations that it is merely attempting to outlaw the red star, which was the symbol of the Slovene Partisans during WWII, and is still often used in the Slovenian public sphere, including as a symbol/logo of a parliamentary political party. The proposed law would not, on the other hand, ban wearing Nazi uniforms in public or displaying symbols associated with the Nazi-aligned anti-Partisan Slovene Home Guard.
Foreign policy
The party is pro-European, but staunchly anti-immigration and strongly opposed to EU asylum quotas. The party is committed to Slovenia's continuing membership in NATO.
Following the US targeted killing of Iranian gen. Qasem Soleimani, the party released a statement declaring that "SDS supports the strong US response to the provocations of the Ayatollah extremist regime ... ."
Janša has expressed steadfast support for Israel and former Israeli PM Netanyahu and his government. During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, the SDS-led Slovenian government flew an Israeli flag on the ediface of the building housing the Slovene government as a show of support and solidarity with Israel. PM Janša has described criticism of Israel's policies towards Palestinians as tantamount to antisemitism.
After taking over the European Council presidency in 2021, the third Janša government chose confronting violent left-wing extremism and anarchism at the EU level as one of its proposed policy priorities.
Post-communist cabal conspiracy
The central tenet of the party's view regarding the country's political situation is that a clique composed mostly of former Communist Party officials and associates has retained significant control over the economic, financial, political, social, judicial, and journalistic aspects of Slovenian public life. SDS has accused the post-communist underground of undermining SDS-led governments and lamented that "Slovenia is the only former communist country that has not implemented the lustration." In 2021, PM Janša addressed an official missive to the European Commission, calling on the European Union to launch an official inquiry into the "problem ... [of] Slovenia's communist legacy" that is ostensibly endangering "the state of democracy in Slovenia", and to aid the Slovenian government in remedying the situation. SDS's emphasis on the role of former Yugoslav communist party affiliates in Slovene political and public life has been criticised as hypocritical since many SDS politicians were also active within the former Yugoslav communist regime.
In a 2021 draft party resolution, SDS warned that the country's democratic order is under threat from leftist extremist forces at home and abroad, claiming that the country may be on the verge of a coup, civil war, and an establishment of a totalitarian government. The document claims that the goal of the entrenched elites has progressed beyond attempting to eliminate Janša and SDS, to attempting to institute a new communist order in the country. The document also calls for the banning of the allegedly unconstitutional party The Left (citing a fake "secret manifesto" of the party), and concludes by affirming the party's commitment to prevent, by any means necessary, "the establishment of an eco-socialist system ... totalitarian system". Shortly after releasing the party document, SDS requested a parliamentary session to be held to discuss the ostensible unconstitutional conduct of The Left party and pass a resolution calling on "all state organs to intensify their monitoring, investigations, and prevention of attempts to overthrow parliamentary democracy and other constitutional foundations" due to The Left party's policies, and inviting the ministers of interior and defense as well as the chief of national intelligence to participate in the session. The speaker of parliament refused to hold the session after ascertaining that the issue was under the purview of the judicial branch.
SDS members and affiliates frequently employ particular phrases and concepts to represent their world-view, most notably:
"Udbomafia" (from UDBA, the Yugoslav secret police service) – a portmanteau neologism coined in the early 1990s to refer to an alleged cabal of former Slovenian Communist Party members and officials, and UDBA informants and collaborators that supposedly still hold the reins of economic and political power. The phrase is often used by SDS and affiliated publications.
"Uncles from behind the scenes" (or "godfathers in the background," an idiom for éminence grise) – alleged sponsors and influencers of prominent Slovene politicians who are said to merely act as fronts for the vested political and economic interests of the "uncles". Former PMs Miro Cerar, and Alenka Bratušek, PS head Zoran Janković, and anti-establishment newcomer Marjan Šarec are some of the politicians accused of having "uncles from behind the scenes". The phrase was also occasionally used by former PM and President Borut Pahor, on one occasion accusing the "uncles" of attempting to topple his premiership. Milan Kučan, who is most often accused of being the foremost "uncle from behind the scenes", demanded Pahor clarify his insinuation. Pahor also accused his main 2017 presidential election challenger, Marjan Šarec, of being well looked after by the "uncles". Šarec likewise demanded Pahor clarify his statements, but also did not receive an answer.
Milan Kučan – the former two-time President of Slovenia and last leader of the League of Communists of Slovenia is frequently accused by SDS of exerting supreme covert influence over the Slovenian political sphere. In 2013, SDS alleged that Kučan was acting from behind the scenes to topple the SDS-led government; the allegation was made in a formal letter that the party addressed to multiple foreign institutions. Politicians allegedly under Kučan's influence include former New Slovenia leader Ljudmila Novak and 2018 newcomer Marjan Šarec, former PM Alenka Bratušek and Ljubljana mayor and PS leader Zoran Janković, among others. Janša was fined €12,000 after labelling two female RTV Slovenia journalists as "cheap, used-up prostitutes" of "#pimpMilan [Kučan]" in a tweet, later also receiving a 3-month suspended jail sentence for the offense. During an event marking the handover of the rotating European Council leadership to PM Janša, Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen both opened and closed her speech by quoting Kučan in what was seen as a subtle jibe at Janša's political camp.
Forum 21 – a Slovenian liberal think tank established by Milan Kučan and attended by prominent members of the Slovenian political and economic elite to discuss relevant problems facing the nation. SDS has accused the think tank of undue influence in appointment and policy decisions of liberal governments.
Murgle – the upscale Murgle residential district known for its one-story houses is home to many prominent Slovenian political and economic figures, including former liberal presidents Milan Kučan (often the main target of allusions to "Murgle") and Janez Drnovšek (deceased), former PM Miro Cerar, and Liberation Front partisan and last president of the SR Slovenia, Janez Stanovnik, among others. "Murgle" is thus another reference to the alleged behind-the-scenes influence exerted by the country's ostensibly retired leftist elites. Upon being sentenced to a two-year prison sentence in the Patria corruption case, Janez Janša stated that the verdict was "written in advance in Murgle and by known authors". SDS later labelled the 2014 parliamentary election as illegitimate due to the conviction and resulting concurring prison term of Janša. Janša also blamed "Murgle" after prosecutors filed a motion to confiscate Janša's illegally obtained holdings. As part of its 2018 electoral campaign, SDS released an ad where a couple orders pizza delivery from SDS and "Pizza Murgle". The Murgle box is revealed to only contain half a pizza. SDS-affiliated Nova24TV news portal also promoted videos entitled "Murgle Puppet Theatre", which satirically portrayed a closed-door meeting presided over by Milan Kučan discussing political strategy with recently resigned PM Miro Cerar (leader of ruling Modern Centre Party), Agriculture Minister Dejan Židan (leader of the Social Democrats), Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec (leader of DeSUS), and Marjan Šarec (leader of the List of Marjan Šarec).
First-class and second-class citizens – the Slovenian society is ostensibly divided between the first-class entrenched leftist elites seeking to perpetuate their socioeconomic privileges and stranglehold over the country, and the downtrodden masses of second-class citizens that SDS advocates for. In 2019, Janša published a book of essays entitled First-Class Citizens: A System for the False Elite. The SDS-affiliated TV channel Nova24TV has aired a program named Second-Class Citizens.
Organization and political affiliation
As of 2013, SDS membership numbered some 30,000 strong, more than any other political party in Slovenia. Slovenian Democratic Youth (, SDM) is the independent and autonomous youth wing of the party.
The party is affiliated with the Jože Pučnik Institute, the major liberal-conservative think tank in Slovenia. It is also closely affiliated with the civic platform Rally for the Republic ().
Committee 2014 (Slovene: Odbor 2014) is a civic organisation that was established to protest and demand the overturn of the corruption convictions in the Patria case, the freeing of SDS leader Janez Janša from prison (sentence resuling from the conviction), and the "actual implementation of the rule of law, human rights, basic freedoms, and establishment of a democratic society". Committee 2014 held regular protests in front of the Higher Court building in Ljubljana.
The Alliance for the Values of Slovene Independence (Slovene: Združenje za vrednote Slovenske osamosvojitve, VSO) is a patriotic veteran non-governmental organisation intended to commemorate the values of the Slovenian independence movement. VSO leadership consists of prominent SDS members and associates. The organisation holds public speaking events, commemorations, and is engaged in other activities as well.
SDS has seen some support from the Slovene Catholic Church.
International affiliations
The party is supported by and closely affiliated with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz). SDS's committed backing of Fidesz has reportedly been the decisive factor in preventing Fidesz's expulsion from the European People's Party, resulting in a more lenient suspension. In a letter to the EPP leader, Janša warned of an "inevitable" split in the EPP if the vote to expel Fidesz were to take place. The 3rd Janša government began reorienting Slovenia's foreign alliances away from core EU countries and towards the Visegrád Group of countries, with Janša calling the countries "our friends in the region".
SDS politicians have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program, and with the International Republican Institute.
Affiliated publications
SDS is also affiliated with several current and past publications, including its de facto party publication, Demokracija, and tabloid Škandal24 (both owned by Nova Obzorja (English: "New Horizons") publishing company, which is in turn jointly owned by SDS and a Hungarian publishing company with close ties to Hungary's ruling party, Fidesz). The publishing company has profited from providing literature to, and advising the SDS parliamentary group/SDS MPs (activities for which parliamentary groups receive state funds), and has also benefited financially from doing business with government agencies, which were particularly bountiful while SDS was in government. Nova24TV, a media conglomerate consisting of a television channel and online news portal, was established by SDS MPs and members, and party sympathisers, and later also received financial injections from Hungarian Fidesz-affiliated companies. Additionally, the SDS-friendly political web portal Politikis is also owned and managed by a close SDS associate. Slovenski tednik and Ekspres, free newspapers distributed in the run-up to the 2008 parliamentary election, were also later found to have been directly linked to SDS and its electoral efforts. As with Slovenski tednik and Ekspres, Škandal24 announced it will cease print publication the day after the 2018 parliamentary election, only continuing as an online publication. In late 2017, an array of over a dozen local/regional web news portals with a common template was also set up, with editors of all linked to SDS based on publicly available information. The websites mostly contained informative content, publishing local news with occasional articles that promoted SDS' candidates and narrative/agenda subtly mixed in. The sites may have been set up primarily as a political propaganda effort in anticipation of the 2018 Slovenian local elections.
Supporters and affiliates
The party enjoys strong support in some Slovene conservative and classical liberal intellectual circles. Public figures who have publicly voiced support for SDS or affiliated themselves with the party include economist Ljubo Sirc (joined the party in 2010), philosopher Ivan Urbančič, historians Vasko Simoniti and Alenka Puhar, writer and essayist Drago Jančar, theologian and philosopher Janez Juhant, and poet Tone Kuntner. Public supporters of the party also include sportsmen Miran Pavlin, and Katja Koren, pop singer Marta Zore, designer and cartoonist Miki Muster, and actor Roman Končar.
In 2008, SDS was found to have falsely attributed "supporter status" to many prominent Slovenes on its webpage. The party sent a request to comment on the ruling government for its party newspaper to numerous notable public figures. Though they were never asked whether they support the party or informed they will be listed as supporters, SDS nevertheless listed them as such.
Former supporters and affiliates
Many prominent members have abandoned SDS due to the radicalisation of the party's ideology and disagreements over leadership style. Some also established new political parties. Most former members politically transitioned towards the centre, with a minority outflanking SDS on the far right. Former public supporters include: sportsman Miran Pavlin.
Former supporters or affiliated individuals that have since come out as critics of the party include: one of the fathers of the current Slovenian Constitution Peter Jambrek, the former chairman of Rally for the Republic and Civic List party leader Gregor Virant, and liberal economist Jože P. Damijan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitrij Rupel, former Minister of Internal Affairs Dragutin Mate, and Minister of Education Žiga Turk, former MEP Romana Jordan Cizelj, former SDS MPs Andrej Čuš, and Ivo Hvalica, and "mother of the party" Vera Ban. Miha Brejc became persona non grata after his son-in-law Gregor Virant distanced himself from Janša and established the Civic List.
Controversies and criticism
In March 2021, the association of state prosecutors of Slovenia addressed a letter to the Council of Europe to voice their concerns about government pressure on prosecutors (including by PM Janša, and SDS-affiliated media). The third Janša government refused to confirm the appointment of delegated prosecutors to the EU public prosecutors office that is to scrutinise potential misuse of EU funds (both nominees had previously made prosecutorial decisions that were politically disfavourable to SDS, with one having helped bring graft charges against Janša), as well as refusing to confirm 14 prosecutors nominated by the judiciary leading to understaffing of the state prosecutorship. PM Janša also pressured the chief state prosecutor to pursue criminal charges against anti-government protesters who used a slogan that Janša interpreted as a death threat to him and his supporters, admonishing him in a missive that "[He] will be directly responsible for any potential victim of the organised death threats."
In June 2021, the top officials of four independent state oversight institutions issued a joined statement warning of persistent political pressure, impeding their work.
In 2021, articles published in The New York Times, and in Der Standard described SDS as waging a culture war by trying to shift the country's museums in a more conservative and patriotic direction by appointing like-minded people in leadership positions within the institutions.
Freedom of the press
SDS holds that Slovenian news media is biased and favours the left. Shortly after assuming the role of PM for the third time, SDS leader Janez Janša published an essay entitled "War with the media" in which he expounded his views on countering an oppositional news media, concluding that the battle against the "monopoly of lies" cannot be won without a fight.
SDS and their allies have cultivated an ecosystem of party-aligned media outlets that include a TV channel, news websites (including a number of regional news websites), magazines, a tabloid, and a press agency. There was also an effort to set up a radio station. Some of the party's media endavours were strategically undertaken just prior to upcoming elections; regional news websites began operating prior to local elections, for example. SDS-affiliated outlets have been accused of false reporting and fake news, of publishing hateful and defamatory content, and of publishing racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and antisemitic content. Some SDS-affiliated media projects have received financial backing from businesses affiliated with the party's political ally, Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán.
Janša has also adopted a pugnacious approach to media relations, aggressively responding to almost every critical foreign press article on the political situation in Slovenia under his leadership. SDS has been criticised for their adversarial approach to media relations, which not only chilled media freedom in the country, but also created a climate where personal attacks, harassment, and threats are commonplace for journalists that have landed in the party's crosshairs. In a letter to top EU officials, various media freedom organisations also warned that PM Janša could use his European presidency position to "attack journalists" across the EU and normalise such behaviour among EU functionaries.
First Janša cabinet
During Janša's first government, the party was accused of gaining influence over multiple public and private outlets, and pulling advertising from state-owned companies from outlets that reported critically about the government. To bring the country's largest newspaper under its control, Janša personally arranged a corrupt deal with the owner of the newspaper in which state assets were traded in exchange for editorial control over the newspaper.
Third Janša cabinet
Shortly after Janša's third government took office, a loyalist (who had been previously appointed editor-in-chief of the country's largest newspaper during Janša's first government, reportedly in a secret corrupt deal between Janša and the newspaper's owner) was appointed to head SiOL, a media subsidiary of a state-owned telecom, despite receiving the approval of only 2 members of the 42-member editorial board. In fall of 2020, the state telecom commenced the sale of TSMedia which owns SiOL. In May 2021, the board of directors of the telecom abruptly halted the sale after a Hungarian business with ties to Hungary's ruling party Fidesz (which is closely allied with SDS) was outbid 2 million € to 5 million € by another bidder.
In May 2020, the government replaced 7 board members of the public broadcaster RTV Slovenia, shifting the political balance of power of the board in favour of the government and foreshadowing a push to replace the leadership of the institution. In October 2020, board members close to SDS and the government began an attempt to replace the then general director of the institution before the end of his term, citing poor financial management and attacks on government representatives. Commenting on the replacement push, the director said the attempt was motivated by a desire to purge RTV of journalists critical of the government. The vote to replace the director was held in November, and failed by 1 vote. With the end of the regular term of the previous director approaching, a new general director was elected in January 2021, to take office in April. While SDS failed to field a loyal candidate, votes of board members close to the government were decisive in picking the new head. Shortly after a new RTV director was chosen, PM Janša commented on a clip of RTV footage with "hopefully the new broom will fix such false reporting", leading to fears that the new director will be beholden to the government after its board members supported his nomination.
During the summer of 2020, the government proposed new media laws that would increase the government's influence over the state-owned press agency Slovenian Press Agency (STA), and redirect some funds from the public broadcaster to an SDS-affiliated TV channel. The proposed legislation failed to gain traction after facing objections from all coalition partners. After STA refused to provide a government agency with business information and explanations about editorial decisions (STA argued the government agency lacked legal authority to demand such information), the government, in an unprecedented move, halted financing the news agency, saying STA had failed to meet its contractual obligations. The loss of state financing - some half of its total revenue - imperiled STA's continued existence. All coalition partners called for the resumption of STA financing. In early 2021, the government proposed draft legislation that would move STA into a centrally managed pension wealth fund, granting the government greater sway over the news agency. In March 2021, PM Janša called on the STA director to resign before the end of his term, calling him a "tool of the far left" who should be "held responsible for his unlawful actions". Janša also said that STA has been "selling lies as truth" under his leadership. The government also called on the STA board of directors to dismiss the director, and drafted a report accusing the director of dereliction of duty and wrongdoing in his official role. The government then requested the Interior Ministry to look into whether the findings of the report warrant a criminal investigation of the director. Police investigators subsequently questioned a STA board member and representatives of STA and the Dnevnik newspaper (due to an advertisement contract with STA), with the latter stating that the investigators asked for information that constituted business secrets, which Dnevnik refused to furnish.
In May 2021, after a criminal complaint was lodged by the government, police launched an investigation of Mladina for allegedly publishing classified information. The weekly published the contents of an internal government document (which was released to the public within a fortnight). The magazine responded by claiming the publication of the document was in the public interest (and thus legal) and that the government illegitimately restricted access to the document, and said the probe was intimidation.
PM Janša furtively met with the owner of POP TV's parent company (the Czechia-based PPF group) in late 2020. According to people present at the meeting with knowledge of the discussion, Janša spent most of the meeting complained about POP TV's political coverage. A deal was reportedly struck with the owners of POP TV (the most influential national TV broadcaster which also operates the most frequently visited web news portal in the country), granting lucrative government infrastructure contracts and stakes in state-owned enterprises in exchange for favourable coverage. After the meeting, the parent company begun to closely monitor POP TV's political reporting to ensure coverage is sufficiently favourable to the SDS-led government, requiring news editors to translate transcripts into Czech and send them to headquarters in Prague. Employees of the media company confirmed mounting editorial pressure in anonymous interviews. SDS was reportedly also engineering a sale of the country's largest newspaper Delo to PPF from its domestic owner to also reign in its critical coverage, using lucrative state contracts and benefits as enticements/punishments.
In May 2021, the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for distributing a fixed amount of financial aid to media organisations, denied funding requests from multiple mainstream media organisations that had consistently received funding in the past (due to ostensibly unbalanced coverage) while newly apportioning the funds to multiple conservative and pro-government media organisations (multiple of which had ties to government parties); nearly all requests from conservative and pro-government media were granted. The criteria for distributing the funds had not changed. The committee responsible for distributing the funds was mostly composed of individuals with ties to SDS. The minister of culture described the shift in funding as a step towards a more balanced media environment.
SDS's aggressiveness towards national and international news media and journalists has caused concern and drawn reprimands from EU politicians and institutions as Janša is poised to take over the leadership of the rotating EU Council presidency during the second half of 2021. In March 2021, the US State Department said it was monitoring the state of the news media in Slovenia. A deterioration in press freedoms in the country under the new government was subsequently noted in the State Department's international Human Rights report for 2020 published later the same month; media freedom was described as one of the key human rights concerns in Slovenia. The issue of media freedom in Slovenia came under discussion of the European Parliament and its Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group (DRFMG). The first discussion was held on March 5 under the auspices of DRFMG; PM Janša and Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti were invited to participate but declined. The issue was also discussed by the EP during a plenary session some days later. DRFMG again discussed the issue on March 26, with the invitation to join again extended to the Slovene PM and Culture Minister. Janša initially joined discussion, but demanded a video be shown to the committee. Janša then abruptly left the videoconference after a heated exchange with the committee chair that denied his request. Janša later wrote on Twitter that he was censored by the committee. A Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights report published in June 2021 found a deterioration of press freedom in Slovenia and called on the Slovene government to remedy the situation. PM Janša, responding to the report by tweet, called the Commissioner a "[...] part of #fakenews network. Well paid by our money."
Astroturfing and satellite parties
SDS reportedly operates a network of fake social media accounts used to amplify its message and attack opponents. In February 2021, an SDS MP was revealed to operate a fake Twitter account. SDS has been reported to operate a "multimedia centre" from within its party headquarters from where party operatives engage in social media battles with political opponents and promote the party online. The party's online activities intensify prior to elections. A disgruntled former SDS MP publicly corroborated the existence of the "multimedia centre" after leaving the party, claiming he personally used to participate in the party's media operations. There have also been claims that all SDS political candidates are required to set up a Twitter account.
In 2019, a former SDS politician published a screenshot of private messages from Janša after a public falling-out between the two. In the messages, Janša asked her to organise astroturfed protests in front of the parliament during a parliamentary deliberation about a referendum on immigration, saying "protests are effective if the action comes from below and looks like a spontaneous uprising".
SDS has been accused of orchestrating the creation of at least five satellite parties in attempts to sure up a larger swath of the electorate and secure loyal coalition partners, and undermine competing parties.
Ties to far-right groups
SDS has been criticised for alleged links to a neo-Nazi extremist group; the Slovene branch of Blood & Honour. The journalist who uncovered the links (Anuška Delić) was charged with leaking confidential information. The state intelligence agency, SOVA, headed by an SDS appointee at the time of the indictment, inadvertently confirmed allegations made by Delić by stating that the information revealed in the reports was consistent with findings of an ongoing investigation into the activities of the violent extremist group. SOVA argued that the information revealed in the reports could not have been obtained by any other means than by gaining access to information collected during the agency's covert investigations, and that the publication disrupted its efforts to monitor the group by alerting B & H of the monitoring efforts. Delić alleged the charges were "politically motivated".
Some Blood & Honour members were allegedly also members of SDS, and formally met with SDS MP Branko Grims. The group (the members of which allegedly received training by members of the Slovenian armed forces on an army training area, borrowed army weaponry (a rocket launcher), attempted to purchase handguns, and were in direct correspondence with Anders Breivik by both mail and e-mail, with multiple B & H members receiving his manifesto before Breivik's killing spree) was allegedly intimately implicated in orchestrating the violent riots which took place amid the 2012–13 Slovenian protests. The organised group of violent agitators that disrupted a major protest in Ljubljana was found to have been trained, hired, and compensated, possibly by a political party, according to a police investigation.
More recently, SDS has also fostered ties with Generation Identity Slovenia, the Slovenian chapter of the far-right Identitarian movement organisations. In August 2018, the party's publishing company, New Horizons, anonymously published the Slovene Identitarians' alt-right book, Manifesto for the Homeland. The book was also promoted by SDS-affiliated media organisations and individuals, including SDS leader Janez Janša, with SDS MP Žan Mahnič even going so far as to post on Twitter a photo of the book taken from his parliamentary seat, with the floor of the parliamentary chamber in the background. SDS also organised a joint panel discussion on migrations with Generation Identity, and Generation Identity was advertised on an SDS-affiliated TV channel. The leader of the Austrian Identitarians, Martin Sellner, publicly thanked Janša for his support on Twitter. Sellner was at the time being investigated by Austrian authorities and ostracised by the ruling conservative Freedom Party of Austria for his financial ties with the Christchurch terrorist.
During the 2020 Slovenian anti-government protests against the Third Janša government, a pro-government counter-protester group (the "Yellow Wests") was favourably covered in SDS-affiliated media, with the articles in which the Yellow Wests called on the public to join them shared by PM Janša on Twitter. 8 of the 30-some original Yellow Wests (including their spokesman) were found to have links to neo-Nazism. In 2021, the group forcefully disrupted an anti-government rally in the vicinity of a state ceremony attended by multiple foreign prime ministers. Riot police removed the provocators to avoid a massive brawl.
Political self-dealing accusations
The party has been accused of political self-dealing and nepotism, appointing relatives, allies, and friends to government (and other) positions. Many close relatives of prominent SDS members have found employment in the Slovenian and European parliaments, high ranking public sector positions, and state-owned companies (some despite not meeting the official job requirements).
SDS has been accused of political firings and replacements in, and selective financing of many institutions under the public sphere, and creating an environment where politisation of the public workplace was permissible and pervasive while in power.
Cult of personality
SDS leader Janez Janša has continuously served as party head since 1993 without a single other contender for the post. Party members are extremely loyal to Janša; it has been noted that the party appears to resemble a cult, with numerous past members claiming that Janša leads the party in an authoritarian manner and that no dissent is tolerated. SDS MEP Romana Jordan Cizelj was reportedly the only one within the party leadership to openly voice her doubts about Janša's continued leadership of the party whilst serving a prison sentence for corruption. Jordan Cizelj was subsequently not allowed to run for re-election as MEP on the SDS ticket as punishment for her disloyalty to Janša.
Campaign financing impropriety allegations
In the run-up to the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election, SDS attempted to receive a loan of €450,000 from an individual residing in Bosnia and Herzegovina to fund its electoral campaign. The party came into contact with the individual via Nova obzorja publishing company (partially owned by SDS). SDS also put up its share in Nova obzorja as collateral. The sum borrowed exceeded limits set by campaign finance laws, however, and SDS was obliged to return the borrowed funds. A police and financial court investigation was also triggered after the terms of the loan became public. An investigation into the lender was also launched, based on suspicions of money laundering, tax avoidance, destruction and falsification of business documents, and overseeing dummy companies. The individual was allegedly a part of a criminal organisation managing dummy companies that received funds of undisclosed origins (including the funds later loaned to SDS).
Less than a week before the 2018 parliamentary election took place, it was revealed that media/publishing companies closely affiliated and partially owned by SDS received some €800,000 from two Hungarian nationals (or, rather, their companies) - both with close ties to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán - months before the election, bringing the total amount SDS-affiliated media companies received from Hungarian entities to over €2.2M. The SDS-affiliated media companies that received the funds in turn purchased campaign adds for SDS. Nova obzorja publishing company also attempted to loan €60,000 to the party. The same Hungarian individuals also provided funds for political allies in Macedonia. It is furthermore also known that the loan SDS attempted to obtain from a Bosnian citizen some months earlier had a Hungarian connection. SDS-controlled media companies have reportedly also served as a conduit for Hungarian financing of media in North Macedonia to prop up Orban's political allies there. Of the at least €4M in Hungarian moneys that were reportedly originally funneled into SDS-affiliated media between mid-2018 and early 2020, over €2.5M was then channeled to Macedonian news media entities favourable to the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party.
Discriminatory remarks
After the 2011 parliamentary elections, which saw the victory of Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković (who is of Serbian descent) and his party, a contribution published on the official SDS webpage by a "Tomaž Majer" caused considerable public outrage. Majer states that Janković was elected by "well-disciplined new citizens" living in "high-rise neighbourhoods", tracksuit-clad voters (in Slovenia, a common stereotype of immigrés from Southern republics) with foreign accents arriving at polling places in groups holding notes with instructions on whom to vote for. These "new citizens" were allegedly mobilised by being admonished their citizenship will be revoked if "the right" is elected. Majer further states that one of his acquaintances (who is of Bosnian descent) was even offered monetary reward to vote for Janković. Majer also claims that the roughly 1/3 of Janković voters of Slovenian descent were ordered to vote for PS by Milan Kučan and Janez Stanovnik. Several media organisations attempted to identify the author, but were unsuccessful. It has been speculated that the real author of the text was in fact Janez Janša, based on similar known past statements (specifically, his 1993 commentary on the poor electoral performance of SDS during the 1992 elections). In the wake of the 2011 election, Janša and several other SDS MPs and candidates expressed similar but somewhat toned-down nationalistic sentiments while commenting on the election and its winner. The public reaction culminated in a "March of the Tracksuits", a rally where participants attended clothed in tracksuits to protest against division and intolerance.
SDS MP Branko Grims, speaking to a gathering of a patriotic ultranationalist group in early 2018, said "Now is the era of Trump. He is the greatest thorn in the foot of the globalists, who control the US mechanisms, with Soros at the helm. Soros is the symbol of this. But there's also the Rothschilds and many other wealthiest families of financial speculators."
SDS MP Marijan Pojbič, in a 2017 Statehood Day address on Facebook, called for "No more mayors that aren't real Slovenes, and even fewer national politicians who aren't real Slovenes by birth."
In 2020, SDS politician Žan Mahnič, a former MP then serving as national security state secretary, shared a tweet of an image of white-skinned women with different hair colours accompanied with the comment "This is all the diversity Europe needs." The original author of the tweet was a user using the screen name "franca - EtnoNacionalist". Mahnič was subsequently criticised for promoting racism.
In 2021, PM Janša shared a tweet saying that the amount "death, suffering, repression, desolation and societal backwardness" caused by The Communist Manifesto is second only to the Quran. The tweet was condemned by the Slovenian Muslim community, and the Turkish national broadcaster. Janša defended sharing the tweet by noting that his Twitter profile bio says re-tweets are not endorsements.
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References
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425733 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma%20Smith | Emma Smith | Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the first wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church). In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a women's service organization, she was elected by its members as the organization's first president.
After the killing of Joseph Smith, Emma remained in Nauvoo rather than following Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers to the Utah Territory. Emma was supportive of Smith's teachings throughout her life with the exception of plural marriage and remained loyal to her son, Joseph Smith III, in his leadership of the RLDS Church.
Early life and first marriage, 1804–1829
Early life
Emma Hale was born on July 10, 1804, in Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, in her family's log cabin. She was the seventh child and third daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis Hale. She was descended of primarily English ancestors, including seven passengers on the Mayflower. Isaac and Elizabeth arrived in Susquehanna County in 1791 where they bought land and became the first permanent settlers.
Isaac and Elizabeth were members of the first Methodist Episcopal congregation in Harmony, where Emma's uncle preached. Beginning at age seven or eight, Emma was involved in the church, reading the Bible and singing hymns. Emma's father stepped away from the church for a time and became a deist, but later returned to the church after Emma's requests.
The Hale family was relatively wealthy. Isaac hunted and Elizabeth hosted lodgers and boarders in their home. The Hale family was known for being honest, hard-working, and generous to their neighbors.
Throughout her childhood, Emma was interested in religion, canoeing, and riding horses. Emma learned how to read and write and was considered to be intelligent. She attended a girls school for a year and taught school in Harmony when she returned.
Courtship and marriage to Joseph
Emma first met her future husband, Joseph Smith Jr., in 1825. Joseph lived near Palmyra, New York, but boarded with the Hales in Harmony while he was employed in a company of men hired by Josiah Stowell and one of Emma's relatives to dig for money on the Hale family property. Rumors about Joseph having a unique ability to find hidden treasure caused Stowell to offer him a high wage. Although the company was unsuccessful in finding the suspected mine and Emma's father eventually turned against the project, Joseph and Emma secretly met without her family's approval several times at a friend's house during the dig and after while Joseph was working as farmhand nearby. When Emma and Joseph spoke to the Hales to receive a blessing on their marriage, Isaac and Elizabeth Hale refused to allow the marriage, possibly because Emma's father wanted her to marry a neighbor, considered Joseph to be a "stranger, and because the failed money-digging operation on his land. On January 17, 1827, Joseph and Emma left the Stowell house and traveled to the house of Zachariah Tarbill in South Bainbridge, New York, where they were married the following day.
On September 22, 1827, Joseph and Emma took a horse and carriage belonging to Joseph Knight, Sr., and went to a hill, now known as Hill Cumorah, where Joseph said he received a set of golden plates. The announcement of Joseph having the plates created a great deal of excitement in the area. In December 1827, with financial support from Martin Harris, the couple accepted and invitation from Emma's parents to move to Harmony.
The Hales helped Emma and Joseph obtain a house and a small farm. Once they settled in, Joseph began work on the Book of Mormon, with Emma acting as a scribe. She became a physical witness of the plates, reporting that she felt them through a cloth, traced the pages through the cloth with her fingers, heard the metallic sound they made as she moved them, and felt their weight. She later wrote in an interview with her son, Joseph Smith III: "In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us." In Harmony on June 15, 1828, Emma gave birth to her first child—a son named Alvin—who lived only a few hours. He was buried east of their house. For the next two weeks, Emma remained gravely ill.
Due to increased hostility towards Joseph as he worked on the Book of Mormon, Emma and Joseph went to live with David Whitmer in Fayette, New York, to finish the Book of Mormon. While there, both Emma and a schoolteacher named Oliver Cowdery worked as Joseph's scribes. Joseph received a copyright for the Book of Mormon in June of 1829 and the book was published in March 1830.
"Elect lady" and the early church, 1830–1839
On April 6, 1830, Joseph and five other men established the Church of Christ. Emma was baptized by Oliver Cowdery on June 28, 1830, in Colesville, New York, surrounded by a group of mocking people. Later that evening before the confirmation service, Joseph was arrested for being a disorderly person and causing an uproar by preaching the Book of Mormon. A few days later, Joseph was acquitted of all charges. Emma was confirmed later by Joseph and Newl Knight.
In July 1830, Joseph received a revelation, now known as Doctrine and Covenants Section 25, that highlighted Emma Smith as "an elect lady". The revelation says that Emma would "be ordained under [Joseph's] hand to expound scriptures, and to exhort the church." The revelation instructed Emma to "murmur not" and described Emma's duties to Joseph. Emma was also directed to be Joseph's scribe and to create a hymnbook for the new church.
Joseph and Emma returned to Harmony for a time, but relations with Emma's parents remained strained. Emma's father was displeased that Joseph and Emma were living off charity and Joseph was late to return money he borrowed to purchase a farm. Many people in Harmony also openly opposed Joseph. Emma and Joseph returned to live at David Whitmer's farm in August of 1830. This marked the last time that Emma saw her parents. Despite the rift that her marriage to Joseph created in the family, Emma did reunite with her family. She communicated with her mother through letters. Some members of her family moved to Nauvoo although they did not accept Emma's invitation to join Mormonism.
Emma and Joseph went back to staying in the homes of members of the growing church. The couple lived first with the Whitmers in Fayette, then with Newel K. Whitney and his family in Kirtland, Ohio, and then in a cabin on a farm owned by Isaac Morley. It was here on April 30, 1831, that Emma gave birth to premature twins, Thaddeus and Louisa; both babies died hours later. That same day, Julia Clapp Murdock died giving birth to twins, Joseph and Julia. When the twins were nine days old, their father, John, gave the infants to the Smiths to raise as their own. On September 2, 1831, the Smiths moved into John Johnson's home in Hiram, Ohio. The infant Joseph died of exposure or pneumonia in late March 1832, after a door was left open during a mob attack on Smith.
On November 6, 1832, Emma gave birth to Joseph Smith III in the upper room of Whitney's store in Kirtland. Young Joseph (as he became known) was the first of her natural children to live to adulthood. A second son, Frederick Granger Williams Smith (named after Frederick G. Williams, a counselor in the church's First Presidency), followed on June 29, 1836. As the Kirtland Temple was being constructed, Emma spearheaded an effort to house and clothe the construction workers.
While in Kirtland, Emma's feelings about temperance and the use of tobacco reportedly influenced her husband's decision to pray about dietary questions. These prayers resulted in the "Word of Wisdom". Also in Kirtland, Emma's first selection of hymns was published as a hymnal for the church's use. During the Panic of 1837, the Kirtland Safety Society, the banking venture that Joseph and other church leaders had set up to provide financing for the growing membership, collapsed, as did many financial institutions in the United States at that time. Emma herself held stock in the Society. The bank's demise led to serious problems for the church and the Smith family. Joseph received revelation from God to leave Kirtland for the safety of his family, and on January 12, 1838, Joseph left for Missouri. Many faithful saints soon followed.
Emma and her family followed and made a new home on the frontier in the Latter Day Saint settlement of Far West, Missouri, where Emma gave birth on June 2, 1838, to Alexander Hale Smith. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. Emma and her family were forced to leave the state, along with most other church members. She crossed the Mississippi River, which had frozen over in February 1839. Of these times, she later wrote:
Early years in Nauvoo, 1839–1844
Emma and her family lived with friendly non-Mormons John and Sarah Cleveland in Quincy, Illinois, until Joseph escaped custody in Missouri. The family moved to a new Latter Day Saint settlement in Illinois which Joseph named "Nauvoo". On May 10, 1839, they moved into a two-story log house in Nauvoo that they called the "Homestead". On June 13, 1840, Emma gave birth to a son, Don Carlos, named after his uncle Don Carlos Smith, Joseph's brother. Both Don Carlos Smiths would die the next year. The Smiths lived in the homestead until 1843, when a much larger house, known as the "Mansion House" was built across the street. A wing (no longer extant) was added to this house, which Emma operated as a hotel. She often took in young girls in need of work, giving them jobs as maids.
On March 17, 1842, the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formally organized as the women's auxiliary to the church. Emma became its founding president, with Sarah M. Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Whitney as her counselors. She had persuaded John Taylor and Joseph Smith to call the organization the "Relief Society" instead of the "Benevolent Society". The Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia records that Emma Smith "filled [the position] with marked distinction as long as the society continued to hold meetings in that city [Nauvoo]". She saw upholding morality as the primary purpose of the Relief Society. As "protecting the morals of the community" became her mission, Smith supported the public confession of sins; on this subject, Smith called the women of Nauvoo to repentance with "all the frankness of a Methodist exhorter." She served as president of the Relief Society until 1844. According to the minutes of the founding meeting, the organization was formed to "provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor, [search] after objects of charity [and] to assist by correcting the virtues of the female community". Shortly before this, Joseph had initiated the Anointed Quorum—a prayer circle of important church members that included Emma. As she had in Kirtland, Emma Smith led "the work of boarding and clothing the men engaged in building [the Nauvoo temple]". She also traveled with a committee to Quincy, Illinois, to present Illinois governor Thomas Carlin "a memorial ... in behalf of her people" after the Latter Day Saints had experienced persecution in the state.
Rumors concerning polygamy and other practices surfaced by 1842. Emma publicly condemned polygamy and denied any involvement by her husband. Emma authorized and was the main signatory of a petition in summer 1842 with a thousand female signatures, denying Joseph Smith was connected with polygamy. As president of the Ladies' Relief Society, she authorized the publishing of a certificate in October 1842 denouncing polygamy and denying her husband as its creator or participant.
In June 1844, the press of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper published by disaffected former church members, was destroyed by the town marshal on orders from the town council (of which Joseph was a member). This set into motion the events that ultimately led to Joseph's arrest and incarceration in the jail in Carthage, Illinois. A mob of about 200 armed men stormed the jail in the late afternoon of June 27, 1844, and both Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed.
Later years in Nauvoo, 1844–1879
Upon Joseph's death, Emma was left a pregnant widow. On November 17, 1844, she gave birth to David Hyrum Smith, the last child that she and Joseph had together. In addition to being church president, Joseph had been trustee-in-trust for the church. As a result, his estate was entirely wrapped up with the finances of the church. Joseph had also been in debt when he died, leaving the responsibility to pay it on Emma Smith's shoulders. Untangling the church's debts and property from Emma's personal debts and property proved to be a long and complicated process for Emma and her family.
Debates about who should be Joseph's successor as the leader of the church also involved Emma. Emma wanted William Marks, president of the church's central stake, to assume the church presidency, but Marks favored Sidney Rigdon for the role. After a meeting on August 8, a congregation of the church voted that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles should lead the church. Brigham Young, president of the quorum, then became the de facto president of the church in Nauvoo.
Relations between Young and Emma steadily deteriorated. Some of Emma's friends, as well as many members of the Smith family, alienated themselves from Young's followers. Conflicts between church members and neighbors also continued to escalate, and eventually Young made the decision to relocate the church to the Salt Lake Valley. When he and the majority of the Latter Day Saints of Nauvoo abandoned the city in early 1846, Emma and her children remained behind in the emptied town.
Nearly two years later, a close friend and non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon, proposed marriage and became Emma's second husband on December 23, 1847. A Methodist minister performed the ceremony. Bidamon moved into the Mansion House and became stepfather to Emma's children. She and Bidamon had no children of their own. Emma and Bidamon attempted to operate a store and to continue using their large house as a hotel, but Nauvoo had too few residents and visitors to make either venture very profitable. Emma and her family remained rich in real estate but poor in capital.
Unlike other members of the Smith family who had at times favored the claims of James J. Strang or William Smith, Emma and her children continued to live in Nauvoo as unaffiliated Latter Day Saints. Many Latter Day Saints believed that her eldest son, Joseph Smith III, would one day be called to hold the same position that his father had held. When he reported receiving a calling from God to take his father's place as head of a "New Organization" of the Latter Day Saint church, she supported his decision. Both she and Joseph III traveled to a conference at Amboy, Illinois. On April 6, 1860, Joseph was sustained as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which prefaced "Reorganized" to its name in 1872 and in 2001 became known as the Community of Christ. Emma became a member of the RLDS Church without rebaptism, as her original 1830 baptism was still considered valid.
Emma and Joseph III returned to Nauvoo after the conference and he led the church from there until moving to Plano, Illinois, in 1866. Joseph III called upon his mother to help prepare a hymnal for the reorganization, just as she had for the early church.
Smith and Bidamon bought and renovated a portion of the unfinished Nauvoo House in 1869. A few visitors from Brigham Young's faction of the Latter-day Saints came from Utah Territory to visit Smith at this house. Emma died peacefully in the Nauvoo House on April 30, 1879, at the age of 74. Her funeral was held May 2, 1879, in Nauvoo with RLDS Church minister Mark Hill Forscutt preaching the sermon.
Hymns and hymnals
Alongside W. W. Phelps, Emma Smith compiled a Latter Day Saint hymnal, published in 1835. It was titled A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints and contained 90 hymn texts but no music. Forty-eight were written by Latter Day Saints, and the remaining forty-two were not. The texts borrowed from Protestant groups were often changed slightly to reinforce the theology of the early church. For example, Hymn 15 changed Isaac Watts's Joy to the World from a song about Christmas to a song about the return of Christ (see Joy to the World (Phelps)). Many of these changes and a large number of the original songs included in the hymnal are attributed to W. W. Phelps.
Emma also compiled a second hymnal by the same title, which was published in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841. This contained 304 hymn texts.
When her son Joseph III became president of the RLDS Church, she was again asked to compile a hymnal. Latter Day Saints' Selection of Hymns was published in 1861.
Polygamy
Polygamy caused a breach between Joseph and Emma. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich argues that "Emma vacillated in her support for plural marriage, sometimes acquiescing to Joseph's sealings, sometimes resisting." Although she knew of some of her husband's marriages, she almost certainly did not know the full extent of his polygamous activities. In 1843, Emma temporarily accepted Smith's marriage to four women of her choosing who boarded in the Smith household, but later regretted her decision and demanded the other wives leave. That July, at his brother Hyrum's encouragement, Joseph dictated a revelation directing Emma to accept plural marriage. Hyrum delivered the message to Emma, but she furiously rejected it. Joseph and Emma were not reconciled over the matter until September 1843, after Emma began participating in temple ceremonies, and after Joseph made other concessions to her. The next year, in March 1844, Emma publicly denounced polygamy as evil and destructive; and though she did not directly disclose Smith's secret practice of plural marriage, she insisted that people should heed only what he taught publicly – implicitly challenging his private promulgation of polygamy.
Despite her knowledge of polygamy, Emma publicly denied that her husband had ever taken additional wives. While Smith was still alive, Emma spoke against polygamy, and she (along with multiple other signatories directly involved in polygamy) signed an 1842 petition denying that Smith or his church endorsed the practice. After his death, she continued to deny his polygamy. When Joseph III and Alexander specifically asked about polygamy in an interview with their mother, she stated, "No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband's death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of ... He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have".
Many of the Latter Day Saints who joined the RLDS Church in the midwestern United States had broken with Brigham Young and/or James Strang because of opposition to polygamy. Emma's continuing public denial of the practice seemed to lend strength to their cause, and opposition to polygamy became a tenet of the RLDS Church. Over the years, many RLDS Church historians have continued to state that the practice had originated with Brigham Young.
Children
Emma had eleven children with Joseph, five of whom lived into adulthood.
Alvin Smith (born and died on June 15, 1828, in Harmony, Pennsylvania)
Thaddeus and Louisa Smith (twins, born and died on April 30, 1831, in Kirtland, Ohio)
Joseph and Julia Murdock Smith (adopted twins, Joseph died at eleven months old)
Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832-December 10, 1914)
Frederick Granger Williams Smith (June 20, 1836-April 1862)
Alexander Hale Smith (June 2, 1838-1909)
Don Carlos Smith (June 13, 1840- August 15, 1841)
Unnamed son (stillborn, February 6, 1842, in Nauvoo, Illinois)
David Hyrum Smith (November 1844-August 1904)
Notes
References
Citations
Other sources
Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (New York: Doubleday, 1984). . 2nd edition. rev., Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
Michael Hicks, Mormonism and Music: A History, (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989; [Paperback Ed., 2003]).
Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, Vol. 4, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002).
Roger D. Launius, Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988).
Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, (New York: Knopf, 2005)
Sources
External links
Mormon enigma: Emma Hale Smith, prophet's wife, "elect lady," polygamy's foe (typewritten book draft), L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
Emma Hale Smith certificate, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
Smith family legal instruments, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
Testimony regarding Emma Smith Bidamon, Nauvoo, Illinois, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #FABE60;" |Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints titles
1804 births
1879 deaths
American Latter Day Saint hymnwriters
American Latter Day Saint leaders
American members of the Community of Christ
American people of English descent
Angelic visionaries
Book of Mormon witnesses
Burials at the Smith Family Cemetery
Converts to Mormonism
Doctrine and Covenants people
General Presidents of the Relief Society
Latter Day Saints from Illinois
Latter Day Saints from Ohio
Latter Day Saints from Pennsylvania
Leaders in the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
People from Nauvoo, Illinois
People from Palmyra, New York
Religious leaders from Pennsylvania
Smith family (Latter Day Saints)
Wives of Joseph Smith
Harold B. Lee Library-related 19th century articles |
425750 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northampton%20Town%20F.C. | Northampton Town F.C. | Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England, that compete in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, following promotion from the 2022–23 EFL League Two.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland League for two seasons, before joining the Southern League in 1901. They were crowned Southern League champions in 1908–09, allowing them to contest the 1909 FA Charity Shield. Admitted into the Football League in 1920, they spent the next 38 years in the Third Division South. Under Dave Bowen, the club achieved three promotions from the Fourth Division to the First Division within five years. However, Northampton only survived for one season in the top tier of English football after relegation in 1966. Northampton then experienced two further relegations in three years to return to the Fourth Division by 1969 – this set a record in English football of moving from the fourth tier to the first tier and back in only nine years. After six seasons of stability in the fourth tier, the club won promotion before returning to the Fourth Division after another relegation in 1977. Northampton won further promotions to the third tier in 1987 and 1997. Relegated in 1999, they won immediate promotion after securing an automatic promotion place the following season. However they were once more relegated after three seasons of struggle in the third tier, before securing promotion out of League Two in 2005–06 after two unsuccessful play-off campaigns. Relegated at the end of their third season in League One, they won the League Two title in 2015–16, but only lasted two seasons in League One before again being relegated. In 2020, they gained promotion to League One, but were relegated to League Two once again after a single season in the third tier.
Northampton are nicknamed the Cobblers, a reference to the town's historical shoe-making industry, and the team traditionally plays in claret and white kits. The Cobblers played at the County Ground from 1897 until 1994, when they moved to Sixfields Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,798. Northampton's predominant rivals have been Peterborough United in the Nene derby.
History
Formation and early history
The club was founded on 6 March 1897 by a group of local school teachers who, together with a local solicitor A.J "Pat" Darnell at The Princess Royal Inn, Wellingborough Road, formed the town's first professional football club. Initially, their chosen name was Northampton Football Club, but after objections from the town's rugby club, the club was called Northampton Town Football Club. They joined the Northants League and spent two seasons there, winning the championship the second season. They then spent two seasons in the Midland League, before joining the Southern League in 1901–02. Led by player-manager Herbert Chapman the club were champions of the Southern League in 1908–09 and played against Newcastle United in the Charity Shield match, losing 2–0 at The Oval.
Inter-war period
In 1919–20, the first season after the war, Town conceded a club record 103 goals. Nonetheless, the club was allowed to join the Football League for the following season, in Division Three (South). 1922–23 saw the club become a public company and 8,000 shares were released at £1. The season produced a record crowd of 18,123 against Plymouth on Boxing day and gate receipts for the first time exceeded £1,000. 1923–24 started with the club raising £5,000 to build a stand with a players' tunnel underneath and also improved terracing in the Hotel End. The following season saw the formation of the supporters' club. In 1925 the club's first foreign transfer took place as William Shaw was signed from Barcelona. A new ground record was set for the F.A. Cup third-round replay with Sunderland, 21,148 turned up to see the Cobblers lose 3–0. However, disaster occurred at the County Ground during December 1929, when a fire destroyed three stands, with damage valued at around £5,000. Only one stand was saved although this was charred. The source of the fire was thought to be in the away dressing room; the Cobblers had earlier entertained AFC Bournemouth reserves. By August 1930, the stands were rebuilt.
In 1932–33, the club created history when brothers Fred and Albert Dawes both scored in an 8–0 win over Newport County. The latter finished the season scoring 32 league goals and even scored four in a 4–0 win over the Netherlands national football team while the club was on tour. In 1933–34, the F.A. Cup fifth round was reached for the first time courtesy of a fourth round win away to Huddersfield Town who, at the time were top of Division One. The Cobblers lost to Preston North End 4–0 at Deepdale, setting a new ground record of 40,180. In the three seasons prior to the breakout of World War II, the Cobblers finished seventh, ninth and 17th respectively in Division Three (South). In the final match prior to the war, they travelled to Dean Court and lost 10–0, the club's record league defeat. During the war the Cobblers had the record for the first transfer fee received during the hostilities when Bobby King was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a substantial four-figure fee.
Rise and fall
Northampton were promoted three times in the five years 1960 to 1965. Starting the 1960–61 season in the Fourth Division, they reached the First Division in 1965–66, their only season ever in the top division of English football. They were then relegated back to the Fourth Division over the next five years, playing in the bottom tier again in 1969–70. During their top-flight season they earned a double against Aston Villa and victories at home over clubs including Leeds, Newcastle, West Ham, and Blackburn, the latter being the only team Northampton would finish above in the table.
Since their relegation from the Second Division in 1966–67, Northampton have played every season in either the third or fourth tier of English football.
1970s and 80s
In 1970, they lost 8–2 to Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round. Six of the goals conceded were scored by George Best, who received the match ball (signed by Northampton players) as a reward for his performance. For the first time since becoming a league side the club had to apply for re-election in 1971, they finished the most favoured club with 49 votes. In the 1974–75 season, future England International Phil Neal was sold, after 200 games in all competitions for the Cobblers, Liverpool bought Neal for a then club record of £65,000, whilst playing in the same side of another future England International, John Gregory. Finally during the 1975–76 season, the club finished 2nd in Division Four and were promoted behind champions Lincoln City. They did this without losing a home game and having every regular player scored during the season, including the goalkeeper, Alan Starling, who netted from a penalty in the penultimate home game against Hartlepool United. In 1976–77, the club were relegated back to Division Four, the season started with ex-Manchester United assistant manager, Pat Crerand in charge, however he resigned in the new year. No new manager was appointed, instead a committee was formed consisting of the chairman, the coach and three senior players. Prior to the start of the 1979–80 season, George Reilly was sold to Cambridge United for a then record of £165,000, he had been the club's top scorer for the previous two seasons.
New floodlights were installed in time for the 1980–81 season, but they failed during the first match against Southend United and the game had to be abandoned. The club struggled in the bottom half of the Fourth Division for the first half of the decade, however 16-year-old Aidy Mann became the club's youngest player. In 1984–85, the lowest ever league attendance was recorded at the County Ground where only 942 people turn up to watch the Cobblers lose 2–0 at home to Chester City; this was also the only ever league attendance under 1,000. In the same year, The club managed what seemed like a major coup when they appointed Tony Barton, who had won the European Cup with Aston Villa two years previously, as manager. Barton's only season in charge proved severely disappointing however, as the club were never outside the bottom two, and health problems forced Barton's resignation near the end of that season. Success was achieved under Barton's replacement, Graham Carr, who brought in several players from the non-league in addition to a number of quality league players to finish eighth in his first season in charge. The 1986–87 season saw Northampton win the Fourth Division championship, gaining a club record total of 99 points and scoring 103 goals, 29 of them to Richard Hill, who was transferred in the summer to Watford for a club record fee of £265,000. The club adjusted to life in Division Three quickly and just missed out on a play-off place despite finishing sixth. Important players such as Trevor Morley and Eddie McGoldrick were sold and the team fell back down to Division Four in the 1989–90 season.
Early 1990s
The 1990s began badly, with the club relegated to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1989–90 season. The following season began well as the club looked on course to return to the Third Division at the first attempt. They were top of the table in February, but fell away and finished mid-table. Things then got even worse and the club went into administration in April 1992, with debts of around £1.6 million. Ten players were sacked and youth players were drafted in to make up the numbers; results did not improve. These events sparked the formation of the Northampton Town Supporters' trust, which has a share holding in the club and a representative on the board of directors. This was the first such instance of a supporters' trust taking over a football club.
The club needed to win the final game of the 1992–93 season to avoid being relegated to the Conference. Over 2,500 made the trip to Shrewsbury Town and saw the Cobblers win 3–2, despite being 2–0 down at half-time. The 1993–94 season got worse for the Cobblers as they finished bottom of the Football League for the only time in the club's history. Relegation was only escaped due to the Conference champions, Kidderminster Harriers, not meeting the necessary ground criteria. The club eventually began its move to Sixfields.
The Sixfields era
The club moved to new ground, Sixfields Stadium, in October 1994. The change of ground did not change the club's fortunes and they finished 17th, with Ian Atkins taking over as manager from John Barnwell halfway through the 1994–95 season. After two more seasons, in the club's centenary season 1996–97, Atkins lead the Cobblers to Wembley for the first time in 100 years, where they beat Swansea City 1–0 in the play-off final, John Frain scored the winning goal from a twice-taken free kick deep into injury time. The following season Northampton made the Division Two play-off final, but lost 1–0 to Grimsby Town in front of a then record 62,998 crowd, with the greater than 40,000 Northampton fans also then a record for the most supporters taken to Wembley by one team. Northampton were not able to progress from the previous year's success because of long-term injuries to 16 of their players during the 1998–99 season. The team was relegated to Division Three, despite being unbeaten in the last nine games of the season. However, there were some promising results such as a 2–1 aggregate win over West Ham United in the League Cup. The 1999–2000 season saw the club bounce back to Division Two, finishing in the third automatic promotion spot. Ian Atkins left the club in October following a poor start to the season; his assistant, Kevin Wilson and coach Kevan Broadhurst took joint charge for the rest of the month. Wilson, the former Chelsea player, was appointed manager at the start of November, going on to win two manager of the month awards.
The following season started promisingly, with players such as Marco Gabbiadini and Jamie Forrester pushing the Cobblers towards a play-off place before the club eventually finished in 18th place due to a large number of injuries in the second half of the season. Kevin Wilson was sacked in November 2001, to make way for his assistant Kevan Broadhurst, who steered the Cobblers from relegation to a remarkable survival with a game to spare after losing only one home game from mid-January. The next season was the worst since the early 1990s, both financially and on the pitch. Early on they were forced into a 'Save our Season' campaign to keep afloat until the end of the year. It was required after the collapse of ITV Digital and much publicised takeover attempts by John Fashanu and Giovanni Di Stefano had failed and left the club with huge debts. They were taken over by a consortium run by Andrew Ellis, who sacked Broadhurst in January 2003, when Northampton were struggling at the foot of the division. He was briefly replaced by former England player Terry Fenwick who was sacked after a winless spell of seven games. This was, at the time, the eighth-shortest managerial reign in English football history. Martin Wilkinson, the new manager lasted little longer, being dismissed in October 2003 in favour of former Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Colin Calderwood. Calderwood led Northampton to the play-offs in his first season, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Mansfield Town after a penalty shoot-out. In the 2004–05 season, Northampton finished seventh, again in the play-offs, where they were defeated by Southend United. Following this, the manager made substantial changes to the squad, bringing in experienced players such as Ian Taylor and Eoin Jess, and they enjoyed a successful 2005–06 league season. On 29 April, the Cobblers clinched promotion to Football League One, with a 1–0 win at home to Chester City. On 30 May 2006, Northampton announced that Calderwood was leaving to join Nottingham Forest as their new manager, and he was replaced by John Gorman on 5 June. On 20 December, Gorman resigned due to "personal issues" with the side 18th in the table, with Ian Sampson and Jim Barron briefly taking care of first team affairs. He was replaced by former Southampton boss Stuart Gray on 2 January 2007. The Cobblers were relegated from league one on the final day of the 2008–09 season, after suffering a 3–0 defeat away at Leeds United and other results went against them.
Northampton caused an upset in the third round of the 2010–11 Football League Cup, knocking out Liverpool at Anfield. The game was drawn 2–2 after extra time, and the Cobblers beat the team 69 places above them 4–2 on penalties, the winning penalty being scored by Abdul Osman at the 'Kop End'. Ian Sampson was sacked as manager on 2 March 2011 after a poor run of form saw the Cobblers fail to win in eight games and sit in a disappointing 16th position in League 2. Sampson's last game in charge was a 2–3 defeat against Burton Albion, the manner of this defeat ultimately costing him his job. Sampson's sacking brought to an end a 17-year association with Northampton, and his commitment to the club has guaranteed his status as a legend in fans' hearts.
David Cardoza moved quickly and Gary Johnson was unveiled as the new manager on 4 March 2011. However, things didn't go well under Gary Johnson: the club slid further down the table in League 2 and only just avoided relegation at the end of the 2010–11 season. The beginning of the 2011–12 season saw no improvement for the Cobblers and Gary Johnson left the club on 14 November 2011 by mutual consent. In November 2011, Northampton appointed ex-Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd as their new manager. After drafting in players such as Ben Harding, Luke Guttridge and Clarke Carlisle, Boothroyd managed to keep Northampton in the league and in the summer set about transforming the club into a club with promotion ambitions. On 18 May 2013, Northampton reached the League Two play-off final, losing 3–0 to Bradford City at Wembley Stadium.
After a poor start to the 2013–14 League Two season, Northampton found themselves at the foot of the table, and as of 21 December, they had only won four games. Boothroyd was subsequently sacked. From the start of the 2013–14 season, Northampton shared their Sixfields Stadium with Coventry City with the West Midlands club going through a protracted dispute with the owners of their previous home, the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. On 27 January 2014, David Cardoza appointed former Oxford United manager Chris Wilder as the new manager of the club on a three and half-year deal.
In October 2015, HM Revenue and Customs issued the club with a winding-up petition over unpaid taxes. (See Sixfields Stadium) In February 2016, Northampton Town broke their club record of eight successive wins by beating Wycombe Wanderers 1–0, extending the winning run to nine. The 2015–16 season was successful and resulted in promotion to League One on 9 April. A draw at Exeter combined with Oxford United's defeat at home to Luton Town meant that they clinched the League Two championship a week later on 16 April.
The Cobblers went on to play their first season in the third tier of English football since 2009. In the 2016–17 season, after a 5–0 defeat to Bristol Rovers, Rob Page was sacked and replaced with Justin Edinburgh. Northampton finished 16th, meaning that they would continue to play third-tier football. They made it to the Third Round of the EFL Cup, where they lost to Manchester United. On 26 June 2017 a 60% stake in Northampton Town was purchased by Chinese company 5uSport. The company indicated that they would invest in both the playing budget and stadium development. Although the investment was technically a takeover, Kelvin Thomas remained chairman and the two parties have acted in partnership since.
On 4 September 2017, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was appointed as manager on a three-year deal, replacing Justin Edinburgh who had been sacked after four losses from the start of the season. His first game was against Doncaster Rovers five days later, a home tie which ended in a 1–0 victory for Northampton Town. He was sacked on 2 April 2018 after Northampton Town went 9 games without a win and was replaced by Keith Curle. He had his contract extended in July 2020 for a further two years.
On 29 June 2020, the club were promoted to League One after beating Exeter City 4–0 in the play-off final, despite a delay in the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. This was Northampton's fourth EFL play-off final and it ended in victory, 23 seasons after their only other Wembley win for promotion. They made it to Wembley after a second leg comeback against Cheltenham Town, after the first leg at Sixfields Stadium they had trailed 2–0 and faced an uphill battle to progress to the play off final. However, in the second leg, Cobblers performed the turnaround by winning 3–0 away from home. However, Northampton were relegated back to League Two in their first season after finishing 22nd in the 2020–21 season.
In the 2021–22 season Northampton finished 4th, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion on the final day to Bristol Rovers. Although Northampton started the final day in the automatic positions and managed to win their away match to Barrow 3–1, Bristol Rovers managed to beat Scunthorpe United 7–0. This meant Rovers would gain the final automatic promotion place based on goals scored across the season. In the play-off semi-finals, the Cobblers were subsequently defeated by Mansfield Town 3–1 on aggregate.
On the last day of the 2022–23 season, they defeated Tranmere Rovers to win automatic promotion to League One.
Club crest and colours
Shirt sponsors and manufacturers
Northampton's kit has been manufactured by Puma since 2023. Previous manufacturers have included Bukta (1975–82), Adidas (1982–83), Umbro (1983–86), Spall (1986–88), MG (1988–89), Scoreline (1989–91), Beaver Sports (1991–92), Ribero (1992–93), Swift (1993–94), Lotto (1995–97), Pro Star (1997–2000), Sport House (2000–03), Xara (2003–05), Salming (2005–06), Vandanel (2006–09), Errea (2009–16), Nike (2016–20), Hummel (2020–23) and Puma (2023–).
The club's shirts are sponsored by the University of Northampton, since 2013, and PTS Academy, since 2016. Previous sponsors have included Chronicle & Echo (1985–86 and 1994–95), TNT (1986–88), Costain Homes (1988–91), Van Aid (1991–92), Carpet Supacentre (1992–94), Lotto (1995–97), EBS Mobile Phones (1997–98), Nationwide (1998–2003), Jackson Grundy (2007–13), Red Hot Buffet (2011–12), Gala Casinos (2012–13), and Opus Energy (2015–18)
Stadiums
County Ground
Northampton moved to the county ground in 1897, sharing it with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club from 1905. The main stand was situated alongside Abington Avenue and was a covered stand with seating to the rear and terracing to the front. The stand survived until 1985, but following the Bradford City stadium fire, it was deemed unsafe and demolished, leaving only the terracing. This was then replaced by a small temporary stand nicknamed the ' Meccano Stand ' by fans. The other two stands were at the ends with the Spion Kop, which only reached the goalposts, usually used for away supporters and the Hotel End for the home supporters. In 1965–66, the only time that Northampton Town were in the top flight of English football, the county ground saw its highest attendance 24,523 against Fulham on 23 April 1966. The ground also saw Northampton's lowest ever attendance in the Football League, a crowd of 942 for the 1984–85 match against Chester City. The last game to be played at the ground was a 1–0 defeat by Mansfield Town on Tuesday, 12 October 1994.
Sixfields Stadium
The club moved to Sixfields Stadium in 1994. It is a modern all-seater stadium with a capacity of 7,653 and award-winning disabled facilities. The stadium plan is simple with the west stand seating 4,000, opposite the smaller 1,000-capacity east stand known as the Alwyn Hargrave stand after the Ex-Borough Councillor who helped the stadium become reality. At either end are identical stands that are the same height as the east stand, the south stand usually for away supporters. (Against Chester City on 29 April 2006, the stand was split and supporters segregated to allow the maximum number of home supporters to witness the club's promotion to League One.) The north Stand is known as the Sheinman Opticians Stand, due to a naming rights partnership with local Opticians, Sheinman Opticians.
The stadium was renamed the PTS Academy Stadium in June 2018 after the club agreed a naming rights partnership with local training provider PTS Training Academy.
The name of the stadium reverted to Sixfields Stadium in July 2021, following the liquidation of PTS Training Academy.
Training ground
Since July 2016, Northampton have trained at Moulton College in Moulton, Northampton. Before this, they trained at the former athletics track, located at the back of the East Stand at Sixfields Stadium.
Supporters and rivalries
The club's biggest traditional rivals are Peterborough United, a rivalry which has endured since the 1960s. Other significant rivalries include Oxford United, Milton Keynes Dons, Coventry City, Cambridge United and Rushden & Diamonds.
Honours
League
Second Division (level 2)
Runners-up: 1964–65
Third Division (level 3)
Champions: 1962–63
Runners-up: 1927–28, 1949–50
Fourth Division / League Two (level 4)
Champions: 1986–87, 2015–16
Runners-up: 1975–76, 2005–06
Promoted: 1960–61, 1999–2000, 2022–23
Play-off winners: 1997, 2020
Southern League
Champions: 1908–09
Runners-up: 1910–11
Cup
FA Charity Shield
Runners-up: 1909
Notes
A. On its formation for the 1992–93 season, the Premier League became the top tier of English football; the First, Second and Third Divisions then became the second, third and fourth tiers, respectively.
Club records
Northampton Town hold the record for the shortest time taken to be promoted from the bottom tier to the top tier and relegated back down to the bottom again, in the space of nine years.
Tommy Fowler holds the record for Northampton Town appearances, having played 552 first-team matches between 1946 and 1961. Centre half and former captain Ian Sampson comes second, with 449 games. The record for a goalkeeper is held by Peter Gleasure, with 412 appearances.
Jack English is the club's top goalscorer with 143 goals in competitive matches between 1947 and 1959, having surpassed Teddy Bowen's total of 120. Bowen's record had stood since September 1931, when he overtook the total of 110 goals set by striker William Lockett in 1930.
The highest attendance at the County Ground of 24,523 was on 23 April 1966 in an important relegation battle in the First Division against Fulham. It is unlikely that this record will be broken unless redevelopment takes place at Sixfields. The record attendance at Sixfields is 7,798, for an EFL Cup match against Manchester United on 21 September 2016.
Players
Current squad
Out on loan
PFA Team of the Year
The following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Northampton Town:
1974–75 Paul Stratford
1980–81 Steve Phillips
1986–87 Keith McPherson, Richard Hill, Trevor Morley
1999–2000 Ian Hendon
2005–06 Ian Taylor, Josh Low
2015–16 Adam Smith, John-Joe O'Toole, Ricky Holmes
2019–20 Charlie Goode, Nicky Adams
2021–22 Liam Roberts, Jon Guthrie, Fraser Horsfall
2022–23 Sam Hoskins
Cult heroes
The following were chosen by fans as the favourite club heroes in the BBC Sports Cult Heroes poll in 2006:
Andy Woodman
John Frain
Dave Bowen
Club management
Staff positions
Manager: Jon Brady
Head of academy / First Team Coach: Ian Sampson
First Team Coach / U21 Player Pathway Manager: Marc Richards
Head of Goalkeeping: James Alger
S & C Lead: Ashlee Adebayo
S & C Assistant: Joe Power
First Team Physio: Michael Bolger
First Team Analyst: Liam Jefferson
Head Strategic & Recruitment Analyst: Alex Latimer
Kit Manager: Adam Moreton
Board of directors and ownership
Executive chairman: Kelvin Thomas
President: Bob Church
Director: David Bower
Non-executive director: Mike Wailing
Managerial history
Below is a list of all permanent managers of Northampton Town since its foundation in 1897.
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425753 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late%20Ordovician%20mass%20extinction | Late Ordovician mass extinction | The Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME), sometimes known as the end-Ordovician mass extinction or the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, is the first of the "big five" major mass extinction events in Earth's history, occurring roughly 445 million years ago (Ma). It is often considered to be the second-largest known extinction event, in terms of the percentage of genera that became extinct. Extinction was global during this interval, eliminating 49–60% of marine genera and nearly 85% of marine species. Under most tabulations, only the Permian-Triassic mass extinction exceeds the Late Ordovician mass extinction in biodiversity loss. The extinction event abruptly affected all major taxonomic groups and caused the disappearance of one third of all brachiopod and bryozoan families, as well as numerous groups of conodonts, trilobites, echinoderms, corals, bivalves, and graptolites. Despite its taxonomic severity, the Late Ordovician mass extinction did not produce major changes to ecosystem structures compared to other mass extinctions, nor did it lead to any particular morphological innovations. Diversity gradually recovered to pre-extinction levels over the first 5 million years of the Silurian period.
The Late Ordovician mass extinction is traditionally considered to occur in two distinct pulses. The first pulse (interval), known as LOMEI-1, began at the boundary between the Katian and Hirnantian stages of the Late Ordovician epoch. This extinction pulse is typically attributed to the Late Ordovician glaciation, which abruptly expanded over Gondwana at the beginning of the Hirnantian and shifted the Earth from a greenhouse to icehouse climate. Cooling and a falling sea level brought on by the glaciation led to habitat loss for many organisms along the continental shelves, especially endemic taxa with restricted temperature tolerance and latitudinal range. During this extinction pulse there were also several marked changes in biologically responsive carbon and oxygen isotopes. Marine life partially rediversified during the cold period and a new cold-water ecosystem, the "Hirnantia fauna", was established.
The second pulse (interval) of extinction, referred to as LOMEI-2, occurred in the later half of the Hirnantian as the glaciation abruptly receded and warm conditions returned. The second pulse was associated with intense worldwide anoxia (oxygen depletion) and euxinia (toxic sulfide production), which persisted into the subsequent Rhuddanian stage of the Silurian Period.
Some researchers have proposed the existence of a third distinct pulse of the mass extinction during the early Rhuddanian, evidenced by a negative carbon isotope excursion and a pulse of anoxia into shelf environments amidst already low background oxygen levels. Others, however, have argued that Rhuddanian anoxia was simply part of the second pulse, which according to this view was longer and more drawn out than most authors suggest.
Impact on life
Ecological impacts
The Late Ordovician mass extinction followed the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), one of the largest surges of increasing biodiversity in the geological and biological history of the Earth. At the time of the extinction, most complex multicellular organisms lived in the sea, and the only evidence of life on land are rare spores from small early land plants.
At the time of the extinction, around 100 marine families became extinct, covering about 49% of genera (a more reliable estimate than species). The brachiopods and bryozoans were strongly impacted, along with many of the trilobite, conodont and graptolite families. The extinction was divided into two major extinction pulses. The first pulse occurred at the base of the global Metabolograptus extraordinarius graptolite biozone, which marks the end of the Katian stage and the start of the Hirnantian stage. The second pulse of extinction occurred in the later part of the Hirnantian stage, coinciding with the Metabolograptus persculptus zone. Each extinction pulse affected different groups of animals and was followed by a rediversification event. Statistical analysis of marine losses at this time suggests that the decrease in diversity was mainly caused by a sharp increase in extinctions, rather than a decrease in speciation.
Following such a major loss of diversity, Silurian communities were initially less complex and broader niched. Nonetheless, in South China, warm-water benthic communities with complex trophic webs thrived immediately following LOME. Highly endemic faunas, which characterized the Late Ordovician, were replaced by faunas that were amongst the most cosmopolitan in the Phanerozoic, biogeographic patterns that persisted throughout most of the Silurian. LOME had few of the long-term ecological impacts associated with the Permian–Triassic and Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction events. Furthermore, biotic recovery from LOME proceeded at a much faster rate than it did after the Permian-Triassic extinction. Nevertheless, a large number of taxa disappeared from the Earth over a short time interval, eliminating and altering the relative diversity and abundance of certain groups. The Cambrian-type evolutionary fauna nearly died out, and was unable to rediversify after the extinction.
Biodiversity changes in marine invertebrates
Brachiopod diversity and composition was strongly affected, with the Cambrian-type inarticulate brachiopods (linguliforms and craniiforms) never recovering their pre-extinction diversity. Articulate (rhynchonelliform) brachiopods, part of the Paleozoic evolutionary fauna, were more variable in their response to the extinction. Some early rhynchonelliform groups, such as the Orthida and Strophomenida, declined significantly. Others, including the Pentamerida, Athyridida, Spiriferida, and Atrypida, were less affected and took the opportunity to diversify after the extinction. The extinction pulse at the end of the Katian was selective in its effects, disproportionally affecting deep-water species and tropical endemics inhabiting epicontinental seas. The Foliomena fauna, an assemblage of thin-shelled species adapted for deep dysoxic (low oxygen) waters, went extinct completely in the first extinction pulse. The Foliomena fauna was formerly widespread and resistant to background extinction rates prior to the Hirnantian, so their unexpected extinction points towards the abrupt loss of their specific habitat. During the glaciation, a high-latitude brachiopod assemblage, the Hirnantia fauna, established itself along outer shelf environments in lower latitudes, probably in response to cooling. However, the Hirnantia fauna would meet its demise in the second extinction pulse, replaced by Silurian-style assemblages adapted for warmer waters. The brachiopod survival intervals following the second pulse spanned the terminal Hirnantian to the middle Rhuddanian, after which the recovery interval began and lasted until the early Aeronian. Overall, the brachiopod recovery in the late Rhuddanian was rapid. Brachiopod survivors of the mass extinction tended to be endemic to one palaeoplate or even one locality in the survival interval in the earliest Silurian, though their ranges geographically expanded over the course of the biotic recovery. The region around what is today Oslo was a hotbed of atrypide rediversification. Brachiopod recovery consisted mainly of the reestablishment of cosmopolitan brachiopod taxa from the Late Ordovician. Progenitor taxa that arose following the mass extinction displayed numerous novel adaptations for resisting environmental stresses. Although some brachiopods did experience the Lilliput effect in response to the extinction, this phenomenon was not particularly widespread compared to other mass extinctions.
Trilobites were hit hard by both phases of the extinction, with about 70% of genera and 50% of families going extinct between the Katian and Silurian. The extinction disproportionately affected deep water species and groups with fully planktonic larvae or adults. The order Agnostida was completely wiped out, and the formerly diverse Asaphida survived with only a single genus, Raphiophorus. A cool-water trilobite assemblage, the Mucronaspis fauna, coincides with the Hirnantia brachiopod fauna in the timing of its expansion and demise. Trilobite faunas after the extinction were dominated by families that appeared in the Ordovician and survived LOME, such as Encrinuridae and Odontopleuridae.
Over a third of bryozoan genera went extinct, but most families survived the extinction interval and the group as a whole recovered in the Silurian. The hardest-hit subgroups were the cryptostomes and trepostomes, which never recovered the full extent of their Ordovician diversity. Bryozoan extinctions started in coastal regions of Laurentia, before high extinction rates shifted to Baltica by the end of the Hirnantian. Bryozoan biodiversity loss appears to have been a prolonged process which partially preceded the Hirnantian extinction pulses. Extinction rates among Ordovician bryozoan genera were actually higher in the early and late Katian, and origination rates sharply dropped in the late Katian and Hirnantian.
About 70% of crinoid genera died out. Early studies of crinoid biodiversity loss by Jack Sepkoski overestimated crinoid biodiversity losses during LOME. Most extinctions occurred in the first pulse. However, they rediversified quickly in tropical areas and reacquired their pre-extinction diversity not long into the Silurian. Many other echinoderms became very rare after the Ordovician, such as the cystoids, edrioasteroids, and other early crinoid-like groups.
Stromatoporoid generic and familial taxonomic diversity was not significantly impacted by the mass extinction. Sponges thrived and dominated marine ecosystems in South China immediately after the extinction event, colonising depauperate, anoxic environments in the earliest Rhuddanian. Their pervasiveness in marine environments after the biotic crisis has been attributed to drastically decreased competition and an abundance of vacant niches left behind by organisms that perished in the catastrophe. Sponges may have assisted the recovery of other clades, doing so by helping stabilise sediment surfaces, enabling bryozoans, brachiopods, corals, and other sessile suspension feeders to recolonise the seafloor.
Probable causes
Glaciation
The first pulse of the Late Ordovician Extinction has typically been attributed to the Late Ordovician Glaciation. Although there was a longer cooling trend in Middle and Lower Ordovician, the most severe and abrupt period of glaciation occurred in the Hirnantian stage, which was bracketed by both pulses of the extinction. The rapid continental glaciation was centered on Gondwana, which was located at the South Pole in the Late Ordovician. The Hirnantian glaciation is considered one of the most severe ice ages of the Paleozoic, which previously maintained the relatively warm climate conditions of a greenhouse earth.
The cause of the glaciation is heavily debated. The late Ordovician glaciation was preceded by a fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide (from 7,000 ppm to 4,400 ppm). Atmospheric and oceanic CO2 levels may have fluctuated with the growth and decay of Gondwanan glaciation. The appearance and development of terrestrial plants and microphytoplankton, which consumed atmospheric carbon dioxide, may have diminished the greenhouse effect and promoting the transition of the climatic system to the glacial mode. Heavy silicate weathering of the uplifting Appalachians and Caledonides occurred during the Late Ordovician, which sequestered CO2. In the Hirnantian stage the volcanism diminished, and the continued weathering caused a significant and rapid draw down of CO2 coincident with the rapid and short ice age. As Earth cooled and sea levels dropped, highly weatherable carbonate platforms became exposed above water, enkindling a positive feedback loop of inorganic carbon sequestration. A hypothetical large igneous province emplaced during the Katian whose existence is unproven has been speculated to have been the sink that absorbed carbon dioxide and precipitated Hirnantian cooling. Alternatively, volcanic activity may have caused the cooling by supplying sulphur aerosols to the atmosphere and generating severe volcanic winters that triggered a runaway ice-albedo positive feedback loop. In addition, volcanic fertilisation of the oceans with phosphorus may have increased populations of photosynthetic algae and enhanced biological sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Increased burial of organic carbon is another method of drawing down carbon dioxide from the air that may have played a role in the Late Ordovician. Other studies point to an asteroid strike and impact winter as the culprit for the glaciation. True polar wander and the associated rapid palaeogeographic changes have also been proposed as a cause.
Two environmental changes associated with the glaciation were responsible for much of the Late Ordovician extinction. First, the cooling global climate was probably especially detrimental because the biota were adapted to an intense greenhouse, especially because most shallow sea habitats in the Ordovician were located in the tropics. The southward shift of the polar front severely contracted the available latitudinal range of warm-adapted organisms. Second, sea level decline, caused by sequestering of water in the ice cap, drained the vast epicontinental seaways and eliminated the habitat of many endemic communities. Falling sea levels may have acted as a positive feedback loop accelerating further cooling; as shallow seas receded, carbonate-shelf production declined and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels correspondingly decreased, fostering even more cooling.
Ice caps formed on the southern supercontinent Gondwana as it drifted over the South Pole. Correlating rock strata have been detected in Late Ordovician rock strata of North Africa and then-adjacent northeastern South America, which were south-polar locations at the time. Glaciation locks up water from the world-ocean and interglacials free it, causing sea levels repeatedly to drop and rise; the vast, shallow Ordovician seas withdrew, which eliminated many ecological niches, then returned, carrying diminished founder populations lacking many whole families of organisms. Then they withdrew again with the next pulse of glaciation, eliminating biological diversity at each change. In the North African strata, five pulses of glaciation from seismic sections are recorded. In the Yangtze Platform, a relict warm-water fauna continued to persist because South China blocked the transport of cold waters from Gondwanan waters at higher latitudes.
This incurred a shift in the location of bottom water formation, shifting from low latitudes, characteristic of greenhouse conditions, to high latitudes, characteristic of icehouse conditions, which was accompanied by increased deep-ocean currents and oxygenation of the bottom water. An opportunistic fauna briefly thrived there, before anoxic conditions returned. The breakdown in the oceanic circulation patterns brought up nutrients from the abyssal waters. Surviving species were those that coped with the changed conditions and filled the ecological niches left by the extinctions.
However, not all studies agree that cooling and glaciation caused LOMEI-1. One study suggests that the first pulse began not during the rapid Hirnantian ice cap expansion but in an interval of deglaciation following it.
Anoxia and euxinia
Another heavily-discussed factor in the Late Ordovician mass extinction is anoxia, the absence of dissolved oxygen in seawater. Anoxia not only deprives most life forms of a vital component of respiration, it also encourages the formation of toxic metal ions and other compounds. One of the most common of these poisonous chemicals is hydrogen sulfide, a biological waste product and major component of the sulfur cycle. Oxygen depletion when combined with high levels of sulfide is called euxinia. Though less toxic, ferrous iron (Fe2+) is another substance which commonly forms in anoxic waters. Anoxia is the most common culprit for the second pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction and is connected to many other mass extinctions throughout geological time. It may have also had a role in the first pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction, though support for this hypothesis is inconclusive and contradicts other evidence for high oxygen levels in seawater during the glaciation.
Early Hirnantian anoxia
Some geologists have argued that anoxia played a role in the first extinction pulse, though this hypothesis is controversial. In the early Hirnantian, shallow-water sediments throughout the world experience a large positive excursion in the δ34S ratio of buried pyrite. This ratio indicates that shallow-water pyrite which formed at the beginning of the glaciation had a decreased proportion of 32S, a common lightweight isotope of sulfur. 32S in the seawater could hypothetically be used up by extensive deep-sea pyrite deposition. The Ordovician ocean also had very low levels of sulfate, a nutrient which would otherwise resupply 32S from the land. Pyrite forms most easily in anoxic and euxinic environments, while better oxygenation encourages the formation of gypsum instead. As a result, anoxia and euxinia would need to be common in the deep sea to produce enough pyrite to shift the δ34S ratio.
Thallium isotope ratios can also be used as indicators of anoxia. A major positive ε205Tl excursion in the late Katian, just before the Katian-Hirnantian boundary, likely reflects a global enlargement of oxygen minimum zones. During the late Katian, thallium isotopic perturbations indicating proliferation of anoxic waters notably preceded the appearance of other geochemical indicators of the expansion of anoxia.
A more direct proxy for anoxic conditions is FeHR/FeT. This ratio describes the comparative abundance of highly reactive iron compounds which are only stable without oxygen. Most geological sections corresponding to the beginning of the Hirnantian glaciation have FeHR/FeT below 0.38, indicating oxygenated waters. However, higher FeHR/FeT values are known from a few deep-water early Hirnantian sequences found in China and Nevada. Elevated FePy/FeHR values have also been found in association with LOMEI-1, including ones above 0.8 that are tell-tale indicators of euxinia.
Glaciation could conceivably trigger anoxic conditions, albeit indirectly. If continental shelves are exposed by falling sea levels, then organic surface runoff flows into deeper oceanic basins. The organic matter would have more time to leach out phosphate and other nutrients before being deposited on the seabed. Increased phosphate concentration in the seawater would lead to eutrophication and then anoxia. Deep-water anoxia and euxinia would impact deep-water benthic fauna, as expected for the first pulse of extinction. Chemical cycle disturbances would also steepen the chemocline, restricting the habitable zone of planktonic fauna which also go extinct in the first pulse. This scenario is congruent with both organic carbon isotope excursions and general extinction patterns observed in the first pulse.
However, data supporting deep-water anoxia during the glaciation contrasts with more extensive evidence for well-oxygenated waters. Black shales, which are indicative of an anoxic environment, become very rare in the early Hirnantian compared to surrounding time periods. Although early Hirnantian black shales can be found in a few isolated ocean basins (such as the Yangtze platform of China), from a worldwide perspective these correspond to local events. Some Chinese sections record an early Hirnantian increase in the abundance of Mo-98, a heavy isotope of molybdenum. This shift can correspond to a balance between minor local anoxia and well-oxygenated waters on a global scale. Other trace elements point towards increased deep-sea oxygenation at the start of the glaciation. Oceanic current modelling suggest that glaciation would have encouraged oxygenation in most areas, apart from the Paleo-Tethys ocean. Devastation of the Dicranograptidae-Diplograptidae-Orthograptidae (DDO) graptolite fauna, which was well adapted to anoxic conditions, further suggests that LOMEI-1 was associated with increased oxygenation of the water column and not the other way around.
Deep-sea anoxia is not the only explanation for the δ34S excursion of pyrite. Carbonate-associated sulfate maintains high 32S levels, indicating that seawater in general did not experience 32S depletion during the glaciation. Even if pyrite burial did increase at that time, its chemical effects would have been far too slow to explain the rapid excursion or extinction pulse. Instead, cooling may lower the metabolism of warm-water aerobic bacteria, reducing decomposition of organic matter. Fresh organic matter would eventually sink down and supply nutrients to sulfate-reducing microbes living in the seabed. Sulfate-reducing microbes prioritize 32S during anaerobic respiration, leaving behind heavier isotopes. A bloom of sulfate-reducing microbes can quickly account for the δ34S excursion in marine sediments without a corresponding decrease in oxygen.
A few studies have proposed that the first extinction pulse did not begin with the Hirnantian glaciation, but instead corresponds to an interglacial period or other warming event. Anoxia would be the most likely mechanism of extinction in a warming event, as evidenced by other extinctions involving warming. However, this view of the first extinction pulse is controversial and not widely accepted.
Late Hirnantian anoxia
The late Hirnantian experienced a dramatic increase in the abundance of black shales. Coinciding with the retreat of the Hirnantian glaciation, black shale expands out of isolated basins to become the dominant oceanic sediment at all latitudes and depths. The worldwide distribution of black shales in the late Hirnantian is indicative of a global anoxic event, which has been termed the Hirnantian ocean anoxic event (HOAE). Corresponding to widespread anoxia are δ34SCAS, δ98Mo, δ238U, and εNd(t) excursions found in many different regions. At least in European sections, late Hirnantian anoxic waters were originally ferruginous (dominated by ferrous iron) before gradually becoming more euxinic. In the Yangtze Sea, located on the western margins of the South China microcontinent, the second extinction pulse occurred alongside intense euxinia which spread out from the middle of the continental shelf. Mercury loading in South China during LOMEI-2 was likely related to euxinia. However, some evidence suggests that the top of the water column in the Ordovician oceans remained well oxygenated even as the seafloor became deoxygenated. On a global scale, euxinia was probably one or two orders of magnitude more prevalent than in the modern day. Global anoxia may have lasted more than 3 million years, persisting through the entire Rhuddanian stage of the Silurian period. This would make the Hirnantian-Rhuddanian anoxia one of the longest-lasting anoxic events in geologic time.
The cause of the Hirnantian-Rhuddanian anoxic event is uncertain. Like most global anoxic events, an increased supply of nutrients (such as nitrates and phosphates) would encourage algal or microbial blooms that deplete oxygen levels in the seawater. The most likely culprits are cyanobacteria, which can use nitrogen fixation to produce usable nitrogen compounds in the absence of nitrates. Nitrogen isotopes during the anoxic event record high rates of denitrification, a biological process which depletes nitrates. The Nitrogen-fixing ability of cyanobacteria would give them an edge over inflexible competitors like eukaryotic algae. At Anticosti Island, a uranium isotope excursion consistent with anoxia actually occurs prior to indicators of receding glaciation. This may suggest that the Hirnantian-Rhuddanian anoxic event (and its corresponding extinction) began during the glaciation, not after it. Cool temperatures can lead to upwelling, cycling nutrients into productive surface waters via air and ocean cycles. Upwelling could instead be encouraged by increasing oceanic stratification through an input of freshwater from melting glaciers. This would be more reasonable if the anoxic event coincided with the end of glaciation, as supported by most other studies. However, oceanic models argue that marine currents would recover too quickly for freshwater disruptions to have a meaningful effect on nutrient cycles. Retreating glaciers could expose more land to weathering, which would be a more sustained source of phosphates flowing into the ocean. There is also evidence implicating volcanism as a contributor to Late Hirnantian anoxia.
There were few clear patterns of extinction associated with the second extinction pulse. Every region and marine environment experienced the second extinction pulse to some extent. Many taxa which survived or diversified after the first pulse were finished off in the second pulse. These include the Hirnantia brachiopod fauna and Mucronaspis trilobite fauna, which previously thrived in the cold glacial period. Other taxa such as graptolites and warm-water reef denizens were less affected. Sediments from China and Baltica seemingly show a more gradual replacement of the Hirnantia fauna after glaciation. Although this suggests that the second extinction pulse may have been a minor event at best, other paleontologists maintain that an abrupt ecological turnover accompanied the end of glaciation. There may be a correlation between the relatively slow recovery after the second extinction pulse, and the prolonged nature of the anoxic event which accompanied it.
Early Rhuddanian anoxia
Deposition of black graptolite shales continued to be common into the earliest Rhuddanian, indicating that anoxia persisted well into the Llandovery. A sharp reduction in the average size of many organisms, likely attributable to the Lilliput effect, and the disappearance of many relict taxa from the Ordovician indicate a third extinction interval linked to an expansion of anoxic conditions into shallower shelf environments, particularly in Baltica. This sharp decline in dissolved oxygen concentrations was likely linked to a period of global warming documented by a negative carbon isotope excursion preserved in Baltican sediments.
Other possible factors
Metal poisoning
Toxic metals on the ocean floor may have dissolved into the water when the oceans' oxygen was depleted. An increase in available nutrients in the oceans may have been a factor, and decreased ocean circulation caused by global cooling may also have been a factor. Hg/TOC values from the Peri-Baltic region indicate noticeable spikes in mercury concentrations during the lower late Katian, the Katian-Hirnantian boundary, and the late Hirnantian.
The toxic metals may have killed life forms in lower trophic levels of the food chain, causing a decline in population, and subsequently resulting in starvation for the dependent higher feeding life forms in the chain.
Gamma-ray burst
A minority hypothesis to explain the first burst has been proposed by Philip Ball, Adrian Lewis Melott, and Brian C. Thomas, suggesting that the initial extinctions could have been caused by a gamma-ray burst originating from a hypernova in a nearby arm of the Milky Way galaxy, within 6,000 light-years of Earth. A ten-second burst would have stripped the Earth's atmosphere of half of its ozone almost immediately, exposing surface-dwelling organisms, including those responsible for planetary photosynthesis, to high levels of extreme ultraviolet radiation. Under this hypothesis, several groups of marine organisms with a planktonic lifestyle were more exposed to UV radiation than groups that lived on the seabed. It is estimated that 20% to 60% of the total phytoplankton biomass on Earth would have been killed in such an event because the oceans were mostly oligotrophic and clear during the Late Ordovician. This is consistent with observations that planktonic organisms suffered severely during the first extinction pulse. In addition, species dwelling in shallow water were more likely to become extinct than species dwelling in deep water, also consistent with the hypothetical effects of a galactic gamma-ray burst.
A gamma-ray burst could also explain the rapid expansion of glaciers, since the high energy rays would cause ozone, a greenhouse gas, to dissociate and its dissociated oxygen atoms to then react with nitrogen to form nitrogen dioxide, a darkly-coloured aerosol which cools the planet. It would also cohere with the major δ13C isotopic excursion indicating increased sequestration of carbon-12 out of the atmosphere, which would have occurred as a result of nitrogen dioxide, formed after the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen atoms dissociated by the gamma-ray burst, reacting with hydroxyl and raining back down to Earth as nitric acid, precipitating large quantities of nitrates that would have enhanced wetland productivity and sequestration of carbon dioxide. Although the gamma-ray burst hypothesis is consistent with some patterns at the onset of extinction, there is no unambiguous evidence that such a nearby gamma-ray burst ever happened.
Volcanism
Though more commonly associated with greenhouse gases and global warming, volcanoes may have cooled the planet and precipitated glaciation by discharging sulphur into the atmosphere. This is supported by a positive uptick in pyritic Δ33S values, a geochemical signal of volcanic sulphur discharge, coeval with LOMEI-1.
More recently, in May 2020, a study suggested the first pulse of mass extinction was caused by volcanism which induced global warming and anoxia, rather than cooling and glaciation. Higher resolution of species diversity patterns in the Late Ordovician suggest that extinction rates rose significantly in the early or middle Katian stage, several million years earlier than the Hirnantian glaciation. This early phase of extinction is associated with large igneous province (LIP) activity, possibly that of the Alborz LIP of northern Iran, as well as a warming phase known as the Boda event. However, other research still suggests the Boda event was a cooling event instead.
Volcanic activity could also provide a plausible explanation for anoxia during the first pulse of the mass extinction. A volcanic input of phosphorus, which was insufficient to enkindle persistent anoxia on its own, may have triggered a positive feedback loop of phosphorus recycling from marine sediments, sustaining widespread marine oxygen depletion over the course of LOMEI-1. Also, the weathering of nutrient-rich volcanic rocks emplaced during the middle and late Katian likely enhanced the reduction in dissolved oxygen.
Increased volcanic activity during the early late Katian and around the Katian-Hirnantian boundary is also implied by heightened mercury concentrations relative to total organic carbon. Marine bentonite layers associated with the subduction of the Junggar Ocean underneath the Yili Block have been dated to the late Katian, close to the Katian-Hirnantian boundary.
Other papers have criticised the volcanism hypothesis, claiming that volcanic activity was relatively low in the Ordovician and that superplume and LIP volcanic activity is especially unlikely to have caused the mass extinction at the end of the Ordovician. A 2022 study argued against a volcanic cause of LOME, citing the lack of mercury anomalies and the discordance between deposition of bentonites and redox changes in drillcores from South China straddling the Ordovician-Silurian boundary. Mercury anomalies at the end of the Ordovician relative to total organic carbon, or Hg/TOC, that some researchers have attributed to large-scale volcanism have been reinterpreted by some to be flawed because the main mercury host in the Ordovician was sulphide, and thus Hg/TS should be used instead; Hg/TS values show no evidence of volcanogenic mercury loading, a finding bolstered by ∆199Hg measurements much higher than would be expected for volcanogenic mercury input.
Asteroid impact
A 2023 paper points to the Deniliquin multiple-ring feature in southeastern Australia, which has been dated to around the start of LOMEI-1, for initiating the intense Hirnantian glaciation and the first pulse of the extinction event. According to the paper, it still requires further research to test the idea.
See also
Global catastrophic risk
Near-Earth supernova
Anoxic event
Late Devonian extinction
Capitanian mass extinction event
Permian–Triassic extinction event
Triassic–Jurassic extinction event
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
Andean-Saharan glaciation
Sources
Further reading
External links
Jacques Veniers, "The end-Ordovician extinction event": abstract of Hallam and Wignall, 1997.
Extinction events
History of climate variability and change
Late Ordovician extinctions
Silurian events |
425757 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan%20nationalism | Catalan nationalism | Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation.
Intellectually, modern Catalan nationalism can be said to have commenced as a political philosophy in the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state in Spain in the context of the First Republic (1873-1874). Valentí Almirall i Llozer and other intellectuals that participated in this process set up a new political ideology in the 19th century, to restore self-government, as well as to obtain recognition for the Catalan language. These demands were summarized in the so-called Bases de Manresa in 1892.
It met very little support at first. But after the Spanish–American War in which the United States invaded and annexed the last of the Spanish colonies, these early stages of Catalanism grew in support, mostly because of the weakened Spanish international position after the war and the loss of the two main destinations for Catalan exports (Cuba and Puerto Rico).
The origins of Catalan national identity
During the first centuries of the Reconquista, the Franks drove the Muslims south of the Pyrenees. To prevent future incursions, Charlemagne created the Marca Hispanica in 790 CE, which consisted of a series of petty kingdoms serving as buffer states between the Frankish kingdom and Al-Andalus.
Between 878 and 988 CE, the area became a hotbed of Frankish-Muslim conflict. However, as the Frankish monarchy and the Caliphate of Córdoba both weakened during the 11th century, the resulting impasse allowed for a process of consolidation throughout the region's many earldoms, resulting in their combination into the County of Barcelona, which became the embryo of today's Catalonia. By 1070, Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, had subordinated other Catalan Counts and intransigent nobles as vassals. His action brought peace to a turbulent feudal system and sowed the seeds of Catalan identity.
According to several scholars, the term "Catalan" and "Catalonia" emerged near the end of the 11th century and appeared in the Usatges of 1150. Two factors fostered this identity: stable institutions and cultural prosperity. While the temporary lack of foreign invasions contributed to Catalonia's stability, it was not a major cause. Rather, it provided a zone for sociopolitical development. For example, after the County of Barcelona signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Aragon, to create the Crown of Aragon in 1137 through a dynastic union, the system was designed to mutually check both the king's and the nobility's powers, while the small but growing numbers of free citizens and bourgeoisie would tactically take sides with the king in order to diminish typically feudal institutions.
By 1150, the monarch approved a series of pacts, called the Usatges, which "explicitly acknowledged legal equality between burghers … and nobility" (Woolard 17). In addition, the Aragonese gentry established the Corts (Courts), a representative body of nobles, bishops, and abbots that counterbalanced the King's authority. By the end of the 13th century, "the monarch needed the consent of the Corts to approve laws or collect revenue" (McRoberts 10). Soon after, the Catalan Corts elected a standing body called the Diputació del General or the Generalitat, which included the rising upper bourgeoisie. The first Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona in 1283, following the Roman tradition of the Codex.
In the 13th century, King James I of Aragon conquered Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Subsequent conquests expanded into the Mediterranean, reaching Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Naples and Greece, so by 1350 the Crown of Aragon "presided over one of the most extensive and powerful mercantile empires of the Mediterranean during this period" (Woolard 16). Catalonia's economic success formed a powerful merchant class, which wielded the Corts as its political weapon. It also produced a smaller middle class, or menestralia, that was "composed of artisans, shopkeepers and workshop owners" (McRoberts 11).
Over the 13th and 14th centuries, these merchants accrued so much wealth and political sway that they were able to place a significant check on the power of the Aragonese crown. By the 15th century the Aragonese monarch "was not considered legitimate until he had sworn to respect the basic law of the land in the presence of the Corts" (Balcells 9). This balance of power is a classic example of pactisme, or contractualism, which seems to be a defining feature of the Catalan political culture.
Along with political and economic success, Catalan culture flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries. During this period, the Catalan vernacular gradually replaced Latin as the language of culture and government. Scholars rewrote everything from ancient Visigothic law to religious sermons in Catalan (Woolard 14). Wealthy citizens bolstered Catalan's literary appeal through poetry contests and history pageants dubbed the Jocs Florals, or "Floral Games." As the kingdom expanded southeast into Valencia and the Mediterranean, the Catalan language followed.
The medieval heyday of Catalan culture would not last, however. After a bout of famine and plague hit Catalonia in the mid-14th century, the population dropped from 500,000 to 200,000 (McRoberts 13). This exacerbated feudal tensions, sparking serf revolts in rural areas and political impasses in Barcelona. Financial issues and the burden of multiple dependencies abroad further strained the region.
In 1410, the king died without leaving an heir to the throne. Finding no legitimate alternative, leaders of the realms composing the Crown of Aragon agreed by means of the Compromise of Caspe that the vacant throne should go to the Castilian Ferdinand I, as he was among the nearest relatives of the recently extinguished House of Barcelona through a maternal line. The new dynasty began to assert the authority of the Crown, leading to a perception among the nobility that their traditional privileges associated with their position in society were at risk. From 1458 to 1479, civil wars between King John II and local chieftains engulfed Catalonia.
During the conflict, John II, in the face of French aggression in the Pyrenees "had his heir Ferdinand married to Isabella I of Castile, the heiress to the Castilian throne, in a bid to find outside allies" (Balcells 11). Their dynastic union, which came to be known as the Catholic Monarchs, marked the de facto unification of the Kingdom of Spain. At that point, however, de jure both the Castile and the Crown of Aragon remained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, parliaments and laws. This was a common practice at this time in Western Europe as the concept of sovereignty lay with the monarch.
With the dawn of the Age of Discovery, led by the Portuguese, the importance of the Aragonese possessions in the Mediterranean became drastically reduced and, alongside the rise of Barbary pirates predating commerce in the Mediterranean, the theatre of European power shifted from the Mediterranean basin to the Atlantic Ocean. These political and economic restrictions impacted all segments of society. Also, because of locally bred social conflicts, Catalonia squandered in one century most of what it had gained in political rights between 1070 and 1410.
Nevertheless, early political, economic and cultural advances gave Catalonia "a mode of organization and an awareness of its own identity which might in some ways be described as national, though the idea of popular or national sovereignty did not yet exist" (Balcells 9). Other scholars like Kenneth McRoberts and Katheryn Woolard hold similar views. Both support Pierre Vilar, who contends that in 13th and 14th centuries "the Catalan principality was perhaps the European country to which it would be the least inexact or risky to use such seemingly anachronistic terms as political and economic imperialism or 'nation-state'" (McRoberts 13). In other words, an array of political and cultural forces laid the foundations of Catalan "national" identity.
Llobera agrees with this opinion, saying, "By the mid-thirteenth century, the first solid manifestations of national consciousness can be observed." Indeed, 13th- and 14th-century Catalonia did exhibit features of a nation-state. The role of Catalan Counts, the Corts, Mediterranean rule and economic prosperity support this thesis. But as Vilar points out, these analogies are only true if we acknowledge that a 14th-century nation-state is anachronistic. In other words, those living in Catalonia before latter day nationalism possessed something like a collective identity on which this was to be based, but this does not automatically equate to the modern concept of nation, neither in Catalonia nor elsewhere in similar circumstances during the Middle Ages.
The Corts and the rest of the autochthonous legal and political organization were finally terminated in 1716, as a result of the War of the Spanish Succession. The local population mostly took sides and provided troops and resources for Archduke Charles, the pretender, who was arguably expected to maintain the legal status quo. His utter defeat meant the legal and political termination of the autonomous parliaments in the Crown of Aragon, as the Nueva Planta decrees were passed and King Philip V of Spain of the new House of Bourbon sealed the transformation of Spain from a de facto unified realm into a de jure centralized state.
The development of modern Catalanism
The Renaixença ("rebirth" or "renaissance") was a cultural, historical and literary movement that pursued, in the wake of European Romanticism, the recovery of the Catalans' own language and literature after a century of repression and radical political and economical changes. As time went by, and particularly immediately after the fiasco of the Revolution of 1868 (led by the Catalan general Joan Prim) and the subsequent fail of the First Spanish Republic (1873–1874), which many Catalans expected an instauration of a federal republic, the movement acquired a clear political character, directed to the attainment of self-government for Catalonia within the framework of the Spanish liberal state.
Like most Romantic currents, the Renaixença gave historical analysis a central role. History, in fact, was an integral part of Catalonia's "rebirth." Texts on Catalonia's history — inspired by the Romantic philosophy of history — laid the foundations of a Catalanist movement. Works like Valentí Almirall i Llozer's Lo Catalanisme, Victor Balaguer's Historia de Cataluña y de la Corona de Aragón and Prat de la Riba's La nacionalitat catalana used history as evidence for Catalonia's nationhood. According to Elie Kedourie, such claims were common in 19th century nationalist discourse because "the 'past' is used to explain the 'present,' to give it meaning and legitimacy. The 'past' reveals one's identity, and history determines one's role in the drama of human development and progress" (36). Publications of histories thus "explained" why the Catalans constituted a nation instead of a Spanish region or coastal province.
At the heart of many of the works of the Renaixença lay a powerful idea: the Volk. Indeed, the concept of Volk (pl. Völker) played a vital role in mainstream Catalan Romantic nationalism. It has its origins in the writings of German Romantics like Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and, most notably, Johann Gottfried Herder.
The concept of Volk entered Catalan intellectual circles in the 1830s, stemming from the emphasis on the region's medieval history and philology. It first appeared in the writings of Juan Cortada (1805–1868), Marti d'Eixalà (1807–1857) and his discipline, Francesco Javier Llorens y Barba, intellectuals who reinvigorated the literature on the Catalan national character. Inspired by the ideas of Herder, Savigny and the entire Scottish School of Common Sense, they asked why the Catalans were different from other Spaniards — especially the Castilians (Conversi 1997: 15) For example, Cortada wanted to determine why, despite its poor natural environment, Catalonia was so much more successful economically than other parts of Spain. In a series of generalizations, he concluded that the "Catalans have succeeded in developing a strong sense of resolution and constancy over the centuries. Another feature of their character was the fact that they were hardworking people" (Llobera 1983: 342). D'Eixalà and Llorens held a similar understanding of the Catalan national character. They held that two characteristics particular to Catalans were common sense (seny) and industriousness. To them, "the traditional Catalan seny was a manifestation of the Volksgeist", one which made Catalans essentially different from Castilians (Llobera 2004: 75).
The early works on the Catalan Volk would remain on paper long before they entered politics. This is because the Catalan bourgeoisie had not yet abandoned the hope of spearheading the Spanish state (Conversi 1997: 14). Indeed, in the 1830s, the Renaixença was still embryonic and the industrial class still thought that it could at least control the Spanish economy. Notions of Catalonia's uniqueness mattered little to a group that believed it could integrate and lead the entire country. But this all changed around 1880. After decades of discrimination from Spanish elites, Catalan industrialists buried their dream of leading Spain. As Vilar observes: "It is only because, in its acquisition of the Spanish market, the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie did not succeed either in securing the state apparatus or identifying its interests with those of the whole of Spain, in influential opinion, that Catalonia, this little "fatherland", finally became the 'national' focal point", (1980: 551)
This switch of allegiance was particularly easy because the idea of a Catalan nation had already matured into a corpus of texts about the region's "uniqueness" and Volksgeist. Inspired by these works of Romantic nationalism, the Catalan economic elite became conscious of "the growing dissimilitude between the Catalonia's social structure and that of the rest of the nation" (Vilar 1963: 101). Consequently, Romantic nationalism expanded beyond its philosophical bounds into the political arena.
Nonetheless, this idea lost its importance, and even were abandoned by many sectors (specially from the left-wing Catalanism) during the last years of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, thanks to the contact with the ideas of Ernest Renan and its civic and republican concept of nation. Antoni Rovira i Virgili (1882–1949), Catalan nationalist and republican historian and politician, gave support to these ideas.
In the last third of the 19th century, Catalanism was formulating its own doctrinal foundations, not only among the progressive ranks but also amongst the conservatives. At the same time it started to establish its first political programmes (e.g. Memorial of Wrongs Bases de Manresa, 1892), and to generate a wide cultural and association movement of a clearly nationalistic character.
In 1898, Spain lost its last colonial possessions in Cuba and the Philippines, a fact that not only created an important crisis of national confidence, but also gave an impulse to political Catalanism. The first modern political party in Catalonia was the Lliga Regionalista. Founded in 1901, it formed a coalition in 1907 with other Catalanist forces (from Carlism to Federalists), grouped in the so-called Solidaritat Catalana, and won the elections with the regionalist programme that Enric Prat de la Riba had formulated in his manifesto La nacionalitat catalana (1906).
Industrialization and Catalanism
The 18th-century Spanish economy depended mostly on agriculture. The social structure stayed hierarchical, if not feudal, while the Catholic Church and Bourbon monarchs wrestled for internal supremacy. Into the 19th century, the Napoleonic invasion devastated the country and its early attempts in industrialization and led to chronic political instability, with Spain remaining politically and culturally isolated from the rest of Europe.
Unlike in the rest of Spain, the Industrial Revolution made some progress in Catalonia, whose pro-industry middle class strove to mechanize everything, from textiles and crafts to wineries. Industrialization and trade went hand in hand with the proto-nationalist Renaixença cultural movement, which, annoyed with the shortcomings of the Royal court in Madrid, began to fashion an alternative, and that was Catalan identity.
To finance their cultural project, a locally bred proto-nationalist intelligentsia sought patronage and protection from Barcelona's industrial barons. This relationship played a decisive role in the development of Catalanism. On the one hand, intellectuals sought to renew Catalan identity as a response to Spain's overall backwardness. They wanted to distance themselves from the Spanish problems by creating a new ontology rooted in Catalan culture, language and world view. On the other hand, those same intellectuals avoided demands for separation. They knew that their patrons would want Catalan nationalism to include Spain for two reasons:
Any secession from Spain would devastate industrial markets and impoverish the region.
The Catalan industrial class was "unconditionally pro-Spanish at heart" (Conversi 1997: 18).
As Woolard notes, the economic interests in Madrid and the budding Catalan industrialists converged during the 18th century, resulting in cooperation. For the nationalist literati, this meant that Catalanism could promote a national identity, but it had to function within Spain.
Furthermore, Barcelona's industrial elite wanted Catalonia to stay part of Spain since Catalonia's industrial markets relied on consumption from other Spanish regions which, little by little, started to join some sort of development. In fact, part of the industrialists' desire to remain part of Spain was their desire for protectionism, hegemony in domestic markets and the push to "influence Madrid's political choices by intervening in central Spanish affairs" (Conversi 1997: 18–20), thus, it made no economic sense to promote any secession from Spain. On the contrary, Catalonia's prominent industrialists acted as the Spanish leading economic heads. As Stanley Payne observes: "The modern Catalan élite had played a major role in what there was of economic industrialization in the nineteenth century, and had tended to view Catalonia not as the antagonist but to some degree the leader of a freer, more prosperous Spain" (482). Barcelona's bourgeois industrialists even claimed that protectionism and leadership served the interests of the "'national market' or of 'developing the national economy' (national meaning Spanish here)" (Balcells 19). The inclusion of Spain was instrumental to Catalonia's success, meaning that industrialists would not tolerate any secessionist movement. Claiming that independence would have assured nothing but weak markets, an internal enemy and strengthened anarchist movements. And hence, though manufacturers funded the Renaixença—and Catalan nationalism—they demanded that Catalonia stayed part of Spain to ensure economic stability.
This federalist-like lobbying had not worked at first, nor did it succeed until the late 1880s. Finally, in 1889, the pro-industrialist Lliga Regionalista managed to save the particular Catalan Civil Code, after a liberal attempt to homogenize the Spanish legal structures (Conversi 1997: 20). Two years later, they coaxed Madrid into passing protectionist measures, which reinvigorated pro-Spanish attitudes among manufacturers. Then, they also took great profits from Spain's neutrality in World War I, which allowed them to export to both sides, and the Spanish expansion in Morocco, which Catalan industrialists encouraged, since it was to become a fast growing market for them. Also, by the early 20th century, Catalan businessmen had managed to gain control of the most profitable commerce between Spain and its American colonies and ex-colonies, namely Cuba and Puerto Rico.
This nationalist-industrialist accord is a classic example of inclusionary Catalanism. Nationalists might have hoped for an independent Catalonia but their patrons needed access to markets and protectionism. As a result, nationalists could propagate the Catalan identity provided that it coincided with the industrialists' pro-Spanish stance. Because the Lliga Regionalista de Catalunya endorsed this compromise, it dominated Catalan politics after the start of the 20th century. Payne notes: "The main Catalanist party, the bourgeois Lliga, never sought separatism but rather a more discrete and distinctive place for a self-governing Catalonia within a more reformist and progressive Spain. The Lligas leaders ran their 1916 electoral campaign under the slogan Per l'Espanya Gran (For the Great Spain)" (482). The Lliga had tempered the nationalist position to one of inclusionary nationalism. It allowed Catalanism to flourish, but demanded that it promote federalism within Spain, and not separation from it. Any deviation from this delicate balance would have enraged those pro-Catalan and Spanish-identifying industrialists. Ultimately, this prevented any moves towards separation while strengthening Catalonia's "federal" rights after the Commonwealth of Catalonia took power in 1914.
Catalanism in the 20th century
During the first part of the 20th century, the main nationalist party was the conservative Lliga Regionalista, headed by Francesc Cambó. For the nationalists, the main achievement in this period was the Commonwealth of Catalonia, a grouping of the four Catalan provinces with limited administrative power. The Commonwealth developed an important infrastructure (like roads and phones) and promoted the culture (professional education, libraries, regulation of Catalan language, study of sciences) in order to modernize Catalonia. The failure in being granted an Estatute of autonomy in 1919 within the Restoration regime, led to radicalisation of the moderate nationalist parties in Catalonia, leading in turn to the creation of Acció Catalana (Catalan Action) and also Estat Català (Catalan State), drifting apart from the Lliga. Among the leaders of Acció Catalana founded in 1922 and chiefly supportive of liberal-democratic catalanism and a catalanisation process were Jaume Bofill, Antoni Rovira i Virgili and Lluís Nicolau d'Olwer. It also featured an internal elitist faction, moved by the thinking of Charles Maurras and Action française of which Josep Vicenç Foix and Josep Carbonell were representatives, while Jaume Bofill was ambivalent to the extreme right French thinker. Estat Català, somewhat more attached to the idea of downright independence, was founded right after the creation of Acció Catalana by Francesc Macià.
The Mancomunitat of Catalonia was dissolved during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1925. The anti-Catalan measures taken by dictator Primo de Rivera led to further disappointment among Catalan conservatives, who initially trusted in him because of an earlier support of regionalism prior to his pronunciamiento in September 1923, and also further exacerbation of insurrectionary nationalists. In November 1926 Macià helmed an attempt of military invasion of Catalonia from France which would purposely lead to a civil uprising and the proclamation of the Catalan Republic; he was not able even to get past through the border.
In 1931, the left-wing Catalan nationalist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia, ERC) party, born as a result of the fusion of Catalan Republican Party and Estat Català, won the elections in Catalonia, advocating a Catalan Republic federated with Spain the same day of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. Under pressure from the new Spanish government, the leader of ERC, Francesc Macià, accepted an autonomous Catalan government instead, which recovered the historical name of Generalitat de Catalunya.
The Catalan Government broke with the Republican legality in the events of October 1934, when Lluís Companys, under the influence of the JEREC, rebelled against the Spanish government.
A dramatically short period of restoration of democratic and cultural normality was interrupted at its outset by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The autonomous government, which was loyal to the Republic during the 1936–1939 war period, was abolished in 1939, after the victory of the Francoist troops. During the last stages of the war, when the Republican side was on the verge of defeat, Catalan president of the Generalitat, Lluís Companys, rhetorically declared Catalan independence, even though it never materialized due to objections within Catalonia and, eventually, by the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic.
Right after the war, Companys, along with thousands of Spanish Republicans, sought cover in France exiled but because of the, by that time, mutual sympathy between Franco's government and Nazi Germany, he was captured after the Fall of France in 1940 and handed to Spanish authorities, who tortured him and which sentenced him to death for 'military rebellion'. He was executed at Montjuïc in Barcelona at 6.30 a.m. on October 15, 1940. Refusing to wear a blindfold, he was taken before a firing squad of Civil Guards and, as they fired, he cried 'Per Catalunya!'.
Several political or cultural Catalan movements operated underground during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which lasted until 1975. A president of the Catalan government was still designated, and operated symbolically in exile.
Companys's successor in exile, Josep Tarradellas, kept away from Spain until Franco's death in 1975. When he came back in 1977, the government of Catalonia -the Generalitat- was restored again. Following the approval of the Spanish constitution in 1978, a Statute of Autonomy was promulgated and approved in referendum. Catalonia was organized as an Autonomous Community, and in 1980, Jordi Pujol, from the conservative nationalist party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, was elected president and ruled the autonomous government for 23 consecutive years.
In contrast, there is no significant political autonomy, nor recognition of the language in the historical Catalan territories belonging to France (Roussillon, in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales).
Referendum and political developments since 2006
Currently, the main political parties which define themselves as being Catalan nationalists are Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya. The Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, although deriving from nationalism, refuses the term "nationalism" and prefers to describe itself as pro-independence; so does Soldaritat Catalana. These parties obtained 50.03% of the votes in the 2010 election. Within these parties, there is much divergence of opinion. More radical elements are only content with the establishment of a separate Catalan state. In contrast, more moderate elements do not necessarily identify with the belief that protection of Catalan identity is incompatible within Spain. Others vote for these parties simply as a protest and do not necessarily identify with the overall party platform (for example, some people may vote for ERC because they are simply tired of CiU, even though they do not actually desire a leftist Catalan republic). The other way around also occurs: some voters may vote for non-nationalist parties (especially the Initiative for Catalonia Greens, ICV, and the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, PSC) for reasons of policy, ideology or personal preference, although they share a nationalist viewpoint regarding Catalonia's status within Spain. Some polls, conducted in 2010, show that more than a third of PSC and more than half of ICV voters support Catalonia's independence (in the latter case, the percentage is even higher than among Convergence and Union voters); according to these polls, even 15% of the pro-Spanish Partido Popular voters in Catalonia support the region's independence.
In 2006, a referendum was held on amending the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979 to further expand the authority of the Catalan government. It was approved by 73.24% of the voters or 35.78% of the census, and became effective as of August 9, 2006. However, the turnout of 48.84% represented an unprecedented high abstention in Catalonia's democratic history. This has been cited both as a symptom of having large sectors in the average populace disengaged or at odds with the politics of identity in Catalonia, and, alternatively, as a symptom of fatigue among Catalan nationalists who would like to see bolder steps towards political autonomy or independence. In this regard, both Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalan pro-independence left wing) and Partido Popular (Spanish right wing) campaigned against having the 2006 Statute of Autonomy passed: the former considered it too little, the latter too much.
On September 11, 2012 between 600,000 (according to Spanish Government Delegation in Barcelona) and 2 million (according to the organisers) people gathered in central Barcelona calling for independence from Spain. In September and October, numerous Catalan municipalities declared themselves to be Free Catalan Territory.
On September 11, 2013 the Catalan Way took place, consisting of a 480-kilometre (300 mi) human chain with 1.6 million people in support of Catalan independence.
Since the economic crisis of 2008, the government of Artur Mas has moved away from its former regionalist position and come to overtly support Catalan independence. The Catalan government held a non-binding popular consultation on the subject in 2014. Catalan nationalists polled well in the 2015 election to the Catalan parliament, which Artur Mas declared to be a referendum-election.
In the 2017 Catalan regional election the nationalist parties that support the creation of an independent state (JuntsxCat, ERC and CUP) obtained a plurality of seats, but a minority of votes with less than 50%. The most voted party remained to be the non-nationalist Citizens (Cs).
2017 referendum, Declaration of Independence and new regional elections
In late September 2016, Puigdemont told the parliament that a binding referendum on independence would be held in the second half of September 2017, with or without the consent of the Spanish institutions. Puigdemont announced in June 2017 that the referendum would take place on 1 October, and that the question would be, "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?" The Spanish government said in response, "that referendum will not take place because it is illegal."
A law creating an independent republic—in the event that the referendum took place and there was a majority "yes" vote, without requiring a minimum turnout—was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session on 6 September 2017. Opposition parties protested against the bill, calling it "a blow to democracy and a violation of the rights of the opposition", and staged a walkout before the vote was taken. On 7 September, the Catalan parliament passed a "transition law", to provide a legal framework pending the adoption of a new constitution, after similar protests and another walkout by opposition parties. The same day, 7 September, the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the 6 September law while it considered an appeal from Mariano Rajoy, seeking a declaration that it was in breach of the Spanish constitution, meaning that the referendum could not legally go ahead on 1 October. The law was finally declared void on 17 October and is also illegal according to the Catalan Statutes of Autonomy which require a two-thirds majority in the Catalan parliament for any change to Catalonia's status.
The national government seized ballot papers and cell phones, threatened to fine people who manned polling stations up to €300,000, shut down web sites, and demanded that Google remove a voting location finder from the Android app store. Police were sent from the rest of Spain to suppress the vote and close polling locations, but parents scheduled events at schools (where polling places are located) over the weekend and vowed to occupy them to keep them open during the vote. Some election organizers were arrested, including Catalan cabinet officials, while demonstrations by local institutions and street protests grew larger.
The referendum took place on 1 October 2017, despite being suspended by the Constitutional Court, and despite the action of Spanish police to prevent voting in some centres. According to the Catalan authorities, 90% of voters supported independence, but turnout was only 43%, and there were reports of irregularities. On 10 October 2017, in the aftermath of the referendum, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, declared the independence of Catalonia but left it suspended. Puigdemont said during his appearance in the Catalan parliament that he assumes, in presenting the results of the referendum, "the people's mandate for Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic", but proposed that in the following weeks the parliament "suspends the effect of the declaration of independence to engage in a dialogue to reach an agreed solution" with the Spanish Government.
On 27 October 2017 the Catalan Parliament voted in a secret ballot to approve a resolution declaring independence from Spain by a vote of 70–10 in the absence of the constitutionalist deputies, who refused to participate in a vote considered illegal for violating the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Spain. As a result, article 155 of the Spanish constitution was triggered, the Catalan government was dismissed and direct rule was imposed from the central government in Madrid. Under direct rule from Spain, elections were held in Catalonia on 21 December 2017. The three pro-independence parties retained their control of parliament with a reduced majority of 70 seats and a combined 47.5% of valid votes cast. Inés Arrimadas' anti-independence Ciudadanos party was the most voted party with 25.4% of votes, the first time in Catalan history that a non-nationalist party won most votes and seats in an election. Parties which endorsed the suspension of autonomy by central government represented 43.5% of votes cast and parties which did not include independence in their electoral program amounted to 52.5% of the vote, notably Catcomu-Podem (7.5% of votes and 8 seats), which is opposed to independence but supports a legal referendum and denounced the suspension of autonomy. The excellent performance of the centre-right parties on both sides of the independence debate, Ciudadanos and Juntxcat, and the underperformance of all other parties (notably, left wing parties and the Partido Popular) were the most significant factor in this election result.
The 2017 Catalan independence referendum, also known by the numeronym 1-O''' (for "1 October") in Spanish media, was an independence referendum held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and called by the Generalitat de Catalunya. It was declared illegal on 7 September 2017 and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain after a request from the Spanish government, who declared it a breach of the Spanish Constitution. Additionally, in early September the High Court of Justice of Catalonia had issued orders to the police to try to prevent it, including the detention of various persons responsible for its preparation. Due to alleged irregularities during the voting process as well as to the use of force by the National Police and Civil Guard, international observers invited by the Generalitat declared that the referendum failed to meet the minimum international standards for elections.
The referendum was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session on 6 September 2017 along with the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic of Catalonia the following day 7 of September, which stated that independence would be binding with a simple majority, without requiring a minimum turnout. After being suspended, the law was finally declared void on 17 October, being also illegal according to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which requires a two-thirds majority, 90 seats, in the Catalan parliament for any change to Catalonia's status.
The referendum question, which voters answered with "Yes" or "No", was "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". The "Yes" side won, with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of 43.03%. The Catalan government estimated that up to 770,000 votes were not cast due to polling stations being closed off during the police crackdown, although the "universal census" system introduced earlier in the day allowed electors to vote at any given polling station. Catalan government officials have argued that the turnout would have been higher were it not for Spanish and Catalan police suppression of the vote. On the other hand, many voters who did not support Catalan independence did not turn out, as the constitutional political parties asked citizens not to participate in what they considered an illegal referendum.
On the day of the referendum, the inaction of part of the autonomous police force of Catalonia, the Mossos d'Esquadra, allowed many polling stations to open. The Spanish National Police Corps and the Guardia Civil intervened and raided several polling stations after they opened. 893 civilians and 111 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil were reported to have been injured. According to various sources these previously reported figures may have been exaggerated. According to the judge from Barcelona who is currently investigating the accusations of police violence, there were 218 persons injured on that day in the city of Barcelona alone, 20 of whom were agents. According to the official final report by the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) of the Generalitat 1066 civilians, 11 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil and 1 agent of the regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, were injured. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al, urged the Spanish government to prove all acts of violence that took place to prevent the referendum. The police action also got criticism from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which defined it as an "excessive and unnecessary use of force". Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena stated Puigdemont ignored the repeated warnings he received about the escalation of violence if the referendum was held.
Mossos d'Esquadra are being investigated for disobedience, for allegedly not having complied with the orders of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia to prevent the referendum. Including Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez, the Mossos d'Esquadra Major, who is being investigated for sedition by the Spanish National Court. Mossos d'Esquadra, deny those accusations and allege they obeyed the orders but applying the principle of proportionality, which is required by Spanish law in all police.
Forms of contemporary Catalan nationalism
Being a broad movement, Catalan nationalism can be found in several manifestations in the current political scene. Most of the main Catalan political parties— as of 2019, Catalan European Democratic Party (PDECAT), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), En Comú Podem (ECP) and Popular Unity Candidature (CUP)—adhere to Catalanism to varying degrees, though neither the PSC nor En Comú Podem are usually regarded as Catalan nationalist.
The scope of their national objectives diverges. While some restrict them to Catalonia-proper alone, others seek the acknowledgment of the political personality of the so-called Catalan Countries, the Catalan-speaking territories as a whole. Such claims, which can be seen as a form of Pan-nationalism, can be read in official documents of CiU, ERC and Popular Unity Candidates (CUP). Besides Catalonia, the main Catalan-speaking regions have their own nationalist parties and coalitions which support, to varying degrees, the demands for the building of a national identity for the Catalan Countries: Valencian Nationalist Bloc (BNV) in the Valencian Community, Bloc Nacional i d'Esquerres, PSM and Majorcan Union (UM) in the Balearic Islands. Other nationalist parties have existed with additional affiliations such as PSC - Reagrupament whose leader Josep Pallach i Carolà died in 1977.
The two main Catalan nationalist parties (ERC and PDECAT) have shown their commitment to the idea of the Catalan Countries in different ways and with different intensities. For the former CiU (from which the PDECAT stems), this issue was not among the main items in their agenda. Nevertheless, CiU has enjoyed a long-term collaboration with the Valencian party BNV and with the Majorcan parties UM and the Socialist Party of Majorca (PSM). In contrast, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) has taken more substantial steps in that direction by expanding the party to Roussillon, Balearic Islands and—as Republican Left of the Valencian Country (ERPV)—the Valencian Community.
Catalan nationalists see their movement as a wide one that brings together political parties and citizens from the left as well as from center and right.
See also
Catalan Countries
Catalan independence
Anti-Catalanism
Catalan symbols
Basque nationalism
Occitan nationalism
Sicilian nationalism
Notes
References
Alland, Alexander. Catalunya, One Nation, Two States: An Ethnographic Study of Nonviolent Resistance to Assimilation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Balcells, Albert. Catalan Nationalism: Past and Present. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1996.
Conversi, Daniele. The Basques, the Catalans, and Spain: Alternative Routes to Nationalist Mobilisation. London: Hurst & Company, 1997. .
Conversi, Daniele. "Language or race?: the choice of core values in the development of Catalan and Basque nationalisms." Ethnic and Racial Studies 13 (1990): 50–70.
Elliot, J.H. The Revolt of the Catalans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963.
Figueres, Josep M. Valentí Almirall, Forjador del Catalanisme Polític. Barcelona: Generalitat: Entitat Autònoma del Diari Official i de Publicacions, 1990.
Fradera, Josep M. Cultura Nacional en una Societat Dividida. Barcelona: Curial, 1992.
---. "Rural Traditionalism and Conservative Nationalism in Catalonia 1865–1900." Critique of Anthropology X (1990): 51–72.
Guibernau, Monserrat. Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, transition and democracy. Routledge: New York, 2004.
Hargreaves, John. Freedom for Catalonia? Catalan Nationalism, Spanish Identity and the Barcelona Olympic Games. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Herder, Johann Gottfried von. Introduction. Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind. By Manuel. Ed. Frank E. Manuel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
Hooper, John. The Spaniards: a Portrait of the New Spain. Suffolk: Penguin Books, 1986.
"Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló." Enciclopèdia Catalana. 2006. S.A. 12 Oct 2006 <http://www.grec.net/cgibin/hecangcl.pgm?&USUARI=&SESSIO=&NDCHEC=0070084&PGMORI=E>.
Keating, Michael. Nations Against the State: The New Politics of Nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.
Kedourie, Elie. Nationalism in Asia and Africa. London: Frank Cass, 1970.
Linz, Juan. "Early State-Building and Late Peripheral Nationalisms Against the State: the Case of Spain." Building States and Nations: Analyses by Region. Eds. S.N. Eisenstadt, and Stein Rokkan. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1973. 32–116.
Llobera, Josep R. Foundations of National Identity: from Catalonia to Europe. New York: Berghahn Books, 2004.
---. "The idea of Volksgeist in the formation of Catalan nationalist ideology" Ethnic and Racial Studies 6 (1983): 332–350.
McRoberts, Kenneth. Catalonia: Nation Building Without a State. New York: Oxford, 2001.
Payne, Stanley G. "Nationalism, Regionalism and Micronationalism in Spain." Journal of Contemporary History 26.3/4 (1991): 479–491.
Penrose, Jan, and Joe May. "Herder's Concept of the Nation and Its Relevance to Contemporary Ethnic Nationalism." Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism XVIII (1991): 165–177.
Smith, Angel, and Clare Mar-Molinero. "The Myths and Realities of Nation-Building in the Iberian Peninsula." Nationalism and the Nation in the Iberian Peninsula: Competing and Conflicting Identities. Eds. Angel Smith, and Clare Mar-Molinero. Washington, D.C.: Berg, 1996. 1–33.
Smith-Peter, Susan. "The Six Waves of Russian Regionalism in European Context, 1830–2000." In Russia's Regional Identities: The Power of the Provinces. Ed. Edith W. Clowes, Gisela Erbsloh and Ani Kokobobo. New York: Routledge, 2018, 15–43.
Vicens Vives, Jaime. Approaches to the History of Spain. 2nd. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970.
Vilar, Pierre. La Catalogne dans L'Espagne moderne. Paris: Flammation, 1977 (Spanish Translation: 'Cataluña en la España moderna'. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica Grijalbo, 1978)
---. Historia de España. Paris: Librairie Espagnole, 1963.
---. "Spain and Catalonia." Review III (1980): 527–577.
Woolard, Kathryn A. Double Talk: Bilingualism and the Politics of Ethnicity in Catalonia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989.
External links
Party Urging More Autonomy From Spain Seems to Win in Catalonia Article on New York Times, November 2, 2006
Courage in Catalonia Article on New York Times, June 22, 2006
Voters in Catalonia Approve A Plan for Greater Autonomy Article on New York Times, June 19, 2006
Spain Moves On Law to Give Broad Powers To Catalonia Article on New York Times, March 31, 2006
Catalanism in Catalan Encyclopaedia''
The Spirit of Catalonia. 1946 book by Oxford Professor Dr. Josep Trueta
Spain's secret conflict (Documentary) |
425769 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-8-4 | 4-8-4 | Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway, and initially named the Northern Pacific, but railfans and railroad employees have shortened the name since its introduction. It is most-commonly known as a Northern.
Overview
Development
The wheel arrangement was a progression from the Mountain type and, like the Berkshire and Hudson types, an example of the "Super Power" concept in steam locomotive design that made use of the larger firebox that could be supported by a four-wheel trailing truck, which allowed greater production of steam. The four-wheel leading truck gave stability at speed and the eight driving wheels gave greater adhesion. The type evolved in the United States soon after the Lima Locomotive Works introduced the concept of "Lima Super Power" in 1925, making heavy 2-8-2 and 2-8-4 locomotives. The prototype was built by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) in 1926, with a very large firebox with a grate, designed to burn low quality lignite coal. The four-wheel trailing truck weighed about more than two-wheel trucks of the time and could carry an additional of engine weight; the difference of was available for increased boiler capacity.
The type arrived when nearly all the important steam locomotive design improvements had already been proven, including Superheaters, mechanical stokers, outside valve gear and the Delta trailing truck. One-piece, cast steel bed-frames with integrally cast cylinders gave the strength and rigidity to use Roller bearings. In 1930, the Timken Company used the Timken 1111, a built by ALCO with roller bearings on all axles, to demonstrate the value of their sealed roller bearings. The Timken 1111 was subsequently sold to the NP, where it became NP No. 2626, their sole Class A-1 locomotive.
The stability of the wheel arrangement meant that driving wheels up to diameter could be used for high speed passenger and fast freight operation. Lateral control devices allowed these locomotives to traverse relatively sharp curves despite their drivers. The increased boiler size possible with this type, together with the high axle loads permitted on mainlines in North America, resulted in the design of some massive locomotives, some of which weighed as much as 450 tons, including the tender. The was suitable for both express passenger and fast freight service, though it was not suited to heavy drag freight trains.
Although locomotives of the wheel arrangement were used in a number of countries, those that were developed outside North America included various design features which set them apart from North American practice. Scaled down examples of the type were exported by two American builders, ALCO and Baldwin Locomotive Works, for lines in Brazil. Most were two-cylinder locomotives, but five classes of three-cylinder s were built:
The simplex 06 class by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Germany.
The simplex H class by the Victorian Railways in Australia.
The compound 242A1 class of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) in France.
The simplex 477 class tank engines by CKD for Czechoslovak State Railways; 60 4-8-4T locomotives were built between 1951 and 1955, the last new steam engines built in Czechoslovakia.
An experimental high-pressure compound locomotive of the New York Central (NYC).
The Northern name
Since the was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway, the type was named "Northern". Most North American railroads used this name, but some adopted different names.
"Heavy Mountain" or "New Mountain" on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe (ATSF). Original blueprints of class 3751 designate the 4-8-4 as a "Mountain" or "Heavy Mountain". The index to the blueprints reference the 3751 class as "Mountain, 4-Wheel Trailer". Early correspondence of the ATSF refer to this type as "New Mountains". The Santa Fe never adopted the "Northern" designation.
"Big Apple" on the Central of Georgia Railway (CG).
"Confederation" on the Canadian National Railway (CN), named because they were purchased in 1927, the 60th anniversary of Canada's confederation in 1867. The "Confederation" 4-8-4s were later renamed by the CN to the generic "Northern" name in later years.
"Dixie" on the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (NC&StL).
"Golden State" on the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), temporarily renamed "General Service" during the Second World War and also referred to as "GS" by Western Pacific for those GSs which were diverted to the WP from SP's order by the War Production Board.
"Greenbrier" on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O).
"J" on the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W).
"FEF" (Four-Eight-Four) on the Union Pacific Railroad (UP).
"Niagara" on the New York Central Railroad (NYC).
"Niágara" on the (N de M) and in Brazil.
"Pocono" on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (Lackawanna).
"Potomac" on the Western Maryland Railway (WM).
"Wyoming" on the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LV).
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RFP) gave each of its three classes a separate name, the "General" of 1937, the "Governor" of 1938 and the "Statesman" of 1944.
Demise
The big-wheeled was at home on heavy passenger trains and quite capable of speeds over , but freight was the primary revenue source of the railroads; in that service the Northern had limitations. The adhesive weight on a was limited to about 60% of the engine's weight, not including the dead weight of the tender. Henry Bowen, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) from 1928 to 1949, tested the first two CPR K-1a Northerns introduced by his predecessor, then he designed a Selkirk type using the same boiler. The resulting T-1a Selkirk locomotive had the same number of axles as the Northern, but the driving wheels were reduced from in diameter, while the additional pair of driving wheels increased the tractive effort by 27%. In a later variant, Bowen added a booster to the trailing truck, enabling the Selkirk to exert nearly 50% more tractive effort than the similar-sized K-1a Northern.
When it was demonstrated that a three-unit EMD F3 diesel-electric consist that weighed slightly less than the total engine and tender mass of a CPR K-1a Northern could produce nearly three times its tractive effort, high-powered steam locomotives were retired as quickly as finance allowed.
Usage
Australia
A total of twenty-three locomotives operated in Australia, built to three distinct designs.
In 1929, the ten gauge South Australian Railways 500 class Mountain types of 1926 were equipped with steam boosters in the form of small auxiliary steam engines to increase their power. This necessitated the replacement of their two-wheel trailing trucks with four-wheel bogies. The booster contributed an additional to the tractive effort and permitted an increase in the locomotive's load across the Mount Lofty Ranges to 540 tons. In their new configuration, they were reclassified to 500B class.
In 1943, the first of twelve streamlined South Australian Railways 520 class locomotives were delivered from the Islington Workshops in Adelaide. Although they were large locomotives, they were designed to run on lightly constructed track, with the engine's weight being spread over eight axles. Their -diameter coupled wheels were specially balanced for running.
The H class three-cylinder of the Victorian Railways, built in 1941, was designed for heavy passenger work on the line between Melbourne and Adelaide. Nicknamed Heavy Harry, it was the largest steam locomotive built in Australia and, after the NSWGR D57 4-8-2, the second-most-powerful non-articulated locomotive. It was one of the five Australian classes of three-cylinder locomotives.
Construction of three locomotives commenced at the Newport Workshops in 1939 and three sets of frames were manufactured. Although work was halted due to the outbreak of the Second World War, a shortage of motive power caused by increased wartime traffic resulted in authorisation being given for the completion of class leader H220. The locomotive went into service on 7 February 1941, but remained the sole member of the class because the other two partly-built locomotives were never completed. Since the necessary upgrades to the Adelaide line was deferred, H220 operated only on the line between Melbourne and Albury in New South Wales.
Brazil
To meet the acute locomotive shortages in Brazil after the Second World War, 27 scaled down American Niágara locomotives were ordered by the Brazilian (DNEF) from ALCO in 1946. These locomotives were supplied to the (VFRGS), which then purchased another fifteen directly from ALCO in 1947. They were designated the 1001 class. In 1956 and 1957, some of them were sold to Bolivia. The Baldwin Locomotive Works supplied similar locomotives to the (RMV no. 601 to 604), the (RVPSC no. 801 to 806) and the (NOB no. 621 to 623).
After his retirement from the (SNCF) in France, French engineer André Chapelon was appointed as the chief designer of locomotives at the French state-owned sales consortium (GELSA). In 1949, a contract was signed between DNEF and GELSA for the construction of 24 locomotives with a axle load. The order also included 66 Berkshires. All ninety locomotives were delivered by January 1953.
The 24 class 242F Niágara locomotives were built by Société de Construction des Batignolles (). They were two-cylinder simple expansion locomotives, designed to burn poor quality local coal with a low calorific thermal value, with coupled wheels of diameter and a grate area of . They were coupled to big tenders which a coal capacity of . The Belpaire firebox included a combustion chamber and the boiler pressure was a high . One member of the class was tested on the Reseau Breton line in France before being shipped to Brazil.
The DNEF allocated the locomotives to four of Brazil's state railways. Under Brazilian railway conditions, these modern locomotives were not popular with local railwaymen and were not used as much as had been hoped. Their maximum axle load of restricted their usefulness, as did their long tenders. In some places the turntables were too short to turn the locomotives and they had to be turned on triangles. In addition, the building specifications had called for a locomotive capable of a maximum speed of and the ability to negotiate curves with a minimum radius of . This last point proved to be a source of contention when it was later discovered that the curves in some places were of less than radius. As a consequence, the locomotives were involved in a number of derailments.
In the late 1960s, they were relegated down from first class passenger trains. Some locomotives, allocated to Southern Brazil, were also tried in Bolivia.
Canada
Since the Canadian mainlines were generally laid with rail, Canadian were heavy and weighed in with axle loads up to .
When the Canadian National Railway (CN) introduced its first in 1927, it used the name "Confederation" for the type, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. The CN employed a total of 160 Confederation locomotives.
Altogether forty locomotives were delivered in 1927, twenty Class U-2-a from the Canadian Locomotive Company and twenty Class U-2-b from the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW).
Another twenty Class U-2-c came from MLW in 1929 and another five Class U-2-d, also from MLW, in 1936.
The CN U-4a was one of the few streamlined Confederation types, with five locomotives built by MLW and also introduced in 1936. U-4a No. 6400 achieved fame in 1939 by heading the Royal Train and being exhibited at the New York World's Fair in the same year.
Between 1940 and 1944, a total of ninety more Confederation locomotives, built in four batches, were added to the CN roster.
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) experimented with the wheel arrangement in 1928, when two K-1a class locomotives were built in its Angus shops in Montreal, the first locomotives to be built with a one-piece cast-steel frame in Canada. However, since the CPR mainlines were built to high standards, the railway preferred to develop the Hudson type for passenger work since it gave adequate power and was cheaper to maintain, while a ten-coupled type, the Selkirk, was adopted for heavy-duty work. Nevertheless, although the two CPR Northerns remained orphans, they proved their worth continuously for 25 years on overnight passenger trains between Montreal and Toronto. Before their retirement in 1960, they were converted to oil-burners and worked freight trains in the prairie provinces.
Chile
In 1936, the German builder Henschel & Son supplied ten gauge locomotives to the (State Railways or FdE) of Chile, designated the . They were called (Super Mountains), since they followed the Mountain that was introduced six years earlier. They were equipped with mechanical stokers and Vanderbilt tenders and weighed 185 tonnes in working order. On test, they produced at a coal consumption of and a water consumption of per kilometre. The design was not repeated, however, and the FdE returned to the wheel arrangement with its subsequent acquisitions. The was used on the line from Almeda to Talca until it was replaced by diesels in 1969. One of them, no. 1009, is preserved in the Santiago Railway Museum.
China
In 1933, the Beijing–Hankou Railway in China needed new locomotives for their Guangzhou to Shaoguan line, where gradients of around two percent, curves with less than radius and low capacity bridges existed. The requirement was therefore for a locomotive with high tractive effort and a low axle load. In 1935 and 1936, 24 600-series locomotives, designed and built in the United Kingdom by Vulcan Foundry, were delivered to the railway. The locomotives represented a significant improvement over previous designs and incorporated a more efficient E-type superheater and duplex steam valve to allow better steaming without enlarging the boiler, while the wheel arrangement allowed better weight distribution.
When the Changsha–Guangzhou Railway was completed in October 1936, the locomotives were transferred to operate over the northern section between Hankou and Changsha on this new mainline, which connected Guangzhou with Tianjin and Peking.
Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the locomotives were designated the China Railways KF class. Some of the locomotives survived in service until the early 1970s. One of them, no. 607, is preserved at the National Railway Museum in the United Kingdom and another is in China at the Beijing Railway Museum.
Czechoslovakia
The 60 T tank engines of Czechoslovak State Railways' 477 class represent the ultimate development of the CKD 4-8-2 tender locomotive, but added a four-wheel trailing truck as part of the conversion to a tank locomotive. One of five classes of three cylinder locomotives known, they were the last steam locomotives delivered to the Czechoslovak State Railways, with the last group built in 1955. Used primarily in local passenger service, they were pulling regularly timetabled trains as late as 1991.
Three are preserved, as of 2018 two of them were still operational (013 and 043).
France
The lone prototype, numbered 242A1, of the (SNCF) was one of the five known classes of three-cylinder locomotives. It also had the distinction, along with an experimental high pressure locomotive of the New York Central Railroad in the United States, of being one of the two compound . It was rebuilt by Andre Chapelon from the unsuccessful 1932 three-cylinder simple expansion locomotive no. 241.101 of the into a compound locomotive. This remarkable locomotive achieved extraordinary power outputs and efficiency in coal and water consumption, but no further examples were built since the SNCF focused on electric traction for its future motive power development.
No. 242A1 was put through trials on many test runs which showed that this locomotive was equal in power output to the existing SNCF electric locomotives at the time. Here, for the first time in Europe, was a steam locomotive with a axle load which was not only at least as powerful as the most powerful existing high-speed electric locomotive, but which could repeatedly achieve its maximum power without any mechanical trouble. Developing and with of peak tractive effort and of mean tractive effort; nothing in Europe could match it.
While no. 242A1 was being tested, electrical engineers were designing the locomotives for the line between Paris and Lyon, which was to be electrified. An electric locomotive that was to be slightly more powerful than the successful Paris to Orléans 2-D-2 type electric locomotive was being contemplated. When the test results of no. 242A1 became known, however, the design was hurriedly changed to incorporate the maximum capacity possible with a axle load, resulting in the 9100 class with a power output of more than more than that of the original design.
The performances of the Mistral and other heavy passenger express trains would therefore not have been so outstanding if no. 242A1 had not existed and Andre Chapelon therefore indirectly influenced French electric locomotive design. In addition, no. 242A1 demonstrated the suitability of the Sauvage-Smith system of compounding for French conditions and the designs for future French steam locomotives that were prepared but never produced, were to make use of the Sauvage-Smith compounding system.
In service, no. 242A1 was allocated to the Le Mans depot and, between 1950 and 1960, it hauled express trains over the between Le Mans and Brest. It did not remain in service long, however, and was withdrawn and scrapped in 1960.
Germany
In 1939, the Deutsche Reichsbahn placed two prototype three-cylinder DRB Class 06 2D2-h3 heavy express locomotives in service, built by Krupp in 1938. Along with the lone 242A1 of the (SNCF) and the lone Victorian Railways H class in Australia, it was one of the five known classes of three-cylinder locomotives. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War and construction problems, only the two locomotives were produced.
With three cylinders, large diameter coupled wheels, a high boiler pressure and of tractive effort, they were capable of a maximum speed of and could haul a 650 tonne train at . Many parts, such as the boiler, were standardised with that of the DRG Class 45 heavy freight locomotive. The streamlined Class 06, the only German , was the biggest steam locomotive ever built in Germany. The two locomotives were shedded in Frankfurt and were placed in service on the line to Erfurt. No. 06.002 was bombed and destroyed during the hostilities and no. 06.001 survived until 1951, when it was retired and scrapped.
The boiler of both the 06 and 45 were designed along the lines of Robert Garbe and Richard Paul "Kunibald" Wagner, who held that a combustion chamber or double-expansion compound steam engines were unnecessary when using superheated steam. While the DB railways in the FRG salvaged the Class 45 design by fitting it with a badly-needed mechanical stoker, there was no need for the powerful Class 06 Express locos; when express traffic resumed, DB Class V 200 and DB Class E 10 Diesel-hydraulic and AC electric engines made any investment into pre-World War II steam engines unacceptable for the DB leadership even though Friedrich Witte or Adolph Giesl-Gieslingen proposed many improvements.
Mexico
In 1946, the (N de M) placed orders with American Locomotive Company and Baldwin Locomotive Works for sixty Niágara locomotives for use on its principal express passenger services on upgraded lines, but the order was reduced to 32 in favour of diesel-electric locomotives. These QR-1 class locomotives were used mainly on lines north of Mexico City and were nicknamed . All were taken out of service in the late 1960s. Most survived and No. 3028, although not in operating condition, was stored on the deadline at the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
New Zealand
New Zealand adopted the narrow gauge to minimise railway construction costs and, due to the mountainous terrain, the loading gauge was restricted to a maximum height of and width of , making it one of the most restrictive loading gauges in the world. While this undoubtedly reduced the cost of building the two hundred-odd tunnels on the railway system, it posed major problems for locomotive designers which were exacerbated by an axle load limit of .
After the Soviet Union and South Africa, the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) had the largest fleet of locomotives outside North America, with 71 similar locomotives in the K class, KA class and KB class.
The K class was designed by R.J. Gard to the requirements of Locomotive Superintendent P.R. Angus and was built locally at the Hutt Workshops of the NZR. The first locomotives were delivered during the depths of the Great Depression in 1932. The grate and comparatively large boiler was slung low on a narrow frame to keep within the height restrictions, and width restrictions were adhered to with sloped cab sides and the mounting of two single stage air compressors in front of the smokebox.
After the construction of thirty K class locomotives, the NZR developed the design to strengthen the frame and introduced other improvements, such as roller bearings on all axles and ACFI () feedwater heaters. Introduced from 1939, they were also built in NZR workshops, most of them with streamlined shrouding to cover the external pipe work of their feedwater heater systems. The first 35 locomotives were designated KA class and worked on the North Island mainlines with the older K class locomotives.
Six more were built, designated KB class, for service on the steeply graded Midland line on the South Island. These locomotives were equipped with trailing truck boosters, which raised their tractive effort by .
On occasion, these recorded speeds up to . The streamlining shrouds of the KA and KB classes were removed in the late 1940s when the ACFI feedwater heaters were replaced with exhaust steam injectors. The last of these locomotives was withdrawn in 1968 due to dieselisation. Seven have been preserved, K class numbers 900, 911 and 917, KA class numbers 935, 942 and 945 and KB class no. 968.
South Africa
Between 1953 and 1955, the South African Railways (SAR) placed fifty Class 25NC Northern locomotives in service. Designed under the direction of Chief Mechanical Engineer L.C. Grubb, eleven of these locomotives were built by North British Locomotive Company (NBL) and 39 by Henschel & Son. They were tended by Type EW1 tenders which rode on six-wheeled bogies. Two versions of the same locomotive were built, the Class 25NC being the non-condensing version, hence the "NC" suffix to the class number.
Ninety Class 25 condensing locomotives were introduced simultaneously, acquired as a means to deal with the shortage of adequate supplies of suitable locomotive water in the arid Karoo. The design work on the engine's condensing apparatus and the enormous condensing tender was carried out by Henschel, who built one locomotive complete with tender as well as sixty of the condensing tenders, to which they held the patent. The other 89 condensing locomotives and thirty tenders were built by NBL.
The Type CZ condensing tenders were slightly longer than their engines. One-third of the total length of the tender was taken up by the water tank and coal bunker, while the rest was taken up by eight large radiators on each side, cooled by five steam-driven roof-mounted fans. Roller bearings were used throughout on all these locomotives, including the coupling and connecting rods, the crosshead gudgeon pins as well as the three-axle bogies of both the standard and condensing tenders. The leading bogies and coupled wheels had Cannon-type axle boxes. The cylinders and frames were cast in one piece, while the steel cylinders and steam chests were fitted with cast iron liners. The tender frames of both locomotive types were also one-piece steel water-bottom castings. Since they were entirely mounted on roller bearings, very little effort was required to move these big locomotives.
On the condensing locomotives, spent steam was recycled and condensed back to water for repeated use. Since the steam was not expelled up the chimney, the smokebox contained a steam turbine-driven fan beneath the chimney to keep the draught going. Visual evidence of this altered and slightly longer smokebox is the locomotive's banjo-face smokebox front. The condensing system proved extremely efficient and reduced water consumption by as much as 90% by using the same water up to eight times over, which gave the Class 25 a range of between water refills. In addition, the hot condensate feedwater resulted in significantly reduced coal consumption.
However, the Class 25 was a complex locomotive that required high maintenance, especially on the turbine blower fans in the smokebox, whose blades needed to be replaced frequently due to damage by solid particles in the exhaust. The equally complex condensing tender also required frequent maintenance. Between 1973 and 1980, partly motivated by the spread of electric and diesel-electric traction, all but three of the locomotives were converted to free-exhausting and non-condensing locomotives and reclassified to Class 25NC. In the process their condensing tenders were also rebuilt to ordinary coal-and-water tenders by removing the condensing radiators and roof fans and replacing it with a massive round-topped water tank. Since the tenders were built on single cast-steel main frames, it was impractical to attempt to shorten them. Locomotives with these rebuilt Type EW2 tenders were soon nicknamed (Sausage dog or Dachshund).
The Class 26, popularly known as the Red Devil, was rebuilt from Henschel-built Class 25NC no. 3450 by mechanical engineer David Wardale. The rebuilding took place at the Salt River shops of the SAR in Cape Town and was based on the principles developed by Argentinian mechanical engineer Livio Dante Porta. The primary objectives of the modifications were to improve the combustion and steaming rate to reduce the emission of wasteful black smoke and to overcome the problem of clinkering. This was achieved by the use of a Gas Producer Combustion System (GPCS), which relies on the gasification of coal on a low temperature firebed so that the gases are then fully burnt above the firebed. The GPCS minimises the amount of air being drawn up through the firebed, the main source of air required for combustion being through ancillary air intakes located on the firebox sides above the firebed.
The modified locomotive became the only Class 26. Compared to an unmodified Class 25NC, the Red Devil achieved a 28% measured saving on coal and a 30% measured saving on water, measured during freight service, and a 43% increase in drawbar power based on the maximum recorded drawbar power. Its approximate maximum range in full load freight service on 1% to % grades was based on its coal capacity, and based on its water capacity. The maximum recorded freight load hauled relative to gradient was on 2% grades, and it could haul a passenger train at a constant speed of on 1% grades. The Red Devil great power, however, also turned out to be its one weakness. The Class 25NC had already proven to be on the slippery side and the much more powerful Class 26, with essentially still the same dimensions as the Class 25NC, was even worse. It was a poor performer at starting or at low speeds on steep gradients.
Soviet Union
Outside North America, the largest fleet of locomotives was the Class P36 of the (SZhD) or Soviet Railways, of which 251 were built by the Kolomna locomotive works between 1949 and 1956. As the last Soviet standard class steam locomotive, the Class P36 shared some common components and design attributes with earlier standard Soviet designs such as the L class Decapod type and LV class Santa Fe type, as well as some common attributes with the P34 class Mallet and P38 class Yellowstone type Mallet. For example, the P36 and LV classes shared the same feedwater heater, made by the Bryansk machine factory. Apart from a trio of fully streamlined Baltic-type locomotives, they were the only semi-streamlined steam locomotives built in Russia.
The Class P36 was one of the best passenger steam locomotive classes built in the Soviet Union. They had boilers with of heating surface that had a working boiler pressure of . Russian-designed roller bearings were fitted throughout and the boilers were designed to provide a continuous steaming capacity of per of heating surface in the boiler. With its cylinders and diameter coupled wheels, it could easily attain speeds up to with passenger trains of up to .
The Class P36 first appeared on the Oktyabrskaya Railway (October Railway) to haul principal express trains between Moscow and Leningrad, but they did not remain on this mainline long. Diesels took over after only a few years and the P36 class locomotives were transferred to other lines and depots, such as the Moscow–Kursk and Moscow–Ryazan lines, Kalinin, Krasnoyarsk, Belarusian Railway, Melitopol depot, Kuibyshev and Alexandrov depot.
Later, when electrification and dieselisation expanded, many of the Class P36 locomotives were transferred to work on the Lviv, Far East, Eastern Siberia, and Transbaikal Railways. The last was withdrawn from regular scheduled express passenger train service in 1974. All were staged in full working order and kept in reserve for times of extraordinary demand. At certain intervals, the locomotives were taken out from staging, steamed up and put to work to haul trains to test the condition of the locomotives. In the late 1980s, these strategic reserves of locomotives were disbanded and the Class P36 locomotives were distributed to museums and for preservation. Some that had not seen regular use for more than fifteen years and were in the worst mechanical condition, were scrapped. It was found that the roller bearings suffered most by standing unused. When the computerised new class numbers were introduced by the Russian Ministry of Railways, the Class P36 were designated Class 1000.0001 to 1000.0251. In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number were sold to private train operators.
Spain
The 242F class express passenger locomotives were designed by the (RENFE) in 1955 and were remarkably well-proportioned. Developed from a preceding Mountain type, they had improved steam passages and developed 30 to 40 per cent more power at medium cut-offs and high speed. Ten of these locomotives were built by in Barcelona to burn fuel oil. They had Witte type smoke deflectors and were fitted with a double KylChap (Kylälä-Chapelon) blast-pipe, a Worthington feedwater heater and a (TIA) water-softening device. To increase the comfort of the locomotive crew, the cabs had wooden floors mounted on springs, and the seats of the driver and fireman were also sprung, a very welcome improvement for long runs on poor tracks. These locomotives were painted in a green livery when turned out from the builder's works at Barcelona and were consequently nicknamed (The Greens).
The 242F class was the fastest Spanish steam locomotive. When tested on the line from Barcelona to Tarragona across of practically level and straight line between Vilanova i la Geltrú and Sant Vicent, a speed exceeding was sustained twice, first with a train of 430 tons and then with a train of 480 tons. High-capacity tests took place between Madrid and Ávila when a train weighing 426 tons, including a dynamometer car, was hauled at sustained speeds of up a gradient of (1 in 286), up a gradient of (1 in 95) and up a gradient of (1 in 44.5). The gross horsepower figures recorded with the dynamometer car were 1790, 2350 and 2320 respectively, the calculated horsepower on the rail being 2600, 3400 and 3580. The latter output translates to about .
With these locomotives, there was some concern about water supply. The capacity of the tender was limited at only and, with few watering points in service, the full capacity of the locomotive was not always used for fear of running short of this essential commodity in the semi-arid Spanish landscape. For example, for the stretch between Medina del Campo and Burgos that rises with an uphill start, three intermediate stops, one slack and some shunting movements to couple extra coaches to the train, the amount of water consumed was about .
All ten locomotives were allocated to the Miranda de Ebro shed to haul principal heavy express trains. In the 1960s, they were a familiar sight at the head of the premier express trains, but in 1971 they were transferred entirely to semi-fast passenger trains and even to the haulage of heavy seasonal fruit trains between Castejón and Alsasua from October to January. One locomotive, no. 242F.2009, is preserved at the Madrid Railway Museum.
United Kingdom
While no steam locomotives were known to be this type, an experimental diesel-mechanical locomotive, the British Rail 10100, had this wheel arrangement, but it was scrapped after a gearbox failure caused a loss of interest in the project.
United States
The American was a heavy locomotive, with nearly all examples in the United States having axle loads of more than . On railroads with rail of , axle loads of more than were permitted. Exceptionally heavy 4-8-4s were therefore introduced on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (Santa Fe), Chicago and North Western (CNW), Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O), Milwaukee Road (MILW), Northern Pacific (NP), Norfolk and Western (N&W), Spokane, Portland and Seattle (SP&S) and Western Maryland (WM) railroads. The Santa Fe Class 2900 had the heaviest axle load of all at as well as being the heaviest 4-8-4s ever built, weighing total. The lightest 4-8-4s in the United States were the six H-10 class locomotives of the Toledo, Peoria and Western (TPW), with an axle load of .
Some 4-8-4s were used on exceptionally long runs.
The Santa Fe Heavy Mountains were rostered to haul the Chief and Fast Mail trains between La Junta, Colorado and Los Angeles across , and also handled the Grand Canyon Limited between Los Angeles and Wellington, Kansas, across . From 1942, they ran through from Los Angeles to Kansas City via the Belen Cutoff and Amarillo, Texas, a distance of , setting a new record for through steam locomotive rosters.
The Niagaras of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) also accomplished long runs on New York to Chicago passenger trains, including the Chicagoan and the Commodore Vanderbilt.
The Northern Pacific hauled the North Coast Limited across from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Livingston, Montana.
The Great Northern S-2 Class of 4-8-4s hauled the Empire Builder across from St. Paul, Minnesota to Wenatchee, Washington and possibly as far west to Seattle, a maximum distance of .
Several of the earlier locomotive models were modified or rebuilt during their service lives.
Santa Fe developed their 4-8-4s for years, and named the classes based on the number of the first locomotive in the class. The fourteen 3751 class locomotives that were introduced in 1927 and 1928 were of conservative design, with diameter driving wheels and a boiler pressure of . In 1938, these locomotives were rebuilt with more modern features, including new diameter Boxpok driving wheels, increased size steam passages to and from the cylinders, the boiler pressure raised to and roller bearings on all engine axles. This gave them a maximum drawbar power of at . Engine no. 3752 was equipped with Franklin rotary cam poppet valve gear and achieved the very low steam rate of 13.5 lb per indicated horsepower-hour (2.28 mg/J). These locomotives were permitted to run at , but they were alleged to have exceeded several times.
The heavy Class H Northerns of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad were rebuilt in 1940 with lightweight rods, Boxpok driving wheels and roller bearings on all axles, and the boiler pressure was raised from . Some years later, 24 of them underwent another rebuild which included new nickel-steel frames, new cylinders, pilot beams and air reservoirs, new fireboxes and other minor improvements. These were reclassified as Class H-1.
The S-2 Class Northerns of the Great Northern Railway were rebuilt to have Timken roller bearings on every axle in 1945, replacing their original plain bearings. Vestibule cabs were added to engine 2577 in the early 1930s and engines 2582, 2586, 2587 and 2588 by the late 1940s.
Some Northern locomotives were also rebuilt from older engines. Between 1945 and 1947, the Reading Railroad rebuilt thirty of their heavy I-10 class Consolidations to booster-fitted Northern locomotives with diameter driving wheels. An additional ring was added at the smokebox end of the boiler, which increased the length of the boiler tubes from to , and a larger smokebox was installed which increased the distance between the tube plate and the chimney centre line from to . Steam pressure was raised from . Four syphons were fitted, three in the firebox proper and one in the combustion chamber. A twelve-wheeled tender was attached, weighing 167 tons in working order, with a capacity of 23.5 tons of coal and of water. A new cast-steel frame was used, with the cylinders cast integral and roller bearings on all axles. They were reclassified to T1 and numbered 2100 to 2129. Two of these locomotives, preserved for hauling special trains, were still in use in 1963.
The Northerns were workhorses that went without much public recognition, with a few exceptions. The Class GS-4 Golden State locomotives of Southern Pacific (SP), of which 36 were built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1941 and 1942, were semi-streamlined and were given a striking livery with a broad orange valence over the wheels below a narrow red band that came halfway up the cab windows. The locomotives headed the Coast Daylight train on the railroad's Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The television program The Adventures of Superman was introduced with a shot of an SP GS-4 as the announcer declared that Superman was "more powerful than a locomotive." One of them, Southern Pacific 4449, has been restored and is in operating condition.
Even after the demise of steam, the Northern type has been in the spotlight of publicity and, along with Union Pacific 844 of the Union Pacific FEF Series and Norfolk and Western 611 of the Norfolk and Western Class J series, among other Northerns, have been the favoured type to provide mainline excursions in the United States. The former is the only steam locomotive of a Class I railroad never to have been retired.
North American production list
Most North American s were built by ALCO, Lima and the Baldwin Locomotive Works, while Canadian National Railway's fleet was built by Montreal Locomotive Works. Only the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Norfolk and Western Railway, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt) and the Reading Railroad built or rebuilt their own. The Missouri Pacific rebuilt one class of their s from their class BK-63 2-8-4s.
The Northern type was used by 37 railroads in the Americas, including 31 railroads in the United States, three in Canada, one in Mexico and two in Brazil. In all, there were fewer than 1,200 locomotives of this type in North America, compared to the approximately 2,500 Mountain types and 6,800 Pacific types. By far the largest fleet was owned by the CN and its subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, with altogether 203 locomotives.
Preservation by country
In many countries, the was a late development of the steam locomotive, close to the time of steam's demise. Many more were therefore preserved than other older wheel arrangements, either plinthed or in museums, with several being kept in running condition. Some of the more notable preserved Northerns worldwide are listed here by country of origin.
Australia
South Australian Railways 520: Restored to service in 1972, operating the SteamRanger tourist railway between Mount Barker and Victor Harbor at the time.
South Australian Railways 523: on static display at the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide.
Victorian Railways H220: On static display at the Newport Railway Museum in Melbourne, this locomotive is the only surviving three-cylinder example of a 4-8-4.
Canada
Canadian National 6153: On static display at the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec.
Canadian National 6167: On static display in downtown Guelph, Ontario.
Canadian National 6200: Canadian Science & Technology Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.
Canadian National 6213: On static display in downtown Toronto, Ontario, at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre.
Canadian National 6218: Fort Erie Railroad Museum, Fort Erie, Ontario. Used by the CN on excursions in the 1960s and 1970s.
Canadian National 6400: Canadian Science & Technology Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.
Canadian Pacific 3100: Canadian Science & Technology Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.
Canadian Pacific 3101: On display at EVRAZ (formerly IPSCO Steel), Regina, Saskatchewan.
Grand Trunk Western 6323: On display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.
Grand Trunk Western 6325: Restored in 2001 by the Ohio Central Railroad, owned by Age of Steam Roundhouse, Sugarcreek, Ohio. Currently, the locomotive needs valve and running gear work.
China
Class KF1 006: Displayed at the China Railway Museum, Beijing.
Class KF 7: Displayed at the National Railway Museum, York, England.
Mexico
N de M 3027: Guadalajara, Jalisco.
N de M 3028: Retired in 1966, acquired by the Great North Eastern Railroad Foundation, and displayed at the Altamont, New York, fairgrounds until 1983. On lease to the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad.
N de M 3030: Zacatecas, Zacatecas.
N de M 3031: Huehuetoca, Mexico.
N de M 3033: Pachuca, Hidalgo.
N de M 3034: Puebla, Puebla.
N de M 3035: Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes.
N de M 3036: Leon, Guanajuato.
N de M 3038: Mexico City.
N de M 3039: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
N de M 3040: Oriental, Puebla.
N de M 3056: Tequisuiapan, Queretaro.
New Zealand
K 900: On static display at the Museum of Transport & Technology, Auckland
K 911: Under overhaul by the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, Plimmerton.
K 917: Stored, missing many parts, Steam Incorporated, Paekakariki.
KA 935: Awaiting overhaul at the Silver Stream Railway, near Wellington, New Zealand.
KA 942: In service at the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, Plimmerton. Was used on mainline excursions.
KA 945: Stored in dismantled condition at Steam Incorporated, Paekakariki.
KB 968: Owned by the Canterbury Railway Society, leased to the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust. Under overhaul at Christchurch.
South Africa
Class 25 3511: Condenser, staged at Beaconsfield, Kimberley.
Class 25NC 3405: Displayed at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton, England
Class 25NC 3432: Stored at Mainline Steam, Auckland, New Zealand.
Class 25NC 3437: Owned by Steamnet 2000, restored and steamed in April 2017.
Class 25NC 3442: Operated by Rovos Rail, Capital Park, Pretoria.
Class 25NC 3454: Ex condenser with dual Lempor exhaust, staged at Bloemfontein.
Class 25NC 3484: Ex condenser, operated by Rovos Rail, Capital Park, Pretoria.
Class 25NC 3508: Stored at Mainline Steam, Auckland, New Zealand.
Class 25NC 3533: Ex condenser, operated by Rovos Rail, Capital Park, Pretoria.
Class 26 3450: The Red Devil, staged at Monument Station, Cape Town.
Soviet Union
P36-0001: Restored to working order at Roslavl in 2005. Currently displayed at Rizhsky Station, Moscow.
P36-0027: Tikhoretsk for restoration to working order.
P36-0031: Troitsk in working order.
P36-0032: The only private steam locomotive operated in Russia, owned by GW Travel.
P36-0050: Brest Railway Museum.
P36-0058: Zlatoust derelict.
P36-0064: Brest Railway Museum, Belarus Railways.
P36-0071: Cosmetically restored and on display in Nizhny Novgorod.
P36-0091: Skovorodino station.
P36-0094: Belogorsk station.
P36-0096: Severobaik station.
P36-0097: Seyatel Station Museum.
P36-0107: Park near Irkutsk.
P36-0110: Mogzhon station.
P36-0111: Orsha station, Belarus.
P36-0120: Now restored to working order at Tikhoretsk. Returned to Moscow 03/09/13 for the '1520 Railway Exhibition' at Scherbinka. Currently based in Moscow.
P36-0123: Prora Museum, Ruegen Island, Germany.
P36-0124: Chernyshevsk depot.
P36-0147: Sharya station.
P36-0182: Cosmetically restored and on display in Chelyabinsk.
P36-0192: Taiga station.
P36-0218: Tikhoretsk/Bataysk, restored to working order.
P36-0228: Uulan Baatar Railway Museum, Mongolia.
P36-0232: Cosmetically restored at Zlatoust in 2009 for display in Samara. May display a different number.
P36-0249: Shushary Railway Museum, St. Petersburg.
P36-0250: Tashkent Railway Museum, Uzbekistan.
P36-0251: Warsaw Station Museum, St. Petersburg.
Spain
RENFE242F-2009: Retired in 1973, restored in 1989, and another time in 2005. Although in running order, it is usually on static display at the Museo del Ferrocarril, housed in the former Delicias Railway Station.
Andorra, Escatrón & Samper de Calanda steam locomotives, retired in 1984. One is displayed in Casetas, Zaragoza, and the other two are displayed in Andorra, Teruel
United States
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2903: On display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2912: On static display in Pueblo, Colorado.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2913: On display in Fort Madison, Iowa.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2921: On display at the Amtrak Station in Modesto, California.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2925: On display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2926: Currently under restoration for excursion service in Albuquerque at a site leased from the GSA near 8th Street and Haynes Avenue. More information at New Mexico Steam Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3751: Restored in 1991, owned by the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society, and is operated in excursion service. It is the oldest surviving , the first one to be built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and the first to be built for the Santa Fe.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3759: On Display in Kingman, Arizona.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 3768: On display at the Great Plains Transportation Museum in Wichita, Kansas.
Chesapeake and Ohio 614: Restored in 1980 and again in 1995, owned by Iron Horse Enterprise, Clifton Forge, Virginia.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 5614: On display at Patee Park in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 5629: On display at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado.
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 5631: On display at Rotary Park in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 5633: On display at the Douglas Railroad Interpretive Center, Douglas, Wyoming.
Grand Trunk Western 6323: On display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.
Great Northern 2584: On display at the Havre depot in Havre, Montana.
Milwaukee Road 261: Restored in 1993, owned, maintained, and operated by the Friends of the 261 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Milwaukee Road 265: On display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.
Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis 576, Nashville, Tennessee - Presently undergoing Restoration.
Norfolk and Western 611: Ran frequent excursions in the 1980s and early 1990s, then placed on static display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke, Virginia. The second restoration to operational condition completed in mid 2015 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, Spencer, North Carolina.
Reading 2100: Restored in 1988 and 1998, converted to burn oil in the Early 2000s. On long-term lease to the American Steam Railroad. Currently under restoration to operating condition.
Reading 2101: On display at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
Reading 2102: Reading & Northern Railroad, Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, has been restored to operating condition in April 2022.
Reading 2124: Used on the "Reading Rambles" in the late 1950s and 1960s. On display at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
819: Built in 1943, it was the last locomotive built by the Cotton Belt and the last Cotton Belt steam locomotive built. Restored to service in 1986 and housed at the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
St. Louis-San Francisco 4500: As the Frisco Meteor, ran overnight passenger service between St. Louis, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Cosmetically restored and relocated in 2011 to the Route 66 Historical Village at 3770 Southwest Blvd in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
St. Louis-San Francisco 4501: Built in 1942, ran overnight passenger service as the Frisco Meteor between St. Louis, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. Donated to the Dallas Museum of the American Railroad in September 1964.
St. Louis-San Francisco 4516: On display at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri.
St. Louis-San Francisco 4524: On display at Grant Beach Park in Springfield, Missouri. This was the last steam locomotive built for the Frisco.
Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700: Restored in 1990 by the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, and is operated in excursion service. No. 700 is stored at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland, Oregon, along with SP 4449. It is the only surviving original Spokane, Portland and Seattle railway steam locomotive.
Southern Pacific 4449: Still in operation, served as the locomotive for the Bicentennial American Freedom Train. Stored at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland, Oregon along with SPS 700.
Southern Pacific 4460: On display at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. This was the last steam locomotive used in revenue service by SP.
Union Pacific 814: On display at the Rock Island Depot Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Union Pacific 833: On display at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah.
Union Pacific 838: Union Pacific Railroad, stored in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Used solely as a source of spare parts for sister engine 844.
Union Pacific 844: Formerly Union Pacific 8444 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad (12/1944). Part of UP heritage fleet, often used for running in excursion service, and on occasion revenue service. Never retired, it is the longest continuously operating steam locomotive on a Class 1 Railroad. Kept at Cheyenne, Wyoming, when not on excursion.
References
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425804 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20of%20Madagascar | Music of Madagascar | The highly diverse and distinctive music of Madagascar has been shaped by the musical traditions of Southeast Asia, Africa, Oceania, Arabia, England, France and the United States over time as indigenous people, immigrants, and colonists have made the island their home. Traditional instruments reflect these widespread origins: the and owe their existence to the introduction of the guitar by early Arab or European seafarers, the ubiquitous originated in mainland Africa and the —the bamboo tube zither considered the national instrument of Madagascar—directly evolved from an earlier form of zither carried with the first Austronesian settlers on their outrigger canoes.
Malagasy music can be roughly divided into three categories: traditional, contemporary and popular music. Traditional musical styles vary by region and reflect local ethnographic history. For instance, in the Highlands, the and more subdued vocal styles are emblematic of the Merina, the predominantly Austronesian ethnic group that has inhabited the area since at least the 15th century, whereas among the southern Bara people, who trace their ancestry back to the African mainland, their a cappella vocal traditions bear close resemblance to the polyharmonic singing style common to South Africa. Foreign instruments such as the acoustic guitar and piano have been adapted locally to create uniquely Malagasy forms of music. Contemporary Malagasy musical styles such as the or have evolved from traditional styles modernized by the incorporation of electric guitar, bass, drums and synthesizer. Many Western styles of popular music, including rock, gospel, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and folk rock, have also gained in popularity in Madagascar over the later half of the 20th century.
Music in Madagascar has served a variety of sacred and secular functions. In addition to its performance for entertainment or personal creative expression, music has played a key part in spiritual ceremonies, cultural events and historic and contemporary political functions. By the late 19th century, certain instruments and types of music became primarily associated with specific castes or ethnic groups, although these divisions have always been fluid and are continually evolving.
Traditional music
Malagasy music is highly melodic and distinguishes itself from many traditions of mainland Africa by the predominance of chordophone relative to percussion instruments. Musical instruments and vocal styles found in Madagascar represent a blend of widespread commonalities and highly localized traditions. A common vocal style among the Merina and Betsileo of the Highlands, for instance, does not preclude differences in the prevalence of particular instrument types (the among the Merina, and the and among the Betsileo). Similarly, the practice of (entering a trance state, typically induced by music) is present on both the western and eastern coasts of the island but the vocal styles or instruments used in the ceremony will vary regionally. Music in Madagascar tends toward major keys and diatonic scales, although coastal music makes frequent use of minor keys, most likely due to early Arab influences at coastal ports of call. Malagasy music has served a wide range of social, spiritual and mundane functions across the centuries.
Vocal traditions
Vocal traditions in Madagascar are most often polyharmonic; southern vocal styles bear strong resemblance to South African singing (as exemplified by groups such as Salala or Senge), whereas Highland harmonies, strongly influenced in the past two hundred years by European church music, are more reminiscent of Hawaiian or other Polynesian vocal traditions. In the Highlands, and particularly in the 19th century, vocal performance by large groups called was favored, while in the south and western coastal regions singing was performed with more elaborate ornamentation and in small groups. Musical performance in Madagascar has often been associated with spiritual functions. Music is a key component in achieving a trance state in (or ) spiritual rituals practiced in several regions of the island, as it is believed that each spirit has a different preferred piece of music. The association between music and ancestors is so strong on the eastern coast that some musicians will put rum, cigarettes or other valued objects inside an instrument (through the tone hole, for instance) as an offering to the spirits to receive their blessings. Similarly, music has long been central to the ceremony (periodic reburial of ancestors' shroud-wrapped mortal remains).
Musical instruments
Instruments in Madagascar were brought to the island by successive waves of settlers from across the Old World. Over 1500 years ago, the earliest settlers from Indonesia brought the oldest and most emblematic instruments, including the tube zither () which evolved into a box form () distinct to the island. Later settlers from the Arabian peninsula and the eastern coast of Africa contributed early lutes, whistles and other instruments that were incorporated into local musical traditions by the mid-16th century. The influence of instruments and musical styles from France and Great Britain began to have a significant impact on music in Madagascar by the 19th century.
Chordophones
The most emblematic instrument of Madagascar, the , is a bamboo tube zither very similar in form to those used traditionally in Indonesia and the Philippines. The is considered the national instrument of Madagascar. It is typically tuned to a diatonic mode to produce complex music based on harmonic, parallel thirds accompanied by a melodic bass line. The strings are traditionally cut and raised from the fibrous surface of the bamboo tube itself, although a contemporary form also exists that instead uses bicycle brake cables for strings to give the instrument a punchier sound.
Strings may be plucked with the fingernails, which are allowed to grow longer for this purpose. The instrument was originally used for rituals and for creative artistic expression alike. However, beginning in the mid-19th century, playing the instrument became the prerogative of the Merina aristocracy to such an extent that possessing long fingernails became symbolic of nobility. While the tubular is the most emblematic form of the instrument most likely due to its popularization by the 19th century Merina aristocracy, other forms of the instrument exist across the island. In the region around the eastern port city of Toamasina, for instance, used in ceremonies may take a rectangular box form called . While some regions construct their from wood, near Toamasina the box is constructed of metal sheeting with much thicker and heavier strings that produce a different sound from the bamboo and bicycle cable of the Highlands.
The (or ) is a four to six-stringed simple guitar common in the southern Highlands moving toward the east, particularly among the Betsimisaraka and Betsileo ethnic groups. The soundbox, which is typically square or rectangular today, was originally circular in form, first made from a tortoise shell and later from wood carved into a rounded shape. and are the Antandroy names of a popular Southern chordophone similar to the but with nylon fishing line for strings and five or seven movable frets that facilitate modification of the instrument's tuning.
The is a chordophone that traditionally has two sisal strings, three frets and a calabash resonator, although modern versions may have as many as eleven or thirteen strings, typically made of steel. A maximum of four of these are strung over the frets, while the rest are strung lengthwise down the sides of the neck and are strummed with the fingers in accompaniment to the primary melody which is played with a bow. This more elaborate is especially popular among the Betsileo of the southern Highlands and the Betsimisaraka of the southeast, who play it in accompaniment to their sung epic poems, called . In 19th-century Highlands society under the Kingdom of Imerina, the was considered to be a slave instrument which only mature men were permitted to play. The , an evolved with the sound box carved to resemble a three-stringed fiddle, is popular among the Southern Antandroy and Bara ethnic groups. The simplest form of instrument in this family is the (musical bow), believed to have been brought to Madagascar by settlers from mainland Africa.
The piano was introduced to the royal Merina court in the early 19th century by envoys of the London Missionary Society, and soon afterward, local musicians began creating their own compositions for piano based on technique. Piano compositions reached their peak with the style in the 1920s and 1930s before declining in the 1940s. Today, the compositions of this period by pianist theatrical composers like Andrianary Ratianarivo (1895–1949) and Naka Rabemananatsoa (1892–1952) form part of the canon of classical Malagasy music and feature in the repertoire of Malagasy students of piano.
When the modern acoustic guitar was first popularized in Madagascar, it was adopted by the lower classes who were inspired by the piano style but for whom the purchase of a costly piano was out of reach. Early guitarists adapted the piano style (itself based on style) to this novel stringed instrument to create a genre that came to be known as . Soon afterward, the guitar was widely disseminated throughout the island, producing an explosion of regionally distinctive Malagasy guitar styles inspired by the music played on local traditional instruments. Finger picking is the favored technique and guitarists frequently experiment with original tunings to obtain the desired range. One of the most common tunings drops the sixth string from E to C and the fifth string from A to G, thereby enabling the guitarist to capture a range approximating that of a vocal choir. The Malagasy acoustic guitar style has been internationally promoted by such artists as Erick Manana and pioneering Bara artist Ernest Randrianasolo (better known by his stage name D'Gary), who blends the rhythms of with innovative open tunings to approximate the sounds of the , and .
Aerophones
The , an end-blown flute, is believed to be one of the oldest instruments on the island. There exists the more common and well-known short , about a foot long with six finger holes and one for the thumb, and another similar end-blown flute over two feet long with three holes at the far end. Both are open-ended and are played by blowing diagonally across the near opening. The master of performance, Rakoto Frah, was featured on the 1000 Malagasy franc (200 ariary) banknote after independence in 1960 and his death on 29 September 2001 prompted national mourning.
The conch shell ( or ) is a similarly ancient instrument believed to have been brought over by early Indonesian settlers. Mainly played by men, it features a lateral blow hole in the Polynesian style and is typically reserved for ritual or spiritual uses rather than to create music for entertainment. The antsiva has also been recorded to have been used as part of Merina royal regalia. The fipple flute is a simple aerophone brought to Madagascar after 1000 CE by immigrants from Africa.
The two-octave diatonic accordion (), popular across Madagascar, is believed to have been imported by French colonists after 1896. In the 20th century, the instrument was commonly performed during spirit possession ceremonies in a style called . In the 1970s, the was incorporated for the performance of electrified music. This accordion style was also integrated into the performance of , while also inspiring the style used by the guitarists in these bands. Although today the sound of the accordion is most often replicated by a synthesizer in or bands due to the expense and rarity of the instrument, accordions continue to hold a privileged place in the performance of ceremonial music. Artists like half-brothers Lego and Rossy have gained success as accordion players. Régis Gizavo brought the contemporary style of to the world music scene, winning several international awards for his accordion performance.
A variety of European aerophones were introduced in the 19th century under the Merina monarchy. These most notably include bugles () and clarinets (), and less frequently the trombone or oboe (). Their use today is largely restricted to the Highlands and the or bands that perform at (reburials), circumcisions and other traditional celebrations. Metal and wood harmonicas are also played.
Membranophones
Various types of membranophones, traditionally associated with solemn occasions, are found throughout the island. In the Highlands, European bass drums () and snare drums introduced in the 19th century have replaced an earlier drum () traditionally beat to accentuate the discourse of a speaker during a or other formal occasions where the oratory art of is practiced. Only men can play the , while women and men may both play the smaller drum. The ("male wood") drum produces the deepest sound and is reserved for the most significant occasions such as , circumcision ceremonies and the ancient festival of the royal bath.
Idiophones
Bamboo shakers () filled with seeds are integral to the performance of on the eastern coast of the island, although modern items such as empty insecticide tins or sweetened condensed milk cans filled with pebbles increasingly take the place of traditional bamboo. Shakers of this sort are used throughout Madagascar, commonly in conjunction with and other ceremonies. During the slave trade era, another idiophone—a scraper called the —was popularized in Madagascar after being imported there from Brazil where it is known as a caracacha.
Early forms of xylophone such as the are found throughout the island and are believed to have come across with the original Indonesian settlers. The earliest of these is played uniquely by a pair of women, one of whom sits with her legs outstretched together and the bars of the xylophone resting across her legs rather than on a separate resonator box. Each woman strikes the with a pair of sticks, one keeping the beat while the second plays a melody. The xylophone bars range from five to seven in number and are made of differing lengths of a rot-resistant wood called . A similar xylophone called is still played in the southwest among the Vezo and Bara ethnic groups.
Contemporary music
Contemporary music comprises modern-day compositions that have their roots in traditional musical styles and have been created for entertainment purposes, typically with the intent of eventual mass dissemination via cassette, compact disc, radio or internet. Modern forms of Malagasy music may incorporate such innovations as amplified or imported instruments (particularly electric guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer and drum kit), blend the sounds of new and traditional instruments or use traditional instruments in innovative ways. As contemporary artists adapt their musical heritage to today's market, they manage to preserve the melodic, chordophone-dominated sound that distinguishes traditional Malagasy music from the more percussion-heavy traditions of mainland Africa.
African genres like Coupé-décalé and Afrobeats
heavily influence modern malagasy popular music.
Highlands
In the 1950s and 1960s, a variety of bands in the Highlands (in the area between and around Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa) were performing covers of European and American hits or adapting mainland African tunes for local audiences. Madagascar got its first supergroup in the 1970s with Mahaleo, whose members blended traditional Malagasy sounds with soft rock to enormous and enduring success. Rossy emerged as a superstar shortly afterward, adapting the instrumentation, rhythms and vocal styles of the to create a distinctly Malagasy radio-friendly sound. His open and enthusiastic support for then-President Didier Ratsiraka assured his band regular performances in association with Presidential functions, and his band came to define the Ratsiraka epoch for many.
Other important contemporary musicians from the Highlands include Justin Vali and Sylvestre Randafison, both virtuosos; Rakoto Frah, who could play two simultaneously; Solo Miral, featuring guitar played in the style of a ; Tarika, a Malagasy fusion band based in England; Olombelona Ricky, a highly accomplished solo vocalist, and Samoëla, a roots artist whose blunt social and political critiques propelled his group to popularity.
Coastal styles
Distinct contemporary forms of music, rooted in local musical traditions, have emerged in the coastal regions since the 1960s. Chief among these are two up-tempo dance music styles that have become especially popular across Madagascar and have achieved crossover success: , a style that originated in the northwest around Mahajanga and Antsiranana, and , a style centered in the southwest between Toliara and Betroka. Other key coastal styles include of Diego-Suarez and the northeast coast as popularized by Mika sy Davis, of Morondava and the southwestern interior, of the southern Anosy region performed by such groups as Rabaza, of the northeast as popularized by Jerry Marcoss, the southern polyharmonic tradition performed by bands like Senge and Terakaly, and and music from neighboring Reunion Island and Mauritius.
is funky, energetic dance music dominated by ringing electric guitars, accordion (real or synthesized), and call-and-response polyphonic vocals, with heavy electric bass and a driving percussion. The percussion section might include a drum kit, djembe, and shakers.
is an electrified version of the traditional musical style that Tandroy singer Mama Sana used to perform at Betsimisaraka and Tsimihety rituals.
In addition to their commonalities in tempo, vocal style, and tendency toward minor keys (which some attribute to an Arab influence, and which stands in contrast to the major key dominance of Highland music), the shares the 's structure in that it always features a middle section called the ("broken") which is primarily instrumental—voice serves only to urge on more energetic dancing—and during which the vocalists (and the audience) will launch into intricate polyrhythmic hand-clapping to the beat of the music.
The major exponents of modern were Jaojoby and Mily Clément. Among the later artists are Ninie Doniah, Wawa, Vaiavy Chila, and Dr. J.B. and the Jaguars.
Like , is energetic dance music that originated from the traditional music of the southwestern region around Toliara and that has recently been adapted to contemporary instruments such as electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit. Generally even more rapid than the , this form of music features a guitar performance style inspired by traditional compositions, but the influence of South African township music is evident in both the guitars and polyharmonic vocals, often performed by female singers who repeat variations on a short refrain throughout the song. music is performed at all manner of ceremonial occasion in the South, whether a birthday celebration, community party, or funeral. While had risen to national popularity by the mid-1980s (some would argue the 1970s), only truly began to garner a similar level of widespread appreciation by the mid-1990s. It was not until the 2000 release of the "Tulear Never Sleeps" compilation album that the genre achieved international exposure on a major label. This compilation, however, showcases "traditional" , such as might have more commonly been performed in rural villages twenty years ago, rather than the amplified, synthesized and remixed style in heavy rotation on radio stations performed by national stars like Tearano, Terakaly, Jarifa, and Mamy Gotso.
There are many more regional styles of contemporary music that have yet to achieve the level of national recognition attained by and just as there are many nationally and internationally acclaimed musicians who draw upon the musical traditions of the coastal regions in their compositions. Of note are Hazolahy (a largely acoustic roots band from the Southeast that plays ), D'Gary (an acclaimed acoustic guitarist from the inland South near Betroka), and Toto Mwandjani (who popularized Congolese ndombolo-style guitar, and whose band performs a fusion of Central/East African and Malagasy dance styles).
Popular music
A wide range of foreign music styles have been popularized in Madagascar, including French performed by artists such as Poopy, reggae, gospel music, and pop rock performed by bands such as Green and AmbondronA. Since mid-2010s malagasy popular music has been a blend of malagasy music, tropical music (Zouk) and African genres like Coupé décalé and Afrobeats. Artists of this new wave of malagasy music include Black Nadia, Vaiavy Chila, LIANAH and BIG MJ. Jazz has been popularized by artists such as Nicolas Vatomanga. Malagasy hip hop broke into the mainstream in the mid-nineties and has since skyrocketed to popularity through artists such as Da Hopp and 18,3. More recently bands like Oladad are experimenting with the fusion of hip-hop and traditional Malagasy musical styles and instruments. There is also a small metal scene with bands like Sasamaso being the most prominent.Dancehall has gained popularity in Madagascar since late 2010s with artists like Mad Max and Basta Lion.
Performance of Malagasy music
Music has long served a variety of secular and sacred purposes in Madagascar. Song may accompany daily tasks, provide entertainment, preserve history or communicate social and political messages. Music is likewise integral to the experience of spiritual ritual among many ethnic and religious groups on the island.
Secular performance
Among some ethnic groups music would help advance a repetitive or arduous task. Geo Shaw, a missionary to Madagascar in the 19th century, described observing Betsileo and Merina serfs singing in the rice fields, "timing the music to the movements of their bodies, so that at each accented note they plant a stalk." Similarly, songs may accompany the paddling of dugout canoes on long journeys. Music may also accompany another form of entertainment, such as songs chanted by female spectators at matches of , a traditional form of full-body wrestling popular in coastal regions.
The preservation of oral history may be achieved through musical performance in Madagascar. Among the Betsileo, for instance, oral histories are retold through a form of musical performance called the , which in its current form may represent a combination of the original, single-verse and an epic poem called the . The Betsileo is performed by two men who each play a while singing very loudly with a strained pitch in the soprano range. The structure of the song is complex and, unlike other Malagasy musical styles, parallel thirds are not predominant in the harmony. Other Southern ethnic groups also perform simplified variations of the featuring for example a solo musician who strums rather than fiddles his accompanying instrument and sings at a lower, more natural pitch. While the Betsileo can address diverse themes, those performed by other southern groups are almost always praise songs recalling a favorably memorable event.
Endogenous musical styles may also serve as a form of artistic expression, as in the highly syncopated genre of Imerina. The emerged in conjunction with the French introduction of operetta and the subsequent rise of Malagasy theater at the Theatre Municipale d'Isotry beginning in the late 1910s. The vocal style used in is characterized by female use of , a vocal ornamentation delivered in a nasal tone, offset by the (tenor) and rapid-moving (baritone) line sung by the men. inspired the musical duet style , popularized in Imerina during the final two decades of the colonial period, in which the vocal sensibilities are applied to love themes and accompanied by a syncopated composition for piano or occasionally guitar.
Musical performance in the Highlands took on a distinctly political and educative role through the (: song; : Malagasy). The is a day-long spectacle of music, dance, and a stylized form of traditional oratory known as performed by a troupe or as a competition between two or more troupes. While the origins of the are uncertain, oral history attributes its modern form to 18th century Merina king Andrianampoinimerina, who reportedly employed musicians to gather the public together for royal speeches and announcements () and to entertain them as they labored on public works projects such as building dikes to irrigate the rice paddies surrounding Antananarivo. Over time, these musicians formed independent troupes who used and continue to use the non-threatening performance format to explore sensitive social and political themes in the public arena.
The troupes of today are remnants of a tradition of court musicians that persisted through the end of the 19th century. Under Queen Ranavalona III, the final monarch in the Merina dynasty, there were three official groups of state musicians: one for the queen, one for her prime minister, and another for the city of Antananarivo. The queen's troupe consisted of over 300 musicians. Until slavery was abolished, musicians in these groups were members of the slave class () directed by a (free Merina). Each year at Christmas, the directors of each group would arrange a performance before the queen of a new original composition; the queen would select a winner among the three. While court musicians (and therefore the earliest troupes) originally performed using traditional instruments – namely the , and drums - over the course of the 19th century the increasing European influence led court musicians and troupes alike to make increasing use of foreign instruments such as violins, clarinets, trombones and trumpets. The tradition of the court musician died out with the abolition of the monarchy in Madagascar after French colonization, but the tradition has continued to thrive.
Musical styles from abroad have been merged with pre-existing Malagasy musical traditions to create distinctly Malagasy sounds with foreign roots. An example of this is the , a tune based on the French quadrille that was popularized in the Malagasy court in the 19th century. A specific form of partner dance accompanies this piece, in which dancers will form a long chain of male-female pairs with the woman at the front of each pair, both facing forward holding each other's hands while advancing to the rhythm of the music. From its origins as a courtly dance, the today is a quintessentially Malagasy tradition performed at the beginning of a social event or concert to kick off the festivities.
Sacred performance
Music is a common element of spiritual ritual and ceremonies throughout the island. For instance, members of troupes are traditionally invited to perform at the reburial ceremonies of central Madagascar. In coastal regions, music is crucial to helping a medium enter a trance state during a ritual. While in a trance, the medium is possessed by an ancestral spirit. Each spirit is believed to prefer a particular tune or style of music and will not enter the medium unless the suitable piece of music is performed at the ceremony.
British missionaries of the London Missionary Society (LMS) arrived in Antananarivo in 1820 during the reign of King Radama I. The subsequent spread of Christianity in Madagascar was coupled with the introduction of solfège as missionaries developed Malagasy-language hymns for their nascent church. The first wave of missionaries was obliged to depart Madagascar under Ranavalona I in 1836, but the hymns they developed became anthems for early Malagasy converts persecuted under the Queen's traditionalist policies. In 1871, an LMS missionary (J. Richardson) improved the rhythm and harmony of these original hymns, which were considerably influenced by European musical styles such as quadrilles and waltzes. Originally, church music was performed by slaves seated in groups of four to five at the front of the church. By the 1870s a more European congregational style had been adopted with all members of the church rising to their feet to sing together.
See also
Andy Razaf, (1895–1973), US composer, lyricist & poet of Malagasy descent
Taralila, a Malagasy style of concertina
References
External links
Virtual visit: The Museum of Art and Archaeology of the University of Antananarivo (Madagascar). Image and sound gallery of Malagasy instruments. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Audio clips: Traditional Malagasy music performed at the Paris Exposition of 1931. National Library of France. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Audio clips: Traditional Malagasy music. Musée de l'Ethnographie de Genève.'' Accessed 29 November 2010.
Audio clip (60 minutes): "Valiha and the Music of the Spirit House." BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Audio clip (60 minutes): "Hira Gasy and Court Music." BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Audio clip (60 minutes): "Justin Vali." BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Audio clips: Contemporary Malagasy music. National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian Institution). Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Database: Virtual Archive of Malagasy Music. Accessed 29 November 2010.
MP3 Streaming: Free MP3 of Malagasy Music.
Fandaharana Baobab: Radio Shows with Malagasy Music in RealAudio Stream
Malagasy music |
425823 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%20Bailey | Alice Bailey | Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949) was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchester, England. She moved to the United States in 1907, where she spent most of her life as a writer and teacher.
Bailey's works, written between 1919 and 1949, describe a wide-ranging neo-Theosophical system of esoteric thought covering such topics as how spirituality relates to the Solar System, meditation, healing, spiritual psychology, the destiny of nations, and prescriptions for society in general. She described the majority of her work as having been telepathically dictated to her by a Master of Wisdom, initially referred to only as "the Tibetan" or by the initials "D.K.", later identified as Djwal Khul. Her writings bore some similarity to those of Madame Blavatsky and are among the teachings often referred to as the "Ageless Wisdom". Though Bailey's writings differ in some respects to the Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky, they have much in common with it. She wrote on religious themes, including Christianity, though her writings are fundamentally different from many aspects of Christianity or other orthodox religions. Her vision of a unified society included a global "spirit of religion" different from traditional religious forms and including the concept of the Age of Aquarius.
Biography
Childhood and early life
Bailey was born into a wealthy middle-class British family and, as a member of the Anglican Church, received a thorough Christian education.
Her autobiography states that at the age of 15, on June 30, 1895, Bailey was visited by a stranger, "...a tall man, dressed in European clothes and wearing a turban" who told her she needed to develop self-control to prepare for certain work he planned for her to do. This turned out to be the creation and publication of 19 books, together with educational and meditation work that reached "practically all the countries of the world".
At the age of 22, Bailey did evangelical work in connection with the YMCA and the British Army. This took her to India, where, in 1907, she met her future husband, Walter Evans. Together, they moved to America, where Evans became an Episcopalian priest. The marriage did not last, and Bailey pushed for and received a divorce. She left with their three children after their formal separation in 1915. Then followed a difficult period in which she worked in a sardine factory to support herself and the children.
With the Theosophical Society
Bailey discovered the Theosophical Society and the work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. The Theosophical Society states that Bailey became involved in 1917. Theosophist Joy Mills states that in 1918 she became a member of the Esoteric Section of the society. Theosophist Bruce F. Campbell notes, "She quickly rose to a position of influence in the American Section of the Adyar society, moving to its headquarters at Krotona in Hollywood. She became editor of its magazine, The Messenger, and member of the committee responsible for Krotona." In 1919, Foster Bailey (1888–1977), who was to be her second husband, became National Secretary of the Theosophical Society. They married in 1921.
The Theosophist published the first few chapters of her first work, Initiation, Human and Solar, (p. 762) but then stopped for reasons Bailey called "theosophical jealousy and reactionary attitude". Bailey "objected to the 'neo-Theosophy' of Annie Besant" and worked with Foster Bailey to gain more power in the American Section. According to Theosophist Josephine Maria Davies Ransom, she became part of a progressive "Back to Blavatsky movement, led mainly by Mr. and Mrs. Foster Bailey". She outlined her vision for the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society; however, her efforts to influence the society failed, and she and her husband were dismissed from their positions.
According to historian of religion Olav Hammer, Bailey's early writings on communications with the Tibetan were well received within the society, but society president Annie Besant questioned Bailey's claims of communications with "the Tibetan" and allowed the Baileys to be expelled from the organization. According to Bailey, she had come to see the society as authoritarian and involved with "lower psychic phenomena".
Lucis Trust
Alice and Foster Bailey founded the Lucis Trust in 1922. Its activities include the Arcane School, World Goodwill, Triangles, a quarterly magazine called The Beacon, and a publishing company primarily intended to publish Bailey's many books. The Arcane School gives instruction and guidance in meditation via correspondence based on the ideas in Bailey's books. World Goodwill is intended to promote better human relations through goodwill, which they define as "love in action". That "action" included the support of the United Nations. The "Triangles" are groups of three people who agree to link up in thought each day and to meditate on right human relations, visualizing light and love pouring into human minds and hearts, followed by the use of the Great Invocation. It is not necessary for each person to link in thought at the same time each day and it only takes a few moments of time.
Alice and Foster Bailey founded "Lucifer Publishing Company" ("'Lucifer' and 'Lucis' come from the same word root, lucis being the Latin genitive case meaning of light). After the first two or three years, the name was changed to "Lucis Publishing Co." (The Theosophical Society also used the name "Lucifer" for its early magazine.) In 1923, with the help of Foster Bailey, Alice Bailey founded the Arcane School, which is part of Lucis Trust. This school provides educational correspondence, meditation instruction, and guided study based on her writings.
Bailey continued to work up until the time of her death in 1949.
Main ideas
The seven rays of energy
Bailey's writings includes a detailed exposition of the "seven rays" which are presented as the fundamental energies that are behind and exist throughout all manifestation. They are seen as the basic creative forces of the universe and emanations of Divinity that underlie the evolution of all things. The rays are described as related to human psychology, the destiny of nations, as well as the planets and stars of the heavens. The concept of the seven rays can be found in Theosophical works. Campbell writes that Bailey, "...was the first to develop the idea of the seven rays, although it can be found in germ in earlier Theosophical writings." The seven rays also appear in Hindu religious philosophy.
Esoteric astrology
Esoteric astrology is part of Alice Bailey's "Ageless Wisdom" teachings, which she said were relayed by her Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul.
The esoteric astrologers who follow the teachings of Bailey typically base their work on her five-volume Treatise on the Seven Rays, particularly volume three which focuses on astrology. Her esoteric astrology deals with the evolution of soul consciousness and the obstacles to that evolution.
Esoteric healing
Bailey's teaching on healing primarily concerns the relationship of soul to personality, of the spiritual to the material nature. In her view, all disease has its ultimate root in some type of blocked or inhibited soul life. Therefore, healing consists of releasing the soul, that is the establishing of a right relation between the soul and the personality where the personality is defined as the instrument of soul expression. Eliminating obstructions and congestion, the source of a major part of disease. The whole process of healing is directed by thought, the mind of the healer and sometimes emotional synergy to inhibit causes of disease. Healing becomes automatic where the practitioner no longer is directed by energies, currents, centers, that include the nadis as one area of focus, the abstract is related back to the practices where appropriate but healing is directed without effort.
The constitution of man
In line with previous Theosophical teachings, Bailey taught that man consists of
Monad (spark of God, true Self)
Soul (higher mind, Love nature, higher consciousness)
Personality consisting of three aspects
Lower mind (intellect)
Emotions or astral nature
Physical and etheric body
Each of the three aspects of the lower nature is described as a "body" or aura of energy and seen as partial expression of the real self or soul. The soul is regarded as the reflection of the real self that works through or uses the three aspects of personality. She also speaks of these as "vehicles" or "sheaths", and alternately as the "mental body", "astral body", or "physical body". The "etheric" body is most directly related to physical health and is seen as the vital energizing agent for the individual while in physical incarnation. (p. 172) (p. 33) See also: Subtle body. The mind and emotional nature are seen as auras. or energy fields of which brain activity is a secondary effect. (p. 411)
The Great Invocation
The Great Invocation is a mantra given in 1937 by Bailey. The mantra begins with "From the point of Light within the Mind of God, let light stream forth into the minds of men..." with the rest of the passage expressing the ideas of love, the return of The Christ (Maitreya) and of men acting in accordance with the plan of God.
It is well known by some followers of the New Age movement, where it is widely used as part of meditation, particularly in groups. For instance, the invocation has been used in the Findhorn Foundation community since the 1970s. In response to the September 11 attacks (2001), the Great Invocation was used as a central element of a new daily program at Findhorn known as the "Network of Light meditations for peace". Rosemary Keller described the Great Invocation as a call for "the Christ to return to Earth" and wrote that Bailey-related groups purchased radio and television time to broadcast the invocation as part of their mission, and that often the invocation was recited in what Keller called "light groups", to accomplish what Bailey's disciples considered to be attracting and focusing "spiritual energies to benefit the planet".
Alice Bailey's writings have a theme that generally advocates replacement of the old with the new and this occurs in connection with the Great Invocation as follows: "This new Invocation, if given widespread distribution, can be to the new world religion what the Lord's Prayer has been to Christianity and the 23rd Psalm has been to the spiritually minded Jew."
Discipleship and service
Bailey's writings downplayed traditional devotional and religious aspects of the spiritual life, in favor of a life of meditation, service to humanity, and cooperation with "the Plan of the Hierarchy". In her thinking, service, "...is a soul instinct ... innate and peculiar to soul unfoldment. It is the outstanding characteristic of the soul, just as desire is the outstanding characteristic of the lower nature..."
Unity and divinity of nations and groups
Ross describes Bailey's teachings as emphasizing the "underlying unity of all forms of life", and the "essential oneness of all religions, of all departments of science, and of all the philosophies". Campbell notes that the New Group of World Servers was established for "...promotion of international understanding, economic sharing, and religious unity".
Comparison with Theosophy
Theosophists are divided on their assessment of Alice Bailey's writings. For instance, the noted contemporary Theosophical writer Geoffrey Hodson wrote a highly favorable review of one her books, saying, "Once more Alice Bailey has placed occult students in her debt." Olav Hammer writes, "Her first book, Initiation Human and Solar, was at first favorably received by her fellow theosophists. Soon, however, her claims to be recipient of ageless wisdom from the Masters met with opposition." The conflict is understandable since her works contain some criticisms of Theosophy, and at the time of the break she voiced her criticism of what she saw as dogmatic structures within the society, while questioning the pledges of loyalty to Theosophical leaders that were required. "During the annual convention of 1920 in Chicago, there was a power struggle between forces loyal to Besant and the Esoteric Section and others who believed that the latter had become too powerful. Below the surface was a hidden controversy regarding Alice's work with the Tibetan." For a more recent example of Bailey/Theosophy division, see Theosophy in Scandinavia.
Campbell writes that Bailey's books are a reworking of major Theosophical themes, with some distinctive emphases, and that they present a comprehensive system of esoteric science and occult philosophy, cognizant of contemporary social and political developments. Steven J. Sutcliffe points out that both Bailey and Blavatsky's work evoke a picture of Tibet as the spiritual home of the Masters and that Bailey claimed a more-or-less direct lineage to Blavatsky. He describes Bailey as a 'post-Theosophical' theorist, reporting that Bailey received instruction from "former personal pupils of Blavatsky" and notes that her third book (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire) not only reproduces Blavatsky's apocryphal Stanzas of Dzyan but is dedicated to Blavatsky, as well.
Parallels between Theosophy and Bailey are many, for instance, one principle of Theosophy, the Law of Attraction was discussed in esoteric writings by Blavatsky, Annie Besant, William Quan Judge, and others; and was also discussed in the writings of Alice Bailey, including a whole chapter in one of her books. The term has been embraced, in a simplified form, by the contemporary New Age movement and was popularized in the 2006 film The Secret.
Jon Klimo, in Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources, writes, "As with Blavatsky/Theosophical material, and more recent contemporary channeled material from other sources, we find in the Bailey work the same occult cosmological hierarchy: physical, etheric, astral, mental, causal, and higher inhabited levels of existence." Olav Hammer, in the book Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age, highlights Bailey's Theosophical similarities as well as noting what he thinks are some differences between them: "To a large extent, Bailey's teachings are a restatement and amplification of theosophy of the Secret Doctrine. Bailey inherited from Blavatsky and Leadbeater a predilection for profuse details and complex classificatory schemes. ... Her books have also introduced shifts in emphasis as well as new doctrinal elements."<ref>Hammer, Olav, Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of epistemology from theosophy to the new age." BRILL, 2001, p. 65</ref>
Some Theosophical critics have contended that there are major differences between Bailey's ideas and the Theosophy of Blavatsky, such as Bailey's embrace of some mystical Christian terms and concepts and her acceptance of Charles Webster Leadbeater.
Nicholas Weeks, writing for the Theosophical magazine Fohat in 1997, felt Bailey's assertion that "...her teachings are grounded in and do not oppose in any fundamental way Theosophy as lived and taught by HPB and her Gurus" was false. Her books are in fact "rooted in the pseudo-theosophy pioneered by C. W. Leadbeater." He stated Bailey accepted Leadbeater's "fantasy" of the return of Christ and disparaged Bailey's Great Invocation, a prayer supposed to "induce Christ and his Masters to leave their hidden ashrams [and] enter into major cities" to lead the Aquarian Age. This contrasts with the Theosophy of Blavatsky, he says, which emphasizes reliance on "the Christos principle within each person".
Ideas about races and evolution
Bailey described a concept of racial differentiation that posited a division of humanity into races that are on different levels in a "ladder of evolution". These '"races" do not represent a national or physical type but a stage of evolution. For example, she states that the Aryan root race (or '5th race'), is an "emerging new race" and so a relatively new evolutionary phenomenon. She stated that this newer type is forming in every land but primarily in lands where Caucasian peoples are found and indicates a culture where thought or intellect is dominant. She stated that as evolution proceeds, things are accelerated and humanity will soon be predominantly distinguished by the Aryan consciousness. "I speak not in terms of the Aryan race as it is generally understood today or in its Nordic implications."
In her book Education in the New Age, Bailey made predictions about the use of this esoteric racial concept in the schools of the future and that these schools would incorporate the idea of "root races". These "races" are a way of conceptualizing evolution as it occurs over vast prehistoric spans of time, and during which humanity developed body (Lemurian), emotion (Atlantean), and mind (Aryan). She states that there is now being developed a "new race" with a spiritual dimension that expresses as "group qualities and consciousness and idealistic vision". She stated that this new development may take many thousands of years and may therefore not be the quick advance some of her New Age followers wish for. In her The Destiny of the Nations, Bailey described a process by which this "new race" will evolve, after which "very low grade human bodies will disappear, causing a general shift in the racial types toward a higher standard." For Bailey, the evolution of humanity was intimately bound up with its relationship to this Spiritual Hierarchy. She believed that the influences of religions, philosophies, sciences, educational movements, and human culture in general are the result of this relationship.
Criticism of her ideas on races
Bailey's ideas about race were criticized by Victor Shnirelman, a cultural anthropologist and ethnographer, who in a survey of modern Neopaganism in Russia, drew particular attention to "...groups [that] take an extremely negative view of multi-culturalism, object to the 'mixture' of kinds, [and] support isolationism and the prohibition of immigration." Shnirelman saw some of Bailey's ideas on race as similar to the racism he perceived in the writing of Julius Evola, saying that "...racist and antisemitic trends are explicit, for example, in the occult teachings of Alice Bailey and her followers, who wish to cleanse Christianity of its "Jewish inheritance" and reject the "Jewish Bible" as a prerequisite for entering the Age of Aquarius."
Shnirelman's view was echoed by Isaac Lubelsky who criticized not only Bailey, but Blavatsky, Steiner, and others. In Lubelsky's view, racists ideas were common to the whole "Theosophical family".
Monica Sjöö, a Swedish painter, writer and a radical anarcho/eco-feminist wrote that Bailey, through her published teachings, had a "reactionary and racist influence on the whole New Age movement." She also noted what she called Bailey's (and Theosophy's) "pro-fascist religious views", such as the belief in a secret elite of "Masters" who influence world events and human minds through occult means and attempt to bring about the evolution of an Aryan race (although this is an understandably modern misunderstanding of her teaching – 'Aryan' as used by Bailey is easily confused with the modern terminology, and the "Masters" are not an elite, but instead are 'enlightened' individuals originally introduced in theosophy as having evolved beyond the human or "4th kingdom" into the fifth or "Kingdom of souls", and who – in her view – guide the human race as a whole).
Controversy has arisen around some of Bailey's statements on nationalism, American isolationism, Soviet totalitarianism, Fascism, Zionism, Nazism, race relations, Africans, Jews, and the religions of Judaism and Christianity. Yonassan Gershom and others have claimed that her writings contain racist material.Sjöö, Monica, Sinister Channelings Notes and explanations to accompany the "New Age Channelings" book. Entire text online, page found 2010-06-28.
The American Chassidic author Yonassan Gershom wrote that Bailey's plan for a New World Order and her call for "the gradual dissolution—again if in any way possible—of the Orthodox Jewish faith" revealed that "her goal is nothing less than the destruction of Judaism itself." Gershom also wrote that "This stereotyped portrayal of Jews is followed by a hackneyed diatribe against the Biblical Hebrews, based upon the "angry Jehovah" theology of nineteenth-century Protestantism. Jews do not, and never have, worshipped an angry vengeful god, and we Jews never, ever call God 'Jehovah'."
Researcher Hannah Newman described what she found to be an antisemitic element in the Great Invocation. According to Newman, "the Plan" named in the invocation refers to the plan authored by "the Hierarchy", that Newman states places "high priority on removing all Jewish presence and influence from human consciousness, a goal to be achieved by eliminating Judaism."
On organized religions
Bailey taught a form of universal spirituality that transcended denominational identification, believing that, "Every class of human beings is a group of brothers. Catholics, Jews, Gentiles, occidentals and orientals are all the sons of God." She stated that all religions originate from the same spiritual source, and that humanity will eventually come to realize this, and as they do so, the result will be the emergence of a universal world religion and a "new world order".
Author Steven Sutcliffe wrote that Bailey's "World Goodwill" organization was promoting groups of "world servers" to, as he quotes Bailey, "serve the Plan, Humanity, the Hierarchy and the Christ".
Despite her focus on unity of religion, Bromley and Hammond point out that Bailey and other "occultists" "...hammered home the central idea, 'The East is the true home of spiritual knowledge and occult wisdom'."
Influence
Groups founded by Bailey or her followers
The Arcane School, founded by Alice and Foster Bailey to disseminate spiritual teachings, organizes a worldwide "Triangles" program to bring people together in groups of three, for daily meditation and study. Their belief is that they receive divine energy through meditation and that this energy is transmitted to humanity, so raising spiritual awareness. John Michael Greer's New Encyclopedia of the Occult states that the school "seeks to develop a New Group of World Servers to accomplish the work of the Hierarchy of Masters, under the guidance of its head, the Christ." Twelves is a modern continuation of Triangles and many members of Lucis Trust and other respected orgs are members today.
Influence on the New Age movement
Bailey made extensive use of the term "New Age" in her books and some writers have described her as the founder of the New Age movement, although The New Age was used as the title of a Journal of Christian liberalism and Socialism, published as early as 1894, predating Bailey's use of the term.Modernist Journals Project Has Grant to Digitize Rare Magazines Brown University Press Releases, April 19, 2007
James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton, in Perspectives on the New Age wrote, "The most important—though certainly not the only—source of this transformative metaphor, as well as the term "New Age", was Theosophy, particularly as the Theosophical perspective was mediated to the movement by the works of Alice Bailey."
Sir John Sinclair, in his book The Alice Bailey Inheritance, commented on the seminal influence of Alice Bailey, which, he said, underlies the consciousness growth movement in the 20th century.
Influence on neopaganism
Several writers have mentioned the affinity of some of Bailey's concepts with modern expressions of paganism.Kemp, Daren, New Age: A Guide, Edinburgh University Press, 2004, p. 57
During the 1960s and 1970s, the neopagan author and ceremonial magic ritualist Caroll Poke Runyon published a magazine called The Seventh Ray, its name taken from the writings of Alice Bailey. Three volumes of collected articles from the magazine were published as The Seventh Ray Book I, The Blue Ray, The Seventh Ray Book II, the Red Ray and The Seventh Ray Book III, the Green Ray.
In contrast to this, Daren Kemp in Handbook to the New Age sees critical differences between neopaganism and New Age movements and indicates that it is a mistake to conflate them.
Influence on women in religion
Author Catherine Wessinger wrote that Bailey was a liberated woman "...sixty years before it became popular" and that Bailey's books expressed a similar "millennial view" to the works of Annie Besant. Wessinger stated that they were "an important source of the contemporary New Age movement."
According to the Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, several leaders of New Age philosophy have further developed Bailey's teachings, including the well-known personalities JZ Knight (who purports to channel the entity known by the name Ramtha), Helen Schucman (author of A Course in Miracles purportedly through the process of telepathic dictation she called "scribing"), and Elizabeth Clare Prophet (who published what she referred to as "dictations from Ascended Masters"). These developments have been referred to by other sources as "spin-offs" and splinter groups." (p. 65) (p. 557) The differences between Theosophy, Bailey and Elizabeth Clare Prophet can be noted in connection with Elizabeth Clare Prophet's radical concepts of catastrophic change and survivalism, including the building of fall-out shelters. (p. 81) The validity of the Elizabeth Clare Prophet's writings was "...disputed by Theosophical writers".
The many claims and teachings of the spin-off groups underscores their divergences, for example there appears to be a widespread confusion about the phrase and meaning of "Ascendant Master" in that it was adopted by Mark and Elizabeth Prophet but not by Theosophists or Alice Bailey. (p. 111) The concepts and language have been conflated in the popular mind.
Influence on psychotherapy and healing
In 1930, with the patronage of English-Dutch spiritualist, theosophist and scholar Olga Froebe-Kapteyn, Bailey established the short-lived "School of Spiritual Research" located on Froebe-Kapteyn's estate, Casa Gabriella, in Switzerland. (In 1932 the school was closed because of personal conflict between Bailey and Froebe-Kapteyn, at which time Froebe-Kapteyn replaced it with the Eranos group.)
Roberto Assagioli, founder of Psychosynthesis, was a lecturer at School of Spiritual Research. He continued a close association with Bailey during the 1930s; some of his writings were published in Bailey's magazine The Beacon; and he was a trustee of Bailey's organization, the Lucis Trust. He had developed his approach to psychology, called Psychosynthesis, beginning in 1910; his methods were later influenced by some elements of Bailey's work.Bromley, David G. & Phillip E. Hammond, The Future of New Religious Movements, Mercer University Press, 1987,Rossman, Martin L.; Contributor Dean Ornish Guided Imagery for Self-Healing, H. J. Kramer, 2000, page 213 However, authors John Firman and Ann Gila write that Assagioli kept what he referred to as a "wall of silence" between the areas of psychosynthesis and religion or metaphysics, insisting that they not be conflated with each other.
Roger J. Woolger said, in a paper presented to the "Beyond the Brain" Conference held at Cambridge University in 1999, "In Tansley as in Brennan you will find descriptions of a hierarchy of subtle bodies called the etheric, emotional, mental and spiritual that surround the physical body. (Tansley attributed the source of his model to Alice Bailey's theosophical commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the locus classicus of Hindu teaching.)"
Bailey's influence can be found in therapeutic communities with which she was never directly involved, such as the Human Potential Movement. She was also cited in THERAPEUTIC TOUCH: Healing Science or Psychic Midwife? by Sharon Fish.
Influence on UFO groups
Alice Bailey makes no reference to unidentified flying objects. This is not surprising since Alice Bailey's books were written between 1919 and 1949 and "the emergence of religion specifically focused on UFOs is a post-1947 phenomena." But she did speak of Masters as having evolved beyond the human level, and expounded a cosmology of a living universe in which even planets and stars are regarded as living entities. These ideas may partially account for an association in minds of some between Bailey, and others of the Theosophical schools, and UFOs. For instance, Christopher Partridge wrote of this association as "easily transferred". The connection does exist in the sense that there is a subset of persons interested in both esoteric writings and UFOs and who link them as shown by the fact that some books that cite Alice Bailey or Theosophy also cite UFOs.
Christopher Partridge wrote that the works of Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, and Theosophy in general all influenced what he called the "UFO religions". He explained that "...Theosophy has several prominent branches, and, strictly speaking, the branch which has had the most important influence on the UFO religion is that developed by Alice Bailey". Partridge also quoted Gordon Melton, who suggested that the first UFO religion was Guy Ballard's "I Am" Activity, (which Bailey described as a "cheap comedy".)
Professor Robert S. Ellwood of the University of Southern California investigated a wide range of religious and spiritual groups in the United States during the 1970s, including a nationwide group of UFO believers called Understanding, Inc., which had been founded by a contactee named Daniel Fry. He reported that, "There is no particular religious practice connected with the meeting, although the New Age Prayer derived from the Alice Bailey writings is used as an invocation."
George D. Chryssides of the University of Wolverhampton, cited Bailey's influence on the ideas of the Order of the Solar Temple and related UFO organisations.
In popular culture
Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground was a devoted reader of Bailey's work, especially her book A Treatise on White Magic, which he urged on others. Author Ryan H. Walsh suggests that book had an influence on the Velvet's second album, White Light/White Heat.In 1975, Todd Rundgren released an album titled Initiation which has a song called "Initiation" on side one. The title of the album is apparently based on the Theosophical concept of initiation taught by Alice A. Bailey and C.W. Leadbeater. The entire second side of the album is taken up by a song called "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire"; the three parts of the song are listed as: "I. The Internal Fire, or Fire by Friction; II. The Fire of Spirit, or Electric Fire; The Fire of Mind, or Solar Fire." The second parts of these three phrases are taken directly from Alice A. Bailey's book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Also in 1975, Rundgren released an album by his side-project Utopia titled Another Live. This album contained a song titled "The Seven Rays" (see reference above). Finally, in 1977, Rundgren followed up with another Bailey reference with a song entitled "Love in Action" from the Utopia album Oops! Wrong Planet. Love in Action was the concept promoted by Bailey's and Foster Bailey's "World Goodwill" organization.
In 1982, Bailey's influence appeared in pop culture, with the release of Van Morrison's album Beautiful Vision, in which he directly referred to the teachings and the Tibetan in the lyrics of the songs "Dweller on the Threshold" and "Aryan Mist". Morrison also used the phrase "world of glamour", reminiscent of Bailey's Glamour: A World Problem, in the songs "Ivory Tower" and "Green Mansions". The song "Ancient of Days" from the 1984 Sense of Wonder album appears to be a reference to a Bailey concept found in such books as The Externalization of the Hierarchy. Alice A. Bailey and the Tibetan's Glamour: A World Problem is also directly cited in the liner notes to Morrison's album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.
Bibliography
The Lucis Trust Publishing Company and the Lucis Press Limited are the official publishers of Alice Bailey's books.
Credited to Alice Bailey
Works containing the prefatory Extract from a Statement by the Tibetan, generally taken to indicate the book was a "received" work.
A Treatise on the Seven Rays:
Credited to Alice A. Bailey alone
Works in which Bailey claimed sole authorship of the material.
Between War and Peace.'' 1942. (No ISBN. Published by Lucis Publishing Company)
Biography
See also
Agni Yoga
Annie Besant
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Esoteric cosmology
Benjamin Creme
Esoteric healing
List of spirituality-related topics
Lucis Trust
Magic and religion
New World Order
Planes of existence
Reincarnation
Helena Roerich
Western mystery tradition
Notes
References
Further reading
Newburn, Kathy. A Planetary Awakening: Reflections on the Teachings of the Tibetan in the Works of Alice A. Bailey. Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin Publications, 2007.
External links
Alice Bailey lectures
All the books of Alice A. Bailey can be read online at Lucis Trust
Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 25 short excerpt
Some works of Alice Bailey
The "Jewish Problem" (interpreted by some to be anti-Semitic)
Dissertation from the U of W. Sydney, The texts of Alice A. Bailey: An inquiry into the role of esotericism in transforming consciousness.
1880 births
1949 deaths
19th-century English people
20th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century British women writers
British emigrants to the United States
British people in colonial India
English astrologers
20th-century astrologers
English occult writers
English Theosophists
American Theosophists
New Age writers
Edwardian era
Writers from Manchester
Women mystics |
425842 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy%20Iovine | Jimmy Iovine | James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former record executive, and media proprietor. He is best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. He became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, an umbrella music unit formed by Universal Music Group in 1999.
Iovine has been involved in the production of more than 250 albums.
In 2006, Iovine and close friend, hip hop musician Dr. Dre co-founded Beats Electronics. Two years later, the brand launched its first official set of headphones. In late 2013, they began development for, and in 2014, launched Beats Music, which went on to become the framework for Apple Music. The company was purchased by Apple Inc. for $3 billion in May 2014. At the same time, Iovine vacated his positions as chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, ending his twenty-five year relationship with his label.
On August 21, 2018, after initial denial, Iovine parted ways with Apple and effectively retired from the media business. Despite his retirement, he is still credited or named in institutional education centers such as the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, which inaugurated in 2013, and the Iovine and Young Center, a magnet high school which opened in Los Angeles in August 2022.
Early life and training
James Iovine was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, to an Italian working-class family. His mother was a secretary and his father, Vincent "Jimmy" Iovine, worked on the docks as a longshoreman. He has an older sister, born in 1946. The family lived in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood. His father died in 1985.
Iovine attended catholic school in Brooklyn, graduating from the since-closed Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School and went on to attend New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. At age 19, he dropped out of college. He was introduced to music production after he met a songwriter who helped him find a job as a recording studio cleaner, and he soon began working as an engineer.
Career
Music career
1970s-1980s: Music production and engineering
In the early 1970s, Iovine became a recording engineer, working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, among others. By 1973, Iovine was a part of the staff, working for the now-demolished New York City faction of the Record Plant, where he worked on Springsteen's Born to Run and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. He came to prominence through his work on Patti Smith's album Easter (1978), which included her Top 40 hit "Because the Night". He later collaborated with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Damn the Torpedoes and U2 on Rattle and Hum. Iovine also produced Bella Donna (the first solo album by former Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks), Making Movies for Dire Straits, and Get Close for The Pretenders.
Iovine served as sound engineer for the Voyager Golden Records, a pair of phonograph records which were launched aboard the Voyager space probes in 1977. His father's death and love for Christmas inspired Iovine to record and oversee A Very Special Christmas in 1985. The compilation was not released until 1987 under Interscope's future sister label A&M Records. He was also responsible for supervising the music used in the 1984 romance film Sixteen Candles, Streets of Fire and the 1988 comedy film Scrooged.
1989-2014: Interscope Records
In 1989, Iovine and Ted Field, founder of film production label Interscope Communications, co-founded Interscope Records. A year later, the label secured a distribution deal with Atlantic Records and garnered success with artists including No Doubt, 4 Non Blondes and Gerardo. Atlantic owned a 50% stock in the label. Iovine and Field signed Tupac Shakur to a recording contract as one of the first hip-hop acts under Interscope in 1991. A year later, Interscope became notable for providing distribution, initial funding and financial oversight for the highly successful Death Row Records. Death Row, founded by Suge Knight, operated as a subsidiary of Interscope, beginning with the December 14, 1992 release of label artist and producer Dr. Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic. With singles consisting of "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and "Let Me Ride", both of which featuring labelmate Snoop Dogg, The Chronic managed to sell over five million copies in the United States and become Dre's best-selling album in his career. Iovine and Dre would later form a personal friendship following the release of the Chronic through Knight. Over 19 million records sold from Death Row, the label was largely responsible for Interscope's multi-platinum success throughout the 1990s. However, Snoop Dogg accumulated more success on Death Row and Interscope with his November 1993 debut, Doggystyle. It opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with the biggest first-week sales in 1990s hip hop; it consumed 806,858 copies. A year later, Death Row's notoriety through the Interscope imprint attracted various other urban artists willing to join the label, one R&B boy band being Blackstreet, a spin-off of leader Teddy Riley's previous group, Guy. The group's eponymous debut album was released in the summer of 1994. Blackstreet became RIAA-certified platinum in April 1995, despite a poor charting performance, peaking at number fifty-two on the Billboard 200.
By 1995, Interscope became the top music label of the autumn equinox, when in November, No Doubt released their biggest performing album to date, Tragic Kingdom, that October. It produced over 16 million copies worldwide, while its single, "Don't Speak" made number one on Billboard's Radio Songs chart (formerly Hot 100 Airplay).
In September 1995, after internal conflict with Atlantic Records over controversy concerning the label's support of gangsta rap, the label and its former parent company at the time, Time Warner (later WarnerMedia and now Warner Bros. Discovery) made a legitimate decision to sell off its share in Interscope to Iovine and Field. Then, in January 1996, Doug Morris, chairman and CEO of the music division of MCA Inc., convinced Iovine and Field to bring Interscope to the company in exchange for acquiring 50% of the label's shares for $200 million. As a result, Interscope was placed in the same company portfolio of labels alongside future sister label Geffen Records, MCA Records, Universal Records and DreamWorks Records. By then, MCA was sold off by Matsushita Electric (also a parent company of Panasonic) to Canadian distillery and mass media conglomerate Seagram. With Interscope now under the MCA and Seagram shade, the label managed to gain more success with Tupac Shakur's double album, All Eyez on Me, which opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 566,000 copies sold in its first week. The album became another success for the rap division of the label and Death Row Records, where artist Dr. Dre felt uncomfortable due to founder and former CEO Suge Knight's consistent spending, violent behavior and gang affiliation. As a result, Dre departed from Death Row and resigned with Interscope through a new label deal, creating his own imprint called Aftermath Entertainment. The label's foundation proved to be challenging, when on November 26, 1996, upon release, the compilation Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath, was given a lukewarm response as was The Firm's The Album, despite the latter, released on October 21, 1997, almost a year after Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Iovine, as stated on the 2017 HBO documentary, The Defiant Ones, was pressured by Doug Morris to either give Dre time to control his music and artists or drop him from his label. Iovine responded, "We could that, but then, you would save my salary as well because I'm going with him."
Iovine also failed to sign hip hop entrepreneur Master P and his imprint, No Limit Records, to Interscope Records, after Master P reviewed his offer and realized that Interscope would acquire the entirety of his label, its back catalogue, artists and publishing as well as owning the trademark and rights to the label name. Eventually, Master P rejected Iovine's offer and subsequently signed an 80-20 partnership with rival label Priority Records. Iovine also allegedly threatened him and his management team that if they wouldn't come back to consider the Interscope deal within the next two weeks, they would never "find another deal in the industry nor in this town".
November 1996 proved to be a huge success for Interscope as each week, four of its albums would take on the number one position on the Billboard 200. The first was Tupac Shakur's posthumous (following his September 1996 murder in Las Vegas) and only under the Makaveli alias, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. It was followed by Snoop Dogg's Tha Doggfather, Bush's Razorblade Suitcase and No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom.
In December 1996, MCA Inc., still a subsidiary of Seagram at the time, was rebranded as Universal Pictures. Even so, MCA Music Entertainment was also renamed Universal Music Group. Interscope and various other labels were now a part of the newly rebranded UMG.
Then, during January 1997, following Death Row founder Suge Knight's probation violation and prison sentence, Iovine cut ties with him, causing Interscope to end their business relationship with Death Row by August; the final album released under the Death Row/Interscope deal was the soundtrack to the Tupac Shakur action film, Gridlock'd, which also managed to make way to the Billboard 200's number one position despite going gold and the film's poor box office performance.
In 1998, Iovine's turning point reached a heavy level when in March of that year, he invited longtime friend Dr. Dre to his garage for him to listen to a crate filled with cassette tapes, one of which would apparently be the Slim Shady EP, released in 1997 by an underground rapper, who was participating a tournament of rap battles at the time, by the name of Eminem. The tape eventually landed in the hands of Interscope A&Rs Dean Geistlinger and D.J. Mormile, who later turned it in to label co-founder Ted Field, who also sent it to Iovine for review. Upon suggestion from Iovine, he urged Dre to find Eminem and have him join the Interscope family through Dre's label, Aftermath. Since then, Eminem had found greater success through both labels despite race-related confusion with the Interscope and Universal Music staff and controversy involving his lyrical themes. On February 23, 1999, Eminem released his debut studio album, The Slim Shady LP, to critical acclaim. The album made its way to number two on the Billboard 200, helping to improve both Interscope and Aftermath after years of low sales.
On December 10, 1998, Seagram acquired PolyGram after completing its seven-month $10.6 billion plan to buy the company. It resulted in PolyGram's film division being absorbed into Universal Pictures while its music division was merged with the former Decca/MCA Records banner of labels, helping the rebuild the biggest music company known to be Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram and MCA merger of Universal Music Group, Interscope became sister labels to new entries A&M Records, Def Jam Recordings, Island Records, Mercury Records and Motown. However, on New Year's Eve 1998, Interscope, Geffen and A&M were altogether merged by UMG as one of its new three label units alongside the Universal Motown Republic Group (Universal, Motown and Republic Records) and the Island Def Jam Music Group (Island, Def Jam and Mercury), being known publicly as Interscope Geffen A&M Records. Within IGA, Iovine and Field were hired to become the unit's co-chairmen and oversee operations of Interscope and Geffen.
Interscope became even more successful following their merger with Geffen Records, especially with breakout stars like Beck, Mya, Enrique Iglesias, Samantha Mumba, Limp Bizkit, Nine Inch Nails and Eve. However, in February 2001, Ted Field parted ways with Interscope Geffen A&M, leading Iovine to take full control of the labels. By 2002, Interscope sustained over 33 top forty hit singles between June 2001 and May 2002. In June of the latter year, Iovine was able to manage to negotiate Eminem and Dr. Dre's joint venture agreement involving then-upcoming hip hop artist and fellow New Yorker 50 Cent. On February 9, 2003, he released his debut studio album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', to widespread acclaim.
Iovine was confidential in merging A&M, DGC, MCA and DreamWorks into defection through Interscope Geffen A&M between 1999 and 2003. Due to A&M co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss (1935-2023) filing suit against Iovine, Interscope and UMG over a breach of agreement involving the label's operations, A&M Records had to remain fully operative as a one-off subsidiary of Interscope Records; the two plaintiffs were given a $200 million out of court settlement. Meanwhile, whoever was leftover on MCA and DreamWorks were transferred to Geffen; Beck and Sonic Youth were the only remains of DGC until they were fulfilled from the now-inactive label by August as they were also drafted to Geffen. Despite these mergers and absorptions, mostly Geffen Records had a field day throughout 2003 with Beck, Blink-182 and Mary J. Blige. However, within Interscope, 50 Cent began to takeover, starting with G-Unit's debut album, Beg for Mercy, released in November to more commercial success. On A&M, the Black Eyed Peas gained more attention with their album, Elephunk, and its various singles. At the end of 2003, Iovine made over $45 million in revenue generated from music sales from his label.
For the next four years, Iovine, Interscope and Geffen began to see extended success from other artists including D12, AFI, Nelly Furtado, The Roots, Gwen Stefani (as a solo artist), The Game, Robin Thicke, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, The Pussycat Dolls and plenty others. Iovine's biggest success story would commence in 2008, when it was noted that in 2007, he discovered a forthcoming pop singer who went under the alias, Lady Gaga. After playing him a demo version of her single, "Poker Face", Gaga was sent to work with singer-songwriter Akon, who in exchange for his mentorship of Gaga, asked Iovine to sign him to his KonLive Distribution label through the aegis of Vincent Herbert's Streamline Records and Interscope. The agreement was settled. By 2013, Akon claimed to have "cashed out" on Gaga's career to avoid a dispute between her management team and Iovine. Thus, he amicably gave her up to Interscope. More success came in the way by October 23, 2012, with the release of Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, released in conjunction with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label and Top Dawg Entertainment, once again to widespread acclaim. Then, in November 2013, Iovine started to shy away from his position as chairman and CEO of the IGA unit, following the releases of Gaga's Artpop and Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2, both of which became number one Billboard 200 albums.
In 2014, Universal Music Group reported that Iovine was departing from Interscope Records, ending his twenty-five tenture with the label and vacating his fifteen-year dual position as chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. It was also confirmed that he hired Fueled by Ramen co-founder John Janick to become Iovine's replacement once his departure date was set. Janick was hired to become Interscope's president and COO in 2012. The final artist Iovine signed to his label was J. Cole. On May 28, 2014, Iovine effectively vacated his CEO and chairman positions, while departing from Interscope. The news of his departure from the label occurred following the sale of his and Dr. Dre's headphone company, Beats Electronics, to Apple Inc. As promised, John Janick replaced Iovine as the new chairman and CEO of Interscope, as it was confirmed by Lucian Grainge, the chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M's parent label, Universal Music Group. In a statement, Grainge said: "I'm thrilled to announce John Janick's promotion to Chairman and CEO of IGA. Since coming to UMG nearly two years ago, he has consistently shown why he is widely regarded as one of the most talented, innovative and entrepreneurial executives in the music business today and will be a key player in the future generation of industry leaders. John is the ideal executive to be writing the next chapter in IGA's illustrious history. What Jimmy has done for IGA and UMG is immeasurable. I cannot express how enormously grateful I am for both his partnership and his friendship. While we will miss him as a member of the UMG family, with his appointment at Apple, Jimmy will now be in a position to expand and extend his singular vision and talent, the result of which will, undoubtedly, accelerate the growth of the entire music industry. We look forward to the next exciting phase of Jimmy's extraordinary career as that special creative spark Jimmy brings to whatever he touches leads to innovations and advances in entertainment and technology that will delight music fans around the world."
Business career
Beats Electronics
In 2006, Iovine teamed up with Dr. Dre to create Beats Electronics. It was originally a conversation between the two where Iovine exclaimed to Dre, "fuck sneakers, we need to do speakers." The first set of headphones were produced in 2007 and were officially launched in 2008. From 2009 to 2011, Beats enclosed endorsement deals with Monster Cable and Hewlett-Packard. The company had captured 20 percent market share of the headphones industry by 2012. In January 2013, Iovine announced the expansion of Beats into the online digital music world with Daisy, a new service slated to launch in late 2013. Former Topspin Media executive Ian Rogers and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor were said to be involved. In January 2014, Beats Music was developed and opened to the public after being announced on December 8, 2013. On May 28, 2014, Apple Inc. announced the acquisition of Beats Electronics. The acquisition gave Dre and Iovine a share of over $3.24 billion, becoming the largest acquisition deal in the history of Apple's timeline. Iovine was hired to assume an undisclosed position at Apple where he helped in the creation of Apple Music, which was launched in the summer of 2015 as replacement for Beats Music. He was the creative consultant for Apple Music until August 2018. Firstly, he denied reports of him ending his partnership with Apple in January. Citing high usage of music technology and little direction to where Apple Music could be headed to, Iovine quietly left the company and effectively retired from the media industry.
Other ventures
In August 2022, the Iovine and Young Center, a magnet high school opened in Los Angeles.
Film and documentary productions
In 2002, Iovine and former Shady Records president Paul Rosenberg co-produced 8 Mile, which opened at number one in the box office and went on to gross more than $240 million worldwide. The film also garnered an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its theme song, "Lose Yourself", making Eminem the first rapper to win this award. Additionally, Iovine executive produced the 2005 crime drama Get Rich or Die Tryin', named after the 2003 debut album of its leading star, 50 Cent. He also produced the 2009 documentary More than a Game, which centered on the life and career of basketball athlete LeBron James; his label Interscope released a soundtrack for the documentary.
Television career
In 2005, Iovine made a guest appearance as himself on "Don't Make Me Over", an episode for the fourth season of Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy.
From 2011 to 2013, Iovine was a mentor on Fox's American Idol. Iovine's protégés—Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, and Candice Glover—released their music through Interscope. Iovine departed from the show in mid-2013; he was replaced by Randy Jackson.
In July 2017, HBO ran a four-part documentary about Jimmy Iovine's relationship with Dr. Dre and other musicians titled The Defiant Ones.
Voice roles
Iovine and Dr. Dre had recorded their voices in video games missions for Grand Theft Auto Online through Grand Theft Auto V (2013); the first was 2020's Cayo Perico Heist and the second was 2021's The Contract, the latter of which the player helps to unlock unreleased music by Dr. Dre in between missions or after completing them.
Philanthropy
In May 2013, Iovine and Dr. Dre donated $70 million to the University of Southern California to create the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. The first class of the academy began in September 2014 with 31 students. On October 2, 2019, the USC opened the Iovine and Young Hall.
Honors and recognitions
In 2011, Iovine was honored by The Producers & Engineers Wing of the Grammy Awards. "This year we pay tribute to an industry leader, Jimmy Iovine, who has made an indelible impact as a recording engineer, producer, founder of Interscope Records, and now, entrepreneur focused on audio quality," Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the governing body of the Grammy Awards, said in presenting the award.
On May 17, 2013, Iovine received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and gave the 2013 USC commencement address.
In 2022, Iovine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Ahmet Ertegun Award category.
Personal life
New York rock radio DJ Carol Miller and Iovine had a two-year relationship in the late 1970s. Miller says "Jimmy had a wonderful, close-knit Italian Catholic family from Brooklyn and Staten Island who could not have been nicer to me. It was I, the Jewish girl from Queens, who always felt silently out of place." She says her father wasn't very nice to Iovine and was against the relationship due to the differences in their religions. According to Miller, the relationship ended in 1980, when Iovine began spending most of his time in California working with singer Stevie Nicks.
While producing her album, Bella Donna, Iovine entered into a relationship with Nicks. The two eventually broke up in 1982. Nicks wrote the song, "Straight Back", included in the Fleetwood Mac album, Mirage, about him. According to Nicks, Iovine was an inspiration for one of her signature songs, "Edge of Seventeen". The song also became the backbone for the guitar sample used on Destiny's Child's hit single, "Bootylicious" (2001). Nicks has said that Iovine's despondence from the death of his good friend John Lennon overwhelmed her, and eventually led to the end of their relationship. However, the strong emotion of the time led to the creation of "Edge of Seventeen".
Iovine was married to writer, lawyer, and model Vicki Iovine since 1985 before divorcing in 2006. It was finalized in 2009; the couple have four children.
In 2014, he started dating Liberty Ross, the sister of music composers Atticus and Leopold Ross. They wedded in front of their Malibu beach house on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2016, with friends and family in attendance. Sean "Diddy" Combs, founder of Bad Boy Records, longtime friend of Iovine and former Interscope artist, remarked the wedding as "the blackest wedding with a Rabbi [he had] ever seen!"
Legal actions
On June 26, 2018, Iovine and Dr. Dre were ordered to pay $25 million to former partner and creative designer, Steven Lamar, who sued the two co-founders for $100 million in unpaid royalties for designing the early Beats headphone models. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 after news broke out of Apple's acquisition of the headphone brand a year prior.
Selected discography
Discography
Filmography
References
External links
Jimmy Iovine at All Music Guide
1953 births
American audio engineers
American businesspeople in retailing
American music industry executives
American people of Italian descent
Businesspeople from New York City
Engineers from New York City
Film producers from New York (state)
John Jay College of Criminal Justice alumni
Living people
Musicians from Brooklyn
Participants in American reality television series
People from Red Hook, Brooklyn
Record producers from New York (state) |
425850 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamic%20system | Thermodynamic system | A thermodynamic system is a body of matter and/or radiation separate from its surroundings that can be studied using the laws of thermodynamics. A thermodynamic system may be an isolated system, a closed system, or an open system. An isolated system does not exchange matter or energy with its surroundings. A closed system may exchange heat, experience forces, and exert forces, but does not exchange matter. An open system can interact with its surroundings by exchanging both matter and energy.
The physical condition of a thermodynamic system at a given time is described by its state, which can be specified by the values of a set of thermodynamic state variables. A thermodynamic system is in thermodynamic equilibrium when there are no macroscopically apparent flows of matter or energy within it or between it and other systems.
Overview
Thermodynamic equilibrium is characterized by absence of flow of mass or energy. Equilibrium thermodynamics, as a subject in physics, considers macroscopic bodies of matter and energy in states of internal thermodynamic equilibrium. It uses the concept of thermodynamic processes, by which bodies pass from one equilibrium state to another by transfer of matter and energy between them. The term 'thermodynamic system' is used to refer to bodies of matter and energy in the special context of thermodynamics. The possible equilibria between bodies are determined by the physical properties of the walls that separate the bodies. Equilibrium thermodynamics in general does not measure time. Equilibrium thermodynamics is a relatively simple and well settled subject. One reason for this is the existence of a well defined physical quantity called 'the entropy of a body'.
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics, as a subject in physics, considers bodies of matter and energy that are not in states of internal thermodynamic equilibrium, but are usually participating in processes of transfer that are slow enough to allow description in terms of quantities that are closely related to thermodynamic state variables. It is characterized by presence of flows of matter and energy. For this topic, very often the bodies considered have smooth spatial inhomogeneities, so that spatial gradients, for example a temperature gradient, are well enough defined. Thus the description of non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems is a field theory, more complicated than the theory of equilibrium thermodynamics. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a growing subject, not an established edifice. In general, it is not possible to find an exactly defined entropy for non-equilibrium problems. For many non-equilibrium thermodynamical problems, an approximately defined quantity called 'time rate of entropy production' is very useful. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is mostly beyond the scope of the present article.
Another kind of thermodynamic system is considered in most engineering. It takes part in a flow process. The account is in terms that approximate, well enough in practice in many cases, equilibrium thermodynamical concepts. This is mostly beyond the scope of the present article, and is set out in other articles, for example the article Flow process.
History
The first to create the concept of a thermodynamic system was the French physicist Sadi Carnot whose 1824 Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire studied what he called the working substance, e.g., typically a body of water vapor, in steam engines, in regards to the system's ability to do work when heat is applied to it. The working substance could be put in contact with either a heat reservoir (a boiler), a cold reservoir (a stream of cold water), or a piston (to which the working body could do work by pushing on it). In 1850, the German physicist Rudolf Clausius generalized this picture to include the concept of the surroundings, and began referring to the system as a "working body". In his 1850 paper On the Motive Power of Heat, Clausius wrote:
The article Carnot heat engine shows the original piston-and-cylinder diagram used by Carnot in discussing his ideal engine; below, we see the Carnot engine as is typically modeled in current use:
In the diagram shown, the "working body" (system), a term introduced by Clausius in 1850, can be any fluid or vapor body through which heat Q can be introduced or transmitted through to produce work. In 1824, Sadi Carnot, in his famous paper Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, had postulated that the fluid body could be any substance capable of expansion, such as vapor of water, vapor of alcohol, vapor of mercury, a permanent gas, or air, etc. Though, in these early years, engines came in a number of configurations, typically QH was supplied by a boiler, wherein water boiled over a furnace; QC was typically a stream of cold flowing water in the form of a condenser located on a separate part of the engine. The output work W was the movement of the piston as it turned a crank-arm, which typically turned a pulley to lift water out of flooded salt mines. Carnot defined work as "weight lifted through a height".
Systems in equilibrium
In isolated systems it is consistently observed that as time goes on internal rearrangements diminish and stable conditions are approached. Pressures and temperatures tend to equalize, and matter arranges itself into one or a few relatively homogeneous phases. A system in which all processes of change have gone practically to completion is considered in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. The thermodynamic properties of a system in equilibrium are unchanging in time. Equilibrium system states are much easier to describe in a deterministic manner than non-equilibrium states. In some cases, when analyzing a thermodynamic process, one can assume that each intermediate state in the process is at equilibrium. Such a process is called quasistatic.
For a process to be reversible, each step in the process must be reversible. For a step in a process to be reversible, the system must be in equilibrium throughout the step. That ideal cannot be accomplished in practice because no step can be taken without perturbing the system from equilibrium, but the ideal can be approached by making changes slowly.
The very existence of thermodynamic equilibrium, defining states of thermodynamic systems, is the essential, characteristic, and most fundamental postulate of thermodynamics, though it is only rarely cited as a numbered law. According to Bailyn, the commonly rehearsed statement of the zeroth law of thermodynamics is a consequence of this fundamental postulate. In reality, practically nothing in nature is in strict thermodynamic equilibrium, but the postulate of thermodynamic equilibrium often provides very useful idealizations or approximations, both theoretically and experimentally; experiments can provide scenarios of practical thermodynamic equilibrium.
In equilibrium thermodynamics the state variables do not include fluxes because in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium all fluxes have zero values by definition. Equilibrium thermodynamic processes may involve fluxes but these must have ceased by the time a thermodynamic process or operation is complete bringing a system to its eventual thermodynamic state. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics allows its state variables to include non-zero fluxes, which describe transfers of mass or energy or entropy between a system and its surroundings.
Walls
A system is enclosed by walls that bound it and connect it to its surroundings. Often a wall restricts passage across it by some form of matter or energy, making the connection indirect. Sometimes a wall is no more than an imaginary two-dimensional closed surface through which the connection to the surroundings is direct.
A wall can be fixed (e.g. a constant volume reactor) or moveable (e.g. a piston). For example, in a reciprocating engine, a fixed wall means the piston is locked at its position; then, a constant volume process may occur. In that same engine, a piston may be unlocked and allowed to move in and out. Ideally, a wall may be declared adiabatic, diathermal, impermeable, permeable, or semi-permeable. Actual physical materials that provide walls with such idealized properties are not always readily available.
The system is delimited by walls or boundaries, either actual or notional, across which conserved (such as matter and energy) or unconserved (such as entropy) quantities can pass into and out of the system. The space outside the thermodynamic system is known as the surroundings, a reservoir, or the environment. The properties of the walls determine what transfers can occur. A wall that allows transfer of a quantity is said to be permeable to it, and a thermodynamic system is classified by the permeabilities of its several walls. A transfer between system and surroundings can arise by contact, such as conduction of heat, or by long-range forces such as an electric field in the surroundings.
A system with walls that prevent all transfers is said to be isolated. This is an idealized conception, because in practice some transfer is always possible, for example by gravitational forces. It is an axiom of thermodynamics that an isolated system eventually reaches internal thermodynamic equilibrium, when its state no longer changes with time.
The walls of a closed system allow transfer of energy as heat and as work, but not of matter, between it and its surroundings. The walls of an open system allow transfer both of matter and of energy. This scheme of definition of terms is not uniformly used, though it is convenient for some purposes. In particular, some writers use 'closed system' where 'isolated system' is here used.
Anything that passes across the boundary and effects a change in the contents of the system must be accounted for in an appropriate balance equation. The volume can be the region surrounding a single atom resonating energy, such as Max Planck defined in 1900; it can be a body of steam or air in a steam engine, such as Sadi Carnot defined in 1824. It could also be just one nuclide (i.e. a system of quarks) as hypothesized in quantum thermodynamics.
Surroundings
The system is the part of the universe being studied, while the surroundings is the remainder of the universe that lies outside the boundaries of the system. It is also known as the environment or the reservoir. Depending on the type of system, it may interact with the system by exchanging mass, energy (including heat and work), momentum, electric charge, or other conserved properties. The environment is ignored in the analysis of the system, except in regards to these interactions.
Closed system
In a closed system, no mass may be transferred in or out of the system boundaries. The system always contains the same amount of matter, but (sensible) heat and (boundary) work can be exchanged across the boundary of the system. Whether a system can exchange heat, work, or both is dependent on the property of its boundary.
Adiabatic boundary – not allowing any heat exchange: A thermally isolated system
Rigid boundary – not allowing exchange of work: A mechanically isolated system
One example is fluid being compressed by a piston in a cylinder. Another example of a closed system is a bomb calorimeter, a type of constant-volume calorimeter used in measuring the heat of combustion of a particular reaction. Electrical energy travels across the boundary to produce a spark between the electrodes and initiates combustion. Heat transfer occurs across the boundary after combustion but no mass transfer takes place either way.
The first law of thermodynamics for energy transfers for closed system may be stated:
where denotes the internal energy of the system, heat added to the system, the work done by the system. For infinitesimal changes the first law for closed systems may stated:
If the work is due to a volume expansion by at a pressure then:
For a quasi-reversible heat transfer, the second law of thermodynamics reads:
where denotes the thermodynamic temperature and the entropy of the system. With these relations the fundamental thermodynamic relation, used to compute changes in internal energy, is expressed as:
For a simple system, with only one type of particle (atom or molecule), a closed system amounts to a constant number of particles. For systems undergoing a chemical reaction, there may be all sorts of molecules being generated and destroyed by the reaction process. In this case, the fact that the system is closed is expressed by stating that the total number of each elemental atom is conserved, no matter what kind of molecule it may be a part of. Mathematically:
where denotes the number of -type molecules, the number of atoms of element in molecule , and the total number of atoms of element in the system, which remains constant, since the system is closed. There is one such equation for each element in the system.
Isolated system
An isolated system is more restrictive than a closed system as it does not interact with its surroundings in any way. Mass and energy remains constant within the system, and no energy or mass transfer takes place across the boundary. As time passes in an isolated system, internal differences in the system tend to even out and pressures and temperatures tend to equalize, as do density differences. A system in which all equalizing processes have gone practically to completion is in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium.
Truly isolated physical systems do not exist in reality (except perhaps for the universe as a whole), because, for example, there is always gravity between a system with mass and masses elsewhere. However, real systems may behave nearly as an isolated system for finite (possibly very long) times. The concept of an isolated system can serve as a useful model approximating many real-world situations. It is an acceptable idealization used in constructing mathematical models of certain natural phenomena.
In the attempt to justify the postulate of entropy increase in the second law of thermodynamics, Boltzmann's H-theorem used equations, which assumed that a system (for example, a gas) was isolated. That is all the mechanical degrees of freedom could be specified, treating the walls simply as mirror boundary conditions. This inevitably led to Loschmidt's paradox. However, if the stochastic behavior of the molecules in actual walls is considered, along with the randomizing effect of the ambient, background thermal radiation, Boltzmann's assumption of molecular chaos can be justified.
The second law of thermodynamics for isolated systems states that the entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium tends to increase over time, approaching maximum value at equilibrium. Overall, in an isolated system, the internal energy is constant and the entropy can never decrease. A closed system's entropy can decrease e.g. when heat is extracted from the system.
Isolated systems are not equivalent to closed systems. Closed systems cannot exchange matter with the surroundings, but can exchange energy. Isolated systems can exchange neither matter nor energy with their surroundings, and as such are only theoretical and do not exist in reality (except, possibly, the entire universe).
'Closed system' is often used in thermodynamics discussions when 'isolated system' would be correct – i.e. there is an assumption that energy does not enter or leave the system.
Selective transfer of matter
For a thermodynamic process, the precise physical properties of the walls and surroundings of the system are important, because they determine the possible processes.
An open system has one or several walls that allow transfer of matter. To account for the internal energy of the open system, this requires energy transfer terms in addition to those for heat and work. It also leads to the idea of the chemical potential.
A wall selectively permeable only to a pure substance can put the system in diffusive contact with a reservoir of that pure substance in the surroundings. Then a process is possible in which that pure substance is transferred between system and surroundings. Also, across that wall a contact equilibrium with respect to that substance is possible. By suitable thermodynamic operations, the pure substance reservoir can be dealt with as a closed system. Its internal energy and its entropy can be determined as functions of its temperature, pressure, and mole number.
A thermodynamic operation can render impermeable to matter all system walls other than the contact equilibrium wall for that substance. This allows the definition of an intensive state variable, with respect to a reference state of the surroundings, for that substance. The intensive variable is called the chemical potential; for component substance it is usually denoted . The corresponding extensive variable can be the number of moles of the component substance in the system.
For a contact equilibrium across a wall permeable to a substance, the chemical potentials of the substance must be same on either side of the wall. This is part of the nature of thermodynamic equilibrium, and may be regarded as related to the zeroth law of thermodynamics.
Open system
In an open system, there is an exchange of energy and matter between the system and the surroundings. The presence of reactants in an open beaker is an example of an open system. Here the boundary is an imaginary surface enclosing the beaker and reactants. It is named closed, if borders are impenetrable for substance, but allow transit of energy in the form of heat, and isolated, if there is no exchange of heat and substances. The open system cannot exist in the equilibrium state. To describe deviation of the thermodynamic system from equilibrium, in addition to constitutive variables that was described above, a set of internal variables have been introduced. The equilibrium state is considered to be stable and the main property of the internal variables, as measures of non-equilibrium of the system, is their trending to disappear; the local law of disappearing can be written as relaxation equation for each internal variable
where is a relaxation time of a corresponding variable. It is convenient to consider the initial value equal to zero.
The specific contribution to the thermodynamics of open non-equilibrium systems was made by Ilya Prigogine, who investigated a system of chemically reacting substances. In this case the internal variables appear to be measures of incompleteness of chemical reactions, that is measures of how much the considered system with chemical reactions is out of equilibrium. The theory can be generalized, to consider any deviations from the equilibrium state, such as structure of the system, gradients of temperature, difference of concentrations of substances and so on, to say nothing of degrees of completeness of all chemical reactions, to be internal variables.
The increments of Gibbs free energy and entropy at and are determined as
The stationary states of the system exist due to exchange of both thermal energy and a stream of particles. The sum of the last terms in the equations presents the total energy coming into the system with the stream of particles of substances that can be positive or negative; the quantity is chemical potential of substance . The middle terms in equations (2) and (3) depict energy dissipation (entropy production) due to the relaxation of internal variables , while are thermodynamic forces.
This approach to the open system allows describing the growth and development of living objects in thermodynamic terms.
See also
Dynamical system
Energy system
Isolated system
Mechanical system
Physical system
Quantum system
Thermodynamic cycle
Thermodynamic process
Two-state quantum system
References
Sources
Thermodynamic systems
Equilibrium chemistry
Thermodynamic cycles
Thermodynamic processes |
425874 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold%20Nicolson | Harold Nicolson | Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West.
Early life and education
Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the youngest son of diplomat Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock. He spent his boyhood in various places throughout Europe and the Near East and followed his father's frequent postings, including in St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Madrid, Sofia, and Tangier. He was educated at The Grange School in Folkestone, Kent, followed by Wellington College. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1909 with a third class degree. Nicolson entered the Foreign Office that same year, after passing second in the competitive exams for the Diplomatic Service and Civil Service.
Diplomatic career
In 1909, Nicolson joined HM Diplomatic Service. He served as attaché at Madrid from February to September 1911 and as Third Secretary at Constantinople from January 1912 to October 1914. In 1913, Nicolson married the novelist Vita Sackville-West. Nicolson and his wife practised what would now be called an open marriage, with both having affairs with others of the same sex.
A diplomatic career was honorable and prestigious in Edwardian Britain, but Sackville-West's parents were aristocrats who wanted their daughter to marry a fellow aristocrat from an old noble family and so gave only reluctant approval to the marriage.
During the First World War, he served at the Foreign Office in London during which he was promoted to Second Secretary. As the Foreign Office's most junior employee at this rank, it fell to him on 4 August 1914 to hand Britain's revised declaration of war to Prince Max von Lichnowsky, the German ambassador in London. In December 1917, Nicolson had to explain to Sackville-West that he had contracted a venereal disease as a result of an anonymous homosexual encounter and that he had probably passed it to her. As it turned out, he had not passed it. He served in a junior capacity in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 for which he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1920 New Year Honours. In his book entitled Peacemaking 1919, he expressed his racist views on Hungarians during the peace treaty in Paris
Promoted to First Secretary in 1920, he was appointed private secretary to Sir Eric Drummond, the first Secretary-General of the League of Nations, but was recalled to the Foreign Office in June 1920. The same year, Sackville-West became involved in an intense relationship with Violet Trefusis that nearly wrecked her marriage. As Nicolson wrote in his diary, "Damn! Damn! Damn! Violet. How I loathe her". On one occasion, Nicolson had to follow Vita to France, where she had "eloped" with Trefusis, to try to win her back.
Nicolson himself was no stranger to homosexual affairs. Among others, he was involved in a long-term relationship with Raymond Mortimer, whom both he and Vita affectionately referred to as "Tray". Nicolson and Vita discussed their shared homosexual tendencies frankly with each other, and they remained happy together. They were famously devoted to each other and wrote almost every day when they were separated because of Nicolson's long diplomatic postings abroad or Vita's insatiable wanderlust. Eventually, he gave up diplomacy, partly so that they could live together in England.
In 1925, he was promoted to counsellor and posted to Tehran as chargé d'affaires. The same year, General Reza Khan deposed the last Qajar Shah, Ahmad Shah Qajar, to take the Peacock Throne for himself. Though it was not entirely appropriate for a foreign diplomat's wife, Sackville-West became deeply involved in the coronation of Reza Khan as the new Shah. Nicolson personally disliked Reza Khan and called him "a bullet-headed man with the voice of an asthmatic child".
Reza Khan disliked British influence in Iran, and after being crowned Shah, he submitted a "categorical note" that demanded the "removal of Indian Savars [mounted guards] from Persia". The Savars had been used to guard the British Legation in Tehran and various consulates across Persia, and Reza Khan felt having the troops of a foreign power riding through the streets of his capital was an infringement of his sovereignty. As chargé d'affairs, Nicolson was in charge of the British Legation in the summer of 1926 and upon receiving the Iranian note, he rushed down to the Iranian Foreign Ministry to object. Nicolson writing in the third person stated he had a "Kipling inside him and something of an 'empire builder'" told the Persian officials that the note was "so categorical to be almost offensive" and wanted it withdrawn. The Persians stated that the note had been written by Reza Khan and could not be withdrawn, but ultimately an annex was added to the note, which softened its threatening tone. However, much to the satisfaction of Reza Khan, the British had to abide by what Nicolson called a "frank and honest" note by withdrawing the Savars.
In the summer of 1927, Nicolson was recalled to London and demoted to First Secretary for criticising the minister Sir Percy Loraine in a dispatch. However, he was posted to Berlin as chargé d'affaires in 1928 and promoted as counsellor again, but he resigned from the Diplomatic Service in September 1929.
Political career
From 1930 to 1931, Nicolson edited the Londoner's Diary for the Evening Standard, but disliked writing about high-society gossip and quit within a year.
In 1931, he joined Sir Oswald Mosley and his recently-formed New Party. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament for the Combined English Universities in the general election that year and edited the party newspaper, Action. After Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists the following year, Nicolson ceased to support him.
Nicolson entered the House of Commons as National Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West in the 1935 election. In the latter half of the 1930s, he was one of the relatively few MPs to alert the country to the threat of fascism. More a follower of Anthony Eden in that regard than of Winston Churchill, Nicolson was still a friend of Churchill but not an intimate one. Nicolson often supported Churchill's efforts in the Commons to stiffen British resolve and support rearmament.
A Francophile, Nicolson was a close friend of Charles Corbin, the Anglophile and anti-appeasement French ambassador to the Court of St. James.
In October 1938, Nicolson spoke out against the Munich Agreement in the House of Commons: "I know that those of us who believe in the traditions of our policy, who believe that one great function of this country is to maintain moral standards in Europe, not to make friends with people whose conduct is demonstrably evil, but to set up some sort of standard by which smaller powers can test what is good in international conduct and what is not-I know that those who hold such beliefs are accused of possessing the Foreign Office mind. I thank God that I possess a Foreign Office mind".
In June 1940, Nicolson met the French writer André Maurois at the time when France was on the verge of defeat, which led Nicolson to write in his diary: "June 12, 1940. I saw André Maurois in the morning. He left Paris yesterday. He said that never before in his life had he experienced such agony as he did when he saw Paris basking under a lovely summer day and realised that he might never see it again. I do feel so deeply for the French. Paris is to them what our countryside is to us. If we were to feel the lanes of Devonshire, the rocks of Cornwall and our own unflaunting England were all concentrated in one spot and likely to be wiped out, we would feel all the pain in the world".
He became Parliamentary Secretary and official Censor at the Ministry of Information in Churchill's 1940 wartime government of national unity, serving under Cabinet member Duff Cooper for approximately a year until he was asked by Churchill to leave his position in order to make way for Ernest Thurtle MP as the Labour Party demanded more of their MPs in the Government; thereafter he was a well-respected backbencher, especially on foreign policy issues, given his early and prominent diplomatic career. From 1941 to 1946 he was also on the Board of Governors of the BBC.
In 1944, during the Battle of Monte Cassino, it was widely believed that the Germans were using the Monte Cassino abbey in Italy as an observation post to direct fire down at the Allied forces in the valley below, and many demanded for the abbey to be bombed to save the lives of the Allied soldiers that were attempting to advance up the valley to take the heights of Monte Cassino, which was a key point in the Gustav line. In February 1944, Nicolson caused controversy with a column in The Spectator by saying that art was irreplaceable, but human life was expendable. He opposed the bombing of Monte Cassino abbey and said that it was a great work of art that itself contained many works of art that could never be replaced even if that meant the death of his own son, Nigel Nicolson, who was serving in the 8th Army as it was fighting the Battle of Monte Cassino, and that it was morally better to take thousands of dead and wounded than to destroy the abbey of Monte Cassino. Much to Nicolson's chagrin, the abbey was destroyed by an American bombing raid on 15 February 1944.
When Nicolson, a Francophile, visited France in March 1945 for the first time in five years, upon landing in France he kissed the earth. When a Frenchman asked the prostrate Nicolson "Monsieur a laissé tomber quelque-chose?" ("Sir, have you dropped something?"), Nicolson replied, "Non, j'ai retrouvé quelque-chose" ("No, I have recovered something"). The exchange is little known in Britain but is well remembered in France.
After losing his seat in the 1945 general election, he joined the Labour Party, much to the dismay of his family, in an unsuccessful attempt to secure a hereditary peerage from Clement Attlee; Nicolson stood in the 1948 Croydon North by-election but lost once again.
In 1960, at the Paris summit, Nicolson wrote about the behaviour of the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev implying that he was "a little mad" and the "exchange of insults is not the best method of conducting relations between sovereign states".
Writer
Encouraged in his literary ambitions by his wife, who was also a writer, Nicolson published a biography of French poet Paul Verlaine in 1921, which was followed by studies of other literary figures such as Tennyson, Byron, Swinburne, and Sainte-Beuve. In 1933, he wrote an account of the Paris Peace Conference Peacemaking 1919.
Nicolson noted that "although I loathe antisemitism I do dislike Jews". In his diaries, he expressed trepidation over making admission as a civil servant to the Foreign Office less exclusive: "Jews are far more interested in international life than are Englishmen. And if we opened the service it might be flooded with clever Jews." Tony Kushner argued that he typified the antisemite who "warned publicly against the dangers of antisemitism at any level, yet privately hated the very presence of Jews". Without evidence, he assumed in his diaries in 1944 that a group of girls relaxing with American GIs were Jewish: "I am all for a little promiscuity. But nymphomania among East End Jewesses and for such large sums of money makes me sick."
Nicolson is also remembered for his 1932 novel Public Faces, which foreshadowed the nuclear bomb. A fictional account of British national policy in 1939, it tells how Britain's Secretary of State tries to keep world peace with the Royal Air Force aggressively brandishing rocket aeroplanes and an atomic bomb. In today's terms, it was a multi-megaton bomb, and the geology of the Persian Gulf played a central role, but on the other hand, the likes of Hitler was not foreseen.
After Nicolson's last attempt to enter Parliament failed, he continued with an extensive social schedule and his programme of writing, which included books, book reviews, and a weekly column for The Spectator.
His diary is one of the pre-eminent 20th-century British diaries and a noteworthy source on British political history from 1930 to the 1950s, particularly in regard to the period before the Second World War and the war itself. Nicolson was in positions high enough to write of the workings of the circles of power and of the day-to-day unfolding of great events. His fellow parliamentarian Robert Bernays characterized Nicolson as being "a national figure of the second degree".
Nicolson was variously an acquaintance, associate, friend or intimate to such political figures as Ramsay MacDonald, David Lloyd George, Duff Cooper, Charles de Gaulle, Anthony Eden and Winston Churchill, along with a host of literary and artistic figures, including C. E. M. Joad of the BBC's The Brains Trust.
Family
He and his wife had two sons, Benedict, an art historian, and Nigel, a politician and writer. Nigel later published works by and about his parents, including Portrait of a Marriage, their correspondence, and Nicolson's diary.
In 1930, Vita Sackville-West acquired Sissinghurst Castle, near Cranbrook in Kent. There the couple created the renowned gardens that are now run by the National Trust.
Honours
He was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1953 as a reward for writing the official biography of George V, which had been published the previous year.
There is a blue plaque commemorating him and his wife on their house in Ebury Street, London SW1.
Works
Many of the books are online.
Paul Verlaine (Constable, 1921)
Sweet Waters (Constable, 1921) novel; new ed. 2012 by Eland
Tennyson: Aspects of His Life, Character and Poetry (Constable, 1923)
Byron: The Last Journey (Constable, 1924)
Swinburne (Macmillan, 1926)
Some People (Constable, 1927)
The Development of English Biography (The Hogarth Press, 1927) (Hogarth Lectures No. 4)
Swinburne and Baudelaire: The Zaharoff Lecture (The Clarendon Press, 1930)
Portrait of a Diplomatist: Being the Life of Sir Arthur Nicolson, First Lord Carnock, and a Study of the Origins of the Great War (Houghton Mifflin, 1930) online
People and Things: Wireless Talks (Constable, 1931)
Public Faces: A Novel (Constable, 1932) novel
Peacemaking 1919 (Constable, 1933) re-set 1944 online
Curzon: The Last Phase, 1919–1925: A Study in Post-War Diplomacy (Constable, 1934)
Dwight Morrow (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1935)
Politics in the Train (Constable, 1936)
Helen's Tower (Constable, 1937)
Small Talk (Constable, 1937)
Diplomacy (Thornton Butterworth, 1939) (Home University Library of Modern Knowledge)
Marginal Comment (January 6 – August 4, 1939) (Constable, 1939)
Why Britain is at War (Penguin Books, 1939) (Penguin Specials)
The Desire to Please: The Story of Hamilton Rowan and the United Irishmen (Constable, 1943)
The Poetry of Byron: The English Association Presidential Address, August 1943 (Oxford University Press, 1943)
Friday Mornings 1941–1944 (Constable, 1944)
England: An Anthology (Macmillan, 1944)
Another World Than This: An Anthology (Michael Joseph, 1945) edited with Vita Sackville-West
The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity: 1812–1822 (Constable, 1946)
Comments 1944–1948 (Constable, 1948) – collected articles from the Spectator
Benjamin Constant (Constable, 1949)
King George V (Constable, 1952)
The Evolution of Diplomacy (Constable, 1954) – Chichele Lectures 1953
The English Sense of Humour and other Essays (The Dropmore Press, 1946)
Good Behaviour, being a Study of Certain Types of Civility (Constable, 1955)
Sainte-Beuve (Constable, 1957)
Journey to Java (London: Constable, 1957)
The Age of Reason (1700–1789) (Constable, 1960)
Tennyson: Aspects of his Life, Character and Poetry (Arrow, 1960) (Grey Arrow Books, no. 39)
Monarchy (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962)
Diaries and Letters 1930–39; Diaries and Letters 1939–45; Diaries and Letters 1945–62 (Collins, 1966–68) - edited by Nigel Nicolson
See also
List of Bloomsbury Group people
References
Further reading
Bristow-Smith, Laurence. Harold Nicolson: Half-an-Eye on History. Letterworth Press, 2014. .
Cannadine, David. "Portrait of More Than a Marriage: Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West Revisited", from Aspects of Aristocracy, pp. 210–42. (Yale University Press, 1994), .
Dawkins, Charlie. "Harold Nicolson, Ulysses, Reithianism: Censorship on BBC Radio, 1931". Review of English Studies 67.280 (2016): 558-578. online
Drinkwater, Derek. Sir Harold Nicolson & International Relations, (Oxford University Press, 2005), .
Kershner, R. Brandon. "Harold Nicolson's Visit with Joyce". James Joyce Quarterly 39.2 (2002): 325-330. online
Lees-Milne, James, Harold Nicolson, A Biography, (Chatto & Windus), 1980, Vol. I (1886–1929), ; 1981, Vol. II (1930–1968), vol 2 online
Nicolson, Nigel. Portrait of a Marriage, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973), online
Rose, Norman. Harold Nicolson (Jonathan Cape, 2005), .
Thirriard, Maryam. "Harold Nicolson the New Biographer". Les Grandes Figures historiques dans les lettres et les arts 6bis (2017) online.
Young, John W. "Harold Nicolson and Appeasement", in Shaping British Foreign and Defence Policy in the Twentieth Century (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2014) pp. 136–158 online
Primary sources
Rich, Margaret Sherry. "The Harold Nicolson Papers". Princeton University Library Chronicle 65.1 (2003): 105-109. online
Nicolson, Nigel, (ed.) The Harold Nicolson Diaries 1907–1963 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004),
Nicolson, Nigel, (ed.) Vita and Harold. The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson 1910–1962 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992), .
External links
Harold Nicolson Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1886 births
1968 deaths
20th-century English novelists
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
British diplomats
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
English biographers
English diarists
English gardeners
English non-fiction writers
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
LGBT diplomats
LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
English LGBT politicians
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
National Labour (UK) politicians
People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Scholars of diplomacy
UK MPs 1935–1945
Younger sons of barons
Presidents of the Classical Association
British expatriates in Iran
British expatriates in Spain
British expatriates in the Russian Empire
British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire
Harold |
425881 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brucellosis | Brucellosis | Brucellosis is a zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever.
The bacteria causing this disease, Brucella, are small, Gram-negative, nonmotile, nonspore-forming, rod-shaped (coccobacilli) bacteria. They function as facultative intracellular parasites, causing chronic disease, which usually persists for life. Four species infect humans: B. abortus, B. canis, B. melitensis, and B. suis. B. abortus is less virulent than B. melitensis and is primarily a disease of cattle. B. canis affects dogs. B. melitensis is the most virulent and invasive species; it usually infects goats and occasionally sheep. B. suis is of intermediate virulence and chiefly infects pigs. Symptoms include profuse sweating and joint and muscle pain. Brucellosis has been recognized in animals and humans since the early 20th century.
Signs and symptoms
The symptoms are like those associated with many other febrile diseases, but with emphasis on muscular pain and night sweats. The duration of the disease can vary from a few weeks to many months or even years.
In the first stage of the disease, bacteremia occurs and leads to the classic triad of undulant fevers, sweating (often with a characteristic foul, moldy smell sometimes likened to wet hay), and migratory arthralgia and myalgia (joint and muscle pain). Blood tests characteristically reveal a low number of white blood cells and red blood cells, show some elevation of liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and demonstrate positive Bengal rose and Huddleston reactions. Gastrointestinal symptoms occur in 70% of cases and include nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, unintentional weight loss, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, an enlarged liver, liver inflammation, liver abscess, and an enlarged spleen.
This complex is, at least in Portugal, Israel, Syria, and Jordan, known as Malta fever. During episodes of Malta fever, melitococcemia (presence of brucellae in the blood) can usually be demonstrated by means of blood culture in tryptose medium or Albini medium. If untreated, the disease can give origin to focalizations or become chronic. The focalizations of brucellosis occur usually in bones and joints, and osteomyelitis or spondylodiscitis of the lumbar spine accompanied by sacroiliitis is very characteristic of this disease. Orchitis is also common in men.
The consequences of Brucella infection are highly variable and may include arthritis, spondylitis, thrombocytopenia, meningitis, uveitis, optic neuritis, endocarditis, and various neurological disorders collectively known as neurobrucellosis.
Cause
Brucellosis in humans is usually associated with consumption of unpasteurized milk and soft cheeses made from the milk of infected animals—often goats—infected with B. melitensis, and with occupational exposure of laboratory workers, veterinarians, and slaughterhouse workers. Some vaccines used in livestock, most notably B. abortus strain 19, also cause disease in humans if accidentally injected. Brucellosis induces inconstant fevers, miscarriage, sweating, weakness, anemia, headaches, depression, and muscular and bodily pain. The other strains, B. suis and B. canis, cause infection in pigs and dogs, respectively.
Overall findings support that brucellosis poses an occupational risk to goat farmers with specific areas of concern including weak awareness of disease transmission to humans and lack of knowledge on specific safe farm practices such as quarantine practices.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of brucellosis relies on:
Demonstration of the agent: blood cultures in tryptose broth, bone marrow cultures: The growth of brucellae is extremely slow (they can take up to two months to grow) and the culture poses a risk to laboratory personnel due to high infectivity of brucellae.
Demonstration of antibodies against the agent either with the classic Huddleson, Wright, and/or Bengal Rose reactions, either with ELISA or the 2-mercaptoethanol assay for IgM antibodies associated with chronic disease
Histologic evidence of granulomatous hepatitis on hepatic biopsy
Radiologic alterations in infected vertebrae: the Pedro Pons sign (preferential erosion of the anterosuperior corner of lumbar vertebrae) and marked osteophytosis are suspicious of brucellic spondylitis.
Definite diagnosis of brucellosis requires the isolation of the organism from the blood, body fluids, or tissues, but serological methods may be the only tests available in many settings. Positive blood culture yield ranges between 40 and 70% and is less commonly positive for B. abortus than B. melitensis or B. suis. Identification of specific antibodies against bacterial lipopolysaccharide and other antigens can be detected by the standard agglutination test (SAT), rose Bengal, 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME), antihuman globulin (Coombs') and indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). SAT is the most commonly used serology in endemic areas. An agglutination titre greater than 1:160 is considered significant in nonendemic areas and greater than 1:320 in endemic areas.
Due to the similarity of the O polysaccharide of Brucella to that of various other Gram-negative bacteria (e.g. Francisella tularensis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella urbana, Yersinia enterocolitica, Vibrio cholerae, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia), the appearance of cross-reactions of class M immunoglobulins may occur. The inability to diagnose B. canis by SAT due to lack of cross-reaction is another drawback. False-negative SAT may be caused by the presence of blocking antibodies (the prozone phenomenon) in the α2-globulin (IgA) and in the α-globulin (IgG) fractions.
Dipstick assays are new and promising, based on the binding of Brucella IgM antibodies, and are simple, accurate, and rapid. ELISA typically uses cytoplasmic proteins as antigens. It measures IgM, IgG, and IgA with better sensitivity and specificity than the SAT in most recent comparative studies. The commercial Brucellacapt test, a single-step immunocapture assay for the detection of total anti-Brucella antibodies, is an increasingly used adjunctive test when resources permit. PCR is fast and should be specific. Many varieties of PCR have been developed (e.g. nested PCR, realtime PCR, and PCR-ELISA) and found to have superior specificity and sensitivity in detecting both primary infection and relapse after treatment. Unfortunately, these are not standardized for routine use, and some centres have reported persistent PCR positivity after clinically successful treatment, fuelling the controversy about the existence of prolonged chronic brucellosis.
Other laboratory findings include normal peripheral white cell count, and occasional leucopenia with relative lymphocytosis. The serum biochemical profiles are commonly normal.
Prevention
Surveillance using serological tests, as well as tests on milk such as the milk ring test, can be used for screening and play an important role in campaigns to eliminate the disease. Also, individual animal testing both for trade and for disease-control purposes is practiced. In endemic areas, vaccination is often used to reduce the incidence of infection. An animal vaccine is available that uses modified live bacteria. The World Organisation for Animal Health Manual of Diagnostic Test and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals provides detailed guidance on the production of vaccines. As the disease is closer to being eliminated, a test and eradication program is required to eliminate it.
The main way of preventing brucellosis is by using fastidious hygiene in producing raw milk products, or by pasteurizing all milk that is to be ingested by human beings, either in its unaltered form or as a derivative, such as cheese.
Another aspect of Brucellosis prevention is public awareness. Endemic areas demonstrated a high lack of knowledge and understanding of the disease and it's causes. To combat this, the One Health concept has been proposed. One Health is a method for combining disciplines such as Public Health, Veterinary services, and microbiologists to bring awareness to the disease. However, the implementation of this method faces many challenges including economical, political, and social barriers.
Treatment
Antibiotics such as tetracyclines, rifampicin, and the aminoglycosides streptomycin and gentamicin are effective against Brucella bacteria. However, the use of more than one antibiotic is needed for several weeks, because the bacteria incubate within cells.
The gold standard treatment for adults is daily intramuscular injections of streptomycin 1 g for 14 days and oral doxycycline 100 mg twice daily for 45 days (concurrently). Gentamicin 5 mg/kg by intramuscular injection once daily for 7 days is an acceptable substitute when streptomycin is not available or contraindicated. Another widely used regimen is doxycycline plus rifampicin twice daily for at least 6 weeks. This regimen has the advantage of oral administration. A triple therapy of doxycycline, with rifampicin and co-trimoxazole, has been used successfully to treat neurobrucellosis. Doxycycline plus streptomycin regimen (for 2 to 3 weeks) is more effective than doxycycline plus rifampicin regimen (for 6 weeks).
Doxycycline is able to cross the blood–brain barrier, but requires the addition of two other drugs to prevent relapse. Ciprofloxacin and co-trimoxazole therapy is associated with an unacceptably high rate of relapse. In brucellic endocarditis, surgery is required for an optimal outcome. Even with optimal antibrucellic therapy, relapses still occur in 5 to 10% of patients with Malta fever.
Prognosis
The mortality of the disease in 1909, as recorded in the British Army and Navy stationed in Malta, was 2%. The most frequent cause of death was endocarditis. Recent advances in antibiotics and surgery have been successful in preventing death due to endocarditis. Prevention of human brucellosis can be achieved by eradication of the disease in animals by vaccination and other veterinary control methods such as testing herds/flocks and slaughtering animals when infection is present. Currently, no effective vaccine is available for humans. Boiling milk before consumption, or before using it to produce other dairy products, is protective against transmission via ingestion. Changing traditional food habits of eating raw meat, liver, or bone marrow is necessary, but difficult to implement. Patients who have had brucellosis should probably be excluded indefinitely from donating blood or organs. Exposure of diagnostic laboratory personnel to Brucella organisms remains a problem in both endemic settings and when brucellosis is unknowingly imported by a patient. After appropriate risk assessment, staff with significant exposure should be offered postexposure prophylaxis and followed up serologically for 6 months.
Epidemiology
Argentina
According to a study published in 2002, an estimated 10–13% of farm animals were infected with Brucella species. Annual losses from the disease were calculated at around US$60 million. Since 1932, government agencies have undertaken efforts to contain the disease. all cattle of ages 3–8 months must receive the Brucella abortus strain 19 vaccine.
Australia
Australia is free of cattle brucellosis, although it occurred in the past. Brucellosis of sheep or goats has never been reported. Brucellosis of pigs does occur. Feral pigs are the typical source of human infections.
Canada
On 19 September 1985, the Canadian government declared its cattle population brucellosis-free. Brucellosis ring testing of milk and cream, and testing of cattle to be slaughtered ended on 1 April 1999. Monitoring continues through testing at auction markets, through standard disease-reporting procedures, and through testing of cattle being qualified for export to countries other than the United States.
China
An outbreak infecting humans took place in Lanzhou in 2019 after the Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant, which was involved in vaccine production, accidentally pumped out the bacteria into the atmosphere in exhaust air due to use of expired disinfectant.
According to Georgios Pappas, an infectious-disease specialist and author of a report published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the result was “possibly the largest laboratory accident in the history of infectious diseases.” According to Pappas, out of nearly 70,000 people tested, more than 10,000 were seropositive, citing figures compiled by the provincial health authorities in Lanzhou’s Gansu province. Pappas also states that Chinese documents show that more than 3,000 people living near the plant applied for compensation, an indication of at least a mild illness.
Europe
Malta
Until the early 20th century, the disease was endemic in Malta to the point of it being referred to as "Maltese fever". Since 2005, due to a strict regimen of certification of milk animals and widespread use of pasteurization, the illness has been eradicated from Malta.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland was declared free of brucellosis on 1 July 2009. The disease had troubled the country's farmers and veterinarians for several decades. The Irish government submitted an application to the European Commission, which verified that Ireland had been liberated. Brendan Smith, Ireland's then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said the elimination of brucellosis was "a landmark in the history of disease eradication in Ireland". Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine intends to reduce its brucellosis eradication programme now that eradication has been confirmed.
UK
Mainland Britain has been free of brucellosis since 1979, although there have been episodic re-introductions since. The last outbreak of brucellosis in Great Britain was in cattle in Cornwall in 2004. Northern Ireland was declared officially brucellosis-free in 2015.
New Zealand
Brucellosis in New Zealand is limited to sheep (B. ovis). The country is free of all other species of Brucella.
United States
Dairy herds in the U.S. are tested at least once a year to be certified brucellosis-free with the Brucella milk ring test. Cows confirmed to be infected are often killed. In the United States, veterinarians are required to vaccinate all young stock, to further reduce the chance of zoonotic transmission. This vaccination is usually referred to as a "calfhood" vaccination. Most cattle receive a tattoo in one of their ears, serving as proof of their vaccination status. This tattoo also includes the last digit of the year they were born.
The first state–federal cooperative efforts towards eradication of brucellosis caused by B. abortus in the U.S. began in 1934.
Brucellosis was originally imported to North America with non-native domestic cattle (Bos taurus), which transmitted the disease to wild bison (Bison bison) and elk (Cervus canadensis). No records exist of brucellosis in ungulates native to America until the early 19th century.
History
Brucellosis first came to the attention of British medical officers in the 1850s in Malta during the Crimean War, and was referred to as Malta Fever. Jeffery Allen Marston (1831–1911) described his own case of the disease in 1861. The causal relationship between organism and disease was first established in 1887 by David Bruce. Bruce considered the agent spherical and classified it as a coccus.
In 1897, Danish veterinarian Bernhard Bang isolated a bacillus as the agent of heightened spontaneous abortion in cows, and the name "Bang's disease" was assigned to this condition. Bang considered the organism rod-shaped and classified it as a bacillus. At the time no one knew that this bacillus had anything to do with the causative agent of Malta fever.
Maltese scientist and archaeologist Themistocles Zammit identified unpasteurized goat milk as the major etiologic factor of undulant fever in June 1905.
In the late 1910s, American bacteriologist Alice C. Evans was studying the Bang bacillus and gradually realized that it was virtually indistinguishable from the Bruce coccus. The short-rod versus oblong-round morphologic borderline explained the leveling of the erstwhile bacillus/coccus distinction (that is, these "two" pathogens were not a coccus versus a bacillus but rather were one coccobacillus). The Bang bacillus was already known to be enzootic in American dairy cattle, which showed itself in the regularity with which herds experienced contagious abortion. Having made the discovery that the bacteria were certainly nearly identical and perhaps totally so, Evans then wondered why Malta fever was not widely diagnosed or reported in the United States. She began to wonder whether many cases of vaguely defined febrile illnesses were in fact caused by the drinking of raw (unpasteurized) milk. During the 1920s, this hypothesis was vindicated. Such illnesses ranged from undiagnosed and untreated gastrointestinal upset to misdiagnosed febrile and painful versions, some even fatal. This advance in bacteriological science sparked extensive changes in the American dairy industry to improve food safety. The changes included making pasteurization standard and greatly tightening the standards of cleanliness in milkhouses on dairy farms. The expense prompted delay and skepticism in the industry, but the new hygiene rules eventually became the norm. Although these measures have sometimes struck people as overdone in the decades since, being unhygienic at milking time or in the milkhouse, or drinking raw milk, are not a safe alternative.
In the decades after Evans's work, this genus, which received the name Brucella in honor of Bruce, was found to contain several species with varying virulence. The name "brucellosis" gradually replaced the 19th-century names Mediterranean fever and Malta fever.
Neurobrucellosis, a neurological involvement in brucellosis, was first described in 1879. In the late 19th century, its symptoms were described in more detail by M. Louis Hughes, a Surgeon-Captain of the Royal Army Medical Corps stationed in Malta who isolated brucella organisms from a patient with meningo-encephalitis. In 1989, neurologists in Saudi Arabia made significant contributions to the medical literature involving neurobrucellosis.
These obsolete names have previously been applied to brucellosis:
Biological warfare
Brucella species had been weaponized by several advanced countries by the mid-20th century. In 1954, B. suis became the first agent weaponized by the United States at its Pine Bluff Arsenal near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Brucella species survive well in aerosols and resist drying. Brucella and all other remaining biological weapons in the U.S. arsenal were destroyed in 1971–72 when the American offensive biological warfare program was discontinued by order of President Richard Nixon.
The experimental American bacteriological warfare program focused on three agents of the Brucella group:
Porcine brucellosis (agent US)
Bovine brucellosis (agent AA)
Caprine brucellosis (agent AM)
Agent US was in advanced development by the end of World War II. When the United States Air Force (USAF) wanted a biological warfare capability, the Chemical Corps offered Agent US in the M114 bomblet, based on the four-pound bursting bomblet developed for spreading anthrax during World War II. Though the capability was developed, operational testing indicated the weapon was less than desirable, and the USAF designed it as an interim capability until it could eventually be replaced by a more effective biological weapon.
The main drawback of using the M114 with Agent US was that it acted mainly as an incapacitating agent, whereas the USAF administration wanted weapons that were deadly. The stability of M114 in storage was too low to allow for storing it at forward air bases, and the logistical requirements to neutralize a target were far higher than originally planned. Ultimately, this would have required too much logistical support to be practical in the field.
Agents US and AA had a median infective dose of 500 organisms/person, and for Agent AM it was 300 organisms/person. The incubation time was believed to be about 2 weeks, with a duration of infection of several months. The lethality estimate was, based on epidemiological information, 1 to 2
per cent. Agent AM was believed to be a somewhat more virulent disease, with a fatality rate of 3 per cent being expected.
Other animals
Species infecting domestic livestock are B. abortus (cattle, bison, and elk), B. canis (dogs), B. melitensis (goats and sheep), B. ovis (sheep), and B. suis (caribou and pigs). Brucella species have also been isolated from several marine mammal species (cetaceans and pinnipeds).
Cattle
B. abortus is the principal cause of brucellosis in cattle. The bacteria are shed from an infected animal at or around the time of calving or abortion. Once exposed, the likelihood of an animal becoming infected is variable, depending on age, pregnancy status, and other intrinsic factors of the animal, as well as the number of bacteria to which the animal was exposed. The most common clinical signs of cattle infected with B. abortus are high incidences of abortions, arthritic joints, and retained placenta.
The two main causes for spontaneous abortion in animals are erythritol, which can promote infections in the fetus and placenta, and the lack of anti-Brucella activity in the amniotic fluid. Males can also harbor the bacteria in their reproductive tracts, namely seminal vesicles, ampullae, testicles, and epididymises.
Dogs
The causative agent of brucellosis in dogs, B. canis, is transmitted to other dogs through breeding and contact with aborted fetuses. Brucellosis can occur in humans who come in contact with infected aborted tissue or semen. The bacteria in dogs normally infect the genitals and lymphatic system, but can also spread to the eyes, kidneys, and intervertebral discs. Brucellosis in the intervertebral disc is one possible cause of discospondylitis. Symptoms of brucellosis in dogs include abortion in female dogs and scrotal inflammation and orchitis in males. Fever is uncommon. Infection of the eye can cause uveitis, and infection of the intervertebral disc can cause pain or weakness. Blood testing of the dogs prior to breeding can prevent the spread of this disease. It is treated with antibiotics, as with humans, but it is difficult to cure.
Aquatic wildlife
Brucellosis in cetaceans is caused by the bacterium B. ceti. First discovered in the aborted fetus of a bottlenose dolphin, the structure of B. ceti is similar to Brucella in land animals. B. ceti is commonly detected in two suborders of cetaceans, the Mysticeti and Odontoceti. The Mysticeti include four families of baleen whales, filter-feeders, and the Odontoceti include two families of toothed cetaceans ranging from dolphins to sperm whales. B. ceti is believed to transfer from animal to animal through sexual intercourse, maternal feeding, aborted fetuses, placental issues, from mother to fetus, or through fish reservoirs. Brucellosis is a reproductive disease, so has an extreme negative impact on the population dynamics of a species. This becomes a greater issue when the already low population numbers of cetaceans are taken into consideration. B. ceti has been identified in four of the 14 cetacean families, but the antibodies have been detected in seven of the families. This indicates that B. ceti is common amongst cetacean families and populations. Only a small percentage of exposed individuals become ill or die. However, particular species apparently are more likely to become infected by B. ceti. The harbor porpoise, striped dolphin, white-sided dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, and common dolphin have the highest frequency of infection amongst odontocetes. In the mysticetes families, the northern minke whale is by far the most infected species. Dolphins and porpoises are more likely to be infected than cetaceans such as whales. With regard to sex and age biases, the infections do not seem influenced by the age or sex of an individual. Although fatal to cetaceans, B. ceti has a low infection rate for humans.
Terrestrial wildlife
The disease in its various strains can infect multiple wildlife species, including elk (Cervus canadensis), bison (Bison bison), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), European wild boar (Sus scrofa), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), moose (Alces alces), and marine mammals (see section on aquatic wildlife above). While some regions use vaccines to prevent the spread of brucellosis between infected and uninfected wildlife populations, no suitable brucellosis vaccine for terrestrial wildlife has been developed. This gap in medicinal knowledge creates more pressure for management practices that reduce spread of the disease.
Wild bison and elk in the greater Yellowstone area are the last remaining reservoir of B. abortus in the US. The recent transmission of brucellosis from elk back to cattle in Idaho and Wyoming illustrates how the area, as the last remaining reservoir in the United States, may adversely affect the livestock industry. Eliminating brucellosis from this area is a challenge, as many viewpoints exist on how to manage diseased wildlife. However, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has recently begun to protect scavengers (particularly coyotes and red fox) on elk feedgrounds, because they act as sustainable, no-cost, biological control agents by removing infected elk fetuses quickly.
The National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming asserts that the intensity of the winter feeding program affects the spread of brucellosis more than the population size of elk and bison. Since concentrating animals around food plots accelerates spread of the disease, management strategies to reduce herd density and increase dispersion could limit its spread.
Effects on hunters
Hunters may be at additional risk for exposure to brucellosis due to increased contact with susceptible wildlife, including predators that may have fed on infected prey. Hunting dogs can also be at risk of infection. Exposure can occur through contact with open wounds or by directly inhaling the bacteria while cleaning game. In some cases, consumption of undercooked game can result in exposure to the disease. Hunters can limit exposure while cleaning game through the use of precautionary barriers, including gloves and masks, and by washing tools rigorously after use. By ensuring that game is cooked thoroughly, hunters can protect themselves and others from ingesting the disease. Hunters should refer to local game officials and health departments to determine the risk of brucellosis exposure in their immediate area and to learn more about actions to reduce or avoid exposure.
See also
Brucella suis
References
Further reading
Fact sheet on Brucellosis from World Organisation for Animal Health
Brucella genomes and related information at PATRIC, a Bioinformatics Resource Center funded by NIAID
Prevention about Brucellosis from Centers for Disease Control
– re high rate of brucellosis in humans in ancient Pompeii
Brucellosis, factsheet from European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Animal bacterial diseases
Bacterium-related cutaneous conditions
Biological weapons
Bovine diseases
Dog diseases
Occupational diseases
Sheep and goat diseases
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425896 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic%20Navy | Hellenic Navy | The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence. During the periods of monarchy (1833–1924 and 1936–1973) it was known as the Royal Hellenic Navy (, , abbreviated ΒΝ).
The Hellenic Navy is a Green-water navy. The total displacement of the fleet is approximately 150,000 tons. The HN also operates a number of naval aviation units.
The motto of the Hellenic Navy is "Μέγα τὸ τῆς θαλάσσης κράτος" from Thucydides' account of Pericles' oration on the eve of the Peloponnesian War. This has been translated as "The rule of the sea is a great matter". The Hellenic Navy's emblem consists of an anchor in front of a crossed Christian cross and trident, with the cross symbolizing Greek Orthodoxy, and the trident symbolizing Poseidon, the god of the sea in Greek mythology. Pericles' words are written across the top of the emblem.
History
The history of the Hellenic Navy begins with the birth of modern Greece, and due to the maritime nature of the country, it has always featured prominently in modern Greece's military history.
The Navy during the Revolution (1821–1830)
At the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, the naval forces of the Greeks consisted primarily of the merchant fleet of the Saronic islanders from Hydra, Spetsai and Poros and also the islanders of Psara and Samos. The fleet was of crucial importance to the success of the revolution. Its goal was to prevent as much as possible the Ottoman Navy from resupplying the isolated Ottoman garrisons and land reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire's Asian provinces.
Although Greek crews were experienced seamen, the light Greek ships, mostly armed merchantmen, were unable to stand up to the large Ottoman ships of the line in direct combat. So the Greeks conducted the equivalent of modern-day naval special operations, resorting to the use of fireships ( or ), with great success. It was in the use of such ships that courageous seamen like Konstantinos Kanaris won international renown. Under the leadership of capable admirals, most prominently Andreas Miaoulis from Hydra, the Greek fleet achieved early victories, guaranteeing the survival of the revolution in the mainland.
However, as Greeks became embroiled in civil wars, the Sultan called upon his strongest subject, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, for aid. Plagued by internal strife and financial difficulties in keeping the fleet in constant readiness, the Greeks failed to prevent the capture and destruction of Kasos and Psara in 1824, or the landing of the Egyptian army at Modon. Despite victories at Samos and Gerontas, the Revolution was threatened with collapse until the intervention of the Great Powers in the Battle of Navarino in 1827. There the Egypto-Ottoman fleet was decisively defeated by the combined fleets of the Britain, France and the Russian Empire, effectively securing the independence of Greece.
When Ioannis Capodistrias became governor of newly liberated Greece in 1828, the Greek fleet consisted of few remaining ships, which had participated in the war for independence. The first minister of "Naval affairs" was Konstantinos Kanaris, and the most powerful ship of the fleet at that time, the frigate Hellas, had been constructed in the United States in 1825. The Hellenic Navy established its headquarters at the island of Poros and the building of a new series of ships began at the naval base, while old ships were gradually being retired. Furthermore, continuous efforts towards the education of officers were initiated. Young people were initially trained at the military school of Scholi Evelpidon and afterwards they were transferred to the navy, as there was no such thing as a Naval Academy.
In 1831, Greece descended into anarchy with numerous areas, including Mani and Hydra, in revolt. It was during this revolt that the flagship Hellas, docked at Poros, was set on fire by Admiral Andreas Miaoulis. Capodistrias was assassinated a few months after.
The Royal Hellenic Navy of King Otto (1830–1860)
When the new King Otto arrived in the Greek capital, Nafplion, in 1832 aboard the British warship HMS Madagascar, the Greek fleet consisted of one corvette, three brigs, six schooners, two gunboats, two steamboats and a few more small vessels. The first naval school was founded in 1846 on the corvette Loudovikos and Leonidas Palaskas was assigned as its director. However, the inefficient training of the officers, coupled with conflict between those who pursued modernization and those who were stalwarts of the traditions of the veterans of the struggle for independence, resulted in a restricted and inefficient navy, which was limited to policing the sea and the pursuit of pirates.
During the 1850s, the more progressive elements of the navy won out and the fleet was augmented with more ships. In 1855, the first iron propeller-driven ships were ordered from England. These were the steamships , Pliksavra, , and Sfendoni.
Growth of the Navy under King George (1860–1910)
On October 29, 1863, following an enthronement ceremony in his native Copenhagen and a tour of several of the European capitals, Prince Wilhelm of Denmark arrived aboard the Greek flagship Hellas, to take up the throne as King George I of Greece. During the 1866 Cretan revolt, the Royal Hellenic Navy ships were in no condition to support it. Such failure led to the government awakening to the problem of naval insufficiency and the adoption of a policy stating that: "The navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Greece, should only be created for war and aim to victory." Because of this, the fleet was supplied with new and bigger ships, reflecting a number of innovations including the use of iron in shipbuilding industry and the invention of the torpedo; with these advances, the effectiveness and the appearance of the Hellenic Navy changed.
Meanwhile, after 1878, because of the Russo-Turkish War and the need to expand the Greek navy, a new and larger naval base was established in the area of Faneromeni of Salamis and a few years later it was transferred to the area of Arapis where it remains today. At the same time the Naval Academy was founded and Ilias Kanellopoulos was made Director. A French naval mission, headed by Admiral , introduced a new, advanced naval organization and the methodological training of enlisted personnel through the establishment of a training school in the old building of the naval base in Poros. During the government of Charilaos Trikoupis in 1889, the fleet was further increased with the acquisition of new battleships: Hydra, Spetsai, and Psara from France. Thus, when Greece went to war in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897, the Hellenic Navy established its dominance in the Aegean Sea. However, it was unable to change the outcome of the war on land, which was a national humiliation.
In 1907, the Hellenic Navy General Staff () was founded, with then-Captain Pavlos Kountouriotis as its first head. After the war, in 1897, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a program of naval expansion for its fleet and as a response to that, in 1909, the cruiser Georgios Averof was bought from Italy. In 1910, a British naval mission arrived, headed by Admiral Lionel Grant Tufnell, in order to recommend improvements in the organization and training of the navy. The mission led to the adoption of the British style of management, organization and training, especially in the area of strategy.
Balkan Wars (1912–1913)
Shortly before the Balkan Wars, the Navy was composed of a fleet of destroyers and battleships. Its mission was primarily offensive, aiming to capture the Ottoman-held islands of the Eastern Aegean and establish naval supremacy. To that end, its commander-in-chief, Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis, established a forward base at the Moudros bay at Lemnos, directly opposite the Dardanelles straits. After defeating the two Turkish sallies from the Straits at Elli (December 1912) and Lemnos (January 1913), the Aegean Sea was secured for Greece.
The Balkan Wars were followed by a rapid escalation in 1914 between Greece and the Ottoman Empire over the status of the islands of the eastern Aegean. Both governments embarked on a naval armaments race, with Greece purchasing the battleships and and the light cruiser as well as ordering two dreadnoughts, and and a number of destroyers. However, with the outbreak of the First World War, construction of the dreadnoughts stopped.
World War I and aftermath (1914–1935)
Initially during the war, Greece followed a course of neutrality, with the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos favouring the Entente and pro-German King Constantine I advocating neutrality. This dispute eventually led to a deep political conflict, known as the "National Schism". In November 1916, in order to apply pressure on the royal government in Athens, the French confiscated the Greek ships. They continued to operate with French crews, primarily in convoy escort and patrol duties in the Aegean, until Greece entered the war on the side of the Allies in June 1917, at which point they were returned to Greece. Subsequently, the Navy took part in the Allied operations in the Aegean, in the Allied expedition in support of Denikin's White Armies in Ukraine, and in limited operations during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 in Asia Minor.
After Greece's defeat, the 1920s and early 1930s were a politically turbulent period, with the economy in a bad state, so the Navy received no new units, apart from the modernization of four destroyers and the acquisition of six French submarines in 1927 and four Italian destroyers in 1929.
World War II (1939-1945)
In 1938, Greece ordered four modern Greyhound-class destroyers in British shipyards, making a serious step towards modernization. The outbreak of war in Europe, however, allowed only two to be delivered. Greece entered World War II with a navy consisting of two battleships, one armoured cruiser, one protected cruiser, fourteen destroyers, and six submarines.
During the Greco-Italian War, the Navy took over convoy escort missions in the Ionian Sea and even embarked on three raids against the Italian supply convoys in the Strait of Otranto, although without success. The most important role was given to the submarines, which although obsolete, sank some Italian cargo ships in the Adriatic, losing one submarine in the process. The Greek submarine force (six boats) was however too small to be able to seriously hinder the supply lines between Italy and Albania (between 28 October 1940 and 30 April 1941, Italian ships made 3,305 voyages across the Otranto straits, carrying 487,089 military personnel, including 22 field divisions, and 584,392 tons of supplies while losing overall only seven merchant ships and one escort ship).
When Nazi Germany attacked Greece, the RHN suffered heavily at the hands of the Luftwaffe, with 25 ships, including the old battleship, now artillery training ship, Kilkis and the hulk of her sister Lemnos, lost within a few days in April 1941. It was then decided to shift the remaining fleet (one cruiser – the famous – three destroyers and five submarines) to join up with the British Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria.
As the war progressed, the number of Hellenic Royal Navy vessels increased after the concession of several destroyers and submarines by the British Royal Navy. The most notable aspects of the Hellenic Royal Navy's participation in World War II include the operations of the destroyer which, until sunk in Leros on September 23, 1943, was the most successful Allied destroyer in the Mediterranean Sea; the participation of two destroyers in Operation Overlord; and the story of the destroyer Adrias, which while operating close to the coast of Kalymnos in October 1943 hit a mine, resulting in the loss of the vessel's prow, while blowing the two-gun forward turret over the bridge. After some minor repairs at Gümüşlük Bay in Turkey Adrias managed to return to Alexandria in a trip, even though all the forepart of the ship, up to the bridge, was missing.
Post-war era (1945–1980)
After World War II, the Royal Hellenic Navy was significantly strengthened by the concession of British and Italian ships. The organisation also changed in line with modern naval doctrines of that era after the entrance into NATO in 1952. At the beginning of the 1950s, US military aid formed the core of the country's armed forces. The Royal Hellenic Navy received the first Bostwick-class destroyers which took on the name Beasts (Θηρία), while withdrawing the British ones.
The next significant change was during the early 1970s, when Greece was the first Mediterranean naval force to order missile-equipped fast attack craft (Combattante II) and the Type 209 submarines, whereas US military aid continued in the form of FRAM II type destroyers. In 1979, the Hellenic Navy placed an order in the Netherlands for two modern Standard-class frigates (the ). These were the first acquisitions of new main surface vessels, rather than the use of second-hand ships, in almost four decades.
Modern era (1980-2022)
The arrivals of Hydra class (MEKO 200 HN) and more Standard-class frigates along with the orders for more missile corvettes, Poseidon-class (Type 209) submarines and naval helicopters allowed the retirement of the obsolete vessels. Greece also received four s from the US Navy in 1991–1992. All four were decommissioned after only ten years in service, since their electronics and armament eventually became obsolete and they required large crews. The advance continued when Greece ordered Type 214 submarines that feature an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, Sikorsky S-70B-6/10 Aegean Hawk helicopters and Project 1232.2 Zubr-class hovercraft from Russia and Ukraine. Later actions included the modernization of Standard-class frigates with new electronics and radar systems and the modernization of Glaukos and Poseidon-class submarines with new sonars, electronics and air-independent propulsion engines (programs Neptune I/II).
Fleet overview
The Hellenic Navy maintains a large number of surface vessels and submarines in its inventory. However, the vast majority of warships in active service are in the process of either being replaced by more modern and advanced designs, being refurbished, or being retired. The Navy is awaiting delivery of 3 FDI Belharra frigates from France with an option for 1 more after the Greek Prime Minister announced the purchase from Greece of 4 new multirole heavy frigates in September 2020, that will replace older Elli class vessels. Deliberations with other parties, including the United States and Germany, lasted for months after France was eventually awarded the contract. He also announced the immediate upgrade of all 4 Hydra (Meko-200HN) class frigates, already in service. Greece has also signed on to a program between Italy and France in making a new multirole heavy corvette, with Spain joining as well. The program, dubbed the European Patrol Corvette, has also been inserted in the EU's so-called Permanent Structured Cooperation. Naviris expected the EU fund to issue a Request for Proposal for projects in 2020, with proposals to then be submitted by industry in 2021, and for decisions on fund allocation to be made the same year. Also, plans for the Hellenic Navy to acquire the Sa'ar 72 Israeli corvette of the new Themistocles class came to fruition after an agreement signed in June 2020, with exclusive production in Greece.
Frigates and heavy corvettes
Frigates are the main heavy ships of the Navy, with 70% of the Hydra class frigates having an advanced anti-aircraft missile launching system. However, there is no dedicated Anti-aircraft Warfare (AAW) platform in the fleet since the Charles F. Adams class destroyers were decommissioned in the late 90s. The oldest ship in the frigate fleet is just over 40 years old (HS Kountouriotis, commissioned in 1978) while the youngest ship is just over 20 years old (HS Salamis, commissioned in 1998). None of the ships was equipped with a remote weapon station (RWS) for the purpose of asymmetric warfare and coastal defence and the electronic countermeasures systems (ECM) were absent or obsolete. Raytheon has now installed new electro-optical systems on the ships that were previously not equipped with such sensors. It is certain that Hydras will undergo a modernization program but its scale is not yet known. Plan for the Hydras is to extend their operational lifespan well into the 2030s. However, the Elli class frigates need to be replaced by new designs.
The acquisition of two, with an option for two more, Naval Group FDI Belharra frigates with high-end AAW and deep missile strike (DMS utilising Scalp EG Naval) capabilities from France was put on hold in July 2020, despite an intense interest initially expressed by the Navy. Main reasons for this policy change by the Greek Government, were reported to be the increased cost of almost €3 billion for only 2 units, the exclusion by the French of co-production and the delayed delivery of the first unit, placing it in 2025 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the United States had proposed the acquisition of four Multi-Mission Surface Combatants (Freedom class MMSCs), also known as Littoral combat ships, that are already in full production for Saudi Arabia, also tested and in use by the US Navy. The Germans came to the table with the Meko-A200 design, a new and advanced version of the Meko-200HN, that could additionally offer homogeneity to the fleet, especially after the upgrade of the ships already in service.
On November 6, 2020, the Navy submitted its initial preference for the acquisition of 4 MMSC Littoral Combat Ships developed by Lockheed Martin. These multi-mission frigates were part of a wider package discussed with the US, that also included upgrade of the four Hydra frigates, intermediate solution ships, and participation of Hellenic Shipyards in the development of the new American FFG(X) type frigate. The FFG(X) type frigate, now named Constellation class, is a multi-mission guided-missile ship, under development for the United States Navy by Fincantieri Marinette Marine. However all other proposals, also including those from the Netherlands, the UK, Spain and Italy, remained on the table pending closest evaluation of the packages offered by all participating companies. The final decision by the Greek Government on the type and country of origin of the new Hellenic ships, was scheduled for 2021.
Final decision was made in September 28 of 2021 and after many months of deliberations. During his visit to the French capital and his meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the procurement of 3+1 French FDI-HN Frigates and 3+1 Gowind-HN class Corvettes in a €5 billion deal spreading to 2026, with the later class still being configured to meet the Hellenic Navy's needs.
It is almost certain that two types will replace the Ellis, in order to maintain a ceiling of at least 10 frigates/corvettes. A floating scenario was the purchase of heavy corvettes to replace a number of old Ellis. This scenario has become increasingly more possible, after Greece joined Italy and France in the European Patrol Corvette (EPC/PESCO) consortium in early 2020 for the construction of a new advanced 3,000 ton corvette, with Spain joining the program as well. New ships, for all involved Navies, are not likely to enter service before 2027 or 2030 at the earliest.
Submarines
Greece maintains a mixed fleet of modern and older submarine units. In December 2019, the Hellenic Ministry of Defence resolved a lingering issue, regarding the new Type-214 (Papanikolis class) torpedoes. An order for new multipurpose heavyweight SeaHake Mod4 torpedoes, from Atlas Elektronik, was placed. The contract also included the upgrade of older torpedoes and the purchase of new torpedo batteries. The six older and non-modernized Type-209 units (Poseidon and Glavkos classes) will be gradually retired, without any replacement announced yet. The optimistic scenario is replacement with four additional Type-214s, reaching a ceiling of eight units of this type. By 2030, the recently upgraded Type-209/1500 AIP (HS Okeanos, former Type-209/1200) will have exceeded 50 years since entering service; therefore it is questionable whether it will still be part of the Greek fleet by that time.
Other surface combatants
There were two new Roussen class Fast Attack Missile Craft (FAMC) under construction, bringing the number of vessels of this type up to seven; The 6th ship was commissioned operational in July 2020, with the 7th and final ship expected Autumn 2020. This was after a more than ten-year delay due to financial and structural problems faced by Elefsis Shipyard that was contracted to build the ships. There are no changes in the initial design, despite 20 years since the first vessel in the class entered service. The majority of the FAC were built in the late ‘70s. Four of them have been modernised extensively and the new ships have integrated all updates. All older vessels of other types, with the exemption of three Votsis class boats which are about to be retired soon with the introduction of the new Roussens, have replaced their old MM38 and Penguin missile systems with Harpoon launchers. In addition, the boats that had no electro-optical tracking (Mirador) sensors, received new endogenous Miltech TDR-10A and TDR-300 systems.
The fleet also consists of ten gunboats. With the exception of the four Machitis class (Osprey HSY-56A), the rest of the gunboats need modernization and, some of them, replacement. The two Asheville class boats are at least 50 years old. The remaining four boats (Osprey-55 and HSY-56) have already received new electro-optical systems. On June 16, 2020, ONEX Neorion Shipyards SA in the Greek island of Syros and Israel Shipyards LTD signed a cooperation agreement for the construction of the Themistocles class corvette during Greek PM's visit to Israel. This is a multipurpose warship based on the Israeli Sa'ar 72-class corvette design, at 72 meters length and displacement of around 800 tons. It will be able of speeds above 30 knots with an extended endurance. It can operate a medium size marine helicopter, but also supports unique possibilities of deploying Special Forces units. The agreement was for the construction in Greece of 7 vessels, with an option for 6 more. These will replace an equal number of older gunboats.
In February 2020, at a special event held at the Hellenic Institute of Naval Technology (HINT), the technical director of the Unit of Submersibles and Hellenic Navy Works of Hellenic Shipyards Co., presented project Aginor. The project was the development and construction, in collaboration with the Navy, of an advanced Asymmetric Warfare Vessel (AWV) that uses the latest technologies and composite materials. The first vessels have already been added to the Navy’s fleet. They are capable of a number of missions including insertion and extraction of Special Operations Forces, interdiction and coastal patrol, as well as search and rescue (SAR) operations.
In April 2020 the Navy received the first four Mark V Special Operations Craft, ordered via the United States Excess Defense Articles programme. The craft are utilised by the Underwater Demolition Command.
Aircraft
In 2019, the U.S. State Department cleared a $600 million foreign military sale (FMS) of seven MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission helicopters to Greece. In July 2020, Greece signed a contract for the purchase of four new units, via this program. In November of the same year, the remaining three aircraft were also included in the order. A decision was made in 2014 for the re-activation of existing Lockheed P-3B Orions and their submission to a program of overhaul, upgrade and service life extension. The contract with Lockheed Martin included the return of one aircraft to airworthy condition with the existing mission equipment as an "interim solution" and the complete modernization and upgrade of four other aircraft in Hellenic Aerospace (HAI). The option included the complete modernization and upgrade of that aircraft as well. The "interim solution" aircraft has already been delivered, while all the remaining aircraft are expected to be delivered by 2023.
The Hellenic Navy will soon begin the use of a new UAV called Archytas. This will be a VTOL aircraft used for surveillance and it will be able to take-off and land on warships. It may also be lightly armed. However, this will not be flying until 2024.
Chain of command
Main commands
Combat arms
Διοίκηση Φρεγατών (ΔΦΓ) Frigate Command
Διοίκηση Πλοίων Επιτηρήσεως (ΔΠΕ) Surveillance Ships Command, formerly Διοίκηση Κανονιοφόρων (ΔΚΦ) Gunboat Command
Διοίκηση Ταχέων Σκαφών (ΔΤΣ) Fast Attack Craft Command
Διοίκηση Υποβρυχίων (ΔΥ) Submarine Command
Διοίκηση Αμφιβίων Δυνάμεων (ΔΑΔ) Amphibious Assault Forces Command
Greece does not have a marine corps established as a separate branch attached to the naval service. Instead, the Army includes the 32nd Marine Brigade (32η Ταξιαρχία Πεζοναυτών); the Navy provides the landing craft etc.
Διοίκηση Υποβρυχίων Καταστροφών (ΔΥΚ) Underwater Demolition Command
Διοίκηση Αεροπορίας Ναυτικού (ΔΑΝ) Navy Aviation Command
1η Μοίρα Ελικοπτέρων Ναυτικού (ΜΕΝ 1) 1st Navy Helicopter Squadron (AB-212 ASW), 112th Combat Wing, Elefsis,
2η Μοίρα Ελικοπτέρων Ναυτικού (ΜΕΝ 2) 2nd Navy Helicopter Squadron (S-70B Aegean Hawk), 112th Combat Wing, Elefsis,
Μοίρα Αεροσκαφών Ναυτικού (ΜΑΝ) Navy Aircraft Squadron, 112th Combat Wing, Elefsis, currently with no active aircraft.
Ελικοσταθμός Αμφιάλης = Amfiali Heliport
Combat support arms
Διοίκηση Ναρκοπολέμου (ΔΝΑΡ) Minesweeper Command
Combat service support
Σχολή Εξάσκησης Ναυτικής Τακτικής (ΣΕΝΤ) Naval Tactical Training School (under Fleet Headquarters)
Equipment
Ships
The Hellenic Navy's fleet of warships and auxiliary boats is harboured in the two major HN naval bases at Salamis Island near Piraeus and at Souda Bay on the island of Crete. Internationally, the Navy used the prefix HS (Hellenic Ship) for its vessels.
Frigates
The Hellenic Navy relies mainly on frigates as its primary surface heavy boats. The fleet consists of thirteen frigates. The types operated are the (Type: Meko-200HN) and the (Type: ). The Elli class frigates HS Elli and HS Limnos were sold to Greece during construction, the rest were bought directly from the Dutch Navy. The Hydra class vessels were constructed in Greece by Hellenic Shipyards Co., except from HS Hydra that was constructed by the German company Blohm and Voss based in Hamburg.
Modernization of six frigates was completed in 2010. The intention for the Hydra class vessels was, as of February 2015, to be modernised with a €400 million upgrade that would extend their operational life to 2035. These plans became a priority for the Navy in 2020, amidst rising tensions with Turkey over delimitation of maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece also negotiated the acquisition of four new Freedom class frigates from the United States to replace older Ellis and proposed to the US a wider package of upgrades and future coproduction opportunities involving the Constellation class frigate, currently being developed for the US Navy. The final decision on the type and origin of the new frigates was scheduled to be made in 2021, after examining closely all available proposals from a list of other countries, apart from the US. France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK also participated in the selection process. Finally, in September 2021 the decision for the future of the HN frigate fleet was announced, including gradual replacement of the Elli class with the French-built Belharra Hellenique (Frégate de défense et d'intervention - FDI) class warships and modernisation of the Hydra class, in a €5 billion deal that initially extends up to 2026.
The Greek frigate HS Psara carries three reliquaries permanently on its onboard historical exhibition. Two contain the taxidermic hearts of Greek War of Independence heroes Admiral Konstantinos Kanaris and Admiral Andreas Miaoulis and one reliquary contains the remains of heroine Rear Admiral (posthumous) Laskarina Bouboulina. The frigate's exhibition can be visited when the ship opens to the public during National Holidays and celebrations.
Gunboats
The Hellenic Navy operates ten gunboats of the Osprey and es. Both Osprey HSY-55 and Osprey HSY-56A classes are designed by the Hellenic Navy following a modular concept so that weapons and sensors can be changed as required. They were built by Hellenic Shipyards (HSY) in Greece. These vessels are similar in appearance to s. The first pair was ordered on 20 February 1990. HS Pyrpolitis was launched on 16 September 1992 and HS Polemistis on 21 June 1993. Each ship can carry 25 fully equipped troops. Alternative guns and Harpoon missiles can be fitted as required. Pyrpolitis was renamed Kasos on 11 November 2005, after the island of Kasos in the Dodecanese. The ship is based in the area of Kasos, and the name recognises the island and the Kasos Massacre during the Greek War of Independence. The two Asheville Class gunboats are former US Navy vessels, bought and transferred to Greece in 1989.
Attack Missile boats
The fleet consists of nineteen missile boats also known as fast attack missile craft. Two new ships (P78 and P79) entered service in 2019. The main purpose of these vessels is offensive anti-ship warfare. The Hellenic Navy operates four types of missile boats. These are the Roussen (Super-Vita), Laskos (La Combattante III), Kavaloudis (La Combattante IIIb) and Votsis (La Combattante IIa) classes. The La Combattante III and La Combattante IIIb classes were upgraded in 2006. For the La Combattante III craft, Thales delivered a TACTICOS combat management system, including four multi-functional operator consoles, one surveillance radar, a fire-control tracking system, one electro-optical tracking and fire control system, an integrated low-probability-of-interception radar, two target designation sights and a tactical data link. The weapon suite of the La Combattante IIIs remained unchanged. Thales was also responsible for the integration of existing guns, surface-to-surface missiles and torpedoes. The La Combattante IIa ships are scheduled to be decommissioned upon completion of the two newly ordered Roussen gunboats.
Submarines
The Hellenic Navy Submarine Command operates eleven submarines of four types. The newest and most advanced type operated is the Type 214 Papanikolis class, which is widely considered to be among the most advanced conventional (non-nuclear) propulsion submarines in service with naval forces at the moment. The Type 214 is a diesel-electric submarine developed by the German Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW). It features diesel propulsion with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cells. A contract to build four boats for the Hellenic Navy was signed between February 2000 and June 2002. The first boat was built at HDW in Kiel, Germany, and the rest at Hellenic Shipyards Co. in Skaramangas, Greece. The Hellenic Navy named them the Papanikolis class. Other types operated are the 209/1100 Glavkos class, the 209/1200 Poseidon class and one boat of the 209/1500 AIP Okeanos class. The Glavkos submarines were upgraded with the "Neptune I" modernisation program and the Poseidon and Okeanos vessels with the "Neptune II" program. The Okeanos upgrade included AIP capabilities very similar to Type 214 so extensive to justify HS Okeanos as a new, separate class when compared to the rest of Type 209/1200 vessels. New dimensions are similar to Type 214 boats.
Special Operations Craft
The Navy operates the endogenous AAWV Aginor (Αγήνωρ) which is an Advanced Asymmetric Warfare Vessel that uses latest technologies and composite materials making it suitable for a number of missions including insertion and extraction of Special Operations Forces, interdiction and coastal patrol, as well as search and rescue (SAR) operations.
The Navy also operates the Mark V Special Operations Craft, which is an American design originally developed for the US Navy Seals. The craft are utilised by the Hellenic Navy Underwater Demolition Command and are specifically customised to the needs of the Hellenic Navy and the Aegean theater of operations.
Landing boats
The Hellenic Navy currently operates nine tank landing ships (LST), five of the Greek-built and four heavy military hovercraft of the Ukrainian/Russian-built . The Jason landing craft are capable of transporting 287 troops plus 22 battle tanks or any other combination of other armoured vehicles. The Zubr craft have a military lift of total 130 tonnes of cargo with three battle tanks, eight armoured vehicles, ten personnel carriers and 140 troops or combinations of those and a speed of 40 knots when fully loaded. The Zubr class (Project 1232.2 / NATO codename: "Pomornik") is an air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC). This class of military hovercraft is, as of 2012, the world's largest, with a standard full load displacement of 555 tons. The hovercraft is designed to sealift amphibious assault units (such as marines and tanks) from equipped or non-equipped vessels to non-equipped shores, as well as transport and plant naval mines. The purchase of HS Cephalonia for the Hellenic Navy was the first time a Soviet design had been built for and purchased by a NATO member.
Replenishment and other vessels
The Hellenic Navy operates fifteen replenishment and support ships including petroleum tankers, water tankers and auxiliary vessels. It also operates two Greek-built transport ships of the Pandora class, six coastline patrol boats, three minehunters, three torpedo retrievers, seventeen tugboats (both open sea and harbour), four oceanographic & scientific research vessels and two lighthouse tenders. The Navy also preserves three memorial ships including the Pisa-class armoured cruiser HS Georgios Averof which is the only armoured cruiser worldwide still in existence and, although it is permanently a harboured museum ship, is ceremoniously considered in active-service carrying the Rear Admiral's Rank Flag.
Aircraft
The Hellenic Navy operates naval aviation units under the Navy Aviation Command, that resulted from the amalgamation of the Navy Helicopter Command and the 353rd Naval Cooperation Squadron, which was run jointly with the Hellenic Air Force.
It currently operates:
Lockheed Martin P-3B Orions as maritime patrol and naval cooperation platforms. Four upgraded aircraft have gradually started to re-enter the fleet, after a $142 million contract for their upgrade was awarded in February 2016 to Lockheed Martin. (6 delivered, 1 operational/upgraded, 4 more currently upgraded, 1 will be used for parts)
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425938 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal%20cognition | Animal cognition | Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influenced by research in ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology; the alternative name cognitive ethology is sometimes used. Many behaviors associated with the term animal intelligence are also subsumed within animal cognition.
Researchers have examined animal cognition in mammals (especially primates, cetaceans, elephants, dogs, cats, pigs, horses, cattle, raccoons and rodents), birds (including parrots, fowl, corvids and pigeons), reptiles (lizards, snakes, and turtles), fish and invertebrates (including cephalopods, spiders and insects).
Historical background
Earliest inferences
The mind and behavior of non-human animals has captivated the human imagination for centuries. Many writers, such as Descartes, have speculated about the presence or absence of the animal mind. These speculations led to many observations of animal behavior before modern science and testing were available. This ultimately resulted in the creation of multiple hypotheses about animal intelligence.
One of Aesop's Fables was The Crow and the Pitcher, in which a crow drops pebbles into a vessel of water until he is able to drink. This was a relatively accurate reflection of the capability of corvids to understand water displacement. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder was the earliest to attest that said story reflects the behavior of real-life corvids.
Aristotle, in his biology, hypothesized a causal chain where an animal's sense organs transmitted information to an organ capable of making decisions, and then to a motor organ. Despite Aristotle's cardiocentrism (mistaken belief that cognition occurred in the heart), this approached some modern understandings of information processing.
Early inferences were not necessarily precise or accurate. Nonetheless, interest in animal mental abilities, and comparisons to humans, increased with early myrmecology, the study of ant behavior, as well as the classification of humans as primates beginning with Linnaeus.
Morgan's Canon
Coined by 19th-century British psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan, Morgan's Canon remains a fundamental precept of comparative (animal) psychology. In its developed form, it states that:
In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development.
In other words, Morgan believed that anthropomorphic approaches to animal behavior were fallacious, and that people should only consider behaviour as, for example, rational, purposive or affectionate, if there is no other explanation in terms of the behaviours of more primitive life-forms to which we do not attribute those faculties.
From anecdote to laboratory
Speculation about animal intelligence gradually yielded to scientific study after Darwin placed humans and animals on a continuum, although Darwin's largely anecdotal approach to the cognition topic would not pass scientific muster later on. This method would be expanded by his protégé George J. Romanes, who played a key role in the defense of Darwinism and its refinement over the years. Still, Romanes is most famous for two major flaws in his work: his focus on anecdotal observations and entrenched anthropomorphism. Unsatisfied with the previous approach, E. L. Thorndike brought animal behavior into the laboratory for objective scrutiny. Thorndike's careful observations of the escape of cats, dogs, and chicks from puzzle boxes led him to conclude that what appears to the naive human observer to be intelligent behavior may be strictly attributable to simple associations. According to Thorndike, using Morgan's Canon, the inference of animal reason, insight, or consciousness is unnecessary and misleading. At about the same time, I. P. Pavlov began his seminal studies of conditioned reflexes in dogs. Pavlov quickly abandoned attempts to infer canine mental processes; such attempts, he said, led only to disagreement and confusion. He was, however, willing to propose unseen physiological processes that might explain his observations.
The behavioristic half-century
The work of Thorndike, Pavlov and a little later of the outspoken behaviorist John B. Watson set the direction of much research on animal behavior for more than half a century. During this time there was considerable progress in understanding simple associations; notably, around 1930 the differences between Thorndike's instrumental (or operant) conditioning and Pavlov's classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning were clarified, first by Miller and Kanorski, and then by B. F. Skinner. Many experiments on conditioning followed; they generated some complex theories, but they made little or no reference to intervening mental processes. Probably the most explicit dismissal of the idea that mental processes control behavior was the radical behaviorism of Skinner. This view seeks to explain behavior, including "private events" like mental images, solely by reference to the environmental contingencies impinging on the human or animal.
Despite the predominantly behaviorist orientation of research before 1960, the rejection of mental processes in animals was not universal during those years. Influential exceptions included, for example, Wolfgang Köhler and his insightful chimpanzees and Edward Tolman whose proposed cognitive map was a significant contribution to subsequent cognitive research in both humans and animals.
The cognitive revolution
Beginning around 1960, a "cognitive revolution" in research on humans gradually spurred a similar transformation of research with animals. Inference to processes not directly observable became acceptable and then commonplace. An important proponent of this shift in thinking was Donald O. Hebb, who argued that "mind" is simply a name for processes in the head that control complex behavior, and that it is both necessary and possible to infer those processes from behavior. Animals came to be seen as "goal seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of cognitive complexity".
Methods
The acceleration of research on animal cognition in the last 50 years or so has led to a rapid expansion in the variety of species studied and methods employed. The remarkable behavior of large-brained animals such as primates and cetacea have claimed special attention, but all sorts of animals large and small (birds, fish, ants, bees, and others) have been brought into the laboratory or observed in carefully controlled field studies. In the laboratory, animals push levers, pull strings, dig for food, swim in water mazes, or respond to images on computer screens to get information for discrimination, attention, memory, and categorization experiments. Careful field studies explore memory for food caches, navigation by stars, communication, tool use, identification of conspecifics, and many other matters. Studies often focus on the behavior of animals in their natural environments and discuss the putative function of the behavior for the propagation and survival of the species. These developments reflect an increased cross-fertilization from related fields such as ethology and behavioral ecology. Contributions from behavioral neuroscience are beginning to clarify the physiological substrate of some inferred mental process.
Some researchers have made effective use of a Piagetian methodology, taking tasks which human children are known to master at different stages of development and investigating which of them can be performed by particular species. Others have been inspired by concerns for animal welfare and the management of domestic species; for example, Temple Grandin has harnessed her unique expertise in animal welfare and the ethical treatment of farm livestock to highlight underlying similarities between humans and other animals. From a methodological point of view, one of the main risks in this sort of work is anthropomorphism, the tendency to interpret an animal's behavior in terms of human feelings, thoughts, and motivations.
Research questions
Human and non-human animal cognition have much in common, and this is reflected in the research summarized below; most of the headings found here might also appear in an article on human cognition. Of course, research in the two also differs in important respects. Notably, much research with humans either studies or involves language, and much research with animals is related directly or indirectly to behaviors important to survival in natural settings. Following are summaries of some of the major areas of research in animal cognition.
Perception
Animals process information from eyes, ears, and other sensory organs to perceive the environment. Perceptual processes have been studied in many species, with results that are often similar to those in humans. Equally interesting are those perceptual processes that differ from, or go beyond those found in humans, such as echolocation in bats and dolphins, motion detection by skin receptors in fish, and extraordinary visual acuity, motion sensitivity and ability to see ultraviolet light in some birds.
Attention
Much of what is happening in the world at any moment is irrelevant to current behavior. Attention refers to mental processes that select relevant information, inhibit irrelevant information, and switch among these as the situation demands. Often the selective process is tuned before relevant information appears; such expectation makes for rapid selection of key stimuli when they become available. A large body of research has explored the way attention and expectation affect the behavior of non-human animals, and much of this work suggests that attention operates in birds, mammals and reptiles in much the same way that it does in humans.
Selective learning
Animals trained to discriminate between two stimuli, say black versus white, can be said to attend to the "brightness dimension," but this says little about whether this dimension is selected in preference to others. More enlightenment comes from experiments that allow the animal to choose from several alternatives. For example, several studies have shown that performance is better on, for example, a color discrimination (e.g. blue vs green) after the animal has learned another color discrimination (e.g. red vs orange) than it is after training on a different dimension such as an X shape versus an O shape. The reverse effect happens after training on forms. Thus, the earlier learning appears to affect which dimension, color or form, the animal will attend to.
Other experiments have shown that after animals have learned to respond to one aspect of the environment responsiveness to other aspects is suppressed. In "blocking", for example, an animal is conditioned to respond to one stimulus ("A") by pairing that stimulus with reward or punishment. After the animal responds consistently to A, a second stimulus ("B") accompanies A on additional training trials. Later tests with the B stimulus alone elicit little response, suggesting that learning about B has been blocked by prior learning about A. This result supports the hypothesis that stimuli are neglected if they fail to provide new information. Thus, in the experiment just cited, the animal failed to attend to B because B added no information to that supplied by A. If true, this interpretation is an important insight into attentional processing, but this conclusion remains uncertain because blocking and several related phenomena can be explained by models of conditioning that do not invoke attention.
Divided attention
Attention is a limited resource and is not a none-or-all response: the more attention devoted to one aspect of the environment, the less is available for others. A number of experiments have studied this in animals. In one experiment, a tone and a light are presented simultaneously to pigeons. The pigeons gain a reward only by choosing the correct combination of the two stimuli (e.g. a high frequency tone together with a yellow light). The birds perform well at this task, presumably by dividing attention between the two stimuli. When only one of the stimuli varies and the other is presented at its rewarded value, discrimination improves on the variable stimulus but discrimination on the alternative stimulus worsens. These outcomes are consistent with the notion that attention is a limited resource that can be more or less focused among incoming stimuli.
Visual search and attentional priming
As noted above, the function of attention is to select information that is of special use to the animal. Visual search typically calls for this sort of selection, and search tasks have been used extensively in both humans and animals to determine the characteristics of attentional selection and the factors that control it.
Experimental research on visual search in animals was initially prompted by field observations published by Luc Tinbergen (1960). Tinbergen observed that birds are selective when foraging for insects. For example, he found that birds tended to catch the same type of insect repeatedly even though several types were available. Tinbergen suggested that this prey selection was caused by an attentional bias that improved detection of one type of insect while suppressing detection of others. This "attentional priming" is commonly said to result from a pretrial activation of a mental representation of the attended object, which Tinbergen called a "searching image".
Tinbergen's field observations on priming have been supported by a number of experiments. For example, Pietrewicz and Kamil (1977, 1979) presented blue jays with pictures of tree trunks upon which rested either a moth of species A, a moth of species B, or no moth at all. The birds were rewarded for pecks at a picture showing a moth. Crucially, the probability with which a particular species of moth was detected was higher after repeated trials with that species (e.g. A, A, A,...) than it was after a mixture of trials (e.g. A, B, B, A, B, A, A...). These results suggest again that sequential encounters with an object can establish an attentional predisposition to see the object.
Another way to produce attentional priming in search is to provide an advance signal that is associated with the target. For example, if a person hears a song sparrow he or she may be predisposed to detect a song sparrow in a shrub, or among other birds. A number of experiments have reproduced this effect in animal subjects.
Still other experiments have explored nature of stimulus factors that affect the speed and accuracy of visual search. For example, the time taken to find a single target increases as the number of items in the visual field increases. This rise in reaction time is steep if the distracters are similar to the target, less steep if they are dissimilar, and may not occur if the distracters are very different from the target in form or color.
Concepts and categories
Fundamental but difficult to define, the concept of "concept" was discussed for hundreds of years by philosophers before it became a focus of psychological study. Concepts enable humans and animals to organize the world into functional groups; the groups may be composed of perceptually similar objects or events, diverse things that have a common function, relationships such as same versus different, or relations among relations such as analogies. Extensive discussions on these matters together with many references may be found in Shettleworth (2010) Wasserman and Zentall (2006) and in Zentall et al. (2008). The latter is freely available online.
Methods
Most work on animal concepts has been done with visual stimuli, which can easily be constructed and presented in great variety, but auditory and other stimuli have been used as well. Pigeons have been widely used, for they have excellent vision and are readily conditioned to respond to visual targets; other birds and a number of other animals have been studied as well.
In a typical experiment, a bird or other animal confronts a computer monitor on which a large number of pictures appear one by one, and the subject gets a reward for pecking or touching a picture of a category item and no reward for non-category items. Alternatively, a subject may be offered a choice between two or more pictures. Many experiments end with the presentation of items never seen before; successful sorting of these items shows that the animal has not simply learned many specific stimulus-response associations. A related method, sometimes used to study relational concepts, is matching-to-sample. In this task an animal sees one stimulus and then chooses between two or more alternatives, one of which is the same as the first; the animal is then rewarded for choosing the matching stimulus.
Perceptual categories
Perceptual categorization is said to occur when a person or animal responds in a similar way to a range of stimuli that share common features. For example, a squirrel climbs a tree when it sees Rex, Shep, or Trixie, which suggests that it categorizes all three as something to avoid. This sorting of instances into groups is crucial to survival. Among other things, an animal must categorize if it is to apply learning about one object (e.g. Rex bit me) to new instances of that category (dogs may bite).
Natural categories
Many animals readily classify objects by perceived differences in form or color. For example, bees or pigeons quickly learn to choose any red object and reject any green object if red leads to reward and green does not. Seemingly much more difficult is an animal's ability to categorize natural objects that vary a great deal in color and form even while belonging to the same group. In a classic study, Richard J. Herrnstein trained pigeons to respond to the presence or absence of human beings in photographs. The birds readily learned to peck photos that contained partial or full views of humans and to avoid pecking photos with no human, despite great differences in the form, size, and color of both the humans displayed and in the non-human pictures. In follow-up studies, pigeons categorized other natural objects (e.g. trees) and after training they were able without reward to sort photos they had not seen before . Similar work has been done with natural auditory categories, for example, bird songs. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are able to form concepts of "up" and "down".
Functional or associative categories
Perceptually unrelated stimuli may come to be responded to as members of a class if they have a common use or lead to common consequences. An oft-cited study by Vaughan (1988) provides an example. Vaughan divided a large set of unrelated pictures into two arbitrary sets, A and B. Pigeons got food for pecking at pictures in set A but not for pecks at pictures in set B. After they had learned this task fairly well, the outcome was reversed: items in set B led to food and items in set A did not. Then the outcome was reversed again, and then again, and so on. Vaughan found that after 20 or more reversals, associating a reward with a few pictures in one set caused the birds to respond to the other pictures in that set without further reward as if they were thinking "if these pictures in set A bring food, the others in set A must also bring food." That is, the birds now categorized the pictures in each set as functionally equivalent. Several other procedures have yielded similar results.
Relational or abstract categories
When tested in a simple stimulus matching-to-sample task (described above) many animals readily learn specific item combinations, such as "touch red if the sample is red, touch green if the sample is green." But this does not demonstrate that they distinguish between "same" and "different" as general concepts. Better evidence is provided if, after training, an animal successfully makes a choice that matches a novel sample that it has never seen before. Monkeys and chimpanzees do learn to do this, as do pigeons if they are given a great deal of practice with many different stimuli. However, because the sample is presented first, successful matching might mean that the animal is simply choosing the most recently seen "familiar" item rather than the conceptually "same" item. A number of studies have attempted to distinguish these possibilities, with mixed results.
Rule learning
The use of rules has sometimes been considered an ability restricted to humans, but a number of experiments have shown evidence of simple rule learning in primates and also in other animals. Much of the evidence has come from studies of sequence learning in which the "rule" consists of the order in which a series of events occurs. Rule use is shown if the animal learns to discriminate different orders of events and transfers this discrimination to new events arranged in the same order. For example, Murphy et al. (2008) trained rats to discriminate between visual sequences. For one group ABA and BAB were rewarded, where A="bright light" and B="dim light". Other stimulus triplets were not rewarded. The rats learned the visual sequence, although both bright and dim lights were equally associated with reward. More importantly, in a second experiment with auditory stimuli, rats responded correctly to sequences of novel stimuli that were arranged in the same order as those previously learned. Similar sequence learning has been demonstrated in birds and other animals as well.
Memory
The categories that have been developed to analyze human memory (short term memory, long term memory, working memory) have been applied to the study of animal memory, and some of the phenomena characteristic of human short term memory (e.g. the serial position effect) have been detected in animals, particularly monkeys. However most progress has been made in the analysis of spatial memory; some of this work has sought to clarify the physiological basis of spatial memory and the role of the hippocampus; other work has explored the spatial memory of scatter-hoarder animals such as Clark's nutcracker, certain jays, tits and certain squirrels, whose ecological niches require them to remember the locations of thousands of caches, often following radical changes in the environment.
Memory has been widely investigated in foraging honeybees, Apis mellifera, which use both transient short-term working memory that is non-feeder specific and a feeder specific
long-term reference memory. Memory induced in a free-flying honeybee by a single learning trial lasts for days and, by three learning trials, for a lifetime. Bombus terrestris audax workers vary in their effort investment towards memorising flower locations, with smaller workers less able to be selective and thus less interested in which flowers are richer sugar sources. Meanwhile, bigger B. t. audax workers have more carrying capacity and thus more reason to memorise that information, and so they do. Slugs, Limax flavus, have a short-term memory of approximately 1 min and long-term memory of 1 month.
Methods
As in humans, research with animals distinguishes between "working" or "short-term" memory from "reference" or long-term memory. Tests of working memory evaluate memory for events that happened in the recent past, usually within the last few seconds or minutes. Tests of reference memory evaluate memory for regularities such as "pressing a lever brings food" or "children give me peanuts".
Habituation
This is one of the simplest tests for memory spanning a short time interval. The test compares an animal's response to a stimulus or event on one occasion to its response on a previous occasion. If the second response differs consistently from the first, the animal must have remembered something about the first, unless some other factor such as motivation, sensory sensitivity, or the test stimulus has changed.
Delayed response
Delayed response tasks are often used to study short-term memory in animals. Introduced by Hunter (1913), a typical delayed response task presents an animal with a stimulus such a colored light, and after a short time interval the animal chooses among alternatives that match the stimulus, or are related to the stimulus in some other way. In Hunter's studies, for example, a light appeared briefly in one of three goal boxes and then later the animal chose among the boxes, finding food behind the one that had been lighted. Most research has been done with some variation of the "delayed matching-to-sample" task. For example, in the initial study with this task, a pigeon was presented with a flickering or steady light. Then, a few seconds later, two pecking keys were illuminated, one with a steady light and one with a flickering light. The bird got food if it pecked the key that matched the original stimulus.
A commonly-used variation of the matching-to-sample task requires the animal to use the initial stimulus to control a later choice between different stimuli. For example, if the initial stimulus is a black circle, the animal learns to choose "red" after the delay; if it is a black square, the correct choice is "green". Ingenious variations of this method have been used to explore many aspects of memory, including forgetting due to interference and memory for multiple items.
Radial arm maze
The radial arm maze is used to test memory for spatial location and to determine the mental processes by which location is determined. In a radial maze test, an animal is placed on a small platform from which paths lead in various directions to goal boxes; the animal finds food in one or more goal boxes. Having found food in a box, the animal must return to the central platform. The maze may be used to test both reference and working memory. Suppose, for example, that over a number of sessions the same 4 arms of an 8-arm maze always lead to food. If in a later test session the animal goes to a box that has never been baited, this indicates a failure of reference memory. On the other hand, if the animal goes to a box that it has already emptied during the same test session, this indicates a failure of working memory. Various confounding factors, such as odor cues, are carefully controlled in such experiments.
Water maze
The water maze is used to test an animal's memory for spatial location and to discover how an animal is able to determine locations. Typically the maze is a circular tank filled with water that has been made milky so that it is opaque. Located somewhere in the maze is a small platform placed just below the surface of the water. When placed in the tank, the animal swims around until it finds and climbs up on the platform. With practice, the animal finds the platform more and more quickly. Reference memory is assessed by removing the platform and observing the relative amount of time the animal spends swimming in the area where the platform had been located. Visual and other cues in and around the tank may be varied to assess the animal's reliance on landmarks and the geometric relations among them.
Novel object recognition test
The novel object recognition (NOR) test is an animal behavior test that is primarily used to assess memory alterations in rodents. It is a simple behavioral test that is based on a rodents innate exploratory behavior. The test is divided into three phases: habituation, training/adaptation and test phase. During the habituation phase the animal is placed in an empty test arena. This is followed by the adaptation phase, where the animal is placed in the arena with two identical objects. In the third phase, the test phase, the animal is placed in the arena with one of the familiar objects from the previous phase and with one novel object. Based on the rodents innate curiosity, the animals that remember the familiar object will spend more time on investigating the novel object.
Spatial cognition
Whether an animal ranges over a territory measured in square kilometers or square meters, its survival typically depends on its ability to do such things as find a food source and then return to its nest. Sometimes such a task can be performed rather simply, for example by following a chemical trail. Typically, however, the animal must somehow acquire and use information about locations, directions, and distances. The following paragraphs outline some of the ways that animals do this.
Beacons Animals often learn what their nest or other goal looks like, and if it is within sight they may simply move toward it; it is said to serve as a "beacon".
Landmarks When an animal is unable to see its goal, it may learn the appearance of nearby objects and use these landmarks as guides. Researchers working with birds and bees have demonstrated this by moving prominent objects in the vicinity of nest sites, causing returning foragers to hunt for their nest in a new location.
Dead reckoning, also known as "path integration," is the process of computing one's position by starting from a known location and keeping track of the distances and directions subsequently traveled. Classic experiments have shown that the desert ant keeps track of its position in this way as it wanders for many meters searching for food. Though it travels in a randomly twisted path, it heads straight home when it finds food. However, if the ant is picked up and released some meters to the east, for example, it heads for a location displaced by the same amount to the east of its home nest.
Cognitive maps Some animals appear to construct a cognitive map of their surroundings, meaning that they acquire and use information that enables them to compute how far and in what direction to go to get from one location to another. Such a map-like representation is thought to be used, for example, when an animal goes directly from one food source to another even though its previous experience has involved only travel between each source and home. Research in this area has also explored such topics as the use of geometric properties of the environment by rats and pigeons, and the ability of rats to represent a spatial pattern in either radial arm mazes or water mazes. Spatial cognition is used in visual search when an animal or human searches their environment for specific objects to focus on among other objects in the environment.
Detour behaviour Some animals appear to have an advanced understanding of their spatial environment and will not take the most direct route if this confers an advantage to them. Some jumping spiders take an indirect route to prey rather than the most direct route, thereby indicating flexibility in behaviour and route planning, and possibly insight learning.
Long-distance navigation; homing
Many animals travel hundreds or thousands of miles in seasonal migrations or returns to breeding grounds. They may be guided by the Sun, the stars, the polarization of light, magnetic cues, olfactory cues, winds, or a combination of these. This extensive area of research is covered in the main article on Animal navigation.
It has been hypothesized that animals such as apes and wolves are good at spatial cognition because this skill is necessary for survival. Some researchers argue that this ability may have diminished somewhat in dogs because humans have provided necessities such as food and shelter during some 15,000 years of domestication.
Timing
Time of day: circadian rhythms
The behavior of most animals is synchronized with the earth's daily light-dark cycle. Thus, many animals are active during the day, others are active at night, still others near dawn and dusk. Though one might think that these "circadian rhythms" are controlled simply by the presence or absence of light, nearly every animal that has been studied has been shown to have a "biological clock" that yields cycles of activity even when the animal is in constant illumination or darkness. Circadian rhythms are so automatic and fundamental to living things – they occur even in plants – that they are usually discussed separately from cognitive processes, and the reader is referred to the main article (Circadian rhythms) for further information.
Interval timing
Survival often depends on an animal's ability to time intervals. For example, rufous hummingbirds feed on the nectar of flowers, and they often return to the same flower, but only after the flower has had enough time to replenish its supply of nectar. In one experiment hummingbirds fed on artificial flowers that quickly emptied of nectar but were refilled at some fixed time (e.g. twenty minutes) later. The birds learned to come back to the flowers at about the right time, learning the refill rates of up to eight separate flowers and remembering how long ago they had visited each one.
The details of interval timing have been studied in a number of species. One of the most common methods is the "peak procedure". In a typical experiment, a rat in an operant chamber presses a lever for food. A light comes on, a lever-press brings a food pellet at a fixed later time, say 10 seconds, and then the light goes off. Timing is measured during occasional test trials on which no food is presented and the light stays on. On these test trials, the rat presses the lever more and more until about 10 sec and then, when no food comes, gradually stops pressing. The time at which the rat presses most on these test trials is taken to be its estimate of the payoff time.
Experiments using the peak procedure and other methods have shown that animals can time short intervals quite exactly, can time more than one event at once, and can integrate time with spatial and other cues. Such tests have also been used for quantitative tests of theories of animal timing, such as Gibbon's Scalar Expectancy Theory ("SET"), Killeen's Behavioral Theory of Timing, and Machado's Learning to Time model. No one theory has yet gained unanimous agreement.
Tool and weapon use
Although tool use was long assumed to be a uniquely human trait, there is now much evidence that many animals use tools, including mammals, birds, fish, cephalopods and insects. Discussions of tool use often involve a debate about what constitutes a "tool", and they often consider the relation of tool use to the animal's intelligence and brain size.
Mammals
Tool use has been reported many times in both wild and captive primates, particularly the great apes. The use of tools by primates is varied and includes hunting (mammals, invertebrates, fish), collecting honey, processing food (nuts, fruits, vegetables and seeds), collecting water, weapons and shelter. Research in 2007 shows that chimpanzees in the Fongoli savannah sharpen sticks to use as spears when hunting, considered the first evidence of systematic use of weapons in a species other than humans. Other mammals that spontaneously use tools in the wild or in captivity include elephants, bears, cetaceans, sea otters and mongooses.
Birds
Several species of birds have been observed to use tools in the wild, including warblers, parrots, Egyptian vultures, brown-headed nuthatches, gulls and owls. Some species, such as the woodpecker finch of the Galapagos Islands, use particular tools as an essential part of their foraging behavior. However, these behaviors are often quite inflexible and cannot be applied effectively in new situations. A great many species of birds build nests with a wide range of complexities, but although nest-building behaviour fulfills the criteria of some definitions of "tool-use", this is not the case with other definitions.
Several species of corvids have been trained to use tools in controlled experiments. One species examined extensively under laboratory conditions is the New Caledonian crow. One individual called “Betty” spontaneously made a wire tool to solve a novel problem. She was being tested to see whether she would select a wire hook rather than a straight wire to pull a little bucket of meat out of a well. Betty tried poking the straight wire at the meat. After a series of failures with this direct approach, she withdrew the wire and began directing it at the bottom of the well, which was secured to its base with duct tape. The wire soon became stuck, whereupon Betty pulled it sideways, bending it and unsticking it. She then inserted the hook into the well and extracted the meat. In all but one of 10 subsequent trials with only straight wire provided, she also made and used a hook in the same manner, but not before trying the straight wire first.
Another bird that is highly studied for its intelligence is the African Gray Parrot. American animal behaviorist and psychologist Irene Pepperberg vindicated that African Grays possess cognitive abilities. Pepperberg used a bird named “Alex” in her trials and was able to prove that parrots could associate sound and meaning, demolishing long-held theories that birds were only capable of mimicking human voices. Studies by other researchers have determined that African Grays can use deductive reasoning to correctly choose between pairs of boxes containing food and boxes that are empty. Until Pepperberg began this research in the 1970s, few scientists had studied intelligence in parrots, and few do today. Most inquiries have instead focused on monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, and dolphins, all of which are much more difficult to raise, feed, and handle. By the late 1980s, Alex had learned the names of more than 50 different objects, five shapes, and seven colors. He'd also learned what "same" and "different" mean—a step so crucial in human intellectual development
Fish
Several species of wrasses have been observed using rocks as anvils to crack bivalve (scallops, urchins and clams) shells. This behavior was first filmed in an orange-dotted tuskfish (Choerodon anchorago) in 2009 by Giacomo Bernardi. The fish fans sand to unearth the bivalve, takes it into its mouth, swims several meters to a rock, which it then uses as an anvil by smashing the mollusc apart with sideward thrashes of the head. This behaviour has also been recorded in a blackspot tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleinii) on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, yellowhead wrasse (Halichoeres garnoti) in Florida and a six-bar wrasse (Thalassoma hardwicke) in an aquarium setting. These species are at opposite ends of the phylogenetic tree in this family, so this behaviour may be a deep-seated trait in all wrasses.
Invertebrates
Cephalopods are capable of complex tasks, thus earning them the reputation of being among the smartest of invertebrates. For example, octopuses can open jars to get the contents inside and have remarkable ability to learn new skills from the moment they are born. Some cephalopods are known to use coconut shells for protection or camouflage. Cephalopod cognitive evolution is hypothesized to have been shaped primarily by predatory and foraging pressures, but a challenging mating context may also have played a role.
Ants of the species Conomyrma bicolor pick up stones and other small objects with their mandibles and drop them down the vertical entrances of rival colonies, allowing workers to forage for food without competition.
Reasoning and problem solving
It is clear that animals of quite a range of species are capable of solving problems that appear to require abstract reasoning; Wolfgang Köhler's (1917) work with chimpanzees is a famous early example. He observed that chimpanzees did not use trial and error to solve problems such as retrieving bananas hung out of reach. Instead, they behaved in a manner that was "unwaveringly purposeful," spontaneously placing boxes so that they could climb to reach the fruit. Modern research has identified similar behavior in animals usually thought of as much less intelligent, if appropriate pre-training is given. Causal reasoning has also been observed in rooks and New Caledonian crows.
It has been shown that Barbados bullfinches (Loxigilla barbadensis) from urbanized areas are better at innovative problem-solving tasks than bullfinches from rural environments, but that they did not differ in colour discrimination learning.
Cognitive bias
A cognitive bias refers to a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other individuals or situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion.
Cognitive bias is sometimes illustrated by using answers to the question "Is the glass half empty or half full?". Choosing "half empty" is supposed to indicate pessimism whereas choosing "half full" indicates optimism. To test this in animals, an individual is trained to anticipate that stimulus A, e.g. a 100 Hz tone, precedes a positive event, e.g. highly desired food is delivered when a lever is pressed by the animal. The same individual is trained to anticipate that stimulus B, e.g. a 900 Hz tone, precedes a negative event, e.g. bland food is delivered when the animal presses a lever. The animal is then tested by being given an intermediate stimulus C, e.g. a 500 Hz tone, and observing whether the animal presses the lever associated with the positive or negative reward. This has been suggested to indicate whether the animal is in a positive or negative mood.
In a study that used this approach, rats that were playfully tickled responded differently than rats that were simply handled. The rats that had been tickled were more optimistic than the handled rats. The authors suggested that they had demonstrated "...for the first time a link between the directly measured positive affective state and decision making under uncertainty in an animal model".
There is some evidence for cognitive bias in a number of species, including rats, dogs, rhesus macaques, sheep, chicks, starlings and honeybees.
Language
The modeling of human language in animals is known as animal language research. In addition to the ape-language experiments mentioned above, there have also been more or less successful attempts to teach language or language-like behavior to some non-primate species, including parrots and great spotted woodpeckers. Arguing from his own results with the animal Nim Chimpsky and his analysis of others results, Herbert Terrace criticized the idea that chimps can produce new sentences. Shortly thereafter Louis Herman published research on artificial language comprehension in the bottlenosed dolphin (Herman, Richards, & Wolz, 1984). Though this sort of research has been controversial, especially among cognitive linguists, many researchers agree that many animals can understand the meaning of individual words, and that some may understand simple sentences and syntactic variations, but there is little evidence that any animal can produce new strings of symbols that correspond to new sentences.
Insight
Wolfgang Köhler is usually credited with introducing the concept of insight into experimental psychology. Working with chimpanzees, Köhler came to dispute Edward Thorndike's theory that animals must solve problems gradually, by trial and error. He said that Thorndike's animals could only use trial and error because the situation precluded other forms of problem solving. He provided chimps with a relatively unstructured situation, and he observed sudden "ah-ha!" insightful changes of behavior, as, for example, when a chimp suddenly moved a box into position so that it could retrieve a banana. More recently, Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) were shown to exhibit similar insightful problem solving. A male was observed moving a box to a position where it could be stood upon to reach food that had been deliberately hung out of reach.
Numeracy
A variety of studies indicates that animals are able to use and communicate quantitative information, and that some can count in a rudimentary way. Some examples of this research follow.
In one study, rhesus monkeys viewed visual displays containing, for example, 1, 2, 3, or 4 items of different sorts. They were trained to respond to them in several ways involving numerical ordering, for example touching "1" first, "2" second and so on. When tested with displays containing items they had never seen before, they continued to respond to them in order. The authors conclude that monkeys can represent the numerosities 1 to 9 at least on an ordinal scale.
Ants are able to use quantitative values and transmit this information. For instance, ants of several species are able to estimate quite precisely numbers of encounters with members of other colonies on their feeding territories. Numeracy has been described in the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) and the honeybee.
Western lowland gorillas given the choice between two food trays demonstrated the ability to choose the tray with more food items at a rate higher than chance after training. In a similar task, chimpanzees chose the option with the larger amount of food. Salamanders given a choice between two displays with differing amounts of fruit flies, used as a food reward, reliably choose the display with more flies, as shown in a particular experiment.
Other experiments have been conducted that show animals' abilities to differentiate between non-food quantities. American black bears demonstrated quantity differentiation abilities in a task with a computer screen. The bears were trained to touch a computer monitor with a paw or nose to choose a quantity of dots in one of two boxes on the screen. Each bear was trained with reinforcement to pick a larger or smaller amount. During training, the bears were rewarded with food for a correct response. All bears performed better than what random error predicted on the trials with static, non-moving dots, indicating that they could differentiate between the two quantities. The bears choosing correctly in congruent (number of dots coincided with area of the dots) and incongruent (number of dots did not coincide with area of the dots) trials suggests that they were indeed choosing between quantities that appeared on the screen, not just a larger or smaller retinal image, which would indicate they are only judging size.
Bottlenose dolphins have shown the ability to choose an array with fewer dots compared to one with more dots. Experimenters set up two boards showing various numbers of dots in a poolside setup. The dolphins were initially trained to choose the board with the fewer number of dots. This was done by rewarding the dolphin when it chose the board with the fewer number of dots. In the experimental trials, two boards were set up, and the dolphin would emerge from the water and point to one board. The dolphins chose the arrays with fewer dots at a rate much larger than chance, indicating they can differentiate between quantities.
A particular grey parrot, after training, has shown the ability to differentiate between the numbers zero through six using vocalizations. After number and vocalization training, this was done by asking the parrot how many objects there were in a display. The parrot was able to identify the correct amount at a rate higher than chance.
Angelfish, when put in an unfamiliar environment will group together with conspecifics, an action named shoaling. Given the choice between two groups of differing size, the angelfish will choose the larger of the two groups. This can be seen with a discrimination ratio of 2:1 or greater, such that, as long as one group has at least twice the fish as another group, it will join the larger one.
Monitor lizards have been shown to be capable of numeracy, and some species can distinguish among numbers up to six.
Sapience
As the cognitive ability and intelligence in non-human animals cannot be measured with verbal scales, it has been measured using a variety of methods that involve such things as habit reversal, social learning, and responses to novelty. Principal component analysis and factor analytic studies have shown that a single factor of intelligence is responsible for 47% of the individual variance in cognitive ability measures in primates and between 55% and 60% of the variance in mice. These values are similar to the accepted variance in IQ explained by a similar single factor known as the general factor of intelligence in humans (40-50%). However, results from a recent meta-analysis suggest that the average correlation between performance scores on various cognitive tasks is only 0.18. Results from this study suggest that current evidence for general intelligence is weak in non-human animals.
The general factor of intelligence, or g factor, is a psychometric construct that summarizes the correlations observed between an individual's scores on various measures of cognitive abilities. It has been suggested that g is related to evolutionary life histories and the evolution of intelligence as well as to social learning and cultural intelligence. Non-human models of g have been used in genetic and neurological research on intelligence to help understand the mechanisms behind variation in g.
Theory of mind
Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states, e.g. intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, to oneself and others and to understand that others have desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one's own.
Some research with ravens provides an example of evidence for theory of mind in a non-human species. Ravens are members of the family Corvidae, which is widely regarded as having high cognitive abilities. These birds have been observed to hide their food when dominant ravens are visible and audible at the same time. Based on this observation, ravens were tested for their understanding of "seeing" as a mental state. In a first step, the birds protected their cache when dominants were visible but not when they could only be heard from an adjacent room. In the next step, they had access to a small peephole which allowed them to see into the adjacent room. With the peephole open, the ravens guarded their caches against discovery when they could hear dominants in the adjacent room, even when the dominant's sounds were playbacks of recordings.
Consciousness
The sense in which animals can be said to have self-consciousness or a self-concept has been hotly debated. The best known research technique in this area is the mirror test devised by Gordon G. Gallup, in which an animal's skin is marked in some way while it is asleep or sedated, and it is then allowed to see its reflection in a mirror; if the animal spontaneously directs grooming behavior towards the mark, that is taken as an indication that it is aware of itself. Self-awareness, by this criterion, has been reported for chimpanzees and also for other great apes, the European magpie, some cetaceans and an Asian elephant, but not for monkeys. The mirror test has been criticized by researchers because it is entirely focused on vision, the primary sense in humans, while other species rely more heavily on other senses such as the sense of smell in dogs.
It has been suggested that metacognition in some animals provides some evidence for cognitive self-awareness. The great apes, dolphins, and rhesus monkeys have demonstrated the ability to monitor their own mental states and use an "I don't know" response to avoid answering difficult questions. Unlike the mirror test, which reveals awareness of the condition of one's own body, this uncertainty monitoring is thought to reveal awareness of one's internal mental state. A 2007 study has provided some evidence for metacognition in rats, although this interpretation has been questioned. These species might also be aware of the strength of their memories.
Some researchers propose that animal calls and other vocal behaviors provide evidence of consciousness. This idea arose from research on children's crib talk by Weir (1962) and in investigations of early speech in children by Greenfield and others (1976). Some such research has been done with a macaw (see Arielle).
In July, 2012 during the "Consciousness in Human and Nonhuman Animals" conference in Cambridge a group of scientists announced and signed a declaration with the following conclusions:
Biological constraints
Instinctive drift can influence the interpretation of cognitive research. Instinctive drift is the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that can interfere with learned responses. The concept originated with Keller and Marian Breland when they taught a raccoon to put coins into a box. The raccoon drifted to its instinctive behavior of rubbing the coins with its paws, as it would do when foraging for food.
Animal ability to process and respond to stimuli is correlated with brain size. Small-brain animals tend to show simple behaviors that are less dependent on learning than those of large-brained animals. Vertebrates, particularly mammals, have large brains and complex behavior that changes with experience. A formula called the encephalization quotient (EQ) expresses a relationship between brain and body size; it was developed by H.J. Jerison in the late 1960s. When the encephalization quotient is plotted as a curve, an animal with an EQ above the curve is expected to show more cognitive ability than the average animal of its size, whereas an animal with an EQ below the curve is expected to have less. Various formulas been suggested, but the equation Ew(brain) = 0.12w(body)2/3 has been found to fit data from a sample of mammals. The formula is suggestive at best, and should only be applied to non-mammals with extreme caution. For some of the other vertebrate classes, the power of 3/4 rather than 2/3 is sometimes used, and for many groups of invertebrates, the formula may not give meaningful results.
Experimental evidence against animal cognition
Several experiments cannot be readily reconciled with the belief that some animal species are intelligent, insightful, or possess a theory of mind.
Jean-Henri Fabre (1823–1915), setting the stage for all subsequent experiments of this kind, argued that insects "obey their compelling instinct, without realizing what they do". For instance, to understand that she can grab her paralyzed prey by a leg instead of an antenna is utterly beyond the powers of a sand wasp. "Her actions are like a series of echoes each awakening the next in a settled order, which allows none to sound until the previous one has sounded." Fabre's numerous experiments led him, in turn, to the view that scientists often try to "exalt animals" instead of objectively studying them.
C. Lloyd Morgan's (1852–1936) observations suggested to him that prima facie intelligent behavior in animals is often the result of either instincts or trial and error. For instance, most visitors watching Morgan's dog smoothly lifting a latch with the back of its head (and thereby opening a garden gate and escaping) were convinced that the dog's actions involved thinking. Morgan, however, carefully observed the dog's prior, random, purposeless actions and argued that they involved "continued trial and failure, until a happy effect is reached", rather than "methodical planning".
E. L. Thorndike (1874–1949) placed hungry cats and dogs in enclosures "from which they could escape by some simple act, such as pulling at a loop of cord". Their behavior suggested to him that they did not "possess the power of rationality". Most books about animal behavior, Thorndike wrote, "do not give us a psychology, but rather a eulogy of animals".
Although Wolfgang Köhler's experiments are often cited as providing support for the animal cognition hypothesis, his book is replete with counterexamples. For instance, he placed chimpanzees in a situation where they could only get bananas by removing a box. The chimpanzee, Köhler observed, "has special difficulty in solving such problems; he often draws into a situation the strangest and most distant tools, and adopts the most peculiar methods, rather than remove a simple obstacle which could be displaced with perfect ease".
Daniel J. Povinelli and Timothy Eddy of the University of Louisiana showed that young chimpanzees, when given a choice between two food providers, were just as likely to beg food from a person who could see the begging gesture as from a person who could not, thereby raising the possibility that young chimpanzees do not understand that people see.
Moty Nissani of Wayne State University trained Burmese logging elephants to lift a lid in order to retrieve food from a bucket. The lid was then placed on the ground alongside the bucket (where it no longer obstructed access to the food) while the treat was simultaneously placed inside the bucket. All elephants continued to toss the lid before retrieving the reward, thus suggesting that elephants do not grasp simple causal relationships.
Cognitive faculty by species
A traditionally common image is the scala naturae, the ladder of nature on which animals of different species occupy successively higher rungs, with humans typically at the top. However, there is some disagreement with the use of such a hierarchy, with some critics saying it may be necessary to understand specific cognitive capacities as adaptations to differing ecological niches. Some biologists argue that humans are not, in fact, the smartest animal, and that no animal can be characterized as the smartest, given that some animals have superior cognitive skills in certain areas. This contrasts with evolutionary psychologists such as John Tooby, who assess, based on the large list of related unique characteristics that humans do possess, that humans evolved to fill a unique "cognitive niche" and can fairly be characterized as the smartest animal.
Whether fairly or not, the performance of animals is often compared to that of humans on cognitive tasks. Our closest biological relatives, the great apes, tend to perform most like humans. Among the birds, corvids and parrots have typically been found to perform well on human-like tasks. Some octopodes have also been shown to exhibit a number of higher-level skills such as tool use, but the amount of research on cephalopod intelligence is still limited. Baboons have been shown to be capable of recognizing words.
See also
Anthropomorphism
Biosemiotics
Cognitive psychology
Deception in animals
Evolution of cognition
Human–animal communication
Number sense in animals
Plant cognition
Tool use by animals
Uplift (science fiction)
Zoopharmacognosy
Zoosemiotics
Bird intelligence
Cetacean intelligence
Dog intelligence
Fish intelligence
References
Further reading
External links
Cognition
Animal welfare
Cognition
Zoology |
426001 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoyuki%20Yamashita | Tomoyuki Yamashita | was a Japanese convicted war criminal and general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Yamashita led Japanese forces during the invasion of Malaya and Battle of Singapore, with his accomplishment of conquering Malaya and Singapore in 70 days earning him the sobriquet "The Tiger of Malaya" and led to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill calling the ignominious fall of Singapore to Japan the "worst disaster" and "largest capitulation" in British military history.
Yamashita was assigned to defend the Philippines from the advancing Allied forces later in the war, and while unable to prevent the Allied advance, he was able to hold on to part of Luzon until after the formal Surrender of Japan in August 1945.
After the war, Yamashita was tried for war crimes committed by troops under his command during the Japanese defense of the occupied Philippines in 1944. Yamashita denied ordering those war crimes and denied having knowledge that they even occurred. Conflicting evidence was presented during the trial concerning whether Yamashita had implicitly affirmed commission of these crimes in his orders and whether he knew of the crimes being committed. The court eventually found Yamashita guilty and he was executed in 1946. The ruling against Yamashita – holding the commander responsible for subordinates' war crimes as long as the commander did not attempt to discover and stop them from occurring – came to be known as the Yamashita standard.
Biography
Yamashita was the second son of a local doctor in Osugi, a village in what is now part of Ōtoyo, Kōchi Prefecture, Shikoku. He attended military preparatory schools in his youth.
Early military career
In November 1905, Yamashita graduated from the 18th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. He was ranked 16th out of 920 cadets. In December 1908 he was promoted to lieutenant and fought against the German Empire in World War I in Shandong, China in 1914. In May 1916 he was promoted to captain. He attended the 28th class of the Army War College, graduating sixth in his class in 1916. The same year, he married Hisako Nagayama, daughter of retired Gen. Nagayama. Yamashita became an expert on Germany, serving as assistant military attaché at Bern and Berlin from 1919 to 1922.
In February 1922, he was promoted to major. He twice served in the Military Affairs Bureau of the War Ministry responsible for the Ugaki Army Reduction Program, aimed at reforming the Japanese army by streamlining its organisation despite facing fierce opposition from factions within the Army.
In 1922, upon his return to Japan, Major Yamashita served in the Imperial Headquarters and the Staff College, receiving promotion to lieutenant-colonel in August 1925. While posted to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Yamashita unsuccessfully promoted a military reduction plan. Despite his ability, Yamashita fell into disfavor as a result of his involvement with political factions within the Japanese military.
As a leading member of the "Imperial Way" group, he became a rival to Hideki Tojo and other members of the "Control Faction". In 1927 Yamashita was posted to Vienna, Austria, as a military attaché until 1930. He was then promoted to the rank of colonel. In 1930 Col. Yamashita was given command of the elite 3rd Imperial Infantry Regiment. (Imperial Guards Division). He was promoted to major-general in August 1934.
After the February 26 Incident of 1936, he fell into disfavor with Emperor Hirohito due to his appeal for leniency toward rebel officers involved in the attempted coup. He realized that he had lost the trust of the Emperor and decided to resign from the Army—a decision that his superiors dissuaded him from carrying out. He was eventually relegated to a post in Korea, being given command of a brigade. Akashi Yoji argued in his article "General Yamashita Tomoyuki: Commander of the Twenty-Fifth Army" that his time in Korea gave him the chance to reflect on his conduct during the 1936 coup and at the same time study Zen Buddhism, something which caused him to mellow in character yet instilled a high level of discipline.
Yamashita was promoted to lieutenant-general in November 1937. He insisted that Japan should end the conflict with China and keep peaceful relations with the United States and Great Britain, but he was ignored and subsequently assigned to an unimportant post in the Kwantung Army.
From 1938 to 1940, he was assigned to command the IJA 4th Division which saw some action in northern China against insurgents fighting the occupying Japanese armies. In December 1940 Yamashita was sent on a six-month clandestine military mission to Germany and Italy, where he met with Adolf Hitler on 16 June 1941 in Berlin as well as Benito Mussolini.
Throughout his time in the military, Yamashita had consistently urged the implementation of his proposals, which included "streamlining the air arm, to mechanize the Army, to integrate control of the armed forces in a defense ministry coordinated by a chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, to create a paratroop corps and to employ effective propaganda".
Such strategies caused much friction between himself and Gen. Hideki Tojo, the war minister, who was not keen on implementing these proposals.
World War II
Malaya and Singapore
On 6 November 1941 Lt. Gen. Yamashita was put in command of the Twenty-Fifth Army. It was his belief that victory in Malaya would be successful only if his troops could make an amphibious landing—something that was dependent on whether he would have enough air and naval support to provide a good landing site.
On 8 December he launched an invasion of Malaya from bases in French Indochina. Yamashita remarked that only a "driving charge" would ensure victory in Malaya. This is because the Japanese force was about one-third as large as the opposing British forces in Malaya and Singapore. The plan was to conquer Malaya and Singapore in the shortest time possible in order to overcome any numerical disadvantage, as well as to minimize any potential losses from a long, drawn-out battle.
The Malayan campaign concluded with the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, in which Yamashita's 30,000 front-line soldiers captured 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops, the largest surrender of British-led personnel in history. He became known as the "Tiger of Malaya".
The campaign and the subsequent Japanese occupation of Singapore included war crimes committed against captive Allied personnel and civilians, such as the Alexandra Hospital and Sook Ching massacres. Yamashita's culpability for these events remains a matter of controversy as some argued that he had failed to prevent them. The order to execute 50,000 Chinese came, according to postwar testimony, from senior officers within Yamashita's Operations staff. Yamashita's troops had fought in China, where it was customary to conduct massacres to subdue the population. Major Ōnishi Satoru, one of the accused in the postwar trial, affirmed that he acted under a specific order issued from General Headquarters, that read, 'Due to the fact that the army is advancing fast and in order to preserve peace behind us it is essential to massacre as many Chinese as possible who appear in any way to have anti-Japanese feelings.'
Yamashita later apologized to the few survivors of the 650 bayoneted or shot at Alexandra Hospital, and allegedly some soldiers caught looting in the aftermath of the slaughter were executed. Akashi Yoji claims that this would have been in line with Yamashita's personality and belief. According to him, the first orders given by Yamashita to the soldiers was "no looting; no rape; no arson", and that any soldier committing such acts would be severely punished and his superior held accountable.
Nevertheless, Yamashita's warnings to his troops were generally not heeded, and wanton acts of violence were reported. In his article, Akashi argued that the main issue was that despite being an excellent tactician and leader, his personal ideals constantly placed him at odds with the General Staff and War Ministry. His humane treatment of prisoners of war as well as British leaders was something the other officers had difficulty coming to terms with.
Despite the finger of blame for the Sook Ching Massacre being pointed at Yamashita, it is now argued that he had no direct part in it, and his subordinates were the ones behind the incident. A study by Ian Ward concluded that Yamashita should not be held responsible for the Sook Ching Massacre, but Ward did hold him responsible "for failing to guard against Tsuji's manipulation of Command affairs".
Manchukuo
On 17 July 1942, Yamashita was reassigned from Singapore to far-away Manchukuo again, having been given a post in commanding the First Area Army, and was effectively sidelined for a major part of the Pacific War. It is thought that Tojo, by then the Prime Minister, was responsible for his banishment, taking advantage of Yamashita's gaffe during a speech made to Singaporean civilian leaders in early 1942, when he referred to the local populace as "citizens of the Empire of Japan" (this was considered embarrassing for the Japanese government, who officially did not consider the residents of occupied territories to have the rights or privileges of Japanese citizenship). He was promoted to full general in February 1943. Some have suggested that he may have been sent there to prepare for an attack upon the Soviet Union in the event that Stalingrad fell to Germany.
Philippines
On 26 September 1944, when the war situation was critical for Japan, Yamashita was rescued from his enforced exile in China by the new Japanese government after the downfall of Hideki Tōjō and his cabinet, and he assumed the command of the Fourteenth Area Army to defend the occupied Philippines on 10 October. U.S. forces landed on Leyte ten days later. On 6 January 1945, the Sixth U.S. Army, totaling 200,000 men, landed at Lingayen Gulf in Luzon.
Yamashita commanded approximately 262,000 troops in three defensive groups; the largest, the Shobu Group, under his personal command numbered 152,000 troops, defended northern Luzon. The smallest group, totaling 30,000 troops, known as the Kembu Group, under the command of Rikichi Tsukada, defended Bataan and the western shores. The last group, the Shimbu Group, totaling 80,000 men under the command of Shizuo Yokoyama, defended Manila and southern Luzon. Yamashita tried to rebuild his army but was forced to retreat from Manila to the Sierra Madre mountains of northern Luzon, as well as the Cordillera Central mountains. Yamashita ordered all troops, except those given the task of ensuring security, out of the city.
Yamashita did not declare Manila an open city like General Douglas MacArthur had done so in December 1941 before its capture. When a military commander or political leader formally declares an open city, this means that the defending military will not defend the city in battle and the victorious forces can enter unopposed. Open city declarations are declared in order to save civilian lives and to guarantee no destruction of buildings. Because Yamashita, who also served as the governor-general and military governor of the Philippines, did not declare Manila an open city while he evacuated most of his soldiers northward, Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi re-occupied Manila with 16,000 sailors, with the intent of destroying all port facilities and naval storehouses. Once there, Iwabuchi took command of the 3,750 Army security troops, and against Yamashita's specific order, turned the city into a battlefield. The battle and the Japanese atrocities resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 Filipino civilians, in what is known as the Manila massacre, during the fierce street fighting for the capital which raged between 4 February and 3 March.
Yamashita continued to use delaying tactics to maintain his army in Kiangan (part of the Ifugao Province), until 2 September 1945, several weeks after the surrender of Japan. At the time of his surrender, his forces had been reduced to under 50,000 by the lack of supplies and tough campaigning by elements of the combined American and Filipino soldiers including the recognized guerrillas. Yamashita surrendered in the presence of Generals Jonathan Wainwright and Arthur Percival, both of whom had been prisoners of war in Manchuria. Percival had surrendered to Yamashita at the Battle of Singapore.
Trial
From 29 October to 7 December 1945, an American military tribunal in Manila tried General Yamashita for war crimes relating to the Manila massacre and many atrocities in the Philippines against civilians and prisoners of war, and sentenced him to death. Yamashita was held responsible for numerous war crimes that the prosecution claimed was a systematic campaign to torture and kill Filipino civilians and Allied POWs as shown in the Palawan Massacre of 139 U.S. POWs, wanton executions of guerrillas, soldiers, and civilians without due process like the execution of Philippine Army general Vicente Lim, and the massacre of 25,000 civilians in Batangas Province. These crimes that were committed outside of the Manila massacre were done by the Japanese Army, not the Navy. It was argued that Yamashita was in full command of the Japanese Army's secret military police, the Kempeitai, which committed numerous war crimes on POWs and civilian internees and he simply nodded his head without protest when asked by his Kempeitai subordinates to execute people without due process or trials because there were too many prisoners to do proper trials. This controversial case has become a precedent regarding the command responsibility for war crimes and is known as the Yamashita Standard.
The principal accusation against Yamashita was that he had failed in his duty as commander of Japanese forces in the Philippines to prevent them from committing atrocities. The defense acknowledged that atrocities had been committed but contended that the breakdown of communications and the Japanese chain of command in the chaotic battle of the second Philippines campaign was such that Yamashita could not have controlled his troops even if he had known of their actions, which was not certain in any case; furthermore, many of the atrocities had been committed by Japanese naval forces outside his command. The prosecution countered by presenting testimony (some of it hearsay) from multiple individuals indicating that the orders had come from Yamashita. One such hearsay statement alleged that Yamashita had told General Artemio Ricarte to "wipe out the
whole Philippines... since everyone in the Islands were either guerrillas or active supporters of the guerrillas." Another piece of testimony alleging that Yamashita had made similar statements to Ricarte through translation by the latter's grandson, was refuted by the grandson who denied ever having translated such a statement. However, some firsthand evidence was presented that Yamashita ordered or agreed with proposed orders that trials be foregone for suspected guerrillas and punishments handled directly by military tribunal officers following cursory investigations.
American lawyer Harry E. Clarke Sr., a colonel in the United States Army at the time, served as the chief counsel for the defense. In his opening statement, Clarke asserted:
For his part Yamashita denied he had knowledge of the crimes committed by his men, and claimed that he would have harshly punished them if he had had that knowledge. Further, he argued that with an army as large as his, there was no way for him to control all actions by all his subordinates. As such he felt what he was really being charged with was losing the war:
The court found Yamashita guilty as charged and sentenced him to death. Clarke appealed the sentence to General MacArthur, who upheld it. He then appealed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines and the Supreme Court of the United States, both of which declined to review the verdict. President Truman denied Yamashita's petition to grant clemency and let the decision stand.
In dissent from the Supreme Court of the United States's majority, Justice W.B. Rutledge wrote:
The legitimacy of the hasty trial was questioned at the time, including by Justice Frank Murphy, who protested various procedural issues, the inclusion of hearsay evidence, and the general lack of professional conduct by the prosecuting officers. Evidence that Yamashita did not have ultimate command responsibility over all military units in the Philippines was not admitted in court.
Former war crimes prosecutor Allan A. Ryan has argued that by order of General MacArthur and five other generals, and the Supreme Court of the United States, Yamashita was executed for what his soldiers did without his approval or even prior knowledge. The two dissenting Supreme Court Justices called the entire trial a miscarriage of justice, an exercise in vengeance, and a denial of human rights.
Execution
Following the Supreme Court decision, an appeal for clemency was made to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, who declined to intervene and left the matter entirely in the hands of the military authorities. In due course, General MacArthur confirmed the sentence of the commission.
On 23 February 1946, Yamashita was hanged at Los Baños, Laguna Prison Camp, south of Manila. After climbing the thirteen steps leading to the gallows, he was asked if he had a final statement. The Arizona Republic alleges that his reply, through a translator, was thus:
Yamashita was hanged. He was later buried first at the Japanese cemetery near the Los Baños Prison Camp. His remains were moved to Tama Reien Cemetery, Fuchū, Tokyo.
On 23 December 1948, Akira Mutō, Yamashita's chief of staff in the Philippines, was executed after having been found guilty of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
Enduring legal legacy
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1946 Yamashita decision set a precedent, called command responsibility or the Yamashita standard, in that a commander can be held accountable before the law for the crimes committed by his troops even if he did not order them, didn't stand by to allow them, or possibly even know about them or have the means to stop them. This doctrine of command accountability has been added to the Geneva Conventions and was applied to dozens of trials in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. It has been adopted by the International Criminal Court established in 2002.
See also
Yamashita's gold
Notes
References
Case No. 21; Trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita; United States Military Commission, Manila, (8th October–7th December, 1945), and the Supreme Court of the United States (Judgments Delivered on 4th February, 1946). Source: Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Selected and Prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Volume IV. London: HMSO, 1948. Document compiled by Dr S D Stein, Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences University of the West of England
Reel, A. Frank. The Case of General Yamashita. The University of Chicago Press, 1949.
Ryan, Allan A. Yamashita's Ghost – War Crimes, MacArthur's Justice, and Command Accountability. University Press of Kansas, 2012.
Saint Kenworthy, Aubrey. The Tiger of Malaya: The story of General Tomoyuki Yamashita and "Death March" General Masaharu Homma. Exposition Press, 1951.
Taylor, Lawrence. A Trial of Generals. Icarus Press, Inc, 1981.
Akashi Yoji. "General Yamashita Tomoyuki: Commander of the 25th Army", in Sixty Years On: The Fall of Singapore Revisited. Eastern Universities Press, 2002.
External links
WW2DB: Tomoyuki Yamashita with a private collection of photographs of Yamashita
Last Words of the Tiger of Malaya, General Yamashita Tomoyuki by Yuki Tanaka, research professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute (Tanaka's commentary is followed by the full text of Yamashita's statement).
Laurie Barber, "The Yamashita War Crimes Trial Revisited" from Issue 2, Volume 1, September 1998 The Electronic Journal of Military History within the History Department at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
The George Mountz Collection of Yamashita Trial Photographs (111 photographs)
Japanese Press translation on the trial of General Yamashita 1945 from the Dartmouth Library Digital Collections
1885 births
1946 deaths
20th-century executions by the United States military
Executed military leaders
Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun
Japanese military personnel of World War I
Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II
Japanese military attachés
Japanese occupation of Singapore
Japanese people executed abroad
Japanese people executed for war crimes
Military history of Malaya during World War II
People executed by the United States military by hanging
People from Kōchi Prefecture
Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite |
426006 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism%20and%20sexual%20orientation | Buddhism and sexual orientation | The relationship between Buddhism and sexual orientation varies by tradition and teacher. According to some scholars, early Buddhism appears to have placed no special stigma on homosexual relations, since the subject was not mentioned.
Lay followers and monastic practices
In the early sutras of Buddhism, "accepted or unaccepted human sexual conduct" for laypersons "is not specifically mentioned." "Sexual misconduct" is a broad term, subject to interpretation according to followers' social norms. Early Buddhism appears to have been silent concerning homosexual relations.
According to the Pāli Canon and Āgama (the early Buddhist scriptures), it is not specified that same or opposite gender relations have inherently something to do with sexual misconduct, and some Theravada monks express that same-gender relations do not violate the rule to avoid sexual misconduct, which would mean not having sex with someone underage (thus protected by their parents or guardians), someone betrothed or married and who have taken vows of religious celibacy.
Some later traditions feature restrictions on non-vaginal sex (some Buddhist texts mention non-vaginal sex as sexual misconduct, including men having sex with men or paṇḍaka) though some Buddhist monks interpret such texts as being about forced sex. This non-vaginal sex view is not based on what Buddha said, but from some later scriptures such as the Abhidharma texts.
Regarding Buddhist monks, the Vinaya (code of monastic discipline) bans all sexual activity, but does so in purely physiological terms, making no moral distinctions among the many possible forms of intercourse it lists.
Among Buddhists, there is a wide diversity of opinion about homosexuality. Buddhism teaches that sensual enjoyment and desire in general are hindrances to enlightenment, and inferior to the kinds of pleasure (see, e.g. pīti, a Pāli word often translated as "rapture") that are integral to the practice of jhāna.
Buddhist texts
Early texts
Within the earliest monastic texts such as the Vinaya ( 4th century BCE), male monks are explicitly forbidden from having sexual relations with any of the four genders: male, female, ubhatovyañjanaka and paṇḍaka; various meanings of these words are given below. Later, the Buddha allowed the ordination of women, forbade ordination to these other types of people, with exceptions to a few particular types of paṇḍaka. The Buddha's proscriptions against certain types of people joining the monastic sangha (ordained community) are often understood to reflect his concern with upholding the public image of the sangha as virtuous; in some cases, this is explicitly stated. Social acceptability was vital for the sangha, as it could not survive without material support from lay society.
Ubhatovyañjanakas
The word ubhatovyañjanaka is usually thought to describe people who have both male and female sexual characteristics: hermaphrodites (intersex). In the Vinaya, it is said that ubhatovyañjanaka should not be ordained, on account of the possibility that they would entice a fellow monk or nun into having sex. Although it has been seen by some that the category of ubhatovyañjanaka is of later addition to the early buddhist texts, since it does not appear in the early suttas, the Pāṭimokkhas, nor in the early parts of the Vinaya.
Paṇḍakas
The paṇḍaka is a complex category that is variously defined in different Buddhist texts. In the earliest texts, the word seems to refer to a socially stigmatized class of trans-feminine and/or cross-dressing people, some of whom may have been sex workers. Paisarn Likhitpreechakul argue that these people are grouped together with groups who are excluded from ordination as well; those with physical disabilities such as deafness or dwarfism, or those who have committed crimes. "The Story of the Prohibition of the Ordination of Pandaka" from the Vinaya claims that the ban is a response to the example of a paṇḍaka monk with a desire to have sex. Being refused by other monks, he had sex with animal handlers, who then told the wider community and brought disgrace upon the sangha. Since the word paṇḍaka does not appear in either of the early Suttas nor in the early parts of the Vinaya, it has been seen by some as a possible indication that pandaka's inclusion in the Vinaya did not happen in the Buddha's lifetime but was added later.
In the Lotus Sutra, it said Bodhisattva should not go near Paṇḍaka, as like what monk rules said in Vinaya. The Theravadin text Milinda Panha, claims that Paṇḍakas let out secrets through their imperfection.
LGBTQ+ people in later traditions
Some modern commentators interpret the word ubhatovyanjañaka as including those who are not physically intersex, but display behavioral and psychological characteristics of both sexes, such as a woman who is attracted to other women. 5th-century Buddhist writer Buddhaghosa describes ubhatobyanjanaka as people with the body of one sex but the "power", or gender of the other. Leonard Zwilling argues that in this account Buddhaghosa does not in fact describe "hermaphroditism" but rather bisexuality or homosexuality. Janet Gyatso pointed out that Zwilling destroys his own argument that pandakas are homosexuals when he writes, "The Vinaya, in fact, goes so far as to distinguish sexual activity between normative males from sexual relations between a socially normative male and a pandaka."
In other texts, the term paṇḍaka can include those born sexually indeterminate or with no sex, eunuchs, those whose impotence changes every half month, males who gain sexual potency by absorbing other men's semen, or spying on other people having sex. It sometimes includes males or females with any sexual dysfunction, such as impotence or irregular menstrual cycles. The common element seems to be those whose sexuality is either limited physiologically, or those who are sexually impotent. Together these impotence types are almost always portrayed negatively as a pariah class, especially in the earliest texts. In modern contexts, paṇḍaka is sometimes alleged to include lesbians, gay men, and transgender and intersex people, although in ancient times, a man who sexually penetrated another man or a paṇḍaka was not himself considered a paṇḍaka.
Some texts of the Abhidharma state that a paṇḍaka cannot achieve enlightenment in their own lifetime, but must wait for reincarnation as a man or woman. Ananda — Buddha's cousin and disciple — was said to be a paṇḍaka in one of his many previous lives, as was the Buddhist nun Isidāsī (from the Therigatha). In both cases, birth as a paṇḍaka was a result of poor karma, and the idea that being a paṇḍaka stems from bad behaviour in a previous life is common in Buddhist literature. Asanga and Vasubandhu discussed if a pandaka was able to be enlightened or not.
In the Samantapasadika, a work of the 5th century CE Theravadin commentator and scholar Buddhaghosa's, paṇḍaka are described as being filled with defiling passions (ussanakilesa), unquenchable lusts (avapasantaparilaha) and are dominated by their libido (parilahavegabhibhuta). The 4th century Mahayana Buddhist writers Vasubandhu and Asanga contend that the paṇḍaka has no discipline for spiritual practice, due to their defiling passions of both male and female sexes. They lack the moral fortitude to counter these passions because they lack modesty and shame. Incapable of showing restraint, such a being is abandoned by their parents and lacking such ties are unable to hold strong views. Asanga, like Vasubandhu, refuses the pandaka recognition as a layman on the grounds that such persons are unfit to associate with or serve the Sangha. Asanga, however, considers them capable to practice the path of a layman individually if they so desire, but without receiving recognition as a layman or being introduced in the sangha. A position similar to Asanga view was also featured in the Lotus Sutra, where sangha members were advised to avoid the paṇḍaka.
Buddha's proscriptions against certain types of people joining the monastic sangha (ordained community) are often understood to reflect his concern with upholding the public image of the sangha as virtuous. Peter Jackson, the scholar of sexual politics and Buddhism in Thailand, speculates that the Buddha was initially reluctant to allow women to join the sangha for this reason. Jackson explains:
Buddhism, the middle path, has always been concerned with the maintenance of social order and since the Buddha's time the sangha has never claimed to provide a universal vehicle for the spiritual liberation of all individuals in society, explicitly excluding those who are considered to reflect badly on the monkhood in terms of prevailing social norms and attitudes.Jackson, Peter A. (1998). "Male Homosexuality and Transgenderism in the Thai Buddhist Tradition". In Queer Dharma: Voices of Gay Buddhists, edited by Winston Leyland. San Francisco : Gay Sunshine Press.
Social acceptability was vital for the sangha, as it could not survive without material support from lay society.
Several Theravada Buddhist texts state that the members of the paṇḍaka are excluded from a variety of Buddhist practices (in addition to ordination):
acting as preceptors in ordination ceremonies
making donations to begging monks
meditating and
ability to understand the Dharma.
Classical Mahayana scholars like Shantideva and Aśvaghoṣa considered non-vagina sex (including men sex with men) to be sexual misconduct. Shantideva based his views on quotes from the Saddharma-smrtyupasthana Sutra. According to Mizuno Kōgen's study, Saddharma-smrtyupasthana Sutra is related to Ghoṣa's Abhidharmāmṛtarasaśāstra, and is compiled by Sarvastivada sect (possibly from someone related to Ghoṣa after the 2nd century). In the Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (Sanskrit: Mahā-prajñāpāramitā-śāstra), the Madhyamaka scholar Nagarjuna mentioned the non-vagina sex restriction as based on coerced action toward one's own spouse.
In contrast, later texts, particularly Tibetan Buddhist writings, occasionally value paṇḍaka positively for their "middleness" and balance. The paṇḍaka in these Tibetan works is translated with the term ma ning — "genderless" or "without genitals". The 13th-century Tibetan monk Gyalwa Yang Gönpa, who was one of the significant figures in the early Drukpa Kagyu sect, writes about ma ning as a balanced state between maleness and femaleness. Yang Gönpa describes ma ning as "the abiding breath between male exhalation and female inhalation" and "the balanced yogic channel, as opposed to the too tight male channel, and the too loose female one".
Most Mahayana teachings assert that all beings who correctly practice the dharma may reach enlightenment, since all possess innate Buddha nature. Enlightenment being achievable even in a single life.
Tibetan Buddhism
There are different views among Tibetan Buddhist teachers on acceptable expressions of sexuality.
Historically, Gampopa (12th century), one of the main early masters of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, followed the Indian Buddhist tradition, starting with the 3rd-century Hinayana texts of Vasubandhu, and stated that oral and anal sex, whether with a man or a woman, are violations of the third precept regarding inappropriate sexual behavior. Longchenpa, the 13th-century founder of the Nyingma school, citing the 3rd-century Mahayana texts of the Indian master Asanga, elaborated that inappropriate sexual behavior also include the hands among inappropriate parts of the body for sexual activity. In the same way, Gelug predecessor Je Tsongkhapa also adheres to such rules in his studies.
Various contemporary teachers of Tibetan Buddhist lineages, including the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, have offered understanding towards LGBTQ people while noting that same-sex relationships do not necessarily constitute misconduct for lay people. The Dalai Lama has maintained the views of Je Tsongkhapa
The 14th Dalai Lama has "voiced his support for the full recognition of human rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation," while noting that from a Buddhist point of view, lesbian and gay sex is "generally considered sexual misconduct." In the most recent interview with the Dalai Lama on this topic (March 10, 2014), the Dalai Lama said gay marriage is OK provided it's not in contradiction with the values of one's chosen religion.
The Dalai Lama has also stated that any sex other than penis-vagina intercourse with one's own monogamous partner, including oral sex, anal sex, and masturbation is improper from the Buddhist perspective. In his 1996 book Beyond Dogma, he states, "A sexual act is deemed proper when the couples use the organs intended for sexual intercourse and nothing else... homosexuality, whether it is between men or between women, is not improper in itself. What is improper is the use of organs already defined as inappropriate for sexual contact."
The Dalai Lama cited the Indian Buddhist texts of Vasubandhu, Asanga, and Ashvaghosha as his sources concerning what constitutes inappropriate sexual behavior. In 1997 he stated: "Sexual organs were created for reproduction between the male element and the female element — and everything that deviates from that is not acceptable from a Buddhist point of view." The Dalai Lama has repeatedly said to LGBT groups that he can't rewrite the texts. He thinks that this is the type of issue that would need to be discussed by a council of Buddhist elders from all Buddhist traditions.
Theravada Buddhism
Peter Jackson, an Australian scholar of sexual politics and Buddhism in Thailand, writes that "Buddhism is a complex tradition and there is no single canonical or scripturally sanctioned position on homosexuality." Thailand is one of several countries with a large population of Theravada Buddhist.
In traditional Thai Buddhist accounts of sexuality, "[sexual] actions and desires have an involuntary cause [and] do not themselves accrue any future karmic consequences. They are the outworking of past karma, not sources for the accumulation of future karma. According to Bunmi, homosexual activity and the desire to engage in homosexual activity fall into this category and are not sinful and do not accrue karmic consequences." Jackson writes that this understanding of homosexuality "prevailed in Thailand until recent decades."
In the 1980s in Thailand, during the AIDS epidemic, there was "a shift in Buddhist attitudes from relative tolerance of homosexuality to condemnation." These views were "unprecedented in recent Thai history." During this time there were two ways Buddhists viewed homosexuality: in the sympathetic view, it was said that homosexuality arose from the karma of previous lifetimes; in the intolerant view, it was seen as arising from immoral conduct in one's present life.
In 1989, the supreme governing body of the Thai sangha affirmed that "gays" (here translated from Thai kathoey) are prohibited from being ordained. Their declaration has apparently gone unheeded in some quarters, as Phra Pisarn Thammapatee (AKA Phra Payom Kalayano), one of the most eminent monks in the country, demanded in 2003 that 1,000 gay monks be ousted from the sangha, and that better screening processes are put in place to keep out any gay postulants.
Recently, Phra Payom Kalayano, an eminent monk and abbot, affirmed the rights of gay monks to join the Sangha: "In the past, katoey had no hope of being ordained because the rules were stricter and society was less open minded. But they have just as much right as anyone else to join the monkhood." This view has been affirmed by other Thai Theravada monks. But it's not known if that statement given by Phra Payom was supported only by some monks of his sangha or by official structures of his Theravada school. There is no information if any other Thai branches of Theravada has changed their attitude towards LGBT ordination because other Theravada branches does not seem to have changed their attitude on this issue.
Japanese Buddhism
Several writers have noted the strong historical tradition of open bisexuality and homosexuality among male Buddhist institutions in Japan. When the Tendai priest Genshin harshly criticised homosexuality as immoral, others mistook his criticism as having been because the acolyte wasn't one's own. Chigo Monogatari (稚児物語), "acolyte stories" of love between monks and their chigo were popular, and such relationships appear to have been commonplace, alongside sex with women.
Western Christian travellers to Japan from the 16th century have noted (with distaste) the prevalence and acceptance of forms of homosexuality among Japanese Buddhists—Jesuit priest Francis Cabral wrote in 1596 that "abominations of the flesh" and "vicious habits" were "regarded in Japan as quite honourable; men of standing entrust their sons to the bonzes to be instructed in such things, and at the same time to serve their lust".
A 17th-century Japanese Buddhist scholar, Kitamura Kigin(北村季吟,), wrote that Buddha explained the pursuit of homosexuality over heterosexuality among priests:
It has been the nature of men's hearts to take pleasure in a beautiful woman since the age of male and female gods, but to become intoxicated by the blossom of a handsome youth... would seem to be both wrong and unusual. Nevertheless, the Buddha preached that [Mount] Imose was a place to be avoided and the priests of the law entered this Way as an outlet for their feelings, since their hearts were, after all, made of neither stone nor wood. Like water that plunges from the peak of Tsukubane to form the deep pools of the Minano River, this love has surpassed in depth the love between women and men in these latter days. It plagues the heart not only of courtier and aristocrat but also of brave warriors. Even the mountain dwellers who cut brush for fuel have learned to take pleasure in the shade of young saplings." — Wild Azaleas (1676)
A later Japanese legend attributed the introduction of monastic homosexuality to Japan to Shingon founder Kukai, although scholars now dismiss the veracity of this assertion, pointing out his strict adherence to the Vinaya. Nonetheless, the legend served to "affirm same-sex relation between men and boys in 17th century Japan."
Chinese Buddhism
About Buddhism and homosexuality in China, scholar A. L. De Silva writes, "Generally the attitude has been one of tolerance. Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit missionary who lived in China for 27 years from 1583, expressed horror at the open and tolerant attitude that the Chinese took to homosexuality and naturally enough saw this as proof of the degeneracy of Chinese society."
Venerable Hsing Yun, one of the premier figures in contemporary Chinese Buddhism, has stated that Buddhism should never teach intolerance toward homosexuality, and that people should expand their minds.
Hsing Yun is a best-selling author throughout the Sinosphere, as well as an advocate of Humanistic Buddhism, an approach to reform Chinese Buddhism to match the needs of contemporary laypeople. As such, his views may not be wholly reflective of the older Buddhist views in China. However, at an earlier point (1998), he is quoted as remarking that "according to Buddhism, any emotional involvement, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is a form of attachment ... and, therefore, is a source of suffering," and when the topic of homosexuality, in particular, came up "the master spoke more strongly, calling homosexuality a perverted view (xiejian)."
An example of an older view in opposition to homosexuality is given by the traditional master, Hsuan Hua, an important figure for Buddhism in both China and the United States. Master Hsuan Hua stated that homosexuality "plants the seeds that lead to rebirth in the lower realms of existence". In his commentary on the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, he described homosexuality as behavior caused by confusion, as the product of sexual desires.
Some Mahayana Buddhist leaders were active in the movement for same-sex marriage rights in Taiwan which legalized same-sex marriages in 2019.
Buddhism in the West
In contrast to Buddhism in Asia, modern Buddhism in the Western world (European Union, United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is typically associated with a concern for social equality—partly as a result of its largely middle-class intellectual membership base, and its philosophical roots in freethought and secular humanism. When applying Buddhist philosophy to the question of homosexuality, western Buddhists often emphasize the importance the Buddha placed on tolerance, compassion, and seeking answers within one's self. They stress these overarching values rather than examining specific passages or texts. As a result, western Buddhism is often relatively gay-friendly, especially since the 1990s. As an interpretation of what is sexual misconduct is an individual decision and not subject to judgment by any central authority, a view of accepting all peoples, but rejecting certain types of sexual acts is more predominant. LGBT people such as Issan Dorsey, Caitriona Reed, Pat Enkyo O'Hara and Soeng Hyang have been ordained as Buddhist monastics and clergy.
A more anachronistic assessment comes from the western scholar Alexander Berzin,
The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, holder of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, in a 2008 talk delivered to LGBT Dharma practitioners at the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York, stressed that for vajrayana lay practitioners, homosexual relationships are no better or worse than heterosexual relationships and that only unhealthy relationships, in general, are to be avoided. Both the Nalandabodhi sangha, which was founded by The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and the Shambhala sanghas founded by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche have stated that they are welcoming of all sexual orientations. The Shambhala Meditation Center of New York hosts a weekly practice group, Queer Dharma, specifically catering to the needs of the LGBTQ Buddhist community. According to the Danish Karma Kagyu Lama Ole Nydahl, Buddha saw homosexuality as circumstances making life more difficult, but also explained the reason for homosexuality could be aversion against the opposite sex in a former life. Nydahl says however that sexual orientation is not really important in order to practice Buddhism. Well known Zen Buddhist, Thích Nhất Hạnh (Plum Village Tradition), notes the spirit of Buddhism is inclusiveness and states "when you look at the ocean, you see different kinds of waves, many sizes and shapes, but all the waves have water as their foundation and substance. If you are born gay or lesbian, your ground of being in the same as mine. We are different, but we share the same ground of being."
The U.S. branch of Soka Gakkai International, a Japan-based new religious movement (Japanese new religion) influenced by Nichiren Buddhism, announced in 1995 that they would start holding wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples, and in 2001 established a conference for LGBT members and their supporters. A Buddhist temple in Salt Lake City connected with Jodo Shinshu, another Japanese school of Buddhism, also holds religious rites for same-sex couples.
Another Buddhist organization founded in the West, Juniper Foundation, wrote an article A Buddhist Vote for Same Sex Marriage demonstrating how Buddhist thinking embraces same-sex marriage:
The heart of Buddhist thought is its insight philosophy, which uses critical inquiry to challenge dogma and to reveal how seemingly fixed ideas are more arbitrary than we might think. Applying this philosophy, we see that social customs are not fixed laws but evolving conventions that serve a purpose in a particular culture and time. Marriage is one of these conventions. It is not a rigid law but a social custom that evolves.
In western traditions, there is widescale support for LGBT rights including the European Buddhist Union, the Buddhist Churches of America, many Shin Buddhist groups, and Zen leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh, founder of the Plum Village Tradition. In a PEW research poll, 88% of American Buddhists stated that homosexuality should be accepted. This was a higher level of support than any other religious group studied. On 2012, the Australian branch of Buddhism voiced its support for same-sex marriage in a hearing of the Australian Parliament that sought to gather views on whether to legalize same-sex marriage.
See also
Buddhism and sexuality
Buddhist view of marriage
Buddhism and romantic relationships
LGBT rights in Sri Lanka
Tamil sexual minorities
Hinduism and LGBT topics
References
External links
Buddhist Sexual Ethics: Main Issues. Includes a discussion about what would be destructive or constructive sexual behavior for male and female homosexuals and bisexuals.
Thinking through Texts: Toward a Critical Buddhist Theology of Sexuality José Ignacio Cabezón
Articles
Homosexuality and Theravada Buddhism
Same Sex Marriage, a short essay by a Theravada monk
A Buddhist view of homosexuality K Sri Dhammananda
A Buddhist Vote for Same Sex Marriage Juniper Foundation
Semen, Viagra and Pandaka: Ancient Endocrinology and Modern Day Discrimination
Sexual orientation
LGBT and religion |
426023 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%20Seondeok%20of%20Silla | Queen Seondeok of Silla | Queen Seondeok of Silla ( ; – 17 February 647/January 8, Lunar Calendar) reigned as Queen Regnant of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 632 to 647. She was Silla's twenty-seventh ruler, and its first reigning queen. She was the second female sovereign in recorded East Asian history and encouraged a renaissance in thought, literature, and the arts in Silla.
In Samguksagi, Queen Seondeok was described as "generous, benevolent, wise, and smart". According to the Legend of Jigwi, she was also beautiful.
Titles
In texts, Queen Seondeok is indicated not only as Seondeok yeowang (선덕여왕), but also as Seondeok wang (선덕왕), Seondeok yeodaewang (선덕여대왕) and Seongjohwanggo (성조황고).
Yeowang () – Yeowang ("female king") is the title of queen regnant in Korean. There is no feminine equivalent to king and emperor in East Asian languages, different titles are used for female monarchs and female consorts.
Wang () – Unlike European languages, in East Asia, the titles of female monarchs can also be abbreviated as "king" or "emperor", much like their male counterparts. However, to avoid confusion with male monarchs, they are usually referred to as "female king" or "female emperor".
Yeodaewang () – It is a combination of yeowang ("female king") and daewang ("great king"). In Samguk yusa, she is also called Seondeok yeodaewang (선덕여대왕), meaning Great Queen (Regnant) Seondeok.
Seongjohwanggo () – The title given to Queen Seondeok when she ascended the throne was Seongjohwanggo, also spelled Sŏngjohwanggo. It means Empress descended from divine ancestors. This is one of the cases in which Silla used the title of emperor/empress as well as the title of king/queen. (See Emperor at home, king abroad for more information.)
Succession to the throne
Born Princess Deokman (), Seondeok was the daughter of King Jinpyeong and Queen Maya of Silla. She had two siblings, Princess Cheonmyeong and Princess Seonhwa (although Seonhwa's existence is controversial due to the discovery of evidence in 2009 that points to King Uija's mother as being Queen Sataek and not Seonhwa as indicated by historical records). It is uncertain whether she or Cheonmyeong was the first born. According to the disputed text Hwarang Segi, Cheonmyeong was older than Seondeok. According to the historical text Samguk sagi, Seondeok was the eldest daughter.
According to the disputed text Hwarang Segi, because King Jinpyeong had no son whom he could pass the crown to, he began to consider his son-in-law, Kim Yongsu (husband of Princess Cheonmyeong) as his successor - after recognizing his achievements for the country. When Princess Deokman heard of it, she made a plea to her father, asking him to give her a chance to compete for the throne, insisting that she too has the right to compete for the throne as much as Kim Yongsu has. Seeing her determination, the King gave her the chance to prove herself worthy of the throne. Although it was not unusual for women to wield power in Silla (Queen Sado also served as a regent for King Jinpyeong), the thought of having a female ruler sitting on the throne was still unacceptable for most of them. Therefore, Princess Deokman had to prove herself in order to gain the trust and support of her people. Eventually, she succeeded, and was named as King Jinpyeong's successor. But this story is not mentioned in the historical texts Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa. According to Samguk yusa, the reason Seondeok became a female monarch was just because there was no male Seonggol of Bone-rank system.
The decision was not accepted by everyone, and as a result; some officials planned an uprising in order to stop her from being crowned. On May of 631, Ichan Chilsuk () and Achan Seokpum () planned a rebellion. But, their plan was discovered and suppressed early on. As punishment, Chilsuk was beheaded in the market place along with his entire family. Seokpum was able to escape and ran to the Baekje border. However, he missed his wife and decided to return after exchanging clothes with a woodcutter. Upon his return, he was arrested by soldiers waiting for him at his home, and was later executed.
Reign
In January 632, Queen Seondeok became the first queen regnant of Silla. As a ruler, Queen Seondeok's primary concern was the livelihood of her people. Right after she was crowned, she appeased her people by telling them what her policies would be. She sent royal inspectors throughout the kingdom to improve the care of widows, widowers, orphans, the poor, and the elderly. During that same year, she sent a diplomat to pay tribute to the Emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, and inform him about Silla's new ruler. However, Emperor Taizong of Tang refused to acknowledge Seondeok as a ruler because she was a woman.
In the second year of Queen Seondeok's reign, Cheomseongdae, an astronomical observatory, was built to help the farmers. She also announced a whole year of tax exemption for the peasants and reduced the tax for the middle class, and through this act of kindness, the queen won the people's support and her position was strengthened against the opposition of the male aristocracy. In June of the same year, Queen Seondeok sent a diplomat to pay nominal tribute to the Tang Emperor again; however, Emperor Taizong still refused to acknowledge her as a ruler but Seondeok was unfazed as Korean rulers of Korean dynasties have always seen themselves as equal to the rulers of Chinese dynasties.
According to Samguk Sagi, in March, 636, the queen became ill and no amount of prayers and medicine worked. In March, 638, a large stone on the south side of the mountain moved on its own, and seven months later, Goguryeo attacked the mountain valley. The next year, the sea water on the eastern part of the Silla kingdom turned red, which caused all of the fish living in it to die. These events made the people anxious, and some of them considered them as bad omens portending the Silla kingdom's downfall.
In 642, Uija of Baekje personally led a campaign against Silla, and conquered 40 fortresses in the western part of Silla. General Yunchung conquered the strategically important Daeya Fortress with 10,000 men and executed the daughter and son-in-law of Kim Chunchu. In 643, Baekje and Goguryeo conquered Danghang Fortress, blocking an important sea route to the Tang dynasty. Because of this, Queen Seondeok sent a diplomat to the Emperor of Tang and asked for assistance. The Emperor gave her three proposals. First, he would attack the Liaodong Peninsula and carry out a naval campaign on the west to occupy the Baekje. Second, the emperor would provide thousands of Tang uniforms and army flags in order to help Silla soldiers disguise themselves as Chinese troops. Third, he would send a male royal of Tang descent to serve as a new king of Silla, as, according to him, Silla faced constant threat because their enemies did not fear them due to their having a female ruler. The diplomat returned to Silla, unable to tell the Queen of the proposals that the Tang Emperor had offered.
At that point of crisis, Queen Seondeok sent for the well known Buddhist monk, Jajang, who had been studying under the great Buddhist masters of the Tang Dynasty for seven years. Monk Jajang returned to Silla in 643. He advised the queen and her counselors to build the great nine-story pagoda for the dual purpose of blocking foreign invasions and calming her people. After careful consideration, the queen decided to accept Jajang's proposal, seeing it as necessary to overcome the crisis that they were facing at that time. However, during her meeting with her royal subjects, she learned that they were strongly against it due to concern for the state of the royal treasury, knowing that the construction of the pagoda would bring a heavy tax burden on her people. But the queen still decided to continue with the plan with the firm belief that a work of religious devotion would bring her people together and show her people that Silla was still far from ruin. She told her royal subjects to "tear down her palace and use its bricks and timbers, if they think they lack the funds". After two years, the pagoda was finally completed; it was called Hwangnyongsa (meaning "Imperial Dragon Temple") and was considered the tallest temple in East Asia at that time. During that same year, Queen Seondeok appointed a nobleman named Bidam to the highest position in the court (Sangdaedeung).
During the reign of Queen Seondeok, the first foundation for unifying the three Kingdoms under Silla was laid. A series of attacks and raids by the combined forces of Baekje and Goguryeo had brought the kingdom to a point of crisis. The queen decided to form an alliance with the Tang dynasty. She was ridiculed at first; however, after seeing the growing strength of Goguryeo, the Emperor of Tang, finally accepted her offer.
Bidam's rebellion
On February 8, 647 (January 8, lunar calendar), Queen Seondeok faced her greatest challenge when several of her highest officials started a rebellion against her. They were led by Bidam, who asserted that: "The female king failed to rule the country, therefore women should stop ruling". Bidam had strong political influence in the court, and thus created the biggest rebellion in Silla's history. Since most of the army had been sent to different parts of the Silla kingdom to defend it from potential foreign invasions, the rebellion was a great threat.
According to a famous anecdote about Bidam's rebellion, on the night of Bidam's rebellion, Queen Seondeok's health had deteriorated sharply due to illness, and a star fell near the Queen's residence. Bidam, who saw the star, claimed it was a sign of the queen's impending downfall, to encourage his superstitious followers. The queen, who heard of the event, became fearful and anxious, but Kim Yushin calmed her by telling her not to worry, for he had a plan to suppress the rebellion. He then flew a huge kite with a burning scarecrow attached to it, to make it appear that the star was back in its place. Bidam's followers saw this, and became greatly discouraged.
The rebellion was eventually suppressed by Kim Yu-sin and Kim Alcheon. According to Samguk Sagi, Bidam and his thirty followers were executed on February 17, 647 (lunar calendar). The rebellion therefore lasted for fewer than 10 days, and failed in its goal to overthrow the government of Queen Seondeok.
Death
Queen Seondeok died on February 17, 647 (January 8, 647 in the lunar calendar) shortly before Bidam's rebellion was completely suppressed. There is no known record identifying the exact cause of her death, but Queen Seondeok was known to have had an unspecified illness shortly prior to her death, and this illness is most commonly theorized as the cause of her death. Some historians state it is also possible she died partly out of shock that Bidam had instigated a rebellion against her. Queen Seondeok was buried in a tomb on Nangsan, one of the sacred mountains in Gyeongju. After Queen Seondeok's death, her cousin was then named as the next female ruler of Silla, and became Queen Jindeok.
Buddhism and astrology
Like her father, Queen Seondeok was drawn to Buddhism. Silla built many temples, pagodas, and Buddha statues during her reign. One of the famous temples that was built during her time was the temple of Hwangnyongsa. According to ancient architectural records, the pagoda was 68 or 80 meters in height, making it one of the tallest structures in East Asia at the time. The pagoda represented the earnest wish of Queen Seondeok and the Silla people, to protect the country and bring the three kingdoms of Korea under one ruler. It was an offering to the Buddha, in hope that these wishes would be fulfilled. The queen often visited the Hwangnyongsa temple to pray for the wisdom and strength to save Silla from danger.
Bunhwangsa, Oseam, Sangwonsa, , Tongdosa, Woljeongsa, Baekdamsa, and Magoksa were built during her reign. She also built the "Star-Gazing Tower," or Cheomseongdae, considered the first dedicated observatory in the Far East, which helped farmers at that time. The tower still stands in the old Silla capital of Gyeongju, South Korea and is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia.
Husbands
According to Hwarang Segi, Queen Seondeok had three husbands.
1. Kim Yongchun, a child of King Jinji and Princess Cheonmyeong's brother-in-law. He served as an official during King Jinpyeong's reign and served as a Sangdaedeung for Queen Seondeok. Supposedly King Jinpyeong ordered Kim Yong Chun to become Princess Deokman's consort, in hope that a son would be born, so that the kingdom would not be entrusted to a woman. When they failed to conceive a child, Kim Yong Chun asked the king to allow him to retire as Princess Deokman's consort. The king agreed to his request, but asked him to assist Princess Deokman once she took over the throne. He went on to marry Princess Cheonmyeong in order to fulfill his brother's dying wish.
2. : served as an official during King Jinpyeong's reign and as a Sangdaedeung for Queen Seondeok.
3. : was said to be one of King Jinpyeong's brothers.
According to Samguk Yusa, she married .
According to tradition, she was married to the clan founder Jo Gye-ryong.
However, it is widely believed that she did not let herself be wed in order to avoid political conflicts, hence the next female rulers after her (Queen Jindeok and Queen Jinseong) were not married either.
Legends
Peony flowers and painting
Emperor Taizong of China once sent the queen a painting of three peony flowers in red, purple and white, along with its actual seeds. When the queen had the seeds planted in her garden, she made a remark that "even though the flower was pretty, it probably does not have much fragrance". Her words were then proven to be correct when the flowers bloomed, wilted and died, without giving off any scent. People were surprised that she had known of it, and asked her about it. She explained it thus: "The painting showed no butterfly or bees beside the flowers. When he sent me this gift, Emperor Taizong was mocking me for not having a husband."
The peony flower does not have any scent, which is why butterflies were not interested on it — implying the reason why she did not have a husband was probably because no man was interested on her (not being married was seen as something negative for one's character and status during those days). It is said that the temple Bunhwangsa (Fragrance of the Royal Temple) was built as a response to the mockery.
Another version of that story tells that when Queen Seondeok was seven years old, her father King Jinpyeong received a box of peony seeds and a peony painting sent by Emperor Taizong of Tang. When she saw the painting, she commented that even though the flowers are pretty, it must not have much fragrance because no butterflies or bees were around them. Peonies, therefore, are equated with her wisdom and insight.
The Legend of Jigwi
The Legend of Jigwi is recorded in .
A man named , who lived near the border of Goguryeo, went to Seorabeol and saw the queen who was passing by while on a visit to the capital city. He fell in love with her despite their difference in age and social status. He stopped eating and sleeping and did nothing but call out the queen's name all day, eventually losing his mind.
One day, Queen Seondeok went to visit a Buddhist temple to pray. As she was passing by, Jigwi appeared while calling out the queen's name as usual. The queen's guard thrust him aside, causing a commotion. When the queen asked one of her attendants about the commotion, she was told of his story and took pity on him, and allowed him to follow her retinue to the temple. While the queen was praying inside the temple, Jigwi had to wait outside while sitting underneath a pagoda, where he fell asleep. When the queen finally emerged, she noticed Jigwi who was sleeping behind the pagoda. She asked her attendants not to disturb the sleeping man, but placed her bracelet on Jigwi's chest as a keepsake. When Jigwi woke up and saw the bracelet that she had left for him, he was so overwhelmed with joy and love for the queen, that his whole body turned into a fire. The fierce flames of his love burned down the pagoda and Jigwi himself. Some versions of the legend tell that Jigwi burned down himself and the temple to express his burning passion for the queen.
In another version of the story, Jigwi was beaten by the palace guards for calling out the queen's name every day until he could no longer move. His soul became a fire spirit and burned down the pagoda and people's houses. The people who were scared of Jigwi's wrath asked the Queen for help, so she made a talisman for them to put in front of their houses to block away Jigwi's fire spirit.
In a modern version of the story. Jigwi fell in love with Queen Seondeok, whom he met every night through her dream. In her dream, he appears as a handsome Hwarang, who gave her predictions and solutions for the crises she faced as a ruler. Through Jigwi's assistance, Queen Seondeok overcame many problems. They met each other in a bridge in her dream, but suddenly Jigwi stopped appearing in her dreams. The queen started to wonder what happened to the man in her dreams and started to miss him and so she went to the bridge where they used to meet in her dreams. But Jigwi was nowhere to be found, and instead, the one she saw was a sleeping beggar. The queen did not recognize him as the same man who appeared in her dream but still, she decided to leave her bracelet on the chest of the sleeping man. When Jigwi woke up, he was overwhelmed with love and longing for the queen, that his heart turned into a fire that spread through his whole body. The fire flew to heaven and then rain started to fall, which ended the drought in Silla.
Croaking Frogs and Jade Gate
Near the banks of the Seongjin river in the capital city, there was a temple called Yeongmyosa. In the temple grounds was a pond named Okmun ("Jade Gate"). On a certain day in winter, five years into her reign, frogs gathered together at the pond and began to croak loudly for several days. When this strange phenomenon was reported to the queen, she immediately ordered two of her generals to lead 2,000 of her best soldiers to the western suburb of the city, and to look for a valley named Yeogeungok ("Cradle of Life"). She added that an enemy force would be found there lying in wait, which they would be sure to take by surprise. The two generals led their armies to the valley the queen had mentioned, near Mt. Bu, and destroyed not only the detachment of 500 Baekje soldiers they found there, but also a force of 1,200 reinforcements which came later to aid them.
When asked how she had foreseen the Baekje invasion simply because of the croaking of frogs. The queen explained, "A group of angry frogs signifies an army. Jade Gate is an expression for a woman's chastity. Woman is one of the meanings of Yin, which also has the meaning of white, and the white color stands for the West. So I knew that an army was lying in the West. As we say, a man is supposed in some sense to die during the act of creating new life. Since the Baekje army was hiding in the valley known as the Cradle of Life, I knew that it would be easy to defeat them." This shows that the queen was well-versed in the philosophy of Yin and Yang, and interpreted all the icons correctly. It is also remarkable to see the queen's reference to the symbolic "death" of the male during the act of love. The fact that the queen openly dealt with the topic in front of her male courtiers also showed her boldness.
Burial near the Doricheon
Some days before she died, Seondeok gathered her officials and gave the order "When I die, bury me near the Doricheon (, "Heaven of Grieved Merits")" which in Buddhism refers to a certain level of Heaven. When asked where the Doricheon was, she replied that it was on the southern side of Mt. Namsan. Decades after her death, the thirtieth king Munmu of Silla constructed Sacheonwang-sa (, "Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings") in her tomb. Then the nobles realized that one of the Buddha's sayings, "Dori-cheon is above the Sacheonwang-cheon", was accomplished by the queen. However, rather than prediction, some historians think of it as her last wish: having suffered so much jealousy and prejudice for being a woman during her reign, this may have been her way to show her desire to be reincarnated as a man in Doricheon in her next life.
Family
Father: King Jinpyeong (, 567–632)
Mother: Kim Bokhilgu, the Lady Maya (, dates unknown)
Siblings:
Princess Cheonmyeong (, dates unknown), 1st or 2nd daughter
Kim Yongsu (, 578–647), Princess Cheonmyeong's husband, 13th Pungwolju.
Kim Chun-chu (, 604–661), 18th Pungwolju; later King (Taejong) Muyeol ().
Princess Seonhwa (, dates unknown), 3rd daughter (There is constant debate over her identity.)
Cousin: Kim Seung-man (), only daughter of Gukban () and Lady Wolmyeong of the Park clan (); later Queen Jindeok
In popular culture
Portrayed by Kim Hye Jung in the 1992-1993 KBS TV series Chronicle of the three Kingdoms
Portrayed by Lee Ae-jung in the 2005 EBS TV series Jump
Portrayed by Lee Hyun Jung in the 2006-2007 SBS TV series Yeon Gaesomun
Portrayed by Lee Yo-won and Nam Ji-hyun in the 2009 MBC TV series Queen Seondeok.
Portrayed by Yoon So Yi in the 2011 film The Bracelet of Blue Tears.
Portrayed by Park Joo-mi, Sun Joo-ah and Hong Eun-hee in the 2012–2013 KBS1 TV series Dream of the Emperor.
She is the leader of the Korean civilization in the Rise and Fall expansion of the 4X video game Civilization VI.
Seondeok is a playable character in the Mobile/PC Game Rise of Kingdoms.
Featured in Sheri Holman's Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars, Korea, A.D. 595.
Portrayed by Ahn So Ri in the 2017 KBS TV series Chronicles of Korea
Playable hero character in the online video game Art of War
See also
Three Kingdoms of Korea
History of Korea
Rulers of Korea
Queen Seondeok (TV series)
Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars (Korea, 595 A.D.)
Notes
References
Sources
KSCPP
External links
Royal Tomb of Queen Seondeok of Silla
Silla monarchs
Silla Buddhists
Korean Buddhist monarchs
7th-century Korean monarchs
7th-century queens regnant
Princesses of Silla
647 deaths
7th-century Korean women
Queens regnant of Silla |
426046 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawton%20Chiles | Lawton Chiles | Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician and military officer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Florida from 1971 to 1989 and as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998.
A Korean War veteran, Chiles later returned to Florida for law school and eventually opened his own private practice in 1955. Three years later, Chiles entered politics with a successful bid for the Florida House of Representatives in 1958.
By 1966, Chiles left the Florida House to run for the Florida Senate. Despite 12 years in the Florida Legislature, Chiles was relatively unknown when he decided to bid for United States Senate in 1970. He embarked on a 1,003-mile walk from Pensacola to Key West for his campaign, earning him the nickname "Walkin' Lawton". It was successful and Chiles defeated his opponent William C. Cramer by a 53.9%–46.1% margin. Chiles was re-elected with relative ease in 1976 and 1982. He retired from the United States Senate in 1989.
Not long after his retirement, supporters convinced him to run for governor of Florida in 1990 against the unpopular incumbent Bob Martinez, and Chiles defeated Martinez by a 13-point margin (56.5% to 43.5%). During his first term as Governor, Chiles reformed health care and oversaw recovery efforts from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Chiles faced a tough re-election bid in 1994 against Jeb Bush, a businessman and son of former President George H. W. Bush. Chiles prevailed over Bush by fewer than 64,000 votes. During his second term, Chiles reformed education in Florida. On December 12, 1998, he suffered a heart attack and died at the Florida Governor's Mansion, leaving Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay to serve the remaining 24 days of Chiles' unexpired term. Jeb Bush succeeded MacKay. As of to date, Chiles's reelection in 1994 is the last time a Democrat was elected Governor of Florida, with McKay being the most recent Democratic governor.
Early life
Chiles was born in Polk County, Florida near Lakeland, the son of Margaret Kate (née Patterson) and Lawton Mainor Chiles. He attended public school at Lakeland High School, then the University of Florida at Gainesville. At the University of Florida, he was active in student politics. Chiles was a member of Phi Delta Phi International Legal Honor Society Cockrell Inn and was inducted into both the university Hall of Fame (the most prestigious honor a student can receive at UF) and Florida Blue Key.
He was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He graduated in 1952. Following his college years, Chiles entered the Korean War, commissioned as an artillery officer in the United States Army. After the war, Chiles returned to the University of Florida for law school, from which he graduated in 1955; he passed the state bar exam that year and went into private practice in Lakeland. He married Rhea Grafton.
Early career
In 1958, Chiles, a Democrat, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. It was essentially still a one-party state, as most African Americans were disfranchised by a constitution and laws passed since the turn of the century. Chiles served in the House until 1966, when he was elected to a seat in the Florida Senate, which he held until 1970. While in the state senate, Chiles served on the 1968 Florida Law Revision Commission. During his time in the state legislature, Chiles continued to work as a lawyer and developer in Lakeland. He was one of the initial investors in the Red Lobster restaurant chain. He was a member of the Florida Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
The 1,003-mile walk
In 1970, Chiles decided to run for a seat in the United States Senate. At the time, despite his 12 years in the state legislature, he was largely unknown outside his Lakeland-based district. To generate some media coverage and meet people across the state, Chiles embarked upon a 1,003-mile, 91-day walk across Florida from Pensacola to Key West. The walk earned him the recognition he sought, as well as the nickname that would follow him throughout his political career– "Walkin' Lawton". In his journal Chiles wrote that sometimes he walked alone, while other times he met ordinary Floridians along the way. In later years, Chiles would recall the walk allowed him to see Florida's natural beauty, as well as the state's problems, with fresh eyes. Some Florida reporters said that Chiles enjoyed campaigning much more than governing.
Chiles v. Cramer
In the general election campaign, Chiles faced U.S. Representative William C. Cramer of St. Petersburg, the first Republican to have served in Congress from Florida since Reconstruction. Cramer, a graduate of Harvard Law School, questioned Chiles's votes as a state senator on several matters regarding insurance. One law increased automobile liability rates by 50 percent over two years, and another raised premiums for school bus insurance, at a time that Chiles's insurance agency in Lakeland held the policy on the Polk County School Board, but such "conflict-of-interest" accusations seemed to have little political effect.
The self-made Cramer depicted Chiles as coming from a "silver spoon" background with a then net worth of $300,000, but the media ignored questions about the candidates' personal wealth. Instead, reporters focused on the walk, often termed a "public relations stroke of genius." Prior to the walk, Chiles was identified by only 5 percent of voters; afterwards, he had widespread positive recognition.
The Tallahassee Democrat forecast correctly that Chiles's "weary feet and comfortable hiking boots" would carry the 40-year-old "slow-country country lawyer" with "boyish amiability", and "back-country common sense and methodical urbane political savvy" to victory. Chiles's "Huck Finn" image was contrasted one night in Miami when he held a fried chicken picnic while the Republicans showcased a black-tie $1,000-a-plate dinner.
Cramer could not match Chiles's public appeal. An observer described Cramer's "charisma" as "a speech in the Congressional Record." A Cramer aide said it was difficult "selling experience. It's not a sexy thing." A Chiles advertisement urged that voters "Vote for yourself. Chiles walked our streets and highways to hear what you have to say. That's why a vote for Chiles is like a vote for yourself." With "shoe leather and a shoestring budget", Chiles presented himself as a "problem solver who doesn't automatically vote 'No' on every issue."
Cramer said that he should have demanded more debates and rebuffed the walking tactic: "I never could get that turned around. He was walking, and I was running. But the press was enamored with the walk ... Every time he was asked a question about where he stood, he would quote somebody that he met on the campaign trail to state what he was to do when he got to the Senate consistent with what that constituent had said. The basic approach gave him more credibility to his walk, which had nothing to do with his qualifications for the Senate but gave him free publicity and appealed to the 'little man.'"
With ecology a national concern by 1970, Chiles announced his opposition to the Cross Florida Barge Canal, which had originally been supported by every member of the Florida congressional delegation. The project, one-third completed, was cancelled early in 1971 and is now a protected green belt corridor. Chiles endorsed federal funding to remove waste from the bass-teeming Lake Apopka in central Florida. By contrast, Cramer received little credit from environmentalists although he had drafted the Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 and had sponsored legislation to protect alligators, stop beach erosion, dredge harbors, and remove oil spills. Instead, Cramer's critics accused him of having weakened anti-pollution laws. Cramer questioned Chiles's opposition to a proposed severance tax on phosphate mining, which particularly impacted Tampa Bay. Cramer declared that "Liberal Lawton has protected the phosphate industry -- the state's single largest polluter."
By 1974, a survey showed Floridians favored limits on development, and 60 percent urged more government funding for conservation.
Only three newspapers—in Orlando, Fort Myers, and Pasco County—supported Cramer in the race against Chiles. In the face of media opposition, Cramer failed to pin the "liberal" label on Chiles, who called himself by the rare hybrid term "progressive conservative." Explaining Cramer's inability to make "liberalism" an issue in 1970, The New York Times observed that Chiles and the gubernatorial candidate, Reubin Askew of Pensacola, "convey amiable good ol' boy qualities with moderate-to-liberal aspirations that do not strike fear into the hearts of conservatives."
Chiles relied heavily on his support from the retiring senator and former governor Spessard Holland. He noted that Cramer had expected to face former governor Farris Bryant, who like LeRoy Collins, Gurney's foe in 1968, had ties to the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Bryant lost the senatorial primary to Chiles. "I'm not anything Cramer thought he would be running against. So he's reduced to telling lies about me," Chiles quipped. Chiles said that Cramer can bring Nixon, Agnew, Reagan, and anybody else he wants. ... I'll take Holland on my side against all of them."
Cramer said a Republican-majority Senate would lead to the removal of controversial Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who had long opposed the Vietnam War. Chiles, however, retorted that if Republicans controlled the Senate other southern Democrats would also forfeit committee chairmanships earned through their seniority.
U.S. Senator
Chiles was twice re-elected to the U.S. Senate -- 1976 and 1982, both heavily Democratic years. Chiles, never flashy, was considered a moderate lawmaker who rarely made waves. He served as the chairman of the Special Committee on Aging of the 96th Congress (1979–1981), and in the 100th Congress (1987–1989) served as chairman of the influential Senate Budget Committee. While heading the Budget Committee, he played a key role in the 1987 revision of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.
In 1985, Chiles underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery. After his recovery, he became increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of work in the Senate, complaining that it was too difficult to get anything done. Accordingly, he announced in December 1987 that he would not seek re-election the next year. Chiles was succeeded by Republican Connie Mack.
Governor of Florida
After the surgery, Chiles developed clinical depression, and was treated with Prozac. He retired from the Senate in 1989 and intended to retire from politics entirely. However, several supporters convinced him to enter the 1990 Florida governor's race against Republican incumbent Bob Martinez. During the Democratic Party primary, his opponent Bill Nelson attempted to make an issue of Chiles' age and health, a strategy that backfired badly in a state with a large population of retirees.
Chiles ran a campaign to "reinvent" the state's government, and defeated Martinez to take office in 1991. During his first term as governor, Chiles managed to accomplish very little. Although he developed ambitious health-care and tax reform packages, neither passed in the hostile state legislature. The early years of his term were troubled by a national economic recession that severely damaged Florida's tourism-based economy, and by Hurricane Andrew, which struck near Homestead in August 1992.
Chiles ran for re-election in the 1994 election against Republican Jeb Bush. During the campaign season, Bush ran a television advertisement which featured the mother of a teenage girl who had been abducted and murdered many years before. The mother stated that "Her killer is still on death row, and we're still waiting for justice. We won't get it from Lawton Chiles because he's too liberal on crime. . . Lawton Chiles has let us down. . . I know Jeb Bush. He'll make criminals serve their sentences and enforce the death penalty. Lawton Chiles won't," referring to Chiles not signing the convicted killer's death warrant. Chiles responded that he did not sign a death warrant because the case was still on appeal. The Democratic governor further claimed a record of support for the death penalty, having presided over 18 executions during his two terms (among them Judy Buenoano, the first Floridian woman executed since 1848). Moreover, after the botched electrocution of Pedro Medina in 1997, and despite significant public criticism, Chiles refused to endorse the use of lethal injection as a lawful form of execution. The new method was introduced under Bush's administration in 1999 after the execution of Allen Lee Davis.
The 1994 election was memorable for its series of debates between Bush and Chiles. During the last debate on November 1, Chiles said to Bush, "My momma told me, sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. But let me tell you something about the old liberal. The old he-coon walks just before the light of day." Bush and many others did not understand the reference, but the quote gained significant media attention. After the debate, Chiles remained oblique, saying "It's sort of like saying, "Don't mess with the Lone Ranger.'" The next day, Lt. Governor Buddy MacKay explained that the he-coon was the oldest and wiliest raccoon in the pack, according to Florida cracker folklore. Raccoons were hunted by the light of the moon, and the he-coon would wait all night while the young raccoons ran from the dogs, tiring them out. Then, just before the light of day, the he-coon would leave his lair and walk in the open, safe from the dogs. Chiles was implying that he was the he-coon, and just as the he-coon walked before dawn, he would score a comeback victory against Bush. The quip was a direct appeal to older, rural, ancestral Floridians, whose loyalty to Democratic candidates had waned over the past several decades. Seven days later, as Republicans swept the 1994 Florida elections in almost every respect, Chiles bucked the trend, winning reelection in an upset by about 64,000 votes, 1.52% of the total vote. He is the last Democrat to win a gubernatorial election in Florida. Chiles' "he-coon" quote has become a well-known moment in Florida politics, often recalled and referenced in headlines and Florida political debate.
Chiles' second term as governor was notable as the first time in state history that a Democratic governor had a legislature controlled by the Republican Party. Despite this, he had some successes, including a successful lawsuit he and state attorney general Bob Butterworth filed against the tobacco industry, which resulted in an $11.3 billion settlement for the state. He also won approval for a $2.7 billion statewide school construction program.
In 1995, Chiles sought treatment for a neurological problem that was later diagnosed as a mild stroke after he awoke with nausea, slurred speech and loss of coordination; and it would be determined dehydration might have caused the episode. He recovered fully, which was credited to prompt treatment.
Death
Ineligible to run a third time, Chiles supported the lieutenant governor, his personal friend Buddy MacKay, in the 1998 Florida governor's race against Jeb Bush. Bush, however, scored an easy victory over MacKay. On December 12 that year, just three weeks before his long-awaited retirement was to begin, Chiles suffered from an abnormal heart rhythm while exercising on a cycling machine in the Governor's Mansion gymnasium. He died suddenly shortly afterwards, at the age of 68.
Funeral services were held at Faith Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee on December 16, 1998, following a funeral procession that traced part of his walk from the 1970 Senate campaign from the panhandle town of Century to Tallahassee. Chiles was initially buried in a church cemetery in Tallahassee; however, within a year his wife had the body moved to a tract east of Tallahassee, a place they named Jubilee. He was succeeded in office by MacKay, who served until Bush's term began on January 5, 1999.
Legacy
Legislative and executive programs
Chiles was known as a health care and children's advocate throughout his career. He emphasized health coverage for the uninsured and led a campaign to create the National Commission for Prevention of Infant Mortality in the late 1980s. In 1994, he fought for the creation of regional health care alliances throughout the state, which allow small businesses to pool their health care dollars and broaden coverage while saving money. He also created the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.
In 1992, Chiles created the Florida Healthy Start program to provide a comprehensive prenatal and infant care program available to all pregnant women and infants across the state; since the program's inception the state's infant mortality rate has dropped 18%. In 1996, Chiles appointed a Governor's Commission on Education to examine the state's school system. One of the significant recommendations that came from that commission eventually led to the highly controversial 2002 state constitutional amendment restricting Florida's school class sizes.
In 1997, anti-abortion advocacy group Choose Life collected 10,000 signatures and filed the $30,000 fee required under Florida law at the time to submit an application for a new specialty plate. State Senator Tom Lee sponsored a bill in support of the tag's creation. The bill passed both houses of the Florida State Legislature in early 1998, but was vetoed by Chiles, who stated that license plates are not the "proper forum for debate" on political issues.
Judicial appointments
Perhaps his greatest legacy was his impact on the Florida Supreme Court, where his appointments continued to have a major impact on state and national events long after Chiles' death. Chiles appointed Justice Major B. Harding in 1991, Justice Charles T. Wells in 1994, Justice Harry Lee Anstead in 1994, Justice Barbara J. Pariente in 1997, and Justice R. Fred Lewis in 1998. Chiles and incoming Governor Jeb Bush jointly appointed Justice Peggy A. Quince in 1998 just a few days before Chiles' death. Quince was jointly appointed because her term as Justice would begin the exact moment that Bush's first term as governor began, so there was a legal question which governor had the authority to appoint her. Bush and Chiles agreed to make a joint appointment to avoid a lawsuit over the question.
Thus, at one point, Chiles had appointed five of the seven Justices and had jointly appointed the sixth. Chiles' appointments formed the Supreme Court majorities that decided the following major cases:
In 2006, the Court struck down a law passed by the Florida State Legislature that had created the United States' first statewide education voucher program. The majority in this case consisted of Wells, Anstead, Pariente, Lewis, and Quince. Bush appointees Raoul G. Cantero and Kenneth B. Bell dissented.
In 2004, the court struck down another piece of legislation from the Florida legislature designed to reverse a lower court decision in the Terri Schiavo case. This decision was unanimous and included Bush appointees Cantero and Bell. By this time, Harding had retired.
In the 2000 presidential election controversy, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount in the disputed election pitting George W. Bush against Al Gore. The United States Supreme Court later reversed that ruling. The Florida Supreme Court majority in this case consisted of Anstead, Pariente, Lewis, and Quince. Dissenting Justices were Wells, Harding, and Leander J. Shaw Jr., an appointee of Governor Bob Graham. Shaw retired in early 2003 and was replaced by Bell.
Relatives
Chiles' niece was former U.S. Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina, a Democrat elected in 2008. Hagan was the daughter of Chiles' sister Jeannette. Chiles' son, "Bud" Chiles, ran for the position of Governor of Florida without party affiliation in a grassroots campaign. Like his father, Bud embarked on a walking tour of the state, listening and visiting with local communities in Florida. On September 2, 2010, Chiles dropped out of the race citing "continuing down this road could have unintended consequences, dividing those who hold common goals..." Chiles threw his support behind Alex Sink.
Electoral history
Democratic primary for United States Senator from Florida, 1970
C. Farris Bryant – 240,222 (32.90%)
Lawton Chiles – 188,300 (25.79%)
Fred Schultz – 175,745 (24.07%)
Alcee Hastings – 91,948 (12.59%)
Joel Daves – 33,939 (4.65%)
Democratic runoff for United States Senator from Florida, 1970
Lawton Chiles – 474,420 (65.74%)
C. Farris Bryant – 247,211 (34.26%)
1970 United States Senate election in Florida
Lawton Chiles (D) – 902,438 (53.87%)
William C. Cramer (R) – 772,817 (46.13%)
1976 United States Senate election in Florida
Lawton Chiles (D, Inc.) – 1,799,518 (62.98%)
John Grady (R) – 1,057,886 (37.02%)
1982 United States Senate election in Florida
Lawton Chiles (D, Inc.) – 1,637,667 (61.72%)
Van B. Poole (R) – 1,015,330 (38.27%)
Democratic primary for Governor of Florida, 1990
Lawton Chiles – 746,325 (69.49%)
Bill Nelson – 327,731 (30.51%)
1990 Florida gubernatorial election
Lawton Chiles/Buddy MacKay (D) – 1,995,206 (56.51%)
Bob Martinez (Inc.)/J. Allison DeFoor (R) – 1,535,068 (43.48%)
Democratic primary for Governor of Florida, 1994
Lawton Chiles (Inc.) – 603,657 (72.17%)
Jack Gargan – 232,757 (27.83%)
1994 Florida gubernatorial election
Lawton Chiles/Buddy MacKay (D, Inc.) – 2,135,008 (50.75%)
Jeb Bush/Tom Feeney (R) – 2,071,068 (49.23%)
See also
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition
Lawton Chiles High School
Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center
Videos
(1) Funeral Services for Governor Chiles at Christ Presbyterian Church on December 16, 1998
(2) Chiles' 8th & final State of the State Address from March 3, 1998
(3) Opening Plenary of the Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association from February 22, 1998
(4) Tobacco Settlement and Medicaid Funds from December 8, 1997
(5) Health Care Fraud Prevention from March 25, 1997
(6) Chiles' 7th State of the State Address from March 4, 1997
(7) Chiles' 6th State of the State Address from March 5, 1996
(8) Prescription for Disaster from May 11, 1995
(9) Inauguration Address from January 3, 1995
(10) Governor Chiles' victory speech after getting re-elected from November 8, 1994
(11) Florida Gubernatorial Debate from November 1, 1994
(12) Florida Gubernatorial Debate from October 18, 1994
(13) Florida Gubernatorial Debate from October 4, 1994
(14) Chiles' 4th State of the State Address from February 10, 1994
(15) Chiles' 2nd State of the State Address from January 14, 1992
(16) Chiles' 1st State of the State Address from March 5, 1991
(17) Inauguration Address on January 8, 1991
References
External links
Official Governor's portrait and biography from the State of Florida
St. Petersburg Times article on the death of Gov. Chiles
Biographical Directory of the US Congress
Chiles' electoral results
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1930 births
1998 deaths
Democratic Party governors of Florida
Democratic Party Florida state senators
Democratic Party United States senators from Florida
Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives
Florida lawyers
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
Military personnel from Florida
University of Florida alumni
People from Lakeland, Florida
American Presbyterians
Lakeland High School (Lakeland, Florida) alumni
20th-century American politicians
Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni
20th-century American lawyers
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426047 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongju | Gyeongju | Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of 264,091 people . Gyeongju is southeast of Seoul, and east of Daegu. The city borders Cheongdo and Yeongcheon to the west, Ulsan to the south and Pohang to the north, while to the east lies the coast of the Sea of Japan. Numerous low mountains—outliers of the Taebaek range—are scattered around the city.
Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD), which ruled about two-thirds of the Korean peninsula at its height between the 7th and 9th centuries, for close to one thousand years. Later Silla was a prosperous and wealthy country, and Gyeongju was the fourth largest city in the world. A vast number of archaeological sites and cultural properties from this period remain in the city. Gyeongju is often referred to as "the museum without walls". Among such historical treasures, Seokguram grotto, Bulguksa temple, Gyeongju Historic Areas and Yangdong Folk Village are designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The many major historical sites have helped Gyeongju become one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Korea.
The city of Gyeongju was united with the nearby rural Gyeongju County in 1995 and is now an urban–rural complex. It is similar to 53 other small and medium-sized cities with a population under 300,000 people in South Korea. As well as its rich historical heritage, Gyeongju today is affected by the economic, demographic, and social trends that have shaped modern South Korean culture. Tourism remains the major economic driver, but manufacturing activities have developed due to its proximity to major industrial centers such as Ulsan and Pohang. Gyeongju is connected to the nationwide rail and highway networks, which facilitate industrial and tourist traffic.
History
The early history of Gyeongju is closely tied to that of the Silla kingdom, of which it was the capital. Gyeongju first enters non-Korean records as Saro-guk, during the Samhan period in the early Common Era. Korean records, probably based on the dynastic chronicles of Silla, record that Saro-guk was established in 57 BCE, when six small villages in the Gyeongju area united under Bak Hyeokgeose. As the kingdom expanded, it changed its name to Silla. During the Silla period, the city was called "Seorabeol" (lit. Capital), "Gyerim" (lit. Rooster's forest), or "Geumseong" (lit. City of Gold).
After the unification of the peninsula up to Taedong River in 668 AD, Gyeongju became the center of Korean political and cultural life. The city was home to the Silla court and the great majority of the kingdom's elite. Its prosperity became legendary, and was reported as far away as Persia according to the 9th century book The Book of Roads and Kingdoms. The historical text Samguk yusa give the city's population in its peak period as 178,936 households, suggesting that the total population was almost one million. Many of Gyeongju's most famous sites date from this Unified Silla period, which ended in the beginning of 10th century by Goryeo (918–1392).
In 940, the founder of Goryeo, King Taejo, changed the city's name to "Gyeongju", which literally means "Congratulatory district". In 987, as Goryeo introduced a system in which three additional capitals were established in politically important provinces outside Gaegyeong (nowadays Kaesong), and Gyeongju was designated as "Donggyeong" ("East Capital"). However, that title was removed in 1012, the third year of King Hyeongjong's reign, due to political rivalries at that time, though Gyeongju was later made the seat of Yeongnam Province. It had jurisdiction over a wide area, including much of central eastern Yeongnam, although this area was greatly reduced in the 13th century. Under the subsequent Joseon (1392–1910) dynasties, Gyeongju was no longer of national importance, but remained a regional center of influence. In 1601, the city ceased to be the provincial capital.
Over these centuries, the city suffered numerous assaults. In the 13th century, Mongol forces destroyed a nine-story wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa. During the Japanese invasions of Korea, the Gyeongju area became a heated battlefield, and Japanese forces burned the wooden structures at Bulguksa. Not all damage was due to invasions, however. In the early Joseon period, a great deal of damage was done to Buddhist sculptures on Namsan by Neo-Confucian radicals, who hacked arms and heads off statuary.
In the 20th century, the city remained relatively small, no longer ranking among the major cities of Korea. During the early 20th century, many archaeological excavations were conducted, particularly inside the tombs which had remained largely intact over the centuries. A museum, the forerunner of the present-day Gyeongju National Museum, was inaugurated in 1915 to exhibit the excavated artifacts.
Gyeongju emerged as a railroad junction in the later years of the Japanese occupation, as the Donghae Nambu Line and Jungang line were established in preparation for the Second Sino-Japanese War and to exploit the rich resources of the eastern part of the Korean peninsula. Following liberation in 1945, Korea was plunged into turmoil, and Gyeongju was no exception. Returnees from abroad were numerous; a village for them was constructed in present-day Dongcheon-dong. In a period marked by widespread conflict and unrest, the Gyeongju area became particularly notorious for the level of guerrilla activity in the mountains.
Despite the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, most of Gyeongju was spared from the fighting, and remained under South Korean control throughout the conflict. However, for a brief time in late 1950 portions of the city stood on the front lines, as North Korean forces pushed the Pusan Perimeter southward from Pohang.
In the 1970s, Korea saw substantial industrial development, much of it centered in the Yeongnam region of which Gyeongju is a part. The POSCO steel mill in neighboring Pohang commenced operations in 1973, and the chemical manufacturing complex in Ulsan emerged in the same year. These developments helped to support the emergence of Gyeongju's manufacturing sector.
Geography and climate
Gyeongju lies in the southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, and is bounded by the metropolitan city of Ulsan on the south. Within the province, its neighbors include Pohang on the north, Cheongdo County on the southwest, and Yeongcheon on the northwest. Gyeongju is located about north of Busan. To the east, it has no neighbor but the sea.
Most of Gyeongju lies in the Gyeongsang Basin, but a few areas of the city belong to the Pohang Basin, such as Eoil-ri and Beomgok-ri in Yangbuk-myeon, and part of Cheonbuk-myeon. The Gyeongsang Basin areas consist of Bulguksa intrusive rock penetrating layers of sedimentary rocks, mainly granite and porphyry. By contrast, the Pohang Basin areas are made up of stratum that formed in the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic era, which consist of igneous rock, aqueous rock, porphyry, sandstone, and tuff.
Low mountains are widespread throughout Gyeongju. The highest of these are the Taebaek Mountains, which run along the city's western border. Gyeongju's highest point, Munbok Mountain (문복산), is above sea level. This peak lies in Sannae-myeon, on the border with Cheongdo. East of the Taebaek range, other western peaks such as Danseok Mountain lie within the Jusa subrange. The city's eastern peaks, including Toham Mountain, belong to the Haean Mountains and Dongdae Mountains.
Gyeongju's drainage patterns are shaped by these lines of mountains. The Dongdae Mountains divide a narrow foothills area on their east, and various internal river systems to the west. Most of the city's interior is drained by the small Hyeongsan River, which flows north from Ulsan and meets the sea at Pohang Harbor. The Hyeongsan's chief tributaries include the Bukcheon and Namcheon, which join it in Gyeongju Basin.
The southwestern corner of Gyeongju, on the far side of the Taebaek range, drains into the Geumho River, which then flows into the Nakdong. A small area of the south, just west of the Dongdae range, drains into the Taehwa River, which flows into the Bay of Ulsan.
The Gyeongju coastline runs for between Pohang in the north and Ulsan in the south. There are no islands or large bays, only the small indentations made by the small streams flowing off the Dongdae ridgeline. Because of this, the city has no significant ports, though there are 12 small harbors. One such harbor in Gyeongju's southeast corner is home to the Ulsan base of the National Maritime Police. This base is responsible for security over a wide area of South Korea's east-central coast.
Climate
Gyeongju has a cooler version of a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa). Due to its coastal location, Gyeongju has a slightly milder climate than the more inland regions of Korea. In general, however, the city's climate is typical of South Korea. It has hot summers and cool winters, with a monsoon season between late June and early August. As on the rest of Korea's east coast, autumn typhoons are not uncommon. The average annual rainfall is , and the average annual high temperatures range from .
Gyeongju's historic city center lies on the banks of the Hyeongsan in Gyeongju Basin. This lowlying area has been subject to repeated flooding throughout recorded history, often as a result of typhoons. On average, chronicles report a major flood every 27.9 years, beginning in the 1st century. Modern flood control mechanisms brought about a dramatic reduction in flooding in the later 20th century. The last major flood occurred in 1991, when the Deokdong Lake reservoir overflowed due to Typhoon Gladys.
Government
The executive branch of the government is headed by a mayor and vice-mayor. As in other South Korean cities and counties, the mayor is elected directly, while the vice-mayor is appointed. As of 2019, the mayor is Joo Nak-young, who was elected on June 13, 2018, in the local elections. He is Gyeongju's fifth mayor to be directly elected, the sixth to preside over the city in its present form, and the 31st mayor since 1955. Like most heads of government in the Yeongnam region, he is a member of the conservative Liberty Korea Party.
The legislative branch consists of the Gyeongju City Council, with 21 members as of 2009. The present City Council was formed from the merger of the old Gyeongju City Council with the Wolseong County Council in 1991. Most subdivisions of Gyeongju elect a single member to represent them in the council, but Angang-eup is represented by two members because of its large population, and two of the representatives serve combined districts composed of two dong. Like the mayor, the council members were last elected in 2006, except for a small number elected in more recent by-elections.
The central administration is composed of a City Council committee, five departments, two subsidiary organs, a chamber (the auditor), and six business offices. The five departments are the departments of Planning and Culture, Autonomous Administration, Industry and Environment, Construction and Public Works, and the National Enterprise Committee; these oversee a total of 29 subdivisions. The two subsidiary organs are the Health Care Center and Agro-technology Center; these belong directly to the central administration and have a total of 4 subdivisions. In addition, there are 23 local administrative subdivisions. Each of these subdivisions has a local office with a small administrative staff. As of December 2008, the city government employed 1,462 people.
Subdivisions
The city is divided into 23 administrative districts: 4 eup, 8 myeon, and 11 dong. These are the standard subdivisions of cities and counties in South Korea. The dong or neighborhood units occupy the area of the city center, which was formerly occupied by Gyeongju-eup. Eup are typically substantial villages, whereas myeon are more rural.
The city's boundaries and designation changed several times in the 20th century. From 1895 to 1955, the area was known as Gyeongju-gun ("Gyeongju County"). In the first decades of the century, the city center was known as Gyeongju-myeon, signifying a relatively rural rea. In 1931, the downtown area was designated Gyeongju-eup, in recognition of its increasingly urban nature. In 1955, Gyeongju-eup became Gyeongju-si ("Gyeongju City"), the same name as today, but with a much smaller area. The remainder of Gyeongju-gun became "Wolseong County." The county and city were reunited in 1995, creating Gyeongju City as it is today.
Demographics
When the Silla kingdom reached the peak of its development, Gyeongju was estimated to have a million residents, four times the city's population in 2008. In recent years, Gyeongju has followed the same trends that have affected the rest of South Korea. Like the country as a whole, Gyeongju has seen its population age and the size of families shrink. For instance, the mean household size is 2.8 people. Because this has fallen in recent years, there are more households in the city as of 2008 (105,009) than there were in 2003, even though the population has fallen.
Like most of South Korea's smaller cities, Gyeongju has seen a steady drop in population in recent years. From 2002 to 2008, the city lost 16,557 people. This is primarily due to the migration of workers seeking employment in the major South Korean cities. In 2007, about 1,975 more people moved away from the city each year than moved in. During the same period, births exceeded deaths by roughly 450 per year, a significant number but not enough to offset the losses due to migration.
Gyeongju has a small but growing population of non-Koreans. In 2007, there were 4,671 foreigners living in Gyeongju. This number corresponds to 1.73% of the total population, more than double the figure from 2003. The growth was largely in immigrants from other Asian countries, many of whom are employed in the automotive parts industry. Countries of origin whose numbers have risen include the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The number of residents from Japan, the United States, and Canada fell significantly in the 2003–2007 period.
Dialect
The city has a distinctive dialect which it shares with northern portions of Ulsan. This dialect is similar to the general Gyeongsang dialect, but retains distinctive features of its own. Some linguists have treated the distinctive characteristics of the Gyeongju dialect as vestiges of the Silla language. For instance, the contrast between the local dialect form "" (sonaegi) and the standard "" (sonagi, meaning "rainshower") has been seen as reflecting the ancient phonemic character of the Silla language.
Culture and people
Cultural properties
Gyeongju is the main destination in South Korea for visitors interested in the cultural heritage of Silla and the architecture of Joseon. The city has 31 National Treasures, and Gyeongju National Museum houses 16,333 artifacts. There are four broad categories of relics and historical sites: tumuli and their artifacts; Buddhist sites and objects; fortresses and palace sites; and ancient architecture. Prehistoric remains including Mumun pottery have been excavated in central Gyeongju, in the Moa-ri and Oya-ri villages of the Cheonbuk-myeon district, and in the Jukdong-ri village of the Oedong district. Dolmens are found in several places, especially in Gangdong-myeon and Moa-ri. Bronze Age relics found in Angye-ri village of Gangdong-myeon, Jukdong-ri and Ipsil-ri villages of Oedong-eup and graveyards in the Joyang-dong district represent the Samhan confederacy period of around the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD.
There are 35 royal tombs and 155 tumuli in central Gyeongju, and 421 tumuli in the outskirts of the city. Silla burial mounds built after the period of the Three Kingdoms are found in central Gyeongju, including tumuli in the districts of Noseo-dong, Nodong-dong, Hwangnam-dong, Hwango-dong and Inwang-dong. Western Gyeongju has the tomb of King Muyeol in Seoak-dong, nearby tumuli in Chunghyo-dong and the tomb of Kim Yu-sin. The tombs of Queen Seondeok, King Sinmun, King Hyogong and King Sinmu are at the base of Namsan mountain while the tombs of King Heongang, King Jeonggang, King Gyeongmyeong and King Gyeongae are on the slopes of the mountain. In addition to the tombs, tumuli have been found surrounding Namsan mountain and in the western part of Geumgang mountain. Artifacts excavated from the tombs of Geumgwanchong (gold crown tomb), Seobongchong (western phoenix tomb), Cheonmachong (heavenly horse tomb) and northern and southern parts of Tomb No. 98 are good examples of Silla culture.
Notable people
Gyeongju has produced notable individuals throughout its history. As the capital of Silla, Gyeongju was a center of culture in its heyday. Notable Gyeongju residents in the Silla period included most of the kingdom's leading figures, not only rulers but scholars such as Seol Chong and Choe Chiwon, and generals like Kim Yu-sin, the leader of the Hwarang warriors. The city continued to contribute to traditional Korean thought in subsequent dynasties. Relatives of Choe Chi-won such as Choe Eon-wi and Choe Hang played an important role in establishing the structures of early Goryeo. In the Joseon period, Gyeongju joined the rest of Gyeongsang in becoming a hotbed of the conservative Sarim faction. Notable Gyeongju members of this faction included the 15th century intellectual Yi Eonjeok. He has been enshrined in the Oksan Seowon since 1572. In modern times, the city produced writers such as Kim Dongni and Pak Mok-wol, both of whom did a great deal to popularize the region's culture, as well as Choe Jun, a wealthy businessman who established the Yeungnam University Foundation.
Some Korean family clans trace their origins to Gyeongju, often to the ruling elites of Silla. For example, the Gyeongju Kim clan claims descent from the rulers of later Silla. The and trace their ancestry to Silla's earlier ruling families. These three royal clans played a strong role in preserving the historical precincts of Gyeongju into modern times. The Gyeongju Choe and also trace their ancestry to the Silla elites. Prominent members of the Gyeongju Lee clan include Goryeo period scholar Yi Je-hyeon, and Joseon period scholars Yi Hwang and Yi Hang-bok. A contemporary notable figure from the Gyeongju Lee clan is Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung Group. However, not all Gyeongju clans date to the Silla period; for instance, the Gyeongju Bing clan was founded in the early Joseon period.
Religion
The city remains an important centre of Korean Buddhism. East of the downtown area lies Bulguksa, one of South Korea's largest Buddhist temples; nearby is Seokguram, a famed Buddhist shrine. Traditional prayer locations are found on mountains throughout Gyeongju. Such mountains include Namsan near the city center, Danseok-san and Obong-san in the west, and the low peak of Hyeong-san on the Gyeongju-Pohang border. Namsan in particular is often referred to as "the sacred mountain" due to the Buddhist shrines and statues which cover its slopes. In addition, Gyeongju is the birthplace of Cheondoism, an indigenous religion to Korea based on Korean shamanism, Taoism and Korean Buddhism, with elements drawn from Christianity. The religion evolved from Donghak (lit. East learning) disciplines established by Choe Je-u. His birthplace of Yongdamjeong, located in Hyeongok-myeon, is regarded as a sacred place to followers of Cheondogyo.
Cuisine
The cuisine of Gyeongju is generally similar to other areas of Gyeongsang province: spicy and salty. However, it has distinctive tastes according to region and several local specialties known nationwide. The most famous of these is "Gyeongju bread" or "Hwangnam bread", a red-bean pastry first baked in 1939 and now sold throughout the country. Chalboribbang, made with locally produced glutinous barley, is also a pastry with a filling of red bean paste. Local specialties with a somewhat longer pedigree include beopju, a traditional Korean liquor produced by the Gyeongju Choe in Gyo-dong. The brewing skill and distill master were designated as Important Intangible Cultural Properties by South Korea government.
Other local specialities include ssambap, haejangguk, and muk. Ssambap refers to a rice dish served with vegetable leaves, various banchan (small side dishes) and condiments such as gochujang (chili pepper paste) or ssamjang (a mixture of soybean paste and gochujang) to wrap them together. Most ssambap restaurants in Gyeongju are gathered in the area of Daenuengwon or Grand Tumuli Park. Haejangguk is a kind of soup eaten as a hangover cure, and means "soup to chase a hangover". A street dedicated to haejangguk is located near Gyeongju National Museum, where 20 haejangguk restaurants are gathered to serve the Gyeongju-style haejangguk. The soup is made by boiling soybean sprout, sliced memilmuk (buckwheat starch jelly), sour kimchi (pickled vegetables) and gulfweed in a clear broth of dried anchovy and Alaska pollack.
The east district of Gyeongju, Gampo-eup town, is adjacent to the sea, so fresh seafood and jeotgal (fermented salted seafood) are abundant. There are over 240 seafood restaurants in Gampo Harbor offering various dishes made with seafood caught in the sea, such as hoe (raw fish dishes), jeonboktang (an abalone soup), grilled seafood and others.
Sports
As of 2007, Gyeongju city had two stadiums, two gymnasiums, two tennis courts, one swimming pool and others as public sport facilities as well as various registered private sports venues. Many of public sport facilities are located in Hwangseong Park with an area of including a luxuriant pine trees forest. The site was originally the location of the artificial forest of Doksan which was established for feng shui purposes during the Silla period. It was also used as a training ground for hwarang warriors and hunting spot for Silla kings, and was reported to be King Jinpyeong's favorite location. In 1975, Hwangseong Park was designated a "city neighborhood park" and it currently consists of the multi-purpose Gyeongju Public Stadium, Football Park (with seven football fields and one futsal field), and one gymnasium, as well as Horimjang field for gukgung or Korean traditional archery and a ssireum wrestling ring. In addition, it contains a gateball field, an inline skating rink, jogging courses, and cycling roads. The Gyeongju Public Stadium was completed in 1982 and can accommodate 20,000 people at capacity.
Angang Field Hockey Stadium, located in the district of Angang-eup, is home to Gyeongju City Hockey, which is one of four professional women's field hockey teams in South Korea. The team was formed in 1994, and is governed by the Sport and Youth Division of Gyeongju City. Although not an initial successful team, Gyeongju City Hockey won the first trophies both at National Division Hockey Championships and National Sports Festival in 2000. In 2002, Gyeongju City Hockey took a first prize and three second prizes, and in 2008, the team won the first prize at the 51st National Division Hockey Championships.
The city plays host to two annual marathon events. The Gyeongju International Marathon, held in October, garners elite level competition while the larger Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon caters more for amateur fun runners. The Cherry Blossom Marathon has been held each year in Gyeongju since 1992, usually in April, to improve relations with Japan (a country with a long history of marathon running). The race, mainly sponsored by Gyeongju city and the district, attracted 13,600 participants in 2009 including about 1,600 foreigners.
Economy
The economy of Gyeongju is diverse. Although tourism is important to the economy, most residents work in other fields. Over 27,000 are employed in manufacturing compared to roughly 13,500 in the hospitality industry.
The number involved in tourism has remained constant over recent years, while the manufacturing sector added about 6,000 jobs from 1999 to 2003. The manufacturing sector is closely tied to nearby cities, utilizing Gyeongju's transit links with Ulsan, Pohang, and Daegu. As in Ulsan and Daegu the automotive parts industry plays an important role. Of the 1,221 businesses incorporated in Gyeongju almost a third are involved in auto-parts manufacture.
Fishing takes place in coastal towns, especially in Gampo-eup in the city's northeast, with 436 registered fishing craft in the city. Fishing industry in Gyeongju is generally in a declined status due to relatively inconvenient transport conditions and lacks of subordinate facilities. Much of the catch from these boats goes direct from the harbor to Gyeongju's many seafood restaurants. Mainly, sauries, anchovies, rays are harvested and a small number of abalone and wakame farming takes place. Local specialties include myeolchijeot (fermented anchovy), abalone, wakame, and squid.
Agriculture is still important, particularly in the outlying regions of Gyeongju. According to the 2006 statistical yearbook of Gyeongju, rice fields occupy an area of , which is 70% of the total cultivated acreage of . The remaining consists of fields under other crops and farmsteads. Crop production is centered in the fertile river basins near the Hyeongsan River. The main crops are rice, barley, beans and corn. Vegetables such as radish and napa cabbage and fruits are also important crops. Apples are mainly produced in the districts of Geoncheon-eup, Gangdong-myeon and Cheonbuk-myeon and Korean pear are cultivated in Geoncheon-eup and Angang-eup. The city plays a leading role in the domestic production of beef and mushrooms. Button mushrooms harvested in Geoncheon-eup are canned and exported. The cultivated acreage and the number of households engaging in agriculture is however declining.
A small amount of quarrying activity takes place in the city, with 46 active mines and quarries in Gyeongju. Most are engaged in the extraction of kaolin, fluorspar and Agalmatolite and Kaolin is exported.
As the capital of Silla, commerce and trading in Gyeongju developed early on. Samguk Sagi has records on the establishment of Gyeongdosi (capital area market) in March, 490 during King Soji's reign, and Dongsi (East Market) in 509, during King Jijeung's reign. In the 1830s, Gyeongju had five five-day markets which remained very active until the late 1920s. Due to its size Gyeongju Bunaejang (Gyeongju village market) was referred to as one of the two leading markets in the Yeongnam area, along with Daegu Bunaejang. Transportation developed in the late period of the Japanese occupation, as the Jungang Line and the Daegu Line and the connecting route between Pohang and the northwestern part of Japan were set up, leading to increasing population and developing commerce. After the 1960s, traditional periodic markets gradually transformed into regular markets as the city was flourishing. In periodic markets, agricultural and marine products, industrial products, living necessaries, wild edible greens, herbs, and cattle are mainly traded. As of 2006, Gyeongju had eight regular markets, nine periodic markets and the Gyeongju department store. Traditional periodic markets declined and have become token affairs these days.
Tourism
Gyeongju is a major tourist destination for South Koreans as well as foreign visitors. It boasts the 1000 years of Silla heritage with vast number of ancient ruins and archaeological sites found throughout the city, which help to attract 6 million visiting tourists including 750,000 foreigners per year. The city government has parlayed its historic status into a basis for other tourism-related developments such as conferences, festivals, and resorts.
Many Silla sites are located in Gyeongju National Park such as the Royal Tomb Complex, the Cheomseongdae observatory that is one of the oldest surviving astronomical observatories in
East Asia, the Anapji royal pond garden, and the Gyerim forest. Gyeongju National Museum hosts many important artifacts and national treasures that have been excavated from sites within the city and surrounding areas.
Much of Gyeongju's heritage are related to the Silla kingdom's patronage of Buddhism. The grotto of Seokguram and the temple of Bulguksa were the first Korean sites to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995. In addition, the ruins of the old Hwangnyongsa temple, said to have been Korean's largest, are preserved on the slopes of Toham Mountain. Various Silla-era stone carvings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are found on mountainsides throughout the city, particularly on Namsan.
A significant portion of Gyeongju's tourist traffic is due to the city's promotion of itself as a site for various festivals, conferences, and competitions. Every year since 1962, the Silla cultural festival has been held in October to celebrate and honour the dynasty's history and culture. It is one of the major festivals of Korea. It features athletic events, folk games, music, dance, literary contests and Buddhist religious ceremonies. Other festivals include the Cherry Blossom Marathon in April, the Korean Traditional Liquor and Cake festival in March, and memorial ceremonies for the founders of the Silla Dynasty and General Kim Yu-sin.
There were 15 hotels including Hilton Hotel, Gyeognju Chosun Hotel, and 276 lodging facilities, and 2,817 restaurants in Gyeongju in 2006.
Gyeongju's emerging tourist attraction is the Hwangnidan-gil. The address of Hwangnidan-gil is 1080, Poseok-ro, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. There are about 80 stores, including restaurants, cafes, bookstores, and gift shops. Hwangnidan-gil became popular through social networking sites, and neighboring Gyeongju's historical site is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The advantage of the Hwangnidan-gil is the result of voluntary efforts by merchants without help from local governments.
Tourist spots
Media
Gyeongju has two main local newspapers; the Gyeongju Sinmun and the Seorabeol Sinmun. Both are weekly newspapers providing news via online as well and their headquarters are located in the neighborhood of Dongcheon-dong. The Gyeongju Sinmun was founded in 1989 and provides various news and critics on anything concerning Gyeongju. Its online newspaper, Digital Gyeongju Sinmun opened in December, 2000 to provide live local news out of the limit as a weekly newspaper and to establish mutual information exchanges from Gyeongju locals. In 2001, Gyeongju Sinmun started to present Gyeongju Citizen Awards to people who try to develop the local industry and economy, culture and education, and welfare service. Since 2003, the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant headquarter co-hosts the awards with Gyeongju Sinmun.
The Seorabeol Sinmun was established in 1993, however, from November 15, 2000, to November 10, 2005, its publication was stopped for financial difficulties after the 1997 Asian economic crisis had left a strong impact on the nationwide economy. Since 2006, Seorabeol Sinmun presents Serabeol Awards to people having devouring to develop Gyeongju.
Several major feature films have been filmed in the city, including Kick the Moon, On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate, Taegukgi, Chwihwaseon and others. In 2009, the filming of the Queen Seondeok, a popular MBC TV series took place in a studio at Silla Millennium Park located in Bomun Lake Resort.
Education
Gyeongju is strongly associated with the education tradition of Hwarangdo ("Way of the Flower of Young Men") which was established and flourished during the Silla period. It is a military and philosophical code that offered the basis of training to Hwarang, a military cadet of youths from the aristocratic class. The training equally emphasized practicing academic and martial arts based on Buddhism and patriotism. A number of Silla's greatest generals and military leaders such as Kim Yu-sin were Hwarang who played a central role in Silla unification of the Korean peninsula. As Silla was integrated into the next ruling dynasty, Goryeo, the system declined and was officially disbanded in the Joseon dynasty. However, the spirit and discipline were revived in the second half of the 20th century as a form of Korean martial arts with the same name.
Formal education has a longer history in Gyeongju than anywhere else in South Korea. The Gukhak, or national academy, was established here in 682, at the beginning of the Unified Silla period. Its curriculum focused on the Confucian classics for local officials. After the fall of Silla in the 10th century, the Gukhak closed. However, due to Gyeongju's role as a provincial center under the Goryeo and early Joseon dynasties, the city was home to state-sponsored provincial schools (hyanggyo) under both dynasties such as Gyeongju Hyanggyo. During the later Joseon dynasty there were several seowon, or private Confucian academies, were set up in the city such as Oksan Seowon and Seoak Seowon.
The education system of Gyeongju is the same as elsewhere in the country. Schooling begins with preschools; there are 65 in the city. This is followed by six years in elementary schools; Gyeongju has 46. Subsequently, students pass through three years of middle school. There are 19 middle schools in Gyeongju. High school education, which lasts for three years, is not compulsory, but most students attend and graduate from high school. Gyeongju is home to 21 high schools, of which 11 provide specialized technical training. At each of these levels, there is a mix of public and private institutions. All are overseen by the Gyeongju bureau of North Gyeongsang's Provincial Office of Education. Gyeongju is home to a school for the mentally disabled, which provides education to students from preschool to adult age.
Gyeongju is home to four institutions of tertiary education. Sorabol College is a technical college in the district of Chunghyo-dong that offers majors specializing in tourism, leisure, health care and cosmetic treatments.
Each of Gyeongju's three universities reflects the city's unique role. Dongguk and Uiduk universities are Buddhist institutions, reflecting that religion's link to the city. Gyeongju University, formerly Korea Tourism University, is strongly focused on tourism, reflecting its importance in the region.
Infrastructure
Healthcare
According to the 2008 yearbook of Gyeongju, the total number of medical institutions was 224 with 3,345 beds, including two general hospitals, thirteen hospitals, 109 clinics, five nursing homes, forty two dental hospitals, two Korean traditional medicine hospitals and 50 Korean traditional medicine clinics. There are also twenty eight medical institutions related to Gyeongju Health Center affiliated to the Gyeongju City government.
The two general hospitals are associated with two major universities in Gyeongju and nearby Daegu. One is the Dongguk University Gyeongju Hospital, located in the district of Seokjang-dong, which is affiliated with Dongguk University Medical School and Center. The Gyeongju Hospital was opened in a seven-story building in 1991 to provide Gyeongju locals with a quality medical service and train medical specialists in the region. After various renovations the hospital currently has 24 departments including a radiation oncology center and 438 beds. It is also assigned as a teaching and learning hospital and in partnership with Dongguk University Oriental Hospital. The other general hospital is a branch of Keimyung University, Dongsan Medical Hospital in Daegu. It is the successor of Gyeongju Christianity Hospital founded in 1962, and was reborn as the current general hospital in 1991. The Gyeongju Dongsan Hospital is located in the district of Seobu-dong and has 12 departments in a three-story building.
Utilities
Water supply and sewage disposal are municipal services which are respectively handled by the Water Supply Office and Water Quality and Environment Office. Water comes from the Hyeongsan River, the multi-purpose Deokdong Dam and several streams. The city is divided into seven water districts, with eight filtration plants and seven sewage treatment plants. One of the sewage treatment plants, Angang Sewage Disposal Plant began operating in April 2005 by the co-investment of the Government of North Gyeongsang and Gyeongju City with a fund of 44,300,000,000 won to install facilities to prevent the pollution of the Hyeongsan River, which is a main water source for Gyeongju and Pohang residents. The plant is located on a spacious site with in Homyeong-ri, Gangdong-myeon in Gyeongju where nature friendly facilities provide recreational venues for the locals. Through of sewer pipes and 14 pumping stations, the plant has a capacity of 18,000 tonnes of domestic sewage per day that comes from Angang-eup, and Gangdong-myeon. The facilities have high-powered disposal equipment developed by related industrial companies to maintain the discharged water at the first or second degree in quality, so that it is used as river maintenance flow and agricultural water in case a drought occurs.
The city had managed its own recycling service, but privatized it since July 1, 2009.
Other utilities are provided by private entities or South Korean government-owned companies. Seorabeol City Gas, an affiliate of GS Group, provides gas to the Gyeongju residents, while, electrical power is supplied by the public enterprises, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power via the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is known for the only nuclear power plant operating PHWRs (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) in South Korea and supplies about 5% of South Korea's electricity. The owner, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power began to build the Wolseong 1 in the districts of Yangnam-myeon, Yangbuk-myeon and Gampo-eup in 1976. Since 1983, the power plant has been providing commercial service and operating with the PHWRs that has a capacity of 678,000 kW. As the construction of each Wolseong 2, 3 and 4 with a capacity of 70,000 kW were completed respectively in 1997, 1998 and 1999, Wolseong Nuclear Power plant site has been successfully operating the four PHWRs plants. New project, Sinwolseong No. 1 and No. 2 are currently under construction which is estimated to be completed until 2011–12. The Wolseong Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center, which treats and stores low and intermediate level radioactive waste from the local power plants, is overseen and inspected by the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS).
Transportation
The city lies at the junction of two minor lines operated by the Korean National Railroad. The Jungang Line runs from Seoul to Gyeongju and carries trains from the Daegu Line, which originates in Dongdaegu. In Gyeongju, the Jungang line connects to the Donghae Line which runs between Busan and Yeongdeok. The Gyeongbu Expressway, which runs from Seoul to Busan, passes through Gyeongju, and Provincial highway 68, aided by the South Korean government, connects Seocheon in the South Chungcheong province to Gyeongju. Additionally national highways such as Route 4, 7, 14, 20, 28, 31, and 35 crisscross the city. Since the city is a popular tourist destination, nonstop bus services are available from most major cities in South Korea.
High-speed rail does not serve central Gyeongju, but the KTX Gyeongbu Line stops at the nearby Gyeongju station, in Geoncheon-eup, west of Gyeongju's city center.
Twin towns – sister cities
Gyeongju is twinned with:
Iksan, South Korea (1998)
Nara, Japan (1970)
Obama, Japan (1977)
Pompei, Italy (1985)
Versailles, France (1987)
Xi'an, China (2007)
Huế, Vietnam (2007)
Nitra, Slovakia (2014)
Isfahan, Iran (2016)
See also
Geography of South Korea
List of cities in South Korea
Southeastern Maritime Industrial Region
World Heritage Site
Notes
References
Breen, Michael (1999) The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies Macmillan,
Cherry, Judith (2001), Korean multinationals in Europe, Routledge Advances in Korean Studies, Routledge,
Cumings, Bruce (1997). Korea's place in the sun: A modern history. New York: Norton.
Kang, Bong W. (2002). A study of success and failure in the water management of the Buk Chun in Kyongju, Korea. Paper delivered at the Eighteenth Congress of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. (Electronic Version).
Kang, Jae-eun; Lee, Suzanne. (2006) The land of scholars: two thousand years of Korean Confucianism Homa & Sekey Books,
Kim, Chang-hyun (August, 2008), The Position and the Administration System of Donggyeong in Koryeo Dynasty, (in Korean) Dongguk University, Silla Culture, issue 32, pp. 1–43
Kim, Chong-un; Fulton, Bruce, (1998) A ready-made life: early masters of modern Korean fiction, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 107–120,
Kim, Deok-muk, (2003) 전국의 기도터와 굿당 (Jeon-gukui gidoteo wa gutdang. Tr. "Sites of Buddhist prayer and shamanic practice nationwide"), (in Korean), 한국민속기록보존소
Kim, Won-yong. (1982). Kyŏngju: The homeland of Korean culture. Korea Journal 22(9), pp. 25–32.
Kookmin University, Department of Korean History (2004) "경주문화권 (Gyeongju Munhwagwon. The Gyeongju cultural area)", Seoul:역사공간
Korean Overseas Information Service, (2003), Handbook of Korea (11th ed.), Seoul, Hollym,
Lee, Ki-baek; Tr. by E.W. Wagner & E.J. Schulz, (1984), A new history of Korea (rev. ed.), Seoul, Ilchogak,
Nilsen, Robert, South Korea, Moon Handbooks,
Oppenheim, Robert. (2008) Kyǒngju things: assembling place, University of Michigan Press,
Ring, Trudy; Robert M. Salkin, Paul E Schellinger, Sharon La Boda (1996) International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania Taylor & Francis,
Robinson, Martin; Ray Bartlett, Rob Whyte (2007), Korea Lonely Planet, pp. 197–209,
Rutt, Richard; Hoare, James. (1999) Korea: a historical and cultural dictionary, Durham East-Asia series. Routledge.
Sundaram, Jomo Kwame. (2003) Manufacturing competitiveness in Asia: how internationally competitive national firms and industries developed in East Asia, Routledge,
Tamásy, Christine; Taylor, Mike. (2008) Globalising Worlds and New Economic Configurations, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.,
Yi, Sŭng-hwan; Song, Jaeyoon (translation) (2005) A topography of Confucian discourse: politico-philosophical reflections on Confucian discourse since modernity, Homa & Sekey Books,
Yu, Hong-jun; (translation) Mueller, Charles M., (1999) Smiles of the baby Buddha: appreciating the cultural heritage of Kyǒngju, Changbi (창비),
External links
Gyeongju
50s BC establishments
57 BC
Cities in North Gyeongsang Province |
426049 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress%20Myeongseong | Empress Myeongseong | Empress Myeongseong (; 17 November 1851 – 8 October 1895) was the official wife of Gojong, the 26th king of Joseon and the first emperor of the Korean Empire. During her lifetime, she was known by the name Queen Min (민비, 閔妃). After the founding of the Korean Empire, she was posthumously given the title of Myeongseong, the Great Empress (명성태황후, 明成太皇后).
The later Empress was of aristocratic background and in 1866 was chosen by the de facto Regent Heungseon Daewongun to marry his son, the future King Gojong. Seven years later his daughter-in-law and her Min clan forced him out of office. Daewongun was a conservative Confucian later implicated in unsuccessful rebellion against his daughter-in-law’s faction. He believed in isolation of Joseon from all foreign contact as a means of preserving independence. She, by contrast, was a believer in gradual modernisation using Western and Chinese help. From 1873 to her assassination in 1895 she oversaw economic, military and governmental modernisation.
In the 1880s and 1890s the relationship between Joseon and neighbouring Japan deteriorated. The queen consort was considered an obstacle by the government of Meiji Japan to its overseas expansion. She took a firmer stand against Japanese influence after Daewongun's failed rebellions that were intended to remove her from the political arena. Miura Gorō, Japanese Minister to Korea, backed the faction headed by Daewongun and directly ordered the assassination. On 8 October 1895, the Hullyeondae Regiment loyal to the Daewongun attacked the Gyeongbokgung Palace and overpowered its Royal Guards. The intruders then allowed a group of ronin, specifically recruited for this purpose, to assassinate the queen consort. Her assassination sparked international outrage.
The Japanese-backed cabinet in the winter of 1895–1896 ordered Korean men to cut off their top-knot of hair. This caused uproar, because this style of hair was considered a badge of Korean identity. This topknot edict and the assassination provoked nationwide protests. Gojong and the Crown Prince (later Emperor Sunjong of Korea) accepted refuge in the Russian legation in 1896. The anti-Japanese backlash led to the repeal of the Gabo Reform, which had introduced other measures increasing Japanese influence. In October 1897, Gojong returned to Gyeongungung (modern-day Deoksugung). Whilst there, he proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire and raised the status of his deceased wife to Empress.
Names and titles
As was the custom in late Joseon society, the woman who came to be Empress Myeongseong never had a personal name. "Min" is the name of her clan. "Empress" was a title conferred after her assassination. Changes in her marital status or the status of her husband are reflected in her own title. In Western terms, she was nameless throughout her life. For the most part, the narrative below refers to her as the queen consort because that was her title during life at the beginning of her political activity, and was her functioning position. For convenience the description queen regent is not separately used.
Background
Clan tensions at the death of the King
In 1864, Cheoljong of Joseon died suddenly aged only 32. The exact cause of death is uncertain. Cheoljong was childless and had not appointed an heir. The Andong Kim clan had risen to power through intermarriage with the royal House of Yi. Queen Cheorin, Cheoljong's consort and a member of the Andong Kim clan, claimed the right to choose the next king. Traditionally, the most senior Queen Dowager had the official authority to select the new king. Cheoljong's cousin, Grand Royal Dowager Hyoyu (once known as Queen Sinjeong), was the most senior Dowager. She was of the Pungyang Jo clan and the widow of Heonjong of Joseon's father. She had risen to prominence by intermarriage with the Yi family.
Alliance between the Pungyang Jo clan and Yi Ha-eung
Grand Queen Dowager Hyoyu saw an opportunity to advance the cause of her Pungyang Jo clan, the only true rival of the Andong Kim clan in Korean politics. As King Cheoljong was dying, she was approached by Yi Ha-eung, a distant descendant of King Injo (r.1623–1649), whose father was made an adoptive son of Prince Eunsin, a nephew of King Yeongjo (r.1724–1776).
The branch that Yi Ha-eung's family belonged to was a distant line of descendants of the Yi clan. They survived the often deadly political intrigue that frequently embroiled the Joseon court by forming no affiliation with any factions. Yi Ha-eung himself was not eligible for the throne due to a law that dictated that a successor had to be part of the generation after the most recent monarch. Yi Ha-eung's second son, Yi Myeong-bok, was a possible candidate for the throne.
The Pungyang Jo clan saw that Yi Myeong-bok, was only 12 years old and would not be able to rule in his own name until he came of age. They hoped to influence Yi Ha-eung, who would be acting as de facto regent for his son. (Technically Grand Queen Dowager Hyoyu would be regent but in fact she did not intend to play an active role in the regency). As soon as news of King Cheoljong's death reached Yi Ha-eung through his intricate network of spies in the palace, the hereditary royal seal required for the selection of a new monarch was taken to or by Grand Queen Dowager Hyoyu. She already was strictly entitled to make the appointment. She thereupon chose her great-grandson, Yi Myeong-bok. The Andong Kim clan was powerless to act because the formalities had been observed.
Accession of a new King
In the autumn of 1864, Yi Myeong-bok was renamed as Yi Hui (이희, 李㷩) and was crowned as Gojong King of Joseon, with his father as Regent titled as Grand Internal Prince Heungseon. He is referred to in this article henceforth as Heungseon Daewongun or Daewongun.
The strongly Confucian Daewongun proved to be a decisive leader in the early years of Gojong's reign. He abolished the old government institutions that had become corrupt under the rule of various clans, revised the law codes along with the household laws of the royal court and the rules of court ritual, and heavily reformed the military techniques of the royal armies. Within a few years, he was able to secure complete control of the court, and eventually receive the submission of the Pungyang Jo's while successfully disposing of the last of the Andong Kim's, whose corruption, he believed, was responsible for the country's decline in the 19th century.
Early life and family
Yeoheung Min clan antecedants
The future queen consort was born into the aristocratic Yeoheung Min clan on 17 November 1851 within the in Seomrak Village, Geundong-myeon, Yeoheung (present-day Yeoju), Gyeonggi Province, where the clan originated.
The Yeoheung Mins were a noble clan boasting many high-ranking bureaucrats in its illustrious past, princess consorts, and two queen consorts. These were firstly, Queen Wongyeong (wife of Taejong of Joseon and mother of Sejong the Great) and, secondly, Queen Inhyeon (second wife of Sukjong of Joseon).
When her father Min Chi-rok was young, he studied under scholar Oh Hui-sang (), and eventually married the scholar's daughter. She became Min Chi-rok's first wife, Lady Oh of the Haeju Oh clan. In 1833 Lady Oh died childless at the age of 36. After three years' mourning, Min Chi-rok in 1836 married Lady Yi of the Hansan Yi clan (later known as Internal Princess Consort Hanchang). She was the daughter of Yi Gyu-nyeon. The future Empress was the fourth and only surviving child of Lady Yi.
Before her marriage, the later empress was known as the daughter of Min Chi-rok, Lady Min, or Min Ja-yeong (). At age seven, she lost her father to an illness on 17 September 1858 while he was in Sado city. Lady Min was raised by her mother and Min relatives for eight years until she moved to the palace and became queen. Lady Min assisted her mother for three years while in living in Gamgodang. In 1861 it was decided that Min Seung-ho, would become her father's heir.
Selection as queen consort and marriage
When Gojong reached the age of 15, his father began to seek a bride for his son. Ideally the choice would be a person without politically ambitious relatives and someone who was of noble lineage. After rejecting numerous candidates, the Daewongun's wife, Grand Internal Princess Consort Sunmok (known at the time as Grand Internal Princess Consort Yeoheung; Yeoheung Budaebuin; ) and his mother, Princess Consort Min, proposed a bride from their own clan, the Yeoheung Min. The girl's father was dead. She was said to possess beautiful features, a healthy body, and an ordinary level of education.
This possible bride underwent a strict selection process, culminating in a meeting with the Daewongun on 6 March, and a marriage ceremony on 20 March 1866. The Daewongun, likely fearing that the Andong Kim clan and the Pyungyang Jo clan, who were political rivalries for the future, may have been influenced favourably towards Lady Min due to her lack of a father or brother. He did not suspect Lady Min herself as politically ambitious, and he was satisfied with the interview. It was only later he observed that she "...was a woman of great determination and poise“ but that he nevertheless allowed her to marry his son. In doing so, he raised to the throne a woman who by 1895 had proven herself to be "his chief foil and implacable enemy."
Lady Min, aged 16, married the 15-year-old king and was invested in a ceremony (, ) as the Queen Consort of Joseon. Two places assert claims as the location of the marriage and accession. These are Injeongjeon Hall () at Changdeok Palace and Norakdang Hall () at Unhyeon Palace. The headdress typically worn by brides at royal weddings was so heavy for the bride that a tall court lady was specially assigned to support it from the back. Directly following the wedding was the three-day ceremony for reverencing of ancestors.
When Lady Min became Queen Consort, her mother was given the royal title of "Internal Princess Consort Hanchang" (). Her father was given the royal title of "Internal Prince Yeoseong" (), and was posthumously appointed as Yeonguijeong after his death. Her father's first wife also given the royal title of "Internal Princess Consort Haeryeong" ().
On the day of their marriage ceremony, Gojong did not go to his wife's quarters to consummate the marriage, but to the quarters of concubine Royal Consort Yi Gwi-in of the Gyeongju Yi clan. This preference would later be approved by the Heungseon Daewongun.
The first impression of the queen consort at the palace was that she was dutiful and docile. Over time, Daewongun changed his view of her. Officials noticed that the new queen consort differed from previous queens before her in her choices and determination. She did not participate in lavish parties, rarely commissioned extravagant fashions from the royal ateliers, and almost never hosted afternoon tea parties with the various princesses of the royal family or powerful aristocratic ladies unless politics required her to do so. Expected to act as an icon for Korea's high society, the queen rejected this role. Instead, she spent her time reading books written using Chinese characters, whose use in Korea was usually reserved for aristocratic men. Spring and Autumn Annals and its accompanying Zuo Zhuan are examples. She furthered her own education in history, science, politics, philosophy, and religion.
As queen consort
Court domination
By the age of twenty, the queen consort had begun to leave the total seclusion of her apartments at Changgyeong Palace and to play an active part in politics. This was not at the invitation of Heungseon Daewongun and his high officials. Daewongun directed his son to conceive through the concubine Yi Gwi-in from the Yeongbo Hall (). On 16 April 1868, the concubine gave birth to Prince Wanhwa (), to whom Daewongun gave the title of crown prince. It was said that Daewongun was overwhelmed with joy at the arrival of Gojong's first born son, and that afterwards the queen consort was not accorded respect or honour as before.
Discord between the queen consort and Daewongun became public when her infant son died in late 1871 four days after birth. Daewongun publicly accused her of being unable to bear a healthy male child. She suspected her father-in-law of foul play through the ginseng emetic treatment he had brought her. It seems likely the queen consort's intense distrust of her father-in-law dates from this time.
Meanwhile the queen consort secretly formed a powerful faction against the Heungseon Daewongun. With the backing of high officials, scholars, and members of her clan, she desired to remove Daewongun from power. Min Seung-ho, the queen consort's adoptive older brother, along with court scholar Choe Ik-hyeon, devised a formal impeachment of Daewongun. The impeachment was to be presented to the Royal Council of Administration, arguing that the 22 year old Gojong should now rule in his own right. In 1873, with the approval of Gojong and the Royal Council, the Heungseon Daewongun was forced to retire to Unhyeongung, his estate at Yangju. The queen consort then banished the royal concubine along with her child to a village outside the capital. The child was stripped of royal titles and died on 12 January 1880.
After these expulsions, the queen consort had control over the court, where her own clan family members received high office. As queen consort she ruled along with her husband but was recognized as being more politically active than him.
Start of imperial Japanese influence
After Korean refusal to receive Japanese envoys announcing the Meiji Restoration, some Japanese aristocrats favored an immediate invasion of Korea. Upon the return of the Iwakura Mission, this idea was quickly dropped because the new Japanese government was neither politically nor fiscally stable enough to start a war. When Heungseon Daewongun was ousted from politics, Japan renewed efforts to establish ties with Korea, but the Imperial envoy arriving at Dongnae in 1873 was turned away.
In 1875 the Japanese gunboat Unyō was dispatched towards Busan and a second warship was sent to the Bay of Yeongheung, ostensibly surveying sea routes. On 20 September 1875 in a move seen by the Koreans as provocative, the ,ventured into restricted waters off Ganghwa Island. Korean shore batteries then opened fire. Thus arose a violent confrontation between the Japanese and the Koreans known as the Ganghwa Island incident. Following this incident, six naval vessels and an imperial Japanese envoy were sent to Ganghwa Island to enforce the wishes of the Japanese government, which was then in a position to insist on Korea opening to trade generally. There was precedent for this line of action in the behaviour of European powers and their extraction of the so-called Unequal Treaties.
Whilst a majority of the royal Korean court favored absolute isolationism, Japan had demonstrated its willingness and capacity to use force. The deposed Daewongun took the opportunity to blame the Min clan for their weakness in contrast to his own previous isolationist, anti-foreign policies. After numerous meetings, the Ganghwa Treaty was signed on 26 February 1876, thus opening Korea to Japan and the world. The treaty was modeled after treaties imposed on Japan by the United States. Various ports were forced to open to Japanese trade, and Japanese now had rights to buy land in designated areas. The treaty permitted the immediate opening of Busan (1876) and later other major ports, Wonsan (1880) and Incheon (1883) to Japanese merchants. For the first few years, Japan enjoyed a near total monopoly of trade. Japanese cotton goods were imported to Korea, which was unindustrialised and still dominantly dependent on limited modes of agricultural production. Rice and cereals became the main export to Japan, whose merchants came to inhabit the major ports. By 1894 Busan gave every appearance, according to doctor-missionary Isabella Bird, of being a town in Japan. She reports the fact that the customs were levied by the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs officers on behalf of the Korean Crown. At least one of these officers was English.
Social revolution
Reorganisation of Joseon government
In 1880, a mission headed by Kim Gi-su (Kim Hong-Jip) was commissioned by Gojong and the Min clan to study Japanese westernisation and its intentions for Korea. The immediate diplomatic objective was to persuade the Japanese that there was no need to open a Legation in Seoul and that the port of Incheon should not be opened. It arrived on 11 August 1880.
While in Japan, Kim visited the Chinese embassy in Japan no less than six times. He met with the Chinese first envoy to Japan, He Ru-zhang, and his staff adviser, Huang Zunxian. In September 1880, a prepared paper was written for the benefit of, and was presented to, the visiting Koreans, the purpose of which was to change their whole approach towards modernisation through external contact. This paper, whose text survives in five differing forms, was written by Huang. It was entitled Korean Strategy and examined the strategic position of Korea in the context of its need for strength in the international situation of the day. The essence of its thesis was that Russia was land-hungry and represented the primary threat to Korea. The Chinese, it argued, should be regarded as natural close allies from whom full independence was undesirable. Huang advised that Korea should adopt a pro-Chinese policy, while retaining close ties with Japan for the time being. He also advised an alliance with the United States in particular because it did not occupy the countries with which it traded, and because it would be a protection against Russia. He considered it wise to open trade relations with Western nations and to adopt Western technology, arguing that their interest in Korea was trade rather than occupation. The modernisation of Japan through Western contact was pointed to as a promising precedent for study.
Kim returned from Japan in late 1880. By early 1881 the paper had made a considerable impression on the king and the queen consort. Copies were commissioned to be sent out to all ministers. She had hoped to win yangban (aristocratic) approval to invite Western nations into Korea, and to open up trade so as to keep Japan in check. She wanted to first allow Japan to help in the modernisation process but after completion of certain projects, have them be driven out by Western powers. However, the yangban aristocracy opposed any opening of the country to the West. Choi Ik-hyun, who had helped with the impeachment of Heungseon Daewongun, sided with the isolationists. He maintained that the Japanese were just like the "Western barbarians" and would spread subversive notions, just as previous Western contact had brought Roman Catholicism. That had been a major issue during Daewongun's regency and Catholicism was crushed by widespread persecution.
To the socially conservative yangban, the queen consort's plan meant the end of social order. Accordingly, the response to the distribution of Korean Strategy was a joint memorandum to the throne from scholars in every province of the kingdom. They stated that the ideas in the book were impractical theories, and that the adoption of Western technology was not the only way to enrich the country. They demanded that the number of envoys exchanged, ships engaged in trade and articles of trade be strictly limited, and further that all foreign books in Korea should be destroyed. Two thousand (out of office) scholars gathered at Cho-rio, planning to march on Seoul and overwhelm the serving Ministers. The gathering was met at Cho-rio by royal envoys who promised to stop the mission to Japan, to which the protesters objected. It was too late, however, and the Korean mission by then had landed in Nagasaki in Japan.
Thus in 1881, a large fact-finding mission was sent to Japan under Kim Hongjip. It stayed for seventy days observing Japanese government offices, factories, military and police organizations, and business practices. The visitors obtained information about innovations in the Japanese government copied from the West, especially the proposed constitution. On the basis of these reports, the queen consort began reorganisation of the government. Twelve new bureaus were established to deal with foreign relations with the West, China, and Japan. Other bureaus were established to supervise commerce. A bureau of the military was created, tasked to modernize weapons and techniques. Civilian departments were established to import Western technology.
Meanwhile in September 1881, a plot was uncovered to overthrow the queen consort's faction, depose the King, and place Heungseon Daewongun's illegitimate (third) son, Yi Jae-seon (known posthumously as Prince Imperial Waneun) on the throne. The plot was frustrated by informants to and spies of the queen consort. Heungseon Daewongun (whose involvement was not proved) was unharmed. However, the attempted coup resulted in Yi Jae-seon's death in late October 1881.
In October 1881, the queen consort arranged for 60 top Korean military students to be sent to Tientsin in Qing China where they were to study arms manufacturing and deployment. The Japanese volunteered to supply military students with rifles and train a unit of the Korean army to use them. She agreed but reminded the Japanese that students would still be sent to China for further education on Western military technologies. The modernisation of the military was met with opposition.
The insurrection of 1882
In June 1882, members of the old military became resentful of the special treatment of the new units. They destroyed the house of Min Gyeom-ho and killed him. He was Gojong's maternal uncle, being his mother's younger brother, and was the administrative head of the training units and in charge of the treasury. Yi Choi-eung and Kim Bo-hyun, a magistrate, were also killed. These had been associated with the Min corruption whereby the soldiers got rotten rice in payment of wages. These soldiers then fled to the protection of Daewongun, who publicly rebuked but privately encouraged them. Daewongun took control of the old units. He ordered an attack on the administrative district of Seoul that housed the Gyeongbokgung, the diplomatic quarter, military centers, and science institutions. These soldiers attacked police stations to free comrades who had been arrested and ransacked private estates and mansions belonging to relatives of the queen consort. These units stole rifles and killed Japanese training officers. They narrowly missed murdering the Japanese ambassador to Seoul, who escaped to Incheon, and thence to Japan where he was interviewed at court for an account of events. The military rebellion then headed towards the palace but both queen consort and the King escaped in disguise. They fled to her relative's villa in Cheongju, where they remained in hiding. Rumour supplied differing accounts of the escape. The truth may lie in the detailed account recorded by Homer Hulbert.
One rumour was that Grand Internal Princess Consort Sunmok had entered the palace, and hidden her daughter-in-law, the queen consort, in a wooden litter that the older woman was riding on. Allegedly a court officer saw this and informed the soldiers invading the palace. Princess Sunmok did try to persuade her husband Heungseon Daewongun to stop the hunt for the queen consort. This seemed so suspicious that later he kept her away from his affairs. When Daewongun could not find the queen consort, he likely assumed she was dead (according to Hulbert). He announced, "the queen is dead". Numerous supporters of the queen consort were executed once Daewongun took control of Gyeongbokgung Palace. He immediately dismantled the recent reform measures and relieved the new units of duty. Foreign policy reverted to isolationism. Both Chinese and Japanese representatives were forced to leave the capital.
Li Hongzhang, with the consent of Korean envoys in Beijing, sent 4,500 Chinese troops to restore order and secure Chinese interests in Korea. His troops arrested Daewongun, who was then taken to Paoting in China where he remained under house arrest. The royal couple returned and overturned all of Daewongun's actions.
The Japan-Korea Treaty of 1882, signed on 10 August 1882 required the Koreans to pay 550,000 yen damages in respect of Japanese lives and property lost during the insurrection. This agreement also permitted Japanese troops to guard the Japanese embassy in Seoul. The queen consort proposed to China a new trade agreement granting the Chinese special privileges and rights to ports inaccessible to the Japanese. Public order was enforced by Wu Chang-ching and his detachment of 3,000 Chinese troops. She also successfully requested that a Chinese commander, General Yuan Shih-kai, take control of the new military units and that a German adviser, Paul Georg von Möllendorff, head the Maritime Customs Service. The Chinese desired further trade treaties so as to deflect a Japanese monopoly. Treaties were later signed with the United States (1882) and France (1886).
Mission to North America
In July 1883 the queen consort sent a special mission to the United States. It was headed by Min Yeong-ik, her adoptive nephew. The mission arrived at San Francisco on 2 September 1883 carrying the newly created Korean national flag. It visited U.S. historical sites, heard lectures on U.S. history, and attended a gala event in their honor given by the mayor of San Francisco and other U.S. officials. The mission dined in New York at the Fifth Avenue Hotel with President Chester A. Arthur, and discussed the growing threat of the Japanese and the possibility of U.S. investment in Korea. The Korean visit lasted three months, returning via San Francisco. At the end of September, Min Yeong-ik travelled to Seoul and reported to the queen consort. She at once established English language schools with U.S. instructors. Min Yeong-ik's report had been optimistic:
Matters culminated in October 1883 with a royal request that the Americans send an adviser to Korea to the office of foreign affairs, and instructors for the army. An order for arms was placed with a US firm based in Yokohama. A complement of three military instructors arrived in April 1888.
Progressives vs Conservatives
The Progressives were founded during the late 1870s by a group of yangban who supported westernisation of Joseon. They wanted immediate westernisation, including a complete cessation of ties with Qing China. With the queen consort possibly unaware of their anti-Chinese sentiments, they were granted frequent royal audiences and meetings to discuss progressivism and nationalism. They advocated for educational and social reforms, including the equality of the sexes by granting women full rights. The queen consort was convinced at first, but she did not support their anti-Chinese stance. In the result, she became a proponent of the Sadae faction which was pro-China and in favour of gradual westernisation.
In 1884, the conflict between the Progressives and the Sadaes intensified. The Progressives, frustrated by the Sadaes and the growing influence of the Chinese, successfully conspired to secure the aid of Japanese Legation staff and troops. American Legation officials, in particular Naval Attaché George C. Foulk, heard about the possibility of trouble breaking out caused by the Progressives. This rumour reached the British who put out feelers to their various other contacts. All this found its way back to the chief Progressive conspirators, who, fearing their dangerous game was almost up, decided to act immediately.
They staged a bloody palace coup on 4 December 1884 (the Gapsin Coup) on the occasion of a diplomatic dinner celebrating the opening of the new Korean postal service. The Progressives killed numerous high-ranking Sadaes and secured key government positions vacated by Sadaes who had fled the capital or had been killed. This new administration began to issue edicts in both the King and queen consort's names. The King and the queen consort had been kidnapped and were held prisoner by armed Japanese guards. The new cabinet did not secure popular support despite their agenda of modernisation and planned political, economic, social, and cultural reforms.
The queen consort was horrified by the violence of the Progressives. They effected seven murders of high-ranking Koreans. Clan leaders summoned to the palace by letters purporting to come from the King were beheaded on stepping out of their sedan chairs. Following suppression of the coup, the queen consort no longer trusted the Japanese. She refused to support the actions of the Progressives, declaring any documents signed in her name to be null and void. After only two days of control over the administration, the Progressives were crushed by Chinese troops under Yuan Shikai's command. These were sent following a secret request by the queen consort to the Chinese Resident. A handful of Progressive leaders were killed, others escaping to Japan. The Japanese troops were only 130 in all and were easily overwhelmed. Japanese deaths and property damage followed. The Treaty of Hanseong (8 January 1885) negotiated by Count Inouye on behalf of the Japanese required Joseon to pay a "moderate" indemnity for damages inflicted: 40 Japanese were killed during the coup and the Japanese legation was burned to the ground. In addition, the Koreans agreed to rebuild the Japanese Legation plus some barracks for their troops. Lastly, those guilty of murdering a Japanese officer were to be punished.
On 18 April, the Convention of Tientsin (1885) was made in Tianjin, China, between the Japanese and the Chinese. In it, they both agreed to pull troops out of Joseon. Each party agreed it would send troops only if their property was endangered; each would inform the other before doing so. Both nations also agreed to pull out their military instructors so as to allow the newly arrived Americans to perform that task. The Japanese withdrew troops from Korea, leaving a number of legation guards.
Public policy
Economy
Following the opening of all Korean ports to the Japanese and Western merchants in 1888, contact and involvement with outsiders increased foreign trade rapidly. In 1883, the Maritime Customs Service was established under the patronage of the queen consort and the supervision of Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet of the United Kingdom. The Maritime Customs Service administered the business of foreign trade and collection of tariffs.
By 1883, the economy was now no longer in a state of monopoly conducted by Japanese merchants as it had been only a few years ago. Much of the economy was controlled by the Koreans, with some participation shared between Western nations, Japan and China. In 1884, the first Korean commercial firms such as the Daedong and the Changdong Company emerged. The Korean copper coinage had been debased to the exchange of 500 cash to one US dollar. This meant that transactions in cash were heavy and bulky. It was not a currency suited to the scale of commercial transactions. Japanese yen and Japanese banks were used everywhere. In 1883 the Korean Bureau of Mint produced a new coin, or dangojeon thereby securing a stable Korean currency, but in the five years following the new currency was blamed, rightly or wrongly, for the inflation of basic commodities. Western investment also began to grow in 1886. One third of all imported goods were carried inland by men or pack animals. They were frequently stopped and taxed for transit by road barriers on the way. The Seoul government in exchange for a fee authorised these barrier levies.
The German A.H. Maeterns, with the aid of the United States Department of Agriculture, created a new project designated the "American Farm." This was on a large plot of land donated by the queen consort to promote modern agriculture. Farm implements, seeds, and milk cows were imported from the United States. In June 1883, the Bureau of Machines was established and steam engines were imported. Finally, telegraph lines facilitating communication between Joseon, China, and Japan were laid between 1883 and 1885.
Despite the fact that the royal couple had brought the Korean economy to a degree of westernisation, modern manufacturing facilities did not emerge.
Education
From early projections in 1880, in May 1885 a palace school to educate the children of the elite was approved by the queen consort. The Royal English School () was established by the American missionary Homer Hulbert and three other missionaries. The school had two departments, liberal education and military education. Courses were taught exclusively in English using English textbooks. However, due to low attendance, the school was closed shortly after the last English teacher, Bunker, resigned in late 1893.
In 1886, the queen consort patronized the first all-girls' educational institution, Ewha Academy (later Ewha University). The school was established in Seoul by Mary F. Scranton. She collaborated with Methodist missionary and teacher Henry Gerhardt Appenzeller, who worked in Korea from 1885 to his death in June 1902. As Louisa Rothweiler, a founding teacher of Ewha Academy observed, the school was, at its early stage, more of a place for poor girls to be fed and clothed than a place of education. The creation of the academy was a significant social change.
Missionaries contributed much to the development of Western education in Joseon.
Medicine, music, and religion
The arrival of Horace Newton Allen under invitation of the queen consort in September 1884 marked the formal introduction of Christianity, which spread rapidly in Joseon. He was able, with the queen consort's permission and official sanction, to arrange for the appointment of other missionaries as government employees. He also introduced modern medicine in Korea by establishing the first western Royal Medical Clinic of Gwanghyewon in February 1885.
In April 1885, numerous Protestant missionaries began to arrive in Joseon. Prominent Protestant missionaries Horace Grant Underwood, Lillias Horton Underwood, and William B. Scranton (with his mother, Mary Scranton) moved to Korea in May 1885. They established churches within Seoul and began to establish centers in the countryside. Catholic missionaries arrived soon afterwards.
Christian missionaries made converts but also created contributions towards modernisation of the country. Concepts of equality, human rights and freedom, and the participation of both men and women in religious activities were introduced for the first time to Joseon. The queen consort wanted the literacy rate to rise, and with the aid of Christian educational programs, it did so within a matter of a few years.
Notable changes were made in music. Western music theory partly displaced the traditional Eastern concepts. Protestant missions introduced Christian hymns and other Western songs that created a strong impetus to modify Korean ideas about music. The organ and other Western musical instruments were introduced in 1890, and a Christian hymnal was published in the Korean language in 1893 under the commission of the queen consort.
The queen consort invited different missionaries to enter Joseon. She valued their knowledge of Western history, science, and mathematics. It can be assumed these advantages were seen as outweighing the potential loss of ancestor worship, which Catholic converts were well-known to have resisted in face of sustained persecution in the past. Isolationists continued to view Christianity as subversive of morals in the refusal to perform rites for ancestors and the perceived disloyalty to the state. Some scholars had attempted to classify Christianity not as a religion but a school of learning. A degree of religious tolerance was a practical outcome of the queen consort's policies, whether or not it had been an overt goal. The queen consort herself never became a Christian, but remained a devout Buddhist with influences from shamanism and Confucianism.
Military
Modern weapons were imported from Japan and the United States in 1883. The first military factories were established and new military uniforms were created in 1884. Under joint patronage of Gojong and the queen consort, a request was made to the United States for more American military instructors to speed up the military modernisation of Korea. Military modernisation was slow compared to the other projects.
In October 1883, American minister Lucius Foote arrived to take command of the modernisation of Joseon's older army units, which had not started to Westernise. In April 1888, General William McEntyre Dye and two other military instructors arrived from the United States, followed in May by a fourth instructor. They brought about more rapid military development.
A new military school was created called , and an officers' training program began. Visible progress in the preparedness and capacity of the Korean military was being achieved. The growing troop numbers caused the Japanese concern as to the possible impact of Korean troops if the Japanese government did not interfere to stall the process. By 1898 the Korean army comprised 4,800 men in Seoul who were drilled by the Russians at that time. There were 1,200 Korean soldiers in the provinces and the navy owned two small vessels.
Despite army training becoming increasingly on par with that of the Chinese and the Japanese, naval investment of all kinds was neglected. This omission represented a gap in the modernisation project. Failure to develop naval defence rendered Joseon's long sea borders more vulnerable to invasion. This was a severe contrast to the period nearly 300 years earlier when Joseon's navy under Admiral Yi Sun-sin had been the strongest in East Asia. Now, the Korean navy comprised old ships almost powerless against the advanced ships of modern navies.
Press
The first newspaper to be published in Joseon was the Hanseong Sunbo , an all-Hanja newspaper. It was published as a thrice monthly official government gazette by the (publishing house), an agency of the Foreign Ministry. It included contemporary news of the day, essays and articles about westernisation, and news of modernisation of Joseon. In January 1886, the published a new newspaper, Hanseong Jubo (The Seoul Weekly). The publication of a Korean-language newspaper was a significant development, and the paper itself played an important role as a communication medium to the masses until it was abolished in 1888 under pressure from the Chinese government. A newspaper entirely in Hangul, making no use of the Korean Hanja script, was not published again until 1894. (Seoul News) was published as a weekly newspaper under the patronage of both Gojong and the queen consort. It was written half in Korean and half in Japanese.
Reforms, rebellion, and war
Trade 1875 onwards
The queen consort's economic reforms opened the Korean economy to the world, but in practice the majority of trade for Korean agricultural products was with China and Japan. After the failure of the Progressive coup, Japanese policy focused on expanding economic ties. Between 1877-81 imports into Korea increased by 800%; between 1885-1891 rice and other grain exports increased by 700%. Most grain was exported to Japan via Osaka. Many kinds of household and luxury goods were imported into Korea, in turn encouraging officials to demand extra or new taxes from the farmers. Between 1891 and 1895 the chief Korean exports were rice, beans, tobacco, raw hides, gold dust and silk. Ginseng was now permitted to be exported as a privately traded product, the old government monopoly ending and being replaced by high taxation. The 1895 trade value was almost 13 million US dollars of the day.
Economic activity between 1883 and 1897 was conducted in a society unprepared for the impact of mass importation of foreign-produced goods, largely from Japan. In the period 1886 to 1888 an ineffective currency reform fuelled inflation; it was not until 1897 that relative price stability in textiles was experienced.
In the period 1875-1894 Korea signed 11 treaties with 9 foreign powers. These were: Austria (1892); China (1882); France (1886); Germany (1883); Great Britain (1883); Italy (1884); Japan (1876), ((1882), (1885); Russia (1884); and the United States of America (1882). Their descriptions and chronological sequence are given with Korean names elsewhere.
Political instability 1894–1895
Under this external economic pressure, Korean peasants decided to protest, then rebel. The Donghak Peasant Revolution, that lasted from January 1894 to 25 December 1895, presented the queen consort with an extremely dangerous situation. Its causes are complex, being religious, nationalistic and economic. The queen consort was assassinated in October 1895 before this matter was resolved. During 1894, much of Southern Korea was in a state of open peasant revolt which the government could not control. The Chinese were requested by Korea to send troops to restore order, which they did, hoping to establish a fully committed pro-Chinese policy at court. The Japanese government unilaterally sent troops to Korea, abducting the now pro-Chinese Daewongun and effecting a violent coup at the palace resulting in a pro-reform, pro-Japanese government. By this time the peasants had largely withdrawn and neither Japanese nor Chinese troops were required for any Korean purpose. Each side refused to return troops to their country of origin until the other did so first. Thus arose the First Sino-Japanese War (January 1894-25 December 1895) in which the Japanese were the decisive victors.
Personal life
Personality and appearance
Detailed descriptions of the queen consort can be found in The National Assembly Library of Korea and in records kept by Lillias Underwood a close and trusted American friend of the queen consort. Underwood had come to Korea in 1888 as a missionary and was appointed by the queen consort as her doctor.
These sources describe the queen consort's appearance, voice, and public manner. She was said to have had a soft face with strong features. These were considered attributes of classic beauty in contrast to the king's known preference for "sultry" women. The queen consort's personal speaking voice was soft and warm, but when conducting affairs of the state, she asserted her points with strength. Her public manner was formal, and she heavily adhered to court etiquette and traditional law. Underwood described her in the following way:
Isabella Bird Bishop, a well-known British travel writer and member of the Royal Geographical Society, described the queen consort's appearance as that of "...a very nice-looking slender woman, with glossy raven-black hair and a very pale skin, the pallor enhanced by the use of pearl powder" while meeting with her when Bishop traveled to Korea. Bishop had also mentioned Empress Myeongseong in her book, Korea and Her Neighbours, in detail:
Bishop described Jayeong as "clever and educated", and Gojong to be "kind" during the time she visited the palace.
William Franklin Sands, a United States diplomat who came to Korea during Japan's colonisation, also spoke highly about the queen consort:
Early years
The young queen consort and her husband were incompatible in the beginning of their marriage. Both found the other's preferences unattractive. She preferred to stay in her chambers studying, while he enjoyed spending his days and nights drinking, attending banquets and enjoying royal parties. The queen, who was genuinely concerned to understand affairs of state, immersed herself in philosophy, history, and science books of a kind normally reserved for men. Court officials noted that the queen consort was highly selective in choosing who she associated with and confided in.
Her first pregnancy came five years after marriage, at the age of 21, and ended in despair and humiliation when her infant son died shortly after birth. She lost all her children apart from Yi Cheok, born when she was 24. His older sister was born when the queen consort was 23, but died and with a birth of two sons followed Yi Cheok's birth. They were born respectively during the queen consort's 25th and 28th years, and neither survived. These difficulties experienced in bearing healthy children may reflect in part the stresses of family and political relationships. There were no pregnancies after the age of 28, which was earlier than some other royal wives whose child-bearing ended in around their early thirties.
Korean politics had resulted in the deaths of many of the queen consort's immediate relatives. In August 1866, the year of the royal marriage, there was an armed skirmish between the French Admiral Roze and the Korean troops at Ganghwa Island. In 1876, the process leading to the Treaty of Ganghwa soured the relationship of Heungseon Daewongun with his son. As that relationship deteriorated, the king's father made death threats against the queen consort. Her mother was assassinated in 1874 in a bombing incident, along with her adoptive older brother, Min Seung-ho. During the Insurrection of 1882 and the 1884 coup, some of the queen consort's relatives were killed. The queen consort herself was exposed to personal danger as the attempts on her life and safety demonstrate.
The royal couple's surviving son, Sunjong, was a sickly child, frequently catching illnesses and convalescing for weeks. The Empress cared personally for the Crown Prince and sought help from shamans and monks. The latter received rewards for blessings. Had the Crown Prince died, his rights would have devolved to the offspring of a royal concubine. The Crown Prince and his mother shared a close relationship despite her strong personality.
Later years
Gojong and his wife shared an affection during the later years of their marriage. Gojong was chosen to become King not because of his astuteness (lacking because he was never formally educated) or because of his bloodline (which was mixed with courtesan and common blood), but because the Pungyang Jo clan had wrongly assumed they could control him indefinitely through his father. Eventually Gojong was pressured by his Min advisers to seize control of the government, which he did. In attending to responsibilities of state, he depended frequently on his capable wife for the conduct of international and domestic affairs. In so doing, Gojong came to appreciate his wife's wit, intelligence, and ability to learn quickly. As the problems of the kingdom increased, Gojong relied even more on his wife.
By the years of modernisation of Joseon, it is safe to assume that Gojong had come to love his wife. They began to spend much time with each other, privately and officially. His affection for her was enduring. When Daewongun regained political power after the death of the queen consort, he presented a proposal with the aid of certain Japanese officials posthumously to lower his daughter-in-law's status from queen consort to commoner. The official degree of degradation issued against the dead queen was regarded as a fraud and was rescinded by the issuers not long afterwards, in the meantime having been rejected by the US and all legations bar one. On 15 October 1895, a few days after the murder, when the terrified King and the Crown Prince were confined to the palace, still believing that the queen consort had managed to run away from her pursuer, Daewongun issued in the King's name an edict that she was to be divorced for desertion and that the King would remarry.
Gojong bitterly refused to cooperate. Instead, he raised his deceased wife's position to (); the title being the first rank of Women of the Internal Court. He erected a spirit shrine to her in the inner palace enclosure. It was connected to the house by a decorated gallery.
After Gojong's father died in early 1898, he did not attend the funeral due to their strained relationship in consequence of the queen consort's murder and Daewongun's subsequent actions. It is said that Gojong's cries at the death of his father were heard over the palace walls.
Residence
The royal couple had three palaces available to them in Seoul. They chose to reside in the Northern Palace, Gyeongbokgung Palace, where ultimately the queen's assassination took place. After that, and following his return from sanctuary in the Russian Legation, Gojong refused to live in Gyeongbokgung Palace. In life, the queen consort used a series of inter-communicating small rooms separated by sliding panel doors. These rooms were approximately 8 foot (2.4 metres) square. This palace also contained the great Throne Hall, Geunjeongjeon.
Assassination
The Eulmi Incident
In the immediate run-up to her death, the queen consort had allied herself with Russian interests to counterbalance Japanese influence. She was perceived by the Japanese as an important hostile target. Her assassination took place in the early hours on 8 October 1895 within the king’s private quarters, in an attack known in Korea as the Eulmi Incident (). A few court ladies also shared her fate due to the Japanese mistaking them for the queen. The attack was organized by Miura Gorō and carried out by over fifty Japanese agents. She was taken to the pine forest behind the palace where her body was then violated, burned, and buried. The royal palace was in disarray after the ordeal, but Gojong had ordered a eunuch to search for the queen’s remains: only a singed finger bone was later found.
Funeral procession and tomb
On 13 October 1897, Gojong (with Russian support) had regained his throne, and spent a fortune (70,000 dollars in United States money of the day) to have his beloved queen's remains properly honored and entombed. On 22 November 1897, her mourning procession included 5,000 soldiers, 650 police, 4,000 lanterns, hundreds of scrolls honoring her, and giant wooden horses intended for her use in the afterlife. The honors Gojong placed on her at her funeral were a recognition of her diplomatic and heroic efforts on behalf of Korea against the Japanese. They were also a statement of his own love for her. The recovered remains are in her tomb located in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, South Korea.
Aftermath
Gojong left the palace in 1896 and took refuge on 11 February for a year in the nearby armed Russian Legation where he remained safe with the Crown Prince until February 1897. Meanwhile the third stage of the Gabo Reforms were hugely unpopular including because Korean men were ordered to cut off their topknots. By the time Gojong returned to the palace, the temporary ascendancy of Japanese interests (a pro-Japanese cabinet and the Japanese-instigated Gabo Reform) following the Sino-Japanese war and the assassination of the queen consort was over. This was because of popular anti-Japanese sentiment, and the fact that the King had been in the effective control of the Russians. In the longer term these tensions resulted in Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War. In 1910 the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty established Korea's status as a Japanese colony. This status lasted between 29 August 1910 and 15 August 1945.
Proclaimed titles
On 6 January 1897, Gojong changed the queen consort's posthumous name to "Queen Munseong" (문성왕후, 文成王后), and altered her funeral location to Hongneung. Officials advised that the name was too similar to King Jeongjo's Munseong temple name, therefore on 2 March 1897 Gojong changed the name to "Myeongseong." That name is not to be confused with Queen Myeongseong of the Cheongpung Kim clan, King Hyeonjong's wife.
Gojong proclaimed a new reign and became Emperor Gwangmu on 13 October 1897. The queen's title was also changed to "Empress Myeongseong" (), that same month adding (), meaning Great, to her posthumous title.
Memorials
In the place where the limited physical remains of the queen consort were found after cremation, a marker of the site was erected by 1898. Gojong built a spirit house for her, now demolished, a photograph of which survives from 1912. The mortal remains of the couple are interred together at the Joseon Royal tombs complex at Hongyuneung (홍유릉), Namyangju.
Photographs and illustrations
Speculation as to photograph
Documents note that the queen consort was in an official royal family photograph, but its whereabouts are unknown. Another royal family photograph does exist, but it was taken after the Empress' death. It shows Gojong, Sunjong, and Crown Princess Min, Sunjong's first wife. Shin Byong-ryong, a professor at Konkuk University, has stated his belief that the lack of photos of the queen consort derives from her constant fear of being recognisable to the public. Others believe that a photo must exist due to her political prominence. They suspect that the Japanese government may have removed all evidence of this kind after her assassination. It is their further speculation that the Japanese themselves may have kept a photo of her. As at 2022, it remains questionable whether any contemporary image of her in photographic form survives.
The 2003 photograph (below) and the Japanese print of 1895 both show the women depicted as wearing a wooden headdress of a distinctive character. These are the prerequisite of elite or royal women in the late 19th century, though the precise constructed form is difficult to distinguish when in use. An example survives in the National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul.
2003: a photograph surfaces
KBS News in 2003 reported that a photograph allegedly of the queen consort had been disclosed to the public. The photograph was said to have been purchased for a large sum by the grandfather of Min Su-gyeong and that it became a family heirloom. In the photo, a woman is accompanied by a retinue at her rear. Some experts have stated that the woman was clearly of high-rank, and possibly a wife of a bureaucrat. The woman's clothing appears to be of the kind worn only by the royal family, but her outfit did not display the embroideries expected to decorate the apparel of the Empress. Some consider further that she may be a high-ranking maidservant of the Empress.
Alleged portraits of Empress Myeongseong
Italian artist Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766) was once alleged to have painted the portrait of the Empress in oils. However, the painting was too early and was subsequently discovered to be a portrait of Xiang Fei, a concubine of Emperor Qianlong during 18th century Qing Dynasty.
In August 2017, a gallery exhibition held by Daboseong Ancient Art Museum in Central Seoul displayed a portrait of a woman said to be Empress Myeongseong. The woman is seen wearing a white hanbok, a white hemp hat, and leather shoes. She sits on a western-style chair. Kim Jong-chun, director of Daboseong Gallery, stated that when the portrait was examined, "Min clan" was written above the face side, and "portrait of a Madame" had been inscribed on the back. Subsequently, based on infrared research by the gallery, scholars and an art professor doubt the identification of the woman as being the queen consort.
Japanese illustration
On 13 January 2005, history professor Lee Tae-jin (이태진, 李泰鎭) of Seoul National University unveiled an illustration from an old Japanese magazine he had found at an antique bookstore in Tokyo. The 84th edition of the Japanese magazine Fūzokugahō (風俗畫報) published on 25 January 1895 has a Japanese illustration of Gojong and the queen consort receiving Inoue Kaoru, the Japanese chargé d'affaires. The illustration is marked 24 December 1894 and signed by an artist with the surname Ishizuka (石塚). It also has an inscription: "The [Korean] King and Queen, moved by our honest advice, realize the need for resolute reform for the first time." Lee considered that the depiction of clothes and background are sufficiently detailed to suggest that it was drawn at the scene. Both the King and Inoue are shown looking at the queen consort in a manner that suggests the conversation was taking place between the queen consort and Inoue, with the King listening.
Family
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Hyo-son (민효손, 閔孝孫)
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother
Lady Yun of the Papyeong Yun clan (파평 윤씨); daughter of Yun Ji-kang (윤지강, 尹之崗)
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Yeo-jun (민여준, 閔汝俊) (1539–1599)
Adoptive Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather - Min Yeo-geon (민여건, 閔汝健; 1538-1585), older brother of Min Yeo-jun
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother
Lady Yi of the Jeonju Yi clan; descendant of Grand Prince Hyoryeong
Adoptive Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother - Lady Kang of the Jinju Kang clan (진주 강씨, 晉州 姜氏); daughter of Kang Sa-sang (강사상, 姜士尙; 1519-1581)
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Gi (민기, 閔機) (1568–18 January 1641)
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother
Lady Hong of the Namyang Hong clan; daughter of Hong Ik-hyeon ()
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Gwang-hun (민광훈, 閔光勳) (1595–1659), scholar during the reign of King Injong.
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother
Lady Yi of the Yeonan Yi clan (연안 이씨); daughter of Yi Gwang-jeong, Internal Prince Yeonwon (연원부원군 이광정, 李光庭) (1552 – 1629)
Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Yu-jung, Internal Prince Yeoseong (여양부원군 민유중, 閔維重) (1630–1687)
Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother
Internal Princess Consort Eunseong of the Eunjin Song clan (은성부부인 은진 송씨) (1637–1672), Min Yu-jung's second wife; daughter of Song Jun-gil (), Yeonguijeong during the reign of King Hyojong.
Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Jin-hu (민진후, 閔鎭厚) (1659–1720), eldest brother of Queen Inhyeon (second consort of King Sukjong).
Great-Great-Great-Grandmother
Lady Yi of the Yeonan Yi clan; daughter of Yi Deok-ro (), Min Jin-hu's second wife
Great-Great-Grandfather
Min Ik-su () (1690–1742).
Great-Grandfather
Min Baek-bun () (1723–?)
Great-Grandmother
Lady Sim (); daughter of Sim Jung-hyeon ()
Grandfather
Min Gi-hyeon () (1751–1 August 1811)
Grandmother
Lady Jeong of the (1773–9 March 1838); Min Gi-hyeon's third wife
Father
Min Chi-rok, Internal Prince Yeoseong (여성부원군 민치록, 閔致祿) (1799 – 17 September 1858)
Mother
Internal Princess Consort Hanchang of the Hansan Yi clan (한창부부인 한산 이씨) (1818 – 30 November 1874); Min Chi-rok's second wife
Grandfather: Yi Gyu-nyeon ()
Grandmother: Lady Kim of the Andong Kim clan (안동 김씨, 安東 金氏)
Stepmother: Internal Princess Consort Haeryeong of the Haeju Oh clan (1798 – 15 March 1833)
Step-Grandfather: Oh Hui-sang () (1763–1833)
Siblings
Adoptive older brother: (1830–30 November 1874); son of Min Chi-gu (1795–1874)
Adoptive sister-in-law: Lady Kim of the Gwangsan Kim clan clan (?–? 23 April); Min Seung-ho's first wife
Unnamed adoptive nephew (?–1874)
Adoptive nephew: (1860–1914); eldest son of Min Tae-ho (1834–1884)
Adoptive sister-in-law: Lady Kim of the ); Min Seung-ho's second wife
Adoptive sister-in-law: Lady Yi of the ; Min Seung-ho's third wife
Unnamed older brother; premature death
Older sister: Lady Min of the Yeoheung Min clan; premature death
Older sister: Lady Min of the Yeoheung Min clan; premature death
Husband
King Gojong (later "Emperor Gojong") (9 September 1852 – 21 January 1919)
Father-in-law: Heungseon Daewongun (21 December 1820 – 22 February 1898)
Legal father-in-law: King Munjo of Joseon (18 September 1809 – 25 June 1830)
Mother-in-law: Grand Internal Princess Consort Sunmok of the Yeoheung Min clan (3 February 1818 – 8 January 1898)
Legal mother-in-law: Queen Shinjeong of the Pungyang Jo clan (21 January 1809 – 4 June 1890)
Children
Son: Prince Royal Yi Choi (원자 이최) (4 November 1871 – 8 November 1871)
Unnamed daughter (13 February 1873 – 28 September 1873)
Son: Yi Cheok, Emperor Sunjong (25 March 1874 – 24 April 1926)
Daughter-in-law: Empress Sunmyeong of the Yeoheung Min clan (20 November 1872 – 5 November 1904) – daughter of Min Tae-ho, leader of the Yeoheung Min clan
Daughter-in-law: Yun Jeung-sun, Empress Sunjeong of the (19 September 1894 – 3 February 1966) – daughter of Marquis Yun Taek-yeong
Son: Grand Prince Yi Deol (대군 이덜) (5 April 1875 – 18 April 1875)
Son: Grand Prince Yi Bu (대군 이부) (18 February 1878 – 5 June 1878)
In popular culture
Film and television
Portrayed by Hwang Jeong-sun in the 1959 film Daewongun and Minbi
Portrayed by Choi Eun-hee in the 1964 film The Sino-Japanese War and Queen Min the Heroine
Portrayed by Do Geum-bong in the 1969 film Destiny of My Load
Portrayed by Yoon Jeong-hee in the 1971 film The Women of Gyeongbokgung
Portrayed by Kim Yeong-ae in the 1973 MBC TV series Queen Min
Portrayed by Do Geum-bong in the 1973 film Three Days of Their Reign
Portrayed by Kang Soo-yeon and Kim Yeong-ae in the 1982 KBS1 TV series Wind and Cloud
Portrayed by Kim Ji-sook in the 1989–1990 KBS2 TV series Wind, Clouds, and Rain
Portrayed by Kim Hee-ae in the 1990 MBC TV series 500 Years of Joseon: Daewongun
Portrayed by Ha Hee-ra in the 1995–1996 KBS1 TV series Dazzling Dawn
Portrayed by Moon Geun-young, Lee Mi-yeon and Choi Myung-gil in the 2001–2002 KBS2 TV series Empress Myeongseong.
Portrayed by Soo Ae in the 2009 film The Sword With No Name.
Portrayed by Kang Soo-yeon in the 2006 film Hanbando
Portrayed by Seo Yi-sook in the 2010 SBS TV series Jejungwon.
Portrayed by Ha Ji-eun in the 2014 KBS2 TV series Gunman in Joseon.
Portrayed by Choi Ji-na in the 2015 KBS2 TV series The Merchant: Gaekju 2015
Portrayed by Lee Yoon-jeong in the 2015 film The Sound of a Flower
Portrayed by Kim Ji-hyeon in the 2019 SBS TV series Nokdu Flower
Portrayed by Park Jung-yeon in the 2020 TV Chosun TV series Kingmaker: The Change of Destiny
Portrayed by Cha Ji-yeon in the 2021 film Lost Face
Musicals
The Last Empress (musical)
See also
Society in the Joseon dynasty
Political factions during the Joseon dynasty
Japanese Occupation of Gyeongbokgung Palace
Joseon Dynasty
Notes
References
Further reading
Bird, Isabella. (1898). Korea and her Neighbours. London: Murray. OCLC 501671063. Reprinted 1987: ; OCLC 15109843
Dechler, Martina. (1999). Culture and the State in Late Choson Korea.
Duus, Peter. (1998). The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895–1910. Berkeley: University of California Press. /;
Han, Young-woo, Empress Myeongseong and Korean Empire (명성황후와 대한제국)(2001). Hyohyeong Publishing
Hann, Woo-Keun. (1996). The History of Korea.
Keene, Donald. (2002). Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912. New York: Columbia University Press. ; OCLC 46731178
Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier Contact between Choson Korea and Tokugawa Japan.
MacKensie, Frederick Arthur. (1920). Korea's Fight for Freedom. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell. OCLC 3124752 Revised 2006: (See also Project Gutenberg.)
__. (1908). The Tragedy of Korea. London: Hodder and Stoughton. OCLC 2008452 Reprinted 2006:
Nahm, Andrew C. (1996). A History of the Korean People: Tradition and Transformation. (1996)
_. (1997). Introduction to Korean History and Culture.
Schmid, Andre. (2002). Korea between Empires, 1895–1919. New York: Columbia University Press. ; ; OCLC 48618117
Andrews, William. (2018) The Dragon Queen. (Fiction) Amazon Publishing.
External links
Making of an Asian hit: A Korean royal tragedy in the Broadway style by Ricardo Saludo, Asia Week (18 December 1998)
Source of Illustrations by Henry Savage-Landor in Corea or Cho-sen, Land of the Morning Calm A. Henry Savage-Landor (1895) William Heinemann, London https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13128/pg13128-images.html#LIST_OF_PLATES
Characteristics of Queen of Corea, The New York Times, 10 November 1895.
Japanese Document Sheds New Light on Korean Queen's Murder by Yoo Seok-jae, The Chosun Ilbo (12 January 2005)
Joseon Buddhists
1851 births
1895 deaths
Korean posthumous empresses
Korean Buddhist monarchs
House of Yi
Assassinated royalty
Assassinated Korean people
People murdered in Korea
19th-century Korean people
19th-century Korean women
Royal consorts of the Joseon dynasty
Queens consort of Korea
Yeoheung Min clan
Female murder victims
Violence against women in Asia
Regents of Korea
1895 murders in Asia
People from Yeoju
Deaths by stabbing |
426077 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie%20Endowment%20for%20International%20Peace | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C., with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in 1910 by Andrew Carnegie, the organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between countries, reducing global conflict, and promoting active international engagement between the United States and countries around the world. It engages leaders from multiple sectors and across the political spectrum.
In the University of Pennsylvania's "2019 Global Go To Think Tanks Report", Carnegie was ranked the number 1 top think tank in the world. In the 2015 Global Go To Think Tanks Report, Carnegie was ranked the third most influential think tank in the world, after the Brookings Institution and Chatham House. It was ranked as the top Independent Think Tank in 2018.
Its headquarters building, prominently located on the Embassy Row section of Massachusetts Avenue, was completed in 1989 on a design by architecture firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls.
The chairperson of Carnegie's board of trustees is former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, and the organization's president is former California Supreme Court justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, who replaced CIA Director William J. Burns in 2021.
Organizational history
Establishment
Andrew Carnegie, like other leading internationalists of his day, believed that war could be eliminated by stronger international laws and organizations. "I am drawn more to this cause than to any," he wrote in 1907. Carnegie's single largest commitment in this field was his creation of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
On his seventy-fifth birthday, November 25, 1910, Andrew Carnegie announced the establishment of the Endowment with a gift of $10 million worth of first mortgage bonds, paying a 5% rate of interest. The interest income generated from these bonds was to be used to fund a new think tank dedicated to advancing the cause of world peace. In his deed of gift, presented in Washington on December 14, 1910, Carnegie charged trustees to use the fund to "hasten the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilization", and he gave his trustees "the widest discretion as to the measures and policy they shall from time to time adopt" in carrying out the purpose of the fund.
Carnegie chose longtime adviser Elihu Root, senator from New York and former Secretary of War and of State, to be the Endowment's first president. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912, Root served until 1925. Founder trustees included Harvard University president Charles William Eliot, philanthropist Robert S. Brookings, former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Joseph Hodges Choate, former secretary of state John W. Foster, and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching president Henry Smith Pritchett.
The first fifty years: 1910–1960
At the outset of America's involvement in World War I in 1917, the Carnegie Endowment trustees unanimously declared, "the most effective means of promoting durable international peace is to prosecute the war against the Imperial Government of Germany to final victory for democracy." In December 1918, Carnegie Endowment Secretary James Brown Scott and four other Endowment personnel, including James T. Shotwell, sailed with President Woodrow Wilson on the USS George Washington to join the peace talks in France.
Carnegie is often remembered for having built Carnegie libraries. They were funded by other Carnegie trusts. However, the Endowment built libraries in Belgium, France, and Serbia in three cities which had been badly damaged in the war. In addition, in 1918, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) began to support library special collections on international issues through its International Mind Alcove program, which aimed to foster a more global perspective among the public in the United States and other countries. The Endowment concluded its support for this program in 1958.
On July 14, 1923, the Hague Academy of International Law, an initiative of the Endowment, was formally opened in the Peace Palace at The Hague.
The Peace Palace had been built by the Carnegie Foundation (Netherlands) in 1913 to house the Permanent Court of Arbitration and a library of international law.
In 1925, Nicholas Murray Butler succeeded Elihu Root as president of the Endowment. In December of the same year, the endowment's Board approved a proposal by President Butler to offer aid in modernizing the Vatican Library. From 1926 to 1939 the Carnegie Endowment expended some $200,000 on the endeavor. For his work, including his involvement with the Kellogg–Briand Pact, Butler was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
In November 1944, the Carnegie Endowment published Raphael Lemkin's Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation—Analysis of Government—Proposals for Redress. The work was the first to bring the word genocide into the global lexicon. In April 1945, James T. Shotwell, director of the Carnegie Endowment's Division of Economics and History, served as chairman of the semiofficial consultants to the U.S. delegation at the San Francisco conference to draw up the United Nations Charter. As chairman, Shotwell pushed for an amendment to establish a permanent United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which exists to this day.
In December 1945, Butler stepped down after twenty years as president and chairman of the board of trustees. Butler was the last living member of the original board selected by Andrew Carnegie in 1910. John Foster Dulles was elected to succeed Butler as chairman of the board of trustees, where he served until fellow board member Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president of the U.S. in 1952 and appointed Dulles Secretary of State.
In 1946, Alger Hiss succeeded Butler as president of the Endowment but resigned in 1949 after being denounced as a spy for the Soviet Union by Whittaker Chambers. Hiss was replaced in the interim by James T. Shotwell.
In 1947, the Carnegie Endowment's headquarters were moved closer to the United Nations in New York City, while the Washington office at Peter Parker House (700 Jackson Pl., NW) became a subsidiary branch.
In 1950, the Endowment board of trustees appointed Joseph E. Johnson, a historian and former State Department official, to take the helm.
The Cold War years: 1960–1990
In 1963, the Carnegie Endowment reconstituted its International Law Program in order to address several emerging international issues: the increase in significance and impact of international organizations; the technological revolution that facilitated the production of new military weaponry; the spread of Communism; the surge in newly independent states; and the challenges of new forms of economic activity, including global corporations and intergovernmental associations. The program resulted in the New York-based Study Group on the United Nations and the International Organization Study Group at the European Centre in Geneva.
In 1970, Thomas L. Hughes became the sixth president of the Carnegie Endowment. Hughes moved the Endowment's headquarters from New York to Washington, D.C., and closed the Endowment's European Centre in Geneva.
The Carnegie Endowment acquired full ownership of Foreign Policy magazine in the spring of 1978. The Endowment published Foreign Policy for 30 years, moving it from a quarterly academic journal to a bi-monthly glossy covering the nexus of globalization and international policy. The magazine was sold to The Washington Post in 2008.
In 1981, Carnegie Endowment Associate Fred Bergsten co-founded the Institute for International Economics—today known as the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Citing the growing danger of a nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan, Thomas L. Hughes formed an eighteen-member Task Force on Non-Proliferation and South Asian Security to propose methods for reducing the growing nuclear tensions on the subcontinent.
In 1989, two former Carnegie associates, Barry Blechman and Michael Krepon, founded the Henry L. Stimson Center.
After the Cold War: 1990–2000
In 1991, Morton Abramowitz was named the seventh president of the Endowment. Abramowitz, previously a State Department official, focused the Endowment's attention on Russia in the post-Soviet era. In this spirit, the Carnegie Endowment opened the Carnegie Moscow Center in 1994 as a home of Russian scholar-commentators.
Jessica Mathews joined the Carnegie Endowment as its eighth president in May 1997. Under her leadership, Carnegie's goal was to become the first multinational/global think tank.
In 2000, Mathews announced the creation of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) headed by Demetrios Papademetriou which became the first stand-alone think tank concerned with international migration.
The Global Think Tank: 2000–present
As first laid out with the Global Vision in 2007, the Carnegie Endowment aspired to be the first global think tank. Mathews said that her aim was to make Carnegie the place that brings what the world thinks into thinking about U.S. policy and to communicate that thinking to a global audience.
During Mathews' tenure as president, the Carnegie Endowment launched the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut (2006), Carnegie Europe in Brussels (2007), and the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center at the Tsinghua University in Beijing (2010). Additionally, in partnership with the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Carnegie established the Al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia in Kazakhstan in late 2011.
In April 2016, the sixth international Center, Carnegie India, opened in New Delhi.
In February 2015, Mathews stepped down as president after 18 years. William J. Burns, former U.S. deputy secretary of state, became Carnegie's ninth president. After Burns' nomination and confirmation as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, then-California Supreme Court Justice and Stanford professor Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar became President of the Carnegie Endowment on November 1, 2021.
In April 2022, the Carnegie Endowment was compelled to close its Moscow center at the direction of the Russian government.
In April 2023 Russia's Ministry of Justice added the Centre to the so-called list of "foreign agent".
Officers
Presidents
Elihu Root (1912–1925)
Nicholas Murray Butler (1925–1945)
Alger Hiss (1946–1949)
James T. Shotwell (1949–1950)
Joseph E. Johnson (1950–1971)
Thomas L. Hughes (1971–1991)
Morton I. Abramowitz (1991–1997)
Jessica Mathews (1997–2015)
William J. Burns (2015–2021)
Thomas Carothers (interim) (2021)
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar (2021–present)
Chairpersons
Elihu Root (1910–1925)
Nicholas Murray Butler (1925–1945)
John W. Davis (1946–1947)
John Foster Dulles (1947–1953)
Harvey Hollister Bundy (1953–1958)
Whitney North Seymour (1958–1970)
Seymour Milton Katz (1970–1978)
John W. Douglas (1978–1986)
Charles Zwick (1986–1993)
Robert Carswell (1993–1999)
William H. Donaldson (1999–2003)
James C. Gaither (2003–2009)
Richard Giordano (2009–2013)
Harvey V. Fineberg (2013–2018)
Penny Pritzker (2018–present)
Board of trustees
Penny Pritzker, Chair. Chairman of PSP Partners and Pritzker Realty Group; Chairman Inspired Capital Partners; Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
Steven A. Denning, Vice Chair. Chairman Emeritus, General Atlantic.
Ayman Asfari, Executive Chairman, Venterra Group; Co-founder, The Asfari Foundation.
Jim Balsillie, Founder and Chair, Centre for International Governance Innovation; Co-founder, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
C. K. Birla, Chairman, CK Birla Group.
Bill Bradley, Managing director, Allen & Company.
David Burke, Co-founder, CEO, and managing director, Makena Capital Management.
Mariano-Florentino "Tino" Cuéllar, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Henri de Castries, Chairman, Institut Montaigne; Chairman, Europe General Atlantic; Vice Chairman, Nestlé.
Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director, Global Digital Policy Incubator, Stanford University.
Anne Finucane, Chairman of the Board, Bank of America Europe.
Patricia House, Vice Chairman of the Board, C3.ai.
Maha Ibrahim, General Partners, Canaan Partners.
Walter B. Kielholz, Honorary Chairman, Swiss Re Ltd.
Boon Hwee Koh, Chairman, Altara Ventures Pte Ltd.
Susan Liautaud, Susan Liautaud & Associates Ltd.
Scott D. Malkin, Chairman, Value Retail PLC.
Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners.
Kenneth E. Olivier, Past Chairman and CEO, Dodge & Cox.
Jonathan Oppenheimer, Director, Oppenheimer Generations.
Catherine James Paglia, Director, Enterprise Asset Management.
Deven J. Parekh, Managing Director, Insight Partners.
Victoria Ransom, Founder & CEO, Prisma; Former CEO, Wildfire & Director of Product, Google.
L. Rafael Reif, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
George Siguler, Founding Partner and Managing Director, Siguler Guff and Company.
Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Trust.
Rohan S. Weerasinghe, General Counsel, Citigroup Inc.
Yichen Zhang, Chairman and CEO, CITIC Capital Holdings Ltd.
Robert Zoellick, Senior Counselor, Brunswick Group.
Carnegie Global Centers
Carnegie Endowment Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The Carnegie Endowment office in Washington, D.C., is home to ten programs: Africa; American Statecraft; Asia; Democracy, Conflict, and Governance; Europe; Global Order and Institutions; Middle East; Nuclear Policy; Russia and Eurasia; South Asia; Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics; and Technology and International Affairs.
Carnegie Moscow Center
In 1993, the Endowment launched the Carnegie Moscow Center, with the belief that "in today's world a think tank whose mission is to contribute to global security, stability, and prosperity requires a permanent presence and a multinational outlook at the core of its operations."
The center's stated goals were to embody and promote the concepts of disinterested social science research and the dissemination of its results in post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia; to provide a free and open forum for the discussion and debate of critical national, regional and global issues; and to further cooperation and strengthen relations between Russia and the United States by explaining the interests, objectives and policies of each. From 2006 until December 2008, the center was led by former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Rose Gottemoeller. The center was headed by Dmitri Trenin until its closing in April 2022.
Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
The Carnegie Middle East Center was established in Beirut, Lebanon, in November 2006. The center aims to better inform the process of political change in the Arab Middle East and deepen understanding of the complex economic and security issues that affect it. , the current director of the center is Maha Yahya. In October 2020, it was renamed the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in honor of scholar Malcolm H. Kerr.
Carnegie Europe
Founded in 2007 by Fabrice Pothier, Carnegie Europe is the European centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From its newly expanded presence in Brussels, Carnegie Europe combines the work of its research platform with the fresh perspectives of Carnegie's centres in Washington, Moscow, Beijing, and Beirut, bringing a unique global vision to the European policy community. Through publications, articles, seminars, and private consultations, Carnegie Europe aims to foster new thinking on the daunting international challenges shaping Europe's role in the world.
Carnegie Europe is currently directed by Rosa Balfour.
Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy
The Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy was established at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2010. The center's focuses include China's foreign relations; international economics and trade; climate change and energy; nonproliferation and arms control; and other global and regional security issues such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.
The current director of the center is Paul Haenle.
Carnegie India
In April 2016, Carnegie India opened in New Delhi, India. The center's focuses include the political economy of reform in India, foreign and security policy, and the role of innovation and technology in India's internal transformation and international relations.
The current director of the center is Rudra Chaudhuri.
Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
In April 2023, the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center opened in Berlin, Germany. The center focuses on major policy challenges across the wider region in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is home to the digital publication Carnegie Politika.
The current director of the center is Alexander Gabuev.
See also
International Economics Bulletin
List of peace activists
References
Sources and further reading
Adesnik, David, ed. 100 Years of Impact. Essays on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ( Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2011).
Berman, Edward H. The Ideology of Philanthropy: The Influence of the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations on American Foreign Policy (State University of New York Press, 1983).
Dubin, Martin David. "The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Advocacy of a League of Nations, 1914-1918" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 123#6 (1979) pp: 344-368.
Greco, John Frank. "A foundation for internationalism: the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1931-1941" (PhD dissertation, Syracuse University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1971. 7123444).
Lutzker, Michael A. "The Formation of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: A Study of the Establishment-Centered Peace Movement, 1910-1914" in Building the Organizational Society: Essays on Associational Activities in Modern America, edited by Jerry Israel, (Free Press, 1972) pp 143-162.
Parmar, Inderjeet. "The Carnegie Corporation and the mobilisation of opinion in the United States' rise to globalism, 1939-1945." Minerva (1999): 355-378. online
Parmar, Inderjeet. "Engineering Consent: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Mobilization of American Public Opinion, 1939-1945" Review of International Studies 26#1 (2000): 35-48.
Patterson, David S. "Andrew Carnegie's quest for world peace." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 114.5 (1970): 371–383. Online.
Rietzler, Katharina. "Before the Cultural Cold Wars: American Philanthropy and Cultural Diplomacy in the Interwar Years." Historical Research 84, no. 223 (2011): 148–164.
Rietzler, Katharina. "Fortunes of a Profession: American Foundations and International Law, 1910–1939." Global Society 28, no. 1 (2014): 8–23.
Rietzler, Katharina Elisabeth. "American foundations and the 'scientific study' of international relations in Europe, 1910-1940" (PhD Diss University College London, 2009); online
Wegener, Jens. "Creating an ‘International Mind’? The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Europe, 1911–1940" (Doctoral dissertation, European University Institute, 2015) online
Winn, Joseph W. "Nicholas Murray Butler, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Search for Reconciliation in Europe, 1919–1933." Peace & Change 31.4 (2006): 555-584.
Winn, Joseph W. "The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Missionaries for cultural internationalism, 1911–1939" (PhD dissertation, University of Kentucky, 2004; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 3123823).
External links
Publications
Foreign Policy
Pro et Contra
Andrew Carnegie
Dupont Circle
Peace organizations based in the United States
Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States
Political and economic think tanks in the United States
Embassy Row
1910 establishments in the United States |
426102 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay%20High%20Court | Bombay High Court | The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the oldest high courts in India. The High Court has circuit benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji, the capital of Goa.
The first Chief Justice, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General of Independent India were from this court. Since India's Independence, 22 judges from this court have been elevated to the Supreme Court and 8 have been appointed to the office of Chief Justice of India.
The court has Original Jurisdiction in addition to its Appellate. Judgments issued by this court can be appealed only to the Supreme Court of India. The Bombay High Court has a sanctioned strength of 94 judges (71 permanent, 23 additional). The building is part of The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai, which was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 2018.
As of 2022, the Court is currently understaffed, with only 57 judges as against the permitted number of 96 judges.
History and premises
The Bombay High Court was one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by Letters patent granted by Queen Victoria, bearing date June 26, 1862. It was inaugurated on August 14, 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861.
The work on the present building of the High Court was commenced in April 1871 and completed in November 1878. It was designed by British engineer Col. James A. Fuller. The first sitting in this building was on 10 January 1879. Justice M. C. Chagla was the first Indian permanent Chief Justice of Bombay High Court after independence [1948 – 1958] Architecture: Gothic revival in the Early English style. It is long and wide. To the west of the central tower are two octagonal towers. The statues of Justice and Mercy are atop this building.
In 2016, it was announced that the premises of the Bombay High Court would be shifting to Bandra Kurla Complex.
The 125th anniversary of the building was marked by the release of a book, commissioned by the Bar Association, called "The Bombay High Court: The Story of the Building – 1878–2003" by local historians Rahul Mehrotra and Sharada Dwivedi.
Name of the court
Although the name of the city was changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995, the Court as an institution did not follow suit and retained the name Bombay High Court. Although, a bill to rename it as Mumbai High Court was approved by the Union Cabinet on July 5, 2016, along with the change of name of the Calcutta High Court and Madras High Court as Kolkata High Court and Chennai High Court respectively, the same is pending approval before the Parliament of India but may not be enacted for some time.
Sesquicentennial celebrations
In 2010, the High Court organized several functions to mark the completion of 150 years of the establishment of the High Court. A special postal cover was released by Milind Deora, the then Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology at the historical Central Court Hall of the High Court on 14 August 2012.
An exhibition displaying important artifacts, royal charters, stamps, old maps and other documents of historical importance was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, in the Central Court Hall on 15 August 2012. The then Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Chief Guest at the concluding ceremony of the year-long Sesquicentennial celebrations on 18 August 2012.
A book titled A Heritage of Judging: The Bombay High Court through one hundred and fifty years, edited by Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, Anoop V. Mohta and Roshan S. Dalvi was published by the Maharashtra Judicial Academy.
Famous cases
In its illustrious history, the Bombay High Court has been the site for numerous noteworthy trials and court cases. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was tried a number of times in the Bombay High Court, but the most famous was his trial for sedition in the 1916 case Emperor v. Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Controversies
Bar Council had boycotted some judges of the High Court in 1991 under the leadership of Senior Counsel Iqbal Chagla. In 2011, a couple of petitions came to be filed challenging housing societies built by judges upon plots of land reserved for other purposes.
In November 2021, the Bombay High Court issued a controversial criminal case against AstraZeneca for misinformation and misleading claims regarding the safety of their vaccines. The suit claims this misinformation is responsible for the death of the afflicted. Some rumors appeared that the suit was against Bill Gates for partial funding of AstraZeneca, but these rumors were fake. The suit is addressed to both The State of Maharashtra and AstraZeneca.
Judges
The Bombay High Court sits at Mumbai, the capital of the state of Maharashtra, and has additional benches in Aurangabad and Nagpur in Maharashtra, as well as Panaji in the state of Goa. It may have a maximum of 94 judges, of which 71 must be permanently appointed and 23 may be additionally appointed. Currently, it has a total of 66 Judges.
Permanent judges
*Justice Rohit B Deo of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court reportedly resigned saying he could not compromise on self-respect.
Additional judges
List of chief justices
Chief Justice and judges
Judges who elevated in Supreme Court of India
Judges who elevated as Chief Justice of another High Court
Principal seat and benches
The court has jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra, Goa and the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The court has benches in Nagpur, Aurangabad and Panaji.
Nagpur bench
Nagpur is an industrial and commercial city situated in the centre of India. Formerly, it was the capital of the former State of CP & Berar, later old Madhya Pradesh and now it is the sub-capital of the State of Maharashtra. A full-fledged High Court was established at Nagpur on 9 January 1936. Later it was included as a separate bench in the Bombay High Court jurisdiction after the formation of the state of Maharashtra in 1960.
History
Sir Gilbert Stone, a Judge of the Madras High Court was appointed as first Chief Justice. The foundation stone of the new building (present High Court building) was laid by late Sir Hyde Gowan on 9-1-1937. The building was designed by Mr. H.A.N. Medd, Resident Architect. It was constructed at a cost of Rs./-.The building consisted of two stories with a garden courtyard in the centre. The outside dimensions are 400 ft x 230 ft. The original design provided for a main central dome rising 109 feet above ground land, the remainder of the building being approximately 52 feet in height. The building has been constructed with sandstone. The building has Ashlar stone facing and brick hearting. The flooring in the corridors and offices is of Sikosa and Shahabad flag stones. The building is declared open on 6 January 1940. On the opening ceremony the Viceroy of India described this building as a poem in stone. The High Court has a fairly well planned garden on the eastern as well as western sides.
The High Court of Judicature at Nagpur continued to be housed in this building till the reorganisation of states in 1956. With effect from 1-11-1956, eight Marathi speaking districts of Vidarbha formed part of the greater bilingual State of Bombay which came into existence. Remaining fourteen Hindi speaking districts of the former State of Madhya Pradesh became part of the newly constituted State of Madhya Pradesh with the capital at Bhopal. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh was treated as the successor of the former High Court at Nagpur.
New building
A bench of the High Court at Bombay began to sit in this building at Nagpur with effect from 1-11-1956 and continues to do so even after the formation of the State of Maharashtra on 1-5-1960. During the year 1960 the strength of this Bench consisted of four Honourable Judges.
The extension of High Court building consists of two annex buildings on both sides of the existing building viz., North and South Wings. For this Government of Maharashtra has sanctioned Rs. 1,/- on dated 21 March 1983. 'South Wing' houses various utilities for the public, i.e. litigants and the Bar as well as High Court Government Pleader's Establishment including Standing Counsel for Central Government and 'A Panel Counsels, and also for the establishment. In the North Wing, it is proposed to accommodate additional Court Halls, Chambers of the Hobble Judges, Judges' Library and the office.
Presently, the strength of this Bench consists of 10 Honourable Judges and total employees are 412.
Aurangabad bench
The Aurangabad bench was established in 1982. Initially, only a few districts of Maharashtra were under the Aurangabad bench. Subsequently, in 1988, Ahmednagar & other districts were attached to the bench. The bench at Aurangabad has more than 13 judges.
The jurisdiction of the Aurangabad Bench is over Aurangabad, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalna, Jalgaon, Beed, Parbhani, Latur & Osmanabad. The bench also has a Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa office. The present building of bench is situated in huge premises. The garden is beautifully maintained. Lush green grass invites the attention of any passerby. The HC bench at Aurangabad is approximately 4 km from the Aurangabad Airport and around 6 km from the central bus stand. The new building has 13 court halls in all now including two new ones. All the court halls are on the first floor of the building, while the registry of the Court is on the ground floor. The Aurangabad bench has a strong Bar of more than 1000 advocates, but the Aurangabad bench does not have jurisdiction over company law matters.
The Aurangabad Bench celebrated its 28th anniversary on 27 August 2009.
History
Due to the continued demand of the people of Marathwada region for the establishment of a permanent Bench of the High Court at Aurangabad under sub-section (2) of Sec. 51 of the Act, the State Government first took up the issue with the then Chief Justice R. M. Kantawala in 1977. On 22 March 1978, the State Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous resolution supporting a demand for the establishment of a permanent Bench of the High Court at Aurangabad to the effect :
"With a view to save huge expenses and to reduce the inconvenience of the people of the Marathwada and Pune regions in connection with legal proceedings, this Assembly recommends to the Government to make a request to the President to establish a permanent Bench of the Bombay High Court having jurisdiction in Marathwada and Pune regions, one at Aurangabad and the other at Pune."
The said demand for the constitution of a permanent Bench of the High Court at Aurangabad was supported by the State Bar Council of Maharashtra, the Advocates' Association of Western India, several bar associations and people in general. It is necessary here to mention that the resolution as originally moved made a demand for the setting up of a permanent Bench of the High Court of Bombay at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for the Marathwada region, and there was, no reference to Pune which was added by way of amendment. Initially, the State Government recommended to the Central Government in 1978 to establish two permanent Benches under sub-sec. (2) of Section 51 of the Act, one at Aurangabad and the other at Pune, but later in 1981 confined its recommendation to Aurangabad alone.
The State Government thereafter took a Cabinet decision in January 1981 to establish a permanent Bench of the High Court at Aurangabad and this was conveyed by the Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra, Law & Judiciary Department, communicated by his letter dated 3 February 1981 to the Registrar and he was requested, with the permission of the Chief Justice, to submit proposals regarding accommodation for the Court and residential bungalows for the Judges, staff, furniture, etc. necessary for setting up the Bench. As a result of this communication, the Chief Justice wrote to the Chief Minister on 26 February 1981 signifying his consent to the establishment of a permanent Bench at Aurangabad. After adverting to the fact that his predecessors had opposed such a move and had indicated, amongst other things, that such a step involved, as it does, breaking up of the integrity of the institution and the Bar, which would necessarily impair the quality and quantity of the disposals.
It, however, became evident by the middle of June 1981 that the Central Government would take time in reaching a decision on the proposal for the establishment of a permanent Bench under sub-sec. (2) of Section 51 of the Act at Aurangabad as the question involved a much larger issue, viz. the principles to be adopted and the criterion laid down for the establishment of permanent Benches of High Courts generally. This meant that there would be an inevitable delay in securing the concurrence of the Central Government and the issuance of a Presidential Notification under sub-sec. (2) of S. 51 of the Act. On 19 June 1981, the State Government accordingly took a Cabinet decision pending the establishment of a permanent Bench under sub-sec. (2) of S. 51 of the Act at Aurangabad for the Marathwada region, resort be had to the provisions of sub-section (3) thereof. On 20 June 1981, the Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra, Law & Judiciary Department wrote to the Registrar stating that there was a possibility of a delay in securing concurrence of the Central Government and the issuance of a notification by the President under subsection (2) of S. 51 of the Act for the establishment of a permanent Bench at Auangabad and in order to tide over the difficulty, the provisions of sub-sec. (3) of Section 51 of the Act may be resorted to and he, therefore, requested the Chief Justice to favour the Government With his views on the matter at an early date. On 5 July 1981, the Law Secretary waited on the Chief Justice in that connection. On 7 July 1981 the Chief Justice wrote a letter to the Chief Minister in which he stated that the Law Secretary had conveyed to him the decision of the State Government to have a Circuit Bench at Auangabad under sub-sec. (3) of Section 51 pending the decision of the Central Government to establish a permanent Bench there under sub-section (2) of S. 51 of the Act. The Chief Justice then added: "I agree that some such step is necessary in view of the preparations made by the Government at huge costs and the mounting expectations of the people there."
Formation
On 20 July 1981, the Law Secretary addressed a letter to the Registrar requesting him to forward, with the permission of the Chief Justice, a proposal as is required under sub-section (3) of S. 51 for the setting up of a Bench at Auangabad . In reply to the same, the Registrar by his letter dated 24 July 1981 conveyed that the Chief Justice agreed with the suggestion of the State Government that action had to be taken under sub-section (3) of S. 51 of the Act for which the approval of the Governor was necessary and he enclosed a copy of the draft order which the Chief Justice proposed to issue under sub-section (3) of S. 51 of the Act. On 10 Aug. 1981, the Law Secretary conveyed to the Registrar the approval of the Governor. On 27 Aug. 1981, the Chief Justice issued an order under sub-section (3) of S. 51 of the Act to the effect: "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of S. 51 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (No. 37 of 1956) and all other powers enabling him on this behalf, the Hon'ble the Chief Justice, with the approval of the Governor of Maharashtra, is pleased to appoint Aurangabad as a place at which the Hon'ble Judges and Division Courts of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay may also sit." This is the history of how the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court was constituted. The Constitution of the Bench by The Hon’ble Chief Justice V.S.Deshpande then came to be challenged before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Petition filed by the State of Maharashtra was allowed and the people's aspirations from Marathwada were recognized. The Judgment is a reported one (State of Maharashtra v. Narain Shyamrao Puranik) in AIR 1983 Supreme Court 46.
Goa bench
When the High Court of Bombay constituted a bench in Porvorim, Goa, Justice G.F Couto was appointed its first Goan permanent judge. Justice G.D. Kamath was appointed as judge in 1983 and later in 1996 as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. Justice E.S da Silva was elevated in 1990 and was a judge of this court till his retirement in 1995. Justice R.K. Batta and Justice R.M.S. Khandeparkar were Judges of the Goa bench for 8 and 12 years respectively. Justice F.I Rebello, was appointed Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2010 and retired in 2011. Justice Nelson Britto was Judge for five years. Justice A.P Lavande, Justice F.M.Reis, and Justice M.S. Sonak, were senior lawyers who practiced in the Goa Bench before their elevation. Presently Goa has one lady judge, Justice Anuja Prabhudesai. Justice A Prabhudesai and retired Justice Nutan Sardesai who were both District Judges.
History
Prior to the annexation of Goa, Daman and Diu the highest Court for the then Portuguese State of India was the Tribunal da Relação de Goa functioning at Panjim. Originally established in 1554, the Relação de Goa used to serve as the high court of appeal for all the Portuguese East Indies territories of the Indian Ocean and the Far East, including what are now Mozambique, Macau and East Timor, besides India itself. The Relação de Goa was abolished when a Court of Judicial Commissioner was established w.e.f. 16 December 1963 under Goa-Daman & Diu (Judicial Commissioner Court) Regulation, 1963. In May 1964 an Act was passed by the Parliament which conferred upon the Court of Judicial Commissioner, some powers of the High Court for the purposes of the Constitution of India.
Parliament by an Act extended the jurisdiction of High Court at Bombay to the Union territory of Goa Daman & Diu and established a permanent Bench of that High Court at Panaji on 30.10.1982
From its inception, the Hon'ble Shri Justice Dr. G.F.Couto who was at that time acting Judicial Commissioner was elevated to the Bench of High Court of Bombay. The Hon'ble Shri Justice G.D.Kamat was elevated to the Bench on 29.8.1983.
With the passing of Goa, Daman & Re-organization Act, 1987 by the Parliament conferring Statehood to Goa, the High Court of Bombay became the common High Court for the states of Maharashtra and Goa and the Union territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu w.e.f. 30.5.1987.
First Relocation
The High Court was shifted from the old building of Tribunal da Relação to Lyceum Complex at Altinho, Panaji and started functioning there from 3.11.1997. The main building at the said Complex, constructed in the year 1925 by the Portuguese Government, was renovated by the Goa state government and inaugurated by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Shri M.B.Shah on 2.10.1997.The Hon'ble Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Shri Y. K. Sabharwal, inaugurated the 2nd building on 9.9.1999. Both these buildings now house several departments of the Bombay high court – panaji bench.
Second Relocation
Due to the space crunch in the lyseum complex, a new building complex is being built in alto – betim porvorim region in Porvorim. The new building was inaugurated on 27 March 2021. The first court hearing in the new building was presided on by the divisional bench composed of Chief Justice of the Bombay high court Dipankar Datta and Justice Mahesh Sonak on 17 August 2021.
Case information
The Case Status and Causelists of Bombay High Court is available on its official website at www.bombayhighcourt.nic.in. The Orders and Judgments from the year 2005 are also available on the website.
the High Court has civil cases and 45,960 criminal cases pending. At the same time, the District and subordinate courts under the Bombay High Court have a total of 3,179,475 pending cases.
See also
High courts of India
List of chief justices of the Bombay High Court
List of chief justices of the Supreme Court of Bombay
References
External links
Official WebSite
Bar Association of Bombay
Case Status System
Order/Judgments Retrieval System
List of Designated Senior Advocates[link points to an access-restricted file]
The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai
Gothic Revival architecture in India
1862 establishments in India
Courts and tribunals established in 1862 |
426143 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration%20of%20Mars | Exploration of Mars | The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habitability potential. Engineering interplanetary journeys is complicated and the exploration of Mars has experienced a high failure rate, especially the early attempts. Roughly sixty percent of all spacecraft destined for Mars failed before completing their missions and some failed before their observations could begin. Some missions have been met with unexpected success, such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which operated for years beyond their specification.
Current status
There are two functional rovers on the surface of Mars, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, both operated by the American space agency NASA. Perseverance is accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter, which is scouting sites for Perseverance to study. The Zhurong rover, part of the Tianwen-1 mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) was active until 20 May 2022 when it went into hibernation due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter; the rover was expected awaken from hibernation in December 2022, but as of April 2023 it has not moved and is presumed to be permanently inactive.
There are seven orbiters surveying the planet: Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, the Trace Gas Orbiter, the Hope Mars Mission, and the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which have contributed massive amounts of information about Mars. Thus there are 10 total vehicles currently exploring Mars: 2 rovers, 1 helicopter, and 7 orbiters.
Various Mars sample return missions are being planned like NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return that will pick up the samples currently being collected by the Perseverance rover.
The next missions expected to arrive at Mars are:
The ExoMars program of ESA has delayed the launch of the Rosalind Franklin rover, until later in the 2020s.
Mars Orbiter Mission 2 by India, planned launch in 2024.
Martian system
Mars has long been the subject of human interest. Early telescopic observations revealed color changes on the surface that were attributed to seasonal vegetation and apparent linear features were ascribed to intelligent design. Further telescopic observations found two moons, Phobos and Deimos, polar ice caps and the feature now known as Olympus Mons, the Solar System's tallest mountain. The discoveries piqued further interest in the study and exploration of the red planet. Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth, that formed around the same time, yet with only half the diameter of Earth, and a far thinner atmosphere; it has a cold and desert-like surface.
One way the surface of Mars has been categorized, is by thirty "quadrangles", with each quadrangle named for a prominent physiographic feature within that quadrangle.
Launch windows
The minimum-energy launch windows for a Martian expedition occur at intervals of approximately two years and two months (specifically 780 days, the planet's synodic period with respect to Earth). In addition, the lowest available transfer energy varies on a roughly 16-year cycle. For example, a minimum occurred in the 1969 and 1971 launch windows, rising to a peak in the late 1970s, and hitting another low in 1986 and 1988.
Past and current missions
Starting in 1960, the Soviets launched a series of probes to Mars including the first intended flybys and hard (impact) landing (Mars 1962B). The first successful flyby of Mars was on 14–15 July 1965, by NASA's Mariner 4. On November 14, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first space probe to orbit another planet when it entered into orbit around Mars. The amount of data returned by probes increased dramatically as technology improved.
The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2, 1971Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing. Mars 6 failed during descent but did return some corrupted atmospheric data in 1974. The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters, each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976. Viking 1 remained operational for six years, Viking 2 for three. The Viking landers relayed the first color panoramas of Mars.
The Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 were sent to Mars in 1988 to study Mars and its two moons, with a focus on Phobos. Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars. Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed before it was set to release two landers to the surface of Phobos.
Mars has a reputation as a difficult space exploration target; just 25 of 55 missions through 2019, or 45.5%, have been fully successful, with a further three partially successful and partially failures. However, of the sixteen missions since 2001, twelve have been successful and eight of these are still operational.
Missions that ended prematurely after Phobos 1 and 2 (1988) include (see Probing difficulties section for more details):
Mars Observer (launched in 1992)
Mars 96 (1996)
Mars Climate Orbiter (1999)
Mars Polar Lander with Deep Space 2 (1999)
Nozomi (2003)
Beagle 2 (2003)
Fobos-Grunt with Yinghuo-1 (2011)
Schiaparelli lander (2016)
Following the 1993 failure of the Mars Observer orbiter, the NASA Mars Global Surveyor achieved Mars orbit in 1997. This mission was a complete success, having finished its primary mapping mission in early 2001. Contact was lost with the probe in November 2006 during its third extended program, spending exactly 10 operational years in space. The NASA Mars Pathfinder, carrying a robotic exploration vehicle Sojourner, landed in the Ares Vallis on Mars in the summer of 1997, returning many images.
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter entered Mars orbit in 2001. Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer detected significant amounts of hydrogen in the upper metre or so of regolith on Mars. This hydrogen is thought to be contained in large deposits of water ice.
The Mars Express mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) reached Mars in 2003. It carried the Beagle 2 lander, which was not heard from after being released and was declared lost in February 2004. Beagle 2 was located in January 2015 by HiRise camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) having landed safely but failed to fully deploy its solar panels and antenna. In early 2004, the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer team announced the orbiter had detected methane in the Martian atmosphere, a potential biosignature. ESA announced in June 2006 the discovery of aurorae on Mars by the Mars Express.
In January 2004, the NASA twin Mars Exploration Rovers named Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity (MER-B) landed on the surface of Mars. Both have met and exceeded all their science objectives. Among the most significant scientific returns has been conclusive evidence that liquid water existed at some time in the past at both landing sites. Martian dust devils and windstorms have occasionally cleaned both rovers' solar panels, and thus increased their lifespan. Spirit rover (MER-A) was active until 2010, when it stopped sending data because it got stuck in a sand dune and was unable to reorient itself to recharge its batteries.
On 10 March 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe arrived in orbit to conduct a two-year science survey. The orbiter began mapping the Martian terrain and weather to find suitable landing sites for upcoming lander missions. The MRO captured the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole in 2008.
Rosetta came within 250 km of Mars during its 2007 flyby. Dawn flew by Mars in February 2009 for a gravity assist on its way to investigate Vesta and Ceres.
Phoenix landed on the north polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. Its robotic arm dug into the Martian soil and the presence of water ice was confirmed on June 20, 2008. The mission concluded on November 10, 2008, after contact was lost. In 2008, the price of transporting material from the surface of Earth to the surface of Mars was approximately US$309,000 per kilogram.
The Mars Science Laboratory mission was launched on November 26, 2011, and it delivered the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on August 6, 2012 UTC. It is larger and more advanced than the Mars Exploration Rovers, with a velocity of up to 90 meters per hour (295 feet per hour). Experiments include a laser chemical sampler that can deduce the composition of rocks at a distance of 7 meters.
MAVEN orbiter was launched on 18 November 2013, and on 22 September 2014, it was injected into an areocentric elliptic orbit 6,200 km (3,900 mi) by 150 km (93 mi) above the planet's surface to study its atmosphere. Mission goals include determining how the planet's atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched their Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on November 5, 2013, and it was inserted into Mars orbit on September 24, 2014. India's ISRO is the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA and ESA. India successfully placed a spacecraft into Mars orbit, and became the first country to do so in its maiden attempt.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter arrived at Mars in 2016 and deployed the Schiaparelli EDM lander, a test lander. Schiaparelli crashed on surface, but it transmitted key data during its parachute descent, so the test was declared a partial success.
Overview of missions
The following entails a brief overview of Mars exploration, oriented towards orbiters and flybys; see also Mars landing and Mars rover.
Early Soviet missions
1960s
Between 1960 and 1969, the Soviet Union launched nine probes intended to reach Mars. They all failed: three at launch; three failed to reach near-Earth orbit; one during the burn to put the spacecraft into trans-Mars trajectory; and two during the interplanetary orbit.
The Mars 1M programs (sometimes dubbed Marsnik in Western media) was the first Soviet uncrewed spacecraft interplanetary exploration program, which consisted of two flyby probes launched towards Mars in October 1960, Mars 1960A and Mars 1960B (also known as Korabl 4 and Korabl 5 respectively). After launch, the third stage pumps on both launchers were unable to develop enough pressure to commence ignition, so Earth parking orbit was not achieved. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 120 km before reentry.
Mars 1962A was a Mars flyby mission, launched on October 24, 1962, and Mars 1962B an intended first Mars lander mission, launched in late December of the same year (1962). Both failed from either breaking up as they were going into Earth orbit or having the upper stage explode in orbit during the burn to put the spacecraft into trans-Mars trajectory.
The first success
Mars 1 (1962 Beta Nu 1), an automatic interplanetary spacecraft launched to Mars on November 1, 1962, was the first probe of the Soviet Mars probe program to achieve interplanetary orbit. Mars 1 was intended to fly by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km and take images of the surface as well as send back data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid impacts and Mars' magnetic field, radiation environment, atmospheric structure, and possible organic compounds. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held, initially at 2-day intervals and later at 5-day intervals, from which a large amount of interplanetary data was collected. On 21 March 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth, on its way to Mars, communications ceased due to failure of its antenna orientation system.
In 1964, both Soviet probe launches, of Zond 1964A on June 4, and Zond 2 on November 30, (part of the Zond program), resulted in failures. Zond 1964A had a failure at launch, while communication was lost with Zond 2 en route to Mars after a mid-course maneuver, in early May 1965.
In 1969, and as part of the Mars probe program, the Soviet Union prepared two identical 5-ton orbiters called M-69, dubbed by NASA as Mars 1969A and Mars 1969B. Both probes were lost in launch-related complications with the newly developed Proton rocket.
1970s
The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 Mars orbiters. In May 1971, one day after Mariner 8 malfunctioned at launch and failed to reach orbit, Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C), a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M-71, also failed to launch. This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the next two probes of project M-71, Mars 2 and Mars 3, were multipurpose combinations of an orbiter and a lander with small skis-walking rovers that would be the first planet rovers outside the Moon. They were successfully launched in mid-May 1971 and reached Mars about seven months later. On November 27, 1971, the lander of Mars 2 crash-landed due to an on-board computer malfunction and became the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars. On 2 December 1971, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing, but its transmission was interrupted after 14.5 seconds.
The Mars 2 and 3 orbiters sent back a relatively large volume of data covering the period from December 1971 to March 1972, although transmissions continued through to August. By 22 August 1972, after sending back data and a total of 60 pictures, Mars 2 and 3 concluded their missions. The images and data enabled creation of surface relief maps, and gave information on the Martian gravity and magnetic fields.
In 1973, the Soviet Union sent four more probes to Mars: the Mars 4 and Mars 5 orbiters and the Mars 6 and Mars 7 flyby/lander combinations. All missions except Mars 7 sent back data, with Mars 5 being most successful. Mars 5 transmitted just 60 images before a loss of pressurization in the transmitter housing ended the mission. Mars 6 lander transmitted data during descent, but failed upon impact. Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2200 km returning one swath of pictures and radio occultation data, which constituted the first detection of the nightside ionosphere on Mars. Mars 7 probe separated prematurely from the carrying vehicle due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) and missed the planet by .
Mariner program
In 1964, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory made two attempts at reaching Mars. Mariner 3 and Mariner 4 were identical spacecraft designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, dooming the mission. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on a 7-month voyage to Mars.
Mariner 4 flew past Mars on July 14, 1965, providing the first close-up photographs of another planet. The pictures, gradually played back to Earth from a small tape recorder on the probe, showed impact craters. It provided radically more accurate data about the planet; a surface atmospheric pressure of about 1% of Earth's and daytime temperatures of −100 °C (−148 °F) were estimated. No magnetic field or Martian radiation belts were detected. The new data meant redesigns for then planned Martian landers, and showed life would have a more difficult time surviving there than previously anticipated.
NASA continued the Mariner program with another pair of Mars flyby probes, Mariner 6 and 7. They were sent at the next launch window, and reached the planet in 1969. During the following launch window the Mariner program again suffered the loss of one of a pair of probes. Mariner 9 successfully entered orbit about Mars, the first spacecraft ever to do so, after the launch time failure of its sister ship, Mariner 8. When Mariner 9 reached Mars in 1971, it and two Soviet orbiters (Mars 2 and Mars 3) found that a planet-wide dust storm was in progress. The mission controllers used the time spent waiting for the storm to clear to have the probe rendezvous with, and photograph, Phobos. When the storm cleared sufficiently for Mars' surface to be photographed by Mariner 9, the pictures returned represented a substantial advance over previous missions. These pictures were the first to offer more detailed evidence that liquid water might at one time have flowed on the planetary surface. They also finally discerned the true nature of many Martian albedo features. For example, Nix Olympica was one of only a few features that could be seen during the planetary duststorm, revealing it to be the highest mountain (volcano, to be exact) on any planet in the entire Solar System, and leading to its reclassification as Olympus Mons.
Viking program
The Viking program launched Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft to Mars in 1975; The program consisted of two orbiters and two landers – these were the second and third spacecraft to successfully land on Mars.
The primary scientific objectives of the lander mission were to search for biosignatures and observe meteorologic, seismic and magnetic properties of Mars. The results of the biological experiments on board the Viking landers remain inconclusive, with a reanalysis of the Viking data published in 2012 suggesting signs of microbial life on Mars.
The Viking orbiters revealed that large floods of water carved deep valleys, eroded grooves into bedrock, and traveled thousands of kilometers. Areas of branched streams, in the southern hemisphere, suggest that rain once fell.
Mars Pathfinder, Sojourner rover
Mars Pathfinder was a U.S. spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars on July 4, 1997. It consisted of a lander and a small wheeled robotic rover named Sojourner, which was the first rover to operate on the surface of Mars. In addition to scientific objectives, the Mars Pathfinder mission was also a "proof-of-concept" for various technologies, such as an airbag landing system and automated obstacle avoidance, both later exploited by the Mars Exploration Rovers.
Mars Global Surveyor
After the 1992 failure of NASA's Mars Observer orbiter, NASA retooled and launched Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). Mars Global Surveyor launched on November 7, 1996, and entered orbit on September 12, 1997. After a year and a half trimming its orbit from a looping ellipse to a circular track around the planet, the spacecraft began its primary mapping mission in March 1999. It observed the planet from a low-altitude, nearly polar orbit over the course of one complete Martian year, the equivalent of nearly two Earth years. Mars Global Surveyor completed its primary mission on January 31, 2001, and completed several extended mission phases until communication was lost in 2007.
The mission studied the entire Martian surface, atmosphere, and interior, and returned more data about the red planet than all previous Mars missions combined. The data has been archived and remains available publicly.
Among key scientific findings, Global Surveyor took pictures of gullies and debris flow features that suggest there may be current sources of liquid water, similar to an aquifer, at or near the surface of the planet. Similar channels on Earth are formed by flowing water, but on Mars the temperature is normally too cold and the atmosphere too thin to sustain liquid water. Nevertheless, many scientists hypothesize that liquid groundwater can sometimes surface on Mars, erode gullies and channels, and pool at the bottom before freezing and evaporating.
Magnetometer readings showed that the planet's magnetic field is not globally generated in the planet's core, but is localized in particular areas of the crust. New temperature data and closeup images of the Martian moon Phobos showed that its surface is composed of powdery material at least 1 metre (3 feet) thick, caused by millions of years of meteoroid impacts. Data from the spacecraft's laser altimeter gave scientists their first 3-D views of Mars' north polar ice cap in January 1999.
Faulty software uploaded to the vehicle in June 2006 caused the spacecraft to orient its solar panels incorrectly several months later, resulting in battery overheating and subsequent failure. On November 5, 2006, MGS lost contact with Earth. NASA ended efforts to restore communication on January 28, 2007.
Mars Odyssey and Mars Express
In 2001, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter arrived at Mars. Its mission is to use spectrometers and imagers to hunt for evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars. In 2002, it was announced that the probe's gamma-ray spectrometer and neutron spectrometer had detected large amounts of hydrogen, indicating that there are vast deposits of water ice in the upper three meters of Mars' soil within 60° latitude of the south pole.
On June 2, 2003, the European Space Agency's Mars Express set off from Baikonur Cosmodrome to Mars. The Mars Express craft consists of the Mars Express Orbiter and the stationary lander Beagle 2. The lander carried a digging device and the smallest mass spectrometer created to date, as well as a range of other devices, on a robotic arm in order to accurately analyze soil beneath the dusty surface to look for biosignatures and biomolecules.
The orbiter entered Mars orbit on December 25, 2003, and Beagle 2 entered Mars' atmosphere the same day. However, attempts to contact the lander failed. Communications attempts continued throughout January, but Beagle 2 was declared lost in mid-February, and a joint inquiry was launched by the UK and ESA. The Mars Express Orbiter confirmed the presence of water ice and carbon dioxide ice at the planet's south pole, while NASA had previously confirmed their presence at the north pole of Mars.
The lander's fate remained a mystery until it was located intact on the surface of Mars in a series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images suggest that two of the spacecraft's four solar panels failed to deploy, blocking the spacecraft's communications antenna. Beagle 2 is the first British and first European probe to achieve a soft landing on Mars.
MER, Opportunity rover, Spirit rover, Phoenix lander
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), started in 2003, was a robotic space mission involving two rovers, Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity, (MER-B) that explored the Martian surface geology. The mission's scientific objective was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The mission was part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, which includes three previous successful landers: the two Viking program landers in 1976; and Mars Pathfinder probe in 1997.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. The US$720 million spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, launched August 12, 2005, and entered Mars orbit on March 10, 2006.
The MRO contains a host of scientific instruments such as the HiRISE camera, CTX camera, CRISM, and SHARAD. The HiRISE camera is used to analyze Martian landforms, whereas CRISM and SHARAD can detect water, ice, and minerals on and below the surface. Additionally, MRO is paving the way for upcoming generations of spacecraft through daily monitoring of Martian weather and surface conditions, searching for future landing sites, and testing a new telecommunications system that enable it to send and receive information at an unprecedented bitrate, compared to previous Mars spacecraft. Data transfer to and from the spacecraft occurs faster than all previous interplanetary missions combined and allows it to serve as an important relay satellite for other missions.
Rosetta and Dawn swingbys
The ESA Rosetta space probe mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko flew within 250 km of Mars on February 25, 2007, in a gravitational slingshot designed to slow and redirect the spacecraft.
The NASA Dawn spacecraft used the gravity of Mars in 2009 to change direction and velocity on its way to Vesta, and tested out Dawn cameras and other instruments on Mars.
Fobos-Grunt
On November 8, 2011, Russia's Roscosmos launched an ambitious mission called Fobos-Grunt. It consisted of a lander aimed to retrieve a sample back to Earth from Mars' moon Phobos, and place the Chinese Yinghuo-1 probe in Mars' orbit. The Fobos-Grunt mission suffered a complete control and communications failure shortly after launch and was left stranded in low Earth orbit, later falling back to Earth. The Yinghuo-1 satellite and Fobos-Grunt underwent destructive re-entry on January 15, 2012, finally disintegrating over the Pacific Ocean.
Curiosity rover
The NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission with its rover named Curiosity, was launched on November 26, 2011, and landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater. The rover carries instruments designed to look for past or present conditions relevant to the past or present habitability of Mars.
MAVEN
NASA's MAVEN is an orbiter mission to study the upper atmosphere of Mars. It will also serve as a communications relay satellite for robotic landers and rovers on the surface of Mars. MAVEN was launched 18 November 2013 and reached Mars on 22 September 2014.
Mars Orbiter Mission
The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on 24 September 2014. The mission is a technology demonstrator, and as secondary objective, it will also study the Martian atmosphere. This is India's first mission to Mars, and with it, ISRO became the fourth space agency to successfully reach Mars after the Soviet Union, NASA (USA) and ESA (Europe). It was completed in a record low budget of $71 million, making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date. The mission concluded on September 27, 2022, after contact was lost.
Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is an atmospheric research orbiter built in collaboration between ESA and Roscosmos. It was injected into Mars orbit on 19 October 2016 to gain a better understanding of methane () and other trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere that could be evidence for possible biological or geological activity. The Schiaparelli EDM lander was destroyed when trying to land on the surface of Mars.
InSight and MarCO
In August 2012, NASA selected InSight, a $425 million lander mission with a heat flow probe and seismometer, to determine the deep interior structure of Mars. InSight landed successfully on Mars on 26 November 2018. Valuable data on the atmosphere, surface and the planet's interior were gathered by Insight. Insight's mission was declared as ended on 21 December 2022.
Two flyby CubeSats called MarCO were launched with InSight on 5 May 2018 to provide real-time telemetry during the entry and landing of InSight. The CubeSats separated from the Atlas V booster 1.5 hours after launch and traveled their own trajectories to Mars.
Hope
The United Arab Emirates launched the Hope Mars Mission, in July 2020 on the Japanese H-IIA booster. It was successfully placed into orbit on 9 February 2021. It is studying the Martian atmosphere and weather.
Tianwen-1 and Zhurong rover
Tianwen-1 was a Chinese mission launched on 23 July 2020 which included an orbiter, a lander, and a rover along with a package of deployable and remote cameras. Tianwen-1 entered orbit on 10 February 2021 and the Zhurong rover successfully landed on 14 May 2021 and deployed on 22 May 2021. As of May 2022, Zhurong had been in operation for 347 Martian days and had traveled 1,921 meters across Mars.
Mars 2020, Perseverance rover, Ingenuity helicopter
The Mars 2020 mission by NASA was launched on 30 July 2020 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. It is based on the Mars Science Laboratory design. The scientific payload is focused on astrobiology. It includes the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. Unlike older rovers that relied on solar power, Perseverance is nuclear powered, to survive longer than its predecessors in this harsh, dusty environment. The car-size rover weighs about 1 ton, with a robotic arm that reaches about , zoom cameras, a chemical analyzer and a rock drill.
After traveling 293 million miles (471 million km) to reach Mars over the course of more than six months, Perseverance successfully landed on February 18, 2021. Its initial mission is set for at least one Martian year, or 687 Earth days. It will search for signs of ancient life and explore the red planet's surface.
As of October 19, 2021, Perseverance had captured the first sounds from Mars. Recordings consisted of five hours of Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the spacecraft moves its arm. The sounds give researchers clues about the atmosphere, such as how far sound travels on the planet.
Psyche swingby
The NASA Psyche space probe mission to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche will undertake a flyby of Mars in May 2026, in a gravitational slingshot designed to slow and redirect the spacecraft.
Future missions
As part of the ExoMars program, ESA and the Roscosmos planned to send the Rosalind Franklin rover in 2022 to search for evidence of past or present microscopic life on Mars. The lander that was planned to deliver the rover is called Kazachok, and it would have performed scientific studies for about 2 years. This mission has been delayed indefinitely as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) by the University of California, Berkeley, is a planned twin-spacecraft NASA Mars orbiter mission to study the structure, composition, variability and dynamics of Mars' magnetosphere and atmospheric escape processes. The EscaPADE orbiters were originally to be launched in 2022 as secondary payloads on a Falcon Heavy together with the Psyche and Janus missions, but will now be remanifested on different flight, yet to be determined.
India's ISRO plans to send a follow-up mission to its Mars Orbiter Mission in 2024; it is called Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2) and it will consist of an orbiter.
Proposals
The Finnish-Russian Mars MetNet concept would use multiple small meteorological stations on Mars to establish a widespread observation network to investigate the planet's atmospheric structure, physics and meteorology. The MetNet precursor or demonstrator was considered for a piggyback launch on Fobos-Grunt, and on the two proposed to fly on the 2016 and 2020 ExoMars spacecraft.
Tianwen-3 is a Chinese mission to return samples of Martian soil to Earth. The mission would launch in late 2028, with a lander and ascent vehicle and an orbiter and return module launched separately on two rockets. The samples would be returned to Earth by July 2031.
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return is a three-launch architecture concept for a sample return mission, which uses a rover to cache small samples, a Mars ascent stage to send it into orbit, and an orbiter to rendezvous with it above Mars and take it to Earth. Solar-electric propulsion could allow a one launch sample return instead of three.
The Mars-Grunt is a Russian mission concept to bring a sample of Martian soil to Earth.
The Mars Scout Program's SCIM would involve a probe grazing the upper atmosphere of Mars to collect dust and air for return to Earth.
JAXA is working on a mission concept called MELOS rover that would look for biosignatures of extant life on Mars.
Indian Space Research Organisation has proposed a Mangalyaan-3 mission that will include a lander and rover on Mars.
Other future mission concepts include polar probes, Martian aircraft and a network of small meteorological stations. Longterm areas of study may include Martian lava tubes, resource utilization, and electronic charge carriers in rocks. Micromissions are another possibility, such as piggybacking a small spacecraft on an Ariane 5 rocket and using a lunar gravity assist to get to Mars.
Human mission proposals
The human exploration of Mars has been an aspiration since the earliest days of modern rocketry; Robert H. Goddard credits the idea of reaching Mars as his own inspiration to study the physics and engineering of space flight. Proposals for human exploration of Mars have been made throughout the history of space exploration; currently there are multiple active plans and programs to put humans on Mars within the next ten to thirty years, both governmental and private, some of which are listed below.
NASA
Human exploration by the United States was identified as a long-term goal in the Vision for Space Exploration announced in 2004 by then US President George W. Bush. The planned Orion spacecraft would be used to send a human expedition to Earth's moon by 2020 as a stepping stone to a Mars expedition. On September 28, 2007, NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin stated that NASA aims to put a person on Mars by 2037.
On December 2, 2014, NASA's Advanced Human Exploration Systems and Operations Mission Director Jason Crusan and Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs James Reuthner announced tentative support for the Boeing "Affordable Mars Mission Design" including radiation shielding, centrifugal artificial gravity, in-transit consumable resupply, and a lander which can return. Reuthner suggested that if adequate funding was forthcoming, the proposed mission would be expected in the early 2030s.
On October 8, 2015, NASA published its official plan for human exploration and colonization of Mars. They called it "Journey to Mars". The plan operates through three distinct phases leading up to fully sustained colonization.
The first stage, already underway, is the "Earth Reliant" phase. This phase continues utilizing the International Space Station until 2024; validating deep space technologies and studying the effects of long-duration space missions on the human body.
The second stage, "Proving Ground," moves away from Earth reliance and ventures into cislunar space for most of its tasks. This is when NASA plans to capture an asteroid, test deep space habitation facilities, and validate the capabilities required for human exploration of Mars. Finally, phase three is the transition to independence from Earth resources.
The last stage, the "Earth Independent" phase, includes long-term missions on the lunar surface which leverage surface habitats that only require routine maintenance, and the harvesting of Martian resources for fuel, water, and building materials. NASA is still aiming for human missions to Mars in the 2030s, though Earth independence could take decades longer.
On August 28, 2015, NASA funded a year-long simulation to study the effects of a year-long Mars mission on six scientists. The scientists lived in a biodome on a Mauna Loa mountain in Hawaii with limited connection to the outside world and were only allowed outside if they were wearing spacesuits.
NASA's human Mars exploration plans have evolved through the NASA Mars Design Reference Missions, a series of design studies for human exploration of Mars.
In 2017, the focus of NASA shifted to a return to the Moon by 2024 with the Artemis program, a flight to Mars could follow after this project.
SpaceX
The long-term goal of the private corporation SpaceX is the establishment of routine flights to Mars to enable colonization. To this end, the company is developing Starship, a spacecraft capable of crew transportation to Mars and other celestial bodies, along with its booster Super Heavy. In 2017 SpaceX announced plans to send two uncrewed Starships to Mars by 2022, followed by two more uncrewed flights and two crewed flights in 2024. Starship is planned to have a payload of at least 100 tonnes. Starship is designed to use a combination of aerobraking and propulsive descent, utilizing fuel produced from a Mars (in situ resource utilization) facility. As of mid 2021, the Starship development program has seen successful testing of several Starship prototypes.
Zubrin
Mars Direct, a low-cost human mission proposed by Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society, would use heavy-lift Saturn V class rockets, such as the Ares V, to skip orbital construction, LEO rendezvous, and lunar fuel depots. A modified proposal, called "Mars to Stay", involves not returning the first immigrant explorers immediately, if ever (see Colonization of Mars).
Probing difficulties
The challenge, complexity and length of Mars missions have led to many mission failures. The high failure rate of missions attempting to explore Mars is informally called the "Mars Curse" or "Martian Curse". The phrase "Galactic Ghoul" or "Great Galactic Ghoul" refers to a fictitious space monster that subsists on a diet of Mars probes, and is sometimes facetiously used to "explain" the recurring difficulties.
Two Soviet probes were sent to Mars in 1988 as part of the Phobos program. Phobos 1 operated normally until an expected communications session on 2 September 1988 failed to occur. The problem was traced to a software error, which deactivated Phobos 1's attitude thrusters, causing the spacecraft's solar arrays to no longer point at the Sun, depleting Phobos 1's batteries. Phobos 2 operated normally throughout its cruise and Mars orbital insertion phases on January 29, 1989, gathering data on the Sun, interplanetary medium, Mars, and Phobos. Shortly before the final phase of the mission – during which the spacecraft was to approach within 50 m of Phobos' surface and release two landers, one a mobile 'hopper', the other a stationary platform – contact with Phobos 2 was lost. The mission ended when the spacecraft signal failed to be successfully reacquired on March 27, 1989. The cause of the failure was determined to be a malfunction of the on-board computer.
Just a few years later in 1992 Mars Observer, launched by NASA, failed as it approached Mars. Mars 96, an orbiter launched on November 16, 1996, by Russia failed, when the planned second burn of the Block D-2 fourth stage did not occur.
Following the success of Global Surveyor and Pathfinder, another spate of failures occurred in 1998 and 1999, with the Japanese Nozomi orbiter and NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, and Deep Space 2 penetrators all suffering various fatal errors. The Mars Climate Orbiter was noted for mixing up U.S. customary units with metric units, causing the orbiter to burn up while entering Mars' atmosphere.
The European Space Agency has also attempted to land two probes on the Martian surface; Beagle 2, a British-built lander that failed to deploy its solar arrays properly after touchdown in December 2003, and Schiaparelli, which was flown along the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Contact with the Schiaparelli EDM lander was lost 50 seconds before touchdown. It was later confirmed that the lander struck the surface at a high velocity, possibly exploding.
See also
Mars
Colonization of Mars
Human mission to Mars
Life on Mars
List of artificial objects on Mars
List of missions to Mars
Mars landing
Mars race
Mars rover
Mars Scout Program
Mars Society
General
Observations and explorations of Venus
Space colonization
Space exploration
Space weather
Timeline of Solar System exploration
Notes
The diagram includes missions that are active on the surface, such as operational rovers and landers, as well as probes in Mars orbit. The diagram does not include missions that are en route to Mars, or probes that performed a fly-by of Mars and moved on.
References
Bibliography
Mars – A Warmer, Wetter Planet by Jeffrey S. Kargel (published July 2004; )
The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System by Ronald Greeley and Raymond Batson (published January 2002; )
Mars: The NASA Mission Reports / edited by Robert Godwin (2000)
External links
NASA Mars exploration website
Mars Exploration Scientific American Maps and Articles
Next on Mars (Bruce Moomaw, Space Daily, 9 March 2005): An extensive overview of NASA's Mars exploration plans
Catalog of Soviet Mars images Collection of Russian Mars probes' images.
Simplified study of orbits to land on Mars and return to Earth (High School level)
Planetary Society Mars page
Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
Articles containing video clips
Spaceflight
Mars |
426193 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony%20Stewart | Tony Stewart | Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, winning two as a driver (2002, 2005), one as owner/driver (2011), and one as an owner (2014).
Throughout his racing career, Stewart has won racing titles in Indy, midget, sprint, and USAC Silver Crown cars. He is the only driver in history to win a championship in both IndyCar and NASCAR. Stewart became known for his hot temper and for his sarcasm with the media.
He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (now known as the NASCAR Cup Series) during the 2016 season, driving the No. 14 Chevrolet SS for his team, Stewart-Haas Racing, under crew chief Mike Bugarewicz. From 1999 to 2008, he drove the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car, under crew chief Greg Zipadelli with The Home Depot as the primary sponsor. While driving for car owner Joe Gibbs, Stewart won two Cup Series championships in 2002 and 2005. In 2011, Stewart became the first owner-driver since Alan Kulwicki to win the Cup Series championship. Stewart is the only driver to win the Cup Series championship under the old points system and the chase playoff format, and is the only driver to win the title under three different sponsorships (Winston in 2002, Nextel in 2005, and Sprint in 2011). He is also the first driver in the Cup Series to win the championship by a tiebreaker. On May 22, 2019, Stewart was voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and on January 31, 2020, was inducted alongside the 11th Hall of Fame class. On November 21, 2021, he married NHRA Top Fuel Drag Racer Leah Pruett.
Racing career
Beginnings
Tony Stewart got his first competitive go kart in Westport, Indiana in 1979. In 1980, he won his first championship. He grew up racing go karts and was successful very early, winning a World Karting Association championship in 1987. He moved up to the United Midget Racing Association (UMRA) where he raced TQ (three quarter) midgets until 1991 when he again moved up this time to the United States Auto Club (USAC) series with the help of one of his karting sponsors and friend Mark Dismore. Stewart was the USAC Rookie of the Year in 1991, USAC National Midget Series Champion in 1994 and 1995, and USAC Silver Crown Series champion in 1995.
IndyCar and NASCAR Xfinity Series
In 1995, Stewart became the first driver to win USAC's version of the Triple Crown, earning championships in all three of USAC's major divisions, National Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown. His winning the Hut Hundred and 4 Crown Nationals were the highlights of the year. With the advent of the Indy Racing League (IRL), which intended to provide opportunities for grassroots racers, Stewart found his way into Indy car racing; after unsuccessful negotiations with A. J. Foyt Racing, he signed early in 1996 for Team Menard as a last-minute addition for the abridged three-race initial season. In his Indy car debut at Walt Disney World Speedway, Stewart led 37 laps and finished a close second to fellow rookie Buzz Calkins. He also led laps at Phoenix in the early stages before a myriad of pit stop woes and mechanical issues led to his early exit from the race.
For his Indianapolis 500 debut, he initially qualified on the outside of the front row, but the disqualification of Arie Luyendyk's time and the death of his teammate Scott Brayton a week later propelled Stewart to the pole position. After leading 44 laps, his race ended before the halfway point due to a malfunctioning pop-off valve, which dropped him to 8th in the final point standings. When Stewart was not racing IndyCars, he raced stock cars, which he had signed to do beforehand. In 1996, he made his NASCAR Busch Series debut, driving for car owner Harry Rainer. In nine races, he had a best finish of 16th place. Stewart had more success in a one-time ride in the Craftsman Truck Series with Mueller Brothers racing, where he finished 10th.
Stewart was poised to improve his IRL standing in the 1996-97 season but at times he struggled to finish. He failed to finish the first three races of a ten-race schedule, but recovered to come in second at Phoenix. At that year's Indy 500, Stewart's car was good enough to enable him to win his first IRL race, leading 64 laps. However, he trailed off near the end of the race and settled for 5th place. He finally got his first career win at Pikes Peak, where he led all but seven laps of a 200 lap race. He became the leading contender for the series championship after a bad slump knocked points leader Davey Hamilton out of first place. Despite an average end to his season, finishing 7th, 14th, and 11th, and five DNFs, Stewart did just enough to beat Hamilton for the IRL title. He also raced in several midget events, finishing thirteenth and eleventh in the 1997 and 1998 USAC national points, and winning the Copper Classic both years. Between his time in USAC and the IRL, Stewart earned the nickname of "Smoke", first for slipping the right rear tire during dirt races and then for blowing his engine often during his 1997 championship run.
As he had done the previous year, he raced a handful of Busch Series races in 1998. This time, he was racing for Joe Gibbs, NFL Hall of Fame head coach of the Washington Redskins, who was having major success with Bobby Labonte in the Winston Cup Series. When Stewart was able to finish races, he finished in the top 10 and had a 3rd-place finish at Charlotte. Stewart so impressed Gibbs that he was signed to drive the majority of the Busch schedule in 1998 to go along with a full-time IRL schedule. The double duty did not affect his performance in either series. In the IRL, he won twice and finished 3rd in the championship. His season was a disappointment as he finished last in the Indy 500 because of an engine failure.
On the Busch side, he finished in the top-five five times in 22 starts. He came close to winning his first Busch Series race at Rockingham, but was beaten on a last-lap pass by Matt Kenseth. Stewart finished a solid 2nd place in 2 (of 31) starts, ahead of six drivers with more starts, and had an average finish that was comparable to some of the series' top 10 finishers. Gibbs had enough confidence in Stewart that he was moved up to a Cup ride for the 1999 season. With that move, Stewart ended his three-year career as a full-time IRL driver.
After transitioning to the Cup level, Stewart continued racing in the Busch Series on a part-time basis. On August 16, 2005, Stewart was fined $5,000 and placed on probation until December 31 for hitting Brian Vickers after the completion of the Busch Series Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen. He was driving a Busch car owned by Kevin Harvick Incorporated at the time.
In 2013, Stewart renewed his RCR deal to drive the No. 33 Oreos/Ritz Chevrolet. He won the opening Nationwide Series event at Daytona, overtaking Regan Smith on the last lap, but his win was overshadowed by worry because Smith had been turned and in the resulting crash, Kyle Larson had flown into the catch fence, completely slicing off the front part of his car and injuring 28 spectators in the grandstands (2 critically). The next day in the Daytona 500, Stewart's day ended on lap 35 when he was caught up in an early crash with Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne; this would allow him to finish 41st. He rebounded slightly with an 8th-place finish at Phoenix and an 11th-place finish in Las Vegas. At Bristol, Stewart blew his tire on lap 3 and cut a brake line; he came back out over 20 laps down, unable to contend for the victory.
In 2020, Stewart planned to make his return to the now-Xfinity Series for the Pennzoil 150 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course, but plans were called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NASCAR Cup Series
After competing part-time during the 1996 NASCAR Busch Series season with the team, Stewart had planned to move up to the Winston Cup Series in 1997 driving for Ranier-Walsh Racing; however the deal fell through when Stewart decided he was not yet ready for the move.
Joe Gibbs Racing (1999–2008)
1999 season
Stewart started his NASCAR Cup career in 1999 with a bang, as he qualified his No. 20 The Home Depot-sponsored Pontiac on the outside pole for the Daytona 500. He showed courage in one of the Gatorade Twin 125s when he was involved in a battle with Dale Earnhardt for the lead in the last laps. Though Earnhardt came out on top, Stewart had nonetheless impressed quite a few people with his performance. In the 500, Stewart ran near the front until problems with the car relegated him to a 28th-place finish.
Stewart spent most of his rookie season wowing people, as his car was often in the Top 5. He won a pair of pole positions at short tracks, and set a series record for wins by a rookie with three—Richmond, Phoenix, and Homestead—surpassing Davey Allison's record set in 1987 (Stewart's record would hold until 2002, when Jimmie Johnson tied the feat by winning three times; although Carl Edwards won four times in 2005, his first full Cup season, he was not regarded as a rookie by NASCAR standards because he had run more than ten Nextel Cup races in 2004). He finished his first Cup season with 3 wins, 12 top fives, 21 top tens, 2 poles, only 1 DNF, 1,226 laps led, a 10.26 average finish, and a 4th-place finish in the point standings, making it the highest points finish by a rookie in the modern era (which held until 2006 when his future teammate Denny Hamlin finished 3rd) and only bested by James Hylton, who finished 2nd as a first-timer in 1966. Not surprisingly, he ran away with the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award.
Stewart also attempted to race on Memorial Day weekend, as he competed in both the Indy 500 during the day and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C., at night. He finished in the Top 10 at both races: 9th in the 1999 Indianapolis 500 and 4th at Charlotte. However, he only completed of the scheduled 1,100, as he finished 4 laps down at Indianapolis.
2000 season
Stewart showed no signs of a sophomore slump in the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, winning a series-high six races (Martinsville, New Hampshire, Michigan, Homestead, and both Dover races). However, he fell to 6th place in the standings because of a handful of DNFs and an increase in the number of competitive drivers, among them his teammate Labonte, who won the Cup championship. Stewart also began to get some bad press for his on-track incidents. The best known of these came at Watkins Glen when he and Jeff Gordon tangled and crashed. Stewart made his displeasure toward Gordon known in an obscenity-laden tirade. Stewart won the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget car event at Irwindale, California, which he called, “one of his greatest wins ever."
2001 season
Stewart got off to a scary start for the 2001 season: during the Daytona 500, he was involved in an 18-car crash on lap 173. The crash began on the back straightaway and also collected Bobby Labonte and his brother Terry, Rusty Wallace, Steve Park, Jason Leffler, Jerry Nadeau, Buckshot Jones, Andy Houston, Ward Burton, Mark Martin, Kenny Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton, John Andretti, and Robby Gordon. Stewart took the worst of it, as his car turned backward after being hit by Ward Burton, pushed over Robby Gordon, then flipped twice in midair, hooked Bobby Labonte's hood, and came to a stop in the infield. Stewart was transported to Halifax Medical Center after complaints of discomfort in his shoulder. Stewart's crash was greatly overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap. Stewart recovered to win three more races at Richmond, Infineon, and Bristol and, as he had done before, he ran near the front most of the season. Statistically, he had a worse season than 2000, but he finished 2nd to Gordon in the final points standings.
For the second time, Stewart ran the "Memorial Day Double", in spite of a 17-minute rain delay at Indianapolis. He finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500 and third in the Coca-Cola 600, running all of the two races.
The 2001 season was not without controversy. Jeff Gordon pulled a "bump and run" on Stewart to gain a better finishing position at Bristol and Stewart retaliated in a post-race incident by spinning Gordon out on pit road. Stewart was fined and placed on NASCAR probation. He got into much bigger trouble in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, where he confronted a Winston Cup official after ignoring a black flag, which he had received for an illegal pass on Dave Blaney. In the same race, he had an incident with a Winston-Salem Journal reporter in which he kicked away a tape recorder. He confronted that same official during the Talladega race after he refused to wear a mandated head-and-neck restraint. Stewart was not allowed to practice until he wore one, and only managed to do so after his crew chief Greg Zipadelli intervened. Stewart's fines and periods of probation resulting from these incidents have earned him a reputation of having a hot temper, and he became known as NASCAR's "bad boy".
2002 season: First Cup Championship
Stewart started the 2002 season even more inauspiciously than last year's, as the Daytona 500 lasted just two laps for him due to a blown engine. He went on to win twice early in the season at Atlanta and Richmond, but he was only seventh in the points standings at the season's halfway point. At Darlington, Stewart was involved in a multi-car wreck in which Jimmy Spencer's car t-boned Stewart's car. While Stewart was sent to the hospital following the crash, he was able to start the next race at Bristol. Due to the injuries sustained at Darlington, he was relieved during the race by Todd Bodine. The second half of his season was plagued by an altercation with a photographer after the Brickyard 400. He was fined $50,000 by NASCAR and penalized with a 25-point deduction. However, despite the controversy, he went on to win the very next week at Watkins Glen. Strangely enough, this race also ended in controversy, when it was revealed that he had jumped the restart and, despite the infraction, officials upheld Stewart's win. This win proved to be a turning point in Stewart's season; he went on a hot streak following Watkins Glen, and despite not winning any more races that season his consistent top 10 finishes, combined with his rivals running into trouble, allowed him to claim the points lead at Talledega. At the end of the season, Stewart held off Mark Martin to win his first Winston Cup championship. This was Stewart's last season driving a Pontiac.
2003 season
As the defending champion, Stewart managed to have a relatively incident-free 2003 season. Joe Gibbs Racing changed manufacturers, so he and Labonte were now driving Chevrolets instead of Pontiacs. Stewart had his worst Cup season at this point up until 2006, but it was still good enough for seventh in the points standings. He only won two races that season at Pocono and Charlotte but he led more laps than he did last year and was highly competitive in the final races of the season.
2004 season
In January 2004, Stewart teamed with Andy Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a Boss Motorsports Chevrolet to take fourth in the 24 Hours of Daytona sports car endurance race. The result does not show the trio's performance, however. They had dominated the race until the last two hours when the suspension cracked. With 15 minutes left in the race and Stewart driving, one of the rear wheels came off, finally ending their run. In addition to placing fourth overall, the trio placed third in the Daytona Prototype class.
Stewart started on a higher note in the 2004 season as he finished second in the Gatorade 125. In the Daytona 500, he and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both dominated the race, leading 156 laps overall (98 for Stewart). Stewart was in contention to win it, only to lose the lead to Earnhardt Jr. with 20 laps to go. That would be Stewart's best finish in the Daytona 500.
At Infineon, Stewart was involved in an altercation with rookie driver Brian Vickers. On lap 88 of 110, Stewart got spun out by Vickers as retaliation for an earlier collision in the race. Stewart replied by confronting Vickers after the race and throwing a punch through Vickers' window. Stewart was fined $50,000, stripped of 25 driver & owner points, and put on probation for the rest of 2004.
The season was highlighted with Stewart's first win coming at Chicagoland. This win was not without controversy as on a mid-race restart, he turned Kasey Kahne into the wall, which eventually led to an altercation between his and Kahne's pit crews. Stewart felt very sick during the race at Watkins Glen International and nearly withdrew from it due to food poisoning, stomach cramps, a headache, and a sinus infection. He ultimately relented and ran the race, dominating and holding off Canadian road ringer Ron Fellows for the win. He qualified fourth for the first-ever Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup. However, an incident at the first race of The Chase at Loudon ended his hopes of a second Cup championship. Stewart got collected in a multi-car crash, which started when Robby Gordon repaid Greg Biffle some retaliation, and Stewart t-boned Biffle. Stewart had to make repairs and lost three laps. He finished two laps down, causing him to lose his shot at his second championship. Gordon did not get off the hook however and was penalized with a $15,000 fine and a 50-point deduction for his actions.
After losing his bid for the championship title, Stewart finished sixth in the Nextel Cup point standings.
In November 2004, Stewart became the owner of one of the most legendary short tracks in America, Eldora Speedway. Located in New Weston, Ohio, Eldora is a half-mile dirt track known to many as "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954." Stewart began racing there in 1991 and continues racing in special events alongside other Sprint Cup drivers and dirt track legends.
2005 season: 2nd Cup Championship
2005 was one of Stewart's most successful years in the Nextel Cup Series as he won his second Cup title. He won five races at Infineon, Daytona, New Hampshire, Watkins Glen (which gave him a sweep of the road course races for the year and a record 3 straight road course wins) and Indianapolis, his hometown track (in a race that Stewart said he would give up his championship to win, and took with it the No. 1 seed heading into NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup 10-race playoff).
Following his win in the Pepsi 400, Stewart began climbing the fence separating the fans from the race track after each victory, borrowing IndyCar Series driver Hélio Castroneves' trademark move. After winning the 2009 All-Star race, Stewart was quoted as saying "I'm too damn fat to be climbing fences," and recently purchased $17,000 worth of exercise equipment to remedy the problem. It also led to sponsor The Home Depot cashing in on Stewart's success with some promotions reminiscent of Stewart's Eldora Speedway drivers. After his second full climb of the fence in Loudon, N.H., they ran a discount on ladders and fencing at the stores with a campaign named, "Hey Tony, we've got ladders", where anyone who presented the advertisement in national newspapers in their stores earned the discount. After his victory in Indianapolis, The Home Depot presented fans who presented the advertisement of his Allstate 400 win with a discount on purchasing bricks. He mentioned in a press release from his sponsor, "I plan to keep winning races and helping to drive down the cost of home improvement for The Home Depot customers."
On November 20, 2005, Stewart won his second Cup Championship, joining Jeff Gordon as the only active, full-time drivers at the time to have won multiple championships. Jimmie Johnson afterward did so from 2006 to 2010. In victory circle, Stewart had said that he loved winning his 2005 championship better than his 2002 one because his 2005 season was more well-behaved than 2002. At an age of 34, this made Stewart one of the youngest drivers to win multiple championships (with Johnson joining this category as he won his five straight titles while in his early 30s) and to date, he is still the only driver to have won championships under both the Chase and non-Chase formats. During the 2005 season, Stewart won a total of $13,578,168, including $6,173,633 for winning the championship, the largest season total in NASCAR history.
2006 season: Championship Hangover
Stewart's 2006 season had up and down notes. He had competitive cars and scored early wins at Daytona and Martinsville. However, he also had strings of bad luck. He also suffered a shoulder injury due to two heavy crashes in both the Busch and Cup races at Charlotte during the Memorial Day Weekend races (Stewart's Busch car hit the Turn 4 wall so hard it even knocked the rear end off the car). During the Dover race, he was substituted by Ricky Rudd and, in later weeks, had to drive in pain.
Additionally, he has once again been involved in several on-track controversies.
Following a rough Bud Shootout on February 12, 2006, Stewart expressed concern to the media about the possibility of aggressive driving resulting in the serious injury or death of a driver. It came during a week in which the racing world remembered the fifth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death. Just a few days later, during the Daytona 500, Stewart was involved in several incidents with Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Matt Kenseth, whom he chased halfway across the track to run into the grass. "He has no room to complain," Stewart said of his brush with Kenseth. "He started it, and I finished it".
On May 20, 2006, during NASCAR's All Star Race, Stewart and Kenseth wrecked again. Each driver claimed it was the other one's fault with Stewart saying, "if (Kenseth) thinks it's my fault and I (caused the wreck) he's screwed up in his head." Following the wreck, several media outlets proclaimed the new Stewart-Kenseth rivalry as must-see TV. The so-called rivalry was short-lived as Kenseth and Stewart participated as friends in a joint promotional tour for DeWalt and The Home Depot; Kenseth also appeared in September at Stewart's Eldora Speedway in the NEXTEL PRELUDE with NASCAR drivers, as well as the ARCA Truck Series event there.
On July 1, 2006, Stewart dominated the Pepsi 400 but after a pit stop seemed like an unlikely contender for the win. However, Stewart amazed the audience when in the final 10 laps he drove from 14th up to second place, and passed Boris Said to take the lead and win. After the race, Stewart said he no longer wanted to climb the catch-fencing at Daytona because of the fans crowding him but he later changed his mind on that thought.
On July 23, 2006, Stewart once again was at the center of a media storm. On lap 31 of the Pennsylvania 500, Stewart was accidentally squeezed against the wall by Clint Bowyer. Stewart responded by waving his hand in anger, then purposely hitting Bowyer's car. This contact sent Bowyer spinning down the front stretch where he collided with Carl Edwards. Stewart was promptly held one lap by NASCAR for rough driving. He did however pass leader Ryan Newman to get back on the lead lap and eventually rallied to finish 7th and get back in the top 10 in the point standings. After initially refusing to take responsibility for the incident he apologized the next day.
Stewart missed the cut to qualify for the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup by 16 points, becoming the first defending champion to miss the Chase the following year. He finished poorly at Richmond after wrecking his primary car in practice, and was displaced in the top ten by Kasey Kahne. As a result, he finished the 2006 season 11th in points, his worst thus far in his career, as he had completed each of his seven previous seasons in the top ten in points. Commenting on not being in the 2006 Chase, he says: "It lets us have the ability to take chances and try things ... that we've been wanting to try but just haven't had the luxury to do it. If we were in the Chase we wouldn't have that ability". Stewart won three races in the 2006 Chase (Kansas, Atlanta, and Texas).
The season was not unkind to Stewart, however. He was a participant in the 30th season of IROC and won 2 of the 4 races (Texas, and the Daytona road course) on his way to capturing the series championship. He won a million dollars for the effort but made an offer to return his prize money if IROC would hold one of its events at his Eldora Speedway. This offer was not entertained as IROC folded in 2007. In addition, Stewart's three wins in the Chase races gave him five total for the season, tying him with Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick for second-most in Nextel Cup behind Kasey Kahne's six.
2007 season
Stewart started the 2007 season by winning his second Chili Bowl Nationals midget car feature. Stewart started off the Daytona Speedweeks with a win in the 2007 Budweiser Shootout. It was his third win in the race. He also won his qualifying race for the Daytona 500.
On lap 152 of the Daytona 500, the rear of Stewart's car slid up the track and, when he tried to cut down the track, he smacked the front of Kurt Busch's car knocking both of them out of the race. Stewart and the Busch brothers (Kurt and Kyle) were the three leaders for the majority of the race.
On March 22, 2007, it was announced that Stewart would be on the cover of the official NASCAR video game NASCAR 08, published by Electronic Arts. This would be the third time this honor was given to Stewart (2001 & 2003).
In his first Car of Tomorrow race with the Impala SS, Stewart was dominant at Bristol, leading 257 of 504 laps (green-white-checker finish), before he experienced a fuel pump problem. In his third Car of Tomorrow race at Phoenix, Stewart lead a race high 132 laps, but a late race caution moved Stewart to 2nd, where he finished behind Jeff Gordon. In the following week, Stewart implied the cautions were "bogus" and that NASCAR is "rigged like professional wrestling".
On June 4, 2007, Stewart and Kurt Busch had another altercation on pit road in the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover. Kurt Busch passed Stewart on the inside and then slid up, which caused contact, sending him into the wall, knocking out Busch, but with Stewart staying in the race. Initially, it was thought that Stewart intentionally crashed Busch due to hard feelings over their accident at Daytona that year. Under the caution, Stewart was on pit road and his crew was surveying the massive damage he received from the crash; when an enraged Busch pulled alongside and gave Stewart a profane gesture to express his feelings over the incident. One of Stewart's pit-crew members jumped out of the way of Busch's car to avoid being hit, while Busch was parked for the contact made on pit road. Busch would later be fined $100k for his actions by NASCAR, while Stewart got off with a pre-race warning from NASCAR before the following race at Pocono.
At the All-Star Race at Charlotte, he finished 5th behind Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Jeff Burton. At the Coca-Cola 600, Stewart finished sixth, after having to come into the pit for fuel. On July 15, 2007, Stewart led a race-high 108 laps and recorded his 30th career NEXTEL Cup win at the USG Sheetrock 400 at Joliet.
On July 29, 2007, after leading a race-high 65 of 160 laps, Stewart won the Brickyard 400 again, just 45 minutes from where he grew up. This was his second win in the race at his favorite track. It was not without controversy though; Stewart made the winning pass by accidentally bending the rear of Kevin Harvick's car, causing Harvick to fall back quickly to seventh place by the time the checkers waved. Stewart apologized for the contact in victory lane and during the victory lane interview, Stewart was penalized 25 points and fined $25,000 for violating NASCAR's policy on the use of obscene language during interviews during the race. This was similar to 2004 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. used an obscenity in a post-race interview at Talladega and was knocked out of the points lead as a result of the penalty.
On August 12, 2007, he won the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen after Jeff Gordon spun his car around after wheel hopping in turn 1 with two laps to go. Carl Edwards briefly challenged Stewart on the final lap, but spun out into a pullover site sealing Stewart's win.
2008 season: Final Season At JGR
Stewart began the 2008 season with a 6th-place start in the Daytona 500. During this race, he was only able to come up with a 3rd-place finish after being passed by Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch on the last lap. The finish of this race was somewhat like a repeat of the previous year's Daytona 500, in which Stewart's close friend Kevin Harvick passed Mark Martin to win it.
On lap 109 of the UAW-Dodge 400, Stewart's car cut a tire and slammed hard into the turn 3 retaining wall. Although he climbed out under his own power, Stewart was transported by ambulance to the infield care center. Stewart had complained about a sore foot from a wreck that occurred the day before the Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas. Stewart was later announced that he was okay and ripped on Goodyear for not bringing any quality tires.
With 3 laps to go in the 2008 Coca-Cola 600, Stewart cut a tire and saved it from contact with the wall. However, Stewart had to give up the lead to future race winner Kasey Kahne to make pit stops.
In the Best Buy 400, Stewart was involved in another crash with Elliott Sadler, in which Sadler got turned by David Gilliland and car collected Stewart and 11 other cars; those included Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Stewart, who was frustrated over his misfortune, sarcastically said, "I take 100 percent responsibility – it's my fault for being anywhere close to Elliott. If I'm within half a lap of him, I expect that to happen. It's my fault – I'm the one that hit him. When I hit him, it caused all the guys behind us to wreck, so it's my fault."
In July 2008, Stewart made a deal with car owner Gene Haas into a co-owning partnership in a racing organization called Stewart-Haas Racing for 2009 when he left Joe Gibbs Racing. Ryan Newman came to the meeting to make his deal with SHR officially signed earlier in the year.
On July 5, 2008, during the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Stewart started feeling ill and turned his car over to former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate J. J. Yeley, who took the car to a 20th-place finish after getting involved in two wrecks in the last 5 laps. Stewart earned his first and only win of the season in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega on October 5, 2008, driving for Subway as his sponsor, making it his last win with Joe Gibbs Racing. On the final lap, Stewart was passed by Regan Smith (the rookie of Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) who beat Stewart to the line. NASCAR declared that Smith had made an illegal pass under the yellow line, and awarded the victory to Stewart.
After the Ford 400, Stewart attended a tearful farewell meeting with Joe Gibbs Racing and gave his car and team to rookie Joey Logano, who replaced him for JGR.
Stewart Haas Racing (2009–2016)
2009 season
On July 8, 2008, it was reported that Stewart was released from the last year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, primarily because JGR had switched from Chevrolet to Toyota, and Stewart was vocal about his loyalty to Chevrolet (which sponsors his USAC Midget, Sprint Car, and Silver Crown teams). Stewart announced he would move to Haas CNC Racing to drive a Haas Chevrolet, with sponsorships from Office Depot (relocating from the No. 99 Roush Fenway team) and Old Spice. Stewart took half ownership of the team which was renamed Stewart-Haas Racing, and Stewart became the highest-paid NASCAR driver. Stewart's car at Haas has the number 14 as an homage to his hero A. J. Foyt. To date, he is the third-most successful driver for Joe Gibbs Racing with 33 wins and 2 championships (2002 and 2005), behind Kyle Busch, who has 59 wins and 2 championships (2015 and 2019) and Denny Hamlin with 44 wins.
On August 15, 2008, fellow Indiana native Ryan Newman signed a multi-year contract to drive the second car for Stewart-Haas Racing, originally to be designated No. 4 but changed to his USAC No. 39, with sponsorship from the U.S. Army (relocating from Earnhardt Ganassi Racing).
As the most recent series champion not among the Top 35 in owners' points, Stewart was first in line for past champions' provisionals for the first five races of 2009. He completed those races without needing to use the provisional, ending up well inside the Top 10 in points. Stewart won his first race as a driver/owner in the non-championship NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race XXV, winning more than $1,000,000, his first win in the event in 10 attempts. He followed that victory with his first points race win as a driver/owner at Pocono in the Pocono 500 on June 7, 2009, the first owner-driver in the Cup series to win a race since Ricky Rudd in 1998. Stewart also won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona after a controversial finish when he wrecked Kyle Busch to do so. In a similar fashion to the spring race at Talladega that year, Busch passed Stewart on the final lap but in the final turn Stewart went underneath Busch who tried to block but with 100 feet left from the checkers the two made contact resulting in Stewart sending Busch into the wall, and Busch wrecked across the line in the final lead position while Kasey Kahne submarined under his car.
Stewart's season overall was his best showing since his rookie year, with another win coming at Watkins Glen International. Stewart qualified for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup as he finished the first 26 races as the points leader. He fell to second in points following reseeding when Mark Martin, who won more races than Stewart, moved ahead of him. On October 5, 2009, Stewart won the Price Chopper 400 and moved to fourth in the standings, ending the season in sixth place.
2010 season
On April 16, 2010, Stewart won his first Sprint Cup pole position in five years at Texas Motor Speedway, with a lap speed of 191.327 mph. The race was the 400th in the Sprint Cup for Stewart, and was his first starting from the pole since October 2005 at Martinsville Speedway.
On May 9, 2010, it was reported that Stewart would lose Old Spice as a sponsor after 11 years with them.
Stewart won two races in 2010: the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 5, 2010, and the Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway on October 10, 2010.
In September at Loudon, Stewart lead part of the final stages trying to hold off Clint Bowyer for RCR who dominated the race; when the white flag waved the fans saw that Stewart was out of gas; Bowyer passed him and won both the white flag and the checkers. Stewart finished 24th and waved to Bowyer to congratulate him as he slowly crossed the line to finish. After the race Stewart said when interviewed "My feelings are not happy that's for sure but we had a strong race; I thank Office Depot, Coca-Cola, and my sponsors... congratulations to Clint Bowyer and the helping hands, they deserved that one. I think I ran myself out of fuel; my team apologized and said "sorry for running you out of fuel", I think I ran myself out of fuel."
On October 12, 2010, Mobil 1 announced a sponsorship deal with Stewart-Haas Racing to sponsor Stewart's car, starting in 2011. It would be the primary sponsor for 11 races, while Office Depot would be the primary sponsor for the rest of the season. Mobil 1 would also sponsor Stewart in the Budweiser Shootout and the All-Star Race.
2011 season: 3rd Cup Championship
In 2011, Stewart returned in the No. 14 Office Depot-sponsored Chevrolet. Following a crash intentionally caused by Stewart on Brian Vickers at Infineon Raceway in June 2011, Vickers intentionally wrecked Stewart as payback. In an interview when asked about the crashes, Stewart said, "It was payback, but, you know, I dumped him first, and I dumped him because he was blocking..." Stewart and his teammate, Newman, started the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 first and second, and they finished it where they started as Newman won that race. By the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400, Stewart said in a post-race interview that his team was running so poorly that he was "wasting one of those top 12 spots." Entering the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup portion of the schedule winless, Stewart won the opening race of the Chase at the Chicagoland Speedway and jumped up seven spots in the points, securing second place and extending his streak of consecutive years with a win to 13. Stewart made it two for two in the Chase after Clint Bowyer ran out of fuel in the closing laps of the Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Stewart took the win and the points lead after New Hampshire. At Talladega, Stewart struggled to lead a lap, and eventually did so; with assistance from Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, and Joey Logano, he led an additional 29 laps and captured the two-point bonus for leading the most laps. On October 30, 2011, at Martinsville Speedway, Stewart won the Tums Fast Relief 500, leading three times for 14 laps and moving into championship contention in second place in the points standings.
The next week, Stewart led 173 laps en route to winning the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, bringing him to within three points of championship points leader Carl Edwards with two races to go in the 2011 season. On November 20, 2011, Stewart won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship by winning the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway while Edwards finished second. Stewart and Edwards were tied on total points, but Stewart claimed the tiebreaker by having five race wins, all during the Chase, to Edwards's one win. In the process, Stewart became the first driver/owner to win the championship since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.
2012 season
Before the season Stewart welcomed new drivers retired Indycar driver Danica Patrick and driver David Reutimann to drive partly for Stewart-Haas Racing as part of a partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing who provided parts of the cars.
On February 11, 2012, Stewart led the final stages of the Budweiser Shootout by passing Marcos Ambrose on the final lap but was passed in a desperate charge to the finish line by Kyle Busch who beat him to the line in what was said the closest finish in Budweiser Shootout history (It would have been 2011 with Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin but Hamlin was black-flagged for being below the yellow line). Stewart won the 1st duel of the Gatorade Duels at Daytona when his new driver Danica Patrick hit the wall hard on the backstretch on the final lap, which brought out the caution. Stewart started 3rd in the Daytona 500 and ran well throughout the race, but was caught up in a late-race crash on lap 196 after getting turned by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. On March 11, Stewart won the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway beating Jimmie Johnson. It was his 45th career win and brought his streak of consecutive Cup seasons with a win to 14.
On March 25, 2012, Stewart won the rain-shortened Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. On June 3, 2012, Stewart was caught in a 13 car crash on the back leg at Dover and finished the race in 25th place.
Tony Stewart led 18 laps at the 2012 Quicken Loans 400 and finished second behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stewart however caused controversy and got ripped by the fans and media for saying in a media conference that Earnhardt winning "Is not a national holiday." and taunting the Earnhardt nation for celebrating the 4th anniversary of Earnhardt's last win in 2008.
At Sonoma, Stewart moved quickly from the top 20 to third in the final laps of the Toyota Save Mart 350 and ended up second to Clint Bowyer by passing Kurt Busch on the final turn on the final lap. On July 7, Stewart was able to hold off Matt Kenseth to win his fourth Coke Zero 400 as a wreck ensued behind him. The win was a surprise one, as Stewart had been forced to start 42nd due to his car failing pre-qualifying inspection.
In August at Bristol in the 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race, when battling for the lead on lap 333, Stewart and Matt Kenseth tangled and brought out a caution. This was soon after Ryan Newman was wrecked by Juan Pablo Montoya in an accident which collected Jeff Burton. A furious Stewart climbed out of his wrecked car and angrily tossed his helmet at Kenseth's car, who exit out of the pit road, and then gestured applause at the fans. This was followed shortly thereafter by his student driver Danica Patrick wagging a finger at Regan Smith after he turned her into the inside wall many laps later.
In September at Atlanta, team spokesman Mike Arning announced that Office Depot will not be Stewart's sponsor in 2013.
On October 2, 2012, Bass Pro Shops announced they would be a co-primary sponsor for Stewart in a selected number of races for the 2013 season.
At the Talladega race in the fall, Stewart was leading on the final lap but underestimated the speed of a closing Michael Waltrip. On turn 4, Waltrip got a run, and tapped Stewart from behind, causing Stewart to spin and Waltrip to spin into the pack, causing a Big One that involved 23 cars, the largest crash of the season to date. Stewart flipped over, hitting the roofs of several other cars, including Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, and Clint Bowyer, before landing upright. On November 9, it was announced that Kevin Harvick would be joining Stewart's team starting in 2014.
Stewart would finish ninth in points, with two top-fives and four top tens in the Chase, for a final season total of three wins, 12 top-five, and 16 top-ten finishes overall.
2013 season
In early 2013, reports said that Stewart was offered a chance by Roger Penske to race in the 2013 Indianapolis 500 in a Penske car. Stewart declined and said he was not ready to try the big race yet, due to his focus on stock cars.
In the Daytona 500, Stewart's day ended on lap 35, when he was caught up in an early crash with Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne; this would allow him to finish 41st. He rebounded slightly with an 8th-place finish at Phoenix and an 11th-place finish in Las Vegas. At Bristol, Stewart blew his tire on lap 3 and cut a brake line; he came back out over 20 laps down, unable to contend for the victory.
At Fontana, Stewart ran well for most of the day, leading laps and running on an alternate pit cycle, and nearly contended for the win. However, due to a late-race incident when Joey Logano blocked him on the last restart, Stewart ended up in 22nd place at the bottom of the lead lap. After the race, Stewart, angered, confronted Logano, who had just wrecked his car after battling with Denny Hamlin hard into the last turn, on pit road in a scuffle involving both teams' crews.
At Richmond, Stewart looked to be in contention for the win as he was 5th on a green-white-checkered finish, but in a fashion similar to his confrontation with Logano at Fontana; after a poor restart he lost a few positions. On the last lap, Kurt Busch tapped his bumper, moving Stewart out of the 2nd groove up to the top of the race track subsequently losing about 5 positions coming home 18th while Busch took a 9th-place finish. Stewart showed his displeasure with Busch after the race had finished, rubbing with him on the race track leading to a shoving match between the two when slowing down after the race ended. Down near the haulers, the two turned the attention given to race winner Harvick; to them when they had a verbal confrontation, again Stewart showing Busch his displeasure with his aggressive move. It was the first time since 2008 that the two got together in a feud.
At Talladega, Stewart was caught up in a 15 car wreck on lap 43 and ended up finishing 27th, 5 laps down. His teammates Danica Patrick and Ryan Newman were caught up in a later wreck on lap 182, in which Newman's car got crushed when Kurt Busch flipped over and landed on top of it.
Stewart's 2013 season start was considered his worst start to a Sprint Cup season yet. As of Richmond, he had only one Top 10 finish, which was at Phoenix. The rest of his finishing positions had been in the upper 10's or lower 20's. After Richmond, Stewart was 22nd in the points standings with 207 points, 136 behind Jimmie Johnson. However, he showed signs of a rebound in the following weeks, scoring a solid 7th-place finish at the Coca-Cola 600 while avoiding several wrecks.
The following week at Dover, Stewart went a lap down early but got back on the lead lap with a beneficiary. In the last 20 laps, after Johnson was penalized for jumping the last restart, Stewart overtook Juan Pablo Montoya and held him off over the last three laps to score his sole Sprint Cup win of 2013. The win propelled him up 4 positions to 16th, into a Wildcard spot. This also gave Stewart a streak of 15 straight seasons with at least one race win. He followed this up with a fourth-place finish at Pocono and a fifth place at Michigan. His momentum was killed briefly by a 28th-place run at Sonoma and a 20th-place finish at Kentucky, but Stewart then rebounded to a second-place finish at the Coke Zero 400.
At New Hampshire, Stewart led 84 laps and was overtaken by Brian Vickers with 14 laps to go. A caution that led to a green-white-checkered finish ultimately ruined Stewart's chances of winning, as he ran out of fuel after the restart while Vickers took the win. Stewart then rebounded with a 4th-place run at Indianapolis and a 9th-place run at Pocono.
Leg injury
The day after the Pocono race, on August 5, 2013, while leading a sprint car race at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Stewart was involved in a multi-car crash when a lapped car spun in front of him and Stewart drove straight into him while it was sideways causing him to flip multiple times. The hit was hard enough that Stewart broke both the tibia and fibula bones in his lower right leg. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where surgery was performed on his broken leg. A second surgery was performed on August 8, 2013, in which a metal rod was inserted into the tibia. The injuries were bad enough that Stewart's streak of 521 consecutive Sprint Cup starts, dating back to the 1999 Daytona 500, ended. A replacement driver for the August 11 race at Watkins Glen International was not immediately named, though it was eventually announced that road veteran Max Papis would fill in for Watkins Glen. Stewart was eventually released from the hospital on August 11.
Prior to August 11, 2013, speculation arose regarding who would replace Stewart on the oval courses, with speculation that the replacement would either be Regan Smith, who drove two races in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car after Earnhardt was sidelined with a concussion in 2012, or Austin Dillon. It was announced after Watkins Glen that Dillon would drive Stewart's car for Michigan. On August 19, 2013, Stewart was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Mark Martin was released from his contract with Michael Waltrip Racing and signed on to drive Stewart's car for the remaining thirteen races of the year, with the exception of Talladega, where Dillon drove the car. Brian Vickers and Elliott Sadler would drive the No. 55 for races Martin was originally intended to drive for MWR in.
2014 season
Before the season it was announced that Stewart had been medically cleared to race. Stewart mentioned during Pre-Season Thunder that his leg would be about 65% healed going into Daytona. Stewart ran the Sprint Unlimited and was collected in a nine-car crash, though he was able to exit his car under his own power and without any pain. Stewart entered the Daytona 500 in his backup car, starting from the rear of the field. After the 6 hour and 22-minute rain delay, the race resumed, but just shy of halfway, Stewart's fuel pickup began to fail. His crew repaired the problem in the garage and allowed Stewart to return to the track, finishing the race 27 laps down.
The next week at Phoenix, Stewart ran in the top ten most of the day. A late string of cautions set up multiple restarts and Stewart opted to come down to pit road to be serviced each time the caution was thrown, subsequently losing track position. On the last and final restart, Stewart had 4 fresh tires and was starting 19th. He gained 3 positions, from 19th to 16th, where he finished. Stewart gained 12 spots in the standings, from 32nd to 20th.
At Las Vegas, Stewart struggled with the handling of his car and finished 33rd, four laps down.
At Bristol, Stewart missed the second round of knockout qualifying and started 37th. However, with a fast racecar, he was able to make his way up the field and finish fourth, his first top-five finish since the previous year's Brickyard 400. Stewart was the highest finishing Chevrolet in the race.
Stewart qualified 10th at Auto Club. After a spin early in the race, Stewart was running 12th at the last caution, coming off of pit road 2nd and lining up 4th for the green-white-checkered finish behind Paul Menard, his driver Kurt Busch, and Landon Cassill. On the final restart, Stewart and Busch battled for the win, only to be passed up by Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson. Stewart finished third not being passed by Matt Kenseth, his fifth top 5 in a row.
Stewart had a strong run at Pocono. He qualified in the top five and ran in there nearly the whole race, before a speeding penalty on pit road left him with a 13th-place finish. When Stewart was asked about what happened he said "It was a 100% driver error. Last week I cried over a 6th place finish and I just threw this one away. 100% driver error. My fault."
At Michigan, Stewart ran in the top-five. Late in the race, Stewart tangled with rookie Kyle Larson when Larson threw a block, leaving Stewart with an 11th-place finish. Stewart replied by bumping Larson under yellow and side-swiping him. The next week Stewart said "He'll learn not to block me. One way or another he'll learn like I did at his age."
After the Kevin Ward Jr. tragedy in mid-August, Stewart skipped Watkins Glen, Michigan, and Bristol. He was subbed by Regan Smith and Jeff Burton for those races. Despite having missed three races and thus losing too many points to recover lost points in the final 2 races, NASCAR granted him a waiver allowing him to still be eligible for the Chase if he won in the final two 'regular season' events, which he failed to do, causing him to miss the Chase for the third time in his career.
At the end of the October Charlotte race, Stewart was hit on pit road by Brad Keselowski, who was trying to run into Matt Kenseth, but missed. Stewart retaliated by reversing into him, smashing Keselowski's front in. Stewart was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until November 12, 2014, along with Keselowski who was fined $50,000.
At Martinsville, Stewart almost won. On the final restart, he pulled out in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr. but having older tires, got over-taken by Earnhardt with four laps to go. Stewart finished 4th but stated that after what he went through from August to then, finishing 4th felt like a win to him.
Stewart finished the year with a last-place finish at Homestead-Miami, ending his 15-year winning streak. As a driver, 2014 was Stewart's worst year statistically. The season ended on a positive note for Stewart, as he won the Owner's Championship with Kevin Harvick. In an interview the day before the race, Stewart blamed his subpar year on the new rules package, saying it did not complement his driving style. He also dismissed countless claims that his poor showing had anything to do with his 2013 leg injury.
Return to sprint cars
On February 15, 2014, Stewart returned to sprint car racing in his No. 14 sprint car, the very car that broke his leg in 2013. When asked why he returned, Stewart said he loved racing sprint cars too much to leave. Stewart silenced his critics by dominating and winning a sprint car race at Tri-City Motor Speedway in a huge comeback story. After the race Stewart said:
2015 season
Stewart did not do as well in the 2015 season as hoped, as he failed to score a win for the second year in a row and missed the Chase. He even failed to finish higher than 6th-place for the first time in his career, only scoring 3 top-10 finishes the entire season. Despite these results, Stewart refused to put the blame on his crew chief, in spite of criticism from fans, saying that "I still really like working with Chad Johnston, I don't feel like he's what's holding us back... I'm holding him and the team back versus vice versa". He showed signs of a comeback after qualifying runs of 4th at Indianapolis, 5th at Pocono, 3rd at Watkins Glen, and 5th at Michigan.
In his last start of the season-opener Daytona 500, Stewart was involved in an accident on lap 41 with Matt Kenseth that collected Ryan Blaney and Michael Waltrip. Stewart pitted with significant front-right damage, and later took responsibility for the accident, saying that "when it got three-wide that particular lap, it got away from me". He ended up retiring on lap 72.
At the next race, the QuikTrip 500, Stewart did not set a time in qualifying due to a technical irregularity surrounding the amount of camber the car was running. Stewart had a relatively clean first part of the race, however in the second half of the race with 21 laps to go, was involved in a large accident alongside Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Regan Smith and Joe Nemechek, resulting in a red flag. Tony would finish 30th.
After qualifying 12th for the Kobalt 400, Stewart's fortunes did not improve as he finished 33rd, due to a pass-through penalty issued for a tire rolling out from his pit.
At the 2015 CampingWorld.com 500 Stewart qualified 17th, however on lap 288, he crashed, grinding alongside the front-stretch barrier, resulting in a caution. Stewart's teammate Harvick would eventually win.
At the next race, the Auto Club 400, Stewart had a clean race until 36 laps till the end. He was racing Aric Almirola hard, and Martin Truex Jr. cut in front of Tony, creating a hole in Stewart's bodywork which required him to pit for repairs. Following the incident, Stewart confronted Truex post-race, however Stewart still felt he had reason to be happy bar the incident, saying "We are getting to where we were sniffing the edge of the top 10 anyway all day," and that "this [race] is a big gain for us".
In August, Stewart lent his private plane to the family of IndyCar driver Justin Wilson so they could fly out to Long Pond, PA after Wilson was severely injured during a late-race crash; Wilson died several hours later.
On September 27, 2015, Bob Pockrass reported that Stewart announced plans to retire from racing after the 2016 season. Stewart formally announced on September 30, 2015, confirming this and announcing that Clint Bowyer would replace him in the No. 14 in 2017.
2016: Final Season
On January 31, 2016, Stewart injured his back while riding a dune buggy outside of San Diego with fellow driver Greg Biffle. Four days later, Stewart-Haas Racing announced he had suffered a burst fracture in his lumbar vertebra, which would prevent him from competing in the Daytona 500. Stewart was replaced by Brian Vickers and Ty Dillon. Stewart missed the first eight races of the season. On April 24, 2016, Stewart returned to racing in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, where he finished 19th. Before the Richmond race, NASCAR granted Stewart a waiver from the rule saying that a driver must attempt every race to be eligible for the Chase. If Stewart won a race and finished in the top 30 in the standings by the autumn Richmond race, he would qualify for the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
For the running of the GEICO 500 at Talladega, Stewart would struggle at the beginning of the race but he would switch with Ty Dillon after the first caution and Dillon would drive the rest of the race; the doctor advised Stewart not to drive the whole race to avoid further injury. The No. 14 car would get the free pass after the first caution. Dillon would finish 6th, but Stewart would get the credit since he started the race and would get his first top 10 of the year. He finished 12th at Kansas the following week. At Michigan for the running of the FireKeepers Casino 400, Stewart would have his best race of the year so far, he would qualify a strong 3rd and run great all race long and would finish 7th.
The very next week at Sonoma, Stewart took advantage of a late caution and was able to lead the last 20 laps, winning for the first time in three years after making a last-lap pass on Denny Hamlin, who wheel-hopped in the final turn and hit the wall after Stewart slipped into the inside. The win was very popular amongst the garages and the win vaulted Stewart from 34th to 31st in the standings, just 9 points out of the top 30. Then the next race at Daytona, Stewart finished 26th due to a late wreck, but moved up to 30th in the points and currently became part of the Chase for the first time since 2012. He did much better at Kentucky, finishing a solid 5th and further propelling him to 20th in owner's points. The next week at New Hampshire he would continue his streak of strong races and get a 2nd-place finish, followed by two 5th-place finishes at Pocono and Watkins Glen.
At Richmond, Stewart was involved in a controversy with 28 laps to go in the race. Stewart, while racing former teammate Ryan Newman for 10th place, wrecked Newman in turn 3, causing a five-car pileup and ending Newman's chase chances. In an interview minutes after the crash, Newman was outspoken about his displeasure against Stewart and said "I guess he thought he was in a sprint car again and didn't know how to control his anger. It's disappointing that you have somebody who should be retired the way he drives. It's just ridiculous." Stewart's bid for a fourth title ended after poor finishes caused him to be eliminated from the first round of the Chase. After having his final top-ten at the 2016 Bank of America 500, Tony Stewart wrapped up his 18-year career in Cup competition with a 22nd-place finish at the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 where he was 2 laps down.
Before the 23rd running of the Brickyard 400, Stewart was inducted into the USAC Hall of Fame in recognition of his sterling United States Auto Club (USAC) career. He was the 1994 USAC National Midget champion; in 1995, Stewart became the first driver ever to claim all three of United States Auto Club National championships in a single season and is one of only six USAC “Triple Crown Champions.” To date, Stewart racing has also won seven USAC Silver Crown Series titles.
Rolex 24 at Daytona
Stewart has raced in a few sports car races, including the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
2002: Competed in the Rolex 24 on 2/2-2/3 for the Crawford factory team with co-drivers Jan Lammers and Johnny Mowlem.
2004: Competed for the second time in the Rolex 24 on 1/31-2/1 for Howard-Boss Motorsports with co-drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Andy Wallace. Team led 355 of 526 laps and had a commanding five-lap advantage before mechanical problems less than 20 minutes short of the finish ended their shot at victory and placed them a disappointing fourth.
2005: Competed for the third time in the Rolex 24 on 2/5-2/6 for Howard-Boss Motorsports with co-drivers Jan Lammars and Andy Wallace. Team was leading with less than two hours remaining when a broken gearbox dropped them off the lead lap. Crew was able to make repairs so that the trio could rejoin the race, whereupon they finished third. It was Stewart's first podium finish in the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona.
2006: Competed for the fourth time in the Rolex 24 on 1/28-1/29 for Howard-Boss Motorsports with co-drivers Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace. Team finished 30th after suffering mechanical problems throughout the event.
2007: Competed for the fifth time in the Rolex 24 on 1/27-1/28 for Howard-Boss Motorsports with co-drivers Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace. Team finished 48th after mechanical trouble hampered the trio throughout the event.
Other racing
Stewart has enjoyed a highly successful career in USAC; he has 27 USAC National Midget wins to his credit, as well as 10 wins in the Sprint cars and three in the Silver Crown series. He is also a member of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame (2001) and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (2022). In addition to his USAC driving titles, he also has seven Sprint Car Owner championships as well as seven in the Silver Crown Series as an owner.
Stewart frequently makes appearances on dirt tracks, appearing regularly at an ARCA race on dirt and many prominent midget car events, USACs Turkey Night Grand Prix, and the indoor Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.
Stewart races 410 and 360 Dirt Sprint Cars about 50 times a year throughout the United States and Canada. On July 27, 2011, Stewart won his first-ever World of Outlaws race at Ohsweken Speedway. As of October 7, 2014, Stewart has three career World of Outlaws main event victories. Stewart competes with the World of Outlaws, All-Stars, and IRA Sprint Car series when traveling between NASCAR races and on off weekends.
Superstar Racing Experience
Along with Stewart co-founding the Superstar Racing Experience, he would also drive full-time in the No. 14 machine. Stewart got a podium finish in the inaugural 2021 SRX Series race at Stafford Motor Speedway, finishing third. He followed by sweeping the series' two dirt track races at Knoxville Raceway and Eldora. A second-place finish in the final race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway enabled Stewart to win the championship by 45 points over Ernie Francis Jr.
Legal issues
Death of Kevin Ward Jr.
On August 9, 2014, Stewart competed in an evening sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in Canandaigua, New York. About halfway through the race, Stewart bumped Kevin Ward Jr., causing Ward to lose control and spin out, into the wall. A full course yellow caution flag was displayed. Ward exited his vehicle and charged down the banked circuit to vent his frustation. Several cars tacked down the to the inside most line to avoid him, Stewart veered up towards the young driver and hit Ward, impacting him with his right rear tire. Mortally injured when the right rear tire of Stewart's car struck him, Ward was flung across the track to his death. Ward was transported by paramedics to Thompson Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival, due to "massive blunt trauma".
The incident took place the night before Stewart was scheduled to race in the Cup Series' Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International; however, Stewart decided not to compete in the event, and Regan Smith started in his place. Stewart later released a statement "There aren't words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. It's a very emotional time for all involved, and it is the reason I've decided not to participate in today's race at Watkins Glen. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and everyone affected by this tragedy."
The day after the incident, Philip Povero, sheriff of Ontario County, New York, told reporters "At this very moment, there are no facts in hand that would substantiate or support a criminal charge, or indicate criminal intent on the part of any individual."
On August 15, 2014, NASCAR announced a rule change requiring that drivers who are involved in an accident and are unable to drive their cars back to pit road or the garage must remain in their vehicles until emergency crews arrive, except in an emergency (such as a fire or smoke caused by a blown engine).
For the August 17, 2014 race at Michigan and the following one at Bristol, Stewart was replaced by Jeff Burton. He returned at Atlanta, and was granted a waiver to maintain Chase eligibility despite missing three races (current Chase rules state that a driver must attempt to qualify for every race in order to be eligible). However, he failed to win at Atlanta or Richmond and thus was unable to qualify for the Chase.
Stewart gave a tearful interview when he returned to race in Atlanta, stating:
This is been one of the toughest tragedies I've ever had to deal with, both professionally and personally. This is something that will definitely affect my life forever. This is a sadness and a pain I hope no one ever has to experience in their life. That being said, I know that the pain and the mourning that Kevin Ward's family and friends are experiencing is something that I can't possibly imagine. I want Kevin's father, Kevin Sr., his mother Pam, and his sisters Christi, Kayla, and Katelyn to know that every day I'm thinking about and praying for them.
The racing community is a large family, as you guys know. Everyone's saddened with this tragedy. I want to thank all my friends and family for their support through this tough, emotional time. And the support from the NASCAR community, my partners, all of our employees has been overwhelming. I've taken the last couple weeks off out of respect for Kevin and his family and also to cope with the accident in my own way. It's given me the time to think about life and how easy it is to take it for granted. I miss my team, my teammates, and the other drivers very much and I miss being back in the race car. I think that being back in the car this week with my racing family will help me get through this difficult time.
On September 24, 2014, a grand jury declined to indict Stewart on charges of manslaughter in the second-degree and criminally negligent homicide. Following the decision, District Attorney Michael Tantillo stated that videos of Stewart's driving did not demonstrate any aberrational driving and that Ward was under the influence of cannabis with levels high enough to impair judgment.
Ward's father, Kevin Ward Sr., wrote a letter vowing to "pursue to make all remedies for Kevin," implying the civil lawsuit they later filed. When Ward's family was informed that he had been high on cannabis, Ward Sr. wrote a letter that went viral on the internet, saying:
Tell me how a man the size of Kevin can make a sprint car turn to the right on impact. Tell me how a lap before (the incident) everything was fine, but the following lap was poor lighting. Tell me how a NASCAR star totally forgot what caution means. Maybe he should get a different headset so he is able to hear on the radio that the car in caution is up high, so go low. Or was he low until he rounded the corner and saw Kevin, Jr. standing up for himself?
A couple of days after the announcement of his exoneration by Ontario County (N.Y.) District Attorney Michael Tantillo, Stewart told The Associated Press, that "I know 100 percent in my heart and in my mind that I did not do anything wrong. This was 100 percent an accident."
After a few years of going through the process of the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Ward family, it was announced in April 2018, that the suit had been settled out-of-court, just a few weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin. The terms of the settlement were confidential.
Business ventures
Motorsports team ownership
Stewart is the owner of various open-wheel short-track racing cars, most of them being sponsored by Chevrolet since 2007. He also owns and drives dirt super late models.
Tri Star Motorsports
Tri Star Motorsports (no relation to the TriStar Motorsports NASCAR team) was an IRL team that Stewart owned with Larry Curry, Andy Card, and Rick Ehrgott from 1999 to 2001.
Stewart-Haas Racing
Following the 2008 season, Stewart was given a 50% stake in Haas CNC Racing, which was owned outright by Gene Haas and fielded Chevrolet vehicles. This allowed Stewart to become an owner-driver, as he left his long-term team at Joe Gibbs Racing to start the venture. Initially fielding two cars, the #14 for himself and the #39 for Ryan Newman, Stewart has since expanded the operation to four cars and began running with Ford engines in 2017. The team has won two NASCAR Cup Series championships, the first with Stewart driving in 2011 and the second with Kevin Harvick driving in 2014.
Tony Stewart Racing
Stewart has won USAC car owner titles in the Silver Crown division in 2002 and 2003 with J. J. Yeley, in 2004 & 2005 with Dave Steele and 2010 and 2011 with Levi Jones of Olney, IL. He also collected owner titles in USAC's National Sprint Car Series with Yeley in 2003 and Jay Drake in 2004. He also won an owner title in the USAC National Sprint Car Series in 2006 with Josh Wise and 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 with Levi Jones of Olney, IL
Stewart's USAC midget and sprint cars carry No. 20 and No. 21, while his Silver Crown car carries No. 22.
Stewart has also won World of Outlaws Sprint Car Championships as an owner with Donny Schatz in 2008–2009, 2012, and 2014–2018. The team was a two car operation with Schatz and Steve Kinser until Kinser's retirement in 2016. The team currently competes full time in the World of Outlaws with Schatz.
In October 2021 it was reported that Tony Stewart Racing would begin fielding entries in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series which will first be made up of a Top Fuel entry for Leah Pruett and a Funny Car entry for Matt Hagan.
Motorsports venues
Stewart purchased Eldora Speedway located near Rossburg, Ohio in late 2004 from Earl Baltes. Stewart is currently a co-owner of Paducah International Raceway near Paducah, Kentucky. He also co-owns Macon Speedway in Macon, Illinois along with Kenny Schrader, Kenny Wallace, and Bob Sargent.
All Star Circuit of Champions
In January 2015, Stewart purchased the All Star Circuit of Champions from Guy Webb. The purchase was Stewart's first foray into owning an entire racing series. In a separate agreement, Stewart announced that he had reached an agreement with the owners of the Renegade Sprint Series to merge with the All Star Circuit of Champions for the 2015 season under the All Star name.
The ASCoC is an American motorsports sanctioning body of Sprint Cars founded in 1970. The series sanctions 410ci winged sprint car races in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, and Florida.
Superstar Racing Experience
In July 2020, Stewart and former NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham formed the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), a stock car series that began in summer 2021.
Other entities
Stewart owns a dirt late model Chevrolet Impala that carries No. 14 which he races frequently. He is also the owner of Custom Works, a company that manufactures radio-controlled oval track cars, and has had a degree of success as an r/c racer himself.
Stewart was also the driving force behind the Prelude to the Dream, a dirt late model race held at Eldora Speedway from 2005 to 2012. It featured top drivers from NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA, and World of Outlaws, including race winners Kenny Wallace, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, and Stewart himself. The event raised over 4 million dollars for various NASCAR and driver charities including The Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Philanthropy
Tony Stewart Foundation
Founded in 2003 by Stewart, the principal purposes of the Tony Stewart Foundation are to raise and donate funds to help care for chronically ill children, drivers injured in motorsports activities, and to support other charitable organizations in the protection of various animal species. The Tony Stewart Foundation will raise and donate funds to charitable interests, specifically those that support the aforementioned groups.
Career achievements
Awards and honors
1995, 2002 Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Driver of the Year
2001 National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductee
2002 Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Hall of Fame inductee
2002, 2005, 2011 Richard Petty Driver of the Year
2003, 2006, 2012 Best Driver ESPY Award recipient
2008 Legends of The Glen inductee
2008 NASCAR Illustrated Person of the Year Award recipient
2013 Myers Brothers Award recipient
2016 Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame inductee
2018 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame inductee
2019 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee
2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee
2022 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee
Records and milestones
With 49 career points-paying victories, Stewart is ranked thirteenth among the all-time NASCAR Cup Series winners; he is ranked ninth among those who have competed during the sport's modern era (1972–present).
Stewart is the only driver to complete the Indianapolis 500–Coca-Cola 600 Double Duty, finishing sixth and third respectively in 2001. He is also the second owner-driver to win a NASCAR championship.
Stewart is the all-time winningest Cup Series driver at the following tracks:
Chicagoland Speedway (3)
Homestead-Miami Speedway (3; tied with Greg Biffle)
Watkins Glen International (5)
In popular media
Radio
Stewart hosted a two-hour weekly radio show, titled Tony Stewart Live, broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio. Stewart co-hosted the show with Matt Yocum, and took listener calls. The show ran from 2007 to 2008.
Television
From 1999 to 2003, Stewart worked for Turner Sports as a guest analyst on one NASCAR Busch Series race per year, one of the earliest examples of a current Cup driver doing commentary for a lower series race. Stewart called the fall Charlotte race in 1999 and 2000 alongside Allen Bestwick, and the Watkins Glen race in 2001 alongside Mike Hogewood.
In 2007, Stewart appeared in commercials for Subway with their spokesman Jared Fogle.
He in a 2008 Toyota commercial where the cars of Toyota Sprint Cup drivers, including Stewart's, are driven by kids with remote controls. When his kid driver spins his car out of control, he crawls out, yelling to his crew chief, "Zippy, run for your life!" Stewart then throws his helmet at his car.
Stewart appears in commercials as a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family of drivers.
In 2010, Stewart appeared in a commercial for the Burger King Steak House XT, which he endorsed. This video entered the Top 10 of the Ad Age/Visible Measures Top Viral Ad Chart on August 12, 2010.
On February 14, 2012, Stewart guest-starred on the ABC series Last Man Standing.
On March 17, 2013, he voiced himself in The Cleveland Show in the episode, "The Hangover Part Tubbs".
In 2013 and 2014, Stewart appeared as himself in a special series of McLaren's cartoon Tooned in partnership with Mobil 1.
On January 22, 2022, it was announced during the San Francisco 49ers/Green Bay Packers NFL playoff game, FOX Sports announced the addition of Stewart to the broadcast booth next month. He will join Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer in the booth for the inaugural running of the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as well as the 64th running of the Daytona 500.
In 2023, Stewart was a part of the FOX Sports broadcast booth for both the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as well as the 65th running of the Daytona 500.
Video games
EA Sports announced that Stewart would appear in person for the first time on the cover of NASCAR Thunder 2004 in late 2003, his Home Depot Winston Cup car appeared on NASCAR 2001s cover. He also appears on the North American cover of NASCAR 08.
Stewart is included in NASCAR 2011: The Game and NASCAR The Game: Inside Line. On December 3, 2013, it was announced that he would appear on the cover of NASCAR '14.
In 2019, Stewart and his Stewart-Haas Racing drivers were featured on the NASCAR Heat 4 cover; he also appears as a playable driver and dirt team owner in the game's Career Mode. The following year, he was included on the cover of NASCAR Heat 5 Gold Edition.
In 2020, Stewart partnered with Monster Games for Tony Stewart's Sprint Car Racing. The game, which features Stewart's All Stars Circuit of Champions, was released on February 14, 2020. A second game, Tony Stewart's All American Racing, came out on September 4.
In 2021, a third game, "SRX: The Game" came out May 28, 2021. It featured 305 Sprints, Stadium Trucks, Late Models, and the Camping World SRX series. A free DLC including Super Late Models and 6 additional asphalt tracks were released later, along with a physical copy of the game. It is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and Steam.
Other media
He appeared with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the music video for 3 Doors Down's song "The Road I'm On".
Stewart is mentioned in the song "Glory" by Lil Wayne off his Free Weezy Album.
Stewart is mentioned in the song "Slow Down" by Clyde Carson featuring The Team.
Stewart is mentioned in the song “Set It Off” by Boosie Badazz.
He appeared in the 2005 film Herbie: Fully Loaded, along with other NASCAR drivers, having his car driven over by Herbie and being one of four cars who boxed Herbie in.
Stewart is mentioned in Eminem's verse on the Shady Records "SHADY CXVPHER" video promoting the compilation album Shady XV, specifically referencing the Kevin Ward Jr. incident.
In K-pop group Blackpink's music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du", group member Lisa is seen wearing a vintage Stewart jacket from when he raced for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Stewart is mentioned in the song "Really Got It" by Jerreau.
While the song did not use his name, Stewart's number 14 was referenced in the Brad Paisley song "Country Nation". At the time of the song's 2015 release, Stewart was still driving the No. 14 car in NASCAR. Every driver referenced in the song (Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jimmie Johnson) has since retired from the sport.
Stewart has appeared in YouTube videos with rallycross driver Ken Block and drag racer Leah Pruett, both affiliated with the car channel Hoonigan. In March 2021, Stewart announced his engagement to Pruett. They married on November 21, 2021, in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Motorsports career results
Indy Racing League
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
1 The VisionAire 500K was abandoned after three spectators were killed when debris from a crash on the track went into the grandstands.
Indianapolis 500
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Sprint Cup Series
Daytona 500
Nationwide Series
Craftsman Truck Series
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Ineligible for series points
ARCA Menards Series
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
International Race of Champions
(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)
Rolex Sports Car Series
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class')
Superstar Racing Experience
(key) * – Most laps led. 1 – Heat 1 winner. 2 – Heat 2 winner.
See also
List of NASCAR race wins by Tony Stewart
References
External links
Tony Stewart Foundation
Tony Stewart at The Coca-Cola Racing Family
Indianapolis 500 drivers
Indianapolis 500 polesitters
Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year
IndyCar Series champions
IndyCar Series drivers
IndyCar Series team owners
International Kart Federation drivers
International Race of Champions drivers
NASCAR Cup Series champions
NASCAR drivers
NASCAR team owners
People from Columbus, Indiana
Racing drivers from Indiana
Rolex Sports Car Series drivers
The Home Depot people
World of Outlaws drivers
1971 births
Living people
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers
Chip Ganassi Racing drivers
Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers
Stewart-Haas Racing drivers
JR Motorsports drivers
ARCA Midwest Tour drivers
USAC Silver Crown Series drivers
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees
Hendrick Motorsports drivers
Richard Childress Racing drivers |
426205 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm%20chasing | Storm chasing | Storm chasing is broadly defined as the deliberate pursuit of any severe weather phenomenon, regardless of motive, but most commonly for curiosity, adventure, scientific investigation, or for news or media coverage. A person who chases storms is known as a storm chaser or simply a chaser.
While witnessing a tornado is the single biggest objective for most chasers, many chase thunderstorms and delight in viewing cumulonimbus and related cloud structures, watching a barrage of hail and lightning, and seeing what skyscapes unfold. A smaller number of storm chasers attempt to intercept tropical cyclones and waterspouts.
Nature of and motivations for chasing
Storm chasing is chiefly a recreational endeavor, with chasers usually giving their motives as photographing or video recording a storm, or for various personal reasons. These can include the beauty of the views afforded by the sky and land, the mystery of not knowing precisely what will unfold, the journey to an undetermined destination on the open road, intangible experiences such as feeling one with a much larger and more powerful natural world, the challenge of correctly forecasting and intercepting storms with optimal vantage points, and pure thrill seeking. Pecuniary interests and competition may also be components; in contrast, camaraderie is common.
Although scientific work is sometimes cited as a goal, direct participation in such work is almost always impractical during the actual chase except for chasers collaborating in an organized university or government project. Many chasers also act as storm spotters, reporting their observations of hazardous weather to relevant authorities. These reports greatly benefit real-time warnings with ground truth information, as well as science as a whole by increasing the reliability of severe storm databases used in climatology and other research (which ultimately boosts forecast and warning skill). Additionally, many recreational chasers submit photos and videos to researchers as well as to the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) for spotter training.
Storm chasers are not generally paid to chase, with the exception of television media crews in certain television market areas, video stringers and photographers (freelancers mostly, but some staff), and researchers such as graduate meteorologists and professors. An increasing number sell storm videos and pictures and manage to make a profit. A few operate "chase tour" services, making storm chasing a recently developed form of niche tourism. Financial returns usually are relatively meager given the expenses of chasing, with most chasers spending more than they take in and very few making a living solely from chasing. Chasers are also generally limited by the duration of the season in which severe storms are most likely to develop, usually the local spring and/or summer.
No degree or certification is required to be a storm chaser, and many chases are mounted independently by amateurs and enthusiasts without formal training. Local National Weather Service offices do hold storm spotter training classes, usually early in the spring. Some offices collaborate to produce severe weather workshops oriented toward operational meteorologists.
Storm chasers come from a wide variety of occupational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Though a fair number are professional meteorologists, most storm chasers are from other occupational fields, which may include any number of professions that have little or nothing to do with meteorology. A relatively high proportion possess college degrees and a large number live in the central and southern United States. Many are lovers of nature with interests that also include flora, fauna, geology, volcanoes, aurora, meteors, eclipses, and astronomy.
History
The first person to gain public recognition as a storm chaser was David Hoadley (born 1938), who began chasing North Dakota storms in 1956, systematically using data from area weather offices and airports. He is widely considered the pioneer storm chaser and was the founder and first editor of Storm Track magazine.
Neil B. Ward (1914–1972) subsequently brought research chasing to the forefront in the 1950s and 1960s, enlisting the help of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to study storms. His work pioneered modern storm spotting and made institutional chasing a reality.
The first coordinated storm chasing activity sponsored by institutions was undertaken as part of the Alberta Hail Studies project beginning in 1969. Vehicles were outfitted with various meteorological instrumentation and hail-catching apparatus and were directed into suspected hail regions of thunderstorms by a controller at a radar site. The controller communicated with the vehicles by radio.
In 1972, the University of Oklahoma (OU) in cooperation with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) began the Tornado Intercept Project, with the first outing taking place on 19 April of that year. This was the first large-scale tornado chasing activity sponsored by an institution. It culminated in a brilliant success in 1973 with the Union City, Oklahoma tornado providing a foundation for tornado and supercell morphology that proved the efficacy of storm chasing field research. The project produced the first legion of veteran storm chasers, with Hoadley's Storm Track magazine bringing the community together in 1977.
Storm chasing then reached popular culture in three major spurts: in 1978 with the broadcast of an episode of the television program In Search of...; in 1985 with a documentary on the PBS series Nova; and in May 1996 with the theatrical release of Twister, a Hollywood blockbuster which provided an action-packed but heavily fictionalized glimpse of the hobby. Further early exposure to storm chasing resulted from notable magazine articles, beginning in the late 1970s in Weatherwise magazine.
Various television programs and increased coverage of severe weather by the news media, especially since the initial video revolution in which VHS ownership became widespread by the early 1990s, substantially elevated awareness of and interest in storms and storm chasing. The Internet in particular has contributed to a significant increase in the number of storm chasers since the mid-to-late 1990s. A sharp increase in the general public impulsively wandering about their local area in search of tornadoes similarly is largely attributable to these factors. The 2007–2011 Discovery Channel reality series Storm Chasers produced another surge in activity. Over the years the nature of chasing and the characteristics of chasers shifted.
From their advent in the 1970s until the mid-1990s, scientific field projects were occasionally conducted in the Great Plains during the spring. The first of the seminal VORTEX projects occurred in 1994–1995 and was soon followed by various field experiments each spring, with another large project, VORTEX2, in 2009–2010. Since the mid-1990s, most storm chasing science, with the notable exception of large field projects, consists of mobile Doppler weather radar intercepts.
Typical storm chase
Chasing often involves driving thousands of miles in order to witness the relatively short window of time of active severe thunderstorms. It is not uncommon for a chaser to end up empty handed on any particular day. Storm chasers' degrees of involvement, competencies, philosophies, and techniques vary widely, but many chasers spend a significant amount of time forecasting, both before going on the road as well as during the chase, utilizing various sources for weather data. Most storm chasers are not meteorologists, and many chasers expend significant time and effort in learning meteorology and the intricacies of severe convective storm prediction through both study and experience.
Besides the copious driving to, from, and during chases, storm chasing is punctuated with contrasting periods of long waiting and ceaseless action. Downtime can consist of sitting under sun-baked skies for hours, playing pickup sports, evaluating data, or visiting landmarks while awaiting convective initiation. During an inactive pattern, this down time can persist for days. When storms are occurring, there is often little or no time to eat or relieve oneself and finding fuel can cause frustrating delays and detours. Navigating obstacles such as rivers and areas with inadequate road networks is a paramount concern. Only a handful of chasers decide to chase in Dixie Alley, an area of the Southern United States in which trees and road networks heavily obscure the storms and often large tornadoes. The combination of driving and waiting has been likened to "extreme sitting". A "bust" occurs when storms do not fire, sometimes referred to as "severe clear", when storms fire but are missed, when storms fire but are meager, or when storms fire after dusk.
Most chasing is accomplished by driving a motor vehicle of any make or model, whether it be a sedan, van, pickup truck, or SUV, however, a few individuals occasionally fly planes and television stations in some markets use helicopters. Research projects sometimes employ aircraft, as well.
Geographical, seasonal, and diurnal activity
Storm chasers are most active in the spring and early summer, particularly May and June, across the Great Plains of the United States (extending into Canada) in an area colloquially known as Tornado Alley, with many hundred individuals active on some days during this period. This coincides with the most consistent tornado days in the most desirable topography of the Great Plains. Not only are the most intense supercells common here, but due to the moisture profile of the atmosphere the storms tend to be more visible than locations farther east where there are also frequent severe thunderstorms. There is a tendency for chases earlier in the year to be farther south, shifting farther north with the jet stream as the season progresses. Storms occurring later in the year tend to be more isolated and slower moving, both of which are also desirable to chasers.
Chasers may operate whenever significant thunderstorm activity is occurring, whatever the date. This most commonly includes more sporadic activity occurring in warmer months of the year bounding the spring maximum, such as the active month of April and to a lesser extent March. The focus in the summer months is the Central or Northern Plains states and the Prairie Provinces, the Upper Midwest, or on to just east of the Colorado Front Range. An annually inconsistent and substantially smaller peak of severe thunderstorm and tornado activity also arises in the transitional months of autumn, particularly October and November. This follows a pattern somewhat the reverse of the spring pattern with the focus beginning in the north then dropping south and with an overall eastward shift. In the area with the most consistent significant tornado activity, the Southern Plains, the tornado season is intense but is relatively brief whereas central to northern and eastern areas experience less intense and consistent activity that is diffused over a longer span of the year.
Advancing technology since the mid-2000s led to chasers more commonly targeting less amenable areas (i.e. hilly or forested) that were previously eschewed when continuous wide visibility was critical. These advancements, particularly in-vehicle weather data such as radar, also led to an increase in chasing after nightfall. Most chasing remains during daylight hours with active storm intercepting peaking from mid-late afternoon through early-to-mid evening. This is dictated by a chaser's schedule (availability to chase) and by when storms form, which usually is around peak heating during the mid-to-late afternoon but on some days occurs in early afternoon or even in the morning. An additional advantage of later season storms is that days are considerably longer than in early spring. Morning or early afternoon storms tend to be associated with stronger wind shear and thus most often happen earlier in the spring season or later during the fall season.
Some organized chasing efforts have also begun in the Top End of the Northern Territory and in southeastern Australia, with the biggest successes in November and December. A handful of individuals are also known to be chasing in other countries, including the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Argentina, South Africa, Bangladesh, and New Zealand; although many people trek to the Great Plains of North America from these and other countries around the world (especially from the UK). The number of chasers and number countries where chasers are active expanded at an accelerating pace in Europe from the 1990s–2010s.
Dangers
There are inherent dangers involved in pursuing hazardous weather. These range from lightning, tornadoes, large hail, flooding, hazardous road conditions (rain or hail-covered roadways), animals on the roadway, downed power lines (and occasionally other debris), reduced visibility from heavy rain (often wind blown), blowing dust, and hail fog. Most directly weather-related hazards such as from a tornado are minimized if the storm chaser is knowledgeable and cautious. In some situations severe downburst winds may push automobiles around, especially high-profile vehicles. Tornadoes affect a relatively small area and are predictable enough to be avoided if sustaining situational awareness and following strategies including always having an open escape route, maintaining a safe distance, and avoiding placement in the direction of travel of a tornado (in most cases in the Northern Hemisphere this is to the north and to the east of a tornado). Lightning, however, is an unavoidable hazard. "Core punching", storm chaser slang for driving through a heavy precipitation core to intercept the area of interest within a storm, is recognized as hazardous due to reduced visibility and because many tornadoes are rain-wrapped. The "bear's cage" refers to the area under a rotating wall cloud (and any attendant tornadoes), which is the "bear", and to the blinding precipitation (which can include window-shatteringly large hail) surrounding some or all sides of a tornado, which is the "cage". Similarly, chasing at night heightens risk due to darkness.
In reality, the most significant hazard is driving, which is made more dangerous by the severe weather. Adding still more to this hazard are the multiple distractions which can compete for a chaser's attention, such as driving, communicating with chase partners and others with a phone and/or radio, navigating, watching the sky, checking weather data, and shooting photos or video. Again here, prudence is key to minimizing the risk. Chasers ideally work to prevent the driver from multitasking either by chase partners covering the other aspects or by the driver pulling over to do these other things if he or she is chasing alone. Falling asleep while driving is a chase hazard, especially on long trips back. This also is exacerbated by nocturnal darkness and by the defatigating demands of driving through precipitation and on slick roads.
Incidents
For nearly sixty years, the only known chaser deaths were driving-related. The first was Christopher Phillips, a University of Oklahoma (OU) undergraduate student, who died in a hydroplaning accident when swerving to miss a rabbit in 1984. Other incidents included Jeff Wear driving home in East Texas from a Hurricane Dennis chase in 2005, Fabian Guerra swerving to miss a deer while driving to a chase on I-80 in Iowa in 2009, and when a wrong-way driver resulted in a head-on collision that killed Andy Gabrielson who was on the Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44) in Oklahoma returning from a chase in 2012.
On 31 May 2013, an extreme event led to the first known chaser deaths inflicted directly by weather when the widest tornado ever recorded struck near El Reno, Oklahoma. Engineer Tim Samaras, his photographer son Paul, and meteorologist Carl Young were killed on a rural road by the tornado while doing in situ probe and infrasonic field research. In an exceptional combination of events, the already large and rain-obscured yet partially translucent tornado swiftly swelled to wide as it simultaneously changed direction and accelerated. Several other chasers were also struck and some injured by this tornado and its parent supercell's rear flank downdraft (RFD).
While chasing severe storms, a vehicle driven by Randall Yarnall for Kelley Williamson, who were contracting for The Weather Channel (TWC) as stars of their own show, Storm Wranglers, ran a stop sign while northbound on Farm to Market Road 1081 and struck a vehicle driven by Corbin Lee Jaeger going west on Farm to Market Road 2794 in West Texas in 2017. All three died at the scene, and the mother of Jaeger sued the estates of Williamson and Yarnall, as well as TWC, as there was a history of reckless driving by the pair for which it was alleged TWC ignored warnings to them by other chasers. The suit filed in 2019 was resolved in 2021.
Another fatality occurred in 2019 when Dale Sharpe, an Australian, struck a deer and subsequently became disabled on Kansas Highway 42. As he fled the vehicle, an oncoming vehicle struck him and he later died at the hospital.
Two separate fatal accidents occurred in 2022. In April three OU meteorology students, Drake Brooks, Nicholas Nair, and Gavin Short, died after hydroplaning on I-35 in Oklahoma while returning from a chase and in May, Martha Llanos Rodriguez, a storm chasing meteorologist from Mexico City was killed and three meteorologist colleagues were injured (two Chileans sustained non-life-threatening injuries and the other, Bradford Barrett, an American stationed in Chile, sustained life-threatening injuries) when they stopped for downed power lines on I-90 in southwestern Minnesota and their vehicle was hit by a semi-trailer truck.
There are other incidents in which chasers were injured by automobile accidents, lightning strikes, and tornado impacts. While chasing a tornado outbreak on 13 March 1990, KWTV television photographer Bill Merickel was shot and injured near Lindsay, Oklahoma.
Equipment
Storm chasers vary with regards to the amount of equipment used, some prefer a minimalist approach; for example, where only basic photographic equipment is taken on a chase, while others use everything from satellite-based tracking systems and live data feeds to vehicle-mounted weather stations and hail guards.
Historic
Historically, storm chasing relied on either in-field analysis or in some cases nowcasts from trained observers and forecasters. The first in-field technology consisted of radio gear for communication. Much of this equipment could also be adapted to receive radiofax data which was useful for receiving basic observational and analysis data. The primary users of such technology were university or government research groups who often had larger budgets than individual chasers.
Radio scanners were also heavily used to listen in on emergency services and storm spotters so as to determine where the most active or dangerous weather was located. A number of chasers were also radio amateurs, and used mobile (or portable) amateur radio to communicate directly with spotters and other chasers, allowing them to keep abreast of what they could not themselves see.
It was not until the mid- to late 1980s that the evolution of the laptop computer would begin to revolutionize storm chasing. Early on, some chasers carried acoustic couplers to download batches of raw surface and upper air data from payphones. The technology was too slow for graphical imagery such as radar and satellite data; and during the first years this wasn't available on any connection over telephone lines, anyway. Some raw data could be downloaded and plotted by software, such as surface weather observations using WeatherGraphix (predecessor to Digital Atmosphere) and similar software or for upper air soundings using SHARP, RAOB, and similar software.
Most meteorological data was acquired all at once early in the morning, and the rest of day's chasing was based on analysis and forecast gleaned from this; as well as on visual clues that presented themselves in the field throughout the day. Plotted weather maps were often analyzed by hand for manual diagnosis of meteorological patterns. Occasionally chasers would make stops at rural airstrips or NWS offices for an update on weather conditions. NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) could provide information in the vehicle, without stopping, such as weather watches and warnings, surface weather conditions, convective outlooks, and NWS radar summaries. Nowadays, storm chasers may use high-speed Internet access available in any library, even in small towns in the US. This data is available throughout the day, but one must find and stop at a location offering Internet access.
With the development of the mobile computers, the first computer mapping software became feasible, at about the same time as the popular adoption of the VHS camcorder began a rapid growth phase. Prior to the mid to late 1980s most motion picture equipment consisted of 8 mm film cameras. While the quality of the first VHS consumer cameras was quite poor (and the size somewhat cumbersome) when compared to traditional film formats, the amount of video which could be shot with a minimal amount of resources was much greater than any film format at the time.
In the 1980s and 1990s The Weather Channel (TWC) and A.M. Weather were popular with chasers, in the morning preceding a chase for the latter and both before and during a chase for the former. Commercial radio sometimes also provides weather and damage information. The 1990s brought technological leaps and bounds. With the swift development of solid state technology, television sets for example could be installed with ease in most vehicles allowing storm chasers to actively view local TV stations. Mobile phones became popular making group coordination easier when traditional radio communications methods were not ideal or for those possessing radios. The development of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1993 hastened adoption of the Internet and led to FTP access to some of the first university weather sites.
The mid-1990s marked the development of smaller more efficient marine radars. While such marine radars are illegal if used in land-mobile situations, a number of chasers were quick to adopt them in an effort to have mobile radar. These radars have been found to interfere with research radars, such as the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) utilized in field projects. The first personal lightning detection and mapping devices also became available and the first online radar data was offered by private corporations or, at first with delays, with free services. A popular data vendor by the end of the 1990s was WeatherTAP.
Current
Chasers used paper maps for navigation and some of those now using GPS still use these as a backup or for strategizing with other chasers. Foldable state maps can be used but are cumbersome due to the multitude of states needed and only show major roads. National atlases allow more detail and all states are contained in a single book, with AAA favored and Rand McNally followed by Michelin also used. The preferred atlases due to great detail in rural areas are the "Roads of..." series originally by Shearer Publishing, which first included Texas but expanded to other states such as Oklahoma and Colorado. Covering every state of the union are the DeLorme "Atlas and Gazetteer" series. DeLorme also produced early GPS receivers that connected to laptops and for years was one of two major mapping software creators. DeLorme Street Atlas USA or Microsoft Streets & Trips were used by most chasers until their discontinuations in 2013. Chasers now use Google Maps, Waze, and/or Apple Maps or other web mapping on mobile devices as no comparably robust mapping software emerged although operating systems later implemented the apps Windows Maps and Apple Maps. To ensure mapping availability without an active internet connection, these solutions all require downloading maps locally ahead of time. GPS receivers may still be used with other software, such as for displaying radar data.
A major turning point was the advent of civilian GPS in 1996, which was followed by additional satellite navigation systems in ensuing decades and by refinements of GPS. At first, GPS units were very costly and only offered basic functions, but that would soon change. Towards the late 1990s the Internet was awash in weather data and free weather software, the first true cellular Internet modems for consumer use also emerged providing chasers access to data in the field without having to rely on a nowcaster. The NWS also released the first free, up-to-date NEXRAD Level 3 radar data. In conjunction with all of this, GPS units now had the ability to connect with computers, granting greater ease when navigating.
2001 marked the next great technological leap for storm chasers as the first Wi-Fi units began to emerge offering wireless broadband service in many cases for free. Some places (restaurants, motels, libraries, etc.) were known to reliably offer wireless access and wardriving located other availabilities. In 2002 the first Windows-based package to combine GPS positioning and Doppler radar appeared called SWIFT WX. SWIFT WX allowed storm chasers to seamlessly position themselves accurately relative to tornadic storms.
In 2004 two more storm chaser tools emerged. The first, WxWorx, was a new XM Satellite Radio based system utilizing a special receiver and Baron Services weather software. Unlike preexisting cellular based services there was no risk of dead spots, and that meant that even in the most remote areas storm chasers still had a live data feed. The second tool was a new piece of software called GRLevel3. GRLevel3 utilized both free and subscription based raw radar files, displaying the data in a true vector format with GIS layering abilities. Since 2006 a growing number of chasers are using Spotter Network (SN), which uses GPS data to plot real time position of participating spotters and chasers, and allows observers to report significant weather as well as GIS layering for navigation maps, weather products, and the like.
The most common chaser communications device is the cellular phone. These are used for both voice and data connections. External antennas and amplifiers may be used to boost signal transception. It is not uncommon that chasers travel in small groups of cars, and they may use CB radio (declining in use) or inexpensive GMRS / FRS hand-held transceivers for inter-vehicle communication. More commonly, many chasers are also ham radio operators and use the 2 meters VHF and, less often, 70 cm UHF bands to communicate between vehicles or with Skywarn / Canwarn spotter networks. Scanners are often used to monitor spotter, sometimes public safety communications, and can double as weather radios. Since the mid-2000s social networking services may also be used, with Twitter most used for ongoing events, Facebook for sharing images and discussing chase reports, YouTube and sometimes Vimeo or TikTok for sharing videos, and Instagram also used by some to share photos. Social networking services largely (but not completely) replace forums and email lists, which complemented and eventually supplanted Stormtrack magazine, for conversing about and sharing images of storms.
In-field environmental data is still popular among some storm chasers, especially temperature, moisture, and wind speed and direction data. Many choose to mount weather stations atop their vehicles. Even professionally installed and scientific grade instrument systems are subject to various problems, however, so such casually collected data must be considered tenuously. Others use handheld anemometers. Rulers or baseballs may be brought along for measuring hail and for showing as a comparison object. Vehicle mounted cameras, such as on the roof or more commonly on the dash, provide continuous visual recording capability.
Chasers heavily utilized still photography since the beginning. Videography gained prominence by the 1990s into the early 2000s but a resurgence of photography occurred with the advent of affordable and versatile digital SLR (DSLR) cameras. Prior to this, 35 mm SLR print and slide film formats were mostly used, along with some medium format cameras. In the late 2000s, mobile phone 3G data networks became fast enough to allow live streaming video from chasers using webcams. This live imagery is frequently used by the media, as well as NWS meteorologists, emergency managers, and the general public for direct ground truth information, and it promotes video sales opportunities for chasers. Also by this time, camcorders using memory cards to record video began to be adopted. Digital video had been around for years but was recorded on tape, whereas solid-state is random access rather than sequential access (linear) and has no moving parts. Late in the 2000s HD video began to overtake SD (which had been NTSC in North America) in usage as prices came down and performance increased (initially there were low-light and sporadic aliasing problems due to chip and sensor limitations). By the mid-2010s 4K cameras were increasingly in use. Tripods are used by those seeking crisp professional photo and video imagery and also enable chasers to tend to other activities. Other accessories include cable/remote shutter releases, lightning triggers, and lens filters. Windshield mounted cameras or dome enclosed cameras atop vehicle roofs may also be used, and a few chasers use UAVs ("drones").
Late in the 2000s smartphones increased in usage, with radar viewing applications frequently used. Particularly, RadarScope on the iOS and Android platforms is favored. Pkyl3 was a dominant early choice on Android devices which discontinued development in August 2018. Other apps may be used as are browsers for viewing meteorological data and accessing social networking services. Some handsets can be used as WiFi hotspots and wireless cards may also be used to avoid committing a handset to tethering or operating as a hotspot. Some hotspots operate as mobile broadband MNVO devices using any radio spectrum that is both available and is in contract with a service provider. Such devices may expand mobile data range beyond a single carrier's service area and typically can work on month-to-month contracts. Adoption of tablet computers expanded by the early 2010s. 4G LTE has been adopted when available and can be especially useful for uploading HD video. A gradual uptick of those selecting mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras (MILCs) began in the mid-2010s. Usage of DSLR for video capture, called HDSLR, is common, although HD camcorders remain popular due to their greater functionality (many chasers still shoot both).
Chasers also carry common travel articles and vehicle maintenance items, and sometimes first aid kits. Full sized spare tires are strongly preferable to "donut" emergency replacement tires. Power inverters (often with surged protected power strips) power devices that require AC (indoor/wall outlet) power, although some devices may be powered directly with DC (battery power) from the vehicle electric system. Water repellent products, such as Rain-X or Aquapel, are frequently applied to windshields to dispel water when driving as well as mud and small detritus, which boosts visibility and image clarity on photographs and videos shot through glass (which is particularly problematic if autofocus is on). Binoculars and sunglasses are commonly employed.
Ethics
A growing number of experienced storm chasers advocate the adoption of a code of ethics in storm chasing featuring safety, courtesy, and objectivity as the backbone. Storm chasing is a highly visible recreational activity (which is also associated with science) that is vulnerable to sensationalist media promotion. Veteran storm chasers Chuck Doswell and Roger Edwards deemed reckless storm chasers as "yahoos". Doswell and Edwards believe poor chasing ethics at TV news stations add to the growth of "yahoo" storm chasing. A large lawsuit was filed against the parent company of The Weather Channel in March 2019 for allegedly keeping on contract storm chaser drivers with a demonstrated pattern of reckless driving which ultimately led in a fatal collision (killing themselves and a storm spotter in the other vehicle) when running a stop sign in Texas in 2017. Edwards and Rich Thompson, among others, also expressed concern about pernicious effects of media profiteering with Matt Crowther, among others, agreeing in principle but viewing sales as not inherently corrupting. Self-policing is seen as the means to mold the hobby. There is occasional discussion among chasers that at some point government regulation may be imposed due to increasing numbers of chasers and because of poor behavior by some individuals; however, many chasers do not expect this eventuality and almost all oppose regulations -—as do some formal studies of dangerous leisure activities which advocate deliberative self-policing.
As there is for storm chaser conduct, there is concern about chaser responsibility. Since some chasers are trained in first aid and even first responder procedures, it is not uncommon for tornado chasers to be first on a scene and tending to storm victims or treating injuries at the site of a disaster in advance of emergency personnel and other outside aid.
Aside from questions concerning their ethical values and conduct, many have been accredited for giving back to the community in several ways. Just before the Joplin tornado, Storm Chaser Jeff Piotrowski provided advanced warning to Officer Brewer of Joplin local law enforcement, prompting them to activate the emergency sirens. Though lives were lost, many who survived accredited their survival to the siren. After a storm has passed storm chasers are often the first to arrive on the scene to help assist in the aftermath. An unexpected and yet increasingly more common result of storm chasers is the data they provide to storm research from their videos, social video posts and documentation of storms they encounter. After the El Reno tornado in 2013, portals were created for chasers to submit their information to help in the research of the deadly storm. The El Reno Tornado Environment Display (TED) was created to show a synchronized view of the submitted video footage overlaying radar images of the storm with various chasers' positions.
In popular culture
Twister, a 1996 film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton
Into the Storm, a 2014 film
Heavy Weather, a 1994 novel
Storm Chasers, a 2007-2011 reality TV series
See also
53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
Eclipse chasing
Landscape photography
Hurricane hunters (crews)
NOAA Hurricane Hunters (aircraft)
Weather spotting
References
Further reading
External links
The Meaning of Chasing (T.J. Turnage)
Storm Spotters Guides: Chasing
NSSL Field Projects
NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory Field Projects
Observation hobbies
Research methods |
426208 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt%20Romney | Mitt Romney | Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer who has served as the junior United States senator from Utah since 2019. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 election, losing to incumbent Barack Obama.
Raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, by George and Lenore Romney, he spent over two years in France as a Mormon missionary. He married Ann Davies in 1969; they have five sons. Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) throughout his adult life, Romney served as bishop of his ward and later as a stake president for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs. By 1971, he had participated in the political campaigns of both his parents. In 1971 Romney graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) and in 1975 he received a JD–MBA degree from Harvard. He became a management consultant and in 1977 joined Bain & Company in Boston. As Bain's chief executive officer (CEO), he helped lead the company out of a financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded and led the spin-off company Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the nation.
After stepping down from Bain Capital and his local leadership role in the LDS Church, Romney was the Republican nominee in the 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts. After losing to five-term incumbent Ted Kennedy, he resumed his position at Bain Capital. Years later, a successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics led to a relaunch of his political career. Elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Romney helped develop and later signed a health care reform law (commonly called "Romneycare") that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance. He also presided over the elimination of a projected $1.2–1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and closing corporate tax loopholes. He did not seek reelection in 2006, focusing instead on his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, ultimately losing the nomination to Senator John McCain. He ran for and won the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, becoming the first LDS Church member to be a major party's nominee. He lost the election to President Obama.
After reestablishing residency in Utah, Romney announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Orrin Hatch in the 2018 election; he defeated state representative Mike Kennedy in the Republican primary and Democratic nominee Jenny Wilson in the general election. In doing so, he became only the third person ever to be elected governor of one state and U.S. senator for another state. Generally considered a moderate or centrist Republican, in 2020, Romney was the lone Republican to vote to convict Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial, making him the first senator ever to have voted to remove a president of the same party from office. Romney also voted to convict in Trump's second trial in 2021. He marched alongside Black Lives Matter protestors, voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, supported gun control measures, and did not vote for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. In 2023, Romney announced he will not run for reelection in 2024 and will retire from the Senate when his term expires in 2025.
Early life and education
Heritage and youth
Willard Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, at Harper University Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, one of four children born to automobile executive George W. Romney and former actress and homemaker Lenore Romney (née LaFount). His mother was a native of Logan, Utah, and his father was born to American parents in a Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico. Of primarily English descent, he also has Scottish and German ancestry. A fifth-generation member of the LDS Church, he is a great-grandson of Miles Park Romney and a great-great-grandson of Miles Romney, who converted to Mormonism in its first decade. Another great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, helped lead the early church.
Romney has three older siblings: Margo, Jane, and Scott. Mitt was the youngest by nearly six years. His parents named him after a family friend, businessman J. Willard Marriott, and his father's cousin, Milton "Mitt" Romney, a former quarterback for the Chicago Bears. Romney was called "Billy" until kindergarten, when he expressed a preference for "Mitt". In 1953, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills and his father became the chairman and CEO of American Motors the following year and helped the company avoid bankruptcy and return to profitability. By 1959, his father had become a nationally known figure in print and on television, and Mitt idolized him.
Romney attended public elementary schools until seventh grade, when he enrolled as one of only a few Mormon students at Cranbrook School, a private upscale boys' preparatory school a few miles from his home. Many students there came from backgrounds even more privileged than his. Not particularly athletic, he also did not distinguish himself academically. He participated in his father's successful 1962 Michigan gubernatorial campaign, and later worked as an intern in the governor's office. Romney took up residence at Cranbrook when his newly elected father began spending most of his time at the state capitol.
At Cranbrook, Romney helped manage the ice hockey team, and joined the pep squad. During his senior year, he joined the cross country running team. He belonged to 11 school organizations and school clubs, including the Blue Key Club, a booster group he had started. During his final year there, his academic record improved but fell short of excellence. Romney was involved in several pranks while attending Cranbrook. He has since apologized for them, stating that some of them may have gone too far. In March of his senior year, he began dating Ann Davies; she attended the private Kingswood School, Cranbrook's sister school. The two became informally engaged around the time he graduated from high school in June 1965.
College, France mission, marriage, and children
Romney attended Stanford University during the 1965–1966 academic year. He was not part of the counterculture of the 1960s then taking form in the San Francisco Bay Area. As opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War grew, a group staged a May 1966 sit-in at Stanford's administration building to demonstrate against draft status tests; Romney joined a counterprotest against that group. He continued to enjoy occasional pranks.
In July 1966, he began a 30-month stint in France as a Mormon missionary, a traditional rite of passage in his family. He arrived in Le Havre, where he shared cramped quarters under meager conditions. Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced.
On average, individual Mormon missionaries do not gain many converts and Romney was no exception: he later estimated 10 to 20 for his entire mission. He initially became demoralized and later recalled it as the only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected."
Romney soon gained recognition within the mission for the many homes he called on and the repeat visits he was granted. He became a zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, and soon thereafter became an assistant to the mission president in Paris. While in Paris, Romney resided at the Mission Home for several months, and enjoyed a mansion far more comfortable than the accommodations he experienced elsewhere in the country.
When the French expressed opposition to the U.S. role in the Vietnam War, Romney debated them. Those who yelled at him and slammed their doors in his face merely reinforced his resolve.
In June 1968, while in southern France and driving an automobile that was hit by another vehicle, Romney was seriously injured. The crash killed one of his passengers, the wife of the mission president.
Romney then became co-president of a mission that had become demoralized and disorganized after the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings and the car accident. With Romney rallying the others, the mission met its goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most in a decade. By the end of his stint in December 1968, he was overseeing the work of 175 others. As a result of his experience there, Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and has remained fluent in French.
At their first meeting following his return, Romney and Ann Davies reconnected and decided to get married. Before their wedding, Romney moved to Utah and enrolled at Brigham Young University, where Ann had been studying. They married on March 21, 1969, in a civil ceremony in Bloomfield Hills and the next day, they flew to Utah for a Mormon wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple; Ann had converted to the faith while he was away.
Romney had missed much of the tumultuous anti-Vietnam War movement in America while in France. Upon his return, he was surprised to learn that his father had joined that movement during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign. George was now serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In a June 1970 newspaper profile of children of cabinet members, Mitt said that U.S. involvement in the war had been misguided – "If it wasn't a political blunder to move into Vietnam, I don't know what is" – but supported Nixon's ongoing Cambodian Incursion as a sincere attempt to end the war. During the U.S. military draft for the Vietnam War, Romney sought and received two 2-S student deferments, then a 4-D ministerial deferment while living in France as a missionary. He later sought and received two additional student deferments. When those ran out, he drew number 300 in the December 1969 draft lottery, ensuring he would not be drafted.
At culturally conservative BYU, Romney remained separated from much of the upheaval of that era. He became president of the Cougar Club booster organization and showed a newfound discipline in his studies. During his senior year, he took a leave of absence to work as driver and advance man for his mother's unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign; together, they visited all 83 Michigan counties. Romney graduated from BYU in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a 3.97 GPA. He gave commencement addresses to both the College of Humanities and the whole of BYU.
The Romneys' first son, Taggart, was born in 1970 while they were undergraduates at BYU and living in a basement apartment. Their son Matthew was born in 1971 and Joshua in 1975. Benjamin (1978) and Craig (1981) were born after Romney had begun his career.
Romney wanted to pursue a business career, but his father advised him that a law degree would be valuable to his career even if he never practiced law. As a result, he enrolled in the recently created four-year joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He readily adapted to the business school's pragmatic, data-driven case study method of teaching. Living in a Belmont, Massachusetts, house with Ann and their two children, his social experience differed from that of most of his classmates. He was nonideological and did not involve himself in the political issues of the day. Romney graduated from Harvard in 1975. He was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top 5% of his business school class and received his Juris Doctor degree cum laude for ranking in the top third of his law school class.
Business career
Management consulting
After receiving his JD–MBA from Harvard, Romney passed the Michigan bar exam but decided to pursue a career in business rather than law. He was recruited by several large companies but joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), reasoning that working as a management consultant for a variety of companies would better prepare him for a future position as a chief executive. Part of a 1970s wave of top graduates who chose to go into consulting rather than join a large company directly, he found his legal and business education useful in his job. He applied BCG principles such as the growth-share matrix, and executives viewed him as having a bright future there. At BCG, he was a colleague of Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he formed a friendship that has lasted for more than 40 years.
In 1977, he was hired by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm in Boston formed a few years earlier by Bill Bain and several other ex-BCG employees. Bain later said of the 30-year-old Romney, "He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe ten years older." Unlike other consulting firms, which issued recommendations and then departed, Bain & Company immersed itself in a client's businesses and worked with them until changes were implemented. Romney became a vice president of the firm in 1978, working with such clients as the Monsanto Company, Outboard Marine Corporation, Burlington Industries, and Corning Incorporated. Within a few years, the firm considered him one of its best consultants. In fact, clients sometimes preferred to use him rather than more-senior partners.
Minor political issues
Two family incidents during this time later surfaced during Romney's political campaigns. A state park ranger in 1981 told Romney his motorboat had an insufficiently visible license number and that he would face a $50 fine if he took the boat onto the lake. Disagreeing about the license and wanting to continue a family outing, Romney took it out anyway, saying he would pay the fine. The ranger arrested him for disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped several days later. In 1983, on a 12-hour family road trip, he placed the family's dog in a windshield-equipped carrier on the roof of their car, and then washed the car and carrier after the dog suffered a bout of diarrhea. The dog incident in particular later became fodder for Romney's critics and political opponents.
Private equity
In 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found and lead the spin-off private equity investment firm Bain Capital. He initially refrained from accepting Bill Bain's offer to head the new venture until Bain rearranged the terms in a complicated partnership structure so that there was no financial or professional risk to Romney. Bain and Romney raised the $37 million needed to start the new operation, which had seven employees. Romney held the titles of president and managing general partner. Though he was the sole shareholder of the firm, publications also called him managing director or CEO.
Initially, Bain Capital focused on venture capital investments. Romney set up a system in which any partner could veto one of these potential opportunities, and he personally saw so many weaknesses that few venture capital investments were approved in the initial two years. The firm's first significant success was a 1986 investment to help start Staples Inc., after founder Thomas G. Stemberg convinced Romney of the market size for office supplies and Romney convinced others; Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on Staples's board of directors for over a decade.
Romney soon switched Bain Capital's focus from startups to the relatively new business of leveraged buyouts: buying existing companies with money mostly borrowed from banking institutions using the newly bought companies' assets as collateral, taking steps to improve the companies' value, and then selling those companies when their value peaked, usually within a few years. Bain Capital lost money in many of its early leveraged buyouts, but then found deals that made large returns. The firm invested in or acquired Accuride Corporation, Brookstone, Domino's Pizza, Sealy Corporation, Sports Authority, and Artisan Entertainment, as well as some lesser-known companies in the industrial and medical sectors. Much of the firm's profit was earned from a relatively small number of deals; Bain Capital's overall success-to-failure ratio was about even.
Romney discovered few investment opportunities himself (and those that he did often failed to make money for the firm). Instead, he focused on analyzing the merits of possible deals that others brought forward and on recruiting investors to participate in them once approved. At Bain Capital, Romney spread profits from deals widely within the firm to keep people motivated, often keeping less than 10% for himself. Data-driven, he often played the role of a devil's advocate during exhaustive analysis of whether to go forward with a deal. He wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners disagreed with him and it eventually made billions. He opted out of the Artisan Entertainment deal, not wanting to profit from a studio that produced R-rated films. Romney served on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company later found guilty of defrauding the government; Bain Capital tripled its investment before selling off the company, and the fraud was discovered by the new owners (Romney was never implicated). In some cases, Romney had little involvement with a company once Bain Capital acquired it.
Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after the firm had concluded its role. Exactly how many jobs Bain Capital added compared to those lost because of these investments and buyouts is unknown, owing to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy for itself and its investors. Maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's primary investment goal. Bain Capital's acquisition of Ampad exemplified a deal where it profited handsomely from early payments and management fees, even though the subject company itself later went into bankruptcy. Dade Behring was another case where Bain Capital received an eightfold return on its investment but the company itself was saddled with debt and laid off over a thousand employees before Bain Capital exited (the company subsequently went into bankruptcy, with more layoffs, before recovering and prospering). Referring to the layoffs that sometimes occurred, Romney said in 2007: "Sometimes the medicine is a little bitter but it is necessary to save the life of the patient. My job was to try and make the enterprise successful, and in my view the best security a family can have is that the business they work for is strong."
In 1990, facing financial collapse, Bain & Company asked Romney to return. Announced as its new CEO in January 1991, he drew a symbolic salary of one dollar (remaining managing general partner of Bain Capital during this time). He oversaw an effort to restructure Bain & Company's employee stock-ownership plan and real-estate deals, while rallying the firm's 1,000 employees, imposing a new governing structure that excluded Bain and the other founding partners from control, and increasing fiscal transparency. He got Bain and other initial owners who had removed excessive amounts of money from the firm to return substantial amounts, and persuaded creditors, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to accept less than full payment. Within about a year, he led Bain & Company to a return to profitability. He then turned it over to new leadership and returned to Bain Capital in December 1992.
Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital from November 1993 to November 1994 to run for U.S. Senate. During that time, Ampad workers went on strike and asked Romney to intervene. Against the advice of Bain Capital lawyers, Romney met the strikers, but told them he had no position of active authority in the matter.
By 1999, Bain Capital was on its way to becoming one of the foremost private equity firms in the nation, having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, with 115 employees and $4 billion under management. The firm's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113% and its average yearly return to investors was around 50%–80%.
Starting in February 1999, Romney took a paid leave of absence from Bain Capital in order to serve as the president and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Billed in some public statements as keeping a part-time role, Romney remained the firm's sole shareholder, managing director, CEO, and president, signing corporate and legal documents, attending to his interests within the firm, and conducting prolonged negotiations for the terms of his departure. He did not involve himself in the firm's day-to-day operations or the investment decisions of its new private equity funds. He retained his position on several boards of directors during this time and regularly returned to Massachusetts to attend meetings.
In August 2001, Romney announced that he would not return to Bain Capital. His separation from the firm concluded in early 2002; he transferred his ownership to other partners and negotiated an agreement that allowed him to receive a share of the profits as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and investment funds. The private equity business continued to thrive, earning him millions of dollars in annual income.
LDS Church service
During his business career, Romney held several positions in the church's local lay clergy. In the early 1970s, he served in a ward bishopric. He then served for a time as a seminary teacher and then as a member of the stake high council of the Boston Stake while Richard L. Bushman was stake president.
In 1977, he became a counselor to the president of the Boston Stake. He served as bishop of the ward at Belmont, Massachusetts, from 1981 to 1986. As such, in addition to home teaching, he also formulated Sunday services and classes using LDS scriptures to guide the congregation. After the destruction of the Belmont meetinghouse by a fire of suspicious origins in 1984, he forged links with other religious institutions, allowing the congregation to rotate its meetings to other houses of worship during the reconstruction of the Belmont building.
From 1986 to 1994, Romney was president of the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen wards in eastern Massachusetts and almost 4,000 church members. He organized a team to handle financial and management issues, sought to counter anti-Mormon sentiment, and tried to solve social problems among poor Southeast Asian converts. An unpaid position, his local church leadership often took 30 or more hours a week of his time, and he became known for his considerable energy in the role. He also earned a reputation for avoiding any overnight travel that might interfere with his church responsibilities.
Romney took a hands-on role in the Boston Stake's matters, helping in domestic maintenance efforts, visiting the sick, and counseling burdened church members. A number of local church members later credited him with turning their lives around or helping them through difficult times. Others, rankled by his leadership style, desired a more consensus-based approach. Romney tried to balance the conservative directives from church leadership in Utah with the desire of some Massachusetts members to have a more flexible application of religious doctrine. He agreed with some requests from a liberal women's group that published Exponent II calling for changes in the way the church dealt with women, but he clashed with women he felt were departing too much from doctrine. In particular, he counseled women not to have abortions except in the rare cases allowed by LDS doctrine and encouraged unmarried women facing unplanned pregnancies to give their babies up for adoption. Romney later said that the years spent as an LDS minister gave him direct exposure to people struggling financially and empathy for those with family problems.
1994 United States Senate campaign
For much of his business career, Romney did not take public political stances. He had kept abreast of national politics since college, and the circumstances of his father's presidential campaign loss had irked him for decades. He registered as an Independent and voted in the 1992 presidential primaries for the Democratic former senator from Massachusetts, Paul Tsongas.
By 1993, Romney had begun thinking about entering politics, partly on Ann's urging and partly to follow in his father's footsteps. He decided to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, who was seeking reelection to a sixth term. Political pundits viewed Kennedy as vulnerable that year, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole, and in part because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy's reputation had suffered. Romney changed his affiliation to Republican in October 1993 and formally announced his candidacy in February 1994. In addition to his leave from Bain Capital, Romney also stepped down from his church leadership role in 1994.
Radio personality Janet Jeghelian took an early lead in polls among candidates for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat, but Romney proved the most effective fundraiser. He won 68% of the vote at the May 1994 Massachusetts Republican Party convention; businessman John Lakian finished a distant second, eliminating Jeghelian. Romney defeated Lakian in the September 1994 primary with more than 80% of the vote.
In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious reelection challenge of his career. The younger, telegenic, and well-funded Romney ran as a businessman who said he had created 10,000 jobs and as a Washington outsider with a solid family image and moderate stances on social issues. When Kennedy tried to tie Romney's policies to those of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Romney responded, "Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to take us back to Reagan-Bush." Romney said, "Ultimately, this is a campaign about change."
Romney's campaign was effective in portraying Kennedy as soft on crime but had trouble establishing its own consistent positions. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race about even. Kennedy responded with a series of ads that focused on Romney's seemingly shifting political views on issues such as abortion; Romney responded, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country." Other Kennedy ads centered on layoffs of workers at the Ampad plant owned by Bain Capital. The latter was effective in blunting Romney's momentum. Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate that had no clear winner, but by then, Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and remained so. Romney spent $3 million of his own money on the race and more than $7 million overall. Despite a disastrous showing for Democrats nationwide, Kennedy won the election with 58% of the vote to Romney's 41%, the smallest margin in any of Kennedy's reelection campaigns for the Senate.
The day after the election, Romney returned to Bain Capital, but the loss had a lasting effect; he told his brother, "I never want to run for something again unless I can win."
After election
When his father died in 1995, Mitt donated his inheritance to BYU's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management. He also became vice-chair of the board of the Points of Light Foundation, which had embraced his father's National Volunteer Center. Romney felt restless as the decade neared a close; making more money held little attraction for him. Although no longer in a local leadership position in his church, he still taught Sunday School. During the long and controversial approval and construction process for the $30-million Mormon temple in Belmont, he feared that, as a political figure who had opposed Kennedy, he would become a focal point for opposition to the structure. He thus kept to a limited, behind-the-scenes role in attempts to ease tensions between the church and local residents.
2002 Winter Olympics
In 1998, Ann Romney learned that she had multiple sclerosis; Mitt described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. After experiencing two years of severe difficulties with the disease, she found – while living in Park City, Utah, where the couple had built a vacation home – a combination of mainstream, alternative, and equestrian therapies that enabled her to lead a lifestyle mostly without limitations. When her husband received a job offer to take over the troubled organization responsible for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, to be held in Salt Lake City in Utah, she urged him to accept it; eager for a new challenge, as well as another chance to prove himself in public life, he did. On February 11, 1999, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 hired Romney as its president and CEO.
Before Romney took over, the event was $379 million short of its revenue goals. Officials had made plans to scale back the Games to compensate for the fiscal crisis, and there were fears it might be moved away entirely. In addition, the Games' image had been damaged by allegations of bribery against top officials including prior committee president and CEO Frank Joklik. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee forced Joklik and committee vice president Dave Johnson to resign. Utah power brokers, including Governor Mike Leavitt, searched for someone with a scandal-free reputation to take charge of the Olympics. They chose Romney based on his business and legal expertise as well as his connections to both the LDS Church and the state. The appointment faced some initial criticism from both non-Mormons and Mormons that it represented cronyism and made the Games seem too Mormon-dominated. Romney donated to charity the $1.4 million in salary and severance payments he received for his three years as president and CEO, and also donated $1 million to the Olympics.
Romney restructured the organization's leadership and policies. He reduced budgets and boosted fundraising, alleviating corporate sponsors' concerns while recruiting new ones. Romney worked to ensure the Games's safety after the September 11 attacks by coordinating a $300 million security budget. He oversaw a $1.32 billion budget, 700 employees, and 26,000 volunteers. The federal government provided approximately $400 million to $600 million of that budget, much of it a result of Romney's having aggressively lobbied Congress and federal agencies. It was a record level of federal funding for the staging of a U.S. Olympics. An additional $1.1 billion of indirect federal funding came to the state in the form of highway and transit projects.
Romney emerged as the local public face of the Olympic effort, appearing in photographs, in news stories, on collectible Olympics pins depicting him wrapped by an American flag, and on buttons carrying phrases like "Hey, Mitt, we love you!" Organizing committee chair Robert H. Garff later said, "It was obvious that he had an agenda larger than just the Olympics", and that Romney wanted to use the Olympics to propel himself into the national spotlight and a political career. Garff believed the initial budget situation was not as bad as Romney portrayed, given there were still three years to reorganize. Utah Senator Bob Bennett said that much of the needed federal money was already in place. A Boston Globe analysis later found that the committee had nearly $1 billion in committed revenues at that time. Olympics critic Steve Pace, who led Utahns for Responsible Public Spending, thought Romney exaggerated the initial fiscal state to lay the groundwork for a well-publicized rescue. Kenneth Bullock, another board member of the organizing committee and also head of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, often clashed with Romney at the time, and later said that Romney deserved some credit for the turnaround but not as much as he claimed. Bullock said: "He tried very hard to build an image of himself as a savior, the great white hope. He was very good at characterizing and castigating people and putting himself on a pedestal."
Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up with a surplus of $100 million. President George W. Bush praised Romney's efforts and 87% of Utahns approved of his performance as Olympics head. It solidified his reputation as a "turnaround artist", and Harvard Business School taught a case study based around his actions. U.S. Olympic Committee head William Hybl credited Romney with an extraordinary effort in overcoming a difficult time for the Olympics, culminating in "the greatest Winter Games I have ever seen". Romney wrote a book about his experience, Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games, published in 2004. The role gave him experience in dealing with federal, state, and local entities, a public persona he had previously lacked, and the chance to relaunch his political aspirations.
2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign
In 2002, plagued by political missteps and personal scandals, the administration of Republican Acting Governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift appeared vulnerable, and many Republicans viewed her as unable to win a general election. Prominent party figures – as well as the White House – wanted Romney to run for governor and the opportunity appealed to him for reasons including its national visibility. A Boston Herald poll showed Republicans favoring Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points. On March 19, 2002, Swift announced she would not seek her party's nomination, and hours later Romney declared his candidacy, for which he would face no opposition in the primary. In June 2002, the Massachusetts Democratic Party challenged Romney's eligibility to run for governor, noting that state law required seven years' consecutive residence and that Romney had filed his state tax returns as a Utah resident in 1999 and 2000. In response, the bipartisan Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission unanimously ruled that he had maintained sufficient financial and personal ties to Massachusetts to be an eligible candidate.
Romney again ran as a political outsider. He played down his party affiliation, saying he was "not a partisan Republican" but rather a "moderate" with "progressive" views. He said he would observe a moratorium on changes to the state's laws on abortion, but reiterated that he would "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose" and that his position was "unequivocal". He touted his private sector experience as qualifying him for addressing the state's fiscal problems and stressed his ability to obtain federal funds for the state, offering his Olympics record as evidence. He proposed to reorganize the state government while eliminating waste, fraud, and mismanagement. The campaign innovatively utilized microtargeting techniques, identifying like-minded groups of voters and reaching them with narrowly tailored messaging.
In an attempt to overcome the image that had damaged him in the 1994 Senate race – that of a wealthy corporate buyout specialist out of touch with the needs of regular people – the campaign staged a series of "work days", in which Romney performed blue-collar jobs such as herding cows and baling hay, unloading a fishing boat, and hauling garbage. Television ads highlighting the effort, as well as one portraying his family in gushing terms and showing him shirtless, received a poor public response and were a factor in his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, leading in the polls as late as mid-October. He responded with ads that accused O'Brien of being a failed watchdog for state pension fund losses in the stock market and that associated her husband, a former lobbyist, with the Enron scandal. These were effective in capturing independent voters. O'Brien said that Romney's budget plans were unrealistic; the two also differed on capital punishment and bilingual education, with Romney supporting the former and opposing the latter.
During the election, Romney contributed more than $6 million – a state record at the time – to the nearly $10 million raised for his campaign. On November 5, 2002, he won the election with 50% of the vote to O'Brien's 45%.
Governor of Massachusetts (2003–2007)
Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003. He faced a Massachusetts state legislature with large Democratic majorities in both houses, and had picked his cabinet and advisors based more on managerial abilities than partisan affiliation. He declined a governor's salary of $135,000 during his term. Upon entering office in the middle of a fiscal year, he faced an immediate $650 million shortfall and a projected $3 billion deficit for the next year. Unexpected revenue of $1.0–1.3 billion from a previously enacted capital gains tax increase and $500 million in new federal grants decreased the deficit to $1.2–1.5 billion. Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes, the state achieved surpluses of around $600–700 million during Romney's last two full fiscal years in office, although it began running deficits again after that.
Romney supported raising various fees, including those for drivers' licenses and gun licenses, to raise more than $300 million. He increased a special gasoline retailer fee by , generating about $60 million per year in additional revenue. Opponents said the reliance on fees sometimes imposed a hardship on those who could least afford them. Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years and over $300 million for his term. He did so in the face of conservative and corporate critics who viewed these actions as tax increases.
The state legislature, with the governor's support, cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns. The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led state-run colleges and universities to increase fees by 63% over four years. Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget; the legislature overrode all the vetoes.
The cuts in state spending put added pressure on localities to reduce services or raise property taxes, and the share of town and city revenues coming from property taxes rose from 49% to 53%. The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship. He did propose a reduction in the state income tax rate, but the legislature rejected it.
Romney sought to bring near-universal health insurance coverage to the state. This came after Staples founder Tom Stemberg told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people. Another factor was that the federal government, owing to the rules of Medicaid funding, threatened to cut $385 million in those payments to Massachusetts if the state did not reduce the number of uninsured recipients of health care services. Although the idea of universal health insurance had not come to the fore during the campaign, Romney decided that because people without insurance still received expensive health care, the money spent by the state for such care could be better used to subsidize insurance for the poor.
Determined that a new Massachusetts health insurance measure not raise taxes or resemble the previous decade's failed "Hillarycare" proposal at the federal level, Romney formed a team of consultants from diverse political backgrounds to apply those principles. Beginning in late 2004, they devised a set of proposals that were more ambitious than an incremental one from the Massachusetts Senate and more acceptable to him than one from the Massachusetts House of Representatives that incorporated a new payroll tax. In particular, Romney pushed for incorporating an individual mandate at the state level. Past rival Ted Kennedy, who had made universal health coverage his life's work and who, over time, had developed a warm relationship with Romney, gave the plan a positive reception, which encouraged Democratic legislators to cooperate. The effort eventually gained the support of all major stakeholders within the state, and Romney helped break a logjam between rival Democratic leaders in the legislature.
On April 12, 2006, Romney signed the resulting Massachusetts health reform law, commonly called "Romneycare", which requires nearly all Massachusetts residents to buy health insurance coverage or face escalating tax penalties, such as the loss of their personal income tax exemption. The bill also established means-tested state subsidies for people who lacked adequate employer insurance and whose income was below a threshold, using funds that had covered the health costs of the uninsured. He vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including a controversial $295-per-employee assessment on businesses that do not offer health insurance and provisions guaranteeing dental benefits to Medicaid recipients. The legislature overrode all eight vetoes, but the governor's office said the differences were not essential. The law was the first of its kind in the nation and became the signature achievement of Romney's term in office.
At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions but advocated tolerance and supported some domestic partnership benefits. A November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, required the state to recognize same-sex marriages. Romney reluctantly backed a state constitutional amendment in February 2004 that would have banned those marriages but still allowed civil unions, viewing it as the only feasible way to comply with the court's ruling. In May 2004 and per the court decision, he instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But citing a 1913 law that barred out-of-state residents from getting married in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home state, he said no marriage licenses were to be issued to people not planning to move to Massachusetts. In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that it confused voters who opposed both same-sex marriage and civil unions. Instead, he endorsed a ballot initiative led by the Coalition for Marriage and Family (an alliance of socially conservative organizations) that would have banned same-sex marriage and made no provisions for civil unions. In 2004 and 2006, he urged the U.S. Senate to vote for the Federal Marriage Amendment.
In 2005, Romney revealed a change of view regarding abortion, moving from the abortion rights positions expressed during his 1994 and 2002 campaigns to an anti-abortion one in opposition to Roe v. Wade. He attributed his conversion to an interaction with Harvard University biologist Douglas Melton, an expert on embryonic stem cell biology, although Melton vehemently disputed Romney's recollection of their conversation. Romney subsequently vetoed a bill on pro-life grounds that expanded access to emergency contraception in hospitals and pharmacies; the legislature overrode the veto. He also amended his position on embryonic stem cell research.
Romney used a bully pulpit approach towards promoting his agenda, staging well-organized media events to appeal directly to the public rather than pushing his proposals in behind-doors sessions with the state legislature. He dealt with a public crisis of confidence in Boston's Big Dig project after a fatal ceiling collapse in 2006 by wresting control of the project from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. After two years of negotiating the state's participation in the landmark Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that instituted a cap-and-trade arrangement for power plant emissions in the Northeast, Romney pulled Massachusetts out of the initiative shortly before its signing in December 2005, citing a lack of cost limits for industry.
In 2004, Romney spent considerable effort trying to bolster the state Republican Party, but it failed to gain any seats in the legislative elections that year. Given a prime-time appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention, he began to be discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate. Midway through his term, Romney decided that he wanted to stage a full-time run for president, and on December 14, 2005, he announced that he would not seek reelection as governor. As chair of the Republican Governors Association, Romney traveled around the country, meeting prominent Republicans and building a national political network; he spent more than 200 days out of state in 2006, preparing for his run.
Romney had a 61 percent job approval rating after his initial fiscal actions in 2003, but it subsequently declined, driven in part by his frequent out-of-state travel. It stood at 34 percent in November 2006, ranking 48th of the 50 U.S. governors. In the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, Democratic nominee Deval Patrick beat Romney's lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey, by 20 points, with the win partially due to dissatisfaction with Romney's administration and the weak condition of the state Republican party.
Romney filed to register a presidential campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission on his penultimate day in office as governor. His term ended on January 4, 2007.
2008 presidential campaign
Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, in Dearborn, Michigan. Again casting himself as a political outsider, his speech frequently invoked his father and his family, and stressed experiences in the private, public, and voluntary sectors that had brought him to this point.
The campaign emphasized Romney's highly profitable career in the business world and his stewardship of the 2002 Olympics. He also had political experience as a governor, together with a political pedigree courtesy of his father (as well as many biographical parallels with him). Ann Romney, who had become an advocate for those with multiple sclerosis, was in remission and was an active participant in his campaign, helping to soften his political personality. Media stories called the Romney handsome; a number of commentators noted that with his square jaw and ample hair graying at the temples, he matched a common image of what a president should look like.
Romney's liabilities included having run for senator and serving as governor in one of the nation's most liberal states and having taken positions in opposition to the party's conservative base during that time. Late during his term as governor, he had shifted positions and emphases to better align with traditional conservatives on social issues. Skeptics, including some Republicans, charged Romney with opportunism and a lack of core principles. As a Mormon, he faced suspicion and skepticism by some in the Evangelical wing of the party.
For his campaign, Romney assembled a veteran group of Republican staffers, consultants, and pollsters. But he was little-known nationally, and hovered around 10% support in Republican preference polls for the first half of 2007. He proved the most effective fundraiser of any of the Republican candidates and also partly financed his campaign with his own personal fortune. These resources, combined with the mid-year near-collapse of nominal front-runner John McCain's campaign, made Romney a threat to win the nomination and the focus of the other candidates' attacks. Romney's staff suffered from internal strife; Romney himself was at times indecisive, often asking for more data before making a decision.
During all his political campaigns, Romney has avoided speaking publicly about Mormon doctrines, referring to the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of religious tests for public office. But persistent questions about the role of religion in his life, as well as Southern Baptist minister and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's rise in the polls based on an explicitly Christian-themed campaign, led to Romney's December 6, 2007, "Faith in America" speech. In it, Romney declared, "I believe in my Mormon faith and endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs." He added that he should be neither elected nor rejected because of his religion, and echoed Senator John F. Kennedy's famous speech during his 1960 presidential campaign in saying, "I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law." Instead of discussing the specific tenets of his faith, he said he would be informed by it, saying: "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Academics later studied the role religion played in the campaign.
The campaign's strategy called for winning the initial two contests – the January 3, 2008, Iowa Republican caucuses and the January 8 New Hampshire primary – to propel Romney nationally. But he took second place in both, losing Iowa to Huckabee, who received more than twice the evangelical Christian votes, and New Hampshire to the resurgent McCain. Huckabee and McCain criticized Romney's image as a flip-flopper and this label stuck to Romney through the campaign (one that Romney rejected as unfair and inaccurate, except for his acknowledged change of mind on abortion). Romney seemed to approach the campaign as a management consulting exercise, and showed a lack of personal warmth and political feel; journalist Evan Thomas wrote that Romney "came off as a phony, even when he was perfectly sincere". The fervor with which Romney adopted his new stances and attitudes contributed to the perception of inauthenticity that hampered the campaign. His staff concluded that competing as a candidate of social conservatism and ideological purity rather than of pragmatic competence had been a mistake.
McCain's win in South Carolina and Romney's in his childhood home Michigan set up a pivotal battle in the January 29 Florida primary. Romney campaigned intensively on economic issues and the burgeoning subprime mortgage crisis, while McCain attacked Romney on Iraq policy and benefited from endorsements from Florida officeholders. McCain won by five points. Although many Republican officials were now lining up behind McCain, Romney persisted through the nationwide Super Tuesday contests on February 5. There he won primaries or caucuses in several states, but McCain won in more and in larger-population ones. Trailing McCain in delegates by a more than two-to-one margin, Romney announced the end of his campaign on February 7.
Altogether, Romney had won 11 primaries and caucuses, receiving about 4.7 million votes and garnering about 280 delegates. He spent $110 million during the campaign, including $45 million of his own money.
Romney endorsed McCain for president a week later, and McCain had Romney on a short list for running mate, where his business experience would have balanced one of McCain's weaknesses. Behind in the polls, McCain opted instead for a high-risk, high-reward "game changer", Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. McCain lost the election to Democratic senator Barack Obama.
Activity between presidential campaigns
Romney supported the Bush administration's Troubled Asset Relief Program in response to the late-2000s financial crisis, later saying that it prevented the U.S. financial system from collapsing. During the U.S. automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010, he opposed a bailout of the industry in the form of direct government intervention, and argued that a managed bankruptcy of struggling automobile companies should instead be accompanied by federal guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing from the private sector.
After the 2008 election, Romney laid the groundwork for a 2012 presidential campaign by using his Free and Strong America political action committee (PAC) to raise money for other Republican candidates and pay his existing political staff's salaries and consulting fees. A network of former staff and supporters around the nation were eager for him to run again. He continued to give speeches and raise funds for Republicans, but fearing overexposure, turned down many potential media appearances. He also spoke before business, educational, and motivational groups. From 2009 to 2011, he served on the board of directors of Marriott International, founded by his namesake J. Willard Marriott. He had previously served on it from 1993 to 2002.
In 2009, the Romneys sold their primary residence in Belmont and their ski chalet in Utah, leaving them an estate along Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and an oceanfront home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, California, which they had bought the year before. The La Jolla home proved beneficial in location and climate for Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her late 2008 diagnosis of mammary ductal carcinoma in situ and subsequent lumpectomy. Both it and the New Hampshire estate were near some of their grandchildren. Romney maintained his voting registration in Massachusetts, however, and bought a smaller condominium in Belmont during 2010. In February 2010, Romney had a minor altercation with LMFAO member Skyler Gordy, known as Sky Blu, on an airplane flight.
Romney released his book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, in March 2010, and undertook an 18-state book tour to promote it. In the book, he writes of his belief in American exceptionalism, and presents his economic and geopolitical views rather than anecdotes about his personal or political life. It debuted atop The New York Times Best Seller list. Romney donated his earnings from the book to charity.
Immediately after the March 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Romney attacked the landmark legislation as "an unconscionable abuse of power" and said it should be repealed. The antipathy Republicans felt for it created a potential problem for Romney, since the new federal law was in many ways similar to the Massachusetts health care reform passed during his gubernatorial tenure; as one Associated Press article stated, "Obamacare ... looks a lot like Romneycare." While acknowledging that his plan was an imperfect work in progress, Romney did not back away from it. He defended the state-level health insurance mandate that underpinned it, calling the bill the right answer to Massachusetts's problems at the time.
In nationwide opinion polling for the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, Romney led or placed in the top three with Palin and Huckabee. A January 2010 National Journal survey of political insiders found that a majority of Republican insiders and a plurality of Democratic insiders predicted Romney would be the party's 2012 nominee. Romney campaigned heavily for Republican candidates in the 2010 midterm elections, raising more money than the other prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidates. Beginning in early 2011, he presented a more relaxed image, including more casual attire.
2012 presidential campaign
Primary election
On April 11, 2011, Romney announced, in a video taped outdoors at the University of New Hampshire, that he had formed an exploratory committee for a run for the Republican presidential nomination. Quinnipiac University political science professor Scott McLean said, "We all knew that he was going to run. He's really been running for president ever since the day after the 2008 election."
Romney stood to benefit from the Republican electorate's tendency to nominate candidates who had previously run for president, and thus appeared to be next in line to be chosen. The early stages of the race found him as the apparent front-runner in a weak field, especially in terms of fundraising prowess and organization. Perhaps his greatest hurdle in gaining the Republican nomination was party opposition to the Massachusetts health care reform law that he had shepherded five years earlier. As many potential Republican candidates with star power and fundraising ability decided not to run (including Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and Mitch Daniels), Republican party figures searched for plausible alternatives to Romney.
On June 2, 2011, Romney formally announced the start of his campaign. Speaking on a farm in Stratham, New Hampshire, he focused on the economy and criticized Obama's handling of it. He said, "In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it – because I have lived it."
Romney raised $56 million in 2011, more than double the amount raised by any of his Republican opponents, and refrained from spending his own money on the campaign. He initially pursued a low-key, low-profile strategy. Michele Bachmann staged a brief surge in polls, which preceded a poll surge in September 2011 by Rick Perry, who had entered the race the month before. Perry and Romney exchanged sharp criticisms of each other during a series of debates among the Republican candidates. The October 2011 decisions of Palin and Chris Christie not to run effectively settled the field of candidates. Perry faded after poor performances in those debates, while Herman Cain's "long-shot" bid gained popularity until allegations of sexual misconduct derailed it.
Romney continued to seek support from a wary Republican electorate; at this point in the race, his poll numbers were relatively flat and at a historically low level for a Republican front-runner. After the charges of flip-flopping that marked his 2008 campaign began to accumulate again, Romney said in November 2011: "I've been as consistent as human beings can be." In the month before voting began, Newt Gingrich experienced a significant surge – taking a solid lead in national polls and most of the early caucus and primary states – before settling back into parity or worse with Romney following a barrage of negative ads from Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC.
In the initial contest, the Iowa caucuses of January 3, election officials announced Romney as ahead with 25% of the vote, edging out a late-gaining Rick Santorum by eight votes (Ron Paul finished third). Sixteen days later, however, they certified Santorum as the winner by 34 votes. A week after the Iowa caucuses, Romney earned a decisive win in the New Hampshire primary with 39% of the vote; Paul finished second and Jon Huntsman Jr. third.
In the run-up to the South Carolina Republican primary, Gingrich launched ads criticizing Romney for causing job losses while at Bain Capital, Perry referred to Romney's role there as "vulture capitalism", and Palin pressed Romney to prove his claim that he created 100,000 jobs during that time. Romney also faced accusations of asset stripping. Many conservatives rallied in defense of Romney, rejecting what they took to be criticism of free-market capitalism. During two debates in the state, Romney fumbled questions about releasing his income tax returns, while Gingrich gained support with audience-rousing attacks on the debate moderators. Romney's double-digit lead in state polls evaporated; he lost the January 21 primary to Gingrich by 13 points. Combined with the delayed loss in Iowa, Romney's poor week represented a lost chance to end the race early, and he quickly decided to release two years of his tax returns. The race turned to the Florida primary, where in debates, appearances, and advertisements, Romney launched a sustained barrage against Gingrich's record, associations and electability. Romney enjoyed a large spending advantage from both his campaign and his aligned Super PAC, and after a record-breaking rate of negative ads from both sides, Romney won Florida on January 31, with 46% of the vote to Gingrich's 32%.
Several caucuses and primaries took place during February, and Santorum won three in a single night early in the month, propelling him into the lead in national and some state polls and positioning him as Romney's chief rival. Days later, Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference that he had been a "severely conservative governor" (while in 2005 he had maintained that his positions were moderate and characterized reports that he was shifting to the right to attract conservative votes as a media distortion). Romney won the other five February contests, including a closely fought one in Michigan at the end of the month. In the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses of March 6, Romney won six of ten contests, including a narrow victory in Ohio over a vastly outspent Santorum. Although his victories were not enough to end the race, they were enough to establish a two-to-one delegate lead over Santorum. Romney maintained his delegate margin through subsequent contests, and Santorum suspended his campaign on April 10. Following a sweep of five more contests on April 24, the Republican National Committee put its resources to work for Romney as the party's presumptive nominee.
General election
Polls consistently indicated a tight race for the November general election. Negative ads from both sides dominated the campaign, with Obama's proclaiming that Romney shipped jobs overseas while at Bain Capital and kept money in offshore tax havens and Swiss bank accounts. A related issue dealt with Romney's purported responsibility for actions at Bain Capital after taking the Olympics post. Romney faced demands from Democrats to release additional years of his tax returns, an action a number of Republicans also felt would be wise; after being adamant that he would not do that, he released summaries of them in late September. During May and June, the Obama campaign spent heavily and was able to paint a negative image of Romney in voters' minds before the Romney campaign could construct a positive one.
In July 2012, Romney visited the United Kingdom, Israel, and Poland, meeting leaders in an effort to raise his credibility as a world statesman. Comments he made about the readiness of the 2012 Summer Olympics were perceived as undiplomatic by the British press. Israeli Prime Minister (and former BCG colleague) Benjamin Netanyahu embraced Romney, though some Palestinians criticized him for suggesting that Israel's culture led to their greater economic success.
On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. On August 28, 2012, the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, officially nominated Romney for president. Romney became the first LDS Church member to be a major-party presidential nominee.
In mid-September, a video surfaced of Romney speaking before a group of supporters in which he said that 47% of the nation pays no income tax, are dependent on the federal government, see themselves as victims, and will support Obama unconditionally. He went on to say, "And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." After facing criticism about the tone and accuracy of these comments, he at first characterized them as "inelegantly stated", then a couple of weeks later commented: "I said something that's just completely wrong." Exit polls published following the election showed that voters never saw Romney as someone who cared about people like them.
In an interview on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, Romney called Russia "our number one geopolitical foe". At the time an innocuous response to a foreign policy question, it became a focal point for Democratic attacks on Romney during the campaign. Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, called Romney's position "dated" and said Russia had been an ally in solving problems, while Joe Biden, then vice president, accused Romney of having a "Cold War mentality" and being "uninformed" on foreign policy. John Kerry, then a senator, called Romney's comments "breathtakingly off target" and reiterated that position at the Democratic National Convention, saying, "He's even blurted out the preposterous notion that Russia is our number one political geopolitical foe." Romney defended his remarks, saying, "The nation which consistently opposes our actions at the United Nations has been Russia... Russia is a geopolitical foe in that regard", and continued to defend his position in the presidential debates.
The first of three 2012 presidential election debates took place on October 3, in Denver. Media figures and political analysts widely viewed Romney as having delivered a stronger and more focused presentation than Obama. That debate overshadowed Obama's improved presentation in the next two debates later in October, and Romney maintained a small advantage in the debates when seen as a whole.
The election took place on November 6, and Obama was projected the winner at about 11:14 pm Eastern Standard Time. He won 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206. Romney lost all but one of nine battleground states and received 47% of the popular vote to Obama's 51%. Media accounts described Romney as "shellshocked" by the result. He and his senior campaign staff had disbelieved public polls showing Obama narrowly ahead and had thought they were going to win until the vote tallies began to be reported on election night. But Romney's get out the vote operation had been inferior to Obama's, both in person-to-person organization and in voter modeling and outreach technology (the latter exemplified by the failure of the Project Orca application). In his concession speech to his supporters, he said, "Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this campaign. I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead this country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader." Reflecting on his defeat during a conference call to hundreds of fundraisers and donors a week after the election, Romney attributed the outcome to Obama's having secured the votes of specific interest groups, including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, young people, and women, by offering them what Romney called "extraordinary financial gifts". The remark drew heavy criticism from prominent members of the Republican party.
Subsequent activities
During the first year after his defeat, Romney generally kept a low profile, with his ordinary daily activities around San Diego captured via social media glimpses. In December 2012, he joined the board of Marriott International for a third stint as a director. In March 2013, Romney gave a reflective interview on Fox News Sunday, saying, "It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done." He again expressed regret at the "47 percent" remark, saying "There's no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign." (He echoed both those sentiments a year later.) Romney began working as executive partner group chairman for Solamere Capital, a private capital firm in Boston owned by his son Tagg. He was also involved in supporting several charitable causes.
The Romneys bought a home in the Deer Valley area of Park City, Utah, and a property in Holladay, Utah, where they planned to tear down an existing house and build a new one. They also gained long-sought permission to replace their La Jolla home with a much bigger one, including a car elevator that had brought some derision during the 2012 campaign. Romney and his siblings continued to own a cottage in a gated community called Beach O' Pines south of Grand Bend, Ontario, which has been in the family for more than 60 years. With the new acquisitions the couple briefly had five homes, near each of their five sons and their families, and the couple continued to spend considerable time with their grandchildren, who by 2013 numbered 22. They then sold the condominium in Belmont and decided to make their main residence in Utah, switching their voter registration. The 2014 documentary film Mitt showed a behind-the-scenes, family-based perspective on both of Romney's presidential campaigns and received positive reviews for humanizing Romney and illustrating the toll campaigning takes.
Romney thought he might be branded a "loser for life" and fade into an obscurity like Michael Dukakis (a similar figure with no obvious base of political support who had lost what his party considered a winnable presidential election) but, to the surprise of many political observers, that did not happen. Romney reemerged onto the political scene in the run-up to the 2014 U.S. midterm elections, endorsing, campaigning, and fundraising for a number of Republican candidates, especially those running for the U.S. Senate.
Romney was treated for prostate cancer in summer 2017.
2016 presidential election
By early 2014, the lack of a clear mainstream Republican candidate for the 2016 presidential election led some supporters, donors, and pollsters to suggest that Romney stage a third run. Regarding such a possibility, Romney at first refused. Nevertheless, speculation continued: Obama's declining popularity led to remorse among some voters; the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine made Romney's "number one geopolitical foe" remark look prescient; and an August 2014 poll of Iowa Republicans showed Romney with a large lead there over other potential 2016 candidates. A July 2014 CNN poll showed Romney with a 53% to 44% lead over Obama in a hypothetical election "redo".
By early 2015, Romney was considering the idea and contacting his network of supporters. In doing so he was positioning himself in the invisible primary – the preliminary jockeying for the backing of party leaders, donors, and political operatives – against former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who had already set a likely campaign in motion and would be a rival to Romney for establishment Republican support. Despite support in some quarters for a third bid for the presidency, there was a backlash from conservatives who wanted a fresher face without a history of presidential losses, and many of Romney's past donors were not willing to commit to him again. On January 30, 2015, Romney announced that he would not run for president in 2016, saying that while he thought he could win the nomination, "one of our next generation of Republican leaders" would be better positioned to win the general election.
Relationship with Donald Trump
As the presidential election went into primary season, Romney had not endorsed anyone but was one of the Republican establishment figures who were becoming increasingly concerned about the front-runner status of New York businessman Donald Trump. Romney publicly criticized Trump for not releasing his taxes, saying there might be a "bombshell" in them. Trump responded by calling Romney "one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics". In a March 3, 2016, speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics, Romney made a scathing attack on Trump's personal behavior, business performance, and domestic and foreign policy stances. He said Trump was "a phony, a fraud ... He's playing members of the American public for suckers" and that "if we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished." In response, Trump dismissed Romney as a "choke artist". Romney's speech represented an unprecedented attack by a major U.S. party's most recent presidential nominee against the party's current front-runner for the nomination.
Romney encouraged Republicans to engage in tactical voting, by supporting whichever of the remaining rivals had the best chance to beat Trump in any given state. As such, Romney announced he was voting for, although not endorsing, Ted Cruz for president in the March 22 Utah caucus. As the race went on, there was some evidence that tactical voting was occurring, and some partial arrangements were formed among candidates, but by May 3, Trump had defeated all his opponents and became the party's presumptive nominee. Romney announced that he would not support Trump in the general election, saying, "I am dismayed at where we are now. I wish we had better choices."
In June, Romney said that he would not vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, saying: "It's a matter of personal conscience. I can't vote for either of those two people." He suggested that he might vote for a third-party candidate, or write in his wife's name, saying she would be "an ideal president". When pressed on which of Trump and Clinton was more qualified to be president, Romney quoted P. J. O'Rourke: "Hillary Clinton is wrong on every issue, but she's wrong within the normal parameters."
Romney considered voting for the Libertarian ticket of former Republican governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld (the latter, like Romney, also a former governor of Massachusetts), saying that he would "get to know Gary Johnson better and see if he's someone who I could end up voting for", adding that "if Bill Weld were at the top of the ticket, it would be very easy for me to vote for Bill Weld for president." In September, he called for Johnson to be included in the presidential debates and in October it emerged that Independent candidate Evan McMullin was using an email list of 2.5 million Romney supporters to raise money. McMullin's chief strategist said that it was purchased from Romney for President and that "we'll let other folks discuss what that may mean and certainly never speak for [Romney]." A spokeswoman for Romney said that the list had been "rented by several political candidates in the presidential primary, and by countless other political and commercial users in the time since the 2012 campaign" and Romney made no public comment on McMullin's candidacy. Romney and his wife cast early ballots in Utah, but he declined to say who he voted for. In May 2018, Romney revealed that he had cast a write-in vote for his wife Ann.
After Trump won the election, Romney congratulated him by phone and on Twitter. On November 19, Romney met with him at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, reportedly to discuss the position of Secretary of State, which ultimately went to Rex Tillerson. In February 2017, Romney said that Trump was "off to a very strong start" in fulfilling his campaign promises, although he had "no regrets" about his anti-Trump speech. The next year, Trump endorsed Romney's 2018 senate campaign.
The two had a contentious relationship during Trump's presidency. Romney often condemned Trump's statements. Romney voted to convict Trump during his first impeachment, which involved the Trump–Ukraine scandal. He justified his vote by saying, "There is no question in my mind that were their names not Biden, the president would never have done what he did". Romney is the first senator to vote to remove a president of his own party from office. He voted to convict Trump again during the second impeachment for "incitement of insurrection" after Trump's involvement in the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Romney has said he will "absolutely not" support Trump for president in the future.
U.S. Senate
Election
2018
September and October 2017 press reports said that should U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch retire, Romney would run for that seat in 2018. On January 2, 2018, after Hatch announced that he would retire, Romney changed his Twitter location from Massachusetts to Holladay, Utah, contributing to speculation that he was considering a run for Senate. On February 16, 2018, Romney formally launched his campaign with a video message posted on Facebook and Twitter.
At the state Republican nominating convention held on April 21, 2018, Romney received 1,585 delegate votes (49.12%), finishing narrowly second to State Representative Mike Kennedy, with 1,642 delegate votes (50.88%). Since neither Romney nor Kennedy garnered 60% of delegate votes to claim the endorsement, the two candidates competed in a June 26 primary election. In the primary, Romney defeated Kennedy, 71.7%–28.3%.
Romney was elected U.S. Senator from Utah on November 6, winning 62.6% to 30.9% over Democratic nominee Jenny Wilson.
With his election, Romney became the third person to have served as governor of one state and senator from another state. (The other two were William W. Bibb, who served as a U.S. senator from Georgia and then the first governor of Alabama, and Sam Houston, who was the sixth governor of Tennessee before becoming a U.S. Senator from Texas.)
Tenure
Shortly before assuming office, Romney wrote a Washington Post editorial strongly criticizing Trump's character. Ronna McDaniel, Romney's niece and the chair of the Republican National Committee, called his comments "disappointing and unproductive", while Trump wrote that he "[w]ould much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful". By November 9, 2019, Romney was just one of three Republican senators, along with Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who declined to co-sponsor a resolution opposing the impeachment inquiry process into Trump. He was one of two Republicans (with Collins) who joined all Democrats voting to allow impeachment witnesses.
Romney condemned the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, saying: "As we celebrate the miracle of Easter, we hold in our hearts the victims of the senseless violence in Sri Lanka and their loved ones."
First impeachment of Donald Trump (2019–2020)
On February 5, 2020, after Romney read a prepared text on the Senate floor decrying "corrupting an election to keep oneself in office" as "perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine", he broke ranks with the Republican majority as the sole Republican senator to vote to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial, thereby becoming, according to press reports, the first U.S. senator in United States history to vote to convict a president of the same political party.
Fallout from the vote included Romney's being formally censured by various Republican organizations outside of Utah; in comparison, anger against Romney among Republicans within Utah was more muted, and his impeachment vote, according to opinion polling, was supported by Utah Democrats. Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said, "Democrats in Utah were more excited about Mitt Romney's vote than [Utah] Republicans were disappointed." Republicans for the Rule of Law ran various ads thanking Romney.
March with Black Lives Matter
On June 7, 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd and the worldwide protests against police brutality, Romney became the first Republican senator to participate in a protest alongside Black Lives Matter. He said, "We need many voices against racism and against brutality, and we need to make sure that people understand that Black Lives Matter." This act drew praise and admiration from the left and right, with some Republicans questioning why other congressional Republicans weren't showing support for the movement. On Twitter, Senator Kamala Harris praised Romney's actions, saying, "We need more of this." Trump mocked Romney, saying, "Tremendous sincerity, what a guy. Hard to believe, with this kind of political talent, his numbers would 'tank' so badly in Utah!"
2020 presidential election
Romney did not endorse Trump's 2020 reelection campaign and told reporters that he did not vote for him. In a Washington Post op-ed, Romney wrote that Trump "has not risen to the mantle of the office". After the victory of Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, Romney was the first Republican senator to extend his congratulations to them.
2021 U.S. Capitol attack
On the morning of January 5, 2021, Romney was heckled and harassed at the airport on his way to Washington D.C. to certify Joe Biden's election win in the Senate. Cellphone footage of the incident showed Trump supporters accusing Romney of not supporting Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, and chanting "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!" as Romney boarded his flight.
On the morning of January 6, protesters assembled at the "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, where Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and several members of Congress addressed the crowd fueling the conspiracy theories about election fraud. Trump said, "We will never give up, we will never concede. You don't concede when there's theft", and encouraged his supporters to "fight like hell" to "take back our country" and to march to the Capitol. Later that day, while the Senate was in session certifying the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count within the United States Capitol, hundreds of Trump supporters violently attacked the Capitol, where they looted senators' offices and broke into the chamber of the United States Senate. Police evacuated the senators and Vice President Mike Pence to an undisclosed area. As they were evacuating Romney, he yelled at Ted Cruz and other Republican congressmen, "This is what you've gotten, guys!" According to New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin, Romney told him with "fury in his voice", " is what the president has caused today, this insurrection!" Romney fully rebuked Trump, and condemned the actions of the domestic terrorists. Romney stated on the Senate floor later that night, when Congress had reconvened:
Second impeachment of Donald Trump (2021)
On January 13, 2021, the House voted to impeach Trump a second time for incitement of insurrection. On January 26, Republican senator Rand Paul of Kentucky introduced a motion to dismiss the impeachment charge. The objection was defeated on a 55–45 vote; Romney was one of the five Republicans to vote against it, along with Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse and Pat Toomey.
On February 10, 2021, new video was released during the Trump's second impeachment trial, which showed capitol police officer Eugene Goodman saving Romney from running into the Capitol rioters. During a break in the hearing, Romney said, "It was very troubling seeing the great violence the capitol police were subjected to. It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. It was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional." Romney also stated he didn't know how close he was and he didn't know it was Goodman who diverted him away from the rioters but he looked forward to thanking Goodman.
On February 13, 2021, Romney and five other Republican senators voted to allow other witnesses in the impeachment trial. Republican senator and Trump ally Ron Johnson, who was "visibly upset", got in a heated exchange with Romney for his vote, saying, "We never should've had this impeachment trial." Later that day Romney voted to convict Trump for the second time along with six of his Republican colleagues. The final vote was 57 to convict and 43 to acquit. He wrote a statement that read in part:
Commission to investigate attack on Capitol
On May 27, 2021, along with five other Republicans and all present Democrats, Romney voted to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack. The vote failed for lack of 60 required "yes" votes.
Committee assignments
Current
Committee on Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight
Subcommittee on Governmental Operations and Border Management
Committee on Budget (2021–present)
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Subcommittee on Children and Families
Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
Source:
Political positions
In addition to calling for cuts in federal government spending to help reduce the national debt, Romney proposed measures intended to limit the growth of entitlement programs, such as introducing means testing and gradually raising the eligibility ages for receipt of Social Security and Medicare. He supported substantial increases in military spending and promised to invest more heavily in military weapons programs while increasing the number of active-duty military personnel. He was very supportive of the directions taken by the budget proposals of Paul Ryan, though he later proposed his own budget plan.
Romney pledged to lead an effort to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") and replace it with a system that gives states more control over Medicaid and makes health insurance premiums tax-advantaged for individuals in the same way they are for businesses. He favored repeal of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and intended to replace them with what he called a "streamlined, modern regulatory framework".
He also promised to seek income tax law changes that he said would help to lower federal deficits and would stimulate economic growth. These included reducing individual income tax rates across the board by 20%, maintaining the Bush administration-era tax rate of 15% on investment income from dividends and capital gains (and eliminating this tax entirely for those with annual incomes less than $200,000), cutting the top tax rate on corporations from 35% to 25%, and eliminating the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax. He promised that the loss of government revenue from these tax cuts would be offset by closing loopholes and placing limits on tax deductions and credits available to taxpayers with the highest incomes, but said that that aspect of the plan could not yet be evaluated because details would have to be worked out with Congress.
Romney opposed the use of mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions to deal with global warming. He stated that he believed climate change is occurring, but that he did not know how much of it could be linked to human activity. He was a proponent of increased domestic oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), building more nuclear power plants, and reducing the regulatory authority of the Environmental Protection Agency. He believed North American energy independence could be achieved by 2020.
Romney called Russia America's "number one geopolitical foe", a position many ridiculed him for, including former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who later publicly apologized to him. He has asserted that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear capability should be America's "highest national security priority". Romney stated his strong support for Israel. He planned to formally label China a currency manipulator and take associated counteractions unless China changed its trade practices. Romney supported the Patriot Act, the continued operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and use of enhanced interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists. He described same-sex marriage as a "state issue" while running for Senate in 1994 and opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2002. Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions, but favored domestic partnership legislation that gives certain legal rights to same-sex couples, such as hospital visitation. In 2011, he signed a pledge promising to seek passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In 2022, Romney reversed his previous position on federal marriage, and was one of 12 Republicans voting to advance legislation to codify same-sex marriage into federal law.
Since 2005, Romney has described himself as "pro-life". That year, he wrote: "I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother." During his 1994 Senate campaign, Romney had said, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country", a stance he reiterated during his 2002 campaign for governor. While Romney would prefer to see passage of a constitutional amendment that would outlaw abortion, he did not believe the public would support such an amendment; as an alternative, he promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would help overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing each state to decide on the legality of abortion. His earlier pro-abortion rights stance in particular and support for some gay rights and gun restrictions as governor of Massachusetts earned him the criticism of some conservatives; the conservative magazine Human Events labeled him one of the top ten RINOs in 2005.
Romney said he would appoint federal judges in the mold of U.S. Supreme Court justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, and Samuel Alito. He advocated judicial restraint and strict constructionism as judicial philosophies.
Romney declared his support for the Black Lives Matter international human rights movement by attending the rally, and then joining the Faith Works march, on June 7, 2020, from southeast Washington, past the Trump International Hotel, and Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, over the murder of George Floyd.
In July 2020, Romney, along with Pat Toomey, was one of two Republican U.S. Senators who condemned Trump's decision to commute the sentence of Roger Stone, which Romney described as “Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.”
Social media
In the October 2019 issue of The Atlantic, Romney revealed that he used a secret Twitter account to keep tabs on the political conversation, saying, "What do they call me, a lurker?" Shortly thereafter, Slate found a Twitter account with the name Pierre Delecto. The account was registered in July 2011, followed about 700 people, and had eight followers at the time it was discovered. It had tweeted 10 times in total, and always in reply to other tweets. Romney later confirmed that the account belongs to him.
Electoral history
U.S. senator from Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
2012 Republican nominee for President of the United States
U.S. Senator from Utah
Awards and honors
Honorary degrees
Non-academic awards and honors
People magazine included Romney in its 50 Most Beautiful People list for 2002, and in 2004, a foundation that promotes the Olympic truce gave him its inaugural Truce Ideal Award. The Cranbrook School gave him its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005. In 2008, he shared with his wife Ann the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the presidential campaign. In 2012, Time magazine included Romney in their List of The 100 Most Influential People in the World.
In 2021, Romney received the Profile in Courage Award for being the only member of his party to vote to convict Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial.
Published works
See also
List of governors of Massachusetts
List of United States senators from Utah
List of United States Republican Party presidential tickets
President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading and viewing
External links
Official U.S. Senate website
Mitt Romney for U.S. Senate official campaign site
Video of statement regarding vote on impeachment
1947 births
2002 Winter Olympics
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century Mormon missionaries
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American politicians
American chief executives of financial services companies
American consulting businesspeople
American corporate directors
American financial company founders
American investors
American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
American male non-fiction writers
American management consultants
American Mormon missionaries in France
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Scottish descent
American political writers
American Mormon missionaries in the United States
Bain Capital people
Boston Consulting Group people
Brigham Young University alumni
Businesspeople from Massachusetts
Businesspeople from Michigan
Businesspeople from Utah
Candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election
Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election
Centrism in the United States
Cranbrook Educational Community alumni
George W. Romney
Republican Party governors of Massachusetts
Harvard Business School alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Latter Day Saints from Michigan
Latter Day Saints from Massachusetts
Living people
Marriott International people
National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America members
People from Belmont, Massachusetts
People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
People from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
People from La Jolla, San Diego
People from Park City, Utah
Mitt
Presidents of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games
Private equity and venture capital investors
Recipients of the Paralympic Order
Republican Party (United States) presidential nominees
Republican Party United States senators from Utah
Staples Inc. people
Utah lawyers
Utah Republicans
Writers from Massachusetts |
426226 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts%20General%20Court | Massachusetts General Court | The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. The name "General Court" is a holdover from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when the colonial assembly, in addition to making laws, sat as a judicial court of appeals. Before the adoption of the state constitution in 1780, it was called the Great and General Court, but the official title was shortened by John Adams, author of the state constitution. It is a bicameral body. The upper house is the Massachusetts Senate which is composed of 40 members. The lower body, the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has 160 members; until 1978, the state house had 240 members. It meets in the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston.
Since 1959, Democrats have controlled both houses of the Massachusetts General Court, often by large majorities. The Democrats enjoyed veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers for part of the 1990s (i.e., enough votes to override vetoes by a governor) and also currently hold supermajorities in both chambers.
State senators and representatives both serve two-year terms. There are no term limits; a term limit was enacted by initiative in Massachusetts in 1994 but in 1997 was struck down by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled that it was an unconstitutional attempt to provide additional qualifications for office by statute, rather than constitutional amendment.
The legislature is a full-time legislature, although not to the extent of neighboring New York or some other states.
History
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The earliest history of the General Court is in the original charter of 1629. Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, was a royally chartered joint stock company founded in 1628 in London. Much like other joint-stock companies of the time the first General Court was a meeting of shareholders, known as freemen. The "Great and General Court" was to meet in London and elect its officers and members in the same manner as other colonial charted companies of the time such as the Virginia Company and the East India Company. The freemen would meet annually to elect representatives in the form of a Royal Governor, a Deputy Governor, and a Council made from the directors of the company. These officials were to have royally assented governmental control of the colony and would be tasked with the management and defense of the colonial plantation. The first Court assembled would be made from these members to discuss and evaluate the situation of the colony.
The first meeting of the original General Court took place in London in 1629. The General Court selected John Endicott as its representative to the colony. Soon after Governor John Winthrop and the Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley broke with protocol when they themselves traveled to New England and moved the government to Massachusetts Bay. Along with them came the stock holders of the company and the Council of Assistants.
Once in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the new government reorganized itself out of convenience. Instead of attempting to assemble all stockholders to the meeting of the General Court the government decided on having each town elect two representatives to send in their stead. The General Court became a de facto bicameral legislature by virtue of the distinction between delegates elected by towns and the Council of Assistants. The assistants acted as magistrates and counselors of jurisprudence, however when in session they served as a sort of upper house. Their assent and approval was needed in order for any decision from the house of delegates to be passed. The new legislature was elected annually.
Suffrage was allowed only for men who were Puritan church members and freemen. This General Court removed any feudal restraints on the population and codified a Bill of Rights and powers of a judiciary. The General Court also enshrined the Laws of Moses as legal code under the discretion of local magistrates creating a theocratic quasi-democratic state.
By votes of the General Court in the 1630s, the system of government changed to have an elected governor and to restrict the list of "freemen" to those affiliated with certain Puritan churches. In 1634, after complaint the charter was not being followed, a compromise resulted in recomposition of the General Court as two deputies elected by freemen in each town. Problems with a judicial case resulted in another reform in 1638, where the Council of Assistants became an upper house that sat separately, with consent of both houses required to pass legislation.
In October 1650 the General Court took exception to the book The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption by William Pynchon. They regarded it as containing many errors and heresies and decided to make their views very plain by having the book burnt on Boston Common.
Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England
With the collapse of the Dominion of New England in the Glorious Revolution in 1689 The Assistants convened an assembly of delegates from each town to reform the General Court.
With the Massachusetts Charter in 1691 the Province of Massachusetts Bay absorbed the colony of Plymouth. The Plymouth Colony, along with the District of Maine and the islands off Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were to be an extension of Massachusetts and thus under the authority of the General Court.
Under this new system the religious qualification, that suffrage be for only Puritan men, was changed to a qualification of property ownership. The Assistants were also officially changed to a Governor's Council to be selected by the governor to act as an upper house as well as a council for advice and consent. All laws passed by the General Court were to be approved by Royal Governor of the province. The powers of the monarch to be expanded in this new system as well. The King had full control of maritime affairs and acted as an executive, through the Royal Governor, to enforce commercial law.
This separation of powers led to some friction with the Royal Governor and the General Court. The General Court retained power over spending and budget and while the Royal Officers, in the form of the Governor, the Governor's Council, etc. had more executive authority the Court could cause political stalemate if its demands were not met. Even the Governor's reserve power to dissolve the General Court was ineffective because a new assembly had to be elected the following year.
With the passage of the Intolerable Acts by the Parliament of Great Britain there was political turmoil in the province. With political disorder Thomas Gage, then the Royal Governor, cancelled the new elections for the General Court and in 1774 the assembly was essentially dissolved. This allowed the governor to rule by decree and appoint town governments.
In defiance of both Crown law and Gage, members of the General Court formed the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and seized control of the colony except for Boston, where British troops maintained control until when they evacuated the city on March 17, 1776. The Governor's Council acted as the executive in the absence of the governor and lieutenant governor, administering the rebel forces of the colony during the early years of the American Revolutionary War, which began in Massachusetts at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The General Assembly declared Massachusetts independent from Britain on May 1, 1776. With the war still ongoing, demands for government reform resulted in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1778, but the text proposed by the legislature failed in a statewide voter referendum. The Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780 was held by a specially-elected body, and the resulting text, after amendment and ratification, became the current state constitution.
Later history
The current Massachusetts General Court has met as the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since the adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. The body was in operation before Massachusetts became a U.S. state on February 6, 1788.
The first sessions, starting in 1780, were one-year elected sessions for both houses. This was expanded to two-year sessions starting with the 142nd General Court in January 1921. Thereafter, the legislative year was defined as: "The first legislative year starting with the opening of the biennial session and ends at midnight on Tuesday before the first Wednesday of the following year. The second legislative year starts on the first Wednesday of the second year and ends when the legislature prorogues or at midnight on Tuesday before the first Wednesday of the following year.
Watson F. Hammond, seated in 1885, was the first Native American to be elected to the body.
Florence Slocomb was one of the first three women in the Commonwealth to be elected to the state Legislature and the first woman from Worcester to win a state legislative seat, representing that district from 1926 to 1928.
Althea Garrison was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1992 and is known as the first transgender person to serve in a state legislature in the United States. She was outed against her will following the election and served one term.
As of 2018, the General Court was composed of 75 percent male and 25 percent female representation.
Chambers
Senate
There are 40 senatorial districts in Massachusetts, named for the counties in which they are located.
House of Representatives
There are 160 representational districts in Massachusetts, named for the counties in which they are located. The speaker of the House has historically been quite powerful, exerting significant influence over all aspects of state government.
Current joint committees and members
Legislative procedure
The General Court is responsible for enacting laws in the state. The two legislative branches work concurrently on pending laws brought before them.
Lawmaking begins when legislators, or their delegates, file petitions accompanied by bills, resolves or other types of legislation electronically, using the Legislative Automated Workflow System (LAWS). The electronically submitted legislation is received in the House or Senate Clerk's office where the petitions, bills, and resolves are recorded in an electronic docket book. The clerks number the bills and assign them to appropriate joint committees. There are 26 of these committees, each responsible for studying the bills which pertain to specific policy areas, taxation, education, health care, insurance, and others. Each committee is composed of six senators and eleven representatives. The standing committees schedule public hearings for the individual bills, which afford citizens, legislators and lobbyists the opportunity to express their views. Committee members meet at a later time in executive session to review the public testimony and discuss the merits of each bill before making their recommendations to the full membership of the House or Senate. The public may still observe "executive" sessions, but may not participate in these meetings. The committee then issues its report, recommending that a bill "ought to pass" or "ought not to pass" and the report is submitted to the Clerk's office.
The first reading of a favorably reported bill is automatic and generally occurs when the committee's report appears in the Journal of the House or Senate. Matters not requiring reference to another Joint, House or Senate committee are, following the first reading, referred without debate to the Committee on Senate Rules if reported in the Senate, except certain special laws (relative to a city or town) are placed directly on the Senate Calendar (Orders of the Day), or, without debate to the House Steering, Policy and Scheduling committee if reported into the House. Reports from Senate Rules or House Steering, Policy and Scheduling are placed on the Calendar of the Chamber receiving the report for a second reading. If a bill reported favorably by a joint committee affects health care it is referred by the House or Senate Clerk to the joint committee on Health Care Financing; and the first reading is delayed until the next favorable report, thus allowing Health Care Financing to report to either the House or Senate. The Health Care Financing Committee is required to provide an estimated cost of the bill, when making their report. If the estimated cost is less than $100,000, the bill bypasses having to be referred to Ways and Means. If a bill is not related to health care, but affects the finances of the Commonwealth, or, if it is reported by the Health Care Financing Committee with an estimated cost greater than $100,000, it is referred to the Senate or House Committee on Ways and Means after the first reading. Adverse reports ("ought not to pass") are also referred to the Committee on Steering and Policy in the Senate or placed without debate in the Orders of the Day for the next session of the House. Acceptance by either branch of an adverse report is considered the final rejection and the matter of the matter. However, an adverse report can be overturned. A member may move to substitute the bill for the report, and, if the motion to substitute carries, the matter is then given its first reading and follows the same procedure as if reported favorably by committee.
After a bill is read for a second time, it is open to debate on amendments and motions. Following debate, a vote is taken and if the bill receives a favorable vote by the membership, it is ordered to a third reading and referred to the Committee on Bills in the Third Reading. This amounts to preliminary approval of the bill in that branch. That committee examines technical points, as well as the legality and constitutionality of the measure, and ensures that it does not duplicate or contradict existing law. The committee then issues a report and returns the bill to the House or Senate for its third reading. At that time, legislators can further debate and amend the bill. Following the third reading, the body votes on "passing the bill to be engrossed."
The bill must then pass through three readings and engrossment in the second legislative branch. Should that occur, it is sent to the Legislative Engrossing Division where it is typed on special parchment in accordance with the General Laws. However, if the second branch passes an amended version of the bill, the legislation returns to the original branch for a vote of concurrence in the amendment. If concurrence is rejected, a conference committee consisting of the three members from each legislative branch representing both political parties may be formed to effect a compromise piece of legislation. When a compromise is reached, the bill is sent to both legislative branches for their approval.
A vote "to enact" the bill, first in the House and later in the Senate, is the final step in the passage of a bill by the legislature. Following enactment, the bill goes to the governor, who may sign the bill into law, allow it to become law without signing it (if the governor holds the bill for ten days without taking any action while the legislature is in session, it becomes law without his or her signature), veto it, or return it to the legislature with recommended changes. If the legislature has concluded its yearly session, and the governor does not sign the bill within ten days, it dies. This is referred to as a "pocket veto." This ten-day period includes Sundays and holidays, even if they fall on the tenth day, and it begins the day after the legislation is laid on the governor's desk.
A bill signed by the governor, or passed by two-thirds of both branches over his veto, becomes a law. It is usually effective in ninety days. The day after the governor signs the bill is considered to be the first day, and each succeeding day, including Sundays and holidays is counted until the ninetieth. Laws considered "emergency" in nature take effect immediately upon signing if the legislature has voted to attach an "emergency preamble" to the bill. Adoption of the preamble requires a two-thirds standing vote of the membership. The governor may also declare an act to be an emergency law and make it effective at once. A special act takes effect thirty days from the day it is signed, unless it contains a provision to make it effective immediately.
State House News Service
The State House News Service is an independent privately owned wire service based in the Massachusetts State House that provides comprehensive coverage of the Commonwealth's government. It is the only news organization with floor privileges and a desk in both the House and Senate chambers.
See also
Massachusetts Capitol Police
Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts Government
Massachusetts Governor
Massachusetts Governor's Council
Massachusetts Senate
Massachusetts State House
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
List of state and territorial capitols in the United States
List of members of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives
References
Further reading
Noah Bierman. "Legislators' vital work veiled from public's eye". The Boston Globe, July 8, 2011.
External links
General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Live and Archived webcasts of Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives Full Formal Sessions
. (Various documents).
VoteSmart—Massachusetts
1630 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Bicameral legislatures
General Court
Legislatures of the Thirteen Colonies |
426234 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20States%20Revenue%20Cutter%20Service | United States Revenue Cutter Service | The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an act of Congress () on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service. As time passed, the service gradually gained missions either voluntarily or by legislation, including those of a military nature. It was generally referred to as the Revenue-Marine until 31 July 1894, when it was officially renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. The Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On 28 January 1915, the service was merged by an act of Congress with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.
Background and establishment
Immediately after the American Revolutionary War the new United States was struggling to stay afloat financially. National income was desperately needed, and the government determined that a great deal of this income would come from tariffs on imports. Because of rampant smuggling, the need was immediate for strong enforcement of tariff laws. On 4 August 1790, the United States Congress, urged on by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, created the Revenue-Marine, later renamed the Revenue Cutter Service by act of 31 July 1894 (28 Stat. 171).
A cutter vessel is a small or medium-sized boat or sailing ship, built for speed and with a shallow draught. While some larger cutters had two or three masts, many cutters had only one, located more centrally on the ship than was typical of larger vessels. In modern times, any naval ship built for speed and agility is still referred to as a cutter.
Under the enabling legislation that authorized the Revenue-Marine, the "System of Cutters", consisting of ten vessels were initially ordered and constructed. Two cutters were to be assigned to "the coasts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire; one for Long Island Sound; one for New York; one for the Bay of Delaware; two for the Chesapeake (these of course to ply along the neighboring coasts); one for North Carolina; and one for Georgia". On 21 March 1791 the first seven masters were commissioned by President George Washington. Among those commissioned were Hopley Yeaton and John Foster Williams of Massachusetts, Jonathan Maltbie of Connecticut, Patrick Dennis of New York, James Montgomery of Pennsylvania, Simon Gross of Maryland, and Richard Taylor of Virginia. William Cooke of North Carolina was commissioned on 25 April 1791, Robert Cochrane of South Carolina on 8 May 1791, and 20 May 1791 John Howell of Georgia. Each cutter was constructed where it was to be assigned; a move by Hamilton to satisfy members of Congress and gain their votes for the establishment of the service. Washington suggested to Hamilton that it would be advantageous to have each master supervise the construction of his own cutter; a suggestion that Hamilton put into use along with a limitation that each cutter cost no more than 1,000. Hamilton's cost restrictions proved unrealistic for three of the new cutters, cost 2,050, cost 1,255, and cost over 1,500.
The same legislation that established the ten original cutters also provided for the complement and pay scales of the crew of each vessel. Each vessel was provided with a master with pay set at $30 per month and three mates at $20, $16, and $14, respectively. In addition each cutter was allowed four mariners at $8 apiece and two boys at $4.
History
Early missions
Between 1790 and 1798, the Revenue-Marine was the only armed maritime service of the United States, as the Navy had been disbanded. Each cutter master was answerable to and received his sailing orders directly from the Collector of Customs of the port to which his ship was assigned. All crew pay, requests for supplies, arrangements for repairs to the cutter, and mission-specific tasking came directly from the port's Customs House. After the Slave Trade Act of 1794 was enacted, the Revenue-Marine began intercepting slave ships which were illegally importing slaves into the United States.
This was the case from 1791 to 1871, except for the period 1843–49, when oversight was vested in the Revenue Marine Division of the Treasury Department. Standing orders for individual cutters were stated in general terms, allowing captains to exercise their discretion and judgment to the fullest. Captains also had far-reaching authority "to seize vessels and goods in the cases in which they are liable to seizure for breaches of the Revenue laws" and to send inspection parties aboard vessels already in port to ensure that cargo intended for export also did not violate revenue laws. Yet despite this considerable authority, Alexander Hamilton, in his first letter of instruction to the captains, had specifically directed that they "will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit. ... They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty – by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence."
Quasi-War with France
During the Quasi-War with France from 1798 to 1801, the U.S. Navy was formed and the Revenue-Marine fought alongside the Navy, capturing or assisting in the capture of 20 French ships. Ten of these were captured by the USRC Pickering.
Revenue cutters were assigned to enforce the very unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which outlawed nearly all European trade, import and export, through American ports. The Act was enforced until it was repealed in 1808.
The War of 1812
In wartime, the Revenue Marine was placed under the command of the U.S. Navy, and the cutters themselves were often placed into military service. made the first American capture of an enemy ship in the War of 1812, the brig Patriot, in June 1812.
On 3 August 1812, the boats of the British frigates and captured the 6-gun revenue cutter in the Little River, Bay of Fundy, together with three privateer schooners, Madison, Olive, and Spence (or Spruce).
Then on 22 August 1812, , under the command of Captain Thomas Huskisson, captured the USRC James Madison after a chase of seven hours. The cutter was pierced for fourteen guns but had only ten mounted, two of which she threw overboard to lighten her during the chase. She had a crew of 65 men and was seven days out of Savannah, but had made no captures. Huskisson described her: "[She is] coppered and copper-fastened, is two years old, and sails remarkably fast."
On the night of 12 June 1813, the small cutter Surveyor, with a crew of 16 and an armament of only six carronades, was anchored in the York River (Virginia), when a 90-man boarding party from the frigate attacked her. The attack came from an angle at which Surveyor could not use her carronades. However, the Revenue Marine seamen, under Captain William S. Travis, each was armed with two muskets and held their fire until the British boats were upon them. After a fierce hand-to-hand fight that left five Americans wounded and three British dead and five wounded, the British succeeded in taking Surveyor. Lieutenant Cririe, first lieutenant of Narcissus and commander of the boats, returned Captain Travis's sword to him—an unusual gesture of respect—for his "gallant defense" of Surveyor.
On 11 October 1814, the cutter Eagle encountered Narcissus, and the , which was guarding the Suzan, a captured American merchant ship. The British ship badly outgunned Eagle, which was pierced for 10 guns but only had two mounted. Captain Frederick Lee beached Eagle on Long Island to avoid being sunk. Not yet defeated, the Revenue Marine seamen removed the guns from Eagle, hoisted them up a 160-foot bluff, dragged them into position, and continued firing at Dispatch. The British sent in boats to capture Eagle. When the Americans ran out of cannonballs, they still did not surrender, instead retrieving the cannonballs fired at them by Dispatch and shooting them back. Even after being forced to use the ship's logbook for wadding, the crew, together with local militia, continued to fight. Eventually, the British retrieved Eagle and took her away.
Counter-piracy operations
After the War of 1812, British and Spanish sea power in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico weakened, allowing a resurgence of piracy along the Gulf Coast. Revenue cutters were dispatched to fight the pirates. In 1819, the one-gun schooners USRC Alabama and USRC Louisiana fought two engagements with pirates, one on the open sea and another at Breton Island, Louisiana. On 19 July 1820, Alabama captured four pirate ships off La Balize. In 1822, with USS Peacock and HMS Speedwell, Alabama engaged pirates again, which resulted in the taking of five more pirate ships.
In 1832, Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane issued written orders for revenue cutters to conduct winter cruises to assist mariners in need, and Congress made the practice an official part of regulations in 1837. This was the beginning of the life-saving mission for which the later U.S. Coast Guard would be best known worldwide.
Mexican–American War
Revenue-Marine cutters again served under the U.S. Navy in the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. The cutters were crucial for shallow-water amphibious assaults.
American Civil War
On 11 April 1861, the USRC Harriet Lane fired the first shots of the maritime conflict in the American Civil War of 1861–1865. The cutter fired a shot across the bow of the civilian steamship Nashville as it tried to enter Charleston Harbor during the bombardment of Fort Sumter because Nashville was flying no identifying flag. The civilian ship then promptly raised the U.S. standard, and Harriet Lane broke off.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the following order to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase on 14 June 1863: "You will co-operate by the revenue cutters under your direction with the navy in arresting rebel depredations on American commerce and transportation and in capturing rebels engaged therein."
Revenue cutters assisted U.S. Navy operations throughout the war. Harriet Lane joined a federal naval squadron to capture Fort Clark and Fort Hatteras, which served as bases for Confederate blockade runners. USRC E.A. Stevens, a prototype 110-foot semi-submersible ironclad gunboat, in company with USS Monitor, USS Galena, and two other gunboats, participated in the unsuccessful sortie up the James River to Drewry's Bluff to attack the Confederate capital at Richmond. After carrying President Lincoln from Washington on 9 May 1862, USRC Miami assisted navy transports in landing federal troops at Ocean View, Virginia.
In June 1863, in an incident known as the "Battle of Portland Harbor", the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing was captured by Confederate raiders, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Read, CSN, from the CSS Tacony. The Cushing was pursued by two civilian ships carrying a detachment of soldiers from Fort Preble and a number of civilian volunteers. Seeing that capture was imminent, the Confederates abandoned the Cushing in a lifeboat after setting her on fire. The Confederates were captured but the Cushing was destroyed when the gunpowder on the ship detonated.
After President Lincoln was assassinated on 15 April 1865, revenue cutters were ordered to search all ships for any conspirators who might be trying to escape.
Post–Civil War operations
The increase in coastal trade along the Atlantic seaboard after the civil war and the purchase of Alaska in 1867 had a significant impact on the development of the Revenue Cutter Service. Demands by the public to do something about losses in lives and property at sea prompted Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell, under President Ulysses S. Grant, to reorganize the service. He appointed N. Broughton Devereux on 1 July 1869 as chief of an interim Revenue Marine Bureau that included the Revenue Cutter Service, the Steamboat Inspection Service, the Marine Hospital Service and the Life-Saving Service. Devereaux appointed two boards to study the problems facing the service; one investigated personnel requirements, the other analyzed the requirements for the cutter fleet.
The fleet board produced a study that was presented to Congress on 26 May 1870, the result of which was that of the twenty-four steaming cutters in the service, four were harbor tugs, six were stationed on the Great Lakes and the remaining steaming cutters were stationed in the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The harbor tugs were left where they were stationed and all of the lake cutters were recommended for repair and stayed located where they were except for one which was home-ported in a different city. All of the steaming coastal cutters except for two were a successful side-wheel design which were retained. The board recommended keeping only one of the propeller driven steam cutters, the USRC Mahoning. Of the twelve sail cutters in the fleet, only five of the most seaworthy were recommended by the board to be retained. Devereaux's report to Congress included a request for four new steam cutters: a large propeller-driven ship, a large side-wheeler and two smaller side-wheelers. Recommendations were made as to the types of engines to be used on various cutters and all were to be equipped with sails to save on coal consumption. Additionally, Devereaux requested $125,000 to cover the unexpected costs of operating cutters Lincoln, Wayanda and Reliance in Alaskan waters during 1869.
The personnel board that Devereaux convened found that the Revenue Cutter Service was rife with abuses through the political control by customs collectors in the ports where the cutters were assigned. It was possible under the structure in place at the time to be appointed by the customs collector to the captaincy of a cutter without having ever served aboard a ship.
Although the Department of the Treasury remained in charge of the service throughout the 19th century, its conventional organization was resumed after the war, with cutters reporting to local customs officials. A new Revenue Marine Division was established in 1871, which became the United States Revenue Cutter Service by an act of 31 July 1894 (28 Stat. 171).
During the harsh winter of 1897–1898, Lieutenant David H. Jarvis of USRC Bear led a relief party to 265 whalers whose ships had been stranded in the ice off the northern coast of Alaska.
Spanish–American War
With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Revenue Cutter Service saw plenty of action in both the Cuban and Philippine theaters. Many revenue cutters were assigned to the blockade of Havana Harbor. During the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898, USRC Hugh McCulloch fought with the American squadron under Commodore George Dewey.
On 11 May 1898, , equipped with two 6-pounder (3 kg) guns and a machine gun, took part in the Battle of Cárdenas off the coast of Cárdenas, Cuba. Together with Navy torpedo boat , Hudson fought against a Spanish gunboat and coastal batteries until forced to withdraw. Under extremely heavy fire, Hudson towed the disabled Winslow away from the battle. Congress awarded Frank H. Newcomb, the captain of Hudson, a Congressional Gold Medal for his bravery.
Officer rank structure
From the establishment of the Revenue Cutter Service in 1790 until 1799 the officers of the service were called "master" and "mate"; the same terms for officers used on merchant ships. Initially, the masters and mates were commissioned "officers of the customs" under the act, rather than commissioned military officers. The system of cutters authorized by Congress in the 1790 act authorized 10 cutters to be constructed. Each cutter was to be crewed by the master, first, second, and third mates as well as four "mariners" and two "boys" Congress established a military rank structure for the Revenue Cutter Service in a March 2, 1799 act which authorized the use of the terms "captain" and "lieutenant".
The ranks of officers in the Revenue Cutter Service, and later the US Coast Guard, were not made comparable to Navy ranks until 1922. However Navy officers started to complain in 1834 when Revenue Cutter officer's uniforms started to resemble Navy uniforms.
In 1908, Congress established the rank of "captain-commandant" equal to the rank of a U.S. Navy captain and also the rank of "senior captain" equal to a commander. The position of "chief engineer" was established ranking with that of senior captain.
Formation of the U.S. Coast Guard
President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Coast Guard Act on 28 January 1915. This act combined the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the new United States Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard assumed the responsibilities of the United States Lighthouse Service in 1939 and the Navigation and Steamboat Inspection Service in 1942.
In 1990, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Paul A. Yost Jr. established a military award known as the Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation, which commemorated the original founding of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.
See also
History of the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard History and Heritage Sites
Notes
Footnotes
Citations
References cited
External links
www.uscg.mil/history — United States Coast Guard Historian's Office
Military history of the United States
1790 establishments in the United States
Defunct agencies of the United States government
1915 disestablishments in the United States
History of the United States Coast Guard |
426277 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia%20General%20Assembly | Georgia General Assembly | The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly elected by constituents of their district. The Constitution of Georgia vests all legislative power with the General Assembly. Both houses have similar powers, though each has unique duties as well. For example, the origination of appropriations bills only occurs in the House, while the Senate is tasked with confirmation of the Governor's appointments.
The General Assembly meets in the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.
History
The General Assembly, which is the legislative branch of the state's government, was created in 1777 during the American Revolution—it is older than the United States Congress. During its existence the Assembly has moved four different times when the state capital changed its location. The first location of the Assembly was Savannah, then Augusta and Louisville, moving from there to Milledgeville, and finally to Atlanta in 1868.
The General Assembly in Savannah
By January 1777 Savannah had become the capital of Georgia—when the former colony declared independence from Britain. The legislature, then a unicameral body, met there in 1777–1778—retreating to Augusta when the British captured the city. They were not in Augusta long before it was captured by the British in 1779. Augusta changed hands three times during the war, finally returning to American possession in July 1781. They stayed in Augusta until the British left Savannah in May 1782 and the legislature returned to the capital.
Move to Augusta
Between 1783–1785, the Georgia General Assembly met in both Savannah and Augusta—moving from there when tensions arose between the two cities, causing then Governor Lyman Hall to officially reside in both places. On February 22, 1785 the General Assembly held its last meeting in Savannah—Augusta had become the official capital due to pressure from the general populace to have their capital in the center of the state.
On to Louisville
As the population dispersed—shifting the geographic center, it was determined that the state's capital needed to move as well. A commission was appointed by the legislature in 1786 to find a suitable location that was central to the new demography. The commission recommended Louisville, which would become Georgia's first planned capital and would hold her first capitol building. Due to the fact that the capital would have to be built from the ground up, and because of numerous construction delays, it took a decade to build the city. The name Louisville was chosen by the General Assembly in honor of King Louis XVI of France for France's aid during the Revolutionary War.
The new state house, a two-story 18th century Gregorian building of red brick, was completed in 1796. The Legislature designated Louisville the "permanent seat" of Georgia's government. Yet, further western expansion created the need for another new state capital. The capitol building was purchased by Jefferson County and used as a courthouse, but the building had to be torn down because it became unsound. A plaque marks the location of the old Capitol.
The Assembly arrives in Milledgeville
In 1804, the state government decided that yet another capital, would be needed. Subsequently, an act was passed authorizing construction of a new capital city on in the area currently known as Baldwin County. The city was named Milledgeville in honor of Governor John Milledge.
The new Capitol took two years to complete and was a brick construction in the Gothic Revival style. The legislature convened The Georgia Secession Convention of 1861 in the Milledgeville statehouse on January 16, 1861. On January 19, delegates voted for Georgia to secede from the Union—208 in favor with 89 against—drafting a new constitution, and declaring the state an independent Republic.
On January 21, Assembly delegates (secessionists finishing with a slight majority of delegates) celebrated their decision by a public signing of the Ordinance of Secession outside of the State Capitol. Later that year, the legislature also voted to send $100,000 to South Carolina for "the relief of Charlestonians" who suffered a disastrous fire in December 1861. With General Sherman's approach, the members of the General Assembly adjourned in fall 1864, reconvening briefly in Macon in 1865. As the American Civil War came to a close with the federal government in military control of Georgia, the legislature reconvened at the Capitol in Milledgeville.
Atlanta
In 1867, Major General John Pope, military governor of Georgia, called for an assembly in Atlanta to hold a constitutional convention. At that time Atlanta officials moved once again to have the city designated as Georgia's state capital, donating the property where Atlanta's first city hall was constructed. The constitutional convention agreed and the people voted to ratify the decision on April 20, 1868. The Georgia General Assembly first convened in Atlanta on July 4, 1868.
In 1884, the legislature appropriated one million dollars to build a new State Capitol. Construction began October 26, 1884 and the building was completed (slightly under budget) and occupied on June 15, 1889.
Notably, the dome atop the capitol building is plated with real gold, most of which came from the Dahlonega, Georgia area. The roofing gives rise to local colloquialisms—for instance, if one knowledgeable Georgian wanted to ask another what the General Assembly was doing, he might ask what was happening "under the gold dome."
Organization and procedure of the General Assembly
The General Assembly meets in regular session on the second Monday in January for no longer than 40 legislative (rather than calendar) days each year. Neither the House nor the Senate can adjourn during a regular session for longer than three days or meet in any place other than the state capitol without the other house's consent.
Committees
Rules of procedure, employees and interim committees
Each house of the General Assembly may determine procedural rules governing its own employees. The General Assembly as a whole, or each house separately, has the ability to create interim committees.
Oath of office
Before taking office senators and representatives must swear (or affirm) an oath—stipulated by state law.
Quorum
A majority of the members to which each house is entitled shall constitute a quorum to transact business. A smaller number may adjourn from day to day and compel the presence of its absent members.
Vacancies
Whenever a vacancy occurs in the General Assembly, an event that occurs whenever a member dies, resigns, or moves from the district from which he was elected, it is filled according to Georgia law and the Constitution. If the vacancy occurs anytime prior to the end of the legislative session in the second year of a term, the governor must issue a writ of special election within ten days of the vacancy occurring, and, if the vacancy occurs after the end of the legislative session in the second year of a term, then the governor may choose to issue a writ of special election. But, if the vacancy exists at the time that an extraordinary session is called, then the governor must issue a writ of special election within 2 days after the call for the extraordinary session, and, if the vacancy occurs after the call but before the special session has concluded, then the governor must issue a writ of special election within 5 days of the occurrence. In each case, the writ of special election must designate a day on which the election will be held, which must be no less than 30 days and no more than 60 days after the governor issues the writ.
Salaries
Members of the General Assembly receive salaries provided by law, so long as that salary does not increase before the end of the term during which the increase becomes effective. Members of the Georgia General Assembly currently earn $17,000 a year.
Election and returns; disorderly conduct
Each house holds the responsibility of judging the election, returns, and qualifications of its own members. Also, each house has the power to punish its own members for disorderly misconduct. Punishments for such conduct include:
censure
fine
imprisonment
expulsion
However, no member may be expelled except upon a two-thirds vote of the house in which he or she sits.
Contempt
When a person is guilty of contempt, the individual may be imprisoned if ordered by either the House or the Senate.
Elections by either house
All elections of the General Assembly are to be recorded. The recorded vote then appears in the journal of each house.
Open meetings
Sessions of the General Assembly, including committee meetings, are open to the public except when either house makes an exception.
Legislative history
The General Assembly does not publish reports and does not keep bill files. Major legislation is discussed in detail in the Peach Sheets, a student-written part of Georgia State University College of Law's Law Review. Recent Peach Sheet articles are available in an online archive. Otherwise, Peach Sheets articles should be included in the Georgia State Law Review databases on Lexis, Westlaw and HeinOnline.
Composition
The Georgia General Assembly began in 1777 as a body consisting of the lower House of Assembly to which counties elected two members each, and an Executive Council, which included a councillor elected by their respective Assembly delegation. After the enactment of the Georgia Constitution of 1789, the body was changed to a bicameral legislature of a Senate and House of Representatives, both to be directly elected. From 1789-1795, senators were elected every three years, and after the enactment of the May 1795 Constitution, senators were elected annually to one-year terms. Senators were moved to two-terms after December 5, 1843.
It is now made up of a Senate (the upper house) and a House of Representatives (the lower house). The Senate has 56 members while the House of Representatives has 180. Members from each body serve for two years, but have no limit to the number of times they can be re-elected. Both senators and representatives are elected from their constituents' districts.
Qualifications for election
The Georgia Constitution stipulates that members of the Senate must be citizens of the United States, at least 25 years old, a citizen of the state of Georgia at least two years, and a legal resident of the district the senator was elected to. Members of the House of Representatives must be citizens of the United States, at least 21 years old, a Georgia citizen for at least two years, and a legal resident of the district the representative was elected for at least one year.
Disqualifications
According to the Georgia Constitution Article III Section II Paragraph IV:
No person on active duty with any branch of the armed forces of the United States shall have a seat in either house unless otherwise provided by law.
No person holding any civil appointment or office having any emolument annexed thereto under the United States, this state, or any other state shall have a seat in either house.
No Senator or Representative shall be elected by the General Assembly or appointed by the Governor to any office or appointment having any emolument annexed thereto during the time for which such person shall have been elected unless the Senator or Representative shall first resign the seat to which elected; provided, however, that, during the term for which elected, no Senator or Representative shall be appointed to any civil office which has been created during such term.
Officers
The presiding officer of the Senate is the President of the Senate or Lieutenant Governor. Like the United States Senate, a President Pro Tempore is elected by the Senate from among its members. The President Pro Tempore acts as President in case of the temporary disability of the President. In case of the death, resignation, or permanent disability of the President or in the event of the succession of the President to the executive power, the President Pro Tempore becomes President. The Senate also has as an officer the Secretary of the Senate.
The House of Representatives elects its own Speaker and a Speaker Pro Tempore. The Speaker Pro Tempore becomes Speaker in case of the death, resignation, or permanent disability of the Speaker. The Speaker Pro Tempore serves until a new Speaker is elected. The House also has as an officer the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Historic composition
The 1866 Constitution called for 22 seats in the Senate and 175 seats in the House. The 1877 Constitution expanded the Senate to 44 seats while keeping 175 members in the House.
Powers and privileges
Article III Section VI of the Georgia State Constitution specifies the powers given to the Georgia General Assembly. Paragraph I states, "The General Assembly shall have the power to make all laws not inconsistent with this Constitution, and not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, which it shall deem necessary and proper for the welfare of the state." Moreover, the powers the Constitution gives the Assembly include land use restrictions to protect and preserve the environment and natural resources; the creation, use and disciplining through court martial of a state militia which would be under the command of the Governor of Georgia acting as commander-in-chief (excepting times when the militia is under Federal command); The power to expend public money, to condemn property, and to zone property; The continuity of state and local governments during times of emergency; state participation in tourism. The use, control and regulation of outdoor advertising within the state.
Limitation of powers
Paragraph V of Article III Section VI states that:
The General Assembly shall not have the power to grant incorporation to private persons but shall provide by general law the manner in which private corporate powers and privileges may be granted.
The General Assembly shall not forgive the forfeiture of the charter of any corporation existing on August 13, 1945, nor shall it grant any benefit to or permit any amendment to the charter of any corporation except upon the condition that the acceptance thereof shall operate as a novation of the charter and that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter subject to the provisions of this Constitution.
The General Assembly shall not have the power to authorize any contract or agreement which may have the effect of or which is intended to have the effect of defeating or lessening competition, or encouraging a monopoly, which are hereby declared to be unlawful and void.
The General Assembly shall not have the power to regulate or fix charges of public utilities owned or operated by any county or municipality of this state, except as authorized by this Constitution.
No municipal or county authority which is authorized to construct, improve, or maintain any road or street on behalf of, pursuant to a contract with, or through the use of taxes or other revenues of a county or municipal corporation shall be created by any local Act or pursuant to any general Act nor shall any law specifically relating to any such authority be amended unless the creation of such authority or the amendment of such law is conditioned upon the approval of a majority of the qualified voters of the county or municipal corporation affected voting in a referendum thereon. This subparagraph shall not apply to or affect any state authority.
Privileges of members
Members of the Georgia General Assembly maintain two important privileges during their time in office. First, no member of either house of the Assembly can be arrested during sessions of the General Assembly or during committee meetings except in cases of treason, felony, or "breach of the peace". Also, members are not liable for anything they might say in either the House or the Senate or in any committee meetings of both.
See also
Georgia Senate
Georgia House of Representatives
List of state government committees (Georgia)
Notes
References
Cobb, James C. Georgia Odyssey. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
Fleischman, Arnold, and Pierannunzi, Carol. Politics in Georgia. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
Grant, Chris. Our Arc of Constancy: The Georgia General Assembly, 250 Years of Effective Representation for all Georgians. Atlanta: Georgia Humanities Council, 2001.
External links
Georgia General Assembly website
Georgia Encyclopedia article
georgia.gov - Legislature
The Capitalization of Georgia
Bicameral legislatures |
426305 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group%20selection | Group selection | Group selection is a proposed mechanism of evolution in which natural selection acts at the level of the group, instead of at the level of the individual or gene.
Early authors such as V. C. Wynne-Edwards and Konrad Lorenz argued that the behavior of animals could affect their survival and reproduction as groups, speaking for instance of actions for the good of the species. In the 1930s, R.A. Fisher and J.B.S. Haldane proposed the concept of kin selection, a form of altruism from the gene-centered view of evolution, arguing that animals should sacrifice for their relatives, and thereby implying that they should not sacrifice for non-relatives. From the mid 1960s, evolutionary biologists such as John Maynard Smith, W. D. Hamilton, George C. Williams, and Richard Dawkins argued that natural selection acted primarily at the level of the gene. They argued on the basis of mathematical models that individuals would not altruistically sacrifice fitness for the sake of a group unless it would ultimately increase the likelihood of an individual passing on their genes. A consensus emerged that group selection did not occur, including in special situations such as the haplodiploid social insects like honeybees (in the Hymenoptera), where kin selection explains the behaviour of non-reproductives equally well, since the only way for them to reproduce their genes is via kin.
In 1994 David Sloan Wilson and Elliott Sober argued for multi-level selection, including group selection, on the grounds that groups, like individuals, could compete. In 2010 three authors including E. O. Wilson, known for his work on social insects especially ants, again revisited the arguments for group selection. They argued that group selection can occur when competition between two or more groups, some containing altruistic individuals who act cooperatively together, is more important for survival than competition between individuals within each group, provoking a strong rebuttal from a large group of ethologists.
Early developments
Charles Darwin developed the theory of evolution in his book, Origin of Species. Darwin also made the first suggestion of group selection in The Descent of Man that the evolution of groups could affect the survival of individuals. He wrote, "If one man in a tribe... invented a new snare or weapon, the tribe would increase in number, spread, and supplant other tribes. In a tribe thus rendered more numerous there would always be a rather better chance of the birth of other superior and inventive members."
Once Darwinism had been accepted in the modern synthesis of the mid-twentieth century, animal behavior was glibly explained with unsubstantiated hypotheses about survival value, which was largely taken for granted. The naturalist Konrad Lorenz had argued loosely in books like On Aggression (1966) that animal behavior patterns were "for the good of the species", without actually studying survival value in the field. Richard Dawkins noted that Lorenz was a "'good of the species' man" so accustomed to group selection thinking that he did not realize his views "contravened orthodox Darwinian theory". The ethologist Niko Tinbergen praised Lorenz for his interest in the survival value of behavior, and naturalists enjoyed Lorenz's writings for the same reason. In 1962, group selection was used as a popular explanation for adaptation by the zoologist V. C. Wynne-Edwards. In 1976, Richard Dawkins wrote a well-known book on the importance of evolution at the level of the gene or the individual, The Selfish Gene.
From the mid 1960s, evolutionary biologists argued that natural selection acted primarily at the level of the individual. In 1964, John Maynard Smith, C. M. Perrins (1964), and George C. Williams in his 1966 book Adaptation and Natural Selection cast serious doubt on group selection as a major mechanism of evolution; Williams's 1971 book Group Selection assembled writings from many authors on the same theme.
It was at that time generally agreed that this was the case even for eusocial insects such as honeybees, which encourages kin selection, since workers are closely related.
Kin selection and inclusive fitness theory
Experiments from the late 1970s suggested that selection involving groups was possible. Early group selection models assumed that genes acted independently, for example a gene that coded for cooperation or altruism. Genetically based reproduction of individuals implies that, in group formation, the altruistic genes would need a way to act for the benefit of members in the group to enhance the fitness of many individuals with the same gene. But it is expected from this model that individuals of the same species would compete against each other for the same resources. This would put cooperating individuals at a disadvantage, making genes for cooperation likely to be eliminated. Group selection on the level of the species is flawed because it is difficult to see how selective pressures would be applied to competing/non-cooperating individuals.
Kin selection between related individuals is accepted as an explanation of altruistic behavior. R.A. Fisher in 1930 and J.B.S. Haldane in 1932 set out the mathematics of kin selection, with Haldane famously joking that he would willingly die for two brothers or eight cousins. In this model, genetically related individuals cooperate because survival advantages to one individual also benefit kin who share some fraction of the same genes, giving a mechanism for favoring genetic selection.
Inclusive fitness theory, first proposed by W. D. Hamilton in the early 1960s, gives a selection criterion for evolution of social traits when social behavior is costly to an individual organism's survival and reproduction. The criterion is that the reproductive benefit to relatives who carry the social trait, multiplied by their relatedness (the probability that they share the altruistic trait) exceeds the cost to the individual. Inclusive fitness theory is a general treatment of the statistical probabilities of social traits accruing to any other organisms likely to propagate a copy of the same social trait. Kin selection theory treats the narrower but simpler case of the benefits to close genetic relatives (or what biologists call 'kin') who may also carry and propagate the trait. A significant group of biologists support inclusive fitness as the explanation for social behavior in a wide range of species, as supported by experimental data. An article was published in Nature with over a hundred coauthors.
One of the questions about kin selection is the requirement that individuals must know if other individuals are related to them, or kin recognition. Any altruistic act has to preserve similar genes. One argument given by Hamilton is that many individuals operate in "viscous" conditions, so that they live in physical proximity to relatives. Under these conditions, they can act altruistically to any other individual, and it is likely that the other individual will be related. This population structure builds a continuum between individual selection, kin selection, kin group selection and group selection without a clear boundary for each level. However, early theoretical models by D.S. Wilson et al. and Taylor showed that pure population viscosity cannot lead to cooperation and altruism. This is because any benefit generated by kin cooperation is exactly cancelled out by kin competition; additional offspring from cooperation are eliminated by local competition. Mitteldorf and D. S. Wilson later showed that if the population is allowed to fluctuate, then local populations can temporarily store the benefit of local cooperation and promote the evolution of cooperation and altruism. By assuming individual differences in adaptations, Yang further showed that the benefit of local altruism can be stored in the form of offspring quality and thus promote the evolution of altruism even if the population does not fluctuate. This is because local competition among more individuals resulting from local altruism increases the average local fitness of the individuals that survive.
Another explanation for the recognition of genes for altruism is that a single trait, group reciprocal kindness, is capable of explaining the vast majority of altruism that is generally accepted as "good" by modern societies. The phenotype of altruism relies on recognition of the altruistic behavior by itself. The trait of kindness will be recognized by sufficiently intelligent and undeceived organisms in other individuals with the same trait. Moreover, the existence of such a trait predicts a tendency for kindness to unrelated organisms that are apparently kind, even if the organisms are of another species. The gene need not be exactly the same, so long as the effect or phenotype is similar. Multiple versions of the gene—or even meme—would have virtually the same effect. This explanation was given by Richard Dawkins as an analogy of a man with a green beard. Green-bearded men are imagined as tending to cooperate with each other simply by seeing a green beard, where the green beard trait is incidentally linked to the reciprocal kindness trait.
Multilevel selection theory
Kin selection or inclusive fitness is accepted as an explanation for cooperative behavior in many species, but the scientist David Sloan Wilson argues that human behavior is difficult to explain with only this approach. In particular, he claims it does not seem to explain the rapid rise of human civilization. Wilson has argued that other factors must also be considered in evolution. Wilson and others have continued to develop group selection models.
Early group selection models were flawed because they assumed that genes acted independently; but genetically based interactions among individuals are ubiquitous in group formation because genes must cooperate for the benefit of association in groups to enhance the fitness of group members. Additionally, group selection on the level of the species is flawed because it is difficult to see how selective pressures would be applied; selection in social species of groups against other groups, rather than the species entire, seems to be the level at which selective pressures are plausible. On the other hand, kin selection is accepted as an explanation of altruistic behavior. Some biologists argue that kin selection and multilevel selection are both needed to "obtain a complete understanding of the evolution of a social behavior system".
In 1994 David Sloan Wilson and Elliott Sober argued that the case against group selection had been overstated. They considered whether groups can have functional organization in the same way as individuals, and consequently whether groups can be "vehicles" for selection. They do not posit evolution on the level of the species, but selective pressures that winnow out small groups within a species, e.g. groups of social insects or primates. Groups that cooperate better might survive and reproduce more than those that did not. Resurrected in this way, Wilson & Sober's new group selection is called multilevel selection theory.
In 2010, Martin Nowak, C. E. Tarnita and E. O. Wilson argued for multi-level selection, including group selection, to correct what they saw as deficits in the explanatory power of inclusive fitness. A response from 137 other evolutionary biologists argued "that their arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory and a misrepresentation of the empirical literature".
Wilson compared the layers of competition and evolution to nested sets of Russian matryoshka dolls. The lowest level is the genes, next come the cells, then the organism level and finally the groups. The different levels function cohesively to maximize fitness, or reproductive success. The theory asserts that selection for the group level, involving competition between groups, must outweigh the individual level, involving individuals competing within a group, for a group-benefiting trait to spread.
Multilevel selection theory focuses on the phenotype because it looks at the levels that selection directly acts upon. For humans, social norms can be argued to reduce individual level variation and competition, thus shifting selection to the group level. The assumption is that variation between different groups is larger than variation within groups. Competition and selection can operate at all levels regardless of scale. Wilson wrote, "At all scales, there must be mechanisms that coordinate the right kinds of action and prevent disruptive forms of self-serving behavior at lower levels of social organization." E. O. Wilson summarized, "In a group, selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals. But, groups of altruistic individuals beat groups of selfish individuals."
Wilson ties the multilevel selection theory regarding humans to another theory, gene–culture coevolution, by acknowledging that culture seems to characterize a group-level mechanism for human groups to adapt to environmental changes.
MLS theory can be used to evaluate the balance between group selection and individual selection in specific cases. An experiment by William Muir compared egg productivity in hens, showing that a hyper-aggressive strain had been produced through individual selection, leading to many fatal attacks after only six generations; by implication, it could be argued that group selection must have been acting to prevent this in real life. Group selection has most often been postulated in humans and, notably, eusocial Hymenoptera that make cooperation a driving force of their adaptations over time and have a unique system of inheritance involving haplodiploidy that allows the colony to function as an individual while only the queen reproduces.
Wilson and Sober's work revived interest in multilevel selection. In a 2005 article, E. O. Wilson argued that kin selection could no longer be thought of as underlying the evolution of extreme sociality, for two reasons. First, he suggested, the argument that haplodiploid inheritance (as in the Hymenoptera) creates a strong selection pressure towards nonreproductive castes is mathematically flawed. Second, eusociality no longer seems to be confined to the hymenopterans; increasing numbers of highly social taxa have been found in the years since Wilson's foundational text Sociobiology: A New Synthesis was published in 1975. These including a variety of insect species, as well as two rodent species (the naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole rat). Wilson suggests the equation for Hamilton's rule:
rb > c
(where b represents the benefit to the recipient of altruism, c the cost to the altruist, and r their degree of relatedness) should be replaced by the more general equation
rbk + be > c
in which bk is the benefit to kin (b in the original equation) and be is the benefit accruing to the group as a whole. He then argues that, in the present state of the evidence in relation to social insects, it appears that be>rbk, so that altruism needs to be explained in terms of selection at the colony level rather than at the kin level. However, kin selection and group selection are not distinct processes, and the effects of multi-level selection are already accounted for in Hamilton's rule, rb>c, provided that an expanded definition of r, not requiring Hamilton's original assumption of direct genealogical relatedness, is used, as proposed by E. O. Wilson himself.
Spatial populations of predators and prey show restraint of reproduction at equilibrium, both individually and through social communication, as originally proposed by Wynne-Edwards. While these spatial populations do not have well-defined groups for group selection, the local spatial interactions of organisms in transient groups are sufficient to lead to a kind of multi-level selection. There is however as yet no evidence that these processes operate in the situations where Wynne-Edwards posited them.
Rauch et al.'s analysis of host-parasite evolution is broadly hostile to group selection. Specifically, the parasites do not individually moderate their transmission; rather, more transmissible variants – which have a short-term but unsustainable advantage – arise, increase, and go extinct.
Applications
Differing evolutionarily stable strategies
The problem with group selection is that for a whole group to get a single trait, it must spread through the whole group first by regular evolution. But, as J. L. Mackie suggested, when there are many different groups, each with a different evolutionarily stable strategy, there is selection between the different strategies, since some are worse than others. For example, a group where altruism was universal would indeed outcompete a group where every creature acted in its own interest, so group selection might seem feasible; but a mixed group of altruists and non-altruists would be vulnerable to cheating by non-altruists within the group, so group selection would collapse.
Implications in population biology
Social behaviors such as altruism and group relationships can impact many aspects of population dynamics, such as intraspecific competition and interspecific interactions. In 1871, Darwin argued that group selection occurs when the benefits of cooperation or altruism between subpopulations are greater than the individual benefits of egotism within a subpopulation. This supports the idea of multilevel selection, but kinship also plays an integral role because many subpopulations are composed of closely related individuals. An example of this can be found in lions, which are simultaneously cooperative and territorial. Within a pride, males protect the pride from outside males, and females, who are commonly sisters, communally raise cubs and hunt. However, this cooperation seems to be density dependent. When resources are limited, group selection favors prides that work together to hunt. When prey is abundant, cooperation is no longer beneficial enough to outweigh the disadvantages of altruism, and hunting is no longer cooperative.
Interactions between different species can also be affected by multilevel selection. Predator-prey relationships can also be affected. Individuals of certain monkey species howl to warn the group of the approach of a predator. The evolution of this trait benefits the group by providing protection, but could be disadvantageous to the individual if the howling draws the predator's attention to them. By affecting these interspecific interactions, multilevel and kinship selection can change the population dynamics of an ecosystem.
Multilevel selection attempts to explain the evolution of altruistic behavior in terms of quantitative genetics. Increased frequency or fixation of altruistic alleles can be accomplished through kin selection, in which individuals engage in altruistic behavior to promote the fitness of genetically similar individuals such as siblings. However, this can lead to inbreeding depression, which typically lowers the overall fitness of a population. However, if altruism were to be selected for through an emphasis on benefit to the group as opposed to relatedness and benefit to kin, both the altruistic trait and genetic diversity could be preserved. However, relatedness should still remain a key consideration in studies of multilevel selection. Experimentally imposed multilevel selection on Japanese quail was more effective by an order of magnitude on closely related kin groups than on randomized groups of individuals.
Gene-culture coevolution in humans
Gene-culture coevolution (also called dual inheritance theory) is a modern hypothesis (applicable mostly to humans) that combines evolutionary biology and modern sociobiology to indicate group selection. It is believed that this approach of combining genetic influence with cultural influence over several generations is not present in the other hypotheses such as reciprocal altruism and kin selection, making gene-culture evolution one of the strongest realistic hypotheses for group selection. Fehr provides evidence of group selection taking place in humans presently with experimentation through logic games such as prisoner's dilemma, the type of thinking that humans have developed many generations ago.
Gene-culture coevolution allows humans to develop highly distinct adaptations to the local pressures and environments more quickly than with genetic evolution alone. Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson, two strong proponents of cultural evolution, postulate that the act of social learning, or learning in a group as done in group selection, allows human populations to accrue information over many generations. This leads to cultural evolution of behaviors and technology alongside genetic evolution. Boyd and Richerson believe that the ability to collaborate evolved during the Middle Pleistocene, a million years ago, in response to a rapidly changing climate.
In 2003, the behavioral scientist Herbert Gintis examined cultural evolution statistically, offering evidence that societies that promote pro-social norms have higher survival rates than societies that do not. Gintis wrote that genetic and cultural evolution can work together. Genes transfer information in DNA, and cultures transfer information encoded in brains, artifacts, or documents. Language, tools, lethal weapons, fire, cooking, etc., have a long-term effect on genetics. For example, cooking led to a reduction of size of the human gut, since less digestion is needed for cooked food. Language led to a change in the human larynx and an increase in brain size. Projectile weapons led to changes in human hands and shoulders, such that humans are much better at throwing objects than the closest human relative, the chimpanzee.
In 2015, William Yaworsky and colleagues surveyed the opinions of anthropologists on group selection, finding that these varied with the gender and politics of the social scientists concerned.
In 2019, Howard Rachlin and colleagues proposed group selection of behavioural patterns, such as learned altruism, during ontogeny parallel to group selection during phylogeny.
Criticism
The vast majority of behavioural biologists have not been convinced by renewed attempts to revisit group selection as a plausible mechanism of evolution.
The use of the Price equation to support group selection was challenged by van Veelen in 2012, arguing that it is based on invalid mathematical assumptions.
Advocates of the gene-centered view of evolution such as Dawkins and Daniel Dennett remain unconvinced about group selection. Dawkins suggests that group selection fails to make an appropriate distinction between replicators and vehicles. The evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne summarizes the arguments in The New York Review of Books in non-technical terms as follows:
The psychologist Steven Pinker states that "group selection has no useful role to play in psychology or social science", since in these domains it "is not a precise implementation of the theory of natural selection, as it is, say, in genetic algorithms or artificial life simulations. Instead [in psychology] it is a loose metaphor, more like the struggle among kinds of tires or telephones."
References
Further reading
External links
Lloyd, Elisabeth, "Units and Levels of Selection." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (Fall 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
The Controversy of the Group Selection Theory – a review from the "Science Creative Quarterly" (a blog)
Binghamton: D.S. Wilson
Selection
Population genetics
Extended evolutionary synthesis |
426311 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s%20Park%20F.C. | Queen's Park F.C. | Queen's Park Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish football pyramid. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founded in 1867, and is the 10th oldest in the world.
The club was fully amateur for the first 152 years and has played in white and black hoops as shirt colours for the vast majority of its existence.
For many years, the club was the only fully amateur club in the Scottish professional leagues, until its membership voted to end that status in November 2019. The club's amateur status was reflected by its Latin motto, 'Ludere Causa Ludendi' – 'To Play for the Sake of Playing'.
Queen's Park is also the only Scottish football club to have played in the FA Cup Final, achieving this feat in both 1884 and 1885. With 10 titles, Queen's Park has won the Scottish Cup the third most times of any club, behind only Celtic and Rangers, although their last such win was in 1893. Having also been the first winners, Queen's were the record holders of the Scottish Cup for 51 years until Celtic claimed the trophy for the 11th time in 1925.
For over a century, the club's home was Hampden Park in south-east Glasgow, a Category 4 stadium which is also the home of the Scotland national team. The club are due to move into their reserve and training ground adjacent to the main stadium, Lesser Hampden, with plans to redevelop it into a 1,774-seat stadium.
History
Beginnings (1867–68)
The Queen's Park Football Club was founded on 9 July 1867 with the words: "Tonight at half past eight o'clock a number of gentlemen met at No. 3 Eglinton Terrace for the purpose of forming a football club."
Gentlemen from the local YMCA took part in football matches in the local Glasgow area which gave the club its name. During the inaugural meeting, debate raged over the club's name. Proposals included: 'The Celts'; 'The Northern', and 'Morayshire'. Perhaps such choice of names suggest a Highland influence within the new club. After much deliberation, 'Queen's Park' was adopted and carried, but only by a majority of one vote. Although Queen's was not the first club in Britain, that honour going to Edinburgh's Foot-Ball Club, formed in 1824, they can certainly claim to be the first Association club in Scotland. Opposition first came in the form of a now defunct Glaswegian side called Thistle F.C. and Queen's won 2–0 on 1 August 1868.
Early domination (1868–1900)
Within the context of the emerging Association game in Scotland, the historian and broadcaster Bob Crampsey compared the role of the Queen's Park club with that of the Marylebone Cricket Club in cricket and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in golf. The Glasgow club's control of the early playing rules in Scotland, early management of the Scotland national team, and instigation of the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Challenge Cup provide evidence of its status as the ‘Premier’ or ‘Senior’ club of Scotland.
On 30 November 1872, Scotland faced England at the West of Scotland Cricket Club ground at Hamilton Crescent. For the one and only time all eleven Scots players were from Queen's Park and they wore blue jerseys, as those were the current colours of Queen's. 4,000 spectators watched Scotland play with a 2–2–6 formation and England with a 1–1–8 line-up.
Queen's Park formed the Scottish Football Association on 13 March 1873, with eight other clubs. The match against Dumbreck on 25 October was the first match to be played at the first Hampden Park. It was also the first match which saw Queen's Park players wear their custom black and white hooped jerseys, which lent the club the nickname of 'The Spiders'. David Wotherspoon, a Queen's Park player and committee member, has been credited with the introduction of the black and white hoops. Most importantly, it was the first Scottish Cup tie and Scottish competitive match for the club and Queen's won 7–0. In the final, Queen's defeated Clydesdale 2–0 at Hampden.
Success in the Scottish Cup followed in the next two years with final victories over Renton and Third Lanark. In drawing 2–2 with Clydesdale in the 1875 semi-final, Queen's conceded their first ever goals. Defeat for the club was first experienced with a 2–1 defeat to Vale of Leven in the 5th round in December 1876. Third Lanark and Rangers eliminated the Spiders before Queen's reclaimed the cup in 1880 with a win over Thornliebank. Dumbarton were beaten in the final in successive years. In 1881, Queen's had to beat them twice after Dumbarton successfully appealed that the crowd at Kinning Park had encroached following a 2–1 defeat. Dumbarton got revenge in 1883 but Queen's won again in 1884 without even having to play the final after Vale of Leven refused to play on the date stipulated by the SFA.
In the early days of England's FA Cup, Scottish clubs were often invited to compete. As a result, Queen's Park twice finished runners-up in this competition, in 1884, when they lost 2–1 to Blackburn Rovers and in 1885, when they lost 2–0, again to Blackburn Rovers. 1886–87 was the last time that they entered the FA Cup competition.
Afterwards, the domination in the competition that the club had enjoyed began to lessen as more teams strengthened. The trophy was reclaimed in 1890 with a replay win over Vale of Leven and the club's 10th and final success came in 1893 with a 2–1 win over Celtic at Ibrox. In the same year, professional football was acknowledged by the SFA. Three years previously, the Scottish Football League had been formed but Queen's declined to join, stressing their amateur principles Queen's Park joined the Scottish League in 1900 and took part in the 1900–01 season (being added directly to the top division rather than the lower division).
Nevertheless, the Queen's players of the time were held in high regard throughout the country and some are still remembered today. Charles Campbell won eight Scottish Cup winners medals with Queen's and earned 13 Scotland caps. Wattie Arnott was a near ever-present in the successful teams of the 1880s. Robert Smyth McColl scored a remarkable number of goals for Queen's and soon moved on to Newcastle United and Rangers. In an unprecedented move, he returned to Queen's and scored six goals in his final match. Andrew Watson was the first black football player in Britain. He won three Scotland caps and starred in one of the club's earliest sides. J.A.H Catton, a notable sports editor, named Watson in his all-time Scotland team in 1926.
Pioneers of the modern passing game
Queen's Park are accredited with introducing a collective and 'scientific' form of team based passing which would become known as 'combination' football. Although rudimentary forms of passing existed prior to 1872, and Queen's themselves appear to have indulged in this, the combination game as a systematic form of passing was being played by the club at the time of the first official international match between Scotland and England. This changed the nature of the Association game as the culture in London at this time was largely one of dribbling and 'backing up'. Scotland's promotion of the combination game would ultimately lead to the introduction of professionalism in England in 1885, due to the large importation of Scottish players (known as Scotch Professors) into the midlands and the north of England.
During the late 1860s and early 1870s the club practised regularly and experimented with playing styles. According to Richard Robinson, who wrote the club's official 50th anniversary history,Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays were fixed upon as the nights for play...Whoever selected the teams on practising nights had the power to place their men on the field, or appoint substitutes, and the players shall be bound to adhere to their instructions.Robinson also explains the means by which the passing game was developed,The club... never neglected practice, and this practice was indulged in systematically. Sides were arranged— North v. South of Eglinton Toll, Reds v. Blues, Light v. Heavy Weights, President's Team v. J. Smith's Team (a series of six games), and Clerks v. The Field, etc. In these games the dribbling and passing, which raised the Scottish game to the level of a fine art, were developed. Dribbling was a characteristic of English play, and it was not until very much later that the Southerners came to see that the principles laid down in the Queen's Park method of transference of the ball, accompanied by strong backing up, were those which got the most out of a team. Combination was the chief characteristic of the Queen's Park play.Queen's were certainly playing a passing game by the time of their FA Cup tie (March 1872) with Wanderers, the most successful English side of the 1870s. Of the Queen's Park team, The Field magazine notes that, "They dribble little and usually convey the ball by a series of long kicks, combined with a judicious plan of passing on." It is the first official international match, played on 30 November 1872, where the first reference is given to their style as a culture of passing. The Graphic, a London-based weekly illustrated newspaper, provides the following insight into the game,Individual skill was generally on England's side, the dribbling of Kirke-Smith, Brockbank and Ottaway being very fine, while Welch, half-back, showed himself a safe and good kick. The Southrons, however, did not play to each other so well as their opponents, who seem to be adepts in passing the ball.The Glasgow Herald report on the game makes the following observation of the differences between both sides,
<blockquote>The Englishmen had all the advantage of weight, their average being about two stones heavier than the Scotchmen and they had also the advantage in pace. The strong point of the home club was that they played excellently well together.</blockquote>
The newspaper article which features Queen's Park's 5–0 victory over Wanderers in October 1875 (a match in which C.W. Alcock and the Anglo Scot A.F. Kinnaird played in for Wanderers) gives a concise description of the style of combination adopted by the club, particularly in the section which describes the second and third goals,
After a “hand” within thirty yards of the Wanderers’ lines, Weir got possession, and, successfully charging the English forwards, passed it on to Herriot, who in turn placed it to Campbell, who by a well judged kick dropped the ball just below the bar, thus securing another goal for the Scotsmen in sixteen minutes. No sooner had the English captain started the ball than Herriot, Weir and Lawrie, by neat passing sent it back, and after the backs and half backs had shown good play, the two M'Neills brought it along the left side, and passing it to Lawrie, the latter made a shot for goal, but the ball passed just outside the goal post. The play was now in the centre, the Queen’s Park men dribbling and passing, while their opponents indulged chiefly in heavy kicking. In 33 minutes from the commencement of operations H. M'Neill, obtaining possession, kicked the ball to Herriot, who unselfishly serving it to Lawrie, the latter again made a shot for goal, this time with more success, as the ball, passing above the goalkeeper’s head, went clean through thus obtaining the third goal.
Queen's Park in the Football Association
In 1870 Queen's joined The Football Association which is based in London – the only football governing body in existence at the time. Their main attraction was to the new Challenge Cup and contributions were made to pay for the trophy. Queen's reached the first semi-finals in 1872 but had to withdraw due to lack of funds after drawing their first competitive match 0–0 with The Wanderers at the Kennington Oval. Financial constraints meant that Queen's played little part in the competition until 1884 where they stormed to the final before losing 2–1 to Blackburn Rovers at The Oval. Another loss to Blackburn the following year was the closest Queen's got to winning the English trophy. In 1887, Scottish clubs were banned from entering by the Scottish Football Association. Although the solid crossbar first appeared in the Sheffield Rules code, Queen's Park was responsible for its use in Association football when the club successfully put forward a motion for its introduction at a meeting of the Football Association in 1875.
Queen's Park were invited to play in the annual Sheriff of London Charity Shield, a precursor of the FA Community Shield in 1899 which pitted the best amateur and professional sides of the season against each other. They would play the Football League First Division champions Aston Villa. The amateur side was usually represented by Corinthian, however Queen's Park had defeated them 4–1 at Hampden Park earlier that year and the trophy committee decided that they deserved the honour. The match ended in a scoreless draw which saw the sides share the honour, holding the trophy for six months each.
Queen's in the Scottish League top flight (1900–58)
However, as the 20th century drew nearer, Queen's found themselves playing in only cup competitions and the Glasgow League. A remarkable run to the 1900 Scottish Cup Final saw Queen's only narrowly lose 4–3 to Celtic. The previous 25 years had Queen's achieve great success in cup competition but after ten years of resistance they finally took the big step to the Scottish League, first entering Division One in 1900–01.
Queen's struggled with top-flight football and the professional sides which surrounded them. An early high-point was a 1–0 victory over Celtic at the opening of the new Hampden Park in 1903. By previous standards, however, unspectacular seasons followed and the club even finished in the relegation zone on five occasions. Queen's were spared by vote until 1922 when, after a few solid seasons, the team were eventually relegated in second-last place. Queen's bounced back immediately, winning Division Two at the first attempt. In a league season of 24 victories and only five defeats, the Spiders even managed a 4–3 win over Celtic in the Glasgow Cup, with James McAlpine scoring a hat-trick. McAlpine's fine play inspired Queen's to their greatest ever placing in the Scottish League, when they finished 5th in Division One in 1929. He would go on to set a goal scoring record for the club and his appearance record was only beaten by Ross Caven at the turn of the next century. In 1928, the same side also came closest to any Spiders team since 1900 to winning the Scottish Cup but lost 2–1 to Celtic in the semi-finals.
World War II helped Queen's stay in the top league a little longer as at the end of 1938–39 season, the club were relegated. Six seasons in the Southern League followed, and it gave youth and many new players a chance to develop at Hampden as the players of before left to serve their country. Bobby Brown was one such player who started at Queen's in 1939 but left in 1941 to serve as a pilot. When he returned at the end of the War, he found his goalkeeping position occupied by a teenage Ronnie Simpson who had made his debut at the age of 14. Although obviously a bleak time for everyone, this period gave many footballers at Queen's Park an opportunity to play at the highest level under little pressure.
When War ended, Queen's joined the Scottish 'A' Division, where they stayed for three seasons, before relegation in 1948. The next few years were erratic but gradually a great team came together. Fourth place in 1954–55 was followed by first in 1955–56. The side was composed of players familiar with each other and the success was a reward for such longstanding legends as Charlie Church and Bert Cromar. Cromar played in every league game, as did goalkeeper Frank Crampsey (brother of journalist and Queen's fan Bob), who kept 17 clean sheets. Queen's only lasted two seasons in the top Division and were relegated in 1958, having only won four league games all season, and losing heavily on many occasions.
League reconstruction (1958–1994)
With stalwarts such as Cromar, Hastie and Omand all having moved on, the mid-1960s saw a new side which promised much. Future Scotland Internationalist Bobby Clark played in goal in 1964–65 season as Queen's finished fourth. That finish was again achieved in 1968, with Queen's winning 20 games (eight in succession towards the end) and scoring 76 goals. It was a formidable side which featured established Spiders Malky Mackay Sr. (the father of Malky Mackay), Peter Buchanan and Eddie Hunter. Ultimately, no success was gained, however, and as that side splintered, the club toiled until the mid-70s.
The 1975–76 season saw the reconstruction of the Scottish Leagues and Queen's entered the Second Division (third tier). Coinciding with this, Queen's appointed a head coach for the first time. Davie McParland led Queen's to 4th place but left at the end of the season to join Partick Thistle. Joe Gilroy was his successor and Queen's finished 5th, 7th and 13th under his guidance before his departure at the end of 1978–79.
Former player Eddie Hunter took charge and within two seasons, Queen's had been promoted as 1980–81 champions. The talent in the side was obvious. Derek Atkins was an ever-present in goal, John McGregor a high scoring defender and Jimmy Nicholson and Gerry McCoy netted a combined tally of 28 goals. Much of the side was inexperienced, with full-back Bobby Dickson one of the few who had been a mainstay in previous years. After a highly respectable finish of 8th the following season, Queen's finished bottom and were relegated in 1983. The main reason for this was the loss of some of the best players who had won promotion. In particular, John McGregor and Alan Irvine departed, leaving for Liverpool and Everton respectively. During the same season, Queen's lost 2–1 to Rangers at Hampden in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.
Recovery took a while but eventually a good side featuring Stevie Ross, Kenny Brannigan, Ian McCall and Ross Caven finished 4th in 1985–86 – winning three more games than the Championship side of 1981. Queen's lost narrowly by 2–1 at Celtic Park in the Fourth round of the Scottish Cup in the February 1986.
1987–88 was a further improvement but 21 victories was only enough for 3rd place. 1990–91 was another season of frustration as Queen's squandered a chance for promotion after having been in contention for so long and finished 5th, only four points behind 2nd place Montrose.
Modern history (1994–2019)
Eddie Hunter
Eddie Hunter was fired in December 1994 as Queen's failed to recapture the achievements of the previous decade. Former Alloa Athletic manager Hugh McCann was appointed as his successor but after an 8th-place finish in the new 10 team Third Division, he left the club. Graeme Elder took over as player/coach but the team continued their disappointing run and he eventually resigned. A happier memory from this time was the 5–1 demolition of Albion Rovers at Hampden in August 1997, the opposition finishing the match with seven players. There was also an incredible 5–5 draw at East Fife in Hunter's last season, with fan favourite Brian McPhee scoring four goals for Queen's.
John McCormack
The club's constitution was changed prior to the appointment of the next manager, which meant that Queen's could sign former professionals provided they were not paid by the club. Former Dundee manager John McCormack was unveiled in July 1998 as the new head coach. Like Eddie Hunter, McCormack succeeded in winning the league after just two seasons. The new boss used the new legislation to great effect and even persuaded the club to allow the loaning of professionals. The ex-pros and the committed amateurs combined to give Queen's a superb start to the league season and it was November before defeat was felt. A 4–0 loss to challengers Forfar Athletic towards the end of the season was quickly forgotten as Queen's won their last five matches, clinching the Championship at Cowdenbeath on the final day of 1999–2000. The addition of ex-pros such as Neil Inglis, Paul Martin, Graham Connell and Johnny Whelan helped. The late loan signing of Paul Walker from Stranraer also proved to be very shrewd as he scored two winning goals in the final run-in. After nearly 20 years of service to the club, Ross Caven won a Championship medal and there was also success for the hard-working Danny Ferry who had been with Queen's through the lean spells of the 90s.
Having won promotion, the Spiders only lasted one season in the Second Division. A good start was made but after the New Year results became increasingly hard to come by and Queen's were relegated on the last day on goal difference. The following season featured a new and largely inexperienced team and Queen's did not win a match until November. There was a period of revival for the team and some great results were achieved, but the poor start meant that Queen's finished bottom of the Third Division, and thus, bottom of Scottish football, for the first time in their history. The start to the following season was unspectacular but the team managed to get to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup before losing 4–3 to Brechin City at Hampden. Months before, McCormack had been made part-time by Queen's. When Morton made an approach for his services in November 2002, he left to take the full-time position.
Kenny Brannigan
After a lengthy wait, former player Kenny Brannigan was announced as the new manager of Queen's Park in January 2003. His short term at the club was unsuccessful and only a couple of memorable results were achieved, notably a 2–1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the League Cup. A reasonable start to season 2004–05 came to a halt when Brannigan physically confronted a player and a supporter during a match against Elgin City. Queen's lost the match 1–0 and Brannigan lost his job.
Billy Stark
Billy Stark was installed as Kenny Brannigan's replacement in August 2004 and the season ended with Queen's in 4th place. Inconsistency prevented Queen's from reaching the first ever play-offs the following season but in 2006–07 the Spiders were promoted. Not unlike the successful side of 1981, there were few veterans, and the team mostly consisted of young players with little or no experience of football away from Queen's Park. In August 2006, Queen's defeated SPL side Aberdeen in a League Cup penalty shoot-out to record one of their greatest ever victories. League form dramatically improved after the New Year as only one home match was lost in the second half of the season. Queen's went on a run of eight consecutive victories, during which goalkeeper David Crawford set a new club record by keeping seven successive shut-outs. Queen's finished 3rd in the league, acquiring only one less point than the side which had won the Championship 7 years earlier. Promotion was achieved via the play-offs. Queen's defeated Arbroath in the semi-finals 4–1 on aggregate and then East Fife in the final 7–2 on aggregate. Richard Sinclair and Frankie Carroll became the first players in the club's history to win promotion on more than one occasion. Queen's Park's cavalier playing style was one which was lauded by coaches from opposition sides during the season and they were acknowledged as being well worthy of their promotion.
Combining the end of the promotion season and the start of 2007–08, Queen's managed 11 consecutive victories (8 league wins) in all competition. Although Billy Stark had signed a new contract in the summer of 2007, he left midway through the following season to take the managerial post of the Scotland under-21s.
Gardner Speirs
Stark was replaced in February 2008 by Gardner Speirs who secured safety from relegation and an 8th-place finish. Queen's lost many talented players in the summer of 2008 to paying clubs but only narrowly lost 2–1 to Celtic in the Scottish Cup fifth round in February 2009.
After finishing 9th in the Second Division in season 2008–09 and then being defeated in the end-of-season play-off semi-finals (losing 1–2 on aggregate v Stenhousemuir), Queen's Park were relegated to the Third Division. In January 2010, David Murray scored the Spiders 3000th competitive home goal.
Despite poor starts in their last two Third Division campaigns, on both occasions Queen's Park did enough to qualify for the end of season playoffs. They lost at the semi-final stage in both ties, firstly to Arbroath and then to Albion Rovers. In season 2012–13, faced with greater public scrutiny due to Rangers being accepted into the bottom tier, Queen's had their best season in years, finishing third and playing attractive attacking football. They failed to achieve promotion in the play-offs and the side, which contained players such as Andrew Robertson, Lawrence Shankland, Aidan Connolly, Paul McGinn and Blair Spittal was broken up in the close season.
Gus MacPherson
After finishing fourth in the 2015–16 league season, they were promoted after beating Clyde in the playoff final. Queen's Park celebrated their 150th birthday on 9 July 2017, with events held to mark the occasion. Following a ninth-place finish in 2017–18, they were relegated to Scottish League Two at the end of the season after a 3–2 aggregate loss to Stenhousemuir in the play-offs.
Mark Roberts
In the 2018–19 Scottish Challenge Cup, the Spiders recorded a 4–2 penalty win over Champions League regulars, The New Saints of the Welsh Premier League in the Second Round of the competition.
It was announced on 31 December 2019 that Roberts had left Queen's Park by mutual consent.
Turning professional and back to back promotions (2019–present)
A major change to the club's constitution was proposed in 2019, with its members asked if they wished to end amateur status and to allow the hiring of professional players. Part of the motivation for the proposal was that several good players had been lost without the club receiving any compensation due to its status. The club's members voted to move to professional status following a motion on 14 November 2019. 91% of QPFC members elected to go pro, enabling the club to sign players to longer-term contracts and collect transfer fees.
Former Dundee United and Falkirk coach Ray McKinnon was appointed as the club's new head coach in January 2020. He became the first manager of Queen's Park since the 1980s to secure two wins in his first two matches in charge, before the league two season was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the summer of 2020, Queen's Park signed many professional players from higher placed Scottish teams including Grant Gillespie, Jai Quitongo and former Dundee United striker Simon Murray to name but a few and the team went on to win the 2020–21 Scottish League Two title and gain promotion to League One.
On 12 January 2021, former Motherwell and Hibernian CEO Leeann Dempster was appointed as the club's new chief executive.
Ray McKinnon would leave his role as head coach at the end of the 2020–21 season.
Owen Coyle was announced as the new manager of Queen's Park in March 2022.
Queen's Park were promoted to the 2022–23 Scottish Championship after beating Dunfermline Athletic 1–0 in the play–off semi-final and then beating Airdrieonians 3–2 in the final of the Championship play-off, thus securing back to back promotions from the fourth to the second tier of Scottish football.
In their first season back in the second tier, Queen's narrowly missed out on automatic promotion to the Scottish Premiership and were beaten in the Premiership play-offs by city rivals Partick Thistle. Owen Coyle announced he would be stepping down from his role shortly thereafter.
In June 2023, in what was hailed as an ambitious move by the club, Queen's Park announced that former Ajax and Anderlecht coach Robin Veldman had been appointed as their new head coach.
Stadium
When Queen's Park was formed in 1867, the club initially played on the Queen's Park Recreation Ground at Crosshill, from where they took their name. In 1873 they moved to their first enclosed ground, naming it Hampden Park after a nearby street, Hampden Terrace. A grandstand and pavilion were erected over the next few years and the ground became a regular venue for international matches and cup finals, but in 1883 the club were forced to vacate the site to make way for the construction of the Cathcart Circle railway. After a year playing at Clydesdale Cricket Club's Titwood ground, a second Hampden was opened in October 1884. Whilst the club continued to attract major fixtures, they faced increasing competition as other Glasgow venues such as Celtic Park and Ibrox were developing their facilities more rapidly. To maintain their position in Scottish football, Queen's Park decided to purchase some farmland at Mount Florida, where the third Hampden was opened in 1903. Second Hampden was subsequently taken over by Third Lanark, who renamed it after their previous ground, Cathkin Park.
Hampden celebrated its centenary on 31 October 2003. The stadium also houses the offices of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and the Scottish Football Museum. Despite its large capacity and worldwide profile, it was owned by Queen's Park and leased by the SFA until 2020. It is the national football stadium of Scotland, the venue for all major cup finals and most Scotland international fixtures, and has hosted several UEFA competition finals.
Hampden Park was the largest stadium in the world until 1950, when the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro was completed. Many of the record attendances in football were set at Hampden in the mid-20th century. After the release of the Taylor Report in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, among other football tragedies, it was converted to an all-seater. Hampden's capacity following redevelopment was , although Queen's Park's average league attendance is around 600–700.
With matches in the 2012 Olympic Games having been played there, Hampden was converted into an athletics venue to be the main stadium of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. This meant Queen's Park had to move its home games to the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie for a full year; the cup finals and Scotland matches also went elsewhere. The stadium has hosted other sports including rugby union, American football, motorcycle speedway and boxing, as well as many music concerts.
Lesser Hampden is a smaller ground to the west of the main stadium which Queen's Park traditionally used for training and reserve team or youth matches. In 2018, a deal was made for the SFA to purchase Hampden from Queen's Park upon the expiry of the lease in 2020 for a fee of £5 million, with the club intending to improve Lesser Hampden and play their matches there. In November 2019 the club announced plans to redevelop Lesser Hampden into a 1,774 capacity ground. As of August 2020, ownership of the main stadium had been transferred to the SFA and a new facility was under construction at Lesser Hampden. Queen's Park played their last match at Hampden on 20 March 2021, as their lease on the ground expired at the end of the month. They groundshared at the Falkirk Stadium for the rest of the 2020–21 season, Firhill during 2021–22, and Ochilview in 2022–23. The club released a revised plan in December 2021.
On 8 June 2023, Queen's announced that they entered an agreement with the Scottish Football Association to use Hampden Park as their ground for home matches ahead of the upcoming season.
Current squad
First team
Out on loan
Coaching staff
Rivals
Despite being located midway between Celtic and Rangers, Queen's Park's long resistance to professionalism has resulted in not having competed in the same division as those teams for long periods of time, and thus turning to rivals in lower divisions, such as Partick Thistle, Clyde, Albion Rovers and Third Lanark (the latter being the Spiders' closest neighbours until they went defunct in 1967).
Records
Most capped player:
All at club: Walter Arnott (14 caps)
Including some at club: Alan Morton (31 total / 2 at club)
Played for club, international elsewhere: Andy Robertson (60 caps - ongoing as of 2023)
Most league points in a season:
2 points for a win: 57 (Division Two – season 1922–23)
3 points for a win: 69 (Third Division – season 1999–2000)
Most league points per game in a season:
2 points for a win: 1.5 (Division Two – 1922–23)
3 points for a win: 2.45 (League Two – 2020–21)
Most League goals in a season: Willie Martin (30 goals – season 1937–38)
Record victory: 16–0 vs St Peters (Scottish Cup, 26 August 1885)
Record defeat: 0–9 vs Motherwell (Division One, 29 April 1930)
Record attendance: 95,722 vs Rangers (Scottish Cup, 18 January 1930)
Honours
Major
League
Scottish second tier
Winners (2): 1922–23, 1955–56
Scottish third tier
Winners: 1980–81
Play-off winners: 2021–22
Scottish fourth tier
Winners (2): 1999–00, 2020–21
Play-off winners: 2006–07, 2015–16
Cup
Scottish Cup
Winners (10): 1874, 1875, 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1886, 1890, 1893
Runners-up: 1892, 1900
Sheriff of London Charity Shield
Winners: 1899 (shared)
FA Cup
Runners-up: 1884, 1885
Minor/Reserve
Football World Championship:
Winners (4): 1876, 1881, 1882, 1893
Glasgow Cup
Winners (4): 1889, 1890, 1899, 1946
Runners-up (8): 1896, 1898, 1929, 1932, 1940, 1965, 1985, 2022
Glasgow League
Winners (1): 1896–97
Runners-up 1897–98
Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup
Winners (8): 1877, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1891
Runners-up (20): 1889, 1890, 1894, 1896, 1906, 1908, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1928, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1953, 1955, 1957
Ayr Charity Cup
Winners (5): 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1925
Scottish Amateur Cup
Winners (12): 1912, 1920, 1928, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1963, 1964, 2009
SPFL Reserve League
Winners: 2013–14
SPFL Reserve League Cup
Winners: 2013–14
See also
Club of Pioneers
List of Queen's Park F.C. players (100+ appearances)
List of Queen's Park F.C. international players
References
Sources
External links
Official Website
Unofficial Websites
Spiders Talk – A Forum For Queen's Park Fans
QPFC.com - A Historical Queen's Park FC Website
News sites
BBC Queen's Park
History
History of the Queen's Park Football Club 1867 – 1917
Football clubs in Scotland
Association football clubs established in 1867
Football clubs in Glasgow
1867 establishments in Scotland
Scottish Football League teams
Scottish Cup winners
Scottish Football Association founder members
Scottish Professional Football League teams
Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees
Govanhill and Crosshill |
426333 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny%20Jones%2C%20Baroness%20Jones%20of%20Moulsecoomb | Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb | Jennifer Helen Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, (born 23 December 1949) is a British politician who served as Deputy Mayor of London from 2003 to 2004. A member of the Green Party of England and Wales, she was until September 2019 the sole Green Party member in the House of Lords.
Jones represented the Green Party in the London Assembly from its creation in 2000 until standing down in 2016. She was the Green candidate for Mayor of London in the 2012 election, coming third with 4.48% of first preferences. She served as Deputy Mayor of London from May 2003 to June 2004. She was also the sole Green councillor on Southwark Council from 2006 to 2010.
On the London Assembly, Jones's prime areas of interest were transport, housing and planning, and policing, "with a strong emphasis on sustainability and localism". In addition to her period as deputy mayor, Jones served as Chair of London Food, Green Transport Advisor, and Road Safety Ambassador. It was announced at the beginning of August 2013 that she was to become the first Green life peer in the House of Lords since Tim Beaumont. She was introduced to the House of Lords on 5 November 2013.
Early life and career
Jones mainly grew up on the Moulsecoomb estate in Brighton, with brief periods of time abroad in Lesotho and Seychelles. She attended the co-educational Westlain Grammar School (was [[Falmer High School] now [BACA]]). Before entering politics, Jones worked as a financial controller in London. She studied environmental archaeology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology as a mature student, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1991. She spent about 10 years in the Middle East, on paleobotany, before embarking on a career in politics.
Political career
Jones joined the Green Party (UK) in 1988, which splintered two years later into three parties, one of which is the Green Party of England and Wales. She has held several posts within the party, including the position of chair on the executive from 1995 to 1997.
London Assembly member
In the 2000 election, Jones won a place in the inaugural London Assembly as part of a three-strong Green Group, including Councillor Darren Johnson AM and Victor Anderson, who resigned in March 2003 and was replaced by Noel Lynch for the remainder of the term. The 2004 GLA elections saw the Greens lose the seat held by Lynch, leaving Jones and Johnson as the two remaining members of the Green Group.
In May 2003, the Green Party, after some internal dissent, accepted an offer from the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to nominate a deputy mayor; they chose Jones, who held the post until June 2004. The offer was part of Livingstone's pledge to rotate the position of deputy mayor, although he later declined to offer the post to the Conservatives and had an offer to the Liberal Democrats turned down.
As a London Assembly Member, Jenny Jones promoted the issues of road safety, food, sustainable transport, social justice and the police and civil liberties.
She was a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, and has issued a report on traffic policing. She sat on both the MPA's Strategic and Operational Policing Committee and Civil Liberties Panel. Elsewhere she put forward a motion and has put questions to the Mayor calling for progress on women's issues, specifically in relation to violence against women and support provision.
Jones chaired the Planning and Housing Committee, which issued a report on food growing and planning in London, Cultivating the Capital. It concluded that "London has only three or four days stocks of food should there be any disruption to supply". Jones issued an individual report in January 2010 on affordable housing in London, which determined that "the cost of buying a home [in London] has risen twice as fast as incomes".
She was also a member of the Confirmation Hearings and Transport Committees.
She previously held roles as the Mayor's Road Safety Ambassador and Green Transport advisor, focusing on road safety and cycling in London respectively, as well as being the former Chair of London Food, a mayoral commission which "aims to give Londoners fresher, healthier and more affordable food while reducing the environmental impact of our current food supply". As Chair, Jones was responsible for drawing up the Sustainable Food Strategy for London and chaired the Food Implementation Group overseeing the strategy More recently, she also issued a report on the subject of food security in the capital.
Southwark Councillor
In the 2006 local elections, Jones was elected as a councillor for the South Camberwell ward in the London Borough of Southwark, the Greens' first councillor in Southwark. She came third in the ward, polling 1014 votes. In the 2010 elections she lost her seat, coming fifth with 1282 votes.
Parliamentary candidate
In the 2005 general election, Jones stood in the Dulwich and West Norwood parliamentary constituency, coming fourth with 2,741 votes (6.5%).
In the 2010 general election, she stood in the Camberwell and Peckham parliamentary constituency, coming fourth with 1,361 votes (2.9%).
Mayoral candidate
In March 2011, Jones was selected as the Green Party's candidate for the 2012 London Mayoral election winning 67% of the votes against prominent Green Party members Dr Shahrar Ali and Farid Bakht, stating "At this time of savage cuts to essential services, London needs a Mayor who will create a fairer city and reduce the gap between rich and poor. These are hard times for people who care about quality services, local businesses, and protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities. I promise to make fighting cuts to housing benefit, the NHS and youth services a key part of my campaign to be Mayor."
At the election, she came third with 98,913 first preference votes (4.5%), but lost her deposit due to scoring less than 5% of the vote.
House of Lords
On 20 September 2013, Jones was created a Life Peer taking the title Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, of Moulsecoomb in the County of East Sussex. She was nominated for this appointment by her party after a ballot of members. She was introduced to the House of Lords on 5 November 2013. She became the first Green Party peer since the death of Tim Beaumont, in 2008. Jones was joined in the House of Lords by Natalie Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, in October 2019.
Political views
Climate and ecological crisis
On 17 November 2018, Jones joined the demonstration organised in London by Extinction Rebellion. She told The Guardian that "We are at the point where if we don’t start acting and acting fast we are just going to wipe out our life support system" and that "Basically, conventional politics has failed us – it’s even failed me and I’m part of the system – so people have no other choice".
The City
In her statement of policy for the 2012 election, Jones proposes several ideas to bring "a renaissance of micro, small and medium businesses" in order to spread "wealth to all Londoners", seeking "a financial services sector that works for them". She argues for a system that rewards good long-term investment "instead of trying to make a fast buck" and proposes a good financial example to be Sweden's Handelsbanken which gives "good basic pay and no bonuses." One of her candidacy's most distinct positions is with respect to The City with ambitions to "Abolish the City of London Corporation and replace it with a democratic London borough", "support new institutions like local community banks focused on lending to small businesses and social enterprises" and "Promote building societies and credit unions and lobby the Government to put its remaining nationalised banking assets into one of these models rather than a bank". Elsewhere, Jones has been critical of excessive top-level remuneration, stating, "It's difficult not to feel enraged" by statistics showing the average FTSE CEO earns 565 times the national average.
The European Union and Brexit
Jones is a Eurosceptic and advocated the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Jones cited lack of democracy, waste and cost as her reasons for supporting Brexit. In October 2015, Jones gave her support to Vote Leave, an organisation campaigning to leave the European Union in the referendum in the UK. Jones cited the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and EU policies of austerity as part of a measure to deal with Greece's national debt imposed by the European troika as reasons to support Brexit. She also argued that 'the EU exists on too large a scale for genuine democratic oversight and accountability. The Green party believes that small is beautiful – and the EU is gigantist in its very nature.'
However, on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions on 8 June 2022, Jones argued that Brexit had now been seen to be causing economic and other damage, and that people should keep an open mind about the possibility of rejoining the EU in the future if it becomes clear that it would be better going forward for the people of the UK to do so. She has since stated that 'The only sensible thing now is to cut our losses and rejoin the EU'.
Fair Pay ratio
Jones and the Green Party, alongside others, are deeply critical of the inequalities in the pay between the rich people and poor people. Jones supports calls by the New Economics Foundation to introduce a 10:1 pay ratio, whereby the highest earner in a company or institution should earn no more than 10 times the lowest paid employee. Jones's policy indicates that, if elected, this would be instigated in "City Hall, Transport for London, the fire brigade and the police", and she claims "more equal societies tend to be happier and healthier as well as experiencing lower levels of violent crime." This is a high priority for her candidacy and she states that "this would mean that no City Hall cleaner could earn less than a tenth the Mayor’s salary, and the Commissioner of the Met Police couldn’t earn more than ten times a young recruit."
Transgender issues
Jones's views on transgender issues have sometimes attracted media attention for differing from the Green Party's line. She claims that she supports trans rights, but does not support self-identification of gender and, in March 2018, re-tweeted a statement that linked self-identification to cases of child abuse in Telford. In the same year, Jones claims that her crowdfunder leaflets were defaced with "TERF" at the Green Party conference.
At the 2021 Conference, Jones spoke in favour of Motion E01, which argued that women were discriminated against "solely upon their biological sex". This motion was defeated, following criticism that the motion excluded trans women.
Healthy eating
Jones has argued for big changes to London's current food culture as Chair of London Food during Ken Livingstone's second Mayoral term. During her time as chair, London Food released its ‘Food Strategy’ aiming to "help improve food in London’s schools, hospitals and other public institutions" and "offer people on low income better access to healthy and affordable food". Some of the reports key points were:
"Consideration will be given to the role that the public sector can play in helping to facilitate more producer collaborations and logistics and distribution partnerships, to help smaller producers to compete in the market, and to encourage new entrants."
"Directing better the existing resources available for business support for specialist food manufacturers and processors, particularly on consumer market trends and collaborative working, and particularly for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that reflect London’s diverse communities."
"Promote and expand opportunities for small-scale food production for individuals and communities through gardens, orchards, schools, allotments and parks and open spaces"
"Continue to increase the amount of organic and local food provided through public sector services in London in response to growing consumer demand."
"Research and promote the positive benefits of nutritious food for children."
In 2008, Jones released a report ‘Why London Needs to Grow More Food’ stressing "The Mayor of London has planning and development powers, which could be used to support widespread urban agriculture in London through the commercial and voluntary sectors, community-led social enterprises, and by engaging the unemployed, elderly, and lower skilled groups".
Housing
Jones sees tackling homelessness as a key and achievable target and criticised Johnson's poor record: "This rise in homelessness is unsurprising and depressing, but completely avoidable. One fifth of people became homeless just because their insecure tenancy ended, another fifth because they have had to move out of their parents’ home into the incredibly expensive rental market. With housing benefit cuts now biting deep into people's incomes, this is only going to get worse." Jones proposes to "bring all grants for pan-London homelessness services into the GLA to protect frontline services, and work closely with homelessness organisations to ensure nobody needs to spend a second night out sleeping rough on the street."
In her campaign for mayor, Jones has spoken against the inflationary effects of certain businesses, stating, "we want to change the housing market from a playground for speculative investment to a source of secure, affordable homes". Jones has spoken in favour of community engagement in planning, specifically with regards to housing co-operatives. To help co-operatives develop, she proposes to "establish the London Mutual Housing Company to help communities set-up Community Land Trusts, which will give them control over the design, development and management of permanently affordable homes." In addition to this, she proposes a scheme to build affordable homes and to give communities the means to bring unused buildings back into use. For the Greens fuel poverty is a big issue and "Green London Assembly Members worked to secure the city's largest home insulation programme and demonstrated how it could be funded to reach over a million homes."
Male curfew proposal
On 11 March 2021, following the disappearance of Sarah Everard, Jones proposed that a 6pm curfew for men is put in place. In her opinion this will help to make women feel safer and also reduce discrimination. Jones' proposals received criticism from the Conservative Party leader in the London Assembly Susan Hall, and former leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage. Jones later said that the comment was "not an entirely serious suggestion as I don't have the power to do that" and reiterated that a ban on men leaving their house was not Green Party policy.
Police
Jones was a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority from its creation in 2000 "and has worked on a wide range of policing issues, with a particular focus on road safety, violence against women, civil liberties and neighbourhood policing" until it was disbanded in 2012. She was outspoken about numerous issues including what she called mayor Boris Johnson's demonisation of youth through the use of "baseless" rhetoric on "soaring gang-membership and rising knife-crime", suggesting the mayor created an unhelpful climate of fear. Jones then served as a member of the MPA's replacement body, the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee.
In response to the riots in August 2011, Jones and Green Party leader, Caroline Lucas MP co-authored an article in The Guardian, arguing that all cuts to policing should be postponed until December 2012 when a sufficient review of the events has occurred and the lessons from the London Olympics are learned, "In the meantime, the police should focus on spending money wisely, and ensuring that police officers are not burdened with administrative tasks which take them away from frontline policing."
After herself being kettled at a students demonstration, Jones was vociferously critical of this police tactic, telling the BBC the police used kettling to "imprison peaceful campaigners and have shown they can't be trusted with such a powerful tactic", suggesting "The Met's reputation sinks even further every time they abuse their powers and it's time to stop this particular mistreatment".
In June 2014, Jones penned an editorial in The Guardian wherein she criticised the surveillance tactics of police on activists. After going through the process now available through the Data Protection Act to get the police report on herself, she found that she was labelled a potential "domestic extremist". She found that the report contained only publicly available information, such as tweets, and that nothing in it would suggest potentially dangerous activity. Jones has been under surveillance by the police's "domestic extremism" unit from 2001 until 2012, including the time during her attempt to become London's mayor. She viewed the revelation as both a violation of her privacy and a waste of police resources. She is now calling for a re-evaluation of police policies, especially in regards to political activists.
In January 2016, whistleblower Sgt David Williams claimed that the police's "domestic extremism" unit shredded records "related to" Jones in June 2014, the month Jones met with the unit pressing for answers.
Transport
Jones commissioned the initial Transport for London report into promoting cycling that paved the way for the London Cycle-hire scheme. Ashok Sinha, Chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign, said of Jones "In 2008 the London Cycling Campaign gave Jenny Jones a Special Award for her Lifetime Services to cycling. This was in recognition of her success in helping to push cycling into mainstream politics, her efforts to deliver many cycling projects on the ground, and her energies as cycling champion in general.".
In a confrontation with the Mayor over cycle safety, Johnson said:
Johnson's advisor wrote to Jones claiming there had been:
Which turned out not to be true. In a written statement Jones said, "we know that cycle safety is the big problem which puts Londoners off jumping on their bikes. There are a growing number of deaths and injuries of cyclists and trying to cover that up by issuing factually inaccurate statements won’t change the reality," continuing, "We urgently need to fix the most dangerous junctions and reverse the Mayor’s policy of giving priority to motorised traffic. The Mayor needs to stand his policy on its head and give legal priority on many local roads to pedestrians and cyclists." Jones has also been critical of Johnson's neglect of cycling in outer London, stating "given that 70% of the potential new cyclists identified by TfL are outside of inner and central London, it is shocking that the Transport Strategy has no clear plan for cycling in the suburbs and outer London."
Jones has spoken against Boris Johnson's transport policy of "making motoring cheaper in London, whilst public transport fares are raised above inflation". At Mayor's question time, Jones highlighted a "promise" Johnson had made in 2008 to make all new buses hybrid by 2012 when in reality less than 10% had met this criterion. Jones wishes for a reduction in the burden for Londoners felt by Johnson's price increases and proposes a reduction in fares of about 4%. Jones supported the congestion charge as a way to lower pollution and road casualties and spoke against the mayor's cancellation of the Western extension, arguing that it made London dirtier, more crowded and less safe. Jones favours replacing the congestion charge with a "smart, pay-as-you drive scheme". Jones has also called for more people to use public transport and to reduce "non-essential" journeys, but has been criticised for frequently taking taxi journeys on expenses. Jones opposes High Speed 2 and states that its budget should be spent on local transport.
References
External links
Jenny Jones' official website
"Green Party’s Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb to be introduced into Second Chamber", 5 November 2013
Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb YouTube
Jenny Jones' "Green Leaves" campaign against membership of the European Union
1949 births
Living people
Politicians from Brighton and Hove
Councillors in the London Borough of Southwark
English environmentalists
British Eurosceptics
Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Alumni of the UCL Institute of Archaeology
People associated with the UCL Institute of Archaeology
Green Party Members of the London Assembly
Green Party of England and Wales life peers
British women archaeologists
Green Party of England and Wales councillors
Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates
Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom
Women councillors in England |
426334 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small%20and%20medium-sized%20enterprises | Small and medium-sized enterprises | Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In any given national economy, SMEs sometimes outnumber large companies by a wide margin and also employ many more people.
For example, Australian SMEs makeup 98% of all Australian businesses, produce one-third of the total GDP (gross domestic product) and employ 4.7 million people. In Chile, in the commercial year 2014, 98.5% of the firms were classified as SMEs. In Tunisia, the self-employed workers alone account for about 28% of the total non-farm employment, and firms with fewer than 100 employees account for about 62% of total employment. The United States' SMEs generate half of all U.S. jobs, but only 40% of GDP.
Developing countries tend to have a larger share of small and medium-sized enterprises. SMEs are also responsible for driving innovation and competition in many economic sectors. Although they create more new jobs than large firms, SMEs also suffer the majority of job destruction/contraction.
Overview
SMEs are important for economic and social reasons, given the sector's role in employment. Due to their sizes, SMEs are heavily influenced by their Chief Executive Officer, a.k.a. CEOs. The CEOs of SMEs are often the founders, owners, and managers of the SMEs. The duties of the CEO in a SME mirror those of the CEO of a large company: the CEO needs to strategically allocate their time, energy, and assets to direct the SMEs. Typically, the CEO is the strategist, champion and leader for developing the SME or the prime reason for the business failing.
At the employee level, Petrakis and Kostis (2012) explore the role of interpersonal trust and knowledge in the number of small and medium enterprises. They conclude that knowledge positively affects the number of SMEs, which in turn positively affects interpersonal trust. Note that the empirical results indicate that interpersonal trust does not affect the number of SMEs. Therefore, although knowledge development can reinforce SMEs, trust becomes widespread in a society when the number of SMEs is greater.
Legal boundary on SMEs around the world
Multilateral organizations have been criticized for using one measure for all. The legal boundary of SMEs around the world vary, and below is a list of the upper limits of SMEs in some countries.
Africa
African small businesses frequently struggle to get the cash they require to thrive. According to the SME Finance Forum, the formal financing gap for African SMEs averaged 17% of GDP across the 43 countries assessed in 2017.
According to the World Bank, women own 58% of all MSMEs in Africa.
The European Investment Bank's Banking in Africa survey, 2021 suggests that most of the responding banks had a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of at least 5%. NPLs account for at least 10% of the SME portfolio in approximately one-third of African banks. Furthermore, 50% of the banks had at least 5% of their SME portfolio under the moratorium, and 40% had at least 5% of SME loans under some type of restructuring.
Egypt
Most of Egypt's businesses are small-sized, with 97 percent employing fewer than 10 workers, according to census data released by state-run statistics body CAPMAS (Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics).
Medium-sized enterprises with 10 to 50 employees account for around 2.7 percent of total businesses. However, big businesses with over 50 employees account for 0.4 percent of all enterprises nationwide.
The data is part of Egypt's 2012/13 economic census on establishments ranging from small stalls to big enterprises. Economic activity outside the establishments – like street vendors and farmers, for example – were excluded from the census.
The results show that Egypt is greatly lacking in medium-sized businesses.
Seventy percent of the country's 24 million businesses have only one or two employees. But less than 0.1 percent – only 784 businesses – employ between 45 and 49 people.
Kenya
In Kenya, the term changed to MSME, which stands for "micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises".
For micro-enterprises, the minimum number of employees is up to 10 employees. For small enterprises, it is from 10 to 50. For medium enterprises, it is from 50 to 100.
Nigeria
The Central Bank of Nigeria defines small and medium enterprises in Nigeria according to asset base and a number of staff employed. The criteria are an asset base that is between ₦5 million ($15,400) to ₦500 million ($1,538,000), and a staff strength that is between 11 and 100 employees.
Somalia
In Somalia, the term is SME (for "small, medium, and micro enterprises"); elsewhere in Africa, MSME stands for "micro, small, and medium enterprises". An SME is defined as a small business that has more than 30 employees but less than 250 employees.
South Africa
In the National Small Business Amendment Act 2004, micro-businesses in the different sectors, varying from the manufacturing to the retail sectors, are defined as businesses with five or fewer employees and a turnover of up to R100,000 ZAR ($6,900). Very small businesses employ between 6 and 20 employees, while small businesses employ between 21 and 50 employees. The upper limit for turnover in a small business varies from R1 million ($69,200) in the agricultural sector to R13 million ($899,800) in the catering, accommodations and other trade sectors as well as in the manufacturing sector, with a maximum of R32 million ($2,214,800) in the wholesale trade sector.
Medium-sized businesses usually employ up to 200 people (100 in the agricultural sector), and the maximum turnover varies from R5 million ($346,100) in the agricultural sector to R51 ($3,529,800) million in the manufacturing sector and R64 ($4,429,600) million in the wholesale trade, commercial agents and allied services sector.
A comprehensive definition of an SME in South Africa is, therefore, an enterprise with one or more of the following characteristics:
Fewer than 200 employees,
Annual turnover of less than R64 million,
Capital assets of less than R10 million,
Direct managerial involvement by owners
Asia
SMEs account for nearly 90% of all company entities in developing Asian countries and are the principal private sector employers, supplying 50-80% of all jobs.
SMEs cover 97-99% of all firms in South-east Asia, contributing considerably to each country's GDP—for example, 46% in Singapore, 57% in Indonesia, and over 40% in other nations.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank defines Small and medium enterprises based on fixed asset, employed manpower and yearly turn over, and they are definitely not Public Limited Co. and requires these characteristics -
Hong Kong
Hong Kong defines Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as any manufacturing business that employs less than 100 people or any non-manufacturing business that employs less than 50 people.
98% of business establishments in Hong Kong are defined as SMEs and employed 45% of the work force.
India
India defines Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises based on dual criteria of investment and turnover.
This definition is provided in Section 7 of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (MSMED Act) and was notified in September 2006. The Act provides for the classification of enterprises based on their investment size and the nature of the activity undertaken by that enterprise. As per MSMED Act, enterprises are classified into two categories - manufacturing enterprises and service enterprises. For each of these categories, a definition is given to explain what constitutes a micro-enterprise or a small enterprise or a medium enterprise. If an enterprise does not fall under the above categories, it would be considered a large-scale enterprise.
In June 2020, India updated the definition as follows:
Businesses that are declared as MSMEs and within specific sectors and criteria can then apply for "priority sector" lending to help with business expenses; banks have annual targets set by the Prime Minister's Task Force on MSMEs for year-on-year increases of lending to various categories of MSMEs. MSME is considered a key contributor to India's growth and contributes 48% to India's total export.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, the government defines micro, small, and medium enterprises (Indonesian: usaha mikro kecil menengah, UMKM) based on their assets and revenues according to Law No. 20/2008:
An annual revenue of Rp 50 billion is approximately equal to US$3.7 million as of November 2017.
Despite their significant contribution to GDP and job creation, Indonesian MSMEs confront a number of obstacles. One of the most significant is capital access: 60-70 percent of MSMEs lack access to financial institutions and their funding options. Other restrictions include inadequate infrastructure, difficulties acquiring company licences and permissions, high tax rates, political insecurity, and improving their brand image in the digital era.
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Companies nowadays utilise websites and social media platforms as strategic communication tools to communicate not only their company profiles, but also the products or services they offer to their target market. Therefore, examining the key roles of websites and social media in the formation of a brand's image is critical for firms to remain competitive in today's tight business environment. Companies can also combined between enhancing their website's quality and brand awareness. a successful brand awareness is when customers could recall and recognise the brand. Not only from websites that company could increase their brand awareness, social media could also increase brand awareness. If the company can deliver interesting and useful material, it may enhance interaction with its social media channels, resulting in increased consumer brand recognition.
Company could also have bigger potential to be funded by Bank Indonesia if the company could attract consumer either international or local.
Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, there are 529 SMEs with the potential to be funded by Bank Indonesia.
Philippines
According to the Department of Trade and Industry's 2020 List of Establishments report, there are 957,620 registered business enterprises operating in the country, composed of 99.51% MSMEs and 0.49% large firms. The MSMEs consist of 88.77% microenterprises, 10.25% small enterprises, and 0.49% medium enterprises. Among the top industry sectors include (1) wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (445,386); (2) accommodation and food service activities (134,046); (3) manufacturing (110,916); (4) other service activities (62,376); and (5) financial and insurance activities (45,558) which accounted for about 83.77% of the total number of MSME establishments. Prior to the pandemic, MSMEs generated more than 5.38 million jobs or 62.66% of the country's total employment with a 29.38% share from micro-enterprises followed by 25.78% and 7.50% for small and medium enterprises.
Singapore
With effect from 1 April 2011, the definition of SMEs is businesses with annual sales turnover of not more than $100 million or employing no more than 200 staff.
Europe
European Union
Small companies are important to the European economy as they account for 99.8% of non-financial enterprises in the European Union (EU) and employ two-thirds of the workforce in the EU. The majority of European firms are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), employing over 100 million people. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a large majority of SMEs saw a decline in revenue during 2020-2021.
The pandemic has had a greater impact on SMEs than on large businesses, with an average sales loss of 26% versus 23% for large businesses. Government assistance appears to have benefited SMEs more than large corporations among the companies that do have overdraft facilities, indicating a successful application of policies to ease financial limitations for SMEs even when they receive help from the banking sector. The EIB Group contributed more than €16.35 billion to small and medium-sized firms in 2022.
SMEs were more quick in altering output during the pandemic, despite the intensity of the shock. In reaction to the crisis, one-third of major enterprises altered their output or services, compared to 37% of SMEs.
Large businesses, on the other hand, embraced digitization to a greater extent than small businesses, with 26% boosting their online distribution of products and services, compared to 22% for SMEs. The most significant difference in adaption measures was shown in the chance of expanding remote work, which increased by 25% among SMEs but 50% among large businesses.
The criteria for defining the size of a business differ from country to country, with many countries having programs of business rate reduction and financial subsidy for SMEs. According to the European Commission, SMEs are enterprises which meet the following definition of staff headcount and either the turnover or balance sheet total definitions:
In July 2011, the European Commission said it would open a consultation on the definition of SMEs in 2012. A consultation document was issued on 6 February 2018 and the consultation period closed on 6 May 2018. , no conclusions or responses have yet emerged.
In Europe, there are three broad parameters that define SMEs:
Micro-enterprises have up to 10 employees
Small enterprises have up to 50 employees
Medium-sized enterprises have up to 250 employees.
The European definition of SME follows: "The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro." In order to prepare for an evaluation and revision of some features of the small and medium-sized enterprises definition European Union established public consultation period from 6 February 2018 to 6 May 2018. Public consultation is available for all EU member country citizens and organizations. Especially, national and regional authorities, enterprises, business associations or organizations, venture capital providers, research and academic institutions, and individual citizens are expected as the main contributors.
EU member states have had individual definitions of what constitutes an SME. For example, the definition in Germany had a limit of 255 employees, while in Belgium it could have been 100. The result is that while a Belgian business of 249 employees would be taxed at full rate in Belgium, it would nevertheless be eligible for SME subsidy under a European-labelled programme.
SMEs are a crucial element in the supplier network of large enterprises which are already on their way towards Industry 4.0.
According to German economist Hans-Heinrich Bass, "empirical research on SME as well as policies to promote SME have a long tradition in [West] Germany, dating back into the 19th century. Until the mid-20th century, most researchers considered SME as an impediment to further economic development and SME policies were thus designed in the framework of social policies. Only the Ordoliberalism school, the founding fathers of Germany's social market economy, discovered their strengths, considered SME as a solution to mid-20th century economic problems (mass unemployment, abuse of economic power), and laid the foundations for non-selective (functional) industrial policies to promote SMEs." Only around 20% of European SMEs are substantially digitalized, compared to almost 50% of major businesses. Small and medium-sized companies make up 56.2% of the non-financial sector.
Smaller companies account for more than 60% of the value contributed to the non-financial sector in Belgium, Italy, and Spain, three of the nations worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 50% of Europe's small firms may fail because they lack the substantial financial reserves required to weather the crisis.
With around 338,000 functioning in Bulgaria in 2022, SMEs and mid-caps are major contributors in the Bulgarian economy. They also employ over 75% of the workforce and create 65% of the economy's added value.
The results of an EU survey conducted in 2021 suggest that during the pandemic, in countries with larger fiscal packages, SMEs were on average more likely to experience bankruptcy even after controlling for the size of the shock, the use of bank financing, and country and sector fixed effects. When policy assistance rises by 1% of GDP, the probabilities of bankruptcy for a SME are 2.7 times higher than for a non-SME. Credit limitations are especially difficult for SMEs and new businesses to overcome. Credit constraints affect 24% of SMEs and 27% of young businesses.
Poland
The SME sector in Poland generates almost 50% of the GDP, and out of that, for instance, in 2011, micro companies generated 29.6%, small companies 7.7%, and medium companies 10.4% (big companies 24.0%; other entities 16.5%, and revenues from customs duties and taxes generated 11.9%). In 2011, out of the total of 1,784,603 entities operating in Poland, merely 3,189 were classified as "large", so 1,781,414 were micro, small, or medium. SMEs employed 6.3 million people out of the total of 9.0 million of labour employed in the private sector. In Poland in 2011 there were 36.2 SMEs per 1,000 inhabitants.
Nearly seven million people are employed by small businesses in Poland, which accounts for around half of the country's GDP, yet smaller businesses are less likely than larger ones to invest in strategies to combat climate change or boost energy efficiency. In October 2021, the Bank Ochrony rodowiska, a Polish bank that specializes in funding environmental protection initiatives received €75 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for these small enterprises.
The Polish bank wants to use at least 50% of the loan for initiatives with a clear emphasis on tackling climate change, such improving building energy efficiency or turning to renewable energy sources like solar power. The money is set to be distributed across Poland, with around 80% of it projected to go to cohesive regions.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom (UK), a company is defined as being an SME if it meets two out of three criteria: it has a turnover of less than £25m, it has fewer than 250 employees, it has gross assets of less than £12.5m. Very small companies are called in the UK micro-entities, which have simpler financial reporting requirements. Such micro-enterprises must meet any two of the following criteria: balance sheet £316,000 or less; turnover £632,000 or less; employees 10 or less.
Many small and medium-sized businesses form part of the UK's currently growing , or Brittelstand as it is also sometimes named. These are businesses in Britain that are not only small or medium but also have a much broader set of values and more elastic definition.
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills estimated that at the start of 2014, 99.3% of UK private sector businesses were SMEs, with their £1.6 trillion annual turnover accounting for 47% of private sector turnover.
In order to support SMEs, the UK government set a target in 2010 "that 25% of government’s spend, either directly or in supply chains, goes to SMEs by 2015"; it achieved this by 2013.
Norway
In Norway it is normal to design small and medium-sized businesses as businesses with less than 100 employees. Businesses with 1-20 employees are defined as small, while businesses with 21-100 employees are considered medium-sized. Businesses with more than 100 employees would be considered a big business. Micro-sized businesses is a little used expression in Norway.NHO
Small and medium-sized businesses make up more than 99% of all businsesses in Norway, and together they employ 47% of all employees in the private sector. Together, SMEs account for 44% of the economic value added each year - almost 700 billion Norwegian Kroners (NOK).Fakta om små og mellomstore bedrifter (SMB)
Switzerland
In Switzerland, the Federal Statistical Office defines small and medium-sized enterprises as companies with less than 250 employees. The categories are the following:
Microentreprises: 1 to 9 employees
Small enterprises: 10 to 49 employees
Medium-sized enterprises: 50 to 249 employees
Large enterprises: 250 employees or more
North America
Canada
Industry Canada defines a small business as one with fewer than 100 paid employees, and a medium-sized business as one with at least 100 and fewer than 500 employees. As of December 2012, there were 1,107,540 employer businesses in Canada of the rally . Canadian controlled private corporations receive a 17% reduction in the tax rate on taxable income from active businesses up to $500,000. This small business deduction is reduced for corporations whose taxable capital exceeds $10M and is eliminated for corporations whose taxable capital exceeds $15M. It has been estimated that almost $2 trillion of Canadian SMEs will be coming up for sale over the next decade, which is twice as large as the assets of the top 1,000 Canadian pension plans and approximately the same size as Canadian annual GDP.
Mexico
The small and medium-sized companies in Mexico are called PYMEs, which is a direct translation of SMEs. But there's another categorization in the country called MiPyMEs. The MiPyMEs are micro, small and medium-sized businesses, with an emphasis on micro which are one man companies or a type of freelance.
United States
In the United States, the Small Business Administration sets small business criteria based on industry, ownership structure, revenue and number of employees (which in some circumstances may be as high as 1500, although the cap is typically 500).
Both the US and the EU generally use the same threshold of fewer than 10 employees for small offices (SOHO).
Oceania
Australia
In Australia, a SME has 200 or fewer employees. Micro Businesses have 1–4 employees, small businesses 5–19, medium businesses 20–199, and large businesses 200+. Australian SMEs make up 98% of all Australian businesses, produce one-third of total GDP, and employ 4.7 million people. SMEs represent 90 percent of all goods exporters and over 60% of services exporters.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, 99% of businesses employ 50 or less staff, and the official definition of a small business is one with 19 or fewer employees. It is estimated that approximately 28% of New Zealand's gross domestic product is produced by companies with fewer than 20 employees.
See also
Confédération Européenne des Associations de Petites et Moyennes Entreprises (CEA-PME), an international federation of SME associations
Environmental regulation of small and medium enterprises
Hidden champions
Mittelstand
Small and medium enterprises in Mexico
Small business
References
External links
SMEs and Entrepreneurship at the OECD
SME definition by European Commission
Small Business Expo Events Schedule USA
Companies by type |
426353 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch%20Rickey | Branch Rickey | Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also created the framework for the modern minor league farm system, encouraged the Major Leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the proposed Continental League, and introduced the batting helmet. He was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967.
Rickey played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Browns and New York Highlanders from 1905 through 1907. After struggling as a player, Rickey returned to college, where he learned about administration from Philip Bartelme. Returning to the Major Leagues in 1913, Rickey embarked on a successful managing and executive career with the St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cardinals elected him to their team Hall of Fame in 2014.
Rickey also had a career in football, as a player for the professional Shelby Blues and as a coach at Ohio Wesleyan University and Allegheny College. His many achievements and deep Christian faith earned him the nickname "the Mahātmā" (guru).
Early life
Rickey was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, the son of Jacob Frank Rickey and Emily (née Brown). Rickey was the uncle of Beth Rickey, a Louisiana political activist. He graduated from Valley High School in Lucasville, Ohio, in 1899, and he was a catcher on the baseball team at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he obtained his B.A. Rickey was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
Rickey was a Master Mason in Tuscan Lodge #240 in St. Louis. After arriving in Brooklyn, Rickey joined Montauk Masonic Lodge #286 in Brooklyn.
Stricken with tuberculosis, he sought treatment in Saranac Lake, New York in 1908 and 1909 at the Trudeau Sanatorium. Later, he moved into the Jacob Schiff cottage.
Professional playing career
Before his front office days, Rickey played both football and baseball professionally. A left-handed-batting catcher, he played in both baseball's minor and major leagues.
Football
In 1902, Rickey played professional football for the Shelby Blues of the "Ohio League", the direct predecessor to the modern National Football League (NFL.) Rickey often played for pay with Shelby while he was attending Ohio Wesleyan. During his time with Shelby, Rickey became friends with his teammate Charles Follis, who was the first black professional football player. He also played against him on October 17, 1903, when Follis ran for a 70-yard touchdown against the Ohio Wesleyan football team. After that game Rickey praised Follis, calling him "a wonder." It is also possible that Follis' poise and class under the pressures of such racial tension, as well as his exceptional play in spite of it, inspired Rickey to sign Jackie Robinson decades later. Rickey, however, stated his inspiration for bringing Jackie Robinson into baseball was the ill-treatment he saw received by his black catcher Charles Thomas on the Ohio Wesleyan baseball team coached by Rickey in 1903 and 1904 and the gentlemanly way Thomas handled it. When Rickey signed Robinson, Charles Thomas' story was made known in the papers
Baseball
In 1903, Rickey signed a contract with the Terre Haute Hottentots of the Class B Central League, making his professional debut on June 20. Rickey was assigned to the Le Mars Blackbirds of the Class D Iowa–South Dakota League. During this period, Rickey also spent two seasons–1904 and 1905—coaching baseball, basketball and football at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania where he also served as athletic director and as an instructor of Shakespeare, English, and freshman history.
Rickey debuted in the major leagues with the St. Louis Browns in 1905. Sold to the New York Highlanders in 1907, Rickey could neither hit nor field while with the club, and his batting average dropped below .200. One opposing team stole 13 bases in one game while Rickey was behind the plate, which was an American League record until 1911. Rickey also injured his throwing arm and retired as a player following that season.
Collegiate career
Rickey attended the University of Michigan, where he received his LL.B.
While at Michigan, Rickey applied for the job as Michigan's baseball coach. Rickey asked every alumnus he had ever met to write letters to Philip Bartelme, the school's athletic director, on his behalf. Bartelme recalled, "Day after day those letters came in." Bartelme was reportedly impressed with Rickey's passion for baseball and his idealism about the proper role of athletics on a college campus. Bartelme convinced the dean of the law school that Rickey could handle his law studies while serving as the school's baseball coach. Bartelme reportedly called Rickey into his office to tell him he had the job if only "to put a stop to those damn letters that come in every day." The hiring also marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship and business relationship between Rickey and Bartelme. Bartelme and Rickey worked together for most of the next 35 years, and in 1944 a California newspaper noted: "He and Rickey have had a close association in baseball ever since Bartelme was head of the athletic department of the University of Michigan where Rickey took to baseball just as a means to build up his failing health."
During his four years as head baseball coach from 1910 to 1913, Rickey's record was 68–32–4. In his final season, the Michigan squad — led by brilliant sophomore first baseman and left-handed pitcher George Sisler, who batted .445 — compiled a 21–4–1 won-lost record, a winning percentage of .827.
Managerial and executive career
St. Louis Browns (1913–1916)
Rickey was in his third year as the Wolverines’ baseball coach when St. Louis Browns owner Robert Hedges rewarmed their relationship. Hedges inquired if Rickey were interested in running the minor-league Kansas City Blues, which he was thinking of purchasing. Citing his commitment to Michigan, Rickey turned Hedges down, but he agreed to do some part-time scouting for the Browns in the West during the summer of 1912. That September, a persistent Hedges presented Rickey with a new opportunity: to become his top assistant and business manager of the MLB Browns themselves, at a substantial salary increase, effective after Michigan's 1913 baseball season. This time Rickey agreed to terms, and his career as a professional baseball executive was launched at age 31 on June 1, 1913. After three months in the Browns’ front office, on September 17, 1913, Rickey was also appointed field manager, replacing incumbent George Stovall and adding those responsibilities to his existing duties. Veteran players Jimmy Austin and, later, Burt Shotton became Rickey's "Sunday managers", running the Browns on the Sabbath in the young pilot's absence.
The Browns, in the midst of one of several low points during their 51-year history, were 52–90 and in last place at the time. Rickey steered them to a 5–6–1 record over the last 12 games of their season. Then, in , with Rickey in charge from the first day of spring training, they improved by 14 games, jumping from eighth to fifth place in the American League. However, the Browns took a giant step backwards; despite the June signing of the player who would become one of the greatest in franchise history—future Hall of Famer Sisler—they went only 63–91, 8½ games poorer than the 1914 edition.
The team's on-field struggles notwithstanding, Rickey maintained Hedges’ confidence. But during the 1915–1916 offseason, as part of the settlement of the Federal League "war", Hedges sold the Browns to the former operator of the Feds’ St. Louis entry, Philip DeCatesby Ball. The new owner brought along his own manager, Fielder Jones, and restricted an unhappy Rickey to front-office duties. Compounding matters, the men's personalities clashed, and as the 1916 season concluded, Rickey began searching for other employment.
St. Louis Cardinals (1917–1942)
Early years and World War I service (1917–1918)
Coincidentally, the National League's St. Louis Cardinals were also enduring a period of ownership turmoil. In 1916, they had finished eighth and last in the Senior Circuit and attracted a league-worst 224,308 fans to Robison Field, and their owner, Helene Hathaway Britton, put them up for sale. A local consortium of businessmen, including automobile dealer Sam Breadon, quickly formed to buy the financially strapped team and keep it from moving elsewhere. Searching for a chief executive, they reached out to seven St. Louis sportswriters and asked for recommendations; all seven separately suggested Rickey.
But, before he could join the Cardinals, Rickey had to sort out his existing obligations to Ball and the Browns. American League president and founder Ban Johnson, determined to keep Rickey in his league, pressured Ball to seek a temporary injunction to enforce the terms of Rickey's contract. The dispute was resolved in April 1917, when Rickey was permitted to assume his duties as the Cardinals' club president and business manager; he also purchased a small share of the team. Apart from his year as president of the Continental League in 1959–1960, Rickey would spend the remainder of his baseball career in the National League.
Each of Rickey's first two seasons with the Cardinals would be overshadowed by the United States' entry into World War I, on April 2, 1917.
Despite their last-place standing in 1916, Rickey inherited two Hall-of-Fame assets: 21-year-old infielder Rogers Hornsby and the Cardinals' manager, Miller Huggins. Each contributed to a strong bounce-back season in 1917: Hornsby batted .327 in 145 games and led the team in hits, and Huggins guided the Cardinals to 82 wins and a third-place finish. During the 1920s, Hornsby would become the cornerstone of the franchise as it became a National League pennant contender. But Huggins, who had been a member of a rival ownership group that lost its bid for the Cardinals to Breadon's syndicate, departed for the New York Yankees at season's end; there he would lead an eventual American League and MLB powerhouse as a consolation prize for Ban Johnson's circuit.
The war-disrupted 1918 campaign saw the Cardinals, managed by veteran minor-league pilot Jack Hendricks, perform poorly. They plummeted to last place in the National League, winning only 51 of 131 games during the shortened regular season, which ended September 2. Rickey, however, had by that point already enlisted as an officer in the United States Army, wearing a military uniform to work at the Cardinals' front office before reporting for duty in Washington. His leave of absence, or temporary resignation, from the team began August 31, 1918.
He embarked by steamship for France and the Western Front in mid-September. Recovering from a bout of pneumonia contracted aboard ship, Rickey commanded a training unit of the Chemical Warfare Service that included Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. His unit saw action as part of the First Gas Regiment. After the November 11, 1918, armistice ended hostilities, Rickey returned to the United States on December 23 and, when he resumed his duties with the Cardinals, he succeeded Hendricks as field manager for 1919.
Field manager (1919–1925)
Rickey's record as manager of the Cardinals for six full years, and part of a seventh, was relatively mediocre (458–485–4, .486). They did improve from only 53 victories in 1919 to 75 in 1920. Then they posted winning marks from 1921 to 1923. In 1920, the ownership of the team stabilized when Sam Breadon purchased controlling interest and took over, from Rickey, as club president.
On the field, the club was led by second baseman Hornsby, who batted over .400 three times (and .397 once). Others—such as Jack Fournier, Jesse Haines, Austin McHenry and Jack Smith—also contributed to the team's surge. But McHenry's tragic death from a brain tumor in 1922 was a difficult blow for the Cardinals to absorb. They fell from 87 to 85 to 79 wins over the 1921–1923 period; then, in 1924, they dropped below .500 and finished 76–78.
Off the field, Rickey and Breadon pursued the farm system concept. By 1923, the Cardinals had ownership stakes or affiliations with five minor-league teams, including top-level Syracuse, Class A Houston, and Class C Fort Smith; the Detroit Tigers were the only other major-league club with as much as a single "farm team." At the MLB level, sophomore Jim Bottomley, a future Hall of Famer, took over the Cardinals' first base job and batted .371 with 194 hits. Twenty-year-old Ohio Wesleyan graduate Howard Freigau started 81 games at shortstop, and outfielders Ray Blades and Heinie Mueller became key contributors. The rosters of Rickey's farm teams in 1923 included another future Hall of Famer, Chick Hafey, as well as future 1920s Cardinal standouts Les Bell, Taylor Douthit, Fred Frankhouse and Wattie Holm.
But while perfecting the process of player development was his most important achievement of the time, Rickey also contributed to the sartorial appearance of the Cardinals. For the first time, they wore uniforms that featured the two distinctive cardinal birds perched on a baseball bat over the name "Cardinals" with the letter "C" of the word hooked over the bat in 1922. The concept of this pattern originated in a Presbyterian church in Ferguson, Missouri, at which Rickey was speaking. He noticed a colorful cardboard arrangement featuring two cardinal birds perched on a branch on a table. The arrangement's designer was a woman named Allie May Schmidt. Schmidt's father, a graphic designer, assisted Rickey in creating the logo that is part of a familiar staple on Cardinals uniforms.
In 1923, Rickey also experimented with placing uniform numbers on the sleeves of his players to help fans identify them. The practice was abandoned after only one season, but putting numbers on the backs of uniform shirts became widespread during the 1930s.
Business/general manager (1925–1942)
When the Cardinals' 1925 season began poorly, Breadon fired Rickey from his manager's post on May 30. At 13–25, the club was in last place in the National League, 13 games out of the lead. Hornsby was named player–manager to succeed him. Aged 43 at the time of his firing, Rickey had been a player, manager and executive in the Major Leagues, and there had been little indication to this point that he would ever belong in a baseball hall of fame.
However, Breadon could not deny Rickey's acumen for player development, and asked him to stay to run the front office. An embittered Rickey stated, "You can't do this to me, Sam. You are ruining me." "No." Breadon responded, "I am doing you the greatest favor one man has ever done to another."
Although he was not the first executive titled as a general manager in Major League Baseball history — his actual title was business manager — through his activities, including inventing and building the farm system, Rickey came to embody the position of the baseball operations executive who mastered roster construction, scouting, player acquisition and development, and business affairs, which is the definition of the modern GM. In the quarter century between 1926 and 1950, Rickey's Cardinals and Dodgers teams would win eight National League titles during his stewardship, and remain pennant-winners and serious contenders in the years immediately after his departure from their front offices.
Meanwhile, in 1926, his first full year as manager, Hornsby led the Cardinals to their first World Series championship.
Development of the farm system
Two more pennants followed in and , although each team fell to its American League foe in the World Series. By , Rickey's Cardinals were the class of the National League. They won 101 games in 1931 and won the World Series in seven games over the defending champion Philadelphia Athletics. The star of the 1931 World Series was rookie Pepper Martin, a 1928 graduate of Rickey's player development system. With eight owned or affiliated farm teams by 1931, the system was fed by the Cardinals' scouting corps, headed by Charley Barrett (1871–1939), who introduced tryout camps to identify young amateur talent across the U.S. to fill the pipeline. Soon, other organization graduates joined the team, among them future Hall of Famers Dizzy Dean and Joe Medwick, nicknamed "Ducky", and Dean's brother Paul "Daffy" Dean. The Deans and Medwick were integral parts of the Redbirds, known as the "Gashouse Gang", who won the franchise's third World Series title.
Despite the ravages of The Great Depression, the Cardinal farm system continued to expand during the 1930s, with 21 teams by , 28 in , and 33 in . Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the Commissioner of Baseball, was concerned that Rickey's minor league system was going to ruin baseball by destroying existing minor league teams, and he twice released over 70 Cardinal minor leaguers. Despite Landis' efforts, Rickey's minor league system continued to thrive, and similar systems were adopted by every major league team within a few years. Arguably, the farm system saved the minor leagues, by keeping them necessary after the television age began and minor league attendance figures declined.
Rickey continued to develop the Cardinals up until the early 1940s. In his final year at St. Louis, 1942, the Cardinals had their best season in franchise history, winning 106 games and the World Series title. The team was led by a new crop of players developed by the Cardinals, two of whom, Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial, became Hall of Famers; and several others, among them future MVP Marty Marion, who were among the best at their position during their eras. Even their manager Billy Southworth was a product of their farm system.
Brooklyn Dodgers (1942–1950)
When Rickey's good friend Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail enlisted in the army to serve in World War II after the 1942 season, the Dodgers hired Rickey to replace him as president and general manager, ending a tenure of over two decades with the Cardinals. In 1945, the Dodger ownership reorganized, with Rickey acquiring 25% of Dodger stock to become an equal partner with three other owners.
Further innovations
Rickey continued to innovate in his time with Brooklyn. He was responsible for the first full-time spring training facility, in Vero Beach, Florida, and encouraged the use of now-commonplace tools such as the batting cage, pitching machines, and batting helmets. He also pioneered the use of statistical analysis in baseball (what is now known as sabermetrics), when he hired statistician Allan Roth as a full-time analyst for the Dodgers in 1947. After viewing Roth's evidence, Rickey promoted the idea that on-base percentage was a more important hitting statistic than batting average. While working under Rickey, Roth was also the first person to provide statistical evidence that platoon effects were real and quantifiable.
Breaking the Color Barrier
Rickey's most memorable act with the Dodgers involved signing Jackie Robinson, thus breaking baseball's color barrier, which had been an unwritten rule since the 1880s. This policy had continued under a succession of baseball leaders, including Landis, who was openly opposed to integrating Major League Baseball for what he regarded as legitimate reasons. Landis died in 1944, but Rickey had already set the process in motion, having sought (and gained) approval from the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1943 to begin the search for "the right man."
In early 1945, Rickey was anticipating the integration of black players into Major League Baseball. Rickey, along with Gus Greenlee who was the owner of the original Pittsburgh Crawfords, created the United States League (USL) as a method to scout black players specifically to break the color line. It is unclear if the league actually played the 1945 season or if it was only used as a pretense for integration. Around this time, Rickey held tryouts of black players, under the cover story of forming a new team in the USL called the "Brooklyn Brown Dodgers." The Dodgers were, in fact, looking for the right man to break the color line.
On August 28, 1945, Rickey signed Robinson, who never played in the USL, to a minor league contract. Robinson had been playing in the Negro leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs. On October 23, 1945, it was announced that Robinson would join the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' International League affiliate, for the 1946 season. He would end up as the league's batting champion, and led the Royals to a dominant league championship.
There was no statute officially banning blacks from baseball, only a universally recognized unwritten rule which no club owner was prepared to break that was perpetuated by culturally entrenched racism and a desire by club owners to be perceived as representing the values and beliefs of everyday American white men. The service of black Americans in the Second World War, and the celebrated pre-war achievements of black athletes in American sports, such as Joe Louis in boxing and Jesse Owens in track, helped pave the way for the cultural shift necessary to break the barrier.
Rickey knew that Robinson would face racism and discrimination. Rickey made it clear in their momentous first meeting that he anticipated wide-scale resistance both inside and outside baseball to opening its doors to black players. As predicted by Rickey, right from the start Robinson faced obstacles among his teammates and other teams' players. No matter how harsh the white people were towards Robinson, he could not retaliate. Robinson had agreed with Rickey not to lose his temper and jeopardize the chances of all the blacks who would follow him if he could help break down the barriers.
Red Barber recounted in Ken Burns's documentary Baseball that Rickey's determination to desegregate Major League Baseball was born out of a combination of idealism and astute business sense. The idealism was at least partially rooted in an incident involving a team for which Rickey worked early on. While managing at Ohio Wesleyan University, a black player, Charles Thomas, was extremely upset at being refused accommodation, because of his race, at the hotel where the team stayed. Though an infuriated Rickey managed to get him into the hotel for the night, he never forgot the incident and later said, "I may not be able to do something about racism in every field, but I can sure do something about it in baseball." The business element was based on the fact that the Negro leagues had numerous star athletes, and logically, the first Major League team to hire them would get the first pick of the players at an attractive price. At the time, Mexican brewery czar Jorge Pasquel was raiding America for black talent (e.g. Satchel Paige), as well as disgruntled white players, for the Mexican League with the idea of creating an integrated league that could compete on a talent level with the U.S. major leagues. However idealistic, Rickey did not compensate Monarchs ownership for the rights to obtain Robinson, nor did he pay for rights to Don Newcombe, who would also join the Dodgers from a Negro leagues club. Rickey also attempted to sign Monte Irvin but Newark Eagles business owner Effa Manley refused to allow Irvin to leave her club without compensation. When she threatened to sue him in court, Rickey stopped the pursuit of Irvin, who would later sign with the New York Giants.
Amid much fanfare, Jackie debuted, and turned out to be a success. Robinson was baseball's first rookie of the year, and while he was often jeered by opposing baseball players, managers, and fans, he became extremely popular with the American public. His success became the crowning achievement of Rickey's illustrious career. His Dodgers would make the World Series that year. Although they lost in seven games to the New York Yankees, Rickey's vision and action had set the stage for the Dodgers to be contenders for decades to come. And it opened the door for other leaders like Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians, who integrated the American League in 1947, as well.
Later career with Dodgers
From 1945 through 1950, Rickey was one of four owners of the Dodgers, each with one quarter of the franchise. When one of the four (John L. Smith) died, Walter O'Malley took control of that quarter. Also in 1950, Branch Rickey's contract as Dodger president expired, and Walter O'Malley decided that were Rickey to retain the job, almost all of Rickey's power would be gone; for example, he would no longer take a percentage of every franchise sale. Rickey declined a new contract as president. Then, to be a majority owner, O'Malley offered to buy Rickey's portion. Seeing no reason to hold on to the club, Rickey decided to comply. In a final act of retaliation against O'Malley, Rickey instead offered the club percentage to a friend for $1 million. His chances at complete franchise control at risk, O'Malley was forced to offer more money, and Rickey finally sold his portion for $1.05 million (equivalent to approximately $ in ).
Pittsburgh Pirates (1951–1955)
Immediately upon leaving the Dodgers, Rickey was offered the position of executive vice president and general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates by the team's new majority owner, John W. Galbreath. He joined them on November 1, 1950, one month after the 1950 Bucs, who lost 96 out of 153 games, finished in last place for only the third time in the 20th century. With an average player age of 28.6 years, they also were one of the oldest teams in the National League. Bringing several key aides with him from Brooklyn, Rickey began a tear-down/re-building process that would consume his entire five-year term as general manager. The Pirates finished eighth (and last) four times and seventh once, compiled a miserable 269–501 (.349) record, and in 1952 experienced one of the worst seasons in MLB annals, going 42–112 and lagging behind the champion Dodgers by 54 games. It was the second-worst season in franchise history, and the third-worst in modern (post-1900) baseball history. After presiding over one last-place season with the Pirates, Rickey proposed cutting the pay of power-hitting superstar Ralph Kiner. When Kiner objected, Rickey famously quipped, "Son, we could have finished last without you!"
Perhaps his most notable innovation during his Pittsburgh tenure came during the season, when the Pirates became the first team to permanently adopt batting helmets on both offense and defense. These helmets resembled a primitive fiberglass "miner's cap". This was the mandate of Rickey, who also owned stock in the company producing the helmets. Under Rickey's orders, all Pirate players had to wear the helmets both at bat and in the field. The helmets became a permanent feature for all Pirate hitters, but within a few weeks the team began to abandon their use of helmets on defense, partly because of their awkwardly heavy feel. Once the Pirates discarded the helmets on defense, the trend disappeared from the game.
Health problems forced Rickey to retire in 1955. The Pirates were still mired in the NL basement; they would not have another winning record until 1958. However, with an average age of 25.5, they were the youngest outfit in the Senior Circuit in 1955. Five years later, Rickey's contributions would help lead to a World Series championship for Pittsburgh in 1960. Wrote author Andrew O'Toole in 2000, "The core of the 1960 championship team [notably Roberto Clemente, Dick Groat, Bill Mazeroski, Elroy Face and Vern Law, among others] was put together and nurtured by Rickey."
Rickey fast-tracked youngsters like Law and Bob Friend, signed by his predecessor, Roy Hamey, to the majors. He recruited Groat off the Duke University campus, drafted Face and Clemente from Brooklyn's minor league system, and his scouts and minor league instructors found Mazeroski and developed him for MLB delivery in 1956. Pittsburgh's farm and scouting system would continue to be highly productive into the 1970s, especially in developing Latin American players signed by scout Howie Haak, one of the people whom Rickey had brought to the Pirates from the Dodgers.
Rickey remained on the Pirate masthead as chairman of the board for almost four full seasons after Joe L. Brown succeeded him as general manager in October of . He also held a small amount of stock in the club. But that association ended in the middle of August 1959, when, nearing his 78th birthday, Rickey took on another challenge as the chief executive of a proposed third major league, the Continental League.
President of Continental League
A significant shift in population from the Eastern and Midwestern United States to the West and South after World War II wreaked havoc with the established 16-team, two-league major league structure, opening up growing markets and triggering a two-decade-long series of franchise relocations beginning in . In , these were dramatized by the transfer of each of New York City's National League teams, the Dodgers and Giants, to California, abandoning their established fan bases. When mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. and attorney William Shea were unsuccessful in their attempts to attract Senior Circuit teams from smaller markets (including the Pirates) to New York, Shea announced plans for a third major league in professional baseball, the Continental League, on July 27, 1959. In addition to New York, the Continental would be represented by clubs in Denver, Houston, Minneapolis–Saint Paul and Toronto, plus three additional markets to round out an eight-team league. It was scheduled to begin play in April 1961.
Three weeks after the formation of the new circuit was announced, on August 18, 1959, Rickey sold his stake in the Pirates, resigned as board chairman, and signed a 16-month contract to become the first president of the new league at a reported $50,000 annual salary (equivalent to approximately $ in ). He immediately led a delegation of Continental League owners to a summit meeting in a Manhattan hotel with Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick, the presidents of the National and American leagues, and a delegation of MLB club owners. The established leagues were wary of a new challenge to baseball's antitrust law exemption, when the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Emanuel Celler, a Brooklyn Democrat enraged by his borough's loss of the Dodgers, introduced legislation that would place baseball under antitrust law. This concern led Frick and his entourage to publicly treat the Continental League with respect; at the meeting, Frick asked Rickey and the other league presidents (Warren Giles and Joe Cronin) to form a committee that would set up ground rules to govern the admission of the Continental to eventual equal status with the two major leagues.
As those rules were taking shape, Rickey presided over the admission of the Continental League's three remaining founding franchises: Atlanta, Buffalo and Dallas–Fort Worth. He made public appearances—for example, as the "mystery guest" on the prime-time TV quiz show What's My Line?—to advance his view that a third, eight-team league would be more beneficial to baseball than expansion of the two existing circuits. But behind the scenes, National and American league owners were working on their own plans to expand their loops and scuttle Rickey's start-up league. In August 1960, they offered the Continental League's owners a deal: each established league would add two new franchises by 1962. In return, they demanded that the new circuit disband. Against Rickey's advice, his owners agreed to the compromise and the new league perished, still on the drawing board.
In 1961, Minneapolis–Saint Paul got a 60-year-old American League franchise, the transferred Washington Senators, with an expansion team replacing them in the capital. In 1962, the New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s were admitted to the Senior Circuit as expansion teams. By 1993, all of the Continental League's cities except Buffalo were in Major League Baseball.
Return to Cardinals
After negotiations broke down in May 1961 that would have seen Rickey take over the Mets as their first president and general manager, he went into temporary retirement. The year also saw Rickey endure tragedy and hardship on a personal level. On April 10, 1961, his son, Branch Jr., farm system director of the Pirates, died from complications of diabetes at the age of 47. Then, on June 27, Rickey suffered a "serious" heart attack—his second cardiac event since 1958—while staying at his summer home on Canada's Manitoulin Island and was airlifted to a Sudbury, Ontario, hospital for treatment. Upon his recovery, Rickey and his wife, Jane, decided to move from suburban Pittsburgh back to St. Louis in 1962, where, on October 29, Rickey returned to the Cardinals exactly 20 years to the day he left to become general consultant on the development of Cardinal players and special advisor to owner August A. Busch Jr.
But Rickey's second stint with the Cardinals was marred by controversy. He recommended that Cardinal icon Stan Musial be compelled to retire, even after the eventual Hall of Famer's stellar season, in which Musial, 41, had finished third in the National League batting race (hitting .330 in 135 games played), and broken Honus Wagner's NL record for career hits. Rickey wrote to Busch: "He can't run, he can't field, and he can't throw. Twenty-five Musials would finish in last place." Musial would play one more campaign before retiring from the field in September 1963.
Rickey also undermined St. Louis general manager Bing Devine, who had begun his baseball career under Rickey in the late 1930s as an office boy. He was a vocal critic of one of Devine's highest profile (and most successful) trades, when he acquired veteran shortstop Groat from Pittsburgh after the 1962 season. Rickey believed that Groat, 32 at the time, was too old. Groat, however, still had two prime years left. He batted .319 () and .292 (), and was runner-up in the National League's 1963 Most Valuable Player Award balloting. He was the NL's starting shortstop in both the 1963 and 1964 All-Star games, and helped lead the 1963 Cardinals to a second-place finish. But the 1964 team fell behind in the standings and seemed stalled in fifth place in mid-August. When Busch fired Devine on August 17 and replaced him with Rickey protégé Bob Howsam, the 82-year-old consultant and special advisor was cast as the cause of Devine's downfall. The controversial firing embarrassed Busch when the team Devine assembled caught fire in the season's final six weeks, won the National League pennant, and triumphed in the 1964 World Series. After the season, Busch terminated Rickey's contract, ending a professional baseball career that had spanned 62 years.
Death
A public speaker in his later years, on November 13, 1965, Rickey collapsed in the middle of a speech in Columbia, Missouri, as he was being elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He had told a story of physical courage and was about to relate an illustration from the Bible. "Now I'm going to tell you a story from the Bible about spiritual courage," he said. Rickey murmured he could not continue, collapsed and never spoke again. He faltered, fell back into his seat and slipped onto the floor. He never regained consciousness. His brain was damaged when his breathing stopped momentarily, though his heart picked up its rhythm again. Through the next 26 days, hospitalized in a coma, there was little change.
On December 9, at about 10 p.m. he died of heart failure at Boone County Memorial Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, 11 days before his 84th birthday. Branch Rickey was interred at Rush Township Burial Park in Rushtown, Ohio, near where his parents, his widow Jane (who died in 1971), and three of his children (including Branch Jr.) also rest. Rickey's grave overlooks the Scioto Valley, about three miles from his boyhood home in Stockdale, Ohio.
Honors and legacy
According to historian Harold Seymour:
Branch Rickey stands forth as professional baseball's counterpart of that oldest stereotype of American folklore, the shrewd hard-working, God-fearing Yankee trader. He was also one of baseball's genuine innovators, an administrator who made a lasting imprint upon the industry....[His] seeming contradictions between profession and practice, together with this skill and oratorical obfuscation and circumlocution, caused many to regard Rickey as a hypocritical mountebank. Yet even his detractors acknowledged Rickey's industriousness, organizing genius, an unsurpassed ability to judge the potential of raw recruits.... Rickey built the Cardinals into a baseball empire that, at its peak, comprised 32 clubs, 600 or 700 players, and an investment of more than $2 million.
In addition to Rickey's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1967, in 1997 he was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame, in 2009 he was elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
In January 2014, the Cardinals announced Rickey among 22 former players and personnel to be inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum for the inaugural class of 2014.
A ballpark in Portsmouth, Ohio, once used by the Portsmouth Explorers, a charter member of the Frontier League before the club folded in 1996, is named in Rickey's honor. The Branch Rickey Arena at Ohio Wesleyan University is also named in his honor.
A section of US Highway 23 in Ohio, running north from the Franklin County border to the city of Delaware, has been named the Branch Rickey Memorial Highway.
In 1992, Rotary International of Denver, Colorado, created the Branch Rickey Award, which is given annually to a Major League Baseball player in recognition of exceptional community service. Outside of Coors Field in Denver is a monument to Rickey by the sculptor George Lundeen, dedicated in 2005, with this simple inscription:
It is not the honor that you take with you but the heritage you leave behind.
Another quotation attributed to Rickey is:
Luck is the residue of design.
Members of his family also became involved in baseball. Son Branch Jr. was an executive with the Dodgers and Pirates for over two decades prior to his 1961 death, and grandson Branch Rickey III served as a farm system director with the Pirates and Cincinnati Reds and president of the Triple-A American Association and Pacific Coast League during a 57-year baseball career. His brother Frank Wanzer Rickey (1888–1953) scouted for the Cardinals and Dodgers; his signees included Hall of Famers Slaughter and Johnny Mize. Frank Rickey's son-in-law, Charles A. Hurth (1906–1969), was a longtime minor league executive who served as president of the Double-A Southern Association and, briefly in the spring of 1961, as the first general manager of the Mets when Branch Rickey and the team were still discussing a top role in the New York front office; that job ultimately went to George Weiss, the former Yankee executive.
Moreover, Rickey's influence continued to loom large after his passing, especially in the National League. One year after his 1965 death, five of the league's ten general managers—Howsam (Cardinals), Devine (Mets), Brown (Pirates), Buzzie Bavasi (Dodgers) and Bill DeWitt (Reds), as well as NL president Giles—had at one time worked under Rickey during his long executive career.
Portrayals on stage, film and television
Due to his connection with Jackie Robinson, Rickey has been portrayed numerous times on screen and stage:
In the 1950 movie The Jackie Robinson Story, he is portrayed by Minor Watson.
In the 1996 HBO movie Soul of the Game, Rickey is played by Edward Herrmann.
In the 2013 film 42, Rickey is played by Harrison Ford. Rickey's great-granddaughter, actress Kelley Jakle, also appears in the film.
Rickey is the title character in the 1989 Edward Schmidt play Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, a fictionalized version of the meeting in which Rickey offered Jackie Robinson a major-league contract.
Additionally, he was also featured heavily in the 2016 PBS documentary, Jackie Robinson, which was directed by Ken Burns.
Managerial record
Head coaching record
College football
See also
List of Major League Baseball player–managers
List of St. Louis Cardinals owners and executives
List of Los Angeles Dodgers owners and executives
List of Pittsburgh Pirates owners and executives
References
Further reading
External links
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1965 deaths
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Allegheny Gators football coaches
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426364 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anolis%20carolinensis | Anolis carolinensis | Anolis carolinensis or green anole () (among other names below) is a tree-dwelling species of anole lizard native to the southeastern United States and introduced to islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. A small to medium-sized lizard, the green anole is a trunk-crown ecomorph and can change its color to several shades from brown to green.
Other names include the Carolina anole, Carolina green anole, American anole, American green anole, North American green anole and red-throated anole. It is commonly called chameleon in the southeastern United States and sometimes referred to as the American chameleon (typically in the pet trade) due to its color-changing ability; however, it is not a true chameleon.
Description
The green anole is a small to medium-sized lizard, with a slender body. The head is long and pointed with ridges between the eyes and nostrils, and smaller ones on the top of the head. The toes have adhesive pads to facilitate climbing. They exhibit sexual dimorphism, the males being fifteen percent larger. Adult males within a population can be classified within a heavyweight and a lightweight morph. The male dewlap (throat fan) is three times the size of the female's and bright orange to pink, whereas that of the female is lighter in color. The dewlap is usually pink for Anolis carolinensis (more orange-red in A. sagrei) and is very rarely present in females. The color of the dewlap is variable and different from the lizard eye to the human eye. Green anoles are thought to be capable of seeing a larger range of the UV spectrum, and that the dewlap reflects ultraviolet light for attracting mates. Female anoles do, however, often have a dorsal line down their back. Extension of the dewlap from the throat is used for communication. Males can form a pronounced dorsal ridge behind the head when displaying or when under stress. Females and juveniles have a prominent white stripe running along their spine, a feature most males lack.
Adult males are usually long, with about 60-70% of which is made up of its tail, with a body length up to and can weigh from .
Coloration and color morphs
Colour varies from brown to green and can be changed like many other kinds of lizards, but anoles are closely related to iguanas and are not true chameleons. Although A. carolinensis is sometimes called an 'American chameleon', true chameleons do not naturally occur in the Americas, and A. carolinensis is not the only lizard currently in its area of distribution capable of changing colour. In contrast, many species of true chameleons display a greater range of color adaptation, though some can hardly change color at all.
Typical coloration for a green anole ranges from bright green to dark brown, with little variation in between. The color spectrum is a result of three layers of pigment cells or chromatophores: the xanthophores, responsible for the yellow pigmentation; cyanophores, responsible for the blue pigmentation, and melanophores, responsible for the brown and black pigmentation. The anole changes its color depending on mood, level of stress, activity level and as a social signal (for example, displaying dominance). Anolis carolinensis takes darker coloration as its base color at the beginning of the breeding season when it is generally cooler, and the adult males change their body coloration to more greenish when they need to advertise their territorial possession. Although often claimed, evidence does not support that they do it in response to the color of the background (camouflage). Whether they do it in response to temperature (thermoregulation) is less clear, with studies both supporting it and contradicting it. Changing color while under a sharply contrasting shadow can cause a "stencil effect", where the outline of the shadow is temporarily imprinted in the animal's coloration (see image in gallery, below). When stressed—while fighting, for example—the skin just behind the lizard's eyes may turn black independently from the rest of the animal's coloration, forming "postocular spots".
A lack in one of the pigment genes causes color exceptions. These color mutations are also called phases. The rare blue-phased green anole lacks xanthophores, which results in a blue, rather than red, often pastel blue, anole. These specimens have become popular recently in the pet trade market. When the anole is completely lacking xanthophores, it is said to be axanthic and the animal will have a completely pastel- or baby-blue hue. They are extremely rare—usually produced in one of every 20,000 individual anoles in the wild. Another phase is the yellow-phased green anole, which lacks cyanophores. Colonies of these rare color-phased anoles have been reported, but anoles with these color mutations rarely live for long, since the green color provides camouflage for hunting down prey, as well as hiding from predators.
Taxonomy
Anolis carolinensis is a species of the large lizard genus Anolis within the family Dactyloidae (anole lizards). Within the genus, thirteen species have been identified as a distinct clade, referred to as the Anolis carolinensis series. This group are mid-sized trunk crown anoles with large conspicuously elongated heads and extreme levels of sexual dimorphism. The species was named by Friedrich Siegmund Voigt (1781 - 1850) in 1832.
Distribution and habitat
This species is native to North America, where it is found mainly in the subtropical southeastern parts of the continent. Anoles are the most abundant on the Atlantic Coastal Plains in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and on the Gulf Coast in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, where they extend inland as far as Texas Hill Country and the DFW Metroplex; they have also been recorded in Tamaulipas, Mexico, but it is mostly likely an introduction. In the Carolinas, they are found on the coastal plains as far north as False Cape in Virginia, and in the southern piedmont of North Carolina, but throughout South Carolina, while in Georgia they are widespread except in the Blue Ridge region.
The species has been introduced into various locales in the Pacific and the Caribbean: Hawaii, the Ogasawara Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Bahamas, Anguilla, Palau, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the Canary Islands. In 2005 they were recognized and listed as an invasive alien species in the Ogasawara Islands of Japan for causing insect population collapse. They have been sighted in Orange County and San Diego County of southern California, with sightings in San Diego going at least as far back as 1993.
A. carolinensis is arboreal in nature but may be seen on the ground and frequently seen on shrubs in the low country of the Carolinas. However, it can live in cities like Atlanta with little trouble so long as there is plentiful vegetation and bugs to eat. One can observe them on steps, trellises, and railings adjacent to foliage; on particularly hot summer days they may seek to cool off on indoor walls or on wrap around porches of older buildings, and in the former case can simply be captured in a shoebox and gently placed outdoors. It is common on roadsides, the edges of forests where there are shrubs and vines, but also construction sites having abundant foliage and sunlight. Their preferred habitat is open pine communities with a greater shrub density, it may harbor a greater abundance of anoles where they are able to watch for prey and intruders coming into their territory.
Conservation
Although not threatened as a species, Carolina anoles increasingly struggle with competition from introduced anole species, such as the brown anole (Anolis sagrei), also known as the Bahamian anole. This competition happened to be an interesting model for evolutionary studies, as it illustrates the process of adaptation. When A. sagrei first appeared in the United States in the early 1900s, the Carolina anole mostly ceded ground-level territories and were relegated to a very different ecosystem high in the treetops. On occasion, more aggressive Carolina anole individuals may still be seen closer to the ground. Currently, A. carolinensis is abundant in its area of distribution and is able to thrive in disturbed areas, so it is not considered threatened, but A. sagrei may represent a developing threat in some areas.
Relationships and hybridization
A. carolinensis has been found to regularly hybridize with a closely related species, Anolis porcatus (the Cuban green anole), in Southern Florida, where A. porcatus has been introduced. A 2022 study found there to be asymmetric introgression of certain A. porcatus alleles within the population of hybrid individuals, three of which were found to be significantly associated with environmental variables indicative of urbanization. It remains uncertain as to how this admixture of invasive alleles to the Carolina anole will affect the conservation of the species going forward. Not all admixture from invasive populations should be viewed as a negative outcome, and adaptive introgression as a result of hybridization with an ecologically robust invasive population might facilitate the long-term survival of native populations otherwise unable to adapt to human impact on the environment.
Behavior
Male anoles are strongly territorial creatures. Some have even been witnessed fighting their own reflections in mirrored glass. The male will fight other males to defend his territory. On sighting another male, the anole will compress his body, extend the dewlap, inflate a dorsal ridge, bob his head and attempt to chase the rival away. If the rival male continues to approach, anoles will fight by biting and scratching each other. Studies have also shown that there is a positive correlation between bite-force and the size of the individual's dewlap.
One study showed that heavyweights had 50% higher testosterone concentrations than lightweights during the breeding season. It seems that disproportionally larger heads and dewlaps may be correlated to higher bite forces of heavyweights. Those with darker colorations will choose lower perch sites compared to their lighter conspecifics. For heavyweight males of the same size the one with the higher bite force wins disputes more frequently.
Adult female anoles have much smaller dewlaps that they rarely use during encounters with other anoles and never use during courting. Serious injury is rare, but males often carry numerous scars on their heads and faces, especially during the mating season. Their territories, which are about , usually include two to three females.
The Carolina anole is diurnal and active throughout the year, peaking in spring and fall. Winter activity is dependent on sun and temperature.
Diet
An anole's diet consists primarily of small insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, flies, butterflies, moths, cockroaches, small beetles, and other arthropods, including spiders, as well as occasionally feeding on various molluscs, grains, and seeds. Although anoles have been observed preying upon smaller reptiles such as juvenile skinks, this is not thought to be typical behavior. Many people who keep these lizards as pets feed them mealworms, grubs, maggots, and small crickets.
Predators
Major predators include the broadhead skink, snakes, birds, and in urban habitats, cats. Like many lizards, anoles display autotomic tails, which wiggle when broken off. This distracts the predator and helps the anole to escape. A new tail then starts to develop. The new tail, however, containing cartilage rather than bone, will typically not grow back to the same length as the first one, and may exhibit a marked difference in color and texture from the rest of the animal. Green anoles will also try to escape predators by climbing vertical walls, trees, fences, or any vertical surface they can find. This ability is possible due to their enlarged toe pads and great climbing ability.
Anoles are parasitized by some species of sarcophagid flies, including Lepidodexia blakeae. Adult flies will deposit eggs on live anoles, and the fly larvae develop inside the lizard until they emerge from a wound and pupate into adult flies in sediment. Infection is often fatal, with mortality rates possibly as high as 90%.
Reproduction
The typical breeding season for Carolina anoles starts as early as April and ends in late September, gonadal activity being largely regulated by photoperiod, enlarging in spring as the weather warms up and days lengthen, and then regressing in late summer.
During this time, the males patrol their territory and the most brilliant displays of these creatures can be seen. Males defend their territory and females from rivals, while courting the females with elaborate displays of extending their brightly colored dewlaps while bobbing up and down, almost doing a dance. The dewlap is also used to ward off other males. The male courts and pursues a female until the two successfully mate. Usually, when the female is ready to mate, she may let the male catch her, at which point he will grasp her by biting a fold of her skin behind her neck. The male will then position his tail underneath the female's tail near her vent. Males have two sex organs, known as hemipenes, which are normally kept within the body, but are everted from his vent for mating. Males seem to alternate between the left and right hemipenis on successive matings.
The female matures one ovarian follicle at a time, the ovaries alternating in production. The sight of a courting male induces ovarian development, sexual receptiveness and then ovulation. About two to four weeks following mating, the female lays her first clutch of eggs, usually one or two in the first clutch. She can produce an egg every two weeks during the breeding season, until about 10 eggs have been produced. However, she can store sperm for up to eight months following mating. She then buries the soft-shelled eggs in a shallow depression in soft soil, leaf litter, compost, rotting wood, or even a hole in a nearby tree. Eggs average by in size.
The eggs are left to incubate by the heat of the sun, and if successful, will hatch in about five to seven weeks (30–45 days) from late May to early October. The incubate temperature has to be 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. On hatching, the hatchlings are in length.
The hatchlings must fend for themselves, as they are not cared for by either parent. The young hatchlings must be wary of other adult anoles in the area, as well as larger reptiles and mammals, which could eat them. Younger anoles differ from adults in having less obvious head ridges, a wider head and shorter tail. They mature in about eight months.
Captivity
Carolina anoles' nervous natures makes it advisable not to attempt to handle them very often; despite this, Carolina anoles are popular pets. Individual animals may or may not adapt readily to cage life. Care must be taken to ensure the animals receive the support they need to adapt to captivity and live full and enriching lives; an adequately sized enclosure, as well as the appropriate plants and substrate material, are beneficial to the health of captive Carolina anoles.
A well-cared for green anole can be expected to live for up to 10 years, with longer being possible.
Genomics
This species has been chosen as a model reptile for genomics by the National Human Genome Research Institute genome sequencing program. It was selected because of the ease and low cost of laboratory breeding and evolutionary value of the diversity of the genus. In 2011, the complete genome of this lizard was sequenced and published in Nature. Before its genome was published, only mammals and three bird species had been sequenced among amniotes. The draft genome sequence is 1.78 Gb (compared with 2.0–3.6 Gb mammalian and 0.9–1.3 Gb avian genome assemblies), of which 27% are mobile elements such as LINEs. A total of 17,472 protein-coding genes and 2,924 RNA genes were predicted from the A. carolinensis genome assembly.
Gallery
References
O'Bryant, E. L., & Wade, J. (2001). Development of a sexually dimorphic neuromuscular system involved in green anole courtship behavior. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 58(6), 362–369. https://doi.org/10.1159/000057577
External links
Anole genome sequencing project at NCBI
"Breeding green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) in captivity"
Green anole care sheet
View the green anole genome in Ensembl.
Anoles
Lizards of North America
Anole, Carolina
Anole, Green
Reptiles described in 1832
Taxa named by Friedrich Siegmund Voigt
Reptiles as pets |
426381 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20Best | George Best | George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A skilful dribbler, he is considered one of the greatest players of all time. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968 and came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. Best received plaudits for his playing style, which combined pace, skill, balance, feints, goalscoring and the ability to get past defenders. His style of play captured the public's imagination, and in 1999 he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. He was also an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
Born in Belfast, Best began his club career in England with Manchester United, with the scout who had spotted his talent at the age of 15 sending a telegram to manager Matt Busby which read: "I think I've found you a genius". After making his debut at age 17, he scored 179 goals in 470 appearances over 11 years and was the club's top goalscorer in the league for five consecutive seasons. He won two League titles and the European Cup with the club.
In international football, Best was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland between 1964 and 1977. A combination of the team's performance and his lack of fitness in 1982 meant that he never played in the finals of a major tournament. He considered his international career as being "recreational football", with the expectations placed on a smaller nation in Northern Ireland being much less than with his club. He is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have played at a World Cup. The Irish Football Association described him as the "greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland".
With his handsomeness, dark Beatle mop-top hair and playboy lifestyle, Best became one of the first media celebrity footballers, earning the nickname "o Quinto Beatle" by Portuguese press reporters after a stand-out performance for Manchester United in Lisbon in March 1966. However, his extravagant lifestyle led to various personal problems, most notably alcoholism, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. These issues affected him on and off the field, often causing controversy. Although conscious of his problems, he made light of them: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars – the rest I just squandered". After football, he spent some time as a football analyst, but his financial and health problems continued into his retirement. He died in 2005, aged 59, from complications from the immunosuppressive drugs he needed to take after a liver transplant in 2002.
Early years and family
George Best was the first child of Richard "Dickie" Best (1919–2008) and Anne Withers (1922–1978). He was born on 22 May 1946 and grew up in Cregagh, east Belfast. Best was raised in the Free Presbyterian faith. His father was a member of the Orange Order and as a boy George carried the strings of the banner in his local Cregagh lodge. In his autobiography, Best mentioned how important the order was to his family. Best had four sisters, Carol, Barbara, Julie and Grace, and one brother, Ian (Ian Busby Best).
Best's mother Anne died from alcoholism-related cardiovascular disease in 1978, at the age of 55. Best's father died on 16 April 2008, at the age of 88, in the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, Northern Ireland.
In 1957, the academically gifted Best passed the 11-plus and went to Grosvenor High School, but he soon played truant as the school specialised in rugby union. Best then moved to Lisnasharragh Secondary School, reuniting him with friends from primary school and allowing him to focus on football. He played for Cregagh Boys Club. He grew up supporting Glentoran and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Club career
Manchester United
At the age of 15 Best was discovered in Belfast by Manchester United scout Bob Bishop, whose telegram to United manager Matt Busby read: "I think I've found you a genius." His local club Glentoran had previously rejected him for being "too small and light". Best was subsequently given a trial and signed up by United's chief scout Joe Armstrong. His first time moving to the club, Best quickly became homesick and stayed for only two days before going back home to Northern Ireland. He returned to Manchester and spent two years as an amateur, as English clubs were not allowed to take Northern Irish players on as apprentices. He was given a job as an errand boy on the Manchester Ship Canal, allowing him to train with the club twice a week.
Best made his First Division debut, aged 17, on 14 September 1963 against West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford in a 1–0 victory. He then dropped back into the reserves, before scoring his first goal for the first team in his second appearance in a 5–1 win over Burnley on 28 December. Manager Matt Busby then kept Best in the team, and by the end of the 1963–64 season, he had made 26 appearances, scoring six goals. Manchester United finished second, four points behind Liverpool. They also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where a defeat to West Ham United cost Best the chance to break a record; in the final Preston North End's Howard Kendall became the youngest ever player in a FA Cup Final – he shared the same birth date as Best. That same season, Best captained the Manchester United side that won the 1964 FA Youth Cup, the sixth FA Youth Cup won under the management of Jimmy Murphy, and the first since the 1958 Munich air disaster.
Though opponents would often use rough play to try to stifle his technical ability, Busby ensured that "fierce, sometimes brutal" training sessions left Best well used to coping with tough challenges. In the 1964–65 season, his first full season as a first team regular, Best helped Manchester United to claim the league title. A 1–0 victory at Elland Road proved decisive as the title race came down to goal average between the "Red Devils" and bitter rivals Leeds United; Leeds did manage to gain some measure of revenge though by knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage. Over the course of the campaign Best contributed 14 goals in 59 competitive games. He scored the opening goal of the 1965 FA Charity Shield at Old Trafford, which ended in a 2–2 draw with Liverpool.
The rising star of English football, Best was catapulted to superstar status at the age of 19 when he scored two goals in a European Cup quarter-final match against Benfica at the Estádio da Luz on 9 March 1966. His impressive stand-out display allied with his dark Beatle mop-top hair, the Portuguese media dubbed him "O Quinto Beatle" ("the fifth Beatle"), and on the team's return to England, Best was photographed on the airport tarmac in his new sombrero with the headline, "El Beatle". His talent and showmanship made him a crowd and media favourite, and he went from being headline news in the back pages to the front pages.
{{blockquote|Before the game, manager Matt Busby had told his wingers, Best and Connelly, to stay deep for the first 20 minutes. Keep it tight and quieten the crowd. But George Best was only 19, too young for such caution. All he heard was 'blah, blah, blah'. When the game started, he grabbed it by the scruff. 'Watch this, Eusebio. And Coluna, Simoes, Torres, Germano, Jose Augusto. I'm George Best, and this is how it's done.'|El Beatle' arrives, Jon Carter for ESPN.}}
Other nicknames included the "Belfast Boy", and he was often referred to as Georgie, or Geordie in his native Belfast. However United failed to win any major honours in the 1965–66 season, and Best was injured from 26 March onwards with a twisted knee following a bad tackle from a Preston North End player. However United staff claimed it was light ligament damage so as to keep Best on the field for the rest of the campaign. He had little faith in the United medical staff, and so he secretly saw Glentoran's physiotherapist, who readjusted his ligaments in a painful procedure. His last game of the season, his knee strapped-up, came on 13 April, and ended in a 2–0 defeat to Partizan Belgrade at Partizan Stadium.
The 1966–67 season was again successful, as Manchester United claimed the league title by four points. Best stated that "if the championship was decided on home games we would win it every season. This time our away games made the difference. We got into the right frame of mind." An ever-present all season long, he scored 10 goals in 45 games. He then helped the "Red Devils" to share the Charity Shield with a 3–3 draw with FA Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur; it was the first game to be broadcast in colour on British television.
Best scored twice against rivals Liverpool in a 2–0 win at Anfield, and also claimed a hat-trick over Newcastle United in a 6–0 home win on the penultimate league game of the season. However a home defeat to hated local rivals Manchester City proved costly, as City claimed the league title with a two-point lead over United. Yet the 1967–68 season would be remembered by United fans for the European Cup win. After disposing of Maltese Hibernians, United advanced past Yugoslavian Sarajevo with a 2–1 home win – Best assisted John Aston for the first and scored the second himself, and was described by Geoffrey Green of The Times as "the centrepiece of the chessboard ... a player full of fantasy; a player who lent magic to what might have been whimsy". In the quarter-finals United advanced past Polish club Górnik Zabrze 2–1 on aggregate, having held on to their aggregate lead in freezing temperatures in front of 105,000 at Silesian Stadium; despite losing the away tie 1–0, Best described the defeat as "one of our best-ever performances, given all the unwelcome circumstances". Facing six times champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals, Best scored the only goal of the home fixture with a 15-yard strike that Alex Stepney described as one of Best's finest goals. In the tie at the Bernabéu, Best was marked effectively by Manuel Sanchís Martínez, but on the one time Best got the better of him he made a telling pass to Bill Foulkes,who calmly found the net to level the game at 3–3 and to win the aggregate tie 4–3.
Days after returning to England, as the First Division's joint top-scorer (level on 28 goals with Southampton's Ron Davies) Best was presented with the FWA Footballer of the Year award, becoming the youngest ever recipient of the award. Facing United in the European Cup Final at Wembley were Benfica; while his teammates rested, Best found "a novel way to relax" before the big game by sleeping with "a particular young lady called Sue". The game went into extra-time, and just three minutes into extra-time Best went on a mazy run and beat goalkeeper José Henrique with a dummy, before rolling the ball into the net; two further goals from Brian Kidd and Bobby Charlton settled the tie at 4–1. The victory was not only the pinnacle of Best's career, but arguably Manchester United's greatest achievement, considering the Munich air disaster had wiped out most of the Busby Babes just ten years previously. Best also won the Ballon d'Or in 1968 after receiving more votes than Bobby Charlton, Dragan Džajić and Franz Beckenbauer. This meant that he had won the three major honours in club football at the age of just 22 (the league title, European Cup, and European Player of the Year award). After this, his steady decline began.
However, the 'holy trinity' of Best, Law and Charlton were still as effective as ever in the 1968–69 campaign. Although, it became obvious that the club's new recruits were not up to scratch as United dropped to 11th in the league before Busby announced his retirement. Best later said that "I increasingly had the feeling that I was carrying the team at times on the pitch." He scored 22 goals in 55 games, though only he and Denis Law scored more than six league goals. In the Intercontinental Cup, fans and players alike looked forward to seeing United take on Argentine opposition Estudiantes de La Plata over the course of two legs. However Best said "no one tackled harder or dirtier than this Argentinian team" as a 1–0 defeat at the Estadio Camilo Cichero was followed by a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford. In the home tie, Best was kicked and spat on by José Hugo Medina, and both players were sent off after Best reacted with a punch. Despite their poor league form, United managed to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup (they had a relatively easy run in getting past the Republic of Ireland's Waterford United, Belgium's Anderlecht, and Austria's Rapid Wien) where they were knocked out 2–1 on aggregate by A.C. Milan following a 2–0 defeat at the San Siro; Milan goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini was the hero after keeping United to only one goal at Old Trafford.
United improved slightly under new boss Wilf McGuinness, but still only managed an eighth-place finish in the 1969–70 season. Best hit 23 goals, including an FA Cup record six goals in an 8–2 win over Northampton Town in a mud-bath at the County Ground on 7 February 1970. Best's sixth goal saw him go one on one with Northampton goalkeeper Kim Book. Best made a feint to go right which put Book on his backside, before he went left and walked the ball into the net. Book states: Best's six goal performance earned him an invitation to No 10 Downing Street from UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who had also regularly written fan letters to him. In 2002 the British public voted Best's record breaking performance No. 26 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments. Busby returned as manager in December 1970, though the 1970–71 season also ended without a trophy. Best began to get into trouble with his discipline: he was fined by the Football Association for receiving three bookings for misconduct, and he was suspended by United for two weeks after missing his train to Stamford Bridge so as to spend a weekend with actress Sinéad Cusack.
New manager Frank O'Farrell led United to an eighth-place finish in 1971–72. Highlights for Best included hat-tricks against West Ham United and Southampton, as well as a goal against Sheffield United that came after he beat four defenders in a mazy run. However, he was also sent off against Chelsea, was the subject of death threats, and failed to turn up for training for a whole week in January as he instead spent his time with Miss Great Britain 1971, Carolyn Moore. On 17 November, he was the subject of Eamonn Andrews's biographical television show This Is Your Life when he was surprised at a central London restaurant. He would be the subject for a second time in 2003 when Michael Aspel surprised him at Teddington Studios. With 27 goals in 54 appearances, Best finished as the club's top-scorer for the sixth – and final – consecutive season. Best then announced his retirement from football, but nevertheless turned up for pre-season training, and continued to play.
United's decline continued in the 1972–73 season, as Best was part of the 'old guard clique' that barely talked to the newer, less talented players. Frustrated with the club's decline, Best went missing in December to party at the London nightclubs. He was suspended, and transfer-listed at a value of £300,000. After O'Farrell was replaced as manager by Tommy Docherty, Best announced his retirement for a second time. He resumed training on 27 April.
Best's last competitive game for the club was on 1 January 1974 against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, which United lost 3–0. He failed to turn up for training three days later and was dropped by Docherty, though he claimed Docherty was deceitful with him. Best was arrested and charged with stealing a fur coat, passport, and cheque book from Marjorie Wallace, but was later cleared of all charges. United went on to suffer relegation into the Second Division in 1973–74.
Best played at United when shirt numbers were assigned to positions, and not the player. When Best played at right wing, as he famously did during the later stages of the 1966 and 1968 European Cups, he donned the number 7. As a left winger, where he played exclusively in his debut season and nearly all of the 1971–72 campaign, he wore the number 11. Best wore the number 8 shirt at inside right on occasion throughout the 1960s, but for more than half of his matches during 1970–71. He was playing at inside left (wearing the number 10) in 1972 when he famously walked out on United the first time but was back in the number 11 for the autumn of 1973 before leaving for good. Best even wore the number 9 jersey once for United, with Bobby Charlton injured, on 22 March 1969 at Old Trafford, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. In total Best made 474 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions from 1963 to 1974, and scored 181 goals. Over the next decade he went into an increasingly rapid decline, drifting between several clubs, including spells in South Africa, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Scotland, and Australia.
Later years
Playing only five competitive matches for Jewish Guild in South Africa, Best endured criticism for missing several training sessions. During his short time there, he was the main draw attracting thousands of spectators to the matches.
In 1975, Best played three matches for Stockport County in the Fourth Division. He had a brief spell at Cork Celtic from December 1975 to January 1976. He made his League of Ireland debut against Drogheda United at Flower Lodge on 28 December. He played only three league games, the others against Bohemians and Shelbourne, but despite attracting big crowds he failed to score or impress. Being on a rolling contract with Cork his failure to show for a game saw him being dropped and subsequently leaving the club.
He had a brief resurgence in form with Second Division club Fulham from 1976–78, showing that, although he had lost some of his pace, he retained his skills. His time with the "Cottagers" is particularly remembered for a match against Hereford United on 25 September 1976 in which he jokingly tackled his own teammate, and old drinking mate, Rodney Marsh. Best and Marsh were drawn to the club by the presence of England World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, and they were involved in exuberant goal celebrations.
Best played for three clubs in the United States: Los Angeles Aztecs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and later San Jose Earthquakes; he also played for the Detroit Express on a European tour. Best was a success on the field, scoring 15 goals in 24 games in his first season with the Aztecs and named as the NASL's best midfielder in his second. He and manager Ken Adam opened "Bestie's Beach Club" (now called "The Underground" after the London subway system) in Hermosa Beach, California in the 1970s, and continued to operate it until the 1990s.
Best caused a stir when he returned to the UK to play for the Scottish club Hibernian. The club was suffering a decline in fortunes and was heading for relegation from the Premier Division, before Best was signed on a "pay per play" basis after the club chairman, Tom Hart, received a tip-off from an Edinburgh Evening News reporter that he was available. Even though Best failed to save Hibs from relegation, gates increased dramatically, and the attendance quadrupled for his first match at Easter Road. One infamous incident saw Best initially sacked by Hibs after he went on a massive drinking session with the French rugby team, who were in Edinburgh to play Scotland. He was brought back a week later. In August 1982, he played 20 minutes for Scone Thistle against Scone Amateurs; the appearance fee he received helped to pay off an income tax bill.
He returned to the US to play for the San Jose Earthquakes in what was officially described as a "loan", though he only managed a handful of appearances for Hibs in the First Division in the following season. He returned one last time to Easter Road in 1984, for Jackie McNamara's testimonial match against Newcastle United. In his third season in the States, Best scored once in 12 appearances. His moves to Fort Lauderdale and San Jose were also unhappy, as his off-field demons began to take control of his life again. After failing to agree terms with Bolton Wanderers in 1981, he was invited as a guest player and played three matches for two Hong Kong First Division teams (Sea Bee and Rangers) in 1982. At HK Rangers he played alongside his former Northern Ireland teammate Derek Spence. While in Hong Kong, Best also played darts for a team called Presstuds, made up of a combination of professional footballers and sports journalists.
In late 1982, AFC Bournemouth manager Don Megson signed the 36-year-old Best for the Third Division side, and he remained there until the end of the 1982–83 season, when he retired from football at the age of 37. Best played in a friendly for Newry Town against Shamrock Rovers in August 1983, before ending his professional career exactly 20 years after joining Manchester United with a brief four-match stint playing for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian National Soccer League during the 1983 season. He also was a guest player for an exhibition match between Dee Why Football Club and Manly Warringah held on 27 July 1983; Dee Why won the match 2–1, with Best having scored the winning goal. On 29 October 1984, Best played as a special guest for Reading against the New Zealand national team in a friendly game, alongside 1966 World Cup winner Martin Peters. Reading were defeated 2–1.
On 8 August 1988, a testimonial match was held for Best at Windsor Park. Among the crowd were Sir Matt Busby, Jimmy Murphy, and Bob Bishop, the scout who discovered Best, while those playing included Osvaldo Ardiles, Johan Neeskens, Pat Jennings and Liam Brady. Best scored twice, one goal from outside the box, the other from the penalty spot.
International career
Best was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals. Of his nine international goals, four were scored against Cyprus and one each against Albania, England, Scotland, Switzerland and Turkey. Largely surrounded by teammates of lesser ability with Northern Ireland than with his club and lower expectations as a result, Best considered his international career as being "recreational football". He is regarded as one of the greatest players never to have played at a World Cup, and like his namesake, Liberia star George Weah, he was “hamstrung in World Cup terms by hailing from a global minnow”.
On 15 May 1971, Best scored possibly the most famous "goal" of his career at Windsor Park in Belfast against England. As Gordon Banks, the English goalkeeper, released the ball in the air in order to kick the ball downfield, Best managed to kick the ball first, which sent the ball high over their heads and heading towards the open goal. Best outpaced Banks and headed the ball into the empty goal, but the goal was disallowed by referee Alistair Mackenzie.
Best continued to be selected for Northern Ireland throughout the 1970s, despite his fluctuating form and off pitch problems. Dutch captain Johan Cruyff commented: "What he [Best] had was unique, you can't coach it".
Best was considered briefly by manager Billy Bingham for the 1982 World Cup, but at the age of 35, with his football skills dulled by age and drink (and five years having passed since his last cap), he was not selected for the Northern Ireland squad. A proponent of a United Ireland football team, in 2005 Best stated: "I've always thought that at any given time both the Republic and Northern Ireland have had some great world-class players. I still hope that in my lifetime it happens."
Style of play
A highly skilful winger, considered by several pundits to be one of the greatest dribblers in the history of the sport, Best received plaudits for his playing style, which combined pace, skill, balance, feints, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to get past defenders. Recalling Best's career and style of play, sports writer Patrick Barclay said: "In terms of ability he was the world's best footballer of all time. He could do almost anything – technically, speed, complete mastery of not only the ball but his own body. You could saw his legs away and he still wouldn't fall because his balance was uncanny, almost supernatural. Heading ability, passing ability, I mean it goes without saying the dribbling – he could beat anybody in any way he chose. For fun he'd play a one-two off the opponent's shins."
Although Best was mostly renowned for his dribbling skills, he also drew praise for his ability as a creator; in regard to this ability, Daily Telegraph reader Tony Dove commented: "I only had the opportunity to see George play once in person – Man U played a tour game in Auckland, New Zealand, late in the 60s. His brilliance was simply dazzling – player after player from the New Zealand national team queued up to try to tackle him and he gave them all dancing lessons. I clearly remember one run, starting almost from the goal-line, from a roll-out by Stepney, when he evaded every player in the NZ team, one after the other, until he reached the opposite end of the pitch and produced a perfectly floated centre for Charlton's head. His grace, agility and ball skills were only eclipsed by his unselfish passing – many love to remark on his goal scoring but he was prodigious as the set-up man. On the field you couldn't ask for a better football role-model. Let the man pass with what dignity remains to him. Remember him at his best."
In an interview, Manchester United's Alex Stepney said, "Best would knock the ball on to the goalkeeper's shin, who would be rushing towards this feet to close down the angle, and the ball would bounce back to him and he would score. No one has been able to emulate that in football. Not only did he do it in training but he did it against Manchester United's arch rivals Liverpool at Anfield."
Personal life
During his early years at Old Trafford, Best was a shy teenager who passed his free time in snooker halls. However, he later became known for his long hair, good looks and extravagant celebrity lifestyle, and appeared on Top of the Pops in 1965.
He opened a nightclub called Slack Alice on Bootle Street in Manchester in 1973 and owned restaurants in the city including Oscars, on the site of the old Waldorf Hotel. He also owned fashion boutiques, in partnership with Manchester City player Mike Summerbee. Best's cousin Gary Reid, a member of the Ulster Defence Association, was killed in 1974 during an episode of serious rioting in east Belfast.
Best married Angela MacDonald-Janes on 24 January 1978 at Candlelight Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, having met her in the United States when Best was playing for the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1976. Their son, Calum, was born in 1981, but they separated in 1982 and divorced in 1986.
He married Alex Pursey in 1995 in Kensington and Chelsea, London. They divorced in 2004 with no children. In 2004, she alleged that Best was violent towards her at times during their marriage, an issue that was covered in Best's authorised 1998 biography "Bestie" in which Alex claimed that Best punched her in the face on more than one occasion. Earlier in the book it is revealed that he struck another of his girlfriends at least once and was arrested and charged with assault on a waitress, Stevie Sloniecka, in November 1972, when he fractured her nose in Reuben's nightclub, Manchester. He was successfully defended when the case reached court in January 1973 by barrister George Carman QC, a close drinking companion of Best, as acknowledged in his book, Scoring at Half Time.
At the peak of his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Best advertised Cookstown sausages on television with the phrase "the Best family sausages". In 2007 a memorial plaque was placed outside the pork factory in the County Tyrone town. In the early 1970s, Best also advertised eggs, under the campaign "E for B and Georgie Best," both in print and on TV, where "E for B" was short for "Eggs for Breakfast."
Best had a cameo as himself in the 1971 British comedy film Percy. In 1984, he made a fitness album with Mary Stävin called Shape Up and Dance. The Farm's video for their 1992 cover version of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" featured Best mouthing the chorus. A biographical film entitled Best was released in May 2000, with John Lynch portraying George Best. Indie rock band The Wedding Present named their first album George Best, and featured Best on the cover wearing his red Manchester United kit. After his death, Brian Kennedy and Peter Corry released a single entitled George Best – A Tribute. Best features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was included as an icon in the FIFA 19 Ultimate Team Legends.
In 2007, GQ magazine named him as one of the 50 most stylish men of the past 50 years. When Best played football, salaries were a fraction of what top players earn today, but, with his pop star image and celebrity status, Best still earned a fortune. He lost almost all of it. When asked what happened to the money he had earned, Best quipped: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds (women) and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."
In 2012, Best was featured in the list of The New Elizabethans to mark the diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Best among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character".
Alcoholism
Best suffered from alcoholism for most of his adult life, leading to numerous controversies and, eventually, his death. In 1981, while playing in the United States, Best stole money from the handbag of a woman he did not know in order to fund a drinking session. He recalled the incident, "We were sitting in a bar on the beach, and when she got up to go to the toilet I leaned over and took all the money she had in her bag."
In 1984, Best received a three-month prison sentence for drunk driving, assaulting a police officer and failing to answer bail. He spent Christmas of 1984 behind bars at Ford Open Prison. Contrary to popular belief and urban legend, he never played football for the prison team. In September 1990, Best appeared on the primetime BBC chat show Wogan in which he was heavily drunk and swore, at one point saying to the host, "Terry, I like screwing". In 2002 he told The Guardian: “I was ill and everyone could see it but me.”
Liver transplant and controversy
Best was diagnosed with severe liver damage in March 2000. His liver was said to be functioning at only 20%. In 2001, he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. At the end of July and start of August 2002, he had a successful liver transplant at the private Cromwell Hospital in London. He haemorrhaged so badly during the operation that he nearly died. The transplant was performed at public expense on the NHS, a decision which was controversial due to Best's alcoholism. The controversy was reignited in 2003 when he was spotted openly drinking white wine spritzers. On 2 February 2004, Best was convicted of another drink-driving offence and banned from driving for 20 months.
Death
Best continued to drink, and was sometimes seen at his local pub in Surbiton, London. On 3 October 2005, he was admitted to intensive care at the private Cromwell Hospital in London, suffering from a kidney infection caused by the side effects of immuno-suppressive drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver. On 27 October, newspapers stated that Best was close to death and had sent a farewell message to his loved ones. Close friends in the game visited his bedside to make their farewells, including Rodney Marsh, and the two other members of the "United Trinity", Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. On 20 November, the British tabloid News of the World published a picture of Best (at his own request) showing him in his hospital bed with jaundice, along with a warning about the dangers of alcohol with his message: "Don't die like me". In the early hours of 25 November 2005, treatment was stopped; later that day he died, aged 59, as a result of a lung infection and multiple organ failure.
Tributes were paid to Best from around the world, including from arguably three of the greatest football players ever, Pelé, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff. Maradona commented: "George inspired me when I was young. He was flamboyant and exciting and able to inspire his teammates. I actually think we were very similar players – dribblers who were able to create moments of magic." Fellow Manchester United legend Eric Cantona gave a eulogy to Best: "I would love him to save me a place in his team, George Best that is, not God."
The Premier League announced that a minute's silence would be observed before all Premier League games to be held over the weekend of his death; however at many grounds a minute's applause broke out in his honour. The first match at Old Trafford after Best's death was a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion, the club against which he made his debut for Manchester United in 1963. The match, which United won, was preceded by tributes from former teammate Sir Bobby Charlton. Best's son Calum and former teammates, surviving members from the West Brom team which he played against in his debut, all joined the current United squad on the pitch for a minute's silence, during which fans in every seat held aloft pictures of Best, which were given out before the match.
Funeral
His body left the family home at Cregagh Road, East Belfast, shortly after 10:00 UTC on Saturday, 3 December 2005. The cortege then travelled the short distance to Stormont. The route was lined with around 100,000 mourners. Former Northern Ireland manager Billy Bingham, international teammates Derek Dougan, Peter McParland, Harry Gregg, Gerry Armstrong and Denis Law were the first to carry the coffin to the base of the Stormont steps.
There was an 11 am service in the Grand Hall attended by 300 invited guests relayed to around 25,000 mourners inside the grounds of Stormont. Best's brother Ian, agent Phil Hughes, Dr Akeel Alisa, who treated Best, and his brothers-in-law Norman McNarry and Alan McPherson, were also pallbearers. As the cortege left Stormont, the Gilnahirk pipe band played. The funeral was live on several television stations including BBC One. Afterwards, Best was interred beside his mother Annie Mary Best in a private ceremony at the hill-top Roselawn Cemetery, overlooking east Belfast.
Memorials
Belfast City Airport was renamed George Best Belfast City Airport as a tribute to Best. The official new name and signage was unveiled to a gathering of the Best family and friends at the airport on 22 May 2006, which would have been his 60th birthday. Public opinion in Northern Ireland about the renaming of the airport was divided, with one poll showing 52% in favour and 48% against. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) deputy leader and East Belfast Member of Parliament Peter Robinson, in whose constituency Belfast City airport is situated, stated that his preference was a sports stadium be named after Best.
In March 2006, the airline Flybe named a Dash 8 (Q400) plane The George Best. The aircraft was later used to carry Best's family across to the Manchester memorial service for Best.
In June 2006, Sarah Fabergé, great-granddaughter of Russian imperial jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé, was commissioned to create the George Best Egg, in tribute. A limited edition of 68 eggs were produced, with all profits from the sale of the eggs going to the George Best Foundation, which promotes health through sport and supports people with alcohol and drug problems. The first egg is on display at the George Best Airport. For the first anniversary of his death, Ulster Bank issued 1 million commemorative £5 notes. The notes sold out in five days. The notes sold on the online auction site eBay for up to £30.
In December 2006, the George Best Memorial Trust launched a fund-raising drive to raise £200,000 in subscriptions to pay for a life-size bronze sculpture of George Best. By 2008 the money had still not been raised until a local developer, Doug Elliott, announced on 29 January 2008, that he would put up the rest of the money and would manage delivery of the project.
Career statistics
Club
International Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Best goal. Honours
Manchester United
Football League First Division: 1964–65, 1966–67
Charity Shield: 1965, 1967
European Cup: 1968
Hibernian F.C.
East of Scotland Shield: 1979–80
Individual
Football League First Division top scorer: 1967–68
FWA Footballer of the Year: 1967–68
Ballon d'Or: 1968; third place 1971
PFA Team of the Year Second Division: 1977
Football League 100 Legends: 1998
Honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast: 2001
Freeman of Castlereagh: 2002
Inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame: 2002
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award: 2002
UEFA Jubilee Awards – Northern Ireland's Golden Player: 2003
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: No. 19
FIFA 100 (world's greatest living players: 2004)
Golden Foot: 2005, as football legend
PFA Merit Award: 2006
PFA England League Team of the Century (1907 to 2007):
Team of the Century 1907–1976
Overall Team of the Century
FWA Tribute Award: 2000
English Football Hall of Fame: 2002
FIFA Player of the Century:
FIFA internet vote: No. 20
FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote: No. 5
World Soccer The Greatest Players of the 20th century: No. 8
Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Bronze): 2020
Biographies
Bestie (co-written with Joe Lovejoy),
The Good, The Bad and The Bubbly (with Ross Benson)
Blessed: The Autobiography (with Roy Collins)
George Best: A Celebration (Bernie Smith and Maureen Hunt)
Scoring at Half Time (with Martin Knight).
Hard Tackles and Dirty Baths (with Harry Harris)
George Best: A Memoir'' (Michael Parkinson)
Notes
References General'''
External links
The George Best Foundation
George Best Player Profile
1946 births
2005 deaths
Association footballers from Belfast
Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland
Ulster Scots people
Presbyterians from Northern Ireland
People educated at Grosvenor Grammar School
Men's association football wingers
Northern Ireland men's international footballers
Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland
Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa
Jewish Guild players
Dunstable Town F.C. players
Stockport County F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland
Cork Celtic F.C. players
Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States
Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in the United States
Los Angeles Aztecs players
Fulham F.C. players
Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983) players
Hibernian F.C. players
San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players
Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Hong Kong
Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong
Sea Bee players
Hong Kong Rangers FC players
AFC Bournemouth players
Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia
Queensland Lions FC players
Nuneaton Borough F.C. players
Tobermore United F.C. players
English Football League players
League of Ireland players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
Scottish Football League players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players
National Soccer League (Australia) players
First Division/Premier League top scorers
Ballon d'Or winners
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
FIFA 100
UEFA Golden Players
British association football commentators
People from Northern Ireland convicted of assault
Liver transplant recipients
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Deaths from kidney failure
Infectious disease deaths in England
Hong Kong First Division League players
Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Australia
BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in South Africa |
426382 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz%20Josef%20Land | Franz Josef Land | Franz Josef Land (; ) is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel. It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of , stretching from east to west and from north to south. The islands are categorized in three groups (western, central, and eastern) separated by the British Channel and the Austrian Strait. The central group is further divided into a northern and southern section by the Markham Sound. The largest island is Prince George Land, which measures , followed by Wilczek Land, Graham Bell Island and Alexandra Land.
Approximately 85% of the archipelago is glaciated, with large unglaciated areas on the largest islands and many of the smallest ones. The islands have a combined coastline of . Compared to other Arctic archipelagos, Franz Josef Land is highly dissected, as a result of its being heavy glaciated, with a very low ratio of total area to coastline of just ~3.6 square kilometers per coastline kilometer. Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of the Eastern Hemisphere. The highest elevations are found in the eastern group, with the highest point located on Wiener Neustadt Land, above mean sea level.
The archipelago was first spotted by the Norwegian sailors Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and Johan Petter Aidijärvi in 1865, although they did not report their finding. The first reported finding was in the 1873 Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition led by Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht, who named the area after Emperor Franz Joseph I.
In 1926, the Soviet Union annexed the islands, which were known at the time as Fridtjof Nansen Land, and settled small outposts for research and military purposes. The Kingdom of Norway rejected the claim and several private expeditions were sent to the islands. With the Cold War, the islands became off limits for foreigners and two military airfields were built. The islands have been a nature sanctuary since 1994 and became part of the Russian Arctic National Park in 2012.
History
There are two candidates for the discovery of Franz Josef Land. The first was the Norwegian sealing vessel Spidsbergen, with captain Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and harpooner Johan Petter Aidijärvi. They sailed northeast from Svalbard in 1865 searching for suitable sealing sites, and they found land that was most likely Franz Josef Land. The account is believed to be factual, but an announcement of the discovery was never made, and their sighting therefore remained unknown to subsequent explorers. It was at the time common to keep newly discovered areas secret, as their discovery was aimed at exploiting them for sealing and whaling, and exposure would cause competitors to flock to the site. Russian scientist N. G. Schilling proposed in 1865 that the ice conditions in the Barents Sea could only be explained if there was another land mass in the area, but he never received funding for an expedition.
The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition of 1872–74 was the first to announce the discovery of the islands. Led by Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht of Austria-Hungary on board the schooner Tegetthoff, the expedition's primary goal was to find the Northeast Passage and its secondary goal to reach the North Pole. Starting in July 1872, the vessel drifted from Novaya Zemlya to a new landmass, which they named in honor of Franz Joseph I (1830–1916), Emperor of Austria. The expedition contributed significantly to the mapping and exploration of the islands. The next expedition to spot the archipelago was the Dutch Expedition for the Exploration of the Barents Sea, on board the schooner Willem Barents. Constrained by the ice, they never reached land.
Polar exploration
Benjamin Leigh Smith's expedition in 1880, aboard the barque Eira, followed a route from Spitsbergen to Franz Josef Land, landing on Bell Island in August. Leigh Smith explored the vicinity and set up a base at Eira Harbour, before exploring towards McClintock Island. He returned the following year in the same vessel, landing at Grey Bay on George Land. The explorers were stopped by ice at Cape Flora, and Eira sank on 21 August. They built a cottage and stayed the winter, to be rescued by the British vessels Kara and Hope the following summer. These early expeditions concentrated their explorations on the southern and central parts of the archipelago.
Nansen's Fram expedition was an 1893–1896 attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean. Departing in 1893, Fram drifted from the New Siberian Islands for one and a half years before Nansen became impatient and set out to reach the North Pole on skis with Hjalmar Johansen. Eventually, they gave up on reaching the pole and instead found their way to Franz Josef Land, the nearest land known to man. They were thus able to establish that there was no large landmass north of this archipelago. In the meantime the Jackson–Harmsworth Expedition set off in 1894, set up a base on Bell Island, and stayed for the winter. The following season they spent exploring. By pure chance, at Cape Flora in the spring of 1896, Nansen stumbled upon Frederick George Jackson, who was able to transport him back to Norway. Nansen and Jackson explored the northern, eastern, and western portions of the islands.
Once the basic geography of Franz Josef Land had become apparent, expeditions shifted to using the archipelago as a basis to reach the North Pole. The first such attempt was conducted by the National Geographic Society-sponsored American journalist Walter Wellman in 1898. The two Norwegians, Paul Bjørvig and Bernt Bentsen, stayed the winter 1898–9 at Cape Heller on Wilczek Land, but insufficient fuel caused the latter to die. Wellman returned the following year, but the polar expedition itself was quickly abandoned when they lost most of their equipment. Italian nobleman Luigi Amedeo organized the next expedition in 1899, on the Stella Polare. They stayed the winter, and in February and again in March 1900 set out towards the pole, but failed to get far.
Evelyn Baldwin, sponsored by William Ziegler, organized the Ziegler Polar Expedition of 1901. Setting up a base on Alger Island, he stayed the winter exploring the area, but failed to press northwards. The expedition was largely regarded as an utter failure by the exploration and scientific community, which cited the lack of proper management. Unhappy with the outcome, Ziegler organized a new expedition, for which he appointed Anthony Fiala, second-in-command in the first expedition, as leader. It arrived in 1903 and spent the winter. Their ship, America, was crushed beyond repair in December and disappeared in January. Still, they made two attempts towards the pole, both of which were quickly abandoned. They were forced to stay another year, making yet another unsuccessful attempt at the pole, before being evacuated in 1905 by the Terra Nova.
The first Russian expedition was carried out in 1901, when the icebreaker Yermak traveled to the islands. The next expedition, led by hydrologist Georgy Sedov, embarked in 1912 but did not reach the archipelago until the following year because of ice. Among its scientific contributions were the first snow measurements of the archipelago, and the determination that changes of the magnetic field occur in cycles of fifteen years. It also conducted topographical surveys of the surrounding area. Scurvy set in during the second winter, killing a machinist. Despite lacking prior experience or sufficient provisions, Sedov insisted on pressing forward with a march to the pole. His condition deteriorated and he died on 6 March.
Hertha was sent to explore the area, and its captain, I. I. Islyamov hoisted a Russian iron flag at Cape Flora and proclaimed Russian sovereignty over the archipelago. The act was motivated by the ongoing First World War and Russian fears of the Central Powers establishing themselves there. The world's first Arctic flight took place in August 1914, when Polish aviator (one of the first pilots of the Russian Navy) Jan Nagórski overflew Franz Josef Land in search of Sedov's group. Andromeda set out for the same purpose; while failing to locate them, the crew were able to finally determine the non-existence of Peterman Land and King Oscar Land, suspected lands north of the islands.
The Soviet Union
Soviet expeditions were sent almost yearly from 1923. Franz Josef Land had been considered terra nullius – land belonging to no one – but on 15 April 1926 the Soviet Union declared its annexation of the archipelago. Emulating Canada's declaration of the sector principle, they pronounced all land between the Soviet mainland and the North Pole to be Soviet territory. This principle has never been internationally recognized. Both Italy and Norway protested. Norway was first and foremost concerned about its economic interests in the area, in a period when Norwegian hunters and whalers were also being barred from the White Sea, Novaya Zemlya and Greenland; the Soviet government, however, largely remained passive, and did not evict Norwegian hunting ships during the following years. Nor did the Soviets interfere when, in 1926, several foreign ships entered the waters in search of the vanished airship Italia.
Norway attempted both a diplomatic solution and a Lars Christensen-financed expedition to establish a weather station to gain economic control over the islands, but both failed in 1929. Instead the Soviet icebreaker Sedov set out, led by Otto Schmidt, landed in Tikhaya Bay, and began construction of a permanent base. The Soviet government proposed renaming the archipelago Fridtjof Nansen Land in 1930, but the name never came into use. In 1930 the Norwegian Bratvaag Expedition visited the archipelago, but was asked by Soviet authorities to respect Soviet territorial water in the future. Other expeditions that year were the Norwegian-Swedish balloon expedition led by Hans Wilhelmsson Ahlmann on Quest and the German airship Graf Zeppelin. Except for a German weather station emplaced during the Second World War, these were the last Western expeditions to Franz Josef Land until 1990.
Soviet activities grew rapidly following the International Polar Year in 1932. The archipelago was circumnavigated, people landed on Victoria Island, and a topographical map was completed. In 1934–35 geological and glaciological expeditions were carried out, cartographic flights were flown, and up to sixty people stayed the winters between 1934 and 1936, which also saw the first birth. The first drifting ice station was set up out of Rudolf Island in 1936. An airstrip was then constructed on a glacier on the island, and by 1937 the winter population hit 300.
Activity dwindled during the Second World War and only a small group of men were kept at Rudolf Island, remaining unsupplied throughout the war. They never discovered Nazi Germany's establishment of a weather station, named Schatzgräber, on Alexandra Land as part of the North Atlantic weather war. The German station was evacuated in 1944 after the men were struck by trichinosis from eating polar bear meat. Apparent physical evidence of the base was discovered in 2016.
The Cold War produced renewed Soviet interest in the islands because of their strategic military significance. The islands were regarded as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier". The site of the former German weather station was selected as the location of a Soviet aerodrome and military base, Nagurskoye. With the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Soviet Union changed its military strategy in 1956, abolishing the strategic need for an airbase on the archipelago. The International Geophysical Year of 1957 and 1958 gave a new rise to the scientific interest in the archipelago and an airstrip was built on Heiss Island in 1956. The following year the geophysical Ernst Krenkel Observatory was established there. Activity at Tikhaya Bay was closed in 1959.
Because of the islands' military significance, the Soviet Union closed off the area to foreign researchers, although Soviet researchers carried out various expeditions, including in geophysics, studies of the ionosphere, marine biology, botany, ornithology, and glaciology. The Soviet Union opened up the archipelago for international activities from 1990, with foreigners having fairly straightforward access.
Recent history
As part of the opening up of Franz Josef Land, the Institute of Geography in Moscow, Stockholm University and Umeå University (Sweden) conducted expeditions to Alexandra Land in August 1990 and August 1991, studying climate- and glacial history by radiocarbon dating raised beaches and antlers from extinct caribou. The work was conducted from a small research base southwest of Nagurskoye, built in 1989. Also in 1990, a collaboration between the Academy of Sciences, the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Polish Academy of Sciences resulted in the first of several archaeological expeditions organized by the Institute of Culture in Moscow. The military base on Graham Bell Island was abandoned in the early 1990s. The military presence at Nagurskoye was reduced to that of a border post, and the number of people stationed at Krenkel Observatory was reduced from 70 to 12. The archipelago and the surrounding waters were declared a nature reserve in April 1994. The opening of the archipelago also saw the introduction of tourism, most of which takes place on Russian-operated icebreakers. In 2011, in a move to better accommodate tourism in the archipelago, the Russian Arctic National Park was expanded to include Franz Josef Land. However, in August 2019, Russia abruptly withdrew its approval for a Norwegian cruise ship to visit the islands.
In 2012, the Russian Air Force decided to reopen the Graham Bell Airfield as part of a series of reopenings of air bases in the Arctic. A major new base, named the Arctic Trefoil for its three lobed structure, was constructed at Nagurskoye. It can maintain 150 soldiers for 18 months and has an area of 14,000 square meters. The upgraded airbase is considered a threat to the U.S. military installation at Thule, Greenland.
In 2017, Russian president Vladimir Putin visited the archipelago.
In August 2019, a geographic expedition by Russian Northern Fleet discovered several new islands in the archipelago. They were previously buried under Vylki Glacier until part of it melted.
In April 2020, the archipelago was used by the Russian Airborne Forces to perform the world's first high-altitude military parachuting (HALO) paradrop from the lower border of the Arctic stratosphere. The crews of Il-76 aircraft practiced at the northernmost airfield of the country on the island of Franz Josef Land. Not only did the paratroopers endure the partial oxygen of the stratosphere common under the HALO technique; they encountered deep freeze conditions mitigated by military tested oxygen tanks and uniforms. Challenges to the Arctic mission included undirected terrain, in the absence of ground navigation systems. During the end of the mission, the paratroopers spent a day during which they conducted classes on survival in Arctic conditions and built shelters from snow.
Geography
The archipelago constitutes the northernmost part of Russia's Arkhangelsk Oblast, located between 79°46′ and 81°52′ north and 44°52′ and 62°25′ east. It is situated north of Novaya Zemlya and east of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Located within the Arctic Ocean, Franz Josef Land constitutes the northeastern border of the Barents Sea and the northwestern border of the Kara Sea. The islands are from the North Pole and from the Yamal Peninsula, the closest point of the Eurasian mainland. The archipelago falls within varying definitions of the Asia–Europe border, and is therefore variously defined as part of Asia or of Europe. Cape Flighely, situated at 81°50′ north, is the northernmost point in Eurasia and the Eastern Hemisphere, and of either Europe or Asia, depending on the continental definition. It is the third-closest landmass to the North Pole.
The archipelago comprises 191 uninhabited islands with a combined area of . These stretch from east to west and from north to south. One can categorize the islands into three groups, a western, central and eastern, separated by the British Channel and the Austrian Strait. The central group is further divided into a northern and southern section by the Markham Strait. Graham Bell Island is separated from the eastern group by the Severo–Vostochnyi Strait. There are two named island clusters: Zichy Land north of Markham Sound; and Belaya Zemlya to the extreme northeast. The straits are narrow, between several hundred meters to wide. They reach depths of , below the shelf of the Barents Sea.
The largest island is Prince George Land, which measures . Three additional islands exceed in size: Wilczek Land, Graham Bell Island and Alexandra Land. Five more islands exceed : Hall Island, Salisbury Island, McClintock Island, Jackson Island and Hooker Island. The smallest 135 islands constitute 0.4 percent of the archipelago's area. The highest elevation is a peak on Wilczek Land, which rises above mean sea level. Victoria Island, located to the west of Alexandra Land, is administratively part of the archipelago, but the island is not geographically part of the island group and is closer to Svalbard, located from Kvitøya.
Geology
Geologically the archipelago is located on the northern edge of the Barents Sea Platform, within an area where Mesozoic sedimentary rocks are exposed. The area has four units separated by regional erosion surfaces. The Upper Paleozoic unit is poorly exposed and was created by folding during the Caledonian period. The Lower Mesozoic unit, consisting of coastal and marine sediments from the Upper Triassic period, is present on most islands and on the bottom of the straits and consists of limestones, shales, sandstones and conglomerate.
The Upper Mesozoic unit dominates in the southern and western parts, consisting of massive effusive rocks made up of basaltic sheets separated by volcanic ashes and tuffs, mixed with terrigenous rocks with layers of coal. The Mesozoic-Tertiary unit remains mostly on the sea floor and consist of marine quartz sandstones and shales. Plate tectonics of the Arctic Ocean created basalt lavas and dolerite sheets and dykes in the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous periods. The land is rising by per year, due to the melting of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet c. 10,000 years ago.
Hydrology
Franz Josef Land is dominated by glaciation, which covers an area of , or 85 percent of the archipelago. The glaciers have an average thickness of , which would convert to . This would alone give a eustatic rise in sea level should it melt. Large ice-free areas are only found on the largest islands, such as the Armitage Peninsula of George Land, the Kholmistyi Peninsula of Graham Bell Island, the Central'naya Susha of Alexandra Land, the Ganza Point of Wilczek Land and the Heyes Island. Most of the smaller islands are unglaciated.
Streams only form during the runoff period from May through early September. Permafrost causes most of the runoff to take place on the surface, with streams only forming on the largest islands. The longest river is long and forms on George Land, while there are several streams on Alexandra Land, the longest being . There are about one thousand lakes in the archipelago, the majority of which are located on Alexandra Land and George Land. Most lakes are located in depressions caused by glacial erosion, in addition to a smaller number of lagoon lakes. Their sizes vary from to . Most are only deep, with the deepest measured at .
The sea currents surrounding the archipelago touch eastern Svalbard and northern Novaya Zemlya. The cold Makarov Current flows from the north and the Arctic Current flows from the northwest, while the warmer Novaya Zemlya Current flows from the south. The latter has temperatures over , while the bottom water lies below . The southern coastal regions of the archipelago experience currents from east to west. Average velocity is between per second. The tidal component in coastal areas is per second. Pack ice occurs throughout the year around the entire island group, with the lowest levels being during August and September. One-year winter ice starts forming in October and reaches a thickness of . Icebergs are common year-round.
Climate
Franz Josef Land is in a transition zone between an ice cap climate (EF) and a tundra climate (ET), technically falling into the latter because July and August average above freezing, nevertheless, low temperatures remain below freezing year round. The main forces influencing the climate are the glaciation and sea ice. At 81° north the archipelago experiences 141 annual days of midnight sun, from 12 April to 30 August. During the winter it experiences 128 days of polar night from 19 October to 23 February. Abundant cloud cover further cools the climate. The sea starts to freeze in late September and reaches its annual maximum in March, at which time ninety-five percent of the sea is ice-covered. The ice coverage starts to decrease in May and experiences major melting in June, with the minimum occurring in August or early September.
During winter, high-pressure weather and clear skies cause radiation loss from the ground, sending temperatures down to . During shifts the temperatures can change by within hours. Coastal stations experience mean January temperatures of between and , varying heavily from year to year depending on the degree of cycles in weather patterns. During summer the temperatures are a lot more even and average at between and at Hayes Island. Fog is most common during the summer. Average annual precipitation at the coastal stations is between , with the wettest months being from July through September. Elevated areas can experience considerably higher precipitation. Franz Josef Land is significantly colder than Spitsbergen, which experiences warmer winter averages, but is warmer than the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Nature
The climate and permafrost limits soil development in the archipelago. Large areas are devoid of soil, with permafrost polygons being the most common site for soil to occur. The soil typically has incomplete soil profiles and polygonal form with rich content of iron and is either neutral or slightly acidic. The brown upper humus layers have three percent organic matter, increasing to eight percent in the southernmost islands. Arctic desert soils occur on the eastern group islands, while the areas near the edge of the glaciers have bog-like arctic soil.
The flora varies between islands, based on the natural conditions. On some islands, vegetation is limited to lichen growing on stones. Vegetation typically covers five to ten percent of the ground surface, with notable exceptions under bird colonies where it can reach one hundred percent. Vegetation varies with the altitude: up to there is a belt of grass-moss arctic desert, then moss-lichen arctic desert to , then lichen arctic desert up to and above lifeless snow desert, with occasional lichens on nunataks and snow algae on glacier surfaces.
Trees, shrubs and tall plants cannot survive. About 150 species of bryophytes dominate the grassy turf, of which two-thirds are mosses and a third liverworts. The most common species are Aulacomnium, Ditrichum, Drepanocladus, Orthothecium and Tomenthypnum. More than 100 species of lichen are found on the island, the most common being Caloplaca, Lecanora, Lecidea, Ochrolechia and Rinodina. There are sixteen species of grass and about 100 species of algae, most commonly Cyanophyta and Diatomea. Fifty-seven species of vascular plants have been reported. The most common are Arctic poppy and saxifraga, which grow everywhere, independent of habitat, with the latter's nine species being found on all islands. Common plants in wet areas are Alopecurus magellanicus (alpine meadow-foxtail grass), buttercups and polar willow. Alopecurus magellanicus and Papaver dahlianum are the tallest plants, able to reach heights of .
More than one hundred taxa of single-cell pelagic algae have been identified around the archipelago, the most common being Thalassiosira antarctica and Chaetoceros decipiens. The bloom takes place between May and August. Of the roughly fifty species of zooplankton, calanoids dominate, with Calanus glacialis and Calanus hyperboreus constituting the greater portion of the biomass. On the sea bottom there are 34 species of macroalgae and at least 500 species of macrofauna. Most common are crustaceans such as amphipods and shrimps, polychaetes and echinoderms, such as sea bristles. The ice scouring causes there to be little life in the littoral zone, but the sublittoral zone () is dominated by laminaria, most commonly Laminaria sachcharina, and red algae, such as Phycodrys rubens.
There are 33 species of fish in the waters, none of which are abundant or commercially exploitable. The most common are polar cod, which reach lengths of , and liparidae. There are no endemic species within the archipelago. Forty-one species of birds have been documented in the archipelago, of which fourteen breed. These are dominated by seabirds such as fulmar, kittiwake, Brünnich's guillemot, black guillemot and little auk are common throughout the archipelago, while seven other species prefer nesting on flat tundra: common eider, purple sandpiper, Arctic skua, glaucous gull, ivory gull, Arctic tern and snow bunting. Some ivory gulls, little auks and Brünnich's guillemots opt to spend the winter on the islands.
The polar bear population of Franz Josef Land lies within the Barents Sea subpopulation, which also includes polar bears inhabiting Svalbard and the western coast of Novaya Zemlya. In 2004, the Barents Sea subpopulation was estimated at 2,650. There is also a population of Arctic fox, which typically have their territories near seabird habitats.
There are no caribou living on Franz Josef Land today. However, radiocarbon dating of shed antlers found on Alexandra Land in 1990 has shown that there was a population of caribou living on the island around 4000 to 2000 years ago. It is likely that the population died out when the climate became colder.
Marine mammals
As a declared marine mammal sanctuary, the area around the islands has a rich biodiversity of rare marine mammals.
Three species of seals habit the archipelago. Harp seal is the most common, although it breeds in the White Sea. Slightly less common is the bearded seal. Walruses were previously hunted, dramatically reducing the formerly abundant species. They have been internationally protected since 1952 and their numbers have since been on the rise, with between one and three thousand walruses living in the archipelago. The population is common with Svalbard and northern Novaya Zemlya.
Minke whales, humpback whale, and beluga whales are commonly seen around the island, and less commonly orcas and narwhales, with the archipelago being located on the northern edge of their summer range. Fin whales were recently confirmed to migrate into the waters.
Critically endangered cetaceans
Occasionally there are sightings of bowhead whale. The Russian Arctic stock of this species, ranging from Cape Farewell in Greenland and Svalbard/Spitsbergen areas to East Siberian Sea is considered to be the most endangered of all bowhead populations in the world. The waters around Franz Josef Land appear to be the most important place for this stock.
Human activity
Tourism travel to the archipelago is severely limited. There is no infrastructure to support tourists and the only way to reach the islands is by icebreaker, typically operating out of Murmansk. In 2012 there were only eight successful landings on the islands. A contributing factor to the low utilization is the difficulty of obtaining permissions and frequent closing of the Kola Bay to accommodate military exercises. The most frequent service is a three-week North Pole tour with Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, which stops by the islands en route. The most popular destinations are areas with bird cliffs and walrus colonies, such as Cape Flora on Northbrook Island and Cape Rubini on Hooker Island, as well as historical remains such as Nansen's hut on Jackson Island. Tourists are commonly landed by helicopter. For purposes of amateur radio awards the islands count as a separate international "entity". Activity by radio operators has become less frequent, though it does occasionally occur. Nagurskoye Air Base is located on the Northern part of Alexandra Land. It was extensively upgraded in the mid-2010s to support a greater military presence.
See also
Barents Sea
List of islands of Russia
Svalbard
Notes
References
Bibliography
Luigi Amedeo of Savoy: On the Polar Star in the Arctic Sea (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York 1903 and Hutchinson & Co., London 1903)
Anthony Fiala: Fighting the Polar Ice (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York 1906)
Gunnar Horn: Franz Josef Land. Natural History, Discovery, Exploration and Hunting (Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet No. 29. Oslo 1930)* Frederick G. Jackson: A Thousand Days in the Arctic (Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London 1899)
Fridtjof Nansen: Farthest North. Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship FRAM 1893–96. (Archilbald Constable and Co, Westminster 1897)
Julius Payer: New Lands within the Arctic Circle. Narrative of the Discoveries of the Austrian Ship Tegetthoff in the Years 1872–74 (D. Appleton, New York 1877)
External links
Franz Josef Land. Map and description on Google Earth.
Archipelagoes of the Arctic Ocean
Archipelagoes of the Kara Sea
Islands of the Barents Sea
Archipelagoes of Arkhangelsk Oblast
Norway–Soviet Union relations
Franz Joseph I of Austria |
426388 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern%20Ireland%20national%20football%20team | Northern Ireland national football team | The Northern Ireland men's national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern Ireland following the secession of clubs in the soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its team remained the national team for all of Ireland until 1950, and used the name Ireland until the 1970s. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
Although part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has always had a representative side that plays in major professional tournaments – whether alongside the rest of Ireland pre-1922 or as its own entity – though not in the Olympic Games, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has always recognised United Kingdom representative sides.
Northern Ireland has competed in three FIFA World Cups, reaching the quarter-final stage in the 1958 and 1982 tournaments. Northern Ireland held the accolade of being the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup Finals from their first appearance in 1958 until 2006, when Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the 2006 World Cup. At UEFA Euro 2016, the team made its first appearance at the European tournament and reached the round of 16. Northern Ireland last qualified for the World Cup in 1986.
History
On 18 February 1882, 15 months after the founding of the Irish FA, Ireland made their international debut against England, losing 13–0 in a friendly played at Bloomfield in Belfast. This remains the record defeat for the team, and also England's largest winning margin. On 25 February 1882, Ireland played their second international, against Wales at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, and an equaliser from Johnston became Ireland's first ever goal.
In 1884, Ireland competed in the inaugural British Home Championship and lost all three games. Ireland did not win their first game until 19 February 1887, a 4–1 win over Wales in Belfast. Between their debut and this game, they had a run of 14 defeats and 1 draw, the longest run without a win in the 1800s. Despite the end of this run, heavy defeats continued. On 3 March 1888, they lost 11–0 to Wales and three weeks later, on 24 March, lost 10–2 to Scotland. Further heavy defeats came on 15 March 1890 when they lost 9–1 to England, on 18 February 1899 when they lost 13–2 to England and on 2 February 1901 when they lost 11–0 to Scotland.
In 1899, the Irish FA also changed its rules governing the selection of non-resident players. Before then the Ireland team selected its players exclusively from the Irish League, in particular the three Belfast-based clubs Linfield, Cliftonville and Distillery. On 4 March 1899, for the match against Wales, McAteer included four Irish players based in England. The change in policy produced dividends as Ireland won 1–0. Three weeks later, on 25 March, one of these four players, Archie Goodall, aged 34 years and 279 days, became the oldest player to score in international football during the 19th century when he scored Ireland's goal in a 9–1 defeat to Scotland.
In 1920, Ireland was partitioned into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. In 1922, Southern Ireland gained independence as the Irish Free State, later to become a republic under the name of Ireland. Amid these political upheavals, a rival football association, the Football Association of Ireland, emerged in Dublin in 1921 and organised a separate league and international team. In 1923, at a time when the home nations had withdrawn from FIFA, the FAI was recognised by FIFA as the governing body of the Irish Free State on the condition that it changed its name to the Football Association of the Irish Free State. The Irish FA continued to organise its national team on an all-Ireland basis.
Between 1928 and 1946, the IFA were not affiliated to FIFA and the two Ireland teams co-existed, never competing in the same competition. On 8 March 1950, however, in a 0–0 draw with Wales at the Racecourse Ground in a FIFA World Cup qualifier, the IFA fielded a team that included four players who were born in the Irish Free State. All four players had previously played for the FAI in their qualifiers and as a result had played for two different associations in the same FIFA World Cup tournament.
After complaints from the FAI, FIFA intervened and restricted players' eligibility based on the political border. In 1953 FIFA ruled neither team could be referred to as Ireland, decreeing that the FAI team be officially designated as the Republic of Ireland, while the IFA team was to become Northern Ireland.
Past performances
British Home Championship
Until the 1950s, the major competition for Northern Ireland/Ireland was the British Home Championship. The team won the competition eight times, taking the title outright on three occasions. They were the last winners of the now defunct competition held in 1984, and hence still are the British champions, and the trophy remains the property of the Irish FA.
FIFA World Cup
Northern Ireland's best World Cup performance was in their first appearance in the finals, the 1958 World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals after beating Czechoslovakia 2–1 in the play-off. They were knocked out by France, losing 4–0. In the 1958 competition, Northern Ireland became the least populous country to have qualified for the World Cup, a record that stood until Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the 2006 World Cup. Northern Ireland remains, however, the least populous country to have qualified for more than one World Cup finals tournament, to win a World Cup finals match, and to have progressed from the first round of the World Cup finals.
Captain of the national side at the 1958 World Cup was Danny Blanchflower, who also captained Tottenham Hotspur in the English league and was twice footballer of the year in England. His younger brother Jackie was also a key member of the national team, and won two league titles in England with Manchester United, until his career was ended by injuries suffered in the Munich air disaster of February 1958.
Despite the presence of world class forward George Best, another Manchester United player, for the 1960s and 1970s, Northern Ireland failed to qualify for any major tournaments.
Northern Ireland also qualified for the 1982 World Cup. Their opening game was against Yugoslavia at La Romareda stadium in Zaragoza. It was the international debut of 17-year-old Norman Whiteside, who became the youngest player ever in the World Cup finals, a record that still stands. The game finished goalless. Five days later, they drew 1–1 with Honduras, which was a disappointment, and many believed had doomed Northern Ireland's chances of advancing in the competition. They needed a win against hosts Spain in the third and final group game at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia. They faced a partisan atmosphere with a mostly Spanish crowd and a Spanish-speaking referee in Héctor Ortiz who was unwilling to punish dirty play from the Spanish players. A mistake from Spain goalkeeper Luis Arconada, however, gifted Gerry Armstrong the only goal of the game, and despite having Mal Donaghy sent off on 60 minutes, Northern Ireland went on to record a historic 1–0 win and top the first stage group.
A 2–2 draw with Austria at the Vicente Calderón Stadium meant that a win against France would take them into the semi-finals, however, a French team inspired by Michel Platini won 4–1 and eliminated Northern Ireland from the competition.
In the 1986 World Cup, they reached the first round. Billy Bingham, a member of the 1958 squad, was manager for both of these tournaments. They have not qualified for any other World Cups since.
Recent history
Lawrie Sanchez was appointed in January 2004 after a run of 13 games without a goal under the previous manager Sammy McIlroy, which was a European record for any international team until San Marino went over 20 games without scoring between October 2008 and August 2012. That run ended after his first game in charge, a 1–4 loss to Norway in a friendly in February 2004. The run of 16 games without a win ended after his second game, a 1–0 victory in a friendly over Estonia, with a largely experimental side, in March 2004.
On 7 September 2005, Northern Ireland beat England 1–0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park. David Healy scored the winner in the 73rd minute. Almost a year later, on 6 September 2006, Northern Ireland defeated Spain 3–2 in a qualifier for UEFA Euro 2008, with Healy scoring a hat-trick. In June 2007, Nigel Worthington was named manager in the place of Lawrie Sanchez, who took over at Fulham. Initially, Worthington took over until the end of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, but was later given a contract until the end of the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Michael O'Neill became manager in February 2012 after Worthington had resigned in October 2011 after a poor Euro 2012 qualification campaign.
The Northern Ireland team qualified for its first ever UEFA European Championship, Euro 2016 in France, after beating Greece 3–1 at Windsor Park on 8 October 2015. At the tournament, Northern Ireland were beaten 1–0 by Poland on 20 June 2016 followed by a 2–0 win against Ukraine on 16 June 2016 and finally a 1–0 loss against Germany in the group stage. That was enough to qualify for a Round of 16 spot where they lost 1–0 to Wales due to an unfortunate own goal by Gareth McAuley.
Stadium
Northern Ireland play their home matches at Windsor Park, Belfast, home of Linfield, which they have use of on a 108-year lease, giving the owners 15% of revenue, including gate receipts and TV rights.
There was a proposal to build a multisports stadium for Northern Ireland at the disused Maze prison outside Lisburn for the use of Rugby, Gaelic games and football. This plan was given an "in principle" go-ahead by the Irish Football Association. However, it was opposed by fans, over 85% of whom in a match day poll conducted by the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs ("AONISC") preferred to stay at a smaller new or redeveloped ground in the city of Belfast. The AONISC organised a protest against the move to the Maze at the game against Estonia in March 2006.
The issue assumed ever greater urgency by 2007, following a series of inspections which questioned the suitability of Windsor Park to host international football. Following a reduction of capacity due to the closure of the Railway Stand, the IFA made it known that they wished to terminate their contract for the use of the stadium. A report on health and safety in October 2007 indicated that the South Stand might have to be closed for internationals, which would further reduce the stadium's capacity to 9,000.
In April 2008, Belfast City Council announced that they had commissioned Drivers Jonas to conduct a feasibility study into the building of a Sports Stadium in Belfast which could accommodate international football, which was followed at the beginning of May 2008 by speculation that the Maze Stadium project was going to be radically revised by Peter Robinson, the finance and personnel minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly, so that any construction might be used for purposes other than football, rugby union and Gaelic games.
Given the time that is needed to build a new stadium, in the absence of significant work improving Windsor Park, it seemed to be likely that Northern Ireland might be forced to play their home games at a venue outside Northern Ireland for a period.
In March 2009, proposals were announced for the construction of a new 25,000-seat stadium in the Sydenham area of East Belfast as an alternative to the Maze proposal. This would form part of a major development, with links to both George Best Belfast City Airport and the Bangor railway line. The development would also include a hotel, and retail/leisure areas. The stadium itself would be used for both football and rugby union, with Glentoran and Ulster Rugby intended as tenants. Ulster GAA, however, who were a partner in the Maze proposal, stated that in the event of a new stadium being built in East Belfast, which is a major unionist area, their preference would then be to remain at Casement Park in nationalist west Belfast.
The IFA were initially non-committal about any of the proposals for improving their facilities, be it rebuilding Windsor Park, or supporting either the Maze or Sydenham proposals. In September 2009, however, they issued an announcement in favour of the redevelopment of Windsor Park. Although there were no specifics to this, Linfield had previously released a study with two proposals, of which the major one would be a £20 million rebuilding of the stadium, raising the spectator capacity to 20,000. In 2011, the Northern Ireland Executive allocated £138 million for a major programme of stadium redevelopment throughout Northern Ireland, with £28 million allocated to the redevelopment of Windsor Park. In June 2012, further details of the stadium's redevelopment were released. The plan was to redevelop Windsor Park into an 18,000 all-seater stadium with a series of phased works originally intended to begin in the summer of 2013. The redevelopment would include the demolition of the existing East and South Stand structures, to be replaced by new purpose built stands that would partially enclose the stadium; complete renovation of the existing North and West Stands; and construction of both new conferencing facilities and a new headquarters facility for the IFA.
In February 2013, planning permission for the redevelopment was granted. The cost of the project was estimated to be around £29.2 million, of which £25.2 million would come from government funding. It was initially planned for the work to begin in September 2013. Two months later, however, Irish Premiership club Crusaders began legal proceedings to have the process judicially reviewed. As owners of the site, rivals Linfield were in line to receive not only a redeveloped stadium, but also £200,000 per annum from the IFA in land rent instead of the existing agreement which entitled Linfield to 15% of match revenue. Crusaders believed this to be against European Union competition law as well as a form of state aid towards Linfield. In a hearing that took place on 22 May 2013, Crusaders' request was granted. It was ruled that it was a possibility for the redevelopment to be classed as state aid towards Linfield. The aspect of the challenge concerning competition law, however, was dismissed.
In July 2013, Crusaders agreed to a possible settlement brought forward by the judicial review. The details of the settlement were not made public, but Crusaders said that it had the "potential to benefit the entirety of the football family". In September 2013, sports minister Carál Ní Chuilín said that she was still committed to making sure the redevelopment went ahead as scheduled, after previously stating that she would not sign off on the funding until the IFA resolved "governance issues" surrounding David Martin's return to the role of deputy president. In December 2013, three months after the work was originally scheduled to begin, the redevelopment was finally given the green light. The sports minister signed off on £31 million to complete the project. The redevelopment finally got under way on 6 May 2014 after the 2013–14 domestic season had finished, eight months later than originally planned. The work was completed in 2015.
Team image
Colours
Northern Ireland traditionally wears green shirts, white shorts and green socks. The kit has been manufactured by Adidas since 2012. Prior to this, the kit was manufactured by Umbro.
Kit suppliers
Supporters
The Green and White Army is the name given to the fans that follow the Northern Ireland national football team.
Since the defeat of England in 2005, there has been an increased demand for tickets exceeding supply. Tongue-in-cheek songs such as "We're not Brazil, we're Northern Ireland" (sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic, an American Civil War song), "It's Just Like Watching Brazil" and "Stand up for the Ulstermen" are popular at home matches.
One of the first footballing celebrities was former Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer George Best. The 1968 European Footballer of the Year, Best won 37 caps and scored 9 goals for his country.
Leading up to the Euro 2016, YouTuber Sean Kennedy released the song "Will Grigg's on Fire", a parody about Northern Irish national Will Grigg to the tune of "Freed From Desire" by Gala. The song became a popular chant and internet sensation. A studio version was released by London-based production duo Blonde, going on to reach number seven in the iTunes UK Top 100.
Historic controversy over sectarianism
A small element of Northern Ireland's support was, in the past, regarded as sectarian.
In 2000 the IFA launched the "Football For All" campaign to tackle sectarianism and racism at Northern Ireland games. Michael Boyd, the director of football development at the IFA, recalled how the team struggled to even get a sponsor for their kit because the image of Northern Irish football was so poor. Attendance at matches was low; at a 1999 game against France, then reigning World Cup champions, IFA could not sell out the ground and there were problems with "sectarian singing and racist abuse." Neil Lennon, a Roman Catholic Celtic player who had been subject to sectarian abuse from Northern Ireland fans while playing for Northern Ireland in Windsor Park, was issued a death threat by Loyalists and retired from international football in 2002 as a result. Former Security Minister Jane Kennedy said the threat against Lennon 'disgraced Northern Ireland in the eyes of the world' and widened the divide between the association and Catholic players and supporters. However, the incident represented a turning point in the campaign against sectarianism in the IFA which had seen slow progress in the previous two years.
Steps taken to eradicate the sectarian element within the support have been successful. Lennon has been quick to praise these initiatives. He also praised the "Football For All" Outstanding Achievement Award Winner Stewart MacAfee for the work he has done to create a more inclusive atmosphere at international games.
In 2006, Northern Ireland's supporters were awarded the Brussels International Supporters Award for their charity work, general good humour and behaviour and efforts to stamp out sectarianism. Representatives of the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs received the award from UEFA and EU representatives prior to the Northern Ireland–Spain game at Windsor Park in September 2006.
Northern Ireland Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Carál Ní Chuilín, the first senior Sinn Féin representative to attend an international at Windsor Park, commended "the very real efforts that have been made by the IFA to tackle sectarianism at their matches" after a match in August 2011. Twenty years after Lennon's resignation, Northern Ireland international games regularly sell out and women and children were "noticeable" amongst the spectators.
Media coverage
Premier Sports currently have the rights to show all of Northern Ireland's competitive international fixtures up until 2024.
Highlights of qualifiers are shown on BBC Northern Ireland with rights to World Cup Finals and European Championships held jointly by BBC and ITV - both channels shared coverage of Northern Ireland's games at Euro 2016.
Dating from the 1960s, Northern Ireland's games were shown live on BBC Northern Ireland, with highlights on network BBC via Sportsnight until the rights to home games were sold to Sky in 2007. In May 2013, Sky acquired the rights to all Northern Ireland qualifying games for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
From 2008 to 2013, BBC Northern Ireland held the rights to highlights of all of Northern Ireland's home international qualifiers. But in May 2013, ITV secured a deal to show highlights of the European Qualifiers for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, including Northern Ireland games, between 2014 and 2017.
In 2015, BBC Northern Ireland acquired the live rights to show Northern Ireland's friendlies in the run-up to UEFA Euro 2016, but the next two subsequent home friendlies against Croatia and New Zealand were shown on Premier Sports/eirSport until the contract ended before the 2018 World Cup.
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
2023
Coaching staff
Current coaching staff
Manager history
Last updated after match against on 17 October 2023.
Statistics include official FIFA recognised matches only
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against on 14 October and on 17 October.
Caps and goals updated as of 17 October 2023, after the match against .
Recent call-ups
The following players have been called up to the Northern Ireland squad during the last 12 months.
COVID = Player withdrew due to a positive COVID test or from being in close contact with someone with a positive COVID test.
INJ = Withdrew due to an injury.
PRE = Preliminary squad / standby.
RET = Retired from the national team.
SUS = Serving suspension.
WTD = Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
Individual records
after the match against .
Most appearances
Top goalscorers
Most clean sheets
A goalkeeper is awarded a clean sheet if he does not concede a goal during his time on the pitch.
Captains
Captaincy appearances are only awarded to players who were assigned the captaincy at the start of a game.
Competitive record
For the all-time record of the national team against opposing nations, see the team's all-time record page
FIFA World Cup
UEFA European Championship
UEFA Nations League
Summary of results
All competitive matches
All matches including friendlies‡
Results updated after match against on 17 October 2023.
FIFA Rankings
Last updated on 16 February 2022.
FIFA World Rankings
Worst Ranking Best Ranking Worst Mover Best Mover
FIFA ranking history
The following is a chart of the yearly averages of Northern Ireland's FIFA ranking.
Honours
British Home Championship
Winners (3): 1914 (as ), 1980, 1984
Shared (5): 1903, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1964
See also
Northern Ireland national under-21 football team
Northern Ireland national under-19 football team
Northern Ireland national under-17 football team
Notes
References
External links
Irish Football Association – Northern Ireland Football official site
Northern Ireland at UEFA
Northern Ireland at FIFA
Northern Ireland Stats & Statistics
RSSSF archive of international results 1882–
RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
Northern Ireland national football team
European national association football teams |
426392 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An%20Unearthly%20Child | An Unearthly Child | An Unearthly Child (sometimes referred to as 100,000 BC) is the first serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC TV in four weekly parts from 23 November to 14 December 1963. Scripted by Australian writer Anthony Coburn, the serial introduces William Hartnell as the First Doctor and his original companions: Carole Ann Ford as the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, with Jacqueline Hill and William Russell as school teachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton. The first episode deals with Ian and Barbara's discovery of the Doctor and his time-space ship, the TARDIS, in a junkyard in contemporary London. The remaining episodes are set amid a power struggle between warring Stone Age factions who have lost the secret of making fire.
The show was created to fill a gap between children's and young adult programming. Canadian producer Sydney Newman, recently made Head of Drama at the BBC, was tasked with creating the show, with heavy contributions from Donald Wilson and C. E. Webber. Newman conceived the idea of the TARDIS, as well as the central character of the Doctor. Production was led by Verity Lambert, the BBC drama department's first female producer, and the serial was directed by Waris Hussein. Following several delays, the first episode was recorded in September 1963 on 405-line black and white videotape, but was re-recorded the following month due to several technical and performance errors. Several changes were made to the show's costuming, effects, performances, and scripts throughout production.
The show's launch was overshadowed by the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy the previous day, resulting in a repeat of the first episode the following week. The serial received mixed reviews, and the four episodes attracted an average of six million viewers. Retrospective reviews of the serial are favourable. It later received several print adaptations and home media releases.
Plot
At Coal Hill School, teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) have concerns about pupil Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), who has an alien outlook on England. When the teachers visit her address to investigate, they encounter a police box and hear Susan's voice inside. An elderly man (William Hartnell) arrives and refuses to let the teachers inside the police box. They force their way inside to find Susan in a technologically advanced control room that is larger than the police box exterior. Susan explains that the object is a time and space machine called the TARDIS and the old man is her grandfather, who reveals that he and his granddaughter are exiles from their own planet. Refusing to let Ian and Barbara leave, he sets the TARDIS in flight and the ship goes through time and space to the Stone Age.
Za (Derek Newark), the leader of a primitive Paleolithic tribe, attempts to make fire. A young woman called Hur (Alethea Charlton) warns him that if he fails to do so, the stranger called Kal (Jeremy Young) will be made leader. After exiting the TARDIS, the unnamed old man, whom Ian and Barbara refer to as the Doctor, is ambushed by Kal, when he witnesses him light a match. Kal takes the Doctor back to the tribe and threatens to kill him if he does not make fire; Ian, Barbara and Susan intervene, but the group is imprisoned in a large cave. With the help of Old Mother (Eileen Way), who believes that fire will bring death to the tribe, they escape from the settlement but are intercepted and recaptured before reaching the TARDIS. Kal says they will be sacrificed if they do not make fire. While Ian tries to start a fire, Kal enters the cave and attacks Za, but is killed. Ian gives a burning torch to Za, who shows it to the tribe and is declared leader. Susan notices that placing a skull over a burning torch makes it appear alive; when the tribe enters the cave, they are faced with several burning skulls, and are terrified, allowing the group to flee to the TARDIS and escape through time and space to a silent and unknown forest. Unnoticed by the crew, the radiation meter rises to "Danger".
Production
Conception
In December 1962, BBC Television's Controller of Programmes Donald Baverstock informed Head of Drama Sydney Newman of a gap in the schedule on Saturday evenings between the sports showcase Grandstand and the pop music programme Juke Box Jury. Baverstock figured that the programme should appeal to three audiences: children who had previously been accustomed to viewing television during the timeslot, the teenage audience of Juke Box Jury, and the adult sports fan audience of Grandstand. Newman decided that a science fiction programme should fill the gap. Head of the Script Department Donald Wilson and writer C.E. Webber contributed heavily to the formatting of the programme, and co-wrote the programme's first format document with Newman; the latter conceived the idea of a time machine larger on the inside than the outside, as well as the central character of the mysterious "Doctor", and the name Doctor Who. Production was initiated several months later and handed to producer Verity Lambert—the BBC's first female producer—and story editor David Whitaker to oversee, after a brief period when the show had been handled by a "caretaker" producer, Rex Tucker.
Casting and characters
In Webber's original production documents, the character of the Doctor (referred to as "Dr. Who") was a suspicious and malign character who hated scientists and inventors, and had a secret intention to destroy or nullify the future; Newman rejected this idea, wanting the character to be a father figure. Tucker offered the role of the Doctor to Hugh David; having spent a year working on Knight Errant Limited and not wanting to be tied to another series, David turned down the role. Tucker envisioned a young actor to play the Doctor with aged make-up; however, Lambert favoured an older actor to avoid preparation time and add authenticity to the role. The part was turned down by actors Leslie French, Cyril Cusack, Alan Webb and Geoffrey Bayldon; Cusack and Webb were reluctant to work for a year on a series, while Bayldon wished to avoid another "old man" role. Lambert and director Waris Hussein invited William Hartnell to play the role; after several discussions, Hartnell accepted, viewing it as an opportunity to take his career in a new direction.
The Doctor's companion was originally named Bridget or "Biddy", a 15-year-old girl eager for life. Her teachers were Miss Lola McGovern, a 24-year-old timid woman capable of sudden courage, and Cliff, a "physically perfect, strong and courageous" man. Bridget was renamed Suzan/Suzanne Foreman, later changed to Susan, and writer Anthony Coburn made her the Doctor's granddaughter to avoid any possibility of sexual impropriety implicit in having a young girl travelling with an older man; Newman was reluctant about the idea, as he wanted the character to have human naivety. Miss McGovern later became history teacher Miss Canning, and Susan's birth name briefly became "Findooclare". When the show's bible was written, the two teachers were renamed Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Chesterton was much more violent in earlier drafts of the script. William Russell was chosen to portray Ian, being the only actor considered by Lambert to do so. Tucker held auditions for the roles of Susan and Barbara on 25 June 1963; actresses Christa Bergmann, Anne Castaldini, Maureen Crombie, Heather Fleming, Camilla Hasse, Waveney Lee, Anna Palk and Anneke Wills were all considered for the role of Susan, while Sally Home, Phyllida Law and Penelope Lee were considered for Barbara. Following Tucker's departure from production, Lambert was in talks with actress Jacqueline Lenya to play Susan, but the role was ultimately given to Carole Ann Ford, a 23-year-old who typically played younger roles. Lambert's friend Jacqueline Hill was chosen to play Barbara.
Writing
The programme was originally intended to open with a serial entitled The Giants, written by Webber, but was scrapped by June 1963 as the technical requirements of the storyline—which involved the leading characters being drastically reduced in size—were beyond their capabilities, and the story itself lacked the necessary impact for an opener. Due to the lack of scripts ready for production, the untitled second serial from Coburn was moved to first in the running order. The order change necessitated rewriting the opening episode of Coburn's script to include some introductory elements of Webber's script for the first episode of The Giants; as a result, Webber received a co-writer's credit for "An Unearthly Child" on internal BBC documentation. Coburn also made several significant original contributions to the opening episode, mostly notably that the Doctor's time machine should resemble a police box, an idea he conceived after seeing a real police box while walking near his office.
Filming
The show remained unnamed in April 1963, simply referred to as The Saturday Serial. It was provisionally scheduled to begin recording on 5 July, to be aired on 27 July, but was delayed. A pilot recording was scheduled to begin filming on 19 July; if successful, it could be broadcast on 24 August. Production was later deferred for a further two weeks while scripts were prepared, and the recording on 19 July was rescheduled as a test session for the dematerialisation effect of the TARDIS. The show's initial broadcast date was pushed back to 9 November, with the pilot recording scheduled for 27 September and regular episodes made from 18 October; the broadcast date was soon pushed back a week to 16 November, due to the BBC's athletics coverage on 9 November, and later to 23 November. The show was granted a budget of £2,300 per episode (), with an additional £500 for the construction of the TARDIS ().
Tucker was originally selected as the serial's director, but the task was assigned to Hussein following Tucker's departure from production. Some of the pre-filmed inserts for the serial, shot at Ealing Studios in September and October 1963, were directed by Hussein's production assistant Douglas Camfield. The first version of the opening episode was recorded at Lime Grove Studios on the evening of 27 September 1963, following a week of rehearsals. However, the recording was bedevilled with technical errors, including the doors leading into the TARDIS control room failing to close properly. After viewing the episode, Newman ordered that it be mounted again. During the weeks between the two tapings, changes were made to costuming, effects, performances, and scripts. The second attempt at the opening episode was recorded on 18 October, with the following three episodes being recorded weekly from 25 October to 8 November.
Themes and analysis
Scholar Mark Bould discusses how the serial establishes Doctor Who socio-political stances in his 2008 essay "Science Fiction Television in the United Kingdom". He writes, "The story represents the separation/reunion, capture/escape, pursuit/evasion that will dominate the next twenty-six years, as well as the programme's consistent advocacy of the BBC's political and social liberalism." He cites Ian and Barbara's attempt to teach a cavewoman kindness, friendship and democracy, writing "a tyrant is not as strong as the whole tribe acting collectively". Scholar John R. Cook reflected in 1999 that the presence of teachers as companions echoes Doctor Who original educational remit. Malcolm Peltu of New Scientist noted, in 1982, that the serial was set in the Stone Age because the show's original intention was "to bring to life the Earth's history".
Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood argue that the cavemen's focus on fire is meant to stand in for all technology, thus linking the latter three episodes with the questions of generational change raised by the first episode and its focus on suspicion of children, and tying that to a discussion of technological progress, including the nuclear bomb. They also argue that, contrary to the tendency to treat the story as a one-episode introduction to the series followed by "three episodes of running around and escaping" that the piece should be considered as a single, dramatic whole that is "about making four people who barely know one another learn to trust each other".
Reception
Broadcast and ratings
The first episode was transmitted at 5:16p.m. on Saturday 23 November 1963. The assassination of American President John F. Kennedy the previous day overshadowed the launch of a new television series; as a result, the first episode was repeated a week later, on 30 November, preceding the second episode. The first episode was watched by 4.4 million viewers (9.1% of the viewing audience), and it received a score of 63 on the Appreciation Index; the repeat of the first episode reached a larger audience of six million viewers. Across its four episodes, An Unearthly Child was watched by an average of 6 million (12.3% of potential viewers). Episodes 2–4 achieved ratings of 5.9, 6.9 and 5.4 million viewers, respectively. Mark Bould suggests that a disappointing audience reaction and high production costs prompted the BBC's chief of programmes to cancel the series until the Daleks, introduced in the second serial in December 1963, were immediately popular with viewers.
The serial has been repeated twice on the BBC: on BBC2 in November 1981, as part of the repeat season The Five Faces of Doctor Who, achieving average audience figures of 4.3 million viewers; and on BBC Four as part of the show's 50th anniversary on 21 November 2013, achieving an average of 630,000 viewers.
Critical response
The serial received mixed reviews from television critics. Michael Gower of the Daily Mail wrote a short favourable review of the first episode, claiming that the ending "must have delighted the hearts of the Telegoons who followed". A reviewer in the Daily Worker stated that they "intend following closely" to the show, describing the ending as "satisfying". Variety felt that the script "suffered from a glibness of characterisations which didn't carry the burden of belief", but praised the "effective camerawork", noting that the show "will impress if it decides to establish a firm base in realism". After the second episode, Mary Crozier of The Guardian was unimpressed by the serial, stating that it "has fallen off badly soon after getting underway"; she felt that the first episode "got off the ground predictably, but there was little to thrill", while the second was "a depressing sequel ... wigs and furry pelts and clubs were all ludicrous". Conversely, Marjorie Norris of Television Today commented that if the show "keeps up the high standard of the first two episodes it will capture a much wider audience".
Retrospective reviews are mostly positive towards An Unearthly Child. In 1980, John Peel described the story as "a work of loving craftsmanship, worked out to perfection by all concerned". Referring to the serial while discussing the early years of Doctor Who in 1982, New Scientists Peltu praised the script, acting and direction, but criticised the dated scenery. In The Discontinuity Guide (1995), Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping described the first episode as "twenty-five of the most important minutes in British television", particularly praising the directorial techniques, but felt that the following three episodes declined in quality. In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker lauded Hartnell's performance and the reveal of the TARDIS interior in the first episode, and felt that the following three episodes were lesser in quality but remained "intense" and "highly dramatic". In A Critical History of Doctor Who (1999), John Kenneth Muir called the serial "an unqualified success as drama", applauding the writing, cinematic style, and production techniques.
In 2008, Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern praised the casting of Hartnell, the "moody" direction and the "thrilling" race back to the TARDIS. Christopher Bahn of The A.V. Club in 2010 labelled An Unearthly Child an essential serial to watch for background on the programme. In his review, he noted that the first episode is "brilliantly done; the next three together could be about a half-hour shorter but get the job done". He praised the characters of Ian, Barbara, and the mysterious Doctor, but noted that he was far from the character he would become and Susan was "something of a cipher" with the hope she would develop later. In a 2006 review, DVD Talk's John Sinnott called the first episode "excellent", but felt the "story goes down hill a bit" with the introduction of the prehistoric time period. He cited the slower pace, the discussions in "Tarzan-speak", and the lack of tension or high stakes.
Commercial releases
In print
Writer David Whitaker omitted An Unearthly Child from the first spin-off novelisation, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (later retitled Doctor Who and the Daleks and Doctor Who – The Daleks), with Ian and Barbara's entrance into the TARDIS leading directly into an adaptation of the second televised serial, The Daleks. Historian James Chapman highlights this as a reason that, in an age before home video, many people believed the Dalek serial to be the first Doctor Who story because the novelisations published by Target Books were the "closest that fans had to the original programmes". Terrance Dicks wrote the Target novelisation of this story, initially published as Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child on 15 October 1981 with a cover by Andrew Skilleter. The release also received several translations worldwide. A verbatim transcript of the transmitted version of this serial, edited by John McElroy and titled The Tribe of Gum, was published by Titan Books in January 1988. It was the first in an intended series of Doctor Who script books. In 1994, a phonecard with a photomontage of the episode was released by Jondar International Promotions.
Home media
The story was originally released on VHS on 5 February 1990, with a cover designed by Alister Pearson. The unaired pilot was released as part of The Hartnell Years on 3 June 1991, and with Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction and Dr Who: The Pilot Episode on 1 May 2000. A remastered version of the serial was also released on VHS on 4 September 2000; for the DVD release on 30 January 2006, the serial was released as part of Doctor Who: The Beginning alongside the following two serials, with several special features, including audio commentaries and comedy sketches. It was also released in the US and Canada on 27 May 2014 as part of the Blu-ray set for An Adventure in Space and Time.
In October 2023, the BBC announced that An Unearthly Child would not be available on its iPlayer service the following month alongside other Doctor Who episodes as it did not hold the entire copyright. Coburn's son, Stef Coburn, claimed he had withdrawn the licensing rights following disagreements over compensation. Stef Coburn had previously requested recognition and compensation for his father's work in 2013 but said he did not wish to withdraw licensing rights at the time. He had since lambasted the programme's direction, claiming in 2023 his father would be "outrage[d] at what generations of progressively more corrupted BBC filth have done", in response to the casting of actors Ncuti Gatwa and Jinkx Monsoon.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1963 British television episodes
British television series premieres
Doctor Who historical serials
Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who stories set on Earth
Fiction set in 1963
Films directed by Waris Hussein
First Doctor serials
Prehistoric people in popular culture
Television episodes set in London
Television episodes set in schools
Television episodes written by C. E. Webber |
426423 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassia | Circassia | Circassia ( ), also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in the along the northeast shore of the Black Sea. It was conquered and occupied by Russia during the Russian-Circassian War (1763–1864), after which 90% of the Circassian people were either exiled from the region or massacred in the Circassian genocide.
In the Medieval Era, Circassia was nominally ruled by the elected Grand Prince, however, individual principalities and tribes were highly autonomous. In the 18th-19th centuries, a central government began to form. The Circassians also dominated the north of the Kuban river in the early medieval and ancient times, but with the raids of the Mongol Empire, Golden Horde and the Crimean Khanate, they were withdrawn south of the Kuban, and their reduced borders stretched from the Taman Peninsula to North Ossetia. During the Medieval Era, Circassian lords subjugated and vassalized the neighboring Karachay-Balkars and Ossetians. The term Circassia is also used as the collective name of Circassian states established on Circassian territory, such as Zichia.
Legally and internationally, the Treaty of Belgrade of 1739 between Austria and Turkey provided for the recognition of the independence of Eastern Circassia (Kabarda). Both the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire recognized it, and the great powers at the time witnessed the treaty. The Congress of Vienna held in the period between 1814 and 1815 also stipulated the recognition of the independence of Circassia. In 1837, Circassian leaders sent letters to European countries requesting legal recognition. Following this, the United Kingdom recognized Circassia. However, during the Russian-Circassian War, the Russian Empire did not recognize Circassia as an independent region, and treated it as Russian land under rebel occupation, despite having no control or ownership over the region. Russian generals referred to the Circassians not by their ethnic name, but as "mountaineers", "bandits", and "mountain scum".
Although Circassia is the original homeland of the Circassian people, today most Circassians live in exile, following the Circassian genocide.
Etymology
The words Circassia and Circassian ( ) are exonyms, Latinized from the word Cherkess, which is of debated origin. One view is that its root stems from Turkic languages, and that the term means "head choppers" or "warrior killers" accounting for the successful battle practices of the Circassians. There are those who argue that the term comes from Mongolian Jerkes, meaning "one who blocks a path". Some believe it comes from the ancient Greek name of the region, Siraces. According to another view, its origin is Persian.
In languages spoken geographically close to the Caucasus, the native people originally had other names for the Circassia, but with Russian influence, the name has been settled as Cherkessia/Circassia. It is the same or similar in many world languages that cite these languages.
Circassians themselves don't use the term "Circassia", and refer to their country as Адыгэ Хэку (Adıgə Xəku) or Адыгей (Adıgey).
Another historical name for the country was Zichia (Zyx or the Zygii), who were described by the ancient Greek intellectual Strabo as a nation to the north of Colchis.
Geography
Circassia was located in Eastern Europe, north of Western Asia, near the northeastern Black Sea coast. Before the Russian conquest of the Caucasus (1763–1864), it covered the entire fertile plateau and the steppe of the northwestern region of the Caucasus, with an estimated population of 1 million.
Circassia's historical great range extended from the Taman Peninsula in the west, to the town of Mozdok in today's North Ossetia–Alania in the east. Historically, Circassia covered the southern half of today's Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and parts of North Ossetia–Alania and Stavropol Krai, bounded by the Kuban River on the north which separated it from the Russian Empire.
On the Black Sea coast, the climate is warm and humid, while being moderate in the lowlands and cooler in the highlands. Most of Circassia is frost free for more than half the year. There are steppe meadows in the plains, beech and oak forests in the foothills, and pine forests and alpine meadows in the mountains.
Sochi is considered by many Circassians as their traditional capital city. According to Circassians, the 2014 Winter Olympic village is built in an area of mass graves of Circassians after their defeat by the Russians in 1864.
Statehood and politics
Institute of the Grand Prince of Circassia
Between 1427 and 1453, Inal the Great conquered all Circassian principalities and declared himself the Grand Prince of Circassia. Following his death, Circassia was divided again.
The influential principalities of Circassia regularly met to elect a Grand Prince (Пщышхо) among them, with the only condition being that the prince can trace descent from Inal the Great. The existence of such an institute is confirmed by foreign sources. In the eyes of foreign observers, the Grand Prince was considered the king of the Circassians. However, the individual tribes were greatly autonomous and the title was mostly symbolic. In 1237, the Dominican monks Richard and Julian, as part of the Hungarian embassy, visited Circassia and the main city of this country Matrega, located on the Taman Peninsula. In Matrega, the embassy received a good reception from the Grand Prince.
In the 14th and 15th centuries Italian documents concerning the relationship between the consul of Kafa and Circassia clearly indicate the absolutely special status of the ruler of Circassia. This status allowed the senior prince of Circassia to correspond with the Pope. The letter of Pope John XXII , addressed to the Grand Prince of Zichia (Circassia) Verzacht, dates back to 1333, in which the Roman pontiff thanked the ruler for his diligence in introducing the Catholic faith among his subjects. Verzacht's power status was so high that following his example some other Circassian princes adopted Catholicism.
Confederation
Circassia traditionally consisted of more than a dozen principalities. Some of these principalities were divided into large feudal estates, characterized by the stability of political status. Within these territories there were numerous feudal possessions of princes (pshi). The Circassian state was a federal state consisting of four levels of government: Village council (чылэ хасэ, made up of village elders and nobles), district council (made up of representatives from 7 neighboring village councils), regional council (шъолъыр хасэ, made up from neighboring district councils), people's council (лъэпкъ зэфэс, where every council had a representative). A central government emerged during the mid to late 1800s. Prior to that, the institute of grand prince was mostly symbolic.
In 1807, Shuwpagwe Qalawebateqo self-proclaimed himself as the leader of the Circassian confederation, and divided Circassia into 12 major regions. In 1827, Ismail Berzeg officially declared the military confederation of the Circassian tribes and by 1839 united a significant part of Circassia under his control. In 1839, the Circassians declared Bighuqal (Anapa) as their new capital and Hawduqo Mansur was declared the new leader of the Circassian Confederation. He kept this title until his death. In 1848, Muhammad Amin was the leader of Circassia. After learning that a warriorly scholar has arrived, thousands of families moved to the Abdzakh region to accept his rule. Seferbiy Zaneqo assumed power after Amin's departure, but died the next year.
In June 1860, at a congress of representatives of Circassians, a parliament was formed as the highest legislative body of Circassia. Being a political resistance council and the legislature of Circassia, the parliament was established in the capital of Sochi () on June 13, 1860 and Qerandiqo Berzeg was elected as the head of the parliament and the nation.
External relations
Legally and internationally, the Treaty of Belgrade 1739 provided for the recognition of the independence of Eastern Circassia (Kabarda), where both the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire recognized it, and the great powers at the time witnessed the treaty. The Congress of Vienna held in the period between 1814 and 1815 also stipulated the recognition of the independence of Circassia. In 1837, Circassian leaders sent letters to European countries requesting legal recognition. Following this, the United Kingdom recognized Circassia. However, during the Russian-Circassian War, the Russian Empire did not recognize Circassia as an independent region, and treated it as Russian land under rebel occupation, despite having no control or ownership over the region. Russian generals referred to the Circassians not by their ethnic name, but as "mountaineers", "bandits", and "mountain scum".
The Circassian Parliament launched large-scale foreign policy activities. First of all, an official memorandum was drafted addressed to Tsar Alexander II. The text of the memorandum was presented to the tsar by the leaders of the Parliament during the latter's visit to Circassia in September 1861. The Parliament also accepted an appeal to the Ottoman and European governments. Special envoys were sent to Istanbul and London to seek diplomatic and military support. The activities of the Circassian government received the full support of public organizations, so the Circassian Committee of Istanbul and London supported Circassia. Thus, if not de jure, then de facto Circassia acquired the features of a subject of international law.
Relations with the Ottoman Empire
In the 16th century, the English traveler Edmund Spencer, who traveled to the shores of the Caucasus, quotes a Circassian saying about the Ottoman sultan:Circassian blood flows in the veins of the Sultan. His mother, his harem are Circassian; his slaves are Circassians, his ministers and generals are Circassians. He is the head of our faith and also of our race.
Army
Circassia for centuries lived under the threat of external invasions, so the whole way of life of the Circassians was militarized. The governor of Astrakhan wrote to Peter I:
Circassia developed the so-called "Culture of War". Honorable combat was a big part of this culture, during hostilities, it was considered strictly unacceptable to set fire to homes or crops, especially bread, even from enemies. It was considered inadmissible to leave the bodies of dead comrades on the battlefield. It was considered a great disgrace in Circassia to fall alive into the hands of the enemy, so Russian officers who later fought in Circassia noted that it was very rare to succeed in capturing Circassians, as they would go as far as suicide. Johann von Blaramberg noted:
The Russian army, after invading Circassia and ethnically cleansing the Circassians in the Circassian genocide, adopted some parts of Circassian military uniforms - from weapons (Shashka and Circassian sabers, daggers, Circassian saddles, Circassian horses) to uniforms (Cherkeska, burqa, papaha).
Known ancient and medieval rulers
Known rulers of the region include:
400–383 BC: Hekaktaios
383–355 BC: Oktamasades
100s: Stachemfak
400s: Dawiy
500s: Bakhsan Dawiqo
700s–800s: Lawristan
800s–900s: Weche
900s: Hapach
900s–1022: Rededya
1200s: Abdunkhan
1200s–1237: Tuqar
1237–1239: Tuqbash
1300s: Verzacht
1427–1453: Inal the Great
1470s: Petrezok
1530s–1542: Kansavuk
History
Pseudoscientific origin
Turkish nationalist groups and proponents of modern day Pan-Turkism have claimed that the Circassians are of Turkic origin, but no scientific evidence has been published to support this claim and it has been strongly denied by ethnic Circassians, impartial research, linguists and historians around the world. The Circassian language does not share notable similarities to the Turkish language except for borrowed words. According to various historians, the Circassian origin of the Sind-Meot tribes refutes the claim that the Circassians are of Turkic ethnic origin.
Ancient Era
Maikop Civilization
Miyequap (Maikop) civilization was established in 3000 BC. Circassians were known by many different names in ancient times. "Kerket" and "Sucha" are examples. In 1200 BC, Circassians fought alongside the Hittites against the Egyptians.
Sindica
The Sindica state was founded in 500 BC. During this period, Greeks (Greeks) and Sind-Meot tribes lived in Circassia. Under the roof of this state, Sind-Meots in the region became the ancestors of the Circassian people. The Greek poet Hipponaks, who lived in the 5th century BC, and Herodotus later mentioned the Sinds. Strabo also mentions the city of Sindica, located near the Black Sea coast. Information on Sindica has been learned from Greek documents and archaeological finds, and there is not much detail. It is not known exactly when the Sindica State was established, but it is known that the Sindians had a state and trade relations with the Greeks before the establishment of the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast. It is also known that the kingdom of Sindica was a busy trading state where artists and merchants were accommodated. Circassians could not establish a union for a long time after this state.
Medieval Era
The most detailed description of medieval Circassia was made by Johannes de Galonifontibus in 1404. From his writing it follows that at the turn of the XIV and XV centuries, Circassia expanded its borders to the north to the mouth of the Don, and he notes that “the city and port of Tana is located in the same country in Upper Circassia, on the Don River, which separates Europe from Asia".
Feudalism began to emerge in Circassians by the 4th century. As a result of Armenian, Greek and Byzantine influence, Christianity spread throughout the Caucasus between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. During that period the Circassians (referred to at the time as Kassogs) began to accept Christianity as a national religion, but did not abandon all elements of their indigenous religious beliefs. Circassians established many states, but could not achieve political unity. From around 400 AD wave after wave of invaders began to invade the lands of the Adyghe people, who were also known as the Kasogi (or Kassogs) at the time. They were conquered first by the Bulgars (who originated on the Central Asian steppes). Outsiders sometimes confused the Adyghe people with the similarly named Utigurs (a branch of the Bulgars), and both peoples were sometimes conflated under misnomers such as "Utige". Following the dissolution of the Khazar state, the Adyghe people were integrated around the end of the 1st millennium AD into the Kingdom of Alania. Between the 10th and 13th centuries Georgia had influence on the Adyghe Circassian peoples.
In 1382, Circassian mamluks took the Mamluk throne, the Burji dynasty took over and the Mamluks became a Circassian state. The Mongols, who started invading the Caucasus in 1223, destroyed some of the Circassians and most of the Alans. The Circassians, who lost most of their lands during the ensuing Golden Horde attacks, had to retreat to the back of the Kuban River. In 1395 Circassians fought violent wars against Tamerlane, and although the Circassians won the wars, Tamerlane plundered Circassia.
King Inal the Great
Inal is called the "Prince of Princes" by Circassians and Abkhazians, because he united all Circassian tribes and established the Circassian state. According to popular belief, Inal is the ancestor of Kabardian, Besleney, Chemguy and Hatuqwai princes.
Inal, who during the 1400s owned land in the Taman peninsula, established an army consisting mostly of the Khegayk tribe and declared that his goal was to unite the Circassians, which were divided into many states at that time, under a single state, and after declaring his own princedom, conquered all of Circassia one by one.
Circassian nobles and princes tried to prevent Inal's rise, but in a battle near the Msimta River, 30 Circassian lords were defeated by Inal and his supporters. Ten of them were executed, while the remaining twenty lords took an oath of allegiance and joined the forces of Inal's new state. Inal, who ruled Western Circassia, established the Kabarda region in Eastern Circassia in 1434 and drove the Crimean Tatar tribes in the Circassian lands to the north of the Kuban River in 1438, and as a result of his effective expansions, he was ruling all of the Circassian land.
The capital of this new Circassian state founded by Inal became the city of Shanjir, built in the Taman region where he was born and raised. Although the exact location of the city of Shanjir is unknown, the most supported theory is that it is the Krasnaya Batareya district, which fits the descriptions of the city made by Klarapoth and Pallas.
Although he united the Circassians, Inal still wanted to include the cousin people, the Abkhaz, in his state. Abkhaz dynasties Chachba and Achba announced that they would side with Inal in a possible war. Inal, who won the war in Abkhazia, officially conquered Northern Abkhazia and the Abkhaz people recognized the rule of Inal, and Inal finalized his rule in Abkhazia. One of the stars on the flag of Abkhazia represents Inal.
Inal divided his lands between his sons and grandchildren in 1453 and died in 1458. Following this, Circassian tribal principalities were established. Some of these are Chemguy founded by Temruk, Besleney founded by Beslan, Kabardia founded by Qabard, and Shapsug founded by Zanoko.
According to the Abkhaz claim, Inal died in North Abkhazia. Although most sources cite this theory, researches and searches in the region have shown that Inal's tomb is not here. According to Russian explorer and archaeologist Evgeniy Dimitrievich Felitsin, Inal's tomb is not in Abkhazia. In a map published in 1882, Felitsin has shown great importance to Inal, and placed his grave in the Ispravnaya region in Karachay-Cherkessia, not in Abkhazia. He added that there are ancient sculptures, mounds, tombs, churches, castles and ramparts in this area, which would be an ideal tomb for someone like Inal.
At the end of the 15th century, a detailed description of Circassia and of its inhabitants was made by Genovese traveller and ethnographer Giorgio Interiano.
Modern Era
Kanzhal
In 1708, Circassians paid a great tribute to the Ottoman sultan in order to prevent Tatar raids, but the sultan did not fulfill the obligation and the Tatars raided all the way to the center of Circassia, robbing everything they could. For this reason, Kabardian Circassians announced that they would never pay tribute to the Crimean Khan and the Ottoman Sultan again. The Ottomans sent their army of at least 20,000 men to Kabardia under the leadership of the Crimean khan Kaplan-Girey to conquer the Circassians and ordered him collect the tribute. The Ottomans expected an easy victory against the Kabardinians, but the Circassians won because of the strategy set up by the Kazaniko Jabagh.
The Turkish-Crimean army was completely destroyed overnight. The Crimean Khan Kaplan-Giray barely managed to save his life, and was humiliated, all the way to his shoes taken, leaving his brother, son, field tools, tents and personal belongings.
Russo-Circassian War
In 1714, Peter I established a plan to occupy the Caucasus. Although he was unable to implement this plan, he laid the political and ideological foundation for the occupation to take place. Catherine II started putting this plan into action. The Russian army was deployed on the banks of the Terek River.
The Russian military tried to impose authority by building a series of forts, but these forts in turn became the new targets of raids and indeed sometimes the highlanders actually captured and held the forts. Under Yermolov, the Russian military began using a strategy of disproportionate retribution for raids. Russian troops retaliated by destroying villages where resistance fighters were thought to hide, as well as employing assassinations, kidnappings and the execution of whole families. Because the resistance was relying on sympathetic villages for food, the Russian military also systematically destroyed crops and livestock and killed Circassian civilians. Circassians responded by creating a tribal federation encompassing all tribes of the area. In 1840 Karl Friedrich Neumann estimated the Circassian casualties at around one and a half million. Some sources state that hundreds of thousands of others died during the exodus. Several historians use the phrase "Circassian massacres" for the consequences of Russian actions in the region.
In a series of sweeping military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864... the northwest Caucasus and the Black Sea coast were virtually emptied of Muslim villagers. Columns of the displaced were marched either to the Kuban [River] plains or toward the coast for transport to the Ottoman Empire... One after another, entire Circassian tribal groups were dispersed, resettled, or killed en masse.
Circassians established an assembly called "Great Freedom Assembly" in the capital city of Shashe (Sochi) on June 25, 1861. Haji Qerandiqo Berzedj was appointed as the head of the assembly. This assembly asked for help from Europe, arguing that they would be forced into exile soon. However, before the result was achieved, Russian General Kolyobakin invaded Sochi and destroyed the parliament and no country opposed this.
In May 1864, a final battle took place between the Circassian army of 20,000 Circassian horsemen and a fully equipped Russian army of 100,000 men. Circassian warriors attacked the Russian army and tried to break through the line, but most were shot down by Russian artillery and infantry. The remaining fighters continued to fight as militants and were soon defeated. All 20,000 Circassian horsemen died in the war. The Russian army began celebrating victory on the corpses of Circassian soldiers, and so May 21, 1864, was officially the end of the war.
Circassian Genocide
The proposal to deport the Circassians was ratified by the Russian government, and a flood of refugee movements began as Russian troops advanced in their final campaign. Circassians prepared to resist and hold their last stand against Russian military advances and troops. With the refusal to surrender, Circassian civilians were targeted one by one by the Russian military with thousands massacred and the Russians started to raid and burn Circassian villages, destroy the fields to make it impossible to return, cut trees down and drive the people towards the Black Sea coast.
Although the main target of the genocide was the Circassians, some Abkhaz, Abazin, Chechen, Ossetian and other Muslim Caucasian communities were also affected. Although it is not known exactly how many people are affected, researchers have suggested that at least 75%, 90%, 94%, or 95–97% (not including the other ethniticies such as Abkhaz) of the ethnic Circassian population are affected. Considering these rates, calculations including those taking into account the Russian government's own archival figures, have estimated a loss 600,000–1,500,000. It is estimated that the population of Kabardins in Circassia was reduced from 500,000 to 35,000; the Abzakhs from 260,000 to 14,600; and the Natukhajs from 240,000 to merely 175 persons. The Shapsugh tribe which numbered some 300,000 were reduced to 3,000 people. Ivan Drozdov, a Russian officer who witnessed the scene at Qbaada in May 1864 as the other Russians were celebrating their victory remarked:
The Ottoman Empire regarded the Adyghe warriors as courageous and experienced. It encouraged them to settle in various near-border settlements of the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen the empire's borders.
According to Walter Richmond
Circassia was a small independent nation on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. For no reason other than ethnic hatred, over the course of hundreds of raids the Russians drove the Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history.
, Georgia was the only country to classify the events as genocide, while Russia actively denies the Circassian genocide, and classifies the events as a simple migration of "undeveloped barbaric peoples". Russian nationalists continue to celebrate the day on May 21 each year as a "holy conquest day", when the Russian Empire's occupation of the Caucasus ended. Circassians commemorate May 21 every year as the Circassian Day of Mourning.
Population
There are twelve historic Adyghe (Circassian: Адыгэ, Adyge) princedoms or tribes of Circassia (three democratic and nine aristocratic); Abdzakh, Besleney, Bzhedug, Hatuqwai, Kabardian, Mamkhegh, Natukhai, Shapsug, Temirgoy, Ubykh, Yegeruqwai and Zhaney.
Today, about 700,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia in today's Russia. The 2010 Russian Census recorded 718,727 Circassians, of which 516,826 are Kabardians, 124,835 are Adyghe proper, 73,184 are Cherkess and 3,882 Shapsugs. The largest Circassian population resides in Turkey (pop. 1,400,000–6,000,000). A Circassian population also exists in other countries, including Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Serbia, Egypt and Israel, but is considerably smaller.
National religion
Circassia gradually went through the following various religions: Paganism, Christianity, and then Islam.
Paganism
The ancient beliefs of the Circassians were based on animism and magic, within the framework of the customary rules of Xabze. Although the main belief was Monistic-Monotheistic, they prayed using water, fire, plants, forests, rocks, thunder and lightning. They performed their acts of worship accompanied by dance and music in the sacred groves used as temples. An old priest led the ceremony, accompanied by songs of prayer, and supplications. Thus, it was aimed to protect the newborn babies from diseases and the evil eye. Another important aspect was ancestors and honor. Therefore, the goal of man's earthly existence is the perfection of the soul, which corresponds to the maintenance of honour, manifestation of compassion, gratuitous help, which, along with valour, and bravery of a warrior, enables the human soul to join the soul of the ancestors with a clear conscience.
Judaism
Some Circassian tribes converted to Judaism in the past as a result of the settlement of approximately 20 thousand Jews in 8th-century Circassia, along with the relations established with the Turkic-Jewish Khazar Khaganate. Although Judaism in Circassia eventually assimilated into Christianity and Islam.
Christianity
It is the tradition of the early church that Christianity made its first appearance in Circassia in the 1st century AD via the travels and preaching of the Apostle Andrew, but recorded history suggests that, as a result of Greek and Byzantine influence, Christianity first spread throughout Circassia between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. The spread of the Catholic faith was only possible with the Latin Conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders and the establishment of the Latin state. The Catholic religion was adopted by the Circassians following Farzakht, a distinguished figure who greatly contributed to the spread of this religion in his country. The pope sent him a letter in 1333 thanking him for his effort, as an indication of his gratitude. For Circassians, the most important and attractive personality in all Christian teachings was the personality of St. George. They saw in him the embodiment of all the virtues respected in the Caucasus. His name in Circassian is "Aushe-Gerge".
Christianity in Circassia experienced its final collapse in the 18th century when all Circassians accepted Islam. The ex-priests joined the Circassian nobility and were given the name "shogene" (teacher) and over time this name became a surname.
Islam
In 815 AD, Islam arrived in Circassia with the efforts of two Arab preachers called Abu Ishaq and Muhammad Kindi, and the first Circassian Muslim community was established with a small amount of followers. A small Muslim community in Circassia has existed since the Middle Ages, but the widespread adoption of Islam occurred after 1717. Travelling Sufi preachers and the increasing threat of an invasion from Russia helped expedite the spread of Islam in Circassia. Circassian scholars educated in the Ottoman Empire boosted the spread of Islam.
Circassian nationalism
Under Russian and Soviet rule, ethnic and tribal divisions between Circassians were promoted, resulting in several different statistical names being used for various parts of the Circassian people (Adyghes, Cherkess, Kabardins, Shapsugs). Consequently, Circassian nationalism has developed. Circassian nationalism is the desire among Circassians all over the world to preserve their culture and save their language from extinction, achieve full international recognition of the Circassian genocide, globally revive Adyghe Xabze among Circassians, return to their homeland Circassia, and ultimately reestablish an independent Circassian state. There is also an effort among Circassians to unite under the name Circassian (Adyghe) in Russian Censuses to reflect and revive the concept of the Circassian nation. The overwhelming majority of the diaspora already tends to call itself "only Circassian".
See also
Emanne Beasha
Circassian Assembly
Circassian beauties
Circassian coast
Circassian Day of Mourning
Circassian diaspora
Circassian genocide
Circassian language
Circassian music
Circassian nationalism
Circassian people
Russian–Circassian War
References
Notes
Citations
Cited works
* 12 апреля 2011. — Часть 1.; 29 апреля 2011. — Часть 2.; 29 апреля 2011. — Часть 3.; 29 апреля 2011. — Часть 4..
General references
Bell, James Stanislaus. Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 .
Bullough, Oliver. Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus. Allen Lane, 2010. .
Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Circassians: A Handbook, London: Routledge, New York: Routledge & Palgrave, 2001. .
Jaimoukha, Amjad. Circassian Culture and Folklore: Hospitality, Traditions, Cuisine, Festivals and Music. Bennett & Bloom, 2010. .
Kaziev, Shapi, and Igor Karpeev (Повседневная жизнь горцев Северного Кавказа в XIX в.). Everyday Life of the Caucasian Highlanders: The 19th Century. Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiy, 2003.
King, Charles. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford University Press, 2008. .
Levene, Mark. Genocide in the Age of the Nation-State. Volume II: The Rise of the West and the Coming of Genocide. London: I. B. Tauris, 2005. .
Richmond, Walter. The Circassian Genocide, Rutgers University Press, 2013. .
External links
Geography of North Caucasus
Former countries in Europe
Russian Civil War
Tributary states of the Ottoman Empire |
426426 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain%20shadow | Rain shadow | A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carried by the prevailing onshore breezes towards the drier and hotter inland areas. When encountering elevated landforms, the moist air is driven upslope towards the peak, where it expands, cools, and its moisture condenses and starts to precipitate. If the landforms are tall and wide enough, most of the humidity will be lost to precipitation over the windward side (also known as the rainward side) before ever making it past the top. As the air descends the leeward side of the landforms, it is compressed and heated, producing foehn winds that absorb moisture downslope and cast a broad "shadow" of dry climate region behind the mountain crests. This climate typically takes the form of shrub–steppe, xeric shrublands or even deserts.
The condition exists because warm moist air rises by orographic lifting to the top of a mountain range. As atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing altitude, the air has expanded and adiabatically cooled to the point that the air reaches its adiabatic dew point (which is not the same as its constant pressure dew point commonly reported in weather forecasts). At the adiabatic dew point, moisture condenses onto the mountain and it precipitates on the top and windward sides of the mountain. The air descends on the leeward side, but due to the precipitation it has lost much of its moisture. Typically, descending air also gets warmer because of adiabatic compression (as with foehn winds) down the leeward side of the mountain, which increases the amount of moisture that it can absorb and creates an arid region.
Regions of notable rain shadow
There are regular patterns of prevailing winds found in bands round Earth's equatorial region. The zone designated the trade winds is the zone between about 30° N and 30° S, blowing predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. The westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, blowing predominantly from the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere and from the northwest in the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the strongest westerly winds in the middle latitudes can come in the Roaring Forties of the Southern Hemisphere, between 30 and 50 degrees latitude.
Examples of notable rain shadowing include:
Africa
Northern Africa
The Sahara is made even drier because of two strong rain shadow effects caused by major mountain ranges (whose highest points can culminate to more than 4,000 meters high). To the northwest, the Atlas Mountains, covering the Mediterranean coast for Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia as well as to the southeast with the Ethiopian Highlands, located in Ethiopia around the Horn of Africa. On the windward side of the Atlas Mountains, the warm, moist winds blowing from the northwest off the Atlantic Ocean which contain a lot of water vapor are forced to rise, lift up and expand over the mountain range. This causes them to cool down, which causes an excess of moisture to condense into high clouds and results in heavy precipitation over the mountain range. This is known as orographic rainfall and after this process, the air is dry because it has lost most of its moisture over the Atlas Mountains. On the leeward side, the cold, dry air starts to descend and to sink and compress, making the winds warm up. This warming causes the moisture to evaporate, making clouds disappear. This prevents rainfall formation and creates desert conditions in the Sahara. The same phenomenon occurs in the Ethiopian Highlands, but this rain shadow effect is even more pronounced because this mountain range is larger, with the tropical Monsoon of South Asia coming from the Indian Ocean and from the Arabian Sea. These produce clouds and rainfall on the windward side of the mountains, but the leeward side stays rain shadowed and extremely dry. This second extreme rain shadow effect partially explains the extreme aridity of the eastern Sahara Desert, which is the driest and the sunniest place on the planet.
Desert regions in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti) such as the Danakil Desert are all influenced by the air heating and drying produced by rain shadow effect of the Ethiopian Highlands, too.
Southern Africa
The windward side of the island of Madagascar, which sees easterly on-shore winds, is wet tropical, while the western and southern sides of the island lie in the rain shadow of the central highlands and are home to thorn forests and deserts. The same is true for the island of Réunion.
On Tristan da Cunha, Sandy Point on the east coast is warmer and drier than the rainy, windswept settlement of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas in the west.
In Western Cape Province, the Breede River Valley and the Karoo region lie in the rain shadow of the Cape Fold Mountains and are arid; whereas the wettest parts of the Cape Mountains can receive , Worcester receives only around and is useful only for grazing.
Asia
Central and Northern Asia
The Himalaya and connecting ranges also contribute to arid conditions in Central Asia including Mongolia's Gobi desert, as well as the semi-arid steppes of Mongolia and north-central to north western China.
The Verkhoyansk Range in eastern Siberia is the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere, because the moist southeasterly winds from the Pacific Ocean lose their moisture over the coastal mountains well before reaching the Lena River valley, due to the intense Siberian High forming around the very cold continental air during the winter. One effect in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) is that, in Yakutsk, Verkhoyansk, and Oymyakon, the average temperature in the coldest month is below . These regions are synonymous with extreme cold.
Eastern Asia
The Ordos Desert is rain shadowed by mountain chains including the Kara-naryn-ula, the Sheitenula, and the Yin Mountains, which link on to the south end of the Great Khingan Mountains.
The central region of Myanmar is in the rain shadow of the Arakan Mountains and is almost semi-arid with only of rain, versus up to on the Rakhine State coast.
The plains around Tokyo, Japan - known as Kanto plain - in the winter months experiences significantly less precipitation than the rest of the country by virtue of surrounding mountain ranges, including the Japanese Alps, blocking prevailing northwesterly winds originating in Siberia.
Southern Asia
The eastern side of the Sahyadri ranges on the Deccan Plateau including: North Karnataka and Solapur, Beed, Osmanabad, the Vidharba Plateau and the eastern side of Kerala and western Tamil Nadu in India.
Gilgit and Chitral, Pakistan, are rainshadow areas.
The Thar Desert is bounded and rain shadowed by the Aravalli ranges to the southeast, the Himalaya to the northeast, and the Kirthar and Sulaiman ranges to the west.
Western Asia
The peaks of the Caucasus Mountains to the west and Hindukush and Pamir to the east rain shadow the Karakum and Kyzyl Kum deserts east of the Caspian Sea, as well as the semi-arid Kazakh Steppe. They also cause vast rainfall differences between coastal areas on the Black Sea such as Rize, Batumi and Sochi contrasted with the dry lowlands of Azerbaijan facing the Caspian Sea.
The semi-arid Anatolian Plateau is rain shadowed by mountain chains, including the Pontic Mountains in the north and the Taurus Mountains in the south.
The High Peaks of Mount Lebanon rain-shadow the northern parts of the Beqaa Valley and Anti-Lebanon Mountains.
The Judaean Desert, the Dead Sea and the western slopes of the Moab Mountains on the opposite (Jordanian) side are rain-shadowed by the Judaean Mountains.
The Dasht-i-Lut in Iran is in the rain shadow of the Elburz and Zagros Mountains and is one of the most lifeless areas on Earth.
The peaks of the Zagros mountains rain-shadow the northern half of the West Azerbaijan province in Iranian Azerbaijan (above Urmia), as manifested by the province's dry winters relative to those in the windward part of the region (i.e. Kurdistan Region and Hakkâri Province in Turkey).
Europe
Central Europe
The Plains of Limagne and Forez in the northern Massif Central, France are also relatively rainshadowed (mostly the plain of Limagne, shadowed by the Chaîne des Puys (up to 2000 mm of rain a year on the summits and below 600mm at Clermont-Ferrand, which is one of the driest places in the country).
The Piedmont wine region of northern Italy is rainshadowed by the mountains that surround it on nearly every side: Asti receives only 527 mm of precipitation per year, making it one of the driest places in mainland Italy.
Some valleys in the inner Alps are also strongly rainshadowed by the high surrounding mountains: the areas of Gap and Briançon in France, the district of Zernez in Switzerland.
The Kuyavia and the eastern part of the Greater Poland has an average rainfall of about 450 mm because of rainshadowing by the slopes of the Kashubian Switzerland, making it one of the driest places in the North European Plain.
Northern Europe
The Pennines of Northern England, the mountains of Wales, the Lake District and the Highlands of Scotland create a rain shadow that includes most of the eastern United Kingdom, due to the prevailing south-westerly winds. Manchester and Glasgow, for example, receive around double the rainfall of Sheffield and Edinburgh respectively (although there are no mountains between Edinburgh and Glasgow). The contrast is even stronger further north, where Aberdeen gets around a third of the rainfall of Fort William or Skye. In Devon, rainfall at Princetown on Dartmoor is almost three times the amount received to the east at locations such as Exeter and Teignmouth. The Fens of East Anglia receive similar rainfall amounts to Seville.
Iceland has plenty of microclimates courtesy of the mountainous terrain. Akureyri on a northerly fiord receives about a third of the precipitation that the island of Vestmannaeyjar off the south coast gets. The smaller island is in the pathway of Gulf Stream rain fronts with mountains lining the southern coast of the mainland.
The Scandinavian Mountains create a rain shadow for lowland areas east of the mountain chain and prevents the Oceanic climate from penetrating further east; thus Bergen and a place like Brekke in Sogn, west of the mountains, receive an annual precipitation of and , respectively, while Oslo receives only , and Skjåk, a municipality situated in a deep valley, receives only . Further east, the partial influence of the Scandinavian Mountains contribute to areas in east-central Sweden around Stockholm only receiving annually. In the north, the mountain range extending to the coast in around Narvik and Tromsø cause a lot higher precipitation there than in coastal areas further east facing north such as Alta or inland areas like Kiruna across the Swedish border.
The South Swedish highlands, although not rising more than , reduce precipitation and increase summer temperatures on the eastern side. Combined with the high pressure of the Baltic Sea, this leads to some of the driest climates in the humid zones of Northern Europe being found in the triangle between the coastal areas in the counties of Kalmar, Östergötland and Södermanland along with the offshore island of Gotland on the leeward side of the slopes. Coastal areas in this part of Sweden usually receive less precipitation than windward locations in Andalusia in the south of Spain.
Southern Europe
The Cantabrian Mountains form a sharp divide between "Green Spain" to the north and the dry central plateau. The northern-facing slopes receive heavy rainfall from the Bay of Biscay, but the southern slopes are in rain shadow. The other most evident effect on the Iberian Peninsula occurs in the Almería, Murcia and Alicante areas, each with an average rainfall of 300 mm, which are the driest spots in Europe (see Cabo de Gata) mostly a result of the mountain range running through their western side, which blocks the westerlies.
The Norte Region in Portugal has extreme differences in precipitation with values surpassing in the Peneda-Gerês National Park to values close to in the Douro Valley. Despite being only apart, Chaves has less than half the precipitation of Montalegre.
The eastern part of the Pyrenean mountains in the south of France (Cerdagne).
In the Northern Apennines of Italy, Mediterranean city La Spezia receives twice the rainfall of Adriatic city Rimini on the eastern side. This is also extended to the southern end of the Apennines that see vast rainfall differences between Naples with above on the Mediterranean side and Bari with about on the Adriatic side.
The valley of the Vardar River and south from Skopje to Athens is in the rain shadow of the Prokletije and Pindus Mountains. On its windward side the Prokletije has the highest rainfall in Europe at around with small glaciers even at mean annual temperatures well above , but the leeward side receives as little as .
North America
Caribbean
Throughout the Greater Antilles, the southwestern sides are in the rain shadow of the trade winds and can receive as little as per year as against over on the northeastern, windward sides and over over some highland areas. This is most apparent in Cuba, where this phenomenon leads to the Cuban cactus scrub ecoregion, and the island of Hispaniola (which contains the Caribbean's highest mountain ranges), which results in xeric semi-arid shrublands throughout the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Northern America
On the largest scale, the entirety of the North American Interior Plains are shielded from the prevailing Westerlies carrying moist Pacific weather by the North American Cordillera. More pronounced effects are observed, however, in particular valley regions within the Cordillera, in the direct lee of specific mountain ranges. Most rainshadows in the western United States are due to the Sierra Nevada and Cascades ranges.
The deserts of the Basin and Range Province in the United States and Mexico, which includes the dry areas east of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington and the Great Basin, which covers almost all of Nevada and parts of Utah are rain shadowed.
The Cascades also cause rain shadowed Columbia Basin area of Eastern Washington and valleys in British Columbia, Canada - most notably the Thompson and Nicola Valleys which can receive less than of rain in parts, and the Okanagan Valley (particularly the south, nearest to the US border) which receives anywhere from 12-17 inches of rain annually.
The Dungeness Valley around Sequim and Port Angeles, Washington lies in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. The area averages 10–15 inches of rain per year. The rain shadow extends to the eastern Olympic Peninsula, Whidbey Island, parts of the San Juan Islands, and Victoria, British Columbia which receive between 18-24 inches of precipitation each year. Seattle is also affected by the rain shadow, albeit to a much lesser effect. By contrast, Aberdeen, which is situated southwest of the Olympics, receives nearly 85 inches of rain per year
The east slopes of the Coast Ranges in central and southern California also cut off the southern San Joaquin Valley from enough precipitation to ensure desert-like conditions in areas around Bakersfield.
San Jose, and adjacent cities are usually drier than the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area because of the rain shadow cast by the highest part of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The Mojave, Black Rock, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts all are in regions which are rain shadowed.
The Owens Valley in the United States, behind the Sierra Nevada range in California.
Death Valley in the United States, behind both the Pacific Coast Ranges of California and the Sierra Nevada range, is the driest place in North America and one of the driest places on the planet. This is also due to its location well below sea level which tends to cause high pressure and dry conditions to dominate due to the greater weight of the atmosphere above.
The Colorado Front Range is limited to precipitation that crosses over the Continental Divide. While many locations west of the Divide may receive as much as of precipitation per year, some places on the eastern side, notably the cities of Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, typically receive only about 12 to 19 inches. Thus, the Continental Divide acts as a barrier for precipitation. This effect applies only to storms traveling west-to-east. When low pressure systems skirt the Rocky Mountains and approach from the south, they can generate high precipitation on the eastern side and little or none on the western slope.
The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, wedged between the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains and partially shielded from moisture from the west and southeast, is much drier than the very humid remainder of Virginia and the American Southeast.
Asheville, North Carolina sits in the rain shadow of the Balsam, Smoky, and Blue Ridge Mountains. While the mountains surrounding Asheville contain the Appalachian Temperate Rainforests, with areas receiving over an annual average precipitation of , the city itself is the driest location in North Carolina, with an annual average precipitation of only .
Ashcroft, British Columbia, the only true desert in Canada, sits in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountains of Canada.
Yellowknife, the capital and most populous city in the Northwest Territories of Canada, is located in the rain shadow of the mountain ranges to the west of the city.
Oceania
Australia
In New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Monaro is shielded by both the Snowy Mountains to the northwest and coastal ranges to the southeast. Consequently, parts of it are as dry as the wheat-growing lands of those states. For comparison, Cooma receives of rain annually, whereas Batlow, on the western side of the ranges, receives of precipitation. Furthermore, Australia's capital Canberra is also protected from the west by the Brindabellas which create a strong rain shadow in Canberra's valleys, where it receives an annual rainfall of , compared to Adjungbilly's . In the cool season, the Great Dividing Range also shields much of the southeast coast (i.e. Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter Valley, Illawarra, the South Coast) from south-westerly polar blasts that originate from the Southern Ocean.
In Queensland, the land west of Atherton Tableland in the Tablelands Region lies on a rain shadow and therefore would feature significantly lower annual rainfall averages than those in the Cairns Region. For comparison, Tully, which is on the eastern side of the tablelands, towards the coast, receives annual rainfall that exceeds , whereas Mareeba, which lies on the rain shadow of the Atherton Tableland, receives of rainfall annually.
In Tasmania, one of the states of Australia, the central Midlands region is in a strong rain shadow and receives only about a fifth as much rainfall as the highlands to the west.
In Victoria, the western side of Port Phillip Bay is in the rain shadow of the Otway Ranges. The area between Geelong and Werribee is the driest part of southern Victoria: the crest of the Otway Ranges receives of rain per year and has myrtle beech rainforests much further west than anywhere else, whilst the area around Little River receives as little as annually, which is as little as Nhill or Longreach and supports only grassland. Also in Victoria, Omeo is shielded by the surrounding Victorian Alps, where it receives around of annual rain, whereas other places nearby exceed .
Western Australia's Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions are shielded by the Darling Range to the west: Mandurah, near the coast, receives about annually. Dwellingup, 40 km inland and in the heart of the ranges, receives over a year while Narrogin, further east, receives less than a year.
Pacific Islands
Hawaii also has rain shadows, with some areas being desert. Orographic lifting produces the world's second-highest annual precipitation record, 12.7 meters (500 inches), on the island of Kauai; the leeward side is understandably rain-shadowed. The entire island of Kahoolawe lies in the rain shadow of Maui's East Maui Volcano.
New Caledonia lies astride the Tropic of Capricorn, between 19° and 23° south latitude. The climate of the islands is tropical, and rainfall is brought by trade winds from the east. The western side of the Grande Terre lies in the rain shadow of the central mountains, and rainfall averages are significantly lower.
In the South Island of New Zealand is to be found one of the most remarkable rain shadows anywhere on Earth. The Southern Alps intercept moisture coming off the Tasman Sea, precipitating about 6,300 mm (250 in) to 8,900 mm (350 in) liquid water equivalent per year and creating large glaciers on the western side. To the east of the Southern Alps, scarcely 50 km (30 mi) from the snowy peaks, yearly rainfall drops to less than 760 mm (30 in) and some areas less than 380 mm (15 in). (see Nor'west arch for more on this subject).
South America
The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest non-polar desert on Earth because it is blocked from moisture on both sides (the Andes Mountains to the east block moist Amazon basin air while the Chilean Coast Range stops the oceanic influence from coming in from the west).
Cuyo and Eastern Patagonia is rain shadowed from the prevailing westerly winds by the Andes range and is arid. The aridity of the lands next to eastern piedmont of the Andes decreases to the south due to a decrease in the height of the Andes with the consequence that the Patagonian Desert develop more fully at the Atlantic coast contributing to shaping the climatic pattern known as the Arid Diagonal. The Argentinian wine region of Cuyo and Northern Patagonia is almost completely dependent on irrigation, using water drawn from the many rivers that drain glacial ice from the Andes.
The Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia is in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and despite its tropical latitude is almost arid, receiving almost no rainfall for seven to eight months of the year and being incapable of cultivation without irrigation.
See also
Lake-effect snow
Orographic precipitation
Wind shadow
References
External links
USA Today on rain shadows
Weather pages on rain shadows
Land surface effects on climate
Mountain meteorology
Hydrology |
426456 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice%20core | Ice core | An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier. Since the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper ones, and an ice core contains ice formed over a range of years. Cores are drilled with hand augers (for shallow holes) or powered drills; they can reach depths of over two miles (3.2 km), and contain ice up to 800,000 years old.
The physical properties of the ice and of material trapped in it can be used to reconstruct the climate over the age range of the core. The proportions of different oxygen and hydrogen isotopes provide information about ancient temperatures, and the air trapped in tiny bubbles can be analysed to determine the level of atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide. Since heat flow in a large ice sheet is very slow, the borehole temperature is another indicator of temperature in the past. These data can be combined to find the climate model that best fits all the available data.
Impurities in ice cores may depend on location. Coastal areas are more likely to include material of marine origin, such as sea salt ions. Greenland ice cores contain layers of wind-blown dust that correlate with cold, dry periods in the past, when cold deserts were scoured by wind. Radioactive elements, either of natural origin or created by nuclear testing, can be used to date the layers of ice. Some volcanic events that were sufficiently powerful to send material around the globe have left a signature in many different cores that can be used to synchronise their time scales.
Ice cores have been studied since the early 20th century, and several cores were drilled as a result of the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958). Depths of over 400 m were reached, a record which was extended in the 1960s to 2164 m at Byrd Station in Antarctica. Soviet ice drilling projects in Antarctica include decades of work at Vostok Station, with the deepest core reaching 3769 m. Numerous other deep cores in the Antarctic have been completed over the years, including the West Antarctic Ice Sheet project, and cores managed by the British Antarctic Survey and the International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition. In Greenland, a sequence of collaborative projects began in the 1970s with the Greenland Ice Sheet Project; there have been multiple follow-up projects, with the most recent, the East Greenland Ice-Core Project, originally expected to complete a deep core in east Greenland in 2020 but since postponed.
Structure of ice sheets and cores
An ice core is a vertical column through a glacier, sampling the layers that formed through an annual cycle of snowfall and melt. As snow accumulates, each layer presses on lower layers, making them denser until they turn into firn. Firn is not dense enough to prevent air from escaping; but at a density of about 830 kg/m3 it turns to ice, and the air within is sealed into bubbles that capture the composition of the atmosphere at the time the ice formed. The depth at which this occurs varies with location, but in Greenland and the Antarctic it ranges from 64 m to 115 m. Because the rate of snowfall varies from site to site, the age of the firn when it turns to ice varies a great deal. At Summit Camp in Greenland, the depth is 77 m and the ice is 230 years old; at Dome C in Antarctica the depth is 95 m and the age 2500 years. As further layers build up, the pressure increases, and at about 1500 m the crystal structure of the ice changes from hexagonal to cubic, allowing air molecules to move into the cubic crystals and form a clathrate. The bubbles disappear and the ice becomes more transparent.
Two or three feet of snow may turn into less than a foot of ice. The weight above makes deeper layers of ice thin and flow outwards. Ice is lost at the edges of the glacier to icebergs, or to summer melting, and the overall shape of the glacier does not change much with time. The outward flow can distort the layers, so it is desirable to drill deep ice cores at places where there is very little flow. These can be located using maps of the flow lines.
Impurities in the ice provide information on the environment from when they were deposited. These include soot, ash, and other types of particle from forest fires and volcanoes; isotopes such as beryllium-10 created by cosmic rays;
micrometeorites; and pollen. The lowest layer of a glacier, called basal ice, is frequently formed of subglacial meltwater that has refrozen. It can be up to about 20 m thick, and though it has scientific value (for example, it may contain subglacial microbial populations), it often does not retain stratigraphic information.
Cores are often drilled in areas such as Antarctica and central Greenland where the temperature is almost never warm enough to cause melting, but the summer sun can still alter the snow. In polar areas, the sun is visible day and night during the local summer and invisible all winter. It can make some snow sublimate, leaving the top inch or so less dense. When the sun approaches its lowest point in the sky, the temperature drops and hoar frost forms on the top layer. Buried under the snow of following years, the coarse-grained hoar frost compresses into lighter layers than the winter snow. As a result, alternating bands of lighter and darker ice can be seen in an ice core.
Coring
Ice cores are collected by cutting around a cylinder of ice in a way that enables it to be brought to the surface. Early cores were often collected with hand augers and they are still used for short holes. A design for ice core augers was patented in 1932 and they have changed little since. An auger is essentially a cylinder with helical metal ribs (known as flights) wrapped around the outside, at the lower end of which are cutting blades. Hand augers can be rotated by a T handle or a brace handle, and some can be attached to handheld electric drills to power the rotation. With the aid of a tripod for lowering and raising the auger, cores up to 50 m deep can be retrieved, but the practical limit is about 30 m for engine-powered augers, and less for hand augers. Below this depth, electromechanical or thermal drills are used.
The cutting apparatus of a drill is on the bottom end of a drill barrel, the tube that surrounds the core as the drill cuts downward. The cuttings (chips of ice cut away by the drill) must be drawn up the hole and disposed of or they will reduce the cutting efficiency of the drill. They can be removed by compacting them into the walls of the hole or into the core, by air circulation (dry drilling), or by the use of a drilling fluid (wet drilling). Dry drilling is limited to about 400 m depth, since below that point a hole would close up as the ice deforms from the weight of the ice above.
Drilling fluids are chosen to balance the pressure so that the hole remains stable. The fluid must have a low kinematic viscosity to reduce tripping time (the time taken to pull the drilling equipment out of the hole and return it to the bottom of the hole). Since retrieval of each segment of core requires tripping, a slower speed of travel through the drilling fluid could add significant time to a project—a year or more for a deep hole. The fluid must contaminate the ice as little as possible; it must have low toxicity, for safety and to minimize the effect on the environment; it must be available at a reasonable cost; and it must be relatively easy to transport. Historically, there have been three main types of ice drilling fluids: two-component fluids based on kerosene-like products mixed with fluorocarbons to increase density; alcohol compounds, including aqueous ethylene glycol and ethanol solutions; and esters, including n-butyl acetate. Newer fluids have been proposed, including new ester-based fluids, low-molecular weight dimethyl siloxane oils, fatty-acid esters, and kerosene-based fluids mixed with foam-expansion agents.
Rotary drilling is the main method of drilling for minerals and it has also been used for ice drilling. It uses a string of drill pipe rotated from the top, and drilling fluid is pumped down through the pipe and back up around it. The cuttings are removed from the fluid at the top of the hole and the fluid is then pumped back down. This approach requires long trip times, since the entire drill string must be hoisted out of the hole, and each length of pipe must be separately disconnected, and then reconnected when the drill string is reinserted. Along with the logistical difficulties associated with bringing heavy equipment to ice sheets, this makes traditional rotary drills unattractive. In contrast, wireline drills allow the removal of the core barrel from the drill assembly while it is still at the bottom of the borehole. The core barrel is hoisted to the surface, and the core removed; the barrel is lowered again and reconnected to the drill assembly. Another alternative is flexible drill-stem rigs, in which the drill string is flexible enough to be coiled when at the surface. This eliminates the need to disconnect and reconnect the pipes during a trip. The need for a string of drillpipe that extends from the surface to the bottom of the borehole can be eliminated by suspending the entire downhole assembly on an armoured cable that conveys power to the downhole motor. These cable-suspended drills can be used for both shallow and deep holes; they require an anti-torque device, such as leaf-springs that press against the borehole, to prevent the drill assembly rotating around the drillhead as it cuts the core. The drilling fluid is usually circulated down around the outside of the drill and back up between the core and core barrel; the cuttings are stored in the downhole assembly, in a chamber above the core. When the core is retrieved, the cuttings chamber is emptied for the next run. Some drills have been designed to retrieve a second annular core outside the central core, and in these drills the space between the two cores can be used for circulation. Cable-suspended drills have proved to be the most reliable design for deep ice drilling.
Thermal drills, which cut ice by electrically heating the drill head, can also be used, but they have some disadvantages. Some have been designed for working in cold ice; they have high power consumption and the heat they produce can degrade the quality of the retrieved ice core. Early thermal drills, designed for use without drilling fluid, were limited in depth as a result; later versions were modified to work in fluid-filled holes but this slowed down trip times, and these drills retained the problems of the earlier models. In addition, thermal drills are typically bulky and can be impractical to use in areas where there are logistical difficulties. More recent modifications include the use of antifreeze, which eliminates the need for heating the drill assembly and hence reduces the power needs of the drill. Hot-water drills use jets of hot water at the drill head to melt the water around the core. The drawbacks are that it is difficult to accurately control the dimensions of the borehole, the core cannot easily be kept sterile, and the heat may cause thermal shock to the core.
When drilling in temperate ice, thermal drills have an advantage over electromechanical (EM) drills: ice melted by pressure can refreeze on EM drill bits, reducing cutting efficiency, and can clog other parts of the mechanism. EM drills are also more likely to fracture ice cores where the ice is under high stress.
When drilling deep holes, which require drilling fluid, the hole must be cased (fitted with a cylindrical lining), since otherwise the drilling fluid will be absorbed by the snow and firn. The casing has to reach down to the impermeable ice layers. To install casing a shallow auger can be used to create a pilot hole, which is then reamed (expanded) until it is wide enough to accept the casing; a large diameter auger can also be used, avoiding the need for reaming. An alternative to casing is to use water in the borehole to saturate the porous snow and firn; the water eventually turns to ice.
Ice cores from different depths are not all equally in demand by scientific investigators, which can lead to a shortage of ice cores at certain depths. To address this, work has been done on technology to drill replicate cores: additional cores, retrieved by drilling into the sidewall of the borehole, at depths of particular interest. Replicate cores were successfully retrieved at WAIS divide in the 2012–2013 drilling season, at four different depths.
Large coring projects
The logistics of any coring project are complex because the locations are usually difficult to reach, and may be at high altitude. The largest projects require years of planning and years to execute, and are usually run as international consortiums. The EastGRIP project, for example, which as of 2017 is drilling in eastern Greenland, is run by the Centre for Ice and Climate (Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen) in Denmark, and includes representatives from 12 countries on its steering committee. Over the course of a drilling season, scores of people work at the camp, and logistics support includes airlift capabilities provided by the US Air National Guard, using Hercules transport planes owned by the National Science Foundation. In 2015 the EastGRIP team moved the camp facilities from NEEM, a previous Greenland ice core drilling site, to the EastGRIP site. Drilling is expected to continue until at least 2020.
Core processing
With some variation between projects, the following steps must occur between drilling and final storage of the ice core.
The drill removes an annulus of ice around the core but does not cut under it. A spring-loaded lever arm called a core dog can break off the core and hold it in place while it is brought to the surface. The core is then extracted from the drill barrel, usually by laying it out flat so that the core can slide out onto a prepared surface. The core must be cleaned of drilling fluid as it is slid out; for the WAIS Divide coring project, a vacuuming system was set up to facilitate this. The surface that receives the core should be aligned as accurately as possible with the drill barrel to minimise mechanical stress on the core, which can easily break. The ambient temperature is kept well below freezing to avoid thermal shock.
A log is kept with information about the core, including its length and the depth it was retrieved from, and the core may be marked to show its orientation. It is usually cut into shorter sections, the standard length in the US being one metre. The cores are then stored on site, usually in a space below snow level to simplify temperature maintenance, though additional refrigeration can be used. If more drilling fluid must be removed, air may be blown over the cores. Any samples needed for preliminary analysis are taken. The core is then bagged, often in polythene, and stored for shipment. Additional packing, including padding material, is added. When the cores are flown from the drilling site, the aircraft's flight deck is unheated to help maintain a low temperature; when they are transported by ship they must be kept in a refrigeration unit.
There are several locations around the world that store ice cores, such as the National Ice Core Laboratory in the US. These locations make samples available for testing. A substantial fraction of each core is archived for future analyses.
Brittle ice
Over a depth range known as the brittle ice zone, bubbles of air are trapped in the ice under great pressure. When the core is brought to the surface, the bubbles can exert a stress that exceeds the tensile strength of the ice, resulting in cracks and spall. At greater depths, the air disappears into clathrates and the ice becomes stable again. At the WAIS Divide site, the brittle ice zone was from 520 m to 1340 m depth.
The brittle ice zone typically returns poorer quality samples than for the rest of the core. Some steps can be taken to alleviate the problem. Liners can be placed inside the drill barrel to enclose the core before it is brought to the surface, but this makes it difficult to clean off the drilling fluid. In mineral drilling, special machinery can bring core samples to the surface at bottom-hole pressure, but this is too expensive for the inaccessible locations of most drilling sites. Keeping the processing facilities at very low temperatures limits thermal shocks. Cores are most brittle at the surface, so another approach is to break them into 1 m lengths in the hole. Extruding the core from the drill barrel into a net helps keep it together if it shatters. Brittle cores are also often allowed to rest in storage at the drill site for some time, up to a full year between drilling seasons, to let the ice gradually relax.
Ice core data
Dating
Many different kinds of analysis are performed on ice cores, including visual layer counting, tests for electrical conductivity and physical properties, and assays for inclusion of gases, particles, radionuclides, and various molecular species. For the results of these tests to be useful in the reconstruction of palaeoenvironments, there has to be a way to determine the relationship between depth and age of the ice. The simplest approach is to count layers of ice that correspond to the original annual layers of snow, but this is not always possible. An alternative is to model the ice accumulation and flow to predict how long it takes a given snowfall to reach a particular depth. Another method is to correlate radionuclides or trace atmospheric gases with other timescales such as periodicities in the earth's orbital parameters.
A difficulty in ice core dating is that gases can diffuse through firn, so the ice at a given depth may be substantially older than the gases trapped in it. As a result, there are two chronologies for a given ice core: one for the ice, and one for the trapped gases. To determine the relationship between the two, models have been developed for the depth at which gases are trapped for a given location, but their predictions have not always proved reliable. At locations with very low snowfall, such as Vostok, the uncertainty in the difference between ages of ice and gas can be over 1,000 years.
The density and size of the bubbles trapped in ice provide an indication of crystal size at the time they formed. The size of a crystal is related to its growth rate, which in turn depends on the temperature, so the properties of the bubbles can be combined with information on accumulation rates and firn density to calculate the temperature when the firn formed.
Radiocarbon dating can be used on the carbon in trapped . In the polar ice sheets there is about 15–20 µg of carbon in the form of in each kilogram of ice, and there may also be carbonate particles from wind-blown dust (loess). The can be isolated by subliming the ice in a vacuum, keeping the temperature low enough to avoid the loess giving up any carbon. The results have to be corrected for the presence of produced directly in the ice by cosmic rays, and the amount of correction depends strongly on the location of the ice core. Corrections for produced by nuclear testing have much less impact on the results. Carbon in particulates can also be dated by separating and testing the water-insoluble organic components of dust. The very small quantities typically found require at least 300 g of ice to be used, limiting the ability of the technique to precisely assign an age to core depths.
Timescales for ice cores from the same hemisphere can usually be synchronised using layers that include material from volcanic events. It is more difficult to connect the timescales in different hemispheres. The Laschamp event, a geomagnetic reversal about 40,000 years ago, can be identified in cores; away from that point, measurements of gases such as (methane) can be used to connect the chronology of a Greenland core (for example) with an Antarctic core. In cases where volcanic tephra is interspersed with ice, it can be dated using argon/argon dating and hence provide fixed points for dating the ice. Uranium decay has also been used to date ice cores. Another approach is to use Bayesian probability techniques to find the optimal combination of multiple independent records. This approach was developed in 2010 and has since been turned into a software tool, DatIce.
The boundary between the Pleistocene and the Holocene, about 11,700 years ago, is now formally defined with reference to data on Greenland ice cores. Formal definitions of stratigraphic boundaries allow scientists in different locations to correlate their findings. These often involve fossil records, which are not present in ice cores, but cores have extremely precise palaeoclimatic information that can be correlated with other climate proxies.
The dating of ice sheets has proved to be a key element in providing dates for palaeoclimatic records. According to Richard Alley, "In many ways, ice cores are the 'rosetta stones' that allow development of a global network of accurately dated paleoclimatic records using the best ages determined anywhere on the planet".
Visual analysis
Cores show visible layers, which correspond to annual snowfall at the core site. If a pair of pits is dug in fresh snow with a thin wall between them and one of the pits is roofed over, an observer in the roofed pit will see the layers revealed by sunlight shining through. A six-foot pit may show anything from less than a year of snow to several years of snow, depending on the location. Poles left in the snow from year to year show the amount of accumulated snow each year, and this can be used to verify that the visible layer in a snow pit corresponds to a single year's snowfall.
In central Greenland a typical year might produce two or three feet of winter snow, plus a few inches of summer snow. When this turns to ice, the two layers will make up no more than a foot of ice. The layers corresponding to the summer snow will contain bigger bubbles than the winter layers, so the alternating layers remain visible, which makes it possible to count down a core and determine the age of each layer. As the depth increases to the point where the ice structure changes to a clathrate, the bubbles are no longer visible, and the layers can no longer be seen. Dust layers may now become visible. Ice from Greenland cores contains dust carried by wind; the dust appears most strongly in late winter, and appears as cloudy grey layers. These layers are stronger and easier to see at times in the past when the earth's climate was cold, dry, and windy.
Any method of counting layers eventually runs into difficulties as the flow of the ice causes the layers to become thinner and harder to see with increasing depth. The problem is more acute at locations where accumulation is high; low accumulation sites, such as central Antarctica, must be dated by other methods. For example, at Vostok, layer counting is only possible down to an age of 55,000 years.
When there is summer melting, the melted snow refreezes lower in the snow and firn, and the resulting layer of ice has very few bubbles so is easy to recognise in a visual examination of a core. Identification of these layers, both visually and by measuring density of the core against depth, allows the calculation of a melt-feature percentage (MF): an MF of 100% would mean that every year's deposit of snow showed evidence of melting. MF calculations are averaged over multiple sites or long time periods in order to smooth the data. Plots of MF data over time reveal variations in the climate, and have shown that since the late 20th century melting rates have been increasing.
In addition to manual inspection and logging of features identified in a visual inspection, cores can be optically scanned so that a digital visual record is available. This requires the core to be cut lengthwise, so that a flat surface is created.
Isotopic analysis
The isotopic composition of the oxygen in a core can be used to model the temperature history of the ice sheet. Oxygen has three stable isotopes, , and . The ratio between and indicates the temperature when the snow fell. Because is lighter than , water containing is slightly more likely to turn into vapour, and water containing is slightly more likely to condense from vapour into rain or snow crystals. At lower temperatures, the difference is more pronounced. The standard method of recording the / ratio is to subtract the ratio in a standard known as standard mean ocean water (SMOW):
where the ‰ sign indicates parts per thousand. A sample with the same / ratio as SMOW has a of 0‰; a sample that is depleted in has a negative . Combining the measurements of an ice core sample with the borehole temperature at the depth it came from provides additional information, in some cases leading to significant corrections to the temperatures deduced from the data. Not all boreholes can be used in these analyses. If the site has experienced significant melting in the past, the borehole will no longer preserve an accurate temperature record.
Hydrogen ratios can also be used to calculate a temperature history. Deuterium (, or D) is heavier than hydrogen () and makes water more likely to condense and less likely to evaporate. A ratio can be defined in the same way as . There is a linear relationship between and :
where d is the deuterium excess. It was once thought that this meant it was unnecessary to measure both ratios in a given core, but in 1979 Merlivat and Jouzel showed that the deuterium excess reflects the temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed of the ocean where the moisture originated. Since then it has been customary to measure both.
Water isotope records, analyzed in cores from Camp Century and Dye 3 in Greenland, were instrumental in the discovery of Dansgaard-Oeschger events—rapid warming at the onset of an interglacial, followed by slower cooling. Other isotopic ratios have been studied, for example, the ratio between and can provide information about past changes in the carbon cycle. Combining this information with records of carbon dioxide levels, also obtained from ice cores, provides information about the mechanisms behind changes in over time.
Palaeoatmospheric sampling
It was understood in the 1960s that analyzing the air trapped in ice cores would provide useful information on the paleoatmosphere, but it was not until the late 1970s that a reliable extraction method was developed. Early results included a demonstration that the concentration was 30% less at the last glacial maximum than just before the start of the industrial age. Further research has demonstrated a reliable correlation between levels and the temperature calculated from ice isotope data.
Because (methane) is produced in lakes and wetlands, the amount in the atmosphere is correlated with the strength of monsoons, which are in turn correlated with the strength of low-latitude summer insolation. Since insolation depends on orbital cycles, for which a timescale is available from other sources, can be used to determine the relationship between core depth and age. (nitrous oxide) levels are also correlated with glacial cycles, though at low temperatures the graph differs somewhat from the and graphs. Similarly, the ratio between (nitrogen) and (oxygen) can be used to date ice cores: as air is gradually trapped by the snow turning to firn and then ice, is lost more easily than , and the relative amount of correlates with the strength of local summer insolation. This means that the trapped air retains, in the ratio of to , a record of the summer insolation, and hence combining this data with orbital cycle data establishes an ice core dating scheme.
Diffusion within the firn layer causes other changes that can be measured. Gravity causes heavier molecules to be enriched at the bottom of a gas column, with the amount of enrichment depending on the difference in mass between the molecules. Colder temperatures cause heavier molecules to be more enriched at the bottom of a column. These fractionation processes in trapped air, determined by the measurement of the / ratio and of neon, krypton and xenon, have been used to infer the thickness of the firn layer, and determine other palaeoclimatic information such as past mean ocean temperatures. Some gases such as helium can rapidly diffuse through ice, so it may be necessary to test for these "fugitive gases" within minutes of the core being retrieved to obtain accurate data. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which contribute to the greenhouse effect and also cause ozone loss in the stratosphere, can be detected in ice cores after about 1950; almost all CFCs in the atmosphere were created by human activity.
Greenland cores, during times of climatic transition, may show excess in air bubbles when analysed, due to production by acidic and alkaline impurities.
Glaciochemistry
Summer snow in Greenland contains some sea salt, blown from the surrounding waters; there is less of it in winter, when much of the sea surface is covered by pack ice. Similarly, hydrogen peroxide appears only in summer snow because its production in the atmosphere requires sunlight. These seasonal changes can be detected because they lead to changes in the electrical conductivity of the ice. Placing two electrodes with a high voltage between them on the surface of the ice core gives a measurement of the conductivity at that point. Dragging them down the length of the core, and recording the conductivity at each point, gives a graph that shows an annual periodicity. Such graphs also identify chemical changes caused by non-seasonal events such as forest fires and major volcanic eruptions. When a known volcanic event, such as the eruption of Laki in Iceland in 1783, can be identified in the ice core record, it provides a cross-check on the age determined by layer counting. Material from Laki can be identified in Greenland ice cores, but did not spread as far as Antarctica; the 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia injected material into the stratosphere, and can be identified in both Greenland and Antarctic ice cores. If the date of the eruption is not known, but it can be identified in multiple cores, then dating the ice can in turn give a date for the eruption, which can then be used as a reference layer. This was done, for example, in an analysis of the climate for the period from 535 to 550 AD, which was thought to be influenced by an otherwise unknown tropical eruption in about 533 AD; but which turned out to be caused by two eruptions, one in 535 or early 536 AD, and a second one in 539 or 540 AD. There are also more ancient reference points, such as the eruption of Toba about 72,000 years ago.
Many other elements and molecules have been detected in ice cores. In 1969, it was discovered that lead levels in Greenland ice had increased by a factor of over 200 since pre-industrial times, and increases in other elements produced by industrial processes, such as copper, cadmium, and zinc, have also been recorded. The presence of nitric and sulfuric acid ( and ) in precipitation can be shown to correlate with increasing fuel combustion over time. Methanesulfonate (MSA) () is produced in the atmosphere by marine organisms, so ice core records of MSA provide information on the history of the oceanic environment. Both hydrogen peroxide () and formaldehyde () have been studied, along with organic molecules such as carbon black that are linked to vegetation emissions and forest fires. Some species, such as calcium and ammonium, show strong seasonal variation. In some cases there are contributions from more than one source to a given species: for example, Ca++ comes from dust as well as from marine sources; the marine input is much greater than the dust input and so although the two sources peak at different times of the year, the overall signal shows a peak in the winter, when the marine input is at a maximum. Seasonal signals can be erased at sites where the accumulation is low, by surface winds; in these cases it is not possible to date individual layers of ice between two reference layers.
Some of the deposited chemical species may interact with the ice, so what is detected in an ice core is not necessarily what was originally deposited. Examples include HCHO and . Another complication is that in areas with low accumulation rates, deposition from fog can increase the concentration in the snow, sometimes to the point where the atmospheric concentration could be overestimated by a factor of two.
Radionuclides
Galactic cosmic rays produce in the atmosphere at a rate that depends on the solar magnetic field. The strength of the field is related to the intensity of solar radiation, so the level of in the atmosphere is a proxy for climate. Accelerator mass spectrometry can detect the low levels of in ice cores, about 10,000 atoms in a gram of ice, and these can be used to provide long-term records of solar activity. Tritium (), created by nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s, has been identified in ice cores, and both 36Cl and have been found in ice cores in Antarctica and Greenland. Chlorine-36, which has a half-life of 301,000 years, has been used to date cores, as have krypton (, with a half-life of 11 years), lead (, 22 years), and silicon (, 172 years).
Other inclusions
Meteorites and micrometeorites that land on polar ice are sometimes concentrated by local environmental processes. For example, there are places in Antarctica where winds evaporate surface ice, concentrating the solids that are left behind, including meteorites. Meltwater ponds can also contain meteorites. At the South Pole Station, ice in a well is melted to provide a water supply, leaving micrometeorites behind. These have been collected by a robotic "vacuum cleaner" and examined, leading to improved estimates of their flux and mass distribution. The well is not an ice core, but the age of the ice that was melted is known, so the age of the recovered particles can be determined. The well becomes about 10 m deeper each year, so micrometeorites collected in a given year are about 100 years older than those from the previous year. Pollen, an important component of sediment cores, can also be found in ice cores. It provides information on changes in vegetation.
Physical properties
In addition to the impurities in a core and the isotopic composition of the water, the physical properties of the ice are examined. Features such as crystal size and axis orientation can reveal the history of ice flow patterns in the ice sheet. The crystal size can also be used to determine dates, though only in shallow cores.
History
Early years
In 1841 and 1842, Louis Agassiz drilled holes in the Unteraargletscher in the Alps; these were drilled with iron rods and did not produce cores. The deepest hole achieved was 60 m. On Erich von Drygalski's Antarctic expedition in 1902 and 1903, 30 m holes were drilled in an iceberg south of the Kerguelen Islands and temperature readings were taken. The first scientist to create a snow sampling tool was James E. Church, described by Pavel Talalay as "the father of modern snow surveying". In the winter of 1908–1909, Church constructed steel tubes with slots and cutting heads to retrieve cores of snow up to 3 m long. Similar devices are in use today, modified to allow sampling to a depth of about 9 m. They are simply pushed into the snow and rotated by hand.
The first systematic study of snow and firn layers was by Ernst Sorge, who was part of the Alfred Wegener Expedition to central Greenland in 1930–1931. Sorge dug a 15 m pit to examine the snow layers, and his results were later formalized into Sorge's Law of Densification by Henri Bader, who went on to do additional coring work in northwest Greenland in 1933. In the early 1950s, a SIPRE expedition took pit samples over much of the Greenland ice sheet, obtaining early oxygen isotope ratio data. Three other expeditions in the 1950s began ice coring work: a joint Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition (NBSAE), in Queen Maud Land in Antarctica; the Juneau Ice Field Research Project (JIRP), in Alaska; and Expéditions Polaires Françaises, in central Greenland. Core quality was poor, but some scientific work was done on the retrieved ice.
The International Geophysical Year (1957–1958) saw increased glaciology research around the world, with one of the high priority research targets being deep cores in polar regions. SIPRE conducted pilot drilling trials in 1956 (to 305 m) and 1957 (to 411 m) at Site 2 in Greenland; the second core, with the benefit of the previous year's drilling experience, was retrieved in much better condition, with fewer gaps. In Antarctica, a 307 m core was drilled at Byrd Station in 1957–1958, and a 264 m core at Little America V, on the Ross Ice Shelf, the following year. The success of the IGY core drilling led to increased interest in improving ice coring capabilities, and was followed by a CRREL project at Camp Century, where in the early 1960s three holes were drilled, the deepest reaching the base of the ice sheet at 1387 m in July 1966. The drill used at Camp Century then went to Byrd Station, where a 2164 m hole was drilled to bedrock before the drill was frozen into the borehole by sub-ice meltwater and had to be abandoned.
French, Australian and Canadian projects from the 1960s and 1970s include a 905 m core at Dome C in Antarctica, drilled by CNRS; cores at Law Dome drilled by ANARE, starting in 1969 with a 382 m core; and Devon Ice Cap cores recovered by a Canadian team in the 1970s.
Antarctica deep cores
Soviet ice drilling projects began in the 1950s, in Franz Josef Land, the Urals, Novaya Zemlya, and at Mirny and Vostok in the Antarctic; not all these early holes retrieved cores. Over the following decades work continued at multiple locations in Asia. Drilling in the Antarctic focused mostly on Mirny and Vostok, with a series of deep holes at Vostok begun in 1970. The first deep hole at Vostok reached 506.9 m in April 1970; by 1973 a depth of 952 m had been reached. A subsequent hole, Vostok 2, drilled from 1971 to 1976, reached 450 m, and Vostok 3 reached 2202 m in 1985 after six drilling seasons. Vostok 3 was the first core to retrieve ice from the previous glacial period, 150,000 years ago. Drilling was interrupted by a fire at the camp in 1982, but further drilling began in 1984, eventually reaching 2546 m in 1989. A fifth Vostok core was begun in 1990, reached 3661 m in 2007, and was later extended to 3769 m. The estimated age of the ice is 420,000 years at 3310 m depth; below that point it is difficult to interpret the data reliably because of mixing of the ice.
EPICA, a European ice coring collaboration, was formed in the 1990s, and two holes were drilled in East Antarctica: one at Dome C, which reached 2871 m in only two seasons of drilling, but which took another four years to reach bedrock at 3260 m; and one at Kohnen Station, which reached bedrock at 2760 m in 2006. The Dome C core had very low accumulation rates, which mean that the climate record extended a long way; by the end of the project the usable data extended to 800,000 years ago.
Other deep Antarctic cores included a Japanese project at Dome F, which reached 2503 m in 1996, with an estimated age of 330,000 years for the bottom of the core; and a subsequent hole at the same site which reached 3035 m in 2006, estimated to reach ice 720,000 years old. US teams drilled at McMurdo Station in the 1990s, and at Taylor Dome (554 m in 1994) and Siple Dome (1004 m in 1999), with both cores reaching ice from the last glacial period. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) project, completed in 2011, reached 3405 m; the site has high snow accumulation so the ice only extends back 62,000 years, but as a consequence, the core provides high resolution data for the period it covers. A 948 m core was drilled at Berkner Island by a project managed by the British Antarctic Survey from 2002 to 2005, extending into the last glacial period; and an Italian-managed ITASE project completed a 1620 m core at Talos Dome in 2007.
In 2016, cores were retrieved from the Allan Hills in Antarctica in an area where old ice lay near the surface. The cores were dated by potassium-argon dating; traditional ice core dating is not possible as not all layers were present. The oldest core was found to include ice from 2.7 million years ago—by far the oldest ice yet dated from a core.
Greenland deep cores
In 1970, scientific discussions began which resulted in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP), a multinational investigation into the Greenland ice sheet that lasted until 1981. Years of field work were required to determine the ideal location for a deep core; the field work included several intermediate-depth cores, at Dye 3 (372 m in 1971), Milcent (398 m in 1973) and Crete (405 m in 1974), among others. A location in north-central Greenland was selected as ideal, but financial constraints forced the group to drill at Dye 3 instead, beginning in 1979. The hole reached bedrock at 2037 m, in 1981. Two holes, 30 km apart, were eventually drilled at the north-central location in the early 1990s by two groups: GRIP, a European consortium, and GISP-2, a group of US universities. GRIP reached bedrock at 3029 m in 1992, and GISP-2 reached bedrock at 3053 m the following year. Both cores were limited to about 100,000 years of climatic information, and since this was thought to be connected to the topography of the rock underlying the ice sheet at the drill sites, a new site was selected 200 km north of GRIP, and a new project, NorthGRIP, was launched as an international consortium led by Denmark. Drilling began in 1996; the first hole had to be abandoned at 1400 m in 1997, and a new hole was begun in 1999, reaching 3085 m in 2003. The hole did not reach bedrock, but terminated at a subglacial river. The core provided climatic data back to 123,000 years ago, which covered part of the last interglacial period. The subsequent North Greenland Eemian (NEEM) project retrieved a 2537 m core in 2010 from a site further north, extending the climatic record to 128,500 years ago; NEEM was followed by EastGRIP, which began in 2015 in east Greenland and was planned to be completed in 2020.
In March 2020, the 2020 EGRIP field campaign was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. EastGRIP reopened for field work in 2022, where the CryoEgg reached new depths in the ice, under pressures in excess of 200 bar and temperatures of around -30c.
Non-polar cores
Ice cores have been drilled at locations away from the poles, notably in the Himalayas and the Andes. Some of these cores reach back to the last glacial period, but they are more important as records of El Niño events and of monsoon seasons in south Asia. Cores have also been drilled on Mount Kilimanjaro, in the Alps, and in Indonesia, New Zealand, Iceland, Scandinavia, Canada, and the US.
Future plans
IPICS (International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences) has produced a series of white papers outlining future challenges and scientific goals for the ice core science community. These include plans to:
Retrieve ice cores that reach back over 1.2 million years, in order to obtain multiple iterations of ice core record for the 40,000-year long climate cycles known to have operated at that time. Current cores reach back over 800,000 years, and show 100,000-year cycles.
Improve ice core chronologies, including connecting chronologies of multiple cores.
Identify additional proxies from ice cores, for example for sea ice, marine biological productivity, or forest fires.
Drill additional cores to provide high-resolution data for the last 2,000 years, to use as input for detailed climate modelling.
Identify an improved drilling fluid
Improve the ability to handle brittle ice, both while drilling and in transport and storage
Find a way to handle cores which have pressurised water at bedrock
Come up with a standardised lightweight drill capable of drilling both wet and dry holes, and able to reach depths of up to 1000 m.
Improve core handling to maximise the information that can be obtained from each core.
See also
List of ice cores
Ice drilling
References
Sources
External links
US National Ice Core Laboratory video showing storage and processing of cores
Ice Core Gateway
Byrd Polar Research Center – Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group
A misleading graph has been circling the internet since at least 2010
A 2.7 million year old core
Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice mission
Third Pole ice
Incremental dating
Core
Glaciology |
426463 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel%20Milyukov | Pavel Milyukov | Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov (; 31 March 1943) was a Russian historian and liberal politician. Milyukov was the founder, leader, and the most prominent member of the Constitutional Democratic party (known as the Kadets). He changed his view on the monarchy between 1905 and 1917. In the Russian Provisional Government, he served as Foreign Minister, working to prevent Russia's exit from the First World War.
Pre-revolutionary career
Pavel was born in Moscow in the upper-class family of Nikolai Pavlovich Milyukov, a professor in architecture who taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Milyukov was a member of the House of Milukoff. Milyukov studied history and philology at the Moscow University, where he was influenced by Herbert Spencer, Auguste Comte, and Karl Marx. His teachers were Vasily Klyuchevsky and Paul Vinogradoff. In summer 1877 he briefly took part in Russo-Turkish War as a military logistic, but returned to the university. He was expelled for taking part in student riots, went to Italy, but was readmitted and allowed to take his degree. He specialized in the study of Russian history and in 1885 received the degree for work on the State Economics of Russia in the First Quarter of the 18th Century and the reforms of Peter the Great.
In 1890 he became a member of the Moscow Society of Russian History and Antiquities. He gave private lectures with great success at a training institute for girl teachers and in 1895 was appointed to the university. These lectures were afterward expanded by him in his book Outlines of Russian Culture (3 vols., 1896–1903, translated into several languages). He started an association for "home university reading," and, as its first president, edited the first volume of its program, which was widely read in Russian intellectual circles. As a student Milyukov was influenced by the liberal ideas of Konstantin Kavelin and Boris Chicherin. His liberal opinions brought him into conflict with the educational authorities, and he was dismissed in 1894 after one of the ever-recurrent university "riots". He was imprisoned for two years in Riazan as a political agitator, but contributed as an archaeologist.
When released from jail, Milyukov went to Bulgaria, and was appointed professor in the University of Sofia, where he lectured in Bulgarian in the philosophy of history, etc. He was sent (or dismissed under Russian pressure) to Macedonia, part of the Ottoman Empire. There he worked in an archaeological site. In 1899 he was allowed to return to St Petersburg. In 1901 he was arrested again for taking part in a commemoration of the populist writer Pyotr Lavrov. (The last volume of Outlines of Russian Culture was actually finished in jail, where he spent six months for his political speech.) In 1901, according to Milyukov, about 16,000 people were exiled from the capital. The following by-law, published in 1902 by the governor of Bessarabia is typical:
He contributed under a pseudonym to the clandestine journal Liberation, founded by Peter Berngardovich Struve, published in Stuttgart in 1902. The government again gave him the choice of exile for three years or jail for six months, Milyukov chose the Kresty Prison. After an interview with Vyacheslav von Plehve, whom he regarded as "the symbol of the Russia he hated", Milyukov was released. He was central in the founding of the Union of Unions in 1905.
In 1903 he delivered courses of lectures in the United States at summer sessions in University of Chicago and for the Lowell Institute lectures in Boston. He visited London and attended the Paris Conference 1904, organized by the Finnish dissident Konni Zilliacus. Milyukov returned to Russia during the Russian Revolution of 1905, according to Orlando Figes in many ways a foretaste of the conflicts of 1917. He founded the Constitutional Democratic party, a party of professors, academics, lawyers, writers, journalists, teachers, doctors, officials, and liberal zemstvo men. As a journalist for "Svobodny narod" ("Free People") and "Narodnaya swoboda" ("People's Freedom") or as a former political prisoner Milyukov was not allowed to represent the Kadets in the first and second Duma. For Milyukov any agreement between liberalism and autocracy was impossible. In 1906 the Duma was dissolved and its members moved to Vyborg in Finland. Milyukov drafted the Vyborg Manifesto, calling for political freedom, reforms, and passive resistance to the governmental policy.
Dmitri Trepov suggested Ivan Goremykin ought to step down and promote a cabinet with only Kadets, which in his opinion would soon enter into a violent conflict with the Tsar and fail. He secretly met with Milyukov. Trepov opposed Pyotr Stolypin, who promoted a coalition cabinet.
The Kadets gave up the idea of founding a republic and promoting a constitutional monarchy. Georgy Lvov and Alexander Guchkov tried to convince the tsar to accept liberals in the new government. In 1907 Milyukov was elected in the Third Duma; at some time he joined the board of the party Rech (newspaper). He was one of the few publicists in Russia, who had considerable knowledge of international politics, and his articles on the Near East seem to be of considerable interest.
Deputy
In January 1908 Milyukov addressed "The Civic Forum" in Carnegie Hall. From the very beginning, the slogan and the idea of the empire ruled by Russians were very controversial regarding what "Russians" meant. One of the outspoken critics of the notion, Pavel Milyukov, considered the "Russia for Russians" slogan to have been "a slogan of disunity... [and] not creative but destructive." In 1909, Milyukov addressed the Russian State Duma on the issue of using Ukrainian in the court system, attacking Russian nationalist deputies: "You say "Russia for Russians," but whom do you mean by "Russian"? You should say "Russia only for the Great Russians," because that which you do not give to Muslims and Jews you also do not give your own nearest kin – Ukraine."
In 1912 he was reelected in the Fourth Duma. According to Milyukov, in May 1914 Rasputin had become an influential factor in Russian politics. With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Milyukov swung to the right, but a coup to remove the Tsar belonged to the possibilities. He had become a nationalist, patriotic policy of national defense, relying on social chauvinism. (He was best friends with Sergei Sazonov.) Milyukov insisted his younger son volunteer for the army (who subsequently died in battle). In August 1915 he formed the Progressive Bloc and became the leader. Milyukov was regarded as a staunch supporter of the conquest of Constantinople. In the nineties, Milyukov thoroughly studied the Balkans, which made him the most competent authority on Balkan politics. His opponents mockingly called him "Milyukov of Dardanelles". In Summer 1916, at the request of Rodzianko, Protopopov led a delegation of Duma members (with Milyukov) to strengthen the ties with Russia's western allies in World War I: the (Entente powers). In August he gave lectures in Oxford. On 1 November 1916, in a populist speech, he sharply criticized the Stürmer government for its inefficiency. He met professor Thomas Garrigue Masaryk in London, and consulted with him about the present state of the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia at that time.
"Stupidity or treason" speech
At Progressive Bloc meetings near the end of October, Progressives and left-Kadets argued that the revolutionary public mood could no longer be ignored and that the Duma should attack the entire tsarist system or lose whatever influence it had. Nationalists feared that a concerted stand against the government would jeopardize the existence of the Duma and further inflame the revolutionary feelings. Miliukov argued for and secured a tenuous adherence to a middle-ground tactic, attacking Boris Stürmer and forcing his replacement.
According to Stockdale, he had trouble gaining the support of his own party; at the 22–24 October Kadet fall conference provincial delegates "lashed out at Miliukov with unaccustomed ferocity. His travels abroad had made him poorly informed about the public mood, they charged; the patience of the people was exhausted." He responded with a plea to keep their ultimate goal in mind: It will be our task not to destroy the government, which would only aid anarchy, but to instill in it a completely different content, that is, to build a genuine constitutional order. That is why, in our struggle with the government, despite everything, we must retain a sense of proportion... To support anarchy in the name of the struggle with the government would be to risk all the political conquests we have made since 1905. The day before the opening of the Duma, the Progressist party pulled out of the bloc because they believed the situation called for more than a mere denunciation of Stürmer.
On 1 November (O.S.) the government under the pro-peace Boris Stürmer was attacked in the Imperial Duma, not gathering since February. Alexander Kerensky spoke first, called the ministers "hired assassins" and "cowards" and said they were "guided by the contemptible Grishka [or Grigori] Rasputin!" The acting president Rodzianko ordered him to leave, when calling for the overthrow of the government in wartime. Miliukov's speech was more than three times longer than Kerensky's, and delivered using much more moderate language.
In his speech "Rasputin and Rasputuiza" he spoke of "treachery and betrayal, about the dark forces, fighting in favor of Germany". He highlighted numerous governmental failures, including the case Sukhomlinov, concluding that Stürmer's policies placed in jeopardy the Triple Entente. After each accusation – many times without basis – he asked "Is this stupidity or is it treason?" and the listeners answered "stupidity!", "treason!", etc. (Milyukov stated that it did not matter "Choose any ... as the consequences are the same.") Stürmer walked out, followed by all his ministers.
He began by outlining how public hope had been lost over the course of the war, saying: "We have lost faith that the government can lead us to victory." He mentioned the rumours of treason and then proceeded to discuss some of the allegations: that Stürmer had freed Suchomlinov, that there was a great deal of pro-German propaganda, that he had been told that the enemy had access to Russian state secrets in his visits to allied countries and that Stürmer's private secretary [Ivan Manuilov-Manasevich] had been arrested for taking German bribes but was released when he kicked back to Stürmer.
Milyukov was taken immediately by Sir George Buchanan to the British Embassy and lived there till the February Revolution; (according to Stockdale he went to the Crimea). It is not known what they discussed, but his speech was spread in flyers on the front and at the Hinterland. Stürmer and Protopopov asked in vain for the dissolution of the Duma. Tsarina Alexandra suggested to her husband to expel Alexander Guchkov, Prince Lvov, Milyukov and Alexei Polivanov to Siberia.
According to Melissa Kirschke Stockdale, it was a "volatile combination of revolutionary passions, escalating apprehension, and the near breakdown of unity in the moderate camp that provided the impetus for the most notorious address in the history of the Duma..." The speech was a milestone on the road to Rasputin's murder and the February Revolution. Stockdale also points out that Miliukov admitted to some reservations about his evidence in his memoirs, where he observed that his listeners resolutely answered treason "even in those aspects where I myself was not entirely sure."
Richard Abraham, in his biography of Kerensky, argues that the withdrawal of the Progressists was essentially a vote of no confidence in Miliukov and that he grasped at the idea of accusing Stürmer in an effort to preserve his own influence.
February Revolution
During the February Revolution Milyukov hoped to retain the constitutional monarchy in Russia. He became a member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma on 27 February 1917. Milyukov wanted the monarchy retained, albeit with Alexei as Tsar and the Grand Duke Michael acting as Regent. When Michael awoke on 2 March (O.S.), he discovered not only that his brother had abdicated in his favour, as Nicholas had not informed him previously, but also that a delegation from the Duma would visit him in a few hours. The meeting with Duma President Rodzianko, Prince Lvov, and other ministers, including Milyukov and Kerensky, lasted all morning. Since the masses would not tolerate a new Tsar and the Duma could not guarantee Michael's safety, Michael decided to decline the throne. On 6 March 1917, David Lloyd George gave a cautious welcome to the suggestion of Milyukov that the toppled Tsar and his family could be given sanctuary in Britain, but Lloyd George would have preferred that they go to a neutral country.
Rodzianko succeeded in publishing an order for the immediate return of the soldiers to their barracks, subordinate to their officers. To them, Rodzianko was totally unacceptable as prime minister and Prince Lvov, less unpopular, became the leader of the new cabinet. In the first Provisional government Miliukov became Minister of Foreign Affairs, taking over the ministry from deputy minister Anatoly Neratov who had held the office temporarily.
Miliukov sent the British an official request for revolutionary Leon Trotsky to be released from Amherst Internment Camp in Nova Scotia, after the British had boarded a steamer in Halifax harbour to arrest Trotsky and other "dangerous socialists" who were en route to Russia from New York. Upon receiving Milykov's request the British freed Trotsky, who then continued his journey to Russia and became a key planner and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution that overthrew the provisional government.
He staunchly opposed popular demands for peace at any cost and firmly clung to Russia's wartime alliances. As the Britannica 2004 put it, "he was too inflexible to succeed in practical politics". On 20 April 1917, the government sent a note to Britain and France (which became known as the Miliukov note) proclaiming that Russia would fulfill its obligation towards the Allies and wage the war as long as it was necessary. On the same day, "thousands of armed workers and soldiers came out to demonstrate on the street of Petrograd. Many of them carried banners with slogans calling for the removal of the "ten bourgeois ministers', for an end to the war and for the appointment of a new revolutionary government. The next day the Miliukov Note was condemned by the ministers. This resolved the immediate crisis. On 29 April, the minister of war Alexander Guchkov resigned, and Milyukov's resignation followed on 2 or 4 May. Milyukov was offered a post as Secretary of Education, but refused; he stayed on as the Kadet leader and began to flirt with counter-revolutionary ideas.
Kornilov Affair
In the mass discontent following the July Days, mainly about Ukrainian autonomy, the Russian populace grew highly skeptical of the Provisional Government's abilities to alleviate the economic distress and social resentment among the lower classes; the word 'provisional' did not command respect. The crowd tired of war and hunger demanded a "peace without annexations or contributions". Milyukov described the situation in Russia in late July as, "Chaos in the army, chaos in foreign policy, chaos in industry and chaos in the nationalist questions". Lavr Kornilov, appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army in July 1917, considered the Petrograd Soviet responsible for the breakdown in the military in recent times, and believed that the Russian Provisional Government lacked the power and confidence to dissolve the Petrograd Soviet. Following several ambiguous correspondences between Kornilov and Alexander Kerensky, Kornilov commanded an assault on the Petrograd Soviet.
Because the Petrograd Soviet was able to quickly gather a powerful army of workers and soldiers in defense of the Revolution, Kornilov's coup was an abysmal failure and he was placed under arrest. The Kornilov Affair resulted in significantly increased distrust among Russians towards the Provisional Government.
Exile
On 26 October 1917, the party's newspapers were shut down by the new Soviet Government.
On 25 November 1917 Milyukov was elected in the Russian Constituent Assembly, the first truly free election in Russian history. On 28 November the party was banned by the Soviets and went underground. Milyukov moved from Petrograd to the Don Host Oblast. There he became a member of the Don civil council. He advised Mikhail Alekseyev of the Volunteer Army. Milyukov and Struve defended a Great Russia as firmly as the most reactionary monarchist. In May 1918 he went to Kiev, where he negotiated with the German high command to act together against the Bolsheviks. For many members of the Cadet Party, this went too far: Milyukov was forced to resign the presidency of the KDP Central Committee.
Milyukov went to Turkey and from there to Western Europe, to get support from the allies of the White movement, involved in the Russian Civil War. In April 1921 he immigrated to France, where he remained active in politics and edited the Russian-language newspaper Poslednie novosti (Latest News) (1920–1940). In June 1921 he left the Constitutional Democrats, following a division in the party. Miliukov had called on exiles to abandon hopes in counterrevolution at home, and instead to place their hopes in the peasantry to rise up against the hated Bolshevik regime. The debate between Milyukov and Vasily Maklakov began with Maklakov's criticism of the Constitutional Democratic Party. Could the revolutions of 1917 have been prevented if the Kadets had adopted a less radical stance, particularly in 1905-1906?
Assassination Attempt During a performance of the Berliner Philharmonie on 28 March 1922, his friend Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, the father of the novelist Vladimir Nabokov, was killed while shielding Milyukov from attackers. In 1934, Milyukov was a witness at the Berne Trial.
Although he remained an opponent of the communist regime, Milyukov supported Stalin's "imperial" foreign policy. On the Winter War he commented as follows: "I feel pity for the Finns, but I am for the Vyborg guberniya". Already in 1933 he had stated in Prague that, in case of a war between Germany and the USSR, "the emigration must be unconditionally on the side of the Homeland". He supported the Soviet Union in its war effort against Nazi Germany and refused all Nazi rapprochements. He sincerely rejoiced at the Soviet victory in Stalingrad.
Death
Milyukov died in 1943, in Aix-les-Bains, France. Sometime between 1945 and 1954 his body was reburied at Batignolles Cemetery, division 30, next to his wife, Anna Sergeievna.
Works
Russia and its crisis (1905) by P.N. Miliukov
Constitutional government for Russia an address delivered before the Civic forum by P.N. Miliukov. New York city, 14 January 1908 (1908)
"Past and present of Russian economics" in Russian realities & problems: Lectures delivered at Cambridge in August 1916, by Pavel Milyukov, Peter Struve, Harold Williams, Alexander Lappo-Danilevsky and Roman Dmowski, Cambridge, University press, 1917, 229p.
Bolshevism: an international danger by P.N. Miliukov. 1920.
History of the Second Russian Revolution (1921) by P. Milykov.
Russia, to-day and to-morrow (1922) by P.N. Miliukov.
Notes
References
Further reading
Aldanov, M. "Professor Milyukov on the Russian Revolution." Slavonic Review 6#16 (1927), pp. 223–227. online
Breuillard, Sabine. "Russian Liberalism—Utopia or Realism? The Individual and the Citizen in the Political Thought of Milyukov." in Robert B Mcklean, ed. New Perspectives in Modern Russian History (Palgrave Macmillan, 1992) pp. 99–116.
Elkin, B. I. "Paul Milyukov (1859–1943)" Slavonic and East European Review 23#2 (1945), pp. 137–141 online obituary
Jansen, Dinah. "After October: Russian Liberalism as a 'Work in Progress,' 1919-1945," Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada (2015).
Pearson, Raymond. "Milyukov and the Sixth Kadet Congress." Slavonic and East European Review 53.131 (1975): 210–229. online
Riha, Thomas. A Russian European: Paul Miliukov in Russian Politics, (U of Notre Dame Press, 1969), , 373pp.
Stockdale, Melissa Kirschke. Paul Miliukov and the Quest for a Liberal Russia, 1880–1918, (Cornell University Press, 1996), , 379pp.
Thatcher, Ian D. "Post-Soviet Russian Historians and the Russian Provisional Government of 1917." Slavonic & East European Review 93.2 (2015): 315–337. online
Zeman, Zbyněk A. A diplomatic history of the First World War. (1971) pp 207–42.
Other languages
Thomas M. Bohn: Russische Geschichtswissenschaft von 1880 bis 1905. Pavel N. Miljukov und die Moskauer Schule. Böhlau, Köln u. a. 1998,
Бон, Т.М. Русская историческая наука /1880 г. – 1905 г./. Павел Николаевич Милюков и Московская школа. С.-Петербург 2005.
Макушин А. В., Трибунский П. А. Павел Николаевич Милюков: труды и дни (1859–1904). — Рязань, 2001. — 439 с. — (Новейшая российская история. Исследования и документы. Том 1.). —
External links
"An Open Letter to Professor P.N. Miliukov", an early critique of Miliukov's liberalism by Leon Trotsky
1859 births
1943 deaths
Politicians from Moscow
People from Moskovsky Uyezd
Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members
Foreign ministers of Russia
Ministers of the Russian Provisional Government
Members of the 3rd State Duma of the Russian Empire
Members of the 4th State Duma of the Russian Empire
Russian Constituent Assembly members
Historians from the Russian Empire
Male writers from the Russian Empire
Imperial Moscow University alumni
Professorships at the Imperial Moscow University
Academic staff of Sofia University
Members of the Macedonian Scientific Institute
Inmates of Kresty Prison
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Bulgaria
White Russian emigrants to France
Burials at Batignolles Cemetery
Ogoniok editors |
426467 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation%20Square | Federation Square | Federation Square (marketed and colloquially known as Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy railway lines and across the road from Flinders Street station. It incorporates major cultural institutions such as the Ian Potter Centre, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the Koorie Heritage Trust as well as cafes and bars in a series of buildings centred around a large paved square, and a glass walled atrium.
History
Background
Melbourne's central city grid was originally designed without a central public square, long seen as a missing element. From the 1920s there were proposals to roof the railway yards on the southeast corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets for a public square, with more detailed proposals prepared in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1960s, the Melbourne City Council decided that the best place for the City Square was the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, opposite the town hall. The first temporary square opened in 1968, and a permanent version opened in 1981. It was however not considered a great success, and was redeveloped in the 1990s as a smaller, simpler space in front of a new large hotel.
Meanwhile, in the late 1960s, a small part of the railway lines had been partly roofed by the construction of the Princes Gate Towers, known as the Gas & Fuel Buildings after their major tenant, the Gas and Fuel Corporation, over the old Princes Bridge station. This included a plaza on the corner, which was elevated above the street and little used. Between the plaza and Batman Avenue, which ran along the north bank of the Yarra River, were the extensive Jolimont Railway Yards, and the through train lines running into Flinders Street station under Swanston Street.
Design competition and controversy
In 1996 the Premier Jeff Kennett announced that the Gas & Fuel Buildings would be demolished, and the railyards roofed, and a complex including arts facilities and a large public space would be built. It was to be named Federation Square, and opened in time to celebrate the centenary of Australia's Federation in 2001, and would include performing arts facilities, a gallery, a cinemedia centre, the public space, a glazed wintergarden, and ancillary cafe and retail spaces. An architectural design competition was announced that received 177 entries from around the world. Five designs were shortlisted, which included entries from high-profile Melbourne architects Denton Corker Marshall and Ashton Raggatt McDougall, and lesser known Sydney architect Chris Elliott, and London based architects Jenny Lowe and Adrian Hawker. The jury was chaired by Professor Neville Quarry. The winner announced on 28 July 1997, a consortium led by Lab Architecture Studio directed by Donald Bates and Peter Davidson from London, with the Dutch landscape architects Karres en Brands, directed by Sylvia Karres and Bart Brands, teamed with local executive architects Bates Smart for the second stage.
The design, originally costed at between $110 and $128 million, was complex and irregular, with gently angled 'cranked' geometries predominating in both the planning and the facade treatment of the various buildings and the wintergardens that surrounded and defined the open spaces. A series of 'shards' provided vertical accents, while interconnected laneways and stairways and the wintergarden would connect Flinders Street to the Yarra River. The open square was arranged as a gently sloping amphitheatre, focussed on a large viewing screen for public events, with a secondary sloped plaza area on the main corner. The design was widely supported by the design community but was less popular with the public. The design was also soon criticised when it was realised that the western freestanding 'shard' would block views of the south front of St Paul's Cathedral from Princes Bridge.
The mix of occupants and tenants were soon modified, with the cinemedia centre becoming the new body known as ACMI, offices for multicultural broadcaster SBS added, and the gallery space becoming the Australian art wing of the National Gallery of Victoria, which became the Ian Potter Centre. The performance arts space was dropped, the number of commercial tenancies increased, and the south end of the Atrium became an auditorium. A new substantially rearranged design incorporating the new program was revealed in late 1998.
Construction
After the 1999 State election, while construction was well underway, the incoming Bracks Government ordered a report by the University of Melbourne's Professor Evan Walker into the 'western shard' to be located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, which concluded in February 2000 that the "heritage vista" towards St Paul's cathedral should be preserved, and the shard be no more than 8m in height.
Budgets on the project blew out significantly due to the initial cost being seriously underestimated, given the expense of covering the railyards, changes to the brief, the need to resolve construction methods for the angular design, and the long delays. Among measures taken to cut costs was concreting areas originally designed for paving.
The final cost of construction was approximately $467 million (over four times the original estimate), the main funding primarily from the state government, with $64 million from the City of Melbourne, some from the federal government, while private operators and sponsors paid for fitouts or naming rights.
The square was opened on 26 October 2002. Unlike many Australian landmarks, it was not opened by the reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, nor was she invited to its unveiling; she visited Federation Square in October 2011.
Further expansion
In 2006, Federation Wharf redeveloped the vaults under Princes Walk (a former roadway) into a large bar, with extensive outdoor areas on the Yarra riverbank, with elevator access to Federation Square.
Several proposals have been prepared for the area known as Federation Square East, the remaining area of railyards to the east. There have been proposals for office towers and, more recently, a combination of open space and a hotel, or another campus for the National Gallery of Victoria to house their contemporary art collection.
Apple Store
In December 2017, the Andrews government announced that one of the buildings of the square, the Yarra Building, would be demolished to make way for a freestanding Apple Store, generating strong criticism over the commercial use of a cultural space. Opposition groups including Our City Our Square and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) then nominated Fed Square to the Victorian Heritage Register, which resulted in an interim decision to list in October 2018. Apple cancelled the plans in April 2019 after the application to Heritage Victoria to demolish the Yarra Building was denied, and after a hearing, the square was formally listed in August 2019.
Metro Entrance
With the construction of the upcoming Melbourne Metro Tunnel, an entrance to the underground Town Hall station from the corner of Federation Square was proposed, with a design released in December 2018 that would replace the corner Information Centre. After the heritage listing of the square, a permit was sought to demolish the building and the plaza around it, which was granted on the basis that the Information Centre was not the original design for the 'Western Shard', and it was demolished by January 2019, though without a final approved design for the new entrance.
Location and layout
Federation Square occupies roughly a whole urban block bounded by Swanston, Flinders, and Russell Streets and the Yarra River. The open public square is directly opposite Flinders Street station and St Paul's Cathedral. The layout of the precinct is designed to connect the historical central district of the city with the Yarra River and a new park Birrarung Marr.
Design features
Square
The complex of buildings forms a rough U-shape around the main open-air square, oriented to the west. The eastern end of the square is formed by the glazed walls of The Atrium. While bluestone is used for the majority of the paving in the Atrium and St Paul's Court, matching footpaths elsewhere in central Melbourne, the main square is paved in 470,000 ochre-coloured sandstone blocks from Western Australia and invokes images of the outback. The paving is designed as a huge urban artwork, called Nearamnew, by Paul Carter and gently rises above street level, containing a number of textual pieces inlaid in its undulating surface.
There are a small number of landscaped sections in the square and plaza which are planted with Eucalyptus trees.
Plaza and giant screen
A key part of the plaza design is its large and fixed public television screen, which has been used to broadcast major sporting events such as the AFL Grand Final and the Australian Open every year. It is currently the biggest broadcasting screen in Australia.
Buildings
The architecture of the square is in the deconstructivist style, with both plan and elevations designed around slightly angular, 'cranked' geometries, rather than tradition orthogonal grids. The built forms are mainly slightly bent north–south volumes, separated by glazed gaps, a reference to traditional Melbourne laneways, with vertical 'shards', attached or freestanding, containing discrete functions like the Visitor's Centre, or lifts and stairs.
The larger built volumes are relatively simple reinforced concrete buildings with glass walls, but with a second outer skin of cladding carried on heavy steel framing, folded and stepped slightly to create angular undulating surfaces. The cladding is composed of 6 different materials, zinc, perforated zinc, glass, frosted glass, sandstone and no cladding, in a camouflage-like pattern, and created using pinwheel tiling. The 'crossbar' is an east–west built from that runs through the long gallery building, and is clad in perforated black steel panels.
Some buildings are named. The building along Flinders Street that houses ACMI and SBS is named the Alfred Deakin Building, the building between the plaza space and the river is called the Yarra Building, while the building that houses the NGV Australia is also called the Ian Potter Centre.
Shards
Three shards frame the square space. The eastern and southern shards are completely clad in metallic surfaces with angular slots, very similar in design to the Jewish Museum Berlin, while the western shard is clad in glass. Adjoined to the southern shard is a hotel which features the wrap around metallic screen and glass louvers.
Laneways
There are a number of unnamed laneways in the Federation Square complex which connect it to both Flinders Street and the Yarra River via stairways. The stairways between the Western Shard and nearby buildings are also paved in larger flat rectangle sandstone blocks.
Riverfront
The riverfront areas extend south to an elevated pedestrian promenade which was once part of Batman Avenue and is lined with tall established trees of both deciduous exotic species and Australian eucalpyts. More recently, the vaults adjacent to the Princes Bridge have been converted into Federation Wharf, a series of cafes and boat berths. Some of the areas between the stairs and lanes leading to the river are landscaped with shady tree ferns.
Atrium
The "atrium" is one of the major public spaces in the precinct. It is a laneway-like space, five stories high with glazed walls and roof. The exposed metal structure and glazing patterns follow the pinwheel tiling pattern used elsewhere in the precinct's building facades.
Labyrinth
The "labyrinth" is a passive cooling system sandwiched above the railway lines and below the middle of the square. The concrete structure consists of 1.2 km of interlocking, honeycombed walls. It covers 1600 m2. The walls have a corrugated profile to maximize their surface area, and are spaced 60 cm apart.
During summer nights, cold air is pumped in the combed space, cooling down the concrete, while heat absorbed during the day is pumped out. The following day, cold air is pumped from the labyrinth out into the atrium through floor vents. This process can keep the atrium up to 12 °C cooler than outside. This is comparable to conventional air conditioning, but using one-tenth the energy and producing one-tenth the carbon dioxide.
During winter, the process is reversed, storing warm daytime air in the Labyrinth overnight, and pumping it back into the atrium during the day.
The system can also partly cool the ACMI building when the power is not required by the atrium.
Flagpoles
In the Federation Square complex, there are a number of flagpoles, most notably a group of four, three of which permanently fly the Australian, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander flags. The fourth flagpole occasionally flies the flag of a foreign country to celebrate a national holiday of that country, for example an independence day. Prior to 2022 foreign countries' flags were usually flown on a group of eight flagpoles located next to a bus stop.
The following countries' flags have been raised at Federation Square and/or its surroundings at least once:
Albania
Argentina
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Botswana
Canada
Chile
Croatia
Denmark
Ecuador
El Salvador
Eritrea
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Haiti
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kosovo
Lithuania
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico
Morocco
Nepal
North Macedonia
Norway
Pakistan
Palestine
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Rwanda
Singapore
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United States of America
Venezuela
Facilities and tenants
In addition to a number of shops, bars, cafés and restaurants, Federation Square's cultural facilities include:
Melbourne Visitor Centre
The Melbourne Visitor Centre is located underground, with its entrance at the main corner shard directly opposite Flinders Street Station and St Pauls Cathedral and its exit at the opposite shard. The entrance and exit shards feature interactive news tickers in colour LEDs and small screens promoting current activities. The Visitor Centre was intended to replace a facility which was previously located at the turn of the 19th-century town hall administration buildings on Swanston Street. The Visitors Centre was demolished in December 2018 to make way for an entrance to the Melbourne metro station to be built under the Swanston Street, and the visitors centre returned to the Town Hall.
The Edge
The Edge theatre is a 450-seat space designed to have views of the Yarra River and across to the spire of The Arts Centre. The theatre is lined in wood veneer in similar geometrical patterns to other interiors in the complex. The Edge was named "The BMW Edge" until May 2013, when a new sponsorship deal with Deakin University caused it to be renamed "The Deakin Edge".
Zinc
Zinc is a function space underneath the gallery building, and opens onto the Yarra river bank. It was intended as an entirely commercial part of the development of Federation Square, and is used for wedding receptions, corporate events, launches, and the like.
National Gallery of Victoria
The Ian Potter Centre, also known as the NGVA, houses the Australian part of the art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), in the building along the eastern side. (The St Kilda Rd building now houses that International works of the NGV, and is known as the NGVI). There are over 20,000 Australian artworks, including paintings, sculpture, photography, fashion and textiles, and the collection is the oldest and most well known in the country.
Well-known works at the Ian Potter Centre include Frederick McCubbin's Pioneers (1904) and Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams (1890). Also featured are works from Sidney Nolan, John Perceval, Margaret Preston and Fred Williams. Indigenous art includes works by William Barak and Emily Kngwarreye.
The National Gallery at Federation Square also features the NGV Kids Corner, which is an interactive education section aimed at small children and families, and the NGV Studio.
ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image)
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image known as ACMI has two cinemas that are equipped to play every film, video and digital video format, with attention to high-quality acoustics. The screen gallery, built along the entire length of what was previously a train station platform, is a subterranean gallery for experimentation with the moving image. Video art, installations, interactives, sound art and net art are all regularly exhibited in this space. Additional venues within ACMI allow computer-based public education, and other interactive presentations.
In 2003, ACMI commissioned SelectParks to produce an interactive game-based, site-specific installation called AcmiPark, which replicated and abstracted the real-world architecture of Federation Square. It also houses highly innovative mechanisms for interactive, multi-player sound and musical composition.
Transport Hotel Bar
Transport hotel and bar is a three-level hotel complex adjacent to the southern shard on the south western corner of the square.
It has a ground-floor public bar, restaurant and cocktail lounge on the rooftop.
SBS Radio and Television offices
The Melbourne offices of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), one of Australia's two publicly funded national broadcasters, is in the Deakin Building on Flinders Street.
Melbourne Festival headquarters
The headquarters of Melbourne Festival (formerly Melbourne International Arts Festival) are located on Level 2 of the Yarra Building.
Beer awards
Federation Square has recently become home to several beer award shows, and tastings, including the Australian International Beer Awards trade and public shows, as well as other similar events such as showcases of local and other Australian breweries. These events have been held in the square's outdoor area the Atrium and usually require an entry fee in exchange for a set number of tastings.
Past tenants
Past tenants have included:
"Champions", The Australian Racing Museum & Hall of Fame — Relocated to Melbourne Cricket Ground.
National Design Centre — Relocated to National Gallery of Victoria
Reception and recognition
In 2009, Virtual Tourist awarded Federation Square with the title of the 'World's Fifth Ugliest Building'. Criticisms of it ranged from its damage to the heritage vista to its similarity to a bombed-out war-time bunker due to its "army camouflage" colours. A judge from Virtual Tourist justified Federation Square's ranking on the ugly list claiming that: "Frenzied and overly complicated, the chaotic feel of the complex is made worse by a web of unsightly wires from which overhead lights dangle." It continues to be a 'pet hate' of Melburnians and was discussed on ABC's Art Nation.
After its opening on 26 October 2002, Federation Square remained controversial among Melburnians due to its unpopular architecture, but also because of its successive cost blowouts and construction delays (as its name suggests, it was to have opened in time for the centenary of Australian Federation on 1 January 2001). The construction manager was Multiplex.
The designers of Federation Square did not get any work for six months after the completion of the A$450 million public space, but did receive hate-mail from people who disliked the design.
The Australian Financial Review later reported that some Melburnians have learned to love the building, citing the record number of people using and visiting it. In 2005 it was included on The Atlantic Cities 2011 list of "10 Great Central Plazas and Squares".
Architecture and Urban Design Awards
At the Victorian State Architecture Awards held in June 2003, Federation Square was awarded the prestigious Victorian Architecture Medal, the Melbourne Prize and the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design by the Victorian Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
In November 2003, the project won the Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design and the Interior Architecture Award for The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia (Federation Square) at the National Awards of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.Other Awards'''
2003 — IDAA Public/Institutional Interior Design Award
2003 — Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award for Design Excellence
2003 — Civic Trust Award
2003 — Mahony Griffin Award for Interior Architecture
2003 — Interior Design Awards Australia
2003 — Victorian and Tasmanian Award for Excellence for Design in Landscape Architecture
2003 — Dulux Interior Colour Award
2003 — Public Domain Award For Sustainability
2003 — Kenneth Brown Award Hawaii, Commendation for Asia Pacific Architecture
2005 — Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence: Asia Pacific USA, Best Public Project
2006 — Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Awards USA
See also
Australian landmarks
Lab Architecture Studio
References
Further reading
Brown-May, A. and Day, N. (2003). Federation Square, South Yarra, Vic: Hardie Grant Books ().
Melbourne gets square, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), 19 October 2002.
Federation Square'', Macarthur, John; Crist, Graham; Hartoonian, Gevork and Stanhope, Zara, 1 March 2003. Architecture Australia
External links
Fed Square
Federation Square "FedCam"
Culture Victoria – images and video of Federation Square and the history of the site
Federation Square, a brief history
Squares in Melbourne
Melbourne City Centre
Buildings and structures in Melbourne
Buildings and structures completed in 2002
2002 establishments in Australia
Architectural controversies
Landmarks in Melbourne
Sandstone buildings in Australia
Tourist attractions in Melbourne |
426484 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay%20Singh | Vijay Singh | Vijay Singh ( ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, which is the most by a player from outside of the United States, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two PGA Championships (1998, 2004). He is the first person of South Asian descent to win a major championship. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006.
Singh reached world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. Vijay was the 12th man to reach the world No. 1 ranking and was the only new world No. 1 in the 2000s decade. Singh was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008. He also captured the FedEx Cup in 2008.
Early life
Singh recollected to reporters about his childhood: "When we were kids we couldn't afford golf balls so we had to make do with coconuts. My father used to say, 'Little Vijay, golf balls don't fall off trees you know,' so I found some that did!" Growing up, he played snooker, cricket, football, and the island's most popular sport, rugby. He is the son of Mohan Singh, an airplane technician who also taught golf. Growing up, he admired the swing of Tom Weiskopf, using it as an early model for his own.
Professional career
Asia Golf Circuit
Singh turned professional in 1982. Two years later, he won the 1984 Malaysian PGA Championship. However, his career was plunged into crisis after he was suspended from the Asia Golf Circuit in 1985 over allegations he doctored his scorecard. It was alleged that he lowered his score from one over to one under in order to make the cut, but Singh denies this, saying that in any case, it should only have resulted in disqualification from the event rather than a ban. After investigation by the Tour of this and other alleged violations proved true, John Bender, Asian PGA Tour president, issued Singh a lifetime ban on Asian PGA Tour play.
Singh felt he had been more harshly treated because the marker was "the son of a VIP in the Indonesian PGA." He then took a job at the Keningau Club in Sabah, Malaysia, before his move to the Miri Golf Club in Sarawak. While this was a period of hardship for him, he continued to gain experience.
European Tour
Singh saved the money he needed to resurrect his career and began to re-enter tournaments. In 1988 he teamed up with a sponsor, Red Baron, which funded a trip to Africa to compete on the now-defunct Safari Circuit, an offshoot circuit of the European Tour. Singh captured his first event, the 1988 Nigerian Open, locals cheered him loudly. At the end of that year he entered the European Tour Qualifying school for the second consecutive year, and was successful on this occasion.
In 1989, Singh won his first European Tour title at the Volvo Open Championship in Italy and finished 24th on the European Tour Order of Merit, putting his early struggles firmly behind him. He won four times in 1989, at the Volvo Open di Firenze, Ivory Coast Open, Nigerian Open and Zimbabwe Open. He also finished tied for 23rd at The Open Championship. He won on the European Tour again in 1990 and did so twice in 1992. He also won several tournaments in Asia and Africa in this period.
PGA Tour
Singh earned membership for the PGA Tour in 1993, winning his first tournament, the Buick Classic in a playoff over Mark Wiebe. That victory led to his being named the 1993 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. After being hampered with back and neck problems in 1994, he came back to win the Buick Classic again in 1995 as well as the Phoenix Open. After playing well in 1996 (but with no victories), he won both the Memorial Tournament and the Buick Open in 1997.
In 1998, Singh was victorious at the PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, playing a 70-66-67-68 over the four days (the 66 tied a course record) and earning him his first Major title. He followed this up by winning The Masters in 2000, with a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.
Singh did not win on the PGA Tour in 2001, but finished the year with a Tour-best 14 top-10 finishes and was fourth on the money list with $3,440,829 for the year. In 2002, he won at the Shell Houston Open at TPC at The Woodlands, setting a new tournament 72-hole scoring record with a 266, and at the Tour Championship, winning by two strokes over Charles Howell III.
2003 proved to be a very successful year for Singh. He won four tournaments, had 18 top-10 finishes and was the PGA Tour's money leader (and had the second-highest single-season total in PGA Tour history) with $7,573,907, beating Tiger Woods by $900,494, though Singh played 27 tournaments compared to Woods' 18 tournaments. Singh also tied a 9-hole scoring record at the U.S. Open with a 29 on the back nine of his second round. His victories came at the Phoenix Open, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the John Deere Classic and the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort. He narrowly lost the vote for the PGA of America's Player of the Year to Tiger Woods.
However, the 2003 season was also spotted with controversy involving Singh surrounding the year's event at the Bank of America Colonial. LPGA star Annika Sörenstam became the first woman to play at a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Surrounding this fervor, Singh was misquoted as having said that Sörenstam "didn't belong" on the men's tour and that he would not play if he were paired with her. What he actually said is that he would not be paired with her because his playing partner was being selected from the past champion's pool. Singh later clarified, "There are guys out there trying to make a living. It's not a ladies' tour. If she wants to play, she should—or any other woman for that matter—if they want to play the man's tour, they should qualify and play like everybody else."
Singh began 2004 by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at −16 and winning $954,000 in prize money. This was his first win on tour in 2004 and his 16th all-time on the PGA Tour. It was his 12th consecutive top-10 finish, which is two shy of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record.
Singh won the final major of 2004, winning the PGA Championship, his third major, in a three-hole aggregate playoff over Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco. Singh was the leader by one shot over Leonard going into the final round, but made no birdies in the final round, finishing regulation at 67-68-69-76=280. His final round of 76 was the highest winning score by a major champion since 1955. The playoff was a tense affair, and Singh's birdie on the first playoff hole, his first birdie of the day, proved to be the difference.
On 6 September 2004 (Labor Day), Singh won the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts. With the win, he overtook Tiger Woods at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, ending Woods' streak of 264 weeks at the top of the golf world.
Singh finished the 2004 season with a career-best nine victories, 18 top-10s, and a record $10,905,166 in earnings and was named the PGA Tour's and PGA of America's Player of the Year. The former award is decided by a vote of active PGA Tour players.
Despite picking up a win early in 2005, Singh lost his world number 1 ranking when Tiger Woods won the Ford Championship at Doral on 6 March, but just two weeks later he took it back again after notching up top-three finishes in three consecutive weeks. Following Woods' win at the 2005 Masters, Singh once again lost his place as World No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and finished tied for fifth place. In April, he became the youngest living person elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, garnering 56% of the ballot. Thirty-year-old Karrie Webb was inducted into the Hall of Fame in October 2005, but Singh remained the youngest living electee, as Webb qualified for the Hall without an election process. (The 19th century great Tom Morris, Jr., who was elected in 1975, died at age 24.) Singh deferred his induction for a year, and it took place in October 2006.
In 2006, Singh played enough European Tour events to be listed on the European Tour Order of Merit title for the first time since 1995.
At the start of the 2007 season, Singh won the Mercedes-Benz Championship which was the first FedEx Cup event in PGA Tour history. This win got Singh his 18th tour win over the age of 40, surpassing Sam Snead as most over 40 wins, and making all-time over 40 tour winner. He won again at The Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, but did not win for the rest of the year which turned into a disappointing year for Singh. He did not finish in a top ten of a major for the first time in ten years and finished 10th in the FedEx Cup race. He went through swing changes during the end of 2007 which resulted in weeks of missed cuts and staying outside the top ten through the Presidents Cup.
A new swing brought big changes for Singh in 2008, although he had good opportunities at Pebble Beach and Bay Hill, he was not competing at a high level for the first half of the year. His game was plagued by poor putting for the better part of two years, but his season started to turn around with a tie for fifth at the Travelers Championship. After missing the cut at The Open Championship, Singh won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in early August for his first win of the year and first World Golf Championship. His win had been a relief after missing short putts throughout the week. He missed the cut the following two weeks including at Oakland Hills for the PGA Championship and entered the PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoffs ranked 7th in the standings. At the first playoff event, Singh prevailed for his first FedEx Cup win defeating Sergio García and Kevin Sutherland in a playoff. On the first playoff hole García and Singh matched long birdie putts before Singh won with birdie on the second playoff hole. Singh was propelled into first place in the FedEx Cup race with three events remaining. At the second event of the playoffs, he triumphed once again, this time at the Deutsche Bank Championship bewildering the field with a five strokes victory and a final round 63. He had won three times in his last five starts and created an almost insurmountable lead in the points race. He would not contend in the remaining two events, but by playing in both the 2008 FedEx Cup title belonged to Singh. His season which looked to be a major disappointment in July turned into an historic year for Singh: he won the PGA Tour money list for the third time in his career and he surpassed Harry Cooper for most PGA Tour wins of all time for a non-American.
Singh has won 22 times on the PGA Tour since turning 40 – beating the record previously set by Sam Snead. He is the second man to reach $60 million in PGA Tour career earnings, after Tiger Woods. His 34 career victories are the most on the PGA Tour by a non-American player and place him 14th on the all-time list. He has spent over 540 weeks ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking. Singh's longevity on the PGA Tour and his number of wins earn him a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour.
Kenny Perry, another player who found success at a late age is good friends with Singh, who calls him "Biggie". Of Singh, Perry said "Vijay has always been good to me. We talk a lot. He wants to know how my family is doing. I think the world of him."
After the 2008 playoffs, Singh announced his withdrawal from a couple of Asian Tour events because of a nagging back injury and was advised by doctors to rest. He missed two and a half months, returning to win Tiger Woods's tournament, the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in California in December. It was his first victory in the event. During the start of the 2009 season Singh announced that he would miss three weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Singh had a mediocre 2009 season, with no top 5 finishes and ended the year with his lowest ever ranking on the PGA Tour money list in 68th.
His poor form continued into 2010, resulting in him being 66th on the PGA Tour money list. He dropped out of the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time since the early 1990s.
After returning from knee surgery, Singh started the 2011 season making five out of his first five cuts. In February, Singh was in contention to win his first PGA Tour Title since 2008 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona. Despite shooting a final round 66, Singh finished two shots behind Jason Dufner and eventual winner Mark Wilson. A couple of weeks later, Singh was in contention again, this time at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. However, he came up short again, not helped by back-to-back bogeys on holes 12 and 13. He would eventually finish two shots back of the winner Aaron Baddeley, although he did secure second spot on his own. This early season form however was not enough to secure a spot at the opening World Golf Championship of the year, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship the following week. However, at number 10 in the 2011 FedEx Cup standings, it was just enough to secure a spot at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March.
On 6 June 2011, Singh missed his tee-time for the U.S. Open qualifying in Columbus, Ohio. At the time, this ended the longest active streak of consecutive majors played by a professional golfer, at 67.
On 30 January 2013, Singh admitted to using deer-antler spray while not knowing that it is a banned substance. The PGA Tour later dropped its case against him. On 8 May 2013, Singh sued the PGA Tour for exposing him to public humiliation and ridicule during a 12-week investigation into his use of deer-antler spray. On 20 November 2018, the PGA Tour and Singh announced that the lawsuit had been settled. The PGA Tour confirmed that it does not believe that Singh intended to gain an unfair advantage over his fellow competitors in this matter. Other terms of the settlement were not announced.
Senior career
Singh played his first PGA Tour Champions event in 2013, finishing T6 at the Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship. During this era, he still played some PGA Tour events, finishing second at the Quicken Loans National, three strokes behind winner Billy Hurley III.
In 2017, Singh won his first senior event, the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf with Carlos Franco. In March 2018, Singh won the Toshiba Classic. Four months later, in July, Singh won one of the PGA Tour Champions' major tournaments, the Constellation Senior Players Championship in a playoff over Jeff Maggert. At the end of the season, in November, Singh won the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, Arizona. The victory was worth $440,000. By winning the tournament, he also finished fourth in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, winning an additional $200,000.
In March 2019, Singh shot his way into the final group of the final round of the Honda Classic. Singh shot even-par to finish sixth, three strokes behind winner Keith Mitchell.
Personal life
An Indo-Fijian practising Hinduism, Singh was born in Lautoka, Fiji and grew up in Nadi. A resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, he is known for his meticulous preparation, often arriving hours before, and staying long after his tournament rounds to work on his game on the driving range and putting greens.
Singh has a brother named Krishna who is also a professional golfer.
Media relations
Controversy surrounded Singh in 2003 before the Bank of America Colonial. Annika Sörenstam was scheduled to play the event, and Singh was quoted as saying, "I hope she misses the cut ... because she doesn't belong out here." He later said that the substance of his interview to an Associated Press reporter was that she would be displacing some other struggling male player, for whom he had his sympathies. However, the media focused on this statement. Golf Digest wrote that Singh had become "pro golf's bad guy".
After Singh's win at the Masters, Ernie Els took issue with some of the negative press his friend received. He wrote an article in Sports Illustrated to defend him, saying, "Golf should be proud of Vijay Singh." Later Els said of Singh "He's a wonderful guy. I've known him for the better part of 10 years now. He's a great competitor. I think people have a misconception of Vijay. He's a really good guy."
In May 2005, Singh was appointed a goodwill ambassador for Fiji. He said that he did not expect anything in return from the Fijian government for representing his country. At a press conference on 18 May 2005, Singh commented on what he said was a deterioration in race relations in Fiji, saying that for such a small country, people of all races should live together, put their differences aside, and get on with life. Relations between Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians had been more harmonious when he was younger, he said.
Professional wins (66)
PGA Tour wins (34)
*Note: The 1997 Memorial Tournament was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.
PGA Tour playoff record (8–4)
European Tour wins (13)
1Co-sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (2–0)
Asian Tour wins (5)
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
Asian Tour playoff record (2–0)
Southern Africa Tour wins (2)
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)
Safari Circuit wins (4)
Swedish Golf Tour wins (1)
Other Asian wins (1)
1984 Malaysian PGA Championship
Other wins (7)
Other playoff record (1–2)
PGA Tour Champions wins (5)
PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–0)
Major championships
Wins (3)
1Defeated Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco in three-hole playoff: Singh (3-3-4=10), Leonard (4-3-x=x), and DiMarco (4-3-x=x)
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order in 2020.
CUT = missed the half way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Most consecutive cuts made – 15 (2002 PGA – 2006 U.S. Open)
Longest streak of top-10s – 7 (2004 PGA – 2006 U.S. Open)
Results in The Players Championship
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
World Golf Championships
Wins (1)
Results timeline
1Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Senior major championships
Wins (1)
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order before 2022.
CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
PGA Tour career summary
*As of the 2020 season.
There is a summary of Singh's European Tour career here.
Team appearances
Amateur
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Fiji): 1980
Professional
Presidents Cup (International Team): 1994, 1996, 1998 (winners), 2000, 2003 (tie), 2005, 2007, 2009
World Cup (representing Fiji): 2001, 2002, 2013
Alfred Dunhill Challenge (representing Australasia): 1995
See also
List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins
List of golfers with most European Tour wins
List of golfers with most Asian Tour wins
List of men's major championships winning golfers
Longest PGA Tour win streaks
Most PGA Tour wins in a year
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
References
External links
Fijian male golfers
European Tour golfers
PGA Tour golfers
PGA Tour Champions golfers
Winners of men's major golf championships
Winners of senior major golf championships
World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
Companions of the Order of Fiji
Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
Doping cases in golf
Sports controversies
Sportspeople of Indian descent
Fijian people of Indian descent
Fijian emigrants to the United States
Sportspeople from Lautoka
Fijian Hindus
Golfers from Jacksonville, Florida
People from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
1963 births
Living people |
426486 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%20Capaldi | Jim Capaldi | Nicola James Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English singer-songwriter and drummer. His musical career spanned more than four decades. He co-founded the progressive rock band Traffic in 1967 with Steve Winwood with whom he co-wrote the majority of the band's material. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a part of Traffic's original lineup.
Capaldi also performed with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Alvin Lee, Cat Stevens, and Mylon LeFevre, and wrote lyrics for other artists, such as "Love Will Keep Us Alive" and "This is Reggae Music". As a solo artist he scored more than a half dozen chart hits in various countries, the best-known being "That's Love" as well as his cover of "Love Hurts".
Career
Early years
Capaldi was born Nicola James Capaldi in Evesham, Worcestershire, to English parents Marie (Née Couchier) and Nicholas Capaldi. His father was born Nicola Capaldi in 1913 in Evesham to Italian parents. As a child Capaldi studied piano and voice with his father, a music teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. At age 14 he founded the band the Sapphires and served as their lead vocalist. At 16 he took an apprenticeship at a factory in Worcester, where he met Keith Miller and Dave Mason. In 1963 he formed the Hellions, with Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm guitar, while Capaldi himself switched to drums. In August 1964, Tanya Day took the Hellions to the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, as her backing group. The Spencer Davis Group were staying at the same hotel as the Hellions and it was there that Steve Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason.
Back in Worcester, the Hellions provided backing to visiting performers including Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky a Go Go Club. In 1964–65 the band released three singles, but none charted. Later that year John "Poli" Palmer joined the band on drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist.
The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 where they changed their name to the Revolution, releasing a fourth single that also failed to chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason with Luther Grosvenor and renamed the band Deep Feeling. Capaldi, Jackson, and Palmer wrote original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions repertoire. They played gigs in Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country area; former Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky offered them a recording contract. They recorded several studio tracks from 1966 to 1968 which remained unreleased until 2009, when the album Pretty Colours was released by Sunbeam Records.
First success
Capaldi and the band played frequently in London, and Jimi Hendrix played guitar with them at the Knuckles Club as an unknown musician. Back in Birmingham Capaldi would occasionally join his friends Mason, Winwood, and Chris Wood for after-hours impromptu performances at The Elbow Room club on Aston High Street. Early in 1967 they formalised this arrangement by forming Traffic, and Deep Feeling disbanded.
The new band was signed by Island Records and rented a quiet cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire, to write and rehearse new material. The cottage did not remain quiet and had frequent visitors including Eric Burdon, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townshend as well as Trevor Burton (of The Move) amongst many others.
Capaldi wrote the lyrics for Traffic's first single "Paper Sun", which appeared in the UK singles chart at number 5 in summer 1967. This was the beginning of a songwriting partnership between him and Winwood which would produce the overwhelming majority of Traffic's songs: With the exception of "No Face, No Name, No Number", Capaldi would pen a lyric first, and then hand it over to Winwood to write the music.
Despite his key role in writing the band's material, Capaldi rarely sang lead vocals with Traffic, and his lyrics were nearly always keyed towards Winwood's soulful voice rather than his own more hard-edged vocal style.
Two more Traffic singles were released successfully in 1967, and in December the band released the album Mr. Fantasy. After one further album, Traffic, the group disbanded.
Traffic revival
Capaldi formed another band with Mason, Wood, and Mick Weaver but the creative tensions that had caused Mason to leave Traffic remained and the resulting quartet lasted only until March 1969. In January 1970 Capaldi and Wood joined Winwood in the studio to record Winwood's solo album. These sessions were so successful that the three of them reformed Traffic to release the album John Barleycorn Must Die. They then toured the UK and the US with an expanded line-up, which would go on to produce the hit albums Welcome to the Canteen and The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. The title track of the latter, a cynical treatise on the music industry, would prove to be one of Capaldi's most famous lyrics. In addition, "Rock and Roll Stew (part 1)", a rare instance of a Traffic song with Capaldi on lead vocal, was a minor hit in the USA.
Final Traffic years, first solo years
With Traffic on hiatus due to Steve Winwood's struggles with peritonitis, Capaldi recorded a solo album Oh How We Danced in 1972. This set contained a broad variety of musical styles and featured contributions from Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and several members of Traffic. It was well received by critics and proved to be a modest success in the US, encouraging Capaldi to pursue a solo career alongside his work with Traffic.
After two more albums with Traffic, the group took a short break, allowing Capaldi to record Whale Meat Again, which was slightly less successful than his debut both in terms of reviews and sales. The title track was a thoroughly hard rocking and unapologetic environmentalist tirade; aggressive sociopolitical-themed songs became a recurring theme in Capaldi's work. He began work on his third solo album, Short Cut Draw Blood, alongside recording When the Eagle Flies with Traffic. As the band set off on the supporting tour, an early single from Short Cut, "It's All Up to You", made the UK Top 40. Though Capaldi's first major solo hit, it proved only a prelude to the album's chief success. Traffic disbanded after the tour, leaving Capaldi to focus all his efforts on his solo career. Short Cut Draw Blood appeared the following year. In October 1975, a single taken from the album, a cover version of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts", reached number four in the UK chart and charted worldwide. The album is considered by many to be his masterpiece, tackling issues such as the environment, government corruption, and drugs. He also embarked on a very brief acting career, appearing in the rarely seen 30-minute short film Short Ends (1976), which was directed by Esther Anderson and co-starred Judy Geeson and Hilary Baker.
To disco and back
However, events would conspire to prevent Capaldi from consolidating his solo stardom. He began working on his next album, Play it by Ear, alongside serving as a major collaborator on Steve Winwood's first solo album. Play it by Ear took an unusually long time to record, and in the meantime, his long-standing relationship with Island Records fell apart. The album was cancelled as a result, even though an advance single, "Goodbye My Love" (no connection to "Goodbye Love" from Capaldi's previous album), had already been released. Capaldi later described his leaving Island Records as "a leap into the wilderness." Due to these delays, it was over two years after Short Cut Draw Blood that another Jim Capaldi album appeared.
At this time Capaldi wrote the soundtrack to the award-winning film "The Contender", his last recording with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as his backing band, and correspondingly put together a new backing band for himself called the Contenders. The group consisted of Pete Bonas (guitar), Chris Parren (miscellaneous keyboards), Ray Allen (saxophone, backing vocals, percussion), and Phil Capaldi (backing vocals, percussion). Bonas was a particularly significant collaborator, and would co-write many of Capaldi's songs. The band chiefly supported him on tour; only one album, Electric Nights, featured the Contenders on every track. At the encouragement of his new label, RSO Records, Capaldi began venturing into disco. His first album with the label, The Contender, was released in the US with the title Daughter of the Night and a partially different set of songs. However, the album's internationally released single, "Daughter of the Night", failed to make a major impact.
The follow-up, 1979's Electric Nights, was more successful. "Shoe Shine", which combined disco rhythms and melodies with an angry lead vocal and lyrics about poverty and destitution, reached number 11 in France and also entered Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart. However, despite including both hard rockers such as "Elixir of Life" and "Hotel Blues" and laments such as "Short Ends" and "Wild Geese" alongside the disco-flavoured numbers, Capaldi retained no fondness for his two albums with RSO, later saying "frankly, they got buried under a pile of disco."
Switching record labels again, Capaldi dropped the disco elements entirely for his next two albums, The Sweet Smell of... Success (1980) and Let the Thunder Cry (1981). The albums were evenly split between mellow pop and embittered hard rock, with "Success" sporting a morbid before/after cover, and some tracks incorporated a Latin influence from Capaldi's new home, Brazil. However, though "Child in the Storm" reached number 75 in the Netherlands, there was nothing resembling a major hit, not even the folk arrangement of Traffic's "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys".
The album Let the Thunder Cry was released in Brazil by Young/RGE in early 1981 and spawned two big hits there: "Old Photographs", a cover version of "Casinha branca" originally recorded by Gilson in 1979; and "Favella Music". "Old Photographs" became a hit after it was included in the international soundtrack of the Rede Globo soap opera Brilhante in late 1981. "Favella Music" was also a hit in late 1981.
Return to stardom
Capaldi and Winwood had maintained a working partnership since Traffic's dissolution, contributing to nearly all of each other's solo albums. With his eighth solo album, Capaldi enlisted his old partner as a major collaborator. For the first time, Capaldi played most of the drums himself, and he would continue to do so on future solo albums. However, most of the tracks on Fierce Heart were mixed to place emphasis on the synthesizers, often muting Capaldi's vocals. This synth-heavy pop sound was exactly what 1980s audiences were looking for, and "That's Love" became his biggest hit in the US, climbing to number 28 in the summer of 1983. Another single from the album, "Living on the Edge", made it to number 75, while the album made it to 91 in the Billboard 200.
This time Capaldi was able to quickly produce a follow-up, but despite his recent success and appearances by Steve Marriott, Snowy White, and Carlos Santana, 1984's One Man Mission failed to produce a hit. The album leaned more towards hard rock than Fierce Heart, but drum machines and synthesizers remained major components.
In 1988, Capaldi released Some Come Running. Though the album failed to live up to commercial expectations, it reached number 183 in the USA and number 46 in Sweden, while achieving two hit singles in the Netherlands. Though Eric Clapton and George Harrison appeared on "Oh Lord, Why Lord", it was "Something so Strong" which became his biggest hit in the Netherlands, breaking the top 40 and powering the album itself into the charts.
Some Come Running essentially marked the end of Capaldi's career as a solo artist. He would not record another solo album for well over a decade, though a greatest hits compilation, Prince of Darkness, was released in 1995 and made the charts in the Netherlands.
Collaborations
Capaldi's success as a lyricist continued throughout his life. In 1990 "One and Only Man", a Steve Winwood song for which Capaldi wrote the lyrics, reached the Top 20 in the USA. He was a five times winner of BMI/Ascap Awards for the "most played compositions in America", and sales of songs written or co-written by him exceeded 25 million units. He numbered Bob Marley among his friends, and they travelled together while Marley was writing the Catch A Fire album. Capaldi wrote the lyrics to "This Is Reggae Music".
Capaldi was noted for the extent of his collaborations with other musicians. In 1973, he played drums at Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert and on some Clapton studio sessions. Capaldi collaborated with Robert Calvert of Hawkwind on his critically acclaimed 1974 solo album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, contributing as a vocal actor on the concept album's theatrical sections between songs. In the 1980s, Capaldi collaborated with Carlos Santana contributing songs and ideas to Santana's projects and in the 1990s he co-wrote (with Paul Carrack) the song "Love Will Keep Us Alive", which was eventually used on the Eagles' successful Hell Freezes Over album. In 1993, Traffic reformed and toured the US and UK. Capaldi and Winwood recorded a new album, Far from Home, without the other members of the band. In 1998 he paired up again with Mason on an extensive American tour.
The final years
In 2001, Capaldi's eleventh solo album Living on the Outside featured George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Gary Moore, and Ian Paice. George Harrison played guitar on the track "Anna Julia", an English translation of a song by the Brazilian band Los Hermanos. Both Capaldi brothers played at the Concert for George in 2002.
Personal life
Capaldi married Brazilian-born Aninha E S Campos in 1975 in All Saints Church, Marlow and in 1976 toured with his band Space Cadets before moving to Brazil in 1977.
He had two daughters, Tabitha born in 1976 and Tallulah born in 1979. The Capaldis lived in the Bahia region of Brazil until the beginning of 1980 and while there he became heavily involved with environmental issues. They maintained homes in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. The track "Favela Music" on his 1981 album Let The Thunder Cry arose from his love of Brazil, and he worked with several Brazilian composers.
Capaldi was a friend and supporter of the London School of Samba and played with the bateria on at least one occasion. He did a lot of charitable work for organisations in Brazil, such as the Associação Beneficiente São Martinho street children's charity in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, which the LSS also supported between 1994 and 2001. His wife was also the Porta Bandeira (flag bearer) of the LSS in the 1994 and 1995 Notting Hill Carnival parades.
Outside his music and environmental activism, Capaldi also assisted his wife in her work with Jubilee Action to help Brazilian street children. Because of this charity work, Capaldi and his wife were guests of Tony Blair at the Prime Minister's country house, Chequers. He remained professionally active until his final illness prevented him from working on plans for a 2005 reunion tour of Traffic. He died of stomach cancer in Westminster, London, on 28 January 2005, aged 60.
Tributes
Following his death, several tributes in celebration of Capaldi's life and music came out under the name Dear Mr Fantasy. The first was a tribute concert that took place at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London on Sunday, 21 January 2007. Guests included Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy), Steve Winwood (Traffic), Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam), Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Paul Weller (The Jam), Pete Townshend (The Who), Jim's brother Phil, and many more. The performances were evenly split between Capaldi's solo songs and his work with Traffic. All profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal. A recording of the concert was released as a double CD set the same year.
The second such tribute, Dear Mr. Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story, is a four-disc boxed set released in July 2011. Though a slight majority of the tracks came from Capaldi's solo albums, it also included some of his work with the Hellions, Deep Feeling, and Traffic, a few rare non-album tracks, and more than ten previously unreleased recordings, including a song co-written with George Harrison in 1997. The box was also packaged with extensive liner notes, compiling a number of photos and essays.
The third and final tribute is a book of Capaldi's handwritten lyrics, released in November 2011. The ideas of a boxed set and lyrics book had been conceived by Capaldi shortly before he died, and their releases were prepared by his widow in fulfilment of a last promise to him.
Solo discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
1995 – Prince of Darkness
1999 – Live: The 40,000 Headmen Tour (with Dave Mason)
2011 – Dear Mr Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story
2020 – Open Your Heart - The Island Recordings 1972-1976
Singles
('Love Hurts' was also ranked #137 in the Canadian Top 200 of 1976)
Notes
References
External links
Official website
MP3 information
Traffic band member Capaldi dies from the BBC
Jim Capaldi Quotes
Jubilee Action
Jubilee Campaign
1944 births
2005 deaths
20th-century English singers
21st-century English singers
British soft rock musicians
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from stomach cancer
English male singer-songwriters
English singer-songwriters
English people of Italian descent
English rock drummers
English male songwriters
Island Records artists
Italian British musicians
Musicians from Worcestershire
People from Evesham
RSO Records artists
Traffic (band) members
British expatriates in Brazil
20th-century British male singers |
426494 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR%20Craftsman%20Truck%20Series | NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series | The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series is one of three national divisions of NASCAR, ranking as the third tier behind the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series and the top level NASCAR Cup Series.
The 2023 season will be the first with Stanley Black & Decker holding the series' naming rights. Previously, Sears, Roebuck & Co held title sponsorship from 1995 through 2008 with the Craftsman brand, during which the series was known as the NASCAR SuperTruck Series in 1995 and the Craftsman Truck Series from 1996 through 2008. Camping World took over the sponsorship to dub the Camping World Truck Series from 2009 through 2018, followed by the Gander Outdoors Truck Series in 2019, the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2020, and a return to the Camping World name in 2021 and 2022. Stanley Black & Decker, which acquired the Craftsman brand in 2017, took over starting in 2023.
History
Craftsman Truck Series (1995–2008)
The idea for the Truck Series dates back to 1991. A group of SCORE off-road racers (Dick Landfield, Jimmy Smith, Jim Venable, and Frank "Scoop" Vessels) had concerns about desert racing's future, and decided to create a pavement truck racing series. They visited NASCAR Western Operations Vice President Ken Clapp to promote the idea, who consulted Bill France Jr. with it, but the plans fell apart. Afterwards, Clapp told the four to build a truck before NASCAR considered it. Bakersfield fabricator Gary Collins built a prototype truck, which was first shown off during Speedweeks for the 1994 Daytona 500 and tested by truck owner Jim Smith around Daytona International Speedway. The truck proved to be popular among fans, and NASCAR arranged a meeting in a Burbank, California hotel on April 11, 1994; the meeting ultimately led to the creation of the "SuperTruck Series".
Four demonstration races were held at Mesa Marin Raceway, Portland Speedway, Saugus Speedway and Tucson Raceway Park. Tucson held four events that winter, which were nationally televised during the Winter Heat Series coverage. Sears, Roebuck, & Co., through the Craftsman brand, served as the sponsor of the series on a three-year deal, and the series was renamed to the Craftsman Truck Series in 1996. In addition, the series' $580,000 purse is larger than the Busch Grand National Series' fund. While a new series, it garnered immediate support from many prominent Winston Cup Series team owners and drivers. Prominent Cup owners Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, and Jack Roush owned truck teams, and top drivers such as Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan also fielded SuperTrucks for others. The series also attracted the attention of drivers like sprint car racing star Sammy Swindell, Walker Evans of off-road racing fame, open-wheel veteran Mike Bliss, and Atlanta Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville. The inaugural race, the Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway, was held on February 5; the race, featuring an event-record crowd of 38,000 spectators, concluded with eventual series champion Mike Skinner holding off Cup veteran Terry Labonte to win. Only one team from the first season of the series, FDNY Racing, is still racing in the series today.
Camping World and Gander Outdoors Truck Series (2009–2022)
At the end of the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule, Craftsman ended its sponsorship of the series. Subsequently, Camping World signed a seven-year contract with NASCAR, rebranding the series as the Camping World Truck Series.
With decreasing money and increasing costs, the series has struggled financially with sponsorship and prize money, the latter often being low, while the former would prompt teams to shut down to reduce in size. Teams like Richard Childress Racing, a Cup team with 31 Truck wins, shut down their Truck operations; in RCR's case, after the 2013 season. After the 2014 season, Brad Keselowski stated his Brad Keselowski Racing team had lost $1 million despite recording a win that year, and told the Sporting News: "The truck series, you have to be able to lose money on a constant basis. That's just how the system works." BKR ended up shutting down after the 2017 season. To cut costs, NASCAR required teams to use sealed engines, with teams not being allowed to run at most three races with a previously used engine. Additionally, NASCAR reduced the maximum number of pit crew members allowed over the wall for a pit stop from seven to five, and required teams to only take either fuel or tires on a single pit stop in 2009. This requirement was abandoned for the 2010 season.
Starting with the 2011 season, NASCAR implemented a new rule that allows drivers to compete for the drivers' championship in only one of the three national touring series (Cup, Xfinity, or Truck) in a given season. On January 19, 2016, NASCAR announced the introduction of a playoff format similar to the NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship: the format consists of eight drivers across three rounds, with two drivers being eliminated after each round. Starting in 2020 season, the playoff was expanded to 10 drivers, with two being eliminated after the first round and four being eliminated after the second round.
Camping World signed a seven-year extension in 2014 to remain the title sponsor of the Truck Series until at least 2022. On May 8, 2018, NASCAR and Camping World announced the Truck Series' title sponsorship would be switched to its subsidiary Gander Outdoors starting in 2019, renaming it the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. The series was slightly renamed to the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2020, but returned to the Camping World Truck Series branding the following season.
Craftsman Truck Series (2023–present)
On August 26, 2022, NASCAR announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Stanley Black & Decker—which had acquired the Craftsman brand from Sears in 2017—under which the series would return to being known as the Craftsman Truck Series beginning in 2023. As part of the deal, Stanley Black & Decker also became the official tool brand of NASCAR.
Drivers
Most of the first drivers in the series were veteran short track drivers who had not made it or struggled to thrive in the other NASCAR national series; for example, 1991 Featherlite Southwest Tour champion Rick Carelli had failed to qualify twelve times for Cup races across 1991–1994, with only nine career Cup starts, but he finished sixth in the inaugural Truck Series championship. It is worth noting that most of the early champions have become NASCAR Cup Series regulars later in their careers, such as 1995 champion Skinner, who joined Richard Childress Racing's Cup team in 1997, competing on a full-time basis until 2003. Professional football coach Jerry Glanville was among the series' first drivers. As the years went on, a number of younger drivers debuted in the series, using the series as a springboard for their racing careers. NASCAR stars Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch each started in the series.
A 2001 Truck Series race incident resulted in a significant NASCAR rule change. In early November of that year, the Truck Series was running as a support race for CART's Marlboro 500, that series' final event of its season; since the race weekend was being staged by CART and not NASCAR, its rules had to be followed. As a result, the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was effective. Thus, any driver who participated in the race weekend had to be at least 18 years of age. The rule affected Roush Racing's No. 99 truck driven by Kyle Busch, as he was underage at the time (16) and thus disqualified from the event despite having already qualified. The issue resulted in a 2002 rule change that mandated that any driver competing in a NASCAR national touring series (Truck, Busch, Cup) or any regional series race on the weekend of a national series race must be at least 18 in order to comply with the Master Settlement Agreement. After NASCAR phased out tobacco sponsorships, the minimum age for regional touring series was changed to 16, and the Truck Series' rule regulated a minimum age of 16 for any circuit one mile or shorter (Rockingham Speedway included, despite it being 1.017 miles), and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
In later years, though, the Truck Series has also become a place for Cup veterans without a ride to make their living which included Ricky Craven, Jimmy Spencer, Dennis Setzer, Brendan Gaughan (who started his career in a family-owned team, and after his Nextel Cup attempt, returned to the family operation), Rich Bickle, Andy Houston, Todd Bodine, Bobby Hamilton Jr. and previous champions Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday, Ted Musgrave, and Jack Sprague. Older drivers dominated the series, most with Xfinity and Cup Series experience: in 2007, all the top-10 drivers were over 30 years of age, and 7 of the 10 had Cup experience, as did every race winner except Erik Darnell. Even though novice drivers play a minimal role in this "minor league" series, there is no controversy like the disputes over "Buschwhackers" in the Busch (later Nationwide, now Xfinity Series). No current Cup regulars drive a full Truck Series schedule, although Cup driver Kevin Harvick owned his own team in the series until 2011, Brad Keselowski owned his own team until he announced its cessation of operations in 2017 and Kyle Busch currently fields his own team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, respectively, driving part-time for his team. A current Truck Series field could be split into three groups: Cup drivers that compete as owner-drivers like Busch, or to receive additional money like David Gilliland; Truck regulars who compete full-time in the series; and young drivers who use the Truck Series to enter NASCAR.
Racing and strategy
Qualifying
A Truck Series field currently consists of 36 trucks in races with qualifying. Previously, 32 trucks comprised a field, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the field was increased to 36 in races with qualifying and 40 without to accommodate as many trucks as possible.
For most races, a single-truck qualifying format is used. For tracks 1.25 miles and shorter, each truck gets two laps with the fastest lap counting. At tracks longer than 1.25 miles each truck only gets one timed lap. Road course events use a 2 part knockout qualifying format similar to Formula 1, with the top 12 qualifiers from Q1 advancing to Q2. At the event at Eldora, qualifying sets the lineups for a series of heat races which then determines the lineup.
The race
Initially, the series used a number of rules that differed from both Winston Cup and Busch Grand National Series racing. Most of the first races were no longer than 125 miles in length, with many being 150-lap races on short tracks. To save teams money by not requiring teams to hire pit specialists and buy extra tires, and because some tracks – Saugus Speedway, Flemington Raceway, Tucson Raceway Park, Evergreen Speedway and Colorado National Speedway most notably—did not have a pit road safe enough for pit stops, or had pits outside the track, starting with the second race of the series in Tucson, NASCAR adopted a five-minute "halftime" break, in place of pit stops, where teams could make any changes they would want to the truck. The only time tire changes were possible were for the interest of safety, such as a tire failure, or a danger to the tire. The rule was popular with television and fans, and was spread for the entire schedule afterwards as pit reporters could interview drivers and crew chiefs for the break in a time without stress. However, starting in 1998, NASCAR introduced competition cautions, with each team being awarded four sets of tires; with this rule change, the halftime break was abolished starting with the race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. In 1999, full pit stops were added, with drivers being allowed to pit during races, but were not allowed to change more than two tires during a stop.
In 1996, some races went to two intermissions for full tire and fuel stops, while longer races were stopped at three times—a limited break near the one-quarter and three-quarter marks for fuel stops, and at the halfway point for fuel and tire stops. If tire wear was a concern, NASCAR also permitted two-tire changes if necessary in the first and third period breaks. These rules were influential in driver development. Drivers had to learn to conserve tire wear for up to a half race, which allowed them to learn conserving the truck. Some drivers used the rules to learn tire conservation for other series. In 1997, NASCAR started phasing pit stops. During the 1997 season, trucks could only legally take fuel and make adjustments during pit stops during the race. Tire changes were still illegal except for emergency causes and at break times.
For a short time in 1995, NASCAR adopted traditional short-track rules by inverting a number of cars at the front of the grid after complaints about some races where drivers led the entire event. That was dropped quickly after some races ended as walkovers for drivers, leading entire races.
A more popular rule that was effective until the middle of the 2004 season was the "overtime" rule. Unless interrupted by weather, Craftsman Truck Series races had to end under green flag conditions, and the rule mandated that all races must end with a minimum of two consecutive laps in green flag condition, often referred to as a "green-white-checkered" finish. Since racing to the yellow flag was prohibited until 1998 (and again in 2003 under the current free pass rule), scoring reverted to the last completed lap, and until racing back to the line was legalized in 1998, if the yellow waved during the first lap of a green-white-checkered finish, the entire situation would be reset. This rule meant some races would be greatly extended. In 1998, a CBS-televised race in Pikes Peak scheduled for 186 laps ran 198 laps (12 extra laps) because of multiple attempts, and the last such race, in Gateway International Raceway in 2004, lasted 14 additional laps (16.25 miles). A July 24, 2004 rule change for NASCAR's three national series meant only one "green-white-checkered" finish can be attempted, and the race can end under yellow in one of four situations—inclement weather, darkness, the yellow flag waving because of an incident during the final lap of a race, or the yellow flag waving after the one attempt at green-white-checkered begins. This was later extended by NASCAR to three attempts. (Although reducing the Truck Series attempts at a green-white-checkered finish to one, the rule change was part of NASCAR's implementation of the rule to the Cup and Busch Series due to complaints regarding NASCAR's policy at the time regarding late race cautions; the policy stated that a red flag would be thrown during a late race caution to attempt to ensure the race would finish under green but if a caution occurred after the window for the red flag, the race would end under caution regardless of where the incident occurred or how severe it was). Ironically, the first Truck Series race under the new rules ended with a yellow flag on the final lap.
In 2014, NASCAR banned tandem drafting, a method of racing in which two vehicles would line up with each other to gain speed, from the Truck Series. Drivers who commit the act are black-flagged.
In the 2016 season, the Truck Series experimented with a rule similar to those used in longer-distance Super Late Model events such as the Snowball Derby that limited how long a race can go before a competition caution for pit stops or adjustments in an effort to reduce green-flag pit stops, with which younger and more inexperienced drivers were unfamiliar. The limit was 20 minutes of green flag racing (in theory 75 laps at Bristol, or 60 laps at Martinsville), without beneficiaries being awarded. Upon each restart, the clock restarted from 20:00, and each caution for an incident reset the clock back to 20:00. As is the case in the short track rules, no competition caution would be used in the final 20 laps, except for tracks where lap times are 50 seconds or greater (Pocono or Mosport), where the limit was ten laps, or Eldora because of its format. In 2017, this was replaced with the stage system adopted by all other NASCAR national series that season.
Tracks
Initially, the Truck Series competed primarily on short tracks and tracks in the Western United States; the series' inaugural schedule included races at tracks in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, with only five races in the Southeastern U.S., such as Louisville Motor Speedway, which was not run by the Cup Series. Additionally, the longest tracks run by the series, Phoenix International Raceway and Milwaukee Mile, were one mile long. By 1998, most of the short tracks were phased out in favor of speedways of 1 to 2 miles in length, and more of the races were held at tracks that hosted Cup and Busch events concurrently, but some races were held with CART and Indy Racing League events. Road courses were phased out by 2001, the last race being in 2000 at Watkins Glen International, but returned in 2013 with the Truck race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Also in 2013, the Truck Series began racing at Eldora Speedway, the first time NASCAR had raced at a dirt track since the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season. As of the 2023 season, the series races on 21 tracks: one dirt track (Bristol), two road courses (Circuit of the Americas and Mid-Ohio), five short tracks (Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, North Wilkesboro, and Indianapolis Raceway Park), three superspeedways (Daytona, Talladega, and Pocono) and nine intermediate ovals. The second most recent addition to the series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway, which returned to hosting Truck races in 2015 after a two-year absence. The most recent addition to the series schedule is North Wilkesboro Speedway which returned to hosting Truck races after a twenty-six–year absence.
Television and radio
The 1995 season's races were nationally televised on ESPN, TNN, ABC and CBS. Of the 20-race schedule, TNN aired ten races, while ESPN aired seven races and CBS two, while ABC aired the race at Mesa Marin Speedway as part of its Wide World of Sports program.
In 2001, NASCAR moved the series exclusively to cable, first with ESPN, and in 2003, switched to Speed, a network which provided supplemental coverage for Fox's coverage of NASCAR events. Network television returned to the series from 2007 to 2010 when two races per season (the Kroger 250 at Martinsville and the City of Mansfield 250 at Mansfield, with a race at Fontana replacing Mansfield) airing on Fox as NASCAR on Fox events. These broadcasts were discontinued in 2011.
On August 13, 2013, Speed was converted into Fox Sports 1 (FS1), continuing with all Truck Series race broadcasts, whereas some practice and qualifying sessions were moved to sister channel Fox Sports 2 (FS2). For the 2014 season, the Fred's 250 at Talladega had its race broadcast moved from FS1 to the Fox broadcast network. For the 2018 season, the UNOH 200 at Bristol aired in prime time on Fox. For the 2020 season, the Clean Harbors 200 aired on Fox. In 2022, the CRC Brakleen 150 was moved to Fox. In 2023, the Tyson 250 was moved.
Motor Racing Network has exclusive radio broadcasting rights to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Specifications
Chassis: Steel tube frame with safety roll cage, must be NASCAR standards
Engine displacement: built or 376 cubic inch (6.2 L) Chevrolet LSX NT1 crate Pushrod V8
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Weight: minimum without driver and fuel; minimum with driver and fuel
Power output: unrestricted, ≈ restricted
Torque:
Fuel: Sunoco 93 MON, 104 RON, 98 AKI 85% unleaded gasoline + Sunoco Green Ethanol E15 15%
Fuel capacity:
Fuel delivery: Carburetion (built) or Fuel injection (crate)
Compression ratio: 12:1
Aspiration: Naturally aspirated
Carburetor size: 390 cubic feet per minute (184 litres per second) 4 barrel (built)
Wheelbase:
Steering: Power, recirculating ball
Tires: Slick (all tracks except Bristol Motor Speedway), dirt (Bristol spring) and rain tires (shorter flat ovals and all road courses only if in case of rainy conditions) provided by Goodyear Eagle
Length:
Height:
Width:
Safety equipment: HANS device, seat belt 6-point supplied by Willans
Manufacturer representation
The series was notable in seeing the return of Chrysler Corporation factory-supported race vehicles to the tracks. Chrysler withdrew its factory support of its Dodge and Plymouth brands after the 1972 season to cut costs, though teams continued to campaign cars with Plymouth and Dodge sheetmetal and power plants until 1985. Chrysler funded a small R&D effort, with factory funding and support for Dodge to return to NASCAR for the Craftsman Truck Series with the Dodge Ram pickup truck in 1997. By 2001 Dodge made a full-time return to NASCAR with a full factory-backed effort. While Dodge continued to race in the other series until 2012, the Ram Trucks division (spun off from Dodge after the Fiat Group took control of Chrysler) raced in the Camping World Truck Series in Dodge's place. In 2014, Ram pulled out, leaving the Nationwide Series as the last series with teams fielding Dodge. As of the 2021 season, no teams in the Truck Series field Ram trucks.
The Truck Series was the first major NASCAR series to feature Toyota, with the Toyota Tundra model making its debut in the series in 2004; Toyota had previously competed in the mostly regional level Goody's Dash Series. The Japanese automaker became the first foreign nameplate to race in NASCAR during the sport's modern era. Toyota would later join the Cup series and Xfinity series as well, doing so in 2007.
FCA US (Chrysler)
Dodge Ram: 1995–2011
Ram: 2012–2016, (no factory support after 2013)
Ford
Ford F-150: 1995–present
General Motors
Chevrolet C/K: 1995–1997
Chevrolet Silverado: 1998–present
Toyota
Toyota Tundra: 2004–present
Seasons
Driver in Italics has won at least 1 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship
Driver in Bold has won at least 1 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
All-time win table
All figures correct as of the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead–Miami Speedway (October 21, 2023).
See also
List of auto racing tracks in the United States
List of the closest NASCAR Truck Series finishes
List of NASCAR Truck Series champions
List of NASCAR drivers
List of NASCAR teams
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series
List of NASCAR series
Triple Truck Challenge
References
External links
Auto racing series in Canada
Stock car racing series in the United States
Pickup truck racing series |
426594 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.%20D.%20Howe | C. D. Howe | Clarence Decatur Howe, (15 January 1886 – 31 December 1960) was an American-born Canadian engineer, businessman and Liberal Party politician. Howe served as a cabinet minister in the governments of prime ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957. He is credited with transforming the Canadian economy from agriculture-based to industrial. During the Second World War, his involvement in the war effort was so extensive that he was nicknamed the "Minister of Everything".
Born in Massachusetts, Howe moved to Nova Scotia as a young adult to take up a professorship at Dalhousie University. After working for the Canadian government as an engineer, he began his own firm and became wealthy. In 1935, he was recruited as a Liberal candidate for the House of Commons of Canada by Mackenzie King. The Liberals won the election in a landslide and Howe won his seat. Mackenzie King appointed him to the Cabinet. There, he took major parts in many new enterprises, including the founding of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Trans-Canada Air Lines (today Air Canada). Howe played a crucial role in Canada's war effort during WWII and recruited many corporate executives (as "dollar-a-year-men") to serve as executives in wartime enterprises.
Howe was impatient with parliamentary debates for his proposals, causing him to struggle with gaining popularity amongst parliamentarians; he was often accused of dictatorial conduct by the Opposition. As the Liberal government entered its third decade, it and Howe came to be seen as arrogant. The Government's attempt to impose closure in the 1956 Pipeline Debate led to major controversy in the House of Commons. In the 1957 election, Howe's actions and policies were made an issue by Opposition leader John Diefenbaker. Howe faced a serious challenge in his riding, but was expected to make speeches elsewhere as a major Liberal leader. Howe lost his seat in the election, and Diefenbaker became Prime Minister, ending almost 22 years of Liberal rule. Howe returned to the private sector, accepting a number of corporate directorships, and died suddenly of a heart attack in December 1960.
Early years and academic career
Howe was born on 15 January 1886 in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. The Howes were well-regarded in the local community, and William Clarence Howe, Clarence's father, was involved in local politics and descendant of Puritans arriving in 1630s. When not doing political work, William Howe was a carpenter and house builder. Clarence's mother, Mary Emma ( Hastings) was a teacher and the daughter of a prosperous farmer on whose farm Clarence spent his childhood summers. His mother was related to naval hero and US Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur.
Clarence did well in school and, upon his graduation from Waltham High School in 1903, passed the entrance examinations for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He took basic courses at the school and did advanced work in engineering. During the summers, he worked for J. B. Worcester & Co., a firm that constructed much of the Boston subway system. While at school, he became a favourite pupil of Professor George Swain; after Howe graduated in 1907, Swain offered Howe a job as his teaching assistant. Howe accepted, although the young engineer felt that he should leave the Boston area to begin his career. Howe was offered an opportunity to become an engineering professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Howe accepted the job, partly because unemployment among his classmates was high due to the Panic of 1907.
At the time, Dalhousie was a small university, with only 400 students, and members of the teaching staff had a heavy workload. Howe, at age 23, was little older than some of his students. He had little experience in the field, and on trips outside Halifax, he and his students would solve problems together. Howe's view was that any problem could be solved through common sense and hard work. Howe took his students to the countryside, where they camped, surveying and planning imaginary railroads. His student Denis Stairs, who would go on to lead the Montreal Engineering Company, said of Howe that by the time the camp ended, his students had great respect for him. Student C. J. Mackenzie, who Howe would later appoint to the National Research Council presidency, stated that Howe was not a brilliant lecturer, but that his presentations were always extremely clear. Howe later said of university education, "The worker at college continues to work, and becomes a successful engineer. The shirker continues to shirk, and gets nowhere." In addition to his work, Howe found time for an active social life in Halifax, and considered marrying the sister of one of his students, but she had another husband in mind.
After Howe's first year in Halifax, engineering instruction of upperclassmen was taken away from Dalhousie. Howe later stated that he liked Dalhousie, and had this change not occurred, he might have remained there as a professor. In 1913, a former colleague at Dalhousie, Robert Magill, who had recently been appointed chairman of the Board of Grain Commissioners, offered Howe the post of chief engineer, with responsibility for supervising the construction of grain elevators. Howe stated, "I've never seen one of those things in my life, but I'll take the job." The same year, he applied to become a British subject, as Canadians then were.
Engineer and businessman
In mid-1913, Howe journeyed to Northwestern Ontario to take up his new post. The Board was headquartered in Fort William, Ontario, where Canadian wheat was transferred from rail to ship. The Board sought to build a series of large terminal grain elevators, which could process as well as store grain. The project would increase both capacity and competition—grain elevator companies had been accused by farmers' interests of charging excessive prices. The first such elevator for the Board was raised in nearby Port Arthur, Ontario, and was acclaimed as one of the best grain elevators ever built in Canada, and one of the cheapest. Over the next two years, Howe traveled the West, supervising the construction of terminal elevators near major cities and ports. The capacity would be needed, as Canadian farmers increased production during the First World War.
In late 1915, Howe traveled back to Massachusetts to court Alice Worcester, daughter of the head of the company he had worked for in the summer at MIT. After some surprise at the attention of a man she barely knew, Worcester eventually accepted him, and the two were married in mid-1916. The same year, he resigned from government service to go into business with partners as C. D. Howe and Company, whose major business was initially the construction of grain elevators. Both the company headquarters and the marital home were in Port Arthur. Howe's first contract was to build a grain elevator in Port Arthur. In December 1916, a massive storm destroyed the half-built elevator, wiping out Howe's assets. Had his bank not come to his assistance with additional funds, he would have been ruined. When Howe turned over the completed elevator to the owner, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, he was asked how badly he had done on the contract, and stated, "I lost my shirt." The Association voted him a bonus to make up for his loss.
Over the next several years, Howe's business expanded into engineering consulting and, much more profitably, general contracting. His firm dominated the construction of grain elevators in the West, as the Saskatchewan and Alberta wheat pools gave him much of their construction business. This made him unpopular among private wheat companies: his firm did not receive any contracts to build terminal elevators for private corporations in the 1920s, but exceeded the number built by all other contractors combined, thanks to business from those cooperatives. Howe's elevators were built more quickly, were better designed, and were cheaper to construct than those of his competitors. He worked to add to their efficiency; the Dominion-Howe unloader he helped design emptied a grain car in eight minutes, needing only two operators; the same operation had previously taken an hour for a crew of 20 men.
In the early 1920s, Howe turned down several requests to stand for alderman in Port Arthur. He did agree to seek election to the school board in 1921, and headed the polls at his first attempt. He served two 2-year terms on the board, spending the final year as its chairman. Early in their marriage, Clarence and Alice Howe had decided to separate their roles, with Alice having full responsibility for their domestic lives. Clarence took no interest in his home life; as an often-absent father he had only a small role in the upbringing of his five children. In the same manner he did not involve his wife in his business (or, later public) life. During his ministerial career, he replied in response to an opposition question hinting at nepotism, "I don't like to discuss my family in public. Members may have noticed that my wife never appears on political platforms."
In October 1929, the firm completed a huge grain elevator, with the capacity of 7,000,000 bushels (246,670 cubic meters), at Port Arthur. The Depression devastated the grain industry, with falling prices and little demand for exported grain. There was no demand for more grain elevators, as the existing elevators contained unsold grain, further driving prices down. Howe's company managed to survive on pre-existing government contracts, but these eventually expired and the staff of 175 had decreased to five by 1933. On the first business day of 1934, Howe's sole remaining partner resigned from the firm. Although Howe remained a wealthy man, his business prospects were few, and he decided to pursue a new career.
Politics
Election and prewar
In 1933, the Liberal Party was in opposition and considered Howe as a potential candidate for the House of Commons in the upcoming election. Howe, feeling political activism was bad for business, had not publicly expressed political views. Norman Platt Lambert, a Liberal Party official and friend of Howe, brought him to a meeting with Liberal Party leader William Lyon Mackenzie King on 20 January 1934. The two men were impressed with each other and, according to Lambert in his diary, Howe wanted a guaranteed Cabinet position were he to run in the new riding of Port Arthur. Mackenzie King accepted this deal and on 14 October 1935, Howe was comfortably elected to the Commons from Port Arthur, amassing a majority of 3,784. Across the country, the Liberals won a landslide victory, with 173 seats in the House of Commons to the Conservatives's 40. Mackenzie King appointed Howe to two portfolios: Minister of Railways and Canals and the first Minister of Marine. Howe was the only engineer in Cabinet, which was dominated by lawyers, and was the first engineer to serve in a Liberal government.
After Parliament assembled in early 1936, Howe sought to have it pass legislation to reform local port authorities. Individual ports were run by Boards of Harbour Commissioners, appointments to which were often politically influenced. A Royal Commission in 1932 had recommended the positions be abolished, and Howe's bill was to establish a National Harbours Board. The debate in the House went smoothly until Howe angered the opposition by declaring that, during Bennett's government, the Conservatives had been corrupt. Despite what became a much more bitter debate, Howe's bill carried. According to Leslie Roberts in his biography of Howe, "This was the Howe the country would soon come to know much better, the Howe on the rampage, the Howe who is impatient of criticism and deplores the debates and delays inherent in the parliamentary system."
Howe worked to place the government-dominated Canadian National Railways (CNR) on a sound financial basis and introduced legislation to form the CNR into a crown corporation. Although the opposition complained that Howe was becoming power-mad, they had little quarrel with the proposed reorganization itself, and it was passed into law. In June 1936, Howe brought in legislation to establish another crown corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which passed into law with little debate or opposition. Howe also worked to increase airline coverage in Canada; in 1936, many Canadians wishing to fly long distances by air would journey through the United States. The Liberals proposed legislation to establish a government-financed corporation, with half the stock to be owned by the CNR and half by the privately owned Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The CPR balked at the deal, and the remaining stock was taken up by the CNR and Trans-Canada Air Lines was founded in May 1937. For the rest of his political career, Howe kept Trans-Canada Air Lines in his ministerial portfolio, considering it his "progeny and generally promoted its interests".
Second World War
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting WWII. Mackenzie King recalled Parliament into session beginning 7 September; during this session, Canada declared war on Germany and created a Department of Munitions and Supply. It was some months before the department was established; in the meantime Howe supervised the War Purchasing Board. Howe worked to persuade many of his business contacts to work for him or for other government departments. Roberts suggests that no "political minister" could have done that, as many of Howe's recruits were Conservatives. According to historian and author Michael Bliss, "[f]or Howe and other entrepreneurial spirits interested in the creative uses of government power, the war was a kind of ultimate megaproject, a great development job. Money didn't matter, production did."
In the 1940 election, Howe had little trouble being re-elected, and 184 Liberals were returned to Ottawa, the greatest total by any party to that point. Mackenzie King appointed Howe as Minister of Munitions and Supply. Liking his job at Transport, Howe was reluctant to move, but the Prime Minister persuaded him. The function of the new department was the complete mobilization of all Canadian resources to support the war effort. Howe initially retained the Transport portfolio as well; on 8 July 1940, he turned over responsibility for that portfolio to Arthur Cardin, although Howe retained control of the CBC and Trans-Canada Air Lines.
Howe's department was assisted by "dollar-a-year men", top managers in Canadian business loaned to the government by their companies for a token payment of one dollar a year while their firms maintained them on their payrolls. Even before the department was formally established, Howe's representatives were surveying the country for essential war needs, with the department accumulating huge reserves of strategic materials. During the Second World War, Howe established 28 Crown Corporations of various responsibilities including secret projects and manufacturing the machine tools the rest of Canadian industry needed to continue operations. These corporations were responsible to Howe and Parliament received no word of their activities unless Howe mentioned them.
With Canadian industry reorganized to supply the British war effort, Howe decided he needed to journey to Britain to discuss matters with the customers. He embarked on the S.S. Western Prince in December 1940. This was an intensely dangerous trip; Germany was attempting to blockade Britain and there were many German submarines in the North Atlantic. One of those submarines sank the Western Prince on 14 December. Howe survived the sinking and eight hours in a lifeboat. Gordon Scott, his aide, was killed trying to climb from the lifeboat to the rescuing ship. Howe professed coolness in the incident, but later told the Manchester Guardian that he considered every hour that he lived from that day onwards to be borrowed time.
While on tour of British industrial plants, Howe was shown the Avro Lancaster four-engined heavy bomber, which he subsequently championed for Canadian production. On his return, Howe expropriated the troubled National Steel Car Ltd. plant which was beset with management problems, setting up Victory Aircraft Limited as a Crown Corporation, removing the executives and installing J.P. Bickell, one of Howe's "dollar-a-year club" as the new president and chairman of the board. Victory Aircraft recovered its momentum and went on to become one of Howe's greatest industrial successes, producing Avro aircraft under license, including the Lancaster.
According to Roberts, "What Howe started in 1940 was an Industrial Revolution, so widespread that most Canadians were unaware of its extent or of its penetration into the country's economy." Although there had been increases in production throughout the first three years of the war, the minister's efforts truly bore fruit in 1943, in which Canada had the fourth-highest industrial production among the Allies, trailing only the US, USSR, and Britain. By 1944, Canada had produced over 600 ships for the war effort, 1,100 aircraft, and over half a million cars and trucks, of which 31,000 were armoured. According to Roberts, Howe's actions swung Canada's economy from agriculture-based to industrial, a change that became permanent.
"What's a million?"
During the debate on Howe's war spending estimates in 1945 (which totalled $1.365 billion), Howe answered an Opposition question on whether such a large sum could be reduced: "I dare say my honourable friend could cut a million dollars from that amount, but a million dollars from the War Appropriations Bill would not be a very important matter." Saskatchewan Tory MP John Diefenbaker spoke the following day, and alleged that Howe had said, "We may save a million dollars, but what of it?" Howe angrily denied the quote, accusing Diefenbaker of being "a past master of distortion"—language he was forced to withdraw as unparliamentary. Diefenbaker sharpened the anecdote over time, and it emerged in its final form as Howe saying, "What's a million?" Even Liberals who knew that Howe had made no such statement agreed that it was just the sort of thing he could have said. In the years to come, "What's a million?" would be a mocking Tory attack on the Liberals, most often directed at Howe.
Postwar
Mackenzie King years
In October 1944, Mackenzie King appointed Howe Minister of Reconstruction. Howe had an excellent reputation for his successful overhaul of the Canadian economy, and Mackenzie King feared he would return to the private sector to amass another fortune in business. Among those who urged Howe to remain was the Minister of Justice, Louis St. Laurent, with whom Howe forged a strong relationship. The Prime Minister obtained a dissolution of Parliament in April 1945 and in the ensuing election, the Liberals obtained a bare majority. Howe was intensively involved in Liberal fundraising, and campaigned nationally for its candidates. He was easily returned in Port Arthur, taking just over half of all votes cast, with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the predecessor of the New Democratic Party) a distant second.
Howe favoured a quick transition to a peacetime economy. Most industries in which there were no shortages were released from government controls in late 1945. Labour leaders, fearing unemployment, wanted to keep wartime government plants in production; Howe opposed such proposals. When union members who were laid off from the Research Enterprises Limited (R.E.L.) confronted Howe on a golf course, the minister stated, "R.E.L. was a war-time plant. The war is through, the plant is through, and your union... what happens to your union is up to you. Get the hell off of the course." In disposing of redundant government property, Howe found that saddles and harnesses had been stored since the end of the Boer War and men had been employed to safeguard and polish them for over 40 years. He strove to eliminate such anachronisms. However, Howe was slower to release economic controls. According to Roberts, "although he worked to return the country's economic power to private hands, he often seemed as loath to surrender his own dictatorial powers over it as he was to submit to Parliament". In November 1945, Howe's wartime portfolio was merged into his new responsibility to form the Department of Reconstruction and Supply.
Howe was determined to support technologically advanced industries and wanted Canada to continue the production of aircraft after the war. His Director-General for Aircraft Production, Ralph Bell, disagreed with him, noting that Canada had no aircraft engine manufacturer and that despite the presence of manufacturing plants and skilled workers, there was no guarantee that they could sell their products. Howe took steps to keep aircraft manufacturers in business, allowing the British Hawker Siddeley Group to take over Victory Aircraft as A.V. Roe Canada (Avro Canada), while Canadair was sold to the US-based Electric Boat Company (later General Dynamics).
After the war, Mackenzie King recommended to the British government that two Cabinet ministers be appointed to the Imperial Privy Council, but not Howe. When the honours were announced on New Year's Day 1946, Howe told the Prime Minister that he felt his war service was being slighted and threatened his resignation. Mackenzie King arranged for Howe to receive the honour in June. This created more ill feelings among other members of the Cabinet; two more were elevated in the 1947 New Year's Honours, after which the Prime Minister refused to consider any more.
In February 1947, Mackenzie King fell ill with pneumonia and, after recovering, spent a month on vacation in the United States, with St. Laurent (by then Secretary of State for External Affairs) as Acting Prime Minister. In July, Minister of National Defence Brooke Claxton warned Mackenzie King that the issue of the Prime Minister's age and the uncertainty of the succession was causing political difficulties for the Liberals. Mackenzie King consulted Howe, who bluntly stated that it was best that Mackenzie King resign while still retaining his full faculties and before a crisis erupted. After the talk, the Prime Minister decided that he should retire within a year and that St. Laurent, who had recently threatened to leave Cabinet and return home to Quebec, should be the successor. Howe was among those who persuaded St. Laurent not to resign. He also helped persuade St. Laurent to stand for the leadership, offering to remain in Cabinet to assist him.
St. Laurent government's first mandate
On 20 January 1948, Mackenzie King announced his intent to resign and a Cabinet reshuffle; both St. Laurent and Howe convinced the Prime Minister to move Howe, who had not enjoyed his work at the Ministry of Reconstruction and Supply, to become Minister of Trade and Commerce. Howe publicly announced that he was "not available" to stand for the leadership and that he was supporting St. Laurent. The Quebecer was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in August, and Mackenzie King resigned on 15 November.
In October 1948, the Progressive Conservatives also elected a new leader, Ontario Premier George A. Drew. St. Laurent called an election for June 1949, and Howe again was successful in fundraising from corporate backers, including CPR and Eaton's. Drew had used Howe's record as an election issue, accusing him of being power-mad and selling off Crown Corporations for bargain prices, but the allegations got little traction. According to Howe, the only result of Drew's attacks "was to give me a record majority in Port Arthur!" The Liberals won a huge victory, taking 190 seats to 40 for the Tories, and Howe again won Port Arthur easily.
In early 1950, St. Laurent considered recommending the appointment of Howe as governor general. The governor general had previously been a British peer; many nationalists wanted a Canadian to hold the post, and St. Laurent agreed. The governor general, The Viscount Alexander, was due to retire by 1953. St. Laurent saw this as a way of allowing his friend and colleague to step away from politics for a quieter life. The minister was willing to take the post, but the position unexpectedly opened early when Alexander was appointed to the British Cabinet. Howe decided he still had work to do as a minister and was reluctant to exchange real power for the nominal power of the governor generalship. St. Laurent recommended the appointment of Canadian-born Vincent Massey, who was duly appointed by King George VI.
Canada entered the Korean War in 1950. Howe saw it as the wrong war in the wrong place, and thought that Canadian troops should not be sent. Nevertheless, he spent the summer of 1950 at his desk, making plans to implement government controls on the booming economy. In September 1950, Howe tabled a bill allowing him to reallocate scarce materials such as steel from the civilian sector to military use. The bill passed, but not before the Opposition had charged that Howe had "an enormous appetite for power". Late in the year, the Government decided on a massive rearmament program. The Canadian Commercial Corporation, the Crown Corporation which handled government purchases, was felt to be inadequate for the task, so the Cabinet decided on a new department to handle procurement. St. Laurent introduced a bill in February 1951 creating a Department of Defence Production and announced that on passage, Howe would add that responsibility to his portfolio. The opposition parties objected to the Defence Production Act, stating that there was no emergency justifying the powers Howe wanted. According to Roberts, Howe sought to implement rearmament by getting "full power for himself and running rights over everyone and everything to get an urgent job done". Backed by the overwhelming Liberal majority, the bill passed and the Department was established on 1 April 1951.
Despite Avro Canada's success in producing the CF-100, Canada's first jet fighter for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), aircraft development had proven to be a time-consuming and expensive process. The projected next generation aircraft, Canada's first supersonic jet interceptor, the CF-105 Arrow, was a more daunting project in terms of financial commitment and a leap in technological prowess. Howe wrote in a letter to Defence Minister Claxton in 1952 that "I am frightened for the first time in my defence production experience."
St. Laurent's supervision of his ministers was minimal at the start of his tenure, and decreased as the years passed. With the Opposition few in numbers, ministers did as they wanted, and when Howe was accused by Tory MP Howard Green in 1951 of being willing to end tariffs if the people would let him, Howe replied, "Who would stop us? Don't take yourself too seriously. If we wanted to get away with it, who would stop us?"
The government spent much of early 1953 in enacting the remainder of its legislative program. St. Laurent scheduled an election for 10 August; Drew attempted to exploit a Defence Ministry scandal at the Petawawa, Ontario army base, where an investigation earlier in the year had found frauds which included placing horses on the payroll. The Liberals lost 20 seats from their 1949 high-water mark, but still constituted almost two-thirds of the House of Commons, and no minister was defeated. Howe was again easily elected for Port Arthur.
St. Laurent government's second mandate
Beginning in 1954, Howe planned for pipelines to take Alberta's natural gas to market. There were US-backed proposals to build pipelines directly to the United States; Howe wanted a route passing north of the Great Lakes which could supply Toronto and Montreal. Two rival groups contended for the approval which Howe had the power to grant; Howe forced the groups to work together on the route he wanted.
In March 1955, St. Laurent tabled legislation to make the Department of Defence Production permanent and extend the extraordinary powers of the Minister. Fearful of another damaging confrontation between Howe and the Opposition, the Cabinet agreed that St. Laurent would guide the bill through, but after the first day of debate St. Laurent, who was prone to depression, absented himself. Tory frontbencher Donald Fleming contended that the extension could make the minister "the virtual dictator of the economy". With St. Laurent absent (or when present, silent), Howe took charge of the bill, and according to his biographers, Robert Bothwell and William Kilbourn, "utterly failed to perceive that the bill and his manner of defending it were a godsend to the opposition". When Howe alluded to the Avro Arrow project and that he "was out on a limb for $30 million", which gave him "the shudders", the Opposition met the statement with jeers and cries of "What's a million?" In early July, Howe left town for a long weekend, after asking St. Laurent and Minister of Finance Walter Harris to maintain his stand while he was gone, although he gave Harris the authority to do as he saw fit. Without informing Howe, St. Laurent contacted Drew, and the two men agreed that the minister's powers would expire in 1959 unless sooner renewed. The amended bill passed the Commons in Howe's absence, and when he returned, he furiously accused Harris of making a deal behind his back. However, when Howe was told that it had been the Prime Minister's decision, he accepted it. Howe had earlier turned down an Opposition offer to agree to a three-year extension of his ministerial powers, saying "That would mean coming back to Parliament in three years, and I've more to do with my time than amusing Parliament." The extension was allowed to expire in 1959, although by then, Howe had left office.
The pipeline project was wracked with financing difficulties. The pipeline company wanted the Government to guarantee the loans needed to build what would become known as the Trans-Canada Pipeline, but Cabinet refused, fearful of the political implications of giving a large sum of government money to a US-dominated corporation. Howe was embittered by this decision, and grumbled that he was now part of "a government which has fallen into the hands of children". A solution was proposed by Howe's deputy minister, Mitchell Sharp: the Government and the province of Ontario would themselves build the most expensive part of the route, in Northern Ontario, to be reimbursed by Trans-Canada once the pipeline was open for business. This was approved by both governments. By 1956, however, further difficulties had arisen: until the US government granted formal approval for a part of the route which connected to US pipelines, Trans-Canada could not raise enough money to build its portion. The approval was a matter of routine, but the delay would mean that construction on the pipeline could not begin until the spring of 1957.
Howe was determined that the pipeline not be delayed, and proposed that the government advance money to the pipeline company to ensure construction in 1956. He emotionally pleaded with his Cabinet colleagues, who agreed with both to the proposal and to the use of rarely used closure to limit the debate. Closure had not been applied in the House since 1932. The issue was attractive to the Tories and CCF with an election due within two years; it would allow them to portray Howe as an arrogant dictator, and play to those citizens who disliked the American involvement in the pipeline project. If the bill did not receive Royal Assent by 7 June 1956, options that Trans-Canada held for steel pipe would expire.
Bothwell and Kilbourn describe Howe's speech opening the Pipeline Debate as "probably the best of his career". He told the Commons that waiting a year would be imprudent, given the worldwide shortage of steel pipe, and unfair to those who owned natural gas wells in western Canada, which were presently capped. Howe told the House he believed this to be a great project, "of truly national scope, which we must either launch now or see languish for years to come." He completed his address by giving notice that the following day, the Government intended to invoke closure. Social Credit, with many members from Alberta, supported the bill, while the Tories and CCF engaged in weeks of bitter debate and parliamentary wrangling. This culminated on 1 June, dubbed by the Tories "Black Friday", when Speaker René Beaudoin reversed a ruling he had made the previous evening which would have allowed the Opposition to continue the debate past the deadline. The Opposition accused the Speaker of yielding to Government pressure. The bill passed within the deadline, and construction on the pipeline began immediately. Howe wrote, "I should not like to face a general election at this moment. Fortunately we do not have to."
In mid-1956, Drew fell ill and resigned as Tory party leader. The leadership convention's choice of Diefenbaker as Drew's replacement prompted delight in some Liberal circles. Diefenbaker had long been a maverick within his party, was little known in eastern Canada, and many deemed him unelectable. Although Defence Minister Claxton and the RCAF remained firm supporters of the Arrow program as costs continued to rise, in 1957 the Cabinet's defence committee proposed elimination of the Arrow, a decision that was to be reviewed after the forthcoming election and which was supported by Howe.
1957 election
After the election was called in April 1957 for 10 June, Howe raised sufficient money to enable the Liberals to heavily outspend their opponents. As there were few Liberal ministers from western Canada, Howe was called upon to make appearances throughout the region. He found that the Manitoba Farmers Union was organizing opposition to the Liberals; at some meetings Howe had difficulty getting heard at all. At other meetings, Howe engaged in well publicised conflicts with audience members. On 19 May in Morris, Manitoba, Howe told one man demanding to speak that when his own party held a meeting, he could ask all the questions he wanted; the man was the head of a local Liberal association. When asked why he did not answer Mackenzie's question, Howe replied, "Look here, my good man, when the election comes, why don't you go away and vote for the party you support? In fact, why don't you just go away?" At another meeting, Howe was asked why he did not care about the farmers's economic plight. He responded, "Looks like you've been eating pretty well under a Liberal government" and poked the questioner in the midsection.
Diefenbaker used the Pipeline Debate as a major theme in the campaign, one which he mentioned more than any other issue. In Vancouver, he told the largest political crowd in the province since 1935, "I give this assurance to Canadians—that the government shall be the servant and not the master of the people ... The road of the Liberal party, unless it is stopped—and Howe has said, 'Who's going to stop us?'—will lead to the virtual extinction of parliamentary government. You will have the form, but the substance will be gone."
Howe was opposed in his riding by CCF candidate Doug Fisher, a local high school teacher. Fisher's campaign was well financed, with support from his party, the unions, and a number of corporate enemies Howe had made throughout his political career. Fisher was able to buy up the key time on the local television station to explain his opposition to the Liberals and his party's proposals—Howe initially scheduled no television appearances. Called back to his riding after the remainder of his disastrous Prairie tour was canceled, Howe found that Fisher's appeals had caused defections among Liberals. Howe managed to get TV time just before the election and according to Bothwell and Kilbourn "treated his viewers to the sight of a tired, harsh old man, telling them that the nice young fellow that they had been seeing on television for the last couple of months was, if not a communist himself, then associated with the communists. No one believed him." Fisher defeated Howe by over a thousand votes. Howe was gracious in defeat, shaking Fisher's hand at the television station, and assuring the member-elect's mother, long a Howe admirer, that there were many things for him to do. In the general election, the Tories took the greater number of seats, 112 to 105 for the Liberals. St. Laurent could have remained in office until Diefenbaker and the Tories defeated him in the House, but chose not to—a course with which Howe agreed. The Liberals left office on 21 June 1957, with Howe the only remaining minister of those sworn in with Mackenzie King in 1935.
Later life, death, and legacy
Howe returned to Ottawa after his defeat, cleared his office, and soon sold his house there, moving to Montreal. After St. Laurent announced his retirement in September, Howe wrote to the former Prime Minister, "The young men of the party must take on the job of reorganising and rebuilding, and perhaps the sooner they get at it the better." While publicly taking no position, Howe privately supported former External Affairs Minister Pearson for the Liberal leadership, and Pearson won the contest in January 1958. Howe advised Pearson not to take any action that might provoke an election. Pearson did not heed Howe and challenged Diefenbaker as soon as Parliament met. The election on 31 March returned the Progressive Conservatives in a record landslide, which left the Liberals with 48 seats. Howe, who took no part in the campaign, had already left for Europe with his wife, Alice, on an extended holiday. On his return, he did what he could to help rebuild the Liberal Party after the disaster, assisting with fundraising and seeking to unite factions within the party.
After some hesitancy that was likely caused by fears the newly empowered Tories would resent any approach to their longtime enemy, major corporations began to approach Howe and ask for him to serve on their boards of directors. In 1958, Howe was made chancellor of Dalhousie University. On investigating the university's finances, he found that a professor's salary in 1958 had less buying power than when he had worked there. Howe urged increased salaries and building improvements to attract first-rate scholars to the university. He also accepted a number of honorary degrees from other universities.
Howe had a longtime heart condition, and friends urged him to give up all boards that did not meet in Montreal. Before he could act on this suggestion, Howe suffered a heart attack and died at his home on 31 December 1960.
Prime Minister Diefenbaker said after Howe died, "We often had strong differences but our personal relations remained most friendly at all times ... He gave his great ability, indomitable courage and energy to his country in a manner that has earned for him and will assure him of a large place in the history of Canada's war effort." Opposition Leader Pearson stated, "He was a man who shirked no duty, faltered in no task, was daunted by no obstacle. He got things done, and they were good things for the country he served so well and so long." At his memorial service, enemies and friend alike gathered. Among the eulogies delivered by friends and colleagues at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal, it was remarked that Howe often stated proudly that he was "an American by birth but Canadian by choice".
Howe had five children:
William (Bill) Hastings Howe
John Howe
Barbara Stewart Marshall
Mary Dodge
Elisabeth Howe Stedman
Namesakes
After Howe's death, the C. D. Howe Memorial Foundation was created in his memory; the C. D. Howe Institute, a Canadian economic policy think tank was at one time associated with the Memorial Foundation. The Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) introduced the C. D. Howe Award for achievements in the fields of planning and policymaking, and overall leadership in the field. In 1976, Howe was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, in honour of his contribution to creating a national airline and efforts to create and sustain a viable aviation industry. The C. D. Howe Building, located at Bank and Sparks Street in Ottawa, is the home of Industry Canada and is named for the former minister, as is a public school in Thunder Bay in the Lakehead District School Board. The former Department of Transport and Canadian Coast Guard vessel was named for him.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Online sources
Archives
There is a C.D. Howe fonds at Library and Archives Canada.
External links
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
1886 births
1960 deaths
American emigrants to Canada
Canadian Anglicans
Canadian civil engineers
Canadian economists
Canadian Ministers of Railways and Canals
Canadian Ministers of Trade and Commerce
Canadian Ministers of Transport
Academic staff of the Dalhousie University
Liberal Party of Canada MPs
MIT School of Engineering alumni
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Canadian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Politicians from Waltham, Massachusetts
Politicians from Thunder Bay
American Anglicans
American civil engineers
Christians from Massachusetts
Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery
Waltham High School alumni |
426660 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20educational%20programming%20languages | List of educational programming languages | An educational programming language is a programming language that is designed mostly as an instrument for learning, and less as a tool for writing programs to perform work.
Types of educational programming languages
Assembly languages
Originally, machine code was the first and only way to program computers. Assembly language was the next type of language used; thus, is one of the oldest families of computer languages in use today. Many dialects and implementations are available, usually some for each computer processor architecture. It is very basic and termed a low-level programming language. It is one of the more difficult languages to work with being untyped and rigid. Several simplified dialects exist for education.
Low-level languages must be written for a specific processor architecture and cannot be written or taught in isolation without referencing the processor for which it was written. Unlike higher-level languages, using an educational assembly language needs a representation of a processor, whether virtualized or physical. Assembly is the most helpful language to use for learning about fundamental computer processor operation.
Little Man Computer (LMC) is an instructional model of a simple von Neumann architecture computer with all the basic features of modern computers. It can be programmed in machine code (usually decimal) or assembly. It is based on the concept of having a little man locked in a small room. At one end of the room are 100 mailboxes as memory; each can hold a three-digit instruction or data. At the other end of the room are two mailboxes labeled INBOX and OUTBOX which receive and emit data. In the middle of the room is a work area with a simple two-function (add and subtract) calculator called the Accumulator and a resettable counter called the Program Counter. The counter is similar to what a doorperson uses to count how many people have entered a facility; it can count up 1 or can be reset to 0. As specified by the von Neumann architecture, memory holds both instructions and data. The user loads data into the mailboxes and then signals the little man to begin executing.
Next Byte Codes (NBC) is a simple language with assembly language syntax that is used to program Lego Mindstorms NXT programmable bricks. The command line compiler emits NXT-compatible machine code and supports Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Little Computer 3 (LC-3), is an assembly language with a simplified instruction set, but can be used to write moderately complex assembly programs and is a theoretically viable target for C compilers. It is simpler than x86 assembly but has many features similar to those in more complex languages. These features make it useful for teaching basic programming and computer architecture to beginning college computer science, and computer engineering students, which is its most common use.
DLX is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor architecture by the main designers of the MIPS and the Berkeley RISC designs, two benchmark examples of RISC design. DLX is essentially a cleaned-up, simplified MIPS, with a simple 32-bit load/store architecture. It is widely used in college-level computer architecture courses.
MIX and MMIX are hypothetical computers used in Donald Knuth's monograph, The Art of Computer Programming (TAOCP). The MIX computer systems are designed to educate individuals about what goes inside a computer through its use of a basic and comprehensible machine language. Despite its simplicity, the MIX system handles complex tasks that are found in typical high-performance general-purpose computers. MIX is a hybrid programmable in binary and decimal numbers; most programs written for it will work using either form. Software implementations for MIX and MMIX have been developed by Knuth and made freely available. Several versions of both emulators exist. MIX is a 1960s-style computer. It is superseded by MMIX, a newer modern computer architecture, a 64-bit RISC instruction set architecture (ISA). For MMIX, Knuth collaborated with the architects of the MIPS and Alpha ISAs.
BASIC variants
BASIC (which stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was invented in 1964 to provide computer access to non-science students. It became popular on minicomputers during the 1960s and became a standard computing language for microcomputers during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The goals of BASIC were focused on the need of learning to program easily:
be easy for beginners to use,
be interactive,
provide clear and friendly error messages,
respond quickly, and
do not require an understanding of computer hardware or operating systems.
What made BASIC particularly useful for education was the small size of programs that could illustrate a concept in a dozen lines. BASIC continues to this day to be frequently self-taught with excellent tutorials and implementations.
See also List of BASIC dialects by platform.
BASIC offers a learning path from learning-oriented BASICs such as Microsoft Small Basic, BASIC-256 and SiMPLE, to more full-featured BASICs like Visual Basic .NET and Gambas.
Microsoft Small Basic is a restricted version of Visual Basic designed as a first language, "aimed at bringing 'fun' back to programming". The language is explicitly quite small with only 15 intuitive keywords. By including object-specific libraries for things of general interest to children, children can create entertaining, interactive programs, on the net or on the desktop. For example, with 6 lines of code, it is possible to demonstrate a random network image viewer using Flickr as the source. The system utilizes the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE to provide auto-completion and context-sensitive help.
Basic-256 an easy-to-use version of BASIC designed to teach anybody the basics of computer programming. It uses traditional BASIC control structures (gosub, for loops, goto) for ease of understanding program flow control. It has a built-in graphics mode that allows children to draw pictures on the screen after minutes.
SiMPLE is a programming development system that was created to provide easy programming abilities for everybody, especially non-professionals. It is somewhat like AppleSoft BASIC. It is compiled and lets users make their own libraries of often-used functions. "Simple" is a generic term for three slightly different versions of the language: Micro-SIMPLE (uses only 4 keywords), Pro-SiMPLE, and Ultra-SiMPLE (using 23 keywords).
Hot Soup Processor is a BASIC-derived language used in Japanese schools.
TI-BASIC is a simple BASIC-like language implemented in Texas Instruments graphing calculators, often serving as a student's first look at programming.
SmallBASIC is a fast and easy-to-learn BASIC language interpreter ideal for everyday calculations, scripts and prototypes. It includes trigonometric, matrix, and algebra functions, a built in IDE, a powerful string library, system, sound, and graphic commands, and a structured programming syntax.
C based
Ch is a C/C++ interpreter designed to help non-CS students to learn math, computing and programming in C and C++. It extends C with numerical, 2D/3D graphical plotting and scripting features.
Java-based
NetLogo, written in Java and Scala, is a development environment for building and exploring scientific models, specifically agent-based models. It is in widespread use both in science research (Science papers using NetLogo) and in educational contexts, including elementary, secondary schools, universities and museums.
Lisp-based
Lisp is the second oldest family of programming languages in use today, and as such has many dialects and implementations with a wide range of difficulties. Lisp was originally created as a practical mathematical notation for computer programs, based on lambda calculus, which makes it particularly well suited for teaching theories of computing. As one of the earliest languages, Lisp pioneered many ideas in computer science, including tree data structures, automatic storage management, dynamic typing, object-oriented programming, and the self-hosting compiler all of which are useful for learning computer science.
The name LISP derives from "LISt Processing language". Linked lists are one of the languages' major data structures, and Lisp source code is made of lists. Thus, Lisp programs can manipulate source code as a data structure, giving rise to the macro systems that allow programmers to create new syntax or even new domain-specific languages embedded in Lisp. Therefore, Lisps are useful for learning language design and creating custom languages.
A reasonable learning path would be Logo followed by any educational variant such as Scheme or newLISP, followed by a professional variant such as Common Lisp.
Logo is a language that was specifically designed to introduce children to programming. The first part of learning Logo deals with "turtle graphics" (derived from turtle robots) used as early as 1969 with proto-Logo. In modern implementations, an abstract drawing device, called the turtle, is used to make programming for children very attractive by concentrating on doing turtle graphics. Seymour Papert, one of the creators of Logo, was a major thinker in constructionism, a variety of constructivist learning theories. Papert argued that activities like writing would naturally be learned by much younger children provided that they adopted a computing culture. Logo was thus designed not only to teach programming, and computing concepts, but to enhance a child's entire well-being in a culture increasingly dominated by technology, "more important than having an early start on intellectual building, is being saved from a long period of dependency during which one learns to think of learning as something that has to be dished out by a more powerful other...Such children would not define themselves or allow society to define them as intellectually helpless." It has been used by children as young as 3 years old and has a track record of 30 years of success in education. Since Logo is actually a streamlined version of Lisp with more advanced students, it can be used to introduce the basic concepts of computer science and even artificial intelligence. Logo is widely available on virtually every platform, in both free and commercial versions.
Scala-based
Kojo is an interactive desktop development environment developed primarily for educational purposes application that runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X. It is a learning environment, with many different features that help with the exploration, learning, and teaching of concepts in the areas of computer programming and critical thinking, math and science, art, music, and creative thinking, computer and internet literacy.
Smalltalk-based
As part of the One Laptop per Child project, a sequence of Smalltalk-based languages has been developed, each designed to act as an introduction to the next. The structure is Scratch to Etoys to Squeak to any Smalltalk.
Each provides graphical environments which may be used to teach not only programming concepts to kids but also physics and mathematics simulations, story-telling exercises, etc., through the use of constructive learning. Smalltalk and Squeak have fully featured application development languages that have been around and well respected for decades; Scratch is a children's learning tool.
Scratch is a visual language based on and implemented in Squeak. It has the goal of teaching programming concepts to children and letting them create games, videos, and music. In Scratch, all the interactive objects, graphics, and sounds can be easily imported to a new program and combined in new ways. That way, beginners can get quick results and be motivated to try further. The Scratch community has developed and uploaded over 3,000,000 projects. It is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT Media Lab.
Etoys is based on the idea of programmable virtual entities behaving on the computer screen. Etoys provides a media-rich authoring environment with a simple, powerful scripted object model for many kinds of objects created by end-users. It includes 2D and 3D graphics, images, text, particles, presentations, web pages, videos, sound and MIDI, the ability to share desktops with other Etoy users in real-time, so many forms of immersive mentoring and play can be done over the Internet. It is multilingual and has been used successfully in United States, Europe, South America, Japan, Korea, India, Nepal, and elsewhere. The program is aimed at children between the ages of 9-12.
Squeak is a modern, open-source, full-featured implementation of the Smalltalk language and environment. Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective language created to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human-computer symbiosis". Like Lisp, it has image-based persistence, so everything is modifiable from within the language itself (see Smalltalk#Reflection). It has greatly influenced the industry introducing many of the concepts in object-oriented programming and just-in-time compilation. Squeak is the vehicle for a wide range of projects including multimedia applications, educational platforms and commercial web application development. Squeak is designed to be highly portable and easy to debug, analyze, and change, as its virtual machine is written fully in Smalltalk.
Pascal
Pascal is the most well-known language that was designed with education in mind. From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, it was the primary choice in introductory computer science classes for teaching students programming in both the US and Europe. Its use for real-world applications has since increased, and regarding it as a purely educational language has since become somewhat controversial.
Other
CircuitPython is a beginner-oriented version of Python for interactive electronics and education.
Rapira is an ALGOL-like procedural programming language, with a simple interactive development environment, developed in the Soviet Union to teach programming in schools.
Src:Card is a tactile offline programming language embedded in an educational card game.
Children
AgentSheets and AgentCubes are two computational thinking tools to author 2D/3D games and simulations. Authoring takes place through desktop applications or browser-based apps and can create 2D/3D games playable in HTML5 compliant browsers including mobile ones.
Alice is a free programming software designed to teach event-driven object-oriented programming to children. Programmers create interactive stories using a modern IDE interface with a drag and drop style of programming. The target audience is incoming college freshmen although most children with computer experience will find it entertaining and educational. Story Telling Alice is an Alice variant designed for younger children, with an even stronger story telling bent.
Blockly is an open-source web-based, graphical language where users can drag blocks together to build an application; no typing is required. It is developed by Google. More information is available at the project home page.
CiMPLE is a visual language for programming robotic kit for children. It is built atop C as a DSL. ThinkLabs, an Indian Robotics education based startup has built it for iPitara Robotic kit. The language bears strong resemblance to the C language. Approximately 5000+ students in India have bought the iPitara kit and programmed it using CiMPLE. More information is at CiMPLE Original Developers Weblog and ThinkLabs.
Physical Etoys is a free open-source extension of Etoys. Its philosophy is "help kids model and program the real world in order to learn more about it". It can run on Windows, Linux and Sugar. Physical Etoys lets different electronic devices such as Lego NXT, Arduino boards, Sphero, Kinect, Wiimote joystick, among others, interact between themselves due to its block scripting system.
Hackety Hack is a free Ruby-based environment aiming to make learning programming easy for beginners, especially teenagers.
Karel, Karel++, and Karel J. Robot are languages aimed at beginners, used to control a simple robot in a city consisting of a rectangular grid of streets. While Karel is its own language, Karel++ is a version of Karel implemented in C++, while Karel J. Robot is a version of Karel implemented in Java.
Kodu is a language that is simple and entirely icon based. It was incubated out of Microsoft Research as a project to reach younger children, and especially girls, into enjoying technology. Programs are composed of pages, which are divided into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions. Conditions are evaluated simultaneously. The Kodu language is designed specifically for game development and provides specialized primitives derived from gaming scenarios. Programs are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. The Kodu tool is available in three forms: PC as a free download in public beta and academic forms, and as a low-cost Xbox 360 Live download.
Logo is an educational language for children, designed in 1967 by Daniel G. Bobrow, Wally Feurzeig, Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon. Today the language is remembered mainly for its use of "turtle graphics", in which commands for movement and drawing produced line graphics either on screen or with a small robot called a "turtle". The language was originally conceived to teach concepts of programming related to Lisp and only later to enable what Papert called "body-syntonic reasoning" where students could understand (and predict and reason about) the turtle's motion by imagining what they would do if they were the turtle.
Lego Mindstorms is a line of Lego sets combining programmable bricks with electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces (such as gears, axles, and beams). Mindstorms originated from the programmable sensor blocks used in the line of educational toys. The first retail version of Lego Mindstorms was released in 1998 and marketed commercially as the Robotics Invention System (RIS). The current version was released in 2006 as Lego Mindstorms NXT. A wide range of programming languages is used for the mindstorms from Logo to BASIC to derivatives of Java, Smalltalk and C. The Mindstorm approach to programming now have dedicated physical sites called Computer Clubhouses.
Mama is an educational object oriented language designed to help young students start programming by providing all the language elements in the student mother tongue. Mama language is available in several languages, with both LTR and RTL language direction support. A new variant of Mama was built atop Carnegie Mellon's Alice development environment, supporting scripting of the 3D stage objects. This new variant of Mama was designed to help young students start programming by building 3D animations and games. A document on educational programming principles explains Mama's design considerations.
RoboMind is a simple educational programming environment that lets beginners program a robot. It introduces popular programming techniques and also some robotics and artificial intelligence. The robot can be programmed in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, German, English and Swedish.
Scratch is a blocks-based graphical language to create animated stories and games.
Snap! is a free open-source blocks-based graphical language implemented in JavaScript and originally derived MIT's Scratch. Snap! adds the ability to create new blocks and has first-class functions that enables the use of anonymous functions. It is actively maintained by UC Berkeley. The source is entirely hosted on GitHub.
Stagecast Creator is a visual programming system based on programming by demonstration. Users demonstrate to the system what to do by moving icons on the screen, and it generates rules for the objects (characters). Users can create two-dimensional simulations that model a concept, multi-level games, interactive stories, etc.
Stencyl is a visual programming and game development IDE that has been used for education and commerce. The concept it uses of code blocks is based on MIT's Scratch visual language (listed above). It also permits the use of normal typed code (separate or intermingled) through its own API and the Haxe language.
ToonTalk is a language and environment that looks like a video game. Computational abstractions are mapped to concrete analogs such robots, houses, trucks, birds, nests, and boxes. It supports big integers and exact rational numbers. It is based upon concurrent constraint programming.
University
Curry is a teaching language designed to amalgamate the most important declarative programming paradigms, namely functional programming (nested expressions, higher-order functions, lazy evaluation) and logic programming (logical variables, partial data structures, built-in search). It also integrates the two most import operational principles developed in the area of integrated functional logic languages: "residuation" and "narrowing".
Flowgorithm is a graphical authoring tool for writing and executing programs via flowcharts. The approach is designed to emphasize the algorithm rather than the syntax of a given language. The flowchart can be converted to several major languages such as C#, Java, Visual Basic .NET and Python.
M2001 is a modular mathematical language for developing and presenting mathematical algorithms, from modern discrete to classical continuous mathematics. It is built on a semantic framework based in category theory, with a syntax similar to that of Pascal or Modula-2. It is designed for education only, so efficiency and ease of implementation are far less vital in its development than generality and range of application. It was created to play a strong role in forming a formal algorithmic foundation for first-year college math students.
Oz is a language designed to teach computer theory. It supports most major paradigms in one language so that students can learn paradigms without having to learn multiple syntaxes. Oz contains in a simple and well-factored way, most of the concepts of the major programming paradigms, including logic, functional (both lazy and eager), imperative, object-oriented, constraint, distributed, and concurrent programming. It has a canonical textbook Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming and a freely available standard implementation, the Mozart Programming System.
See also
:Category:Programming language comparisons
Sugar – a GUI designed for constructive learning
Design by numbers
Processing – a language dedicated to artwork
References
External links
Programming language classification
Lists of programming languages |
426670 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS%20Tang%20%28SS-306%29 | USS Tang (SS-306) | USS Tang (SS-306) was a Balao-class submarine of World War II, the first ship of the United States Navy to bear the name Tang. She was built and launched in 1943, serving until being sunk by her own torpedo off China in the Taiwan Strait on 24 October 1944.
In her short career in the Pacific War, Tang sank 33 ships totalling 116,454 tons. Commander Richard O'Kane received the Medal of Honor for her last two engagements (23 and 24 October 1944).
Tang was sunk during the last engagement by a circular run of her final torpedo, going down in of water. 78 men were lost, and the nine survivors were picked up by a Japanese frigate and taken prisoner of war. This was the only known time that a Momsen lung was used to escape a sunken submarine.
Construction
The contract to build USS Tang was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 December 1941, and her keel was laid down on 15 January 1943. She was launched on 17 August sponsored by Mrs. Alix M. Pitre, wife of Captain Antonio S. Pitre, Director of Research at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and commissioned on 15 October 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Richard O'Kane, former executive officer of , in command, and delivered to the Navy on 30 November 1943.
Tang completed fitting out at Mare Island and moved south to San Diego for 18 days of training before sailing for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 January 1944 and conducted two more weeks of exercises in preparation for combat.
First war patrol
Tang departed Pearl Harbor on 22 January 1944 to begin her first war patrol, destined for the Caroline Islands-Mariana Islands area. On the morning of 17 February, she sighted a convoy of two freighters, five smaller ships, and their escort. The submarine tracked the convoy, plotted its course, and then prepared to attack. An escort suddenly appeared at a range of and closing. Tang went deep and received five depth charges before the escort departed. Unscathed, she returned to periscope depth and resumed the attack. The range on the nearest freighter closed to , and Tang fired a spread of four torpedoes. Three hit, and Gyoten Maru (6,800 tons) sank by the stern. The submarine cleared the area by running deep and then attempted to get ahead of the convoy for a dawn attack, but the remaining freighter passed out of range, protected by aircraft.
During the night of 22 February, Tang made a surface attack on a convoy of three cargo ships and two escorts. She tracked the Japanese ships, through rain squalls which made radar almost useless, for 30 minutes before attaining a firing position, on the surface, off the port bow of a freighter. A spread of four torpedoes hit Fukuyama Maru (3,600 tons) from bow to stern, and the enemy ship disintegrated. Early the next morning, Tang made another approach on the convoy. The escort of the lead ship, the 6,800 ton Yamashimo Maru, moved from its covering position on the port bow, and the submarine slipped into it and fired four more torpedoes. The first hit the stern of the merchantman, the second just aft of the stack; and the third just forward of the bridge, producing a terrific secondary explosion. The ship was "twisted, lifted from the water", and began spouting flames as she sank.
On the morning of 24 February, Tang sighted a tanker, a freighter, and a destroyer. Rain squalls hampered her as she attempted to attain a good firing position, so she tracked the ships until after nightfall, then made a surface attack. She launched four torpedoes and scored three hits which sank the Tatutaki Maru-class freighter. The two remaining ships commenced firing in all directions, and Tang submerged to begin evasive action. She shadowed the enemy until morning and then closed the tanker for a submerged attack from extremely close range, just , barely enough to allow her torpedoes to arm. Additional lookouts had been posted on the target's deck and, when the spread of torpedoes from Tang struck her, they were hurled into the air with other debris from the ship. Echizen Maru sank in four minutes as Tang went deep and rigged for the depth charge attack that followed. During this evasion, a water leak developed in the forward torpedo room, and Tang exceeded her depth gauge maximum reading of 612 feet. Fortunately, the crew was able to get the submarine back under control and eventually return to the surface. (Postwar, JANAC denied credit for the tanker seen to explode.)
Tang contacted a convoy consisting of a freighter, transport, and four escorts on the evening of 26 February. She maneuvered into position to attack the wildly zigzagging transport and fired her last four torpedoes and believed she missed; JANAC credited her with sinking Choko Maru, a 1794-ton cargo ship. Having expended all 24 of her torpedoes and scored 16 hits, the submarine arrived at Midway for refit.
Second war patrol
Tangs second patrol began on 16 March and took her to waters around the Palau Islands, to Davao Gulf, and to the approaches to Truk. She made five surface contacts, but she had no chance to make any attacks. She was then assigned to lifeguard duty near Truk. Tang rescued 22 downed airmen, including some rescued by John Burns' Vought OS2U Kingfisher, and took them to Hawaii at the end of the patrol.
Third war patrol
Tang departed Pearl Harbor on 8 June and stalked enemy shipping in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea areas. On 24 June, southwest of Kagoshima, the submarine contacted a convoy of six large ships guarded by 16 escorts. Tang closed for a surface attack and fired a spread of three torpedoes at one of the ships and then fired a similar spread at a second target. Explosions followed, and Tang reported two ships sunk. However, postwar examination of Japanese records revealed by the Japanese government show that two passenger-cargo ships and two freighters were sunk. The ships must have overlapped, and the torpedo spread must have hit and sunk two victims in addition to their intended targets. Those sunk – Tamahoko Maru, Tainan Maru, Nasusan Maru, and Kennichi Maru – added up to 16,292 tons of enemy shipping.
On 30 June, while she patrolled the lane from Kyūshū to Dairen, Tang sighted another cargo ship steaming without escort. After making an end around run on the surface which produced two torpedo misses, Tang went deep to avoid depth charges, then surfaced and chased the target until she closed the range to . A single torpedo blew in half, and the transport ship sank, taking with her some 3,200 Japanese soldiers.
The next morning, Tang sighted a tanker and a freighter. While she sank the freighter Taiun Maru Number Two, the tanker Takatori Maru Number One fled. The submarine trailed the latter until dark, then she launched two torpedoes which sank the tanker. Tang celebrated 4 July at dawn by an end-around, submerged attack on an enemy freighter which was near shore. However, with rapidly shoaling water and her keel about to touch bottom, Tang drew back, fired a spread of three with two hits, and then surfaced as survivors of the 6,886 tons cargo ship Asukazan Maru were being rescued by fishing boats. That afternoon, Tang sighted Yamaoka Maru, another cargo ship of approximately the same size, and sank her with two torpedoes. The submarine surfaced and, with the aid of grapnel hooks and Thompson submachine guns, rescued a survivor who had been clinging to an overturned lifeboat. While prowling the waters off Dairen late the next night, the submarine sighted a cargo ship and, during a submerged attack with her last two torpedoes, sank Dori Maru. Credited with eight ships for 56,000 tons at the time, the score confirmed postwar by JANAC for her third patrol was 10 ships for a total of 39,160 tons.
Fourth war patrol
Her fourth war patrol was conducted from 31 July – 3 September in Japanese home waters off the coast of Honshū. On 10 August, she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a tanker near the beach of Omaezaki but scored no hits. The next day, after locating two freighters and two escorts, she launched three torpedoes at the larger freighter and two at the other. The larger freighter (Roko Maru) disintegrated due, apparently, to a torpedo which exploded in her boilers. As the submarine went deep, her crew heard the fourth and fifth torpedoes hit the second ship. After a jarring depth charge attack which lasted 38 minutes, Tang returned to periscope depth. Only the two escorts were in sight, and one of them was picking up survivors.
On 14 August, Tang attacked a patrol yacht with her deck gun and reduced the Japanese ship's deck house to a shambles with eight hits. Eight days later, she sank a patrol boat (No. 2 Nansatsu Maru). On 23 August, the submarine closed in on a large ship; Japanese crewmen dressed in white uniforms could be seen lining its superstructure and the bridge. She fired three torpedoes, and two hits caused the 8,135 ton transport Tsukushi Maru to sink. Two days later, Tang attacked a tanker and an escort with her last three torpedoes, sinking the tanker, No. 8 Nanko Maru. Tang then returned to Pearl Harbor.
Fifth war patrol and loss
After a refit, Tang stood out to sea on 24 September for her fifth war patrol. After topping off her fuel at Midway Island, she sailed for the Formosa Strait on 27 September. In order to reach her area, Tang had to pass through narrow waters known to be heavily patrolled by the Japanese. A large area stretching northeast from Formosa was known to have been mined by the enemy, and O'Kane was given the choice of making the passage north of the island alone, or joining a coordinated attack group (, , and , under Commander John S. Coye, Jr., flag in Silversides) which was to patrol off northeast Formosa, and making the passage with them. Tang chose to make the passage alone and these vessels never heard from Tang, nor did any base, after she left Midway.
The story of Tangs fate comes from the report of her surviving commanding officer.
On the night of 10–11 October, Tang sank the cargo ships Joshu Go and Ōita Maru. The submarine continued on patrol until 23 October, when she contacted a large convoy consisting of three tankers, a transport, a freighter, and numerous escorts. Commander O'Kane planned a night surface attack. Tang broke into the middle of the formation, firing torpedoes as she closed on the tankers (later identified as freighters). Two torpedoes struck under the stack and engine room of the nearest, a single burst into the stern of the middle one, and two exploded under the stack and engine space of the farthest. The first torpedoes began exploding before the last was fired, and all hit their targets, which were soon either burning or sinking. As the submarine prepared to fire at the tanker which was crossing her stern, she sighted the transport bearing down on her in an attempt to ram. Tang had no room to dive, so she crossed the transport's bow and with full left rudder saved her stern and got inside the transport's turning circle. The transport was forced to continue her swing to avoid the tanker, which had also been coming in to ram. The tanker struck the transport's starboard quarter shortly after the submarine fired four stern torpedoes along their double length at a range of . The tanker sank bow first and the transport had a 30° up-angle. With escorts approaching on the port bow and beam and a destroyer closing on the port quarter, Tang rang up full speed and headed for open water. When the submarine was from the transport, another explosion was observed, and its bow disappeared.
On the morning of 24 October, Tang began patrolling at periscope depth. She surfaced at dark and headed for Turnabout Island (). On approaching the island, the submarine's surface search radar showed so many blips that it was almost useless. Tang soon identified a large convoy which contained tankers with planes on their decks and transports with crated planes stacked on their bows and sterns. As the submarine tracked the Japanese ships along the coast, the convoy's escorts became suspicious, and the escort commander began signaling with a large searchlight. This illuminated the convoy, and Tang chose a large three-deck transport as her first target, a smaller transport as the second, and a large tanker as the third. Their ranges varied from . After firing two torpedoes at each target, the submarine paralleled the convoy to choose its next victims. She fired stern torpedoes at another transport and tanker aft.
As Tang poured on full speed to escape the gunfire directed at her, a destroyer passed around the stern of the transport and headed for the submarine. The tanker exploded, and a hit was seen on the transport. A few seconds later, the destroyer exploded, either from intercepting Tangs third torpedo or from shell fire of two escorts closing on the beam. Only the transport remained afloat, dead in the water. The submarine cleared to , rechecked the last two torpedoes which had been loaded in the bow tubes, and returned to finish off the transport. The 23rd torpedo was fired at and was observed running hot, straight, and normal. Tangs score for the night would later be confirmed as the freighters Kogen Maru (6,600 tons) and Matsumoto Maru (7,000 tons).
At 02:30 on the morning of 25 October, the 24th and last torpedo (a Mark 18 electric torpedo) was fired. It broached and curved to the left in a circular run. Tang fishtailed under emergency power to clear the turning circle of the torpedo, but it struck her abreast the aft torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired. The explosion was violent, and men as far forward as the control room received broken limbs. The ship went down by the stern with the aft three compartments flooded. Of the nine officers and men on the bridge, including O'Kane, three were able to swim through the night until picked up eight hours later. One officer escaped from the flooded conning tower and was rescued with the others.
The submarine bottomed at and the thirty survivors crowded into the forward torpedo room as the aft compartments flooded, intending to use the forward escape trunk. Publications were burned, and all assembled in the forward room to escape. The escape was delayed by a Japanese patrol which dropped depth charges, and started an electrical fire in the forward battery. Beginning at 6:00 am on 25 October, using the Momsen lung, the only known case where it was used, thirteen men escaped from the forward torpedo room. By the time the last had exited, the heat from the battery fire was so intense, paint on the bulkhead was scorching, melting, and running down. Of the 13 men who escaped from the forward torpedo room, only five were rescued. One sailor who was near the group of five but injured during the ascent was not rescued. Three who were on the bridge were rescued after swimming for 8 hours. Another survivor escaped the conning tower and used his pants as a flotation device. A total of 78 men were lost. Those who escaped the submarine were greeted in the morning by the sight of the bow of the transport they sank the previous night sticking straight out of the water.
One of the 78 men lost was Rubin MacNiel Raiford, who at age 15, may have been the youngest American person in the military to lose his life in combat.
Nine survivors, including O'Kane, were picked up the next morning by Japanese frigate . Survivors of Tangs previous sinkings were on board, and they beat the men from Tang. O'Kane stated, "When we realized that our clubbing and kickings were being administered by the burned, mutilated survivors of our handiwork, we found we could take it with less prejudice."
The nine captives were placed in a prison camp at Ōfuna until the end of the war, where they were interrogated by Japanese intelligence.
Tang was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 February 1945.
Awards
Tang received four battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations for World War II service. Her commanding officer, Richard O'Kane, received the Medal of Honor for Tangs final combat action.
During the war, Tang was credited with sinking 31 ships in her five patrols, totaling 227,800 tons, and damaging two for 4,100 tons. This was unequaled among American submarines. Postwar comparison with Japanese records by the Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) reduced this to 24 ships, totaling 93,824 tons, placing her second on the list for ships sunk after (with 26) and fourth behind , , and for total confirmed tonnage. These figures have since been revised to 33 ships totalling 116,454 tons, placing her first in the list of the most successful American submarines in World War II for both number of ships and tonnage. Tang also retains the best patrol by number of ships sunk, her third, with ten for 39,100 tons.
In popular culture
In the 1951 movie Submarine Command, the opening scenes show a submarine with the hull number SS-306 in the mothball fleet at Mare Island. For the film, SS-306 is named Tiger Shark, and is portrayed by , another Balao-class submarine.
Tang was the subject of two episodes of the syndicated television anthology series The Silent Service, which aired during the 1957–1958 season. The two episodes depict Tangs second and fifth patrols. Tang is also featured in the episode "Fatal Voyage" of the Smithsonian Channel series Hell Below.
Tang is one of several submarines (along with the era's USS Bowfin, Growler, Seawolf, and Spadefish) whose war patrols can be re-enacted in the 1985 MicroProse computer game Silent Service and the game's various ports, including Konami's 1989 release for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Tang also appears as a playable submarine during a quick mission in Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific.
Museums
Tang has been memorialized as part of a special interactive exhibit at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, called "Final Mission". Visitors enter into a simulated re-creation of the submarine, are given a card corresponding to one of the 87 men who crewed the boat during its fifth (and final) patrol, and are assigned a station to crew. The events of 24–25 October 1944 are depicted on an overhead screen, while the visitor "crew" is given tasks to complete. The recreation includes the circular run of the 24th torpedo, which returned to hit Tang and sink the boat. Upon exiting the simulator, visitors see a wall with pictures of the crew, and can learn if the sailor associated with their card survived the attack.
ReferencesAttributionNotesBibliography; also Naval Institute Press, March 2001, .
Different pagination than 1977 editionFurther reading'''
External links
On Eternal Patrol: USS Tang
. Website has copies of Tang'' War Patrol Reports.
Final Mission: The USS Tang Experience
Loss reported in press.
Balao-class submarines
World War II submarines of the United States
Lost submarines of the United States
United States submarine accidents
Submarine accidents caused by torpedoes
Submarines sunk by submarines
Ships built in Vallejo, California
1943 ships
World War II shipwrecks in the East China Sea
Maritime incidents in October 1944 |
426699 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol%20Cathedral | Bristol Cathedral | Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became in 1542 the seat of the newly created Bishop of Bristol and the cathedral of the new Diocese of Bristol. It is a Grade I listed building.
The eastern end of the church includes fabric from the 12th century, with the Elder Lady Chapel which was added in the early 13th century. Much of the church was rebuilt in the English Decorated Gothic style during the 14th century despite financial problems within the abbey. In the 15th century the transept and central tower were added. The nave was incomplete at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 and was demolished. In the 19th century Gothic Revival a new nave was built by George Edmund Street partially using the original plans. The western twin towers, designed by John Loughborough Pearson, were completed in 1888.
Located on College Green, the cathedral has tall Gothic windows and pinnacled skyline. The eastern end is a hall church in which the aisles are the same height as the Choir and share the Lierne vaults. The late Norman chapter house, situated south of the transept, contains some of the first uses of pointed arches in England. In addition to the cathedral's architectural features, it contains several memorials and an historic organ. Little of the original stained glass remains with some being replaced in the Victorian era and further losses during the Bristol Blitz.
History
Foundation and 12th century
Bristol Cathedral was founded as St Augustine's Abbey in 1140 by Robert Fitzharding, a wealthy local landowner and royal official who later became Lord Berkeley. As the name suggests, the monastic precinct housed Augustinian canons. The original abbey church, of which only fragments remain, was constructed between 1140 and 1148 in the Romanesque style, known in England as Norman. The Venerable Bede made reference to St Augustine of Canterbury visiting the site in 603ACE, and John Leland had recorded that it was a long-established religious shrine. William Worcester recorded in his Survey of Bristol that the original Augustinian abbey church was further to the east of the current site, though that was rebuilt as the church of St Augustine the Less. That site was bombed during World War II and the site built on by the Royal Hotel, but archaeological finds were deposited with Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The dedication ceremony was held on 11 April 1148, and was conducted by the Bishops of Worcester, Exeter, Llandaff, and St Asaph.
Further stone buildings were erected on the site between 1148 and 1164. Three examples of this phase survive, the chapterhouse and the abbey gatehouse, now the diocesan office, together with a second Romanesque gateway, which originally led into the abbot's quarters. T.H.B. Burrough, a local architectural historian, describes the former as "the finest Norman chapter house still standing today". In 1154 King Henry II greatly increased the endowment and wealth of the abbey as reward to Robert Fitzharding, for his support during The Anarchy which brought Henry II to the throne. By 1170 enough of the new church building was complete for it to be dedicated by four bishops – Worcester, Exeter, Llandaff and St Asaph.
13th century
Under Abbot David (1216–1234) there was a new phase of building, notably the construction in around 1220 of a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, abutting the northern side of the choir. This building, which still stands, was to become known as the "Elder Lady Chapel". The architect, referred to in a letter as 'L', is thought to have been Adam Lock, master mason of Wells Cathedral. The stonework of the eastern window of this chapel is by William the Geometer, of about 1280. Abbot David argued with the convent and was deposed in 1234 to be replaced by William of Bradstone who purchased land from the mayor to build a quay and the Church of St Augustine the Less. The next abbot was William Longe, the Chamberlain of Keynsham, whose reign was found to have lacked discipline and had poor financial management. In 1280 he resigned and was replaced as abbot by Abbot Hugh who restored good order, with money being given by Edward I.
14th–16th century
Under Abbot Edward Knowle (1306–1332), a major rebuilding of the Abbey church began despite financial problems. Between 1298 and 1332 the eastern part of the abbey church was rebuilt in the English Decorated Gothic style. He also rebuilt the cloisters, the canons' dining room, the King's Hall and the King's Chamber. The Black Death is likely to have affected the monastery and when William Coke became abbot in 1353 he obtained a papal bull from Pope Urban V to allow him to ordain priests at a younger age to replace those who had died. Soon after the election of his successor, Henry Shellingford, in 1365 Edward III took control of the monastery and made The 4th Baron Berkeley its commissioner to resolve the financial problems. In the late 14th and early 15th centuries Abbot Cernay and Abbot Daubeney restored the fortunes of the order, partly by obtaining the perpetual vicarage of several local parishes. These difficulties meant that little building work had been undertaken for nearly 100 years. However, in the mid-15th century, the number of Canons increased and the transept and central tower were constructed. Abbot John Newland, (1481–1515), also known as 'Nailheart' due to his rebus of a heart pierced by three nails, began the rebuilding of the nave, but it was incomplete at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Newland also rebuilt the cloisters, the upper part of the Gatehouse, the canons' dormitory and dining room, and the Prior's Lodging (parts of which remained until 1884 as they were built into Minster House).
The partly built nave was demolished and the remaining eastern part of the church closed until it reopened as a cathedral under the secular clergy. In an edict dated June 1542, Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer raised the building to rank of Cathedral of a new Diocese of Bristol. The new diocese was created from parts of the Diocese of Gloucester and the Diocese of Bath and Wells; Bristol had been, before the Reformation, and the erection of Gloucester diocese, part of the Diocese of Worcester. Paul Bush, (died 1558) a former royal household chaplain, was created the first Bishop of Bristol. The new cathedral was dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
19th century
In the 1831 Bristol Riots, a mob broke into the Chapter House, destroying a lot of the early records of the Abbey and damaging the building. The church itself was protected from the rioters by William Phillips, sub-sacrist, who barred their entry to the church at the cloister door.
Between the merger of the old Bristol diocese back into the Gloucester diocese on 5 October 1836 and the re-erection of the new independent Bristol diocese on 9 July 1897, Bristol Cathedral was a joint and equal cathedral of the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.
George Gilbert Scott was consulted in 1860 and suggested removing the screen dated 1542 to provide 'a nave of the grandest possible capacity'. The work at this time also removed some of the more vulgar medieval misericords in the choir stalls. With the 19th century's Gothic Revival signalling renewed interest in Britain's ancient architectural heritage, a new nave, in a similar style to the eastern end, based on original 15th-century designs, was added between 1868 and 1877 by George Edmund Street, clearing the houses which had been built, crowded onto the site of the former nave, including Minster House. In 1829 leases for these houses were refused by the Dean and Chapter because the houses had become 'very notoriously a receptacle for prostitutes'. The rebuilding of the nave was paid for by public subscription including benefactors such as Greville Smyth of Ashton Court, The Miles family of Kings Weston House, the Society of Merchant Venturers, Stuckey's Bank, William Gibbs of Tyntesfield, and many other Bristol citizens. The opening ceremony was on 23 October 1877. However, the west front with its twin towers, designed by John Loughborough Pearson, was only completed in 1888. The niches around the north porch originally held statues of St Gregory, St Ambrose, St Jerome and St Augustine, but their frivolous detail invoked letters of protest to their "Catholic" design. When the Dean, Gilbert Elliot, heard of the controversy, he employed a team of workmen without the knowledge of the architect or committee to remove the statues. The next edition of the Bristol Times reported that 'a more rough and open exhibition of iconoclasm has not been seen in Bristol since the days of Oliver Cromwell.' The sculptor, James Redfern, was made the scapegoat by the architect and the church, he retreated from the project, fell ill, and died later that year. As a result of Elliot's actions, the committee resigned en masse and the completion of the works was taken over by the Dean and Chapter. Elliot's drop in popularity meant that raising funds was a harder and slower process and the nave had to be officially opened before the two west towers were built.
Several of the bells in the north-west tower were cast in 1887 by John Taylor & Co. However, earlier bells include those from the 18th century by the Bilbie family and one by William III & Richard II Purdue made in 1658.
20th century
The full peal of eight bells was installed in the north-west tower, taken from the ruins of Temple Church after the bombing of World War II. In 1994, the ceremony took place in Bristol Cathedral for the first 32 women to be ordained as Church of England priests. Since the early 2000s, the cathedral's associations with the legacy of philanthropist and enslaver Edward Colston have been the subject of public debate, resulting in changes to annual commemoration services and memorials inside the cathedral.
Architecture
Bristol Cathedral is a grade I listed building which shows a range of architectural styles and periods. Tim Tatton-Brown writes of the 14th century eastern arm as "one of the most interesting and splendid structures in this country".
Specifications
Most of the medieval stonework, is made from limestone taken from quarries around Dundry and Felton with Bath stone being used in other areas. The two-bay Elder Lady Chapel, which includes some Purbeck Marble, lies to the north of the five-bay aisled chancel or presbytery. The Eastern Lady Chapel has two bays, the sacristy one-bay and the Berkeley Chapel two bays. The exterior has deep buttresses with finials to weathered tops and crenellated parapets with crocketed pinnacles below the Perpendicular crossing tower.
The west front has two large flanking three-stage towers. On the rear outer corners of the towers are octagonal stair turrets with panels on the belfry stage. Between the towers is a deep entrance arch of six orders with decorative Purbeck Marble colonnettes and enriched mouldings to the arch. The tympanum of the arch contains an empty niche.
Hall Church
The eastern end of Bristol Cathedral is highly unusual for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was conceived as a "hall church", meaning that the aisles are the same height as the choir. While a feature of German Gothic architecture, this is rare in Britain, and Bristol cathedral is the most significant example. In the 19th century, G. E. Street designed the nave along the same lines. The effect of this elevation means that there are no clerestory windows to light the central space, as is usual in English Medieval churches. The north and south aisles employ a unique manner where the vaults rest on tie beam style bridges supported by pointed arches. All the internal light must come from the aisle windows which are accordingly very large. In the choir, the very large window of the Lady chapel is made to fill the entire upper part of the wall, so that it bathes the vault in daylight, particularly in the morning.
Because of the lack of a clerestory, the vault is comparatively low, being only about half the height of that at Westminster Abbey. The interior of the cathedral appears wide and spacious. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner wrote of the early 14th-century choir of Bristol that "from the point of view of spatial imagination" it is not only superior to anything else in England or Europe but "proves incontrovertibly that English design surpasses that of all other countries" at that date.
The choir has broad arches with two wave mouldings carried down the piers which support the ribs of the vaulting. These may have been designed by Thomas Witney or William Joy as they are similar to the work at Wells Cathedral and St Mary Redcliffe. The choir is separated from the eastern Lady Chapel by a 14th-century reredos which was damaged in The reformation and repaired in 1839 when the 17th-century altarpiece was removed. The Lady Chapel was brightly painted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries following existing fragments of colour. To the south east of the choir and Lady Chapel is the Berkeley Chapel and an adjoining antechapel or sacristy, which may have been added in the 14th century, possibly replacing an earlier structure. The lady chapel was lightly restored by Stuart Coleman 1877 who was working in the city at that time. His diary describes taking a ' light Conservative approach' (Coleman Family archive 1988) (
Vaulting
Another feature of Bristol Cathedral is the vaulting of its various medieval spaces. The work that was carried out under Abbot Knowle is unique in this regard, with not one, but three unique vaults.
In vaulting a roof space using stone ribs and panels of infill, the bearing ribs all spring from columns along the walls. There is commonly a rib called the ridge rib which runs along the apex of the vault. There may be intermediate or "tierceron" ribs, which have their origin at the columns. In Decorated Gothic there are occasionally short lierne ribs connecting the bearing and tierceron ribs at angles, forming stellar patterns. This is the feature that appears at Bristol, at a very early date, and quite unlike the way that "lierne" ribs are used elsewhere. In this case, there is no ridge rib, and the lierne ribs are arranged to enclose a series of panels that extend the whole way along the centre of the choir roof, interacting with the large east window by reflecting the light from the smoothly arching surfaces. From the nave can be seen the intricate tracery of the east window echoed in the rich lierne pattern of the tower vault, which is scarcely higher than the choir, and therefore clearly visible. The two aisles of the choir both also have vaults of unique character, with open transverse arches and ribs above the stone bridges.
Eastern Lady Chapel
The 13th-century East Lady Chapel is built of red sandstone in an Early English style, making it stand out from the rest of the building. It is four bays long and has a vaulted ceiling. The windows are supported by Blue Lias shafts matching those between the bays. Much of the chapel, including the piscina and sedilia, is decorated with stylised foliage, in a style known as "stiff-leaf".
Nave
Street's design followed the form of the Gothic choir. On a plan or elevation it is not apparent that the work is of a different era. But Street designed an interior that respected the delicate proportions of the ribs and mouldings of the earlier work, but did not imitate their patterns. Street's nave is vaulted with a conservative vault with tierceron ribs, rising at the same pitch as the choir. Street's aisle vaults again echo their counterparts in the mediaeval chancel, using open vaulting above the stone bridges, but the transverse vaults are constructed differently.
Fittings
The cathedral has two unusual and often-reproduced monuments, the Berkeley memorials. These are set into niches in the wall, and each is surrounded by a canopy of inverted cusped arches. Pearson's screen, completed in 1905, echoes these memorials in its three wide arches with flamboyant cusps.
West front
Unlike many English Gothic cathedrals, Bristol's west facade has a rose window above the central doorway. The details, however, are clearly English, owing much to the Early English Gothic at Wells Cathedral and the Decorated Gothic at York Minster with a French Rayonnant style.
Chapter House
The late Norman chapter house, situated south of the transept, contains some of the first uses of pointed arches in England. It also has a rich sculptural decoration, with a variety of Romanesque abstract motifs. In both of these aspects there are close similarities with the abbey gatehouse, supporting the view that the two structures were built around the same time in the 12th century, as put forward by Street in the 19th century.
The approach to the chapter house is through a rib-vaulted ante-room 3 bays wide, whose pointed arches provide a solution to that room's rectangular shape. Carved pointed arches also appear in the decoration of the chapter house itself. Here they arise from the intersections of the interlaced semicircular arcading, which runs continuously around the walls. The chapter house has a quadripartite ribbed vault high. The ribs, walls and columns display a complex interplay of carved patterns: chevron, spiral, nailhead, lozenge and zigzag.
The chapter house has 40 sedilia lining its walls, and may have originally provided seating for more when it was the meeting room for the abbey community. In 1714 it was refurbished to become a library, and its floor was raised by about 1 m (3 ft). Its east end was damaged in the Bristol riots of 1831, requiring considerable restoration, and at that time or later the library furnishings were removed. In 1832, when the floor was lowered again, a Saxon stone panel depicting the Harrowing of Hell was found underneath. The discovery of the stone provides strong evidence that there was a church or shrine on the site before Robert Fitzharding founded the Abbey in 1140.
Stained glass
The east window in the Lady Chapel was largely replaced and restored in the mid 19th century. However, it does contain some 14th-century stained glass pieces, including male heads and heraldic symbols. Some of the early glass is also incorporated into the Tree of Jesse which goes across nine lights.
During the restoration led by Street, most of the work on the glass was by Hardman & Co.; these include the rose window and towers at the west end and the Magnificat in the Elder Lady Chapel.
Some of the most recent stained glass is by Bristolian Arnold Wathen Robinson following damage during the Bristol Blitz of 1940 and 1941. These included depictions of local Civil Defence during World War II including St. John Ambulance, the British Red Cross and the fire services along with air raid wardens, police officers, the Home Guard and the Women's Voluntary Service. The most recent glass is an abstract expressionist interpretation of the Holy Spirit designed by Keith New in 1965 and installed in the south choir.
A Victorian era window under the cathedral's clock, marked "to the glory of God and in memory of Edward Colston" and commemorating that 17th-century Royal African Company magnate and Bristol philanthropist, was ordered to be covered in June 2020 in advance of its eventual removal. The Diocese of Bristol also decided to remove from the cathedral other dedications to Colston after the toppling of the late 19th-century Statue of Edward Colston in the city centre on 7 June 2020, along with the removal of another stained glass window at St Mary Redcliffe. The cathedral dean previously considered removing the memorial window in 2017 but said in a radio broadcast in February it would cost "many, many thousands of pounds". The legacy of Colston became contentious because of his involvement in, and profit from, the transatlantic slave trade in enslaved Africans, and came to a head after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
Decoration, monuments and burials
The south transept contains the important late Saxon stone panel of the Harrowing of Hell. It dates from before the Norman Conquest and may have been carved around 1050. Following a fire in 1831 it was found being used as a coffin lid under the Chapter House floor.
The high altar stone reredos are by John Loughborough Pearson of 1899. The three rows of choir stalls are mostly from the late 19th century with Flamboyant traceried ends. There are also 28 misericords dating from 1515 to 1526, installed by Robert Elyot, Abbot of St. Augustine's, with carvings largely based on Aesop's Fables. In the Berkeley chapel is a very rare candelabrum of 1450 from the Temple church in Bristol.
The monuments within the cathedral include recumbent figures and memorials of several abbots and bishops: Abbot Walter Newbery who died in 1473 and Abbot William Hunt (died 1481) are within 14th-century recesses on the north side of the Lady Chapel, while the recumbent effigy of Abbot John Newland (died 1515) is in a similar recess on the southern side. The coffin lid of Abbot David (died 1234) is in the north transept. In the north choir aisle is a chest tomb to Bishop Bush (died 1558) which includes six fluted Ionic columns with an entablature canopy. Also honoured are: Thomas Westfield, Bishop of Bristol (1642–1644), Thomas Howell (Bishop of Bristol) (1644–1645), Gilbert Ironside the elder, Bishop of Bristol (1661–1671), William Bradshaw (bishop), Bishop of Bristol (1724–1732), Joseph Butler, Bishop of Bristol (1738–1750), John Conybeare, Bishop of Bristol (1750–1755) and Robert Gray (bishop of Bristol) (1827–1834), who is buried in graveyard attached to the cathedral. The Berkeley family as early benefactors are represented by Maurice de Berkeley (died 1281), *Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (died 1321), Lord Berkeley (died 1326) and Thomas Berkeley (died 1243) who are depicted in military effigies on the south side of the choir aisle, along with the chest tomb of Maurice Berkeley (died 1368).
In addition there are notable monuments to local dignitaries of the 17th and 18th century. There is a perpendicular reredos showing figures kneeling at a prayer desk flanked by angels to Robert Codrington (died 1618) and his wife. Phillip Freke (died 1729) is commemorated with a marble wall tablet in the north choir aisle. The oval wall tablet to Rowland Searchfield, English academic and Bishop of Bristol (died 1622) is made of slate. The Newton Chapel, which is between the Chapter House and south choir aisle contains a large dresser tomb of Henry Newton (died 1599) and a recumbent effigy of John Newton (died 1661), as well as a dresser tomb dedicated to Charles Vaughan who died in 1630.
Dame Joan Wadham (1533–1603) is buried, with her two husbands Sir Giles Strangways and Sir John Young, in an altar tomb at the entrance to Bristol Cathedral. She was one of the sisters and co-heiresses (through her issue) of Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) of Merryfield, Ilton Somerset and of Edge, Branscombe Devon, the co-founder with his wife Dorothy Wadham (1534–1618) of Wadham College, Oxford.
Dame Joan is represented in effigy lying beneath the armorials of Wadham and those of both her husbands, Giles Strangways MP (1528–1562) of Melbury Sampford, with her the ancestor of the Earls of Ilchester, and John Young MP (1519–1589) with whom she built the Great House Bristol from 1568, of which only the Red Lodge, now the Red Lodge Museum, Bristol and completed by Dame Joan in 1590 after the death of her husband, remains today.
Queen Elizabeth I stayed with Joan and Sir John Young at The Great House when she visited Bristol in 1574, and the Red Lodge Museum with its Tudor panelled rooms and wood carvings is only a short walk from the cathedral.
The importance of exploration and trade to the city are reflected by a memorial tablet and representation in stained glass of Richard Hakluyt (died 1616) is known for promoting the settlement of North America by the English through his works. He was a prebendary of the cathedral.
More recent monuments from the early 18th century to the 20th century include: Mrs Morgan (died 1767) by John Bacon to the design of James Stuart and a bust by Edward Hodges Baily to Robert Southey a Bristolian poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843. Baily also created the monument to William Brane Elwyn (died 1841). The obelisk to local actor William Powell (died 1769) was made by James Paine. The memorial to Elizabeth Charlotte Stanhope (died 1816) in the Newton Chapel is by Richard Westmacott. There is a memorial plaque to the education reformer Mary Carpenter (died 1877). The memorial to Emma Crawfuird (died 1823) is by Francis Leggatt Chantrey while the effigy to Francis Pigou (Dean; died 1916) is by Newbury Abbot Trent. The most recent are of the biographer Alfred Ainger (died 1904) and the composer Walford Davies (died 1941).
In 1994 a plaque was installed to mark the first 32 women ordained as priests in the Church of England. In 2022 it was replaced with a new plaque that listed the names of these women, rather than only the names of the men who carried out the ceremony. Both plaques were carved in Welsh slate. The plaque is located on the north side of the nave where it meets the transept.
Dean and Chapter
As of 23 April 2022:
Dean – Mandy Ford (since 3 October 2020 installation)
Canon Pastor – Nicola Stanley (formerly Canon Precentor) (since 1 March 2014 installation)
Canon Missioner – Jonnie Parkin (since 22 August 2021 installation)
Diocesan Canon & Bishop's Chaplain – Martin Gainsborough (since 22 May 2019; previously Diocesan Canon, 2016–2019)
Music
Organ
The organ was originally built in 1685 by Renatus Harris at a cost of £500. This has been removed and repaired many times. However, some of the original work, including the case and pipes, is incorporated into the present instrument, which was built by J. W. Walkers & Sons in 1907, and which is to be found above the stalls on the north side of the choir. It was further restored in 1989.
Prior to the building of the main organ, the cathedral had a chair organ, which was built by Robert Taunton in 1662, and before that one built by Thomas Dallam in 1630.
Organists
The earliest known appointment of an organist of Bristol Cathedral is Thomas Denny in 1542. Notable organists have included the writer and composer Percy Buck. The present Organist is Mark Lee and the Assistant Organist Paul Walton.
Choirs
The first choir at Bristol probably dates from the Augustinian foundation of 1140. The present choir consists has twenty-eight choristers, six lay clerks and four choral scholars. The choristers include fourteen boys and fourteen girls, who are educated at Bristol Cathedral Choir School, the first government-funded choir academy in England. Choral evensong is sung daily during term.
The Bristol Cathedral Concert Choir (formerly Bristol Cathedral Special Choir) was formed in 1954 and comprised sixty singers who presented large-scale works such as Bach's St Matthew Passion.; it was wound up in 2016. The Bristol Cathedral Consort is a voluntary choir drawn from young people of the city. They sing Evensong twice a month. Bristol Cathedral Chamber Choir was reformed in 2001 and is directed by assistant organist Paul Walton.
Burials in St Augustine's Abbey
Harding of Bristol
Robert Fitzharding and his wife Eva
Maurice de Berkeley, Baron Berkeley
Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley
Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley
Margaret Mortimer, Baroness Berkeley, wife of Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley
William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley
In popular culture
Bristol Cathedral was used as a location in the 1978 film The Medusa Touch under the guise of a fictional London place of worship called Minster Cathedral.
Other cathedrals in Bristol
Bristol is also home to a Roman Catholic cathedral, Clifton Cathedral. The Church of England parish church of St. Mary Redcliffe is so grand as to be occasionally mistaken for a cathedral by visitors.
See also
List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom
List of Gothic Cathedrals in Europe
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
English Gothic architecture
Church of England
Grade I listed buildings in Bristol
Churches in Bristol
List of ecclesiastical restorations and alterations by J. L. Pearson
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Bristol Cathedral Website
Diocese of Bristol
Bristol Past: The Abbey Gatehouse
A history of Bristol Cathedral choir school and choristers
Panoramic tour of the cathedral
Panoramic interior picture of the cathedral (Requires Flash)
Churches completed in 1332
Churches completed in 1888
Anglican cathedrals in England
Augustinian monasteries in England
Benedictine monasteries in England
Church of England church buildings in Bristol
Diocese of Bristol
English Gothic architecture in Bristol
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Grade I listed churches in Bristol
Grade I listed cathedrals
Monasteries in Bristol
Music venues in Bristol
English churches with Norman architecture
Tourist attractions in Bristol
G. E. Street buildings
J. L. Pearson buildings
12th-century church buildings in England |
426702 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%20Quentin%20State%20Prison | San Quentin State Prison | San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Established in 1852, and opening in 1854, San Quentin is the oldest prison in California. The state's only death row for male inmates, the largest in the United States, is located at the prison. It has a gas chamber, but since 1996, executions at the prison have been carried out by lethal injection, though the prison has not performed an execution since 2006. The prison has been featured on film, radio drama, video, podcast, and television; is the subject of many books; has hosted concerts; and has housed many notorious inmates.
Facilities
The correctional complex sits on Point San Quentin, which consists of on the north side of San Francisco Bay. The prison complex itself occupies , valued in a 2001 study at between $129 million and $664 million.
As of July 31, 2022, San Quentin was incarcerating people at 105% of its design capacity, with 3,239 occupants.
Death row
Men condemned to death in California (with some exceptions) must be held at San Quentin, while condemned women are held at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. As of December 2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or "death row." As of 2001, San Quentin's death row was described as "the largest in the Western Hemisphere"; as of 2005, it was called "the most populous execution antechamber in the United States." The states of Florida and Texas had fewer death row inmates in 2008 (397 and 451 respectively) than San Quentin.
The death row at San Quentin is divided into three sections: the quiet "North-Segregation" or "North-Seg," built in 1934, for prisoners who "don't cause trouble"; the "East Block," a "crumbling, leaky maze of a place built in 1927"; and the "Adjustment Center" for the "worst of the worst." Most of the prison's death row inmates reside in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prison's first death row facility, but additional death row space opened after executions resumed in the U.S. in 1978. The adjustment center received solid doors, preventing "gunning-down" or attacking persons with bodily waste. it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates. A dedicated psychiatric facility serves the prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosts religious services. Many prison programs available for most inmates are unavailable for death row inmates.
Although $395 million was allocated in the 20082009 state budget for new death row facilities at San Quentin, in December 2008 two legislators introduced bills to eliminate the funding. The state had planned to build a new death row facility, but Governor Jerry Brown canceled those plans in 2011. In 2015 Brown asked the Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current death row facilities were becoming filled. At the time the non-death row prison population was decreasing, opening room for death row inmates. the San Quentin death row has a capacity of 715 prisoners.
Executions
All executions in California (male and female) take place at San Quentin. The execution chamber is located in a one-story addition close to the East Block. Women executed in California are transported to San Quentin by bus before being executed.
The methods for execution at San Quentin have changed over time. Prior to 1893, the counties executed convicts. Between 1893 and 1937, 215 people were executed at San Quentin by hanging, after which 196 prisoners died in the gas chamber. In 1995, the use of gas for execution was ruled "cruel and unusual punishment", which led to executions inside the gas chamber by lethal injection. Between 1996 and 2006, eleven people were executed at San Quentin by lethal injection.
In April 2007, staff of the California Legislative Analyst's Office discovered that a new execution chamber was being built at San Quentin; legislators subsequently "accuse[d] the governor of hiding the project from the Legislature and the public." The old lethal injection facility had included an injection room of and a single viewing area; the facility that was being built included an injection chamber of and three viewing areas for family, victim, and press. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped construction of the facility the next week. The legislature later approved $180,000 to finish the project, and the facility was completed.
In addition to state executions, three federal executions have been carried out at San Quentin. Samuel Richard Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson had been incarcerated at Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary and were executed on December 3, 1948, for the murder of two prison guards during the Battle of Alcatraz. Carlos Romero Ochoa had murdered a federal immigration officer after he was caught smuggling illegal immigrants across the border near El Centro, California. He was executed at San Quentin's gas chamber on December 10, 1948.
On March 13, 2019, after Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a moratorium on the state's death penalty, the state withdrew its current lethal injection protocol, and San Quentin dismantled and indefinitely closed its gas and lethal injection execution chambers.
Programs
Prison to Employment Connection, A Better Way Out - Prison to Employment Connection is offered to inmates at San Quentin State Prison who are close to their release dates or have a scheduled Parole Board Hearing. After successfully completing a rigorous 14-week employment readiness program, inmates are invited to an Employer Day. Potential employers (PEC Partners) come to the prison to interview inmates, review their resumes, and offer guidance and support for potential employment upon release.
VVGSQ – Vietnam Veterans Group San Quentin – Although the group had been meeting for some time, the name officially began on April 7, 1987. In 1988 they started the annual Christmas Toy giveaway, giving toys to visiting children. In 1989 they began the annual scholarship fund for high school seniors. They spend their time raising money and since 1987 have given over $80,000 to the community.
The Last Mile started in 2011 under Chris Redlitz (entrepreneur and venture capital) initiative. The program aims to give resources and mentorship to inmates to help them find their way into tech startup entrepreneurship and reduce the rate of recidivism.
The San Quentin Drama Workshop began at the prison in 1958 after a performance of Waiting for Godot the previous year.
The San Quentin SQUIRES ("San Quentin Utilization of Inmate Resources, Experiences, and Studies") program, which began in 1964, is reported to be the "oldest juvenile awareness program in the United States." It involves inmates at the prison interacting with troubled youths for the purpose of deterring them from crime, and was the subject of a 1978 documentary film Squires of San Quentin. In 1983, a randomized controlled study was published that found that the program produced no overall reduction in delinquency. The program was still functional as of 2008.
Since the 1920s, San Quentin inmates have been allowed to play baseball. Starting in 1994 inmates have played against players from outside the prison. The games occur twice a week through the summer. Originally the Pirates, the team of prisoners is called the "Giants" in honor of the San Francisco Giants, who donated uniforms to the team. A second team called the Athletics was later started, named after the Oakland Athletics. The team of outside players is called the "Willing". The umpires and fans are inmates, but the coaches on the field are volunteers. Although some people question the appropriateness of baseball games being held at the prison, officials believe "organized sports is a way to keep inmates occupied and perhaps teach a few lessons on getting along with others." These games were detailed in a Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel episode on June 20, 2006, and in several other documentaries.
San Quentin has the only on-site college degree-granting program in California's entire prison system, which began in 1996 and which is currently run by the Mount Tamalpais College.
No More Tears Program, co-founded by incarcerated men at San Quentin. This program is committed to stopping the violence in the community and changing the mindset. This program stays alive through donations, volunteers, and CDCR who come into the prison and become involved in the workshops with the incarcerated men: Changing the mindset, Response to Violence, Employability, Fixin' da Hood. All inmates and volunteers are working toward achieving the program's mission: stopping the tears of loved ones and family by being committed to stopping the youth from committing acts of violence.
The California Reentry Program at San Quentin, begun in 2003, "helps inmates re-enter society after they serve their sentences."
The San Quentin News is the only inmate-produced newspaper in California and one of the few in the world.
History
Though numerous towns and localities in the area are named after Roman Catholic saints, and "San Quintín" is Spanish for "Saint Quentin", the prison was not named after the saint. The land on which it is situated, Point Quentin, is named after a Coast Miwok warrior named Quentín, fighting under Chief Marin, who was taken prisoner at that place.
In 1851, California's first prison opened; it was a 268-ton wooden ship named the Waban, anchored in San Francisco Bay and outfitted to hold 30 inmates. Some of the Waban's timber remains a part of the new hospital structure inside the prison. After a series of speculative land transactions and a legislative scandal, inmates who were housed on the Waban constructed San Quentin which opened its first cell block, nicknamed "the Stones," in 1854. Before being retired altogether, this initial unit would come to be used as a dungeon after newer additions were constructed atop it. The Stones, however, survive to this day and is thought to be California's oldest surviving public work.
In 1928, a woman, Dorothy Mackaye, #440960, served less than ten months of a one- to three-year sentence.
One example of a noteworthy leader at San Quentin was Warden Clinton Duffy from 1940 to 1952. Warden Duffy was a man of contradictions. His public persona was quite positive because of his fresh insights informing the reorganization of the prison structure and reformation of prison management. Prior to Duffy, San Quentin had gone through years of violence, inhumane punishments and civil rights abuses against prisoners. The previous warden was forced to resign. Duffy had the offending prison guards fired and added a librarian, psychiatrists, and several surgeons at San Quentin. Duffy's press agent publicized sweeping reforms; however, San Quentin remained a brutal prison where prisoners continued to be beaten to death. The use of torture as an approved method of interrogation at San Quentin was banned in 1944.
In 1941, the first prison meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this, the 25-millionth copy of the AA Big Book was presented to Jill Brown, of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In 1947, Warden Duffy recruited Herman Spector to work as assistant warden at San Quentin. Spector turned down the invitation to be assistant warden and chose instead to become senior librarian if he could institute his theories on reading as a program to encourage pro-social behavior. By 1955, Spector was being interviewed in library journals and suggesting the prison library could contribute significantly to rehabilitation.
The dining hall of the prison is adorned by six sepia-toned murals depicting California history. They were painted by Alfredo Santos, one-time convicted heroin dealer and successful artist, during his 1953–1955 incarceration. The murals were painted with a thinned, raw sienna oil paint directly to plaster as he was denied use of other colors to paint with.
Lawrence Singleton, who raped a teenaged girl and cut off her forearms, spent a year on parole in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin between 1987 and 1988 because towns in California would not accept him as a parolee. Between 1992 and 1997, a "boot camp" was held at the prison that was intended to "rehabilitat[e] first-time, nonviolent offenders"; the program was discontinued because it did not reduce recidivism or save money.
A 2005 court-ordered report found that the prison was "old, antiquated, dirty, poorly staffed, poorly maintained with inadequate medical space and equipment and overcrowded." Later that year, the warden was fired for "threaten[ing] disciplinary action against a doctor who spoke with attorneys about problems with health care delivery at the prison." By 2007, a new trauma center had opened at the prison and a new $175 million medical complex was planned.
In 2020, the prison became the center of a COVID-19 outbreak, after a group of prisoners were transferred to San Quentin from the California Institution for Men in Chino, California. Initial reports suggested that San Quentin officials were told that the new inmates had all tested negative; however, few had been tested at all. By June 22, at least 350 inmates and staff had tested positive, in what a federal judge called a "significant failure" of policy.
Notable inmates
Current
Isauro Aguirre (born 1980): tortured and killed girlfriend's 8-year-old son Gabriel Fernandez along with his girlfriend Pearl Fernandez. Aguirre was sentenced to death and Fernandez to life in prison in 2018. The case was the subject of the Netflix series The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez.
Jeffrey Aguilar: (born 1985) was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Oxnard business owner, Gurmohinder Singh. On a Saturday morning in August 2008, Singh, known for his check cashing and mini mart businesses, was robbed and fatally shot outside the US Bank on Oxnard Blvd. At the time of the incident, Singh was carrying $100,000 in cash. Aguilar, a known gang member, was linked to the crime through an ATM photo taken at the murder scene. Two days after the incident, he was involved in a shootout with Oxnard Police but escaped. He was captured later in Carpinteria, California. Aguilar's eligibility for the death penalty was based on committing the murder during a robbery while lying in wait and was sentenced to death in 2013.
Alejandro Avila (born 1971): the rapist and murderer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion. Sentenced to death in 2005.
Richard Delmer Boyer (born 1958): convicted for stabbing an elderly couple to death while high on alcohol and drugs. Claimed to have been partly influenced by a scene in Halloween II. Sentenced to death in 1984.
Luis Bracamontes (born 1970): illegal immigrant who shot and killed two Sacramento police officers and injured a civilian and a third officer. Sentenced to death in 2018.
Vincent Brothers (born 1962): convicted in the shooting and stabbing of five members of his family, including three children. Sentenced to death in 2007.
Albert Greenwood Brown (born 1954): convicted rapist and child molester who raped and murdered a teen girl in 1980. Sentenced to death in 1982.
Brandon Browner (born 1984): former NFL player found guilty of attempted murder, currently serving eight-year sentence.
David Carpenter (born 1930): the "Trailside Killer." Sentenced to death in 1984 and 1988. Carpenter is the oldest inmate currently.
Dean Carter (born 1955): serial killer convicted of murdering four women. Sentenced to death in 1985.
Steven David Catlin (born 1944): serial killer who poisoned two wives and his mother. Sentenced to death in 1990.
Doug Clark (born 1948): serial killer and necrophile who killed six women with a female accomplice. Sentenced to death in 1983.
Kevin Cooper (born 1958): convicted for the hatchet and knife massacre of the Ryen family. Sentenced to death in 1985.
Tiequon Cox (born 1965): sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1984 murders of four relatives of the former defensive back NFL player Kermit Alexander. He was involved in an escape attempt in 2000.
Jonathan Daniel D'Arcy (born 1962): a janitor from Buena Park, was convicted of first-degree murder in the February 2, 1993 burning death of Karen Marie Laborde, a 42-year-old mother of two who identified D'Arcy as her assailant before she died. D'Arcy was sentenced to death in Orange County on April 11, 1997.
Joseph Danks (born 1962): "Koreatown Slasher" who murdered six homeless men in Los Angeles in 1987. Sentenced to death in 1993 for strangling his cellmate in California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi.
Bruce Davis (born 1942): member of the Manson family convicted of the murder of Donald "Shorty" Shea and sentenced to life in 1974.
Richard Allen Davis (born 1954): convicted of kidnapping and murdering Polly Klaas. Sentenced to death in 1996.
Skylar Deleon (born 1979): former child actor and triple murderer responsible for the deaths of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. Sentenced to death in 2009. One of her accomplices, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was also sentenced to death in 2009.
Sonny Enraca (born 1972): gang member who shot and killed Boyz n the Hood actor Dedrick D. Gobert during an altercation. Sentenced to death in 1996.
Pedro Espinoza (born 1989): 18th Street gang member who murdered Jamiel Shaw II. Sentenced to death in 2013.
John Famalaro (born 1957): sentenced to death on September 6, 1997, for the kidnap, rape, and murder of 23-year-old Denise Anette Huber, from Newport Beach, California, in 1991. Famalaro abducted and murdered Denise on June 3, 1991. He was caught in July 1994 when police found her body in an icebox where he had kept her for three years.
Richard Farley (born 1948): perpetrator of the Sunnyvale ESL shooting. Sentenced to death in 1992.
Wayne Adam Ford (born 1961): convicted of killing four women in 1997 and 1998. Sentenced to death in 2006.
Rickie Lee Fowler (born 1984): convicted of setting the Old Fire that caused the deaths of five people. Sentenced to death in 2012.
Michael Gargiulo (born 1976): serial killer who killed at least three women. Sentenced to death in 2021.
Jose Guerrero (born 1973): serial killer who killed at least three women from 1995 to 1998. Sentenced to death in 2009.
Larry Hazlett (born 1948): convicted of the 1978 rape and murder of 20-year-old Rosamond beauty queen Tana Woolley. Sentenced to death in 2004.
Glenn Helzer (born 1970): founder of the Children of Thunder cult, alongside his brother Justin Helzer and his girlfriend Dawn Godman, who murdered five people in 2000. Sentenced to death in 2005. Justin hanged himself in 2013.
Ivan Hill (born 1961): serial killer who killed at least nine women from 1979 to 1994. Sentenced to death in 2007.
Eric Houston (born 1972): perpetrator of the Lindhurst school shooting spree that left three students and a teacher dead. Sentenced to death in 1993. The subject of the made-for-television movie Detention: The Siege at Johnson High.
Ryan Hoyt (born 1979): associate of Jesse James Hollywood, convicted of the murder of Nicholas Markowitz. Sentenced to death in 2003.
Michael Hughes (born 1956): serial killer who killed at least seven women from 1986 to 1993. Sentenced to death in 1998.
Emrys John, Tyrone Miller, and Kesaun Sykes: former marines convicted of torturing and murdering Jan Pawel and Quiana Jenkins Pietrzak in 2008. All three were sentenced to death while a fourth accomplice, Kevin Cox, was sentenced to life in prison.
Randy Kraft (born 1945): serial killer who was convicted of 16 murders and suspected of 51 others. Sentenced to death in 1989.
John Irving Lewis (born 1971): a member of the Gang of Four who were convicted in the Puente Hills Mall Murders in the summer of 1991.
Gunner Lindberg (born 1975): stabbed a Vietnamese man to death in a racially motivated attack. Sentenced to death in 1996.
Franklin Lynch (born 1955): convicted serial killer and robber who is suspected in the murders of 13 elderly women in the East Bay during the summer of 1987. He was only charged for 3 murders and was sentenced to death in 1992.
Jarvis Jay Masters (born 1962): convicted and sentenced to death for participating in the murder of Corrections Officer Hal Burchfield. Sentenced to death in 1990.
Timothy Joseph McGhee (born 1973): Toonerville Rifa 13 member believed to have shot at least 12 people between 1997 and 2001 and attempted to kill two LAPD officers in an ambush. Sentenced to death in 2009.
Charles "Chase" Merritt (born 1957): murdered the McStay family for financial gain. Sentenced to death in 2020.
Andrew Mickel (born 1979): shot a police officer to death at a gas station. Sentenced to death in 2006.
Michael Morales (born 1959): convicted for the brutal murder of Terri Winchell. Sentenced to death in 1983.
Joseph Naso (born 1934): serial killer who raped and murdered at least six women. Sentenced to death in 2013.
Charles Ng (born 1960): serial killer who tortured and murdered 11 people with Leonard Lake (died by suicide by cyanide after arrest in 1985). Finally, Ng was extradited from Canada to the United States, and sentenced to death in February 1999.
Raymond Lee Oyler (born 1971): convicted of setting the Esperanza Fire that claimed the lives of five firemen. Sentenced to death in 2009.
Gerald Parker (born 1955): serial killer and rapist who killed at least six women and an unborn baby. Sentenced to death in 1999.
Scott Peterson (born 1972): convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson and their unborn child, Conner, in a much-publicized trial. Sentenced to death in 2005, resentenced to life without parole in 2021.
Cleophus Prince Jr. (born 1967): serial killer who raped and murdered six women in San Diego in 1990. Sentenced to death in 1993.
David Allen Raley (born 1961): security guard who kidnapped and tortured two teenage girls, killing one of them. Sentenced to death in 1988.
Ramon Salcido (born 1961): convicted in 1989 of seven murders, including six relatives and his boss. Sentenced to death in 1990.
Vincent Sanchez (born 1973): the "Simi Valley Rapist". Serial rapist convicted of 75 counts including a first degree murder charge, felony kidnapping, burglary, rape, and other sex offense charges against numerous victims. Sentenced to death in 2003.
Wesley Shermantine (born 1966): one half of the Speed Freak Killers serial killer duo, believed to have killed as many as 70 people. Sentenced to death in 2001. His accomplice, Loren Herzog, committed suicide in 2012.
Mitchell Sims (born 1960): convicted May 20, 1987, of the hotel-room murder of Domino's Pizza deliveryman John Harrington in Glendale; also sentenced to death in South Carolina for the murders of two Domino's employees in that state. Sentenced to death in 1987.
Morris Solomon, Jr. (born 1944): serial killer convicted of murdering six women in Sacramento. Sentenced to death in 1992.
Cary Stayner (born 1961): serial killer convicted of killing four women in Yosemite. Sentenced to death in 2002.
William Suff (born 1950): serial killer convicted of murdering 12 women in Riverside County. Sentenced to death in 1995.
Regis Deon Thomas (born 1970): convicted of the murders of three people including two Compton Police officers. Sentenced to death in 1995.
Chester Turner (born 1966): serial killer convicted of murdering 14 women in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1998. Sentenced to death in 2007.
Billy Ray Waldon (born 1952): murderer and rapist who killed three people. Sentenced to death in 1987.
Darnell Keith Washington (born 1988): convicted of killing a woman during a home invasion. Sentenced to death in 2016.
Ward Weaver Jr. (born 1947): father of convicted murderer Ward Weaver III, who shot and killed two teenagers. Sentenced to death in 1985.
Marcus Wesson (born 1946): convicted of killing nine of his family members. Sentenced to death in 2005.
David Westerfield (born 1952): convicted of kidnapping and killing seven-year-old Danielle van Dam. Sentenced to death in 2003.
Daniel Wozniak (born 1984): convicted of murdering and dismembering Samuel Herr and then murdering Julie Kibuishi in a plot to steal money to fund his wedding. Sentenced to death in 2016.
Jon Dunkle (born 1960): convicted of murdering three young boys in Belmont. Sentenced to death in 1990.
Former
Rodney Alcala: serial killer sentenced to death. He was later transferred to Corcoran State Prison where he died.
William Dale Archerd: murdered three family members by injecting them with insulin. Sentenced to death but commuted to life in prison. Died from pneumonia in California Medical Facility in 1977.
Bobby Beausoleil: a former associate of the Charles Manson "Family" currently serving a life sentence in prison.
Charles Bolles: alias Black Bart, an American Old West outlaw.
William Bradford: murdered a barmaid and a 15-year-old girl and may have killed as many as 20 women. Died from natural causes in California Medical Facility in 2008.
Edward Bunker: FBI most wanted fugitive who reformed and became an author (he wrote a novel set in San Quentin) and actor. Was sentenced at age 17, the youngest inmate at the time.
Rodolfo Cadena: influential member of the Mexican Mafia. Murdered by members of the Nuestra Familia in California Institution for Men in 1972.
Curtis Carroll (born 1968): Financial adviser whose insights into investing and trading stock have earned the nickname "Wall Street". Carroll is serving a sentence of 54 years to life, for murder. Incarcerated in Pelican Bay State Prison.
Eldridge Cleaver: member of the Black Panther Party, was an inmate between 1958 and 1963.
Joseph Cosey: conman and criminal forger.
Louis Craine: serial killer who killed at least 4 women. Died from AIDS complications in hospital in 1989.
Scott Dyleski: murdered attorney Daniel Horowitz's wife when he was 17 years old. Was held in San Quentin for several months before being transferred.
John Linley Frazier: mass murderer and religious fanatic. Sentenced to death in 1971 but commuted to life in prison. Committed suicide by hanging in Mule Creek State Prison in 2009.
Gerald Gallego: serial killer and rapist who kidnapped young girls to keep as sex slaves before killing them with his wife as an accomplice. Was initially sentenced to death in San Quentin but was transferred to Nevada State Prison in 1984 to be executed for murders committed in that state. Died from cancer in Nevada Prison in 2002.
Alex García: boxer and former gang member who stabbed a rival to death.
Willie Earl Green: wrongfully convicted of murder and exonerated.
Griffith J. Griffith: industrialist who shot his wife through the eye.
Steve "Clem" Grogan: a former associate of the Charles Manson "Family". Released in 1985.
Merle Haggard: singer who spent time in San Quentin from 1958 to 1960.
Billy Ray Hamilton: hitman who murdered three witnesses for Clarence Ray Allen in 1980. Died of natural causes in hospital in 2007.
Charles Ray Hatcher: serial killer who murdered two young boys in the Bay Area. Released in 1977.
Robert Hohenberger: suspected serial killer who served three years for kidnapping two girls in 1971.
Michael Wayne Hunter: former death row prisoner and writer who murdered his father and stepmother. Death sentence commuted to life in prison and currently incarcerated in Pleasant Valley State Prison.
Jang In-hwan: Korean independence activist who assassinated former American diplomat Durham Stevens in 1908.
Tomoya Kawakita: Japanese-American dual citizen convicted of treason for aiding Japan during World War II. Tomoya Kawakita appealed his conviction to the United States Supreme Court in Kawakita v. United States. Originally held in San Quentin for his upcoming execution before his death sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Roger Kibbe: serial killer who admitted to seven murders in Northern California. Killed at Mule Creek State Prison in 2021.
Chol Soo Lee: wrongly convicted of murdering a gang boss and sentenced to life in prison. Was sentenced to death for killing an inmate during a fight but was released in 1983 with help from the Free Chol Soo Lee Defense Committee.
Bruce Lisker: wrongly convicted in the 1983 murder of his mother, Dorka, when he was 17. Exonerated and released from prison in 2009, at age 44.
Russ Little: member of the Symbionese Liberation Army accused of, but eventually acquitted of, the murder of educator Marcus Foster. Released and moved to Hawaii.
Kelvin Malone: convicted spree killer who murdered several people in California and Missouri. He was sentenced to death in both states and was extradited to Missouri in 1999 where he was executed.
Charles Manson: leader of the Manson family. Transferred to multiple prisons during his life. Died from cancer in hospital on November 19, 2017.
S. S. Millard: controversial filmmaker.
Barry Mills: leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, incarcerated during the 1970s for armed robbery. Died in ADX Florence in 2018.
Jim Mitchell, prominent in the strip club and pornography businesses in San Francisco, spent 1994–1997 in San Quentin for murdering his brother Artie.
Thomas Mooney: political activist and labor leader who was wrongly accused of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916. Originally sentenced to death and then life in prison before being pardoned in 1939.
Frank Morgan: saxophonist and heroin addict who formed an ensemble with Art Pepper.
Joe "Pegleg" Morgan: influential and first white member of the Mexican Mafia. Died from cancer in Corcoran State Prison in 1993.
Ed Morrell, accomplice to the Evans-Sontag rail robbery gang; spent five years in solitary confinement; known as the "Dungeon Man" of San Quentin; pardoned in 1908 and became a well-known advocate of prison reform.
Wallace Fard Muhammad: founder of the Nation of Islam.
Earle Nelson: serial killer and necrophile who raped and murdered at least 21 women and an infant boy in the 1920s. Spent time in San Quentin for breaking and entering as a teenager.
Michael "Irish" O'Farrell: Hells Angels leader
Art Pepper: saxophonist and heroin addict who formed an ensemble with Frank Morgan.
Gregory Powell: kidnapped two policemen and shot one of them dead in the Onion Field Murder. Sentenced to death but commuted to life in prison. Died from cancer in California Medical Facility in 2012.
Alfredo Prieto: serial killer and gang member who raped and shot five people in Southern California in 1990. Was transferred to Virginia and executed there for a double murder in 2015.
Richard Ramirez: serial killer known as "The Night Stalker," convicted of killing 13 people. Sentenced to death in 1989. Died of lymphoma in hospital in 2013.
Hans Reiser: developer of the ReiserFS file system and convicted for the murder of his wife, sentenced to 15 years to life in 2008. He is currently at Mule Creek State Prison.
Joe Remiro (born 1947): member of the Symbionese Liberation Army who murdered educator Marcus Foster in 1973. Incarcerated in Pelican Bay State Prison.
Abe Ruef: San Francisco political boss, for bribery.
San Quentin Six: six inmates who participated in a riot during an escape attempt in 1971 that resulted in the deaths of six people. Fleeta Drumgo was shot dead after he was released in 1979 and Hugo Pinell was stabbed to death during a riot in 2015 after spending 45 years in solitary confinement.
Sanyika Shakur: Member of the Crips and author. Spent 36 months in San Quentin.
Glen Sherley: musician who spent time in San Quentin in the 1960s.
Thomas Silverstein: leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, incarcerated during the 1970s for armed robbery. Died in ADX Florence in 2019.
Lawrence Singleton: raped and cut the forearms off a teenage girl before leaving her for dead. Was controversially released after serving eight years and was forced to live on the grounds of San Quentin in a trailer while on parole. Murdered a woman in Florida and died in North Florida Reception Center in 2001.
Sirhan Sirhan: assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, sent to death row at San Quentin in May 1969. After the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, Sirhan was transferred to Correctional Training Facility. He is currently at Donovan State Prison.
Danny Trejo: actor—inmate between 1965 and 1968.
John Pence Wagner: prison evangelist-inmate between 1966 and 1972. writer of the poem featured on the rear cover of the 1971 album "Guilty!" by Jimmy Witherspoon and Eric Burdon. Died from cancer in 1999.
Tex Watson: a former associate of the Charles Manson "Family" currently serving a life sentence in prison.
Anthony Wimberly: serial killer arrested for grand theft auto. Currently incarcerated in Mule Creek State Prison.
Earlonne Woods: convicted of attempted armed robbery. Most known for his work in co-creating and co-hosting the award-winning podcast, Ear Hustle along with Nigel Poor. His sentence was commuted by Governor Jerry Brown on November 30, 2018.
Deaths in prison
Leung Ying: mass murder who killed 11 people on a farm with a rifle and hatchet. Sentenced to death and committed suicide in his cell two weeks before his execution.
George Jackson: co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family and one of the Soledad Brothers. Shot to death during an escape attempt on August 21, 1971.
Mack Ray Edwards: child sex abuser/serial killer who buried bodies under freeways on which he worked. Committed suicide by hanging in prison cell on October 30, 1971.
Richard Chase: "vampire killer," in 1979 sentenced to death in gas chamber for murdering six people. Committed suicide by drug overdose on December 26, 1980.
James Mitose: martial artist convicted of murder. Died from diabetes complications on March 26, 1981.
Robert Biehler: serial killer responsible for four murders in Los Angeles. Died from cancer on January 10, 1993.
Robert Wayne Danielson: serial killer who was sentenced to death for two murders that occurred in Mendocino County. Committed suicide by hanging on September 7, 1995.
Stuart Alexander: convicted in the 2000 shooting deaths of three USDA meat officials he claimed were harassing him. Sentenced to death in 2004. Died from a pulmonary embolism on December 27, 2005.
Brandon Wilson: convicted in the 1998 slashing death of nine-year-old Matthew Cecchi. Sentenced to death in 1999. Committed suicide on November 17, 2011.
J. C. X. Simon: member of a group of Black Muslims who committed racially motivated murders in San Francisco in the 1970s known as the Zebra murders. Found dead in his cell on March 12, 2015.
Andrew Urdiales, serial killer who killed eight women. Committed suicide on November 2, 2018.
Anthony McKnight: serial killer, rapist, and kidnapper sentenced to death for the murders of five women in 1985. Found dead in his cell on October 17, 2019.
Lawrence Bittaker: serial killer convicted of torturing and murdering five teenage girls. Found dead in his cell on December 13, 2019
Phillip Carl Jablonski: convicted of killing five women. Found dead in his cell on December 27, 2019.
Lonnie David Franklin, Jr.: convicted of ten murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles, California. The attacker was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because he appeared to have taken a 14-year break from his crimes from 1988 to 2002. Found dead in his cell on March 28, 2020.
Anthony Sully: serial killer and former police officer convicted of murdering six people in Burlingame in 1983. Sentenced to death in 1986. Died of natural causes on September 8, 2023.
COVID-19 related deaths
In 2020, 12 death row inmates at San Quentin died in the span of less than two months after a COVID-19 outbreak. All of the inmates were hospitalized before their deaths.
Richard Eugene Stitely, 71, died on June 24, 2020.
Joseph S. Cordova, 75, died on July 1, 2020.
Scott Erskine, 57, and Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, both died on July 3, 2020.
Dewayne Michael Carey, 59, died on July 4, 2020.
David John Reed, 60, died on July 7, 2020.
Jeffrey Jay Hawkins, 64, died on July 15, 2020.
Troy Adam Ashmus, 58, died on July 20, 2020.
John Michael Beames, 67, died on July 21, 2020.
Johnny Avila Jr., 62, died on July 26, 2020.
Orlando Gene Romero, 48, died on August 2, 2020.
Pedro Arias, 58, died on August 9, 2020.
Executed
Theodore Durrant: convicted of murdering two women in San Francisco. Executed by hanging on January 7, 1898.
Willie Louis: son of Ah Louis, convicted of the murder of Gon Ying Louis. Executed by hanging on December 16, 1912.
Louis Fortine: convicted of murdering his employer, Peter M. Furrer, and Furrer's wife and infant. Executed by hanging on July 21, 1916.
Mose Gibson: convicted of murdering a man but confessed to seven total murders before his death. Executed by hanging on September 24, 1920.
William Edward Hickman: convicted of kidnapping, mutilating, and murdering 12-year-old Marion Parker, died by hanging on October 19, 1928.
Gordon Stewart Northcott: convicted of killing three boys in the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, executed by hanging on October 2, 1930.
Ed Davis: bank robber who killed a warden during an escape attempt from Folsom State Prison. Executed by gas chamber on December 16, 1938.
William Johansen: serial killer who murdered three women, including his wife, in New York and California between 1933 and 1940; executed by gas chamber on September 5, 1941.
Juanita Spinelli: first woman executed in San Quentin's gas chamber on November 22, 1941.
Raymond "Rattlesnake James" Lisenba: convicted of killing his wife, he was the last man to be executed by hanging in California on May 1, 1942.
Sam Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson: convicted of killing a guard in the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz escape attempt, executed together in the gas chamber on December 3, 1948.
Louise Peete: convicted murderer, executed in the gas chamber on April 11, 1947.
Billy Cook: murderer of Carl Mosser, his wife Thelma, their three small children and motorist Robert Dewey. He died in the gas chamber on December 12, 1952.
Lloyd Gomez: convicted serial killer who murdered nine homeless men, executed in the gas chamber on October 16, 1953.
Barbara Graham: convicted murderer, executed in the gas chamber on June 3, 1955.
Burton Abbott: convicted of the rape and murder of a teenage girl; executed in the gas chamber on March 15, 1957.
Vender Duncan: convicted of raping and murdering two elderly women, executed in the gas chamber on May 29, 1959.
Harvey Glatman: convicted of raping and strangling two women, he died in the gas chamber on September 18, 1959.
Caryl Chessman: convicted rapist, was given the death penalty in 1948 and executed on May 2, 1960. The last man executed in California for a sexual offense that did not also involve murder.
Henry Busch: convicted serial killer who murdered three women and planned to murder a fourth. Executed by gas chamber on June 6, 1962.
Elizabeth Ann Duncan: convicted of hiring two men to kill her daughter-in-law, executed by gas chamber on August 8, 1962. Fourth and last woman to be executed in San Quentin.
Aaron Mitchell: convicted of shooting a Sacramento police officer, executed by gas chamber on April 12, 1967.
Robert Alton Harris: convicted of murdering two boys after serving time for manslaughter, died in the gas chamber on April 21, 1992.
David Mason: convicted serial killer, he was the last man to be executed in the gas chamber on August 24, 1993.
William Bonin: convicted serial killer, the "Freeway Killer" (one of three men to have the same nickname) became the first person in California history to be executed by lethal injection on February 23, 1996.
Keith Daniel Williams: convicted triple murderer, executed by lethal injection on May 3, 1996.
Thomas Martin Thompson: convicted of the 1981 killing of Ginger Fleischli, executed by lethal injection on July 14, 1998.
Jaturun Siripongs: convicted of two 1981 murders, executed by lethal injection on February 9, 1999.
Manny Babbitt: convicted murderer who died by lethal injection on May 4, 1999.
Darrell Keith Rich: convicted serial killer, executed by lethal injection on March 15, 2000.
Robert Lee Massie: convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection on March 27, 2001.
Stephen Wayne Anderson: contract killer and serial killer, executed by lethal injection on January 29, 2002.
Donald Beardslee: convicted serial killer, executed by lethal injection on January 19, 2005.
Stanley "Tookie" Williams: convicted spree killer, co-founder and early leader of the Crips street gang. Author (several children's books about his experience at San Quentin) and cause célèbre. Executed by lethal injection on December 13, 2005.
Clarence Ray Allen: convicted for ordering the killing of three people. At age 76, he was the oldest person ever executed in California (by lethal injection on January 17, 2006) and the last in the entire state of California.
Administration
Leo Stanley (1886 – 1976), American surgeon who served as the Chief Surgeon from 1913 to 1951.
In media
Television
San Quentin is on the rotation of prisons featured on MSNBC's show Lockup, a TV documentary series on life in prison.
San Quentin appears in various overhead shots on The CW's shows The Flash and Arrow, serving as Iron Heights Penitentiary.
San Quentin is featured in the BBC Two special Louis Theroux: Behind Bars.
Miles, one of the main characters in Starz's Blindspotting is incarcerated at San Quentin.
Performances and music videos
Country music singer Johnny Cash performed at San Quentin at least twice in his career. The first was in 1958, which included among its audience members a young and incarcerated Merle Haggard; Haggard was inspired to pursue music after being released in part because of that concert. Eleven years later, on February 24, 1969, Cash played another live concert for the prison inmates. The 1969 concert was released as an album At San Quentin and as a television documentary Johnny Cash in San Quentin (filmed by Granada Television). "A Boy Named Sue," taken from the concert, was Cash's only Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit, peaking at number two, and winning the 1970 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. During the concert, the song "San Quentin," about an inmate's loathing for the prison, received such an enthusiastic response that Cash immediately played an encore.
In 1990, B. B. King recorded Live at San Quentin in the prison; it won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1991.
On November 19, 1957, San Francisco Actors Workshop put on a performance of Waiting for Godot, despite concerns the audience of 1,400 prisoners would not understand the play, it received a standing ovation and would inspire inmates to perform the play
In 2003, heavy metal band Metallica filmed the music video for their song "St. Anger" from the album of the same name in San Quentin, which featured many of the prison inmates and security staff, and also included then-new bassist Robert Trujillo for the first time since being inducted into the band. Parts of the filming of the "St. Anger" video and behind the scenes were included in the group's Some Kind of Monster film in 2004.
On September 7, 2022, the hard rock band “Nickelback” released a song named “San Quentin”.
Film
The 1933 film Ladies They Talk About featured Barbara Stanwyck as an inmate.
The 1937 film San Quentin featured Pat O'Brien as the captain of the yard and Humphrey Bogart as an inmate.
William Beaudine directed the film Men of San Quentin (1942).
Humphrey Bogart played a character who escapes from San Quentin in the 1947 film, Dark Passage.
The 1954 film Duffy of San Quentin tells the story of Clinton Duffy, who was warden of San Quentin between 1940 and 1952.
In 1968, the prison scenes in Woody Allen's film Take the Money and Run were shot in San Quentin.
In the 1993 film Blood In Blood Out, which shows main character Miklo Velka imprisoned in San Quentin.
Quentin, the main villain in the 1997 film Cube, is named after the prison.
In the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You, it is rumored that Patrick Verona, a character played by Heath Ledger, spent a year in San Quentin.
The 2013 film Fruitvale Station used the prison, in which real life character Oscar Grant did time, as a filming location for a flashback scene. Actual prisoners served as extras.
In the 2015 film Ant-Man, the main character Scott Lang / Ant-Man is imprisoned then released from San Quentin for burglary.
In the 2015 Get Hard, Will Ferrell's character James King is sent to San Quentin for six months on federal tax fraud charges.
In the 2018 film Venom and its 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, where the serial killer Cletus Kasady is imprisoned. Eddie Brock visits him to conduct the first of a series of interviews in the post-credits scene.
Fiction, literature and publications
Gang-pulp author Margie Harris wrote a story on San Quentin for the short-lived pulp magazine Prison Stories. The story, titled "Big House Boomerang," appeared in the March 1931 issue. It used San Quentin's brutal jute mill as its setting. Harris' knowledge of the prison came from her days as a newspaper reporter in the Bay Area, and her acquaintance with famous San Quentin prisoner Ed Morrell.
The 1915 novel The Star Rover by Jack London was based in San Quentin. A framing story is told in the first person by Darrell Standing, a university professor serving life imprisonment in San Quentin State Prison for murder. Prison officials try to break his spirit by means of a torture device called "the jacket," a canvas jacket which can be tightly laced so as to compress the whole body, inducing angina. Standing discovers how to withstand the torture by entering a kind of trance state, in which he walks among the stars and experiences portions of past lives.
Podcasts
Ear Hustle is a podcast created by Earlonne Woods with the help of Nigel Poor. Interviews inmates at San Quentin about life on the inside.
See also
San Quentin Six: the six inmates who were accused of participating in the August 21, 1971 escape attempt that left six people dead.
Films set in San Quentin State Prison
The Last Mile (prison rehabilitation program)
References
Further reading
Ashcroft, Lionel "San Quentin Prison, Its Early History and Origins" in Marin County Historical Society Magazine, Vol XVII Spring 1993
Bonner, John C. Hang tough: San Quentin. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1968.
Bookspan, Shelley. A Germ of Goodness: The California State Prison System 1851–1944. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1991
Braly, Malcolm. False starts: a memoir of San Quentin and other prisons. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976. .
Burke, Dennis. Doing time: finding hope at San Quentin. New York: Paulist Press, 2008. .
Davidson, R. Theodore. Chicano prisoners; the key to San Quentin. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. .
Duffy, Clinton T., and Dean Southern Jennings. The San Quentin story. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1950.
Lamott, Kenneth Church. Chronicles of San Quentin; the biography of a prison. New York: D. McKay Co., 1961.
Leibert, Julius A., and Emily Kingsbery. Behind bars; what a chaplain saw in Alcatraz, Folsom, and San Quentin. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965.
Leshne, Carla. "San Quentin Prison: The Origins of the California Corrections System" FoundSF San Quentin Prison: The Origins of the California "Corrections" System - FoundSF
Liberatore, Paul. The road to hell: the true story of George Jackson, Stephen Bingham, and the San Quentin Massacre. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996. .
Nichols, Nancy Ann, James Delahunty, and Alan Hammond Nichols. San Quentin inside the walls. San Quentin, CA: San Quentin Museum Press, 1991. .
Owen, Barbara A. The reproduction of social control: a study of prison workers at San Quentin. New York: Praeger, 1988. .
Tannenbaum, Judith. Disguised as a poem: my years teaching poetry at San Quentin. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2000. .
External links
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. News Accessed 6 January 2008.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Official website
Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Life on death row at San Quentin Prison.
Clark, Richard. The gas chamber. Accessed 6 January 2008.
Online Archive of California. Views of San Quentin Prison and Events, ca. 1925–1935.
San Quentin News California's only inmate-produced newspaper.
San Quentin State Prison Official webpage
San Quentin State Prison Video Clip
San Quentin T.R.U.S.T., to "motivate, educate, prepare and assist men in prison"
Urban Strategies Council. San Quentin Community and Prison Health Project.
San Quentin News Sanquentinblog.com
Prisons in California
1852 establishments in California
Buildings and structures in Marin County, California
Capital punishment in California
Execution sites in the United States
Law enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area |
426714 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton%20Cathedral | Clifton Cathedral | The Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the city of Bristol (not to be confused with the Church of England Bristol Cathedral). Located in the Clifton area of the city, it is the seat and mother church of the Diocese of Clifton and is known as Clifton Cathedral. It has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 2000. A 2014 study noted it to be the only Catholic church built in the 1970s to have been Grade II* listed. It was the first cathedral built under new guidelines arising from the Second Vatican Council.
History
Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles
Prior to the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1791, Roman Catholics in Britain were banned from having public places of worship, and simply being a Catholic priest or running a Catholic school was liable to punishment with life imprisonment. By the time of Catholic Emancipation, and the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, Roman Catholics in Bristol had established a number of local places of worship, some of them in private houses, and in Clifton by the discreet purchase, through a third party, of a plot of land known as 'Stoney Fields' in what is now Park Place, Clifton. In 1834, the construction of a church began there, but it was built on a challenging hillside site and had a history of problematic construction work, making work there difficult. Building stopped 1835, started again in 1843, stopped shortly after and the building lay abandoned until 1848 when a roof was placed on the half-completed building so that it could be used as a church. Two years later, in 1850, Clifton was made an episcopal see and the church became the Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles (1850–1973), intended to act in this capacity until a more fitting cathedral church could be constructed.
Move to Clifton Park
The people of the ProCathedral parish had raised some £250,000 (1970) for restoration of the ProCathedral. However, with reports from the civil engineers in 1964 indicating that the ProCathedral site in Park Place was unsuitable, an anonymous group of local people added to this a donation of £450,000 (1970), on the condition that a new site was found.
From 1962 to 1965 the Second Vatican Council met in Rome, discussing the renewal of the Church in its relationship to the world. The council's decree on liturgical worship focused on the role of the people, with the bishop and their priests in the celebration of the Eucharist. This was to be a strong influence in the design of the new Cathedral and, when built, the cathedral would be the first worldwide to be designed following the new guidelines.
In 1965, architects were commissioned by the Bishop of Clifton, Rt Rev Joseph Rudderham to undertake the design of a new Cathedral on a different site in Clifton. The design was primarily by Ronald J. Weeks, working with Frederick S. Jennett and Antoni Poremba of the Percy Thomas Partnership. Although the firm had little experience in ecclesiastical architecture, Ronald Weeks had contributed a design to the competition for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, and had worked on a new Catholic church in Machynlleth.
Design
The design brief
The design brief was for a 1,000-seat church, with the congregation grouped closely around the High Altar so that they should feel and be a part of the celebration of the Mass, in a building that would last 300 years. Ronald Weeks worked closely with the Church team to develop their ideas for the cathedral. 'We are sure that only...a close working relationship between Architect and Client can achieve the level of 'Architectural Seriousness' advanced by the New Liturgical Movement.' Although Weeks was not a Catholic, he thought that this was an advantage: 'It's surprising how much people take for granted. Not being Catholics we could ask all sorts of questions which appeared naïve – like – “What is an altar?”, in which one would get conflicting answers... each question would lead to a discussion which in turn helped to banish pre-conceived notions so we could plan right from scratch.' As Kulić puts it:
'The approach of Gibberd [at Liverpool] and Weeks were therefore quite different. Gibberd took on the role of art-architect in response to a lack of direction from the client. Weeks's role was more that of a coordinator of the client's requirements, weaving them into a hierarchical and meaningful whole...Weeks was more in tune with the collaborative sociological methods that had been adopted...in the immediate post-war period.' Kulić, comparing the design to that of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (completed 1967), said: 'Neither its bishop nor its architects appeared to wish to use architecture as a way of leaving a mark for posterity, as did both Heenon and Gibberd [at Liverpool]...Liverpool could be proved to be liturgically conservative and naïvely designed, while Clifton could be seen as a model of liturgically advanced and sophisticated planning...Weeks and the Clifton clergy...should be praised for their intimate and knowledgeable collaboration.'
A design emerges
Ronald Weeks presented many potential shapes and forms for the basic ground plan: one like a conch shell; a fan-shaped plan (rejected as it covered the whole of the available site); a circular plan; a coil-shaped plan, and a helix-shaped plan with great concrete beams in a swirling staircase reaching into the sky. The final design was based on groups of hexagons. For Ronald Weeks the 'architecture then flowed logically form the functions, ...moulded in three dimensions to create the internal environment.'
The arrangement of the different parts of the church placed those of least (liturgical) importance on the periphery leading progressively to the more important elements and to the High Altar. The volume of the church expands from an intimate height to a soaring hexagonal spire over the High Altar, and the amount of daylight increases in proportion to the liturgical significance of the space. The concept was that on entering the cathedral at the Baptistery the people would be reminded of their own baptism (and entry into the Church), and from their places in the Nave participate fully in the celebration of the liturgy at a maximum of 15 metres [45 feet] from the High Altar with no pillars or columns intervening. Every effort was to be made to ensure that the interior should be free from distraction in order to help the worshippers to focus their attention on the Gospel being proclaimed and the service of worship in the liturgy, with no windows in the sight-line of the nave.
Kulić compares Clifton to Liverpool:' At Liverpool, the interior is cluttered with indecisive liturgical furnishings but these can easily ignored as the scale and form of the space, the central altar and baldachino, and colors (sic) of light predominate. At Clifton, the various elements of the interior are coherently placed and legible, while the exterior is unassuming. For example, lighting by daylight or electric light was to be concealed, as were any windows within the line of sight of those seated in the Nave. The interior of Clifton Cathedral has a quality of openness rather like that of Liverpool [cathedral], but this was intended to allow fluid movement between different areas, and the liturgical elements seem more definitely fixed and appropriate to their allotted places. If finally, there is a sense of certainty in this building, it is one of organiszation (sic) rather than of image.' Bishop Rudderham pronounced the final design satisfactory: 'Having studied the drawings and the model inside and out I am very much more in tune with the design than I was at the beginning. It has a fine spacious feeling to it. And I think it will be a splendid setting for the liturgy. It brings the people as close as possible to the Altar without crowding them, and there will be plenty of room for our ceremonies.'
'Its planning is more succinct and successful than that at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral because it places the altar to one side, with a horseshoe of seating for the congregation. This quickly became a preferred alternative to the notion of seating entirely 'in the round' because of the clearer view it gave everybody of the celebration.'
The contract construction price was agreed at £601,268 (1970), with the additional cost of the site and other fees this brought the total cost of the new building to £800,000 (1970) [estimated equivalent £11,764,705] – the tender included social space, with car parking for 200 cars and living accommodation for the clergy serving the parish.
Brutalist architecture
Often assumed to take its origin from the English word 'brutal', it is more likely from the French term béton brut' meaning 'raw concrete', a term said to have been popularised by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier during the construction of the Unité d'habitation in 1952. Brutalism is characterised by simple, block-like structures, that are massive (if not necessarily large) and often repeated in a modular fashion. It typically features bare building materials, with the structure exposed entirely and without interior finishes wherever practicable. Concrete is often used for its raw and unpretentious honesty, revealing the basic nature of its construction, by showing the texture of the wooden planks used for the in-situ casting forms. Another key aspect of Brutalism is that the form of the building should be driven by its intended function, and fundamentally, the cathedral design at Clifton is inspired by the analysis of the practical liturgical requirements arising out of the decisions made about the Sacred Liturgy by the bishops assembled in Rome for the Second Council of the Vatican. In that sense it is functionalist, and the design, to a greater or lesser extent may have also been driven by the need for stringent cost economy.
Construction
Construction began in March 1970 by John Laing & Son Ltd, with the contract price agreed at £601,268 – with the additional cost of the site and other fees this brought the total cost of the new building to £800,000. Phil Smith, of Felix J Samuely & Partners was the site engineer; IE Symons & Partners were the Quantity Surveyors, with Engineering Design Consultants having a responsibility for the environmental control, and Ken Murray acting as Clerk of Works. The foundation stone, carved by Simon Verity, was laid on 26 September 1970,Order of Service 26 September 1970, Clifton Diocesan Trustees, Clifton Diocesan Archives and beneath the stone was placed a copper time capsule.
In May 1972, the construction came to a sudden halt due to a national building industry strike and did not resume until September that same year. By November 1972 the brick supports for the internal star beam were removed. Parish Priest Monsignor Thomas Hughes, Fr Peter Harrison & Ken Murray carried out the traditional 'topping out' ceremony in the Spring of 1973.
The building was completed in May 1973. That same year, on 29 June, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the new cathedral was consecrated and opened. Present were John Cardinal Heenan (Archbishop of Westminster), and twenty-nine bishops from around the United Kingdom, with Bishop Joseph Rudderham (7th bishop of Clifton); civic officials and councillors of Bristol; the Italian and Belgian consuls; the architects; Sir William 'Kirby' Laing (representing John Laing Construction Ltd); the Anglican bishops of Bristol, of Bath and Wells, and of Salisbury. The pro-cathedral was closed and its sale provided fund for the new parish school, SS Peter and Paul on Aberdeen Road, Clifton.
Inscribed into the outside wall of the turret to the right of the Portal of Saint Paul and contained within an equilateral triangle is the symbol '√3' along with the letters PTP. This engraving makes a reference to the architects [Percy Thomas Partnership] and to the controlling mathematical formula used by Ronald Weeks in the design.
Exterior
The cathedral is made from in-situ cast reinforced Portland concrete, with some pre-cast panels. The particularly fine, pale concrete has aged well. The imprint of the timber formwork used to mould the concrete can still be seen in the building. All the concrete was mixed by a single man. The vertical walls of the lower part of the building are clad with red Aberdeen Granite composite panels (made by
Marble Mosaic Ltd), with roofing in lead. Rainwater is channelled through simple gargoyles into a number of semi-hexagonal pools around the building.
Inscribed into the outside wall of the turret to the right of the Portal of Saint Paul [see Exterior Plan]. Contained within an equilateral triangle is the symbol '√3' along with the letters PTP. This engraving makes a reference to the architects [Percy Thomas Partnership] and to the proportions of the equilateral triangle (and therefore regular hexagon) used by Ronald Weeks, which provide a deep symmetry in the design.
Flèche and spire
The hexagonal flèche rises to support a three-pronged spire, enclosing a cross. The spire contains two bronze bells, one of the few things transferred from the ProCathedral, by John Taylor & Co (1901, tuned to F and C with diameters of 1’10” and 2’5”, and weights 1-3-26 and 4-2-26).
Ceremonial doors
The three original ceremonial doors (sponsored by Bristol City Council) were made of plywood pivoting on a central point, rendered with an artistic fibreglass by the artist William Mitchell, and bearing the Coat of Arms of the City and County of Bristol on one side and the arms of the Bishop of Clifton Dr Joseph Rudderham on the other side. The fibreglass render was similar to that found on the Ambo (Lectern). The current glass doors, installed in 1995, still bear the same crests.
Katyn Memorial
Close to the West Door [see Exterior Plan] is a large stone memorial to the Katyn Massacre, by Alexander Klecki, installed in 1985. Nearby are the graves of Rt Rev Mervyn Alexander, eighth Bishop of Clifton (1974-2001) and of Rt Rev Mgr Thomas Hughes, Vicar-General and first Parish Priest of the new Cathedral (1973-1981). The inscription on his gravestone reads: 'Si monumentum quaeris circumspice or 'If you are looking for a monument, look around you'.
Presbytery
The clergy accommodation – Cathedral House – is located to the south of the cathedral and was designed by Irena Weeks, Ronald Weeks' wife, who was a designer and also trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture
Interior
Narthex
The narthex is a zone of transition from the busy world of everyday life outside, to a quieter and more intimate spiritual space within the cathedral.
The West Country artist Henry Haig designed the windows. The glass windows use a technique known as dalle de verre – shaped coloured glass pieces mounted in metal frames with epoxy resin – constructed from over 8,000 pieces of glass collected from England, France and Germany. The window closest to the Portal of St Paul is titled 'Jubilation', intended to express the Catholic concept of joy in God's Creation, and prompted by the Second Vatican Council’s instructions on a duty of care for the environment. The window nearer the Portal of St Peter is titled 'Pentecost'. Here the artist has created a swirling image to depict the experience of the Apostles after the death of Jesus, a moment of re-creation for the Church.
Baptistery
The baptistery is located near to the entrance, to remind all those on entering the cathedral of the occasion when at their own baptism they first joined the assembly of God's People. It is in full view of the people sitting in the nave. The font is partly surrounded by a pool and is lit from above by daylight through a hexagonal lantern (skylight), representing the illumination of baptism. The baptistery is lauded by Kulić: 'The architects' treatment of the baptistery was exemplary and further demonstrates their [collaborative] approach...' The Font itself was carved from Portland stone by Simon Verity. Only after carving began did Verity realise that a complete fossil fish was present in the base of the font: 'If I had only known it was there, I would have made it a feature of the interior of the font bowl that you can see today. So instead, I have carved the fishes chasing around the plughole!'. The bowl of the font does show fossilised sea creatures. Around the lip of the font are carved the words: 'Once you were no people, now you are God's People'.
During baptisms the Paschal candle stands near the font (at other time it is on the sanctuary). The paschal candle stand is formed from segments of triangular stainless steel and was designed by Ronald Weeks. In the wall adjacent to the baptistery there are three Holy Oil tabernacles [F on Plan], for the retention of the Holy Oils used in the sacraments of the Church (the Oil of Catechumens, Oil of Chrism and Oil of the Sick).
Sanctuary
The sanctuary space [see Plan & Section], containing the altar, is hexagonal. The weight-bearing star beam supporting the flèche and spire follows the edge of the sanctuary steps. It is 17 m (55 ft) high and pierced with hexagonal holes. On the sanctuary, symbolically closest to the baptistery, is the ambo (or lectern), used for reading the Scriptures. It is covered in fibreglass panels by William Mitchell (similar panels previously covered the three ceremonial doors). The altar [A on Plan], designed by Ronald Weeks, is made of Portland stone, raised on legs (visible from the side) and contains relics of Pope Pius X (1835–1914) and Oliver Plunkett (1625–1681). The lighting ensures that the sanctuary area remains the focus of the cathedral.
The bishop's chair or cathedra [C on Plan] is what gives the church the name "cathedral". Rather than a throne, here, it is a simple chair in a tall ash-wood surround bearing the coat of arms of Joseph Rudderham, seventh bishop of Clifton. Flanking the cathedra are rows of seating, in ash with Robin Day chairs, for the choir (right) and clergy (left). Symbolically, the congregation and clergy sit on the same chairs, indicating that all are equal before God.
Blessed Sacrament Chapel
Located through a tall archway from the sanctuary is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel [see Plan] a place of quiet prayer, as well as smaller or more intimate services. It contains an altar [A on Plan] and an ambo [B on Plan] as
well as the tabernacle, used to store ('reserve') the Eucharist [D on Plan]. Its location in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel reflects the view of the Second Vatican Council that the tabernacle should be separate from the high altar, in a place of prominence and accessible to the congregation.
The artist John Alder, with the guidance of Ronald Weeks, designed the stainless steel tabernacle to reflect the idea of a tent pitched among the people to reflect the original Jewish Tabernacle. The presence of the Eucharist is marked by a lit sanctuary lamp [E on Plan], designed by Ronald Weeks and executed in stainless steel. Brother Patrick, one of the monks of Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire, designed and made the steel railings bordering the space of the chapel.
On 22 March 2020 the Blessed Sacrament Chapel was used for the first live-streamed mass from the cathedral, by Bishop Declan Lang, due to the pausing of public worship as a public health measure during the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic.
Organ
The cost of moving the ProCathedral organ was prohibitive, so a new organ designed by Josef von Glatter-Götz Jr of Rieger Orgelbau of Austria (with John Rowntree) was commissioned at a cost of £18,000 (1973). The triangular and hexagonal structure of the ash-wood casing was designed by Glatter-Götz & Ronald Weeks. It was installed by Martin Pflüger. The organ has 1,830 pipes, with 26 speaking stops and no
extensions or no duplexing. The keyboard, pedal and stop action is entirely mechanical. Apart from 5 reversible foot pedals to the couplers (situated to the left of the swell pedal) there are no playing aids whatsoever. There is no III/I manual coupler. The keyboards are reversed with white sharps and ebony natural keys. The pedal board is a hybrid of the RCO standard pedal board specification (concave and radiating) and a straight pedal board as would have been found in earlier organs. The pedals extend to F and the manuals to G. The blower is a Swiss Meidinger model and the wind supply to the chests of the Schwimmer form.
Nave
There are no columns within the nave, due to the use of the interior star beam (which supports the flèche above). This ensures an uninterrupted view of the liturgy, for every member of the congregation.
The nave seating is uniform, and the same as the sanctuary, to reflect that all people are equal before God. The seating is around the lectern and altar space, reflecting a person's sacramental journey within the Catholic Church. The Robin Day polypropylene chairs, are now recognised as a 'British Design Classic' (In 2009 the polypropylene stacking chair was selected by Royal Mail to appear on a postage stamp as one of eight designs in a 2009 series celebrating "British Design Classics". The cathedral is consulting on replacing the now 46-year-old chairs.
The nave and sanctuary lighting is carefully designed. There are no windows in the sight-line of the congregation and no distractions. Instead, the sanctuary is lit by daylight from hidden skylights in the flèche, supplemented by environmentally-friendly LED lighting designed by Lighting Design and Technology. The lighting is designed so that it is proportion to the liturgical significance of the area, so the sanctuary is the best-lit part of the cathedral. As Kulić noted: 'At Clifton, the architects did not eschew aesthetic expression, but, as [an] example, manipulated light for its symbolic meanings.'
The acoustics of the nave were very important to the designers – in the days before loudspeakers a speaker's voice needed to carry throughout the nave. The larger space over the nave is 'tuned' to a reverberation time of about 1.5 seconds, while the sanctuary space offers the musicians a more satisfactory 7.5 seconds. The plywood tetrahedra in the nave ceiling are part of the acoustic scheme. The cathedral now has a modern loudspeaker system and T Loop, and the acoustics have been described as 'first-rate'.
The nave flooring is made of hexagonal tiles. Richard Gordon, one of the architectural assistants, worked on a ground plan of the building and drew out each tile to determine the number of tiles required.
Ambulatory and Stations of the Cross
Whilst being primarily designed to allow free movement around the periphery of the cathedral, the columned ambulatory is also home to the fourteen Stations of the Cross [S on Plan]. These are episodes from the death (or Passion) of Christ and reflect parts of the via dolorosa in Jerusalem. Special permission had to be sought from the Holy See for the atypical Stations used in the cathedral. Originally intended to be executed in stone (it was thought that these would be damaged by later building work), the Stations were made by William Mitchell using Faircrete (a mixture of concrete, resin and nylon fibres). The artist was asked about what reaction people had to his work: 'Well the work is a bit hairy I suppose, but then so was the experience of crucifixion.'
Sacristy
Beyond the organ the ambulatory leads to the sacristy, which is used for storing vestments and for robing by the choir and clergy. It is not typically open to the public.
Lady Chapel
The Lady Chapel is off the ambulatory, near to the narthex [see Plan]. It is a chapel dedicated to Mary, Mother of Christ. Terry Jones, a young student of sculpture studying at the University of Swansea, was commissioned to fashion in bronze 'Mary the Woman of Faith' a simple design to reflect the deep significance of this woman as the Mother of God [G on Plan]. Rather than a queen dressed in finery, it depicts something closer to the truth: a simple peasant woman, without a young child in her arms.
The votive candelabra hanging in the Lady Chapel [H on Plan] is made from twenty stainless steel equilateral triangles (a regular icosahedron) and was designed and made by Brother Patrick, of Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire. It features in a pop music video (see Appearances in Media section).
Also in the Lady Chapel is a Lampedusa Cross [J on Plan]. This is made from wood from migrant boats destroyed in the Mediterranean and recovered from Lampedusa, Italy between 2012 and 2016. It is similar to the British Museum’s Lampedusa Cross and is intended to reflect Pope Francis’s 2017 'Share the Journey' exhortation for the Church to care for, and show solidarity to, all migrants and asylum seekers.
2015–2018 renovation
The 2015–2018 £3.1 million grant-funded renovation project (part-funded by £1.4m of grants from the World War I Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund) was carried out by Bristol-based Purcell. It involved replacement of the lower, failed asphalt roofs and associated glazing, which were causing leaks and staining and risked closure of some areas of the building, as well as re-leading the higher roof with 86 tons (95 short tons, 77 long tons) of a thicker gauge of lead, and slight modifications to address leaks, working closely with the Lead Sheet Association to create long-lasting work that matched the building's historic aesthetic. Repairs were made to the cladding areas where pieces had flaked or chipped off, using Corennie granite chippings that matched the original materials. A hexagonal glass roof on the left-hand turret of the Portal of St Paul was added to accommodate the fire escape from the roof terrace above the Baptistery.
Clifton International Festival of Music
The cathedral's 'acoustics are first-rate, making the venue a popular one for some of Europe's top classical ensembles.' The annual Clifton International Festival of Music started in 2013, showcasing classical, chamber and choral music. It has featured artists such as The Erebus Ensemble; Tom Williams (assistant director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London); The Tallis Scholars and the FIGO chamber group.
Appearances in the media
As well as numerous appearances in radio religious broadcasts over the years:
The cathedral interior was used as the set for the video of David Essex's UK Singles Chart Number 3 hit Oh! What A Circus (from the 1978 musical Evita by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice). [Video available on YouTube]. The votive candelabra features heavily.
1 September 1974, 18:15-18:45 BBC1 Clifton Cathedral, (Narrator Derek Jones, Director Ruth Lovell, Producer James Dewar (BBC West)
Appearances on BBC's Songs of Praise include:
25 December 1980 10:00-11:15 BBC1 Morning Worship: from Clifton Cathedral
16 September 1984 BBC1 Songs of Praise (video)
24 December 1986 23.30-00:35 BBC1 The First Mass of Christmas: Clifton Cathedral
20 May 2001 17:25-18.00 BBC1 Songs of Praise (Wendy Craig)
9 September 2001 BBC1 Songs of Praise
25 December 2005 BBC1 Christmas Day Service, 'Stranger in the Manger'
In 2011, it hosted the filming of 'Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol' an S4C television programme, that translates as 'Start Singing Start Praising'. The cathedral hosted musicians, singers, cameramen and crew filming for the faith and music programme.
On 14 July 2016. the cathedral was featured in a BBC Two documentary, The Hairy Builder, presented by Dave Myers.
In 2020, the cathedral featured as the interior of Captain Jack's spaceship in the Doctor Who episode Fugitive of the Judoon
The Cathedral hosted the live BBC TV broadcast of Midnight Mass on 24 December 2020, with Bishop Declan Lang presiding; Canon Bosco MacDonald preaching, and a specially written Mass setting (Missa Universalis) to comply with prevailing restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, composed by Richard Jeffrey-Gray.
Archives
The archives of Clifton Cathedral, Bristol are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 38031) (online catalogue), including registers of baptisms, marriages, confirmations, burials and members. The archive also includes notices of banns and minutes of the deanery.
The parish
The cathedral welcomes visitors of all denominations, or none, and is usually open during daylight hours. Please respect the dignity of the building, and any ongoing services.
As of March 2021, mass times are as follows:
Weekdays 09:30
Saturday 10:30, 18:00 (Vigil Mass)
Sunday 08:00, 09:30 (Family Mass), 11:15 (Solemn Mass), 18:00
Masses at St Joseph's Home: Monday-Saturday 10:30, Sunday 11:00, Exposition 16:30, Evening Prayer 15:00
Views of the cathedral architecture
Awards
In 1974 'The Concrete Society' bestowed its annual award on the cathedral in recognition of outstanding merit in the quality of the design and execution of the cathedral. The judges praised the interior as: 'A masterpiece of design – only to be achieved in concrete – with form and material and good acoustics creating an atmosphere which most would find totally satisfying. It is a building where design and execution have gone hand in hand to create architecture. No other material could have been used to such effect.' In 2007 the cathedral was awarded the 'Winner of Winners' Award. Martin Powell, chief executive of The Concrete Society, said: 'Clifton Cathedral has a pleasing external appearance with little evidence of weathering or deterioration. Internally, the appearance is striking with excellent use of natural light on exposed concrete finishes, such as board mark and other patterned forms creating relief pictures.'
The Royal Institute of British Architects made an award in recognition of the outstanding architectural design of the cathedral It also received a Cembureau award for excellence.
Expert opinions
'A heart-lifting Christian temple, inspiring reverence but not awe. A sermon in concrete.'
Historic England, listing the cathedral as Grade II* Listed said: 'Clifton Cathedral achieves a rare integration of materials and spatial quality which is remarkable for a cathedral of any period.' 'The Percy Thomas Partnership produced a powerful and dramatic building, which is perhaps the most important work of one of Britain's largest post-war architectural practices'
LAB, an offshoot of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, said:'Clifton Cathedral was beset with constraints: a small four acre site; an unpromising suburban context; and a small budget (c. £600,000 – the result was called the "ecclesiastical bargain of the 1970s"). Despite or because of these, and in less than eight years from commissioning to consecration, the architects and craftsmen produced a church of superlative quality. Paradoxically the structure is of considerable three-dimensional complexity, and yet the simple spatial arrangement is understandable the moment one enters the building. It attains a mystic simplicity through careful use of humble materials and masterly manipulation of light'George Perkin in Concrete Quarterly described it as 'having a remarkable serenity and delight' coupled with 'an apparent simplicity'.
Mary Haddock, in Building admired 'the hint of theatre in the design; the absence of clutter and garish church ornament; the fine materials and the use of colour; the cold design in stained glass.'
Vladimir Kulić said:'The interior of Clifton Cathedral has a quality of openness rather like that of Liverpool [cathedral], but this was intended to allow fluid movement between different areas, and the liturgical elements seem more definitely fixed and appropriate to their allotted places.'... ' At Liverpool, the interior is cluttered with indecisive liturgical furnishings but these can easily ignored as the scale and from the space...predominate. At Clifton, the various elements of the interior are coherently placed and legible.'Andrew Derrick said: 'By contrast [to Brentwood Cathedral, consecrated 1991] the Percy Thomas Partnership's concrete brutalist cathedral at Clifton was more monumental and permanent in character, betraying no suggestion of diffidence, and following a clearly determined post-conciliar liturgical programme.' 'From the 1970s, one [church] building, Clifton Cathedral, is Grade II* (Listed)'Dr Robert Proctor says: 'Clifton Cathedral has recently been accused of being a 'relativist' and people-centred space, but the experience of the building rebuffs such charges as unfounded – its nave is focused on the sanctuary, and subsidiary spaces fixed in liturgically and symbolically appropriate places; ritual movement is woven into its architectural fabric; light and height give glimpses of transcendence and a clear sense of hierarchy.' and in a later book:'Liverpool Cathedral is something of an architectural precedent for Clifton, especially in the treatment of the podium (Weeks had entered the competition). Inside, the concrete trusses (sic, actually a star beam) over the sanctuary recall the cut-out beams at S. Maria dei Poveri in Milan; and the informal hexagonal geometry is typical of its period. But there is not much point looking for visual precedents with a building so clearly founded on a careful analysis of liturgical function.'...'If the suspicion remains that Clifton Cathedral is not quite as beautiful or exciting as it could have been, it is undeniably intelligent and valuable. Its owners seem to have changed very little in the building in thirty-four years... if Clifton's exterior is, “gaunt and forbidding”, as one Catholic newspaper described it, “will not satisfy everyone's picture of what a church should look like”, but... the interior and its spatial organisation function took precedence, while the exterior showed that the building was merely an envelope around the real human and divine Church that manifested itself in liturgical action.'Ray Newman, on brutalism says:'Bristol's brutalist buildings, as well as being a pragmatic response to the post-war need to build quickly and cheaply, are powerful, sometimes even a beautiful presences in the cityscape... Among Bristol's most exciting buildings of any style or vintage is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Clifton by Percy Thomas & Son. The thrusting spaceship-like spire can be seen for miles around and the more-or-less hexagonal church was apparently unpopular with conservation minded locals and worshippers when it arrived from its home planet in 1974. It was built using especially fine, pale concrete and so hasn't aged as poorly as some similar buildings.'
Gallery
See also
Bishop of Clifton
Diocese of Clifton
Churches in Bristol
References
External links
Clifton Cathedral
Diocese of Clifton
Clifton International Festival of Music
Architectural Description of Clifton Cathedral
Virtual Tour of Clifton Cathedral
Twentieth Century Society Building of the Month
Tourist attractions in Bristol
Clifton
Clifton
Music venues in Bristol
Churches in Clifton, Bristol
Percy Thomas buildings
Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton
Grade II* listed churches in Bristol
Grade II* listed cathedrals
Grade II* listed Roman Catholic churches in England |
426741 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive%20Program%20for%20Socialist%20Economic%20Integration | Comprehensive Program for Socialist Economic Integration | The Comprehensive Program for Socialist Economic Integration was set up in 1971, laying the guidelines for Comecon activity until 1990. The distinction between "market" relations and "planned" relations, made in the discussions within Comecon before the adoption of the 1971 Comprehensive Program, is still a useful approach to understanding Comecon activities. Comecon remained in fact a mixed system, combining elements of both plan and market economies. Although official rhetoric emphasized regional planning, it must be remembered that intra-Comecon relations continued to be conducted among national entities not governed by any supranational authority. They thus interacted on a decentralized basis according to terms negotiated in bilateral and multilateral agreements on trade and co-operation.
Market relations and instruments
It is not surprising, given the size of the Soviet economy, that intra-Comecon trade was dominated by exchanges between the Soviet Union and the other members. Exchanges of Soviet fuels and raw materials for capital goods and manufactured items for consumer consumption had characterized trade, particularly among the original members. The liquidity shortage in the early 1980s forced the European Comecon countries to work to strengthen the importance of intraregional trade. In the early 1980s, intraregional trade rose to 60% of foreign trade of Comecon countries as a whole; for individual members it ranged from 45 to 50% in the case of Hungary, Romania, and the Soviet Union, to 83% for Cuba and 96% for Mongolia.
Trade among the members was negotiated on an annual basis and in considerable detail at the governmental level and was then followed up by interenterprise contracts. Early Comecon efforts to facilitate trade among members concentrated on development of uniform technical, legal, and statistical standards and on encouragement of long-term trade agreements. The 1971 Comprehensive Program sought to liberalize the system somewhat by recommending broad limits to "fixed-quota" trade among members (trade subject to quantitative or value targets set by bilateral trade agreements). Section VI, Paragraph 19 of the Comprehensive Program affirms that "mutual trade in commodities for which no quotas were established shall be carried on beginning in 1971 with a view to stimulating the development of trade turnover, through expansion of the range and assortment of traded commodities, and to making trade in these commodities more brisk." Later in the same paragraph the Comprehensive Program called on members to "seek opportunities to develop the export and import of quota-free commodities and to create conditions essential for trade in such commodities." There was no evidence, however, that this appeal has had significant effect or that quota-free trade has grown in importance under the program.
Prices
The 1971 Comprehensive Program also called for improvement in the Comecon system of foreign trade prices. Administratively set prices, such as those used in intra-Comecon trade, did not reflect costs or relative scarcities of inputs and outputs. For this reason, intra-comecon trade has been based on world market prices. By 1971 a price system governing exchanges among members had developed, under which prices agreed on through negotiation were fixed for five-year periods (corresponding to those of the synchronized, five-year plans of the members). These contract prices were based on adjusted world market prices averaged over the immediately preceding five years; that is, a world-price base was used as the starting point for negotiation. Under this system, therefore, intra-Comecon prices could and did depart substantially from relative prices on world markets.
Although the possibility of breaking this tenuous link with world prices and developing an indigenous system of prices for the Comecon market had been discussed in the 1960s, the evolution of Comecon prices after 1971 went in the opposite direction. Far from a technical or academic matter, the question of prices underlaid vital issues of the terms of, and hence gains from, intra-Comecon trade. In particular, relative to actual world prices, intra-Comecon prices in the early 1970s penalized raw materials exporters and benefited exporters of manufacturers. After the oil price explosion of 1973, Comecon foreign trade prices swung still further away from world prices to the disadvantage of Comecon suppliers of raw materials, in particular the Soviet Union. In view of the extraregional opportunities opened up by the expansion of East-West trade, this yawning gap between Comecon and world prices could no longer be ignored. Hence in 1975, at Soviet instigation, the system of intra-Comecon pricing was reformed.
The reform involved a substantial modification of existing procedures (known as the "Bucharest formula," from the location of the 9th Council Session in 1958 at which it was adopted), but not their abandonment. Under the modified Bucharest formula (which remained in effect in the late 1980s), prices were fixed every year and were based on a moving average of world prices for the preceding five years. The world-price base of the Bucharest formula was thus retained and still represented an average (although now moving) of adjusted world prices for the preceding five years. For 1975 alone, however, the average was for the preceding three years. Under these arrangements, intra-Comecon prices were more closely linked with world prices than before and throughout the remainder of the 1970s rose with world prices, although with a lag. Until the early 1980s, this new system benefited both the Soviet Union and the other Comecon countries since Soviet oil, priced with the lagged formula, was considerably cheaper than Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil, the price of which increased drastically in the 1970s. By 1983-84 this system turned to the Soviet Union's advantage because world market oil prices began to fall, whereas the lagged Soviet oil prices continued to rise.
Exchange rates and currencies
Basic features of the state trading systems of the Comecon countries were multiple exchange rates and comprehensive exchange controls that severely restricted the convertibility of members' currencies.
These features were rooted in the planned character of the members' economies and their systems of administered prices. Currency inconvertibility in turn dictated bilateral balancing of accounts, which has been one of the basic objectives of intergovernmental trade agreements among members. An earlier system of bilateral clearing accounts was replaced on January 1, 1964, by accounts with the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, using the transferable rouble as the unit of account. Although the bank provided a centralized mechanism of trade accounting and swing credits to cover temporary imbalances, it could not establish a system of multilateral clearing because of the centrally planned nature of the members' economies and the inconvertibility of their currencies. In 1987, the transferable rouble remained an artificial currency functioning as an accounting unit and was not a common instrument for multilateral settlement. For this reason, this currency continued to be termed "transferable" and not "convertible."
The member countries recognized that the multiplicity and inconsistency of their administered exchange rates, the separation of their domestic prices from foreign prices, and the inconvertibility of their currencies were significant obstacles to multilateral trade and cooperation. As of early 1987, Comecon lacked not only a flexible means of payment but also a meaningful, standard unit of account. Both problems have vastly complicated the already complex multilateral projects and programs envisaged by the Comprehensive Program. The creation in 1971 of the International Investment Bank provided a mechanism for joint investment financing, but, like the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, this institution could not by itself resolve these fundamental monetary problems.
Recognizing that money and credit should play a more active role in the Comecon system, the Comprehensive Program established a timetable for the improvement of monetary relations. According to the timetable, measures would be taken "to strengthen and extend" the functions of the "collective currency" (the transferable rouble), and the conditions would be studied and prepared "to make the transferable rouble convertible into national currencies and to make national currencies mutually convertible." To this end, steps would be taken to introduce "economically well-founded and mutually coordinated" rates of exchange between members' currencies and "between 1976 and 1979" to prepare the groundwork for the introduction by 1980 of a "single rate of exchange for the national currency of every country." This timetable was not met. Only in Hungary were the conditions for convertibility gradually being introduced by reforms intended to link domestic prices more directly to world prices.
Cooperation in planning
If countries are to gain from trade, that trade must be based on rational production structures reflecting resource scarcities. Since the early 1960s, official Comecon documents have stressed the need to promote among members' economies a more cost-effective pattern of specialization in production. This "international socialist division of labor" would, especially in the manufacturing sector, involve specialization within major branches of industry. In the absence of significant, decentralized allocation of resources within these economies, however, production specialization can be brought about only through the mechanism of the national plan and the investment decisions incorporated in it. In the absence at the regional level of supranational planning bodies, a rational pattern of production specialization among members' economies required coordination of national economic plans, a process that was not merely technical but also posed inescapable political problems.
The coordination of national five-year economic plans was the most traditional form of cooperation among the members in the area of planning. Although the process of consultation underlying plan coordination remained essentially bilateral, Comecon organs were indirectly involved. The standing commissions drew up proposals for consideration by competent, national planning bodies; the Secretariat assembled information on the results of bilateral consultations; and the Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning (created by Comecon in 1971 at the same session at which the Comprehensive Program was adopted) reviewed the progress of plan coordination by members.
In principle, plan coordination covered all economic sectors. Effective and comprehensive plan coordination has, however, been significantly impeded by the continued momentum of earlier parallel development strategies and the desire of members to minimize the risks of mutual dependence (especially given the uncertainties of supply that were characteristic of the members' economies). Plan coordination in practice, therefore, remained for the most part limited to mutual adjustment, through bilateral consultation, of the foreign trade sectors of national five-year plans. Under the Comprehensive Program, there were efforts to extend plan coordination beyond foreign trade to the spheres of production, investment, science, and technology.
Plan coordination
According to the 1971 Comprehensive Program, joint planning, multilateral or bilateral, was to be limited to "interested countries and was "not to interfere with the autonomy of internal planning." Participating countries would, moreover, retain national ownership of the productive capacities and resources jointly planned. But "joint plans worked out by the member countries would be taken into account by them when drafting their long-term or five-year plans."
The Comprehensive Program did not clearly assign responsibility for joint planning to any single agency. On the one hand, "coordination of work concerned with joint planning shall be carried out by the central planning bodies of Comecon member countries or their authorized representatives." On the other hand, "decisions on joint, multilateral planning of chosen branches and lines of production by interested countries shall be based on proposals by countries or Comecon agencies and shall be made by the Comecon Executive Committee, which also determines the Comecon agencies responsible for the organization of such work." Finally, mutual commitments resulting from joint planning and other aspects of cooperation were to be incorporated in agreements signed by the interested parties.
It was extremely difficult to gauge the implementation of plan coordination or joint planning under the Comprehensive Program or to assess the activities of the diverse international economic organizations. There was no single, adequate measure of such cooperation. The only data on activities among the Comecon countries published by the annual Comecon yearbooks referred to merchandise trade, and these trade figures could not be readily associated with cooperative measures taken under the Comprehensive Program. Occasional official figures were published, however, on the aggregate number of industrial specialization and co-production agreements signed by members.
Joint projects
The clearest area of achievement under the Comprehensive Program has been the joint exploitation and development of natural resources for the economies of the member countries. Joint projects eased the investment burden on a single country when expansion of its production capacity was required to satisfy the needs of other members. Particular attention has been given to energy and fuels, forest industries, iron and steel, and various other metals and minerals. Most of this activity was carried out in the former Soviet Union, the great storehouse of natural resources within Comecon.
Joint development projects were usually organized on a "compensation" basis, a form of investment "in kind." Participating members advance materials, equipment and, more recently, manpower and were repaid through scheduled deliveries of the output resulting from, or distributed through, the new facility. Repayment included a modest "fraternal" rate of interest, but the real financial return to the participating countries depended on the value of the output at the time of delivery. Deliveries at contract prices below world prices would provide an important extra return. No doubt the most important advantage from participation in joint projects, however, was the guarantee of long-term access to basic fuels and raw materials in a world of increasing uncertainty of supply of such products.
Concerted Plan
The multilateral development projects concluded under the Comprehensive Program formed the backbone of Comecon's Concerted Plan for the 1976-80 period. The program allotted 9 billion roubles (nearly US$12 billion at the official 1975 exchange rate of US$1.30 per rouble) for joint investments. The Orenburg project was the largest project under the Comprehensive Program. It was undertaken by all East European Comecon countries and the Soviet Union at an estimated cost ranging from the equivalent of US$5 billion to US$6 billion, or about half of the cost of all Comecon projects under the Concerted Plan. It consisted of a natural gas complex at Orenburg in western Siberia and the 2,677-kilometer Union (Soiuz) natural-gas pipeline, completed in 1978, which links the complex to the western border of the Soviet Union. Construction of a pulp mill in Ust' Ilim (in central Siberia) was the other major project under this program.
These two projects differed from other joint Comecon investments projects in that they were jointly planned and jointly built in the host country (the Soviet Union in both cases). Although the other projects were jointly planned, each country was responsible only for construction within its own borders. Western technology, equipment, and financing played a considerable role. The Soviet Union owned the Orenburg complex and the Ust' Ilim installation and was repaying its East European co-investors at a 2% interest rate with an agreed-upon amount of natural gas and wood pulp.
The early 1980s were characterized by more bilateral investment specialization but on a much smaller scale than required for the Orenburg and Ust' Ilim projects. In these latter projects, Eastern Europe provided machinery and equipment for Soviet multilateral resource development. Work also progressed on the previously mentioned Long-Term Target Programs for Cooperation.
Cooperation in science and technology
To supplement national efforts to upgrade indigenous technology, the 1971 Comprehensive Program emphasized cooperation in science and technology. The development of new technology was envisaged as a major object of cooperation; collaboration in resource development and specialization in production were to be facilitated by transfers of technology between members. The 1971 Comecon session, which adopted the Comprehensive Program, decided to establish the Special Council Committee for Scientific and Technical Cooperation to ensure the organization and fulfillment of the provisions of the program in this area. Jointly planned and coordinated research programs have extended to the creation of joint research institutes and centers. In terms of number of patents, documents, and other scientific and technical information exchanges, the available data indicate that the Soviet Union has been the dominant source of technology within Comecon. It has, on the whole, provided more technology to its East European partners than it has received from them, although the balance varies considerably from country to country depending upon relative levels of industrial development. Soviet science also formed the base for several high-technology programs for regional specialization and cooperation, such as nuclear power and computers (see ES EVM).
The Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technical Progress up to the Year 2000, adopted in December 1985, has boosted cooperation in science and technology in the late 1980s. The program set forth 93 projects and 800 subprojects within 5 broad areas of development. A Soviet ministry supervised each of the areas and was responsible for the technical level and quality of output, compliance with research and production schedules, costs, and sales. Each project was headed by a Soviet organization, which awarded contracts to other Comecon-member organizations. The Soviet project heads, who were not responsible to domestic planners, had extensive executive powers of their own and will closely supervise all activities. The program represented a fundamentally new approach to multilateral collaboration and a first step toward investing Comecon with some supranational authority.
Labor resources
Just as the 1971 Comprehensive Program stimulated investment flows and technology transfers among members, it also increased intra-Comecon flows of another important factor of production: labor. Most of the transfers occurred in connection with joint resource development projects, e.g., Bulgarian workers aiding in the exploitation of Siberian forest resources, Polish workers assisting in the construction of the Union pipeline, or Vietnamese workers helping on the Friendship pipeline in the Soviet Union. Labor was also transferred in response to labor imbalances in member countries. Hungarian workers, for example, were sent to work in East Germany under a bilateral agreement between the two countries. Such transfers, however, are restricted by the universal scarcity of labor that has emerged with the industrialization of the less developed Comecon countries. Moreover, the presence of foreign workers has raised practical and ideological issues in socialist planned economies. Cooperation in the area of labor has been by no means limited to planned exchanges of manpower. Comecon countries have exchanged information on experience in manpower planning and employment and wage policies through Comecon organs and activities.
Changes in the mid-1980s
By 1987, Comecon's Comprehensive Program, adopted in 1971, had undergone considerable change. Multilateral planning faded into traditional bilateral cooperation, and the Bucharest formula for prices assumed a revised form. The 1985 Comprehensive Program for the Development of Science and Technology or, as some Western analysts call it, the "Gorbachev Charter," was Comecon's new blueprint for taking a firm grip on its future. Experience in the early 1980s showed that turning to the West and Japan for technological advancement put Comecon in a very dangerous position because it pulled the East European members further away from the Soviet Union and threatened to leave the entire organization at the mercy of the West. The purpose of the 1985 program was to offset centrifugal forces and reduce Comecon's vulnerability to "technological blackmail" through broadened mutual cooperation, increased efficiency of cooperation, and improved quality of output.
The success of the 1985 program would be closely tied to the success of Gorbachev's changes in the Soviet economy. Major projects for the 1986-90 period included a 5,600 km natural-gas pipeline from the Yamburg Peninsula (in northern Siberia) to Eastern Europe; the Krivoy Rog (in the Ukraine), a mining and enrichment combine that would produce 13 million tons of iron ore annually; the production and exchange of 500 million roubles' worth (approximately US$650 million) of equipment for nuclear power plants; and joint projects for extracting coal in Poland, magnesite in Czechoslovakia, nickel in Cuba, and nonferrous metals in Mongolia.
References
Comecon
1971 documents |
426743 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph%20coloring | Graph coloring | In graph theory, graph coloring is a special case of graph labeling; it is an assignment of labels traditionally called "colors" to elements of a graph subject to certain constraints. In its simplest form, it is a way of coloring the vertices of a graph such that no two adjacent vertices are of the same color; this is called a vertex coloring. Similarly, an edge coloring assigns a color to each edge so that no two adjacent edges are of the same color, and a face coloring of a planar graph assigns a color to each face or region so that no two faces that share a boundary have the same color.
Vertex coloring is often used to introduce graph coloring problems, since other coloring problems can be transformed into a vertex coloring instance. For example, an edge coloring of a graph is just a vertex coloring of its line graph, and a face coloring of a plane graph is just a vertex coloring of its dual. However, non-vertex coloring problems are often stated and studied as-is. This is partly pedagogical, and partly because some problems are best studied in their non-vertex form, as in the case of edge coloring.
The convention of using colors originates from coloring the countries of a map, where each face is literally colored. This was generalized to coloring the faces of a graph embedded in the plane. By planar duality it became coloring the vertices, and in this form it generalizes to all graphs. In mathematical and computer representations, it is typical to use the first few positive or non-negative integers as the "colors". In general, one can use any finite set as the "color set". The nature of the coloring problem depends on the number of colors but not on what they are.
Graph coloring enjoys many practical applications as well as theoretical challenges. Beside the classical types of problems, different limitations can also be set on the graph, or on the way a color is assigned, or even on the color itself. It has even reached popularity with the general public in the form of the popular number puzzle Sudoku. Graph coloring is still a very active field of research.
Note: Many terms used in this article are defined in Glossary of graph theory.
History
The first results about graph coloring deal almost exclusively with planar graphs in the form of the coloring of maps.
While trying to color a map of the counties of England, Francis Guthrie postulated the four color conjecture, noting that four colors were sufficient to color the map so that no regions sharing a common border received the same color. Guthrie's brother passed on the question to his mathematics teacher Augustus De Morgan at University College, who mentioned it in a letter to William Hamilton in 1852. Arthur Cayley raised the problem at a meeting of the London Mathematical Society in 1879. The same year, Alfred Kempe published a paper that claimed to establish the result, and for a decade the four color problem was considered solved. For his accomplishment Kempe was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and later President of the London Mathematical Society.
In 1890, Percy John Heawood pointed out that Kempe's argument was wrong. However, in that paper he proved the five color theorem, saying that every planar map can be colored with no more than five colors, using ideas of Kempe. In the following century, a vast amount of work was done and theories were developed to reduce the number of colors to four, until the four color theorem was finally proved in 1976 by Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken. The proof went back to the ideas of Heawood and Kempe and largely disregarded the intervening developments.
The proof of the four color theorem is noteworthy, aside from its solution of a century-old problem, for being the first major computer-aided proof.
In 1912, George David Birkhoff introduced the chromatic polynomial to study the coloring problem, which was generalised to the Tutte polynomial by Tutte, both of which are important invariants in algebraic graph theory. Kempe had already drawn attention to the general, non-planar case in 1879, and many results on generalisations of planar graph coloring to surfaces of higher order followed in the early 20th century.
In 1960, Claude Berge formulated another conjecture about graph coloring, the strong perfect graph conjecture, originally motivated by an information-theoretic concept called the zero-error capacity of a graph introduced by Shannon. The conjecture remained unresolved for 40 years, until it was established as the celebrated strong perfect graph theorem by Chudnovsky, Robertson, Seymour, and Thomas in 2002.
Graph coloring has been studied as an algorithmic problem since the early 1970s: the chromatic number problem (see below) is one of Karp's 21 NP-complete problems from 1972, and at approximately the same time various exponential-time algorithms were developed based on backtracking and on the deletion-contraction recurrence of . One of the major applications of graph coloring, register allocation in compilers, was introduced in 1981.
Definition and terminology
Vertex coloring
When used without any qualification, a coloring of a graph almost always refers to a proper vertex coloring, namely a labeling of the graph's vertices with colors such that no two vertices sharing the same edge have the same color. Since a vertex with a loop (i.e. a connection directly back to itself) could never be properly colored, it is understood that graphs in this context are loopless.
The terminology of using colors for vertex labels goes back to map coloring. Labels like red and blue are only used when the number of colors is small, and normally it is understood that the labels are drawn from the integers
A coloring using at most colors is called a (proper) -coloring. The smallest number of colors needed to color a graph is called its chromatic number, and is often denoted . Sometimes is used, since is also used to denote the Euler characteristic of a graph. A graph that can be assigned a (proper) -coloring is -colorable, and it is -chromatic if its chromatic number is exactly . A subset of vertices assigned to the same color is called a color class, every such class forms an independent set. Thus, a -coloring is the same as a partition of the vertex set into independent sets, and the terms -partite and -colorable have the same meaning.
Chromatic polynomial
The chromatic polynomial counts the number of ways a graph can be colored using some of a given number of colors. For example, using three colors, the graph in the adjacent image can be colored in 12 ways. With only two colors, it cannot be colored at all. With four colors, it can be colored in 24 + 4⋅12 = 72 ways: using all four colors, there are 4! = 24 valid colorings (every assignment of four colors to any 4-vertex graph is a proper coloring); and for every choice of three of the four colors, there are 12 valid 3-colorings. So, for the graph in the example, a table of the number of valid colorings would start like this:
The chromatic polynomial is a function that counts the number of -colorings of . As the name indicates, for a given the function is indeed a polynomial in . For the example graph, , and indeed .
The chromatic polynomial includes more information about the colorability of than does the chromatic number. Indeed, is the smallest positive integer that is not a zero of the chromatic polynomial
Edge coloring
An edge coloring of a graph is a proper coloring of the edges, meaning an assignment of colors to edges so that no vertex is incident to two edges of the same color. An edge coloring with colors is called a -edge-coloring and is equivalent to the problem of partitioning the edge set into matchings. The smallest number of colors needed for an edge coloring of a graph is the chromatic index, or edge chromatic number, . A Tait coloring is a 3-edge coloring of a cubic graph. The four color theorem is equivalent to the assertion that every planar cubic bridgeless graph admits a Tait coloring.
Total coloring
Total coloring is a type of coloring on the vertices and edges of a graph. When used without any qualification, a total coloring is always assumed to be proper in the sense that no adjacent vertices, no adjacent edges, and no edge and its end-vertices are assigned the same color. The total chromatic number of a graph is the fewest colors needed in any total coloring of .
Unlabeled coloring
An unlabeled coloring of a graph is an orbit of a coloring under the action of the automorphism group of the graph. The colors remain labeled; it is the graph that is unlabeled.
There is an analogue of the chromatic polynomial which counts the number of unlabeled colorings of a graph from a given finite color set.
If we interpret a coloring of a graph on vertices as a vector in , the action of an automorphism is a permutation of the coefficients in the coloring vector.
Properties
Upper bounds on the chromatic number
Assigning distinct colors to distinct vertices always yields a proper coloring, so
The only graphs that can be 1-colored are edgeless graphs. A complete graph of n vertices requires colors. In an optimal coloring there must be at least one of the graph's m edges between every pair of color classes, so
More generally a family of graphs is -bounded if there is some function such that the graphs in can be colored with at most colors, for the family of the perfect graphs this function is .
The 2-colorable graphs are exactly the bipartite graphs, including trees and forests.
By the four color theorem, every planar graph can be 4-colored.
A greedy coloring shows that every graph can be colored with one more color than the maximum vertex degree,
Complete graphs have and , and odd cycles have and , so for these graphs this bound is best possible. In all other cases, the bound can be slightly improved; Brooks' theorem states that
Brooks' theorem: for a connected, simple graph G, unless G is a complete graph or an odd cycle.
Lower bounds on the chromatic number
Several lower bounds for the chromatic bounds have been discovered over the years:
If G contains a clique of size k, then at least k colors are needed to color that clique; in other words, the chromatic number is at least the clique number:
For perfect graphs this bound is tight. Finding cliques is known as the clique problem.
Hoffman's bound: Let be a real symmetric matrix such that whenever is not an edge in . Define , where are the largest and smallest eigenvalues of . Define , with as above. Then:
: Let be a positive semi-definite matrix such that whenever is an edge in . Define to be the least k for which such a matrix exists. Then
Lovász number: The Lovász number of a complementary graph is also a lower bound on the chromatic number:
Fractional chromatic number: The fractional chromatic number of a graph is a lower bound on the chromatic number as well:
These bounds are ordered as follows:
Graphs with high chromatic number
Graphs with large cliques have a high chromatic number, but the opposite is not true. The Grötzsch graph is an example of a 4-chromatic graph without a triangle, and the example can be generalized to the Mycielskians.
Theorem (, , ): There exist triangle-free graphs with arbitrarily high chromatic number.
To prove this, both, Mycielski and Zykov, each gave a construction of an inductively defined family of triangle-free graphs but with arbitrarily large chromatic number. Burling (1965) constructed axis aligned boxes in whose intersection graph is triangle-free and requires arbitrarily many colors to be properly colored. This family of graphs is then called the Burling graphs. The same class of graphs is used for the construction of a family of triangle-free line segments in the plane, given by Pawlik et al. (2014). It shows that the chromatic number of its intersection graph is arbitrarily large as well. Hence, this implies that axis aligned boxes in as well as line segments in are not χ-bounded.
From Brooks's theorem, graphs with high chromatic number must have high maximum degree. But colorability is not an entirely local phenomenon: A graph with high girth looks locally like a tree, because all cycles are long, but its chromatic number need not be 2:
Theorem (Erdős): There exist graphs of arbitrarily high girth and chromatic number.
Bounds on the chromatic index
An edge coloring of G is a vertex coloring of its line graph , and vice versa. Thus,
There is a strong relationship between edge colorability and the graph's maximum degree . Since all edges incident to the same vertex need their own color, we have
Moreover,
Kőnig's theorem: if G is bipartite.
In general, the relationship is even stronger than what Brooks's theorem gives for vertex coloring:
Vizing's Theorem: A graph of maximal degree has edge-chromatic number or .
Other properties
A graph has a k-coloring if and only if it has an acyclic orientation for which the longest path has length at most k; this is the Gallai–Hasse–Roy–Vitaver theorem .
For planar graphs, vertex colorings are essentially dual to nowhere-zero flows.
About infinite graphs, much less is known.
The following are two of the few results about infinite graph coloring:
If all finite subgraphs of an infinite graph G are k-colorable, then so is G, under the assumption of the axiom of choice. This is the de Bruijn–Erdős theorem of .
If a graph admits a full n-coloring for every n ≥ n0, it admits an infinite full coloring .
Open problems
As stated above, A conjecture of Reed from 1998 is that the value is essentially closer to the lower bound,
The chromatic number of the plane, where two points are adjacent if they have unit distance, is unknown, although it is one of 5, 6, or 7. Other open problems concerning the chromatic number of graphs include the Hadwiger conjecture stating that every graph with chromatic number k has a complete graph on k vertices as a minor, the Erdős–Faber–Lovász conjecture bounding the chromatic number of unions of complete graphs that have at most one vertex in common to each pair, and the Albertson conjecture that among k-chromatic graphs the complete graphs are the ones with smallest crossing number.
When Birkhoff and Lewis introduced the chromatic polynomial in their attack on the four-color theorem, they conjectured that for planar graphs G, the polynomial has no zeros in the region . Although it is known that such a chromatic polynomial has no zeros in the region and that , their conjecture is still unresolved. It also remains an unsolved problem to characterize graphs which have the same chromatic polynomial and to determine which polynomials are chromatic.
Algorithms
Polynomial time
Determining if a graph can be colored with 2 colors is equivalent to determining whether or not the graph is bipartite, and thus computable in linear time using breadth-first search or depth-first search. More generally, the chromatic number and a corresponding coloring of perfect graphs can be computed in polynomial time using semidefinite programming. Closed formulas for chromatic polynomials are known for many classes of graphs, such as forests, chordal graphs, cycles, wheels, and ladders, so these can be evaluated in polynomial time.
If the graph is planar and has low branch-width (or is nonplanar but with a known branch decomposition), then it can be solved in polynomial time using dynamic programming. In general, the time required is polynomial in the graph size, but exponential in the branch-width.
Exact algorithms
Brute-force search for a k-coloring considers each of the assignments of k colors to n vertices and checks for each if it is legal. To compute the chromatic number and the chromatic polynomial, this procedure is used for every , impractical for all but the smallest input graphs.
Using dynamic programming and a bound on the number of maximal independent sets, k-colorability can be decided in time and space . Using the principle of inclusion–exclusion and Yates's algorithm for the fast zeta transform, k-colorability can be decided in time for any k. Faster algorithms are known for 3- and 4-colorability, which can be decided in time and , respectively. Exponentially faster algorithms are also known for 5- and 6-colorability, as well as for restricted families of graphs, including sparse graphs.
Contraction
The contraction of a graph G is the graph obtained by identifying the vertices u and v, and removing any edges between them. The remaining edges originally incident to u or v are now incident to their identification (i.e., the new fused node uv). This operation plays a major role in the analysis of graph coloring.
The chromatic number satisfies the recurrence relation:
due to , where u and v are non-adjacent vertices, and is the graph with the edge added. Several algorithms are based on evaluating this recurrence and the resulting computation tree is sometimes called a Zykov tree. The running time is based on a heuristic for choosing the vertices u and v.
The chromatic polynomial satisfies the following recurrence relation
where u and v are adjacent vertices, and is the graph with the edge removed. represents the number of possible proper colorings of the graph, where the vertices may have the same or different colors. Then the proper colorings arise from two different graphs. To explain, if the vertices u and v have different colors, then we might as well consider a graph where u and v are adjacent. If u and v have the same colors, we might as well consider a graph where u and v are contracted. Tutte's curiosity about which other graph properties satisfied this recurrence led him to discover a bivariate generalization of the chromatic polynomial, the Tutte polynomial.
These expressions give rise to a recursive procedure called the deletion–contraction algorithm, which forms the basis of many algorithms for graph coloring. The running time satisfies the same recurrence relation as the Fibonacci numbers, so in the worst case the algorithm runs in time within a polynomial factor of for n vertices and m edges. The analysis can be improved to within a polynomial factor of the number of spanning trees of the input graph. In practice, branch and bound strategies and graph isomorphism rejection are employed to avoid some recursive calls. The running time depends on the heuristic used to pick the vertex pair.
Greedy coloring
The greedy algorithm considers the vertices in a specific order ,…, and assigns to the smallest available color not used by 's neighbours among ,…,, adding a fresh color if needed. The quality of the resulting coloring depends on the chosen ordering. There exists an ordering that leads to a greedy coloring with the optimal number of colors. On the other hand, greedy colorings can be arbitrarily bad; for example, the crown graph on n vertices can be 2-colored, but has an ordering that leads to a greedy coloring with colors.
For chordal graphs, and for special cases of chordal graphs such as interval graphs and indifference graphs, the greedy coloring algorithm can be used to find optimal colorings in polynomial time, by choosing the vertex ordering to be the reverse of a perfect elimination ordering for the graph. The perfectly orderable graphs generalize this property, but it is NP-hard to find a perfect ordering of these graphs.
If the vertices are ordered according to their degrees, the resulting greedy coloring uses at most colors, at most one more than the graph's maximum degree. This heuristic is sometimes called the Welsh–Powell algorithm. Another heuristic due to Brélaz establishes the ordering dynamically while the algorithm proceeds, choosing next the vertex adjacent to the largest number of different colors. Many other graph coloring heuristics are similarly based on greedy coloring for a specific static or dynamic strategy of ordering the vertices, these algorithms are sometimes called sequential coloring algorithms.
The maximum (worst) number of colors that can be obtained by the greedy algorithm, by using a vertex ordering chosen to maximize this number, is called the Grundy number of a graph.
Heuristic algorithms
Two well-known polynomial-time heuristics for graph colouring are the DSatur and recursive largest first (RLF) algorithms.
Similarly to the greedy colouring algorithm, DSatur colours the vertices of a graph one after another, expending a previously unused colour when needed. Once a new vertex has been coloured, the algorithm determines which of the remaining uncoloured vertices has the highest number of different colours in its neighbourhood and colours this vertex next. This is defined as the degree of saturation of a given vertex.
The recursive largest first algorithm operates in a different fashion by constructing each color class one at a time. It does this by identifying a maximal independent set of vertices in the graph using specialised heuristic rules. It then assigns these vertices to the same color and removes them from the graph. These actions are repeated on the remaining subgraph until no vertices remain.
The worst-case complexity of DSatur is , where is the number of vertices in the graph. The algorithm can also be implemented using a binary heap to store saturation degrees, operating in where is the number of edges in the graph. This produces much faster runs with sparse graphs. The overall complexity of RLF is slightly higher than DSatur at .
DSatur and RLF are exact for bipartite, cycle, and wheel graphs.
Parallel and distributed algorithms
In the field of distributed algorithms, graph coloring is closely related to the problem of symmetry breaking. The current state-of-the-art randomized algorithms are faster for sufficiently large maximum degree Δ than deterministic algorithms. The fastest randomized algorithms employ the multi-trials technique by Schneider et al.
In a symmetric graph, a deterministic distributed algorithm cannot find a proper vertex coloring. Some auxiliary information is needed in order to break symmetry. A standard assumption is that initially each node has a unique identifier, for example, from the set {1, 2, ..., n}. Put otherwise, we assume that we are given an n-coloring. The challenge is to reduce the number of colors from n to, e.g., Δ + 1. The more colors are employed, e.g. O(Δ) instead of Δ + 1, the fewer communication rounds are required.
A straightforward distributed version of the greedy algorithm for (Δ + 1)-coloring requires Θ(n) communication rounds in the worst case − information may need to be propagated from one side of the network to another side.
The simplest interesting case is an n-cycle. Richard Cole and Uzi Vishkin show that there is a distributed algorithm that reduces the number of colors from n to O(log n) in one synchronous communication step. By iterating the same procedure, it is possible to obtain a 3-coloring of an n-cycle in O( n) communication steps (assuming that we have unique node identifiers).
The function , iterated logarithm, is an extremely slowly growing function, "almost constant". Hence the result by Cole and Vishkin raised the question of whether there is a constant-time distributed algorithm for 3-coloring an n-cycle. showed that this is not possible: any deterministic distributed algorithm requires Ω( n) communication steps to reduce an n-coloring to a 3-coloring in an n-cycle.
The technique by Cole and Vishkin can be applied in arbitrary bounded-degree graphs as well; the running time is poly(Δ) + O( n). The technique was extended to unit disk graphs by Schneider et al. The fastest deterministic algorithms for (Δ + 1)-coloring for small Δ are due to Leonid Barenboim, Michael Elkin and Fabian Kuhn. The algorithm by Barenboim et al. runs in time O(Δ) + (n)/2, which is optimal in terms of n since the constant factor 1/2 cannot be improved due to Linial's lower bound. use network decompositions to compute a Δ+1 coloring in time .
The problem of edge coloring has also been studied in the distributed model. achieve a (2Δ − 1)-coloring in O(Δ + n) time in this model. The lower bound for distributed vertex coloring due to applies to the distributed edge coloring problem as well.
Decentralized algorithms
Decentralized algorithms are ones where no message passing is allowed (in contrast to distributed algorithms where local message passing takes places), and efficient decentralized algorithms exist that will color a graph if a proper coloring exists. These assume that a vertex is able to sense whether any of its neighbors are using the same color as the vertex i.e., whether a local conflict exists. This is a mild assumption in many applications e.g. in wireless channel allocation it is usually reasonable to assume that a station will be able to detect whether other interfering transmitters are using the same channel (e.g. by measuring the SINR). This sensing information is sufficient to allow algorithms based on learning automata to find a proper graph coloring with probability one.
Computational complexity
Graph coloring is computationally hard. It is NP-complete to decide if a given graph admits a k-coloring for a given k except for the cases k ∈ {0,1,2} . In particular, it is NP-hard to compute the chromatic number. The 3-coloring problem remains NP-complete even on 4-regular planar graphs. On graphs with maximal degree 3 or less, however, Brooks' theorem implies that the 3-coloring problem can be solved in linear time. Further, for every k > 3, a k-coloring of a planar graph exists by the four color theorem, and it is possible to find such a coloring in polynomial time.
The best known approximation algorithm computes a coloring of size at most within a factor O(n(log log n)2(log n)−3) of the chromatic number. For all ε > 0, approximating the chromatic number within n1−ε is NP-hard.
It is also NP-hard to color a 3-colorable graph with 5 colors, 4-colorable graph with 7 colours, and a k-colorable graph with colors for k ≥ 5.
Computing the coefficients of the chromatic polynomial is #P-hard. In fact, even computing the value of is #P-hard at any rational point k except for k = 1 and k = 2. There is no FPRAS for evaluating the chromatic polynomial at any rational point k ≥ 1.5 except for k = 2 unless NP = RP.
For edge coloring, the proof of Vizing's result gives an algorithm that uses at most Δ+1 colors. However, deciding between the two candidate values for the edge chromatic number is NP-complete. In terms of approximation algorithms, Vizing's algorithm shows that the edge chromatic number can be approximated to within 4/3,
and the hardness result shows that no (4/3 − ε )-algorithm exists for any ε > 0 unless P = NP. These are among the oldest results in the literature of approximation algorithms, even though neither paper makes explicit use of that notion.
Applications
Scheduling
Vertex coloring models to a number of scheduling problems. In the cleanest form, a given set of jobs need to be assigned to time slots, each job requires one such slot. Jobs can be scheduled in any order, but pairs of jobs may be in conflict in the sense that they may not be assigned to the same time slot, for example because they both rely on a shared resource. The corresponding graph contains a vertex for every job and an edge for every conflicting pair of jobs. The chromatic number of the graph is exactly the minimum makespan, the optimal time to finish all jobs without conflicts.
Details of the scheduling problem define the structure of the graph. For example, when assigning aircraft to flights, the resulting conflict graph is an interval graph, so the coloring problem can be solved efficiently. In bandwidth allocation to radio stations, the resulting conflict graph is a unit disk graph, so the coloring problem is 3-approximable.
Register allocation
A compiler is a computer program that translates one computer language into another. To improve the execution time of the resulting code, one of the techniques of compiler optimization is register allocation, where the most frequently used values of the compiled program are kept in the fast processor registers. Ideally, values are assigned to registers so that they can all reside in the registers when they are used.
The textbook approach to this problem is to model it as a graph coloring problem. The compiler constructs an interference graph, where vertices are variables and an edge connects two vertices if they are needed at the same time. If the graph can be colored with k colors then any set of variables needed at the same time can be stored in at most k registers.
Other applications
The problem of coloring a graph arises in many practical areas such as pattern matching, sports scheduling, designing seating plans, exam timetabling, the scheduling of taxis, and solving Sudoku puzzles.
Other colorings
Ramsey theory
An important class of improper coloring problems is studied in Ramsey theory, where the graph's edges are assigned to colors, and there is no restriction on the colors of incident edges. A simple example is the theorem on friends and strangers, which states that in any coloring of the edges of , the complete graph of six vertices, there will be a monochromatic triangle; often illustrated by saying that any group of six people either has three mutual strangers or three mutual acquaintances. Ramsey theory is concerned with generalisations of this idea to seek regularity amid disorder, finding general conditions for the existence of monochromatic subgraphs with given structure.
Other colorings
Adjacent-vertex-distinguishing-total coloring A total coloring with the additional restriction that any two adjacent vertices have different color sets
Acyclic coloring Every 2-chromatic subgraph is acyclic
B-coloring a coloring of the vertices where each color class contains a vertex that has a neighbor in all other color classes.
Circular coloring Motivated by task systems in which production proceeds in a cyclic way
Cocoloring An improper vertex coloring where every color class induces an independent set or a clique
Complete coloring Every pair of colors appears on at least one edge
Defective coloring An improper vertex coloring where every color class induces a bounded degree subgraph.
Distinguishing coloring An improper vertex coloring that destroys all the symmetries of the graph
Equitable coloring The sizes of color classes differ by at most one
Exact coloring Every pair of colors appears on exactly one edge
Fractional coloring Vertices may have multiple colors, and on each edge the sum of the color parts of each vertex is not greater than one
Hamiltonian coloring Uses the length of the longest path between two vertices, also known as the detour distance
Harmonious coloring Every pair of colors appears on at most one edge
Incidence coloring Each adjacent incidence of vertex and edge is colored with distinct colors
Inherited vertex coloring A set of vertex colorings induced by perfect matchings of edge-colored Graphs.
Interval edge coloring A color of edges meeting in a common vertex must be contiguous
List coloring Each vertex chooses from a list of colors
List edge-coloringEach edge chooses from a list of colors
L(h, k)-coloring Difference of colors at adjacent vertices is at least h and difference of colors of vertices at a distance two is at least k. A particular case is L(2,1)-coloring.
Oriented coloring Takes into account orientation of edges of the graph
Path coloring Models a routing problem in graphs
Radio coloring Sum of the distance between the vertices and the difference of their colors is greater than k+1, where k is a positive integer.
Rank coloring If two vertices have the same color i, then every path between them contain a vertex with color greater than i
Subcoloring An improper vertex coloring where every color class induces a union of cliques
Sum coloring The criterion of minimalization is the sum of colors
Star coloring Every 2-chromatic subgraph is a disjoint collection of stars
Strong coloring Every color appears in every partition of equal size exactly once
Strong edge coloring Edges are colored such that each color class induces a matching (equivalent to coloring the square of the line graph)
T-coloring Absolute value of the difference between two colors of adjacent vertices must not belong to fixed set T
Total coloring Vertices and edges are colored
Centered coloring Every connected induced subgraph has a color that is used exactly once
Triangle-free edge coloring The edges are colored so that each color class forms a triangle-free subgraph
Weak coloring An improper vertex coloring where every non-isolated node has at least one neighbor with a different color
Coloring can also be considered for signed graphs and gain graphs.
See also
Critical graph
Graph coloring game
Graph homomorphism
Hajós construction
Mathematics of Sudoku
Multipartite graph
Uniquely colorable graph
Notes
References
(= Indag. Math. 13)
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. Translated into English in Amer. Math. Soc. Translation, 1952, .
External links
High-Performance Graph Colouring Algorithms Suite of 8 different algorithms (implemented in C++) used in the book A Guide to Graph Colouring: Algorithms and Applications (Springer International Publishers, 2015).
Graph Coloring Page by Joseph Culberson (graph coloring programs)
CoLoRaTiOn by Jim Andrews and Mike Fellows is a graph coloring puzzle
Links to Graph Coloring source codes
Code for efficiently computing Tutte, Chromatic and Flow Polynomials by Gary Haggard, David J. Pearce and Gordon Royle
A graph coloring Web App by Jose Antonio Martin H.
Coloring
NP-complete problems
NP-hard problems
Computational problems in graph theory
Extensions and generalizations of graphs |
426747 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devin%20Townsend | Devin Townsend | Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also had an extensive solo career and has released a total of 28 albums across all of his projects as of 2022.
After performing in a number of heavy metal bands in high school, Townsend was discovered in 1993 by a record label who asked him to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai's album Sex & Religion. After recording and touring with Vai, he was discouraged by what he found in the music industry and vented his anger on his 1995 solo album Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, which he released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He soon assembled a band of the same name, with whom he released the critically acclaimed album City in 1997. Since then, he has released three more studio albums with Strapping Young Lad, along with solo material released under his own independent HevyDevy Records label.
Townsend's solo albums have featured a varying lineup of supporting musicians and are a mix of hard rock, progressive metal, ambient, and new-age. In 2002, he formed the Devin Townsend Band, which recorded and toured for two of his solo releases. In 2007, he disbanded both Strapping Young Lad and the Devin Townsend Band, taking a break from touring to spend more time with his family. After a two-year hiatus, he began recording again and soon announced the formation of the Devin Townsend Project. This band began with a series of four albums, released from 2009 to 2011 and each written in a different genre. Townsend continued to record and tour under the new moniker until January 2018.
Across all his bands and solo projects, Townsend has released 23 studio albums and four live albums. His trademark production style, featuring a heavily multi-tracked wall of sound, has been compared to the styles of Robert Fripp and Frank Zappa. His vocal delivery ranges from screaming to an opera-esque singing, while his musical style is rooted in metal and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality.
Biography
Early musical career (1972–1994)
Devin Garrett Townsend was born in New Westminster on May 5, 1972. He picked up the banjo when he was five and began playing guitar when he was 12. As a young teenager, he befriended Brian "Beav" Waddell, who would later play guitars as part of the Devin Townsend Band and bass on the Devin Townsend Project. He participated in several metal bands while he was in high school, and founded Grey Skies at the age of 19. Around the same time he joined a popular local group called Caustic Thought, replacing Jed Simon on guitar and playing alongside bassist Byron Stroud, both of whom would later become members of Townsend's flagship band, Strapping Young Lad. In 1993, Townsend began writing material under the name Noisescapes, a project he later described as "just as violent as Strapping Young Lad".
Townsend recorded a Noisescapes demo and sent copies to various record labels. Relativity Records responded to Townsend with a record deal and Townsend began work on what was to be the first Noisescapes album, Promise. Shortly afterward, the label introduced him to musician Steve Vai. Impressed with Townsend's vocal work, Vai offered him the role of the lead vocalist on his new album Sex & Religion. After recording Sex & Religion, Townsend accompanied Vai on a world tour in support of the album. Townsend soon landed a second tour, this time with the opening band of Vai's tour, the Wildhearts. He played live with the band throughout half of 1994 in Europe, and appeared as a guest musician on their single Urge. Ginger, the band's frontman, remained close friends with Townsend, later co-writing several songs on Infinity and the Christeen + 4 Demos EP.
While on tour with the Wildhearts, Townsend formed a short-lived thrash metal project with Metallica's then-bassist Jason Newsted. The band, known as IR8, featured Newsted on vocals and bass, Townsend on guitar, and Tom Hunting of Exodus on drums. The group recorded a few songs together, although Townsend says that they never intended to go further than that. "People heard about it and thought we wanted to put out a CD, which is absolutely not true," he explains. "People took this project way too seriously." A demo tape was put together, but the material was not released until 2002, when Newsted published the IR8 vs. Sexoturica compilation.
Though Townsend was proud of what he had accomplished so early in his career, he was discouraged by his experience with the music industry. "I was becoming a product of somebody else's imagination, and it was mixing with my own personality," he later reflected. "This combination was appalling." He pushed to get his own projects off the ground. Despite touring with other musicians, however, Townsend continued to face rejection of his own music. Relativity Records dropped Noisescapes from their label shortly after Townsend accepted Vai's offer, seeing no commercial appeal in Townsend's music. "I have a hunch they only offered me a deal to get me to sing with Steve," he mused. While touring with the Wildhearts, Townsend received a phone call from Monte Conner, then-A&R representative for Roadrunner Records, expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him. After being briefly signed by the label, the offer was ultimately rescinded by Cees Wessels, the owner of Roadrunner, who regarded Townsend's recordings as "just noise".
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing through Infinity (1994–1998)
In 1994, Century Media Records offered Townsend a contract to make "some extreme albums". He agreed to a five-album deal with the record label, and also provided much of the guitar work on the 1994 album Millennium and the 1995 album Hard Wired by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly. Townsend began to record material under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He avoided using his real name at this point in career, looking for a fresh start after his high-profile Vai gig. "At the beginning, I wanted to avoid at all cost to use my name because I was known as the singer for Steve Vai and it wasn't the best publicity to have," he later explained. "I was playing somebody else's music and I was judged in respect to that music." Townsend produced and performed nearly all the instruments on the debut studio album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, which was released in April 1995.
Following the release of the record, Townsend and several other musician friends he knew in Vancouver recorded a rock opera in 1996 entitled Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics. Written and recorded in under a month, the album tells the fictional story of a death metal band from Poland that sells out becoming a punk rock band to achieve mainstream success. Townsend founded his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records, to release the album.
Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record City, including prolific metal drummer Gene Hoglan, along with Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass. The industrial-influenced album was released in 1997. To this day, the album is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work, with Metal Maniacs calling it "groundbreaking" and Revolver naming it "one of the greatest metal albums of all time". Townsend himself considers it the band's "ultimate" album. Later that year, Townsend released his second solo album, Ocean Machine: Biomech. The album featured a mix of hard rock, ambient, and progressive rock.
Dating back to the Sex and Religion tour, Townsend had been writing solo material for a project called Ocean Machine. The album, initially entitled Biomech, was recorded in 1995 and originally queued for release later that year in December on HevyDevy Records, a label created by Townsend solely for material he releases on his own. Due to unknown reasons, Ocean Machine: Biomech was put off for release until late 1996, but when the time came to finally release it Townsend had become unsatisfied with the recordings, rerecorded the entire album, and finally released in Japan on July 21, 1997.
During this period, Townsend was also asked to audition for the lead vocalist spot in Judas Priest after Rob Halford's departure. Though a fan of the band, he turned down the offer, explaining that: "No one would want to see Devin Townsend singing for Judas Priest. I mean, it's ridiculous."
After the completion of City and Ocean Machine: Biomech, Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. He explained, "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In December 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's City record and Ocean Machine: Biomech." After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his third solo album, Infinity, which he described as "the parent project" of City and Ocean Machine: Biomech, with music influenced by Broadway. Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments. Infinity was released in October 1998. Later in his career, Townsend has cited Infinity as his favorite solo record.
With Infinity, Townsend began to label all albums outside of Strapping Young Lad under his own name, dropping the Ocean Machine moniker, to reduce confusion. He wanted to show that despite the highly varied nature of his projects, they are all simply aspects of his identity. The album Biomech was relabeled and redistributed as Ocean Machine: Biomech, under Townsend's name, to reflect the new arrangement. Townsend's bandmates began to play two sets at their shows, one as Strapping Young Lad, and one as the Devin Townsend Band, playing songs from Townsend's solo albums.
Physicist and Terria (1999–2001)
Townsend's next project took several years to come to fruition. After the creation of the IR8 demo tape, Townsend and Jason Newsted had begun work on a new project called Fizzicist, which they described as "heavier than Strapping Young Lad". When the IR8 tape was leaked, Newsted's Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich learned of the project. Hetfield was "fucking pissed" that Newsted was playing outside the band, and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects, although Townsend would later downplay Metallica's role in Newsted's unavailability. With the project stalled, Townsend instead wrote the album himself, entitling it Physicist. Townsend assembled his Strapping Young Lad bandmates to record it, the only time this lineup was featured on a Devin Townsend album. The thrash-influenced Physicist was released in June 2000, and is generally considered a low point in Townsend's career. Hoglan and the rest of the band were dissatisfied with the way the sound was mixed, and Townsend considers it his worst album to date.
Feeling he had "ostracized a bunch of fans" with Physicist, Townsend felt he had the chance to make a more personal and honest record. Townsend was inspired one morning while driving across Canada with his band, and looked to write an "introspective" album dedicated to his homeland. He produced and recorded Terria, a "highly illustrated stream-of-consciousness" album, with Gene Hoglan on drums, Craig McFarland on bass and Jamie Meyer on keyboards. Townsend cited Ween's White Pepper as an inspiration for the album. Terria was released in November 2001.
Strapping Young Lad through Synchestra (2003–2006)
Townsend's solo run lasted until 2002. After a five-year break from recording, Strapping Young Lad reunited to record a new album. Townsend credits the album, Strapping Young Lad, as an emotional response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States. "If the world's about to blow up," said Townsend, "let's write the soundtrack for it." The album's lyrics were based more around fear and insecurity than the "hostile" lyrics of City. Musically, Strapping Young Lad was less industrial than City, and more reminiscent of death metal, with a "larger-than-life" rock production style. Townsend cited Front Line Assembly, Grotus, and Samael's Passage as influences. The self-titled album was released in February 2003. It received lukewarm reviews, with critics finding it inferior to City, but it was the band's first charting album, entering at 97th place on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.
While Strapping Young Lad was being reunited, Townsend formed a new, permanent band "on par with Strapping" to record and tour for his solo releases. The Devin Townsend Band consisted of Brian "Beav" Waddell on guitar, Mike Young on bass, Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums, and Dave Young on keyboards. Townsend performed guitar, vocals, and production, as he did in Strapping Young Lad. Townsend worked on the band's first album, Accelerated Evolution, at the same time he was working on Strapping Young Lad, spending half the week on one and half on the other. Accelerated Evolution, named for the pace of putting a new band together in under a year, was released a month after Strapping Young Lad. Mike G. of Metal Maniacs called it "the album of the year", praising it for "the hard-to-accomplish trick of being extreme yet accessible, simultaneously heavy 'n' rockin' yet majestic and beautiful." Prior to the formation of the Devin Townsend Band, Townsend had represented his solo releases live with the Strapping Young Lad lineup; the band would play one set of Strapping Young Lad songs and one set of Devin Townsend songs. After the release of Accelerated Evolution, Townsend's two bands toured separately for their separate albums.
Strapping Young Lad began working on their next album, Alien, in March 2004. Feeling that the band's previous album did not live up to expectations, Townsend decided to take his music to a new extreme. During the process of writing and recording the new album, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder because he began expressing doubt about the initial diagnosis, and decided to stop taking the medication, but continued with his substance abuse, and he eventually "flipped out" during the process, and later called the resulting album "toxic" and "psychologically very unhealthy". Although Townsend considered the album an "impenetrable mass of technicality", it was well received on its release, selling 3,697 copies in its first week and appearing on several Billboard charts. Around this time, Townsend also contributed to the soundtrack of the video game Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
Shortly thereafter Townsend began putting together the next Devin Townsend Band record, with the working title Human. Townsend intended the album as the more "pleasant" counterpart to Alien. "It's basically a record about coming back down to earth after being in space with Alien for a while." The album ended up being renamed Synchestra and was released in January 2006. Townsend showcased a wide variety of musical styles in Synchestra, blending his trademark "pop metal" with influences from folk, polka, and Middle Eastern music.
The final Strapping Young Lad album, The New Black, was released later in 2006.
Ziltoid the Omniscient and hiatus (2006–2008)
Townsend withdrew from touring to spend time with his family. From home, Townsend completed his second solo ambient album, The Hummer, releasing it exclusively on his website in November 2006.
In May 2007, Townsend released Ziltoid the Omniscient, a tongue-in-cheek rock opera about the eponymous fictional alien. This was truly a solo album; he programmed the drums using Drumkit from Hell, a software drum machine that uses samples recorded by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah and played all other instruments himself. Shortly after the album's release, Townsend announced that he no longer planned to tour or make albums with Strapping Young Lad or the Devin Townsend Band. He explained that he was "burnt out on travelling, touring, and self promotion" and wished to do production work, write albums, and spend time with his family without the stress of interviews or touring.
In 2008, Townsend lent his voice to characters in several episodes of the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse (see Musician cameos in Metalocalypse for more). The original character design for Pickles the Drummer, one of the series' main characters, bore a striking resemblance to Townsend. The series' co-creator Brendon Small acknowledged the similarity, and altered the design before the series began. "We made sure he didn't look like Devin Townsend. We gave him the goatee and the dreadover so he wouldn't look like that."
Creation of the Devin Townsend Project (2008–2012)
After removing himself from the music industry, Townsend cut his trademark hair off and gave up drinking and smoking. Townsend found it "disconcerting" that he had difficulty writing music without drugs, and that he had trouble identifying his purpose as a musician. He spent a year producing albums in absence of writing, but found it unrewarding and decided to "pick up the guitar and just write". This began a period of "self discovery" where he learned "how to create without drugs".
Over two years, Townsend wrote over 60 songs, and found that they fit into "four distinct styles". In March 2009, Townsend announced his plans for a four-album series called Devin Townsend Project, with the goal of clarifying his musical identity and being "accountable" for the persona he projects to the public. The project's concept includes a different "theme" and a different group of musicians on each album.
Ki, the first album of the Devin Townsend Project tetralogy was written to "set the stage" for the subsequent albums. Townsend channeled his new-found control and sobriety into Ki, a "tense, quiet" album, which contrasts with much of the music he had been known for. Additional female vocals were provided by Ché Aimee Dorval (Casualties of Cool). Ki was released in May 2009.
The second entry, a "commercial, yet heavy" album called Addicted, was released in November 2009 and features lead vocals from Townsend and Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen. Brian "Beav" Waddell was recruited from the Devin Townsend Band to play bass.
Townsend returned to the stage in January 2010, touring North America with headliner Between the Buried and Me as well as Cynic and Scale the Summit. This was followed by a headlining tour in Australia and a series of high-profile shows in Europe (for example co-headlining the Brutal Assault festival in Czech Republic). He headlined a North American tour with UK label mates TesseracT supporting, which began in October 2010, and toured in Europe with support from Aeon Zen and Anneke van Giersbergen.
The third and fourth albums in the Devin Townsend Project series, Deconstruction and Ghost, were released simultaneously on June 21, 2011. In December 2011 all four Devin Townsend Project albums with additional material were released as the Contain Us box set. Townsend performed all four of Devin Townsend Project albums in London and recorded them for a DVD box set called By a Thread: Live in London 2011 that was released on June 18, 2012. The first three shows were held at the University of London Union, November 10–12, 2011. Ki, Addicted, and Deconstruction were each performed on one night, respectively. The show for Ghost was held at the Union Chapel, Islington on November 13, 2011. These four shows were each entitled "An Evening with the Devin Townsend Project".
Despite the Devin Townsend Project being originally a four-album series, Townsend decided to continue working under the moniker and released the fifth album, Epicloud on September 18, 2012. Again featuring Anneke van Giersbergen on vocals, Epicloud appeared on several European charts, peaking at number 8 in Finland. On October 27, 2012, Townsend performed a one-off show covering his musical career called The Retinal Circus at Roundhouse in London. The 3-hour performance was recorded in high definition and released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 30, 2013. Also in 2012, Townsend played bass on the debut Bent Sea album Noistalgia. He also produced the record.
Another project Townsend has mentioned several times between 2009 and 2012 is Obviouser, an album featuring "creepy, bass driven apocalyptic music" created with an "Ampeg rig" and an "Icelandic choir". Working with many projects simultaneously at that time, Townsend stated in 2012 the Obviouser project is vying for pole position until "he wakes up and says 'he wants to do it'".
Casualties of Cool and Z2 (2012–2014)
After Deconstruction and Ghost, Townsend announced a new album, Casualties of Cool, with which he started to work after the release of Epicloud. The album features Ché Aimee Dorval (from Ki) on vocals and Morgan Ågren on drums. Townsend described the album sounds like "haunted Johnny Cash songs" and "late night music", highlighting it will be different than anything he has done before. Townsend referred the music of the album to be "closest to his heart" at this point of his life, and that it is an important and satisfying project he does not want to rush.
The album was completed in November 2013, and a bonus disc was also made for the album, containing the leftover material from the main album as well as songs from Ghost 2, the unreleased compilation of leftover tracks from Ghost. Originally in 2012, Townsend stated that this album will be the sixth and the last album in the Devin Townsend Project series, but he ultimately confirmed that Casualties of Cool is its own project. Townsend also started a crowdfunding campaign through PledgeMusic to support the release of the album. The funding quickly reached its goal, and all additional funds were put directly to Townsend's upcoming projects. Casualties of Cool was released on May 14, 2014. The album was re-issued worldwide on January 15, 2016, containing an additional DVD with live footage from the 2014 concert at the Union Chapel in London.
From 2009, Townsend worked on a long-running album project called Z2, a sequel to the album Ziltoid the Omniscient (2007). Originally in 2012, he teased he "may have just written the heaviest thing (he's) ever done" for the album, and stated there might a surprising lack of Ziltoid himself appearing on the album. However, in August 2013, a London-based radio station, TeamRock Radio, aired the first episode of Ziltoid Radio, a satirical radio show hosted solely by Ziltoid, this being one element of the Z2 project. Townsend also discussed a "ZTV" or "Ziltoid TV" to precede the album. Townsend later stated he found the project hard to schedule and work with amidst touring and writing, stating "it takes a lot of effort" to keep the content and its tongue-in-cheek humour entertaining.
After writing ideas for over 70 songs, Townsend stated he would finally finish the whole project, followed by the announcement the album would be released on October 27, 2014. The recording process started in May 2014, and the final project includes the album, a Ziltoid TV program and a live show, with a "big graphic novel comic" and a documentary. The album itself is a double album, with disc one featuring Devin Townsend Project material and disc two containing the main album. According to Townsend, the album's theme is "Ziltoid against the world". The Devin Townsend Project disc is called Sky Blue and the Ziltoid disc is called Dark Matters.
After finishing the album, Townsend stated the project was "punishing" and an "absolute nightmare to complete" due to amount of material against tight schedules. He also described the hardship of the project by telling "if he was ever going to start drinking [again], the last months would have been it", but now "he's starting to get excited again". Later, "after the chaos of finishing it had subsided", Townsend stated he is really satisfied with the result.
Townsend recently discussed at least a year-long hiatus, beginning after the Z2 show taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on April 13, 2015. During the indefinitely long break Townsend intends to "recharge his batteries", "get some inspiration and experiences" and to "see what the next chapter holds" for him.
Transcendence (2014–2017)
In 2014, Townsend recorded a poppy-sounding song in Los Angeles with producer Brian Howes, but has decided against releasing. Townsend mentioned that he is against the project being contrived due to the current hard rock undertones in popular music. He described it as a "lukewarm heavy metal Devin song". On December 11, 2015, Townsend announced via Twitter that he was recording vocals for a song by Steve Vai.
In early 2016, Townsend completed the seventh DTP album, entitled Transcendence at Armoury Studios in Vancouver. The album was released on September 9.
On March 17, 2017, Devin Townsend Project played Ocean Machine live in its entirety at Hammersmith Apollo. On October 30, 2017, Devin announced that he was working on four new albums.
Break from Devin Townsend Project, Empath (2018–2020)
On January 31, 2018, Townsend announced on his Facebook page that he was taking a break from the Devin Townsend Project and focusing on a number of other projects, including the four new albums previously announced.
On January 15, 2019, Townsend announced his album, Empath, on which work had been completed, and slated for release on March 29, 2019. The album's purpose is "to see what would happen if all the styles that make up [Townsend's] current interests were finally represented in one place.", and about "allowing the audience a feeling for a variety of musical emotions. The musical dynamics represented on this single album are broad, challenging, and immense. To approach this sort of work with a long history of what makes heavy music 'heavy', allows this to be done with a type of power rarely heard." Guests on the album include former Frank Zappa collaborators Mike Keneally, Morgan Ågren and Steve Vai, as well as Samus Paulicelli, Chad Kroeger, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Ché Aimee Dorval from Casualties of Cool, and Ryan Dahle. A series of documentary videos detailing the making of Empath has been released on YouTube. He appeared on the YouTube show Tuesday Talks hosted by Mary Spender.
On March 12, 2020, Townsend postponed the remainder of his Empath Vol. 1 North American Tour due to the coronavirus pandemic. Four days later, on March 16, 2020, Townsend launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of the canceled tour. It raised $80,804 of the $50,000 goal. As a "thank you" to his fans, Townsend launched what he dubbed "Quarantine Project", releasing new music in the process. Among the new tracks is a new mix of "A New Reign" from the Sky Blue album. Townsend collaborated with the likes of Kat Epple, Samus Paulicelli, Morgan Ågren, Federico Paulovich, Ché Aimee Dorval, Mattias Eklundh, Wes Hauch and Liam Wilson.
The Puzzle, Snuggles and Lightwork (2020–present)
In April 2020, Townsend began uploading a chronological series of podcasts on his official YouTube channel, with each episode discussing one or two of the albums in his discography. These podcasts have been monologue discussions and reflections on the albums themselves, the influences, the personnel, and the state of Townsend's life during the times these albums were being written and recorded.
In August 2020, Townsend announced the upcoming release of Empath Live Volume 1: Order of Magnitude, a live concert recorded during the first Empath Tour, and Empath Live Volume 2: By Request, a virtual concert for fans in lieu of the second tour, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 5, he hosted a streaming premiere of Empath Live Volume 2, a prerecorded virtual show featuring Samus Paulicelli on drums, Wes Hauch on guitar, Liam Wilson on bass, and Townsend on guitar and vocals. Each of them performed separately in front of green screens, with eight different camera setups each, to enhance the virtual concert experience. In 2021, he released two live albums: Devolution Series #1 - Acoustically Inclined, Live in Leeds, which was a recording of an acoustic show in Leeds in 2019, released on March 19 and Devolution Series #2 – Galactic Quarantine which was a recording of the aforementioned virtual show, released on June 25.
Townsend's next project was a double release including the albums The Puzzle and Snuggles. The two albums were released on 3 December 2021, after two release delays "due to a massive shortage in raw materials and plastics, preventing the physical releases, particularly the boxsets and vinyls, from getting completed and shipped out in time.". The Puzzle is based on the chaotic experience of the 2020 pandemic while Snuggles is said to be more calm; both albums are "collaborative multimedia art projects" accompanied by films and, in the case of The Puzzle, a graphic novel. These were followed by another solo album in 2022 called Lightwork. A tour in support of Lightwork was announced with dates in April–May 2022. Ultimately, Townsend cancelled his solo tour dates in favour of opening for American progressive metal band Dream Theater's European Tour in early 2022. with his Lightwork tour being postponed until early 2023.
On October 16th, 2023, via Inside Out Music's YouTube channel, Townsend announced a new podcast series by publishing its first episode. The podcast was to be published monthly via the same channel. Based on the first episode, as well as Townsend's Instagram, the new series' aim was, as opposed to the original Devin Townsend Podcast series (published on Townsend's YouTube channel), not to analyze his past records, but rather to 'focus on a real time observation of the next ones.'
Personal life
Townsend is married to Tracy Turner, whom he began dating when he was 19. She gave birth to their first son, Reyner Liam Johnstan Townsend, on October 4, 2006. Townsend and his family live in the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam.
Townsend has been a vegetarian for ethical reasons since around the early 1990s, but does not consider himself an activist. He has revealed in interviews that he suffers from depression. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 1998, a condition that was unknowingly exacerbated by his alcohol and drug use at the time; he has been sober and free of anti-psychotic medication since 2007.
Musical style
Projects
Townsend designed his two main projects, the aggressive Strapping Young Lad and his more melodic solo material, as counterparts. Strapping Young Lad's music was a diverse mix of extreme metal genres: death metal, thrash metal, black metal and industrial metal. Townsend's solo material blends many genres and influences, with elements of atmospheric ambient music, hard rock and prog rock, along with glam metal and arena rock. He described it as "a highly orchestrated type of expansive music based in hard rock and heavy metal. Dense and produced with a large amount of ambient elements." Despite Strapping Young Lad's greater mainstream acceptance, Townsend identifies more with his solo material, and has never intended Strapping Young Lad to be the focus of his music.
Production style
Townsend is synesthetic, experiencing musical notes as colors and shapes. Partly due to this, he simultaneously composes and mixes his music in what he describes as "all autopilot", practically without any deliberate application of music theory. As a self-proclaimed "fan of multitracking", Townsend has developed a trademark production style featuring an atmospheric, layered "wall of sound". Townsend has drawn critical praise for his productions, which "are always marked by a sense of adventure, intrigue, chaotic atmospherics and overall aural pyrotechnics", according to Mike G. of Metal Maniacs. Townsend mainly uses Pro Tools to produce his music, alongside other software suites such as Steinberg Cubase, Ableton Live, Logic Pro and Waves Audio plugins. Townsend's musical ideas and production style have drawn comparisons to Phil Spector and Frank Zappa. Townsend has carried out the mixing and mastering for most of his solo work himself. He has also mixed and remixed work for other artists such as Rammstein, August Burns Red and Misery Signals.
Playing style
Townsend mainly uses Open C tuning for both six and seven string guitar. He now also uses Open B tuning and Open B flat tuning on his six string guitars. Townsend's technique varies from fingerpicking, power chords and polychords to sweep-picked arpeggios and tapping techniques. He is also known for his heavy use of reverb and delay effects. He has expressed that he has no taste for shred guitar, saying that "Musically it doesn't do anything for me" and that he only solos when he thinks that he can within the context of the song.
Vocals
Townsend employs a variety of vocal techniques in his work, including screaming, growling or even falsetto. His vocal range has been noted to be over 5 octaves and 3 notes (C2 to F#7), noting that he mainly masters 2nd and 5th octaves for clean but also raucous vocals and 5th to 7th octaves for purely screamed vocals. Daniel Lake of Decibel Magazine classifies Townsend's voice as a "semi-operatic tenor".
Influences
Townsend draws influence from a wide range of music genres, most prominently heavy metal. Townsend has cited, among others, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Broadway musicals, ABBA, new-age music, Zoviet France, King's X, Morbid Angel, Barkmarket, Grotus, Jane's Addiction, Fear Factory and Godflesh as his influences, and has also expressed his admiration for Meshuggah on several occasions, calling them "the best metal band on the planet". Townsend lists Paul Horn and Ravi Shankar as the "two most important musicians in his life". The two songs that Townsend credits with changing the way he thought about music are "The Burning Down" by King's X, and "Up the Beach" by Jane's Addiction. City was influenced by New York noise rock bands such as Foetus and Cop Shoot Cop, and The New Black'''s influences were Meshuggah, and "more traditional metal" like Metallica. He is also influenced by orchestral and classical composers such as John Williams, Trevor Jones and Igor Stravinsky.
Discography
Steve VaiSex & Religion (July 27, 1993)
Strapping Young LadHeavy as a Really Heavy Thing (April 4, 1995)City (February 11, 1997)Strapping Young Lad (February 11, 2003)Alien (March 22, 2005)The New Black (July 11, 2006)
Solo albumsPunky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics (March 19, 1996)Ocean Machine: Biomech (July 21, 1997)Infinity (June 17, 1998)Physicist (June 26, 2000)Terria (November 6, 2001)Devlab (December 4, 2004)The Hummer (November 15, 2006)Ziltoid the Omniscient (May 27, 2007)Empath (March 29, 2019)The Puzzle (December 3, 2021)Snuggles (December 3, 2021)Lightwork (November 4, 2022)
The Devin Townsend BandAccelerated Evolution (March 31, 2003)Synchestra (January 31, 2006)Z2: Dark Matters (October 27, 2014)
Devin Townsend Project Ki (May 22, 2009)Addicted (November 17, 2009)Deconstruction (June 20, 2011)Ghost (June 20, 2011)Epicloud (September 18, 2012)Z2: Sky Blue (October 27, 2014)Transcendence (September 9, 2016)
Casualties of CoolCasualties of Cool'' (May 14, 2014)
Equipment
Townsend played ESP six and seven-string guitars from 1994 to 2009 during his endorsement with ESP. In the early days of Strapping Young Lad, he was seen playing an ESP Flying V-style 6-string with a single EMG 81 pickup and a custom graphic designed by Townsend. This was the guitar that was used during the shows in support of Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, and the shows in support of City. In addition to this guitar, Townsend also utilized an ESP EXP Explorer-style guitar with two EMG 81 pickups. During the late 1990s and the 2000s, he was also seen with two ESP Telecaster models (one white, one black) with EMG 81 pickups, which were used for the majority of his six-string material. Townsend also utilized two ESP Custom Shop Horizon 7-string guitars with a 27" baritone scale and EMG 81-7 pickups, which closely resembled ESP's Stephen Carpenter signature model. He has also been seen with the Stephen Carpenter SC-607 and SC-607B. He was also occasionally seen playing what is believed to be a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS during Accelerated Evolution and Synchestra-era shows (mainly for performing "Deadhead"). At the time, this was the only guitar Devin Townsend was seen with that did not have EMG pickups, but was modified with a Seymour Duncan STK-S2n Hot Stack in the neck.
After returning to public view in 2009, Townsend began endorsing Peavey, and later released a PXD Devin Townsend signature model, essentially a Flying V-style 7-string baritone guitar with an EMG 81-7 pickup and a 7-string EMG SA single coil pickup in the neck position. Peavey also made Townsend a number of custom 7-strings, including one with a single EMG 81-7 pickup that is used for playing most of the material on Ziltoid The Omniscient. Aside from his signature model, Townsend also utilizes two custom 6-string Predator models made by Peavey; one with a natural flame-top finish and the DTP logo on the 12th fret, and one in a black finish with a Floyd Rose vibrato unit (for Open C and Open B tuning, respectively).
In 2012, Townsend announced that he was using other guitars besides his Peavey models, including two Sadowsky Telecaster models and a number of Framus semi-hollow body guitars. In regard to this, Townsend stated on HeavyBlogIsHeavy.com: "The Peavey situation was intense and a real eye opener in terms of how things REALLY work in the business side of endorsements, and I can't say I really enjoyed it, but we got the guitar out and everyone is nice to each other so all good... I really like that V. However, I decided to use other guitars for other stuff as well, a Sadowsky Tele set, a Framus hollowbody group of guitars, and the V's. No one is entirely happy with that decision, but I find it difficult to not be straight up with folks about what I want to play and do and have typically pissed people off as a result... The bottom line though is I like what I like and it is important to the music to be accurate with tones and vibe. The guitars I actually play, I really like, regardless of brand."
For Strapping Young Lad and solo projects from 1996 – 2004, Townsend mainly used the Peavey 5150 head, with Mesa Boogie and Marshall 4x12 cabinets, for his main sounds. Around 2005, Townsend began to utilize Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and Stiletto amp heads, boosted with a Maxon OD808, running into Mesa/Boogie 2x12 cabinets, and Marshall 4x12 cabinets. He would also run a 3rd signal into a 1990s Roland GP-100, which would be amplified by a Mesa/Boogie tube power amp. He would still make use of the Peavey head for some solo recordings, such as Synchestra. He switched to a Fractal Audio AxeFx system in 2010, replacing his entire Mesa/Boogie and Marshall rig. He has been through a number of outboard modules that were mainly used for echo/reverb effects, something that Townsend is known for as a part of his signature sound. One of his favorites is the Roland GP-100, a unit that Townsend still uses along with his Fractal units. He also used a TC Electronic G-Force in tandem with his Mesa/Boogie rig. Townsend also utilizes D'Addario Strings (.010-.052 and .010-.060) and Planet Waves Custom Series cables.
As of 2014, he reintroduced the Dual Rectifier into his rig using a wet-dry-wet setup with the Dual Rectifier being the center dry sound and the AxeFx being the stereo effected sounds using the model of the Dual Rectifier as a basis. In 2015, for live shows, the Dual Rectifier was replaced with a Kemper Profiler Amplifier, and the Roland GP-100 was retired in favor of effects in the Fractal Axe-FX.
At NAMM 2016, Townsend introduced a signature set of Fishman pickups in the Fluence line and a signature Framus guitar that features an original body shapes, the Fishman pickups and the Evertune Bridge.
In November 2017, Townsend posted to social media and forums that his equipment list had been reduced, explaining how he had eliminated a number of pieces of equipment from his setup. He wrote, "I was working with many amp companies, but I have made my choice and have settled on a single Axe Fx 2XL+ for my ENTIRE chain. I use Framus Guitars, Fishman Pickups,
D'Addario strings, Fractal Axe Fx. One Rig to rule them all =)"
In 2018 Mooer released the Devin Townsend signature Ocean Machine pedal, featuring twin delays, reverb and looper with infinite feedback in a genuine collaboration which Townsend enthusiastically recommended. The relatively unusual pedal design was received well, with 5 star reviews.
In 2023, Devin paired with guitar pick maker Acoustik Attak to release his signature Devin Townsend "Earthtone" pick.
Band members
Members of current touring band
Devin Townsend – guitars, lead vocals, theremin
Mike Keneally – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (2019–2020, 2023–present)
James Leach – bass (2021–present)
Darby Todd - drums (2021–present)
Former touring members
Ché Aimee Dorval – guitars, vocals (2019–2020)
Nathan Navarro – bass (2019–2020)
Diego Tejeida – keyboards (2019–2020)
Morgan Ågren – drums, percussion (2019–2020)
Wes Hauch - guitars (2020; Metal cruise shows only)
Kyle Konkiel - bass (2020; Metal cruise shows only)
Dirk Verbeuren - drums (2020; Metal cruise shows only)
Markus Reuter – touch guitars (2019)
Arabella Backford, Anne Preis, Samantha Preis – backing vocals (2019)
Stephen Platt – guitars (2021-2022)
Members of Devin Townsend Project (2009–2018)
Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars, keyboards (2009–2018)
Dave Young – guitars, keyboards (2009–2018)
Brian "Beav" Waddell – bass (2009–2018)
Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums (2009–2018)
Mike St-Jean – keyboards (2014–2018)
Anneke van Giersbergen - additional vocals (2009-2017)
Members of Casualties of Cool (2014)
Devin Townsend – guitars, keyboards, vocals, bass
Ché Aimee Dorval - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Morgan Ågren - drums, percussion
Members of The Devin Townsend Band (2002–2006)
Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars, keyboards
Brian "Beav" Waddell – guitars
Mike Young – bass
Dave Young – keyboards
Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums
Members of Ocean Machine and Punky Brüster (1995–1997)
Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars, keyboards
John "Squid" Harder – bass
Adrian White – drums (1995–1996)
Marty Chapman – drums (1996-1997, died 2014)
Timeline
References
External links
HevyDevy Records
Devin Townsend at YouTube
1972 births
Ableton Live users
Canadian heavy metal guitarists
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian record producers
Canadian people of English descent
20th-century Canadian multi-instrumentalists
Canadian industrial musicians
Juno Award for Heavy Metal Album of the Year winners
Living people
The Wildhearts members
Musicians from British Columbia
People from Coquitlam
People from New Westminster
Progressive metal guitarists
Seven-string guitarists
21st-century Canadian multi-instrumentalists
People with bipolar disorder
Singers with a five-octave vocal range
Strapping Young Lad members
Male bass guitarists
Frenchkiss Records artists
Inside Out Music artists
Century Media Records artists
20th-century Canadian guitarists
21st-century Canadian guitarists
20th-century Canadian bass guitarists
21st-century Canadian bass guitarists
20th-century Canadian male singers
20th-century Canadian keyboardists
21st-century Canadian keyboardists
21st-century multi-instrumentalists
20th-century Canadian male musicians
21st-century Canadian male singers
Industrial metal musicians
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian singer-songwriters
20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters
21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters |
426767 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie%20%28comic%20strip%29 | Blondie (comic strip) | Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. The comic strip is distributed by King Features Syndicate, and has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930. The success of the strip, which features the eponymous blonde and her sandwich-loving husband, led to the long-running Blondie film series (1938–1950) and the popular Blondie radio program (1939–1950).
Chic Young wrote and drew Blondie until his death in 1973, when creative control passed to his son Dean Young. A number of artists have assisted on drawing the strip over the years, including Alex Raymond, Jim Raymond, Paul Fung Jr., Mike Gersher, Stan Drake, Denis Lebrun, Jeff Parker, and (since 2005) John Marshall. Despite these changes, Blondie has remained popular, appearing in more than 2,000 newspapers in 47 countries and translated into 35 languages. From 2006 to 2013, Blondie had also been available via email through King Features' DailyINK service.
Overview
Originally designed to follow in the footsteps of Young's earlier "pretty girl" creations Beautiful Bab and Dumb Dora, Blondie focused on the adventures of Blondie Boopadoop—a carefree flapper girl who spent her days in dance halls along with her boyfriend Dagwood Bumstead, heir to an industrial fortune. The name "Boopadoop" derives from the scat singing lyric that was popularized by Helen Kane's 1928 song "I Wanna Be Loved by You".
Blondie and Dagwood debuted on September 8, 1930, in the New York American and several other newspapers across North America. The strip was only moderately popular in its first two and a half years, as interest in humorous "pretty girl" stories dried up as a result of the Great Depression, turning Blondie into a parody of those strips taking a more melodramatic direction. In mid-1932, and considering the scenario to have run its course, Young briefly tried writing Dagwood out of the daily continuities by having his parents sending him on a cruise to Europe and replacing him as Blondie's boyfriend with a garage mechanic, but immediate reader response led to Dagwood returning by late August.
Marriage
On February 17, 1933, after much fanfare and build-up, Blondie and Dagwood were married. After a month-and-a-half-long hunger strike by Dagwood to get his parents' blessing, as they strongly disapproved of his marrying beneath his class, they disinherited him. Left only with a check to pay for their honeymoon, the Bumsteads were forced to become a middle-class suburban family. The marriage was a significant media event, given the comic strip's popularity. The catalog for the University of Florida's 2005 exhibition, "75 Years of Blondie, 1930–2005", notes:
Blondie's marriage marked the beginning of a change in her personality. From that point forward, she gradually assumed her position as the sensible head of the Bumstead household. And Dagwood, who previously had been cast in the role of straight man to Blondie's comic antics, took over as the comic strip's clown.
Setting
"Dagwood Bumstead and family, including Daisy and the pups, live in the suburbs of Joplin, Missouri," according to the August 1946 issue of The Joplin Globe, citing Chic Young.
Cast of characters
Blondie Bumstead (née Boopadoop): The eponymous leading lady of the comic strip, Blondie is a smart, sweet, and responsible woman. She can be stressed at times due to her young family and Dagwood's antics, and despite being usually laid-back and patient, Blondie does get upset sometimes. She is also extremely beautiful, with golden hair, gentle curls, and a shapely figure. A friend once told Dagwood that Blondie looked like a 'million bucks'. In 1991, she began a catering business with her neighbor, Tootsie.
Dagwood Bumstead: Blondie's husband and a kind and loving, yet clumsy, naïve, and lazy man, his cartoonish antics are the basis for the strip. He is a big fan of sports (primarily football and baseball) and has a large, insatiable appetite for food (but he remains slender). Dagwood is especially fond of making and eating the towering Dagwood sandwich. He celebrates even the most insignificant holidays and approaches Thanksgiving (a holiday known for lavish dinners) with the same reverence most people reserve for Christmas. His continuous antagonistic and comical confrontations with his boss, Mr. Dithers, for numerous reasons including Dagwood's laziness and silly mistakes, is a subplot that gets considerable attention in the strip. His klutziness is also a fundamental part of his encounters with Mr. Beasley the mailman. Another subplot deals with Dagwood and his neighbor Herb. Dagwood can also often be seen napping on his own couch. He is employed as the office manager at J. C. Dithers Construction Company.
Alexander Bumstead: The elder child of Blondie and Dagwood, he is in his late teens, and was formerly referred to by his pet name "Baby Dumpling". As a child, he was very mischievous and precocious. As a teenager, he is athletic, levelheaded, and intelligent. Despite resembling his father, he is more down-to-earth, like his mother. His full name, revealed in the November 7, 1934, strip, is Alexander Hamilton Bumstead.
Cookie Bumstead: The younger child of Blondie and Dagwood, she is in her early teens. Cookie is portrayed as a sweet, bubbly teenaged girl whose interests include dating, hanging out with friends, and clothes. Her appearance has changed the most compared to the other characters. As a child (1940s–mid 1950s), she originally had long, curly hair with a black bow holding a long curl on the top of her head. As a young teen (late 1950s–1960s), she wore her hair in a ponytail with curly bangs. As an older teen (1970s–1990s), she wore her hair long with a black headband. Later (2000s), she dropped the hairband and wore her hair with bangs and barrettes, and flipped to the sides. Her current hairstyle is long with bangs and flipped at sides.
Daisy: The Bumsteads' family dog, whose best friend is Dagwood, frequently changes her expression in response to Dagwood's comments or other activities. She gave birth to puppies in the later years of the comic. Daisy's birthday is September 19.
Mr. Beasley the Postman: He is the Bumsteads' mailman, with whom Dagwood seems to always collide and knock down as Dagwood hurriedly leaves the house. Variations on this gag are that once Alexander collided with Beasley and once the Bumsteads installed an outside mailbox-which Dagwood ran into instead of Mr Beasley. Beasley's birthday is August 26.
Mr. Julius Caesar Dithers: Founder of the J.C. Dithers Construction Company and Dagwood's boss, he dictates orders to his employees and believes the best thing in life is money. Mr. Dithers has a very harsh personality and is portrayed as a difficult and controlling employer. He continuously denies Dagwood's requests for a raise and frequently threatens to fire him. He always addresses Dagwood somewhat disrespectfully by using only his last name "Bumstead". Although it usually does not seem like it at the workplace, Mr. Dithers is a good-hearted man. Despite the frequent disputes at work, Julius and Cora are frequent dinner guests at Dagwood's home after work. On these occasions, the relationship is more cordial, with Mr. Dithers addressing Dagwood by his first name. A running gag for many years is that whenever Dagwood messes up an important contract Dithers will pick Dagwood up and either kick or throw him down the hallway. On the 75th anniversary of Blondie, Dithers became great friends with the visiting King of ID! Julius' birthday is July 2.
Mrs. Cora Dithers: Mr. Dithers' wife, she usually gets into fights with him as she exerts control over him (she usually wins). She is great friends with Blondie.
Herb Woodley: Dagwood's best friend and next-door neighbor, Herb, though, can be extremely selfish and mean at times when he does not return the expensive power tools and favors that he usually borrows from Dagwood. Herb constantly finds means to annoy and infuriate him.
Tootsie Woodley: Herb's wife and Blondie's best friend, Tootsie and Blondie can empathize with one another as women, mothers, and particularly as spouses of eccentric husbands. In 1991, she joined Blondie in starting a catering business.
Elmo Tuttle: A kid in the neighborhood, he has a friendship with Dagwood (whom he calls "Mr. B"), but sometimes annoys him. His last name was originally "Fiffenhauser".
Lou: He is the owner and counterman at Lou's Diner, where Dagwood goes for lunch. Dagwood sometimes suggests new specials for the diner. Lou's arms are covered with tattoos (a heart and a Navy anchor) and he always has a toothpick in his mouth. His cooking skill is dubious and all his meals are of a quality that Blondie would never be party to -- rancid, over-spiced, or tasteless, and way too expensive. Lou does little to improve the quality of his food or to gain the satisfaction of his customers. Once when Lou closed the diner for a week so he could visit his mother in Hoboken, Dagwood suffered "withdrawal pains".
Claudia and Dwitzell: They are carpoolers with Dagwood and Herb. Claudia is a lawyer. No occupation has been identified for Dwitzell, sometimes called "Dwitz".
Mike Morelli the Barber: Dagwood's barber, he likes to make fun of Dagwood's hairstyle and can usually be seen with his nameplate, "M. Morelli", displayed by his barber's chair. Mike loves to lure and drag Dagwood into political debates at points where it usually leaves Dagwood frustrated.
Marlene: Dithers' secretary.
Running gags
Several running gags occur in Blondie, reflecting the trend after Chic Young's death for the strip to focus almost entirely on Dagwood as the lead character:
Dagwood often collides with Mr. Beasley the mailman while running out the front door—late for work.
Other variations of the late-for-work gag: Dagwood keeping his car pool waiting, running after their car or stuck in traffic. In earlier decades, he had been late for the bus, or even earlier in the strip's run, late for the streetcar.
Dagwood's impossible appetite for food:
The impossibly tall sandwiches Dagwood fixes for himself, which came to be known colloquially as the "Dagwood sandwich", became famous.
Dagwood in his pajamas is having a midnight snack, with most of the refrigerator contents spread out on the kitchen table, or balanced precariously on his extended arms on the way to the table.
At Lou's Diner, whenever Lou's cook makes up a new extra hot Chili dish, Dagwood eats it (Despite Lous' warnings) and Dagwood always ends drinking water endlessly to cool the burning spices in his mouth
Dagwood has a propensity to nap on the couch during the day, often interrupted by Elmo, who wants to ask him a question, or Blondie, who has a chore she wants him to do.
Dagwood sings in the bathtub, or is interrupted (usually by family members or Elmo) while he is trying to relax in the tub. Another gag along the same lines involves Dagwood reading books in the tub.
Dagwood contends with brazen or obnoxious salesmen at his door, selling undesirable or impossible-looking items. It usually ends with Dagwood and the salesman getting into a physical confrontation.
A variation of the above has the salesmen calling on the telephone.
Dagwood and Herb Woodley spend some weekend time together, which usually escalates into a brawl.
Dagwood demands a raise from Dithers and fails to get it every time.
Dagwood gets caught goofing off or sleeping at his desk in the office.
Mr. Dithers fires Dagwood for being incompetent or physically boots him out of his office, usually for messing up an important contract.
Dagwood gets a menu suggestion from Lou, the wry, blunt, and/or sarcastic diner counterman.
In the Christmas shopping gag, Dagwood is shown carrying Christmas packages that completely cover up his face and upper body.
Herb borrows small items—tools, small appliances, books, and (more recently) videos—from Dagwood, then never returns them. Occasionally, Herb lends a borrowed item to a third party, which is then usually passed on to a fourth or fifth party.
Dagwood's hobby is household carpentry, but unfortunately his projects do not turn out well. Once, he built a small cabinet for Blondie, actually accomplishing all construction steps perfectly, but the result still fails because it does not fit in the space Blondie intended for it. Mostly, he is producing sawdust.
Dagwood watches TV from his armchair while Daisy sleeps behind the chair; Blondie sits in her own chair facing away from Dagwood.
Sunday strips
During the early years of the strip, the Sunday installments were much in the vein of the then-popular genre of "pretty girl" strips, rather than spoofing them as in the daily continuities, including a series of different suitors, most notably Hiho Hennepin, a short character who played a similar role to the one held by Dumb Dora's boyfriend Rod. In fact, Dagwood did actually not appear at all in a Sunday page until late 1931, and was only regularly featured in these beginning on January 29, 1933.
Young drew The Family Foursome as a topper from September 21, 1930, to April 21, 1935, after which it was replaced by the pantomime strip Colonel Potterby and the Duchess, which ran until November 3, 1963 (becoming a stand-alone strip in 1958).
For years, the Sunday installments were noted for their histrionic plots, as well for having 12 panels, switching to the standard half-page format in 1986.
Modernization
While the distinctive look and running gags of Blondie have been carefully preserved through the decades, a number of details have been altered to keep up with changing times. The Bumstead kitchen, which remained essentially unchanged from the 1930s through the 1960s, has slowly acquired a more modern look (no more legs on the gas range and no more refrigerators shown with the compressor assembly on the top).
Dagwood no longer wears a hat when he goes to work, nor does Blondie wear her previous hat and gloves when leaving the house. Although some bedroom and bathroom scenes still show him in polka-dot boxer shorts, Dagwood no longer wears garters to hold up his socks. When at home, he frequently wears sport shirts, his standard dress shirt with one large button in the middle is slowly disappearing, and he no longer smokes a pipe at all. Blondie now often wears slacks, and she is no longer depicted as a housewife, since she teamed with Tootsie Woodley to launch a catering business in 1991. Dagwood still knocks heads with his boss, Mr. Dithers, but now does so in a more modern office at J.C. Dithers Construction Company, where desks now sport flat-panel computer monitors, and Mr. Dithers, when in a rage, attempts to smash his laptop into Dagwood's head instead of his old manual typewriter. The staff no longer punches in at a mechanical "time clock", nor do they wear green eyeshades and plastic "sleeve protectors". Telephones have changed from candlestick style to more modern dial phones, to Touch-Tone, and on to cellphones. The round bedside alarm clock has been replaced by a more compact digital unit. Dagwood now begins each morning racing to meet his carpool rather than chasing after a missed streetcar or city bus. Even Mr. Beasley, the mail carrier, now dresses in short-sleeved shirts and walking shorts, rather than the military-style uniform of days gone by.
During the late 1990s and 2000–2001, Alexander worked part-time after high school at the order counter of a fast-food restaurant, the Burger Barn. Occasional references are still made to Cookie and her babysitting. Daisy, which once had a litter of puppies that lived with the family, is now the only dog seen in the Bumstead household. Cookie and Alexander can be seen in modern clothing trends and sometimes use cellphones and reference current television shows and social networking sites, while talking about attending rock concerts of popular current rock, pop, and hip hop music acts.
In this period, when in his basement woodworking shop, Dagwood was shown wearing safety eyeglasses.
Dagwood sometimes breaks the fourth wall by delivering the punchline to the strip, while looking directly at the reader, as in the above panel. Daisy occasionally does the same, though her remarks are limited to "?" and "!" with either a puzzled or a pained expression.
Strips in recent years have included references to recent developments in technology and communication, such as Facebook, Twitter, email, and text messaging.
75th anniversary
In 2005, the strip celebrated its 75th anniversary with an extended story arc in which characters from other strips, including Curtis, Garfield, Beetle Bailey, and Hägar the Horrible, made appearances in Blondie. The strip Pearls Before Swine made fun of the fact that their cast was not invited, and decided to invite themselves. This cross-over promotion began July 10, 2005 and continued until September 4, 2005.
Foreign versions
Blondie has been translated to various languages. In Mexico and South America, it ran as Lorenzo y Pepita, being quite popular between the 1940s and 1980s. While in most countries the family name was "Parachoques", in Chile they had "Jeringuis" as a surname. When it ran in Spain, however, the original names were kept. In French-speaking countries, the strip was known as Blondinette, while Dagwood was known as Dagobert, a name which is still used in France and Belgium to refer to a kind of large-sized sandwich.
Awards
In 1948, Chic Young's work on the strip won him the National Cartoonists Society's Billy DeBeck Award for Cartoonist of the Year. When the award name was renamed the Reuben Award in 1954, all the prior winners were given Reuben statuettes.
In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of United States Postal Service commemorative postage stamps.
Blondie in other media
Comic books
Big Little Book series 17 issues, 1936-1949
Ace Comics #1 Ace Comics — first appearance in comic book, also first appearance for Jungle Jim and Krazy Kat
Blondie Feature Books David McKay Publications (1938–1947) #12-46
Blondie Comics (...Monthly No. 16-141) David McKay Publications #1-15, Harvey Publications #16-163, King Features Syndicate #164-175, Charlton Comics #177-222 (Spring 1947-November 1976, No Issue #176)
Chic Young's Dagwood Harvey Publications, (1950-1965), 140 issues
Daisy and Her Pups (1951–1954), Harvey Publications, 18 issues
Blondie & Dagwood Family (1963–1965), Harvey Publications, 4 issues
Adventures of Blondie and Dagwood Associated Press (1956) 84 p., B&W
Blondie Giant Comic Album King Comics, 1972
Dagwood Splits the Atom! (1949), King Features, 1 issue, giveaway with King characters
Blondie Comics Harvey Publications (1950 giveaway, 1962 giveaway, 1964 giveaway, New York State Department of Mental Hygiene giveaways (1950,1956,1961)
Books
Blondie and Dagwood's Snapshot Clue, Whitman Publishing, 1943
Blondie 100 Top Selected Laughs, David McKay Publications, 1944
Bondie and Dagwood's Adventure In Magic, Whitman Publishing, 1944
Blondie and Dagwood, World Publishing Company, 1945
Blondie and Dagwood: A Novel Of The Great American Family, author: Lund, Helga, World Publishing Company, 1945
Blondie's Cook Book, Bell Publications, 1947
Blondie Book, Associated Press, Australia, 1953
Blondie Coloring Book, Dell Publishing, 1954
Blondie's Family (Treasure Book) King Features Syndicate, 1954
Blondie Paint Book, David McKay Publications, circa 1955, 4 different issues
25 Years With Blondie, Simon & Schuster, 1958
Leave It To Blondie, (a Little Square Book), King Features Syndicate, 1966
Blondie Coloring Book, Saalfield Publishing, 1968
Blondie: A Strip Book, Authorized Edition, Saalfield Publishing, 1968
Blondie #1, Signet Books, 1968
Blondie #2, Signet Books, 1968
Blondie & Dagwood's America, Harper & Row, 1981, A. Baker (London), 1982
Blondie (Comic Strip Preserves, Book 1), Blackthorne, 1986
Blondie's Cook Book, Gramercy, 1996
Games
Blondie Goes To Leisureland (1935) Westinghouse
Blondie and Dagwood Interchangeable Blocks (1951) Gaston Manufacturing keen-o-puzzleFilmBlondie was adapted into a long-running series of 28 low-budget theatrical B-features, produced by Columbia Pictures. Beginning with Blondie in 1938, the series lasted 12 years, through Beware of Blondie (1950). The two major roles were Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake (whose first starring role was another comic strip character, Harold Teen) as Dagwood. Faithfulness to the comic strip was a major concern of the creators of the series. Little touches were added that were iconic to the strip, like the appearance of Dagwood's famous sandwiches—and the running gag of Dagwood colliding with the mailman amid a flurry of letters, which preceded the title sequence in almost every film.
Columbia was careful to maintain continuity, so each picture progressed from where the last one left off. Thus, the Bumstead children grew from toddlers to young adults onscreen. Larry Simms played the Bumsteads' son in all the films; his character was originally called Baby Dumpling, and later became Alexander. Marjorie Kent (born Marjorie Ann Mutchie) joined the series in 1943 as daughter Cookie. Daisy had pups in the 12th feature, Blondie for Victory (1942). Danny Mummert, who had originally been chosen to play Baby Dumpling, took the continuing role of wiseguy neighbor Alvin Fuddle. Rounding out the regular supporting cast, character actor Jonathan Hale played Dagwood's irascible boss, J.C. Dithers. Hale left the series in 1945 and was succeeded by Jerome Cowan as George M. Radcliffe in Blondie's Big Moment. In the last film, Beware of Blondie, the Dithers character returned, played by Edward Earle and shown from the back. The Bumsteads' neighbors, the Woodleys, did not appear in the series until Beware of Blondie. They were played by Emory Parnell and Isabel Withers.
In 1943, Columbia felt the series was slipping, and ended the string with It's a Great Life and Footlight Glamour, deliberately omitting Blondie from the titles to attract unwary moviegoers. After 14 Blondies, stars Singleton and Lake moved on to other productions. During their absence from the screen, Columbia heard from many exhibitors and fans who wanted them back. The studio reactivated the series, which ran another 14 films until discontinued permanently in 1950. Because some demand from movie theaters still existed, Columbia began reissuing the older films, beginning with the 1938 Blondie, and continued to release them in their original sequence well into the 1950s, when these were packaged for television by Columbia's video subsidiary Screen Gems.
Blondie (1938)
Blondie Meets the Boss (1939)
Blondie Takes a Vacation (1939)
Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939)
Blondie on a Budget (1940)
Blondie Has Servant Trouble (1940)
Blondie Plays Cupid (1940)
Blondie Goes Latin (1941)
Blondie in Society (1941)
Blondie Goes to College (1942)
Blondie's Blessed Event (1942)
Blondie for Victory (1942)
It's a Great Life (1943)
Footlight Glamour (1943)
Leave It to Blondie (1945)
Life with Blondie (1946)
Blondie's Lucky Day (1946)
Blondie Knows Best (1946)
Blondie's Big Moment (1947)
Blondie's Holiday (1947)
Blondie in the Dough (1947)
Blondie's Anniversary (1947)
Blondie's Reward (1948)
Blondie's Secret (1948)
Blondie's Big Deal (1949)
Blondie Hits the Jackpot (1949)
Blondie's Hero (1950)
Beware of Blondie (1950)
Radio
Singleton and Lake reprised their film roles for radio; the Blondie radio program had a long run spanning several networks. Initially a 1939 summer replacement program for The Eddie Cantor Show (sponsored by Camel Cigarettes), Blondie was heard on CBS until June 1944, when it moved briefly to NBC. Returning to CBS later that year, Blondie continued there under a new sponsor (Colgate-Palmolive) until June 1949. In its final season, the series was heard on ABC from October 1949 to July 1950.
Television
Two Blondie TV sitcoms have been produced to date, each lasting only one season.
The first ran on NBC for 26 episodes in 1957, with Lake reprising his film and radio role and Pamela Britton as Blondie.
The second, broadcast on CBS in the 1968–69 season, had Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins in the lead roles and veteran comic actor Jim Backus portraying Mr. Dithers.
Animation
Blondie and Dagwood were featured prominently in the cartoon movie Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter, which debuted on October 7, 1972. The movie was a part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series.
Blondie and Dagwood made a brief animated appearance in The Fantastic Funnies, a TV special focusing on newspaper comics that aired on CBS in 1980. They appeared in the beginning, singing a song to host Loni Anderson with other comic strip characters. Later on, after a short interview with Dean Young and Jim Raymond (who was drawing the strip at the time), they featured a short sequence where Blondie urges a reluctant Dagwood to get a haircut. The animation was produced by Bill Melendez Productions. Dagwood also makes a cameo appearance in Garfield Gets Real.
An animated cartoon TV special featuring the characters was made in 1987 by Marvel Productions (who had earlier collaborated with King Features for the animated series Defenders of the Earth, starring King Feature's adventure characters) and shown on CBS, with a second special, Second Wedding Workout, telecast in 1989. Blondie was voiced by Loni Anderson, Dagwood by Frank Welker. Both animated specials are available on the fourth DVD of the Advantage Cartoon Mega Pack. Both of these specials were paired with other comic strip-based specials; the first special was paired with a special based on Cathy, the second one was paired with Hägar the Horrible. In Video (VHS) in UK: Leisureview Video in 1989.
In a 1989 episode of the animated series Muppet Babies, entitled Comic Caper, Blondie and Dagwood make a cameo appearance. Blondie tells Dagwood that he is going to be late for work. As Dagwood rushes to the door, he knocks into the Muppet Babies, who have fallen into the world of the Blondie comic strip. Baby Kermit and Baby Piggy also parodied Blondie and Dagwood in one scene. The Muppet Babies series was produced by Marvel Productions, the producers of the 1987 and 1989 Blondie specials, and was also aired on the same network, CBS.
Licensing and merchandise
Over the years, Blondie characters have been merchandised as dolls, coloring books, toys, salt and pepper shakers, paint sets, paper doll cutouts, coffee mugs, cookie jars, neckties, lunchboxes, puzzles, games, Halloween costumes, Christmas ornaments, music boxes, refrigerator magnets, lapel pinbacks, greeting cards, and other products. In 2001, Dark Horse Comics issued two collectible figures of Dagwood and Blondie as part of their line of Classic Comic Characters—statues No. 19 and 20 respectively.
The Dagwood Sandwiches featured in the strip are a recurring licensing opportunity on their own. A counter-service restaurant called Blondie's opened at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure in May 1999, serving a traditional Dagwood-style sandwich. In fact, Blondie's bills itself as "Home of the Dagwood Sandwich". Lunch meats featuring Dagwood can be purchased at various grocery stores. In Canada, the Sobeys supermarket chain offers a family-sized sandwich called the Dagwood Sandwich.
Reprints and further reading
Comic strip collections
Blondie #1 by Chic Young (1968) Signet
Blondie #2 by Chic Young (1968) Signet
Blondie (No. 1) by Dean Young and Jim Raymond (1976) Tempo
Blondie (No. 2) by Dean Young and Jim Raymond (1977) Tempo
The Best of Blondie by Dean Young, et al. (1977) Tempo
Blondie: Celebration Edition by Dean Young and Jim Raymond (1980) Tempo
Blondie (No. 3) by Dean Young and Jim Raymond (1982) Tempo
Blondie (No. 4): A Family Album by Dean Young and Mike Gersher (1982) Tempo
Blondie: More Surprises! by Dean Young and Mike Gersher (1983) Tempo
Blondie Book 1 (1986) by Dean Young and Stan Drake (1986) Blackthorne
Blondie: Mr Dithers, I Demand a Raise!! by Dean Young and Jim Raymond (1989) Tor
Blondie: But Blondie, I'm Taking a Bath!! by Dean Young and Jim Raymond (1990) Tor
Blondie: The Bumstead Family History by Dean Young and Melena Ryzik (2007) Thomas Nelson Pub.
Blondie: Volume 1 by Chic Young (2010) The Library of American Comics (First of a projected series)
Blondie: Volume 2 by Chic Young (2012) The Library of American Comics
Related fiction
Blondie and Dagwood in Footlight Folly (1947) Dell (An original paperback novel, not illustrated. Unnumbered, but usually considered part of Dell's mapback series)
Blondie's Family (1954) Treasure/Wonder Book (a full-color storybook for children)
History
Blondie & Dagwood's America (1981) Harper & Row (Dean Young and Rick Marschall's collaboration, providing an historical background of the strip)
Blondie Goes to Hollywood: The Blondie Comic Strip in Films, Radio & Television'' by Carol Lynn Scherling (2010) BearManor Media
See also
References
External links
Blondie at Comics Kingdom
Library of Congress: Blondie Gets Married! exhibition
1930 comics debuts
American comic strips
American comics adapted into films
American comics characters
American film series
Comic strip duos
Comic strips set in the United States
Comics about married people
Comics about women
Comics adapted into animated series
Comics adapted into radio series
Comics adapted into television series
Comics characters introduced in 1930
Female characters in comics
Fictional characters from Missouri
Fictional housewives
Film series introduced in 1938
Gag-a-day comics
Flappers |
426793 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar%20North | Rockstar North | Rockstar North Limited (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones, soon hiring former classmates Mike Dailly, Russell Kay, and Steve Hammond. During its early years, DMA Design was backed by its publisher Psygnosis, primarily focusing on Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64 games. During this time, they created successful shooters such as Menace and Blood Money, but soon turned to platform games after the release of Lemmings in 1991, which was an international success and led to several sequels and spin-offs. After developing Unirally for Nintendo, DMA Design was set to become one of their main second-party developers, but this partnership ended after Nintendo's disapproval of Body Harvest.
In 1997, DMA released Grand Theft Auto, which was a huge success; the game sparked a successful series. The company was soon acquired by Gremlin Interactive. Following the release of Grand Theft Auto 2, Gremlin was acquired by Infogrames. After the Infogrames acquisition, the DMA Design assets were sold to Take-Two Interactive. In 2001, after the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was ultimately renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label. After the shift, the company worked on new titles, including Manhunt, provided support to other Rockstar games such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3, and continued the Grand Theft Auto franchise with Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) and Grand Theft Auto V (2013). Both games are considered to be among the best video games made, and Grand Theft Auto V became the second-best-selling game of all time. Leslie Benzies headed the studio since the Take-Two acquisition until his departure in 2016.
History
DMA Design
Background (1984–1986)
In 1984, David Jones, Russell Kay, Steve Hammond and Mike Dailly often met at the Kingsway Amateur Computer Club (KACC) in Dundee. While Jones used an Amiga 1000, the others used Sinclair Spectrum or Commodore 64. They developed numerous small games while attending the KACC: Jones and Kay developed Moonshadow (eventually renamed Zone Trooper), Daily developed Freek Out, and Jones and Dailly collaborated on The Game With No Name. When later attending the Dundee Institute of Technology, Jones began development on a game tentatively titled CopperCon1, working under the temporary name "Acme Software", alongside Kay, Hammond and Dailly. To publish the game, Jones first approached Hewson Consultants, where Andrew Braybrook played and recommended the game. When Jones was informed that Hewson wanted the game to be the "Amiga version of Zynaps", he realised that sales would be limited, and refused to sign the contract, instead signing a deal with publisher Psygnosis. The game was renamed Draconia, with Tony Smith working on graphics and Jones designing levels.
Early games and Lemmings (1987–1993)
By 1987, Jones wanted to incorporate the company but found that the name "Acme" was already taken by a design company. As he had to choose another, he considered to use "Visual Voyage" and "Alias Smith and Jones", but ultimately decided to go with "DMA Design". The "DMA" was taken from Amiga programming manuals, where it stood for direct memory access, though the "DMA" in the company's name had no meaning and Jones would tell journalists it stood for "Doesn't Mean Anything". DMA Design was formally founded by Jones that same year. Draconia was renamed Menace, and it was published in 1988 for Amiga, and in 1989 for Atari ST, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS. The game sold 20,000 copies, reportedly generating around , allowing the company to develop more games. This was followed by Blood Money, a side-scrolling shooter which began development in January 1989. The game was in development for five months, and was released for Amiga and Atari ST in May 1989. The game was ported to MS-DOS by Tim Ansell of Creative Assembly in 1989, and to Commodore 64 by Dailly in 1990. The company was also assigned to porting Ballistix to MS-DOS and Commodore 64. Jones began developing the side-scrolling shooter Walker in 1989, following the release of Blood Money.
Also in 1989, Dailly became DMA Design's first employee. In early 1990, Jones scrapped Walker and began development on a new game called Gore!; this was soon scrapped. By the end of the year, Jones hired Ian Dunlop and Niall Glancey to continue working on Walker; Glancey redesigned the game, and it was released for Amiga in 1993. In 1990, Jones hired Tony Colgan to develop Cutiepoo, and assist with Gore! before its cancellation. By the end of the year, Jones was irritated by the lack of progress on Cutiepoo, cancelling the game and firing Colgan as a result. In June 1990, DMA was commissioned by Psygnosis to port Shadow of the Beast to the TurboGrafx-16 and Commodore 64; Dailly developed the former, while Richard Swinfen and Steve Hammond worked on the latter. Psygnosis teamed with Ocean Software to publish Shadow of the Beast for Commodore 64 Games System; Swinfen and Hammond adapted accordingly. Swinfen, who was subcontracted for his work on the game, found it unfair that Jones was getting paid for the game, despite not working on it; the two never worked again. DMA also released Hired Guns for Amiga and MS-DOS in 1993, designed by Hammond and Scott Johnston.
DMA's major breakthrough came with 1991's Lemmings, a dynamic puzzle game originally released for Amiga in February 1991. The game ultimately sold over 15 million copies, and received numerous ports to different consoles. The game led to numerous sequels by DMA: Oh No! More Lemmings (1991), Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993), and All New World of Lemmings (1994), as well as two Christmas Lemmings (1993–94). It also spawned various Lemmings games by other developers, such as 3D Lemmings (1995) and Lemmings Revolution (2000). Revenues from Lemmings allowed the company to expand, adding their own motion capture studio and a division called DMA Music, consisting of the team's in-house musicians.
Nintendo arrangement and acquisitions (1994–2002)
Following Sony's acquisition of Psygnosis in 1993, DMA signed with Nintendo to publish Unirally in 1994. DMA then spent six months studying development for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, but they cancelled all their plans for the console when the success of Unirally led Nintendo to offer to publish an original DMA game for the upcoming Ultra 64 console (later renamed Nintendo 64). In response, DMA created Body Harvest, an action-adventure third-person shooter. Originally intended as a launch game for Nintendo 64 in 1996, Body Harvest received numerous delays following Nintendo's various issues with the content. Nintendo ultimately scrapped the game, which was later published by Midway Games and Gremlin Interactive in September 1998.
Around 1995, DMA Design was developing Kid Kirby, an entry in the Kirby series for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System intended to utilise the Super NES Mouse; the game's slow development and the poor sales of the Super NES Mouse eventually led to the project's cancellation. DMA Design began developing a new game, Race'n'Chase, in April 1995. The development team consisted of mostly inexperienced members, who struggled with the task until producer and creative director Gary Penn joined the project. Originally scheduled for release in late 1996, the game was ultimately released as Grand Theft Auto in November 1997 for Windows, following many development issues. The game was a critical and commercial success, and ultimately spawned a successful series. Following the release of Grand Theft Auto, DMA was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive for in 1997. DMA completed Space Station Silicon Valley in 1998, and both Tanktics and Wild Metal Country in 1999, before Gremlin was acquired by French company Infogrames for ().
Game development at DMA Design generally involved taking risks and being unique. When an idea was pitched within the company, the question "What's different about it?" was asked; the team wished to make unique and innovative games, rather than mimicking the trend. By doing this, they found that they were taking risks in the business, witnessing the market reactions and seeking respect from players. The company also strongly valued the development of the games, as opposed to business and marketing. "It doesn't matter if we were owned by somebody or if we were as we are, we'd still just write games", said Jones.
Jones has expressed his distaste of linear gameplay. "I just love games that are pretty open-ended; you can try things, you can go wherever you want", he said. He claims that this distaste is reflected in the games by DMA Design, including the options available to players in Lemmings and the open world of Grand Theft Auto. DMA Design had a fairly open office space for the developers. "There was this fantastic 'try it out and see' attitude," said developer Gary Timmons. Following his departure from the studio, Kay said that the team members "know each other pretty well and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses".
BMG Interactive, publisher of Grand Theft Auto, were bought by Take-Two Interactive in March 1998 for 1.85 million company shares, around 16% of their common stock, and some staff, including Sam and Dan Houser, were carried across to Rockstar Games, which was formed as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in December 1998. During the changes in management, DMA Design lost many employees, including Kay, Hammond and Dailly. Several games were also scrapped during this time, including Nintendo 64 ports of Grand Theft Auto and Wild Metal Country, a 64DD port of Unreal (1998), and a game known as Attack!. On 29 September 1999, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired DMA Design from Infogrames for . Sam Houser, who became Rockstar Games' executive producer, said that "the ability to align Rockstar with a development house [...] that is clearly approaching video-game development in a new and exciting manner, makes this a perfect match".
Following the acquisition, it was announced that DMA Design would continue developing Grand Theft Auto games, including GTA3D and Grand Theft Auto: Online Crime World; the former was compared to the gameplay of Quake, while the latter was set to have worldwide servers allowing players to compete with others in local cities. The company received various staffing changes following the acquisition: Jones left the company and founded Realtime Worlds, while DMA Design was headed by Leslie Benzies and Andrew Semple, among others. The studio had about 25 employees at the time of the changeover. Under new management from Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, DMA Design developed Grand Theft Auto III, which was released for PlayStation 2 in October 2001. In March 2002, DMA Design became Rockstar Studios, being integrated into Rockstar Games, and renamed to Rockstar North in May 2002.
Rockstar North
Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt (2002–2007)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in October 2002 for PlayStation 2 after nine months of development. The game retained the engine and core gameplay of GTA III while adding a number of refinements and a roster of top Hollywood voice talent. In 2003, the company released a PC port of Vice City, as well as a two-pack of both Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City for Microsoft's Xbox console, ported by Rockstar Vienna. The developer's next release, also for PlayStation 2, was Manhunt in November 2003, after the studio refocused post Vice City. The game was released amidst a media frenzy surrounding some of the game's violent content.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas followed for PlayStation 2 in October 2004 and became the highest-selling PlayStation 2 game ever, with 17.33 million copies sold. It went on to sell 27.5 million copies total after ports to Xbox and PC were released in 2005. Following in 2005 and 2006 respectively, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were two new instalments for PlayStation Portable, both developed by Rockstar Leeds under supervision from Rockstar North. Both games subsequently received ports to the PlayStation 2. After San Andreas was released, and due to growing staff numbers, the company moved from their Leith offices to a new location at Calton Square. Starting from an original team of around twenty-five, the studio now has over 360 staff.
Grand Theft Auto IV and V, and Benzies' departure (2008–present)
Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29 April 2008, after around four years of development, for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, marking the debut of the developer's wildly popular Grand Theft Auto franchise on the seventh-generation of video game consoles. GTA IV was another huge financial and critical success, breaking sales records amongst all types of entertainment media. Rockstar North continued work on GTA IV in the form of two pieces of downloadable episodic content. The first of these, The Lost and Damned, was released on 17 February 2009, with the second, The Ballad of Gay Tony, released on 29 October 2009. Rockstar Games later released a disc-based version of both episodes, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
On 2 June 2009, at Sony's E3 conference, it was announced that Agent was being developed by Rockstar North for PlayStation 3. This was later confirmed in an interview with Ben Feder, President of Take-Two Interactive. It was announced that the game would be set in the world of the late 1970s. According to Rockstar North, it would "take players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage, and political assassinations". The "Agent" trademark was abandoned in November 2018, and the game's website was deactivated by October 2021.
On 17 September 2013, the studio released Grand Theft Auto V on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which became one of the most critically acclaimed games ever. The game was a return to the fictional city of Los Santos, last seen in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game also introduced multiple playable characters for the first time in the series, allowing players to switch between Franklin, Michael and Trevor. It quickly became the studio's most commercially successful release, as well as one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, surpassing the total gross of Grand Theft Auto IV within its first week and breaking the one-day gross record for video games.
At the end of the year, Rockstar North agreed to take over rental of the Barclay House on Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, which had been opened in 1999 as headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper group. After alteration work, Rockstar North moved into this building in 2014.
Following the release of Grand Theft Auto V, studio president and producer Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical on 1 September 2014, and left the company in January 2016; art directors Aaron Garbut and Rob Nelson took over Benzies' responsibilities at Rockstar North. Nelson later became co-studio head alongside Andrew Semple.
Benzies v. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
On 12 April 2016, Benzies sued Rockstar Games' parent company Take-Two Interactive for in unpaid royalties, and for being dismissed without warning during his sabbatical, amongst several other accusations towards the president of Rockstar Games. In a document revealed by his attorney, Benzies claimed not only that Rockstar Games had not paid the due royalties but also that he was drawn into a scheme inserted into a so-called "2009 Royalty Plan" where Benzies would earn evenly split profits between the three called "Rockstar North Principals" (Sam Houser, Dan Houser and Benzies), a coalition created for the three by Dan and Sam Houser to try to separate from Take-Two Interactive, using the company's funds to do so. When Benzies was due his split, he never received any money, given the Houser brothers had unknowingly allocated in profit-sharing payments to themselves, with another in profits still unaccounted for.
In 2014, Benzies was reportedly encouraged to take a sabbatical pause by the Houser brothers, in order to "recharge batteries", given how hard he had worked for the company during all the years it has existed. Benzies also accused the Houser brothers of being unable to work without his presence, by revealing e-mails during the Red Dead Redemption development troubles that showed Houser urgently asking for Benzies' help because he could not manage any big projects without him (in the case of Red Dead Redemption, having trouble finishing the project, whilst Benzies was not even allocated to work on the game), constantly pestering the ex-developer via e-mails asking for help, saying that nothing was the same without him, treating him like an extraordinarily necessary asset for the company, having him working on projects he wasn't even a part of. Sam Houser was also accused of orchestrating and encouraging "a company culture involving strip clubs, personal photography of employees in sexually compromising positions, and other conduct grossly in violation of standard workplace norms." On the evening of 12 April 2016, Take-Two counter-claimed Benzies' lawsuit, saying the accusations were "downright bizarre".
On 29 March 2018, Benzies' litigation against Rockstar and Take-Two suffered a significant setback when the companies succeeded in dismissing 12 out of 18 of his claims, though the court did rule that Benzies "remains entitled to receive certain royalties" as part of his compensation. Sometime in 2018, Take-Two levied a legal warning against Benzies' new company Royal Circus Games, citing the similarity of its acronym (RCG) to Rockstar Games (RSG) as infringement of intellectual property; due to this, Benzies later renamed his company Build a Rocket Boy Games in October 2018. Take-Two had also decried their employment of Rockstar North staff as a deceptive tactic to create an affiliation between them. On 7 February 2019, Benzies' litigation with Take-Two had officially come to an end. All parties involved in the case successfully executed a confidential settlement, with each agreeing to bear its own costs and expenses, including, without limitation, attorney's fees.
Tax relief practices
TaxWatch UK, a UK-based investigative think tank, reported in July 2019 that Rockstar North had not paid any corporation tax between 2009 and 2018. Meanwhile, the studio received in tax credits through the UK government's video games tax relief (VGTR) scheme, 19% of the scheme's entire payout since its establishment in 2014. In a statement released in January 2020, Rockstar Games stated that VGTR significantly supported the company's investments in the country. The company did not address the reported non-paying of corporation tax.
Games developed
As DMA Design
As Rockstar North
Development support
Unreleased
Agent (announced 2009)
Notes
References
External links
1984 establishments in Scotland
British companies established in 1987
British subsidiaries of foreign companies
Companies based in Edinburgh
Golden Joystick Award winners
Grand Theft Auto
Rockstar Games subsidiaries
Scottish brands
Software companies of Scotland
Take-Two Interactive divisions and subsidiaries
Video game companies established in 1987
Video game companies of the United Kingdom
Video game development companies |
426859 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger%20Milla | Roger Milla | Albert Roger Miller (born 20 May 1952), known as Roger Milla, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of the first African players to be a major star on the international stage. He played in three World Cups for the Cameroon national team.
He achieved international stardom at 38 years old, an age at which most forwards have retired, by scoring four goals at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and thus becoming the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history. He helped Cameroon become the first African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals. Four years later, at the age of 42, Milla broke his own record as the oldest goalscorer in World Cup by scoring against Russia in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Milla frequently celebrated goals by running to the corner flag and performing a dance similar to the lambada. In 2004 he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. In 2007, the Confederation of African Football named Milla the best African player of the previous 50 years. At the time of his retirement, he was regarded as the all-time topscorer from African region in FIFA World Cup finals with five goals and his record was eventually surpassed by Ghana's Asamoah Gyan.
Biography
His birth certificate as well as his passport implies his name as Roger Miller due to a clerical error and misunderstanding. His parents wanted to give him the surname of his uncle 'Milla' by the time he was born. He was often referred to as Miller whenever he featured in high-profile international matches with World Cup statistical sheets referring to him as Miller speaks volume of how far his name had been mispronounced and wrongly heard in international community. His family moved to Douala when he was 11.
His father worked on the railroads and Milla had the fortune of travelling all over the nation on many occasions in his childhood. He was raised up in the streets of Yaoundé and he hailed from a typical middle-class family so that his parents were able to provide him a satisfactory education. However, his parents were unhappy when they noticed that Milla was going after football and they were initially reluctant to accept their son playing the sport of football.
He learnt the art of playing football by playing barefoot with fellow kids on dirt streets and roads and in most of the occasions he played with an orange or a tin can as an alternate option for a ball. He also had the habit of kicking lemons and rags tied together into balls. He along with other children had to play in dusty courts since Cameroon had not yet established children soccer academies at that time and Cameroon did not have the luxury of well maintained fields nor did they afford to have licensed coaches. It was revealed that Milla played football solely for leisure, fun and entertainment purposes and did not think seriously of making it as his career and he went onto polish his football skills during school vacations.
Roger Milla himself said that he had finished high school but his claim has been refuted by some Cameroonian writers. He has three brothers with different surnames such as Joseph Debouba, Jacques Edjanque and Alexandre Diboussi. He nearly quit the sport after his mother's untimely death at home during the time when he played soccer in a distant arena and also due to his wife had become pregnant as the couple were awaiting for their second child.
Club career
Early years
He played for Eclair de Douala's junior team at the age of 13 and engaged exclusively in school tournaments. He later convinced his parents following his impressive performances in age group category matches.
He made his debut for Eclair de Douala's senior team in the second division of the Cameroonian championship at the age of 15. Two years later, aged 17, he became the Cameroonian schools high jump champion. He signed up for the top division club Léopard Douala in 1970 at the age of 18 and eventually went onto win three Cameroonian championship titles with the club. He also scored a tally of 89 goals in 116 appearances for Léopard Douala during a tenure of four years. He subsequently moved to Tonnerre Yaoundé in 1974 four years after the successful stint with Léopard Douala. He won the African Cup Winners' Cup with Tonnerre Yaoundé and for Tonnerre Yaoundé club he scored 69 goals in 87 games.
Moving to France
He moved to France at the age of 25 in 1977 where he spent 12 years of his career playing for various clubs. In 1977, he was lured to Europe by the French club Valenciennes. There he scored 6 goals in 28 league games over two seasons. In 1979, he joined AS Monaco, where he won the 1980 French Cup and scored 5 goals in 25 league and cup games. He had endured multiple injury concerns during his short stay and his team management decided to release him at the end of the season. The next year, he joined Bastia, where he spent four seasons. Milla scored 42 goals in 133 competitive matches and was instrumental in assisting the club to win the 1981 French Cup.
He next moved to Saint-Etienne in 1984 and became a crucial member of the club, which was recovering from the aftermath of a massive bribery scandal in 1982 and the subsequent relegation to Division 2, having had to sell out most of its first-choice players. He overall played 69 matches for the club scoring 36 goals and played a part in helping the club to re-enter the first division. He then starred for Montpellier from 1986 to 1989, where Milla later went on to become a member of the club's coaching staff after retiring from French football. In his first season, Milla scored 18 goals in 33 regular season matches, which ultimately helped the Montpellier to return to Division 1. Overall, he scored 41 goals in 103 appearances for the Montpellier.
Later years
Milla left French football at the age of 37 in 1989 and moved to Réunion in the Indian Ocean where he played for JS Saint-Pierroise. After his World Cup success, he returned to Tonnerre in Cameroon for four seasons. He closed out his playing days with two clubs in Indonesia after the 1994 World Cup, retiring from the sport at the end of the 1996 season. The number of goals he had scored in the Indonesian local championship surpassed the number of matches he had even played in the competition, with 41 goals coming in just 35 matches over a period of two years.
International career
Milla was capped 77 times for the national team, scoring 43 goals. Milla made his first appearance for Cameroon in 1973 versus Zaire in a World Cup qualifier.
He made his World Cup debut in also what is considered to be the maiden World Cup appearance for Cameroon when they qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup after winning both their final round matches against Morocco at the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification for the African Zone. Milla played an instrumental role in helping Cameroon to qualify for the 1982 World Cup by top scoring in the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification for the African Zone competition. He endured mixed emotions at 1982 FIFA World Cup having a goal disallowed against Peru in their first match. Cameroon went out with three draws from their three first-round games. Two years later, he was part of the squad competing at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
Milla was also an integral member of the Cameroonian squad which won the 1984 African Cup of Nations where Cameroon defeated Nigeria 3-1 in the final to secure Cameroon's first ever continental title. He was a key member of the Cameroonian side which emerged as runners-up to Egypt in the final of the 1986 African Cup of Nations and he received the best player award in the tournament for being the top goal scorer with 4. He was also named in 1986 African Cup of Nations team of the tournament. He was also the joint top goalscorer in the 1988 African Cup of Nations with 2 goals alongside Algeria's Lakhdar Belloumi, Abdoulaye Traoré of Ivory Coast and Gamal Abdelhamid of Egypt. He once again played a vital role in Cameroon's trumph at the 1988 African Cup of Nations and for his noteworthy performances throughout the tournament, he was adjudged as the player of the tournament and was also included in the 1988 African Cup of Nations team of the tournament.
In 1988, at the age of 36, Milla celebrated his early retirement from international football with a jubilee in Cameroon. However, in 1990, he received a phone call from the President of Cameroon Paul Biya, who pleaded with him to come out of international retirement and rejoin the national team. He agreed, and went to Italy with the Indomitable Lions for the 1990 World Cup, where he would cause a sensation. It was revealed that Paul Biya wanted Milla to play in the World Cup after watching Milla play in an exhibition charity match which was played at Douala where Milla went on to score two goals. Following the insistence of the Cameroonian President, Milla decided to make a comeback to international football by making an official announcement in May 1990.
It is also reported that most of the Cameroonian teammates and the national head coach Valery Nepomnyashchy who is a Russian did not want Milla to be part of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Biya issued a decree summoning him to return to the national side and Biya officially signed the decree requesting and compelling the coach to pick him for the World Cup squad. It was also reported that the renowned sportswriters in Cameroon along with fans began a campaign to recall Milla back to the national team following Cameroon's embarrassing display during the 1990 African Cup of Nations in Algeria where Cameroon crashed out from the group stage with defeats to The Gambia and Senegal.
1990 World Cup
Milla scored all his four goals in the tournament as a substitute as he started every game of the tournament on the bench. He started in the second half in four out of five World Cup matches and appeared in the first half once. His two crucial goals came in the second half of the match against Romania within just two minutes in extra time where he once again appeared as a substitute and following his heroics, he was hailed as a hero in Cameroon. It was the coach Valery Nepomnyashchy who decided to bring in Milla a bit earlier in the game against Romania knowing full well that a victory would secure Cameroon's spot in the knockout stages and the coach later acknowledged the importance of Milla after his important late cameo in Cameroon's remarkable upset victory over defending world champions Argentina. He was the oldest outfield player to feature in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and was the second oldest player during the tournament after England's Peter Shilton.
The 38-year-old Milla emerged as one of the tournament's major stars. He scored four goals in Italy, celebrating each one with a dance around the corner flag that has become a popular goal celebration ever since. Two of his goals came against Romania in Cameroon's second game, and two more came in extra time against Colombia in the last 16 to carry Cameroon to the quarter-finals, the furthest an African team had ever advanced at the World Cup (Senegal and Ghana matched this feat in 2002 and 2010 respectively, whilst Morocco surpassed it by reaching the semi-finals in 2022). In the quarter-final match against England, Milla confirmed his super-sub legend by entering in the second half with Cameroon trailing 1–0 and drawing a penalty and then setting up a goal for Ekeke to give Cameroon a 2–1 lead, before England later scored two penalties, to win 3–2 after extra time. Due to his performances in Italy, he was once again named African Footballer of the Year.
His second goal celebration against Colombia became iconic across the world, and was used by Coca-Cola as seen in ads like the 2010 World Cup Coca-Cola advertisement.
1994 World Cup
Milla returned to the 1994 FIFA World Cup at the age of 42, being the oldest player ever to appear in a World Cup until the 2014 tournament when Colombia's Faryd Mondragón entered in a group stage match versus Japan when 43 years and 3 days old. Mondragon's record in turn was beaten by Essam El Hadary in 2018. Cameroon were knocked out in the group stages; however, Milla scored a goal against Russia, setting a record as the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup tournament, breaking the record he had set in 1990. His final international appearance came in a friendly against South Africa in December 1994.
Post-playing career
He is now an itinerant ambassador for African causes. He also works as a volunteer for various groups including the World Wide Fund for Nature. He also opened two companies for recycling plastic into paving slabs. In 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA's centenary celebrations.
He coached Montpellier from 2001 to 2007. He also went onto serve as the manager of the Tonnerre for a tenure of four years between 2007 and 2011.
Legacy
He was appointed as the honorary president of the Cameroonian Football Federation in March 2008. However, he was removed from the position as honorary president in May 2012 after criticizing the top officials of the Cameroon Football Federation with regards to the lengthy ban imposed on Samuel Eto'o.
On 24 November 2022, he was honoured by the FIFA for his achievements as the FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented him a plaque just prior to the start of the group stage match between Cameroon and Switzerland during the 2022 FIFA World Cup at Al Janoub Stadium and Milla was also officially invited as a special guest by FIFA President to watch the match.
His wily celebration in a kind of Makossa dance at corner flag area during the 1990 FIFA World Cup changed the perceptions of how people started to see African football in a positive manner. His celebrations were deemed as instant hit and triggered positive energy to the viewers during the World Cup. He became the talk of the town and tournament sensation during the 1990 FIFA World Cup mainly for his skill sets on the field, dance celebrations and for his technique. He was later dubbed as "King of the Corner Flag".
In 2020, he along with the Cameroonian teammates received three bedroom bungalows as gifts in recognition of their stellar run during the 1990 FIFA World Cup. However, they had to wait for 30 years to receive the gift despite early promise by President Paul Biya in 1990. The project was long delayed following the concerns with regards to corruption and malpractices relating to the submitted list of 44 beneficiaries.
Career statistics
Honours
Léopards Douala
Cameroon Première Division: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74
Tonnerre Yaoundé
African Cup Winners' Cup: 1975
Cameroonian Cup: 1991
Monaco
Coupe de France: 1979–80
Bastia
Coupe de France: 1980–81
Montpellier
Division 2: 1986–87
Cameroon
Africa Cup of Nations: 1984, 1988
Individual
African Footballer of the Year: 1976, 1990
Africa Cup of Nations best player: 1986, 1988
Africa Cup of Nations top scorer: 1986, 1988
FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1990
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1990
FIFA 100
CAF Best African Player of the last 50 years: 2007
Golden Foot Legends Award: 2014
IFFHS Legends
World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time
Orders
Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 2006
See also
List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals
References
External links
Best African Player in The Past Fifty Years
1952 births
Living people
Footballers from Yaoundé
FIFA 100
Men's association football forwards
Cameroonian men's footballers
Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers
African Footballer of the Year winners
Africa Cup of Nations-winning players
Tonnerre Yaoundé players
Ligue 1 players
Ligue 2 players
Valenciennes FC players
AS Monaco FC players
SC Bastia players
AS Saint-Étienne players
Montpellier HSC players
JS Saint-Pierroise players
Madura United F.C. players
Putra Samarinda F.C. players
Expatriate men's footballers in France
Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco
Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in France
Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia
Cameroon men's international footballers
Olympic footballers for Cameroon
Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1990 FIFA World Cup players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
1982 African Cup of Nations players
1984 African Cup of Nations players
1986 African Cup of Nations players
1988 African Cup of Nations players
FIFA Men's Century Club
Expatriate men's footballers in Réunion
Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco
Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Réunion |
426865 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20Airlines%20Flight%20232 | United Airlines Flight 232 | United Airlines Flight 232 was a regularly scheduled United Airlines flight from Stapleton International Airport in Denver to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, continuing to Philadelphia International Airport. On July 19, 1989, the DC-10 (registered as N1819U) serving the flight crash-landed at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa, after suffering a catastrophic failure of its tail-mounted engine due to an unnoticed manufacturing defect in the engine's fan disk, which resulted in the loss of many flight controls. Of the 296 passengers and crew on board, 112 died during the accident, while 184 people survived. 13 of the passengers were uninjured. It was the deadliest single-aircraft accident in the history of United Airlines.
Despite the fatalities, the accident is considered a good example of successful crew resource management. A majority of those aboard survived; experienced test pilots in simulators were unable to reproduce a survivable landing. It has been termed "The Impossible Landing" as it is considered one of the most impressive landings ever performed in the history of aviation.
Aircraft
The airplane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 (registration ), was delivered in 1971 and owned by United Airlines since then. Before departure on the flight from Denver on July 19, 1989, the airplane had been operated for a total of 43,401 hours and 16,997 cycles (takeoff-landing pairs). The airplane was powered by CF6-6D high bypass-ratio turbofan engines produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE). The aircraft's No. 2 (tail-mounted) engine had accumulated 42,436 hours and 16,899 cycles of operating time immediately prior to the accident flight.
The DC-10 used three independent hydraulic systems, each powered by one of the aircraft's three engines, to power movement of the aircraft's flight controls. In the event of loss of engine power or primary pump failure, a ram air turbine could provide emergency electrical power for electrically powered auxiliary pumps. These systems were designed to be redundant, such that if two hydraulic systems were inoperable, the one remaining hydraulic system would still permit the full operation and control of the airplane. However, at least one hydraulic system must have fluid present and the ability to hold fluid pressure to control the aircraft. Like other widebody transport aircraft of the time, the DC-10 was not designed to revert to unassisted manual control in the event of total hydraulic failure. The DC-10's hydraulic system was designed and demonstrated to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as compliant with regulations that "no single [engine] failure or malfunction or probable combination of failures will jeopardize the safe operation of the airplane..."
Crew
Flight 232's captain, Alfred C. "Al" Haynes, 57, was hired by United Airlines in 1956. He was highly experienced and had 29,967 hours of total flight time with United, of which 7,190 were in the DC-10.
Haynes' co-pilot was First Officer William R. "Bill" Records, 48. He estimated that he had approximately 20,000 hours of total flight time. He was hired first by National Airlines in 1969. He worked subsequently for Pan American World Airways. He was hired by United in 1985, and had accrued 665 hours as a DC-10 first officer while at United.
Flight Engineer Dudley J. Dvorak, 51, was hired by United Airlines in 1986. He estimated that he had about 15,000 hours of total flying time. While working for United, he had accumulated 1,903 hours as a flight engineer in the Boeing 727 and 33 hours as a flight engineer in the DC-10.
Dennis E. "Denny" Fitch, 46, a training-check airman aboard Flight 232 as a passenger, was hired by United in 1968. He estimated that, prior to working for United, he had accrued at least 1,400 hours of flight time with the Air National Guard, with a total flight time around 23,000 hours. His total DC-10 time with United was 2,987 hours, including 1,943 hours accrued as a flight engineer, 965 hours as a first officer, and 79 hours as a captain. Fitch had learned of the 1985 crash of Japan Air Lines Flight 123, caused by a catastrophic loss of hydraulic control, and had wondered if it was possible to control an aircraft using throttles only. He had practiced with similar conditions on a simulator.
Eight flight attendants (Jan Brown, Georgeann Delcastillo, Barbara Gillespie, Rene Lebeau, Donna McGrady, Virginia Murray, Tim Owens, and Susan White) were also aboard the flight.
Events
Takeoff and engine failure
Flight 232 lifted off from Stapleton International Airport in Denver at 14:09 Central Daylight Time, en route to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago with continuing service to Philadelphia. (For convenience, all times in this article are provided in Central Daylight Time, consistent with local time for the crash site in Iowa and the NTSB report).
At 15:16, while the airplane was making a slight right turn at its cruising altitude of , the fan disk of its tail-mounted General Electric CF6-6 engine disintegrated explosively. The uncontained failure resulted in the engine's fan disk departing the aircraft, tearing out components including parts of the No. 2 hydraulic system and supply hoses in the process; these were later found near Alta, Iowa. Engine debris penetrated the aircraft's tail section in numerous places, including the horizontal stabilizer, severing the No. 1 and No. 3 hydraulic system lines where they passed through the horizontal stabilizer.
The pilots felt a jolt, and the autopilot disengaged. As First Officer Records took hold of his control column, Captain Haynes concentrated on the tail engine, the instruments for which indicated it was malfunctioning; he found its throttle and fuel supply controls jammed. At Dvorak's suggestion, a valve for fuel to the tail engine was shut off. This part of the emergency took 14 seconds.
Attempts to control the plane
Meanwhile, Records found that the airplane did not respond to his control column. Even with the control column turned all the way to the left, commanding maximum left aileron, and pulled all the way back, commanding maximum up elevatorinputs that would never be used together in normal flightthe aircraft was banking to the right with the nose dropping. Haynes attempted to level the aircraft with his own control column, then both Haynes and Records tried using their control columns together, but the aircraft still did not respond. Afraid the aircraft would roll into a completely inverted position (an unrecoverable situation), the crew reduced the left wing-mounted engine to idle and applied maximum power to the right engine. This caused the airplane to level slowly.
While Haynes and Records performed the engine shutdown checklist for the failed engine, Dvorak observed that the gauges for fluid pressure and quantity in all three hydraulic systems were indicating zero. The loss of all hydraulic fluid meant that control surfaces were inoperative. The flight crew deployed the DC-10's air-driven generator in an attempt to restore hydraulic power by powering the auxiliary hydraulic pumps, but this was unsuccessful. The crew contacted United Airlines maintenance personnel via radio, but were told that the possibility of a total loss of hydraulics in a DC-10 was considered so remote that no procedure was established for such an event.
The airplane was tending to pull right, and oscillated slowly vertically in a phugoid cyclecharacteristic of planes in which control surface command is lost. With each iteration of the cycle, the aircraft lost about of altitude. Fitch, an experienced United Airlines captain and DC-10 flight instructor, was among the passengers and volunteered to assist. The message was relayed by senior flight attendant Jan Brown Lohr to the flight crew, who invited Fitch into the cockpit; he arrived and began assisting at about 15:29.
Haynes asked Fitch to observe the ailerons through the passenger cabin windows to see if control inputs were having any effect. Fitch reported back that the ailerons were not moving at all. Nonetheless, the crew continued to manipulate their control columns for the remainder of the flight, hoping for at least some effect. Haynes then asked Fitch to take control of the throttles so that Haynes could concentrate on his control column. With one throttle in each hand, Fitch was able to mitigate the phugoid cycle and make rough steering adjustments.
Air traffic control (ATC) was contacted and an emergency landing at nearby Sioux Gateway Airport was organized. Haynes kept his sense of humor during the emergency, as recorded by the airplane's cockpit voice recorder (CVR):
Fitch: "I'll tell you what, we'll have a beer when this is all done."
Haynes: "Well I don't drink, but I'll sure as hell have one."
and later:
Sioux City Approach: "United Two Thirty-Two Heavy, the wind's currently three six zero at one one; three sixty at eleven. You're cleared to land on any runway."
Haynes: "[laughter] Roger. [laughter] You want to be particular and make it a runway, huh?"
A more serious remark often quoted from Haynes was made when ATC asked the crew to make a left turn to keep them clear of the city:
Haynes: "Whatever you do, keep us away from the city."
Haynes later noted, "We were too busy [to be scared]. You must maintain your composure in the airplane, or you will die. You learn that from your first day flying."
Crash landing
As the crew began to prepare for arrival at Sioux Gateway Airport, they questioned whether they should deploy the landing gear or belly-land the aircraft with the gear retracted. They decided that having the landing gear down would provide some shock absorption on impact. The complete hydraulic failure left the landing gear lowering mechanism inoperative. Two options were available to the flight crew. The DC-10 is designed so that if hydraulic pressure to the landing gear is lost, the gear will fall down slightly and rest on the landing gear doors. Placing the regular landing gear handle in the down position will unlock the doors mechanically, and the doors and landing gear will then fall down into place and lock due to gravity. An alternative system is also available using a lever in the cockpit floor to cause the landing gear to fall into position. This lever has the added benefit of unlocking the outboard ailerons, which are not used in high-speed flight and are locked in a neutral position. The crew hoped that there might be some trapped hydraulic fluid in the outboard ailerons and that they might regain some use of flight controls by unlocking them. They elected to extend the gear with the alternative system. Although the gear deployed successfully, no change of the controllability of the aircraft resulted.
Landing was originally planned for Runway 31. Difficulties in controlling the aircraft made alignment with the runway almost impossible. While dumping some of the excess fuel, the airplane executed a series of mostly right-hand turns (turning the airplane in this direction was easier) with the intention of aligning with Runway 31. When they finished they were instead aligned with the closed Runway 22, and had little capacity to maneuver. Fire trucks had been placed on Runway 22, anticipating a landing on nearby Runway 31, so all the vehicles were quickly moved out of the way before the airplane touched down. Runway 22 had been closed permanently a year earlier.
ATC also advised that a four-lane Interstate highway ran north and south just east of the airport, which they could land on if they did not think they could make the runway. Captain Haynes replied that they were passing over the interstate at that time and they would try for the runway instead.
Fitch continued to control the aircraft's descent by adjusting engine thrust. With the loss of all hydraulics, the flaps could not be extended, and since flaps control both the minimum required forward speed and sink rate, the crew was unable to control either airspeed or sink rate. At final approach, the aircraft's forward speed was and it had a sink rate of , while a safe landing would require and . Moments before landing, the roll to the right suddenly worsened significantly and the aircraft began to pitch forward into a dive; Fitch realized this and pushed both throttles to full power in a desperate, last ditch attempt to level the plane. It was now 16:00. The CVR recorded these final moments:
Records: "Close 'em off."
Haynes: "Left turn, close 'em off."
Records: "Pull 'em all off."
Fitch: "Nah, I can't pull 'em off or we'll lose it, that's what's turning ya."
Records: "Okay."
Fitch: "Back, Al!"
Haynes: "Left, left throttle, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left!"
Ground Proximity Warning System: "Whoop whoop pull up. Whoop whoop pull up. Whoop whoop pull up."
Haynes: "Everybody stay in brace!"
GPWS: "Whoop whoop pull up."
Haynes: "God!"
[Sound of impact]
End of recording.
The engines were not able to respond to Fitch's controls in time to stop the roll, and the airplane impacted the ground with its right wing, spilling fuel which ignited immediately. The tail section broke off from the force of the impact, and the rest of the aircraft bounced several times, shedding the landing gear and engine nacelles and breaking the fuselage into several main pieces. At final impact, the right wing was torn off and the main part of the aircraft skidded sideways, rolled over onto its back, and slid to a stop upside-down in a corn field to the right of Runway 22. Witnesses reported that the aircraft "cartwheeled" end-over-end, but the investigation did not confirm this. The reports were due to misinterpretation of the video of the crash that showed the flaming right wing tumbling end-over-end and the intact left wing, still attached to the fuselage, rolling up and over as the fuselage flipped over.
Injuries and deaths
Of the 296 people aboard, 112 died in the accident. Most were killed by injuries sustained during the multiple impacts, but 35 people in the middle fuselage section directly above the fuel tanks died from smoke inhalation in the post-crash fire. Of those, 24 had no traumatic blunt-force injuries. The majority of the 184 survivors were seated behind first class and ahead of the wings. Many passengers were able to walk out through the ruptures to the structure.
Of all of the passengers:
35 died because of smoke inhalation (none were in first class).
76 died for reasons other than smoke inhalation (17 in first class).
One died a month after the crash.
47 were injured seriously (eight in first class).
125 had minor injuries (one in first class).
13 had no injuries (none in first class).
The passengers who died for reasons other than smoke inhalation were seated in rows 1–4, 24–25, and 28–38. Passengers who died because of smoke inhalation were seated in rows 14, 16, and 22–30. The person assigned to seat 20H moved to an unknown seat and died of smoke inhalation.
One crash survivor died one month after the accident; he was classified according to NTSB regulations as a survivor with serious injuries.
Fifty-two children, including four "lap children" without their own seats, were aboard the flight because of a United Airlines promotion for "Children's Day". Eleven children, including one lap child, died. Many of the children were traveling alone.
Rescuers did not identify the debris that was the remains of the cockpit, with the four crew members alive inside, until 35 minutes after the crash. All four recovered from their injuries and eventually returned to flight duty.
Investigation
The rear engine's fan disk and blade assemblyabout acrosscould not be located at the accident scene despite an extensive search. The engine's manufacturer, General Electric, offered rewards of $50,000 for the disk and $1,000 for each fan blade. Three months after the crash, a farmer discovered most of the fan disk, with several blades still attached, in her cornfield, thereby qualifying her for a reward, as a General Electric lawyer confirmed. The rest of the fan disk and most of the additional blades were later found nearby.
The NTSB determined that the probable cause of this accident was the inadequate consideration given to human factors, and limitations of the inspection and quality control procedures used by United Airlines' engine overhaul facility. These resulted in the failure to detect a fatigue crack originating from a previously undetected metallurgical defect located in a critical area of the titanium-alloy stage-1 fan disk that was manufactured by General Electric Aircraft Engines. The uncontained manner in which the engine failed resulted in high-speed metal fragments being hurled from the engine; these fragments penetrated the hydraulic lines of all three independent hydraulic systems aboard the aircraft, which rapidly lost their hydraulic fluid. The subsequent catastrophic disintegration of the disk resulted in the liberation of debris in a pattern of distribution and with energy levels that exceeded the level of protection provided by design features of the hydraulic systems that operate the DC-10's flight controls; the flight crew lost its ability to operate nearly all of them.
Despite these losses, the crew was able to attain and then maintain limited control by using the throttles to adjust thrust from the remaining wing-mounted engines. By using each engine independently, the crew made rough steering adjustments, and by using the engines together they were able to roughly adjust altitude. The crew guided the crippled jet to Sioux Gateway Airport and aligned it for landing on one of the runways. Without the use of flaps and slats, they were unable to slow for landing, and were forced to attempt landing at a very high ground speed. The aircraft also landed at an extremely high rate of descent because of the inability to flare (reduce the rate of descent before touchdown by increasing pitch). As a result upon touchdown, the aircraft broke apart, rolled over, and caught fire. The largest section came to rest in a cornfield next to the runway. Despite the ferocity of the accident, 184 (62.2%) passengers and crew survived owing to a variety of factors including the relatively controlled manner of the crash and the early notification of emergency services.
Failed component
The investigation, while praising the actions of the flight crew for saving lives, later identified the cause of the accident as a failure by United Airlines maintenance processes and personnel to detect an existing fatigue crack. The Probable Cause in the report by the NTSB read as follows:
Post-crash analysis of the crack surfaces showed the presence of a penetrating fluorescent dye used to detect cracks during maintenance. The presence of the dye indicated that the crack was present and should have been detected at a prior inspection. The detection failure arose from poor attention to human factors in United Airlines' specification of maintenance processes.
Investigators discovered an impurity and fatigue crack in the disk. Titanium reacts with air when melted, which creates impurities that can initiate fatigue cracks like that found in the crash disk. To prevent this, the ingot that would become the fan disk was formed using a "double vacuum" process: the raw materials were melted together in a vacuum, allowed to cool and solidify, then melted in a vacuum once more. After the double vacuum process, the ingot was shaped into a billet, a sausage-like form about 16 inches in diameter, and tested using ultrasound to look for defects. Defects were located and the ingot was processed further to remove them, but some nitrogen contamination remained. GE later added a third vacuum-forming stage because of their investigation into failing rotating titanium engine parts.
The contamination caused what is known as a hard alpha inclusion, where a contaminant particle in a metal alloy causes the metal around it to become brittle. The brittle titanium around the impurity then cracked during forging and fell out during final machining, leaving a cavity with microscopic cracks at the edges. For the next 18 years, the crack grew slightly each time the engine was powered up and brought to operating temperature. Eventually, the crack broke open, causing the disk to fail.
The origins of the crash disk are uncertain because of significant irregularities and gaps, noted in the NTSB report, in the manufacturing records of GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) and its suppliers. Records found after the accident indicated that two rough-machined forgings having the serial number of the crash disk had been routed through GEAE manufacturing. Records indicated that Alcoa supplied GE with TIMET titanium forgings for one disk with the serial number of the crash disk. Some records show that this disk "was rejected for an unsatisfactory ultrasonic indication", that an outside laboratory performed an ultrasound inspection of this disk, that this disk was subsequently returned to GE, and that this disk should have been scrapped. The FAA report stated, "There is no record of warranty claim by GEAE for defective material and no record of any credit for GEAE processed by Alcoa or TIMET".
GE records of the second disk having the serial number of the crash disk indicate that it was made with an RMI Titanium Company titanium billet supplied by Alcoa. Research of GE's records showed no other titanium parts were manufactured at GE from this RMI titanium billet during the period of 1969 to 1990. GE records indicate that final finishing and inspection of the crash disk were completed on December 11, 1971. Alcoa records indicate that this RMI titanium billet was first cut in 1972 and that all forgings made from this material were for airframe parts. If the Alcoa records were accurate, the RMI titanium could not have been used to manufacture the crash disk, indicating that the initially rejected TIMET disk with "an unsatisfactory ultrasonic indication" was the crash disk.
CF6 engines like the one containing the crash disk were used to power many civilian and military aircraft at the time of the crash. Due to concerns that the accident could recur, a large number of in-service disks were examined by ultrasound for indications of defects. The fan disks on at least two other engines were found to have defects like that of the crash disk. Prioritization and efficiency of inspections of the many engines suspected would have been aided by determination of the titanium source of the crash disk. Chemical analyses of the crash disk intended to determine its source were inconclusive. The NTSB report stated that if examined disks were not from the same source, "the records on a large number of GEAE disks are suspect. It also means that any AD (Airworthiness Directive) action that is based on the serial number of a disk could fail to have its intended effect because suspect disks could remain in service." The FAA report did not explicitly address the effect of these uncertainties on operations of military aircraft that might have contained a suspect disk.
Influence on the industry
The NTSB investigation, after reconstructions of the accident in flight simulators, deemed that training for such an event involved too many factors to be practical. While some degree of control was possible, no precision could be achieved, and a landing with these conditions was stated to be "a highly random event". Expert United and McDonnell Douglas pilots were unable to reproduce a survivable landing; according to a United pilot who flew with Fitch, "Most of the simulations never even made it close to the ground". The NTSB stated that "under the circumstances the UAL (United Airlines) flight crew performance was highly commendable and greatly exceeded reasonable expectations." At the time of the crash, McDonnell Douglas had ended production of DC-10's, with the last of these being delivered to Nigeria Airways during the summer of 1989. The last passenger version of the DC-10 flew in 2014, although freighter versions continued to operate until late 2022.
Because this type of aircraft control (with loss of control surfaces) is difficult for humans to achieve, some researchers have attempted to integrate this control ability into the computers of fly-by-wire aircraft. Early attempts to add the ability to real airplanes were not very successful; the software was based on experiments performed in flight simulators where jet engines are usually modeled as "perfect" devices with exactly the same thrust on each engine, a linear relationship between throttle setting and thrust, and instantaneous response to input. Later, computer models were updated to account for these factors, and aircraft such as the F-15 STOL/MTD have been flown successfully with this software installed.
Titanium processing
The manufacturing process for titanium was changed to eliminate the type of gaseous anomaly that served as the starting point for the crack. Newer batches of titanium use much higher melting temperatures and a "triple vacuum" process in an attempt to eliminate such impurities (triple melt VAR).
Aircraft designs
Newer aircraft designs such as the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 have incorporated hydraulic fuses to isolate a punctured section and prevent a total loss of hydraulic fluid. After the United 232 accident, such fuses were installed in the number three hydraulic system in the area below the number two engine on all DC-10 aircraft to ensure sufficient control capability remained if all three hydraulic system lines should be damaged in the tail area. Although elevator and rudder control would be lost, the aircrew would still be able to control the aircraft's pitch (up and down) with stabilizer trim, and would be able to control roll (left and right) with some of the aircraft's ailerons and spoilers. Although not an ideal situation, the system provides a greater measure of control than was available to the crew of United 232.
Losing all three hydraulic systems is possible if serious damage occurs elsewhere, as nearly happened to a cargo airliner in 2002 during takeoff when a main-gear tire exploded in the wheel well. The damage in the left wing area caused total loss of pressure from the number-one and the number-two hydraulic systems. The number-three system was dented but not penetrated.
Restraints for children
Of the four children deemed too young to require seats of their own ("lap children"), one died from smoke inhalation. The NTSB added a safety recommendation to the FAA on its "List of Most Wanted Safety Improvements" in May 1999 suggesting a requirement for children younger than two years old to be restrained safely, which was removed in November 2006. The accident began a campaign directed by United Flight 232's senior flight attendant, Jan Brown Lohr, for all children to have seats on aircraft.
The argument against requiring seats on aircraft for children younger than age two is the higher cost to a family of having to buy a seat for the child, and this higher cost will motivate more families to drive instead of fly, and incur the much greater risk of driving (see Epidemiology of motor vehicle collisions). The FAA estimates that a regulation that all children must have a seat would equate, for every one child's life saved on an aircraft, to 60 people dying in highway accidents.
Though it is no longer on the "most wanted" list, providing aircraft restraints for children younger than age two is still recommended practice by the NTSB and FAA, though it is not required by the FAA as of May 2016. The NTSB asked the International Civil Aviation Organization to make this a requirement in September 2013.
Crew resource management
The accident has since become a good example of successful crew resource management (CRM). For much of aviation's history, the captain was considered the final authority, and crews were expected to respect the captain's expertise without question. This began to change during the 1970s, especially after the 1978 United Airlines Flight 173 crash in Portland, Oregon, and the Tenerife airport disaster. CRM, while still considering the captain as final authority, instructs crew members to speak up when they detect a problem, and instructs captains to listen to crew concerns. United Airlines instituted a CRM class during the early 1980s. The NTSB later credited this training as valuable for the success of United 232's crew in handling their emergency. The FAA made CRM mandatory after the accident.
Factors contributing to survival rate
Of the 296 people aboard, 112 were killed and 184 survived. Haynes later identified three factors relating to the time of day that increased the survival rate:
The accident occurred during daylight hours in good weather;
The accident occurred as a shift change was occurring at both a regional trauma center and a regional burn center in Sioux City, allowing for more medical personnel to treat the injured;
The accident occurred when the Iowa Air National Guard was on duty at Sioux Gateway Airport, allowing for 285 trained personnel to assist with triage and evacuation of the injured.
"Had any of those things not been there," Haynes said, "I'm sure the fatality rate would have been a lot higher."
Haynes also credited CRM as being one of the factors that saved his own life, and many others.
When Haynes died in August 2019, United Airlines issued a statement thanking him for "his exceptional efforts aboard Flight UA232".
As with the Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crash of a similarly sized Lockheed L-1011 in 1972, the relatively shallow angle of descent likely played a large part in the relatively high survival rate. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that under the circumstances, "a safe landing was virtually impossible".
Notable victims
John Kenneth Stille – chemist
Jay Ramsdell - commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association
Notable survivors
Spencer Bailey - writer, editor, and journalist
Al Haynes - aircraft captain
Helen Young Hayes - investment fund manager
Michael R. Matz - Olympian and racehorse trainer
Jerry Schemmel - former radio broadcaster of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rockies
Pete Wernick - banjo player and member of American bluegrass ensemble Hot Rize, who managed to resume performing two days after the crash
Depictions
The accident was the subject of an 11th-season episode of the documentary series Mayday (also known as Air Crash Investigation), titled "Impossible Landing". The episode featured interviews with survivors and showed actual footage of the crash.
The accident was the subject of the 1992 television movie A Thousand Heroes, also known as Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232.
The episode "Engineering Disasters" (season 6, episode 18) of Modern Marvels featured the crash.
The accident was featured in an episode of Seconds From Disaster (S2E7 9/13/05 "Crash Landing in/at Sioux City") on the National Geographic Channel and MSNBC Investigates on the MSNBC news channel.
The History Channel distributed a documentary named Shockwave; a portion of Episode 7 (originally aired January 25, 2008) detailed the events of the crash.
The episode "A Wing and a Prayer" of Survival in the Sky (UK title: Black Box) featured the accident.
The Biography Channel series I Survived... explained in detail the events of the crash through passenger Jerry, flight attendant Jan Brown Lohr, and pilot Alfred Haynes.
The episode "Crisis in the Cockpit" (Season 2, Episode 1) of Why Planes Crash on The Weather Channel featured the accident.
The 1999 play Charlie Victor Romeo (made into a film in 2013) dramatically reenacted the incident using transcripts from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).
The 1991 novel Cold Fire, by Dean Koontz, includes a fictional crash based on Flight 232.
The 1993 film Fearless portrayed a fictional plane crash based in part on the crash of Flight 232.
In 2016, The House Theatre of Chicago produced United Flight 232. The play was a new work directed and adapted by Vanessa Stalling and based on the book Flight 232 by Laurence Gonzales. Surviving crew members attended the play in April 2016, and the production was subsequently nominated for six Equity Jeff Awards, winning two.
In 2021, the accident was covered in episode 5 of the UK TV series Plane Crash Recreated.
Survivor accounts
Dennis Fitch described his experiences in Errol Morris's television show First Person, episode "Leaving the Earth".
Martha Conant told her story of survival to her daughter-in-law, Brittany Conant, on "Storycorps" during NPR's Morning Edition of January 11, 2008.
Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence Gonzales (2014, W. W. Norton & Company; ).
Miracle in the Cornfield – an inside survivor narrative by Joseph Trombello (1999, PrintSource Plus, Appleton, WI; ).
When the World Breaks Your Heart: Spiritual Ways of Living With Tragedy by Gregory S. Clapper, a chaplain in the National Guard who relates the stories of some of the survivors he aided in the aftermath of the crash (1999; 2016, Wipf and Stock; ).
Chosen to Live: The Inspiring Story of Flight 232 Survivor Jerry Schemmel by Jerry Schemmel with Kevin Simpson (Victory Pub. Co.,1996; ).
Spencer Bailey discussed his experiences on the Time Sensitive podcast, in a 2019 interview with Andrew Zuckerman.
Flight 232 Memorial
The Flight 232 Memorial was built along the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa, to commemorate the heroism of the flight crew and the rescue efforts the Sioux City community undertook after the crash. It features a statue of Iowa National Guard Lt. Col. Dennis Nielsen from a news photo that was taken that day while he was carrying a three-year-old to safety.
Similar accidents
The odds against all three hydraulic systems failing simultaneously had previously been calculated as low as a billion to one. Yet such calculations assume that multiple failures must have independent causes, an unrealistic assumption, and similar flight control failures have indeed occurred:
In 1971, a Boeing 747, operating as Pan Am 845, struck approach light structures for the reciprocal runway as it lifted off the runway at San Francisco Airport. Major damage to the belly and landing gear resulted, which caused the loss of hydraulic fluid from three of its four flight control systems. The fluid which remained in the fourth system gave the captain very limited control of some of the spoilers, ailerons, and one inboard elevator. That was sufficient to circle the plane while fuel was dumped and then to make a hard landing. There were no fatalities, but there were some injuries.
In 1981, a Lockheed L-1011, operating as Eastern Airlines Flight 935, suffered a similar failure of its tail-mounted number two engine. The shrapnel from that engine inflicted damage on all four of its hydraulic systems, which were also close together in the tail structure. Fluid was lost in three of the four systems. The fourth hydraulic system was struck by shrapnel, but not punctured. The hydraulic pressure remaining in that fourth system enabled the captain to land the plane safely with some limited use of the outboard spoilers, the inboard ailerons, and the horizontal stabilizer, plus differential engine power of the remaining two engines. There were no injuries.
On August 12, 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747-146SR, suffered a rupture of the pressure bulkhead in its tail section, caused by undetected damage during a faulty repair to the rear bulkhead after a tailstrike seven years earlier. Pressurized air subsequently rushed out of the bulkhead and blew off the plane's vertical stabilizer, also severing all four of its hydraulic control systems. The pilots were able to keep the plane airborne for 32 minutes using differential engine power, but without any hydraulics or the stabilizing force of the vertical stabilizer, the plane eventually crashed in mountainous terrain. There were only 4 survivors among the 524 on board. This accident is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.
In 1994, RA85656, a Tupolev Tu-154 operating as Baikal Airlines Flight 130, crashed near Irkutsk shortly after departing from Irkutsk Airport, Russia. Damage to the starter caused a fire in engine number two (located in the rear fuselage). High temperatures during the fire destroyed the tanks and pipes of all three hydraulic systems. The crew lost control of the aircraft. The out-of-control plane, at a speed of 275 knots, hit the ground at a dairy farm and burned. All 124 passengers and crew, as well as a dairyman on the ground, died.
In 2003, OO-DLL, a DHL Airbus A300, was struck by a surface-to-air missile shortly after departing from Baghdad International Airport, Iraq. The missile struck the port-side wing, rupturing a fuel tank and causing the loss of all three hydraulic systems. With the flight controls disabled, the crew used differential thrust to execute a safe landing at Baghdad.
The disintegration of a turbine disc, leading to loss of control, was a direct cause of two major aircraft disasters in Poland:
On March 14, 1980, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007, an Ilyushin Il-62, attempted a go-around when the crew experienced troubles with a gear indicator. When thrust was applied, the low-pressure turbine disc in engine number 2 disintegrated because of material fatigue; parts of the disc damaged engines number 1 and 3 and severed control pushers for both horizontal and vertical stabilizers. After 26 seconds of uncontrolled descent, the aircraft crashed, killing all 87 people on board.
On May 9, 1987, improperly assembled bearings in Il-62M engine number 2 on LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 overheated and exploded during cruise over the village of Lipinki, causing the shaft to break in two; this caused the low-pressure turbine disc to spin to enormous speeds and disintegrate, damaging engine number 1 and cutting the control pushers. The crew managed to return to Warsaw, using nothing but trim tabs to control the crippled aircraft, but on the final approach, the trim controlling links burned and the crew completely lost control over the aircraft. Soon after, it crashed on the outskirts of Warsaw; all 183 on board died. Had the plane stayed airborne for 40 seconds more, it would have been able to reach the runway.
In contrast to deploying landing gear:
On August 15, 2019, Ural Airlines Flight 178, an Airbus A321, encountered a flock of gulls resulting in a bird strike that caused fires in both CFM56-5 engines just after takeoff from Zhukovsky International Airport, Moscow, Russia. The pilots decided to turn off both engines and make a hard landing in a nearby cornfield only from Zhukovsky International Airport. The pilot chose not to lower the landing gear in order to skid more effectively over the corn. Upon landing, although fully laden with fuel, no subsequent fire in the fuselage occurred and everyone on board the flight survived. 74 people were injured, none severely.
See also
List of aircraft accidents and incidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities
2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident, an incident in which an airplane was successfully landed using differential thrust after complete loss of hydraulic flight control systems
Notes
References
External links
NTSB Accident report of United Airlines Flight 232
Alternate link at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Cockpit voice-recorder transcript (pdf) (NB contains error)
A talk given by the pilot describing the crash at NASA Dryden in 1991
Siouxland Chamber Of Commerce: Remembering Flight 232 (Picture of memorial depicting Lt. Colonel Dennis Nielsen carrying Spencer Bailey)
"17th Anniversary Tribute of Flight 232"
News report with video of crash landing of Flight 232, ABC News, July 19, 1989
Pre-crash photos from Airliners.net
Martha Conant tells her story of surviving the crash.
– 1992 TV movie
Errol Morris' First Person (one hour documentary video, accident recounting by Denny Fitch)
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1989
1989 in Iowa
Airliner accidents and incidents in Iowa
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure
Sioux City, Iowa
232
Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10
July 1989 events in the United States
Airliner accidents and incidents involving uncontained engine failure
Aviation accidents and incidents caused by loss of control
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1989 |
426955 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car%20suspension | Car suspension | Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both road holding/handling and ride quality, which are at odds with each other. The tuning of suspensions involves finding the right compromise. It is important for the suspension to keep the road wheel in contact with the road surface as much as possible, because all the road or ground forces acting on the vehicle do so through the contact patches of the tires. The suspension also protects the vehicle itself and any cargo or luggage from damage and wear. The design of front and rear suspension of a car may be different.
History
An early form of suspension on ox-drawn carts had the platform swing on iron chains attached to the wheeled frame of the carriage. This system remained the basis for most suspension systems until the turn of the 19th century, although the iron chains were replaced with the use of leather straps called thoroughbraces by the 17th century. No modern automobiles have used the thoroughbrace suspension system.
By approximately 1750, leaf springs began appearing on certain types of carriage, such as the Landau.
By the middle of the 19th century, elliptical springs might additionally start to be used on carriages.
Modern suspension
Automobiles were initially developed as self-propelled versions of horse-drawn vehicles. However, horse-drawn vehicles had been designed for relatively slow speeds, and their suspension was not well suited to the higher speeds permitted by the internal combustion engine.
The first workable spring-suspension required advanced metallurgical knowledge and skill, and only became possible with the advent of industrialisation. Obadiah Elliott registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle; each wheel had two durable steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs which were attached to the axles. Within a decade, most British horse carriages were equipped with springs; wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel springs in larger vehicles. These were often made of low-carbon steel and usually took the form of multiple layer leaf springs.
Leaf springs have been around since the early Egyptians. Ancient military engineers used leaf springs in the form of bows to power their siege engines, with little success at first. The use of leaf springs in catapults was later refined and made to work years later. Springs were not only made of metal; a sturdy tree branch could be used as a spring, such as with a bow. Horse-drawn carriages and Ford Model T used this system, and it is still used today in larger vehicles, mainly mounted in the rear suspension.
Leaf springs were the first modern suspension system, and, along with advances in the construction of roads, heralded the single greatest improvement in road transport until the advent of the automobile. The British steel springs were not well-suited for use on America's rough roads of the time, so the Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire re-introduced leather strap suspension, which gave a swinging motion instead of the jolting up-and-down of spring suspension.
In 1901, Mors of Paris first fitted an automobile with shock absorbers. With the advantage of a damped suspension system on his 'Mors Machine', Henri Fournier won the prestigious Paris-to-Berlin race on 20 June 1901. Fournier's superior time was 11 hrs 46 min 10 sec, while the best competitor was Léonce Girardot in a Panhard with a time of 12 hours, 15 minutes, and 40 seconds.
Coil springs first appeared on a production vehicle in 1906 in the Brush Runabout made by the Brush Motor Company.
Today, coil springs are used in most cars.
In 1920, Leyland Motors used torsion bars in a suspension system.
In 1922, independent front suspension was pioneered on Lancia Lambda, and became more common in mass market cars from 1932. Today, most cars have independent suspension on all four wheels.
The part on which pre-1950 springs were supported is called a dumb iron.
In 2002, a new passive suspension component, the inerter, was invented by Malcolm C. Smith. This has the ability to increase the effective inertia of wheel suspension using a geared flywheel, but without adding significant mass. It was initially employed in Formula One in secrecy, but has since spread to wider motorsport.
Difference between rear suspension and front suspension
Any four-wheel-drive (4WD/AWD) vehicle needs suspension for both the front wheels and rear wheels, but in two-wheel-drive vehicles there could be a very different configuration. For front-wheel drive cars, rear suspension has few constraints, and a variety of beam axles and independent suspensions are used. For rear-wheel drive cars, rear suspension has many constraints, and the development of the superior, but more expensive independent suspension layout has been difficult. Four-wheel drive often has suspensions that are similar for both the front and rear wheels.
History
Henry Ford's Model T used a torque tube to restrain this force, for his differential was attached to the chassis by a lateral leaf spring and two narrow rods. The torque tube surrounded the true driveshaft and exerted the force to its ball joint at the extreme rear of the transmission, which was attached to the engine. A similar method like this was used in the late 1930s by Buick and by Hudson's bathtub car in 1948, which used helical springs that could not take fore-and-aft thrust.
The Hotchkiss drive, invented by Albert Hotchkiss, was the most popular rear suspension system used in American cars from the 1930s to the 1970s. The system uses longitudinal leaf springs attached both forward and behind the differential of the live axle. These springs transmit torque to the frame. Although scorned by many European car makers of the time, it was accepted by American car makers, because it was inexpensive to manufacture. Also, the dynamic defects of this design were suppressed by the enormous weight of U.S. passenger vehicles before the implementation of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard.
Another Frenchman invented the De Dion tube, which is sometimes called "semi-independent". Like true independent rear suspension, this employs two universal joints, or their equivalent from the centre of the differential to each wheel. But the wheels cannot entirely rise and fall independently of each other; they are tied by a yoke that goes around the differential, below and behind it. This method has had little use in the United States. Its use around 1900 was probably due to the poor quality of tires, which wore out quickly. By removing a good deal of unsprung weight, as independent rear suspensions do, it made them last longer.
Rear-wheel drive vehicles today frequently use a fairly complex fully-independent, multi-link suspension to locate the rear wheels securely, while providing decent ride quality.
Spring, wheel, and roll rates
Spring rate
The spring rate (or suspension rate) is a component in setting the vehicle's ride height or its location in the suspension stroke. When a spring is compressed or stretched, the force it exerts, is proportional to its change in length. The spring rate or spring constant of a spring is the change in the force it exerts, divided by the change in deflection of the spring. Vehicles that carry heavy loads, will often have heavier springs to compensate for the additional weight that would otherwise collapse a vehicle to the bottom of its travel (stroke). Heavier springs are also used in performance applications, where the loading conditions experienced are more significant.
Springs that are too hard or too soft cause the suspension to become ineffective – mostly because they fail to properly isolate the vehicle from the road. Vehicles that commonly experience suspension loads heavier than normal, have heavy or hard springs, with a spring rate close to the upper limit for that vehicle's weight. This allows the vehicle to perform properly under a heavy load, when control is limited by the inertia of the load. Riding in an empty truck meant for carrying loads can be uncomfortable for passengers, because of its high spring rate relative to the weight of the vehicle. A race car could also be described as having heavy springs, and would also be uncomfortably bumpy. However, even though we say they both have heavy springs, the actual spring rates for a racecar and a truck are very different. A luxury car, taxi, or passenger bus would be described as having soft springs, for the comfort of their passengers or driver. Vehicles with worn-out or damaged springs ride lower to the ground, which reduces the overall amount of compression available to the suspension, and increases the amount of body lean. Performance vehicles can sometimes have spring rate requirements other than vehicle weight and load.
Wheel rate
Wheel rate is the effective spring rate when measured at the wheel, as opposed to simply measuring the spring rate alone.
Wheel rate is usually equal to or considerably less than the spring rate. Commonly, springs are mounted on control arms, swing arms or some other pivoting suspension member. Consider the example above, where the spring rate was calculated to be 500 lbs/inch (87.5 N/mm), if one were to move the wheel (without moving the car), the spring more than likely compresses a smaller amount. If the spring moved , the lever arm ratio would be 0.75:1. The wheel rate is calculated by taking the square of the ratio (0.5625) times the spring rate, thus obtaining 281.25 lbs/inch (49.25 N/mm). The ratio is squared because it has two effects on the wheel rate: it applies to both the force and the distance traveled.
Wheel rate on independent suspension is fairly straightforward. However, special consideration must be taken with some non-independent suspension designs. Take the case of the straight axle. When viewed from the front or rear, the wheel rate can be measured by the means above. Yet, because the wheels are not independent, when viewed from the side under acceleration or braking, the pivot point is at infinity (because both wheels have moved) and the spring is directly inline with the wheel contact patch. The result is often, that the effective wheel rate under cornering is different from what it is under acceleration and braking. This variation in wheel rate may be minimised by locating the spring as close to the wheel as possible.
Wheel rates are usually summed and compared with the sprung mass of a vehicle to create a "ride rate" and the corresponding suspension natural frequency in ride (also referred to as "heave"). This can be useful in creating a metric for suspension stiffness and travel requirements for a vehicle.
Roll rate
Roll rate is analogous to a vehicle's ride rate, but for actions that include lateral accelerations, causing a vehicle's sprung mass to roll. It is expressed as torque per degree of roll of the vehicle sprung mass. It is influenced by factors including but not limited to vehicle sprung mass, track width, CG height, spring and damper rates, roll centre heights of front and rear, anti-roll bar stiffness and tire pressure/construction. The roll rate of a vehicle can, and usually, does differ front-to-rear, which allows for the tuning ability of a vehicle for transient and steady-state handling. The roll rate of a vehicle does not change the total amount of weight transfer on the vehicle, but shifts the speed and percentage of weight transferred on a particular axle to another axle through the vehicle chassis. Generally, the higher the roll rate on an axle of a vehicle, the faster and higher percentage the weight transfer on that axle.
By 2021, some vehicles were offering dynamic roll control with ride-height adjustable air suspension and adaptive dampers.
Roll couple percentage
Roll couple percentage is a simplified method of describing lateral load transfer distribution front to rear, and subsequently handling balance. It is the effective wheel rate, in roll, of each axle of the vehicle as a ratio of the vehicle's total roll rate. It is commonly adjusted through the use of anti-roll bars, but can also be changed through the use of different springs.
Weight transfer
Weight transfer during cornering, acceleration, or braking is usually calculated per individual wheel, and compared with the static weights for the same wheels.
The total amount of weight transfer is only affected by four factors: the distance between wheel centers (wheelbase in the case of braking, or track width in the case of cornering), the height of the center of gravity, the mass of the vehicle, and the amount of acceleration experienced.
The speed at which weight transfer occurs, as well as through which components it transfers, is complex, and is determined by many factors; including, but not limited to: roll center height, spring and damper rates, anti-roll bar stiffness, and the kinematic design of suspension links.
In most conventional applications, when weight is transferred through intentionally compliant elements, such as springs, dampers, and anti-roll bars, the weight transfer is said to be "elastic", while the weight which is transferred through more rigid suspension links, such as A-arms and toe links, is said to be "geometric".
Unsprung weight transfer
Unsprung weight transfer is calculated based on weight of the vehicle's components that are not supported by the springs. This includes tires, wheels, brakes, spindles, half the control arm's weight, and other components. These components are then (for calculation purposes) assumed to be connected to a vehicle with zero sprung weight. They are then put through the same dynamic loads.
The weight transfer for cornering in the front would be equal to the total unsprung front weight times the G-force times the front unsprung center of gravity height divided by the front track width. The same is true for the rear.
Sprung weight transfer
Sprung weight transfer is the weight transferred by only the weight of the vehicle resting on its springs, and not by total vehicle weight. Calculating this requires knowing the vehicle's sprung weight (total weight less the unsprung weight), the front and rear roll center heights, and the sprung center of gravity height (used to calculate the roll moment arm length). Calculating the front and rear sprung weight transfer will also require knowing the roll couple percentage.
The roll axis is the line through the front and rear roll centers that the vehicle rolls around during cornering. The distance from this axis to the sprung center of gravity height is the roll moment arm length. The total sprung weight transfer is equal to the G-force times the sprung weight times the roll moment arm length divided by the effective track width. The front sprung weight transfer is calculated by multiplying the roll couple percentage times the total sprung weight transfer. The rear is the total minus the front transfer.
Jacking forces
Jacking forces are the sum of the vertical force components experienced by suspension links. The resultant force acts to lift the sprung mass, if the roll center is above ground, or compress it, if underground. Generally, the higher the roll center, the more jacking force is experienced.
Other properties
Travel
Travel is the measure of distance from the bottom of the suspension stroke (such as when the vehicle is on a jack, and the wheel hangs freely) to the top of the suspension stroke (such as when the vehicle's wheel can no longer travel in an upward direction toward the vehicle). Bottoming or lifting a wheel can cause serious control problems, or directly cause damage. "Bottoming" can be caused by the suspension, tires, fenders, etc. running out of space to move, or the body or other components of the car hitting the road. Control problems caused by lifting a wheel are less severe, if the wheel lifts when the spring reaches its unloaded shape than they are, if travel is limited by contact of suspension members (See Triumph TR3B.)
Many off-road vehicles, such as desert racers, use straps called "limiting straps" to limit the suspensions' downward travel to a point within safe limits for the linkages and shock absorbers. This is necessary, since these trucks are intended to travel over very rough terrain at high speeds, and even become airborne at times. Without something to limit the travel, the suspension bushings would take all the force, when suspension reaches "full droop", and it can even cause the coil springs to come out of their "buckets", if they are held in by compression forces only. A limiting strap is a simple strap, often from nylon of a predetermined length, that stops downward movement at a pre-set point before theoretical maximum travel is reached. The opposite of this is the "bump-stop", which protects the suspension and the vehicle (as well as the occupants) from the violent "bottoming" of the suspension, caused when an obstruction (or a hard landing) causes suspension to run out of upward travel without fully absorbing the energy of the stroke. Without bump-stops, a vehicle that "bottoms out", will experience a very hard shock when the suspension contacts the bottom of the frame or body, which is transferred to the occupants and every connector and weld on the vehicle. Factory vehicles often come with plain rubber "nubs" to absorb the worst of the forces, and insulate the shock. A desert race vehicle, which must routinely absorb far higher impact forces, might be provided with pneumatic or hydro-pneumatic bump-stops. These are essentially miniature shock absorbers (dampers) that are fixed to the vehicle in a location, such, that the suspension will contact the end of the piston when it nears the upward travel limit. These absorb the impact far more effectively than a solid rubber bump-stop will, essential, because a rubber bump-stop is considered a "last-ditch" emergency insulator for the occasional accidental bottoming of the suspension; it is entirely insufficient to absorb repeated and heavy bottoming, such as a high-speed off-road vehicle encounters.
Damping
Damping is the control of motion or oscillation, as seen with the use of hydraulic gates and valves in a vehicle's shock absorber. This may also vary, intentionally or unintentionally. Like spring rate, the optimal damping for comfort may be less, than for control.
Damping controls the travel speed and resistance of the vehicle's suspension. An undamped car will oscillate up and down. With proper damping levels, the car will settle back to a normal state in a minimal amount of time. Most damping in modern vehicles can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the resistance to fluid flow in the shock absorber.
Camber control
See dependent and independent below.
Camber changes due to wheel travel, body roll and suspension system deflection or compliance. In general, a tire wears and brakes best at -1 to -2° of camber from vertical. Depending on the tire and the road surface, it may hold the road best at a slightly different angle. Small changes in camber, front and rear, can be used to tune handling. Some racecars are tuned with -2 to -7° camber, depending on the type of handling desired, and tire construction. Often, too much camber will result in the decrease of braking performance due to a reduced contact patch size through excessive camber variation in suspension geometry. The amount of camber change in bump is determined by the instantaneous front view swing arm (FVSA) length of suspension geometry, or in other words, the tendency of the tire to camber inward when compressed in bump.
Roll center height
Roll center height is a product of suspension instant center heights and is a useful metric in analyzing weight transfer effects, body roll and front to rear roll stiffness distribution. Conventionally, roll stiffness distribution is tuned adjusting antiroll bars rather than roll center height (as both tend to have a similar effect on the sprung mass), but the height of the roll center is significant when considering the amount of jacking forces experienced.
Instant center
Due to the fact that the wheel and tire's motion is constrained by the vehicle's suspension links, the motion of the wheel package in the front view will scribe an imaginary arc in space with an "instantaneous center" of rotation at any given point along its path. The instant center for any wheel package can be found by following imaginary lines drawn through suspension links to their intersection point.
A component of the tire's force vector points from the contact patch of the tire through instant center. The larger this component is, the less suspension motion will occur. Theoretically, if the resultant of the vertical load on the tire and the lateral force generated by it points directly into the instant center, the suspension links will not move. In this case, all weight transfer at that end of the vehicle will be geometric in nature. This is key information used in finding the force-based roll center as well.
In this respect, the instant centers are more important to the handling of the vehicle, than the kinematic roll center alone, in that the ratio of geometric-to-elastic weight transfer is determined by the forces at the tires and their directions in relation to the position of their respective instant centers.
Anti-dive and anti-squat
Anti-dive and anti-squat are percentages that indicate the degree to which the front dives under braking, and the rear squats under acceleration. They can be thought of as the counterparts for braking and acceleration, as jacking forces are to cornering. The main reason for the difference is due to the different design goals between front and rear suspension, whereas suspension is usually symmetrical between the left and the right of the vehicle.
The method of determining anti-dive or anti-squat depends on whether suspension linkages react to the torque of braking and accelerating. For example, with inboard brakes and half-shaft-driven rear wheels, the suspension linkages do not react, but with outboard brakes and a swing-axle driveline, they do.
To determine the percentage of front suspension braking anti-dive for outboard brakes, it is first necessary to determine the tangent of the angle between a line drawn, in side view, through the front tire patch and the front suspension instant center, and the horizontal. In addition, the percentage of braking effort at the front wheels must be known. Then, multiply the tangent by the front wheel braking effort percentage and divide by the ratio of the center of gravity height to the wheelbase. A value of 50% would mean, that half of the weight transfer to the front wheels; during braking, it is being transmitted through front suspension linkage, and half is being transmitted through front suspension springs.
For inboard brakes, the same procedure is followed, but using the wheel center instead of contact patch center.
Forward acceleration anti-squat is calculated in a similar manner and with the same relationship between percentage and weight transfer. Anti-squat values of 100% and more are commonly used in drag racing, but values of 50% or less are more common in cars that have to undergo severe braking. Higher values of anti-squat commonly cause wheel hop during braking. It is important to note, that the value of 100% means, that all of the weight transfer is being carried through suspension linkage. However, this does not mean that the suspension is incapable of carrying additional loads (aerodynamic, cornering, etc.) during an episode of braking, or forward acceleration. In other words, no "binding" of the suspension is to be implied.
Flexibility and vibration modes of suspension elements
In some modern cars, flexibility is mainly in rubber bushings, which are subject to decay over time. For high-stress suspensions, such as off-road vehicles, polyurethane bushings are available, which offer more longevity under greater stresses. However, due to weight and cost considerations, structures are not made more rigid than necessary. Some vehicles exhibit detrimental vibrations involving the flexing of structural parts, such as when accelerating while turning sharply. Flexibility of structures, such as frames and suspension links, can also contribute to springing, especially to damping out high-frequency vibrations. The flexibility of wire wheels contributed to their popularity in times when cars had less advanced suspensions.
Load levelling
Automobiles can be heavily laden with luggage, passengers, and trailers. This loading will cause a vehicle's tail to sink downwards. Maintaining a steady chassis level is essential to achieving the proper handling that the vehicle was designed for. Oncoming drivers can be blinded by the headlight beam. Self-levelling suspension counteracts this by inflating cylinders in the suspension to lift the chassis higher.
Isolation from high frequency shock
For most purposes, the weight of suspension components is unimportant. But at high frequencies caused by road surface roughness, the parts isolated by rubber bushings act as a multi-stage filter to suppress noise and vibration better than can be done with only tires and springs. (The springs work mainly in the vertical direction.)
Contribution to unsprung weight and total weight
These are usually small, except that the suspension is related to whether the brakes and are sprung.
This is the main functional advantage of aluminum wheels over steel wheels. Aluminum suspension parts have been used in production cars, and carbon fiber suspension parts are common in racing cars.
Space occupied
Designs differ as to how much space they take up, and where it is located. It is generally accepted, that MacPherson struts are the most compact arrangement for front-engined vehicles, where space between the wheels is required to place the engine.
Inboard brakes (which reduce unsprung weight) are probably avoided more due to space considerations than to cost.
Force distribution
The suspension attachment must match the frame design in geometry, strength and rigidity.
Air resistance (drag)
Certain modern vehicles have height adjustable suspension in order to improve aerodynamics and fuel efficiency. Modern formula cars that have exposed wheels and suspension typically use streamlined tubing rather than simple round tubing for their suspension arms to reduce aerodynamic drag. Also typical is the use of rocker-arm, push rod, or pull rod-type suspensions, that, among other things, place the spring/damper unit inboard and out of the air stream to further reduce air resistance.
Cost
Production methods improve, but cost is always a factor. The continued use of the solid rear axle, with unsprung differential, especially on heavy vehicles, seems to be the most obvious example.
Springs and dampers
Most conventional suspensions use passive springs to absorb impacts and dampers (or shock absorbers) to control spring motions.
Some notable exceptions are hydropneumatic systems, which can be treated as an integrated unit of gas spring and damping components, used by the French manufacturer Citroën; and the hydrolastic, hydragas and rubber cone systems used by the British Motor Corporation, most notably on the Mini. A number of different types of each have been used:
Passive suspensions
Traditional springs and dampers are referred to as passive suspensions — most vehicles are suspended in this manner.
Springs
The majority of land vehicles are suspended by steel springs of these types:
Leaf spring – AKA Hotchkiss, Cart, or semi-elliptical spring
Torsion bar suspension
Coil spring
Automakers are aware of the inherent limitations of steel springs — that these springs tend to produce undesirable oscillations, and carmakers have developed other types of suspension materials and mechanisms in attempts to improve performance:
Rubber bushings
Gas under pressure - air springs
Gas and hydraulic fluid under pressure - hydropneumatic suspension and oleo struts
Dampers or shock absorbers
Shock absorbers damp out the (otherwise simple harmonic) motions of a vehicle up and down on its springs. They must also damp out much of the wheel bounce when the unsprung weight of a wheel, hub, axle, and sometimes brakes and the differential bounces up and down on the springiness of a tire.
Semi-active and active suspensions
If suspension is externally controlled, then it is a semi-active or active suspension — the suspension is reacting to signals from an electronic controller.
For example, a hydropneumatic Citroën will "know" how far off the ground the car is supposed to be, and constantly resets to achieve that level, regardless of load. However, this type of suspension will not instantly compensate for body roll due to cornering. Citroën's system adds about 1% to the cost of the car versus passive steel springs.
Semi-active suspensions include devices, such as air springs and switchable shock absorbers, various self-levelling solutions, as well as systems, like hydropneumatic, hydrolastic, and hydragas suspensions.
Toyota introduced switchable shock absorbers in the 1983 Soarer. Delphi currently sells shock absorbers filled with a magneto-rheological fluid, whose viscosity can be changed electromagnetically — thereby giving variable control without switching valves, which is faster and thus more effective.
Fully active suspension systems use electronic monitoring of vehicle conditions, coupled with the means to change the behavior of vehicle suspension in real time to directly control the motion of the car.
Lotus Cars developed several prototypes from 1982 onwards, and introduced them to Formula One, where they have been fairly effective, but have now been banned.
Nissan introduced low-bandwidth active suspension circa 1990 as an option that added an extra 20% to the price of luxury models. Citroën has also developed several active suspension models (see hydractive). A fully active system from Bose Corporation, announced in 2009, uses linear electric motors in place of hydraulic or pneumatic actuators that have generally been used up until recently. Mercedes introduced an active suspension system called Active Body Control in its top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz CL-Class in 1999.
Several electromagnetic suspensions have also been developed for vehicles. Examples include the electromagnetic suspension of Bose, and the electromagnetic suspension developed by prof. Laurentiu Encica. In addition, the new Michelin wheel with embedded suspension functioning on an electric motor is also similar.
With the help of a control system, various semi-active/active suspensions realize an improved design compromise among different vibration modes of the vehicle; namely: bounce, roll, pitch and warp modes. However, the applications of these advanced suspensions are constrained by cost, packaging, weight, reliability, and/or other challenges.
Interconnected suspensions
Interconnected suspension, unlike semi-active/active suspensions, could easily decouple different vehicle vibration modes in a passive manner. Interconnections can be realized by various means, such as mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic. Anti-roll bars are one of the typical examples of mechanical interconnections, while it has been stated, that fluidic interconnections offer greater potential and flexibility in improving both the stiffness and damping properties.
Considering the considerable commercial potentials of hydro-pneumatic technology (Corolla, 1996), interconnected hydropneumatic suspensions have also been explored in some recent studies, and their potential benefits in enhancing vehicle ride and handling have been demonstrated. The control system can also be used for further improving performance of interconnected suspensions. Apart from academic research, an Australian company Kinetic had some success with various passive or semi-active systems (WRC: three Championships; the Dakar Rally: two Championships; Lexus GX470 2004 as the 4×4 of the year with KDSS; the 2005 PACE award). These systems by Kinetic generally decouple at least two vehicle modes (roll, warp (articulation), pitch, and/or heave (bounce)) to simultaneously control each mode's stiffness and damping by using interconnected shock absorbers, and other methods. In 1999, Kinetic was bought out by Tenneco. Later developments by the Catalan company Creuat have devised a simpler system design based on single-acting cylinders. After some projects on competition, Creuat is active in providing retrofit systems for some vehicle models.
Historically, the first mass-production car with front-to-rear mechanical interconnected suspension was the 1948 Citroën 2CV. Suspension in the 2CV was extremely soft — the longitudinal link was making pitch softer, instead of making roll stiffer. It relied on extreme anti-dive and anti-squat geometries to compensate for that. This resulted in a softer axle-crossing stiffness that anti-roll bars would have otherwise compromised. The leading arm / trailing arm swinging arm, fore-aft linked suspension system, together with in-board front brakes, had a much smaller unsprung weight than existing coil spring or leaf designs. The interconnection transmitted some of the force deflecting a front wheel up over a bump, to push the rear wheel down on the same side. When the rear wheel met that bump a moment later, it did the same in reverse, keeping the car level front to rear. The 2CV had a design brief to be able to be driven at speed over a ploughed field, such as by a farmer transporting chicken eggs. It originally featured friction dampers and tuned mass dampers. Later models had tuned mass dampers at the front with telescopic dampers/shock absorbers front and rear.
British Motor Corporation was also an early adopter of interconnected suspension. A system dubbed Hydrolastic was introduced in 1962 on Morris 1100, and went on to be used on a variety of BMC models. Hydrolastic was developed by suspension engineer Alex Moulton, and used rubber cones as the springing medium (these were first used on the 1959 Mini) with suspension units on each side connected to each other by a fluid-filled pipe. The fluid transmitted the force of road bumps from one wheel to the other (on the same principle as Citroën 2CV's mechanical system described above), and because each suspension unit contained valves to restrict the flow of fluid, also served as a shock absorber. Moulton went on to develop a replacement for Hydrolastic for BMC's successor British Leyland. This system, manufactured under licence by Dunlop in Coventry, called Hydragas, worked with the same principle, but instead of rubber spring units, it used metal spheres divided internally by a rubber diaphragm. The top half contained pressurised gas, and the lower half the same fluid as used on the Hydrolastic system. The fluid transmitted suspension forces between the units on each side, whilst the gas acted as the springing medium through the diaphragm. This is the same principle as the Citroën hydropneumatic system, and provides similar ride quality, but is self-contained, and does not require an engine-driven pump to provide hydraulic pressure. The downside is, that Hydragas is, unlike the Citroën system, not height-adjustable, or self-levelling. Hydragas was introduced in 1973 on Austin Allegro, and was used on several models; the last car to use it being MG F in 2002. The system was changed in favour of coil springs over dampers due to cost reasons towards the end of the vehicle's life. When it was decommissioned in 2006, the Hydragas manufacturing line was over 40 years old.
Some of the last post-war Packard models also featured interconnected suspension.
Types
Suspension systems can be broadly classified into two subgroups: dependent and independent. These terms refer to the ability of opposite wheels to move independently of each other.
A dependent suspension normally has a beam (a simple 'cart' axle) or a (driven) live axle that holds wheels parallel to each other and perpendicular to the axle. When the camber of one wheel changes, the camber of the opposite wheel changes in the same way (by convention, on one side, this is a positive change in the camber, and on the other side, this a negative change). De Dion suspensions are also in this category, as they rigidly connect the wheels together.
Independent suspension allows wheels to rise and fall on their own without affecting the opposite wheel. Suspensions with other devices, such as sway bars that link the wheels in some way, are still classed as independent.
Semi-dependent suspension is a third type. In this case, the motion of one wheel does affect the position of the other, but they are not rigidly attached to each other. Twist-beam rear suspension is such a system.
Dependent suspensions
Dependent systems may be differentiated by the system of linkages used to locate them, both longitudinally and transversely. Often, both functions are combined in a set of linkages.
Examples of location linkages include:
Satchell link
Panhard rod
Watt's linkage
WOBLink
Mumford linkage
Leaf springs used for location (transverse or longitudinal)
Fully elliptical springs usually need supplementary location links, and are no longer in common use
Longitudinal semi-elliptical springs used to be common, and are still used in heavy-duty trucks and aircraft. They have the advantage, that the spring rate can easily be made progressive (non-linear).
A single transverse leaf spring for both front wheels and/or both back wheels, supporting solid axles, was used by Ford Motor Company, before and soon after World War II, even on expensive models. It had the advantages of simplicity and low unsprung weight (compared to other solid-axle designs).
In a front-engine rear-drive vehicle, dependent rear suspension is either "live-axle" or deDion axle, depending on whether or not differential is carried on the axle. Live-axle is simpler, but unsprung weight contributes to wheel bounce.
Because it assures constant camber, dependent (and semi-independent) suspension is most common on vehicles that need to carry large loads as a proportion of the vehicle's weight, that have relatively soft springs and that do not (for cost and simplicity reasons) use active suspensions. The use of dependent front suspension has become limited to heavier commercial vehicles.
Independent suspensions
The variety of independent systems is greater, and includes:
Swing axle
Sliding pillar
MacPherson strut/Chapman strut
Upper and lower A-arm (double wishbone)
Multi-link suspension
Semi-trailing arm suspension
Swinging arm
Transverse leaf springs when used as a suspension link, or four-quarter elliptics on one end of a car are similar to wishbones in geometry, but are more compliant. Examples are the front of the original Fiat 500, then Panhard Dyna Z, and the early examples of Peugeot 403, and the backs of AC Ace and AC Aceca.
Because the wheels are not constrained to remain perpendicular to a flat road surface in turning, braking, and varying load conditions, control of the wheel camber is an important issue. Swinging-arm was common in small cars that were sprung softly, and could carry large loads, because the camber is independent of load. Some active and semi-active suspensions maintain ride height, and therefore the camber, independent of load. In sports cars, optimal camber change when turning, is more important.
Wishbone and multi-link allow the engineer more control over the geometry, to arrive at the best compromise, than swing axle, MacPherson strut, or swinging arm do; however, the cost and space requirements may be greater.
Semi-trailing arm is in between, being a variable compromise between the geometries of swinging arm and swing axle.
Semi-independent suspension
In semi-independent suspensions, the wheels of an axle are able to move relative to one another, as in an independent suspension, but the position of one wheel has an effect on the position and attitude of the other wheel. This effect is achieved through the twisting or deflecting of suspension parts under load.
The most common type of semi-independent suspension is the twist beam.
Other instances
Tilting Suspension System
The Tilting Suspension System (also known as the Leaning Suspension System) is not a different type or geometry of construction; moreover, it is a technology addition to the conventional suspension system.
This kind of suspension system mainly consists of independent suspension (e.g., MacPherson strut, A-arm (double wishbone)). With the addition of these suspension systems, there is a further tilting or leaning mechanism that connects the suspension system with the vehicle body (chassis).
The tilting suspension system improves stability, traction, the turning radius of a vehicle, and the comfort of riders as well. While turning right or left, passengers or objects on a vehicle feel the G-force or inertial force outward the radius of the curvature, which is why two-wheeler riders (motorbikes) lean towards the center of curvature while turning, which improves stability and decreases the chances of toppling. But vehicles with more than two wheels, and equipped with a conventional suspension system, could not do the same until now, so the passengers feel the outward inertial force, which reduces the stability of riders and their comfort as well. This kind of tilting suspension system is the solution to the problem. If the road does not have super-elevation or banking, it will not affect the comfort with this suspension system, the vehicle tilt and decrease in the height of the center of gravity with an increase in stability. This suspension is also used in fun vehicles.
Some trains also use tilting suspension (Tilting Train) which increases the speed at cornering.
Rocker bogie mechanism
The rocker-bogie system is a suspension arrangement, in which there are some trailing arms fitted with some idler wheels. Due to articulation between the driving section and the followers, this suspension is very flexible. This kind of suspension is appropriate for extremely rough terrain.
This kind of suspension was used in the Curiosity rover.
Tracked vehicles
Some vehicles, such as trains, run on long rail tracks fixed to the ground; and some, such as tractors, snow vehicles, and tanks run on continuous tracks that are part of the vehicle. Although either sort helps to smooth the path and reduce ground pressure, many of the same considerations apply.
Armoured fighting vehicle suspension
Military armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), including tanks, have specialized suspension requirements. They can weigh more than seventy tons, and are required to move as quickly as possible over very rough or soft ground. Their suspension components must be protected from land mines and antitank weapons. Tracked AFVs can have as many as nine road wheels on each side. Many wheeled AFVs have six or eight large wheels. Some have a Central Tire Inflation System to reduce ground loading on poor surfaces. Some wheels are too big and too confined to turn, so skid steering is used with some wheeled, as well as with tracked vehicles.
The earliest tanks of World War I had fixed suspension with no designed movement whatsoever. This unsatisfactory situation was improved with leaf spring or coil spring suspensions adopted from agricultural, automotive, or railway machinery, but even these had very limited travel.
Speeds increased due to more powerful engines, and the quality of ride had to be improved. In the 1930s, the Christie suspension was developed, which allowed the use of coil springs inside a vehicle's armored hull, by changing the direction of force deforming the spring, using a bell crank. The T-34's suspension was directly descended from Christie designs.
Horstmann suspension was a variation which used a combination of bell crank and exterior coil springs, in use from the 1930s to the 1990s. The bogie, but nonetheless independent, suspensions of M3 Lee/Grant and M4 Sherman vehicles was similar to the Hortsmann type, with suspension sequestered within the track oval.
By World War II, the other common type was torsion bar suspension, getting spring force from twisting bars inside the hull — this sometimes had less travel than the Christie type, but was significantly more compact, allowing more space inside the hull, with the consequent possibility to install larger turret rings, and thus, heavier main armament. Torsion-bar suspension, sometimes including shock absorbers, has been the dominant heavy armored vehicle suspension since World War II. Torsion bars may take space under or near the floor, which may interfere with making the tank low to reduce exposure.
As with cars, wheel travel and spring rate affect the bumpiness of ride, and the speed at which rough terrain can be negotiated. It may be significant, that a smooth ride, which is often associated with comfort, increases the accuracy when firing on the move. It also reduces shock on optics and other equipment. The unsprung weight and track link weight may limit speed on roads, and can affect the useful lifetime of the vehicle's track, and its other components.
Most German WWII half-tracks and their tanks introduced during the war, such as the Panther tank, had overlapping and sometimes interleaved road wheels to distribute the load more evenly on the tank's track, and therefore on the ground. This apparently made a significant contribution to speed, range and track life, as well as providing a continuous band of protection. It has not been used since the end of that war, probably due to the maintenance requirements of more complicated mechanical parts working in mud, sand, rocks, snow, and ice; as well as due to cost. Rocks and frozen mud often got stuck between the overlapping wheels, which could prevent them from turning, or would cause damage to the road wheels. If one of the interior road wheels were damaged, it would require other road wheels to be removed in order to access the damaged road wheel, making the process more complicated and time-consuming.
See also
Automotive suspension design process
MacPherson strut
Multi-link suspension
4-poster – a test rig
7 post shaker – a test rig for high-speed vehicles
Ackermann steering geometry
Caster angle – self centering steering
Coilover
Corvette leaf spring - independent suspension combined with a transverse fiber reinforced plastic leaf spring
Korres P4 — a Greek all-terrain supercar, with a unique suspension
List of auto parts
Magnetic levitation
Maglev train
Ride height - vehicle ground clearance
Oleo strut - design used in most large aircraft, with compressed gas and hydraulic fluid - conceptually similar to automobile Hydropneumatic suspension
Scrub radius
Short long arms suspension — also known as "unequal length A arm", one of the design parameters of double wishbone suspension
Strut bar — a part to make a suspension setup more rigid.
Other suspension
References
Further reading
External links
How Car Suspensions Work
Robert W. Temple, The ABCs of Chassis Frame and Suspensions, September 1969
Suspension Geometry Calculator
Automotive suspension technologies
Armoured fighting vehicle equipment
Vehicle technology
Articles containing video clips
Vehicle dynamics |
426982 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian%20zone | Pedestrian zone | Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in which most or all automobile traffic is prohibited. Converting a street or an area to pedestrian-only use is called pedestrianisation.
Pedestrianisation usually aims to provide better accessibility and mobility for pedestrians, to enhance the amount of shopping and other business activities in the area or to improve the attractiveness of the local environment in terms of aesthetics, air pollution, noise and crashes involving motor vehicle with pedestrians. In some cases, traffic in surrounding areas may increase, due to displacement, rather than substitution of car traffic. Nonetheless, pedestrianisation schemes are often associated with significant falls in local air and noise pollution and in accidents, and frequently with increased retail turnover and increased property values locally.
A car-free development generally implies a large-scale pedestrianised area that relies on modes of transport other than the car, while pedestrian zones may vary in size from a single square to entire districts, but with highly variable degrees of dependence on cars for their broader transport links.
Pedestrian zones have a great variety of approaches to human-powered vehicles such as bicycles, inline skates, skateboards and kick scooters. Some have a total ban on anything with wheels, others ban certain categories, others segregate the human-powered wheels from foot traffic, and others still have no rules at all. Many Middle Eastern kasbahs have no motorized traffic, but use donkey-driven or hand-driven carts for freight transport.
History
Origins in arcades
The idea of separating pedestrians from wheeled traffic is an old one, dating back at least to the Renaissance. However, the earliest modern implementation of the idea in cities seems to date from about 1800, when the first covered shopping arcade was opened in Paris. Separated shopping arcades were constructed throughout Europe in the 19th century, precursors of modern shopping malls. A number of architects and city planners, including Joseph Paxton, Ebenezer Howard, and Clarence Stein, in the 19th and early 20th centuries proposed plans to separate pedestrians from traffic in various new developments.
1920s–1970s
The first "pedestrianisation" of an existing street seems to have taken place "around 1929" in Essen, Germany. This was in Limbecker Straße, a very narrow shopping street that could not accommodate both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Two other German cities followed this model in the early 1930s, but the idea was not seen outside Germany. Following the devastation of the Second World War a number of European cities implemented plans to pedestrianise city streets, although usually on a largely ad hoc basis, through the early 1950s, with little landscaping or planning. By 1955 twenty-one German cities had closed at least one street to automobile traffic, although only four were "true" pedestrian streets, designed for the purpose. At this time pedestrianisation was not seen as a traffic restraint policy, but rather as a complement to customers who would arrive by car in a city centre.
Pedestrianisation was also common in the United States during the 1950s and 60s as downtown businesses attempted to compete with new suburban shopping malls. However, most of these initiatives were not successful in the long term, and about 90% have been changed back to motorised areas.
1980s–2010s
In the United States, several pedestrian zones in major tourist areas were successful, such as the renovation of the mall in Santa Monica on Los Angeles' Westside and its relaunch as the Third Street Promenade; the creation of the covered, pedestrian Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas; the revival of East 4th Street in Downtown Cleveland; and the new pedestrian zone created in the mid-2010s in New York City including along Broadway (the street) and around Times Square.
COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, some cities had made the pedestrianization of additional streets to encourage social distancing and in many cases to provide extra rooms for restaurants to serve food on patios extended into the newly available spaces. In the United States, New York City closed up to of streets to cars across the city. In Madrid, Spain, the city pedestrianized of streets and of spaces in total. The COVID-19 pandemic gave also birth to proposals for radical change in the organisation of the city, in particular Barcelona, being the pedestrianisation of the whole city one of the key elements, proposing an inversion of the concept of sidewalk.
Definitions and types
A pedestrian zone is often limited in scope: for example, a single square or a few streets reserved for pedestrians, within a city where residents still largely get around in cars. A car-free town, city or region may be much larger.
Car free towns, cities and regions
A car-free zone is different from a typical pedestrian zone, in that it implies a development largely predicated on modes of transport other than the car.
Examples
A number of towns and cities in Europe have never allowed motor vehicles. Archetypal examples are:
Venice, which occupies many islands in a lagoon, divided by and accessed from canals. Motor traffic stops at the car park at the head of the viaduct from the mainland, and water transport and walking take over from there. However, motor vehicles are allowed on the nearby Lido.
Zermatt in the Swiss Alps. Most visitors reach Zermatt by a cog railway, and there are pedestrian-only streets, but there are also roads with motor vehicles.
Other examples are:
Cinque Terre in Italy
Ghent in Belgium: the pedestrian zone was extended in 2017 from 35 to more than 50 hectares (123 acres), one of the largest car-free areas in Europe.
Pontevedra in Spain, an international model of pedestrianization, almost 50% of the city is pedestrianised.;
The Old Town of Rhodes, where many, if not most, of the streets are too steep and/or narrow for car traffic.
Mount Athos, an autonomous monastic state under the sovereignty of Greece, does not permit automobiles on its territory. Trucks and work-related vehicles only are in use there.
The medieval city of Mdina in Malta does not allow automobiles past the city walls. It is known as the "Silent City" because of the absence of motor traffic in the city.
Sark, an island in the English Channel, is a car-free zone where only bicycles, carriages and tractors are used as transportation.
Gulangyu, an island off the coast of Xiamen in southeastern China. The only vehicles permitted are small electric buggies and electric government service vehicles.
To assist with transport from the car parks in at the edge of car-free cities, there are often bus stations, bicycle sharing stations, and the like.
Car-free development
The term car-free development implies a physical change: either build-up or changes to an existing built area.
Melia et al. (2010) define car-free developments as "residential or mixed use developments which:
Normally provide a traffic-free immediate environment, and
Offer no parking or limited parking separated from the residence, and:
Are designed to enable residents to live without owning a car."
This definition (which they distinguish from the more common "low car development") is based mainly on experience in North West Europe, where the movement for car-free development began. Within this definition, three types are identified:
Vauban model, based on Vauban, Freiburg: it is not "carfree", but "parking-space-free" () in some streets.
Limited Access model
Pedestrianised centres with residential population
Limited access type
The more common form of carfree development involves some sort of physical barrier, which prevents motor vehicles from penetrating into a car-free interior. Melia et al. describe this as the "limited access" type. In some cases, such as Stellwerk 60 in Cologne, there is a removable barrier, controlled by a residents' organisation. In Amsterdam, Waterwijk is a 6-hectare neighborhood where cars may only access parking areas from the streets that form the edges of the neighborhood; all of the inner areas of the neighborhood are car-free.
Temporary car-free streets
Many cities close certain streets to automobiles, typically on weekends and especially in warm weather, to provide more urban space for recreation, and to increase foot traffic to nearby businesses. Examples include Newbury Street in Boston, and Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts (which is along a river). In some cases, popularity has resulted in streets being permanently closed to cars, including JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; Griffith Drive in Griffith Park, Los Angeles; and Capel Street in Dublin.
Reception
Benefits
Several studies have been carried out on European carfree developments. The most comprehensive was conducted in 2000 by Jan Scheurer. Other more recent studies have been made of specific car-free areas such as Vienna's Floridsdorf car-free development.
Characteristics of car-free developments:
Very low levels of car use, resulting in much less traffic on surrounding roads
High rates of walking and cycling
More independent movement and active play for children
Less land is used for parking and roads, so more available for green or social space
The main benefits found for car-free developments:
Low atmospheric emissions
Low road accident rates
Better built environment conditions
Encouragement of active modes.
The main problems related to parking management. Where parking is not controlled in the surrounding area, this often results in complaints from neighbours about overspill parking.
Problems and criticism
There were calls for traffic to be reinstated in Trafalgar Square, London, after pedestrianization caused noise nuisance for visitors to the National Gallery. The director of the gallery is reported to have blamed pedestrianization for the "trashing of a civic space".
Local shopkeepers may be critical of the effect of pedestrianization on their businesses. Reduced through traffic can lead to fewer customers using local businesses, depending on the environment and the area's dependence on the through traffic.
By region and country
Europe
A large number of European towns and cities have made part of their centres car-free since the early 1960s. These are often accompanied by car parks on the edge of the pedestrianised zone, and, in the larger cases, park and ride schemes.
Armenia
Northern Avenue, located in the Kentron district of central Yerevan, is a large pedestrian avenue. The avenue was inaugurated in 2007 and is mainly home to residential buildings, offices, luxury shops and restaurants.
Belgium
In Belgium, Brussels implemented Europe's largest pedestrian zone (French: Le Piétonnier), in phases starting in 2015 and will cover . The area covers much of the historic center within the Small Ring (the ring road built on the site of the 14th century walls), including the Grand-Place, the Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein, the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan, and the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein.
Denmark
Central Copenhagen is one of the oldest and largest: it was converted from car traffic into a pedestrian zone in 1962 as an experiment, and is centered on Strøget, which is not a single street but a series of interconnected avenues which create a very large pedestrian zone, although it is crossed in places by streets with vehicular traffic. Most of these zones allow delivery trucks to service the businesses there during the early morning, and street-cleaning vehicles will usually go through these streets after most shops have closed for the night. It has grown in size from in 1962 to in 1996.
Germany
A number of German islands ban or strictly limit the private use of motor vehicles. Heligoland, Hiddensee, and all but two of the East Frisian islands are car-free; Borkum and Norderney have car-free zones and strictly limit automobile use during the summer season and in certain areas, also forbidding travel at night. Some areas provide exceptions for police and emergency vehicles; Heligoland also bans bicycles.
In the early 1980s, the Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (which later became part of Alliance 90/The Greens) unsuccessfully campaigned to make West Berlin a car-free zone.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the inner city of Arnhem has a pedestrian zone () within the boundaries of the following streets and squares: Nieuwe Plein, Willemsplein, Gele Rijdersplein, Looierstraat, Velperbinnensingel, Koningsplein, St. Catharinaplaats, Beekstraat, Walburgstraat, Turfstraat, Kleine Oord, and Nieuwe Oeverstraat.
Rotterdam's city center was almost completely destroyed by German bombing in May 1940. The city decided to build a central shopping street, for pedestrians only, the Lijnbaan, which became Europe's first purpose-built pedestrian street. The Lijnbaan served as a model for many other such streets in the early post-World War II era, such as Warsaw, Prague, Hamburg, and the UK's first pedestrianised shopping precinct in Stevenage in 1959. Rotterdam has since expanded the pedestrian zone to other streets. As of 2018, Rotterdam featured three different types of pedestrian zones: "pedestrian zones", "pedestrian zones, cycling permitted outside of shopping hours", and "pedestrian zones, cycling permitted 24/7". Three exceptions to motor vehicles could apply to specific sections of these three zones, namely: "logistics allowed within window times (5 to 10:30 a.m)", "logistics allowed 24/7", and "commercial traffic allowed during market days".
United Kingdom
In Britain, shopping streets primarily for pedestrians date back to the thirteenth century. A 1981 study found that many Victorian and later arcades continued to be used. A third of London's 168 precincts at that time had been built before 1939, as were a tenth of the 1,304 precincts in the U.K. as a whole.
Early post-1945 new towns carried on the tradition of providing some traffic-free shopping streets. However, in the conversion of traditional shopping streets to pedestrian precincts, Britain started only in 1967 (versus Germany's first conversion in 1929, or the first in the U.S. in 1959). Since then growth was rapid, such that by 1980 a study found that most British towns and cities had a pedestrian shopping precinct; 1,304 in total.
Turkey
In Istanbul, İstiklal Caddesi is a pedestrian street (except for a historic streetcar that runs along it) and a major tourist draw.
U.S. and Canada
Canada
Some Canadian examples are the Sparks Street Mall area of Ottawa, the Distillery District in Toronto, Scarth Street Mall in Regina, Stephen Avenue Mall in Calgary (with certain areas open to parking for permit holders) and part of Prince Arthur Street and the Gay Village in Montreal. Algonquin and Ward's Islands, parts of the Toronto Islands group, are also car-free zones for all 700 residents. Since summer 2004, Toronto has also been experimenting with "Pedestrian Sundays" in its busy Kensington Market. Granville Mall in Halifax, Nova Scotia was a run-down section of buildings on Granville Street built in the 1840s that was restored in the late 1970s. The area was then closed off to vehicles.
United States
Downtown pedestrian zones
In the United States, these zones are commonly called pedestrian malls or pedestrian streets and today are relatively rare, with a few notable exceptions. They were more closely tied to the success of retail than in Europe, and by the 1980s, most did not succeed competing with ever more elaborate enclosed malls. Almost all of this generation of pedestrian malls built from 1959 through to the 1970s, have disappeared, or were shrunk down in the 1990s at the request of the retailers. Half of Kalamazoo's pedestrian mall, America's first, has been converted into a regular street with auto traffic, though with wide sidewalks.
In 1959, Kalamazoo was the first American city to implement a "pedestrian mall" in its downtown core,
This became a method that some cities applied for their downtowns to compete with the growing suburban shopping malls of the time. In the 1960s and 70s over 200 towns in the United States adopted this approach. The idea of exclusive pedestrian zones lost popularity through the 1980s and into the 1990s and results were generally disappointing, but are enjoying a renaissance with the 1989 renovation and relaunch of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, the 1994-5 Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas and recent pedestrianization of various streets in New York City.
The Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, VA is one of the longest pedestrian malls in the United States, created in 1976 and spanning nine city blocks.
A number of streets and malls in New York City are now pedestrian-only, including 6½ Avenue, Fulton Street, parts of Broadway, and a block of 25th Street.
A portion of Third Street in Santa Monica in Greater Los Angeles was converted into a pedestrian mall in the 1960s to become what is now the Third Street Promenade, a very popular shopping district located just a few blocks from the beach and Santa Monica Pier.
Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, which had previously been a shopping street with traffic, was converted into a pedestrian only street in 1960. The designer was Morris Lapidus. Lincoln Road Mall is now one of the main attractions in Miami Beach.
Outside large cities
Mackinac Island, between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, banned horseless carriages in 1896, making it auto-free. The original ban still stands, except for emergency vehicles. Travel on the island is largely by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage. An road, M-185 rings the island, and numerous roads cover the interior. M-185 is the only highway in the United States without motorized vehicles.
Fire Island in Suffolk County, New York is pedestrianised east of the Fire Island Lighthouse and west of Smith Point County Park (with the exception of emergency vehicles).
Supai, Arizona, located within the Havasupai Indian Reservation is entirely car-free, the only community in the United States where mail is still carried out by mule. Supai is located eight miles from the nearest road, and is accessible only by foot, horse/mule, or helicopter.
Culdesac Tempe, a 17-acre (0.069 square kilometers) car-free district in Tempe, Arizona, is intended to be the nation's first market-rate rental apartment district to ban its tenants from owning cars. Bikes and emergency vehicles are allowed. It has received significant investments from executives at Lyft and Opendoor.
Latin America
Argentina
Argentina's big cities, Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario, have lively pedestrianised street centers () combined with town squares and parks which are crowded with people walking at every hour of the day and night.
In Buenos Aires, some stretches of Calle Florida have been pedestrianised since 1913, which makes it one of the oldest car-free thoroughfares in the world today. Pedestrianised Florida, Lavalle and other streets contribute to a vibrant shopping and restaurant scene where street performers and tango dancers abound, streets are crossed with vehicular traffic at chamfered corners.
Brazil
Paquetá Island in Rio de Janeiro is auto-free. The only cars allowed on the island are police and ambulance vehicles. In Rio de Janeiro, the roads beside the beaches are auto-free on Sundays and holidays.
Downtown Rio de Janeiro, Ouvidor Street, over almost its entire length, has been continually a pedestrian space since the mid-nineteenth century when not even carts or carriages were allowed. And the Saara District, also downtown, consists of some dozen or more blocks of colonial streets, off-limits to cars, and crowded with daytime shoppers. Likewise, many of the city's hillside favelas are effectively pedestrian zones as the streets are too narrow and/or steep for automobiles.
Eixo Rodoviário, in Brasília, which is 13 kilometers long and 30 meters wide and is an arterial road connecting the center of that city from both southward and northward wings of Brasília, perpendicular to the well known Eixo Monumental (Monumental Axis in English), is auto-free on Sundays and holidays.
Rua XV de Novembro (15 November Street) in Curitiba is one of the first major pedestrian streets in Brazil.
Chile
Chile has many large pedestrian streets. An example is Paseo Ahumada in Santiago and Calle Valparaíso in Viña del Mar.
Colombia
During his 1998–2001 term, the former Bogotá mayor, U.S.-born Enrique Peñalosa, created several pedestrian streets, plazas and bike paths integrated with a new bus rapid transit system.
The historic center of Cartagena closes some streets to cars during certain hours.
In downtown Armenia, Colombia there is a large pedestrian street where several boutiques are located.
Santa Marta also has permanent pedestrian zones in the historic center around the Cathedral Basílica of Santa Marta.
Mexico
The Historic center of Mexico City has 12 pedestrian streets including Madero Street, and as of 30 June 2020, is expanding the number to 42 pedestrian streets.
Génova is a busy pedestrian street in the Zona Rosa as is Plaza Garibaldi downtown, where mariachis play.
The old city of Guanajuato is largely pedestrian. The steep and/or narrow side streets were never accessible by cars and most other streets were pedestrianized in the 1960s after through traffic was moved to a system of former flood control tunnels that was no longer necessary due to a new dam.
Playa del Carmen has a pedestrian mall, Quinta Avenida, ("Fifth Avenue") that stretches and receives 4 million visitors annually with hundreds of shops and restaurants.
Peru
Jirón de La Unión in Lima is a traditional pedestrian street located in the Historic Centre of Lima, part of the capital of Peru.
In the city of Arequipa, Mercaderes is also a considerably large pedestrian street.
Also, recently three of the four streets surrounding the city's main square or "Plaza de Armas" were also made pedestrian.
South and East Asia
Mainland China
Nanjing Road in Shanghai is perhaps the most well-known pedestrian zone in mainland China. Wangfujing is a famous tourist and retail oriented pedestrian zone in Beijing. Chunxilu in Chengdu is the most well known in western China. Dongmen is the busiest business zone in Shenzhen. Zhongyang Street is a historical large pedestrian street in Harbin.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, since 2000, the government has been implementing full-time or part-time pedestrian streets in a number of areas, including Causeway Bay, Central, Wan Chai, Mong Kok, and Tsim Sha Tsui. The most popular pedestrian street is Sai Yeung Choi Street. It was converted into a pedestrian street in 2003. From December 2008 to May 2009, there were three acid attacks during which corrosive liquids were placed in plastic bottles and thrown from the roof of apartments down onto the street.
India
Vehicles have been banned in the town of Matheran, in Maharashtra, India since the time it was discovered in 1854.
In India, a citizens' initiative in Goa state, has made 18 June Road, Panjim's main shopping boulevard a Non-Motorised Zone(NoMoZo). The road is converted into a NoMoZo for half a day on one Sunday every month.
In Pune, Maharashtra, similar efforts have been made to convert M.G. Road (a.k.a. Main Street) into an open-air mall. The project in question aimed to create a so-called "Walking Plaza".
In May 2019, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) made the busy Ajmal Khan Road in Karol Bagh pedestrian-only.
Church Street in Bangalore went through a pedestrianization process
Japan
Pedestrian zones in Japan are called hokōsha tengoku (歩行者天国, literally "pedestrian heaven"). Clis Road, in Sendai, Japan, is a covered pedestrian mall, as is Hondōri in Hiroshima. Several major streets in Tokyo are closed to vehicles during weekends. One particular temporary hokōsha tengoku in Akihabara was cancelled after the Akihabara massacre in which a man rammed a truck into the pedestrian traffic and subsequently stabbed more than 12 people.
South Korea
Insadong in Seoul, South Korea has a large pedestrian zone (Insadong-gil) during certain hours.
Also in South Korea, in 2013, in the Haenggun-dong neighbourhood of Suwon, streets were closed to cars as a month-long car-free experiment while the city hosted the EcoMobility World Festival. Instead of cars, residents used non-motorized vehicles provided by the festival organizers. The experiment was not unopposed; however, on balance it was considered a success. Following the festival, the city embarked on discussions about adopting the practice on a permanent basis.
Taiwan
Ximending in Taipei, Taiwan is a neighborhood and shopping district in the Wanhua District of Taipei, Taiwan. It was the first pedestrian zone in Taiwan. The district is very popular in Taiwan. In central Taiwan, Yizhong Street is one of the most popular pedestrian shopping area in Taichung.
Thailand
In Thailand, some small streets (soi) in Bangkok are designed to be all-time closed to automobile traffic, the city's famous shopping streets of Sampheng Lane in Chinatown and Wang Lang Market nearby to Siriraj Hospital, are the most popular for both local and tourists shopping streets. Additionally the city has built long skywalk systems. Walking Street, Pattaya is also closed to auto traffic. Night markets are routinely closed to auto traffic.
Vietnam
Huế in Vietnam has made 3 roads into pedestrians-only on weekend nights. Also, Hanoi has opened an Old Quarter Walking Street on weekend nights.
Ho Chi Minh City also changed Nguyễn Huệ street into pedestrian zone.
Middle East and North Africa
North Africa contains some of the largest auto-free areas in the world. Fes-al-Bali, a medina of Fes, Morocco, with its population of 156,000, may be the world's largest contiguous completely carfree area, and the medinas of Cairo, Tunis, Casablanca, Meknes, Essaouira, and Tangier are quite extensive.
In Israel, Tel Aviv has a pedestrian mall, near Nahalat Binyamin Street. Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem is a pedestrian mall.
Oceania
Australia
In Australia, as in the US, these zones are commonly called pedestrian malls and in most cases comprise only one street. Most pedestrian streets were created in the late 1970s and 1980s, the first being City Walk, Garema Place in Canberra in 1971. Of 58 pedestrian streets created in Australia in the last quarter of the 20th century, 48 remain today, ten having re-introduced car access between 1990 and 2004. All capital cities in Australia have at least one pedestrian street of which most central are: Pitt Street Mall and Martin Place in Sydney, Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne, Queen Street Mall and Brunswick Street Mall in Brisbane, Rundle Mall in Adelaide, Hay Street and Murray Street Malls in Perth, Elizabeth Street Mall in Hobart, City Walk in Canberra, and Smith Street in Darwin. Many other mid-sized and regional Australian cities also feature pedestrian malls, examples include Rooke Street Devonport Langtree Avenue Mildura, Cavill Avenue Surfers Paradise, Bridge Street Ballarat, Nicholas Street Ipswich, Hargreaves Street Bendigo, Maude Street Shepparton and Little Mallop Street Geelong.
Empirical studies by Jan Gehl indicate an increase of pedestrian traffic as result of public domain improvements in the centres of Melbourne with 39% increase between 1994 and 2004 and Perth with 13% increase between 1993 and 2009.
Most intensive pedestrian traffic flows on a summer weekday have been recorded in Bourke Street Mall Melbourne with 81,000 pedestrians (2004), Rundle Mall Adelaide with 61,360 pedestrians (2002), Pitt Street Mall Sydney with 58,140 (2007) and Murray Street Mall Perth with 48,350 pedestrians (2009).
Rottnest Island off Perth is car-free, only allowing vehicles for essential services. Bicycles are the main form of transport on the island; they can be hired or brought over on the ferry.
In Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs, there have been many proposals to make the Doncaster Hill development area a pedestrian zone. If the proposals are passed, the zone could be one of the largest in the world, by area.
New Zealand
Wellington's Cuba Street is the first pedestrian only street in New Zealand, when in 1965 the Wellington tramway lines were removed the street was closed off to auto traffic and after public pressure to keep it closed to automobiles part of the street was pedestrianised in 1969 and reopened as Cuba Mall.
New Zealand's second-largest city Christchurch made its main shopping streets (Cashel & High Street) pedestrian only in 1982 and created City Mall (also commonly known as Cashel Mall) the concept was first proposed in 1965 (around the same time Wellington proposed Cuba Street's pedestrianisation) after the success of Cuba Mall in Wellington, Christchurch decided to continue with the plans and in 1976 the Bridge of Remembrance was pedestrianised and eventually in August 1982 after the entire City Mall was pedestrianised and fully opened to the public. The area was repaved once again in the late 2000s and again after the Christchurch Earthquakes in 2010 & 2011.
Queenstown has made most of its town centre a pedestrian zone with the lower part of Ballarat Street made pedestrian in the 1970s and turned into Queenstown Mall the most recently Lower Beach Street has partially been pedestrianised with now only one way traffic for cars.
Auckland's Lower Queen Street was re-pedestrinsied in 2020 creating Te Komititanga the area was previously home to Queen Elizabeth Square which was a pedestrian only space that opened in 1980 but was turned into a road again in 2003. Many proposals have been made to fully pedestrianise or pedestrianise most of Queen Street such proposals have been made in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1979, 2011, 2018, 2021 and most recently in 2022.
Town Centre style Pedestrian Malls rose in popularity in the 1970 & 1980s springing up around New Zealand after the success of Cuba Mall, many however have since fallen into disrepair and abandonment and are now classified as Dead malls examples are Bishopdale Village Mall, Otara Town Centre and New Brighton Mall. Pedestrian malls are still being built however much more scarcely and now are usually called Town Centres and have parking on the outskirts examples are Rolleston Fields, The Sands Town Centre & The Landing Wigram.
A proposal has been made for a pedestrian priority community near Papakura in Auckland, the community would be called Sunfield and cost $4 Billion NZD to build it is designed to have 4,400 homes and is project to decrease normal car usage by 90% compared to if it was a normal non-pedestrian priority suburb. It has run into challenges after the project being declined for fast-tracking following Covid-19 and will be taking Kainga Ora to court over the matter.
See also
Carfree city
Car-free days
Car-free movement
Footpath
Jan Gehl
List of car-free places
Mobility transition
Principles of intelligent urbanism
Urban vitality
References
Sources
Pedestrian safety
Traffic calming |
426992 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe%2090 | Joe 90 | Joe 90 is a 1968–1969 British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, Century 21, for ITC Entertainment. It follows the exploits of nine-year-old schoolboy Joe McClaine, who becomes a spy after his adoptive father invents a device capable of recording expert knowledge and experience and transferring it to another human brain. Armed with the skills of the world's top academic and military minds, Joe is recruited by the World Intelligence Network (WIN) as its "Most Special Agent".
First broadcast on the ITV regional franchises between 1968 and 1969, the 30-episode series was the sixth and last of the Andersons' productions to be made primarily using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation". Their final puppet series, The Secret Service, would include extensive footage of live actors. As in the preceding series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the puppets of Joe 90 are of natural body proportions as opposed to the caricatured design used for Thunderbirds and earlier Supermarionation productions.
Though not as successful as Century 21's earlier efforts, Joe 90 has been praised for the characterisation of its main puppet cast and the quality of its scale model sets and special effects. Commentators have interpreted the spy-fi theme and use of a boy protagonist as both a "kids-play-Bond" concept and an enshrinement of children's imagination. The series has drawn some criticism for its lack of female characters, especially when compared to earlier Supermarionation productions.
As with its earlier productions, Century 21 produced tie-ins from comic strips to toy cars. The series was syndicated in the United States in 1969, repeated in the UK in the 1990s and released on DVD in the 2000s. A live-action film adaptation has been proposed more than once but remains undeveloped.
Premise
Joe 90 is widely believed to be set in 2012 and 2013. The scriptwriters' guide stated that the year is 1998, while other sources place the series at an unspecified point in the early 21st century. The episode "The Unorthodox Shepherd" is implied to be set in 2013.
The series revolves around the eponymous Joe, a nine-year-old schoolboy and the adopted son of widowed computer expert Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine. Ostensibly an ordinary father-and-son pair, the McClaines live in an Elizabethan-style cottage on the Dorset coast. In the basement of the cottage is a secret laboratory containing Mac's latest invention, the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer (referred to by the acronym "BIG RAT"): a machine capable of recording a person's knowledge and experience and transferring it to the mind of another. The BIG RAT is centred around the "Rat Trap": a spinning, spherical cage in which the pre-recorded "brain patterns" are uploaded to the recipient.
Sam Loover, a friend of Mac and an agent of the World Intelligence Network (WIN), recognises the potential of Joe and the BIG RAT and persuades the McClaines to pledge their services to the organisation. With the aid of the BIG RAT, Joe becomes a spy unlike any other: by taking on the brain patterns of expert adults, he gains the skills needed to undertake dangerous missions, while his youth helps him to avoid arousing enemy suspicion. As long as he wears a pair of special glasses, which contain electrodes that store the transferred brain patterns, he is able to carry out all manner of assignments – from piloting fighter aircraft to performing neurosurgery to playing the piano. Known as WIN's "Most Special Agent", Joe 90 reports to Shane Weston, the network's commander-in-chief in London, and carries a specially-adapted school case featuring a secret compartment that contains a radio transceiver and high-capacity handgun. The series ends with a clip show episode set on Joe's 10th birthday, in which a number of his missions are recalled as flashbacks during a surprise party.
Like earlier Supermarionation series, Joe 90 features secret organisations, rescue missions, global security threats and advanced technology: the latter exemplified by the "Jet Air Car", a land-sea-air vehicle invented by Mac as the primary means of transport for him and Joe. Like the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) in Stingray, the World Intelligence Network (WIN) is a global organisation referred to by an acronym. In the fictional world of Joe 90, the Cold War – significant when the series was first broadcast, due to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia – has ended and a world government has been formed. WIN is the successor to the Secret Intelligence Service, the Central Intelligence Agency and the KGB, which all merged to form the new global spy network. Although the first episode sees Joe hi-jack a prototype Russian fighter and bring it to England, this is revealed to be a fiction imagined by Weston to explain the types of espionage that the boy will perform as a WIN agent. This plot twist, which also reveals that Russia and the West are now allies, has been praised by media historian Nicholas J. Cull for its "progressiveness of spirit" and for demonstrating Gerry Anderson's wish to "[take] an end to the Cold War as a given in his work". Cull states that Anderson was motivated by what he viewed as a "duty to the rising generation to avoid perpetuating Cold War stereotypes".
However, despite the existence of a world government, the nations of Earth are still divided into Western and Eastern blocs. Here, Cull argues, Joe 90 is similar to earlier Anderson series in that it "unashamedly capitalised on the Cold War cult of the secret agent whose skills defend the home from enemies unknown". Hostile entities include the Eastern Alliance, which dominates Asia and appears in the episodes "Attack of the Tiger" and "Mission X-41". "Arctic Adventure" and "Attack of the Tiger" combine the threat from the East with dangerous nuclear technology: in the former, Joe attempts to recover a lost atomic warhead from the ocean floor while avoiding enemy submarines; in the latter, he must destroy a nuclear device before it is launched into orbit to hold the world to ransom. In contrast, "Big Fish" portrays nuclear technology as a force for good: in this episode, Joe pilots a damaged nuclear submarine out of the territorial waters of a Latin American police state.
Production
Joe 90 was intended to be a different kind of Supermarionation series, with the emphasis less on action, gadgetry and special effects and more on characterisation and plots that were more spy thriller than science fiction. According to Gerry Anderson, "The show majored on its characters, which I thought were all very good. The puppets had become so lifelike, I now strongly believed that they could carry the action without the usual massive assistance from futuristic hardware." When it came to devising the series, Anderson was inspired by his early work as an assistant editor on films such as The Wicked Lady (1945), for which he handled recording tape on a daily basis. While reflecting on the uses of the tape, Anderson made an association with the workings of the human brain: "I read somewhere that the human brain is controlled by electrical impulses and how thoughts are stored electronically. I started toying with the story potential of a process that would allow the recording of brain patterns and transferring them to another brain. I was really likening it to magnetic recording, where material could be stored or transferred to another tape." As to naming the main character, Anderson remembered that Steve Zodiac, the protagonist of Fireball XL5, was originally to have had the surname "Ninety".
The series was commissioned by Lew Grade in the autumn of 1967. Pre-production was completed in October while the last episodes of Captain Scarlet were being filmed. Principal photography ran from 13 November 1967 to mid-August 1968 on the two puppet stages at Century 21's studios on the Slough Trading Estate in Berkshire. Each episode took an average of two weeks to film. The script for the first episode, "The Most Special Agent", was written by Anderson and his wife Sylvia as had been the case on earlier series created by the couple. Before WIN was devised, Joe was to have become the "Most Special Agent" of the CIA. Most of the episodes were written by Tony Barwick, with Shane Rimmer contributing six scripts. Rimmer was hired while co-authoring a book with Barwick, who initially offered him a two-script contract (these were filmed as the episodes "Splashdown" and "Big Fish").
Occupied by Thunderbird 6 and his live-action film Doppelgänger, Gerry Anderson was unable to serve as producer as he had on Captain Scarlet. The role was assumed by Reg Hill and David Lane. Lane remembered that as producer he was responsible for "looking at the scripts, the effects, the puppets, the whole thing really". He found support in Anderson's long-serving collaborator Desmond Saunders, who directed the first episode and stayed on as production manager for the rest of the series. Joe 90s other directors included Leo Eaton, Alan Perry and Ken Turner, all of whom had directed episodes of Captain Scarlet, and Peter Anderson, who was promoted from assistant director to replace Brian Burgess and Robert Lynn.
A Christmas-themed episode, "The Unorthodox Shepherd", featured location shooting to an extent that Century 21 had never attempted before. The final Supermarionation series, The Secret Service, advanced this hybrid format by combining puppet sequences with extensive footage of live actors.
Design
Keith Wilson and Grenville Nott took over from Bob Bell as heads of the art department and built the inside of Culver Bay Cottage from a design by Mike Trim. Anderson remembered being pleased with the cottage set: "The interior, with its beams and lovely soft furnishings, was really beautiful." The BIG RAT model was built by the newly-formed Century 21 Props (or Electronics), which was based in Bourne End and was responsible for making the gadget props that appear in the series.
Though busy with Thunderbird 6 and Doppelgänger, Derek Meddings briefly reprised his role as special effects director to construct Mac's Jet Air Car. The vehicle was a disappointment to Anderson, who commented that it "looked like no other piece of hardware we had had previously, but I was wary of canning it as I feared I might be becoming stereotyped." Stephen La Rivière, author of Filmed in Supermarionation: A History of the Future, considers the Jet Air Car an update of Supercar from Anderson's series of the same name. However, he agrees that while the car is Joe 90s "star vehicle", it is unimpressive compared to the "beautiful, sleek design of its predecessor".
Puppets
The Supermarionation puppets of Joe 90 were the naturally-proportioned kind that had been introduced for Captain Scarlet. The drive for increased realism in all design aspects that had begun with the preceding series continued in Joe 90. Except for Captains Scarlet and Blue, all of the main character puppets from Captain Scarlet were re-used. Few new puppets were made, the only notable exceptions being Mac (who was sculpted on "bouncing bomb" designer Barnes Wallis), Joe and Mrs Harris.
Joe was the first child marionette to be made as part of the new generation of Supermarionation puppets. The puppets of Sam Loover and Shane Weston had each made several guest appearances in Captain Scarlet. For their regular roles in Joe 90 they were given a range of alternative "mood" heads, including "smilers", "frowners" and "blinkers". The Weston puppet was also re-wigged. Many of Century 21's "revamp puppets", which had played supporting characters in Captain Scarlet, were copied in darker skin colours to portray a range of ethnicities. As two stages were being used for filming, the "expressionless" main character puppets were also duplicated. Like Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 also featured "under-control" puppets that were manipulated by levers from under the set instead of wires from an overhead gantry.
Music
The theme and incidental music was composed by Barry Gray. Episodes begin with either a cold open (a first for an Anderson series) or the title sequence, which sees Joe receiving a brain pattern from the BIG RAT. The opening theme is dominated by the notes of guitarist Vic Flick, known for performing lead guitar in the "James Bond Theme" from the film Dr. No (1962). In Anderson's biography, What Made Thunderbirds Go!, the Joe 90 theme is described as a "dizzying piece of psychedelic pop art that could have been produced only in the late Sixties". The closing credits are superimposed over images of objects such as Joe's spectacles and WIN badge. While the concepts for these images were photographic, the final versions were augmented with airbrush artwork.
Besides the music for the first episode, "The Most Special Agent", Gray composed incidental music for a further 20 episodes. This music was recorded between 18 January and 27 September 1968, beginning with the titles and the first episode tracks in a session at the Olympic Sound Studios in London and ending with the music for "See You Down There" at CTS Studios. Recording was sometimes conducted at Gray's house in Esher.
Gray's compositions occasionally required guest talent. The piano music in the episode "International Concerto" was performed by Robert Docker (while the child's hands seen in the close-up shots of Joe playing belonged to Gray's son, Simon). "Lone-Handed 90" features a recurring harmonica played by Tommy Reilly.
Silva Screen Records released a Joe 90 soundtrack CD in 2006. Rating the CD three-and-a-half stars out of five, AllMusic reviewer William Ruhlmann comments that while the music is "not great writing" it remains "perfectly adequate, if not inspired." Earlier releases include a 45 rpm gramophone record, Title Theme from the ATV Series Joe 90, which also featured various incidental music.
Voice cast
Compared to Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 features a smaller cast of just five regular characters. Like the preceding series, it has been described as more "English-sounding" than Thunderbirds, the Andersons having dispensed with the idea that the main character should be a "square-jawed, fair-skinned male with a Mid-Atlantic accent". Instead, Joe 90 focuses on the strong American supporting characters of Sam Loover and Shane Weston.
Len Jones as Joe McClaine. For realism, Joe was voiced by child actor Jones instead of an actress (as was usually the case for child characters in earlier Supermarionation series). Gerry Anderson commented that having a woman voice a boy "always sounded rather odd to me. It never sounded like a real little boy ... With Joe 90, I suggested finding a British kid and making him repeat the lines parrot fashion." He described Jones' performance as "only adequate, but at least it sounded authentic."
Rupert Davies as Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine. At the time of production, Davies was well known for playing Maigret in the TV series of the same name, a role that had left him typecast. He was the most distinguished actor yet to contribute to an Anderson series. In Gerry Anderson's biography What Made Thunderbirds Go!, Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn describe Mac's "warm yet distinguished" English tones as a "perfect counterpoint" to Sam Loover and Shane Weston.
Keith Alexander as Sam Loover. Alexander had previously voiced characters in Thunderbird 6 as a replacement for Ray Barrett. During the 1960s, he also provided the voice of another puppet character, Topo Gigio, on The Ed Sullivan Show in the US.
David Healy as Shane Weston. Healy, an American expatriate actor, had voiced guest characters in Captain Scarlet and often played transatlantic characters in British television.
Sylvia Anderson as Mrs Harris, the McClaines' housekeeper, who is unaware of their involvement with WIN. Anderson was best known for voicing Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds and its film sequels.
Supporting characters were voiced by Alexander, Healy and Anderson as well as returning voice actors Gary Files, Martin King, Jeremy Wilkin, Shane Rimmer and (for one episode, "Viva Cordova") Liz Morgan. Rimmer and Morgan were not credited for their contributions. Files said that he was "tickled pink" to be working with Davies, commenting: "I hated the way that so many so-called producers wouldn't meet his eye. He was Maigret forever, you see, in their eyes." On her one role in Joe 90, Morgan said: "They needed a voice, they called around and everyone else was out shopping. So they called me in."
Broadcast
Joe 90 debuted on ATV Midlands and Tyne Tees Television in late September 1968. Broadcasts on LWT, Southern Television and Anglia Television began shortly after. The series reached Harlech and Channel Television in November and Granada Television on Christmas Day. Granada, which started its run with the Christmas-themed "The Unorthodox Shepherd" rather than "The Most Special Agent", was one of several broadcasters to transmit the series under the alternative title The Adventures of Joe 90. In the US, Joe 90 aired in first-run syndication in 1969.
The series had several UK re-runs during the 1970s but was not shown on Yorkshire Television until 1981. Some broadcasters used an alternative version of the title sequence beginning with a zoom-in shot of Joe's special glasses accompanied by a voice-over from Tim Turner stating: "These are Joe 90's special glasses. Without them, he's a boy. Wearing them, he's an expert." These words, intended to warn young viewers not to endanger themselves by copying Joe's exploits, have sometimes been wrongly attributed to Keith Alexander.
In 1994, Joe 90 was shown on BBC1 as part of the Children's BBC strand. Rights holder PolyGram cleared the series for broadcast on the condition that the title sequence's "zooming" Joe 90 logo be replaced with a static version to distinguish it from the logo for G.I. Joe toys. The video tapes used for broadcast were 16 mm transfers of the original 35 mm film and were edited for timing reasons: cold opens were moved so that all episodes began with the title sequence, while the end titles were shrunk to allow a CBBC presenter to read out viewer birthday cards. A simultaneous run on Nickelodeon presented the episodes in their original forms. The series was shown several more times on the BBC until 1997. In 2009, the series aired on the UK Sci Fi Channel alongside Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.
Reception
Author John Peel questions Mac's ethics in "experimenting on" Joe to further the development of the BIG RAT. On Joe as a secret agent he jokingly remarks "presumably there are no child labour laws in the future!" La Rivière's attention is drawn to Mac's line at the end of the first episode: the admonition "Don't come crying to me if you get hurt!" demonstrates the professor's willingness to "abnegate all parental responsibility". Noting Joe 90s subscription to "wider themes in Cold War culture", Cull likens the BIG RAT's capabilities to brainwashing but concludes that fundamentally it is "benign" technology. The stronger violence introduced in Captain Scarlet is sometimes evident in Joe 90: in "Hi-jacked", Joe kills an enemy with a grenade, while in "Project 90", Mac narrowly avoids having his head pulverised by a drill. Desmond Saunders comments: "There was an unpleasant side to [the series] which I never really understood. There was something about it that was very strange and sinister."
Producer David Lane praises the series for its humour, contrasting this with the darker tone of Captain Scarlet. He believes Joe 90 to be considerably more family-friendly, summing it up as "a great little programme". Anthony Clark of the British Film Institute commends Joe 90 for including more effective characterisation than Captain Scarlet, also praising the writing and Barry Gray's musical score. La Rivière highlights the connection between the boy protagonist and the theme of espionage, writing that the series' premise "taps into the fantasy indulged by most boys that they, even at nine years old, can be James Bond." Writer John R. Cook agrees with La Rivière's points on viewer self-identification, describing the series as "wish-fulfilment fantasy" and Joe as a reflection of the young target audience. Comparisons have been made to other media featuring child spies, such as the Spy Kids films and the Alex Rider novels.
La Rivière notes the intimacy of the premise and the predominantly male characters, suggesting that Joe 90 is "very much a Boy's Own adventure." Of the 30 episodes, only ten feature female characters, a fact that La Rivière attributes to Century 21's pre-occupation with Thunderbird 6 and Doppelgänger. Peel suggests that the absence of women makes Joe 90, along with several other Anderson productions, inferior to Thunderbirds. Grouping Joe 90 with Supercar and The Secret Service, Peel concludes that it is "hardly coincidental that these tend to be the least-loved of [Anderson's] series; he had, after all, ignored half of his potential audience." He also questions comparisons to the James Bond films, arguing that "being a somewhat nerdy kid with glasses and brain implants was not really thrilling."
Both Anderson and Cull suggest that the series, with its bespectacled protagonist, boosted the self-confidence of young viewers who wore glasses. The name "Joe 90" has become a popular term of endearment for both children and adults who wear glasses similar to Joe's, such as snooker player Dennis Taylor. During the 1990s, comparisons were made between Joe and then-Prime Minister John Major, also known for his large glasses. Jeff Evans, author of The Penguin TV Companion, criticises the glasses as a plot device, writing that they make Joe "look more like the class swot than a secret agent."
Cook reads further into the series' theme of child empowerment, writing that Joe 90 creates a "technological utopia" around youth. He comments: "Through the character of Joe, his brain hardwired at the start of each episode into the BIG RAT supercomputer, the young are shown to be literally at one with technology." Cook suggests that BIG RAT's ability to provide Joe with instant access to brain patterns could be interpreted as a prediction of the development of the Internet. With his added knowledge and experience, Joe becomes the manifestation of homo superior, and yet his youth and imagination grant him the power to change the world in ways that no adult could. In this respect, Cook regards Joe 90 as a forerunner of The Tomorrow People, another series featuring themes of transcendence in children. This concept, Cook suggests, is evident in the title "Joe 90" itself: "No longer is [Joe] a nine-year-old boy but instead his status and capacities have been multiplied tenfold to transform him into agent 'Joe 90', his name an appealing futuristic echo of the then distant year of 1990."
Ultimately, Joe 90 has proven to be less successful than earlier Anderson productions. The authors of Supermarionation Classics praise the writing and model work but add that the series "failed to arouse more than a passing interest" with some fans. Stephen Hulse refers to Joe 90 as "technically accomplished" and "clearly the most child-oriented" of the Andersons' later puppet productions, but also calls it one of their "lesser series". The series' spy-fi theme was further developed in the following Supermarionation series, The Secret Service, which like Joe 90 features an unconventional secret agent (a vicar – Father Stanley Unwin) and an intelligence agency with an acronym for a name (BISHOP – short for "British Intelligence Service Headquarters, Operation Priest").
Adaptations
In 1981, the New York branch of ITC Entertainment released a Joe 90 compilation film, The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90, comprising the episodes "The Most Special Agent", "Splashdown", "Attack of the Tiger" and "Arctic Adventure". Intended to boost US syndication sales, the film was one of several Anderson anthologies to be released in the 1980s under the promotional banner "Super Space Theater". "The Most Special Agent" was re-edited to remove its framing sequences, thus giving the impression that Joe's theft of the MiG-242 is a real mission rather than a fiction. The British Board of Film Classification rated the film PG, though the episodes are individually rated U.
In 2001, three Joe 90-themed "trailers" were filmed to accompany the BBC nostalgia series I Love The '90s. Each of these depicts Joe entering the BIG RAT and receiving the brain pattern of a 1990s household name, from Liam Gallagher to Vic Reeves to the character of Garth (played by Dana Carvey) from the film Wayne's World. The trailers are included as a special feature on the Joe 90 Region 2 DVD box set.
In the 1980s, the rights to the ITC productions belonged to PolyGram Television. They were later sold to Carlton International and then Granada International, which merged with Carlton in 2004 to form ITV Global Entertainment, a division of ITV plc. In the 1990s, PolyGram proposed a live-action film adaptation of Joe 90. In 2003, Variety reported that a film version was in the planning stages with Disney producing. The film remains undeveloped. In 2005, while discussing obtaining remake rights from Granada, Anderson said: "We have regular meetings and although they are very polite and very nice, nothing ever happens." Anderson died in 2012.
Merchandise
Tie-ins included a range from Century 21 Toys comprising friction-drive and battery-operated versions of the Jet Air Car and Sam Loover's car. Also available were Joe's WIN briefcase (complete with replica gadgets and pistol) and his WIN badge (reading "Most Special Agent").
Joe 90 was also given its own weekly comic, Joe 90 Top Secret, published by City Magazines, which ran for 34 issues and presented the TV episodes in strip form, while also including strips based on the TV shows The Champions and Land of the Giants. In September 1969, Joe 90 Top Secret merged with TV21 (formerly TV Century 21) to form TV21 and Joe 90. After a further 36 issues, the Joe 90 strips were dropped and the title reverted to TV21. Other print media included 1968 and 1969 Joe 90 annuals by Century 21 Publishing/City Magazines as well as two short novels by May Fair Books: Joe 90 and the Raiders and Joe 90 in Revenge.
During the 1990s, Joe 90 appeared as a comic strip in the Funday Times. Strips from the discontinued Joe 90 Top Secret were reprinted in a new publication, Joe 90, which was launched to tie in with the 1994 BBC repeats. After seven issues, this merged into Fleetway's Thunderbirds comic.
Home video
In the 1980s, Channel 5 (later PolyGram Video) released the series on home video in the UK. The eight-volume set featured the episodes "The Most Special Agent", "Splashdown", "Attack of the Tiger" and "Arctic Adventure" in their re-edited forms from the 1981 compilation film The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90, which itself received three video releases in the 1980s. Re-released in 1992, the set used 16 mm prints of poorer quality than the original film.
In 2002, Carlton released a five-disc Region 2 DVD box set and a VHS box set of 5 tapes sourced from a digital remaster of the original 35 mm prints. This was followed by DVD Region 1 and Region 4 releases in 2003. A French-language release – Joe 90: Agent Très Spécial – hit the Canadian market in 2004. Through these releases, the episodes that make up the compilation film were made commercially available in their unedited forms for the first time.
DVD releases:
Blu-ray releases (UK):
Footnotes
References
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Works cited
Production locations
External links
BIG RAT
The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History: Joe 90
1960s British children's television series
1960s British science fiction television series
1968 British television series debuts
1969 British television series endings
Brain–computer interfacing in fiction
British children's action television series
British children's science fiction television series
British spy television series
British television shows featuring puppetry
English-language television shows
Fictional British secret agents
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Flying cars in fiction
ITV children's television shows
Marionette films
Television series about intelligence agencies
Television series about orphans
Television series by ITC Entertainment
Television series set in 2012
Television series set in 2013
Television shows set in Dorset
Television shows set in London |
426995 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E%20%28New%20York%20City%20Subway%20service%29 | E (New York City Subway service) | The E Eighth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is blue since it uses the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan.
The E operates at all times between Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer in Jamaica, Queens, and the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Additional service during weekday rush hours originates and terminates at Jamaica–179th Street instead of Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer . Daytime service operates express in Queens and local in Manhattan; late night service makes local stops along its entire route.
E service, which is one of the most heavily used services in the subway system, started in 1933 with the opening of the IND Queens Boulevard Line. In its early years, the E train ran along the Rutgers Street Tunnel and South Brooklyn Line to Brooklyn, though this service pattern stopped by 1940. Until 1976, the E train ran to Brooklyn and Queens via the IND Fulton Street Line and IND Rockaway Line during rush hours and to the World Trade Center at other times. The E's northern terminal was switched from 179th Street to Jamaica Center with the opening of the IND Archer Avenue Line in 1988.
History
Creation and extensions
E service began with the opening of the IND Queens Boulevard Line from 50th Street to Roosevelt Avenue on August 19, 1933, running between Roosevelt Avenue and Hudson Terminal (current World Trade Center station) on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. Because the IND Crosstown Line did not yet fully open, and as the IND Queens Boulevard Line had not yet opened to Jamaica, service ran via the Queens Boulevard Line's local tracks. The E also ran local in Manhattan. Initially, weekday service ran every four minutes during rush hours, every five minutes middays, every six or eight minutes evenings, and every twelve minutes overnights. Service ran every four or five minutes during the Saturday morning rush hour, every five minutes during the morning and afternoon, and every six or eight minutes in the evening. On Sunday, E trains ran every six or seven minutes in the morning, every five minutes in the afternoon, and every six or eight minutes in the evening. Service was provided by three-car trains during rush hours and two-car trains at other times. By January 16, 1934, rush hour service was operating with three- or four-car trains.
E trains were extended to East Broadway following the opening of the IND Sixth Avenue Line from West Fourth Street on January 1, 1936. E trains no longer served stations on the Eighth Avenue Line south of West Fourth Street. On April 9 of the same year, the Sixth Avenue Line was extended through the Rutgers Street Tunnel to Jay Street–Borough Hall, and E trains were extended via this line and the IND South Brooklyn Line to Church Avenue, replacing the train, which was rerouted via the new IND Fulton Street Line to Rockaway Avenue. The E service was again extended with the opening of the Queens Boulevard Line extension to Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike on December 31, 1936.
Express service along Queens Boulevard began on April 24, 1937, coinciding with the extension of the line and E service to 169th Street. Express service was inaugurated during rush hours, with E trains making express stops from 71st–Continental Avenues to Queens Plaza. The express service operated between approximately 6:30 and 10:30 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Express service was also provided on Saturdays between 6:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. During rush hours, GG trains were extended to Continental Avenue from Queens Plaza, taking over the local service. During non-rush hours, when GG service terminated at Queens Plaza, local service was provided by EE trains, which operated between 169th Street and Church Avenue in Brooklyn. The initial headway for express service was between three and five minutes. With the completion of the Crosstown Line on July 1, 1937, non-rush hour GG service was extended to 71st Avenue, allowing E trains to run express along Queens Boulevard west of 71st Avenue at all times. EE service was discontinued at this time. In addition, three southbound E trains began service at 71st Avenue between 8:07 and 8:28 a.m. during the morning rush hour. The headway between trains during the peak of rush hour was reduced to three minutes at this time.
On September 12, 1938, nine weekday rush hour trains began terminating at Jay Street between 7:45 and 8:30 a.m. Five of these trips originated at 169th Street, while the other four began service at Parsons Boulevard. Four northbound E trains entered service at Smith–Ninth Streets between 4:52 and 5:25 p.m. on weekdays. The additional service allowed for a peak two-minute headway for twelve minutes in the morning rush hour southbound. The 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station opened as an in-fill station on August 28, 1939, and was served by the E service during rush hours, and by the EE service during other times. Between April 1939 and October 1940, select evening E trains ran to and from the Horace Harding Boulevard terminal at the 1939 New York World's Fair, terminating at Hudson Terminal in Manhattan. These trains operated to and from Chambers Street and ran between 8:24 p.m. and 1:29 a.m., when the fair closed for the night. Service ended following the fair.
On December 15, 1940, service on the entire Sixth Avenue Line began, and service patterns across the IND were modified. E service was cut back to Broadway–Lafayette Street, and service south of that station to Church Avenue was replaced by the new train along Sixth Avenue. The new F service supplemented E express along Queens Boulevard, and allowed for the introduction of express service along Queens Boulevard between 71st Avenue and Parsons Boulevard. F trains terminated at Parsons Boulevard instead of 169th Street to reduce congestion at the two stations. Starting January 10, 1944, some E trains began terminating at 71st Avenue after the weekday and Saturday morning rush hour, and some originated there during the evening rush hour. In addition, the headway of late night service was increased from twelve minutes to fifteen minutes.
In 1949, Saturday afternoon trains were cut back from eight cars to five cars. On October 24, 1949, the E was extended during weekday rush hours to Broadway–East New York, running local via the Fulton Street Line to allow A trains to run express. Several trains continued to terminate at 71st Avenue after the morning rush hour. At the same time, the headway between rush hour trains in the peak-direction was reduced from four minutes to three minutes. The Queens Boulevard Line's extension to 179th Street opened on December 11, 1950, and E trains were extended from 169th Street to terminate there. In 1952, trains were lengthened from five-car trains to six-car trains on Saturday mornings, afternoons, and evenings.
On June 30, 1952, two morning rush hour trips on the E train were added, running between 71st Avenue and Jay Street. Midday service began operating on eight-minute headways instead of six-minute headways, evening service began operating on ten-minute headways instead of eight-minute headways, and late night service began operating on twenty-minute headways, instead of fifteen-minute headways. With the July 5, 1952 timetable, E trains began running every eight minutes during the morning and afternoon on Saturday, instead of every six minutes during the morning rush hour, and every seven minutes during the morning and afternoon. During late evenings, trains began running every twelve minutes instead of every eight minutes.
In 1953, the platforms were lengthened at 75th Avenue, Sutphin Boulevard, Spring Street, Canal Street, Ralph Avenue, and Broadway–East New York to to allow E and F trains to run eleven-car trains. The E and F began running eleven-car trains during rush hours on September 8, 1953. The extra train car increased the total carrying capacity by 4,000 passengers. The lengthening project cost $400,000.
On October 30, 1954, the E service was modified as part of a series of service changes made following the completion of the Culver Ramp, which made it possible for IND service on the Culver Line to run to Coney Island. Non-rush hour E service was rerouted from Broadway–Lafayette Street to Hudson Terminal, and E trains began running express in Manhattan during rush hours, when they headed to Brooklyn. In 1955, late night trains were cut back from five-car trains to three-car trains, and midday and evening trains were lengthened from six-car trains to eight-car trains. A year later, late night trains were lengthened to operate with four-car trains instead of three-car trains.
Changes in Brooklyn service
On June 28, 1956, the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch reopened as the IND Rockaway Line after being converted for subway service, and E service was extended from East New York to Rockaway Park or Wavecrest (now Beach 25th Street) during weekday rush hours. During non-rush hours, service was provided by four-car shuttles between Euclid and Rockaway Park or Wavecrest. Three weekday E trains leaving 179th Street between 6:54 and 7:27 a.m. were cut at Euclid Avenue, with one half of the train running to Far Rockaway, and the other half going to Rockaway Park. After the end of the morning rush hour, several trains terminated at East New York, before going back into Manhattan-bound service before the afternoon rush hour.
On September 17, 1956, rush hour E service was cut back to Euclid Avenue when Rockaway service was replaced by the A train. The A and E later switched southern terminals again, and on September 8, 1958, the E began running to Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park during rush hours, with some trips terminating at Euclid Avenue. During weekday off-peak hours, separate shuttles operated from Euclid Avenue to Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park. At the same time, round-robin service began during weekend and late night service, because of the low ridership at these times. These trains would run from Euclid Avenue to Rockaway Park, and then reverse and run to Far Rockaway, before returning to Euclid Avenue.
The operation of eleven-car trains ended on August 18, 1958, because of operational difficulties. The signal blocks, especially in Manhattan, were too short to accommodate the longer trains, and the train operators had a very small margin of error to properly platform the train. It was found that operating ten-car trains allowed for two additional trains per hour to be scheduled. To make up for the loss of eleven-car trains, two short-run trains from 71st Avenue were added on the E and F during rush hours.
On October 11, 1958, round-robin service ceased operating on weekends, being by replaced by shuttles running from Euclid Avenue to either terminal in the Rockaways. Round-robin service continued to operate late evenings, late nights, and early mornings. From October to June, round-robin service started at 6:40 p.m. leaving Euclid Avenue, and from June to October the service began at 9:44 p.m. from Euclid Avenue.
Since many Rockaway riders were dissatisfied with having rush hour service provided by local trains, starting on November 3, 1958, four morning rush hour E trains ran express via the Fulton Street Line from Euclid Avenue: two from Rockaway Park, and two from Far Rockaway. To make up for the loss of local service along the Fulton Street Line, four A trains leaving Euclid Avenue between 7:56 a.m. and 8:24 a.m. began making local stops. All E trains began running express and all A trains began running local to Euclid Avenue on September 8, 1959. On June 6, 1960, three E trains started originating at Lefferts Boulevard in the morning rush hour and three E trains began terminating there in the evening rush hour, after complaints from riders. Shuttles between Euclid Avenue and the Rockaways, which had not been assigned a route designation, but often were signed as E trains, were labeled HH trains on February 1, 1962.
In 1964, E trains were cut back from five-car trains to four-car trains on Saturday late nights and to three-car trains on Sunday late nights. In addition, trains were lengthened from five cars to six cars on Sunday mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Two additional E trains began running from 169th Street during the morning rush hour on April 6, 1964; these trips began entering service at 179th Street on December 21, 1964. On July 11, 1966, midday service began running every ten minutes, instead of every eight, and evening service began running every twelve minutes, instead of every ten. At the same time, midday and evening trains began running with ten-car trains instead of eight-car trains, and late night trains were extended from four-car trains to five-car trains. Midday and evening shuttles between the Rockaways and Euclid Avenue were replaced by the A service on July 10, 1967.
In October 1969, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) performed a test over the course of a month to evaluate the impact that increasing the scheduled frequency of the E and F services along the Queens Boulevard Line in the southbound direction in the morning would have on running times and the number of trains that actually ran in service. As part of the test, 35 trains were scheduled to leave 179th Street during the morning peak hour, 17 E trains and 18 F trains. However, only 32 trains actually left the terminal, 15 E trains and 17 F trains. The study found that the average number of trains actually in service was 28 at Queens Plaza, 14 Es and 14 Fs, and 31 at 71st Avenue, 15 Es and 16 Fs, and that running such a high frequency of service was not possible without increasing running times and causing congestion.
Southbound E trains began stopping at the lower level of the 42nd Street station during rush hours on March 23, 1970, to reduce delays by relieving congestion on the station's platforms. The frequency of weekend service was decreased on July 3, when trains started running every ten minutes on Saturdays and every twelve minutes on Sundays.
As part of systemwide changes in bus and subway service on January 2, 1973, the E became the local in Brooklyn again, running alternatively to Euclid Avenue and Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street on weekdays from 6:15 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3:35 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.. The span of express service in Manhattan and through service to Brooklyn and the Rockaways during rush hours was doubled. The E would no longer also serve Far Rockaway during rush hours, with this service provided by the A. During other times, except when Round-Robin service operated, E shuttle service would run from Broad Channel to Rockaway Park. A trains would run express instead in Brooklyn during rush hours, though for a longer period of time, and would take over service to Far Rockaway. These changes were initially supposed to take effect on September 11, 1972.
On January 19, 1976, rush hour service on the E was decreased. Northbound rush hour service began running every four or five minutes, instead of every four, and southbound evening rush hour service began running every four or six minutes, instead of every four. Finally, on August 30, 1976, E service in Brooklyn was eliminated with all trains terminating at World Trade Center. Brooklyn service was replaced by the CC local. On January 24, 1977, as part of a series of NYCTA service cuts to save $13 million, many subway lines began running shorter trains during middays. As part of the change, E trains began running with six cars between 9:50 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. On August 30, 1976, some E trains began terminating at 71st Avenue after the morning rush hour. Until 1986, two E trains and two F trains started at 71st Avenue in the morning rush hour with the intention to relieve congestion. These trains were eliminated because they resulted in a loading imbalance, as these lightly-loaded trains would be followed by extremely crowded trains from 179th Street, which followed an eight-minute gap of E and F service from 179th Street.
In 1986, the NYCTA studied which two services should serve the Queens Boulevard Line during late nights as ridership at this time did not justify three services. A public hearing was held in December 1986, and it was determined that having the E and R, which would replace the N, run during late nights provided the best service. On May 24, 1987, ten-minute frequencies on E during evenings were extended by an additional hour to 9 p.m.
Archer Avenue changes
On December 11, 1988, the Archer Avenue Lines opened, and E trains were rerouted via this branch, running to Jamaica Center via the Queens Boulevard Line's express tracks. E trains began running express east of 71st Avenue, skipping 75th Avenue and Van Wyck Boulevard at all times, with local service to 179th Street replaced by the R, which was extended to 179th Street from 71st Avenue. The R extension allowed F trains to continue running express to 179th Street. It was decided to serve Archer Avenue with the E as opposed to the F to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue, to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership and the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the F. It was found that most riders using buses diverted to Archer Avenue used the E, while passengers on buses to 179th Street used the F. Having E trains run local between 71st Avenue and Van Wyck Boulevard was dismissed in order to provide 24 hour express service to the Archer Avenue Line.
Two service plans were identified prior to a public hearing on February 25, 1988, concerning the service plan for the new extension. The first would have split rush-hour E service between the two branches, with late night service to 179th Street provided by the R, while the second would have had all E trains run via Archer Avenue, and would have extended R locals to 179th Street. A modified version of the second plan was decided upon. The change in the plan was the operation of alternate E trains from 179th Street as expresses during the morning rush hour between 7:07 and 8:19 a.m. to provide an appropriate level of E service to Archer during the morning rush, to maintain the same level of service to 179th Street while providing express service, and to provide greater choice for riders at the Parsons Boulevard and 179th Street stations on Hillside Avenue. It was decided not to divert some E trains to 179th Street during the afternoon rush hour so that Queens-bound riders would not be confused about where their E train was headed.
The 1988 changes angered some riders because they resulted in the loss of direct Queens Boulevard Express service at local stations east of 71st Avenue (169th Street, Sutphin Boulevard, Van Wyck Boulevard and 75th Avenue stations). Local elected officials pressured the MTA to eliminate all-local service at these stations. As part of service cuts on September 30, 1990, the R was cut back to 71st Avenue outside of rush hours. Local service to 179th Street was replaced by F trains, which provided Queens Boulevard Express service during middays, evenings, and weekends, and local G service during late nights.
In May 1989, Sunday headways were reduced from twelve minutes to ten minutes. As part of the changes, on October 1, 1990, morning rush hour service from 179th Street was discontinued, and all E trains began running to Jamaica Center. In addition, the frequency of E service was reduced from 15 trains per hour to 12 trains per hour to allow the frequency of F service to be increased from 15 trains per hour to 20 trains per hour. The frequency of F service was subsequently reduced to running every minutes on April 15, 1991, before being increased back to minutes, or about 18 trains per hour, on October 26, 1992. On April 1, 1991, E trains were shortened to run with six-car trains between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. in order to increase passenger security during overnight hours.
In 1992, the MTA considered three options to improve service at the local stops east of 71st Avenue, including leaving service as is, having E trains run local east of 71st Avenue along with R service, and having F trains run local east of 71st Avenue replacing R service, which would be cut back to 71st Avenue at all times. The third option was chosen to be tested for six months starting in October or November 1992. The test started on October 26, 1992, and was implemented on a permanent basis six months later, eliminating express service along Hillside Avenue.
63rd Street changes
On March 23, 1997, the E service began stopping at 75th Avenue and Briarwood during evenings, nights and weekends. On August 30, 1997, E service began running local in Queens during late nights in order to ease connections, reduce the need for late night transfers, and provide even service intervals. On the same date, late night G service was permanently cut back from 179th Street to Court Square, replaced by F service running local east of Queens Plaza, doubling late night service frequency at Queens Boulevard local stations. On September 8, 1998, E trains began running at a frequency of eight trains per hour middays, an increase from six trains per hour.
During the early part of 2000, because of the replacement of track switches at the World Trade Center station, the E was extended to Euclid Avenue at all times except late nights, when it operated to Canal Street. Service on the E was again affected by the September 11 attacks in 2001, as its terminal station, World Trade Center, was located at the northeastern corner of the World Trade Center site, so for a time, the E again operated to Euclid Avenue in Brooklyn as the local on the IND Fulton Street Line at all times except late nights, replacing the temporarily suspended service. On September 24, 2001, service was restored, and E service was cut back to Canal Street, since World Trade Center would be closed until January 28, 2002.
On December 16, 2001, the connection from the IND 63rd Street Line to the Queens Boulevard Line opened, and trains were rerouted via this connector to travel between Manhattan and Queens. E rush hour service was increased from 12 trains per hour to 15 trains per hour, and F service decreased from 18 trains per hour to 15 trains per hour to accommodate these trains. These trains ran to 179th Street, running express along Hillside Avenue, due to a lack of capacity to handle additional trains at Jamaica Center. Four trains began at 179th Street in the morning rush hour, and three began there in the beginning of the evening rush hour, four rush hour E trains ran to 179th Street in the evening rush hour, and three morning rush hour reverse-peak trips terminated at Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike. In addition, the frequency of weekday evening service was increased, with trains running every ten minutes instead of every 12 minutes.
In 2002, the frequency of weekend E service was increased. Trains began running every eight minutes on Saturday mornings, instead of every ten minutes, and every ten or twelve minutes on Saturday evenings, instead of every twelve minutes. Sunday service was increased to run every ten or twelve minutes during the morning and evening, instead of every twelve or fifteen minutes, and trains began running every 8 or 10 minutes during afternoons, instead of every twelve minutes. On April 27, 2003, evening service was increased, with trains running at six-, eight-, and ten-minute headways, instead of twelve-minute headways. Midday, afternoon, and early evening service was increased to run every eight minutes on February 22, 2004. On September 16, 2019, the three trips that terminated at Kew Gardens were extended to 179th Street, making express stops along Hillside Avenue.
Between September 19 and November 2, 2020, E service was cut back to Jamaica–Van Wyck due to track replacement on the upper levels of the Jamaica Center and Sutphin Boulevard stations. During this time, a shuttle bus connected to Sutphin Boulevard and Jamaica Center. During the second phase, which started on November 2, 2020, a limited number of E trains ran to Jamaica Center, running express east of 71st Avenue during the day on weekdays and making local stops at other times. Service to 179th Street was expanded from weekday limited rush hour service to weekday daytime service; these trains made local stops east of 71st Avenue. This phase was completed in December 2020.
On March 17, 2023, New York City Transit made adjustments to evening and late night E, and service to accommodate long-term CBTC installation on the Queens Boulevard Line between Union Turnpike and 179th Street. E service originating from the World Trade Center began operating local in Queens two hours earlier on weekdays and Saturdays, after 9:30 pm instead of 11:30 pm, and one hour earlier on Sundays, after 9:30 pm instead of 10:30 pm. Starting on August 28, 2023, E service to 179th Street was temporarily suspended; this service change is planned to continue through the first quarter of 2024.
EE service
The EE originally ran as an Eighth Avenue local between 71st Avenue and Chambers Street during off peak hours when the did not run. This service was discontinued on July 1, 1937. However, the EE reappeared on November 27, 1967, when it ran between 71st–Continental Avenues and Whitehall Street via the local tracks of the BMT Broadway Line, replacing the . This service was discontinued on August 30, 1976, and replaced by the .
Issues
Overcrowding
The E and F, the two Queens Boulevard express services, have historically been some of the most overcrowded routes in the entire subway system, and have more ridership than can be accommodated by existing capacity. Multiple efforts have been made to deal with the problem. In 1968, as part of the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA)'s Program for Action plan to drastically expand the region's transportation network, the 63rd Street–Southeast Queens line was proposed to increase capacity between Queens and Manhattan and reduce overcrowding on Queens Boulevard express trains. This line would have served as a "super-express" bypass of the Queens Boulevard Line, paralleling the line by running along the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line, and making stops at Northern Boulevard, where a transfer would be available to Queens Plaza, and Woodside, before merging with the Queens Boulevard Line at 71st Avenue. The line would have provided additional express service to stations east of 71st Avenue, and was intended to divert passengers from the overcrowded E and F to the new line, which would have connected to the BMT Broadway Line and IND Sixth Avenue Lines in Manhattan via the new 63rd Street Lines. Since funding for the entire line dried up because of the 1975–1976 New York City fiscal crisis, the plan was scaled back to the construction of the 63rd Street Lines to a dead-end station at 21st Street–Queensbridge in Queens.
In 1990, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) elected to connect the 63rd Street Lines to the Queens Boulevard Line at 36th Street, with connections to both the local and express Queens Boulevard tracks. In 2001, the 63rd Street Connection was completed, allowing for an increase of nine trains per hour on the line between Queens and Manhattan through the introduction of V service. Express F trains, which had run via 53rd Street, were rerouted via the new connection, and were replaced by new local V trains. To further increase capacity, as part of the MTA's 2010–2014 Capital Program the MTA is equipping the tracks from 50th Street/8th Avenue and 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center to Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike with communications-based train control, which would allow for three more trains during peak hours on the Queens Boulevard express tracks (it currently runs 29 tph). This would also increase capacity on the local tracks of the IND Queens Boulevard Line. With the installation of CBTC on the Eighth Avenue Line as part of the 2015–2019 Capital Program, and on the Archer Avenue Line as part of the 2020–2024 Capital Program, the E will become fully automated.
In October 2017, twenty five-car train sets assigned to the E service had seats at the end of the cars removed to provide extra capacity. The MTA expected that the removal of seats would allow each E train to carry up to 100 additional riders. Subsequent surveys found that the removal of seats improved passenger flow on trains, helping reduce dwell times in stations.
Homelessness
For several decades, the E has hosted a large population of homeless people and has been nicknamed the "Homeless Express", according to a conductor interviewed by WNBC. It is the subway route that most homeless people sleep on since the route runs fully underground, sheltering people from the cold, and since the route has some of the system's newer rolling stock. In addition, the route passes through major transit hubs that shelter the homeless, like Pennsylvania Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Route
Service pattern
E trains run between Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer on the Archer Avenue Line and World Trade Center on the Eighth Avenue Line at all times, running via the Queens Boulevard Line in Queens. E trains run local along the Eighth Avenue Line at all times. All trains run express in Queens between 71st Avenue and Queens Plaza at all times except late nights, when they make local stops. On weekends, weekday evenings, and late nights, E trains stop at 75th Avenue and Briarwood; limited AM-rush trains also make these stops in both directions.
E trains share tracks with F trains between the 75th Avenue and 36th Street interlockings during weekday rush hours and middays, and between the Van Wyck Boulevard and 36th Street interlockings on evenings, late nights and weekends. The shared segment with the F, during rush hours, receives the most scheduled service of any track segment in the system with 30 trains per hour, 15 on the E, and 15 on the F. The route shares tracks with M trains between Queens Plaza and Fifth Avenue–53rd Street, and with C or late-night A service from 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal to Canal Street.
The following table shows the lines used by the E service, with shaded boxes indicating the route at the specified times:
Stations
For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.
Route bullet
The E is signed on trains, in stations, and on maps with a blue emblem, or "bullet" since it runs via the Eighth Avenue Line. The route was first color-coded in a light blue on November 26, 1967, when the NYCTA introduced its first set of colored service labels to coincide with the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection. In June 1979, the route was given a darker blue bullet as part of the introduction of a new color-coding scheme based on subway trunk lines in Manhattan, done in connection with a redesign of the subway map.
Rolling stock
The E train uses ten-car R160 trains to provide regular service, and uses 260 R160 cars, or 26 trains, to provide weekday service. E trains share their rolling stock with the , , and trains, and the route's rolling stock is stored and maintained at Jamaica Yard.
Notes
References
External links
MTA NYC Transit – E Eighth Avenue Local
New York City Subway services |
426996 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore%20Parker | Theodore Parker | Theodore Parker (August 24, 1810 – May 10, 1860) was an American transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church. A reformer and abolitionist, his words and popular quotations would later inspire speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.
Early life, 1810–1829
Parker was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, the youngest child in a large farming family. His paternal grandfather was John Parker, the leader of the Lexington militia at the Battle of Lexington. Among his colonial Yankee ancestors were Thomas Hastings, who came from the East Anglia region of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, and Deacon Thomas Parker, who came from England in 1635 and was one of the founders of Reading.
Most of Theodore's family had died by the time he was 27, probably due to tuberculosis. Out of eleven siblings, only five remained: three brothers, including Theodore, and two sisters. His mother, to whom he was emotionally close, died when he was eleven. He responded to these tragedies by refusing to lapse into what he called "the valley of tears", focusing instead on other events and demands, and by affirming "the immortality of the soul", later a benchmark of his theology.
Descriptions of Parker as a teenager recall him as "raw" and rough, emotional and poetic, sincere, "arch", "roguish", volatile, witty, and quick. He excelled at academics and gained an early education through country schools and personal study. He studied long and late when farm chores allowed, teaching himself math, Latin, and other subjects. At seventeen he began teaching in local schools. He continued teaching himself and private students in advanced and specialized subjects. He learned Hebrew from Joshua Seixas (son of Gershom Mendes Seixas and Hannah Manuel), whom he may have baptized in a covert conversion to Christianity. He also studied for a time under Convers Francis, who later preached at Parker's ordination.
College and divinity school, 1830–1836
In 1830, at age 19, Parker walked the ten miles from Lexington to Cambridge to apply to Harvard College. He was accepted but could not pay the tuition, so he lived and studied at home, continued to work on his father's farm, and joined his classmates only for exams. Under that program, he was able to complete three years of study in one. He then took various posts as a teacher, conducting an academy from 1831 to 1834 at Watertown, Massachusetts, where his late mother's family lived. At Watertown, he met his future wife, Lydia Dodge Cabot. He announced their engagement to his father in October, 1833. Theodore and Lydia were married four years later on April 20, 1837.
While at Watertown, Parker produced his first significant manuscript, The History of the Jews, which outlined his skepticism of biblical miracles and an otherwise liberal approach to the Bible. These were to be themes throughout his career.
Parker considered a career in law, but his strong faith led him to theology. He entered the Harvard Divinity School in 1834. He specialized in the study of German theology and was drawn to the ideas of Coleridge, Carlyle, and Emerson. He wrote and spoke (with varying degrees of fluency) Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and German. His journal and letters show that he was acquainted with many other languages, including Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Coptic and Ethiopic. He completed the divinity school program quickly, in 1836, in order to marry and begin preaching without delay.
Early home life and career, 1836–1842
Parker called the late 1830s a "period of…disappointment". Citing "home; children; & a good professional sphere," he wrote in his journal that "All fail me, & all equally." Increasing controversies in his career culminated in a break with orthodoxy in the early 1840s. The fallout from these events affected him deeply, and it took him a few years to land on his feet and move forward.
Marriage
Parker and Lydia Cabot married in 1837, but the union was rocky at first due to environmental stresses and incompatibilities, and both were saddened to have no children. In 1840 he sought emotional release in the company of a neighboring woman, Anna Blake Shaw, who had a similar theology and temperament to his own, but the friendship was by all accounts not sexual. This attachment naturally increased problems at home, where he may have found it difficult to meet the emotional needs of his wife.
First pastorate
Parker had spent 1836 visiting pulpits in the Boston area (G 80), but for family reasons accepted a pastorate at West Roxbury in 1837. At first, he found the location less than stimulating and work constraining. He adapted to pastoral life, however, and preached in many pulpits around Boston as a visitor. He gained a wide reputation as an earnest, effective speaker. In 1840 Harvard awarded him an honorary master's degree on the basis of his extensive learning.
Parker delivered one especially popular sermon twenty-five times between 1838 and 1841. In it, he argued against the popular notion that religion could be reduced to morality. "The principle of morality is obedience to the Law of con[science]," he wrote, while religion required more: that we "feel naturally, allegiance to a superior Being: dependence on him & accountability to him." (The theme of dependence echoes Schleiermacher, an indication of the German influence on his theology.) Morality involves right acting, while religion requires love of God and regular prayer, which Parker considered essential to human life. "No feeling is more deeply planted in human nature than the tendency to adore a superior being," he preached, "to reverence him, to bow before him, to feel his presence, to pray to him for aid in times of need" and "to bless him when the heart is full of joy."
Transcendentalism
In 1837, Parker had begun attending meetings of the group later known as the Transcendental Club. Ralph Waldo Emerson's Divinity School Address that year had been deeply arresting to him, and he welcomed the opportunity to associate with Emerson, Amos Bronson Alcott, Orestes Brownson, and several others. Transcendentalists such as Henry David Thoreau and Parker wrote of the world as divine, and of themselves as part of this divinity. Unlike Emerson and other Transcendentalists, however, Parker believed the movement was rooted in deeply religious ideas and did not believe it should retreat from religion. All shared a conviction that slavery should be abolished and social reforms should take root.
Parker gradually introduced Transcendentalist ideas into his sermons. He tempered his radicalism with diplomacy and discretion, however. "I preach abundant heresies," he wrote to a friend, "and they all go down—for the listeners do not know how heretical they are." For years he had wrestled with the factuality of the Hebrew Scriptures, and by 1837 he was wishing "some wise man would now write a book…and show up the absurdity of…the Old Testament miracles, prophecies, dreams, miraculous births, etc.'" He was hardly alone. "'What shall we do with the Old Testament?' asked fellow Unitarian James Walker in 1838. 'That question is of such frequent recurrence among laymen as well as clergymen, that any well-considered attempt to answer it, or supply the means of answering it, is almost sure of hearty welcome." Questions regarding biblical realism and meaning, and the answers clergy increasingly found through the German-based higher criticism, formed the basis of liberal Christianity as it emerged and developed throughout the nineteenth century.
In 1838 Parker published his first major article, a critical review of an orthodox work written by his former professor John Gorham Palfrey. In it Parker broke for the first time with supernatural realism, as he also increasingly did in his sermons. To him, Christianity was natural rather than miraculous. More and more, he praised social reform movements such as those for temperance, peace, and the abolition of slavery. In 1840 he described such movements as divinely inspired, though he added that they did not fully address the spiritual and intellectual ills of society. Controversy mounted regarding these and other Transcendentalist elements in his work. So did criticism, which often saddened and distressed him.
Break with Orthodoxy
In 1841, Parker laid bare his radical theological position in a sermon titled A Discourse on the Transient and Permanent in Christianity, in which he espoused his belief that the traditions of historic Christianity did not reflect the truth. In so doing, he made an open break with orthodox theology. He instead argued for a type of Christian belief and worship in which the essence of Jesus's teachings remained permanent but the words, traditions, and other forms of their conveyance did not. He stressed the immediacy of God and saw the Church as a communion, looking upon Christ as the supreme expression of God. Ultimately, he rejected all miracles and revelation and saw the Bible as full of contradictions and mistakes. He retained his faith in God but suggested that people experience God intuitively and personally, and that they should center their religious beliefs on individual experience.
Parker's West Roxbury church remained loyal. Sermons and media attacked him, however, when he denied Biblical miracles and the literal authority of the Bible and Jesus. Many questioned his Christianity. Nearly all the pulpits in the Boston area were closed to him, and he lost friends. Parker reacted with grief and defiance. He remained unwilling to concede that his views placed him beyond the outer bounds of Unitarian liberalism. After this unwilling break with the Unitarian establishment, he spent two years (1841–1843) adjusting to the reality of his newly controversial and independent career and increasing his social activism on religious grounds. He began to see himself as a prophetic religious reformer.
Mature home life and career, 1843–1859
Parker's family life, temperament, and work steadied during the 1840s. The second half of his career revolved around antislavery, democracy, and religious social activism.
Travel to Europe
In 1843 and 1844, Theodore and Lydia traveled in Europe. While there his theology, career, and personal life matured and steadied. He was no longer as sensitive to criticism and bore difficulties more easily. Away from extended family problems in West Roxbury, his marriage seems to have improved and become more steadily affectionate. Despite complex issues that occasionally resurfaced, he and Lydia were happier. "My wife is kind as an angel," he would write in his journal during denominational trials in 1845. His travels also seemed to stimulate a growing interest in political and social issues.
Independent Boston pastorate
Returning to the United States, Parker found Unitarianism on the cusp of a division over his right to fellowship as a minister. His controversial 1841 sermon had created a stir that ballooned into an all-out storm in 1844 at the Church of the Disciples. The debate over the nature and degree of Parker's "infidelity" caused Unitarians to adopt a liberal creed, which they had formerly declined to do based on an inclusive principle. Their position proved too orthodox to include Parker.
In January, 1845, a sizeable group of supporters gathered at Marlboro Chapel in Boston and resolved to provide Parker "a chance to be heard in Boston." Calling themselves "Friends of Theodore Parker," they hired a hall and invited him to preach there on Sunday mornings. Despite misgivings, Parker accepted and preached his first sermon at the Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts) Theater in February. Although the arrangement was temporary at first, he resigned his West Roxbury pastorate in early 1846 (to the dismay of his faithful parishioners there). He elected to call his new congregation the 28th Congregational Society of Boston; after the Melodeon, Parker's congregation met in the Boston Music Hall on Winter Street, Boston.
Parker's congregation grew to 2,000—then three percent of Boston's population—and included influential figures such as Louisa May Alcott, William Lloyd Garrison, Julia Ward Howe (a personal friend), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton called his sermons "soul-satisfying" when beginning her career, and she credited him with introducing her to the idea of a Heavenly Mother in the Trinity. Parker was increasingly known for preaching what he and his followers identified as a type of prophetic Christian social activism.
The 28th Congregational Society, now renamed Theodore Parker Unitarian Church, located on 1851 Centre Street in West Roxbury was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1985.
Reform movements and social theology
After 1846, Parker shifted from a focus on Transcendentalism and challenging the bounds of Unitarian theology to a focus on the gathering national divisions over slavery and the challenges of democracy. In Boston, he led the movement to combat the stricter Fugitive Slave Act, a controversial part of the Compromise of 1850. This act required law enforcement and citizens of all states—free states as well as slave states—to assist in recovering fugitive slaves. Parker called the law "a hateful statute of kidnappers" and helped organize open resistance to it. He and his followers formed the Boston Vigilance Committee, which refused to assist with the recovery of fugitive slaves and helped hide them. For example, they smuggled away Ellen and William Craft when Georgian slave catchers came to Boston to arrest them. Due to such efforts, from 1850 to the onset of the American Civil War in 1861, only twice were slaves captured in Boston and transported back to the South. On both occasions, Bostonians combatted the actions with mass protests.
As Parker's early biographer John White Chadwick wrote, Parker was involved with almost all of the reform movements of the time: "peace, temperance, education, the condition of women, penal legislation, prison discipline, the moral and mental destitution of the rich, the physical destitution of the poor" though none became "a dominant factor in his experience" with the exception of his antislavery views. He "denounced the Mexican War and called on his fellow Bostonians in 1847 'to protest against this most infamous war,'" while at the same time promoting economic expansionism and exposing racist view of Mexicans' inherent inferiority, calling them "a wretched people; wretched in their origin,
history, and character".
Yet his abolitionism became his most controversial stance. He wrote the scathing To a Southern Slaveholder in 1848, as the abolition crisis was heating up, and took a strong stance against slavery and advocated violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, a controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 which required the return of escaped slaves to their owners. Parker worked with many fugitive slaves, some of whom were among his congregation. As in the case of William and Ellen Craft, he hid them in his home. Although he was indicted for his actions, he was never convicted.
As a member of the Secret Six, he supported the abolitionist John Brown, whom many considered a terrorist. After Brown's arrest, Parker wrote a public letter, "John Brown's Expedition Reviewed", arguing for the right of slaves to kill their masters and defending Brown's actions.
Death
Following a lifetime of overwork, Parker's ill health forced his retirement in 1859. He developed tuberculosis, then without effective treatment, and departed for Florence, Italy, where he died on May 10, 1860. He sought refuge in Florence because of his friendship with Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, Isa Blagden and Frances Power Cobbe, but died scarcely a month following his arrival. It was less than a year before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
Parker was a patient of William Wesselhoeft, who practiced homeopathy. Wesselhoeft gave the oration at Parker's funeral. He is buried in the English Cemetery in Florence. When Frederick Douglass visited Florence, he went first from the railroad station to Parker's tomb.
Parker's headstone by Joel Tanner Hart was later replaced by one by William Wetmore Story. Other Unitarians buried in the English Cemetery include Thomas Southwood Smith and Richard Hildreth. The British writer Fanny Trollope, also buried here, wrote the first anti-slavery novel and Hildreth wrote the second. Both books were used by Harriet Beecher Stowe for her antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
Legacy and honors
See also
American Unitarian Association
Jennie Collins, social reformer inspired by Parker
List of opponents of slavery
References
Citations
Works cited
Further reading
Bowden, Henry Warner. "Parker, Theodore" in American National Biography Online 2000
Chadwick, John White. "Theodore Parker: Preacher and Reformer." Boston: Houghton and Mifflin, 1901. Early biography memorializing Parker.
Commager, Henry Steele. Theodore Parker (1947), first scholarly biography excerpt and text search
Commager, Henry Steele. "The Dilemma of Theodore Parker," New England Quarterly (1933) 6#2 pp 257–277. in JSTOR
Dirks, John Edward. The Critical Theology of Theodore Parker (1948) online
Fellman, Michael. "Theodore Parker and the Abolitionist Role in the 1850s," Journal of American History (1974) 61#3 pp 666–684. in JSTOR
Grodzins, Dean. American Heretic: Theodore Parker and Transcendentalism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Highly acclaimed, award-winning scholarly biography. Examines new evidence and reassesses conclusions of earlier biographies.
Kraller, Anna-Lisa. 2016. "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God": Theodore Parker's proverbial fight for the Ideal American Society. (Supplement Series to Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship 37.) Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.
White, Peter. "Reason and Intuition in the Theology of Theodore Parker," Journal of Religious History, (1980) 11#1 pp 111–120.
Primary sources
Commager, Henry Steele, ed. Theodore Parker: An Anthology (1960)
Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Theodore Parker: A Biography (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1880), 39. Early attempt to memorialize Parker. Most conclusions, methods, and evidence have been superseded, but a valuable early record written by a contemporary.
External links
Directory of Theodore Parker biographies, works and articles at Transcendentalists
The Collected Works of Theodore Parker: Sermons. Prayers (1879)
Review by Parker of David Strauss's Life of Jesus from The Christian Examiner (April 1840)
"Primitive Christianity" from The Dial (January 1842)
Theodore Parker Church in West Roxbury, Massachusetts
The Life and Writings of Theodore Parker (1865) by Albert Réville
"The Good Boy; or, Is Christ Necessary?" by Caleb Crain, a review of American Heretic: Theodore Parker and Transcendentalism by Dean Grodzins
Listings of The Centenary Edition of the Works of Theodore Parker in the Harvard Divinity School Library at Harvard Divinity School
Listings of The Papers of Theodore Parker in the Harvard Divinity School Library at Harvard Divinity School
Descendants of Thomas Hastings website
City of Boston, Boston Landmarks Commission, Theodore Parker Unitarian Church Study Report
Daguerreotype of Parker c. 1843
1810 births
1860 deaths
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Abolitionists from Boston
American people of English descent
American temperance activists
American Unitarians
Harvard Divinity School alumni
Tuberculosis deaths in Italy
Members of the Transcendental Club
Secret Six
Infectious disease deaths in Tuscany |
427017 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%20American%20International%20Auto%20Show | North American International Auto Show | The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show, is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., at Huntington Place (formerly known as Cobo Center). The show was held in January from 1989 to 2019. It was intended to move to the summer in 2020, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic that year and 2021, before returning in September 2022. It is among the largest auto shows in North America. UPI says the show is "regarded as the foremost venue for [car] manufacturers to unveil new products".
The show begins with press preview days, industry preview days and a charity preview event. The charity preview raises money for local children's charities. In 2004 and 2005, the charity preview attracted 17,500 people at $400 a ticket and raised $7 million in total. 2006 was the sixth consecutive year the charity preview event raised over $6 million. 35,711 tickets were sold for the industry preview representing people from 24 countries in 2005 and 6,897 credentialed press from 63 countries. Over 800,000 attended during the days the show was open to the general public in 2018; it is estimated that the show generates a revenue of over $500 million to the local economy.
History
In 1899, William E. Metzger helped organize the Detroit Auto Show, only the second of its kind, after the 1898 Paris Auto Show. An auto show was held in Detroit in 1907 at Beller's Beer Garden at Riverside Park and since then annually except 1941–1953. During the show's first decades of existence it portrayed only a regional focus. In 1957 international carmakers exhibited for the first time.
In 1987, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) proposed it become international. The members of the DADA went to places such as Europe and Japan in the attempt to convince those unveiling their new brands or vehicles in those countries to bring those unveilings to the North American Auto Show. That attempt proved to be successful; the North American Auto Show was then renamed the North American International Auto Show in 1989. The NAIAS was the first (and, until 2006, only) auto show in the United States sanctioned by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles.
Since 1965, the show has been held at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Center), where it occupies nearly of floor space. Prior to being held at Huntington Place, the show was held at other well-known places in the Metro Detroit area, including the Light Guard Armory, Wayne Gardens pavilion, and Michigan State Fairgrounds.
Record attendance was in 2003, with 838,066 attendees. In 2009, attendance was 650,517. In 2016, there were 815,575 in ticketed attendance, after reaching 803,451 in 2015.
Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were not present at the 2019 edition, following recent absences of other luxury manufacturers like Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.
In 2018, plans were made to move the show from January to June beginning in 2020, in hopes of attracting more visitors and adding outdoor events, with plans for an "auto plaza" around Woodward and Jefferson avenues, in addition to the indoor exhibition at TCF Center. An outdoor festival known as "Motor Bella" was to precede the show, which would showcase European supercars. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to Michigan health orders and TCF Center being used as a field hospital by FEMA.
In 2020, plans were made to move the 2021 show from June to late September due to the continued pandemic. However, the 2021 edition was also canceled. The NAIAS organizers held Motor Bella at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan as a partial replacement, which was an outdoor enthusiast event running from September 21–26. Executive director Rod Alberts stated that "we cannot ignore the major disruptions caused by the pandemic and the impact it has had on budgets. As such, we will be providing an amazing experience to the media, the auto industry and the public in a cost-effective way."
The 2022 edition returned to downtown Detroit and was held in September. The format is scheduled to be unchanged for the 2023 edition.
Editions
2023
The 2023 show was held from September 16–24, with the media preview on the 13th and charity preview (featuring a performance by Jennifer Hudson) on the 15th. Notably, its run coincided with the beginning of the 2023 United Auto Workers strike, which targeted Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, the show's three largest exhibitors. The UAW held a rally outside Huntington Place on the evening of the charity preview, but did not picket the event or call for a consumer boycott of the show.
For 2023, the show returned to its original all-indoor format. All three Detroit-based automakers exhibited, joined by Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, and Volkswagen. Subaru, which exhibited in 2022, declined to return for the 2023 show, while Honda was represented by an exhibit organized by a consortium of its Detroit-area dealers, rather than one hosted by the company itself. Like in the 2022 show, non-participating automakers were represented by smaller displays of their automobiles in a section of the show floor.
The 2023 show also featured a large indoor test track at the rear the show floor, on which attendees rode in new electric vehicles from GM, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, and Tesla. Dubbed the Powering Michigan EV Experience, the track included a 300-foot acceleration strip, and a serpentine course to demonstrate the vehicles' handling. Tesla's participation in the EV Experience marked the company's first NAIAS appearance since 2015. In addition, the separate off-road courses in the Ford and Jeep exhibits, as well as the Ram truck course, returned from the 2022 show.
Production car introductions
2025 Cadillac CT5 (refresh)
2024 Ford F-150 (refresh)
2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally (auto show debut)
2024 GMC Acadia
2024 Jeep Gladiator (refresh)
2022
In 2022, the full NAIAS returned to Huntington Place, running from September 17–25, with the media preview on the 14th and the charity preview on the 16th. The media preview was visited by U.S. President Joe Biden, and the charity preview featured a performance by Nile Rodgers & Chic.
The 2022 edition featured a redesigned layout, with the main exhibits indoors on the show floor at Huntington Place, and other supporting events outdoors in nearby Hart Plaza. Stellantis, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Subaru were the only automakers with major exhibits on the convention floor, while Volkswagen had a smaller display in the lobby of Huntington Place. Many non-participating automakers, such as Nissan, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz, were represented by new vehicles on display on the convention floor, but without a branded exhibit.
Returning from Motor Bella were interactive test tracks on the show floor, in which attendees were given the chance to ride in Ford and Stellantis vehicles. Ford's track featured an acceleration strip, used to demonstrate the F-150 Lightning, and a large hill, showcasing the Bronco's off-road capabilities. Stellantis operated two tracks: an off-road course featuring the Jeep Wrangler, Gladiator, and Grand Cherokee, and a demonstration course with Ram pickup trucks. Rides on all three were included with show admission.
Stellantis rented the World's Largest Rubber Duck for the show, in recognition of "ducking," a trend among Jeep owners; the duck stood in the plaza outside Huntington Place.
Production car introductions
2023 Chevrolet Tahoe RST Performance Edition
2023 Chrysler 300C
2024 Ford Mustang
2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe 30th Anniversary Edition
2023 Jeep Wrangler Willys 4xe
2023 Lincoln Corsair (refresh)
2023 Toyota Crown (auto show debut)
Concept car introductions
Lincoln Star (auto show debut)
The 2023 North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year semi-finalists were announced and displayed at the show, with the winners to be announced in January 2023.
2021: Motor Bella
Plans for the full NAIAS to return in September 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In lieu, the show's organizers hosted an outdoor event, dubbed Motor Bella, at the M-1 Concourse in nearby Pontiac from from September 21–26.
Production car introductions
2022 Toyota Tundra
2020 (cancelled)
The 2020 show was scheduled to be held from June 13–20; it was canceled in March 2020 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
2019
The 2019 show ran from January 19–27 at Cobo Center and opened with the lowering of a 2020 Shelby GT500 from the Cobo Center ceiling. 30 cars launched in the previews, down from 69 in 2018. Among various cars, it displayed new versions of the Kia Soul. Other major attractions included the 2020 Shelby GT500. USA Today noted that Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Jeep and Toyota were all re-introducing discontinued models at the show with the media previews, for example the Toyota Supra and midsize Ford Ranger. Virtual reality displays were utilized by several carmakers. A number of protests took place outside the event regarding Ford's environmental record and GM layoffs.
January 12 – Gallery
January 14–15 – Press preview
January 14–17 – Automobili-D (mobility and autonomy exposition)
January 16–17 – Industry preview
January 18 – Charity preview
January 19–27 – Open to public
Production car introductions
2020 Cadillac XT6
2020 Ford Explorer
2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
2019 Hyundai Elantra GT N-Line
2020 Kia Telluride
2020 Lexus RC F Track Edition
2019 Ram 2500/3500 HD
2020 Subaru WRX STI S209
2020 Toyota Supra
2020 Volkswagen Passat
Concept car introductions
GAC Group (Trumpchi) Entranze
Infiniti QX Inspiration (electric SUV concept)
Lexus LC Convertible concept
Nissan IMs (EV sports sedan)
Workhorse Group SureFly eVTOL Octocopter concept
Race car introductions
Hyundai Veloster N TCR
Subaru WRX STI VT19x (with new livery)
At the show, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group announced a global alliance to collaborate on commercial vans and mid-size pickup trucks, and potentially share EV and autonomous vehicle technology in the future.
2018
The 2018 show took place January 20 to 28 at the Cobo Center. It ran from January 14 to 28. The press preview was extended by one day and the second edition of Automobili-D was extended by three days.
The Washington Post reported that the fastest cars at the 2018 auto show included the 2019 Acura NSX, the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody, the 2019 Nissan GT-R, the 2019 Alfa Romeo Giulia, and the 2019 Corvette ZR1.
January 14–16 – Press preview
January 14–21 – Automobili-D (mobility and autonomy exposition)
January 17–18 – Industry preview
January 19 – Charity preview
January 20–28 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2019 Acura RDX (prototype)
2019 Audi A7 (US debut)
2019 BMW i8 Coupe (refresh)
2018 BMW X2
2019 Chevrolet Silverado
2019 Ford Edge (refresh), Edge ST
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt
2019 Ford Ranger
2019 Honda Insight (prototype)
2019 Hyundai Veloster (second generation)
2019 Jeep Cherokee (refresh)
2019 Kia Forte sedan
2019 Lamborghini Urus (US debut)
2019 Mercedes-AMG CLS53, E53 Coupe/Cabriolet
2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class
2018 Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class (X166) Grand Edition
2019 Mini Hatch (refresh)
2019 Ram 1500
2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom (US debut)
2018 Smart Fortwo ED 10th Anniversary Edition (US debut)
2019 Toyota Avalon
2019 Volkswagen Jetta
2018 Volkswagen Passat GT
Concept car introductions
GAC Group (Trumpchi) Enverge
Infiniti Q Inspiration
Lexus LF-1 Limitless
Nissan Xmotion
2017
The 2017 show ran from January 9 to 22. Automobili-D, an exposition dedicated to automotive autonomy and mobility, ran in conjunction with the show on January 8–12. Sam Slaughter served as chairman.
January 9–10 – Press preview
January 11–12 – Industry preview
January 13 – Charity preview
January 14–22 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2018 Audi A5/S5 Cabriolet
2018 Audi SQ5
2017 BMW 5 Series
2018 Chevrolet Traverse
2018 Ford F-150 (refresh)
2018 Ford Mustang (refresh – shown during public days)
2018 GMC Terrain
2018 Honda Odyssey
2018 Kia Stinger
2018 Lexus LS (XF50)
2018 Mercedes-AMG GT (refresh), GT C Coupe
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe
2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class (refresh)
2017 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe Night Edition
2017 Nissan Rogue Sport
2017 Ram 1500 Rebel Black
2018 Subaru WRX (refresh)
2018 Toyota Camry
2018 Volkswagen Atlas R-Line
2018 Volkswagen Tiguan (long-wheelbase version)
2018 Volvo V90 (North American debut)
Concept car introductions
Audi Q8 concept
BMW Concept X2 (North American debut)
Ford Transit Connect Hybrid Taxi Prototype
Infiniti QX50 Concept
Nissan Vmotion 2.0
Volkswagen I.D. Buzz
Race car introductions
BMW M6 GT3 (North American debut)
2018 Toyota Camry Cup Car
2016
The 2016 show ran from January 11 to 24. The show drew 5,068 credentialed members of the media from 60 countries during the media preview, with the industry preview afterwards drawing 39,788 visitors from 25 countries and 2,000 companies. Among celebrity visitors was Barack Obama. The first day saw the debut of models like the Lexus LC 500, the new Pacifica minivan, and an Audi hydrogen concept car.
January 11–12 – Press preview
January 13–14 – Industry preview
January 15 – Charity preview
January 16–24 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2017 Audi A4 (North American debut)
2017 Audi A4 allroad quattro
2016 BMW M2
2016 BMW X4 M40i
2016 Buick Envision (North American debut)
2017 Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback
2017 Chrysler Pacifica
Fisker Force 1
2017 Ford F-150 Raptor SuperCrew
2017 Ford Fusion (refresh)
2017 Genesis G90
2017 Genesis G80 (refresh)
2017 GMC Acadia
2017 Honda Ridgeline
2016 Infiniti Q50 (refresh)
2017 Infiniti Q60
2016 Infiniti QX60 (refresh)
2017 Kia Forte/Forte5 (refresh)
2018 Lexus LC 500
2017 Lincoln Continental
2017 Mercedes-AMG S65 Cabriolet
2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (sedan)
2017 Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class (refresh)
2017 Porsche 911 Turbo, Turbo S (991.2)
2017 Smart Fortwo Cabrio (North American debut)
2017 Volvo S90
Concept car introductions
Acura Precision Concept
Audi h-tron quattro concept
Buick Avista
Kia Telluride
Nissan IDS (US debut)
Nissan Titan Warrior Concept
Volkswagen Tiguan GTE Active Concept
2015
The 2015 show ran from January 12 to 25.
January 12–13 – Press preview
January 14–15 – Industry preview
January 16 – Charity preview
January 17–25 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2017 Acura NSX
2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider
2017 Audi Q7
2016 BMW 6 Series, M6 (refresh)
2016 Buick Cascada
2016 Cadillac CTS-V
2016 Chevrolet Volt (second generation)
2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
2017 Ford GT
2016 Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang
2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid (North American debut)
2016 Hyundai Sonata Plug-in Hybrid
2017 Jaguar XE (North American debut)
2016 Lexus GS F
2016 Lincoln MKX
2016 Mercedes-Benz C350 Plug-in Hybrid
2015 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG
2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class Coupé
2015 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop
2016 Nissan Titan XD
2015 Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS
2015 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S (refresh)
2015 Ram 1500 Rebel
2016 Range Rover Td6, Range Rover Sport Td6 (North American debut)
2016 Toyota Tacoma
2016 Volvo S60 Cross Country
2016 Volvo S60 Inscription (LWB)
Concept car introductions
Buick Avenir
Chevrolet Bolt EV
Honda FCV Concept (North American debut)
Hyundai Santa Cruz Crossover Truck Concept
Infiniti Q60 Concept
Volkswagen Cross Coupe GTE Concept
2014
The 2014 show ran from January 13 to 26.
January 13–14 – Press preview
January 15–16 – Industry preview
January 17 – Charity preview
January 18–26 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2015 Audi A8/S8 (facelift) (North American debut)
2015 Audi Q3 (North American debut)
2014 BMW 2 Series
2015 BMW M3
2015 BMW M4
2015 Cadillac ATS Coupe
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2015 Chrysler 200
2015 Ford F-150
2015 Ford Mustang (auto show debut)
2015 GMC Canyon
2015 Honda Fit
2015 Hyundai Genesis
2015 Lexus RC (North American debut)
2015 Lexus RC F
2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG
2015 Mercedes-Benz S600
2015 Porsche 911 Targa
2015 Subaru WRX STI
2015 Volkswagen Golf R (North American debut)
Concept car introductions
Acura TLX Prototype
Audi allroad shooting brake
Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge
Kia GT4 Stinger
Mercedes-Benz Concept S-Class Coupé (North American debut)
Mini John Cooper Works concept
Nissan IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO (U.S. debut)
Nissan Sport Sedan concept
Toyota FT-1
Volkswagen Beetle Dune
Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion Concept
Volvo Concept XC Coupe
Race car introductions
Acura TLX GT Race Car
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
2013
The 2013 show ran from January 14 to 27.
January 14–15 – Press preview
January 16–17 – Industry preview
January 18 – Charity preview
January 19–27 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2014 Audi R8 (facelift)
2013 Audi RS5 Cabriolet (North American debut)
2014 Audi RS7
2014 Audi SQ5 (gasoline version)
Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible
2013 BMW 320i (U.S. market debut)
2014 BMW M6 Gran Coupe
2014 BMW Z4 (E89)
2014 Cadillac ELR
2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
2014 Chevrolet Silverado
2013 Chrysler 300 Motown Edition
2013 Dodge Dart GT
2015 Ford Transit (North American debut)
2014 GMC Sierra
2014 Infiniti Q50
2014 Jeep Compass
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee (facelift)
2014 Kia Cadenza (North American debut)
2014 Lexus IS
2014 Maserati Quattroporte
2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (facelift)
2014 Mini John Cooper Works Paceman
2014 Nissan Versa Note (North American debut)
2014 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S
2013 Shelby Focus ST
2014 Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line
2014 Volkswagen Touareg R-Line
Concept car introductions
Acura MDX pre-production concept
Acura NSX Concept (updated 2013 version with interior)
BMW Concept 4 Series Coupe
Fiat 500 Abarth "Tenebra" and "Cattiva" design concepts
Ford Atlas
Honda Urban SUV Concept
Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis
Lincoln MKC concept
Nissan Resonance
Toyota Corolla Furia
Volkswagen Crossblue
Volkswagen Passat Performance Concept
Chevrolet also displayed five models sold outside the United States: the Onix, Orlando, Sail, Spin, and Trax.
2012
The 2012 show ran from January 9 to 22.
January 9–10 – Press preview
January 11–12 – Industry preview
January 13 – Charity preview
January 14–22 – Open to the public
Nissan returned to the show after a three-year absence.
Bryan Herta was presented with the Baby Borg trophy for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 during the show, which coincided with the promotion of the return of the IZOD IndyCar Series to Detroit later in June. A replica Baby Borg was also presented to Suzie Wheldon, the widow of the winning driver of the race.
Production car introductions
2013 Acura RDX
2013 Audi A4
2013 Audi S4
2013 Audi allroad
2012 Bentley Continental GT V8
2012 BMW 3 Series (North American debut)
2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 3
2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5
2013 Buick Encore
2013 Cadillac ATS
2013 Chevrolet Sonic RS
2012 Chrysler 200 Super S
2012 Dodge Charger Redline
2013 Dodge Dart
2013 Ford Fusion
2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe (North American debut)
2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
2013 Lexus LX
2013 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
2012 Mini Roadster
2012 Porsche 911 Carrera/Carrera S Cabriolet
2013 Scion FR-S (North American debut)
2013 Subaru BRZ (U.S. debut)
2012 Toyota Prius c (North American debut)
2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid
Concept car introductions
Acura ILX concept
Acura NSX concept
Audi Q3 Vail
Chevrolet Code 130R
Chevrolet Tru 140S
Chrysler 700C
Ford Evos (North American debut)
Honda Accord Coupe concept
Lexus LF-LC
Lincoln MKZ concept
Maserati Kubang (North American debut)
Nissan e-NV200 Concept
Nissan Pathfinder concept
smart Forus
Toyota NS4
Volkswagen E-Bugster
Volvo XC60 Plug-in Hybrid
2011
The 2011 show ran from January 10 to 23.
January 10–11 – Press preview
January 12–13 – Industry preview
January 14 – Charity preview
January 15–23 – Open to the public
Porsche returned to the show for the first time since 2007. A new "Smarter Living in Michigan" section showcased alternative energy technologies outside of the automotive sector, in addition to an electric vehicle track condensed from its 2010 size.
Production car introductions
2012 Audi A6
2012 BMW 1 Series M Coupe
2012 BMW 6 Series (F12) Convertible
2012 Buick Verano
2012 Chevrolet Sonic
2011 Chrysler 300
2012 Ford C-Max (North American debut – production plans canceled)
2013 Ford C-Max Energi
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid
2012 Hyundai Veloster
2011 Jeep Compass
2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
2012 Mercedes-Benz S350 Bluetec
2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in
2012 Toyota Prius V
2012 Volkswagen Passat (North American version)
Concept car introductions
Ford Vertrek
GMC Sierra All Terrain HD
Honda Civic & Civic Si concept
Hyundai Curb
Kia KV7
Mini Paceman
Porsche 918 RSR
Toyota Prius C Concept
2010
The 2010 show ran from January 11 to 24.
January 11–12 – Press preview
January 13–14 – Industry preview
January 15 – Charity preview
January 16–24 – Open to the public
A new "Electric Avenue" section showcased electric vehicles from around the world, including some entrants for the Automotive X-Prize. Saab, Hummer, Infiniti, Suzuki, and Porsche did not attend the 2010 show. Nissan and Mitsubishi did not have regular floor space, but the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i MiEV appeared in the Electric Avenue section. A small electrical fire at the Audi exhibit caused an evacuation on January 21. Nobody was hurt.
Production car introductions
2011 BMW 740i/Li (North American debut)
2011 BMW Z4 (E89) sDrive35is
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
2011 Ford Focus
2011 Ford Mustang GT
2011 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
2011 GMC Acadia Denali
2011 Honda CR-Z
2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
2010 Jeep Liberty Renegade
2010 Jeep Wrangler Islander / Mountain editions
2011 Lincoln MKX
2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet
Revenge Verde supercar
Concept car introductions
Audi e-Tron (brand) Detroit showcar
BMW Concept ActiveE
Buick Regal GS
Cadillac XTS Platinum
Chevrolet Aveo RS
Chrysler/Lancia Delta
Fiat 500 electric
GMC Granite
Hyundai Blue-Will plug-in hybrid
Mini Beachcomber
Toyota FT-CH dedicated hybrid
Volkswagen NCC
Volvo C30 electric
2009
The 2009 show ran from January 11 to 25.
January 11–13 – Press days
January 14–15 – Industry days
January 16 – Charity preview
January 17–25 – Open to the public
Nissan, Infiniti, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Rolls-Royce, Land Rover, Ferrari, and Porsche did not attend the 2009 auto show, the largest number of non-returning automakers in the show's history. As a result, the show became the first with Chinese automakers (BYD and Brilliance) exhibited on the main floor.
Production car introductions
2010 Audi A3 2.0 TDI (North American debut)
2009 BMW Z4 (E89)
2010 Buick LaCrosse
2010 Cadillac SRX
2011 Chevrolet Cruze (North American debut)
2010 Chevrolet Equinox
Fisker Karma
2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
2010 Ford Taurus
2010 Honda Insight
2010 Jaguar XFR
2010 Jaguar XKR
2010 Lexus HS 250h
2010 Lincoln MKT
2009 Mini Cooper Convertible
2009 Saab 9-5 Griffin
2010 Toyota Camry
2010 Toyota Prius
The 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class was announced and shown to invited members of the press, but was not put on public display until the March 2010 Geneva Motor Show.
GM also announced the production of the Chevrolet Spark mini-car (previously shown as the Chevrolet Beat concept), for sale in Europe in 2010 and North America in 2011, as well as the Chevrolet Orlando compact MPV, for sale in North America in 2011. The Spark will be shown at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show.
Concept car introductions
Audi Sportback concept
Cadillac Converj
Chevrolet Orlando concept (North American debut)
Chrysler 200C EV
Dodge Circuit EV
Fisker Karma S Concept
Jeep Patriot EV
Kia Soul'ster
Lincoln C
Mercedes-Benz BlueZero concepts
E-Cell (electric)
E-Plus (plug-in hybrid), 100 km electric-only range
F-Cell (fuel cell)
Subaru Legacy concept
Toyota FT-EV
Volkswagen Concept BlueSport
Volvo S60 concept
2008
The 2008 show ran from January 13 to 27.
January 13–15 – Press days
January 16–17 – Industry days
January 18 – Charity preview
January 19–27 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2009 Audi TTS
2008 BMW 1 Series Convertible (North American debut)
2009 BMW 335d (North American debut)
2009 BMW X5 (E70) xDrive35d
2009 BMW X6
2009 Cadillac CTS-V
2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
2009 Dodge Ram
2009 Ford F-150
2009 Hyundai Genesis
2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
2009 Kia Borrego
2009 Mazda RX-8
2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class (North American debut)
2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart
2008 Scion xB RS 5.0 ("Mica Gold")
2009 Saturn Vue Green Line 2-Mode Hybrid
2009 Subaru Forester
2009 Toyota Venza
2009 Volkswagen Passat CC
Concept car introductions
Audi R8 TDI
Buick Riviera (North American debut)
BYD F6DM
Cadillac CTS Coupe concept
Cadillac Provoq (also appearing at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show)
Chrysler ecoVoyager
Dodge ZEO
Fisker Karma
Ford Explorer America
Ford Verve
Hummer HX
Honda Pilot Prototype
Jeep Renegade
Land Rover LRX
Lincoln MKT concept
Lexus LF-A Roadster
Mazda Furai
Mercedes-Benz Vision GLK Freeside
Mitsubishi Concept-RA
Nissan Forum
Saab 9-4X BioPower
Saturn Flextreme
Toyota A-BAT
2007
The 2007 show was held from January 7 to 21.
January 7–9 – Press days
January 10–11 – Industry days
January 12 – Charity preview
January 13–21 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2008 Audi Q7 3.0 TDi
2007 BMW 3 Series convertible
2008 Cadillac CTS
2008 Chevrolet Equinox Sport
Chevrolet HHR Premium Edition
2008 Chevrolet Malibu
2008 Chrysler Town and Country
2008 Dodge Avenger
2008 Dodge Grand Caravan
2008 Dodge Magnum
2008 Dodge Viper SRT-10
2008 Ford Five Hundred (renamed to Ford Taurus for the 2007 Chicago Auto Show)
2008 Ford Focus
2007 Hyundai Veracruz (North American introduction)
2008 Infiniti QX56
2008 Lexus IS-F
2007 Maserati Quattroporte Automatica
2008 Mazda Tribute HEV
2007 MINI Cooper (North American introduction)
2007 MINI Sidewalk
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer
2008 Nissan Rogue
2008 Pontiac G6 GXP
2008 Pontiac Torrent GXP
2008 Porsche Cayenne
2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé
2007 Scion tC RS 3.0 ("Blizzard Pearl")
2008 Smart Fortwo (North American introduction)
2008 Subaru Legacy (North American introduction)
2008 Subaru Outback (North American introduction)
2007 Toyota Tundra CrewMax
Concept car introductions
Acura Advanced Sports Car concept
Audi Q7 V12 TDI concept (North American introduction)
Changfeng Liebao CS7 concept
Changfeng Liebao CS6 concept
Changfeng Feibao CT5 concept
Changfeng UU-CT3 concept
Changfeng rhombus concept car
Chevrolet Camaro Convertible concept
Chevrolet Volt
Chrysler Nassau
Dodge Viper SRT-10 Mopar concept
Ford Airstream
Ford Interceptor
Honda Accord Coupe concept
Hummer H3 Open-Top concept
Jaguar C-XF (Concept XF)
Jeep Trailhawk
Kia Kue
Lexus LF-A (updated concept)
Lincoln MKR concept
Mazda Ryuga
Mercedes-Benz Vision GL420 Bluetec
Mercedes-Benz Ocean Drive
Mitsubishi Prototype-X (Lancer Evolution Prototype)
Nissan Bevel
Saab 9-3 BioPower Hybrid concept
Suzuki Flix
Toyota FT-HS Hybrid Sports concept
Volvo XC60 concept
Volvo BeeVan
GM also displayed five "global" concept cars for the first time in North America: Chevrolet T2X, Chevrolet WTCC, Holden Efijy, Opel Antara GTC, and Saab Aero-X.
2006
The 2006 show was held from January 8 to 22.
January 8–10 – Press days
January 11–12 – Industry days
January 13 – Charity preview
January 14–22 – Open to the public
Production car introductions
2006 Audi RS4
2007 Audi S6
2007 Audi S8
2006 BMW 325xi Sports Wagon
2007 BMW M Roadster
2006 BMW M6
2006 BMW Z4 (E85) Coupe
2007 Cadillac Escalade
2007 Cadillac Escalade ESV
2007 Cadillac Escalade EXT
2007 Chevrolet Aveo
2007 Chevrolet Suburban LTZ
2007 Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ
2007 Chevrolet Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid
2007 Chrysler Aspen
2007 Dodge Caliber
2007 Ford Edge
2007 Ford Shelby GT500
2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin
2007 GMC Yukon
2007 GMC Yukon XL
2007 Honda Fit
2007 Hummer H3x
2007 Hyundai Santa Fe
2007 Jaguar XK convertible
2007 Jeep Compass
2007 Jeep Wrangler
2007 Kia Optima
2007 Lexus LS
2007 Lincoln MKX
2006 Maserati GranSport Spyder
2006 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT and Executive GT
2007 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec
2007 Mercedes-Benz GL320 Bluetec
2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450
2007 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG
2007 Mercedes-Benz R63 AMG
2007 Mercedes-Benz S550
2007 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG
2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder
2007 Nissan Versa
2007 Nissan Sentra
2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP
2007 Saturn Sky
2007 Saturn Vue Green Line
2007 Toyota Camry (AutoWeek "Most Significant")
2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
2007 Toyota Yaris
2006 Volvo C70 Convertible
Geely 7151CK (the first Chinese automobile ever shown in the United States, only shown to press)
Concept car introductions
Aston Martin Rapide concept
Acura RDX prototype
Audi Roadjet
BMW X3 Hybrid Efficient Dynamics concept
Buick Enclave concept
Chevrolet Camaro concept (AutoWeek "Best In Show")
Chrysler Imperial concept
Dodge Challenger concept (AutoWeek "Best Concept")
Ford F-250 Super Chief
Ford Iosis (North American introduction)
Ford Reflex
Hyundai HCD9 Talus
Infiniti G35 Coupe concept
Jeep Patriot concept
Kia Soul
Lamborghini Miura concept
Lincoln MKS concept
Maybach Exelero
Mazda Kabura concept
Mazda Mazda5 hydrogen rotary concept
Mini Concept Detroit
Mitsubishi Concept-CT MIEV
Nissan Urge (AutoWeek "Most Fun"), with built in Xbox 360
Saab 9-5 Aero BioPower concept
Subaru B5-TPH
Toyota F3R
Volvo C30 concept
2005
Production car introductions
2006 Acura RL
2006 Cadillac STS-V
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2006 Chrysler 300C SRT-8
2006 Dodge Charger
2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10 Coupe
2006 Ford Fusion
2006 Honda Ridgeline
2006 Hyundai Sonata
2006 Infiniti M
2006 Kia Rio
2006 Land Rover Range Rover
2006 Land Rover Range Rover Sport
2006 Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ
2006 Mercedes-Benz M-Class
2006 Mercury Milan
2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse
2006 Mitsubishi Raider
2006 Porsche 911 Cabrio
2005 Saab 9-7X
2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca
2005 Toyota Avalon
Concept car introductions
Chrysler Firepower
Ford Explorer Sport Trac Concept
Ford Fairlane Concept
Ford Shelby GR-1
Ford SYNUS
General Motors Sequel
GMC Graphyte
Infiniti Kuraza
Jaguar Advanced Lightweight Coupe Concept
Jeep Gladiator (2005 concept)
Jeep Hurricane
Kia KCD-II Mesa
Lexus LF-A concept
Mazda MX-Crossport
Mercury Meta One
Nissan AZEAL
Opel Astra hybrid concept
Saturn Aura concept
Saturn Sky concept
Suzuki Concept X
Toyota FT-SX
Volkswagen New Beetle Ragster
Volvo 3CC
2004
The 2004 show was held from January 10 to 19.
Production car introductions
2005 Chevrolet Corvette (C6)
2005 Ford Five Hundred
2005 Ford Freestyle
2005 Ford Mustang
2005 Infiniti QX56
2005 Kia Spectra
2005 Lexus GS
2005 Nissan Frontier
2005 Nissan Pathfinder
2005 Pontiac G6
2005 Pontiac Solstice
2005 Scion tC
2005 Volvo S40
2005 Volvo V50
Concept car introductions
Chevrolet Nomad (2004 concept)
Chrysler ME Four-Twelve
Dodge Slingshot
Ford Bronco (2004 concept)
Honda SUT
Jeep Rescue
Land Rover Range Stormer
Lincoln Aviator (2004 concept)
Lincoln Mark X
Mazda MX-Micro Sport
Mercedes-Benz Vision GST (2004 concept)
Mitsubishi Eclipse Concept-E
Mitsubishi Sport Truck Concept
Nissan Actic
Saturn Curve
Toyota FTX
Toyota Rugged Youth Utility
Volkswagen Concept T
2003
The 2003 show was held from January 11 to 20.
Production car introductions
2004 Acura TSX
2004 Cadillac SRX
2004 Chevrolet Colorado
2005 Chevrolet Equinox
2004 Chevrolet Malibu
2004 Ford F-150
2003 Infiniti FX45
2004 Lexus RX 330
2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor
2004 Nissan Maxima
2004 Nissan Quest
2004 Nissan Titan
2004 Pontiac Grand Prix
2003 Rolls-Royce Phantom VII
2004 Toyota Sienna
Concept car introductions
Aston Martin AMV8 Vantage
Audi Pikes Peak
BMW xActivity
Buick Centieme
Cadillac Sixteen
Chevrolet Cheyenne
Chevrolet SS (2003 concept)
Dodge Avenger (2003 concept)
Dodge Durango (concept)
Dodge Kahuna
Dodge Tomahawk V10 'motorcycle'
Ford 427
Ford Freestyle FX
Ford Model U
Ford Mustang GT (2003 concept)
Infiniti Triant
Kia KCD-1 Slice
Lincoln Navicross
Matra P75
Mazda Washu
Mercury Messenger
Mitsubishi Tarmac Spyder
Pontiac G6 (concept)
Toyota Fine-S
2002
Production car introductions
2003 Audi A4 Cabriolet
2002 Bentley Arnage T
2004 Cadillac XLR
2003 Ford Expedition
2003 Honda Pilot
2003 Infiniti G35
2003 Lexus GX 470
2002 Maserati Coupé
2003 Mazda6
2003 Mazda RX-8 (North American debut)
2003 Range Rover
2003 Subaru Baja
2002 Suzuki Aerio
2003 Volvo XC90
Concept car introductions
Acura RD-X concept
Cadillac Cien
Chevrolet Bel Air concept
Chrysler Pacifica concept
Dodge M80
Dodge Ram SRT-10 concept
Dodge Razor
Ford GT40
Ford Mighty F-350 Tonka
Infiniti FX45 concept
Isuzu Axiom SXR, SXT
Jeep Compass concept
Lincoln Continental concept
Mercedes-Benz Vision GST
Mitsubishi SUP (Sports Utility Pack)
Nissan Quest concept
Pontiac Solstice concept
Saab 9-3X concept
Toyota ccX
Volkswagen Magellan
2001
Production car introductions
BMW M3 Convertible
Daewoo Leganza
Dodge Viper
Ford Thunderbird
Infiniti Q45
Jeep Liberty
Lexus SC430
Mercedes-Benz C-Class Wagon
Nissan Sentra SE-R
Subaru Impreza WRX
Toyota Matrix
Concept car introductions
BMW X-Coupe
Chrysler Crossfire
Cunningham C7
Dodge Super 8 Hemi
Honda Model X
Infiniti FX45
Jeep Willys
Mitsubishi RPM 7000
Nissan alpha-T
Oldsmobile Alero, Aurora, Intrigue Zebra Show Vehicle
Volkswagen Microbus
Volvo ACC
Volvo SCC
2000
Concept car introductions
Dodge Viper GTS-R Concept
Ford Equator
GMC Terradyne
Honda Spocket
Mercedes-Benz Vision SLA
1999
Concept car introductions
Cadillac Evoq
Chevrolet Nomad concept
Dodge Charger concept
Ford Thunderbird
Jeep Commander concept
Lincoln Blackwood
Mercedes-Benz Vision SLR concept
Mercury My concept
Nissan 240Z concept
Oldsmobile Recon
Pontiac Aztek concept
Pontiac GTO concept
1998
Production car introductions
Aston Martin DB7 "Alfred Dunhill"
Chrysler 300M
Chrysler LHS
Dodge Dakota R/T Club Cab
Dodge Dakota R/T Regular Cab
Ford Ranger
Ford NASCAR Taurus
GMC Jimmy 5-door
GMC Yukon Denali
Isuzu Amigo
Isuzu Rodeo
Isuzu Trooper
Lexus RX300
Mercedes-Benz ML430
Mercedes-Benz CLK430
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Oldsmobile Alero
Pontiac Grand Am
Saab 9-3
Subaru Legacy SUS
Toyota Camry Solara Coupe
Volkswagen New Beetle
Concept car introductions
Aston Martin Project Vantage
Dodge TekQua
Dodge Big Red Truck
Dodge Intrepid ESX2
Buick Signia
Chevrolet Monte Carlo Intimidator
Chevrolet Guts Truck
Chevrolet Silverado Show Truck
Chrysler Chronos
Jeep Jeepster
Mitsubishi SST
Oldsmobile Bravada X-Scape
Plymouth Pronto Spyder
Pontiac Montana Thunder
Ford P2000 DIATA
Ford Alpe Limited
Ford Courier F1
General Motors EV1 parallel hybrid
General Motors EV1 CNG
General Motors EV1 fuel cell
General Motors EV1 Electric
Mobility Outfitters Gear Box Concept
GMC Sierra ACE Show Truck
Acura TL-X Concept
Audi Allroad Quattro Concept
Honda MV-99
BMW R1200C Sidecar Concept
Suzuki SUP-1
Karmann AFB Concept
1997
Production car introductions
1997 Chevrolet Corvette C5
1998 Chrysler Concorde
1998 Dodge Durango
1998 Dodge Intrepid
1998 Ford Escort ZX2
1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK
1998 Subaru Forester
1998 Toyota Sienna
1998 Volvo C70 convertible
Concept car introductions
CCS Solstice
Chrysler Phaeton
Dodge Copperhead
Ford Tremor
Hyundai Tiburon Convertible Concept
Jeep Dakar
Jeep Icon
Karmann Open View
Lexus HPS
Mercury MC4
Oldsmobile Alero Alpha Concept
Plymouth Pronto
Pontiac Rageous
Volkswagen Coupe Study CJ
1996
Concept car introductions
Ford Indigo
Ford Synergy 2010
Lincoln Sentinel
1995
This edition featured 52 new vehicles, including 39 worldwide introductions.
Production car introductions
AM General Hummer H1
Acura NSX-T
BMW 740iL
Dodge Viper RT/10
Dodge Caravan
Cadillac Eldorado
Chrysler Town & Country
Chrysler Voyager
Chrysler Grand Voyager
Eagle Vision TSi "Autostick"
GMC Yukon
Gillet Vertigo
Jeep Grand Cherokee Orvis
Land Rover Defender 90
Lincoln Mark VIII LSC
Ford Taurus
Ford Explorer
Mercury Sable
Mercury Mystique "Young America" Edition
Hyundai Accent
Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster
Oldsmobile Bravada
Plymouth Voyager
Suzuki Esteem GL
Suzuki Esteem GLX
Suzuki Sidekick Sport
Toyota T100 XtraCab
Concept car introductions
Acura CL-X
Buick XP2000
Chrysler Atlantic Concept
Dodge Avenger RT Concept
Eagle Jazz Concept
Ford GT90
Ford Triton Concept
Ford Windstar SHO-Star Concept
Hyundai HCD-III
Lincoln L2K Concept
Oldsmobile Antares Concept
Plymouth Backpack
Pontiac Grand Prix 300GPX Concept
1994
Production car introductions
Acura Integra
Acura Legend GS
Audi Cabriolet (facelift)
BMW 325i Cabrio
Buick Riviera
Cadillac DeVille
Chevrolet Camaro Convertible
Chevrolet Lumina
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Chrysler Cirrus
Chrysler New Yorker
Chrysler LHS
Dodge Stealth
Dodge Stratus
Dodge Viper GTS
Ford Aspire
Ford Mustang (facelift)
Ford Thunderbird (facelift)
Ford Cougar (facelift)
Ford Windstar
GMC Jimmy
Honda Accord
Hyundai Elantra (facelift)
Hyundai Sonata
Infiniti G20t
Isuzu Trooper SE
Isuzu Rodeo (facelift)
Lincoln Continental
Mazda Millenia
Mercedes-Benz C220
Mercedes-Benz C280
Oldsmobile Aurora
Pontiac TransSport (facelift)
Porsche 911 Carrera
Saab 900
Toyota Celica
Concept car introductions
ASC GMC Sunoma
ASC Chrysler 300
ASC Crown Victoria LSS
Cadillac LSE
Chrysler Aviat
Dodge Venom
Eagle Vision Aerie
Ford Ranger Sea Splash
Ford Powerstroke (Power Stroke)
Lincoln Contempra
Mercury Premys
Plymouth Expresso
Pontiac Sunfire Speedster
Volkswagen Concept 1
1993
Production car introductions
BMW 325is
BMW 5 Series
Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Coupe
Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Indy 500 Pace Car
Chevrolet Impala SS
Chrysler LHS
Chrysler New Yorker
Dodge Ram 1500
Ford Explorer Limited
Lincoln Mark VIII
Mitsubishi Galant
Subaru Impreza
Toyota T100
Volkswagen Jetta GLX
Concept car introductions
Cadillac Seville Coupe Concept by ASC
Chevrolet Highlander Concept
Chevrolet Corvette LT-1 Spyder by ASC
Chevrolet Bass Sport Concept
Chrysler Thunderbolt Concept
Chrysler Patriot Concept
Dodge Ram Sport V10 Concept
Ford Ranger Open-Air Flare Concept by ASC
GMC Santa Fe Concept
Hyundai HCD-II Epoch Concept
Jeep ECCO
Mazda Cubist
Mercedes-Benz "Panorama Roof" SL Concept
Mercury Villager Nautica Concept
Plymouth Prowler Concept
Porsche Boxster Concept
Pontiac Grand Prix GTP Concept
Saturn Coupe + Roadster Concept by ASC
1992
Production car introductions
Audi 100CS Quattro
Audi Cabriolet
BMW E36 3 Series coupes
Chrysler Concorde
Chrysler New Yorker
Dodge Intrepid
Eagle Vision
Cadillac Allanté
Cadillac Allanté Pace Car
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Mercedes-Benz S600 Coupe
Honda Civic CRX
Mazda MX-6
Toyota Camry SE
Porsche 911 Carrera RS America
Saturn SW
Lamborghini LM American
Concept car introductions
Buick Sceptre
Chevrolet Lumina Sizigi Concept
Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray III Concept
Chrysler Cirrus Concept
Dodge EPIC
Ford Connecta (Ghia)
Ford F-150 SuperFlare Concept
General Motors Ultralite
Hyundai HCD-1
Lincoln Marque X
Oldsmobile Anthem
Pontiac Salsa
Pontiac Salsa Sport
1991
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 Spyder Concept
Mercedes-Benz F100
1990
The 1990 Detroit Auto Show was held on January 6–14.
Concept car introductions
Acura NSX
ASC Vision II
Buick Bolero
Buick Park Avenue
Cadillac Aurora
Chevrolet Corvette CERV III
C&C LSV
C&C Tresaire
Dodge Daytona R/T
Dodge LRT
Eagle Optima
Ford Surf
Geo Tracker Hugger
GM Micro Concept
GMC Mahalo
Jeep Freedom
Jeep Rubicon Wrangler
Mercury Cyclone
Nissan Gobi
Oldsmobile Expression
Plymouth Voyager 3
Pontiac Sunfire
1989
The Detroit Auto Show was renamed the North American International Auto Show for 1989, as Lexus and Infiniti debuted. The show opened on January 11, with press previews and introductions for the first two days.
Production car introductions
Audi V8
Chevrolet Lumina
Chevrolet Lumina APV
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
Chrysler LeBaron GT
Chrysler Town & Country
Dodge Dakota convertible
Geo Prizm
Geo Storm
Infiniti Q45
Lexus LS400
Lotus Esprit Turbo
Mazda MPV
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Plymouth Laser
Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and Speedster
Porsche 944 S2 Cabriolet
Shelby Dakota
Shelby CSX-VNT
Volkswagen Corrado
Concept car introductions
Chevrolet PPG XT-2 Concept
Chrysler Millenium Concept
Chrysler PPG Le Baron Pace Car Concept
Dodge Viper VM-01 Concept
Mercury Concept 50
Oldsmobile Aerotech II
Oldsmobile Aerotech III
Plymouth Speedster Concept
Pontiac Stinger Concept
1987
The 1987 show ran from January 10 to 18.
Production models introductions
Cadillac Allanté
Concept cars introductions
Dodge Daytona 199x
Pontiac Pursuit
Chevrolet Express Concept
Oldsmobile Aerotech I Long Tail
Oldsmobile Aerotech I Short Tail
Awards
Two major awards are presented at the auto show: the EyesOn Design Awards for Design Excellence, and the Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year Award, which was founded in 1994. At the North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards, awarded in the preview period of the auto show, around 55 automotive journalists serve as judges. They evaluate "value, innovation, design, performance, safety, technology and driver satisfaction."
EyesOn Design Award winners
2004: Winners were the Mazda Kabura concept for "Aesthetics & Innovation", the Ferrari FXX prototype for "Functionality", and the Chevrolet Camaro (fifth generation) model for "Concept Implementation".
2007: Winners were the 2007 Chrysler Nassau concept for "Aesthetics & Innovation", the Kia Kue concept for "Functionality", the 2008 Cadillac CTS (second generation) production model for "Concept Implementation", and the Jeep Trailhawk concept for "Spirit of Industrial Design".
2008: The Cadillac CTS concept and the Chrysler ecoVoyager won the awards for concept car and truck. The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V and the BMW X6 received the Design Excellence awards for best production car and truck.
2009: The Audi Sportback and the Cadillac Converj (ELR) won the "Excellence in Design Award" for concept vehicles debuted at the Detroit. The Audi R8 V10 and the BMW Z4 (E89) received the Design Excellence award for production vehicles.
2010: The GMC Granite won the Excellence in Design Award for concept vehicles debuted at the Detroit show and the Audi A8 received the top honor for production vehicles.
2011: The Porsche 918 RSR won for concept vehicles debuted at the Detroit show and the 2011 Audi A6 received the award for production vehicles.
2012: The Lexus LF-LC won the "Excellence in Design Award" for concept vehicles debuted at the Detroit show and the 2013 Ford Fusion received the top honor for production vehicles.
2013: The 2014 Cadillac ELR won the "Production Category" at the Detroit show while the Nissan Resonance concept and the Ford Atlas concept tied for the "Concept Category" award.
2014: The 2015 Ford Mustang won "Best Production Vehicle" while the Volvo Concept XC Coupé took awards for both "Best Concept Vehicle" and "Best Use of Color, Graphics, and Materials".
2015: The Ford GT won "Best Designed Production Vehicle" award while the Buick Avenir was selected as both "Best Concept Vehicle" and "Best Use of Color, Graphics, and Materials" and the Audi Q7 received Best Designed Interior.
References
External links
Official webpage
Auto shows in the United States
Culture of Detroit
Economy of Detroit
Tourist attractions in Detroit
Recurring events established in 1907
1907 establishments in Michigan
2010s in Detroit |
427018 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareena%20Kapoor%20Khan | Kareena Kapoor Khan | Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for playing a variety of characters in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas—Kapoor is the recipient of several awards, including six Filmfare Awards, and is one of Bollywood's highest-paid actresses.
After making her acting debut in 2000 in Refugee, Kapoor established herself with roles in the dramas Aśoka and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (both 2001). This was followed by a series of commercial failures and negative reviews for her repetitive roles. An against-type performance as a sex worker in the drama Chameli marked a turning point in her career. She earned critical recognition for her portrayal of a riot victim in the 2004 drama Dev and a character based on Desdemona in the 2006 crime film Omkara. Further praise came for her performances in the romantic comedies Jab We Met (2007) and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012), the thrillers Kurbaan (2009) and Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012), and the dramas We Are Family (2010), Heroine (2012), Udta Punjab (2016) and Laal Singh Chaddha (2022). Her highest-grossing releases include the dramas 3 Idiots (2009), Bodyguard (2011) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), the action film Singham Returns (2014), and the comedies Veere Di Wedding (2018) and Good Newwz (2019).
Kapoor Khan is married to actor Saif Ali Khan, with whom she has two sons. Her off-screen life is the subject of widespread coverage in India. She is known for being outspoken and assertive and is recognised for her fashion style. Beside film acting, Kapoor participates in stage shows, hosts a radio show and has contributed as a co-writer to two autobiographical memoirs and two books of nutrition guides. She has started her own line of clothing and cosmetics for women, and has worked with UNICEF since 2014 to advocate for the education of girls and an increase in quality based education in India.
Early life
Born on 21 September 1980 in Bombay (now Mumbai), Kapoor (often informally referred to as 'Bebo') is the younger daughter of Randhir Kapoor and Babita (née Shivdasani); her elder sister Karisma is also an actress. She is the paternal granddaughter of actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, maternal granddaughter of actor Hari Shivdasani, and great-granddaughter of filmmaker Prithviraj Kapoor. The actor Rishi Kapoor was her uncle, and his son, actor Ranbir Kapoor, is her cousin. According to Kapoor, the name "Kareena" was derived from the book Anna Karenina, which her mother read while she was pregnant with her. She is of Punjabi Hindu descent on her father's side, and on her mother's side she is of Sindhi Hindu and British descent.
Describing herself as a naughty, spoilt child, Kapoor's exposure to films from a young age kindled her interest in acting; she was particularly inspired by the work of actresses Nargis and Meena Kumari. Despite her family background, her father disapproved of women entering films because he believed it conflicted with the traditional maternal duties and responsibility of women in the family. This led to a conflict between her parents and they lived separately before reconciling in October 2007. She was raised by her mother, who worked several jobs to support her daughters until Karisma debuted as an actress in 1991. Although her father was not present for most her childhood, Kapoor remarked that he played an important role in her life.
Kapoor attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, followed by Welham Girls' School in Dehradun. She attended the institution primarily to satisfy her mother, though later admitted to liking the experience. According to Kapoor, she was not inclined towards academics though received good grades in all her classes except mathematics. Upon graduating from Welham, she returned to Mumbai and studied commerce for two years at Mithibai College. Kapoor then registered for a three-month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard Summer School in the United States. She later developed an interest in law, and enrolled at the Government Law College, Mumbai; during this period, she developed a long-lasting passion for reading. However, after completing her first year, she decided to pursue her interest in acting, though she later regretted not having completed her education. She began training at an acting institute in Mumbai mentored by Kishore Namit Kapoor, a member of the Film and Television Institute of India.
Life and career
Career beginnings, breakthrough and setback (2000–2003)
While training at the institute, Kapoor was cast as the lead in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), opposite Hrithik Roshan. Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project since more prominence was given to the director's son than her. She debuted later that year alongside Abhishek Bachchan in J. P. Dutta's Refugee. Set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Kapoor was introduced as Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl with whom Bachchan's character falls in love. Dutta cast her for the combination of youthfulness and innocence he found in her, and Kapoor considered their collaboration to be a learning experience that helped her personally and professionally. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama noted "the ease with which she emotes the most difficult of scenes", and India Today reported that she belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors that breaks away from character stereotypes. Refugee was a moderate box-office success in India and Kapoor's performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.
Kapoor was paired opposite Tusshar Kapoor in Satish Kaushik's box-office hit Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (2001). A review in The Hindu noted that based on her first two films, she was "definitely the actress to watch out for". She next starred in Subhash Ghai's flop Yaadein, followed by Abbas–Mustan's moderately successful thriller Ajnabee. Later that year, she appeared in Santosh Sivan's period epic Aśoka, a partly fictionalised account of the life of the Indian emperor Ashoka. Featured opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Kapoor found herself challenged playing the complex personality of her character Kaurwaki with whom Ashoka falls in love. Aśoka was screened at the Venice and 2001 Toronto International Film Festivals, and received generally positive reviews internationally but failed to do well in India, which was attributed by critics to the way Ashoka was portrayed. Jeff Vice of The Deseret News commended her compelling screen presence, but Rediff.com believed that she was primarily used for aesthetic purposes. At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Aśoka was nominated for five awards including a Best Actress nomination for Kapoor.
A breakthrough in Kapoor's career came when she was cast by Karan Johar as Pooja ("Poo", a good-natured, superficial girl) in the 2001 melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.... She found little resemblance between herself and her "over-the-top" character, and modeled Poo's personality on that of Johar. Filming the big-budget production, alongside an ensemble cast was a new experience for Kapoor, and she recalls it fondly as a dream come true. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... was an immensely popular release, finishing as India's second highest-grossing film of the year and Kapoor's highest-grossing film to that point. It became one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over worldwide. Taran Adarsh described Kapoor as "one of the main highlights of the film", and she received her second Filmfare nomination for the role—her first for Best Supporting Actress—as well as nominations at the International Indian Academy (IIFA) and Screen Awards.
Box Office India reported that the success of Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... established Kapoor as a leading actress of Hindi cinema, and Rediff.com published that with Aśoka she had become the highest-paid Indian actress to that point earning per film. During 2002 and 2003, Kapoor continued to work in a number of projects but experienced a setback. All six films in which she starred—Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Talaash: The Hunt Begins..., Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, and the four-hour war epic LOC Kargil—were critically and commercially unsuccessful. Critics described her performances in these films as variations of the character she played in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..., and expressed concern that she was becoming typecast. She later spoke positively of this period, recalling it as a beneficial lesson which taught her to work harder.
Professional expansion (2004–2006)
By 2004, Kapoor, who had confessed to having entered the film industry strictly for financial reasons, was eager on broadening her range as an actor and thus decided to accept more challenging roles in addition to the archetypical glamorous lead. Under the direction of Sudhir Mishra, Kapoor starred in Chameli as a golden-hearted prostitute who meets with a widowed investment banker (Rahul Bose). When Kapoor was first offered the part, she passed on it, explaining that she would be uncomfortable in the role. She relented when Mishra approached her for the second time, and in preparation for the role, visited several of Mumbai's red-light districts at night to study the mannerisms of sex workers and the way they dressed. With a production budget of , the independent film marked a departure from the high-profile productions Kapoor previously starred in. The Times of India praised her for having exceeded all expectations; Rediff.com, however, found her portrayal unconvincing and excessively stereotypical, comparing her mannerisms to a caricature. Chameli marked a significant turning point in Kapoor's career and she received a special jury recognition at the 49th Filmfare Awards.
Kapoor next co-starred in Mani Ratnam's Yuva, a composite film about three youngsters from different strata of society whose lives intersect by a car accident; she featured as Vivek Oberoi's romantic interest. Despite not having "much of a role", she agreed to the project due to her desire to work with Ratnam. Film critic Subhash K. Jha concurred that her role was insubstantial, but further stated that Kapoor uses her "character traits to her ... advantage to create a girl who is at once enigmatic and all-there". She then appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Fardeen Khan in Govind Nihalani's critically acclaimed film Dev, which revolved around the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat. Kapoor starred as a Muslim victim and contributed in the soundtrack by providing the vocals. Nihalani was initially hesitant to cast a mainstream commercial actress but found that Kapoor displayed a level of intelligence and sensitivity beyond her years. She was eager to work with him, as his films Ardh Satya (1983) and Tamas (1988) gave her a deeper appreciation for cinema, and identified with her character's ability to be strong yet simple. It earned her critical acclaim and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.
Kapoor was cast for the first time as a villain in Fida (2004), a thriller about an online heist. Critics noted a distinct progression from her earlier roles. That same year, she starred in Abbas–Mustan's thriller Aitraaz and Priyadarshan's comedy Hulchul. Aitraaz follows the story of a man (Akshay Kumar) accused of sexual harassment by his female superior (Priyanka Chopra). Kapoor was offered Chopra's part, but decided to play Kumar's wife, knowing that Indian women would better identify with her character. Jitesh Pillai of The Times of India found Kapoor to have a small role, but noted that she "shines through brightly earning her big moment in the courtroom sequence". Meanwhile, Hulchul became Kapoor's first commercial success in three years. Her next film, Bewafaa, in 2005, was panned by critics. Nikhat Kazmi believed that to become a serious actress Kapoor was embodying a maturer, more-jaded character beyond her years in Bewafaa. Her final two releases of the year included the romantic dramas Kyon Ki and Dosti: Friends Forever, both of which underperformed at the box office. In her next two releases—the thriller 36 China Town and the comedy Chup Chup Ke (both 2006)—she starred opposite Shahid Kapoor. 36 China Town was a commercial success and Chup Chup Ke performed moderately well.
The filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj saw Kapoor in Yuva, and was sufficiently impressed to cast her in his next project, Omkara, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh. Kapoor featured as Desdemona and was challenged on portraying the character's inner turmoil, which she believed was much more subtle and subdued. She subsequently attended several script-reading sessions with the entire cast, and described the project as a special one for her. Omkara premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival. Filmfare praised her ability to convey the various emotions her character went through, and her portrayal earned her a fourth Filmfare and first Screen Award. Kapoor considers it to be a favourite among her roles and compared her portrayal of Dolly with her own evolving maturity as a woman.
Established actress (2007–2011)
Kapoor next teamed with Shahid Kapoor for a fourth time in the romantic comedy Jab We Met (2007), in which she portrayed Geet Dhillon, a vivacious Sikh girl with a zest for life. Director Imtiaz Ali was not a well-known figure before its production, but Kapoor agreed to the film after being fascinated with his script. She collaborated closely with Ali to build her character and was challenged on effectively portraying Dhillon's exuberant personality without making it caricaturish. Jab We Met was received favourably by critics and became successful at the box office. The BBC commented that the role required a mixture of naivety and spontaneity, and was impressed with Kapoor's effort; Rajeev Masand labelled her the film's "biggest strength". Kapoor was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Actress and her second Screen Award. While shooting for Jab We Met, Kapoor and Shahid ended their four-year relationship. She admitted to being heartbroken by the split and hoped that they would reconcile their friendship in the future.
The following year, Kapoor co-starred in Vijay Krishna Acharya's Tashan, where she met her future husband in actor Saif Ali Khan. Although highly anticipated by the audience before release, the film underperformed at the box office. After providing her voice for the character of the love interest of a street dog in the Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney Pictures animated film Roadside Romeo, Kapoor played a mistrustful wife who believed her husband was unfaithful in Rohit Shetty's comedy Golmaal Returns. A sequel to the 2006 film Golmaal: Fun Unlimited, the film had an ambivalent reception from critics. The Indian Express believed the screenplay was derivative, concluding that her character and performance lacked originality. Golmaal Returns was a financial success with global revenues of .
In 2009, Kapoor was cast as Simrita Rai, a surgeon who moonlights as a model, in Sabbir Khan's battle-of-the-sexes comedy Kambakkht Ishq. Set in Los Angeles, it was the first Indian film shot at Universal Studios. The film was poorly received by critics but became an economic success. The box-office flop Main Aurr Mrs Khanna came next, following which she played the leading lady in the dramatic thriller Kurbaan. Starring Kapoor as a woman confined to house arrest after discovering that her husband is a terrorist, she found the film to be an emotionally draining experience due to how difficult it was to disconnect from her character. Kapoor received her fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Gaurav Malani of The Economic Times commented that after a long time the actress was given a substantial role with a potential to boost her career, while Subhash K. Jha described it as her "most consistently pitched performance to date" played with sensitivity.
Kapoor's second Filmfare nomination that year came for Rajkumar Hirani's 3 Idiots, based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat, co-starring Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi. Her role is that of Pia, a medical student and Khan's love interest. The film emerged as the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time up until then, grossing in India. It also did well internationally, earning over , the second biggest Bollywood success ever in the overseas market. Deccan Herald opined that Kapoor "brings a dollop of sunshine and feminine grace to an otherwise masculine tale", taking note of her spontaneity while playing her character. 3 Idiots received several Best Film recognitions at major Indian award functions, and Kapoor was awarded the IIFA Award for Best Actress, among others.
Kapoor began the new decade with a leading role in the poorly received romantic comedy Milenge Milenge (2010). Critics found the film to be outdated with stereotypical characters. A supporting role in We Are Family, an official adaptation of the Hollywood tearjerker Stepmom (1998), proved more rewarding. In an attempt to bring her interpretation to the part originally played by Julia Roberts, Kapoor refrained from watching Stepmom again and was drawn to the complexity of her character. Priyanka Roy of The Telegraph criticised it for being melodramatic, but praised Kapoor for enhancing the whole film. Kapoor was awarded the Best Supporting Actress at the 56th Filmfare Awards. She reunited with director Rohit Shetty for Golmaal 3, which received mixed reviews but earned more than domestically. For her performance, Kapoor received Best Actress nominations at various award ceremonies including Filmfare.
Further success came to Kapoor in 2011 when she starred as the love interest of Salman Khan's character in Bodyguard, a remake of the 2010 Malayalam film of the same name. The film was not well received by critics, though became a financial success, with a domestic total of —India's highest-earning film of the year. A review in Mint dismissed Kapoor's role as ornamental; Mid-Day argued she "actually manages to bring her caricature of a role alive". She next appeared in the Anubhav Sinha-directed sci-fi film Ra.One, revolving on a villainous videogame character (Shah Rukh Khan) who escapes into the real world. Made on a budget of , the film became one of the biggest earners of the year with a worldwide total of over —despite negative media coverage of its box-office performance—and Kapoor's fourth major commercial success in three consecutive years.
Marriage, continued success and motherhood (2012–2017)
Kapoor followed her success in Bodyguard and Ra.One with a role in Shakun Batra's Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012) opposite Imran Khan. Set in Las Vegas, the romantic comedy follows the story of two strangers who get married one night after getting drunk. She played Riana Braganza, a carefree young woman, and was particularly drawn to the qualities of her character. The film received positive reviews and was an economic success, grossing a total of in India and abroad. The Hollywood Reporter found her "endearingly natural"; Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com complimented her for playing a non-ornamental role since that in Jab We Met. She next appeared in Agent Vinod, an espionage thriller directed by Sriram Raghavan. Kapoor was enthusiastic about the project, but it met with a tepid response and she was described as miscast. Asked why she took the role, Kapoor described it as an opportunity to attempt something she had never done before.
For her next feature, Kapoor was cast as a fading movie star in Madhur Bhandarkar's Heroine. Initially skeptical about taking on the part whose personality she felt to be far removed from her own, she agreed after Bhandarkar enforced his faith in her. Although not a method actor, Kapoor believed that the intense role had left her on edge in her personal life and refrained from taking on any other projects. Reviewers found the film monotonous, but noted that it was watchable primarily due to Kapoor's performance. Rajeev Masand described it as "a deliciously camp performance" that was played "with utmost sincerity". Bollywood Hungama opined that it was her best work to date and concluded that despite an inconsistent character, Kapoor embellished it "with a rare vulnerability and an exceptional inner life". At the annual Stardust Awards, Kapoor garnered the Editor's Choice for Best Actress, and received additional nominations at Filmfare, IIFA, Producers Guild, Screen and Stardust.
On 16 October 2012, Kapoor married actor Saif Ali Khan in a private ceremony in Bandra, Mumbai, and she gave birth to their sons in 2016 and 2021 respectively. Kapoor stated that despite adding Khan to her name she would continue practising Hinduism after marriage. Talaash: The Answer Lies Within, in which she played the prostitute Rosie (as Kareena Kapoor Khan), was her final release of 2012. The film is set against the backdrop of Mumbai's red-light districts and follows the travails of a police officer (Aamir Khan) who is assigned the duty of solving a mysterious car accident. The Telegraph found Kapoor Khan a standout among the other performers, adding that "she brings an unseen mix of oomph and emotion". With global revenues of , the film emerged as a box office hit, and earned Kapoor Khan Best Actress nominations at the Screen, Stardust and Zee Cine award ceremonies.
In 2013, Kapoor Khan collaborated with Ajay Devgn for the fourth time in Prakash Jha's Satyagraha, a socio-political drama loosely inspired by social activist Anna Hazare's fight against corruption in 2011. The film received little praise from critics and underperformed at the box office earning domestically. Following an appearance in the poorly received romantic comedy Gori Tere Pyaar Mein (2013), Kapoor Khan decreased her workload for the next two years to focus on her marriage and family. She took on smaller parts where she played the love-interest of Ajay Devgn in the action film Singham Returns (2014) and Salman Khan in the drama Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015). The former, in which Kapoor Khan had a role written specifically for her, met with mixed reviews and Kapoor received criticism for taking a role of minimal importance. Conversely, the film was a financial success with a revenue of over . Kabir Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan emerged as India's highest-earning film of the year grossing a total of , and earned the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
In 2016, Kapoor Khan took on a starring role in Ki & Ka, about gender stereotypes, to which she was particularly drawn for its relevance. Critics were divided in their opinion of the film, but it emerged a financial success grossing over worldwide. Meena Iyer of The Times of India mentioned Kapoor as remarkable, and Sukanya Verma considered the actress to be the film's prime asset. She next featured in Udta Punjab (2016), a crime drama that documents the substance abuse endemic in the Indian state Punjab. Kapoor Khan was initially reluctant to do the film due to the length of her role, but agreed after reading the completed script and partially waived her fees to star in it. Udta Punjab generated controversy when the Central Board of Film Certification deemed that the film represented Punjab in a negative light. The Bombay High Court later cleared the film for exhibition with one scene cut. Rediff.com stated that the film relies on her character, and Mehul S. Thakkar of Deccan Chronicle wrote that she was successful in delivering such a strong performance. For her performance, Kapoor Khan received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Filmfare and Zee Cine award ceremonies.
Veere Di Wedding and beyond (2018–present)
Following the birth of her first child, Kapoor Khan was persuaded by her husband to return to acting. She was keen to work on a project that would accommodate her parental commitments and found it in Shashanka Ghosh's female buddy film, Veere Di Wedding (2018). Initially approached for the project in 2016, the makers rewrote Kapoor Khan's role to accommodate her pregnancy, but the lack of maternity insurance in India led filming to begin after she gave birth. She liked the idea of telling a story of friendship and love from a female perspective, which she believed was rare in Hindi film, and was pleased to work with three other leading ladies. Anna M. M. Vetticad praised the film for portraying women with "agency, flaws, humanity and, above all, a sense of humour", and took note of Kapoor Khan's restrained performance. With a worldwide gross of over , Veere Di Wedding emerged as one of the highest-grossing female-led Hindi films.
Kapoor Khan reteamed with Akshay Kumar in Good Newwz (2019), a comedy about two couples' tryst with in vitro fertilisation. Mint Udita Jhunjunwala wrote that it is "hard to keep your eyes off Kapoor Khan". She received Best Actress nominations at Filmfare, IIFA and Zee Cine Awards, and the film earned over to emerge as the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. She next took a supporting role in Angrezi Medium (2020), a spiritual sequel to Hindi Medium. According to her, it was a deliberate attempt to move away from her comfort zone; she filmed her role in 10 days while she was accompanying her husband on his film shoot in London. The feature released in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its commercial performance was affected due to the closing of the cinemas. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in commended her "ability to glitter in a handful of moments", but Vinayak Chakravorty for Outlook thought the portions involving Kapoor Khan were inessential to the story.
In 2022, Kapoor Khan starred in an adaptation of Forrest Gump, titled Laal Singh Chaddha, starring Aamir Khan in the title role. She played Rupa, a troubled aspiring actress; Devesh Sharma of Filmfare opined that her performance "filled with angst and grit" was one of the best in her career. Amidst a significant campaign by Hindu nationalists to boycott the film due to Aamir Khan's political affiliations, Laal Singh Chaddha failed to recoup its estimated production budget of . She received another Best Actress nomination at Filmfare.
Eager to work in the thriller genre, Kapoor Khan signed on for two such films: Jaane Jaan and The Buckingham Murders (both 2023). She has said that these projects would mark the beginning of a new phase in her career, in which she would focus more on artistic merit than stardom. Her roles in them marked a departure from the glamorous roles she had a reputation for portraying. Jaane Jaan, a Netflix film adaptation of Higashino Keigo’s novel The Devotion of Suspect X from filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh, starred her as a single mother involved in a murder. The Hindu Shilajit Mitra commended her "brisk, unfussy performance" and appreciated her for playing "as part of a team, complementing instead of trying to commandeer scenes". Hansal Mehta's The Buckingham Murders starred her as a detective in a small town in Buckinghamshire, for which she modelled her character on Kate Winslet's role in Mare of Easttown. The film, shot predominantly in English, marked her first production venture. It premiered at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival.
Kapoor Khan will return to commercial cinema with the female-led comedy-drama The Crew, about an aircrew, co-starring Tabu and Kriti Sanon. She will also reteam with Devgn and Shetty in the Cop Universe sequel Singham Again.
Other work
Fashion and publication
Alongside her acting work, Kapoor has established a career as a designer. During her five-year association with the retail chain Globus, Kapoor became the first Indian actress to launch her own line of clothing for women; she described the collaboration as being "special" and "reflective of my personal sense of style". Her collection made its debut several months later in stores across India, and was well received. Following the end of her contract with Globus, she expressed a desire to work with a design house to release her clothing line internationally, but later explained that those plans were on hold. In August 2018, Kapoor Khan collaborated with Lakmé Cosmetics to launch her own line of cosmetics.
In 2009, Kapoor worked with nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar on Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight, a book on the principles of healthy eating habits. Published by Random House, the book was well received by critics, and sold 10,000 copies within its first twenty days. A follow-up, Women and The Weight Loss Tamasha, was released two years later. It addressed the weight loss concerns and eating habits of women in various parts of their life, and featured Kapoor in a voice-over for the audiobook. In 2013, Kapoor released her autobiographical memoir, The Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva, which was criticised by Mint for its "too-breezy" writing. Co-written alongside Rochelle Pinto, it became the first book to be launched under the Shobhaa De imprint of Penguin Books—a set of series that included celebrity memoirs, guides and biographies. Later that year, she collaborated with Diwekar for the third time on The Indian Food Wisdom and The Art of Eating Right, a documentary film about nutrition. In 2021, Kapoor Khan released Pregnancy Bible (co-authored with Aditi Shah Bhimjani), which became a commercial success.
Philanthropy
During her years in the film industry, Kapoor has been actively involved in promoting children's education and the safety of women. In June 2010, she took part in the international campaign 1GOAL Education for All, and was appointed ambassador for the Shakti Campaign—a project launched by NDTV to combat violence against women—in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. Two years later, Kapoor Khan launched Channel V's anti-rape mobile app 'VithU'; she stated that with an increasing amount of violence against women in India, "[i]t [was] important for actors to stand up for issues because they can reach out to a lot of people."
In January 2014, Kapoor Khan began working with UNICEF to advocate the education of girls and increase quality based education in India. Speaking of her association, she expressed hope in creating places "where children feel safe and secure, and where interactive and creative tools are used to ensure that children are happy and learning." During the first year, Kapoor Khan visited schools in the states of Rajasthan and Maharashtra where she interacted with students and participated in fundraising events hosted by the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya organisation in the Jalna district. Along with UNICEF India's Goodwill Ambassador (Sharmila Tagore), Kapoor Khan hosted a charity dinner to help raise awareness for the development of underprivileged kids, and launched the 'Child-Friendly School and Systems' (CFSS) package. She later donated an equivalent amount of the funds raised during a joint initiative by UNICEF and Groupon for a higher-quality learning environment in Indian schools.
The following year, she awarded 31 students and 5 teachers for their contribution towards the field of education in Chhattisgarh at the concluding ceremony of Child Rights Protection week. Also that year, Kapoor Khan provided a voice-over for the documentary film Girl Rising: Woh Padhegi, Woh Udegi [She will learn, she will fly] for the organisation of the same name, and produced a documentary on women's empowerment. In June 2016, she spoke at an event organised by UNICEF in Lucknow to promote menstrual hygiene management. Following the birth of her son, Kapoor Khan wrote an article published in The Times of India titled "Let's save our newborn babies", discussing infant mortality, and launched the "Every Child Alive" campaign to promote affordable and quality health care for mothers and their newborn. In May 2018, she was invited as a keynote speaker for a Mother's Day event in New Delhi organised by UNICEF.
Additionally, Kapoor has made public appearances to support other charitable organisations. She performed at a fundraiser for the World Youth Peace Summit in November 2003, and participated in a concert to raise money for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. She visited Indian jawans (troops) in Rajasthan, for a special Holi weekend episode of NDTV's reality show Jai Jawaan. In 2010, Kapoor adopted the village of Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh as part of NDTV's Greenathon Campaign, to provide the village with a regular supply of electricity. Four years later, she participated in a campaign to raise awareness on hunger and malnutrition in the world and made donations to the Kashmir flood relief. In September 2016, Kapoor Khan attended the inaugural of Global Citizen India—a joint initiative by the music festival of the same name and The Global Education and Leadership Foundation. The following year, she became the brand ambassador for Swasth Immunised India, a campaign launched by the Network18 Group and Serum Institute of India to promote immunisation for children.
Stage performances, radio and television presenting
Kapoor has participated in several stage shows and world tours since 2002. Her first tour (Heartthrobs: Live in Concert (2002) with Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Aftab Shivdasani) was successful in the United States and Canada. At the end of that year, she performed with several other Bollywood stars at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa in the show Now or Never.
Four years later, Kapoor returned to the stage with six other Bollywood celebrities in the successful Rockstars Concert world tour. The concert was originally scheduled to commence in April 2006, but was postponed due to the arrest of Salman Khan. It later began the following month and was staged in 19 cities across the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. In 2008, Kapoor performed in Shah Rukh Khan's Temptation Reloaded 2008, a series of concerts in a number of countries. The show (which also featured Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Ganesh Hegde, Javed Ali and Anusha Dandekar) debuted at the Rotterdam Ahoy venue in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Several months later she again joined Khan, Rampal and Kaif to perform for an audience of 15,000 at Dubai's Festival City Arena.
In 2018, Kapoor Khan collaborated with Ishq FM to host a radio show "What Women Want". The show was well-received, earning Kapoor Khan a nomination at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for "Best Talk Show Host", and later renewed for two more seasons. The following year, she featured as a talent judge for the seventh season of the dance reality show Dance India Dance.
Public image and character
Known for her nonchalant relationship with the media, Kapoor has gained a reputation for discussing her private life with no reservations. As a child she regularly attended award ceremonies and events with her family, and would also accompany Karisma on-set during filming. In an interview with Filmfare, she explained that growing up in a film family helped her develop a sense of professionalism and dedication towards her craft. Kapoor's private life has been the subject of media attention in India, with frequent press coverage of her weight and relationship with actor Saif Ali Khan. The couple—dubbed "Saifeena" by the entertainment media—has been one of the country's most-reported celebrity stories since 2007, and Kapoor Khan gave birth to their sons in 2016 and 2021, respectively.
While a segment of the press has described Kapoor as friendly and extremely close to her family, others have criticised her for being arrogant and vain—an image she gained in the wake of her superficial character, Poo, in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001). She subsequently featured in films portraying similar characters, and this further established her off- and on-screen personae. Before the release of Chameli (2004), in which she played a sex worker, Kapoor stated that "there is a certain image that people identify you with [and] [i]t always follows you whichever role you play. I am trying to transgress this image and become more screen-friendly than image-friendly." Chameli helped Kapoor reinvent her on-screen persona, and she later explained that her honesty and openness was often perceived by the media as arrogance.
Kapoor is also known for her assertive and moody nature, and her outspoken views and independence have been singled out for making major contributions to her career. In an early interview, she confessed to being an introvert yet blunt, reasoning: "Total faith and complete belief in myself is my attitude towards life, films and virtually everything else. I am all about doing what I feel is right. It is not easy to pin me down as I can be a bundle of contradictions." Journalist Subhash K. Jha explained that while this approach has sometimes cost her professionally and made her lose out significant projects, it has made her "a favourite among the generation that believes in self-regard being the highest form of creativity". Meanwhile, Anu Ahuja suggested that Kapoor's demeanour is an act; she is "cold and unapproachable so that no one will act funny with her".
Kapoor is considered one of the most popular Bollywood celebrities in India. Her look and performances have established her as a style icon for young women. In a 2009 poll conducted by Daily News and Analysis, Kapoor was voted one of India's most popular icons; with her partner Saif Ali Khan, she was listed amongst the top celebrity endorsers for brands and products worldwide. She became the only Indian actress to be featured on CNNGo's list of "Who Mattered Most in India", and was later selected by Verve for its list of the country's most powerful women from 2008 to 2013 and in 2016. In June 2010, Kapoor was named "India's Most Beautiful Woman" by the Indian edition of People magazine; Eastern Eye and Indian Maxim named her as "Asia's Sexiest Woman" and "India's Hottest Woman" in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The following year, she was selected by India Today for its list of the country's most influential women. From 2012 to 2018, Kapoor Khan has featured on Forbes Indias "Celebrity 100", a list based on the income and popularity of India's celebrities, peaking at the seventh position in 2012 with an estimated annual earning of .
Performances: technique and analysis
Kapoor relies on her instincts and spontaneity as an actor. She is known to commit heavily to each role, and refrains from rehearsing for a project. Commenting on this, director Rajkumar Hirani said "I usually have a habit of conducting rehearsals for my actors, but she insisted on not having them as it would affect her spontaneity. She really surprised me with a couple of emotional scenes which we canned in just one take." Karan Johar described Kapoor as a "natural", explaining that "she has no craft, grammar or process attached to her acting [...] It is a great sense of cinema that can keep her going." According to Rensil D'Silva (who directed her in Kurbaan), "Kareena [..] is instinctive and has emotional intelligence. She absorbs the situation and performs accordingly. Discussing the scene, in fact, harms her."
In 2010, Rediff.com noted: "[E]ven though a lot of her starring roles have been forgettable, [a] look at her filmography now, however, would show a more thoughtful selection of roles [...] playing to her strengths." Her portrayal of a series of superficial characters at the start of her career were criticised; film historian Gyan Prakash explained that these roles "tended to infantilise her, packaging her as daddy's little girl, all bubble and no fizz". Critics noted Chameli (2004) as her coming of age, claiming that "a new actor in her was discovered". Following her portrayal of a variety of character types in Chameli, Dev (2004), Omkara (2006) and Jab We Met (2007), Kapoor was noted for her versatility. In 2010, Filmfare magazine included two of her performances—from Omkara and Jab We Met—in its list of "80 Iconic Performances". India Today labelled her "the most versatile female lead in the industry", noting that she "play[s] her roles with trademark spunk".
Manjula Sen of The Telegraph wrote in 2008 that although Kapoor had the worst success ratio among her contemporaries, her marketability remained unaffected. Sen believed Kapoor's strength lies in her being versatile; she is "effortlessly honest in her performances. It is a candour that spills over in her personal conduct." Writing for News18, Rituparna Chatterjee spoke of her transformation to date: "[A]fter 40 films and 10 years of fighting off competition from some of the most versatile actors of her generation, Kareena has matured into a bankable actor reinventing herself with surprising ease." In 2004, Kapoor placed third on Rediff's list of "Top Bollywood Female Stars". She was later ranked seventh and fifth in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and returned to third place in 2007. In January 2011, Kapoor placed fourth on Rediff's list of "Top 10 Actresses of 2000–2010".
Accolades
Kapoor has received six Filmfare Awards out of fifteen nominations. For her role in Refugee, Kapoor was awarded the Best Female Debut in 2000. She earned a special jury recognition for Chameli (2003), and two Critics Award for Best Actress for Dev (2004) and Omkara (2006). Kapoor later received the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Jab We Met (2007) and We Are Family (2010) respectively.
See also
List of Indian film actresses
References
Bibliography
External links
1980 births
Living people
21st-century Indian actresses
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Indian film actresses
Indian Hindus
Indian voice actresses
Mithibai College alumni
Actresses from Mumbai
Punjabi people
Sindhi people
Indian people of Sindhi descent
Indian people of English descent
Actresses of European descent in Indian films
Kareena
Tagore family
Harvard Summer School alumni
Filmfare Awards winners
Screen Awards winners
Zee Cine Awards winners
International Indian Film Academy Awards winners
Welham Girls' School alumni |
427019 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur%20Athletic%20Union | Amateur Athletic Union | The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has more than 700,000 members nationwide, including more than 100,000 volunteers. The philosophy of the AAU is "Sports for All, Forever."
The AAU was founded on January 21, 1888, by James E. Sullivan and William Buckingham Curtis with the goal of creating common standards in amateur sport. Since then, most national championships for youth athletes in the United States have taken place under AAU leadership. From its founding as a publicly supported organization, the AAU has represented U.S. sports within the various international sports federations. In the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Spalding Athletic Library of the Spaulding Company published the Official Rules of the AAU.
The AAU formerly worked closely with what is now today the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to prepare U.S. athletes for both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, helping in the qualification of athletes to form the national team. As part of this, the AAU Junior Olympic Games were introduced in 1949, with athletes aged 8 to 16 years, or older in certain sports, being able to participate. Many future World and Olympic champions have appeared in these events, which are still held every year.
In the 1970s, the AAU received growing criticism. Many claimed that its regulatory framework was outdated. Women were banned from participating in certain competitions and some runners were locked out. The sporting goods industry also criticized the AAU for stifling innovation by forcing outdated or overreaching standards on their goods and game equipment. During this time, the Olympic Sports Act of 1978 organized the then United States Olympic Committee and saw the re-establishment of independent associations for the Olympic sports, referred to as national governing bodies. The rise of professionalism in all sports in the latter half of the 20th century also hurt the AAU's viability. As a result, the AAU lost its influence and importance in international sports, and focused on the support and promotion of predominantly youthful athletes, as well as on the organization of national sports events.
History
Prior to the AAU, the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America (NAAA) existed from 1879 to 1888. The AAU was co-founded in 1888 by William Buckingham Curtis to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sports. During its early years the AAU served as a leader in international sport representing the United States in the international sports federations. The AAU worked closely with the Olympic movement to prepare athletes for the Olympic Games.
The AAU conducted its first event, championships for boxing, fencing, and wrestling, on April 6, 1888, at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House.
The open USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were organized by the AAU between 1888 and 1978. In 1923 the AAU sponsored the First American Track & Field championships for women.
In 1897, the AAU held its first National Men's Basketball Championship. The winner was the 23rd Street YMCA from New York City. The first AAU Women's Basketball Tournament was held in April 1926 at the Los Angeles Athletics Club. The Pasadena Athletic & Country Club Flying Rings were crowned the champions.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the NCAA engaged in a bitter power struggle with the AAU.
After the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 broke up the AAU's responsibility as the national Olympic sports governing body, the AAU focused on providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the local and regional levels.
The AAU is divided into 56 distinct district associations, which annually sanction 34 sports programs, 250 national championships, and over 30,000 age division events. The AAU events have over 500,000 participants and over 50,000 volunteers.
Women barred
Starting in 1914, the Amateur Athletic Union barred women athletes from competing in events that it sponsored. In 1914 they changed their rules and allowed women to compete in a limited number of swimming events. Just two years later in 1916, AAU was considering discontinuing their experiment in allowing women at swimming events.
In 1922, the Metropolitan AAU in New York City approved a larger program of sanctioned events for women but still barred them from running events over one-half mile because they were considered too strenuous. The reason given for barring women was that if a woman was allowed to run more than a half-mile they would put their reproductive health at risk. But by 1923 the AAU allowed women to compete in most sports, including basketball. The AAU held women's basketball tournaments from 1926 through 1970.
In 1961, the Amateur Athletic Union still prohibited women from competing in road running events and even if organizers broke the rule and allowed a woman to participate, her results would not be counted in the official race results. In 1970, the first New York City Marathon ignored the AAU rules and allowed women in the event even if it meant that their scores would not be official. For the second New York City Marathon in 1971 the AAU allowed women to participate if they started the race 10 minutes before, or 10 minutes after the men, or if they ran a separate but equal course. By 1974 women were becoming more vocal about their restrictions.
Ice hockey breaks away
Prior to 1936, ice hockey in North America was governed by the AAU and the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. After the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) split ways with its national union, the AAU terminated its working agreement with the CAHA which had allowed for transferring of players and exhibition games between the two countries. The AAU then issued an ultimatum to the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL) in August 1937, not to have any Canadian-born players in its league. EAHL president Tommy Lockhart chose to break away from the AAU and reached an agreement with the CAHA, then founded the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS) to govern ice hockey. The AHAUS and the CAHA joined to form the International Ice Hockey Association, which merged into the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace to become the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1947. With the merger, the IIHF chose to recognize the AHAUS as the governing body of hockey in the United States, instead of the AAU.
Despite the decision by the IIHF, the AAU sent its own team to compete in ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics. The AAU was supported by the United States Olympic Committee led by Avery Brundage, who threatened a United States boycott the Olympics if an AHAUS team was recognized instead of an AAU team. The status of ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics was not resolved until the night before the Olympics began, after bitter negotiations. The International Olympic Committee allowed the AHAUS team to participate, but they were ineligible to win an Olympic medal.
Break-up
The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 was precipitated by grumblings of the inefficiency of the AAU to manage the multitude of sports at the Olympic level. USA Gymnastics was formed initially as a feeder program in 1963 as a response to perceived poor performance by the American performers in the Olympics and at World Championships. The USWF was formed in 1968 as an effort to take over amateur wrestling as an independent governing body. Their position was supported when FILA, then wrestling's world governing body, refused to accept membership of "umbrella" sports organizations like the AAU. The International Track Association was formed immediately after the 1972 Olympics. Prior to the formation of the ITA, track and field athletes were amateur athletes, as required by the Olympic creed of the day. The only income they received from their sport was "under the table." As a result, many American athletes' careers were frequently cut short shortly after their subsidized participation at the collegiate level ended, even as Eastern Bloc and other international athletes frequently had their careers extended under the facade of being a part of national military or police service (usually being more honorary than productive work) which extended their amateurism. Pressure from the athletes had been mounting for years to find an answer. Track and Field News discussed the subject with its cover article "Take the Money and Run" in November 1971.
Headquarters
AAU got its start in New York City. But in 1957, the search began for a permanent national office site rather than renting office space in NYC. In 1970, the AAU officially moved its national headquarters to Indianapolis, serving as the catalyst which eventually bills the city as the “Amateur Sports Capital” of the United States. In 1994, the AAU joined forces with the Walt Disney World Resort, signing a 30-year agreement. As part of that agreement, many of AAU's national championships in many sports are played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. In 1996, the AAU relocated its national headquarters to Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. More than 40 AAU national events are conducted at the complex. The AAU headquarters is located within the former Walt Disney World Preview Center.
Programs
Programs offered by the AAU include: AAU Sports Program, AAU Junior Olympic Games, AAU James E. Sullivan Memorial Award and the AAU Complete Athlete Program.
In addition, the President's Challenge program is administered on behalf of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. The AAU has 33 national committees to organize its activities in particular sports.
AAU operates under a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status granted in 1996.
Sports offered
The Amateur Athletic Union offers participants sport programming in individual and team sports in their local community that they can join and compete with other athletes their own age. There are teams in most sports ranging from 9U to 18U, allowing youth athletes to play for championships in sports against other athletes similar in age and athletic development.
The AAU offers sport programming for individuals and teams in the following sports:
AAU Junior Olympic Games
Aerobics
Athletics
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Baton twirling
Beach volleyball
Bowling
Cheerleading
Dance
Football
Futsal
Flag football
Freestyle judo
Golf
Gymnastics
Ice hockey
Jump rope
Karate
Lacrosse
Olympic weightlifting
Pickleball
Powerlifting
Soccer
Softball
Surfing
Swimming and Diving
Table tennis
Taekwondo
Track and field
Trampoline and Tumbling
Volleyball
Water polo
Wrestling
AAU Junior Olympic Games
The AAU Junior Olympic Games is the largest multi-sport event for youth in the United States. It has become the showcase event of the AAU Sports Program.
The Games originated from ‘telegraphic' state track and field competitions. National Champions were determined through telephone and/or mail entries instead of head-to-head competition. In 1949, the AAU conducted its first ‘live' national meet in Cleveland, Ohio — giving birth to the AAU Youth Sports Program.
As the popularity of the AAU Youth Sports Program increased, the AAU leaders decided to conduct two national championships simultaneously. The idea came to fruition when Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey proclaimed the first AAU Junior Olympic Games open on August 21, 1967 in downtown Washington, D.C at the Departmental Auditorium on Constitution Avenue. Five hundred twenty-three athletes competed in the inaugural AAU Junior Olympic Games in Washington, D.C. in 1967. National champions were determined in swimming and track and field. Eighteen AAU records in swimming and three in track and field were established.
Since its beginning in Washington, D.C., the AAU Junior Olympic Games have been conducted in 19 states and 31 cities across the United States. The Games popularity has exploded from the original 523 athletes to more than 18,000 participants representing all 50 states and several United States territories.
The AAU Junior Olympic Games has been honored with Champions of Economic Impact in Sports Tourism Awards from Sports Destination Management in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022.
AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships
The AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships is one of AAU’s premier and award-winning national events. The inaugural AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships took place on June 25, 1974 in Catonsville, Maryland. Nineteen teams participated, representing 10 states.
In June 1997, the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships was held at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex (now ESPN Wide World of Sports) for the first time. It was the first volleyball event to be played in the Fieldhouse at the complex, with a total of 127 teams attending.
In 2012, the AAU Girls’ Junior National Volleyball Championships was named the largest volleyball tournament in the world by Guinness World Records. The event was held at ESPN's Wide World of Sports and the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
The 49th AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships in 2022 was the largest event to date with 4,450 teams (678 boys and 3772 girls) participating in 56 divisions. It's the largest sporting event ever held at the Orange County Convention Center.
Over the years, this premier AAU event has been recognized as a six-time winner of the Champions of Economic Impact in Sports Tourism Award by Sports Destination Management, Best Single Amateur Sporting Event by Sports Travel Awards, and Best Sporting Event by Connect Sports.
AAU Cares
The AAU Cares program was established in 2016 as the AAU's way of giving back to the community. The first event was held in conjunction with the 86th AAU James E. Sullivan Award. With the assistance of New York State Senator Kevin Parker, bicycles were assembled by the AAU Board of Directors and presented to under-served New York City area youth. Other AAU Cares events were held in conjunction with the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships in 2016 and 2017 respectively where the AAU teamed up with Feeding Children Everywhere to pack a total of 120,000 meals in total for hungry children.
AAU Urban Initiative
The AAU Urban Initiative was created in 2015 to provide a holistic approach to athletics. It provides participation opportunities to areas that were historically under served. The initiative partners the AAU with local government, law enforcement, faith-based groups, business communities, educational institutions and other groups who work to bring communities together through sports in service to America's youth. Through mentoring, the program teaches life skills, character development, and harmony.
United Hockey Union
The United Hockey Union (UHU) is a group of junior ice hockey leagues and the NCHA college club league based in North America. The UHU is overseen and insured by the Amateur Athletic Union and was founded in 2012. Neither body is recognized by USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, or the International Ice Hockey Federation.
AAU Hockey sponsors national tournaments for minor hockey levels. A North American Championship for Squirt/Atom and PeeWee levels as well as Midget and Bantam levels is set for debut in 2015 in cooperation with the Canadian Independent Hockey Federation (CIHF).
AAU James E. Sullivan Award
The AAU James E. Sullivan Award has been presented annually since 1930 to the best collegiate or Olympic-level athlete in the United States – making this award older than the Heisman Trophy (1935).
The AAU Sullivan Award is a salute to founder and past president of the Amateur Athletic Union, and a pioneer in amateur sports, James E. Sullivan. Based on the qualities of leadership, character, and sportsmanship, the AAU Sullivan Award goes beyond athletic accomplishments and honors those who have shown strong moral character as well.
Golfer Bobby Jones was the first recipient of the AAU Sullivan Award in 1930, beating out other finalists Barney Berling (athletics), Clarence De Mar (athletics), Tommy Hitchcock (polo), Helen Madison (swimming), Helen Wills Moody (tennis), Harlon Rothert (all-around), Ray Rudy (swimming), George Simpson (athletics) and Stella Walsh (athletics) to take home the honor.
In 1944, Ann Curtis, an 18-year-old swimmer from San Francisco, became the first woman to receive the AAU Sullivan Award. Curtis had captured eight AAU titles during the year.
In 2022, the 92nd AAU James E. Sullivan Award was presented to Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore, who became the first surfer and first Hawaiian native to win the prestigious award. Other finalists included Jocelyn Alo (softball), Jordan Burroughs (wrestling), Ivan Melendez (baseball), and Bryce Young (football).
Masters Track and Field
Masters Track and Field officially began in 1968, and in 1971 became a separate group within the AAU organization. Masters Track and Field is now part of USA Track & Field (USATF).
Documentary films
The live action short film The Winning Strain was filmed at the 1966 AAU Track and Field championships in New York City and was nominated for an Oscar in 1967.
1999 HBO documentary Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sports won the Peabody Award.
In September 2008, More than a Game premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. LeBron James founded SpringHill Entertainment in 2007 to produce the award-winning documentary, which chronicles his high school basketball career.
The 2011 documentary Empty Hand: The Real Karate Kids, written and directed by Kevin Derek, chronicles four young karate competitors compete en route to the annual AAU Karate Championship national tournament.
A 2013 AAU youth basketball documentary Little Ballers, was televised by Nickelodeon in 2015, as the first documentary to be aired on NickSports. The film was directed by Crystal McCrary and featured AAU youth team New Heights, featuring Cole Anthony, who is her son.
In 2016, At All Costs explores how the AAU basketball circuit has professionalized youth basketball across America.
Criticism
In the early 1970s, the AAU became the subject of criticism, notably by outspoken track star Steve Prefontaine, over the living conditions for amateur athletes under the AAU, as well as rules that were perceived to be arbitrary.
The AAU ceased to have any governance over Olympic sports in the U.S. when, due to various criticisms, Congress intervened. A three-year commission led to its enactment of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, establishing the United States Olympic Committee (USOPC) and national governing bodies for each Olympic sport. The AAU continues as a voluntary organization which mainly promotes youth sports.
In 2015, Kobe Bryant strongly criticized the AAU, describing it as "Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid". Bryant, who moved to Italy at age six because of his father playing basketball there, stated that the AAU has been "treating (amateur basketball players) like cash cows for everyone to profit off of". Steve Kerr has also spoken out against the AAU, stating that the AAU's structure devalues winning, with many teams playing as much as four times a day and some players changing teams from one morning to the afternoon of the same day. Kerr also states that "The process of growing as a team basketball player — learning how to become part of a whole, how to fit into something bigger than oneself — becomes completely lost within the AAU fabric".
Sexual misconduct allegations have come to light several times during the 21st century. Former President Robert W. "Bobby" Dodd was accused of abuse in 2011. Then in 2016, the AAU was sued for allowing Rick Butler, a youth volleyball coach accused of sexually abusing his players in the past, to coach an under-18 team in the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships.
References
External links
1888 establishments in the United States
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Organizations based in Florida
Sports organizations established in 1888
Sports in Orange County, Florida |
427057 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-ZPass | E-ZPass | E-ZPass is an electronic toll collection system used on toll roads, toll bridges, and toll tunnels in the Eastern United States, Midwestern United States, and Southern United States. The E-ZPass Interagency Group (IAG) consists of member agencies in several states, which use the same technology and allow travelers to use the same transponder on toll roads throughout the network.
Since its creation in 1987, various independent systems that use the same technology have been folded into the E-ZPass system, including the I-PASS in Illinois and the NC Quick Pass in North Carolina. Negotiations are ongoing for nationwide interoperability in the United States.
Functionality
Technology
E-ZPass tags are active RFID transponders, historically made by Kapsch TrafficCom (formerly Mark IV Industries Corp—IVHS Division) under a competitively bid contract. They communicate with reader equipment built into lane-based or open-road toll collection lanes by transmitting a unique radio signature. The most common type of tag is an internal tag that can be mounted on the inside of the vehicle's windshield in proximity to the rear-view mirror. Though toll agencies advise adherence to the windshield with mounting strips (usually 3M's Scotch brand "Dual Lock" fasteners), third-party options using trays with suction cups to adhere a pass to a windshield temporarily if used in multiple vehicles are available. Some vehicles have windshields that block RF signals; for those vehicles, historical vehicles, and customers who have aesthetic concerns, an external tag is offered, typically designed to attach to the vehicle's front license plate mounting points.
Although a tag can be used with a motorcycle, usually no official instructions are given for mounting, due to the numerous variations between bike designs and the small area of a motorcycle windshield which could prove a hindrance if the transponder is attached following automobile instructions. Transponders may be put in a shirt or jacket pocket, if necessary.
The E-ZPass transponder works by listening for a signal broadcast by the reader stationed at the toll booth. This 915 MHz signal is sent at 500 kbit/s using the TDM (formerly IAG) protocol in 256-bit packets. Transponders use active Type II read/write technology. In April 2013, Kapsch (purchasers of Mark IV Industries) made the protocol available to all interested parties royalty-free in perpetuity and is granting the right to sublicense the protocol.
Payment and tag types
Most E-ZPass lanes are converted manual toll lanes and must have fairly low speed limits for safety reasons (between is typical), so that E-ZPass vehicles can merge safely with vehicles that stopped to pay a cash toll and, in some cases, to allow toll workers to safely cross the E-ZPass lanes to reach booths accepting cash payments. In some areas, however (typically recently built or retrofitted facilities), there is no need to slow down, because E-ZPass users can utilize dedicated traffic lanes ("Express E-ZPass" or "open road tolling") that are physically separate from the toll-booth lanes. Examples include:
Other roads in the E-ZPass system have eschewed toll booths altogether, and switched to all-electronic tolling. As vehicles pass at normal speed under toll collection gantries, tolls are collected either through the E-ZPass transponder or by billing the owner of the vehicle via automatic number-plate recognition. Examples include:
Each E-ZPass tag is specifically programmed for a particular class of vehicle; while any valid working tag will be read and accepted in any E-ZPass toll lane, the wrong toll amount will be charged if the tag's programmed vehicle class does not match the vehicle. This will result in a violation and possible large fine assessed to the tag holder, especially if a lower-class (e.g., passenger car) tag is being used in a higher-class vehicle such as a bus or truck. In an attempt to avoid this, E-ZPass tags for commercial vehicles are blue in color, contrasting with the white tags assigned to standard passenger vehicles. The blue E-ZPass is also used in government employee vehicles. In New York, an orange E-ZPass tag is issued to emergency vehicles as well as to employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and New York State Thruway Authority. New York also offers green-colored E-ZPass tags (and a 10% toll discount plan) to qualifying low-emission and zero-emission vehicles.
For purposes of interoperability, all agencies are connected to each other by a secure network (the "reciprocity network"). This network provides the means to exchange tag data and process toll transactions across the various agencies. Tag data is exchanged among the agencies on a nightly basis. This data can take up to 24 hours on the primary network the unit is issued by (e.g., the New York State Thruway or Illinois Tollway system), but may be delayed by as much as 72 hours on other networks.
Expiry
this is a partial list of states that will expire an E-ZPass account for inactivity:
New Hampshire: 24 months
North Carolina: at 24 months they start charging a dollar a month and close the account when it runs out of money
Virginia: 12 months
Retail availability
Some issuing agencies offer a packaged E-ZPass transponder preloaded with toll funds sold over-the-counter at a retail setting such as a supermarket or pharmacy service desk that is valid immediately. A portion of the balance is available instantly; customers can access the remaining balance when they register their transponders with the issuing E-ZPass agency within several days of first using their E-ZPass.
Usage
According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 83.4% of vehicles crossing its six bridges and tunnels used E-ZPass for toll payment during all of 2016. As of 2020, about 86% of vehicles along the Pennsylvania Turnpike use E-ZPass for payment of tolls.
History
Creation
The first E-ZPass system was implemented on December 17, 1996, at all toll collection facilities of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, including 7 bridges and 2 tunnels. The earliest test of what was then known as the Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) was conducted by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. They tested AVI tags on Staten Island and utilized a paper voucher as a control which proved to be far less accurate than the tags. As a result of the test the two agencies agreed to convene a larger group of the regions toll authorities. Their initial idea was to develop independent systems that did not interfere with each other. TBTA suggested that there be a regionally cooperative system using a single tag. That became the basis for regional cooperation The tolling agencies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, which constitute two-thirds of the United States' $3-billion-a-year toll industry, met at an IBTTA meeting at to create a compatible electronic-tolling technology that could be used on the toll roads and bridges of the three states, in an effort to reduce congestion on some of the busiest roadways and toll plazas in the U.S.
In 1991, the Interagency Committee was created to develop, and involved the participation and cooperation of seven independent toll agencies: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the New Jersey Highway Authority (which, at the time, operated the Garden State Parkway), the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority), the New York State Thruway Authority, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the South Jersey Transportation Authority (operator of the Atlantic City Expressway). The E-ZPass trademark, however, belongs to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority has been aggressive at protecting its trademark, including forcing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to rename the "EZ Pass" regional transit pass to "EZ transit pass" to protect its rights.
The seven agencies started making plans to test two possible technologies for E-ZPass in 1992. The technologies would be installed along the Garden State Parkway and New York State Thruway. E-ZPass was first deployed on the Thruway at the Spring Valley toll plaza on August 3, 1993. Over the following three and a half years, the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) installed electronic toll-collection equipment, in stages, along the Thruway. By December 1996, it was implemented at all of the Thruway's fixed-toll barriers, and by March 1998, E-ZPass was installed at all of the Thruway's mainline exits.
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, which maintains all toll bridges and tunnels that begin and end in New York City, is the largest tolling agency by revenue in the United States ($1.9 billion in 2017). It began its E-ZPass implementation in 1995 and completed it at all nine of its toll facilities by January 1997. E-ZPass was popular among motorists who frequently used TBTA crossings, and by August 1996, nearly 2,000 motorists per day were signing up for E-ZPass. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates all bridges and tunnels between New York City and New Jersey, implemented E-ZPass at the George Washington Bridge in July 1997, and at the Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel in October 1997.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike planned to adopt E-ZPass by 1998; however, implementation of the system was postponed until December 2, 2000, when E-ZPass debuted on the turnpike between Harrisburg West and the Delaware River Bridge. By December 15, 2001, E-ZPass could be used on the entire length of the mainline Pennsylvania Turnpike. Commercial vehicles were allowed to use the system beginning on December 14, 2002, and the entire Turnpike system was taking E-ZPass by 2006.
On October 6, 1998, a U.S. patent for an automated toll collection system was issued to Fred Slavin and Randy J. Schafer.
Expansion
Meanwhile, various other agencies began work on similar electronic toll collecting facilities. This resulted in the emergence of other networks:
The MassPass system used in Massachusetts, changed to the compatible Fast Lane in 1998 and rebranded E-ZPass in 2012
The I-Pass system used in Illinois
The I-Zoom system used in Indiana, rebranded E-ZPass in 2012
The Smart Tag system used in Virginia, merged with E-ZPass in 2004
The TransPass system used in Maine, since replaced by the E-ZPass system
The M-Tag system used in Maryland, integrated into and rebranded E-ZPass in 2001
The Quick Pass system used in North Carolina, partially integrated in 2013 and integrated into Florida's SunPass system
The E-Pass system in Florida, partially integrated in 2018
The SunPass system in Florida, partially integrated in 2021
The MnPass system in Minnesota, rebranded into E-ZPass in August 2021
Originally, these systems were not interchangeable with E-ZPass. However, since most of them use the same technology (or have since converted over to a compatible technology), all of them have been incorporated into the E-ZPass network. Though several still retain their own brand name for their own facilities, users of those systems can use E-ZPass and vice versa. As a result, all E-ZPass holders can use their transponders in any of the states that offer it.
The E-ZPass system continues to expand. The Indiana Toll Road Concession Company upgraded its toll plazas to include E-ZPass functionality on the Indiana East–West Toll Road, while the Ohio Turnpike Commission has upgraded its toll plazas in October 2009 for the Ohio Turnpike (I-76, I-80, I-90). On December 16, 2008, Rhode Island joined the network by activating E-ZPass lanes in the state's only toll booth, at the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which had a toll road system predating the E-ZPass system which was ended in 2006, announced at the end of July 2015 its entrance into the E-ZPass system as part of the financing for the Louisville-area Ohio River Bridges Project involving the new Abraham Lincoln (paired with the retrofitted Kennedy) and Lewis and Clark bridges.
On November 9, 2017, the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) announced that it was joining the E-ZPass group. CFX began accepting E-ZPass along its toll roads on September 1, 2018. On May 28, 2021, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise announced that its SunPass facilities would begin accepting E-ZPass. In addition, E-ZPass facilities began accepting SunPass Pro transponders (but not earlier SunPass transponders).
Canada
E-ZPass is generally not accepted in Canada but several exceptions exist. Until 2005, drivers crossing the Peace Bridge between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, paid a toll before crossing to Canada. Following upgrades to the border crossings in 2005, drivers instead pay a toll on the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge after clearing Canadian customs. This is the first E-ZPass toll gantry outside of the United States. The toll goes to the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, a bi-national agency responsible for maintaining the international bridge.
On August 11, 2014, E-ZPass began to be accepted at the Lewiston–Queenston Bridge, Rainbow Bridge, and Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. The toll for the Lewiston–Queenston Bridge is paid in Canada after clearing Canadian customs, whereas the toll is paid before leaving the United States at the other two bridges. The toll from these three bridges goes to the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission.
On June 27, 2019, E-ZPass began to be accepted at the Thousand Islands Bridge on both the US side and Canada side.
While these facilities take both U.S. and Canadian cash, E-ZPass is only billable in U.S. dollars.
Out-of-network systems
E-ZPass ETC transponders do not work on all toll roads in the United States. Currently, the E-ZPass electronic toll-collection system (as well as the other ETC systems that are part of the E-ZPass network) are not compatible with California's FasTrak, Kansas's K-TAG, Oklahoma's Pikepass, Texas's TxTag, Utah's Express Pass, Puerto Rico's AutoExpreso, and Cruise Card, or other ETC systems outside of E-ZPass operating regions. Under MAP-21, passed in 2012, all ETC facilities in the United States were supposed to have some form of interoperability by October 1, 2016; however, no funding was provided for this effort, nor were penalties established for failure to meet this deadline, and this has yet to be accomplished.
In 2009, the Alliance for Toll Interoperability stated that it was exploring the option of using high-speed cameras to take photographs of the cars passing through non-E-ZPass lanes in other states. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which had been studying going towards all-electronic tolling in order to cut costs, implemented such a system for non-E-ZPass users in 2020 due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
Variants
E-ZPass Plus
For E-ZPass subscribers who replenish their accounts with a major credit card, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offers an E-ZPass option to pay for parking at three Port Authority airports—John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty—through a program known as E-ZPass Plus. This program is also available in New York at Albany International Airport in Albany; Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse; and the parking lots at the New York State Fair when the fair is in progress; as well as in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at Atlantic City International Airport, the New York Avenue Parking Garage, and the Atlantic City Surface Lot.
The parking payment is debited from the prepaid E-ZPass account if the parking fee is less than $20. If it is $20 or more, the amount is charged directly to the credit card used to replenish the E-ZPass account. The Port Authority reports that drivers save an average of 15 seconds by opting to pay for airport parking using E-ZPass.
Subscribers who replenish their E-ZPass accounts with cash or check cannot participate in this program. Additionally, , this service is only available to customers of the DelDOT, Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, Delaware River and Bay Authority, in Delaware; of the New Hampshire DOT; in Maryland; in New Jersey and New York to customers of the PANYNJ, the New York MTA, or the NYS Thruway; and to customers of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
E-ZPass Flex
In late 2012, the I-495 HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes in Virginia introduced the E-ZPass Flex transponder. E-ZPass Flex transponders work similarly to regular transponders, but they allow the driver to switch between HOV and toll-paying modes. When a transponder is switched to HOV mode, it is read by the HOT lane's toll equipment, but no toll is charged. E-ZPass Flex also works like a standard E-ZPass on all other toll roads where E-ZPass is accepted, regardless of the position of the switch.
, E-ZPass Flex devices are currently issued only by Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, and North Carolina The following toll roads support E-ZPass Flex in HOV mode:
Minnesota
All toll facilitates in the system are variable rate HOV lanes and use the Flex transponder. (Free for HOV 2+.)
North Carolina
I-77 Express Lanes (free for HOV 3+)
EZ Pass Flex transponder has an additional one time cost associated
Virginia
I-495, I-395 and I-95 Express Lanes (free for HOV 3+)
I-66 Express Lanes inside and outside the I-495 Beltway (free for HOV 3+)
I-64 Express Lanes (free for HOV 2+)
Until April 2021, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York supported E-ZPass Flex in HOV mode, with a reduced toll for HOV 3+. MTA Bridges and Tunnels only issued the transponders to Staten Island residents. The MTA only offers discounted tolls to holders of New York transponders, so holders of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina E-ZPass Flex devices had to pay the full toll regardless of their HOV status.
E-PASS uni
The Central Florida Expressway Authority offers E-PASS 'uni' (originally E-PASS Xtra), which is compatible with E-ZPass as well as E-PASS, SunPass, LeeWay, PeachPass, NC QuickPass, RiverLink, I-PASS, and FastPass toll systems. It works on E-ZPass toll roads as well as all toll roads in Florida and Georgia. It does not, however, offer the E-ZPass Flex functionality noted above.
SunPass Pro
The SunPass system in Florida offers the SunPass Pro, with the same toll road compatibility as the E-Pass uni. It is meant for vehicles with 2 axles. Vehicles with 3 or more axles that will travel outside of Florida are required to purchase a NC Quick Pass instead.
Effects
Reduced pollution and health improvement
A study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass", compared fetal health outcomes for mothers living near congested and uncongested toll plazas on three major highways in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The researchers focused on areas where toll plazas had instituted E-ZPass, which, because cars travel through more efficiently, diminishes congestion and pollution. The study drew its conclusions by looking at the health outcomes of nearly 30,000 births among mothers who lived within two kilometers of an E-ZPass toll plaza. The researchers state that their findings "suggest that the adoption of E-ZPass was associated with significant improvements of infant health." The study's specific findings were: 1) In areas where E-ZPass was adopted, rates of infant prematurity decreased by between 6.7% and 9.1%; this means that, out of the sample studied, 255 preterm births were likely avoided; 2) Introduction of E-ZPass was correlated with a reduction in the incidence of low birth weight by between 8.5% and 11.3%; that means 275 cases of low birth weight may have been avoided.
Increased home values and subsequent public opinion ramifications
Another study published in Research in Transportation Economics, "The impact of a transportation intervention on electoral politics: Evidence from E-ZPass", compared changes in home values in areas that switched from manual tolls to E-ZPass compared to similar areas that did not receive the E-ZPass intervention. Using a research design known as difference in differences, the researchers found that traffic indeed was reduced in E-ZPass areas compared to control areas (an average decrease of about 10% in daily commute times). As a consequence, areas near E-ZPasses become more attractive to homeowners, with an estimated resulting increase in home values of $50,185 compared to control areas. The authors then document a 2.37 percentage point decrease in Democratic vote share in the associated E-ZPass areas, which they argue with survey data was largely due to heightened concern around taxation in the areas experiencing the newfound property wealth.
Privacy concerns
Civil liberties and privacy rights advocates have expressed concern about how the position data gathered through E-ZPass is used. , several states that employ E-ZPass had provided electronic toll information in response to court orders in civil cases, including divorces and other non-criminal matters.
Position data is collected by antennas at locations in addition to fee collection locations. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), for example, collect transponder information to provide real-time estimates of travel times between common destinations. By subtracting the time when vehicles pass under the first sign from the current time, the sign can display the expected travel time between the sign and the destination point ahead. This information is also used to determine the best times to schedule maintenance-related lane closures and for other traffic management purposes. According to NYSDOT, the individual tag information is encrypted, and is deleted as soon as the vehicle passes the last reader, and is never made available to the department.
Accounts and agencies
Within the IAG, each member agency has its own billing and customer service center, and each establishes its own fee and discount structures. The agencies also set their own customer account policies. Areas of variation include the refundable deposit or nonrefundable charge for a tag, periodic maintenance fees, paper statement fees, the low account threshold, and replenishment amounts. E-ZPass is usually offered as a debit account: tolls are deducted from prepayments made by the users. Users may opt to have prepayments automatically deposited when their account is low, or they may submit prepayments manually, either by phone or a toll authority's web portal, depending on the agency. For commercial accounts, some agencies allow postpaid plans with a security deposit (which effectively renders them prepaid accounts, with a different replenishment policy).
Fees and discounts by state
Some agencies have imposed periodic account maintenance fees on their subscribers. After New Jersey began losing money with the E-ZPass system, a monthly account fee of one dollar was implemented on July 15, 2002 and is still in effect for both individual and business accounts. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also charges a monthly individual account fee of one dollar. On July 1, 2009, the Maryland Transportation Authority began charging a fee of $1.50 a month to account holders which, , only applies to non-residents and is waived if three Maryland E-ZPass tolls were incurred during the previous month.
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) in New York City once imposed a monthly account fee starting on July 1, 2005, claiming to defray the administrative costs. However, New York State Assembly Bill A06859A in 2005 and 2006 and Senate Bill S6331 in 2006 both considered such a fee threatening the efficiency to move traffic faster with lower tolls and sought to ban it. When the New York State Law started to ban the monthly account fee, the TBTA repealed it on June 1, 2006, and those, especially New Jerseyans, seeking New York accounts and avoiding the monthly fee still imposed by New Jersey and Port Authority, would have to apply for the TBTA or the New York State Thruway accounts at an E-ZPass New York Service Center.
Several agencies offer discounted tolls to E-ZPass customers. The details vary widely, and can include general discounts for all E-ZPass users, variable pricing discounts for off-peak hours, commuter plans with minimum usage levels, flat rate plans offering unlimited use for a period of time, carpool plans for high-occupancy vehicles, and resident plans for those living near particular toll facilities. Many of these plans are available only to customers whose tags are issued by the agency that owns the toll facility in question (reciprocity applies to tag acceptance, not to discounts). Eight authorities in the Northeast (Maine, the Massachusetts Turnpike, the New Hampshire Turnpike, Rhode Island, the New York TBTA, the New York State Thruway, the New Jersey Turnpike, DelDOT and Maryland) restrict their general discounts to their own respective tagholders. While the Delaware Memorial Bridge once restricted its discount plans to New Jersey tags despite its toll plaza being located in Delaware, as of May 2019, all New Jersey and Delaware DoT issued E-ZPass passenger vehicle accounts receive a 25 cent discount at this bridge facility.
Some agencies charge a one-time fee between $20 and $30 for each new transponder, including the Delaware Department of Transportation, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, and the Maine Turnpike Authority. At least two agencies, the Delaware River and Bay Authority and the Maryland Transportation Authority, once charged multiple fees. In a press release dated July 17, 2007, the DRBA stated: "Beginning January 1, 2008, all DRBA E-ZPass account holders will be charged an account management fee of $1.50 per month. The transponder cost will also be passed on to E-ZPass customers for each new transponder." E-ZPass New York charges a monthly fee of 50 cents for each tag in connection with a business account. The DRBA since merged its service center with New Jersey's E-ZPass service center. On July 1, 2015, a plan put forth by Governor Larry Hogan eliminated Maryland's monthly fee (except accounts without a Maryland address, unless using Maryland toll facilities at least three times in the previous statement period) along with decreasing some toll rates especially for Maryland-issued E-ZPass tags.
E-ZPass users are not required to maintain their account with an agency in their home state (or if in a toll-free state, the closest one to them). Subscribers can open an E-ZPass account with any member of the IAG regardless of residency. This means that users have the option of choosing an agency based on the fees that it charges, effectively allowing them to circumvent transponder and account maintenance fees.
List of places where accepted
List of agencies
As listed on its website, the E-ZPass Interagency Group includes agencies in 20 states .
Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (New York/Ontario)
Burlington County Bridge Commission (New Jersey/Pennsylvania)
Cape May County Bridge Commission (New Jersey)
Central Florida Expressway Authority
Cline Avenue Bridge (Indiana)
Delaware Department of Transportation
Delaware River and Bay Authority (Delaware/New Jersey)
Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (New Jersey/Pennsylvania)
Delaware River Port Authority (New Jersey/Pennsylvania)
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
Indiana Toll Road Concession Company
Kane County Department of Transportation (Illinois)
Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority (see also Ohio River Bridges Project)
Maine Turnpike Authority
Maryland Transportation Authority
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bridges and Tunnels (New York)
Minnesota Department of Transportation
New Hampshire Department of Transportation
New Jersey Turnpike Authority
New York State Bridge Authority
New York State Thruway Authority
Niagara Falls Bridge Commission (New York/Ontario)
North Carolina Turnpike Authority
Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (New Jersey/New York)
Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority
Skyway Concessions Company (Illinois)
South Jersey Transportation Authority (New Jersey)
State Road and Tollway Authority (Georgia)
Thousand Islands Bridge Authority (New York)
United Bridge Partners - Bay City, Michigan
Virginia Department of Transportation
West Virginia Parkways Authority
Each of the E-ZPass states operates its own E-ZPass Service Center. NJ E-ZPass manages accounts for the Burlington County Bridge Commission, Delaware River and Bay Authority, Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and Delaware River Port Authority. The E-ZPass New York Service Center operates accounts for the Buffalo and Port Erie Public Bridge Authority, the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the New York State Thruway Authority. The Virginia Department of Transportation is Virginia's sole member of the E-ZPass Interagency Group, but not all E-ZPass facilities in Virginia are operated by VDOT.
List of roadways, bridges, tunnels, and airports
The following tolled roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, and parking facilities accept E-ZPass. Crossings between jurisdictions are listed in the state where the toll collection point is located, or linked to (in the case of international border crossings).
Delaware
Delaware Memorial Bridge/Interstate 295 and U.S. Route 40
Delaware Turnpike/Interstate 95
Delaware Route 1
U.S. Route 301
Florida
From 2018 to 2021, E-ZPass was only available on the Central Florida Expressway Authority's 125-mile toll road network. Since 2021, the entire state of Florida has accepted E-ZPass.
Illinois
Chicago Skyway/Interstate 90 (separate from I-Pass system)
Elgin-O'Hare Tollway/Illinois Route 390
Jane Addams Memorial Tollway/Interstate 39, Interstate 90, and U.S. Route 51
Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway/Interstate 88
Chicago–Kansas City Expressway/Illinois Route 110
Tri-State Tollway/Interstate 80, Interstate 94, and Interstate 294
Veterans Memorial Tollway/Interstate 355
Indiana
Indiana Toll Road/Interstate 80, Interstate 90
Lewis and Clark Bridge/Interstate 265 and Kentucky Route 841
Cline Avenue Bridge/Indiana State Route 912
Kentucky
Lincoln & Kennedy Bridges/Interstate 65
Lewis and Clark Bridge/Interstate 265 and Kentucky Route 841
Maine
Maine Turnpike/Interstate 95
Maryland
Baltimore Harbor Tunnel/Interstate 895
Fort McHenry Tunnel/Interstate 95
Francis Scott Key Bridge/Interstate 695
Maryland Route 200 (Intercounty Connector)
John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway/Interstate 95
William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge (aka the Chesapeake Bay Bridge)/U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 301
Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge/U.S. Route 301
Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge/U.S. Route 40
Bicycling is conditionally allowed since 2016 subject to the same toll as a two-axle vehicle, payable with cash or E-ZPass.
Massachusetts
Callahan Tunnel/Massachusetts Route 1A
Massachusetts Turnpike/Interstate 90
Route 128 station parking garage
Sumner Tunnel/Massachusetts Route 1A
Ted Williams Tunnel/Interstate 90
Tobin Bridge/U.S. Route 1
Michigan
Liberty Bridge (Bay City, Michigan)
Independence Bridge (coming soon)
Minnesota
Interstate 394/U.S. Route 12 (HOT lanes)
Interstate 35W (HOT lanes)
Interstate 35E (HOT lanes)
New Hampshire
Everett Turnpike/U.S. Route 3, Interstate 293, New Hampshire Route 3A, and Interstate 93
New Hampshire Turnpike (Blue Star Turnpike)/Interstate 95
Spaulding Turnpike/New Hampshire Route 16
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
I-77 Express on Interstate 77 (HOT lanes)
Monroe Expressway/U.S. Route 74 Bypass
Triangle Expressway/North Carolina Highway 147 and North Carolina Highway 540
Ohio
Memorial Bridge
Ohio Turnpike (sections of Interstate 76, Interstate 80, and Interstate 90)
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Pell Bridge/Rhode Island Route 138
Statewide truck-only tolling program (implemented 2018; paused 2022 per court order)
Virginia
West Virginia
Memorial Bridge
West Virginia Turnpike/Interstate 64, Interstate 77
Parking
Although not part of the E-ZPass-Plus program, E-ZPass users may also pay for parking at Pittsburgh International Airport. The E-ZPass transponder is used for identification only. The Southern Beltway, which also uses E-ZPass, has its western terminus at the airport.
The New York State Fair offered E-ZPass Plus as a payment option at two of its parking lots for the first time in 2007, and offered the service again for subsequent seasons. The service was administered by the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA), and motorists' E-ZPass accounts were charged the same $5 parking fee that cash customers were charged. Unlike other E-ZPass Plus implementations, the State Fair systems charged motorists at the parking lot entrances; drivers opting to pay by E-ZPass Plus used dedicated "E- ZPass Plus Only" lanes. Since the lots only charge for parking during the twelve days of the State Fair, mobile, self-contained E-ZPass units were used to process vehicles. The units were mounted on trailers with a collapsible gantry for the E-ZPass antennas, used a cellular wireless connection to send transactions to the NYSTA back-office system, and were powered by batteries that were kept replenished by photovoltaic solar panels, with a generator for backup. This service seems to be still existent (as the E-ZPass website lists the State Fair as part of its Plus program).
E-ZPass can be used to pay for parking at the Route 128 station in Westwood, Massachusetts; this is available for Massachusetts customers only. E-ZPass can also be used to pay for parking at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York City as well as Newark Liberty International Airport.
Drive-thru retail
E-ZPass was tested in a since-discontinued program by some McDonald's restaurants on Long Island, New York, at which drive-through customers were given the option to pay using their E-ZPass accounts to test out cardless payment platforms. In late 2013, Wendy's started a similar system called drive-thru that is E-ZPass compatible, and it underwent testing at five Staten Island Wendy's locations. In 2018, a one-year pilot project with the startup Verdeva was announced to test drive-thru and gas station payments via separate accounts set up with the E-ZPass system.
In December 2021, PayByCar launched a pilot program to accept E-ZPass (or its own RFID stickers) at 27 Alltown gas stations in the Boston area.
Non-transactional traffic monitoring
E-ZPass transponders are also used to monitor traffic. A transponder-reader is placed above the roadway at various intervals, and the time a particular tag takes between scans at each interval provides information about the speed of traffic between those points. This transit time information is often relayed back to motorists via electronic signs on the roadway or via traffic reporting agencies who use the information as part of radio and television traffic reports. The individual tag data is not collected or used for ticketing purposes, as some sources have suggested.
Toll facilities that do not accept E-ZPass in E-ZPass states and provinces
There are many toll facilities, mostly bridges run by independent authorities, that are not part of the E-ZPass network even though they are in a state that is in the E-ZPass region. With Congress seeking a national electronic toll-collection system in place by mid-2016 for federal highways, E-ZPass officials are talking to other states that have electronic tolls "to find a common way to do business". However, the congressional legislation did not include any penalties for agencies and states that failed to comply with the implementation of such a system. , most Florida and Minnesota toll facilities had become compatible with E-ZPass. Georgia toll roads were in the process of becoming compatible by 2022. Other states, like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California, and Washington were not scheduled to become compatible with E-ZPass in the near future.
List of facilities
Anderson Ferry (Ohio/Kentucky)
Atlantic Beach Bridge (New York; E-ZPass implementation expected in 2023)
Augusta Ferry (Ohio/Kentucky)
Cape May–Lewes Ferry (Delaware/New Jersey)
Downbeach Express (New Jersey)
Dingman's Ferry Bridge (New Jersey/Pennsylvania)
Fort Frances–International Falls International Bridge (Minnesota/Ontario) - cash only toll booth paid by Canada bound vehicles on US side before crossing bridge
Fort Madison Toll Bridge (Illinois/Iowa)
Gasparilla Bridge (Florida)
Greenspring Low Water Toll Bridge (West Virginia/Maryland)
Hammock Dunes Bridge (Florida)
Moseywood Road (Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania) – Toll paid upon entry to community. Provides a shortcut to Lake Harmony from Pennsylvania Route 940 to Pennsylvania Route 903
Newell Toll Bridge (West Virginia/Ohio) – Privately owned
Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge (New York/Ontario) - toll booth on US side after passing CBP control point
Seaway International Bridge (New York/Ontario) - toll booth found in Canada for in bound traffic from US and US bound traffic from Canada.
St. Francisville Bridge – Old Wabash Cannonball Railroad (Illinois-Indiana)
Highway 407 (Ontario) - utilizes their own transponder based toll-free system
None of the toll bridges or tunnels partially in or fully in Michigan (Ambassador Bridge, privately owned, along with the public Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, Blue Water Bridge, Mackinac Bridge, or International Bridge) use E-ZPass despite Michigan's adjacency to two states (Indiana and Ohio) that use it for their toll roads.
See also
Drivewyze – weigh station bypassing of commercial vehicles at participating state highway locations
List of electronic toll collection systems
List of toll bridges
List of toll roads
NORPASS – weigh station bypassing, partner of E-ZPass
PrePass – weigh station bypassing, commercial vehicles at participating state highway locations
References
External links
Official website
E-ZPass in Delaware
E-Zpass in Maine
E-ZPass in New Hampshire
E-ZPass in New Jersey
E-ZPass in New York
E-ZPass in Virginia
1987 introductions
Companies based in New Jersey
Electronic toll collection
Toll road authorities of the United States
Transportation in the United States |
427063 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20Liberation%20Front%20of%20Asom | United Liberation Front of Asom | The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is an armed separatist organisation operating in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an independent sovereign nation state of Assam for the indigenous Assamese people through an armed struggle in the Assam conflict. The Government of India banned the organisation in 1990 citing it as a terrorist organisation, while the United States Department of State lists it under "other groups of concern."
According to ULFA (Assamese militant) sources, it was founded on 7 April 1979 at Rang Ghar and began operations in 1990. Sunil Nath, former Central Publicity Secretary and spokesman of ULFA has stated that the organisation established ties with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland in 1983 and with the Burma based Kachin Independent Army in 1987. Military operations against the ULFA by the Indian Army began in 1990 and continue into the present. On 5 December 2009, the chairman and the deputy commander-in-chief of ULFA was taken into Indian custody. In 2011, there was a major crackdown on the ULFA in Bangladesh, which greatly assisted the government of India in bringing ULFA leaders to talks. In January 2010, ULFA softened its stance and dropped demands for independence as a condition for talks with the Government of India.
On 3 September 2011, a tripartite agreement for "Suspension of Operations" against ULFA was signed between the Indian government, the Assam government and the ULFA.
History
The ULFA was founded on 7 April 1979 in Sivasagar, Assam by a group of young men that included Paresh Baruah, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain, and Budheswar Gogoi. The organisation's purpose was to engage in an armed struggle to form a separate independent state of Assam.
During its heyday in the late 80s and 90s, it enjoyed popularity among many of the indigenous Assamese people of the Brahmaputra valley. The majority of the supporters felt that a powerful organization was necessary to get the voice of a peripheral region heard in the corridors of power in Lutyen's Delhi. But gradually, the organisation's emphasis on extortion and smuggling of weapons in the name of furthering the ‘revolution’ led to mindless violence throughout the state. It witnessed a period marked by growing disillusionment and anger amid supporters. In their bloody conflict with the security forces, many innocent civilians were killed and several thousand were permanently maimed. It is estimated that more than 10 thousand local youths perished during that turbulent period. In the process, owing to the twin factors of increasing operations by the security forces and dwindling support among its core sympathisers, ULFA's importance in Assam has been declined drastically.
Recruiting for the front did not begin until 1983. Soon after it finished recruitment in 1984, it began to seek out training and arms procurement from other groups such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). In 1986 it launched a fundraising "campaign" across India by way of extortion. It then began to set up camps in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh but was soon declared a terrorist organization by the government on 7 November, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
In less than a decade of its formation, the ULFA emerged as one of the most powerful and violent insurgent outfit in Southeast Asia, largely because of the immense popularity it enjoyed during the first decade of its struggle as well as its economic power which in turn helped it in bolstering its military capabilities. In the early 1990s, ULFA launched an aggressive campaign with victims such as security forces, political opponents, and blasting rail links. In July 1991 the front captured and held 14 people for ransom, included in the abductees was an engineer and a national of the Soviet Union. From the 1990s on the ULFA have continued to carry out attacks.
Till the late 2000s, it maintained a number of camps in Bangladesh, where members are trained and sheltered away from Indian security forces. In April 2004, Bangladesh police and Coast Guard intercepted massive amounts of illegal arms and ammunition, at Chittagong, being loaded into 10 trucks and intended for ULFA. A total of 50 were charged with arms smuggling and arms offenses, including former high-level Bangladesh political appointees including Bangladesh National Party ministers and National Security Intelligence military officers, as well as prominent businessmen, and Paresh Baruah, military wing chief of ULFA who was then living in Dhaka. He fled the country. Trials were still underway in Chittagong in 2012 under tight security.
They had also maintained camps in Bhutan, which were destroyed by the Royal Bhutan Army aided by the Special Frontier Force in December 2003. These camps housed combatants and non-combatant families of ULFA members.
ULFA maintained close relationships with other separatist organisations like NDFB, KLO and NSCN (Khaplang).
In 2008, News Services reported citing Indian police and intelligence officials reported ULFA's commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah had taken refuge in Yunnan Province of China, along China-Myanmar border, due to continuous defeat of his Organization. The report also stated that a small batch of militants had also taken refuge along with him. Paresh Baruah had previously visited China in the 1980s. In December 2003, China spurned ULFA's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa appeal to provide safe passage to the rebels from Bhutan.
Secret killings of Militants family members
During the government of AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, as a part of his government's counter-insurgency strategy, unidentified gunmen had assassinated a number of family members of ULFA leaders. With the fall of this government following elections in 2001, the secret killings stopped. Dinesh Barua, the elder brother of Paresh Barua, was taken from his house at night by unidentified Assamese men, Later his body was found lying near a cremation center in Chabua. ULFA's self-styled Publicity Secretary, Mithinga Daimary, also had his five family members killed during this period.
Government investigations into the killings culminated in the report of the "Saikia Commission", presented to the Assam Assembly on 15 November 2007. The report describes how the killings were organised by Prafulla Mahanta, then the Assam Home Minister. They were executed by the police. The gunmen were former members of ULFA who had surrendered to the government. They approached their targets at home, at night, knocking on the door and speaking in Assamese to allay suspicion. When the victims answered the door, they were shot or kidnapped to be shot elsewhere.
Organizational structure
During the 1990s and 2000s, the total strength of ULFA was stated to be around 3,000, while various other sources put the figure ranging from 4,000 to 6,000. A military wing of the ULFA, the Sanjukta Mukti Fouj (SMF) was formed on 16 March 1996.
SMF had formed three full-fledged so-called battalions: the 7th, 28th, and the 709th. While remaining battalions exist only on paper at best they have the strengths of a company or so. Their allocated spheres of operation are as follows:
7th Bn (HQ-Sukhini) is responsible for defence of General Headquarters (GHQ).
8th Bn - Nagaon, Morigaon, Karbi Anglong
9th Bn - Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar
11th Bn - Kamrup, Nalbari
27th Bn - Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar
28th Bn - Tinsukia, Dibrugarh
709th Bn - Kalikhola
Command Structure
Enigma Force
Enigma Force or Enigma Group was an exclusive and near autonomous striking group of the ULFA. It is known to a few top leaders of the outfit and the cadres were isolated from the others. It was designed for hit and run type of operations. It was headed by the Raju Baruah.
Activities
Assassinations
On 29 July 1990, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Dibrugarh district Daulat Singh Negi (IPS) and his PSO and driver were killed by an ambush in Lahoal of Dibrugarh district by the ULFA.
Some of the major assassinations by ULFA include that of Surendra Paul in May 1990, the brother of businessman Lord Swraj Paul, that precipitated a situation leading to the sacking of the Government of Assam under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and the beginning of Operation Bajrang.
On the ULFA's Army Day on 16 March 2003, an IED explosion under a bus on National Highway No. 7 killed six civilians and wounded approximately 55 others.
In 1991 a Russian engineer, and national of the Soviet Union was kidnapped along with others and killed. In 1997, Sanjay Ghose, a social activist and a relative of a high ranking Indian diplomat, was kidnapped and killed. The highest government officer assassinated by the group was local Asom Gana Parishad minister Nagen Sarma in 2000. An unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on AGP Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in 1997. A mass grave, discovered at a destroyed ULFA camp in Lakhipathar forest, showed evidence of executions committed by ULFA.
In 2003, the ULFA was accused of killing labourers from Bihar in response to an alleged molestation of a Mizo girl in a train passing through Bihar. This incident sparked off anti-Bihari sentiment in Assam and ULFA saw it as an opportunity to regain its lost ground. The ULFA killed civilians of Bihari origin and other outsiders of mainland India.
In 2003, during a Railways Recruitment Board Examination for Group (D) posts conducted by Northeast Frontier Railway zone a wing of Indian Railways, a good number of candidates from Bihar and other states were beaten up and stopped from taking the exam by some elements who were seeking 100 percent reservations for unemployed indigenous Assamese people in the said test.
In resentment, conflicts arose with train passengers from North Eastern Indians states passing through some of the stations like Katihar, Jamalpur, Kishanganj in Bihar.
During that period ULFA was already losing its popularity and ground across many pockets in Assam where it had strongholds. However, ULFA took this situation as an opportunity to fan an opposition against 'India' among people in Assam. They started killing Hindi-speaking people mostly having origin in Bihar in the State.
On 15 August 2004, an explosion occurred in Dhemaji District of Assam in which 13 people died, mainly women and school children. This explosion was carried out by ULFA. The ULFA has obliquely accepted responsibility for the blast. This appears to be the first instance of ULFA admitting to public killings with an incendiary device.
In January 2007, the ULFA once again struck in Assam killing approximately 62 Hindi-speaking migrant workers mostly from Bihar. ULFA notoriety as a directionless and unpopular organisation increased, as the bomb blast victims also included several indigenous Assamese people.
The Central Government made a tough response, forcing a dreaded group of ULFA - 28 Battalion to unilaterally bow down and seek asylum from the government. This particular one-sided ceasefire broke the backbone of ULFA.
On 15 March 2007, ULFA triggered a blast in Guwahati, injuring six persons as it celebrated its 'army day'.
Economic subversion
The ULFA has claimed responsibility for bombings of economic targets like crude oil pipelines, freight trains and government buildings, including 7 August 2005 attack on oil pipelines in Assam. ULFA carried out a bombing and destruction of a five million-liter petrol reservoir at Digboi refinery in Tinsukia, with an estimated property loss of Rs 200million. On the same day they also damaged a gas pipeline in the oil district of Tinsukia.
Recruitment
In the initial years of the ULFA movement (when it used to enjoy widespread public support in both urban and rural areas of Assam among the indigenous Assamese people), cadres were recruited from rural areas as well as from many towns in Lower Assam, Northern and Upper Assam and middle Assam districts. One of the most popular ULFA leader of all time, the late Heerak Jyoti Mahanta hailed from a place which is just a few kilometres from Guwahati. However, with the elite upper caste Assamese urban middle class becoming increasingly sceptical of ULFA's method of functioning, the ULFA targeted the remote villages and the predominantly backward areas of predominantly marginalised indigenous communities for recruitment. According to intelligence sources, the Paresh Baruah faction of the Ulfa, which have been continuously raising its voice against the ongoing peace process being initiated by the Arabinda Rajkhowa faction, is engaged in a massive recruitment drive in the rural areas of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur and Nalbari districts of Assam. The Ulfa also has strong following among the Naga people in Assam.
Political activities
After 1985 and before it was banned in 1990, ULFA was credited in the media with many public activities. It has continued a public discourse of sorts through the local media (newspapers), occasionally publishing its position on political issues centred around the nationality question. It has participated in public debates with public figures from Assam. During the last two local elections, the ULFA had called for boycotts. Media reports suggest that it used its forces to intimidate activists and supporters of the then-ruling parties (Congress and AGP respectively).
Extortion
The ULFA is credited with some bank robberies during its initial stages. Now it is widely reported to extort businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians for collecting funds. In 1997, the Chief Minister of Assam accused Tata Tea of paying the medical bills of the ULFA cultural secretary Pranati Deka at a Mumbai hospital.
Other criminal activities
The ULFA is involved in other organised criminal activities such as drug trafficking.
Peace Negotiations and Surrenders
Beginning in 1990, the Government of India has attempted to wean away members of the ULFA. This occurred due to the death of the ULFA's deputy Commander in chief Heerak Jyoti Mahanta on 31 December 1991. He had opposed surrenders, but they began after his death. The group has been meeting more local opposition as residents are tired of the violence and disruption, and some energy has gone out of the movement.
In 1992 a large section of second-rung leaders and members surrendered to government authorities. These former members were allowed to retain their weapons to defend against their former colleagues; they were offered bank loans without any liabilities to help them re-integrate into society. This loose group, now called SULFA, has become an important element in the armed politics and business of Assam.
The total number of ULFA militants to have laid down arms has gone up to 8,718. 4,993 cadres surrendered between 1991 and 1998. 3,435 surrendered between 1998 and 2005, when a new policy to deal with the ULFA was unveiled. On 24 January 2012, one of northeast India's biggest surrender ceremonies took place in Assam's main city of Guwahati, when a total of 676 militants laid down their weapons. In 2020, 1,675 militants of ULFA(I) and allied militant groups surrendered.
In 2003, ULFA had put forward a set of three preconditions for talks and negotiations with the Indian government. Thought government had rejected these preconditions. The preconditions were:
The talks should be held in a third country.
The talks should be held under United Nations supervision.
The agenda of the talks should include the independence of Assam.
In 2004, the ULFA dropped the first two preconditions and offered to talk with the government. The Government of India was not ready to negotiate on the issue of Independence. Still some progress was made when the ULFA formed a "People's Consultative Group" in September 2005 to prepare the grounds for an eventual negotiation between the government and ULFA, which the government has welcomed. In a sustained operation launched by Indian Army inside a National Park in Dibru Saikhowa, ULFA lost its hides and camps, important leaders and cadres. The group came to the negotiating table in 2005.
According to the India Times, talks were first held in December 2005 at the residence of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
There were three rounds of peace talks with the 11-member People's Consultative Group (PCG), headed by noted Assamese writer Indira Goswami, leading to a temporary truce in August 2006. However the truce broke down by 23 September of the same year as ULFA continued with its violent activities against civil population mainly tea estates and oil pipelines. It also violated ceasefire as it lobbed grenades on Army columns during the ceasefire period.
On 24 June 2008, some leaders and cadres of the A and C companies of ULFA declared unilateral ceasefire at a press meet held at Amarpur in Tinsukia district. They declared the ceasefire to pressure the top brass of ULFA to sit on negotiation table with the Government of India. But the top brass of ULFA expelled the leaders of 28 Battalion led by Mrinal Hazarika and Jiten Dutta (who had managed to escape from the cordon of Indian Army in Dibru Saikhowa National Park). The group later renamed as ULFA ( Pro-talk).
Lt Bijoy Chinese alias Bijoy Das, Commander of 28th Battalion also surrendered to state authorities in 2013.
Between 2009 and 2018, entire leadership of ULFA was either Captured or surrendered to the government thus leading to disbanding of the all ULFA battalions, besides only part of 27th battalion renamed as Kapili Gut remained. Currently, there are no commanders other than Paresh Baruah. All the others have been downgraded to staff and workers.
Links to China
The leftover faction of ULFA has allegedly been using China for shelter following expulsion from both Burma and Bangladesh.
See also
Operation Bajrang
Insurgency in Northeast India
People's Consultative Group
Sanjukta Mukti Fouj
List of terrorist organisations in India
Secret killings of Assam
List of top ULFA leaders
References
Footnotes
External links
ULFA Archived home page
Bloody Tea - Program on Aljazeera telecast beginning 30 May 2007. On YouTube: Part 1, Part 2. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
ULFA - Terrorist Group from Assam from South Asia Terrorism Portal
Assam at GlobalSecurity.org
Report on the most recent ULFA attack on poor migrant workers, January 2007
"ULFA cadres went to Pak via Bangla for training in explosives, say Assam cops" - article in Yahoo! India News dated 15 June 2006
"Media gag must go, journalists tell ULFA" - article in Yahoo! India News dated 15 June 2006
"'Respect right to freedom of expression':Media to ULFA" - article in Yahoo! India News dated 15 June 2006
"Assam on Red Alert following fresh ULFA strike" - article in Yahoo! India News dated 12 June 2006
"Market blast kills at least 4 in Indian northeast" - article in Yahoo! India News dated 12 June 2006
"Bomb kills 10 at India Independence Parade" - article in New York Times dated 15 August 2004
Assam: How Ulfa terrorism altered demographic pattern dated 15 August 2012
sandhikhyan - The e-Magazine of ULFA (Protalk)
Wayback Machine
Banned socialist parties
Politics of Assam
Organisations based in Assam
Organisations designated as terrorist by India
Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist
Terrorism in Assam
Assamese nationalism
Left-wing militant groups in India
National liberation movements
Sivasagar
1979 establishments in Assam |
427065 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan%20Navara | Nissan Navara | The Nissan Navara is a nameplate used for Nissan pickup trucks with D21, D22, D40 and D23 model codes. The nameplate has been used in Australia, New Zealand, Central America, South America, Asia, Europe, and South Africa. In North, Central and South America and some selected markets, it is marketed as the Nissan Frontier or Nissan NP300.
After more than ten years with the D21, Nissan unveiled the similar sized D22. It was replaced with the bigger, taller, longer D40 mid-size pickup. In 2014, Nissan released its successor, the D23, for international markets other than the U.S. and Canada. For these markets, it received the D41 Frontier in 2021 to replace the D40.
The Navara gets its name from the Navarre region of northern Spain. The European version was built at the Nissan Motor Ibérica factory in Barcelona.
D21 series (1985)
The D21 generation was the successor to the Datsun 720, sold as the Nissan Datsun Truck in Japan. The name Navara was used in some markets such as Australia / New Zealand.
Unlike previous generations, this model was available worldwide in two body styles. The "A" body was designed in Japan, and was available in single or dual cab variants, while the "S" body King Cab was designed in the United States, at Nissan's styling studios in San Diego, California. Each version had unique front styling, with the American version having a different bonnet, and wider flared front guards. In a few countries, such as Australia, both versions were sold. This was also assembled in Greece for the local market, where it was marketed as the Nissan Pickup and King Cab.
First generation (D22; 1997)
The D22 is a compact size pick up truck manufactured from 1997 to current, Nissan continue to build the D22 as a cheaper alternative to the D40 in many markets. Originally planned to follow the D21 Hard Body in being designed by Nissan Design International in La Jolla, CA, design of the D22 was reluctantly given to Japan during the 1994–1995 period. This was due to NDI being busy with many design projects for concepts and models, such as the Quest (VX54 II), Altima (L30), and Maxima (A32.5). Design of an updated D22 was eventually given to NDI in 1998.
North America
US production of the Frontier at the Smyrna, Tennessee plant began in 1997 with a 2-door regular cab and 2-door King Cab. A 4-door version of the D22 was designed and developed during 1997–1998, being first produced in April 1999 and launched in May 1999 in the US as the 2000 Frontier Crew Cab. Engines: Petrol (KA24DE) and Diesel (TD27) (2wd and 4wd) with 5-speed manual transmission. These models were also exported to Central and South America.
A special Desert Runner model was offered in 1999 for the 2000 MY. It was a 2WD King Cab model built on the 4WD frame, which gave it a boost in ride height, larger tires, and a 4- or 5-speed transmission. For 2001 the Desert Runner got a new look and a supercharged version of the V6 engine.
Facelift
In February 2000 at the Chicago Auto Show, Nissan introduced a facelifted D22 Frontier for 2001, with bolder styling in an effort to make it more appealing to younger buyers in its second generation. The regular cab would be discontinued after the 2001 MY. Sales and production started in North America, with Crew Cab and King Cab versions and new grille, bumper, headlights, taillights. Other body changes included built in fender flares and tailgates.
The D22s badged as "Frontier" had different grille, tailgate details and interior in contrast to the D22s badged as "Navara".
The D22 was no longer sold in Japan after 2002. Due to incompatible taxation rules and plummeting popularity of pickup trucks in Japan, Nissan discontinued it in their home market with no replacement afterwards, a fate shared by many of its competitors there.
The Egyptian plant exports to the Middle East, and a South African plant to African countries. Mexican production started in 2008: D22 truck Single Cab Chassis and Long Bed (2WD or 4WD, 2.4-litre petrol or diesel), Crew Cab (2WD and petrol) called the D22 Pickup.
In 2009, the D22 was updated with redesigned exterior door handles.
In June 2017, Peugeot announced to produce the Peugeot Pick-Up for Northern African states. It is equipped with a 2.5-litre inline-four turbo-diesel, producing and , 5-speed manual transmission, rear wheel drive or all-wheel drive, with optional gear reduction. It is a badge engineered version of the Dongfeng Rich, which has a partnership with PSA. It comes as a Crew Cab (5 passengers) short bed (1.40 m x 1.39 m cargo area) version (5.08 m in length) with a payload of 815 kg. Market introduction started in September 2017.
Australia
For the Australian market, the D22 Navara ran as a series 1 from the end of the D21 until 2001, when a series 2 was released with a new ZD30 Diesel engine and updated front end. The ZD30 powered D22's were fairly reliable unlike the Patrol counterparts, but were replaced in 2007 with an upgraded Common Rail 2.5L Diesel engine. The D22 Navara was run in parallel with the larger D40 until 2015. Both were replaced by the D23 Navara - locally known as the NP300 Navara as of 2015.
Brazil
The Brazilian Nissan plant started production around 2002 (Crew Cab Diesel 2WD or 4WD, five-speed manual, or single cab 2WD diesel. Only for Mexican market: petrol 2.4-litre manufactured in Mexico) and it was exported to Argentina (all Brazilian versions) and Mexico (Crew Cab, petrol 2.4-litre, 2WD, five-speed manual).
Bolivia
Nissan Bolivia imported from Japan the Nissan Frontier D22 Crew Cab, 2.4-litre petrol or diesel, 4WD. Imported from Mexico, the D22 Crew Cab and single cab long bed, petrol 2WD. Some Frontiers were gray imported from the US. These were V6 with automatic transmission for private importers.
Chile
In Chile, the D22 was marketed as the "Nissan Terrano" (a name previously used in the WD21 SUV) due to Kia already using the "Frontier" moniker in its Bongo minivan series. It was sold from 1998 to 2014 and according to the National Automobile Association of Chile it was the most sold automobile in 2010. The facelifted "Navara" version arrived in 2003, in 2.4L petrol, 2.5L turbo diesel, 3.0L turbo diesel and 3.2L diesel. Even with the unveiling of the D40 Navara in 2008, it continued to be sold as a cheaper and more work-oriented alternative, outselling the D40. Starting in 2012, all D22 models were imported from Mexico replacing the Japanese model's injection pump with a common rail fuel-injection system, among other changes and the 3.0L and 3.2L models were discontinued. The D22 was replaced by the Nissan D23 "NP300" in 2015.
Engines
Nissan first offered the D22 with a four-cylinder engine, the KA24DE, but added the V6 engine, the VG33E in 1999. In Australia the D22 had the KA24E till 1999, then changed to KA24DE option that year. A 3.0-litre V6 was introduced in June 2000. A supercharged version of the 3.3-litre V6 became available with introduction of the facelifted 2001 models. In February 2003, 4x4 models received a larger 3.3-litre V6 (available only with a 5-speed manual), while 4x2 models continued with the 3.0 (with manual or automatic transmissions). The V6 was dropped in 2005, leaving the 2.5-litre turbo-diesel as the only available engine.
The first series of D22s had larger (QD32) 3.2-litre normally aspirated diesel engines producing 75 kW. It also had a (NA20S) 2.0-litre petrol SOHC 8 valve engine producing 75 kW.
Safety
The African version of the NP300 received 0 stars for adult occupants and 2 stars for infants from Global NCAP in 2018 (similar to Latin NCAP 2013).
Gallery
International names
Big M Frontier (Thailand, 1998–2001)
Datsun (Japan)
Didsun or Datsun (Persian Gulf countries)
Fiera (Bolivia)
Frontier (USA, Canada, Philippines, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil and Thailand, 2001–2007)
Navara (Europe and Australasia)
NP300 (Mexico, some European markets; in Mexico "Frontier" is a luxury trim of the NP300)
NP300 Hardbody (South Africa)
Pick Up (Europe, Central and South America, Africa, Asia)
Terrano (Chile)
Skystar (Turkey, facelift Navara)
Winner (Middle East) (Crew Cab only)
Rebadged versions
Dongfeng/ZNA Rich (D22 pre-facelift)
Bhamo Pickup (Myanmar)
Giad Pickup (Sudan)
Peugeot Pick-Up (Africa)
Second generation (D40; 2004)
The D40 model was introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show. It uses the new Nissan F-Alpha platform and exterior body styling resembles that of the full-size Nissan Titan.
The new truck has a fully boxed ladder frame. The wheelbase is with a overall length. (wheelbase and length for 4 door with 6 foot bed 139.9 in. /219.4 in.) Towing capacity is . A 4.0-litre VQ-family V6, the VQ40DE, is the standard engine in North America, and it produces and of torque. Also available is the QR25DE four-cylinder engine, which is also found in the Nissan Altima. It produces and of torque. A six-speed manual is standard with a five-speed automatic optional. Both rear and four-wheel drive are available. Traction control and hill-descent control are also available.
The Frontier is called Navara when sold in Europe. The engine is a 2.5-litre YD25DDTi diesel, with or . The stronger version has of torque.
Suzuki sold a Frontier-based mid-sized pickup produced by Nissan North America at the Smyrna plant. The truck debuted at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show as the Suzuki Equator. For 2009, the Frontier received a facelift with more options, colours, and new wheels. The Nismo model was replaced by the PRO-4X model. Suzuki discontinued the Equator in 2013, as part of the shutdown of their American passenger car division.
In 2012, production in the United States was shifted from Smyrna, Tennessee to Canton, Mississippi.
Sales of the PRO-4X model continue in Mexico.
In 2014, Nissan released a concept truck with a 2.8-litre Inline-four engine Cummins Diesel engine paired with a ZF 8HP transmission.
Outside the U.S.
The Navara in Europe came with an updated Euro IV compliant engine on post September 2006 vehicles. It has four trim levels, the S, SE, Outlaw and Aventura. The Aventura trim package is equipped with leather upholstery, dual zone climate control, six-stacker CD/MP3 changer and satellite navigation as standard.
In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America, the D40 Navara has a few differences from the UK versions. There are two engines available, 2.5-litre turbocharged diesel engine and the V6 petrol. The 2.5 diesel engine Mid Power version (2WD and 4WD base models) produces at 4000 rpm and at 2000 rpm, High Power version (4WD upgrade models) produces at 4000 rpm and at 2000 rpm. The V6 produces at 5600 rpm of power and at 4000 rpm. Both engines come with a standard five-speed automatic, with a six-speed manual available for the diesel. These models do not have leather, climate control or satellite navigation system like their UK versions.
The 2008 model of the Navara was launched on 2 July. Changes included a new style of alloy wheels, Bluetooth as standard, side work lights and indicators on the wing mirrors.
The 2008 Single Cab became available in Thailand 6 March. The 2.5-litre engine reduces the torque output from to at 2,000 rpm. This model has 15-inch wheels. Power steering is standard. Also available are electric mirrors and central power locking as optional extra. Nissan planned to sell the single cab and began to export worldwide at the same month. Nissan also continues to sell the D22 pickups with minor updates for a lower price (now called as Frontier LCV).
The Nissan Navara Double Cab became available in Malaysia on 5 November 2008. It is available with a 2.5-litre diesel engine producing and , only with a five-speed automatic. A year later the six-speed manual version became available. The D22 series Nissan Frontier remains on sale in Malaysia with a manual transmission.
In November 2008, Nissan Thailand Released the all-new Nissan Navara Calibre with a 144 PS (106 kW) at 4000 rpm 36.3 kg·m (356 N·m; 263 ft·lbf) at 2000 rpm available with a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission.
Facelift
For North American Frontiers model year 2009, and European Navaras model year 2010, Nissan updated the shape of some minor components.
The 2010 Nissan Navara facelift was powered by a new 3.0-litre V9X V6 turbodiesel engine producing and at 2,500 rpm and a revised 2.5-litre dCi unit (YD25DDTi High Power) which produces and of torque. The 2011 Nissan Navara and Pathfinder facelift V6 develop and of torque between 1,700 rpm and 2,500 rpm and the VQ40DE remains the same with the at 5600 rpm; at 4000 rpm.
There are subtle changes to the headlights and bonnet. The V-shaped grille shell is less pronounced and the bumper is rounder and projects 80 mm further forward, but the six-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels or optional 18-inch alloy wheels are the biggest change.
Inside the new Navara (top-of-the-line model), Nissan designers have specified softer materials of a better quality for the dash, seats and interior moulds. The centre console and fascia designs have been revised, as have the instrument binnacle layout and door trims. Additional bright/gloss finish surfacing is used throughout the cabin. The six-stack CD audio system or the TV Navigation entertainment console is upgraded with speed-sensing volume, MP3 compatibility and Bluetooth connectivity for the (six disc CD audio system). Other new or revised features include dual-zone climate control, remote audio/Bluetooth/trip computer controls on the steering wheel, trip computer, external temperature gauge, speed-sensitive variable windscreen wipers and 'follow me home' lighting. The electric mirrors now fold in fully for car washes or parking in narrow spaces.
Importantly, the upgraded Navara (diesel only) gains stability control, which Nissan calls Vehicle Dynamics Control and all petrol V6 and diesel variants gain side-impact and side-curtain airbags to complement the dual front airbags.
Nissan updated the Frontier for the 2020 model year with a new 3.8-litre V6 and a nine-speed automatic, with the manual transmission being discontinued. The 6-speed manual is available in Canada only on the Pro-4X model. The engine replaces both the outgoing 4.0L V6 and the 2.5L I4, and produces , although torque remains the same. The lineup has also been revised: the Frontier King Cab model will offer both rear-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive configurations on the S and SV models; the Crew Cab model, meanwhile, extends rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive to the SV short bed and SV long bed trims, while the Pro-4X gets four-wheel drive exclusively. Power windows and locks are now standard on all trim levels.
Safety
The D40 Navara has undergone Euro NCAP crash testing along with the Mitsubishi Triton and Isuzu D-Max, and received one star with a strikeout; however, after retesting with upgraded computer software it went from the lowest in the group to the highest (overall) with 3 stars. Among the problems discovered during the test was delayed airbag deployment and insufficient seatbelt restraint, which were solved with the software upgrade.
IIHS
2018
The 2018 Frontier was tested by the IIHS:
2021
The 2021 Frontier was tested by the IIHS:
Awards and recognition
2021 Nissan Frontier is an Edmunds.com 2021 Top-Rated Midsize Truck.
2011 Nissan Frontier received the highest rating for Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Front, Side, and Roof Strength Evaluations.
2011 Nissan Frontier was an Edmunds.com 2011 Top Recommended Compact Truck.
2010 Nissan Frontier received the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Highest Side-impact Safety Rating (5 stars).
2010 Nissan Frontier Received J.D. Power and Associates Highest Ranked Midsize Pickup in Initial Quality Award.
Third generation (D23; 2014)
On 11 June 2014, Nissan unveiled the third generation Navara, codenamed the D23 and released as the NP300 Navara. Series production commenced at a new $360 million (~$ in ) plant in Samut Prakan, Thailand in July 2014 and deliveries began in August. The D23 is not available in the US or Canada in favour of the larger D41 Frontier, replacing the D40. The European model will feature a 2.3-litre engine from the Nissan NV400.
After the release of the D23, which is only available with 4-cylinder engines, the D40 remained on production only with the V6 and automatic transmission.
For the 2018 model year, the Navara is equipped with Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology which include an Around View Monitor and a blind-spot monitoring system.
Safety
The Latin American 2022 Frontier has disc brakes on all wheels.
Latin NCAP
The Navara in its most basic Latin American configuration with 2 airbags received 4 stars for adult occupants and 4 stars for infants from Latin NCAP in 2019.
2020 facelift
On 5 November 2020, Nissan unveiled the facelifted D23 Navara along with the introduction of the Pro-4X trim level. The engines remain the same, but active safety equipment has been added. The facelifted model goes on sale in Australia in the first quarter of 2021.
The pre-facelift model stays produced in Barcelona plant for European markets until December 16, 2021. The reasons are declining sales of the Navara in the region and the fact the plant has been shut down.
In March 2022, Nissan started producing the facelifted Frontier in Argentina. As of 2022, 34% of its parts are locally made and 65% of its production (including the Renault Alaskan) is exported.
Nissan Navara EnGuard Concept
The EnGuard concept is a modified D23 Navara pitched directly towards emergency rescue organisations. Unveiled at the 2016 Hannover Motor Show, the concept is notable for being the first prototype with a Nissan designed and developed portable battery pack. Other features that cater for rescue organisations include an onboard DJI Phantom 4 drone, an increased ride height, strobe lights and a fully adjustable suspension system.
Mercedes-Benz X-Class
On 25 October 2016, Mercedes-Benz revealed 2 concept pickup trucks previewing the upcoming joint-built pickup to be called "X-Class". The X-Class is based on the platform of the D23 Navara and is built in Barcelona, Spain with planned production in Córdoba, Argentina, however, the latter was cancelled due to a disagreement between Nissan and Mercedes-Benz regarding production costs as well as that country's economic situation. Production of the X-Class was discontinued in 2020 due to poor sales.
Renault Alaskan
Renault revealed the production version of the Alaskan Pickup Concept which will be based on the current Navara platform. The Alaskan was shown alongside other Renault Models at the 2016 Paris Motor Show in October.
From October 2016, the Alaskan is sold in Colombia. The pick-up was sold throughout Europe in 2017.
Production commences in Santa Isabel, Argentina from October 2020.
Dongfeng Rich 6
In October 2018, the Dongfeng Rich 6 was launched as a more premium pickup option under the Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. brand and produced by Zhengzhou Nissan alongside the Chinese market Navara. The Dongfeng Rich 6 features a redesigned front end resulting in an extra 35 mm of length with the rest of the vehicle body being shared directly with the Navara.
Motorsports
The D40 Frontier platform is currently being used as a Stage Rally vehicle by the NISMO Stuff Racing effort currently competing in the Coupe Rallye Quebec series. This team has been racing the current D40 Frontier for over two years with eight stage rallies and two hill climbs under its belt having never suffered a mechanical failure of any kind.
Nissan South Africa campaigned both the D22 and D40 platforms very successfully in the local ABSA Off-Road Series, winning eight consecutive driver's championships (2001 to 2008). The vehicles were prepared by Hallspeed South Africa. Hallspeed also developed and sold vehicles to the Belgian-based company Overdrive. For several years Overdrive have competed with the Hallspeed built vehicles in the European rally Raid series, including The Dakar.
Sales
References
External links
Nissan pages: U.S, Indonesia
Nissan Navara 2008 EuroNCAP results
Navara
Cars introduced in 1997
2000s cars
2010s cars
2020s cars
Pickup trucks
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
All-wheel-drive vehicles
Off-road vehicles
Euro NCAP pick-ups
Global NCAP pick-ups
Latin NCAP pick-ups
Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States
Cars powered by longitudinal 4-cylinder engines
Cars of Brazil
Cars of Argentina
Cars of Mexico |
427067 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss%20mercenaries | Swiss mercenaries | The Swiss mercenaries () were a powerful infantry force constituted by professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of the kings of France, throughout the early modern period of European history, from the Late Middle Ages into the Renaissance. Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss' advantages. Switzerland's military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity; the principal remnant of the practice is the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican.
Ascendancy
During the Late Middle Ages, mercenary forces grew in importance in Europe, as veterans from the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) and other conflicts came to see soldiering as a profession rather than a temporary activity, and commanders sought long-term professionals rather than temporary feudal levies to fight their wars. Swiss mercenaries () were valued throughout the kingdoms and states of medieval Europe for the power of their determined mass attack in deep columns with the spear, the pike, and halberd. Hiring them was made even more attractive because entire ready-made Swiss mercenary contingents could be obtained by simply contracting with their local governments, the various Swiss cantons—the cantons had a form of militia system in which the soldiers were bound to serve and were trained and equipped to do so.
The warriors of the Swiss cantons had gradually developed a reputation throughout Europe as skilled soldiers, due to their successful defense of their liberties against their Austrian Habsburg overlords, starting as early as the late 13th century, including remarkable upset victories over heavily armoured knights at Morgarten and Laupen. This was furthered by later successful campaigns of regional expansion, mainly into the Italian Peninsula. By the 15th century, they were greatly valued as mercenary soldiers, particularly following their series of notable victories in the Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) in the latter part of the century. The standing mercenary army of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, known as the "Black Army" (1458–1490), also contained Swiss pikemen units, who were held in high regard by the king. The native German term Reisläufer literally means "one who goes to war" and is derived from the Middle High German Reise, meaning "military campaign".
The Swiss mercenaries, with their head-down attack in huge columns with the long pike, refusal to take prisoners, and consistent record of victory, were greatly feared and admired—for instance, the Italian diplomat and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli addressed their system of combat at length in the twelfth chapter of his literary masterpiece, The Prince (1513–1532). Although often referred to as "pikemen", the Swiss mercenary units also contained halberdiers as well until several decades into the 16th century, as well as a small number of skirmishers armed with bows, crossbows, or early firearms to precede the rapid advance of the attack column.
The young men who went off to fight, and sometimes die, in foreign service had several incentives—limited economic options in the still largely rural cantons; adventure; pride in the reputation of the Swiss as soldiers; and finally what military historian Sir Charles Oman describes as a pure love of combat and warfighting in and of itself, forged by two centuries of conflict.
Landsknechts and the Italian Wars
Until roughly 1490, the Swiss had a virtual monopoly on pike-armed mercenary service. However, after that date, the Swiss mercenaries were increasingly supplanted by imitators, chiefly the Landsknechts. Landsknechts were Germans (at first largely from Swabia) and became proficient at Swiss tactics, even surpassing them with their usage of the Zweihänder to crush opposing pike formations. This produced a force that filled the ranks of European armies with mercenary regiments for decades. After 1515 the Swiss pledged themselves to neutrality, other than regarding Swiss soldiers serving in the ranks of the Royal French army. The Landsknecht, however, would continue to serve any paymaster, even, at times, enemies of the Holy Roman Emperor (and Landsknechts at times even fought each other on the battlefield). The Landsknecht often assumed the multi-coloured and striped clothing of the Swiss.
The Swiss were not flattered by the imitation, and the two bodies of mercenaries immediately became bitter rivals over employment and on the battlefield, where they were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Great Italian Wars. Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a simple "push of pike", the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage, and known to Italian onlookers as "bad war". Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, with very many dead and wounded on both sides.
Despite the competition from the Landsknechts, and imitation by other armies (most notably the Spanish, which adopted pike-handling as one element of its tercios), the Swiss fighting reputation reached its zenith between 1480 and 1525, and indeed the Battle of Novara, fought by Swiss mercenaries, is seen by some as the perfect Swiss battle. Even the close defeat at the terrible Battle of Marignano in 1515, the "Battle of Giants", was seen as an achievement of sorts for Swiss arms due to the ferocity of the fighting and the good order of their withdrawal.
Nonetheless, the repulse at Marignano presaged the decline of the Swiss form of pike warfare—eventually, the two-century run of Swiss victories ended in 1522 with disaster at the Battle of Bicocca when combined Spanish tercios and Landsknecht forces decisively defeated them using superior tactics, fortifications, artillery, and new technology (i.e. handguns). At Bicocca, the Swiss mercenaries, serving the French king, attempted repeatedly to storm an impregnable defensive position without artillery or missile support, only to be mown down by small-arms and artillery fire. Never before had the Swiss suffered such heavy losses while being unable to inflict much damage upon their foe.
Organization and tactics
The early contingents of Swiss mercenary pikemen organized themselves rather differently than the cantonal forces. In the cantonal forces, their armies were usually divided into the Vorhut (vanguard), Gewalthut (center) and Nachhut (rearguard), generally of different sizes. In mercenary contingents, although they could conceivably draw up in three similar columns if their force was of sufficient size, more often they simply drew up in one or two huge columns which deployed side by side, forming the center of the army in which they served. Likewise, their tactics were not very similar to those used by the Swiss cantons in their brilliant tactical victories of the Burgundian Wars and Swabian War, in which they relied on maneuver at least as much as the brute force of the attack columns. In mercenary service they became much less likely to resort to outmaneuvering the enemy and relied more on a straightforward steamroller assault of the phalanx formation.
Such deep pike columns could crush lesser infantry in close combat and were invulnerable to the effects of a cavalry charge, but they were vulnerable to firearms if they could be immobilized (as seen in the Battle of Marignano). The Swiss mercenaries did deploy bows, crossbows, handguns and artillery of their own, however these always remained very subsidiary to the pike and halberd square. Despite the proven armour-penetration capability of firearms, they were also very inaccurate, slow-loading, and susceptible to damp conditions, and did not fit well with the fast-paced attack tactics used by the Swiss mercenary pike forces (the Spanish invention of the armor piercing arquebus leading to the later tercios formation changed the optimal war tactics).
The Swiss remained primarily pikemen throughout the sixteenth century, but after that period they adopted similar infantry formations and tactics to other units in the armies in which they served. Accordingly, they began to deviate from their previously unique tactics, and they took a normal place in the battle line amongst the other infantry units.
End of military ascendancy
In the end, as proven at Marignano and Bicocca, the mass pike attack columns of the Swiss mercenaries proved to be too vulnerable to gunpowder weapons as firearms technology advanced, especially arquebusiers and artillery deployed on prepared ground (e.g., earthworks) and properly supported by other arms. These arquebusiers and heavy cannons scythed down the close-packed ranks of the Swiss squares in bloody heaps—at least, as long as the Swiss attack could be bogged down by earthworks or cavalry charges, and the vulnerable arquebusiers were backed up by melee infantry—pikemen, halberdiers, and/or swordsmen (Spanish sword-and-buckler men or the Doppelsöldner wielding the Zweihänder)—to defend them if necessary from the Swiss in close combat.
Other stratagems could also take the Swiss pikemen at a disadvantage. For instance, the Spanish rodeleros, also known as sword-and-buckler men, armed with steel rodelas and espadas and often wearing a helmet and a breastplate, were much better armed and armored for man-to-man close quarters combat. Accordingly, they could defeat the Swiss pike square by dashing under their unwieldy pikes and stabbing them. However, this tactic operated in support of allied pike squares and thus required the opposing pike square to be fully engaged in the chaos of the push of pike. Swiss pike columns that retained good formation were often able to beat back Spanish rodeleros with impunity, such as in the Battle of Seminara, in which the Swiss pike were heavily outnumbered.
After the Battle of Pavia
Despite the end of their supremacy , the Swiss pike-armed mercenaries continued to be amongst the most capable close order infantry in Europe throughout the remainder of the sixteenth century. This was demonstrated by their battlefield performances in the service of the French monarchy during the French Wars of Religion, in particular at the Battle of Dreux, where a block of Swiss pikemen held the Huguenot army until the Catholic cavalry were able to counterattack.
Service in the French army
Swiss soldiers continued to serve as valued mercenaries with a number of European armies from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, in spite of extensive changes in tactics, drill and weapons. The most consistent and largest-scale employer of these troops was the French army, where the Swiss formed an elite part of the infantry. The Swiss Guards regiment, the most senior of the twelve Swiss mercenary regiments in French service, was essentially identical to the French Guards in organization and equipment, other than wearing a red uniform as opposed to the blue coats of the French corps. The Swiss adopted the musket in increasingly large numbers as the seventeenth century wore on, and abandoned the pike, their ancient trademark, altogether at around the same time as other troops in the French army, circa 1700. They also served in the New World: Samuel De Champlain's map of the Île Sainte-Croix (Saint Croix Island) settlement shows a barracks for the Swiss.
The Swiss mercenaries were recruited according to contracts (capitulations) between the French Monarchy and Swiss cantons or individual noble families. By 1740 more than 12,000 Swiss soldiers were in French service. During the remainder of the eighteenth century, Swiss numbers varied according to need, reaching a peak of 20,000 during the Austrian War of Succession and falling to 12,300 after 1763. In addition to the direct military value of employing Swiss in French service, a political purpose was achieved through the extension of French diplomatic and commercial influence over the neighbouring cantons.
The Swiss soldier was paid at a higher level than his French counterpart but was subject to a harsher disciplinary code, administered by his own officers. The basis of recruitment varied according to regiment – in some units recruits were drawn exclusively from the Swiss inhabitants of specific cantons while in others German or French volunteers were accepted to make up shortfalls in the number of available Swiss. During the latter part of the 18th century, increasing reliance was placed on recruiting from the "children of the regiment" – the sons of Swiss soldiers who had married French women and stayed in France after their term of service had ended. The effect was to partially break down barriers between the Swiss and the French population amongst whom they were garrisoned. On the eve of the French Revolution the log-book of one Swiss regiment expressed concern that Franco-Swiss recruits were becoming prone to desertion as general discontent spread. French-speaking Swiss soldiers were generally to prove more susceptible to revolutionary propaganda than their German-speaking colleagues.
At the outbreak of the French Revolution the Swiss troops were, as at least nominal foreigners, still considered more reliable than their French counterparts in a time of civil unrest. Accordingly, Swiss regiments made up a significant proportion of the royal troops summoned to Paris by Louis XVI in early July 1789. A detachment of Swiss grenadiers from the Salis-Samade Regiment was sent to reinforce the garrison of the Bastille prison shortly before it was besieged by the mob. The Swiss and other royal troops were subsequently withdrawn to their frontier garrisons. Over the next years The Ernest Regiment in particular faced a series of clashes with local citizens, culminating in a two-day battle with Marseilles' militia in 1791. This indication of growing popular resentment against the Swiss caused the Canton of Berne to recall the disarmed regiment. Another Swiss regiment, the Chateauvieux, played a major part in the Nancy affair (mutiny) of 1790 and 23 of its soldiers were executed, after trial by their own Swiss officers. The Swiss Guard however remained loyal and was massacred on 10 August 1792, when the mob attacked the Tuileries Palace, although Louis XVI had already left the building. The eleven Swiss regiments of line infantry were disbanded under a decree passed by the French Assembly on 20 August 1792. Over three thousand Swiss soldiers transferred individually to French units and continued in service. However, many of the rank and file returned to Switzerland, where measures had to be taken to provide them with relief and reintegration into the rural society from which most had been drawn.
Following the occupation of Switzerland by French revolutionary forces in 1798, a project to raise six demi-brigades of Swiss infantry for French service was initiated. However, recruitment proved difficult and by May 1799 only a quarter of the intended establishment of 18,000 had been raised. Napoleon authorized the recruitment of a Swiss infantry regiment for French service in July 1805. A further three infantry regiments were created in October 1807, each including an artillery company. He specified that this newly raised Swiss Corps should comprise only citizens of Switzerland without "mingling in deserters or other foreigners". The Swiss regiments fought well both in Spain (where they clashed at the Battle of Bailén with Swiss troops in the Spanish Army) and in Russia. During the retreat from Moscow Swiss losses amounted to 80% of their original numbers. The Swiss were allowed to keep the distinctive red coats which had distinguished them prior to 1792, with different facings identifying each regiment.
During the first Bourbon restoration of 1814–15, the grenadier companies of the by now under-strength four Swiss regiments undertook ceremonial guard duties in Paris. Upon Napoleon's return from Elba in 1815 the serving Swiss units were recalled to Switzerland on the grounds that a new contract signed with the government of Louis XVIII had now been rendered void. However, one composite regiment of Napoleon's Swiss veterans fought at Wavre during the Hundred Days. Upon the second restoration of the monarchy in 1815 two regiments of Swiss infantry were recruited as part of the Royal Guard, while a further four served as line troops. All six Swiss units were disbanded in 1830 following the final overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy.
Service in the Spanish Army
Another major employer of Swiss mercenaries from the later 16th century on was Spain. After the Protestant Reformation, Switzerland was split along religious lines between Protestant and Catholic cantons. Swiss mercenaries from the Catholic cantons were thereafter increasingly likely to be hired for service in the armies of the Spanish Habsburg superpower in the later 16th century. The first regularly embodied Swiss regiment in the Spanish army was that of Walter Roll of Uri (a Catholic canton) in 1574, for service in the Spanish Netherlands, and by the middle of the 17th century there were a dozen Swiss regiments fighting for the Spanish army. From the latter part of the 17th century these could be found serving in Spain itself or in its overseas possessions.
The Swiss units saw active service against Portugal, against rebellions in Catalonia, in the War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Polish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession (in the fighting in Italy), and against Britain in the American Revolutionary War. By the 1790s there were about 13,000 men making up the Swiss contingents in a total Spanish army of 137,000. The practice of recruiting directly from the Catholic cantons was however disrupted by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Recruiting agents substituted Germans, Austrians and Italians and in some regiments the genuine Swiss element dwindled to 100 or less.
Their final role in Spanish service was against the French in the Peninsular War, in which the five Swiss regiments (Ruttiman, Yann, Reding, Schwaler and Courten) mostly stayed loyal to their Spanish employers. At the Battle of Bailén, the Swiss regiments pressed into French service defected back to the Spanish Army under Reding. The year 1823 finally saw the end of Swiss mercenary service with the Spanish army.
The Swiss fighting in the ranks of the Spanish army generally followed its organization, tactics and dress. The Swiss regiments were however distinguished by their blue coats, in contrast to the white uniforms of the Spanish line infantry.
Service in the Dutch Army
The Dutch employed many Swiss units at various dates during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the early 18th century there were four regiments, and a ceremonial company of "Cent Suisses". They were mostly employed as garrison troops in peacetime, although the Republic sent Swiss regiments to Scotland in 1715 and 1745; in 1745, three battalions of the Swiss Hirtzel Regiment formed part of the Dutch contingent sent to serve in England as allies at the time of the Jacobite rising in Scotland that year. With the threat of a French invasion in 1748, four additional regiments were taken into service, but that year, the War of Austrian Succession ended and three of these additional regiments were retired from service. In 1749 a regiment of "Zwitsersche Guardes" (Swiss Guards) was raised, the recruits coming from the ranks of the existing Swiss infantry regiments; in 1787, these six regiments numbered a total of 9,600 men.
Swiss regiments were employed by both the Dutch Republic and the Dutch East India Company for service in the Cape Colony and the East Indies. In 1772, the Regiment Fourgeoud was sent to Surinam to serve against the Marrons in the Surinam jungle. A narrative of this campaign written by John Gabriel Stedman, was later published. In 1781, the Regiment De Meuron was hired for Dutch service and in 1784 the Regiment Waldner. De Meurons' regiment was captured by the British in Ceylon, than taken into British service and sent to Canada, where it fought in the War of 1812.
With the abdication of the stadhouder in 1795 and the forming of the Batavian Republic, the six Swiss regiments were disbanded in 1796. After the return of the Prince of Orange in 1813, four regiments of Swiss infantry, numbered 29 to 32 in the line, were raised, of which the 32nd Regiment served as a guard regiment performing guard duties at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam after 1815; however, these regiments were also disbanded in 1829.
Service in the British Army
In 1781, Charles-Daniel de Meuron, a former colonel of the French Swiss Guard, founded his own mercenary regiment under the name Regiment de Meuron, first serving the Dutch East India Company, and from 1796, the British East India Company. Under British service, they fought in the Mysore campaign of 1799, the Mediterranean and Peninsula campaigns. After being stationed in Britain the regiment was posted to Canada, where it served in the War of 1812. It was finally disbanded in 1816.
The Regiment de Watteville was a Swiss regiment founded by Louis de Watteville and recruited from regiments that served between 1799 and 1801 in the Austrian army but in British pay. The Swiss soldiers were then transferred to British service. They fought in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), mainly around the Mediterranean. They were based in Malta and then in Egypt from 1801 to 1803, fighting in Sicily and Naples. The regiment fought in the Battle of Maida in Italy in July 1806. Kept up to strength by Spanish and Portuguese recruits from 1811 to 1813, De Watteville's Regiment was involved in the Peninsular War in Spain, defending Cádiz during the Siege of Cádiz. The regiment sailed to Canada in 1813 to fight in the War of 1812. It saw service at Fort Erie and Oswego, before being disbanded in 1816.
Capitulations and treaties
During the period of formalization of the employment of Swiss mercenaries in organized bodies from the late 16th century on, customary capitulations existed between employing powers and the Swiss cantons or noble families assembling and supplying these troops. Such contracts would generally cover specific details such as the numbers, quality, pay rates and equipment of recruits. Provisions were commonly made that Swiss soldiers would only serve under officers of their own nationality, would be subject to Swiss laws, would carry their own flags and would not be employed in campaigns that would bring them into conflict with Swiss in the service of another country.
It has been claimed that such contracts might also contain a commitment that Swiss units would be returned if the confederation came under attack. However, surviving capitulations from the 16th and 17th centuries are not known to contain provisions to this effect.
With the passing of the amendment to the Swiss Constitution of 1874 banning the recruitment of Swiss citizens by foreign states, such contractual relations ceased. Military alliances had already been banned under the Swiss constitution of 1848, though troops still served abroad when obliged by treaties. One such example were the Swiss regiments serving under Francis II of the Two Sicilies, who defended Gaeta in 1860 during the Italian War of Unification. This marked the end of an era.
Modern times
Since 1859, only one mercenary unit has been permitted, the Vatican's Swiss Guard, which has been protecting the Pope for the last five centuries, dressed in colourful uniforms, supposedly drawn by Michelangelo, reminiscent of the Swiss mercenary's heyday. Despite its being prohibited, individual Swiss citizens carried on the tradition of foreign military service into the twentieth century. This included 800 Swiss volunteers who fought with the Republican International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, incurring heavy losses.
Swiss citizens also served in the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War, although purely on an individual and voluntary basis. At least 2,000 Swiss fought for Germany during the war, mostly from the German-speaking cantons of Bern and Zurich, and many of them had dual German nationality. Besides the Wehrmacht some also joined the SS, particularly the 6th mountain division. Due to Switzerland's neutral status, their allegiances were considered illegal and in 1943 the government decided that those who cooperated with Germany would be deprived of their nationality. By 1945, there were only 29 such cases. A number of Swiss citizens were taken prisoner by the Soviet Union while fighting on the Eastern Front.
The plot of George Bernard Shaw's comedy Arms and the Man (and of the operetta The Chocolate Soldier based on it) is focused on a fictional Swiss mercenary serving in the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War; there is, however, no evidence of actual such mercenaries in that war.
Notable Swiss mercenaries
Urs Graf
Franz Adam Karrer
See also
Military history of the Old Swiss Confederacy
Beresinalied
Mal du Suisse, a feeling of intense homesickness common with Swiss mercenaries
Swiss Army
References
Morison, Samuel Eliot, Samuel De Champlain, Father of New France, 1972, p44.
An old Dutch saying is: "Geen geld, geen Zwitsers", from the French "point d'argent, point de Suisse"; it translates to: "No money, no Swiss [mercenaries]", meaning that you need money in order to wage war.
Books
Ede-Borrett, Stephen, Swiss Regiments in the Service of France 1798-1815: Uniforms, Organization, Campaigns, Helion 2019
Führer, H. R., and Eyer, R. P. (eds.), Schweizer in "Fremden Diensten", 2006. In German.
Lienert, Meinrad, Schweizer Sagen und Heldengeschichten, 1915. In German.
Miller, Douglas, The Swiss at War, 1979.
Oman, Sir Charles, A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century, 1937.
Oman, Sir Charles, A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, rev. ed. 1960.
Richards, John, Landsknecht Soldier 1486–1550, 2002.
Schaufelberger, Walter, Der Alte Schweizer und Sein Krieg: Studien Zur Kriegführung Vornehmlich im 15. Jahrhundert, 1987 (in German).
Singer, P. W. "Corporate Warriors" 2003.
Taylor, Frederick Lewis, The Art of War in Italy, 1494–1529, 1921.
Wood, James B., The King's Army: Warfare, Soldiers and Society during the Wars of Religion in France, 1562–76, 1996.
Online
Films
Schweizer im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg (The Swiss in the Spanish Civil War), Director Richard Dindo, 1974 (English-language release 1982). In Swiss German with English sub-titles.
External links
500 Jahre Schlacht bei Hard, 1999?, on the SFwV SSGA website.
Ancient Tactics Tested: Swiss Pike and Ancient Phalanx.
1499–1999, 1999, 500th anniversary of the Swabian War.
Mercenary units and formations of the Early Modern era
Military history of Switzerland
Swiss people by occupation
Warfare of the early modern period
Warfare of the Middle Ages |
427097 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good%20Morning%20America | Good Morning America | Good Morning America (often abbreviated as GMA) is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. The Sunday edition was canceled in 1999; weekend editions returned on both Saturdays and Sundays on September 4, 2004. The weekday and Saturday programs airs from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. in all United States timezones (live in the Eastern Time Zone and on broadcast delay elsewhere across the country). The Sunday editions are an hour long and are transmitted to ABC's stations live at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, although stations in some media markets air them at different times. Viewers in the Pacific Time Zone receive an updated feed with a specialized opening and updated live reports. A third hour of the weekday broadcast aired from 2007 to 2008, exclusively on ABC News Now.
The program features news, interviews, weather forecasts, special-interest stories, and feature segments such as "Pop News" (featuring popular culture and entertainment news, and viral video), the "GMA Heat Index" (featuring a mix of entertainment, lifestyle and human-interest stories) and "Play of the Day" (featuring a selected viral video or television program clip). It is produced by ABC News and broadcasts from the Times Square Studios in New York City's Times Square district. The primary anchors are Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and former New York Giants defensive end and former Live co-host Michael Strahan with entertainment anchor Lara Spencer and weather anchor Ginger Zee.
Good Morning America has been the most watched morning show in total viewers and key demos each year since summer 2012. GMA generally placed second in the ratings, behind NBC's Today, from 1995 to 2012. It overtook its rival for a period from the early to mid-1980s with anchors David Hartman and Joan Lunden, from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s with Charles Gibson and Lunden, and in April 2012 with Roberts and Stephanopoulos.
Good Morning America won the first three Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Morning Program", sharing the inaugural 2007 award with Today and winning the 2008 and 2009 awards outright.
History
1975: The inaugural year
On January 6, 1975, ABC launched AM America in an attempt to compete with NBC's Today. The program was hosted by Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards, with Peter Jennings reading the news (Jennings had been a replacement for Bob Kennedy, who had been scheduled to be the program's newsreader, but died two months before the premiere from bone cancer). Because the show could not find an audience against Today (and its anchor team of Jim Hartz and Barbara Walters), ABC sought a new approach. The network found that one of its affiliates, WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, had been pre-empting AM America in favor of airing a locally produced show called The Morning Exchange.
Unlike AM America and Today, The Morning Exchange featured an easygoing and less dramatic approach by offering news and weather updates only at the top and bottom of every hour and used the rest of the time to discuss general-interest/entertainment topics. The Morning Exchange also established a group of regular guests who were experts in certain fields, including health, entertainment, consumer affairs and travel. Also unlike both the NBC and ABC shows, The Morning Exchange was not broadcast from a newsroom set but instead one that resembled a suburban living room.
In the process of screening the Cleveland morning program as a creative source, ABC also began looking at another local show, Good Morning!, which was produced by Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV. Good Morning! was very similar in format to The Morning Exchange, but with a lesser emphasis on news and weather. In fact, once the revamped ABC morning show took to the air late in 1975 under the title Good Morning America, WCVB station manager Bob Bennett accused ABC entertainment president Fred Silverman of deliberately stealing the title of Good Morning!; no legal cease and desist action was finalized against ABC in the matter, however. The launch of Good Morning America did result in the Boston morning show changing its name—to Good Day!. Currently, WCVB's morning news program is titled EyeOpener.
ABC took an episode of The Morning Exchange and used it as a television pilot. The format replaced AM America on Monday, as Good Morning America. The first cohosts were actor David Hartman and actress Nancy Dussault. Dussault was replaced in April 1977 by previously at KABC-TV The show's title is the same as the beginning of the chorus of Steve Goodman's song City of New Orleans.
For the first seven years, weather forecasts were presented by John Coleman, former chief meteorologist for ABC owned-and-operated station WLS-TV in Chicago, who left GMA in 1982 to start The Weather Channel with Landmark Communications CEO Frank Batten. Dave Murray (later chief meteorologist at KTVI in St. Louis) provided the forecasts for both Good Morning America and ABC's early morning news program ABC News This Morning from 1983 to 1986. In August 1986, he was replaced by Spencer Christian, who worked at WABC-TV in New York City and served as fill-in meteorologist for both Coleman and Murray whenever they were away on vacation or assignment.
1976–1989: Growth and change
The program's Nielsen ratings climbed slowly, but steadily throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s while Today experienced a slight slump in viewership, especially with Walters' decision to leave NBC for a job at ABC News. On August 30, 1976, Tom Brokaw began anchoring Today while the program began a search for a female co-host. Within a year, Today managed to beat back the Good Morning America ratings threat with Brokaw and new co-host Jane Pauley, featuring art and entertainment contributor Gene Shalit. Good Morning America continued to threaten Todays ratings dominance into the 1980s, especially after Brokaw left the latter program to become co-anchor of NBC Nightly News with Roger Mudd for 17 months before being named sole anchor of that program. For the first time, Good Morning America became the highest-rated morning news program in the United States as Today fell to second place.
At the outset, Good Morning America was a talk program with a main host, Hartman, who was joined by a sidekick co-host; Dussault and Hill were scripted as less-than-equal hosts. In 1980, an exasperated Hill left Good Morning America after run-ins with Hartman, who was said to have "had a problem with strong women." She was replaced by Joan Lunden, then a reporter at ABC's New York City flagship WABC-TV. Hartman and Lunden led the show through several years of success. Lunden's popularity led to her promotion to co-anchor in 1986, and to more equal footing with Hartman than any woman before her. The partnership ended on February 20, 1987, when Hartman retired after 3,189 broadcasts.
After Hartman's departure, Lunden was paired with ABC News correspondent Charles Gibson on February 23, 1987, which ultimately resulted in ratings for the program skyrocketing. The team of Lunden and Gibson became the most popular news partnership on television in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and for the first time Good Morning America regularly won the ratings against Today. At one point prior to Spencer Christian's arrival in 1986, forecasts on the program were provided by WXYZ-TV chief meteorologist Jerry Hodak via a split screen between the WXYZ studios in Detroit and the Good Morning America set in New York City.
1990–1998: Rise and decline
Good Morning America entered the 1990s with continued overwhelming ratings success. Gibson and Lunden became a hard team to beat; however, the program stumbled from its top spot in late 1995, falling to second place behind Today (in what would begin a 16-year streak as the top-rated morning news program for that show, which began the week of December 11, 1995). Lunden began to discuss working less and mentioned to network executives that the morning schedule is the hardest in the business. ABC executives promised Lunden that a prime time program; Behind Closed Doors would premiere on the network in 1996.
On September 5, 1997, Lunden decided to step down as host of Good Morning America after 17 years and was replaced by ABC News correspondent Lisa McRee. The pairing of Gibson and McRee fared well in the ratings. However, ratings sharply declined when Gibson also left the show to make way for Kevin Newman on May 1, 1998. With McRee and Newman as anchors, longtime viewers of Good Morning America switched to Today, whose ratings skyrocketed.
January 1999 – May 2005: Gibson–Sawyer
To improve Good Morning Americas ratings performance, which briefly fell to third place among the morning shows in January 1999, ABC News management selected Shelley Ross from the field of executive producer candidates. As part of Rossʼs proposed changes, Ross ousted the McRee-Newman team and lobbied to bring in Diane Sawyer and team her with Charles Gibson, who had been reluctant to return. On January 18, 1999, the Gibson-Sawyer team paired by Ross debuted on-air, which during the first full season resulted in a dramatic increase in viewership while all other network news franchises saw losses.
The show moved from the ABC News headquarters in Manhattan's Lincoln Square district to its present home at the Times Square Studios on September 13, 1999. The new location made it possible for the program to feature a live audience inside the studio, similar to the "Window on the World" set used by Today. Under Ross, Good Morning America became a competitive 24/7 news operation with more exclusive bookings, news and live stock market updates for West Coast viewers and new on-screen graphics that included a news ticker. Good Morning America began originating entire shows from unique locations, which, according to Nielsen Media Research, resulted in more people watching the program and for longer periods of time. GMA became the first to originate a live show from an aircraft carrier during wartime (the USS Enterprise), from the White House (after the Columbine High School massacre), from The Pentagon (for the reopening of the wing damaged during the September 11 attacks in 2001), from The Vatican (for the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's election as Pope), and from the Tower of London (on the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth IIʼs accession to the throne). Viewership during this time increased by nearly one million households, and revenue soared.
Although Today remained the top-rated morning news show, the Sawyer, Gibson and Ross team inched close, creating a viable rival. According to Linda McLoof, executive director of news research at ABC News from 2001 to 2009, "When Shelley left, her viewing momentum was initially sustained, but a season later, the audience began to decline. It is like passing the baton in a relay race." Antonio Mora served as newsreader for the program until March 18, 2002, when he left to become an anchor at CBS owned-and-operated station WBBM-TV in Chicago. He was replaced by former ESPN anchor and correspondent Robin Roberts.
May 2005 – June 2006: Gibson–Sawyer–Roberts
On May 23, 2005, ABC News announced that Robin Roberts would be promoted from newsreader to co-anchor of Good Morning America, joining Gibson and Sawyer. Roberts had previously served as a regular substitute for Gibson and Sawyer when either of them were on vacation or on assignment. On November 3, 2005, Good Morning America celebrated its 30th anniversary with retrospectives on and clips from the show's history and by decorating Times Square. Former co-hosts Hartman and Lunden, along with former meteorologist Spencer Christian, were among the guests of honor. Hartman signed off the show that day with his trademark close: "From all of us, make it a good day." That same day, Good Morning America became the first network morning news program to begin broadcasting in high-definition television.
On December 2, 2005, weather anchor Tony Perkins left the program after six years. The last ten minutes of that day's edition were dedicated to Perkins, during which he gave thanks to one of the show's producers and a heartfelt goodbye to anchors Gibson, Roberts and Sawyer. Perkins left the program to return to his family in Washington, D.C., and join Fox owned-and-operated station WTTG, where he previously served as a weather anchor. He affectionately said to his young son on-air, "Connor, if you're watching, daddy's comin' home." Perkins was replaced by Mike Barz, former WGN Morning News sports anchor at WGN-TV in Chicago.
Gibson left Good Morning America for the second time on June 28, 2006. That day's edition was dedicated to his 19 years as anchor of the program and celebrated his new role as anchor of ABC World News Tonight. Gibson ended his tenure at GMA by stating, "For nineteen years, my mornings have been not just good—they've been great."
June 2006 – December 2009: Sawyer–Roberts
There had been speculation that Sawyer would leave Good Morning America when her contract expired in 2007 to assume the anchor position at ABC World News that was given to Gibson. In August 2006, Chris Cuomo was named news anchor while continuing his anchoring duties on the newsmagazine Primetime and serving as ABC News's senior legal correspondent. Meanwhile, Sam Champion, longtime evening meteorologist at WABC-TV, was named as the new weather anchor for the program and as weather editor for ABC News. Both Cuomo and Champion began their respective duties on the program on September 5, 2006, when Good Morning America instituted a new graphics package and new news area for Cuomo to report headlines. The following week, on September 13, 2006, the program introduced a new logo—this time with gold Avant Garde font on a blue background, which bears a resemblance to the original Good Morning America logo that was used up to early 1987.
On June 29, 2007, the program's longtime film critic Joel Siegel died of complications from colorectal cancer at age 63. The July 9 edition of GMA was dedicated to Siegel, with former hosts Hartman, Hill, Lunden, Newman, Christian, Perkins and Gibson all appearing to share their memories. One month later, on July 31, 2007, Robin Roberts announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a lump in her breast during a self-examination while preparing the Siegel tribute episode. Roberts remained as anchor while undergoing chemotherapy and completed radiation treatments on March 28, 2008.
On October 22, 2007, Good Morning America introduced a new on-air graphics package. Using much of the design features of its former graphics, it went from a basic blue background to a more orangish-gold setting. The program's opening changed from the camera's zooming in on the hosts while introducing the host to an opening with new music (by the New York City-based music production company DreamArtists Studios) and a background with the Good Morning America logo descending onto the frame. It also changed its news ticker and time-and-temperature bug for the first time in years. The ticker featured an orange background with a modified ABC News logo as a breakpoint for each headline. The bug still featured the time and current local temperature to the left, but with an orange backdrop with an alternate "GMA" logo and the ABCNews.com logo to the right.
On January 15, 2008, during an interview with Diane Sawyer on the program, actress Diane Keaton commented on Sawyer's physical attractiveness, stating that if she had lips like Sawyer's, "then I wouldn't have worked on my [expletive] personality!" Keaton quickly apologized for the remark and Sawyer jokingly threatened to have her mother "work on your personality with soap in your mouth." Officials with the Federal Communications Commission declined to take action for the fleeting expletive. Following the death of Michael Jackson, Charles Gibson returned to the Good Morning America anchor desk with Roberts on June 26, 2009, while Sawyer was away.
In September 2008, Good Morning Americas anchors rode an Amtrak train to tour the United States as part of ABC Newss "50 States in 50 Days" event, for which the program was broadcast from different locations around the U.S. each day throughout that month. The tour's first telecast stop was in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
December 2009 – April 2014: Roberts–Stephanopoulos
On September 2, 2009, ABC announced that Sawyer would replace Gibson as anchor of ABC World News at the end of that year. Speculation had abounded that either George Stephanopoulos, news anchor Chris Cuomo, weekend anchor Bill Weir, or World News Saturday anchor David Muir would replace Sawyer on the program. Representatives for ABC News stated that it wanted to return the show to the original male-female anchor format. On December 10, 2009, Stephanopoulos was announced as Sawyer's replacement, with Juju Chang replacing Cuomo as newsreader; the changes took effect four days later on December 14.
In April 2010, the anchor desk in the studio was relocated back in front of the window overlooking Times Square, where it had been when Good Morning America moved to the Times Square Studios facility in 1999; the news desk was also moved in front of a window. On May 3, 2010, the program debuted new "light blue and sunny" graphics, and new theme music by DreamArtists Studios. An entirely new set for the program was introduced on January 31, 2011; the monitor used for national weather segments (used mainly during the 7:00 a.m. hour only) was moved closer to the anchor desk while the news desk remained in the same place. This was the first major set change since the show upgraded to high definition in November 2005.
On February 25, 2011 James Goldston moved from Nightline to become Senior Executive Producer of GMA. On March 17, 2011, ABC News President Ben Sherwood announced that former GMA national correspondent Lara Spencer would be rejoining the program in May in a newly created lifestyle anchor position. On March 29, 2011, ESPN anchor Josh Elliott was named news anchor of the program following the departure of Juju Chang.
In the summer of 2011, Good Morning America decided to vacate the second floor of the Times Square studios, which overlooked Times Square, due to cost issues. On September 6, 2011, the program began broadcasting from an entirely new studio set located on the first floor (ground level) of the Times Square studios. The main "window" behind the presenters in the new set, which also shows a view overlooking Times Square from an above-ground level, is actually a back-projection, although there are several real windows used in other parts of the set.
Amid declining ratings at Today in the aftermath of reports of Matt Lauer's alleged role in Ann Curry's departure as co-host (though ratings had been in a steady decline for that program during Curry's co-hosting tenure), viewership for Good Morning America increased starting in 2012. The program beat Today for the first time in 16 years during the week of April 9, 2012, ending that program's streak of 852 consecutive weeks as the most-watched network morning news program, by a margin of 31,000 more viewers than the NBC program. Good Morning America beat Today once again during the week of April 16, 2012, by a much larger margin of 166,000 viewers.
During the week of April 1, 2012, ABC News special correspondent Katie Couric, who had recently joined the network as part of a deal to host a syndicated talk show distributed by corporate sister Disney–ABC Domestic Television, filled for Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. Couric had hosted the rival NBC morning program Today from 1991 to 2006; her Good Morning America stint marked her return to morning news after six years.
On August 30, 2012, Roberts went on medical leave after undergoing a bone marrow transplant (donated by her sister and fellow news anchor SallyAnn Roberts) following her diagnosis with myelodysplastic syndrome. GMA correspondent Amy Robach and 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas served as the primary substitutes, typically alternating every other week. Others, including some celebrities, also served as special guest anchors during this time such as Kelly Ripa, Jessica Simpson, Barbara Walters and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. On January 14, 2013, Roberts announced that she hoped to return to the program sometime that February; Roberts performed dry run rehearsals during the week of January 21 in preparation for her return; she and her doctors evaluated her body's reaction to the makeup, the lighting, her hair, and the number of people she comes in contact with to avoid compromising her then-gradually-improving health. Roberts returned to Good Morning America part-time on February 20, 2013; she announced in August 2013 that she would return to full-time hosting duties on September 3 of that year.
In 2013, GMA won its first Nielsen ratings in 18 years. On December 4, 2013, weather anchor Sam Champion departed Good Morning America and ABC News after seven years on the program to join The Weather Channel, where he became primary anchor of the competing morning program America's Morning Headquarters (which debuted in March 2014). He was succeeded the following day by Ginger Zee, who had been serving as meteorologist for the weekend editions of GMA and was also appointed to Champion's former position as weather editor for ABC News.
On March 30, 2014, news anchor Josh Elliott left ABC News after three years as news anchor of GMA to become a correspondent for NBC Sports, amid reports that contract negotiations to increase his annual salary (from $1.2 million to $8 million) broke down; Elliott was replaced as news anchor by Amy Robach later that week. The program continued to dominate over the competition, even with the loss of two major co-hosts in Champion and Elliott.
In early April 2014, several media reports speculated that Michael Strahan would be joining GMA as a contributing anchor, while maintaining his co-host duties on Live! with Kelly and Michael (which is also syndicated by Disney–ABC Domestic Television). Strahan's new position was confirmed on April 15, 2014, when he was introduced to the audience as the new contributing anchor on the program.
April 2014 – September 2016: Roberts–Stephanopoulos–Spencer
On April 18, 2014, Lara Spencer was promoted to co-anchor effective immediately, receiving top billing on the program alongside Roberts and Stephanopoulos.
In September 2014, former NFL player Tim Tebow was announced to be joining the program as a part-time correspondent to help launch the new segment, "Motivate Me Mondays". He made his debut on the program on September 15, 2014.
On November 19, 2015, the program celebrated its 40th anniversary, with all the main anchors and most of the news and weather anchors returning to join the celebration and share their stories. Clips from all 40 years were shown.
On April 19, 2016, Strahan announced that he would be leaving Live! with Kelly and Michael to join Good Morning America full-time.
September 2016–present: Roberts–Stephanopoulos–Strahan
On September 6, 2016, Michael Strahan began his run as official full-time co-anchor of the program along with Roberts, Stephanopoulos, and Spencer. A new title sequence was debuted not including Spencer's name. The first hour focuses on the news of the morning anchored by Roberts, Stephanopulos, and Strahan. Zee does segments of the weather and Robach reads the morning headlines. The second hour is in the second floor studio and is taped in front of a live studio audience. It focuses on "soft news" and entertainment. It is anchored by the three main co-anchors (including Spencer) and features guests and talk show panel discussion.
In April 2018, it was announced that Spencer would cut back on her hours on GMA from five days a week to three to focus on her own projects.
On May 23, 2018, an afternoon extension of GMA (originally titled GMA Day, now known as GMA3) was announced as a replacement in the fall of 2018 for the cancelled cooking series The Chew in the 1:00 p.m. ET/noon CT timeslot.
In April 2022, Roberts celebrated her 20th anniversary with Good Morning America, during which an on-air celebration was held with Roberts being honored with a plaque featuring her name on the grounds of Time Square.
Ray was introduced as a mascot on September 7, 2023.
It was announced on October 18, 2023, that Good Morning America is leaving its high-profile studio in New York's Times Square to a new Walt Disney Co. building in Hudson Square.
Spin-offs
Good Night America
Good Night America was a late night talk show/news magazine hosted by Geraldo Rivera in the 1970s as part of ABC's late night line up, also ABC's "Wide World Special". Though not exactly like GMA it was more of a talk show format, with guests and interviewing them and also topics of current events, with Rivera ending the show with commentary. After Good Night America went off the air, Rivera still worked for ABC eventually working for Good Morning America when it premiered in November 1975, while still working for ABC News and its other shows such as Nightline and 20/20.
Good Afternoon America
A special summer afternoon edition of Good Morning America, titled Good Afternoon America, premiered on July 9, 2012, as a temporary replacement for the canceled talk/lifestyle show The Revolution in the 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time weekday slot.
Good Afternoon America was taped immediately after the morning program and focused on lighter fare, with the exception of the July 20 edition, which provided live coverage of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting. Like its morning counterpart, Good Afternoon America originated from Times Square Studios. The limited-run program, which ended on September 7, 2012, was hosted by then Good Morning America news anchor Josh Elliott and lifestyle anchor Lara Spencer.
GMA Wake Up Call
GMA Wake Up Call is a pre-morning show hosted by Ginger Zee. Substitute hosts include Rob Marciano. This spin-off is a lead in to the actual GMA program airing live stream on social media outlets. The show airs between 6:45 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. ET and runs for 10–15 minutes.
GMA Lunch Break
GMA Lunch Break is a half-hour afternoon show airing on social media outlets between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. also hosted by Zee. This focuses on a featured lunch recipe.
GMA Deals
GMA Deals airs on social media outlets on select days at 8:30 a.m. Hosted by Zee and Tory Johnson, it is an extension of the show's popular segment where influencers and other representatives of companies demonstrate products on-air and offer deal of the day on the offered product or service.
GMA3
GMA3 is a spinoff/third hour of GMA that was originally hosted by Michael Strahan and Sara Haines. The show premiered on September 10, 2018, under the title of GMA Day, and later became known as GMA3 on January 28, 2019, with Strahan and Sara being the subtitle. On August 26, 2019, after filling in as a summer co-host during Haines' maternity leave, actress and singer Keke Palmer joined as a permanent third co-host and the show took the subtitle of Strahan, Sara and Keke until March 2020, when it became GMA3: What You Need to Know, an hour-long news program hosted by Amy Robach that originally covered the COVID-19 pandemic. Later in 2020, Palmer and industry insiders announced the Strahan, Sara and Keke incarnation of the program would not return and was, in effect, cancelled.
On-air staff
Current
Anchor/host chronology
Former anchors and hosts
Main hosts
David Hartman (1975–1987)
Nancy Dussault (1975–1977)
Sandy Hill (1977–1980)
Joan Lunden (1980–1997)
Charles Gibson (1987–1998 & 1999–2006)
Lisa McRee (1997–1999)
Kevin Newman (1998–1999)
Diane Sawyer (1999–2009)
News anchors
Weather anchors
Correspondents
Joel Siegel: Entertainment Editor (1981–2007)
Tony Reali (2014–2015 weekdays; 2015–2018 weekends)
Stephen Colbert (1990s)
Weekend editions
International broadcasts
In Australia, until 2018, Nine Network broadcast Good Morning America on its stations in metropolitan areas, Northern NSW and its regional affiliate from 2016 to 2021 Nine Regional and before 2016 and also 2021–present WIN Television on a one-day delay (by way of Australia and the United States being on different ends of the International Date Line) each Tuesday through Friday from 3.30 to 5:00, Saturdays from 5.30 to 7:00, Sundays from 6:00 to 7:00 and Monday mornings from 4:00 to 5:00 a.m. The Nine broadcasts featured a map providing forecasts for Australia in place of the national U.S. weather map (which itself is also, in a separate feature within the main weather segment, used as a cutaway to weather updates provided by local ABC affiliates). However, as of July 3, 2018, Nine no longer airs the show. Although it aired at the same time as Seven Network and Network 10's broadcasts of NBC's Today and CBS Mornings (including its predecessor, CBS This Morning), Good Morning Americas broadcasts by Nine were unchallenged ratings-wise in some regions where other affiliates preempt their networks' U.S. breakfast programs with paid and religious programming.
OSN airs Good Morning America on OSN First HD live each weekday at 5:00 Time in the United Arab Emirates / 4:00 Saudi Arabia Standard Time in the Middle East and North Africa Countries.
Accolades
In 1992 and 1993, Good Morning America won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk/Service Show. In 21st GLAAD Media Awards, the program was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" for the segment "Total Transformation: Why Chaz Bono Decided to Change". At the 32nd GLAAD Media Awards, the program was again nominated for the "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" category for the segment "Dwyane Wade One-On-One: Basketball Legend Opens Up About Supporting Transgender Daughter."
See also
ABC News
Breakfast television
List of years in television
References
External links
1975 American television series debuts
1980s American television news shows
1990s American television news shows
2000s American television news shows
2010s American television news shows
2020s American television news shows
ABC News
American Broadcasting Company original programming
American live television series
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show winners
English-language television shows
Good Morning America Radio
Television morning shows in the United States
Television shows filmed in New York City |
427145 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount%20Diablo | Mount Diablo | Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated upthrust peak of , visible from most of the San Francisco Bay Area. Mount Diablo appears from many angles to be a double pyramid and has many subsidiary peaks. The largest and closest is North Peak, the other half of the double pyramid, which is nearly as high in elevation at , and is about northeast of the main summit.
The mountain is within the boundaries of Mount Diablo State Park, which is administered by California State Parks.
Geography
The summit is accessible by foot, bicycle, or motor vehicle. Road access is via North Gate Road or South Gate Road. Also you can hike in various places in Mount Diablo.
Mount Diablo State Park
The peak is in Mount Diablo State Park, a state park of about . The state park was the first public open space established on or near the peak. According to the non-profit Save Mount Diablo, there are now varied types of protected lands on and around Mount Diablo that total more than . These include 38 preserves, such as nearby city open spaces, regional parks, and watersheds, which are buffered in some areas with private lands that have been protected by conservation easements.
Viewshed
On a clear day, the Sierra Nevada range is plainly visible from the summit. The best views are after a winter storm; a snowy Sierra shows up better, and summer days are likely to be hazy. Lassen Peak, away, is occasionally just visible over the curve of the earth. Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park is visible, but Half Dome is hidden by the 8000-foot ridge at 37.755N 119.6657W. Eight bridges are visible, from left to right (southwest to northeast): San Mateo, Bay, Golden Gate, San Rafael, Carquinez, Benicia, Antioch, and Rio Vista.
Countless peaks in the state are taller, but Mount Diablo has a remarkable visual prominence for a mountain of such low elevation. Its looming presence over much of the Bay Area, delta, and Central Valley, and good visibility even from the Mother Lode, all key regions during the gold rush and early statehood, made it an important landmark for mapping and navigation. The summit is used as the reference datum for land surveying in much of northern California and Nevada.
Claims that the mountain's viewshed is the largest in the worldor second largest after Mount Kilimanjaroare ill-founded. It does boast one of the largest viewsheds in the Western United States and played a key role in California history.
Cultural history
Mount Diablo is sacred to many California Native American peoples. According to Miwok mythology and Ohlone mythology, it was the point of creation. The local peoples of the area traditionally had a variety of creation narratives associated with the mountain. In one surviving narrative fragment, Mount Diablo and Reed's Peak (Mount Tamalpais) were surrounded by water; from these two islands the creator Coyote and his assistant Eagle-man made Native American people and the world. In another, Molok the Condor brought forth his grandson Wek-Wek the Falcon Hero, from within the mountain.
Earliest names
About 25 independent tribal groups with well-defined territories lived in the East Bay countryside surrounding the mountain at time of European contact. Their members spoke dialects of three distinct languages: Ohlone, Bay Miwok, and Northern Valley Yokuts. The Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone from Mission San Jose and the East Bay area, call the mountain , meaning "at the dawn of time". Further inland, the Nisenan of the Sacramento Valley call it , "dog mountain"; because, as Nisenan elder Dalbert Castro once explained, it's "the place where dogs came from in trade". A Southern Sierra Miwok name for the mountain is , and a Northern Sierra Miwok name is .
It has also been suggested that another early Native American name for the mountain was or , but there is no evidence to confirm the assertion. According to Indian historian Bev Ortiz and Save Mount Diablo: "The name was made up in 1866 — with no real Native American connection — referred to the California Legislature's Committee on Public Morals, and tabled. It resurfaced as a real estate gimmick in 1916 with a supposed new translation, "Laughing Mountain", attributed without documentation to Diablo area Volvon Indians.
Most of Mount Diablo, including its peak, was within the homeland of the early Volvon (sometimes spelled Wolwon, Bolbon or Bolgon), a Bay Miwok–speaking tribe. As early as 1811, Spanish colonists referred to the mountain as ("High Hill of the Volvon") or sometimes .
Current name
The conventional view is that the peak derives its name from the reaction of Spanish soldiers to the 1805 escape of several Chupcan Native Americans in a willow thicket some 7 miles north of the mountain. One story tells that their nighttime escape through the thicket was aided by mysterious lights. An 1850 report by General Mariano G. Vallejo tells of a strange dancing spirit turning the battle in favor of the Chupcan. Vallejo interpreted the natives' word for the personage, , to mean "devil" in the Anglo-American language. Vallejo's report could be interpreted to align with Edward G. Gudde's history of place names. (Kyle, and Ortiz)
By 1824, the region north of the mountain came to be known as Monte del Diablo ("devil's thicket"; in this case monte should be translated as thicket or dense woods). It was shown on maps near present-day Concord (formerly known as Pacheco). Later, U.S. settlers understood "Monte" to refer directly to the mountain, and it was recorded with varying degrees of certainty until "Mount Diablo" became official in 1850.
In May 1862, California Geological Survey field director William H. Brewer named the northeast peak of Mount Diablo "Mount King", after Rev. Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian clergyman, abolitionist, Republican, Yosemite advocate, cultural Unionist, and California's leading intellectual. Today it is known simply as North Peak.
Mount Diablo
In 2005 Arthur Mijares, from the neighboring town of Oakley, petitioned the federal government to change the name of the mountain, claiming it offended his Christian beliefs. Additionally, he claimed that Diablo is a living person, and so is banned under federal law. He suggested renaming the mountain Mount Kawukum, and later, Mount Yahweh. Suggestions by other individuals included Mount Miwok and Mount Ohlone, after local Indian tribes. Finally Mijares proposed Mount Reagan, but the board rejected it on the grounds that a person must be deceased for five years to have a geographic landmark named after them. Eventually, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names rejected the petitions, saying there was no compelling reason to change the name.
In 2009 Mijares again proposed the name Mount Reagan to the United States Board of Geographic Names because the late president was by then eligible. The board gave the Contra Costa County Supervisor's Committee until March 31 to file an opinion. Individual members of the committee have responded that although they respect Reagan, Mount Reagan is not an appropriate name for the historic mountain. Later, the board unanimously voted against renaming the mountain, citing its historical significance.
Early uses
In 1851 the south peak of the mountain was selected by Colonel Leander Ransom as the initial point—where the Mount Diablo Base and Mount Diablo Meridian lines intersect—for cadastral surveys of a large area. Subsequent surveys in much of California, Nevada and Oregon were located with reference to this point.
Toll roads up the mountain were created in 1874 by Joseph Seavey Hall and William Camron (sometimes "Cameron"); Hall's Mount Diablo Summit Road was officially opened on May 2, 1874. Camron's "Green Valley" road opened later. Hall also built the 16-room Mountain House Hotel near the junction of the two roads, a mile below the summit (2,500 foot elevation. (It operated through the 1880s, was abandoned in 1895, and burned c. 1901). As far north as Meridian Road, on the outskirts of Chico, California, the summit was used as a reference point. The road is colinear with the summit, and is named for the meridian which intersects it.
An aerial navigation beacon, the Standard Diablo tower, was erected by Standard Oil at the summit in 1928. The 10-million-candlepower beacon became known as the "Eye of Diablo" and was visible for a hundred miles.
Protection of the area
After initial legislation in 1921, the state of California acquired enough land in 1931 to create a small state park around the peak. Many improvements were carried out in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, but park expansion slowed in the 1940s through the 1960s.
Significantly, botanist Mary Leolin Bowerman (1908–2005), founder of the Save Mount Diablo non-profit in 1971, published her Ph.D. dissertation in 1936 at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1944 she published her book, The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Mount Diablo, California. Her study boundaries became the basis for the state park's first map and for the park's eventual expansion. Her work also became the origin of many of the park's place names.
Mount Diablo was used for broadcasting purposes in the 1950s by radio station KSBR-FM and television station KOVR (channel 13). The Mount Diablo site gave KOVR, which was based in Stockton, regional coverage that also included San Francisco and Sacramento. However, it also forced the station to pay San Francisco rates for movies and impeded any attempt at obtaining network affiliation. In 1957, the station relocated to Butte Mountain in Jackson in order to become an ABC affiliate and remove its signal from the Bay Area.
This state park has been greatly expanded over the decades. Soon after Earth Day in 1971, the nonprofit organization "Save Mount Diablo" was created by co-founders Mary Bowerman and Art Bonwell, barely ahead of real estate developers. At the time, the state park included just and was the only park in the vicinity of the mountain. In 2007 the state park totaled almost , and with 38 parks and preserves on and around the mountain, Diablo's public lands total more than . According to Save Mount Diablo, there are 50 individual preserves on and around Mount Diablo, some of which are conservation easements covering a single parcel, others are expected to eventually be absorbed into larger nearby parks. As of December 2007, the organization recognizes 38 specific Diablo parks and preserves.
The State Park adjoins park lands of the East Bay Regional Park District, including Morgan Territory Regional Preserve, Brushy Peak Regional Preserve, Vasco Caves Regional Preserve, and Round Valley Regional Preserve. It also adjoins protected areas owned or controlled by local cities such as the Borges Ranch Historic Farm, the Concord Naval Weapons Station (now in the process of being converted to non military use), Indian Valley, Shell Ridge Open Space and Lime Ridge Open Spaces near the city of Walnut Creek, and east to the Los Vaqueros Reservoir watershed. The new Marsh Creek State Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve are among the open spaces stretching to the north. In this way the open spaces controlled by cities, the East Bay Regional Park District, Mount Diablo State Park, and various regional preserves now adjoin and protect much of the elevated regions of the mountain. There are unprotected areas in Arroyo del Cerro, Curry Canyon, the Marsh creek region, and on the northern slopes of North Peak, and in a number of inholdings surrounded by preserve land.
Park expansion continues on all sides of the mountain although its western boundaries are largely complete. Extensive development continues in the southwestern foothills and Tassajara region, such as the upscale development of Blackhawk and individual estates overlooking the Livermore Valley on Morgan Territory Road. Other large projects are proposed in the northern Black Diamond Mines and Los Medanos foothills, at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, and near Marsh Creek State Park. Large-scale development of other private parcels is restricted by city and county urban limit lines, by lack of water, excessive slope, and sensitive resources including rare species. Development of smaller ranchette subdivisions continue to fragment and threaten many parcels and large areas of habitat.
Map of protected lands
In 2007 Save Mount Diablo published Mount Diablo, Los Vaqueros & Surrounding Parks, Featuring the Diablo Trail, the most accurate and up-to-date map of Mount Diablo's more than of protected lands. It includes 100 access points, of trail, and of private fire roads.
Natural history
Geology
Mount Diablo is a geologic anomaly about east of San Francisco. The mountain is the result of geologic compression and uplift caused by the movements of the Earth's plates. The mountain lies between converging earthquake faults and continues to grow slowly. While the principal faults in the region are of the strike-slip type, a significant thrust fault (with no surface trace) is found on the mountain's southwest flank. The uplift and subsequent weathering and erosion have exposed ancient oceanic Jurassic and Cretaceous age rocks that now form the summit. The mountain grows from three to five millimeters each year.
The upper portion of the mountain is made up of volcanic and sedimentary deposits of what once was one or more island arcs of the Farallon Plate dating back to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, between 90 and 190 million years ago. During this time, the Farallon Plate was subducting beneath the North American continent. These deposits were scraped off the top and accreted onto the North American Plate. This resulted in the highly distorted and fractured basalt and serpentine of the Mount Diablo Ophiolite and metasediments of the Franciscan Complex around the summit. East of the subduction zone, a basin was filling with sediment from the ancestral Sierra further to the east. Up to 60,000 feet (18,000 m) of sandstone, mudstone, and limestone of the Great Valley Sequence were deposited from 66 to 150 million years ago. These deposits are now found faulted against the Ophiolite and Franciscan deposits.
Over the past 20 million years continental deposits have been periodically laid down and subsequently jostled around by the newly formed San Andreas Fault system, forming the Coast Ranges. Within the last four million years, local faulting has resulted in compression, folding, buckling, and erosion, bringing the various formations into their current juxtaposition. This faulting action continues to change the shape of Mount Diablo, along with the rest of the Coast Ranges.
The summit area of Mount Diablo is made up of deposits of gray sandstone, graywacke, chert, oceanic volcanic basalts (greenstone) and a minor amount of shale. The hard red Franciscan chert is sedimentary in origin and rich in microscopic radiolaria fossils. In the western foothills of the mountain there are large deposits of younger sandstone rocks also rich in seashells, severely tilted and in places forming dramatic ridgelines. Mount Diablo forms a double pyramid which gives the appearance of a volcano although in fact it is formed of ancient sea floor rock being uplifted by relatively recent tectonic forces.
Deposits of glassmaking-grade sand and lower-quality coal north of the mountain were mined in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but are now open to visitors as the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. Guided tours of the sand mines and coal field are provided.
Vegetation
The park's vegetation is mixed oak woodland and savannah and open grassland with extensive areas of chaparral and a number of endemic plant species, such as the Mount Diablo manzanita (Arctostaphylos auriculata), Mount Diablo fairy-lantern (Calochortus pulchellus), chaparral bellflower (Campanula exigua), Mount Diablo bird's beak (Cordylanthus nidularius), and Mount Diablo sunflower (Helianthella castanea). The park includes substantial thickets, isolated examples, and mixed ground cover of western poison oak. (It is best to learn the characteristics of this shrub and its toxin before hiking on narrow trails through brush and to be aware that it can be bare of leaves (but toxic to contact) in the winter.)
At higher altitudes and on north slopes is the widely distributed foothill pine (Pinus sabiniana). Knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata) may be found along Knobcone Pine Road in the southern part of the park. The park and nearby Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve mark the northern extreme of the range of Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri). This species may be seen along the Coulter Pine Trail near the north (Mitchell Canyon) entrance.
In 2005 the endangered species Mount Diablo buckwheat (Eriogonum truncatum), thought to be extinct since last seen in 1936, was rediscovered in a remote area of the mountain.
Wildlife
All vegetation, minerals and wildlife within the park are protected and it is illegal to remove such items or to harass any wildlife.
Commonly seen animals include coyote, bobcat, black-tailed deer, California ground squirrels, fox squirrels and grey foxes; many other mammals including mountain lions are present. It is a chief remaining refuge for the threatened Alameda whipsnake, California red-legged frog. Less common wildlife species include the reintroduced peregrine falcon, ringtail cats, and to the east American badgers, San Joaquin kit fox, roadrunners, California tiger salamander, and burrowing owls. There are also exotic (non-native) animals such as the red fox and opossum, the latter being North America's only marsupial.
In September and October male tarantula spiders can be seen (Aphonopelma iodius) as they seek a mate. These spiders are harmless unless severely provoked, and their bite is only as bad as a bee sting. More dangerous are black widow spiders, far less likely to be encountered in the open.
In the wintertime, between November and February, bald eagles and golden eagles are present. These birds are less easily seen than many raptors; golden eagles, particularly, fly at high elevations. Mount Diablo is part of the Altamont Area/Diablo Range, which enjoys the largest concentration of golden eagles anywhere. In recent years there have been credible sightings of California condors, which have been reintroduced at Pinnacles National Park, located to the south in the Gilroy-Hollister area.
Of special note as potential hazards are Northern Pacific rattlesnake. While generally shy and non-threatening, one should be observant and cautious of where one steps to avoid accidentally disturbing one. They are often found warming themselves in the open (as on trails and ledges) on cool, sunny days. Other wildlife to avoid include fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.
There has also been an increase in the mountain lion population in the larger region and one should know how to respond if these animals are encountered. Please see the mountain lion safety tips in the mountain lion article.
Facilities
Entrance stations are located at the end of Northgate Road (in Walnut Creek) and Diablo Road (in Danville). The Danville entrance is also known as Southgate. If the entrance stations are not operating, park fees may be paid at the junction ranger station, where the two roads join.
From here the road reaches the summit of the mountain, where there is a visitors center housing an observation deck and natural history exhibits. From the elevation of the lower lot the Mary Bowerman Trail is a level wheelchair-accessible path and boardwalk with interpretive stations that extends part way around the mountain; a regular single track trail completes the loop. There are of hiking and equestrian trails, some available for mountain biking.
Camping facilities are available within the park. There are numerous picnic sites. Pets are restricted and require proper documentation for rabies (not just a tag). Daytime visitors must exit the park by sunset except for special events. Some picnic spots may be reserved but most are available without reservation.
Alcohol is forbidden in the park. Fires are allowed only during the wet season (generally December through April), and only in sanctioned fire pits. The park may be closed on windy days during the dry season due to extremely hazardous fire conditions.
Two additional entrances with parking for hikers are provided on the northwest side of the park at Mitchell Canyon and Donner Canyon. Mitchell Canyon provides easy access to Black Point and Eagle Peak. Donner Canyon provides hikers access to Eagle Peak, Mount Olympia, North Peak, and the popular Falls Trail, which features several seasonal waterfalls.
Climate
The National Weather Service maintains a weather station at Mount Diablo Junction, 2,170 feet (661 m) above sea level. The warmest month at the station is July with an average high of 85.2 °F (29.5 °C) and an average low of 59.6 °F (15.3 °C). The coolest month is January with an average high of 55.6 °F (13.1 °C) and an average low of 39.3° (4.1 °C). The highest temperature recorded there was 111 °F (43.9 °C) on July 15, 1972. The lowest temperature on record was 14 °F (-10 °C) on February 6, 1989, and on December 14, 1990. (The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the temperature dropped to 10 °F (-12.2 °C) at the summit on January 21, 1962.) Temperatures reach 90 °F (32.2 °C) or higher on an average of 36.0 days each year and 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher on 3.3 days each year. Lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower occur on an average of 15.4 days annually.
Annual precipitation averages . The most precipitation recorded in a month was in February 1998. The greatest 24-hour precipitation was on January 21, 1972. The average annual days with measurable precipitation is 65.3 days.
Snowfall at Mount Diablo Junction averages each year. Prior to 2009, the most snowfall observed in a month was in April 1975; that same month saw in one day (April 4, 1975). The greatest snow depth was on January 27, 1972. Measurable snowfall does not occur every year, so the annual average days with measurable snowfall is only .5 days. Snow is more common in the upper reaches of the mountain. On December 7, 2009 Mount Diablo received a rare snow event of , receiving more in one day than what it normally receives in one year.
Data-collecting note
The Mt. Diablo Junction weather station is positioned at only about 55 percent of the mountain's height. Temperatures and snow levels are notably different than at the upper reaches of the mountain, where lower temperatures and greater snowfall may have occurred, but simply have not been recorded. Nearby Bay Area mountains, like Mount Hamilton, have their weather stations at or near the summit. This is why recorded snow levels on Mount Hamilton are much higher than the ones recorded at Mount Diablo Junction, even though the difference in height of Mount Hamilton and Mount Diablo is only about .
Three conditions are measured at the actual summit, however: wind speed, wind direction and temperature; and are available by an automatic telephone voice response system. Recorded information concerning gate open times, road and pet restrictions, and events is available at another number. These numbers are posted at the park website.
Art and literature
Mount Diablo has inspired many artists and writers. Early work centered on exploration, surveying and was related to the rise and popularization of tourism in the Pacific west. Themes were suggested and heightened by early tourism promoters, the beginnings of the area's preservation and the rise of the environmental movement. The focus was accelerated by artists associated with the University of California, Berkeley, the California College of Arts, the actions of the organizations Save Mount Diablo and the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association, and area art centers, galleries, and museums. In modern times Mount Diablo art has been most strongly represented in plein aire painting, especially the group Artists for Action, and photography.
Representative work includes books and articles by classical writers such as William Brewer, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Alexandre Dumas, père, Bret Harte, and the Reverend Thomas Starr King, and modern ones such as Mark Allen Cunningham. Poets whose work features the mountain include Philip Lamantia, Andrew Schelling, and Helen Pinkerton.
Early painters include Thomas Almond Ayres, Eugene Camerer, W. H. Dougal, Eduard Hildebrandt, Charles Hittell, Edward Jump, William Keith, John Ross Key, Charles Koppel, Edward Lehman, Pascal Loomis, Henry Miller, Joseph Warren Revere, through Clarkson Dye and others, to modern painters such as Robert Becker, Frank J. Bette, Ruth Breve, Betty Boggess Lathrap, Paul Carey, Bob Chapla, Mary Lou Correia, Ellen Curtis, Pam Della, Susan Dennis, Warren Dreher, John Finger, Pam Glover, JoAnn Hanna, Peg Humphreys, Don Irwin, Jeanne Kapp, Geri Keary, Chris Kent, Paul Kratter, Eunice Kritscher, Fred Martin, Cathy Moloney, Shirley Nootbaar, Charlotte Panton, Greg Piatt, Kenneth Potter, Robin Purcell, Ocean Quigley, Don Reich, Mary Silverwood, Barbara Stanton, Bruce Stangeland, Marty Stanley, and even the recognized comic book painter Dan Brereton.
Photographers include Ansel Adams, Cleet Carlton, Alfred A. Hart, Scott Hein, Stephen Joseph, Don Paulson, Brad Perks, Robert Picker, Richard Rollins, David Sanger, Michael Sewell and Bob Walker.
The mountain has inspired musical artists ranging from the Kronos Quartet to commissioned works by the California Symphony. The pop-punk band The Story So Far, who are from the area, have a song titled Mt. Diablo.
The mountain's name is the source for the "Devils" part of the name of the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, a 17 time Drum Corps International world champion corps, founded and based in Concord, California since 1957.
David Brevik, head of Blizzard North, got the idea for the name of the Diablo game franchise from Mt. Diablo while living nearby.
In Marvel Comics, the Black Celestial named Tiamut was imprisoned under Mt Diablo for his crimes against the other Celestials. Arishem and the others sealed him away beneath the Diablo Mountain Range in California. See Fantastic Four Vol 1 #339 and #340.
Events
Each Fall the male tarantulas of Mt. Diablo emerge from their burrows to seek mates. The Mt. Diablo Interpretive Association offers guided hikes to observe the migration. The "March of the Tarantulas" can begin as early as August and last through October.
Every year since 1964, the Pearl Harbor survivors and their families have memorialized Pearl Harbor Day by relighting the historic Beacon atop Mount Diablo's summit. A ceremony memorializing the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 is held at the Cal State East Bay Concord Campus, with some of the few remaining survivors who are present. (In 2020, the ceremony was virtual.) This ceremony is made possible due to the support of Mount Diablo State Park, California State University - East Bay: Concord Campus, Save Mount Diablo, CCTV, Vietnam Helicopters Museum, and the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
Under cloudless conditions, more interesting than the sunset itself is the view of the progression of the mountain's shadow across the California Central Valley from the south to the distant Sierra Nevada to the north, finally appearing for a few moments above the horizon as a shadow in the post-sunset sky glow.
In April 1946, an Army C-45 transport plane crashed on the north side of the mountain, killing the pilot and co-pilot.
Save Mount Diablo sponsors many spring and fall schedules of events on the mountain, Spring on Diablo and Autumn on Diablo, as well as many other special events, including its anniversary event, Moonlight on the Mountain; Four Days Diablo, a trip on the Diablo Trail; the Mount Diablo Challenge, an annual hill climb to the summit with more than 1,100 cyclists each October; and the Mount Diablo Trail Adventure, combined 10k and half-marathon hikes and runs.
The park is popular in winter, when Bay Area residents can enjoy the rare experience of snowfall on the mountain. Snow occurs from the lower reaches of the park all the way to the peak, as was the case in February 2001 and February and March 2006. On Friday, March 10, 2006, an extremely cold storm moved into the region from the Gulf of Alaska, and noticeable amounts of snow fell in all regions of the Bay Area above 500 feet (152 m). The summit of the mountain received around six inches (15 cm) of snow at its peak, and the access roads were closed to automobiles at the 3,000 feet (914 m) mark due to the hazardous icy conditions above.
Occasionally there will be public access to astronomical observations made by a local astronomy club. This club was allocated a small parcel on the mountain and developed a permanent observatory at this location. The observatory has a computer-controlled telescope with a CCD camera.
Mount Diablo Challenge bicycle race
The Mount Diablo Challenge is a bicycle race held annually on the first Sunday in October and benefiting non-profit, Save Mount Diablo's land preservation programs. The race begins at the Athenian School at the base of the mountain and climbs in . The race typically draws between 800 and 1,100 riders each year who compete in a mass-start format. Bicycle riders of every age and ability are represented in the field, from weekend enthusiasts to top professionals. Prizes are typically awarded to the top overall male and female finishers, along with several age-specific categories. The most coveted prize is the special "One-Hour" T-shirts, awarded to those who finish the climb in less than one hour.
Course record
The course record for the Mount Diablo climb currently stands at 43 minutes, 33 seconds, set on October 5, 2008, by Nate English (ZteaM) 4 days after breaking his thumb in a bike accident. He broke the 44 minutes, 58 seconds record, set in 2004 by former professional cyclist Greg Drake (Webcor Cycling Team) of Redwood City, California. The previous course record was set by former professional cyclist Mike Engleman (Coors Light Pro Cycling Team) in 1990 with a time of 45 minutes, 20 seconds.
The fastest woman's time recorded at the Mount Diablo climb was set in 2012 by Flavia Oliveira (48 minutes, 13 seconds). In 2016, Flavia competed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where she finished in seventh place.
Outside of the actual Mt Diablo Challenge each October, the climb is one of the more popular uploaded to Strava, with over 11000 attempts recorded as of mid 2014. The top 10 times listed there are all from the Tour of California, which has used Mt Diablo as a stage several times. The fastest time (40:49) as of January 2021 is held by professional cyclist Lawson Craddock set in May 2013.
In popular culture
The video game Diablo (video game) was named after Mount Diablo.
In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a mountain range known as Mount Chiliad was based on Mount Diablo. It reappears in Grand Theft Auto V.
The silhouette of the mountain was used for the cover art of PIHKAL and TIHKAL by Alexander Shulgin.
In the book The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan, Piper McLean's father is captured and help captive on the summit of Mount Diablo by the giant Enceladus.
The pop-punk band The Story So Far have a song named after the mountain on their debut record.
Famous residents
James "Grizzly" Adams was a frequent visitor and resident on Mount Diablo in the mid-1850s.
Robert Walter "Bob" Jones, the first professional baseball player from Contra Costa County, was born in the "Jones House" in Irish Canyon in 1889, a current acquisition project of Save Mount Diablo.
The Mount Diablo Ranch, or Diablo Ranch, was successively owned by Robert Noble Burgess (b. 1878 - d. 1965), who founded the community of Diablo and built the mountain's first auto roads, and millionaire Walter Paul Frick (aka W. P. Frick, b. 1875 - d. 1937), who lived in Diablo and was important in the creation of the State Park in 1931, including sale of six of the first seven parcels for the new park.
Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck grew up on Brubeck Ranch near the park's North Gate entrance.
The area for the Blackhawk Farm, including the mountain's southern Black Hills, was acquired from Burgess and created by Ansel Mills Easton, the namesake uncle of photographer Ansel Adams. Eventually nearly two-thirds of the farm was added to Mount Diablo State Park. The remainder was developed as the community of Blackhawk by resident developer Ken Behring and his partner Ken Hofmann.
Legends and folklore
Mount Diablo has long been the site of numerous reports pertaining to cryptozoology, hauntings, mysterious lights, and various other Fortean phenomena (it is rumored that the name "Mount Diablo" is derived from the propensity for such weird events to be alleged at, or in the immediate vicinity of, the mountain). Phantom black "panthers" are seen with unusual frequency on the slopes of the mountain, as well as at the "Devil's Hole" region of the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness. As early as 1806, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (July 4, 1807 – January 18, 1890) reported an encounter with a flying, spectral apparition, while engaged in military operations against the Bolgones band of the Bay Miwok tribe. In 1873, a live frog was said to be found within a slab of limestone at a mine on Mount Diablo.
See also
Diablo Range
Diablo, California
List of highest points in California by county
List of summits of the San Francisco Bay Area
Notes
References
External links
Mount Diablo and Mount Diablo 2. Panoramic views from the summit of Mount Diablo. Mediacom.
Diablo Range
Mountains of Contra Costa County, California
State parks of California
Parks in Contra Costa County, California
National Natural Landmarks in California
Native American mythology of California
Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America
California Historical Landmarks
Civilian Conservation Corps in California
Climbs in cycle racing in the United States
Gliding in the United States
Hang gliding sites
Protected areas established in 1931
1931 establishments in California
Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area
Mountains of Northern California
Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area
Parks in the San Francisco Bay Area
Locations in Native American mythology |
427175 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional%20community | Intentional community | An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision, and typically share responsibilities and property. This way of life is sometimes characterized as an "alternative lifestyle". Intentional communities can be seen as social experiments or communal experiments. The multitude of intentional communities includes collective households, cohousing communities, coliving, ecovillages, monasteries, survivalist retreats, kibbutzim, hutterites, ashrams, and housing cooperatives.
History
Ashrams are likely the earliest intentional communities founded around 1500 BCE, while Buddhist monasteries appeared around 500 BCE. Pythagoras founded an intellectual vegetarian commune in about 525 BCE in southern Italy. Hundreds of modern intentional communities were formed across Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand out of the intellectual foment of utopianism. Intentional communities exhibit the utopian ambition to create a better, more sustainable world for living. Nevertheless, the term utopian community as a synonym for an intentional community might be considered to be of pejorative nature and many intentional communities do not consider themselves to be utopian. Also the alternative term commune is considered to be non-neutral or even linked to leftist politics or hippies.
Synonyms and Definitions
Additional terms referring to an intentional community can be alternative lifestyle, intentional society, cooperative community, withdrawn community, enacted community, socialist colony, communistic society, collective settlement, communal society, commune, mutualistic community, communitarian experiment, experimental community, utopian experiment, practical utopia, and utopian society.
Variety
The purposes of intentional communities vary and may be political, spiritual, economic, or environmental. In addition to spiritual communities, secular communities also exist. One common practice, particularly in spiritual communities, is communal meals. Egalitarian values can be combined with other values. Benjamin Zablocki categorized communities this way:
Alternative-family communities (see Tenacious Unicorn Ranch)
Coliving communities
Cooperative communities
Countercultural communities
Egalitarian communities
Experimental communities
Political communities
Psychological communities (based on mystical or gestalt principles)
Rehabilitational communities (see Synanon)
Religious communities
Spiritual communities
Membership
Members of Christian intentional communities want to emulate the practices of the earliest believers. Using the biblical book of Acts (and, often, the Sermon on the Mount) as a model, members of these communities strive to demonstrate their faith in a corporate context, and to live out the teachings of the New Testament, practicing compassion and hospitality. Communities such as the Simple Way, the Bruderhof and Rutba House would fall into this category. Despite strict membership criteria, these communities are open to visitors and not reclusive to the extent of some other intentional communities.
A survey in the 1995 edition of the "Communities Directory", published by Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), reported that 54 percent of the communities choosing to list themselves were rural, 28 percent were urban, 10 percent had both rural and urban sites, and 8 percent did not specify.
Governance
The most common form of governance in intentional communities is democratic (64 percent), with decisions made by some form of consensus decision-making or voting. A hierarchical or authoritarian structure governs 9 percent of communities, 11 percent are a combination of democratic and hierarchical structure, and 16 percent do not specify.
Core principles
The central characteristics of communes, or core principles that define communes, have been expressed in various forms over the years. The term "communitarian" was invented by the Suffolk-born radical John Goodwyn Barmby, subsequently a Unitarian minister.
At the start of the 1970s, The New Communes author Ron E. Roberts classified communes as a subclass of a larger category of Utopias. He listed three main characteristics: first, egalitarianism – that communes specifically rejected hierarchy or graduations of social status as being necessary to social order. Second, human scale – that members of some communes saw the scale of society as it was then organized as being too industrialized (or factory sized) and therefore unsympathetic to human dimensions. And third, that communes were consciously anti-bureaucratic.
Twenty five years later, Dr. Bill Metcalf, in his edited book Shared Visions, Shared Lives defined communes as having the following core principles: the importance of the group as opposed to the nuclear family unit, a "common purse", a collective household, group decision making in general and intimate affairs. Sharing everyday life and facilities, a commune is an idealized form of family, being a new sort of "primary group" (generally with fewer than 20 people although there are examples of much larger communes). Commune members have emotional bonds to the whole group rather than to any sub-group, and the commune is experienced with emotions which go beyond just social collectivity.
By region
With the simple definition of a commune as an intentional community with 100% income sharing, the online directory of the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) lists 222 communes worldwide (28 January 2019). Some of these are religious institutions such as abbeys and monasteries. Others are based in anthroposophic philosophy, including Camphill villages that provide support for the education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with developmental disabilities, mental health problems or other special needs. Many communes are part of the New Age movement.
Many cultures naturally practice communal or tribal living, and would not designate their way of life as a planned 'commune' per se, though their living situation may have many characteristics of a commune.
Australia
In Australia, many intentional communities started with the hippie movement and those searching for social alternatives to the nuclear family. One of the oldest continuously running communities is called "Moora Moora Co-operative Community" with about 47 members (Oct 2021). Located at the top of Mount Toolebewong, 65km east of Melbourne, Victoria at an altitude of 600–800 m, this community has been entirely off the electricity grid since its inception in 1974. Founding members still resident include Peter and Sandra Cock.
Germany
The first wave of utopian communities in Germany began during a period of rapid urbanization between 1890-1930. About 100 intentional communities were started but data is unreliable. They often pursued nudism, vegetarian and organic agriculture, as well as various religious and political ideologies like anabaptism, theosophy, anarchism, socialism and eugenics. Historically, German emigrants were also influential in the creation of intentional communities in other countries, like the Bruderhof in the United States of America and Kibbutzes in Israel.
In the 1960s, there was a resurgence of communities calling themselves communes, starting with the Kommune 1 in Berlin, without knowledge or influence by previous movements.
A large number of contemporary intentional communities define themselves as communes and there is a network of political communes called "Kommuja" with about 40 member groups (May 2023).
In the German commune book, , communes are defined by Elisabeth Voß as communities which:
Live and work together
Have a communal economy, i.e. common finances and common property (land, buildings, means of production)
Have communal decision making – usually consensus decision making
Try to reduce hierarchy and hierarchical structures
Have communalization of housework, childcare and other communal tasks
Have equality between women and men
Have low ecological footprints through sharing and saving resources
Israel
Kibbutzim in Israel, (sing., kibbutz) are examples of officially organized communes, the first of which were based on agriculture. Other Israeli communities are Neve Shalom, Kvutza, Yishuv Kehilati, Moshavim and Kfar No'ar. Today, there are dozens of urban communes growing in the cities of Israel, often called urban kibbutzim. The urban kibbutzim are smaller and more anarchist. Most of the urban communes in Israel emphasize social change, education, and local involvement in the cities where they live. Some of the urban communes have members who are graduates of zionist-socialist youth movements, like HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed, HaMahanot HaOlim and Hashomer Hatsair.
Ireland
In 1831 John Vandeleur (a landlord) established a commune on his Ralahine Estate at Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. Vandeleur asked Edward Thomas Craig, an English socialist, to formulate rules and regulations for the commune. It was set up with a population of 22 adult single men, 7 married women and their 7 husbands, 5 single women, 4 orphan boys and 5 children under the age of 9 years. No money was employed, only credit notes which could be used in the commune shop. All occupants were committed to a life with no alcohol, tobacco, snuff or gambling. All were required to work for 12 hours a day during the summer and from dawn to dusk in winter. The social experiment prospered for a time and 29 new members joined. However, in 1833 the experiment collapsed due to the gambling debts of John Vandeleur. The members of the commune met for the last time on 23 November 1833 and placed on record a declaration of "the contentment, peace and happiness they had experienced for two years under the arrangements introduced by Mr. Vandeleur and Mr. Craig and which through no fault of the Association was now at an end".
Russia
In imperial Russia, the vast majority of Russian peasants held their land in communal ownership within a mir community, which acted as a village government and a cooperative. The very widespread and influential pre-Soviet Russian tradition of Monastic communities of both sexes could also be considered a form of communal living. After the end of communism in Russia, monastic communities have again become more common, populous and, to a lesser degree, more influential in Russian society. Various patterns of Russian behavior — (толока), (помочи), (артель) — are also based on communal ("мирские") traditions.
In the years immediately following the revolutions of 1917 Tolstoyan communities proliferated in Russia, but later they were eventually wiped out or stripped of their independence as collectivisation and ideological purges got under way in the late 1920s. Colonies, such as the Life and Labor Commune, relocated to Siberia to avoid being liquidated. Several Tolstoyan leaders, including Yakov Dragunovsky (1886-1937), were put on trial and then sent to the Gulag prison camps.
South Africa
In 1991, Afrikaners in South Africa founded the controversial Afrikaner-only town of Orania, with the goal of creating a stronghold for the Afrikaner minority group, the Afrikaans language and the Afrikaner culture. By 2022, the population was 2,500. The town was experiencing rapid growth and the population had climbed by 55% from 2018. They favour a model of strict Afrikaner self-sufficiency and have their own currency, bank, local government and only employ Afrikaners.
United Kingdom
A 19th century advocate and practitioner of communal living was the utopian socialist John Goodwyn Barmby, who founded a Communist Church before becoming a Unitarian minister.
The Simon Community in London is an example of social cooperation, made to ease homelessness within London. It provides food and religion and is staffed by homeless people and volunteers. Mildly nomadic, they run street "cafés" which distribute food to their known members and to the general public.
The Bruderhof has three locations in the UK. In Glandwr, near Crymych, Pembrokeshire, a co-op called Lammas Ecovillage focuses on planning and sustainable development. Granted planning permission by the Welsh Government in 2009, it has since created 9 holdings and is a central communal hub for its community. In Scotland, the Findhorn Foundation founded by Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy Maclean in 1962 is prominent for its educational centre and experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn.
The Findhorn Ecovillage community at The Park, Findhorn, a village in Moray, Scotland, and at Cluny Hill in Forres, now houses more than 400 people.
Historic agricultural examples include the Diggers settlement on St George's Hill, Surrey during the English Civil War and the Clousden Hill Free Communist and Co-operative Colony near Newcastle upon Tyne during the 1890s.
United States
There is a long history of utopian communities in America which led to the rise in the communes of the hippie movement—the "back-to-the-land" ventures of the 1960s and 1970s. One commune that played a large role in the hippie movement was Kaliflower, a utopian living cooperative that existed in San Francisco between 1967 and 1973 built on values of free love and anti-capitalism.
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times wrote that "after decades of contraction, the American commune movement has been expanding since the mid-1990s, spurred by the growth of settlements that seek to marry the utopian-minded commune of the 1960s with the American predilection for privacy and capital appreciation." The Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) is the best source for listings of and more information about communes in the United States.
While many American communes are short lived, some have been in operation for over 50 years. The Bruderhof was established in the US in 1954, Twin Oaks in 1967 and Koinonia Farm in 1942. Twin Oaks is a rare example of a non-religious commune surviving for longer than 30 years.
See also
Anarchist Catalonia
Anarcho-communism
Art commune
Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, Canadian Community Doukhobors (1900-1938)
Common land
Communal land
Commune (documentary), a 2005 documentary about Black Bear Ranch, an intentional community located in Siskiyou County, California
Commune of Paris
Community garden
Counterculture of the 1960s
Diggers and Dreamers
Drop City
Egalitarian communities
Ejido, a form of Mexican land distribution resembling a commune
Equality colony
Fellowship for Intentional Community
Free State Project
Free Vermont
Great Leap Forward, a time period in the 1950s and 1960s when the Chinese government created such communes
Obshchina, communes of the Russian Empire
Hramada, a Belarusian commune assembly
Hutterite, a Christian sect that lives in communal "colonies"
List of intentional communities
People's commune, type of administrative level in China from 1958 – early 1980s
Renaissance Community
Tolstoyans
Well-field system, a Chinese land distribution system with common lands controlled by a village
World Brotherhood Colonies
Notes
References
Sources
Curl, John (2007). Memories of Drop City, The First Hippie Commune of the 1960s and the Summer of Love, a memoir. iUniverse. . Red-coral.net
Curl, John (2009) For All The People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America, PM Press. .
Fitzgerald, George R. (1971). Communes Their Goals, Hopes, Problems. New York: Paulist Press.
Hall, John R. (1978). The Ways Out: Utopian Communal Groups in an Age of Babylon. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Horrox, James. (2009). A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement. Oakland: AK Press.
Margaret Hollenbach. (2004)Lost and Found: My Life in a Group Marriage Commune. University of New Mexico Press, .
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. (1972) Commitment and community: communes and utopias in sociological perspective. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. (1973) Communes: creating and managing the collective life. New York, Harper & Row.
Lattin, Don. (2003, March 2) Twilight of Hippiedom. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 16, 2008
Lauber, John. (1963, June). Hawthorne's Shaker Tales [Electronic version]. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 18, 82–86.
Meunier, Rachel. (1994, December 17). Communal Living in the Late 60s and Early 70s. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from thefarm.org
Miller, Timothy. (1997) "Assault on Eden: A Memoir of Communal Life in the Early '70s", Utopian Studies, Vol. 8, 1997.
Roberts, Ron E. (1971). The New Communes Coming Together in America. New Jersey: Prentice Hall inc.
Van Deusen, David. (2008) Green Mountain Communes: The Making of a Peoples’ Vermont, Catamount Tavern News Service.
Veysey, Laurence R. (1978) The Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Communities in Twentieth Century America
Wild, Paul H. (1966 March). Teaching Utopia [Electronic version]. The English Journal, Vol. 55, No. 3, 335–37, 339.
Zablocki, Benjamin. (1980, 1971) The Joyful Community: An Account of the Bruderhof: A Communal Movement Now in Its Third Generation (University of Chicago Press, 1971, reissued 1980), . (The 1980 edition of the Whole Earth Catalog called this book "the best and most useful book on communes that's been written".)
Zablocki, Benjamin. (1980) Alienation and Charisma: A Study of Contemporary American Communes (The Free Press, 1980), .
Further reading
Curl, John (2007) Memories of Drop City, the First Hippie Commune of the 1960s and the Summer of Love: a memoir. iUniverse. .
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss (1972) Commitment and Community: communes and utopias in sociological perspective. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
McLaughlin, C. and Davidson, G. (1990) Builders of the Dawn: community lifestyles in a changing world. Book Publishing Company.
Lupton, Robert C. (1997) Return Flight: Community Development Through Reneighboring our Cities, Atlanta, Georgia:FCS Urban Ministries.
Moore, Charles E. Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People. Plough Publishing House, 2016.
"Intentional Community." Plough, Plough Publishing, www.plough.com/en/topics/community/intentional-community.
Mariani, Mike: The New Generation of Self-Created Utopias, The New York Times, January 16, 2020
External links
Federation of Egalitarian Communities
Intentional Communities Website
eurotopia European Directory of Communities and Ecovillages
Intentional Communities Wiki
List of Communes in the Communities Directory
Intentional Community For Media and Spirituality
Diggers & Dreamers UK directory & Journal
The Twitter Age Embraces Communal Living – slideshow by The New York Times
International Communes Desk
Housing cooperatives
Intentional living
Living arrangements
Sharing economy
Types of communities |
427183 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen%20Boyd | Stephen Boyd | Stephen Boyd (born William Millar; 4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as the villainous Messala in Ben-Hur (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. He received his second Golden Globe Award nomination for Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962). He also appeared, sometimes as a hero and sometimes as a malefactor, in the major big-screen productions The Night Heaven Fell (1958), The Bravados (1958), Imperial Venus (1962), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Genghis Khan (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966) and Shalako (1968).
Biography
Early life
Stephen Boyd was born on 4 July 1931 in Whitehouse, County Antrim. He was the youngest of nine siblings born to Irish-Canadian parents, James Alexander Millar and his wife Martha Boyd. At a very early age, William, or Billy as he was known, moved with the family to live in Glengormley. Boyd attended the local Public Elementary School and Ballyclare High School.
At the age of 14 Boyd quit school to work and earn money to help support his family. He eventually joined the Ulster Group Theatre, where he learned the behind-the-scenes tasks of the theatre. He became well known in Belfast for his contributions as a gravel-voiced policeman on the Ulster Radio programme "The McCooeys", the story of a Belfast family written by Joseph Tomelty.
Boyd eventually worked his way up to character parts and then starring roles. By nineteen he had toured Canada with summer stock companies. In 1950, he made a coast-to-coast tour of America with the Clare Tree Major Company, performing A Streetcar Named Desire in the lead role as Stanley Kowalski. Boyd later recalled this as "the best performance I ever gave in my life".
By the time he was 20, Boyd had a wide range of theatre experience, but he longed for the big stage. In 1952, he moved to London and worked in a cafeteria and busked outside a cinema in Leicester Square to get money as he was literally close to starvation. Boyd caught his first break as a doorman at the Odeon Theatre.
The Leicester Square Cinema across the street recruited him to usher attendees during the British Academy Awards in the early 1950s. During the awards ceremony he was noticed by actor Sir Michael Redgrave, who used his connections to introduce Boyd to the director of the Windsor Repertory Group. At this point Boyd's stage career in the U.K. began to flourish with performances in "The Deep Blue Sea" and "Barnett's Folly"
Early roles
Boyd's first role that brought him acclaim was as a pro-Nazi Irish spy in the movie The Man Who Never Was, based on the book by Ewen Montagu. The movie was released in April 1956.
Shortly thereafter he signed a ten-year contract with 20th Century Fox studios, who began prepping him for Hollywood. But it was a while until Boyd actually set foot on a Hollywood back-lot. Boyd's next stop was Portugal to make A Hill in Korea, which also featured future stars Michael Caine and Robert Shaw. In June 1956, Boyd was cast in the nautical, ship-wreck adventure Abandon Ship! for Columbia Studios starring Tyrone Power. This was filmed in the summer of 1956 in London where the British Navy built a huge 35,000-gallon water tank for the movie.
In November 1956, for Twentieth Century Fox, Boyd traveled to the British West Indies as part of a large ensemble cast in Darryl Zanuck's racially provocative film Island in the Sun starring Dorothy Dandridge, based on the Alec Waugh novel. Boyd portrayed a young English aristocrat who becomes the lover of Joan Collins. Boyd was loaned out to the J. Arthur Rank production of Seven Thunders (Beast of Marseilles), a World War II romance set in Nazi-occupied Marseilles. This movie was filmed on location in Marseilles and at Pinewood Studios in London in the spring of 1957 and featured Boyd in his most prominent starring film role yet.
Around the same time French actress Brigitte Bardot was given the opportunity to cast her own leading man in her next movie after her success in Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman, and she chose Boyd. From August to October 1957, Bardot, Boyd and Alida Valli filmed the lusty romance The Night Heaven Fell, directed by Roger Vadim in Paris and in the region of Málaga, Spain, specifically the small, white-washed town of Mijas. Being in the Bardot spotlight added much to Boyd's film credit, in addition to bringing him notice in Hollywood.
Boyd finally arrived in Hollywood in January 1958 to take on his first true Hollywood role as the leader of a quartet of renegade outlaws in the Twentieth Century Fox western The Bravados, which starred Gregory Peck and Joan Collins. Even though this was a Hollywood production, the actual filming took place in Morelia, Mexico.
Ben-Hur
After the filming of The Bravados was complete in late March 1958, Stephen Boyd returned to Hollywood to audition for the coveted role of Messala in MGM's upcoming epic Ben-Hur. Many other actors, including Victor Mature, Kirk Douglas, Leslie Nielsen and Stewart Granger had been considered for the part, but Boyd's screen test convinced director William Wyler that he had found the perfect villain for his epic, as Wyler had also admired Boyd's performance in The Man Who Never Was the previous year. Boyd was hurried off to join actor Charlton Heston in Rome in May 1958 to learn the chariot racing aspect of his role. Heston had already been practicing behind the chariot for weeks, so Boyd needed to learn quickly. Boyd was also required to wear brown contact lenses as Messala, which irritated his eyes and caused vision problems for a few months after the movie was completed. Despite this, Boyd described the filming experience of Ben-Hur (which took place in Cinecittà Studios in Rome), as the most exciting experience of his life.
Years after the movie was released, interim Ben-Hur screenwriter and novelist Gore Vidal revealed that Boyd had portrayed his famous character Messala in Ben-Hur with an underlying homosexual energy, as instructed to by Vidal when he greets Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) in the opening sequence. In Gore Vidal's autobiography Palimpsest: A Memoir Vidal describes his discussion first with director Wyler, concerning Messala's underlying motivation, namely that Messala and Judah Ben-Hur had previously been lovers. This was based on an idea by Vidal to enhance the tension between the two main antagonists. Wyler specifically told Vidal, "You talk to Boyd. But don't you say a word to Chuck or he'll fall apart." In Palimpsest, Vidal said, "Over the next few years, whenever we met (William Wyler), we quarreled amiably over what I had put in the scene and what Steven Boyd is clearly playing." Vidal later came into conflict with actor Charlton Heston about his version of the Messala/Ben-Hur relationship and the implications surrounding Ben-Hur.
After the filming of Ben-Hur was completed Boyd returned to Hollywood in early 1959 to star with Academy Award winner Susan Hayward in the Canadian-based drama Woman Obsessed. Some advertisements for this movie labeled Boyd as "The Young New Clark Gable." He was then part of another excellent ensemble cast in the adaptation of Rona Jaffe's novel The Best of Everything, filmed in May and June 1959 at Fox Studios in Hollywood and on location in New York City.
Ben-Hur was released in November 1959 and immediately made Boyd an international star. His portrayal of the Roman tribune Messala brought in rave reviews. Press columnist Erskine Johnson wrote, "A brass hat and the armor of a Roman warrior in Ben-Hur does for Stephen Boyd what a tight dress does for Marilyn Monroe." Ruth Waterbury, in her Boyd feature in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, described Boyd's character as "the dangerously masculine and quite magnificent Messala." Modern Screen magazine in 1960 stated that Boyd's ruthless Messala had "lost the chariot race but captured the sympathy and sex appeal of Ben-Hur."
1960s
Boyd was featured in the popular TV program This Is Your Life on 3 February 1960, which featured many of Boyd's family members and acquaintances (including Michael Redgrave) telling stories about his early life and film career. This should be some indication of how "Stephen Boyd fever" was catching. Newspaper columnists were getting swarmed with letters from female fans of all ages wanting to know more about Boyd. He was being sent dozens of starring roles, most of which he had to turn down due to other obligations. He opted out of the biblical epic The Story of Ruth, which didn't please Fox studios, and he was one of the front-runners to star with Marilyn Monroe in her picture Let's Make Love.
In early 1960, Boyd won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance in Ben-Hur. In January 1960, Boyd made a guest appearance alongside the silent-era Ben-Hur stars Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman on Hedda Hopper's special television programme Hedda Hopper's Hollywood. In February 1960, he starred in the Playhouse 90 television performance called The Sound of Trumpets with Dolores Hart, which garnered good reviews. He also appeared as a singing guest on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show on 13 March 1960 where he performed two Irish folk songs with Dinah Shore, "The Leprechaun Song" and "Molly Malone", and an Irish step dance.
Boyd chose to do roles in which he felt comfortable. His next choice was The Big Gamble, which featured Darryl F. Zanuck's current paramour and French icon Juliette Gréco. It was filmed on the Ivory Coast of West Africa, Dublin and the southern part of France in the spring and summer of 1961. The adventure of making this film almost outdid the adventure in the film itself as the crew slept in tents in the jungle that were guarded by natives on parole for cannibalism. Boyd nearly drowned in the Ardèche river during the making of the film. Luckily he was saved by his co-star and excellent swimmer David Wayne. Boyd spoke about this incident during his appearance on the popular TV programme What's My Line? which aired on 11 December 1960.
Boyd was originally chosen to play Mark Antony opposite Elizabeth Taylor in 20th Century Fox's epic production of Cleopatra (1963) under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian. He began film work in September 1960 but eventually withdrew from the problem-plagued production after Elizabeth Taylor's severe illness postponed the film for months. (Cleopatra was later directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and the role of Mark Antony went to Richard Burton.) During this period of waiting in April 1961 Stephen Boyd was sent to Cairo, Egypt on a publicity tour by Twentieth Century Fox along with fellow actors Julie Newmar and Barbara Eden to attend the inaugural ceremony of the sound and light show at the pyramids of Giza.
After several months without active work, Boyd was thrilled to finally get his first post-Cleopatra role. The film was The Inspector, renamed Lisa for the American release. It was based on the novel by Jan de Hartog and co-starred actress Dolores Hart. The film was made in Amsterdam, London and Wales during the summer of 1961. On 9 January 1962, Boyd was featured in a television film from General Electric Theater called The Wall Between, co-starring Ronald Reagan and Gloria Talbott. Next, Boyd was again loaned out to MGM Studios to star with Doris Day in the circus musical Billy Rose's Jumbo, filmed during the early part of 1962; the role earned Boyd a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Boyd flew to Rome in the summer of 1962 to act with Italian superstar Gina Lollobrigida in her long-time pet project Imperial Venus, a romantic epic about the many loves of Pauline Bonaparte, the sister of Napoleon. This film was the first film to be banned by the Motion Picture Association of America for male nudity. Boyd appeared in a humorous bedroom scene, naked with only his lower half covered by a bed-sheet. The suggestion of nudity was too much for the censors and the movie was never released in the United States. Boyd returned to the States briefly after finishing Imperial Venus, where he appeared for the second time on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, which aired on 11 November 1962. For this program Boyd was a last-minute replacement for actor James Garner and joined Shore and entertainer Dean Martin for a few musical numbers.
Boyd arrived in Spain in early 1963 to begin work on Samuel Bronston's massive production of The Fall of the Roman Empire, directed by Anthony Mann. This was filmed during a severely cold winter in Europe and the production in the Sierra de Guadarrama of Spain encountered several challenges with the snow. Boyd's co-star was another Italian legend, Sophia Loren. Boyd also had the opportunity to ride another chariot in this film. Although the movie did well internationally when it was released in April 1964, it was a box office failure in the United States and signaled the end of Roman epics in the 1960s. More appreciated with the passing of time, The Fall of the Roman Empire was also recognized by critics as being a major inspiration for Ridley Scott's Academy Award-winning movie Gladiator.|
Boyd flew back to Hollywood in the summer to star in a Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre episode with Louis Jourdan called War of Nerves, which aired on 3 January 1964. He then returned to Europe to film the suspenseful The Third Secret starring Pamela Franklin, Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins
and Diane Cilento.
On 23 December 1963, Stephen Boyd became a naturalized U.S. citizen during a ceremony at the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California.
Stephen Boyd was originally cast as the lead in Anthony Mann's World War II drama The Unknown Battle, which was set to film in early 1964 with co-stars Elke Sommer and Anthony Perkins in Norway. After several weeks of waiting, studio funding for the project fell through. Boyd sued Mann for $500,000 for a breach of contract, missed time and other lost film opportunities. The project was completed by Mann a year later and released as Heroes of Telemark with Kirk Douglas replacing Boyd as the lead.
In 1964, Boyd continued to make films in Europe, traveling to Yugoslavia to star as the villain Jamuga in the epic Genghis Khan. Boyd was the top billed and therefore the top paid star in the epic, and this apparently caused friction with up-and-coming star Omar Sharif. After completing Genghis Khan, Boyd trekked to Cairo, Egypt for a brief appearance as the regal King Nimrod at The Tower of Babel in Dino de Laurentiis's production of The Bible, directed by John Huston.
After all this globe-trotting, the travel-weary Boyd was very happy to return to the United States to start work on the Twentieth Century Fox science fiction adventure Fantastic Voyage. This was filmed in the early part of 1965. In the summer of 1965, Boyd joined German star Elke Sommer and music legend Tony Bennett to film the Hollywood drama The Oscar, based on the eponymous Richard Sale novel. The movie was a popular success, but maligned by film critics. Boyd made a 10-day visit to Iran in December 1965 to film his scenes for the United Nations film project The Poppy Is Also a Flower, written by James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
In 1966, the producer of The Oscar, Joseph Levine, hired Boyd for his next film project, The Caper of the Golden Bulls, based on a William McGivern novel. This movie was partly filmed on location in Spain in the summer of 1966. The actors, including Boyd, took part in the famous Feria del Toro de San Fermin festival in Pamplona (known as the Running of the Bulls).
Also in 1966, Boyd appeared as Nimrod in John Huston's biblical epic The Bible: In the Beginning... (which became the year's second highest-grossing film but lost 20th Century Fox $1.5 million) and also as Charles Grant in the cult classic Fantastic Voyage (which is also notable for launching the career of Raquel Welch).
Next, Boyd starred in a spy thriller Assignment K with Swedish model/actress Camilla Sparv, which was filmed in Germany, Austria and London during February and March 1967. Boyd grew a full beard for his next role as the iconic Irish playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw in the Off-Broadway play called The Bashful Genius written by Harold Callen. This was Boyd's first return to the stage since the mid-1950s, and the experience for Boyd was immensely rewarding on a personal level. He received excellent reviews for his nuanced performance of the multi-faceted Shaw. The play had a very brief run during the summer of 1967 in Denver, Philadelphia and Falmouth, Massachusetts.
In early 1968, Boyd was cast as the villain opposite Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot in the western adventure Shalako, based on the Louis L'Amour novel. Shalako was filmed in the early part of 1968 in Almería, Spain. After returning to the United States, Boyd took the role of the cruel slave master Nathan MacKay in the Southern "slavesploitation" drama Slaves, also starring Ossie Davis and singer Dionne Warwick. The film was loosely based on the famous Harriet Beecher Stowe novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was filmed during the summer of 1968 at the supposedly haunted Buena Vista plantation near Shreveport, Louisiana. The film was released during the volatile civil rights era and in May 1969 Boyd attended the premiere alongside Dionne Warwick in Baltimore Closely following Slaves, Boyd starred in another story about racial tension, this time a World War II made-for-television drama called Carter's Army (or Black Brigade) which aired in August 1970, featuring a young Richard Pryor.
It was around this time that Boyd began his interest in L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology, which made him one of the first Hollywood stars to be involved in it. Boyd had always expressed an interest in esoteric religions. In an interview in August 1969 with the Detroit Free Press, Boyd explained that Scientology had helped him through the filming of Slaves, and that to him Scientology was "a process used to make you capable of learning. Scientology is nothing. It means only what you want it to. It is not a church you go to pray, but a church that you go to learn. It is no good unless you apply it. It is the application." Boyd apparently had been elevated to a Scientology Status of OT 6, a position above that of Clear. Boyd starred in and narrated a Scientology recruiting movie titled Freedom in 1970. A copy of this film can be found at the Library of Congress, but it is not available online via any Scientology resource, which may indicate a falling out Boyd had with Scientology using his name for recruiting purposes. There is no documentation of his later involvement with Scientology after the early 1970s.
1970s
During the 1970s, the demand for Boyd in Hollywood diminished, so he focused his attention on European films and several television pilots and shows. He made three films in Spain with director José Antonio Nieves Conde, including Marta in 1970, The Great Swindle in 1971, and Casa Manchada in 1975. He worked with cult director Romain Gary in the drug thriller Kill! in 1971. He also made several Westerns, including Hannie Caulder with Raquel Welch in 1971, The Man Called Noon in 1973, Those Dirty Dogs in 1973, and in 1976. Boyd continued to travel to a wide variety of locations to work, including Australia for The Hands of Cormac Joyce in 1972, South Africa for Control Factor and The Manipulator in 1972–1973, Jamaica for the scuba diving adventure The Treasure of Jamaica Reef in 1972, Florida for the television pilot Key West in 1973, and Hawaii in his last acting stint as a guest star on the popular television show Hawaii Five-O in 1977. The episode Up the Rebels was the premiere episode of Hawaii Five-Os tenth season, and it aired after Boyd's death on 15 September 1977. His most critically acclaimed role during the 1970s was as a colourful Irish gangster in the UK crime thriller The Squeeze in 1977.
A letter from film producer Euan Lloyd (who produced such films as Shalako, The Man Called Noon and The Wild Geese), states that "Stephen Boyd was one of the nicest, kindest people I have met in my lifetime, rare in this profession."
Although Boyd spent most of his adult life traveling abroad for film work, he made his permanent home in southern California. At one point in the 1960s, he had three homes there — one above the Sunset Strip, one in Tarzana and another in Palm Springs, where he enjoyed his favorite pastime, golf. He made frequent trips back to his hometown of Belfast in Northern Ireland. to visit his family. On one particular visit to Belfast in 1971, Boyd exclaimed his dismay about the situation in Northern Ireland at that time: "Because of the divisiveness, the potential for displaying to the world all that is good in that lovely land is lost, perhaps even destroyed." Boyd was valued so highly by his native city of Belfast that during his visits he was always given a military escort from the airport to his home for security reasons during The Troubles.
Personal life
Silver Screen Magazine in 1960 wrote this about Boyd:
{{quote|A supreme individualist, like most Irishmen, he has a wonderful actor's face that easily switches from an engaging smile to sinister menace. Far handsomer in person than on the screen ... Stephen Boyd is a lean (180 pounds), well built (six-foot-one) charmer of 31, with a dazzling dimple, light brown curly hair, fair skin and the kind of grey eyes which take on color from what he is wearing. A man of tremendous vitality, a typical Celt, in many roles he veers from humor to anger in the wink of an eye. He dresses conservatively; speaks wittily, and extremely well, though he confesses that he's had almost no formal schooling; is genial and friendly ('I have my brooding hours which wipe that grin off my face').<ref>Silver Screen magazine, June 1960; "Stephen Boyd Sex Appeal + Blarney" by Maxine Block</ref>}}
Journalist Florabel Muir described Boyd's appeal in a feature from 1966. "I would think it has to be his ruggedly masculine good looks. Strong, even craggy features, a wide sympathetic mouth, firm chin, athletic build, wavy dark brown hair, roving 185-lb. frame – all that plus a musical voice and the savoir faire of a much-traveled fellow – his films have taken him to many places in the world, and a rolling stone acquires a high polish."
Boyd was popular with Hollywood columnists, including his friend Hedda Hopper, as well as fellow actors and other members of the entertainment industry because of his charm and sense of humor. "Boyd is the kind of a man who was born to make friends and he has been doing it most of his life...Boyd is a blue-eyed, curly-haired chunk of masculinity, who makes no attempt to hide the fact that he just plain likes people. On the set of Ben-Hur he rarely occupied the fancy portable dressing room set aside for his use. Instead, he spent his time between scenes sitting around and chatting with electricians, carpenters and his fellow actors. He will discuss any subject and enjoys a good argument. He can, like most Irishmen, sprinkle his talk with wit as well as sagacity."
He was first married in 1958 to Italian-born MCA executive Mariella Di Sarzana during the filming of Ben-Hur. They separated after just three weeks. Concerning his short-lived marriage to Sarzana, Boyd explained: "It was my fault. I'm an Irish so-and-so when I'm working. I hadn't been married a week when we both knew we had made a mistake. She is a nice girl but we were just not meant for each other. I suppose I wasn't ready for marriage. Maybe I was still too much of an adolescent." They officially divorced in early 1959. After his divorce Boyd lived as a bachelor for most of his life, dating several prominent Hollywood starlets throughout the 1960s. His secretary Elizabeth Mills was a permanent resident at his Tarzana home during these years, though the two did not marry until 1974.
He had a deep and lasting friendship with actress and French icon Brigitte Bardot with whom he starred in two movies – The Night Heaven Fell in 1958 and Shalako in 1968. During the filming of Shalako in Almería, Spain, Bardot and Boyd's close relationship and open affection for each other sparked numerous rumors of a possible affair. It even caused Brigitte's husband at the time, Gunter Sachs, to ask for a divorce. In Bardot's autobiography, she described the events and states that Boyd "was never her lover, but a tender and attentive friend." In an interview with Photoplay Film in 1968, Boyd said, "Bardot is always Bardot. She's marvelous. She's an enormous star and she's a unique, marvelous woman. I adore her." Even though both actors denied the affair, the press was "convinced there was a romance afoot, that Brigitte and Boyd openly displayed their affection for each other, but that publication of the report on their romance cooled it."
Boyd also had a close relationship with actress Dolores Hart who describes what was her only romance with a co-star in her autobiography The Ear of the Heart. Boyd eventually rejected her advances, but they remained close friends even after she turned to the cloistered life of a nun in 1963. He visited her in 1966 at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut and remained in communication with her until the early 1970s.
Stephen Boyd's most passionate affair seems to have been with Austrian actress Marisa Mell. They met while filming the movie Marta in 1970. Boyd initially dodged Marisa Mell's amorous advances, but during the second film they made together, The Great Swindle, the two became inseparable lovers.Schneider, Andre. Die Feuerblume: Über Marisa Mell und ihre Filme, 2013 They married in a gypsy camp on the outskirts of Madrid in late 1971. The ceremony included a wrist cutting exchange of blood to seal their bond. The marriage was not considered legal, but Marisa Mell said, "Who cares? In our minds it will be real." According to Marisa Mell, their affair was so intense that while living in Rome they made a trip to the Italian town of Sarsina for a ritual exorcism at the Cathedral of St. Vicinius. Boyd abruptly broke off the affair after the intensity apparently became too much to bear. In early 1972, after Boyd's departure, Mell had this to say about the break-up of their relationship: "We both believe in reincarnation, and we realized we've already been lovers in three different lifetimes, and in each one I made him suffer terribly." For her part, Mell fondly remembered Boyd many years later in her autobiography Cover Love from 1990, dedicating a chapter to their affair.
Boyd's last marriage took place in 1974 to Elizabeth Mills, a secretary at the British Arts Council, whom he had known since 1953. Mills followed Boyd to the United States in the late 1950s and was his personal assistant, friend and confidante for many years before marrying him in the mid-1970s.
Death
Boyd died of a massive heart attack on 2 June 1977 at the age of 45 while playing golf with his wife, Elizabeth Mills, at the Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge, California. He was in talks to play the role of the Regimental Sergeant Major in Euan Lloyd's The Wild Geese before his death. (The role was eventually filled by Jack Watson).
He was cremated and his ashes were interred in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. His wife Elizabeth Mills Boyd was interred with him at the time of her death in 2007. He is also remembered on his parents' grave in the Clandeboye Cemetery, Bangor, Northern Ireland.
Legacy
On 4 July 2018, the Ulster History Circle, a voluntary organisation which erects plaques across the province of Ulster to celebrate people of achievement, commemorated Stephen Boyd with a blue plaque close to his birthplace at 'Moygara', Shore Road, Whitehouse (Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland).
Filmography
Black 13 (1953) as Policeman (uncredited)
Lilacs in the Spring (1954) as Beaumont's Poolside Companion (uncredited)
An Alligator Named Daisy (1955) as Albert O'Shannon
Born for Trouble (1955)
The Man Who Never Was (1956) as Patrick O'Reilly
A Hill in Korea (1956) as Pvt. Sims
The Adventures of Aggie (1956-57)
Seven Waves Away (1957) as Will McKinley
Island in the Sun (1957) as Euan Templeton
Seven Thunders (1957) as Dave
Les bijoutiers du clair de lune (1958) as Lambert
The Bravados (1958) as Bill Zachary
Woman Obsessed (1959) as Fred Carter
The Best of Everything (1959) as Mike Rice
Ben-Hur (1959) as Messala
The Big Gamble (1961) as Vic Brennan
Lisa (1962) as Peter Jongman
Jumbo (1962) as Sam Rawlins
Imperial Venus (1962) as Jules de Canouville
The Third Secret (1964) as Alex Stedman
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) as Livius
Genghis Khan (1965) as Jamuga
The Oscar (1966) as Frank Fane
The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966) as Benson
Fantastic Voyage (1966) as Grant
The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966) as Nimrod
The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967) as Peter Churchman
Assignment K (1968) as Philip Scott
Shalako (1968) as Bosky Fulton
Slaves (1969) as MacKay
Carter's Army (1970, TV Movie) as Capt. Beau Carter
Historia de una traición (1971) as Arturo
Marta (1971) as Don Miguel
African Story (1971) as Arnold Tiller
Hannie Caulder (1971) as The Preacher (uncredited)
The Great Swindle (1971) as Dave Barton
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971) as Brad Killian
The Devil Has Seven Faces (1972) as León Urrutía, joyero
The Hands of Cormac Joyce (1972, TV Movie) as Cormac Joyce
Those Dirty Dogs (1973) as Cpt. Chadwood Willer
The Big Game (1973) as Leyton van Dyk
The Man Called Noon (1973) as Rimes
The Treasure of Jamaica Reef (1974) as Hugo Graham
The Left Hand of the Law (1975) as Lanza
L'uomo che sfidò l'organizzazione (1975) as Inspector Stephen McCormick
(1976) as Bill Ardisson
Lady Dracula (1977) as Count Dracula (Posthumously)
The Squeeze (1977) as Vic (Posthumously)
Women in Hospital (1977) as Dr. Oberhoff (Posthumously)
Impossible Love (1977) as Alvaro (Posthumously)
Hawaii Five-O'' (1977, TV Series) as Daniel Costigan (Posthumously)
References
External links
La page WEB de Stephen BOYD
Stephen Boyd Blog
"Stephen Boyd: The Busker Who Became a Screen Idol" BBC News; retrieved 23 July 2011
"The Man Who Never Was?" Literary Belfast; retrieved 23 July 2011
1931 births
1977 deaths
20th Century Studios contract players
20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland
Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Burials at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
British actors
Irish people of Canadian descent
Male Western (genre) film actors
Male film actors from Northern Ireland
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Northern Ireland emigrants to the United States
People educated at Ballyclare High School
People from Glengormley
Male actors from County Antrim |
427204 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash%20River | Wabash River | The Wabash River (French: Ouabache) is a river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows from the headwaters in Ohio, near the Indiana border, then southwest across northern Indiana turning south near the Illinois border, where the southern portion forms the Indiana-Illinois border before flowing into the Ohio River.
It is the largest northern tributary of the Ohio River and third largest overall, behind the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. From the dam near Huntington, Indiana, to its terminus at the Ohio River, the Wabash flows freely for . Its watershed drains most of Indiana. The Tippecanoe River, White River, Embarras River and Little Wabash River are major tributaries. The river's name comes from a Miami word meaning "water over white stones", as its bottom is white limestone, now obscured by mud.
The Wabash is the state river of Indiana, and subject of the state song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" by Paul Dresser. Two counties (in Indiana and Illinois); eight townships in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; one Illinois precinct, one city, one town, two colleges, one high school, one canal, one former class I railroad, several bridges and avenues are all named for the river itself while four US Navy warships are either named for the river or the numerous battles that took place on or near it.
Etymology
The name Wabash is an English transliteration spelling of the French name for the river, . French traders had adopted the Miami-Illinois word for the river, , meaning 'it shines white', 'pure white', or 'water over white stones', and attempted to spell it according to their own phonetic system. The Miami name expressed the clarity of the river in Huntington County, Indiana, where the river bottom is limestone.
Geology
As the Laurentide Ice Sheet began to retreat from present-day Northern Indiana and Northwest Ohio between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago, it receded into three distinct lobes. The eastern or Erie Lobe sat atop and behind the Fort Wayne Moraine. Meltwater from the glacier fed into two ice-marginal streams, which became the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers. Their combined discharge was probably the primary source of water for the proglacial Wabash River system.
As the Erie Lobe of the glacier continued to retreat, its meltwater was temporarily trapped between the ice front to the east and the Fort Wayne Moraine to the west, and formed proglacial Lake Maumee, the ancestor of modern Lake Erie. Around 11,000 years ago the waters of Lake Maumee became deep enough that it breached a "sag" or weak spot in the Fort Wayne Moraine. This caused a catastrophic draining of the lake, which in turn scoured a wide valley known as the Wabash-Erie Channel or "sluiceway". The Little (Wabash) River flows through this channel. U.S. 24 traverses it between Fort Wayne and Huntington. The valley is the largest topographical feature in Allen County, Indiana.
When the ice melted completely from the region, new outlets for Lake Maumee's water opened up at elevations lower than the Wabash-Erie Channel. While the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers continued to flow through the channel, Lake Maumee no longer did. Now a low-lying, probably marshy bit of terrain lay in between.
It is not known for certain when, but at some point in the distant past the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers jumped their banks and flooded the marshy ground of the Fort Wayne Outlet. The
discharge of this unusual flood was enough to cut across the outlet and come into contact
with the headwaters of the Maumee River. Once this happened, the flood waters rushed to
the east into the Maumee River, and their erosive force was enough that the new channel cut across the Fort Wayne Outlet into the Maumee River since it was at a lower elevation than
that of the sluiceway. This meant that when the flood waters receded, the sluiceway was
permanently abandoned by the two rivers. As a result of capturing them both, the Maumee was converted from a minor creek to a large river. Once again, river
waters flowed through the Fort Wayne Outlet, but now they flowed eastward, toward
Lake Erie, instead of westward. Following this event, the branch of the Wabash River that originates along the Wabash
Moraine near Bluffton became the system's main course and source.
For part of its course, the Wabash follows the path of the pre-glacial Teays River. The river has shifted course several times along the Indiana and Illinois border, creating cutoffs where parts of the river are entirely in either Indiana or Illinois. However, both states generally regard the middle of the river as the state border.
History
The Wabash was first mapped by French explorers to the Mississippi in the latter half of the 17th century, including the sections now known as the Ohio River. Although the Wabash is today considered a tributary of the Ohio, until the mid-18th century, the Ohio was considered a tributary of the Wabash. French traders had traveled north and south from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico via the Wabash; it served as a vital trade route for North American-French trade and was the river they knew best. In the 18th century, the profitable 8-mile portage between the Maumee River and the Wabash was controlled by the Miami people at Kekionga.
The United States has fought five colonial and frontier-era battles on or near the river: the Battle of Vincennes (1779), St. Clair's Defeat (1791), the Attack on Fort Recovery (1794), the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811), and the Siege of Fort Harrison (1812). Several different conflicts have been referred to as the "Battle of the Wabash". A remnant of the old-growth forests that once bordered the Wabash can be found at Beall Woods State Park, near Mount Carmel, Illinois. In the mid-19th century, the Wabash and Erie Canal, one of the longest canals in the world, was built along much the river. Portions are still accessible in modern times, but most of the abandoned canal no longer exists. Its contribution to transportation was surpassed by construction of competing railroads.
The Wabash River between Terre Haute and the Ohio River was navigable by large ships during much of the 19th century, and was a regular stop for steamships. By the late 19th century, erosion due to farming and runoff made the Wabash impassable to such ships. Dredging could have resolved the problem, but was not undertaken because railroads had become the preferred form of transport. The 200-mile stretch south of Terre Haute includes several inoperable swing bridges.
Course
The Wabash River rises 4 miles south of Fort Recovery, Ohio, very near the Darke-Mercer County line about 1.5 miles east of the Indiana-Ohio border. The water source is farmland drainage. A half mile downstream (i.e. east), at a roadside park on Ohio 49 at the Mercer County line, is a historical marker that announces the river's start. This land is also the portage for headwaters of the Mississinewa River, Stillwater River and West Fork of the White River, which lie just a few miles away.
Between the start of the river and Fort Recovery, the current is swift and the water remains very shallow and follows a poorly defined channel. The shallow depth and low bridge clearances make the section nearly impassable by boat except in the most ideal conditions. At mile seven and mile nine, two tributaries give the river a significant boost in volume, and at mile eleven the river flows past Fort Recovery. Two more tributaries add to the river's volume between Fort Recovery and Macedon at mile eighteen, making the river navigable for the remainder of its course. The river continues to flow northward passing the community of Wabash at mile twenty-three and then cutting sharply west, crossing into Indiana at mile twenty-eight.
Upon entering Indiana, the river has many sharp turns; these regularly lead to log jams that can block the river. Because of the many turns in the river, during the 1830s, the state created several separate canal channels to shorten the journey between the state line and Fort Wayne as part of the Wabash and Erie Canal project. The canals were abandoned after competing railroads took over; this allowed the river to shift courses several times, resulting in the formation of many cut-offs and coves with no outlet. The river has a maze-like quality in the first seventeen-mile (27 km) stretch as it enters Indiana.
At mile forty-five, the river becomes straighter with few sharp bends. An additional seventeen tributaries raise the depth of the river considerably, making it navigable for larger vessels. At mile fifty-nine, the river passes through Ouabache State Park, where it begins to widen and become more shallow. The white limestone river bottom can sometimes be seen in the area, whereas it is not visible due to pollution elsewhere downstream. As the river exits the park and flows toward the city of Bluffton near mile sixty-six, it widens further, becoming more shallow; only a narrow channel is navigable by larger vessels.
The river remains shallow and somewhat rocky with minor rapids until mile seventy-one near the community of Murray. There the river becomes calm and deeper until mile eighty-one, due to the dam and levee at the town of Markle. The lock that was formerly at the site is abandoned and a narrow washout is the only means to bypass the dam. In the rocky washout the river level drops four feet, making it one of the most dangerous points on the river. Boaters are advised to exit the river and reembark on the other side of the dam rather than traverse the washout.
At mile eighty-nine, the large Huntington Dam blocks the river. Built by the Army Corps of Engineers to make a reservoir, the dam creates the J. Edward Roush Lake. The lake is surrounded by park land and recreation areas and is about five miles (8 km) in length and a mile wide at its widest point. The mile-long stretch after the Huntington Dam is rarely navigable. No lock connects the two sections of the river, and the water is often very shallow. A second smaller dam at mile ninety-one presents a dangerous hazard, and the section between it and the Huntington Dam has been closed to boaters.
At mile ninety-three the river is joined by its first major tributary, the Little River. The city of Huntington developed at the confluence of the two rivers. The tributary dramatically increases the volume of water in the Wabash at this point. Because of the dams on the Wabash, the Little River often carries more water than the Wabash. Additional minor tributaries raise the water level between Huntington and the city of Wabash. As the river passes Wabash and moves toward Peru, it splits, creating a series of islands; sandbars are common in the stretch. The river returns to a single channel at Peru, and flows through one of its most gentle stretches until reaching Logansport. Here the river again splits into multiple channels, divided by islands. Some of the channels are narrow and rocky, while the larger channels are navigable.
Between Logansport and Delphi, at mile 176, is one of the few remaining stretches of the Wabash and Erie canal. It can be accessed at Delphi. Just past Delphi, the Wabash's second major tributary, the Tippecanoe River, joins the river. The confluence of the two rivers is part of Prophetstown State Park, the site of the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. The flow of the Tippecanoe into the Wabash raises its level dramatically. At this point, most large power boats can easily navigate the river at cruising speed.
The river passes the city of Lafayette at mile 210 and gradually begins to end its westward flow, beginning a wide turn to the south. At mile 241, at the city of Covington, the river begins flowing due south. The river is deep at this point, but there are several gravel bars between Covington and Terre Haute. Terre Haute, beginning at mile 300, is among the largest cities in Indiana. Although navigable by large ships in the past, the remainder of the river becomes shallow in places due to erosion and silt. The river gradually widens moving south. It borders Illinois beginning at mile 316, and serves as a state boundary line with Indiana for the remainder of its course.
At Darwin, a farmer's cooperative operates the Wabash's only ferry service. It is used to take heavy farm equipment across the river. South of Darwin, beginning at mile 410 a large bluff gradually rises, eventually towering two-hundred feet over the river. The area is one of the most remote of the river, and it generally gives onto open land. The area becomes more densely populated as it nears the city of Vincennes at mile 441. Founded by the French about 1720, Vincennes is the oldest European settlement in Indiana, and among the oldest in the American Midwest. The city is sited on a strategic bend in the river that allowed it to control river traffic. Four miles west, as the river turns southward, another major tributary, the Embarras River joins.
Past Vincennes, the Wabash is joined by its largest tributary, the White River at Mount Carmel, Illinois, significantly increasing its size, to over 750 feet wide. Roughly a mile downstream, near the Gibson Generating Station, another large tributary, the Patoka River, also joins. During low water, there are rapids at the confluence, caused by an old canal lock that was abandoned after flooding. Further downstream, the river zig-zags, creating the "tail" of Gibson County, a panhandle between the river and Posey County. From the tail southward there are several cut-offs from the river, resulting in several natural exclaves between Indiana and Illinois, the largest of which is at Grayville. A flood caused the river to change course, disconnecting a two-mile (3 km) long stretch of the river and creating a lake entirely on the Illinois side. Between these exclaves is the historic town of New Harmony, a settlement created by Utopians during the 1810s. It is joined by the Black River on the Indiana side.
At mile 460, the river again splits into several channels. The area features sandy beaches and the largest islands in the river, some a mile in length. The Little Wabash River, another major tributary, joins at mile 482 on the Illinois side, near New Haven. At mile 491 the Wabash flows into the Ohio River near Hovey Lake.
Photos
Hydrology
The Wabash is the 24th largest by discharge volume and 38th longest river in the United States.
Major tributaries
The major tributaries of the Wabash River include:
right tributaries
Tippecanoe River (Indiana)
Embarras River (Illinois)
Little Wabash River (Illinois)
Vermilion River (Illinois and Indiana)
Eel River (Indiana)
Little River (Indiana)
left tributaries
White River (Indiana)
Mississinewa River (Indiana)
Patoka River (Indiana)
Sugar Creek (Indiana)
Wildcat Creek (Indiana)
Salamonie River (Indiana)
Cities and towns along the Wabash
Illinois
Grayville
Hutsonville
Maunie
Mount Carmel
St. Francisville
Indiana
Andrews
Attica
Bluffton
Clinton
Covington
Delphi
Huntington
Lafayette
Lagro
Logansport
Markle
Merom
Montezuma
Newport
New Harmony
Perrysville
Peru
Terre Haute
Vincennes
Wabash
West Lafayette
Williamsport
Ohio
Fort Recovery
Fauna
The Wabash River supports an abundant and diverse wildlife population. At least 150 species of birds have been sighted around the river. The waterfowl are most dependent on the river. Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned night heron, and merlin inhabit the area. Several species of shorebirds build nest on or near the banks of the river. The river is home to many species of fish including species of bass, sunfish, crappie, catfish, carp, and others. Aquatic reptiles including snakes and turtles also occur in the river. A number of amphibians occur throughout the river's watershed including the American bullfrog and the eastern newt. Crayfish are also common throughout the river.
See also
List of Illinois rivers
List of Indiana rivers
List of rivers of Ohio
Watersheds of Illinois
References
Notes
Bibliography
Bright, William Native American Placenames of the United States. 2004. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
Law, Judge Colonial History of Vincennes 1858. Harvey, Mason & Co.
McCormick, Mike (November 2005). Terre Haute: Queen City of the Wabash. Arcadia. .
Further reading
Arthur Benke & Colbert Cushing, "Rivers of North America". Elsevier Academic Press, 2005
Rhodes, Captain Rick, "The Ohio River --In American History and Voyaging on Today's River" has a section on the Wabash River, 2007,
Hay, Jerry M, "Wabash River Guidebook" 2010,
Nolan, John Matthew, "2,543 Days: A History of the Hotel at Grand Rapids Dam on the Wabash River" 2011,
External links
A very thorough access point guide to the Wabash River
The Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission
Rivers of Illinois
Rivers of Indiana
Rivers of Ohio
Tributaries of the Ohio River
Symbols of Indiana
Borders of Illinois
Borders of Indiana
Rivers of Edwards County, Illinois
Rivers of White County, Illinois
Rivers of Crawford County, Illinois
Rivers of Wabash County, Illinois
Rivers of Lawrence County, Illinois
Rivers of Huntington County, Indiana
Rivers of Wabash County, Indiana
Rivers of Cass County, Indiana
Rivers of Fountain County, Indiana
Rivers of Gibson County, Indiana
Rivers of Posey County, Indiana
Rivers of Knox County, Indiana
Rivers of Sullivan County, Indiana
Rivers of Vigo County, Indiana
Rivers of Vermillion County, Indiana
Rivers of Parke County, Indiana
Rivers of Warren County, Indiana
Rivers of Tippecanoe County, Indiana
Rivers of Mercer County, Ohio
Mississippi River watershed |
427217 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner%20syndrome | Werner syndrome | Werner syndrome (WS) or Werner's syndrome, also known as "adult progeria", is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder which is characterized by the appearance of premature aging.
Werner syndrome is named after the German scientist Otto Werner. He identified the syndrome in four siblings observed with premature aging, which he explored as the subject of his dissertation of 1904.
It has a global incidence rate of less than 1 in 100,000 live births (although incidence in Japan and Sardinia is higher, affecting 1 in 20,000–40,000 and 1 in 50,000, respectively). 1,300 cases had been reported as of 2006. Affected individuals typically grow and develop normally until puberty; the mean age of diagnosis is twenty-four, often realized when the adolescent growth spurt is not observed. The youngest person diagnosed was six years old. The median and mean ages of death are 47–48 and 54 years, respectively. The main causes of death are cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Presentation
Werner syndrome patients exhibit growth retardation, short stature, premature graying of hair, alopecia (hair loss), wrinkling, prematurely aged faces with beaked noses, skin atrophy (wasting away) with scleroderma-like lesions, lipodystrophy (loss of fat tissues), abnormal fat deposition leading to thin legs and arms, and severe ulcerations around the Achilles tendon and malleoli (around ankles). Other symptoms include change in voice (weak, hoarse, high-pitched), atrophy of gonads leading to reduced fertility, bilateral cataracts (clouding of lens), premature arteriosclerosis (thickening and loss of elasticity of arteries), calcinosis (calcium deposits in blood vessels), atherosclerosis (blockage of blood vessels), type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis (loss of bone mass), telangiectasia, and malignancies. The prevalence of rare cancers, such as meningiomas, are increased in individuals with Werner syndrome.
Gene expression
Gene transcription changes found in WS cells are strikingly similar to those observed in normal aging. At the level of gene expression, WRN protein deficiency causes changes in the pattern of gene expression that markedly resemble those of normal old age.
Diagnosis and clinical symptoms
The mutation in the WRN gene that causes Werner syndrome is autosomal and recessive, meaning that affected people must inherit a copy of the gene from each parent. Patients display rapid premature aging beginning in young adulthood, usually in their early twenties. Diagnosis is based on six cardinal symptoms: premature graying of the hair or hair loss, presence of bilateral cataracts, atrophied or tight skin, soft tissue calcification, sharp facial features, and an abnormal, high-pitched voice. Patients are generally short-statured due to absence of the adolescent growth spurt. Patients also display decreased fertility. The most common symptom of the six is premature graying and loss of hair. This is also generally the earliest observed symptom, with hair loss occurring first on the scalp and the eyebrows.
Werner syndrome patients often have skin that appears shiny and tight, and may also be thin or hardened. This is due to atrophy of the subcutaneous tissue and dermal fibrosis. Over time, the characteristic facial features may be more apparent due to these skin conditions. Other associated skin conditions include ulcers, which are very difficult to treat in Werner syndrome patients, and are caused in part by decreased potential of skin cells for replication.
WS cataracts are distinctly different from those of normal aging. They are associated with problems in the lens posterior cortex and subcapsular regions. These cataracts are generally treatable with cataract surgery, which should restore normal vision.
Symptoms become apparent in the late teens and early twenties and continue to progress. Most patients live to about fifty years of age. The most common causes of death for people are associated diseases and complications, especially atherosclerosis and cancer.
Associated diseases
Werner syndrome patients are at increased risk for several other diseases, many associated with aging. Atherosclerosis, the thickening of artery walls due to cholesterol buildup, is one common complication. While normal atherosclerosis generally involves the major arteries, smaller arterioles are more likely to be affected. It is possible nervous system disorders are associated. Brain atrophy is present in 40% of patients. Osteoporosis, the loss of bone mineral density common in post-menopausal women, is another common symptom. In contrast with the normal population, the rate of osteoporosis is especially high for male patients. Diabetes mellitus is another common accompaniment. Skin ulcers occur in about 75% of patients – and can be difficult to treat. If skin ulcers become badly infected or develop gangrene, they often require amputation. Unlike most other related diseases and complications, these ulcers are not associated with normal aging.
Patients are also at an increased risk of cancer, especially malignant melanoma. Soft-tissue sarcomas are the most common cancer types. Other types of skin cancer, other epithelial cancers such as thyroid and liver cancers, MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), and MFH (malignant fibrous histiocytoma) are also prevalent among. Mutations in the WRN gene, especially single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), are associated with many of the cancers and other associated diseases. WRN SNPs correlate with cancers such as sarcomas and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems including atherosclerosis.
Causes
Approximately 90% of individuals presenting Werner syndrome have any of a range of mutations in the gene, WRN, the only gene currently attributed to cause Werner syndrome. WRN, which lies on chromosome 8 in humans, encodes the WRNp protein, a 1432 amino acid protein with a central domain resembling members of the RecQ helicases. RecQ helicases are a special type of helicase that function at unique times during DNA repair of doubled stranded breaks, which are a form of DNA damage that results in a break of both strands of DNA. Thus, RecQ helicases are important for maintaining DNA stability, and loss of function of these helicases has important implications in the development of Werner syndrome. In addition to the central domain, there are three exonuclease domains at the N-terminus and a Helicase and Ribonuclease D C-terminal (HRDC) domain at the C-terminus.
When functioning normally, the WRN gene and its associated protein (WRNp) are important for maintaining genome stability. WRNp is active in unwinding DNA, a step necessary in DNA repair and DNA replication. Specifically, it has an important role in responding to replication malfunctions, particularly double-stranded breaks, and stalled replication machinery. WRNp may reactivate replication by preventing unwanted recombination processes from occurring or by promoting recombination, depending on the type of DNA damage. In addition, WRNp physically interacts with or binds to several other proteins that are involved in processing DNA. For example, when WRNp binds to RPA, its helicase activity is stimulated. WRNp also physically interacts with p53, a tumor suppressor gene that stops the formation of tumors and the progression of cancers, which inhibits the exonuclease activity of the WRNp. Since WRNp's function depends on DNA, it is only functional when localized to the nucleus.
Surprisingly, complete loss of WRN helicase activity does not cause clinical Werner syndrome.
DNA repair processes
The finding that WRN protein interacts with DNA-PKcs and the Ku protein complex, combined with evidence that WRN deficient cells produce extensive deletions at sites of joining of non-homologous DNA ends, suggests a role for WRN protein in the DNA repair process of non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). WRN protein also physically interacts with the major NHEJ factor X4L4 (XRCC4-DNA ligase 4 complex). X4L4 stimulates WRN exonuclease activity that likely facilitates DNA end processing prior to final ligation by X4L4.
WRN protein appears to play a role in resolving recombination intermediate structures during homologous recombinational repair (HRR) of DNA double-strand breaks.
WRN protein participates in a complex with RAD51, RAD54, RAD54B and ATR proteins in carrying out the recombination step during inter-strand DNA cross-link repair.
Evidence was presented that WRN protein plays a direct role in the repair of methylation induced DNA damage. This process likely involves the helicase and exonuclease activities of WRN protein that operate together with DNA polymerase beta in long patch base excision repair.
Effects on cell structure and function
Mutations which cause Werner syndrome all occur at the regions of the gene which encode for protein, and not at non-coding regions. There are 35 different known mutations of WRN, which correspond to stop codons, insertions, or deletions that result in a frameshift mutation.
These mutations can have a range of effects. They may decrease the stability of the transcribed messenger RNA (mRNA), which increases the rate at which they are degraded. With less mRNA, less is available to be translated into the WRNp protein. Mutations may also lead to the truncation (shortening) of the WRNp protein, leading to the loss of its nuclear localization signal sequence, thus it is no longer transported into the nucleus where it interacts with the DNA. This leads to a reduction in DNA repair. Furthermore, mutated proteins are more likely to be degraded than normal WRNp. Apart from causing defects in DNA repair, its aberrant association with p53 down-regulates the function of p53, leading to a reduction in p53-dependent apoptosis and increasing the survival of these dysfunctional cells. Cells of affected individuals also have reduced lifespan in culture, have more chromosome breaks and translocations and have extensive deletions.
Patients with Werner syndrome lose the RecQ helicase activity in the WRN protein because of the loss of its C-terminus region, but the mechanism by which this happens is unclear. The loss of the helicase activity can have far-reaching consequences in terms of cell stability and mutation. One instance of these consequences involves telomeres. It is thought that the WRN helicase activity is important not only for DNA repair and recombination, but also for maintaining telomere length and stability. Thus, WRN helicase is important for preventing catastrophic telomere loss during DNA replication. In a normal cell, the telomeres (the ends of chromosomes) undergo repeated shortening during the cell cycle, which can prevent the cell from dividing and multiplying. This event can be counteracted by telomerase, an enzyme that extends the ends of the chromosomes by copying the telomeres and synthesizing an identical, but new end that can be added to the existing chromosome. However, patients with Werner syndrome often exhibit accelerated telomere shortening, indicating that there may be a connection between the loss of the WRN helicase activity and telomere and cell instability. While evidence shows that telomere dysfunction is consistent with the premature aging in WS, it has yet to be determined if it is the actual cause of the genomic instability observed in cells and the high rate of cancer in WS patients.
Without the WRN protein, the interwoven pathways of DNA repair and telomere maintenance fail to suppress cancer and the aging symptoms seen in patients with WS. Events such as rapid telomere shortening cause Werner syndrome cells to exhibit low responses to overall cellular stress. In addition to telomere dysfunction, over-expression of oncogenes and oxidation can induce this type of response. High stress causes a synergistic effect, where WS cells become even more sensitive to agents that increase cell stress and agents that damage DNA. As a result, WS cells show a drastic reduction in replicative lifespan and enter into a stage of aging prematurely. The accumulation of these damaged cells due to telomere shortening over many years may be indicative of why Werner syndrome symptoms only appear after an individual is about twenty years old.
Protection of DNA against oxidative damage
WRN protein was found to have a specific role in preventing or repairing DNA damages resulting from chronic oxidative stress, particularly in slowly replicating cells. This finding suggested that WRN may be important in dealing with oxidative DNA damage that underlies normal aging (see DNA damage theory of aging).
Diagnosis
Treatment
A cure for Werner syndrome has not yet been discovered. It is often treated by managing the associated diseases and relieving symptoms to improve quality of life. The skin ulcers that accompany WS can be treated in several ways, depending on the severity. Topical treatments can be used for minor ulcers, but are not effective in preventing new ulcers from occurring. In the most severe cases, surgery may be required to implant a skin graft or amputate a limb if necessary. Diseases commonly associated with Werner syndrome such as diabetes and cancer are treated in generally the same ways as they would be for a non-Werner syndrome individual. A change in diet and exercise can help prevent and control arteriosclerosis, and regular cancer screenings can allow for early detection of cancer.
There is evidence that suggests that the cytokine-suppressive anti-inflammatory drug SB203580 may be a possible therapeutic option for patients with Werner's syndrome. This drug targets the p38 signaling pathway, which may become activated as a result of genomic instability and stalled replication forks that are characteristic mutations in WS. This activation of p38 may play a role in the onset of premature cell aging, skin aging, cataracts, and graying of the hair. The p38 pathway has also been implicated in the inflammatory response that causes atherosclerosis, diabetes, and osteoporosis, all of which are associated with Werner's syndrome. This drug has shown to revert the aged characteristics of young WS cells to those seen in normal, young cells and improve the lifespan of WS cells in vitro. SB203580 is in the clinical trial stages, and the same results have not yet been seen in vivo.
In 2010, vitamin C supplementation was found to reverse the premature aging and several tissue dysfunctions in a genetically modified mouse model of the disease. Vitamin C supplementation also appeared to normalize several age-related molecular markers such as the increased levels of the transcription factor NF-κB. In addition, it decreases activity of genes activated in human Werner syndrome and increases gene activity involved in tissue repair. Supplementation of vitamin C is suspected to be beneficial in the treatment of human Werner syndrome, although there was no evidence of anti-aging activity in nonmutant mice. In general, treatments are available for only the symptoms or complications and not for the disease itself.
History
Otto Werner was the first to observe Werner syndrome in 1904 as a part of his dissertation research. As a German ophthalmologist, Werner described several progeria-like features and juvenile cataracts in many of his patients. He noticed these symptoms particularly in a family with four sequential children who all showed the characteristics of the syndrome at around the same age. He assumed the cause to be genetic, though most of his evidence was clinical. Between 1934 and 1941, two internists from New York, Oppenheimer and Kugel, coined the term "Werner Syndrome", igniting a wave of interest and research on the disease.
During that time, Agatson and Gartner suggested a possible link between Werner's syndrome and cancer. However, it was not until 1966 that there was a general consensus on the autosomal recessive mode of inheritance for the syndrome. By 1981, geneticists had located the WRN gene on chromosome 8, leading to its cloning in 1996. This cloning of the WRN was significant because it revealed the predicted WRN protein was made from a family of DNA helicases. Prior to 1996, Werner syndrome was thought to be a model for accelerated aging. Since the discovery of the gene, it has become clear that the premature aging displayed in Werner syndrome is not the same, on a cellular level, as normal aging. The role of WRN in DNA repair and its exonuclease and helicase activities have been the subject of many studies in recent years.
Since the initial discovery in 1904, several other cases of Werner syndrome have been recorded. Many of these cases have occurred in Japan, where a founder effect has caused a higher incidence rate than in other populations. The incidence rate of Werner syndrome in Japan is approximately 1 case per 100 thousand people (1:100,000), a large contrast with the rate of incidence for the rest of the world, which is between 1:1,000,000 and 1:10,000,000. A founder effect is also apparent in Sardinia, where there have been 18 recorded cases of Werner syndrome.
See also
References
External links
This article incorporates public domain text from The U.S. National Library of Medicine
Werner Syndrome from GeneReviews, contains extensive information on the disorder
Genodermatoses
Autosomal recessive disorders
Rare diseases
Syndromes affecting the cardiovascular system
DNA replication and repair-deficiency disorders
Progeroid syndromes
Syndromes affecting stature
Syndromes affecting bones
Syndromes affecting the nervous system
Diseases named for discoverer
sv:Progeri#Werners syndrom |
427222 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebel%20Model%201886%20rifle | Lebel Model 1886 rifle | The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (French: Fusil Modèle 1886 dit "Fusil Lebel") also known as the "Fusil Mle 1886 M93", after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service in the French Army in 1887. It is a repeating rifle that can hold eight rounds in its fore-stock tube magazine, one round in the elevator plus one round in the chamber; equaling a total of ten rounds held. The Lebel rifle has the distinction of being the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition. The new propellant powder, "Poudre B," was nitrocellulose-based and had been invented in 1884 by French chemist Paul Vieille. Lieutenant Colonel Nicolas Lebel contributed a flat nosed 8 mm full metal jacket bullet ("Balle M," or "Balle Lebel"). Twelve years later, in 1898, a solid brass pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet called "Balle D" was retained for all 8mm Lebel ammunition. Each case was protected against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a primer cover and by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet. Featuring an oversized bolt with front locking lugs and a massive receiver, the Lebel rifle was a durable design capable of long range performance. In spite of early obsolete features, such as its tube magazine and the shape of 8mm Lebel rimmed ammunition, the Lebel rifle remained the basic weapon of French infantry during World War I (1914–1918). Altogether, 3.45 million Lebel rifles were produced by the three French state factories between 1887 and 1916.
Operation, features, and accessories
In operation, the bolt is turned up to the vertical position until the two opposed front locking lugs are released from the receiver. At the end of the bolt's opening phase, a ramp on the receiver bridge forces the bolt to the rear thus providing leveraged extraction of the fired case. The rifle is fitted with a two-piece wood stock, and features a spring-loaded tubular magazine in the fore-end. Taking aim at intermediate distances is done with a ramp sight graduated between 400 and 800 meters. The ladder rear sight is adjustable from 850 to 2,400 meters. Flipping forward that ladder sight reveals the commonly used fixed combat sight up to 400 meters. The Mle 1886 Lebel rifle has a 10-round capacity (eight in the under barrel tube magazine, one in the elevator, and one in the chamber). The Lebel rifle features a magazine cutoff on the right side of the receiver. When activated, it prevents feeding cartridges from the magazine.
The Mle 1886 Lebel rifle was issued with a long needle-like quadrangular épée bayonet, the Épée-Baïonnette Modèle 1886, with a length of 52 cm. (20 in.). With its X-shaped cross section, the épée bayonet was optimized for thrusting, designed to readily penetrate thick clothing and leather. The bayonet was dubbed "Rosalie" by French soldiers who were issued it during World War I.
Origins and development
Historically, the Mle 1886 Lebel rifle was the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition. This new propellant powder, made of stabilized nitrocellulose, was called "Poudre B" ("Powder B") and had just been invented in 1884 by Paul Vieille (1854-1934). Poudre B was three times as powerful as black powder, for the same weight, and left virtually no residues of combustion. For this last reason, the new powder enabled the reduction of the caliber. The increase of the bullet speed in the barrel required a stronger bullet than the older lead bullet. New cartridges were designed where the lead was placed in a full metal jacket (invented in 1882 by Eduard Rubin) from a deformable alloy.
The French military initially planned to adopt a wholly new rifle design and spent the year 1885 on determining an optimal caliber as well as testing Remington-Lee rifles which showed themselves well in the Sino-French War; a Mannlicher rifle was to be tested in 1886 in order to compare it to Lee, and a brand new cartridge was to be designed as well.
However shortly thereafter, in January 1886, a new revanchist French war minister, General Georges Ernest Boulanger, threw these plans into a garbage bin and requested the urgent application of these two technical breakthroughs to the design of a new infantry rifle. He appointed General Tramond in charge of the project which had to be completed within one year.
Firstly the 11mm Gras cartridge case was necked-down into an 8mm case (similarly to how 8×60mmR Guedes was created by Portuguese a few years earlier, except that cartridge used black powder and therefore was longer), a transformation carried out by Gras and Lt. Colonel Desaleux, which necessitated a double taper handicapping French firearms design for decades to come. The repeating mechanism, derived from the French Mle 1884 Gras-Kropatschek repeating rifle, was implemented by Albert Close and Louis Verdin at the Chatellerault arsenal. The bolt's two opposed front locking lugs, inspired from the two rear locking lugs on the bolt of the earlier Swiss Vetterli rifle, were designed by Colonel Bonnet. The 8mm flat nosed FMJ "Balle M" bullet was suggested by Tramond and designed by Lt. Colonel Nicolas Lebel after whom the rifle (and the caliber) are named. However, Lebel did not lead the team responsible for creating the new rifle. He amicably protested during his lifetime that Tramond and Gras were the two superior officers who jointly deserved that credit. Nevertheless, his name, which only designated the Balle M bullet as the "Balle Lebel," informally stuck to the entire weapon.
The Lebel was designed to be backwards compatible so it could use up existing stores of parts. It used the straight trigger and horizontal bolt action from the army's single-shot 11mm Mle 1874 Gras and shared the tubular magazine from the navy's Mle 1878 Kropatschek rifle. The Mle 1884 and Mle 1885 Kropatschek rifles, still chambered for the 11mm Gras black-powder cartridge, were later adopted by the army as a transitional repeating firearm. The Mle 1885 had a two-piece stock and a massive steel receiver and closely resembles the Mle 1886 Lebel.
Boulanger ordered to produce a million rifles by May 1, 1887, but his proposal how to achieve that was entirely unrealistic and the overall speed was clearly impossible (he was sacked the same year for provoking a war with Germany). The Lebel rifle was manufactured by three government arsenals: Châtellerault, St-Etienne and Tulle, mostly during late 1880s and early 1890s. It featured a two-piece stock and a massive receiver designed to withstand the higher pressures developed by the new smokeless powder-based cartridges.
In 1893, an improved version of the M1886 Lebel was designated Fusil Mle 1886 M 93. The most useful improvement was a modification of the bolt head so it would divert away from the shooter's face any hot gases escaping from a ruptured cartridge case. The firing pin and its rear knob had already been modified in 1887 while the stacking rod remained unchanged. Lastly, the fixation of the rear sight onto the barrel was substantially improved during that 1893 modification.
Between 1937 and 1940, a carbine-length (17.7 inch [45 cm] barrel) version of the Lebel was issued to mounted colonial troops in North Africa. This short carbine version of the Lebel, called the Mle 1886 M93-R35., was assembled in large numbers (about 50,000) at Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle (MAT), beginning in 1937. It used all of the Lebel's parts except for a newly-manufactured shorter barrel of carbine length. It used new sights based on that of the Berthier carbine and had a shortened version of the Lebel bayonet. Since the new carbine's tube magazine had to be shortened as well, its magazine capacity was only three rounds.
While being up to its time, the Lebel rifle design was not without any shortcomings and became outdated much faster than any of the magazine rifles of other European militaries that followed French example during late 1880s and 1890s. While ammunition had to be loaded into the design one at a time, other country's service rifles were being loaded with stripper clips at a much faster rate. The tube fed magazine also greatly affected the rifle's balance when being fired, which could have been another shortcoming.
Competitors and successors
Upon its introduction, the Lebel rifle proved to be vastly superior to the Mauser M-71/84, the German Army's replacement of the Model 1871 Mauser. France finished its rearmament program with the Lebel in 1889, just 18 months after Germany had completed its rifle replacement program with 780,000 M-71/84s. The new French rifle alarmed Bismarck. Tests at Spandau arsenal in the winter of 1887-1888 found that the Lebel could fire 43 rounds of smokeless powder ammunition per minute compared to just 26 of black-powder ammunition for the M-71/84. The inferiority of the Mauser M71/84 and its 11mm black-powder ammunition was one reason why Bismarck opposed going to war with France that winter, despite being pressed by War Minister Waldersee (another reason was that the new French De Bange field artillery, now equipped with breech loaders after the lessons of the 1870 war, both outnumbered and outperformed the Krupp C64 field guns in their rate of fire).
The Mle 1886 rifle proved to be a sturdy and serviceable weapon, but one which became rapidly outdated by advances in military rifle and ammunition designs. As early as 1888, the German Army's Rifle Testing Commission had introduced in response a completely new turnbolt magazine rifle with a spring-loaded box magazine: the Gewehr 88 "commission" rifle. Above all else, it had been designed around the first ever rimless military cartridge using the new smokeless powder ammunition: the Patrone 88 cartridge. The early Gewehr 88 was followed 10 years later by the successful Gewehr 98 which originally was chambered for the Patrone 88. Shortly after the 1903 pattern S Patrone cartridge evolved out of and replaced the Patrone 88. The adaption of existing Patrone 88 chambered fire arms to the S Patrone was fairly easy and quickly realized.
In response to being left behind by Germany's Mauser rifle, the French military decided in 1909 to replace the Lebel and its rimmed cartridge by more advanced designs. Consequently, while the bolt action Berthier rifle was first issued in 1907 as a stop-gap to arm colonial troops, the French defense ministry was planning to leapfrog other military forces with an advanced semi-automatic infantry rifle. This new weapon was the Meunier rifle, also known as the Fusil A6, which chambered a more powerful 7×59mm rimless cartridge. It was adopted in 1912 after an extensive competitive process. However, its manufacture, which was to begin in 1913, was suspended because of the imminent risk of war with Germany. Instead, and during World War I, the French Army chose the easier and less expensive solution of adopting a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle which incorporated some Lebel parts: the Fusil Mle 1917 RSC, once again in 8mm Lebel caliber. It was manufactured in large numbers (85,000) during 1918 and issued to select soldiers in infantry regiments. However, the Mle 1917 RSC was criticized by infantrymen as being too heavy, too long, and too difficult to maintain in the trenches. Furthermore, it also needed a special five-round clip to operate. In the end, the aged M1886 Lebel and variants of the Berthier rifle remained in service until the Armistice of November 11, 1918 and beyond.
8mm Lebel cartridge
When it first appeared, the Lebel's 8×50R smokeless ammunition allied to its longer range and flatter trajectory brought a revolution in infantry armament. A soldier equipped with a Lebel could outrange troops carrying rifles chambered for black-powder, large-caliber lead-bullet ammunition. Using smokeless powder, he could remain virtually invisible to an enemy at longer ranges, yet locate an enemy at any range by the smoke from their rifles. He could also carry more cartridges for the same overall weight.
A new 197 gr (12.8 g) solid brass (90% copper-10% zinc) pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet ("Balle D")—historically the very first boat-tailed plus spitzer rifle bullet to be invented and then widely manufactured—was adopted for the Lebel rifle in 1898 and placed in generalized service after 1901. Desaleux's own Balle D provided a flatter trajectory and increased the range of the Mle 1886 rifle to about 4,000 yards and its maximum effective wounding distance (when fired indirectly at massed area targets) to 1,800 yards. More importantly, due to the bullet's flatter trajectory, the realistic effective range of the 8mm Lebel was increased to approximately using open sights. The altered ballistic trajectory of the new cartridge necessitated a replacement of the Lebel's rear sights.
Firstly, in order to avoid accidental percussion inside the Lebel tube magazine and in order to receive the pointed bullet tip of the cartridge that followed, all the French-manufactured military Balle D and Balle N ammunition had a circular groove etched around each primer pocket. Moreover, the Berdan primer on each French-made military Balle D round was further protected against accidental percussion by a thick, convex primer cover which was crimped in after 1915, the "Balle D a.m."
The last type of Lebel military issue ammunition to be introduced was the Cartouche Mle 1932N, using a cupro-nickel, silver-colored, jacketed spitzer boat-tailed lead-cored bullet which was only suitable for Lebel and Berthier rifles marked "N" on top of the receiver and barrel. This 8mm Lebel heavier Balle "N" ammunition had originally been designed to increase the range of the Hotchkiss machine gun. Its manufacturing ceased in France during the late 1960s.
8mm Lebel ammunition was powerful for its time. It ranked slightly higher in muzzle energy than .303 British and slightly lower than the German 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. The chief negative characteristic of 8mm Lebel ammunition was the geometry of its rimmed bottlenecked case, due to the will to reuse 11mm Gras case set of tools. This adversely affected the magazine capacity and functioning of firearms, particularly in automatic weapons such as the Chauchat machine rifle. The Lebel cartridge's heavily tapered case shape and substantial rim forced weapon designers to resort to magazines with extreme curvatures as for the Chauchat machine rifle. In contrast, rimless straight-wall cartridges such as the .30-06 Springfield and the 8×57mm Mauser could easily be loaded in straight vertical magazines.
M1886 in service
Following the adoption of the Lebel rifle by the French Army, most other nations switched to small-bore infantry rifles using smokeless ammunition. Germany and Austria adopted new 8mm infantry rifles in 1888; Italy and Russia in 1891; and the U.S. in 1892 with the Krag rifle. The British upgraded their .303 Lee–Metford with smokeless cartridges in 1895, resulting in the .303 Lee–Enfield.
In the early years of the twentieth century, the Lebel rifle was sold in the French overseas colonies for the protection of civilians or for hunting purposes. Brand new Lebels could be purchased by authorized civilians and were featured in catalogs of the French mail-order firm Manufrance printed until 1939. Those "civilian market" Lebels sold by Manufrance were strictly identical in fit and finish to the military issue Lebels, except for the lack of a bayonet lug and no stacking rod. Furthermore, a large game hunting version of the Lebel called the "Lebel-Africain" was also offered for sale by Manufrance during the pre-World War II years. This particular version featured a shorter barrel, a turned-down bolt handle and a slimmer, better finished stock. However, it had to compete as a hunting weapon against the bolt-action Mauser and Mannlicher–Schönauer hunting rifles that became available on the French marketplace, in the early 1900s.
World War I
The Lebel rifle was a hard-hitting and solidly built weapon with a reputation for reliability in adverse environments including those of trench warfare. The Lebel rifle was quite accurate up to 300 yards and still deadly at three times that distance, thanks to the spitzer and boat tail "Balle D" bullet. Nevertheless, the Lebel rifle was not without its flaws:
The slow-to-reload tube magazine was the Lebel's worst handicap when compared to other military rifles of that period.
The Lebel's diminutive sights, while accurate, were low and small thus not easy to align and unprotected against shocks.
The lack of a wooden handguard on top of the barrel led to burned hands after prolonged firings.
Nevertheless, the Lebel rifle was preferred by French infantrymen over the M1907-15 Berthier rifle with its limited three-round magazine capacity. The difference was the Lebel's larger magazine capacity in an emergency (eight rounds plus two extra rounds). In the words of David Fortier (in "Standard Catalog of Military Rifles", 2003): "The rifle shoulders nicely and is comfortable with a 13.5" length of pull. Align the hard to see sights and squeeze. When the hammer drops the Lebel slaps hard on both ends. The bolt handle is a bit out of reach due to its forward placement, but the action is fairly smooth and easy to run from the shoulder. You just have to give it a bit of a tug at the end to snap the shell carrier up ... With quality ammunition and a good bore these rifles are capable of fine accuracy. ... A rugged and reliable design, the Lebel soldiered on far longer than it should have."
During World War I (1914–1918), the Lebel remained the standard rifle of French infantry whereas the Berthier rifle—a lengthened version of the Berthier carbine—featuring a Mannlicher-style 3-round magazine was issued to colonial troops, to allied contingents in the French Army, and to the French Foreign Legion. The latter, however, demanded and obtained in 1920 being re-equipped with the Lebel rifle. The Lebel rifle could also be used with a removable VB (Viven-Bessieres) rifle grenade launcher. While the Lebel rifle was quite effective up to 300 meters with the standard Balle D boat-tail bullet ammunition, accuracy at longer distances was impaired by the existing open sights. Consequently, the APX Mle 1916 and APX Mle 1917 models of the Lebel rifle with adjustable telescopic sights were issued in numbers during WW-1, beginning in late 1916.
During World War I, Lebels were supplied to various Allied armies, such as Serbia, Russia, Belgium or United States.
The German Empire captured many Lebels, especially after the fall of Lille during the Race to the Sea. The rifles were marked Deutsches Reich and issued to rear units.
Post-World War I use
Because of negative factors during the late 1920s and 1930s—a depressed economy, reduced war budgets under the Popular Front led by Leon Blum, and neglect at high military levels, the French Army was slow to modernize its infantry weapons. For instance, production of the bolt-action MAS-36 rifle began much too late (in 1937) although its prototype had already been approved in 1929. As a result, MAS-36 rifles to equip French infantry were in short supply when World War II broke out in September 1939. Furthermore, a thoroughly tested French semi-automatic rifle was also ready to be placed into production by 1939. But due to the German occupation of France during the Second World War, five more years had to pass before this gas-operated weapon (the MAS-1939 and MAS-40) could be issued as the MAS-44, MAS-49 and MAS 1949-56 series. Another adverse result of all these delays is that Lebel rifles—many of which had since been shortened into a carbine-length version, the Mle 1886 M93R35—were still in the hands of front-line and reserve troops at the outbreak of the war. More than 3 million were available in French arsenals. There are pictures of Italian Social Republic infantrymen armed with M1886s, perhaps resurrected from a shipment provided by the French in World War I to replace the rifles lost by Italy after the Caporetto defeat, or seized later, during Italian occupation of France. Other were seen in the hands of Soviet partisans. Likewise, in 1944 the German Wehrmacht had issued some captured M1886 Lebel rifles, given the German identification code Gewehr 301(f), to some of their occupation troops in France, but in limited numbers. In 1945, during the final months of the war, many Lebel rifles were issued to Volkssturm conscripts along with any other available weapons. Some years later, during the Indochina and Algerian Wars, Lebel rifles were issued to auxiliaries or second-lines units. Functional Lebel rifles have been found in Iraq during the Iraqi insurgency after 2003.
Users
: Used by Yunnan Clique forces
: Some Ethiopian Lebels have been hand-shortened into 5-round carbines. Most likely were obtained after WW1 as surplus.
France
: issued to Volkssturm units.
: Iraqi insurgents
: Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince
Second Polish Republic
Kingdom of Romania
Second Spanish Republic
: issued to Home Guard units after Dunkirk.
: used during WWI
: used by Vietnamese National Army and Viet Minh/Viet Cong
See also
Chauchat
List of infantry weapons of World War I
Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun
Notes
References
Bibliography
An illustrated chapter in this volume reviews in depth the Lebel and Berthier rifles (and carbines).
This volume (in English) provides a detailed description of all the types of 8mm Lebel ammunition, including Balle M, Balle D (a.m.) and Balle N. The 7x59mm Meunier cartridge (for the semi-automatic A6 Meunier rifle) is also illustrated and described in detail.
This volume (in English) contains a highly detailed technical "Introduction" chapter describing the Lebel rifle and its ammunition. This volume primarily describes all French semi-automatic rifles since 1898, notably the Mle 1917 and Mle 1918 semi-automatic rifles, the Meunier (A6) rifle as well as the MAS 38-39 to MAS49 and 49/56 series.
This large illustrated volume (in French) contains the detailed technical history and production statistics for the Lebel rifle as well as detailed technical accounts on the Chassepot, Gras, Kropatschek and Berthier weapons and how they came to be designed and manufactured. This is regarded as the fundamental research volume on the subject. The author is a retired armament engineer who spent most of his career at Châtellerault and had full access to all the archives and the prototypes.
The author is justifiably critical of the Lebel's sights.
Contains an informative and detailed page dedicated to the Lebel rifle (by David Fortier).
External links
8×50mmR Lebel rifles
Bolt-action rifles of France
Early rifles
French World War I small arms
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1887
World War I French infantry weapons
World War II infantry weapons of France |
427245 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin%20Media%20One | Virgin Media One | Virgin Media One, also called Virgin One, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland (part of Liberty Global), operated through its subsidiary Virgin Media Television. The channel launched on 20 September 1998, as TV Three, becoming Ireland's fourth television channel and the first commercial channel, as Channel 3. It was known as TV3 from 2006, and then as Virgin Media One from 30 August 2018. The channel broadcasts a mix of Irish programming and acquired programming from ITV and others.
History
In October 1988, the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) was set up to regulate new independent stations. Following this TV3 was intended to be the Republic of Ireland's third terrestrial channel. The original broadcasting licence was granted to a consortium Tullamore Beta Ltd in 1990 (some of this consortium made up of Windmill Lane Productions and Paul McGuinness). It was originally envisaged that the channel would broadcast solely on cable and analogue MMDS, but it was later (1990) decided that the channel should broadcast on some terrestrial UHF transmitters similar to other Irish channels. Initially their signal coverage was much poorer than that of RTÉ but this has been largely addressed since the switchover to digital television.
TV3's broadcast was further delayed when IRTC revoked the broadcasting licence due to delays in broadcasting the channel. After a court battle the licence was eventually restored in 1993. By 1993 an agreement was made to sell 49 per cent of the company to UTV, to raise much-needed cash for investment in facilities. However, UTV pulled out of negotiations in 1995, after TV3 tried to convince existing MMDS and cable television providers to drop UTV and replace it with TV3. Cable operators declined to drop UTV Northern Ireland from its line-up.
In 1997, Canadian communications company Canwest bought a major stake in the new company. In 2001, Granada purchased a 45% share in the company. By 2006 the group was sold to Doughty Hanson & Co. In 2015, Liberty Global confirmed it planned to purchase the TV3 Group, approval to purchase the broadcaster was given on 2 October 2015 by the CCPC.
In June 2018, it was announced that the TV3 Group channels would be rebranded as Virgin Media Television on 30 August 2018, with TV3 renamed Virgin Media One.
Subsidiary channels
Virgin Media One +1
A timeshift channel TV3 +1 launched on 2 December 2014 on UPC Ireland. The channel was added to Sky Ireland on 8 April 2015.
However, the channel is unavailable to viewers on Saorview, as TV3 were in dispute with its operator 2RN (formerly a subsidiary of RTÉ) over the non-payment of tariffs over several years by TV3. On 30 August 2018, with the rebrand of TV3, TV3 +1 was rebranded as Virgin Media One +1.
Virgin Media One HD
TV3 HD is a high definition version of TV3, both domestic and imported programming is available in HD, mainly sporting content. TV3 HD launched on Virgin Media Ireland and Sky Ireland on 11 August 2015. It is anticipated TV3 will utilise its existing Virgin Media TV3 HD Studio in Ballymount where a number of its shows already broadcast from such as Ireland:AM, Xposé, The Tonight Show and 3 News. The service is currently unavailable on Saorview. On 30 August 2018, with the rebrand of TV3, TV3 HD was rebranded as Virgin Media One HD.
Broadcasting policy
TV3 broadcasts a wide range of programming which in its early years depended heavily on international acquisitions. In 2008, the TV3 Group produced a three-year strategy to increase the amount of homegrown productions on the channel. Under its contract with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), TV3 is required since 2008 to have 30% of its programming coming from Ireland though TV3 now produces 40% Irish produced content (most of this content comes from in studio productions such as Ireland AM and Xposé). In 2010 TV3 announced a target of 50% Irish programming by 2012. TV3 has also confirmed its plan to build a major new studio in 2011 which will be fully HD capable with audience capacity.
The company has a small staff of 200 employees to run three television channels and one on-demand online service. On average, TV3 spend about €10 million on internal productions which are generally for daytime viewers. It does not have a history of strong prime-time content; generally its home produced programmes consist of at least one independently produced programme, e.g. The Apprentice, a number of internal documentaries such as Ireland Undercover and a number of BCI licence fee-funded independent products such as School Run, Diary of... and Modern Ireland.
As of October 2009, TV3 claims to be the most watched television channel by people aged 15–24 years old. This group was previously captured by RTÉ One. This is an important group to capture as it is often these viewers whom advertisers wish to target. In reaction to this press release from TV3, RTÉ rebutted its claims stating that RTÉ One outdoes TV3 in far more demographic categories and that TV3's press release, "In terms of the selective audiences focussed upon by TV3 in their release, it's clear this is a recent phenomenon and only pertains to a narrow sub-demographic of young viewers in this country. By contrast, the year-to-date equivalent (1 January – 20 October), all day national share, sees RTÉ One with a 16.2% share of the 15-24s; TV3 with a 13.3% share."
Budget
In 2009 TV3 had revenues of €54,300,000. In the previous year (2008), TV3 received €62 million in advertising revenue. Increases in programme cost during 2008 included new sporting contracts with the GAA and UEFA, the first renewal of its contract with the British broadcaster ITV for shows such as The X Factor and Coronation Street, a small but significant increase in programmes commissioned from independent producers. It also increased investment in online technology, with its online service earning a profit for the first time.
In 2008, TV3 received €3 million in funding from the licence fee for independent productions on the channel.
In 2009, two rounds of redundancies reduced TV3 staff to 213 people. Staff savings have been augmented by agreed reductions in wages. The 200 staff working in TV3 now provide seven hours of live television five days a week, an increase of two hours and a staff reduction of 50 since 2007.
In February 2012 the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) restructured TV3's outstanding loans to the bank. The owners of TV3, Doherty Hanson & Co., have loans of €140million with the bank. €51million continued to be repaid over the next 5 years, while €81.1 was frozen until a "liquidity event", according to the IBRC this is in the event of a sale of TV3.
In 2014 TV3 saw losses of €7 million, and €17 million in 2015, with operating expenses of €55.6 million.
Product placement
Product placement within Irish produced programming had previously been banned by broadcasting authorities in Ireland, though in the past Irish viewers have been used to product placement as seen on US television and film productions. Due to an EU ruling made in 2007, Irish broadcasters can now place products within programming mainly entertainment shows, though excludes programming which is deemed mainly 'news and current affairs' and programming aimed at children. On 15 August 2011 it was confirmed that TV3 would become the first official broadcaster to implement the new broadcasting terms. Kenco reportedly paid TV3 Group a six-figure sum to place its branding on two key early morning television shows mainly, The Morning Show and Midday from September 2011. Similar to RTÉ and TG4 broadcasters will have to air the logo 'PP' at the beginning and end of the show to inform viewers that products will appear on the show. RTÉ Television has previously used product placement on its series The Late Late Show.
Irish-produced programming
Virgin Media Ireland programming has often been criticised for having no "distinctive, clearly Irish identity". In spring 2008, a major effort was made by the station to change this situation. In general Virgin Media Ireland spends around €10 million on its Irish productions each year. In 2008 it significantly increased the number of prime time shows produced in Ireland. Under current broadcasting legislation, Virgin Media One is required to use 15% of its total Irish production budget for independent productions. Since 2004 independent productions for the network have been able to avail of the BAI's Sound and Vision Fund, a fund provided to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) from the licence fee. In 2008 independent producers received €3million from the Sound and Vision fund for programming that they produced for the network.
News and current affairs
Virgin Media News provides national Irish and international news through television, online, on-demand and on mobile. The news service begins at 07:00 with regularly bulletins featured on Ireland AM until 10:30. The main news bulletins on Virgin Media One are Virgin Media News at 12.30, Virgin Media News at 5.30, Virgin Media News at 8.00, plus Virgin Media News on Two on Virgin Media Two. On Virgin Media Three, 60 Second Update bulletins are broadcast throughout prime-time.
Sports programming
From its infancy, TV3 aired a live sporting programme called Sports Tonight (1998–2009) hosted by Trevor Welsh. The show would air weeknights from 23:30, until its cancellation on 23 March 2009.
At its launch, TV3 secured rights to number of Republic of Ireland exhibition matches. It joined forces with Sky to provide deferred coverage of World Cup Qualifying games along with a programme dedicated to League of Ireland games, The Soccer Show and live coverage of League of Ireland games. Later those games moved to RTÉ after the government chose to put those games on a live free-to-air footing.
Virgin Media Ireland currently holds the Irish broadcasting rights to 2018 for UEFA Champions League on Tuesday nights, while RTÉ 2 covers Wednesday nights and the final exclusively live. which includes in-vision sporting commentary and analysis by Virgin Media Sport presenters and crew. Coverage is presented by Tommy Martin alongside 2 pundits examples being Graeme Souness, Harry Redknapp, Brian Kerr, Neil Lennon, Martin Keown or Tony Cascarino. Commentary is provided by Dave McIntyre and Kevin Kilbane or Mark Lawrenson with Trevor Welsh also providing highlights commentary. The network previously held exclusive Irish rights from 2001 to 2004. It then lost these to RTÉ but since 2009 have shared rights with RTÉ and will continue to have these rights until 2018. TV3 also held rights to the UEFA Europa League matches on Thursday nights until 2015. In 2015 TV3 began airing the FA Cup Final live and will do so through to 2018. The coverage was presented by Tommy Martin alongside Paul McShane and Brian Kerr with commentary by Dave McIntyre and Kevin Kilbane.
A milestone in TV3 broadcasting history came with coverage of the 2011 UEFA Europa League Final, held at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Forty cameras were used to broadcast to an audience in the tens of millions across the world.
From 2008 to 2013 TV3 secured broadcasting rights for a selection of GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship matches as part of Championship Live. In 2008, the station began broadcasting a selection of live matches, as well as a weekly preview show called Championship Throw In. TV3 lost these rights in 2014 to Sky Sports.
TV3 first aired Rugby with coverage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The channel had coverage of 13 games with all Ireland matches, quarter-finals, semi-finals, the final and the opening match shown live alongside Setanta Ireland who broadcast all matches. TV3 coverage in 2007 was hosted by Matt Cooper with analysis by Paul Wallace, Trevor Brennan, Jim Glennon, Michael Cheika, Jim Williams and Victor Costello. The commentators were Conor McNamara and Phillip Matthews.
Days after the loss of Gaelic games Championship rights in 2014, the station secured live free to air coverage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. TV3 broadcast all 48 matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Coverage was presented by Matt Cooper or Tommy Martin alongside Keith Wood, Matt Williams, Peter Stringer, Shane Jennings, Neil Back, Murray Kinsella with commentary by 2 commentary teams – the first being Conor McNamara, Stuart Barnes and Liam Toland and the second being Dave McIntyre and Hugo McNeill. Other commentary was provided by the world field such as Andrew Cotter, Joel Stransky, Alan Quinlan, Chris Patterson. The coverage has been met with significant criticism due to the high number of ad breaks and their positioning throughout the coverage. After a successful Rugby World Cup for TV3 they shocked RTÉ Sport in November 2015 by winning the rights to broadcast all matches in the 6 Nations from 2018 to 2021 with RTÉ continuing to cover the tournament in 2016–2017.
Daytime programming
Virgin Media One's daytime TV takes up the majority of its home produced programming. Virgin Media Ireland has stated that 40% of its total output is of Irish origin 10% more than its requirement under its broadcast licence with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Together Ireland AM, News at 12.30, Xposé and News at 5.30 make up 30 hours of television each week.
TV3's first daytime produced programme was Speakeasy produced by Fastnet for TV3. The series focused on topical issues affecting people in Ireland ranging from divorce, sex, crime, multiculturalism, poverty, sexuality and other topics were discussed amongst the presenter and a panel of guests. The show ran for one year from 1998 to 1999.
The station created a new morning news talk show, Ireland AM, launched in September 1999. It became Ireland's first televised breakfast show. The show airs every weekday morning from 07:00 until 11:00 featuring a broad range of topics such as news, show business, daily newspapers, current affairs, technology, cooking, animal welfare, social issues, fashion, beauty, health, interviews, traffic reports, weather, sport, movies and music. Ireland AMs presenting team include Karen Koster, Anna Daly, Ciara Doherty and Alan Hughes.
Originally Ireland AM broadcast for two hours each morning, it now broadcasts for hours. In 2013 45 minutes extra were added to the show with the first hour hosted by Anton Savage as a current affairs programme, in 2014 TV3 drop the extra 45 minutes and the first hour of Current Affairs.
In 2008, TV3 launched a female skewed programme similar to The View called Midday. Midday broadcasts from 11:30 until 12:30; the show is presented by Elaine Crowley and is joined on occasion by Sybil Mulcahy in front of a live studio audience.
In 2009, TV3 launched a new topical show called The Morning Show with Sybil & Martin. In August 2013, TV3 confirmed that The Morning Show had been axed from the new autumn schedule after weeks of speculation.
In 2013 Late Lunch Live started broadcasting Monday to Friday at 14:30. The show is hosted by Lucy Kennedy and Martin King. In February 2015 this was replaced by The Seven O'Clock Show.
In 2014 the afternoon news at 12:45 was rebranded as The 12:30 and now runs for 30 minutes Monday to Friday. In June 2015, TV3 Group confirmed it would extend its Ireland AM format into the weekends. From August 2015, the station began broadcasting Weekend AM live providing up to six hours live content on the weekends.
Reality and entertainment programming
1998–2001
The channel's first attempt at a travel show was Messrs Tylak and Rooney in which Joe Rooney and Paul Tykla traveled around Ireland's tourist spots.
In 2000, TV3 commissioned the dating game Perfect Match hosted by Twink (Adele King), which only aired for one season.
From 2001 TV3 began to produce Irish versions of hit international television shows including The Weakest Link hosted by Eamon Dunphy.
Other entertainment shows included a film show, Take 3.
2002–2006
In May 2002, Haunted House started out with about 26 contestants who would be ultimately voted out of the house by the public. The tasks were similar to those of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
In 2003, TV3 launched the ill-fated The Dunphy Show presented by Eamon Dunphy, which was built up to be a contender with RTÉ One's The Late Late Show.
TV3 also launched a weekly movie review show called Popcorn.
In 2005, TV3 made a second attempt at launching another late night talk show every Wednesday at 22:00 hosted by Brendan Courtney called The Brendan Courtney Show. It was somewhat successful and ran for two seasons.
In the same year the channel launched a property based show hosted by Richard Eberle and Maura Derrane called The Property Game. Similar to other European broadcasters TV3 began to produce its own reality based TV series.
In 2006 TV3 produced its second reality TV series. The Box, fronted by Keith Duffy, debuted on Monday 9 October 2006.
2007–2014
From 2007 TV3 continued its commitment to increase its Irish entertainment output. In April 2007, the channel launched the female-skewed news entertainment show Xposé airing weeknights at 18:00.
An Irish version of Deal or No Deal which ran for one season in association with the Irish National Lottery was launched in 2009. It was produced by Endemol for TV3.
As part of the autumn-winter schedule in 2008, TV3 aired the Irish version of the internationally successful The Apprentice. This proved to be very successful for TV3. The series aired on the channel between 2008 and 2012. It also led to spin-off shows called The Apprentice: You're Fired! and The Apprentice: At Home.
In 2009 entertainment news anchor Lorraine Keane left Xposé, which resulted in a reality TV show called Total Xposure which focused on a nationwide search for a new presenter.
TV3 began to air an Irish version of the international dating show Take Me Out from 2010. The series was presented by radio DJ Ray Foley.
In 2011, Adele King was expected to host an agony aunt talkshow, Give Adele a Bell; this has not aired on TV3. Alan Hughes Family Fortunes aired on the channel in 2011 along with an Irish version of Mastermind.
On 7 June 2010 TV3 introduced Celebrity Salon, in which each season focuses on six celebrities who have to complete daily tasks in relation to the beauty industry. The celebrities who appeared in the show's first season included Brian Dowling, Pippa O'Connor, Leigh Arnold, Virginia Macari, Celia Holman Lee and Breffny Morgan.
In the same month TV3 introduced Style Wars, a search for Ireland's top fashion designer in a similar format to Project Runway.
The same year TV3 produced a localized version of the BBC Three series Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum.
On 8 April 2011 TV3 produced a reality show based on cooking, Head Chef. Due to its success a celebrity version, Celebrity Head Chef, and youth-oriented show, Junior Head Chef, were also introduced.
TV3 began to produce an Irish version of Come Dine With Me, produced by ITV for TV3 Group. The series aired on the channel as well as international channels such as Channel 4.
Following the success of MTV's scripted reality shows such as Jersey Shore, TV3 introduced its equivalent with the launch of Tallafornia in 2011. The show proved to be successful for the channel. A number of spin-off shows followed and aired on sister channel 3e. A new reality TV series was introduced, Dublin Wives (previously Dublin Housewives).
In 2013 new shows were introduced to the schedule including The Great Irish Bake Off and an Irish version of Celebrity Apprentice. Keith Barry hosted a second show for TV3, Brain Hacker. It also confirmed new game shows such as Pressure Point, Can't Move? Improve! and Save Your Money.
2014–2016
TV3 announced a number of new entertainment series for the next two years, including an Irish version of the successful Channel 4 series Gogglebox. This proved successful for TV3 and a second series was commissioned.
As part of an overhaul of TV3, it stated it would launch a new lifestyle show airing each weekday night from early 2015, Life. However, in a change of plans, TV3 opted for a weekly Friday night series for a six-week run, with The Seven O'Clock Show replacing Late Lunch Live.
Xposé runs for 60 minutes each weekday night from 18:00 as of 8 September 2014 (an increase of 30 minutes).
Home produced game shows including Sitting on a Fortune, Keith Barry: Brain Hacker, The Lie, The Algorithm with Ray Foley, Crossfire and Jason Byrne's Snaptastic Show all aired on the channel in 2014. The Lie got a second season in 2015. In 2015 The Restaurant was picked up by TV3, after a five-year hiatus from RTÉ. Brian Ormond will present a new game show called Wishlist on the channel in 2016.
2017–present
As part of the three channel partnership, the station began to simulcast This Morning, as a result Ireland AM was shown from 7:00 to 10:30, The Chase will be shown at 13:00. They also air British soap operas Emmerdale and Coronation Street
Stellify Media produced an Irish version of Blind Date, hosted by IFTA Award winning comedian Al Porter that aired on TV3 on 8 October 2017. As of 8 February 2019 they have aired the Irish version of Got Talent, locally called Ireland's Got Talent. Since 2017 they have also aired The Voice UK, this is the first version of the voice to air in Ireland since RTÉ One cancelled The Voice Of Ireland, they also air The X Factor UK
Drama
Upon launch the network was slow to embrace producing localized dramas however, it contribute to producing a number of short and feature films with both the Broadcasting Authority of Irelandand Screen Ireland (then Irish Film Board) such as Watermelon.
In 2004 it co-produced RTÉ Two's ill-fated 20 some-things drama The Big Bow Wow.
Since 2006, the channel has looked towards home produced drama with the likes of Laura Windermere's Bag and Deception. It also took a look at two other drama serials The Guards and a revival of RTÉ's The Clinic; however, neither came to fruition.
In 2008, further homegrown produced drama series were added, the first being the one-off bilingual drama School Run. This was based on a school and was co-financed by TV3 and Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's Sound and Vision Fund. It debuted in December 2008. In 2009, TV3 produced Laura Windermere's Bag, a contemporary adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere's Fan, set in the south of Dublin.
TV3 would later produce The Guards starring Emmett J. Scanlan, promoting it as an Irish version of The Wire it was scheduled to broadcast in summer 2010. When production began two episodes were produced and later an additional four episodes were added to the series. Despite promotion around the series, the programme never aired on TV3.
In 2011, TV3 broadcast RTL's Jack Taylor series. In 2012 TV3 and ITV co-produced Titanic with funding from the BAI. In 2013, TV3 premiered a new Irish drama Taylor Hill, the show was later aired as 'Deception' which received mixed reviews. As part of its 2012 autumn-winter season TV3 announced it was to air its first comedy show which follow three couples embarking on couples counselling in On the Couch, this show aired in early 2013.
In 2015 TV3 broadcast the film adaptation of the play The Guarantee, which explores the Irish Banking collapse in the late 2000s.
In 2016, a three-part Irish produced series titled 'Smalltown' aired on the channel starring Pat Shortt.
Soap opera
In late 2009, following the cancellation of RTÉ's critically acclaimed medical drama series The Clinic TV3 speculated at reviving the show as a soap rather than a serial. TV3 later confirmed it would not seek to revive the show.
TV3 tendered for a production company to produce a new weekly soap for the channel, which would air from 2015. UK production houses Lime Productions (Hollyoaks) and Zodiak Media (Being Human) along with Irish production houses Element Pictures (Pure Mule) and Parallel Films (The Clinic) were among 16 tenders brought to TV3 for the new soap. According to The Sunday Times, 2 March 2014, TV3 sent a letter of intent to Element Pictures and Company Pictures to produce the new soap. Filming was to begin in the summer of 2014.
Virgin Media Ireland's main soap was Red Rock. It began filming in October 2014 and began airing in January 2015. It aired on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 20:30. It is set in a fictional fishing village in Dublin. The series was partly funded through the licence fee by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, funding up to 18% of costs. The series cost about €4.4million to produce 104 episodes. The series took a break during the summer months. However, in 2017 the channel confirmed this soap would end the finally episodes were spread out between 2018 and late 2019.
Youth and music programming
When it launched TV3 aired a strand of programming called Gimme 3, targeting 6-12-year-olds between 16:00 to 17:00 and every Sunday from 07:30 to 10:00. It was presented by Hector Ó hEochagáin and Clodagh Freeman. The strand aired programming such as The Ren and Stimpy Show, Conan the Adventurer, Conan and the Young Warriors, The Hot Rod Dogs and Cool Car Cats, Loggerheads, Salty's Lighthouse and The Brothers Flub. Gimme 3 was cancelled in 1999, but cartoons remained on the channel every weekend morning until 2003.
On Saturday mornings the channel aired teenage-skewed programming between 08:00 to 11:00, airing shows such as The Adventures of Pete & Pete, City Guys, One World, Malibu, CA and USA High. Exam Countdown, presented by Ray D'Arcy, was shown for 4 weeks in 2001at 10:30am on Saturday and Sunday, as it led up to the Leaving Certificate Exams.
On bank holidays and during the December holiday period, TV3 regularly airs films targeting kids and families. In press reports TV3 are expected to launch a children's channel called 3Kids as part of its digital channels which were expected to launch in 2013. As of August 2013, TV3 has failed to announce a launch date for the channel at its autumn 2013 press call. In June 2016, 3Kids launched as its own programming block initially on 3e before moving to be3 in January 2017 following the launch of the latter.
In 1998, TV3 aired its own version of the pan-European chart music show Pepsi Chart Show which featured live performances from the Top 40 singles chart. It was broadcast mainly in London and was hosted by Sarah O'Flaherty. Every Saturday morning at 10:00 (and Thursday at midnight), TV3 aired a music video show hosted by Darragh Purcell called Pop on 3 which had a broad music policy. This was later replaced by The Sound Room, also hosted by Darragh Purcell.
In 2001, Dynamite TV aired on Sunday afternoons at 17:00, with repeats on Saturday mornings at 11:00. This show had no presenter or voice-overs, just providing text on screen to go along with the music videos which were mainly Top 40 songs.
In 2003, similar to Video Hits on Australian television, TV3 aired a music video show called Music3 (pronounced as "Music Cubed") where viewers selected their favourite music videos from a list shown on 3Text and occasionally on screen. The show aired every night between 01:00 to 04:00 and running from July to December. Viewers were invited to send text messages to the show and to send in requests via a premium rate phone number.
Factual programming
In early 2008, TV3 made a commitment to producing factual programming. The first major documentary was Me and The Big C, charting people's struggle with cancer; Inside and Out, a makeover show hosted by Sinead O' Carroll; Dirty Money: The Story of the Criminal Assets Bureau, a crime documentary fronted by Paul Williams; and Diary of... which followed six people as they went through life-changing events.
The autumn 2008 schedule continued this trend, with several Irish produced series including Now Then: How the Irish Have Sex; CCTV Cities with Donal MacIntyre; Living With Murder, presented by Maura Derrane; and Corrupt, examining corruption in Ireland. Crunch Time was a three-part documentary exploring Ireland's property crisis.
Many of TV3's factual programming is produced with the assistance of the licence fee through the BCI's Sound and Vision Fund or are produced in house by TV3's News and Information Department. The Cosmetic Surgery Show, which looks at the world of cosmetic surgery, presented by Dr. 90210 and Caroline Morahan, was broadcast in 2009. TV3 introduced Paul Connolly Investigates, a series of investigative journalist documentaries which focuses on crime and deviance in Ireland.
TV3 announced a raft of TV documentaries in 2011 including The Irish of 9/11, The Hospice, Paul Connolly Investigates, Anatomy of a Car Crash, Challenging God, 24 Hours to Kill, The Day the Germans Bombed Dublin, The Rise and Fall of Fianna Fáil, Sex Lives, Hen Parties, Paddies in Paradise, Strictly Irish Dancing, Ireland's Disco Kids, Dejunk Your Life and Ireland's Top Teens.
In 2012 and 2013 TV3 introduced further factual programming including Challenging God, a Vincent Browne-hosted series which questions the validity of God in 21st-century Ireland. New documentary series include The Estate, which looks at life in a low-income neighbourhood; In the Name of the Republic; Michaela: The Search for Justice; Sex and the Gaelteact.
As of 2014 the station has a new department Public Affairs and Documentary Unit which will broadcast a weekly investigative series. This took over factual programming from its News and Information Department.
Lifestyle
Life was a new prime time weekly show set to begin airing in February 2015. TV3 had announced Life as a daily half hour to broadcast at 19:30 Monday to Friday. By early 2015, TV3 confirmed the show would not go ahead originally as planned but would broadcast for a short six-week run each Friday from 20:00. Life was expected to be hosted by TV3's Aisling O'Loughlin and Sybil Mulcahy, but instead Mulcahy took on the presenting role for the six-week run. As of spring 2015, Mulcahy has confirmed her departure from TV3 taking effect from late summer 2015.
TV3 announced in January 2015 that its afternoon show Late Lunch Live would be dropped in favour of The 7 O'Clock Show, which will air at 19:00 for an hour Monday to Friday on TV3.
In a special upfront event in June 2015, The Great Irish Menu and House Rules would make-up some of the channel's autumn/winter schedule. Neither shows were produced.
Acquired programming
Soaps 1998–2014
Daytime
The Bold and The Beautiful (1999 – )
Breakers (1998–1999)
Family Affairs (1998–2007)
Sunset Beach (1998 – )
The Young and The Restless (2003 – )
Prime time
Coronation Street (2001–2014, 2016–)
EastEnders (1998–2001)
Emmerdale (2001–2014, 2016 -)
Hollyoaks (2007)
The Royal Today (2008)
1998–2001
From the outset TV3 relied heavily on acquiring programming from other countries. Prior to the channel's launch TV3 signed agreements with big US broadcasters to air first rights of Sex and the City, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, JAG, FX, The Net, South Park and Just Shoot Me!. TV3 has also relied on acquisitions from the UK and Australia. In its early days the channel aired two popular UK dramas, Family Affairs (broadcast 18 months after Channel 5) and EastEnders (broadcast with advertising simultaneously with BBC One), and also the short-lived Australian soap Breakers and the US soap Sunset Beach.
Since 1999, TV3 has a long-term agreement with Big Ticket Television to broadcast Judge Judy. New episodes air weekdays at 16:30 and 17:00.
2001–2006
In 2000 Granada Television (now ITV) acquired 45% share in TV3. Under an agreement with Granada many of ITV's programming began to simulcast on TV3 from 2001, such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale (both previously aired on RTÉ One), Bad Girls and Footballers' Wives.
TV3 secured a long-term agreement with Harpo Studios from RTÉ Television to hold the Irish broadcasting rights to The Oprah Winfrey Show until it ceased broadcasting.
2006–2009
In 2006, upon ITV selling its share of TV3 to Doughty Hanson, ITV signed a long-term agreement which secured the continued simulcast of key ITV programming such as The Jeremy Kyle Show, The X Factor, Dancing on Ice,I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Britain's Got Talent.
Following the cancellation of Family Affairs in June 2007, it was initially replaced by Channel 4's Hollyoaks. Broadcasting the teen soap opera proved very unsuccessful for the channel and it was axed within a month to be replaced by The Royal Today, and after the cancellation of The Royal Today by repeats of the US sitcom Friends.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show airs on both TV3 and 3e under a long-term broadcasting agreement with NBC/Warner Brothers Studios, however the show moved to RTÉ One in 2017. TV3 also holds an agreement with TLC to broadcast selected programming from its daytime schedule.
2009–2014
A number of new shows were added to the TV3 schedule from 2009 to 2014. TV3 signed a distribution deal with ITV, BBC and Fox.
American Idol
America's Got Talent
Bondi Rescue (2014; moved to 3e)
Broadchurch
Come Dine with Me (2010–2013)
Crisis (2014)
Downton Abbey (2009–2015)
Friends (2010–2014)
Glee (2010–2015)
The Graham Norton Show (2010–2014)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Modern Family
Over the Rainbow (2010)
Prime Suspect
V (2009–2010)
The X Factor US
In 2013, it was announced that TV3 would be losing many of its ITV Studios programming to UTV by early 2015. On 6 November 2013, UTV Media announced its plans to launch a new television channel within the Republic of Ireland by January 2015. UTV Ireland serves audiences within the Republic of Ireland along with its existing Northern Ireland service UTV. As part of this announcement UTV Ireland Ltd confirmed it secured Irish broadcasting rights to key programming from ITV Studios Global Entertainment (including Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Jeremy Kyle among other shows). From early 2015, TV3 withdrew such programming from its existing schedule. Upon announcement of the new channel it was welcomed by TV3 Group's CEO David McRedmond, saying he welcomed the opportunity to reinvest funds previously spent on ITV programming and investing more home grown independent productions.
2015–2018
Virgin Media Ireland continue to hold a number of rights to ITV programming not produced or distributed by ITV Studios. The X Factor and Downton Abbey returned to the station in 2015. TV3 aired Nothing to Declare at 19:30 Monday to Friday until February 2015, when it was replaced by Late Lunch Live. Broadchurch aired Monday nights at 22:00.
Judge Judy remains on TV3 and has been its highest rated daytime schedule programme since its inception in 1998. Re-runs of The Jeremy Kyle Show have now ended. Tipping Point is broadcast by the channel.
Late night TV includes re-runs of Law & Order: SVU which has been part of the TV3 schedule since it began.
Prime time programming includes Tipping Point spin off Tipping Point:Lucky Stars, Off Their Rockers, All Star Family Fortune, The Cube and Australian Drama Wentworth Prison.
Virgin Media Ireland has rights to both the UK edition of The X Factor and Got Talent until 2016 with the opportunity to extend. It also holds rights to airing the US version of Got Talent. TV3 has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to broadcast its new movie releases.
On 29 November 2014 TV3 Group launched its #NewDawn campaign which is part of its rebrand and new schedule for 2015. The campaign was launched with a 90-second and 60-second TV3 promo which aired at 19:45 on TV3. A trailer promoting the newly produced drama series Red Rock was also revealed.
TV3 announced in May 2015 that it had acquired the rights to air Big Brother UK and Celebrity Big Brother UK. This marks the first time Big Brother has aired on an Irish TV channel, while being available to more Irish audiences since the show transferred from Channel 4 to Channel 5 in 2011.
On-air presentation
September 1998 – July 2000
The original logo and design for the channel were devised by Dynamo. In the lead-up to the network's launch, TV3's logo was unveiled during promotion ads on RTÉ and TG4. The logo consisted of a redesigned number 3. The upper half of the 3 was separated from the lower half; the two halves came together to form two swooshing arches that would form the 3. There were a number of different idents from September 1998 to July 2000 including 'Bubbles', 'Camera Lenses', 'Robot', 'Umbrella', 'Fan', 'Planets', 'Children's Toy', 'Bumper Cars' and 'Roller-Coaster'. Each of the idents would end with a girl whispering the word 'three' a number of times.
July 2000 – September 2003
In July 2000, TV3 developed new idents. The new idents removed the words 'TV' and 'three' from beneath the stylized 3 logo. The project was directed by Dynamo's creative head of broadcast media, Brian Williams. These were TV3's first idents to feature live action – actors would be seen in the background of the logo doing various day-to-day activities with the 3 logo spinning around to reveal itself. In 2001, some of these idents would have characters from Granada TV programming appear in the background, such as characters from Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Heartbeat.
September 2003 – March 2006
In September 2003, TV3 again launched a new set of idents. Again, this series of idents consisted of live action scenes. The final scene would see a large 'swoosh' effect in the center of the screen with the 3 logo appearing in the centre of the screen. These idents consisted of outdoor activities such as a walk at the beach, children playing football, children playing, people walking over the Ha'penny Bridge etc. The presentation package was produced by Bruce Dunlop Associates.
March 2006 – January 2009
In March 2006, TV3 took steps to rebrand, as Channel 6 launched in an attempt to become a competitor in the Irish market. These idents consisted of live action scenes often involving the number 3 such as three drops of water into a river. The 3 logo now moved from just the stylized 3 into three circles with the stylized 3 in the last circle. The presentation package was produced by Cleverality.
January 2009 – August 2009
In January 2009, TV3 unveiled its new station logo – a simple sans-serif number 3 similar in style to that of TV3's logo. This revamp coincided with the launch of 3e. Officially, the TV3 logo is that of a box with a 3 cut out of the right hand side – this design is used on all news programmes. However, the idents consisted of a set of simple graphical 3s in a domino effect with different colours such as grey, purple and blue. The idents were produced by Image Now.
August 2009 – August 2011
Between August 2009 and February 2010 TV3 introduced 8 new idents. The first two idents – known as 'Orchard' and 'Escalator' – launched TV3's live action idents. In September, a third ident entitled 'Wave' was added, followed in October by a fourth ident known as 'Bridge'. An edited version of the Bridge ident (to promote the series V), a sixth new ident known as 'Dog' was introduced in November 2009 and in December 2009 the ident 'snowman' was added and in February 2010 the 8th ident was added, 'bubbles'. TV3 has been working with Image Now to create these idents.
August 2011 – January 2015
On Monday, 22 August 2011, TV3 revealed a new on-air look. While utilising its existing logo, TV3 revealed new idents which are computer-generated and based around specific themes (e.g.: crime, urban, entertainment). The new look idents were designed by Image Now, who have previously worked on the channel's branding since 2009.
January 2015 – December 2016
On Monday, 5 January 2015, TV3 revealed a new on-air look to coincide with its new programming. Originally the new idents consisted of only two idents. Gradually TV3 added additional idents featuring TV3 presenters. One of the original idents features a neon TV3 logo in a purple room and the second ident features a scene from its new soap Redrock. The slogan 'We Entertain' features heavily on-air and in promos.
January 2017 – August 2018
On 6 December 2016, it was announced that TV3, along with 3e and its newly purchased channel UTV Ireland, will receive new logos, idents and new schedules. New Director of Programming Bill Malone announced that TV3 will become a more mature channel. "TV3 will become the premium channel, the grown up channel and 3e will become, well, what TV3 is now".
On 9 January 2017, TV3 Group revealed a new on-air presentation featuring the number 3 superimposed on various natural and urban landscapes across Ireland. A new logo was also revealed along with new promos and on-screen graphics. Similarly, new identities were introduced to 3e and its new station be3.
August 2018 – present
On 28 June 2018 it was announced that TV3 will become Virgin Media One, while its sister channels 3e and be3 will become Virgin Media Two and Three respectively. A fourth pay TV sports channel will also become available on the Virgin Media platform, called Virgin Media Sport.
Continuity announcers
TV3's continuity is largely pre-recorded unlike its competitor RTÉ One. Tara Loughrey Grant began as a continuity presenter on TV3 in 1999 and was the voice of TV3 until 2005, where she later moved onto radio and then onto Channel 6 (prior to TV3 Group purchasing the channel). She then went onto present RTÉ Ten from 2008 onward and regularly contributes to RTÉ Radio and television.
Conor Clear and Andrea Hayes followed as continuity presenters. In 2008, TV3 introduced in-vision continuity links during the 3 Daytime. Hayes began as a guest on the Midday panelist in summer 2013. She also works on Dublin's Sunshine FM. Conor Clear also acts as a weather presenter. Clare McKenna is a voiceover artist and has been working for TV3 since 2006. In 2013, McKenna begun a career as television presenting on Ireland AM whilst covering for Anna Daly when she was on her maternity leave. Upon Daly's return McKenna left Ireland AM so she could take up her own maternity leave. McKenna returned to TV3 in late 2014 reprising her role as a voice-over for TV3 promotions.
Daytime in-vision continuity lasted until the end of 2009.
Currently there are 6 announcers across the 3 Channels. Lara Lenehan and Dave Cronin are the current continuity announcers on Virgin Media One.
Controversies
Lack of original programming
In the early years of TV3 many media commentators criticised the lack of original programming on the station. Since 2008 TV3 has increased its production of Irish programming. The view of many commentators such as Stephen Price of The Sunday Times and Tom McGurk of The Sunday Business Post is that TV3 needs to differentiate itself in the growing Irish multi-channel market by making more original programming.
Play TV and Brainbox
Play TV was an interactive phone-in quiz show on TV3: it ran from May 2009 until March 2010.
On 21 September 2009, callers to the Liveline radio show on RTÉ Radio 1 complained about the phone charges and methods surrounding TV3's late night quiz show Play TV. Host Joe Duffy stated that many of his listeners and callers to the show had not got a satisfactory reply from TV3 in relation to their complaints and hence his reason for this section of his show, and that TV3 was unwilling to be a part of the discussion show having been asked by RTÉ Radio. Some of the contestants had not been paid their prize money. TV3 advised viewers who played the game to go to RegTel with any complaints.
On 25 September 2009, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) met to review 20 complaints made to it by individuals in relation to Play TV; 15 were upheld, 1 was rejected, 1 was determined to be invalid and 2 remained under investigation.
In January 2010, the compliance committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland upheld 10 more complaints against TV3. In February the BAI upheld three more complaints.
On 5 March 2010, TV3 announced that Play TV's contract was terminated immediately. In their statement they put the removal of the "infomercial" down purely to audience figures rather than the complaints received and upheld by the BAI. They did not apologise for their conduct.
At the launch of TV3's Autumn (18 August 2010) schedule David McRedmond (CEO TV3) was interviewed by The Irish Times. He admitted mistakes had been made but and admitted that Play TV was axed not just due to falling audience figures but also to the bad press and the regulator's constant scrutiny of the show. He still refused to apologise to viewers on behalf of TV3, again stating that "it was an essential part of getting us through the recession", regardless of what the BAI called a "misleading and unfair" programme.
Brain Box is an interactive phone-in quiz show on UTV and STV. As part of the Autumn schedule 2010 TV3 announced the re-broadcast of UTV's Brainbox TV show. The show began airing on TV3 on 9 September 2010, just 7 months after the axing of the controversial Play TV. It ceased broadcasting less than a week later.
Health of Brian Lenihan
On Saturday, 26 December 2009, TV3 News announced that it had been informed that the then Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan was suffering from a serious illness. The announcement was made according to TV3 as it was for the public good, but many people were outraged at the way it was announced on TV3.
Senior government sources spoke of "outrage" across the political spectrum at the insensitive content and tone of a news bulletin broadcast, which the station had earlier flagged as a "news story of national importance". However, the station's decision was defended by The Irish Times and the political magazine The Phoenix. The BAI ruled in favour of TV3 in relation to this announcement, rejecting all 14 complaints made against TV3 to the regulator.
TV3 at the time also stated that the bulletin was a normal bulletin that would normally run at 5:30. However TV3 are not known to have produced a news bulletin on St. Stephens' Day (a bank holiday in Ireland) and since 2006 had reduced weekend bulletins to five minutes.
Psychic Readings Live
Psychic Readings Live was a phone-in programme broadcast June–December 2012. It was much criticised for some apparently faked callers and psychics and for playing on the hopes and fears of some viewers. Complaints about it were upheld by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, and it was cancelled in December 2012.
On-air identity
See also
Virgin Media Two
List of television channels available in Ireland
List of programmes broadcast by Virgin Media Television (Ireland)
References
External links
Former Corus Entertainment networks
Television channels and stations established in 1998
Virgin Media 1
1998 establishments in Ireland |
427264 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxi | Wuxi | Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou, and one of the central cities in the Yangtze River Delta. It is the ancient founding capital of the state of Wu, The birthplace of Wu culture. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 7,462,135 inhabitants.
Wuxi is a historically and culturally prominent city, and has been a thriving economic center since ancient times as a production as an export hub of rice, silk and textiles. In the last few decades it has emerged as a major producer of electrical motors, software, solar technology and bicycle parts. The city lies in the southern delta of the Yangtze River and on Lake Tai, which with its 48 islets is popular with tourists. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lingshan Grand Buddha Scenic Area and its -tall Grand Buddha at Ling Shan statue, Xihui Park, Wuxi Zoo and Taihu Lake Amusement Park and the Wuxi Museum.
The city is served by Sunan Shuofang International Airport, which opened in 2004, the Wuxi Metro, opened in 2014, and the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity High-Speed Railway and Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway which connect it to Shanghai.
Wuxi is also a major city among the top 500 cities in the world by scientific research outputs, as tracked by the Nature Index and home to Jiangnan University, the only key national university of "Project 211" in the city. Wuxi also possesses one of the highest GDP per capita levels of any city in China.
Etymology
Wuxi literally means "the capital of Wu (state)."
Despite varied origin stories, many modern Chinese scholars favor the view that the word is derived from the "old Yue language" or, supposedly, the old Kra–Dai languages, rather than reflecting the presence of tin in the area.
History
Clues are to be found at the Meili Museum and the Helv Relics Museum, Wuxi is the ancient capital of Wu State during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BCE). Taibo and Zhongyong traveled southeast and settled in Wuxi Meili. There, Taibo and his followers set up the State of Wu, and made Wuxi as its founding capital which lasted for 600 years. The history of Wuxi can be traced back to Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC).
The tin industry thrived in the area in ancient times but it was eventually depleted, so that when Wuxi was established in 202 BCE during the Han dynasty, it was named "Wuxi" (the capital of WU state). Administratively, Wuxi became a district of Biling (later Changzhou) and only during the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368) did it become an independent prefecture. Wuxi and Changzhou are considered to be the birthplaces of modern industrialization in China.
Agriculture and the silk industry flourished in Wuxi and the town became a transportation hub under the early Tang Dynasty after the opening of the Grand Canal in 609. It became known as one of the biggest markets for rice in China.
The Donglin Academy, originally founded during the Song dynasty (960-1279) was restored in Wuxi in 1604. Not a school, it served as a public forum, advocating a Confucian orthodoxy and ethics. Many of its academicians were retired court officials or officials deposed in the 1590s due to factionalism.
As a populous county, its eastern part was separated and made into Jinkui county in 1724. Both Wuxi and Jinkui were utterly devastated by the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in nearly 2/3 of their population being killed. The number of "able-bodied males" (ding, ) were only 72,053 and 138,008 individuals in 1865, versus 339,549 and 258,934 in 1830.
During the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), cotton and silk production flourished in Wuxi. Trade increased with the opening of ports to Shanghai in 1842, and Zhenjiang and Nanjing in 1858. Wuxi became a center of the textile industry in China. Textile mills were built in 1894 and silk reeling establishments known as "filatures" were built in 1904. Wuxi was remained the regional center for the waterborne transport of grain. The opening of the railways to Shanghai and to the cities of Zhenjiang and Nanjing to the northwest in 1908 further increased the exports of rice from the area. Jinkui xian merged into Wuxi County with the onset of the Republic in 1912.
Many agricultural laborers and merchants moved to Shanghai in the late 19th century and early 20th century; some prospered in the new factories.
After World War II, Wuxi's importance as an economic center diminished, but it remains a regional manufacturing hub. Tourism has increasingly become important. On April 23, 1949, Wuxi was divided into Wuxi City and Wuxi County, and it became a provincial city in 1953 when Jiangsu Province was founded. In March 1995, several administrative changes were made within Wuxi City and Wuxi County to accommodate for Wuxi New District, with the creation of 19 administrative villages such as Shuofang, Fangqian, Xin'an and Meicun. Jiangnan University was originally founded in 1902, before merging with two other colleges in 2001 to form the modern university.
Climate
Administrative Divisions
The prefecture-level city of Wuxi administers seven county-level divisions, including 5 districts and 2 county-level cities. The information here presented uses the metric system and data from the 2020 Census.
These districts are sub-divided into 73 township-level divisions, including 59 towns and 24 subdistricts.
Economy
Wuxi has a relatively developed economy since ancient times. In 1895, Yang Zonglian and Yang Zonghan founded the first national capital enterprise, Yeqin Cotton Mill, outside the south gate of Wuxi. Subsequently, many enterprises with textile, silk and grain processing industries as the main body were born and developed rapidly. Wuxi became One of the birthplaces of national industry and commerce. During this process, many "firsts" and "most" in the history of Wuxi's modern industrial development were born; batches of industrial and commercial giants including the Rong family and the Tang family were born, and it also demonstrated the entrepreneurship of Wuxi's national industrial and commercial entrepreneurs. After the reform and opening up, private enterprises in Wuxi developed vigorously on the basis of the southern Jiangsu model represented by township industries. Well-known
companies such as "Technology" all transformed during this period. And since July 1993, Taiji Industry was the first private enterprise listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as a listed company in Jiangsu Province. Over the years, the scale of listed companies from Wuxi has gradually expanded, forming a relatively unique "Wuxi plate", ranking first in Jiangsu Province. First, it plays an increasingly important role in the economic development of the entire Yangtze River Delta.
After the reform and opening up, Wuxi has gradually become an important economic center in the east and a very dynamic commercial city with the opportunity brought by the Southern Jiangsu model. At the end of 2013, Wuxi became one of the "China's new first-tier cities" selected by "First Financial Weekly" due to its stable comprehensive strength; at the same time, "2013 Best Commercial Cities in Mainland China" released by the Chinese version of "Forbes" Among them, Wuxi ranks fifth, ranking first among prefecture-level cities.
In 2022, Wuxi's economic aggregate will hit a new high, and its comprehensive strength will continue to increase. According to preliminary calculations, the annual GDP of Wuxi will be 1,485.082 billion yuan, an increase of 3.0% over the previous year at comparable prices. The per capita GDP in terms of resident population reached 198,400 yuan, ranking second in the country.
In terms of industry, the added value of the city's primary industry was 13.365 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1% over the previous year; the added value of the secondary industry was 717.739 billion yuan, an increase of 3.6% over the previous year; The growth rate of the previous year was 2.4%; the ratio of the three industries was adjusted to 0.9 : 48.3 : 50.8.
A total of 158,100 new jobs were created in cities and towns throughout the year, of which 77,200 laid-off and unemployed people in various cities and towns were reemployed, and 31,200 people who had difficulties in finding jobs were reemployed. The city's urban registered unemployment rate was 2.68%.
The added value of the private economy in the whole year was 983.124 billion yuan, an increase of 3.3% over the previous year, accounting for 66.2% of the total economic output, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the previous year. The output value of privately-owned industries above designated size was 1,426.928 billion yuan, an increase of 12.8% over the previous year. Private investment was 240.341 billion yuan, down 3.6% from the previous year.
At the end of the year, 423,300 enterprises of various types were registered by the registration authorities at all levels in the city, including 36,000 state-owned and collective holding companies, 7,000 foreign-invested enterprises, and 380,400 private enterprises. At the end of the year, there were 660,900 self-employed households, and 80,800 newly registered households that year.
The annual urban consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2.1%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the previous year. Among them, the price of service items increased by 1.0%, and the price of consumer goods increased by 2.9%. The increase in the price of industrial production was stable. The ex-factory price of industrial producers rose by 1.7% and the purchasing price of industrial producers rose by 3.9%.
Since it was established in 1992, Wuxi New District (WND), covering an area of , has evolved to be one of the major industrial parks in China. In 2013, it had a GDP of 121.3 billion yuan ($19.54 billion), and an industrial output value of 276.7 billion yuan, accounting for 15% of production in the Wuxi area.The district includes the Wuxi Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Wuxi (Taihu) International Technology Park, Wuxi Airport Industrial Park, China (Wuxi) Industrial Expo Park, China Wu Culture Expo Park, and International Education and Living Community.
Hotels in Wuxi include Wuxi Maoye City – Marriott Hotel, Hilton Hotel's Wuxi-Lingshan Double Tree Resort near the Lingshan Giant Buddha, Kempinski Hotel Wuxi, Landison Square Hotel Wuxi, noted for its Wu jade phoenix sculpture in the lobby, Radisson Blu Resort Wetland Park Wuxi, Sheraton Wuxi Binhu Hotel, the Wuxi Grand Hotel, and Wuxi Hubin Hotel and many other hotels.
In 2022, Wuxi's GDP will reach 1,485.082 billion yuan, an increase of 3.0% over the previous year based on comparable prices; calculated based on the permanent population, the per capita GDP will reach 198,400 yuan; the city's annual general public budget revenue will be 113.338 billion yuan.
Business
As an important commercial center in East China, it has always been famous for its unique geographical location and historical background. Wuxi's commercial development has a long and prosperous history, and it has played a vital role in the local economic and social development.
The earliest commercial development in Wuxi can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when commercial activities were already carried out here. With the evolution of history, Wuxi has gradually become a transportation hub and commercial center in the Jiangnan area. Wuxi is located on the shore of Taihu Lake and has convenient transportation. It has been a distribution center for silk, tea, rice and other commodities since ancient times. Today, Wuxi Commerce has developed into a diversified economic system dominated by service industries and high-tech industries.
There are many characteristics and advantages of Wuxi business. First of all, its geographical location is superior, located in the center of the Yangtze River Delta, and the transportation is convenient, which is conducive to the circulation of commodities. Secondly, Wuxi has rich natural resources and cultural heritage, which provides unique conditions for commercial development. In addition, the Wuxi municipal government has been committed to optimizing the business environment, attracting many domestic and foreign investors and entrepreneurs to invest and start businesses.
Now Wuxi is a regional business hub, with extensive manufacturing and large industrial parks devoted to new industries. Historically a center of textile manufacturing, the city has adopted new industries such as electric motor manufacturing, MRP software development, bicycle and brake manufacturing, and solar technology, with two major photovoltaic companies, Suntech Power and Jetion Holdings Ltd, based in Wuxi. Wuxi Pharma Tech, a major pharmaceutical company, is based in Wuxi. The city has a rapidly developing skyline with the opening of three supertall skyscrapers in 2014: Wuxi IFS (), Wuxi Suning Plaza 1 () and Wuxi Maoye City - Marriott Hotel ().
Wuxi's commercial area is concentrated along Zhongshan Road in Liangxi District. On this road, Maoye Department Store, Hongdou Wanhua City, Great Oriental Department Store, Suning Plaza, Henglong Plaza, Yaohan, Parkson and other Chinese and foreign commercial retail enterprises gather. Chong'an Temple, Nanchan Temple, and Nanchang Street are three traditional commercial bazaars. Among them, Chong'an Temple Block is as famous as Shanghai Town God's Temple, Nanjing Confucius Temple, and Suzhou Xuanmiao Temple, which are also formed by temple bazaars.
Since the establishment of Yaohan, the first Sino-foreign joint venture retail enterprise in Jiangsu Province in 1996, and the establishment of Metro, China's second foreign-funded hypermarket, in Wuxi in 1997, the concentration of foreign-funded commercial retail in Wuxi is second only to Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta region. Today, it includes Plaza 66, Great Eastern Department Store, Wuxi Yaohan, IKEA Gathering, Yaohan Center, Bailian Outlets, Apple Direct Store, Mixc City, Coastal City, Maoye Department Store, a large number of Wanda Plazas and Rong Commercial retail benchmarking enterprises such as Chuangmao and Outlets Chuanzhisha still maintain their uniqueness in Jiangsu Province or in the Yangtze River Delta region, thus establishing Wuxi as one of the most important commercial center cities in Jiangsu Province and even in the Yangtze River Delta region
Transport
Wuxi Railway Station is situated on the Shanghai–Nanjing Intercity High-Speed Railway, a railway which opened on July 1, 2010, linking it directly with the provincial capital of Nanjing, Shanghai and Suzhou.
Wuxi Metro began operations in 2014, with two lines totaling and over in total expected with new lines opening over the next few decades.
Wuxi Public Transport refers to the urban road public transportation system serving Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China. Its first line was opened in 1927. As of 2020, Wuxi Public Transport has 297 bus lines with a length of 5,760 kilometers and 3,036 operating vehicles. In 2020, the annual passenger volume of Wuxi buses will be 191.18 million.
Sunan Shuofang International Airport, situated from the city center, opened in 2004, and has direct flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, and Osaka.
Wuxi lies along China National Highway 312 which connects Shanghai to central and northwestern China. The Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway (G42), which opened in November 1996, connecting it to Shanghai, Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and other cities in Jiangsu province. The Wuxi-Yixing Expressway connects Wuxi with Yixing within the regional prefecture-level area.
Wuxi jiangyin Port has 12 berths, mainly distributed in Shenxia Port Area, all of which have passed the open acceptance for foreign ships, with a total area of 1.5 million square meters, which are operated by Dagang Branch and Dacheng Branch respectively. Dagang Branch has a yard area of 710,000 square meters, and has two large warehouses with an area of 12,000 square meters each, each equipped with two 20-ton cranes. There are 10 dock berths, and the front of the dock maintains a water depth of -15 meters all year round. Among them, there are two 50,000-ton and 100,000-ton ocean-going berths, and one 2,000-ton sea-going berth, equipped with 9 gantry cranes with a lifting capacity of 40T, which can complete the cargo of arriving ships below 100,000 tons Unloading and transfer operations. There are also four 5,000-ton inland berths with a total length of 536 meters, equipped with multiple portal cranes and loading belt conveyors for port dredging. The port area is equipped with 7 120-150 ton truck scales and 2 gantry cranes. The warehouse has a maximum storage capacity of 3 million tons. It is mainly responsible for the unloading, storage and transfer of metal ore, coal and some general cargo. In order to meet the needs of customers, Dagang Branch also has ore screening and crushing equipment. After crushing, it can be directly conveyed to the vibrating screen for screening by the belt conveyor. The screen aperture can be adjusted according to the needs of different customers, and the production and processing can form lump ore and fine ore, with an annual output of 800,000-1 million tons. Dagang Branch has also launched three-condition general cargo liner routes from Jiangyin to the Middle East, Thailand and South Korea. Dacheng Branch was completed and put into operation in 2015.
Wuxi Public Transport refers to the urban road public transportation system serving Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China. Its first line was opened in 1927. As of 2020, Wuxi Public Transport has 297 bus lines with a length of 5,760 kilometers and 3,036 operating vehicles. In 2020, the annual passenger volume of Wuxi public transport will be 191.18 million passenger.
Education
University
Jiangnan University: a key national university of "Project 211" and center for scientific research, which was originally founded in 1902 and established in 1958 as the Wuxi Institute of Light Industry. In 2001 it was reconstituted by the Ministry of Education with the merger of two other colleges to formally establish Jiangnan University. The Taihu University of Wuxi, beside Huishan National Forest Park is a private university and one of the largest in China, covering over 2,000 acres with over 20,000 teachers and students and more than 20 different faculties.
: Wuxi University, located in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, is a public general undergraduate university approved by the Ministry of Education, managed by the People's Government of Jiangsu Province, organized by the People's Government of Wuxi City, and supported by Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology.
DongNan University Wuxi Campus: Founded in April 1988, formerly known as Southeast University Wuxi Campus, it is one of the first batch of key university branches approved by the former State Education Commission, and it is the first to explore the cultivation mode of outstanding engineers in my country.
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications Wuxi Campus
Nanjing University of Science and Technology Jiangyin Campus
Wuxi Higher Normal School: Founded in 1911, it was formerly known as the Jiangsu Provincial Third Normal School. Famous scholars such as Qian Songyan, Wu Guanzhong, and Chen Shouzhu are all alumni of the school.
Peking University School of Software and Microelectronics: Established in March 2002, it is a school directly affiliated to Peking University.
In addition, there are scientific research bases in Wuxi such as the Supercomputing Center, 702 Research Institute, and Microelectronics Research Institute, as well as Wuxi Research Institute of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Wuxi Research Institute of Fudan University, Wuxi Research Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Wuxi Research Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. and many other university research institutes.
In terms of junior college education, Wuxi has Wuxi Vocational and Technical College, Wuxi Nanyang Vocational and Technical College, Jiangsu Information Vocational and Technical College, Wuxi Science and Technology Vocational College, Wuxi Business Vocational and Technical College, Wuxi Technology Vocational and Technical College, Wuxi City Vocational and Technical College, etc. A junior college with a good employment rate.
High school（A Portion）
Tianyi Middle School in Jiangsu Province: The school was founded in 1946.
Wuxi No. 1 Middle School: Founded in the third year of Xuantong in the Qing Dynasty (1911), it has undergone changes until now. Now it is a key school in Jiangsu Province and a national model high school.
Wuxi Furen High School: Originally a church school, it was originally founded in 1918 by Wuxi alumni of Shanghai St. John's University. It was the school with the most advanced facilities in Wuxi at that time. It had physical and chemical laboratories and lecture halls. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, it moved to Shanghai. run a school. After 1949, it was renamed Wuxi No. 2 Middle School, and its name was restored in 2003. It is now a key school in Jiangsu Province and a national model high school.
Meicun High School in Jiangsu Province: Founded in 1913 in Meicun (ancient Meili), the birthplace of Wu culture, in 1914, brothers Qian Zhi and Qian Mu came to teach at the school.
Wuxi No. 3 High School: In 1920, Gao Yang, a townsman, sold all his property and founded a private Wuxi middle school.
Wuxi No. 1 Girls' Middle School.
Wuxi Shibei High School: Founded in 1934, it was originally a "private Yuandao Middle School". It was rated as a provincial four-star high school in 2006.
Xishan High School in Jiangsu Province: Founded in 1906 by the industrialist Kuang Zhongmou in the east of Wuxi City. After 1949, it was renamed Wuxi County Middle School, and in 1996, it was renamed Jiangsu Xishan High School until now.
Wuxi Public Welfare Middle School: It was founded in 1919 by brothers Rong Zongjing and Rong Desheng. The first principal was Hu Yuren, a famous educator from Wuxi. After 1949, it was renamed Wuxi No. 5 Middle School.
Jiangsu Nanjing Senior High School: It was formerly known as Jiangyin Nanjing Academy established in 1882, which was the highest institution of higher learning and education center in Jiangsu Province at that time. Celebrities such as Yu Chan, Niu Yongjian, and Wang Zengqi once attended the school.
Yixing Middle School in Jiangsu Province: Founded in 1928, it is a key school in Jiangsu Province and a national model high school. Celebrities such as Jiang Nanxiang and Yu Zhaozhong are all alumni of the school.
Wuxi Daqiao Experimental School: Wuxi Daqiao Experimental School was founded in August 1993. It was then named "Wuxi Daqiao Experimental Middle School". It was the first private school approved by the Wuxi Municipal People's Government since the reform and opening up. It was renamed Wuxi in 2012 Bridge Experimental School.
Elementary（A Portion）
Lianyuan Street Primary School in Wuxi City: Founded in 1898, it is the earliest new-style education higher primary school in Wuxi. It was originally named Aishi School, and after the Republic of China, it was renamed County Lianyuan Street Primary School after the location of the school. After 1949, it was renamed as Dongfanghong Primary School. In 1978, it was restored to its original name. Now it is a provincial and municipal key primary school.
Donglin Primary School in Wuxi City: In August 1902, according to the order, Donglin Academy was reorganized into Donglin Academy for new education.
Primary School Affiliated to Wuxi Normal School: Founded in 1913 by Gu Zhuo, the principal of Jiangsu Provincial Third Normal School and a famous educator from Wuxi, Gu Zhuo had studied in Japan, so it was built on the basis of the Primary School Affiliated to Tokyo Higher Normal School (now University of Tsukuba), Japan, in 1915 In 1937, the school established the first elementary school boy scout organization in Wuxi. On November 11, 1937, the original school was closed due to the bombing of Japanese bombers. After 1949, it used to be a school for the children of CCP cadres. In 1982, it was designated as an experimental primary school in Jiangsu Province.
Wuxi Jiyu Experimental School: Founded in 1901, it is the first "nine-year consistent" school in Wuxi City.
Nanchang Street Primary School in Wuxi City: It was originally Dongwu No. 8 Primary School founded by Wuxi Christian Supervisory Committee in 1911, and later called Mingde Primary School.
International Education（A Portion）
Wuxi Nanwai Kings International School: A K-12 international school jointly established by Dipont Education Group, Nanjing Foreign Language School, King's College London, and Dipont Education Group. The school is a high-quality international education project introduced by the Wuxi Municipal Government.
Wuxi International School: Wuxi International School, referred to as WIS, is a public international school. Established in 2003, Wuxi International School provides an international educational environment for the children of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots and foreigners who work and live in Wuxi, and is directly under the management of Wuxi Education Bureau.
Siying School for Children of Foreigners in Xinyu District, Wuxi: A non-profit group, since 1986, iSC offers academic excellence and caters for the intellectual, physical and emotional development of students. iSC operates six schools for foreign children in China - in Chengdu, Qingdao, Wuhan, Wuxi, Tianjin and Yantai - and one in the UAE.
Wuxi Foreign Language School: Founded in 1998, Wuxi Foreign Language School has developed into a 12-year consistent foreign language characteristic school, and has been named as a designated school for the children of Wuxi foreigners, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan students and returned entrepreneurial talents. The school consists of kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, high school and bilingual department.
Medical
Wuxi has a long history of medicine, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since the Ming Dynasty, famous doctors such as You Zhongren, Shi Zhongmo, Deng Xingbo, Ke Huaizu, Xue Fuchen, etc. have either worked in the imperial hospital, or been ordered to diagnose and treat the royal family. Among them, Tan Yunxian and Xu Lushi are rare female doctors in ancient China. As for the modern medical institutions in Wuxi, it began in 1908 when Li Kele, a missionary of the American Episcopal Church and a doctor of medicine, founded the Puren Hospital, which is now the Second People's Hospital of Wuxi.
At present, Wuxi has one medical school (Medical College Affiliated to Jiangnan University), ten municipal hospitals, and 210 hospitals, including thirteen tertiary hospitals
Wuxi No. 1 People's Hospital
Wuxi No. 2 People's Hospital (North and South Campus)
Jiangnan University Affiliated Hospital (formerly No. 3 Hospital and No. 4 Hospital, currently North and South Branches)
Wuxi No. 5 People's Hospital
Wuxi No. 7 People's Hospital, Wuxi Ninth People's Hospital
Wuxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital
Wuxi Maternal and Child Health Center
Wuxi Children's Hospital
904 General Hospital
Jiangyin People's Hospital
Jiangyin Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Yixing People's Hospital
among which Wuxi People's Hospital released the "2013 China Ranked twelfth in the "Top 100 Competitiveness List of Prefectural-level City Hospitals".
Sports
Wuxi Sports Center opened in October 1994 and has a capacity of 30,000. It hosts the Wuxi Classic, a snooker event which attracted the biggest names in snooker. Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium hosted the 2017 ITTF Asian-Championships (Ping Pong), and the 2019 World Cup in snooker in June 2019. Major League Baseball based its main Chinese recruitment center in Wuxi since 2009 in Wuxi Development Center at Dongbeitang High School. There Major League Baseball scouts recruit the best players in China in the hopes that they will eventually play professional baseball in America.
In 2022, The Wuxi Olympic Sports Center project has a total land area of about 56.7 hectares, a total construction area of about 467,000 square meters, and a total investment of about 6.9 billion yuan. It is planned to have a stadium with 60,000 seats, a gymnasium with 18,000 seats, a swimming pool with 2,000 seats and a national fitness center, and it will be constructed in accordance with the standards of a Grade A stadium. After completion, it can host large-scale comprehensive sports events across the country. In addition to "one venue, two halls", a 70,000-square-meter cultural, commercial, sports and tourism complex including commercial and hotel facilities will also be built. Through strengthening planning and operation, multiple "first competitions" and "first exhibitions" will be introduced in the future. Premiere" and other activities, and strive to build Wuxi Olympic Sports Center into a modern large-scale sports complex with various projects, rich formats and complete functions.
Landmarks
The city lies in the southern Yangtze River delta on Lake Tai, which is the third largest freshwater lake in China, and a rich resource for tourism in the area with cruises. There are 72 peninsulas and peaks and 48 islets, including Yuantouzhu (the Islet of Turtlehead) and Taihu Xiandao (Islands of the Deities).
Parks and gardens
Wuxi has many private gardens or parks built by learned scholars and illustrious people in the past. Lihu Park in Binhu District was built in 1927 and named after the politician and economist Fan Li. The Star of Taihu Lake is noted for its water Ferris wheel. The gardens contains a long embankment with willow trees and a path beside the lake with numerous small bridges and pavilions. On the southwest bank of the lake at the foot of Junzhang Hill is Changguangxi Wetland Park, a stretch of canal connecting Lihu Lake to the north and Taihu Lake to the south. It contains the Shitang Bridge and a lotus pond. Also in Binhu District is Wuxi Zoo and Taihu Lake Amusement Park, an AAAA national landmark with over a 1000 animals including Asian elephant, leopard, chimpanzee, giant panda and white rhinoceros and an ecology and science exhibition and recreation area.
The 30 hectare (74 acres) Mt. Lingshan Grand Buddha Scenic Area on the southwest tip of Wuxi contains the tall Grand Buddha at Ling Shan, the world's largest bronze Buddha statue. The Mt Lingshan area also contains the Brahma Palace, Xiangfu Temple, Five Mudra Mandala, Nine Dragons Bathing Sakyamuni (a statue of Sakyamuni), and numerous other Buddhist sites. Xihui Park, established in 1958 at the foot of Xi Shan to the west of the city, contains Jichang Garden and the Dragon Light Pagoda.
Museums
Wuxi Museum was formally opened on October 1, 2008 following a merger of the Wuxi Revolution Museum, Wuxi Museum and Wuxi Science Museum. Covering over and an exhibition area of it is the largest public cultural building in Wuxi, with 600,000 visitors annually as of 2019. The museum also administers the Chinese National Industry and Commerce Museum of Wuxi, Chengji Art Museum, Zhou Huaimin Painting Museum, Zhang Wentian Former Residence and Wuxi Ancient Stone Inscriptions Museum. Wuxi Art Museum, known as the Wuxi Painting and Calligraphy Institute before the rename in 2011, was established on December 7, 1979 in Chong'an district. The current facility has a space of .
Hongshan Archaeological Museum in Wuxi New District opened in 2008 and houses artifacts related to the local Wu culture between 770 and 221 BC. The items, which include miniature jade engravings and objects related to burial and musical customs, were unearthed at Hongshan Tomb Complex in 2004.
The Helv City Ruins is an extremely precious historical and cultural heritage in Wuxi City, and it is the capital of Helu, one of the Five Hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period. The city was built in the first year of Helu (the sixth year of King Jing of Zhou, 514 BC), more than 2,500 years ago.
As early as 1956, the Helu City site was named a provincial cultural relic protection unit by the Jiangsu Provincial Government. At the national expert demonstration meeting held in 2008, the site was identified as the capital of King Helu of Wu, and was named one of the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2008". In 2011, it was selected as "Jiangsu Grand Site". In March 2013, it was named the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council. In December of the same year, it was selected into the National Archaeological Site Park Project List announced by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
The Former Residence of Xue Fucheng at No. 152 Xueqian Street in Chong'an district, is the former home of Zue Fencheng, a noted diplomat of the late Qing dynasty and is open to the public.
In addition, Wuxi also has the famous Wuxi Grand Theater and Sunac Taihu Show.
Some Famous Scenic Spots
Grand Canal: Although active water transportation has been handed over to the new Grand Canal that bypasses the city, the Grand Canal has been running through the city since the Sui dynasty, and cruises that travel along the ancient Grand Canal are being held.
Lake Tai and Sanshan: Enjoy the scenery at Gentosho Park, a peninsula that juts out into the lake. Monkey Island in Lake Tai,.
Xihui Park: A park on the west side of the city, straddling Xishan and Huishan. Tin Mountain is a mountain that once produced tin. The mountain offers a great view of the city, and is dotted with Buddhist temples and pavilions. There is also a ropeway.
Nianhuawan: Located at No. 68 Huanshan West Road, Binhu District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, 30 miles from Wuxi City
Nanchang street: It is a kilometer away, covers an area of 106.67 hectares, with a total construction area of 350,000 square meters. Flower Tower, Smile Square. Komawan opened on November 14, 2015. As an important part of Lingshan Buddhist culture, Kehuawan generally takes "Zen" as the theme element, and "Zen" combines Buddhist culture with the dual proposition of travel and vacation throughout Lingshan cultural scenic spots. Kehuawan is the "Oriental Zen Life" The overall positioning of paradise, the garden of the world's soul holiday. On November 5, 2021, Nianhuawan was recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as the first group of national night cultural tourism consumption gathering areas.
Tian Xia Second Spring: Located in Xihui Park. The name derives from the fact that Lu Yu, a tea master who wrote the "Cha Jing" in the Tang dynasty, ranked Eisen in Huishan, Wuxi as the second most suitable water for brewing tea. He is also known for the erhu song "Nisen Eigetsu".
Jichang Garden: Located in Xihui Park. Located to the east of Mount Huishan, it is a representative masterpiece of the Ming dynasty mansion-style garden with its peaks as a borrowed landscape. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty is said to have visited Yuchuyuan many times and built Beijing's Summer Palace based on it.
Li Garden: A garden built in 1930 by Wang Yuqing, a local businessman. Fan Li, a vassal of Yue Wang Gohan, was built in the lake where he spent time with Xi Shi, who was said to be a matchless beauty.
Three Kingdoms City/Water Margin City: An open set built for a China Central Television TV drama.
Donglin Academy: An academy founded by Yang Shi, a Confucian scholar in the Northern Song dynasty, and produced bureaucrats called the Donglin Party in the Ming dynasty.
Former Residence of QianZhongShu: The birthplace of Qian Zhongshu, a writer and literary researcher known for works such as "Waijo" and "Song Poetry Selection Notes."
Lingshan Giant Buddha: Inaugurated on November 15, 1997, the Great Buddha stands 88 meters tall, making him the second tallest Buddha in China, and 101.5 meters high including the three-tiered pedestal.
Nanchan Temple: Nanchan Temple, also known as Fusheng Temple, is located at No. 32, Xiangyang Road, Liangxi District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, on the north side of Wuxi Nanchan Temple Scenic Area, in the south corner of the old city. By the ancient canal of Wuxi. Founded in the first year of Nanliang Taiqing (547), Nanzen Temple was originally called Hu Guo Temple. -1031), the temple was rebuilt and awarded the "Fusheng Temple", commonly known as "Nanzen Temple", known as "the most beautiful jungle in the southern Yangtze". The Nanzen Temple covers an area of 7,000 square meters, divided into east and west roads, and mainly includes buildings such as Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Hall, and Miaoguang Pagoda. In 2012, Wuxi Nanchan Temple Scenic Area, where Nanchan Temple is located, was recognized as a national AAAA-level tourist attraction. In 1983, Nanzenji Temple's Myoguang Pagoda was announced by the Wuxi Municipal People's Government as the first group of cultural relics protection groups in Wuxi City.
Xuelang Mountain
Changguangxi
Some Celebrities
An Guo, printer and collecter of antiques (1481–1534)
Ni Zan, painter (1301–1374)
Xue Fucheng, diplomat (1838–1894)
Gu Deng, mathematician and politician (1882–1947?)
Chen Chi (1912—2005), painter
Hua Yanjun (1893–1950), musician
Liu Tianhua, folk musician (1895–1932)
Zhou Peiyuan, (1902–1993) theoretical physicist
Zhang Xu, telecommunications engineer (1913–2015)
Zhou Yongkang, (b. 1942), politician
Zou Jiayi, (b. 1963), politician and economist
Qian Zhongshu, 20th century Chinese literary scholar and writer (1910–1998)
Qian Weichang, physicist, applied mathematician and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1910–1998)
Marie Lu, (b. 1984), novelist, author of Legend serie
Sister Cities
Asia
Akashi, Hyogo, Japan: concluded on August 29, 1981
Sagamihara City, Japan: concluded on October 6, 1985
Gimhae, South Korea: concluded on October 24, 2006
Puerto Princesa City, Philippines: concluded on October 30, 2007
Sihanoukville, Cambodia: concluded on July 29, 2009
Ulsan, South Korea: concluded on January 20, 2014
Tiberias, Israel: concluded on July 22, 2015
Europe
Cascais, Portugal: concluded on September 14, 1993
Vicenza, Italy: concluded on January 25, 2006
Leverkusen, Germany: concluded on April 27, 2006
Nimes, France: concluded on April 5, 2007
Sodertalje, Sweden: concluded on October 8, 2007
Kortrijk, Belgium: concluded on October 30, 2007
Beiserkellen, Denmark: concluded on August 22, 2008
Chelmsford, United Kingdom: concluded on 19 November 2009
Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands: concluded on February 10, 2010
Lahti, Finland: concluded on November 7, 2011
Patras, Greece: concluded on December 24, 2012
Zielona Góra, Poland: concluded on January 7, 2014
America
Chattanooga, United States: concluded on October 12, 1982
Fredericton, Canada: concluded on November 22, 2010
Sorocaba, Brazil: concluded on December 18, 2010
San Antonio, United States: concluded on February 16, 2012
Puebla, Mexico: concluded on December 25, 2014
Oceania
Hamilton, New Zealand: concluded on July 5, 1986
Frankston, Australia: concluded on November 8, 2012
Africa
Fez, Morocco: concluded on June 29, 2010
See also
China Wu Culture Expo Park
Jiangnan
List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population
List of twin towns and sister cities in China
References
External links
Government website of Wuxi
Wuxi at China Daily
Cities in Jiangsu
Yangtze River Delta
Prefecture-level divisions of Jiangsu
Jiangnan |
427282 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual%20information | Mutual information | In probability theory and information theory, the mutual information (MI) of two random variables is a measure of the mutual dependence between the two variables. More specifically, it quantifies the "amount of information" (in units such as shannons (bits), nats or hartleys) obtained about one random variable by observing the other random variable. The concept of mutual information is intimately linked to that of entropy of a random variable, a fundamental notion in information theory that quantifies the expected "amount of information" held in a random variable.
Not limited to real-valued random variables and linear dependence like the correlation coefficient, MI is more general and determines how different the joint distribution of the pair is from the product of the marginal distributions of and . MI is the expected value of the pointwise mutual information (PMI).
The quantity was defined and analyzed by Claude Shannon in his landmark paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", although he did not call it "mutual information". This term was coined later by Robert Fano. Mutual Information is also known as information gain.
Definition
Let be a pair of random variables with values over the space . If their joint distribution is and the marginal distributions are and , the mutual information is defined as
where is the Kullback–Leibler divergence, and is the outer product distribution which assigns probability to each .
Notice, as per property of the Kullback–Leibler divergence, that is equal to zero precisely when the joint distribution coincides with the product of the marginals, i.e. when and are independent (and hence observing tells you nothing about ). is non-negative, it is a measure of the price for encoding as a pair of independent random variables when in reality they are not.
If the natural logarithm is used, the unit of mutual information is the nat. If the log base 2 is used, the unit of mutual information is the shannon, also known as the bit. If the log base 10 is used, the unit of mutual information is the hartley, also known as the ban or the dit.
In terms of PMFs for discrete distributions
The mutual information of two jointly discrete random variables and is calculated as a double sum:
where is the joint probability mass function of and , and and are the marginal probability mass functions of and respectively.
In terms of PDFs for continuous distributions
In the case of jointly continuous random variables, the double sum is replaced by a double integral:
where is now the joint probability density function of and , and and are the marginal probability density functions of and respectively.
Motivation
Intuitively, mutual information measures the information that and share: It measures how much knowing one of these variables reduces uncertainty about the other. For example, if and are independent, then knowing does not give any information about and vice versa, so their mutual information is zero. At the other extreme, if is a deterministic function of and is a deterministic function of then all information conveyed by is shared with : knowing determines the value of and vice versa. As a result, in this case the mutual information is the same as the uncertainty contained in (or ) alone, namely the entropy of (or ). Moreover, this mutual information is the same as the entropy of and as the entropy of . (A very special case of this is when and are the same random variable.)
Mutual information is a measure of the inherent dependence expressed in the joint distribution of and relative to the marginal distribution of and under the assumption of independence. Mutual information therefore measures dependence in the following sense: if and only if and are independent random variables. This is easy to see in one direction: if and are independent, then , and therefore:
Moreover, mutual information is nonnegative (i.e. see below) and symmetric (i.e. see below).
Properties
Nonnegativity
Using Jensen's inequality on the definition of mutual information we can show that is non-negative, i.e.
Symmetry
The proof is given considering the relationship with entropy, as shown below.
Supermodularity under independence
If is independent of , then
.
Relation to conditional and joint entropy
Mutual information can be equivalently expressed as:
where and are the marginal entropies, and are the conditional entropies, and is the joint entropy of and .
Notice the analogy to the union, difference, and intersection of two sets: in this respect, all the formulas given above are apparent from the Venn diagram reported at the beginning of the article.
In terms of a communication channel in which the output is a noisy version of the input , these relations are summarised in the figure:
Because is non-negative, consequently, . Here we give the detailed deduction of for the case of jointly discrete random variables:
The proofs of the other identities above are similar. The proof of the general case (not just discrete) is similar, with integrals replacing sums.
Intuitively, if entropy is regarded as a measure of uncertainty about a random variable, then is a measure of what does not say about . This is "the amount of uncertainty remaining about after is known", and thus the right side of the second of these equalities can be read as "the amount of uncertainty in , minus the amount of uncertainty in which remains after is known", which is equivalent to "the amount of uncertainty in which is removed by knowing ". This corroborates the intuitive meaning of mutual information as the amount of information (that is, reduction in uncertainty) that knowing either variable provides about the other.
Note that in the discrete case and therefore . Thus , and one can formulate the basic principle that a variable contains at least as much information about itself as any other variable can provide.
Relation to Kullback–Leibler divergence
For jointly discrete or jointly continuous pairs , mutual information is the Kullback–Leibler divergence from the product of the marginal distributions, , of the joint distribution , that is,
Furthermore, let be the conditional mass or density function. Then, we have the identity
The proof for jointly discrete random variables is as follows:
Similarly this identity can be established for jointly continuous random variables.
Note that here the Kullback–Leibler divergence involves integration over the values of the random variable only, and the expression still denotes a random variable because is random. Thus mutual information can also be understood as the expectation of the Kullback–Leibler divergence of the univariate distribution of from the conditional distribution of given : the more different the distributions and are on average, the greater the information gain.
Bayesian estimation of mutual information
If samples from a joint distribution are available, a Bayesian approach can be used to estimate the mutual information of that distribution. The first work to do this, which also showed how to do Bayesian estimation of many other information-theoretic properties besides mutual information, was. Subsequent researchers have rederived and extended
this analysis. See for a recent paper based on a prior specifically tailored to estimation of mutual
information per se. Besides, recently an estimation method accounting for continuous and multivariate outputs, , was proposed in
.
Independence assumptions
The Kullback-Leibler divergence formulation of the mutual information is predicated on that one is interested in comparing to the fully factorized outer product . In many problems, such as non-negative matrix factorization, one is interested in less extreme factorizations; specifically, one wishes to compare to a low-rank matrix approximation in some unknown variable ; that is, to what degree one might have
Alternately, one might be interested in knowing how much more information carries over its factorization. In such a case, the excess information that the full distribution carries over the matrix factorization is given by the Kullback-Leibler divergence
The conventional definition of the mutual information is recovered in the extreme case that the process has only one value for .
Variations
Several variations on mutual information have been proposed to suit various needs. Among these are normalized variants and generalizations to more than two variables.
Metric
Many applications require a metric, that is, a distance measure between pairs of points. The quantity
satisfies the properties of a metric (triangle inequality, non-negativity, indiscernability and symmetry). This distance metric is also known as the variation of information.
If are discrete random variables then all the entropy terms are non-negative, so and one can define a normalized distance
The metric is a universal metric, in that if any other distance measure places and close by, then the will also judge them close.
Plugging in the definitions shows that
This is known as the Rajski Distance. In a set-theoretic interpretation of information (see the figure for Conditional entropy), this is effectively the Jaccard distance between and .
Finally,
is also a metric.
Conditional mutual information
Sometimes it is useful to express the mutual information of two random variables conditioned on a third.
For jointly discrete random variables this takes the form
which can be simplified as
For jointly continuous random variables this takes the form
which can be simplified as
Conditioning on a third random variable may either increase or decrease the mutual information, but it is always true that
for discrete, jointly distributed random variables . This result has been used as a basic building block for proving other inequalities in information theory.
Interaction information
Several generalizations of mutual information to more than two random variables have been proposed, such as total correlation (or multi-information) and dual total correlation. The expression and study of multivariate higher-degree mutual information was achieved in two seemingly independent works: McGill (1954) who called these functions "interaction information", and Hu Kuo Ting (1962). Interaction information is defined for one variable as follows:
and for
Some authors reverse the order of the terms on the right-hand side of the preceding equation, which changes the sign when the number of random variables is odd. (And in this case, the single-variable expression becomes the negative of the entropy.) Note that
Multivariate statistical independence
The multivariate mutual information functions generalize the pairwise independence case that states that if and only if , to arbitrary numerous variable. n variables are mutually independent if and only if the mutual information functions vanish with (theorem 2). In this sense, the can be used as a refined statistical independence criterion.
Applications
For 3 variables, Brenner et al. applied multivariate mutual information to neural coding and called its negativity "synergy" and Watkinson et al. applied it to genetic expression. For arbitrary k variables, Tapia et al. applied multivariate mutual information to gene expression. It can be zero, positive, or negative. The positivity corresponds to relations generalizing the pairwise correlations, nullity corresponds to a refined notion of independence, and negativity detects high dimensional "emergent" relations and clusterized datapoints ).
One high-dimensional generalization scheme which maximizes the mutual information between the joint distribution and other target variables is found to be useful in feature selection.
Mutual information is also used in the area of signal processing as a measure of similarity between two signals. For example, FMI metric is an image fusion performance measure that makes use of mutual information in order to measure the amount of information that the fused image contains about the source images. The Matlab code for this metric can be found at. A python package for computing all multivariate mutual informations, conditional mutual information, joint entropies, total correlations, information distance in a dataset of n variables is available.
Directed information
Directed information, , measures the amount of information that flows from the process to , where denotes the vector and denotes . The term directed information was coined by James Massey and is defined as
.
Note that if , the directed information becomes the mutual information. Directed information has many applications in problems where causality plays an important role, such as capacity of channel with feedback.
Normalized variants
Normalized variants of the mutual information are provided by the coefficients of constraint, uncertainty coefficient or proficiency:
The two coefficients have a value ranging in [0, 1], but are not necessarily equal. In some cases a symmetric measure may be desired, such as the following redundancy measure:
which attains a minimum of zero when the variables are independent and a maximum value of
when one variable becomes completely redundant with the knowledge of the other. See also Redundancy (information theory).
Another symmetrical measure is the symmetric uncertainty , given by
which represents the harmonic mean of the two uncertainty coefficients .
If we consider mutual information as a special case of the total correlation or dual total correlation, the normalized version are respectively,
and
This normalized version also known as Information Quality Ratio (IQR) which quantifies the amount of information of a variable based on another variable against total uncertainty:
There's a normalization which derives from first thinking of mutual information as an analogue to covariance (thus Shannon entropy is analogous to variance). Then the normalized mutual information is calculated akin to the Pearson correlation coefficient,
Weighted variants
In the traditional formulation of the mutual information,
each event or object specified by is weighted by the corresponding probability . This assumes that all objects or events are equivalent apart from their probability of occurrence. However, in some applications it may be the case that certain objects or events are more significant than others, or that certain patterns of association are more semantically important than others.
For example, the deterministic mapping may be viewed as stronger than the deterministic mapping , although these relationships would yield the same mutual information. This is because the mutual information is not sensitive at all to any inherent ordering in the variable values (, , ), and is therefore not sensitive at all to the form of the relational mapping between the associated variables. If it is desired that the former relation—showing agreement on all variable values—be judged stronger than the later relation, then it is possible to use the following weighted mutual information .
which places a weight on the probability of each variable value co-occurrence, . This allows that certain probabilities may carry more or less significance than others, thereby allowing the quantification of relevant holistic or Prägnanz factors. In the above example, using larger relative weights for , , and would have the effect of assessing greater informativeness for the relation than for the relation , which may be desirable in some cases of pattern recognition, and the like. This weighted mutual information is a form of weighted KL-Divergence, which is known to take negative values for some inputs, and there are examples where the weighted mutual information also takes negative values.
Adjusted mutual information
A probability distribution can be viewed as a partition of a set. One may then ask: if a set were partitioned randomly, what would the distribution of probabilities be? What would the expectation value of the mutual information be? The adjusted mutual information or AMI subtracts the expectation value of the MI, so that the AMI is zero when two different distributions are random, and one when two distributions are identical. The AMI is defined in analogy to the adjusted Rand index of two different partitions of a set.
Absolute mutual information
Using the ideas of Kolmogorov complexity, one can consider the mutual information of two sequences independent of any probability distribution:
To establish that this quantity is symmetric up to a logarithmic factor () one requires the chain rule for Kolmogorov complexity . Approximations of this quantity via compression can be used to define a distance measure to perform a hierarchical clustering of sequences without having any domain knowledge of the sequences .
Linear correlation
Unlike correlation coefficients, such as the product moment correlation coefficient, mutual information contains information about all dependence—linear and nonlinear—and not just linear dependence as the correlation coefficient measures. However, in the narrow case that the joint distribution for and is a bivariate normal distribution (implying in particular that both marginal distributions are normally distributed), there is an exact relationship between and the correlation coefficient .
The equation above can be derived as follows for a bivariate Gaussian:
Therefore,
For discrete data
When and are limited to be in a discrete number of states, observation data is summarized in a contingency table, with row variable (or ) and column variable (or ). Mutual information is one of the measures of association or correlation between the row and column variables.
Other measures of association include Pearson's chi-squared test statistics, G-test statistics, etc. In fact, with the same log base, mutual information will be equal to the G-test log-likelihood statistic divided by , where is the sample size.
Applications
In many applications, one wants to maximize mutual information (thus increasing dependencies), which is often equivalent to minimizing conditional entropy. Examples include:
In search engine technology, mutual information between phrases and contexts is used as a feature for k-means clustering to discover semantic clusters (concepts). For example, the mutual information of a bigram might be calculated as:
where is the number of times the bigram xy appears in the corpus, is the number of times the unigram x appears in the corpus, B is the total number of bigrams, and U is the total number of unigrams.
In telecommunications, the channel capacity is equal to the mutual information, maximized over all input distributions.
Discriminative training procedures for hidden Markov models have been proposed based on the maximum mutual information (MMI) criterion.
RNA secondary structure prediction from a multiple sequence alignment.
Phylogenetic profiling prediction from pairwise present and disappearance of functionally link genes.
Mutual information has been used as a criterion for feature selection and feature transformations in machine learning. It can be used to characterize both the relevance and redundancy of variables, such as the minimum redundancy feature selection.
Mutual information is used in determining the similarity of two different clusterings of a dataset. As such, it provides some advantages over the traditional Rand index.
Mutual information of words is often used as a significance function for the computation of collocations in corpus linguistics. This has the added complexity that no word-instance is an instance to two different words; rather, one counts instances where 2 words occur adjacent or in close proximity; this slightly complicates the calculation, since the expected probability of one word occurring within words of another, goes up with
Mutual information is used in medical imaging for image registration. Given a reference image (for example, a brain scan), and a second image which needs to be put into the same coordinate system as the reference image, this image is deformed until the mutual information between it and the reference image is maximized.
Detection of phase synchronization in time series analysis.
In the infomax method for neural-net and other machine learning, including the infomax-based Independent component analysis algorithm
Average mutual information in delay embedding theorem is used for determining the embedding delay parameter.
Mutual information between genes in expression microarray data is used by the ARACNE algorithm for reconstruction of gene networks.
In statistical mechanics, Loschmidt's paradox may be expressed in terms of mutual information. Loschmidt noted that it must be impossible to determine a physical law which lacks time reversal symmetry (e.g. the second law of thermodynamics) only from physical laws which have this symmetry. He pointed out that the H-theorem of Boltzmann made the assumption that the velocities of particles in a gas were permanently uncorrelated, which removed the time symmetry inherent in the H-theorem. It can be shown that if a system is described by a probability density in phase space, then Liouville's theorem implies that the joint information (negative of the joint entropy) of the distribution remains constant in time. The joint information is equal to the mutual information plus the sum of all the marginal information (negative of the marginal entropies) for each particle coordinate. Boltzmann's assumption amounts to ignoring the mutual information in the calculation of entropy, which yields the thermodynamic entropy (divided by the Boltzmann constant).
In stochastic processes coupled to changing environments, mutual information can be used to disentangle internal and effective environmental dependencies. This is particularly useful when a physical system undergoes changes in the parameters describing its dynamics, e.g., changes in temperature.
The mutual information is used to learn the structure of Bayesian networks/dynamic Bayesian networks, which is thought to explain the causal relationship between random variables, as exemplified by the GlobalMIT toolkit: learning the globally optimal dynamic Bayesian network with the Mutual Information Test criterion.
The mutual information is used to quantify information transmitted during the updating procedure in the Gibbs sampling algorithm.
Popular cost function in decision tree learning.
The mutual information is used in cosmology to test the influence of large-scale environments on galaxy properties in the Galaxy Zoo.
The mutual information was used in Solar Physics to derive the solar differential rotation profile, a travel-time deviation map for sunspots, and a time–distance diagram from quiet-Sun measurements
Used in Invariant Information Clustering to automatically train neural network classifiers and image segmenters given no labelled data.
See also
Data differencing
Pointwise mutual information
Quantum mutual information
Specific-information
Notes
References
English translation of original in Uspekhi Matematicheskikh Nauk 12 (1): 3-52.
David J. C. MacKay. Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. (available free online)
Athanasios Papoulis. Probability, Random Variables, and Stochastic Processes, second edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. (See Chapter 15.)
Information theory
Entropy and information |
427288 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark%20attack | Shark attack | A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and horror fiction and films such as the Jaws series. Out of more than 500 shark species, only three of them are responsible for a double-digit number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger, and bull. The oceanic whitetip has probably killed many more castaways, but these are not recorded in the statistics.
Terminology
While the term "shark attack" is in common use for instances of humans being wounded by sharks, it has been suggested that this is based largely on the assumption that large predatory sharks (such as great white, bull, and tiger sharks) only seek out humans as prey. A 2013 review recommends that only in instances where a shark clearly predates on a human should the bite incident be termed an "attack," implying predation. Otherwise, it is more accurate to class bite incidents as "fatal bite incidents". Sightings do include physical interaction, encounters including physical interaction with harm, shark bites include major shark bite incidents, including those that require medical attention, and fatal shark bite incidents result in death. The study suggests that only in a case where an expert validates the predatory intent of a shark would it be appropriate to term a bite incident an attack.
Statistics
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between 1958 and 2016 there were 2,785 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the world, of which 439 were fatal. Between 2001 and 2010, an average of 4.3 people a year died as a result of shark attacks.
In 2000, there were 79 shark attacks reported worldwide, 11 of them fatal. In 2005 and 2006, this number decreased to 61 and 62 respectively, while the number of fatalities dropped to only four per year. The 2016 yearly total of 81 shark attacks worldwide was on par with the most recent five-year (2011–2015) average of 82 incidents annually. By contrast, the 98 shark attacks in 2015, was the highest yearly total on record. There were four fatalities worldwide in 2016, which is lower than the average of eight fatalities per year worldwide in the 2011–2015 period and six deaths per annum over the past decade. In 2016 58% of attacks were on surfers.
Despite these reports, however, the actual number of fatal shark attacks worldwide remains uncertain. For the majority of Third World coastal nations, there exists no method of reporting suspected shark attacks; therefore, losses and fatalities near-shore or at sea often remain unsolved or unpublicized.
Of these attacks, the majority occurred in the United States (53 in 2000, 40 in 2005, and 39 in 2006). The New York Times reported in July 2008 that there had been only one fatal attack in the previous year. On average, there are 16 shark attacks per year in the United States, with one fatality every two years. According to the ISAF, the US states in which the most attacks have occurred are Florida, Hawaii, California, Texas and the Carolinas, though attacks have occurred in almost every coastal state.
Australia has the highest number of fatal shark attacks in the world, with Western Australia recently becoming the deadliest place in the world for shark attacks with total and fatal shark bites growing exponentially over the last 40 years. Since 2000 there have been 17 fatal shark attacks along the West Australian coast with divers now facing odds of one in 16,000 for a fatal shark bite.
Other shark attack hotspots include Réunion Island, Boa Viagem in Brazil, Makena Beach, Maui, Hawaii and Second Beach, Port St. Johns, South Africa. South Africa has a high number of shark attacks along with a high fatality rate of 27 percent.
As of 28 June 1992, Recife in Brazil began officially registering shark attacks on its beaches (mainly on the beach of Boa Viagem). Over more than two decades, 64 victims were attacked, of which 26 died. The last deadly attack occurred on 10 July 2021. The attacks were caused by the species bull shark and tiger shark.
The shark attacks in Recife have an unusually high fatality rate of about 37%. This is much higher than the worldwide shark attack fatality rate, which is currently about 16%, according to Florida State Museum of Natural History. Several factors have contributed to the unusually high attack and fatality rates, including pollution from sewage runoff and a (now closed) local slaughterhouse.
The location with the most recorded shark attacks is New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Developed nations such as the United States, Australia and, to some extent, South Africa, facilitate more thorough documentation of shark attacks on humans than developing coastal nations. The increased use of technology has enabled Australia and the United States to record more data than other nations, which could somewhat bias the results recorded. In addition to this, individuals and institutions in South Africa, the US and Australia keep a file which is regularly updated by an entire research team, the International Shark Attack File, and the Australian Shark Attack File.
The Florida Museum of Natural History compares these statistics with the much higher rate of deaths from other causes. For example, an average of more than 38 people die annually from lightning strikes in coastal states, while less than 1 person per year is killed by a shark in Florida. In the United States, even considering only people who go to beaches, a person's chance of getting attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's chance of getting killed by a shark is less than 1 in 264.1 million.
However, in certain situations the risk of a shark attack is higher. For example, in the southwest of Western Australia the chances of a surfer being fatally bitten by a shark in winter or spring are 1 in 40,000 and for divers it is 1 in 16,000. In comparison to the risk of a serious or fatal cycling accident, this represents three times the risk for a surfer and seven times the risk for a diver.
Species involved in incidents
Only a few species of shark are dangerous to humans. Out of more than 480 shark species, only three are responsible for two-digit numbers of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger and bull; however, the oceanic whitetip has probably killed many more castaways which have not been recorded in the statistics. These sharks, being large, powerful predators, may sometimes attack and kill people, notwithstanding the fact that all have been filmed in open water by unprotected divers. The 2010 French film Oceans shows footage of humans swimming next to sharks in the ocean. It is possible that the sharks are able to sense the presence of unnatural elements on or about the divers, such as polyurethane diving suits and air tanks, which may lead them to accept temporary outsiders as more of a curiosity than prey. Uncostumed humans, however, such as those surfboarding, light snorkeling or swimming, present a much greater area of exposed skin surface to sharks. In addition, the presence of even small traces of blood, recent minor abrasions, cuts, scrapes or bruises, may lead sharks to attack a human in their environment. Sharks seek out prey through electroreception, sensing the electric fields that are generated by all animals due to the activity of their nerves and muscles.
Most of the oceanic whitetip shark's attacks have not been recorded, unlike the other three species mentioned above. Famed oceanographic researcher Jacques Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip as "the most dangerous of all sharks".
Modern-day statistics show the oceanic whitetip shark as seldom being involved in unprovoked attacks. However, there have been a number of attacks involving this species, particularly during World War I and World War II. The oceanic whitetip lives in the open sea and rarely shows up near coasts, where most recorded incidents occur. During the world wars, many ship and aircraft disasters happened in the open ocean, and because of its former abundance, the oceanic whitetip was often the first species on site when such a disaster happened.
Infamous examples of oceanic whitetip attacks include the sinking of the Nova Scotia, a British steamship carrying 1,000 people that was torpedoed by a German submarine on 18 November 1942, near South Africa. Only 192 people survived, with many deaths attributed to the oceanic whitetip shark. The same species is believed to have been responsible for many of the 600–800 or more casualties following the torpedoing of the USS Indianapolis on 30 July 1945.
Black December refers to at least nine shark attacks on humans, causing six deaths, that occurred along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, from 18 December 1957, to 5 April 1958.
In addition to the four species responsible for a significant number of fatal attacks on humans, a number of other species have attacked humans without being provoked, and have on extremely rare occasions been responsible for a human death. This group includes the shortfin mako, hammerhead, Galapagos, grey reef, blacktip, lemon, silky shark and blue sharks. These sharks are also large, powerful predators which can be provoked simply by being in the water at the wrong time and place, but they are normally considered less dangerous to humans than the previous group.
On the evening of 16 March 2009, a new addition was made to the list of sharks known to have attacked human beings. In a painful but not directly life-threatening incident, a long-distance swimmer crossing the Alenuihaha Channel between the islands of Hawai'i and Maui was attacked by a cookiecutter shark. The two bites were delivered about 15 seconds apart.
Types of attacks
Shark attack indices use different criteria to determine if an attack was "provoked" or "unprovoked." When considered from the shark's point of view, attacks on humans who are perceived as a threat to the shark or a competitor to its food source are all "provoked" attacks. Neither the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) nor the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF) accord casualties of air/sea disasters "provoked" or "unprovoked" status; these incidents are considered to be a separate category. Postmortem scavenging of human remains (typically drowning victims) are also not accorded "provoked" or "unprovoked" status. The GSAF categorizes scavenging bites on humans as "questionable incidents." The most common criteria for determining "provoked" and "unprovoked" attacks are discussed below:
Provoked attack
Provoked attacks occur when a human touches, hooks, nets, or otherwise aggravates the animal. Incidents that occur outside of a shark's natural habitat, such as aquariums and research holding-pens, are considered provoked, as are all incidents involving captured sharks. Sometimes humans inadvertently provoke an attack, such as when a surfer accidentally hits a shark with a surf board.
Unprovoked attack
Unprovoked attacks are initiated by the shark—they occur in a shark's natural habitat on a live human and without human provocation. There are three subcategories of unprovoked attack:
Hit-and-run attack – usually non-fatal, the shark bites and then leaves; most victims do not see the shark. This is the most common type of attack and typically occurs in the surf zone or in murky water. Most hit-and-run attacks are believed to be the result of mistaken identity.
Sneak attack – the victim will not usually see the shark, and may sustain multiple deep bites. This kind of attack is predatory in nature and is often carried out with the intention of consuming the victim. It is extraordinarily rare for this to occur.
Bump-and-bite attack – the shark circles and bumps the victim before biting. Great whites are known to do this on occasion, referred to as a "test bite", in which the great white is attempting to identify what is being bitten. Repeated bites, depending on the reaction of the victim (thrashing or panicking may lead the shark to believe the victim is prey), are not uncommon and can be severe or fatal. Bump-and-bite attacks are not believed to be the result of mistaken identity.
An incident occurred in 2011 when a 3-meter long (~500 kg) great white shark jumped onto a 7-person research vessel off Seal Island, South Africa. The crew were undertaking a population study using sardines as bait and initially retreated to safety in the bow of the ship while the shark thrashed about, damaging equipment and fuel lines. To keep the shark alive while a rescue ship towed the research vessel to shore, the crew poured water over its gills and eventually used a pump for mechanical ventilation. The shark was ultimately lifted back into the water by crane and, after becoming disoriented and beaching itself in the harbor, was successfully towed out to sea, swimming away. The incident was judged to be an accident.
Reasons for attacks
Large sharks species are apex predators in their environment, and thus have little fear of any creature (other than orcas) with which they cross paths. Like most sophisticated hunters, they are curious when they encounter something unusual in their territories. Lacking any limbs with sensitive digits such as hands or feet, the only way they can explore an object or organism is to bite it; these bites are known as test bites. Generally, shark bites are exploratory, and the animal will swim away after one bite. For example, exploratory bites on surfers are thought to be caused by the shark mistaking the surfer and surfboard for the shape of prey. Nonetheless, a single bite can grievously injure a human if the animal involved is a powerful predator such as a great white or tiger shark.
A shark will normally make one swift attack and then retreat to wait for the victim to die or weaken from shock and blood loss, before returning to feed. This protects the shark from injury from a wounded and aggressive target; however, it also allows humans time to get out of the water and survive. Shark attacks may also occur due to territorial reasons or as dominance over another shark species, resulting in an attack.
Sharks are equipped with sensory organs called the Ampullae of Lorenzini that detect the electricity generated by muscle movement. The shark's electrical receptors, which pick up movement, detect signals like those emitted from fish wounded. An example, someone who is spearfishing, leading the shark to attack the person by mistake. George H. Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, said the following regarding why people are attacked: "Attacks are basically an odds game based on how many hours you are in the water".
Prevention
Reducing the risks
General advice to reduce risks of being bitten by a shark include:
Staying in groups as solitary individuals are more at risk of being bitten
Only going in the water during the day
Avoiding areas with a lot of fish or fishers
Not wearing jewelry, which can create reflections like fish scale
Avoiding splashs at the surface, because it makes sound which attracts sharks
Shark barrier
A shark barrier (otherwise known as a "shark-proof enclosure" or "beach enclosure") is a seabed-to-surface protective barrier that is placed around a beach to separate people from sharks. Shark barriers form a fully enclosed swimming area that prevents sharks from entering. Shark barrier design has evolved from rudimentary fencing materials to netted structures held in place with buoys and anchors. Recent designs have used plastics to increase strength and versatility.
When deployed in sheltered areas shark barriers offer complete protection and are seen as a more environmentally friendly option as they largely avoid bycatch. However, barriers are not effective on surf beaches because they usually disintegrate in the swell and so are normally constructed only around sheltered areas such as harbour beaches.
Shark nets
In Australia and South Africa shark nets are used to reduce the risk of shark attack. Since 1936 sharks nets have been utilised off Sydney beaches. Shark nets are currently installed at beaches in New South Wales and Queensland; 83 beaches are meshed in Queensland compared with 51 in New South Wales. Since 1952, nets have been installed at numerous beaches in South Africa by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board.
Shark nets do not offer complete protection but work on the principle of "fewer sharks, fewer attacks". They reduce occurrence via shark mortality. Reducing the local shark populations is believed to reduce the chance of an attack. Historical shark attack figures suggest that the use of shark nets and drumlines does markedly reduce the incidence of shark attack when implemented on a regular and consistent basis.
The downside with shark nets is that they do result in bycatch, including threatened and endangered species. Between September 2017 and April 2018, 403 animals were killed in the nets in New South Wales, including 10 critically endangered grey nurse sharks, 7 dolphins, 7 green sea turtles and 14 great white sharks. Between 1950 and 2008, 352 tiger sharks and 577 great white sharks were killed in the nets in New South Wales—also during this period, a total of 15,135 marine animals were killed in the nets, including whales, turtles, rays, dolphins, and dugongs. KwaZulu-Natal's net program, operated by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board, has killed more than 33,000 sharks in a 30-year period—during the same 30-year period, 2,211 turtles, 8,448 rays, and 2,310 dolphins were killed in KwaZulu-Natal.
Shark nets have been criticized by environmentalists, scientists, and conservationists; they say shark nets harm the marine ecosystem. In particular, the current net program in New South Wales has been described as being "extremely destructive" to marine life. Sharks are important to the ecosystem and killing them harms the ecosystem.
Drum lines
A drum line is an unmanned aquatic trap used to lure and capture large sharks using baited hooks. They are typically deployed near popular swimming beaches with the intention of reducing the number of sharks in the vicinity and therefore the probability of shark attack. Drum lines were first deployed to protect users of the marine environment from sharks in Queensland, Australia in 1962. During this time, they were just as successful in reducing the frequency of shark attacks as the shark nets. More recently, drumlines have also been used with great success in Recife, Brazil where the number of attacks has been shown to have reduced by 97% when the drumlines are deployed. While shark nets and drum lines share the same purpose, drum lines are more effective at targeting the three sharks that are considered most dangerous to swimmers: the bull shark, tiger shark and great white shark. SMART drumlines can also be utilised to move sharks, which greatly reduces mortality of sharks and bycatch to less than 2%.
Drum lines result in bycatch; for example, in 2015 the following was said about Queensland's "shark control" program (which uses drum lines):
Drum lines have been criticized by environmentalists, conservationists and animal welfare activists—they say drum lines are unethical, non-scientific, and environmentally destructive; they also say drum lines harm the marine ecosystem.
Other protection methods
Beach patrols and spotter aircraft are commonly used to protect popular swimming beaches. However aerial patrols have limited effectiveness in reducing shark attacks. Other methods include shark tagging efforts and associated tracking and notification systems, capture and translocation of sharks to offshore waters, research into shark feeding and foraging behaviour, public shark threat education programs and encouraging higher risk user groups (surfers, spear-fishers and divers) to use personal shark protection technology.
Media impact
The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 killed four people in the first two weeks of July 1916 along the New Jersey shore and Matawan Creek in New Jersey. They are generally credited as the beginning of media attention on shark attacks in the United States of America.
In 2010 nine Australian survivors of shark attacks banded together to promote a more positive view of sharks. The survivors made particular note of the role of the media in distorting the fear of sharks. Films such as Jaws were the cause of large-scale hunting and killing of thousands of sharks. Jaws had a significant impact on people and gave them an unrealistic view of sharks, causing them to fear them more than they probably should. The media has continued to exploit this fear over the years by sensationalizing attacks and portraying sharks as vicious man-eaters. There are some television shows, such as the famous Shark Week, that are dedicated to the preservation of these animals. They are able to prove through scientific studies that sharks are not interested in attacking humans and generally mistake humans as prey.
Notable shark attacks
George Coulthard (1856–1883), Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer
Rodney Fox (b. 1940), Australian filmmaker and conservationist
Bethany Hamilton (b. 1990), American surfer
Mathieu Schiller (1979–2011), French body-boarder
Brook Watson (1735–1807), British soldier and Lord Mayor of London
Mick Fanning (b. 1981), Australian Pro Surfer
USS Indianapolis July–August 1945
NOAAS Discoverer (R 102) March 23, 1994,
There are also reports of shark attack survivors being harassed and abused on social media, presumably by extreme environmentalists.
See also
Attack sprees
2010 Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks
Black December
Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916
Regions
List of fatal shark attacks in Australia
List of fatal shark attacks in the United States
List of shark attacks in South Africa
Lists of fatal shark attacks in South Africa
Red Triangle (Pacific Ocean)
Shark attacks in Australia
Shark attacks in South Australia
Other
Drum lines
Shark Arm case
Shark attack prevention
Shark culling
Shark net
Shark repellent
Summer of the Shark
Western Australian shark cull
References
External links
International Shark Attack File
Global Shark Attack File — Open database
Tracking Sharks — Current Shark Attack Statistics
Shark Attack Survivors — Shark attack education and prevention
Notes
Fish attacks |
427319 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir%20John%20Wentworth%2C%201st%20Baronet | Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet | Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet (9 August 1737 – 8 April 1820) was the British colonial governor of New Hampshire at the time of the American Revolution. He was later also Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. He is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church in Halifax.
Early years
Wentworth was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 9, 1737. His ancestry went back to some of the earliest settlers of the Province of New Hampshire, and he was a grandson of John Wentworth, who served as the province's lieutenant governor in the 1720s, a nephew to Governor Benning Wentworth, and a descendant of "Elder" William Wentworth. His father Mark was a major landowner and merchant in the province, and his mother, Elizabeth Rindge Wentworth, was also from the upper echelons of New Hampshire society. In 1751, he enrolled in Harvard College, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1755 and a master's degree in 1758. During his time at Harvard, he was a classmate and became a close friend of future Founding Father and President of the United States John Adams.
In 1759, the young Wentworth made his first significant investment, joining a partnership in the purchase and development of land in the Lake Winnipesaukee area. Wentworth sat on a committee of partners that oversaw the settlement of the community, which the investors named Wolfeboro. In 1763, his father sent him to London to act on behalf of his merchant interests. Based on his father's introductions, he was soon mingling with the upper levels of British society. Among the connections he made was one with the Marquess of Rockingham, a distant relative (although neither was apparently aware of this) and a leading Whig politician. In 1765, Wentworth, still in London, was appointed by the province as one of its agents. That same year Rockingham became Prime Minister and led the repeal of the hated Stamp Act. Whether Wentworth influenced Rockingham's decision is uncertain, but New Hampshire's other agent, Barlow Trecothick, drafted with Rockingham a position paper on the matter, and Wentworth was clearly sympathetic to colonial opposition to the Stamp Act.
Wentworth's uncle Benning had spent many years of his governorship lining his pockets by selling land grants to the west of the Connecticut River, territory to which the province held dubious claim. In 1764, the Lords of Trade ruled that New Hampshire's western border was at the Connecticut River, decisively awarding the territory (the future state of Vermont) to the Province of New York. The governor, however, refused to resign, leading the Lords of Trade to consider his recall. Wentworth interceded, and convinced them to allow his uncle the dignity of resigning in his nephew's favor.
In August 1766, he was commissioned as Governor and vice admiral of New Hampshire, and Surveyor General of the King's Woods in North America. Before he returned to North America he was awarded a Doctorate of Common Law by Oxford University. After a difficult crossing he arrived at Charleston, South Carolina in March 1767, where he proceeded to make the first major survey of the forests of Georgia and the Carolinas on behalf of the crown. He then made his way north overland, and was received in Portsmouth with pomp and ceremony on June 13, 1767.
Governor of New Hampshire
Under Wentworth's administration the growing province was divided into five counties to distribute administration and judicial functions to communities remote from Portsmouth. Wentworth was responsible for naming them, choosing names of current British leaders (including Rockingham), but also named Strafford County after one of his distant relatives, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford.
He also began the process of developing roads between the major population centers of the province, which had grown around the coast and the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers. Although the provincial assembly was reluctant to fund new roads, Wentworth used quitrents collected on recently issued land grants to pay for the work. In 1771, he reported having constructed more than of roads at a cost of £500. The same year he convinced the assembly to appropriate £100 for surveyor Samuel Holland to produce the first detailed high quality map of the province.
Wentworth was ironically responsible for significant improvements to the provincial militia organization. When he arrived, the militia consisted of about 10,000 men, who were by his report "badly accoutred and scarcely at all disciplined". He expanded the militia, adding 1,600 men and three regiments to the force, and regularly attended regimental reviews.
Although Wentworth was successful in keeping New Hampshire from implementing harsh boycotts in response to the Townshend Acts, he was clearly troubled by both colonial resistance to Parliamentary acts and by the introduction of troops into Boston in 1768. He wrote to Rockingham that the troop movement was likely to be problematic, and that government and other reforms were more likely to succeed. New Hampshire businessmen were eventually pressured into adopting a boycott of British goods when Massachusetts businessmen threatened to suspend trade with them.
After the Boston Tea Party in late 1773 further inflamed tensions in New England, Wentworth successfully defused the threat of similar action in Portsmouth. After issuing careful instructions to the master of a ship arriving with a consignment of tea, Wentworth departed Portsmouth for Dover. During his absence the tea was landed and stored in the Portsmouth customs house. This removed the possibility of the tea being dumped as it had been in Boston, but the townspeople were still opposed to its presence. A committee of Portsmouth merchants negotiated its safe passage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the tea was safely transported through the town and reembarked on a ship.
Wentworth's popularity in the province began to fall as tensions continued to rise in neighboring Massachusetts. When the Boston port was closed as punishment for the Tea Party, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage found it increasingly difficult to find workers willing to support the military (despite rampant unemployment caused by the port closure). He therefore asked Wentworth to assist in the procurement of carpenters in New Hampshire to build barracks for the troops. When his secretive methods to do so were exposed and publicized, local revolutionary committees denounced him as an "enemy to the community". Although he intuited that the arrival of Paul Revere on December 13, 1774, was likely to cause trouble, he was unable to prevent the local militia, now effectively under control of the revolutionary committees, from marching on Fort William and Mary the next day and seizing the provincial armaments and gunpowder. Wentworth had warned the garrison before the event, and called for naval support afterward, but it arrived too late to be of use.
He eventually asked for further reinforcements but received none, and realized that any attempt to arrest the ringleaders of the rebellion would likely result in an uprising. He organized a small force of trusted men to act as guards of his person and property, and during early 1775 pressure on the province's Loyalists was prompting some of them to flee to the safety of the British Army presence in Boston. Despite the opening of hostilities with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19 (after which numerous New Hampshire militia went south to join the Siege of Boston), Wentworth convened the provincial assembly in late May. Composed primarily of rebel sympathizers, it refused to consider the Conciliatory Resolution proposed by Prime Minister Lord North to defuse the crisis. Wentworth therefore prorogued the assembly, hoping that a delay would favorably change the atmosphere. It did not; on May 30, rebel militia began occupying and fortifying Portsmouth. Captain Andrew Barclay of HMS Scarborough further exacerbated tensions by impressing local fishermen and seizing supplies for use by the troops in Boston. Wentworth managed to defuse the situation by convincing Barclay to release the fishermen.
On June 13, 1775, after his house was surrounded by a mob of armed men seeking to arrest a Loyalist militia officer, Wentworth and his family fled to Fort William and Mary, which was under the guns of the Scarborough. Conditions continued to deteriorate, and Wentworth boarded the Scarborough and sailed for Boston on August 23. After sending his family to England, he remained in the city until it was evacuated to Halifax in March 1776. He remained with the fleet until New York City was captured in September 1776, and finally sailed to England in early 1778. The New Hampshire government established after his departure seized most of his property, but specially reserved to the family portraits and furniture from the Portsmouth mansion.
Surveyor General of the King's Woods
Wentworth had hopes of being appointed Governor of Nova Scotia, replacing Francis Legge. In March, 1782, Lord North's ministry fell and the King called on Rockingham and the Earl of Shelburne to form a new government and negotiate peace with the US Congress. Rockingham had in fact promised him the position and presented him to the King, who thanked Wentworth for his efforts to preserve royal government in New Hampshire. However, three months later Rockingham died, and Shelburne was free to appoint his own supporters, so the governorship went to John Parr. Worse yet, Wentworth's office of Surveyor General of the King's Woods was eliminated as an economy measure. This was the low point of Wentworth's fortunes. All he could look forward to, like most Loyalists, was compensation for his losses in the former colonies and a small pension. However, Shelburne's ministry fell in April, 1783, and the Duke of Portland, one of Rockingham's former supporters, became the new minister of the treasury. Wentworth lobbied successfully to have his surveyor-generalship restored, and he returned to Halifax in the summer of that year. His wife, Frances, followed him in 1784.
The office of Surveyor General of the King's Woods had been regarded as a sinecure by most of its previous holders, but Wentworth took the job very seriously. The government had seen the forests of North America as an inexhaustible resource of timber for the construction of ships, buildings, wharves, and other purposes. But Wentworth was far-sighted enough to see that the pressure of human settlement was literally chipping away at the old-growth forests. In particular he was aware of the enormous demand by the Royal Navy for mast timber, the tall, straight pines that were suitable for masts, booms, and other rigging on sailing ships. And given that Britain had just lost about half of its forest lands in North America, he was determined that, for the defense of the realm, the remainder of the choice trees would be protected.
Upon his return from his travels to Halifax in Dec., 1786, he received a letter from James Monk assuring him that he would soon be appointed lieutenant-governor of either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. In the end, after a complicated series of appointments and reassignments, Wentworth was left the odd man out.
Frances Wentworth and Prince William
Frances Wentworth had been unhappy since her arrival in Nova Scotia. As ambitious as her husband, she took his and her misfortunes very hard. She also missed the sophisticated lifestyle she had enjoyed in England, missed her son who was being schooled in England, and was distressed by John's long absences.
Prince William Henry, the third son of King George III, made his first visit to Halifax in late 1786, while John Wentworth was away in Cape Breton. The Prince, later known as the "Sailor King", was at that time in command of HMS Pegasus, and was already known as a hard drinker and womanizer, much to the distress of his royal father. Frances arranged to be introduced to Prince William. At the age of forty-one (the Prince was twenty-one), she was widely considered to be still quite beautiful, dressed at the height of fashion, and retained the sophistication she had gained in England. It is widely believed that shortly after this she became Prince William's mistress. The affair was renewed when the Prince made a second visit to Halifax in the following year.
John learned of the affair, but did not raise any public scandal; Frances described him in a letter as the "most diffident of men." A scandal would not have furthered the interests of either of them. Nevertheless, he made his displeasure known to the King, most likely via the Prince's superior officer, Admiral Herbert Sawyer. Prince William soon departed for Québec.
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
The Wentworths sailed to England in the early summer of 1791, to try to sort out their deepening financial disorders. While there, news came that Lt. Gov. Parr had died. The couple immediately began lobbying for John to get the vacated post, and while his position appeared weak, Henry Dundas decided in his favor based on his experience. Wentworth became the first civilian governor of Nova Scotia.
During the previous decade hostility between the Planters and the newly arrived Loyalists nearly crippled the government. As well, the cost of settling the Loyalists had plunged the colony into debt. As a Loyalist himself, Wentworth favored them for higher offices, while being more even-handed with the distribution of lower offices. This began a Loyalist ascendancy that continued well into the 19th century. He stabilized the colony's finances by introducing an excise duty on all imports; by the end of 1793 even some of the principal of the debt had been paid off.
In April, 1793, news arrived that war had broken out between Britain and revolutionary France. All but 200 men of the colony's garrison were sent to the West Indies, and Wentworth was instructed to call out the militia and to begin recruiting a provincial regiment of 600 men (later 800) for home defence, of which he was to be colonel. He set about the task with vigour, in spite of having no military experience. Despite difficulties, the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment was brought up to a useful strength within a year and served until disbanded with the coming of peace in 1802.
In May, 1794, another royal prince arrived at Halifax, the fourth son of the King, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, along with his mistress, Julie, Madame de Saint-Laurent. Edward had been appointed C-in-C of the King's forces in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Wentworth was pleased by this, as he had quarreled with the previous commander, Maj. Gen. Ogilvie. The Wentworths were also pleased to welcome Julie, which gratified the Prince, as she had been shunned by society in Québec, where he had been previously posted. The two couples formed a lasting friendship, which led to Wentworth offering the Prince the use of his small estate outside of town, which is today known as Princes Lodge. On a more practical level, Prince Edward's influence brought funding for the fortifications of Halifax and much of the rest of the colony. He also gifted Halifax with its Town Clock, which he helped to design. The influx of government funding for the war effort led to prosperity throughout Nova Scotia. Simeon Perkins of Liverpool outfitted a privateer ship named after Wentworth's son, the Charles Mary Wentworth, which netted 19,000 pounds sterling on her second cruise.
The Wentworths had been displeased with the state of their residence since John had come to the office. The building (on the site now occupied by Province House) was a wood-frame construction built in 1758. Nearly 40 years later it was generally run-down and not large enough for major occasions. Beginning in 1796, Wentworth obtained funding from the Legislature for an entirely new building, built of stone, which would be both a residence and a public space, a few blocks to the southwest. Government House, as it became known, eventually went three times over its initial budget, and the Wentworths did not finally move in until 1805, when the interior was still not finished. This residence still serves as home to Nova Scotia's Lieutenant Governors today.
Wentworth also improved and expanded roads, increased support to Nova Scotia's poverty stricken Mi'kmaq people and set up the first rescue station on Sable Island. A less successful and costly initiative was a settlement of Maroons from Jamaica who were instead resettled in Sierra Leone. Wentworth initially enjoyed good relations with the legislature but in later years fell into an escalating confrontation with the informal leader of the country party, William Cottnam Tonge. The conflict, largely over which branch of government should allocate funds for road-building, grew into a constitutional struggle between the governor-in-council and the House of Assembly, controlled by Tonge. Wentworth assisted and drew support from powerful Halifax merchants but lost support elsewhere. With the war with France renewed in 1803 and conflict with the United States intensifying, London abruptly replaced Wentworth in 1808 with a military governor, General George Prevost.
Wentworth was knighted and awarded a baronetcy in 1795, and granted a coat of arms by the College of Arms, London, England, 16 May 1795. He also served as Grand Master of the Free Masons. He retired as governor of Nova Scotia in 1808 on a pension of 6500 dollars.
Family and legacy
John Wentworth and Frances Deering Wentworth were cousins. Frances had first married Theodore Atkinson, Junior, Secretary of the Colony of New Hampshire, who died at Portsmouth, October 28, 1769. John and Frances married two weeks later. Her name is preserved in the towns of Francestown, Deering and Wentworth. John's name is preserved in the community of Wentworth and the surrounding area. The couple had one son, Charles Mary Wentworth, who succeeded to the baronetcy. The son, who served as a member of the Legislative Council in Nova Scotia, died without issue in 1844, extinguishing the baronetcy.
Frances died at Sunninghill, Berkshire, England, February 14, 1813, aged 68 and buried at St. James Churchyard in Piccadilly, Westminster, Greater London, England. John died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 8, 1820, aged 84. He was buried in St. Paul's Church, where a tablet exists to his memory.
Government House remains the official residence of Nova Scotia's Lieutenant-Governors.
The Governor's Lady, by Thomas H. Raddall, is a novel based on the lives of John and Frances Wentworth.
Lieutenant Governor Wentworth employed a number of Maroons on his farm and in his household, as well as a few at Government House. Wentworth kept a Maroon mistress. They had at least one child, George Wentworth Colley (1804-1893). Wentworth's farm was located near the foot of Long Lake.
See also
New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 53: Wentworth Estate
New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 116: College Road
New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 123: The Governor's Road
New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 186: Sawyer's Rock
New Hampshire Route 109, part of which is known as the Governor Wentworth Highway
Notes
References
The Heraldic Journal
External links
Biography in BluPete's History of Nova Scotia
Paul Wilderson, "Governor John Wentworth" at Seacoastnh.com (A New Hampshire perspective)
Biography at ns1763.ca
1737 births
1820 deaths
Harvard College alumni
Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia
Colonial governors of New Hampshire
Dartmouth College people
Knights Bachelor
Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain
People of colonial New Hampshire
Politicians from Portsmouth, New Hampshire
People of New Hampshire in the American Revolution
United Empire Loyalists
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Loyalists who settled Nova Scotia
People from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire |
427337 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris%20Grayling | Chris Grayling | Christopher Stephen Grayling (born 1 April 1962) is a British politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Justice from 2012 to 2015, Leader of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Transport from 2016 until 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom and Ewell since 2001. Grayling previously worked in the television and film industry.
Grayling was born in London and studied History at Cambridge University. He wrote a number of books as well as working for the BBC and Channel 4 before going into politics. A member of the Social Democratic Party until 1988, he then joined the Conservatives. First elected to Parliament in the 2001 general election for Epsom and Ewell, he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron in 2005 as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In 2007, he became the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and in 2009 he was appointed Shadow Home Secretary.
Following the 2010 general election and the formation of the Cameron–Clegg coalition, Grayling was made Minister of State for Employment. In September 2012, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice and served until 2015. He was the first non-lawyer to have served as Lord Chancellor for at least 440 years. He was Leader of the House of Commons and the Lord President of the Council from 2015 to 2016. In the majority and minority May governments, Grayling served as Secretary of State for Transport.
Grayling stood down from the Cabinet when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019. Johnson hoped for Grayling to become Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee by being voted in by the Conservative majority on the committee. However, fellow Conservative Julian Lewis defeated Grayling in the ballot by using opposition votes to secure a majority, in what was seen as a blow to Johnson and his adviser Dominic Cummings. Six weeks later, Grayling resigned from the committee apparently due to his failure to become chair.
Early life and career
Grayling was born in London and grew up in Buckinghamshire, where he was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. He then went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated with an upper-second class Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1984.
Grayling joined BBC News in 1985 as a trainee, becoming a producer in 1986. He left the BBC in 1988 to join Channel 4 as an editor on its Business Daily television programme. He rejoined the BBC in 1991 as a business development manager on BBC Select. On leaving the BBC again in 1993, he briefly joined Charterhouse Productions as managing director before leaving several months later as it was wound up for failing to pay VAT. He ran several television production companies from late 1993, including managing the corporate communications division of Workhouse Ltd from 1992 to 1995 and SSVC Group in Gerrards Cross from 1995 to 1997.
Grayling became a public relations consultant in 1997 with Burson Marsteller, where he remained until his election to Parliament. Prior to joining the Conservative Party, Grayling was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Early political career
Borough councillor: 1998–2002
Grayling was selected to contest the Labour-held marginal seat of Warrington South at the 1997 general election, but was defeated by Labour candidate Helen Southworth by 10,807 votes. He was elected as a councillor for the Hillside ward in the London Borough of Merton in 1998 and remained on the council until 2002.
Elected Member of Parliament: 2001
Grayling was elected to the House of Commons to represent the Surrey seat of Epsom and Ewell at the 2001 general election following the retirement of the veteran Tory MP Archie Hamilton. Grayling held the seat with a majority of 10,080 and has been returned as MP there since. He made his maiden speech on 25 June 2001.
In 2019, Grayling announced that Stoneleigh train station was to be given step-free access.
Shadow Cabinet: 2001–2010
Grayling served on the Environment, Transport and the Regions Select committee from 2001 until he was promoted to the Opposition Whips' Office by Iain Duncan Smith in 2002, moving to become a Spokesman for Health later in the year. He became a Spokesman for Education and Skills by Michael Howard in 2003.
Following the 2005 general election, he became a member of Howard's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and, after the election of David Cameron as the leader of the Conservative Party, in December 2005, he served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In June 2007, he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, a post he held until January 2009 when he became Shadow Home Secretary.
Grayling became known as a national politician through his "attack dog" pressure on leading Labour politicians. He was heavily involved in the questioning of David Blunkett, the then Work and Pensions Secretary, over his business affairs, which led to Blunkett's resignation in 2005.
Grayling challenged Tony Blair and his wife Cherie over the money they made from lectures while Blair was Prime Minister. He also challenged minister Stephen Byers over his handling of the Railtrack collapse.
Role in the expenses scandal
Between 2001 and 2009, Grayling claimed expenses for his flat in Pimlico, close to the Houses of Parliament, despite having a constituency home no further than 17 miles away. Grayling said he uses the flat when "working very late" because he needs to "work very erratic and late hours most days when the House of Commons is sitting." During the Parliamentary expenses scandal, The Daily Telegraph reported that Grayling refitted and redecorated the flat in 2005 costing over £5,000. Grayling's expenses issue was seen as embarrassing for the Conservative Party as he had previously criticised Labour ministers for being implicated in sleaze scandals.
In 2010, it was reported by the Daily Telegraph that an IP address associated with the Parliamentary estate had been discovered attempting to remove references to Chris Grayling's role in the expenses scandal from his Wikipedia page. They attempted the edit to remove the information 5 times and later received a warning from a Wikipedia administrator.
Comparing Moss Side to The Wire
As Shadow Home Secretary, Grayling provoked controversy in August 2009 when he compared Manchester's Moss Side area to the American TV crime drama The Wire. His comments received an angry response from some Manchester locals and criticism from the police. Having been out on patrol for a day with the police, observing the results of a shooting at a house, he described himself as having witnessed an "urban war". Police responded that gang-related shootings in Greater Manchester had fallen by 82 per cent from the previous year and that to speak of "urban war" was "sensationalistic".
A local councillor, Roy Walters, complained of Moss Side unfairly being a "negative target" due to historical associations. Defending his comments, Grayling said, "I didn't say Moss Side equals Baltimore. What I said is that we have in Moss Side symptoms of a gang conflict in this country which I find profoundly disturbing." Baltimore, with a population of about 600,000, was noted as having 191 gun related murders in the previous year, in comparison to Moss Side, population 17,537, which had none.
Statistics on violent crime
Grayling came under criticism as Shadow Home Secretary over the Conservative Party's use of statistics on violent crime. In February 2010, the Conservative Party issued press releases to every constituency in the UK claiming that crime had "risen sharply" in the UK. They failed, however, to take into account the more rigorous system for recording crime. The chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Michael Scholar, said that the figures Grayling was using were "likely to mislead the public" and "likely to damage public trust in official statistics" as the way in which crime was calculated had been changed in 2002.
A Conservative-commissioned report by the independent House of Commons library suggested that, depending on how figures were calculated, Grayling's claims may have been justifiable and that violent crime may have risen in the period between 1998 and 2009. The incumbent Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, called Grayling's use of crime statistics "dodgy" and said that the British Crime Survey clearly showed that violent crime had reduced by 41% over the same period.
Gay couples in B&Bs
In March 2010, Grayling was recorded at an open meeting of the Centre for Policy Studies think tank saying that during the debates on civil liberties under the Labour Government, he had felt that Christians should have the right to live by their consciences and that Christian owners of bed and breakfasts should have the right to turn away gay couples. Grayling said:
"I personally always took the view that, if you look at the case of should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from a hotel, I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home. If they are running a hotel on the high street, I really don't think that it is right in this day and age that a gay couple should walk into a hotel and be turned away because they are a gay couple, and I think that is where the dividing line comes."
When the recording was released by The Observer, on 3 April 2010, Grayling's comments caused an angry response from gay rights campaigners, with Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, saying that this position would be "illegal" and "very alarming to a lot of gay people who may have been thinking of voting Conservative". Lord Mandelson, the most senior gay minister in the (then Labour) Government, added that the comment showed that the Conservative Party had not changed, that "when the camera is on they say one thing, but when the camera is off they say another". Conservative Party leader David Cameron was subsequently urged to "back or sack" Grayling, with gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell saying that "Cameron's silence is worrying. Many voters – gay and straight – will be disturbed by his failure to swiftly disown Grayling's support for homophobic discrimination. What does this say about the sincerity and seriousness of his commitment to gay equality?"
Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, founder of LGBTory, a gay rights group which campaigns for the Conservatives, announced that she would be voting for Labour, not the Conservatives, in response to Grayling's comments. She said, "I feel guilty because as a gay woman affected by LGBT rights I am on record saying you should vote Conservative, and I want to reverse that. I want to go on record to say don't vote Conservative. I'd go as far to say that I'll vote Labour at this general election." Beaumont-Bott was joined in defecting from the Conservatives to Labour a week later by gay rights campaigner David Heathcote. Grayling's comments were defended by a number of commentators, including the Today Programme presenter and gay broadcaster Evan Davis and leading Christian groups.
Grayling apologised on 9 April 2010, saying: "I am sorry if what I said gave the wrong impression, I certainly didn't intend to offend anyone... I voted for gay rights, I voted for this particular measure." Various commentators speculated that he might have been "hidden away" by his party when he made relatively few public appearances in the days of the general election campaign that followed. It is unclear whether his remarks were the reason that David Cameron chose to appoint Theresa May as Home Secretary in his new Cabinet, rather than Grayling who held the position in the Shadow Cabinet; Grayling was not given any Cabinet post, as had been predicted by some media commentators prior to the election. On 31 January 2013, it was reported that Grayling would vote in favour of same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Early ministerial career
On 13 May 2010, Grayling was appointed Minister of State for Employment and was sworn into the Privy Council on 28 May. As minister at DWP he was responsible for jobcentres. Measures were introduced to reduce costs, leaving 100,000 staff redundant in offices around the country. In the context of a "Broken Society" he accused some families of being habitually unemployed, generation after generation, living in sink council estates in the inner cities. Government cuts were made to the DWP budgets in order to constrain welfare spending.
The policy later informed treatment of prisoners, refusing the right to vote, and clamping down on abusive behaviours in jails. He announced work programs for prisoners, encouraged an end to the "something for nothing culture". More people than ever were found fit to work as part of a package of measures in a £5 billion program to make work for the long-term unemployed.
Cabinet-level minister
Grayling was promoted to the Cabinet on 4 September 2012, as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. Sworn in as Lord Chancellor on 1 October 2012 at Westminster Abbey, he was elected an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn on 11 December 2012, due in part to his lack of legal qualifications. He was the first non-lawyer to have served as Lord Chancellor for at least 440 years. (It was reported that the last such non-lawyer was the Earl of Shaftesbury in 1672–73; but the Earl was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1638.)
Grayling's appointment was widely seen as a return to a more hard line approach than that of his predecessor, Clarke. Grayling pursued a "tough justice" agenda, including ending automatic early release for terrorists and child rapists, ending simple cautions for serious offences, and introducing greater protections for householders who defend themselves against intruders. The leading human rights barrister Lord Pannick described Grayling's performance as "notable only for his attempts to restrict judicial reviews and human rights, his failure to protect the judiciary against criticism from his colleagues and the reduction of legal aid to a bare minimum."
Prisoner reforms
One of Grayling's first acts at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was to commence a project to change the way offenders were rehabilitated in an effort to cut reoffending rates. Under a system of "payment by results", private companies as well as charities were to play a greater role in looking after offenders on licence in the community.
Grayling's ban on books being sent into UK prisons was widely criticised by the Howard League for Penal Reform and the literary establishment, including Philip Pullman, Mark Haddon, Anthony Horowitz, Susan Hill and Emma Donoghue. The ban was described as obscene by Shaun Attwood of the TV show Banged Up Abroad who read over a thousand books in prison and credited books for being the lifeblood of rehabilitation.
The move was defended as being not about a ban on books being sent into prison, but about parcels being sent in, as giving prisons access to the latter would almost certainly increase the amount of contraband getting into the prison estate. The High Court ruled the ban illegal in December 2015.
On stepping down from his role as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Harding criticised Grayling for "robustly" interfering with the contents of reports and Grayling's department for using financial controls to influence what was inspected, thereby threatening the independence of the Inspector's role.
In March 2019, the UK National Audit Office issued a report on the reforms of the probation system in England and Wales initiated by Grayling during his tenure at the MoJ stating that the Ministry had "set itself up to fail" through the "rushed implementation" of the reforms. As a result, the MoJ's aim of delivering cuts in reoffending had not been achieved, with reoffending rates having "increased significantly", at a cost £467 million higher than predicted. However, a report released in January 2020 by the MoJ stated that due to the reforms introduced by Grayling, adult and juvenile reoffending rates decreased substantially.
In May 2019, incumbent Justice Secretary, David Gauke, announced offender supervision in England and Wales is to be returned to government control, under the management of the National Probation Service, reversing Grayling's policy. The abolition of Grayling's 'payment by results' system took place in December 2020, terminating the contracts of the private sector providers two years early. During the 2017–18 period 'serious further offences', which include crimes such as murder and rape had increased by 21% compared to the 2016–17 period in June 2019, a study published by the British Sociological Association described the privatisation of the probation system as an "unmitigated disaster" and found that it left the public at greater risk from ex-offenders released from prison.
Prison benchmarking and staff cuts
A prison "benchmarking" programme was introduced in 2012 by Grayling to reduce the costs of public sector prisons to match comparable private sector prisons, along with associated new core standards intended to result in prisoners having similar amounts of time spent outside their cells across similar prisons. Prison officer numbers were reduced from about 23,000 in 2012 to about 18,000 in 2015.
In 2015, the Justice Select Committee, following a year-long prison inquiry, was critical of Justice ministers for apparent complacency about a 38% rise in prison deaths since 2012. The committee concluded that efficiency savings and staffing shortages had made "a significant contribution to the deterioration in safety" in prisons. The committee commended Grayling for his goal of creating a nationwide network of resettlement prisons. A pioneering scheme to help inmates rehabilitate in the community where they are released.
A 'tough justice' agenda: court reforms
Grayling's proposed cuts to legal aid were widely criticised by the legal profession. In May 2013, 90 Queen's Counsels signed a letter sent to The Daily Telegraph that branded the cuts "unjust", as they would seriously undermine the rule of law. 6 January 2014 saw the first strike in British history by barristers and solicitors in protest at the cuts. In February 2014, he introduced the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 to the House of Commons. The Bill included measures to outlaw "revenge porn". In October 2014, Grayling unveiled the Conservative Party's proposals for reforms to human rights in order to curb the European Court of Human Rights' influence over British court rulings, whilst honouring the text of the original Convention on Human Rights in a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.
In December 2013, Alan Turing was granted a pardon by the Queen, after a process initiated by Grayling in his capacity as Lord Chancellor. In April 2015, Grayling introduced mandatory flat-fee court charges for magistrates' courts, the lowest fee being £150 for a guilty plea. Lawyers feared that defendants may plead guilty to avoid falling into debt, and the president of the Law Society described the change as a threat to fair trials. The charges for the Crown Court were increased to £1,200.
Justice department security failure
In January 2015, data relating to three fatal police shootings including details of marksmen and the deceased's family were lost in the post by the Justice Department. According to The Guardian it was particularly embarrassing for Grayling as the government was claiming it needed to access personal data to deal with terrorism and could keep it securely. The data included details of the Mark Duggan shooting incident which had triggered the 2011 England riots.
Fathers 4 Justice protests
On multiple occasions in 2014 and 2015, Fathers 4 Justice protesters targeted Grayling's constituency home in Ashtead, Surrey in January and October 2015. Other incidents included a weekend protest camp set up outside his house by four protesters.
Leader of the House of Commons
After the 2015 general election, Grayling was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. Michael Gove replaced Grayling as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.
Grayling led Theresa May's campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party, and thus also as successor to David Cameron as Prime Minister, following Cameron's resignation in June 2016. May won the contest by default following the withdrawal of the only other contender, Andrea Leadsom, after the second round of the leadership ballot.
Secretary of State for Transport
Grayling was appointed as Secretary of State for Transport when Theresa May became Prime Minister in July 2016. He became criticised for various gaffes and controversies, such as injuring a cyclist by unsafely opening the door of his ministerial car in October 2016 and misspending £2.7 billion of public funds over his tenure as Transport Secretary. Because of such reports, he became known by the moniker "Failing Grayling" used by The Guardian, The Independent, opposition MPs and allegedly his own Cabinet colleagues.
London metro services: December 2016
In December 2016, Grayling blocked a move by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to give control of the metro services run by Southeastern to Transport for London. A leaked 2013 letter revealed Grayling had previously written to then-London mayor Boris Johnson saying he opposed such a move because it could put those services "in the clutches of a Labour mayor". The leak led to Grayling being accused of putting his party's political interests over those of the public and commuters, as well as members of his own party calling for his resignation.
Railway electrification cancellations: 2017–2018
On the last day before parliament closed for its summer recess in 2017, Grayling acknowledged that he had cancelled multiple railway electrification schemes in the north of England that had been promised by David Cameron and George Osborne. In January 2018, Grayling was criticised by railway passengers and by Transport Select Committee members for his decision. In March 2018, it emerged that National Audit Office records showed Grayling to have made the decision several months earlier in 2017 than previously acknowledged, but had suppressed the decision during the 2017 United Kingdom general election and for the remainder of the parliamentary session.
Railway timetable change and vote of no confidence: May–June 2018
In summer 2018, problems introducing a new timetable caused widespread disruption and the cancellation of 10% of trains on Northern and Thameslink. The Chief Executive of Govia Thameslink Railway, Charles Horton, resigned, and Grayling faced a vote of confidence in the House of Commons on 19 June 2018, with the resulting division 305–285 in Grayling's favour. Govia Thameslink did not need to pay performance penalties for this disruption after an agreement made in 2017.
Gatwick Airport drone incident: December 2018
Following the December 2018 Gatwick Airport drone incident, The Times reported that Grayling had ignored "numerous warnings" about the threat posed by drones, halting draft legislation due for publication in early 2019 thereby allowing civil servants to be diverted to Brexit related tasks. According to The Daily Telegraph, the RAF offered the assistance of a specialist anti-drone team almost immediately but Grayling's department – which would have had to pay for the service – was reluctant to accept.
Seaborne Freight: 2018–2019
On 29 December 2018, it emerged that Grayling's department had awarded £46.6m to French firm Brittany Ferries, £42.5m to Danish shipping firm DFDS, and £13.8m to British firm Seaborne Freight, to provide additional cross-channel freight capacity in case of a "no-deal" Brexit on 29 March 2019. On 2 January 2019, it was reported that Seaborne Freight had never run a ferry service and owned no ships. The Road Haulage Association said the firm had an impossible timescale in which to "source ferries, hire and train staff and link with relevant authorities". Despite Grayling's assurance that the usual procurement due diligence procedures had been followed, it was later revealed that Seaborne Freight issued terms and conditions designed for a food delivery business, not ferries; that its chief executive previously ran a ship chartering business that was forced into liquidation following court petitions from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC); and that auditors performing the due diligence checks had reported serious concerns about the contract. In relation to the prior court action by HMRC against Seaborne Freight's chief executive, the amount of unpaid tax was not reported, but the former company had a total of £1.78 million in unpaid debts.
Grayling's unilateral decision to use Ostend, instead of Calais, as the continental terminal for some ferry services, was not appreciated in Calais, whose port chairman told Grayling he was no longer welcome there.
Seaborne Freight's contract was cancelled on 8 February 2019 by Grayling's department after the Irish firm, Arklow Shipping, which was secretly intended to run the contract decided to pull out. The collapse of the contract led to calls from both sides of parliament for Grayling's dismissal. On 13 February 2019, Grayling's department said that, following the collapse of the Seaborne Freight contract, it had "run out of time" to secure the substantial additional cross-channel transport capacity that could be needed in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Eurotunnel, operator of the Channel Tunnel, initiated legal action against the Department for Transport, claiming that the awarding of ferry contracts for the event of a no-deal Brexit had been "secretive and flawed", and that Eurotunnel, which also operates freight services across the English Channel, had not had the opportunity to compete. The matter was settled out of court, with Eurotunnel receiving £33 million as part of a deal in which the company will provide freight services in the event of a no-deal Brexit. This caused renewed calls for Grayling's dismissal.
On 16 March 2019, it emerged that the ferry companies engaged by Grayling would receive an additional £28m in the event of Brexit being delayed beyond 29 March 2019, which it was.
Delays and cost overruns to introduction of Class 800 trains
In March 2019, Lord Adonis, former Labour transport minister, was critical of the delay in implementing services on the East Coast Mainline, using Class 800 trains. The trains were ordered ten years before services commenced. Delays were caused when it was found the trains interfered with trackside signalling equipment. Adonis said, "They had 10 years to get these signalling issues right." Similar trains, introduced by Great Western Railway had cost twice the estimated amount. Grayling said, "These new state-of-the-art trains show our commitment to put passengers at the heart of everything that we do and will carry people across Britain, from Swansea to Aberdeen and London to Inverness." The service, planned to run to Swansea, has only so far reached Cardiff. Grayling travelled on the first Class 800 train, operated by Great Western Railway. It set off 25 minutes late, arrived 41 minutes late, and had no air-conditioning when it arrived. The air conditioning was switched off after it leaked liquid into the carriages. Grayling declined to travel on the first Class 800 to run on the East Coast Main Line.
Post-ministerial career
Boris Johnson reportedly hoped for Grayling to be voted in as Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee by the narrow Conservative majority sitting on the committee. The possible appointment prompted criticism from fellow Conservative MPs, acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith, who said his appointment would "make a mockery" of the committee. There were fears it would be a "power grab" by Johnson and his senior adviser Dominic Cummings designed to avoid accountability over their links to Russia outlined in a suppressed report. On 15 July 2020, opposition committee members voted for independently minded Conservative Julian Lewis as chair which, together with his vote, secured a majority for him.
After Grayling's failure to be elected as Intelligence and Security Committee chair, he was criticised by colleagues who referred back to his previous track record as a minister, and who The Spectator reported as saying "only Grayling could lose a rigged election". Julian Lewis had the party whip withdrawn by Boris Johnson. On 21 July 2020, the committee released the previously repressed report which outlined how the government had failed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 EU referendum. On 28 August, it was reported Grayling had resigned from the committee. The Guardian commented that sources familiar with the matter had indicated he had "gone off in a sulk" and had no desire to serve on the committee as an ordinary member.
On 17 September 2020, it was announced that Grayling had been appointed to a £100,000-per-annum 7-hour-per-week job advising the British Virgin Islands-domiciled Hutchison Port Holdings Limited "on its environmental strategy and its engagement with local enterprise bodies".
In October 2023, Grayling announced he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and would therefore not seek re-election at the next general election.
Personal life
Grayling is married to Susan Dillistone and they have two children. , he lives in Ashtead.
Publications
The Bridgewater Heritage: The Story of Bridgewater Estates by Christopher Grayling, 1983, Bridgewater Estates PLC
A Land Fit for Heroes: Life in England After the Great War by Christopher Grayling, 1985, Buchan & Enright
Holt's: The Story of Joseph Holt by Christopher Grayling, 1985, Joseph Holt PLC
Just Another Star?: Anglo-American Relations Since 1945 by Christopher Grayling and Christopher Langdon, 1987, Virgin Books
Insight Guide Waterways of Europe contribution by Chris Grayling, 1989, Apa Publications
References
External links
Grayling's official constituency website
Epsom and Ewell Conservatives website
Article archive at The Guardian
Listing in Debrett's People of Today
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1962 births
20th-century English businesspeople
Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
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427339 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic%20Grieve | Dominic Grieve | Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (born 24 May 1956) is a British barrister and former politician who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield from 1997 to 2019 and was the Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee from 2015 to 2019.
Grieve attended the Cabinet as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland from May 2010 to July 2014. He was dismissed as Attorney General by Prime Minister David Cameron as part of the 2014 Cabinet reshuffle, and was replaced by Jeremy Wright. Elected as a Conservative, Grieve had the Conservative whip removed in the September 2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPs. He unsuccessfully stood as an independent candidate in Beaconsfield at the 2019 general election.
A liberal conservative, Grieve was a central figure on Brexit and frequently used his experience as a lawyer to propose amendments on the issue, with his interventions often being at odds with government policy. A prominent Remain supporter on Brexit, Grieve called for a second referendum on EU membership, and before being expelled had said that he and other Conservative rebels would support a vote of no confidence to bring down a Conservative government, if that were the only way to block the “catastrophic” damage from a bad Brexit. In spring 2019, Grieve was threatened with deselection by his local party after losing a confidence vote by members. In October 2019, following removal of the whip, Grieve announced that he would stand as an independent candidate in his constituency's seat at the next general election. It was announced that the Liberal Democrats would stand aside to help him, but to no avail, as he lost his seat.
Grieve is the president of the Franco-British Society. He was awarded the Legion of Honour in 2016, and broadcasts in French on French radio and television. He is a practising Anglican and was a member of the London diocesan synod of the Church of England.
Early life
Grieve was born in Lambeth, London, the son of Percy Grieve, QC (the MP for Solihull 1964–83), and of an Anglo-French mother, Evelyn Raymonde Louise Mijouain (d. 1991), maternal granddaughter of Sir George Roberts, 1st and last baronet. He was educated at the Lycée français Charles de Gaulle on Cromwell Road in South Kensington, Colet Court (an all-boys' preparatory school in Barnes) and Westminster School. He went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern History in 1978. He was the President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1977.
Grieve continued his studies at the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster), where he received a Diploma in Law in 1979.
Legal career
He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1980 and is a specialist in occupational safety and health law. He was made a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 2005 and appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2008.
Political career
Local council
He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for the Avonmore ward in 1982, but did not stand for re-election in 1986. He contested the Norwood constituency in the London Borough of Lambeth at the 1987 general election but finished in second place behind the veteran Labour MP John Fraser.
Member of Parliament
He was elected to the House of Commons for the Buckinghamshire seat of Beaconsfield at the 1997 general election following the resignation of Tim Smith in the cash-for-questions affair. Grieve was elected with a majority of 13,987 votes and remained the MP there until his defeat in the 2019 general election.
He made his maiden speech on 21 May 1997.
He was a member of both the Environmental Audit and the Statutory Instruments select committees from 1997 to 1999. In 1999, he was promoted to the frontbench by William Hague as a spokesman on Scottish affairs, moving to speak on home affairs as the spokesman on criminal justice following the election of Iain Duncan Smith as the new leader of the Conservative Party in 2001, and was then promoted to be shadow Attorney General by Michael Howard in 2003. Grieve also had responsibility for community cohesion on behalf of the Conservative Party. He voted for the Iraq War in 2003.
He was retained as Shadow Attorney General by the new Conservative Leader David Cameron, and was appointed Shadow Home Secretary on 12 June 2008, following the resignation of David Davis.
In early 2006, Grieve was instrumental in the defeat of the Labour government on its proposal that the Home Secretary should have power to detain suspected terrorists for periods up to 90 days without charge.
In the last Conservative Shadow Cabinet reshuffle before the general election of 2010, carried out on 19 January 2009, Grieve was moved to become Shadow Justice Secretary, opposite Jack Straw. According to the BBC, Grieve was said to be "very happy with the move" which would suit his talents better.
On 28 May 2010, he was appointed to the Privy Council as part of the 2010 Dissolution of Parliament Honours List.
After the 2010 general election, Grieve was appointed as Attorney General. He was one of four members of the cabinet who abstained in the May 2013 same-sex marriage vote. He said that he believed that the Bill had been "badly conceived".
On 22 November 2013, Grieve was reported as stating politicians need to "wake up" to the issue of corruption in some minority communities and that "corruption in parts of the Pakistani community is 'endemic. Two days later he apologised and said he had not meant to suggest there was a "particular problem in the Pakistani community".
Grieve was sacked from the cabinet by David Cameron in July 2014 and replaced by Jeremy Wright. Grieve believed this was because of his support for the European Court of Human Rights, although no reason was given;<ref>Dominic Grieve: ‘I had no reason to think that the prime minister would want to fire me’</</ref> the sacking also occurred a few weeks after Grieve gave Cameron incorrect legal advice on whether he could make a public comment on the Andy Coulson trial.
Grieve volunteered at the Sufra food bank in January 2015 to highlight issues relating to the increased use of food banks. In October 2016, speaking at a fringe meeting of the Conservative party's annual conference, Grieve warned that electoral fraud is found "where there are high levels of inhabitants from a community in which there is a tradition of electoral corruption in their home countries." Although in the past he apologised for singling out the British Pakistani community, Grieve said it was not about any one group.
In July 2019, following the appointment of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, Grieve described Johnson as a "charlatan".
Removal of Conservative whip
On 3 September 2019, Grieve joined 20 other rebel Conservative MPs to vote against the Conservative government of Boris Johnson. The rebel MPs voted with the Opposition against a Conservative motion which subsequently failed; the successful vote allowed a debate on a Bill which would block a no-deal Brexit. Subsequently, all 21 were advised that they had lost the Conservative "whip", expelling them as Conservative MPs, requiring them to sit as independents. If they decided to run for re-election in a future election, the Party would block their selection as Conservative candidates. In October 2019, Grieve announced that he was planning to stand again in his seat as an independent. The Liberal Democrats decided not to contest the Beaconsfield constituency (giving Grieve an increased chance at defeating the Conservative candidate Joy Morrissey). The deal was described at the time as "the first significant move towards the formation of a 'remain alliance' at the general election". He polled 16,765 votes (29%) losing the seat to Morrisey who polled 32,477 votes (56%), a majority of 15,712 on a 75% electoral turnout.
Brexit
Grieve was opposed to Brexit before the 2016 referendum.
In May 2017, prior to the general election and in support of the Conservative manifesto, Grieve stated on his website that "the decision of the electorate in the Referendum must be respected and that I should support a reasoned process to give effect to it".
During the Brexit negotiation process, Grieve made a number of amendments against the Government's plans to leave the EU. The first was to give Parliament a "meaningful vote" over the Brexit agreement – i.e. to force a motion by Parliament to approve the Brexit agreement which would have a binding effect on the government. In December 2017, he tabled an amendment (Amendment 7) to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill requiring any Brexit deal to be enacted by statute, rather than implemented by government order. The amendment was opposed by the government, but was passed in Parliament. Another proposed amendment tabled on 12 June 2018 (Amendment 19), and again on 20 June, was designed to strengthen the binding effect of the meaningful vote, by requiring that the government follow the directions of a Parliamentary motion in the event that Parliament does not approve the withdrawal agreement put by the government. Grieve threatened to rebel but ultimately voted with the government against the amendment after verbal assurances from Prime Minister Theresa May, presented as a compromise; the outcome was summarised by The Guardian as "Technically, MPs can still have a vote on the final deal – or no deal – but unless it is a vote of confidence, the government can ignore it." Grieve's 3rd amendment in December 2018 would mean Parliament would replace the Government in deciding the outcome of Brexit following a vote against the Government's proposed deal with the EU.
On 24 July 2018, Grieve wrote a column for The Independent backing the online paper's final say petition, which calls for the British electorate to have a "final say on the Brexit deal". The petition was also backed by the leader of the People's Vote campaign, MP Chuka Umunna. Grieve stated that Brexit puts the Conservative Party's reputation for "economic competence" at risk.
Grieve wrote that Theresa May risked a "polite rebellion" from pro-EU MPs and a "significant" number would support another referendum if there was no deal. This followed a claim that Tory rebels are prepared to "collapse the government" to block a "catastrophic" Brexit deal.
Grieve was one of the signatories of a December 2018 statement by a group of senior Conservatives calling for a second referendum over Brexit. On 11 January 2019, during his speech to the convention for a second referendum, Grieve described Brexit as "national suicide". Shortly afterwards, he co-founded the group Right to Vote. He also declared that he would resign the whip if the Conservative Party elected Boris Johnson as a successor to Theresa May or if the government took Britain out of the EU without a deal.
On 9 January 2019, Grieve made a successful amendment to a government business motion; The amendment was controversial due to unusual means it was permitted by Speaker John Bercow. "Conservatives are furious that Mr Bercow accepted the Grieve amendment, as parliamentary rules usually only allow a government minister to amend motions of this kind." "The new Grieve amendment, now passed by MPs, means that in the event the PM loses next week, the Commons will then have a chance to vote on alternative policies - everything from a "managed no-deal" to a further referendum, via a "Norway option" or a reheated version of the current deal, could be on the table... MPs claim Mr Bercow broke Commons rules and ignored the advice of his own clerks."
Ultimately May's withdrawal deal was rejected and on 29 January 2019, Grieve's resulting amendment was defeated by the Government, supported by Labour rebels. The amendment would have "Forced the government to make time for MPs to discuss a range of alternatives to the prime minister's Brexit plan on six full days in the Commons before 26 March.... which could have included alternative Brexit options such as Labour's plan, a second referendum, no deal and the Norway-style relationship".
On 29 March 2019 (the original planned date of Brexit), a motion of no confidence against Grieve was carried by his local party 182 votes to 131. At this, Grieve said he'll carry on 'exactly as before'. The motion triggers the first stage in the process of deselection. Grieve accused ex-UKIP opponent, Jon Conway, of 'insurgency', claiming Conway was behind the motion; a claim that Conway denied. Grieve has since been asked to apply for readoption by his local party.
Grieve's proposal to block Government funding in order to enable MPs to have a vote on a No Deal Brexit was condemned by the Prime Minister Theresa May. Referencing Grieve's attempt to halt Government spending on pensions and schools, May stated "Any attempt to deny vital funding to Whitehall departments would be grossly irresponsible"; the pro-Brexit Telegraph newspaper condemned the actions as it "risks taking our politics to new extreme". The attempt was, in any case, blocked by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, and did not proceed to a vote.
Grieve has been credited as a contributor to a Labour Party motion designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit, the plans were kept secret until their unveiling on 11 June 2019, when Conservative leadership candidates began their campaigns. If successful, it would have seen MPs taking over the Westminster timetable on 25 June 2019 with a view to enshrining legislation which would prevent the UK from leaving the EU without a deal. The motion was defeated by 309 votes to 298 the following day. Grieve said the motion was the "last sensible opportunity" to stop a no-deal Brexit. He added that in the future, if necessary, he would support efforts to bring down a Conservative government in a vote of no confidence if it was the only way to block such an outcome.
Later in June 2019, Grieve successfully proposed amendments which sought to thwart no-deal Brexit prorogation. Grieve's first amendment to the 2019 Northern Ireland bill, which was initially a simple one intended to delay elections and budgets for the long-suspended Northern Ireland assembly and executive, required a minister to report to the Commons every two weeks until December on the progress of talks on restoring the Northern Ireland assembly – though it remained unclear whether this could be done as a written report, meaning the chamber would not necessarily have to sit. This was later changed via another amendment in the Lords, tabled by David Anderson, with support from Labour and the Liberal Democrats. This said the fortnightly reports demanded by Grieve's amendments would have to be debated within five calendar days of being produced, thus necessitating that the Commons sits. When the bill returned to the Commons Grieve then added another tweak via a last-minute amendment, intending to increase the power to block prorogation even more. It specified that if ministers could not meet the obligation to update the Commons because it was prorogued or adjourned, parliament would have to meet on the day necessary to comply with the obligation and for the following five weekdays.
Personal life
He is a practising Anglican and was a member of the London diocesan synod of the Church of England for six years from 1994. He married barrister Caroline Hutton in October 1990 in the City of London. They have two sons.
He lists his hobbies as "canoeing, boating on the Thames at weekends, mountain climbing, skiing and fell walking, architecture, art and travel". He was a police station lay visitor for six years from 1990, and worked in Brixton on various bodies set up to reconcile the different communities after the riots.
Grieve is a Patron of Prisoners Abroad, a charity that supports the welfare of Britons imprisoned overseas and their families.
In 2009, Grieve's wealth was estimated at £3.1 million. Grieve was criticised in 2008 for investments in multinational companies with significant projects in Zimbabwe.
Honours and awards
9 June 2010: appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, giving him the honorific "The Right Honourable" for life.
2016: Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic
References
External links
Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP official parliamentary profile
Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP They Work For You profile
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1956 births
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Westminster
English King's Counsel
Members of the Privy Council of England
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Councillors in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
English Anglicans
English barristers
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Living people
Members of the Middle Temple
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle
People educated at Colet Court
People educated at Westminster School, London
People from Lambeth
Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association
21st-century King's Counsel
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
Advocates General for Northern Ireland |
427408 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internally%20displaced%20person | Internally displaced person | An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee.
At the end of 2014, it was estimated there were 38.2 million IDPs worldwide, the highest level since 1989, the first year for which global statistics on IDPs are available. the countries with the largest IDP populations were Ukraine (8 million), Syria (7.6 million), Ethiopia (5.5 million), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.2 million), Colombia (4.9 million), Yemen (4.3 million), Afghanistan (3.8 million), Iraq (3.6 million), Sudan (2.2 million), South Sudan (1.9 million), Pakistan (1.4 million), Nigeria (1.2 million) and Somalia (1.1 million).
The United Nations and the UNHCR support monitoring and analysis of worldwide IDPs through the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
Definition
Whereas 'refugee' has an authoritative definition under the 1951 Refugee Convention, there is no universal legal definition of internally displaced persons (IDP); only a regional treaty for African countries (see Kampala Convention). However, a United Nations report, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement uses the definition of:
persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.
While the above stresses two important elements of internal displacement (coercion and the domestic/internal movement), rather than a strict definition the Guiding Principles offer "a descriptive identification of the category of persons whose needs are the concern of the Guiding Principles". In this way, the document "intentionally steers toward flexibility rather than legal precision" as the words "in particular" indicate that the list of reasons for displacement is not exhaustive. However, as Erin Mooney has pointed out, "global statistics on internal displacement generally count only IDPs uprooted by conflict and human rights violations. Moreover, a recent study has recommended that the IDP concept should be defined even more narrowly, to be limited to persons displaced by violence." This outlook has become outdated, however, as natural disasters and slow-onset climate degradation have become the primary driving force behind internal displacement in recent years, although conflict remains the primary reason for pre-existing IDPs overall. Climate displaced IDPs are therefore being given more attention overall through being recorded in statistics. Thus, despite the non-exhaustive reasons for internal displacement, many consider IDPs as those who would be defined as refugees if they were to cross an international border, hence, the term refugees in all but the name is often applied to IDPs.
IDP populations
It is very difficult to get accurate figures for internally displaced persons because populations are not constant. IDPs may be returning home while others are fleeing, and others may periodically return to IDP camps to take advantage of humanitarian aid. While the case of IDPs in large camps such as those in Darfur, western Sudan, are relatively well-reported, it is very difficult to assess those IDPs who flee to larger towns and cities. It is necessary for many instances to supplement official figures with additional information obtained from operational humanitarian organizations on the ground. Thus, the 24.5 million figure must be treated as an estimate. Additionally, most official figures only include those displaced by conflict or natural disasters. Development-induced IDPs often are not included in assessments. It has been estimated that between 70 and 80% of all IDPs are women and children.
50% of internally displaced people and refugees were thought to be in urban areas in 2010, many of them in protracted displacement with little likelihood of ever returning home. A 2013 study found that these protracted urban displacements had not been given due weight by international aid and governance as historically they had focused on rural cam displacement responses. The study argues that this protracted urban displacement needs a fundamental change in the approach to those who are displaced and their host societies. They note that re-framing responses to urban displacement will also involve human rights and development actors and local and national governments. They call for a change in the narrative around the issue is needed to reflect ingenuity and fortitude displayed by displaced populations, the opportunities for self-sufficiency and safety represented by urban areas, and that the displaced can make a contribution to their host societies. An updated country by country breakdown can be found online.
Notable IDP camps
There are many IDP camps in Nigeria and especially many IDP camps in Borno State.
Until recently there were many IDP camps in Sri Lanka.
Protection and assistance
The problem of protecting and assisting IDPs is not a new issue. In international law it is the responsibility of the government concerned to provide assistance and protection for the IDPs in their country. However, as many of the displaced are a result of civil conflict and violence or where the authority of the central state is in doubt, there is no local authority willing to provide assistance and protection. It has been estimated that some 5 million IDPs in 11 countries are "without any significant humanitarian assistance from their governments." Under these circumstances rehabilitation policies on humanitarian grounds should be aimed at reducing inequality of opportunity among these vulnerable groups by integrating them into local social services and allowing them access to jobs, education, and healthcare opportunities; otherwise new conflicts might break out.
Unlike the case of refugees, there is no international humanitarian institution which has the overall responsibility of protecting and assisting the refugees as well as the internally displaced. A number of organizations have stepped into the breach in specific circumstances.
UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was mandated by General Assembly Resolution 428 (V) of 14 December 1950 to "lead and coordinate international action for the worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems.... guided by the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol." The UNHCR has traditionally argued that it does not have an exclusive mandate for IDPs even though at least since 1972 it had relief and rehabilitation programs for those displaced within a country. Until the mid-2000s, it conditioned involvement to cases where there is a specific request by the UN Secretary-General and with the consent of the State concerned it has been willing to respond by assisting IDPs in a given instance. In 2005 it was helping some 5.6 million IDPs (out of over 25 million), but only about 1.1 million in Africa.
In 2005, the UNHCR signed an agreement with other humanitarian agencies. "Under this agreement, UNHCR will assume the lead responsibility for protection, emergency shelter and camp management for internally displaced people." In 2019, UNHCR issued an updated IDP policy that reaffirms its commitment to engaging decisively and predictably in situations of internal displacement.
ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross has a mandate of ensuring the application of international humanitarian law as it affects civilians in the midst of armed conflict. They have traditionally not distinguished between civilians who are internally displaced and those who remain in their homes. In a 2006 policy statement, the ICRC stated:
The ICRC's overall objective is to alleviate the suffering of people who are caught up in armed conflict and other situations of violence. To that end, the organization strives to provide effective and efficient assistance and protection for such persons, be they displaced or not, while taking into consideration the action of other humanitarian organizations. On the basis of its long experience in different parts of the world, the ICRC has defined an operational approach towards the civilian population as a whole that is designed to meet the most urgent humanitarian needs of both displaced persons and local and host communities.
However, its Director of Operations has earlier recognized that IDPs "deprived of shelter and their habitual sources of food, water, medicine and money, they have different, and often more urgent, material needs."
Collaborative approach
The previous system set up internationally to address the needs of IDPs was referred to as the collaborative approach as the responsibility for protecting and assisting IDPs was shared among the UN agencies, i.e. UNHCR, Unicef, WFP, UNDP, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the ICRC and international NGOs. Coordination is the responsibility of the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Humanitarian Coordinator in the country concerned. They are assisted by the Inter-Agency Displacement Division, which was created in 2004 and is housed in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The original collaborative approach has come under increasing criticism. Roberta Cohen reports:
Nearly every UN and independent evaluation has found the collaborative approach deficient when it comes to IDPs. To begin with, there is no real focus of responsibility in the field for assisting and protecting... There is also no predictability of action, as the different agencies are free to pick and choose the situations in which they wish to become involved on the basis of their respective mandates, resources, and interests. In every new emergency, no one knows for sure which agency or combination thereof will become involved.In 2005 there was an attempt to fix the problem by giving sectoral responsibilities to different humanitarian agencies, most notably with the UNHCR taking on the responsibility for the protection and the management of camps and emergency shelters. The Forced Migration Review stated that the "abnegation of responsibility is possible because there is no formal responsibility apportioned to agencies under the Collaborative Response, and thus no accountability when agencies renege on their promises."
Similarly, research on refugees has suggested a cross-sector collaboration as a key means to assist displaced people.
Cluster approach
The cluster approach designates individual agencies as 'sector leaders' to coordinate operations in specific areas to try to plug those newly identified gaps. The cluster approach was conceived amid concerns about coordination and capacity that arose from the weak operational response to the crisis in Darfur in 2004 and 2005, and the critical findings of the Humanitarian Response Review (HRR) commissioned by the then ERC, Jan Egeland. Egeland called for strengthening the leadership of the sectors, and introduced the concept of "clusters" at different levels (headquarters, regional, country and operational)'.
The cluster approach operates on the global and local levels. At the global level, the approach is meant to build up capacity in eleven key 'gap' areas by developing better surge capacity, ensuring consistent access to appropriately trained technical expertise and enhanced material stockpiles, and securing the increased engagement of all relevant humanitarian partners. At the field level, the cluster approach strengthens the coordination and response capacity by mobilizing clusters of humanitarian agencies (UN/Red Cross-Red Crescent/IOs/NGOs) to respond in particular sectors or areas of activity, each cluster having a clearly designated and accountable lead, as agreed by the HC and the Country Team. Designated lead agencies at the global level both participate directly in operations, but also coordinate with and oversee other organizations within their specific spheres, reporting the results up through a designated chain of command to the ERC at the summit. However, lead agencies are responsible as "providers of last resort", which represents the commitment of cluster leads to do their utmost to ensure an adequate and appropriate response in their respective areas of responsibility. The cluster approach was part of a package of reforms accepted by the IASC in December 2005 and subsequently applied in eight chronic humanitarian crises and six sudden-onset emergencies. However, the reform was originally rolled out and evaluated in four countries: DRC, Liberia, Somalia and Uganda.
The clusters were originally concentrated in nine areas:
Logistics (WFP)
Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (WFP)
Camp Coordination and Camp Management (UNHCR for conflict-generated IDPs and IOM for natural disaster-generated IDPs)
Shelter (IFRC for natural disasters; UNHCR for conflict situations)
Health (WHO)
Nutrition (UNICEF)
Water, sanitation, and hygiene promotion (UNICEF)
Early recovery (UNDP); and
Protection (UNHCR for conflict-generated IDPs, UNHCR, UNICEF, and OHCHR for natural disaster-generated IDPs).
IASC Principles deemed it unnecessary to apply the cluster approach to four sectors where no significant gaps were detected: a) food, led by WFP; b) refugees, led by UNHCR; c) education, led by UNICEF; and d) agriculture, led by FAO.
The original nine clusters were later expanded to include agriculture and education.
International law
Unlike the case of refugees, there is no international universal treaty which applies specifically to IDPs. Only a regional treaty for African countries has been established (see Kampala Convention). Some other countries have advocated re-thinking the definitions and protections for refugees to apply to IDPs, but so far no solid actions have come to fruition. Recognizing the gap, the UN Secretary-General, Boutros-Ghali appointed Francis Deng in 1992 as his representative for internally displaced persons. Besides acting as an advocate for IDPs, Deng set out in 1994, at the request of the UN General Assembly to examine and bring together existing international laws which relate to the protection of IDPs. The result of this work was the document, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
The Guiding Principles lay out the responsibilities of states before displacement – that is, to prevent displacement – during and after displacement. They have been endorsed by the UN General Assembly, the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) and by the signatories to the 2006 Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, which include Sudan, DRC and Uganda.
The Guiding Principles, however, are non-binding. As Bahame Tom Nyanduga, Special Rapporteur on Refugees, IDPs and Asylum Seekers in Africa for the ACHPR has stated, "the absence of a binding international legal regime on internal displacement is a grave lacuna in international law."
In September 2004 the Secretary-General of the UN showed the continuing concern of his office by appointing Walter Kälin as his Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. Part of his mandate includes the promoting of the Guiding Principles.
Right of return
In so-called "post-conflict" situations, there has traditionally been an emphasis in the international community to seek to return to the pre-war status quo. However, opinions are gradually changing, because violent conflict destroys political, economic and social structures and new structures develop as a result, quite often irreversibly. Furthermore, returning to the pre-war status-quo may actually be undesirable if pre-war structures led to the conflict in the first place, or prevented its early resolution. IDPs' and refugees' right of return can represent one of the most complex aspects of this issue.
Normally, pressure is applied by the international community and humanitarian organization to ensure displaced people are able to return to their areas of origin and the same property. The UN Principles for Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and IDPs, otherwise known as the Pinheiro Principles, provides guidance on the management of the technical and legal aspects of housing, land and property (HLP) restitution. Restitution rights are of key importance to IDPs and refugees around the world, and important to try preventing aggressors benefiting from conflict. However, without a clear understanding of each local context, full restitution rights can be unworkable and fail to protect the people it is designed to protect for the following reasons, refugees and IDPs:
may never have had property (e.g. in Afghanistan);
cannot access what property they have (Colombia, Guatemala, South Africa and Sudan);
ownership is unclear as families have expanded or split and division of the land becomes an issue;
death of the owner may leave dependents without a clear claim to the land;
people settled on the land know it is not theirs but have nowhere else to go (as in Colombia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste); and
have competing claims with others, including the state and its foreign or local business partners (as in Aceh, Angola, Colombia, Liberia and Sudan)
Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute stress the need for humanitarian organization to develop greater expertise in these issues, using experts who have knowledge in both humanitarian and land and property issues and so provide better advice to state actors seeking to resolve these issues. The ODI calls on humanitarian agencies to develop an awareness of sustainable reintegration as part of their emphasis on returning IDPs and refugees home. Legal advice needs to be provided to all parties involved even if a framework is created in which to resolve these issues.
See also
Asylum seekers
Internal colonialism
Internally displaced persons in Iraq
Internal migration
Internal passport
Kampala Convention
Refugees
Refugee employment
Notes
References
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugees by Numbers.
Ilaria Bottigliero, "Displaced Persons Caught between War and Peace in Asia", 2 ISIL Yearbook of International Humanitarian and Refugee Law (2002), pp. 117–133.
External links
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Norwegian Refugee Council
The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, UNHCR
IDP Action
Website of the UN Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons
Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement
Forced Migration Online provides access to information resources, including a searchable digital library consisting of full-text documents
Urban IDPs Online documentation platform on IDPs living in urban areas
Forced Migration Review magazine with regular IDP news
World 'forgets' internal refugees, BBC News Online, 5 November 2005
Photojournalist's Account - Images of displacement in Sudan
Refugee Law Project, Ugandan organisation working with IDPs
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
"New Rights, Old Wrongs: Colombia has eased some abortion restrictions—but displaced women still suffer" Winter 2007 article in Ms. magazine about how the conflict in Colombia is affecting the health and rights of IDP women
"Visiting the IDP camps in Northern Uganda" : Malcolm Trevena's account of visiting the IDP camps in Kitgum, Northern Uganda
"Emergency Response Unit - IDPs Pakistan" IDP camps and latest IDP updates from Pakistan
"the CCCM Haiti Cluster website" Natural Disaster - IDP situation and updates from Haiti
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Persecution
Forced migration
Articles containing video clips
Refugees by type
Internal migration |
427411 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriangsak%20Chamanan | Kriangsak Chamanan | Kriangsak Chamanan (, ; 17 December 191723 December 2003) served as prime minister of Thailand from 1977 to 1980. After staging a successful coup, he was asked to become Prime Minister in 1977, he ruled till 1980 and is credited with "steering Thailand to democracy" in a time where internally, communist insurgents are rampant and neighbouring countries have turned to communist rule following the communist takeover of Vietnam: South Vietnam (by the Viet Cong), Laos (by the Pathet Lao), and Cambodia (by the Khmer Rouge). He died on 23 December 2003, aged 86.
Regarded as one of the most notable statesmen in modern Thailand, his landmark developmental policies include the founding of Eastern Seaboard through the founding of PTT, facilitate the building of deep-sea port in Laem Chabang and negotiating for bilateral trade agreements between Thailand and Japan through Takeo Fukuda to include Thailand in the flying geese paradigm. Chomanan founded the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and transforming it into PTT in a merger between three fragmented state-owned energy companies, serving as a major economic and industrial stimulus in the rise of Thailand secondary production economy in the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, the founding of PTT also served to lessen the strained on energy trade reliance that has caused a severe global oil price crisis in the 1970s. His other notable works include the founding of the current largest weekend market in the world Chatuchak Market which also helps to solve Din Daeng Garbage Mountain issues, the Village Health Volunteers organization which act as a crucial model in Thailand public primary care, the founding of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the passing of the first-ever bills to include tourism in the government economic development plans and the up-gradation of Tourism Authority of Thailand from organizational level to state level, the passing of the current consumer protection acts and organizations and the founding of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. After his time in office, he was the only Prime Minister of Thailand until now and less than three in Asia, at the time of his membership, to have got the invitation to join InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government in solving various global issues
A professional soldier, in WWII he was posted in occupied Shan State. He fought against the French in the Franco-Thai War from 1940–43, serving as platoon leader, and against the communists in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In Korea, he served as Commander of Infantry Battalion III which have fought valiantly on the Battle of Porkchop Hill, where he was only a few of the non-citizen officers to receive the Legion of Merits. After the Korean War, Chomanan joined the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth where he is the only Thai person to be included in the Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
General Kriangsak Chamanan was born on December 17, 1917 in Mahachai district of Samut Sakhon Province. A district of prominent Chinese trading port on the South West of Bangkok. He was born to a wealthy business family who runs Mahachai trading company which deals in importing and exporting goods between Thailand and the Western countries and Japan. Mahachai in the 1800s and 1900s was one of Thailand largest trading port and grow to become the first city district with its own local government in 1897.
Education
From age six to twelve, General Kriangsak attended Samut Sakhon Wittayalai and later in Patumkongka School. After graduating from his primary school, General Kriangsak moved to Bangkok to attend the prestigious Amnuay Silpha School (Its alumni include six prime ministers of Thailand) where he excelled academically.
He later attended Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy (, Rongreiyn nayroy phra chulachomklao or รร.จปร.), known to have an intense training program and one of the lowest admission rate amongst learning institutions in Thailand, until he graduated in 1938. During his time in the army, he has further attended Thai Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) and Thailand National Defence College.
After his time at the Korean War, he also got a scholarship to attend United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. At Leavenworth, he has met many international acquaintances and propels his contacts internationally.
Military career
Kriangsak fought in the Korean War as a commander of the Thai Army in the 21st Infantry Regiment, which earned the nickname "Little Tiger" for their valour. Kriangsak Chomanan showed exemplary skills as a Major, playing a pivotal role in defending Pork Chop Hill. Where on 15 March 1953, by direction of the US president and under the provision of the 1942 Act of the US Congress, then a commander in Korean War, Lieutenant Kriangsak Chomanan was only a few of non-U.S. military personnels to be awarded with the distinguished Legion of Merit (Degree of Officer) for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services.
He became a full general in 1973, and Army chief of staff a year later. Also in 1974, he secretly brokered a prisoner exchange with the Burmese government, in which the opium warlord Khun Sa was ransomed for the freedom of two Soviet doctors whom Khun Sa's followers had kidnapped.
In 1977, NARC staged a successful coup d'état against Prime Minister Thanin Kraivichien. Kravichien himself had seized power the year before, suspending the constitutional monarchy. Then General Chomanan was part of the ruling military group, the National Administrative Reform Council (NARC), that had taken control of the government. The NARC was composed entirely of what contemporaneous press reports characterised as moderate military leaders, not from the extreme right wing. The NARC was distinguished from previous military ruling groups "as an effort to institutionalize power relationships within the military in contrast to the personal factions and cliques which entered the political arena in the past." General Chomanan was then partially against his will, cited by his wife Khunying Virat Chomanan, asked to become the Prime Minister.
Premiership
Coup d'état and ascension
Prior to Chomanan, Thanin Kraivixien administration had spiraled the country into a perilous state of civil war. Incidents of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) increasingly sabotages activities in rural areas across all of Thailand and of border clashes with Cambodia and Laos incidents frequent the news headlines. The administration forceful suppressive policy actually helped emboldened the CPT's popularity amongst the population. Furthermore, members and close aides of the royal family also became targets of attacks by the communist insurgents, as recorded in the assault of a helicopter assassinating the queen's secretary and a bomb explosion in same vicinity as the king while he was visiting the south of Thailand. The country-wide deterioration and increase activities of communist incidents induced actions among the Thai armed forces. The first attempt to overthrow the Thanin administration was led by General Chalad Hiranyasiri and took place in March 1977 where the coup was unsuccessful and Chalad was executed on Thanin's order. With increasing unrest, the Thanin government was successfully overthrew when a group of Thai military called Young Turks asked the 1976 coup leader (the coup that ousted the elected civilian government of Seni Pramoj and appointed the current royal favorite Thanin Kraivichien as prime minister) General Sa-ngad Chaloyu and the Supreme Commander General Kriangsak Chomanan to oust Thanin on 20 October 1977. Chomanan was later appointed as the new Prime Minister by a majority votes through both the National Assembly and the NARC, as a new Prime Minister has not yet been selected or volunteered.[8]
As Prime Minister, Kriangsak moved to moderate and neutralize his predecessor Thanin Kraivichien's severe measures, which had driven young Thai intellectuals from multiple universities to join Communist insurgencies in the countryside. In 1978, in a major risk to his political position with his right leaning supporting base, he submitted an amnesty bill to the National Legislative Assembly to release the leftist students and labor activist Bangkok 18, deemed to be wrongly jailed in 1976, in the Thammasat University Massacre. The move have greatly bolstered his international position as a South East Asian humanitarian leader as noted by commemoration from many international bodies such as that expressed by letter of congratulations from US President Jimmy Carter and Assistant Secretary of State Patricia Derian, Chief State Department official responsible for human rights and humanitarian affairs. He also started a successful amnesty program for Communists as part of a reconciliation policy.
As Prime Minister, Kriangsak is widely credited for defusing a long-running communist insurgency in northern Thailand. He is reported to have met in 1979 with Deng Xiaoping, then supreme leader of the People's Republic of China, allowing China to ship arms to the rebel Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in exchange for the PRC withdrawing its support for the communist insurgency in Thailand. These reports were confirmed contemporaneously by the Sunday Times and wire services. However, claims of a deal involving the Khmer Rouge was denied by the Thai government, which cites his offer of amnesty as the primary reason for the withdrawal of communist insurgency and policy of reunifications. The other benefit of the deal with China for Thailand was that it would not have Vietnamese troops on its border. In the same way Kriangsak had secret deals with rebel armies across the border in Burma, which provided a buffer zone against Burmese aggression.
International Relations and Foreign Policies
One of Prime Minister Kriangsak Chomanan main accomplishment has been his normalising and improving foreign relations globally. He led the supranational rapprochement of foreign relations with neighbouring including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Myanmar (CLVM) countries and foster closer relationships with Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Moreover, he was one of the few leaders of a non-communist country to visit People's Republic of China and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and to have fostered diplomatic relationships with both countries. Prime Minister Kriangsak visited Beijing in late March 1978. And 4 November 1978, where paramount leader of the People's Republic of China Deng Xiaoping returned the favour, in a significant public moment, visited Chomanan's private house and discussed political issues both on national television and privately.
In April 1975, Thailand was the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize the new regime of the communist Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh. In October the two countries agreed in principle to resume diplomatic and economic relations; the agreement was formalized in June 1976, when they also agreed to erect border markers in poorly defined border areas.
Meanwhile, the withdrawal of all American troops from Thailand by July 1976 paved the way for the Thai-Vietnamese agreement in August on normalizing relations. In January 1978, Bangkok and Hanoi signed an accord on trade and economic and technical cooperation, agreeing also to exchange ambassadors, reopen aviation links, resolve all problems through negotiations, and consult on the question of delimiting sea boundaries. Progress toward improved relations with the Indochinese states came to an abrupt halt, however, after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978, and in January 1979 installed in Phnom Penh a new communist regime friendly to Hanoi.
This invasion not only provoked a Chinese attack on Vietnam in February 1979 but also posed a threat to Thailand's security. Chomanan could no longer rely on Cambodia as a buffer against Vietnamese power. Bangkok was forced to assume the role of a frontline state against a resurgent communist Vietnam, which had 300,000 troops in Cambodia and Laos. The Chomanan's government began increasing its defense capabilities. While visiting Washington in February 1979, Prime Minister Kriangsak Chomanan asked for and received reassurances of military support from the United States. His government also launched a major diplomatic offensive to press for the withdrawal of all Vietnamese forces from Cambodia and for continued international recognition of Democratic Kampuchea under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. As part of that offensive, Chomanan also journeyed to Moscow in March 1979, the first visit ever by a Thai prime minister. To explain the Thai position on the Cambodian question and to reassure the Soviets that Thailand's anti-Vietnamese position was neither anti-Soviet nor pro-Chinese. Such reassurances were believed to be necessary in view of Vietnamese accusations that Thailand collaborated with China and the United States in aiding and abetting the Khmer Rouge forces against the Heng Samrin regime.
The Thai offensive, backed by Bangkok's ASEAN partners, was rewarded in a United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution adopted in November 1979. The resolution called for immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia, asked all nations to refrain from interfering in, or staging acts of aggression against, Cambodia, and called on the UN secretary general to explore the possibility of an international conference on Cambodia.
Kriangsak also made significant economic deals with regional neighbors. When the Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn arrived in Thailand to sign an oil treaty over drilling rights along the Thai-Malaysian border and in the Gulf of Thailand, both flew to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai to sign the pact. While in a convoy on the way from the Chiang Mai airport Kriangsak ordered his limousine to stop and took Tun Hussein to a noodle shop to enjoy the "best beef noodles in Thailand". When Hussein became agitated about being late for the signing, Kriangsak reportedly took out the agreement and signed it on the spot, asking his guest: "Now would you care for some more noodles?"
Despite taking power in a military coup, the Times and the New York Times report that Kriangsak was known for leaning towards democracy. He enlisted more civilians to top jobs than any previous regime. He granted amnesty to communists and dissidents who were jailed for fighting a military crackdown in 1976. He promulgated the country's 12th constitution, and set up a timetable for full parliamentary democracy in 1979. But this democratic step reportedly cost him the support of the military.
Relations with the United States of America
Prior to Chomanan's office, with America clearly in retreat from military involvement on the Southeast Asian mainland, Thai self-preservation dictated a policy of realignment. Within days of the Congressional cutoff of American bombing in Cambodia in August 1973, the U.S. and Thai governments announced the first drawdown of U.S. personnel in Thailand. The fall of the regime of Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathien on 15 October 1973, added further impetus, because the student protestors, who had sparked the revolt, demanded, among other things, a more independent foreign policy for Thailand, including the removal of American bases.
In May 1974, U.S. forces in Thailand were cut to 34,000 (compared with a wartime high of 50,000 in December 1972), and statements by Thai officials clearly indicated an inclination toward complete U.S. military withdrawal. Concurrently, Thailand sought to add balance to its diplomacy by improving relations with Hanoi and Moscow. Diplomatic recognition was extended to Rumania, Outer Mongolia, and Czechoslovakia; a North Korean trade delegation visited Bangkok; and relations with China continued to warm.' During 1973-1976, a consensus developed within the Thai foreign policy elite, favoring decreased reliance upon the United States and return ing to a more traditional Thai stance of establishing cordial relations with as many contending powers as possible as the most efficacious means of protecting Thailand's sovereignty.
The governments of both Seni Promoj and Kukrit Pramoj sought complete withdrawal of American bases, improved relations with North Vietnam, and diplomatic relations with China. In late March 1975, the Thai government decided to cut the lifeline of the Lon Nol regime by stating that the U.S. government "had no right" to transship ammunition through Thailand. As the April denouement approached in Vietnam and Cambodia, Thailand's survival instincts dictated increased public resistance to U.S. security policies in Indochina.' American policymakers in the immediate aftermath of Saigon's fall made public statements indicating that previous commitments to the defense of Thailand might no longer be binding. When Secretary of Defense Schlesingerwiki was asked whether the U.S. would continue to be obligated to defend Thailand from external attack, he replied: "[I] would have to consult my lawyers." Furthermore, Secretary Kissinger omitted Thailand from a listing of defense commitments in Asia.' High American officials. seemed to be publicly undermining what little deterrent value remained in the U.S.-Thai security relationship. Perhaps the absolute nadir in U.S.-Thai security relations was reached in the closing days of 1975, when Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield urged the abrogation of the Manila Treaty as well as closing out American economic aid to Thailand. In June 1975, former Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman clearly elucidated the new policies to be followed by Thailand in disengaging from the U.S.-Thai alliance: "The present government is committed to following a policy of equidistance—Thailand should try to keep on the best possible terms with major powers—the U.S., Soviet Union, China, Japan, Western and Eastern Europe. If we allow one power to station troops here, we may get into trouble with another large power, or one of the smaller powers. It was not my personal feelings, but the resolution of the American Congress banning U.S. forces from taking part in overseas operations. If they can't perform military duties why are they here? As tourists? It doesn't make sense. We have seen the sad situation in South Vietnam and Cambodia of the U.S. Congress refusing credits to those countries. Executive agreements are completely meaningless if Congress is not willing to go ahead. What are promises worth if we are unsure of the position of the [American] legislative branch? If the U.S. Congress was to pass a resolution tomorrow that if Thailand were attacked the U.S. would join Thailand's defense, I would be the first to advocate that American forces remain. At present, however, they are a liability."The year 1976 was dominated by the final withdrawal of American forces from the bases in Thailand. There was a feeble American attempt to maintain a residual force, but this was rejected with a certain amount of political fanfare by Kukrit Pramoj. The U.S. response to the Thai government announcement on 20 March that U.S. military activity in Thailand must end "forthwith" was a forthright "We don't stay where we are not wanted." In the period 1973-1976, Thailand had rapidly readjusted its pattern of international relations: moving away from the U.S. (but without dissolving the relationship entirely); moving toward China (but without becoming a client); and seeking outright accommodation with Hanoi along with limited advances toward the Soviet Union.
The policy of moving away from dependence on the United States gradually eliminated American involvement in Thai politics. But when Thanin took over, his policy of suppressing Communist activities within Thailand and limiting external Communist expansion toward Thailand's borders encouraged a new series of American involvements. Yet, even though the policies of the two countries coincided, the American involvement in Thailand during this period did not quite reach the same high level as in the previous period. In 1977, SEATO was dissolved and the U.S. cut back its aid programs to Thailand.
Chomanan came to power in November 1977 and quickly adopted a new and actively independent foreign policy, compared to Thanin's rigid stance. He travelled extensively, visiting the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, in addition to the United States. With his own unique style of "survival diplomacy," Chomanan tried to reestablish more balanced relations with the rest of the world. However, Chomanan also succeeded to a certain extent in convincing the U.S. government of Thai land's strategic importance and persuaded the US. to adopt a more "credible" policy toward Thailand. It was becoming apparent that it was in the interest of the United States to help Thailand and ASEAN develop then resilience, and that, bilaterally, the United States could afford to improve close relations with Thailand while playing an important role in encouraging indigenous regionalism capable of coping with political and security problems.
Toward the end of his premiership, Chomanan was able to restore close and friendly relations with the United States. Although anti-Americanism still existed, it was at a low level, compared to what it had been during the Thanom-Prapass period.
Relations with neighbouring states
General Kriangsak Chamanan positions toward Vietnam following the December 1978 invasion of Cambodia have been remarkably steadfast, and therefore we tend to forget that Thai foreign policy in 1973-1978 was based on diplomatic flexibility and accommodation with Hanoi and Phnom Penh. This basic policy was present even during the stridently anti-Communist government of Prime Minister Thanin Kraivichien (October 1976-October 1977). Immediately after the October 1976 coup, which reasserted the military role in Thai politics. General Kriangsak Chomanan (Secretary-General of the National Administrative Reform Council) reiterated the policy of détente: "We want good relations with Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia" and "our policy towards China has not changed." Clashes with the Khmer Rouge occurred repeatedly along the border." With typical lack of balance, the Khmer Rouge involved themselves in border conflicts with Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand simultaneously. Thai policy in responding to the Khmer Rouge differed markedly from Vietnam ese responses to similar incidents. Whereas the Thais never ceased protest ing the frequent and terrible border violations, Thailand nevertheless continued its pursuit of a diplomatic solution. In contrast, the Vietnamese response to Khmer Rouge activity was entirely military: escalation and counterstrikes by both sides led eventually to full-scale war and invasion. Thailand, especially under the government of General Kriangsak, calculated that the most serious threat to Democratic Kampuchea came from Vietnam and that the Khmer Rouge must eventually come to terms with Thailand if they were to have any chance whatever of survival. In response to a series of vicious raids across the Thai border. Prime Minister Kriangsak stated that the Thai government would accelerate its efforts to establish better relations with Cambodia. Bangkok even provided possible rationales for the border violations. For example. General Kriangsak suggested that confusion and poor communication between the border area and Phnom Penh, or, alternately, inaccurate maps might explain the border incidents, Thailand went out of its way to play down the border incidents.'" As Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea engaged in conflict, both antagonists sought better relations with Thailand. Military security along the Thai-Cambodian border improved slowly after Thai Foreign Minister Upadit Pachariyangkun's "goodwill visit" to Phnom Penh in late January 1978, which resulted in an agreement to exchange ambassadors.'^ During 1978, Thailand displayed a nearly awesome ability to fine-tune its foreign policy; even while the border raids into its territory continued in February, government spokesmen reiterated the contention that the border situation had improved. When fifty Thais were killed, Thailand sent a "report" rather than a "protest" note, because "Cambodian leaders might not know what is happening on the border."
Kriangsak also strengthened relations with the United States, and was warmly received in his first state visit to the White House with U.S. President Jimmy Carter on 6 February 1979. According to the internal talking points prepared for Carter, the President cited the close historical relations as well as economic and regional cooperation in Southeast Asia.
Honorable Resignation
Chomanan voluntarily resigned in February 1980, telling parliament that he no longer felt he had the support of the public. He was the first and only leader of a coup in Thailand ever to resign voluntarily, and was celebrated and cited until this day for his honorable decision, often cited in comparison to many of Thailand past Military Government. It was reported that the primary cause for his loss of support was rising prices, particularly of oil, electricity and other commodities. "I have decided to resign the prime ministership so that democracy can be maintained," Kriangsak told a special session of parliament, which had gathered to debate his governments policies before a vote of confidence. He said his intention was "to open the way for other capable people to administer the country."
He was succeeded by General Prem Tinsulanonda, his former longtime aide. In 1981 he re-entered politics at the head of a new political party, the National Democratic Party, which emerged as the only credible political opposition to Prem.
Kriangsak was survived by his wife Khun Ying (Lady) Virat Chomanan, son Major General Pongpipat Chomanan and daughter Ratanawan.
Humanitarian principles
The case of the Cambodian Refugees
Large influxes of Cambodian refugees took place between 1979 and 1980, after Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia and which the Heng Samrin regime overthrew Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in December 1978, In late 1979, in pursuit of a better life, thousands of Cambodians refugees, victims of a political tragedy that has shocked the world, migrate to Thailand, fleeing war, starvation and disease.
After the devastating war, 200,000 Cambodian refugees were estimated to be on the border attempting to enter Thailand. On 18 October 1979, on a visit to the Thai-Cambodian border, Thai prime minister Chomanan was shocked when he saw the appalling condition. After two days, taking a major political risk, he altered the government's policy towards the refugees. Where, he declared a new "open door" policy granting temporary asylum to Cambodian refugees; to political and societal voices of the time, Thailand would still not recognize them as refugees but, prime minister Chomaman way, would rescue them from the perilous border and place them in a freer "holding centers". On 22 October, a Thai colonel contacted UNHCR and said that the Chomanan's government had decided to additionally admit 90,000 Cambodians who were situated on the border. Under, prime minister Chomanan, Thai military planned to begin relocating them to a site near the town of Sa Kaeo within two days. Sa Kaeo Holding Center was about 64 kilometres west of the border near the town of Sa Kaeo and 209 kilometres by road from east of Bangkok.
Refoulement of Cambodian Refugees
Also during Chomaman premiership, it was speculated by an official that Thailand's government carried out the forcible repatriation of up to 45,000 Cambodian refugees who were forcibly expelled from the country by having them walk down a steep slope and over a minefield in one of the worst refoulements in history with over 3000 refugees dying in the process and those that refused claimed to be shot by Thai soldiers.
Honours
received the following royal decorations in the Honours System of Thailand:
1978 - Knight Grand Cross of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao
1974 - Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant
1968 - Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Noble Order of the Crown
1962 - Victory Medal - Pacific War
1953 - Victory Medal - Korean War
1978 - Freemen Safeguarding Medal, First Class
1968 - Border Service Medal
1953 - Chakra Mala Medal
1978 - Boy Scout Citation Medal of Vajira, First Class
1978 - King Bhumibol Adulyadej's Royal Cypher Medal, First Class
Foreign Honours
:
United Nations Service Medal Korea (1953)
:
Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (1979)
:
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Recognised as foreign combatant in the Korean War on 60th anniversary of that conflict (2013)
:
Legion of Merit (Officer Degree)
:
Grand Collar of the Order of Sikatuna (1978)
Citations
External links
Official biography
Kriangsak Chamanan
Kriangsak Chamanan
Kriangsak Chamanan
Kriangsak Chamanan
Kriangsak Chamanan
Kriangsak Chamanan
1917 births
2003 deaths
Kriangsak Chamanan
Kriangsak Chamanan
Leaders who took power by coup
Kriangsak Chamanan |
427412 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Nazaire | Saint-Nazaire | Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière". Given its location, Saint-Nazaire has a long tradition of fishing and shipbuilding. The Chantiers de l'Atlantique, one of the largest shipyards in the world, constructed notable ocean liners such as , , and the cruise ship , the largest passenger ship in the world until 2022.
Saint-Nazaire was a small village until the Industrial Revolution but became a large town in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the construction of railways and the growth of the seaport. Saint-Nazaire progressively replaced upstream Nantes as the main haven on the Loire estuary.
As a major submarine base for the Kriegsmarine, Saint-Nazaire was subject to a successful British raid in 1942 and was heavily bombed by the Allies until 1945. Being one of the Atlantic pockets, Saint-Nazaire was one of the last territories in Europe to be liberated from German occupation, on 11 May 1945. The town was one of the most damaged in France during World War II.
History
Antiquity
Archaeologists believe that Saint-Nazaire is built upon the remnants of Corbilo, an Armorican Gaulish city populated by the Namnetes tribe, which (according to the Greek navigator Pytheas) was the second-largest Gaulish city, after Massilia (now Marseille). Archeology suggests that the area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period, as evidenced by the presence of monuments like the tumulus of Dissignac, the dolmen located in the centre of the present-day city, and ancient bronzes found in the vicinity.
According to the 15th-century chronicler Alain Bouchart, Brutus of Troy, the mythical ancestor of the Bretons, travelled to Saint-Nazaire to set foot upon the new homeland of his people. Historical accounts note that at the end of the Roman Empire, some Britons colonized the Loire estuary and later the peninsula containing Guérande. The farthest extent of the Breton language in the Loire region is Donges, to the east of Saint-Nazaire.
Middle Ages
According to the late-6th-century writer Gregory of Tours, the Roman Church sheltered the remains of the martyr Nazarius in a local basilica. According to legend, the Breton chief Waroch II sent an emissary to seize these relics. The plot was foiled when the emissary fractured his skull upon the lintel of the church door. Waroch, interpreting this as a miracle, was deterred and the village thenceforth took the name of Sanctus Nazarius de Sinuario.
After this point, the history of Saint-Nazaire, like much of Europe during the Dark Ages, is not well documented. Battles occurred, such as in 1380 when Jehan d'Ust defended the city in the name of John V, Duke of Brittany (known in France as Jean IV) against the Castilian fleet during the Hundred Years' War. After this time, Saint-Nazaire became the seat of a parish extending from Penhoët to Pornichet, part of the Viscountcy of Saint-Nazaire.
Like the whole of Brittany, Saint-Nazaire formed part of the Duchy of Brittany until 1532, when it was annexed by France. In 1756, a fort was built on the order of the governor of Brittany to protect the town, which by then had 600 inhabitants. Until the French Revolution, Saint-Nazaire belonged to the province of Brittany.
19th century industrialisation
At the beginning of the 19th century, the port only consisted of one simple harbour. As the town was so far inland, its main economy was not based on commercial fishing but on its strategic location as the lowest possible navigation point for large ships and on supplying pilots for navigation further up the Loire. In 1800, the parish of Saint-Nazaire had 3,216 inhabitants.
The modern Saint-Nazaire was created by the administration of Napoleon III. The population of 3,216 in 1800 shows its battered history, with a mainly local (Brière), of Lower Brittany (of Morbihan in the Finistère-south), and minor representation from most other areas of France. From this point forward the population of Saint-Nazaire experienced exponential growth, which was reflected in its nickname of "Little Breton California", or "Liverpool of the West".
In 1802, a road was built to develop the port, which extended by 1835 to a breakwater with a navigational lighthouse at its end. The development included new basins for ships to unload to barges that carried goods further up the river. This development moved the town into the area of the city which is now called the district of "Little Morocco". This development made the town the base for the passenger steamships of the Nantes–Saint-Nazaire line, as well as making the town the alternative port for ships which could not access Nantes.
In 1856, the first wet dock was dug in "Halluard City", making it possible for ships to moor and turn. This led to the construction of the town's first railway connection. In 1857, the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (railroad company of Orléans) connected Saint-Nazaire to Nantes. In 1862, the first transatlantic telegraph lines were installed from France to South America, coming ashore at Saint-Nazaire. 1862 also saw the construction of major shipbuilding facilities, including those of Chantier Scott, which launched the first French metal-hulled ships. In 1868, Saint-Nazaire became a sub-prefecture of the town of Savenay. A second dock basin was created at Penhoët in 1881, to allow the handling of larger ships, but a lock gate built to access it cut the town in two, thus creating Old Saint-Nazaire and an artificial island called "Little Morocco".
In early 1870, Nantes-born Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau joined the bar in Saint-Nazaire. In September he became, in spite of his youth, secretary to the municipal commission temporarily appointed to carry on the town's business. He organized the National Defense at Saint-Nazaire, and marched out with his contingent, though they saw no active service due to lack of ammunition (their private store having been commandeered by the state). In 1873, he moved to the bar of Rennes, following the establishment of the Third Republic in 1871.
On 30 March 1894, a strike occurred at the forging mills of Trignac in opposition to a reduction of the work force. What had seemed a small dispute escalated after a shooting in Fourmies, resulting in the town getting its national nickname of "Red City". Socialists flocked to the town in defense of the striking workers, joining in the declaration of the "Fusillade de Fourmies".
In 1900, the commune of Pornichet was created by separating from the larger commune of Saint-Nazaire.
World War I
During World War I, the city became an important debarkment port of Allied troops, particularly in the latter stages for the United States Army. When they entered the war in 1917, they developed the town and port infrastructure, by adding additional drinking water storage ponds for the town's water treatment plants, and a refrigeration terminal to the docks for shipment and storage of meat and dairy products to supply their troops.
However, the presence of legal brothels (Maisons Tolérée) resulted in a diplomatic incident. As a result of strict reformist public health concerns at home, the American Expeditionary Force placed the Maisons Tolérée off limits, resulting in a dispute between the town's brothel owners backed by the mayor, versus the US Army forces. With the dispute escalating, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau sent a memo to General John Pershing offering a compromise: American medical authorities would control designated brothels operated solely for American soldiers. Pershing passed the proposal to Raymond Fosdick, who on giving it to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker promptly responded: "For God's sake, Raymond, don't show this to the president or he'll stop the war." Only after the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, when the United States Army could no longer plead military necessity as grounds for curtailing leave, did venereal disease rates among United States Army troops rise quickly.
Inter-war period
The post-war period brought about a period of economic depression for the shipbuilders, who consequently diversified into building seaplanes from 1922. In 1926 the district of Paimbœuf was merged with the district of Saint-Nazaire, thus reinforcing the influence of the city on the south bank of the Loire River.
Although having built , between 1913 and 1921, and between 1925 and 1926, as a result of the 1930s Great Depression the French government commissioned a series of state programs to aid national economic activity. The state-owned shipping company Compagnie Générale Transatlantique commissioned the ship builders of Saint-Nazaire to construct a new large passenger ship, which as a result between 1928 and 1934 created the Albert Caquot–engineered the Louis Joubert dry dock – at , the largest of its kind in the world at the time – necessary to be able to accommodate the construction of . In 1932, the Saint-Nazaire casino went bankrupt and was resold to the town of Nantes: the site was redeveloped in 1935 as the first home of the current Saint-Louis school.
As a result of the national general strike of June 1936, to ensure completion of the nationally prestigious project SS Normandie, the government nationalised the various private shipyards into one state-owned entity, the 1861-founded Chantiers de l'Atlantique.
World War II
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht army at the start of World War II, the combined forces of the French Army and the British Expeditionary Force failed to hold the oncoming onslaught. As part of Operation Aerial, Saint-Nazaire, like Dunkirk, became an evacuation point to England for the British, with those embarking including the writer John Renshaw Starr.
Sinking of the Lancastria
On 17 June 1940 an estimated 9,000 British Army soldiers were embarked aboard the Clyde-built cruise liner, later converted to troopship, , which was attacked and sunk by German Junkers Ju 88 bombers, mainly from Kampfgeschwader 30, taking with her around 4,000 victims. This is the worst disaster in British maritime history and the worst loss of life for British forces in the whole of World War II. Winston Churchill banned all news coverage of the disaster on learning of it and it remains largely forgotten by history. A Lancastria memorial is located near the U-boat pens in Saint-Nazaire.
Miracle of Saint-Nazaire
The ball turret gunner of an American B-17F bomber fell onto the glass roof of the train station, even though his parachute had been destroyed by German flak while still in his plane. The US airman, called Alan Magee, survived the fall. A German military surgeon was able to save his nearly severed arm. The airman credited his survival to a prayer to God as he recovered consciousness during his fall.
U-boat pens
Following the surrender of France to German forces later in June 1940, the port immediately became a base of operations for the Kriegsmarine and was as such the target of Allied operations. A heavily fortified U-boat Saint-Nazaire submarine base was built by Organisation Todt shortly after occupation, with a concrete ceiling capable of withstanding almost any bomb in use at the time.
The base provided a home during the war to many of the best-known U-boat staff, including:
Commander Georg-Wilhelm Schulz – transferred the 6th U-boat Flotilla from Danzig to the port in February 1942, where it became a combat flotilla.
Carl Emmermann – took command of 6th U-boat Flotilla over from Schulz in November 1942, until it left Saint-Nazaire for Norway in August 1944.
Lieutenant Commander Herbert Schultze – second in command of 7th U-boat Flotilla from September 1940.
The base still stands today as its extremely sturdy construction makes demolition uneconomical. The base is now used by cafes, a bar and on the roof is an exhibition about Saint-Nazaire.
St Nazaire Raid
The huge Joubert drydock built for SS Normandie was the only port on the Atlantic capable of servicing the German battleships and . This made the port strategically important to both the Axis Powers and the Allies during World War II. After Operation Rheinübung on 18–27 May 1941, which resulted in the sinking of and the sinking of Bismarck, the need for the Allies to take the Joubert dry dock out of operation was increased. The Bismarck and the Tirpitz were to have ended their raid at Saint-Nazaire. On 28 March 1942, a force of 611 British Commandos and the Royal Navy launched the St Nazaire Raid against the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, codenamed Operation Chariot. An obsolete American-built destroyer was used as a ram-ship loaded with explosives. It and the Commandos succeeded in destroying the gates and machinery of the Joubert drydock, preventing its further use by the Germans during the war. Of the 600+ navy and commando personnel, 220 returned, half were wounded. Five Victoria Crosses and 69 other decorations were awarded. The Joubert dry dock was not brought back into operation until 1948.
After Operation Chariot
The U-boat threat to supply convoys across the Atlantic made Saint-Nazaire a constant target of Allied air forces, in the face of determined Luftwaffe fighter opposition to raids by United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force bombers. On 3 January 1943 Colonel Curtis LeMay led 85 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 1st Bombardment Wing against the U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire, on the Eighth Air Force's sixth raid against the facility. LeMay also introduced the combat box defensive formation, echeloning three-plane elements within a squadron, and squadrons within a group, to concentrate defensive firepower against fighter opposition. Only 76 aircraft found and hit the target, and during the mission seven bombers were shot down and 47 damaged.
As a result of the raid, on 14 January 1943 under directive (S.46239/?? A.C.A.S. Ops), the Allies implemented incendiary bomb tactics against U-boat pens, under the Area bombing directive. To minimize civilian casualties during air attacks, the Allies devised a plan to force an evacuation of the town. For three days in 1943, British Royal Air Force and American aircraft dropped scores of leaflets warning the population of a planned fire-bombing raid. At the end of the third day, the raid came and burned the entire city to the ground. Casualties were light as most of the civilians had heeded the warning and fled to the safety of the countryside but after that point, except for the self-contained U-boat base, Saint-Nazaire remained abandoned until the end of the war.
After D-day and the liberation of most of France in 1944, German troops in Saint-Nazaire's submarine base refused to surrender, and they holed up (as did their counterparts in the La Rochelle and Lorient bases). Since the Germans could no longer conduct major submarine operations from the bases without a supply line, the SHAEF commander, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to simply bypass these ports, and the Allied armies focused their resources on the invasion of Germany. Saint-Nazaire and the other two German "pockets" remained under German control until after the last day of the war in Europe, 8 May 1945.
After World War II
The town of St. Nazaire was rebuilt in the late 1940s in a minimalist functional style.
The submarine base was used by the French Navy from 1945 to 1948. It then came under the control of various chemical companies and shipbuilders. , the French diesel submarine Espadon is moored within the U-boat pens. Tours of the submarine are available to the public.
After the construction of in 1961, the last Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner and the subsequent closure of the Suez Canal, Chantiers de l'Atlantique began building large oil tankers, including , , and . A new dry dock (Basin C) was planned for the construction of tankers over 1,000,000 tonnes but this fell through with the reopening of the Suez Canal. was constructed at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in 2003.
Geography
The town of Saint-Nazaire is located on the north bank of the Loire estuary (its territory includes the tip of Chémoulin which marks the end of the estuary), 50 km west of Nantes. It is near the marshes of Brière, an important regional natural park with many animal and plant species, the second largest wetland in France after the Camargue.
According to INSEE, Saint-Nazaire is the commune-center of an urban unit (commonly: agglomeration) which counted 186,760 inhabitants in 2018, gathering 17 communes of the Loire estuary. This unit is the urban center of the urban area of Saint-Nazaire (24 communes), which had 213,675 inhabitants in 2018 and extending over Brière and almost all of the Guérande peninsula. The eastern part of the town is on the alluvial terrain between the Brière and the Loire estuary. The western part, more extensive, corresponds to the extension of the hillside of Guérande: the relief is hilly and of higher altitude, where one finds a granite and metamorphic base. Geologically, Saint-Nazaire is located in the Armorican massif.
Climate
In close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the climate of Saint-Nazaire is, as with the rest of the Loire-Atlantique, of temperate oceanic type. This climate is very much influenced by the Loire estuary. The winters are mild (Min 3 °C / Max 10 °C ), and summer is mild too (Min 12 °C / Max 24 °C ). Snowfall is rare, but rain is frequent (113 days a year with precipitation) but not very intense, the annual rainfall being 743.3 mm. Precipitation is however relatively variable from one year to the next. The sunshine is 1,826 hours a year, but there are only 53 days of strong sunshine.
Saint-Nazaire receives mainly southwestern sector winds related to the Atlantic depressions and northeastern sector winds when the weather is more stable. The annual average wind of 4.5 m / s and there are 60 days per year of strong wind.
Education
Schools
The primary schools of Saint-Nazaire (Carnot, Jean-Jaurès, Lamartine, Jules Ferry, Ferdinand Bush, Boncourt, etc.) educate nearly 8,000 pupils in 30 school complexes. The junior schools have nearly 7,000 pupils in 12 colleges: public colleges Albert Vinçon; Pierre Norange; Manon Roland; Jean de Neyman; Jean Moulin, accommodate around 1,350 pupils each. Private colleges include: Saint-Louis (1,000 pupils, boarding school; historically a college for boys), Sainte-Therese (historically a college for girls).
The high schools educate 6,000 pupils into 11 lycées, with the mainstream education and technical school Aristide Briand having some 2,500 pupils, one of the largest lycée of France; an experimental lycée, public lycée managed jointly by the teachers and the pupils; the private lycée of Saint-Louis mainstream education; the hotel private lycée Sainte-Anne; the private of mainstream education and technological college Our-Lady-in Espérance. The Cité Scolaire of Saint-Nazaire is one of largest of France, with nearly 4,000 high-school pupils.
University
The University of Saint-Nazaire is a college of the University of Nantes, the second largest university in France with approximately 35,000 students, including nearly 5,000 on the university campus of Saint-Nazaire.
Transport
The Route nationale N165/N161 (E60 route) connects Saint-Nazaire to Nantes and Rennes via the Pont de Saint-Nazaire, which crosses the Loire. Paris is then accessed via the A10/A11 in Nantes. Valves, Lorient, Quimper and Brest are accessed via the N165.
A project to review a second crossing of the Loire between Nantes and Saint Nazaire is being considered, planned to be constructed and operational by 2025.
Railway
Saint-Nazaire railway station is served by both the TGV and regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire. TGV (high speed train) connection to Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and Strasbourg, with trains to Paris via the LGV Atlantique taking just over 2 hours. TER Pays de la Loire provides links to Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche sur Yon, and other regional cities and towns.
Air travel
Saint-Nazaire airport is located south-east of Saint-Nazaire, in the commune of Montoir-de-Bretagne. It has an annual capacity of approximately 150,000 passengers, and is the operational and maintenance base for Eagle Aviation France.
International travel is via Nantes Atlantique Airport, the biggest airport in western France, linking with several French and European cities as well as Montreal in Canada (seasonally) and some cities in North Africa. A new airport was planned that was to be situated to the north-west of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Called Aéroport du Grand Ouest, it was officially cancelled in 2018.
Economy
The economy of the city is founded on the activity of the port, including export of manufactured goods but also on the services, being given sizeable size of the city. Commercial fishing has almost completely disappeared in spite of the existence of a small fleet of fisheries and fishing vessels.
Saint-Nazaire suffered heavily from the downsizing of shipbuilding activity in western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, after the completion of the national passenger liner, SS France. For a long time in the 1980s, Saint-Nazaire remained an economically depressed area with unemployment rates above 20%. Today, the local economy is more diversified and its situation is more in line with that of France as a whole. The major industries are:
Shipyard – having previously concentrated on both naval and cargo ship construction, Chantiers de l'Atlantique has completed a successful reconversion to cruise ship building and is now one of the world leaders in this sector. Purchased by Aker Yards, the Cunard Line's new flagship, RMS Queen Mary 2, was built in Saint-Nazaire.
Airbus – Saint-Nazaire is one of the European centers of Airbus, responsible for the fitting out of aircraft fuselage sections. Originally a factory built for SNCASO, it is located at Penhoët, immediate north of the sites of Chantiers de l'Atlantique. An additional facility was built in Gron in 1980. For the Airbus A380, the Airbus Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ship brings fuselage sections from Hamburg, (Germany) for larger, assembled sections, some of which include the nose. The ship then unloads these sections plus wings from Filton, Bristol and Broughton in North Wales at Bordeaux. From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, Gironde, and by oversize road convoys to the assembly hall in Toulouse. New wider roads, canal systems and barges were developed to deliver the A380 parts. After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg, XFW to be furnished and painted.
Aeronautical engineering – Famat, a joint-venture company between Snecma and General Electric, has a factory in Saint-Nazaire. Employing approximately 450 people, Famat specializes in the manufacture of structural elements for turbojets.
Mechanical engineering – SEMT Pielstick, a manufacturer of diesel engines intended for naval and railway applications and for electrical production. Now part of MAN B&W Diesel, the SEMT Pielstick factory employed in 2006 670 people in Saint-Nazaire.
Port – the primary French port on the Atlantic coast. Now busier than its rival Nantes, it is managed by the Port Authority of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire. The port terminal handles high volumes of food products, and methane, and oil company Elf de Donges and many other industries.
Saint Nazaire hosts the first French offshore wind farm with 80 wind turbines that
will produce enough power to cover consumptions of around 700,000 people.
International relations
Twin towns - sister cities
Saint-Nazaire is twinned with:
Avilés, Spain
Saarlouis, Germany, since 1969
Sunderland, England, United Kingdom, since 1953
Cooperation agreements
Kribi, Cameroon
Mahdia, Tunisia
Cultural references
1943 British film Tomorrow We Live, directed by George King, and starring John Clements, Godfrey Tearle, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair and Yvonne Arnaud.
In the book of Das Boot Saint-Nazaire was the base used in the novel. The film changed the location to La Rochelle because its appearance had not changed to such a large degree in the years following World War II.
Saint-Nazaire, under the Arabicized name "Nsara," is the setting for Book Nine in Kim Stanley Robinson's 2002 alternate-history novel The Years of Rice and Salt.
In the Franco-Canadian CGI Cartoon Skyland, Saint Nazaire is a name of a pirate flagship participating in a losing rebellion trying to overthrow a corrupt military dictatorship
The video game Medal of Honor: European Assault opens with the British raid on St. Nazaire.
Cyllage City from the Game Pokémon X & Y is based on Saint-Nazaire.
Saint-Nazaire is the title of a song from American alternative rock band Pixies on the album Beneath the Eyrie.
The song, "Mademoiselle from Armentières," has the lines, "Mademoiselle from Saint-Nazaire:/She never heard of underwear."
People from Saint-Nazaire
René-Yves Creston (1898–1964), artist, ethnologist, resister and Breton nationalist, founder of the artistic movement and social Art Seiz Breur
Odette du Puigaudeau (1894–1991), ethnologist
Fernand Guériff (1914–1994), scholar, type-setter, historian, journalist devoted mainly to the soil of the peninsula guérandaise 5
Yann Goulet (1914–1999), sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany who headed the Breton Bagadou Stourm militia. He later took Irish citizenship and became professor of sculpture at the Royal Hibernian Academy
Marie Léra (1864-1958), journalist, novelist, translator
Roger Lévêque, (5 December 1920 – 30 June 2002), a professional road racing cyclist from 1946 to 1953
Colonel Moutarde (born 1968), illustrator
Stéphane Hoffmann, (born 1958), writer
Tony Heurtebis, (15 January 1975), football goalkeeper who played for FC Nantes Atlantique.
Sandra Gomis (born 1983), athlete
Bryan Coquard (born 1992), Professional Cyclist for Team Europcar – 2012 Olympic Silver medalist
Serge (born 2005), llama that became an internet meme after being kidnapped by five drunk students in November 2013
Demographics
Breton language
In 2008, 0.41% of the children attended bilingual primary schools.
See also
Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department
Parc naturel régional de Brière
References
Perrett, Bryan (2003). For Valour: Victoria Cross and Medal of Honor Battles. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.
Braeuer, Luc, L’incroyable histoire de la poche de Saint-Nazaire, Batz-Sur-Mer 2003.
Guériff, Fernand. Saint-Nazaire sous l'occupation allemande: le Commando, la Poche. Éditions du Paludier (In French)
Moret Henri, Histoire de Saint-Nazaire et de la région environnante, Bruxelles, 1977 (In French)
Barbance Marthe, Saint-Nazaire : la Ville, le Port, le Travail, Marseille, 1979 (In French)
External links
Website (English)
St-Nazaire submarine base (English)
Lancastria Association of Scotland (English)
Official website (French)
Communes of Loire-Atlantique
Subprefectures in France
German Navy submarine bases
Port cities and towns on the French Atlantic coast |
427425 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noe%20Zhordania | Noe Zhordania | Noe Zhordania<ref>Also transliterated as 'Noah Jordania</ref> ( /nɔɛ ʒɔrdɑniɑ/; ; born (or ) — January 11, 1953) was a Georgian journalist and Menshevik politician. He played an eminent role in the socialist revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire, and later chaired the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from July 24, 1918, until March 18, 1921, when the Bolshevik Russian Red Army invasion of Georgia forced him into exile to France. There Zhordania led the government-in-exile until his death in 1953.
Biography
Early life and background
Zhordania was born on , to a petty landowner family living in the village of Lanchkhuti in Guria, western Georgia, then part of the Kutais Governorate of Imperial Russia.
According to Redjeb Jordania (born in 1921), son of Noe Jordania (Zhordania), his lineage traces back to three Italian brothers who emigrated from Genoa to Georgia. One of them was a gardener and the others were merchants. One moved to Samegrelo and became the ancestor of the Zhordanias from the Tsaishi (). Another moved to Arkhava () and his descendants are the Zhordanias from Arkhava. The third was granted serfs and estates from the House of Gurieli in Lanchkhuti, and so remained in Guria. He was the ancestor of the Zhordanias from Lanchkhuti, including Radjeb (Redjeb) Zhordania, grandfather of Noe Zhordania.
In his early years Radjab became an orphan and he was taken in Samegrelo by his uncles. Later he returned in his hometown Lanchkhuti, but he was not welcomed by the relatives. Thus, after moving to Shukhuti () he demanded his share of the property from the relatives. He was given the land, where he built the Oda () (typical house in the region of Guria), married the daughter of Apakidze and remained there during the period 1825 to 1830. Later he participated in the Crimean War, where he received the rank of captain and where he was later killed. He had four sons: Butchu, Potine, Niko and Iosef. Niko, father of Noe and Gulchino Zhordania, was the village scriber, and lawyer and mediator in court. Kristine Chikovani, mother of Noe, was from Samegrelo.
Education
He had his primary education in a Lanchkhuti public school. Afterwards, he graduated from the Ozurgeti Orthodox Theological Academy. He then moved to Tbilisi where he graduated from the Georgian Orthodox Theological Seminary, a prestigious academic institution at the time (just a few years later Josef Stalin would enter that same Academy). However, while Noe's parents hoped that their child would become a priest, from an early age he started to disbelieve in god. He wrote:
'God is Nature herself; as for a white-bearded deity, seated upon a throne, such a personage simply does not exist'. 'I thought to myself: If Nature's lord and master is Nature itself, then who is the rightful lord and master of mankind? The general opinion was that the Tsar (King) was the lord over the people, and that the Tsar(King) was himself appointed by God. But if God did not exist any more, the Tsar(King) could not be his representative. I was therefore at a loss to understand by whose command and authority he sat upon his throne.'
In the Academy he was the head of an illegal student association that was opposing the drawbacks of the present situation in Academy. At the same time he was reading forbidden books, such as the Russian revolutionary-democratic literature of (Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Alexander Herzen), and familiarized himself with the content of populist literature, magazines and newspapers provided by Zakaria Chichinadze. In 1891 he moved to Warsaw, Poland, and attended the Warsaw Veterinarian Institute. During this period young Zhordania understood the basics of Marxism. In his memories Zhordania described his political evolution in 1892 as a reflection of Russia's transition from socialism to Marxism. Specifically he meant the period after 1891, when he left his homeland to continue his studies abroad. With Filipp Makharadze, Noe Zhordania started a close correspondence with other Georgian intellectuals, namely Silvester Dzhibladze and Egnate Ninoshvili, by sending them illegal Marxist literature. He was impressed by "Mr. L. Tikhomirov's Grief", a booklet written by Georgi Plekhanov. In Warsaw, apart from Marxism, Zhordania also became acquainted with the Polish national movement, which fought for the autonomy of Poland. In 1892, he was forced to leave for Georgia due to Pneumonia.
Early career
When he came back to Georgia, he propagated the Marxist ideas among the workers of Tbilisi, and in the 1890s he became a leader of the first legal Marxist organization in Georgia, called the Mesame Dasi (the Third Group). In late December 1892, Noe Zhordania emerged on the political scene. He attended the Marxian meetings at the Aleksandre Pushkin House in Kvirila, and eventually became a member of the first Marxist group. Other famous members were: Nikolay Chkheidze, Eugene Vatsadze, Mikha Tskhakaia, Joseph Kakabadze, Razhden Kaladze, Dmitry Kalandarishvili, Isidore Ramishvili, Arsen Tsitlidze, Isidore Kvitsaridze and Silibistro Jibladze. The group ultimately failed to reach an agreement on certain issues and thus, Noe Zhordania, with Kibladze and Egnate Ninoshvili, were left in charge of creating action program for the group. They outlined importance of the working class in overthrowing the old society, and added the national question in their programme. The programme was adopted and then, in 1894, published in the journal "Moambe". It was based on the following provisions: 1.The person's physical well-being 2. Freedom of the individual and state 3. National identity of the people, based on social label. Later on, the group got the name Mesame Dasi. In May 1893, fearing of possible arrest, Zhordania traveled to Europe from Batumi. When the order of his arrest was released in Lanchkhuti, he was already in Geneva. There he met other Marxist group members: Georgi Plekhanov, Lev Deichi, and Vera Zasulichi. There he read Marxist literature and explored the Swiss workers and peasants' life, writing down and then sending his notes to the journal Kvali (). In 1894, he was tried by the Russian authorities for his participation in the "League of Freedom of Georgia". In 1895, he went to Paris and studied at the for 3 months, became acquainted with Jules Guesde, Paul Lafargue and other French socialists in the meantime. He remained in Paris for four months before going back to Geneva and, from there he headed to Germany, the birthplace of Marxist ideologies. He settled in Stuttgart for two reasons: first, there he met Karl Kautsky, and second, there was not a single Georgian or Russian in Stuttgart who could prevent Zhordania from learning the German language. In order to familiarize himself with the political economy of the bourgeoisie, Zhordania moved to Munich. There he enrolled at the university and followed the course of Professor Franz Brentano. At the beginning of 1896 Zhordania left Munich and traveled to Berlin, where he attended the lectures of Richard Wagner. While living in Germany Zhordania wrote the following articles for "Kvali": "Friedrich Engels" (1895) (), "the village and agricultural growing in Germany" (1985)(), "Political parties in Germany" (1897)(), "Bismarck" (1898)().
In March 1897, Zhordania moved to London, England with Varlam Cherkezishvili, a known photographer, who back then lived with the Wilson family. At the British Museum he studied literature from all around the world, including from Georgia. In 1897 Zordania returned to Georgia. Upon his arrival the country was split into two camps: on one hand, the right-wing ideology headed by Ilia Chavchavadze called "Iberian's camp", and the other left-wing ideology called "Kvali camp". In November 1897, Zhordania organized two consortium, one in Tbilisi and the other in Lanchkhuti. Aiming to buy the journal "Kvali", he would later initiate a dialogue with Anastasya Tumanishvili and Giorgi Tsereteli, the directors of the famous magazine. In January 1898, "Kvali" became one of the first Marxists legal body. It was also the first example in the Russian Empire of the Socialists having a legal organ. The Social Democrats, meanwhile were also illegally stamping brochures, leaflets, and newspapers. In 1899 they released the first printed leaflets called "proclamation", which advised Georgian workers to join the European workers for the first of May. The proclamation was written by Zhordania, and printed by Vlasa Mgeladze. This increased the tensions between the two camps, and in 1900 the magazines of the two parties started to print a heated debate between the each other.
Clashes between the workers and the army took place on 1 May 1901. Many activists became targets of the police and Noe Zhordania being one of them. Trying to save himself, he decided to flee to Europe on the grounds of health problems and borrowed 300 rubles from David Sarajishvili. Shortly afterwards he was arrested in Kutaisi, where he was given charges after eight months in prison and then transferred first to Tbilisi, and later to Metekhi. He was charged with the crime of being involved with the illegal activities of the social-democratic party, even though Kvali was considered to be a legal newspaper. During his imprisonment Zhordania started to read other literature, like Shakespeare and Hugo. In 1902, Zhordania strongly condemned the merge between the Georgian Social-Democratic organization and the Russian Social-Democratic Party.
In June 1902 Zhordania was released from prison and moved to Lanchkhuti before the final verdict from the St. Peterburg police. At this time in the region there was an active Guria peasant movement, led by the Social Democrats. During the mass arrests Zhordania was taken and put in prison, where he met other 200 Gurians and Noe Khomeriki. Later he was transferred from Kutaisi to Poti, and forced in exile in Ganja, where he lived under police custody. However, he was still illegally involved in the party conferences. He wrote a draft of the party program during a conference held in Tbilisi in 1902. Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg police informed Zhordania that his final verdict was to be exiled in the Vitki Province for 3 years. Zhordania escaped in Batumi, where he hid for 10 days in a secret flat, before fleeing to England with a ferry. The ferry captain did not assist political refugees, so he was told that Zhordania was a military deserter.
After three weeks of travelling Zhordania first arrived in London, then went to Paris, and finally to Geneva to meet Plekhanov. There he was informed about the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party consortium in Brussels and he was invited with an advisory vote. In Brussels Zhordania met three delegates from the South Caucasus: Topuridze, Knuniantsi and Zurabovi. Zhordania's program was not selected by the Caucasian Committee: the one that was chosen differed only in national and agrarian issues. Brussels local police banned the congress and the delegates moved to London.
Having been elected as a delegate to the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1903, he sided with the Menshevik faction and gained significant influence. In 1905, he edited a Tbilisi-based Georgian Menshevik newspaper, the Sotsial-Demokratia known for its fierce attacks on the Bolsheviks. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he went against the armed uprising and advocated the creation of a legal workers’ party. On the 4th Congress of the RSDLP in 1906, he supported the idea of land municipalization. The same year, he was elected to the First State Duma from the Tiflis Governorate and became a spokesman for the Social-Democratic faction. The 5th Congress of the RSDLP transferred him into the Central Committee where he maintained his post until 1912. Having signed the "Viborg declaration," a protest against the dissolution of the First Duma, in December 1907, he was sentenced to three months of imprisonment. In mid-1912, he edited a Baku-based legal Menshevik newspaper Nashe Slovo. In 1914, he collaborated with Leon Trotsky in the magazine Borba where he published a series of articles on the question of nationality.
Social Democrat leader
In 1905, during the revolution, with a false passport and the fake name of "Ignatov", Zhordania arrived in St. Petersburg, where his wife and party comrade Ina Koreneva was waiting for him. From there Zhordania went to Baku, left Ina there and then headed to Tbilisi. In Tbilisi he saw a different political situation from what he had left: the camp of Ilia Chavchavadze was disbanded, the newspaper Iveria was managed by Philipe Gogichaishvili (); the Social Democratic party had another newspaper, the Tsnobis Purtseli, and in place of Kvali there was a new magazine, the Traveler, which was Bolshevik oriented. During that time Ina, Zhordania's pregnant wife, was arrested. Thus, Zhordania had to go back to Baku and start negotiation with a famous public figure, Ivane Eliashvili. Eliashvili helped in releasing Ina Koreneva. In April 1905 Ina went to Lanchkhuti, where she gave birth to their first daughter Asmat.
During that time Zhordania unleashed the Georgian Bolsheviks both in Tbilisi and in provinces. The social democratic direction evolved in a way that differed from both from the Russian Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. They had a clandestine newspaper called "Social Democrat", and a legal one called "Skhivi", both edited by Zhordania, alongside other newspapers: "Lightning" and "Dawn".
Meanwhile, Nicholas II of Russia issued an order of activating the State Duma. The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party protested against it. Yet, Zordania tried not let go the opportunity. He participated in the IV unifying congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in Stockholm in 1906. The congress discussed how to boycott the elections and land issues. The Menshevik party gained favor: Zhordania, however, was elected as a member of congress. He soon discovered that he had also been elected as a member of the State Duma of the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, the Social Democrats won the elections in Georgia. They created the Social Democratic faction in the Duma led by Noe: however, after about a month the State Duma was discharged.
After the Duma was dissolved he remained in St. Petersburg, working illegally. In order to create a second State Duma, parties were invited to the conference in Tamerpos. Apart from Lenin, everybody supported the election. With Zhordania's advice, Irakli Tsereteli decided to participate, and he later became the Social Democratic faction leader in the Duma. In 1907, after the murder of Ilia Chavchavadze, Zhordania published article in which he wrote that Marxists nihilists do not look to the past, but, in every historical era they see progress. He compared Ilia to the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, in that "revolution lead him to death, but no one condemned the revolution".
During the V congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in London in 1907, 29 Georgian delegates were present. At the congress, Lenin asked Zhordania not to interfere in the Russian Bolshevik's activities: in return, he offered them autonomy in domestic matters. Zhordania rejected the proposal. He was elected as a member of the Party Central Committee at the congress. The committee office was located in Finland, so he remained there and went to St. Petersburg only occasionally. When the second State Duma was dismissed, the Social Democrat Leaders, including Irakli Tsereteli, were apprehended and deported to Siberia.
In occasion of the elections of the State Duma in December 1907, Zhordania illegally returned to Georgia. He helped Nikolay Chkheidze in defeating another candidate, Luarsab Andronikashvil, in elections. Evgeni Gegechkori became the deputy in Kutaisi. In August 1908, Zhordania was arrested again and sent to St. Petersburg. Accused of using a fake passport, he was sentenced to 6 months of imprisonment. After eight months in jail, he was suddenly released and went to Baku, where his wife and children awaited for him. In Baku Zhordania became head editor of the Menshevik newspaper "Our Words". At this time David Sarajishvili had entrusted him to draw up his own library catalog, and gave him a cash prize, before sending him and his family to Italy for a cooperative investigation. In 1909, during his stay in Italy, Zhordania attended the Paris meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. The session aimed to the expropriate Bolsheviks and divestiture ban, which was, accepted. In Vienna, in the newspaper of Leon Trotsky, "Battle", had published letters about the party unification.
After returning from Italy, Zhordania worked in Tbilisi, Baku and Lanchkhuti, cooperating with the party press. In Lanchkhuti he was caught and charged with a call to political and social disorder. He was sentenced to three years in prison in Kutaisi, but he was able to pay his bail, that was only three thousand rubles. The tsar announced an amnesty in 1913 to mark the three hundred-year rule of the Romanov dynasty: it focused on press crimes and gave Zhordania his freedom. Meanwhile, Ina Koreneva, who led the Social Democrats in the election campaign in Baku, was banned from living in the Caucasus and moved in Moscow with her children.
World War I
The RSDLP did not work properly in different countries in 1914. The only exception of this rule was in Georgia, where they were relatively more effective. In Baku they were not working as well, while in Kiev RSDLP it did not exist at all. Zhordania went to Europe with the aim of finding an agreement with the members of RSDLP's central committee. The party had already split into two factions, and none of them had any hope of the revolution that was due to come in Russia. Zhordania met Leon Trotsky in Vienna, in June, and published his letters regarding Bolshevik-Menshevik relations and national issues. Following his doctor's advice, he later decided to spend the summer in Switzerland, Montreux, where he staid three weeks. During the second half of July he went to Beatenberg, where he intended to stay until the end of August, and then to visit Zurich, where the Bolsheviks gathered, and Geneva, where the Mensheviks had gathered. In Geneva, he intended to meet Mgeladze Vlasi and the other Social Democrat immigrants.
The First World War started on August 2, changing his plans. Zhordania immediately decided to return to his homeland: the only way was through Istanbul, by the sea. Benito Mussolini, at the time the editor of the Italian Social Democratic Party newspaper "Avanti", helped him to buy the tickets from Venice to Istanbul. Zhordania arrived in Odessa, where he reunited with his wife and children. Zhordania, in the end, did not contribute to this dispute: he settled in Lanchkhuti and began writing letters to be published in various newspapers. He published a letter from "War and Peace", where he stressed his anti-Germanic position.
At the same time, Zhordania secretly met Mikheil Tsereteli, an old acquaintance, who had translated Marx's "Capital" in English and brought it to his editorial office. Tsereteli worked with a German oriented committee, which aimed to liberate Georgia with the help of Germany and the Ottoman Empire. Zhordania supported the idea of independence, but had different views on tactics: he was waiting for the right moment, and did not support the protests against Russia, because he felt that it would lead to repression. They agreed to work on their own, since both ways could produce the same result.
Furthermore, the Social Democratic Party didn't reach consensus on the national issue. It was decided to organize a party conference, which was held in Junjuat. The conference agreed on the declaration of independence only if the Russian army would leave Georgian territory.
Revolution and independence
During World War I, Zhordania maintained a "defensist" position and worked for Georgi Plekhanov's Journal "Samozaschita" (1916). After the 1917 February Revolution, he chaired the Tbilisi soviet and on March 6, 1917, he was elected as a commissioner of the executive committee of the Tbilisi Soviet. In August 1917, he was elected to the Central Committee of the RSDLP(u[nited]). On the September 3, 1917, he made a speech calling on the workers not to succumb to Bolshevist sentiments, but rather to fight for the establishment of a parliamentary republic. In October 1917, he joined the Russian Pre-Parliament, but soon became disillusioned with it and returned to Georgia. On November 26, 1917, he obtained a chair of the Presidium of the National Council of Georgia and played a leading role in the consolidation of Menshevik power in Georgia. His wavering position on formal secession from Bolshevist Russia ended in May 1918, when he headed a parliamentary session which declared the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia. On July 24, 1918, he became Head of the Government of Georgia.
In January 1918, Army units situated on the Caucasian Front lines moved towards Tbilisi. The Georgian National Council, commanding a newly created Georgian regular army (the first Georgian Corps) and National Guard units were able to stop the Russian army. The Russians were forced to forego the occupation of Tbilisi and retreated towards Baku. The Transcaucasian Commissariat did not recognize the conditions of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. In April 1918, the Ottomans occupied the Batumi region, Guria and Samtskhe-Javakheti. On April 9, 1918, Transcaucasian independence was announced: that was one of the requirements of the Ottoman Empire. Zhordania did not support the declaration of independence, as he believed that an independent Caucasus could have easily fallen into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. A South Caucasus delegation left for Batumi to negotiate with their Ottoman colleagues: they met on May 11, 1918. It appeared that all three South Caucasus nations had different foreign policies.
Georgia favored assistance from Germany, who required Georgia to become independent.
In the morning of May 26, 1918, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and so-called "Transcaucasian Seim" () were born. At 5:10PM Georgia declared its independence. The Independence Act was formed by lawyer Gvazava<ref
name=urushadze>"Levan Z. Urushadze:Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921)", academia, Retrieved in April 2016</ref> and had been previously introduced to Zhordania. In addition to the national provisions, there were also included some social issues, like, for example, the eight-hour working day and rules for land confiscation. Zhordania, however, removed the social provisions and left only the national political ones. He read the redacted Independence Act at the National Council, who unanimously approved it. From 24 July, instead of Noe Ramishvili, Zhordania became the temporary Prime Minister (chairman of the Government).
In 1919, there was a proportional system based on the Constituent Assembly elections. The meeting was opened on March 12. Out of 130 deputies, 109 were Social-Democrat. Zhordania was free from autocratic dictatorial aspirations and considered the advice from other parties. The coat of arms of Georgia was adopted after Zhordania's proposal. To avoid clericalism, all religious signs related to St. George were removed. On March 21, 1919, he was elected as a chairman of the Government, who was also one of the two High Representatives of the Republic of Georgia, with chairman of the Constituent Assembly.
Under Noe Zhordania's leadership, the new administration established the Tbilisi State Conservatory and the Institute of Caucasian Archaeology and History in 1917. They designated Georgian as the official language of the republic and founded Tbilisi State University, declaring it to be a Georgian language institute of higher education.
During 1919–20, Georgia experienced serious troubles. The Bolsheviks consistently organized fights. Philipe Makharadze escaped from the Metekhi prison, which ceased the rumors that he was assisted by Zhordania himself, as an old friend. The country experienced great economic hardship, lack of food and bread, and hyperinflation. In his memoirs Zhordania noted that because of the hardship it was difficult to convince people to work with the government.
He opposed Bolshevik and separatist tendencies, and ethnic minorities were granted political and cultural rights. Zhordania tried to achieve international recognition for Georgia. In 1920, Zhordania sent Gregory Uratadze to Russia to begin negotiations regarding the recognition of Georgia as an independent state. The treaty was signed on May 7, 1920. With this agreement, diplomatic relations between Georgia and Russia were established, and Georgia achieved international recognition. A month before signing the contract, the Georgian army repelled the Russian army, which had tried to take Tbilisi from Azerbaijan. Zhordania ordered the guard to spread the rumor that Azerbaijan had been the aggressor, and not Russia. However when the Soviet government proposed a joint offensive against the Volunteer Army of Anton Denikin, Zhordania remarked " "I prefer the imperialists of the West to the fanatics of the East."
In December 1920, the League of Nations refused to make Georgia and Armenia members, but, after a month, in January 1921, Georgia had reached international legal recognition. In February, the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of the Democratic Republic. In three years, his government had organized a successful land reform, adopted comprehensive social and political legislation, and cultivated widespread international ties, enabling Georgia to become the only Transcaucasian nation to earn de jure recognition from Soviet Russia and the Western powers. Apart from massive peasant support, his government managed to gain, through combining socialism, democracy, and a moderate form of nationalism, the loyalty of the intellectual élites and nobility, and played a crucial role in transforming Georgia into a modern political nation. However, the invasion of the Soviet armies in February–March 1921 toppled the Georgian government, forcing Zhordania and many of his colleagues to seek refuge in France, where he led the government-in-exile and continued his efforts to earn international recognition of the Soviet occupation of Georgia and foreign support for Georgian independence until his death in Paris in 1953.
In 1923, Noe Zhordania made an appeal to Washington in which he said:
He also said in the appeal that Chekists had killed without trial hundreds of people, including women and children, many of them from the Georgian intellectual class.
Emigration and death
In Istanbul, Zhordania met with the French ambassadors and was invited to settle the Georgian government in exile in France. However, in April 1921, Zhordania was not warmly welcomed in France.
He later visited Brussels and London, asking the respective governments for support, but they expressed no interest in the issue.
Zhordania gave up and decided to work with the European countries, and to assist his remaining comrades in Georgia.
Zhordania lived first in Paris, and then in Leuville-sur-Orge, where he helped with the preparation of the Georgian revolt in 1924. Shortly after, his mother, and his daughter Asmat, who had not left Georgia in 1921, were arrested and imprisoned in Batumi. Sergo Kavtaradze, a week later, offered to help them flee the country, but his mother refused the proposal.
Zhordania wrote books in which he criticized the Soviet Union as "the revolution under mask of imperialism". In addition to his political treatises, when he was still in Paris, in 1930, he published the Georgian epic poem by Shota Rustaveli, "The Knight in the Panther's Skin".
By 1933 he had published 12 other books, some of which were "Combating Problems" (), "We and They" (), "Soviet System" (), "True and False Communism" (), "Politics" (), "Bolshevism" (), "Our Differences" (), and "Democracy" (). In Paris he founded the Georgian Social-Democratic journal "Battle" () and the newspaper "Battle Cry" (). Until the 1990s the journal he founded, "Our Flag" (), was active, and later edited by his son-in-law, Levan Paghava.
Noe Zhordania died at the age of 85, on January 11, 1953, in Leuville-sur-Orge, where he is buried. In 1968 his memorial, titled "My Past", was published in English and Russian posthumously. On 10 March 2004, Mikhail Saakashvili offered to move Zhordania's remains to Georgia.
The "Noe Zhordania Institute" in Paris studies his heritage and the history of social democracy in Georgia.
Ideology
Zhordania was a Marxist, leaning towards the social-democratic. He focused on the peasantry and dealt with the national issue.
As a child he grew up as an Orthodox Christian. He questioned the existence of God for the first time in school, after reading "The Door to Nature" of Iakob Gogebashvili: because of it, he found out that natural disasters had a scientific explanation. Because of his doubts regarding the existence of God he ended up questioning the legitimacy of the government of the king, since the king's legitimacy was commonly perceived being a divine ordination. Even in school he had a strong belief:
During the seminary studies he formed the Group of Narodnik Socialists, that supported the revolution. The Narodniks recognized a revolution that was not Democratic, but Socialist: they demanded the establishment of socialism. They believed that the only choice was between either priesthood or being a Narodnik.
In Warsaw, Zhordania was introduced to Marxism and its political ideology: that was after 1892, when the revolutionaries in Russia went from seeking socialism to European Marxism.B. Husband, William. "Europe: Early Modern and Modern", Oxford University Press, June 2006. Retrieved in March 2016.
In his view, Russian socialism was an utopian and reactionary doctrine, which brought people back to barbarism. Zhordania believed that European socialism was leading the proletariat towards the factories, so the political actions had to be based on that type of proletariat. In addition, he shared the view that the backward countries needed political revolution, democracy, economic development and later the transition to socialism.
He had different views on war tactics in respect to the Russian Marxists. In "Kvali" and "Skhivi", he thought it was fair to use terror under certain circumstances.
Zhordania had conservative views regarding the role of families and believed that a person's main objective was to have family and procreate.
The agrarian issue
To better understand the ideology of Marxism, he traveled to Switzerland, France, Germany and England, where he became part of several European socialist parties. What he discovered was that the structure of the European society was considerably different from the Georgian one.
He was foremost interested in agrarian issues. In Europe, the peasant was considered a private owner, and the petty bourgeoisie was subjected to state taxes, unlike the aristocracy. In Georgia it was the opposite: because of that, the peasants and the landlords monarchists were opposed. The agrarian question was, for Zhordania, a central issue. In contrast to the European and Russian Social Democratic Movements, which sought political change through the industrial proletariat, Zhordania believed that farmers were the leading force in the revolutionary movement.
National issue
Unlike Georgia, Western European countries had a settled national identity already, so Zhordania could not find anything useful from their programs: it was in Poland that he was introduced to the idea of a nationalist movement. At the beginning of 1896, in a letter to Karl Kautsky regarding Polish autonomy, Zhordania's viewpoint came to life. He thought that Marxism does not deny the national issue and the national struggle for freedom.
He did not believe that the promotion of the national issue came first. Subsequently, he opposed the Social-federalist movement. According to him Georgia was a young nation, whose national consciousness was only born at the end of the 19th century. In his view, Russia had brought in Georgia a higher political-economic system, namely capitalism. In addition to that, he felt that, since the local peasants were against landlords, by putting the national issue in front he would lose the support from the peasantry, and by losing them the revolutionary movement would be endangered. He supported only the cultural autonomy of nations.
During World War I he was particularly opposed to the national issue. He considered it a physical threat to the nation. He thought that the country should show commitment to Russia, otherwise the whole government would be under threat. This idea was strengthened during Russia's punitive expedition in Adjara. In Zhordania's view, the party should not bear the responsibility for separatism.
While the Social-Democratic Party did not have common understanding on the national issues, Zhordania personally did not question Georgia's independence: his vision was based only on tactical considerations. After the October Revolution, Zhordania's view changed in regards to the nationalist stance.
Family
In 1904, Noe Zhordania married Ina Koreneva, a party comrade (1877-1967). The couple had four children: Asmat, Nina, Redjeb, and Andreika. The daughter of Asmat Zhordania and Levan Pagava, Ethéry Pagava, would become a famous ballerina in France. Nina married Archil Tsitsishvili and had three daughters and five grandchildren. Andreika died in Georgia, while Redjeb Zhordania has one son, two daughters, and lives in New York, where he is a lecturer on French civilization.
Zhordania's relative, Nina Gegechkori, was Lavrenti Beria's wife.
Works
Noi Nikolaevich Zhordania, My Life, The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford, California, 1968,
See also
Joseph Jordania
Vakhtang Jordania
References
Bibliography
Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007), Zhordania, Noe. Dictionary of Georgian National Biography. Retrieved on May 24, 2007.
External links
Georgia, Between Hope and Fear, The Washington Post''. August 21, 2008. An article by Noe Zhordania's son Redjeb Zhordania.
(French) Noé Jordania.
(French) Ière République de Géorgie.
(French) Ière République de Géorgie en exil.
1860s births
1953 deaths
Members of the Central Committee of the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
People from Guria
People from Kutais Governorate
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members
Mensheviks
Social Democratic Party of Georgia politicians
Prime Ministers of Georgia
Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire
Russian Constituent Assembly members
1910s in Georgia (country)
1920s in Georgia (country)
20th-century politicians from Georgia (country)
Democratic Republic of Georgia
Georgian independence activists
Journalists from Georgia (country)
Russian Marxist journalists
Memoirists from Georgia (country)
Revolutionaries from Georgia (country)
Georgian exiles
Emigrants from Georgia (country) to France
Burials at Leuville cemetery
People from the Russian Empire |
427479 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt%20culture | Hallstatt culture | The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western and Central European archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC (Late Bronze Age) and followed in much of its area by the La Tène culture. It is commonly associated with Proto-Celtic speaking populations.
It is named for its type site, Hallstatt, a lakeside village in the Austrian Salzkammergut southeast of Salzburg, where there was a rich salt mine, and some 1,300 burials are known, many with fine artifacts. Material from Hallstatt has been classified into four periods, designated "Hallstatt A" to "D". Hallstatt A and B are regarded as Late Bronze Age and the terms used for wider areas, such as "Hallstatt culture", or "period", "style" and so on, relate to the Iron Age Hallstatt C and D.
By the 6th century BC, it had expanded to include wide territories, falling into two zones, east and west, between them covering much of western and central Europe down to the Alps, and extending into northern Italy. Parts of Britain and Iberia are included in the ultimate expansion of the culture.
The culture was based on farming, but metal-working was considerably advanced, and by the end of the period long-range trade within the area and with Mediterranean cultures was economically significant. Social distinctions became increasingly important, with emerging elite classes of chieftains and warriors, and perhaps those with other skills. Society is thought to have been organized on a tribal basis, though very little is known about this. Settlement size was generally small, although a few of the largest settlements, like Heuneburg in the south of Germany, were towns rather than villages by modern standards. However, at the end of the period these seem to have been overthrown or abandoned.
Chronology
According to Paul Reinecke's time-scheme from 1902, the end of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age were divided into four periods:
Bronze Age Urnfield culture:
HaA (1200-1050 BC)
HaB (1050-800 BC)
Early Iron Age Hallstatt culture:
HaC (800-620 BC)
HaD (620-450 BC)
Paul Reinecke based his chronological divisions on finds from the south of Germany.
Already by 1881 Otto Tischler had made analogies to the Iron Age in the Northern Alps based on finds of brooches from graves in the south of Germany.
Absolute dating
It has proven difficult to use radiocarbon dating for the Early Iron Age due to the so-called "Hallstatt-Plateau", a phenomenon where radiocarbon dates cannot be distinguished between 750 and 400 BC. There are workarounds however, such as the wiggle matching technique. Therefore, dating in this time-period has been based mainly on Dendrochronology and relative dating.
For the beginning of HaC wood pieces from the Cart Grave of Wehringen (Landkreis Augsburg) deliver a solid dating in 778 ± 5 BC (Grave Barrow 8).
Despite missing an older Dendro-date for HaC, the convention remains that the Hallstatt period begins together with the arrival of the iron ore processing technology around 800 BC.
Relative dating
HaC is dated according to the presence of Mindelheim-type swords, binocular brooches, harp brooches, and arched brooches.
Based on the quickly changing fashions of brooches, it was possible to divide HaD into three stages (D1-D3). In HaD1 snake brooches are predominant, while in HaD2 drum brooches appear more often, and in HaD3 the double-drum and embellished foot brooches.
The transition to the La Tène period is often connected with the emergence of the first animal-shaped brooches, with Certosa-type and with Marzabotto-type brooches.
Hallstatt type site
The community at Hallstatt was untypical of the wider, mainly agricultural, culture, as its booming economy exploited the salt mines in the area. These had been worked from time to time since the Neolithic period, and in this period were extensively mined with a peak from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the grave goods found in the cemetery are very distinctive, and artifacts made in this style are widespread in Europe. In the mine workings themselves, the salt has preserved many organic materials such as textiles, wood and leather, and many abandoned artifacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools including miner's backpacks, have survived in good condition.
In 1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795–1874) discovered a large prehistoric cemetery near Hallstatt, Austria (), which he excavated during the second half of the 19th century. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found. This may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the whole narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake. Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children but few infants. Nor is there a "princely" burial, as often found near large settlements. Instead, there are a large number of burials varying considerably in the number and richness of the grave goods, but with a high proportion containing goods suggesting a life well above subsistence level. It is now thought that at least most of these were not miners themselves, but from a richer class controlling the mines.
Finds at Hallstatt extend from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, and are divided by archaeologists into four phases:
Hallstatt A–B (1200–800 BC) are part of the Bronze Age Urnfield culture. In this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus (barrow or kurgan) burial becomes common, and cremation predominates. The "Hallstatt period" proper is restricted to HaC and HaD (800–450 BC), corresponding to the early European Iron Age. Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there.
Hallstatt D is succeeded by the La Tène culture.
Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords mixed amongst the bronze ones. Inhumation and cremation co-occur. For the final phase, Hallstatt D, daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, are found in western zone graves ranging from –500 BC. There are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Burials were mostly inhumations. Halstatt D has been further divided into the sub-phases D1–D3, relating only to the western zone, and mainly based on the form of brooches.
Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, for reasons that are unclear. Many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread disruption throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep. By then the focus of salt mining had shifted to the nearby Hallein Salt Mine, with graves at Dürrnberg nearby where there are significant finds from the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods, until the mid-4th century BC, when a major landslide destroyed the mineshafts and ended mining activity.
Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed, and is now found in many collections, especially German and Austrian museums, but the Hallstatt Museum in the town has the largest collection.
Culture and trade
Languages
It is probable that some if not all of the diffusion of Hallstatt culture took place in a Celtic-speaking context. In northern Italy the Golasecca culture developed with continuity from the Canegrate culture. Canegrate represented a completely new cultural dynamic to the area expressed in pottery and bronzework, making it a typical western example of the western Hallstatt culture.
The Lepontic Celtic language inscriptions of the area show the language of the Golasecca culture was clearly Celtic making it probable that the 13th-century BC precursor language of at least the western Hallstatt was also Celtic or a precursor to it. Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in Umbria, in the area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène. The Umbrian necropolis of Terni, which dates back to the 10th century BC, was virtually identical in every aspect to the Celtic necropolis of the Golasecca culture.
Older assumptions of the early 20th century of Illyrians having been the bearers of especially the Eastern Hallstatt culture are indefensible and archeologically unsubstantiated.
Trade
Trade with Greece is attested by finds of Attic black-figure pottery in the elite graves of the late Hallstatt period. It was probably imported via Massilia (Marseilles). Other imported luxuries include amber, ivory (as found at the Grafenbühl Tomb) and probably wine. Red kermes dye was imported from the south as well; it was found at Hochdorf. Notable individual imports include the Greek Vix krater (the largest known metal vessel from Western classical antiquity), the Etruscan lebes from Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine, the Greek hydria from Grächwil, the Greek cauldron from Hochdorf and the Greek or Etruscan cauldron from Lavau.
Settlements
The largest settlements were mostly fortified, situated on hilltops, and frequently included the workshops of bronze, silver and gold smiths. Major settlements are known as 'princely seats' (or Fürstensitze in German), and are characterized by elite residences, rich burials, monumental buildings and fortifications. Some of these central sites are described as urban or proto-urban, and as 'the first cities north of the Alps'. Typical sites of this type are the Heuneburg on the upper Danube surrounded by nine very large grave tumuli, and Mont Lassois in eastern France near Châtillon-sur-Seine with, at its foot, the very rich grave at Vix. Other important sites include the Glauberg, Hohenasperg and Ipf in Germany, the Burgstallkogel in Austria and Molpír in Slovakia. However, most settlements were much smaller villages. The large monumental site of Alte Burg may have had a religious or ceremonial function, and possibly served as a location for games and competitions.
At the end of the Hallstatt period many major centres were abandoned and there was a return to a more decentralized settlement pattern, prior to the emergence of urban centres across temperate Europe in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC during the La Tène period.
Burial rites
The burials at Hallstatt itself show a movement over the period from cremation to inhumation, with grave goods at all times (see above).
In the central Hallstatt regions toward the end of the period (Ha D), very rich graves of high-status individuals under large tumuli are found near the remains of fortified hilltop settlements. Tumuli graves had a chamber, rather large in some cases, lined with timber and with the body and grave goods set about the room. There are some chariot or wagon burials, including (possibly) Býčí Skála, Vix and Hochdorf.
A model of a chariot made from lead has been found in Frög, Carinthia, and clay models of horses with riders are also found. Wooden "funerary carts", presumably used as hearses and then buried, are sometimes found in the grandest graves. Pottery and bronze vessels, weapons, elaborate jewellery made of bronze and gold, as well as a few stone stelae (especially the famous Warrior of Hirschlanden) are found at such burials. The daggers that largely replaced swords in chief's graves in the west were probably not serious weapons, but badges of rank, and used at the table.
Social structure
The material culture of Western Hallstatt culture was apparently sufficient to provide a stable social and economic equilibrium. The founding of Marseille and the penetration by Greek and Etruscan culture after , resulted in long-range trade relationships up the Rhone valley which triggered social and cultural transformations in the Hallstatt settlements north of the Alps. Powerful local chiefdoms emerged which controlled the redistribution of luxury goods from the Mediterranean world that is also characteristic of the La Tène culture.
The apparently largely peaceful and prosperous life of Hallstatt D culture was disrupted, perhaps even collapsed, right at the end of the period. There has been much speculation as to the causes of this, which remain uncertain. Large settlements such as Heuneburg and the Burgstallkogel were destroyed or abandoned, rich tumulus burials ended, and old ones were looted. There was probably a significant movement of population westwards, and the succeeding La Tène culture developed new centres to the west and north, their growth perhaps overlapping with the final years of the Hallstatt culture.
Technology
Occasional iron artefacts had been appearing in central and western Europe for some centuries before 800 BC (an iron knife or sickle from Ganovce in Slovakia, dating to the 18th century BC, is possibly the earliest evidence of smelted iron in Central Europe). By the later Urnfield (Hallstatt B) phase, some swords were already being made and embellished in iron in eastern Central Europe, and occasionally much further west.
Initially iron was rather exotic and expensive, and sometimes used as a prestige material for jewellery. Iron swords became more common after , and steel was also produced from as part of the production of swords. The production of high-carbon steel is attested in Britain after .
The remarkable uniformity of spoked-wheel wagons from across the Hallstatt region indicates a certain standardisation of production methods, which included the use of lathe-turning. Iron tyres were also developed and refined in this period, leading to the invention of shrunk-on iron tyres without nails in the later La Tène period. The potter's wheel appeared during the Hallstatt period.
The extensive use of planking and massive squared beams indicates the use of long saw blades and possibly two-man sawing. The planks of the Hohmichele burial chamber (6th c. BC), which were over 6m long and 35cm wide, appear to have been sawn by a large timber-yard saw. The construction of monumental buildings such as the Vix palace further demonstrates a "mastery of geometry and carpentry capable of freeing up vast interior spaces."
Art
At least the later periods of Hallstatt art from the western zone are generally agreed to form the early period of Celtic art. Decoration is mostly geometric and linear, and best seen on fine metalwork finds from graves (see above). Styles differ, especially between the west and east, with more human figures and some narrative elements in the latter. Animals, with waterfowl a particular favourite, are often included as part of other objects, more often than humans, and in the west there is almost no narrative content such as scenes of combat depicted. These characteristics were continued into the succeeding La Tène style.
Imported luxury art is sometimes found in rich elite graves in the later phases, and certainly had some influence on local styles. The most spectacular objects, such as the Strettweg Cult Wagon, the Warrior of Hirschlanden and the bronze couch supported by "unicyclists" from the Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave are one of a kind in finds from the Hallstatt period, though they can be related to objects from other periods.
More common objects include weapons, in Ha D often with hilts terminating in curving forks ("antenna hilts"). Jewellery in metal includes fibulae, often with a row of disks hanging down on chains, armlets and some torcs. This is mostly in bronze, but "princely" burials include items in gold.
The origin of the narrative scenes of the eastern zone, from Hallstatt C onwards, is generally traced to influence from the Situla art of northern Italy and the northern Adriatic, where these bronze buckets began to be decorated in bands with figures in provincial Etruscan centres influenced by Etruscan and Greek art. The fashion for decorated situlae spread north across neighbouring cultures including the eastern Hallstatt zone, beginning around 600 BC and surviving until about 400 BC; the Vače situla is a Slovenian example from near the final period. The style is also found on bronze belt plates, and some of the vocabulary of motifs spread to influence the emerging La Tène style.
According to Ruth and Vincent Megaw, "Situla art depicts life as seen from a masculine viewpoint, in which women are servants or sex objects; most of the scenes which include humans are of the feasts in which the situlae themselves figure, of the hunt or of war". Similar scenes are found on other vessel shapes, as well as bronze belt-plaques. The processions of animals, typical of earlier examples, or humans derive from the Near East and Mediterranean, and Nancy Sandars finds the style shows "a gaucherie that betrays the artist working in a way that is uncongenial, too much at variance with the temper of the craftsmen and the craft". Compared to earlier styles that arose organically in Europe "situla art is weak and sometimes quaint", and "in essence not of Europe".
Except for the Italian Benvenuti Situla, men are hairless, with "funny hats, dumpy bodies and big heads", though often shown looking cheerful in an engaging way. The Benevenuti Situla is also unusual in that it seems to show a specific story.
The Strettweg cult wagon from Austria (c. 600 BC) has been interpreted as representing a deer goddess or 'Great Nature Goddess' similar to Artemis.
Hallstatt culture musical instruments included harps, lyres, zithers, woodwinds, panpipes, horns, drums and rattles.
Inscriptions
A small number of inscriptions have been recovered from Hallstatt culture sites. Markings or symbols inscribed on iron tools from Austria dating from the early Iron Age (Ha C, 800-650 BC) show continuity with symbols from the Bronze Age Urnfield culture, and are thought to be related to mining and the metal trade. Inscriptions engraved on situlas or cauldrons from the Hallstatt cemetery in Austria, dating from c. 800-500 BC, have been interpreted as numerals, letters and words, possibly related to Etruscan or Old Italic scripts. Weights from Bavaria dating from the 7th to early 6th century BC bear signs possibly resembling Greek or Etruscan letters. A single-word inscription (possibly a name) on a locally produced ceramic sherd from Montmorot in eastern France, dating from the late 7th to mid-6th century BC, has been identified as either Gaulish or Lepontic, written in either a 'proto-Lepontic' or Etruscan alphabet.
A fragment of an inscription painted on local pottery has also been recovered from the late Hallstatt site of Bragny-sur-Saône in eastern France, dating from the 5th century BC. A letter inscribed on a gold cup was deposited in a princely tomb at Apremont in eastern France, dating from c. 500 BC.
Another fragmentary inscription on pottery was found in a princely burial near Bergères-les-Vertus in north-eastern France, dating from late 5th century BC (at the beginning of La Tène A). The inscription has been identified as the Celtic word for "king", written in the Lepontic alphabet. According to Olivier (2010), "this graffito represents one of the earliest attested occurrences of the word rîx which designates the "king" in the Celtic languages. ... It would also seem to represent the first co-occurrence in the Celtic world of a funerary archaeological context and a contemporaneous linguistic qualification as ‘royal’.” According to Verger (1998) the 7th-6th century BC inscription from Montmorot "is at the beginning of a still limited series of documents attesting to the use of alphabetic signs and the use of writing in Eastern Gaul during the entire period characterised by the appearance, development and end of the Hallstattian 'princely phenomenon'. ... The first transmission of the alphabet north of the Alps, at the end of the 7th or in the first half of the 6th century, seems to be only the beginning of a process that was regularly renewed until the second half of the fifth century."
Calendar
The monumental burial mounds at Glauberg and Magdalenenberg in Germany featured structures aligned with the point of the major lunar standstill, which occurs every 18.6 years. At Glauberg this took the form of a 'processional avenue' lined by large ditches, whilst at Magdalenenberg the alignment was marked with a large timber palisade. The knowledge required to create these alignments would have required long-term observation of the skies, possibly over several generations. At Glauberg other ditches and postholes associated with the mound may have been used to observe astronomical phenomena such as the solstices, with the whole ensemble functioning as a calendar. According to the archaeologist Allard Mees, the numerous burials within the Magdalenenberg mound were positioned to mirror the constellations as they appeared at the time of the summer solstice in 618 BC. Mees argues that the Magdalenenberg represented a lunar calendar and that knowledge of the 18.6 year lunar standstill cycle would have enabled the prediction of lunar eclipses. According to Mees many other burial mounds in this period were also aligned with lunar phenomena. An analysis of Hallstatt period burials by Müller-Scheeßel (2005) similarly suggested that they were oriented towards specific constellations. According to Gaspani (1998) the diagonals of the rectangular Hochdorf burial chamber were also aligned with the major lunar standstill.
Further evidence for knowledge of lunar eclipse cycles in this period comes from Fiskerton in England, where an analysis of a wooden causeway used to make ritual depositions into the Witham river found that the causeway timbers were felled at intervals corresponding to Saros lunar eclipse cycles, indicating that the builders were able to predict these cycles in advance. According to the archaeologists who studied this site, similar evidence can be found at other locations in the British Isles and Central Europe dating from the Late Bronze Age through to the Late Iron Age, suggesting that knowledge of lunar eclipse cycles may have been widespread in this period.
Kruta (2010) interprets a large decorated brooch from Hallstatt, dating from the 6th century BC, as representing a 'symbolic summary of the course of the year'. Depictions on the brooch of waterfowl (representing night and winter) and horses (representing day and summer) are placed above a solar boat (representing the sun's journey from one winter solstice to the next), whilst twelve circular pendants represent the lunar months.
According to Garrett Olmsted (2001) the Celtic Coligny calendar, dating from the 1st-2nd centuries AD, has origins dating back to the Hallstatt period or Late Bronze Age, indicating that calendrical knowledge was transmitted through a long oral tradition.
Geography
Two culturally distinct areas, an eastern and a western zone are generally recognised. There are distinctions in burial rites, the types of grave goods, and in artistic style. In the western zone, members of the elite were buried with sword (HaC) or dagger (HaD), in the eastern zone with an axe. The western zone has chariot burials. In the eastern zone, warriors are frequently buried with helmet and a plate armour breastplate. Artistic subjects with a narrative component are only found in the east, in both pottery and metalwork. In the east the settlements and cemeteries can be larger than in the west.
The approximate division line between the two subcultures runs from north to south through central Bohemia and Lower Austria at about 14 to 15 degrees eastern longitude, and then traces the eastern and southern rim of the Alps to Eastern and Southern Tyrol.
Western Hallstatt zone
Taken at its most generous extent, the western Hallstatt zone includes:
northeastern France: Burgundy, Franche-Comté, Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine, Alsace
northern Switzerland: Swiss plateau
Southern Germany: much of Swabia and Bavaria
western Czech Republic: Bohemia
western Austria: Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzkammergut
West Hallstatt influence is also later perceptible in the rest of France, in England and Ireland, in northern Italy and in central, northern and western Iberia. It is not clear how this spread happened but a cultural influence rather than a population movement seems to be supported by recent genetic studies (see below).
While Hallstatt is regarded as the dominant settlement of the western zone, a settlement at the Burgstallkogel in the central Sulm valley (southern Styria, west of Leibnitz, Austria) was a major centre during the Hallstatt C period. Parts of the huge necropolis (which originally consisted of more than 1,100 tumuli) surrounding this settlement can be seen today near Gleinstätten, and the chieftain's mounds were on the other side of the hill, near Kleinklein. The finds are mostly in the Landesmuseum Joanneum at Graz, which also holds the Strettweg Cult Wagon.
Eastern Hallstatt zone
The eastern Hallstatt zone includes:
eastern Austria: Lower Austria, Upper Styria
eastern Czech Republic: Moravia
southwestern Slovakia: Danubian Lowland
western Hungary: Little Hungarian Plain
eastern Slovenia: Hallstatt Archaeological Site in Vače (at the border between Lower Styria and Lower Carniola regions), Novo Mesto
western Slovenia: Svetolucijska Hallstatt culture Most na Soči, Notranjsko kraška Slovene Littoral
northern Croatia: Hrvatsko Zagorje, Istria
northern and central Serbia
parts of southwestern Poland
northern and western Bulgaria
Trade, cultural diffusion, and some population movements spread the Hallstatt cultural complex (western form) into Britain, and Ireland.
Genetics
A genetic study published in Nature in May 2018 examined the remains of a male and female buried at a Hallstatt cemetery near Litoměřice, Czech Republic between ca. 600 BC and 400 BC. The male was found to be a carrier of the paternal haplogroup R1b and the maternal haplogroup H6a1a. The female was a carrier of the maternal haplogroup HV0.
A genetic study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in June 2020 examined the remains of 5 individuals ascribed to either Hallstatt C or the early La Tène culture. The sample of Y-DNA extracted was determined to belong to haplogroup G2a, while the 5 samples of mtDNA extracted were determined to belong to the haplogroups K1a2a, J1c2o, H7d, U5a1a1 and J1c-16261. The examined individuals of the Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture displayed genetic continuity with the earlier Bell Beaker culture, and carried about 50% steppe-related ancestry.
A genetic study published in iScience in April 2022 examined 49 genomes from 27 sites in Bronze Age and Iron Age France. The study found evidence of strong genetic continuity between the two periods, particularly in southern France. The samples from northern and southern France were highly homogenous, with northern samples displaying links to contemporary samples from Great Britain and Sweden, and southern samples displaying links to Celtiberians. The northern French samples were distinguished from the southern ones by elevated levels of steppe-related ancestry. R1b was by far the most dominant paternal lineage, while H was the most common maternal lineage. The Iron Age samples resembled those of modern-day populations of France, Great Britain and Spain. The evidence suggested that the Celts of the Hallstatt culture largely evolved from local Bronze Age populations.
See also
Glauberg
Hohenasperg
Ipf (mountain)
Mont Lassois (commune of Vix)
Burgstallkogel
Alte Burg
Vorstengraf (Oss)
Grafenbühl grave
Bronze- and Iron-Age Poland
Celtic warfare
Iron Age sword
Iron Age France
Iron Age Switzerland
Noric steel
Irschen
Zollfeld
Citations
Sources
Barth, F.E., J. Biel, et al. Vierrädrige Wagen der Hallstattzeit ("The Hallstatt four-wheeled wagons" at Mainz). Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum; 1987.
Laing, Lloyd and Jenifer. Art of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London 1992
McIntosh, Jane, Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe, 2009, Oxford University Press (USA),
Megaw, Ruth and Vincent, Celtic Art, 2001, Thames and Hudson,
Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st edn.)
Further reading
Documentary
Klaus T. Steindl: MYTHOS HALLSTATT - Dawn of the Celts. TV-Documentary subjecting new findings and state of archeological research (2018)
External links
Archaeological cultures of Europe
Archaeological cultures of West Asia
Iron Age cultures of Europe
Celtic archaeological cultures
Iron Age of Slovenia
Archaeological cultures in Austria
Archaeological cultures in Belgium
Archaeological cultures in Bulgaria
Archaeological cultures in Croatia
Archaeological cultures in the Czech Republic
Archaeological cultures in England
Archaeological cultures in France
Archaeological cultures in Germany
Archaeological cultures in Hungary
Archaeological cultures in Portugal
Archaeological cultures in Romania
Archaeological cultures in Serbia
Archaeological cultures in Slovakia
Archaeological cultures in Slovenia
Archaeological cultures in Spain
Archaeological cultures in Switzerland
Archaeological cultures in Turkey
World Heritage Sites in Austria
8th-century BC establishments
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States and territories established in the 8th century BC
States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC |
427503 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20National%20Party | United National Party | The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP (, ), is a centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party, or as part of its governing coalition, for 38 of the country's 74 years of independence, including the periods 19471956, 19651970, 19771994, 20012004 and 20152019. The party also controlled the executive presidency from its formation in 1978 until 1994.
The UNP has been led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe since 1994.
The UNP is a member of the International Democrat Union.
History
Formation (1946–1952)
The UNP was founded by Don Stephen Senanayake in 1946 by amalgamating three right-leaning, pro-dominion parties from the majority Sinhalese community and minority Tamil and Muslim communities. Senanayake had earlier resigned from the Ceylon National Congress due to its revised aim in achieving independence from the British Empire. The UNP represented the business community and the landed gentry, though Senanayake appealed to landless people by adopting populist policies. His agricultural policies allowed many landless people to relocate under productive colonization schemes, which resulted in Sri Lankan agricultural production rising. Senanayake became popular enough to be called the "father of the nation".
Senanayake refused a knighthood, but maintained good relations with Britain and was a Privy Counsellor. He launched major irrigation and hydro-power projects such as the Gal Oya project (which relocated over 250,000 people), Udawalawa tank, Senanayaka tank, and several other multipurpose projects. He also renovated historic sites in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and played a major role in the Colombo plan. During his tenure, free education commenced and the University of Peradeniya opened.
However, his government proceeded to disenfranchise the plantation workers of Indian descent, the Indian Tamils, using the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 and the Parliamentary Elections Amendment Act of 1949. These measures were intended primarily to electorally undermine the Left.
Dudley Senanayake era (1952–1953)
In July 1951, long-standing UNP stalwart Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, a Buddhist nationalist leader known for his centre-left views, quit the UNP to found the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as a balancing force between the UNP and Marxist parties. In March 1952, Prime Minister Senanayake died in a riding accident and was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake.
During his tenure, Dudley Senanayake launched several projects to further develop the agricultural sector and was termed "Bath Dun Piya" (English: the father who offered free rice to the nation). To improve the agricultural sector, he created Bathalegoda Paddy research centre, Thalawakele Tea research centre and Lunuwila Coconut research centre. He also founded Moratuwa University, Ampara Higher Technology Institution, and many technical colleges. During this period, Bhikku University commenced and Poya was declared a government-recognized holiday.
Kotelawala era (1953–1958)
The UNP attempted to reduce the rice ration, resulting in the 1953 Hartal (general strike and protest), which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake. He was succeeded by his cousin, Colonel Sir John Kotelawala, who launched several major power generation and infrastructure projects. These include: the Lakshapana hydropower project; Bambalapitiya, a housing project for the homeless; modernizing of the Ratmalana Airport; construction of the Kelaniya Bridge; and the development of Buddhist religious sites.
There was growing disaffection with the UNP particularly because of its support of minority religious groups – most notably Catholics – to the consternation of the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese. Bandaranaike was able to take advantage and lead the SLFP to victory in the 1956 elections, while the UNP returned only eight members to parliament. Kotelawala stepped down as party leader and went into self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom.
Second Dudley Senanayake era (1958–1972)
Bandaranaike passed the controversial Sinhala Only Act, which led to communal clashes in 1958. Dudley Senanayake retook party leadership, and the UNP held power for three months in 1960. The UNP entered a coalition with the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Tamil ethnic Federal Party which took power in 1965 under Dudley Senanayake. The coalition lost in a 1970 landslide to the United Front alliance of the SLFP with Marxist Parties. A bitter leadership battle in the UNP developed between the populist Dudley Senanayake and the more conservative Junius Richard Jayewardene, a strong supporter of free-market and pro-American policies. The latter was nicknamed as "Yankee Dickey".
During the tenure of Dudley Senanayake, English education was made compulsory.
Jayawardene era (1972–1988)
After Dudley Senanayake's death in 1973, Jayewardene became the leader of the UNP and reorganized the party at the grassroots level.
The United Front faced general disaffection from its economic policies and its brutal crackdown against a 1971 Marxist–Leninist insurrection by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The UNP, which promised each person with an cereal ration, returned to power in 1977 with an unprecedented five-sixths majority in parliament.
Jayewardene was elected president by Parliament and, in 1978, introduced a new constitution which transformed the presidency into an executive post with sweeping powers.
The UNP opened the economy and made sweeping policy changes. Free-trade zones such as in Katunayaka and Biyagama attracted foreign investment and generated employment. The government undertook massive development work to promote hydroelectricity and agriculture. Reservoirs were built at Victoria, Randenigala, Rantambe and Kotmale, while Maduru Oya and Lunugamwehera reservoirs were reconstructed. He awarded "Swarnabhoomi" land deeds to people and established administration centres such as Isurupaya and Sethsiripaya to create the new administrative capital in Sri Jayawardanapua Kotte, where a new Parliament Building was constructed.
In schools, the Mahapola scholarship programme was launched, free school books were provided, and information technology was introduced. Jayawardene's administration created the University of Ruhuna and Eastern University as well as the medical faculty of Jaffna university. Bandaranayake International Airport was modernized and Air Lanka was created. He also modernized the military and created the Police Special Task Force.
By 1987, the Sri Lankan military had cornered the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Jaffna and were confident of bringing an end to the civil war. However, due to internal pressure, airdropped supplies to the besieged LTTE.
Premadasa era (1988–1993)
Jayewardene retired in 1988 and was succeeded by Ranasinghe Premadasa, a populist leader from the lower class known for his anti-Indian sentiment. After he was elected as president in 1988, he launched the Million Houses Programme for the homeless and started the 'Village Re-Awakening Movement' (Gam Udawa) to develop rural areas across the country. Premadasa's people-oriented programs include the Janasaviya, the Garment Factories Programme, and decentralization of the administration to Divisional Secretariats. He also created the National Housing Development Authority, Urban Development Authority, Central Environmental Authority, Janasaviya Trust Fund, Housing Development Finance Corporation and the Institute for Construction Training and Development.
Despite these developments, many of his political enemies "disappeared" during his reign, most notably the journalist Richard de Zoysa. In 1993, Premadasa was assassinated by LTTE suicide cadres at a May Day rally.
Wickremesinghe era
Opposition (1994–2001)
In the 1994 election, the People's Alliance gained control of parliament after 17 years of unbroken UNP rule. While in opposition, many of UNP stalwarts were killed by an LTTE suicide terrorist attack including presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake. Party leadership was passed to Jayewardene's nephew, Ranil Wickremesinghe, a relatively young politician with pro-western views and a penchant for neoliberal economic policies.
In government (2001–2004)
By 2001 the country was facing the worst economic downturn since independence, with rising inflation and a power crisis. GDP was shrinking by 2.5%. The SLFP government fell on a no-confidence motion by the opposition, which prompted President Kumaratunga to call for early elections. Wickremesinghe secured the support of former government notables, including former Kumaratunga confidants, G. L. Peiris, and S. B. Dissanayake, who would later become important members of the party. On a platform of peace with LTTE and economic resurgence, the UNP returned to power in the 2001 election, taking all but one district. Wickremesinghe became prime minister of a "co-habitation" government with President Kumaratunga.
Within two months into his premiership, Wickremesinghe signed a pivotal ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. The agreement was followed by intense peace negotiations towards a solution to the ethnic conflict. During Eelam War III, which followed as the negotiations were not yet complete, the LTTE proceeded to seize territories that it had lost.
The UNP government maintained strict fiscal discipline and market-friendly policies, which led to economic recovery, large-scale investment, and rapid economic growth. The government created key economic institutions such as the Board of Investment, the Ministry for Small and Rural Enterprises, and the Information Communication Technology Agency. Economic growth continued to accelerate, reaching almost 6% at the end of 2003, while inflation was at an all-time low of under 2%. Many local and foreign experts believed that Sri Lanka could reach double-digit economic growth within a few years.
However, cease-fire breaches by the LTTE, including the constant stream of assassinations of military spies, emboldedend nationalistic and extremist factions such as the JVP and its cover organizations to organise protests. They tried to convince the public that Wickremesinghe was giving too much away to the LTTE. Hardline Sinhalese Buddhist organizations such as the Sinhala Urumaya (Sinhalese Heritage) criticized the government for this and for allegedly pandering to western evangelical Christian organizations, endangering Buddhism. The Sinhala Urumaya later rename themselves as Jathika Hela Urumaya (National Sinhalese Heritage) and put forward Buddhist monks to contest elections.
In late 2003 the president took over the National Lotteries Board. The UNP blocked this move by surrounding the government press so that the gazette could not be printed. As a retaliatory move, the president then took over the ministries of Mass Communications, Defence, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was visiting George W. Bush in Washington DC. Kumaratunga and her confidants launched a massive media attack on their nominal partners, branding Wickremesinghe as a traitor and accusing the UNP government of "selling" national heritage sites to foreigners.
Opposition (2004–2015)
Early in 2004, the SLFP and JVP formed the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), marking the beginning of the end for the UNP government. In February 2004, within 24 hours of delivering a speech for national unity, Kumaratunga dissolved parliament. In the subsequent election on 2 April 2004, the UNP was defeated by the UPFA. Wickremesinghe remained as leader of the UNP.
In the presidential election of 17 November 2005, Wickremesinghe, came second with 48.43% of the vote. It is widely believed that if not for the boycott of the polls in the North and parts of the East, allegedly due to LTTE intimidation, Wickramsinghe would have won, though he was unable to gain the trust of the bulk of the majority Sinhalese community.
In early 2007, 18 senior members of the UNP joined President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling coalition, receiving ministerial positions. This resulted in a state of political unrest, as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the President and the UNP leader in late 2006 was read as no longer valid. This incident, generally recorded in the press as 'crossovers', also resulted in a state where a number of senior officials expressed concern over the 'jumbo cabinet'. On 9 February 2007, the president sacked three ministers for their remarks against the new political configuration.
UNP and twelve other opposition parties in parliament signed an opposition alliance on 3 November 2009.
After winning the 30-year long war against LTTE in 2009, President Rajapaksa called for an early presidential election in 2010. UNP and JVP backed General Sarath Fonseka as presidential candidate. This was the first time UNP backed a non-UNP member for president. However, Rajapaksa won the election with 57.88% of the popular vote. In April, Rajapaksa called for a general election and UPFA won a majority of 144 seats while UNF received 60 seats.
In government (2015–2019)
President Rajapaksa, seeking a third term, called for an early election in 2015. UNP and several other parties backed SLFP's general secretary and health minister, Maithripala Sirisena, as common candidate. Sirisena emerged victorious with 51.28% of the popular vote in an election which saw a record turnout of 81.52%. Sirisena was sworn in as executive president while Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as prime minister. Over 70% of the ministerial posts in the Sirisena cabinet went to the UNP and Minister Lakshman Kiriella was appointed the leader of the house. The new government presented a budget to parliament two weeks later, giving benefits including a pay hike and reduced prices on 13 goods. The National Medicine Regulatory Authority Bill was passed, providing for the establishment of a regulatory authority to be known as the National Medicines Regulatory Authority. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was approved by the Cabinet at an emergency Cabinet meeting on 16 March 2015.
UNP won a majority of seats (106) in the 2015 general elections and Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister. UNP signed a memorandum of understanding with SLFP for a national unity government, and Wickremesinghe made cabinet appointments from both parties. The unity government would last for at least 2 years, in order to address unresolved issues from the 30-year Sri Lanka Civil War.
Wickremesinghe asked parliament for permission to exceed the constitutional limitation of 30 cabinet ministers. This motion was approved by the parliament with 143 in favour, 16 against and 63 absent.
The popularity of the government declined, and UNP suffered a defeat in the 2018 local authority elections. They were only able to secure 34 of 340 councils while Mahinda Rajapaksa's proxy Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) won 231 councils. UNP secured only 29.42% against the 40.47% of the SLPP and the 12.10% of the SLFP.
Split and total collapse in opposition (2019–2022)
In the 2019 presidential election, the UNP nominated Sajith Premadasa as its candidate after much delay due to internal conflicts. Premadasa was defeated by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who gained 52.25% of the votes against 41.99% by Premadasa. Premadasa was chosen by the party to serve as opposition leader until fresh elections were called in April 2020.
The party had a major split in early 2020 when its working committee became divided over a new alliance that it had previously approved. Leadership of the alliance was given to its deputy leader, the popular Sajith Premadasa. Over three-quarters of the parliamentary group refused to sign nominations from the party, instead making nominations under the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (English: Peace People's Power, SJB) alliance. As a result, ninety-nine of the party's seniors were suspended from its membership. Party supporters moved to the new alliance, along with supporting minority parties.
After failed negotiations, the SJB and the UNP decided to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections separately. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 parliamentary elections resulted in a landslide victory of the SLPP, which gained 59.09% of the votes and secured a 145-seat parliamentary majority, while the SJB gained 23.90% votes and 54 seats. The UNP suffered its worst defeat, receiving only 2.15% of votes cast. For the first time, it almost failed to win a single seat in parliament, having only gained one national list seat.
Following the party's defeat in the parliamentary elections, Wickremesinghe indicated on several occasions his willingness to step down as party leader after serving for more than 25 years. He declared that the party would wait with appointing the sole national seat until the new leader would be selected so that he or she could be represented in parliament. However, he failed to follow up on his original statements and Wickremesinghe continuously postponed the decision on the two positions. Ultimately, he remained party leader and also took the sole parliamentary seat for himself in June 2021.
Crisis government (2022–present)
Due to the worsening economic crisis and widespread protests in 2022, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who wished to form a government of national unity, invited Wickremesinghe to once again assume the office of Prime Minister as a reconciliatory effort towards the opposition. The relevant parties represented in parliament, Samagi Jana Banawegaya and Tamil National Alliance, refused to take up portfolios in such a cabinet, however they offered conditional support to policies aimed at reviving the economy. Wickremesinghe became Prime Minister despite his party having only one seat in parliament, a first in Sri Lankan parliamentary history.
On 9 July 2022, protestors stormed and occupied the presidential residence as economic conditions got worse. Wickremesinghe agreed to resign while President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to resign on the 13th.
However, on the morning of 13 July, Rajapaksa fled the country, accompanied by his spouse and a personal security detail, to the Maldives. The Speaker of Parliament announced in the afternoon that President Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president in his absence. Protesters stormed the office of the Prime Minister demanding his resignation. The next day, Rajapaksa emailed a letter of resignation to the Speaker of the Parliament.
On 15 July, the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abewardhana announced the official resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Ranil Wickremesinghe was officially sworn in as the acting president, and was later elected by the Parliament of Sri Lanka to complete the remainder of Rajapaksa's term.
On 10 January 2023, UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara announced that the UNP and the SLPP would be forming an alliance and would contest in the 2023 Sri Lankan local elections together, in some districts under the elephant symbol, in some districts under the flower bud symbol and in others under a common symbol.
E-membership
On 23 June 2016, the party launched its e-membership program. The party plans to increase membership by 20% with support from Google Play and Apple store online apps.
Electoral history
Presidential
Parliamentary
Leaders
The United National Party has had seven leaders since 1947. Ranil Wickremesinghe has been the leader of the party since 1994.
See also
General Secretary of the United National Party
Politics of Sri Lanka
Political parties in Sri Lanka
Notes
References
External links
UNP's official website
UNP Blog
UNP MPs officially call for Ranil's stepping down
Challenging Ranil's Leadership
Rukman’s plan for UNP
Ranil promises to consider call to step down
Death knell for Ranil
1946 establishments in Ceylon
International Democrat Union member parties
Political parties established in 1946
Political parties in Sri Lanka |
427560 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teignmouth | Teignmouth | Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at the 2011 census.
From the 1800s onwards, the town grew rapidly in size from a fishing port associated with the Newfoundland cod industry to a fashionable resort of some note in Georgian times; there was further expansion after the opening of the South Devon Railway in 1846. Today, its port still operates and the town remains a popular seaside and day-trip holiday location.
History
To 1700
The first record of Teignmouth, Tengemuða, meaning mouth of the stream, was in 1044. Nonetheless, settlements very close by are attested earlier, with the banks of the Teign estuary having been in Saxon hands since at least 682, a battle between the Ancient Britons and Saxons being recorded on Haldon in 927 and Danish raids having occurred on the Teign estuary in 1001.
There were originally two villages, East and West Teignmouth, separated by a stream called the Tame, which emptied into the Teign through marshland by the current fish quay. Neither village is mentioned in the Domesday Book but East Teignmouth was granted a market by charter in 1253 and one for West Teignmouth followed a few years later. The Tame now runs under the town in culverts and is visible only higher up the town as Brimley Brook, joined by smaller streams such as the Winterbourne (an intermittent stream, which flows only in winter or after heavy rain).
Documents indicate that Teignmouth was a significant port by the early 14th century, second in Devon only to Dartmouth. It was attacked by the French in 1340 and sent seven ships and 120 men to the expedition against Calais in 1347. Its relative importance waned during the 15th century, and it did not figure in an official record of 1577. This may have been due to silting up of the harbour caused by tin mining on Dartmoor.
During the 17th century, in common with other Channel ports, Teignmouth ships suffered from raids from Dunkirkers, who were privateers from Flemish ports. It is possible that smuggling was the town's most significant trade at this time, though cod fishing in Newfoundland was also of great importance.
In July 1690, after the French Admiral Anne Hilarion de Tourville defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Beachy Head, the French fleet was anchored in Torbay and some of the galley fleet travelled the short distance up the coast and attacked Teignmouth. A petition to the Lord Lieutenant from the inhabitants described the incident:
After examining 'creditable persons' the Justices of the Peace concluded that:
As a result, the Crown issued a church brief that authorised the collection of £11,000 for the aid of the town. Churches from as far afield as Yorkshire contributed, and the collections enabled the further development of the port. This was the last invasion of England, and French Street with its museum is named in memory of the occasion.
In the 1600s and 1700s there are records of a windmill on the Den – an area that was then a large sand dune, and is now a grassy public open space near the seafront. By 1759 this windmill was demolished.
1700 to present
In the late 18th century, privateering was common in Teignmouth, as it was in other west country ports. In 1779 the French ship L'Emulation with a cargo of sugar, coffee and cotton was offered for sale at "Rendle's Great Sale Room" in the town. Teignmouth people fitted out two privateers: Dragon with 16 guns and 70 men; and Bellona, described as carrying "16 guns, 4 cohorns and 8 swivels". Bellona set sail on her first voyage in September 1779, and was "oversett in a violent Gust of Wind" off Dawlish with the loss of 25 crew members.
The Newfoundland fisheries continued to provide the main employment into the early 19th century (e.g. Job Brothers & Co., Limited). With the men in Newfoundland for most of the year, the women did the local fishing and rowed the ferries across the estuary. Early tourists, such as Fanny Burney, referred to the women as the "Amazonians" of Shaldon and Teignmouth, and wrote of their strength, health and tendency to wear trousers or hitch their skirts up to their knees to fish.
As the fisheries declined tourism increased. A tea house was built on the Den in 1787 amongst the local fishermen's drying nets. By 1803 Teignmouth was called a "fashionable watering place", and the resort continued to develop during the 19th century. Its two churches were rebuilt soon after 1815 and in the 1820s the first bridge across the estuary to Shaldon was built; George Templer's New Quay opened at the port; and the esplanade, Den Crescent and the central Assembly Rooms (later the cinema) were laid out. The railway arrived in 1846 and the pier was built 1865–7.
A version of the legend of the Parson and Clerk dating to 1900 tells the tale of the Bishop of Exeter visiting Teignmouth and whilst being guided by a local priest, the devil turns them both to stone, which is seen in the form of two stacks.
The First World War had a disruptive effect on Teignmouth: over 175 men from the town lost their lives and many businesses did not survive. In the 1920s as the economy started to recover, a golf course opened on Little Haldon; the Morgan Giles shipbuilding business was established, and charabancs took employees and their families for annual outings to Dartmoor and elsewhere. By the 1930s the town was again thriving, and with the Haldon Aerodrome and School of Flying nearby, Teignmouth was advertised as the only south coast resort offering complete aviation facilities.
During the Second World War Teignmouth suffered badly from "tip and run" air raids. It was bombed 21 times between July 1940 and February 1944 and 79 people were killed, 151 wounded, 228 houses were destroyed and over 2,000 damaged in the raids. Teignmouth's hospital was bombed during a raid on 8 May 1941, killing three nurses and seven patients. It was rebuilt and reopened in September 1954, making it the first complete general hospital in the country to be built after the formation of the National Health Service.
A US Navy plan existed which proposed to dam the harbour and set up a seaplane base, but it was abandoned as the war turned in favour of the allies.
Port
The port of Teignmouth, in existence since the 13th century, remains active, mostly handling clay, timber and grain.
The Old Quay was built in the mid-18th century on land leased from Lord Clifford. The opening of the Stover Canal by James Templer in 1792 provided a boost to the port due to the ease with which ball clay could be transported from the mines north of Newton Abbot. After travelling along the canal the barges continued down the estuary to the port. By 1820 this trade was supplemented by granite from the quarries near Haytor on Dartmoor carried via the unique granite-tracked Haytor Granite Tramway which was linked to the Stover Canal. The granite to build the new London Bridge came via this route and was sent from the New Quay, which had been built for this traffic in 1821–25 by George Templer, James's son.
The Old Quay was sold to George Hennet in 1850 and became the centre of his trading network. It was connected to the South Devon Railway the previous year.
Until 1852 Teignmouth was legally part of the Port of Exeter. In September of that year, after many years of campaigning (latterly under the leadership of George Hennet), the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury agreed that Teignmouth should be independent which was the cause of much celebration.
Teignmouth has a tradition of shipbuilding from the 17th century. By the turn of the 19th century there were three shipyards in Teignmouth, and three in Shaldon and Ringmore on the opposite side of the estuary. The industry declined in the early 20th century, but in 1921 Morgan Giles bought the last derelict shipbuilding yard and gave the industry a new stimulus. His shipyard became a major employer, building pleasure craft in peacetime and small craft such as torpedo boats during World War II. The business failed in 1968 not long after Donald Crowhurst's attempt to sail around the world.
The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society sent a lifeboat to Teignmouth in 1851 and kept it in a boathouse on the beach near the Custom House. In 1854 the society transferred its lifeboats to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). A new boathouse was provided on The Den with doors facing the harbour which was used until 1940. After a gap of fifty years, on 3 November 1990, the RNLI reopened Teignmouth Lifeboat Station with an inshore lifeboat.
Teignmouth's lighthouse was erected in 1845 to guide ships into the harbour.
Shaldon Bridge
The original bridge was owned by the Teignmouth and Shaldon Bridge Company and opened on 8 June 1827. It had 34 wooden arches and was 1,671 feet long, which made it the longest wooden bridge in England when built. It had abutment walls of a considerable length at either end, and a swing bridge at the Teignmouth end to allow sailing ships to pass up the estuary. It cost around £19,000 to build, but the overall expenditure was about £26,000 due to the costs of the necessary Act of Parliament and the purchase of the old ferry-rights. Toll houses were built at each end of the bridge, and the one on the Teignmouth side survives.
After eleven years, on 27 June 1838 the centre arches of the bridge collapsed, the timbers had been eaten through by shipworms. It was rebuilt in wood and reopened in 1840, but it partially collapsed again in 1893. The bridge was completely rebuilt between 1927 and 1931, using steel for the piers and main girders and concrete for most of the deck, except for the opening span which used timber.
On 28 October 1948 Devon County Council bought the bridge from the Shaldon Bridge Company for £92,020 and tolls were abolished. The original paintwork was inadequate to deal with the environment, and repairs were required in 1960 and in 1980. In 1998 it was discovered that the bridge had severe structural defects and work to correct this continued until 2002, the bridge remaining open throughout. After this work was completed, residents nearby noticed that in certain wind conditions the bridge "whistles". the problem had not been solved.
In February 2016 Devon County Council announced that the moveable, lifting section of the bridge will be raised later in 2016, for the first time since 2002. This is in order to satisfy a condition in the Act that permitted construction, that the opening section be maintained.
Transport
Railway
Teignmouth railway station, which opened in 1846, is located close to the town centre. It lies between the stations of and on the Great Western Main Line between London Paddington and in Cornwall. In 2010–11, it recorded 505,000 passengers, making it the second busiest station on the Riviera Line after Newton Abbot.
The station is served by two train operating companies:
Great Western Railway operates regular stopping trains on a route between Exmouth, Exeter and Paignton. Some inter-city services between Plymouth, Paignton and London Paddington stop here, as well as some services between Cardiff, Bristol, Plymouth and Penzance.
CrossCountry services between Manchester Piccadilly and Paignton stop here twice a day in each direction.
History
The line built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel runs along the South Devon Railway sea wall, which is a stone embankment between the sea and cliffs that runs for several miles between Teignmouth and Dawlish Warren. This line was originally both broad gauge and worked by the atmospheric system, with steam pump houses at regular intervals to create the vacuum. It was not successful for a host of reasons and was converted to normal steam locomotive working. Redundant sections of the atmospheric railway pipes were used as drains all over Teignmouth; one was set in the roadside in Woodway Lane, near Woodway House.
In December 1852, a large landslip from the cliffs east of the town caused the railway to close for four days; and, in 1855 and 1859, the sea broke through the line at Teignmouth. There have been many more closures since, caused both by landslips from the cliffs and breaches by the sea, especially in winter. In 2010, the sea walls and adjoining estuaries were costing Network Rail around £500,000 per year to maintain. In 1936, the Great Western Railway surveyed an inland deviation between Exminster and Bishopsteignton and a shorter route starting near Dawlish Warren; however, the advent of World War 2 brought these projects to an end.
Buses
Local bus services are operated predominantly by Stagecoach South West; key routes that serve the town include:
2: Exeter to Newton Abbot
22: Dawlish Warren to Paignton
222: Teignmouth to Dawlish Warren
Geography
The town is located on the north bank of the mouth of the estuary of the River Teign, at the junction of the A379 coast road, the A381 road to Newton Abbot, and the B3192 which climbs up to the A380 on Haldon and hence on to the M5 12 miles away. Teignmouth is linked to Shaldon, the village on the opposite bank, by a passenger ferry at the river mouth and by a road bridge further upstream. The red sandstone headland on the Shaldon side called "The Ness" is the most recognisable symbol of the town from the seaward side.
In the harbour area was the Salty, a small flat island created through dredging operations but levelled, supposedly to improve natural scouring of the main channel for shipping, in recent years to leave a large tidal sand bank frequented by seabirds and cockle-collectors. Salmon nets are still employed by locals, especially near Shaldon Bridge.
The estuary seems disproportionately large for the size of the river flowing through it, this being especially apparent at low tide, because it is a drowned valley caused by a relative rise in sea level following the last Ice Age.
Climate
Teignmouth is situated on the coast of Devon, a peninsula of South West England. It has a mild maritime climate. Prevailing winds across the south-west of England are from the west. Teignmouth lies to the east of Dartmoor, in a lee / rainshadow, with mean temperatures 3 °C (5 °F) higher and less than 43% of the rainfall of Princetown, which is located on Dartmoor. It receives less precipitate per year than nearby Plymouth, which is located on the south-west coast of Devon.
Owing to its proximity to the sea, Teignmouth has warmer winters with less frost and snow, as well as slightly cooler summers compared with inland areas of southern England. January is usually the coldest month in Britain; however, sea temperatures usually reach their minimum temperature in late February, which affects Teignmouth's climate, making February its coldest month. The first frost in Teignmouth usually occurs in late November or early December, whereas midland areas of England sometimes have frosts as early as September.
Snow is rare during the start of the winter season in December. Late autumn and early winter is the wettest time of the year, because sea temperatures are still relatively high and deep Atlantic depressions bring moist air across the South West. On average, July is the driest month, but summer thunderstorms can occasionally deposit more than the month's mean rainfall in one day. Teignmouth has average daily sunshine totals of over 7 hours in summer and around 2 hours in winter. Sunshine totals reflect the hours of daylight and the fluctuations of the Azores High, which is most powerful in summer. The climate patterns also implicate a less pronounced cooler Mediterranean climate (csa/ csb) influence which is due to the decrease in precipitation centred over the summer period and surplus rainfall during the winter.
Teignmouth weather station is situated in a part of the town exposed to sea breezes and is therefore subject to lower temperature extremes than more sheltered parts of the town and local area. Temperatures at the station have warmed in every month in between the 1981–2010 and 1991–2020 climate periods, especially in spring and autumn, but also with a small overall increase in rainfall over this period.
Buildings
Den Crescent and its central Assembly Rooms, laid out in 1826 by Andrew Patey of Exeter, still survive relatively unchanged today. The Assembly Rooms were the hub of the town's social life in the 19th century and lavish balls took place in the long ballroom. In 1871, the building was taken over by the East Devon and Teignmouth Club which had an exclusive membership taken from the gentry and professional middle class.
Over the years, the building was used as a theatre, a dance hall, a conference centre and a billiards hall. In 1934 it was converted into the Riviera Cinema, in which guise it continued until 2000; part of the building has now been converted into flats. In 2016 the lease for the historic auditorium was taken over by the Mars Hill Church with the intention of restoring it as both a cinema and a music and arts facility.
The town's parish church, dedicated to St. James is unusual, being octagonal in shape. A story from Cornwall suggests why these churches are rounded, for the villagers of Veryan built several circular houses so that the Devil had no corners in which to lie in wait for unsuspecting occupants and these buildings were therefore 'Devil-proof.' The church of St Michael the Archangel is in the east of the town. St. Scholastica's Abbey (now converted to flats), on the road to Dawlish, built in 1864 by Henry Woodyer is a notable Gothic Revival building, and the Roman Catholic Church, on the same road, is a late work by Joseph Hansom, the inventor of the hansom cab.
In 1894, there were 26 public houses in Teignmouth. Pubs today include the Blue Anchor Inn on Teign Street and the Devon Arms on Northumberland Place. The River Beach is home to a varied selection of seasonal and permanent beach huts, one of which (now removed to the town's museum) was a Georgian bathing machine, minus wheels. These huts have enjoyed the boom in popularity of such properties in recent years and now change hands for figures approaching £100,000.
Teignmouth and Shaldon museum was completed in 2011. It comprises an architecturally iconic extension of the existing 18th century museum building, with new roof terrace looking over the town, glass tower and community facility. Some of the exhibits include a restored bathing machine; artefacts from the Church Rock wreck, such as cannons; exhibits from the nearby Haldon aerodrome, plus film footage including the Beatles' visit to the town and the 2009 homecoming concerts by Muse. The new build cost almost £1.1m and was enabled by a major community fund-raising effort, in combination with Lottery and UK government funding and other sources such as local grant funders and Devon County Council. The Church Rock wreck was found when a Zuanne Alberghetti cannon was located on the site of a 16th-century wreck, followed by further discoveries.
The town's newest public building is the Pavilions Teignmouth, a community arts and enterprise centre on the Den, opened in April 2016.
21st century
On 27 July 2005, Teignmouth received status as Devon's first Fairtrade Town. Also in 2005, the volunteer Teignmouth Regeneration Project in association with the town, district and county councils published a strategic plan that identified issues to be dealt with by 2015. Among the issues listed are to develop quality tourism, alleviate the danger of flooding to the town and provide affordable housing.
In May 2010, Teignbridge District Council put forward for consultation A Vision for Teignmouth. This was a plan consisting of 21 regeneration projects for the town. A skatepark was opened on the seafront in July 2010 and flood defences at the Fish Quay were completed in October 2012.
Two films, The Mercy starring Colin Firth with Rachel Weisz and Press for Time starring Norman Wisdom, have extensive sequences shot in Teignmouth.
Tourism
Although reduced from its heyday, Teignmouth still receives considerable numbers of holiday makers, in particular day-trippers. It is twinned with the French town Perros-Guirec.
Apart from its sea beach and Teignmouth Pier with amusement arcade and rides, the beach wraps around the spit at the head of the river Teign providing a river beach, commonly known as the Back Beach (dogs are allowed all year on this part of the beach), on the estuary side which overlooks the harbour with its moorings for many pleasure craft, and has views up the estuary to Dartmoor. An long waymarked route known as the Templer Way has been created between Haytor on Dartmoor and Shaldon. It closely follows the route of George Templer's granite tramway, his father James's Stover Canal and finally the estuary to Teignmouth.
Teignmouth Carnival is held during the last week of July with the procession on the last Thursday, and since 1999 the town has hosted a summer folk festival. In 2005 Fergus O'Byrne and Jim Payne from Newfoundland were the 'headline' artists at that year's festival which celebrated the town's links with that region.
In 2014, Teignmouth and Dawlish Community Interest Group commissioned a website to promote the town to tourists visiting.
Since 2018 Teignmouth has hosted the annual Teign Shanty Festival, a folk music festival with a focus on sea shanties, with over 40 groups performing in 2021.
Schools
Teignmouth Community School (formerly Teignmouth High School, then Teignmouth Community College), a local secondary school including a sixth form, was formed as a merger in 1979 of Teignmouth Grammar School and Teignmouth Secondary Modern School. More recently this has merged further with Inverteign Community Nursery and Primary School to create Teignmouth Community School (TCS).
Other secondary schools include Trinity School (independent, with a preparatory department and boarding facilities), formerly known as The Convent of Notre dame.
Primary schools include Hazeldown which is non-denominational, and the Catholic school of Our Lady and St Patrick.
Sport
The town is the home of Teignmouth A.F.C., whose first team currently play in the South West Peninsula League and reserves play in the South Devon League division two. The town is also the home of Teignmouth R.F.C. with the 1st XV playing in the South West 1 league. The Den Bowling Club situated on the sea front is the home of the Teignmouth Open Bowls Tournament. Teignmouth Shotokan Karate Club was established in 1984 and trains twice weekly at the Teign Heritage Centre and Pavilions Teignmouth.
The seafront benefits from Teignmouth Lido, a public open-air heated swimming pool. This is one of four outdoor pools operated by Teignbridge District Council. The others are at Buckfastleigh, Ashburton and Buckland.
Teignmouth is home to the River Teign Rowing club, the largest rowing club in the UK with almost 400 members, the club competes internationally in Cornish Pilot Gig rowing, Locally racing Seine boats and Nationally in Sea Skiffs and Sculls. Members have competed recently as far afield as Russia.
Teign Corinthian Yacht Club was founded in 1886, and organises racing and training for sailing dinghies, yachts and powerboats. It has two centres: a clubhouse on Teignmouth seafront built in 1995 and a dinghy park on the River Teign estuary at Coombe Cellars, with a new clubhouse being built there in 2020.
Notable people
Fanny Burney, the diarist and novelist, visited Teignmouth several times in the late 18th century. She took her first dip in the sea here in 1773, as she recorded in her journal. Elias Parish Alvars, the harpist, was born in East Teignmouth in 1808, and three years later Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt, vice-admiral, hydrographer and geologist, was born at Woodway House.
In spring 1818 the poet John Keats spent several weeks in Teignmouth and completed his epic poem Endymion here. His arrival coincided with a period of wet weather and he wrote to a friend of "the abominable Devonshire Weather ... the truth is, it is a splashy, rainy, misty, snowy, foggy, haily, floody, muddy, slipshod county."
George O. May (born 1875), who made significant contributions to the field of accounting, and rose to senior partner of Price Waterhouse's American firm in the early 20th century, was born and raised in Teignmouth.
From 1812 until his death in 1833, Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth had his home at Bitton House, which was then called West Cliff House. Meanwhile, Thomas Luny, the painter of seascapes, lived in the town for thirty years until his death in 1837 and executed over 2,200 paintings while living here. Shortly afterwards George Hennet, the railway engineer and contractor who was closely involved with Brunel's railway, moved to the town and took a close interest in local affairs. He died here in 1857.
Charles Babbage (1791–1871), the mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, who originated the idea of a programmable computer, also lived here for some years and was married in St Michael's church in the town.
Sir John Smyth (1893–1983) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross and was made 1st Baronet of Teignmouth in 1956.
The Belgium footballer Charles Vanden Wouwer was born in Teignmouth in 1916, while his parents were staying there as World War I refugees.
The Canadian Second World War pilot Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner settled in the Teignmouth area in 1930, his brother and sister studying in Teignmough whilst he was a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He went on to be one of the few naval pilots of the Battle of Britain, was a test pilot and given the freedom of Teignmouth and Exeter after leading the audacious attack on the German battleship . He was lost in July 1944 and remembered on the Shaldon War Memorial and at the Teign Heritage – Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum.
During the Second World War Clive Sinclair was evacuated to Teignmouth as a child and lived there for some years.
The businessman and musician Danny Thompson was born in the town in 1939, and the writer and environmentalist John Bainbridge (born 1953) spent his teens and early adulthood here and was educated at West Lawn School. The Norman Wisdom film, Press for Time, in which Norman becomes a reporter at the seaside town of "Tinmouth", was shot largely on location in Teignmouth in 1966.
A bus and bicycle chase shows many scenes of the town centre and sea front as it was at the time.
The next year, on 31 October 1968, Donald Crowhurst, competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, started his ill-fated attempt to sail round the world single-handed from the town. His boat was a trimaran named the Teignmouth Electron after the town and his electronics company. The town featured in the film of this tragic event The Mercy released in 2018, starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz.
The three members of rock band Muse (Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard) attended Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. They started the band in the town and based their song "Falling Down" on their teenage years living there. The band performed two homecoming concerts entitled A Seaside Rendezvous there in September 2009.
Singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf wrote a song called "Teignmouth" for his 2005 album Wind in the Wires, which focuses primarily on the view of the town and the River Teign when taking a train along the coastline.
England rugby union and Exeter Chiefs player Sam Simmonds lives in Teignmouth, as does his brother and fellow Exeter Chiefs first team player Joe Simmonds. Sam helped the Chiefs win the Aviva Premiership in 2017. He has currently scored two tries for England and has one Man of the Match award.
The triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards lived in Teignmouth in his early years. He went to school at the Inverteign Juniors site (now Mill Lane). His world record has stood since 1995.
Composer Laura Rossi grew up in Teignmouth and attended school in the town.
In Art and Literature
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration A Legend of Teignmouth, in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834, accompanies an engraving of a view of Teignmouth from the Ness by Thomas Allom.
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
Adshead, S. D. (1945) Report to the Urban District Council on Improvement and Development after the War. Teignmouth Urban District Council.
Andrews, G. J. & Kearns, R. A. (2005) "Everyday Health Histories and the Making of Place: the case of an English coastal town". Social Science and Medicine; 60, pp. 2697–2713
Andrews G. J., Kearns, R. A., Kontos, P., Wilson, V. (2006) "'Their finest hour': older people, oral histories and the historical geography of social life". Social and Cultural Geography; 7, 2, pp. 153–177
Andrews, G. J. (2017). "The relational making of people and place: the case of the Teignmouth World War II homefront". Ageing & Society; 37(4), pp. 725–752.
Andrews, G. J. & Wilson, V (2019) "Sensing health and wellbeing through oral histories: the 'tip and run' air attacks on a British coastal town 1939–44". In: Atkinson, Sarah & Hunt, Rachel, eds. Geohumanities and Health. Cham: Springer
Spratt, Thomas (1856). An Investigation of the Movements of Teignmouth Bar. London: John Weale online copy by Hathi Trust
Through the Window. Number 1 – Paddington to Penzance (1924). London: Great Western Railway. Paddington station. Price 1s.
Wilson, V (2000) Teignmouth at War: 1939–1945, Teignmouth: Wilson.
Wilson, V (2002) Teignmouth: Frith's photographic town memories. Teffont: Frith Book Company.
External links
Teignmouth Town Council
Ports and harbours of the English Channel
Ports and harbours of Devon
Seaside resorts in England
Towns in Devon
Beaches of Devon
Invasions of England |
427590 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High%20treason%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom | High treason in the United Kingdom | Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the throne; levying war against the sovereign and adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid or comfort; and attempting to undermine the lawfully established line of succession. Several other crimes have historically been categorised as high treason, including counterfeiting money and being a Catholic priest.
High treason was generally distinguished from petty treason, a treason committed against a subject of the sovereign, the scope of which was limited by statute to the murder of a legal superior. Petty treason comprised the murder of a master by his servant, of a husband by his wife, or of a bishop by a clergyman. Petty treason ceased to be a distinct offence from murder in 1828, and consequently high treason is today often referred to simply as treason.
Considered to be the most serious of offences (more than murder or other felonies), high treason was often met with extraordinary punishment, because it threatened the safety of the state. Hanging, drawing and quartering was the usual punishment until the 19th century. Since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 became law, the maximum sentence for treason in the UK has been life imprisonment.
The last treason trial was that of William Joyce, "Lord Haw-Haw", who was executed by hanging in 1946. The last conviction under a Treason Act was of Jaswant Singh Chail in 2023, who was charged with an offence relating to a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of the trial his offences were referred to in the media as simply "treason", but the statute he was charged under describes it as "a high misdemeanour".
Offences
High treason today consists of:
Treason Act 1351 (as amended – last amended by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013):
compassing the death of the sovereign, or of the king's wife (but not a ruling queen's husband), or the sovereign's eldest child and heir
violating the king's wife, or the sovereign's eldest unmarried daughter, or the sovereign's eldest son's wife (only if the eldest son is also heir to the throne)
levying war against the sovereign in the realm
adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid and comfort, in the realm or elsewhere
killing the King's Chancellor, Treasurer (an office long in commission) or Justices
Treason Act 1702 and Treason Act (Ireland) 1703:
attempting to hinder the succession to the throne under the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701
Treason Act 1708:
killing the Lords of Session or Lords of Justiciary in Scotland
(in Scots law only) counterfeiting the Great Seal of Scotland
For detail about the offences created by the 1351 Act, see .
Northern Ireland
In addition to the Acts of 1351 and 1703, two additional Acts passed by the old Parliament of Ireland apply to Northern Ireland alone. The following is also treason:
Treason Act (Ireland) 1537:
attempting bodily harm to the king, queen, or their heirs apparent
attempting to deprive them of their title
publishing that the sovereign is a heretic, tyrant, infidel or usurper of the Crown
rebelliously withholding from the sovereign his fortresses, ships, artillery etc.
Crown of Ireland Act 1542:
doing anything to endanger the sovereign's person
doing anything which might disturb or interrupt the sovereign's possession of the Crown
Although the Act of Supremacy (Ireland) 1560 is still in force, it is no longer treason to contravene it.)
Treason felony
In addition to the crime of treason, the Treason Felony Act 1848 (still in force today) created a new offence known as treason felony, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment instead of death (but today, due to the abolition of the death penalty, the maximum penalty both for high treason and treason felony is the same—life imprisonment). Under the traditional categorisation of offences into treason, felonies, and misdemeanours, treason felony was merely another form of felony. Several categories of treason which had been introduced by the Sedition Act 1661 were reduced to felonies. While the common law offences of misprision and compounding were abolished in respect of felonies (including treason felony) by the Criminal Law Act 1967, which abolished the distinction between misdemeanour and felony, misprision of treason and compounding treason are still offences under the common law.
It is treason felony to "compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend":
to deprive the sovereign of the Crown,
to levy war against the sovereign "in order by force or constraint to compel her to change her measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon or in order to intimidate or overawe both Houses or either House of Parliament", or
to "move or stir" any foreigner to invade the United Kingdom or any other country belonging to the sovereign.
Treason Act 1842
Section 2 of the Treason Act 1842 creates offences of assaulting or alarming the Sovereign or having a weapon in the Sovereign's presence. This is described as "a high misdemeanour" and has a maximum sentence of seven years.
History: England and Wales
In England, there was no clear common law definition of treason; it was for the king and his judges to determine if an offence constituted treason. Thus, the process became open to abuse, and decisions were often arbitrary. For instance, during the reign of Edward III, a knight was convicted of treason because he assaulted one of the king's subjects and held him for a ransom of £90. It was only in 1351 that Parliament passed legislation on the subject of treason. Under the Treason Act 1351, or "Statute of Treasons", which distinguished between high and petty treason, several distinct offences constitute high treason; most of them continue to do so, while those relating to forgery have been relegated to ordinary offences.
First, it was high treason to "compass or imagine the death of our Lord the King, of our Lady his Queen, or of their eldest son and heir." The terms "compass or imagine" indicate the premeditation of a murder; it would not be high treason to accidentally kill the sovereign or any other member of the Royal Family (though someone could be charged with manslaughter or negligent homicide). However it has also been held to include rebelling against or trying to overthrow the monarch, as experience has shown that this normally involves the monarch's death. The terms of this provision have been held to include both male and female sovereigns, but only the spouses of male Sovereigns. It is not sufficient to merely allege that an individual is guilty of high treason because of his thoughts or imaginations; there must be an overt act indicating the plot.
A second form of high treason defined by the Treason Act 1351 was having sexual intercourse with "the King's companion, or the King's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the King's eldest son and heir." If the intercourse is not consensual, only the rapist is liable, but if it is consensual, then both parties are liable. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, wives of Henry VIII, were found guilty of treason for this reason. The jurist Sir William Blackstone writes that "the plain intention of this law is to guard the Blood Royal from any suspicion of bastardy, whereby the succession to the Crown might be rendered dubious." Thus, only women are covered in the statute; it is not, for example, high treason to rape a Queen-Regnant's husband. Similarly, it is not high treason to rape a widow of the sovereign or of the heir-apparent.
In 1994, the book Princess in Love by Anna Pasternak, for which James Hewitt was a major source, alleged that Hewitt had a five-year affair with Diana, Princess of Wales from 1986 to 1991. Diana confirmed the affair in her 1995 Panorama interview. As she was then the wife of the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, this fitted the definition of high treason, and a national newspaper briefly attempted to have Hewitt prosecuted for what was then still a capital offence.
It is high treason "if a man do levy war against our Lord the King in his realm" or "if a man be adherent to the King's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere." Conspiracy to levy war or aid the sovereign's enemies do not amount to this kind of treason, though it may be encompassing the Sovereign's death. In modern times only these kinds of treason have actually been prosecuted (during the World Wars and the Easter Rising).
The Treason Act 1351 made it high treason to "slay the Chancellor, Treasurer, or the King's justices of the one bench or the other, justices in eyre, or justices of assize, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places doing their offices."
The last types of high treason defined by the Treason Act 1351 were the forgery of the Great Seal or Privy Seal, the counterfeiting of English (later British) money and the importing of money known to be counterfeit. These offences, however, were reduced to felonies rather than high treasons in 1861 and 1832 respectively.
Finally, the Treason Act 1351 specified that the listing of offences was meant to be exhaustive. Only Parliament, not the courts, could add to the list. It provided that if "other like cases of treason may happen in time to come, which cannot be thought of nor declared at present", the court may refer the matter to the King and Parliament, which could then determine the matter by passage of an Act. (See constructive treason.)
After the passage of the Treason Act 1351, several other offences were deemed to comprise high treason by Act of Parliament. Parliament seemed especially unrestrained during the reign of Edward III's successor, Richard II. Numerous new offences—including intending to kill the Sovereign (even without an overt act demonstrating such intent) and killing an ambassador—were declared treasonable. Richard II, however, was deposed; his successor, Henry IV, rescinded the legislation and restored the standard of Edward III.
In 1495 Poynings' Law extended English law to cover Ireland.
From the reign of Henry IV onwards, several new offences were made treasons; most legislation on the subject was passed during the reign of Henry VIII. It became high treason to deface money; to escape from prison whilst detained for committing treason, or to aid in an escape of a person detained for treason; to commit arson to extort money; to refer to the Sovereign offensively in public writing; to counterfeit the Sovereign's sign manual, signet or privy seal; to refuse to abjure the authority of the Pope; to marry any of the Sovereign's children, sisters, aunts, nephews or nieces without royal permission; to marry the Sovereign without disclosing prior sexual relationships; attempting to enter into a sexual relationship (out of marriage) with the Queen or a Princess; denying the Sovereign's official styles and titles; and refusing to acknowledge the Sovereign as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Some offences, whose complexion was entirely different from traitorous actions, were nevertheless made treasons; thus, it was high treason for a Welshman to steal cattle, to commit murder by poisoning (1531), or for an assembly of twelve or more rioters to refuse to disperse when so commanded.
All new forms of high treason introduced since the Treason Act 1351, except those to do with forgery and counterfeiting, were abrogated by the Treason Act 1547, which was passed at the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. The Act created new kinds of treason however, including denying that the King was the Supreme Head of the Church, and attempting to interrupt the succession to the throne as determined by the Act of Succession 1543.
When Mary I became queen in 1553, she passed an Act abolishing all treasons whatsoever which had been created since 1351. Later that year, however, the offence of forging the Sovereign's sign manual or signet once again became high treason. Furthermore, the anti-counterfeiting laws were extended so as to include foreign money deemed legal tender in England. Thus, it became high treason to counterfeit such foreign money, or to import counterfeit foreign money and actually attempt to use it to make a payment. (But importing any counterfeit English money remained high treason, even if no attempt were made to use it in payment.) Mary also made it high treason to kill Philip II of Spain, her king consort, or to try to deprive him of his title.
William III made it high treason to manufacture, buy, sell or possess instruments whose sole purpose is to coin money. He also made adding any inscription normally found on a coin to any piece of metal that may resemble a coin high treason. George II made it high treason to mark or colour a silver coin so as to make it resemble a gold one.
Aside from laws relating to counterfeiting and succession, very few acts concerning the definition of high treason were passed. Under laws passed during the reign of Elizabeth I, it was high treason for an individual to attempt to defend the jurisdiction of the Pope over the English Church for a third time (a first offence being a misdemeanour and a second offence a felony), or for a Roman Catholic priest to enter the realm and refuse to conform to the English Church, or to purport to release a subject of his allegiance to the Crown or the Church of England and to reconcile him or her with a foreign power. Charles II's Sedition Act 1661 made it treason to imprison, restrain or wound the king. Although this law was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1998, it still continues to apply in some Commonwealth countries. Under laws passed after James II was deposed, it became treasonable to correspond with the Jacobite claimants (main article), or to hinder succession to the Throne under the Act of Settlement 1701, or to publish that anyone other than the individual specified by the Act of Settlement had the right to inherit the Crown.
History: after union with Scotland
In 1708, following the Union of England and Scotland in the previous year, Queen Anne signed the Treason Act 1708, which harmonised the treason laws of both former kingdoms (effective from 1 July 1709). The English offences of high treason and misprision of treason (but not petty treason) were extended to Scotland, and the treasonable offences then existing in Scotland were abolished. These were: "theft in Landed Men", murder in breach of trust, fire-raising, "firing coalheughs" and assassination. The Act also made it treason to counterfeit the Great Seal of Scotland, or to slay the Lords of Session or Lords of Justiciary "sitting in Judgment in the Exercise of their Office within Scotland".
In general, treason law in Scotland remained the same as in England, except that when in England the offence of counterfeiting the Great Seal of the United Kingdom etc. (an offence under other legislation) was reduced from treason to felony by the Forgery Act 1861, that Act did not apply to Scotland, and though in England since 1861 it has not been treason to forge the Scottish Great Seal, in Scotland this remains treason today. When the Scottish Parliament was set up in 1998, treason and treason felony were among the "reserved matters" it was prohibited from legislating about, ensuring that the law of treason remains uniform throughout Great Britain.
Between 1817 and 1820 it was treason to kill the Prince Regent. In 1832 counterfeiting money ceased to be treason and became a felony. In Ireland, counterfeiting seals ceased to be treason in 1861, in line with England and Wales.
First World War
A notable treason trial occurred at the Old Bailey in 1916 when Roger Casement was convicted of collusion with Germany for his role in the Easter Rising in Ireland. The charges against him were conspiracy to incite mutiny among Prisoners of War held captive by Germany, collusion with an enemy power in times of war, arms trafficking, and levying war against the King. Casement notably did not deny any of the charges brought against him and simply refused to acknowledge that the Treason Act 1351 even applied to him leaving his defence counsel with few options beyond arguing about legal technicalities around the precise wording of the Act. The prosecution countered that as Casement had worked as a diplomat for the British Government for almost all of his adult life and had accepted a knighthood and a pension from the Crown on retirement in 1911 he owed personal loyalty to the King when he committed the acts for which he was brought to trial. The jury agreed with the prosecution and found Casement guilty. He was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 3 August 1916.
The Titles Deprivation Act 1917 authorised the king to deprive peers of their peerage if they had assisted the enemy during the war, or voluntarily resided in enemy territory. This was mainly in response to the closeness of the British royal family with some German thrones, leading to the loss of British titles from the dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Brunswick, the Crown Prince of Hanover, and the Viscount Taaffe. Whilst the act allowed for their descendants to petition for the restoration of these titles, no descendant has done so.
Second World War
John Amery was executed in 1945 after pleading guilty to eight charges of treason for efforts to recruit British prisoners of war into the British Free Corps and for making propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany.
The last execution for treason in the United Kingdom was held in 1946. William Joyce (also known as Lord Haw Haw) stood accused of levying war against King George VI by travelling to Germany in the early months of World War II and taking up employment as a broadcaster of pro-Nazi propaganda to British radio audiences. He was awarded a personal commendation by Adolf Hitler in 1944 for his contribution to the German war effort. On his capture at the end of the war, Parliament rushed through the Treason Act 1945 to facilitate a trial that would have the same procedure as a trial for murder. Before the Act, a trial for treason short of regicide involved an elaborate and lengthy medieval procedure. Although Joyce was born in the United States to an Irish father and an English mother, he had moved to Britain in his teens and applied for a British passport in 1933 which was still valid when he defected to Germany and so under the law he owed allegiance to Britain. He appealed against his conviction to the House of Lords on the grounds he had lied about his country of birth on the passport application and did not owe allegiance to any country at the beginning of the war. The appeal was not upheld and he was executed at Wandsworth Prison on 3 January 1946.
It is thought the strength of public feeling against Joyce as a perceived traitor was the driving force behind his prosecution. The only evidence offered at his trial that he had begun broadcasting from Germany while his British passport was valid was the testimony of a London police inspector who had questioned him before the war while he was an active member of the British Union of Fascists and claimed to have recognised his voice on a propaganda broadcast in the early weeks of the war (he already had previous convictions for assault and riotous assembly as a result of street fights with communists and anarchists).
Treachery Act 1940
Until 1945 treason had its own rules of evidence and procedure which made it difficult to prosecute accused traitors, such as the need for two witnesses to the same offence. Consequently, in the Second World War it was perceived that there was a need for a new offence with which to deal with traitors more expediently. The Treachery Act 1940 was passed creating a felony called treachery, to punish disloyalty and espionage. It was a capital offence. Seventeen people were sentenced to be shot or hanged for this offence instead of for treason (one death sentence was commuted). Theodore Schurch was the last person to be put to death for treachery, in 1946. He was also the last person to be executed for a crime other than murder. Josef Jakobs, a German spy executed for treachery, was the last person to be executed in the Tower of London.
The Treachery Act 1940 was suspended in February 1946, and was repealed in 1967.
1945 to 2015
In June 1945 the Treason Act 1945 abolished the special rules of evidence and procedure formerly used in treason trials, and replaced them with the rules applicable to murder trials, to simplify the law. As discussed above, the last treason prosecutions occurred later that year.
From 1945, treason consisted of the offences which are treason today (see above), plus two other kinds. The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 made it treason to affirm that any person has a right to succeed to the Crown otherwise than according to the Act of Settlement and Acts of Union, or that the Crown and Parliament cannot legislate for the limitation of the succession to the Crown. This was abolished in 1967. The Treason Act 1795 made it treason to "compass, imagine, invent, devise or intend death or destruction, or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, imprisonment or restraint, of the person of ... the King." This was abolished in 1998, when the death penalty was also abolished.
On 26 March 2015 the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 came into effect, which amended the line of succession to the throne to give women the same right to succeed to the throne as their brothers. In consequence of this, the Treason Act 1351 was amended in two ways. Whereas it had been treason to encompass the death of the monarch's eldest son and heir, this was amended to cover an heir of either sex. It had also been treason to "violate" the wife of the monarch's eldest son, but the 2013 Act restricted this to cases where the eldest son is also the heir to the throne.
Liability
As a general rule, no British criminal court has jurisdiction over the Sovereign, from whom they derive their authority. As Sir William Blackstone writes, "the law supposes an incapacity of doing wrong from the excellence and perfection ... of the King." Furthermore, to charge the sovereign with high treason would be inconsistent, as it would constitute accusing him of disloyalty to himself. After the English Civil War, however, Charles I was tried for treason against the people of England. His trial and execution were irregular; they were more accurately products of a revolution, rather than a legal precedent, and those responsible were themselves tried for treason after the monarchy was restored (see List of regicides of Charles I). However, a person who attempts to become the Sovereign without a valid claim can be held guilty of treason. Consequently, Lady Jane Grey was executed for treason for usurping the throne in 1553.
An alien resident in the United Kingdom owes allegiance to the Crown, and may be prosecuted for high treason. The only exception is an enemy lawful combatant in wartime, e.g. a uniformed enemy soldier on British territory.
A British subject resident abroad also continues to owe allegiance to the Crown. If he or she becomes a citizen of another state before a war during which he bears arms against the Crown, he or she is not guilty of high treason. On the other hand, becoming a citizen of an enemy state during wartime is high treason, as it constitutes adhering to the sovereign's enemies.
Insane individuals are not punished for their crimes. During the reign of Henry VIII, however, it was enacted that in the cases of high treason, an idiot could be tried in his absence as if he were perfectly sane. In the reign of Mary I, this statute was repealed. Today there are powers to send insane defendants to a mental hospital.
The Treason Act 1495 provides that in a civil war between two claimants to the throne, those who fight for the losing side cannot be held guilty of a crime merely for fighting against the winner.
Duress and marital coercion
Duress is not available as a defence to treason involving the death of the sovereign.
In England and Wales and in Northern Ireland, the former defence of marital coercion was not available to a wife charged with treason.
Trial
Peers and their wives and widows were formerly entitled to be tried for treason and for felonies in the House of Lords or the Court of the Lord High Steward, the former being used in every case except when Parliament was not in session. In the House of Lords, the Lord High Steward presided, but the entire House acted as both judge and jury. In the Lord High Steward's Court, the Lord High Steward was a judge, and a panel of "Lords Triers" served as a jury. There was no right of peremptory challenge in either body. Trial by either body ceased in 1948, since when peers have been tried in the same courts as commoners.
Commoners, and now peers and their wives and widows, are entitled to be tried for high treason, and also for lesser crimes, by jury. Formerly, commoners were entitled to thirty-five peremptory challenges in cases of treason, but only twenty in cases of felony and none in cases of misdemeanours; all peremptory challenges, however, were abolished in 1988.
Another mode of trial for treason, and also for other crimes, is an impeachment trial in the House of Lords following impeachment by the House of Commons (which has not occurred since 1806). Normally, the Lord Chancellor presided during trials; when a peer is accused of high treason, however, the Lord High Steward must preside. By convention, however, the Lord Chancellor would be appointed Lord High Steward for the duration of the trial—the post of Lord High Steward ceased to be regularly filled in 1421, being revived only for trials of peers and for coronations.
Finally, it was possible for Parliament to pass an Act of attainder, which pronounces guilt without a trial. Historically, Acts of attainder have been used against political opponents when speedy executions were desired. In 1661, Parliament passed acts posthumously attainting Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and John Bradshaw—who were previously involved in Charles I's trial—of treason. These three individuals were posthumously executed, the only people to suffer this fate under English treason laws. (In 1540, a Scottish court summoned Robert Leslie, who was deceased, for a trial for treason. The Estates-General declared the summons lawful; Leslie's body was exhumed, and his bones were presented at the bar of the court. This procedure was never used in England.)
Procedure and evidence
Before 1945
Certain special rules procedures have historically applied to high treason cases. The privilege of the peerage and parliamentary privilege preclude the arrest of certain individuals (including peers, wives and widows of peers and members of Parliament) in many cases, but treason was not included (nor were felony or breach of the peace). Similarly, an individual could not claim sanctuary when charged with high treason; this distinction between treasons and felonies was lost as sanctuary laws were repealed in the late 17th and early 19th century. The defendant, furthermore, could not claim the benefit of clergy in treason cases; but the benefit of the clergy, as well, was abolished during the 19th century.
Formerly, if an individual stood mute and refused to plead guilty or not guilty for a felony, he would be tortured until he enter a plea; if he died in the course of the torture, his lands would not be seized to the Crown, and his heirs would be allowed to succeed to them. In cases of high treason, however, an individual could not save his lands by refusing to enter a plea; instead, a refusal would be punished by immediate forfeiture of all estates. This distinction between treasons and felonies ended in 1772, when the court was permitted to enter a plea on a defendant's behalf.
Formerly, an individual was not entitled to assistance of counsel in any capital case, including treason; the rule, however, was abolished in treason cases by the Treason Act 1695. The same Act extended a rule from 1661 which had made it necessary to produce at least two witnesses to prove each alleged offence of high treason. Nearly one hundred years later a stricter version of this rule was incorporated into the Constitution of the United States. The 1695 Act also provided for a three-year time limit on bringing prosecutions for treason (except for assassinating the king) and misprision of treason, another rule which has been imitated in some common law countries.
These rules made it difficult to prosecute charges of treason, and the rule was relaxed by the Treason Act 1800 to make attempts on the life of the King subject to the same rules of procedure and evidence as existed in murder trials (which did not require two witnesses). This change was extended to all assaults on the Sovereign by section 1 of the Treason Act 1842. Finally the special rules for treason were abolished by the Treason Act 1945 when the rules of evidence and procedure in all cases of treason were made the same as for murder. However, the original three-year time limit stated above survived into the present day. This meant that when James Hewitt was accused of treason by the tabloid press in 1996 because of his affair with the Princess of Wales, he could not have been prosecuted because it could not be proved that he had done it within the foregoing three-year period.
Modern procedure
The procedure in trials for treason is the same as that in trials for murder. It is therefore an indictable-only offence.
Alternative verdict
England and Wales
On the trial of an indictment for treason, the jury cannot return an alternative verdict to the offence charged in that indictment under section 6(3) of the Criminal Law Act 1967. For example, the jury cannot give an alternative verdict of manslaughter in cases of the assassination of the monarch. The Homicide Act 1957 does not apply. However, under the common law the jury may return a verdict of guilty of misprision of treason instead of treason.
Northern Ireland
On the trial of an indictment for treason, the jury cannot return an alternative verdict to the offence charged in that indictment under section 6(2) of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.
Limitation
A person may not be indicted for treason committed within the United Kingdom (subject to the following exception) unless the indictment is preferred within three years of the commission of that offence. This limitation does not apply to treason which consists of designing, endeavouring or attempting to assassinate the sovereign. There is no time limit on the prosecution of treason committed outside of the United Kingdom.
The same time limit applies to attempting or conspiring to commit treason.
Bail
In England and Wales, a person charged with treason may not be granted bail except by order of a High Court judge or of the Secretary of State. The same rule applies in Northern Ireland.
In Scotland, all crimes and offences which are treason are bailable.
Punishment
Before 1998
The form of execution once suffered by traitors was often (though not invariably) torturous. For men the statutory penalty (in England) was to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The condemned could not walk or be carried to the place of execution; the sentence required that they were to be drawn: they might be dragged along the ground, but were normally tied onto a hurdle which was drawn to the place of execution by a horse. A man would then be hanged by a noose around the neck until almost dead. Whilst still alive, he would be cut down and allowed to drop to the ground, stripped of his clothes, his genitals cut off, his viscera pulled out and burnt before his own eyes, and other organs would be torn out of his body. The body would be decapitated, and cut into four-quarters. The body parts would be at the disposal of the Sovereign, and generally they would be gibbeted or publicly displayed as a warning. The body parts would be parboiled in salt and cumin seed: the salt to prevent putrefaction, and the cumin seed to prevent birds pecking at the flesh. This sentence was amended in 1814 so that the offender would hang until dead; the disembowelling, beheading and quartering were to be carried out posthumously.
Women were excluded from this type of punishment and instead were drawn and then burned at the stake, until this was replaced with hanging by the Treason Act 1790 and the Treason by Women Act (Ireland) 1796.
The penalty for high treason by counterfeiting or clipping coins was the same as the penalty for petty treason (which for men was drawing and hanging without the torture and quartering, and for women was burning or hanging.)
Individuals of noble birth were beheaded without being subjected to either form of torture. Commoners' sentences were sometimes commuted to beheading—a sentence not formally removed from British law until 1973.
In addition to being tortured and executed, a traitor was also deemed "attainted". The first consequence of attainder was forfeiture; all lands and estates of a traitor were forever forfeit to the Crown. A second consequence was corruption of blood; the attainted person could neither inherit property, nor transmit it to his or her descendants. This may have been open to abuse, either by avaricious monarchs or by parliament when little (if any) evidence was available to secure a conviction. There was a complex and ceremonial procedure used to try treason cases, with a strict requirement for a minimum of two witnesses to the crime.
In 1832 the death penalty was abolished for treason by forging seals and the Royal sign manual.
In 1870, attainder was abolished. In the same year in England, and in 1949 in Scotland, posthumous drawing and quartering was abolished, and so the sole punishment was hanging.
Beheading was abolished in 1973, by which time it had long been obsolete, having last been used in 1747.
By 1965, capital punishment had been abolished for almost all crimes, but was still mandatory (unless the offender was pardoned or the sentence commuted) for high treason until 1998. By section 36 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the maximum punishment for high treason became life imprisonment. (See also Treason Act 1814.)
Today
A person convicted of treason is liable to imprisonment for life or for any shorter term. A whole life tariff may be imposed for the gravest offences. (See Life imprisonment in England and Wales for more details).
Treason also entails disqualification from public office, and loss of suffrage (except in local elections). This rule does not apply in Scotland.
Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly
Treason (including constructive treason) is a reserved matter on which the Scottish Parliament cannot legislate.
Treason (but not powers of arrest or criminal procedure) is an excepted matter on which the Northern Ireland Assembly cannot legislate.
Treason today
Almost all treason-related offences introduced since the Treason Act 1351 was passed have been abolished or relegated to lesser offences. The Treason Act 1351, on the other hand, has not been significantly amended; the main changes involve the removal of counterfeiting and forgery, as explained above. For the state of the law today, see the Offences section above.
In Autumn 2001 following 9/11, the British government threatened British citizens who fought for the Taliban army in Afghanistan against Anglo-American troops with prosecution for treason, although no one was subsequently tried, at least not for treason.
On 8 August 2005, it was reported that the UK Government was considering bringing prosecutions for treason against a number of British Islamic clerics who have publicly spoken positively about acts of terrorism against civilians in Britain, or attacks on British soldiers abroad, including the 7 July London bombings and numerous attacks on troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Following this threat one foreign cleric who the British government had failed to deport fled to Lebanon, only to request to be rescued by the British military during the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon War. However, later that year prosecutors indicted Abu Hamza al-Masri for inciting murder (he was convicted in February 2006), and it now seems unlikely that anyone will be charged with treason in the foreseeable future.
In 2008 the former attorney-general, Lord Goldsmith QC, published a report on his review of British citizenship. One of his recommendations was for a "thorough reform and rationalisation of the law" of treason.
In 2014 the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, revealed that the British Government was considering high treason charges for Islamic extremists in response to growing numbers of British fighters travelling to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. However this did not come to pass.
On 2 August 2022, Jaswant Singh Chail was charged with offences under section 2 of the Treason Act 1842, and also with making threats to kill and possessing an offensive weapon, a crossbow. He had been arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle on 25 December, 2021 and was charged with "discharging or aiming firearms, or throwing or using any offensive matter or weapon, with intent to injure or alarm her Majesty". On 3 February 2023 he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey and, on 5 October 2023, he was sentenced to a total of nine years imprisonment for the three offences (including 44 months for the Treason Act offence), with an additional five years on extended licence. Chail was the first person since 1981 to be convicted of an offence under a Treason Act. He was widely reported by the media to have been convicted of treason, but the offence under section 2 is not treason but a lesser offence ("a high misdemeanour") which has a maximum sentence of seven years (the name of the 1842 act is because section 1, now repealed, was about treason).
Acts in force today
Acts containing substantive or procedural law
Treason Act 1351 (most forms of treason)
Treason Act 1495 (special defence to treason)
Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 (Northern Ireland only)
Crown of Ireland Act 1542 (Northern Ireland only)
Treason Act 1695 (time limit on prosecution)
Treason Act 1702 (a further form of treason)
Treason Act (Ireland) 1703 (equivalent to Treason Act 1702)
Treason Act 1708 (Scotland only)
Treason Act 1814 and Forfeiture Act 1870 (the penalty for treason)
Treason (Ireland) Act 1821 (extended provisions of the 1695 Act to Ireland and still applies today in Northern Ireland)
Treason Felony Act 1848 (still-existing offences which used to be treason)
Acts creating similar offences
See also the Treason Act 1842 (assaulting the Queen), the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989 (espionage), the Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 and the Terrorism Acts.
See also
List of the Treason Acts
Notes
References
Further reading
"Treason" at the Encyclopedia Britannica (1911)
"On Treason" by Sir William Blackstone
The Law Commission (1977) Treason, Sedition and Allied Offences (Working Paper No.72), Part II, pp. 7–40. BAILII
Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th Edition, 2006 reissue, Volume 11(1), paragraphs 363, 364 and 366
Law of the United Kingdom
Treason in the United Kingdom
English criminal law
Scottish criminal law
Statutory law |
427614 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University%20of%20Basel | University of Basel | The University of Basel (Latin: Universitas Basiliensis, German: Universität Basel) is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universities. The university is traditionally counted among the leading institutions of higher learning in the country.
The associated Basel University Library is the largest and among the most important libraries in Switzerland. The university hosts the faculties of theology, law, medicine, humanities and social sciences, science, psychology, and business and economics, as well as numerous cross-disciplinary subjects and institutes, such as the Biozentrum for biomedical research and the Institute for European Global Studies. In 2020, the university had 13,139 students and 378 professors. International students accounted for 27 percent of the student body.
In its over 500-year history, the university has been home to Erasmus of Rotterdam, Paracelsus, Daniel Bernoulli, Leonhard Euler, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Tadeusz Reichstein, Karl Jaspers, Carl Gustav Jung, Karl Barth, and Jeanne Hersch. The institution is associated with ten Nobel laureates and two Presidents of the Swiss Confederation.
History
The University of Basel was founded in connection with the Council of Basel. It was during the years the catholic clergy resided in Basel, a temporary university was established between the years 1432 und 1448. In May 1432 it was authorized for Simon de Valla from Venice to lecture on canon law, in 1434 Jacques d'Attigny from France and was also permitted to lecture on canon law in Basel. d'Attigny had before been lecturing canon law at the University of Rome. In 1437 Demetrius was called to lecture Greek language. Also the function of a bedel is mentioned, but there was no mention of a dean or an University order. The same year Pope Eugen IV attempted to move the council to Ferrara, but many involved in Basel stayed and kept negotiating and in 1439 the council elected a counterpope in the figure of the Duke of Savoy Amadeus VIII who would become known as Felix V. Felix V then established a formal "University of the Clergy" (German:Kurienuniversität) which was inaugurated in November 1440 with a mass in the . In 1448, the German King Frederick III came to an agreement with Pope Nicholas V, the successor of Eugen IV and ordered the city to remove the security of the councilors. The university was then formally closed in July 1448 and the clergy moved on to Lausanne. After they left, the former lecturers urged for a regular university to be established. The deed of foundation given in the form of a Papal bull by Pope Pius II on 12 November 1459 in Mantua and the official opening ceremony was held on 4 April 1460, the day of Saint Ambrose in the Minster of Basel. Originally the University of Basel was decreed to have four faculties—arts, medicine, theology, and jurisprudence. From 1497, the Grand Council of Basel discussed whether the University was to be closed and only in 1501, the year Basel joined the Swiss Confederation, it was decided not to close the university. The faculty of arts served until 1818 as the foundation for the other three academic subjects. In the eighteenth century as Basel became more commercial, the university, one of the centres of learning in the Renaissance, slipped into insignificance. Enrollment which had been over a thousand around 1600, dropped to sixty in 1785 with eighteen professors. The professors themselves were mostly sons of the elite.
Over the course of centuries as many scholars came to the city, Basel became an early centre of book printing and humanism. Around the same time as the university itself, the Basel University Library was founded. Today it has over three million books and writings and is the largest library in Switzerland.
Located in what was once a politically volatile area, the university's fate often ebbed and flowed with regional political developments, including the Reformation, the Kantonstrennung (separation of the Canton of Basel City from Basel Land), and both World Wars. These factors affected student attendance, funding, university-government relations. In 1833 the Canton of Basel split in two with the Federal Diet requiring that the canton's assets, including the books at the university library, be divided—two-thirds going to the new half canton of Basel-Landschaft. The city, Basel-Stadt, had to buy back this share and the university became so impoverished that it drastically reduced its course offerings. Students were expected to continue their education after two years or so at a German university.
Student enrollment surged after the university shed its medieval curriculum (including the elimination of Latin as the official language of the course catalog in 1822) and began to add more faculties, especially those in the humanities and sciences. Liberal Arts became a faculty in 1818, from which the Philosophy and History and Natural History faculties were derived in 1937. The university subsequently established the Faculty of Science (1937), the Faculty of Business and Economics (1996), and the Faculty of Psychology (2003). During the 20th century, the university grew rapidly, from one thousand students in 1918 to eight thousand in 1994. The first woman who was admitted to the university, Emilie Frey, began her medical studies in 1890.
After the seizure of power in the year 1933 by the Nazis in Germany, numerous renowned German professors decided to emigrate to Basel and started to work at the University of Basel. Several Swiss scholars also returned, inter alia the Law Professor Arthur Baumgarten (1933), the Theologians Karl Barth (1935) and Fritz Lieb (1937) and after World War II the Philosopher Karl Jaspers from Heidelberg University (1948), as well as the surgeon Rudolf Nissen (1952).
On 1 January 1996, the University of Basel became independent from the cantonal government and thus earned its right to self-government. In 2007, the Canton of Basel-Landschaft voted in favor to share the sponsorship of the university in parity with the Canton Basel-Stadt.
Seal
Since 1460, the seal of the University showed a Virgin surrounded with sun rays standing a crescent moon as mentioned in the Revelation of John. Below the moon is the coat of arms of Basel. In her right hand, she holds a scepter, and on her left arm sits Jesus the child. The religious motive is described to denote the religious bond the university counted with at the beginning of its existence. The seal was also used after the reformation and used continuously until 1992.
Reputation and rankings
Well-respected rankings attest to the University of Basel's international academic performance:
Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE) (2021): 92
CWTS Leiden Ranking (2019): 53
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) (2019): 87
Organization
University administration
Since 1 January 1996, the University of Basel has been independent. The University Law of 1995 stipulates that, "The University of Basel is an institution established under public law. It has its own legal personality and right to self-government." As the entity that formally receives the Performance Mandate (Leistungsauftrag) for the University from both supporting cantons, the University Council (Universitätsrat) is the supreme decision-making body of the university. The Council consists of eleven voting members and three non-voting members, including the President, the Executive Director, and the Secretary of the Council.
Beneath the University Council are the Senate (Regenz) and the President's Board. The 80-member Senate consists of the senior members of the President's Board, faculty deans, professors, lecturers and research assistants, assistants, students, and administrative and technical employees.
The President's Office is tasked with leading the overall university business. It consists of the President and her staff, a General Secretariat, an Administrative Directorate, the Communications and Marketing Office, and two respective Vice-Presidents for Research and Education.
Faculties and departments
The University of Basel currently houses seven faculties:
Theology
Law
Medicine
Department of Biomedicine (a joint venture among the University of Basel, the University Hospital, and the University Children's Hospital)
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Department of Public Health
Department of Clinical Research
Department of Sport, Exercise and Health
Humanities and Social Sciences (Phil I)
Department of Ancient Civilizations
Department of History
Department of Social Sciences
Department Arts, Media, Philosophy
Department of Languages and Literatures
Digital Humanities Lab
Science (Phil II)
Biozentrum
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Department of Physics
Department of Chemistry
Department of Environmental Sciences
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Business and Economics
Psychology
Interdisciplinary institutions
Institute for European Global Studies
Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS)
Institute for Biomedical Ethics (IBMB)
Institute of Education
Associated institutes
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI)
Basel Institute on Governance
Swiss Centre for Rescue, Emergency and Disaster Medicine (SZRNK)
Swisspeace
Notable alumni and faculty
The University is counted among the country's leading institutions of higher learning and thus boasts a large number of politicians, scientists and thinkers as professors and alumni from all around the world alike:
Emil Abderhalden (1877–1950), Swiss biochemist and physiologist
Bonifacius Amerbach (1495–1562) Swiss jurist
Johann Konrad Ammann (1669–1724, Swiss physicist and educator of deaf children)
Werner Arber (1929–), Swiss microbiologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978
Karl Barth (1886–1968), Swiss Protestant theologian
Caspar Bauhin (1560–1624), Swiss botanist
Johann Bauhin (1541–1613), Swiss botanist
Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782), Swiss mathematician and physicist
Jacob Bernoulli (1655–1705), prominent Swiss mathematician, after whom Bernoulli numbers are named
Johann Bernoulli (1667–1748), Swiss mathematician
Johann Georg Birnstiel (1858–1927), Swiss writer and clergyman
James Montgomery Boice (1938–2000), American theologian and pastor
Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897), Swiss historian
Meehyun Chung (1963–) South Korean theologian, professor of Yonsei University
Jacques Dubochet (1942–), Swiss biophysicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017
Nikolaus Eglinger (1645–1711), Swiss physician
Paul Erdman (1932–2007), American business and financial writer
Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), mathematician and physicist
Rudolf Eucken (1846–1926), philosopher, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1908
Till Förster (1955), Prof.em.Dr., anthropologist, founding director of the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel
Christoph Gerber professor at the Department of Physics, co-inventor of the atomic force microscope
Albert Gobat (1848–1914), Swiss politician, Nobel Peace Prize in 1902
Arno David Gurewitsch (1902–1974), professor, Columbia‐Presbyterian Medical Center, and personal physician to Eleanor Roosevelt
Paul Herrling, professor of Drug Discovery Science
Jeanne Hersch (1910–2000), Swiss philosopher
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher
Karl Gustav Jung (1795–1864), German-Swiss physician and surgeon, Rector and professor of the University
Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), Swiss psychiatrist, and founder of Analytical Psychology
Eberhard Jüngel (1934–2021), German Lutheran theologian
Jack Dean Kingsbury (1931–), American New Testament theologian and professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary
Michael Landmann (1913–1984), Swiss-Israeli philosopher
Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903–1994), Israeli public intellectual and polymath
Friedrich Miescher (1844–1895), Swiss physician and biologist, first researcher to isolate nucleic acid
Alice Miller (1923–2010), Swiss psychologist and author
David-François de Montmollin (1721–1803), Swiss colonist to Canada, Protestant minister, landowner
Paul Hermann Müller (1899–1965), Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900,) German philosopher, held Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel at the age of 24
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (1942–), German biologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995
Paracelsus (1493–1541), Swiss philosopher, physician, botanist and astrologer
Tadeus Reichstein (1897–1996), Polish-Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950
John H. Rodgers Jr. (1930–2022), American systematic theologian and Anglican bishop
Otto Stich (1927–2012), President of the Swiss Confederation
Emmanuel Stupanus (1587–1664), Swiss physician
William Theilheimer (1914–2005), German-American scientist
Lilian Uchtenhagen (1928–2016), Swiss politician and economist
Peter Werenfels (1627–1703), Swiss theologian
Kurt Wüthrich (1938–), Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002
Iona Yakir (1896–1937), Red Army commander
Rolf Zinkernagel (1944–), Swiss physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1996
Hans Zingg (M.D.) — Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Wyeth-Ayerst Chair in Women's Health at McGill University
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger (1972–), Swiss diplomat, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Student life
The university hosts several formal institutions that are intended to serve the needs of its students. The Student Advice Center provides advice on academic degree programs and career opportunities. The Student Services provides information on applications, grants, mobility, exchanges, and disability services.
Student organizations
There are also a variety of organizations that cater to international students, such as local chapters of Toastmasters and AIESEC, and associations that perform community services (Beraber, for instance, provides remedial lessons to immigrant youth). There is a foreign affairs association (Foraus), a Model United Nations team, and various choirs and orchestras. There are also various religious groups.
A number of other student groups exist out of formal venues. The most recognizable are the "Studentenverbindungen," traditional student associations dating from the 19th century that organize social events, share common uniforms, and often focus on particular hobbies, such as sword fighting. Such associations include the Akademische Turnerschaft Alemannia zu Basel, AKW Raurica, Helvetia Basel, Jurassia Basiliensis, Schwizerhüsli, A.V. Froburger, and Zofingia. Membership in many is restricted to men, though A.V. Froburger also accepts women.
University sports
University Sports provides a gym, fitness classes, and sport and dance camps to students and employees of the university.
Student union
The Studentische Körperschaft der Universität Basel (skuba) speaks on behalf of the students and represents their needs and interests. It acts as an official student representative and has no political or religious affiliations.
Alumni association
The university has a general alumni association, AlumniBasel, as well as specific alumni associations for the Europainstitut, Medicine, Law, Business and Economics, Dentistry, and Nursing.
See also
Biozentrum University of Basel
List of largest universities by enrollment in Switzerland
List of medieval universities
Basel University Library
Notes and references
Further reading
Bonjour, Edgar, Die Universität Basel von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart 1460–1960 (Basel : Helbing und Lichtenhahn, 1971)
External links
Official Website of the university
History website of the university
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) – an associated institute of the university – travel and tropical medicine, international health, medical parasitology and the biology of infection, public health and epidemiology.
Information about the university
Studierendenstatistik der Universität Basel
University Rankings – University of Basel (2008)
Public universities
Basel, University of
Basel, University of
Buildings and structures in Basel |
427626 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail%20Baryshnikov | Mikhail Baryshnikov | Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov (; ; born January 28, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male classical dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.
Born in Riga, Latvian SSR, Baryshnikov had a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in Western dance. After dancing with American Ballet Theatre, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer for one season to learn George Balanchine's neoclassical Russian style of movement. He then returned to the American Ballet Theatre, where he later became artistic director. Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own artistic projects and has been associated in particular with promoting modern dance, premiering dozens of new works, including many of his own. His success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema and television has helped him become probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer. Baryshnikov has never returned to Russia since his 1974 defection and has been a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1986. He has returned to Latvia many times; in 2017, the Republic of Latvia granted Baryshnikov citizenship for extraordinary merits.
In 1977, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Yuri Kopeikine in the film The Turning Point. He starred in the movie White Nights with Gregory Hines, Helen Mirren, and Isabella Rossellini, and had a recurring role in the last season of the television series Sex and the City.
Early life
Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in Riga, which was at the time in the Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, now Latvia. His parents were Russians: Alexandra (a dressmaker; née Kiselyova) and Nikolay Baryshnikov (an engineer). According to Baryshnikov, his father was a strict, nationalist military man, and his mother introduced him to the theatre, opera and ballet. She died by suicide when he was 12.
Dancing career
1960–1974: early years
Baryshnikov began his ballet studies in Riga in 1960, at the age of 12. In 1964, he entered the Vaganova School, in what was then Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Baryshnikov soon won the top prize in the junior division of the Varna International Ballet Competition. He joined the Mariinsky Ballet, then called the Kirov Ballet, in 1967, dancing the "Peasant" pas de deux in Giselle. Recognizing Baryshnikov's talent, in particular his stage presence and purity of technique, several Soviet choreographers, including Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernichov, and Leonid Jakobson, choreographed ballets for him. Baryshnikov made signature roles of Jakobson's 1969 virtuosic Vestris along with an intensely emotional Albrecht in Giselle. While he was still in the Soviet Union, New York Times critic Clive Barnes called him "the most perfect dancer I have ever seen."
1974: defection to Canada
Baryshnikov's talent was obvious from his youth, but being 5' 5" (165 cm) or 5' 6" (168 cm) tall—shorter than most dancers—he could not tower over a ballerina en pointe and was therefore relegated to secondary parts. More frustrating to him, the Soviet dance world hewed closely to 19th-century traditions and deliberately shunned Western choreographers, whose work Baryshnikov glimpsed in occasional tours and films. His main reason for leaving the Soviet Union was to work with these innovators.
On June 29, 1974, in Toronto while on tour with the Bolshoi, Baryshnikov defected, requesting political asylum in Canada. As recalled by John Fraser, a ballet critic from Toronto who helped Baryshnikov to escape, Fraser wrote down phone numbers of people on a small piece of paper and hid it under his wedding ring. At a banquet after one show he managed to distract the KGB officer who followed Baryshnikov as an interpreter and gave Baryshnikov the paper. Soon, Baryshnikov joined the National Ballet of Canada for a brief time in a guest role. He also announced that he would not return to the USSR. He later said that Christina Berlin, an American friend, helped engineer his defection during his 1970 tour of London. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with the National Ballet of Canada in La Sylphide. He then went to the United States. In December 1975, he and his dance partner Natalia Makarova featured prominently in an episode of the BBC television series Arena.
In the first two years after his defection, he danced for no fewer than 13 different choreographers, including Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Alvin Ailey, and Twyla Tharp. "It doesn't matter if every ballet is a success or not", he told New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff in 1976. "The new experience gives me a lot." He cited his fascination with the ways Ailey mixed classical and modern technique and his initial discomfort when Tharp insisted he incorporate eccentric personal gestures in dance.
1974–1978: principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre
From 1974 to 1978, Baryshnikov was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where he partnered with Gelsey Kirkland.
1978–1979: principal dancer with the New York City Ballet
In 1978, Baryshnikov abandoned his freelance career to spend 18 months as a principal of the New York City Ballet, run by George Balanchine. "Mr. B", as Balanchine was known, rarely welcomed guest artists and had refused to work with both Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova. Baryshnikov's decision to devote his full attentions to the New York company stunned the dance world. Balanchine never created a new work for Baryshnikov, but he did coach him in his distinctive style, and Baryshnikov triumphed in such signature roles as Apollo, The Prodigal Son, and Rubies. Jerome Robbins created Opus 19/The Dreamer for Baryshnikov and NYCB favorite Patricia McBride.
Baryshnikov performed with the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer for 15 months from 1978 to 1979. On July 8, 1978, he made his debut with George Balanchine's and Lincoln Kirstein's company at Saratoga Springs, appearing as Franz in Coppélia.
On October 12, 1979, Baryshnikov danced the role of the Poet in Balanchine's ballet La Sonnambula with the City Ballet at the Kennedy Center. This was his last performance with New York City Ballet due to tendinitis and other injuries. His tenure there coincided with a period of ill health for Balanchine that followed an earlier heart attack and culminated in successful heart surgery in June 1979. Baryshnikov left the company to become ABT's artistic director in September 1980, and take time off for his injuries.
1980–2002: artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre and White Oak Dance Project
Baryshnikov returned to the American Ballet Theatre in September 1980 as an artistic director, a position he held until 1989. He also performed as a dancer with ABT. Baryshnikov has remained fascinated with the new. As he observed, "It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity and making an earnest attempt." Baryshnikov also toured with ballet and modern dance companies around the world for 15 months. Several roles were created for him, including in Robbins's Opus 19: The Dreamer (1979), Frederick Ashton's Rhapsody (1980), and Robbins's Other Dances, with Natalia Makarova.
From 1990 to 2002, Baryshnikov was artistic director of the White Oak Dance Project, a touring company he co-founded with Mark Morris. The White Oak Project was formed to create original work for older dancers. In a run ending just short of his 60th birthday in 2007, he appeared in a production of four short plays by Samuel Beckett directed by JoAnne Akalaitis.
Baryshnikov was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
2002–present: Baryshnikov Arts Center and awards
In 2003, Baryshnikov won the Prix Benois de la Danse for lifetime achievement. In 2005, he launched the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. For the duration of the 2006 summer, Baryshnikov went on tour with Hell's Kitchen Dance, which was sponsored by the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Featuring works by Baryshnikov Arts Center residents Azsure Barton and Benjamin Millepied, the company toured the United States and Brazil. He has received three honorary degrees: on May 11, 2006, from New York University; on September 28, 2007, from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University; and on May 23, 2008, from Montclair State University. In late August 2007, Baryshnikov performed Mats Ek's Place (Ställe) with Ana Laguna at Dansens Hus in Stockholm. In 2012, he received the Vilcek Prize in Dance.
Baryshnikov has performed in Israel three times: in 1996, with the White Oak Dance Project at the Roman theater in Caesarea; in 2010, with Ana Laguna; and in 2011, starring in nine performances of In Paris, a show after a short story by Ivan Bunin, at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv. In a 2011 Haaretz interview, he expressed opposition to artistic boycotts of Israel and called the enthusiasm for contemporary dance in Israel astounding.
Film, television and theater
Baryshnikov made his American television dancing debut in 1976, on the PBS program In Performance Live from Wolf Trap. The program is distributed on DVD by Kultur Video.
During the Christmas season of 1977, CBS brought Baryshnikov's ABT production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker to television, with Baryshnikov in the title role, accompanied by ABT performers including Gelsey Kirkland and Alexander Minz. The Nutcracker has been presented on TV many times in many different versions, but Baryshnikov's version is one of only two to be nominated for an Emmy Award.
Baryshnikov also performed in two Emmy-winning television specials, one on ABC and one on CBS, in which he danced to music from Broadway and Hollywood, respectively. During the 1970s and 1980s, he appeared many times with the ABT on Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances. He has also appeared on several telecasts of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Baryshnikov performed in his first film role soon after arriving in New York. He portrayed the character Yuri Kopeikine, a famous, womanizing Russian ballet dancer, in the 1977 film The Turning Point, for which he received an Oscar nomination. He co-starred with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini in the 1985 film White Nights, choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and was featured in the 1987 film Dancers. On television, in the last season of Sex and the City, he played a Russian artist, Aleksandr Petrovsky, who woos Carrie Bradshaw relentlessly and takes her to Paris. He co-starred in Company Business (1991) with Gene Hackman.
An animated TV series, Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood, appeared on American PBS networks from 1996 to 1998. The cartoons were produced by the Russian animation house Soyuzmultfilm, and redubbed by American actors, including Jim Belushi, Laura San Giacomo, Harvey Fierstein and Kirsten Dunst. Baryshnikov hosted the show, presenting his favorite folktales, including Beauty and the Beast: A Tale of the Crimson Flower, The Snow Queen, The Last Petal and The Golden Rooster. The episodes were also released on home video.
On November 2, 2006, Baryshnikov and chef Alice Waters were featured on an episode of the Sundance Channel's original series Iconoclasts. The two have a long friendship. They discussed their lifestyles, sources of inspiration, and social projects. During the program, Waters visited Baryshnikov's Arts Center in New York City. The Hell's Kitchen Dance tour brought him to Berkeley to visit her restaurant Chez Panisse. On July 17, 2007, the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer featured a profile of Baryshnikov and his Arts Center. He appears, uncredited, in the 2014 film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit as Interior Minister Sorokin.
In a continuation of his interest in modern dance, Baryshnikov appeared in a 2015 commercial for the clothing designer Rag & Bone with street dance artist Lil Buck.
On stage as an actor
Baryshnikov is a performer in avant-garde theater. His breakthrough performance in Broadway was in 1989, when he played Gregor Samsa in Metamorphosis, an adaption of Franz Kafka's novel. It earned him a Tony nomination.
In 2004, Baryshnikov appeared in Forbidden Christmas or The Doctor And The Patient at New York City's Lincoln Center, and in 2007 in Beckett Shorts at New York Theatre Workshop. On April 11 to 21, 2012, he starred in In Paris, a new play directed by Dmitry Krymov. It was presented on the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center's Broad Stage and co-starred Anna Sinyakina. Baryshnikov then appeared in the stage adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Man in a Case. Of the production, he said:
On April 21, 2015, The New York Times reported that Baryshnikov was scheduled to perform a reading of poet Joseph Brodsky's work in Riga in 2015. The performance was called "Brodsky/Baryshnikov," was in the original Russian, and premiered on October 15, 2015. Its international tour began in Tel Aviv in January 2016 and it was staged in New York City in March 2016. (Baryshnikov met Brodsky in 1974, soon after Soviet authorities had forced Brodsky to leave his home country and he moved to the United States. They remained friends until Brodsky's death in 1996.)
Personal life
Baryshnikov has a daughter, Aleksandra "Shura" Baryshnikova (born 1981), from his relationship with actress Jessica Lange. When Baryshnikov and Lange met, he spoke very little English; they communicated in French instead. He eventually learned English by watching television. From 1982 to 1983 he dated Tuesday Weld, Lange's best friend.
Baryshnikov has had a long-term relationship with former ballerina Lisa Rinehart. They had three children together: Peter, Anna (born 1992), and Sofia. He told Larry King in 2002 that he did not "believe in marriage in the conventional way", but he and Rinehart married in 2006.
Baryshnikov endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
Citizenship
On July 3, 1986, Baryshnikov became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Asked whether he felt like an American, he said, "I like to think like I'm a man of the world. I feel totally Parisian in Paris. Totally Parisian. I have my place here, a lot of close friends and collaborators here, whom I can really feel like I can talk serious business with them. Human business, not 'business' business. Paris was always the dream of my childhood. We grew up on French art, like all Russians. America, United States, North America—it's a new country. Of course, if somebody would ask me to choose either Paris or New York, I would choose New York. But spiritually, somehow, I love Europe."
On April 27, 2017, the Republic of Latvia granted Baryshnikov citizenship for extraordinary merits. The application to the Latvian parliament along with a letter from Baryshnikov in which he expressed his wish to become a Latvian citizen was submitted on December 21, 2016. He wrote that the decision was based on memories of his first 16 years living in Latvia, which provided the basis for the rest of his life. "It was there that my exposure to the arts led me to discover my future destiny as a performer. Riga still serves as a place where I find artistic inspiration", Baryshnikov wrote in the letter to the Latvian parliament.
True Russia Foundation
In March 2022, together with economist Sergei Guriev and writer Boris Akunin, Baryshnikov announced the formation of the True Russia foundation to support victims of the war in Ukraine. Baryshnikov condemned the Russian invasion and wrote an open letter to Vladimir Putin slamming his "world of fear". In his letter, Baryshnikov wrote that people of culture who promoted Russian art made more for Russia than Putin's "not-so-precise weapons". True Russia also aims to become a trilingual art platform. By the end of March, the initiative had raised more than 1.2 million euros.
Awards
1966 Varna International Ballet Competition (gold medal, junior division)
1969 Moscow International Ballet Competition (gold medal)
1969 Nijinsky Prize, Paris Academy of Dance, for performance in Vestris
1977 Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for The Turning Point
1977 Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor, Academy of Foreign Film Press for The Turning Point
1978 Award from Dance magazine
1979 D.F.A. from Yale University
1987 Man of the Year from the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, USA
2000 Kennedy Center Honor
2004 Jerome Robbins Prize
2005 National Arts Award
2006 George and Judy Marcus Prize for Lifetime Achievement
2006 Honorary degree from New York University
2007 Honorary degree from Shenandoah University Conservatory
2008 Honorary degree from Montclair State University
2019 Honorary degree from University of Southern California
2022 Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award
Filmography
Film appearances
Film choreographer
Television appearances
Specials
Also appeared in "Prodigal Son", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", and "Other Dances", all Dance in America, PBS; Baryshnikov: The Dancer and the Dance, PBS; and Carmen, on French television.
"Sex and the City: Aleksandr Petrovsky ", HBO
Series
The Magic of Dance, 1982
Host, Stories from My Childhood (also known as Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood), 1997
Television work
Series
Producer, Stories from My Childhood (also known as Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood), 1997
Television artistic director
Specials
"Baryshnikov by Tharp with the American Ballet Theatre", Dance in America, PBS, 1984
Television choreographer
Specials
The Nutcracker, CBS, 1977
"Celebrating Gershwin", Great Performances, PBS, 1987
See also
List of dancers
References
External links
Baryshnikov Arts Center
Archive footage of Baryshnikov performing Twyla Tharp's Pergolesi in 1995 at Jacob's Pillow
Archive footage of Baryshnikov performing Lucinda Childs's Chacony in 2002 at Jacob's Pillow
1948 births
Living people
American Ballet Theatre dancers
American male ballet dancers
American male film actors
American male television actors
Ballet choreographers
Mikhail
Dancers from Riga
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Honored Artists of the RSFSR
American people of Russian descent
Latvian people of Russian descent
Mariinsky Ballet dancers
National Ballet of Canada dancers
New York City Ballet principal dancers
People with acquired American citizenship
People with multiple nationality
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Prix Benois de la Danse winners
Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian male ballet dancers
Soviet defectors
Soviet emigrants to the United States
Soviet male ballet dancers
United States National Medal of Arts recipients
Kennedy Center honorees |
427630 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth%20Kelly | Ruth Kelly | Ruth Maria Kelly (born 9 May 1968) is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1997 until she stood down in 2010. Previously, she served as the Secretary of State for Transport, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Minister for Women and Equality and Secretary of State for Education and Skills, serving under both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Background
Kelly was born in Limavady, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She also lived briefly in the Republic of Ireland before moving to England where she attended Edgarley Hall, the preparatory school for Millfield School. She was educated at the independent Sutton High School, run by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). After being moved up a year and sitting O-levels at Sutton High School at the age of 15, she decided to move back to Ireland to look after her ill grandmother. Her grandmother died after six weeks, but Kelly stayed for a year, living with her aunt and taking A-level French. She returned to England on winning a scholarship to the sixth-form of Westminster School. From Westminster, Kelly went up to The Queen's College, Oxford, to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1986, graduating in 1989, and then on to the London School of Economics where she was awarded a MSc degree in economics in 1992. Kelly taught at University of Navarra, after she joined the Labour Party in 1990, becoming a member of the party's Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency party. She was an economics writer for The Guardian from 1990, before becoming deputy head of the Inflation Report Division of the Bank of England in 1994. She married Derek John Gadd, a local government officer, in 1996, and they have four children.
Family history
Kelly's maternal grandfather, Philip Murphy, served as an officer in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921). In 1922 he was interned by the Government of Northern Ireland. Murphy's detention file refers to him as 'quartermaster of the West Fermanagh IRA Battalion'. He went on hunger strike to protest at his detention. He was released unconditionally in June 1924, when internment ended. Her paternal grandfather Francis (Frank) Kelly joined the Connaught Rangers and served in France during the First World War. After the war, he returned to County Tyrone and took up a post of School Master in Altishane. His first wife died leaving a young family of six. He remarried Mary Agnes and had another six children. One of them James (Seamus) was Ruth's father.
Religion
Kelly is a practising Roman Catholic, a member of the Opus Dei, and a regular attender at their meetings and events. Her brother, Ronan Kelly, is also a member of the group. Previously, uncertainty existed over Kelly's membership; she declined to say whether or not she was a member, saying only that she had received 'spiritual support' from the organisation.
Career as an MP
In the 1997 general election, Kelly gained the seat of Bolton West from the Conservatives while heavily pregnant, and gave birth to her first son eleven days later. She gained her place in parliament as Tony Blair became Prime Minister with Labour's landslide election victory.
She served on the Treasury Select Committee; she was also appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Agriculture Minister, Nick Brown, from 1998. Kelly was a member of a commission set up by the Institute for Public Policy Research into the Private Finance Initiative, which expressed some scepticism about the operation of the policy.
After Labour won the 2001 general election, Kelly was appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Her role focused on competition policy and small businesses. After a year she was promoted to be Financial Secretary to the Treasury, giving her responsibility for regulation of the financial services industry. In both positions her principal task was in the thorough revision of the Financial Services regulation system which was introduced by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Kelly brought in new regulations to tackle the funding of terrorism after September 2001 attacks.
Kelly was assigned the task of dealing with Equitable Life after the Penrose Report into the life insurance company was published. She rejected calls for government compensation to Equitable policyholders, on the grounds that the losses arose from actions of the company rather than from any defect of regulation, and that it was still trading. Equitable policyholders continued to demand redress.
As a mother of four young children, she refused to work the long hours normally associated with such positions and refused to take a red box in the evening whilst at the Treasury.
In a minor reshuffle, she was promoted to be Minister for the Cabinet Office on 9 September 2004, replacing Douglas Alexander. Kelly guided the Civil Contingencies Bill through its final stages in Parliament, which faced serious objections from some civil liberties campaigns.
Party loyalty
Kelly hardly ever voted against the position of her party and in the most divisive votes over Labour's term, she followed the party line. She voted for the Iraq War, and subsequently voted against an independent investigation into the run-up to the war. Kelly also voted for the introduction of tuition top-up fees, in a vote that saw a massive rebellion amongst Labour MPs. She also voted for the introduction of identity cards, voted for replacing Trident, and argued against the addition of a sunset clause in part 2 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. In a free parliamentary vote on 20 May 2008, Kelly voted for cutting the upper limit for abortions from 24 to 12 weeks, along with two other Catholic cabinet ministers Des Browne and Paul Murphy.
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
In the reshuffle following the resignation of David Blunkett on 15 December 2004, Kelly entered the Cabinet (also becoming a member of the Privy Council) with the position of Secretary of State for Education and Skills. She became the youngest woman ever to sit in the Cabinet.
The Government's Extended Schools policy, which planned to open some schools from 8am to 6pm and provide child-care services for working parents, was dubbed by some as "Kelly hours" after Kelly, although the National Childcare Strategy with before and after-school care funded in most schools by the New Opportunities Fund pre-dated extended schools (and Kelly's ministerial tenure) by several years. The extended schools initiative was predicated on wider use of and access to schools as community resources, not just for parents and children. Her proposals in the 2005 white paper to reduce the number and influence of parent governors in trust schools were seen as a partial reversal of this earlier stance.
Kelly attracted considerable criticism by rejecting the proposals of the Tomlinson report on education reform for the 14–19 age group, which suggested replacing A-level exams with a four-tier diploma. After the 2005 election, it was rumoured that she was to be demoted back into her old post at the Treasury and although she kept her position at the DfES, she was said to have been "less than thrilled" by the appointment of Tony Blair's adviser Andrew Adonis as a Minister within her department.
Sex offenders in schools controversy
On 9 January 2006, it came to light that Kelly's department had granted permission for a man who had been cautioned by police for viewing child pornography images and who was on a sex offenders register to be employed at a school, on the basis that he had not been convicted of an offence. He, and an unknown number of others on the sex offenders register, were not on the DfES prohibited list, "List 99".
On 13 January, Kim Howells, a Minister of State at the DfES, admitted that it was he who had actually made the decision, in accordance with advice given to him by civil servants that the "person did not represent an ongoing threat to children but that he should be given a grave warning". In response to the critical media coverage surrounding the issue, Downing Street issued a statement confirming their confidence in Kelly and denying rumours that she was to be replaced.
There was further controversy when it transpired that another teacher had been cleared to work at a school, despite the fact that he had been convicted in 1980 for indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl and had been previously removed from three schools. A letter from the Department for Education that suggested the Secretary of State had considered his case and found that although his past actions had been unwise and unacceptable, he had undertaken teaching work to good effect since.
Trust schools
A controversy in Kelly's time at the DfES was the proposed introduction of trust schools. The Trusts were intended to be non-profit making and to have charitable status, although they could be formed by commercial enterprises. In fact, one of the early DfES-hosted seminars on the establishment of Trusts included representatives from Microsoft and KPMG. However, it was their ability to set their own admission arrangements that generated the most criticism.
A large number of Labour backbenchers, as well as numerous party luminaries like Neil Kinnock and former Education Secretary Estelle Morris, made known their opposition to the proposals and published an alternative white paper. Faced with such a rebellion, the government initially stressed that it would "press on" with the reforms. However, new Tory leader David Cameron unexpectedly announced that these reforms were in line with Tory policies and that he would support the bill if presented in the proposed form. The government were faced with the prospect of pushing through their reforms only with opposition support and in the face of increased resistance from its own supporters.
When the Education and Inspections Bill 2006 was finally published on 28 February 2006, it contained much of what had been trailed, although most notable by its absence was any mention of "trust school". Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools were left to pick up the mantle of trust schools.
Religion and political views
The effect of her religious viewpoint on her opinions regarding controversial scientific questions has been of concern to some scientists who have speculated that her religious views could have an effect on government policy regarding stem cell research.
Children's schooling
All four of Kelly's children started at a Roman Catholic primary school in Wapping, east London. However, on 8 January 2007, the Daily Mirror revealed that she had withdrawn her son from the voluntary aided school, and — following professional advice — sent him to a preparatory school that specialises in the education of boys aged 7–13 with dyslexia and/or developmental coordination disorder. Though the additional cost for specialist support outside the state sector sometimes is covered by the local authority, Kelly stated she has not and will not seek its help in meeting these costs.
According to Ofsted inspection in 2002 "those with special educational needs, make particularly good progress" at English Martyrs Roman Catholic school, and that pupils generally meet "standards that are much better than those gained by pupils in similar schools". The school achieved the best exam results in the borough of Tower Hamlets and among the best in the UK, with 96% of children reaching the expected standard for English, and 100% for Maths and Science. The area's education authority also runs six special needs schools within reach of Kelly's home and responded to the controversy saying, "We are proud of the quality of education we offer to all children. We have a strong record in helping children with a wide range of learning needs to succeed."
Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, called the decision "a slap in the face for the teachers and pupils in the school the child has been taken out of". However, Conservative Party leader David Cameron, whose own disabled son Ivan attended a state special needs school, defended her decision, saying "People should recognise that politicians like everyone else are parents first and will act in the best interests of their children".
Kelly made a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission about the Mirror'''s reporting of the story, but the complaint was rejected, with the PCC ruling that the story was "a matter of considerable public interest", given that she is "a Cabinet minister – who had previously been Secretary of State for Education and Skills", and "even if government policy included an acceptance of private schooling for those with special needs, the fact that the complainant did not feel that the current state system could meet her child's requirements raised questions about the nature of funded schooling and its ability to cater for children with special needs – including those whose families would not be able to pay for private schooling."
Fathers for Justice attacks
Twice Kelly has been targeted by members of fathers' rights group Fathers 4 Justice in egg-throwing incidents. The first was in April 2005; protester Simon Wilmot-Coverdale was charged, and in February 2006 Kelly gave evidence at Salford Magistrates Court. As she left the court, she was again attacked, this time by Michael Downe; the egg smashed on the back of her head. Downes was fined and given an ASBO, which he proceeded to rip up outside the court, promising to continue to fight for fathers' rights.
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
After the English local elections in May 2006, Kelly was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, a position created when these functions were split off from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The department also took over the Home Office's responsibilities for active communities and civic renewal. She was also given the post of Minister for Women and Equality. Kelly's successor at the Department for Education and Skills was Alan Johnson.
On 16 October 2006, she announced that her new role would involve cutting down on extremists within communities.
Catholic social views and homosexuality
Kelly's staunchly Catholic beliefs and social positions clashed with her Cabinet position as a member of Tony Blair's government, which was pushing for a number of progressive reforms and equality for gay and bisexual people. Criticism intensified when Kelly later became Minister for Women and Equality, and criticism was aired on BBC Radio 5 Live and the front page of The Independent in 2006 over her stance on homosexuality. Blair's government repealed many laws that were perceived as being anti-gay, but Kelly consistently opted out of voting on her party's measures. Kelly opposed lowering the age of consent for homosexuality, as well as voting against outlawing discrimination against gay couples adopting children. Out of fourteen votes during the Blair government surrounding the political issues of homosexuality, Kelly had only attended two.
LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell attacked Kelly for her views on homosexuality, claiming: "Tony Blair would never appoint someone to a race equality post who had a lukewarm record of opposing racism". In a letter published in The Times on 11 May 2006, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster claimed that attacks on Kelly were anti-Catholic. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor wrote "Ms Kelly may well be scrutinised for her fitness in office. That is a political judgement. But her Catholicism should not be a criterion in forming that judgement."The Observer newspaper reported on 15 October 2006 that Kelly had joined the Prime Minister in seeking to exempt churches from new equality laws which would require Christian churches to treat homosexuality with equal validity to heterosexuality, which Kelly felt went against Catholic teaching. Lorely Burt, the Liberal Democrat Equalities spokesperson, who opposed allowing churches to preach against homosexuality in schools, called for Kelly to be removed from the Cabinet. It was reported in January 2007 that Kelly supported an exemption for Catholic adoption agencies from new laws that would allow them to refuse service to gay couples.
Planning decisions
Kelly demonstrated some opposition to the development of skyscrapers from her first months as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. In November 2006, she stopped the Brunswick Quay proposal, which represented over £100 million worth of investment into Liverpool, from going ahead. The final report of the planners who carried out the public inquiry had recommended approval for the project. In December 2006, she called a public inquiry into the 20 Fenchurch Street tower in London's financial district, on the basis that a tall building would be "unsuitable for this site". In May 2007, she blocked a 42-storey, 120-m tower in the New England Quarter development in Brighton, designed by Allies and Morrison and being planned by the Beetham Organization. She approved the building of new homes and businesses in Walker, Newcastle, in a bid to regenerate the area.
Secretary of State for Transport
Kelly was appointed to the position in Gordon Brown's new cabinet on 27 June in a government reshuffle, though it had been speculated she would be removed from the cabinet. Within a few days of entering her job, she faced tough work as she was responsible for securing the public's safety through transport after some attempted terrorist attacks. She came under fire for admitting along with other Labour Ministers that she had smoked cannabis as a teenager.
Support for biofuels
Kelly's support for biofuels drew criticism from activists who felt that it impoverishes third world farmers to assuage first world environmental guilt. "If people starve because of biofuels, Ruth Kelly and her peers will have killed them," wrote environmentalist George Monbiot in The Guardian. "Like all such crimes, it is perpetrated by cowards, attacking the weak to avoid confronting the strong."
Railways
Kelly announced a major increase of railway capacity by providing extra trains across the country by 2010 which drew criticism for her London bias as most of the funding would be spent there. She gave the go-ahead in 2007 for billions of pounds of public money to be spent on the Crossrail project in London, which caused outrage amongst MPs in other cities, especially Manchester, who had been told that no public transport funding would be given without a congestion charge scheme.
Heathrow expansion
Kelly set out proposals for a third runway and a sixth terminal at Heathrow under new extensive plans. Gordon Brown admitted this was one of the biggest challenges which faced the UK Government over the coming years.BBC News: Heathrow expansion, in graphics, 22 November 2007.
Misuse of public funds
In November 2007 it emerged that Kelly had misused part of her £10,000 communications allowance for party political material. The funds should have only been used for politically neutral material, and Kelly apologised for breaking the rules.
Cabinet resignation
In September 2008, Kelly announced her intention to resign from the cabinet to spend more time with her family. This ended her time as Transport Secretary and cabinet minister after four years. She did not stand at the 2010 general election. Damian McBride, a former senior Labour Party strategist, was shifted from being Gordon Brown's political spokesman to Number 10, after criticism of the way he handled Kelly's resignation.
Parliamentary expenses
On 18 May 2009, Kelly became involved in the MPs' expenses scandal when the Daily Telegraph'' revealed she had claimed a total of £31,000 between 2004 and 2008 for rebuilding, refurbishing, and purchasing appliances for her second home. It was subsequently revealed on 21 May 2009 that some of this money was used to repair damage caused by a burst pipe. Kelly was insured for this damage but did not claim on that insurance after being advised by the fees office that a reasonable amount could be claimed under the allowances system.
Subsequent career
In May 2010, Kelly became the Global Head of Client Strategy at HSBC.
In 2015, Kelly left HSBC and was appointed to become Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at St Mary's University, Twickenham. Kelly has since left St Mary's University and now works for the Vatican on its financial portfolio. In 2010, Kelly supported David Miliband for the leadership of the Labour Party over his brother, Ed. In 2018, she left the Labour Party over the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn after nearly thirty years of membership. In 2022 Kelly joined the right-leaning think tank Policy Exchange. Kelly replaced Anthony Ferrar as chair of Water UK in March 2023.
See also
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
List of Northern Ireland members of the Privy Council
Notes
References
External links
Communities and Local Government page
Women & Equality Unit
Guardian Unlimited Politics — Ask Aristotle: Ruth Kelly MP
TheyWorkForYou.com — Ruth Kelly MP
BBC Profile (May 2006)
BBC Politics page
Ruth Kelly website by the Labour Party
Audio clips
Talking about literacy on the Westminster Hour in April 2005
Speaking on the Today programme in 2002 about Stock Market uncertainties when Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Video clips
Being 'egged' by Fathers for Justice
Her housing policies being looked at closely
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1968 births
Living people
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
20th-century British economists
British women economists
British people of Irish descent
British Secretaries of State
British Secretaries of State for Education
Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford
HSBC people
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Westminster School, London
Opus Dei members
People associated with the Bank of England
People educated at Millfield Preparatory School
People educated at Sutton High School, London
People from Limavady
Secretaries of State for Transport (UK)
The Guardian journalists
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
Academic staff of the University of Navarra
20th-century British women politicians
21st-century British women politicians
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Bolton West
Women's ministers
21st-century British economists |
427655 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus%20edulis | Boletus edulis | Boletus edulis (English: cep, penny bun, porcino or porcini) is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus Boletus. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occur naturally in the Southern Hemisphere, although it has been introduced to southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. Several closely related European mushrooms formerly thought to be varieties or forms of B. edulis have been shown using molecular phylogenetic analysis to be distinct species, and others previously classed as separate species are conspecific with this species. The western North American species commonly known as the California king bolete (Boletus edulis var. grandedulis) is a large, darker-coloured variant first formally identified in 2007.
The fungus grows in deciduous and coniferous forests and tree plantations, forming symbiotic ectomycorrhizal associations with living trees by enveloping the tree's underground roots with sheaths of fungal tissue. The fungus produces spore-bearing fruit bodies above ground in summer and autumn. The fruit body has a large brown cap which on occasion can reach , rarely in diameter and in weight. Like other boletes, it has tubes extending downward from the underside of the cap, rather than gills; spores escape at maturity through the tube openings, or pores. The pore surface of the B. edulis fruit body is whitish when young, but ages to a greenish-yellow. The stout stipe, or stem, is white or yellowish in colour, up to , rarely tall and thick, and partially covered with a raised network pattern, or reticulations.
Prized as an ingredient in various culinary dishes, B. edulis is an edible mushroom held in high regard in many cuisines, and is commonly prepared and eaten in soups, pasta, or risotto. The mushroom is low in fat and digestible carbohydrates, and high in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. Although it is sold commercially, it is very difficult to cultivate. Available fresh in autumn throughout Europe and Russia, it is most often dried, packaged, and distributed worldwide. It keeps its flavour after drying, and it is then reconstituted and used in cooking. B. edulis is one of the few fungi sold pickled.
Taxonomy
Boletus edulis was first described in 1782 by the French botanist Pierre Bulliard and still bears its original name. The starting date of fungal taxonomy had been set as January 1, 1821, to coincide with the date of the works of the 'father of mycology', Swedish naturalist Elias Magnus Fries, which meant the name required sanction by Fries (indicated in the name by a colon) to be considered valid, as Bulliard's work preceded this date. It was thus written Boletus edulis Bull.:Fr. A 1987 revision of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature set the starting date at May 1, 1753, the date of publication of Linnaeus' work, the Species Plantarum. Hence, the name no longer requires the ratification of Fries' authority. Early alternate names include Boletus solidus by English naturalist James Sowerby in 1809, and Gray's Leccinum edule. Gray's transfer of the species to Leccinum was later determined to be inconsistent with the rules of botanical nomenclature, and he apparently was unfamiliar with the earlier works of Fries when he published his arrangement of bolete species.
Boletus edulis is the type species of the genus Boletus. In Rolf Singer's classification of the Agaricales mushrooms, it is also the type species of section Boletus, a grouping of about 30 related boletes united by several characteristics: a mild-tasting, white flesh that does not change colour when exposed to air; a smooth to distinctly raised, netted pattern over at least the uppermost portion of the stem; a yellow-brown or olive-brown spore print; white tubes that later become yellowish then greenish, which initially appear to be stuffed with cotton; and cystidia that are not strongly coloured. Molecular analysis published in 1997 established that the bolete mushrooms are all derived from a common ancestor, and established the Boletales as an order separate from the Agaricales.
The generic name is derived from the Latin term bōlētus "mushroom", which was borrowed in turn from the Ancient Greek βωλίτης, "terrestrial fungus". Ultimately, this last word derives from bōlos/βῶλος "lump", "clod", and, metaphorically, "mushroom". The βωλίτης of Galen, like the boletus of Latin writers like Martial, Seneca and Petronius, is often identified as the much prized Amanita caesarea. The specific epithet edulis in Latin means "eatable" or "edible".
Common names
Common names for B. edulis vary by region. The standard Italian name, porcino (pl. porcini), means porcine; fungo porcino, in Italian, echoes the term suilli, literally "hog mushrooms", a term used by the Ancient Romans and still in use in southern Italian terms for this species. The derivation has been ascribed to the resemblance of young fruit bodies to piglets, or to the fondness pigs have for eating them. It is also known as "king bolete". The English penny bun refers to its rounded brownish shape. The German name Steinpilz (stone mushroom) refers to the species' firm flesh. In Austria, it is called Herrenpilz, the "noble mushroom", while in Mexico, the Spanish name is panza, meaning "belly". Another Spanish name, rodellon, means "small round boulder", while the Dutch name eekhoorntjesbrood means "squirrel's bread". Russian names are belyy grib (:ru:белый гриб; "white mushroom" as opposed to less valuable "black mushrooms") and borovik (:ru:боровик; from bor—"pine forest").
The vernacular name cep is derived from the Catalan cep or its French name cèpe, although the latter is a generic term applying to several related species. In France, it is more fully cèpe de Bordeaux, derived from the Gascon cep "trunk" for its fat stalk, ultimately from the Latin cippus "stake". Ceppatello, ceppatello buono, ceppatello bianco, giallo leonato, ghezzo, and moreccio are names from Italian dialects, and ciurenys or surenys is another term in Catalan. The French-born King Charles XIV John popularised B. edulis in Sweden after 1818, and is honoured in the local vernacular name Karljohanssvamp, as well as the Danish name Karl Johan svamp. The monarch cultivated the fungus about his residence, Rosersberg Palace. The Finnish name is herkkutatti, herkku from herkullinen, which means delicious, and tatti, describing the type of mushroom.
Description
The cap of this mushroom is broad at maturity. Slightly sticky to touch, it is convex in shape when young and flattens with age. The colour is generally reddish-brown fading to white in areas near the margin, and continues to darken as it matures. The stipe, or stem, is in height, and up to thick—rather large in comparison to the cap; it is club-shaped, or bulges out in the middle. It is finely reticulate on the upper portion, but smooth or irregularly ridged on the lower part. The under surface of the cap is made of thin tubes, the site of spore production; they are deep, and whitish in colour when young, but mature to a greenish-yellow. The angular pores, which do not stain when bruised, are small—roughly 2 to 3 pores per millimetre. In youth, the pores are white and appear as if stuffed with cotton (which are actually mycelia); as they age, they change colour to yellow and later to brown. The spore print is olive brown. The flesh of the fruit body is white, thick and firm when young, but becomes somewhat spongy with age. When bruised or cut, it either does not change colour, or turns a very light brown or light red. Fully mature specimens can weigh about ; a huge specimen collected on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, in 1995 bore a cap of , with a stipe in height and wide, and weighed . A similarly sized specimen found in Poland in 2013 made international news.
Boletus edulis is considered one of the safest wild mushrooms to pick for the table, as few poisonous species closely resemble it, and those that do may be easily distinguished by careful examination. The most similar poisonous mushroom may be the devil's bolete (Rubroboletus satanas), which has a similar shape, but has a red stem and stains blue on bruising. It is often confused with the very bitter and unpalatable Tylopilus felleus, but can be distinguished by the reticulation on the stalk; in porcini, it is a whitish, net-like pattern on a brownish stalk, whereas it is a dark pattern on white in the latter. Porcini have whitish pores while the other has pink. If in doubt, tasting a tiny bit of flesh will yield a bitter taste. It can also resemble the "bolete-like" Gyroporus castaneus, which is generally smaller, and has a browner stem. Boletus huronensis, an uncommon mushroom of northeastern North America, is another recognized look-alike known to cause severe gastrointestinal disorders.
The spores are elliptical to spindle-shaped, with dimensions of 12–17 by 5–7 µm. The basidia, the spore-bearing cells, are produced in a layer lining the tubes, and arrange themselves so their ends are facing the center of the tube; this layer of cells is known technically as a hymenium. The basidia are thin-walled, mostly attached to four spores, and measure 25–30 by 8–10 µm. Another cell type present in the hymenium is the cystidia, larger sterile cells that protrude beyond the basidia into the lumen of the hymenium, and act as air traps, regulating humidity. B. edulis has pleurocystidia (cystidia located on the face of a pore) that are thin-walled, roughly spindle-shaped to ventricose, and measure 30–45 by 7–10 µm; the "stuffed" feature of the hymenium is caused by cheilocystidia—cells found on the edges of the pores. The hyphae of B. edulis do not have clamp connections.
Related species
Several similar brownish-coloured species are sometimes considered subspecies or forms of this mushroom. In Europe, in addition to B. edulis (or cèpe de Bordeaux), the most popular are:
Cèpe bronzé ("dark cep"; Boletus aereus), much rarer than B. edulis, is more highly regarded by gourmets, and consequently more expensive. Usually smaller than B. edulis, it is also distinctively darker in colour. It is especially suited to drying.
Cèpe des pins ("pine tree cep"; Boletus pinophilus or Boletus pinicola) grows among pine trees. Rarer than B. edulis, it is less appreciated by gourmets than the two other kinds of porcini, but remains a mushroom rated above most others.
Cèpe d'été ("summer cep"; Boletus reticulatus), also less common and found earlier.
Molecular phylogenetic analyses have proven these three are all distinctive and separate species; other taxa formerly believed to be unique species or subspecies, such as B. betulicola, B. chippewaensis, B. persoonii, B. quercicola and B. venturii, are now known to be part of a B. edulis species complex with a wide morphological, ecological and geographic range, and that the genetic variability in this complex is low. Similar molecular technology has been developed to rapidly and accurately identify B. edulis and other commercially important fungi.
Three divergent lineages found in Yunnan province in China that are commonly marketed and sold as B. edulis (and are actually more closely related to B. aereus) were described in 2013 as B. bainiugan, B. meiweiniuganjun and B. shiyong. The classification has since been updated and expanded. All lineages are still members of Boletus sect. Boletus, the sensu sticto "porcini clade" of the genus.
Western North America has several species closely related to B. edulis. The white king bolete (Boletus barrowsii), found in parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California (and possibly elsewhere), is named after its discoverer Chuck Barrows. It is lighter in colour than B. edulis, having a cream-coloured cap with pink tones; often mycorrhizal with Ponderosa pine, it tends to grow in areas where there is less rainfall. Some find its flavour as good as if not better than B. edulis. The California king bolete (Boletus edulis var. grandedulis) can reach massive proportions, and is distinguished from B. edulis by a mature pore surface that is brown to slightly reddish. The cap colour appears to be affected by the amount of light received during its development, and may range from white in young specimens grown under thick canopy, to dark-brown, red-brown or yellow brown in those specimens receiving more light. The queen bolete (Boletus regineus), formerly considered a variety of B. aereus, is also a choice edible. It is generally smaller than B. edulis, and unlike that species, is typically found in mixed forests. The spring king bolete (Boletus rex-veris), formerly considered a variety of B. edulis or B. pinophilus, is found throughout western North America. In contrast to B. edulis, B. rex-veris tends to fruit in clusters, and, as its common name suggests, appears in the spring. B. fibrillosus is edible but considered inferior in taste.
Habitat and distribution
The fruit bodies of Boletus edulis can grow singly or in small clusters of two or three specimens. The mushroom's habitat consists of areas dominated by pine (Pinus spp.), spruce (Picea spp.), hemlock (Tsuga spp.) and fir (Abies spp.) trees, although other hosts include chestnut, chinquapin, beech, Keteleeria spp., Lithocarpus spp., and oak. In California, porcini have been collected in a variety of forests, such as coastal forests, dry interior oak forests and savannas and interior high-elevation montane mixed forests, to an altitude of . In northwestern Spain, they are common in scrublands dominated by the rock rose species Cistus ladanifer and Halimium lasianthum. In the Midi region of south-west France, they are especially favoured and locally called cèpe de Bordeaux after the town from which they are traded to the north and abroad.
Boletus edulis has a cosmopolitan distribution, concentrated in cool-temperate to subtropical regions. It is common in Europe—from northern Scandinavia, south to the extremities of Greece and Italy—and North America, where its southern range extends as far south as Mexico. It is well known from the Borgotaro area of Parma, Italy, and has PGI status there. The European distribution extends north to Scandinavia and south to southern Italy and Morocco. In China, the mushroom can be found from the northeastern Heilongjiang to the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and Tibet. It has been recorded growing under Pinus and Tsuga in Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal, as well as in the Indian forests of Arunachal Pradesh. In West Asia, the species has been reported from the northwest forests of Iran.
Cultivation
Some steps have been made towards cultivating Boletus edulis, including mycorrhization of rockrose shrubs enhanced by helper bacteria.
Non-native introductions
Boletus edulis grows in some areas where it is not believed to be indigenous. It is often found underneath oak and silver birch in Hagley Park in central Christchurch, New Zealand, where it is likely to have been introduced, probably on the roots of container-grown beech, birch, and oak in the mid-19th century—around the time exotic trees began to be planted in the Christchurch area. Similarly, it has been collected in Adelaide Hills region of Australia in association with three species of introduced trees. It has been growing plentifully in association with pine forests in the southern KwaZulu-Natal Midlands in South Africa for more than 50 years and is believed to have been introduced with the import of pine trees. It also grows in pine plantations in neighboring Zimbabwe.
Ecology
Fruit body production
Italian folklore holds that porcini sprout up at the time of the new moon; research studies have tried to investigate more scientifically the factors that influence the production of fruit bodies. Although fruit bodies may appear any time from summer to autumn (June to November in the UK), their growth is known to be triggered by rainfall during warm periods of weather followed by frequent autumn rain with a drop in soil temperature. Above average rainfall may result in the rapid appearance of large numbers of boletes, in what is known in some circles as a "bolete year". A 2004 field study indicated that fruit body production is enhanced by an open and sunny wood habitat, corroborating an earlier observation made in a Zimbabwean study; removal of the litter layer on the forest floor appeared to have a negative effect on fruit body production, but previous studies reported contradictory results. A Lithuanian study conducted in 2001 concluded that the maximal daily growth rate of the cap (about 21 mm or 0.8 in) occurred when the relative air humidity was the greatest, and the fruit bodies ceased growing when the air humidity dropped below 40%. Factors most likely to inhibit the appearance of fruit bodies included prolonged drought, inadequate air and soil humidity, sudden decreases of night air temperatures, and the appearance of the first frost. Plots facing north tend to produce more mushrooms compared to equivalent plots facing south.
Mycorrhizal associations
Boletus edulis is mycorrhizal—it is in a mutualistic relationship with the roots of plants (hosts), in which the fungus exchanges nitrogen and other nutrients extracted from the environment for fixed carbon from the host. Other benefits for the plant are evident: in the case of the Chinese chestnut, the formation of mycorrhizae with B. edulis increases the ability of plant seedlings to resist water stress, and increases leaf succulence, leaf area, and water-holding ability. The fungus forms a sheath of tissue around terminal, nutrient-absorbing root tips, often inducing a high degree of branching in the tips of the host, and penetrating into the root tissue, forming, to some mycologists, the defining feature of ectomycorrhizal relationships, a hartig net. The ectomycorrhizal fungi are then able to exchange nutrients with the plant, effectively expanding the root system of the host plant to the furthest reaches of the symbiont fungi. Compatible hosts may belong to multiple families of vascular plants that are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere; according to one 1995 estimate, there are at least 30 host plant species distributed over more than 15 genera. Examples of mycorrhizal associates include Chinese red pine, Mexican weeping pine, Scots pine, Norway spruce, Coast Douglas-fir, mountain pine, and Virginia pine. The fungus has also been shown to associate with gum rockrose, a pioneer early stage shrub that is adapted for growth in degraded areas, such as burned forests. These and other rockrose species are ecologically important as fungal reservoirs, maintaining an inoculum of mycorrhizal fungi for trees that appear later in the forest regrowth cycle.
The mushroom has been noted to often co-occur with Amanita muscaria or A. rubescens, although it is unclear whether this is due to a biological association between the species, or because of similarities in growing season, habitat, and ecological requirements. An association has also been reported between B. edulis and Amanita excelsa on Pinus radiata ectomycorrhizae in New Zealand, suggesting that other fungi may influence the life cycle of porcini. A 2007 field study revealed little correlation between the abundance of fruit bodies and presence of its mycelia below ground, even when soil samples were taken from directly beneath the mushroom; the study concluded that the triggers leading to formation of mycorrhizae and production of the fruit bodies were more complex.
Heavy-metal contamination
Boletus edulis is known to be able to tolerate and even thrive on soil that is contaminated with toxic heavy metals, such as soil that might be found near metal smelters. The mushroom's resistance to heavy-metal toxicity is conferred by a biochemical called a phytochelatin—an oligopeptide whose production is induced after exposure to metal. Phytochelatins are chelating agents, capable of forming multiple bonds with the metal; in this state, the metal cannot normally react with other elements or ions and is stored in a detoxified form in the mushroom tissue.
Pests and predators
The fruit bodies of B. edulis can be infected by the parasitic mould-like fungus Hypomyces chrysospermus, known as the bolete eater, which manifests itself as a white, yellow, or reddish-brown cottony layer over the surface of the mushroom. Some reported cases of stomach ache following consumption of dried porcini have been attributed to the presence of this mould on the fruit bodies. The mushroom is also used as a food source by several species of mushroom flies, as well as other insects and their larvae. An unidentified species of virus was reported to have infected specimens found in the Netherlands and in Italy; fruit bodies affected by the virus had relatively thick stems and small or no caps, leading to the name "little-cap disease".
Boletus edulis is a food source for animals such as the banana slug (Ariolimax columbianus), the long-haired grass mouse, the red squirrel, and, as noted in one isolated report, the fox sparrow.
Culinary uses
Boletus edulis, as the species epithet edulis (Latin: "edible") directly implies, is an edible mushroom. Italian chef and restaurateur Antonio Carluccio has described it as representing "the wild mushroom par excellence", and hails it as the most rewarding of all fungi in the kitchen for its taste and versatility. Considered a choice edible, particularly in France, Germany, Poland and Italy, it was widely written about by the Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Martial, although ranked below the esteemed Amanita caesarea. When served suilli instead of boleti, the disgruntled Martial wrote:
The flavour has been described as nutty and slightly meaty, with a smooth, creamy texture, and a distinctive aroma reminiscent of sourdough. Young, small porcini are most appreciated by gourmets, as the large ones often harbour maggots (insect larvae), and become slimy, soft and less tasty with age. Fruit bodies are collected by holding the stipe near the base and twisting gently. Cutting the stipe with a knife may risk the part left behind rotting and the mycelium being destroyed. Peeling and washing are not recommended. The fruit bodies are highly perishable, due largely to the high water content (around 90%), the high level of enzyme activity, and the presence of a flora of microorganisms. Caution should be exercised when collecting specimens from potentially polluted or contaminated sites, as several studies have shown that the fruit bodies can bioaccumulate toxic heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, caesium and polonium. Bioaccumulated metals or radioactive fission decay products are like chemical signatures: chemical and radiochemical analysis can be used to identify the origin of imported specimens, and for long-term radioecological monitoring of polluted areas.
Porcini are sold fresh in markets in summer and autumn in Europe and Russia, and dried or canned at other times of the year, and distributed worldwide to countries where they are not otherwise found. They are eaten and enjoyed raw, sautéed with butter, ground into pasta, in soups, and in many other dishes. In France, they are used in recipes such as cèpes à la Bordelaise, cèpe frits and cèpe aux tomates. Porcini risotto is a traditional Italian autumn dish. Porcini are a feature of many cuisines, including Provençal, and Viennese. They are used in soups and consumed blanched in salads in Thailand. Porcini can also be frozen—either raw or first cooked in butter. The colour, aroma, and taste of frozen porcini deteriorate noticeably if frozen longer than four months. Blanching or soaking and blanching as a processing step before freezing can extend the freezer life up to 12 months. They are also one of the few mushroom species pickled and sold commercially.
Dried
Boletus edulis is well suited to drying—its flavour intensifies, it is easily reconstituted, and its resulting texture is pleasant. Reconstitution is done by soaking in hot, but not boiling, water for about twenty minutes; the water used is infused with the mushroom aroma and it too can be used in subsequent cooking. Dried porcini have more protein than most other commonly consumed vegetables apart from soybeans. Some of this content is indigestible, though digestibility is improved with cooking.
Like other boletes, porcini can be dried by being strung separately on twine and hung close to the ceiling of a kitchen. Alternatively, the mushrooms can be dried by cleaning with a brush (washing is not recommended), and then placing them in a wicker basket or bamboo steamer on top of a boiler or hot water tank. Another method is drying in an oven at for two to three hours, then increasing the temperature to until crisp or brittle. Once dry, they are kept in an airtight jar. Importantly for commercial production, porcini retain their flavour after industrial preparation in a pressure cooker or after canning or bottling, and are thus useful for manufacturers of soups or stews. The addition of a few pieces of dried porcino can significantly add to flavour, and they are a major ingredient of the pasta sauce known as carrettiera (carter's sauce). The drying process is known to induce the formation of various volatile substances that contribute to the mushroom's aroma. Chemical analysis has shown that the odour of the dried mushroom is a complex mixture of 53 volatile compounds.
Commercial harvest
A 1998 estimate suggests the total annual worldwide consumption of Boletus edulis and closely related species (B. aereus, B. pinophilus, and B. reticulatus) to be between 20,000 and 100,000 tons. Approximately 2,700 tonnes (3,000 tons) were sold in France, Italy and Germany in 1988, according to official figures. The true amount consumed far exceeds this, as it does not account for informal sales or consumption by collectors. They are widely exported and sold in dried form, reaching countries where they do not occur naturally, such as Australia and New Zealand. The autonomous community of Castile and León in Spain produces 7,700 tonnes (8,500 tons) annually. In autumn, the price of porcini in the Northern Hemisphere typically ranges between $20 and $80 per kilogram, although in New York in 1997 the scarcity of fruit bodies elevated the wholesale price to more than $200 per kilogram.
In the vicinity of Borgotaro in the Province of Parma of northern Italy, the four species Boletus edulis, B. aereus, B. aestivalis and B. pinophilus have been recognised for their superior taste and officially termed Fungo di Borgotaro. Here these mushrooms have been collected for centuries and exported commercially. Owing to the globalization of the mushroom trade most of the porcini commercially available in Italy or exported by Italy no longer originate there. Porcini and other mushrooms are imported into Italy from various locations, especially China and eastern European countries; these are then often re-exported under the "Italian porcini" label.
In Italy the disconnect with local production has had an adverse effect on quality; for example in the 1990s some of the dried porcino mushrooms exported to Italy from China contained species of genus Tylopilus, which are rather similar in appearance and when dried are difficult for both mushroom labourers and mycologists alike to distinguish from Boletus. Tylopilus species typically have a very bitter taste, which is imparted to the flavour of the porcini with which they are mixed.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain and the economic and political barriers that followed, central and eastern European countries with local mushroom harvesting traditions, such as Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, developed into exporters of porcini, concentrating primarily on the Italian market. Exported porcini and other wild fungi are also destined for France, Germany and other western European markets, where demand for them exists, but collection on a commercial scale does not. Picking B. edulis has become an annual seasonal income earner and pastime in countries like Bulgaria, especially for many Roma communities and the unemployed. A lack of control has led to heavy exploitation of the mushroom resource.
Like many other strictly mycorrhizal fungi, B. edulis has eluded cultivation attempts for years. The results of some studies suggest that unknown components of the soil microflora might be required for B. edulis to establish a mycorrhizal relationship with the host plant. Successful attempts at cultivating B. edulis have been made by Spanish scientists by mycorrhization of Cistus species, with Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria helping the mycorrhiza.
Nutrition
Boletus edulis mushrooms are 9% carbohydrates, 3% fat, and 7% protein (table). Fresh mushrooms consist of over 80% moisture, although reported values tend to differ somewhat as moisture content can be affected by environmental temperature and relative humidity during growth and storage. The carbohydrate component contains the monosaccharides glucose, mannitol and α,α-trehalose, the polysaccharide glycogen, and the water-insoluble structural polysaccharide chitin, which accounts for up to 80–90% of dry matter in mushroom cell walls. Chitin, hemicellulose, and pectin-like carbohydrates—all indigestible by humans—contribute to high proportion of insoluble fibre in B. edulis.
The total lipid, or crude fat, content makes up 3% of the dry matter of the mushroom. The proportion of fatty acids (expressed as a % of total fatty acids) are: palmitic acid, 10%; stearic acid, 3%; oleic acid, 36%; and linoleic acid, 42%.
A comparative study of the amino acid composition of eleven Portuguese wild edible mushroom species showed Boletus edulis to have the highest total amino acid content.
B. edulis mushrooms are rich in the dietary minerals, sodium, iron, calcium, and magnesium, with amounts varying according to the mushroom component and to soil composition in the geographic region of China where they were sampled. They also have high content of B vitamins and tocopherols. B. edulis contains appreciable amounts of selenium, a trace mineral, although the bioavailability of mushroom-derived selenium is low.
Phytochemicals and research
Boletus edulis fruit bodies contain diverse phytochemicals, including 500 mg of ergosterol per 100 g of dried mushroom, and ergothioneine. The fruit bodies contain numerous polyphenols, especially a high content of rosmarinic acid, and organic acids (such as oxalic, citric, malic, succinic and fumaric acids), and alkaloids.
Aroma
Aroma compounds giving B. edulis mushrooms their characteristic fragrance include some 100 components, such as esters and fatty acids. In a study of aroma compounds, 1-octen-3-one was the most prevalent chemical detected in raw mushrooms, with pyrazines having increased aroma effect and elevated content after drying.
See also
List of Boletus species
List of North American boletes
References
Footnotes
Citations
Cited texts
edulis
Fungi described in 1782
Fungi of Africa
Fungi of Asia
Fungi of Europe
Fungi of New Zealand
Fungi of North America
Edible fungi
Italian products with protected designation of origin
Fungi of Western Asia
Taxa named by Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard |
427665 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%20Lazarsfeld | Paul Lazarsfeld | Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organization of social research. "It is not so much that he was an American sociologist," one colleague said of him after his death, "as it was that he determined what American sociology would be." Lazarsfeld said that his goal was "to produce Paul Lazarsfelds". He was a founding figure in 20th-century empirical sociology.
Early life
Lazarsfeld was born to Jewish parents in Vienna: his mother was the Adlerian therapist Sophie Lazarsfeld, and his father Robert was a lawyer. He attended the University of Vienna, eventually receiving a doctorate in mathematics (his doctoral dissertation dealt with mathematical aspects of Einstein's gravitational theory) in 1925. In the 1920s, he moved in the same circles as the Vienna Circle of philosophers, including Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap, and served as a "socialist activist". He came to sociology through his expertise in mathematics and quantitative methods, participating in several early quantitative studies, including what was possibly the first scientific survey of radio listeners, in 19301931. In 1926 he married the sociologist Marie Jahoda. Together with Hans Zeisel they wrote a now-classical study of the social impact of unemployment on a small community: Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal (1932; English eds. 1971).
Coming to America
The Marienthal study attracted the attention of the Rockefeller Foundation, leading to a two-year traveling fellowship to the United States. From 1933 to 1935, Lazarsfeld worked with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and toured the United States, making contacts and visiting the few universities that had programs related to empirical social science research. It was during this time that Lazarsfeld met Luther Fry at the University of Rochester (which resulted in the inspiration for the research done in Personal Influence, written some twenty years later) and Robert S. Lynd, who had written the Middletown study. Lynd would come to play a central role in helping Lazarsfeld emigrate to the United States, and would recommend him for the directorships of the Newark Center and the Princeton Office of Radio Research. Lazarsfeld contacted the Psychological Corporation, a non-profit organization devoted to bringing the techniques of applied psychology to business, and proposed a number of projects that were rejected as not having enough commercial value or being too involved. He also helped John Jenkins, an applied psychologist at Cornell University, translate an introduction to statistics Lazarsfeld had written for his students in Vienna (Say It With Figures). Finally, he pursued research into the ideas presented in the widely read "The Art of Asking Why" (1935), which explained Lazarsfeld's concept of "reason analysis".
Newark
At the end of the fellowship in 1935, with a return to Vienna made untenable by the political climate, Lazarsfeld decided to remain in America, and secured an appointment as the director of student relief work for the National Youth Administration, headquartered at the University of Newark (now, the Newark campus of Rutgers University). A year later, he established an institute in Newark along the lines of his Vienna Research Center, institutionalizing the marginal field of opinion research that Lazarsfeld felt was his most important contribution. Lazarsfeld saw his institute as an important bridge between European and American models of research, and was willing to place the future of his institutes before his personal career. For example, in order to make the Newark Center seem to have a larger staff, Lazarsfeld published under a pseudonym. The Newark Center was clearly successful in generating interest in both empirical studies and in Lazarsfeld as a research manager. The research carried on at the center between 1935 and 1937 (including research for the Mirra Komarovsky book The Unemployed Man and His Family) demonstrated that empirical research could be of help and of interest to both business and academia. Under "Administrative Research", as he called his framework, a large, expert staff worked at a research center, deploying a battery of social-scientific investigative methodsmass market surveys, statistical analysis of data, focus group work, etc.to solve specific problems for specific clients. Funding came not only from the university, but also from commercial clients who contracted out research projects. This produced studies such as two long reports to the dairy industry on factors influencing the consumption of milk; and a questionnaire to let people assess whether they shop too much (for Cosmopolitan magazine).
While at Newark, Lazarsfeld was appointed head of the Princeton Office of the Radio Research Project, which was later moved to Columbia. In 1937, he first tried to have the project moved to Newark, and when that request was turned down, split his time between the project and his institute in Newark. He feared (correctly, perhaps) that the institute would fail without his management. At the Project, Lazarsfeld expanded the aims postulated by the assistant directors, Hadley Cantril and Frank Stanton, and in a special issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology in February 1939, edited by Lazarsfeld, he tied together some of the varied research the Project was engaged in. Lazarsfeld felt this publication was necessary because "no central theory was visible, and we began hearing rumors that important people questioned whether we knew what we were doing" (Lazarsfeld, 1969). But in the spring of 1939, the Rockefeller foundation officers were still unconvinced and "required more solid evidence of achievement" before they would renew funding. The result was Radio and the Printed Page. These two publications did much to consolidate and define the field of communication.
Columbia
After a falling out with Cantril, which may have been financial in nature, the Radio Research Project moved to Columbia University, where it grew into the acclaimed Bureau for Social Research. At Columbia, the direction of research leaned toward voting, and a study of the November 1940 vote was published as The People's Choice, a book that had a substantial effect on the nature of political research.
During the 1940s, mass communication entrenched itself as a field in its own right. Lazarsfeld's interest in the persuasive elements of mass media became a topic of great importance during the Second World War and this resulted in increased attention, and funding, for communication research. By the 1950s, there were increased concerns about the power of the mass media, and with Elihu Katz, Lazarsfeld published Personal Influence, which propounded the theory of a two-step flow of communication, opinion leadership, and of community as filters for the mass media. Along with Robert K. Merton, he popularized the idea of a narcotizing dysfunction of media, along with its functional roles in society.
His contributions include: the two-step flow of communication from media to opinion leaders and then others (multi-step flow theory); his research on the characteristics of opinion leaders; diffusion of medical innovations; uses and gratifications of receivers from day time radio soap operas, etc. His research led to a marriage between interpersonal communication and mass communication.
In 1956, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Lazarsfeld died in 1976. His mother Sophie survived him by almost a month, dying at age 95. With Marie Jahoda, he had a daughter, Lotte Franziska Lazarsfeld (born 1930), later Lotte Bailyn, who became a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He divorced Marie in 1930 and married his colleague Herta Herzog in 1936. The marriage lasted until 1945. With his third wife, married in 1949, , he had a son, Robert Lazarsfeld (born 1953), who was professor of mathematics at Stony Brook University, and who published Positivity in Algebraic Geometry (Springer) in 2004.
Influence
Lazarsfeld's many contributions to sociological method have earned him the title of the "founder of modern empirical sociology". Lazarsfeld made great strides in statistical survey analysis, panel methods, latent structure analysis, and contextual analysis. He is also considered a co-founder of mathematical sociology. Many of his ideas have been so influential as to now be considered self-evident. He is also noted for developing the two-step flow of communication model.
Lazarsfeld also made significant contributions by training many younger sociologists. One of Lazarsfeld's biographers, Paul Neurath, writes that there are "dozens of books and hundreds of articles by his students and the students of his students, all of which still breathe the spirit of this man's work". One of Lazarsfeld's successful students was Barney Glaserpropounder of grounded theory (GT)the world's most quoted method for analyzing qualitative data. Index formations and qualitative mathematics were subjects taught by Lazarsfeld and are important components of the GT method according to Glaser. James Samuel Coleman, an important contributor to social theories of education and a future president of the American Sociological Association, was also a student of Lazarsfeld's at Columbia.
Paul Lazarsfeld's most important contribution, in his own opinion as well, was the beta version of a research institution that was based within a University setting. He started his journey of institute creation overseas in Vienna. He then proceeded to create two within the United Statesmost importantly with the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. The most prestigious era of this Bureau was when Lazarsfeld was the director, associate director, as well as an active researcher in the Bureau. It was during this time that the Bureau was able to control and distribute almost a million dollars and produce studies a sundry. This was his most important contribution because it was able to create a business plan for the production of knowledge from a standpoint that was nonprofit yet not acquiring debt. This was significant because it was a model that was replicated at other universitiesmaking the production of research affordable and organized.
Another important contribution of Paul Lazarsfeld was his advancement to media effects research that he was able to bring into fruition. Lazarsfeld's “most important methodological contributions were the Lazarsfeld-Stanton Program Analyzer and focus group interviewing” according to Everett Rogers. The LazarsfeldStanton Program Analyzer, or "Little Annie" as it was called, provided audience members with a device that had a red button and a green button. When an experimental audience member viewed mediated content, they were able instantly communicate through the two buttons if what they witnessed was likable or it was not. The second research method that was used in tandem with Little Annie was focus group interviewing. After using the tool and viewing the artifact, the participants of the study then filled out a questionnaire, and then discussed the content. The tool was a boon because it allowed for broadcast content to be revised and also be rated for effectiveness. This tool was useful to truly measure audience analysis and reception of a message via a mediated channel. These tools produced both qualitative and quantitative data.
His contributions to measurement include innovative survey methods such as the longitudinal panel survey he used in his 1940 study in Erie, OH. He contributed to data analysis with a variety of techniques such as the 2x2 contingency tables, frequency analyses, scatter plots, and mixed methods like focus groups.
Paul Lazarsfeld has been the President of the American Sociological Association (ASA) and the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He received honorary degrees from many universities, including the University of Chicago, Columbia University, the University of Vienna and the Sorbonne University. Columbia University's social research center has been renamed after him. The career achievement award of the ASA Methodology section is also named in his honor, as is the top theory award of the American Evaluation Association.
Criticism
Though the research bureau was a major contribution, it was not without flaws. Lazarsfeld emphasized that a research institution is capable of existing in an organized fashion but that the commandeering and leadership really dictated the success of it. Lazarsfeld was successful for nearly two decades; however actors within this particular system could manipulate the machinations of the institution and thus derail the program. Another negative repercussion of having the type of leadership that Lazarsfeld provided was that the organization and its methodology was determined by his preferencesnot allowing in this case for statistics to be utilized and that the data sets were unable to be replicated and generalized.
A major portion of Lazarsfeld's research concerned the individual decision-making process and how it was influenced by the mass media. The Marienthal study was an exception, being biased toward the community, but in all the studies carried out in localities after Marienthal (Sandusky, Elmira, and Decatur, for example), the individual was much more clearly the unit of analysis. While Lazarsfeld clearly did not see his own research agenda as the only approach to communication research, others criticized his "administrative research"paid for by commercial and military fundingas an overwhelming move toward empirical, shortterm, effectsbased research.
The ascendency of administrative research provided an effective foil for critics. Theodor W. Adorno, who had worked under Lazarsfeld at the Radio Project, came to represent an intellectual tradition that contrasted with Lazarsfeld's own dedication to empiricism and willingness to collaborate with industry. Likewise, Lazarsfeld's focus on empirical discovery rather than grand theory ("abstract empiricism" in the words of C. Wright Mills) was one of the spurs that led Robert K. Merton to develop what he called "theories of the middle range".
In terms of weaknesses, he looked at individuals and missed the larger social structure and the power relations within it. He predominantly worked in the area of administrative research. He did many surveys but was reluctant to generalize his findings to a larger group. Though he found powerful cognitive effects produced by media in his 1940 study, he chose to support the minimal effects hypothesis.
In the end, he thought that his ideas of empirical research had not been as widely received as he might have hoped. In one of his last published papers, "Communication Research and Its Applications: A Postscript" (1976), Lazarsfeld lamented that the tide had turned against empirical research and that "while an increasing number of writers expressed the need [to make 'applications' a topic of research], it certainly was not the subject of popular demand among sociologists."
Lazarsfeld's work with Robert K. Merton
Lazarsfeld was noted for his ability to forge productive collaborations with a wide range of thinkers. One of his most celebrated collaborations was with Robert K. Merton. Both Merton and Lazarsfeld were new faculty members in Columbia University's Department of Sociology appointed in 1941. Merton was seen as a budding theorist, while Lazarsfield was considered a methodology specialist. Apparently the pair had little contact until Merton and his wife came to dinner at the Lazarsfeld's Manhattan apartment on Saturday evening, November 23, 1941. Upon arrival Lazarsfeld explained to Merton that he had been just asked by the US government's Office of New Facts and Figures to evaluate a radio program. Thus "Merton accompanied Lazarsfeld to the radio studio, leaving their wives in the Lazarsfeld apartment with the uneaten dinner." Lazarsfeld was using the famous StantonLazarsfeld ProgramAnalyzer, to record the responses of listeners, and in the ensuing interviews they conducted, Merton was instrumental in ensuring questions were properly answered. This was believed to be the start of the "focused group interview", or what we now known as the focus group. It was also the beginning of a rich and influential collaboration in the field of communication studies.
The paper for which Lazarsfeld and Merton is best known is their "Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action" (1948). Widely anthologized, the paper has been proposed as a canonical text in media studies. Lazarsfeld and Merton set out to understand the burgeoning public interest in problems of the "media of mass communication". After a critical consideration of common and problematic approaches to the mass medianoting that the "sheer presence of these media may not affect our society so profoundly as is widely supposed"they work their work through three aspects of what they see as the problem. They highlight three "social functions" that cast a long shadow into the present day. The first of these is social status conferral function, or the way that the "mass media confer status on public issues, persons, organizations and social movements". The second function is the "enforcement of social norms", where the mass media uses public exposure of events or behaviour, to expose "deviations from these norms to public view". The third function, and perhaps best known, is the narcotizing dysfunction, in which energies of individuals in society are systematically routed away from organized actionbecause of the time and attention needed to simply keep up with reading or listening to mass media: "Exposure to this flood of information may serve to narcotize rather than to energize the average reader or listener."
The remainder of Lazarsfeld and Merton's paper discusses structure of ownership and operation of the mass media specific to the USespecially the fact that in the case of magazines, newspapers, and radio, advertising "supports the enterprise": "Big business finances the production and distribution of mass media [...] he who pays the piper generally calls the tune". They point out the ensuing problems of social conformism, and consider the impact upon popular taste (a controversy which rages unabated until the present). The final section of the paper considers a topic of great salience in the postWorld War II period, propaganda for social objectives. Here they propose three conditions for rendering such propaganda effective, terming these "monopolization" (the "absence of counter propaganda"), "canalization" (taking established behaviour and enlisting it in a particular direction), and "supplementation" (the reinforcement of mass media messages by face-to-face contact in local organizations). Lazarsfeld and Merton's classic essay has long been criticized as a high point of the dominant effects tradition in communication theory. However, revisionist accounts have now drawn attention to the mix of ideas it contains from "critical" communication traditions, as much as empirical, methodological, and quantitative approaches.
Bibliography
Katz, Elihu, and Paul F. Lazarsfeld. Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1966.
Lazarsfeld, Paul F. Radio and the Printed Page: An Introduction to the Study of Radio and Its Role in the Communication of Ideas. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1940.
Lazarsfeld, Paul F., Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet. The People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes up his Mind in a Presidential Campaign. New York: Columbia University Press, 1944.
Lazarsfeld, Paul F. "An Episode in the History of Social Research: A Memoir." In The Intellectual Migration: Europe and America, 1930–1960, ed. Donald Fleming and Bernard Bailyn 270–337. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969.
Lazarsfeld, Paul F. and Robert K. Merton, "Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action", in L. Bryson (ed.), The Communication of Ideas. New York: Harper, 95–118. Reprinted in: John Durham Peters and Peter Simonson (eds), Mass Communication and American Social Thought: Key Texts, 1919–1968. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, pp. 230–241.
Lazarsfeld, Paul F. Qualitative Analysis; Historical and Critical Essays. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1972.
See also
Hindsight bias
Statistical survey
Public opinion
Two-step flow of communication
References
Sources
Hans Zeisel, "The Vienna Years," in Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research: Papers in honor of Paul F. Lazarsfeld, ed. Robert K. Merton, James S. Coleman, and Peter. H. Rossi (New York: Free Press, 1979)
Simonson, Peter, and Weimann, Gabriel, "Critical Research at Columbia", in E. Katz, et al. (eds.), Canonic Texts in Media Research. Cambridge: Polity, 2003, pp. 12–38.
Paddy Scannell, "The End of the Masses: Merton, Lazarsfeld, Riesman, Katz, USA, 1940s and 1950", in his Media and Communication. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006, 62–90.
Wilbur Schramm, "The Beginnings of Communication Study in America: A Personal Memoir", ed. Steven H. Chaffee and Everett M. Rogers (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997).
Fürstenberg, Friedrich, "Knowledge and Action. Lazarsfeld's foundation of social research"; in: Paul Larzarsfeld (1901–1976). La sociologie de Vienne à New York (eds. Jacques Lautman & Bernard-Pierre Lécuyer); Paris-Montréal (Qc.): Éditions L'Harmattan, 423–432; online-Version:
Morrison, David Edward, Paul Lazarsfeld: The Biography of an Institutional Innovator Doctoral thesis, University of Leicester, 1976; online-version
Garfinkel, Simson L. Radio Research, McCarthyism and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bachelor of Science Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987; online-version
External links
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
Finding aid to the Paul Lazarfeld papers at Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Jewish scientists
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Jewish American social scientists
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1901 births
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