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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58796

The Day the Music Died

On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event became known as "The Day the Music Died" after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie". At the time, Holly and his band, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch, were playing on the "Winter Dance Party" tour across the Midwest. Rising artists Valens, Richardson, and vocal group Dion and the Belmonts had joined the tour as well. The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite. After stopping at Clear Lake to perform, and frustrated by the conditions on the tour buses, Holly chose to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, suffering from flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss. Soon after takeoff, late at night and in poor, wintry weather conditions, the pilot lost control of the light aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, which crashed into a cornfield, killing all four on board. The event has since been mentioned in several songs and films. Various monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where an annual memorial concert is held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue that hosted the artists' last performances. Background. In November 1958, Buddy Holly terminated his association with The Crickets. According to Paul Anka, Holly realized he needed to go back on tour again for two reasons: he needed cash because the Crickets' manager Norman Petty had apparently stolen money from him, and he wanted to raise funds to move to New York City to live with his new wife, María Elena Holly, who was pregnant. Holly signed up with General Artists Corporation (GAC) because "he knew they were planning a British tour and he wanted to be in on that". For the start of the "Winter Dance Party" tour, Holly assembled a band consisting of Waylon Jennings (bass), Tommy Allsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch (drums), with the opening vocals of Frankie Sardo. The tour was set to cover twenty-four Midwestern cities in as many daysthere were no off days. New hit artist Ritchie Valens, "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson, and the vocal group Dion and the Belmonts joined the tour to promote their recordings and make an extra profit. The 1959 tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, with the performance in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2 being the eleventh of the twenty-four scheduled events. The amount of travel required soon became a serious problem. The distances between venues had not been properly considered when the performances were scheduled. Instead of systematically circling around the Midwest through a series of venues in close proximity to one another, the tour erratically zigzagged back and forth across the region, with distances between some tour stops exceeding . As there were no off days, the bands had to travel most of each day, frequently for ten to twelve hours in freezing mid-winter temperatures. Most of the Interstate Highway System had not yet been built, so the routes between tour stops required far more driving time on narrow two-lane rural highways than would now be the case on modern expressways. GAC-Super Productions, the organization that booked the tour, received considerable criticism for their seemingly total disregard for the conditions they forced the touring musicians to endure: The entire company of musicians traveled together in one bus, although the buses used for the tour were wholly inadequate, breaking down and being replaced frequently. Griggs estimates that five separate buses were used in the first eleven days of the tour—"reconditioned school buses, not good enough for school kids". The artists themselves were responsible for loading and unloading equipment at each stop, as no road crew assisted them. Adding to the disarray, the buses were not equipped for the harsh weather, which consisted of waist-deep snow in several areas and varying temperatures from to as low as . One bus had a heating system that malfunctioned shortly after the tour began, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Richardson and Valens began experiencing flu-like symptoms and drummer Bunch was hospitalized for severely frostbitten feet after the tour bus stalled in the middle of the highway in subzero temperatures near Ironwood, Michigan. The musicians replaced that bus with another school bus and kept traveling. As Holly's group had been the backing band for all of the acts, Holly, Valens and DiMucci took turns playing drums for each other at the performances in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Clear Lake, Iowa, with Holly playing drums for Dion, Dion playing drums for Ritchie, and Ritchie playing drums for Holly. On Monday, February 2, the tour arrived in Clear Lake, west of Mason City, having driven from the previous day's concert in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The town in northern Iowa had not been a scheduled stop; tour promoters hoped to fill the open date and called the manager of the local Surf Ballroom, Carroll Anderson (1920–2006), and offered him the show. Anderson accepted and they set the show for that night. By the time Holly arrived at the venue that evening, he was frustrated with the ongoing problems with the bus. The next scheduled destination after Clear Lake was Moorhead, Minnesota, a drive north-northwest—and, as a reflection of the poor quality of the tour planning, a journey that would have taken them directly back through the two towns they had already played within the last week. No let-up after that was in sight, as the following day after having traveled from Iowa to Minnesota, they were scheduled to travel right back to Iowa, specifically almost directly south to Sioux City, a trip. Holly chartered a plane to fly himself and his band to Fargo, North Dakota, which is adjacent to Moorhead. The rest of the party would have picked him up in Moorhead, saving him the journey in the bus and leaving him time to get some rest. Their gig in Moorhead was to have been a radio performance at the station KFGO with disk jockey Charlie Boone. Flight arrangements. Anderson chartered a plane from Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, to fly to Fargo's Hector Airport, the closest one to Moorhead; the pilot was Roger Peterson, a 21-year-old married man who had "built his life around flying". The flying service charged a fee of $36 (~$ in ) per passenger for the flight on the 1947 single-engined, V-tailed Beechcraft 35 Bonanza (registration ), which seated three passengers and the pilot. A popular misconception, originating from Don McLean's song about the crash, was that the plane was called "American Pie"; no record exists of any name ever having been given to N3794N. The most widely accepted version of events was that Richardson had contracted the flu during the tour and asked Jennings for his seat on the plane. When Holly learned that Jennings was not going to fly, he said in jest: "Well, I hope your damned bus freezes up." Jennings responded: "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes", a humorous but ill-fated response that haunted him for the rest of his life. Valens, who once had a fear of flying, asked Allsup for his seat on the plane. The two agreed to toss a coin to decide. Bob Hale, a disc jockey with Mason City's KRIB-AM, was emceeing the concert that night and flipped the coin in the ballroom's side-stage room shortly before the musicians departed for the airport. Valens won the coin toss for the seat on the flight. Valens is apocryphally said to have remarked, "That's the first time I've ever won anything in my life." In contradiction to the testimony of Allsup and Jennings, Dion has since said that Holly approached him along with Valens and Richardson to join the flight, not Holly's bandmates. In a 2009 interview, Dion said that Holly called him, Valens, and Richardson into a vacant dressing room during Sardo's performance and said, "I've chartered a plane, we're the guys making the money [we should be the ones flying ahead]...the only problem is there are only two available seats." According to Dion, it was Valens, not Richardson, who had fallen ill, so Valens and Dion flipped a coin for the seat. In his interview, no mention is made of Jennings or Allsup being invited on the plane. Dion said he won the toss, but ultimately decided that since the $36 fare (equivalent to $ in ) equaled the monthly rent his parents paid for his childhood apartment, he could not justify the indulgence. Take-off and crash. After the show ended, Anderson drove Holly, Valens, and Richardson to nearby Mason City Municipal Airport, where the elevation is AMSL. The weather at the time of departure was reported as light snow, a ceiling of AMSL with sky obscured, visibility , and winds from . Although deteriorating weather was reported along the planned route, the weather briefings Peterson received failed to relay the information. The plane took off normally from runway 17 (today's runway 18) at 00:55 (12:55 am) CST on Tuesday, February 3. Hubert Jerry Dwyer, owner of the flying service, watched the southbound take-off from a platform outside the control tower. He was able to clearly see the aircraft's tail light for most of the brief flight, which started with an initial 180 degree left turn to pass east of the airport, climbing to approximately AGL. After an additional left turn to a northwesterly heading, the tail light was observed gradually descending until it disappeared. Around 1am, when Peterson failed to make the expected radio contact, repeated attempts were made to establish radio contact, without success. Later that morning, Dwyer retraced Peterson's planned route by air, and around 9:35 am spotted the wreckage less than northwest of the airport. The Bonanza had impacted terrain at high speed, estimated to have been around , banked 90° to the right and in a nose-down attitude. The right wing tip struck the ground first, gouging a 12'x2' deep furrow, crumpling then breaking off. The fuselage then hit the ground right-side down and bounced a few feet back into the air, traveling another 50 feet through the air, simultaneously rolling inverted due to the remaining left wing still generating lift. The plane struck the ground a final time, in an inverted, nose-down position, the nose hitting and flipping the plane over into a right-side up, tail-first position. The momentum of the heavy engine caused the fuselage, left wing remaining attached and intact to the end, to roll upon itself into a virtual ball, rolling nose-over-tail across the frozen field for , before coming to rest tail-first against a wire fence at the edge of Juhl's property. The bodies of Holly and Valens had been ejected from the fuselage and lay near the plane's wreckage. Richardson's body had been thrown 40' over the fence and into the cornfield of Juhl's neighbor Oscar Moffett, while Peterson's body was entangled in the wreckage. With the rest of the entourage en route to Minnesota, Anderson, who had driven the party to the airport and witnessed the plane's takeoff, had to identify the bodies of the musicians. The county coroner, Ralph Smiley, reported that all four victims died instantly, the cause of death being "gross trauma to brain" for the three musicians and "brain damage" for the pilot. Aftermath. María Elena Holly learned of her husband's death via a television news report. A widow after only six months of marriage, she suffered a miscarriage shortly after, reportedly due to "psychological trauma". Holly's mother, on hearing the news on the radio at home in Lubbock, Texas, screamed and collapsed. Despite the tragedy, the "Winter Dance Party" tour continued. Fifteen-year-old Bobby Vee was given the task of filling in for Holly at the next scheduled performance in Moorhead, in part because he "knew all the words to all the songs". Jennings and Allsup carried on for two more weeks, with Jennings taking Holly's place as lead singer. Meanwhile, funerals for the victims were held individually. Holly and Richardson were buried in Texas, Valens in California, and Peterson in Iowa. Holly's widow, María Elena, did not attend the funeral. She said in an interview: "In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane." Official investigation. The official investigation was carried out by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB, precursor to the NTSB). It emerged that Peterson had over four years of flying experience, of which one was with Dwyer Flying Service, and had accumulated 711 flying hours, of which 128 were on Bonanzas. He had also logged 52 hours of instrument flight training, although he had passed only his written examination, and was not yet qualified to operate in weather that required flying solely by reference to instruments. Peterson and Dwyer Flying Service itself were certified to operate only under visual flight rules, which essentially require that the pilot must be able to see where he is going. On the night of the accident visual flight would have been virtually impossible due to the low clouds, the lack of a visible horizon, and the absence of ground lights over the sparsely populated area. Furthermore, Peterson, who had failed an instrument checkride nine months before the accident, had received his instrument training on airplanes equipped with a conventional artificial horizon as a source of aircraft attitude information, while N3794N was equipped with an older-type Sperry F3 attitude gyroscope. Crucially, the two types of instruments display the same aircraft pitch attitude information in graphically opposite ways. Another contributing factor was the "seriously inadequate" weather briefing provided to Peterson, which "failed to even mention adverse flying conditions which should have been highlighted". The CAB concluded that the probable cause of the accident was "the pilot's unwise decision" to attempt a flight that required skills he did not have. Subsequent investigations. On March 6, 2007, in Beaumont, Texas, Richardson's body was exhumed for reburial. Forest Lawn Cemetery moved Richardson's body to a more suitable area after plans were made to erect a bronze statue near his gravesite to accompany a newly-received historical marker. As the body was to be placed in a new casket while above ground, the musician's son, Jay Perry Richardson, took the opportunity to have his father's body re-examined to verify the original coroner's findings and asked forensic anthropologist William M. Bass to carry out the procedure. A longstanding rumor surrounding the accident, which this re-examination sought to confirm or dispel, asserted that an accidental firearm discharge took place on board the aircraft and caused the crash. Another longstanding theory surmised that Richardson initially survived the crash and crawled out of the wreckage in search of help before succumbing to his injuries, prompted by the fact that his body was found farther from the plane than the other victims. Bass and his team took several X-rays of Richardson's body and eventually concluded that the musician had indeed died instantly from extensive, unsurvivable fractures to virtually every bone in his body. No traces of lead were found from any bullet, nor any indication that he had been shot. Coroner Smiley's original 1959 report was, therefore, confirmed as accurate. In March 2015, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) received a request to reopen the investigation into the accident. The request was made by L. J. Coon, a retired pilot from New England who felt that the conclusion of the 1959 investigation was inaccurate. Coon suspected a possible failure of the right ruddervator, or a problem with the fuel system, as well as possible improper weight distribution. Coon argued that Peterson may have tried to land the plane and that his efforts should be recognized. The NTSB declined the request in April 2015, saying that the evidence presented by Coon was insufficient to merit the reconsideration of the original findings. Legacy. Memorials. A memorial service for Peterson was held at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Ventura, Iowa, on February 5. A funeral was held the next day at St. Paul Lutheran Church in his hometown of Alta; Peterson was buried in Buena Vista Memorial Cemetery in nearby Storm Lake. Memorial concerts. Fans of Holly, Valens, and Richardson have been gathering for annual memorial concerts at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake since 1979. The fiftieth anniversary concert took place on February 2, 2009, with Delbert McClinton, Joe Ely, Wanda Jackson, Los Lobos, Chris Montez, Bobby Vee, Graham Nash, Peter and Gordon, Tommy Allsup, and a house band featuring Chuck Leavell, James "Hutch" Hutchinson, Bobby Keys, and Kenny Aronoff. Jay Perry Richardson, the son of the Big Bopper, was among the participating artists, and Bob Hale was the master of ceremonies, as he was at the 1959 concert. Monuments. In June 1988, a tall granite memorial bearing the names of Peterson and the three entertainers was dedicated outside the Surf Ballroom with Peterson's widow, parents, and sister in attendance; the event marked the first time that the families of Holly, Richardson, Valens, and Peterson had gathered together. In 1989, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the 1950s era, made a stainless-steel monument that depicts a guitar and a set of three records bearing the names of the three performers killed in the accident. The monument is on private farmland, about west of the intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue, north of Clear Lake. At that intersection, a large plasma-cut steel set of Wayfarer-style glasses, similar to those Holly wore, marks the access point to the crash site. Paquette created a similar stainless-steel monument to the three musicians located outside the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Holly, Richardson, and Valens played their penultimate show on February 1. This second memorial was unveiled on July 17, 2003. In February 2009, a further memorial made by Paquette for Peterson was unveiled at the crash site. Roads. A road originating near the Surf Ballroom, extending north and passing to the west of the crash site, is now known as Buddy Holly Place. Fiction. Howard Waldrop's short story "Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me" (collected in "Howard Who?") describes a fictional attempt by a sextet of famous slapstick characters (Chico and Harpo Marx, Abbott and Costello, and Laurel and Hardy) to prevent the accident from occurring.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58882

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and south-west of Warwick. The town is the southernmost point of the Arden area on the edge of the Cotswolds. In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495. Stratford was originally inhabited by Britons before Anglo-Saxons and remained a village before the lord of the manor, John of Coutances, set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a weekly market in the town, giving it its status as a market town. As a result, Stratford experienced an increase in trade and commerce as well as urban expansion. Stratford is a popular tourist destination, owing to its status as the birthplace and burial place of playwright and poet William Shakespeare; it receives approximately 2.7 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Etymology. The name is a combination of the Old English "strǣt" (from Latin "stratum"), meaning 'street', "ford", indicating a shallow part of a river or stream, allowing it to be crossed by walking or driving and "avon" which is the Celtic word for river. The 'street' was a Roman road which connected Icknield Street in Alcester to the Fosse Way. The ford, which has been used as a crossing since Roman times, later became the location of Clopton Bridge. A survey of 1251–52 uses the name Stratford for the first time to identify Old Stratford and the newer manors. The name was used after that time to describe the area specifically surrounding the Holy Trinity Church and the street of the Old Town. History. Roman. The Stratford area was settled during the Roman period as the area was crossed by a Roman road: archaeological remains of a small Roman town have been found, about northeast of Stratford town centre at Tiddington, now part of Stratford, which was occupied from the 1st to the 5th century AD. The remains of two further probable Roman settlements have been found within a few miles of modern-day Stratford. Medieval. The settlement which later became known as Stratford was first inhabited by Anglo-Saxons following their 7th-century invasion of what would become known as Warwickshire, but was then part of the Kingdom of Mercia. It is likely that an Anglo-Saxon monastery existed at the site of what is now Holy Trinity Church, which was founded after the land was acquired by Egwin, the third Bishop of Worcester (693-714). The monastery was likely destroyed by Viking invaders in 1015. The land remained in the ownership of the Bishops of Worcester until the 16th century. The area around Holy Trinity Church is still known as "Old Town" as it was the original area of settlement around the monastery. The focus of the settlement at Stratford was later moved north, closer to the river crossing, which was better positioned for trade. Stratford (then referred to as "strete ford") remained a village until the late 12th century when it was developed into a town by lord of the manor, Bishop John of Coutances. Coutances laid out a new town plan in 1196 around half a mile (0.8 km) north of the original settlement, based on a grid system to expand Stratford and allow people to rent property in order to trade within the town. Coutances granted his new tenants the right to rent property and transmit it at death. This was called burgage tenure. Each development plot or "burgage" consisted of around . Additionally, a charter was granted to Stratford by King Richard I in 1196 which allowed a weekly market to be held in the town, giving it its status as a market town. These two charters, which formed the foundations of Stratford's transformation from a village to a town, make the town of Stratford over 800 years old, the town celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1996. John of Coutances' plans to develop Stratford into a town meant Stratford became a place of work for tradesmen and merchants. By 1252 the town had approximately 240 burgages (town rental properties owned by a king or lord), as well as shops, stalls and other buildings. Stratford's tradesmen established a guild known as the Guild of the Holy Cross for their business and religious requirements. The guild developed into the town's main institution of local government, and included the most important townsmen, who elected officials to oversee local affairs. They built a Guild Chapel in the 13th century, and a Guildhall and almshouses on Church Street in around 1417. The guild also established an educational institution in the late 13th century. Many of the town's earliest and most important buildings are located along what is known as Stratford's Historic Spine, which was once the main route from the town centre to the parish church. The route of the Historic Spine begins at Shakespeare's Birthplace in Henley Street. It continues through Henley Street to the top end of Bridge Street and into the High Street where many Elizabethan buildings are located, including Harvard House. The route carries on through Chapel Street where Nash's House and New Place are sited. The Historic Spine continues along Church Street where the Guild buildings are located dating back to the 15th century, as well as 18th- and 19th-century properties. The route then finishes in the Old Town, which includes Hall's Croft and the Holy Trinity Church. During Stratford's early expansion into a town, the only access across the River Avon into and out of the town was over a wooden bridge, which was first mentioned in 1235. However, the bridge could not be crossed at times due to the river rising and was described by antiquarian John Leland as "a poor bridge of timber and no causeway to it, whereby many poor folks and other refused to come to Stratford when the Avon was up, or coming thither stood in jeopardy of life." In 1484, a new masonry arch bridge was built to replace it called Clopton Bridge, named after Hugh Clopton, a wealthy local man who later became the Lord Mayor of London, who paid for its construction. The new bridge made it easier for people to trade within Stratford and for passing travellers to stay in the town. Tudor period. The medieval structures of local governance underwent significant changes during the Tudor period: The Guild of the Holy Cross was abolished in 1547 under King Edward VI's suppression of religious guilds, and the inhabitants of Stratford petitioned the Crown for a charter of incorporation as a borough, which they received in 1553. This allowed the formation a new Town Council which inherited the property and responsibilities of the abolished guild. The Charter of Incorporation refounded Stratford's school as the King Edward VI School The Cotswolds, located close to Stratford, was a major sheep-producing area up until the latter part of the 19th century, with Stratford one of its main centres for the processing, marketing, and distribution of sheep and wool. Consequently, Stratford also became a centre for tanning during the 15th–17th centuries. Glove making was also an important industry, which was at its zenith in the 15th and 16th centuries. As was malting (the processing of grain to turn it into malt). John Shakespeare, originally a farmer, had moved to Stratford in 1551, from the nearby village of Snitterfield and became a successful glover (glove maker) and businessman, and an official on the Town Council. He met and married Mary Arden a member of the local gentry in around 1557, and together they had eight children, including Stratford's most famous son William Shakespeare in 1564, believed to be at the house now known as Shakespeare's Birthplace. 17th and 18th centuries. Stratford was the centre of considerable activity and some fighting during the English Civil War. Being located at the junction of several main roads, it was strategically important for both the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies. Due to its close proximity to the Parliamentarian stronghold of Warwick, Stratford remained under Parliamentarian control for the majority of the conflict, although it was only directly occupied by troops for sporadic intervals. In February 1643, Stratford was occupied by Royalist forces under Colonel Wagstaffe, but was recaptured by Parliamentarians under Lord Brooke on 25 February after an engagement on the nearby road to Warwick. Having secured the town, Brooke returned to Warwick. In one notable incidence in February 1643, Stratford's Market Hall (at the site of the current Town Hall) was destroyed after three barrels of gunpowder which were being stored there blew up. From March 1644, until part of the following year, Stratford appears to have been continuously occupied by Parliamentarian troops. There was however one further Royalist raid in April 1645. A number of famous people passed through Stratford during the conflict: In April 1643, Prince Rupert passed through, he was at Stratford again in July, where he met the Queen Henrietta Maria, who was travelling through the Midlands, and she was the guest of honour of Susanna Hall, William Shakespeare's daughter, at New Place. Oliver Cromwell was at Stratford in December 1646, and again in 1651, before the Battle of Worcester. Despite Stratford's increase in trade, it barely grew between the middle of the 13th century and the end of the 16th century, with a survey of the town showing 217 houses belonged to the lord of the manor in 1590. Growth continued to be slow throughout the 17th century, with hearth tax returns showing that at most there were approximately 429 houses in the town by 1670. However, more substantial expansion began following several enclosure acts in the late 18th century, with the first and largest development by John Payton who developed land on the north side of the old town, creating several streets including John Street and Payton Street. In 1769, the actor David Garrick staged a major Shakespeare Jubilee over three days which saw the construction of a large rotunda and the influx of many visitors. This contributed to the growing phenomenon of Bardolatry which made Stratford a tourist destination. Before the dominance of road and rail, Stratford was an important gateway to the network of British canals. The River Avon was made navigable through Stratford in 1639, by the construction of locks and weirs, providing Stratford with a navigable link to the River Severn to the south-west and to near Warwick to the north-east, this allowed, in the words of Daniel Defoe "a very great Trade for Sugar, Oil, Wine, Tobacco, Iron, Lead and in a word, all heavy goods which are carried by water almost as far as Warwick; and in return the corn, and especially the cheese, is brought back from Gloucestershire and Warwickshire to Bristol". 19th century to present. Between 1793 and 1816 the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was built, linking the Avon at Stratford with Birmingham. By the early 19th century, Stratford was a flourishing inland port, and an important centre of trade, with many canal and river wharves along what is now Bancroft Gardens. The first railway in Warwickshire; the Stratford and Moreton Tramway was opened to Stratford in 1826: this was a horse-drawn wagonway, long, which was intended to carry goods between the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, the rural districts of south Warwickshire and Moreton-in-Marsh. The tramway fell into disuse by the early 1900s, and the tracks were lifted in 1918. A surviving remnant of this is the Tramway Bridge over the River Avon, a brick arch bridge which now carries pedestrians. The first steam railway to reach Stratford was a branch of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway from to the south, which opened on 12 July 1859. This was soon followed by the Stratford on Avon Railway's branch from Hatton from the north, which opened on 9 October 1860. Both branches initially had separate termini, but they soon agreed to join the two branches and open the current railway station, which was opened on 24 July 1861. Both branches later came under the control of the Great Western Railway. The connection of Stratford to the growing national railway network, helped enable the development of the modern tourism industry. Stratford did not become a major centre of industry during the industrial revolution, but some industries did grow up locally: Edward Fordham Flower opened a large canal side brewery in Stratford in 1831; the Flower & Sons Brewery, on Clopton Road survived until 1967, when the company was taken over by Whitbread. Several lime kilns were opened locally, and the manufacture of tarpaulin and oilcloth flourished. The advent of rail transport in the middle of the century caused a major decline in river and canal transport, and the River Avon navigation through Stratford was abandoned in 1875. It was restored as a navigation by volunteers almost a century later in 1974. Victorian Stratford's growth as a tourist destination was further enhanced by Edward Fordham Flower and his son Charles Edward Flower, owners of a local brewery business, and important figures in local affairs: Through their campaigning and fundraising efforts, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened on the banks of the Avon in 1879. The original theatre was destroyed by fire in 1926, and its replacement was opened in 1932 to the designs of Elisabeth Scott, making it the first important building erected in Britain from the designs of a woman architect. In 1974, the old borough of Stratford was abolished and merged into the much larger Stratford-on-Avon District, The area of the borough became a successor parish with a Town Council. Governance. Stratford-upon-Avon is within the Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary constituency which has been represented by Nadhim Zahawi since 2010. Stratford was within the West Midlands Region constituency of the European Parliament which was represented by seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Stratford is governed by three tiers of local government: Geography. Stratford is south-east of Birmingham. It is close to the northern edge of the Cotswolds, with Chipping Campden to the south. Stratford is around to the north-east of the borders with both Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Other than those already mentioned, significant towns and villages nearby include Alcester, Wellesbourne, Evesham, Reddich and Henley-in-Arden. Stratford is divided by the River Avon, with the majority of the town being on the west side of the river, its riverside location means it is susceptible to flooding, including flash floods. Stratford has several suburbs: The town's urban area encompasses the contiguous sub-villages of Alveston, Shottery and Tiddington, which were formerly independent, but now form part of the civil parish of Stratford, other distinct suburbs of the town include Bishopton, Bridge Town, Clopton and Old Town. Climate. Stratford has a temperate maritime climate, as is usual for the British Isles, meaning extremes of heat and cold are rare. Sunshine hours are low to moderate, with an average of 1512.3 hours of sunshine annually. Rainfall is spread evenly throughout the year, with an annual average of , with over of rain recorded on 114.1 days per year according to the 1981–2010 observation period. Stratford's warmest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of and January is the coldest month with an average high of . The average summer maximum temperature is , with a winter average high of . Demography. In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495; an increase from 27,894 in the 2011 census and 22,338 in the 2001 census. The town's population has undergone expansion in recent years years following government approval to build 800 new homes in Shottery, which also included plans for a new relief road, up to 500 new homes planned in the Bishopton area of the town, and 270 homes on the Loxley Road. In terms of ethnicity in 2021; 92.7% of Stratford residents were White, 3.3% were Asian, 0.6% were Black, 2.4% were Mixed, 0.2% were Arab and 0.8% were from another ethnic group. In terms of religion, 58.4% of Stratford residents identified as Christian, 38.2% said they had no religion, 1.0% were Muslim, 0.8% were Hindu, 0.5% were Sikh, 0.5% were Buddhists, 0.2% were Jewish, and 0.5% were from another religion. Economy. Apart from tourism, which is a major employer, especially in the hotel, hospitality industry and catering sectors, other industries in the town include boat building and maintenance, bicycles, mechanical and electrical engineering, food manufacture, Information Technology, call centre and service sector activities, a large motor sales sector, industrial plant hire, building suppliers, market gardening, farming, storage and transport logistics, finance and insurance, and a large retail sector. Major employers in the town include the NFU Mutual Insurance Company (and Avon Insurance), Amec Foster Wheeler, Sitel, Tesco, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, B&Q and Pashley Cycles. There are, nominally, three theatres run by the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, which attract large audiences and income for the town. Tourism. The regular large influx of tourists is the major source of the town's prosperity, receiving between 2.5 million and 3 million visitors annually. Stratford is a major English tourist town due to it being the birthplace of William Shakespeare, whom many consider the greatest playwright of all time. In 2010 the District Council spent £298,000 on tourism promotion and supports an official open-top tour bus service. In 2010 Stratford-on-Avon District Council launched a re-branded official tourism website for the Stratford area called Discover Stratford after opening a new tourist information centre on Henley Street in May 2010, which has since moved back to the original location on Bridgefoot. Shopping centres. Apart from the town centre, Maybird Shopping Park, usually referred to locally as "The Maybird Centre" or simply "The Maybird", is a large shopping centre situated on Birmingham Road, approximately a five-minute drive from the town centre. The Rosebird Centre is a much smaller shopping centre located on Shipston Road, consisting of Waitrose, a pet shop, a drive-thru Costa Coffee and a pharmacy/GP surgery. Bell Court Shopping Centre is in the centre of the town with entrances from Wood St, Ely St, High St & Rother Street. it has several restaurants and shopping offers. Culture. Theatre. The first real theatre in Stratford was a temporary wooden affair built in 1769 by the actor David Garrick for his Shakespeare Jubilee celebrations of that year to mark William Shakespeare's birthday. The theatre, built not far from the site of the present Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was almost washed away in two days of torrential rain that resulted in terrible flooding. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth in 1864, brewer Charles Edward Flower instigated the building of a temporary wooden theatre, known as the Tercentenary Theatre, which was built in a part of the brewer's large gardens on what is today the site of the new, and temporary, Courtyard Theatre. After three months the Tercentenary Theatre was dismantled, with the timber used for house-building purposes. In the early 1870s, Flower gave several acres of riverside land to the local council on the understanding that a permanent theatre be built in honour of Shakespeare's memory, and by 1879 the first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre had been completed. It proved to be a huge success, and by the early 20th century it was effectively being run by the actor/manager Frank Benson. The theatre burned down in 1926, with the then artistic director, William Bridges-Adams, moving all productions to the local cinema. An architectural competition was arranged to elicit designs for a new theatre, with the winner, English architect Elisabeth Scott, creating the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The new theatre, adjoining what was left of the old theatre, was opened by the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, in 1932. The new theatre had many illustrious artistic directors, including the actor Anthony Quayle. Sir Peter Hall was appointed artistic director (designate) in 1959, and formed the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1961. The Royal Shakespeare Company also runs two smaller theatres, the Swan Theatre, which was created in the 1980s out of the shell of the remains of the original Memorial Theatre and is modelled on an Elizabethan theatre, quickly becoming one of the finest acting spaces in the United Kingdom, and The Other Place theatre. Along with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), the Swan Theatre closed in 2007 for refurbishment and reopened in November 2010. The Other Place, a Black box theatre, was extended to become the temporary RSC Courtyard Theatre, opening in July 2006 and was the home of the RSC while the RST was being refurbished – its interior is similar to the interior of the refurbished RST. The Courtyard Theatre closed in 2015 and was replaced by The Other Place in March 2016, which returned as a 200-seat studio theatre within the steel extension in which the Courtyard Theatre was located. Stratford is also home to The Bear Pit Theatre which was founded in 2008 as a voluntary organisation. It has 100 seats and is part of the Little Theatre Guild. The Attic Theatre is Stratford-upon-Avon's premiere fringe theatre. Established by husband-and-wife team John-Robert and Catherine Partridge and in 2009, who also run the award-winning Tread The Boards Theatre Company. The venue is located next door to Cox's Yard and hosts an intimate 90-seat auditorium in the Grade 2 listed Attic space. The Waterside Theatre (which is not part of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre complex) re-opened in December 2004, then closed again in September 2008. During this span, the theatre housed the Shakespearience visitor attraction. This has now been turned into the Clore Learning Centre, the Royal Shakespeare Company's education and events venue. In 1988, Stratford-upon-Avon was the venue for the disastrous provincial try-out of the ill-fated musical "Carrie", based on the Stephen King novel. Filming and television. The town is also the setting of the 2018 BBC detective show "". Music. Stratford ArtsHouse, previously the Civic Hall, is home to Orchestra of the Swan, a professional chamber orchestra staging up to 10 orchestral concerts with international soloists per year. Kempe Studio of The Rudolf Kempe Society, whose patron is Dame Judi Dench, is based in a house at 58 Waterside called The Muses and hosts musical events and masterclass lessons. No. 1 Shakespeare Street holds regular evenings of live music. Museums and Shakespeare's houses. Tudor World is a museum which explores the time when Shakespeare lived. It is based in a Grade II* listed town centre Tudor building and is the only museum in the country dedicated to Tudor times. Every week there is a walk around the town with Shakespeare. The Mechanical Art and Design museum, but better known as MAD museum, is a museum in Henley Street of "brilliant-but-bonkers machines" made by Kinetic artists. Items on show include mechanised flipbooks and a musical typewriter. There are five houses relating to William Shakespeare's life which are owned and cared for by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. These include Hall's Croft (the one-time home of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, and her husband Dr. John Hall) and Nash's House, which stands alongside the site of New Place which was owned by Shakespeare himself, wherein he died. In Shottery is Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the home of Shakespeare's wife's family prior to her marriage. Mary Arden's House (Palmer's Farm), the family home of his mother, is in Wilmcote. Elsewhere in the district are farms and buildings at Snitterfield, that belonged to the family of Shakespeare's father. In addition, King Edward VI School, located on the corner of Church Street and Chapel Lane, is a grammar school thought to have been attended by Shakespeare. In 2016, the school room where Shakespeare is believed to have studied opened to visitors. Literature. Stratford has one library, located in Henley Street within a medieval building. Since 2008, Stratford has hosted the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival, which holds two literary events a year, with one event in spring and a shorter festival in autumn. The festival has talks from celebrity guests, workshops and educational programmes and has become one of the most noted literary festivals in the country, with speakers including: Kirsty Wark, Alan Johnson MP, Baroness Shirley Williams, Tom Kerridge, Sir Tim Rice, John McCarthy, Michael Rosen, Howard Jacobson, Jeffrey Archer, Michael Palin, Jeremy Paxman, Alastair Campbell and Paul Merton. Shakespeare's celebrations. Every year, Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated in Stratford. The celebration takes place over two days on the weekend closest to 26 April, the date of his christening, and includes musical performances, drama and a parade through the town. In 2016, events were held in Stratford to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Pubs. The Garrick Inn is reputedly the oldest pub in Stratford, with an inn existing on the site since medieval times. The Dirty Duck, located along Waterside, is a popular pub for actors performing at the nearby RSC theatres. A Wetherspoon pub is situated on Sheep Street. For the last ten years, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has held a cider and beer festival in the town. Local media. Local news and television programmes is provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received either from the Lark Stoke or Sutton Coldfield TV transmitters. The town’s local radio stations are BBC CWR on 103.7 FM, Capital Mid-Counties on 102 FM (formerly 102 Touch FM), Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire on 97.0 FM, and Welcombe Radio, a community based radio station. Stratford Observer and Stratford Herald are the main local newspapers in the town. Streets. Henley Street. Henley Street, one of the town's oldest streets, underwent substantial architectural change between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. John Shakespeare's large half-timbered dwelling, purchased by him in 1556, was in 1564 the birthplace of his son William. According to a descriptive placard provided for tourists there: The property remained in the ownership of William Shakespeare's direct descendants until 1670, when his granddaughter, Elizabeth Barnard, died. As she had no children, Elizabeth left the estate to her relative Thomas Hart, Shakespeare's great-nephew. The main house became a tenanted inn called the "Maidenhead" (later the "Swan and Maidenhead") following the death of John Shakespeare in 1601. Members of the Hart family continued living in the small adjoining cottage throughout the century. At the end of the 19th century, Edward Gibbs "renovated" the building to more closely represent the original Tudor farmhouse. Adjacent to Shakespeare's Birthplace stands the Shakespeare Centre, completed in 1964 and not far from the Carnegie Library, opened in 1905. The large half-timbered building, which now comprises numbers 19, 20 and 21, was formerly the "White Lion Inn". It is first mentioned in 1603. and was adjoined on the east by a smaller inn called the "Swan". In 1745 the latter was purchased by John Payton, who also acquired the "Lion" five years later and rebuilt the whole premises on a greatly enlarged scale. The work was completed by James Collins of Birmingham, builder, in 1753. Payton "brought the house into great vogue" though Byng in 1792 complained that "at the noted White Lion, I met with nothing but incivility" (cited from "Torrington Diaries" (ed. Andrews), iii, 152). Payton was succeeded as innkeeper by his son John, and its reputation as one of the best inns on the Holyhead Road must have contributed not a little to the prosperity of the town. David Garrick stayed at the "White Lion Inn" during the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769. and George IV, as Prince Regent, visited it when he came to Stratford in 1806. Its great days came to an end after John Payton the younger sold it to Thomas Arkell in 1823. The building is now home to the Enchanted Manor Museum at the Creaky Cauldron and Magic Alley; the Box Brownie Café; Doug Brown's Really Good Gift Company; and the Not Just Shakespeare Tourist Information Centre. Henley Street is now a major tourist and shopping precinct with many "al fresco" cafés and street entertainers. Sheep Street. Sheep Street runs from Ely Street eastwards to the Waterside. It was a residential quarter in the 16th century, some of the buildings were rebuilt following the fire of 1595, although many, such as Number 40, date from 1480. Formerly a two-story building that was extended in the early twentieth century has a lower story of substantial close-set studding: the upper is of more widely spaced thin vertical timbers. As the name suggests Sheep Street, which leads down from the Town Hall to Waterside and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was from early times and until the late 19th century, the area where sheep, brought from the neighbouring Cotswold Hills to be bought and sold. Today it is the restaurant centre of the town. The Shrieves House is one of the oldest still lived in houses in the town and William Shakespeare is said to have based his character of Sir John Falstaff on one of the residents, his godson's uncle. Oliver Cromwell is thought to have stayed here in 1651. He wrote a letter from the town to Lord Wharton on 27 August 1651, before the Battle of Worcester. Behind The Shrieves House is a museum called "Tudor World" with recreations of 16th-century life in theatrical settings. Just off Sheep Street is Shrieves Walk, a very quaint walkway with several small independent stores. A Wetherspoons is also on Sheep Street. Waterside and Southern Lane. This area of Stratford, which runs from the foot of Bridge Street to Holy Trinity Church (and leads directly off Sheep Street and Chapel Lane) runs alongside the River Avon and offers access to the Waterside Theatre and all areas of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The Bancroft Gardens and river area is a very popular place for people watching, enjoying picnics and river activities. In the summer the River Avon is busy with rowing boats, motor boats and river cruises. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is busy with colourful narrowboats passing through or mooring up in the canal basin. There are often jugglers, fire-eaters and magicians entertaining the public on the lawns. On the edge of the gardens is a water fountain, known as the Swan Fountain. It was unveiled in 1996 by the Queen Elizabeth II to recognise that Stratford has been a market town since 1196. It is from here the Stratford Town Walk meet every day (even Christmas Day), to offer a guided walking tour of the town. The tour passes the Shakespeare houses, Royal Shakespeare Theatre's, 15th-century timber-framed buildings, William Shakespeare's school and visits Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was baptised and is buried. Waterside is also the location of The Dirty Duck pub which is frequented by actors from the nearby RSC theatres, theatre critics and theatregoers. Other attractions. Harvard House is located at 26 High Street. Other attractions include the Stratford Butterfly Farm, which is on the eastern side of the river Avon and the Bancroft Gardens and Stratford Armouries located three miles () from the centre of Stratford on Gospel Oak Lane. Each year on 12 October (unless this is a Sunday, in which case 11 October) Stratford hosts one of the largest mop fairs in the country. Ten days later, the smaller Runaway fair is held. The Guild Chapel, at the intersection of Church Street and Chapel Lane, had a long association with William Shakespeare's family. The chapel offers a view of fine paintings from the early 1500s which had been covered up during the Reformation to save them from destruction. Centuries later, they were uncovered and are now visible. Transport. Road. Stratford is from the United Kingdom's second largest city, Birmingham, and is easily accessible from junction 15 of the M40 motorway. The A46 road links Stratford with the M40, Warwick and Coventry to the north-east, and Evesham and Ashchurch to the south-west, where it joins the M5 motorway. Bus Services are mostly provided by Stagecoach in Warwickshire (formerly Midland Red South) and Diamond West Midlands. Railway. Stratford now has two railway stations. The main town centre station, Stratford-upon-Avon railway station, has regular direct rail links with Birmingham (Snow Hill station and Moor Street station) and also with , , and ; some direct trains travel daily to/from London Marylebone. In 2013, an out-of-town station, Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway, opened on the town's north-western outskirts with park and ride facilities. Stratford station is now the southern terminus of two branch lines from Birmingham and ; up to 1976, the line formerly continued south of the town to join the Cotswold Line at , until this link was closed and dismantled. There has been a campaign in recent years to restore the Honeybourne link, which would entail rebuilding of track. Stratford-upon-Avon's train service has been criticised by the Royal Shakespeare Company and others for its limited direct services to London, which consists of a handful of daily direct trains, with connections available from . In 2018, the RSC described the services to the station as "woefully inadequate" for an international tourist destination. Until 1952, Stratford was also served by Stratford Old Town railway station of the former Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway. Water. Several companies offer sightseeing cruises along the river Avon and the canal, some using old river barges that have been converted for this use. The town is the terminus of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal where it meets the river Avon. The manually-powered Stratford-upon-Avon chain ferry was opened in 1937 and links Waterside, roughly halfway between the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Holy Trinity Church, with the water meadows on the opposite side of the river. It was the last of its kind to be built in Britain. Cycling. The town has numerous cycle paths, such as the Stratford greenway, a traffic free cycle path, which used to be part of the rail network until the early 1960s; it is now part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network (routes National Cycle Route 5 and National Cycle Route 41). Starting from town, it heads along the river Avon and racecourse towards Welford-on-Avon and Long Marston with a cycle hire and café available at the start of the Greenway at Seven Meadows Road. Air. Birmingham Airport is to the north-west, with scheduled flights to many national and international destinations. Education. Stratford is also home to several institutions set up for the study of Shakespeare, including the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which holds books and documents related to the playwright, and the Shakespeare Institute. William Shakespeare is believed to have studied at King Edward VI School. Previously an all-boys school, from September 2013 up to 25% of the year 12 intake can be girls. It is one of the few remaining grammar schools in England, selecting its pupils exclusively using the 11-plus examination. There is also an all-girls grammar school, Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls, colloquially known as 'Shottery School' after its location in the village of Shottery, a short distance from the town centre. Finally, there is a non-selective secondary school, Stratford-upon-Avon School, formerly known as the Hugh Clopton Secondary Modern School, which was demolished to make way for the new high school. There are no independent secondary schools in the town, but there are many primary schools, including St. Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Stratford-upon-Avon Primary School (often known locally as "Broad Street" due to its location), Bishopton Primary School, Willows Church of England Primary School and Thomas Jolyffe Primary School both state and independent, as well as Stratford-upon-Avon College. Sport. Stratford-upon-Avon Rugby Club is situated on Loxley Road at their home ground Pearcecroft. The club fields three senior sides and a colts under 18 team with the 1st XV currently playing in Midlands 1 (West). The club also has a large mini and junior section. Stratford-upon-Avon Cricket Club Ground is by the river Avon opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The first match recorded there was in 1880; it has hosted first-class games since 1951 and women's One Day Internationals since 2005. Stratford Town F.C. are based at the DCS Stadium in Tiddington; they won the Midland Alliance in the 2012–3 season and were promoted to Division One South & West of the Southern Football League. The town's 5k parkrun event started in February 2016 and operates on the Recreation Ground every Saturday at 9 am. A junior parkrun started in June 2019 and takes place every Sunday at 9 am for children aged 4 to 14. Stratford Racecourse is located along the Luddington Road, about one mile from the centre of town which holds 18 meetings every year. It is a National Hunt course with an oval track of approximately a mile and a quarter and is considered to be one of the UK's leading small racecourses. "Adventure Bike Rider" (established in 2010) is United Kingdom bimonthly motorcycling newspaper. Notable people. With the Royal Shakespeare Company in the town, many famous actors have at some point lived or stayed in Stratford or the surrounding villages. Some of these include: Other notable residents include: Freedom of the Town. The following people have received the Freedom of the Town of Stratford-upon-Avon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58893

Johannesburg

Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa, classified as a megacity; it is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area (combined because of strong transport links that make commuting feasible) is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located within the mineral-rich Witwatersrand hills, the epicentre of the international-scale mineral, gold and (specifically) diamond trade. Johannesburg was established in 1886, following the discovery of gold, on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold deposits found along the Witwatersrand, within ten years, the population had grown to over 100,000 inhabitants. A separate city from the late 1970s until 1994, Soweto is now part of the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area. An acronym for "South-Western Townships", Soweto was organised initially as a collection of nondescript settlements on the outskirts of the city, populated mostly by African labourers working in the gold mining industry. Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been explicitly separated as a residential area for blacks only—no whites allowed—who were not permitted to live in other "white-designated" areas of Johannesburg. Another region, Lenasia, is predominantly populated by English-speaking Indo-South Africans (people of Indian and South Asian descent). These areas were, in previous decades, designated as non-white areas, in accordance with the segregationist policies of the time—known as apartheid. It would go on to be one of the host cities of the official tournament of the 2010 FIFA World Cup—and it hosted the final. The metropolis is an alpha global city, as listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. In 2019, the population of the city of Johannesburg was 5635127, making it the most populous city in South Africa. In the same year, the population of metro Johannesburg's urban agglomeration was put at 8000000. Land area of the municipal city () is large in comparison with those of other major cities, resulting in a moderate population density of . Etymology. Controversy surrounds the origin of the name. There were quite a number of people with the name "Johannes" who were involved in the early history of the city. Among them is the principal clerk attached to the office of the surveyor-general Hendrik Dercksen, Christiaan Johannes Joubert, who was a member of the Volksraad and was the Republic's chief of mining. Another was Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (better known as Paul Kruger), president of the South African Republic (ZAR) from 1883 to 1900. Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility. Precise records for the choice of name were lost. Johannes Rissik and Johannes Joubert were members of a delegation sent to England to obtain mining rights for the area. Joubert had a park in the city named after him, and Rissik has his name for one of the main streets in the city where the historically important albeit dilapidated Rissik Street Post Office is located. The City Hall is also located on Rissik Street. History. The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by San hunter-gatherers who used stone tools. There is evidence that they lived there up to ten centuries ago. Stone-walled ruins of Sotho–Tswana towns and villages are scattered around the parts of the former Transvaal in which Johannesburg is situated. By the mid-18th century, the broader region was largely settled by various Sotho–Tswana communities (one linguistic branch of Bantu-speakers), whose villages, towns, chiefdoms and kingdoms stretched from the Bechuanaland Protectorate (what is now Botswana) in the west, to present day Lesotho in the south, to the present day Pedi areas of the Limpopo Province. More specifically, the stone-walled ruins of Sotho–Tswana towns and villages are scattered around the parts of the former Transvaal province in which Johannesburg is situated. Many Sotho–Tswana towns and villages in the areas around Johannesburg were destroyed and their people driven away during the wars emanating from Zululand during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (the mfecane or difaqane wars), and as a result, an offshoot of the Zulu kingdom, the Ndebele (often referred to as the Matabele, the name given them by the local Sotho–Tswana), set up a kingdom to the northwest of Johannesburg around modern-day Rustenburg. Gold rush and naming of the city. The main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes, son of Jan Bantjes, this triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the founding of Johannesburg in 1886. The discovery of gold rapidly attracted people to the area, making necessary a name and governmental organisation for the area. Jan, Johan and Johannes were common male names among the Dutch of that time; two men involved in surveying the area for the best location of the city, Christian Johannes Joubert and Johann Rissik, are considered the source of the name by some. Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility. Precise records for the choice of name were lost. Within ten years, the city of Johannesburg included 100,000 people. In September 1884, the Struben brothers discovered the Confidence Reef on the farm Wilgespruit near present-day Roodepoort, which further boosted excitement over gold prospects. The first gold to be crushed on the Witwatersrand was the gold-bearing rock from the Bantjes mine crushed using the Struben brothers stamp machine. News of the discovery soon reached Kimberley and directors Cecil Rhodes and Sir Joseph Robinson rode up to investigate the rumours for themselves. They were guided to the Bantjes camp with its tents strung out over several kilometres and stayed with Bantjes for two nights. In 1884, they purchased the first pure refined gold from Bantjes for £3,000. Incidentally, Bantjes had from 1881 been operating the Kromdraai Gold Mine in the Cradle of Humankind together with his partner Johannes Stephanus Minnaar where they first discovered gold in 1881, and which also offered another kind of discovery—the early ancestors of all mankind. Some report Australian George Harrison as the first to make a claim for gold in the area that became Johannesburg, as he found gold on a farm in July 1886. He did not remain in the area. Gold was earlier discovered some to the east of present-day Johannesburg in Barberton. Gold prospectors soon discovered the richer gold reefs of the Witwatersrand offered by Bantjes. The original miners' camp, under the informal leadership of Col Ignatius Ferreira, was located in the Fordsburg dip, possibly because water was available there, and because of the site's proximity to the diggings. Following the establishment of Johannesburg, the area was taken over by the Transvaal government who had it surveyed and named it Ferreira's Township, today the suburb of Ferreirasdorp. The first settlement at Ferreira's Camp was established as a tented camp and which soon reached a population of 3,000 by 1887. The government took over the camp, surveyed it and named it Ferreira's Township. By 1896, Johannesburg was established as a city of over 100,000 inhabitants, one of the fastest growth cities ever. Mines near Johannesburg are among the deepest in the world, with some as deep as . Rapid growth, Jameson Raid and the Second Boer War. Like many late 19th-century mining towns, Johannesburg was a rough and disorganised place, populated by white miners from all continents, African tribesmen were recruited to perform unskilled mine work, African women beer brewers cooked for and sold beer to the black migrant workers, a very large number of European prostitutes, gangsters, impoverished Afrikaners, tradesmen, and the "AmaWasha", Zulu men who surprisingly dominated laundry work. As the value of control of the land increased, tensions developed between the Boer–dominated Transvaal government in Pretoria and the British, culminating in the Jameson Raid that ended in fiasco at Doornkop in January 1896. The Second Boer War (1899–1902) saw British forces under Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, occupy the city on 30 May 1900 after a series of battles to the south-west of its then-limits, near present-day Krugersdorp. Fighting took place at the Gatsrand Pass (near Zakariyya Park) on 27 May, north of Vanwyksrust—today's Nancefield, Eldorado Park and Naturena—the next day, culminating in a mass infantry attack on what is now the waterworks ridge in Chiawelo and Senaoane on 29 May. During the Boer war, many African mineworkers left Johannesburg creating a labour shortage, which the mines ameliorated by bringing in labourers from China, especially southern China. After the war, they were replaced by black workers, but many Chinese stayed on, creating Johannesburg's Chinese community, which during the apartheid era, was not legally classified as "Asian", but as "Coloured". The population in 1904 was 155,642, of whom 83,363 were whites. Post-Union history. In 1917, Johannesburg became the headquarters of the Anglo-American Corporation founded by Ernest Oppenheimer which ultimately became one of the world's largest corporations, dominating both gold-mining and diamond-mining in South Africa. Major building developments took place in the 1930s, after South Africa went off the gold standard. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hillbrow went high-rise. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the apartheid government constructed the massive agglomeration of townships that became known as Soweto. New freeways encouraged massive suburban sprawl to the north of the city. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, tower blocks (including the Carlton Centre and the Southern Life Centre) filled the skyline of the central business district. Under the system of "apartheid" (Afrikaans for "apartness", or "separate development" although the system was founded by the British), a comprehensive system of racial separation was imposed upon South Africa starting in 1948. For its growth, the economy of Johannesburg depended upon hundreds of thousands of skilled white workers imported from Europe and semi- and un-skilled black workers imported from other parts of Southern Africa. Though they worked together they were forced by the government to live separately. Work was considered to be an exception to "apartheid" in order to keep Johannesburg functioning as South Africa's economic capital. In the 1950s, the government began a policy of building townships for black families (prior to this unskilled workers were asked to work on "single status" in male-only hostels at the mines and had to commute to see their families in whatever province they originated) outside of Johannesburg to provide workers for Johannesburg. Soweto, a township founded for black workers coming to work in the gold mines of Johannesburg, was intended to house 50,000 people, but soon was the home of ten times that number as thousands of unemployed rural blacks came to Johannesburg for employment and an income to send back to their villages. It was estimated that in 1989, the population of Soweto was equal to that of Johannesburg, if not greater. In March 1960, Johannesburg witnessed widespread demonstrations against "apartheid" in response to the Sharpeville massacre. On 11 July 1963, the South African Police raided a house in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia where nine members of the banned African National Congress (ANC) were arrested on charges of planning sabotage. Their arrest led to the famous Rivonia Trial. The nine arrested included one Indo-South African, one coloured, two whites and five blacks, one of whom was the future president Nelson Mandela. At their trial, the accused freely admitted that they were guilty of what they were charged with, namely of planning to blow up the hydro-electric system of Johannesburg to shut down the gold mines, but Mandela argued to the court that the ANC had tried non-violent resistance to "apartheid" and failed, leaving him with no other choice. The trial made Mandela into a national figure and a symbol of resistance to "apartheid". On 16 June 1976, demonstrations broke out in Soweto over a government decree that black school-children be educated in Afrikaans instead of English, and after the police fired on the demonstrations, rioting against "apartheid" began in Soweto and spread into the greater Johannesburg area. About 575 people, the majority of whom were black, were killed in the Soweto uprising of 1976. Between 1984 and 1986, South Africa was in turmoil as a series of nationwide protests, strikes and riots took place against "apartheid", and the black townships around Johannesburg were scenes of some of the fiercest struggles between the police and anti-"apartheid" demonstrators. The central area of the city underwent something of a decline in the 1980s and 1990s, due to the high crime rate and when property speculators directed large amounts of capital into suburban shopping malls, decentralised office parks, and entertainment centres. Sandton City was opened in 1973, followed by Rosebank Mall in 1976, and Eastgate in 1979. During the 1990s, the city faced rapid growth of crime throughout large parts of the city. Some areas of skyscrapers were abandoned, many residents left their homes, and businesses moved out. Some historical buildings in central areas were destroyed by fires that spread relentlessly. 21st century. Like many cities around the world, there is an increasing focus on the rejuvenation of the inner city of Johannesburg. One of these initiatives is the Maboneng District located on the south-eastern side of the CBD. Originally a hub for art, it has expanded to include restaurants, entertainment venues and retail stores as well as accommodation and hotels. Maboneng calls itself "a place of inspiration—a creative hub, a place to do business, a destination for visitors and a safe, integrated community for residents. A beacon of strength in Africa's most economically prosperous city". After being destroyed in 2008 to make way for a motor showroom by Imperial Holdings, the iconic Rand Steam Laundries are now being redeveloped as an exact replica, by the order of the Johannesburg Heritage Council. Apart from one filtration shed, there is nothing left on the site after being destroyed. The site will consist of a precinct. On 12 May 2008, a series of riots started in the township of Alexandra, in the north-eastern part of Johannesburg, when locals attacked migrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, killing two people and injuring 40 others. These riots sparked the xenophobic attacks of 2008. The 2019 Johannesburg riots were similar in nature and origin to the 2008 xenophobic riots. A completely refurbished Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup final. From 22 to 24 August 2023, Johannesburg hosted 15th BRICS Summit. On 31 August 2023, at least 76 people died when a building caught fire in Johannesburg. The building had been taken over by a gang who were illegally renting it out. Geography. Topography. Johannesburg is located in the eastern plateau area of South Africa known as the Highveld, at an elevation of . The former Central Business District is located on the southern side of the prominent ridge called the Witwatersrand (English: White Water's Ridge) and the terrain falls to the north and south. By and large the Witwatersrand marks the watershed between the Limpopo and Vaal rivers as the northern part of the city is drained by the Jukskei River while the southern part of the city, including most of the Central Business District, is drained by the Klip River. The north and west of the city has undulating hills while the eastern parts are flatter. Johannesburg may not be built on a river or harbour, but its streams contribute to two of southern Africa's mightiest rivers, the Limpopo and the Orange. Most of the springs from which many of these streams emanate are now covered in concrete and canalised, accounting for the fact that the names of early farms in the area often end with "fontein", meaning "spring" in Afrikaans. Braamfontein, Rietfontein, Zevenfontein, Doornfontein, Zandfontein and Randjesfontein are some examples. When the first white settlers reached the area that is now Johannesburg, they noticed the glistening rocks on the ridges, running with trickles of water, fed by the streams—giving the area its name, the Witwatersrand, "the ridge of white waters". Another explanation is that the whiteness comes from the quartzite rock, which has a particular sheen to it after rain. The site was not chosen for its streams, however. The main reasons the city was founded where it stands today was because of the gold. Indeed, the city once sat near massive amounts of gold, given that at one point the Witwatersrand gold industry produced forty per cent of the planet's gold. Parks and gardens. Parks and gardens in Johannesburg are maintained by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. City Parks is also responsible for planting the city's many green trees, making Johannesburg one of the 'greenest' cities in the world. It has been estimated that there are six million trees in the city with the number growing every year—1.2 million on pavements and sidewalks, and a further 4.8 million in private gardens. City Parks continues to invest in planting trees, particularly those previously disadvantaged areas of Johannesburg which were not positive beneficiaries of apartheid Johannesburg's urban planning. Johannesburg Botanical Garden, located in the suburb of Emmarentia, is a popular recreational park. Johannesburg and environs also offer various options to visitors wishing to view wildlife, in addition to the Johannesburg Zoo, one of the largest in South Africa. The Lion Park nature reserve, next to Lesedi Cultural Village, is home to over 80 lions and various other game, while the Krugersdorp Nature Reserve, a 1500 ha game reserve, is a forty-minute drive from the city centre. The De Wildt Cheetah Centre in the Magaliesberg runs a successful breeding program for cheetah, wild dog and other endangered species. The Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve, situated in the "Cradle of Humankind" on 1200 ha of "the typical highveld of Gauteng" also runs a breeding programme for endangered species including Bengal tigers, Siberian tigers and the extremely rare white lion. To the south, from the city centre, is the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve home to large mammals and hiking trails. Climate. Johannesburg is situated on the highveld plateau, and has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen "Cwb"). The city enjoys a sunny climate, with the summer months (October to April) characterised by hot days followed by afternoon thundershowers and cool evenings, and the winter months (May to September) by dry, sunny days followed by cold nights. Temperatures in Johannesburg are usually fairly mild due to the city's high elevation, with an average maximum daytime temperature in January of , dropping to an average maximum of around in June. The UV index for Johannesburg in summers is extreme, often reaching 14–16 due to the high elevation and its location in the subtropics. Winter is the sunniest time of the year, with mild days and cool nights, dropping to in June and July. The temperature occasionally drops to below freezing at night, causing frost. Snow is a rare occurrence, with snowfall having been experienced in the twentieth century during May 1956, August 1962, June 1964 and September 1981. In the 21st century, there was light sleet in 2006, as well as snow proper on 27 June 2007 (accumulating up to in the southern suburbs), 7 August 2012, and 10 July 2023. Regular cold fronts pass over in winter bringing very cold southerly winds but usually clear skies. The annual average rainfall is , which is mostly concentrated in the summer months. Infrequent showers occur through the course of the winter months. The lowest nighttime minimum temperature ever recorded in Johannesburg is , on 13 June 1979. The lowest daytime maximum temperature recorded is , on 19 June 1964. Demographics. According to the 2011 South African National Census, the population of Johannesburg is 4,434,827 people, making it the most populous city in South Africa (it has been the most populous city in South Africa since at least the 1950s). From the 2001 census, the people live in 1,006,930 formal households, of which 86% have a flush or chemical toilet, and 91% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week. 81% of households have access to running water, and 80% use electricity as the main source of energy. 29% of Johannesburg residents stay in informal dwellings. 66% of households are headed by one person. Johannesburg's urban agglomeration spreads well beyond the administrative boundary of the municipality. The population of the whole area has been estimated to be variously at 7,860,781 in 2011 by "citypopulation.de", or 9,115,000 in 2018 by Demographia (for "Johannesburg-East Rand", 41st highest in the world). The area of this urban agglomeration was put by Demographia to be 2,590 km2, 31st largest in the world. Johannesburg's suburbs are the product of urban sprawl and are regionalised into north, south, east and west, and they generally have different personalities. Greater Johannesburg consists of more than five hundred suburbs in an area covering more than . Although black Africans can be found throughout Johannesburg and its surrounding area, greater Johannesburg remains highly racially segregated. Within the Metropolitan Municipality, the old centre, established in 1886 and given city status in 1928, has been listed in recent censuses as a "main place". , this main place had a population of 957,441 and an area of 334.81 km2. Some authors consider the metropolitan area to include most of Gauteng province. The UN's Population Division in 2016 estimated the metropolitan area population to be 9,616,000. Blacks account for 73% of the population, followed by whites at 18%, coloureds at 6% and Asians at 4%. 42% of the population is under the age of 24, while 6% of the population is over 60 years of age. 37% of city residents are unemployed. 91% of the unemployed are Black African. Women comprise 43% of the working population. 19% of economically active adults work in wholesale and retail sectors, 18% in financial, real estate and business services, 17% in the community, social and personal services and 12% are in manufacturing. Only 0.7% work in mining. Religion. 53% belong to mainstream Christian churches, 24% are not affiliated with any organised religion, 14% are members of African Independent Churches, 3% are Muslim, 1% are Jewish and 1% are Hindu. Among the places of worship, they are predominantly Christian churches and temples: Serbian Orthodox church, Zion Christian Church, Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa, Assemblies of God, Baptist Union of Southern Africa (Baptist World Alliance), Methodist Church of Southern Africa (World Methodist Council), Anglican Church of Southern Africa (Anglican Communion), Presbyterian Church of Africa (World Communion of Reformed Churches), Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg (Catholic Church) and the Johannesburg South Africa Temple (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). There are also Muslim mosques, Hindu temples, A Sikh Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) in Sandton and a large number of synagogues. Languages. 32% of Johannesburg residents speak Nguni languages at home, 24% speak Sotho languages, 18% speak English, 7% speak Afrikaans and 6% speak Tshivenda. Education. Johannesburg has a well-developed higher education system of both private and public universities. Johannesburg is served by the public universities University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg. University of Johannesburg was formed on 1 January 2005, when three separate universities and campuses—Rand Afrikaans University, Technikon Witwatersrand, and the Johannesburg campuses of Vista University—were merged. The new university offers education primarily in English and Afrikaans, although courses may be taken in any of South Africa's official languages. The University of the Witwatersrand is one of the leading universities in Africa, and is famous as a centre of resistance to apartheid. It is attached to the world's third largest hospital, the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, located in Soweto. The University of Pretoria's business school the Gordon Institute of Business Science is located in Illovo, Johannesburg. Many private colleges are also situated in Johannesburg, such as Damelin, CTI, Lyceum College and the South African campus of Monash University (six of the other campuses are in Australia, while the eighth is in Malaysia), as well as the Midrand Graduate Institute which is located in Midrand. Johannesburg also has one of several film schools in the country, one of which has won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Student Film in 2006. The South African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance, or AFDA for short, is situated in Auckland Park. Johannesburg also has three teacher-training colleges and a technical college. There are numerous kindergartens, primary schools and high schools in the region. Economy. Johannesburg is the economic and financial hub of South Africa, producing 16% of South Africa's gross domestic product, and accounts for 40% of Gauteng's economic activity. In a 2008 survey conducted by Mastercard, Johannesburg ranked 47 out of 50 top cities in the world as a worldwide centre of commerce (the only city in Africa). Mining was the foundation of the Witwatersrand's economy, but its importance is gradually declining due to dwindling reserves and service and manufacturing industries have become more significant to the city's economy. While gold mining no longer takes place within the city limits, most mining companies still have their headquarters in Johannesburg. The city's manufacturing industries extend across a range of areas and there is still a reliance on heavy industries including steel and cement plants. The service and other industries include banking, IT, real estate, transport, broadcast and print media, private health care, transport and a vibrant leisure and consumer retail market. Johannesburg has Africa's largest stock exchange, the JSE although it has moved out of the central business district. Due to its commercial role, the city is the seat of the provincial government and the site of a number of government branch offices, as well as consular offices and other institutions. The Witwatersrand urban complex is a major consumer of water in a dry region. Its continued economic and population growth has depended on schemes to divert water from other regions of South Africa and from the highlands of Lesotho, the biggest of which is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, but additional sources will be needed early in the 21st century. The container terminal at City Deep is known to be the largest "dry port" in the world, with some 50% of cargo that arrives through the ports of Durban and Cape Town arriving in Johannesburg. The City Deep area has been declared an IDZ (industrial development zone) by the Gauteng government. Retail. Johannesburg's largest shopping centres, measured by gross leasable area (GLA, the uniform measure of centre size as determined by the International Council of Shopping Centers) are Sandton City, Eastgate, Mall of Africa, Westgate and Cresta. Melrose Arch is one of its most prestigious. Other centres include Hyde Park Corner, Rosebank, Southgate, The Glen Shopping Centre, Johannesburg South, and Clearwater Mall. There were also plans to build a large shopping centre, known as the Zonk'Izizwe Shopping Resort, in Midrand, but these have been indefinitely delayed due to the opening of Mall of Africa. "Zonk'Izizwe" means "All Nations" in Zulu language, indicating that the centre will cater to the city's diverse mix of peoples and races. Also a complex named Greenstone in Modderfontein has been opened. Cradlestone Mall is a new mall named for its location which is close to the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site. Law and government. Government. Upon the creation of the Metropolitan Municipality in 2000 the city was subdivided into eleven regions, simply named Region 1 to Region 11. These were reorganized in 2006 into the current seven regions named alphabetically Region A to Region G, as shown on the nearby map. the seven regions are: In the 2016 municipal elections, the ruling party, the ANC, lost their majority in Johannesburg for the first time since taking power in 1994, claiming only 44.12% of the vote. The Economic Freedom Fighters and Democratic Alliance both agreed to vote for the DA mayoral candidate, Herman Mashaba, who was sworn into power as the first Democratic Alliance mayor of Johannesburg on 22 August 2016. The ANC returned to the city's executive on 4 December 2019 following the election of its regional chair, Geoff Makhubo, to the mayoralty. Makhubo died on 9 July 2021 and Eunice Mgcina was appointed acting mayor. A new mayor, Jolidee Matongo, was elected unopposed on 10 August 2021. Matongo died in a car accident in September 2021 and Mpho Moerane was elected to succeed him. Crime. After the Group Areas Act was scrapped in 1991, Johannesburg was affected by urban blight. Thousands of poor black people, who had been forbidden to live in the city proper, moved into the city from surrounding black townships like Soweto and many immigrants from economically beleaguered and war torn African nations flooded into South Africa. Many buildings were abandoned by landlords, especially in high-density areas, such as Hillbrow. Many corporations and institutions, including the stock exchange, moved their headquarters away from the city centre, to suburbs like Sandton. Reviving the city centre is one of the main aims of the municipal government of Johannesburg. Drastic measures have been taken to reduce crime in the city. These measures include closed-circuit television on street corners. As of 11 December 2008, every street corner in Johannesburg central is under high-tech CCTV surveillance. The CCTV system, operated by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), is also able to detect stolen or hijacked vehicles by scanning the number plates of every vehicle travelling through the central business district (CBD), then comparing them to the eNaTIS database. The JMPD claims that the average response time by police for crimes committed in the CBD is 60 seconds. Crime levels in Johannesburg have dropped as the economy has stabilised and begun to grow. Between 2001 and 2006, R9-billion (US$1.2 billion) has been invested in the city centre. Further investment of around R10-billion (US$1.5 billion) is expected in the city centre alone by 2010. This excludes development directly associated with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In an effort to prepare Johannesburg for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, local government enlisted the help of Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, to help bring down the crime rate, as the opening and closing matches of the tournament were played in the city. Murders in the Johannesburg municipality amounted to 1,697 in 2007 according to the South African Medical Research Council, a rate of 43 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2016 that number had sharply declined to 29.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, placing the murder rate at more than half of that of Cape Town and even below the national average. Culture. Johannesburg is a cultural hub in South Africa and has a wide variety of cultural venues, making it a prominent area for many creative and cultural industries. Johannesburg is home to the National School of Arts, The University of Witwatersrand's School of the Arts and the South African Ballet Theatre, as well as the Johannesburg Art Gallery and other prominent cultural landmarks, such as the Mary Fitzgerald Square and numerous other museums, theatres, galleries and libraries. The Johannesburg City Library is located in the Central Business District of Johannesburg. Museums and galleries. Specialist museums cover subjects such as Africana, costume, design, fossils, geology, military history, medical, pharmacy, photography and transportation networks such as railways. Gold Reef City, a living museum, was originally part of the Crown Mines Complex, where gold was mined to a depth of . The Market Theatre stages plays, comedy shows, and musical performances. The following is a list of some of the museums and galleries that can be found in Johannesburg. Entertainment and performing arts. Johannesburg hosts many of South Africa's premier music events, such as RAMFest's Johannesburg leg, In The City and many international tours from bands and artists around the world. Several critically acclaimed musical acts come from Johannesburg, such as Kongos, Johnny Clegg, Zebra & Giraffe, Man As Machine, The Parlotones, and ShortStraw. The Joburg Theatre complex hosts drama, opera and ballet. The Market Theatre Foundation houses the historic Market Theatre in Newtown with various sized stages holding performances from theatre to music and dance. The foundation also oversees the Market Theatre Laboratory and The Market Photo Workshop – run training programmes for young creatives and presenting work to the public. Public art. Public art ranges from sculptures to murals to pieces by artists like William Kentridge and Gerhard Marx's Fire Walker. Many pieces are developed through community workshops, such as the Vilakazi Street sculptures. Others are functional, such as street furniture found in Hillbrow and the city centre. As part of the Johannesburg Development Agency's (JDA) policy to make city areas desirable to potential investors, the organisation has identified public art as a way to improve the urban experience of the city. The JDA spends 1 percent of all projects of over R10-million on public art. Architecture and urbanism. Johannesburg is home to some of Africa's tallest structures, such as the Sentech Tower, Hillbrow Tower, the Carlton Centre and Ponte City Apartments. The Johannesburg city skyline has most of the tallest buildings on the continent and contains most international organisations such as IBM, Absa, BHP, Willis Group, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank. Many of the city's older buildings have been demolished and more modern ones built in their place. North of the CBD is Hillbrow, the most densely populated residential area in southern Africa. Northwest of the CBD is Braamfontein, a secondary CBD housing many offices and business premises. The CBD is predominated by four styles of architecture, being Victorian Colonial, Edwardian Baroque, Art Deco and Modernism. The city is often described as Africa's economic powerhouse, and contentiously as a modern and prosperous African city. Johannesburg, like many metropolises, has more than one central business district (CBD), including, but not limited to, Sandton, Rosebank and Roodepoort in addition to the original CBD. Some tend to include Benoni and Germiston as well. Due to its many different central districts, Johannesburg would fall under the multiple nuclei model in human geography terms. It is the hub of South Africa's commercial, financial, industrial, and mining undertakings. Johannesburg is part of a larger urban region. It is closely linked with several other satellite towns. Randburg and Sandton form part of the northern area. The east and west ridges spread out from central Johannesburg. The Central Business District covers an area of . It consists of closely packed skyscrapers such as the Carlton Centre, Marble Towers, Trust Bank Building, Ponte City Apartments, Southern Life Centre and 11 Diagonal Street. Johannesburg's city centre retains its elements of a rectangular grid pattern that was first officially recorded in 1886. Streets are narrow and filled with high rises built in the mid- to late 1900s. Old Victorian–era buildings first built in the late 1800s have been torn down long ago. The 1900s brought along with it the introduction of many different architectural styles and structures. The Johannesburg Art Gallery and Supreme Court Building being two examples. These were important Beaux-Arts structures, with the style put in place by (at the time) colonial parent, the British Empire. South Africa didn't borrow architectural techniques exclusively from Britain, however. They were also inspired by American models and styles, having built several structures like the ESKOM Building and the Corner House to emulate the prowess of New York City, located in the United States. Sports. Johannesburg's most popular sports by participation are association football, cricket, rugby union, and running. Early each Sunday morning, tens of thousands of runners gather to take part in informal runs organised by several athletic clubs. The city has several football clubs in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and the National First Division. In the PSL, the top Johannesburg teams are all fierce rivals and include Kaizer Chiefs (nicknamed "Amakhosi"), Orlando Pirates (nicknamed the "Buccaneers"), Moroka Swallows and Wits University (nicknamed the "Clever Boys"). They are based at the city's FNB, Orlando, Dobsonville and Bidvest stadiums. Several large-scale league and cup games are played at Soccer City the venue of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final. First Division teams are Jomo Cosmos and FC AK. Katlehong City and Alexandra United, play at Alexandra and Reiger Park stadium respectively. Cricket is one of the more popular sports. In cricket, the Highveld Lions represent Johannesburg, the rest of Gauteng as well as the North West at the Wanderers Stadium which was the venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup Final in which Australia successfully defended their title against India. Wanderers Stadium hosted what many cricket fans consider the greatest ever ODI match in which South Africa successfully chased down 434 runs. They take part in the first class SuperSport Series, the one-day MTN Domestic Championship and the Twenty20 Ram Slam T20 Challenge. Johannesburg also hosted matches from and the final of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, in which India beat Pakistan in the final. The Lions, formerly the Cats, represent Johannesburg, North West and Mpumalanga in the United Rugby Championship competition, which includes teams from South Africa, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The Golden Lions compete in the Currie Cup, which they have won on ten occasions. They are housed at Ellis Park Stadium, which also hosted the IRB 1995 Rugby World Cup Final, in which the South African Springboks defeated the New Zealand All Blacks. The city's Ticketpro Dome and the Ellis Park Arena hosted two of the three NBA Africa Games. Infrastructure. Transportation. Johannesburg is a young and sprawling city, with its public transportation built in its infancy, geared towards private motorists, and lacks a convenient public transportation system. The City though has invested a large percentage of its budget toward an effective integrated public transportation system. A significant number of the city's residents are dependent on the city's informal minibus taxis. Roads. Johannesburg shares a network of metropolitan routes with Krugersdorp and Ekurhuleni. The fact that Johannesburg is not near a large navigable body of water has meant that ground transportation has been the most important method of transporting people and goods in and out of the city. One of Africa's most famous "beltways" or ring roads/orbitals is the Johannesburg Ring Road. The road is composed of three freeways that converge on the city, forming an loop around it: the N3 Eastern Bypass, which links Johannesburg with Durban; the N1 Western Bypass, which links Johannesburg with Pretoria and Cape Town; and the N12 Southern Bypass, which links Johannesburg with eMalahleni and Kimberley. The N3 was built exclusively with asphalt, while the N12 and N1 sections were made with concrete, hence the nickname given to the N1 Western Bypass, "The Concrete Highway". In spite of being up to 12 lanes wide in some areas, the Johannesburg Ring Road is frequently clogged with traffic. The Gillooly's Interchange, built on an old farm and the point at which the N3 Eastern Bypass and the R24 Airport Freeway intersect, is the busiest interchange in the Southern Hemisphere. It is claimed that the N1 is the busiest road in South Africa. Johannesburg has the most freeways connected to it. It has the N1, N3, N12, N14, N17, R21, R24 and the R59, all leading to Johannesburg. The M1 and M2 freeways were built to direct traffic towards the city centre. These two freeways are congested due to mass urbanisation. Bus and taxi transit. Johannesburg is served by a bus fleet operated by MetroBus, a corporate unit of the City of Johannesburg. It has a fleet consisting of approximately 550 single and double-decker buses, plying 84 different routes in the city. This total includes 200 modern buses (150 double-deckers and 50 single-deckers), made by Volvo, Scania AB and Marcopolo/Brasa in 2002. Metrobus' fleet carries approximately 20 million passengers per annum. In addition, there are a number of private bus operators, though most focus on the inter-city routes, or on bus charters for touring groups. The city's main bus terminus is situated in Gandhi Square, where passengers can also obtain information regarding the Metrobus service from the walk-in customer information desk. In 2010, in order to create an efficient public transport system the Rea Vaya bus rapid system was developed/built. The buses run on their own dedicated bus lanes on the main trunk and complementary routes. The buses also have large feeder routes that run on ordinary roads. The Rea Vaya works on a smartcard payment system, on entering the station or bus the passenger taps his/her smartcard onto the validator/scanner and taps out at the next station with the calculated amount. The routes cover both the southern and northern suburbs with the main trunk route running from Soweto to Sandton and Rosebank, and the feeder and complementary routes covering most of Johannesburg, with the notable exceptions of Midrand and Centurion. A subsequent expansion (phase 1-C;1-D) will cover these areas. In 2017, the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit was recorded to be making huge losses recovering only about 40 per cent of the operating costs and relying heavily on government subsidies. Johannesburg has two kinds of taxis, metered taxis and minibus taxis. Unlike many cities, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the city looking for passengers and instead must be called and ordered to a destination. The Gauteng Provincial Government has launched a new metered taxi programme in an attempt to increase the use of metered taxis in the city. The minibus "taxis" are the "de facto" standard and essential form of transport for the majority of the population. Since the 1980s, the minibus taxi industry has been severely affected by turf wars. Airports. Johannesburg is served principally by O. R. Tambo International Airport (formerly Johannesburg International Airport and before that Jan Smuts Airport) for both domestic and international flights. Lanseria Airport, located to the north-west of the city and closer to the business hub of Sandton, is used for commercial flights to Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Botswana, and Sun City. Other airports include Rand Airport and Grand Central Airport. Rand Airport, located in Germiston, is a small airfield used mostly for private aircraft and the home of South African Airways' first Boeing 747–200 ZS-SAN and also 747SP ZS-SPC and now serves as an aviation museum. Grand Central is located in Midrand and also caters to small, private aircraft. Rail. The Metrorail Gauteng commuter rail system connects central Johannesburg to Soweto, Pretoria, and most of the satellite towns along the Witwatersrand. The railways transport huge numbers of commuters every day. However, the Metrorail infrastructure was built in Johannesburg's infancy and covers only the older areas in the city's south. The northern areas, including the business districts of Sandton, Midrand, Randburg, and Rosebank, are served by the rapid rail link Gautrain. A part of the Gauteng Provincial Government's Blue IQ Project, Gautrain has made provision for a rapid rail link, running north to south, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and west to east between Sandton and the OR Tambo International Airport. Construction of the Gautrain Rapid Rail started in October 2006 and was completed in June 2012. It consists of a number of underground stations, as well as above-ground stations. Stations on the north–south line include Johannesburg's Park Station (underground), Rosebank (underground), Sandton (underground), Marlboro (above-ground and raised), Midrand, Pretoria Station and Hatfield. There is also a line from the O.R. Tambo International Airport (above-ground and raised) travelling to Sandton via Rhodesfield (raised) and Marlboro. A 200-kilometre expansion is underway and will consist of 3 new lines and 18 new stations, and is expected to cost R18 billion and one-lines (Soweto Mamalodi) could take 4 years to build, most of the new stations will be in Johannesburg. The east–west line from the airport to Sandton opened in June 2010 in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, while the north–south line opened on 2 August 2011, except for Park Station, which opened in 2012. The rail system was designed to alleviate traffic on the N1 freeway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, which records vehicle loads of up to 300,000 per week day. An extensive bus feeder system has also been implemented, which allows access to the main stations from the outer suburbs, but is limited to a five-kilometre radius, which neglects the rest of the suburbs. This is the first new major railway system that has been laid in South Africa since 1977. In 2010, a high-speed rail link was proposed between Johannesburg and Durban. In 2020 the government announced plans for high-speed rail from Johannesburg to Soweto. Freight. City Deep Terminal is the name of Africa's largest dry port and was officially opened by the South African Railways Services (SARS) in 1977. The container terminal is connected to the Port of Durban, Port of Ngqurha, Port of Cape Town, as well as Southern Africa by road and rail. At least forty percent of container export/imports run on the Natal Corridor (Natcor) which is directly linked by rail to City Deep. Telecommunication. Johannesburg has 4 major cellular telecommunications operators: Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, and Telkom Mobile. Vodacom's global headquarters is located in Midrand. It was formed in 1994, just after the South African elections of 1994. Media. Johannesburg has a number of regional radio stations such as 94.7 Highveld Stereo, Radiokansel / Radio Pulpit, Kaya FM, Radio 2000, YFM, Metro FM, 5FM, Jacaranda FM, SAfm, Phalaphala FM, Radio 702 and UJFM. Johannesburg is also the headquarters of state-owned broadcaster South African Broadcasting Corporation and pay-broadcast network Multichoice which distributes M-Net and DStv a digital satellite service, while eTV also has a presence in the city. The city has two television towers, the Hillbrow Tower and the Sentech Tower. International relations. Twin towns – sister cities. Johannesburg is twinned with: Partner cities. Johannesburg is cooperating with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58902

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the artists, producers, engineers, and other notable figures and personnel who have influenced its development. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established on April 20, 1983, by Ahmet Ertegun, founder and chairman of Atlantic Records. After a long search for the right city, Cleveland was chosen in 1986 as the Hall of Fame's permanent home. Architect I. M. Pei designed the new museum, and it was dedicated on September 1, 1995. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. The RRHOF Foundation was established in 1983 by Ahmet Ertegun, who assembled a team that included publisher of "Rolling Stone" magazine Jann S. Wenner, record executives Seymour Stein, Bob Krasnow, and Noreen Woods, and attorneys Allen Grubman and Suzan Evans. The Foundation began inducting artists in 1986, but the Hall of Fame still had no home. The search committee considered several cities, including Philadelphia (home of rock pioneer Bill Haley and "American Bandstand"), Memphis (home of Sun Studios and Stax Records), Detroit (home of Motown Records), Cincinnati (home of King Records), New York City, and Cleveland. Cleveland lobbied for the museum, with civic leaders in Cleveland pledging $65 million in public money to fund the construction, and citing that WJW disc jockey Alan Freed both coined the term "rock and roll" and heavily promoted the new genre—and that Cleveland was the location of Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball, often credited as the first major rock and roll concert. Freed was also a member of the hall of fame's inaugural class of inductees in 1986. In addition, Cleveland cited radio station WMMS, which played a key role in breaking several major acts in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s, including David Bowie, who began his first U.S. tour in the city, Bruce Springsteen, Roxy Music, and Rush among many others. Cleveland business leaders and media companies organized a petition demonstrating the city's support that was signed by 600,000 Northeast Ohio residents, and Cleveland ranked first in a 1986 "USA Today" poll asking where the Hall of Fame should be located. On May 5, 1986, the Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Cleveland may also have been chosen as the organization's site because the city offered the best financial package. As "The Plain Dealer" music critic Michael Norman noted, "It was $65 million... Cleveland wanted it here and put up the money." During early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and Museum, the Foundation's board considered a site along the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland. Ultimately, the chosen location was along East Ninth Street in downtown by Lake Erie, east of Cleveland Stadium. At one point in the planning phase, when a financing gap existed, planners proposed locating the Rock Hall in the then-vacant May Company Building but finally decided to commission architect I. M. Pei to design a new building. Initial CEO Larry R. Thompson facilitated I. M. Pei in designs for the site. Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it. Pei initially planned the tower to be high, but was forced to reduce it to due to the structure's proximity to Burke Lakefront Airport. The building's base is approximately . Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum building. The groundbreaking opening ceremony took place on June 7, 1993. Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Carl Gardner of the Coasters and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum all appeared at the groundbreaking. The museum was dedicated on September 1, 1995, with the ribbon being cut by an ensemble that included Yoko Ono and Little Richard, among others, before a crowd of more than 10,000 people. The following night an all-star concert was held at Cleveland Stadium. It featured Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, and many others. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the museum documents the entire history of rock and roll, regardless of induction status. Hall of Fame inductees are honored in a special exhibit located in a wing that juts out over Lake Erie. The exhibit space and inaugural exhibits were designed by Bruce Burdick's San Francisco design firm The Burdick Group. Since 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has selected new inductees. The formal induction ceremony has been held in New York City 27 times (1986–92, 1994–96, 1998–2008, 2010–11, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019); three times in Los Angeles (1993, 2013 and 2022); and six times in the hall of fame's home in Cleveland (1997, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021). As of 2018, the induction ceremonies alternate each year between New York and Cleveland. The 2009 and 2012 induction weeks were made possible by a public–private partnership between the City of Cleveland, the State of Ohio, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and local foundations, corporations, civic organizations and individuals. Collectively these entities invested $5.8 million in 2009 and $7.9 million in 2012 to produce a week of events including free concerts, a gospel celebration, exhibition openings, free admission to the museum, and induction ceremonies at Public Hall. Millions viewed the television broadcast of the Cleveland inductions; tens of thousands traveled to Ohio during induction week to participate in the events. The economic impact of the 2009 induction week activities was more than $13 million, and it provided an additional $20 million in media exposure for the region. The 2012 induction week yielded similar results. Layout. The building contains seven levels. On the lower level is the Ahmet M. Ertegun Exhibition Hall, the museum's main gallery. It includes exhibits on the roots of rock and roll (gospel, blues, rhythm & blues and folk, country and bluegrass). It also features exhibits on cities that have had a major impact on rock and roll: Memphis, Detroit, London, Liverpool, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. There are exhibits about soul music, the Fifties, Sun Records, hip hop music, Cleveland's rock and roll legacy, the music of the Midwest, rock and roll radio and dee-jays, and the many protests against rock and roll. This gallery also has exhibits that focus on individual artists, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and others. Finally, the Ahmet M. Ertegun Exhibition Hall includes a theatre that features films on various subjects such as American Bandstand. The first floor of the museum is the entrance level. It includes a café, a stage that the museum uses for various special performances and events throughout the year, and a section called "Backstage Stories". The second floor includes several interactive kiosks that feature programs on one-hit wonders and the Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. This level also includes a gallery with artifact-filled exhibits about Les Paul, Alan Freed, Sam Phillips and the evolution of audio technology. Visitors enter the Hall of Fame section of the museum on the third floor. This section includes "The Power of Rock Experience", which includes one of Jonathan Demme's final works, a film shown in the Connor Theater. The film includes musical highlights from some of the Hall's induction ceremonies. Visitors exit the Hall of Fame section on the fourth floor. That level features the Foster Theater, a state-of-the-art 3-D theater that is used for special events and programs. Finally, the top two levels of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame feature large, temporary exhibits. Over the years, numerous exhibits have been installed on these two levels, including exhibits about Elvis Presley, hip-hop, the Supremes, the Who, U2, John Lennon, the Clash, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, "Women Who Rock", and the Rolling Stones. Architecture. Designed by I. M. Pei and structurally engineered by Leslie E. Robertson Associates, the building rises above the shores of Lake Erie. It is a combination of geometric forms and cantilevered spaces that are anchored by a 162-foot tower. The tower supports a dual-triangular-shaped glass "tent" that extends (at its base) onto a 65,000-square-foot plaza that provides a main entry facade. The building houses more than 55,000 square feet of exhibition space, as well as administrative offices, a store, and a café. "In designing this building," Pei said, "it was my intention to echo the energy of rock and roll. I have consciously used an architectural vocabulary that is bold and new, and I hope the building will become a dramatic landmark for the city of Cleveland and for fans of rock and roll around the world." New York City Annex. In 2006 the RRHOF partnered with three entertainment production companies to create a branch museum in New York City. On November 18, 2008, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC opened in Manhattan's SoHo district. Located at 76 Mercer Street just west of Broadway, the Annex occupied an underground space of . The branch museum operated in much the same way as its Cleveland parent, featuring archetypal display pieces like Prince's coat from "Purple Rain", David Byrne's "big suit" from "Stop Making Sense", and Elvis Presley's motorcycle jacket and his Bible. But from its start the Annex also had a distinct New York area focus that made plenty of space for big items like the phone booth from CBGB, layered thick with band stickers over the decades; Bruce Springsteen's own 1957 Chevrolet; a special gallery reserved for the city's musicians; and an intricate scale model of Manhattan highlighting sites of rock history. Jann Wenner served as chairman of the board of the Annex. At its opening night gala, he inadvertently created a controversy after he told a reporter, "One of the small sad things is we didn't do it in New York in the first place." He later expressed regret for his remark which he said had been misconstrued and clarified that "I am absolutely delighted that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland." The Annex closed on January 3, 2010, its quick demise reportedly due to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and a subsequent downturn in the city's tourism. The museum's final major exhibition was about John Lennon and his years in New York City. Exhibits and features. Since 1997, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has featured numerous temporary exhibits that range in size from major exhibits that fill the top two floors of the museum to smaller exhibits that are often installed in the main exhibition hall on the lower level. The museum's first major exhibit opened on May 10, 1997. It was called "I Want to Take You Higher: The Psychedelic Era, 1965–1969". It included memorabilia from numerous artists including John Lennon, Eric Clapton, John Sebastian, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, as well as items related to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and 1969's Woodstock. That exhibit was followed by "Elvis is in the Building", which ran from August 8, 1998, to September 5, 1999. This year-long tribute was the first exhibit devoted to a single artist, Elvis Presley—the "King of Rock and Roll" and the first inductee into the RRHOF, in 1986. Graceland supplied a significant selection of representative artifacts for this special tribute spanning Elvis' life and legendary career. Next, the museum curated "Roots, Rhymes and Rage: The Hip-Hop Story". That was the first major museum exhibit to focus on hip-hop. It ran from November 11, 1999, to August 6, 2000. It was followed by "Rock Style", an exhibit that focused on rock and roll and fashion. It featured clothing from Buddy Holly to Alice Cooper, from Ray Charles to David Bowie and from Smokey Robinson to Sly Stone. After it closed in Cleveland, "Rock Style" traveled to other museums in the U.S. Other temporary exhibits have included "Lennon: His Life and Work", which ran from October 20, 2000, to January 1, 2003. It was followed by "In the Name of Love: Two Decades of U2" and then "Reflections: The Mary Wilson Supreme Legacy Collection". A major exhibition titled "Louder than Words: Rock, Power, Politics" was on display during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Other large temporary exhibits have focused on the Clash ("Revolution Rock: The Story of the Clash"), the Doors ("Break on Through: The Lasting Legacy of the Doors"), the Who's "Tommy" ("Tommy: The Amazing Journey"), and Bruce Springsteen ("From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen"). Another thematic temporary exhibit focused on the role of women in rock and roll ("Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power"). Many of these exhibits travel to other museums after closing in Cleveland. A major temporary exhibit in 2017 told the story and impact of "Rolling Stone" magazine. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also curates many smaller temporary exhibits. Over the years, these exhibits have focused on such topics as the Vans Warped Tour, the Concert for Bangladesh, Woodstock's 40th and 50th anniversaries, Austin City Limits, the Monterey International Pop Festival, Roy Orbison, Motown's 50th anniversary, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Marty Stuart, Paul Simon, Graham Nash, John Mellencamp, and Geddy Lee's basses. The museum also devotes exhibits to photography and artwork related to rock and roll. Among the photographers whose work has been featured at the Hall of Fame are George Kalinsky, Alfred Wertheimer, Tommy Edwards, Kevin Mazur, Janet Macoska, Lynn Goldsmith, Linda McCartney, Mike McCartney, Robert Alford, and George Shuba. The museum also featured the artwork of Philip Burke in one of its temporary exhibits, and a later exhibit featured Herb Ritts. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum produces numerous public programs, including concerts, interviews, lectures, film screenings, and other events that help tell the story of rock and roll. Every February, the museum celebrates Black History Month by hosting concerts, film screenings and lectures that illustrate the important role African-Americans have played in the history of rock and roll. Since the program began in 1996, such artists as Robert Lockwood, Jr., the Temptations, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, the Ohio Players, Lloyd Price, Little Anthony and the Imperials, and Al Green have appeared at the museum during Black History Month. Another program is the Hall of Fame Series. This series began in April 1996 and features interviews with Hall of Fame inductees in rare and intimate settings, most often in the Museum's Foster Theater. The interviews are usually followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience and, often, a performance by the inductee. Among the inductees who have taken part in this series are Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-D.M.C., Lloyd Price, Martha Reeves, Marky Ramone, Seymour Stein, Ray Manzarek of the Doors, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Ronnie Spector, Bootsy Collins, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Dennis Edwards of the Temptations, and Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane. A similar program is the Legends Series. The only real difference between this program and the Hall of Fame Series is that it features artists who have not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Peter Hook of Joy Division, Spinderella of Salt n Pepa, Tommy James, and the Chi-Lites are among the artists who have participated in the Legends Series. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's most acclaimed program is the annual American Music Masters series. Each year the museum celebrates one of the Hall's inductees with a week-long series of programs that include interviews, film screenings, and, often, a special exhibit. The celebration ends with an all-star concert held at a Cleveland theater. The concerts include a diverse mix of artists, from Hall of Fame inductees to contemporary musicians. The American Music Masters series began in 1996 with "Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Pete Seeger". Since then, the programs have honored the following inductees: Jimmie Rodgers (1997), Robert Johnson (1998), Louis Jordan (1999), Muddy Waters (2000), Bessie Smith (2001), Hank Williams (2002), Buddy Holly (2003), Lead Belly (2004), Sam Cooke (2005), Roy Orbison (2006), Jerry Lee Lewis (2007), Les Paul (2008), Janis Joplin (2009), Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew (2010), Aretha Franklin (2011), Chuck Berry (2012), The Everly Brothers (2014) and Johnny Cash (2017). In 2019 the concert series' format was retooled and the event was renamed the Rock Hall Honors, in which the honored performer is joined in concert by guests of their choice. The first Rock Hall Honors concert, featuring Mavis Staples, was performed in Cleveland in September 2019. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Cultural Institution in the category Web. The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Hall of Fame museum curator James Henke, along with "the museum's curatorial staff and numerous rock critics and music experts", created an unordered list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". The list is part of a permanent exhibit at the museum, and was envisioned as part of the museum from its opening in 1995. It contains songs recorded from the 1920s through the 1990s. The oldest song on the list is "Wabash Cannonball", written and credited to J. A. Roff. Since then, however, an additional 160 songs have been added, and the list is now simply referred to as "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". The most recent songs on the list are Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade", both released in 2006. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are the most represented on the 660-song list, with eight songs each. 25th anniversary concert. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert series over two days on October 29 and 30, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The celebration included performances by Jerry Lee Lewis, U2, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Dion DiMucci, Metallica, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Fergie, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, Ray Davies, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. The first night ran almost six hours with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band closing the concert with special guests John Fogerty, Darlene Love, Tom Morello, Sam Moore, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf, and Billy Joel. Inductees. Artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at an annual induction ceremony. Over the years, the majority of the ceremonies have been held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. However, on January 12, 1993, the ceremony was held in Los Angeles and was held there again in 2013. On May 6, 1997, about a year and a half after the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the ceremony was held in Cleveland. It returned to Cleveland in 2009 and again in 2012. Current plans call for the ceremony to be in Cleveland every three years. Generally, the number of inductees each year ranges from about a half-dozen to a dozen. Virtually all living inductees have attended the ceremonies, and they are presented with their Hall of Fame award by an artist who was influenced by that inductee's music. Both the presenter and the inductee speak at the ceremonies, which also include numerous musical performances, by both the inductees and the presenters. , there were 338 inductees. The first group of inductees, inducted on January 23, 1986, included Elvis Presley, James Brown, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers, and Jimmy Yancey were inducted as Early Influences, John Hammond received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Alan Freed and Sam Phillips were inducted as Non-Performers. Performers. A nominating committee composed of rock and roll historians selects names for the "Performers" category (singers, vocal groups, bands, and instrumentalists of all kinds), which are then voted on by roughly 500 experts across the world. Those selected to vote include academics, journalists, producers, and others with music industry experience. Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll. Block approval voting is used, with those nominees who receive the most votes being inducted, subject to a minimum of 50% approval. Around five to seven performers are inducted each year. In 2012, six additional groups, the Miracles, the Famous Flames, the Comets, the Blue Caps, the Midnighters, and the Crickets, were inducted as performers by a special committee due to the controversial exclusions when their lead singer was inducted. "There was a lot of discussion about this," said Terry Stewart, a member of the nominating committee. "There had always been conversations about why the groups weren't included when the lead singers were inducted. Very honestly, nobody could really answer that question – it was so long ago ... We decided we'd sit down as an organization and look at that. This is the result." Early Influences. Early Influences includes artists from earlier eras, primarily country, folk, jazz, and blues, whose music inspired and influenced rock and roll artists. Other notable artists that have been inducted as Early Influences include Bill Kenny & The Ink Spots, country musicians Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, blues musician Howlin' Wolf, and jazz musicians Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. After Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday in 2000, no one was inducted in this category until 2009, when rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson was selected. Unlike earlier inductees in this category, Jackson's career almost entirely took place after the traditional 1955 start of the "rock era". Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement. Formerly the "Non-Performers" award, this category encompasses those who primarily work behind the scenes in the music industry, including record label executives, songwriters, record producers, disc jockeys, concert promoters and music journalists. This category has had at least one inductee every year except 2007 and 2009. Following the death of the Hall of Fame's co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, this award was renamed in his honor in 2008. Award for Musical Excellence. Formerly the "Sidemen" award, this category was introduced in 2000 and honors veteran session and concert players who are selected by a committee composed primarily of producers. The category was dormant from 2004 through 2007 and re-activated in 2008. This honor was renamed the "Award for Musical Excellence" in 2010. According to Joel Peresman, the president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, "This award gives us flexibility to dive into some things and recognize some people who might not ordinarily get recognized." Library and archives. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Library and Archives is the world's most comprehensive repository of materials related to the history of rock and roll. The Library and Archives is located in a new building on the Metro Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland's Campus District. The Library and Archives' mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to these materials. The Library and Archives operates on two levels: people may come into the library and read books and magazines, listen to music and other recordings, and watch videos and films. More serious scholars, historians and journalists may also make an appointment for access to the archival collections under the supervision of the staff archivists. The library is composed of books, academic dissertations, and other references. It also includes popular magazines, scholarly journals and trade publications; commercial audio and video recordings, and research databases. The archival collections include music-business records from record executives, artist managers, labels, historic venues, recording studios, specialists in stage design and lighting, and long-running concert tours. The collections also contain important individual items, such as personal letters penned by Aretha Franklin and Madonna, handwritten working lyrics by Jimi Hendrix and LL Cool J, papers from music journalists such as Sue Cassidy Clark, and rare concert recordings from CBGB in the 1970s. Criticism and controversy. The most frequent criticism of the Hall of Fame is that the nomination process is controlled by a few individuals who are not themselves musicians, such as founders Jann Wenner and Suzan Evans, and writer Dave Marsh, reflecting their personal tastes rather than public opinion as a whole. A former member of the nominations board once commented that "At one point Suzan Evans lamented the choices being made because there weren't enough big names that would sell tickets to the dinner. That was quickly remedied by dropping one of the doo-wop groups being considered in favor of a 'name' artist ... I saw how certain pioneering artists of the '50s and early '60s were shunned because there needed to be more name power on the list, resulting in '70s superstars getting in before the people who made it possible for them. Some of those pioneers still aren't in today." Sister Rosetta Tharpe is often considered "The Godmother/Grandmother of Rock & Roll", but was not chosen for induction until 2017. Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker has dismissed the Hall of Fame as the "Hall of Lame" despite the band being inducted a couple of years prior to the remark. There was also criticism of the opacity in the selection process. Janet Morrissey of "The New York Times" wrote: With fame and money at stake, it's no surprise that a lot of backstage lobbying goes on. Why any particular act is chosen in any particular year is a mystery to performers as well as outsiders, and committee members want to keep it that way[.] The chairman of the nominating committee, Jon Landau, confirmed: "We've done a good job of keeping the proceedings nontransparent. It all dies in the room." According to Fox News, petitions with tens of thousands of signatures have also been ignored, and some groups that were signed with certain labels or companies or were affiliated with various committee members have even been put up for nomination with no discussion at all. The committee has also been accused of largely ignoring certain genres. According to author Brett Milano in 2007, "entire genres get passed over, particularly progressive rock, '60s Top 40, New Orleans funk and a whole lot of black music." Critics have pointed out a bias in favour of American and British acts, while important Canadian rock bands, such as the Guess Who, are often ignored, with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Rush, and the Band being the only Canadian acts in the Hall. Another criticism is that too many artists are inducted. In one fifteen-year span, 97 artists were inducted. A minimum of 50% of the vote is needed to be inducted, although the final percentages are not announced and a certain number of inductees (five in 2011) is set before the ballots are shipped. The committee usually nominates a small number of artists (12 in 2010) from an increasing number of different genres. Several voters, including Joel Selvin, himself a former member of the nominating committee, did not submit their ballots in 2007 because they did not feel that any of the candidates were truly worthy. Members of the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols, inducted in 2006, refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum "a piss stain" and "urine in wine." In 2018, when British rock band Dire Straits were inducted, bandleader Mark Knopfler did not attend the ceremony and offered no official explanation, leaving bass player John Illsley to say, "He just didn't feel like coming, it's as simple as that. It just didn't appeal to him, and I appealed to him on several occasions." In BBC Radio 6 Music's Annual John Peel Lecture in 2013, singer Charlotte Church accused the museum of gender bias, stating, "Out of 295 acts and artists in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, 259 are entirely male, meaning that Tina Weymouth's part in Talking Heads makes them one of the 36 female acts." In fact, the actual percentage of female inductees is 8.5%. Combining all the categories, there have been 719 inductees, of whom 61 have been women. Following Donna Summer's death in 2012, Elton John had criticized the Hall of Fame for failing to induct her during her lifetime, saying "That she has never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a total disgrace, especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted." Steve Miller, a 2016 inductee, directed a litany of complaints at the hall, both during his induction speech and especially in interviews after it. His criticisms included his opinions that there is a general lack of female inductees, that there is not enough support by the hall for music education, and that inductees are treated poorly at the award ceremony. At the same ceremony, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen commented on the hall's ticket policy for inductees and their families as unnecessarily expensive, a sentiment echoed by Miller. In 2018, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden criticized the Hall of Fame by calling it "an utter and complete load of bollocks ... run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn't know rock 'n' roll if it hit them in the face." Dickinson has also expressed an overall distaste for the Hall of Fame entity, arguing that "if you put [music] in a museum, then it's dead." Iron Maiden had been eligible for induction since 2004. Hard rock and heavy metal website Blabbermouth.net observed how it had taken Kiss 15 years to be inducted and Deep Purple 23 years. Regarding his band's non-induction into the Hall, Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill stated in a 2019 interview, "I don't think they like heavy metal music in general." Several people criticized the 2020 inductions because Dave Matthews Band was not part of the class despite them topping the fan vote. Dave Clark Five. On March 14, 2007, two days after that year's induction ceremony, Roger Friedman of Fox News published an article claiming that the Dave Clark Five should have been the fifth inductee, as they had more votes than inductee Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The article went on to say that Jann Wenner availed himself of a technicality on the day votes were due in. In reality, The Dave Clark Five got six more votes than Grandmaster Flash. But he felt "we couldn't go another year without a rap act." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation responded "There is a format and rules and procedure. There is a specific time when the votes have to be in, and then they are counted. The bands with the top five votes got in." The Dave Clark Five was subsequently nominated again and then inducted the following year. The Monkees. In a Facebook post, the Monkees member Michael Nesmith stated that he did not know if the Monkees belonged in the Hall of Fame because he could see the impact of the Monkees only from the inside, and went on to say: "I can see the HOF (Hall of Fame) is a private enterprise. It seems to operate as a business, and the inductees are there by some action of the owners of the Enterprise. The inductees appear to be chosen at the owner's pleasure. This seems proper to me. It is their business in any case. It does not seem to me that the HOF carries a public mandate, nor should it be compelled to conform to one." Some magazines and news outlets, such as "Time", NPR radio, "The Christian Science Monitor", "Goldmine" magazine, Yahoo Music and MSNBC have argued that the Monkees belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dolly Parton. Country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton was announced as a nominee for the 2022 Hall of Fame ballot in February 2022. Parton requested to be removed from the ballot in March 2022, after the ballots had been sent to voters. In a statement, Parton wrote "Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don't feel that I have earned that right. I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out." The Rock Hall replied days later she would remain on the ballot, in part because the ballots for the 2022 class had already been sent to voters. Although Parton had asked to be removed from the ballot because she did not think of herself as a rock artist, the Hall responded that "From its inception, rock and roll has had deep roots in rhythm & blues and country music. It is not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture. Dolly Parton's music impacted a generation of young fans and influenced countless artists that followed. Her nomination to be considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame followed the same process as all other artists who have been considered." In April 2022, Parton told "Morning Edition" that she would accept her induction if she were selected. Parton was announced as a 2022 inductee on May 4.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58998

Colemanballs

Colemanballs is a term coined by "Private Eye" magazine to describe verbal gaffes perpetrated by sports commentators. "Coleman" refers to the surname of the former BBC broadcaster David Coleman and the suffix "-balls", as in "to balls up", and has since spawned derivative terms in unrelated fields such as "Warballs" (spurious references to the September 11, 2001, attacks), "Dianaballs" (sentimental references to Diana, Princess of Wales), "Murrayisms", (broadcasting gaffes by Murray Walker), and "Borisballs" (Boris Johnson). The all-encompassing term "mediaballs" has since been used by "Private Eye" as its coverage of gaffes has expanded. Background. The term "balls" was first associated with Coleman in 1957 when he was at BBC Midlands, Sutton Coldfield, presenting a Saturday night 15-minute roundup of the day's football in the Midlands. A technical hitch occurred and there was a black-out, but Coleman could be heard calling out to the technician in the studio, "Trust you to make a balls of that." Coleman's association with these verbal slips is so strong that he is often given erroneous credit for the earliest example specifically referenced as a Colemanballs; in fact the broadcaster responsible was a fellow BBC commentator, Ron Pickering. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Pickering commentated on a race involving the Cuban double-gold medallist Alberto Juantorena, whose muscular build and nine-foot stride contributed to his nickname "El Caballo" (the horse). Pickering said "and there goes Juantorena down the back straight, opening his legs and showing his class". Until his retirement, motor racing commentator Murray Walker frequently featured in the column. His excitable delivery led to so many mistakes that they began to be labelled "Murrayisms". Examples include "We've had cars going off left, right and centre", "do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough?", "with half of the race gone, there is half of the race still to go", "There is nothing wrong with the car, apart from that it is on fire", "That car is totally unique, apart from the car behind it, which is identical", and "The gap between them is now nine-tenths of a second; that's less than a second!". "Private Eye"s "Colemanballs" column has now expanded to include occasional quotes from sportsmen themselves (e.g. Frank Bruno's "That's cricket, Harry, you get these sort of things in boxing"), politicians (John Major's "When your back's against the wall it's time to turn round and fight"), and malapropisms from other public figures. In the United States, Jerry Coleman, a former baseball player not related to David Coleman, became known for similar statements as an announcer, such as, "Rich Folkers is throwing up in the bullpen", and "Winfield goes back to the wall, he hits his head on the wall! And it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base. This is a terrible thing for the Padres." In spite of these statements, which earned him the nickname "The Master of the Malaprop", he was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford Frick Award, their lifetime achievement award for announcers. Books. "Private Eye" has issued compilations of "Colemanballs" in book form

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59003

Ludlow

Ludlow () is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the confluence of the rivers Corve and Teme. The oldest part is the medieval walled town, founded in the late 11th century after the Norman conquest of England. It is centred on a small hill which lies on the eastern bank of a bend of the River Teme. Situated on this hill are Ludlow Castle and the parish church, St Laurence's, the largest in the county. From there the streets slope downward to the rivers Corve and Teme, to the north and south respectively. The town is in a sheltered spot beneath Mortimer Forest and the Clee Hills, which are clearly visible from the town. Ludlow has nearly 500 listed buildings, including examples of medieval and Tudor-style half-timbered buildings. The town was described by Sir John Betjeman as "probably the loveliest town in England". Toponymy. The thirteenth century romance "Fouke le Fitz Waryn" records that Ludlow had been called Dinam "for a very long time". It is also known that Ludlow Castle was originally named Dinham Castle when it was constructed in the eleventh century, even today the area immediately south of the castle retains the original name. Samuel Lewis states that while "Leadlowe" and "Ludlowe" were the Saxon names for the town, the British name was "Dinam", which he translates as "The Palace of Princes". The Modern Welsh name for the town is Llwydlo. "Lodelowe" was in use for this site before 1138 and comes from the Old English "hlud-hlǣw". At the time this section of the River Teme contained rapids, and so the "hlud" of Ludlow came from "the loud waters", while "hlǣw" meant "hill" or tumulus. Thus the name Ludlow describes a "place on a hill by the loud waters". Some time around the 12th century, weirs were added along the river, taming these rapid flows. The hill is that which the town stands on, and a pre-historic burial mound (or barrow) which existed at the eastern summit of the hill (dug up during the expansion of St Laurence's church in 1199) could explain the tumulus variation of the "hlǣw" element. Ludford, a neighbouring and older settlement, situated on the southern bank of the Teme, shares the "hlud" ("loud waters") element. History. The town is situated close to Wales, and lies near the midpoint of the England–Wales border; it is also very close to the county border between Shropshire and Herefordshire (neighbouring Ludford remained part of Herefordshire until 1895). This strategic location invested it with national importance in medieval times, and thereafter with the town being the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches during its existence (1472 to 1689). Medieval history. At the time of the Domesday Book survey, the area was part of the large Stanton parish and manor, a possession of Walter de Lacy. Neither Ludlow nor Dinham are mentioned in the Book, compiled in 1086, although the Book recorded manors and not settlements "per se". The Book does record a great number of households and taxable value for Stanton, perhaps suggesting that any early settlement by the nascent castle was being counted. Neighbouring places Ludford, the Sheet and Steventon do feature in the Book, as they were manors, proving that they were well-established places by the Norman conquest. The manor of Stanton came within the hundred of Culvestan, but during the reign of Henry I this Saxon hundred was merged into the new Munslow hundred. Walter's son Roger de Lacy began the construction of Ludlow Castle on the western promontory of the hill about 1075, forming what is now the inner bailey. Between about 1090 and 1120, the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene was built inside the walls, and by 1130 the Great Tower was added to form the gatehouse. About 1170 the larger outer bailey was added to the castle. (The town walls however were not built until the mid-13th century.) The settlement of Dinham grew up alongside the development of the early castle in the late 11th century, with the northern part of this early settlement disturbed by the building of the outer bailey. Dinham had its own place of worship, the Chapel of St Thomas the Martyr, dedicated to Thomas Becket sometime in 1177–1189 when the present chapel replaced an older (late 11th-century) church building. During the 12th century, the planned town of Ludlow was formed, in stages, the town providing a useful source of income for successive Marcher Lords, based on rents, fines, and tolls. They developed the town on a regular grid pattern, although this was adapted somewhat to match the local topography, from the late 11th century through the 12th century. The first laid street was along the ridge of the hilltop, what is now Castle Square, High Street and King Street. This formed a wide market place (later in-filled by buildings in places) running from the castle gates east across to St Laurence's and the Bull Ring, itself located on the ancient north–south road, now called Corve Street to the north and Old Street to the south. The wide Mill and Broad Streets were added later, as part of a southern grid plan of streets and burgage plots filling the area bounded by Dinham, the new High Street market, Old Street and the Teme to the south. Originally, Old Street ran down to a ford which took the ancient route south across to Ludford. A bridge was constructed (possibly by Josce de Dinan) at the foot of Broad Street, upstream of the ford, which then replaced the ford; its 15th-century replacement is the present-day Ludford Bridge. St Laurence's church, whose origins are late 11th century, was rebuilt and enlarged (with a bell tower) in 1199-1200 and became a parish church, with the separation of Ludlow from the parish of Stanton Lacy by 1200. The town notably had two schools (a choir and a grammar) in existence ; Ludlow Grammar School remained in existence until 1977, when it became Ludlow College. Ludlow Castle was an important border fortification along the Welsh Marches, and one of the largest in the Norman/English ring of castles surrounding Wales. It played a significant role in local, regional and national conflicts such as the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion, the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War. The castle and its adjoining town grew in political importance and in the 15th century the castle became the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches. It was a temporary home to several holders of the title Prince of Wales, including King Edward V and Arthur Tudor, who died there in 1502. The site features heavily in the folk-story of Fulk FitzWarin, outlawed Lord of Whittington, Shropshire and a possible inspiration for the "Robin Hood" legend. Fulk is brought up in the castle of Josce de Dinan, and fights for his master against Sir Gilbert de Lacy – these battles are the source of the story of Marion de la Bruyere, the betrayed lover whose ghost is still said to be heard screaming as she plummets from the castle's turrets. The first recorded royal permission to maintain defensive town walls was given to the "men of Ludlow" in the Patent Rolls of 1233. The entry is however incomplete and atypical and was not renewed in the usual way. A murage grant was next made in 1260 and renewed regularly over the next two centuries. This time the grant was made by name to Geoffrey de Genevile, Lord of Ludlow. From this and other surviving documents it seems that the town walls and gates were in place by 1270. They were constructed about the central part of the community with four main gates and three postern gates. Because the walls were constructed after the development of the town's streets, the positions and names of the four main gates are based on the streets they crossed; the postern gates on the other hand are located by and named after old outlying districts. The 7 gates are (clockwise from the castle; postern gates in "italics") "Linney", Corve, "Galdeford", Old, Broad, Mill and "Dinham". An eighth unnamed 'portal' gate (smaller than a postern gate) existed in the wall just to the northwest of the castle, now in the gardens of Castle Walk House. The town walls are largely still in existence, although a section alongside the churchyard of St Lawrence's is, as of 2015, in need of repairs. The castle complex continued to expand (a Great Hall, kitchen and living quarters were added) and it gained a reputation as a fortified palace. In 1306 it passed through marriage to the ambitious Earl of March, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Queen Isabella and her son, the young Edward III, were entertained at the castle in 1329. Marcher town. The town prospered, with a population of about 1,725 by 1377, and sustained a population of about 2,000 for several centuries thereafter. It was a market town; market day was held on every Thursday throughout the 15th century. In particular, it served as a centre for the sale of wool and cloth. It was home to various trades, and in 1372 boasted 12 trade guilds including metalworkers, shoemakers, butchers, drapers, mercers, tailors, cooks, bakers and probably the most notable in the town, the Palmer's Guild. In the mid sixteenth century the London merchant Sir Rowland Hill gave the money for a new bridge over the Teme, and the annual St. Catherine’s fair. There were merchants of moderate wealth in the town and especially wool merchants, such as Laurence of Ludlow, who lived at nearby Stokesay Castle. The collection and sale of wool and the manufacture of cloth continued to be the primary source of wealth until the 17th century. This prosperity is expressed in stone masonry, wood carvings and stained-glass at St. Laurence's parish church; effectively a wool church, it is the largest in Shropshire and a member of the Greater Churches Group. Despite the presence of some Decorated work it is largely Perpendicular in style. Its size and grandeur has given it the nickname "the cathedral of the Marches", and from 1981 to 2020 there was a suffragan Bishop of Ludlow. During the Wars of the Roses, the castle—which he held through his Mortmer inheritance—was one of Richard, Duke of York's main strongholds. The Lancastrian forces captured Ludlow in 1459, at the Rout of Ludford Bridge, but the Yorkists won control of England in 1461. The castle became property of the Crown, passing to Richard's son, Edward IV. The town rose in prominence under Edward's reign and was incorporated as a borough, and began sending representatives to Parliament. Edward set up the Council of Wales and the Marches in 1472, headquartering it at Ludlow, and sent his son Edward, Prince of Wales, to live there, as nominal (being only a young boy) head of the council. It was at Ludlow that the young prince heard the news of his father's death in 1483 and was himself proclaimed King Edward V of England. Under Henry VII the castle continued as the headquarters of the Council of Wales and served as the administration centre for Wales and the counties along the border, known as the Welsh Marches. During this period, when the town served as the effective capital of Wales, it was home to many messengers of the king, various clerks and lawyers for settling legal disputes. The town also provided a winter home for local gentry, during which time they attended the council court sessions. Henry VII sent his heir Prince Arthur to Ludlow, where he was joined briefly by his wife Catherine of Aragon later to become wife to Henry VIII. Ludlow Castle was therefore the site of perhaps the most controversial wedding night in English history, when Catherine's claim that the marriage was never consummated became central to the dispute concerning Henry VIII and Catherine's annulment in 1531. Eventually, the council resumed and except for brief interludes, Ludlow continued to host the council until 1689, when it was abolished by William III and Mary II as part of the Glorious Revolution. The castle then fell into decay. The structure was poorly maintained and the stone was pillaged. In 1772 demolition was mooted, but it was instead decided to lease the buildings. Later still it was purchased by the Earl of Powis, and together, he and his wife directed the transformation of the castle grounds. The Royal Welch Fusiliers were formed by Henry Herbert, 4th Baron Herbert of Chirbury at Ludlow in March 1689 to oppose James II and to take part in the imminent war with France. The regiment continued to have ties with the town of Ludlow, and its successor battalion in The Royal Welsh regiment was granted the freedom of the town in 2014. 18th and 19th centuries. The town contained several coaching inns, public houses and ale houses, leading to court records of some alcohol-induced violence and a certain reputation for excess. Several coaching inns were constructed to accommodate travellers by stagecoach and mail coach. The Angel on Broad Street was one such notable coaching inn, where several passenger and mail coaches departed and arrived on a regular basis every week, including the "Aurora" coach which departed for London (taking 27 hours in 1822). The Angel was the last coaching inn in Ludlow to have such coach traffic, following the arrival of the railways in 1852. The Angel ceased trading in the early 1990s, though was revived in 2018 as a wine bar occupying a front part of the original establishment. A surviving medieval coaching inn today is the 15th century Bull Hotel on the Bull Ring. Several other pubs and hotels in the town have historic pedigree, including the Rose and Crown where allegedly a pub has existed since 1102. Glove manufacture was a major industry of the town, peaking in production in 1814. In 1802, Horatio Nelson was awarded the freedom of the borough and stayed at The Angel coaching inn on Broad Street, together with his mistress Emma and her husband Sir William Hamilton. The honour was presented to him in a room at the inn, later to be known as the Nelson Room, and he addressed the crowds from one of the bay windows on the first floor. During the Napoleonic Wars, Lucien Bonaparte, younger brother of the French Emperor, and his family were imprisoned at Dinham House in 1811. In 1832 Thomas Lloyd, the Ludlow doctor and amateur geologist, met Roderick Murchison at Ludford Corner to study the rocks exposed along the River Teme and on Whitcliffe, advancing Murchison's theory for a Silurian System that he was to publish in 1839. Immediately above the topmost layer of the marine rock sequence forming Murchison's Silurian System was a thin layer of dark sand containing numerous remains of early fish, especially their scales, along with plant debris, spores and microscopic mites. In contrast to the underlying sediments of the Ludlow Series which were deposited in a shallow warm sea some 400 million years ago, the Ludlow Bone Bed represents terrestrial (land) conditions and thus a fundamental change in the landscape. At the time, this was believed to be the earliest occurrence of life on land. Murchison thus took the Ludlow Bone Bed as the base of his Devonian System, although over a century later this boundary was to be moved a little higher, the overlying rocks being ascribed to the Pridoli. The science of geology has taken a number of local names from these studies and now applies them worldwide, in recognition of the importance of this area to scientific understanding, for example, Ludlow Series. The site is now an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and still attracts international studies. The geological interval of time, the Ludlow Epoch, is named after the town as part of the Silurian Period. Recent history. By the late 20th century, the town had seen a growth in tourism, leading to the appearance of many antique dealers, as well as art dealers and independent bookshops (the latter now mostly gone). Bodenhams, a clothing retailer, has been trading from a 600-year-old timbered building since 1860 and is one of the oldest stores in Britain. Ludlow was described by "Country Life" as "the most vibrant small town in England." A long battle of words between local activists (including many of the town's independent businesses) and Tesco was eventually solved when the mega retailer obtained planning permission to build a supermarket on Corve Street, on the northern edge of the town centre, but only after agreeing to conform to the architectural demands of the local council. The building is designed to follow the outline of the hills in the background, with a curving roof. An Aldi supermarket was subsequently constructed on a site over the road from Tesco. A development of 91 houses by South Shropshire Housing Association at Rocks Green won a Sustainable Housing award in 2009, and a Sainsbury's supermarket at Rocks Green was opened in 2021. In 1983 a small computer magazine started publication in Ludlow by Roger Kean, Oliver Frey and Franco Frey by Newsfield Publications Ltd called Crash. The magazine catered for the various owners of the ZX Spectrum, and its sister magazine "Zzap!64" catered for Commodore's rival machine the C64. The magazine was extremely popular and became Britain's biggest-selling computer magazine in 1986 selling over 100,000 copies monthly. In 1991 Newsfield suffered financial difficulty and the magazines were sold and relaunched by Europress. In 2004 funding was granted by Advantage West Midlands to build a new 'Eco-Park' on the outskirts of the town on the east side of the A49 bypass, at the Sheet Road roundabout, with space for traditional handcraft businesses, new environmentally friendly office buildings and a park & ride facility. More construction work began in 2006 on the west side of the roundabout on a much-debated pasture land on the town's fringe known as the Foldgate. The land has now been turned over to commercial use with a filling station, Travelodge hotel and chain pub/restaurant, opened in late 2008. Geography. The medieval settlement is largely on the top of a hill, with the castle, market place and parish church (St Laurence's) situated along the flat land on this hilltop, which has a maximum elevation of at the castle, falling only gradually towards the east, with an elevation of at the Buttercross. The streets then run down to the Rivers Teme and Corve (their confluence being to the northwest of the centre of Ludlow) to the north and south. The surface of the Teme has an approximate elevation of as it passes Ludford Bridge. In the western part of the historic core, Dinham retains the character of a village, though dominated by the castle, with a road leading steeply down from Castle Square to the Teme and then over Dinham Bridge (an early 19th century replacement of an older bridge very slightly downstream). The old chapel in Dinham, a Grade II* listed building, though no longer used for worship, features the oldest built structure in Ludlow outside the castle. To the east a rolling landscape exists, and it is in this direction that the town has steadily grown. East Hamlet was the name of the settlement to the east of the town. The growth of the town in this eastwards (and to the north-east) direction continues to the present day, with little or no development especially to the south or west, to an extent that the traditional town centre (the medieval town) is actually in the southwest corner of the entire settlement. It has also meant that the village of Ludford, immediately on the other side of the Teme at Ludford Bridge (itself at the foot of Lower Broad Street), remains a distinct community. Localities in the town's suburbs include Gallows Bank and Sandpits. Immediately beyond the A49 by-pass are Rocks Green and the Sheet, and it is in these two places that much of the present development and growth of the town is taking place, including a Sainsbury's supermarket at Rocks Green. They are both approximately from the town centre. Accolades. The town has regularly been held in high esteem by academics and commentators in the areas of urbanism and architecture. Ludlow was winner of "The Great Town Award" (UK & Ireland) from The Academy of Urbanism in 2007. The first episode of the BBC television series "Town", in which geographer Nicholas Crane examines the great towns of the United Kingdom, focused solely on Ludlow for the hour-long documentary. Ludlow also was one of the "Six English Towns", a 1977 television programme by architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor. The historic centre of Ludlow has largely escaped development that would otherwise alter its medieval, Tudor and Georgian character. Furthermore, the lack of development to the south and west allows for the town's historic setting (and particularly that of the castle) by the Teme and the neighbouring countryside to be readily appreciated in the modern day. M.R.G. Conzen remarked of Ludlow "Its composite medieval town plan and a history of eight and a half centuries with several periods of considerable importance have endowed its Old Town with an historically well-stratified and richly textured landscape." Michael Raven, who created a detailed gazetteer of all the settlements of Herefordshire and Shropshire in the late 20th century, stated that "There can be little doubt that Ludlow is the finest town in Shropshire." The medieval street plan remains, though the town walls and gates have disappeared in many places. Mill Street and Broad Street, leading down from the very centre to the Teme in the south, are particularly famous for their rich architectural heritage and vistas, with many fine Georgian buildings. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described Broad Street as "one of the most memorable streets in England". Population. The 2011 UK census recorded 10,266 people living in Ludlow's civil parish. A further 673 live in the neighbouring Ludford parish, meaning the population for the town and adjoining settlements is approximately 11,000. Historical. In 1377, poll tax was levied against 1,172 of the parish's residents. By this measure, Ludlow was the 35th most populous town in England. Transport. Roads. On 4 February 1980, the £4.7 million single-carriageway by-pass road was officially opened by Kenneth Clarke. The by-pass had been built to the east of Ludlow in the late 1970s, opening to traffic in the summer of 1979, and diverts the A49 trunk road around the town. The former route of the A49 through the town was re-classified as the B4361. The town centre retains its medieval streets and has had long-running problems with motor traffic and car parking, which is now restricted seven days a week. There is a town centre residents' parking permit scheme in operation. Council-owned car parks exist in a number of locations in Ludlow to cater for much of the long-stay car parking. The Eco-Park situated on the eastern outskirts of the town, at the Sheet and adjacent to the A49, includes a new Park & Ride facility, with a frequent bus service to and from the town centre. The A4117 begins at the Rocks Green roundabout on the Ludlow by-pass and runs across the Clee Hills to Cleobury Mortimer; it then continues via the A456 onwards to Bewdley and Kidderminster. Two historic bridges cross the River Teme at Ludlow: Ludford Bridge (a Scheduled Ancient Monument) and Dinham Bridge (early 19th century, Grade II listed); both of which still take vehicular traffic as no modern bridges have been built over the Teme in the area. To the north of the town centre, the historic Corve Bridge crosses the River Corve and this bridge was relieved by Burway Bridge in the mid-20th century. However, on 26 June 2007, dramatic flooding on the Corve caused the Burway Bridge to collapse, severing a gas main and causing 20 homes in nearby Corve Street to be evacuated. The old stone bridge has now been replaced with a modern steel and pre-fabricated concrete construction. Cycling. National Cycle Network route 44 runs over Dinham and Ludford Bridges (via Camp and Silkmill Lanes in-between) en route from Bromfield to Pipe Aston. It is known as the "Six Castles Cycleway", with Ludlow Castle as one of the six. Walking. The Mortimer Trail, a long-distance footpath, runs from Ludlow to Kington, Herefordshire. Railways. Ludlow railway station began serving the town in 1852 and is about five minutes' walk from the town centre. It is on the Welsh Marches Line and is served by trains between north-west England and South Wales, which are operated by Transport for Wales. To the south of the station is a short tunnel, which runs under Gravel Hill. Clee Hill Junction existed just to the north of the station, with a goods line leading off the main line up to the quarries on Titterstone Clee Hill. Buses. Diamond Bus, Lugg Valley Travel and Minsterley Motors operate bus services. There is also a Park and Ride service, route 722, operated by Minsterley Motors. Culture. Festivals and fairs. The now-defunct Ludlow Festival was held annually from 1960, during June and July each year. An open area within the castle served as the stage and backdrop for various Shakespearean plays, while a number of supporting events at various venues included classical and pop/rock concerts, varied musicians, lecture talks from public figures, and entertainers. The 54-year-old Festival which had been "loss-making" collapsed in 2014 due to "financial troubles". Organisers said it was "simply not commercially viable". The Medieval Christmas Fayre continues to take place in Ludlow, during late November, again centred on Ludlow Castle and the market square. Gastronomy. Ludlow was for a time a gastronomic centre, at one point the only town in England with three Michelin-starred restaurants. The town had boasted eight AA Rosette starred restaurants, and three Michelin-starred establishments. In 2016, Ludlow lost its last Michelin-starred establishment — "Mr Underhills" — which had featured in the "Sunday Times" "Top 100 Restaurants". Another previously starred establishment in Ludlow was "La Bécasse" which went into liquidation for the second time in 2014. The town hosts the annual Ludlow food festival. Ludlow was the first UK member of Cittaslow or "slow food" movement, but after ongoing controversy over public funding, the town is no longer a member. As of 2021, the town has three butchers (one located in the suburbs), four bakers, a regular farmers market and a range of specialist food shops. The town has a brewery which has been producing real ale (using local hops) since 2006; it is in a renovated goods shed near the railway station. The annual Ludlow Marches Festival of Food & Drink is a trade fair that takes place in and around Ludlow in September. Centred on Ludlow Castle, where over 150 local, small food producers showcase and sell their wares, the three-day event involves the town centre in food and drink trails including a "Sausage Trail". Arts. The town is home to an arts and cinema centre, The Ludlow Assembly Rooms, that hosts live and streamed music, theatre, stand-up comedy and talks. It acts as an arts community centre, has a visual arts gallery, and on most evenings, shows a film, from a wide variety of genres (including classic, arthouse, and blockbuster). Ludlow is now also home to the Rooftop Theatre Company. Originally from the South East, they have been delivering contemporary-styled Shakespeare since 2003. Their first Ludlow production was The Comedy of Errors in 2014. Ludlow has featured in movies and TV programmes including Tom Sharpe's "Blott on the Landscape" and 90s TV adaptations of "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" and "Moll Flanders". In Shakespeare's "Richard III", Ludlow is mentioned, as the place where the young Edward V is to be fetched as Richard III plots to seize the crown. The town is described as the capital of Wales following a zombie apocalypse in the novel World War Z. Ludlow has connections with a number of figures in the arts – including Alfred Edward Housman, poet and author of "A Shropshire Lad" (his ashes were buried in the graveyard of St Laurence's Church and were marked by a cherry tree). Stanley J. Weyman, the novelist known as the "Prince of Romance", was born in Ludlow, as was sculptor Adrian Jones, whose ashes are buried in the same churchyard. The naval historian and novelist Captain Geoffrey Bennett (Sea Lion) lived in Ludlow after his retirement in 1974 up to his death in 1983 and his ashes, too, were interred in the parish churchyard. Sport. The town had a football team (AFC Ludlow), which competed in the West Midlands (Regional) League Division One. The club could no longer field a full team, and folded in June 2016. Ludlow's rugby union club have their ground situated just off Linney near the castle, competing in the Midland league. There is a cricket club sporting its 1st and 2nd XI teams in the Shropshire Premier Cricket League and its 3rd and 4th XI in the Shropshire Cricket League Division 5 and Division 6 respectively. The cricket ground is near the junction of Burway Lane and Bromfield Road in the north of the town and has a picturesque setting with the castle, St Laurence's church and surrounding hills and countryside clearly visible. Ludlow Racecourse and Ludlow Golf Club are situated together just off the A49 road 2 miles (3 km) northwest of the town centre, at a place called Old Field near Bromfield. A smaller (9-hole) golf course exists at Elm Lodge, just off Fishmore Road on the northern edge of the town. A privately run leisure and fitness centre, which includes a swimming pool, is on Bromfield Road on the northern edge of the town (near the secondary school). Lawn bowls is played in the area, with several teams from Ludlow's two bowling clubs (Burway and Ludlow Castle) playing against each other and teams from further afield, in the Ludlow & District Bowls League, as well as in the higher Shropshire leagues. There is an amateur boxing club, situated on Wheeler Road, with its new clubhouse opening in 2014. Media. Newspapers. The "Ludlow Advertiser" was founded in 1855 by John Crosse, with its original offices at 18 King Street. New premises for the Advertiser were constructed in 1914 on Upper Galdeford, still called the Advertiser Buildings, but now a fast-food outlet. It has published an edition weekly ever since, though is now the "Ludlow and Tenbury Wells Advertiser" and published from the "Hereford Times" offices in Hereford. The current free paper is the "Teme Valley Times", founded in 2006. In 2010 the "Ludlow Journal", a free weekly newspaper, ceased publication and was absorbed into its paid-for sister, the "South Shropshire Journal". The "Shropshire Star" – with its related publication the "South Shropshire Journal" – is published in Ketley and had an office in Ludlow, at The Angel on Broad Street, but this closed in 2017. The magazine publisher Newsfield was based in Ludlow. Television. Regional TV news is provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from the Ridge Hill and the local relay transmitters. Radio stations. Sunshine Radio, once a pirate radio station, is now a legitimate commercial broadcaster in the south Shropshire and north Herefordshire/Worcestershire area on 105.9 FM, and more widely on 855 kHz AM which is broadcast from a transmitting station situated between Ludlow and Tenbury Wells. Its sister station in Hereford can also be received in Ludlow on 106.2 FM. BBC Radio Shropshire, broadcast largely from Shrewsbury, has a number of frequencies in order to cover the county's hilly terrain, and broadcasts in this part of south Shropshire on 95 FM, referred to as its Ludlow frequency. There is a transmitting station above the town in Mortimer Forest, which transmits Radio Shropshire and other television and radio frequencies. BBC Hereford and Worcester's 94.7 FM and 1584 kHz AM broadcasts can be picked up in Ludlow. BBC Hereford and Worcester's 1584 AM and Sunshine Radio's 105.9 FM broadcasts are made from the Woofferton transmitting station, just south of Ludlow, which is notable for its Cold War history and now being the UK's only remaining shortwave broadcasting site. Governance. Civic. Ludlow is a civil parish with a town council and a mayor. Ludlow was a borough from 1461 to 1974 (becoming a municipal borough in 1835 and a rural borough in 1967); the borough encompassed the same area as Ludlow's parish until the mid-late 19th century. Its borough status meant Ludlow was largely autonomous from the hundred of Munslow which it lay in. Wider local government was provided by Ludlow Rural District from 1894 (this rural district absorbed the borough of Ludlow in 1967, causing the change in status to a rural borough) until 1974 when South Shropshire District Council (with Ludlow as its seat) took over along with Shropshire County Council in a two-tier arrangement. Rural boroughs were abolished in 1974 and Ludlow's borough status at that point ended. The district councils of Shropshire were abolished in 2009 and the county now has a unitary authority called Shropshire Council, based in Shrewsbury. The South Shropshire District Council's offices at Stone House on Corve Street were gradually emptied of local government staff until their sale in 2014. The town council is based at the Guildhall on Mill Street, a grade I listed building, which was the home of the town's county and magistrates' courts until their closure in 2011. There was a Town Hall, situated in the Square, which was built in 1887–1888 and demolished in March 1986; it featured prominently just prior to its demolition in the 1985 television drama "Blott on the Landscape". The other notable civic building in the centre of town is the Buttercross (named as it was the butter market at the site of the medieval High Cross); it was the home of the town council after the demolition of the Town Hall and prior to the closure of the courts. It is now an 'interpretation centre' for the town's architectural heritage. Electoral arrangements. The boundaries of Ludlow's wards and electoral divisions were most recently reviewed in 2008. Fifteen councillors sit on the town council, representing seven wards, and elections (when contested) are held every four years (at the same time as elections to Shropshire Council). The seven wards changed slightly in 2008, retaining their previous names and number of councillors they each return – they are (with the number of town councillors returned given): Rockspring (2), Hayton (2), Bringewood (2), Corve (2), Whitcliffe (2), Gallows Bank (3), and Clee View (2). Ludlow together with nearby parishes comprise three electoral divisions, each returning one councillor to Shropshire Council in elections held every four years, the most recent being in 2021. The electoral divisions comprise: Civil parishes. Ludford is a separate civil parish, with its own parish council, and covers the adjoining places of Ludford, Foldgate, Steventon, the Sheet and Rocks Green. Until 1901 an area of land at the foot of Old Street, called Holdgate Fee, was a detached part of Ludford parish in the town itself. Ludlow Castle was a parish of its own, contained within the castle's walls and the immediate hillside; it was abolished in 1901 and ceded to Ludlow's civil parish. Other than Ludford, the only other civil parish in the present-day that neighbours Ludlow is Bromfield. The civil parish of East Hamlet, created in 1884 covered a limited area to the east of the town; this parish was largely absorbed by Ludlow's parish as the town expanded into it (in 1901, 1934 and finally in 1987 when it was abolished). Ludlow's parish in 1901 expanded into Ludford to the east (taking in Holdgate Fee and the Steventon New Road area); another two expansions into Ludford in 1934 involved taking in the Whitcliffe (which had been acquired by the burgesses of Ludlow already in the 13th century) and a further part to the east (the Gallows Bank area). 1934 also saw a significant expansion of the Ludlow parish west into Bromfield's parish, on both sides of the Teme; this coupled with the inclusion of Whitcliffe constitutes the western, essentially rural part to Ludlow's civil parish in the present day. Parliament. For representation to the House of Commons, Ludlow falls within the Ludlow constituency, which has its origins in 1473 shortly after Ludlow had become a parliamentary borough, and which until 1868 returned two burgesses to Parliament. In modern times the Ludlow constituency covers a large area of southern Shropshire including Bridgnorth. The current member of Parliament for Ludlow is Philip Dunne, who has held the seat since 2005. Economy. McConnel Limited, a manufacturer of hedge cutting and verge mowing machinery, is based in Ludlow, occupying a seven-acre industrial site in the Temeside/Weeping Cross area of the town known as the Temeside Works. The company claims to be the innovator of the first tractor-mounted hedge cutting machine (produced in 1945) and a leading producer of reach flail mower hedge and verge mowing power-arm technology. Market. The town has regular outdoor markets held on Castle Square, an area that was enlarged in 1986 with the demolition of the Town Hall (which was also known as Market Hall). General markets are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Specialist markets (examples being crafts, antiques, local produce) are held on occasional Thursdays and Sundays. They are run by the town council. Education. Ludlow has two primary schools for children aged 5–11, and a secondary school – the Ludlow Church of England School — for pupils aged 11–16. Ludlow College is a sixth form college in the town centre, formed by the merger of the town's boys grammar school and girls high school. Prior to its merger with Herefordshire College in 2012 it was one of the oldest educational institutions in the country, dating back some 800 years. Health. Ludlow Hospital is an NHS community hospital at the junction of Gravel Hill and New Road. It had until recently several inpatient and outpatient departments and wards, as well as a minor injuries unit. There are two doctors' surgeries in the town, both just off Upper Galdeford. Emergency services. The Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service have a fire station on Weeping Cross Lane, manned by retained firefighters. West Mercia Police have a police station on Lower Galdeford. Its front counter closed in 2015. Voluntary aid society, the British Red Cross, has a hall in the Smithfield car park, just off Lower Galdeford, and adjacent to the fire station. Religion. There are two Church of England parishes in Ludlow and two Church of England churches – the large and historic St Laurence's Church in the centre of the town – and the 19th century St John's Church on Gravel Hill. Within St Laurence's Church are the St John's, Lady and St Catherine's chapels. Ludford has its own Church of England parish and church, dedicated to St Giles. Ludlow falls within the Church of England's Diocese of Hereford and between 1981 and 2020 was a suffragan see with its own suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Ludlow, the only such bishop in the diocese. There has long been an Archdeacon of Ludlow, historically known as the Archdeacon of Shropshire, overseeing the other parishes in the southern part of the county (the part of the Hereford diocese that is within Shropshire). The Roman Catholic church of St Peter is on Henley Road. Construction to a design by the Welsh-based Italian architect Giuseppe Rinvolucri began in 1935, using stone from nearby Farlow and building in a neo-Byzantine and plain Romanesque style. The construction also involved novel reinforced concrete technology. The Byzantine design continues inside, with a blue dome with twelve gold-leaf stars representing St Peter and the other Apostles. An Art Deco presbytery was built next to the church. St Peter's chapel, within the castle, is now a ruin. Ludlow has a Methodist church on Broad Street, a Quaker Meeting House on St Mary's Lane, a Baptist church at the Rockspring Community Centre, and an Elim Pentecostal church off the Smithfield car park. Two monastic institutions once existed in Ludlow – one Augustinian ("Austin") Friars on the corner of Lower Galdeford and Weeping Cross Lane, and the other Carmelite ("White") Friars between Linney and Corve Street. Both were dissolved in 1538. The White Friars site became the town's cemetery in 1824, with a new church constructed, dedicated to St Leonard (a St Leonard's chapel existed on the corner of Corve Street and Linney in medieval times). The St Leonard's graveyard and church still exist but are no longer used for burials or worship (instead the church building is now a commercial premises). The Austin Friars site became the town's livestock market (the Smithfield) and is now a public car park. Landmarks. The following are the principal landmark buildings and structures in the town, the majority of which are grade I or II* listed buildings. Twinning. Ludlow has three twinning arrangements. Notable people. Robert Mascall (died 1416), a medieval Carmelite friar who served as the Bishop of Hereford from 1404 to 1416 was born at Ludlow. Thomas Holland (1549 in Ludlow – 1612) was an English Calvinist scholar and theologian and one of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible. Sir John Bridgeman (1568/69 – 1638), a Chief Justice of The Marches in the 17th century is buried in St Laurence's church, within a tomb monument attributed to Francesco Fanelli. Sir Timothy Littleton (c1608 – 1679) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons for Ludlow between 1660 and 1670. The painter Samuel Scott (1702–1772) moved to Ludlow in 1765. Admiral James Vashon (1742–1827) was born in the nearby Herefordshire village of Eye and then lived in Ludlow, on Broad Street, following his distinguished service in the Royal Navy. He died in the town and is buried at St Laurence's. A civic society blue plaque commemorates him at 54 Broad Street; there is a Vashon Close in Ludlow's eastern suburbs. Thomas Johnes (1748 in Ludlow – 1816) was an MP, landscape architect, farmer, printer, writer and social benefactor. Molly Morgan (1762 in Ludlow as Mary Jones -1835) lived in the area until transported in 1788 as a convict to Australia, where she eventually became a landowner and benefactor in New South Wales. Notable people associated with the town include Charles Badham (1813 in Ludlow–1884), a Victorian scholar and professor at Sydney University and Thomas Wright (1810–1877), an English antiquarian and writer. Sir Charles Hastings (1794 in Ludlow–1866), was a pioneering Victorian doctor and founder of the British Medical Association. Stanley J. Weyman (1855 in Ludlow – 1928) was an English writer of historical romance. Ludlow was birthplace of historian Charles Lethbridge Kingsford (1862–1926), when his father was headmaster at Ludlow Grammar School. Born near the town was John Marston (1836–1918), the founder of the Sunbeam racing car and motorcycle company. Also born in proximity to Ludlow was Henry Hill Hickman (1800–1830), a very early pioneer of anaesthetics, at Lady Halton, near Bromfield. Pictorialist photographer Henry Peach Robinson (1830–1901) was born in the town. Captain Adrian Jones MVO (1845 in Ludlow – 1938), the well-known sculptor has many works throughout the world, particularly the Peace Quadriga on the Wellington Arch in London, and his ashes are buried at St Laurence's church. Sir William Jukes-Steward (1841–1912), later Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, had a boyhood home in Ludlow, where he attended the Grammar School, at Numbers 4–5 King Street (marked by plaque). Captain Geoffrey Bennett DSC (1909–1983), Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, naval officer and a well-known author, writing novels such as 'Sea Lion' and naval histories under his own name, retired to a cottage in central Ludlow in 1976, where he died. Lieutenant-Colonel Uvedale Corbett CBE DSO (1909–2005) was a British soldier, politician and businessman and Conservative MP for Ludlow from 1945 to 1951. Baron Rees of Ludlow (born 1942), the current Astronomer Royal is associated with the town, and Anthony Howard (1934–2010), a senior British political journalist, obituary writer, and social commentator had a home there. Local MP Philip Dunne was born in Ludlow in 1958. The author P.D.James, Baroness James of Holland Park (1920–2014) spent part of her youth in Ludlow, and attended the British School there. Fr. John Fitzgerald (1927–2007) was a Carmelite friar, priest, poet and philosopher from Ludlow. Kate Charles (born 1950) an American crime writer, lives in Ludlow. Lucy Jones (born 1955) a British painter and printmaker, also lives in Ludlow. Cyril Lello (1921-1997) from Ludlow was a professional footballer, notably for Shrewsbury Town and Everton. Harry Burgoyne (born 1996), also from Ludlow, is a footballer currently playing for Shrewsbury Town. Dick Heckstall-Smith (1934–2004) from Ludlow was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. Sheena Porter (born 1935) a British author of children's novels, lives in Ludlow. The actor John Challis (1942-2021) who played Boycie in "Only Fools & Horses" lived near Ludlow, as did Pete Postlethwaite (1946–2011). The actress Holly Davidson (born 1980) (from "Casualty" and "The Bill") grew up locally. Hollie Robertson (born 1985), winner of the BBC's "Strictly Dance Fever" in 2006 is from Ludlow. Impressionist Alistair McGowan (born 1964), now lives in Ludlow, where he is patron of the Ludlow Fringe Festival in which he has appeared performing live.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59033

Geelong

Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: "Djilang"/"Djalang") is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, about southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria. Geelong is the second largest Victorian city (behind Melbourne) with an estimated urban population of 268,277 as of June 2018, and is also Australia's second fastest-growing city. Geelong is also known as the "Gateway City" due to its critical location to surrounding western Victorian regional centres including Ballarat in the northwest, Torquay, Great Ocean Road and Warrnambool in the southwest, Hamilton, Colac and Winchelsea to the west, providing a transport corridor past the Central Highlands for these regions to the state capital Melbourne in its northeast. The City of Greater Geelong is also a member of the Gateway Cities Alliance in partnership with Councils from Newcastle and Wollongong. Geelong is the administrative centre for the City of Greater Geelong municipality, which is Port Phillip's only regional metropolitan area, and covers all the urban, rural and coastal reserves around the city including the entire Bellarine Peninsula and running from the plains of Lara in the north to the rolling hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with Corio Bay to the east and the Barrabool Hills to the west. The traditional owners of the land on which Geelong sits were the Wadawurrung (also known as Wathaurong) Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation. The Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation is the Registered Aboriginal Party for the region. The modern name of Geelong, established in 1827, was derived from the local Wadawurrung name for the region, "Djilang", thought to mean "land", "cliffs" or "tongue of land or peninsula". The area was first surveyed by the European settlers in 1838, three weeks after Melbourne. A town post office was opened by June 1840, the second to open in the Port Phillip District. The first woolstore was erected in this period and it became the port for the wool industry of the Western District. During the Victorian gold rush, Geelong experienced a brief boom as the main port to the rich goldfields of the Ballarat district. The town then diversified into manufacturing, and during the 1860s became one of the largest manufacturing centres in Australia with its wool mills, ropeworks, and paper mills. It was proclaimed a city in 1910, with industrial growth from this time until the 1960s establishing the city as a manufacturing centre for the state, and the population grew to over 100,000 by the mid-1960s. During the city's early years, an inhabitant of Geelong was often known as a Geelongite or a "Pivotonian", derived from the city's nickname of "The Pivot", referencing the city's role as a shipping and rail hub for the area. Population increases over the last decade were due to growth in service industries, as the manufacturing sector has declined. Redevelopment of the inner city has occurred since the 1990s, as well as gentrification of inner suburbs, and currently has a population growth rate higher than the national average. Today, Geelong stands as an emerging healthcare, education and advanced manufacturing center. The city's economy is shifting quickly and despite experiencing the drawbacks of losing much of its heavy manufacturing, it is seeing much growth in other tertiary sectors, positioning itself as one of the leading non-capital Australian cities. It is home to the Geelong Football Club, the second oldest club in the Australian Football League. History. Etymology. The name Geelong comes from "Djilang", used by the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners of the area at the time of settlement. Early history and foundation. The area of Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula were the traditional lands of the Wadawurrung (Wathaurong) Indigenous Australian tribe. The first non-Indigenous person recorded as visiting the region was Lieutenant John Murray, who commanded the brig . After anchoring outside Port Phillip Heads (the narrow entrance to Port Phillip, onto which both Geelong and Melbourne now front), on 1 February 1802, he sent a small boat with six men to explore. Led by John Bowen, they explored the immediate area, returning to "Lady Nelson" on 4 February. On reporting favourable findings, "Lady Nelson" entered Port Phillip on 14 February, and did not leave until 12 March. During this time, Murray explored the Geelong area and, whilst on the far side of the bay, claimed the entire area for Britain. He named the bay Port King, after Philip Gidley King, then Governor of New South Wales. Governor King later renamed the bay Port Phillip after the first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip. Arriving not long after Murray was Matthew Flinders, who entered Port Phillip on 27 April 1802. He charted the entire bay, including the Geelong area, believing he was the first to sight the huge expanse of water, but in a rush to reach Sydney before winter set in, he left Port Phillip on 3 May. In January 1803, Surveyor-General Charles Grimes arrived at Port Phillip in the sloop and mapped the area, including the future site of Geelong, but reported the area was unfavourable for settlement and returned to Sydney on 27 February. In October of the same year, led by Lieutenant Colonel David Collins arrived in the bay to establish the Sullivan Bay penal colony. Collins was dissatisfied with the area chosen, and sent a small party led by First Lieutenant J.H. Tuckey to investigate alternative sites. The party spent 22 to 27 October on the north shore of Corio Bay, where the first Aboriginal death at the hands of a European in Victoria occurred. The next European visit to the area was by the explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell. They reached the northern edge of Corio Bay – the area of Port Phillip that Geelong now fronts – on 16 December 1824, and it was at this time they reported that the Aboriginals called the area "Corayo", the bay being called "Djillong". Hume and Hovell had been contracted to travel overland from Sydney to Port Phillip, and having achieved this, they stayed the night and began their return journey two days later on 18 December. The convict William Buckley escaped from the Sullivan Bay settlement in 1803, and lived among the Wadawurrung people for 32 years on the Bellarine Peninsula. In 1835, John Batman used Indented Head as his base camp, leaving behind several employees whilst he returned to Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) for more supplies and his family. In this same year, Buckley surrendered to the party led by John Helder Wedge and was later pardoned by Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Arthur, and subsequently given the position of interpreter to the natives. In March 1836, three squatters, David Fisher, James Strachan, and George Russell, arrived on "Caledonia" and settled the area. Geelong was first surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe three weeks after Melbourne, and was gazetted as a town on 10 October 1838. There was already a church, hotel, store, wool store, and 82 houses, and the town population was 545. By 1841, the first wool had been sent to England and a regular steamer service was running between Geelong and Melbourne. Captain Foster Fyans was commissioned as the local Police Magistrate in 1837 and established himself on the Barwon River at the site of the area of present-day Fyansford. Fyans arranged the first muster of the Indigenous population and 275 Aboriginal people were found to be living in the area. Fyans distributed blankets, sugar and flour to these people but soon ordered his soldiers to "click their triggers" at them when a lack of blankets caused anger. Fyans constructed a breakwater to improve the water supply to the city by preventing the salty lower reaches from mixing with fresh water and pooling water. In 1839, Charles Sievwright, the newly appointed Assistant Protector of Aborigines (for the western district) sets up camp on the Barwon River near Fyans ford. The Geelong Keys were discovered around 1845 by Governor Charles La Trobe on Corio Bay. They were embedded in the stone in such a way that he believed that they had been there for 100–150 years, possibly dropped by Portuguese explorers. In 1849, Fyans was nominated as the inaugural Mayor of the Geelong Town Council and renowned fly fishing author Alfred Ronalds engraved the town seal. An early settler of Geelong, Alexander Thomson, for which the area of Thomson in Geelong East is named, settled on the Barwon River, and was Mayor of Geelong on five occasions from 1850 to 1858. 1850s: Gold rush. Gold was discovered in nearby Ballarat in 1851, causing the Geelong population to grow to 23,000 people by the mid-1850s. To counter this, a false map was issued by Melbourne interests to new arrivals, showing the quickest road to the goldfields as being via Melbourne. The first issue of the "Geelong Advertiser" newspaper was published in 1840 by James Harrison, who also built the world's first ether vapour compression cycle ice-making and refrigeration machine in 1844, later being commissioned by a brewery in 1856 to build a machine that cooled beer. The Geelong Hospital was opened in 1852, and construction on the Geelong City Hall commenced in 1855. Development of the Port of Geelong began with the creation of the first shipping channel in Corio Bay in 1853. The Geelong-to-Melbourne railway was built by the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company in 1857. Rabbits were introduced to Australia in 1859 by Thomas Austin, who imported them from England for hunting purposes at his Barwon Park property near Winchelsea. One of Geelong's best-known department stores, Bright and Hitchcocks, was established in 1861, and the HM Prison Geelong built using convict labour, was opened in 1864. In 1866, Graham Berry started a newspaper, the "Geelong Register", as a rival to the established "Geelong Advertiser". When this proved unsuccessful, he bought the "Advertiser" and made himself editor of the now-merged papers. Using the paper as a platform, he was elected for Geelong West in 1869. In 1877, he switched to Geelong, which he represented until 1886, and served as Victorian Premier in 1875, 1877–1880, and 1880–1881. On the Market Square in the middle of the city, a clock tower was erected in 1856, and an Exhibition Building was opened in 1879. 1860s: The 'Sleepy Hollow'. The gold rush had seen Ballarat and Bendigo grow larger than Geelong in terms of population. Melbourne critics dubbed Geelong 'Sleepy Hollow', a tag that recurred many times in the following years. A number of industries became established in Geelong, including Victoria's first woollen mill at South Geelong in 1868. In 1869, the clipper "Lightning" caught fire at the Yarra Street pier and was cast adrift in Corio Bay to burn, before being sunk by artillery fire. Improvements to transport saw Geelong emerge as the centre of the Western District of Victoria, with railway lines extended towards Colac in 1876, and to Queenscliff in 1879. Construction of the Hopetoun shipping channel began in 1881 and completed in 1893. The Geelong Cup was first held in 1872, and Victoria's first long-distance telephone call was made from Geelong to Queenscliff on 8 January 1878, only one year after the invention of the device itself. Geelong was also the home of a prosperous wine industry until the emergence of the sap-sucking insect "Phylloxera vastatrix" at Fyansford in 1875, which led to the Victorian Government ordering the destruction of all vines in the Geelong area to prevent the spread of the pest, killing the industry until the 1960s. Between 1886 and 1889, the central business district's major banks and insurance companies erected new premises in a solid and ornate character. The existing Geelong Post Office was built during this time and the Gordon Technical College was established. Further industrial growth occurred, with the Fyansford cement works being established in 1890. The town became referred to as "The Pivot" in the 1860s, owing to its being a rail and shipping hub for western Victoria. 1900s: A city develops. The town of Geelong officially became a city on 8 December 1910. The city gained a number of essential services, with electric light supplied by the Geelong Power Station starting in 1902, the Geelong Harbour Trust was formed in December 1905, and the Geelong Waterworks and Sewerage Trust formed in 1908. Electric trams began operation in 1912, travelling from the city centre to the suburbs until their demise in 1956. The first of many stores on the Market Square was opened in 1913, and the first Gala Day festival was held in 1916. Geelong's industrial growth accelerated in the 1920s: woollen mills, fertiliser plants, the Ford Motor Company's vehicle plant at Norlane, and the Corio whisky distillery were all established in this period. The "Geelong Advertiser" radio station 3GL (now K-Rock) commenced transmission in 1930, the Great Ocean Road was opened in 1932, and in 1934, the T & G Building opened on the most prominent intersection in the city, the corner of Ryrie and Moorabool Streets. By 1936, Geelong had displaced Ballarat as Victoria's second-largest city. In 1938, one of the last Port Philip Bay steamers, "Edina", made its final trip to Geelong, ending a period of seaside excursions and contests for the fastest trip. The Eastern Beach foreshore beautification and pool was completed in 1939 after almost 10 years of work. On the eve of World War II, the International Harvester works were opened beside Ford at North Shore, along with a grain elevator at nearby Corio Quay, and the Shell Australia oil refinery. Post-war period. Government housing was constructed in the suburbs of East Geelong, Norlane, North Shore, and Corio from the 1950s. The banks of the Barwon River burst in 1952, inundating nearby Belmont Common. Geelong continued to expand with Corio, Highton, and Belmont growing at such a rate that in February 1967, Geelong accounted for 21% of private home development in Greater Melbourne. Private vehicles became the city's major mode of transport. The first parking meters in the city were introduced in 1961, new petrol stations were constructed and the city's first supermarket, operated by Woolworths, opened in 1965. Later, support came for Cycling in Geelong with Australia's first bike plan in 1977.[3] [4]. Industrial growth continued with a second cement works operating at Waurn Ponds by 1964 and the Alcoa Point Henry aluminium smelter constructed in 1962. Federal government policy changes on tariff protection led to the closure of many Geelong industrial businesses from the 1970s. Most woollen mills closed in 1974 and hectares of warehouse space in the city centre were left empty after wool-handling practices changed. The Target head office opened in North Geelong, Deakin University was established at Waurn Ponds in 1974, and the Geelong Performing Arts Centre opened in 1981. Later, the Australian Animal Health Laboratory was opened in 1985, and the National Wool Museum in 1988. Market Square, the first enclosed shopping centre in the city, was opened in 1985, with neighbouring Bay City Plaza opened in 1988. The Pyramid Building Society, founded in Geelong in 1959, collapsed in 1990, leaving debts of AU$1.3 billion to over 200,000 depositors, and causing the Geelong economy to stagnate. On 18 May 1993, the City of Greater Geelong was formed by the amalgamation of a number of smaller municipalities with the former City of Geelong. The Waterfront Geelong redevelopment, started in 1994, was designed to enhance use and appreciation of Corio Bay and in 1995 the Barwon River overflowed in the worst flood since 1952. 21st century. In 2004, Avalon Airport was upgraded to accommodate interstate passenger travel, providing a base for the low-cost airline Jetstar to serve the Melbourne and Geelong urban areas. Geelong is planned to expand towards the south coast, with 2,500 hectares of land to become a major suburban development for 55,000 to 65,000 people, known as Armstrong Creek. In 2006, construction began on the Geelong Ring Road, designed to replace the Princes Highway through Geelong from Corio to Waurn Ponds. It opened in 2009. More than AU$500-million-worth of major construction was under way in 2007. Major projects include the $150-million Westfield Geelong expansion works, involving a flyover of Yarra Street, the city's first Big W store, and an additional 70 new speciality stores; the $37-million Deakin Waterfront campus redevelopment, and the $23-million Deakin Medical School; the $50-million Edgewater apartment development on the waterfront; a number of multimillion-dollar office developments in the CBD; and a new $30-million aquatic centre in Waurn Ponds. Major developments within Geelong are advocated by influential, non-government group the Committee for Geelong and the region's local government alliance, G21 Geelong Region Alliance. The City of Greater Geelong and four other local municipalities form part of the alliance which identifies the Geelong region's priorities, and advocates all levels of government for funding and implement the projects. G21 developed 'The Geelong Region Plan - a sustainable growth strategy' which was launched by Premier Brumby in 2007. It was the approved strategic plan for the Geelong region. In addition, major projects such as the Geelong Ring Road Connections and duplication of the Princes Highway West obtained funding due to the combined efforts of the region's municipalities. As at May 2017, a further 13 Priority Projects are planned for the Geelong region. The Victoria Government announced the relocation of the Transport Accident Commission headquarters from Melbourne to Geelong in October 2006, which created 850 jobs and an annual economic benefit over $59 million to the Geelong region. The construction of the $80-million Brougham Street headquarters was completed in late 2008. In November 2008, Ford Australia announced that its Australian-designed I6 engine would be re-engineered to meet the latest emissions regulations, and that consequently the engine manufacturing plant would be upgraded (however, all manufacturing of motor vehicles in Geelong and elsewhere throughout Australia ceased by 2017). A change to the city skyline is occurring with a number of modern apartment buildings on the Waterfront and central business district planned or under construction. On 10 July 2008, approval was given for a $100-million twin-tower apartment complex of 16 and 12 floors to be built on Mercer St in the city's western edge. The towers will become the tallest buildings in the city, taking the title from the Mercure Hotel. Further highrise developments are planned as part of the City of Greater Geelong's Geelong Western Edge strategic plan. A$17-million 11-story apartment tower has also recently been proposed to be built next to the Deakin Waterfront Campus. In 2012, a design competition for a "city icon" was run for the City of Geelong by Deakin University and Senia Lawyers. The recipient of the prize and winning design entry was JOH Architects and their design titled "The Sea Dragon". Geelong's new Library and Heritage Centre opened to the public in November 2015. The new addition to Geelong offers new research facilities, display areas and hosts Geelong's extensive heritage, modern and Indigenous. The new library was awarded the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture in 2016. Currently Geelong is undergoing a major revival effort, the Green Spine Project. The Green Spine project will connect Johnstone Park to the Botanic Gardens by a continuous line of trees via Malop Street. The redevelopment of Malop street will see the installation of separated bike lanes from both pedestrians and local traffic by greenery, the design is an Australian first. This project includes the installation of art sculptures and street art throughout the city centre. Major redevelopments are also occurring at Johnstone Park, with a new raingarden installation, and Lt Malop Street is seeing more upgrades. In the suburbs Geelong West's Pakington Street is seeing major upgrades to its street appeal, with new plantings and upgrades to many of the shops. Manifold Heights' Shannon Avenue will see redevelopment to make it more pedestrian friendly. To Geelong's north, Rippleside is undergoing major changes, with the ongoing development of Balmoral Quay which will see Rippleside Park and nearby St Helens Park connected via a waterfront footpath as well as beach restoration and a boat dock expansion. Recently new high rise buildings are being built giving Geelong more jobs and housing. Worksafe Victoria opened up a new 14-storey building on Malop Dt. It opened in mid-2018 and was the tallest building until it was announced that two residential high rises would be built and completed in late 2019. They are called The Mercer and Miramar Apartments. Geography. Geelong is located on the shores of the western tip of Corio Bay, a southwestern inlet of Port Phillip Bay. During clear weather, the distant Melbourne skyline is visible from higher areas of Geelong when viewed across the waters of Port Phillip. The Barwon River flows through the southern fringe of the Geelong city centre before entering Lake Connewarre and the estuary at Barwon Heads before draining into the Bass Strait. The city is situated just east of the gap between the Otway Ranges and Brisbane Ranges, and commands the only lowland passage between the Werribee Plain and Western Volcanic Plains. Geologically, the oldest rocks in the area date back to the Cambrian period 500 million years ago, with volcanic activities occurring in the Devonian period 350 million years ago. In prehistoric times water covered much of the lowlands that are now Geelong, with the Barwon River estuary located at Belmont Common, the course of the river being changed when Mount Moriac erupted and lava was sent eastwards towards Geelong. To the east of the city are the Bellarine Hills and the undulating plains of the Bellarine Peninsula. To the west are the sandstone-derived Barrabool Hills and basalt Mount Duneed, and the volcanic plains to the north of Geelong extend to the Brisbane Ranges and the You Yangs. Soils vary from sandy loam, basalt plains, and river loam to rich volcanic soils, suitable for intensive farming, grazing, forestry, and viticulture. Many materials used to construct buildings were quarried from Geelong, such as bluestone from the You Yangs and sandstone from the Brisbane Ranges. A small number of brown coal deposits exist in the Geelong region, most notably at Anglesea, where it has been mined to fuel Alcoa's Anglesea Power Station since 1969. Limestone has also been quarried for cement production at Fyansford since 1888, and Waurn Ponds since 1964. City and suburbs. Geelong has over 60 suburbs, including the following: Anakie, Armstrong Creek, Avalon, Balliang, Barwon Heads, Batesford, Bell Park, Bell Post Hill, Bellarine, Belmont, Breakwater, Breamlea, Ceres, Charlemont, City of Greater Geelong, Clifton Springs, Connewarre, Corio, Curlewis, Drumcondra, Drysdale, East Geelong, Fyansford, Geelong, Geelong West, Grovedale, Hamlyn Heights, Herne Hill, Highton, Indented Head, Lara, Leopold, Little River, Lovely Banks, Manifold Heights, Mannerim, Marcus Hill, Marshall, Moolap, Moorabool, Mount Duneed, Newcomb, Newtown, Norlane, North Geelong, North Shore, Ocean Grove, Point Lonsdale, Point Wilson, Portarlington, Queenscliff, Rippleside, South Geelong, St Albans Park, St Leonards, Staughton Vale, Swan Bay, Thomson, Wallington, Wandana Heights, Waurn Ponds, and Whittington. Development in Geelong started on the shores of Corio Bay in what is now the inner city. Development later spread to the south towards the Barwon River, and the hill of Newtown and Geelong West. Major development south of the river in Belmont did not start until the 1920s, stimulated by the construction of a new bridge over the river in 1926, and the extension of the Geelong tramway system in 1927. Industrial areas were traditionally located on the Corio Bay for port access, or the Barwon River for waste disposal. In the interwar and post-World War II years, heavy industry continued to establish itself in the flatter northern suburbs, where today industries such as the Shell oil refinery and Ford Motor Company engine plant reside. Residential development also spread to Corio and Norlane in the north, with new Housing Commission of Victoria estates built to cater for employees of the new industries. From the 1960s, residential growth spread to the Highton hills in the south and North Geelong following prosperous industries like the gasworks, followed by Grovedale in the 1970s. A number of light industrial areas were also established in Breakwater, Moolap, and South Geelong. Changing cargo-handling methods at the Port of Geelong left woolstores in inner Geelong unused, redevelopment beginning in the 1980s with the expansion of Westfield Geelong towards Corio Bay, and culminating in the Waterfront Geelong development. Gentrification of former working-class inner suburbs such as Geelong West, North Geelong, and South Geelong has also occurred. Today, the major residential growth corridors are north towards Lara, east towards Leopold, and south towards Mount Duneed as the Armstrong Creek Growth Area. Climate. Geelong has stable weather, yet still offers four distinct seasons. It has a temperate oceanic climate ("Cfb" in the Köppen climate classification) with dominant westerly winds, variable clouds, moderate precipitation, warm summers, and mild to cool winters. February is the hottest month and July is the coldest. The highest temperature recorded was on 7 February 2009 during a two-week-long heat wave, with the lowest of recorded on 5 August 1997. The average annual rainfall is around , which makes Geelong the driest sizeable city in Australia, owing to the pronounced rain shadow of the Otway Ranges to the southwest. Within the city, rainfall shows a strong gradient from south to north, so that the southernmost suburbs can receive around whilst more northerly Lara receives as little as , which is the lowest rainfall in southern Victoria. Economy. More than 10,000 businesses employ over 80,000 people in the Geelong region, with manufacturing and processing industries providing around 15,000 jobs, followed by 13,000 in retail, and 8,000 in health and community services. In 2020, the Committee for Geelong published a research paper Resilient Geelong which tracks the Geelong economy over several decades. Written Deakin University's Prof Louise Johnson, Resilient Geelong makes a series of recommendations for the future of Geelong. Geelong's major employers were the Ford Motor Company engine plant in Norlane (closed in 2016), aircraft maintenance at Avalon Airport, the head office of retail chain Target Australia (until 2018), the Bartter (Steggles) chicken processing plant and the Shell oil refinery at Corio. GMHBA Limited, a health insurance company, is headquartered in Geelong. The Geelong region attracted over 6 million tourists during 2001. Major tourist attractions include the Waterfront Geelong precinct and Eastern Beach on the shores of Corio Bay, and the National Wool Museum in the city, and more than 30 historical buildings listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Geelong area hosts regular international events which are also tourist drawcards, including the Australian International Airshow. Geelong has a number of shopping precincts in the CBD and surrounding suburbs. The two main shopping centres are located in the CBD - Westfield Geelong and Market Square, with smaller centres in the suburbs including Belmont Village and Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre in the south, Bellarine Village in Newcomb in the east, and Corio Shopping Centre in the north. The opening of the major shopping centres has caused a decline in strip shopping on Moorabool Street, with many empty shops and few customers. Geelong is also home to Mitre 10's largest franchisees - Fagg's - operating five stores across the town and employing over 160 people. These major research laboratories are located in the Geelong area: the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory in East Geelong, CSIRO Division of Textiles and Fibres Technology in Belmont, and the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute at Queenscliff. The scheduled closure of Ford's Australian manufacturing base in 2016 was confirmed in late May 2013. Headquartered in the Victorian suburb of Broadmeadows, the company had registered losses of AU$600 million over the five years prior to the announcement. It was noted that the corporate fleet and government sales that accounted for two-thirds of large, local car sales in Australia were insufficient to keep Ford's products profitable and viable in Australia. Following the decision by the Royal Dutch Shell fuel corporation to close its Geelong refinery in April 2013, a third consecutive annual loss was recorded for Shell's Australian refining and fuel marketing assets. Revealed in June 2013, the writedown is worth AU$203 million, and was preceded by a $638-million writedown in 2012 and a $407-million writedown in 2011 after the closure of the Clyde refinery in Sydney. In April 2016 Target announced that it would be moving its headquarters out of North Geelong to Williams Landing in Melbourne's west. Demographics. As of the 2006 census, 160,000 people resided in 68,000 households. The median age of persons in Geelong was 37 years. About 19.4% of the population of Geelong were children aged between 0–14 years, and 26.6% were persons aged 55 years and over. Each dwelling is on average occupied by 2.59 persons, slightly lower than the state and national averages. The median household income was $901 per week, $121 less than the state average, partly due to higher reliance on manufacturing for employment. The population of Geelong is growing by 2500 people each year, and the City of Greater Geelong had the highest rate of building activity in Victoria outside metropolitan Melbourne. About 78.4% of people from Geelong are Australian-born, with the most common overseas birthplaces being: England (3.6%), Italy (1.1%), Croatia (1.0%), the Netherlands (0.9%), and Scotland (0.8%). Around 14.2% of households speak a language other than English in the home. Notable ethnic groups in the city are the Croatian community, who first came to the city in the 1850s and with migration since World War II are now the largest Croatian community in Australia, and the German settlers who founded Germantown (now Grovedale) in 1849 to escape repression in Prussia for their Lutheran faith. The 2006 census found the most common religious affiliation in Geelong was Catholicism at 29.4%. St. Mary of the Angels Basilica is the largest congregation in the city. Other affiliations of resident of Geelong include no religion 20.5%, Anglican 14.6%, Uniting Church 7.9%, and Presbyterian and Reformed at 4.3%. The city has a large number of traditional Christian churches, as well as Orthodox Christian churches in the northern suburbs. Governance. In local government, the Geelong region is covered by the City of Greater Geelong. The council was created in 1993 as an amalgamation of a number of other municipalities in the region, with the council chambers located at the Geelong City Hall in central Geelong. The City is made up of four wards - Brownbill (central Geelong and inner suburbs), Bellarine, Kardinia (southern Geelong, south of the Barwon River) and Windermere (northern suburbs). Brownbill, Kardinia and Bellarine are each represented by three councillors, whereas Windermere is represented by two. From 2012 to 2016, the Mayor of Geelong was directly elected by the public to a four-year term. Entrepreneur and former paparazzo Darryn Lyons held this position from 2013 to 2016. On 16 April 2016, the Victorian Government dismissed the Mayor and Councillors of the Greater Geelong City Council, following a Commission of Inquiry which found that the council is riven with conflict, unable to manage Geelong's economic challenges, has dysfunctional leadership and has a culture of bullying. The government appointed administrators to run the council until council elections were held in 2017. In 2023, the Victorian Government announced that it would appoint monitors to oversee the appointment of a new CEO. In state politics, the Legislative Assembly districts of Geelong, South Barwon, Lara, and Bellarine cover the Geelong area. After the 2022 Victorian Election, all four of these electorates are held by the Australian Labor Party. Lara and Geelong are currently safe Labor seats with South Barwon increasing its margin and Bellarine more marginal. On 12 February 2020, Minister for Planning Richard Wynn established Geelong Authority to advise on strategies to attract investment to central Geelong and on major planning applications to help create jobs and drive growth in Geelong. The committee is chaired by Diana Taylor (lawyer) and consists of Mark Edmonds (former Chairman of Geelong Chamber of Commerce), Aamir Qutub (CEO of Enterprise Monkey), Jill Smith (former General Manager of Geelong Arts Centre) and Rory Costelloe (Executive Director of Villawood Properties) and Dr Sarah Leach. In federal politics, the House of Representatives seats - the Division of Corio and Division of Corangamite cover the Geelong region. Corio roughly covers the northern half of Geelong and has been a safe Australian Labor Party seat since the 1970s, but was previously the seat of Richard Casey, a leading conservative Cabinet member in the 1930s and later Governor-General, as well as Hubert Opperman, a former cycling champion and a prominent minister in the 1960s. It was also the seat of Gordon Scholes, who was Speaker during the Whitlam government. Corio is currently held by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. Corangamite, which roughly includes the southern half of Geelong as well as the Bellarine Peninsula, has traditionally been safe for the Liberal Party, but become more marginal in recent years due to demographic changes and redistributions. Corangamite had been a safe seat for the Liberal Party and its predecessors from the 1930s through the 2000s. Future Prime Minister of Australia James Scullin served one term in this seat in the 1910s. It was won by the Australian Labor Party at the 2019 federal election and again in 2022 by Libby Coker where the margin was increased. Culture. Events and festivals. The Royal Geelong Show is held each year at the Geelong Showgrounds. Other events include Pako Festa (held annually in February), Gala Day Parade (annual event that celebrated its 96th year in 2012) and Family Fun Day (held annually as part of the Gala Day celebrations), and the Geelong Heritage Festival that is run by the local branch of the National Trust. The Gala Day Parade was axed in 2023. Geelong hosts Victoria's only international photographic salon 'VIGEX' every two years. VIGEX is an acronym for "VIctoria Geelong EXhibition" and the inaugural event was held in 1980. The Australian Photographic Society, the world governing body of exhibition photography the International Federation of Photographic Art and the Victorian Association of Photographic Societies are patrons of the biennial photographic salon. Geelong's History is preserved through both the Geelong Historical Society, and the associated Geelong Heritage Centre currently housed in the new regional library building opened in 2015. Now defunct, Geelong hosted a digital conference Pivot Summit which was headlined by Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak in 2017. Arts and entertainment. Recognising a long history in design excellence, Geelong was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Design in 2017. Geelong is home to a number of pubs, nightclubs, and live-music venues. The city is also the birthplace or starting point for a number of notable Australian bands and musicians, such as Barry Crocker, Gyan Evans, Magic Dirt, Jeff Lang, Denis Walter, Chrissy Amphlett, and Helen Garner. Geelong also hosts music festivals such as the Meredith Music Festival, Offshore Festival, Poppykettle Festival, and National Celtic Festival. The city's prominent cultural venues are the Geelong Performing Arts Centre (commonly known as "GPAC"), the 1500-seat Costa Hall auditorium and the Geelong Art Gallery. Based in Geelong, Back to Back Theatre is a globally renown, contemporary Australian theatre companies engaging with disability on stage. With work produced by the company, Back to Back Theatre explores questions about politics, ethics and philosophy in humanity and tours nationally and globally. In 2022, Back to Back Theatre was awarded the $300,000 International Ibsen Award. Local community-led, not for profit Creative Geelong Inc was established in 2015 to support local creatives and highlight the opportunities for creative industries practitioners in the region. In 2017, Creative Geelong partnered with Deakin University to crowdfund and produce three documentaries about Geelong's transformation from a heavy manufacturing hub to a creative destination. Hubcaps to Creative Hubs series showcase three locations in Geelong including the Federal Woollen Mills, RS&S Woollen Mills and the Fyansford Paper Mills and tells the story of their industrial past and new purpose as creative hot spots. Media. The "Geelong Advertiser", the oldest newspaper title in Victoria and the second-oldest in Australia, was established in 1840. The free "Geelong Independent" and "Geelong News" are the city's other major newspapers. Geelong is part of the Melbourne television licence area, and receives all of the free-to-air stations from Melbourne, including ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine, Ten, and the community channel C31. The Geelong region also receives cable and satellite television services through operators Foxtel and Neighbourhood Cable. The local radio stations are K-Rock (rock and pop music), Rhema FM (Christian community station), Hot Country Radio (country music station), The Pulse (community station), 3GPH (radio reading service), and Bay FM (adult contemporary). The transmitters for K-Rock, The Pulse, Rhema FM, and Bay FM are located at a shared transmitter site on Mount Bellarine, near Drysdale. Most Melbourne-based radio stations can also be received clearly in the Geelong region. Sport. Australian rules football is the most popular sport in Geelong. Established in 1859, the Geelong Football Club is the second oldest club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and one of the world's oldest football clubs. Until South Melbourne relocated to Sydney in 1981, it was the only VFL/AFL club based outside of the greater Melbourne metropolitan area. Its home ground is Kardinia Park stadium. It also fields a reserves side in the Victorian Football League, and three independent football leagues run in the area: the Geelong Football League, the Geelong & District Football League, and the Bellarine Football League. The Arena stadium in North Geelong is the home of the Geelong Supercats basketball team, and was also used during the 2006 Commonwealth Games for basketball games. Geelong's Basketball/Netball Centre is home to another basketball team from the region, the Corio Bay Stingrays. The city co-hosted the 2003 FIBA Oceania Championship where Australia's national basketball team won the gold medal. North Geelong Warriors FC are the region's primary soccer club, playing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria competition. The club played in the Victorian Premier League from 1992 to 1997 and in the top tier of the NPL in 2015. Other soccer clubs include Northern based Geelong Rangers FC, Geelong SC, Corio SC, Lara United FC and Southern based Surf Coast SC. Western United play a few home games every year in GMHBA stadium, Geelong is included in the marketing for the club in western victoria. Geelong has a horse-racing club, the Geelong Racing Club, which schedules around 22 race meetings a year, including the Geelong Cup meeting in October. The Geelong Cup was first run in 1872, and is considered one of the most reliable guides to the result of the Melbourne Cup. It also has a picnic horse-racing club, Geelong St Patricks Racing Club, which holds its one race meeting a year in February. Geelong Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack at Corio, and the Geelong Greyhound Racing Club holds regular meetings. Founded in 1882, the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club has 27 tennis courts and plays host to a number of tennis tournaments including the Davis Cup tie between Australia and China in 2012. The Eastern Beach foreshore and nearby Eastern Gardens regularly host internationally televised triathlons, and annual sports car and racing car events such as the Geelong Speed Trials. Corio Bay is also host to many sailing and yachting events. Geelong also has many golf courses, sporting and recreation ovals, and playing fields, as well as facilities for water skiing, rowing, fishing, hiking, and greyhound and harness racing. Geelong Athletics holds competitions during both the summer and winter, including high-profile events such as Victorian and sometimes national and international track and field meets. Geelong is home to Australia's largest indoor skate park, and has "more skate parks per capita than any other municipality in Australia." Geelong is also the birthplace of Bev Francis, an IFBB professional Australian female bodybuilder, powerlifter, and national shot put champion. The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, named in honor of the Tour de France winner and 2009 World Champion starts in the city. It then goes through Barwon Heads on the Bellarine Peninsula, passing by the famous surf beach of Bells Beach in Surf Coast Shire and continuing along the Great Ocean Road. The race then heads via rolling hills back to Geelong for three circuits of the city before a waterfront finish. The race generally suits "puncheurs" who are capable of getting into breakaways and can easily climb short, steep hills. The city's GMHBA Stadium hosted the first match of the 2022 Men's T20 cricket World Cup. Along with other cities in regional Victoria, Geelong was scheduled host the 2026 Commonwealth Games until they were cancelled. The Geelong Sharks compete in the state's Rugby League competition run by NRL Victoria. Public services. Education. Geelong is served by a number of public and private schools that cater to local and overseas students. Over 40,000 primary and secondary students are enrolled in schools in Geelong, with another 27,000 students enrolled in tertiary and further education programs. The first schools in Geelong were established when the town was settled from the 1850s, among them were the historic private schools The Geelong College and Geelong Grammar School. Geelong is also home to the oldest state secondary school in Victoria, Geelong High School, which has been serving the community since 1905, for over 100 years. The Gordon Memorial Technical College opened in 1888, and is known today as the Gordon Institute of TAFE. In 1976, the Gordon Institute was divided into two parts, with academic courses becoming part of the newly formed Deakin University based at the Waurn Ponds campus. Deakin University enrolled its first students at its Waurn Ponds campus in 1977. Today, the university is located on a 365-ha site at Waurn Ponds and has over 1,000 staff and over 4,000 on-campus students. The university also has a campus located on the waterfront of Corio Bay in the Geelong CBD, a campus in Burwood, Melbourne, and a campus in Warrnambool, in Western Victoria. From 2008 the campus at Waurn Ponds also has been home to Victoria's first regional medical school. Health. The major public health service is Barwon Health, which operates 21 separate health sites including University Hospital Geelong on Ryrie Street, and the McKellar Centre on Ballarat Road. Barwon Health services the entire region. The largest private hospital is the nearby St John of God Health Care centre on Myers Street. Prominent healthcare services include the Epworth Hospital located at 1 Epworth Place, Waurn Ponds VIC 3216., and Geelong Health (Geelong West). Utilities. Water storage and supply in Geelong is managed by Barwon Water, a Victoria government-owned urban water corporation. Geelong is supplied with water from three river systems: the Barwon, the East Moorabool, and the West Moorabool Rivers. The catchment areas are the Brisbane Ranges to Geelong's north-west, and the Otway Ranges to the south-west. The first water supplies to Geelong were from the Stony Creek reservoirs near Steiglitz, but, as of 2010, Geelong, together with Ballarat, consumes about 70% of the Moorabool River's water flow. Sewage from Geelong and district is treated at the Black Rock Treatment Plant at Breamlea and then discharged into Bass Strait. Geelong was first supplied with electricity in 1902 when the Geelong power station opened on the corner of Yarra and Brougham Streets. Later known as Geelong A, the power station was rebuilt in 1920 to increase the capacity, with the station continued operating until 1961. In 1936, Geelong was connected to the state electrical grid. The Geelong B power station at North Geelong opened in 1954, and was closed in 1970 due to the much higher efficiency of the power stations in the Latrobe Valley. The supply of piped coal gas in Geelong started in 1860 by the Geelong Gas Company. The gasworks were located in North Geelong next to the North Geelong railway station. Geelong was converted to natural gas in 1971, with the Geelong Gas Company being taken over by the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria on 30 June 1971. Transportation. The main form of transportation in Geelong is the automobile. Geelong is well-connected by roads to all of south-west Victoria, to Melbourne by a major-arterial the Princes Freeway (M1) with three or four lanes in each direction, to Warrnambool by the Princes Highway (A1), the Bellarine Peninsula by the Bellarine Highway (B110), Ballarat by the Midland Highway (A300), and to Hamilton by the Hamilton Highway (B140). The $380-million Geelong Ring Road (an extension of the Princes Freeway) bypasses the greater Geelong urban area exiting the Princes Highway near Corio to rejoin the highway at Waurn Ponds. The Lewis Bandt Bridge, named in honour of the Ford Australia engineer who is credited as the inventor of the ute (1934), in Geelong is a feature of the new road. Avalon Airport. Avalon Airport is located about to the north-east of the city of Geelong in the suburb of Avalon. It was established in 1953 for the production of military aircraft. It was also used for the repair of commercial aircraft, and for pilot training. Avalon Airport has also been home to low-cost airline Jetstar since 2004. Flights to Sydney use the airport and in June 2015, Jetstar announced it would fly to the Gold Coast daily from Avalon Airport commencing October 2015. Avalon Airport is the venue for 'Thunder Down Under' Australian International Airshow every other year. Avalon Airport had international flights with AirAsia X to and from Kuala Lumpur and Citilink to Denpasar but were cancelled during the pandemic. Rail. Geelong is a major hub for rail transport in Victoria, having frequent services to and from Melbourne, and being at the junction of the Port Fairy, Western standard gauge and the Geelong-Ballarat lines. Eight passenger railway stations are in the urban area, all along the Warrnambool line and served by V/Line trains. The Geelong line provides passenger services to Melbourne in the off-peak with trains departing Geelong every 20 minutes on weekdays, with more frequent services at peak times. According to V/Line, the Geelong line carries more passengers than any other regional rail line in Australia. None of the lines are electrified and all trains servicing Geelong are diesel powered. Geelong's currently operating stations include Little River, Lara, Corio, North Shore, North Geelong, Geelong, South Geelong, Marshall and Waurn Ponds. In the past, a rail line connected Geelong city to the Bellarine Peninsula through to Queenscliff, ceasing to operate as a regular passenger service in 1976. The Bellarine Railway operates a section of the line between Drysdale and Queenscliff as a tourist attraction. Passenger services run to Warrnambool three times daily, connecting Geelong with Colac, Terang, and Camperdown. Journey Beyond's "The Overland" service between Melbourne and Adelaide stops at the standard-gauge platform provided at North Shore station. It runs six days a week, with three services to Adelaide and three to Melbourne. Freight trains also operate from Melbourne to Geelong serving local industries, as well as to Warrnambool and other western Victorian towns. The main Melbourne-Adelaide standard-gauge line is a heavily used interstate freight route. Victoria's electronic ticketing system, Myki, was implemented on rail services between Marshall and Melbourne on 29 July 2013. The Victorian government is currently in process of land acquisition and inspection for a potential Torquay rail line which would service both Torquay and the Armstrong Creek growth corridor. Ports and ferry services. The Port of Geelong is located on the shores of Corio Bay, and is the sixth-largest seaport in Australia by tonnage. Major commodities include crude oil and petroleum products, export grain, woodchips, alumina imports, and fertiliser. The Bellarine Peninsula has been linked to the Mornington Peninsula since 1987 by the Searoad ferry, which runs every hour using two roll-on/roll-off ferries between Queenscliff and Sorrento Port Phillip Ferries began operating twice daily services between Portarlington and Melbourne Docklands in November 2016. Three years later overcrowding on trains led to a similar service being introduced from Geelong to Docklands. The services are popular with both tourists and commuters, providing an alternative access for Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula to Melbourne. The 36-metre-long catamaran ferries seat over 400 passengers, provide a comfortable vantage point to enjoy the sights of Port Phillip. The introduction of the Portarlington service led to a major revamp of the local pier, with pier extensions and a protective rock wall installed. On 23 October 2022 the Tasmanian ferry service, the Spirit of Tasmania, started operating from a new terminal in North Geelong rather than from Port Melbourne. Bus and taxi. A bus network covering the city centre and most surrounding suburbs provides public transport. Until June 2015 they were operated under the umbrella of the Geelong Transit System. Public Transport Victoria contracts CDC Geelong and McHarry's Buslines to provide Geelong's bus services and bus services to Torquay and the Bellarine Peninsula. V/Line services link Geelong with Ballarat, Daylesford, Bendigo, Apollo Bay, the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles and Warrnambool. Taxi services in Geelong are provided by Geelong Taxi Network, a newly formed depot following the effective merger of Bay City Cabs and Geelong Radio Cabs in July 2007. The majority of the network covers the city and suburban areas of the city, with "urban" classification for the vehicles in use. The Bellarine Peninsula, and Torquay areas, although part of Geelong Taxi Network, are both covered by separate "country" classification taxis. Often, disputes occur in regards to different taxis from one licence area, picking up work from either of the other two licence areas, which is illegal in most circumstances under current taxi regulations in Victoria. Call centre and radio dispatch services for the new combined network are provided by Silver Top Taxis in Melbourne. Cycling and walking. Geelong also has many kilometres of bicycle trails including the:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59039

Melaleuca

Melaleuca () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of "Leptospermum"). They range in size from small shrubs that rarely grow to more than high, to trees up to . Their flowers generally occur in groups, forming a "head" or "spike" resembling a brush used for cleaning bottles, containing up to 80 individual flowers. Melaleucas are an important food source for nectarivorous insects, birds, and mammals. Many are popular garden plants, either for their attractive flowers or as dense screens and a few have economic value for producing fencing and oils such as "tea tree" oil. Most melaleucas are endemic to Australia, with a few also occurring in Malesia. Seven are endemic to New Caledonia, and one is found only on Australia's Lord Howe Island. Melaleucas are found in a wide variety of habitats. Many are adapted for life in swamps and boggy places, while others thrive in the poorest of sandy soils or on the edge of saltpans. Some have a wide distribution and are common, whilst others are rare and endangered. Land clearing, exotic myrtle rust, and especially draining and clearing of swamps threaten many species. Description. Melaleucas range in size from small shrubs such as "M. aspalathoides" and "M. concinna" which rarely grow to more than high, to trees like "M. cajuputi" and "M. quinquenervia", which can reach . (One specimen of "M. cajuputi" reached a height of .) Many, like "M. lineariifolia", are known as paperbarks and have bark that can be peeled in thin sheets, whilst about 20% of the genus, including "M. bracteata", have hard, rough bark and another 20% have fibrous bark. Every species in the genus is an evergreen, and the leaves vary in size from minute and scale-like ("M. micromera") to long ("M. leucadendra"). Most have distinct oil glands dotted in the leaves, making the leaves aromatic, especially when crushed. Melaleuca flowers are usually arranged in spikes or heads. Within the head or spike, the flowers are often in groups of two or three, each flower or group having a papery bract at its base. Five sepals occur, although these are sometimes fused into a ring of tissue and five petals which are usually small, not showy, and fall off as the flower opens or soon after. The stamens vary greatly in colour, from white to cream or yellow, red, or mauve with their yellow tips (the anthers) contrasting with their "stalks" (filaments). The fruit are woody, cup-shaped, barrel-shaped, or almost spherical capsules, often arranged in clusters along the stems. The seeds are sometimes retained in the fruit for many years, only opening when the plant, or part of it, dies or is heated in a bushfire. In tropical areas, seeds are released annually in the wet season. Etymology. The name "Melaleuca" is derived from the Ancient Greek μέλας ("mélas") meaning "dark" or "black" and λευκός ("leukós") meaning "white", apparently because one of the first specimens described had fire-blackened white bark. The common name "tea tree" has been applied to species in the genera "Leptospermum", "Melaleuca", "Kunzea", and "Baeckea" because the sailors on the "Endeavour" used the leaves of a shrub from one of these groups as a replacement for tea ("Camellia sinensis)" during Captain James Cook's 1770 voyage to Australia. Taxonomy. The first known description of a "Melaleuca" species was written by Rumphius in 1741, in "Herbarium amboinense" before the present system of naming plants was written. The plant he called "Arbor alba" is now known as "Melaleuca leucadendra". The name "Melaleuca" was first used by Linnaeus in 1767. Many species previously known as "Metrosideros" were then placed in "Melaleuca". In Australia, "Melaleuca" is the third most diverse plant genus with up to 300 species. The genus "Callistemon" was raised by Robert Brown, who noted its similarity to "Melaleuca", distinguishing it only on the basis of whether the stamens are free of each other, or joined in bundles. Botanists in the past, including Ferdinand von Mueller and Lyndley Craven have proposed uniting the two genera but the matter is not decided. Evidence from DNA studies suggests that either "Callistemon" and some other genera be incorporated into "Melaleuca" or that at least 10 new genera be created from the present genus. In 2014, Lyndley Craven and others proposed, on the basis of DNA evidence and a lack of morphological support, that species in the genera "Beaufortia", "Calothamnus", "Conothamnus", "Eremaea", "Lamarchea", "Petraeomyrtus", "Phymatocarpus" and "Regelia" be transferred to "Melaleuca". The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew lists "Calothamnus" and the other genera as synonyms of the accepted genus "Melaleuca". The move has not been adopted by all Australian herbaria with some taxonomists, including Alex George opposing the move. Distribution and habitat. Most melaleucas occur naturally only on the Australian mainland. Eight occur in Tasmania, but only two are endemic to that island. One ("M. howeana") is endemic to Lord Howe Island and seven are endemic to Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. A few tropical species also occur in Papua New Guinea, and the distribution of one subspecies, "Melaleuca cajuputi" subsp. "cumingiana" extends as far north as Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The southwest of Western Australia has the greatest density of species, and in the tropical north of the continent, species such as "M. argentea" and "M. leucadendra" are the dominant species over large areas. Melaleucas grow in a range of soil types and many tolerate occasional or even permanent waterlogging. Some species, especially the South Australian swamp paperbark, "M. halmaturorum", thrive in saline soils where few other species survive. Many are fire tolerant, regenerating from epicormic buds or by coppicing, but no melaleucas occur in rainforest and few species occur in the arid zone. Ecology. Melaleucas are mostly pollinated by insects, including the introduced honey bee ("Apis mellifera"), flies, beetles, wasps and thrips. Birds such as lorikeets and honeyeaters as well as bats often visit the flowers and are probably also pollinators. Some species of "Melaleuca", especially "M. alternifolia", are cultivated for the production of tea tree oil, and in plantations are susceptible to a number of insect pests. The most significant of these is the chrysomelid "Paropsisterna tigrina", but other beetles, cutworm caterpillars ("Agrotis species"), psyllids, mole crickets ("Gryllotalpa"), and others cause significant damage. More than 100 species of insects are known to feed on melaleucas. Native stands have fewer predators, but tea tree sawfly ("Pterygophorus" species) and longicorn beetles are often found. The scale insect "Beesonia ferrugineus" forms round, fluffy-looking galls on branches of several "Melaleuca" species. Melaleucas are also susceptible to myrtle rust ("Puccinia psidii") which can result in damage to soft plant material and the death of highly susceptible hosts. Myrtle rust is common in eastern Australia, including Tasmania and has been detected in the Tiwi Islands. Invasive species. "Melaleuca quinquenervia" (broad-leaved paperbark) is the most damaging of 60 exotic species introduced to the Florida Everglades to help drain low-lying swampy areas. Introduced in the early 20th century, it has become a serious invasive species, with damaging effects including the displacement of native species, reduction in wildlife habitat, alteration of hydrology, modification of soil, and changes in fire regimes. Uses. Traditional Aboriginal uses. Aboriginal Australians used several species of "Melaleuca" to make rafts, as roofing for shelter, bandages, and food preparation. "Bee bread" and honey were collected from the hives of native stingless bees in melaleuca forests in the Northern Territory. The Bundjalung people traditionally lived in the area of north-eastern New South Wales where "Melaleuca alternifolia" is endemic, and they treated skin infections by crushing the leaves of that species over skin infections then covering the area with a warm mudpack. Essential oils. "Melaleuca alternifolia" is notable for its essential oil, which has antifungal and antibiotic properties in vitro, while it is safe for topical applications. Tea tree oil is toxic if ingested orally. The oil is produced on a commercial scale and marketed as tea tree oil. "Melaleuca cajuputi" is used to produce a similar oil, known as cajuput oil, which is used in Southeast Asia to treat a variety of infections and to add fragrance to food and soaps. Horticulture. Melaleucas are popular garden plants, both in Australia and other tropical areas worldwide. The first to be cultivated were grown in England from seed in 1771. Some melaleucas are commonly cultivated, grown as trees for parks and large gardens (such as "Melaleuca leucadendra") or as ornamentals (sometimes as "Callistemon") such as "M. citrina" ("Callistemon citrinus"), "M. hypericifolia" and "M. wilsonii". In popular culture. Tea trees (spelled "Ti-Trees") are specifically mentioned in the lyrics of a short aria 'Joy' published around 1916 by J.D.Fletcher & Co of London, by Australian composer Arthur Chanter (1866-1950).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59047

Albury

Albury (; ) is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the City of Albury. It is on the Victoria–New South Wales border. Albury has an urban population of 53,677 and is separated from its twin city in Victoria, Wodonga, by the Murray River. Together, the two cities form an urban area with a population of 97,793 in 2021. It is from the state capital Sydney and from the Victorian capital Melbourne. Said to be named after a village in England, Albury developed as a major transport link between New South Wales and Victoria and was proclaimed a city in 1946. History. The Wiradjuri people were the first known humans to occupy the area, (Wiradjuri northern dialect pronunciation [wiraːjd̪uːraj]) or Wirraayjuurray people (Wiradjuri southern dialect pronunciation [wiraːjɟuːraj]) are a group of Indigenous Australian Aboriginal people that were united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans scattered throughout central New South Wales. In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith. There are significant populations at Wagga Wagga and Leeton and smaller groups at West Wyalong, Parkes, Dubbo, Forbes, Cootamundra, Cowra and Young. European exploration. The explorers Hume and Hovell arrived at what their maps called 'Crossing Point', but is now known as the Murray River at Albury, on 16 November 1824. They named the river the "Hume River", after Hume's father, and the next day inscribed a tree by the river bank before continuing their journey south to Westernport in Victoria. In 1830, explorer Captain Charles Sturt discovered the Hume River downstream at its junction with the Murrumbidgee River. Not realising it was the same river, he named it the Murray River. Both names persisted for some time, Hume falling into disuse eventually in favour of Murray. The Aboriginal name for the river was "Millewa". A crossing place for the Murray became popular close to where Hovell inscribed the tree. In summer it was usually possible to cross the river by foot. English settlement. Among the first squatters to follow in the steps of the explorers and settle in the district were William Wyse and Charles Ebden. The first European buildings erected at the crossing place were a provisions store and some small huts. A survey for a town was commissioned in 1838 by Assistant Surveyor Thomas Townsend who mapped out Wodonga Place (the present Wodonga Place) as the western boundary, Hume Street as the northern boundary, Kiewa Street to the east and Nurigong Street to the south, with Townsend Street being the only other north–south road, and Ebden and Hovell Streets being the two other east–west roads. Townsend proposed the settlement be named 'Bungambrawatha ', the Aboriginal name for the area, but when his plan was eventually approved and published in the Government Gazette on 13 April 1839 the name had been changed to Albury. Albury is said to be named after a village in Kent, England which it apparently resembled, though that referenced publication seems incorrect since there is no Albury in Kent. More plausible is Albury in adjacent Surrey, straddling the Tillingbourne river and a significant 18th century site of mills and industry. Frontier town. By 1847 the Albury settlement included two public houses and a handful of huts, a police barracks and a blacksmiths. A log punt established in 1844 serviced the crossing of the Murray River. Albury Post Office opened on 1 April 1843, closed in 1845, then reopened in the township on 1 February 1847. In 1851, with the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, and the border falling on the Murray River, Albury found itself a frontier town. With an increase in commerce with Melbourne, the first bridge was built in 1860 to the design of surveyor William Snell Chauncy. Albury at this time became a customs post between the two colonies as New South Wales held a protectionist stance after gaining its constitution in 1856. Albury was at this time starting to grow substantially with German speaking immigrants using the area to grow grapes for wine. By the 1870s a butter factory was established, flour mill, wineries and locally brewed cider and soft drinks were available. The railway line from Sydney arrived at Albury in 1881 (see Transport-Rail below). A temporary wooden railway bridge joined the line to the Victorian network in 1883. New South Wales and Victoria had different track gauges until 1962, when the first train ran direct from Sydney to Melbourne. The two states could not initially agree which should be the transfer point so they had an expensive and attractive iron lattice bridge sent from Scotland which accommodated both gauges. In 1888, Albury built its first school house. The city's first mayor, James Fallon, was an innovator of the Public School, funding a demonstration High School to be built on Kiewa Street. Albury High School opened in Kiewa Street in 1927. 20th-century city. The "Royal Commission on Sites for the Seat of Government of the Commonwealth" report of 1903 recommended Albury (along with Tumut) as the preferred candidate for the national capital, though the proposal met staunch opposition from residents. At a public meeting, just one member of parliament voted in favour of Albury – Isaac Isaacs, member for Indi. The lack of support for other places ultimately led to the selection of Canberra as the preferred site. In 1934, a Douglas DC-2 airliner of KLM (the "Uiver"), a competitor in the MacRobertson Trophy Air Race (also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race), made an emergency night landing at the town's racecourse after becoming lost during severe thunderstorms. After signalling by Morse code A-L-B-U-R-Y to the lost aircrew by using the entire town's public lighting system, the "Uiver" was guided in to land safely. The makeshift runway at the racecourse was illuminated by the headlights of cars belonging to local residents who had responded to a special news bulletin on ABC radio station 2CO. After refuelling the next day, many local volunteers helped pull the stranded aircraft out of the mud and the aircraft was able to take off and continue to Melbourne where it won first prize in the race's handicap category and was second overall. Albury and Wodonga played a military role in World War II with the establishment of ordnance bases at Bandiana and Bonegilla. Proclaimed a city in 1946, Albury played a role in the post-war immigration to Australia with the establishment nearby of Australia's first migrant centre, the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre in 1947. Albury's proximity to Wodonga has spurred several efforts to achieve some kind of municipal governmental union (see Albury-Wodonga). In 1973, Albury-Wodonga was selected as the primary focus of the Whitlam federal government's scheme to redirect the uncontrolled growth of Australia's large coastal cities (Sydney and Melbourne in particular) by encouraging decentralisation. Grand plans were made to turn Albury-Wodonga into a major inland city and large areas of the surrounding farmland were compulsorily purchased by the government. Some industries were enticed to move there, and a certain amount of population movement resulted. However, the current urban population is approximately 92,200. Population. According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 47,974 people in the Albury part of the Albury – Wodonga Urban Centre. Geography. Albury is situated above the river flats of the Murray River, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. At the city's airport, Albury is above sea level. Climate. Albury has a warm, temperate climate, with cool, damp winters and very warm to hot, mostly dry, summers. Under the Köppen climate classification, Albury has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa"), but would have tendencies of a Mediterranean climate ("Csa") as well. In summer, the mean daily maximum temperature is with low humidity; however, this is subject to substantial daily variation. An average of 17 days with a maximum above occur in this summer period. Mean winter maxima are with many cloudy days, and is likewise the wettest season. Albury gets approximately 20 days per year featuring minima of below freezing, although the high cloud cover tends to limit frost. Sleet may occur during the winter months, but settling snowfalls are very rare. The highest temperature recorded at Albury was 46.1 °C on 4 January 2020, and the lowest temperature was −4.0 °C recorded on 8 August 1994 (both at the Airport AWS station). Albury's mean annual rainfall is , which is more than Melbourne but less than Sydney. Rainfall peaks distinctly in the winter months with a high mean of in July and August; comparing with the February low of . Albury has quite a high evaporation rate in summer, giving the environment a more arid look compared to drier cities like Melbourne (although Albury in winter has a much greener look). The city enjoys a high amount of sunshine, getting around 108 days of clear skies annually (with the vast majority in summer and autumn)—The sunniest month is January, with 14.6 clear days (and 7.7 cloudy days); and the cloudiest month is July, with 17.5 cloudy days (and only 3.9 clear days). Albury has cloudier winters than Melbourne, however is considerably sunnier in the warmer months. Albury Airport AWS (1993–2022). The airport is a more sheltered site than the reservoir, generally attaining greater maximum temperatures but also lower minima. Rainfall is lower across the board. Governance. Albury is the largest city in the Federal electorate of Farrer, whose current representative is Sussan Ley of the Liberal Party. The previous Federal MP was Tim Fischer, who was leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. In State politics, the Electoral district of Albury is currently represented by Justin Clancy, also of the Liberal Party. The member for Albury between 1932 and 1946, Alexander Mair, was the Premier of New South Wales from 1939 to 1941. Local government is the responsibility of the Albury City Council, whose area of responsibility has gradually been enlarged to cover new housing estates on the city's fringes. Amanda Duncan-Strelec became Albury's first female Mayor in 1995, serving for one year. The current Mayor of Albury is Kylie King. Albury has a longstanding connection to conservative politics. Following the first convention in Canberra to form the Liberal Party of Australia, delegates, including Sir Robert Menzies, met for a second conference in Albury at Mate's Department Store between 14 and 16 December 1944. The delegates agreed on the structure of the party organisation, adopted a provisional constitution and appointed a federal executive until one could be formally elected. City and suburbs. The city has a number of suburbs. Central Albury comprises the central business district (CBD) and lies between the railway line, the Murray River and Monument Hill. Much commercial activity is concentrated here, with Dean Street forming the axis of the main shopping and office district. A cultural precinct is centred on QEII Square, which includes the Albury Library Museum, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), Albury Entertainment Centre and Convention Centre, and the Murray Conservatorium. In the same block are the Post Office, Police Station and Courthouse, and St Matthew's Anglican Church (which was rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in 1990). The Albury City Council offices are located on Kiewa Street. Forrest Hill lies directly north west and covers the saddle between Monument Hill and Nail Can Hill. West over the ridge lies West Albury. West Albury is primarily a residential area, but it is home to the First World War Memorial (locally known as the Monument), Riverwood Retirement Village, Albury Wodonga Private Hospital (which lies on the corner of Pemberton Street and the Riverina Highway), and the Albury sewage treatment plant. All of West Albury was once wetland and bush. The only remnant of this is Horseshoe Lagoon to the south-west of the suburb, which has been declared a Wildlife Refuge by NSW Parks & Wildlife and incorporated into the Wonga Wetlands. To the north-west of West Albury is Pemberton Park. East Albury lies east of the railway line/freeway from the CBD and houses now cover the eastern hill alongside the Albury Base Hospital, while the flat land directly north of it is covered by parkland, housing and light industry, and a retail park including Harvey Norman and Spotlight franchises, as well as the city airport. The Mungabareena Reserve lies on the Murray south of the airport, and is considered an Aboriginal cultural site of some significance. Mungabareena means "place of plenty talk" in the Wiradjuri language. South Albury is a mix of residential and industrial areas, with the floodplains south of the railway line and freeway still used for farming and grazing. Flood mitigation works in the 1990s have dramatically reduced the risk of flooding in this area. North Albury was covered by orchards and vineyards in the first half of the 20th century, and a swamp existed where James Fallon High School now stands. After the World War II, housing development in the area increased and Waugh Road was extended from David Street to the "Five Ways" intersection at Union Road, which ascribes the border between North Albury and Lavington. The locality of "Glenroy" is adjacent to North Albury, west of the Bungambrawartha Creek, and housing was developed here in the 1970s, including a significant Housing Commission public housing estate. Lavington is the largest suburb of Albury, and the only suburb which has its own postcode (2641, as opposed to 2640 for the balance of Albury). The suburb was originally named Black Range in the 1850s and 1860s, before being renamed Lavington in 1910. Originally within the boundaries of Hume Shire, it was absorbed into the City of Albury Local Government Area in the 1950s. Housing and commercial development has continued from that point until this day. Prior to 2007, the Hume Highway – passed north-east through the suburb, with Urana Road passing north-west through the suburb from the "Five Ways" road junction. In 2007, an internal bypass of the Hume Freeway was opened, with the former name of the Hume Highway section officially reverting to the commonly used "Wagga Road". The suburb of Lavington also includes the localities of Springdale Heights, Hamilton Valley and Norris Park. Albury's lawn cemetery and crematorium lies at the western end of Union Road. Thurgoona, to the east of Lavington, was established as a new residential suburb by the Albury Wodonga Development Corporation in the 1970s. In the 1990s a new campus of Charles Sturt University was established here, as was an office of the Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre. A major golf club (Thurgoona Country Club Resort) is also situated in this suburb. Further outlying localities include Splitters Creek – a small residential/farming community to the west, Ettamogah (home of the Ettamogah Pub), Bowna and Table Top to the north, and Wirlinga and Lake Hume village to the east. Howlong (20 km west) and Jindera (16 km north) are the closest towns outside the Albury city area, and act as commuter dormitories as well as service centres for the local rural industries. Albury's houses and buildings are numbered using a special system introduced in 1920. The centre of the city, which is defined as the intersection of Dean and Olive Streets, is numbered 500, and all other houses are numbered depending on whether they are north, south, east or west of the centre. Lake Hume. Lake Hume is situated on the Murray River upstream of Albury. The Hume Dam (colloquially termed the Weir locally) wall construction took 17 years, from 1919 to 1936. A hydro-electric power plant supplies 60 MW of power to the state grid. When full, the lake covers . The lake was created for irrigation purposes and has caused significant changes to the flow patterns and ecology of the Murray River. Before the construction of the Hume Weir, flows in normal (non-drought) years were low in summer and autumn (though still significant overall), rising in winter due to seasonal rainfall and reaching a flood-peak in late spring due to snow-melt in the Murray and its tributaries' alpine headwaters. The flow is now effectively reversed, with low flows in winter and sustained, relatively high flows in late spring, summer and early autumn to meet irrigation demands, although the spring flood peak has been virtually eliminated. The water released from the base of the Hume Weir is unnaturally cold, at least colder than it naturally should be. This flow reversal, temperature depression, and removal of the spring flood peak, has led to the drying out and loss of many billabongs and has harmed the populations of native fish of the Murray River such as the iconic Murray Cod. Flora and fauna. Several threatened species can be found in Albury, including the Sloane's froglet, Regent Honeyeater, and Squirrel Glider (Petaurus norfolcensis). Transport. Road. Situated on the old Hume Highway, Albury is a major transit point for interstate commerce. In March 2007, Albury was bypassed by a new section of the Hume Freeway. The new freeway includes the new Spirit of Progress Bridge over the Murray River and cost $518 million, the most expensive road project ever built in regional Australia at that time. The other minor highways which connect to Albury are the Riverina Highway, which continues west through Berrigan to Deniliquin and east to Lake Hume; and the Olympic Highway which diverges left from the Hume north of Albury, into the centre of NSW, passing through Wagga Wagga and terminating with the Mid-Western Highway at Cowra. In 1888, the Smollett Street wrought iron arch bridge was constructed over Bungambrawatha Creek. Smollet Street was extended westward through the botanical gardens to give direct access from Albury railway station to Howlong Road by a straight street. The bridge is near the botanic gardens and the local swimming pool. The bridge is a rare example of a metal arch bridge in New South Wales, and is the oldest of only two such bridges in New South Wales, the other being the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Rail. Albury railway station is on the main Sydney-Melbourne railway line. Originally, New South Wales and Victoria had different track gauges, which meant that all travellers in either direction had to change trains at Albury. To accommodate this, a very long railway platform was needed; the long covered platform is one of the longest in Australia. The broad gauge section of track between Seymour and Albury has now been converted to standard gauge; there is no longer a break-of-gauge at Albury station. The station is served by a three daily V/Line train services from Melbourne (terminating at Albury) and the NSW TrainLink Melbourne-Sydney XPT service, which runs twice daily in each direction. In 1873, the broad gauge railway line from Melbourne reached the township of Belvoir/Wodonga. In 1881, the New South Wales standard gauge railway line reached Albury, with a railway bridge joining the two colonies in 1883. Albury became the stop over, where passengers on the Melbourne-Sydney journey changed trains until 1962, when a standard gauge track was opened between the two capitals. After World War II, in an attempt to overcome the difference in gauges and speed up traffic, a bogie exchange device lifted freight wagons and carriages allowing workers to refit rolling stock with different gauged wheel-sets. The break of railway gauge at Albury was a major impediment to Australia's war effort and infrastructure during both World Wars, as every soldier, every item of equipment, and all supplies had to be off-loaded from the broad gauge and reloaded onto a standard gauge railway wagon on the opposite side of the platform. In his book "Tramps Abroad", writer Mark Twain in 1895 wrote of the break of gauge at Albury and changing trains: ""Now comes a singular thing, the oddest thing, the strangest thing, the most unaccountable marvel that Australia can show. At the frontier between NSW and Victoria our multitude of passengers were routed out of their snug beds by lantern light in the morning in the biting cold to change cars. Think of the paralysis of intellect that gave that idea birth, imagine the boulder it emerged from, on some petrified legislator's shoulders." During World War II military armouries and warehouses were established in the vicinity of Albury at Bonegilla, Wirlinga and Bandiana. Similar stores were also established at Tocumwal and Oaklands. The conversion of the broad gauge track to a second standard gauge track, between Seymour and Albury, was substantially completed in 2011. The railway station and its associated yards are listed on both the Australian National Heritage List and the New South Wales State Heritage Register. Air. Albury Airport, owned and operated by the City of Albury, is the second busiest regional airport in New South Wales with around 280,000 passenger movements per year. The airport, east of the city centre, has scheduled daily flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane through commercial carriers. The road leading from Albury Airport to the city was renamed Borella Road in 1979, in honour of Victoria Cross recipient Albert Chalmers Borella, who was buried at Albury. Public transport and cycling. Local public transport is provided exclusively by private bus operators, Martin's Albury and Dysons who run day time bus services. The overwhelming majority of local transport is by private car, however traffic is generally moderate. The opening of the Hume Freeway bypass on 4 March 2007, has greatly eased previous traffic congestion on the Lincoln Causeway, allowing vastly better flow between Albury and Wodonga. There is a good network of bicycle paths in the city, including one to the outlying suburb of Thurgoona and across the state border to Wodonga. A new program has built many more bike tracks, including one from the riverside parks to Wonga Wetlands. Industry. Albury serves as an administrative centre for the agricultural communities around the area, and the city is the home of the Norske Skog newsprint paper mill which processes the pine logs planted in the mountains to the east, a major processing centre of the Australian Taxation Office, and many other smaller secondary industries. Other large employers are: The Commercial Club Albury and Hume Bank. One of Albury's major employers was DSI Holdings. Originally the Kaitlers Road facility was opened as an expansion for Borg-Warner in 1971, manufacturing gearboxes for various manufacturers including Ford, Holden and even Maserati. At its peak in 1982 it employed 1251 people. The ownership of the plant changed several times – it was sold in 1987 to Nylex. It was sold again in 2002 to ION Ltd but the company collapsed in 2004 with debt to creditors of $550 million. Due to a failed deal with Holden the workforce was reduced to 750 people. Chinese car manufacturer Geely Group then purchased the bankrupt DSI company for $48 million in March 2009 and the plant then exported automatic transmissions to Geely, Ssangyong and Mahindra. In 2014 DSI Holdings closed the Lavington factory resulting in the loss of the remaining 142 jobs. The Australian pizza chain Eagle Boys was founded in Albury but ceased operations in 2017 when it was purchased by Pizza Hut. The Hume Power Station is a hydro-electric power station located at the Hume Dam on the Murray River, near Albury. The power station is operated by Eraring Energy and has two 29 MW turbines. Tourism. The region surrounding Albury provides a variety of tourist attractions, including the wine region centred on Rutherglen, the historic goldfield towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah, boating, fishing and canoe hire on the many rivers and lakes, including Lake Hume, the forests and mountains of the Great Dividing Range and slightly further afield the snowfields Falls Creek and Mount Hotham. Within the city of Albury itself, Monument Hill, at the western end of the CBD is the location of the city's distinctive First World War Memorial and provides a good view of the city. Wonga Wetlands, west of the city and adjacent to the River Murray is a key feature of Albury's use of treated wastewater and consists of a series of lagoons and billabongs. Wonga Wetlands boasts more than 150 species of birdlife and is home to the Aquatic Environment Education Centre. The Hume and Hovell Walking Track, that begins in Yass and follows the route of explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell on their 1824 expedition to Port Phillip, ends at the Hovell Tree in South Albury. Education. Albury is home to one of the campuses of Charles Sturt University. The original Albury campus was located in the northern part of the CBD between Kiewa and David streets. Charles Sturt University relocated to a new purpose-built campus at Thurgoona in 2009. CSU offers courses in Arts, Business, Education and Science. The Albury-Wodonga campus of La Trobe University is also a large and growing educational institution with several thousand undergraduates and postgraduates in its two colleges. Degrees in Business, Arts, Science, Bioscience, Nursing, and various Allied Health disciplines, are available.Riverina Institute of TAFE operates a campus in Albury. There is also a campus of the UNSW Rural Clinical School of Medicine adjacent to the Albury Base Hospital. Albury is home to nine public primary schools (Albury Public School, Albury North Public School, Albury West Public School, Glenroy Public School, Hume Public School, Lavington Public School, Lavington East Public School, Springdale Heights Public School, and Thurgoona Public School) and three public high schools (Albury High School, James Fallon High School and Murray High School). Several non-government high schools operate in the area including Trinity Anglican College, Xavier High School, The Scots School Albury, Border Christian College, Aspect Riverina school, and St Paul's College. The city is the base for NSW Department of Education South West Riverina regional office. Culture. HotHouse Theatre is Albury's only professional theatre company, previously known as the Murray River Performance Group which formed in 1979. It spawned The Flying Fruit Fly Circus in 1979, and these days conducts many productions through the HotHouse Theatre located on Gateway Island between Albury and Wodonga, though still in Victoria rather than New South Wales. Albury is home to a large number of amateur theatre companies presenting productions ranging from plays in intimate settings to major musicals in the Albury Entertainment Centre and Shakespeare and other events in the Albury Botanic Gardens. The oldest theatre company in Albury is the Albury Wodonga Theatre Company and its associated youth theatre company BYTESized Productions often presenting shows in its small theatre in Olive St, South Albury . Other companies and organisations producing theatre in Albury Wodonga are Livid Productions, The Other Theatre Company, Revolution Theatre, and Centre Stage Event Company. Jazz Albury Wodonga also regularly hosts national and international artists at the Jazz Basement which is located on Gateway Island. Touring productions and major music acts often perform at the Albury Entertainment Centre. Regent Cinemas on Dean Street have operated since 1929. In 2015 Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) was opened, formerly known as Albury Regional Arts Centre. The art museum has 10 galleries with double the space of the former art centre. Canvas Eatery is also attached to MAMA, facing onto Queen Elizabeth II Square. In 2003, a sister city relationship with Nanping in north western Fujian province, China, was formalised. Media. Print. Albury serves as a regional media centre. A daily tabloid owned by Nine Entertainment, The "Border Mail", is printed in, and has offices in, Wodonga. Television. Albury has access to all major TV networks, with channels available including Seven, WIN Television (an affiliate of the Nine Network), Southern Cross 10 (an affiliate of Network 10), as well as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service, more commonly known as SBS. Of the three main commercial networks, Seven airs a half-hour local news bulletin at 6 pm each weeknight, produced from a newsroom in the city but broadcast from studios in Canberra. Southern Cross 10 airs the Victorian edition of 10 News First from Melbourne each weeknight at 5 pm, featuring opt-outs for Albury–Wodonga, Echuca–Moama, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Border, Goulburn Valley, North and North East. WIN Television broadcasts a half-hour state-wide regional WIN News bulletin each weeknight at 5:30 pm, produced from studios in Wollongong. Previously a local edition was produced by WIN until the closure of its Albury newsroom in June 2019. On 5 May 2011, analogue television transmissions ceased in most areas of regional Victoria and some border regions including Albury–Wodonga. All local free-to-air television services are now broadcasting in digital transmission only. This was done as part of the Federal Government's plan for Digital terrestrial television in Australia where all analogue transmission systems are gradually turned off and replaced with modern DVB-T transmission systems. Radio. There are three commercial radio stations in Albury – 2AY on 1494 AM, Triple M The Border on 105.7 FM and Hit The Border on 104.9 FM. Hit 104.9 The Border's south eastern network is programmed out of the Albury/Wodonga Hub, going to centres in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Broadcasting out of the same building is Triple M 105.7 The Border, which is also networked to local stations around the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Albury/Wodonga is one radio market, thus advertisements are directed to both sides of the border. The Albury/Wodonga market underwent significant change in 2005 when Macquarie Southern Cross Media bought 105.7 The River from RG Capital, and 2AY and Star FM from DMG Radio Australia. Due to cross-media ownership laws preventing the ownership of more than two stations in one market, Macquarie was required to sell one of these stations and in September 2005 sold 2AY to the Ace Radio network. 2AY takes much of its daytime and evening programming from 3AW in Melbourne. The ABC produces breakfast and morning radio programs through its local radio network, from the studios of ABC Goulburn Murray, 106.5 FM, located in Wodonga. Most of the rest its programming content is delivered from Melbourne. The ABC also has local transmitters for ABC Radio National, 990 AM; ABC News Radio, 100.9 FM; ABC Classic, 104.1 FM and Triple J, 103.3 FM There is also a community radio station known as 2REM 107.3 FM. The Albury Wodonga Community Radio station broadcasts a large number of speciality programs including those for the retiree, racing enthusiast, ethnic and Aboriginal communities and a range of musical styles including underground and independent artists from 8:00 pm onwards. Sky Radio is a sports and racing station that can be heard on 99.3 FM In addition, the area is serviced by SBS Radio and Niche Radio, which provide national multicutural stations. SBS Radio 1 is available on 1701 AM, SBS Radio 2 is available on 89.5 FM, while Niche Radio broadcasts on 87.6 FM. 2APH 101.7 FM is a reading for the print handicapped station. Wodonga TAFE's broadcasting training station, 88.4 Wodonga Community Radio, also serves the area. Albury-Wodonga Christian Broadcasters transmits as 98.5 The Light. Other religious stations include Faith FM that broadcasts on 88.0 and Vision Christian Radio that airs on 1611 AM. The dance music station Raw FM airs on 107.9 Sport. Despite being located in New South Wales, Albury is a stronghold of Australian rules. There are five Australian rules clubs in Albury, the Albury Football Club, the Lavington Panthers Football Club, the Murray Magpies Football Club, the North Albury Football Club, and the Thurgoona Football Club. Albury, Lavington Panthers and North Albury compete in the Ovens & Murray Football League, while the Murray Magpies compete in the Hume Football League and Thurgoona compete in the Tallangatta & District Football League. The local Ovens & Murray Football League is one of the strongest regional leagues in the nation, with the Oven's & Murray Grand Final regularly drawing 15,000 spectators. Many players from Albury have moved on to play in the Australian Football League, including Haydn Bunton Senior, who won three Brownlow Medals and was an inaugural "legend" of the Australian Football Hall of Fame; Fitzroy 1936 Brownlow medallist Denis "Dinny" Ryan; and South Melbourne Brownlow medallist Fred Goldsmith. Albury also has three senior rugby league teams, the Albury Thunder, competing in the Group 9 Rugby League competition as well as the Murray River Warriors and CSU Mud Dogs who compete in the Murray Cup run under the banners of the New South Wales Rugby League and Victoria Rugby League. Albury Thunder Juniors is one of the largest junior rugby league clubs outside of metropolitan areas. Albury Thunder Juniors offer rugby league and league tag to the border's young men and women from 5 years to 16 years. Football is also a very popular code with more than 2,500 players registered from twelve local clubs (six from Albury) competing in the Albury Wodonga Football Association. Clubs have teams from U10s through to Senior Men and Women and play on Sundays with MiniRoos providing Football for ages 4–12 on Saturdays. Since 2016, Murray United Football Club, a team encompassing Albury, Wodonga and the wider region, has been competing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the highest level of Football in the area. On 9 February 2014, Melbourne City (then known as Melbourne Heart) triumphed 2–1 against Perth Glory in scorching conditions, where the temperature got as high as 41 °C, at the Lavington Sports Ground. In the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the Lavington Sports Ground hosted Albury's only international cricket match. It was a One Day International in which Zimbabwe defeated England in the biggest upset of the tournament. The Albury-Wodonga Steamers are the local rugby union club, playing in the Southern Inland Rugby Union competition. The Steamers have produced several players for the Australian Rugby Union National Talent Squad. The Albury Wodonga Bandits compete in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) East Conference of the Australian Basketball Association (ABA), playing their home games at the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre (previously known as the Albury Sports Stadium). The Lady Bandits joined the women's SEABL in 2006. The Albury Gold Cup horse race is the major autumn event for the district. In 2005, it attracted a record crowd in excess of 18,600 racegoers. Albury has lately become a stronghold of junior hockey, boasting one of the few synthetic fields in the area. The town also has the Albury Grass Tennis Courts. Supercars Championship team Brad Jones Racing is based in Albury, making it the only team in the championship to have its workshop in New South Wales. Albury is the birthplace of tennis player Margaret Court, winner of 62 Women's Grand Slam titles including eleven Australian titles, four Grand Slam singles titles played in one year (1970), four mixed doubles titles with Ken Fletcher in 1963 and many other titles around the world. WNBA MVP winner Lauren Jackson, NRL Player Adrian Purtell, and test cricketer Steve Rixon are among other champion sports people from the area. Notable crime. Albury's most notorious crime is also one of Australia's most famous, the 'Pyjama Girl Murder' in 1934. Other notable crimes include the murders of Bronwynne Richardson who was abducted on Smollett Street on 12 October 1973. Her body was found in Horseshoe Lagoon two days later. The case has never been solved despite a coronial inquest in 2011 which resulted in an arrest. In another case, on 23 March 1996, Kim Meredith was murdered in Macauley Street while walking from Sodens Hotel to the Termo Hotel. A memorial to Kim was later placed in Queen Elizabeth II Square by the citizens of Albury. Heritage listings. The following buildings, structures, and ephemera in Albury are listed in various heritage registers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59049

Wodonga

Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga LGA and is separated from its twin city in New South Wales, Albury, by the Murray River. As of 2021 Wodonga has a population of 20,259 and combined with Albury, the two cities form the urban area Albury-Wodonga with a population of 97,793. There are multiple suburbs of Wodonga including Bandiana, Baranduda, Barnawartha, Bonegilla, Ebden, Huon Creek, Killara, Leneva and Staghorn. Wodonga produces a gross domestic product of $2.5 billion per year on average. History. Founded as a customs post with its twin city Albury on the other side of the Murray River, the town grew subsequent to the opening of the first bridge across the Murray in 1860. Originally named Wodonga, its name was changed to Belvoir then later back to Wodonga. The Post Office opened 1 June 1856 although known as Belvoir until 26 July 1869. It had previously been regarded as the smaller, less prosperous cousin of the two. Whilst still somewhat smaller than Albury, economic growth in both areas has ameliorated such distinctions. The local Indigenous Waywurru name for the area, "Wordonga", refers to an edible plant or nut found in lagoons. Government and politics. Wodonga is in the federal Division of Indi. Independent MP Helen Haines has represented Indi since the 2019 Australian federal election. Indi was held by the Liberal-National Coalition from 1931 until the 2013 Australian federal election when it was won by independent Cathy McGowan. When Helen Haines won the seat in 2019, succeeding Cathy McGowan, it was the first time in Australian history that one independent had succeeded another. Wodonga is in the Victorian Electoral district of Benambra. Bill Tilley of the Liberal Party has represented the electoral district of Benambra since the 2006 Victorian state election. Benambra has been held by the Liberal-National Coalition since the 1932 Benambra by-election, and has never been held by the Labor Party. In the 2018 and 2022 Victorian elections, the seat became a close race between Bill Tilley and independent candidate Jacqui Hawkins, with Tilley narrowly retaining the seat. Wodonga is the largest population centre in both Indi and Benambra. The local government area covering Wodonga is City of Wodonga, and as of 2023 the current Mayor is Ron Mildren (independent). Culture. Much of the arts and theatrical activity in the region is conducted in a cross-border fashion; for instance HotHouse Theatre is located almost equidistant from the Wodonga and Albury city centres. Wodonga is served by the Apex Club of Wodonga, the Wodonga Lions Club and two Rotary Clubs – Belvoir Wodonga and Wodonga. Community Service is important to the Wodonga Community and activities such as the cities Australia Day Celebrations, Christmas Carols and the display of Santa's throughout the City over the festive season would not be possible without community service clubs. Recently Apexian Dean Freeman was awarded National Apexian of the Year for community service efforts throughout the area and overseas. Popular culture. Leonard Hubbard recorded the song "Wodonga" in 1924. The World's Biggest Rolling Pin (listed in the Guinness Book of World Records) is located in Wodonga, atop "Henri's Bakery". Sports. Like much of country Victoria, Wodonga has a large and valued sporting culture. There are many sporting grounds in, and around, the area, and they are often frequented by the public in a social manner, when not being used for organised sport. There are three Australian rules football clubs in Wodonga, the Wodonga Football Club, the Wodonga Raiders Football Club and the Wodonga Saints Football Club. Wodonga and Wodonga Raiders compete in the Ovens & Murray Football League, while the Wodonga Saints compete in the Tallangatta & District Football League. There are many other sporting clubs in the region. Brisbane Lions dual-premiership player Daniel Bradshaw and celebrated St. Kilda forward Fraser Gehrig are originally from Wodonga. Wodonga is also home to a number of cricket clubs which compete in the Cricket Albury Wodonga (CAW) competition. These include the Belvoir Eagles, Wodonga Bulldogs and Wodonga Raiders. Cyclists are catered for by the Albury Wodonga Cycling Club. The Albury Wodonga Cycling Club holds club races most weekends, is part of the Riverina Interclub and hosts the annual John Woodman Memorial Wagga to Albury Cycling Classic. Golfers play the course at SS&A Wodonga on Parkers Road. Wodonga has two rugby league clubs called the Wodonga Wombats and Bonegilla Gorillas that play in the Murray Cup. Former clubs include the Wodonga Storm and Wodonga Bears, both of whom were involved in Victorian Rugby League competitions. Australian Socceroos Archie Thompson and Joshua Kennedy played for soccer team Twin City Wanderers as children. Wodonga Diamonds Football Club and Wodonga Heart Football Club are two other soccer clubs based in Wodonga. All three clubs compete in the Albury Wodonga Football Association, in which Wodonga Diamonds helped establish and is historically the most dominant club. In early 2014, a new club representing the region and playing its games in Wodonga was founded as Murray United F.C. Murray United's senior structure has since ceased to exists, and now the club only fields junior teams throughout various tiers of Junior NPL. Wodonga's Tennis Centre is the largest inland tennis complex in Australia and incorporates not only tennis but also croquet and lawn bowls. The centre has 32 natural grass courts, 8 synthetic grass courts with lights for night use, and 10 plexicushion courts with lights for night use. Wodonga has a horse racing club, the Wodonga & District Turf Club, which schedules around seven race meetings a year including the Wodonga Cup meeting in November. Wodonga also has a BMX club, which is situated in a complex near the home ground of local AFL team, Wodonga Raiders. Wodonga has a radio-controlled car site with both on-road and off-road tracks on the Lincoln Causeway. Climate. The city gets around 125.1 clear days annually, largely in summer and autumn. Winters are cloudy and damp. Economy and infrastructure. Industry. Major secondary industries based in Wodonga include a logistics distributions hub (LOGIC), a large cattle market, a pet food factory (Mars Petcare), a can factory (Visy), a cardboard box factory (Visy Board), a hydraulic hose manufacturer (Parker Hannifin), an abattoir, a foundry (Bradken), a polypropylene film manufacturer (Taghleef Industries (formerly Shorko) a concrete pipe & pole manufacturer (Rocla) and a transformer manufacturer (Wilson Transformer Company) as well as a variety of other smaller enterprises. It also serves as a central point for the delivery of government services to the surrounding region. It houses the Australian corporate headquarters for Mars. Wodonga is the site of an Australian Army logistics base and a training centre for Army technical apprentices, the Army Logistic Training Centre, which is based at Latchford Barracks and Gaza Ridge Barracks. It is also the home of a campus of La Trobe University and Wodonga Institute of TAFE. Several experiments in cross-border governance in an attempt to bring the cities of Albury and Wodonga together have been tried. (See Albury-Wodonga for details.) v2food is set to open a manufacturing plant, the will use locally-grown ingredients, in Wodonga in the second quarter of 2020. Media. Print. A daily tabloid owned by Australian Community Media, the "Border Mail", is printed in Wodonga. The Border Mail has offices in both Albury and Wodonga. Television. Wodonga is part of the Albury-Wodonga/Murray/North-East Victoria television market and has access to all major TV networks. Channels available include Channel 7 (formerly Prime7 and part of the Seven Network), WIN Television (part of the Nine Network), Southern Cross 10 (part of Network 10), as well as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service, more commonly known as SBS. Several of these networks also offer additional digital-only channels, including ABC TV Plus, ABC Me, ABC News, SBS Viceland, 7two, 7mate, 10 Bold, 10 Peach, 10 Shake, Sky News Regional, 9Gem, 9Go! and 9Life. Two television news bulletins featuring local content are offered in Albury–Wodonga and the surrounding region. The Seven Network (formerly Prime7) broadcasts its bulletin live at 6.00pm from studios in Canberra. WIN Television's bulletin is produced in Ballarat but features Albury–Wodonga region based content, and airs on delay at 6.30pm. Southern Cross Austereo also provides short local news updates which are produced in Hobart, Tasmania, however, these do not feature significant local content from the Albury–Wodonga region. Radio. There are three commercial radio stations broadcasting into Wodonga that are based over the border in Albury, namely 1494 2AY, Triple M The Border FM 105.7, and Hit104.9 The Border. Notably, Hit FM south eastern network is programmed out of the Albury/Wodonga Hub, going to centres around New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and into South Australia. Broadcast out of the same building as Triple M The Border, which is also networked to local stations around New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Albury/Wodonga is one radio market, thus advertisements are directed to both sides of the border. The Albury/Wodonga market underwent significant change in 2005 when Macquarie Southern Cross Media bought 105.7 The River from RG Capital, and 2AY and Star FM from the DMG Radio Australia. Due to cross-media ownership laws preventing the ownership of more than two stations in one market, Macquarie was required to sell one of these stations and in September 2005 sold 2AY to the Ace Radio network. 2AY takes its night time programming from Nine Radio. Commercial radio stations from Wangaratta (3NE, Edge FM) can also be received in most parts of Wodonga. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation produces breakfast and morning radio programs through its local radio network, from the studios of ABC Goulburn Murray located in Wodonga on 106.5FM. The rest of its content is delivered from Melbourne. The ABC also deliver Radio National on 990 AM, ABC Classic on 104.1 FM, ABC NewsRadio on 100.9 FM and Triple J on 103.3 FM. There is also a community radio station known as 2REM 107.3 FM. The Albury-Wodonga Community Radio station plays a large number of speciality programs including those for the retiree, ethnic and aboriginal communities throughout the day and a range of musical styles including underground and independent artists from 8:00pm onwards. In addition, the area is serviced by a Radio for the Print Handicapped station, 2APH, on 101.7 FM. Other stations include the Albury–Wodonga Christian Broadcasters' 98.5 The Light, and the dance formatted narrowcaster RawFM on 87.6 FM. Transport. Wodonga railway station lies on the North East railway line. A new line was officially opened in late 2010 bypassing the Wodonga CBD, for which the town held a celebratory day for the last commercial passenger train to pass through the town centre. This line took the rail network away from the centre of town (and removed the level crossing), and instead a new station was built and the rail is now on a bridge over to Albury. Wodonga is on the junction of the Hume Highway (the main route from Melbourne to Sydney) and the Murray Valley Highway (which follows the southern bank of the Murray River). Local public transport is provided by Dysons (which took over Mylon Motorways) who run buses on a number of routes both within Wodonga and to Albury. Bus services are generally quite infrequent and public transport use in Wodonga is very low. There are also long-distance bus services to the capitals. There is a comprehensive network of bicycle paths in Wodonga, including one across the Lincoln Causeway to Albury. Albury Airport, which provides scheduled commuter flights to Melbourne and Sydney, is a short drive from Wodonga. Education. From 2006, the three government high schools have merged to form a senior college for Years 10, 11 and 12, known as Wodonga Senior Secondary College, and a school for Years 7, 8 and 9, known as Wodonga Middle Years College, on two campuses; Felltimber and Huon Campus. The former 3 public high schools in Wodonga were Wodonga High School, Mitchell Secondary College and Wodonga West Secondary College. Wodonga High School celebrated its 50th birthday in 2005. Private schools in Wodonga include: Catholic College Wodonga, Trinity Anglican College, Victory Lutheran College, Mount Carmel Christian School, St Augustines Primary School, St Monicas Primary School and St Francis of Assisi Primary School (formerly Frayne College). Higher education is locally served by the Wodonga Institute of TAFE and La Trobe University. The regional Albury–Wodonga campus of La Trobe University was established in 1991 and provides courses in education, health sciences, biology, and business. The Albury-based campuses of Charles Stuart University, TAFE NSW and the University of New South Wales Rural Clinical School of Medicine are also closely located to Wodonga. Wodonga is also home to the Flying Fruit Fly Circus School, the educational arm of The Flying Fruit Fly Circus, that provides educational services with an emphasis on the performing arts and contemporary circus training. In 2003 a devastating fire destroyed the school's facilities at, then Wodonga High School, and the school relocated to Wodonga West Secondary College (now Wodonga Middle Years College Felltimber Campus).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59051

Queensland

Queensland ( ) is a state situated in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous of the Australian states. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, southwest and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean; to its north is the Torres Strait, separating the Australian mainland from Papua New Guinea. With an area of , Queensland is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity; it is larger than all but 15 countries. Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, including tropical rainforests, rivers, coral reefs, mountain ranges and sandy beaches in its tropical and sub-tropical coastal regions, as well as deserts and savanna in the semi-arid and desert climatic regions of its interior. Queensland has a population of over 5.3 million, concentrated along the coast and particularly in South East Queensland. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city. Ten of Australia's thirty largest cities are located in Queensland, with the largest outside Brisbane being the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Cairns, Ipswich, and Toowoomba. The state's population is multicultural, with 28.9% of inhabitants being immigrants. Queensland was first inhabited by Aboriginal Australians, with the Torres Strait Islands inhabited by Torres Strait Islanders. Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, the first European to land in Australia, explored the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula in 1606. In 1770, James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1788, Arthur Phillip founded the colony of New South Wales, which included all of what is now Queensland. Queensland was explored in subsequent decades, and the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley. Much of the economy of colonial Queensland was powered by blackbirded South Sea Islander slaves at the same time that tens of thousands of Aboriginal people were being killed in the frontier wars of colonial expansion. On 6 June 1859 (now commemorate as Queensland Day), Queen Victoria signed the letters patent to establish the colony of Queensland, separating it from New South Wales and thereby establishing Queensland as a self-governing Crown colony with responsible government. Queensland was among the six colonies which became the founding states of Australia with Federation on 1 January 1901. Since the Bjelke-Petersen era of the late 20th century, Queensland has received a high level of internal migration from the other states and territories of Australia and remains a popular destination for interstate migration. Queensland has the third-largest economy among Australian states, with strengths in mining, agriculture, transportation, international education, insurance, and banking. Nicknamed the "Sunshine State" for its tropical and sub-tropical climates, Great Barrier Reef, and numerous beaches, tourism is also important to the state's economy. History. First Nations history. Queensland was one of the largest regions of pre-colonial Aboriginal population in Australia. The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC, likely via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait, and became divided into over 90 different language groups. During the last ice age, Queensland's landscape became more arid and largely desolate, making food and other supplies scarce, which led to the world's first seed-grinding technology. The end of the glacial period brought about a warming climate, again making the land hospitable, as it brought high rainfall along the eastern coast, stimulating the growth of the state's tropical rainforests. The Torres Strait Islands, officially part of Queensland, is home to the Torres Strait Islander peoples. Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples, and have a long history of interaction with both Aboriginal peoples and the peoples of New Guinea. European colonisation. In February 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed near the site of what is now Weipa, on the western shore of Cape York. This was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia, and it also marked the first reported contact between Europeans and the Aboriginal people of Australia. The region was also explored by French and Spanish explorers (commanded by Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Luís Vaez de Torres, respectively) before the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming Eastern Australia, including Queensland, 'New South Wales'. The Aboriginal population declined significantly after a smallpox epidemic during the late 18th century and massacres by the European colonists. In 1823, John Oxley, a British explorer, sailed north from what is now Sydney to scout possible penal colony sites in Gladstone (then Port Curtis) and Moreton Bay. At Moreton Bay, he found the Brisbane River. He returned in 1824 and established a penal settlement at what is now Redcliffe. The settlement, initially known as Edenglassie, was then transferred to the current location of the Brisbane city centre. Edmund Lockyer discovered outcrops of coal along the banks of the upper Brisbane River in 1825. In 1839 transportation of convicts was ceased, culminating in the closure of the Brisbane penal settlement. In 1842 free settlement, which had already commenced, was officially permitted. In 1847, the Port of Maryborough was opened as a wool port. While most early immigrants came from New South Wales, the first free immigrant ship to arrive in Moreton Bay from Europe was the "Artemisia", in 1848. In 1857, Queensland's first lighthouse was built at Cape Moreton. Earlier than this immigrant ship was the arrival of the Irish famine orphan girls to Queensland. Devised by the then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, The Earl Grey Scheme established a special emigration scheme which was designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. The very first ship, the "Earl Grey", departed Ireland for a 124-day sail to Sydney. After controversy developed upon their arrival in Australia, a small group of 37 young orphans, sometimes referred to as The Belfast Girls or the Feisty Colleens, never set foot on Sydney soil, and instead sailed up to Brisbane (then Moreton Bay) on 21 October 1848 on board the "Ann Mary". This scheme continued until 1852. Frontier wars and massacres. The frontier wars fought between colonists and Aboriginal peoples in Queensland were the bloodiest and most brutal in colonial Australia. Called by contemporaries a "war of extermination", many of these conflicts are now seen as acts of genocide. The wars featured the most frequent massacres of First Nations people, the three deadliest massacres on white settlers, the most disreputable frontier police force, and the highest number of white victims to frontier violence on record in any Australian colony. Across at least 644 collisions at least 66,680 were killed — with Aboriginal fatalities alone comprising no less than 65,180 Of these deaths, around 24,000 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed by the Native Police between 1859 and 1897. The military force of the Queensland Government in this war was the Native Police, who operated from 1849 to the 1920s. The Native Police was a body of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander troopers that operated under the command of white officers. The Native Police were often recruited forcefully from far-away communities. Conflict spread quickly with free settlement in 1838, with settlement rapidly expanding in a great rush to take up the surrounding land in the Darling Downs, Logan and Brisbane Valley and South Burnett onwards from 1840, in many cases leading to widespread fighting and heavy loss of life. The conflict later spread north to the Wide Bay and Burnett River and Hervey Bay region, and at one stage the settlement of Maryborough was virtually under siege. The largest reasonably well-documented massacres in southeast Queensland were the Kilcoy and Whiteside poisonings, each of which was said to have taken up to 70 Aboriginal lives by use of a gift of flour laced with strychnine. At the Battle of One Tree Hill in September 1843, Multuggerah and his group of warriors ambushed one group of settlers, routing them and subsequently others in the skirmishes which followed, starting in retaliation for the Kilcoy poisoning. Central Queensland was particularly hard hit during the 1860s and 1870s, several contemporary writers mention the Skull Hole, Bladensburg, or Mistake Creek massacre on Bladensburg Station near Winton, which in 1901 was said to have taken up to 200 Aboriginal lives. First Nations warriors killed 19 settlers during the Cullin-La-Ringo massacre on 17 October 1861. In the weeks afterwards, police, native police and civilian killed up to 370 members of the Gayiri Aboriginal people in response. Frontier violence peaked on the northern mining frontier during the 1870s, most notably in Cook district and on the Palmer and Hodgkinson River goldfields, with heavy loss of Aboriginal lives and several well-known massacres. Raids conducted by the Kalkadoon held settlers out of Western Queensland for ten years until September 1884 when they attacked a force of settlers and native police at Battle Mountain near modern Cloncurry. The subsequent battle of Battle Mountain ended in disaster for the Kalkadoon, who suffered heavy losses. Fighting continued in North Queensland, however, with First Nations raiders attacking sheep and cattle while Native Police mounted heavy retaliatory massacres. Slavery. Tens of thousands of South Sea Islanders were kidnapped from islands nearby to Australia and sold as slaves to work on the colony's agricultural plantations through a process known as blackbirding. This trade in what were then known as Kanakas was in operation from 1863 to 1908, a period of 45 years. Some 55,000 to 62,500 were brought to Australia, most being recruited or blackbirded from islands in Melanesia, such as the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), the Solomon Islands and the islands around New Guinea. The majority of those taken were male and around one quarter were under the age of sixteen. In total, approximately 15,000 South Sea Islander slaves died while working in Queensland, a figure which does not include those who died in transit or who were killed in the recruitment process. This represents a mortality rate of at least 30%, which is high considering most were only on three year contracts. It is also similar to the estimated 33% death rate of enslaved Africans in the first three years of being taken to America. The trade was legally sanctioned and regulated under Queensland law, and prominent men such as Robert Towns made massive fortunes off of exploitation of slave labour, helping to establish some of the major cities in Queensland today. Towns' agent agent claimed that blackbirded labourers were "savages who did not know the use of money" and therefore did not deserve cash wages. Following Federation in 1901, the White Australia policy came into effect, which saw most foreign workers in Australia deported under the "Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901", which saw the Pacific Islander population of the state decrease rapidly. Independent governance. A public meeting was held in 1851 to consider the proposed separation of Queensland from New South Wales. On 6 June 1859, Queen Victoria signed letters patent to form the separate colony of Queensland as a self-governing Crown colony with responsible government. Brisbane was selected as the capital city from Brisbane, Cleveland, Gayndah, Gladstone, Ipswich or Rockhampton. On 10 December 1859, a proclamation was read by George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland, formally establishing Queensland as a separate colony from New South Wales. On 22 May 1860 the first Queensland election was held and Robert Herbert, Bowen's private secretary, was appointed as the first Premier of Queensland. In 1865, the first rail line in the state opened between Ipswich and Grandchester. Queensland's economy expanded rapidly in 1867 after James Nash discovered gold on the Mary River near the town of Gympie, sparking a gold rush. While still significant, they were on a much smaller scale than the gold rushes of Victoria and New South Wales. Immigration to Australia and Queensland, in particular, began in the 1850s to support the state economy. During the period from the 1860s until the early 20th century, many labourers, known at the time as Kanakas, were brought to Queensland from neighbouring Pacific Island nations to work in the state's sugar cane fields. Some of these people had been kidnapped under a process known as blackbirding or press-ganging, and their employment conditions constituted an allegedly-exploitative form of indentured labour. Italian immigrants entered the sugar cane industry from the 1890s. During the 1890s, the six Australian colonies, including Queensland, held a series of referendums which culminated in the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901. During this time, Queensland had a population of half a million people. Since then, Queensland has remained a federated state within Australia. 20th century. In 1905 women voted in state elections for the first time. The state's first university, the University of Queensland, was established in Brisbane in 1909. In 1911, the first alternative treatments for polio were pioneered in Queensland and remain in use across the world today. World War I had a major impact on Queensland. Over 58,000 Queenslanders fought in World War I and over 10,000 of them died. Australia's first major airline, Qantas (originally standing for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services"), was founded in Winton in 1920 to serve outback Queensland. In 1922 Queensland abolished the Queensland Legislative Council, becoming the only Australian state with a unicameral parliament. In 1935 cane toads were deliberately introduced to Queensland from Hawaii in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the number of French's cane and greyback cane beetles that were destroying the roots of sugar cane plants, which are integral to Queensland's economy. The toads have remained an environmental pest since that time. In 1962, the first commercial production of oil in Queensland and Australia began at Moonie. During World War II Brisbane became central to the Allied campaign when the AMP Building (now called MacArthur Central) was used as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur, chief of the Allied Pacific forces, until his headquarters were moved to Hollandia in August 1944. In 1942, during the war, Brisbane was the site of a violent clash between visiting US military personnel and Australian servicemen and civilians, which resulted in one death and hundreds of injuries. This incident became known colloquially as the Battle of Brisbane. The end of World War II saw a wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe than in previous decades. In the later decades of the 20th century, the humid subtropical climate—regulated by the availability of air conditioning—saw Queensland become a popular destination for migrants from interstate. Since that time, Queensland has continuously seen high levels of migration from the other states and territories of Australia. The end of the White Australia policy in 1973 saw the beginning of a wave of immigration from around the world, and most prominently from Asia, which continues to the present. In 1981 the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland's northeast coast, one of the world's largest coral reef systems, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 21st century. In 2003 Queensland adopted maroon as the state's official colour. The announcement was made as a result of an informal tradition to use maroon to represent the state in association with sporting events. After three decades of record population growth, Queensland was impacted by major floods between late 2010 and early 2011, causing extensive damage and disruption across the state. In 2020 Queensland was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a low number and abrupt decline in cases from April 2020 onward, social distancing requirements were implemented from March 2020 including the closure of the state borders. Geography. With a total area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 square miles), Queensland is an expansive state with a highly diverse range of climates and geographical features. If Queensland were an independent nation, it would be the world's 16th largest, being approximately the same size as Mexico, Indonesia, and Mongolia. Queensland's eastern coastline borders the Coral Sea, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The state is bordered by the Torres Strait to the north, with Boigu Island off the coast of New Guinea representing the northern extreme of its territory. The triangular Cape York Peninsula, which points toward New Guinea, is the northernmost part of the state's mainland. West of the peninsula's tip, northern Queensland is bordered by the Gulf of Carpentaria. To the west, Queensland is bordered by the Northern Territory, at the 138th meridian east, and to the southwest by northeastern South Australia. The state's southern border with New South Wales is constituted in the east by the watershed from Point Danger to the Dumaresq River, and the Dumaresq, Macintyre and Barwon rivers. The west of the southern border is defined by the 29th parallel south (including some minor historical encroachments) until it reaches South Australia. Like much of eastern Australia, the Great Dividing Range runs roughly parallel with, and inland from, the coast, and areas west of the range are more arid than the humid coastal regions. The Great Barrier Reef, which is the world's largest coral reef system, runs parallel to the state's Coral Sea coast between the Torres Strait and K'gari (Fraser Island). Queensland's coastline includes the world's three largest sand islands: K'gari (Fraser Island), Moreton, and North Stradbroke. The state contains six World Heritage-listed preservation areas: the Great Barrier Reef along the Coral Sea coast, K'gari (Fraser Island) on the Wide Bay–Burnett region's coastline, the wet tropics in Far North Queensland including the Daintree Rainforest, Lamington National Park in South East Queensland, the Riversleigh fossil sites in North West Queensland, and the Gondwana Rainforests in South East Queensland. The state is divided into several unofficial regions which are commonly used to refer to large areas of the state's vast geography. These include: Climate. Because of its size, there is significant variation in climate across the state. There is ample rainfall along the coastline, with a monsoonal wet season in the tropical north, and humid sub-tropical conditions along the southern coastline. Low rainfall and hot humid summers are typical for the inland and west. Elevated areas in the south-eastern inland can experience temperatures well below freezing in mid-winter providing frost and, rarely, snowfall. The climate of the coastal regions is influenced by warm ocean waters, keeping the region free from extremes of temperature and providing moisture for rainfall. There are six predominant climatic zones in Queensland, based on temperature and humidity: The annual average climatic statistics for selected Queensland cities are shown below: The coastal far north of the state is the wettest region in Australia, with Mount Bellenden Ker, south of Cairns, holding many Australian rainfall records with its annual average rainfall of over . Snow is rare in Queensland, although it does fall with some regularity along the far southern border with New South Wales, predominantly in the Stanthorpe district although on rare occasions further north and west. The most northerly snow ever recorded in Australia occurred near Mackay; however, this was exceptional. Natural disasters are often a threat in Queensland: severe tropical cyclones can impact the central and northern coastlines and cause severe damage, with recent examples including Larry, Yasi, Ita and Debbie. Flooding from rain-bearing systems can also be severe and can occur anywhere in Queensland. One of the deadliest and most damaging floods in the history of the state occurred in early 2011. Severe springtime thunderstorms generally affect the south-east and inland of the state and can bring damaging winds, torrential rain, large hail and even tornadoes. The strongest tornado ever recorded in Australia occurred in Queensland near Bundaberg in November 1992. Droughts and bushfires can also occur; however, the latter are generally less severe than those that occur in southern states. The highest official maximum temperature recorded in the state was at Birdsville Police Station on 24 December 1972, although the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite measured a ground surface temperature of . Queensland has the highest average maximums of any Australian state, and Stanthorpe, Hervey Bay, Mackay, Atherton, Weipa and Thursday Island are the only large population centres not to have recorded a temperature above . The lowest recorded minimum temperature is at Stanthorpe on 23 June 1961 and at The Hermitage (near Warwick) on 12 July 1965. Temperatures below are, however, generally uncommon over the majority of populated Queensland. Demographics. In December 2021, Queensland had an estimated population of 5,265,043. Approximately half of the state's population lives in Brisbane, and over 70% live in South East Queensland. Nonetheless, Queensland is the second most decentralised state in Australia after Tasmania. Since the 1980s, Queensland has consistently been the fastest-growing state in Australia, as it receives high levels of both international immigration and migration from interstate. There have however been short periods where Victoria and Western Australia have grown faster. Cities. Ten of Australia's thirty largest cities are located in Queensland. In 2019, the largest cities in the state by population of their Greater Capital City Statistical Area or Significant Urban Area (metropolitan areas) as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics were: Ancestry and immigration. Early settlers during the 19th century were largely English, Irish, Scottish and German, while there was a wave of immigration from southern and eastern Europe (most notably Italy) in the decades following the second world war. In the 21st century, Asia (most notably China and India) has been the primary source of immigration. At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were: The 2016 census showed that 28.9% of Queensland's inhabitants were born overseas. Only 54.8% of inhabitants had both parents born in Australia, with the next most common birthplaces being New Zealand, England, India, Mainland China and South Africa. Brisbane has the 26th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas. 4% of the population, or 186,482 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016. Language. At the , 81.2% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages being Mandarin (1.5%), Vietnamese (0.6%), Cantonese (0.5%), Spanish (0.4%) and Italian (0.4%). At the , 80.5% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages being Mandarin (1.6%), Vietnamese (0.6%), Punjabi (0.6%) and Spanish (0.6%). Religion. At the , the most commonly cited religious affiliations were 'No religion' (29.2%), Catholicism (21.7%) and Anglicanism (15.3%). According to the , 45.7% of the population follows Christianity, and 41.2% identified as having No religion About 5% of people are affiliated with a non-Christian religion, mainly Buddhism (1.4%), Hinduism (1.3%) and Islam (1.2%). Education. Queensland is home to numerous universities. The state's oldest university, the University of Queensland, was established in 1909 and frequently ranks among the world's top 50. Other major universities include Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, the University of Southern Queensland, the University of the Sunshine Coast, James Cook University (which was the state's first university outside of South East Queensland), Central Queensland University and Bond University (which was Australia's first private university). International education is an important industry, with 134,312 international students enrolled in the state in 2018, largely focused on Brisbane. Most of the state's international students are from Asia. At the primary and secondary levels, Queensland is home to numerous state and private schools. Economy. In 2019, Queensland had a gross state product of A$357,044 million, the third-highest in the nation after New South Wales and Victoria. The construction of sea ports and railways along Queensland's coast in the 19th century set up the foundations for the state's export-oriented mining and agricultural sectors. Since the 1980s, a sizeable influx of interstate and overseas migrants, large amounts of federal government investment, increased mining of vast mineral deposits and an expanding aerospace sector have contributed to the state's economic growth. Primary industries include bananas, pineapples, peanuts, a wide variety of other tropical and temperate fruit and vegetables, grain crops, wineries, cattle raising, cotton, sugarcane, and wool. The mining industry includes bauxite, coal, silver, lead, zinc, gold and copper. Secondary industries are mostly further processing of the above-mentioned primary produce. For example, bauxite is shipped by sea from Weipa and converted to alumina at Gladstone. There is also copper refining and the refining of sugar cane to sugar at a number of mills along the eastern coastline. Major tertiary industries are retail, tourism, and international education. In 2018, there were 134,312 international students enrolled in the state, largely focused on Brisbane. Most of the state's international students are from Asia. Brisbane is categorised as a global city, and is among Asia-Pacific cities with largest GDPs. It has strengths in mining, banking, insurance, transportation, information technology, real estate and food. Some of the largest companies headquartered in Brisbane, all among Australia's largest, include Suncorp Group, Virgin Australia, Aurizon, Bank of Queensland, Flight Centre, CUA, Sunsuper, QSuper, Domino's Pizza Enterprises, Star Entertainment Group, ALS, TechnologyOne, NEXTDC, Super Retail Group, New Hope Coal, Jumbo Interactive, National Storage, Collins Foods and Boeing Australia. Tourism. As a result of its varied landscapes, warm climate, and abundant natural environment, tourism is Queensland's leading tertiary industry with millions of interstate and international visitors visiting the state each year. The industry generates $8.8 billion annually, accounting for 4.5% of Queensland's Gross State Product. It has an annual export of $4.0 billion annually. The sector directly employs about 5.7% of Queensland citizens. Accommodation in Queensland caters for nearly 22% of the total expenditure, followed by restaurants/meals (15%), airfares (11%), fuel (11%) and shopping/gifts (11%). The most visited tourist destinations of Queensland include Brisbane (including Moreton and South Stradbroke islands and the Gold Coast) as well as the Sunshine Coast, the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Port Douglas, the Daintree Rainforest, K'gari and the Whitsunday Islands. Brisbane is the third most popular destination in Australia following Sydney and Melbourne. Major attractions in its metropolitan area include South Bank Parklands, the Queensland Cultural Centre (including the Queensland Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Performing Arts Centre and State Library of Queensland), City Hall, the Story Bridge, the Howard Smith Wharves, ANZAC Square, St John's Cathedral, Fortitude Valley (including James Street and Chinatown), West End, the Teneriffe woolstores precinct, the Brisbane River and its Riverwalk network, the City Botanic Gardens, Roma Street Parkland, New Farm Park (including the Brisbane Powerhouse), the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and park, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the Mount Coot-tha Reserve (including Mount Coot-tha Lookout and Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens), the D'Aguilar Range and National Park, as well as Moreton Bay (including Moreton, North Stradbroke and Bribie islands, and coastal suburbs such as Shorncliffe, Wynnum and those on the Redcliffe Peninsula). The Gold Coast is home to numerous popular surf beaches such as those at Surfers Paradise and Burleigh Heads. It also includes the largest concentration of amusement parks in Australia, including Dreamworld, Movie World, Sea World, Wet 'n' Wild and WhiteWater World, as well as the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. The Gold Coast's hinterland includes Lamington National Park in the McPherson Range. The Sunshine Coast includes popular surfing and beach destinations including Noosa Heads and Mooloolaba. It is also home to UnderWater World and Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Its hinterland includes the Glass House Mountains National Park. Cairns is renowned as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, Far North Queensland (including Port Douglas) and the Daintree Rainforest. The Whitsunday Islands off the coast of North Queensland are a popular tourist destinations for their resort facilities and access to the Great Barrier Reef. Politics and government. One of the six founding states of Australia, Queensland has been a federated state subject to the Australian Constitution since 1 January 1901. It is sovereign, other than in the matters ceded in the Australian Constitution to the federal government. It is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The Constitution of Queensland sets out the operation of the state's government. The state's constitution contains several entrenched provisions which cannot be changed in the absence of a referendum. There is also a statutory bill of rights, the Queensland Human Rights Act (2019). Queensland's system of government is influenced by the Westminster system and Australia's federal system of government. The government is separated into three branches: Executive authority is nominally vested in the Governor of Queensland (currently Jeannette Young) who represents and is appointed by the Monarch of Australia (currently Charles III) on the advice of the Premier of Queensland. The Premier, who is the state's Head of government, along with the Cabinet of Queensland (whose decisions are formalised by the Executive Council), exercise executive authority in practice. The Premier is appointed by the Governor and must have support of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The Premier is in practice a leading member of the Legislative Assembly and parliamentary leader of his or her political party, or coalition of parties, and members of the Cabinet will be drawn from the same party or coalition. The current Premier and Deputy Premier are Annastacia Palaszczuk and Steven Miles of the Labor Party respectively. Government House at Paddington in Brisbane is the seat of the Governor, having replaced Old Government House at Gardens Point in Brisbane's CBD in the early 20th century. The executive branch is simply referred to as the Queensland Government. Legislative authority is exercised by the Queensland Parliament which uniquely for Australian states is unicameral, containing only one house, the Legislative Assembly. The Parliament was bicameral until 1922 when the Legislative Council was abolished by the Labor "suicide squad", so called because they were appointed for the purpose of voting to abolish their own offices. Bills receive royal assent from the Governor before being passed into law. The Parliament's seat is at Parliament House at Gardens Point in Brisbane's CBD. Members of the Legislative Assembly represent 93 electoral districts. Elections in Queensland are held at the end of each fixed four-year parliamentary term and are determined by instant-runoff voting. The state's judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the District Court of Queensland, established by the Queensland Constitution, as well as the Magistrates Court of Queensland and other courts and tribunals established by legislation. Cases may be appealed to the High Court of Australia. As with all Australian states and territories, Queensland has a Common law legal system. The Supreme and District courts are headquartered at the Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law in Brisbane's CBD. The state's politics are traditionally regarded as being conservative relative to other states. Historically, the lack of an upper house, a former gerrymander favouring rural electoral districts as well as the former system of optional preferential voting has meant that Queensland had a long tradition of domination by strong-willed, populist premiers, often accused of authoritarian tendencies, holding office for long periods. This tendency was exemplified by the government of the state's longest-serving Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Local government. Local government is the mechanism by which local government areas can manage their own affairs to the extent permitted by the Local Government Act 2009. Queensland is divided into 77 local government areas, which are created by the state government under the legislation. Each local government area has a council responsible for providing a range of local services and utilities. Local councils derive their income from both rates and charges on resident ratepayers, and grants and subsidies from the state and federal governments. Federal representation. In the federal Parliament of Australia, Queensland accounts for 30 of the 151 electoral divisions in the House of Representatives (based on population size) and 12 of the 76 seats in the Senate (based on equality between the states). The current partisan makeup of Queensland's House of Representatives delegation is 21 Liberal National, 5 Labor, 3 Australian Greens, and 1 Katter's Australian Party. The current partisan makeup of Queensland's Senate delegation is 5 Liberal National, 3 Labor, 2 One Nation, and 2 Green. Culture. Queensland is home to major art galleries including the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art as well as cultural institutions such as the Queensland Ballet, Opera Queensland, Queensland Theatre Company, and Queensland Symphony Orchestra, all based at the Queensland Cultural Centre in Brisbane. The state is the origin of musicians such as the Bee Gees, the Go-Betweens, the Veronicas, the Saints, Savage Garden, and Sheppard as well as writers such as David Malouf, Nick Earls and Li Cunxin. Major annual cultural events include the Royal Queensland Exhibition (known locally as the Ekka), an agricultural exhibition held each August at the Brisbane Showgrounds as well as the Brisbane Festival, which includes one of the nation's largest annual fireworks displays called 'Riverfire', and which is held each September. Sport. The state of Queensland is represented in all of Australia's national sporting competitions and it is also host to a number of domestic and international sporting events. The most popular winter and summer team sports are rugby league and cricket, respectively. In the National Rugby League, the Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys, The Dolphins and Gold Coast Titans are based in the state. Rugby league's annual State of Origin series is a major event in the Queensland sporting calendar, with the Queensland Maroons representing the state. In cricket, the Queensland Bulls represent the state in the Sheffield Shield and the Ryobi One Day Cup, while the Brisbane Heat compete in the Big Bash League. Queensland is also home to the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League (Australian rules football), and the Brisbane Roar FC in the A-League (soccer). In netball, the Queensland Firebirds went undefeated in the 2011 season as they went on to win the Grand Final. Other sports teams are the Brisbane Bullets and the Cairns Taipans, who compete in the National Basketball League. The state is represented by the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby (rugby union). Swimming is also a popular sport in Queensland, with many Australian team members and international medalists hailing from the state. Brisbane will host the 2032 Summer Olympics, marking the third time Australia hosted the Olympic Games following Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000. Major recurring sporting events hosted in Queensland include: the Gold Coast 600 (motorsport; since 1994), the Gold Coast Marathon (athletics; since 1979), the NRL All Stars Game (rugby league; since 2010), the Townsville 400 (motorsport; since 2009), the Quicksilver Pro and Roxy Pro (surfing) and Australian PGA Championship (golf; since 2000). Symbols and emblems. The official state emblems of Queensland are prescribed in the Emblems of Queensland Act 2005. Queen Victoria granted the Queensland Coat of Arms to the Colony of Queensland in 1893, making it the oldest State Arms in Australia. It depicts Queensland's primary industries in the 19th century with a sheaf of wheat, the heads of a bull and a ram, and a column of gold rising from a heap of quartz. Two stalks of sugar cane which surround the state badge at the top, and below is Queensland's state motto, "Audax at Fidelis", which means "Bold but Faithful". In 1977, Queen Elizabeth II granted the supporting animals, the brolga and the red deer. In November 2003 maroon was officially named Queensland's state colour, after many years of association with Queensland sporting teams. The koala was officially named the animal or faunal, emblem of Queensland in 1971 after a newspaper poll showed strong public support. The Queensland Government introduced the poll due to a proposal by state tourism ministers for all states to adopt a faunal emblem. In January 1986, the brolga was announced as the official bird emblem of Queensland, after many years on the Coat of Arms. The Cooktown orchid became known as Queensland's floral emblem in 1959, during celebrations to mark the state's centenary, and the Barrier Reef Anemone Fish was officially named as Queensland's aquatic emblem in March 2005. The sapphire was named the official state gem for Queensland in August 1985. Infrastructure. Transport. Queensland is served by several National Highways and, particularly in South East Queensland, a network of freeways such as the M1. The Department of Transport & Main Roads oversees the development and operation of main roads and public transport, including taxis and local aviation. Principal rail services are provided by Queensland Rail, predominantly between the major centres east of the Great Dividing Range. Freight rail services in Queensland have been provided mostly by Aurizon and Pacific National, with interstate intermodal services provided by Pacific National and SCT Logistics. Major seaports include the Port of Brisbane, Australia's third busiest by value of goods, as well as those at Gladstone, Townsville, and Bundaberg. There are large coal export facilities at Hay Point, Gladstone, and Abbot Point. Major sugar export facilities are located at Lucinda and Mackay. Brisbane Airport is the main international and domestic gateway serving the state, and is the third busiest in Australia. Other international airports include the Gold Coast Airport, Cairns International Airport, and Townsville Airport. Regional airports with scheduled domestic flights include Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, Great Barrier Reef Airport, Hervey Bay Airport, Bundaberg Airport, Mackay Airport, Mount Isa Airport, Proserpine / Whitsunday Coast Airport, Rockhampton Airport, and Sunshine Coast Airport. South East Queensland has an integrated public transport system operated by Translink, which provides services bus, rail, and Brisbane's ferry services through Queensland Rail and contracted operators. The region is divided into seven Fare zones radiating outwards from the Brisbane central business district, which is the central hub for the system. The Queensland Rail City network consists of 152 train stations along 13 suburban rail lines and across the region, and predominantly within Brisbane's metropolitan area. There is also a large bus network including Brisbane's large dedicated bus rapid transit network, the Brisbane busway network. Brisbane's popular ferry services include the CityCat, Cross River, and CityHopper services which have dedicated wharves along the Brisbane River. The , Queensland's only light rail network, operates on the Gold Coast. The new Queensland Cross River Rail is a metro network that is currently under development within Brisbane and is part of the crucial infrastructure project to prepare the city for the 2032 Olympic games. It will be a transformative addition to the state's transportation infrastructure, set to revolutionise the way people move within Brisbane and its surrounding areas. Operating as a crucial link between the north and south sides of the city, the Cross River Rail introduces an innovative approach to urban mobility. It features state-of-the-art electric trains running on dedicated tracks, providing fast, efficient, and sustainable transit options for commuters. With improved connectivity, reduced congestion, and enhanced accessibility, this rail project aims to enhance the overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike, contributing significantly to Queensland's continued development and growth. Other utilities. Queensland Health operates and administers the state's public health system. There are sixteen regional Health and Hospital Services corresponding to geographical regions which are responsible for delivering public health services within their regions. Major public hospitals include the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital, the Mater Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital, and the Queensland Children's Hospital in Brisbane, as well as the Townsville University Hospital, Cairns Hospital, Gold Coast Hospital and Gold Coast University Hospital in the regional cities. There are smaller public hospitals, as well as private hospitals, around the state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59224

Texaco

Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until its refining operations merged into Chevron, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to Shell plc through its American division. Texaco began as the "Texas Fuel Company", founded in 1902 in Beaumont, Texas, by Joseph S. Cullinan, Thomas J. Donoghue, and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop. The Texas Fuel Company was not set up to drill wells or to produce crude oil. To accomplish this, Cullinan organized the Producers Oil Company in 1902, as a group of investors affiliated with The Texas Fuel Company. Men such as John W. ("Bet A Million") Gates invested in "certificates of interest" to an amount of almost ninety thousand dollars. Future restructuring would merge Producers Oil Company and The Texas Fuel Company as Texaco when the company needed additional funding, which J.W. Gates provided in the amount of approximately $590,000 in return for company stock. Texaco was one of the Seven Sisters which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Its current logo features a white star in a red circle (a reference to the lone star of Texas), leading to the long-running advertising jingles "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star" and "Star of the American Road." The company was headquartered in Harrison, New York, near White Plains, prior to the merger with Chevron. Texaco gasoline comes with Techron, an additive developed by Chevron, as of 2005, replacing the previous CleanSystem3. The Texaco brand is strong in the U.S., Latin America, and West Africa. It has a presence in Europe as well; for example, it is a well-known retail brand in the UK, with around 980 Texaco-branded service stations. History. 1902–38: Beginnings. Texaco was founded in Beaumont, Texas as the "Texas Fuel Company" in 1902, by Jim Hogg, Joseph S. Cullinan, John Warne Gates, and Arnold Schlaet. On 1 May 1902, the Texas Company was formed from the assets of Texas Fuel assets, and additional capitalization. In 1905, it established an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company, which it acquired control of in 1913. In 1915, Texaco moved to new 13 story offices on 1111 Rusk St., Houston, Texas. In 1928, Texaco became the first U.S. oil company to sell its gasoline nationwide under one single brand name in all of the then 48 states. In 1931, Texaco purchased Indian Oil Company, based in Illinois. This expanded Texaco's refining and marketing base in the Midwest and also gave Texaco the rights to Indian's Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. The next year, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline nationwide, a so-called "super-octane" motor fuel touted as meeting or exceeding government standards for gasoline for fire engines and other emergency vehicles. It was promoted through a radio program over NBC hosted by Ed Wynn, called the "Texaco Fire Chief". In 1936, the Texas Corporation purchased the Barco oil concession in Colombia, and formed a joint venture with Socony-Vacuum, now Mobil, to develop it. Over the next three years the company engaged in a highly challenging project to drill wells and build a pipeline to the coast across mountains and then through uncharted swamps and jungles. During this time, Texaco also illegally supplied the fascist Gen. Franco faction in Spanish Civil War, despite a federal fine, with a total of oil. Also in 1936, marketing operations "East of Suez" (including Asia, East Africa, and Australasia) were placed into a joint venture with Standard Oil Company of California – Socal (now Chevron) – under the brand name Caltex, in exchange for Socal placing its Bahrain refinery and Arabian oilfields into the venture. The next year, Texaco commissioned industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague to develop a modern service station design. In 1938, Texaco introduced Sky Chief gasoline, a premium fuel developed from the ground up as a high-octane gasoline rather than just an ethylized regular product. In 1939, Texaco became one of the first oil companies to introduce a "Registered Rest Room" program to ensure that restroom facilities at all Texaco stations nationwide maintained a standard level of cleanliness to the motoring public. After the onset of World War II in 1939, Texaco's CEO, Torkild Rieber, admirer of Hitler, hired pro-Nazi assistants who cabled Berlin "coded information about ships leaving New York for Britain and what their cargoes were." This espionage easily enabled Hitler to destroy the ships. In 1940, Rieber was forced to resign when his connections with German Nazism, and his illegal supply of oil to the fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War were made public by the "Herald Tribune" through information produced by British Security Coordination. Life Magazine portrayed Rieber's resignation as unfair, advocating that he only dined with Westrick, and lent him a company car. During the war, Texaco ranked 93rd among United States corporations in the value of military production contracts. In 1947, Caltex expanded to include Texaco's European marketing operations. That same year, Texaco merged its British operation with Trinidad Leaseholds under the name Regent; it gained full control of Regent in 1956, but the Regent brand remained in use until 1968–9. In 1954, the company added the detergent additive Petrox to its "Sky Chief" gasoline, which was also souped up with higher octane to meet the antiknock needs of new cars with high-compression engines. The next year, Texaco became the sole sponsor of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC-TV. In 1959, the Texas Company changed its corporate name to Texaco, Inc. to better reflect the value of the Texaco brand name, which represented the biggest selling gasoline brand in the U.S. and only marketer selling gasoline under one brand name in all (by then) 50 states. It also acquired McColl-Frontenac Oil Company Ltd. of Canada and changes its name to Texaco Canada Limited. Around this time, Paragon Oil, a major fuel oil distribution company in the northeastern U.S., was acquired. 1964–98: Various ventures. In 1964, Texaco introduced the "Matawan" service station design at a station in Matawan, New Jersey. Two years later, Texaco replaced the long-running banjo sign with a new hexagon logo that had previously been test-marketed with the "Matawan" station design introduced two years earlier. The new logo featured a red outline with TEXACO in black bold lettering and a small banjo logo with a red star and green T at bottom. The following year, the Regent name was replaced by Texaco at British petrol stations. In 1970, in response to increasingly stringent federal emission standards that would ultimately lead to the mandating of unleaded gasoline in 1975, and later-model cars and trucks, Texaco introduced lead-free Texaco as the first regular-octane lead-free gasoline at stations in the Los Angeles area and throughout Southern California. Lead-free Texaco became available nationwide in 1974. On November 20, 1980, the Lake Peigneur/Jefferson Island disaster occurred. Two years later, a new service station design was introduced. Several product names were also changed with the advent of self-service including Lead-free Texaco to Texaco Unleaded, Fire Chief to Texaco Regular, and Super Lead-free Sky Chief to Texaco Super Unleaded. At the end of 1981 and the beginning of 1982, members of the Medellín Cartel (including the now famous "Pablo Escobar"), the Colombian military, the U.S.-based corporation Texas Petroleum, the Colombian legislature, small industrialists, and wealthy cattle ranchers came together in a series of meetings in Puerto Boyacá, and formed a paramilitary organization known as "Muerte a Secuestradores" ("Death to Kidnappers", MAS) to defend their economic interests, and to provide protection for local elites from kidnappings and extortion. By 1983, Colombian internal affairs had registered 240 political killings by MAS death squads, mostly community leaders, elected officials, and farmers. On November 19, 1985, Pennzoil won a US$10.53 billion verdict against Texaco in the largest civil verdict in US history. This was due to the fact that Texaco established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Gordon Getty. In 1987, Texaco filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest in U.S. history until 2001. In January 1989, Texaco and Saudi Aramco agreed to form a joint venture known as Star Enterprise in which Saudi Aramco would own a 50% share of Texaco's refining and marketing operations in the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast. In 1989, Texaco introduced System3 gasolines in all three grades of fuel, featuring the latest detergent additive technology to improve performance by reducing deposits that clog fuel injection systems. The Toronto-based Texaco Canada Incorporated subsidiary was sold to Imperial Oil with all Texaco Canada retail operations converted to Esso brand. Two years later, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1993, several dozen tribal leaders and residents from the Ecuadoran Amazon filed a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Texaco, as a result of massive ecological pollution of the area and rivers around Texaco's Ecuadorian offshore drilling sites, causing toxic contamination of approximately 30,000 residents. In 1994, Texaco's System3 gasolines were replaced by new CleanSystem3 gasoline for improved engine performance. In 1995, Texaco merged its Danish and Norwegian downstream operations with those of Norsk Hydro under the new brand HydroTexaco. This joint venture was sold in 2007, to Norwegian retail interests as YX Energi, following the purchase of Hydro by Statoil. In 1996, Texaco paid over $170 million to settle racial discrimination lawsuits filed by black employees at the company. It was the largest racial discrimination lawsuit settlement in the U.S. at the time, and was particularly damaging to Texaco's public relations when tapes were released of meetings with company executives planning to destroy incriminating evidence. 1999–present: Chevron Corporation. In 1999, the company formed the joint venture Equilon with Shell Oil Company, combining their Western and Midwestern U.S. refining and marketing. This gave rise to the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court antitrust case of "Texaco Inc. v. Dagher", which cleared both Texaco and Shell of any antitrust liability concerning the pricing of Equilon's gasoline. That same year, another joint venture, Motiva Enterprises, was formed with Shell Oil Company and Saudi Aramco in which the Star Enterprise operations were merged with the Eastern and Gulf Coast U.S. refining and marketing operations of Shell. In October 2000, Chevron Corporation agreed to buy Texaco for $36 billion. The merger was completed October 9, 2001. As required by the FTC consent agreement, Texaco's interest in the Equilon and Motiva joint ventures were sold to Shell Shell began re-branding its Texaco stations as Shell the next year. Around 2003, due to lack of demand, Texaco closed Refineria Panamá, a refinery in Colón, Panama. In July 2004, Chevron regained non-exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S. The following year, in August, Texaco introduced the Techron additive into its fuels in the U.S. and parts of Latin America. In 2007, Delek Benelux took over marketing activities for Chevron in Benelux, including 869 filling stations, mostly under the Texaco brand. In 2010, Chevron ended retail operations in the Mid-Atlantic US, removing its brand from 450 stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C. Corporate headquarters. Prior to the merger with Chevron, Texaco's headquarters was a building in Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, near to White Plains. In 2002, Chevron Corporation sold the former Texaco headquarters to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley bought the building and the surrounding for $42 million. Texaco leased 14 floors of the Chrysler Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City in the 1930s. As part of the leasing agreement with Texaco the building opened the Cloud Club, a lunch club for executives. Texaco's move to Westchester County in 1977 contributed to the closure of the Cloud Club in 1979. In popular culture. A Texaco station at 6407 West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California was used in the opening scene of "Cheech & Chong's Next Movie", where the main characters Cheech and Chong siphon gasoline from a tow truck. A Jack in the Box now stands at that location. In "Back to the Future" and "Back to the Future Part II", a Texaco station in the center of Hill Valley is shown in 1955, 1985, and 2015. In Stephen King's science fiction short story "The Jaunt", Texaco exists in the future and has shifted from selling oil to water. Indie Folk band An Unexpected End released a single entitled "Texaco" in 2022. Sponsorships. Sports. Texaco is associated with the Havoline brand of motor oil and other automotive products. It was one of the sponsors of NASCAR with many drivers, such as Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Kenny Irwin Jr., Ricky Rudd, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Havoline continuously sponsored a car from the early 1980s to 2008. At the end of the 2008 season, Texaco/Havoline ended their sponsorship with NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing. This brought a 20-plus-year relationship with the sport to a close. Texaco was also involved in open wheel racing, sponsoring the Texaco Grand Prix of Houston along with sponsoring drivers like Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti and his son Michael. In Formula One, Texaco sponsored the Team Lotus in 1972 and 1973, and McLaren from 1974 to 1978. The company returned to Grand Prix racing at a smaller scale in 1997, with their brands appearing on the Stewart SF01 car. Their association with the team and its successor, Jaguar Racing, continued until the end of 2001, in the same timeline they also sponsored ITV's Formula 1 Coverage. Texaco sponsored the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover Vitesse factory team at the 1985 and 1986 European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) under their Bastos brand, and the Ford Sierra RS500 factory cars entered by Eggenberger Motorsport in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship (plus the 1988 ETCC and other European-based championships). Texaco also sponsored cars in the 1987 World Rally Championship. From 1987 to 1993, Texaco was the major sponsor (through their Australian Caltex offshoot) Colin Bond Racing in Australian touring car racing, first with the Alfa Romeo 75 turbo in 1987, then the Ford Sierra RS500 from 1988 to 1992 and then Toyota's in 1993. From 2000 until 2007, it was title sponsor of Stone Brothers Racing with Russell Ingall winning the 2005 championship. In 2016, Caltex became title sponsor of the Triple Eight Race Engineering car of Craig Lowndes, having previously been an associate sponsor of the team. From 1984 to 1998, Texaco were the title sponsors of the main One Day International cricket tournament in England, the Texaco Trophy. It also sponsored the Texaco Cup, a football tournament for clubs of the British Isles. Entertainment broadcast (music or comedy/variety). Texaco was long associated with the Metropolitan Opera as sole sponsor of its radio broadcasts for 63 years. It was identified as well with such entertainment legends as Ed Wynn, Fred Allen and Milton Berle (many of their shows were originally sponsored by Texaco – see Texaco Star Theatre, which includes the sponsorship lyrics of the opening theme: "We're the men of Texaco, We work from Maine to Mexico..."). Berle's program was broadcast in the same time slot as Fulton J. Sheen's religious program for a while, thus leading to Berle's oft-quoted quip, "We both have the same boss – Sky Chief!" Texaco was also the sponsor of the weekly Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, which air to this day since its inception in 1931. In the 1930s, comedian Ed Wynn hosted a half hour stand-up comedy/variety show on the NBC Radio Network, billed as "The Texaco Fire Chief", a reference to its regular grade gasoline. This trend continued into the late 1940s, when Wynn was replaced by Milton Berle as television becoming the dominant medium. The title was changed to the 60-minute "Texaco Star Theater", which was also broadcast on NBC. Environmental issues. From 1965 to 1993, Texaco participated in a consortium to develop the Lago Agrio oil field in Ecuador. It has been accused of extensive environmental damage from these operations, and faces legal claims from both private plaintiffs and the government of Ecuador. The case has been widely publicized by environmental activists and is the subject of "Crude", a 2009 documentary film by Joe Berlinger. Chevron claims that it is being unfairly targeted as a deep pocket defendant, when the actual responsibility lies with the government and its national oil company, Petroecuador. Additionally, on YouTube, a comprehensive documentary on the environmental disaster "Ecuador: Poisened Rainforest" was originally produced by Chris Den Hond on November 26th, 2015. Later, on March 23rd, 2023, Dark Records (on YouTube) released a summary documentary "The 'Amazon Chernobyl' Disaster in Ecuador" that brought to light the still on-going issues that the communities originally impacted by the petroleum hazardous waste are still dealing with at the time of release. In these documentaries, it is highlighted how the Texaco company allegedly decided to forgo their standard drilling practices in favor for a minor savings on the cost to produce a barrel of crude oil (approximately $3/barrel). The practices that were not engaged in while drilling in Ecuador that Texaco utilized during other drilling operations were as follows: Injecting toxic wastewater back into the well (which was instead allegedly dumped directly into rivers), the use of a rubber liner for the petroleum byproduct pit (was instead allegedly not used and waste was dumped into unlined pits), pumping the near full waste pit's contents into secure containers for transport via truck/rail/ship/etc (was instead allegedly not ever pumped, pits were fitted with overflow pipes to nearby waterways, and never emptied after the drilling operation was concluded). In total, it is estimated that over 18 billion gallons of toxic waste were released into the Amazon Rainforest. In addition to the liquid pollution, it is alleged that workers burned off toxic natural gasses and some liquid waste. Thus releasing highly toxic dioxins into the atmosphere. "" Diversification. The NiMH chemistry used in modern hybrid vehicles was invented by ECD Ovonics founder, Stan Ovshinsky, and Dr. Masahiko Oshitani of the Yuasa Company In 1994, General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics's battery development and manufacturing. On October 10, 2001, Texaco purchased GM's share in GM Ovonics, and Chevron completed its acquisition of Texaco six days later. In 2003, Texaco Ovonics Battery Systems was restructured into Cobasys, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) Ovonics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59251

Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nation's largest non-capital city, and Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane. The city's central business district is located roughly in the centre of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport, with the suburb holding more corporate office space than anywhere else in the city. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast sprawling almost 60 kilometers, joining up with the Greater Brisbane Metropolitan Area to the north and to the state border with New South Wales to the south. Prior to European settlement the area was occupied by the Yugambeh people. The demonym for the Gold Coast is Gold Coaster. The Gold Coast is a major tourist destination with a sunny, subtropical climate and has become widely known for its surfing beaches (such as Surfers Paradise), high-rise dominated skyline, theme parks, nightlife, and rainforest hinterland. The city is part of the nation's entertainment industry with television productions and a major film industry. The city hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games. History. The Gold Coast is the ancestral home of a number of Indigenous clans of the Yugambeh people, including the Kombumerri, Mununjali, and Wangerriburra clans. Europeans arrived in 1823 when explorer John Oxley landed at Mermaid Beach. The hinterland's red cedar supply attracted people to the area in the mid-19th century. A number of small townships developed along the coast and in the hinterland. The western suburb of Nerang was surveyed and established as a base for the industry and by 1870 a town reserve had been set aside. By 1873, the town reserve of Burleigh Heads had also been surveyed and successful land sales had taken place. In 1875, the small settlement opposite the boat passage at the head of the Nerang River, known as Nerang Heads or Nerang Creek Heads, was surveyed and renamed Southport, with the first land sales scheduled to take place in Beenleigh. Southport quickly grew a reputation as a secluded holiday destination for wealthy Brisbane residents. Post-World War One Era saw the rise of the "seaside shack". The seaside shack provided the opportunity for the coastal "getaway" with modest investment.  From 1914 to 1946, they popped up all along the South Coast. Seaside shacks were exceedingly cheap and were an early use of the concept of recycling. Many were built of disused or second grade timber, all kinds of materials were used for the holiday seaside shack – including fibro cement, metal containers, and left-over farm sheds; even disused trams were sold off as seaside shacks. After the establishment of the Surfers Paradise Hotel in the late 1920s, the Gold Coast region grew significantly. The Gold Coast was originally known as the South Coast (because it was south of Brisbane). However, over-inflated prices for real estate and other goods and services led to the nickname of "Gold Coast" from 1950. South Coast locals initially considered the name "Gold Coast" derogatory. However, soon the "Gold Coast" simply became a convenient way to refer to the holiday strip from Southport to Coolangatta. The Town of South Coast was formed through the amalgamation of Town of Coolangatta and Town of Southport along with the coastal areas (such as Burleigh Heads) from the Shire of Nerang on 17 June 1949 with the effect of having the present-day Gold Coast coastal strip as a single local government area. As the tourism industry grew into the 1950s, local businesses began to adopt the term "Gold Coast" in their names, and on 23 October 1958 the Town of South Coast was renamed Town of Gold Coast. The area was proclaimed a city, despite the lack of a cathedral, less than one year later on 16 May 1959. The area boomed in the 1980s as a leading tourist destination. In 1994, the City of Gold Coast local government area was expanded to include the Shire of Albert, becoming the second most populous local government area in Australia after the City of Brisbane. In 2007, the Gold Coast overtook the population of Newcastle, New South Wales, to become the sixth largest city in Australia and the largest non-capital city. In the , the urban area of the Gold Coast had a population of 540,559 people. According to the , the population of the Gold Coast including rural areas was 569,997. The median age was 39 years old, 1 year older than the nationwide median. The male-to-female ratio was 48.6-to-51.4. The most commonly nominated ancestries were English (29.3%), Australian (22.5%), Irish (8.2%), Scottish (7.5%), and German (3.6%). 64% of people were born in Australia, while the other most common countries of birth were New Zealand (7.9%), England (5.2%), China and South Africa (1.2% each), and Japan (0.7%). Indigenous Australians accounted for 1.7% of the population. The most commonly spoken languages other than English were Mandarin (1.6%), Japanese (1.0%), Korean and Spanish (0.6% each), and Cantonese (0.5%). The most common religious affiliations reported were none (31.8%), Catholic (20.7%), Anglican (16.2%), and Uniting Church (3.9%). The Gold Coast hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Geography. The Gold Coast is approximately half covered by forests of various types. This includes small patches of near-pristine ancient rainforest, mangrove-covered islands, and patches of coastal heathlands and farmland with areas of uncleared eucalyptus forest. Of the plantation pine forests that were planted in the 1950s and 1960s, when commercial forest planting for tax minimisation was encouraged by the Commonwealth government, tiny remnants remain. Gold Coast City lies in the southeast corner of Queensland, to the south of Brisbane, the state capital. The Albert River separates the Gold Coast from Logan City, a local government area south of the City of Brisbane. Gold Coast City stretches from the Albert River, Logan River, and Southern Moreton Bay to the border with New South Wales (NSW) approximately south, and extends from the coast west to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range in World Heritage listed Lamington National Park. The southernmost town of Gold Coast City, Coolangatta, includes Point Danger and its lighthouse. Coolangatta is a twin city with Tweed Heads located directly across the NSW border. At , this is the most easterly point on the Queensland mainland (Point Lookout on the offshore island of North Stradbroke is slightly further east). From Coolangatta, approximately forty kilometres of holiday resorts and surfing beaches stretch north to the suburb of Main Beach, and then further on Stradbroke Island. The suburbs of Southport and Surfers Paradise form the Gold Coast's commercial centre. The major river in the area is the Nerang River. Much of the land between the coastal strip and the hinterland were once wetlands drained by this river, but the swamps have been converted into man-made waterways (over in length or over 9 times the length of the canals of Venice, Italy) and artificial islands covered in upmarket homes. The heavily developed coastal strip sits on a narrow barrier sandbar between these waterways and the sea. To the west, the city borders a part of the Great Dividing Range commonly referred to as the Gold Coast hinterland. A section of the mountain range is protected by Lamington National Park and has been listed as a World Heritage area in recognition of its "outstanding geological features displayed around shield volcanic craters and the high number of rare and threatened rainforest species". The area attracts bushwalkers and day-trippers. Important rainforest pollinating and seed-dispersing Black flying foxes (Pteropus alecto) are found in the area and may be heard foraging at night. Urban structure. The City of Gold Coast includes suburbs, localities, towns and rural districts. The declaration of Southport as a Priority Development Area (PDA) and new investment into the CBD is driving transformative change and creating new business and investment opportunities. Waterways. Waterfront canal living is a feature of the Gold Coast. Most canal frontage homes have pontoons. The Gold Coast Seaway, between The Spit and South Stradbroke Island, allows vessels direct access to the Pacific Ocean from The Broad and many of the city's canal estates. Breakwaters on either side of the Seaway prevent longshore drift and the bar from silting up. A sand pumping operation on the Spit pipes sand under the Seaway to continue this natural process. Residential canals were first built in the Gold Coast in the 1950s and construction continues. Most canals are extensions to the Nerang River, but there are more to the south along Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek and to the north along the Gold Coast Broadwater, South Stradbroke Island, Coomera River and southern Moreton Bay. Early canals included Florida Gardens and Isle of Capri which were under construction at the time of a 1954 flood. Recently constructed canals include Harbour Quays and Riverlinks completed in 2007. There are over of constructed residential waterfront land within the city that is home to over 80,000 residents. Beaches. The city consists of of coastline, with some of the most popular surf breaks in Australia and the world, including South Stradbroke Island, The Spit, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Mermaid Beach, Nobby's Beach, Miami, North Burleigh Beach, Burleigh Beach, Burleigh Heads, Tallebudgera Beach, Palm Beach, South Palm Beach, Currumbin Beach, Tugun, Bilinga, North Kirra Beach Kirra, Coolangatta, Greenmount, Rainbow Bay, Snapper Rocks and Froggies Beach. There is almost 42km of unbroken beachfront. Duranbah Beach is one of the world's best known surfing beaches and is often thought of as being part of Gold Coast City, but is actually just across the New South Wales state border in the Tweed Shire. There are also beaches along many of the Gold Coast's of navigable tidal waterways. Popular inland beaches include Southport, Budds Beach, Marine Stadium, Currumbin Alley, Tallebudgera Estuary, Jacobs Well, Jabiru Island, Paradise Point, Harley Park Labrador, Santa Barbara, Boykambil and Evandale Lake. Beach safety and management The Gold Coast has Australia's largest professional surf lifesaving service to protect people on the beaches and to promote surf safety throughout the community. The Queensland Department of Primary Industries carries out the Queensland Shark Control Program (SCP) to protect swimmers from sharks. Sharks are caught by using nets and baited drumlines off the major swimming beaches. Even with the SCP, sharks do range within sight of the patrolled beaches. Lifeguards will clear swimmers from the water if it is considered that there is a safety risk. Gold Coast beaches have experienced periods of severe beach erosion. In 1967, a series of 11 cyclones removed most of the sand from Gold Coast beaches. The Government of Queensland engaged engineers from Delft University in the Netherlands to advise what to do about the beach erosion. The Delft Report was published in 1971 and outlined a series of works for Gold Coast Beaches including Gold Coast Seaway, works at Narrow Neck that resulted in the Northern Gold Coast Beach Protection Strategy and works at the Tweed River that became the Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing Project. By 2005 most of the recommendations of the 1971 Delft Report had been implemented. City of Gold Coast commenced implementation of the Palm Beach Protection Strategy but ran into considerable opposition from the community participating in a NO REEF protest campaign. The City of Gold Coast Council then committed to completing a review of beach management practices to update the Delft Report. The Gold Coast Shoreline Management Plan will be delivered by organisations including the Environmental Protection Agency, City of Gold Coast and the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management. Gold Coast City is also investing into the quality and capacity of the Gold Coast Oceanway that provides sustainable transport along Gold Coast beaches. Climate. The Gold Coast experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfa/Cwa"), with mild to warm winters and hot, humid summers. The city experiences substantial summer precipitation mostly concentrated in thunderstorms and heavy showers with rain events occasionally lasting up to a few weeks at a time giving residents "the summer blues", while winter is pleasantly mild to warm with little rain. In fact, it is for this pleasant winter weather that both the city and the Sunshine Coast—the coastal region north of Brisbane—are internationally renowned. Extreme temperatures recorded at Gold Coast Seaway have ranged from on 19 July 2007 to on 22 February 2005, although the city rarely experiences temperatures above in summer or below in winter. The average temperature of the sea at Surfers Paradise ranges from in July and August to in February. Government. Administratively, the Gold Coast is a local government area called the City of Gold Coast. The City of Gold Coast Council has 14 elected councillors, each representing a division of the City. Businessman Tom Tate is the current Mayor of the Gold Coast, first elected in 2012. Former mayors include Ron Clake, Gary Baildon, Lex Bell, Ray Stevens, Ern Harley and Sir Bruce Small, who was responsible for the development of many of the canal estates that are now home to thousands of Gold Coast residents. At the state level, the Gold Coast area is represented by eleven members in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The seats they hold are: Bonney, Broadwater, Burleigh, Coomera, Currumbin, Gaven, Mermaid Beach, Mudgeeraba, Southport, Surfers Paradise and Theodore. Federally, the Gold Coast area is split between five divisions in the House of Representatives: Fadden (northern), Moncrieff (central) and McPherson (southern) are located entirely within the Gold Coast, while Forde (north-west) and Wright (south-west) encompass parts of the Gold Coast and other areas of Southeast Queensland. Politically, the Gold Coast has often tilted conservative. It was a Country Party bastion for most of the first three decades after World War II, but increasing urbanisation has made it a Liberal stronghold. Labor has historically only done well around Labrador and Coolangatta. Only one Labor MP has ever represented a significant portion of the Gold Coast at the federal level since 1949; the three Gold Coast divisions have only returned Liberals since 1984. At the state level, Labor was fairly competitive in the Gold Coast for most of the early part of the 21st century. However, as part of its massive landslide in the 2012 state election, the Liberal National Party won every seat there. The LNP repeated its sweep of the Gold Coast seats at the 2015 election, and retained all but one Gold Coast seat at the 2017 state election. Southport Courthouse is the city's major courthouse and has jurisdiction to hear petty criminal offences and civil matters up to A$250,000. Indictable offences, criminal sentencing and civil matters above A$250,000 are heard in the higher Supreme Court of Queensland which is located in Brisbane. There is also a subsidiary Magistrates Court, located at the southern suburb of Coolangatta. In 2013 a brawl between members of Outlaw motorcycle gangs also called "bikies" who fought each other outside a Broadbeach restaurant caused mass fear to restaurant patrons and police. This led to the toughest anti-bikie laws introduced in Australia known as Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013. Economy. In fifty years, Gold Coast City has grown from a small beachside holiday destination to Australia's sixth largest city (and the country's most populous non-capital city). Situated within South East Queensland's growth corridor, the Gold Coast is one of Australia's fastest growing large cities, with a 5-year annual average population growth rate to 2015 of 1.8%, compared to 1.5% nationally. Gross Regional Product has risen from A$9.7 billion in 2001, to A$15.6 billion in 2008, a rise of 61 percent. Tourism remains fundamental to Gold Coast City's economy, with almost 10 million visitors a year to the area. In the past the economy was driven by the population derived industries of construction, tourism and retail. Some diversification has taken place, with the city now having an industrial base formed of marine, education, information communication and technology, food, tourism, creative, environment and sports industries. These nine industries have been identified as the key industries by the City of Gold Coast Council to deliver the city's economic prosperity. Gold Coast City's unemployment rate (5.6 per cent) is below the national level (5.9 per cent). The declaration of Southport as the Gold Coast central business district (CBD) and a Priority Development Area (PDA), as well as new investment into the CBD, is driving transformative change and creating new business and investment opportunities. The Gold Coast Economic Development Strategy 2013–2023 outlines the framework for the city's long-term growth and prosperity. The strategy outlines actions in the following areas, Innovation, Culture, Infrastructure, Competitive business, Workforce, International. Tourism. Around 10 million tourists visit the Gold Coast area every year consisting of 849,114 international visitors, 3,468,000 domestic overnight visitors and 5,366,000 daytrip visitors. Tourism is the region's biggest industry, directly contributing more than $4.4 billion into the city economy every year and directly accounting for one in four jobs in the city There are approximately 65,000 beds, of beach, of canal, 100,000 hectares of nature reserve, 500 restaurants, 40 golf courses and five major theme parks in the city. Gold Coast Airport provides connection across Australia and internationally with airlines including Flyscoot, Jetstar, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia and Airasia X. Brisbane Airport is less than one hour from the centre of Gold Coast, and direct trains operate. Tourism is Gold Coast City's main industry, generating a total of $2.5 billion in revenue per annum. The Gold Coast is the most popular tourist destination in Queensland. It is Australia's 5th most visited destination by international tourists. The city has over 13,000 available guest rooms contributing over $335 million to the local economy each year. Accommodation options available range from hostels to five star resorts and hotels. The most common style of accommodation is three and four star self-contained apartments. Tourist attractions include surf beaches, and theme parks including Dreamworld, Sea World, Wet'n'Wild Water World, Warner Bros. Movie World, WhiteWater World, Topgolf, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, David Fleay Wildlife Park, Australian Outback Spectacular, and Paradise Country. Since the opening of what was then the world's highest residential tower in 2005 (it is now the 16th highest), the Q1 building has been a destination for tourists and locals alike. It is the second highest public vantage point in the southern hemisphere after the Eureka Tower in Melbourne. The observation deck at level 77 is the highest of its kind in Queensland and offers views in all directions, from Brisbane to Byron Bay. It towers over the Surfers Paradise skyline, with the observation deck 230 metres (755 feet) high, and the spire extending nearly another hundred metres up. In total, the Q1 is 322.5 metres (1058 feet) high, making it the tallest building in Australia. Another famous tourist attraction are the Surfers Paradise Meter Maids, instituted in 1965 to put a positive spin on new parking regulations. To avoid tickets being issued for expired parking, the Meter Maids dispense coins into the meter and leave a calling card under the windscreen wiper of the vehicle. The Maids are still a part of the Surfers Paradise culture but the scheme is now run by private enterprise. Chinatown, Gold Coast, is an integral part of the revitalisation of Southport as an international CBD. Film production. The Gold Coast is the major film production hub in Queensland and has accounted for 75% of all film production in Queensland since the 1990s, with an expenditure of around $150 million per year. The Gold Coast is the third largest film production centre in Australia, behind Sydney and Melbourne. It is the filming site for major motion pictures including "Muriel's Wedding" (1994), "Ghost Ship" (2002), "Scooby-Doo" (2002), "House of Wax" (2005), "Superman Returns" (2006), "Unbroken" (2014), "The Inbetweeners 2" (2014), "San Andreas" (2015), ' (2017), ' (2017), ' (2017), ' (2018), "Aquaman" (2018), "Dora the Explorer" (2019) and "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2020). Village Roadshow Studios are adjacent to the Warner Bros Movie World Theme Park at Oxenford. The Studios consists of eight sound stages, production offices, editing rooms, wardrobe, construction workshops, water tanks and commissary. These sound stages vary in size and have an overall floor area of 10,844 sq metres, making Warner Roadshow Studio one of the largest studio lots in the Southern Hemisphere. The Queensland Government actively supports the film and television production industry in Queensland and provides both non-financial and financial assistance through the Pacific Film and Television Commission. Health. In 2018, 61.6% of the city's population was overweight or obese. Culture. The Gold Coast's culture has been impacted by rapid development and traditional marketing programs orbiting around 'sun, sand, surf and sex.' Despite rapid socio-economic changes and a tourist-centred image, there is evidence of local resident-driven culture (such as surf gangs) in geographical pockets and a broader 'Gold Coaster' identity drawn from globalised resort and real estate marketing material. The Gold Coast hosts cultural activities that attract tourists and residents alike. Music. Music groups in this region include the Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra and Operator Please. Musicians Cody Simpson and Ricki-Lee Coulter are from the Gold Coast. Music events include Big Day Out, Good Vibrations Festival, Summafieldayze, the Blues on Broadbeach Festival and V Festival (2007–2009). Arts. Home of the Arts (HOTA) is the Gold Coast's premier cultural facility for visual and performing arts with a performance theatre, two cinemas and an underground venue. The theatre has hosted performance by the Imperial Russian Ballet, The Australian Ballet and the Queensland Ballet. Musicals, plays and a variety of performances are regularly scheduled. The city is also home to the Gold Coast City Art Gallery. Film festivals and the Comedy Club host international artists. A redeveloped Gold Coast cultural precinct opened before the city hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Sport. The two most popular sports on the Gold Coast are Australian rules football and rugby league, of which the city is represented by professional teams in two most popular national competitions: Burleigh Bears rugby league football club play in the Queensland Cup and have won four premierships (in 1999, 2004, 2016 and 2019). Recreational activities on the Gold Coast include surfing, fishing, cycling, boating and golf. The Gold Coast area has numerous golf links, including Hope Island, Sanctuary Cove and The Glades. Sporting facilities include the Carrara Stadium, Carrara Indoor Sport Centre, Nerang Velodrome and the Sports Super Centre. Some of these facilities are being superseded by newer and larger capacity facilities. Two examples of these are the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre to play host to a Gold Coast Basketball team and Robina Stadium to host NRL games. Former World Wrestling Entertainment performer Nathan Jones comes from the Gold Coast, as do Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Grant Hackett, 2011 US Open tennis champion Samantha Stosur and Sally Pearson (who received the keys to the city). The Gold Coast has garnered a reputation as a "sporting graveyard", as many of the professional clubs that have represented the Gold Coast in national leagues since the 1980s experience generally poor on-field performances, consistently struggle to support themselves financially, and have generally folded within a decade of being founded; as of 2019 no Gold Coast-based team has won a premiership in a national professional club competition. Commonwealth Games. The Gold Coast hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games, an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth, held between April 4 and 15, 2018. It was the fifth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games and the first time a major multi-sport event achieved gender equality by having an equal number of events for male and female athletes. More than 4,400 athletes, including 300 para-athletes, from 71 Commonwealth Games Associations took part in the event. The venues such as Carrara Stadium, Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre, Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium, Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre. Broadbeach Bowls Club Nerang Mountain Bike Trails, Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, Oxenford Studios, The Gold Coast Hockey Centre, Southport Broadwater Parklands, Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, Robina Stadium, The Currumbin Beachfront, and Coolangatta Beachfront were used for the Games. Olympic and Paralympic Games. Gold Coast will be one of the three zones for the 2032 Summer Olympics and 2032 Summer Paralympics in Brisbane to use the venues as the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The Gold Coast Zone will have seven venues, and will host nine Olympic and six Paralympic sports. The Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre will be used for the preliminary Volleyball along with Powerlifting and Sitting Volleyball during the Paralympics. Broadbeach Park Stadium will host Beach Volleyball for Olympics as well in the Football 5-a-side in the Paralympics. The Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre will be used for Judo and Wrestling in the Olympics and Boccia in the Paralympics. Southport Broadwater Parklands to be used for Triathlon and Marathon Swimming in the Olympics and will be used for Paratriathlon in the Paralympics. Coomera Indoor Sports Centre will host the Volleyball for the Olympics and will be used for Wheelchair Rugby in the Paralympics. The Robina Stadium will host the preliminary football matches. The Carrara Stadium could potentially host the Cricket matches if the IOC approves cricket in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Other events. The Gold Coast 600 (formerly known as the Gold Coast Indy 300) is a car racing event held annually, usually in October. The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit through the streets of Surfers Paradise and Main Beach. The GC 600 comprises many other events such as the Indy Undie Ball and the Miss Indy Competition. Formerly an IndyCar event, V8 Supercars are now the headline attraction, using a similar track route, as the circuit was cut in half by a hairpin. The Magic Millions horse racing auction at the Gold Coast Turf Club was the brainchild of entrepreneurs Gerry Harvey and John Singleton. There are plans to relocate and build a state-of-the-art new racetrack at Palm Meadows which will incorporate the Magic Million sale with facilities for up to 4,000 horses. Each June, Coolangatta hosts Cooly Rocks On, a two-week 1950s and 1960s nostalgia festival with free entertainment and attractions, including hot rods, restored cars and revival bands playing music of the era. Every July, more than 25,000 congregate on the Gold Coast from around the world to participate in the Gold Coast Marathon. It is also the largest annual community sporting event held on the Gold Coast. In 2015, it will be held on 4–5 July and the 37th Gold Coast Airport Marathon is set to motivate and challenge more than 25,000 people of all ages and abilities. The Gold Coast Airport Marathon will feature an event for all ages and abilities, including the full Gold Coast Airport Marathon, ASICS Half Marathon, Southern Cross University Run, Suncorp Bank Challenge, and Junior Dash over and . In August Currumbin hosts the annual half distance Challenge Gold Coast triathlon, with the 1.9 km swim taking place in the Currumbin River, the 90 km bike going through the Currumbin and Tallebudgera Valleys in the Hinterland, and the 21.1 km run going along the beach to Elephant Rock and Tugun. Late November to early December sees thousands of school leavers across the country descend on the Gold Coast for Schoolies week, a two-week period of celebration and parties throughout Surfers Paradise, hosted by the City of Gold Coast. The event is often criticised nationally and locally for its portrayal of drinking and acts of violence, however every effort by the Queensland Police Service and State Government to ensure all school leavers have a good time are put into place, including locals volunteering by walking the streets and keeping an eye out for those in need of assistance. Early each year the Gold Coast hosts one leg of the ASP World Tour of surfing, where some of the worlds best surfers compete in the Quiksilver Pro at Coolangatta. The Arts Centre Gold Coast located in Evandale, features a fine art gallery featuring local and international works from painting to sculpture and new media. In addition, there is a theatre for live productions including musicals as well two arts cinemas showing foreign and independent films from Australia and abroad. Chinatown, Gold Coast, located in Southport, hosts the annual citywide Lunar New Year festival as well as regular monthly events. Media. Print. The daily local newspaper is the "Gold Coast Bulletin" which is published by News Corporation. National surfing magazine "Australia's Surfing Life" is published in the Gold Coast suburb of Burleigh Heads by Morrison Media. Major daily newspapers such as The Courier-Mail and its sibling The Sunday Mail from Brisbane, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald from Sydney and The Age, The Sunday Age, The Herald Sun and the Sunday Herald-Sun from Melbourne as well as national publications The Australian and The Australian Financial Review are all available for purchase on the Gold Coast. Other major interstate newspapers and newspapers from neighbouring regions owned by News Corporation or Australian Community Media are also available for purchase via retail outlets on the Gold Coast. Television. The Gold Coast straddles the boundary between the television licence areas of both Brisbane (metropolitan) and Northern NSW (regional): the Brisbane primary channels are Seven's BTQ, Nine's QTQ and 10's TVQ, while the regional affiliates are Seven's NEN, Nine's NBN and WIN Television's NRN. Both sets of commercial stations are available throughout the Gold Coast, as well as the ABC and SBS television services. Other channels include 10 Bold, 10 Peach, 10 Shake, Sky News Regional (regional only), ABC TV Plus/ABC Kids, ABC Me, ABC News, SBS World Movies, SBS Viceland, SBS Food, NITV, SBS WorldWatch, 7two, 7mate, 7Bravo, 7flix, 9Gem, 9Go!, 9Rush & 9Life. Subscription television service Foxtel is also available. Of the main metropolitan and regional commercial networks: Radio. There are numerous commercial, ABC and community stations broadcasting along the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast's FM commercial and community stations include 92.5 Triple M, Hit Network's 90.9 Sea FM, Hot Tomato, 94.1FM, Juice107.3, Radio Metro and 4CRB. ABC Gold Coast is the local ABC station on the Gold Coast, which is complemented by the ABC's national radio services including Triple J, ABC Radio National, ABC NewsRadio and ABC Classic FM. A number of narrowcast services are also available on the Gold Coast including Raw FM and Vision Radio. The Gold Coast can also easily receive Brisbane and Northern NSW FM and AM stations. Education. Colleges and universities. The Gold Coast is home to two major university campuses: Bond University at Robina and Griffith University at Southport. Southern Cross University also operates a smaller campus in Bilinga near the Gold Coast Airport. TAFE Queensland also has five campuses at Southport, Robina, Benowa, Coomera and Coolangatta. Schools and libraries. There are over 100 primary and secondary schools, both public and private and of a variety of denominations, including the selective state high school Queensland Academy for Health Sciences and single-sex private schools The Southport School and St Hilda's School. The longest established public school on the Gold Coast is Southport State High School, having originally opened in 1916. There are a number of libraries located on the Gold Coast. For a full list see Gold Coast libraries. Infrastructure. Utilities. Electricity Electricity for the Gold Coast is sourced from Powerlink Queensland at bulk supply substations which is provided via the National Electricity Market from an interconnected multi-State power system. The Government-owned electricity corporation Energex distributes and retails electricity, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and value-added products and services to residential, industrial and commercial customers in South-East Queensland. Water supply The Hinze Dam southwest of Nerang is the population's main water supply. The Little Nerang Dam which feeds into Hinze Dam can supplement part of the city area's water needs, and both are managed by the city council directorate Gold Coast Water. Reforms of the way in which the water industry is structured have been announced by the State Government, with transfer of ownership and management of water services from local government to the state occurring in 2008–09. City of Gold Coast also sources water from Wivenhoe Dam, west of Brisbane for northern suburbs when the Hinze Dam, at one-tenth of Wivenhoe's capacity, becomes low. Water shortage and water restrictions have been current local issues, and a few new Gold Coast residential areas have recently included dual reticulation in their planning and development to supply water from a new water recycling plant being built concurrently. This will make available highly treated recycled water for use around the home in addition to potable water. The Gold Coast has received world recognition for this scheme in its Pimpama-Coomera suburbs. Gold Coast Water has the capacity to supply up to 133 megalitres of desalinated water per day. Transport. The car is the dominant mode of transport in the Gold Coast, with over 70% of people using it as their sole mode of travelling to work. The Gold Coast has an extensive network of arterial roads that link coastal suburbs with inland suburbs. In recent years, local and state governments have invested money in transport infrastructure on the Gold Coast to combat the increasing congestion on many of the city's roads. The Gold Coast has an extensive public transport network that includes buses, heavy rail & the new light rail for commuting to work, visiting attractions, and travelling to other destinations. Road. A number of major roads connect the Gold Coast with Brisbane, New South Wales, and the surrounding areas. The Pacific Motorway (M1) is the main motorway in the area. Beginning at the Logan Motorway (M6) in Brisbane, it travels through the inland Gold Coast region and links with the Pacific Highway at the New South Wales/Queensland border near Tweed Heads. Before the Tugun Bypass was completed in 2008, the motorway ended at Tugun. The Gold Coast Highway services the coastal suburbs of the Gold Coast, including Surfers Paradise, Southport, and Burleigh Heads. Starting at the Pacific Motorway at Tweed Heads, it runs parallel to the coast until it reaches Labrador, where it turns inland to meet the Pacific Motorway again at Helensvale. Other arterial roads include the Smith Street Motorway which connects Southport, Gold Coast's CBD with the M1 in Parkwood. Other major roads include Reedy Creek Road, Nerang–Broadbeach Road, Robina Parkway and Southport–Burleigh Road. Light rail. The Gold Coast's light rail service is called , a line between Helensvale and Broadbeach that also connects the key activity centres of Southport and Surfers Paradise. The G:link was opened in 2014 between Broadbeach and Southport, with an extension to Helensvale completed in 2017 in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Heavy rail. Queensland Rail operates a intra-city rail service from Brisbane to the Gold Coast along the Gold Coast railway line. The line follows the same route as Brisbane's Beenleigh railway line, continuing on after reaching Beenleigh. It then follows a route similar to that of the Pacific Motorway, passing stations at Ormeau, Coomera, Helensvale, Nerang and Robina before terminating at Varsity Lakes. An extension of the Gold Coast line to the Gold Coast Airport is proposed. Bus. Kinetic Group (formerly Surfside Buslines prior to a re-branding in 2022) operates all public passenger services in the city under contract by Translink which coordinates the public transport network in South East Queensland. Services are frequent during the day, with intervals being as little as 5 minutes. Kinetic Group operates over a fleet of over 400 buses operating on over 70 lines covering the entire city Airport. Gold Coast Airport is located at Coolangatta, approximately south of Surfers Paradise. Services are provided to interstate capitals and major cities as well as to major New Zealand cities, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore. It is the sixth busiest airport in Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59363

Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor

Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945. Astor was born in Danville, Virginia and raised in Greenwood, Virginia. Her first marriage, to socialite Robert Gould Shaw II, was unhappy and ended in divorce. She then moved to England and married American-born Englishman Waldorf Astor in 1906. After her husband succeeded to the peerage and entered the House of Lords, she entered politics as a member of the Unionist Party (now the Conservative Party) and won his former seat of Plymouth Sutton in 1919, becoming the first woman to sit as an MP in the House of Commons.. During her time in Parliament, Astor was an advocate for temperance, welfare, education reforms and women's rights. She was also an ardent anti-Catholic and anti-communist, and received criticism for her antisemitism and sympathetic view of Nazism. Astor served in Parliament until 1945 when she was persuaded to step down, as her outspokenness had made her a political liability in the final years of the Second World War. She retired from politics and largely withdrew from public life following the death of her husband. She died in 1964 at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire and was interred at her family estate at Cliveden. Early life. Nancy Witcher Langhorne was born at the Langhorne House in Danville, Virginia. She was the eighth of eleven children born to railroad businessman Chiswell Dabney Langhorne and Nancy Witcher Keene. Following the abolition of slavery, Chiswell struggled to make his operations profitable, and with the destruction of the war, the family lived in near-poverty for several years before Nancy was born. After her birth, her father gained a job as a tobacco auctioneer in Danville, the centre of bright leaf tobacco and a major marketing and processing centre. In 1874, he won a construction contract with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, using former contacts from his service in the Civil War. By 1892, when Nancy was thirteen years old, her father had re-established his wealth and built a sizeable home. Chiswell Langhorne later moved his family to an estate, known as "Mirador", in Albemarle County, Virginia. Nancy Langhorne had four sisters and three brothers who survived childhood. All of the sisters were known for their beauty; Nancy and her sister Irene both attended a finishing school in New York City. There Nancy met her first husband, the socialite Robert Gould Shaw II, a first cousin of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who commanded the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first unit in the Union Army to be composed of African Americans. They married in New York City on 27 October 1897, when she was 18. The marriage was unhappy. Shaw's friends said Nancy became puritanical and rigid after marriage. Her friends said that Shaw was an abusive alcoholic. During their four-year marriage, they had one son, Robert Gould Shaw III (called Bobbie). Nancy left Shaw numerous times during their marriage, the first during their honeymoon. In 1903, Nancy's mother died; at the time, Nancy Shaw gained a divorce and moved back to "Mirador" to try to run her father's household but was unsuccessful. Nancy Shaw took a tour of England and fell in love with the country. Since she had been so happy there, her father suggested she move to England. Seeing that she was reluctant, Nancy's father said it was also her mother's wish, and he suggested she take her younger sister Phyllis with her. Nancy and Phyllis moved together to England in 1905. Their older sister Irene had married the artist Charles Dana Gibson and became a model for his Gibson Girls. England. Nancy Shaw had already become known in English society as an interesting and witty American when numerous wealthy young American women had married into the aristocracy. Her tendency to be saucy in conversation but religiously devout and almost prudish in behaviour confused many of the English men but pleased some of the older socialites. Nancy also began to show her skill at winning over critics. She was once asked by an English woman, "Have you come to get our husbands?" Her unexpected response, "If you knew the trouble I had getting rid of mine...", charmed her listeners and displayed the wit for which she became known. She married an Englishman, albeit one born in the United States, Waldorf Astor. When he was twelve, his father, William Waldorf Astor had moved the family to England and raised his children in the English aristocratic style. The couple were well matched, as both were American expatriates with similar temperaments. They were of the same age and even born on the same day, 19 May 1879. Astor shared some of Nancy's moral attitudes and had a heart condition that may have contributed to his restraint. After the marriage, the Astors moved into Cliveden, a lavish estate in Buckinghamshire on the River Thames; it was a wedding gift from Astor's father. Nancy Astor developed as a prominent hostess for the social elite. The Astors also owned a grand London house, No. 4 St. James's Square, now the premises of the Naval & Military Club. A blue plaque unveiled in 1987 commemorates Astor at St. James's Square. Through her many social connections, Lady Astor became involved in a political circle called Milner's Kindergarten. Considered liberal in their age, the group advocated unity and equality among English-speaking people and a continuance or expansion of the British Empire. Religious views. With Milner's Kindergarten, Astor began her association with Philip Kerr. The friendship became important in her religious life; they met shortly after Kerr had suffered a spiritual crisis regarding his once devout Catholicism. They were attracted to Christian Science, to which they both eventually converted. After converting, she began to proselytise for that faith and played a role in Kerr's conversion to it. She also tried to convert Hilaire Belloc's daughters to Christian Science, which led to a rift between them. Despite having Catholic friends such as Belloc for a time, Astor had religious views that included a strong vein of anti-Catholicism. Christopher Sykes argues that Kerr, an ex-Catholic, influenced this, but others argue that Astor's Protestant Virginia origins are a sufficient explanation for her Anti-Catholic views. (Anti-Catholicism was also tied to historic national rivalries.) She attempted to discourage the hiring of Jews or Catholics to senior positions at "The Observer", a newspaper owned by her husband. In 1927, she reportedly told James Louis Garvin that if he hired a Catholic, "bishops would be there within a week." First campaign for Parliament. Several elements of Viscountess Astor's life influenced her first campaign, but she became a candidate after her husband succeeded to the peerage and House of Lords in 1919. He had enjoyed a promising political career for several years before World War I in the House of Commons; after his father's death, he succeeded to his father's peerage as the 2nd Viscount Astor. He automatically became a member of the House of Lords and consequently had to forfeit his seat of Plymouth Sutton in the House of Commons. With this change, Lady Astor decided to contest the by-election for the vacant Parliamentary seat. Astor had not been connected with the women's suffrage movement in the British Isles. The first woman elected to the British Parliament, Constance Markievicz, said Lady Astor was "of the upper classes, out of touch". Countess Markiewicz had been in Holloway prison for Sinn Féin activities during her election, and other suffragettes had been imprisoned for arson. However, as Astor was met as she arrived at Paddington station on the day after her election by a crowd of suffragettes, including unnamed women who had been imprisoned and on hunger strike, one said, "This is the beginning of our era. I am glad to have suffered for this." Astor was hampered in the popular campaign for her published and at times vocal teetotalism and her ignorance of current political issues. Astor appealed to voters on the basis of her earlier work with the Canadian soldiers, allies of the British, charitable work during the war, her financial resources for the campaign and her ability to improvise. Her audiences appreciated her wit and ability to turn the tables on hecklers. Once a man asked her what the Astors had done for him and she responded with, "Why, Charlie, you know," and later had a picture taken with him. This informal style baffled yet amused the British public. She rallied the supporters of the current government, moderated her Prohibition views, and used women's meetings to gain the support of female voters. A by-election was held on 28 November 1919, and she took up her seat in the House on 1 December as a Unionist (also known as "Tory") Member of Parliament. Viscountess Astor was not the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament. That was achieved by Constance Markievicz, who was the first woman MP elected to Westminster in 1918, but as she was an Irish Republican, she did not take her seat. As a result, Lady Astor is sometimes erroneously referred to as the first woman MP, or the first woman elected to the U.K. Parliament, rather than the first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament. Astor was the first woman to be elected through what has been termed the 'halo effect' of women taking over their husband's parliamentary seat, a process which accounted for the election of ten women MPs (nearly a third of the women elected to parliament) between the two world wars. Early years in Parliament. Astor's Parliamentary career was the most public phase of her life. She gained attention as a woman and as someone who did not follow the rules, often attributed to her American upbringing. On her first day in the House of Commons, she was called to order for chatting with a fellow House member, not realising that she was the person who was causing the commotion. She learned to dress more sedately and avoided the bars and smoking rooms frequented by the men. Early in her first term, MP Horatio Bottomley wanted to dominate the "soldier's friend" issue and, believing her to be an obstacle, sought to ruin her political career. He capitalised on her opposition to divorce reform and her efforts to maintain wartime alcohol restrictions. Bottomley portrayed her as a hypocrite, as she was divorced. He said that the reform bill that she opposed would allow women to have the same kind of divorce she had in America. Bottomley was later imprisoned for fraud, which Astor used to her advantage in other campaigns. Astor made friends among women MPs, including members of the other parties. Margaret Wintringham was elected after Astor had been in office for two years. Astor befriended Ellen Wilkinson, a member of the Labour Party (and a former Communist). Astor later proposed creating a "Women's Party", but the female Labour MPs opposed that, as their party was then in office and had promised them positions. Over time, political differences separated the women MPs; by 1931 Astor became hostile to female Labour members such as Susan Lawrence. Nancy Astor's accomplishments in the House of Commons were relatively minor. She never held a position with much influence and or any post of ministerial rank although her time in Commons saw four Conservative Prime Ministers in office. The Duchess of Atholl (elected to Parliament in 1923, four years after Lady Astor) rose to higher levels in the Conservative Party before Astor. Astor felt if she had more position in the party, she would be less free to criticise her party's government. During this period, Nancy Astor continued to be active outside government by supporting the development and expansion of nursery schools for children's education. She was introduced to the issue by socialist Margaret McMillan, who believed that her late sister helped guide her in life. Lady Astor was initially skeptical of that aspect, but the two women later became close. Astor used her wealth to aid their social efforts. Although active in charitable efforts, Astor became noted for a streak of cruelty. On hearing of the death of a political enemy, she expressed her pleasure. When people complained, she did not apologise but said, "I'm a Virginian; we shoot to kill." Angus McDonnell, a Virginia friend, angered her by marrying without consulting her on his choice. She later told him, regarding his maiden speech, that he "really must do better than that." During the course of her adult life, Astor alienated many with her sharp words as well. During the 1920s, Astor made several effective speeches in Parliament, and gained support for her Intoxicating Liquor (Sale to Persons under 18) Bill (nicknamed "Lady Astor's Bill"), raising the legal age for consuming alcohol in a public house from 14 to 18. Her wealth and persona brought attention to women who were serving in government. She worked to recruit women into the civil service, the police force, education reform, and the House of Lords. She was well-liked in her constituency, as well as the United States during the 1920s, but her success is generally believed to have declined in the following decades. In May 1922, Astor was guest of honour at a Pan-American conference held by the League of Women Voters in Baltimore, Maryland. Astor became the first President of the newly-formed Electrical Association For Women in 1924. She chaired the first ever International Conference of Women In Science, Industry and Commerce, a three-day event held London in July 1925, organised by Caroline Haslett for the Women's Engineering Society in co-operation with other leading women's groups. Astor hosted a large gathering at her home in St James's to enable networking amongst the international delegates, and spoke strongly of her support of and the need for women to work in the fields of science, engineering and technology. She was concerned about the treatment of juvenile victims of crime: "The work of new MPs, such as Nancy Astor, led to a Departmental Committee on Sexual Offences Against Young People, which reported in 1925." 1930s. The 1930s were a decade of personal and professional difficulty for Lady Astor. In 1929, she won a narrow victory over the Labour candidate. In 1931, Bobby Shaw, her son from her first marriage, was arrested for homosexual offences. As her son had previously shown tendencies towards alcoholism and instability, Astor's friend Philip Kerr, now the 11th Marquess of Lothian, suggested the arrest might act as a catalyst for him to change his behaviour, but he was incorrect. Astor made a disastrous speech stating that alcohol use was the reason for England's national cricket team being defeated by the Australian national cricket team. Both the English and Australian teams objected to that statement. Astor remained oblivious to her growing unpopularity almost to the end of her career. Astor's friendship with George Bernard Shaw helped her through some of her problems although his own nonconformity caused friction between them. They held opposing political views and had very different temperaments. However, his own tendency to make controversial statements or put her into awkward situations proved to be a drawback for her political career. After Bobby Shaw was arrested, Gertrude Ely, a Pennsylvania Railroad heiress from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania offered to provide a guided tour to Moscow for Lady Astor and Bobby. Because of public comments by her and her son during this period, her political career suffered. Her son made many flattering statements about the Soviet Union, and Astor often disparaged it because she did not approve of communism. In a meeting, she asked Joseph Stalin directly why he had slaughtered so many Russians, but many of her criticisms were translated as less challenging statements. Some of her conservative supporters feared she had "gone soft" on communism; her question to Stalin may have been translated correctly only because he insisted of being told what she had said. The Conservatives felt that her son's praise of the Soviet Union served as a coup for its propaganda and so they were unhappy with her tour. Antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, and anticommunism. Astor was reportedly a supporter of the Nazis as a solution to what she saw as the "world problems" of Jews and communists. In 1938, she met Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who was a well-documented antisemite. She asked him not to take offence at her anti-Catholic views and wrote, "I'm glad you are smart enough not to take my [views] personally". She highlighted the fact that she had a number of Catholic friends. Astor and Kennedy's correspondence is reportedly filled with antisemitic language, and Edward J. Renehan Jr. wrote: As fiercely anti-Communist as they were anti-Semitic, Kennedy and Astor looked upon Adolf Hitler as a welcome solution to both of these "world problems" (Nancy's phrase). ... Kennedy replied that he expected the "Jew media" in the United States to become a problem, that "Jewish pundits in New York and Los Angeles" were already making noises contrived to "set a match to the fuse of the world". Astor commented to Kennedy that Hitler would have to do worse than "give a rough time... to the killers of christ" for Britain and America to risk "Armageddon to save them. The wheel of history swings round as the Lord would have it. Who are we to stand in the way of the future?" Astor made various other documented anti-Semitic comments, such as her complaint that the "Observer" newspaper, which was owned at the time by her husband, was "full of homosexuals and Jews", and her tense antisemitic exchange with MP Alan Graham in 1938, as described by Harold Nicolson: David Feldman of the Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism has also related that whilst attending a dinner at the Savoy Hotel in 1934, Astor asked the League of Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees whether he believed "that there must be something in the Jews themselves that had brought them persecution throughout the ages". Dr Feldman acknowledged, however, that it was "not an unusual view" and explained it "was a conventional idea in the UK at the time". Some years later, during a visit to New York in 1947, she apparently "clashed" with reporters, renouncing her anti-Semitism, telling one that she was "not anti-Jewish but gangsterism isn't going to solve the Palestine problem". Astor was also deeply involved in the so-called Cliveden Set, a coterie of aristocrats that was described by one journalist as having subscribed to their own form of fascism. In that capacity, Astor was considered a "legendary hostess" for the group that in 1936 welcomed Hitler's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, who communicated to Hitler regarding the likelihood of an agreement between Germany and England and singled out the "Astorgruppe" as one of the circles "that want a fresh understanding with Germany and who hold that it would not basically be impossible to achieve". The Sunday newspaper "Reynolds News", also reported, "Cliveden has been the centre of friendship with German influence". To that end, several of her friends and associates, especially the Marquess of Lothian, were involved in the policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany. Astor, however, was worried that the group might be viewed as a pro-German conspiracy, and her husband, William Waldorf Astor, wrote in a letter to the "Times", "To link our weekends with any particular clique is as absurd as is the allegation that those of us who desire to establish better relations with Germany or Italy are pro-Nazis or pro-Fascists". The Cliveden Set was also depicted by war agitators as the prime movers for peace. At the request of her friend Felix Frankfurter, a future US Supreme Court justice who was Jewish, Astor intervened with the Nazis in Vienna and secured the release of Frankfurter's Jewish uncle, Solomon. Astor occasionally met with Nazi officials in keeping with Neville Chamberlain's policies, and she was known to distrust and to dislike British Foreign Secretary (later Prime Minister) Anthony Eden. She is alleged to have told one Nazi official that she supported German rearmament because the country was "surrounded by Catholics". She also told Ribbentrop, the German ambassador, who later became the foreign minister of Germany, that Hitler looked too much like Charlie Chaplin to be taken seriously. Those statements are the only documented incidents of her direct expressions to Nazis. Astor became increasingly harsh in her anti-Catholic and anti-communist sentiments. After the passage of the Munich Agreement, she said that if the Czech refugees fleeing Nazi oppression were communists, they should seek asylum with the Soviets, instead of the British. While supporters of appeasement felt that to be out of line, the Marquess of Lothian encouraged her comments. World War II. When World War II began, Astor admitted that she had made mistakes, and voted against Chamberlain, but left-wing hostility to her politics remained. In a 1939 speech, the Labour MP Stafford Cripps called her "The Member for Berlin". Astor's fear of Catholics increased and she made a speech saying that a Catholic conspiracy was subverting the Foreign Office. Based on her opposition to Communists, she insulted Stalin's role (from 1941) as one of the Allied Powers during the war. Her speeches became rambling and incomprehensible; an opponent said that debating her had become "like playing squash with a dish of scrambled eggs". On one occasion she accosted a young American soldier outside the Houses of Parliament. "Would you like to go in?" she asked. The GI replied: "You are the sort of woman my mother told me to avoid". The period from 1937 to the end of the war was personally difficult for Astor: in January of that year she lost her sister Phyllis, followed by her only surviving brother in 1938. In 1940, the Marquess of Lothian died. He had been her closest Christian Scientist friend even after her husband converted. George Bernard Shaw's wife died three years later. During the war, Astor's husband had a heart attack. After this, their marriage grew cold, likely due to her subsequent discomfort with his health problems. She ran a hospital for Canadian soldiers as she had during the First World War, but openly expressed a preference for the earlier soldiers. It was generally believed that it was Lady Astor who, during a World War II speech, first referred to the men of the 8th Army who were fighting in the Italian campaign as the "D-Day Dodgers". Observers thought she was suggesting they were avoiding the "real war" in France and the future invasion. The Allied soldiers in Italy were so incensed that Major Hamish Henderson of the 51st Highland Division composed a bitingly sarcastic song to the tune of the popular German song "Lili Marleen", called "The Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers". This song has also been attributed to Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn of the Tank Rescue Section, 19 Army Fire Brigade. When told she was one of the people listed to be arrested, imprisoned and face possible execution in "The Black Book" under a German invasion of Britain, Lady Astor commented: "It is the complete answer to the terrible lie that the so-called 'Cliveden Set' was pro-Fascist." Final years. Lady Astor believed her party and her husband caused her retirement in 1945. As the Conservatives believed she had become a political liability in the final years of World War II, her husband said that if she stood for office again the family would not support her. She conceded but, according to contemporary reports, was both irritated and angry about her situation. Lady Astor struggled in retirement, which put further strain on her marriage. In a speech commemorating her 25 years in parliament, she stated that her retirement was forced on her and that it should please the men of Britain. The couple began travelling separately and soon were living apart. Lord Astor also began moving towards left-wing politics in his last years, and that exacerbated their differences. However, the couple reconciled before his death on 30 September 1952. Lady Astor's public image suffered, as her ethnic and religious views were increasingly out of touch with cultural changes in Britain. She expressed a growing paranoia regarding ethnic minorities. In one instance, she stated that the President of the United States had become too dependent on New York City. To her this city represented "Jewish and foreign" influences that she feared. During a US tour, she told a group of African-American students that they should aspire to be like the black servants she remembered from her youth. On a later trip, she told African-American church members that they should be grateful for slavery because it had allowed them to be introduced to Christianity. In Rhodesia she proudly told the white minority government leaders that she was the daughter of a slave owner. After 1956, Nancy Astor became increasingly isolated. In 1959, she was honoured by receiving the Freedom of City of Plymouth. By this time, she had lost all her sisters and brothers, her colleague "Red Ellen" Wilkinson died in 1947, George Bernard Shaw died in 1950, and she did not take well to widowhood. Her son Bobbie Shaw became increasingly combative and after her death he committed suicide. Her son, Jakie, married a prominent Catholic woman, which hurt his relationship with his mother. She and her other children became estranged. Gradually she began to accept Catholics as friends. However, she said that her final years were lonely. Lady Astor died in 1964 at her daughter Nancy Astor's home at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire. She was cremated and her ashes interred at the Octagon Temple at Cliveden. Alleged quotations. She was known for exchanges with Winston Churchill, though most of these are not well documented. Churchill told Lady Astor that having a woman in Parliament was like having one intrude on him in the bathroom, to which she retorted, "You're not handsome enough to have such fears." Lady Astor is also said to have responded to a question from Churchill about what disguise he should wear to a masquerade ball by saying, "Why don't you come sober, Prime Minister?" Although variations on the following anecdote exist with different people, the story is being told of Winston Churchill's encounter with Lady Astor who, after failing to shake him in an argument, broke off with the petulant remark, "Oh, if you were my husband, I'd put poison in your tea." "Madame," Winston responded, "if I were your husband, I'd drink it with pleasure." On another occasion, Lady Astor allegedly came upon Churchill, and he was highly intoxicated. She highly disapproved of alcohol, and she said to him "Winston, you're drunk!" To which he replied "And you are ugly. However, when I wake up tomorrow, I shall be sober, and you will still be ugly!" Legacy. In 1982 the BBC broadcast a nine-part television drama serial about her life, "Nancy Astor", which starred Lisa Harrow. A bronze statue of Lady Astor was installed in Plymouth, near her former family home, in 2019 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her election to Parliament. Astor's antisemitism has been widely documented and has been criticised in recent years, particularly in light of former Prime Minister Theresa May's 2019 unveiling of a statue in her honour with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in attendance, and more recently after Labour MP Rachel Reeves commemorated Astor in a series of tweets. The then-leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, while opposed to her anti-semitism, recognised she was the first woman MP to take up her place in Parliament and so praised installation of the statue, commenting "I'm really pleased the statue is going up". During the George Floyd protests in 2020, the word "Nazi" was spray-painted on its base. The statue was on a list published on a website called "Topple the Racists".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59403

Binghamton, New York

Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton is the principal city and cultural center of the Binghamton metropolitan area (also known as Greater Binghamton, or historically the Triple Cities, including Endicott and Johnson City), home to a quarter million people. The city's population, according to the 2020 census, is 47,969. From the days of the railroad, Binghamton was a transportation crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times for the production of cigars, shoes, and computers. IBM was founded nearby, and the flight simulator was invented in the city, leading to a notable concentration of electronics- and defense-oriented firms. This sustained economic prosperity earned Binghamton the moniker of the Valley of Opportunity. However, starting with job cuts made by defense firms towards the end of the Cold War, the region lost a large part of its manufacturing industry. Today, while there is a continued concentration of high-tech firms, Binghamton is emerging as a healthcare- and education-focused city, with Binghamton University acting as much of the driving force behind this revitalization. History. Early settlement. The first known people of European descent to come to the area were the troops of the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, who destroyed local villages of the Onondaga and Oneida tribes. The city was named after William Bingham, a wealthy Philadelphian who bought the 10,000 acre patent for the land in 1786, then consisting of parts of the towns of Union and Chenango. Joshua Whitney, Jr., Bingham's land agent, chose land at the junction of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers to develop a settlement, then named Chenango Point, and helped build its roads and erect the first bridge. Significant agricultural growth led to the incorporation of the village of Binghamton in 1834. The Chenango Canal, completed in 1837, connected Binghamton to the Erie Canal, and was the impetus for the initial industrial development of the area. This growth accelerated with the completion of the Erie Railroad between Binghamton and Jersey City, NJ in 1849. With the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad arriving soon afterward, the village became an important regional transportation center. Several buildings of importance were built at this time, including the New York State Inebriate Asylum, opened in 1858 as the first center in the United States to treat alcoholism as a disease. Growth as a manufacturing hub. Binghamton incorporated as a city in 1867 and, due to the presence of several stately homes, was nicknamed the Parlor City. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many immigrants moved to the area, finding an abundance of jobs. During the 1880s, Binghamton became the second-largest manufacturer of cigars in the United States. By the early 1920s, Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer whose development of welfare capitalism resulted in many amenities for local residents, became the region's largest employer. An even larger influx of Europeans immigrated to Binghamton, and the working class prosperity resulted in the area being called the Valley of Opportunity. In 1913, 31 people perished in the Binghamton Clothing Company fire, which resulted in reforms to the New York fire code. Major floods in 1935 and 1936 resulted in a number of deaths and washed out the Ferry Street Bridge (now the Clinton Street Bridge). The floods led the city to build flood walls along the length of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. During the Second World War, growth continued as IBM, which was founded in greater Binghamton, emerged as a global technology leader. Along with Edwin Link's invention of the flight simulator in Binghamton, IBM's growth helped transition the region to a high-tech economy. Other major manufacturers included Ansco and General Electric. Until the Cold War ended, the area never experienced an economic downfall, due in part to its defense-oriented industries. The city's population peaked at around 85,000 in the mid-1950s. Decline and recovery. Post-war suburban development led to a decline in the city's population and the rapid growth of the towns of Vestal and Union. Like many other Rust Belt cities, traditional manufacturers saw steep declines, though Binghamton's technology industry limited this impact. Urban renewal efforts to reverse these trends dominated construction in the city during the 1960s and early 1970s and led to the destruction of many ornate city buildings. The construction included the creation of Government Plaza, the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, and the Brandywine Highway. While these projects failed to stem most of the losses, they established Binghamton as the region's government and cultural center. The city's population declined from approximately 64,000 in 1969 to 56,000 by the early 1980s. As the Cold War ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, defense-related industries in the Binghamton area began to falter, resulting in several closures and widespread layoffs These were most notable at IBM, which sold its Federal Systems division and laid off several thousands of workers. The local economy went into a deep recession, and the long-prevalent manufacturing jobs dropped by 64% from 1990 to 2013. In the 21st century, the city has tried to diversify its economic base to spur revitalization. The local economy has slowly transitioned toward services and healthcare. Major emphasis has been placed on Binghamton University, which built a downtown campus in 2007 and several student housing complexes. The increased downtown residential population and the university's plans to build additional student housing have spurred development of supporting businesses and a renewed focus on the riverfront. Unfortunately, two severe floods have stymied the recovery: while most of the impact of the Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006 was in the surrounding metropolitan area, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee topped city flood walls in September 2011, causing $1 billion of damage in greater Binghamton. On April 3, 2009, a man shot 13 people dead, then himself, at the American Civic Association's offices in Binghamton. Geography. Cityscape. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and (5.83%) is water. Binghamton, like all of the Southern Tier of New York, lies on the Allegheny Plateau; hence its hilly terrain. As such, elevations can vary in the city--Downtown, for example, is at an elevation of around 860 feet (262 meters), while residential homes in the hills can go up to over 1,800 feet (548 meters), such as on Ingram Hill. The highest peak in Binghamton is Table Rock Ridge, which is at 1,854 feet. The Downtown area sits at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers, in the middle of a long but relatively narrow valley. The north branch of the Susquehanna River passes south of downtown. This branch rises in eastern New York and receives a number of tributaries above Binghamton. In the center of the city, the Chenango River feeds into the Susquehanna from the north at Confluence Park. The Binghamton River Trail, a 1.5 mile trail along the Chenango, runs between Cheri Lindsey Park on the Northside and Confluence Park in Downtown. Eleven bridges span the rivers inside city limits. Broome County has 17.5 miles of levees, many of which are in Binghamton. Major floods have occurred in 1865, 1935, 1936, 2006, and 2011. The incorporation of Binghamton united various communities on both shores of the two rivers. The majority of the city's population and development lies along the rolling terrain nearest the riverbanks with sparse development in the hills that define the city limits. The old city was laid out on a grid system by Joshua Whitney, Jr., but as development spread to the outer regions of the city and merged with other settlements, several grids were eventually juxtaposed against each other. In the Southside, the grid breaks down, as more curvilinear roads make up the predominantly residential areas along the hills. The city was the traditional economic center of the region and is home to several historic districts. The Railroad Terminal Historic District consists of several factories and buildings along the railroad line in the northern limits of downtown. Over 1,000 properties on the West Side contribute to the Abel Bennett Tract Historic District, mainly made up of residential properties along Riverside Drive. Downtown's State Street-Henry Street Historic District consists of several older low-rise buildings. The Court Street Historic District has some of the city's most notable architecture, including the Press Building and Security Mutual Building, early 20th century high rises, and the Broome County Courthouse. The Press Building was the tallest building in Binghamton until the completion of the State Office Building in Government Plaza, which remains the tallest in the city. Away from downtown, most of the buildings are single- and multi-family dwellings, along with low-rise business buildings lining commercial arteries. Along the railroad corridors, several factories, mostly abandoned, rise above the otherwise-uniform landscape. Main Street runs through the West Side, and continues west to serve as Main Street in the villages of Johnson City and Endicott. On the east side of the Chenango River, the road becomes Court Street, the major east–west artery in downtown and the East Side. Neighborhoods. Binghamton is divided into seven neighborhoods. Downtown Binghamton, also known as Center City, is home to most of the city's largest buildings and government services. Located at the northeast corner of the river confluence and increasingly populated by college students, it supports a flourishing arts scene. The North Side is across the Norfolk Southern rail tracks from downtown, along the Chenango River. The North Side is a light commercial and working-class residential area of the city, with Chenango Street serving as its major artery. The East Side lies east of the Brandywine Highway, along the north bank of the Susquehanna River. The neighborhood is largely residential with commercial corridors along Robinson and Court streets, and it has pockets of industrial development along its borders. Across the Chenango River lies the West Side, a primarily residential neighborhood along the banks of the Susquehanna that has a combination of family homes, student housing, and stately mansions. Main Street's large supermarkets, pharmacies, bank branches, pubs, restaurants, auto shops, and a few strip malls form the West Side's commercial corridor. The First Ward, a largely residential neighborhood opposite the railroad tracks from the West Side, is best known for Antique Row, a series of antique shops that line Clinton Street. This part of the city is home to several gold-domed Christian churches built by the area's many Eastern European immigrants. It is also home to several large supermarkets, churches, pharmacies, bank branches, a few bars and restaurants as well as mom and pop shops that provide such goods as video games and music. Ely Park, Binghamton's northernmost neighborhood, contains its municipal golf course. It lies on parts of Prospect Mountain and other hills north of the First Ward. The Southside lies along the south bank of the Susquehanna River and is connected to downtown by several bridges. At the base of the historic South Washington Street Bridge is the Southbridge commercial district. The neighborhood is partitioned into two neighborhood assemblies, divided by Pennsylvania Avenue and Southbridge, due to their distinct characters. Southside East has working-class residences and some public housing projects and is home to the Islamic Awareness Center, while Southside West is primarily made up of larger middle-class residences. Climate. Binghamton has a humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfb"), with cold, snowy winters and warm, wet summers. Summers in Binghamton are typified by warm yet temperate days, and there are an average of only 2.6 days annually where the high exceeds , with the highest recorded temperature at on July 16, 1988. Winters are somewhat less moderate, with 5.8 days with sub- lows annually on average; the lowest recorded temperature was on January 15, 1957. As with most cities in upstate New York, precipitation in Binghamton is spread evenly throughout the year. Binghamton is the 10th rainiest city in the United States, with 162 rainy days a year. With 212 cloudy days annually, it is also the seventh cloudiest city in the country, and the cloudiest east of the Rocky Mountains. Binghamton's proximity to the Great Lakes results in significant cloudiness and precipitation. Weather systems traveling over the lake pick up significant moisture, and cooler air masses from the west and the north culminate in a continuously unsettled weather pattern. Snowfall is significant, with an annual total of . Binghamton is not as greatly affected by lake-effect snow as cities further north or west such as Syracuse and Buffalo, which are part of the Great Lakes snowbelt. However, persistent snow bands from both the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes occasionally result in moderate snows. Binghamton receives occasional major snowfall from nor'easter storms as well (such as the 1993 Storm of the Century, or nearly four feet of snow in December 2020), and competes for the Golden Snowball Award with other upstate cities. <section begin="weather box"/><section end="weather box" /> Demographics. As of the census of 2010, 47,376 people, 21,150 households, and 9,986 families resided in the city. The population density was . There were 23,842 housing units at an average density of . Of all households, 20.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.9% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 52.8% were non-families. 40.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.94. Race and ethnicity. Binghamton is home to an ethnically diverse population. During its industrial heyday, thousands of European immigrants moved to the city as they found an abundance of jobs and working-class prosperity. Many Irish, Italians, and Eastern Europeans settled in the area, and the American Civic Association was created to help their transition to life and assimilation in the United States. This influx led to a temporary rise in the local Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s, with Binghamton serving as state headquarters. Area residents, who primarily embraced the different cultural heritages, quelled such anti-immigrant sentiment by founding several ethnic organizations and holding ethnic celebrations, at the encouragement of Endicott-Johnson. This has had a lasting effect on the city, which sports many churches and contemporary ethnic festivals, along with a population that is still predominantly white (though steadily decreasing in proportion). Binghamton also has a sizeable Kurdish community. As of 2010, Binghamton's racial makeup was 77.6% White, 11.4% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 4.2% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.0% from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races. 6.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Due to its diversity, the region is home to many religious denominations. The First Ward, the historic home to much of the city's Eastern European population, houses several gold domed Orthodox churches. As a result of its strong Italian and Irish heritage, the largest religious body in Broome County is the Catholic Church. Binghamton falls under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. Throughout the county, 105,064 people, or 52.4% of the total population, are listed as congregational adherents. Population trends. Until the mid-1950s, Binghamton saw its population grow rapidly due to its industrial boom, and it was one of the largest 100 cities in the United States between 1890 and 1910. Since 1950, the city has experienced sustained population loss, some of which was the result of suburbanization. Much of the recent population loss has occurred throughout the region, and is skewed toward the younger population, resulting in the growth of the relative proportion of the elderly in Broome County. Age and sex. In the city, the age distribution was: 19.3% of the population under the age of 18, 15.0% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males. Metropolitan area. As of 2020, the Binghamton metropolitan area is home to 247,138 people. The MSA is composed of all of Broome County and neighboring Tioga County. The urban area, which includes parts of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, has a population of 158,054 as of 2010. Alternatively defined, the number of people living in an approximately 30-mile radius of the city center is 316,270. This count includes Broome County and parts of Tioga, Cortland, Delaware, Chenango, and Tompkins Counties in New York, and parts of Susquehanna, Bradford, and Wayne Counties in Pennsylvania. Income and poverty. The city's median household income was $30,978, and the median family income was $43,436. Males had a median full-time income of $40,170 versus $35,060 for females. The city's per capita income was $20,576. About 23.6% of families and 33.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 47.3% of those under age 18 and 14.9% of those age 65 or over. Economy. After the boom of the cigar industry in the 1880s, the Binghamton area became increasingly reliant on large manufacturers, with both Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer, and IBM employing 15,000 to 20,000 local workers at their peak. Other companies with a large historical presence included Link Aviation Devices, Ansco, and General Electric. Several other notable businesses started in Binghamton, such as Valvoline, the Nineteen Hundred Washer Company (which merged to form Whirlpool), and "Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root", a famous patent medicine. Dick's Sporting Goods began as a fishing store in the East Side in 1948, and was headquartered in Binghamton until 1994. Much of Binghamton's current employment base is oriented toward technology and defense manufacturing, though the sector has been diminishing since 1990. Areas of specialization include systems integration, flight simulation, and printed circuit board manufacturing. The largest such companies in the area are Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, IBM, Sanmina-SCI, and Universal Instruments. Other notable technology firms include i3 Electronics, Rockwell Collins, and L-3 Communications, which absorbed the Link Aviation operations. Although not a large employer, the McIntosh Laboratory is a well-known high-end manufacturer of audio amplifiers, receivers, and other components. Despite the sustained job losses, the Binghamton MSA had 13% of New York State's computer and electronics manufacturing jobs as of 2010. Education and health care are also becoming significant sectors in the regional economy. In particular, Binghamton University and Broome Community College employ many researchers and educators. Binghamton University has a New York State Center of Excellence for small-scale systems integration, and it has provided the major impetus for the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator in downtown Binghamton, which encourages the growth of local startups. Upstate Medical University has worked to expand its clinical campus by establishing a permanent home at the former New York State Inebriate Asylum on the East Side. Major companies in the private healthcare industry include United Health Services and Lourdes Hospital. Binghamton also has many food services and distribution companies. Maines Paper & Food Service and Willow Run Foods - two of the nation's largest food distributors who serve restaurants throughout the United States - have their headquarters in the area. Maines is one of the largest private companies in the country. Crowley Foods, a subsidiary of HP Hood, maintains headquarters in Binghamton, and Frito-Lay has a large plant in the region. Agriculture has long played a notable role in the regional economy, and the farm bureau movement started in Binghamton in 1911. Other notable local employers include New York State Electric & Gas and Johnson Outdoors. Two insurance companies, Security Mutual Life and Columbian Financial Group, maintain headquarters in the area. The region has several large shopping areas. Downtown Binghamton is home to a Boscov's department store, and the development of large student housing projects has led to a resurgence of restaurants and service-oriented businesses. While downtown was home to several major department stores and the center of regional shopping, most shopping has moved toward the suburbs. The town of Vestal has several shopping centers and big-box stores along a five-mile stretch of the Vestal Parkway. The village of Johnson City is home to the Oakdale Mall, the area's only indoor super regional mall. Significant commercial development has also taken place in the town of Dickinson, with many shopping centers just north of the city. In the First Ward, Clinton Street is home to Antique Row, a collection of antique shops. Arts and culture. The region has, in the last several years, developed a growing and pervasive arts scene. These include a large cluster of art galleries and shops centered around downtown Binghamton. These galleries have given rise to the First Friday Art Walk, through the efforts an association of local artists and merchants in Downtown Binghamton. These events have drawn large crowds downtown since 2004. Artists of local prominence that display or have galleries include photorealist painter Anthony Brunelli, Orazio Salati, and Marla Olmstead, a local child who achieved fame in the art world for her abstract art. The Binghamton Philharmonic is the region's premiere professional orchestra. Founded in 1955, it provides symphonic music to all of the Southern Tier. Concerts are performed throughout the year, with a variety of classical, pops and chamber music. The Tri-Cities Opera stages full-scale operas at the Broome County Forum. The professional company has performed since 1949, and is famed for its actor training program. The region also has several other semi-professional and amateur orchestras and theaters such as the Cider Mill Playhouse. The Roberson Museum and Science Center, in the heart of Binghamton, is home to the Binghamton Visitor's Center, the Link Planetarium, and a number of exhibits detailing the culture and history of Greater Binghamton and the Southern Tier. The Kopernik Observatory & Science Center observatory is the largest public observatory in the northeast United States. The Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park, in the Southside, opened in 1875 and is the fifth-oldest zoo in the nation. Binghamton is known as the Carousel Capital of the World, as it houses six of the remaining antique carousels. Two are within city limits, one at Recreation Park and another at the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park. Other visitor attractions include the Phelps Mansion museum, the Cutler Botanic Garden, the Bundy Museum of History and Art, and the interactive, child-oriented Discovery Center. The Center for Technology & Innovation, a museum dedicated to local industry, is under construction. The area is home to a popular regional dish known as the spiedie. Many of the area's restaurants serve spiedies, but they have only experienced limited penetration beyond the Southern Tier and Central New York. Spiedies are celebrated at the Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally, which is held at Otsiningo Park each August and attracts over 100,000 people annually. The city's other annual events include the St. Patrick's Day parade in March, July Fest (a festival of jazz music, arts, and crafts held downtown since 1962), the 100-year-old St. Mary of the Assumption Bazaar in August, the LUMA Projection Arts Festival in September, Binghamton Porchfest (a free annual music festival featuring hundreds of performances staged on West Side residential porches), Blues on the Bridge (a September music festival that takes place on the South Washington Street Bridge), and the Columbus Day Parade and Italian Festival every October, which includes a marching band competition. Broome County is home to several festivals (including a significant concentration of ethnic celebrations due to its heritage), which the New York Department of Economic Development recognized in 2001 as the year's official I Love New York festival, and collectively dubbed the "Festival of Festivals." Notable former festivities include the Yegatta Regatta and the Pops on the River concert. Residents of Binghamton typically speak the Inland Northern dialect of American English, and the region falls within a distinct set of isoglosses that also contain Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. Much of the local accent has been subject to the Northern cities vowel shift, though this has not fully taken hold. Unlike other Inland Northern cities, people in Binghamton typically refer to athletic shoes as sneakers (as opposed to tennis shoes), and to soft drinks as soda (and not pop). Sports. Professional and semi-pro teams. Binghamton has a long history with minor league sports, having been home to several teams over the years. The Eastern League, one of the older Double-A baseball leagues in the United States prior to the 2021 Minor League Baseball reorganization, was founded at the Arlington Hotel in downtown Binghamton in 1923. Today, the city hosts two professional minor league teams, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (a baseball team affiliated with the New York Mets) and the Binghamton Black Bears (an ice hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League). In 2018, the "Sports Business Journal" ranked the city as the 10th best minor-league sports market in the country. Baseball. The area is home to the Double-A Northeast's Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets. The former Binghamton Mets have sent stars like Daniel Murphy, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Juan Lagares, José Reyes, David Wright, Preston Wilson, Ike Davis, Zack Wheeler, Edgardo Alfonzo, Jon Niese, Pete Alonso and Jay Payton to the majors. Binghamton has a long history in professional baseball dating back to 1877. Teams nicknamed the Crickets, the Bingoes, and for many years the Triplets represented Binghamton in the New York State League (now defunct), the New York–Pennsylvania League, the International League, and the Eastern League (1892–94, 1938–1963, 1967–1968, 1992–2021). The 1887 Binghamton Bingoes of the International League attracted national attention when the white players revolted against the two black players on the team. The reaction around the league forced Binghamton to release the black players, and the team folded soon after. The Binghamton Triplets of the Eastern League, founded in 1923, became a farm club of the New York Yankees in 1932, and sent many players to New York through 1968, when the team folded. Notably, the Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford was a starting pitcher for the Triplets in 1949. Football. Binghamton has also been home to two semiprofessional football teams, the Broome County Dragons (members of the Empire Football League) and the Southern Tier Green Machine (members of the North American Football League). In addition, two women's football teams called Binghamton home; the Binghamton Tiger Cats (members of the Independent Women's Football League) and the Southern Tier Spitfire (members of the Women's Football Alliance). As of 2015, none of these teams play. Founded in 2018, the Broome County Stallions play as part of the Northeastern Football Alliance. Golf. The B.C. Open was an official PGA Tour event held annually from 1971 to 2005 at Endicott's En-Joie Golf Course. (Note that the 2006 B.C. Open had to be played in Verona, N.Y. due to extensive damage during the June 2006 Flooding of the Susquehanna River.) Beginning in 2007, the area hosted a PGA Tour Champions event, the Dick's Sporting Goods Open. The event replaced the B.C. Open and continues to be played at En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott. Hockey. Professional hockey arrived in Binghamton in 1973 with the founding of the Broome Dusters of the North American Hockey League. The Dusters were known for their wide-open style of play, which was unusual in professional hockey at the time. While crowds were sparse at the beginning of the 1973 season, the team's popularity grew and the strength of the Dusters fan base, combined with continuous sellouts, led "The Hockey News" to declare Binghamton as Hockey Town USA. When the league folded in 1977, the Providence team of the American Hockey League moved to Binghamton and became the Binghamton Dusters. The team became the Binghamton Whalers from 1980 to 1990 and the Binghamton Rangers from 1990 to 1997 as a result of affiliations with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Hartford Whalers and New York Rangers. Later the Binghamton Senators who were the AHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators were formed. The B-Sens won division titles in 2003 and 2005, reached the AHL conference finals in 2003 and won the Calder Cup in 2011. The B-Sens sent players such as Jason Spezza, Robin Lehner, Chris Kelly, Jakob Silfverberg, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the NHL. The B-Sens relocated to Canada for the 2017–18 season. When the Senators were relocated, the NHL's New Jersey Devils brought their AHL franchise to the city as the Binghamton Devils with home games at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Devils left Binghamton in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and then relocated as the Utica Comets in 2021. An expansion team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) called the Binghamton Black Bears replaced the Devils at the Veterans Memorial Arena starting with the 2021–22 season. Tennis. The area is home to an annual Professional Tennis Challenger, the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, part of the USTA pro circuit (Known as the Frito-Lay Tennis Challenger in years past). Tennis greats such as Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake and, more recently, Andy Murray found their start with this tournament, using it as a springboard to the U.S. Open (tennis). NCAA sports. Binghamton University plays Division I college sports as a member of the America East Conference. Division III College Sports are played at Broome Community College. Bobby Gonzalez, former head coach of Seton Hall's men's basketball team was born here, and still has family in the area. King Rice, head basketball coach at Monmouth University, attended Binghamton High School. Motorsports. Since 1978 a round of the American Motorcyclist Association's Motocross Championship has taken place at the nearby Broome-Tioga Sports Center. This round of the series recently moved to Texas and is no longer hosted by the Broome-Tioga Sports Center. They also host the New York State Motocross Championships each fall and many other semi-pro events throughout the season. Parks and recreation. Binghamton is known for its bicycling and walking clubs, facilities, and trails. The Binghamton River Trail is an urban trail starting at Confluence Park, where the rivers intersect, and traveling alongside the Chenango River, past the Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade and Noyes Island, up to Cheri A. Lindsey Park in the North Side. Government. Since its incorporation as a city in 1867, Binghamton has been a municipality with a "strong" mayor–council form of government. The city government, originally housed in the old Municipal Building on Collier Street (now the Grand Royale Hotel), is now based at the Binghamton City Hall which occupies the west-wing of Government Plaza on the corner of State and Hawley streets. The mayor and councilors are elected to four-year terms and are limited to serving two terms. The Binghamton City Council is a unicameral body of seven Council members whose districts are defined by geographic population boundaries. Executive. The mayor of Binghamton is Jared M. Kraham (R). Legislative. The current 7-member City Council comprises (as of January 11, 2020): Education. Primary and secondary education. The public Binghamton City School District is the largest school district in the metropolitan area, with about 5,000 students enrolled . The district consists of Binghamton High School, two middle schools, and seven elementary schools. While the district maintains an International Baccalaureate program and has received several academic awards, it is classified as high needs, and has had difficulty meeting several educational requirements. The Catholic Schools of Broome County, a private school district affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, operate Seton Catholic Central High School and an elementary school in the city of Binghamton. Higher education. The city of Binghamton is home to three satellite campuses: The city was home to the now-defunct Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute, which was founded in Binghamton in 1850. The suburb of Vestal is home to the main campus of Binghamton University. The university, one of four university centers in the SUNY system, has approximately 15,000 students. Binghamton University is a selective top-ranking public university, and is considered to be a Public Ivy. It also has a large research presence, including a New York State Center of Excellence for small-scale systems integration. While the campus is in Vestal, many students who live off-campus find housing in the West Side. There has also been a recent push for student housing downtown to help revitalize the business district. In addition to its downtown campus, the university operates the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator in the city, and it is restoring the New York State Inebriate Asylum on the East Side for future use. SUNY Broome (formerly Broome Community College) is just north of the city in Dickinson. A two-year SUNY college, the school has 6,000 commuter students. Formerly specializing in technical education, SUNY Broome started in downtown Binghamton and stood at the Washington Street Armory until a fire in 1951. The college built the Student Village residence hall on campus in 2014 to attract residential students. SUNY Broome also offers courses at several off-campus locations, two of which are in the city. The college is renovating the former Carnegie Library into the SUNY Broome Culinary & Event Center, which will house its hospitality programs. Davis College (formerly Practical Bible College), a Bible college, is in nearby Johnson City. The Elmira Business Institute also has a Vestal campus. Media. The "Press & Sun-Bulletin" is the only major daily paper in Binghamton. As of 2014, the region makes up the 159th largest television market in the United States, as well as the 187th largest radio market. The market is served by TV stations affiliated with the major American broadcast networks, including WBNG-TV 12 (CBS/CW), WBGH-CD 20 (NBC), WIVT 34 (ABC), and WICZ-TV 40 (Fox). WSKG-TV 46 is Binghamton's PBS member station, and serves a large portion of the Southern Tier. Most Binghamton radio stations are owned by one of three groups: Townsquare Media, iHeartMedia, or the locally based Equinox Broadcasting. Infrastructure. Transportation. Binghamton is a major junction in the Interstate Highway System, much as it was during the days of the railroad. Interstate 81, a major north–south route, connects the city to Syracuse and Ontario, as well as to Pennsylvania and Appalachia. Binghamton is also the western terminus of Interstate 88, which gives a direct route to Albany. New York State Route 17, the Southern Tier Expressway, is being upgraded to Interstate 86, and spans the southern border of New York, providing access to New York City, as well as to the western Southern Tier and Erie, Pennsylvania. Between 1953 and 1966, the state built an arterial system to alleviate traffic, which includes the Brandywine Highway (New York State Route 7), North Shore Drive (New York State Route 363), and the portion of the Vestal Parkway (New York State Route 434) within city limits. Other major thoroughfares in the city include Chenango Street, Main Street (New York State Route 17C), and Court/Front Streets (U.S. Route 11). B.C. Transit, a daily bus service provided by Broome County, offers public transportation in Binghamton and outlying areas. Binghamton University students are also served by Off-Campus College Transport. Intercity buses originate from the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center, which was opened in 2010 and also serves as the B.C. Transit hub. OurBus offers bus daily service between Ithaca-Binghamton-Manhattan. Greyhound Lines provides direct routes to Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Scranton, Toronto, and New York City. Short Line Buses offer service to Olean, Ithaca, Utica, Albany, New York City, and Long Island. Trailways of New York also has direct service to Albany and Rochester and Megabus has direct service to New York City. The Greater Binghamton Airport (IATA code BGM, ICAO code KBGM) is a small regional airport, and the only area airport that offers scheduled airline service. Located north of downtown, it currently has non-stop flights to Detroit on Delta Air Lines. Avelo Airlines is also planning to offer non-stop flights to Fort Myers and Orlando, Florida beginning in November 2022. The region's general aviation airport, Tri-Cities Airport, is to the west, in the town of Endicott. Three freight railroads serve Binghamton. Norfolk Southern Railway serves Binghamton with its Southern Tier Main Line (the former Erie Lackawanna mainline) and on the main line between Schenectady and Scranton, Pennsylvania (formerly the Delaware and Hudson Railway). The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway maintains lines from Binghamton to Syracuse and Utica, and the Central New York Railroad offers freight service to Port Jervis. Binghamton has no railroad passenger service. The last scheduled service, the "Lake Cities" train from Hoboken, New Jersey to Chicago, ended on January 6, 1970. New York Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing for passenger rail service between Binghamton and New York City via Scranton and the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Utilities. Electricity and natural gas service are supplied and distributed by New York State Electric and Gas. The city's only cable provider is Charter Spectrum, which also offers high-speed internet and digital phone. Verizon provides local telephone and internet service. Greenlight Networks offers fiber-optic internet. The City Department of Public Works handles garbage and recycling, and maintains city street lights. The city government maintains water and sewer services. Binghamton's primary source of potable water is the Susquehanna River, which is fed through a water treatment facility. Sewage is treated and released back into the Susquehanna downstream, at the Binghamton–Johnson City Joint Sewage Treatment Plant. The sewage plant was severely damaged by Tropical Storm Lee, and will require $90 million of repairs. Healthcare. United Health Services (UHS) operates Binghamton General Hospital in the Southside and Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, while Lourdes Hospital is run by Ascension Health out of St. Louis, MO. The Dr. Garabed A. Fattal Community Free Clinic is run by Upstate Medical University, and offers services with the Broome County Health Department and United Health Services. The New York State Office of Mental Health operates the Greater Binghamton Health Center, which will become a regional center of excellence for children's behavior. Sister cities. Binghamton also has a local sister city project:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59617

Glastonbury

Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury. Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based at the site of a 14th-century abbey manor barn, often referred to as a tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century. The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve. Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community, and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town. History. Prehistory. During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys and low-lying ground surrounding Glastonbury so the Mesolithic people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints. The Neolithic people continued to exploit the reedswamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways. These included the Sweet Track, west of Glastonbury, which is one of the oldest engineered roads known and was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe, until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison. Tree-ring dating (dendrochronology) of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806 BC. It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet. It extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay, and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick, a distance close to . The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the Somerset Levels. Built in the 39th century BC, during the Neolithic period, the track consisted of crossed poles of ash, oak and lime ("Tilia") which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consisted of oak planks laid end-to-end. Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has been determined that it was built along the route of an even earlier track, the Post Track, dating from 3838 BC, and so 30 years older. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue, on the Somerset Levels near Godney, some north west of Glastonbury. It covers an area of north to south by east to west, and housed around 100 people in five to seven groups of houses, each for an extended family, with sheds and barns, made of hazel and willow covered with reeds, and surrounded either permanently or at certain times by a wooden palisade. The village was built in about 300 BC and occupied into the early Roman period (around AD 100) when it was abandoned, possibly due to a rise in the water level. It was built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay. Sharpham Park is a historic park, west of Glastonbury, which dates back to the Bronze Age. Middle Ages. The name Glastonbury is derived from . When the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th century, it was called "Glestingaburg". The "burg" element is Old English and could refer either to a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure; however the "Glestinga" element is obscure, and may derive from a Celtic personal name or from Old English (either from a name or otherwise). It may derive from a person or kindred group named Glast. The name however is likely related to an Irish individual named Glas mac Caise 'Glas son of Cas'. Glas is an ancient Irish personal name meaning 'green, grey/green'. It is stated in the Life of St Patrick that he resurrected a swineherder by that name and he went to Glastonbury, to an area of the village known as 'Glastonbury of the Irish' and this could well be referring to the area of Beckery (Little Ireland) where it is believed an Irish Colony established itself in the 10th century and was thus nicknamed 'Little Ireland'. This area was known to the Irish as Glastimbir na n-Gaoidhil 'Glastonbury of the Gaels'. (The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey - Courteney Arthur Ralegh Radford). This is the earliest source for the name Glastonbury. The modern Irish form for Glastonbury is Glaistimbir. Hugh Ross Williamson cites a tale about St. Collen, one of the earliest hermits to inhabit the Tor before the Abbey was built by St. Patrick, which has the Saint summoned by the King of the Fairies, Gwyn, to the summit of the Tor. Upon arrival there he beholds a hovering mansion inhabited by handsomely dressed courtiers and King Gwyn on a throne of gold; holy water disperses the apparition. This is from Druid mythology, in which the mansion is "made of glass" so as to receive the spirits of the dead, which were supposed to depart from the summit of the Tor. This was the chief reason why the chapel, and later the church, of St. Michael were built on the high hill; St. Michael being the chief patron against diabolic attacks which the monks believed the Fairy King to be numbered among. Accordingly, Williamson posits that the Tor was named after the glassy mansion of the dead. William of Malmesbury in his "De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie" gives the Old Celtic "Ineswitrin" (or "Ynys Witrin") as its earliest name, and asserts that the founder of the town was the eponymous Glast, a descendant of Cunedda. Centwine (676–685) was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey. King Edmund Ironside was buried at the abbey. The Domesday Book indicates that in the hundred of "Glastingberiensis", the Abbey was the Lord in 1066 prior to the arrival of William the Conqueror then tenant-in chief with Godwin as Lord of "Glastingberi" in 1086. To the southwest of the town centre is Beckery, which was once a village in its own right but is now part of the suburbs. Around the 7th and 8th centuries it was occupied by a small monastic community associated with a cemetery. Archaeological excavations in 2016 uncovered 50 to 60 skeletons thought to be those of monks from Beckery Chapel during the 5th or early 6th century. Sharpham Park was granted by King Eadwig to the then abbot Æthelwold in 957. In 1191 Sharpham Park was gifted by the soon-to-be King John I to the Abbots of Glastonbury, who remained in possession of the park and house until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. From 1539 to 1707 the park was owned by the Duke of Somerset, Sir Edward Seymour, brother of Queen Jane; the Thynne family of Longleat, and the family of Sir Henry Gould. Edward Dyer was born here in 1543. The house is now a private residence and Grade II* listed building. It was the birthplace of Sir Edward Dyer (died 1607) an Elizabethan poet and courtier, the writer Henry Fielding (1707–54), and the cleric William Gould.In the 1070s St Margaret's Chapel was built on Magdelene Street, originally as a hospital and later as almshouses for the poor. The building dates from 1444. The roof of the hall is thought to have been removed after the Dissolution, and some of the building was demolished in the 1960s. It is Grade II* listed, and a scheduled monument. Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Glastonbury in 2010 plans were announced to restore the building. During the Middle Ages the town largely depended on the abbey but was also a centre for the wool trade until the 18th century. A Saxon-era canal connected the abbey to the River Brue. Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, was executed with two of his monks on 15 November 1539 during the dissolution of the monasteries. During the Second Cornish Uprising of 1497 Perkin Warbeck surrendered when he heard that Giles, Lord Daubeney's troops, loyal to Henry VII were camped at Glastonbury. Early modern. In 1693 Glastenbury, Connecticut was founded and named after the English town from which some of the settlers had emigrated. It is rumored to have originally been called "Glistening Town" until the mid-19th century, when the name was changed to match the spelling of Glastonbury, England, but in fact, residents of the Connecticut town believe this to be a myth, based on the Glastonbury Historical Society's records. A representation of the Glastonbury thorn is incorporated onto the town seal. The Somerset town's charter of incorporation was received in 1705. Growth in the trade and economy largely depended on the drainage of the surrounding moors. The opening of the Glastonbury Canal produced an upturn in trade, and encouraged local building. The parish was part of the hundred of Glaston Twelve Hides, until the 1730s when it became a borough in its own right. Modern history. By the middle of the 19th century the Glastonbury Canal drainage problems and competition from the new railways caused a decline in trade, and the town's economy became depressed. The canal was closed on 1 July 1854, and the lock and aqueducts on the upper section were dismantled. The railway opened on 17 August 1854. The lower sections of the canal were given to the Commissioners for Sewers, for use as a drainage ditch. The final section was retained to provide a wharf for the railway company, which was used until 1936, when it passed to the Commissioners of Sewers and was filled in. The Central Somerset Railway merged with the Dorset Central Railway to become the Somerset and Dorset Railway. The main line to Glastonbury closed in 1966. In the Northover district industrial production of sheepskins, woollen slippers and, later, boots and shoes, developed in conjunction with the growth of C&J Clark in Street. Clarks still has its headquarters in Street, but shoes are no longer manufactured there. Instead, in 1993, redundant factory buildings were converted to form Clarks Village, the first purpose-built factory outlet in the United Kingdom. During the 19th and 20th centuries tourism developed based on the rise of antiquarianism, the association with the abbey and mysticism of the town. This was aided by accessibility via the rail and road network, which has continued to support the town's economy and led to a steady rise in resident population since 1801. Glastonbury received national media coverage in 1999 when cannabis plants were found in the town's floral displays. Mythology and legends. Glastonbury is notable for myths and legends concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur as recorded by ancient historians William of Malmesbury, Venerable Bede, Gerald of Wales and Geoffrey of Monmouth. Many long-standing and cherished legends were examined in a four-year study by archaeologists, led by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, at the University of Reading, who, amongst other findings, speculated that the connection with King Arthur and his Queen, Guinevere, was created deliberately by the monks in 1184 to meet a financial crisis caused by a devastating fire. Other myths examined include the visit by Jesus, the building of the oldest church in England, and the flowering of the walking stick. Roberta Gilchrist stated, "We didn't claim to disprove the legendary associations, nor would we wish to". The site of King Arthur's supposed grave contained material dating from between the 11th and 15th centuries. Gilchrist said, "That doesn't dispel the Arthurian legend, it just means the pit [20th century archaeologist Ralegh Radford] excavated he rather over-claimed." The study made new archaeological finds; its leader found Glastonbury to be a remarkable archaeological site. The new results were reported on the Glastonbury Abbey Web site, and were to be incorporated into the Abbey's guidebook; however, the leader of the study, who became a trustee of Glastonbury, said "We are not in the business of destroying people's beliefs ... A thousand years of beliefs and legends are part of the intangible history of this remarkable place". Gilchrist went on to say, "archaeology can help us to understand how legends evolve and what people in the past believed". She noted that the project has actually uncovered the first definitive proof of occupation at the Glastonbury Abbey site during the fifth century—when Arthur allegedly lived. The legend that Joseph of Arimathea retrieved certain holy relics was introduced by the French poet Robert de Boron in his 13th-century version of the grail story, thought to have been a trilogy though only fragments of the later books survive today. The work became the inspiration for the later Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian tales. De Boron's account relates how Joseph captured Jesus's blood in a cup (the "Holy Grail") which was subsequently brought to Britain. The Vulgate Cycle reworked Boron's original tale. Joseph of Arimathea was no longer the chief character in the Grail origin: Joseph's son, Josephus, took over his role of the Grail keeper. The earliest versions of the grail romance, however, do not call the grail "holy" or mention anything about blood, Joseph or Glastonbury. In 1191, monks at the abbey claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere to the south of the Lady Chapel of the Abbey Church, which was visited by a number of contemporary historians including Giraldus Cambrensis. The remains were later moved and were lost during the Reformation. Many scholars suspect that this discovery was a pious forgery to substantiate the antiquity of Glastonbury's foundation, and increase its renown. An early Welsh poem links Arthur to the Tor in an account of a confrontation between Arthur and Melwas, who had kidnapped Queen Guinevere. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury by boat over the flooded Somerset Levels. On disembarking he stuck his staff into the ground and it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn (also called Holy Thorn). This is said to explain a hybrid Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn) tree that only grows within a few miles of Glastonbury, and which flowers twice annually, once in spring and again around Christmas time (depending on the weather). Each year a sprig of thorn is cut, by the local Anglican vicar and the eldest child from St John's School, and sent to the Queen. The original Holy Thorn was a centre of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages but was chopped down during the English Civil War. A replacement thorn was planted in the 20th century on Wearyall hill (originally in 1951 to mark the Festival of Britain, but the thorn had to be replanted the following year as the first attempt did not take). The Wearyall Hill Holy Thorn was vandalised in 2010 and all its branches were chopped off. It initially showed signs of recovery but now (2014) appears to be dead. A new sapling has been planted nearby. Many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, St Johns Church and Chalice Well. Today, Glastonbury Abbey presents itself as "traditionally the oldest above-ground Christian church in the world," which according to the legend was built at Joseph's behest to house the Holy Grail, 65 or so years after the death of Jesus. The legend also says that as a child, Jesus had visited Glastonbury along with Joseph. The legend probably was encouraged during the medieval period when religious relics and pilgrimages were profitable business for abbeys. William Blake mentioned the legend in a poem that became a popular hymn, "Jerusalem". Glastonbury zodiac. In 1934 artist Katherine Maltwood suggested a landscape zodiac, a map of the stars on a gigantic scale, formed by features in the landscape such as roads, streams and field boundaries, could be found situated around Glastonbury. She held that the "temple" was created by Sumerians about 2700 BC. The idea of a prehistoric landscape zodiac fell into disrepute when two independent studies examined the Glastonbury Zodiac, one by Ian Burrow in 1975 and the other by Tom Williamson and Liz Bellamy in 1983. These both used standard methods of landscape historical research. Both studies concluded that the evidence contradicted the idea of an ancient zodiac. The eye of Capricorn identified by Maltwood was a haystack. The western wing of the Aquarius phoenix was a road laid in 1782 to run around Glastonbury, and older maps dating back to the 1620s show the road had no predecessors. The Cancer boat (not a crab as in conventional western astrology) consists of a network of 18th-century drainage ditches and paths. There are some Neolithic paths preserved in the peat of the bog formerly comprising most of the area, but none of the known paths match the lines of the zodiac features. There is no support for this theory, or for the existence of the "temple" in any form, from conventional archaeologists. Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several ley lines. Governance and public services. The town council is made up of 16 members, and is based at Glastonbury Town Hall, Magdalene Street. The town hall was built in 1814 and has a two-storey late Georgian ashlar front. It is a Grade II* listed building. For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, Glastonbury comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Mendip, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Glastonbury Municipal Borough. The town's retained fire station is operated by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Police and ambulance services are provided by Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the South Western Ambulance Service. There are two doctors' surgeries in Glastonbury, and a National Health Service community hospital operated by Somerset Primary Care Trust which opened in 2005. There are 4 electoral wards within "Glastonbury" having in total the same population as is mentioned above. Glastonbury falls within the Wells constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The Member of Parliament is Conservative, James Heappey, who replaced Tessa Munt of the Liberal Democrats in the 2015 general election. Glastonbury is twinned with the Greek island of Patmos, and Lalibela, Ethiopia. Geography. The walk up the Tor to the distinctive tower at the summit (the partially restored remains of an old church) is rewarded by vistas of the mid-Somerset area, including the Levels which are drained marshland. From there, on a dry point, above sea level, it is easy to appreciate how Glastonbury was once an island and, in the winter, the surrounding moors are often flooded, giving that appearance once more. It is an agricultural region typically with open fields of permanent grass, surrounded by ditches with willow trees. Access to the moors and Levels is by "droves", i.e., green lanes. The Levels and inland moors can be below peak tides and have large areas of peat. The low-lying areas are underlain by much older Triassic age formations of Upper Lias sand that protrude to form what would once have been islands and include Glastonbury Tor. The lowland landscape was formed only during the last 10,000 years, following the end of the last ice age. The low-lying damp ground can produce a visual effect known as a Fata Morgana. This optical phenomenon occurs because rays of light are strongly bent when they pass through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed. The Italian name "Fata Morgana" is derived from the name of Morgan le Fay, who was alternatively known as Morgane, Morgain, Morgana and other variants. Morgan le Fay was described as a powerful sorceress and antagonist of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the Arthurian legend. Glastonbury is less than across the River Brue from the village of Street. At the time of King Arthur the Brue formed a lake just south of the hilly ground on which Glastonbury stands. This lake is one of the locations suggested by Arthurian legend as the home of the Lady of the Lake. Pomparles Bridge stood at the western end of this lake, guarding Glastonbury from the south, and it is suggested that it was here that Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur into the waters after King Arthur fell at the Battle of Camlann. The old bridge was replaced by a reinforced concrete arch bridge in 1911. Until the 13th century, the direct route to the sea at Highbridge was prevented by gravel banks and peat near Westhay. The course of the river partially encircled Glastonbury from the south, around the western side (through Beckery), and then north through the Panborough-Bleadney gap in the Wedmore-Wookey Hills, to join the River Axe just north of Bleadney. This route made it difficult for the officials of Glastonbury Abbey to transport produce from their outlying estates to the abbey, and when the valley of the River Axe was in flood it backed up to flood Glastonbury itself. Some time between 1230 and 1250 a new channel was constructed westwards into Meare Pool north of Meare, and further westwards to Mark Moor. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project based on the Somerset Levels and Moors and managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The project commenced in January 2009 and aims to restore, recreate and reconnect habitat, ensuring that wildlife is enhanced and capable of sustaining itself in the face of climate change, while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably. It is one of an increasing number of landscape-scale conservation projects in the UK. The Ham Wall National Nature Reserve, west of Glastonbury, is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This new wetland habitat has been established from out peat diggings and now consists of areas of reedbed, wet scrub, open water and peripheral grassland and woodland. Bird species living on the site include the bearded tit and the Eurasian bittern. The Whitelake River rises between two low limestone ridges to the north of Glastonbury, part of the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The confluence of the two small streams that make the Whitelake River is on Worthy Farm, the site of the Glastonbury Festival, between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle. Climate. Along with the rest of South West England, Glastonbury has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately . Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately . In winter mean minimum temperatures of are common. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around . About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west. Economy. Glastonbury is a centre for religious tourism and pilgrimage. As with many towns of similar size, the centre is not as thriving as it once was but Glastonbury supports a large number of alternative shops. The outskirts of the town contain a DIY shop, a former sheepskin and slipper factory site, once owned by Morlands, which is slowly being redeveloped. The site of the old Morlands factory was scheduled for demolition and redevelopment into a new light industrial park, although there have been some protests that the buildings should be reused rather than being demolished. As part of the redevelopment of the site a project has been established by the Glastonbury Community Development Trust to provide support for local unemployed people applying for employment, starting in self-employment and accessing work-related training. Landmarks. According to the Glastonbury Conservation Area Appraisal of July 2010, there are approximately 170 listed buildings or structures in the town's designated conservation area, of which eight are listed grade I, six are listed grade II* and the remainder are listed grade II. The Tribunal was a medieval merchant's house, used as the Abbey courthouse and, during the Monmouth Rebellion trials, by Judge Jeffreys. It now serves as a museum containing possessions and works of art from the Glastonbury Lake Village which were preserved in almost perfect condition in the peat after the village was abandoned. The museum is run by the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society. The building also houses the tourist information centre. The octagonal Market Cross was built in 1846 by Benjamin Ferrey. The George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn was built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to Glastonbury Abbey, which is open to visitors. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The front of the 3-storey building is divided into 3 tiers of panels with traceried heads. Above the right of centre entrance are 3 carved panels with arms of the Abbey and Edward IV. The Somerset Rural Life Museum is a museum of the social and agricultural history of Somerset, housed in buildings surrounding a 14th-century barn once belonging to Glastonbury Abbey. It was used for the storage of arable produce, particularly wheat and rye, from the abbey's home farm of approximately . Threshing and winnowing would also have been carried out in the barn, which was built from local "shelly" limestone with thick timbers supporting the stone tiling of the roof. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building, and is a scheduled monument. The Chalice Well is a holy well at the foot of the Tor, covered by a wooden well-cover with wrought-iron decoration made in 1919. The natural spring has been in almost constant use for at least two thousand years. Water issues from the spring at a rate of per day and has never failed, even during drought. Iron oxide deposits give the water a reddish hue, as dissolved ferrous oxide becomes oxygenated at the surface and is precipitated, providing chalybeate waters. As with the hot springs in nearby Bath, the water is believed to possess healing qualities. The well is about deep, with two underground chambers at its bottom. It is often portrayed as a symbol of the female aspect of deity, with the male symbolised by Glastonbury Tor (however, some consider Glastonbury Tor to be a 'hugh bounteous female figure'). As such, it is a popular destination for pilgrims in search of the divine feminine, including modern Pagans. The well is however popular with all faiths and in 2001 became a World Peace Garden. Just a short distance from the Chalice Well site, across a road known as Well House Lane, can be found the "White Spring", where a temple has been created in the 21st century. Whilst the waters of the Chalice Well are touched red with iron, the water of the latter is white with calcite. Some people consider the red water of Chalice Well to have male properties, whilst the white water of White Spring has female qualities. Both springs rise from caverns underneath the Tor and it is claimed that both have healing in their flow. The building now used as the White Spring Temple was originally a Victorian-built well house, erected by the local water board in 1872. Around that time, an outbreak of cholera in the area caused great concern and the natural caves were dug out, and a stone collection chamber was constructed to ensure the flow of a quality water supply. Study of the flow of water into the collection chamber has shown that the builders also tapped into other springs, besides the White Spring and judging from the high iron content of one of these springs, it appears that a small offshoot of Chalice Well finds its way under Well House Lane to emerge beside the White Spring. However, after building the reservoir, the water board soon discovered that the high calciferous content of the water caused pipes to block and by the end of the 19th century water was piped into Glastonbury from out of town. After lying derelict for many years, the water board sold off the well house, which is now maintained by a group of volunteers as a "water temple". On the outside of the building is a tap where visitors and locals can collect the water of the White Spring. Transport. The Glastonbury Canal ran just over through two locks from Glastonbury to Highbridge where it entered the Bristol Channel in the early 19th century, but it became uneconomic with the arrival of the railway in the 1840s. Glastonbury and Street railway station was the biggest station on the original Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway main line from Highbridge to Evercreech Junction until closed in 1966 under the Beeching axe. Opened in 1854 as Glastonbury, and renamed in 1886, it had three platforms, two for Evercreech to Highbridge services and one for the branch service to Wells. The station had a large goods yard controlled from a signal box. The site is now a timber yard for a local company. Replica level crossing gates have been placed at the entrance. The nearest railway station is at but there is no direct bus route linking it to Glastonbury. There are convenient bus connections between Glastonbury and the railway stations at (over an hour travelling time) and at . It is also served by Berrys Coaches daily 'Superfast' service to and from London. The main road in the town is the A39 which passes through Glastonbury from Wells connecting the town with Street and the M5 motorway. The other roads around the town are small and run across the levels generally following the drainage ditches. Local bus services are provided by Buses of Somerset (part of First), First West of England, Frome Bus & Libra Travel. The main routes are to Bristol via Wells, to Bridgwater, to Yeovil via Street and to Taunton.There is also a coach service to London Victoria provided by Berrys. Local media. Television programmes and local news is provided by BBC West and ITV West Country from the Mendip TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Somerset on 95.5 FM, Heart West on 102.6 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South West on 102.4 FM, Worthy FM on 87.7 FM which broadcast during The Glastonbury Festival and GWS Radio on 107.1 FM, a community radio station. The town’s local newspapers are the Mid Somerset Series, Western Daily Press, Somerset County Gazette and Somerset Live. Education. There are several infant and primary schools in Glastonbury and the surrounding villages. Secondary education is provided by St Dunstan's School. In 2017, the school had 327 students between the ages of 11 and 16 years. It is named after St. Dunstan, an abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, who went on to become the Archbishop of Canterbury in 960 AD. The school was built in 1958 with major building work, at a cost of £1.2 million, in 1998, adding the science block and the sports hall. It was designated as a specialist Arts College in 2004, and the £800,000 spent at this time paid for the Performing Arts studio and facilities to support students with special educational needs. Tor School is a pupil referral unit based on Beckery New Road, which caters for 14-16-year-old students who have been excluded from mainstream education, or who have been referred for medical reasons. Strode College in Street provides academic and vocational courses for those aged 16–18 and adult education. A tertiary institution and further education college, most of the courses it offers are A-levels or Business and Technology Education Councils (BTECs). The college also provides some university-level courses, and is part of The University of Plymouth Colleges network. Religious sites and faith groups. Glastonbury may have been a site of religious importance in pre-Christian times. The abbey was founded by Britons, and dates to at least the early 7th century, although later medieval Christian legend claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century. This legend is intimately tied to Robert de Boron's version of the Holy Grail story and to Glastonbury's connection to King Arthur, which dates at least to the early 12th century. William of Malmesbury called this structure "the oldest church in England," and thenceforth it was known simply as the Old Church, inasmuch as it had existed for many years prior to the 7th century as a Celtic religious centre. In his "History of the English Church and People," written in the early eighth century, the Venerable Bede provides details regarding its construction to early missionaries. Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands after the Battle of Peonnum in 658. King Ine of Wessex enriched the endowment of the community of monks already established at Glastonbury. He is said to have directed that a stone church be built in 712. The Abbey Church was enlarged in the 10th century by the Abbot of Glastonbury, Saint Dunstan, the central figure in the 10th-century revival of English monastic life. He instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury and built new cloisters. Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. In 1184, a great fire at Glastonbury destroyed the monastic buildings. Reconstruction began almost immediately and the Lady Chapel, which includes the well, was consecrated in 1186. The abbey had a violent end during the Dissolution and the buildings were progressively destroyed as their stones were removed for use in local building work. The remains of the Abbot's Kitchen (a grade I listed building.) and the Lady Chapel are particularly well-preserved set in of parkland. It is approached by the Abbey Gatehouse which was built in the mid-14th century and completely restored in 1810. There is also a strong Irish connection to Glastonbury as it is said to be along a route of pilgrimage from Ireland to Rome. It is supposed that St. Patrick and St. Brigid both came to the area and both Saints are documented by William of Malmesbury as having done so. There are Chapels named after them too - St. Patrick's Chapel, Glastonbury is within the Abbey grounds and St. Brigid's Chapel is at Beckery (Little Ireland). The Church of St Benedict was rebuilt by Abbot Richard Beere in about 1520. This is now an Anglican church and is linked with the parishes of St John's Church in Glastonbury and St Mary's & All Saints Church in the village of Meare as a joint benefice. Described as "one of the most ambitious parish churches in Somerset", the current Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The church is laid out in a cruciform plan with an aisled nave and a clerestorey of seven bays. The west tower has elaborate buttressing, panelling and battlements and at 134½ feet (about 41 metres), is the second tallest parish church tower in Somerset. Recent excavations in the nave have revealed the foundations of a large central tower, possibly of Saxon origin, and a later Norman nave arcade on the same plan as the existing one. A central tower survived until the 15th century, but is believed to have collapsed, at which time the church was rebuilt. The interior of the church includes four 15th-century tomb-chests, some 15th-century stained glass in the chancel, medieval vestments, and a domestic cupboard of about 1500 which was once at Witham Charterhouse. In the centuries that followed the Reformation, many religious denominations came to Glastonbury to establish chapels and meeting houses. For such a relatively small town, Glastonbury has a remarkably diverse history of Christian places of worship, further enriched by the fact that several of these movements saw break-away factions, typically setting up new meeting places as a result of doctrinal disagreements, leaving behind them a legacy which would require a highly specialized degree of study in order to chart their respective histories and places of practice. Amongst their number have been Puritans/Undetermined Protestants, Quakers, Independents, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Salvationists, Plymouth Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals. The United Reformed Church on the High Street was built in 1814 and altered in 1898. It stands on the site of the Ship Inn where meetings were held during the 18th century. It is Grade II listed. Glastonbury Methodist Church on Lambrook Street was built in 1843 and has a galleried interior, typical of a non-conformist chapel of that period, but an unusual number of stained glass windows. Close by the front of the church is an ancient pond, which was later covered to form a brick-arched reservoir. This is mentioned in property deeds of 1821, and is still accessible, containing approximately 31,500 gallons of water. The Methodist Church on Lambrook street was originally the Glastonbury Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. A Primitive Methodist Chapel was built on Northload Street in 1844, with an adjoining house added for a minister in 1869. This chapel was closed in 1968, since which time it has had a number of different uses, being described in 2007 as the Maitreya Monastery, prior to which it had been the Archangel Michael Soul Therapy Centre. The Bove Town Gospel Hall has been a place of worship in the town since at least 1889, when it was listed as a mission of the Plymouth Brethren. Jehovah's Witnesses originally occupied a Kingdom Hall on Archer's Way from 1942. This transferred to Church Lane in 1964, and subsequently to its present site on Old Wells Road. The Gospel Hall was registered for the solemnizing of marriages in 1964 The Catholic Church of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury was built, on land near to the Abbey, in 1939. A statue based on a 14th-century metal seal was blessed in 1955 and crowned in 1965 restoring the Marian shrine that had been in the Abbey prior to the reformation. The Shrine is now the home of the Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury, a Catholic Benedictine Monastery founded in August 2019. The Glastonbury Order of Druids was formed on Mayday 1988. Sufism has been long established in Glastonbury. Zikrs are held weekly in private homes, and on the first Sunday of every month a zikr is held at St Margaret's Chapel in Magdalene Street. A Sufi charity shop was established in Glastonbury in 1999, and supports missionary work in Africa. This shop was opened after Sheikh Nazim came to Glastonbury to visit the Abbey. Here he declared, "This is the spiritual heart of England ... It is from here that the spiritual new age will begin and to here that Jesus will return". The pagan Glastonbury Goddess Temple was founded in 2002 and registered as a place of worship the following year. It is self-described as the first temple of its kind to exist in Europe in over a thousand years. In April 2012, it was reported by The Guardian newspaper that, according to the Pilgrim Reception Centre in the town, Glastonbury had around seventy different faith groups. Some of these groups attended a special ceremony to celebrate this diversity, held in the Chalice Well Gardens on 21 April of that year. The 22nd Jagannatha Ratha-yatra Krishna Festival took place in Glastonbury on Sunday 4 October 2015. Devotees of the Krishna Consciousness movement travelled to the town from London, Bath, Bristol and elsewhere to join with locals in a procession and Kirtan. Glastonbury also headquarters the British Orthodox Church which is independent Oriental Orthodox denomination since 2015 Glastonbury has a particular significance for members of the Baháʼí Faith in that Wellesley Tudor Pole, founder of the Chalice Well Trust, was one of the earliest and most prominent adherents of this faith in the United Kingdom. Sports. The local football team is Glastonbury F.C. They joined the Western Football League in 1919 and have won the Western Football League title three times in their history. The club are now playing in the Somerset County Football League. Glastonbury Cricket Club previously competed in the West of England Premier League, one of the ECB Premier Leagues, the highest level of recreational cricket in England and Wales. The club plays at the Tor Leisure Ground, which used to stage Somerset County Cricket Club first-class fixtures. The town is on the route of the Samaritans Way South West. Culture. In a 1904 novel by Charles Whistler entitled "A Prince of Cornwall" Glastonbury in the days of Ine of Wessex is portrayed. It is also a setting in the Warlord Chronicles, a trilogy of books about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell. Modern fiction has also used Glastonbury as a setting including The Age of Misrule series of books by Mark Chadbourn in which the Watchmen appear, a group selected from Anglican priests in and around Glastonbury to safeguard knowledge of a gate to the Otherworld on top of Glastonbury Tor. John Cowper Powys's novel "A Glastonbury Romance" is set in Glastonbury and is concerned with the Grail. The historical mystery novel "Grave Goods" by Diana Norman (writing under the pen name Ariana Frankin) is set in Glastonbury just after the abbey fire and concerns the supposed graves of Arthur and Guinevere, as well as featuring other landmarks such as the Tor. The Children's World charity grew out of the festival and is based in the town. It is known internationally (as "Children's World International"). It was set up by Arabella Churchill in 1981 to provide drama participation and creative play and to work creatively in educational settings, providing social and emotional benefits for all children, particularly those with special needs. Children's World International is the sister charity of Children's World and was started in 1999 to work with children in the Balkans, in conjunction with Balkan Sunflowers and Save the Children. They also run the Glastonbury Children's Festival each August. The local Brass Band is Glastonbury Brass which is currently placed in the first section for the West of England area. The band was founded in 2017 when the old Yeovil Town Band relocated after running into financial difficulty following a "notice to quit" on its rehearsal facility in September 2016. The band is featured twice on the Haiku Salut album "There Is No Elsewhere" (2018) and can be heard on the tracks "Cold To Crack The Stones" and "The More And Moreness." In February 2020, the band was involved in the launch of Johnny Mars's "Dare to Dream" project aimed at raising awareness of the effects mankind is having on the world. Glastonbury is one of the venues for the annual West Country Carnival. Hippie culture. Glastonbury has been described as a New Age community where communities have grown up to include people with New Age beliefs. Glastonbury Festival. The first Glastonbury Festivals were a series of cultural events held in summer, from 1914 to 1926. The festivals were founded by English socialist composer Rutland Boughton and his librettist Lawrence Buckley. Apart from the founding of a national theatre, they envisaged a summer school and music festival based on utopian principles. With strong Arthurian connections and historic and prehistoric associations, Glastonbury was chosen to host the festivals. The more recent Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, founded in 1970, is now the largest open-air music and performing arts festival in the world. Although it is named after Glastonbury, it is actually held at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle, east of the town of Glastonbury. The festival is best known for its contemporary music, but also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and many other arts. For 2005, the enclosed area of the festival was over , had over 385 live performances and was attended by around 150,000 people. In 2007, over 700 acts played on over 80 stages and the capacity expanded by 20,000 to 177,000. The festival has spawned a range of other work including the 1972 film "Glastonbury Fayre" and album, 1996 film "Glastonbury the Movie" and the 2005 DVD "Glastonbury Anthems". Notable people. Glastonbury has been the birthplace or home to many notable people. Peter King, 1st Baron King was the recorder of Glastonbury in 1705. Thomas Bramwell Welch the discoverer of the pasteurisation process to prevent the fermentation of grape juice was born in Glastonbury in 1825. The judge John Creighton represented Lunenburg County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1770 to 1775. The fossil collector Thomas Hawkins lived in the town during the 19th century. The religious connections and mythology of the town have also attracted notable authors. The occultist and writer Dion Fortune (Violet Mary Firth) lived and is buried in Glastonbury. Her old house was home to the writer and historian Geoffrey Ashe, who was known for his works on local legends. Frederick Bligh Bond, archaeologist and writer. Eckhart Tolle, a German-born writer, public speaker, and spiritual teacher lived in Glastonbury during the 1980s. Eileen Caddy was at a sanctuary in Glastonbury when she first claimed to have heard the "voice of God" while meditating. Her subsequent instructions from the "voice" directed her to take on Sheena Govan as her spiritual teacher, and became a spiritual teacher and new age author, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation community. Popular entertainment and literature is also represented amongst the population. English composer Rutland Boughton moved from Birmingham to Glastonbury in 1911 and established the country's first national annual summer school of music. Gary Stringer, lead singer of rock band Reef, was a local along with other members of the band. The juggler Haggis McLeod and his late wife, Arabella Churchill, one of the founders of the Glastonbury Festival, lived in the town. The conductor Charles Hazlewood lives locally and hosts the "Play the Field" music festival on his farm nearby. Bill Bunbury moved on from Glastonbury to become a writer, radio broadcaster, and producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Athletes and sports players from Glastonbury include cricketers Cyril Baily in 1880, George Burrough in 1907, and Eustace Bisgood in 1878. The footballer Peter Spiring was born in Glastonbury in 1950. Formula 1 driver Lando Norris grew up in Glastonbury. Twin towns. Glastonbury is twinned with: Freedom of the Town. The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Town of Glastonbury. The Key of Avalon. This award was created in 2022 by the Glastonbury Town Council. The first recipient was Prem Rawat, international peace advocate and author, who spoke at the Glastonbury Festival in 1971.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59627

Columbine High School massacre

The Columbine High School massacre, commonly referred to as Columbine, was a school shooting and attempted bombing that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered twelve students and one teacher. Ten of the twelve students killed were in the school library, where Harris and Klebold subsequently committed suicide. Twenty-one additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Another three people were injured trying to escape. The Columbine massacre was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history, until it was surpassed by the Parkland high school shooting in February 2018. Columbine still remains the deadliest mass shooting to occur in the U.S. state of Colorado. Harris and Klebold, who planned for at least a year and hoped to have a large number of victims, intended for the attack to primarily be a bombing and only secondarily a shooting. But when several homemade bombs they planted in the school failed to detonate, the pair launched a shooting attack. Their motive remains inconclusive. The police were slow to enter the school and were heavily criticized for not intervening during the shooting. The incident resulted in the introduction of the immediate action rapid deployment (IARD) tactic, which is used in active-shooter situations, and an increased emphasis on school security with zero-tolerance policies. Debates and moral panic were sparked over American gun culture and gun control laws, high school cliques, subcultures (e.g. goths), outcasts, and school bullying, as well as teenage use of pharmaceutical antidepressants, the internet, and violence in video games and movies. Many makeshift memorials were created after the massacre, including ones employing victims Rachel Scott's car and John Tomlin's truck. Fifteen crosses for the victims and the shooters were erected on top of a hill in Clement Park. The crosses for Harris and Klebold were later removed following controversy. Planning for a permanent memorial began in June 1999, and the resulting Columbine Memorial opened to the public in September 2007. The shooting has inspired dozens of copycat killings, dubbed the Columbine effect, including many deadlier shootings across the world. The word "Columbine" has become a byword for school shootings. Perpetrators. Eric Harris. Eric David Harris (April 9, 1981– April 20, 1999) was born in Wichita, Kansas. The Harris family relocated often, as Harris's father was a U.S. Air Force transport pilot. His mother was a homemaker. The family moved from Plattsburgh, New York, to Littleton, Colorado, in July 1993, when his father retired from military service. The Harris family lived in rented accommodations for their first three years in the Littleton area. During this time, Harris attended Ken Caryl Middle School, where he met Klebold. In 1996, the Harris family purchased a house south of CHS. Harris's older brother attended college at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dylan Klebold. Dylan Bennet Klebold ( ; September 11, 1981– April 20, 1999) was born in Lakewood, Colorado. His parents were pacifists and attended a Lutheran church with their children. Both Dylan and his older brother, Byron, attended confirmation classes in accordance with the Lutheran tradition. As had been the case with his older brother, Klebold was named after a renowned poet—in his case, the playwright Dylan Thomas. At the family home, the Klebolds also observed some rituals in keeping with Klebold's maternal grandfather's Jewish heritage. Klebold attended Normandy Elementary in Littleton, Colorado for first and second grade before transferring to Governor's Ranch Elementary, and became part of the CHIPS ("Challenging High Intellectual Potential Students") program. Background. Criminal history. In 1996, 15-year-old Eric Harris created a private website on America Online (AOL). It was initially to host levels (also known as WADs) Harris created for use in the first-person shooter video games "Doom", "Doom II", and "Quake". On the site, Harris began a blog, which included details about Harris sneaking out of the house to cause mischief and vandalism, such as lighting fireworks with Klebold and others. These were known as "Rebel Missions", and Harris's blog primarily consisted of "mission logs". Beginning in early 1997, the blog postings began to show the first signs of Harris's anger against society. By the end of the year, the site contained instructions on how to make explosives. Harris's site attracted few visitors and caused no concern until August 1997, after Harris ended a blog post detailing murderous fantasies with "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you as I can, especially a few people. Like Brooks Brown." Brown was a classmate of his. After Brown's parents viewed the site, they contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on August 7, 1997. An investigator wrote a draft affidavit to request a search warrant for the Harris household, but it was never submitted to a judge. On January 30, 1998, Harris and Klebold were arrested for breaking into a white van parked near Littleton and stealing tools and computer equipment. They would subsequently attend a joint court hearing, where they pled guilty to the felony theft. The judge sentenced them to a juvenile diversion program. As a result, both delinquents attended mandatory classes such as anger management and talked with diversion officers. They both were eventually released from diversion several weeks early because of positive actions in the program and put on probation. Writings. Shortly after the court hearing for the van break-in, Harris reverted his website back to just hosting user-created levels of "Doom". He began to write his thoughts down in a journal. Klebold had already been keeping a personal journal since March 1997; as early as November of that year, Klebold had mentioned going on a killing spree. Klebold used his journal to vent about his personal problems as well as what he'd wear and use during the attack. In both their journals, Harris and Klebold would later plot the attack. Soon after beginning his journal, Harris typed out one plan of attack which included possibly escaping to a foreign country after the massacre, or hijacking an aircraft at Denver International Airport and crashing it into New York City. Harris also made entries in his journal on topics related to his sexuality, where he described his desire for sex with women, especially his desire of raping and torturing women in his bedroom. Harris also expressed interest in cannibalism, stating that he would like to dismember a woman with whom he could have "animalistic sex" and eat her flesh. Harris and Klebold's schoolwork also foreshadowed the massacre. They both displayed themes of violence in their creative writing projects. In December 1997, Harris wrote a paper on school shootings titled "Guns in School", and a poem from the perspective of a bullet. Klebold wrote a short story about a man killing students which worried his teacher so much that she alerted his parents. Both had also actively researched war and murder. For one project, Harris wrote a paper on Nazi Germany and Klebold wrote a paper on Charles Manson. In a psychology class, Harris wrote he dreamed of going on a shooting spree with Klebold. Harris's journals described several experimental bomb detonations. Nearly a year before the massacre, Klebold wrote a message in Harris's 1998 yearbook: "killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January's incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons"; "the commons" was slang for the school cafeteria. Tapes. Basement tapes. Harris and Klebold were both enrolled in video-production classes and kept five video tapes that were recorded with school video equipment. Only two of these, "Hitmen for Hire" and "Rampart Range", and part of a third known as "Radioactive Clothing", have been released. The remaining three tapes detailed their plans and reasons for the massacre, including the ways they hid their weapons and deceived their parents. Most were shot in the Harris family basement, and are thus known as the Basement Tapes. Thirty minutes before the attack, they made a final video saying goodbye and apologizing to their friends and families. In December 1999, before anyone besides investigators had seen them, "Time" magazine published an article on these tapes. The victims' family members threatened to sue Jefferson County. As a result, select victim families and journalists were allowed to view them, though the tapes were then withheld from the public and, in 2011, destroyed for fear of inspiring future massacres. Transcripts of some of the dialogue and a short clip recorded surreptitiously by a victim's father still exist. The pair claimed they were going to make copies of the tapes to send to news stations but never did so. When an economics class had Harris make an ad for a business, he and Klebold made a video called "Hitmen for Hire" on December 8, 1998, which was released in February 2004. It depicts them as part of the Trench Coat Mafia, a clique in the school who wore black trench coats and opposed jocks, extorting money for protecting preps from bullies. Klebold and Harris themselves were apparently not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia but were friends with some of its members. They wore black trench coats on the day of the massacre, and the "Hitmen for Hire" video seemed a kind of dress rehearsal, showing them walking the halls of the school, and shooting bullies outside with fake guns. On October 21, 2003, a video was released showing the pair doing target practice on March 6, 1999, in nearby foothills known as Rampart Range, with the weapons they would use in the massacre. Nixon tape. Before the massacre, Harris left a micro cassette labeled "Nixon" on the kitchen table. On it Harris said "It is less than nine hours now," placing the recording at some time around 2:30 a.m. He went on to say "People will die because of me," and "It will be a day that will be remembered forever." Weaponry. Guns. In the months prior to the attacks, Harris and Klebold acquired two 9mm firearms and two 12-gauge shotguns. Harris had a Hi-Point 995 Carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines and a Savage-Springfield 67H pump-action shotgun. Klebold used a 9mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun with one 52-, one 32-, and one 28-round magazine and a Stevens 311D double-barreled shotgun. Harris's shotgun was sawed-off to around and Klebold shortened his shotgun's length to , a felony under the National Firearms Act. On November 22, 1998, their friend Robyn Anderson purchased a carbine rifle and the two shotguns for the pair at the Tanner Gun Show, as they were too young to legally purchase the guns themselves. After the attack, she told investigators that she had believed the pair wanted the weapons for target shooting and denied that she had prior knowledge of their plans. Anderson was not charged. Harris and Klebold both held part-time jobs at a local Blackjack Pizza. Through Philip Duran, one of their coworkers, Klebold bought a TEC-9 handgun from Mark Manes for $500 at another gun show on January 23. Manes, Manes' girlfriend, and Duran are all in the Rampart Range video. After the massacre, Manes and Duran were both prosecuted. Each was charged with supplying a handgun to a minor and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Manes and Duran were sentenced to a total of six years and four-and-a-half years in prison. Explosives. In addition to the firearms, the complex and highly planned attack involved several improvised explosive devices. Harris and Klebold constructed a total of 99 bombs. These included pipe bombs, carbon-dioxide cartridges filled with gunpowder (called "crickets"), Molotov cocktails, and propane tanks converted to bombs. The propane bombs were used in the cafeteria, the shooters' cars, and in another location intended as a diversion. For ignition, they used storm matches, cannon fuses, and model rocket igniters as well as timing devices built from mechanical alarm clocks for the propane bombs. During the massacre, they carried match strikers taped to their forearms for easy ignition of the pipe bombs and bombs. Harris also experimented with napalm, and envisioned a kind of backpack and flamethrower. They both attempted to get another friend and coworker, Chris Morris, who was a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, to keep the napalm at his house, but he refused. Harris also tried to recruit him to be a third shooter but played it off as a joke when rebuked. Pipe bombs. Harris's website contained instructions on making pipe bombs and Molotovs, and the extensive use of shrapnel. Harris's father once discovered one of his pipe bombs. Harris's journal logged the creation of 25 pipe bombs. Klebold scared his coworkers by once bringing a pipe bomb into work. They would give various nicknames to their pipe bombs. After the massacre, two pipe bombs had been left in Klebold's bedroom, one named "Vengeance" and another "Atlanta", presumably after the Olympic Park bombing. Cafeteria bombs. They had in their possession eight propane tanks all converted into bombs. The weekend before the shooting, Harris and Klebold bought two propane tanks and other supplies from a hardware store. They bought six propane tanks on the morning of the attack. Harris was caught on a Texaco gas station security camera at 9:12 a.m. buying a Blue Rhino propane tank. Both cafeteria bombs included a single 20-pound tank, attached pipe bombs, and supporting gasoline canisters alongside. Car bombs. Both car bombs were made from two 20-pound propane tanks, pipe bombs, and various containers filled with gasoline were spread throughout the vehicles. Eight pipe bombs were placed in Klebold's car, and one in Harris'. Knives. Harris and Klebold were both equipped with knives, but investigators do not believe they ever utilized them during the massacre. Harris had a boot knife on his belt and a "Khyber-pass" machete bowie knife taped to the back of his ankle. Both had an "R", referencing Harris's alias "REB", etched into the handle, and the machete had a swastika on the sheath. Klebold had a "Cobra" knife mounted to his belt on the left side as well as a switchblade in his right pocket. The massacre. According to the shooters' respective journals and video tapes, it is believed by investigators that the pair intended to detonate their propane bombs in the cafeteria at the busiest lunch hour, killing hundreds of students. After this, they would shoot and stab survivors, as well as lob bombs. Bombs set in their cars in the parking lot would also eventually detonate, killing more students as well as possibly any police officers, paramedics, firemen, or reporters who had come to the school. However, the bombs in the cafeteria and cars failed to detonate. Several official sources claim they planned to shoot the fleeing survivors from the parking lot but, when the bombs failed, they moved to the staircase on the hill at the west side. Other sources claim the top of the staircase where the massacre began was their preferred spot to wait for the bombs to go off all along. A total of 188 rounds of ammunition were fired by the perpetrators during the massacre. Firing nearly twice as much as Klebold, Harris fired his carbine rifle a total of 96 times: 47 shots outside, 36 shots inside, and 13 shots in the library. Harris also discharged his shotgun 25 times: 21 times in the library and four times inside. Klebold fired the TEC-9 handgun 55 times: three shots outside, 31 shots inside, and 21 shots in the library. Klebold also fired 12 rounds from his double-barreled shotgun: twice outside, four times inside, and six times in the library. Law enforcement officers fired 141 rounds during exchanges of gunfire with the shooters. Planting the bombs. On Tuesday morning, April 20, 1999, Harris and Klebold placed two duffel bags in the cafeteria. Each bag contained propane bombs, set to detonate during the "A" lunch shift, which began at 11:15 a.m. No witness recalled seeing the duffel bags being added to the 400 or so backpacks that were already in the cafeteria. The security staff at CHS did not observe the bags being placed in the cafeteria; a custodian was replacing the school security videotape at around 11:14 a.m. Shortly after the massacre, police speculated the bombs were placed during this "tape change". They also investigated whether the bombs were placed during the "after-prom" party held the prior weekend. Some internet sleuths claim the bomb placement can be seen on the surveillance video at around 10:58 a.m. Harris and Klebold are seen in the tapes planting the bombs in casual school clothes separately. Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Neil Gardner was assigned to the high school as a full-time school resource officer. Gardner usually ate lunch with students in the cafeteria, but on April 20 he was eating lunch in his patrol car at the northwest corner of the campus, watching students in the Smokers' Pit in Clement Park, a meadow adjacent to the school. Two backpacks filled with pipe bombs, aerosol canisters, and small propane bombs were also placed in a field about south of CHS, and south of the fire station. The bombs were intended as a diversion to draw firefighters and emergency personnel away from the school. Only the pipe bombs and one of the aerosol canisters detonated, causing a small fire, which was quickly extinguished by the fire department. It went off after first having been moved. Bomb technicians immediately examined the bombs and relayed to police at the school the possibility of devices with motion activators. Harris and Klebold changed clothes and returned separately to CHS. Harris parked his vehicle in the junior student parking lot, and Klebold parked in the adjoining senior student parking lot. The school cafeteria was their primary bomb target; the cafeteria had a long outside window-wall, ground-level doors, and was just north of the senior parking lot. The library was located above the cafeteria in the second-story of the window-wall. Each car contained bombs. As Harris pulled into the parking lot, he encountered classmate Brooks Brown, with whom he had recently patched up a longstanding series of disputes. According to Brown, who was smoking a cigarette, he was surprised to see Harris, whom he earlier noted had been absent from a class test. Harris, a good student, was unlikely to miss school days with important academic obligation. Brown berated Harris for missing the test. Harris, acting unconcerned, replied "It doesn't matter anymore." Harris went on: "Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home." Brown, feeling uneasy and already prepared to skip his next class, walked away down South Pierce Street. Meanwhile, Harris and Klebold armed themselves, using straps and webbing to conceal weapons beneath their trench coats. They lugged bags containing bombs and ammunition. Harris had concealed his shotgun in one of the bags. Beneath the trench coats, Harris wore a military bandolier and a white T-shirt with the inscription "Natural Selection" in black letters, a mantra he had adopted; Klebold wore a black T-shirt with "Wrath" in red letters. The cafeteria bombs failed to detonate. Had these explosives detonated as intended, they would have killed or severely wounded the 488 students in the cafeteria and damaged the school's structure, collapsing the library into the cafeteria and possibly killing more students and staff. 11:19 a.m.: Shooting begins. At 11:19 a.m., 17-year-old Rachel Scott and her friend Richard Castaldo were having lunch and sitting on the grass next to the west entrance of the school. Klebold threw a pipe bomb towards the parking lot; the bomb only partially detonated, causing it to give off smoke. Castaldo thought it was no more than a crude senior prank. Likewise, several students during the incident first thought that they were watching a prank. A witness reported hearing "Go! Go!" before Klebold and Harris pulled their guns from beneath their trench coats and began shooting. The two allegedly returned to where Rachel Scott and Richard Castaldo lay on the ground injured. Klebold approached Castaldo, asking if he believed in God. Castaldo truthfully answered no. Harris then turned to Scott, who was crying. He "pulled Rachel's head up by her hair." Here, the situation is disputed. Several students witnessed Harris say something to Rachel, before lifting his gun up to her temple and firing a fatal round. According to Castaldo's initial reports and family members of Scott who claim they have solid proof, “They confronted her with the question, ‘Do you believe in God?’ and she said yes, and they took a gun to her temple and killed her.”Scott was killed instantly when she was hit four times with rounds fired from Harris's carbine; one shot was to the left temple. Castaldo was shot eight times in the chest, arm, and abdomen by both Harris and Klebold; he fell unconscious to the ground and was left paralyzed below the chest. After firing twice, Klebold's TEC-9 jammed, and he was forced to temporarily cease shooting to fix it, which he did by reloading a new magazine into his pistol. Meanwhile, Harris took off his trenchcoat and aimed his carbine down the west staircase in the direction of three students: Daniel Rohrbough, Sean Graves, and Lance Kirklin. The students presumed they were paintball guns, and were about to walk up the staircase directly below the shooters. Harris fired ten times, killing Rohrbough and injuring Graves and Kirklin. William David Sanders, a teacher and coach at the school, was in the cafeteria when he heard the gunfire and began warning students. Harris turned west and fired seven shots in the direction of five students sitting on the grassy hillside adjacent to the steps and opposite the west entrance of the school: Michael Johnson was hit in the face, leg, and arm but ran and escaped; Mark Taylor was shot in the chest, arms, and leg and fell to the ground, where he faked death; the other three escaped uninjured. Klebold walked down the steps toward the cafeteria. He first shot once at the body of Dan Rohrbough with his shotgun, and then came up to Lance Kirklin, who was already wounded and lying on the ground, weakly calling for help. Klebold said, "Sure. I'll help you," then shot Kirklin in the jaw with his shotgun. Although near-fatally injured, Kirklin would survive. Graves—paralyzed beneath the waist—had crawled into the doorway of the cafeteria's west entrance and collapsed. He rubbed his blood on his face and played dead. After shooting Kirklin, Klebold walked towards the cafeteria door. He then stepped over the injured Graves to enter the cafeteria. Graves remembers Klebold saying, "Sorry, dude." Klebold only briefly entered the cafeteria and did not shoot at the several people still inside. Officials speculated that Klebold went to check on the propane bombs. Harris was still on top of the stairs shooting, and severely wounded and partially paralyzed 17-year-old Anne-Marie Hochhalter as she tried to flee. Klebold came out of the cafeteria and went back up the stairs to join Harris. They each shot once at students standing close to a soccer field but did not hit anyone. They walked toward the west entrance, throwing pipe bombs in several directions, including onto the roof; only a few of these pipe bombs detonated. Witnesses heard one of them say, "This is what we always wanted to do. This is awesome!" Meanwhile, art teacher Patti Nielson was inside the school; she had noticed the commotion and walked toward the west entrance with student Brian Anderson. Nielson had intended to walk outside to tell the two students, "Knock it off", thinking they were either filming a video or pulling a student prank. As Anderson opened the first set of double doors, the gunmen shot out the windows, injuring him with flying glass; Nielson was hit in the shoulder with shrapnel. Anderson and Nielson ran back down the hall into the library, and Nielson alerted the students inside to the danger, telling them to get under desks and keep silent. She dialed 9-1-1 and hid under the library's administrative counter. Anderson fell to the floor, bleeding from his injuries, then hid inside the magazine room adjacent to the library. 11:22 a.m.: Police response and West Entrance shootouts. At 11:22 a.m., a custodian called Deputy Neil Gardner, the assigned resource officer to Columbine, on the school radio, requesting assistance in the senior parking lot. The only paved route took him around the school to the east and south on Pierce Street, where at 11:23 a.m., he heard on his police radio that a female was down, and assumed she had been struck by a car. While exiting his patrol car in the senior lot at 11:24, he heard another call on the school radio, "Neil, there's a shooter in the school." Harris, at the west entrance, immediately turned and fired ten shots from his carbine at Gardner, who was away. As Harris reloaded his carbine, Gardner leaned over the top of his car and fired four rounds at Harris from his service pistol. Harris ducked back behind the building, and Gardner momentarily believed that he had hit him. Harris then reemerged and fired at least four more rounds at Gardner (which missed and struck two parked cars), before retreating into the building. No one was hit during the exchange of gunfire. Gardner reported on his police radio, "Shots in the building. I need someone in the south lot with me." By this point, Harris had shot 47 times, and Klebold 5. The shooters then entered the school through the west entrance, moving along the main north hallway, throwing pipe bombs and shooting at anyone they encountered. Klebold shot Stephanie Munson in the ankle, but she was able to walk out of the school. The pair then shot out the windows to the east entrance of the school. After proceeding through the hall several times and shooting toward—and missing—any students they saw, they went toward the west entrance and turned into the library hallway. Deputies Paul Smoker and Paul Magor, motorcycle patrolmen for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, were writing a traffic ticket north of the school when the "female down" call came in at 11:23 a.m. Taking the shortest route, they drove their motorcycles over grass between the athletic fields and headed toward the west entrance. When they saw Deputies Scott Taborsky, Rick Searle, and Kevin Walker following them in their patrol car, they abandoned their motorcycles for the safety of the car. The six deputies had begun to rescue two wounded students near the ball fields when another gunfight broke out at 11:26, as Harris returned to the double doors and again began shooting at Deputy Gardner, who returned fire. From the hilltop, Deputy Smoker fired three rounds from his pistol at Harris, who again retreated into the building. As before, no one was hit. Inside the school cafeteria, Dave Sanders and two custodians, Jon Curtis and Jay Gallatine, initially told students to get under the tables, then successfully evacuated students up the staircase leading to the second floor of the school. The stairs were located around the corner from the library hallway in the main south hallway. Sanders then tried to secure as much of the school as he could. Sanders and another student were down at the end of the hallway, where he gestured for students in the library to stay, before encountering Harris and Klebold, who were approaching from the corner of the north hallway. Sanders and the student turned and ran in the opposite direction. Harris and Klebold shot at them both, with Harris hitting Sanders twice in the back and neck, hitting his teeth on exit, but missing the student. The latter ran into a science classroom and warned everyone to hide. Klebold walked over towards Sanders, who had collapsed, and tossed a pipe bomb, then returned to Harris up the library hallway. Sanders struggled toward the science area, and a teacher took him into a classroom where 30 students were located. Due to his knowledge of first aid, student Aaron Hancey was brought to the classroom from another by teachers despite the unfolding commotion. With the assistance of fellow student Kevin Starkey and teacher Theresa Miller, Hancey administered first aid to Sanders for three hours, attempting to stem the blood loss using shirts from students in the room, and showing him pictures from his wallet to keep him talking. Using a phone in the room, Miller and several students maintained contact with police outside the school. As the shooting unfolded, pipe bombs were tossed in the hallways and down into the cafeteria. Patti Nielson in the library called 9-1-1, telling her story and urging students in the library to take cover beneath desks. According to transcripts, her call was received by a 9–1–1 operator at 11:25:18 a.m. 11:29–11:36 a.m.: Library massacre. At 11:29 a.m., Harris and Klebold entered the library. Fifty-two students, two teachers and two librarians were inside. Harris yelled at everyone to "GET UP!" loud enough to be heard on the 911 call. When no one complied, Harris yelled, "Fine! I'll start shooting anyway!" Harris fired his shotgun twice at a desk. Student Evan Todd had been standing near a pillar when the shooters entered the library and had just taken cover behind a photocopier. Todd was hit by wood splinters in the eye and lower back but was not seriously injured. He then hid behind the administrative counter. The gunmen walked into the library, towards the two rows of computers. Sitting at the north row was disabled student Kyle Velasquez. Klebold fired his shotgun, fatally hitting him in the head and back. They put down their ammunition-filled duffel bags at the south—or lower—row of computers and reloaded their weapons. They then walked between the computer rows, toward the windows facing the outside staircase. Throughout the massacre in the library, they ordered everybody to get up, said how long they had been waiting for this, and seemed to be enjoying themselves, shouting things like "Woo!" after shooting. While ordering the jocks to stand up, one of the two said, "Anybody with a white hat or a sports emblem on it is dead." Wearing a white baseball cap at Columbine was a tradition among sports team members. Nobody stood up, and several students tried to hide their white hats. Windows were shot out in the direction of the recently arrived police. Officers returned fire, and the gunmen retreated from the windows; no one was injured. Klebold removed his trench coat. He then fired his shotgun at a nearby table, injuring three students: Patrick Ireland, Daniel Steepleton, and Makai Hall. Harris walked toward the lower row of computer desks with his shotgun and fired a single shot under the first desk while down on one knee. He hit 14-year-old Steven Curnow with a mortal wound to the neck. He then moved to the adjacent computer desk, injuring 17-year-old Kacey Ruegsegger with a shot which passed completely through her right shoulder, also grazing her neck and severing a major artery. When she started gasping in pain, Harris said, "Quit your bitching." Harris then walked to a table south of the lower computer table, with two students underneath: Cassie Bernall and Emily Wyant. Harris slapped the surface of the table twice as he knelt, and said "Peek-a-boo" before shooting Bernall once in the head with the shotgun, killing her. Harris at this point held the gun with one hand, and the weapon hit his face in recoil, injuring his nose. He told Klebold he had done so, and Klebold responded "Why'd you do that?" After fatally shooting Bernall, Harris turned toward the next table, where Bree Pasquale sat next to the table rather than under it. Harris's nose was bleeding; witnesses later reported that he had blood around his mouth. Harris asked Pasquale if she wanted to die, and she responded with a plea for her life. Harris laughed and responded "Everyone's gonna die." When Klebold said "shoot her," Harris responded "No, we're gonna blow up the school anyway." Klebold noticed Ireland trying to provide aid to Hall, who had suffered a wound to his knee. As Ireland tried to help Hall, his head rose above the table. Klebold shot him a second time, hitting him twice in the head and once in the foot. Ireland was knocked unconscious but survived. Klebold then walked toward another table, where he discovered 18-year-old Isaiah Shoels, 16-year-old Matthew Kechter, and 16-year-old Craig Scott (Rachel's younger brother), hiding underneath. Klebold called out to Harris that he found a "nigger" and tried to pull Shoels out from under the table. Harris left Pasquale and joined him. According to witnesses, they taunted Shoels for a few seconds, making derogatory racial comments. The gunmen both fired under the table; Harris shot Shoels once in the chest, killing him, and Klebold shot and killed Kechter. Though Shoels was not shot in the head, Klebold said: "I didn't know black brains could fly that far." Meanwhile, Scott was uninjured, lying in the blood of his friends, feigning death. Harris then yelled, "Who's ready to die next?!" He turned and threw a "cricket" at the table where Hall, Steepleton, and Ireland were located. It landed on Steepleton's thigh; Hall quickly noticed it and tossed it behind them, and it exploded in mid-air. Harris walked toward the bookcases between the west and center section of tables in the library. He jumped on one and shook it, apparently attempting to topple it, then shot at the books which had fallen. Klebold walked to the east area of the library. Harris walked from the bookcase, past the central area to meet Klebold. The latter shot at a display case next to the door, then turned and shot toward the closest table, hitting and injuring 17-year-old Mark Kintgen in the head and shoulder. He then turned toward the table to his left and fired, injuring 18-year-olds Lisa Kreutz, Lauren Townsend, and Valeen Schnurr with the same shotgun blast. Klebold then moved toward the same table and fired several shots with the TEC-9, killing Townsend. At this point, the seriously injured Valeen Schnurr began screaming, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" In response, Klebold asked Schnurr if she believed in the existence of God; when Schnurr replied she did, Klebold asked "Why?" and commented "God is gay." Klebold reloaded but walked away from the table. Harris approached another table where two girls were hiding. He bent down to look at them and dismissed them as "pathetic". Harris then moved to another table where he fired twice, injuring 16-year-olds Nicole Nowlen and John Tomlin. Tomlin moved out from under the table. Klebold shot him repeatedly, killing him. Harris then walked back over to the other side of the table where Townsend lay dead. Behind the table, a 16-year-old girl named Kelly Fleming had, like Bree Pasquale, sat next to the table rather than beneath it due to a lack of space. Harris shot Fleming with his shotgun, hitting her in the back and killing her. He shot at the table behind Fleming, hitting Townsend, who was already dead; Kreutz again; and wounding 18-year-old Jeanna Park. The shooters moved to the center of the library, where they reloaded their weapons at a table. Harris then pointed his carbine under a table, but the student he was aiming at moved out of the way. Harris turned his gun back on the student and told him to identify himself. It was John Savage, an acquaintance of Klebold's. He asked Klebold what they were doing, to which he shrugged and answered, "Oh, just killing people." Savage asked if they were going to kill him. However, because of the background noise, Klebold said, "What?" Savage asked again whether they were going to kill him. Klebold said no, and told him to run. Savage fled, escaping through the library's main entrance and through the cafeteria. After Savage left, Harris turned and fired his carbine at the table directly north of where he had been, hitting the ear and hand of 15-year-old Daniel Mauser. Mauser retaliated by either shoving a chair at Harris or grabbing at his leg; Harris fired again and hit Mauser in the center of the face at close range, killing him. Harris then moved south and fired three shots under another table, critically injuring two 17-year-olds, Jennifer Doyle and Austin Eubanks. Klebold then shot once, fatally wounding 17-year-old Corey DePooter, at 11:35. There were no further victims. They had killed 10 people in the library and wounded 12. Klebold was quoted as saying they might start knifing people, though they never did. They headed towards the library's main counter. Harris threw a Molotov cocktail toward the southwestern end of the library, but it failed to explode. They converged close to where Todd had moved after having been wounded. Klebold pulled the chair out from the desk, then he pointed his TEC-9 at Todd, who was wearing a white hat. Klebold asked if he was a jock, and when Todd said no Klebold responded "Well, that's good. We don't like jocks." Klebold then demanded to see his face; Todd partly lifted his hat so his face would remain obscured. When Klebold asked Todd to give him one reason why he should not kill him, Todd said: "I don't want trouble." Klebold responded back angrily "Trouble? You don't even know what...trouble is!" Todd tried to correct himself: "That's not what I meant! I mean, I don't have a problem with you guys. I never will and I never did." Klebold then told Harris he was going to let Todd live, but that Harris could kill him if he wanted. Harris appeared to pay no attention and stated that he and Klebold should head to the cafeteria. Klebold fired into an open library staff break room, hitting a small television. While Harris was walking away, Klebold said, "One more thing!", then picked up the chair beside the library counter under which Patti Nielson was hiding, and slammed the chair down on top of the computer terminal and library counter. Klebold joined Harris at the library entrance. The two walked out of the library at 11:36. Cautiously, fearing the shooters' return, 10 injured and 29 uninjured survivors began to evacuate the library through the north emergency exit door, which led to the sidewalk adjacent to the west entrance. Kacey Ruegsegger was evacuated from the library by Craig Scott. Had she not been evacuated at this point, Ruegsegger would likely have bled to death from her injuries. Patrick Ireland, unconscious, and Lisa Kreutz, unable to move, remained in the building. Patti Nielson crawled into the exterior break room, into which Klebold had earlier fired shots, and hid in a cupboard. 12:08 p.m.: Suicides. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold entered the science area, where they caused a fire in an empty storage closet. It was extinguished by a teacher who had hidden in an adjacent room. The gunmen then proceeded toward the south hallway, where they shot into an empty science room. At 11:44 a.m., they were captured on the school security cameras as they re-entered the cafeteria. The recording shows Harris crouching against the rail on the staircase and firing toward the propane bombs left in the cafeteria, in an unsuccessful attempt to detonate them. As Klebold approached the propane bomb and examined it, Harris took a drink from one of the cups left behind. Klebold lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the propane bomb. About a minute later, the gallon of fuel attached to the bomb ignited, causing a fire that was extinguished by the fire sprinklers a few minutes later. They left the cafeteria at 11:46. After leaving the cafeteria, they returned to the main north and south hallways of the school and fired several shots into walls and ceilings as students and teachers hid in rooms. They walked through the south hallway into the main office before returning to the north hallway. At 11:56, they returned to the cafeteria, and briefly entered the school kitchen. They returned up the staircase and into the south hallway at 12:00 p.m. They re-entered the library, which was empty of survivors except for the unconscious Ireland and the injured Kreutz. Once inside, at 12:02 p.m., police were shot at again through the library windows and returned fire. Nobody was injured in the exchange. By 12:05, all gunfire from the school had ceased. By 12:08 p.m., both gunmen had killed themselves. Harris sat down with his back to a bookshelf and fired his shotgun through the roof of his mouth; Klebold went down on his knees and shot himself in the left temple with his TEC-9. An article by "The Rocky Mountain News" stated that Patti Nielson overheard them shout "One! Two! Three!" in unison, just before a loud boom. Nielson later said that she had never spoken with either of the writers of the article. In 2002, the "National Enquirer" published two post-mortem photos of Harris and Klebold in the library. Klebold's gun was underneath his body and so unseen in the photo, leading to speculation that Harris shot Klebold before killing himself. However, some of Klebold's blood was on Harris's legs. Also, just before shooting himself, Klebold lit a Molotov cocktail on a nearby table, underneath which Patrick Ireland was lying, which caused the tabletop to momentarily catch fire. Underneath the scorched film of material was a piece of Harris's brain matter, suggesting Harris had shot himself by this point. Crisis ends. SWAT response. By 12:00 p.m., SWAT teams were stationed outside the school, and ambulances started taking the wounded to local hospitals. A call for additional ammunition for police officers in case of a shootout came at 12:20. Authorities reported pipe bombs by 1:00, and two SWAT teams entered the school at 1:09, moving from classroom to classroom, discovering hidden students and faculty. They entered at the end of the school opposite the library, hampered by old maps and unaware a new wing had recently been added. They were also hampered by the sound of the fire alarms. Leawood Elementary. Meanwhile, families of students and staff were asked to gather at nearby Leawood Elementary School to await information. All students, teachers, and school employees were taken away, questioned, and offered medical care in small holding areas before being bussed to meet with their family members at Leawood Elementary. Some of the victims' families were told to wait on one final school bus that never came. The boy in the window. Patrick Ireland had regained and lost consciousness several times after being shot by Klebold. Paralyzed on his right side, he crawled to the library windows where, on live television, at 2:38 p.m., he stretched out the window, intending to fall into the arms of two SWAT team members standing on the roof of an emergency vehicle, but instead falling directly onto the vehicle's roof in a pool of blood. He became known as "the boy in the window." The team members, Donn Kraemer and John Ramoniec, were later criticized for allowing Ireland to drop more than seven feet to the ground while doing nothing to try to ensure he could be lowered to the ground safely or break his fall. "1 bleeding to death". At 2:15 p.m., students placed a sign in the window: "1 bleeding to death", in order to alert police and medical personnel of Dave Sanders' location in the science room. Police initially feared it was a ruse by the shooters. A shirt was also tied to the doorknob. At 2:30, this was spotted, and by 2:40, SWAT officers evacuated the room of students and called for a paramedic. Hancey and Starkey were reluctant to leave Sanders behind. By 3:00, the SWAT officers had moved Sanders to a storage room, which was more easily accessible. As they did so, a paramedic arrived and found Sanders had no pulse. He had died of his injuries in the storage room before he could receive medical care. He was the only teacher to die in the shooting. Suicide mission; estimated 25 dead. Lisa Kreutz, shot in the shoulder, arms, hand, and thigh, remained lying in the library. She had tried to move but became light-headed. Kreutz kept track of time by the sound of the school's bells until police arrived. Kreutz was finally evacuated at 3:22 p.m., along with Patti Nielson, Brian Anderson, and the three library staff who had hidden in the rooms adjacent to the library. Officials found the bodies in the library by 3:30. By 4:00, Sheriff John P. Stone made an initial estimate of 25 dead students and teachers, fifty wounded, and referred to the massacre as a "suicide mission". President Bill Clinton later issued a statement. Bomb squad response. Stone said that police officers were searching the bodies of the gunmen. They feared they had used their pipe bombs to booby-trap corpses, including their own. At 4:30 p.m., the school was declared safe. At 5:30, additional officers were called in, as more explosives were found in the parking lot and on the roof. By 6:15, officials had found a bomb in Klebold's car in the parking lot, set to detonate the gas tank. Stone then marked the entire school as a crime scene. At 10:40 p.m., a member of the bomb squad, who was attempting to dispose of an un-detonated pipe bomb, accidentally lit a striking match attached to the bomb by brushing it against the wall of the ordnance disposal trailer. The bomb detonated inside the trailer but no one was injured. The bomb squad disarmed the car bomb. Klebold's car was repaired and, in 2006, put up for auction. Immediate aftermath. On the morning of April 21, bomb squads combed the high school. By 8:30 a.m., the official death toll of 15 was released. The earlier estimate was ten over the true death toll count, but close to the total count of wounded students. The total count of deaths was 12 students (14 including the shooters) and one teacher; 20 students and one teacher were injured as a result of the shootings. Three more victims were injured indirectly as they tried to escape the school. At 10:00 a.m., the bomb squad declared the building safe for officials to enter. By 11:30 a.m., a spokesman of the sheriff declared the investigation underway. Thirteen of the bodies were still inside the high school as investigators photographed the building. At 2:30 p.m., a press conference was held by Jefferson County District Attorney David Thomas and Sheriff John Stone, at which they said that they suspected others had helped plan the shooting. Formal identification of the dead had not yet taken place, but families of the children thought to have been killed had been notified. Throughout the late afternoon and early evening, the bodies were gradually removed from the school and taken to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office to be identified and autopsied. By 5:00 p.m., the names of many of the dead were known. An official statement was released, naming the 15 confirmed deaths and 27 injuries related to the massacre. On April 22, the cafeteria bombs were discovered. In the days following the shootings, Rachel Scott's car and John Tomlin's truck became memorials, and impromptu memorials were held in Clement Park. On April 30, carpenter Greg Zanis erected fifteen 6-foot-tall wooden crosses to honor those who had died at the school. Daniel Rohrbough's father cut down the two meant for the gunmen. There were also fifteen trees planted, and he cut down two of those as well. In November 2021, a report was leaked to NPR about that year's National Rifle Association convention in Denver. In a series of audio tapes, Wayne LaPierre and other top officials suggested raising one million dollars for the victims' families, and the cancellation of the convention was considered by some within the organization. Search warrant press conference. Also on April 30, high-ranking officials of Jefferson County and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office met to decide if they should reveal that Michael Guerra had drafted an affidavit for a search warrant of Harris's residence more than a year before the shootings, based on his previous investigation of Harris's website and activities. Since the affidavit's contents lacked the necessary probable cause, they decided not to disclose this information at a press conference held on April 30, nor did they mention it in any other way. Over the next two years, Guerra's original draft and investigative file documents were lost. In September 1999, a Jefferson County investigator failed to find the documents during a secret search of the county's computer system. A second attempt in late 2000 found copies of the document within the Jefferson County archives. Their loss was termed "troubling" by a grand jury convened after the file's existence was reported in April 2001. It was concealed by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and not revealed until September 2001, resulting from an investigation by the TV show "60 Minutes". The documents were reconstructed and released to the public, but the original documents are still missing. The final grand jury investigation was released in September 2004. Christian martyrdom. In the wake of the shooting, victims Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall came to be regarded as Christian martyrs by Evangelical Christians. Christian churches used the "martyr" narrative of Scott's and Bernall's deaths to promote themselves and recruit members. The closest living witness to Scott's death, Richard Castaldo, has stated Harris asked Scott if she believed in God, and murdered her after she answered "You know I do", but this has been questioned, and Castaldo later stated he was not sure. Considerable media attention focused upon Bernall, who had been killed by Harris in the library and who Harris was reported to have asked, "Do you believe in God?" immediately prior to her murder. Bernall was reported to have responded "Yes" to this question before her murder. Emily Wyant, the closest living witness to Bernall's death, denied that Bernall and Harris had such an exchange. Joshua Lapp thought Bernall had been queried about her belief, but he was unable to correctly point out where Bernall was located, and was closer to survivor Valeen Schnurr during the shootings. Likewise, another witness, Craig Scott, claimed the discussion was with Bernall. However, when asked to indicate where the conversation had been coming from, he pointed to where Schnurr was shot. Schnurr herself claims that she was the one questioned as to her belief in God. We are Columbine. Classes at Columbine were held at nearby Chatfield Senior High for the remaining three weeks of the 1999 school year. In August 1999, students returned to the school, and principal Frank DeAngelis led a rally of students clad in "We are Columbine" shirts. Secondary casualties. Six months after the shootings, Anne Marie Hochhalter's mother killed herself. Several former students and teachers had PTSD. Greg Barnes, a 17-year-old student who had witnessed Sanders' shooting, committed suicide in May 2000. Survivor Austin Eubanks, who was injured during the shooting, became heavily medicated, developing an opioid addiction. Eventually overcoming and later speaking publicly about the addiction, Eubanks died from an accidental overdose in 2019 at the age of 37. Conspiracy theories and misinformation. In the immediate aftermath, conspiracy theories and unfounded claims were made by several anti-government movements and extremist religious and political movements, such as the Westboro Baptist Church and televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. Westboro's founder and then-leader, Fred Phelps, unfoundedly claimed that both Harris and Klebold were gay, saying: "Two filthy fags slaughtered 13 people at Columbine High." Falwell also claimed that Harris and Klebold were gay, though he retracted afterward. Conspiracy theories also arose from anti-gun control activists and extremists, claiming that the massacre had either been staged or that both Harris and Klebold had been government agents, aiming at promoting tougher gun control legislation. Other conspiracy theories point to a mysterious third shooter that has never been identified. Other antisemitic conspiracy theories pointed to the massacre being a Jewish conspiracy, due to Klebold's mother being Jewish. Political commentator and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones once implied that the U.S. government had "perpetrated" Columbine, and has claimed that "the Columbine school shootings were 100 percent false flag". Motive. The shooting was planned as a terrorist attack that would cause "the most deaths in U.S. history", but the motive has never been ascertained with any degree of certainty. In a letter provided with the May 15 report on the Columbine attack, Sheriff John Stone and Undersheriff John A. Dunaway wrote they "cannot answer the most fundamental question—why?" In the days following the event, media speculation regarding the killers' motive was rife. Media reports were disseminated suggesting various motives of the killers, although all theories were largely unsubstantiated and turned out to be myths. These reports included blaming bullying, goth culture, video games, Marilyn Manson, and targeting jocks and minorities. Other rumors were spread in the local area but not largely disseminated by the media, such as the false claim spread by some students that the killers were bullied because they were homosexual. Mental disorder. FBI's theory. The FBI concluded that the killers had mental illnesses, that Harris was a clinical psychopath, and Klebold had depression. Dwayne Fuselier, the supervisor in charge of the Columbine investigation, would later remark: "I believe Eric went to the school to kill and didn't care if he died, while Dylan wanted to die and didn't care if others died as well." In April 1998, a year prior to the shooting, as part of his diversion program, Harris wrote a letter of apology to the owner of the van he and Klebold broke into earlier that year. Around the same time, he derided the owner of the van in his journal, stating that he believed he had the right to steal something if he wanted to. By far the most prevalent theme in Klebold's journals is his wish for suicide and private despair at his lack of success with women, which he refers to as an "infinite sadness". Klebold had repeatedly documented his desires to kill himself, and his final remark in the Basement Tapes, shortly before the attack, is a resigned statement made as he glances away from the camera: "Just know I'm going to a better place. I didn't like life too much." The FBI's theory was used by Dave Cullen for his 2009 book "Columbine". Harris was depicted as the mastermind, having a messianic-level superiority complex and hoping to demonstrate his superiority to the world. Klebold was a follower who primarily participated in the massacre as a means to simply end his life. This theory has been met with criticism. Critics cite the fact that Klebold, not Harris, was the first to mention a killing spree in his journal. They also cite evidence that Harris was depressed as well, such as his prescription for antidepressants mentioned below. Other theories. There have been other attempts to diagnose Harris and Klebold with mental illness. Peter Langman believes Harris was a psychopath and Klebold was schizotypal. Professor Aubrey Immelman published a personality profile of Harris, based on journal entries and personal communication, and believes the materials suggested behavior patterns consistent with a "malignant narcissism…pathological narcissistic personality disorder with borderline and antisocial features, along with some paranoid traits, and unconstrained aggression." Medication. Opponents of contemporary psychiatry like Peter Breggin claim that the psychiatric medications prescribed to Harris may have exacerbated his aggressiveness. Harris had complained of depression, anger, and suicidal thoughts, for which he was prescribed antidepressants. Toxicology reports confirmed that Harris had Luvox in his bloodstream at the time of the shootings, whereas Klebold had no medications in his system. Harris continued his scheduled meetings with his psychologist until a few months before the massacre. Media speculation. Bullying. Early stories following the massacre charged that school administrators and teachers at Columbine had long condoned bullying by jocks and this explained the motive. The link between bullying and school violence has attracted increasing attention since. Accounts from various parents and school staffers reported bullying in the school. Reportedly, Harris and Klebold were regularly called "faggots". Klebold said on the Basement Tapes, "You've been giving us shit for years. However, they also stated that nobody is to blame and nobody could've prevented the attack on the tapes. Dylan when talking to his father about the jocks had stated, "They sure give Eric hell." but he also said that the jocks tended to leave him [Dylan] alone. Brown also noted Harris was born with mild chest indent. This made him reluctant to take his shirt off in gym class, and other students would laugh at him. Nathan Vanderau, a friend of Klebold, and Alisa Owen, who knew Harris, noted they were picked on. Vanderau recalled that a "cup of fecal matter" was thrown at them. It has been alleged that Harris and Klebold were once both confronted by a group of students at CHS who sprayed them with ketchup while referring to them as "faggots" and "queers". Klebold told his mother it had been the worst day of his life. According to Brown, "That happened while teachers watched. They couldn't fight back. They wore the ketchup all day and went home covered with it." According to classmate Chad Laughlin, it involved seniors pelting Klebold with "ketchup-covered tampons" in the commons. Laughlin also stated "A lot of the tension in the school came from the class above us...There were people fearful of walking by a table where you knew you didn't belong, stuff like that. Certain groups certainly got preferential treatment across the board." A similar theory was expounded by Brooks Brown in his book on the massacre, "No Easy Answers"; he noted that teachers commonly ignored bullying and that when Harris and Klebold were bullied by the jocks at CHS, they would make statements such as: "Don't worry, man. It happens all the time!" Cullen and others dispute the theory of "revenge for bullying" as a motivation. While acknowledging the pervasiveness of bullying in high schools including CHS, Cullen claimed they were not victims of bullying. He noted Harris was more often the perpetrator than victim of bullying. In a fact check published on April 19, 2019, on the eve of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the massacre, Gillian Brockell in "The Washington Post" underscored that, contrary to the popular view, their attack was not revenge for being bullied. Author Jeff Kass who has published a book on the attack believes that bullying wasn't the cause. Peter Langman also argues against bullying being the cause of the attack. Other researchers have also argued against the bullying hypothesis. Isolation. Rejection was also highlighted as a cause. Social cliques within high schools such as the Trench Coat Mafia were widely discussed. One perception formed was that Harris and Klebold were both outcasts who had been isolated from their classmates, prompting feelings of helplessness, insecurity, and depression, as well as a strong need for power and attention. Harris's last journal entry reads, "I hate you people for leaving me out of so many fun things", while Klebold wrote "The lonely man strikes with absolute rage." In an interview, Brown described them as the school's worst outcasts, "the losers of the losers". This concept too has been questioned, as both Harris and Klebold had a close circle of friends and a wider informal social group. Cullen and Brockell both also say they were not in the Trench Coat Mafia and were not isolated outcasts or loners. Peter Langman concurs by also arguing against the pair being loners and outcasts. Political terrorism. Some peers, such as Robyn Anderson, stated that the pair were not interested in Nazism, and they did not worship or admire Hitler in any way. However, in retrospect, Anderson also stated that there were many things the pair did not tell friends. Harris at least did revere the Nazis, often praising them in his journal. Sociologist Ralph Larkin has theorized that the massacre was to trigger a revolution of outcast students and the dispossessed: "[A]s an overtly political act in the name of oppressed students victimized by their peers. [...] The Columbine shootings redefined such acts not merely as revenge but as a means of protest of bullying, intimidation, social isolation, and public rituals of humiliation." In contrast with the theory that attack was political, one author argues Columbine was only increasingly linked to terrorism after the September 11 attacks. Marilyn Manson. In the late 1990s, Marilyn Manson and his eponymous band established themselves as a household name, and as one of the most controversial rock acts in music history. Their two album releases prior to the massacre were both critical and commercial successes, and by the time of their Rock Is Dead Tour in 1999, the frontman had become a culture war iconoclast and a rallying icon for alienated youth. Immediately after the massacre, a significant portion of blame was directed at the band and, specifically, at its outspoken frontman. In the weeks following the shootings, media reports about Harris and Klebold portrayed them and the Trench Coat Mafia as part of a gothic cult. Early media reports alleged that the shooters were fans, and were wearing the group's T-shirts during the massacre. Although these claims were later proven to be false, news outlets continued to run sensationalist stories with headlines such as "Killers Worshipped Rock Freak Manson" and "Devil-Worshipping Maniac Told Kids To Kill". Speculation in national media and among the public led many to believe that Manson's music and imagery were the shooter's sole motivation, despite reports that revealed that the two were not big fans. Despite this, Marilyn Manson were widely criticized by religious, political, and entertainment-industry figures. Under mounting pressure in the days after Columbine, the group postponed their last five North American tour dates out of respect for the victims and their families. Manson published his response to these accusations in an op-ed piece for "Rolling Stone", titled "Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?", in which he castigated America's gun culture, the political influence of the National Rifle Association, and the media's irresponsible coverage, which he said facilitated the placing of blame on a scapegoat. After concluding the European and Japanese legs of their tour on August 8, the band withdrew from public view to work on their next album, 2000's "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)" as an artistic rebuttal to the allegations leveled against them. Video games. Violent video games were also blamed. Parents of some of the victims filed several unsuccessful lawsuits against video game manufacturers. Jerald Block believes their immersion in a virtual world best explains the massacre. While Brooks Brown disagrees that video games caused the massacre, he agrees elements of their plan came from video games. Harris and Klebold were both fans of shooter video games such as "Doom", "Quake", "Duke Nukem 3D" and "Postal". A file on Harris's computer read the massacre will "be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam, "Duke" and "Doom" all mixed together." In his last journal entry, Harris wished to "Get a few extra frags on the scoreboard." After the massacre, it was alleged Harris created "Doom" and "Duke Nukem 3D" levels resembling CHS, but these were never found. "Doom". They were avid fans of "Doom" especially. Harris said of the massacre, "It's going to be like..."Doom"." He also wrote "I must not be sidetracked by my feelings of sympathy...so I will force myself to believe that everyone is just another monster from "Doom"." In Harris's yearbook, Klebold wrote "I find a similarity between people and "Doom" zombies." Harris named his shotgun Arlene after a character in the "Doom" novels. The TEC-9 Klebold used resembled an AB-10, a weapon from the "Doom" novels that Harris referenced several times. Harris spent a great deal of time creating a large WAD, named Tier (German for 'animal', and a song by Rammstein), calling it his "life's work". The WAD was uploaded to the Columbine school computer and to AOL shortly before the attack, but appears to have been lost. "Duke Nukem 3D". The other game mentioned specifically by Harris for what the massacre would be like was "Duke Nukem 3D". The game has pipe bombs and one of the enemies is the "pig cop". Brooks Brown wrote that pipe bombs were set in the halls of the school with the intention of causing a chain reaction, because that's what happens in "Duke Nukem 3D". Brown also wrote they shot wildly because it works in "Duke Nukem 3D". Legacy. Following the Columbine shooting, schools across the United States instituted new security measures such as see-through backpacks, metal detectors, school uniforms, and security guards. Some schools implemented the numbering of school doors in order to improve public safety response. Several schools throughout the country resorted to requiring students to wear computer-generated IDs. Schools also adopted a zero tolerance approach to possession of weapons and threatening behavior by students. Despite the effort, several social science experts feel the zero tolerance approach adopted in schools has been implemented too harshly, with unintended consequences creating other problems. Despite the safety measures that were implemented in the wake of the tragedy at Columbine, school shootings continued to take place in the United States, including at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Stoneman Douglas High School, and Robb Elementary School. Some schools renewed existing anti-bullying policies. Rachel's Challenge was started by Rachel Scott's parents, and lectures schools about bullying and suicide. Police tactics. Police departments reassessed their tactics and now train for Columbine-like situations after criticism over the slow response and progress of the SWAT teams during the shooting. Police followed a traditional tactic at Columbine: surround the building, set up a perimeter, and contain the damage. That approach has been replaced by a tactic known as the Immediate Action Rapid Deployment tactic. This tactic calls for a four-person team to advance into the site of any ongoing shooting, optimally a diamond-shaped wedge, but even with just a single officer if more are not available. Police officers using this tactic are trained to move toward the sound of gunfire and neutralize the shooter as quickly as possible. Their goal is to stop the shooter at all costs; they are to walk past wounded victims, as the aim is to prevent the shooter from killing or wounding more. Dave Cullen has stated: "The active protocol has proved successful at numerous shootings... At Virginia Tech alone, it probably saved dozens of lives." Lawsuits. After the massacre, many survivors and relatives of deceased victims filed lawsuits. Under Colorado state law at the time, the maximum a family could receive in a lawsuit against a government agency was $600,000. Most cases against the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and school district were dismissed by the federal court on the grounds of government immunity. The case against the sheriff's office regarding the death of Dave Sanders was not dismissed due to the police preventing paramedics from going to his aid for hours after they knew the gunmen were dead. The case was settled out of court in August 2002 for $1,500,000. In April 2001, the families of more than 30 victims received a $2,538,000 settlement in their case against the families of Harris, Klebold, Manes, and Duran. Under the terms of the settlement, the Harrises and the Klebolds contributed $1,568,000 through their homeowners' policies, with another $32,000 set aside for future claims; the Manes contributed $720,000, with another $80,000 set aside for future claims; and the Durans contributed $250,000, with an additional $50,000 available for future claims. The family of victim Shoels rejected this settlement, but in June 2003 were ordered by a judge to accept a $366,000 settlement in their $250-million lawsuit against the shooters' families. In August 2003, the families of victims Fleming, Kechter, Rohrbough, Townsend, and Velasquez received undisclosed settlements in a wrongful death suit against the Harrises and Klebolds. Parents of some of the victims filed several unsuccessful lawsuits against film companies, over films such as "The Basketball Diaries", which includes a dream sequence with a student shooting his classmates in a trench coat. In the Basement Tapes, they debate on whether or not Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino are appropriate choices to direct films about the massacre. Their home videos also show inspiration taken from "Pulp Fiction". Both were fans of the film "Lost Highway". "Apocalypse Now" was found in Harris's VCR. Memorials. Many impromptu memorials were created after the massacre, including victims Rachel Scott's car and John Tomlin's truck. In 2000, youth advocate Melissa Helmbrecht organized a remembrance event in Denver featuring two surviving students, called "A Call to Hope". The library where most of the massacre took place was removed and replaced with an atrium. In 2001, a new library, the HOPE memorial library, was built next to the west entrance. On February 26, 2004, thousands of pieces of evidence from the massacre were put on display at the Jefferson County fairgrounds in Golden. A permanent memorial "to honor and remember the victims of the April 20, 1999, shootings at Columbine High School" began planning in June 1999, and was dedicated on September 21, 2007, in Clement Park. The memorial fund raised $1.5 million in donations over eight years of planning. Designing took three and a half years and included feedback from victims' families, survivors, the high school's students and staff, and the community. Soon after the massacre, music students at CU Boulder raised money to commission a piece of music to honor Columbine. The university band turned to Frank Ticheli, who responded by composing the wind ensemble work "An American Elegy". The following year, the Columbine band premiered the piece at CU Boulder's concert hall. , Ticheli's sheet music publisher estimates "An American Elegy" has been performed 10,000 times. Gun control. The shooting resulted in calls for more gun control measures. The gun show loophole and background checks became a focus of a national debate. It was the deadliest mass shooting during the era of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Victim Daniel Mauser's father Tom Mauser has become a gun control advocate. In 2000, federal and state legislation was introduced that would require safety locks on firearms as well as ban the importation of high-capacity ammunition magazines. Though laws were passed that made it a crime to buy guns for criminals and minors, there was considerable controversy over legislation pertaining to background checks at gun shows. There was concern in the gun lobby over restrictions on Second Amendment rights in the United States. Frank Lautenberg introduced a proposal to close the gun show loophole in federal law. It was passed in the Senate, but did not pass in the House. Michael Moore's 2002 documentary "Bowling for Columbine" focused heavily on the American obsession with handguns, its grip on Jefferson County, and its role in the shooting. In 2019, the MyLastShot Project was launched as a student-led gun violence prevention resource. The campaign was created by students from Columbine High School, and involves students placing stickers on their driver's licenses, student ID's, or phones that states their wishes to have the graphic photos of their bodies publicized if they die in a shooting. Popular culture. "Columbine" has since become a euphemism for a school shooting, rather like "going postal" is for workplace violence. Since the advent of social media, a fandom for shooters Harris and Klebold has had a documented presence on social media sites, especially Tumblr. Fans of Harris and Klebold refer to themselves as "Columbiners". An article published in 2015 in the "Journal of Transformative Works", a scholarly journal which focuses on the sociology of fandoms, noted that Columbiners were not fundamentally functionally different from more mainstream fandoms. Columbiners create fan art and fan fiction, even cosplaying the pair, and have a scholarly interest in the shooting. A number of books, movies and other media have been inspired by this event. Among those are several video games. A video game called "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" was based on the massacre. The Flash game "Pico's School" was also inspired by it. Copycats. The Columbine shootings influenced subsequent school shootings, with several such plots mentioning it. Fear of copycats has sometimes led to the closing of entire school districts. Since Columbine, over 74 copycat cases have been reported, 21 of which resulted in attacks, while the rest were thwarted by law enforcement. In many of them, the perpetrators cited Harris and Klebold as heroes or martyrs. Analysis. Harris and Klebold have become what the "Napa Valley Register" have called "cultural icons" for troubled youth. According to psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a legacy of the Columbine shootings is its "allure to disaffected youth". Sociologist Ralph Larkin examined twelve major school shootings in the US in the following eight years and found that in eight of those, "the shooters made explicit reference to Harris and Klebold". Larkin wrote that the Columbine massacre established a "script" for shootings. "Numerous post-Columbine rampage shooters referred directly to Columbine as their inspiration; others attempted to supersede the Columbine shootings in body count." A 2015 investigation by CNN identified "more than 40 people...charged with Columbine-style plots". A 2014 investigation by ABC News identified "at least 17 attacks and another 36 alleged plots or serious threats against schools since the assault on Columbine High School that can be tied to the 1999 massacre." Ties identified by ABC News included online research by the perpetrators into the Columbine shooting, clipping news coverage and images of Columbine, explicit statements of admiration of Harris and Klebold, such as writings in journals and on social media, in video posts, and in police interviews, timing planned to an anniversary of Columbine, plans to exceed the Columbine victim counts, and other ties. In 2015, journalist Malcolm Gladwell writing in "The New Yorker" magazine proposed a threshold model of school shootings in which Harris and Klebold were the triggering actors in "a slow-motion, ever-evolving riot, in which each new participant's action makes sense in reaction to and in combination with those who came before." In February 2016, after Klebold's mother, Sue Klebold, surfaced to speak out on mental health and suicide prevention, she was condemned by then Attorney General of Colorado, Cynthia Coffman, who tweeted that Klebold had been "irresponsible and inflammatory" for her interview with Diane Sawyer. She also added on a follow-up tweet that Klebold had been "selfish" and that her interview could have "very negative consequences". Coffman's remarks were condemned by Ted Zocco-Hochhalter, father of a student paralyzed in the attack, who said there was nothing wrong with Klebold coming up as a remorseful mother trying to spark awareness on mental issues. Other mental health organizations echoed Zocco-Hochhalter's remarks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59659

Vallabhbhai Patel

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhai Patel, was an Indian independence nationalist and barrister who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a significant role in the country's struggle for independence and its political integration. In India and elsewhere, he was often called "Sardar", meaning "Chief" in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Persian. He acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Patel was born in Nadiad, Kheda district and raised in the countryside of the state of Gujarat. He was a successful lawyer. One of Mahatma Gandhi's earliest political lieutenants, he organised peasants from Kheda, Borsad and Bardoli in Gujarat in non-violent civil disobedience against the British Raj, becoming one of the most influential leaders in Gujarat. He was appointed as the 49th President of Indian National Congress, organising the party for elections in 1934 and 1937 while promoting the Quit India Movement. As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organised relief efforts for partition refugees fleeing to Punjab and Delhi from Pakistan and worked to restore peace. Besides those provinces that had been under direct British rule, approximately 565 self-governing princely states had been released from British suzerainty by the Indian Independence Act of 1947. Patel, together with Nehru and Menon persuaded almost every princely state to accede to India. Patel's commitment to national integration in the newly independent country earned him the sobriquet "Iron Man of India". He is also remembered as the "patron saint of India's civil servants" for playing a pioneering role in establishing the modern All India Services system. The "Statue of Unity", the world's tallest statue which was erected by the Indian government at a cost of US$420 million, was dedicated to him on 31 October 2018 and is approximately in height. Early life and background. Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, one of the six children of Jhaverbhai Patel and Ladba, was born in Nadiad, Gujarat. He followed Vaishnavism and belonged to Pushtimarg sect of Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya and took the diksha from the descendant of Vallabhacharya. Patel's date of birth was never officially recorded; Patel entered it as 31 October on his matriculation examination papers. He belonged to the Patidars, specifically the Leva Patel community of Central Gujarat; although after his fame, both Leva Patel and Kadava Patidar have claimed him as one of their own. Patel travelled to attend schools in Nadiad, Petlad, and Borsad, living self-sufficiently with other boys. He reputedly cultivated a stoic character. A popular anecdote recounts that he lanced his own painful boil without hesitation, even as the barber charged with doing it trembled. When Patel passed his matriculation at the relatively late age of 22, he was generally regarded by his elders as an unambitious man destined for a commonplace job. Patel himself, though, harboured a plan to study to become a lawyer, work and save funds, travel to England, and become a barrister. Patel spent years away from his family, studying on his own with books borrowed from other lawyers, passing his examinations within two years. Fetching his wife Jhaverba from her parents' home, Patel set up his household in Godhra and was called to the bar. During the many years it took him to save money, Patel – now an advocate – earned a reputation as a fierce and skilled lawyer. The couple had a daughter, Maniben, in 1903 and a son, Dahyabhai, in 1905. Patel also cared for a friend suffering from the Bubonic plague when it swept across Gujarat. When Patel himself came down with the disease, he immediately sent his family to safety, left his home, and moved into an isolated house in Nadiad (by other accounts, Patel spent this time in a dilapidated temple); there, he recovered slowly. Patel practised law in Godhra, Borsad, and Anand while taking on the financial burdens of his homestead in Karamsad. Patel was the first chairman and founder of "Edward Memorial High School" Borsad, today known as Jhaverbhai Dajibhai Patel High School. When he had saved enough for his trip to England and applied for a pass and a ticket, they were addressed to "V. J. Patel," at the home of his elder brother Vithalbhai, who had the same initials as Vallabhai. Having once nurtured a similar hope to study in England, Vithalbhai remonstrated his younger brother, saying that it would be disreputable for an older brother to follow his younger brother. In keeping with concerns for his family's honour, Patel allowed Vithalbhai to go in his place. In 1909 Patel's wife Jhaverba was hospitalised in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) to undergo major surgery for cancer. Her health suddenly worsened and, despite successful emergency surgery, she died in the hospital. Patel was given a note informing him of his wife's demise as he was cross-examining a witness in court. According to witnesses, Patel read the note, pocketed it, and continued his cross-examination and won the case. He broke the news to others only after the proceedings had ended. Patel decided against marrying again. He raised his children with the help of his family and sent them to English-language schools in Bombay. At the age of 36, he journeyed to England and enrolled at the Middle Temple in London. Completing a 36-month course in 30 months, Patel finished at the top of his class despite having had no previous college background. Returning to India, Patel settled in Ahmedabad and became one of the city's most successful barristers. Wearing European-style clothes and sporting urbane mannerisms, he became a skilled bridge player. Patel nurtured ambitions to expand his practice and accumulate great wealth and to provide his children with modern education. He had made a pact with his brother Vithalbhai to support his entry into politics in the Bombay Presidency, while Patel remained in Ahmedabad to provide for the family. Fight for independence. In September 1917, Patel delivered a speech in Borsad, encouraging Indians nationwide to sign Gandhi's petition demanding "Swaraj"self-rulefrom Britain. A month later, he met Gandhi for the first time at the Gujarat Political Conference in Godhra. On Gandhi's encouragement, Patel became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha, a public body that would become the Gujarati arm of the Indian National Congress. Patel now energetically fought against "veth"the forced servitude of Indians to Europeansand organised relief efforts in the wake of plague and famine in Kheda. The Kheda peasants' plea for exemption from taxation had been turned down by British authorities. Gandhi endorsed waging a struggle there, but could not lead it himself due to his activities in Champaran. When Gandhi asked for a Gujarati activist to devote himself completely to the assignment, Patel volunteered, much to Gandhi's delight. Though his decision was made on the spot, Patel later said that his desire and commitment came after intense personal contemplation, as he realised he would have to abandon his career and material ambitions. Satyagraha in Gujarat. Patel , supported by Congress volunteers Narhari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya, and Abbas Tyabji, Vallabhbhai Patel began a village-by-village tour in the Kheda district, documenting grievances and asking villagers for their support for a statewide revolt by refusing to pay taxes. Patel emphasised the potential hardships and the need for complete unity and non-violence in the face of provocation response from virtually every village. When the revolt was launched and tax revenue withheld, the government sent police and intimidation squads to seize property, including confiscating barn animals and whole farms. Patel organised a network of volunteers to work with individual villages, helping them hide valuables and protect themselves against raids. Thousands of activists and farmers were arrested, but Patel was not. The revolt evoked sympathy and admiration across India, including among pro-British Indian politicians. The government agreed to negotiate with Patel and decided to suspend the payment of taxes for a year, even scaling back the rate. Patel emerged as a hero to Gujaratis. In 1920 he was elected president of the newly formed Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee; he would serve as its president until 1945. Patel supported Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement and toured the state to recruit more than 300,000 members and raise over Rs.1.5million in funds. Helping organise bonfires in Ahmedabad in which British goods were burned, Patel threw in all his English-style clothes. Along with his daughter Mani and son Dahya, he switched completely to wearing khadi, the locally produced cotton clothing. Patel also supported Gandhi's controversial suspension of resistance in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident. In Gujarat, he worked extensively in the following years against alcoholism, untouchability, and caste discrimination, as well as for the empowerment of women. In the Congress, he was a resolute supporter of Gandhi against his Swarajist critics. Patel was elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922, 1924, and 1927. During his terms, he oversaw improvements in infrastructure: the supply of electricity was increased, drainage and sanitation systems were extended throughout the city. The school system underwent major reforms. He fought for the recognition and payment of teachers employed in schools established by nationalists (independent of British control) and even took on sensitive Hindu–Muslim issues. Patel personally led relief efforts in the aftermath of the torrential rainfall of 1927 that caused major floods in the city and in the Kheda district, and great destruction of life and property. He established refugee centres across the district, mobilised volunteers, and arranged for supplies of food, medicines, and clothing, as well as emergency funds from the government and the public. When Gandhi was in prison, Patel was asked by Members of Congress to lead the "satyagraha" in Nagpur in 1923 against a law banning the raising of the Indian flag. He organised thousands of volunteers from all over the country to take part in processions of people violating the law. Patel negotiated a settlement obtaining the release of all prisoners and allowing nationalists to hoist the flag in public. Later that year, Patel and his allies uncovered evidence suggesting that the police were in league with a local dacoit/ criminal gang-related to Devar Baba in the Borsad "taluka" even as the government prepared to levy a major tax for fighting dacoits in the area. More than 6,000 villagers assembled to hear Patel speak in support of proposed agitation against the tax, which was deemed immoral and unnecessary. He organised hundreds of Congressmen, sent instructions, and received information from across the district. Every village in the "taluka" resisted payment of the tax and prevented the seizure of property and land. After a protracted struggle, the government withdrew the tax. Historians believe that one of Patel's key achievements was the building of cohesion and trust amongst the different castes and communities, which had been divided along socio-economic lines. In April 1928 Patel returned to the independence struggle from his municipal duties in Ahmedabad when Bardoli suffered from a serious double predicament of a famine and a steep tax hike. The revenue hike was steeper than it had been in Kheda even though the famine covered a large portion of Gujarat. After cross-examining and talking to village representatives, emphasising the potential hardship and need for non-violence and cohesion, Patel initiated the struggle with a complete denial of taxes. Patel organised volunteers, camps, and an information network across affected areas. The revenue refusal was stronger than in Kheda, and many sympathy "satyagrahas" were undertaken across Gujarat. Despite arrests and seizures of property and land, the struggle intensified. The situation came to a head in August, when, through sympathetic intermediaries, he negotiated a settlement that included repealing the tax hike, reinstating village officials who had resigned in protest, and returning seized property and land. It was by the women of Bardoli, during the struggle and after the Indian National Congress victory in that area, that Patel first began to be referred to as "Sardar" (or chief). Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy: 1931. Under the chairmanship of Sardar Patel "Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy" resolution was passed by the Congress in 1931. As Gandhi embarked on the Dandi Salt March, Patel was arrested in the village of Ras and was put on trial without witnesses, with no lawyer or journalists allowed to attend. Patel's arrest and Gandhi's subsequent arrest caused the Salt Satyagraha to greatly intensify in Gujaratdistricts across Gujarat launched an anti-tax rebellion until and unless Patel and Gandhi were released. Once released, Patel served as interim Congress president, but was re-arrested while leading a procession in Bombay. After the signing of the Gandhi–Irwin Pact, Patel was elected president of Congress for its 1931 session in Karachihere the Congress ratified the pact and committed itself to the defence of fundamental rights and civil liberties. It advocated the establishment of a secular nation with a minimum wage and the abolition of untouchability and serfdom. Patel used his position as Congress president to organise the return of confiscated land to farmers in Gujarat. Upon the failure of the Round Table Conference in London, Gandhi and Patel were arrested in January 1932 when the struggle re-opened, and imprisoned in the Yeravda Central Jail. During this term of imprisonment, Patel and Gandhi grew close to each other, and the two developed a close bond of affection, trust, and frankness. Their mutual relationship could be described as that of an elder brother (Gandhi) and his younger brother (Patel). Despite having arguments with Gandhi, Patel respected his instincts and leadership. In prison, the two discussed national and social issues, read Hindu epics, and cracked jokes. Gandhi taught Patel Sanskrit. Gandhi's secretary, Mahadev Desai, kept detailed records of conversations between Gandhi and Patel. When Gandhi embarked on a fast-unto-death protesting the separate electorates allocated for untouchables, Patel looked after Gandhi closely and himself refrained from partaking of food. Patel was later moved to a jail in Nasik, and refused a British offer for a brief release to attend the cremation of his brother Vithalbhai, who had died in October 1933. He was finally released in July 1934. Patel's position at the highest level in the Congress was largely connected with his role from 1934 onwards (when the Congress abandoned its boycott of elections) in the party organisation. Based at an apartment in Bombay, he became the Congress's main fundraiser and chairman of its Central Parliamentary Board, playing the leading role in selecting and financing candidates for the 1934 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi and for the provincial elections of 1936. In addition to collecting funds and selecting candidates, he also determined the Congress's stance on issues and opponents. Not contesting a seat for himself, Patel nevertheless guided Congressmen elected in the provinces and at the national level. In 1935 Patel underwent surgery for haemorrhoids, yet continued to direct efforts against the plague in Bardoli and again when a drought struck Gujarat in 1939. Patel guided the Congress ministries that had won power across India with the aim of preserving party disciplinePatel feared that the British government would take advantage of opportunities to create conflict among elected Congressmen, and he did not want the party to be distracted from the goal of complete independence. Patel clashed with Nehru, opposing declarations of the adoption of socialism at the 1936 Congress session, which he believed was a diversion from the main goal of achieving independence. In 1938 Patel organised rank and file opposition to the attempts of then-Congress president Subhas Chandra Bose to move away from Gandhi's principles of non-violent resistance. Patel saw Bose as wanting more power over the party. He led senior Congress leaders in a protest that resulted in Bose's resignation. But criticism arose from Bose's supporters, socialists, and other Congressmen that Patel himself was acting in an authoritarian manner in his defence of Gandhi's authority. Legal Battle with Subhas Chandra Bose. Patel's elder brother Vithalbhai Patel, died in Geneva on 22 October 1933. Vithalbhai and Bose had been highly critical of Gandhi's leadership during their travels in Europe. "By the time Vithalbhai died in October 1933, Bose had become his primary caregiver. On his deathbed he left a will of sorts, bequeathing three-quarters of his money to Bose to use in promoting India's cause in other countries. When Patel saw a copy of the letter in which his brother had left a majority of his estate to Bose, he asked a series of questions: Why was the letter not attested by a doctor? Had the original paper been preserved? Why were the witnesses to that letter all men from Bengal and none of the many other veteran freedom activists and supporters of the Congress who had been present at Geneva where Vithalbhai had died? Patel may even have doubted the veracity of the signature on the document. The case went to the court and after a legal battle that lasted more than a year, the courts judged that Vithalbhai’s estate could only be inherited by his legal heirs, that is, his family. Patel promptly handed the money over to the Vithalbhai Memorial Trust." Quit India movement. On the outbreak of World War II, Patel supported Nehru's decision to withdraw the Congress from central and provincial legislatures, contrary to Gandhi's advice, as well as an initiative by senior leader Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari to offer Congress's full support to Britain if it promised Indian independence at the end of the war and installed a democratic government right away. Gandhi had refused to support Britain on the grounds of his moral opposition to war, while Subhash Chandra Bose was in militant opposition to the British. The British government rejected Rajagopalachari's initiative, and Patel embraced Gandhi's leadership again. He participated in Gandhi's call for individual disobedience, and was arrested in 1940 and imprisoned for nine months. He also opposed the proposals of the Cripps' mission in 1942. Patel lost more than twenty pounds during his period in jail. While Nehru, Rajagopalachari, and Maulana Azad initially criticised Gandhi's proposal for an all-out campaign of civil disobedience to force the British to grant Indian independence, Patel was its most fervent supporter. Arguing that the British would retreat from India as they had from Singapore and Burma, Patel urged that the campaign start without any delay. Though feeling that the British would not leave immediately, Patel favoured an all-out rebellion that would galvanise the Indian people, who had been divided in their response to the war. In Patel's view, such a rebellion would force the British to concede that continuation of colonial rule had no support in India, and thus speed the transfer of power to Indians. Believing strongly in the need for revolt, Patel stated his intention to resign from the Congress if the revolt were not approved. Gandhi strongly pressured the All India Congress Committee to approve an all-out campaign of civil disobedience, and the AICC approved the campaign on 7 August 1942. Though Patel's health had suffered during his stint in jail, he gave emotional speeches to large crowds across India, asking them to refuse to pay taxes and to participate in civil disobedience, mass protests, and a shutdown of all civil services. He raised funds and prepared a second tier of command as a precaution against the arrest of national leaders. Patel made a climactic speech to more than 100,000 people gathered at Gowalia Tank in Bombay on 7 August: Historians believe that Patel's speech was instrumental in electrifying nationalists, who up to then had been sceptical of the proposed rebellion. Patel's organising work in this period is credited by historians with ensuring the success of the rebellion across India. Patel was arrested on 9 August and was imprisoned with the entire Congress Working Committee from 1942 to 1945 at the fort in Ahmednagar. Here he spun cloth, played bridge, read a large number of books, took long walks, and practised gardening. He also provided emotional support to his colleagues while awaiting news and developments from the outside. Patel was deeply pained at the news of the deaths of Mahadev Desai and Kasturba Gandhi later that year. But Patel wrote in a letter to his daughter that he and his colleagues were experiencing "fullest peace" for having done "their duty". Even though other political parties had opposed the struggle and the British colonial government had responded by imprisoning most of the leaders of Congress, the Quit India movement was "by far the most serious rebellion since that of 1857", as the viceroy cabled to Winston Churchill. More than 100,000 people were arrested and numerous protestors were killed in violent confrontations with the Indian Imperial Police. Strikes, protests, and other revolutionary activities had broken out across India. When Patel was released on 15 June 1945, he realised that the British government was preparing proposals to transfer power to India. Partition and independence. In the 1946 Indian provincial elections, the Congress won a large majority of the elected seats, dominating the Hindu electorate. However the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah won a large majority of Muslim electorate seats. The League had resolved in 1940 to demand Pakistanan independent state for Muslimsand was a fierce critic of the Congress. The Congress formed governments in all provinces save Sindh, Punjab, and Bengal, where it entered into coalitions with other parties. Cabinet mission and partition. When the British mission proposed two plans for transfer of power, there was considerable opposition within the Congress to both. The plan of 16 May 1946 proposed a loose federation with extensive provincial autonomy, and the "grouping" of provinces based on religious-majority. The plan of 16 May 1946 proposed the partition of India on religious lines, with over 565 princely states free to choose between independence or accession to either dominion. The League approved both plans while the Congress flatly rejected the proposal of 16 May. Gandhi criticised the 16 May proposal as being inherently divisive, but Patel, realising that rejecting the proposal would mean that only the League would be invited to form a government, lobbied the Congress Working Committee hard to give its assent to the 16 May proposal. Patel engaged in discussions with the British envoys Sir Stafford Cripps and Lord Pethick-Lawrence and obtained an assurance that the "grouping" clause would not be given practical force, Patel converted Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, and Rajagopalachari to accept the plan. When the League retracted its approval of the 16 May plan, the viceroy Lord Wavell invited the Congress to form the government. Under Nehru, who was styled the "Vice President of the Viceroy's Executive Council", Patel took charge of the departments of home affairs and information and broadcasting. He moved into a government house on Aurangzeb Road in Delhi, which would be his home until his death in 1950. Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the first Congress leaders to accept the partition of India as a solution to the rising Muslim separatist movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He had been outraged by Jinnah's Direct Action campaign, which had provoked communal violence across India, and by the viceroy's vetoes of his home department's plans to stop the violence on the grounds of constitutionality. Patel severely criticised the viceroy's induction of League ministers into the government, and the revalidation of the grouping scheme by the British government without Congress's approval. Although further outraged at the League's boycott of the assembly and non-acceptance of the plan of 16 May despite entering government, he was also aware that Jinnah did enjoy popular support amongst Muslims, and that an open conflict between him and the nationalists could degenerate into a Hindu-Muslim civil war of disastrous consequences. The continuation of a divided and weak central government would, in Patel's mind, result in the wider fragmentation of India by encouraging more than 600 princely states towards independence. In December 1946 and January 1947, Patel worked with civil servant V. P. Menon on the latter's suggestion for a separate dominion of Pakistan created out of Muslim-majority provinces. Communal violence in Bengal and Punjab in January and March 1947 further convinced Patel of the soundness of partition. Patel, a fierce critic of Jinnah's demand that the Hindu-majority areas of Punjab and Bengal be included in a Muslim state, obtained the partition of those provinces, thus blocking any possibility of their inclusion in Pakistan. Patel's decisiveness on the partition of Punjab and Bengal had won him many supporters and admirers amongst the Indian public, which had tired of the League's tactics, but he was criticised by Gandhi, Nehru, secular Muslims, and socialists for a perceived eagerness to do so. When Lord Louis Mountbatten formally proposed the plan on 3 June 1947, Patel gave his approval and lobbied Nehru and other Congress leaders to accept the proposal. Knowing Gandhi's deep anguish regarding proposals of partition, Patel engaged him in frank discussion in private meetings over what he saw as the practical unworkability of any Congress–League coalition, the rising violence, and the threat of civil war. At the All India Congress Committee meeting called to vote on the proposal, Patel said: After Gandhi rejected and Congress approved the plan, Patel represented India on the Partition Council, where he oversaw the division of public assets, and selected the Indian council of ministers with Nehru. However, neither Patel nor any other Indian leader had foreseen the intense violence and population transfer that would take place with partition. Patel took the lead in organising relief and emergency supplies, establishing refugee camps, and visiting the border areas with Pakistani leaders to encourage peace. Despite these efforts, the death toll is estimated at between 500,000 and 1 million people. The estimated number of refugees in both countries exceeds 15 million. Understanding that Delhi and Punjab policemen, accused of organising attacks on Muslims, were personally affected by the tragedies of partition, Patel called out the Indian Army with South Indian regiments to restore order, imposing strict curfews and shoot-on-sight orders. Visiting the Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah area in Delhi, where thousands of Delhi Muslims feared attacks, he prayed at the shrine, visited the people, and reinforced the presence of police. He suppressed from the press reports of atrocities in Pakistan against Hindus and Sikhs to prevent retaliatory violence. Establishing the Delhi Emergency Committee to restore order and organising relief efforts for refugees in the capital, Patel publicly warned officials against partiality and neglect. When reports reached Patel that large groups of Sikhs were preparing to attack Muslim convoys heading for Pakistan, Patel hurried to Amritsar and met Sikh and Hindu leaders. Arguing that attacking helpless people was cowardly and dishonourable, Patel emphasised that Sikh actions would result in further attacks against Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. He assured the community leaders that if they worked to establish peace and order and guarantee the safety of Muslims, the Indian government would react forcefully to any failures of Pakistan to do the same. Additionally, Patel addressed a massive crowd of approximately 200,000 refugees who had surrounded his car after the meetings: Following his dialogue with community leaders and his speech, no further attacks occurred against Muslim refugees, and a wider peace and order was soon re-established over the entire area. However, Patel was criticised by Nehru, secular Muslims, and Gandhi over his alleged wish to see Muslims from other parts of India depart. While Patel vehemently denied such allegations, the acrimony with Maulana Azad and other secular Muslim leaders increased when Patel refused to dismiss Delhi's Sikh police commissioner, who was accused of discrimination. Hindu and Sikh leaders also accused Patel and other leaders of not taking Pakistan sufficiently to task over the attacks on their communities there, and Muslim leaders further criticised him for allegedly neglecting the needs of Muslims leaving for Pakistan, and concentrating resources for incoming Hindu and Sikh refugees. Patel clashed with Nehru and Azad over the allocation of houses in Delhi vacated by Muslims leaving for Pakistan; Nehru and Azad desired to allocate them for displaced Muslims, while Patel argued that no government professing secularism must make such exclusions. However, Patel was publicly defended by Gandhi and received widespread admiration and support for speaking frankly on communal issues and acting decisively and resourcefully to quell disorder and violence. Political integration of independent India. As the first Home Minister, Patel played the key role in the integration of the princely states into the Indian federation. This achievement formed the cornerstone of Patel's popularity in the post-independence era. Even today he is remembered as the man who united India. He is, in this regard, compared to Otto von Bismarck who unified the many German states in 1871. Under the plan of 3 June, more than 565 princely states were given the option of joining either India or Pakistan, or choosing independence. Indian nationalists and large segments of the public feared that if these states did not accede, most of the people and territory would be fragmented. The Congress, as well as senior British officials, considered Patel the best man for the task of achieving conquest of the princely states by the Indian dominion. Gandhi had said to Patel, "The problem of the States is so difficult that you alone can solve it". Patel was considered a statesman of integrity with the practical acumen and resolve to accomplish a monumental task. He asked V.P.Menon, a senior civil servant with whom he had worked on the partition of India, to become his right-hand man as chief secretary of the States Ministry. On 6 August 1947, Patel began lobbying the princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future government and forestall potential conflicts. Patel used social meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most of the monarchs, inviting them to lunch and tea at his home in Delhi. At these meetings, Patel explained that there was no inherent conflict between the Congress and the princely order. Patel invoked the patriotism of India's monarchs, asking them to join in the independence of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people. He persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects. He proposed favourable terms for the merger, including the creation of "privy purses" for the rulers' descendants. While encouraging the rulers to act out of patriotism, Patel did not rule out force. Stressing that the princes would need to accede to India in good faith, he set a deadline of 15 August 1947 for them to sign the instrument of accession document. All but three of the states willingly merged into the Indian union; only Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh, and Hyderabad did not fall into his basket. Junagadh was especially important to Patel, since it was in his home state of Gujarat. It was also important because in this Kathiawar district was the ultra-rich Somnath temple (which in the 11th century had been plundered by Mahmud of Ghazni, who damaged the temple and its idols to rob it of its riches, including emeralds, diamonds, and gold). Under pressure from Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, the Nawab had acceded to Pakistan. It was, however, quite far from Pakistan, and 80% of its population was Hindu. Patel combined diplomacy with force, demanding that Pakistan annul the accession, and that the Nawab accede to India. He sent the Army to occupy three principalities of Junagadh to show his resolve. Following widespread protests and the formation of a civil government, or "Aarzi Hukumat", both Bhutto and the Nawab fled to Karachi, and under Patel's orders the Indian Army and police units marched into the state. A plebiscite organised later produced a 99.5% vote for merger with India. In a speech at the Bahauddin College in Junagadh following the latter's take-over, Patel emphasised his feeling of urgency on Hyderabad, which he felt was more vital to India than Kashmir: Hyderabad was the largest of the princely states, and it included parts of present-day Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra states. Its ruler, the Nizam Osman Ali Khan, was a Muslim, although over 80% of its people were Hindu. The Nizam sought independence or accession with Pakistan. Muslim forces loyal to Nizam, called the Razakars, under Qasim Razvi, pressed the Nizam to hold out against India, while organising attacks on people on Indian soil. Even though a Standstill Agreement was signed due to the desperate efforts of Lord Mountbatten to avoid a war, the Nizam rejected deals and changed his positions. In September 1948 Patel emphasised in Cabinet meetings that India should talk no more, and reconciled Nehru and the Governor-General, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, to military action. Following preparations, Patel ordered the Indian Army to invade Hyderabad (in his capacity as Acting Prime Minister) when Nehru was touring Europe. The action was termed Operation Polo, and thousands of Razakar forces were killed, but Hyderabad was secured and integrated into the Indian Union. The main aim of Mountbatten and Nehru in avoiding a forced annexation was to prevent an outbreak of Hindu–Muslim violence. Patel insisted that if Hyderabad were allowed to continue as an independent nation enclave surrounded by India, the prestige of the government would fall, and then neither Hindus nor Muslims would feel secure in its realm. After defeating Nizam, Patel retained him as the ceremonial chief of state, and held talks with him. Leading India. The Governor-General of India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, along with Nehru and Patel, formed the "triumvirate" that ruled India from 1948 to 1950. Prime Minister Nehru was intensely popular with the masses, but Patel enjoyed the loyalty and the faith of rank and file Congressmen, state leaders, and India's civil servants. Patel was a senior leader in the Constituent Assembly of India and was responsible in large measure for shaping India's constitution. Patel was the chairman of the committees responsible for minorities, tribal and excluded areas, fundamental rights, and provincial constitutions. Patel piloted a model constitution for the provinces in the Assembly, which contained limited powers for the state governor, who would defer to the presidenthe clarified it was not the intention to let the governor exercise power that could impede an elected government. He worked closely with Muslim leaders to end separate electorates and the more potent demand for reservation of seats for minorities. His intervention was key to the passage of two articles that protected civil servants from political involvement and guaranteed their terms and privileges. He was also instrumental in the founding the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, and for his defence of Indian civil servants from political attack; he is known as the "patron saint" of India's services. When a delegation of Gujarati farmers came to him citing their inability to send their milk production to the markets without being fleeced by intermediaries, Patel exhorted them to organise the processing and sale of milk by themselves, and guided them to create the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited, which preceded the Amul milk products brand. Patel also pledged the reconstruction of the ancient but dilapidated Somnath Temple in Saurashtra. He oversaw the restoration work and the creation of a public trust, and pledged to dedicate the temple upon the completion of work (the work was completed after his death and the temple was inaugurated by the first President of India, Dr.Rajendra Prasad). When the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir began in September 1947, Patel immediately wanted to send troops into Kashmir. But, agreeing with Nehru and Mountbatten, he waited until Kashmir's monarch had acceded to India. Patel then oversaw India's military operations to secure Srinagar and the Baramulla Pass, and the forces retrieved much territory from the invaders. Patel, along with Defence Minister Baldev Singh, administered the entire military effort, arranging for troops from different parts of India to be rushed to Kashmir and for a major military road connecting Srinagar to Pathankot to be built in six months. Patel strongly advised Nehru against going for arbitration to the United Nations, insisting that Pakistan had been wrong to support the invasion and the accession to India was valid. He did not want foreign interference in a bilateral affair. Patel opposed the release of Rs.550 million to the Government of Pakistan, convinced that the money would go to finance the war against India in Kashmir. The Cabinet had approved his point but it was reversed when Gandhi, who feared an intensifying rivalry and further communal violence, went on a fast-unto-death to obtain the release. Patel, though not estranged from Gandhi, was deeply hurt at the rejection of his counsel and a Cabinet decision. In 1949 a crisis arose when the number of Hindu refugees entering West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura from East Pakistan climbed to over 800,000. The refugees in many cases were being forcibly evicted by Pakistani authorities, and were victims of intimidation and violence. Nehru invited Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, to find a peaceful solution. Despite his aversion, Patel reluctantly met Khan and discussed the matter. Patel strongly criticised Nehru's plan to sign a pact that would create minority commissions in both countries and pledge both India and Pakistan to a commitment to protect each other's minorities. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and K.C.Neogy, two Bengali ministers, resigned, and Nehru was intensely criticised in West Bengal for allegedly appeasing Pakistan. The pact was immediately in jeopardy. Patel, however, publicly came to Nehru's aid. He gave emotional speeches to members of Parliament, and the people of West Bengal, and spoke with scores of delegations of Congressmen, Hindus, Muslims, and other public interest groups, persuading them to give peace a final effort. In April 2015 the Government of India declassified surveillance reports suggesting that Patel, while Home Minister, and Nehru were among officials involved in alleged government-authorised spying on the family of Subhas Chandra Bose. Father of All India Services. He was also instrumental in the creation of the All India Services which he described as the country's "Steel Frame". In his address to the probationers of these services, he asked them to be guided by the spirit of service in day-to-day administration. He reminded them that the ICS was no-longer neither Imperial, nor civil, nor imbued with any spirit of service after Independence. His exhortation to the probationers to maintain utmost impartiality and incorruptibility of administration is as relevant today as it was then. "A civil servant cannot afford to, and must not, take part in politics. Nor must he involve himself in communal wrangles. To depart from the path of rectitude in either of these respects is to debase public service and to lower its dignity," he had cautioned them on 21 April 1947. He, more than anyone else in post-independence India, realised the crucial role that civil services play in administering a country, in not merely maintaining law and order, but running the institutions that provide the binding cement to a society. He, more than any other contemporary of his, was aware of the needs of a sound, stable administrative structure as the lynchpin of a functioning polity. The present-day all-India administrative services owe their origin to the man's sagacity and thus he is regarded as Father of modern All India Services. Relations with Gandhi and Nehru. Rajmohan Gandhi, in his book writes that Nehru was focused on maintaining religious harmony, casting an independent foreign policy, and constructing a technological and industrial base, while Patel focused on getting the princely states to join the Indian Union, modernising the administrative services, and constructing a cross-party consensus on the significant elements of the Constitution. Patel was intensely loyal to Gandhi, and both he and Nehru looked to him to arbitrate disputes. However, Nehru and Patel sparred over national issues. When Nehru asserted control over Kashmir policy, Patel objected to Nehru's sidelining his home ministry's officials. Nehru was offended by Patel's decision-making regarding the states' integration, having consulted neither him nor the Cabinet. Patel asked Gandhi to relieve him of his obligation to serve, believing that an open political battle would hurt India. After much personal deliberation and contrary to Patel's prediction, Gandhi on 30 January 1948 told Patel not to leave the government. A free India, according to Gandhi, needed both Patel and Nehru. Patel was the last man to privately talk with Gandhi, who was assassinated just minutes after Patel's departure. At Gandhi's wake, Nehru and Patel embraced each other and addressed the nation together. Patel gave solace to many associates and friends and immediately moved to forestall any possible violence. Within two months of Gandhi's death, Patel suffered a major heart attack; the timely action of his daughter, his secretary, and a nurse saved Patel's life. Speaking later, Patel attributed the attack to the grief bottled up due to Gandhi's death. Criticism arose from the media and other politicians that Patel's home ministry had failed to protect Gandhi. Emotionally exhausted, Patel tendered a letter of resignation, offering to leave the government. Patel's secretary persuaded him to withhold the letter, seeing it as fodder for Patel's political enemies and political conflict in India. However, Nehru sent Patel a letter dismissing any question of personal differences or desire for Patel's ouster. He reminded Patel of their 30-year partnership in the independence struggle and asserted that after Gandhi's death, it was especially wrong for them to quarrel. Nehru, Rajagopalachari, and other Congressmen publicly defended Patel. Moved, Patel publicly endorsed Nehru's leadership and refuted any suggestion of discord, and dispelled any notion that he sought to be prime minister. Nehru gave Patel a free hand in integrating the princely states into India. Though the two committed themselves to joint leadership and non-interference in Congress party affairs, they sometimes would criticise each other in matters of policy, clashing on the issues of Hyderabad's integration and UN mediation in Kashmir. Nehru declined Patel's counsel on sending assistance to Tibet after its 1950 invasion by the People's Republic of China and on ejecting the Portuguese from Goa by military force. When Nehru pressured Rajendra Prasad to decline a nomination to become the first President of India in 1950 in favour of Rajagopalachari, he angered the party, which felt Nehru was attempting to impose his will. Nehru sought Patel's help in winning the party over, but Patel declined, and Prasad was duly elected. Nehru opposed the 1950 Congress presidential candidate Purushottam Das Tandon, a conservative Hindu leader, endorsing Jivatram Kripalani instead and threatening to resign if Tandon was elected. Patel rejected Nehru's views and endorsed Tandon in Gujarat, where Kripalani received not one vote despite hailing from that state himself. Patel believed Nehru had to understand that his will was not law with the Congress, but he personally discouraged Nehru from resigning after the latter felt that the party had no confidence in him. Ban on RSS. In January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Hindutva proponent Nathuram Godse. Following the assassination, many prominent leaders of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were arrested, and the organisation was banned on 4 February 1948 by Patel. During the court proceedings in relation to the assassination Godse began claiming that he had left the organisation in 1946. Vallabhbhai Patel had remarked that the "RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhi's death". The charged RSS leaders were acquitted of the conspiracy charge by the Supreme Court of India. Following his release in August 1948, Golwalkar wrote to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to lift the ban on RSS. After Nehru replied that the matter was the responsibility of the Home Minister, Golwalkar consulted Vallabhai Patel regarding the same. Patel then demanded an absolute pre-condition that the RSS adopt a formal written constitution and make it public, where Patel expected RSS to pledge its loyalty to the Constitution of India, accept the Tricolor as the National Flag of India, define the power of the head of the organisation, make the organisation democratic by holding internal elections, authorisation of their parents before enrolling the pre-adolescents into the movement, and to renounce violence and secrecy. Golwalkar launched a huge agitation against this demand during which he was imprisoned again. Later, a constitution was drafted for RSS, which, however, initially did not meet any of Patel's demands. After a failed attempt to agitate again, eventually the RSS's constitution was amended according to Patel's wishes with the exception of the procedure for selecting the head of the organisation and the enrolment of pre-adolescents. However, the organisation's internal democracy which was written into its constitution, remained a 'dead letter'. On 11 July 1949 the Government of India lifted the ban on the RSS by issuing a communique stating that the decision to lift the ban on the RSS had been taken in view of the RSS leader Golwalkar's undertaking to make the group's loyalty towards the Constitution of India and acceptance and respect towards the National Flag of India more explicit in the Constitution of the RSS, which was to be worked out in a democratic manner. Final years. In his twilight years, Patel was honoured by members of Parliament. He was awarded honorary doctorates of law by Nagpur University, the University of Allahabad and Banaras Hindu University in November 1948, subsequently receiving honorary doctorates from Osmania University in February 1949 and from Punjab University in March 1949. Previously, Patel had been featured on the cover page of the January 1947 issue of "Time" magazine. On 29 March 1949 authorities lost radio contact with a Royal Indian Air Force de Havilland Dove carrying Patel, his daughter Maniben, and the Maharaja of Patiala from Delhi to Jaipur. The pilot had been ordered to fly at a low altitude due to turbulence. During the flight, loss of power in an engine caused the pilot to make an emergency landing in a desert area in Rajasthan. Owing to the aircraft's flying at a low altitude, the pilot was unable to send a distress call with the aircraft's VHF radio, nor could he use his HF equipment as the crew lacked a trained signaller. With all passengers safe, Patel and others tracked down a nearby village and local officials. A subsequent RIAF court of inquiry headed by Group Captain (later Air Chief Marshal and Chief of the Air Staff) Pratap Chandra Lal concluded the forced landing had been caused by fuel starvation. When Patel returned to Delhi, thousands of Congressmen gave him a resounding welcome. In Parliament, MPs gave a long standing ovation to Patel, stopping proceedings for half an hour. Death. Patel's health declined rapidly through the summer of 1949. He later began coughing blood, whereupon Maniben began limiting his meetings and working hours and arranged for a personalised medical staff to begin attending to Patel. The Chief Minister of West Bengal and doctor Bidhan Roy heard Patel make jokes about his impending end, and in a private meeting Patel frankly admitted to his ministerial colleague N. V. Gadgil that he was not going to live much longer. Patel's health worsened after 2 November, when he began losing consciousness frequently and was confined to his bed. He was flown to Bombay on 12 December on advice from DrRoy, to recuperate as his condition was deemed critical. Nehru, Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, and Menon all came to see him off at the airport in Delhi. Patel was extremely weak and had to be carried onto the aircraft in a chair. In Bombay, large crowds gathered at Santacruz Airport to greet him. To spare him from this stress, the aircraft landed at Juhu Aerodrome, where Chief Minister B. G. Kher and Morarji Desai were present to receive him with a car belonging to the Governor of Bombay that took Vallabhbhai to Birla House. After suffering a massive heart attack (his second), Patel died on 15 December 1950 at Birla House in Bombay. In an unprecedented and unrepeated gesture, on the day after his death more than 1,500 officers of India's civil and police services congregated to mourn at Patel's residence in Delhi and pledged "complete loyalty and unremitting zeal" in India's service. Numerous governments and world leaders sent messages of condolence upon Patel's death, including Trygve Lie, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, President Sukarno of Indonesia, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan and Prime Minister Clement Attlee of the United Kingdom. In homage to Patel, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru declared a week of national mourning. Patel's cremation was planned at Girgaum Chowpatty, but this was changed to Sonapur (now Marine Lines) when his daughter conveyed that it was his wish to be cremated like a common man in the same place as his wife and brother were earlier cremated. His cremation in Sonapur in Bombay was attended by a crowd of one million including Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajagopalachari and President Rajendra Prasad. Legacy. Sardar Patel is a widely celebrated Indian freedom fighter in India, as well as a respected leader. In his eulogy, delivered the day after Patel's death, Girija Shankar Bajpai, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of External Affairs, paid tribute to "a great patriot, a great administrator and a great man. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was all three, a rare combination in any historic epoch and in any country." Bajpai lauded Patel for his achievements as a patriot and as an administrator, notably his vital role in securing India's stability in the aftermath of Independence and Partition: Among Patel's surviving family, Maniben Patel lived in a flat in Bombay for the rest of her life following her father's death; she often led the work of the Sardar Patel Memorial Trust, which organises the prestigious annual Sardar Patel Memorial Lectures, and other charitable organisations. Dahyabhai Patel was a businessman who was elected to serve in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) as an MP in the 1960s. Patel was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1991. It was announced in 2014 that his birthday, 31 October, would become an annual national celebration known as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day). In 2012, Patel was ranked third in Outlook India's poll of the Greatest Indian. Patel's family home in Karamsad is preserved in his memory. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial in Ahmedabad was established in 1980 at the Moti Shahi Mahal. It comprises a museum, a gallery of portraits and historical pictures, and a library containing important documents and books associated with Patel and his life. Amongst the exhibits are many of Patel's personal effects and relics from various periods of his personal and political life. Patel is the namesake of many public institutions in India. A major initiative to build dams, canals, and hydroelectric power plants in the Narmada River valley to provide a tri-state area with drinking water and electricity and to increase agricultural production was named the "Sardar Sarovar". Patel is also the namesake of the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology in Surat, Sardar Patel University, Sardar Patel High School, and the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya,and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University Of Agriculture and Technology in Meerut [U.P.]. India's national police training academy is also named after him. The international airport of Ahmedabad is named after him. Also the international cricket stadium of Ahmedabad (also known as the Motera Stadium) is named after him. A national cricket stadium in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, used for national matches and events, is also named after him. The chief outer ring road encircling Ahmedabad is named SP Ring Road. The Gujarat government's institution for training government functionaries is named Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day) was introduced by the Government of India and inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. The intent is to pay tribute to Patel, who was instrumental in keeping India united. It is to be celebrated on 31 October every year as annual commemoration of the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of the founding leaders of Republic of India. The official statement for Rashtriya Ekta Diwas by the Home Ministry of India cites that the National Unity Day "will provide an opportunity to re-affirm the inherent strength and resilience of our nation to withstand the actual and potential threats to the unity, integrity and security of our country." National Unity Day celebrates the birthday of Patel because, during his term as Home Minister of India, he is credited for the integration of over 550 independent princely states into India from 1947 to 1949 by Independence Act (1947). He is known as the "Bismarck of India". Commemorative stamps. Commemorative stamps released by India Post (by year) - "Statue of Unity". The "Statue of Unity" is a monument dedicated to Patel, located in the Indian state of Gujarat, facing the Narmada Dam, 3.2 km away from Sadhu Bet near Vadodara. At the height of 182 metres (597 feet), it is the world's tallest statue, exceeding the Spring Temple Buddha by 54 meters. This statue and related structures are spread over 20,000 square meters and are surrounded by an artificial lake spread across 12 km and cost an estimated 29.8 billion rupees ($425m). It was inaugurated by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31 October 2018, the 143rd anniversary of Patel's birth. The height of the statue in meters has been picked to match the total assembly constituencies in Gujarat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59769

Northumberland

Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement. The county has an area of and a population of 320,274, making it the least-densely populated county in England at 64/km². The south-east is the most densely populated region and contains the largest towns: Blyth (37,339), Cramlington (27,683), and Ashington (27,670). The administrative centre, Morpeth (14,304), is nearby to the north-west. The remainder of the county is rural, and contains Berwick-upon-Tweed (12,043) in the far north, Alnwick (8,116) in the centre, and Hexham (13,097) in the west. The county is governed by Northumberland County Council, a unitary authority. The historic county included the parts of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne. To the west are the Cheviot Hills and North Pennines, while to the east the land becomes flatter before reaching the coast. The Cheviot, after which the range of hills is named, is the county's highest point, at . The county contains the source of the River North Tyne and much of the South Tyne; near Hexham they form the Tyne, which shortly downstream exits into Tyne and Wear. The other major rivers in Northumberland are, from south to north, the Blyth, Coquet, Aln, Wansbeck and Tweed, the latter of which forms part of the Scottish border. The county contains Northumberland National Park, the Northumberland Coast AONB, and part of the North Pennines AONB. Much of the county's history has been defined by its position on a border. In the Roman era most of the county lay north of Hadrian's Wall, and the region was contested between England and Scotland into the Early Modern era, leading to the construction of many castles, peel towers, and the fortifications at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Northumberland is also associated with Celtic Christianity, particularly the tidal island of Lindisfarne. During the Industrial Revolution the area had significant coal mining, shipbuilding, and armaments industries. History. Name origin. The name of Northumberland is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as "norð hẏmbra land", meaning "the land north of the Humber". The name of the kingdom of "Northumbria" derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to Southumbria, south of the Humber Estuary. Before the county. The land has long been an English frontier zone, and it is now bordered to the north by Scotland. Northumberland has a rich prehistory with many instances of rock art, hillforts such as Yeavering Bell, and stone circles such as the Goatstones and Duddo Five Stones. Most of the area was occupied by the Brythonic-Celtic Votadini people, with another large tribe, the Brigantes, to the south. During the Roman occupation of Britain most of the present county lay north of Hadrian's Wall. It was controlled by Rome only for the brief period of its extension of power north to the Antonine Wall. The Roman road Dere Street crosses the county from Corbridge over high moorland west of the Cheviot Hills to Melrose, Scottish Borders (). As evidence of its border position through medieval times, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including those at Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Newcastle and Warkworth. Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vindolanda Trust experts, led by Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands dating back to 120 AD. It is suggested that, based on their difference from gladiator gloves, the gloves were not used in mortal combat, but rather in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum. Present-day Northumberland formed the core of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia from about 547. It was united with Deira (south of the River Tees) to form the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century. The boundaries of Northumbria under King Edwin (reigned 616–633) stretched from the Humber in the south to the Forth in the north. Northumberland is often called the "cradle of Christianity" in England because Christianity flourished on Lindisfarne—a tidal island north of Bamburgh, also called Holy Island—after King Oswald of Northumbria (reigned 634–642) invited monks from Iona to come to convert the English. The monastery at Lindisfarne was the centre of production of the Lindisfarne Gospels (around 700). It became the home of St Cuthbert (about 634–687, abbot from about 665), who is buried in Durham Cathedral. The Kingdom of Northumbria fragmented into a series of successor states following the Viking invasion. In the south, Viking settlers established the Kingdom of York between the Humber and Tees. However, Viking influence petered out at the Tees, with the river serving as the northern boundary of the Danelaw. Between the Tyne and Tees rivers, the Community of St. Cuthbert or emerged as the successors to the Bishops of Lindisfarne; North of the Tyne, the Earls of Bamburgh, who traced their lineage back to the Kings of Northumbria, continued to exercise authority and governance over this northern expanse. York was eventually integrated as a shire into the unified Kingdom of England by the House of Wessex. However, the West Saxon governmental structures were not extended beyond Tees, leaving the Earldom of Bamburgh and the Community of St. Cuthbert as contested buffer states with the emerging Kingdom of Scotland. After the battle of Nechtansmere, Northumbrian influence north of the Tweed began to decline as the Picts gradually reclaimed the land previously invaded by the Anglian kingdom. In 1018 its northern part, the region between the Tweed and the Forth (including Lothian, which includes present-day Edinburgh), was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland. As a county. The Earldom of Northumberland was briefly held by the Scottish royal family by marriage between 1139–1157 and 1215–1217. Scotland relinquished all claims to the region as part of the Treaty of York (1237). The Earls of Northumberland once wielded significant power in English affairs because, as powerful and militaristic Marcher Lords, they had the task of protecting England from Scottish retaliation for English invasions. Northumberland has a history of revolt and rebellion against the government, as seen in the Rising of the North (1569–1570) against Elizabeth I. These revolts were usually led by the Earls of Northumberland, the Percy family. Shakespeare makes one of the Percys, the dashing Harry Hotspur (1364–1403), the hero of his "Henry IV, Part 1". The Percys were often aided in conflict by other powerful Northern families, such as the Nevilles and the Patchetts. The latter were stripped of all power and titles by the victorious Parliamentarians after the English Civil War of 1642–1651. After the Restoration in 1660 the county was a centre for Roman Catholicism in England, as well as a focus of Jacobite support. Northumberland was long a wild county, where outlaws and Border Reivers hid from the law. However, the frequent cross-border skirmishes and accompanying local lawlessness largely subsided after the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England under King James I and VI in 1603. Northumberland played a key role in the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century on. Many coal mines operated in Northumberland until the widespread closures in the 1970s and 1980s. Collieries operated at Ashington, Bedlington, Blyth, Choppington, Netherton, Ellington and Pegswood. The region's coalfields fuelled industrial expansion in other areas of Britain, and the need to transport the coal from the collieries to the Tyne led to the development of the first railways. Shipbuilding and armaments manufacture were other important industries before the deindustrialisation of the 1980s. Northumberland remains largely rural, and is the least densely populated county in England. In recent years the county has had considerable growth in tourism. Visitors are attracted both to its scenic beauty and to its historical sites. Geography. Northumberland has a diverse physical geography. It is low and flat near the North Sea coast and increasingly mountainous towards the northwest. Being in the far north of England, above 55° latitude, and having many areas of high land, Northumberland is one of the coldest areas of the country. But as the county lies on the east coast, it has relatively low rainfall, with the highest amounts falling on the high land in the west. About a quarter of the county forms the Northumberland National Park, an area of outstanding landscape that has largely been protected from development and agriculture. The park stretches south from the Scottish border and includes Hadrian's Wall. Most of the park is over above sea level. The Northumberland Coast is also a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). A small part of the North Pennines AONB is also in the county. There is a variety of nature reserves in Northumberland including Holy Island National Nature Reserve and Farne Islands National Nature Reserve. Moreover, 50% of England's red squirrel population lives in the Kielder Water and Forest Park. Natural England recognises the following natural regions, or national character areas, that lie wholly or partially within Northumberland: Geology. The Cheviot Hills, in the northwest of the county, consist mainly of resistant Devonian granite and andesite lava. A second area of igneous rock underlies the Whin Sill (on which Hadrian's Wall runs), an intrusion of Carboniferous dolerite. Both ridges support a rather bare moorland landscape. Either side of the Whin Sill the county lies on Carboniferous Limestone, giving some areas of karst landscape. Lying off the coast of Northumberland are the Farne Islands, another dolerite outcrop, famous for their bird life. The Northumberland Coalfield extends across the southeast corner of the county, from the River Tyne as far north as Shilbottle. There were smaller-scale workings for coal within the Tyne Limestone Formation as far north as Scremerston. The term 'sea coal' likely originated from chunks of coal, found washed up on beaches, that wave action had broken from coastal outcroppings. Green belt. Northumberland's green belt is in the south of the county, surrounding Cramlington and other communities along the county border, to afford a protection from the Tyneside conurbation. The belt continues west along the border, past Darras Hall, and on to Hexham, stopping before Haydon Bridge. Its border there is shared with the North Pennines AONB. There are also some separated belt areas, for example to the east of Morpeth. The green belt was first drawn up in the 1950s. Politics. County town. The historic county town was Alnwick, assizes were mainly held in Newcastle with the county gaol in Morpeth. Newcastle became a city in 1400, with county corporate status, with both areas having joint assizes. From the county council's formation in 1889 until 1981 Newcastle was the county town, being the temporary county town of two counties when the city became a part of the Tyne and Wear metropolitan county in 1974. The county council has been governed from Morpeth since 1981. in 2009 the administration restructured into a unitary authority called Northumberland Council. Since 2019, North of Tyne Combined Authority and its elected mayor recreated Newcastle's overall governance of the historic county area; North Tyneside, Newcastle and the Northumberland district. Council. Unitary authority of Northumberland Council, reformed in April 2009, had a two-tier council system for the county and its six districts, both responsible for different aspects of local government. These districts were Blyth Valley, Wansbeck, Castle Morpeth, Tynedale, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed. Elections for the unitary authority council first took place on 1 May 2008. The most recent elections, in 2021, had the following results: Constituencies. Northumberland is divided into four parliamentary constituencies: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Blyth Valley, Wansbeck and Hexham. The 2019 general election produced the following results: 2016 European Union Referendum. On 23 June 2016 Northumberland took part in the UK-wide referendum on the UK's membership of the EU. In Northumberland a majority voted to leave the European Union. The only one of the four parliamentary constituencies in Northumberland to vote Remain was Hexham. Demography. At the 2001 UK Census Northumberland registered a population of 307,190, estimated to be 309,237 in 2003, The 2011 UK Census gave a population of 316,028. In 2001 there were 130,780 households, 10% of the population were retired, and one-third rented their homes. Northumberland has an ethnic minority population at 0.985% of the population, far lower compared to the average of 9.1% for England as a whole. In the 2001 UK Census, 81% of the population reported their religion as Christianity, 0.8% as "other religion", and 12% as having no religion. Being primarily rural with significant areas of upland, the population density of Northumberland is only 62 persons per square kilometre, giving it the lowest population density in England. Economy. Northumberland's industry is dominated by some multinational corporations: Coca-Cola, MSD, GE and Drager all have significant facilities in the region. Tourism is a major source of employment and income in Northumberland. In the early 2000s the county annually received 1.1 million British visitors and 50,000 foreign tourists, who spent a total of £162 million. Coal mining in the county goes back to Tudor times. Coal mines continue to operate today; many of them are open-cast mines. Planning approval was given in January 2014 for an open-cast mine at Halton Lea Gate near Lambley. A major employer in Northumberland is Hexham-based Egger (UK) Limited. Pharmaceuticals, health care and biotechnology. Pharmaceutical, health care and emerging biotechnology companies form a very significant part of the county's economy. Many of these companies are part of the approximately 11,000-worker Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) and include Aesica Pharmaceuticals, Arcinova, MSD, Piramal Healthcare, Procter & Gamble, Shire Plc (formerly SCM Pharma), Shasun Pharma Solutions, Specials Laboratory, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The cluster also includes Cambridge Bioresearch, GlaxoSmithKline, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotech, Leica Bio, Data Trial, High Force Research, Non-Linear Dynamics, and Immuno Diagnostic Systems (IDS). The towns of Alnwick, Cramlington, Morpeth, Prudhoe all have significant pharmaceutical factories and laboratories. Newcastle University and Northumbria University are the leading academic institutions nearby. The local industry includes commercial or academic activity in pre-clinical research and development, clinical research and development, pilot-scale manufacturing, full-scale active pharmaceutical ingredient/intermediate manufacturing, formulation, packaging, and distribution. Media. Having no large population centres, the county's mainstream media outlets are served from nearby Tyne and Wear, including radio stations and television channels (such as BBC Look North, BBC Radio Newcastle, ITV Tyne Tees and Metro Radio), along with the majority of daily newspapers covering the area ("The Journal", "Evening Chronicle"). It is worth remembering however that although Northumberland, like many administrative areas in England, has been shorn of its geographical regional centre, that centre—Newcastle upon Tyne—remains an essential element within the entity we know as Northumberland. Newcastle's newspapers are as widely read in its Northumbrian hinterland as any of those of the wider county: the "Northumberland Gazette", "Morpeth Herald", "Berwick Advertiser", "Hexham Courant" and the "News Post Leader". Lionheart Radio, a community radio station based in Alnwick, has recently been awarded a five-year community broadcasting licence by Ofcom. Businesses. Ashington has the Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter, next to the Lynemouth Power Station. Hammerite and Cuprinol are made in Prudhoe by ICI Paints. A Procter & Gamble factory in Seaton Delaval makes Hugo Boss aftershave and Clairol and Nice 'n Easy hair dye at a site formerly owned by Shultons, who originated Old Spice and were bought by P&G in 1990. McQuay UK makes air conditioning systems on the Bassington Industrial Estate at the A1068/A1172 junction in Cramlington, and Avery Dennison UK make labels on the Nelson Industrial Estate off of the A192. Schweppes' Abbey Well mineral water is made by Coca-Cola in the east of Morpeth. The National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) is at Blyth. Settlements. Parishes. NOTE: New parishes have been added since 2001. These are missing from the list, see List of civil parishes in Northumberland. Although not on this list, the population of Cramlington is estimated at 39,000. Historic areas. Some settlements that are part historic county of Northumberland now fall under the county of Tyne and Wear: Sport. Football. A precursor of modern football is still seen in the region at some annual Shrove Tuesday games at Alnwick. In 1280 at Ulgham near Morpeth Northumberland, records show that Henry of Ellington was killed playing football when David Le Keu's knife went into Henry's belly and killed him. Organised football teams as we know today did not appear until the 1870s. Newcastle United Football Club was formed in 1892 by uniting Newcastle West End FC with Newcastle East End. Newcastle United were first division champions three times in the early 20th century, reaching the FA Cup Final three times before winning it at the fourth attempt in 1910. Today top quality professional football remains in Northumberland. Since the 2017 – 18 season, Newcastle United is a Premier League team. St James' Park in Newcastle is a first class football venue, often used for international games at all levels. Blyth Spartans A.F.C. have had success and public attention through Football Association Cup runs. Notable associated footballers. There are many notable footballers from the county, pre Second World War and immediate post war greats were George Camsell and Hughie Gallacher, these were described in the "Clown Prince of Football" by Len Shackleton. The author played for Newcastle United and Northumberland County Cricket Club. Shackleton’s book was controversial when it was first published because chapter 9, named "The Average Director's Knowledge of Football", was produced as a blank page. Notable players after the Second World War included Joe Harvey, Jackie Milburn, Brian Clough and Newcastle's Bobby Moncur who led his team to win the Inter City Fairs Cup in 1969. Two of Jackie Milburn’s nephews from Ashington, Bobby Charlton and Jackie Charlton are perhaps the two most significant players for England. Bobby joined Manchester United and Jackie Leeds United both contributing much to the success and history of their respective clubs. They both became permanent fixtures in Alf Ramsey's 1966 England World Cup winning team. Malcolm Macdonald was a successful Newcastle player of the 1970s. Great national players who played at Northumberland clubs in the 1980s and 1990s include Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle and Alan Shearer. Shearer remains the highest scoring player in Premier League history with 260 goals in 441 appearances. Horseracing. Early races were held at Newcastle's Killingworth Moor from 1632 before moving to the Town Moor. The 'Pitmen's Derby' or Northumberland Plate was held from 1833 and moved to Gosforth in 1882. Modern day horse racing still takes place at Newcastle Racecourse. Golf. Golf is a Scottish import to many countries but it is said to have been played in this region by St Cuthbert on the dunes of the Northumberland coast. The oldest club in Northumberland was at Alnmouth, founded in 1869, it is the fourth oldest in the country and is now Alnmouth Village Club and a 9 hole links course. There is one old links courses at Goswick. It is a James Braid design masterpiece which is widely acknowledged as a classic Northumberland links course so much so, that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) chose Goswick as a regional qualifier for the Open Championship for five years from 2008. During the English Civil War of 1642–1651, King Charles played 'Goff' in the Shield Fields suburb of Pandon during his imprisonment in the town. Today inland golf courses are abundant in the county, The county has a professional golfer who has played in many professional golf tour events: Kenny Ferrie from Ashington who has won events on the prestigious European Tour. Other. The annual Great North Run, one of the best known half marathons in which thousands of participants run from Newcastle to South Shields. In 2013 the 33rd Great North Run had 56,000 participants most of whom were raising money for charity. Education. Northumberland has a completely comprehensive education system, with 15 state schools, two academies and one independent school. Like Bedfordshire, it embraced the comprehensive ideal with the three-tier system of lower/middle/upper schools with large school year sizes (often around 300). This eliminated choice of school in most areas: instead of having two secondary schools in one town, one school became a middle school and another became an upper school. A programme introduced in 2006 known as Putting the Learner First has eliminated this structure in the former areas of Blyth Valley and Wansbeck, where two-tier education has been introduced. Although the two processes are not officially connected, the introduction of two tiers has coincided with the move to build academy schools in Blyth, with Bede Academy and in Ashington at Hirst. One response to these changes has been the decision of Ponteland High School to apply for Trust status. Cramlington Learning Village has almost 400 pupils in each school year, making it one of the largest schools in England. The Blyth Academy in southeast Northumberland can hold 1,500 students throughout the building. Astley Community High School in Seaton Delaval, which accepts students from Seaton Delaval, Seaton Sluice and Blyth, has been the subject of controversial remarks from politicians claiming it would no longer be viable once Bede Academy opened in Blyth, a claim strongly disputed by the headteacher. Haydon Bridge High School, in rural Northumberland, is claimed to have the largest catchment area of any school in England, reputedly covering an area larger than that encompassed by the M25 motorway around London. The county of Northumberland is served by one Catholic high school, St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy in Bedlington, which is attended by students from all over the area. Students from Northumberland also attend independent schools such as the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle. Culture. Northumberland has traditions not found elsewhere in England. These include the rapper sword dance, the clog dance and the Northumbrian smallpipe, a sweet chamber instrument, quite unlike the Scottish bagpipe. Northumberland also has its own tartan or check, sometimes referred to in Scotland as the Shepherd's Tartan. Traditional Northumbrian music has more similarity to Lowland Scottish and Irish music than it does to that of other parts of England, reflecting the strong historical links between Northumbria and the Lowlands of Scotland, and the large Irish population on Tyneside. The border ballads of the region have been famous since late mediaeval times. Thomas Percy, whose celebrated "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry" appeared in 1765, states that most of the minstrels who sang the border ballads in London and elsewhere in the 15th and 16th centuries belonged to the North. The activities of Sir Walter Scott and others in the 19th century gave the ballads an even wider popularity. William Morris considered them to be the greatest poems in the language, while Algernon Charles Swinburne knew virtually all of them by heart. One of the best-known is the stirring "Chevy Chase", which tells of the Earl of Northumberland's vow to hunt for three days across the Border "maugre the doughty Douglas". Of it, the Elizabethan courtier, soldier and poet Sir Philip Sidney famously said, "I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet". Ben Jonson said that he would give all his works to have written "Chevy Chase". Overall the culture of Northumberland, as with the North East of England in general, may have more in common with Scottish Lowland culture than with that of Southern England. Both regions have their cultural origins in the old Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, a fact borne out by the linguistic links between the two regions. These include many Old English words not found in other forms of Modern English, such as "bairn" for child (see Scots language and Northumbrian dialect). The lands just north or south of the border have long shared certain aspects of history and heritage; it is thus thought by some that the Anglo-Scottish border is largely political rather than cultural. Attempts to raise the level of awareness of Northumberland culture have also started, with the formation of a Northumbrian Language Society to preserve the unique dialects (Pitmatic and other Northumbrian dialects) of this region, as well as to promote home-grown talent. Northumberland's county flower is the bloody cranesbill ("Geranium sanguineum") and its affiliated Royal Navy ship is its namesake, . Flag. The historic county of Northumberland has its own flag, which is a banner of the arms of Northumberland County Council. The shield of arms is in turn based on the arms medieval heralds had attributed to the Kingdom of Bernicia (which the first County Council used until it was granted its own arms). The Bernician arms were fictional but inspired by Bede's brief description of a flag used on the tomb of St Oswald in the 7th century. The current arms were granted to the county council in 1951, and adopted as the flag of Northumberland in 1995. Notable people. Born in Northumberland. Ashington was the birthplace of three famous footballers: Bobby and Jack Charlton, born in 1937 and 1935 respectively, and Jackie Milburn, born in 1924. In 1978 the international cricketer Steve Harmison was born in the same town. Mickley was the birthplace of Thomas Bewick, an artist, wood engraver and naturalist born in 1753, and Bob Stokoe, a footballer and F.A. Cup-winning manager (with Sunderland in 1973) born in 1930. Other notable births include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60002

Aotearoa

Aotearoa () is the contemporary Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, the name of the whole country being "Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu" ("North Island and South Island"). In the pre-European era, Māori did not have one name for the country as a whole. Several meanings for Aotearoa have been proposed; the most popular translation usually given is "land of the long white cloud", or variations thereof. This refers to the cloud formations which helped early Polynesian navigators find the country. Beginning in the late 20th century, "Aotearoa" has become widespread in the bilingual naming of national organisations and institutions. Since the 1990s, it has been customary for particular parties to sing the New Zealand national anthem, "God Defend New Zealand" (or "Aotearoa"), in both Māori and English, which further exposed the name to a wider audience. New Zealand English speakers pronounce the word with various degrees of approximation to the original Māori pronunciation, from at one end of the spectrum (nativist) to at the other. Pronunciations documented in dictionaries of English include , , and . Origin. The original meaning of is not known. The word can be broken up as: ('cloud', 'dawn', 'daytime' or 'world'), ('white', 'clear' or 'bright') and ('long'). It can also be broken up as , the name of one of the migratory canoes that travelled to New Zealand, and ('long'). One literal translation is 'long white cloud', commonly lengthened to 'the land of the long white cloud'. Alternative translations are 'long bright world' or 'land of abiding day', possibly referring to New Zealand having longer summer days in comparison to those further north in the Pacific Ocean. The first Māori dictionary, published in 1844, had no entry for Aotearoa. An early reference to Aotearoa in New Zealand's newspapers was in January 1854 in the Māori-language newspaper "Māori Messenger: Te Karere Maori", where 'Aotearoa appeared in a farewell message to Governor Grey by the sovereign chiefs of Rotorua. Another appearance of "Aotearoa" in an 1855 article in "Māori Messenger: Te Karere Maori", explicitly equated Aotearoa to (that is, New Zealand; "see "). By the 1870s "Aotearoa" became synonymous for the region widely known as the King Country. One King Movement flag also has the words "Niu Tireni" on it. By the 1860s there are examples of the use of the phrase "the island of Aotearoa" meaning the North Island. This usage continued throughout the century. The setting up of King Tawhio's Great Council, or Kauhanganui, in 1892 comprised, it claimed, "the Kingdom of Aotearoa and the Waiponamu", meaning both the North and South Islands. It is likely that King Movement political aspirations may lie behind the claimed increasing geographic size of the region purported to be Aotearoa. While many Māori throughout New Zealand may have been in support of the King Movement's general aims, most were far too independent to kowtow to its mana. At least one acerbic commentator noted Tāwhiao's nation-wide "constitution" for "the Maori Kingdom of Aotearoa" amounted only to "practically what is termed the King country". Thomas Bracken's New Zealand anthem of 1878 was translated into Māori by T.H. Smith. New Zealand he called Aotearoa. This meaning was further entrenched with W.P. Reeves' 1898 history of New Zealand with the title "Aotearoa: The Long White Cloud". James Cowan's 1907 version is entitled "New Zealand, or Ao-te-roa (The Long Bright World)". Johannes Anderson, in the same year, published "Māori Life in Aotea". New Zealand in the later nineteenth century saw many non-Māori efforts to give it another name that best suited the perceived emerging national character, now that most of the non-Māori population had been born in the country – suggestions included Maoria, Maoriland, Zealandia, Aotearoa. The suggested Aotearoa, first popularised among Pākehā by Bracken's translated anthem, and Reeves' history, drew similar sorts of conflicting responses to those still heard today. Some newspaper correspondents at the time thought Aotearoa was "euphonious and beautiful, and is not a change, but a reversion to the original Nu Tirene". Mythology. In some traditional stories, "Aotearoa" was the name of the canoe () of the explorer Kupe, and he named the land after it. Kupe's wife Kuramārōtini (in some versions, his daughter) was watching the horizon and called ('a cloud! a cloud!'). Other versions say the canoe was guided by a long white cloud in the course of the day and by a long bright cloud at night. On arrival, the sign of land to Kupe's crew was the long cloud hanging over it. The cloud caught Kupe's attention and he said "Surely is a point of land". Due to the cloud which greeted them, Kupe named the land "Aotearoa". Usage. It is not known when Māori began incorporating the name into their oral lore. Beginning in 1845, George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, spent some years amassing information from Māori regarding their legends and histories. He translated it into English, and in 1855 published a book called "Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race". In a reference to Māui, the culture hero, Grey's translation from the Māori reads as follows: Thus died this Maui we have spoken of; but before he died he had children, and sons were born to him; some of his descendants yet live in Hawaiki, some in "Aotearoa" (or in these islands); the greater part of his descendants remained in Hawaiki, but a few of them came here to "Aotearoa". The use of "Aotearoa" to refer to the whole country is a post-colonial custom. Before the period of contact with Europeans, Māori did not have a commonly used name for the entire New Zealand archipelago. As late as the 1890s the name was used in reference to the North Island ("Te Ika-a-Māui") only; an example of this usage appeared in the first issue of "Huia Tangata Kotahi", a Māori-language newspaper published on February 8, 1893. It contained the dedication on the front page, "He perehi tenei mo nga iwi Maori, katoa, o Aotearoa, mete Waipounamu", meaning "This is a publication for the Māori tribes of the North Island and the South Island". After the adoption of the name New Zealand (anglicised from "Nova Zeelandia") by Europeans, one name used by Māori to denote the country as a whole was "Niu Tireni", a respelling of New Zealand derived from an approximate pronunciation. The expanded meaning of "Aotearoa" among "Pākehā" became commonplace in the late 19th century. "Aotearoa" was used for the name of New Zealand in the 1878 translation of "God Defend New Zealand", by Judge Thomas Henry Smith of the Native Land Court—this translation is widely used today when the anthem is sung in Māori. Additionally, William Pember Reeves used "Aotearoa" to mean New Zealand in his history of the country published in 1898, "The Long White Cloud Ao-tea-roa." Since the late 20th century "Aotearoa" is becoming widespread also in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. The New Zealand province of the Anglican Church is divided into three cultural streams or (Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia), with the "Aotearoa" tikanga covering Māori-speaking congregations within New Zealand. In 2015, to celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week), the Black Caps (the New Zealand national cricket team) played under the name "Aotearoa" for their first match against Zimbabwe. Petitions. A petition initiated by David Chester was presented to the parliament on 13 April 2018, requesting legislation to change the name of New Zealand to "Aotearoa – New Zealand". A further petition initiated by Danny Tahau Jobe for a referendum on whether the official name of New Zealand should change to include "Aotearoa", received 6,310 signatures. The petition was presented to Parliament by the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand co-leader Marama Davidson on 1 May 2019. The petitions were considered together by Parliament's Governance and Administration Select Committee which responded that it acknowledged the significance of the name "Aotearoa" and that it is increasingly being used to refer to New Zealand. The committee also noted that there are references throughout legislation to both "Aotearoa" and "New Zealand" and that while not legislated, the use of bilingual titles throughout Parliament and government agencies is common. The final report stated, "at present we do not consider that a legal name change, or a referendum on the same change, is needed". In September 2021 the Māori Party started a petition to change the name of New Zealand to Aotearoa. The petition reached 50,000 signatures in two days. In September 2021, Hobson's Pledge, a lobby group that opposes specific rights for Māori (led by former leader of the New Zealand National Party Don Brash), initiated a petition to eradicate "Aotearoa" from official use. Hobson's Pledge spokespersons Casey Costello and Don Brash called on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to publicly affirm that the official name of the country is New Zealand, not Aotearoa New Zealand or Aotearoa. The petition also called on the prime minister to instruct all government departments to use the current official name only. Costello claimed that the name Aotearoa was not "culturally or historically recognised by Māori as the name of our country" while Brash claimed that the name New Zealand was an identity and brand that had been built over the past 180 years. The petition gained over 115,000 signatures by February 2023. In September 2021, Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First Party launched a petition "Keep It New Zealand". Peters called Aotearoa a "name with no historical credibility". the petition gained over 21,000 signatures. By early June 2022, the Māori Party's petition to rename New Zealand "Aotearoa" had received over 70,000 signatures. On 2 June, the petition was submitted before Parliament's committee. Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi argued that the proposed name change would recognise New Zealand's indigenous heritage and strengthen its identity as a Pacific country. Waititi objected to the idea of a referendum, claiming it would entrench the "tyranny of the majority." National Party Christopher Luxon stated that renaming New Zealand was a constitutional issue that would require a referendum. Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson expressed concerns that a potential name change would create branding issues for the country's tourism industry. Opinion polling. A 1 News–Colmar Brunton poll in September 2021 found that 58% of respondents wanted to keep the name "New Zealand", 9% wanted to change the name to "Aotearoa", and 31% wanted the joint name of "Aotearoa New Zealand". A January 2023 Newshub-Reid Research poll, showed a slight increase in support for the name "Aotearoa", with 36.2% wanting 'Aotearoa New Zealand", 9.6% "Aotearoa" only, and 52% wanting to keep "New Zealand" only.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60115

Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first name "Eadweard" as the original Anglo-Saxon form of "Edward", and the surname "Muybridge", believing it to be similarly archaic. He also photographed Yosemite, San Francisco, the newly acquired Alaskan Territory, subjects involved in the Modoc War, and lighthouses on the West Coast. Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, at the age of 20 he immigrated to the United States as a bookseller, first to New York City, then to San Francisco. In 1860, he planned a return trip to Europe, but suffered serious head injuries en route in a stagecoach crash in Texas. He spent the next few years recuperating in Kingston upon Thames, where he took up professional photography, learned the wet-plate collodion process, and secured at least two British patents for his inventions. He returned to San Francisco in 1867, a man with a markedly changed personality. In 1868, he exhibited large photographs of Yosemite Valley, and began selling popular stereographs of his work. In 1874, Muybridge shot and killed Major Harry Larkyns, his wife's lover, but was acquitted, in a controversial jury trial, on the grounds of justifiable homicide. In 1875, he travelled for more than a year in Central America on a photographic expedition. Muybridge is known for his pioneering chronophotography of animal locomotion between 1878 and 1886, which used multiple cameras to capture the different positions in a stride; and for his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting painted motion pictures from glass discs that predated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography. From 1883 to 1886, he entered a very productive period at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, occasionally capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate moments in time. In his later years, Muybridge gave many public lectures and demonstrations of his photography and early motion picture sequences, travelling frequently in England and Europe to publicise his work in cities such as London and Paris. He also edited and published compilations of his work (some of which are still in print today), which greatly influenced visual artists and the developing fields of scientific and industrial photography. He retired to his native England permanently in 1894. In 1904, the year of his death, the Kingston Museum opened in his hometown, and continues to house a substantial collection of his works in a dedicated gallery. Names. Edward James Muggeridge was born and raised in England. Muggeridge changed his name several times, starting with "Muggridge". From 1855 to 1865, he mainly used the surname "Muygridge". From 1865 onward, he used the surname "Muybridge". In addition, he used the pseudonym "Helios" (Titan of the sun) for his early photography. He also used this as the name of his studio and gave it to his only son, as a middle name: Florado Helios Muybridge, born in 1874. While travelling in 1875 on a photography expedition in the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, the photographer advertised his works under the name "Eduardo Santiago Muybridge" in Guatemala. After an 1882 trip to England, he changed the spelling of his first name to "Eadweard", the Old English form of his name. The spelling was probably derived from the spelling of King Edward's Christian name as shown on the plinth of the Kingston coronation stone, which had been re-erected in 1850 in Muybridge's hometown, 100 yards from his childhood family home. He used "Eadweard Muybridge" for the rest of his career. Others frequently misspelled his surname as "Maybridge", "Moybridge", or "Mybridge". His gravestone carries his name as "Eadweard Maybridge". 1830–1850: early life and family. Edward James Muggeridge was born in Kingston upon Thames, in the county of Surrey in England (now Greater London), on 9 April 1830 to John and Susanna Muggeridge; he had three brothers. His father was a grain and coal merchant, with business spaces on the ground floor of their house adjacent to the River Thames at No. 30 High Street. The family lived in the rooms above. After his father died in 1843, his mother carried on the business. His younger cousins Norman Selfe (1839–1911) and Maybanke Anderson (née Selfe; 1845–1927), also spent part of their childhood in Kingston upon Thames. They moved to Australia and Norman, following a family tradition. Selfe became a renowned engineer, while Maybanke made fame as a suffragette. His paternal great-grandparents were Robert Muggeridge and Hannah Charman, who owned a farm. Their oldest son John Muggeridge (1756–1819) was Edward's grandfather; he was a stationer who taught Edward the business. Several uncles and cousins, including Henry Muggeridge (Sheriff of London), were corn merchants in the City of London. All were born in Banstead, Surrey. Edward's younger brother George, born in 1833, lived with their uncle Samuel in 1851, after the death of their father in 1843. 1850–1860: bookselling in America. At the age of 20, Muybridge decided to seek his fortune. He turned down an offer of money from his grandmother, saying "No, thank you Grandma, I'm going to make a name for myself. If I fail, you will never hear of me again." Muybridge immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City in 1850. Here, he was possibly a partner in the book business enterprise Muygridge & Bartlett together with a medical student, which existed for about a year. He spent his first years importing and selling books from the UK, and became familiar with early photography through his acquaintance with New York daguerreotypist Silas T. Selleck. Muybridge arrived in New Orleans in January 1855, and was registered there as a book agent by April. Muybridge probably arrived in California around the autumn of 1855, when it had not yet been a state for more than five years. He visited the new state capital, Sacramento, as an agent selling illustrated Shakespeare books in April 1856, and soon after settled at 113 Montgomery Street in San Francisco. From this address he sold books and art (mostly prints), in a city that was still the booming "capital of the Gold Rush" in the "Wild West". There were already 40 bookstores and a dozen photography studios in town, and he even shared his address with a photo gallery, right next to another bookstore. He partnered with W.H. Oakes as an engraver and publisher of lithograph prints, and still functioned as a book agent for the London Printing and Publishing Company. In April 1858, Muybridge moved his store to 163 Clay Street, where his friend Silas Selleck now had a photo gallery. Muygridge was a member of the Mechanic's Institute of the City of San Francisco. In 1859, he was elected as one of the directors for the San Francisco Mercantile Library Association. Muybridge sold original landscape photography by Carleton Watkins, as well as photographic copies of paintings. It remains uncertain whether or not Muygridge personally made such copies, or familiarized himself with photographic techniques in any fashion before 1860, although Muybridge claimed in 1881 that he "came to California in 1855, and most of the time since and all of the time since 1860 (...) had been diligently, and at the same time studiously, been engaged in photography". Edward's brother George Muybridge came to San Francisco in 1858 but died of tuberculosis soon after. Their youngest brother Thomas S. Muygridge arrived in 1859, and it soon became clear that Edward planned to stop operating his bookstore business. On 15 May 1860, Edward published a special announcement in the "Bulletin" newspaper: "I have this day sold to my brother, Thomas S. Muygridge, my entire stock of Books, Engravings, etc. (...) I shall on 5th June leave for New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, and Vienna, etc.". Although he altered his plans, he eventually took a cross-country stagecoach on 2 July to catch a ship in New York. 1860–1866: serious accident, recuperation, early patents, and short career as venture capitalist. In July 1860, Muybridge suffered a head injury in a violent runaway stagecoach crash at the Texas border, which killed the driver and one passenger, and badly injured all other passengers. Muybridge was ejected from the vehicle and hit his head on a rock or another hard object. He woke up in a hospital bed at Fort Smith, Arkansas, with no recollection of the nine days after he had taken supper at a wayside cabin away, not long before the accident. He suffered from a bad headache, double vision, deafness, loss of taste and smell, and confusion. It was later claimed that his hair turned from black to grey in three days. The problems persisted fully for three months and to a lesser extent for a year. Arthur P. Shimamura, an experimental psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has speculated that Muybridge suffered substantial injuries to the orbitofrontal cortex that probably also extended into the anterior temporal lobes, which may have led to some of the emotional, eccentric behaviour reported by friends in later years, as well as freeing his creativity from conventional social inhibitions. Today, there is still little effective treatment for this kind of injury. Muybridge was treated at Fort Smith for three weeks before he went to a doctor in New York City. He fled the noise of the city and stayed in the countryside. He then went back to New York for six weeks and sued the stage company, which earned him a $2,500 compensation. Eventually, he felt well enough to travel to England, where he received medical care from Sir William Gull (who was also personal physician to Queen Victoria), and was prescribed abstinence of meat, alcohol, and coffee for over a year. Gull also recommended rest and outdoor activities, and considering a change in profession. Muybridge stayed with his mother in Kennington and later with his aunt while in England. Muybridge later stated that he had become a photographer at the suggestion of Gull. However, while outdoors photography might have helped in getting some fresh air, dragging around heavy equipment and working with chemicals in a dark room did not comply with the prescriptions for rest that Gull preferred to offer. On 28 September 1860, "E. Muggeridge, of New York" applied for British patent no. 2352 for "An improved method of, and apparatus for, plate printing" via London solicitor August Frederick Sheppard. On 1 August 1861, Muygridge received British patent no. 1914 for "Improvements in machinery or apparatus for washing clothes and other textile articles". On 28 October the French version of this patent was registered. He wrote a letter to his uncle Henry, who had immigrated to Sydney (Australia), with details of the patents and he also mentioned having to visit Europe for business for several months. Muygridge's inventions (or rather: improved machinery) were demonstrated at the 1862 International Exhibition. Muybridge's activities and whereabouts between 1862 and 1865 are not very well documented. He turned up in Paris in 1862 and again in 1864. In 1865 he was one of the directors for the Austin Consolidated Silver Mines Company (limited) and for The Ottoman Company (limited)/The Bank of Turkey (limited), under his new name "Muybridge". Both enterprises were very short-lived due to the Panic of 1866, and Muybridge chaired the meetings in which the companies were dissolved during the spring of 1866. Muybridge may have taken up photography sometime between 1861 and 1866. He possibly learned the wet-plate collodion process in England, and was possibly influenced by some of well-known English photographers of those years, such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, and Roger Fenton. However, it remains unclear how much he had already learned before the accident and how much he may have learned after his return to the United States. 1867–1873: Helios, photographer of the American West. Muybridge returned to San Francisco on 13 February 1867 a changed man. Friends and associates later stated that he had changed from a smart and pleasant businessman into an eccentric artist. He was much more careless about his appearance, was easily agitated, could suddenly take objection to people and soon after act like nothing had happened, and he would regularly misstate previously-arranged business deals. His care about whether he judged something to be beautiful had become much stronger than his care for money; he easily refused payment if a customer seemed to be slightly critical of his work. Photographer Silas Selleck, who had known Muybridge from New York since circa 1852 and had been a close friend since 1855, claimed that he could hardly recognize Muybridge after his return. Muybridge converted a lightweight two-wheel, one-horse carriage into a portable darkroom to carry out his work, and with a logo on the back dubbed it "Helios' Flying Studio". He had acquired highly proficient technical skills and an artist's eye, and became very successful in photography, focusing principally on landscape and architectural subjects. An 1868 advertisement stated a wide scope of subjects: "Helios is prepared to accept commissions to photograph Private Residences, Ranches, Mills, Views, Animals, Ships, etc., anywhere in the city, or any portion of the Pacific Coast. Architects', Surveyors' and Engineers' Drawings copied mathamatically (sic) correct. Photographic copies of Paintings and Works of Art." Muybridge constantly tinkered with his cameras and chemicals, trying to improve the sales appeal of his pictures. In 1869, he patented a "sky shade" to reduce the tendency of intense blue outdoors skies to bleach out the images of the blue-sensitive photographic emulsions of the time. An article published in 2017 and an expanded book document that Muybridge heavily edited and modified his photos, inserting clouds or the moon, even adding volcanos to his pictures for artistic effects. San Francisco views. Helios produced over 400 different stereograph cards, initially sold through Seleck's Cosmopolitan Gallery at 415 Montgomery Street, and later through other distributors, such as Bradley & Rulofson. Many of these cards showed views of San Francisco and its surroundings. Stereo cards were extremely popular at the time and thus could be sold in large quantities for a very low price, to tourists as a souvenir, or to proud citizens and collectors. Early in his new career, Muybridge was hired by Robert B. Woodward (1824–1879) to take extensive photos of his Woodward's Gardens, a combination amusement park, zoo, museum, and aquarium that had opened in San Francisco in 1866. Muybridge took pictures of ruins after the 21 October 1868 Hayward earthquake. During the construction of the San Francisco Mint in 1870–1872, Muybridge made a series of images of the building's progress, documenting changes over time in a fashion similar to time-lapse photography. These images may have attracted the attention of Leland Stanford, who would later hire Muybridge to develop an unprecedented series of photos spaced in time. Yosemite. From June to November 1867, Muybridge visited Yosemite Valley. He took enormous safety risks to make his photographs, using a heavy view camera and stacks of glass plate negatives. A stereograph he published in 1872 shows him sitting casually on a projecting rock over the Yosemite Valley, with of empty space below him. He returned with numerous stereoscopic views and larger plates. He selected 20 pictures to be retouched and manipulated for a subscription series that he announced in February 1868. Twenty original photographs (possibly the same) were used to illustrate John S. Hittel's guide book "Yosemite: Its Wonders and Its Beauties" (1868). Some of the pictures were taken of the same scenes shot by his contemporary Carleton Watkins. Muybridge's photographs showed the grandeur and expansiveness of the West; if human figures were portrayed, they were dwarfed by their surroundings, as in Chinese landscape paintings. In comparing the styles of the two photographers, Watkins has been called "a classicist, making serene, stately pictures of a still, eternal world of beauty", while Muybridge was "a romantic who sought out the uncanny, the unsettling, the uncertain". In the 21st century there have been claims that many landscape photos attributed to Muybridge were actually made by or under the close guidance of Watkins, but these claims are disputed. Regardless, Muybridge started to develop his own leading-edge innovations in photography, especially in the capturing of ever-faster motion. Government commissions. Alaska. In 1868, Muybridge was commissioned by the US government to travel to the newly acquired US territory of Alaska to photograph the Tlingit Native Americans, occasional Russian inhabitants, and dramatic landscapes. Lighthouses of the West Coast. In 1871, the United States Lighthouse Board hired Muybridge to photograph lighthouses of the American West Coast. From March to July, he travelled aboard the Lighthouse Tender "Shubrick" to document these structures. Modoc War. In 1873, Muybridge was commissioned by the US Army to photograph the "Modoc War" dispute with the Native American tribe in northern California and Oregon. A number of these photographs were carefully staged and posed for maximum effect, despite the long exposures required by the slow photographic emulsions of the time. 1872–1879: Stanford and horse gaits. In 1872, the former governor of California, Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, hired Muybridge for a portfolio depicting his mansion and other possessions, including his racehorse Occident. Stanford also wanted a proper picture of the horse at full speed, and was frustrated that the existing depictions and descriptions seemed incorrect. The human eye could not fully break down the action at the quick gaits of the trot and gallop. Up until this time, most artists painted horses at a trot with one foot always on the ground; and at a full gallop with the front legs extended forward and the hind legs extended to the rear, and all feet off the ground. There are stories that Stanford had made a $25,000 bet on his theories about horse locomotion, but no evidence has been found of such a wager. However, it has been estimated that Stanford spent a total of $50,000 over the next several years to fund his investigations. In 1873, Muybridge managed to use a single camera to shoot a small and very fuzzy picture of the racehorse Occident running, at Union Park racetrack in Sacramento. Because of the insensitivity of the photographic emulsions used, early pictures were little more than blurry silhouettes. They both agreed that the image lacked quality, but Stanford was excited to finally have a reliable depiction of a running horse. No copy of this earliest image has yet resurfaced. Muybridge promised to study better solutions, but his work on higher-speed photography would take several years to develop, and was also delayed by events in his personal life. With the aid of engineers and technicians from the Central Pacific Railroad (Stanford was one of the founding directors), Muybridge experimented with ever-faster mechanical shutters, and began developing state-of-the-art electrically-triggered mechanisms. He also experimented with more sensitive photographic emulsions to work with the shorter exposure times. In July 1877, Muybridge made a new picture of Occident at full speed, with improved techniques and a much clearer result. To enhance the still-fuzzy picture, he had it recreated by a retouch artist and published as a cabinet card. The news about this breakthrough in instantaneous photography was spread enthusiastically, but several critics believed that the heavily-manipulated image could not be a truthful depiction of the horse. Muybridge allowed reporters to study the original negative, but as he and Stanford were planning a new project that would convince everyone, they saw no need to prove that this image was authentic. The original negative has not yet resurfaced. In June 1878, Muybridge created sequential series of photographs, now with a battery of 12 cameras along the race track at Stanford's Palo Alto Stock Farm (now the campus of Stanford University). The shutters were automatically triggered when the wheel of a cart or the breast or legs of a horse tripped wires connected to an electromagnetic circuit. For a session on 15 June 1878, the press and a selection of turf men were invited to witness the process. An accident with a snapping strap was captured on the negatives and shown to the attendees, convincing even the most sceptical witnesses. The news of this success was reported worldwide. "The Daily Alta California" reported that Muybridge first exhibited magic lantern projected slides of the photographs at the San Francisco Art Association on 8 July 1878. Newspapers were not yet able to reproduce detailed photographs, so the images were widely printed as woodcut engravings. "Scientific American" was among the publications at the time that carried reports and engravings of Muybridge's groundbreaking images. Six different series were soon published as cabinet cards, entitled "The Horse in Motion". Many people were amazed at the previously unseen positions of the horse's legs in action, particularly the fact that a running horse had all four hooves in the air at regular intervals. This did not take place when the horse's legs were extended to the front and back, as imagined by illustrators of the time, but when its legs were collected beneath its body as it switched from "pulling" with the front legs to "pushing" with the back legs. In 1879, Muybridge continued with additional studies using 24 cameras, and published a very limited edition portfolio of the results. Muybridge had images from his motion studies hand-copied in the form of silhouettes or line drawings onto a disc, to be viewed in the machine he had invented, which he called a "zoopraxiscope". Later, his more-detailed images were hand-coloured and marketed commercially. A device he developed was later regarded as an early movie projector, and the process was an intermediate stage toward motion pictures or cinematography. 1878: San Francisco panorama. In 1878, Muybridge made a notable 13-part 360° photographic panorama of San Francisco. He presented a copy to the wife of Leland Stanford. Today, it can be viewed on the Internet as a seamlessly-spliced panorama, or as a QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) panorama. That same year, he applied for a patent on a camera sequence shutter to photograph moving objects, with a mechanical trigger. Later that year, he applied for a further patent, this time using an electrical trigger. He also filed for British and French patents. 1871–1881: personal life, marriage, murder, acquittal, paternity, and divorce. On 20 May 1871, 41-year-old Muybridge married 21-year-old divorcee Flora Shallcross Stone (née Downs). The differences in their tastes and temperaments were understood to have been due to their age difference. Muybridge did not care for many of the amusements that she sought, so she went to the theatre and other attractions without him, and he seemed to be fine with that. Muybridge was more of the type that would stay up all night to read classics. Muybridge was also used to leaving home by himself for days, weeks or even months, visiting faraway places for personal projects or assignments. This did not change after his marriage. On 14 April 1874 Flora gave birth to a son, Florado Helios Muybridge. At some stage, Flora became romantically involved with one of their friends, Harry Larkyns. Muybridge intervened several times and believed the affair was over when he sent Flora to stay with a relative and Larkyns found a job at a mine near Calistoga, California. In mid-October 1874, Muybridge learned how serious the relationship between his wife and Larkyns really was. Flora's maternity nurse revealed many details and she had in her possession some love letters that the couple had still been writing to each other. At her place, Muybridge also came across a picture of Florado with "Harry" written on the back in Flora's handwriting, suggesting that she believed the child to be fathered by Larkyns. On 17 October, Muybridge went to Calistoga to track down Larkyns. Upon finding him, Muybridge said, "I have a message for you from my wife", and shot him point-blank. Larkyns died that night, and Muybridge was arrested without protest and put in the Napa jail. A "Sacramento Daily Union" reporter visited Muybridge in jail for an hour and related how he was coping with the situation. Muybridge was in moderately good spirits and very hopeful. He felt he was treated very kindly by the officers and was a little proud of the influence he had on other inmates, which had earned him everyone's respect. He had protested the abuse of a "Chinaman" from a tough inmate, by claiming "No man of any country whose misfortunes shall bring him here shall be abused in my presence" and had strongly but politely voiced threats against the offender. He had addressed an outburst of profanity in a similar fashion. Flora filed for divorce on 17 December 1874 on the grounds of extreme cruelty, but this first petition was dismissed. It was reported that she fully sympathized with the prosecution of her husband. Muybridge was tried for murder in February 1875. His attorney, W. W. Pendegast (a friend of Stanford), pleaded insanity in his behalf due to a severe head injury suffered in the 1860 stagecoach accident. At least four long-time acquaintances testified under oath that the accident had dramatically changed Muybridge's personality, from genial and pleasant to unstable and erratic. During the trial, Muybridge undercut his own insanity case by indicating that his actions were deliberate and premeditated, but he also showed impassive indifference and uncontrolled explosions of emotion. In the end he was acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide, with the jury explanation that if their verdict was not in accordance with the law, it was in accordance with the law of human nature. In other words: they believed they could not punish a person for doing something that they themselves would do in similar circumstances. The episode interrupted his photography studies, but not his relationship with Stanford, who had arranged for his criminal defence. By 1877, Muybridge had resumed his photographic work for Stanford. Shortly after his acquittal in February 1875, Muybridge left the United States on a previously planned 9-month photography trip to Central America, now acting as a "working exile". His photographs from this period are less known, because relatively few copies were produced. It is believed that during this period, he further developed his ability to take pictures more rapidly, due to the requirement that these processes be performed aboard a constantly-rolling ship. Flora's second petition for divorce received a favourable ruling, and an order for alimony was entered in April 1875. Flora died suddenly in July 1875 while Muybridge was in Central America. She had placed their son, Florado Helios Muybridge (later nicknamed "Floddie" by friends), with a French couple. In 1876, Muybridge had the boy moved from a Catholic orphanage to a Protestant one and paid for his care. Otherwise he had little to do with him. Photographs of Florado Muybridge as an adult show him to have strongly resembled Muybridge. Put to work on a ranch as a boy, he worked all his life as a ranch hand and gardener. In 1944, Florado was hit by a car in Sacramento and killed. Today, the court case and transcripts are important to historians and forensic neurologists, because of the sworn testimony from multiple witnesses regarding Muybridge's state of mind and past behaviour. In 1982, American composer Philip Glass would create an opera, "The Photographer", with a libretto based in part on court transcripts from the case. 1882–1893: motion studies in Philadelphia. Muybridge often travelled to American cities as well as back to England and Europe to publicise his work. The opening of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 and the development of steamships made travel much faster and less arduous than it was in 1860. On 13 March 1882 he lectured at the Royal Institution in London in front of a sell-out audience, which included members of the Royal Family, notably the future King Edward VII. He displayed his photographs on screen and showed moving pictures projected by his zoopraxiscope. He also lectured at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Society. Muybridge and Stanford had a major falling-out concerning his research on equine locomotion. Stanford had asked his friend and horseman Dr JBD Stillman to write a book analysing "The Horse in Motion", which was published in 1882. Stillman used Muybridge's photos as the basis for his 100 illustrations, and the photographer's research for the analysis, but he gave Muybridge no prominent credit. The historian Phillip Prodger later suggested that Stanford considered Muybridge as just one of his employees, and not deserving of special recognition. Stanford was quite proud of his role in creating the book, and commissioned a portrait of himself by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, in which a copy of the volume was visible under his arm. However, as a result of Muybridge not being credited in the book, the Royal Society of Arts withdrew an offer to fund his stop-motion studies in photography, and refused to publish a paper he had submitted, accusing him of plagiarism. Muybridge filed a lawsuit against Stanford to gain credit, but it was delayed two years and then dismissed out of court. Stillman's book did not sell as expected. Muybridge, looking elsewhere for funding, was more successful. The Royal Society of Arts eventually invited Muybridge back to show his work. In 1883, Muybridge gave a lecture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), arranged by artist Thomas Eakins and University of Pennsylvania (Penn) trustee Fairman Rogers. At that time, Eakins was a faculty member at PAFA, and had recently been appointed its director. A group of Philadelphians, including Penn Provost William Pepper and the publisher J.B. Lippincott recruited him to work at Penn under their sponsorship. Between 1883 and 1886, Muybridge made more than 100,000 images, working obsessively in a dedicated studio at the northeast corner of 36th and Pine streets in Philadelphia. He was now able to afford multiple larger high-quality lenses, giving him the ability to make simultaneous pictures from multiple viewpoints, with a clarity and tonal range not achieved earlier. In 1884, Eakins briefly worked alongside Muybridge, to learn more about the application of photography to the study of human and animal motion. Eakins later favoured the use of multiple exposures superimposed on a single photographic negative to study motion more precisely, while Muybridge continued to use multiple cameras to produce separate images which could also be projected by his zoopraxiscope. The vast majority of Muybridge's work at this time was done at a special sunlit outdoor studio, due to the still-bulky cameras and relatively slow photographic emulsion speeds then available. Most of the photographs were taken during the summers, and winters were spent developing and organizing the images. He used banks of 12 custom-made cameras to photograph professors, athletes, students, disabled patients from the Blockley Almshouse (located next to Penn at the time), and local residents, all in motion. He photographed at least 9 sequences showing the movements of neurological patients. He also borrowed animals from the Philadelphia Zoo, to study their movements in detail. The human models, usually either entirely nude or very lightly clothed, were photographed against a measured grid background in a variety of action sequences, including walking up or down stairs, hammering on an anvil, carrying buckets of water, or throwing water over one another. Muybridge produced sequences showing farm, industrial, construction, and household work, military manoeuvres, and everyday activities. He also photographed athletic activities such as baseball, cricket, boxing, wrestling, discus throwing, and a ballet dancer performing. Showing a single-minded dedication to scientific accuracy and artistic composition, Muybridge himself posed nude for some of the photographic sequences, such as one showing him swinging a miner's pick. Toward the end of this period, Muybridge spent much of his time selecting and editing his photos in preparation for publication. In 1887, the photos were published as a massive collotype portfolio in 11 volumes, with 781 plates comprising 20,000 of the photographs, in a groundbreaking collection titled "". Muybridge's work contributed substantially to developments in the science of biomechanics and the mechanics of athletics. Some of his books are still published today, and are used as references by artists, animators, and students of animal and human movement. In 1888, the University of Pennsylvania donated an album of Muybridge's photographs, which featured students and Philadelphia Zoo animals, to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II, who had a keen interest in photography. This gift may have helped to secure permissions for the excavations that scholars from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology later pursued in the Ottoman region of Mesopotamia (now Iraq), notably at the site of Nippur. The Ottoman sultan reciprocated, five years later, by sending as a gift to the United States a collection of photograph albums featuring Ottoman scenes: the Library of Congress now preserves these albums as the Abdul Hamid II Collection. Recent scholarship has noted that in his later work, Muybridge was influenced by, and in turn, influenced the French photographer Étienne-Jules Marey. In 1881, Muybridge first visited Marey's studio in France and viewed stop-motion studies before returning to the US to further his own work in the same area. Marey was a pioneer in producing multiple-exposure, sequential images using a rotary shutter in his so-called "Marey wheel" camera. While Marey's scientific achievements in the realms of cardiology and aerodynamics (as well as pioneering work in photography and chronophotography) are indisputable, Muybridge's efforts were to some degree more artistic rather than scientific. As Muybridge explained, in some of his published sequences he had substituted images where original exposures had failed, in order to illustrate a representative movement (rather than producing a strictly scientific recording of a particular sequence). Today, similar setups of carefully timed multiple cameras are used in modern special effects photography, but they have the opposite goal of capturing changing camera angles, with little or no movement of the subject. This is often dubbed "bullet time" photography. After his work at the University of Pennsylvania, Muybridge travelled widely and gave numerous lectures and demonstrations of his still photography and primitive motion picture sequences. At the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, Muybridge presented a series of lectures on the "Science of Animal Locomotion" in the Zoopraxographical Hall, built specially for that purpose in the "Midway Plaisance" arm of the exposition. He used his zoopraxiscope to show his moving pictures to a paying public. The Hall was the first commercial movie theatre. He also sold a series of souvenir phenakistoscope discs to demonstrate simple animations, using painted colour images derived from his photographs. 1894–1904: retirement and death. Eadweard Muybridge returned to his native England in 1894 and continued to lecture extensively throughout Great Britain. He returned to the US once more, in 1896–1897, to settle financial affairs and to dispose of property related to his work at the University of Pennsylvania. He retained control of his negatives, which he used to publish two popular books of his work, "Animals in Motion" (1899) and "The Human Figure in Motion" (1901), both of which remain in print over a century later. Muybridge died on 8 May 1904 in Kingston upon Thames of prostate cancer at the home of his cousin Catherine Smith. It is claimed that at that time, he was excavating a scale model of the American Great Lakes in the back garden. His body was cremated, and its ashes interred in a grave at Woking in Surrey. On the gravestone his name is misspelled as "Eadweard Maybridge". In 2004, a British Film Institute commemorative plaque was installed on the outside wall of the former Smith house, at Park View, 2 Liverpool Road. Many of his papers and collected artefacts were donated to Kingston Library, and are currently under the ownership of Kingston Museum in his place of birth. Influence on others. According to an exhibition at Tate Britain, "His influence has forever changed our understanding and interpretation of the world, and can be found in many diverse fields, from Marcel Duchamp's painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" and countless works by Francis Bacon, to the blockbuster film "The Matrix" and Philip Glass's opera "The Photographer"". In 2010, the American painter Philip Pearlstein published an article in "ARTnews" suggesting the strong influences Muybridge's work and public lectures had on 20th-century artists, including Degas, Rodin, Seurat, Duchamp, and Eakins, either directly or through the contemporaneous work of his fellow photographic pioneer, Marey. He concluded: "I believe that both Muybridge and Eakins—as a photographer—should be recognized as among the most influential artists on the ideas of 20th-century art, along with Cézanne, whose lessons in fractured vision provided the technical basis for putting those ideas together". Exhibitions and collections. Muybridge bequeathed a selection of his equipment to Kingston Museum in Greater London. This includes his original biunial slide lantern, a zoopraxiscope projector, over 2,000 glass magic lantern slides and 67 zoopraxiscope discs. The University of Pennsylvania Archives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hold a large collection of Muybridge's photographs, equipment, and correspondence. Among these artefacts are 740 of the 781 original glass plate negatives used for publication of his masterwork edition. The Philadelphia Museum of Art also holds a large collection of Muybridge material, including hundreds of collotype prints, gelatin internegatives, glass plate positives, phenakistoscope cards, and camera equipment, totalling just under 800 objects. The Stanford University Libraries and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University also maintain a large collection of Muybridge's photographs, glass plate negatives, and some equipment including a functioning zoopraxiscope. In 1991, the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, hosted a major exhibition of Muybridge's work, plus the works of many other artists who had been influenced by him. The show later travelled to other venues and a book-length exhibition catalogue was also published. The Addison Gallery has significant holdings of Muybridge's photographic work. In 1993, the Canadian Centre for Architecture presented the exhibition "Eadweard Muybridge and the Photographic Panorama of San Francisco, 1850–1880". In 2000–2001, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History presented the exhibition "Freeze Frame: Eadweard Muybridge's Photography of Motion", plus an online virtual exhibit. From 10 April to 18 July 2010, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, mounted a major retrospective of Muybridge's work entitled "Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change". The exhibit received favourable reviews from major publications including "The New York Times". The exhibition travelled in autumn 2010 to Tate Britain, Millbank, London, and also appeared at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). An exhibition of important items bequeathed by Muybridge to his birthplace of Kingston upon Thames, entitled "Muybridge Revolutions", opened at the Kingston Museum on 18 September 2010 (exactly a century since the first Muybridge exhibition at the Museum) and ran until 12 February 2011. The full collection is held by the Museum and Archives. Legacy and representation in other media. Muybridge's influence extended to many artists and beyond, including efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth, entrepreneur Walt Disney, Nobel-Prize chemist Ahmed Zewail, and the International Society of Biomechanics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60858

Carlisle

Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a cathedral city in the ceremonial county of Cumbria in England. It is the administrative centre of Cumberland Council which covers an area similar to the historic county of Cumberland. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a Roman settlement to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its proximity to Scotland (being located south of the current Anglo-Scottish border), Carlisle Castle and the city became an important military stronghold in the Middle Ages. The castle served as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots in 1568 and currently hosts the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and the Border Regiment Museum. In the early 12th century, a priory was built and gained cathedral status with a diocese in 1133 (city status at the time meant the settlement became a city) while the county of Carliol was created and later renamed Cumberland. In the 19th century, the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution began a process of socioeconomic transformation in Carlisle, which developed into a densely populated mill town. This, combined with its strategic position, allowed for the development of Carlisle as an important railway town, with seven railway companies sharing Carlisle railway station. Nicknamed the 'Great Border City', Carlisle today is a main cultural, commercial and industrial centre in the British borders. It is home to the main campuses of the University of Cumbria and a variety of museums and heritage centres. History. Ancient Carlisle. What is known of the ancient history of Carlisle is derived mainly from archaeological evidence and the works of the Roman historian Tacitus. The earliest recorded inhabitants were the Carvetii tribe of Britons who made up the main population of ancient Cumbria and North Lancashire. According to Boethius and John of Fordun, Carlisle existed before the arrival of the Romans in Britain and was one of the strongest British towns at the time. In the time of the emperor Nero, it was said to have burned down. The Roman settlement was named Luguvalium, based on a native name that has been reconstructed as Brittonic *Luguwaljon, "[city] of Luguwalos", a masculine Celtic given name meaning "strength of Lugus". Excavations undertaken along Annetwell Street in the 1970s dated the Roman timber fort constructed at the site of present Carlisle Castle to the winter of AD 73, protecting a strategic location overlooking the confluence of the Caldew and Eden rivers. This walled "civitas", possibly the only one in northwest Britain, presumably served as the tribal centre of the Carvetii on the model of other such sites in Roman Britain. In 79, the two Roman generals Gnaeus Julius Agricola and Quintus Petillius Cerialis advanced through Solway as they continued their campaign further north. As a result, it is likely that greater control was achieved at Carlisle over anti-imperial groups. This is possibly indicated from the reconstruction of the fort at Carlisle in 83 using oak timbers from further afield, rather than local alder. At this time the Roman fort was garrisoned by a 500-strong cavalry regiment, the "". By the early 2nd century, Carlisle was established as a prominent stronghold. The 'Stanegate' frontier, which consisted of Luguvalium and several other forts in a line east to Corbridge, was proving a more stable frontier against the Picts than those established deeper into Caledonia. In 122, the province was visited by Hadrian, who approved a plan to build a wall the length of the frontier. A new fort, Petriana, was built at Carlisle in the Stanwix area of the city north of the river. It was the largest fort along the length of Hadrian's Wall and was completed in stone by around 130. Like Luguvalium, which lay within sight, Petriana housed a 1,000-strong cavalry regiment, the "Ala Gallorum Petriana", the sole regiment of this size along the wall. Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius abandoned the frontier and attempted to move further north; he built the Antonine Wall between the firths of Forth and Clyde. It was not a success and, after 20 years, the garrisons returned to Hadrian's Wall. At one time, Carlisle broke off from Rome when Marcus Carausius assumed power over the territory. He was assassinated and suffered "damnatio memoriae", but a surviving reference to him has been uncovered in Carlisle. Coins excavated in the area suggest that Romans remained in Carlisle until the reign of Emperor Valentinian II, from 375 to 392. Middle Ages. The period of late antiquity after Roman rule saw Cumbria organised as the native British kingdom of Rheged. It is likely that the kingdom took its name from a major stronghold within it; this has been suggested to have been broadly coterminous with the ', Carlisle. King Urien and his son and successor Owain became the subjects of a great deal of Arthurian legend. Their capital has been identified as the listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain, which later developed into , whence the city's modern Welsh name Caerliwelydd. Rheged came under Northumbrian control before 730, probably by inheritance after Rienmelth, daughter of Royth and great-granddaughter of Urien, married Oswy, King of Northumbria. For the rest of the first millennium, Carlisle was an important stronghold contested by several entities who warred over the area, including the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria. In 685, St Cuthbert, visiting the Queen of Northumbria in her sister's monastery at Carlisle, was taken to see the city walls and a marvellously constructed Roman fountain. By the time of the Norman conquest in 1066, Carlisle was in the possession of the Scots. It was not recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book. This changed in 1092, when William the Conqueror's son William Rufus invaded the region and incorporated Carlisle into England. The construction of Carlisle Castle began in 1093 on the site of the Roman fort, south of the River Eden. The castle was rebuilt in stone in 1112, with a keep and the city walls. The walls enclosed the city south of the castle and included three gates to the east, south, and north called the Irish or Caldew Gate, the English or Botcher Gate, and the Scotch or Ricker Gate respectively. The names of the gates exist in road names in Carlisle today. Carlisle Cathedral was founded as an Augustinian priory and became a cathedral in 1133. In 1157, Carlisle became the seat of the new county of Carliol (a name that was originally an abbreviation of Latin "Carlioliensis", meaning "[Bishop] of Carlisle"); in 1177 the county was renamed Cumberland. The conquest of Cumberland was the beginning of a war between Scotland and England which saw the region centred around Carlisle change hands a number of times. It was a major stronghold after the construction of the castle. During the wars, the livelihood of the people on the borders was devastated by armies from both sides. Even when the countries were not at war, tension remained high, and royal authority in one or the other kingdom was often weak. The uncertainty of existence meant that communities or peoples kindred to each other sought security through their own strength and cunning, and they improved their livelihoods at their enemies' expense. These peoples were known as the Border Reivers and Carlisle was the major city within their territories. The Reivers became so much of a nuisance to the Scottish and English governments that, in 1525, the Archbishop of Glasgow Gavin Dunbar cursed all the reivers of the borderlands. The curse was detailed in 1,069 words, beginning: "I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain (innermost thoughts), their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their leggs, their hands, their feet and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without." Early Modern era. After the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry VIII, concerned at the weakness of his hold on the North, employed (1539) the engineer Stefan von Haschenperg to modernise the defences of Carlisle. von Haschenperg was sacked in 1543 for having "spent great treasures to no purpose"; but (by him and his successors) at the north end the castle towers were converted to artillery platforms, at the south the medieval Bochard gate was converted into the Citadel, an artillery fortification with two massive artillery towers. The death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 and her succession by James VI of Scotland as King James I of England allowed more determined and coordinated efforts to suppress reiving. The borderers were not quick to change their ways and many were hanged and whole families were exiled to Ireland. It was not until 1681 that the problem of the reivers was acknowledged as no longer an issue. Following the personal union of the crowns Carlisle Castle should have become obsolete as a frontier fortress, but the two kingdoms continued as separate states. In 1639, with war between the two kingdoms looming, the castle was refortified using stone from the cathedral cloisters. In 1642 the English Civil War broke out and the castle was garrisoned for the king. It endured a long siege from October 1644 until June 1645 when the Royalist forces surrendered after the Battle of Naseby. The city was occupied by a parliamentary garrison, and subsequently by their Scots allies. In 1646, the Scots, now holding Carlisle pending payment of monies owed them by the English Parliament, improved its fortifications, destroying the cathedral's nave to obtain the stone to rebuild the castle. Carlisle continued to remain a barracks thereafter. In 1698 travel writer Celia Fiennes wrote of Carlisle as having most of the trappings of a military town and that it was rife with alcohol and prostitutes. In 1707 an act of union was passed between England and Scotland, creating Great Britain, but Carlisle remained a garrison town. The tenth, and most recent siege in the city's history took place after Charles Edward Stuart took Carlisle in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. When the Jacobites retreated across the border to Scotland they left a garrison of 400 men in Carlisle Castle. Ten days later Prince William, Duke of Cumberland took the castle and executed 31 Jacobites on the streets of Carlisle. Industrial Revolution. Although Carlisle continued to garrison soldiers, becoming the headquarters of the Border Regiment, the city's importance as a military town decreased as the industrial age took over. The post of Governor of Carlisle as garrison commander was abolished in 1838. In the early 19th century textile mills, engineering works and food manufacturers built factories in the city mostly in the Denton Holme, Caldewgate and Wapping suburbs in the Caldew Valley. These included Carr's of Carlisle, Kangol, Metal Box and Cowans Sheldon. Shaddon Mill, in Denton Holme, became famous for having the world's 8th tallest chimney and was the largest cotton mill in England. The expanding industries brought about an increase in population as jobs shifted from rural farms towards the cities. This produced a housing shortage where at one point 25,000 people in the city only had 5,000 houses to live in. People were said to be herded together with animal houses, slaughter houses and communal lavatories with open drains running between them. Living conditions were so bad that riots were common and some people emigrated. The problem wasn't solved until the end of the 19th century when mass housing was built west of the city walls. In 1823 a canal was built to Fisher's Cross (Port Carlisle) to transport goods produced in the city. This enabled other industrial centres such as Liverpool to link with Carlisle via the Solway. This was short-lived and when the canal operators ran into financial difficulty the waterway was filled in. A railway was built in place of the canal. Carlisle became a major railway centre on the West Coast Main Line with connections to the east. At one time seven companies used Carlisle Citadel railway station. Before the building of the Citadel railway station the city had several other railway stations, including London Road railway station. Carlisle had the largest railway marshalling yard in Europe, Kingmoor, which, reduced in size, is operational and used by railfreight companies. The Strand Road drill hall opened in 1874. Modern history. At the start of the 20th century, the population had grown to over 45,000. Transport was improved by the City of Carlisle Electric Tramways from 1900 until 1931, and the first cinema was built in 1906. In 1912, the boundaries of Carlisle were extended to include Botcherby in the east and Stanwix in the north. Carlisle was subject to the decline in the textile industry experienced throughout Britain as new machinery made labour unnecessary. In 1916, during the First World War, the government took over the public houses and breweries in Carlisle because of drunkenness among construction and munitions workers from the munitions factory at Gretna. This experiment nationalised brewing. As the Carlisle Board of Control, and subsequently the Carlisle & District State Management Scheme, it lasted until 1971. During the Second World War, Carlisle hosted over 5,000 evacuees, many of whom arrived from Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding towns. A shopping centre (including a new central library) was built to the east and north-east of the market cross and opened in 1986. The area east of the market cross had formerly been occupied by narrow alleyways of housing and small shops (on a layout which had not changed much since medieval times) and referred to locally as "The Lanes". Carlisle city centre was pedestrianised in 1989. On the evening of Friday, 7 January 2005, the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril burst their banks due to as much as 180 mm rainfall up stream that day. 2,700 homes were flooded and three people died. The city's police and fire stations were flooded along with Brunton Park football stadium. The police, fire service and Carlisle United F.C. were moved, the latter as far as Morecambe. At the time of the flood, emergency services also had to respond to cases of car-related arson in the city. City centre. Carlisle is the only city in Cumbria. The city centre is largely pedestrianised and the Lanes shopping centre is home to around 75 shops. Carlisle has a compact historic centre with a castle, cathedral and semi-intact city walls, as well as other medieval buildings including the Guildhall and Tithe Barn. The Citadel towers, which until 2016 also served as offices for Cumbria County Council, were designed by Thomas Telford, with the eastern tower incorporating part of the 16th century building. The first Citadel building was a Tudor fortification replacing the medieval Englishgate, designed by the Moravian military engineer Stefan von Haschenperg in 1541. Next to the Citadel is Carlisle railway station, designed by William Tite in the neo-Tudor style, considered by Historic England to be among the most important early railway stations in England. Governance. Historical. Carlisle has held city status since the Middle Ages and a borough constituency or parliamentary borough for centuries, at one time returning two MPs. In 1835 it became a municipal borough which was promoted to county borough status in 1914. The city's boundaries have changed several times since 1835, most notably between 1974 and 2023, when under the Local Government Act 1972 the city and county borough and the Border Rural District were abolished and new enlarged City of Carlisle non-metropolitan district was created within the newly formed administrative county of Cumbria. The municipal borough contained several civil parishes or parts of parishes but these were merged into a single civil parish of Carlisle in 1904. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 1974, although parts of the urban fringe are in the parishes of Stanwix Rural, Kingmoor and St Cuthbert Without. Carlisle unsuccessfully applied to become a Lord Mayoralty in 2002. Carlisle City Council had its headquarters at the 1960s Civic Centre in Rickergate, the tallest building in the city. At the time of the 2001 census, the population of Carlisle was 71,773, with 100,734 living in the district. In the 2011 census, the city's population had risen to 75,306, with 107,524 in the district. On 1 April 2023 the City of Carlisle local government district was abolished, and the boundaries of the City of Carlisle were redefined to cover the following wards: Belah and Kingmoor, Botcherby and Harraby North, Cathedral and Castle, Currock and Upperby, Denton Holme and Morton South, Harraby South and Parklands, Newtown and Morton North, Sandsfield and Morton West and Stanwix and Houghton. Charter trustees were formed from the councillors that cover the said areas. They act as appropriate bodies in which historic rights and privileges of Carlisle, including the mayoralty will continue until a governance review will determine the need of a city council. Parliament. The current member of Parliament is John Stevenson – Conservative. Carlisle used to be within the North West England constituency of the European Parliament. Former county council. Carlisle elected 18 county councillors to the former Cumbria County Council. Its headquarters were located at Cumbria House on Botchergate. Former district council. Until April 2023 Carlisle was governed by a district council, Carlisle City Council and a County Council, Cumbria County Council. After the 2019 elections the Conservative Party ran a minority administration on the district council with the support of the Independents. The district council covered a large rural area with many villages and towns including Dalston, Brampton, Longtown, Wetheral, Bewcastle and Scotby. Unitary authority. Cumberland Council, the local authority for Cumberland, is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It operated as a shadow authority until taking up its powers on 1 April 2023. Cumberland Council replaced Cumbria County Council, Allerdale Borough Council, Carlisle City Council and Copeland Borough Council. The first election to Cumberland Council was held on 5 May 2022. All 46 seats were up for election. Labour won a majority of 30 seats. Conservatives have 7 seats, Liberal Democrats 4 seats, Independents 3 seats and Green Party 2 seats. Turnout was 36.1%. Geography. Carlisle is situated on a slight rise, in the Cumberland Ward, at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. An important centre for trade, it is located west of Newcastle upon Tyne, north of Lancaster, south-east of Glasgow, south of Edinburgh, north-west of York, and north-north-west of London. Nearby towns and villages include Longtown (north), Penrith (south), Brampton (east), Wigton (west), Haggbeck, Harker, Carwinley, Blackford, Houghton, Scotby, Wreay and Rockcliffe. Climate. Carlisle experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfb"). In January 2005 Carlisle was hit by strong gales and heavy rain, and on Saturday 8 January 2005 all roads into Carlisle were closed owing to severe flooding, the worst since 1822, which caused three deaths. Even worse flooding than in 2005 affected Carlisle between 4 and 6 December 2015. During this time, nearly 36 hours of incessant rainfall breached flood defences and left several areas submerged – including Bitts Park, Hardwicke Circus and Warwick Road. This left the Sands Centre (and the nearby Shell petrol station and Bitts Park), marooned from the rest of the city. As several other areas of Cumbria were also badly affected (particularly Appleby and Wigton), all trains to Scotland were postponed indefinitely, with trains on the West Coast Mainline going no further than Preston, as nearby Lancaster suffered flooding and problems with electricity supply. Prime Minister David Cameron visited the city on 7 December 2015 to assess the damage, having earlier called an emergency Cobra meeting. Divisions and suburbs. In the north of Carlisle are the suburbs of Kingstown, Lowry Hill and Moorville, formerly part of the parish of Kingmoor. To the south of them are Stanwix, Edentown, Etterby, St Ann's Hill and Belah which were added to Carlisle in 1912. The parish of Stanwix Rural exists but only includes a small part of Carlisle's urban area, Whiteclosegate. To the immediate south of Stanwix is the River Eden. On the opposite bank is the city centre bounded on the west by the West Coast Main Railway line and the River Caldew. In the past industry flourished on the banks of the River Caldew, especially Denton Holme and Caldewgate on the west bank and Wapping, around the former Metal Box works, on the east. West of Caldewgate and north of Denton Holme the suburbs of Newtown, Morton, Sandsfield Park, Longsowerby, Raffles and Belle Vue developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The eastern side of the city centre developed in the 19th century into a more affluent area along the main A69 road. It links with the former village of Botcherby to which a large council estate was added in the mid-20th century and later still Durranhill Housing Estate. South of the city centre is the Botchergate/St Nicholas area of late Victorian terraced housing similar to that found in Denton Holme and Caldewgate. The Botchergate East area until recently had older slum dwellings. To the south west of Botchergate and St Nicholas are the former villages now suburbs of Upperby and Currock. The urban area spills over the former county borough boundary into Blackwell and Durdar in the civil parish of St Cuthbert Without. Between Upperby and Botcherby is Harraby, a former village once part of St Cuthbert Without and the largest suburb of Carlisle. Harraby is subdivided into Harraby East, New Harraby, Harraby Green, Old Harraby, Petteril Bank and the Durranhill Industrial Estate. Adjoining Harraby to the south but outside the former borough boundary is the hamlet of Carleton. Transport. Road. Carlisle is linked to the rest of England via the M6 motorway to the south, and to Scotland via the M74/A74 towards Glasgow and the north. Many trunk roads begin or terminate in Carlisle, including the A6 to Penrith and Luton (historically the main road to the south prior to the opening of the M6), the A595 to western Cumbria, the A69 to Newcastle upon Tyne and the A7 to Edinburgh. Rail. Carlisle became a major railway centre with, at one time, seven different companies using Carlisle Citadel railway station. Prior to the building of the Citadel railway station, Carlisle had several railway stations, including London Road railway station. Carlisle also used to have the largest railway marshaling yard in Europe, at Kingmoor, which, although reduced in size, is still very much operational and used by railfreight companies like Colas Rail, DB Cargo UK, Freightliner and very occasionally Direct Rail Services. Today, Carlisle railway station is a principal station on the West Coast Main Line. Other lines branch off to Newcastle, along the Tyne Valley line; Leeds, along the Settle and Carlisle line; Glasgow Central, via Dumfries along the Glasgow South Western Line which connects Ayr and Stranraer for the Stena Line ferry to Port of Belfast or P&O Ferries to Larne Harbour; and west Cumbria along the Cumbrian Coast line to Whitehaven, Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster. Services are operated by ScotRail, Avanti West Coast, Northern and TransPennine Express. Kingmoor Traction Maintenance Depot is a major facility north of Carlisle, operated by Direct Rail Services. Bus services. Local bus services are run by Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire, Reay's and Arriva North East. Following the flooding of Carlisle bus depot on 8 January 2005, Stagecoach announced the purchase of a fleet of low-floor buses for Carlisle city routes. These were launched on 30 June 2005, with "Carlisle Citi" branding, and most buses carry route branding for individual routes both internally and externally. In 2009, locally based coach operator, Reay's, started a City Hopper bus services on routes formerly operated by Stagecoach but later expanded with similar routes to Stagecoach and also connects parts of the city that previously did not have a service. Reays withdrew the majority of their Carlisle services, which competed with Stagecoach, in 2012. The bus station, which has seven stands and a travel centre, is situated on Drury Lane just off Lonsdale Street in the city centre. The present station was built in the 1990s to replace a larger station that was partially on the same site and had access from Lowther Street, where the Earls Lane shopping area is now. It is owned and managed by Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire. The main operators at the bus station are Arriva North East, Borders Buses, National Express and Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire. Air. Carlisle Lake District Airport is a small regional airport located east north-east of the city. The nearest major airport is Newcastle International Airport, near the east coast, which is around away from Carlisle. Trade and industry. Carlisle became an industrial city in the 19th and early 20th centuries with many textile mills, engineering works and food manufacturers opening up mostly in the Denton Holme, Caldewgate and Wapping areas which lie in the Caldew Valley area of Carlisle. (One such manufacturer located in the Denton Holme area was Ferguson Printers, a large textile printing factory that had stood for many years before its closure in the early 1990s). In the early 19th century, a canal was dug connecting Caldewgate with the sea at Port Carlisle. The canal was later filled in and became a railway line. Carlisle was served by two electricity power stations. James Street station was built by the corporation and operated from 1899 until 1927. Willow Holme power station, north west of the city, was built and operated by the corporation from 1923 until nationalisation of the industry in 1948. It was closed down in 1980 and demolished in 1988. Famous firms that were founded or had factories in Carlisle included Carr's of Carlisle (now part of United Biscuits), Kangol, Metal Box (now part of Crown Holdings) and Cowans Sheldon. Cowans Sheldon originated in the city in the mid 19th century and became one of the world's most important railway and marine engineering firms, manufacturing finally ceased in Carlisle in 1987. Others include the construction firms of John Laing and Story Contracting. Pirelli Carlisle opened in 1969. The hauliers Eddie Stobart Logistics who were founded in nearby Hesket Newmarket and were once part of the Stobart Group, had their HQ in Carlisle. Although they no longer have their HQ in Carlisle they still employ staff in the city. Robsons Border Transport Limited, J & W Watt Limited and F Brown (Carlisle) Limited, all substantial road hauliers, had their HQ in Carlisle. Until 2004, Carlisle's biggest employer was Cavaghan & Gray, which became part of Northern Foods and was subsequently acquired by 2 Sisters Food Group which operated from two sites in the Harraby area of Carlisle producing chilled foods for major supermarket chains. The London Road site closed in 2005 with the loss of almost 700 jobs as production was transferred to the nearby Eastern Way site or other factories around the UK. There are various light industrial estates and business parks located on the fringes of Carlisle and on former industrial sites close to the city centre. The largest being the Kingstown Industrial Estate, which is located just off the A7 road near to the M6 motorway. On 28 March 2005, Carlisle was granted Fairtrade City status. Education. The University of Cumbria has four campuses in Carlisle on Fusehill Street, Brampton Road, Paternoster Row and Newcastle Street. The university provides a wide range of degree courses in higher education such as Information technology, Applied Psychology, Art, Business, Law, Media, Social Work and Teacher Education. Carlisle College is the further education establishment based in the city. The secondary schools within Carlisle are: Richard Rose Central Academy, Richard Rose Morton Academy, Austin Friars St Monicas (Roman Catholic Private School), Trinity School and St John Henry Newman Catholic School. Other secondary schools in the wider City of Carlisle district are: Caldew School (Dalston), William Howard School (Brampton), and Lime House School (Private School, Dalston). Richard Rose Central Academy replaced St Aidan's County High School and Specialist Sports and Science College, and North Cumbria Technology College (NCTC, formerly Harraby School). It is sponsored by Eddie Stobart owner Andrew Tinkler, and local businessman Brian Scowcroft. It opened in September 2008. In January 2009, there were protests by parents and pupils regarding poor quality education and school facilities. The school was found to be failing and was placed in Special Measures, with the headmaster and chief executive being immediately replaced. Culture. Art and history. The Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery was opened in 1893 by the Carlisle Corporation. The museum features resident exhibits detailing the history of Roman occupancy of the region, Hadrian's Wall and the Border Reivers. Tullie House, named after the Jacobean mansion in which it is located, hosts travelling exhibitions. The museum has received many awards and was expanded in 1990 and 2000. The city's Guildhall Museum is based in a 14th-century house and the Border Regiment Military Museum is in the castle. Music and theatre. Past. Her Majesty's Theatre, in Lowther Street, was constructed in 1874 as the Victoria Hall, and started screening films in 1897. An early music director at the turn of the century was Howard Ellis Carr. After the interior was damaged by fire in 1904, it was rebuilt to designs by architects Beadle & Hope, and reopened in 1905 as Her Majesty's Theatre. Films and variety shows were staged, until around 1919, when it staged only live productions and plays. Robert David MacDonald was artistic director at the theatre. After being briefly renamed Municipal Theatre in the 1960s, the theatre closed in early 1963 and reopened as the Regal Bingo Club in late 1963. This closed in the 1970s and the building was demolished in 1980, replaced by a car park. Present. Sands Centre Sports Hall is Carlisle's main entertainment venue which sometimes hosts touring musicians, theatre and comedians. The West Walls Theatre is situated in the city centre, an amateur theatre. The Old Fire Station opened in 2015 after being converted into a performing arts venue, it hosts touring bands, live stand-up comedy, dramas and art exhibitions. Brunton Park stadium has hosted live music including an Elton John concert in 2007. Carlisle Music Festival takes place in Carlisle Cathedral each year. The defunct Brampton Live, the largest folk festival in the north of England, formerly took place in Brampton. Over the weekend of 14/15 May 2011, Carlisle Lake District Airport hosted Europe's largest free music festival, Radio 1's Big Weekend. The festival's headline acts included Lady Gaga and the Foo Fighters. St Cuthbert's Church hosts an annual series of instrumental and chamber music concerts organised by North Cumbria Recitals. Gastronomy. Every August the Carlisle Food Fair is held in the pedestrianised area of the city centre. It plays host to produce from across the continent and features local produce including Cumberland sausage, Cumberland sauce, Farmhouse Cheese and Cumberland Mustard. Media. From 1961 to 2009 Carlisle was home to Border Television which served the ITV Border region. Border TV suffered a period of decline in the range and quantity of its output after its 1970s heyday. After the closure, its premises were demolished in 2010. No regular TV news programmes were made in North Cumbria from 2010 to 2014. A 15-minute news opt-out was provided by ITV Tyne Tees in Gateshead. In 2014, Border Television announced that its newsroom for the area would return to Carlisle. Television signals are received from the Caldbeck TV transmitter. "The Cumberland News" is the local broadsheet paper published on Fridays. The "News and Star" is the evening paper. Both are published by Carlisle-based CN Group. Carlisle is home to BBC Radio Cumbria, Greatest Hits Radio Cumbria & South West Scotland and Hospital Radio Echo, which was established in 1965 and is the hospital radio station to Cumberland Infirmary, 24 hours a day. Sport. Football. Association. Carlisle is represented in English football by Carlisle United, who currently play in the third tier of English football after being promoted to Football League One in 2023. The club has played at Brunton Park on Warwick Road (A69) since 1909. In November 2011 plans were unveiled for the club to move to a 12,000-seat stadium in Kingmoor Park. The club's first Football League tenure began in 1928 when it was elected to the northern section of the Football League Third Division, replacing Durham City. Its past achievements include reaching the Football League Cup semi-finals (its best run in either of the two domestic cups) in 1969, and winning promotion to the top flight (then the Football League First Division) in 1974. The club topped the English league after winning its first three games of the 1974-75 season, but failed to keep up its good form and was relegated after just one season. In 1987 the club returned to the Football League Fourth Division, and in 2004 was relegated to the Football Conference – the first former top division club to do so – only to regain their Football League place after one year. In 1999, Carlisle United escaped relegation from the Football League on the final day of the season when on-loan goalkeeper Jimmy Glass scored an injury time winner against Plymouth Argyle. The 2–1 win meant that Scarborough were relegated to the Football Conference. Though Carlisle United has rarely attracted the national football headlines, the club has fielded high-profile players. Some have achieved fame at bigger clubs after spending their early careers at the club. These include Peter Beardsley, Stan Bowles, Steve Harkness, Matt Jansen and Rory Delap. Many older players spent their later years at Carlisle United after playing for bigger clubs. These include Michael Bridges, Mervyn Day, Kevin Gray and David McCreery. Former managers include Bill Shankly, Alan Ashman, Bob Stokoe, Harry Gregg, Mick Wadsworth, Nigel Pearson and Paul Simpson. Since Workington was voted out of the Football League in 1977, Carlisle United were the only Cumbrian team to play senior football until Barrow A.F.C. rejoined the EFL in 2020. Celtic Nation F.C. was a Carlisle-based semi-professional club who played in the Northern Football League Division One. They folded in April 2015 after a season of financial problems. Nation started out in 2004 as Gillford Park F.C. and played in the Northern Football Alliance league and won four promotions in 8 years. In 2012 Scottish millionaire Frank Lynch who is based in America, started putting money into the club and changed its name to Celtic Nation. After two years, Lynch withdrew his financial support and the club struggled before folding. Carlisle City are a semi professional side who play in the Northern Football League. After spending 40 years in the Northern Football Alliance league, they were promoted to the North West Counties Football League in 2016, before being switched to their current league (at the same level) in 2019. They play at Gillford Park after taking over the lease from Celtic Nation in the summer of 2015. Northbank Carlisle was a club which played its football in the Northern Football Alliance Premier Division. After forty years, the club decided to fold its senior team. Northbank still operates as a youth academy. Rugby codes. Carlisle has two rugby union clubs: Carlisle RFC and Creighton RUFC. Carlisle RFC play at Warwick Road, alongside Carlisle United Football Club. Creighton RUFC originally played near Cumberland Infirmary but sold its ground to housing development company Story Homes in 2004 in exchange for new facilities off Cumwhinton Road, near Junction 42 of the M6. Former England rugby union captain Steve Borthwick is a native of Carlisle. The rugby league team, Carlisle merged with Barrow and left Carlisle. Amateur rugby league club, Carlisle Centurions played in the National Division of the Rugby League Conference until they withdrew in 2010. Gridiron. Carlisle Border Reivers were an American football team that played in Division 2 North until they folded in 2013. They rebranded as the Carlisle Kestrels in 2019, the team's original name. They play at Gillford Park. Racing. In 1904, Carlisle Racecourse was established to the south of the city, it is now a first-class racecourse. Horse racing has been held in Carlisle for centuries before the racecourse was formally established. Three greyhound racing venues existed in Carlisle during the late 1920s. All three were independent (not affiliated to the sport's governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) and were known as a flapping tracks, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. The first was located at Gillford Park (home of the Carlisle Centurions RL and more recently Celtic Nation F.C.). The second was on pasture land in the former village of Harraby and was conducted by the Carlisle and Cumberland Greyhound Racing Sports Ltd. The third was north west of Carlisle on the Sheepmount playing fields and more recently the athletics track. Other sport. Carlisle Cricket Club and Cumbria County Cricket Club play at the Edenside Ground north of the city centre. Cumberland is classed as a minor county by the ECB. The club has won the "Minor Counties Championship" twice. The remains of a Roman bathhouse associated with the Roman fort of Petriana have been excavated at the site. Carlisle has several golf clubs, including Stoneyholme within the city, and Carlisle Golf Club which hosts regional qualifying to the Open Championship. In 2012, Carlisle was one of the official stop-off points for the Olympic torch before it made its way down to the Olympic Games opening ceremony in London's Olympic Stadium. Armed forces. As a frontier town for over a millennium and a half, Carlisle is a military city. It is the most besieged place in the British Isles, having been besieged at least ten times, and has garrisoned troops for most of its history. Cumbria's County regiment, the Border Regiment made its headquarters at Carlisle Castle. The regiment was amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) to become the King's Own Royal Border Regiment and subsequently the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment where its lineage continues. From 1720 to 1959, the regiment fought in many campaigns, including the French and Indian War, the Battle of Culloden, the First World War and the Second World War. RAF Carlisle. RAF Carlisle also known as 14 MU was located at Kingstown near the present-day Asda. The station closed in 1996 after nearly sixty years in a variety of roles. First established as RAF Kingstown in 1938, it was originally a bomber station, then one of the RAF's Elementary Flying Training Schools and latterly a post-war storage facility. RAF Spadeadam. The largest RAF station by area in the country and one of only two electronic warfare ranges in Europe, RAF Spadeadam is located outside the City of Carlisle but maintains strong links with the local community; in 2018, it was awarded the Freedom of the City of Carlisle. Royal Observer Corps, Carlisle Group. During the Second World War the air raid warning organisation No 32 Group Carlisle Royal Observer Corps operated in the city centre controlled from RAF Kingstown. The association with Kingstown developed further in 1962 when the ROC ceased its aircraft spotting role for the RAF and took on a new role plotting nuclear explosions and warning the public of radioactive fallout for the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO). A new administration building and a protected, hardened Nuclear Reporting bunker was built at RAF Carlisle. The nuclear bunker was a standard above-ground structure and both the bunker and headquarters hutting were on a separate site at Crindledyke outside the main gates of RAF Carlisle. The Carlisle group was redesignated no 22 Group ROC. The ROC constructed a smaller nuclear reporting post, Kingstown post (OS ref:NY 3837 5920), on the main RAF Carlisle site. The post was an underground protected bunker for a crew of three observers. The headquarters bunker accommodated an operational crew of around 100 with dormitory and canteen facilities an operations room and life support plant. The Royal Observer Corps was stood down and its parent organisation the UKWMO was disbanded in December 1995 after the end of the Cold War and as a result of recommendations in the governments Options for Change review of UK defence. The ROC buildings were demolished in 1996 and replaced by a cellphone communications mast. The foundations of the nuclear bunker can still be partially seen outlined in the concreted yard, which also contains the Air Training Corps hut during recent further development of the site. Legend and folklore. Arthurian legend. There are many legends and folkloric stories about the city during the Dark Ages, such as the Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, about the nephew of King Arthur and the "free man" of the city. In a 14th-century poem, legend has it that Sir Gawain, one of the Knights of the Round Table, stayed at the Castle of Carlisle while on a hunting expedition in the haunted Inglewood Forest. He then slept with the Carle's wife and killed him. This poem has strong parallels with another 14th century poem about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The story has since been re-adapted many times, most recently in films from 1973, 1984 and 2021. By some accounts, Carlisle is also none other than Camelot, the mythical seat of King Arthur's court. Curse of Carlisle. In local folklore, the "Curse of Carlisle" is a 16th-century curse that is said to have been invoked by Archbishop Dunbar of Glasgow in 1525 against cross-border families, known as the Border Reivers, who lived by stealing cattle and pillaging. For the millennium celebrations, the local council commissioned a 14-tonne granite artwork inscribed with all 1,069 words of the curse. Following the installation of the stone, Carlisle suffered floods, foot-and-mouth disease, job losses and a "goal famine" for the football team. In response to this, the city council considered removing the stone; however, Kevin Carlyon, the self-titled "high priest of the British white witches", proclaimed that such actions would give the curse more power. He commented that: "A curse can only work if people believe in it. I think at the moment the sculpture is a nice piece of history, but if the council destroys it, they would be showing their belief in the curse."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60948

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire

Airdrie (; ; ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft (130 m) above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow city centre. , the town had a population of around 37,130. Historically part of Lanarkshire, Airdrie forms part of a conurbation with its neighbour Coatbridge, in what is commonly known as the Monklands, formerly a district. (population approximately 90,000 including outlying settlements). Name. Airdrie's name first appeared in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland (Latin: "Registrum Magni Sigilii Regum Scotorum") in 1373 as Ardre. By 1546 it had become Ardry and by 1587 it was known as Ardrie. In 1630 it finally appeared in the Register as Airdrie. Given the topography of the area, the most likely interpretation is that the name derives from the Gaelic "An Àrd Ruigh" meaning a level height or high pasture land. Another possibility is from the Gaelic "An Àrd Àirighe" meaning a sheiling, a summer pasture/shepherd's hut. A third possibility is the Gaelic "Ard Reidh" meaning a high plain. A further, non-Gaelic alternative is the Brythonic, i.e. Cumbric or North Welsh, "ard tref" (becoming ardre by process of assimilation), meaning a high steading or farmstead, which would date back to the times of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, before the expansion of Gaelic or English speech into the region. Airthrey Castle in Stirlingshire may have a similar derivation. Geography. Satellite villages. Chapelhall, Calderbank, Caldercruix, Gartness, Glenmavis, Greengairs, Longriggend, Plains, Stand, Upperton, Newhouse and Wattston are generally considered satellite villages of Airdrie. Wards. Since the most recent major reorganisation in 2006, North Lanarkshire Council divides Airdrie into the following wards, each electing four councillors since the 2017 election: History. Early history. There is no evidence to support the claim (George Chalmers, Caledonia) that Airdrie is the site of the ancient battle of Arderyth. Under the patronage of King Malcolm IV of Scotland Cistercian monks established an abbey at Melrose in 1136. Five years later a daughter house was founded at Newbattle Abbey in Lothian. In 1160, Malcolm granted lands in central Scotland to the monks of Newbattle. These became known as the "Munklands" (Register of the Great Seal 1323). Malcolm's Charter constitutes the oldest documentary record of place-names in the Monklands. The area of land granted by the Charter is clearly defined by direct reference to geographical and topographical features thus: "Dunpeldre by its right boundaries, namely with Metheraugh and Mayeuth and Clarnephin as far as Dunduffes in the east." The name "Dunpeldre" is found in the modern name Drumpellier, "Metheraugh" is Medrox; "Mayeuth" is Myvot and "Clarnephin" refers to the North Calder Water in the east of the parish (from old Brittonic name "claur n afon" meaning plain of the river). "Dunduffes" has become directly translated into the modern Black Hill which, as the Charter states, lies at the eastern extremity of the parish. The Charter does not mention anything resembling Airdrie, although this is where Airdrie is located. Airdrie owes its existence to its location on the 'Hogs Back' – a ridge of land running from east to west. One very important aspect of the town's history was the Cistercian monks of Newbattle Abbey, which is why the area is called the Monklands. The monks were farmers and some of their place names survive, e.g., Ryefield and Whifflet (the wheat flats). Much of the land they used is known today as 'The Four Isles' (a housing estate named after four Scottish islands): Mull, Islay, Iona and Luing in the Petersburn area of modern Airdrie. The monks of Newbattle had numerous establishments throughout the area including a farm grange at Drumpellier, Coatbridge, a court house at Kipps, a chapel in the area of Chapelhall and a number of corn mills. The Monks were also expert in the construction of roads. In the 12th century, they established the original Glasgow to Edinburgh road via Airdrie and Bathgate, to link up with their lands in Newbattle in East Lothian. Definitive evidence of the existence of Airdrie as a tenantry was only made clear in 1503. The old monks' road was via Cliftonhill (an area now in neighbouring Coatbridge), Airdrie House (now the site of Monklands Hospital), Aitchison Street, High Street, Hallcraig Street, Flowerhill Street and Colliertree Road. The first houses in Airdrie were built along this road. Development was slow and it was only around 1650 that evidence of the number of inhabitants was known at around 500 for the Airdrie area. A large contingent of Airdrieonians fought at the Battle of Bothwell Brig during the Covenanter Rebellion of 1679; their banner can still be viewed at the local library. A significant event in Airdrie's history was the 1695 passing of a special Act of Parliament in the Scottish Parliament allowing Robert Hamilton of Airdrie to hold four fairs yearly and a weekly market in the town of 'Airdry'. This helped develop Airdrie from a 'farm town' into a thriving 'market town'. However, Airdrie really came to prominence through its weaving industry. Airdrie Weavers Society was founded in 1781 and flax was being grown in sixteen farms in and around the burgh. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, coal mining was in progress and around thirty colliers were employed. Weaving continued to flourish making up a substantial part of the population of over 2,500 around the turn of the 19th century. Given its large number of weavers, its geographic location and a large number of unemployed soldiers following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Airdrie became a major centre of support for the Radical War of 1820. The rapid pace of population growth continued and by 1821 there were 4,862 inhabitants. At this time, the number of houses being built increased dramatically and in 1821, by a private Act of Parliament, Airdrie became a free and independent Burgh of Barony. Voting in the early part of the nineteenth century was rather hit or miss as not only locals but residents outside the burgh were allowed to vote. In 1821, the first election of a town council took place and by August it had appointed an assessor, procurator fiscal, master of police and a town crier. Anyone who had paid their 3 guineas was allowed to vote; there is even a record of a John Mackay voting despite being under 10 years old. In 1824, it was decided to build the Airdrie Town House, originally designed by Alexander Baird and now a local landmark known as the 'town clock'. In 1832, the Town House was used as a hospital due to the cholera outbreak of this year. 1850 to 1920. The enormous growth in population was not due to high birthrate, but instead due to an influx of residents from the Highlands and predominantly Ireland. This followed the Highland potato famine of the mid-1840s and also reflected the change from cottage industry to heavy industry in the area. Most of the Irish immigrant population were involved with mining and labouring. This led to an increase in ironwork foundries around the area. Because of this explosion in industry, railway links were established starting in 1826. By 1862, the Airdrie and Bathgate Junction Railway provided a direct link to Edinburgh with Airdrie South Station providing the starting point for trains to Glasgow. In August the Public Libraries Act (Scotland) 1853 was passed, and in November Airdrie Public Library became the first in Scotland. The dramatic rise in population and industry prompted the need for more accessible water supplies. Until the mid-1800s, various wells were put in place feeding from surrounding streams in the area. These served to provide many houses with private wells. By 1846 Airdrie and Coatbridge Water Company was founded to construct (along with Forth and Clyde Canal Company) the reservoir at Roughrigg. Journalism in Airdrie began with "The Airdrie Literary Album" in 1828. Several local newspapers began appearing around this time notably the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser in 1855, which is still the most popular local paper today. The prison was legalised in 1859 and had 51 cells. Airdrie Working Men's Club was established in 1869. Also around this time, football and cricket began to emerge as popular sports. Following the codification of association football rules a local team called Excelsior was formed in 1878 which would later be renamed Airdrieonians. Horse race meetings were also held in the town (1851–1870) but this land became the golf course for the newly formed Airdrie Golf Club in 1877. Education posed a major problem with severe overcrowding in the few schools available, therefore three new school boards were established. In the early 1830s there were about 800 pupils while the town had about 7000 residents. Fees were routinely charged within the schools with the belief they should be self-supporting until a parliamentary act of 1889 relieved some of the infant classes in schools of this burden. Airdrie Academy was built in 1849 and by 1919 all school boards were dissolved and Lanarkshire Education Authority took over responsibility for education throughout Lanarkshire. Airdrie Public Observatory, one of only four public observatories in the UK (Second Oldest and Smallest)- all in Scotland, was founded in the first library building in 1896, and is still operated in the present building by the Airdrie Astronomical Association a Scottish astronautic and astronomy society and registered charity. By the turn of the century variety shows were becoming popular in the area and by 1911 the Pavilion in Graham Street was built which after initially being used as a music hall started showing cinematographic pictures. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1917 but was rebuilt in 1919 and finally closed in 1970. The New Cinema was opened in 1920 in Broomknoll Street but it too has since closed. The town had no suitable venue for larger functions so in 1912 the Sir John Wilson Town Hall was opened (following an offer of £10,000 from Sir John Wilson). On 9 July 1918 nineteen miners died in the Stanrigg Pit Disaster. The pit was situated in boggy land and collapsed after being saturated by heavy rainfall. 1920 onwards. At the end of the First World War, Airdrie was hard hit with many casualties from the war. Unemployment reached 30% in the local area. After years of moving from one site to another, the first purpose built library in Airdrie was opened in Anderson Street in 1895. However, this only lasted 30 years until the current Airdrie Library building was erected in 1925. Conditions in the town did not really improve until well after the Second World War but in 1949 the Boots pharmaceutical company and Banner Textiles Ltd were attracted to the town (between them employing 1200). With this impetus, new companies began to consider Airdrie as a viable option for business and in 1958 Pye opened employing over 1000 people. The emergence of industrial estates was also prevalent around this time (Newhouse, Chapelhall, and Brownsburn). The Airdrie Arts Centre opened in 1967 in the former Airdrie Library building, and was a popular venue for concerts and plays, but was closed in 2012 by North Lanarkshire Council. Between 1964 and 1991, the town was the location of a Royal Observer Corps monitoring bunker, to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. No trace remains today. The 1970s saw the opening of Monklands Hospital, which replaced an older hospital on the Airdrie House estate. Airdrie hosted the National Mòd in 1993. Sport. Angling. Airdrie is a popular destination for anglers from across the Central Belt, due to its lochs and reservoirs. These include: Airdrie & District Angling Club based at Hillend Loch. Athletics. Airdrie Harriers, one of North Lanarkshire's athletics clubs. Football. The town's major football club is Airdrieonians F.C., who play in the Scottish Championship, and are based at the Excelsior Stadium. They were formed as a replacement for the original Airdrieonians, who folded in May 2002. Golf. Airdrie Golf Club was established in 1877. It is a wooded parkland par 69 course with tight fairways and well-protected greens. Motor sport. The Monklands Sporting Car Club runs its events at the Forrestburn Hillclimb situated about 5 miles east of Airdrie. Rugby union. Airdrie was home to its own rugby union team called Waysiders RFC. This team was amalgamated to form Waysiders Drumpellier RFC which currently play out of Drumpellier RFC's traditional home ground in Langloan, Coatbridge. Sailing. The Monklands Sailing Club is based at Hillend Loch by Caldercruix. Governance. Airdrie is represented by several tiers of elected government. North Lanarkshire Council, the unitary local authority for Airdrie, is based at Motherwell, and is the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance. The Scottish Parliament is responsible for devolved matters such as education, health and justice, while reserved matters are dealt with by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Westminster. The town forms part of the burgh constituency of Airdrie and Shotts, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons. In 2005, changes to the constituency boundaries saw part of its area transferred to Motherwell and Wishaw, offset by the addition of part of Hamilton North and Bellshill. The location has been represented by several prominent Labour MPs in recent years: The current MP for the constituency is the Scottish National Party's Anum Qaisar. Scottish Parliament. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Airdrie forms part of the Airdrie and Shotts constituency. This has slightly different boundaries from those of the UK Parliament constituency of the same name. The current Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Airdrie and Shotts is Neil Grey MSP (Scottish National Party), who won this seat in 2021. In addition to this, Airdrie is represented by seven regional MSPs from the Central Scotland electoral region. European Parliament. Before Brexit, it was part of the Scotland European Parliament constituency. Local government. Up until 1975, Airdrie had its own Burgh Council. Between 1975 and 1996, Airdrie came under Monklands District Council operating in conjunction with Strathclyde Regional Council. Monklands District Council was headquartered in the Coatbridge Municipal Building. Many Airdrieonians felt short-changed by MDC's actions and a significant political scandal known as Monklandsgate greatly tarnished the council's reputation. After 1996, it came under the authority of the unitary North Lanarkshire Council. North Lanarkshire has many councillors; currently, the council is in control of the Labour group and the leader of the council is Jim Logue, councillor for Airdrie Central. Law. Police. Policing in Airdrie is undertaken by Police Scotland. Airdrie is part of Coatbridge Area Command with Chief Inspector Kenny MacLeod as the Area Commander. Airdrie also forms part of NA (or Monklands) sub division which includes Coatbridge and the surrounding area. There is one police office in Airdrie and this is open 24 hours. Sheriff Court. Airdrie Sheriff Court provides a comprehensive local court service for the area including civil actions and criminal cases. It is administered by the Scottish Court Service and part of the South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway Sheriffdom headed by a Sheriff Principal. Economy. Overview. As outlined in the history section, Airdrie's traditional economic activities of weaving, coal mining, and heavy industry have ceased to exist. Although the Glenflagler Distillery is now closed, the town still retains a strong involvement in the whisky industry. Airdrie was also home to a Crimpy Crisps factory. Given its location near to Glasgow and other commercial or industrial areas, Airdrie might now be considered something of a commuter town. In fact, housing construction in Airdrie has been very prominent in recent years, with builders developing a number of brownfield sites following the closure of various factories such as Boots (who closed their factory in 2004). Nonetheless, it does retain significant economic activity. Former notable employers. There are two trading estates in the town, Brownsburn Industrial Estate and Osprey Trade Park. Demography. Historical records of Airdrie's population are available from the 18th, the early decades of the 19th century, and into the early 20th century. According to the 2001 Census, Airdrie's population of 36,326 was: Religion. Christian Church of Scotland – Airdrie's Church of Scotland churches are part of the Presbytery of Hamilton. Roman Catholic Church – Airdrie's Roman Catholic churches are immediately governed by the Diocese of Motherwell, currently led by Bishop Joseph Toal. The Bishops' Conference of Scotland (effectively the Church's headquarters in Scotland) is situated in Airdrie. Congregational Church – Airdrie's Congregational churches are associated with the Congregational Federation. Other Transport. Airdrie railway station is on the electrified North Clyde Line. This railway provides a frequent train service to Glasgow via and . In 2010, the Airdrie–Bathgate rail link re-opened providing Airdrie with a direct commuter train service to , and . Drumgelloch railway station serves the eastern end of the town. Including the satellite village of Caldercruix, Airdrie is served by four stations; , , , and , on the border of Airdrie and Coatbridge. Airdrie has road links to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Livingston, Motherwell, and Cumbernauld and is situated close to the M8 motorway. Bus services are largely undertaken by local operators, and links to Glasgow are provided by First Glasgow and McGills. McGill's took over most of the local companies in 2016 to form its 'Monklands' network in Go Zone 8. The services link all the local neighbourhoods with longer distance services e.g. the 212 from Coatbridge - Caldercruix via Airdrie and Plains, or the 247 from Monklands Hospital - Kirkintilloch via Airdrie, Glenmavis, Cumbernauld and Blackwood. Airdrie is connected to the UK National Cycle Network by National Cycle Route 75. This route provides a path between Glasgow and Edinburgh. According to the Sustrans website: "there is currently a gap in the National Cycle Network route at Devol Glen, Port Glasgow." Other than the Sustrans path, there are no cycle lanes in Airdrie. Historical transport links include:- Healthcare. Airdrie is home to Monklands District General Hospital with a 24-hour Accident & Emergency department. Adjacent to Monklands Hospital is Maggie's Lanarkshire, part of the Maggie's Centres cancer support charity. Education. The following are the secondary schools, all of which are run by North Lanarkshire Council:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60991

University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had been in existence since 1876. Bristol is organised into six academic faculties composed of multiple schools and departments running over 200 undergraduate courses, largely in the Tyndalls Park area of the city. The university had a total income of £833.1 million in 2021–22, of which £186.4 million was from research grants and contracts.<ref name="Bristol Financial Statement 21/22"></ref> It is the largest independent employer in Bristol. Current academics include 21 fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences, 13 fellows of the British Academy, 13 fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and 44 fellows of the Royal Society. The University of Bristol's alumni and faulty include 9 Nobel laureates. Bristol is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities, the European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the university's previous vice-chancellor, Eric Thomas, was chairman from 2005 to 2007. In addition, the university holds an Erasmus Charter, sending more than 500 students per year to partner institutions in Europe. It has an average of 6.4 (Sciences faculty) to 13.1 (Medicine & Dentistry Faculty) applicants for each undergraduate place. History. Foundation. The earliest antecedent of the university was the engineering department of the Merchant Venturers' Technical College (founded as a school as early as 1595) which became the engineering faculty of Bristol University. The university was also preceded by Bristol Medical School (1833) and University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students. The university was able to apply for a royal charter due to the financial support of the Wills, Fry and Colston families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations, chocolate, and (via Edward Colston) the transatlantic slave trade, respectively. A 2018 study commissioned by the university estimated 85% of the philanthropic funds used for the institution's foundation was directly connected with the transatlantic slave trade. The royal charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the university in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor. The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906. Historical development. Since the founding of the university itself in 1909, it has grown considerably and is now one of the largest employers in the local area, although it is smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England. It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). Early years. After the founding of the university college in 1876, government support began in 1889. Funding from mergers with the Bristol Medical School in 1893 and the Merchant Venturers' Technical College in 1909, allowed the opening of a new medical school and an engineering school — two subjects that remain among the university's greatest strengths. In 1908, gifts from the Fry and Wills families, particularly £100,000 from Henry Overton Wills III (£6m in today's money), were provided to endow a University for Bristol and the West of England, provided that a royal charter could be obtained within two years. In December 1909, the king granted such a charter and erected the University of Bristol. Henry Wills became its first chancellor and Conwy Lloyd Morgan the first vice-chancellor. Wills died in 1911 and in tribute his sons George and Harry built the Wills Memorial Building, starting in 1913 and finally finishing in 1925. Today, it houses parts of the academic provision for earth sciences and law, and graduation ceremonies are held in its Great Hall. The Wills Memorial Building is a Grade II* listed building. In 1920, George Wills bought the Victoria Rooms and endowed them to the university as a students' union. The building now houses the Department of Music and is a Grade II* listed building. At the point of foundation, the university was required to provide for the local community. This mission was behind the creation of the Department of Extra-Mural Adult Education in 1924 to provide courses to the local community. This mission continues today; a new admissions policy specifically caters to the 'BS' postcode area of Bristol. Among the famous names associated with Bristol in this early period is Paul Dirac, who graduated in 1921 with a degree in engineering, before obtaining a second degree in mathematics in 1923 from Cambridge. For his subsequent pioneering work on quantum mechanics, he was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics. Later in the 1920s, the H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory was opened by Ernest Rutherford. It has since housed several Nobel Prize winners: Cecil Frank Powell (1950); Hans Albrecht Bethe (1967); and Sir Nevill Francis Mott (1977). The laboratory stands on the same site today, close to the Bristol Grammar School and the city museum. Sir Winston Churchill became the university's third chancellor in 1929, serving the university in that capacity until 1965. He succeeded Richard Haldane who had held the office from 1912 following the death of Henry Wills. During World War II, the Wills Memorial was bombed, destroying the Great Hall and the organ it housed, along with 7,000 books removed from King's College London for safe keeping. It has since been restored, complete with oak panelled walls and a new organ. Post-war development. In 1946, the university established the first drama department in the country. In the same year, Bristol began offering special entrance exams and grants to aid the resettlement of servicemen returning home. Student numbers continued to increase, and the Faculty of Engineering eventually needed the new premises that were to become Queen's Building in 1955. This substantial building housed all of the university's engineers until 1996, when the electrical engineering and computer science departments moved over the road into the new Merchant Venturers' Building to make space for these rapidly expanding fields. Today, Queen's Building caters for most of the teaching needs of the faculty and provides academic space for the "heavy" engineering subjects (civil, mechanical, and aerospace). With unprecedented growth in the 1960s, particularly in undergraduate numbers, the Students' Union eventually acquired larger premises in a new building in the Clifton area of the city, in 1965. This building was more spacious than the Victoria Rooms, which were now given over to the Department of Music. The University of Bristol Union provides many practice and performance rooms, some specialist rooms, as well as three bars: Bar 100, the Mandela (also known as AR2) and the Avon Gorge. Whilst spacious, the Union building is thought by many to be ugly and out of character compared to the architecture of the rest of the Clifton area, having been mentioned in a BBC poll to find the worst architectural eyesores in Britain. The university has proposed relocating the Union to a more central location as part of its development 'masterplan'. More recently, plans for redevelopment of the current building have been proposed. The 1960s were a time of considerable student activism in the United Kingdom, and Bristol was no exception. In 1968, many students marched in support of the Anderson Report, which called for higher student grants. This discontent culminated in an 11-day sit-in at the Senate House (the administrative headquarters of the university). A series of chancellors and vice-chancellors led the university through these decades, with Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort taking over from Churchill as chancellor in 1965 before being succeeded by Dorothy Hodgkin in 1970 who spent the next 18 years in the office. As the age of mass higher education dawned, Bristol continued to build its student numbers. The various undergraduate residences were repeatedly expanded and, more recently, some postgraduate residences have been constructed. These more recent ventures have been funded (and are run) by external companies in agreement with the university. One of the few centres for deaf studies in the United Kingdom was established in Bristol in 1981, followed in 1988 by the Norah Fry Centre for research into learning difficulties. Also in 1988, and again in 2004, the Students' Union AGM voted to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS). On both occasions, however, the subsequent referendum of all students reversed that decision and Bristol remains affiliated to the NUS. In 1988, Sir Jeremy Morse, then chairman of Lloyds Bank, became chancellor. 21st century. As the number of postgraduate students has grown (particularly the numbers pursuing taught master's degrees), there eventually became a need for separate representation on university bodies and the Postgraduate Union (PGU) was established in 2000. Universities are increasingly expected to exploit the intellectual property generated by their research activities and, in 2000, Bristol established the Research and Enterprise Division (RED) to further this cause (particularly for technology-based businesses). In 2001, the university signed a 25-year research funding deal with IP2IPO, an intellectual property commercialisation company. In 2007, research activities were expanded further with the opening of the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) and The Bristol Institute for Public Affairs (BIPA). In 2002, the university was involved in an argument over press intrusion after details of then-prime minister Tony Blair's son's application to university were published in national newspapers. In the same year, the university opened the new Centre for Sports, Exercise and Health in the heart of the university precinct. At a cost, local residents are also able to use the facilities. Brenda Hale, the first female Law Lord, became chancellor of the university in 2003. Sir Paul Nurse succeeded Lady Hale as chancellor on 1 January 2017. Expansion of teaching and research activities continues. In 2004, the Faculty of Engineering completed work on the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering (BLADE). This £18.5m project is intended to further the study of dynamics and is the most advanced such facility in Europe. It was built as an extension to the Queen's Building and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in March 2005. In January 2005, the School of Chemistry was awarded £4.5m by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to create Bristol ChemLabS: a Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL), with an additional £350k announced for the capital part of the project in February 2006. Bristol ChemLabS stands for Bristol Chemical Laboratory Sciences; it is the only chemistry CETL in the UK. September 2009 saw the opening of the university's Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information. This £11 million building is known as the quietest building in the world and has other technologically sophisticated features such as self-cleaning glass. Advanced research into quantum computing, nanotechnology, materials and other disciplines are being undertaken in the building. There is also a plan to significantly redevelop the centre of the University Precinct in the coming years. The first step began in September 2011, with the start of construction of a state-of-the-art Life Sciences building. In 2018 while building work was underway in the Fry Building, the building caught fire. In 2018 the University of Bristol Students' Union (Bristol SU) adopted a motion that banned trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) from appearing as speakers at Bristol SU events and that called upon the university to adopt the same policy. The motion said the TERF ban was necessary because TERF activity on the university campus "put[s] trans students' safety at risk ... in direct violation of the aims outlined in the Code of Conduct". In February 2021, University of Bristol professor David Miller called for the "end of Zionism", said that Israel is "trying to exert its will all over the world" and called members of the University of Bristol Jewish Society "political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime", comments that the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism deemed to "incit[e] hatred against Jewish students". On 17 March, the university announced that it had begun an investigation of Miller, and observed that it did not endorse his remarks. The Avon and Somerset Police announced about a week later that they had opened a hate crime investigation. Miller's employment at the university was terminated "with immediate effect" at the beginning of October 2021. Miller is pursuing an employment tribunal claim against the university, which is due to be heard in October 2023. In 2021, Raquel Rosario-Sánchez, a Dominican graduate student at Bristol who had attended meetings of feminist groups that opposed allowing trans women into female-only spaces, filed a civil action against Bristol University; Rosario-Sánchez alleges that she was the victim of a campaign of bullying and abuse against her by other members of the university, and that the university failed to protect her because it was afraid of upsetting trans-rights activists. The case went to trial in February 2022. The judgment was delivered in April 2022. The judge acknowledged that she had been subject to threats of violence, but dismissed all her claims, saying that there had been no actionable breach of duty by the university. He said that his ruling focused on how the university managed her complaints rather than any judgment about gender rights. In February 2023, following its previous disciplinary action against Rosario-Sánchez and the Women Talk Back group, it emerged that the Bristol Students Union has agreed out-of-court that "affiliated clubs and societies may lawfully offer single-sex services and be constituted as single-sex associations". Campus. Buildings and sites. The university does not have a main campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre, referred to as the "University Precinct". Some of the University of Bristol's buildings date to its pre-charter days when it was University College Bristol. These buildings were designed by Charles Hansom, and suffered being built in stages due to financial pressure. The first large scale building project the University of Bristol undertook on gaining a charter was the Wills Memorial Building. The armorials on the Founder's Window represent all of the interests present at the founding of the University of Bristol including the Wills and Fry families. Other notable buildings and sites include Royal Fort House, the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, many large Victorian houses which were converted for teaching in the Faculty of Arts, and the Victoria Rooms which house the Music Department and were designed by Charles Dyer. The tympanum of the building depicts a scene from "The Advent of Morning" designed by Jabez Tyley. Goldney gardens entered the property of the University of Bristol through George Wills who had hoped to build an all-male hall of residence there. This was prevented due to the moral objection of the then warden of Clifton Hill House who objected to the idea of male and female residences being in such close proximity. University records show that Miss Starvey was prepared to resign over the issue and that she had the support of the then Chancellor Conwy Lloyd Morgan. Eventually land was purchased in Stoke Bishop, allowing the building of what has been described as a "quasi-Oxbridge" hall, Wills Hall, to which was added the Dame Monica Wills Chapel by George Wills' widow after his death. When Goldney did become student accommodation in 1956, the flats were designed by Michael Grice who received an award from the Civic Trust for their design. Burwalls, a mansion house on the other side of the Avon Gorge, was used as a halls of residence in the past and was a home of Sir George Oatley. The building is now used to house the Centre for Continuing Education. Many of the more modern buildings, including Senate House and the newer parts of the HH Wills Physics Laboratory, were designed by Ralph Brentnall using funds from the University Grants Committee. He is also responsible for the extension to the Wills Memorial Building library which was completed to such standard that few now realise that is an extension to the original building. In May 2022, the university announced the opening of the Gambling Harms and Research Centre (GHRC). The centre worth £4 million aims to increase awareness and understanding of the dangers of gambling. The project was funded by the GambleAware charity, which chose the university for its history in researching gambling issues, and will integrate research from six facilities. Planned expansion. In November 2016, the university announced that it plans to build a £300 million Temple Quarter Campus for c. 5,000 students, next to Bristol Temple Meads railway station within Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. The new campus, which will include a business school, digital research facilities and a student village, is expected to open in 2021. For the existing campus, there are plans to remodel Tyndall Avenue, pedestrianise the surrounding area and build a new library and resource hub. Organisation and governance. In common with most UK universities, Bristol is headed formally by the chancellor, currently Sir Paul Nurse and led on a day-to-day basis by the vice-chancellor, currently Professor Evelyn Welch, who is the academic leader and chief executive. There are four pro vice-chancellors and three ceremonial pro-chancellors. The chancellor may hold office for up to ten years and the pro-chancellors for up to three, unless the University Court determines otherwise, but the vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancellors have no term limits. The vice-chancellor is supported by a deputy vice-chancellor. Responsibility for running the university is held at an executive level by the vice-chancellor, but the council is the only body that can recommend changes to the university's statutes and charter, with the exception of academic ordinances. These can only be made with the consent of the senate, the chief academic body in the university which also holds responsibility for teaching and learning, examinations and research and enterprise. The chancellor and pro chancellors are nominated by council and appointed formally by court, whose additional powers are now limited to these appointments and a few others, including some lay members of council. Finally, Convocation, the body of all staff, ceremonial officers and graduates of the university, returns 100 members to court and one member to council, but is otherwise principally a forum for discussion and to ensure graduates stay in touch with the university. The university is made up of a number of schools and departments organised into six faculties: Academic dress. The university specifies a mix of Cambridge and Oxford academic dress. For the most part, it uses Oxford-style gowns and Cambridge-style hoods, which are required to be 'university red' (see the logo at the top of the page). Logo and arms. In 2004, the university unveiled its new logo. The icons in the logo are the sun for the Wills family, the dolphin for Colston, the horse for Fry and the ship-and-castle from the medieval seal of the City of Bristol, as also used in the coat of arms. The shape of the whole logo represents the open book of learning. This logo has replaced the university arms shown, but the arms continue to be used where there is a specific historical or ceremonial requirement. The arms comprise: The inscription on the book is the Latin opening of the 124th Psalm, "If the Lord Himself had not (been on our side...)". The latin motto granted with the Arms below the shields is Vim promovet insitam, from the fourth Ode of Horace's fourth book meaning '[Learning] promotes one's innate power'. Academics. Admissions. Bristol had the 8th highest average entry qualification for undergraduates of any UK university in 2015, with new students averaging 485 UCAS points, equivalent to just above AAAaa in A-level grades. Competition for places is high with an average 7.7 applications per place according to the 2014 Sunday Times League Tables, making it the joint 11th most competitive university in the UK. The university gives offers of admission to 67.3% of its applicants, the 8th lowest amongst the Russell Group. According to the 2017 "Times" and "Sunday Times" Good University Guide, approximately 40% of Bristol's undergraduates come from independent schools. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 78:5:17 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 55:45. Rankings and reputation. The University of Bristol ranks number 5 in the UK for research quality according to the most recent Research Excellence Framework assessment. Chemistry (1st), Physics (5th), Engineering (6th), Mathematical sciences (4th), Computer science and informatics (7th), Earth systems and environmental sciences (2nd), Biological sciences (8th), Geography and environmental studies (1st), Law (3rd), Economics and econometrics (7th), and Modern languages and linguistics (4th) are among the highly rated subjects. The Complete University Guide 2024 ranks Bristol 4th for the quality of its research. Bristol also ranks 5th for number of spin outs created and has the best business incubator in the world according to UBI Global. The University of Bristol was the fourth most targeted university by the UK's top 100 employers, according to the Graduate Market in 2023 report produced by High Fliers. It was ranked joint 7th in the U.K. for graduate employability. Internationally, the 2024 QS World University Rankings placed Bristol at 55th overall in the world and 9th in the UK.The Times Higher Education World University Ranking placed Bristol at 76th globally and 9th in the U.K. in 2023. Another international ranking, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed Bristol 88th globally and 8th in the UK in 2023. Degrees. Bristol awards a range of academic degrees spanning bachelor's and master's degrees as well as junior doctorates and higher doctorates. The postnominals awarded are the degree abbreviations used commonly among British universities. The university is part of the Engineering Doctorate scheme, and awards the Eng. D. in systems engineering, engineering management, aerospace engineering and non-destructive evaluation. Bristol notably does not award by title any bachelor's degrees in music, which is available for study but awarded BA (although it does award MMus and DMus), nor any degree in divinity, since divinity is not available for study (students of theology are awarded a BA). Similarly, the university does not award BLitt (Bachelor of Letters), although it does award both MLitt and DLitt. In regulations, the university does not name MD or DDS as higher doctorates, although they are in many universities as these degrees are normally accredited professional doctorates. The degrees of DLitt, DSc, DEng, LLD and DMus, whilst having regulations specifying the grounds for award, are most often conferred as honorary degrees ("in honoris causa"). Those used most commonly are the DLitt, DSc and LLD, with the MA (and occasionally the MLitt) also sometimes conferred honorarily for distinction in the local area or within the university. Publishing and commercial activities. University of Bristol has various activities including publication, joint ventures, and catering and accommodation services. Bristol University Press. Bristol University Press is scholarly press based at University of Bristol. In 1996, the University of Bristol established Policy Press, an academic publisher based in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Bristol and specialising in the social sciences. In October 2016, Policy Press became an imprint of newly founded Bristol University Press. It is not-for-profit university press which publishes 15 journals and 200 books a year in subjects including: Ageing and Gerontology, Business and Management, Criminology, Economics and Society, Environment and Sustainability, International Development, Law, Politics and International Relations, Science, Technology and Society, and Sociology. It achieved journal citation metrics with gains in Journal Impact Factors and improved results in Journal Citation Indicator, Scopus CiteScore and SJR. Bristol is Open. Bristol is Open, abbreviated as BiO, is a joint venture project between Bristol City Council and University of Bristol. It is for delivering research contributing to the development of a Smart City and deploying a city-scale open and programmable testbed for experimentation and digital innovation. The collaboration of two organisations started in April 2015 and ended in December 2019 with Bristol City Council taking full control of BiO's operations. It has completed many technical trials and experiments including open access to Wi-Fi as a reduction of the digital divide and development for Smart City technology. Student life. Students' Union. The University of Bristol Students' Union (Bristol SU) located on Queen's Road in the Richmond Building is a founding member of the National Union of Students and is amongst the oldest students' unions in England. The union oversees three media outlets: UBTV, the Bristol University Radio Station (BURST) and the student newspaper "Epigram". There is also a local branch of "The Tab". The Union is responsible for representing students' academic interests through elections of student representatives and democratic events. The Union is also responsible for the organisation of the annual Welcome Fair, the co-ordination of Bristol Student Community Action, which organises volunteering projects in the local community, and the organisation of entertainment events and over 400 student groups, societies and clubs. Previous presidents have included Sue Lawley and former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik. There is a separate union for postgraduate students, as well as an athletic union, which is a member of the British Universities & Colleges Sport. In distinction to the "blues" awarded for sporting excellence at Oxford and Cambridge, Bristol's most successful athletes are awarded "reds". Halls of residence. Accommodation for students is primarily in the central precinct of the university and two areas of Bristol: Clifton and Stoke Bishop, known respectively as the West and North Villages. In Stoke Bishop, Wills Hall on the edge of the Clifton Downs was the first to be opened, in 1929, by the then chancellor, Winston Churchill. Its original quadrangle layout has been expanded twice, in 1962 and 1990. Churchill Hall, named for the chancellor, followed in 1956, then Badock Hall in 1964. At the time of Badock Hall's establishment, some of the buildings were called Hiatt Baker Hall, but two years later, Hiatt Baker moved to its own site and is now the largest hall in the university. The first self-catering hall in Stoke Bishop was University Hall, established in 1971 with expansion in 1992. In Clifton, Goldney Hall was built first in the early 18th century by the wealthy merchant Goldney family and eventually became part of the university in 1956. It is a popular location for filming, with "The Chronicles of Narnia", "The House of Eliott" and "Truly, Madly, Deeply", as well as episodes of "Only Fools and Horses" and "Casualty", being filmed there. The Grotto in the grounds is a Grade I listed building. Clifton Hill House is another Grade I listed building now used as student accommodation in Clifton. The original building was constructed between 1745 and 1750 by Isaac Ware, and has been used by the university since its earliest days in 1909. Manor Hall comprises five separate buildings, the principal of which was erected from 1927 to 1932 to the design of George Oatley following a donation from Henry Herbert Wills. Manor Hall houses the largest and most dated rooms, some dating back to the early 20th century. One of its annexes, Manor House, has recently been refurbished and officially 'reopened' in 1999. On the central precinct sits The Hawthorns, a student house accommodating 115 undergraduate students. The house started life as a collection of villas built somewhere between 1888 and 1924 that were later converted, bit by bit, into a hotel by John Dingle. The Hawthorns also houses conferencing facilities, the staff refectory and bar, the Accommodation Office and the Student Houses Office. 33 Colston Street was opened in the city centre in October 2011 after the university acquired the property in 2009. Several of the residences in the central precinct are more recent and have been built and are managed by third-party organisations under exclusivity arrangements with the university. These include New Bridewell House, opened in 2016, which is in the former police HQ, it includes en-suite bedrooms and studios and is operated by Fresh Student Housing, Unite House and Chantry Court, opened in 2000 and 2003 respectively by the UNITE Group, as well as Dean's Court (2001, postgraduates only) and Woodland Court (2005), both run by the Dominion Housing Group. All of the main halls elect groups of students to the Junior Common Room to organise the halls social calendar for the next year. Residents of student houses, private accommodation and students living at home become members of Orbital – a society organising social events for students throughout the year. Sport. The University of Bristol has a rich heritage and reputation for sports. Sports membership at Bristol University totals up to 4,000 students across a wide range of unique teams and individual pursuits. Its network of over 70 sports clubs and four sites are run by the university's Student Union and its Sport,Exercise and Health Department. Competing with other universities in the British Universities and Colleges Sport league (BUCS), Bristol university is placed 8th in the country. The university caters to its students with sporting facilities split across four primary complexes: Bristol University Indoor Sports Centre- The Indoor Sports Centre is located at the heart of the university campus and is home to a fully equipped two-storey gym, fitness studios, sports hall and Sports Medicine Clinic. Coombe Dingle Sports Complex- This 38-acre site in the heart of Stoke Bishop, features the only indoor tennis centre in Bristol and is where the university's more traditional outdoor sports reside. Coombe Dingle is typically used for training and competition. Throughout the year Coombe Dingle hosts a variety of competitive fixtures, including inter-university BUCS matches, plus local and national league matches.: Facilities available at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex: • 3G pitch • Artificial pitches (sand dressed and floodlit) • Grass pitches (football and rugby) • Cricket squares and nets (including grass) • Tennis courts, indoor and outdoor (floodlit) • Lacrosse pitch • Netball courts (outdoor) • Olympic weight lifting gym • Softball and rounders facilities • Pavilion, lounge bar and meeting rooms • Sports Medicine Clinic Richmond Building- The university swimming pool is located inside the student union (Richmond Building). This six-lane swimming pool has a moveable bulkhead, creating a competition-length main pool, alongside a comfortable teaching pool for lessons. The pool is available to students, staff and the community for lane and casual swimming, or lessons, on a membership or pay-as-you-go basis. Saltford Boathouse- The University Boathouse is based at Saltford, halfway to Bath on the River Avon. Used for term-time training/competition and out-of-term recreational water sport, the Boathouse moors up the universities rowing and sailing boats. Controversy. 2003 admissions controversy. The university has been regarded as being elitist by some commentators, taking 41% of its undergraduate students from non-state schools, according to the most recent 2009/2010 figures, despite the fact that such pupils make up just 7% of the population and 18% of 16+ year old pupils across the UK. The intake of state school pupils at Bristol is lower than many Oxbridge colleges. The high ratio of undergraduates from non-state school has led to some tension at the university. In late February and early March 2003, Bristol became embroiled in a row about admissions policies, with some private schools threatening a boycott based on their claims that, in an effort to improve equality of access, the university was discriminating against their students. These claims were hotly denied by the university. In August 2005, following a large-scale survey, the Independent Schools Council publicly acknowledged that there was no evidence of bias against applicants from the schools it represented. In 2016, the 93% Club was established at Bristol University after students from a working-class state-school were criticised for their background and upbringing. The university has a new admissions policy, which lays out in considerable detail the basis on which any greater or lesser weight may be given to particular parts of an applicant's backgrounds – in particular, what account may be taken of which school the applicant hails from. This new policy also encourages greater participation from locally resident applicants. Simon Hall and Bristol Innocence Project. In the late 2000s, Bristol law students in the University of Bristol Innocence Project (UoBIP) wrongly campaigned for a convicted murderer, who later went on to formally confess to the murder he was convicted of and prove he was rightly convicted. The students helped produce a "Rough Justice" programme promoting his false claims of innocence, and continued to assert he had been wrongly convicted even after his appeal was rejected in 2011. In 2013, Hall confessed to the crime to police and dropped his appeals, and one year later was found dead in an act of suicide. His case was described as an embarrassment for such 'miscarriage of justice' activists and greatly undermined the claims of many prisoners who claim their innocence. Student Mental Health Crisis. In November 2016, three first-year students died within a few weeks of joining the university. All three deaths were suspected suicides. "The Guardian" attributed the deaths to a mental health crisis caused by academic and social pressure. Between October 2016 and January 2018, seven students died by suicide. In May 2018, three students died suddenly during exam season. The university has received increasing criticism for its handling of these deaths and confirmed suicides. In March 2017, it was reported that five students committed suicide in the 2016/2017 academic year. Between August 2017 to 2019, a reported 11 university students committed suicide. A further student suicide was reported in August 2019. In September 2017, the university spent £1 million on well-being advisers following a string of students suicides. In April 2018, a suicidal student, Natasha Abrahart, also died by suicide after not having her anti-depressants for a month. The student in question was found dead on the day she was due to take a "terrifying" oral exam. The coroner criticised the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust whilst her parents blamed the university for lack of measures for her during the six-month period she was struggling. In 2019, her parents were due to sue the university after the suicide. The case was heard at Bristol County Court in March 2022. Judgment was given in May 2022. The judge found that the university had breached its duties under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments for disability in the way it had assessed Natasha Abrahart, and had treated her unfavourably. He awarded her parents £50,000 in damages. Another death by suicide, James Murray, occurred in May 2018. He had been dismissed from his course in February 2018 due to lack of attendance. Around late 2018, the university launched a new opt-in emergency contact system for students' parents, friends and guardians. The system, which was pressurised by the parents of Murray, alerts those concerned if the student if there were severe concerns about their wellbeing. The system, in which 94% of students opted in, was used 36 times in its first year. The former vice-chancellor Hugh Brady, in February 2018, blamed the social media and "the cult of perfectionism" for the mental health crisis among young people following a string of student suicides. In 2019, students who attended a course based around the "science of happiness" by the university was found to have "significantly higher mental wellbeing than a control group". The course has both academic and practical elements and give academic credits with no exams. However, those who took the course online during the COVID-19 pandemic did not feel happier but were more resilient than a control group. In addition there were certain caveats as most participants were white women. The Forced Swim Test. The University of Bristol has been subject to criticism for its use of the controversial 'forced swim test', an experiment popularised in the 1970s which has involved scientists at the University placing rodents in inescapable containers of cold water for 15 minutes to observe their responses to what the scientists call a "life-threatening situation". Once they are removed from the water they are killed via decapitation. The research can be dated as far back as 1998 by scientists from the University of Bristol and they have released at least 11 research papers using the test have been released in this time. The University of Bristol was one of only two universities known to have used the forced swim test in 2022, the other being University College London. In October 2022 the University of Bristol renewed its license to carry out this experiment until 2027. More than half of the UK's Russell Group universities have shunned the test with Newcastle University's animal welfare ethics review body describing the test as "outdated and ethically unacceptable" adding that it "cannot foresee any research where this test would be proposed or could be scientifically or ethically justified". The University faced particular opposition from animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The campaign of opposition has seen several University events disrupted by activists, including the Vice Chancellor, Evelyn Welch being confronted on two occasions, once on 16 May 2023 at an alumni event in New York and again on 13th July at a panel event which included Labour MP Matt Western, and University of Birmingham Vice Chancellor Adam Tickell. Notable people. Academics. Current academics at the University of Bristol include 21 fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences, 13 fellows of the British Academy, 13 fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and 44 fellows of the Royal Society. These include, Sir Michael Berry, one of the discoverers of quantum mechanics' "geometric phase", John Rarity international expert on quantum optics, quantum cryptography and quantum communication, David May, computer scientist and lead architect for the transputer, Mark Horton, a British maritime and historical archaeologist and Bruce Hood, a world-leading experimental psychologist. Academics in computer science include, David Cliff, inventor of the seminal "ZIP" trading algorithm, Peter Flach, Mike Fraser, professor of human-computer interaction, Julian Gough and Nigel Smart. Academics in engineering include the materials scientist Stephen Eichhorn. Past academics of the university include, Patricia Broadfoot, vice-chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, Nigel Thrift, vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick, and Wendy Larner, provost of Victoria University of Wellington. Anthony Epstein, co-discoverer of the Epstein-Barr virus, was Professor of Pathology at the university from 1968 to 1982, Sir John Lennard-Jones, discoverer of the Lennard-Jones potential in physics and Alfred Marshall, one of the University College's principals and influential economist in the latter part of the 19th century. Mathematicians and philosophers Rohit Parikh and Brian Rotman lectured in the mathematics department, and philosophers of science Paul Feyerabend and Alexander Bird taught in the department of philosophy. Another notable current academic in the department of philosophy includes Havi Carel. Notable mathematicians who have worked in the department of mathematics include Hannes Leitgeb, Philip Welch, Ben Green, Andrew Booker, Julia Wolf, Jens Marklof, John McNamara, Howell Peregrine, Christopher Budd John Hogan, Jeremy Rickard, Richard Jozsa, Corinna Ulcigrai, David Evans and the statistician Harvey Goldstein. The University of Bristol is associated with three Ig Nobel Prizes, an award for unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Sir Michael Berry shared the award (with Andre Geim, a Nobel Laureate) for using magnets to levitate a frog. Gareth Jones also shared an Ig Nobel prize for scientifically documenting fellatio in fruit bats. Dr. Len Fisher was awarded the 1999 prize for physics for calculating the optimal way to dunk a biscuit. Alumni. Bristol alumnus Paul Dirac went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933 for his contribution to the formulation of quantum mechanics and is considered one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. Other notable scientists include Dani Rabaiotti, an environmental scientist and science communicator, and Eliahu Nissim, a professor of aeronautical engineering, and the president of the Open University of Israel. Writers to have studied at Bristol include Dick King-Smith; Sarah Kane; Angela Carter; Dorothy Simpson; David Gibbins; Julia Donaldson; Olivier award-winning playwright Laura Wade; Maddie Mortimer; and David Nicholls, author of the novel "Starter for Ten", turned into a screenplay set in the University of Bristol. In government and politics, notable alumni include Albert II, Prince of Monaco; Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia; former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik, who was president of Bristol University Students' Union; Sir Jonathan Evans, former head of MI5; Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission from October 2012 to January 2017; and Paul Boateng, the UK's first Black Cabinet Minister. In current affairs, former students include journalist and "McMafia" author Misha Glenny; BBC News Chief Political Correspondent James Landale (who founded the university independent newspaper "Epigram"); author and journalist Julie Myerson; editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Media Group William Lewis; editor-in-chief of The Observer Will Hutton; Radio 4 presenter Sue Lawley; newsreader Alastair Stewart; and Sky News US Correspondent Dominic Waghorn. "BBC Breakfast" and "Good Morning Britain" anchor Susanna Reid was an editor of "Epigram". In entertainment, former students include rapper Shygirl; singer James Blunt; illusionist Derren Brown; comedians Jon Richardson, Marcus Brigstocke (who did not graduate), Matt Lucas and David Walliams; actors Simon Pegg, Chris Langham and Pearl Mackie; anime YouTuber Gigguk; "Brass Eye" creator Chris Morris; and "Stath Lets Flats" creator Jamie Demetriou. Notable alumni from the Film and Television Production department include film directors Mick Jackson; Michael Winterbottom; Marc Evans; Christopher Smith; Alex Cox; Peter Webber; and Maddie Moate. Other alumni include Anne McClain, member of the 2013 NASA Astronaut Class; mathematician Iain Gordon; long jumper Jazmin Sawyers; Luke Bond, an organist at Windsor Castle; and baker Kim-Joy Hewlett.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61114

Boston University

Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont, before being chartered in Boston in 1869. BU is a member of the Boston Consortium for Higher Education and the Association of American Universities. The university is nonsectarian, though it retains its historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. The university has more than 4,000 faculty members and nearly 34,000 students and is one of Boston's largest employers. It offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, doctorates, and medical, dental, business, and law degrees through 17 schools and colleges on three urban campuses. The main campus is situated along the Charles River in Boston's Fenway–Kenmore and Allston neighborhoods, while the Boston University Medical Campus is located in Boston's South End neighborhood. The Fenway campus houses the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, formerly Wheelock College, which merged with BU in 2018. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". BU athletic teams compete in the Patriot League and Hockey East conferences, and their mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier. The Boston University Terriers compete in the NCAA Division I. Among its alumni and current or past faculty, the university counts 8 Nobel Laureates, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, 10 Rhodes Scholars, 6 Marshall Scholars, 9 Academy Award winners, and Emmy and Tony Award winners. BU also has MacArthur, Fulbright, and Truman Scholars, among its past and present graduates and faculty. In 1876, BU professor Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in a BU lab. History. Predecessor institutions and University Charter. Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont, in 1839, and was chartered with the name "Boston University" by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869. The university organized formal centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969. One or the other, or both dates may appear on various official seals used by different schools of the university. On April 24–25, 1839, a group of Methodist ministers and laymen at the Old Bromfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. Set up in Newbury, Vermont, the school was named the "Newbury Biblical Institute". In 1847, the Congregational Society in Concord, New Hampshire, invited the institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused Congregational church building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs. One stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. The charter issued by New Hampshire designated the school the "Methodist General Biblical Institute", but it was commonly called the "Concord Biblical Institute". With the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased on Aspinwall Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a possible relocation site. The institute moved in 1867 to 23 Pinkney Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, and received a Massachusetts Charter as the "Boston Theological Seminary". In 1869, three trustees of the Boston Theological Institute obtained from the Massachusetts Legislature a charter for a university by the name of "Boston University". These trustees were successful Boston businessmen and Methodist laymen, with a history of involvement in educational enterprises, and they became the founders of Boston University. They were Isaac Rich (1801–1872), Lee Claflin (1791–1871), and Jacob Sleeper (1802–1889), for whom Boston University's three West Campus dormitories were later named. Lee Claflin's son, William, was then Governor of Massachusetts and signed the University Charter on May 26, 1869, after it was passed by the Legislature. As reported by Kathleen Kilgore in her book "Transformations, A History of Boston University" (see Further reading), the founders directed the inclusion in the Charter of the following provision, unusual for its time: Every department of the new university was also open to all on an equal footing regardless of sex, race, or (with the exception of the School of Theology) religion. Early years (1870–1900). The Boston Theological Institute was absorbed into Boston University in 1871 as the BU School of Theology. On January 13, 1872, Isaac Rich died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the university was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston, which was appraised at more than $1.5 million. Kilgore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university as of that time. By December, however, the Great Boston Fire of 1872 had destroyed all but one of the buildings Rich had left to the university, and the insurance companies with which they had been insured were bankrupt. The value of his estate, when turned over to the university in 1882, was half what it had been in 1872. As a result, the university was unable to build its contemplated campus on Aspinwall Hill, and the land was sold piecemeal as development sites. Street names in the area, including Claflin Road, Claflin Path, and University Road, are the only remaining evidence of university ownership in this area. Following the fire, Boston University established its new facilities in buildings scattered throughout Beacon Hill, and later expanded into the Boylston Street and Copley Square area, before building its Charles River Campus in the 1930s. After receiving a year's salary advance to allow him to pursue his research in 1875, Alexander Graham Bell, then a professor at the school, invented the telephone in a Boston University laboratory. In 1876, Borden Parker Bowne was appointed professor of philosophy. Bowne, an important figure in the history of American religious thought, was an American Christian philosopher and theologian in the Methodist tradition. He is known for his contributions to personalism, a philosophical branch of liberal theology. The movement he led is often referred to as Boston Personalism. The university continued its tradition of openness in this period. In 1877, Boston University became the first American university to award a PhD to a woman, when classics scholar Helen Magill White earned hers with a thesis on "The Greek Drama". Then in 1878 Anna Oliver became the first woman to receive a degree in theology in the United States, but the Methodist Church would not ordain her. Lelia J. Robinson, who graduated from the university's law school in 1881, became the first woman admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. Solomon Carter Fuller, who graduated from the university's School of Medicine in 1897, became the first black psychiatrist in the United States and would make significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer's disease. 20th century and establishment of the Charles River campus. Seeking to unify a geographically scattered school and enable it to participate in the development of the city, school president Lemuel Murlin arranged that the school buy the present campus along the Charles River. Between 1920 and 1928, the school bought the of land that had been reclaimed from the river by the Riverfront Improvement Association. Plans for a riverside quadrangle with a Gothic Revival administrative tower modeled on the "Old Boston Stump" in Boston, England were scaled back in the late 1920s when the State Metropolitan District Commission used eminent domain to seize riverfront land for Storrow Drive. Murlin was never able to build the new campus, but his successor, Daniel L. Marsh, led a series of fundraising campaigns (interrupted by both the Great Depression and World War II) that helped Marsh to achieve his dream and to gradually fill in the university's new campus. By spring 1936, the student body included 10,384 men and women. In 1951, Harold C. Case became the school's fifth president and under his direction the character of the campus changed significantly, as he sought to change the school into a national research university. The campus tripled in size to , and added 68 new buildings before Case retired in 1967. The first large dorms, Claflin, Rich and Sleeper Halls in West Campus were built, and in 1965 construction began on 700 Commonwealth Avenue, later named Warren Towers, designed to house 1800 students. Between 1961 and 1966, the BU Law Tower, the George Sherman Union, and the Mugar Memorial Library were constructed in the Brutalist style, a departure from the school's traditional architecture. The College of Engineering and College of Communication were housed in a former stable building and auto-show room, respectively. Besides his efforts to expand the university into a rival for Greater Boston's more prestigious academic institutions, such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (both in Cambridge across the Charles River from the BU campus), Case involved himself in the start of the student/societal upheavals that came to characterize the 1960s. When a mini-squabble over editorial policy at college radio WBUR-FM – whose offices were under a tall radio antenna mast in front of the School of Public Relations and Communications (later College of Communications) – started growing in the spring of 1964, Case persuaded university trustees that the university should take over the widely-heard radio station (now a major outlet for National Public Radio and still a BU-owned broadcast facility). The trustees approved the firing of student managers and clamped down on programming and editorial policy, which had been led by Jim Thistle, later a major force in Boston's broadcast news milieu. The on-campus political dispute between Case's conservative administration and the suddenly active and mostly liberal student body led to other disputes over BU student print publications, such as the "B.U. News" and the "Scarlet", a fraternity association newspaper. The Presidency of John Silber also saw much expansion of the campus and programs. In the late 1970s, the Lahey Clinic vacated its building at 605 Commonwealth Avenue and moved to Burlington, Massachusetts. The vacated building was purchased by BU to house the School of Education. After arriving from the University of Texas in 1971, Silber set out to remake the university into a global center for research by recruiting star faculty. Two of his faculty "stars", Elie Wiesel and Derek Walcott, won Nobel Prizes shortly after Silber recruited them. Two others, Saul Bellow and Sheldon Glashow won Nobel Prizes before Silber recruited them. In addition to recruiting new scholars, Silber expanded the physical campus, constructing the Photonics Center for the study of light, a new building for the School of Management, and the Life Science and Engineering Building for interdisciplinary research, among other projects. Campus expansion continued in the 2000s with the construction of new dormitories and the Agganis Arena. History of student and faculty activism on campus. To protest the poor condition of Boston University's African-American curriculum, on April 25, 1968 (three weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.), African-American students conducted a sit-in and locked BU President Arland F. Christ-Janer out of his office for 12 hours. Umoja, BU's Black Student Union, put forward ten demands to Christ-Janer and got nine of them approved that included the creation of a Martin Luther King Chair of Social Ethics, expansion of African-American library resources and tutoring services, opening an "Afro-American coordinating center," admission and selection of more Black students and faculty. No disciplinary action was taken against the students who only opened the chains after their demands were met. "There was no surprise, or feeling of victory on the students' parts," said Christ-Janer in response to the sit-in. "They had confidence in their demands, and I had a confidence in them. The university, black and white alike, was the winner." The late twentieth century saw a culmination in student activism at Boston University during the presidency of John R. Silber. In 1972, student protests rose against the university administration's endorsement of Marine Corps recruitment on campus which faced significant opposition from the Student Democratic Society. On March 27, 1972, 50 police officers in "riot gear" defused a demonstration of 150 protesters at 195 Bay State Road, the BU Placement Office, where Marine recruiters were holding student interviews. A few protesters were arrested while some sustained minor injuries, including a student and two officers. Contrary to student claims of a peaceful protest, Silber said, "Civilization doesn't abdicate in face of barbarism. Those students or nonstudents who deliberately seek violent confrontation and refuse all efforts at peaceful resolution of issues must expect society to use its police power in its own defense." In response to Silber's decision of a forceful police intervention, the Faculty State conducted a vote on Silber's resignation which could not pass due to a "vote of 140–25 with 32 abstentions." As a result of this failed motion, Peter P. Gabriel resigned his position as the dean of Boston University's School of Management in protest of Silber's presidency and his "counterproductive" leadership. Silber's support of military recruitment on campus, which he pushed to make the university eligible for Federal grants, caused other demonstrations. On December 5, 1972, fifteen BU Student Government officers started a three-day hunger strike at Marsh Chapel demanding Silber "to file a lawsuit against the Federal government challenging the constitutionality of the Herbert Amendment." On March 16, 1978, about 900 Boston University students gathered at the George Sherman Union to protest against the $400 rise in tuition and $150 rise in housing charges declared by the trustees on March 7. The protest interrupted a board of trustees conference. While John Silber and Arthur G. B. Metcalf, the chairman of the board of trustees, were negotiating with student government representatives to discuss the matter further on a separate occasion, the protesters marched into the building from two entrances, effectively trapping 40 trustees and 10 university administrators in the building for over thirty minutes. Twenty officers from the Boston University Police Department had to disperse the crowd from the stairwells. The protest resulted in the arrest of 19 year old Joshua Grossman, while another student and two BUPD officers were taken to hospitals. On April 5, 1979, several hundred faculty members, as well as clerical workers and librarians, went on strike. The faculty members were seeking a labor contract while the clerical workers and librarians were seeking union recognition. The strike ended by mid-April under terms favorable to the employees. On November 27, 1979, the committee to Defend Iranian Students—composed of Iranian students, Youths Against Foreign Fascism and the Revolutionary Communist Party—held a demonstration at the George Sherman Union against the deposed Shah of Iran and the deportation of Iranian students from the US. "To the Iranian people, that man (the shah) is Adolf Hitler," students protested. "The Shah Must Face the Wrath of the People." This was met with chants of "God Bless America" from the opposing group. Twenty policemen broke up the confronting parties though no arrests were made. 21st century. Following the trustees' push for the resignation of the university's eighth president, Jon Westling, they voted unanimously to offer the presidency of the university to Daniel S. Goldin, former administrator of NASA under presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Goldin was set to take over the job on November 1, 2003, and be officially inaugurated on November 17, though the deal collapsed in the week leading up to his arrival in Boston. The university eventually terminated Goldin's contract at a cost of $1.8 million and initiated a second search to fill the presidential position, culminating with the inauguration of Robert A. Brown as the university's 10th president on April 27, 2006. (Aram Chobanian, who had served as "president ad interim" during most of the second search, was formally recognized as the 9th president in 2005.) In the wake of this fiasco, several actions were taken to improve the image projected to potential presidential candidates as well as the functioning of the board itself. In 2012, the university was invited to join the Association of American Universities, comprising 66 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. BU, one of four universities at the time invited to join the group since 2000, became the 62nd member. In the Boston area, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, and Brandeis are also members. That same year, a $1 billion fundraising campaign was launched, its first comprehensive campaign, emphasizing financial aid, faculty support, research, and facility improvements. In 2016, the campaign goal was reached. The board of trustees voted to raise the goal to $1.5 billion and extend through 2019. The campaign has funded 74 new faculty positions, including 49 named full professorships and 25 Career Development Professorships. The campaign concluded in September 2019, raising a total of $1.85 billion over seven years. In February 2015 the faculty adopted an open-access policy to make its scholarship publicly accessible online. The Charles River and Medical Campuses have undergone physical transformations since 2006, from new buildings and playing fields to dormitory renovations. The campus has seen the addition of a 26-floor student residence at 33 Harry Agganis Way, nicknamed StuVi2, the New Balance Playing Field, the Yawkey Center for Student Services, the Alan and Sherry Leventhal Center, the Law tower and Redstone annex, the Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC), the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, and the Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre, which opened in fall 2017. The construction of the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering was funded by part of BU's largest ever gift, a $115 million donation from Rajen Kilachand. The Dahod Family Alumni Center in the renovated BU Castle began in May 2017 and was completed in fall 2018. Development of the university's existing housing stock has included significant renovations to BU's oldest dorm, Myles Standish Hall and Annex, and to Kilachand Hall, formerly known as Shelton Hall, and a brand new student residence on the Medical Campus. In 2019, Boston University expanded its financial aid program so that it would "meet the full need for all domestic students who qualify for financial aid," starting in fall 2020. In September 2022, Robert A. Brown announced he will step down at the end of the 2022–2023 academic year. Brown began his presidency in September 2005, and his contract was set to run through 2025. Although Brown is choosing to end his presidency, he will resume teaching at the university. Since August 1, 2023, Kenneth W. Freeman has served as president ad interim, until a replacement for Brown is found. Response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The university closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and shifted to online learning for the remainder of the semester on March 11, 2020. For the fall 2020 semester, BU offered a hybrid system that allows for students to decide whether to take a remote class or participate in-person. Larger classes would be broken down into smaller groups that rotate between online and in-person sessions. The school started administering its own COVID-19 testing for faculty, staff, and students on July 27, 2020. The new BU Clinical Testing Laboratory has accelerated testing that can give results to students, staff, and faculty by the next day. The lab uses eight robots to process up to 6,000 tests per day. A contact tracing team is part of the process to contain infections on campus. BU also started a new website "Back2BU" to provide students with the latest information on reopening. The results of the tests were published on BU's public COVID-19 Testing Data Dashboard. BU's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has been working with live coronavirus samples since March 2020, and—at the time—was the only New England lab to have live samples. In August 2020, BU filed a service mark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to secure the phrase "F*ck It Won't Cut It" for a student-led COVID-19 safety program on campus. The slogan is meant to promote "safe and smart actions and behaviors for college and university students in a COVID-19 environment", according to the application. In July 2021, BU announced faculty and staff will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the fall 2022 semester. This comes after a vaccine requirement for all students, which was announced in April. COVID-19 research and gain-of-function controversy. In October 2022, Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories conducted research in a Biosafety Level 3 lab that modified the original strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 with the spike proteins of the Omicron variant. This resulted in a virus that was more lethal to lab mice than the Omicron variant itself, but less lethal than the original strain. Some medical authorities criticized the research as dangerous "gain of function" research, but others argued that it did not "technically" count as gain of function research because the modified virus happened not to be quite as lethal as the original strain. Marc Lipsitch of Harvard, however, argued "these are unquestionably gain-of-function experiments. As many have noted, this is a very broad term encompassing many harmless and some potentially dangerous experiments. GOF is a scientific technique, not an epithet." While the BU researchers gained internal research and Boston government approvals for the research, they failed to notify the US Government's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that was a funder of the lab. Campus. Boston campuses and facilities. The university's main Charles River Campus follows Commonwealth Avenue and the Green Line, beginning near Kenmore Square and continuing for over a mile and a half to its end near the border of Boston's Allston neighborhood. The Boston University Bridge over the Charles River into Cambridge represents the dividing line between Main Campus, where most schools and classroom buildings are concentrated, and West Campus, home to several athletic facilities and playing fields, the large West Campus dorm, and the new John Hancock Student Village complex. The main campus buildings of BU are separated from the Charles River Esplanade parkland and the Paul Dudley White Bike Path along the banks of the nearby Charles River, by heavily trafficked Storrow Drive, a high-speed limited-access major roadway connecting downtown Boston to its western suburbs. The separation occurred in the late 1920s, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts seized land by eminent domain for the construction of the new roadway along the riverbank. A narrow strip of grassy lawn between BU academic buildings lining Commonwealth Avenue and the torrent of traffic on Storrow Drive has been humorously dubbed "BU Beach", because it is a favorite hangout for sunbathing in good weather. The lounging students are protected from traffic incursions by a raised earthen berm, which also muffles the traffic noise to a dull roar. To protect pedestrians from vehicular collisions, Storrow Drive is enclosed by fencing, with pedestrian bridges allowing safe crossings at Silber Way and at Marsh Chapel. An additional crossing is possible at the BU Bridge, which also allows street traffic to cross from the Boston side to the Cambridge side of the Charles River. As a result of its continual expansion, the Charles River campus contains an array of architecturally diverse buildings. The College of Arts and Sciences, Marsh Chapel, and the School of Theology buildings are the university's most recognizable, and were built in the late-1930s and 1940s in collegiate gothic style. A sizable amount of the campus is traditional Boston brownstone, especially at Bay State Road and South Campus, where BU has acquired almost every townhouse those areas offer. The buildings are primarily dormitories, but many also serve as various institutes as well as department offices. From the 1960s–1980s many contemporary buildings were constructed, including the Mugar Library, BU Law School, and Warren Towers, all of which were built in the brutalist style of architecture. The Metcalf Science Center for Science and Engineering, constructed in 1983, might more accurately be described as Structural Expressionism. Morse Auditorium, adjacent, stands in stark architectural contrast, as it was originally constructed as a Jewish synagogue. The most recent architectural additions to BU's campus are the Photonics Center, Life Science and Engineering Building, The Student Village (which includes the FitRec Center and Agganis Arena), and the Questrom School of Business. All these buildings were built in brick, a few with a substantial amount of brownstone. Boston University converted the old Nickelodeon Cinemas complex into College of Engineering labs and offices. In 2016, the university sold the building that housed the Huntington Theatre Company and constructed the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre and College of Fine Arts Production Center to consolidate the theater program on campus. BU has earned several historic preservation awards with recent extensive building renovation projects, such as the School of Law tower, the Alan & Sherry Leventhal Center, Myles Standish Hall, and the Dahod Family Alumni Center (formerly The Castle). Construction of the brick and glass Yawkey Center for Student Services was designed to follow the requirements of the Bay State Road historic district. Use of glass and steel for new construction on Commonwealth Avenue includes the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, which opened in 2017, and the 19-story Center for Computing & Data Sciences, which opened in 2022. The ceremonial opening on December 8, 2022 was covered by publications including Bloomberg, "The Boston Globe", and CBS News which praised the building for being the largest carbon-neutral building in Boston and noted its unusual design. A ribbon cutting ceremony was performed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, President Robert A. Brown, the associate provost for computing and data sciences Azer Bestavros, dean of Arts & Sciences Stan Sclaroff, BU Board of Trustees chair Ahmass Fakahany, BU provost Jean Morrison, and Boston city councilor Kenzie Bok. In 2018, following negotiations in the preceding year, Boston University purchased the former Wheelock College, which is now referred to as the Boston University Fenway Campus (although it is actually located in the adjacent neighborhood of Longwood). , BU has sold or leased to real estate developers several building sites it owned in Kenmore Square next to its campus. Large multistory buildings are being constructed there, which will transform the long-time appearance of the busy traffic hub. In September 2021, BU completed a $115 million project to renovate and expand the Henry M. School of Dental Medicine. The project expanded clinical spaces, added a simulation learning center, and improved collaborative spaces for students. Student housing. Boston University's housing system is the nation's 10th largest among four-year colleges. BU was originally a commuter school, but the university now guarantees the option of on-campus housing for four years for all undergraduate students. Currently, 76 percent of the undergraduate population lives on campus. Boston University requires that all students living in dormitories be enrolled in a year-long meal plan with several combinations of meals and dining points which can be used as cash in on-campus facilities. Housing at BU is an unusually diverse melange, ranging from individual 19th-century brownstone townhouses and apartment buildings acquired by the school to large-scale high-rises built in the 1960s and 2000s. The large dormitories include the 1,800-student Warren Towers, the largest on campus, as well as West Campus and The Towers. The smaller dormitory and apartment style housing are mainly located in two parts of campus: Bay State Road and the South Campus residential area. Bay State Road is a tree-lined street that runs parallel to Commonwealth Avenue and is home to the majority of BU's townhouses, often called "brownstones". South Campus is a student residential area south of Commonwealth Avenue and separated from the main campus by the Massachusetts Turnpike. Some of the larger buildings in that area have been converted into dormitories, while the rest of the South Campus buildings are apartments. Boston University's newest residence and principal apartment-style housing area is officially called 33 Harry Agganis Way, "StuVi2" unofficially, and is part of The John Hancock Student Village project. The north-facing, 26-story building is apartment style while the south-facing, 19-story building is in an 8-bedroom dormitory-style suite pattern. In total, the building houses 960 residents. Aside from these main residential areas, smaller residential dormitories are scattered along Commonwealth Avenue. Boston University also provides specialty houses or specialty floors to students who have particular interests. Kilachand Hall, formerly Shelton Hall, is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill lived in what was originally room 401 (now 419) while the building was a residential hotel. He died in a hospital on November 27, 1953, and his ghost is rumored to haunt both the room and the floor. The fourth floor is now a specialty floor called the Writers' Corridor. John Hancock Student Village. The Student Village is a large new residential and recreational complex covering between Buick Street and Nickerson Field, ground formerly occupied by a National Guard Armory, which had been used by the university for indoor track and field and as a storage facility before its demolition and the start of construction. The dormitory of apartment suites at 10 Buick Street (often abbreviated to "StuVi" by students) opened to juniors and seniors in the fall of 2000. In 2002, John Hancock Insurance announced its sponsorship of the multimillion-dollar project. The Agganis Arena, named after Harry Agganis, was opened to concerts and hockey games in January 2005. The Agganis Arena is capable of housing 6,224 spectators for Terrier hockey games, replacing the smaller Walter Brown Arena. It can also be used for concerts and shows. In March 2005, the final element of phase II of the Student Village complex, the Fitness and Recreation (FitRec) Center, was opened, drawing large crowds from the student body. Construction on the rest of phase II, which included 19- and 26-story residential towers was finished in fall 2009. Other facilities. The Mugar Memorial Library is the central academic library for the Charles River Campus. It also houses the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, formerly called the Twentieth Century Archive, where documents belonging to thousands of eminent figures in literature, journalism, diplomacy, the arts, and other fields are housed. The George Sherman Union (GSU), located next to Mugar Memorial Library, provides students with a food court featuring many fast-food chains, including Panda Express, Basho, Starbucks, and Pinkberry. The GSU also provides lounge areas for students to relax or study. The basement of the George Sherman Union is home to the BU Central lounge, which hosts concerts and other activities and events. "The Castle" located on the West end of Bay State Road is one of the older buildings on campus. The building was commissioned by William Lindsay for his own use in 1905, long before his daughter's honeymoon on the ill-fated "Lusitania". In 1939, the university acquired the property by agreement with the city to repay all back taxes owed; these funds were raised through donations from, among others, William Chenery, a University Trustee. It served as the residence of the university president until 1967, when President Christ-Janer found it too large for his needs as a residence and turned it to other uses. It is now a conference space. Underneath the Castle is the BU Pub, the only BU-operated drinking establishment on campus. The Florence and Chafetz Hillel House on Bay State Road is the Hillel House for the university. With four floors and a basement, the facility includes lounges, study rooms and a kosher dining hall, open during the academic year (including Passover) to students and walk-ins from the community. The first floor also includes the Granby St. Cafe as well as TVs and ping-pong, pool and foosball tables. The Hillel serves as a focal point for BU's large and active Jewish community. It hosts approximately 30 student groups, including social, cultural, and religious groups, and BU Students for Israel (BUSI), Holocaust Education, and the Center for Jewish Learning and Experience. It hosts a plethora of programs and speakers as well as Shabbat services and meals. Cultural life. The university is located at the junction of Fenway-Kenmore, Allston, and Brookline. In the Fenway-Kenmore area are the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the nightlife of Landsdowne Street as well as Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Allston has been Boston's largest bohemian neighborhood since the 1960s. Nicknamed "Allston Rock City", the neighborhood is home to many artists and musicians, as well as a variety of cafés, and many of Boston's small music halls. Beyond the southern border of the campus in Brookline, Harvard Avenue offers independent and foreign films at Coolidge Corner Theatre, and author readings at the Brookline Booksmith. Other nearby cultural institutions include Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, the main branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, the art and commerce of fashionable Newbury Street, and across the Charles River, the museums, shops, and galleries in Harvard Square and elsewhere in Cambridge. BU is home to the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. BU was previously associated with the Huntington Theatre Company on Huntington Avenue, but put the BU Theatre property up for sale in 2016, casting a shadow over the future of the organization. BU replaced the old Huntington Theatre facilities with the new Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre, located next to the Fuller Building housing the College of Fine Arts. BU hosts campus and non-campus musical performances in the Tsai Performance Center at 685 Commonwealth Avenue, and the CFA Concert Hall at 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Visual art works by students and by visiting artists are displayed in rotating exhibitions in the university's three galleries: the BU Art Gallery (BUAG) at the Stone Gallery, the 808 Gallery, and the Sherman Gallery, located respectively at 855, 808, and 775 Commonwealth Avenue. In addition, BU had been associated with the Photographic Resource Center located at 832 Commonwealth Avenue, which mounts several exhibitions yearly, as well as special events for student and professional photographers. However, BU withdrew its support , and the Photographic Resource Center is now a resident partner with the College of Art and Design at Lesley University. Guest and visitor policies. Prior to September 2007, Boston University had a restrictive visitor policy, which limited the ability of students from different dormitories to visit each other at night. This changed when a new policy approved by Brown took effect. The new policy allows for students living on campus to swipe into any on-campus dormitory between the hours of 7 am and 2 am using their Terrier cards. Student residents can also sign in guests with photo identification at any time, day or night. Overnight visitors of the opposite sex are no longer required to seek a same-sex "co-host". However, during reading period and the week before final exams, no guests are permitted in the halls overnight, and are expected to be out of the hall by 2 am. Mass transit. Most of the buildings of the main campus are located on or near Commonwealth Avenue, served by the subway stop on the Green Line and five surface stops on the Green Line B branch. Crowding on the busy B branch is very seasonal; during the summer, ridership falls by more than half, largely due to the reduced student population. The South Campus and Fenway Campus areas are served by on the C branch and on the D branch. MBTA bus route parallels the B branch on Commonwealth Avenue; on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line is located near East Campus. Bicycle traffic on Commonwealth Avenue is heavy, and advocacy groups have held public meetings with BU, the MBTA, and the City of Boston to improve safety and congestion along this travel corridor. The MBTA plans to consolidate and reduce the number of stops along Commonwealth Avenue to speed travel and to reduce construction costs to upgrade the remaining stations. Improvements planned include full handicapped accessibility at the new stations, fencing to encourage pedestrians to use protected crosswalks, traffic signal prioritization for transit vehicles, and improved esthetics. The Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project is coordinated by the Massachusetts Highway Department, in cooperation with BU, the MBTA, the City of Boston, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, and other organizations. The Medical Campus is served by the #1 and CT1 crosstown buses which run along Massachusetts Avenue, as well as the No. 47 and CT3 crosstown buses which connect the Boston University Medical Center with the Longwood Medical Area. The Silver Line Washington Street Branch runs the entire length of the Medical Campus, one block north of most parts of the campus; it connects Boston University Medical Center with Tufts Medical Center station and downtown Boston. The nearest rapid transit subway station is the Massachusetts Avenue station on the Orange Line, located three blocks north of the Medical Center. Sustainability. The university has a sustainability initiative and a sustainability office. Boston University's Strategic Plan for Campus Sustainability is also integrated into the university's overarching strategic plan in many areas including the Climate Action Plan Task Force, a faculty-led initiative developing the university's first Climate Action Plan. The university bought a wind farm in South Dakota to meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2040. Other campuses. London Campus. Boston University's largest study abroad program is located in London, England. Boston University London Programmes offers a semester of study and work in London through their London Internship Program (LIP), as well as a number of other specialized programs. The LIP program combines a professional internship with coursework that examines a particular academic area in the context of Britain's history, culture, and society and its role in modern Europe. Courses in each academic area are taught exclusively to students enrolled in the Boston University program by a selected faculty body representing multiple cultural backgrounds. Upon successful completion of a semester, students earn 16 Boston University credits. BU London Programmes are headquartered in South Kensington, London. The campus consists of the main building at 43 Harrington Gardens, as well as three nearby residences to house students. This program is open to Boston University students, as well as students at other American colleges. Los Angeles Campus. In Los Angeles, BU has an internship program for students to study and work in the heart of the film, television, advertising, public relations, and entertainment management and law industries. The program offers three tracks from which undergraduate and graduate students can choose: Advertising and Public Relations, Film and Television, and Entertainment Management. Graduated students have the opportunity to continue their education by enrolling in the Los Angeles Certificate Program, where students can choose either the Acting in Hollywood or the Writer in Hollywood track. Courses are taught by Boston University faculty and alumni who serve as mentors in and out of the classroom. Upon successful completion of a semester students will earn 16 Boston University credits. Students who successfully complete the Los Angeles Certificate Program will receive 8 Boston University credits and a certificate from Boston University College of Fine Arts or College of Communication. Paris Campus. The Paris Center runs several programs, the largest of which is the Paris Internship Program dating from 1989. Students take language and elective courses with French faculty at the BU Paris Center, then are placed in internships with French businesses and organizations in the area. Students live with host families or in a dormitory for the extent of the semester. Boston University Paris also organizes exchange programs with the business school Paris Dauphine University and a yearlong program with the "Institut d'études politiques de Paris" (Sciences Po). Washington, DC Campus. In Washington, D.C., BU has internship, journalism and management programs. Students study in the university's building on Massachusetts Avenue in Dupont Circle and take advantage of the city by interning at different locations. In 2011, the university completed construction of a new, multistory residence to house students in the program featuring touch-less entry cards for security and suites with communal kitchens, right next to the Woodley Park Metro station. The Multimedia and Journalism program allows students to act as Washington, D.C. correspondents for newspapers and television stations across the Northeast and New England while interning at major news outlets in the city, as well as at many PR internships in politics, government and public affairs. Internship opportunities are also offered in a wide variety of sectors for students enrolled in other BU Study Abroad Washington programs. Sydney Campus. In Sydney, BU has internship, management, film festival, travel writing, engineering, and School of Education programs that vary based on semester. Around 150 students live in the university's building in Chippendale developed by Tony Owen Partners. The building uses "fissures to provide maximum solar access to bedrooms as well as natural ventilation throughout the building". The building opened in the beginning of 2011 and features underground classrooms, a lecture hall, office space, library, and a roof patio. Other internship and study abroad opportunities are available through the Study Abroad office. Academics. Colleges and schools. Boston University offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctorates, and medical, dental, and law degrees through its 17 schools and colleges. The newest school at Boston University is the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies (established 2014). Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development was renamed in 2018 following the merger with Wheelock College. In 2019, BU created the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, which is an interdisciplinary academic unit that will train students in computing and enable them to combine data science with their chosen field. In 2022, BU's medical school was renamed the Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine (following a $100 million gift from Edward Avedisian). Each school and college at the university has a three letter abbreviation, which is commonly used in place of their full school or college name. For example, the College of Arts & Sciences is commonly referred to as CAS, the College of Engineering is ENG, and the College of Fine Arts is CFA, etc. The College of Fine Arts was formerly named the School of Fine Arts (SFA). The College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) was formerly named the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). The College of Communication was formerly named the School of Public Communication (SPC). The Questrom School of Business (Questrom) was formerly known as the School of Management (SMG), and the College of Business Administration (CBA) prior to that. The College of General Studies (CGS) was formerly named the College of Basic Studies (CBS). The Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine (MHCBM) Program at Boston University School of Medicine offers a master's degree for students who wish to become licensed to practice as a mental health counselor. The program adheres to educational guidelines and standards of the American Counseling Association (ACA), American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), which is an independent agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The MHCBM Program is the only counselor education program in the entire United States that is housed in a medical school for solely training students in clinical mental health counseling to treat clients and patients with a mental disorder via counseling and psychotherapy. Boston University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Admissions. Fall Freshman statistics Based on currently enrolled student responses within the university student database 50.6% white, 14% Asian, 11.6% international students, 8.6% Hispanic, and 3.2% black. Fall 2015 international student enrollment at Boston University is 43% Chinese, 9% Indian, 5% Korean, 5% Saudi Arabian, 4% Canadian, 4% Taiwanese, 2% Turkish, and 1% from each of the following countries: Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, France, Thailand, Spain, and Japan. The other 18% of international enrollment comes from 123 other countries. Among international students, 39% are pursuing undergraduate degrees, 37% are pursuing graduate degrees, and 23% are enrolled in other programs. BU also has the second highest number of Jews of any private school (after NYU) in the country with between 3,000 and 4,000, or roughly 15% identifying as Jewish. The plurality of registrants were from Massachusetts (19%), followed by New York (16%), New Jersey (9%), California (8%), Connecticut (4%), Pennsylvania (4%), and Texas (2%). Boston University's financial aid program, "affordableBU", meets 100% of the demonstrated need of domestic students. Rankings. "U.S. News & World Report" ranks Boston University tied for 41st among national universities and tied for 57th among global universities for 2022. It also ranked BU 29th in "Best Value Schools", tied for 41st in "Most Innovative Schools", and tied for 45th in "Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs" at schools whose highest degree is a doctorate and 12th in Biomedical Engineering. "U.S. News & World Report" also ranks Boston University's online graduate information technology programs tied for 10th in the U.S., the online graduate criminal justice programs tied for 3rd, and the online graduate business programs (excluding MBAs) tied for 10th. Boston University is ranked No. 40 nationally in the 2021 "Wall Street Journal/Time Higher Education" U.S. colleges and universities ranking. "QS World University Rankings" ranked Boston University 93rd overall in the world in its 2019 rankings, with a 5-star rating. "Times Higher Education" ranked Boston University 54th in the world for 2021. "Times Higher Education" ranked Boston University 6th in the 2017 Global University Employability Rankings. The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks Boston University 36th in the United States, and 76th in the world, in its 2019 list. "Newsweek" (International Edition), in its list of the Top 100 Global Universities, ranked Boston University the 35th in the United States, and 65th in the world. The Chronicle of Higher Education places the Boston University School of Social Work as sixth in the nation for research productivity by faculty. BU is one of 96 American universities receiving the highest research classification ("RU/VH") by the Carnegie Foundation. Research. In FY2016, the university reported in $368.9 million in sponsored research, comprising 1,896 awards to 722 faculty investigators. Funding sources included the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Department of Defense, the European Commission, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The university's research enterprise encompasses dozens of fields, but its primary focus currently lies in seven areas: Data Science, Engineering Biology, Global Health, Infectious Diseases, Neuroscience, Photonics, and Urban Health. In 2017, BU received a $20 million grant over five years from the NSF in order to establish an Engineering Research Center (ERC). The ERC's goal is to bioengineer functional heart tissue. The director of the center is David Bishop, a professor of physics and computer and electrical engineering. As of FY2021, the university reported $526.6 million in sponsored research, and 56% of federal funding was from the National Institutes of Health. In 2003, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Boston University a grant to build one of two National Biocontainment Laboratories. The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) was created to study emerging infectious diseases that pose a significant threat to public health. NEIDL has biosafety level 2, 3, and 4 (BSL-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4, respectively) labs that enable researchers to work safely with the pathogens. BSL-4 labs are the highest level of biosafety labs and work with diseases with a high risk of aerosol transmission. The strategic plan also encouraged research collaborations with industry and government partners. In 2016, as part of a broadbased effort to solve the critical problem of antibiotic resistance, the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) selected the Boston University School of Law (LAW)—and Kevin Outterson, a BU professor of law—to lead a $350 million trans-Atlantic public-private partnership called CARB-X to foster the preclinical development of new antibiotics and antimicrobial rapid diagnostics and vaccines. CARB-X was allotted an additional $370 million in funding in May 2022. HHS will continue to support CARB-X with up to $300 million over 10 years, and global charity Wellcome will fund up to $70 million over three years. In May 2023, CARB-X secured renewed funding from the UK government (£24M over four years) and the German government (€39M over four years, and €2M for accelerator), and the Canadian government also announced its plan to support CARB-X with CAD $6.3 million over two years. In its effort to increase diversity and inclusion, Boston University appointed Ibram X. Kendi in July 2020 as a history professor and the director and founder of its newly established Center for Antiracist Research. The university also appointed alumna Andrea Taylor as its first senior diversity officer. Later in August, Twitter founder and then CEO Jack Dorsey donated $10 million to the Center, noting that the gift came with "no string attached." Ibram Kendi was named a 2021 MacArthur fellow and will receive a "genius grant" of $625,000 split over five years for his center's research. Grade deflation. The independently run student newspaper at Boston University, "The Daily Free Press", as well as "The New York Times", have published articles exploring the existence of grade deflation. The "Times" discovered that administrators have suggested to faculty members deflated ideal grade distributions. Although an article in the official publication "BU Today" asserted that "the GPAs of BU undergrads and the percentage of As and Bs have both risen over the last two decades", "The New York Times" has found BU grades have been rising more slowly with respect to many other schools. In 2014, the average GPA of a BU undergraduate was 3.16, compared to the averages of 3.35 for Boston College (2007), 3.48 for Amherst College (2006), 3.52 for New York University (2015), and 3.65 for Harvard University (2015). About 81 percent of all grades earned in either the A or B range (75% in the B range). The article went on to note that although the university attempted to curb grade inflation and inconsistency in the late 1990s, both the percentage of As and GPAs have been rising since. They attributed the grade inflation that has occurred not to teachers' grading policies, but to the increasing quality of each incoming class which leads to more top grades. Journals and publications. Boston University is home to several academic journals and publications. The School of Law hosts six nationally recognized law journals: the "Boston University Law Review", "American Journal of Law and Medicine", "Review of Banking & Financial Law", "Boston University International Law Journal", "Journal of Science and Technology Law", and "Public Interest Law Journal". The School of Education houses the "Journal of Education", which is the oldest continuously published journal in the field of education in the country. In the College of Arts and Sciences, "Studies in Romanticism" is housed at the Department of English and the "Journal of Field Archeology" is housed at the Department of Archeology. The Department of History is affiliated with The Historical Society, which publishes "The Journal of the Historical Society" and "Historically Speaking". The "American Journal of Media Psychology" and the "Public Relations Journal" are currently edited by professors at the College of Communication, which is also home to the "New England Center for Investigative Reporting", which generates numerous publications yearly. Special academic programs. General Education: the BU Hub. BU Hub, the university-wide undergraduate general education curriculum, requires course work in the core capacities of: philosophical, aesthetic, and historical interpretation; scientific and social inquiry; quantitative reasoning; diversity, civic engagement, and global citizenship; written, oral, and multimedia communication; and an intellectual toolkit that includes critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Kilachand Honors College. The University Honors College matriculated its first class in 2010. In 2011, it was renamed Arvind and Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Honors College following a $25 million donation from Rajen Kilachand; the largest donation in the history of the university. The Kilachand Honors College is a university-wide community of faculty and students dedicated to preserving, renewing, and rethinking classic ideals of liberal education: love of learning, intellectual curiosity, self-discovery, empathy, clarity of thought and expression. It rests on three pillars: an integrated, four-year curriculum; an extensive series of co-curricular events that include site-visits to leading cultural institutions as well as talks and readings by leading figures in the arts, sciences, and professions; and, finally, a "living and learning" community that offers students the personal atmosphere of a small liberal arts college and fosters responsibility and citizenship. Trustee Scholars Program. Around 20 freshmen from every Boston University graduating class are part of the Trustee Scholars Program. These students are recipients of the Trustee Scholarship, known to be the most prestigious merit-based, full-tuition scholarship for undergraduates. Although not an academic program per se, students "become part of a unique campus community that offers many intellectual, cultural, and social opportunities", such as special lectures by distinguished professors and scholars. They also gather for events, such as plays and performances in the Boston area, movie screenings, and book discussions. Boston University Academy. Boston University Academy is a private high school operated by Boston University. Founded in 1993, the school sits within the university's campus and students are offered the opportunity to take university courses. Student life. Student publications. Independent from the university, "The Daily Free Press" (often referred to as "The FreeP") is the campus student newspaper and the fourth largest daily newspaper in Boston. Since 1970, it has provided students with campus news, city and state news, sports coverage, editorials, arts and entertainment, and special feature stories. "The Daily Free Press" is published every regular instruction day of the university year and is available in BU dorms, classroom buildings, and commercial locations frequented by students. The literary magazine "Clarion" has been printed since 1998. The first issue, titled "?", was published by the group Students for Literary Awareness with the sponsorship of the Department of English; subsequent issues were issued by the BU Literary Society, and most recently, by the BU BookLab. "Burn Magazine" is a younger literary magazine, affiliated with "Clarion", but publishing the work of student authors only. "Boink" was launched in February 2005 by a group of undergrads led by Alecia Oleyourryk, who was then a senior at the College of Communications. The magazine featured BU students posing nude, as well as articles on sexuality. ROTC. The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at BU traces its origins back to August 16, 1919, when the US War Department stood up the Students' Army Training Corps at Boston University, the predecessor to the current Army ROTC program. Today, BU is one of twenty five colleges and universities in the country to host all three ROTC programs – Army, Navy, and Air Force. Students wishing to be commissioned into the Marine Corps study as Navy Midshipmen. Honor Societies. Alpha Phi Sigma – Nu Mu Chapter Athletics. Boston University's NCAA Division I Terriers compete in men's basketball, cross country, golf, ice hockey, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, and lacrosse, and in women's basketball, dance, cross country, field hockey, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, and track. Boston University athletics teams compete in the Patriot League, Hockey East, and Coastal Athletic Association conferences, and their mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier. , a majority of Boston University's teams compete in the Patriot League. On April 1, 2013, the university announced it would cut its wrestling program following the 2013–14 season. The Boston University men's hockey team is the most successful on campus, and is a storied college hockey power, with five NCAA championships, most recently in 2009. The team was coached by hall-of-famer Jack Parker for 40 seasons, and is a major supplier of talent to the NHL, as well as to the 1980 USA Olympic gold medal-winning men's hockey team. The Terriers have won 31 Beanpot titles, more than any other team in the tournament, which includes Harvard University, Boston College, and Northeastern University. The BU Women's ice hockey team has won 2 beanpot titles, once in 1981 and once in 2019. Boston University also won a game in 2010 against Boston College at Fenway Park by a score of 3–2, played a week after the NHL Winter Classic. BU has also won two national championships in women's rowing, in 1991 and 1992. In 2020, the men's basketball team won the Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship for the first time, but the NCAA men's Division I basketball tournament was canceled due to coronavirus concerns. Boston University recently constructed the new Agganis Arena, which opened on January 3, 2005, with a men's hockey game between the Terriers and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. The arena also hosts non-sporting events, such as concerts, ice shows, and other performances. Boston University disbanded its football team in 1997. The university used the nearly $3 million from its football program to build the multimillion-dollar John Hancock Student Village and athletic complex. The university also increased funding to women's athletic programs. "By implementing the total plan, we can achieve a much more balanced set of sports programs for both men and women, which is consistent with the philosophy underlying Title IX", said former BU athletic director Gary Strickler. Club sports. Boston University students also compete in athletics at the club level. Thirty-four club sports are recognized by the university: badminton; baseball; cricket; cycling; equestrian; fencing; figure skating; golf; gymnastics; inline, men's, and women's ice hockey; jiu-jitsu; kendo; kung fu; women's and men's rugby; sailing; Shotokan karate; ski racing; snowboarding; men's and women's soccer; squash; women's synchronized skating; synchronized swimming; table tennis; triathlon; women's and men's ultimate frisbee; men's and women's volleyball; and women's and men's water polo. The BU Sailing Team is one of the most successful teams in college sailing. The team has won seven National Championships, most recently in 1999. They have also had three team members graduate as "College Sailor of the Year". Notable alumni of the team include Ken Read, skipper for PUMA Ocean Racing in the Volvo Ocean Race, and 2012 US Sailing Rolex Yachtsman of the Year nominee, John Mollicone. The BU Figure Skating Team has won five Intercollegiate National Figure Skating Championships and has not finished outside of the top three since 2009. The BU Men's Club Volleyball team won the NCVF 1AA National Championship in 2016. The BU Roller Hockey Team advanced to the NCHRA Tournament in 2001, 2002, and 2003. The team advanced all the way to the Final Four in 2001. Both Men's and Women's Intervarsity Table Tennis Teams have attended the National Collegiate Table Tennis Tournaments and ranked as high as the top 10 nationwide. Notable alumni and academics. Over the course of its history, a number of people associated with Boston University have become notable in their fields. Affiliates of Boston University have won seven Nobel prizes. With over 342,000 alumni, Boston University graduates can be found around the world. American civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. earned his doctorate in systematic theology at BU in 1955. After gaining prominence by advocating nonviolent resistance to segregation, he won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. Howard Thurman, the Dean of Marsh Chapel, influenced King's embrace of nonviolence. Three other alumni hold special historical importance: Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first African-American woman and Charles Eastman (first named Ohiyesa) the first American Indian to be certified as doctors, and Helen Magill White was the first woman in the US to earn a PhD. Mathematics and sciences. Among the most famous of Boston University scientists is Alexander Graham Bell, an inventor of the telephone who conducted many of his experiments on the BU campus when he was professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution. In Boston, Bell was "swept up" by the excitement engendered by the many scientists and inventors residing in the city. In 1875, the university gave Bell a year's salary advance to allow him to pursue his research. The following year, he invented the telephone in a Boston University laboratory. In the twenty-first century, the university has become a pioneering center for synthetic biology thanks to the work of James Collins. Collins and co-workers also discovered that sublethal levels of antibiotics activate mutagenesis by stimulating the production of reactive oxygen species, leading to multidrug resistance. This discovery has important implications for the widespread use and misuse of antibiotics. Christopher Chen, an interdisciplinary researcher whose work involves engineering, medicine, and biology, joined BU in 2013. Chen directs the Biological Design Center at the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering. His research focuses on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Other notable Boston University scientists include Sheldon Glashow, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, Daniel Tsui, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics, and Osamu Shimomura, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Humanities, music, and art. Numerous actors trained at Boston University, including Faye Dunaway, Alfre Woodard, Russell Hornsby, Jason Alexander, Ginnifer Goodwin, Marisa Tomei, Emily Deschanel, Marc Maron, Viola Léger, Julianne Moore, Uzo Aduba, Paul Michael Glaser, Michael Chiklis, Sarah Chase, and Geena Davis. Notable musicians and scholars include Taiwanese composer Wen-Pin Hope Lee, rapper Aesop Rock, musicologist Marva Griffin Carter, and Russian-American Violinist Yevgeny Kutik. Folk singer Joan Baez attended BU for several months before dropping out to concentrate on her musical career. Law. David A Rose (judge), noted judge in Boston, Associate Justice 1972–1976, Recalled retired justice 1978–1985, who headed Rights Panel. Literature. Two US Poets Laureate have taught at Boston University: Robert Lowell and Robert Pinsky. During John Silber's tenure as president, he recruited two Nobel Prize–winning literary figures to the university's faculty: Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, and Saul Bellow, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature. Another Nobel Prize winner in the English Department in the twentieth century was Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. Alumni of the university have earned over thirty Pulitzer Prizes. Other writers associated with the university include Bob Zelnick, executive editor of the Frost-Nixon interviews, Lambda Literary Award winner Ellen Bass, historian Andrew Bacevich, Ha Jin, Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, and Isaac Asimov. In 1986, literary critic Christopher Ricks, whom W. H. Auden called "exactly the kind of critic every poet dreams of finding", joined the university's faculty and founded the Editorial Institute with Geoffrey Hill. Controversial historian Howard Zinn taught in the political science department for many years. Journalist Thomas B. Edsall and playwright Eliza Wyatt graduated from Boston University. Paul Beatty, who earned bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology at BU, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize for his novel "The Sellout". He is the first writer from the United States honored with the Man Booker. The bestselling author Casey Sherman graduated from BU in 1992. Politics. Boston University counts eleven current or former governors of US states, seven United States senators, and 33 members of the United States House of Representatives among its alumni. Notable Boston University alumni in American politics include former Defense Secretary William Cohen, former US Ambassador to China Gary Locke, former Senator Judd Gregg, former United States Senator Edward Brooke; the first popularly elected African-American senator, former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, former Second Lady Tipper Gore, and the former First Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Earle O. Latham. Former President William Howard Taft lectured on Legal Ethics at the university's law school from 1918 to 1921. After leaving politics in 2014, former Boston mayor Thomas Menino was professor of the practice of political science at the university until his death later in the year. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman elected to the House of Representatives, graduated in 2011. Television personality Bill O'Reilly studied journalism at the university in the 1970s and was a columnist for the student newspaper, "The Daily Free Press". Describing his time at the university, he wrote, "Throughout that fall at BU, covering stories became a passion for me. I loved going places and seeing new things. I ran around Boston annoying the hell out of everyone, but bringing back good, crisp copy" and "what I learned at Boston University firmly set me on the course I continue to this day. Amidst the chaos of Commonwealth Avenue, I found an occupation that I enjoyed." In international politics, Boston University alumni include Sherwin Gatchalian, a Philippine senator elected in 2016, and Daniyal Aziz, a Pakistani politician affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League (N) who is currently a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Archbishop Makarios, the first President of Cyprus, studied at Boston University under a World Council of Churches scholarship. The founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Fan S. Noli, received a doctorate from Boston University. Moeed Yusuf, the current National Security Advisor (Pakistan) to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, received his master's and doctoral degrees from Boston University. Hollywood. In 2014, "The Hollywood Reporter" took note of the number of female BU graduates working in Hollywood. The university estimates that more than 5,000 alums, 54 percent of them women, work in entertainment. They include actresses Geena Davis, Julianne Moore, Uzo Aduba, Marisa Tomei, Alfre Woodard, Rosie O'Donnell, Ginnifer Goodwin, Yunjin Kim. Behind the scenes players include former CBS Entertainment Chair Nina Tassler, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group' Bonnie Hammer, A&E Networks' Nancy Dubuc, Warner Horizon Television Brooke Karzen, "V" writer Corinne Brinkerhoff, DreamWorks Animation's Bonnie Arnold, and Red Hour Films' Debbie Liebling. Popular culture. A number of Boston University graduates have reached fame in popular culture. These include the radio personality Howard Stern; the Bravo executive Andy Cohen; the CBS producer Gordon Hyatt; the celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito; the bestselling self-help author Mark Manson; the NY Times bestselling author and serial entrepreneur Dave Kerpen; the reality-show contestant and television host Rob Mariano; Kevin O'Connor, presenter of "This Old House"; and the cohost of "Project Runway" and editor-in-chief of "Elle" magazine Nina Garcia. The American comedian Marc Maron and the YouTube personality Jenna Marbles studied for master's degrees in education at the university. The "Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff studied medicine at the university. The YouTube essayist Evan Puschak of The NerdWriter and the musician and YouTube personality Dan Avidan both went to Boston University. Athletics. 1968 Olympic 400 m hurdles gold medalist David Hemery was a student at BU in the 1960s, and a coach in the 1970s and 1980s. John Thomas attended BU in the early 1960s and he won a silver medal in the Olympic High Jump. He was an assistant track coach at BU during the 1970s. On October 29, 2020, Travis Roy, a philanthropist, motivational speaker, and former BU ice hockey player, died. In 1995, Roy collided with the boards and was paralyzed just 11 seconds into his first hockey game for Boston University, making him quadriplegic. In 1996, Roy founded the Travis Roy Foundation to fund research for and help other spinal cord injury survivors. In 2017, BU created the Travis M. Roy Professorship in Rehabilitation Sciences after receiving $2.5 million from anonymous donors. In popular culture. Boston University is sometimes referenced in art or pop culture. Here below are some notable examples.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61115

University of Warwick

The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as Warw. in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand higher education. The Warwick Business School was established in 1967, the Warwick Law School in 1968, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) in 1980, and Warwick Medical School in 2000. Warwick incorporated Coventry College of Education in 1979 and Horticulture Research International in 2004. Warwick is primarily based on a campus on the outskirts of Coventry, with a satellite campus in Wellesbourne and a central London base at the Shard. It is organised into three faculties—Arts, Science Engineering and Medicine, and Social Sciences—within which there are thirty-two departments. As of 2021, Warwick has around 29,534 full-time students and 2,691 academic and research staff, with an average intake of 4,950 undergraduates out of 38,071 applicants (7.7 applicants per place). The annual income of the institution for 2021–22 was £770.6 million of which £139.9 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £860.8 million. Warwick Arts Centre is a multi-venue arts complex in the university's main campus and is the largest venue of its kind in the UK, which is not in London. Warwick is a member of AACSB, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of MBAs, EQUIS, the European University Association, the Midlands Innovation group, the Russell Group, Sutton 13 and Universities UK. It is the only European member of the Center for Urban Science and Progress, a collaboration with New York University. The university has extensive commercial activities, including the University of Warwick Science Park and WMG, University of Warwick. Warwick is one of only five UK universities never to have been rated outside the top ten in terms of teaching excellence and research and is the second most-targeted university in the UK by top employers. Warwick's alumni and staff include winners of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal, Richard W. Hamming Medal, Emmy Award, Grammy, and the Padma Vibhushan, and are fellows to the British Academy, the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society. Alumni also include heads of state, government officials, leaders in intergovernmental organisations, and a former chief economist at the Bank of England. Researchers at Warwick have also made significant contributions such as the development of penicillin, music therapy, the Washington Consensus, second-wave feminism, computing standards, including ISO and ECMA, complexity theory, contract theory, and the International Political Economy as a field of study. History. Twentieth century. The idea for a university in Warwickshire was first mooted shortly after World War II, although it was not founded for a further two decades. A partnership of the city and county councils ultimately provided the impetus for the university to be established on a site jointly granted by the two authorities. There was some discussion between local sponsors from both the city and county over whether it should be named after Coventry or Warwickshire. The name "University of Warwick" was adopted, even though Warwick, the county town, lies some to its southwest and Coventry's city centre is only northeast of the campus. The establishment of the University of Warwick was given approval by the government in 1961 and it received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965. Since then, the university has incorporated the former Coventry College of Education in 1979 and has extended its land holdings by the continuing purchase of adjoining farm land. The university also benefited from a substantial donation from the family of John Martin, a Coventry businessman who had made a fortune from investment in Smirnoff vodka, and which enabled the construction of the Warwick Arts Centre. The university admitted its first, small intake of graduate students in 1964, and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. Since its establishment Warwick has expanded its grounds to , with many modern buildings and academic facilities, lakes, and woodlands. In the 1960s and 1970s, Warwick had a reputation as a politically radical institution. Under Vice-Chancellor Lord Butterworth, Warwick was the first UK university to adopt a business approach to higher education, develop close links with the business community and exploit the commercial value of its research. These tendencies were discussed by British historian and then-Warwick lecturer, E. P. Thompson, in his 1970 edited book "Warwick University Ltd.". The Leicester Warwick Medical School, a new medical school based jointly at Warwick and Leicester University, opened in September 2000. On the recommendation of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bill Clinton chose Warwick as the venue for his last major foreign policy address as US President in December 2000. Sandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Advisor, explaining the decision in a press briefing on 7 December 2000, said that: "Warwick is one of Britain's newest and finest research universities, singled out by Prime Minister Blair as a model both of academic excellence and independence from the government." Twenty-first century. The university was seen as a favoured institution of the Labour government during the New Labour years from 1997 to 2010. It was academic partner for a number of flagship Government schemes including the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth and the NHS University which is now defunct. Tony Blair described Warwick as "a beacon among British universities for its dynamism, quality and entrepreneurial zeal". In a 2012 study by Virgin Media Business, Warwick was described as the most "digitally-savvy" UK university. In February 2001, IBM donated a new S/390 computer and software worth £2 million to Warwick, to form part of a "Grid" enabling users to remotely share computing power. In April 2004 Warwick merged with the Wellesbourne and Kirton sites of Horticulture Research International. In July 2004 Warwick was the location for an important agreement between the Labour Party and the trade unions on Labour policy and trade union law, which has subsequently become known as the "Warwick Agreement". In June 2006, the new University Hospital Coventry opened, including a university clinical sciences building. Warwick Medical School was granted independent degree-awarding status in 2007, and the School's partnership with the University of Leicester was dissolved in the same year. In February 2010, Lord Bhattacharyya, director and founder of the WMG unit at Warwick, made a £1 million donation to the university to support science grants and awards. In February 2012, Warwick and Melbourne-based Monash University announced the formation of a strategic partnership, including the creation of ten joint senior academic posts, new dual master's and joint doctoral degrees, and co-ordination of research programmes. In March 2012, Warwick and Queen Mary, University of London announced the creation of a strategic partnership, including research collaboration, some joint teaching of English, history and computer science undergraduates, and the creation of eight joint post-doctoral research fellowships. In April 2012, it was announced that Warwick would be the only European university participating in the Center for Urban Science and Progress, an applied science research institute to be based in New York consisting of an international consortium of universities and technology companies led by New York University and NYU-Poly. In August 2012, Warwick and five other Midlands-based universities—Aston University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and the University of Nottingham—formed the M5 Group, a regional bloc intended to maximise the member institutions' research income and enable closer collaboration. In September 2013, it was announced that a new National Automotive Innovation Centre would be built by WMG at Warwick's main campus at a cost of £100 million, with £50 million to be contributed by Jaguar Land Rover and £30 million by Tata Motors. The centre will open in Summer 2018. The building was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales on February 18, 2020. In July 2014, the government announced that Warwick would be the host for the £1 billion Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), a non-profit organization that facilitates funding to UK-based research and development projects developing low-carbon emission powertrain technologies. The APC manages a £1 billion investment fund, which is jointly supplied by the automotive industry – via the Automotive Council – and the UK government through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and managed by Innovate UK. In September 2015, Warwick celebrated its 50th anniversary and was designated "University of the Year" by "The Times" and "The Sunday Times". In December 2017, the university announced it would not continue with a project to open a Campus in Roseville, California. The university had spent £1.2 million on the project. Campus. Warwick is located on the outskirts of Coventry, southwest of the city centre and not in the town of Warwick as its name suggests. The university's main site comprises three contiguous campuses, all within walking distance of each other. The university also owns a site in Wellesbourne, acquired in 2004 when it merged with Horticulture Research International. Main campus. The main Warwick campus occupies between the City of Coventry and the County of Warwickshire. The original buildings of the campus are in contemporary 1960s architecture. The campus contains all of the main student amenities, all but four of the student halls of residence, and the Students' Union. The campus is split between the parliamentary constituencies of Kenilworth and Southam and Coventry South. Warwick Arts Centre. The Warwick Arts Centre is a multi-venue arts complex situated at the centre of Warwick's main campus. It attracts around 300,000 visitors a year to over 3,000 individual events spanning contemporary and classical music, drama, dance, comedy, films and visual art. The centre comprises six principal spaces: the Butterworth Hall, a 1,500-seat concert hall; a 550-seat theatre; a 180-seat theatre studio; a 220-seat cinema; the Mead Gallery, an art gallery; and the Music Centre, with practice rooms, and an ensemble rehearsal room where music societies and groups can rehearse. In addition the site includes the university bookshop, hospitality suites, a restaurant, café, shops, and two bars. University House. In 2003, Warwick acquired the former headquarters of National Grid, which it converted into an administration building renamed University House. There is a student-run facility called the ‘Learning Grid’ in the building, which includes two floors of PC clusters, scanners, photocopiers, a reference library, interactive whiteboards and plasma screens for use by individuals and for group work. Koan. The "White Koan" is a modern art sculpture by Liliane Lijn which is installed outside the main entrance to the Warwick Arts Centre. The "Koan" is high, white in colour, decorated with elliptical of fluorescent lights and is rotated by an electric motor whilst illuminated. It is intended to represent the Buddhist quest for questions without answers, the Kōan. The "Koan" was made in 1971 as part of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation City Sculpture Project and was originally sited in Plymouth; it moved to the Hayward Gallery in London before being purchased by Warwick in 1972. The "Koan" was temporarily relocated to the university's Gibbet Hill campus during refurbishments to the Warwick Arts Centre; it was returned upon completion of the project. According to student newspaper "The Boar", the white Koan has played a role in many of campus' myths and legends – it was allegedly the nose-cap of the Blue-Streak Missile, a supposed quick escape route for senior staff, and even a signalling device for aliens in outer space. The "Koan" even garnered its own cartoon strip in the 1990s, with thirty-two episodes created by Steve Shipway. The Koan Worshipping Society, led by the Koanists, believe the "Koan" is “the earth-bound manifestation of the immortal Koan, the creator of the universe”. Sports facilities. In April 2019, the university opened a new £49 million Sports and Wellness Hub, on the main campus, featuring two sports halls with arena style balcony, the largest gym in the Higher education sector, a 12-lane 25 metre pool with movable floor, climbing and bouldering walls, squash courts, studio spaces and a café. The previous main sports centre was closed on April 7, 2019, Elsewhere on campus is another sports hall, a £2.5 million 4-court indoor tennis centre with floodlit outdoor courts, a 400 m athletics track, multi-purpose outdoor surfaces, and over of outdoor playing fields, including a football pitch and cricket grounds. Warwick was an official training venue for the London 2012 Olympics. During the Games, some football matches were played at the nearby Ricoh Arena, home at the time to Coventry City Football Club, and Warwick provided training and residential facilities for the Olympic teams. Esports Facilities. In September 2021, Warwick opened its esports centre in the new Junction building on central campus, marking it as the first esports facility opened in a Russell Group university and also the first university esports facility to be opened in the UK that is not tied to a degree. The centre is equipped with 24 PCs, and is designed to be easily configurable and moveable to facilitate the hosting of larger scale events. The centre is open to all of the public, not just students of the university, and this is all only part of "Phase 1" of a larger push from the university to invest in esports. The centre is sponsored by Uninn and Coventry City Football Club, partnered with Sky Blues in the Community, Women in Games and Special Effect and has its tech supplied by Chillblast and HyperX. Other sites. Other Warwick sites include: Recent developments. In November 2005, Warwick outlined proposals for how it would like to develop its campus over the next fifteen years. The proposals built upon recent construction activity including a new Mathematics and Statistics Building, new Computer Science Building, new Business School buildings, a Digital Laboratory, new Residences and an expanded Sports Centre. The proposals envisage a shift in the "centre of gravity" of the campus away from the Students' Union towards University House and a proposed "Academic Square". Developed projects included an inter-disciplinary biosciences research facility; a £25 million upgrade to Warwick Business School; and the National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC), a new £150 million venture funded by Jaguar Land Rover and the UK government. The NAIC's purpose was to research and develop novel technologies to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and to reduce emissions. The new campus for postgraduates was opened in early-2020. The campus has been dubbed a "brain trust" and is intended to pioneer the green and high-tech sports and luxury cars of tomorrow, doubling the size of Jaguar's research team. In 2017, the university announced its intention to see an exponential growth of its main campus in order to remain "world-class" and cope with the growing number of applications it receives each year, especially from non-UK students. This growth included a new £33 million Faculty of Arts, a £55 million new sports centre which was finished in April 2019, a new £54.3 million Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building (IBRB), a new type of student accommodation called "Cryfield Village", the expansion of Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), a redevelopment for the Art centre and a new Library. For this occasion, Vice-Chancellor of Warwick University Stuart Croft declared: "New buildings are and will continue to be a part of our everyday existence. We need to open one new academic building a year from now until at least 2023. In order to do this and to keep Warwick as one of the world’s leading universities, we need to do this together, involving the whole community." Organisation and administration. Warwick is governed by two formal bodies: the Council and the Senate. In addition to these, a steering committee provide strategic leadership in between meetings of the formal bodies. Faculties are overseen by Faculty Boards which report to the Senate. The Principal Officers of the university have responsibility for day-to-day operations of the university. These include The Registrar, The Secretary to Council, The Group Finance Director, The Director of Commercial, The Chief Information and Digital Officer, and the Chief Communications Officer The latter two roles were created after it emerged that the current Registrar, Rachel Sandby-Thomas, had failed in her duty as the then Data Protection Officer to notify staff, students, and partners of a series of significant breaches. Faculties and departments. Warwick's academic activities are organised into the following faculties and departments: Finances. When the financial year ended on July 31, 2019, Warwick had a total income, including share of joint ventures, of £688.6 million (2017/18: £631.5 million). Key sources of income included £344.5 million from academic fees and support grants (2017/18: £316.6 million), £137.8 million from research grants and contracts (2017/18: £126.5 million), and £136.9 million from operating incomes (2017/18: £123.0 million). At year-end Warwick had endowment assets of £12 million (2017/18: £11.5 million). Coat of arms. Warwick's coat of arms depicts atoms of two isotopes of lithium, a DNA helix to represent science and also the "Bear and Ragged Staff", historically associated with Warwickshire and previously the Earls of Warwick as well as the Elephant and Castle of Coventry. The Bear is not chained in the current depiction of the university's coat of arms, although it had been in its original grant of Letters Patent by the College of Arms. Academic profile. In October 2018, Warwick had 26,531 students, with around two-fifths being postgraduates. About 43% of the student body comes from outside the UK and over 120 countries are represented on the campus. The university has twenty-nine academic departments and over forty research centres and institutes, in three faculties: Arts, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and Social Sciences. There were 2,492 academic and research staff in October 2018. International partnerships. Warwick students can study abroad for a semester or a year and may obtain a double degree. International partners include Columbia University, McGill University, Cornell University, UC Berkeley, Sciences Po Paris, and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Rankings and reputation. Warwick has a number of subjects within the 2018 ARWU's global top 50: In broad subject rankings, Warwick is ranked 36th globally for Social Sciences, 42nd for Humanities, and 78th for Natural Sciences, 164th for Engineering and Technology, and 204th for Life Sciences and Medicine according to the 2020 QS World University Rankings. In subject rankings, Warwick has a number of subjects within the global top 50 including: The Times Higher Education rankings has ranked six out of eleven subjects at Warwick within the global top 100 in 2020: Warwick's Economics department and Politics and International Studies (PAIS) department were ranked 1st in the UK by the Good University Guide 2020 ahead of Oxbridge. The Mathematics department was ranked 10th in the world (3rd in the UK) in 2019 by Academic Ranking of World Universities and 19th in the world (4th in the UK) in 2020 by QS. The Guardian University Guide ranks Warwick Business School (WBS) second only after Oxford's Saïd Business School Business and Management in 2014. The 2020 QS World University Rankings ranked WBS 4th in the UK and 23rd globally. However, Law and Legal Studies at Warwick has dropped from 36th globally in 2013 to 51–100th in 2020. Warwick is consistently ranked amongst the top ten in the three major national rankings of British universities. Warwick is a member of the 'Sutton 13' of top ranked universities in the UK. Warwick was declared as "The Times" and "The Sunday Times" "University of the Year" 2015. Overall, nineteen of the twenty-seven subjects offered by Warwick were ranked within the top 10 nationally in 2019 by the Complete University Guide. In 2017, Warwick was named as the university with the joint second highest graduate employment rate of any UK university, with 97.7% of its graduates in work or further study three and a half years after graduation. Admissions. Warwick students also average top A-Level grades with new entrants in 2015 amassing an average of 478 UCAS points, the equivalent of AAAaa at A-level—the 13th highest in the country. In 2015, the university had the 6th highest offer rate amongst the Russell Group. For 2017 entry, the university was one of only a few mainstream universities (along with Cambridge, Imperial College, LSE, Oxford, St Andrews, and UCL) to have no courses available in Clearing. 22% of Warwick's undergraduates are privately educated, the fifteenth highest proportion amongst mainstream British universities. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 66:9:25 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 50:50. Library. The main university library is located in the middle of the main campus. It houses approximately 1,265,000 books and over 13 kilometres of archives and manuscripts. The main library houses services to support Research and Teaching practice and collaboration between departments. The Wolfson Research Exchange opened in October 2008 and provides collaboration spaces, seminar rooms, conference facilities and study areas for Postgraduate Research students. The Teaching Grid, which opened in 2008, is a flexible space which allows teaching staff to try out new technologies and techniques. Adjacent to the main library building is the Modern Records Centre, a sizeable archive collection, including the UK's largest industrial relations collection. Research. In 2013, Warwick had a total research income of £90.1 million, of which £33.9 million was from Research Councils; £25.9 million was from central government, local authorities and public corporations; £12.7 million was from the European Union; £7.9 million was from UK industry and commerce; £5.2 million was from UK charitable bodies; £4.0 million was from overseas sources; and £0.5 million was from other sources. In the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF), Warwick was again ranked 7th overall amongst multi-faculty institutions and was the top-ranked university in the Midlands. 87% of the university's academic staff were rated as being in "world-leading" or "internationally excellent" departments with top research ratings of 4* or 3*. Warwick is particularly strong in the areas of decision sciences research including economics, finance, management, mathematics and statistics. For instance, researchers of the Warwick Business School have won the highest prize of the prestigious European Case Clearing House. Warwick has also established a number of stand-alone units to manage and extract commercial value from its research activities. The four most prominent examples of these units are University of Warwick Science Park; Warwick HRI; Warwick Ventures; and WMG. Commercial focus. Warwick has at times received criticism for being too commercially focused, at the expense of academic creativity and diversity. The most famous proponent of this critique was the noted historian E.P. Thompson, who edited and wrote much of "Warwick University Ltd" in 1971. The book focuses on the brief student occupation of the Registry in 1967, and its causes, the files that were discovered and published, and the subsequent actions of the university, students and staff. Nevertheless, with the appointment of Sir Nicholas Scheele as Chancellor in 2002, the university signalled that it intended to continue and expand its commercial activities. In an interview for the BBC, Scheele said: "I think in the future, education and industry need to become even more closely linked than they have been historically. As government funding changes, the replacement could well come through private funding from companies, individuals and grant-giving agencies." Student life. Undergraduate student life at Warwick can be broadly divided into two phases. In the first year, student life revolves around campus and, in particular, the Students' Union with its sports clubs, societies, and entertainment facilities. In subsequent years students typically live off-campus, in Leamington Spa, and more rarely in either the Coventry suburbs of Earlsdon and Canley or the town of Kenilworth. The university has a campus cat named Rolf. Students' Union. The University of Warwick Students' Union is one of the largest students' unions in the UK, and currently has over 260 societies and 67 sports clubs including basketball, rowing and ice hockey. The Union has an annual turnover of approximately £6 million, the profit from which is used to provide services to students and to employ its staff and sabbatical officers. The Union is divided into two buildings—SUHQ and The Union Building. The Union Building contains a three-room club venue known as "The Copper Rooms"; CAMRA-accredited "The Dirty Duck" pub; a popular bar called "The Terrace Bar"; Curiositea, a tea shop famous for its hot chocolates, cakes and vintage atmosphere; The Graduate, a postgraduate social and study space; and The Bread Oven, a design-your-own sandwich shop. Student media. Student media at Warwick includes: University Challenge. The university is the current title-holder of BBC television's 2021 University Challenge competition. This was their second win – their first was in 2007, beating the title-holders University of Manchester in the final. Esports. The University of Warwick are the five-time UK Esports "University of the Year", having won the title every year since its inception. In August 2022, Warwick became the first UK university to receive a finalist nomination for the Esports Awards, for Esports Collegiate Program of the Year, with Head of Esports Jack Fenton also becoming the first UK nominee for Collegiate Ambassador of the Year. Warwick fields numerous esports teams each year through its student-run esports society, Warwick Esports, who compete out of the Esports Centre. Student housing. The Warwick campus currently has around 6,300 student bedrooms across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate residences. All of the residences are self-catered, and each has residential tutors and a warden. Warwick guarantees accommodation for all first-year undergraduate students, regardless of their present address. Many of the university's postgraduate population are also catered for, with some specific residences available for postgraduate living. Each residence accommodates a mixture of students both domestic and foreign, male and female, and, sometimes, undergraduate and postgraduate. In their second and third years, many students live in one of the surrounding towns: either Coventry, Canley, Kenilworth or Royal Leamington Spa, where they can live in student accommodation or independently owned residences. Since 2011, Warwick has constructed two new halls of residences for the students. Bluebell, opened in 2011, offers accommodation in flats of eight people, with a total of 505 single rooms for first-year undergraduates. The Sherbourne residences was opened in 2012, which similarly provides 527 ensuite rooms to first-years, and was extended with a further 267 rooms in 2017. A further 700 new rooms were built in the Cryfield Village, namely Cryfield ‘Townhouse’ and ‘Standard’ residences. Political incidents. In June 2014, the university announced Alex Davies, a member of the proscribed terrorist organisation National Action, voluntarily withdrew from his course. In early-2018, it was made public that a group of male students had constituted a group chat in which many references to rape, occasionally targeted at particular other students, and other sexual offences were made, in such a way which left significant cause for concern. As a result of this and other incidents, students staged a Sit-in in 2021 in the central plaza of the university. In January 2020, the university was criticised for choosing not to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. This decision was later reversed in October following intervention by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. Notable people. Warwick has over 150,000 alumni and an active alumni network. Among the university's alumni, academic staff and researchers are two Nobel Laureates, a Turing Award winner, and a significant number of fellows of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society. Former Warwick students active in politics and government include Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, President of Iceland; Luis Arce, President of Bolivia; Joseph Ngute, Prime Minister of Cameroon; Yakubu Gowon, former President of Nigeria; Sir Gus O'Donnell, former Cabinet Secretary and head of the British Civil Service; Andrew Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England; David Davis, former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and former Shadow Home Secretary; Baroness Valerie Amos, the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and former Leader of the House of Lords; Mahmoud Mohieldin the Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group; Bob Kerslake, former Head of the Home Civil Service; Kim Howells, former Foreign Office Minister; and Isabel Carvalhais, Portuguese MEP (S&D Group); H.A Hellyer, led the British government's Taskforce on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism; George Chouliarakis, Greek Alternate Minister of Finance; and Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the Home Civil Service. In academia, people associated with Warwick include: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1975) winner Sir John Cornforth who was a professor at Warwick; mathematicians Ian Stewart, David Preiss, David Epstein and Fields Medallist Martin Hairer; computer scientists Mike Cowlishaw and Leslie Valiant; and neurologist Oliver Sacks. In arts and the social sciences: Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart; economist and President of the British Academy Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford; academic and Provost of Worcester College Sir Jonathan Bate; academic and journalist Germaine Greer; literary critic Susan Bassnett; historians Sir J. R. Hale and David Arnold; economist Andrew Oswald; economic historian Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky; Lady Margaret Archer, theorist in critical realism, former Warwick lecturer and accelerationist philosopher Nick Land, former President of International Sociological Association, current president of Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences; Sir George Bain, former Principal of London Business School; John Williamson, English economist who coined the term Washington Consensus; Susan Strange, British scholar of international relations who was almost single-handedly responsible for creating international political economy; Avinash Dixit, former President of the Econometric Society and American Economic Association, elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2005; Robert Calderbank, winner of the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal and the Claude E. Shannon Award; and Upendra Baxi, winner of the Padma Shri award. Warwick graduates are active in business. In the automotive industry, this includes Linda Jackson, CEO of Citroën; Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin; Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover; Sudarshan Venu, MD of TVS Motor Company; Others include Bernardo Hees, former CEO of both the Heinz Company and of Burger King; Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General; and Ian Gorham, CEO of Hargreaves Lansdown; Ness Wadia. Notable Warwick alumni in media, entertainment and the arts include Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Stephen Merchant, best known for being the co-writer and co-director of the sitcoms "The Office" and "Extras"; Oscar-nominated screenwriter Tony Roche, known for co-writing and co-producing "Veep" and "The Thick of It"; Olivier Award-winning director and writer Dominic Cooke, who is also artistic director at the Royal Court Theatre; actress Ruth Jones; comedian and actor Frank Skinner; "Guardian" columnist Dawn Foster; blacksmith turned comedian and comedy writer Lloyd Langford; actors Matt Stokoe and Adam Buxton; science fiction and fantasy author Jonathan Green; actor Julian Rhind-Tutt; Olivier Award-winning actor, Alex Jennings; author Anne Fine; author A.L. Kennedy; Tony Wheeler, creator of the Lonely Planet travel guides; Camila Batmanghelidjh; Merfyn Jones, governor of the BBC; and electronic dance music artist Gareth Emery. Grammy-and-Emmy Award-winning musician Sting enrolled at Warwick, but left after a term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61153

Leicestershire

Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, and Staffordshire to the west. The city of Leicester is the largest settlement and the county town. The county has an area of and a population of 712,300. Leicester occupies the centre of the county and is by far the largest settlement, with a built-up area population of 357,000. The remainder of the county is largely rural, and the next-largest settlements are Loughborough (65,000), Hinckley (50,000), and Coalville (22,000). The county contains eight local government districts; seven are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county also called Leicestershire, and the district of Leicester is a unitary area. Leicestershire is generally a lowland county, characterised by small, rolling hills. It is bisected by the River Soar, which rises near the Warwickshire border south of Hinckley and flows north through Leicester and Loughborough before reaching the Trent at the county boundary. To the west of the river is Charnwood Forest, an upland area which contains Bardon Hill, which at is the county's highest point. There are Prehistoric earthworks in the county, and Leicester was a Roman settlement. The region was settled by the Angles in the sixth century and became part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and the county existed at the time of the Domesday Survey in the 1080s. The county has had a relatively settled existence, however it was the site of the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, in which established the Tudor dynasty's position as monarchs of England. During the Industrial Revolution the Leicestershire coalfield in the north and west of the county was exploited. Leicester became known for shoemaking, and with Loughborough continues to be a manufacturing centre. In agriculture the county is known for Stilton cheese and Melton Mowbray pork pies. History. Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes: Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote, and Gartree. These later became hundreds, with the division of Goscote into West Goscote and East Goscote, and the addition of Sparkenhoe hundred. In 1087, the first recorded use of the name was as "Lægrecastrescir". Leicestershire's external boundaries have changed little since the Domesday Survey. The Measham-Donisthorpe exclave of Derbyshire has been exchanged for the Netherseal area, and the urban expansion of Market Harborough has caused Little Bowden, previously in Northamptonshire to be annexed. In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the county borough status of Leicester city and the county status of neighbouring Rutland, converting both to administrative districts of Leicestershire. These actions were reversed on 1 April 1997, when Rutland and the City of Leicester became unitary authorities. Rutland became a distinct Ceremonial County once again, although it continues to be policed by Leicestershire Constabulary. The symbol of the county council, Leicestershire County Cricket Club and Leicester City FC, is the fox. Leicestershire is considered to be the birthplace of fox hunting as it is known today. Hugo Meynell, who lived in Quorn, is known as the father of fox hunting. Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough have associations with fox hunting, as has neighbouring Rutland. Leicestershire was the last historic county of England to get a registered flag, the design being officiated in July 2021. The new flag features a fox and a cinquefoil – both symbols often associated with Leicestershire. Geography. The River Soar together with its tributaries and canalisations constitutes the principal river basin of the county, although the River Avon and River Welland through Harborough and along the county's southern boundaries are also significant. The Soar rises between Hinckley and Lutterworth, towards the south of the county near the Warwickshire border, and flows northwards, bisecting the county along its north–south axis, through 'Greater' Leicester and then to the east of Loughborough where its course within the county comes to an end. It continues north marking the boundary with Nottinghamshire in the Borough of Rushcliffe for some before joining the River Trent at the point where Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire meet. The geographical centre of England is in Leicestershire, near Fenny Drayton in the southwest of the county. In 2013, the Ordnance Survey calculated that the point was on land at Lindley Hall Farm; Meriden, around 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest, had been considered the traditional centre for more than 500 years. A large part of the north-west of the county, around Coalville, forms part of the new National Forest area extending into Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The highest point of the county is Bardon Hill at , which is also a Marilyn; with other hilly/upland areas of c. and above in nearby Charnwood Forest and also to the east of the county around Launde Abbey. The lowest point, at an altitude of about , is located at the county's northernmost tip close to Bottesford where the River Devon flowing through the Vale of Belvoir leaves Leicestershire and enters Nottinghamshire. Demographics. The population of Leicestershire (excluding Leicester Unitary Authority) is 609,578 people (2001 census). The county covers an area of 2,084 km2 (804 sq mi). Its largest population centre is the city of Leicester, followed by the town of Loughborough. Other large towns include Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Coalville, Hinckley, Lutterworth, Market Harborough, Melton Mowbray, Oadby, Shepshed and Wigston.Some of the larger of villages are: Burbage (population estimated around 16,500 in 2014), Birstall (population 11,400 in 2004), Broughton Astley, Castle Donington, Kibworth Beauchamp (along with Kibworth Harcourt), Great Glen, Ibstock, Countesthorpe and Kegworth. One of the most rapidly expanding villages is Anstey, which has recently seen many development schemes. The 2001 United Kingdom census showed a total resident population for Leicester of 279,921, a 0.5% decrease from the 1991 census (this trend since reversing at the 2011 census). Approximately 62,000 were aged under 16, 199,000 were aged 16–74, and 19,000 aged 75 and over. 76.9% of Leicester's population claim they have been born in the UK, according to the 2001 UK Census. Mid-year estimates for 2006 indicate that the population of the City of Leicester stood at 289,700 making Leicester the most populous city in East Midlands. The population density is and for every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. Of those aged 16–74 in Leicester, 38.5% had no academic qualifications, significantly higher than 28.9% in all of England. 23.0% of Leicester's residents were born outside of the United Kingdom, more than double than the English average of 9.2%. Economy. Engineering. Engineering has long been an important part of the economy of Leicestershire. John Taylor Bellfounders continues a history of bellfounding in Loughborough since the 14th century. In 1881 John Taylors cast the largest bell in Britain, "Great Paul", for St Paul's Cathedral in London. Norman & Underwood have been making sand cast sheet lead roofing and stained glass since 1825 working on many of England's major cathedrals and historic buildings, including Salisbury Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace, and Chatsworth House. There were three coal mines that operated in Coalville from the 1820s until 1986. Abbey Pumping Station houses four enormous steam powered beam engines built in Leicester in the 1890s in the Vulcan factory owned by Josiah Gimson, whose son Ernest Gimson was an influential furniture designer and architect of the English arts and crafts movement. Engineering companies today include sports car makers Noble Automotive Ltd in Barwell and Ultima Sports Ltd in Hinckley, Triumph Motorcycles in Hinckley, Jones & Shipman (machine tools), Caterpillar Redford (Plant machinery), Plant manufacturers Metalfacture Ltd (sheet metal work), Richards Engineering (foundry equipment), Transmon Engineering (materials handling equipment), Trelleborg Industrial AVS in Beaumont Leys (industrial suspension components), Parker Plant (quarrying equipment), Aggregate Industries UK (construction materials), Infotec in Ashby-de-la-Zouch (electronic information display boards), Alstec in Whetstone, Leicestershire (airport baggage handling systems), and Brush Traction (railway locomotives) in Loughborough. There are also consultancies (including Pick Everard) in Leicestershire supporting engineering and the built environment. Local commitment to nurturing the upcoming cadre of British engineers includes apprenticeship schemes with local companies, and academic-industrial connections with the engineering departments at Leicester University, De Montfort University, and Loughborough University. The Systems Engineering Innovation Centre and Centre for Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies are both based at Loughborough University. Private sector research and development organisations include PERA – the technology based consultancy in Melton Mowbray, and MIRA – the automotive research and development centre based on the outskirts of Hinckley. Automotive and aerospace engineers use the test facilities at Mallory Park, and Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and proving ground. On 18 October 2007, the last airworthy Avro Vulcan was flown from Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome after 10 years of restoration there by aerospace engineers of the Vulcan Operating Company. Farming. Leicestershire has a long history of livestock farming which continues today. Robert Bakewell (1725–1795) of Dishley, near Loughborough, was a revolutionary in the field of selective breeding. Bakewell's Leicester Longwool sheep was much prized by farmers across the British Empire and is today a heritage breed admired. Commercial and rare breeds associated with the descendants of Bakewell's sheep include the English Leicester, Border Leicester, Bluefaced Leicester, Scotch mule, and Welsh halfbred. The Leicestershire County Show is held on the first Bank Holiday in May each year and includes animal showings, trade exhibitions, and show jumping. Melton Mowbray Market is an important regional livestock market. Field sports remain an important part of the rural economy of Leicestershire, with stables, kennels, and gunsmiths based in the county. Food and drink. Stilton and Red Leicester cheeses and the pork pie are the three most famous contributions to English cuisine from Leicestershire. Leicestershire food producers include Claybrooke mill, one of the very few commercially working watermills left in Britain producing a range of over 40 flours; meat from rare and minority breeds from Brockleby's; and Christmas turkey and goose from Seldom Seen Farm. Two dairies produce Red Leicester cheese in the county, Long Clawson and the Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Company. All-natural non-alcoholic fruit cordials and pressed drinks are made by Belvoir Fruit Farms and sold in supermarkets across Britain. Swithland Spring Water is sourced from the Charnwood hills. Breweries in Leicestershire and Rutland are listed on the Leicester CAMRA website. The county's largest beer brewer is Everards, and there are several microbreweries such as Belvoir Brewery in Old Dalby, Parish Brewery in Burrough on the Hill, Wicked Hathern Brewery in Loughborough, the Gas Dog Brewery at Somerby near Melton, Ellis Wood brewery in Hinckley, and the Pig Pub Brewery in Claybrooke Magna near Lutterworth. Vineyards in Leicestershire include Chevelswarde Vineyard (Lutterworth), Welland Valley Vineyard (Market Harborough), Eglantine (Loughborough) and Rothley Wines (Rothley). Melton Mowbray Sloe Gin is a liqueur with a distinctive flavour. Various markets are held across the county. Leicester Market is the largest outdoor covered marketplace in Europe and among the products on sale are fruit and vegetables sold by market stallholders, and fresh fish and meat in the Indoor Market. The annual East Midlands Food & Drink Festival held in Melton Mowbray had over 200 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors attending in 2007 making it the largest British regional food festival. Food processing in the city and county includes popular British fish and chip shop pie Pukka Pies who are based in Syston. Walkers Midshire Foods, part of the Samworth Brothers group, makes sausages and pies in its Beaumont Leys factories. Samworth Brothers has operations in Leicestershire and Cornwall (Ginsters), making a range of products from sandwiches to desserts for UK retailers under their brands as well the company's own portfolio of brands including Dickinson & Morris, producers of pork pies and Melton Hunt Cake. Walkers crisps are made in Beaumont Leys using Lincolnshire potatoes. United Biscuits have their distribution centre in Ashby-de-la-Zouch as well as a snacks factory producing brands such as Hula Hoops, Skips, Nik Naks and Space Raiders and they also have a biscuit factory in Wigston. The Masterfoods UK factory at Melton Mowbray produces petfood for brands such as Cesar, Kitekat, PAL, Pedigree, Sheba, Whiskas, Aquarian and Trill. Hand made chocolates are produced by Chocolate Perfection in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Some 15 major Indian food manufacturers are based in Leicester including Sara Foods, Mayur Foods, Cofresh Snack Foods Ltd, Farsan, Apni Roti, and Spice n Tice. The 'Mithai' Indian sweet market is catered for by award-winning Indian restaurants – for instance the vegetable samosas approved by the Vegetarian Society sold at The Sharmilee on Belgrave Road in the Belgrave area of Leicester. The growing market for Indian food has afforded new opportunities to long-standing local companies, for example the Long Clawson dairy, a co-operative manufacturer of Stilton (cheese) now also makes Paneer cheese used in the Indian dish Mattar Paneer. Leicestershire food exported abroad includes cheese from the Long Clawson dairy, which is sold in supermarkets in Canada and the United States via a network of distributors coordinated by Taunton-based company Somerdale. Belvoir Fruit Farms cordials and pressé drinks are sold on the United States east coast in Wegmans Food Markets, World Market, Harris Teeter, Dean & DeLuca, and in specialised British food stores such as Myers of Keswick (New York City), and the British Pantry (near Washington, D.C.). The annual Leicestershire & Rutland Restaurant Awards has several categories including Leicestershire & Rutland Restaurant of the Year, Best Asian Restaurant, Best Service, Best Newcomer, Best Fine Dining Restaurant, Best Value for Money, Best Drinks/Wine List, Best Local Produce Menu, Best Gastro Pub, Best Neighbourhood Restaurant, Best Business Lunch, and Leicestershire & Rutland Young Chef of the Year. Clothing. Leicester and Leicestershire has had a traditional industry of knitwear, hosiery and footwear, and the sheep on the county's coat of arms is recognition of this. The local manufacturing industry, which began with hand knitting in the Middle Ages, and was fully industrialised by the end of the 19th century, survived until the end of the 20th century through retailers buying UK sourced products, and government measures such as the protection of the Multi Fibre Arrangement which ended in 2004. Cheaper global competition, coupled with the 1999 slump in the UK fashion retail sector, led to the end of much of the cheaper clothing manufacturing industry. Today Leicestershire companies focus on high quality clothing and speciality textiles. Other local companies manufacture knitwear such as Commando Knitwear of Wigston, and others specialise in technical textiles for industrial or medical purposes. Clothing and fabric for the British Asian community is made here – for example the shop Saree Mandir sells silk saree's and salwar suits for women whose design patterns closely follow contemporary Indian trends. The Knitting Industries' Federation continues to be based in Leicestershire. On the creative side the design centre for next is headquartered in Enderby, and the design centre for George Clothing (Asda/Walmart) is in Lutterworth. De Montfort University has, in the form of its Fashion and Contour Design course a leading design department for female underwear. It also has the only UK University courses in Footwear Design providing future designers for local shoemakers Shoefayre, Stead and Simpson, and Shoe Zone, who all have their headquarters in the county. Gola also originates from the county. Healthcare. University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust employs around 11,000 at its three hospitals in the city and county, the Glenfield, the General and the Royal Infirmary. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust employs over 5,500 staff providing mental health, learning disability and community health services in the city and county. These services are commissioned by the three Clinical Commissioning Groups, led by local GPs. The British Psychological Society, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) based in Wigston, and the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) have their head offices in Leicestershire. Biomedical industries. Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical instrument manufacturing companies include 3M, Bridgehead International in Melton, Fisher Scientific in Loughborough, and Ashfield Healthcare in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Freight and distribution. Transportation links are good. East Midlands Airport is one mile (1.6 km) south of Castle Donington, next to the M1 in north-west Leicestershire, and is the second largest freight airport in the United Kingdom after London Heathrow. DHL Aviation have a large purpose-built facility at EMA, and courier companies UPS and TNT also use the airport as a base. Lufthansa Cargo is also a regular user of East Midlands, and the airport is a primary hub for Royal Mail. The M1 is Leicestershire's other important transport hub. The start of the M6, and part of the A14 briefly intersect with the southern tip of Leicestershire. Many large retail companies have huge warehouses at the Magna Park complex near Lutterworth. The Widdowson Group make use of J21a of the M1 to provide warehousing, transportation, freight forwarding, garage services and LGV/HGV training. Pall-Ex of Ellistown provide automated palletised freight distribution services from their location off Junction 22 of the M1. The Midland Main Line provides important connections to Yorkshire and London, and the Birmingham–Stansted Line is essentially Leicestershire's east–west connection from Hinckley to Melton. Other. Ibstock-based developer Wilson Bowden was bought in 2007 by Barratt Developments plc in a £2.2 billion deal. Charles Street Buildings (Leicester) and Jelson Homes are two other successful Leicester-based property companies. Hamilton-based Sofidel Group manufactures more than 600 million toilet rolls and kitchen towel rolls per year in its Leicestershire factories. Toy car company Corgi have their European operation at the Meridian Business Park, although the toys are now manufactured in China and the company is owned by Margate-based Hornby. Leicestershire is twinned with Kilkenny, Ireland. Leicester's Cultural Quarter is an ambitious plan to drive the regeneration of a large run-down area of the city. It has delivered: a new venue for the performing arts, Curve; creative workspaces for artists and designers, LCB Depot; and a Digital Media Centre. Many creative and media businesses have thrived in the region. As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the foxglove as the county flower. Financial and business services. Financial and business service companies with operations in Leicestershire include Alliance & Leicester, Cambridge & Counties Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Bank of India, HSBC, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Pension provision company Mattioli Woods employs 170 people at its Grove Park, Enderby, HQ and has a reputation for employing graduates directly from Leicestershire Universities. Companies that have their head office in the area include Next (clothing), and British Gas Business. The European Association of Trade Mark Owners, and the Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) are based in Leicestershire. Key stakeholders promoting economic development formed Leicester & Leicestershire Economic Partnership in 2011. Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce is another good source for business advice. Business awards. The Leicestershire Business Awards has categories including Investing in Leicestershire, Contribution to the Community, and Entrepreneur of the Year. Recent Leicestershire winners of the Queen's Award for Enterprise are listed on the Lord Lieutenant's website. Statistics. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire and Rutland (it does not include the City of Leicester) at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by "Office for National Statistics" with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Governance. For lieutenancy purposes, Leicestershire consists of the non-metropolitan county and the City of Leicester. For administrative purposes, most of the county is run by the Leicestershire County Council, though the City of Leicester is run independently by the Leicester City Council. The non-metropolitan county is divided into seven districts ran by district councils: The seven district councils in Leicestershire are Blaby, Charnwood, Harborough, Hinckley & Bosworth, Melton, North West Leicestershire and Oadby & Wigston. It has been proposed by the Leicestershire County Council in 2018 to get rid of the district councils. Leicestershire County Council consists of 55 elected members, from 52 wards. The most recent election was the May 2017 elections, where all seats were up for re-election. Following these elections the current political composition of the council is 42 Conservatives, 9 Liberal Democrats and 4 Labour councillors. County Hall, in Glenfield, some north-west of central Leicester and a little over from Leicester railway station, is the seat of Leicestershire County Council and the headquarters of the county authority. Below the County Council, there are seven district councils, Blaby, Charnwood, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, Melton, North West Leicestershire and Oadby and Wigston. The City of Leicester is a unitary authority which is separate from the county for local government, and provides all services in its area; the City Council meets at Leicester Town Hall. Parliamentary constituencies. Leicestershire is represented by ten members of parliament (MPs). Three seats within the City of Leicester were won by Labour Party MPs at the last general election, though Claudia Webbe currently represents Leicester East as an independent having been suspended by the party following a criminal conviction. Andrew Bridgen had the Conservative whip suspended after tweeting about COVID-19 vaccines, and subsequently joined the Reclaim Party. The other six Leicestershire seats are represented by Conservative MPs. Education. Publicly funded secondary schools in Leicestershire are comprehensive. The schools are segregated by age in some areas to ages 10–14 (middle schools), and 14–16 (upper schools) or 14–18 (upper schools which also provide sixth form education). The schools, compared with other LEAs, have large numbers on the roll with school enrolment often 2000 and more. For Melton and Blaby districts, although there is division by middle and upper schools, there is only one upper school in either district, giving no choice of school. However, many students of Lutterworth College in Harborough district actually hail from Blaby district. Charnwood has the largest school population – four times the size of the Melton district. In 2007, the best-performing state school at GCSE was Beauchamp College in Oadby. No comprehensives in Leicestershire LEA were rated as poor performers, unlike in some neighbouring counties. In 2007, 7,800 pupils took GCSE exams. For A-levels, the best comprehensive school in the county was the De Lisle College in Loughborough. The best schools overall at A-level were the two private single-sex schools in Loughborough, Loughborough Grammar School and Loughborough High School. GCSE results by district council. % of pupils gaining 5 grades A–C in 2007 including English and Maths (46.8% was the England average compared to Leicestershire's 48.9%). Independent schools. Independent schools in Leicestershire include Leicester Grammar School (mixed), Leicester High School for Girls (girls), Loughborough Grammar School (boys), Loughborough High School (girls), Loughborough Amherst School (mixed) Fairfield Preparatory School (primary school – mixed), Welbeck College (military 6th form college – mixed), Ratcliffe College (Roman Catholic – mixed), Grace Dieu Manor School (Roman Catholic – mixed), Stoneygate school (primary school – mixed), and Stoneygate College (mixed). Further education. There are four general further education colleges operating in Leicestershire; Leicester College, Loughborough College, South Leicestershire College and Stephenson College. All offer various vocational courses as well as apprenticeships and some academic courses. Brooksby Melton College provides apprenticeships and further education training courses in animal care, countryside, equine, fisheries, and land based service engineering, at their Brooksby campus. Higher education. Leicestershire has three universities, the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and De Montfort University. Educational associations. Several educational associations have their head offices in Leicestershire, including the Mathematical Association, the Association of School and College Leaders, the Association for College Management, the Girls Schools Association, the National Adult School Association, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and the Headmasters & Headmistresses Conference. Sporting associations. A number of UK sporting bodies have their head offices in Leicestershire, including the Institute of Sports & Recreation Management, the Institute of Swimming, Volleyball England, the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, the British Judo Association, the British Parachute Association, the British Triathlon Federation, the Amateur Swimming Association, the British Gliding Association, the British Motorcycle Federation, the English Indoor Bowls Association, the Youth Sport Trust and the British Isles Bowls Council. Music. The full range of music is performed in the county, from early medieval, European and Asian classical music, folk, jazz, blues, rock, and pop. Download Festival, a major hard rock and metal festival, is hosted at Donington Park and 110 Above Festival takes place in the north west of the county near to Twycross. Symphony orchestras. The Leicester Symphony Orchestra and the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra are two of the larger orchestras based in the county. The Philharmonia Orchestra, though based in London, holds annual residencies in Leicester. Amateur orchestras. Amateur orchestras include the Leicestershire Sinfonia, Loughborough Orchestra, Charnwood Orchestra, Coalville Light Orchestra and Soar Valley Music Centre Orchestra. Choirs and choral societies. Leicester-based choirs include the Leicester Cathedral Choir, Leicester Bach Choir, Broom Leys Choral Society Whitwick, Cantamici, the Cecilian Singers, Charnwood Choral Society, Coalville and District Male Voice Choir, Coro Nostro Chamber Choir, Humberstone Choral Society, Kainé Gospel Choir, Kingfisher Chorale, Leicester Church Music Consort, Leicester City Male Voice Choir, Leicester Philharmonic Choir, Leicestershire Chorale, Loughborough Ladies Choir, Loughborough Male Voice Choir, Meridian Singers, Newtown Linford mixed voice choir, Red Leicester choir, the Scarlet choir, Shepshed Singers, Synergy Community Choir, Wigston and district male voice choir, Unity Community Choir, and the Peepul Choir. Early music. The Longsdale Consort perform music of the renaissance and baroque periods. Leicester Recorder Society. Music shops. Stores selling sheet music and musical instruments in Leicestershire include Music Junkie Ltd, Sona Rupa (Indian), Intasound Music Ltd and MH Music (MH Music are actually in the centre of Market Harborough).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61289

Forensic entomology

Forensic entomology is the scientific study of the colonization of a dead body by arthropods. This includes the study of insect types commonly associated with cadavers, their respective life cycles, their ecological presences in a given environment, as well as the changes in insect assemblage with the progression of decomposition. Insect succession patterns are identified based on the time a given species of insect spends in a given developmental stage, and how many generations have been produced since the insects introduction to a given food source. Insect development alongside environmental data such as temperature and vapor density, can be used to estimate the time since death, due to the fact that flying insects are attracted to a body immediately after death. The identification of postmortem interval to aid in death investigations is the primary scope of this scientific field. However, forensic entomology is not limited to homicides, it has also been used in cases of neglect and abuse, in toxicology contexts to detect the presence of drugs, and in dry shelf food contamination incidents. Equally, insect assemblages present on a body, can be used to approximate a given location, as certain insects may be unique to certain areas. Therefore, forensic entomology can be divided into three subfields: urban, stored-product and medico-legal/medico-criminal entomology. History. Historically, there have been several accounts of applications for, and experimentation with, forensic entomology. Aside from an initial case report in China from the 13th century, the primitive observation and correlation between arthropods and forensic contexts were documented in Germany and France. This was conducted during a mass exhumation in the late 1880s by Hofmann and Reinhard. However, only in the last 30 years has forensic entomology been systematically explored as a feasible source for evidence in criminal investigations. Through their own experiments and interest in arthropods and death, Sung Tzu, Francesco Redi, Bergeret d’Arbois, Jean Pierre Mégnin and the physiologist Hermann Reinhard have helped to lay the foundations for today's modern forensic entomology. Song Ci. The Song Dynasty (960–1279) forensic science book "Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified" published by court judge, physician, medical scientist and writer Song Ci in 1247 contains the oldest known case of forensic entomology. In a murder case of 1235, a villager was stabbed to death and authorities determined that his wounds were inflicted by a sickle; this was a tool used for cutting rice at harvest time, a fact which led them to suspect a fellow peasant worker was involved. The local magistrate had the villagers assemble in the town square where they would temporarily relinquish their sickles. Within minutes, a mass of blow flies gathered around one sickle and none other, attracted to the scent of traces of blood unseen by the naked eye. It became apparent to all that the owner of that sickle was the culprit, the latter pleading for mercy as he was detained by authorities. Song Ci (sometimes referred to as Sung Tzu) was a judicial intendant who lived in China 1188-1251 AD. In 1247 AD Song Ci wrote a book entitled "Washing Away of Wrongs" as a handbook for coroners. In this book Song Ci depicts several cases in which he took notes on how a person died and elaborates on probable causes. He explains in detail on how to examine a corpse both before and after burial. He also explains the process of how to determine a probable cause of death. The main purpose of this book was to be used as a guide for other investigators so they could assess the scene of the crime effectively. His level of detail in explaining what he observed in all his cases laid down the fundamentals for modern forensic entomologists and is the first recorded account in history of someone using forensic entomology for judicial means. Francesco Redi. In 1668, Italian physician Francesco Redi disproved the theory of spontaneous generation. The accepted theory of Redi's day claimed that maggots developed spontaneously from rotting meat. In an experiment, he used samples of rotting meat that were either fully exposed to the air, partially exposed to the air, or not exposed to air at all. Redi showed that both fully and partially exposed rotting meat developed fly maggots, whereas rotting meat that was not exposed to air did not develop maggots. This discovery completely changed the way people viewed the decomposition of organisms and prompted further investigations into insect life cycles and into entomology in general. Bergeret d'Arbois. Dr. Louis François Etienne Bergeret (1814–1893) was a French hospital physician, and was the first to apply forensic entomology to a case. In a case report published in 1855 he stated a general life cycle for insects and made many assumptions about their mating habits. Nevertheless, these assumptions led him to the first application of forensic entomology in an estimation of post-mortem interval (PMI). His report used forensic entomology as tool to prove his hypothesis on how and when the person had died. Hermann Reinhard. The first systematic study in forensic entomology was conducted in 1881 by Hermann Reinhard, a German medical doctor who played a vital role in the history of forensic entomology. He exhumed many bodies and demonstrated that the development of many different types of insect species could be tied to buried bodies. Reinhard conducted his first study in east Germany, and collected many Phorid flies from this initial study. He also concluded that the development of only some of the insects living with corpses underground were associated with them, since there were 15-year-old beetles who had little direct contact with them. Reinhard's works and studies were used extensively in further forensic entomology studies. Jean Pierre Mégnin. French veterinarian and entomologist Jean Pierre Mégnin (1828–1905), published many articles and books on various subjects including the books "Faune des Tombeaux" and "La Faune des Cadavres", which are considered to be among the most important forensic entomology books in history. In his second book he did revolutionary work on the theory of predictable waves, or successions of insects onto corpses. By counting numbers of live and dead mites that developed every 15 days and comparing this with his initial count on the infant, he was able to estimate how long that infant was dead. In this book, he asserted that exposed corpses were subject to eight successional waves, whereas buried corpses were only subject to two waves. Mégnin made many great discoveries that helped shed new light on many of the general characteristics of decaying flora and fauna. Mégnin's work and study of the larval and adult forms of insect families found in cadavers sparked the interest of future entomologists and encouraged more research in the link between arthropods and the deceased, and thereby helped to establish the scientific discipline of forensic entomology. Forensic entomology subfields. Urban forensic entomology. Urban forensic entomology typically concerns pests infestations in buildings gardens or that may be the basis of litigation between private parties and service providers such as landlords or exterminators. Urban forensic entomology studies may also indicate the appropriateness of certain pesticide treatments and may also be used in stored products cases where it can help to determine chain of custody, when all points of possible infestation are examined in order to determine who is at fault. Stored-product forensic entomology. Stored-product forensic entomology is often used in litigation over insect infestation or contamination of commercially distributed foods. Medico-legal forensic entomology. Medicolegal forensic entomology covers evidence gathered through arthropod studies at the scenes of murder, suicide, rape, physical abuse and contraband trafficking. In murder investigations it deals with which insects eggs appear, their location on the body and in what order they appear. This can be helpful in determining a post mortem interval (PMI) and location of a death in question. Since many insects exhibit a degree of endemism (occurring only in certain places), or have a well-defined phenology (active only at a certain season, or time of day), their presence in association with other evidence can demonstrate potential links to times and locations where other events may have occurred. This discipline also assists in helping associate a victim, suspect and scene together. This is possible due to the different insect species located in specific geographical locations. Another area covered by medicolegal forensic entomology is the relatively new field of entomotoxicology. This particular branch involves the utilization of entomological specimens found at a scene in order to test for different drugs that may have possibly played a role in the death of the victim. The analytical perspective behind these methods essentially relies upon the fact that the presence of drugs within the carcass has an effect on the growth and morphology of the insects subsequently ingesting the toxins from the corpse. However, due to these morphological alterations resulting on the insects in question, this can potentially lead to an erroneous postmortem interval interpretation when basing the PMI estimation on the specimens physical development. Entomology can also be of aid in medico-legal cases when depicting the site of an injury. This can be said due to the species preference of alimentation. When eggs laid on the corpse by blow flies subsequently hatch into first instar (first stage larvae), they require a liquid protein meal. However, due to their minute size and fragility they are unable to break through the individuals skin themselves to attain this nutrition. Therefore, the female ensures to lay her eggs near a wound site or natural orifice to provide blood, mucosal layer and body fluids that are accessible for an easier feed. Myiasis. In cases of abandonment or neglect, the presence of Myiasis may be noted. The latter can be described as blow flies colonizing a human or animal in life. In other words, it is the infestation of living vertebrate animals with dipteran larvae. Essentially, this insect succession will feed on the organisms living tissue, ingested food or liquid body substances. However, it is imperative to be cautious of the confusion myiasis may cause in a forensic context. This said, if the victim or found remains were colonized when alive, prior to being discovered, the entomological evidence would be indicating time of neglect or injury, rather than time of death. Invertebrate types. Scorpionflies. Scorpionflies (order Mecoptera) were the first insects to arrive at a donated human cadaver observed (by the entomologist Natalie Lindgren) at the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility near Huntsville, Texas, and remained on the corpse for one and a half days, outnumbering flies during that period. The presence of scorpionflies thus indicates that a body must be fresh. Flies. Flies (order Diptera) are often first on the scene. They prefer a moist corpse for their offspring, maggots to feed on. The most significant types of fly include: Beetles. Beetles (Order Coleoptera) are generally found on the corpse when it is more decomposed. In drier conditions, the beetles can be replaced by moth flies (Psychodidae). Mites. Many mites (class Acari, not insects) feed on corpses with "Macrocheles" mites common in the early stages of decomposition, while Tyroglyphidae and Oribatidae mites such as Rostrozetes feed on dry skin in the later stages of decomposition. "Nicrophorus" beetles often carry on their bodies the mite "Poecilochirus" which feed on fly eggs. If they arrive at the corpse before any fly eggs hatch into maggots, the first eggs are eaten and maggot development is delayed. This may lead to incorrect PMI estimates. "Nicrophorus" beetles find the ammonia excretions of blowfly maggots toxic, and the "Poecilochirus" mites, by keeping the maggot population low, allow "Nicrophorus" to occupy the corpse. Moths. Moths (order Lepidoptera) specifically clothes-moths – Family Tineidae – are closely related to butterflies. Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are crepuscular and diurnal species. During their larval stages, clothes moths tend to feed on mammalian hair. They are amongst the final animals contributing to the decomposition of a corpse. This said, adult moths lay their legs on a carcass "subsequently" to fly larvae having had their presence on it. Wasps, ants, and bees. Wasps, ants, and bees (order Hymenoptera) are not necessarily necrophagous. While some feed on the body, some are also predatory, and eat the insects feeding on the body. Thus meaning they are parasitoids (Parasitoid wasp). These Hymenoptera lay their eggs within the eggs or pupae of other insects; essentially causing the death of host insects. Wasps can also be of association to the family Pteromalidae. The latter can lay single or multiple eggs. They oviposit in pupae of muscoid flies (blow flies). Subsequently, to the wasp eggs hatching, larvae will feed on the fly developing within the puparium; leading to its death. Bees and wasps have been seen feeding on the body during the early stages. This may cause problems for murder cases in which larval flies are used to estimate the post mortem interval since eggs and larvae on the body may have been consumed prior to the arrival on scene of investigators. Factors. Moisture levels. Rain and humidity levels in the area where the body is found can affect the time for insect development. In most species, large amounts of rain will indirectly cause slower development due to drop in temperature. Light rain or a very humid environment, by acting as an insulator, will permit a greater core temperature within the maggot mass, resulting in faster development. Submerged corpses. M. Lee Goff, a noted and well respected forensic entomologist, was assigned to a case involving the discovery of a decomposing body found on a boat half a mile from shore. Upon collection of the maggot mass, only one insect, "Chrysomya megacephala", was discovered. He concluded that the water barrier accounted for the scarcity of other flies. He also noted that flies will not attempt to trek across large bodies of water unless there is a substantially influential attractant. In addition, the amount of time a maggot mass has been exposed to salt water can affect its development. From the cases Goff observed he found that if subjected for more than 30 minutes, there was a 24‑hour developmental delay. Not many more studies have been conducted and thus a specific amount of delay time is difficult to estimate. The main focus of a study accomplished by Payne and King using fetal pigs, was the insect succession regarding carcass decomposition in an aquatic setting. Their results concluded that in the early floating stages of the cadaver, eggs were laid by blowflies. Moreover, by the bloating stage, most of the exposed flesh was absent and maggots migrated from the body. Many of the latter were present below the water line and fed on the carcass; with only their Spiracle (arthropods) protruding the surface. Sun exposure. "Because insects are cold-blooded animals, their rate of development is more or less dependent on ambient temperature." Bodies exposed to large amounts of sunlight will heat up, giving the insects a warmer area to develop, reducing their development time. An experiment conducted by Bernard Greenberg and John Charles Kunich with the use of rabbit carcasses to study accumulation of degree days found that with temperature ranging in the mid 70s to high 80s the amount of developmental time for maggots was significantly reduced. In contrast, bodies found in shaded areas will be cooler, and insects will require longer growth periods. In addition, if temperatures reach extreme levels of cold, insects instinctively know to prolong their development time in order to hatch into a more accepting and viable climate in order to increase the chance of survival and reproduction. Air exposure. Hanged bodies can be expected to show their own quantity and variety of flies. Also, the amount of time flies will stay on a hanged body will vary in comparison to one found on the ground. A hanged body is more exposed to air and thus will dry out faster, leaving less food source for the maggots. As the body begins to decompose, a compilation of fluids will leak to the ground. This area is where most of the expected fauna can be found. Also, it is more likely that rove beetles and other non-flying insects will be found here instead of directly on the body. Fly maggots, initially deposited on the body, may also be found below. Geography. According to Jean Pierre Mégnin's book "La Faune des Cadavres" there are eight distinct faunal successions attracted to a corpse. While most beetles and flies of forensic importance can be found worldwide, a portion of them are limited to a specific range of habitats. It is forensically important to know the geographical distribution of these insects in order to determine information such as post mortem interval or whether a body has been moved from its original place of death. Calliphoridae is arguably the most important family concerning forensic entomology given that they are the first to arrive on the corpse. The family can be found worldwide. "Chrysomya rufifaces", the hairy maggot blow fly, is a forensically important member of the family Calliphoridae and is widespread, however it is not prevalent in the Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida, or Illinois regions. Flesh flies fall under the family Sacrophagidae and generally arrive at a corpse following Calliphoridae. Unlike Calliphoridae, however, members of this family are able to fly in heavy rain. This key advantage enables them to occasionally reach a body before Calliphoridae, affecting the maggot mass that will be discovered. Flesh flies are globally distributed including habitats in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Beetles are representative of the order Coleoptera which accounts for the largest of the insect orders. Beetles are very adaptive and can be found in almost all environments with the exception of Antarctica and high mountainous regions. The most diverse beetle fauna can be found in the tropics. In addition, beetles are less submissive to temperatures. Thus, if a carcass has been found in cold temperatures, the beetle will be prevalent over Calliphoridae. Weather. Various weather conditions in a given amount of time cause certain pests to invade human households. This is because the insects are in search of food, water, and shelter. Damp weather causes reproduction and growth enhancement in many insect types, especially when coupled with warm temperatures. Most pests concerned at this time are ants, spiders, crickets, cockroaches, ladybugs, yellowjackets, hornets, mice, and rats. When conditions are dry, the deprivation of moisture outside drives many pests inside searching for water. While the rainy weather increases the numbers of insects, this dry weather causes pest invasions to increase. The pests most commonly known during dry conditions are scorpions, ants, pillbugs, millipedes, crickets, and spiders. Extreme drought does kill many populations of insects, but also drives surviving insects to invade more often. Cold temperatures outside will cause invasions beginning in the late summer months and early fall. Box elder bugs, cluster flies, ladybugs, and silverfish are noticed some of the most common insects to seek the warm indoors. In general, insects are poikilothermic animals; thus meaning their level of activity is substantially depended upon their surrounding environmental conditions. An increase in the temperature will result in an accelerated metabolism of the insect; hence resulting in an increased activity. Modern techniques. Many new techniques have been developed and are used in order to more accurately gather evidence, or reevaluate old information. The use of these newly developed techniques and evaluations have become relevant in litigation and appeals. Forensic entomology not only uses arthropod biology, but it pulls from other sciences, introducing fields like chemistry and genetics, exploiting their inherent synergy through the use of DNA in forensic entomology. Scanning electron microscopy. Fly larvae and fly eggs are used to aid in the determination of a PMI. In order for the data to be useful the larvae and eggs must be identified down to a species level to get an accurate estimate for the PMI. There are many techniques currently being developed to differentiate between the various species of forensically important insects. A study in 2007 demonstrates a technique that can use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to identify key morphological features of eggs and maggots. Some of the morphological differences that can help identify the different species are the presence/absence of anastomosis, the presence/absence of anterior and posterior spiracles, the cephalopharyngeal skeleton as well as the shape and length of the median area. The SEM method provides an array of morphological features for use in identifying fly eggs; however, this method does have some disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that it requires expensive equipment and can take time to identify the species from which the egg originated, so it may not be useful in a field study or to quickly identify a particular egg. The SEM method is effective provided there is ample time and the proper equipment and the particular fly eggs are plentiful. The ability to use these morphological differences gives forensic entomologists a powerful tool that can help with estimating a post mortem interval, along with other relevant information, such as whether the body has been disturbed post mortem. Potassium permanganate staining. When scanning electron microscopy is not available, a faster, lower cost technique is potassium permanganate staining. The collected eggs are rinsed with a normal saline solution and placed in a glass petri dish. The eggs are soaked in a 1% potassium permanganate solution for one minute and then dehydrated and mounted onto a slide for observation. These slides can be used with any light microscope with a calibrated eyepiece to compare various morphological features. The most important and useful features for identifying eggs are the size, length, and width of the plastron, as well as the morphology of the plastron in the area around the micropyle. The various measurements and observations when compared to standards for forensically important species are used to determine the species of the egg. Mitochondrial DNA. In 2001, a method was devised by Jeffrey Wells and Felix Sperling to use mitochondrial DNA to differentiate between different species of the subfamily Chrysomyinae. This is particularly useful when working to determine the identity of specimens that do not have distinctive morphological characteristics at certain life stages. Mock crime scenes. A valuable tool that is becoming very common in the training of forensic entomologists is the use of mock crime scenes using pig carcasses. The pig carcass represents a human body and can be used to illustrate various environmental effects on both arthropod succession and the estimate of the post mortem interval. Pigs are the most frequently utilised model in an attempt to gather data regarding forensic experimental analysis. The latter is highly proportionate to human nature due to our overlapping characteristics with the mentioned species. These interrelated components include: subcutaneous fat stores, skin thickness, range of adult body mass, hair covering, and omnivorous diets. Gene expression studies. Although physical characteristics and sizes at various instars have been used to estimate fly age, a more recent study has been conducted to determine the age of an egg based on the expression of particular genes. This is particularly useful in determining developmental stages that are not evidenced by change in size; such as the egg or pupa and where only a general time interval can be estimated based on the duration of the particular developmental stage. This is done by breaking the stages down into smaller units separated by predictable changed in gene expression. Three genes were measured in an experiment with "Drosophila melanogaster": bicoid (bcd), slalom (sll), and chitin synthase (cs). These three genes were used because they are likely to be in varied levels during different times of the egg development process. These genes all share a linear relationship in regards to age of the egg; that is, the older the egg is the more of the particular gene is expressed. However, all of the genes are expressed in varying amounts. Different genes on different loci would need to be selected for another fly species. The genes expressions are mapped in a control sample to formulate a developmental chart of the gene expression at certain time intervals. This chart can then be compared to the measured values of gene expression to accurately predict the age of an egg to within two hours with a high confidence level. Even though this technique can be used to estimate the age of an egg, the feasibility and legal acceptance of this must be considered for it to be a widely utilized forensic technique. One benefit of this would be that it is like other DNA-based techniques so most labs would be equipped to conduct similar experiments without requiring new capital investment. This style of age determination is in the process of being used to more accurately find the age of the instars and pupa; however, it is much more complicated, as there are more genes being expressed during these stages. The hope is that with this and other similar techniques a more accurate PMI can be obtained. Insect activity case study. A preliminary investigation of insect colonization and succession on remains in New Zealand revealed the following results on decay and insect colonization. Open field habitat. This environment had a daily average maximum temperature of and a daily minimum temperature of . The average rainfall for the first 3 weeks in this environment was 3.0 mm/day. Around days 17–45, the body began to start active decay. During this stage, the insect successions started with "Calliphora stygia", which lasted until day 27. The larvae of "Chrysomya rufifacies" were present between the day 13 and day 47. "Hydrotaea rostrata", larvae of "Lucilia sericata", family Psychodidae, and "Sylvicola" were found to be present relatively late in the body's decay. Coastal sand-dune habitat. This environment had an average daily maximum temperature of and minimum of . The daily average rainfall was recorded as 1.4 mm/day for the first 3 weeks. The post-decay time interval, beginning at day six after death and ending around day 15 after death, is greatly reduced from the average post-decay time, due to the high average temperature of this environment. Insects obtained late in the post-active stage include the "Calliphora quadrimaculata", adult Sphaeroceridae, Psychodidae and Piophilidae (no larvae from this last family were obtained in recovery). Native bush habitat. This environment had recorded daily average maximum and minimum temperatures were , respectively. The average rainfall in this habitat was recorded at 0.4 mm/day. After the bloat stage, which lasted until day seven after death, post-active decay began around day 14. In this habitat, the "H. rostrata", adult Phoridae, Sylvicola larvae and adult were the predominant species remaining on the body during the pre-skeletonization stages. In literature. Throughout its history the study of forensic entomology has not remained an esoteric science reserved only for entomologists and forensic scientists. Early twentieth-century popular scientific literature began to pique a broader interest in entomology. The very popular ten-volume book series, Alfred Brehem's "Thierleben" (Life of Animals, 1876–1879) expounded on many zoological topics, including arthropods. The accessible writing style of French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre was also instrumental in the popularization of entomology. His collection of writings "Souvenirs Entomologique", written during the last half of the 19th century, is especially useful because of the meticulous attention to detail to the observed insects' behaviors and life cycles. The real impetus behind the modern cultural fascination with solving crime using entomological evidence can be traced back to the works "Faune des Tombeaux" (Fauna of the Tombs, 1887) and "Les Faunes des Cadavres" (Fauna of Corpses, 1894) by French veterinarian and entomologist Jean Pierre Mégnin. These works made the concept of the process of insect ecological succession on a corpse understandable and interesting to an ordinary reader in a way that no other previous scientific work had done. It was after the publication of Mégnin's work that the studies of forensic science and entomology became an established part of Western popular culture, which in turn inspired other scientists to continue and expand upon his research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61311

Stirling

Stirling (; ; ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its merchants and tradesmen, the Old Bridge and the port. Located on the River Forth, Stirling is the administrative centre for the Stirling council area, and is traditionally the county town of Stirlingshire. Proverbially it is the strategically important "Gateway to the Highlands". It has been said that "Stirling, like a huge brooch clasps Highlands and Lowlands together". Similarly "he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland" is sometimes attributed to Robert the Bruce. Stirling's key position as the lowest bridging point of the River Forth before it broadens towards the Firth of Forth made it a focal point for travel north or south. When Stirling was temporarily under Anglo-Saxon sway, according to a 9th-century legend, it was attacked by Danish invaders. The sound of a wolf roused a sentry, however, who alerted his garrison, which forced a Viking retreat. This led to the wolf being adopted as a symbol of the town as is shown on the 1511 Stirling Jug. The area is today known as Wolfcraig. Even today the wolf appears with a goshawk on the council's coat of arms along with the recently chosen motto: "Steadfast as the Rock". Once the capital of Scotland, Stirling is visually dominated by Stirling Castle. Stirling also has a medieval parish church, the Church of the Holy Rude, where, on 29 July 1567, the infant James VI was anointed King of Scots by Adam Bothwell, the Bishop of Orkney, with the service concluding after a sermon by John Knox. The poet King was educated by George Buchanan and grew up in Stirling. He was later also crowned King of England and Ireland on 25 July 1603, bringing closer the countries of the United Kingdom. Modern Stirling is a centre for local government, higher education, tourism, retail, and industry. The mid-2012 census estimate for the population of the city is 36,440; the wider Stirling council area has a population of about 93,750. One of the principal royal strongholds of the Kingdom of Scotland, Stirling was created a royal burgh by King David I in 1130. In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, Stirling was granted city status. History. Etymology. The origin of the name "Stirling" is uncertain, but folk etymology suggests that it originates in either a Scots or Gaelic term meaning the place of battle, struggle or strife. One proposal is that "Stirling" derives from Gaelic "srib-linn", meaning "stream-pool" or similar. Other sources suggest that it originates in a Brythonic name meaning "dwelling place of Melyn", with the first element being connected to Middle Welsh "ystre-", "a dwelling". The name may have originally been a hydronym, and connected to Brittonic "*lïnn", "lake, pool" (Welsh "llyn"). It is often argued that Stirling is the fortress of "Iuddeu" or "Urbs Giudi" where Oswiu of Northumbria was besieged by Penda of Mercia in 655, as recorded in Bede and contemporary annals. Ancient history. A stone cist, found in Coneypark Nursery in 1879, is Stirling's oldest catalogued artefact. Bones from the cist were radiocarbon dated and found to be over four millennia old, originating within the date range 2152 to 2021 BC. Nicknamed Torbrex Tam, the man, whose bones were discovered by workmen, died while still in his twenties. Other Bronze Age finds near the city come from the area around Cambusbarron. It had been thought that the Randolphfield standing stones were more than 3000 years old but recent radiocarbon dating suggests they may date from the time of Bruce. The earliest known structures in Stirling are now destroyed but comprised two Neolithic Cursus in Bannockburn. The earliest known surviving structure is a fort on Gillies Hill were built by Iron Age people over 2000 years ago. Two structures are known: what is currently called Wallstale Dun on the southern end of Touchadam Craig, and Gillies Hill fort on the northwest end of the craig. The Wallstale structure is later than the Gillies Hill fort and is related in form to brochs, these appear to coincide with the Roman period and there are around 40 or so in the wider area. South of the city, the King's Park prehistoric carvings can still be found. Roman and early Medieval. Its other notable geographic feature is its proximity to the lowest site of subjugation of the River Forth. Control of the bridge brought military advantage in times of unrest and excise duty, or pontage dues, in peacetime. Unsurprisingly excise men were installed in a covered booth in the centre of the bridge to collect tax from any entering the royal burgh with goods. Stirling remained the river's lowest reliable crossing point (that is, without a weather-dependent ferry or seasonal ford) until the construction of the Alloa Swing Bridge between Throsk and Alloa in 1885. The city has two Latin mottoes, which appeared on the earliest burgh seal of which an impression of 1296 is on record. The first alludes to the story as recorded by Boece who relates that in 855 Scotland was invaded by two Northumbrian princes, Osbrecht and Ella. They united their forces with the Cumbrian Britons in order to defeat the Scots. Having secured Stirling castle, they built the first stone bridge over the Forth. On the top they reportedly raised a crucifix with the inscription: "Anglos, a Scotis separat, crux ista remotis; Arma hic stant Bruti; stant Scoti hac sub cruce tuti." Bellenden translated this loosely as "I am free marche, as passengers may ken, To Scottis, to Britonis, and to Inglismen." It may be the stone cross was a tripoint for the three kingdom's borders or marches; the cross functioning both as a dividing territorial marker, and as a uniting witness stone like in the Bible story in Joshua 22. "Angles and Scots here demarked, By this cross kept apart. Brits and Scots armed stand near, By this cross stand safe here." This would make the cross on the centre of the first stone bridge the Heart of Scotland. The Stirling seal has only the second part, in a slightly different form: Apparently the Latin is not first rate having four syllables in "cruce tuti" but the meaning seems to be that the Lowland Strathclyde Britons on the southern shore and the Highland Pictish Scots on the northern shore stand protected from each other by their common Christianity. A more modern translation suggests that rather than Briton, bruit might be better read as brute, ie brute Scots, implying a non-Scots identity was retained in Stirling for some time after inclusion into the land controlled by the King of Scots. The second motto is: It has been claimed that the "Bridge" seal was regarded as the Burgh seal proper, the "Castle" seal being simply a reverse, used when the seal was affixed by a lace to a charter. This agrees with a description in an official publication (which spells Bruti with only one letter t). Clearer images are available with different lettering. Sibbald conflated the two mottos into a single rhyme; he gave no indication that he was aware of Boece's work. Stirling was first declared a royal burgh by King David in the 12th century, with later charters reaffirmed by subsequent monarchs. A ferry, and later bridge, on the River Forth at Stirling brought wealth and strategic influence, as did its tidal port at Riverside. Major battles during the Wars of Scottish Independence took place at the Stirling Bridge in 1297 and at the nearby village of Bannockburn in 1314 involving Andrew Moray and William Wallace, and Robert the Bruce respectively. After the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Moray and Wallace wrote to the Hanseatic leaders of Lübeck and Hamburg to encourage trade between Scottish ports (like Stirling) and these German cities. There were also several Sieges of Stirling Castle in the conflict, notably in 1304. Late Medieval and early Modern. Another important historical site in the area is the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey, the resting place of King James III of Scotland and his queen, Margaret of Denmark. The king died at the Battle of Sauchieburn by forces nominally led by his son and successor James IV. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Stirling also took place in the centre of Stirling on 12 September 1648. The fortifications continued to play a strategic military role during the 18th-century Jacobite risings. In 1715, the Earl of Mar failed to take control of the castle. In January 1746, the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie seized control of the town but failed to take the Castle. On their consequent retreat northwards, they blew up the church of St. Ninians where they had been storing munitions; only the tower survived and can be seen to this day. The castle and the church are shown on Blaeu's map of 1654 which was derived from Pont's earlier map.Standing near the castle, the Church of the Holy Rude is one of the town's most historically important buildings. Founded in 1129 it is the second oldest building in the city after Stirling castle. It was rebuilt in the 15th-century after Stirling suffered a catastrophic fire in 1405, and is reputed to be the only surviving church in the United Kingdom apart from Westminster Abbey to have held a coronation. On 29 July 1567 the infant son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was anointed James VI of Scotland in the church. James' bride, Anne of Denmark was crowned in the church at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. The Holy Rude congregation still meet and some 19th century parish records survive. Musket shot marks that may come from Cromwell's troops during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms are clearly visible on the tower and apse of the church. Economically, the city's port supported foreign trade, historically doing significant trade in the Low Countries, particularly with Bruges in Belgium and Veere in the Netherlands. In the 16th century there were so many Scots in Danzig in Prussia that they had their own church congregation and trade is mentioned with that city in Stirling Council's minutes of 1560. Around John Cowane's time there is an account which states there were about 30,000 Scots families living in Poland although that was possibly an exaggeration. Trade with the Baltic also took place such as a timber trade with Norway. After the Jacobite threat had faded but before the railways were established, the Highland cattle drovers would use the Auld Brig on their way to market at Falkirk or Stenhousemuir. Three times a year, tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and ponies were moved together to the trysts in the south with some drovers going as far as Carlisle or even London's Smithfield. There is a record of a four-mile long tailback (of livestock) developing from St. Ninians to Bridge of Allan after a St. Ninians tollman had a dispute. Victorian and Modern. In the early 19th century an "exceedingly low" cost steamboat service used to run between Stirling and Newhaven or Granton. The coming of the railways in 1848 started the decline of the river traffic, not least because the Alloa Swing Bridge downstream restricted access for shipping. The railways did provide opportunity too with one Riverside company selling their reaping machines as far afield as Syria and Australia. Similarly, in 1861, a company making baby carriages was set up. These prams were exported to Canada, South America, India and South Africa. The Princes Street drill hall was completed in 1908 and the Municipal Buildings, which formed the headquarters of Stirling Burgh Council for much of the 20th century, were completed in 1918. After the blockades of the World Wars there was some increase in the use of the port including a tea trade with India. However, with normal shipping lanes open, the growth of the railways including The Forth Rail Bridge, left the harbour uneconomical and by the mid 20th century the port had ceased to operate. Governance. In terms of local government, the city of Stirling is a part of the wider Stirling Council area, which is based at Old Viewforth and governs on matters of local administration as set out by the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The current members of the Council were voted in 2017 for a term of office of 5 years. The May 2017 local government election resulted in the Scottish Conservative party and Scottish National Party each winning nine councillors, while the Labour Party won four seats and the Scottish Green Party won one. However, subsequently one Conservative councillor left the party to sit as an Independent. The Provost of Stirling is Cllr Christine Simpson. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, the city of Stirling forms part of the Stirling constituency of the Scottish Parliament constituency. The Stirling Scottish Parliament (or "Holyrood") constituency created in 1999 is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The constituency's Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) is Evelyn Tweed of the Scottish National Party (SNP). In terms of national government, the city of Stirling forms part of county constituency of Stirling constituency of the House of Commons, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the parliament of the United Kingdom by first past the post system. Alyn Smith of the SNP is the MP for Stirling constituency of the House of Commons since the 2019 general election. Historical voting records can be found in online databases. Geography. Stirling is renowned as the "Gateway to the Highlands" and is generally regarded as occupying a strategic position at the point where the flatter, largely undulating Scottish Lowlands meet the rugged slopes of the Highlands along the Highland Boundary Fault. The starkness of this contrast is evidenced by the many hills and mountains of the lower Highlands such as Ben Vorlich and Ben Ledi which can be seen to the northwest of the city. On the other hand, the Carse of Stirling, stretching to the west and east of the city, is one of the flattest and most agriculturally productive expanses of land in the whole of Scotland. The land surrounding Stirling has been most affected by glacial erosion and deposition. The city itself has grown up around its castle which stands atop an ancient quartz-dolerite sill, known as the Stirling Sill, a major defensive position which was at the lowest crossing point on the River Forth. Stirling stands on the Forth at the point where the river widens and becomes tidal. To the east of the city the Ochil Hills dominate the skyline with the highest peak in the range being Ben Cleuch, although Dumyat is more noticeable from Stirling. The Ochils meet the flat carse (floodplain) of the River Forth to the east of the distinctive geographical feature of Abbey Craig, a crag and tail hill upon which stands the 220 ft (67 m) high National Wallace Monument. Areas of Stirling. Top of the Town consists of Broad Street, Castle Wynd, Ballengeich Pass, Lower Castle Hill Road, Darnley Street, Baker Street (formerly Baxters St), St John Street and St Mary's Wynd. These streets all lead up to Stirling Castle and are the favourite haunt of tourists who stop off at the Old Town Jail, Mar's Wark, Argyll's Lodging and the castle. Ballengeich Pass leads to the graveyard at Ballengeich and the Castle Wynd winds past the old graveyard. The Top of the Town from Broad Street upwards is renowned for its cobblestoned roads, and cars can be heard rattling over the cobblestones on the way down. Craft shops and tourist-focused shops are evident on the way up and once at the top, panoramic views are available across Stirling and beyond. All areas Historical place names for Stirling town in 1858–61 were compiled by O.S. map makers. Climate. Like most of the United Kingdom, Stirling has an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb") with mild summers and cool, wet winters. Stirling has some of the warmest summers in all of Scotland, being relatively far away from the cooling effects of the North Sea and the Firth of Clyde. Demography. The settlement of Stirling had a population of 48,440 in 2012. According to the 2001 census, 52.7% of the population was female compared to 47.2% male. Stirling had both a smaller proportion of under 16s, at 16.7% compared to the Scottish average of 19.2%, and a smaller proportion of those of pensionable age: 17.8% – compared to the Scottish average of 18.6%. Historical records also exist both in book form and in online databases. Culture. Walking the Marches is a custom probably started in the 12th century. The only way the town's boundaries could be protected was to walk round inspecting them annually. The walk was followed by a dinner. This was traditionally done by the Birlaw men made up from members of the Seven Trades, the Guildry and Council. In 2014 the tradition was revived after an official abeyance of several years. There are about sixteen libraries and two mobile libraries in Stirling. The Smith Art Gallery and Museum is now free to tourists and residents alike. Shearer's 1895 Penny Guide to Stirling and Neighbourhood used to list it under "How to spend a few hours on a wet day". The Macrobert Arts Centre has a variety of exhibitions and performances. There are many events at the Stirling Tolbooth and at The Albert Halls. Stirling has hosted the National Mòd several times: in 1909, 1961, 1971 and 1987. Religion. There are currently about 20 churches in the city. These include: Church of Scotland Roman Catholic Other churches Islam Economy. With Stirling's development as a market town and its location as the focus of transport and communications in the region, it has developed a substantial retail sector serving a wide range of surrounding communities as well as the city itself. Primarily centred on the city centre, there are a large number of chain stores, as well as the Thistles shopping centre. However this has been augmented by out-of-town developments such as the Springkerse Retail Park on the city bypass to the east of Stirling. A major new regeneration project on the site of the former port area and the former Ministry of Defence site, adjacent to Stirling Railway Station, is currently underway. Known as Forthside, it has the aim of developing a new waterfront district linked to the railway station via Forthside Bridge. The development comprises retail, residential and commercial elements, including a conference centre, hotel and Vue multiplex cinema, that will ultimately expand the city centre area, linking it to the River Forth, which has been cut off from the city centre area since the construction of the A9 bypass under the railway station in the 1960s. In the service sector, financial services as well as tourism are the biggest employers. The financial services and insurance company Scottish Amicable Life Assurance, now part of Prudential, established a large and base at Craigforth on the outskirts of Stirling in the 1970s. In terms of tourism, the presence of such historical monuments as Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument and other nearby attractions like Blair Drummond Safari Park has bolstered Stirling's position as a significant tourist destination in Scotland. The University of Stirling and Stirling Council are two of the biggest employers in the area. Knowledge related industries, research and development as well as life sciences have clustered around the university in the Stirling University Innovation Park, close to its main campus. Mauchline ware started producing wooden snuff-boxes in 1790 in Mauchline, Ayrshire. They were produced of the wood from the trees from the Castle craig. Today they are highly collectible. Stirling is home to national construction companies Ogilvie Group, chaired by Duncan Ogilvie, who was listed in the "Sunday Times Rich List" as being worth £32 million in 2009. A Bank of Scotland survey in 2009 found that workers in Stirling had the highest average earnings of £716 a week. Transport. The City of Stirling is home to a large number of commuters but has fewer commuting to work in other areas, than travel into the city. About half of Scotland's population live within an hour's travel time of Stirling. Local bus services to districts within the city are almost completely provided by buses operated by McGill's Scotland East. The surrounding towns, like Bridge of Allan, Alloa, Falkirk and Glasgow via Cumbernauld have services from the bus station. Coaches to many Scottish towns and cities also run regularly. There are also railway links from Stirling railway station, including inter-city rail services to Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh Waverley, Inverness, Glasgow Queen Street, and London King's Cross. Services to Alloa, Bridge of Allan, Falkirk and Dunblane also run. Stirling Council provides some approximate journey times. Working lines include the Highland Main Line, the Edinburgh–Dunblane line and the Croy Line. The station formerly provided direct railway services to Callander and Oban, and to Loch Lomond, over very scenic lines, and a fast service to Dunfermline. Cities with motorways links close to Stirling include Glasgow, via the M80 motorway past Cumbernauld, and Edinburgh, via the M9 motorway past Falkirk. To the north, the M9 provides access to Dunblane with easy links to Perth and further beyond the Central Belt. Stirling has no airport, but there are international airports at Glasgow and Edinburgh which can be reached within an hour. Light aircraft can be chartered at Cumbernauld Airport. Stirling used to have steamboats which carried hundreds of passengers a day. There is currently no working port at Stirling but there are plans to develop the river and the harbour which might include links with towns on the Firth of Forth. Since the Forth is tidal at Stirling, development of pontoon style landing stages could potentially allow river taxis and tourist boats to operate during the summer. Sports and recreation. Stirling is home to professional league teams in football, rugby and cricket. Marathon. The first Stirling Scottish Marathon was held on 21 May 2017. Curling. The National Curling Academy is located in Stirling Sports Village. It was opened in 2017 by Eve Muirhead. They use facilities linked to The Peak. It was hoped this would increase the chances of British medals at events like the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Football. Men. The senior football team, Stirling Albion, play in the Scottish League One at their home ground at Forthbank Stadium. In July 2010, the Stirling Albion Supporters' Trust successfully took over the running of the club buying out the long-serving chairman, Peter McKenzie, after 14 months of campaigning. This made Stirling Albion the first fully owned community club in the history of British football, after previous attempts made by Manchester United, Liverpool and Rangers. Women. Stirling University L.F.C. are the premier women's football team. They play in the Scottish Women's Premier League. Their home ground is The Gannochy Sports Centre at University of Stirling. Rugby. Stirling County currently play in rugby's Scottish Premiership Division One. Basketball. Stirling Knights Basketball Team are based at the Peak at Forthbank beside Forthbank Stadium. Athletics. The athletics team Central Athletic Club are based at the University of Stirling. Hockey. The University Stirling Wanderers Hockey Club have also moved to a brand new (international standard) pitch at Forthbank for season 2008–09. Cricket. Next to this pitch there is also the ground of Stirling County Cricket Club, whose pavilion captured an architectural award in June 2009, three years after its opening. Scotland international footballers Billy Bremner, John Colquhoun, Duncan Ferguson, female footballer Frankie Brown and brothers Gary and Steven Caldwell were born in Stirling. So were rugby internationals Kenny Logan, Allister Hogg and Alison McGrandles, jockey Willie Carson, and cricketer Dougie Brown. The University of Stirling is a major centre of sports training and education in Scotland. It was designated as Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence by the Scottish Government in 2008. The headquarters of the Scottish Institute of Sport is a purpose-built facility on the campus which opened in 2002. Also at the university is the Scottish National Swimming Academy, where Rio 2016, Olympic silver medalists and students at the university, Duncan Scott and Robbie Renwick trained. Commonwealth gold medalist Ross Murdoch, who also competed at Rio 2106, is a student at the university. The Gannochy National Tennis centre, which is seen as a tennis centre of excellence, was where Andy Murray and his brother Jamie Murray honed their skills as juniors. Gordon Reid, wheel chair Olympic gold medalist in 2016, was a tennis scholar at the university. The university men's and women's golf teams are consistently ranked among the best in Europe. The university has a dedicated sports studies department, which is within the Faculty of Health Science and Sport, and is ranked amongst the best in the United Kingdom for its provision of sports facilities, with the maximum 5-star award, shared by 16 other universities in the UK. The University of Stirling also currently hosts the Scottish men's lacrosse champions. Stirling and its surrounding area has a number of 9- and 18-hole golf courses, the largest of which is the Stirling Golf Course, located in the Kings Park area of the city. The Peak, a new Sports Village, was opened in April 2009 to cater for a range of sporting activities. In June 2014, Stirling will become the home of Scottish cricket after an agreement between Stirling County Cricket Club, Cricket Scotland and Stirling Council. It is hoped that the redevelopment of the ground will start at end 2014 with the intention being to upgrade it to international match standards. Scotland will play the majority of their home international games at the ground, starting with the World T20 qualifiers in the summer of 2015. The development will see a new pavilion and indoor training facility built at New Williamfield, the home of Stirling County Cricket Club, with Cricket Scotland relocating its headquarters from the National Cricket Academy at Ravelston, Edinburgh. Education. The University of Stirling opened in 1967 on a greenfield site outside the town. Currently there are 11,100 students studying at the university, of which 7,995 are undergraduates and 3,105 are postgraduates. There are 120 nationalities represented on the university campus, with 19% of students coming from overseas. It has grown into a major research centre, with a large Innovation Park located immediately adjacent to the main university campus. Innovation Park has grown since its initiation in 1993, and is now home to 40 companies engaging in various forms of research and development. In January 2008 it was announced that students from Singapore would be able to gain degrees in retail from the University of Stirling in a tie-up with the country's Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP). Stirling is also home to part of the wider Forth Valley College which was formed on 1 August 2005 from the merger of Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannan colleges. There are four main high schools in Stirling itself – Stirling High School, with a school roll of 964 pupils, Wallace High School with 958 pupils, St Modan's High School with 912 pupils, and Bannockburn High School in Broomridge with 752 pupils. All the city's secondary school premises have been redeveloped as a result of a Public-private partnership scheme. Stirling also has a Gaelic-medium unit situated in the city's Riverside Primary School which teaches pupils from across Stirling and Clackmannanshire through the medium of Scottish Gaelic. Freedom of the City. The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Stirling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61479

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over a career spanning eight decades and is considered a British film icon. He has received various awards including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. As of 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is one of only five male actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades. In 2000, he received a BAFTA Fellowship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to cinema. Often playing a Cockney, Caine made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in British films such as "Zulu" (1964), "The Ipcress File" (1965), "The Italian Job" (1969), and "Battle of Britain" (1969). During this time he established a distinctive visual style wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses combined with sharp suits and a laconic vocal delivery; he was recognised as a style icon of the 1960s. He solidified his stardom with roles in "Get Carter" (1971), "The Last Valley" (1971), "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), "The Eagle Has Landed" (1976), and "A Bridge Too Far" (1977). Caine received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles as Elliot in Woody Allen's comedy "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), and as Dr. Wilbur Larch in Lasse Hallström's drama "The Cider House Rules" (1999). His other Oscar-nominated films include "Alfie" (1966), "Sleuth" (1972), "Educating Rita" (1983), and "The Quiet American" (2002). Other notable performances include in the films "California Suite" (1978), "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Mona Lisa" (1986), "Little Voice" (1998), "Quills" (2000), "Children of Men" (2006), "Harry Brown" (2009), and "Youth" (2015). Caine is also known for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), and for his comedic roles in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988), "Miss Congeniality" (2000), "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002), and "Secondhand Lions" (2003). Caine portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy (2005–2012). He has also had roles in five other Nolan films: "The Prestige" (2006), "Inception" (2010), "Interstellar" (2014), "Dunkirk" (2017), and "Tenet" (2020). Early life. Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite at St Olave's Hospital in the Rotherhithe district of London on 14 March 1933, the son of cook and charwoman Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell; 1901–1989) and fish market porter Maurice Joseph Micklewhite (1899–1957). His father was Catholic of Anglo-Irish and Romani descent. Caine was raised in his mother's Protestant faith. He had a younger brother, Stanley (1935–2013), who also became an actor, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He grew up in London's Southwark district; during the Second World War, he was evacuated north to North Runcton, Norfolk, where he made his acting debut at the village school and had a pet horse called Lottie. After the war, Caine's father was demobilised and the family were rehoused by the council in Marshall Gardens in London's Elephant and Castle area, where they lived in a prefabricated house made in Canada as much of London's housing stock had been destroyed during the Blitz in 1940 and 1941. Caine later wrote in his autobiography, "The prefabs, as they were known, were intended to be temporary homes while London was reconstructed, but we ended up living there for eighteen years—and for us, after a cramped flat with an outside toilet, it was luxury." At the age of 10, Caine acted in a school play as the father of the ugly sisters in "Cinderella". His trousers' zipper was undone, prompting the audience to laugh, which inspired him to pursue an acting career. In 1944, he passed his eleven-plus examination, winning a scholarship to Hackney Downs School. After a year there, he moved to Wilson's School in Camberwell, which he left at age 16 after gaining School Certificates in six subjects. He then worked briefly as a filing clerk and messenger for a film company in Victoria and film producer Jay Lewis on Wardour Street. Military career. In 1952, Caine was called up to do his national service. Between 1952 and 1954 he served in the British Army's Royal Fusiliers, first at the British Army of the Rhine Headquarters in Iserlohn, West Germany, and then on active service in the Korean War. Caine, seeing first-hand how the communists used the human wave attacks practised by North Korea and China, left him with the sense that their governments did not care about their citizens, and made him realise that Leftism was certainly not what its supporters would have the masses believe. He experienced a situation in which he thought he was going to die, the memory of which stayed with him and "formed his character". In his 2010 autobiography "The Elephant to Hollywood", he wrote that "The rest of my life I have lived every bloody moment from the moment I wake up until the time I go to sleep." Caine has said that he would like to see the return of national service in Britain, to help combat youth violence, stating: "I'm just saying, put them in the Army for six months. You're there to learn how to defend your country. You belong to the country. Then, when you come out, you have a sense of belonging, rather than a sense of violence." Acting career. 1950–1963: Acting debut and early roles. Caine's uncredited film debut was a walk-on role in "Morning Departure" (1950). A few years later in Horsham, Sussex, he responded to an advertisement in "The Stage" for an assistant stage manager who would also perform bit parts for the Horsham-based Westminster Repertory Company who were performing at the Carfax Electric Theatre. Adopting the stage name "Michael White", in July 1953 he was cast as the drunkard Hindley in the company's production of "Wuthering Heights". He moved to the Lowestoft Repertory Company in Suffolk for a year when he was 21. It was here that he met his first wife, Patricia Haines. He has described the first nine years of his career as "really, really brutal" as well as "more like purgatory than paradise". He appeared in nine plays during his time at the Lowestoft Rep at the Arcadia Theatre with Jackson Stanley's Standard Players. When his career took him to London in 1954 after his provincial apprenticeship, his agent informed him that there was already a Michael White performing as an actor in London and that he had to come up with a new name immediately. Speaking to his agent from a telephone booth in Leicester Square, London, he looked around for inspiration, noted that "The Caine Mutiny" was being shown at the Odeon Cinema, and decided to change his name to "Michael Caine". He joked on television in 1987 that, had a tree partly blocking his view been a few feet to the left, he might have been called "Michael Mutiny". (Humphrey Bogart was his "screen idol" and he would later play the part originally intended for Bogart in John Huston's "The Man Who Would Be King".) He also later joked in interviews that had he looked the other way, he would have ended up as "Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians". In 1958, Caine played the minor role of a court orderly in a BBC Television adaptation of the story, "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial". Caine moved in with another rising cockney actor, Terence Stamp, and began hanging out with him and Peter O'Toole in the London party scene after he had become O'Toole's understudy in Lindsay Anderson's West End staging of Willis Hall's "The Long and the Short and the Tall" in 1959. Caine took over the role when O'Toole left to make "Lawrence of Arabia" and went on to a four-month tour of the UK and Ireland. Caine's first film role was as one of the privates in George Baker's platoon in the 1956 film "A Hill in Korea". The stars of the film were Baker, Harry Andrews, Stanley Baker and Michael Medwin, with Stephen Boyd and Ronald Lewis; Robert Shaw also had a small part. Caine also appeared regularly on television in small roles. His first credited role on the BBC was in 1956, where he played Boudousse in the Jean Anouilh play "The Lark". Other parts included three roles in "Dixon of Dock Green" in 1957, 1958 and 1959, prisoner-of-war series "Escape" (1957), and the crime/thriller drama "Mister Charlesworth" (1958). Caine continued to appear on television, in serials "The Golden Girl" and "No Wreath for the General", but was then cast in the play "The Compartment", written by Johnny Speight, a two-hander also starring Frank Finlay. This was followed by main roles in other plays including the character Tosh in "Somewhere for the Night", a "Sunday-Night Play" written by Bill Naughton televised on Sunday 3 December 1961, another two-hander by Johnny Speight, "The Playmates", and two editions of BBC plays strand "First Night", "Funny Noises with Their Mouths" and "The Way with Reggie" (both 1963). He also acted in radio plays, including Bill Naughton's "Looking for Frankie" on the BBC Home Service (1963). A big break came for Caine when he was cast as Meff in James Saunders' Cockney comedy "Next Time I'll Sing To You", when this play was presented at the New Arts Theatre in London on 23 January 1963. Scenes from the play's performance were featured in the April 1963 issue of "Theatre World" magazine. 1964–1975: Stardom and acclaim. When this play moved to the Criterion in Piccadilly with Michael Codron directing, he was visited backstage by Stanley Baker, one of the four stars in Caine's first film, "A Hill in Korea", who told him about the part of a Cockney private in his upcoming film "Zulu", a film Baker was producing and starring in. Baker told Caine to meet the director, Cy Endfield, who informed him that he already had given the part to James Booth, a fellow Cockney who was Caine's friend, because he "looked more Cockney" than Caine did. Endfield then told the 6'2" Caine that he did not look like a Cockney but like an officer, and offered him a screen test for the role of a snobbish, upper class officer after Caine assured him that he could do a posh accent. Caine believes Endfield offered him, a Cockney, the role of an aristocrat because, being American, he did not have the endemic British class-prejudice. Though he tested poorly, Endfield gave him the part that would make him a film star. Location shooting for "Zulu" took place in Natal, South Africa, for 14 weeks in 1963. According to his 2010 autobiography "The Elephant to Hollywood", Caine had been signed to a seven-year contract by Joseph E. Levine, whose Embassy Films was distributing "Zulu". After the return of the cast to England and the completion of the film, Levine released him from the contract, telling him, "I know you're not, but you gotta face the fact that you look like a queer on screen." Levine gave his contract to his "Zulu" co-star James Booth. Subsequently, Caine's agent got him cast in the BBC production "Hamlet at Elsinore" (1964) as Horatio, in support of Christopher Plummer's Hamlet. Horatio was the only classical role which Caine, who had never received dramatic training, would ever play. Caine wrote, "...I decided that if my on-screen appearance was going to be an issue, then I would use it to bring out all Horatio's ambiguous sexuality." Caine's roles as effete-seeming aristocrats were to contrast with his next projects, in which he was to become notable for using a regional accent, rather than the Received Pronunciation then considered proper for film actors. At that time his working-class Cockney speech stood out to American and British audiences alike, as did the Beatles' Liverpudlian accents. "Zulu" was followed by two of Caine's best-known roles: the rough-edged petty-crook-turned-spy Harry Palmer in "The Ipcress File" (1965) and the titular womanising young Cockney in "Alfie" (1966). In a 2016 interview Caine cited "Alfie" as his favourite film of his career, saying, "it made me a star in America as well, and it was my first nomination for an Academy Award". He went on to play Harry Palmer in a further four films, "Funeral in Berlin" (1966), "Billion Dollar Brain" (1967), "Bullet to Beijing" (1995) and "Midnight in Saint Petersburg" (1996). Caine made his first film in Hollywood in 1966, after an invitation from Shirley MacLaine to play opposite her in "Gambit". During the first two weeks, whilst staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he met long-term friends John Wayne and agent "Swifty" Lazar. Wayne was a fan of Caine's performance in "Alfie" and suggested to Caine, "Speak slow and speak low". Caine was always grateful for that advice. Caine starred in the film "The Magus" (1968) which, although BAFTA-nominated for Best Cinematography, failed at the box office. Caine starred in the 1969 comedy caper film "The Italian Job" as Charlie Croker, the leader of a Cockney criminal gang released from prison with the intention of doing a "big job" in Italy to steal gold bullion from an armoured security truck. One of the most celebrated roles of his career, in a 2002 poll his line "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" was voted the second-funniest line in film (after "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy" from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"), and favourite one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1,000 film fans. Culminating in a cliffhanger, "The Italian Job" has one of the most discussed end scenes in film; what happened to the coachload of gold teetering over the edge of a cliff has been debated in the decades since the film was released. After working on "The Italian Job" with Noël Coward, and a role as RAF fighter pilot squadron leader Canfield in the all-star cast of "Battle of Britain" (both 1969), Caine played the lead in "Get Carter" (1971), a British gangster film. Caine continued with successes including "Sleuth" (1972) opposite Laurence Olivier, and John Huston's "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975) co-starring Sean Connery, which received widespread acclaim. "The Times" applauded the "lovely double act of Caine and Connery, clowning to their doom", while Huston paid tribute to Caine's improvisation as an actor: "Michael is one of the most intelligent men among the artists I've known. I don't particularly care to throw the ball to an actor and let him improvise, but with Michael it's different. I just let him get on with it." In 1974, Caine appeared in "The Black Windmill", co-starring Donald Pleasence. 1976–1997: Established star. In 1976 he appeared in Tom Mankiewicz's screen adaptation of the Jack Higgins novel "The Eagle Has Landed" as "Oberst" (Colonel) Kurt Steiner, the commander of a Luftwaffe paratroop unit disguised as Polish paratroopers, whose mission was to kidnap or kill the then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, alongside co-stars Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter and Donald Pleasence. Caine also was part of an all-star cast in "A Bridge Too Far" (1977). In 1978, Caine starred in "Silver Bears", an adaptation of Paul Erdman's 1974 novel of the same name, and co-starred in the Academy Award-winning "California Suite". In the late 1970s, Caine's choice of roles was frequently criticisedsomething to which he has referred with self-deprecating comments about taking parts strictly for the money. He averaged two films a year, but these included such films as "The Swarm" (1978) (although critically panned it was Academy Award-nominated for Best Costume Design), "Ashanti" (1979) and "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" (1979). In the early 1980s Caine appeared in "The Island" (1980), "The Hand" (1981), and had a reunion with his "Sleuth" co-star Laurence Olivier in "The Jigsaw Man" (1982). During the 1980s Caine enjoyed further acclaimed roles and awards attention. He co-starred with Julie Walters in "Educating Rita" (1983), for which he won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe Award. In 1986, he portrayed the neurotic Elliot in Woody Allen's ensemble comedy "Hannah and Her Sisters", starring Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, and Mia Farrow. For his performance he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" wrote in 2011, "Caine's performance, so fervent, so agonisingly dedicated, actually gains in force and touching sincerity with the years." Caine also played a suave English conman, opposite a clumsy American played by Steve Martin, in the crime comedy "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988), directed by Frank Oz. The film earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy losing to Tom Hanks in "Big" (1988). Caine's other successful films (critically or financially) were the 1980 Golden Globe-nominated slasher film "Dressed to Kill", the 1981 war film "Escape to Victory" featuring Sylvester Stallone and footballers from the 1960s and 1970s, including Pelé and Bobby Moore, the 1982 film "Deathtrap", and the Academy Award-nominated "Mona Lisa" (1986). In 1987, Caine narrated "Hero", the official film of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. In 1988 he played Chief Insp. Frederick Abberline in the two-part TV drama "Jack the Ripper", which co-starred Jane Seymour and was produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the notorious Jack the Ripper murder spree in Victorian London. Despite his success in the 1980s, Caine also appeared in some poorly received films such as "Blame It on Rio" (1984), the Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais comedy "Water" (1985), the fourth and final film in the "Jaws" franchise, "" (1987), and "Without a Clue" (1988) (portraying Sherlock Holmes). Caine's commitment to filming "Jaws: The Revenge" in the Bahamas meant that he was unable to receive his Academy Award for "Hannah and Her Sisters" in person and Dianne Wiest accepted it on his behalf. Caine said "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific." In the 1990s, Caine found good parts harder to come by. He played the mysterious bartender Mike in "Mr. Destiny" in 1990 and appeared with Roger Moore in "Bullseye!" (1990). A high point came when he played Ebenezer Scrooge in "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992). Having been chosen by Brian Henson, Caine stated: "I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me." He played the beleaguered stage director Lloyd Fellowes in the film adaptation of "Noises Off" (1992). He also played a villain in the Steven Seagal film "On Deadly Ground" (1994). He was in two straight to video Harry Palmer sequels and a few television films. However, Caine's reputation as a pop icon was still intact, thanks to his roles in films such as "The Italian Job" and "Get Carter". 1998–2014: Career resurgence. His performance in "Little Voice" (1998) was seen as something of a return to form, and won him a Golden Globe Award. Better parts followed, including "The Cider House Rules" (1999), for which he won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the 2000s, Caine appeared in the comedy "Miss Congeniality" (2000) as the refined pageant coach opposite Sandra Bullock as the undercover FBI agent. The film was a massive box office success and Caine earned praise for his comic turn. That same year Caine also appeared in Philip Kaufman's controversial yet acclaimed film "Quills" (2000) as Dr. Royer-Collard opposite Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, and Joaquin Phoenix. In 2001, Caine starred in the ensemble dramedy "Last Orders" starring Helen Mirren, Bob Hoskins, and Tom Courtenay. Caine's next film "The Quiet American" (2002) won him great critical acclaim with Roger Ebert writing, "[its] a performance that seems to descend perfectly formed. There is no artifice in it, no unneeded energy, no tricks, no effort". Caine earned his sixth Academy Award nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award and British Academy Film Award for his performance. Several of Caine's classic films have been remade, including "The Italian Job", "Get Carter", "Alfie" and "Sleuth". In the 2007 remake of "Sleuth", Caine took over the role Laurence Olivier played in the 1972 version and Jude Law played Caine's original role. Caine is one of the few actors to have played a starring role in two versions of the same film. In an interview with CNN, Law spoke of his admiration for Caine: "I learned so much just from watching how he monitored his performance, and also how little he has to do. He's a master technician and sometimes he was doing stuff I didn't see, I couldn't register. I'd go back and watch it on the monitor, it was like 'Oh my God, the amount of variety he's put in there is breathtaking". Caine also starred multiple comedies during this time, including playing Austin's father in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002). In 2003 he co-starred with Robert Duvall, and Haley Joel Osment in the family comedy "Secondhand Lions". Caine played family elder Henry Lair in the 2004 film "Around the Bend". Also in 2005, he played as Isabel's (Nicole Kidman) father in "Bewitched" alongside Will Ferrell and Shirley MacLaine. In 2005, he was cast as Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth in "Batman Begins", the first film in the new Batman film series known as "The Dark Knight" Trilogy. In 2006, he appeared in Alfonso Cuaron's acclaimed dystopian drama "Children of Men" alongside Clive Owen and Julianne Moore as well as Nolan's mystery thriller "The Prestige" starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. In 2007 he appeared in "Flawless", and in 2008 and 2012 he reprised his role as Alfred in Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed "Batman" sequels "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises" as well as starring in the British drama "Is Anybody There?", which explores the final days of life. It was reported by "Empire" magazine that Caine had said that "Harry Brown" (released on 13 November 2009) would be his last lead role. Caine later clarified that he had no intention of retiring, stating that "You don't retire in this business; the business retires you." Caine appeared in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller "Inception" as Prof. Stephen Miles, Cobb's (Leonardo DiCaprio) mentor and father-in-law. The film was a financial and critical success, earning 8 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. He voiced Finn McMissile in Pixar's 2011 film "Cars 2" and also voiced a supporting role in the animated film "Gnomeo & Juliet". He also starred in the 2012 film ', as Josh Hutcherson's character's grandfather; the film also featured Dwayne Johnson and Vanessa Hudgens. Caine reprised his role as Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight Rises", which was released in July 2012. Caine later called "The Dark Knight" Trilogy, "one of the greatest things I have done in my life." In 2013, Caine appeared in the heist thriller "Now You See Me" starring alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Morgan Freeman. Caine played the role of Arthur Tressler, an insurance magnate and the Four Horsemen's sponsor. The film, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, was a financial success at the box office and spawned a sequel, "Now You See Me 2" (2016). He appeared in Nolan's 2014 science-fiction film "Interstellar" as Professor Brand, a high-ranking NASA scientist, ideator of Plan A, former mentor of Cooper and father of Amelia. The film starred Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain. In 2015, Caine co-starred in Matthew Vaughn's action spy comedy ' starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, and Samuel L. Jackson. 2015–present. In May 2015 he starred in Paolo Sorrentino's Italian comedy-drama film "Youth" alongside Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda. Caine appeared in the lead role of retired composer Fred Ballinger, where he and the film won great acclaim at its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. Caine received a London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year nomination for his performance. In October 2015, Caine read Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Claus and Big Claus" for the children's fairytales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF, together with Sir Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Ewan McGregor, Dame Joan Collins, Joanna Lumley, David Walliams, Charlotte Rampling and Paul McKenna. In 2017, Caine was cast in a spoken cameo role in Christopher Nolan's action-thriller "Dunkirk" (2017), based on the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II, as a Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot, as a nod to his role of RAF fighter pilot Squadron Leader Canfield in "Battle of Britain" (1969). In 2018, Caine starred as Brian Reader in "King of Thieves", which was based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of 2015. In May 2019, Caine was cast as Sir Michael Crosby, a British Intelligence officer, in Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" (2020). The film starred John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh. The film received an American release during the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020 after being delayed multiple times and became a box office disappointment, despite receiving positive reviews. Caine also appeared in the children's fantasy film, "Come Away" (2020) starring Angelina Jolie, David Oyelowo, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to mixed reviews, with critics praising its performances and lavish production design. In the 2021 film "Twist", an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" set in the present day, Caine plays Fagin. In interviews promoting the 2021 film "Best Sellers", Caine suggested that he would not make another film, citing difficulty in walking and his new interest in novel-writing developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns. However, his representatives told "Variety" that he was not retiring from acting. In 2022 Caine filmed "The Great Escaper", an upcoming British-French feature film starring Caine and Glenda Jackson, based on the true-life story of a British World War II veteran who 'broke out' of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France, in June 2014. The film is scheduled for release on 6 October 2023. In popular culture. Caine is regarded as a British cultural icon, with Mairi Mackay of CNN stating: "Michael Caine has been personifying British cool since the swinging sixties. He has brought some of British cinema's most iconic characters to life and introduced his very own laid-back cockney gangster into pop culture. He doggedly retained a regional accent at a time when the plummy tones of Received Pronunciation were considered obligatory. It is a sweet irony that his accent has become his calling card." In 2015 "The Times" called Caine "the epitome of Sixties cool in his first outing as the secret agent Harry Palmer". A trailer for his second role as Palmer described him as possessing "horn rims, cockney wit and an iron fist". With his distinctive voice and manner of speaking, Caine is a popular subject for impersonators and mimics. Most Caine impressions include the catchphrase "Not a lot of people know that." The catchphrase emanates from Caine's habit of informing people of obscure "interesting facts" that he has collected. Referring to Caine as being the "biggest mine of useless information", Peter Sellers initiated the catchphrase when he appeared on BBC1's "Parkinson" show on 28 October 1972 and said: Caine later spoke of how Sellers used his impression of him as his answering machine message in the 1970s: "I called Peter one day, he wasn't in. And there was me saying, 'My name is Michael Caine. I just want you to know that Peter Sellers is not in. Not many people know that.' He invented that 'not many people know that.' And then everybody who rang him, they got me saying, 'Not many people know that. Over the years Caine himself had parodied his catchphrase and his "interesting facts", and has imitated others' impressions of him. In an interview with Michael Parkinson in 2007, Caine commented on the impersonations of his voice, "I can do it. 'Hello. My name is Michael Caine. Not many people know that.' I sound like a bloody moron. You know where they've got me now? On birthday cards. 'It's your birthday today. Not many people know that'. Now they've got me on Satellite navigation. It's me going, 'take the second turn on the right, and you'll wind up right in the shit. In 1983, Caine used his "not a lot of people know that" phrase as a joke in the film "Educating Rita". The comedy sketch show "Harry Enfield's Television Programme" included a series of sketches in which Paul Whitehouse played a character called Michael Paine; an amalgam of previous Michael Caine impressions, who in a reference to Caine's character Harry Palmer from "The Ipcress File" wears oversized, thick-rimmed glasses and a trench coat. He introduces himself with the line, "My name is Michael Paine, and I am a nosy neighbour" and in a spoof of the stakeout at the beginning of "The Ipcress File", recounts to the camera the 'suspiciously' mundane behaviour of his neighbours, before saying, "Not a lot of people know that I know that". Caine's Harry Palmer character (with the glasses, the girls, and disregard for authority) was among the many British pop cultural influences for Mike Myers' "Austin Powers" films. At Myers' request, Caine himself starred in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002), with his portrayal of Nigel Powers, father of Austin Powers, spoofing Harry Palmer. A parody of Caine appears in the animated series "Ugly Americans", in the episode "The Dork Knight", which also parodies the film "The Dark Knight". In the episode, Caine appears as himself, portrayed in the light of his Alfred Pennyworth interpretation, and constantly annoys the protagonists with endless anecdotes of his career. The 2010 television series "The Trip", starring Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, featured improvised scenes in which the two leads argue over who can do the better Michael Caine impression. Among the lines they repeat in their attempts to outdo each other are, "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" and, "She was only sixteen years old"—from "The Italian Job" and "Get Carter", respectively. Coogan and Brydon later did their impressions from a balcony at the Royal Albert Hall during a celebration of Caine's work, only to be interrupted by the real Caine informing them that they were out of shape: "For me, it's a full-time job." Craig Ferguson ran segments on his show where he parodied Caine, usually while wearing a space suit. In a 2010 interview with "The Telegraph", Caine spoke of the impersonations and how everyone he meets quotes lines at him, to the point he quotes them quoting him. When asked whether he is ever tired of telling his anecdotes, Caine stated: "I enjoy making people laugh. The trick is to tell them against yourself. If you praise yourself your stories aren't funny." In 2018, Caine starred in a British Airways pre-flight safety video, appearing with six other British celebrities, including actresses Olivia Colman and Naomie Harris. Promoting the Flying Start children's charity partnership between BA and Comic Relief, they are featured 'auditioning' in humorous sketches while also highlighting important safety messages. Personal life. , Caine divides his time between residences in Chelsea Harbour and Wimbledon, London. He previously lived in Leatherhead, Surrey, in a house with a theatre which cost him £100,000 to build. He was patron to the Leatherhead Drama Festival. He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire; Clewer, Berkshire; and Lowestoft, Suffolk. In addition, Caine owns an apartment at the Apogee in Miami Beach, Florida. He still keeps a small flat near where he grew up in London. Caine has published three volumes of memoirs, "What's It All About?" in 1992, "The Elephant to Hollywood" in 2010, and "Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life" in 2018. Caine was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1954 to 1958. They had a daughter, Dominique (who was named after the heroine of Ayn Rand's novel, "The Fountainhead"). He dated Edina Ronay, Nancy Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Candice Bergen, Bianca Jagger, Jill St. John and Françoise Pascal. Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh since 8 January 1973. They met after Caine saw her in a Maxwell House coffee commercial and a friend gave him her telephone number. He called her every day for ten days until she finally agreed to meet him. They have a daughter, Natasha Haleema. As a Christian married to a Muslim, he says "no questions or issues ever come up" and describes his wife's beliefs as "very benign and peaceful." Proud of his working class roots, Caine has discussed the opportunities his film career gave him: "I got to play football with Pelé, for God's sake. And I danced with Bob Fosse." He also became close friends with John Lennon, stating: "With John and I it was a case of bonding because we were both working class and we shared a sense of humour. We were pretending we weren't who people thought we were." His closest friends included two James Bond actors, Sean Connery and Roger Moore. Some time after his mother died, Caine and his younger brother, Stanley, learned they had an elder half-brother named David. He suffered from severe epilepsy and had been kept in Cane Hill Mental Hospital his entire life. Although their mother regularly visited her first son in the hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992. In July 2016, Caine changed his name by deed poll to his long-time stage name in order to simplify security checks at airports. Caine stated that because the security guard often recognised him but was unaware of his real name, it would waste a considerable amount of his time as he tried to prove that he and "Maurice Joseph Micklewhite" were the same person: "[A security guard] would say, 'Hi Michael Caine,' and suddenly I'd be giving him a passport with a different name on it. I could stand there for an hour. So I changed my name." Music and other interests. Caine is a fan of chill-out music, and he released a compilation CD called "Cained" in 2007 on the UMTV record label. He met his good friend Elton John and was discussing musical tastes, when Caine said that he had been creating chillout mix tapes as an amateur for years. Caine and Elton John had also appeared on the same episode of "Parkinson", where they sang an impromptu version of the pub tune "Knees Up Mother Brown". Also in music, Caine provided vocal samples for the Ska-pop band Madness for their 1984 hit "Michael Caine", as his daughter was a fan. He has sung in film roles as well, including "Little Voice" and for the 1992 musical film "The Muppet Christmas Carol". Caine quit his 80-a-day smoking habit in the early 1970s after a lecture by Tony Curtis. He is a fan of cricket. This was alluded to by Gary Oldman, who acted with Caine in "The Dark Knight Rises", when he talked about Caine's acting methods: "It's, 'Take one'. He got it. 'Take two', got it. 'Take three', got it. He's just on the money. ... He doesn't fuck around because he wants to get back to cricket." Trivia books written by Caine include "Not Many People Know That!", "And Not Many People Know This Either!", "Michael Caine's Moving Picture Show", and "Not a Lot of People Know This is 1988". Proceeds from the books went to the National Playing Fields Association, a UK charity for which Caine served as vice president, and which aims to protect and promote open spaces for sports and recreation in British cities and towns. Political views. Caine has often been outspoken about his political views, referring to himself as a "left-wing Tory" influenced by both his working-class background and Korean War service. He left the United Kingdom for the United States in the late-1970s, citing the income tax levied on top earners by the Labour government of James Callaghan, which then stood at 83%. He lived in Beverly Hills during that time, but returned to the UK eight years later when taxes had been lowered by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher: Following the launch of his film "Harry Brown" in 2009, Caine called for the reintroduction of national service in the UK to give young people "a sense of belonging, rather than a sense of violence". In 2009, Caine publicly criticised the Labour government of Gordon Brown for its new 50% income tax rate on top earners and threatened to return to the United States if his taxes were increased further. During the run up to the 2010 general election, Caine publicly endorsed the Conservative Party and appeared with then-party leader David Cameron for the launch of a civilian non-compulsory "National Service" for sixteen-year-olds, although Caine stated he had previously supported New Labour under the leadership of Tony Blair in 1997. In July 2014, Caine was reported to have been a celebrity investor in a tax avoidance scheme called Liberty. In November 2014, Caine described the proposed mansion tax by then Labour leader Ed Miliband as "preposterous and silly". Caine voted in favour of Brexit in the 2016 European Referendum, stating he would rather be a "poor master than a rich servant". He said he was a reluctant Leaver; "I don't know what to vote for. Both are scary. To me, you've now got in Europe a sort of government-by-proxy of everybody, who has now got carried away. Unless there is some extremely significant changes, we should get out." In a 2010 Classic FM interview, Caine said that he had persuaded a doctor to deliberately give his father a fatal overdose when he was dying from liver cancer in 1955 and endorsed voluntary euthanasia. Filmography. Partial filmography Awards and honours. Caine has been nominated for an Oscar six times, winning his first Academy Award for the 1986 film "Hannah and Her Sisters", and his second in 1999 for "The Cider House Rules", in both cases as a supporting actor. His performance in "Educating Rita" in 1983 earned him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Caine is one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s (the other one being Jack Nicholson); Laurence Olivier was also nominated for an acting Academy Award in five decades, beginning in 1939 and ending in 1978, as were Paul Newman (1950s, '60s, '80s, '90s and 2000s) and Denzel Washington (1980s, '90s, 2000s, '10s, and '20s). Caine appeared in seven films that were ranked in the BFI's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. He was appointed as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1992 Birthday Honours, and in the 2000 Birthday Honours he was knighted (as "Sir Maurice Micklewhite CBE") by Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In a tribute to his background, he stated: "I was named after my father and I was knighted in his name because I love my father. I always kept my real name—I'm a very private and family-orientated person." In 2000 he received a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award. In 2008, Caine was awarded the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Showbusiness at the Variety Club Awards. On 5 January 2011 he was honored as Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France's culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand. In May 2012, Caine was awarded the Honorary Freedom of the London Borough of Southwark as a person of distinction and eminence of the borough. In 2017, Caine was the recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. His Golden Plate was presented by Awards Council member Peter Jackson. Bibliography. Caine has written three memoirs across several decades. He published the first, "What's It All About?", in 1992, whose title is a reference to a song in his 1966 hit film "Alfie". It was reviewed negatively in "The New York Times", which called it an "archetypal show-business memoir" that was engaging but tainted by the book's "name-dropping, the sexual boasting, the sensitivity to slights". His second memoir, "The Elephant to Hollywood", was published in 2010. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" reviewed it positively, calling Caine a "charming raconteur" and "wittily self-deprecating". Caine's first novel, a thriller entitled "Deadly Game", is set for publication in November 2023. Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61849

Dorking

Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Brook and along the northern face of an outcrop of Lower Greensand. The town is surrounded on three sides by the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is close to Box Hill and Leith Hill. The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity is from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, and there are several Bronze Age bowl barrows in the local area. The town may have been the site of a staging post on Stane Street during Roman times, however the name 'Dorking' suggests an Anglo-Saxon origin for the modern settlement. A market is thought to have been held at least weekly since early medieval times and was highly regarded for the poultry traded there. The Dorking breed of domestic chicken is named after the town. The local economy thrived during Tudor times, but declined in the 17th century due to poor infrastructure and competition from neighbouring towns. During the early modern period many inhabitants were nonconformists, including the author, Daniel Defoe, who lived in Dorking as a child. Six of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, including William Mullins and his daughter Priscilla, lived in the town before setting sail for the New World. Dorking started to expand during the 18th and 19th centuries as transport links improved and farmland to the south of the centre was released for housebuilding. The new turnpike, and later the railways, facilitated the sale of lime produced in the town, but also attracted wealthier residents, who had had no previous connection to the area. Residential expansion continued in the first half of the 20th century, as the Deepdene and Denbies estates began to be broken up. Further development is now constrained by the Metropolitan Green Belt, which encircles the town. Toponymy. The origins and meaning of the name Dorking are uncertain. Early spellings include "Dorchinges" (1086), "Doreking" (1138–47), "Dorkinges" (1180), and "Dorkingg" (1219). Both principal elements in the name are disputed. The first element may be from a personal name, "Deorc", or some variant, of either Brittonic or Old English origin. Alternatively it may derive from the Brittonic words "Dorce", a river name meaning "clear, bright stream", or "duro", meaning a "fort", "walled town" or "gated place". The second element, if originally plural ("ingas"), might mean "(settlement belonging to the) followers of ...", but if singular ("ing") might mean "place", "stream", "wood" or "clump". Geography. Location and topography. Dorking is in central Surrey, about south of London and east of Guildford. It is close to the intersection of two valleys – the north-south Mole Gap (where the River Mole cuts through the North Downs) and the west–east Vale of Holmesdale (a narrow strip of low-lying land between the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge). The highest point in the town is the Glory Wood, south east of the centre, where the summit () is marked by a Bronze Age bowl barrow. The basic plan of the town centre has not changed since medieval times (and may be Anglo-Saxon in origin). The main streets (the High Street, West Street and South Street) meet at Pump Corner, forming a " Y " shape. Together, West Street and the High Street run approximately west–east, paralleling the Pipp Brook, a tributary of the Mole, which runs to the north of the centre. The town is surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt (which also covers the Glory Wood) and is bordered on three sides by the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Several Sites of Special Scientific Interest are close by, including the Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment, immediately to the north. The National Trust owns several properties in the area, including Box Hill, Leith Hill Tower and Polesden Lacey. Geology. The rock strata on which Dorking sits, belong primarily to the Lower Greensand Group. This group is multilayered and includes the sandy Hythe Beds, the clayey Sandgate Beds and the quartz-rich Folkestone Beds. The lower greensand was deposited in the early Cretaceous, most likely in a shallow sea with low oxygen levels. Over the subsequent 50 million years, other strata were deposited on top of the Lower Greensand, including Gault clay, Upper Greensand and the chalk of the North and South Downs. Following the Cretaceous, the sea covering the south of England began to retreat and the land was pushed higher. The Weald (the area covering modern-day south Surrey, south Kent, north Sussex and east Hampshire) was lifted by the same geological processes that created the Alps, resulting in an anticline which stretched across the English Channel to the Artois region of northern France. Initially an island, this dome-like structure was drained by the ancestors of the rivers which today cut through the North and South Downs, including the Mole. The dome was eroded away over the course of the Cenozoic, exposing the strata beneath and resulting in the escarpments of the Downs and the Greensand Ridge. In Dorking, the dividing line between the Lower Greensand and Gault clay is marked by the course of the Pipp Brook. In the south of the town, the Hythe Beds take the form of iron-rich, soft, fine-grained sandstone, whereas the Sandgate Beds have a more loamy composition. The quartz-rich Folkestone Beds have a lower iron content, and contain veins of silver sand and rose-coloured ferruginous sand. Running along the north bank of the Pipp Brook (with a width of around ) is the outcrop of Gault, a blue-black shaly clay, beyond which is a narrow band of Upper Greensand, a hard, grey mica-rich sandstone. In the extreme north west of the town, the marly Lower Chalk was quarried for lime production until the early 20th century. Ammonite fossils are found in the north of the town, including "Stoliczkia", "Callihoplites", "Acanthoceras" and "Euomphaloceras" species in the Lower Chalk and "Puzosia" species in the Upper Greensand. Foraminifera fossils have been found in the Hythe Beds adjacent to the Horsham road, to the west of Tower Hill. History and development. Pre-history. The earliest evidence of human activity in Dorking comes from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and includes flint tools and flakes found during construction development in South Street. A ring ditch containing two ceramic urns, was discovered in 2013 during the rebuilding of Waitrose supermarket. Radiocarbon dating of hazelnut shells found at the base suggests that it was dug between 8625 and 8465 BCE and may have enclosed a bowl barrow. Other ditches nearby may indicate the presence of a Bronze Age field system, although the date of these later earthworks is less certain. Bowl barrows from the same period have been found at the Glory Wood (to the south of the town centre), on Milton Heath (to the west) and on Box Hill (to the northeast). Roman and Saxon. There is thought to have been a settlement at Dorking in Roman times, although its size and extent are unclear. Coins from the reigns of Hadrian (117–138 AD), Commodus (180–192) and Claudius Gothicus (214–270), as well as tiles and pottery fragments, have been found in the town. Stane Street, the Roman road linking London to Chichester, was constructed during the first century AD and is thought to have run through Dorking. The exact course through the town is not known and no definitive archaeological evidence has been discovered for the route in the gap between the crossing of the River Mole at the Burford Bridge and North Holmwood. A posting station is thought to have been located in the area and sites have been proposed in the town centre, at Pixham and at the Burford Bridge, where the road crossed the River Mole. Although the name Dorking implies a settlement that was well established by the time of the Norman conquest, archaeological evidence of Saxon activity in the town centre is limited to pottery sherds. Probable Saxon cemeteries have been found close to Yew Tree Road (to the north of the centre) and at Vincent Lane (to the west). In 1817, the so-called "Dorking Hoard" of around 700 silver pennies, dating from the mid-8th to the late-9th centuries, was found near the source of the Pipp Brook on the northern slopes of Leith Hill. In the late Saxon period, the manor and parish were administered as part of the Wotton Hundred and may have been part of a large royal estate centred on Leatherhead. Governance. Dorking appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as the Manor of "Dorchinges". It was held by William the Conqueror, who had assumed the lordship in 1075 on the death of Edith of Wessex, widow of Edward the Confessor. The settlement included one church, three mills worth 15s 4d, 16 ploughs, woodland and herbage for 88 hogs and of meadow. It rendered £18 per year in 1086. The residents included 38 villagers, 14 smallholders and 4 villeins, which placed it in the top 20% of settlements in England by population. In around 1087, William II granted the manor of Dorking to Willam de Warenne, the first Earl of Surrey, whose descendants have held the lordship almost continuously until the present day. By the early 14th century, the manor had been divided for administrative purposes into four tithings: Eastburgh and Chippingburgh (corresponding respectively to the eastern and western halves of the modern town); Foreignburgh (the area covered by the Holmwoods) and Waldburgh (which would later be renamed Capel). On the death of the seventh Earl, John de Warenne, in 1347, the manor passed to his brother-in-law, Richard Fitzalan, the third Earl of Arundel. In 1580 both Earldoms passed through the female line to Phillip Howard, whose father, Thomas Howard, had forfeited the title of Duke of Norfolk and had been executed for his involvement in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Elizabeth I. The dukedom was restored to the family in 1660, following the accession of Charles II. As the status of the de Warennes and their descendants increased, they became less interested in the town. In the 14th and 15th centuries, prominent local families (including the Sondes and the Goodwyns) were able to buy the leases on some of the lordship lands. One such area was the Deepdene, first mentioned in a court roll of 1399. This woodland was held by several tenants, before being inherited in 1652 by Charles Howard, the fourth son of the 15th Earl of Arundel, in whose family it remained until 1790. The estate was expanded by successive owners, including the Anglo-Dutch banker Thomas Hope and his eldest son Henry Thomas Hope, who commissioned William Atkinson to remodel the main house as a "sumptuous High Renaissance palazzo". Unlike the neighbouring towns of Guildford and Reigate, Dorking was never granted a Borough Charter and remained under the control of the Lord of the Manor throughout the Middle Ages. Reforms during the Tudor period reduced the importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Dorking became the responsibility of the vestry of the parish church. There was little change in local government structure over the subsequent three centuries, until the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 transferred responsibility for poor relief to the Poor Law Commission, whose local powers were delegated to the newly formed poor law union in 1836. In 1841, the Dorking Union constructed a new workhouse, south of the town centre, designed by William Shearburn. The entrance block still stands and is now part of Dorking Hospital. A local board of health (LBH) was established in Dorking in 1881 to administer infrastructure including roads, street lighting and drainage. The LBH organised the first regular domestic refuse collection and, by mid-1888, had created a new sewerage system (including a treatment works at Pixham). The Local Government Act 1888 transferred many administrative responsibilities to the newly formed Surrey County Council and was followed by an 1894 Act that created the Dorking Urban District Council (UDC). Initially the offices of the UDC were in South Street, but in 1931 the Council moved to Pippbrook House, a Gothic Revival country house to the north east of the town centre, designed as a private residence by George Gilbert Scott in 1856. The Local Government Act 1972 created Mole Valley District Council (MVDC), by combining the UDCs of Dorking and Leatherhead with the majority of the Dorking and Horley Rural District. In 1984, the new council moved into purpose-built offices, designed by Michael Innes, at the east end of the town. Transport and communications. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, there appears to have been no systematic planning of transport infrastructure in the local area for over a millennium. During Saxon times, the section of Stane Street between Dorking and Ockley was bypassed by the longer route via Coldharbour and the upper surface of the Roman road was most likely quarried to provide stone for local building projects. Two routes linked the town to London, the first via the Mole crossing at Burford Bridge to Leatherhead and the second, the "Winter Road", climbed the south-facing scarp slope of Box Hill from Boxhurst and ran northeastwards to meet the London-Brighton road at Tadworth. The development of Guildford ( to the west) was stimulated by the construction of the Wey Navigation in the 1650s. In contrast, although several schemes were proposed to make the Mole navigable, none were enacted and transport links to Dorking remained poor. As a result, the local economy began to suffer and the town declined through the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The turnpike road through Dorking was authorised by the Horsham and Epsom Turnpike Act of 1755. The new turnpike dramatically improved the accessibility of the town from the capital and a report from 1765 noted both that the Thursday grain market had increased in size and that the local flour mills were significantly busier. A mail coach operated return journeys between Dorking and London six days per week and several stagecoaches used the route daily until the mid-19th century. In contrast, the eastwest ReigateGuildford road remained the responsibility of the parishes through which it ran and only minimal improvements were made before the start of the 20th century. The first railway line to reach Dorking was the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway (RG&RR), authorised by Acts of Parliament in 1846, 1847 and 1849. Dorking station (now ) was opened in 1849 northwest of the town, initially as a temporary terminus for trains from . Local residents had expressed a preference for the station to be sited closer to the town centre at Meadowbank, but since the line passed through a deep cutting at this point it was deemed impractical to provide the necessary freight facilities at this location. Two years later a second station, now known as , was opened on the same line. The second railway line to serve the town was authorised by Acts of Parliament in 1862 and 1864 and was opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1867. A west-south connecting spur to the RG&RR was provided on opening, but was removed around 1900, before being briefly restored between 1941 and 1946 as a wartime resilience measure. was provided with extensive goods facilities, a locomotive yard and a turntable (later the site of the car park). It was built with two platforms, but a third was added in 1925, when the railway line was electrified from . The original building was demolished in 1980 and was replaced by a larger structure, designed by Gordon Lavington, which integrated the station with offices for Biwater. In the late 1920s, improvements were made to the Dorking-Reigate road (now the A25), including the construction of Deepdene Bridge over the River Mole. The bypass road (now the A24) was opened in 1934 following considerable local opposition to the route, which cut through the Deepdene estate. Commerce and industry. A market at Dorking is first recorded in 1240 and in 1278, the sixth Earl of Surrey, John de Warenne, claimed that it had been held twice weekly since "time out of mind". The early medieval market was probably centred around Pump Corner and between South Street and West Street, but it appears to have moved east to the widest part of the High Street by the early 15th century. In the century following the Norman conquest, agricultural activity was focused on the lordship lands, which lay to the north of the Pipp Brook. However, as the Middle Ages progressed, woodland to the south and west of the centre was cleared enabling farms owned by the Goodwyns, Stubbs and Sondes families to expand. By the start of the Tudor period, there were at least five watermills in Dorking – two at Pixham (one on the Pipp Brook, owned by the Sondes and one on the Mole, owned by the Brownes), two close to the town centre (both owned by the manor) and one at Milton, on the road to Westcott. There may also have been a windmill on Tower Hill. The town flourished in Tudor times and, in the 1590s, a market house was built between what is now St Martin's Walk and the White Horse Hotel. The antiquarian John Aubrey, who visited the town between 1673 and 1692, noted that the weekly market (which took place on Thursdays) was "the greatest... for poultry in England" and noted that "Sussex wheat" was also sold. The free-draining Lower Greensand found in the Dorking area is particularly suited for rearing chickens and the local soils provide grit to assist the birds' digestive systems. The Dorking fowl, which has five claws instead of the normal four, is named after the town. Wine made from the wild cherries that grew in the town was another local speciality. A 'cherry fair' was held in July in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was revived in the 20th century at St Barnabas Church, Ranmore. Aubrey also recorded that an annual fair took place on Ascension Day. Chalk and sand were quarried in Dorking until the early 20th century. Chalk was dug from a pit on Ranmore Road and heated in kilns to produce quicklime. In the medieval and early modern periods, the lime was used to fertilise local farm fields, but from the 18th century onwards (and especially after the construction of the turnpike to Epsom in 1755), it was transported to London for use in the construction industry. Sand from the Folkestone Beds was quarried from several sites in the town, including at two pits in Vincent Lane. Caves and tunnels were also dug in the sandstone under several parts of the town. Many were used as cellars for storing wine bottles, but deeper workings followed seams of silver sand, which was used in glass making. Most of the surviving caves are privately owned and not accessible to the public. A well-known example is the cockpit beneath the former Wheatsheaf Inn in the High Street, in which fighting cocks were set against each other for sport. During the construction of the car park to the south of Sainsbury's supermarket, the builders broke through into a large cavern of unknown date, the walls of which were painted with "trompe-l'œil" pillars. Unfortunately, in order to complete the car park, it was necessary to fill in the cave with concrete. Guided tours of the caves in South Street are held on a regular basis and are organised by Dorking Museum. By the start of the 19th century, increasing mechanisation of agriculture was leading to a local surplus of labour. The wages for unskilled farm workers were decreasing, exacerbated by a fall in produce prices following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Like many towns in the south of England, Dorking was affected by civil unrest among its poorest residents. In November 1830 a riot broke out and a mob of 80 attacked the Red Lion Inn in the High Street. A troop of soldiers from the Life Guards regiment was called in to restore order. In 1831 it was noted that the town (population 4711) had one of the highest rates of poor relief in Surrey. In early 1832, the vestry devised a supported scheme to enable young unemployed, unskilled labourers to leave the town to settle in Upper Canada. The cost of the voyage from Portsmouth to Montreal for 61 recipients of poor relief was paid by private donations, however the emigrants also received an allowance for food and clothing from parish funds. Although many were young, single men aged 14–20, a few families also joined the group. Most appear to have settled in the Toronto area, but a few are recorded as living in Kingston, Ontario. In 1911, the town was described in the Victoria County History as "almost entirely residential and agricultural, with some lime works on the chalk, though not so extensive as those in neighbouring parishes, a little brick-making, watermills (corn) at Pixham Mill, and timber and saw-mills." Residential development. Although the turnpike road through Dorking had been constructed in the 1750s, the built-up part of the town had changed little by the start of the 19th century. Most of the local professional class and wealthier tradesmen lived along the three main streets (the High Street, West Street and South Street), whilst the often crowded houses of artisans and labourers tended to be in the narrower lanes and alleys. Poor sanitation was still a major problem for the poorer residents and, in 1832, a cholera outbreak was recorded in Ebenezer Place (north of the High Street), where 46 people were crammed into nine cottages. Nevertheless, Dorking was beginning to attract more affluent residents, many of whom had accumulated their wealth as businessmen in London. Charles Barclay (a Southwark brewery owner) and the bankers Joseph Denison and Thomas Hope (none of whom had any previous connection with the area) purchased the estates at Bury Hill, Denbies and Deepdene respectively. Higher-status individuals living closer to the town centre included William Crawford, the City of London MP, and Jane Leslie, the Dowager Countess of Rothes. Although the incoming landowners played little part in local commerce, they appear to have been the driving force behind schemes to pave streets and to provide gas lighting (both paid for by public subscription). Rose Hill, the first planned residential estate in Dorking, was developed by William Newland, a wealthy Guildford surgeon, who also had interests in the Wey and Arun Canal. Newland purchased the "Great House" on Butter Hill and the surrounding of land in 1831, which he divided into plots for 24 houses, arranged around a central paddock, known as "The Oval". The Great House was divided into two separate dwellings (Butter Hill House and Rose Hill House), adjacent to which a mock-Tudor arch was erected over the main carriageway entrance from South Street. Initially sales were slow, but the proposals for the building of the railway line from Redhill stimulated interest in the development in the late 1840s. Although most of the purchasers were private individuals (the majority of whom had been born outside of the local area), the Dorking Society of Friends bought one of the plots in 1845 for the construction of a meeting house. By 1861 the estate was complete. The arrival of the railway in 1849 catalysed the expansion of the town to the south and west. Between 1850 and 1870, the National Freehold Land Society was responsible for housing developments in Arundel and Howard Roads, as well as around Tower Hill. Poorer quality houses were built along Falkland and Hampstead Roads (many of which were replaced in the 1960s and 1970s). Holloway Farm was sold in 1870 and the first houses in Knoll, Roman and Ridgeway Roads were constructed before 1880. Houses in Cliftonville (named after its promoter, Joseph Clift, a local chemist) were also built around the same time. To the north of the High Street, smaller semi-detached and terraced houses were constructed in the 1890s for artisans in Rothes Road, Ansell Road, Wathen Road, Hart Road and Jubilee Terrace. No significant residential expansion took place in Dorking in the first two decades of the 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, the breakup of the Deepdene and Pippbrook estates (and the electrification of the railway line from Leatherhead) stimulated housebuilding to the north and east of the town, including Deepdene Vale and Deepdene Park. The sale of part of Bradley Farm (part of the Denbies estate) in the 1930s, enabled the building of Ashcombe, Keppel and Calvert Roads. The Dorking UDC intended to build housing on the rest of the farm (now Denbies Wine Estate), however their plans were interrupted by the outbreak of war and were ultimately prevented by the creation of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The first council housing was built in Dorking by the UDC in Nower Road in 1920 and similar developments took place in Marlborough and Beresford Roads later the same decade. In 1936, the council obtained a Slum Clearance Order to demolish 81 properties in Church Street, North Street, Cotmandene and the surrounding areas. In total 217 residents were displaced, many of whom were rehoused by the UDC in the Fraser Gardens estate, designed by the architect George Grey Wornum. The Chart Downs estate to the southeast of the town was built between 1948 and 1952. Controversially, in the late 1950s and 1960s, Dorking UDC constructed the Goodwyns estate on land compulsorily purchased from Howard Martineau, a major local benefactor to the town. The initial designs were by Clifford Culpin and the project was subsequently developed by William Ryder, who was responsible for the erection of the Wenlock Edge and Linden Lea tower blocks. Both the design of the buildings and the layout of the estate were praised in the early 1970s by architectural historians Ian Nairn and Nikolaus Pevsner. Religion. The first mention of a church at Dorking occurs in Domesday Book of 1086. In around 1140, Isabel de Warenne, the widow of the second Earl of Surrey, granted the church and a tithe of the rents from the manor to Lewes Priory in Sussex. In the 1190s, the tithe was converted to a pension of £6, which was paid annually to the Priory until at least 1291. The Priory also acquired the right to appoint the town's priest. It is unclear where in the town the Domesday church was located. It appears to have been replaced at some point during the 12th century (possibly by Isabel de Warenne) by a large cruciform building with a central tower. A rededication from St Mary to St Martin may have taken place around the same time. In 1334 the church was granted to the Priory of the Holy Cross in Reigate. In the late 14th century a clerestory and two side aisles were added to the nave. The so-called Intermediate Church was constructed in 1835–1837. It had a square tower, topped with an octagonal spire, and could seat around 1800 worshippers. Its floor level was approximately higher than that of the church it replaced, allowing the base of the medieval nave to become a crypt. In 1868–1877, the Intermediate Church was rebuilt into the present St Martin's Church, designed in the Decorated Gothic style by the architect Henry Woodyer. The spire of the current church was dedicated as a memorial to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce (who had died in 1873) and in 1905–1911 the Lady chapel was added. In order to accommodate the growing population in the south of the town, a second Anglican church, St Paul's, was opened in 1857 on land donated by Henry Thomas Hope. Designed by the architect, Benjamin Ferrey, it was built of Bath stone in the Decorated Geometric style. A daughter church to St Martin's, designed by Edwin Lutyens and dedicated to St Mary, was opened at Pixham in 1903. In the two centuries following the passing of the 1558 Act of Uniformity, many inhabitants of Dorking embraced more extreme forms of protestantism and by 1676, the parish (which had a total population of around 1500) contained 200 nonconformists. In 1620, six residents, including Williams Mullins (a cobbler) and his daughter Priscilla, joined the "Mayflower" to establish a Separatist colony in the New World. During the Civil War, the townsfolk supported the Parliamentarians, but although some of Oliver Cromwell's soldiers were billeted in Dorking, no fighting took place nearby. Christopher Feake, the Fifth Monarchist and independent minister, lived in the town (allegedly under a false identity) following The Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. He may have incited some of the more radical residents to violence. Daniel Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe" and a committed Presbyterian throughout his life, was educated in Dorking for five years, . He attended a school in Pixham Lane run by Revd James Fisher a non-conformist who had been ejected as Rector of Fetcham. In 1662 Fisher was involved in establishing Dorking Congregational Church, which by the 1690s was meeting in a barn on Butter Hill in South Street. The present United Reformed Church in West Street, designed by the architect William Hopperton, was built for the group by William Shearburn in 1834. John Wesley visited Dorking a total of nineteen times between 1764 and 1789. He opened a Methodist chapel in the town in 1777. A new church with a spire was built in South Street in 1900, however this building was sold and demolished in 1974. Since 1973, Dorking Methodists have held services at St Martin's. Although England had become a predominantly Protestant country during the Reformation, the families of the Earls of Arundel and Dukes of Norfolk remained Catholic. The first Catholic church in Dorking was built in the early 1870s on land owned by the fifteenth Duke of Norfolk, Henry Fitzalan-Howard and was rebuilt into the present St Joseph's Church in the mid-1890s, by the architect Frederick Walters. A mosque was established in Hart Road in 2006. From 1984 the building had been used as a meeting room for the Plymouth Brethren and was a synagogue for a time, before being acquired by the Dorking Muslim Community Association. Dorking in the World Wars. In late 1914, Dorking became a garrison town. Empty houses were requisitioned and from January 1915 around 4000 troops were accommodated including those from the London Scottish regiment, the Civil Service Rifles and the Queen's Westminster Rifles. Training took place in the fields to the west and north west of the town. Many local residents were recruited to the Surrey Yeomanry, which (until mid-1915) was stationed at Deepdene House and at the Public Hall in West Street. Although he was aged over 40 at the start of the war, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, one unit of which was based in the town. Of the many soldiers from Dorking who died during World War I, the youngest was Valentine Joe Strudwick. He was born in Falkland Road on 14 February 1900 and was educated at St Paul's School. He enlisted in 1915 after concealing his true age and joined the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own). A year later, in January 1916 at the age of 15 years 11 months, he was killed in action at Boezinge, near Ypres. He is buried at Essex Farm Cemetery in Belgium. Empty houses in the town also provided billets for soldiers during World War II and over 3000 school children were evacuated to the Dorking area in September 1939. A local refugee committee (led by Vaughan Williams and the novelist E. M. Forster) was established to find accommodation for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution and also to support long-resident German and Czech nationals in applications to Home Office tribunals to remain at liberty in the UK. At the start of the war, the fortified GHQ Line B was constructed directly to the north of Dorking. This defensive line ran along the North Downs from Farnham via Guildford, before following the River Mole to Horley. The banks of the Mole were fortified with anti-tank obstacles, pillboxes and gun emplacements and an anti-tank ditch was dug from west to east across Bradley Farm (now Denbies Wine Estate). The town itself was a Class "A" nodal point and from August 1940 the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade (part of the VII Corps) was assigned to its defence. Pippbrook House (the then offices of the Dorking UDC) became a mobilisation centre and housed an ARP post as well as the local branch of the Women's Voluntary Service. Over the course of the war, 77 high-explosive bombs and 60 incendiaries were dropped by the "Luftwaffe", however only one incident (in October 1940) resulted in fatalities in the town. After the war, at least two Covenanter tanks were buried at Bradley Farm. The first was excavated and restored in 1977 and is now on display at The Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset. A second was excavated in 2017 for the archaeology programme "WW2 Treasure Hunters", presented by the musician Suggs on the TV channel HISTORY. The tank was displayed at the vineyard for six months, before being removed for restoration. National and local government. UK parliament. Dorking is in the Mole Valley parliamentary constituency, which has been represented in the House of Commons since 1997 by Sir Paul Beresford (Conservative). Kenneth Baker served as the local MP from 1983 to 1997 and was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Baker of Dorking in 1997. County council. Councillors are elected to Surrey County Council every four years. The town is divided between two main wards. The villages to the south east of Dorking are in a third ward: District council. Five councillors represent the town on Mole Valley District Council (the headquarters of which are in Dorking): Town council. Dorking does not have a Town Council, however stakeholder engagement in local decision making is conducted through a number of bodies, including the Dorking Town Forum. Twin towns. Dorking is twinned with Gouvieux (Oise, France), Güglingen (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) and Sinalunga (Tuscany, Italy). Demography and housing. In the 2011 Census, the combined population of the Dorking North and South wards was 11,158. The larger "built-up area" (which includes the Goodwyns estate, North Holmwood, Pixham and Westhumble, in addition to the two town wards) had a population of 17,741. Dorking North ward excludes Pixham and Westhumble. Dorking South ward excludes North Holmwood and the Goodwyns estate. Public services. Utilities. Until the early 18th century, local residents obtained drinking water either directly from the Pipp Brook or from wells. In 1735, a pump was installed to lift water from a spring on the site of Archway Place, which was then distributed via wooden pipes made from bored tree trunks. Local dissatisfaction over the charges levied for the supply, prompted the vestry to reopen a well in the town centre and to install a hand pump there in 1780. The Archway Place spring became polluted by sewage in the middle of the 19th century and the works closed. The Dorking Water Company (DWC) was formally established in 1869, following the passing of the Dorking Water Act 1869. The company dug a well on Harrow Road East from where water was transferred by a steam-driven pump to a reservoir on Tower Hill. In 1902, a new pumping station was built on Station Road and, in 1919, the old one was converted to housing. The second pumphouse was replaced by a new works with boreholes on Beech Close in 1939. The DWC was absorbed by East Surrey Water in 1959. The Local Board of Health created the first sewerage system in Dorking and opened the treatment works at Pixham on the River Mole in 1888. Four years later, some 1360 houses (around 92% of the town) had been connected, necessitating an extensive rebuilding of the works in 1893. The sewerage system became the responsibility of the Thames Water Authority under the Water Act 1989. The town gasworks were built in 1834 by the Dorking Gas Light Company to supply gas for street lighting. From 1849, the coal required was delivered by train to Dorking West station and then transferred to the works by horse-drawn vehicle. The company was merged with that of Redhill in 1928 and became part of the East Surrey Gas Company when the industry was nationalised in 1948. After gas production ceased in 1956, the site of the works became part of the Dorking Business Park on Station Road. An electricity generating station was opened in 1903 in Station Road, close to the town gasworks. Initially it was capable of generating 180 kW of power, but by the time of its closure in 1939, its installed capacity was 1 MW. Under the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926, Dorking was connected to the National Grid, initially to a 33 kV supply ring, which linked the town to Croydon, Epsom, Leatherhead and Reigate. In 1939, the ring was connected to the Wimbledon-Woking main via a 132 kV substation at Leatherhead. Emergency services and justice. A nightly patrol was established in Dorking in 1825 and in 1838 a small police force, initially with just three officers, was established under the Lighting and Watching Act 1833. This force became part of the Surrey Constabulary on its creation in 1851. A combined police station and magistrates' court complex was opened at the east end of the High Street in 1894 and the police station relocated to Moores Road in 1938. Purpose-built magistrates courts were opened adjacent to Pippbrook House in 1979 and closed in 2010. A volunteer fire brigade was formed in 1870. Initially based at South Street, it moved to the Public Hall at the west end of West Street in 1881. The brigade became full time in 1912 and, in 1971, it moved to a new fire station adjacent to the newly built ambulance station at North Holmwood. In 2021, the fire authority for Dorking is Surrey County Council and the statutory fire service is Surrey Fire and Rescue Service. Dorking Ambulance Station is run by the South East Coast Ambulance Service. Healthcare. Dorking Cottage Hospital, opened in 1871 in South Terrace, was the first hospital in the town. It was merged in 1948 with the adjacent County Hospital, which had evolved from the Union Workhouse and Poor Law Infirmary, to form Dorking General Hospital. Since 2004, Dorking Hospital has been run as a community hospital by a consortium of local GP groups that provides Outpatient Services for the local area. The nearest accident & emergency departments are at Epsom Hospital () and East Surrey Hospital (). As of 2020, there are GP practices on Reigate Road and South Street. Transport. Roads. The A24 London-Worthing and the A25 Guildford-Sevenoaks roads intersect at Deepdene Roundabout on the eastern side of Dorking. The one-way system in the town centre was introduced in 1968. Railways. The Epsom-Horsham and Guildford-Reigate railway lines cross to the northeast of Dorking, but there is now no physical connection between the two. The town is served by three railway stations. is managed by Southern and is served by trains to via , to via and to . and stations are managed by Great Western Railway and are served by trains to via and to via . Buses. Route 32 from Dorking to Guildford via Shere and to Redhill via Earlswood is run by Compass Bus. Route 93 from Dorking to Horsham via Goodwyns and Holmwood Park is run by Metrobus on behalf of Surrey County Council. Route 465 from Dorking to Kingston upon Thames via Leatherhead is run by London United. Routes 21 (Epsom – Dorking – Crawley) and 22 (Shere – Dorking – Crawley) are run by Metrobus. Cycle routes. National Cycle Route 22 passes through the town centre and the Surrey Cycleway runs to the east. Long distance footpaths. The Greensand Way, a long-distance footpath from Haslemere, Surrey to Hamstreet, Kent, passes through the south of Dorking. The route approaches the town centre from the east, passing over The Nower, then crossing the junction between South Street and Horsham Road. It climbs through the Glory Wood, before crossing Deepdene Terrace. The North Downs Way, between Farnham and Dover, passes approximately to the north of Dorking. Dorking station is the southern terminus of the Mole Gap Trail, which starts at . Education. Primary schools. There are five primary schools in Dorking, the oldest of which is Powell Corderoy School. It was founded in 1816 as The Dorking British School, and its original premises were in West Street; but twenty years later it moved to North Street. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the school had expanded and the funds for a new building in Norfolk Road were raised by Edith Corderoy and Mr T. Powell. The new site was opened in 1898 and the school adopted its present name in 1906. The school moved to its current location in Longfield Road in 1968. St Martin's Primary School was founded as a National School by the vestry in the 1830s, however there is thought to have been a school located in the transepts of the parish church as early as the 17th century. The National School was moved from the grounds of the church to West Street in 1862. The Middle School relocated to Ranmore Road in 1969 and was joined by the First School in 1985. The Pixham First School was founded in 1880 by Mary Mayo and was built to a design by Gilbert Redgrave. St Paul's Primary School was founded in 1860. St Paul's School was designed by the architect, Thomas Allom, and admitted its first pupils in March 1860. The infants department opened in 1872 and, from that year, the school educated children aged from 5 to 13. Today, St Paul's is a Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School and educates children from the ages of 5 to 11. St Joseph's Catholic Primary School was founded in 1873 by Augusta Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk. The first premises were in Falkland Grove adjacent to St Joseph's Church. The school was run by nuns of the Servite Order from 1887 to 1970, when it moved to its present site in Norfolk Road, which had been vacated by Powell Corderoy School. St John's Primary School was founded in 1955 on the Goodwyns housing estate to the south of the town. It was known as The Redlands Junior School until August 1999. New Lodge School, a private prep school formed in 2002 from the merger of Stanway School and Nower Lodge School, closed in 2007. Secondary schools. The Ashcombe School is a coeducational secondary school, north of the town centre. It traces its origins to the Dorking High School for Boys, founded in 1884, and the St Martin's High School for Girls, opened in 1903. In 1931, the two schools were merged to become the Dorking County School and moved to a new site in Ashcombe Road. In 1959 the Mowbray County Secondary Modern for girls was opened on an adjacent site. The two schools were combined to create the Ashcombe School in 1975. The Priory School opened as the County Secondary Modern Mixed School in September 1949. It was initially based at the Dene Street Institute, but moved to its present location in West Bank within a few years. In 1959, the girls were transferred to the Mowbray School in the Ashcombe Road, and Sondes Place continued as a boys-only school. In 1976 it became a mixed comprehensive school and was renamed the Priory School in 1996. Culture. Art. The Dorking Group of Artists, established in 1947, exhibits locally twice a year, in Betchworth and at Denbies. The Arts Society Dorking promotes local art appreciation and the preservation of the town's artistic heritage. Leith Hill Musical Festival. The three-day Leith Hill Musical Festival for local, amateur choral societies, founded in 1905, takes place at the Dorking Halls each year. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the Festival Conductor until 1953, a post currently held by Jonathan Willcocks. Each day features a different group (or division) of choirs, which compete against each other in the morning and then combine to give a concert in the evening. Following the tradition established by Vaughan Williams, the "Messiah" by Handel and the "St Matthew" and "St John Passions" by J. S. Bach are frequently performed. After the death of Vaughan Williams in 1958, the festival committee commissioned David McFall to design a bronze bas relief likeness of the composer: one cast was placed in St Martin's Church and another in the Dorking Halls. Recording studios. Strawberry Studios South was opened in 1976, in a former cinema in South Street, by Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of the band 10cc. They recorded the album, "Deceptive Bends" there. Other artists also worked at the Studios, including Paul McCartney, who recorded part of "Ebony and Ivory" (a duet with Stevie Wonder) there. The English rock band, The Cure, recorded at Rhino Studios at Pippbrook Mill. Literature. "The Battle of Dorking", a novella written by Lt. Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1871, was set in the town. Describing a fictional invasion and conquest of Britain by a German-speaking country, it triggered an explosion of what came to be known as invasion literature. Benjamin Disraeli wrote part of his political novel "Coningsby" while staying at Deepdene between 1841 and 1844. The novel was subsequently dedicated to his host, Henry Thomas Hope. The fourth chapter of "A Fool's Alphabet" by novelist Sebastian Faulks, published in 1992, is set in the town. Sport. Shrove Tuesday football. A football game was played annually in Dorking on Shrove Tuesday between two teams representing the eastern and western halves of the town. The match began at 2pm outside the gates to St Martin's Church and lasted until 6pm. After a particularly riotous game in 1897, the local magistrates declared that the tradition was in breach of the Highway Act 1835 and 50 participants were fined. Arrests were also made after local townsfolk attempted to stage the match in 1898, 1899 and 1903. The local newspaper declared the custom extinct in 1907. Association football. Dorking F.C. was formed in 1880 and moved to Meadowbank in 1956. The stadium was condemned as unsafe in 2013 and for the next three years, the club shared grounds, first at Horley and then Westhumble. Dorking F.C. closed in 2017. Dorking Wanderers F.C. was founded in 1999. The team played its home games at Westhumble for ten seasons from 2007, before moving to the refurbished Meadowbank Stadium in July 2018. Rugby. Dorking rugby football club was founded in 1921. Initially its home matches were played at Meadowbank, but it moved the following year to Pixham. In 1972 the club relocated to the Big Field at Brockham as tenants of the National Trust, which had acquired the field in 1966. In the 2019–20 season, the 1st XV played in the London and South East Premier division. Notable former players include Elliot Daly, George Kruis and Kay Wilson. Motor racing. Rob Walker's privateer racing team was based at Pippbrook Garage in London Road from 1947 to 1970. The team won nine Grands Prix and their drivers included Stirling Moss (1958–1961) and Graham Hill (1970). Walker's contribution to motorsport and to Dorking was celebrated on the centenary of his birth in October 2018 with a parade of classic cars through the town centre. Cycling. Dorking Cycling Club was founded in 1877 and by the 1890s was organising camps for amateur cyclists from across the south east of England. The club was refounded in 2011 and organises a programme of weekly rides for members. The 2012 Summer Olympic cycling road races passed through Dorking en route to Box Hill. Running. Dorking and Mole Valley Athletics Club is based at Pixham Sports Ground. They host the annual "Dorking Ten" road race starting from Brockham Green. The weekly Mole Valley Parkrun has taken place at Denbies Wine Estate since March 2018. The vineyard also hosts the annual Run Bacchus marathon. The annual UK Wife-Carrying Race takes place at The Nower. Tourist attractions. Denbies Wine Estate. Denbies Wine Estate, to the north of Dorking, is one of the largest wine producers in the UK. The vineyard, which covers some , was first planted in 1986 on the site of Bradley Farm, part of the Denbies estate. The winery and visitor centre were opened in 1993. Dorking Museum. Dorking Museum was opened in West Street in January 1976. The building had previously been an iron foundry, which had opened in the 1820s and closed after World War II. The museum houses a wide range of historical artefacts, as well as fossils and mineral samples from the Dorking area. Permanent displays explain the history of the town from prehistoric times to the present day, and the building also hosts temporary exhibitions, often connected with significant anniversaries of events such as World War I. The museum was fully refurbished between 2008 and 2012 and was short-listed for the Museums Heritage Awards in 2013. It is currently closed due to fire damage. South Street Caves. The caves in South Street are thought to have been excavated in four distinct phases. Firstly, three wells, the largest of which has the date 1672 inscribed on its wall, were sunk vertically from Butter Hill above. The upper level, a network of four caverns which intersects the wells, was dug in the late 17th or early 18th centuries. These caves are linked by a staircase to the lowest level, a circular chamber which may have been used by religious dissenters, approximately below ground level. In Victorian times, the larger caverns were adapted for use as wine cellars. The current entrance to the caves dates from 1921. The South Street caves were sold to Dorking UDC in 1921 and were leased by the council to various local wine merchants until the 1960s. The Dorking and Leith Hill Preservation Society first opened the caves for public tours in the 1970s. Dorking Museum assumed responsibility for running tours in May 2015. Prince Edward visited the caves in March of the same year. Other nearby attractions. Several National Trust properties are close to Dorking, including Box Hill, Leith Hill, Polesden Lacey and Ranmore Common. Parks and open spaces. Cotmandene. Cotmandene is a area of common land to the east of the town centre (the name is thought to mean "the heath of the poor cottages"). During the Middle Ages it was used by commoners to graze pigs. The first almshouses on the north side of Cotmandene were built in 1677 and were given endowments in 1718 and 1831. They were rebuilt in 1848 and again in 1961. Cricket matches were played on the heath during the 18th century and are recorded in Edward Beavan's 1777 poem "Box Hill". A painting entitled "A Cricket Match on Cotmandene, Dorking" by the artist James Canter, dating to around 1770, is now held by the Marylebone Cricket Club. In the 19th century, a funfair took place at the same time as the Ascension Day livestock fair in the town centre. In 1897, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk (who was lord of the manor of Dorking) gave Cotmandene to the Urban District Council (UDC) on the condition that it was "to remain a perpetual ornament and pleasure to the town". Deepdene Terrace and Gardens. Deepdene was a country house to the west of Dorking. Its name derives from the narrow natural amphitheatre in the former grounds, most likely formed by erosion of the sandstone hillside by spring water. The gardens were first laid out by Charles Howard in the 1650s and both the diarist, John Evelyn, and John Aubrey recorded visits there in the second half of the 17th century. The grounds include a mausoleum in which owners Thomas Hope and Henry Thomas Hope are buried. In the late 19th century, the property began a period of decline accelerated by the bankruptcy of the owner, Lord Francis Hope, in 1896. Much of the estate was sold for housebuilding in the early 20th century. In 1943, the terrace and garden were purchased by the Dorking and Leith Hill Preservation Society (chaired by Ralph Vaughan Williams) and transferred to the UDC, however the house was demolished in 1969. In the mid-2010s, the garden was restored and was reopened to the public as the "Deepdene Trail". Glory Wood. The Glory Wood (the highest point in Dorking) is an area of primarily deciduous woodland to the southeast of the town centre. The southern part is known as "Devil's Den" and contains mainly oak with an area of coppiced sweet chestnut. The Glory Wood was promised to the town in 1927 by Lord Francis Hope, on the condition that it was not to be built upon. The land was to have been transferred to the UDC in July 1929, however Hope withheld the gift until 1934, in protest at the published route of the Dorking Bypass through the Deepdene estate. Meadowbank. Meadowbank is a park on the north side of the Pipp Brook. In medieval times, it was part of the lordship lands and later became part of the Denbies estate. By the start of the 20th century, it was the grounds of large private house (also called "Meadowbank"). The house and grounds were purchased by Dorking UDC in 1926, with the intention of building 150 council houses, however owing to financial constraints, the Council instead decided to sell the western third for development. The Parkway estate was completed in 1935. The park was landscaped in the decade before World War II and included the Pippbrook Mill mill pond, which was given to the town in 1934. From 1954, Meadowbank became the permanent home of Dorking Football Club until 2014. Dorking Wanderers F.C. moved to the refurbished ground in 2018. The Nower. The Nower is an area of open grassland, which rises above Dorking to the west of the town centre. Together with the adjacent Milton Heath, it forms a nature reserve owned by Mole Valley District Council and is managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust. The Nower was given to the town in 1931 by Charles Barclay, the owner of the Bury Hill estate, although it had been accessible to visitors since Victorian times. Views over Dorking may be enjoyed from "The Temple", which dates from the early 19th century. Notable buildings and landmarks. Dorking Cemetery. Dorking Cemetery was opened in 1855 on farmland that had been purchased from the Deepdene estate. Two chapels were built for funeral services, one for Anglicans (with a rectangular floor plan) and one (with an octagonal floor plan) for non-conformists. Both were designed by Henry Clutton and were constructed from flint with stone dressings. An entrance lodge on Reigate Road was also provided. Originally the area of the cemetery was , but was enlarged to between 1884 and 1923. The English novelist George Meredith and Victoria Cross recipient Charles Graham Robertson are among those buried there. The cemetery also contains 61 Commonwealth war graves of military personnel from the First and Second World Wars. Dorking Halls. The Art Deco Dorking Halls building, designed by the architect Percy W. Meredith for the Leith Hill Musical Festival (LHMF), was opened in 1931. The Grand Hall was intended to be used for performances of the Passions by J. S. Bach, but two smaller halls (the Masonic and Martineau) were also constructed as part of the same complex. During World War II, the building was used by the Meat Marketing Board and the Army, and it was then sold to Dorking UDC. A major refurbishment was undertaken by Mole Valley District Council between 1994 and 1997. The Martineau Hall houses the Premier Cinema. Pippbrook House. Pippbrook House, a Gothic country house to the north east of the town centre, was designed as a private residence for William Henry Forman by George Gilbert Scott in 1856. The house and surrounding were bought by the UDC in December 1930, for use as administrative offices. The UDC's successor, MVDC, opened purpose-built offices in the grounds in 1984, which enabled the local public library to move into the space vacated. The library relocated to St Martin's Walk in the town centre in 2012. In 2020, MVDC announced plans to develop Pippbrook House as a "community hub and start-up business centre". White Horse Hotel. The first building to be recorded on the site of the White Horse Hotel was granted to the Knights Templar by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, in around 1287. When the Templars were suppressed in 1308 by order of Pope Clement V, the property was confiscated and passed to the Knights of the Order of St John. For much of the late medieval period, it was known as the "Cross House" and in the 16th century it was the residence of the parish priest. The property became an inn around 1750 (by which time it was known as "The White Horse"), a few years before the opening of the Epsom to Horsham turnpike road. Most of the current hotel was built during the 18th century (including the timber-framed frontage which faces the High Street), however some parts date from the 15th and 16th centuries. Famous guests have included Charles Dickens who wrote his novel The Pickwick Papers, whilst resident in the mid-1830s. Further additions were made to the hotel in the 19th century, which is protected today by a Grade II listing. Statues and sculptures. The galvanised metal sculpture of a Dorking cockerel by the artist Peter Parkinson was erected on the Deepdene roundabout in 2007. The statue pays homage to the historical importance of the town's poultry market. The cockerel is a frequent target of yarn bombing and can be seen dressed in hats, scarves and other items of clothing. The two statues outside the Dorking Halls were designed by William Fawke. The statue of architect and master builder Thomas Cubitt was installed in 1995. The statue of Ralph Vaughan Williams was donated by Sir Adrian White and was unveiled in 2001. The sculpture of two cyclists at the Pixham End roundabout was unveiled in July 2012, less than two weeks before the Olympic road race events were routed through Dorking. The installation was designed by the artist Heather Burrell, and just over half of the cost was donated by members of the public, each of whom is represented by an oak leaf on either the cyclists' torsos or the bicycle wheels. There are two sculptures by the artist Lucy Quinnell in the town: the first, a metal arch commemorating the writer and philosopher Grant Allen, was installed at the entrance to Allen Court in 2013; the second, depicting the "Mayflower" sailing westwards towards the New World, was commissioned by Mole Valley District Council and was unveiled in West Street in 2021. War Memorial. The town war memorial, in South Street, was dedicated in 1921 "in memory of Dorking men who fell in the Great War". Designed by the architect Thomas Braddock, it was constructed from dressed Portland stone. The memorial was modified in 1945 to commemorate those who had died in World War II, with the addition of the wings at each side. At the base, a verse from 1 Samuel is inscribed: "They were a wall unto us both by night and by day." The names of 264 people who died in the two conflicts (both military personnel and civilians) are recorded, including seven women. The memorial is protected by a Grade II listing. Notable residents. Three former residents of Dorking have been awarded the Victoria Cross (VC): People born in the town include: People who have lived in the town include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61979

Canterbury Region

Canterbury () is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current form was established in 1989 during nationwide local government reforms. The Kaikōura District joined the region in 1992 following the abolition of the Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council. Christchurch, the South Island's largest city and the country's second-largest urban area, is the seat of the region and home to percent of the region's population. Other major towns and cities include Timaru, Ashburton, Rangiora and Rolleston. History. Natural history. The land, water, flora, and fauna of Waitaha/Canterbury has a long history, stretching from creation of the greywacke basement rocks that make up the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana to the arrival of the first humans. This history is linked to the creation of the earth, the solidification and development of tectonic plates, the development of oceans and then life itself. The region is a part of the larger Zealandia continent, itself a part of the larger Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. In the first instance, the land is based upon the constructive tectonic forces of this convergent and transformational tectonic plate boundary. In the second instance, the erosive forces of rain, snow, ice, and rock grinding against rock have developed large gravel fans that extend out from the mountains. In the third instance, there is volcanism punching through the basement rocks and blanket of sediments to the surface. Upon this solid foundation, and slowly over the billions of years, life made up of a countless generations of interconnected adaptations developed into the unique flora and fauna of Aotearoa/New Zealand. The remnants populations of these unique species are visible today in the publicly protected conservation lands. The species of Waitaha/Canterbury were adapted to the climate and geography that traverses inland from the coastline to the highest peaks, and from the warmer climes in the north to the colder in the south. Māori history. The history of the human activity in the Waitaha/Canterbury Region of Aotearoa/New Zealand dates back to settlement by the Māori people in about the tenth century. The earliest settlers in Canterbury appear to have been the people described as the Moa-hunters, arriving about the tenth century near the time of the traditional discovery of the South Island by Rākaihautū. Traces of the presence of these people are found in camp and burial sites near river mouths, the northern valleys of Banks Peninsula and on Hikuraki Bay. The burial sites of the Moa-hunters containing moa eggs, ornamental artifacts and whale's tooth pendants show that their culture differed from that of the later Maori. Following on from these times, the Waitaha people thrived on the abundance of the land and sea. This attracted other settlers from the north, first Kāti Māmoe and then Ngāi Tahu. The iwi at times shared the resources and lived together, and at other times squabbled and fought amongst each other. The Abundance of the land was diminished by the burning and destruction of the human activity. This led to a semi-nomadic lifestyle where the main settlements were near the coast to access kaimoana (seafood) and groups would go on food gathering missions further afield. In this way, much of Te Waipounamu was explored and given named by Maori for their permanent and seasonal homes, access routes, and key navigation landmarks. In the early 19th century, tribes began to trade with Europeans, who brought muskets and other tools. Armed northern tribes undertook invasions to the south island – to protect their homes, most of the tribes of the south island unified with Ngāi Tahu to fight back against these attacks. From the 1830s onwards, the presence of Europeans and other nationalities increased in the Waitaha/Canterbury region. Colonisation. In 1848, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a Briton, and John Robert Godley, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, founded the Canterbury Association to establish an Anglican colony in the South Island. The colony was based upon theories developed by Wakefield while in prison for eloping with a woman not-of-age. Due to ties to the University of Oxford, the Canterbury Association succeeded in raising sufficient funds and recruiting middle-class and upper-class settlers. In April 1850, a preliminary group led by Godley landed at Port Cooper – modern-day Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō – and established a port, housing and shops in preparation for the main body of settlers. In December 1850, the first wave of 750 settlers arrived at Lyttelton in a fleet of four ships. Following 1850, the province's economy developed with the introduction of sheep farming. The Canterbury region's tussock plains in particular were suitable for extensive sheep farming. Since they were highly valued by settlers for their meat and wool, there were over half a million sheep in the region by the early 1850s. By the 1860s, this figure had risen to three million. During this period, the architect Benjamin Mountfort designed many civic and ecclesiastical buildings in the Gothic Revival style. Canterbury Province. The Canterbury Province was formed in 1853 following the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. It was formed from part of New Munster Province and covered the middle part of the South Island, stretching from the east coast to the west coast. The province was abolished, along with other provinces of New Zealand, when the Abolition of the Provinces Act came into force on 1 Nov 1876. The modern Canterbury Region has slightly different boundaries, particularly in the north, where it includes some districts from the old Nelson Province. 2010–2011 earthquakes. September 2010. An earthquake with magnitude 7.1 occurred in the South Island of New Zealand at Saturday 04:35 am local time, 4 September 2010 (16:35 UTC, 3 September 2010). The earthquake occurred at a depth of , and there were no fatalities. The epicentre was located west of Christchurch; south-east of Darfield; south-southeast of Westport; south-west of Wellington; and north-northeast of Dunedin. Sewers were damaged, gas and water lines were broken, and power to up to 75% of the city was disrupted. Among the facilities impacted by lack of power was the Christchurch Hospital, which was forced to use emergency generators in the immediate aftermath of the quake. A local state of emergency was declared at 10:16 am on 4 September for the city, and evacuations of parts were planned to begin later in the day. People inside the Christchurch city centre were evacuated, and the city's central business district remained closed until 5 September. A curfew from 7 pm on 4 September to 7 am on 5 September was put in place. The New Zealand Army was also deployed to assist police and enforce the curfew. All schools were closed until 8 September, so they could be checked. Christchurch International Airport was closed following the earthquake and flights in and out of it cancelled. It reopened at 1:30 pm following inspection of the main runway. The earthquake was reported to have caused widespread damage and power outages. 63 aftershocks were also reported in the first 48 hours, with three registering 5.2 magnitude. Christchurch residents reported chimneys falling in through roofs, cracked ceilings and collapsed brick walls. The total insurance costs of this event were estimated to reach up to $11 billion, according to the New Zealand Treasury. February 2011. A large aftershock of magnitude 6.3 occurred on at 12:51 pm. It was centred just to the north of Lyttelton, 10 kilometres south-east of Christchurch, at a depth of 5 km. Although lower on the moment magnitude scale than the quake of September 2010, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be VIII on the MMI and among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area due to the shallowness and proximity of the epicentre. Early assessments indicated that about a third of the buildings in the Central Business District would have to be demolished. In contrast to the September 2010 quake, the February 2011 earthquake struck on a busy weekday afternoon. This, along with the strength of the quakes, and the proximity to the city centre, resulted in 181 deaths. This event promptly resulted in the declaration of New Zealand's first National State of Emergency. Many buildings and landmarks were severely damaged, including the iconic Shag Rock and Christchurch Cathedral. International bodies quickly offered assistance. Contingents of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) soon arrived. Teams were provided by Australia, United States, Singapore, Britain, Taiwan, Japan and China. The Royal New Zealand Navy was involved immediately. HMNZS "Canterbury", which was docked at Lyttelton when the quake struck, was involved in providing local community assistance, in particular by providing hot meals. After inspection, the runway at Christchurch Airport was found to be in good order. Due to the demand of citizens wishing to leave the city, the national airline Air New Zealand, offered a $50 Domestic Standby airfare. The Air New Zealand CEO increased the domestic airline traffic from Christchurch to Wellington and Auckland. Thousands of people took up this offer to relocate temporarily in the wake of the event. On 1 March at 12:51, a week after the tragedy, New Zealand observed a two-minute silence. June 2011. On 13 June 2011 at about 1:00 pm New Zealand time, Christchurch was again rocked by a magnitude 5.7 quake, followed by a magnitude 6.3 quake (initially thought to be 6.0) at 2:20 pm, centred in a similar location to that of the February quake with a depth of 6.0 kilometres. Dozens of aftershocks occurred over the following days, including several over magnitude 4. Phone lines and power were lost in some suburbs, and liquefaction surfaced mainly in the eastern areas of the city which were worst affected following the aftershocks. Many residents in and around the hillside suburb of Sumner self-evacuated. Further damage was reported to buildings inside the cordoned central business district, with an estimate of 75 additional buildings needing demolition. Among the buildings further damaged was the Christchurch Cathedral, which lost its iconic rose window, a factor reducing the likelihood of the cathedral being restored. There was only one death recorded following the quake; however, there were many injuries. Geography. The area administered by the Canterbury Regional Council consists of all the river catchments on the east coast of the South Island from that of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River, north of Kaikōura, to that of the Waitaki River, in South Canterbury. It is New Zealand's largest region by area, with an area of 45,346 km2. Canterbury was traditionally bounded in the north by the Conway River, to the west by the Southern Alps, and to the south by the Waitaki River. The area is commonly divided into North Canterbury (north of the Rakaia River to the Conway River), Mid Canterbury (from the Rakaia River to the Rangitata River), South Canterbury (south of the Rangitata River to the Waitaki River) and Christchurch City. Demographics. Canterbury Region covers . Statistics New Zealand estimates the population of Canterbury is as of , which gives a population density of people per km2. The region is home to % of New Zealand's population. Canterbury Region had a population of 599,694 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 60,261 people (11.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 77,862 people (14.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 225,408 households. There were 299,397 males and 300,297 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 38.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 109,164 people (18.2%) aged under 15 years, 121,833 (20.3%) aged 15 to 29, 272,718 (45.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 95,982 (16.0%) aged 65 or older. Of those at least 15 years old, 104,658 (21.3%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 87,948 (17.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $33,700, compared with $31,800 nationally. 83,262 people (17.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 250,845 (51.1%) people were employed full-time, 75,861 (15.5%) were part-time, and 15,864 (3.2%) were unemployed. Culture and identity. In the 2018 census, 82.4% were European/Pākehā, 9.4% Māori, 3.2% Pacific peoples, 11.1% Asian, and 2.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 23.2, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 51.0% had no religion, 37.1% were Christian, 1.3% were Hindu, 0.8% were Muslim, 0.7% were Buddhist and 2.5% had other religions. In the 2013 census, just under 20 percent of Canterbury's population was born overseas, compared to 25 percent for New Zealand as a whole. The British Isles remains the largest region of origin, accounting for 36.5 percent of the overseas-born population in Canterbury. Around a quarter of Canterbury's overseas-born population at the 2013 Census had been living in New Zealand for less than five years, and 11 percent had been living in New Zealand for less than two years (i.e. they moved to New Zealand after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake). Anglicanism is the largest Christian denomination in Canterbury with 14.8 percent affiliating, while Catholicism is the second-largest with 12.7 percent affiliating. Economy. The subnational gross domestic product (GDP) of Canterbury was estimated at NZ$37.51 billion in the year to March 2019, 12.4% of New Zealand's national GDP. The regional GDP per capita was estimated at $60,101 in the same period. In the year to March 2018, primary industries contributed $2.99 billion (8.3%) to the regional GDP, goods-producing industries contributed $8.36 billion (23.1%), service industries contributed $21.73 billion (60.0%), and taxes and duties contributed $3.10 billion (8.6%). The Canterbury region's economy is diversified into agriculture, industry, fishing, forestry, tourism and energy resources such as coal and hydroelectricity. Its agriculture sector is also diversified into dairy farming, sheep farming and horticulture particularly viticulture. The strength of the region's agricultural economy is displayed every November at the Canterbury A&P Show. The show coincides with the regional anniversary day and Cup Week. During the interwar period, agricultural productivity was boosted by the introduction of mechanization, lime and the improvement of seed stocks. Canterbury is also New Zealand's main producer of cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats. As of 2002, the region produced 60.7% of the nation's supply of wheat, 51.1% of its barley stocks and 43.7% of its supply of oats. Canterbury has 25,065 hectares of horticultural land, the largest area in New Zealand. The largest crops are potatoes (4,330 ha), peas and beans (2,700 ha), wine grapes (1,770 ha), berries (1,100 ha), and onions (1,000 ha). The region produces half of the New Zealand's mushrooms, nuts and berries. The region's viticulture industry was established by French settlers in Akaroa. Since then, wine-growing is concentrated into two regions: Waipara and Burnham. Recently, there have been vintages from plantings from Kurow further to the south. White wine has typically predominated in Canterbury from Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, and to a lesser extent Pinot blanc and Pinot gris. Pinot noir has had some success in the province, particularly in Waipara. The manufacturing industry is the second-largest contributor to the Canterbury economy. With so many agricultural businesses, there is especially room for development and innovation in products for this sector, as well as construction and engineering as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. 2,000 local manufacturing companies employ 23,000 workers, contributing an estimated $2.2 billion NZD to the national GDP. Environment. Like much of the Canterbury-Otago tussock grasslands the Canterbury Plains have been highly modified since human settlement and now support a large agricultural industry. Prior to the arrival of Māori settlers in the 13th century, much of the modern Canterbury region was covered in scrub and beech forests. Forest fires destroyed much of the original forest cover which was succeeded by tussock grassland. By the 19th century, only ten percent of this forest cover remained, and the European settlers introduced several new exotic grass, lupin, pine and macrocarpa that gradually supplanted the native vegetation. Much of the native vegetation was isolated to the alpine zones and Banks Peninsula. From a minimum of about one percent of its original forest cover in circa 1900, the amount of forest on Banks Peninsula has increased. The amount of dairy farming is increasing with a corresponding increase in demand for water. Water use is now becoming a contentious issue in Canterbury. Lowland rivers and streams are generally polluted and some of the aquifers are being overdrawn. The Central Plains Water scheme is a proposal for water storage that has attracted much controversy. The Canterbury Water Management Strategy is one of the many means being used to address the water issue. The Canterbury mudfish (kowaro) is an endangered species that is monitored by the Department of Conservation. Government and politics. Local government. The Canterbury region is administered by the Canterbury Regional Council. The area includes ten territorial authorities, including Christchurch City Council and part of the Waitaki District, the other part of which is in Otago. Following the local government reform of 1989, Kaikōura District was part of the Nelson-Marlborough Region. That region was later abolished and replaced with three unitary authorities. Kaikoura was too small to function as an independent unitary authority and was moved under the jurisdiction of the Canterbury Regional Council in 1992. However, Kaikoura remains part of Marlborough in the minds of many people. In 2006, the Banks Peninsula District was merged into Christchurch City following a 2005 referendum. National government. The Canterbury Region is covered by ten general electorates and one Māori electorate. The city of Christchurch as a whole consists of five of these electorates, while the electorate of Waimakariri contains a mix of Christchurch and exurban Canterbury. The Banks Peninsula, Wigram, Christchurch Central, Christchurch East and Ilam electorates are currently held by the governing Labour Party members Tracey McLellan, Megan Woods, Duncan Webb, Poto Williams, and Sarah Pallett respectively. Meanwhile, the Waimakariri electorate is currently held by member of the opposition (National Party's) Matt Doocey. In contrast to Christchurch, much of the surrounding Canterbury region is dominated by the National Party due to its ties to rural farming and business interests. The large Kaikōura electorate covers all of the Marlborough Region and northern Canterbury and is represented by National MP Stuart Smith. The substantial Waitaki electorate covers most of South Canterbury and neighbouring North Otago. Rangitata and Selwyn are held by Labour MP Jo Luxton and National MP Nicola Grigg respectively, while Waitaki is represented by National MP Jacqui Dean. Under the Maori seats system, Canterbury is part of the large Te Tai Tonga electorate which covers the entire South Island, the surrounding islands and most of Wellington in the North Island. It is currently held by Labour Party MP Rino Tirikatene. Judicially, the region is served by four District Courts at Christchurch, Ashburton, Timaru and Kaikōura, and two High Courts at Christchurch and Timaru. The Christchurch High Court also hosts a divisional court of the Court of Appeal. Transport. State Highway 1 runs the length of Canterbury, connecting north to Blenheim and the Cook Strait ferry terminal at Picton and south to Oamaru, Dunedin and Invercargill. Christchurch International Airport, located in Harewood on the northwest outskirts of Christchurch, is the region's main airport. Regular flights operate from Christchurch to most major centres in New Zealand, as well as Australia, the Pacific Islands and eastern Asia. Timaru's Richard Pearse Airport serves South Canterbury with daily flights to Wellington. Education. Canterbury is served by 292 primary and secondary schools, educating around 94,000 students from ages 5 to 18. Around 13 percent of students attend state-integrated schools and 5 percent attend private schools, with the remaining 82 percent attending state schools. Both Christchurch and Timaru have single-sex state secondary schools. Canterbury has two universities: the University of Canterbury located in western Christchurch, and Lincoln University located in Lincoln. Sport. The region is home to the Crusaders who play in the Super Rugby competition. The Crusaders also represent other provinces in the upper South Island but are based in Christchurch. They were formerly known as the "Canterbury Crusaders". In provincial rugby, Canterbury is represented by three unions; Canterbury, Mid Canterbury and South Canterbury. For historical reasons, players from Kaikoura District still play for the Marlborough Rugby Union, which is part of the Tasman Provincial team (Nelson/Marlborough Unions combined). The Canterbury Kings are Canterbury's cricket team in New Zealand's Super Smash. Other sporting teams include the Mainland Tactix (netball), Canterbury United FC (football) and Canterbury Rams (basketball). Film location. Canterbury was the location used in the filming "The Lord of the Rings" for the fictional city of Edoras, Rohan, on Mount Sunday, as well as Helm's deep backdrop, several miles down the valley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62049

South Island

The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers , making it the world's 12th-largest island. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at . The high Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is renowned for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Christchurch and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services. Although it constitutes 56% of New Zealand's land area, the South Island is home to only % of New Zealand's million inhabitants. After the 1860s gold rushes in the early stages of Pākehā (European) settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population and wealth. The North Island's population overtook the South Island's in the early 20th century, with 56% of the New Zealand population living in the North Island in 1911. The drift north of people and businesses continued throughout the twentieth century. Naming and usage. In the 19th century, some maps identified the South Island as "Middle Island" or "New Munster", and the name "South Island" or "New Leinster" was used for today's Stewart Island / Rakiura. In 1907, the Minister for Lands gave instructions to the Land and Survey Department that the name Middle Island was not to be used in the future. "South Island will be adhered to in all cases". Although the island had been known as the South Island for many years, in 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that along with the North Island, the South Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially named the island South Island or Te Waipounamu in October 2013. Said to mean "the Water(s) of Greenstone", "Te Waipounamu" possibly evolved from "Te Wāhi Pounamu" ("the Place of Greenstone"). The island is also known as "Te Waka a Māui" which means "Māui's Canoe". In some modern alliterations of Māori legends, the South Island existed first, as the boat of Māui, while the North Island was the fish that he caught. Various Māori iwi sometimes use different names, with some preferring to call the South Island "Te Waka o Aoraki", referring to another Māori legend called the story of Aoraki, as after the world was created, Aoraki and his three brothers came down in a waka to visit their mother, Papatūānuku the earth mother, only to crash after failing to perform a karakia on their way back home to their father, Ranginui (also known as Raki) the sky father, in turn causing the waka to transform into an island and the four brothers into the mountain ranges on top of it. In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called "the North Island" and "the South Island", with the definite article. It is also normal to use the preposition "in" rather than "on", for example "Christchurch is in the South Island", "my mother lives in the South Island". Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use "South Island" without "the". As it is 32% larger than the North Island but contains less than a quarter of the country's population, the South Island is sometimes humorously nicknamed the "mainland" of New Zealand by its residents. History. Pre-history. Charcoal drawings can be found on limestone rock shelters in the centre of the South Island, with over 500 sites stretching from Kaikōura to North Otago. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles. Some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including moa and Haast's eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, local Māori did not know the origins of the drawings. Classical Māori period. Early inhabitants of the South Island were the Waitaha. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāti Māmoe in the 16th century. Kāti Māmoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāi Tahu who migrated south in the 17th century. While today there is no distinct Kāti Māmoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Māmoe links in their whakapapa and especially in the far south of the island. Around the same time, a group of Māori migrated to "Rēkohu" (the Chatham Islands), where, in adapting to the local climate and the availability of resources, they eventually evolved into a separate people known as the Moriori with its own distinct language – closely related to the parent culture and language in mainland New Zealand. One notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disadvantageous when Māori warriors arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship. In the early 18th century, Kāi Tahu, a Māori tribe who originated on the east coast of the North Island, began migrating to the northern part of the South Island. There they and Kāti Māmoe fought Ngāi Tara and Rangitāne in the Wairau Valley. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River to Kāi Tahu. Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering Kaikōura. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in Canterbury, including Banks Peninsula. From there they spread further south and into the West Coast. In 1827-1828, Ngāti Toa under the leadership of Te Rauparaha successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikōura. Ngāti Toa then visited Kaiapoi, ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha returned to his Kapiti Island stronghold. In November 1830, Te Rauparaha persuaded Captain John Stewart of the brig "Elizabeth" to carry him and his warriors in secret to Akaroa, whereby in subterfuge they captured the leading Kāi Tahu chief, Tama-i-hara-nui, and his wife and daughter. After destroying Tama-i-hara-nui's village, they took their captives to Kapiti and killed them. John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction. In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi pā (fortified village). Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully sapped the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on Banks Peninsula and took the pā at Onawe. In 1832–33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of Tūhawaiki and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at Lake Grassmere. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped. Fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made a major incursion into Kāi Tahu territory. In 1836, the Ngāti Tama chief Te Puoho led a 100-person war party, armed with muskets, down the West Coast and over the Haast Pass. They fell on the Ngāi Tahu encampment between Lake Wānaka and Lake Hāwea, capturing ten people and killing and eating two children. Te Puoho took his captives over the Crown Range to Lake Wakatipu and thence to Southland, where he was killed, and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Tuhawaiki. Kāi Tahu and Ngāti Toa established peace by 1839, with Te Rauparaha releasing the Kāi Tahu captives he held. Formal marriages between the leading families in the two tribes sealed the peace. European contact. The first Europeans known to reach the South Island were the crew of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who arrived in his ships "Heemskerck" and "Zeehaen". In December 1642, Tasman anchored at the northern end of the island in Golden Bay / Mohua which he named Moordenaar's Bay (Murderers Bay) before sailing northward to Tonga following a clash with Māori. Tasman sketched sections of the two main islands' west coasts. Tasman called them "Staten Landt", after the "States General of the Netherlands", and that name appeared on his first maps of the country. Dutch cartographers changed the name to "Nova Zeelandia" in Latin, from "Nieuw Zeeland", after the Dutch province of "Zeeland". It was subsequently Anglicised as "New Zealand" by British naval captain James Cook of HM Bark "Endeavour" who visited the islands more than 100 years after Tasman during (1769–1770). The first European settlement in the South Island was founded at Bluff in 1823 by James Spencer, a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo. In January 1827, the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville arrived in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere on the corvette Astrolabe. A number of landmarks around Tasman Bay were named by d'Urville and his crew, including d'Urville Island, French Pass and Torrent Bay. European settlement. Following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, Lieutenant-Governor Captain William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in May 1840 and the South Island, along with the rest of New Zealand, briefly became a part of the Colony of New South Wales. This declaration was in response to France's attempts to colonise the South Island at Akaroa and the New Zealand Company attempts to establish a separate colony in Wellington, and so Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840 (the North Island by treaty and the South by discovery). Seven days after the declaration, the Treaty was signed at Akaroa on 28 May. On 17 June 1843, Māori and British settlers clashed at Wairau in what became known as the Wairau Affray. Also known as the Wairau Massacre in most older texts, it was the first serious clash of arms between the two parties after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and the only one to take place in the South Island. Four Māori died and three were wounded in the incident, while among the Europeans the toll was 22 dead and five wounded. Twelve of the Europeans were shot dead or clubbed to death after surrendering to Māori who were pursuing them. The Otago Settlement, sponsored by the Free Church of Scotland, took concrete form in Otago in March 1848 with the arrival of the first two immigrant ships from Greenock (on the Firth of Clyde) – the "John Wickliffe" and the "Philip Laing". Captain William Cargill, a veteran of the Peninsular War, served as the colony's first leader: Otago citizens subsequently elected him to the office of Superintendent of the Province of Otago. While the North Island was convulsed by the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, the South Island, with its low Māori population, was generally peaceful. In 1861, gold was discovered at Gabriel's Gully in Central Otago, sparking a gold rush. Dunedin became the wealthiest city in the country, and many in the South Island resented financing the North Island's wars. In the 1860s, several thousand Chinese men, mostly from the Guangdong province, migrated to New Zealand to work on the South Island goldfields. Although the first Chinese migrants had been invited by the Otago Provincial government, they quickly became the target of hostility from white settlers and laws were enacted specifically to discourage them from coming to New Zealand. Government and politics. The South Island has no separately represented country subdivision, but is guaranteed 16 of the electorates in the New Zealand House of Representatives. A two-tier structure constituted under the Local Government Act 2002 gives the South Island (and its adjacent islands) seven regional councils for the administration of regional environmental and transport matters and 25 territorial authorities that administer roads, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three districts) also perform the functions of a regional council and are known as unitary authorities under the New Zealand government. When New Zealand was separated from the colony of New South Wales in 1841 and established as a Crown colony in its own right, the Royal Charter effecting this provided that "the principal Islands, heretofore known as, or commonly called, the 'Northern Island', the Middle Island', and 'Stewart's Island', shall henceforward be designated and known respectively as 'New Ulster', 'New Munster', and 'New Leinster'". These divisions were of geographical significance only, not used as a basis for the government of the colony, which was centralised in Auckland. New Munster consisted of the South Island. The name New Munster was given by the Governor of New Zealand, Captain William Hobson, in honour of Munster, the Irish province in which he was born. The situation was altered in 1846 when the New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 divided the colony into two provinces: New Ulster Province (the North Island north of the mouth of the Patea River), and New Munster Province (and the southern portion of the North Island, up to the mouth of the Patea River, the South Island and Stewart Island). Each province had a Governor and Legislative and Executive Council, in addition to the Governor-in-Chief and Legislative and Executive Council for the whole colony. The 1846 Constitution Act was later suspended, and only the provincial government provisions were implemented. Early in 1848 Edward John Eyre was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster. The Provincial Council of New Munster had only one legislative session, in 1849, before it succumbed to the virulent attacks of settlers from Wellington. Governor Sir George Grey, sensible to the pressures, inspired an ordinance of the General Legislative Council under which new Legislative Councils would be established in each province with two-thirds of their members elected on a generous franchise. Grey implemented the ordinance with such deliberation that neither Council met before advice was received that the United Kingdom Parliament had passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. This act dissolved these provinces in 1853, after only seven years' existence, and New Munster was divided into the provinces of Wellington Province, Canterbury, Nelson, and Otago. Each province had its own legislature known as a Provincial Council that elected its own Speaker and Superintendent. Secession movements have surfaced several times in the South Island. A Premier of New Zealand, Sir Julius Vogel, was amongst the first people to make this call, which was voted on by the New Zealand Parliament as early as 1865. The desire for the South Island to form a separate colony was one of the main factors in moving the capital of New Zealand from Auckland to Wellington that year. Several South Island nationalist groups emerged at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st. The South Island Party fielded candidates in the 1999 general election but cancelled its registration in 2002. Several internet-based groups advocate their support for greater self-determination. On 13 October 2010, South Island Mayors led by Bob Parker of Christchurch displayed united support for a Southern Mayoral Council. Supported by Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton and Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, Bob Parker said that increased cooperation and the forming of a new South Island-wide mayoral forum were essential to representing the island's interests in Wellington and countering the new Auckland Council. Administrative divisions. There are 23 territorial authorities within the South Island: 4 city councils and 19 district councils. Three territorial authorities (Nelson City Council, and the Tasman and Marlborough District Councils) also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Political parties. This is a list of political parties, past and present, who have their headquarters in the South Island. Demographics. Population. Compared to the more populated and multi-ethnic North Island, the South Island has a smaller, more homogeneous resident population of According to the Statistics New Zealand Subnational Population Projections: 2006–2031; the South Island's population will increase by an average of 0.6 percent a year to 1,047,100 in 2011, 1,080,900 in 2016, 1,107,900 in 2021, 1,130,900 in 2026 and 1,149,400 in 2031. The South Island had a population of 1,149,564 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 91,058 people (8.6%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 127,251 people (12.4%) since the 2006 census. There were 571,656 males and 577,914 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female. Of the total population, 199,788 people (17.4%) were aged up to 15 years, 231,939 (20.2%) were 15 to 29, 519,519 (45.2%) were 30 to 64, and 198,330 (17.3%) were 65 or older. Culture and identity. At the 2018 New Zealand census, 84.8 percent of South Islanders identified as of European ethnicity, 10.0 percent as Māori, 8.7 percent as Asian, 2.9 percent as Pacific Peoples, 1.2 percent as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and 1.4 percent as another ethnicity (mainly 'New Zealander'). Totals add to more than 100% since people may identify with multiple ethnicities. The proportion of South Islanders born overseas was 21.4%. The most common foreign countries of birth are England (22.0% of overseas-born residents), Australia (8.8%), the Philippines (7.9%), Mainland China (6.5%) and India (5.4%). Around 48.6 percent of South Islanders affiliate with Christianity and 3.1 percent affiliate with non-Christian religions, while 45.8 percent are irreligious. Anglicanism is the largest Christian denomination in the South Island with 12.7 percent affiliating, closely followed by Catholicism at 12.1 percent and Presbyterianism at 11.7 percent. Urbanisation. There are 15 urban areas in the South Island with a population of 10,000 or more: Economy. The South Island economy is strongly focused on tourism and primary industries like agriculture. The other main industry groups are manufacturing, mining, construction, energy supply, education, health and community services. The subnational gross domestic product (GDP) of the South Island was estimated at NZ$78.94 billion in the year to March 2022, 21.9% of New Zealand's national GDP. The subnational GDP per capita was estimated at $65,875 in the same period. Energy. The South Island is a major centre for electricity generation, especially in the southern half of the island, and especially from hydroelectricity. In 2010, the island generated of electricity, 41.5% of New Zealand's total electricity generation. Nearly all (98.7%) of the island's electricity is generated by hydroelectricity, primarily from the Waitaki, Clutha, and Manapouri schemes, with most of the remainder coming from wind generation. While the majority of electricity is consumed within the island, a significant percentage is exported to the North Island via the HVDC Inter-Island link. Offshore oil and gas is likely to become an increasingly important part of the South Island economy into the future. Origin Energy has formed a joint venture with Anadarko Petroleum, the second-largest independent U.S. natural gas producer, to begin drilling for oil in the Canterbury Basin off the coast of Dunedin. The 390 km2, Carrack/Caravel prospect has the potential to deliver more than the equivalent of of oil and gas. Market analyst, Greg Easton from Craigs Investment Partners commented that such a substantial find it could well turn Dunedin from the Edinburgh of the south to the Aberdeen of the south. The Great South Basin off the coast of Otago and Southland at over (covering an area 1.5 times New Zealand's landmass) is one of New Zealand's largest undeveloped offshore petroleum basins with prospects for both oil and gas. In July 2007, the New Zealand Government awarded oil and gas exploration permits for four areas of the Great South Basin, situated in the volatile waters off the Southern Coast of New Zealand. The three successful permit holders are: Stock exchanges. Due to the gold rushes of the 1860s, the South Island had regional stock exchanges in Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill – all of which were affiliated to the Stock Exchange Association of New Zealand. However, in 1974 these regional exchanges were amalgamated to form one national stock exchange, the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE). Separate trading floors operated in both Christchurch and Dunedin until the late 1980s. On 30 May 2003, New Zealand Stock Exchange Limited formally changed its name to New Zealand Exchange Limited, trading as NZX. Today, the Deloitte South Island Index is compiled quarterly from publicly available information provided by NZX, Unlisted and Bloomberg. It is a summary of the movements in market capitalisation of each South Island-based listed company. A company is included in the Index where either its registered office and/or a substantial portion of its operations are focused on the South Island. Trade unions. There are several South Island-based trade union organisations. They are: Tourism. Tourism is a huge earner for the South Island. Popular tourist activities include sightseeing, adventure tourism, such as glacier climbing and Bungee jumping, tramping (hiking), kayaking, and camping. Numerous walking and hiking paths, including six of the New Zealand Great Walks, are located in the South Island and are renowned internationally. An increase in direct international flights to Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown has boosted the number of overseas tourists. Fiordland National Park, Abel Tasman National Park, Westland Tai Poutini National Park, Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, Queenstown, Kaikōura, and the Marlborough Sounds are regarded as the main tourism destinations in the South Island and amongst the Top 10 destinations in New Zealand. Ski areas and resorts. This is a list of ski areas and resorts in the South Island. Transport. Road transport. The South Island has a State Highway network of . Rail transport. The South Island's railway network has two main lines, two secondary lines, and a few branch lines. The Main North Line from Picton to Christchurch and the Main South Line from Lyttelton to Invercargill via Dunedin together comprise the South Island Main Trunk Railway. The secondary Midland Line branches from the Main South Line in Rolleston and passes through the Southern Alps via the Otira Tunnel to the West Coast and its terminus in Greymouth. In Stillwater, it meets the other secondary route, the Stillwater - Westport Line, which now includes the Ngakawau Branch. A number of other secondary routes are now closed, including the Otago Central Railway, the isolated Nelson Section, and the interdependent Waimea Plains Railway and Kingston Branch. An expansive network of branch lines once existed, especially in Canterbury, Otago, and Southland, but these are now almost completely closed. The branch lines that remain in operation serve ports (Bluff Branch and Port Chalmers Branch), coal mines (Ohai Branch and Rapahoe Branch), and a dairy factory (Hokitika Branch). The first 64 km of the Otago Central Railway remain in operation for tourist trains run by Dunedin Railways (formerly Taieri Gorge Railway). The most significant freight is coal from West Coast mines to the port of Lyttelton for export. Passenger services were once extensive. Commuter trains operated multiple routes around Christchurch and Dunedin, plus a service between Invercargill and Bluff. Due to substantial losses, these were cancelled between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The final services to operate ran between Dunedin's City Centre and the suburb of Mosgiel, and they ceased in 1982. Regional passenger trains were once extensive, but are now limited to the Coastal Pacific from Christchurch to Picton and the TranzAlpine from Christchurch to Greymouth. The Southerner between Christchurch and Invercargill, once the flagship of the network, was cancelled on 10 February 2002. Subsequently, the architecturally significant Dunedin Railway Station has been used solely by the TGR's tourist trains, the Taieri Gorge Limited along the Otago Central Railway and the Seasider to Palmerston. Rural passenger services on branch lines were provided by mixed trains and Vulcan/88 seater railcars but the mixeds had largely ceased to exist by the 1950s and the railcars were withdrawn in the mid-1970s. The South Island saw the final use of steam locomotives in New Zealand. Locomotives belonging to classes long withdrawn elsewhere continued to operate on West Coast branches until the very late 1960s, when they were displaced by DJ class diesels. In comparison to most countries, where steam locomotives were last used on insubstantial rural and industrial operations, the last services run by steam locomotives were the premier expresses between Christchurch and Invercargill: the South Island Limited until 1970 and the Friday and Sunday night services until 1971. This was due to the carriages being steam-heated. The final steam-hauled service in New Zealand, headed by a member of the JA class, ran on 26 October 1971. Water transport. The South Island is separated from the North Island by Cook Strait, which is wide at its narrowest point, and requires a ferry trip to cross. Dunedin was the headquarters of the Union Steam Ship Company, once the largest shipping company in the Southern Hemisphere. Geography. The South Island, with an area of , is the largest landmass of New Zealand; it contains about one-quarter of the New Zealand population and is the world's 12th-largest island. It is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki / Mount Cook at , making it 9th-highest island, with the high Kaikōura Ranges to the northeast. There are eighteen peaks of more than in the South Island. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is renowned for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush, and Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The dramatic landscape of the South Island has made it a popular location for the production of several films, including "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "". It lies at similar latitudes to Tasmania (an island south of the Australian mainland), and parts of Patagonia in South America. Geology. On 4 September 2010, the South Island was struck by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which caused extensive damage, several power outages, and many reports of aftershocks. Five and a half months later, 22 February Christchurch earthquake of 6.3 magnitude caused far more additional damage in Christchurch, resulting in 181 deaths. This quake struck at about lunchtime and was centred closer at Lyttelton, and shallower than the prior quake, consequently causing extensive damage. Climate. The climate in the South Island is mostly temperate. The mean temperature for the South Island is . January and February are the warmest months, while July is the coldest. Historical maxima and minima are in Rangiora, Canterbury and in Ophir, Otago. Conditions vary sharply across the regions, from extremely wet on the West Coast to semi-arid in the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury. Most areas have between of rainfall with the most rain along the West Coast and the least rain on the East Coast, predominantly on the Canterbury Plains. Christchurch is the driest city, receiving about of rain per year, while Invercargill is the wettest, receiving about . The southern and south-western parts of South Island have a cooler and cloudier climate, with around 1,400–1,600 hours of sunshine annually; the northern and north-eastern parts of the South Island are the sunniest areas and receive about 2,400–2,500 hours. Natural geographic features. Fiords. The South Island has 15 named maritime fiords which are all located in the southwest of the island in a mountainous area known as Fiordland. The spelling 'fiord' is used in New Zealand rather than 'fjord', although all the maritime fiords use the word Sound in their name instead. A number of lakes in the Fiordland and Otago regions also fill glacial valleys. Lake Te Anau has three western arms, which are fiords (and are named so). Lake McKerrow / Whakatipu Waitai to the north of Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord with a silted-up mouth. Lake Wakatipu fills a large glacial valley, as do lakes Hakapoua, Poteriteri, Monowai and Hauroko in the far south of Fiordland. Lake Manapouri has fiords as its west, north and south arms. The Marlborough Sounds, a series of deep indentations in the coastline at the northern tip of the South Island, are in fact rias, drowned river valleys. Glaciers. Most of New Zealand's glaciers are in the South Island. They are generally found in the Southern Alps near the Main Divide. An inventory of South Island glaciers during the 1980s indicated there were about 3,155 glaciers with an area of at least . About a sixth of these glaciers covered more than 10 hectares. These include the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers on the West Coast, and the Haupapa / Tasman, Hooker, Mueller and Murchison glaciers in the east. Lakes. There are some 3,820 lakes in New Zealand with a surface area larger than one hectare. Much of the higher country in the South Island was covered by ice during the glacial periods of the last two million years. Advancing glaciers eroded large steep-sided valleys, and often carried piles of moraine (rocks and soil) that acted as natural dams. When the glaciers retreated, they left basins that are now filled by lakes. The level of most glacial lakes in the upper parts of the Waitaki and Clutha / Mata-Au rivers are controlled for electricity generation. Hydroelectric reservoirs are common in South Canterbury and Central Otago, the largest of which is Lake Benmore, on the Waitaki River. The South Island has 8 of New Zealand's 10 biggest lakes. They were formed by glaciers and include Lake Wakatipu, Lake Tekapo and Lake Manapouri. The deepest (462 m) is Lake Hauroko, in western Southland. It is the 16th deepest lake in the world. Millions of years ago, Central Otago had a huge lake – Lake Manuherikia. It was slowly filled in with mud, and fossils of fish and crocodiles have been found there. Volcanoes. There are four extinct volcanoes in the South Island, all located on the east coast. Banks Peninsula forms the most prominent of these volcanic features. Geologically, the peninsula comprises the eroded remnants of two large shield volcanoes (Lyttelton formed first, then Akaroa). These formed due to intraplate volcanism between about eleven and eight million years ago (Miocene) on a continental crust. The peninsula formed as offshore islands, with the volcanoes reaching to about 1,500 m above sea level. Two dominant craters formed Lyttelton / Whakaraupō and Akaroa Harbours. The Canterbury Plains formed from the erosion of the Southern Alps (an extensive and high mountain range caused by the meeting of the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates) and from the alluvial fans created by large braided rivers. These plains reach their widest point where they meet the hilly sub-region of Banks Peninsula. A layer of loess, a rather unstable fine silt deposited by the foehn winds which bluster across the plains, covers the northern and western flanks of the peninsula. The portion of the crater rim lying between Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō and Christchurch city forms the Port Hills. The Otago Harbour was formed from the drowned remnants of a giant shield volcano, centred close to what is now the town of Port Chalmers. The remains of this violent origin can be seen in the basalt of the surrounding hills. The last eruptive phase ended some ten million years ago, leaving the prominent peak of Mount Cargill. Timaru was constructed on rolling hills created from the lava flows of the extinct Mount Horrible, which last erupted many thousands of years ago. Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage Site. Te Wāhipounamu (Māori for "the place of greenstone") is a World Heritage Site in the south-west corner of the South Island. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990, it covers and incorporates the Aoraki / Mount Cook, the Fiordland, the Mount Aspiring and the Westland Tai Poutini National Parks. It is thought to contain some of the best modern representations of the original flora and fauna present in Gondwanaland, one of the reasons for listing as a World Heritage Site. Protected areas. Forest parks. There are six forest parks in the South Island that are on public land administered by the Department of Conservation. National parks. The South Island has ten national parks established under the National Parks Act 1980 and which are administered by the Department of Conservation. From north to south, the National Parks are: Other native reserves and parks Natural history. During the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South Islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the South Taranaki Bight. Similarly, the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura were connected by coastal plains which covered modern-day Foveaux Strait. During this period, most of the South Island was covered in grassland and glaciers, compared to the woodlands and rainforest which grew in the more temperate North Island. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating the islands and linking the Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea. Birds. There are several bird species which are endemic to the South Island. They include the kea, great spotted kiwi, Okarito brown kiwi, South Island kōkako, South Island pied oystercatcher, Malherbe's parakeet, king shag, takahē, black-fronted tern, South Island robin, rock wren, wrybill, and yellowhead. Many South Island bird species are now extinct, mainly due to hunting by humans and predation by cats and rats introduced by humans. Extinct species include the South Island goose, South Island giant moa, Haast's eagle and South Island piopio. Tertiary education. The South Island has three universities, and five polytechnic schools. Since 2020, the polytechnics are branches of the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology. Healthcare. Healthcare in the South Island is provided by five District Health Boards (DHBs). Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions. There are six major hospitals in the South Island: Christchurch Hospital, Dunedin Hospital, Grey Base Hospital (Greymouth), Nelson Hospital, Southland Hospital (Invercargill), and Timaru Hospital. Christchurch Hospital, Dunedin Hospital and Wellington Hospital (in the North Island) are the main tertiary hospitals serving the South Island. Emergency medical services. There are several air ambulance and rescue helicopter services operating throughout the South Island. Culture. Art. The South Island has contributed to the Arts in New Zealand and internationally through highly regarded artists such as Nigel Brown, Frances Hodgkins, Colin McCahon, Shona McFarlane, Peter McIntyre Grahame Sydney and Geoff Williams. The University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts was founded in 1950. South Island Art Galleries include: Language. Parts of the South Island, principally Southland and the very southernmost areas of Otago near the border with Southland, are renowned for its people speaking what is often referred to as the "Southland burr", a semi-rhotic, Scottish-influenced dialect of the English language. Media. Newspapers. The South Island has ten daily newspapers and many weekly community newspapers. Major daily newspapers include the "Ashburton Guardian", the "Greymouth Star", "The Marlborough Express", "The Nelson Mail", the "Oamaru Mail", the "Otago Daily Times", "The Press", the "Southland Times", "The Timaru Herald", and the "West Coast Times". "The Press" and the "Otago Daily Times", serving mainly Christchurch and Dunedin respectively, are the South Island's major newspapers. Television. The South Island has seven regional stations (either non-commercial public service or privately owned) that broadcast only in one region or city: 45 South TV, Channel 39, Canterbury Television, CUE, Mainland Television, Shine TV, and Visitor TV. These stations mainly broadcast free to air on UHF frequencies; however, some are carried on subscription TV. Content ranges from local news, access broadcasts, satellite sourced news, tourist information and Christian programming to music videos. Radio stations. A large number of radio stations serve communities throughout the South Island; these include independent stations, but many are owned by organisations such as Radio New Zealand, New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and MediaWorks New Zealand. Religion. Anglicanism is strongest in Canterbury (the city of Christchurch having been founded as an Anglican settlement). Catholicism still has a noticeably strong presence on the West Coast, and in Kaikōura. The territorial authorities with the highest proportion of Catholics are Kaikōura (where they are 18.4% of the total population), Westland (18.3%), and Grey (17.8%). Presbyterianism is strong in the lower South Island – the city of Dunedin was founded as a Presbyterian settlement, and many of the early settlers in the region were Scottish Presbyterians. The territorial authorities with the highest proportion of Presbyterians are Gore (where they are 30.9% of the total population), Clutha District (30.7%), and Southland (29.8%). The first Muslims in New Zealand were Chinese gold diggers working in the Dunstan gold fields of Otago in the 1860s. Dunedin's Al-Huda mosque is the world's southernmost, and the farthest from Mecca. Law enforcement. Police. The New Zealand Police is the primary law enforcement agency of New Zealand, including the South Island. Three decentralised Police Districts cover the entire South Island, with each being commanded by a Superintendent and having a central station from which subsidiary and suburban stations are managed. The Christchurch Police Communications Centre handles all emergency and general calls within the South Island. The Tasman Police District covers 70,000 kilometres of territory, encompassing the northern and most of the western portion of the South Island. The West Coast alone spans the distance between Wellington and Auckland. There are 22 police stations in the Tasman District, with 6 being sole-charge - or one-person - stations. The Tasman Police District has a total of 302 sworn police officers and 57 civilian or nonsworn staff. Organisationally, the district has its headquarters in Nelson and has three distinct Areas, each headed by an Inspector as its commander. The areas are Nelson Bays, West Coast and Marlborough. The Canterbury Police District is based in Christchurch the largest city in the South Island and covers an area extending from the Conway River, (just south of Kaikōura), to the Waitaki River, south of Timaru. The Southern Police District with its headquarters in Dunedin spans from Oamaru in the North through to Stewart Island in the far South covers the largest geographical area of any of the 12 police districts in New Zealand. The Southern District has three distinct Areas headed by Inspectors; Otago Rural, Southland and Dunedin. Correctional facilities. Correctional facilities in the South Island are operated by the Department of Corrections as part of the South Island Prison Region. Christchurch Prison, also known as Paparua, is located in Templeton a satellite town of Christchurch. It accommodates up to 780 minimum, medium, and high-security male prisoners. It was built in 1925, and also includes a youth unit, a self-care unit and the "Paparua Remand Centre" (PRC), built in 1999 to replace the old "Addington Prison". Christchurch Women's Prison, also located in Templeton, is a facility for women of all security classifications. It has the only maximum/medium security accommodation for women prisoners in New Zealand. It can accommodate up to 98 prisoners. Rolleston prison is located in Rolleston, another satellite town of Christchurch. It accommodates around 320 male prisoners of minimum to low-medium security classifications and includes "Kia Marama" a sixty-bed unit that provides an intensive 9-month treatment programme for male child sex offenders. Invercargill Prison, in Invercargill, accommodates up to 172 minimum to low-medium security prisoners. Otago Corrections Facility is located near Milton and houses up to 335 minimum to high-medium security male prisoners. Customs service. The New Zealand Customs Service whose role is to provide border control and protect the community from potential risks arising from international trade and travel, as well as collecting duties and taxes on imports to the country, has offices at Christchurch International Airport, Dunedin, Invercargill, Lyttelton and Nelson. Sport. Of the professional sports teams based in the South Island, the major spectator sports of rugby union and cricket are particularly well represented. The Crusaders and Highlanders represent the upper and lower South Island respectively in rugby union's Super Rugby competition; and Canterbury, Otago, Southland Stags, Tasman Makos all participate in provincial rugby's ITM Cup. At cricket, the South Island is represented by the Canterbury Wizards, Central Stags, and Otago Volts in the Plunket Shield, one day domestic series, and the Super Smash. As well as rugby union and cricket, the South Island also boasts representative teams in the domestic basketball, soccer, ice hockey, netball, and rugby league. The North vs South match, sometimes known as the Interisland match, is a longstanding rugby union fixture in New Zealand. The first game was played in 1897, the most recent one in 2020. Christchurch hosted the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62093

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was consort of the British monarch from Elizabeth's accession on 6 February 1952 until his death in 2021, making him the longest-serving royal consort in history. Philip was born in Greece into the Greek and Danish royal families; his family was exiled from the country when he was eighteen months old. After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the Royal Navy in 1939, when he was 18 years old. In July 1939, Philip began corresponding with the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, the elder daughter and heir presumptive of King George VI. During the Second World War, he served with distinction in the British Mediterranean and Pacific fleets. In the summer of 1946, when Elizabeth had attained the age of twenty, the King granted Philip permission to marry her. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, Philip stopped using his Greek and Danish royal titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents' surname Mountbatten. He married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947. The day before their wedding, the King granted Philip the style "His Royal Highness". On the day of their wedding, he was additionally created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. Philip left active military service when Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952, having reached the rank of commander. In 1957, he was created a British prince. Philip had four children with Elizabeth: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. A sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He was a patron, president, or member of over 780 organisations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature, and served as chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a youth awards programme for people aged 14 to 24. Philip is the longest-lived male member of the British royal family. He retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, aged 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements and 5,493 speeches from 1952. Philip died in 2021 at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99. Early life and education. Family, infancy and exile from Greece. Prince Philip () of Greece and Denmark was born on the dining room table in Mon Repos, a villa on the Greek island of Corfu, on 10 June 1921. He was the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. A member of the House of Glücksburg, the ruling house of Denmark, he was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from King George I of Greece and King Christian IX of Denmark; he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones. Philip's four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rite at St. George's Church in the Old Fortress in Corfu. His godparents were his grandmother Queen Olga of Greece, his cousin Crown Prince George of Greece, his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten, and the mayor of Corfu, Alexandros Kokotos. Shortly after Philip's birth, his maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, then known as Louis Mountbatten, Marquess of Milford Haven, died in London. Louis was a naturalised British subject who, after a career in the Royal Navy, had renounced his German titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten—an Anglicised version of Battenberg—during the First World War, owing to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom. After visiting London for his grandfather's memorial service, Philip and his mother returned to Greece, where Prince Andrew had remained to command a Greek Army division embroiled in the Greco-Turkish War. Greece suffered significant losses in the war, and the Turks made substantial gains. Philip's uncle and high commander of the Greek expeditionary force, King Constantine I, was blamed for the defeat and was forced to abdicate on 27 September 1922. The new military government arrested Prince Andrew, along with others. The commanding officer of the army, General Georgios Hatzianestis, and five senior politicians were arrested, tried, and executed in the Trial of the Six. Prince Andrew's life was also believed to be in danger, and Princess Alice was under surveillance. Finally, in December, a revolutionary court banished Prince Andrew from Greece for life. The British naval vessel evacuated Andrew's family, with Philip carried to safety in a fruit box. Upbringing in France, Britain and Germany. Philip's family went to France, where they settled in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud in a house lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess George of Greece and Denmark. During his time there, Philip was first educated at The Elms, an American school in Paris run by Donald MacJannet, who described Philip as a "know it all smarty person, but always remarkably polite". In 1930, Philip was sent to the United Kingdom, living with his maternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, at Kensington Palace and his uncle George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, at Lynden Manor in Bray, Berkshire. He was then enrolled at Cheam School. Over the next three years, his four sisters married German princes and moved to Germany, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum, and his father took up residence in Monte Carlo. Philip had little contact with his mother for the remainder of his childhood. In 1933, Philip was sent to Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, which had the "advantage of saving school fees", because it was owned by the family of his brother-in-law Berthold, Margrave of Baden. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, Salem's Jewish founder, Kurt Hahn, fled persecution and founded Gordonstoun School in Scotland, to which Philip moved after two terms at Salem. In 1937, his sister Cecilie; her husband, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse; her two young sons, Ludwig and Alexander; her newborn infant; and her mother-in-law were killed in an air crash at Ostend; Philip, then 16 years old, attended the funeral in Darmstadt. Cecilie and Georg Donatus were members of the Nazi Party. The following year, Philip's uncle and guardian Lord Milford Haven died of bone marrow cancer. Milford Haven's younger brother Lord Louis took parental responsibility for Philip for the remainder of his youth. Because Philip left Greece as an infant, he did not speak Greek. In 1992, he said that he "could understand a certain amount". He stated that he thought of himself as Danish and his family spoke English, French, and German. Known for his charm in his youth, Philip was linked to several women, including Osla Benning. Naval and wartime service. After leaving Gordonstoun in early 1939, Philip completed a term as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, then repatriated to Greece, living with his mother in Athens for a month in mid-1939. At the behest of King George II of Greece, his first cousin, he returned to Britain in September to resume training for the Royal Navy. He graduated from Dartmouth the next year as the best cadet in his course. During the Second World War, he continued to serve in the British forces, while two of his brothers-in-law, Prince Christoph of Hesse and Berthold, Margrave of Baden, fought on the opposing German side. Philip was appointed as a midshipman in January 1940. He spent four months on the battleship , protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean, followed by shorter postings on , on , and in British Ceylon. After the invasion of Greece by Italy in October 1940, he was transferred from the Indian Ocean to the battleship in the Mediterranean Fleet. On 1 February 1941, Philip was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant after a series of courses at Portsmouth, in which he gained the top grade in four out of five sections of the qualifying examination. Among other engagements, he was involved in the Battle of Crete and was mentioned in dispatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan, in which he controlled the battleship's searchlights. He was also awarded the Greek War Cross. In June 1942, he was appointed to the destroyer , which was involved in convoy escort tasks on the east coast of Britain, as well as the Allied invasion of Sicily. Promotion to lieutenant followed on 16 July 1942. In October of the same year, aged 21, Philip became first lieutenant of HMS "Wallace". He was one of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy. During the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943, as second-in-command of "Wallace", he saved his ship from a night bomber attack. He devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted the bombers, allowing the ship to slip away unnoticed. In 1944, he moved on to the new destroyer, , where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla. He was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed. Philip returned to the United Kingdom on the "Whelp" in January 1946 and was posted as an instructor at , the Petty Officers' School in Corsham, Wiltshire. Marriage. In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During the visit, the Queen and Lord Louis Mountbatten asked his nephew Philip to escort the royal couple's daughters, 13-year-old Elizabeth and 9-year-old Margaret, who were Philip's third cousins through Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark. Philip and Elizabeth had first met as children in 1934 at the wedding of Prince George and Princess Marina. After their 1939 meeting, Elizabeth fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters. Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked George VI for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request, provided that any formal engagement be delayed until Elizabeth's 21st birthday the following April. By March 1947, Philip had adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family and had stopped using his Greek and Danish royal titles upon becoming a naturalised British subject. The engagement was announced to the public on 9 July 1947. The engagement attracted some controversy. Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born, and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote, "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." Later biographies reported that Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the union initially and teased Philip as "the Hun". In later life, however, she told the biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman". Though Philip appeared "always to have regarded himself as an Anglican", and he had attended Anglican services with his classmates and relations in England and throughout his Royal Navy days, he had been baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, wanted to "regularise" Philip's position by officially receiving him into the Church of England, which he did in October 1947. The day before the wedding, King George VI bestowed the style of "Royal Highness" on Philip, and, on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London. Consequently, being already a Knight of the Garter, between 19 and 20 November 1947, he bore the unusual style Lieutenant His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten and is so described in the letters patent of 20 November 1947. Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world. In post-war Britain, it was unacceptable for any of the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters, all of whom had married German princes. After their marriage, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh took residence at Clarence House. Their first two children were born before Elizabeth succeeded her father as monarch in 1952: Prince Charles in 1948 and Princess Anne in 1950. Their marriage was the longest of any British monarch, lasting over 73 years until Philip died in 2021. Concerned by her father's poor health, Elizabeth insisted that Philip give up smoking, which he did, cold turkey, on their wedding day. Philip was introduced to the House of Lords on 21 July 1948, immediately before his uncle Louis Mountbatten, who had been made Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Philip ostensibly never spoke in the House of Lords. He, his sons and other royals ceased to be members of the House of Lords following the House of Lords Act 1999, although Philip's former brother-in-law, Lord Snowdon, remained in the House. Early duties (1947–1952). After his honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home, Broadlands, Philip returned to the navy, at first in a desk job at the Admiralty and later on a staff course at the Naval Staff College, Greenwich. From 1949, he was stationed in Malta (residing at Villa Guardamangia) after being posted as the first lieutenant of the destroyer , the lead ship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet. On 16 July 1950, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and given command of the frigate . On 30 June 1952, Philip was promoted to commander, though his active naval career had ended in July 1951. With the King in ill health, Elizabeth and Philip were both appointed to the Privy Council on 4 November 1951, after a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. At the end of January 1952, the couple set out on a tour of the Commonwealth. On 6 February 1952, they were in Kenya when Elizabeth's father died, and she became queen. Philip broke the news to Elizabeth at Sagana Lodge, and the royal party immediately returned to the United Kingdom. On 5 December 1952, Philip was initiated into Freemasonry by the Worshipful Master of Navy Lodge No 2612, honouring a commitment he had made to George VI, who had made it clear that he expected Philip to maintain the tradition of royal patronage of Freemasonry. However, according to one journalist writing in 1983, Philip's mother-in-law and his uncle Lord Mountbatten had unfavourable views of Freemasonry; after his initiation, Philip took no further part in the organisation. Although as the consort of the Queen, he might in time have been made Grand Master of British Freemasonry, Elizabeth's cousin Edward, Duke of Kent, assumed that role in 1967. Philip's son Charles apparently never joined Freemasonry. Consort of the Queen (1952–2021). Royal house. Elizabeth's accession to the throne brought up the question of the name of the royal house, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name upon marriage. His uncle, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, advocated the name "House of Mountbatten". Philip suggested "House of Edinburgh" after his ducal title. When Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary heard of this, she informed British prime minister Winston Churchill, who later advised Elizabeth to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. Philip privately complained, "I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." On 8 February 1960, the Queen issued an Order in Council declaring that Mountbatten-Windsor would be the surname of her and her husband's male-line descendants who are not styled as Royal Highness or titled as prince or princess. While it seems Elizabeth had "absolutely set her heart" on such a change and had it in mind for some time, it occurred only 11 days before the birth of their third child, Prince Andrew, and only after three months of protracted correspondence between English constitutional expert Edward Iwi (who averred that, without such a change, the royal child would be born with "the Badge of Bastardy") and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who had attempted to refute Iwi's arguments. Six months after she acceded to the throne, Elizabeth announced that Philip was to have "place, pre-eminence and precedence" next to her "on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament". She also intervened to ensure that Philip would serve as regent for their son Charles in the event of her unexpected death. Parliament passed a bill to that effect in 1953. Contrary to rumours over the years, Elizabeth and Philip were said by insiders to have had a strong relationship throughout their marriage, despite the challenges of Elizabeth's reign. The Queen referred to Prince Philip in a speech on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as her "constant strength and guide". Prince Philip received a Parliamentary annuity (of £359,000 since 1990) that served to meet official expenses in carrying out public duties. The annuity was unaffected by the reform of royal finances under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. Any part of the allowance that was not used to meet official expenditure was liable for tax. In practice, the entire allowance was used to fund his official duties. Supporting the Queen. As consort to the Queen, Philip supported his wife in her new duties as sovereign, accompanying her to ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament in various countries, state dinners, and tours abroad. As chairman of the Coronation Commission, he was the first member of the royal family to fly in a helicopter, visiting the troops that were to take part in the ceremony. Philip was not himself crowned in the coronation service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her "liege man of life and limb". In the early 1950s, Philip's sister-in-law Princess Margaret considered marrying a divorced older man, Peter Townsend. The press accused Philip of being hostile to the match, to which he replied: "I haven't done anything." Philip had not interfered, preferring to stay out of other people's love lives. Eventually, Margaret and Townsend parted. For six months, over 1953 and 1954, Philip and Elizabeth toured the Commonwealth; as with previous tours, the children were left in Britain. In 1956, the Duke, with Kurt Hahn, founded The Duke of Edinburgh's Award to give young people "a sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities". In the same year, he also established the Commonwealth Study Conferences. From 1956 to 1957, Philip travelled around the world aboard the newly commissioned , during which he opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and visited the Antarctic, becoming the first royal to cross the Antarctic Circle. Elizabeth and the children remained in the UK. On the return leg of the journey, Philip's private secretary, Mike Parker, was sued for divorce by his wife. As with Townsend, the press still portrayed divorce as a scandal, and eventually, Parker resigned. He later said that the Duke was very supportive and "the Queen was wonderful throughout. She regarded divorce as a sadness, not a hanging offence." In a public show of support, Elizabeth created Parker a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. Further press reports claimed that the royal couple were drifting apart, which enraged Philip and dismayed Elizabeth, who issued a strongly worded denial. On 22 February 1957, she granted her husband the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent; it was gazetted that he was to be known as "His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh". Philip was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 14 October 1957, taking his Oath of Allegiance before the Queen in person at her Canadian residence, Rideau Hall. Remarks he made two years later to the Canadian Medical Association on the subject of youth and sport were taken as a suggestion that Canadian children were out of shape. This was at first considered "tactless", but Philip was later admired for his encouragement of physical fitness. While in Canada in 1969, Philip spoke about his views on republicanism: In 1960, Philip attended the National Eisteddfod of Wales wearing a long green robe, where he was initiated as an Honorary Ovate by the Archdruid of Wales Edgar Phillips through his bardic name "Philip Meirionnydd", to reflect his title of Earl of Merioneth. In 1961, he became the first member of the royal family to be interviewed on television, after he appeared on "Panorama" to answer questions by Richard Dimbleby about the Commonwealth Technical Training Week, an initiative of which he was patron. In 1969, he made a similar appearance on "Meet the Press" during a tour of North America. Charities and patronages. Philip was patron of some 800 organisations, particularly focused on the environment, industry, sport, and education. His first solo engagement as Duke of Edinburgh was in March 1948, presenting prizes at the boxing finals of the London Federation of Boys' Clubs at the Royal Albert Hall. He was president of the National Playing Fields Association (now known as Fields in Trust) for 64 years, from 1947 until his grandson Prince William took over the role in 2013. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1951. In 1952, he became patron of The Industrial Society (since renamed The Work Foundation). In the same year, and after his father-in-law's death, he took over the role of the Ranger of Windsor Great Park, overseeing its protection and maintenance. From 1955 to 1957, he was president of The Football Association. He served two terms as president of Marylebone Cricket Club, with his tenures starting in 1949 and 1974, respectively. In the same decade, he became the first patron of Lord's Taverners, a youth cricket and disability sports charity, for which he organised fundraising events. Between 1959 and 1965 Prince Philip was the president of BAFTA. He helped found the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1963 and the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 and served as the latter's UK president from 1961 to 1982, international president from 1981, and president emeritus from 1996. He was also president of the Zoological Society of London for two decades and was appointed an honorary fellow in 1977. Despite his involvement in initiatives for conserving nature, he was also criticised for practices such as fox hunting and shooting of game birds and the killing of a tiger in India in 1961. He was president of the International Equestrian Federation from 1964 to 1986, and served as chancellor of the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford, and Wales. In 1965, at the suggestion of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Philip became chair to a scheme set up for awarding industrial innovations, which later became known as The Queen's Awards for Enterprise. In the same year, Philip became president of the Council of Engineering Institutions and in that capacity he assisted with the inception of the Fellowship of Engineering (later the Royal Academy of Engineering), of which he later became the senior fellow. He also commissioned the Prince Philip Designers Prize and the Prince Philip Medal to recognise designers and engineers with exceptional contributions. In 1970, he was involved with the founding of The Maritime Trust for restoring and preserving historic British ships. In 2017, the British Heart Foundation thanked Prince Philip for being its patron for 55 years, during which time, in addition to organising fundraisers, he "supported the creation of nine BHF-funded centres of excellence". He was an honorary fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge. Charles and Diana. At the beginning of 1981, Philip wrote to his son Charles, counselling him to make up his mind to either propose to Lady Diana Spencer or break off their courtship. Charles felt pressured by his father to make a decision and did so, proposing to Diana in February. They married five months later. By 1992, Charles and Diana's marriage had broken down. Elizabeth and Philip hosted a meeting between them, trying to effect a reconciliation, but without success. Philip wrote to Diana, expressing his disappointment at Charles's and her extra-marital affairs and asking her to examine both his and her behaviour from the other's point of view. She found the letters hard to take but appreciated that he acted with good intent. Charles and Diana separated before the end of 1992 and were divorced in 1996. A year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. At the time, Philip was on holiday at Balmoral with the extended royal family. In their grief, Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, wanted to attend church, so Elizabeth and Philip took them that morning. For five days, the royal couple shielded their grandsons from the ensuing press interest by keeping them at Balmoral, where they could grieve in private. The royal family's seclusion caused public dismay, but the public mood changed after a live broadcast made by Elizabeth on 5 September. Uncertain as to whether they should walk behind her coffin during the funeral procession, Diana's sons hesitated. Philip told William: "If you don't walk, I think you'll regret it later. If I walk, will you walk with me?" On the day of the funeral, Philip, William, Harry, Charles, and Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, walked through London behind her bier. Over the next few years, Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi Fayed was also killed in the crash, claimed that Philip had ordered the death of Diana and that the accident was staged. The inquest into Diana's death concluded in 2008 that there was no evidence of a conspiracy. Longevity. In April 2009, Philip became the longest-serving British royal consort, surpassing Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of George III. He became the oldest-ever male British royal in February 2013 and the third-longest-lived member of the British royal family (following Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) in April 2019. Personally, he was not enthused about living an extremely long life, remarking in a 2000 interview (when he was 79) that he could not "imagine anything worse" and had "no desire whatsoever" to become a centenarian, saying "bits of me are falling off already". In 2008, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital, London, for a chest infection; he walked into the hospital unaided, recovered quickly, and was discharged three days later. After the "Evening Standard" reported that Philip had prostate cancer, Buckingham Palace—which usually refuses to comment on health rumours—denied the story and the paper retracted it. In June 2011, in an interview marking his 90th birthday, Philip said that he would now slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had "done [his] bit". His wife, the Queen, gave him the title Lord High Admiral for his 90th birthday. While staying at Sandringham House, the royal residence in Norfolk, on 23 December 2011, the Duke suffered chest pains and was taken to the cardio-thoracic unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he underwent successful coronary angioplasty and stenting. He was discharged on 27 December. On 4 June 2012, during the celebrations in honour of his wife's diamond jubilee, Philip was taken from Windsor Castle to King Edward VII's Hospital suffering from a bladder infection. He was discharged from hospital on 9 June. After a recurrence of infection in August 2012, while staying at Balmoral Castle, he was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for five nights as a precautionary measure. In June 2013, Philip was admitted to the London Clinic for an exploratory operation on his abdomen, spending 11 days in hospital. On 21 May 2014, he appeared in public with a bandage on his right hand after a "minor procedure" was performed in Buckingham Palace the preceding day. Tony Abbott's surprise 2015 decision to make Philip a Knight of the Order of Australia was widely criticised in the country and contributed to Abbott's ouster as its prime minister. In June 2017, Philip was taken from Windsor to London and admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital after being diagnosed with an infection. He spent two nights in the hospital and was unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot. Final years and retirement. Prince Philip retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, meeting Royal Marines in his final solo public engagement, aged 96. Since 1952, he had completed 22,219 solo engagements. British prime minister Theresa May thanked him for "a remarkable lifetime of service". On 20 November 2017, he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with Elizabeth, which made her the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. On 3 April 2018, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital for a planned hip replacement, which took place the next day. This came after the Duke missed the annual Maundy and Easter Sunday services. On 12 April, his daughter, Princess Anne, spent about 50 minutes in the hospital and afterwards said her father was "on good form". He was discharged the following day. On 19 May, six weeks later, he attended the wedding of his grandson Prince Harry to Meghan Markle and was able to walk with Elizabeth unaided. That October, he accompanied Elizabeth to the wedding of their granddaughter Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank, with "The Telegraph" reporting that Philip works on a "wake up and see how I feel" basis when deciding whether to attend an event or not. On 17 January 2019, 97-year-old Philip was involved in a car crash as he drove out onto a main road near the Sandringham Estate. An official statement said he was uninjured. An eyewitness who helped him out of his car said there was "a little bit of blood". The driver and a passenger of the other car were injured and taken to hospital. Philip attended hospital the next morning as a precaution. He apologised, and three weeks later voluntarily surrendered his driving licence. On 14 February, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that prosecuting Philip would not be in the public interest. Philip was still allowed to drive around private estates, and was seen behind the wheel in the grounds of Windsor Castle in April 2019. From 20 to 24 December 2019, Philip stayed at King Edward VII's Hospital and received treatment for a "pre-existing condition" in a visit described by Buckingham Palace as a "precautionary measure". He had not been seen in public since attending Lady Gabriella Kingston's wedding in May 2019. A photo of the royal couple as they isolated at Windsor Castle during the COVID-19 pandemic was released ahead of his 99th birthday in June 2020. In July 2020, he stepped down as Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles, a position he had held since 2007. He was succeeded by his daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. On 9 January 2021, Philip and Elizabeth were vaccinated against COVID-19 by a household doctor at Windsor Castle. On 16 February 2021, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital as a "precautionary measure" after feeling unwell. He was visited by Prince Charles on 20 February. On 23 February, it was confirmed by Buckingham Palace that Philip was "responding to treatment" for an infection. On 1 March 2021, Philip was transferred by ambulance to St Bartholomew's Hospital to continue treatment for an infection, and additionally to undergo "testing and observation" relating to a pre-existing heart condition. He underwent a successful procedure for his heart condition on 3 March and was transferred back to King Edward VII's Hospital on 5 March. He was discharged on 16 March and returned to Windsor Castle. Death. Philip died of "old age" on the morning of 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99. He was the longest-serving royal consort in world history. Elizabeth, who was reportedly at her husband's bedside when he died, described his death as "having left a huge void in her life". The palace said Philip died peacefully, which was confirmed by his daughter-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who told the press it was "so gentle. It was just like somebody took him by the hand and off he went." His death led to the commencement of Operation Forth Bridge, the plan for publicly announcing his death and organising his funeral. The usual public ceremonial could not take place because of the regulations for the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted the number of mourners to thirty; it was later reported in the press that Elizabeth had rejected a government offer to relax the rules. The funeral took place on 17 April 2021 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and he was temporarily interred alongside 25 other coffins, including George III, in the Royal Vault inside St George's. Representatives of countries around the world sent condolences to the royal family upon his death. As is precedent for senior members of the royal family, Philip's last will and testament will be sealed for at least 90 years, according to a High Court ruling, which deemed it necessary to protect the "dignity and standing" of the Queen. This led to speculation that the will might contain material harmful to the reputation of the royal family. The order was made by the President of the Family Division after a private hearing in July 2021, who said that he had neither seen the will nor been informed of any of its contents. In January 2022, "The Guardian" challenged the judge's decision to exclude the press from that hearing, arguing that the judge had "erred by failing to consider any lesser interference with open justice than a private hearing", and the newspaper was granted leave to appeal. In July 2022, the Court of Appeal dismissed the newspaper's arguments, stating that the press could not have been informed of the hearing "without risking the media storm that was feared". The court added that "a perceived lack of transparency might be a matter of legitimate public debate, but the (Non-Contentious Probate Rules) allow wills and their values to be concealed from the public gaze in some cases". A service of thanksgiving for Philip's life took place at Westminster Abbey on 29 March 2022, with Elizabeth, foreign royalty and politicians in attendance. The royal couple's bodies were interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at St George's on the evening of 19 September 2022, after Elizabeth's state funeral. Legacy. Interests. Philip played polo until 1971 when he started to compete in carriage driving, a sport which he helped to expand; the early rule book was drafted under his supervision. He was also a keen yachtsman and struck up a friendship in 1949 with boat designer and sailing enthusiast Uffa Fox, in Cowes. Philip's first airborne flying lesson took place in 1952, and by his 70th birthday, he had accrued 5,150 pilot hours. He was presented with Royal Air Force wings in 1953, helicopter wings with the Royal Navy in 1956, and his private pilot's licence in 1959. After 44 years as a pilot, he retired in August 1997 with 5,986 hours spent in 59 different aircraft. In April 2014, it was reported that an old British Pathé newsreel film had been discovered of Philip's 1962 two-month flying tour of South America. Filmed sitting alongside Philip at the aircraft's controls was his co-pilot Captain Peter Middleton, the grandfather of Philip's granddaughter-in-law Catherine. In 1959, he flew solo in a Druine Turbulent, becoming the first and, , the only member of the royal family to have flown a single-seat aircraft. Philip painted with oils and collected artworks, including contemporary cartoons, which hang at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, and Balmoral Castle. Hugh Casson described Philip's own artwork as "exactly what you'd expect ... totally direct, no hanging about. Strong colours, vigorous brushstrokes." He was patron of the Royal Society of Arts from 1952 until 2011. He was "fascinated" by cartoons about the monarchy and the royal family and was a patron of The Cartoon Museum. Personality and image. Philip's down-to-earth manner was attested to by a White House butler, who recalled that, on a visit in 1976, Philip engaged him and a fellow butler in a conversation and poured them drinks. As well as a reputation for bluntness and plain speaking, Philip was noted for occasionally making observations and jokes that have been construed as either funny, or as gaffes: awkward, politically incorrect, or even offensive, but sometimes perceived as stereotypical of someone of his age and background. In an address to the General Dental Council in 1960, he jokingly coined a new word for his blunders: "Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practised for a good many years." Later in life, he suggested his comments may have contributed to the perception that he was "a cantankerous old sod". During a state visit to China in 1986, in a private conversation with British students from Xi'an's Northwest University, Philip joked: "If you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed." The British press reported on the remark as indicative of racial intolerance, but the Chinese authorities were reportedly unconcerned. Chinese students studying in the UK, an official explained, were often told in jest not to stay away too long, lest they go "round-eyed". His comment did not affect Sino-British relations, but it shaped his reputation. Philip also made comments on the eating habits of Cantonese people, stating: "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an airplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."<ref name="independent31/5/2021"></ref> In Australia he asked an Indigenous Australian entrepreneur: "Do you still throw spears at each other?" In 2011, the historian David Starkey described Philip as a kind of "HRH Victor Meldrew". For example, in May 1999, British newspapers accused Philip of insulting deaf children at a pop concert in Wales by saying: "No wonder you are deaf listening to this row." Later, Philip wrote: "The story is largely invention. It so happens that my mother was quite seriously deaf and I have been Patron of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf for ages, so it's hardly likely that I would do any such thing." When he and his wife met Stephen Menary, an army cadet blinded by a Real IRA bomb, and Elizabeth enquired how much sight he retained, Philip quipped: "Not a lot, judging by the tie he's wearing." Menary later said: "I think he just tries to put people at ease by trying to make a joke. I certainly didn't take any offence." Philip's comparison of prostitutes and wives was also perceived as offensive after he reportedly stated: "I don't think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing." Centenary. To mark Prince Philip's centenary, the Royal Collection Trust held an exhibition at Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Titled "Prince Philip: A Celebration", it showcased around 150 personal items related to him, including his wedding card, wedding menu, midshipman's logbook from 1940 to 1941, Chair of Estate, and the coronation robes and coronet that he wore for his wife's coronation in 1953. George Alexis Weymouth's portrait of Philip in the ruins of the castle after the fire of 1992 formed part of a focus on Philip's involvement with the subsequent restoration. The Royal Horticultural Society also marked Philip's centenary by breeding a new rose in his honour. Created by British rose breeder Harkness Roses, it was christened "The Duke of Edinburgh Rose". The Queen, the patron of the society, was given the deep pink commemorative rose in honour of her husband, and she remarked that "It looks lovely". A Duke of Edinburgh Rose has since been planted in the mixed rose border of Windsor Castle's East Terrace Garden. Philip played a major role in the garden's design. In September 2021, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution honoured Philip by naming their new state-of-the-art lifeboat "Duke of Edinburgh". The tribute was initially planned to mark his 100th birthday. In the same month, a documentary initially planned for his centenary was broadcast on BBC One under the title "Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers", with contributions from his children, their spouses, and seven of his grandchildren. Portrayals. Philip has been portrayed by several actors, including Stewart Granger ("The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana", 1982), Christopher Lee ("Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story", 1982), David Threlfall ("The Queen's Sister", 2005), James Cromwell ("The Queen", 2006), and Finn Elliot, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, and Jonathan Pryce ("The Crown", 2016 onwards). Prince Philip appears as a fictional character in Nevil Shute's novel "In the Wet" (1952), Paul Gallico's novel "Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Moscow" (1974), Tom Clancy's novel "Patriot Games" (1987), and Sue Townsend's novel "The Queen and I" (1992). In John Gardner's 1964 novel "The Liquidator", subsequently filmed, the story concludes after the central character, Boysie Oakes, is set up by a double agent to make a staged but unsuccessful assassination attempt on the Duke of Edinburgh when the latter visits an RAF base. Books. Philip authored several books: Forewords to: Titles, styles, honours, and arms. Philip held many titles throughout his life. Originally holding the title and style of a prince of Greece and Denmark, Philip abandoned these royal titles before he married and was thereafter created a British duke, among other noble titles. Elizabeth formally issued letters patent in 1957 making him a British prince. When addressing the Duke of Edinburgh, as with any male member of the royal family except the monarch, the rules of etiquette were to address him the first time as "Your Royal Highness" and after that as "Sir". Honours and honorary military appointments. Philip was awarded medals from Britain, France, and Greece for his service during World War II, as well as ones commemorating the coronations of George VI and Elizabeth II and the silver, gold and diamond jubilees of Elizabeth. On 19 November 1947, the eve of his wedding, George VI appointed him to the Order of the Garter. From then, Philip received 17 appointments and decorations in the Commonwealth and 48 from foreign states. The inhabitants of some villages on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, worship Prince Philip as a god-like spiritual figure; the islanders possess portraits of Philip and hold feasts on his birthday. Upon his wife's accession to the throne in 1952, Philip was appointed Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, Colonel-in-Chief of the British Army Cadet Force, and Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps. The following year, he was appointed to the equivalent positions in Canada and made Admiral of the Fleet, Captain General Royal Marines, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Subsequent military appointments were made in New Zealand and Australia. In 1975, he was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, a position he handed over to his son Andrew in 2017. On 16 December 2015, he relinquished his role as Honorary Air Commodore-in-Chief and was succeeded by his granddaughter-in-law Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, as Honorary Air Commandant. To celebrate Philip's 90th birthday, Elizabeth appointed him Lord High Admiral, as well as to the highest ranks available in all three branches of the Canadian Armed Forces. On their 70th wedding anniversary, 20 November 2017, she appointed her husband Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, making him the first British national since his uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma to be entitled to wear the breast stars of four orders of chivalry in the United Kingdom. Ancestry. Both Philip and Elizabeth were great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, Elizabeth by descent from Victoria's eldest son, King Edward VII, and Philip by descent from Victoria's second daughter, Princess Alice. Both were also descended from King Christian IX of Denmark. Philip was also related to the House of Romanov through all four of his grandparents. His paternal grandmother Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia was the granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. His paternal grandfather George I of Greece, born Prince William of Denmark, was a brother of Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark), wife of Emperor Alexander III. His maternal grandmother, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, was a sister of Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), wife of Emperor Nicholas II, and Elizabeth Feodorovna (Elisabeth of Hesse), wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia. His maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, was the nephew of Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse), who was the wife of Emperor Alexander II. In 1993, scientists were able to confirm the identity of the remains of several members of the Romanov family, more than seventy years after their murder in 1918, by comparing their mitochondrial DNA to living matrilineal relatives, including Philip. Philip, Alexandra Feodorovna, and her children are all descended from Princess Alice, the daughter of Queen Victoria, through a purely female line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62107

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, established in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. The square's name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar. The site around Trafalgar Square had been a significant landmark since the 1200s. For centuries, distances measured from Charing Cross have served as location markers. The site of the present square formerly contained the elaborately designed, enclosed courtyard, King's Mews. After George IV moved the mews to Buckingham Palace, the area was redeveloped by John Nash, but progress was slow after his death, and the square did not open until 1844. The Nelson's Column at its centre is guarded by four lion statues. A number of commemorative statues and sculptures occupy the square, but the Fourth Plinth, left empty since 1840, has been host to contemporary art since 1999. Prominent buildings facing the square include the National Gallery, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Canada House, and South Africa House. The square has been used for community gatherings and political demonstrations, including Bloody Sunday in 1887, the culmination of the first Aldermaston March, anti-war protests, and campaigns against climate change. A Christmas tree has been donated to the square by Norway since 1947 and is erected for twelve days before and after Christmas Day. The square is a centre of annual celebrations on New Year's Eve. It was well known for its feral pigeons until their removal in the early 21st century. Name. The square is named after the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars with France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar, southwest Spain, although it was not named as such until 1835. The name "Trafalgar" is a Spanish word of Arabic origin, derived from either "Taraf al-Ghar" ( 'cape of the cave/laurel') or "Taraf al-Gharb" ( 'extremity of the west'). Geography. Trafalgar Square is owned by the King in Right of the Crown and managed by the Greater London Authority, while Westminster City Council owns the roads around the square, including the pedestrianised area of the North Terrace. The square contains a large central area with roadways on three sides and a terrace to the north, in front of the National Gallery. The roads around the square form part of the A4, a major road running west of the City of London. Originally having roadways on all four sides, traffic travelled in both directions around the square until a one-way clockwise gyratory system was introduced on 26 April 1926. Works completed in 2003 reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side to traffic. Nelson's Column is in the centre of the square, flanked by fountains designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1937 and 1939 (replacements for two of Peterhead granite, now in Canada) and guarded by four monumental bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer. At the top of the column is a statue of Horatio Nelson, who commanded the British Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar. Surrounding the square are the National Gallery on the north side and St Martin-in-the-Fields Church to the east. Also on the east is South Africa House, and facing it across the square is Canada House. To the south west is The Mall, which leads towards Buckingham Palace via Admiralty Arch, while Whitehall is to the south and the Strand to the east. Charing Cross Road passes between the National Gallery and the church. London Underground's Charing Cross station on the Northern and Bakerloo lines has an exit in the square. The lines had separate stations, of which the Bakerloo line one was called Trafalgar Square until they were linked and renamed in 1979 as part of the construction of the Jubilee line, which was rerouted to Westminster in 1999. Other nearby tube stations are Embankment connecting the District, Circle, Northern and Bakerloo lines, and Leicester Square on the Northern and Piccadilly lines. London bus routes 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 29, 53, 87, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176, 453 are only some among the bus routes that pass through Trafalgar Square. A point in Trafalgar Square is regarded as the official centre of London in legislation and when measuring distances from the capital. History. Building work on the south side of the square in the late 1950s revealed deposits from the last interglacial period. Among the findings were the remains of cave lions, rhinoceroses, straight-tusked elephants and hippopotami. The site has been significant since the 13th century. During Edward I's reign it hosted the King's Mews, running north from the T-junction in the south, Charing Cross, where the Strand from the City meets Whitehall coming north from Westminster. From the reign of Richard II to that of Henry VII, the mews was at the western end of the Strand. The name "Royal Mews" comes from the practice of keeping hawks here for moulting; "mew" is an old word for this. After a fire in 1534, the mews were rebuilt as stables, and remained here until George IV moved them to Buckingham Palace. Clearance and development. After 1732, the King's Mews were divided into the Great Mews and the smaller Green Mews to the north by the Crown Stables, a large block, built to the designs of William Kent. Its site is occupied by the National Gallery. In 1826 the Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues instructed John Nash to draw up plans for clearing a large area south of Kent's stable block, and as far east as St Martin's Lane. His plans left open the whole area of what became Trafalgar Square, except for a block in the centre, which he reserved for a new building for the Royal Academy of Arts. The plans included the demolition and redevelopment of buildings between St Martin's Lane and the Strand and the construction of a road (now called Duncannon Street) across the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The Charing Cross Act was passed in 1826 and clearance started soon after. Nash died soon after construction started, impeding its progress. The square was to be named for William IV commemorating his ascent to the throne in 1830. Around 1835, it was decided that the square would be named after the Battle of Trafalgar as suggested by architect George Ledwell Taylor, commemorating Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. After the clearance, development progressed slowly. The National Gallery was built on the north side between 1832 and 1838 to a design by William Wilkins, and in 1837 the Treasury approved Wilkins' plan for the laying out of the square, but it was not put into effect. In April 1840, following Wilkins' death, new plans by Charles Barry were accepted, and construction started within weeks. For Barry, as for Wilkins, a major consideration was increasing the visual impact of the National Gallery, which had been widely criticised for its lack of grandeur. He dealt with the complex sloping site by excavating the main area to the level of the footway between Cockspur Street and the Strand, and constructing a high balustraded terrace with a roadway on the north side, and steps at each end leading to the main level. Wilkins had proposed a similar solution with a central flight of steps. All the stonework was of Aberdeen granite. In 1845, four Bude-Lights with octagonal glass lanterns were installed. Two, opposite the National Gallery, are on tall bronze columns, and two, in the south-west and south-east corners of the square, on shorter bronze columns on top of wider granite columns. They were designed by Barry and manufactured by Stevens and Son, of Southwark. In 1841 it was decided that two fountains should be included in the layout. The estimated budget, excluding paving and sculptures, was £11,000. The earth removed was used to level Green Park. The square was originally surfaced with tarmacadam, which was replaced with stone in the 1920s. Trafalgar Square was opened to the public on 1 May 1844. Nelson's Column. Nelson's Column was planned independently of Barry's work. In 1838 a Nelson Memorial Committee had approached the government proposing that a monument to the victory of Trafalgar, funded by public subscription, should be erected in the square. A competition was held and won by the architect William Railton, who proposed a Corinthinan column topped by a statue of Nelson and guarded by four sculpted lions. The design was approved, but received widespread objections from the public. Construction went ahead beginning in 1840 but with the height reduced to . The column was completed and the statue raised in November 1843. The last of the bronze reliefs on the column's pedestals was not completed until May 1854, and the four lions, although part of the original design, were only added in 1867. Each lion weighs seven tons. A hoarding remained around the base of Nelson's Column for some years and some of its upper scaffolding remained in place. Landseer, the sculptor, had asked for a lion that had died at the London Zoo to be brought to his studio. He took so long to complete sketches that its corpse began to decompose and some parts had to be improvised. The statues have paws that resemble cats more than lions. Barry was unhappy about Nelson's Column being placed in the square. In July 1840, when its foundations had been laid, he told a parliamentary select committee that "it would in my opinion be desirable that the area should be wholly free from all insulated objects of art". In 1940 the Nazi SS developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to Berlin after an expected German invasion, as related by Norman Longmate in "If Britain Had Fallen" (1972). The square has been Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens since 1996. Terrorist bombings. The square was the target of two suffragette bombings in 1913 and 1914. This was as part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign of 1912–1914, in which suffragettes carried out a series of politically-motivated bombing and arson attacks nationwide as part of their campaign for women's suffrage. The first attack occurred on 15 May 1913. A bomb was planted in the public area outside the National Gallery, but failed to explode. A second attack occurred at St Martin-in-the-Fields church at the north-east corner of the square one 4 April 1914. A bomb exploded inside the church, blowing out the windows and showering passers-by with broken glass. The bomb then started a fire. In the aftermath, a mass of people rushed to the scene, many of whom aggressively expressed their anger towards the suffragettes. Churches were a particular target during the campaign, as it was believed that the Church of England was complicit in reinforcing opposition to women's suffrage. Between 1913 and 1914, 32 churches were attacked nationwide. In the weeks after the bombing, there were also attacks on Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. Redevelopment. A major 18-month redevelopment of the square led by W.S. Atkins with Foster and Partners as sub-consultants was completed in 2003. The work involved closing the eastbound road along the north side and diverting traffic around the other three sides of the square, demolishing the central section of the northern retaining wall and inserting a wide set of steps to the pedestrianised terrace in front of the National Gallery. The construction includes two lifts for disabled access, public toilets and a café. Access between the square and the gallery had been by two crossings at the northeast and northwest corners. Statues and monuments. Plinths. Barry's scheme provided two plinths for sculptures on the north side of the square. A bronze equestrian statue of George IV was designed by Sir Francis Chantrey and Thomas Earle. It was originally intended to be placed on top of the Marble Arch, but instead was installed on the eastern plinth in 1843, while the other plinths remained empty until late in the 20th century. There are two other statues on plinths, both installed during the 19th century: General Sir Charles James Napier by George Cannon Adams in the south-west corner in 1855, and Major-General Sir Henry Havelock by William Behnes in the south-east in 1861. In 2000, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, suggested replacing the statues with figures more familiar to the general public. Fourth plinth. In the 21st century, the empty plinth in the north-west corner of the square, the "Fourth Plinth", has been used to show specially commissioned temporary artworks. The scheme was initiated by the Royal Society of Arts and continued by the Fourth Plinth Commission, appointed by the Mayor of London. Other sculptures. There are three busts of admirals against the north wall of the square. Those of John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (by Sir Charles Wheeler) and David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (by William MacMillan) were installed in 1948 in conjunction with the square's fountains, which also commemorate them. The third, of the Second World War First Sea Lord Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope (by Franta Belsky) was unveiled alongside them on 1967. On the south side of Trafalgar Square, on the site of the original Charing Cross, is a bronze equestrian statue of Charles I by Hubert Le Sueur. It was cast in 1633, and placed in its present position in 1678. The two statues on the lawn in front of the National Gallery are the statue of James II (designed by Peter van Dievoet and Laurens van der Meulen for the studio of Grinling Gibbons) to the west of the portico, and of one George Washington, a replica of a work by Jean-Antoine Houdon, to the east. The latter was a gift from the Commonwealth of Virginia, installed in 1921. Two statues erected in the 19th century have since been removed. One of Edward Jenner, pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, was set up in the south-west corner of the square in 1858, next to that of Napier. Sculpted by William Calder Marshall, it showed Jenner sitting in a chair in a relaxed pose, and was inaugurated at a ceremony presided over by Prince Albert. It was moved to Kensington Gardens in 1862. The other, of General Charles George Gordon by Hamo Thornycroft, was erected on an 18-foot high pedestal between the fountains in 1888. It was removed in 1943 and re-sited on the Victoria Embankment ten years later. Fountains. In 1841, following suggestions from the local paving board, Barry agreed that two fountains should be installed to counteract the effects of reflected heat and glare from the asphalt surface. The First Commissioner of Woods and Forests welcomed the plan because the fountains reduced the open space available for public gatherings and reduced the risk of riotous assembly. The fountains were fed from two wells, one in front of the National Gallery and one behind it connected by a tunnel. Water was pumped to the fountains by a steam engine housed in a building behind the gallery. In the late-1930s it was decided to replace the pump and the centrepieces of the fountains. The new centrepieces, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, were memorials to Lord Jellicoe and Lord Beatty, although busts of the admirals, initially intended to be placed in the fountain surrounds were placed against the northern retaining wall when the project was completed after the Second World War. The fountains cost almost £50,000. The old ones were presented to the Canadian government and are now located in Ottawa's Confederation Park and Regina's Wascana Centre. A programme of restoration was completed by . The pump system was replaced with one capable of sending an jet of water into the air. A LED lighting system that can project different combinations of colours on to the fountains was installed to reduce the cost of lighting maintenance and to coincide with the 2012 Summer Olympics. Pigeons. The square was once famous for feral pigeons and feeding them was a popular activity. Pigeons began flocking to the square before construction was completed and feed sellers became well known in the Victorian era. The desirability of the birds' presence was contentious: their droppings disfigured the stonework and the flock, estimated at its peak to be 35,000, was considered a health hazard. A stall seller, Bernie Rayner, infamously sold bird seed to tourists at inflated prices. In February 2001, the sale of bird seed in the square was stopped and other measures were introduced to discourage the pigeons including the use of birds of prey. Supporters continued to feed the birds but in 2003 the mayor, Ken Livingstone, enacted bylaws to ban feeding them in the square. In September 2007 Westminster City Council passed further bylaws banning feeding birds on the pedestrianised North Terrace and other pavements in the area. Nelson's column was repaired from years of damage from pigeon droppings at a cost of £140,000. Events. New Year. For many years, revellers celebrating the New Year have gathered in the square despite a lack of celebrations being arranged. The lack of official events was partly because the authorities were concerned that encouraging more partygoers would cause overcrowding. Since 2003, a firework display centred on the London Eye and South Bank of the Thames has been provided as an alternative. Since 2014, New Year celebrations have been organised by the Greater London Authority in conjunction with the charity Unicef, who began ticketing the event to control crowd numbers. The fireworks display has been cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an event due to take place in the Square to see in 2022. However the event was cancelled during the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 Omicron variant. Christmas. A Christmas ceremony has been held in the square every year since 1947. A Norway spruce (or sometimes a fir) is presented by Norway's capital city, Oslo as London's Christmas tree, a token of gratitude for Britain's support during World War II. (Besides war-time support, Norway's Prince Olav and the country's government lived in exile in London throughout the war.) The Christmas tree is decorated with lights that are switched on at a seasonal ceremony. It is usually held twelve days before Christmas Day. The festivity is open to the public and attracts a large number of people. The switch-on is usually followed by several nights of Christmas carol singing and other performances and events. On the twelfth night of Christmas, the tree is taken down for recycling. Westminster City Council threatened to abandon the event to save £5,000 in 1980 but the decision was reversed. The tree is selected by the Head Forester from Oslo's municipal forest and shipped, across the North Sea to the Port of Felixstowe, then by road to Trafalgar Square. The first tree was tall, but more recently has been around . In 1987, protesters chained themselves to the tree. In 1990, a man sawed into the tree with a chainsaw a few hours before a New Year's Eve party was scheduled to take place. He was arrested and the tree was repaired by tree surgeons who removed gouged sections from the trunk while the tree was suspended from a crane. Political demonstrations. The square has become a social and political focus for visitors and Londoners, developing over its history from "an esplanade peopled with figures of national heroes, into the country's foremost "place politique"", as historian Rodney Mace has written. Since its construction, it has been a venue for political demonstrations. The great Chartist rally in 1848, a campaign for social reform by the working class began in the square. A ban on political rallies remained in effect until the 1880s, when the emerging Labour movement, particularly the Social Democratic Federation, began holding protests. On 1886 (also known as "Black Monday"), protesters rallied against unemployment leading to a riot in Pall Mall. A larger riot ("Bloody Sunday") occurred in the square on 1887. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's first Aldermaston March, protesting against the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), began in the square in 1958. One of the first significant demonstrations of the modern era was held in the square on 1961 by the Committee of 100, which included the philosopher Bertrand Russell. The protesters rallied for peace and against war and nuclear weapons. In March 1968, a crowd of 10,000 demonstrated against US involvement in the Vietnam War before marching to the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. Throughout the 1980s, a continuous anti-apartheid protest was held outside South Africa House. In 1990, the Poll Tax Riots began by a demonstration attended by 200,000 people and ultimately caused rioting in the surrounding area. More recently, there have been anti-war demonstrations opposing the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. A large vigil was held shortly after the terrorist bombings in London on Thursday, 2005. In December 2009, participants from the Camp for Climate Action occupied the square for the two weeks during which the UN Conference on Climate Change took place in Copenhagen. It was billed as a UK base for direct action on climate change and saw various actions and protests stem from the occupation. In March 2011, the square was occupied by a crowd protesting against the UK Budget and proposed budget cuts. During the night the situation turned violent as the escalation by riot police and protesters damaged portions of the square. In November 2015 a vigil against the terrorist attacks in Paris was held. Crowds sang the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", and held banners in support of the city and country. Every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar (), the Sea Cadet Corps holds a parade in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson and the British victory over the combined fleets of Spain and France at Trafalgar. The Royal British Legion holds a Silence in the Square event on Armistice Day, 11 November, in remembrance of those who died in war. The event includes music and poetry readings, culminating in a bugler playing the Last Post and a two-minute silence at 11 am. In February 2019, hundreds of students participated in a protest against climate change as a part of the School strike for Climate campaign. The protest started in the nearby Parliament Square, and as the day went on, the demonstrators moved towards Trafalgar Square. In July 2020, two members of the protest group Animal Rebellion were arrested on suspicion for criminal damage after releasing red dye into the fountains. In September 2020 anti-lockdown protests opposed to the imposition of regulations relating to the coronavirus outbreak took place in the square. A police observation box has been in the Square since 1919, originally a wooden freestanding unit, it was replaced by hollowing out a lampstand at the southeastern corner of the Square into a permanent structure in 1928, but decommissioned in the 1970s. Sport. In the 21st century, Trafalgar Square has been the location for several sporting events and victory parades. In June 2002, 12,000 people gathered to watch England's FIFA World Cup quarter-final against Brazil on giant video screens which had been erected for the occasion. The square was used by England on 2003 to celebrate their victory in the Rugby World Cup, and on 2005 for England's victory in the Ashes series. On 6 July 2005 Trafalgar Square hosted the official watch party for London's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, hosted by Katy Hill and Margherita Taylor. A countdown clock was erected in March 2011, although engineering and weather-related faults caused it to stop a day later. In 2007, it hosted the opening ceremonies of the Tour de France and was part of the course for subsequent races. Other uses. The Sea Cadets hold a yearly Battle of Trafalgar victory parade running the north of Whitehall, from Horse Guard's Parade to Nelson's Column. As an archetypal London location, Trafalgar Square featured in film and television productions during the Swinging London era of the late 1960s, including "The Avengers", "Casino Royale", "Doctor Who", and "The Ipcress File". It was used for filming several sketches and a cartoon backdrop in the BBC comedy series "Monty Python's Flying Circus". In May 2007, the square was grassed over with 2,000 square metres of turf for two days in a campaign by London authorities to promote "green spaces" in the city. In July 2011, due to building works in Leicester Square, the world premiere of the final film in the "Harry Potter" series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2", was held in Trafalgar Square, with a red carpet linking the squares. Fans camped in Trafalgar Square for up to three days before the premiere, despite torrential rain. It was the first film premiere ever to be held there. Cultural references. A Lego architecture set based on Trafalgar Square was released in 2019. It contains models of the National Gallery and Nelson's Column alongside miniature lions, fountains and double-decker buses. Trafalgar Square is one of the squares on the standard British Monopoly Board. It is in the red set alongside the Strand and Fleet Street. Several scenes in the dystopian future of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty Four" take place in Trafalgar Square, which was renamed "Victory Square" by the story's totalitarian regime and dominated by the giant statue of Big Brother which replaced Nelson. The square has seen controversy over busking and street theatre, which have attracted complaints over noise and public safety. In 2012, the Greater London Authority created a bylaw for regulating busking and associated tourism. In 2016, the National Gallery proposed to introduce licensing for such performances. Other Trafalgar Squares. A Trafalgar Square in Stepney is recorded in "Lockie's Topography of London", published in 1810. Trafalgar Square in Scarborough, North Yorkshire gives its name to the Trafalgar Square End at the town's North Marine Road cricket ground. The square known as Chelsea Square, London SW3 was at one time known as Trafalgar Square and predated the one in Westminster. National Heroes Square in Bridgetown, Barbados, was named Trafalgar Square in 1813, before its better-known British namesake. It was renamed in 1999 to commemorate national heroes of Barbados. There is a life scale replica of the square in Bahria Town, Lahore, Pakistan where it is a tourist attraction and centre for local residents. References. Notes Citations Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62392

Location-based service

Location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc. Commonly used examples of location-based services include navigation software, social networking services, location-based advertising, and tracking systems. LBS can also include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. LBS also includes personalized weather services and even location-based games. LBS is critical to many businesses as well as government organizations to drive real insight from data tied to a specific location where activities take place. The spatial patterns that location-related data and services can provide is one of its most powerful and useful aspects where location is a common denominator in all of these activities and can be leveraged to better understand patterns and relationships. Banking, surveillance, online commerce, and many weapon systems are dependent on LBS. Access policies are controlled by location data or time-of-day constraints, or a combination thereof. As such, an LBS is an information service and has a number of uses in social networking today as information, in entertainment or security, which is accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and which uses information on the geographical position of the mobile device. This concept of location-based systems is not compliant with the standardized concept of real-time locating systems (RTLS) and related local services, as noted in ISO/IEC 19762-5 and ISO/IEC 24730-1. While networked computing devices generally do very well to inform consumers of days old data, the computing devices themselves can also be tracked, even in real-time. LBS privacy issues arise in that context, and are documented below. History. Location-based services (LBSs) are widely used in many computer systems and applications. Modern location-based services are made possible by technological developments such as the World Wide Web, satellite navigation systems, and the widespread use of mobile phones. Location-based services were developed by integrating data from satellite navigation systems, cellular networks, and mobile computing, to provide services based on the geographical locations of users. Over their history, location-based software has evolved from simple synchronization-based service models to authenticated and complex tools for implementing virtually any location-based service model or facility. There is currently no agreed upon criteria for defining the market size of location-based services, but the European GNSS Agency estimated that 40% of all computer applications used location-based software as of 2013, and 30% of all Internet searches were for locations. LBS is the ability to open and close specific data objects based on the use of location or time (or both) as controls and triggers or as part of complex cryptographic key or hashing systems and the data they provide access to. Location-based services may be one of the most heavily used application-layer decision framework in computing. The Global Positioning System was first developed by the United States Department of Defense in the 1970s, and was made available for worldwide use and use by civilians in the 1980s. Research forerunners of today's location-based services include the infrared Active Badge system (1989–1993), the Ericsson-Europolitan GSM LBS trial by Jörgen Johansson (1995), and the master thesis written by Nokia employee Timo Rantalainen in 1995. In 1990 International Teletrac Systems (later PacTel Teletrac), founded in Los Angeles CA, introduced the world's first dynamic real-time stolen vehicle recovery services. As an adjacency to this they began developing location-based services that could transmit information about location-based goods and services to custom-programmed alphanumeric Motorola pagers. In 1996 the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued rules requiring all US mobile operators to locate emergency callers. This rule was a compromise resulting from US mobile operators seeking the support of the emergency community in order to obtain the same protection from lawsuits relating to emergency calls as fixed-line operators already had. In 1997 Christopher Kingdon, of Ericsson, handed in the Location Services (LCS) stage 1 description to the joint GSM group of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As a result, the LCS sub-working group was created under ANSI T1P1.5. This group went on to select positioning methods and standardize Location Services (LCS), later known as Location Based Services (LBS). Nodes defined include the Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), the Serving Mobile Location Centre (SMLC) and concepts such as Mobile Originating Location Request (MO-LR), Network Induced Location Request (NI-LR) and Mobile Terminating Location Request (MT-LR). As a result of these efforts in 1999 the first digital location-based service patent was filed in the US and ultimately issued after nine office actions in March 2002. The patent has controls which when applied to today's networking models provide key value in all systems. In 2000, after approval from the world’s twelve largest telecom operators, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia jointly formed and launched the Location Interoperability Forum Ltd (LIF). This forum first specified the Mobile Location Protocol (MLP), an interface between the telecom network and an LBS application running on a server in the Internet domain. Then, much driven by the Vodafone group, LIF went on to specify the Location Enabling Server (LES), a "middleware", which simplifies the integration of multiple LBS with an operators infrastructure. In 2004 LIF was merged with the Open Mobile Association (OMA). An LBS work group was formed within the OMA. In 2002, Marex.com in Miami Florida designed the world first marine asset telemetry device for commercial sale. The device, designed by Marex and engineered by its partner firms in telecom and hardware, was capable of transmitting location data and retrieving location-based service data via both cellular and satellite-based communications channels. Utilizing the Orbcomm satellite network, the device had multi level SOS features for both MAYDAY and marine assistance, vessel system condition and performance monitoring with remote notification, and a dedicated hardware device similar to GPS units. Based upon the device location, it was capable of providing detailed bearing, distance and communication information to the vessel operator in real time, in addition to the marine assistance and MAYDAY features. The concept and functionality was coined "Location Based Services" by the principal architect and product manager for Marex, Jason Manowitz, SVP, Product and Strategy. The device was branded as "Integrated Marine Asset Management System" ("IMAMS"), and the proof-of-concept beta device was demonstrated to various US government agencies for vessel identification, tracking, and enforcement operations in addition to the commercial product line. The device was capable of tracking assets including ships, planes, shipping containers, or any other mobile asset with a proper power source and antenna placement. Marex's financial challenges were unable to support product introduction and the beta device disappeared. The first consumer LBS-capable mobile Web device was the Palm VII, released in 1999. Two of the in-the-box applications made use of the ZIP-code–level positioning information and share the title for first consumer LBS application: the Weather.com app from The Weather Channel, and the TrafficTouch app from Sony-Etak / Metro Traffic. The first LBS services were launched during 2001 by TeliaSonera in Sweden (FriendFinder, yellow pages, houseposition, emergency call location etc.) and by EMT in Estonia (emergency call location, friend finder, TV game). TeliaSonera and EMT based their services on the Ericsson Mobile Positioning System (MPS). Other early LBSs include friendzone, launched by swisscom in Switzerland in May 2001, using the technology of valis ltd. The service included friend finder, LBS dating and LBS games. The same service was launched later by Vodafone Germany, Orange Portugal and Pelephone in Israel. Microsoft's Wi-Fi-based indoor location system RADAR (2000), MIT's Cricket project using ultrasound location (2000) and Intel's Place Lab with wide-area location (2003). In May 2002, go2 and AT&T Mobility launched the first (US) mobile LBS local search application that used Automatic Location Identification (ALI) technologies mandated by the FCC. go2 users were able to use AT&T's ALI to determine their location and search near that location to obtain a list of requested locations (stores, restaurants, etc.) ranked by proximity to the ALI provide by the AT&T wireless network. The ALI determined location was also used as a starting point for turn-by-turn directions. The main advantage is that mobile users do not have to manually specify postal codes or other location identifiers to use LBS, when they roam into a different location. Location industry. There are various companies that sell access to an individual's location history and this is estimated to be a $12 billion industry composed of collectors, aggregators and marketplaces. As of 2021, a company named Near claimed to have data from 1.6 billion people in 44 different countries, Mobilewalla claims data on 1.9 billion devices, and X-Mode claims to have a database of 25 percent of the U.S. adult population. An analysis, conducted by the non-profit newsroom called The Markup, found six out of 47 companies who claimed over a billion devices in their database. As of 2021, there are no rules or laws governing who can buy an individual's data. Locating methods. There are a number of ways in which the location of an object, such as a mobile phone or device, can be determined. Another emerging method for confirming location is IoT and blockchain-based relative object location verification. Control plane locating. With control plane locating, sometimes referred to as positioning, the mobile phone service provider gets the location based on the radio signal delay of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without satellite navigation features) which can be quite slow as it uses the 'voice control' channel. In the UK, networks do not use trilateration; Because LBS services use a single base station, with a "radius" of inaccuracy, to determine a phone's location. This technique was the basis of the E-911 mandate and is still used to locate cellphones as a safety measure. Newer phones and PDAs typically have an integrated A-GPS chip. In addition there are emerging techniques like Real Time Kinematics and WiFi RTT (Round Trip Timing) as part of Precision Time Management services in WiFi and related protocols. In order to provide a successful LBS technology the following factors must be met: Several categories of methods can be used to find the location of the subscriber. The simple and standard solution is LBS based on a satellite navigation system such as Galileo or GPS. Sony Ericsson's "NearMe" is one such example; it is used to maintain knowledge of the exact location. Satellite navigation is based on the concept of trilateration, a basic geometric principle that allows finding one location if one knows its distance from other, already known locations. Self-reported positioning. A low cost alternative to using location technology to track the player, is to not track at all. This has been referred to as "self-reported positioning". It was used in the mixed reality game called Uncle Roy All Around You in 2003 and considered for use in the Augmented reality games in 2006. Instead of tracking technologies, players were given a map which they could pan around and subsequently mark their location upon. With the rise of location-based networking, this is more commonly known as a user "check-in". Other. Near LBS (NLBS) involves local-range technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy, wireless LAN, infrared or near-field communication technologies, which are used to match devices to nearby services. This application allows a person to access information based on their surroundings; especially suitable for using inside closed premises, restricted or regional area. Another alternative is an operator- and satellite-independent location service based on access into the deep level telecoms network (SS7). This solution enables accurate and quick determination of geographical coordinates of mobile phones by providing operator-independent location data and works also for handsets that do not have satellite navigation capability. Many other local positioning systems and indoor positioning systems are available, especially for indoor use. GPS and GSM do not work very well indoors, so other techniques are used, including co-pilot beacon for CDMA networks, Bluetooth, UWB, RFID and Wi-Fi. Applications. Location-based services may be employed in a number of applications, including: For the carrier, location-based services provide added value by enabling services such as: In the U.S. the FCC requires that all carriers meet certain criteria for supporting location-based services (FCC 94–102). The mandate requires 95% of handsets to resolve within 300 meters for network-based tracking (e.g. triangulation) and 150 meters for handset-based tracking (e.g. GPS). This can be especially useful when dialing an emergency telephone number – such as enhanced 9-1-1 in North America, or 112 in Europe – so that the operator can dispatch emergency services such as emergency medical services, police or firefighters to the correct location. CDMA and iDEN operators have chosen to use GPS location technology for locating emergency callers. This led to rapidly increasing penetration of GPS in iDEN and CDMA handsets in North America and other parts of the world where CDMA is widely deployed. Even though no such rules are yet in place in Japan or in Europe the number of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA handset models is growing fast. According to the independent wireless analyst firm Berg Insight the attach rate for GPS is growing rapidly in GSM/WCDMA handsets, from less than 8% in 2008 to 15% in 2009. As for economic impact, location-based services are estimated to have a $1.6 Trillion impact on the US economy alone. European operators are mainly using Cell ID for locating subscribers. This is also a method used in Europe by companies that are using cell-based LBS as part of systems to recover stolen assets. In the US companies such as Rave Wireless in New York are using GPS and triangulation to enable college students to notify campus police when they are in trouble. Comparison of location tracking apps for mobile devices. Currently there are roughly three different models for location-based apps on mobile devices. All share that they allow one's location to be tracked by others. Each functions in the same way at a high level, but with differing functions and features. Below is a comparison of an example application from each of the three models. Mobile messaging. Mobile messaging plays an essential role in LBS. Messaging, especially SMS, has been used in combination with various LBS applications, such as location-based mobile advertising. SMS is still the main technology carrying mobile advertising / marketing campaigns to mobile phones. A classic example of LBS applications using SMS is the delivery of mobile coupons or discounts to mobile subscribers who are near to advertising restaurants, cafes, movie theatres. The Singaporean mobile operator MobileOne carried out such an initiative in 2007 that involved many local marketers, what was reported to be a huge success in terms of subscriber acceptance. Privacy issues. The Location Privacy Protection Act of 2012 (S.1223) was introduced by Senator Al Franken (D-MN) in order to regulate the transmission and sharing of user location data in the United States. It is based on the individual's one time consent to participate in these services (Opt In). The bill specifies the collecting entities, the collectable data and its usage. The bill does not specify, however, the period of time that the data collecting entity can hold on to the user data (a limit of 24 hours seems appropriate since most of the services use the data for immediate searches, communications, etc.), and the bill does not include location data stored locally on the device (the user should be able to delete the contents of the location data document periodically just as he would delete a log document). The bill which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would also require mobile services to disclose the names of the advertising networks or other third parties with which they share consumers' locations. With the passing of the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003, it became illegal in the United States to send any message to the end user without the end user specifically opting-in. This put an additional challenge on LBS applications as far as "carrier-centric" services were concerned. As a result, there has been a focus on user-centric location-based services and applications which give the user control of the experience, typically by opting in first via a website or mobile interface (such as SMS, mobile Web, and Java/BREW applications). The European Union also provides a legal framework for data protection that may be applied for location-based services, and more particularly several European directives such as: (1) Personal data: Directive 95/46/EC; (2) Personal data in electronic communications: Directive 2002/58/EC; (3) Data Retention: Directive 2006/24/EC. However the applicability of legal provisions to varying forms of LBS and of processing location data is unclear. One implication of this technology is that data about a subscriber's location and historical movements is owned and controlled by the network operators, including mobile carriers and mobile content providers. Mobile content providers and app developers are a concern. Indeed, a recent MIT study by de Montjoye et al. showed that 4 spatio-temporal points, approximate places and times, are enough to uniquely identify 95% of 1.5M people in a mobility database. The study further shows that these constraints hold even when the resolution of the dataset is low. Therefore, even coarse or blurred datasets provide little anonymity. A critical article by Dobson and Fisher discusses the possibilities for misuse of location information. Beside the legal framework there exist several technical approaches to protect privacy using privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs). Such PETs range from simplistic on/off switches to sophisticated PETs using anonymization techniques (e.g. providing k-anonymity), or cryptograpic protocols. Only few LBS offer such PETs, e.g., Google Latitude offered an on/off switch and allows to stick one's position to a free definable location. Additionally, it is an open question how users perceive and trust in different PETs. The only study that addresses user perception of state of the art PETs is. Another set of techniques included in the PETs are the location obfuscation techniques, which slightly alter the location of the users in order to hide their real location while still being able to represent their position and receive services from their LBS provider.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62578

Bendigo

Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, making it Australia's 19th-largest city, fourth-largest inland city and the fourth-most populous city in Victoria. It is the administrative centre of the City of Greater Bendigo, which encompasses outlying towns spanning an area of approximately 3,000 km2 (1,158 sq mi) and over 111,000 people. Residents of the city are known as "Bendigonians". The traditional owners of the area are the Dja Dja Wurrung (Djaara) people. The discovery of gold on Bendigo Creek in 1851 transformed the area from a sheep station into one of colonial Australia's largest boomtowns. News of the finds intensified the Victorian gold rush, bringing an influx of migrants from around the world, particularly Europe and China. Bendigo became eastern Australia's largest 19th-century gold-mining economy and the wealth generated during this period is reflected today in the city's Victorian architectural heritage. From 1853 until 1891, Bendigo was officially named Sandhurst. Bendigo's boom period lasted until the early 20th century and after a temporary decline in population and employment, renewed growth occurred from the 1930s as the city consolidated as a manufacturing and regional service centre. Although gold mining continues, recent population growth has been most heavily concentrated in suburban areas. With the completion of the Calder Freeway linking Melbourne and Bendigo in 2009, and the region's proximity to Melbourne, Bendigo has become one of the fastest-growing regional centres in Victoria. History. Indigenous history and European settlement. The Traditional Owners of the Mount Alexander area that includes Greater Bendigo are the Dja Dja Wurrung (Djaara) people. They exploited the rich local hunting grounds from which they were displaced by the arrival by white settlers, who established the first of many vast sheep runs in 1837. The Djadjawurrung peoples experienced two waves of settlement and dispossession: from the south from 1837 and from the north from 1845. The marked decrease in Dja Dja Wurrung population was also due to the arrival of non-indigenous animals; they use their noses to ‘root up’ the nutritious moon-nar tuber (yam daisy); after just a year it was noticed the plant was becoming scarce. Squatters in the area included: Donald Campbell at Bullock Creek in Ravenswood; J & R Bakewell to the north of Bendigo; Heap & Gryce to the north-west; Archibald McDougall to the west; Joseph Raleigh and James Robinson along the Campaspe River to the south, and Thomas, Jones and William Barnett to the east. The Ravenswood "Mount Alexander North run", occupied from c.1840 by Donald Campbell, was acquired by brothers Stewart and Robert Gibson in 1848, with Frederick Fenton later replacing one of the Gibson brothers. After the discovery of gold in 1851, Fenton sold provisions to the miners and agisted their horses. Becoming the sole owner of the Ravenswood run in 1857, Fenton built its substantial homestead. Gold was officially discovered on Bendigo Creek at the north-eastern boundary of the Ravenswood run, earlier known as the Mount Alexander North run, in October 1851. The creek had been named "Bendigo Creek" after a local shepherd and employee of the Mount Alexander North run nicknamed for the English bare-knuckle prizefighter William Abednego "Bendigo" Thompson. The area was transformed in less than a year as tens of thousands of people arrived during the great gold rush in 1852. Widespread gold mining caused environmental devastation and permanent damage in the district, decimating and displacing the Dja Dja Wurrung and destroying the infrastructure they created over generations to maximise seasonal drainage patterns; the channels and weirs they built out of timber stakes, to slow receding summer flows, were wrecked; water holes where the people gathered in smaller groups during periods of scarce rainfall and from which they transported water in skin bags when moving, were muddied, polluted and drained; the soaks they had dug between banks into sandy sediment to tap into the water table were likewise obliterated. Some of their waterholes in rock platforms of creeks that they found or enlarged, then covered with slabs to protect them from animals, may still remain, unidentified. Gold mining boom. Gold was officially discovered in the area in October 1851, just after the other significant goldfields in neighbouring Castlemaine, from where many diggers migrated, bringing the total population to 40,000 in less than a year. Many of these diggers were Chinese and their descendants still live in the region. During 1852, under the direction of Surveyor General of Victoria, Robert Hoddle, William Swan Urquhart was making a general survey of Mount Alexander and the surrounding ranges, and of the goldfields, and fixed the site of the township of 'Sandhurst', now Bendigo. On 13 July 1852 Hoddle passed on to Urquhart Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe's request for a plan of the Mount Alexander gold workings, and his order that he mark out a reserve at the junction of Golden Gully with Bendigo Creek, and the camp on the west side of the creek below the junction. In late August La Trobe wanted him to report urgently on the best reserves for agriculture in the district. By 26 November he had mapped Bendigo Creek and Myers Creek, and his survey of the Bendigo Valley and environs marked township reserves at Bullock Creek, Ravenswood and Happy Jack where settlement was already taking place. His plan "General Survey of the Bendigo Goldfields showing the proposed reserves for townships. Drawn by W.S. Urquhart, Melbourne, November 1852" recommended sites for national schools, churches, markets and other public purposes reserved from sale. In 1853, a massive protest was held over the cost of the licence fee for prospectors, though it passed off peacefully, due to good diplomacy by police and miners' leaders. From being a tent city, the boomtown grew rapidly into a major urban centre with many grand public buildings. The municipality became a borough in 1863, officially known as Sandhurst until 1891, but always unofficially as Bendigo. The railway had reached Bendigo by 1862, stimulating rapid growth, with flour mills, woollen mills, tanneries, quarries, foundries, eucalyptus oil production, food production industries, and timber cutting. When the alluvial gold ran out, extraction of quartz-based gold continued in deep shafts using industrial systems. Selection in the future county of Bendigo (created in 1869) commenced under the Land Act of 1865, with most settlement occurring around Sandhurst and Eaglehawk. Decline and regeneration. Bendigo was declared a city in 1871. Rapid population growth brought a water shortage, partially solved with a new viaduct that harnessed the Coliban River. The architect William Charles Vahland (1828–1915) left an important mark on Bendigo during this period. He is credited with the popular cottage design with verandahs decorated in iron lace, a style that was soon adopted across the state of Victoria. Vahland also designed more than 80 buildings, including the Alexandra Fountain, arguably the most prominent monument in Bendigo, with its granite dolphins, unicorns, nymphs and allegorical figures. A tram network was in use by 1890. After a temporary drop in population, renewed growth occurred from the 1930s, as the city consolidated as a manufacturing and regional service centre, though gold mining continues. Recent growth has been most heavily concentrated in areas such as Epsom, Kangaroo Flat, Strathdale, and Strathfieldsaye. On 28 March 2013, the Dja Dja Wurrung people were formally recognised as the traditional owners for part of Central Victoria, including the land on which the City of Greater Bendigo sits. In 1994, under municipal reforms of Victoria's Kennett government, the City of Bendigo was abolished and merged with the Borough of Eaglehawk, the Huntly and Strathfieldsaye shires, and the Rural City of Marong to form the larger City of Greater Bendigo. The population of the city increased from around 78,000 in 1991 to about 100,617 in 2012. Bendigo is currently one of the fastest-growing regional centres in Victoria. Geography. The city is surrounded by components of the Greater Bendigo National Park, as well as the Bendigo Box-Ironbark Region Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for swift parrots and other woodland birds. A dozen species of insect-eating bats and the pollinating grey-headed flying fox inhabit the area. Climate. Bendigo has a relatively dry temperate climate with hot summers and cool winters. Under the Köppen-Geiger classification, it lies on a humid subtropical/semi-arid transitional climate zone ("Cfa/BSk"), due to its location being on the boundary of the hot, sultry inland areas to the north and the cool, damp Southern Ocean to the south. Bendigo gets 109.9 clear days annually. The mean minimum temperature in January is and the maximum , although temperatures above are commonly reached. The highest temperature officially recorded was , during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave. There is also a disputed recording of (on 14 January 1862). The mean minimum temperature in July is and winter minima below are recorded on 26.1 nights per year on average. Mean maximum winter temperatures in July are . Most of the city's annual rainfall of falls between June and September as cold fronts. Snowfalls are rare; however, sleet occurs and rain frequently falls at temperatures below on account of Bendigo's exposure to the prevailing westerlies. Frosts are a common occurrence during the winter and spring, though hampered by the frequent cloud cover. Extreme weather events. A series of great floods occurred in Bendigo in 1859. Substantial flooding also occurred in 1903. Tornadoes have been seen around the area of Bendigo, and although rare, the 2003 Bendigo tornado passed through Eaglehawk and other parts of the city, causing major damage to homes and businesses. Bendigo was in severe drought from 2006 to 2010, and during this time, the city had some of the harshest water restrictions in Australia, with no watering outside the household. Heavy rains from the middle to later months of 2010 filled most reservoirs to capacity and only wasteful water use (e.g. hosing down footpaths) is currently banned. Bendigo was affected by the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. A fire to the west of the city burned out . The fire broke out at about 4.30 pm on the afternoon of 7 February, and burned through Long Gully and Eaglehawk, coming within of central Bendigo, before it was brought under control late on 8 February. It destroyed about 58 houses in Bendigo's western suburbs, and damaged an electricity transmission line, resulting in blackouts to substantial parts of the city. One fatality from the fire occurred. Flash floods occurred across Bendigo during 2010, the first in March and the most severe at the beginning of September. Demographics. According to the 2016 census of population, 92,379 people were in Bendigo Urban Centre. According to the City of Greater Bendigo Community Profile, the population estimate for 2019 for this area was 118,093 (0.39 persons per hectare). Religion. In the 19th century, Catholicism was the predominant Christian tradition in Bendigo. Catholic priest and pioneer George Henry Backhaus established a site in 1852 for the first Masses at Golden Square and, by the end of the year, he was camping at the site of Bendigo's first church, St Kilian's Church, completed in 1858. A wealthy man, Backhaus left his estate for the benefit of the church which, in 1897, enabled the construction of Sacred Heart Cathedral. Completed in 1977, it is the largest church building in provincial Australia. As of 2016, Catholicism is still practised by 22% of the population. In the 2016 census, 36.2% reported having "no religion". The Sandhurst Methodist Circuit (1854) serviced five Wesleyan churches which had been built in previous years. There were several church schools, but they were attended by one-fifteenth of Bendigo's school children. The Chinese, who in the mid-19th century constituted 20% of Bendigo's population, built the heritage-listed Bendigo Joss House Temple dedicated to Kwan Tai or Lord Guan, where they practised syncretic beliefs involving ancestor worship and the three main religions of China: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Bendigo is also home to the largest stūpa in the Western world, the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, which houses the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace, the world's largest gem-quality jade Buddha statue. , Buddhism was followed by 1.4% of Bendigo people, and Islam by about 0.5%. In 2019, despite protests by several far-right and anti-Islam organisations, construction began on Bendigo's first mosque and Islamic community centre. Urban structure. City centre. The central area (CBD) of Bendigo consists of around 20 blocks of mixed-use area. The main street is the Midland Highway, the section running through the CBD is also known as Pall Mall, while the main shopping area is centred around Hargreaves Mall. Suburbs. The contiguous urban area of Bendigo covers roughly 82 km2 of the local government area's 3048 km2. Generally the suburbs occupy the catchment of the Bendigo Creek and its tributaries. Bendigo has several suburbs, some of which (such as Eaglehawk) were once independent satellite townships and many that extend into the surrounding bushland. Architectural heritage. As a legacy of the gold boom, Bendigo has many ornate buildings built in a late Victorian colonial style. Many buildings are on the Victorian Heritage Register and registered by the National Trust of Australia. Prominent buildings include the Bendigo Town Hall (1859, 1883–85), the Old Post Office, the Bendigo Law Courts (1892–96), the Shamrock Hotel (1897), the Institute of Technology, and the Memorial Military Museum (1921), all in the Second Empire style. The architect William Vahland encouraged European artisans to emigrate to the Sandhurst goldfields and so create a "Vienna of the South". Bendigo's Sacred Heart Cathedral, a large sandstone church, is the third-largest cathedral in Australia and one of the largest cathedrals in the Southern Hemisphere. The main building was completed between 1896 and 1908 and the spire between 1954 and 1977. Fortuna Villa is a large surviving Victorian mansion, built for Christopher Ballerstedt and later owned by George Lansell. Many other examples of Bendigo's classical architecture rank amongst the finest classical commercial buildings in Australia and include the Colonial Bank building (1887) and the former Masonic Hall (1873–74), which is now a performing-arts centre. Bendigo's Joss House, a historic temple, was built in the 1860s by Chinese miners and is the only surviving building of its kind in regional Victoria, which continues to be used as a place of worship. The historic Bendigo Tram Sheds and Power Station (1903) now house Bendigo's tramway museum. The Queen Elizabeth Oval still retains its ornate 1901 grandstand. Parks and gardens. The central city is skirted by Rosalind Park, a Victorian-style garden featuring statuary and a large blue stone viaduct. The main entrance corner of the park is on the intersection known as Charing Cross, formerly the intersection of two main tram lines (now only one). It features a large statue of Queen Victoria. The Charing Cross junction features the large and ornate Alexandra Fountain (1881) and is built on top of a wide bridge that spans the viaduct. The park elevates toward Camp Hill, which features a historic school and a lookout – a former mine poppet head. Further from the city is Lake Weeroona, a large, ornamental lake adjacent to the Bendigo Creek. The Bendigo Botanic Gardens, which opened in 1869, are further downstream. Major redevelopment of the gardens has taken place in recent years. The gardens are home to many native species of animals, including brushtailed and ring-tailed possums, ducks, coots, purple swamp hens, microbats (small insect-eating bats), several species of lizards, owls, the tawny frogmouth, and though not native to the area, a colony of endangered grey-headed flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus). Culture and events. The Bendigo Art Gallery is one of Australia's oldest and largest regional art galleries. In March 2012, it hosted a royal visit from Princess Charlene of Monaco at the opening of an exhibition about Grace Kelly. The Capital Theatre, originally the Masonic temple, is located next to the art gallery in View Street and hosts performing arts and live music. It also hosts the annual Bendigo Writers Festival which was founded in 2012. The Ulumbarra Theatre was opened on 16 April 2015. It was originally the Sandhurst/Old Bendigo Gaol. The new theatre which seats nearly 1,000 people sits within the walls and structure of the gaol and retains some original architectural features of the gaol. The venue hosts performing arts and live music. It also acts as a ceremonial and teaching space for local secondary schools and universities. The city hosts the Bendigo National Swap Meet for car parts every year in early November. It is regarded as the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and attracts people from all over Australia and the world. The city hosts the Victorian leg of the annual Groovin' the Moo music festival. It is held at the Bendigo Showgrounds and is usually held in late April or early May. The festival regularly sells out and brings many Australian and international acts to the city. It also attracts thousands of people from around Victoria to the city for the weekend. The Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival has been taking place each November since 2011. With over 80 artists from all over Australia, the not-for-profit festival is hosted in many of the venues around Bendigo, and is headlined by a large, family-friendly, free concert held in Rosalind Park. The Bendigo Easter Festival is held each year and attracts tens of thousands of tourists to the city over the Easter long weekend. Attractions include parades, exhibitions, and a street carnival. The Bendigo Queer Film Festival (BQFF) is one of Australia's few regional annual festivals celebrating the Queer film genre. The BQFF started in 2004 and takes place in the second half of April. The Festival of Light is a multicultural celebration of peace and harmony inspired by the Buddha's birthday held in May each year since 2013 at the Great Stupa. The festival's program includes dancing and musical acts followed by a fireworks display at night. In November 2019 Bendigo was recognised as a United Nations' City of Gastronomy. Bendigo is home to a number of amateur theatre groups including the Bendigo Theatre Company, Tribe Youth Theatre and Nexus Youth Theatre. Media. Bendigo is served by two newspapers: the "Bendigo Advertiser" and the "Bendigo Weekly", although in October 2019 the "Bendigo Weekly" was incorporated into the "Bendigo Advertiser" and now features as an insert in the Saturday edition of the "Advertiser". Eight locally-based radio stations are active; 105.1 Life FM, Gold 1071am and 98.3FM, Hit 91.9, 3BO FM, (broadcasting as Triple M) and ABC Local Radio, as well as the community radio stations Radio KLFM 96.5, Phoenix FM, Fresh FM and Vision Australia Radio 3BPH Bendigo 88.7 FM. Network television is broadcast in the Bendigo region by the Seven Network, WIN Television (affiliated with the Nine Network), 10 Regional (affiliated with Network Ten), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). Of the three commercial networks, WIN Television airs a half-hour "WIN News" bulletin each weeknight at 5.30 pm, produced from a newsroom in the city and broadcast from studios in Wollongong. Short local news updates and weather updates are broadcast by 10 Regional throughout the day, produced and broadcast from its Hobart studios. The Seven Network airs short local news and weather updates throughout the day, produced and broadcast from its Canberra studios. On 5 May 2011, analogue television transmissions ceased in most areas of regional Victoria and some border regions including Bendigo and surrounding areas. All local free-to-air television services are now being broadcast in digital transmission only. This was done as part of the federal government's plan for digital terrestrial television in Australia, where all analogue television transmission were being gradually switched off and replaced with DVB-T transmission. Music. A number of live music venues offer local independent bands and artists performing on a regular basis. These venues include Piano Bar (in the former Music Man Megastore), the Gold Dust Lounge at the Hotel Shamrock and the Golden Vine hotel, also the Bendigo Blues Club. The Bendigo Town Hall also hosts music concerts and is a primary venue for the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival. Several adult choirs and the Bendigo Youth Choir often perform overseas; the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra, the Bendigo Symphonic Band, the Bendigo and District Concert Band, several brass bands and three pipe bands perform as well. Musicians originally from Bendigo include Patrick Savage – film composer and former principal first violin of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. "Australian Idol" winner Kate DeAraugo grew up in Bendigo where her family still live. Sport. Cricket and Australian rules football are the most popular sports in Bendigo. The Queen Elizabeth Oval (referred to locally as the QEO) hosts both sports. The Bendigo and District Cricket Association is the controlling body for 10 senior cricket clubs within the Bendigo area. The Emu Valley Cricket Association organises matches for 13 clubs around the Bendigo district, from Marong in the north to Heathcote in the south. In terms of Australian rules, Bendigo Gold were a semi-professional team which competed in the Victorian Football League until 2014. The Bendigo region is also home to the historic Bendigo Football League, a strong Australian rules competition featuring 10 teams from throughout the region. One of the league's founding member clubs, the Bendigo-based Sandhurst Football Club, was founded in 1861, making it one of the world's oldest football clubs. The Bendigo Cup is a prominent horse-racing event. The Bendigo Stadium hosted basketball games during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Bendigo's men's team is called the Bendigo Braves and the women's team is called Bendigo Spirit. In both 2013 and 2014, the women's team won the Women's National Basketball League championship. The city co-hosted the 2003 FIBA Oceania Championship. Bendigo was the host to the second Commonwealth Youth Games, held from 30 November to 3 December 2004 and will also be one of the hosts for the 2026 Commonwealth Games to be held in regional Victoria. Economy. Bendigo is a large and growing service economy. The major industries are health, finance (headquarters of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank – Australia's fifth largest bank), tourism, commerce, education, food processing, and primary industries, with some significant engineering industries (see below under "Manufacturing"). Bendigo's growth has stimulated growth in small surrounding rural towns (such as Elmore, Heathcote, Rochester, Inglewood, Dunolly and Bridgewater). Tourism. Tourism is a major component of the Bendigo economy, generating over A$364 million in 2008/09. Bendigo is popular with heritage tourists and cultural tourists with the focus of tourism on the city's gold rush history. Prominent attractions include the Central Deborah Gold Mine, the Bendigo Tramways (both of which are managed by the Bendigo Trust, a council-intertwined organisation dedicated to preserving Bendigo's heritage), the Golden Dragon Museum, the Bendigo Pottery, and the Great Stupa. Commerce. The main retail centre of Bendigo is the central business district, with the suburbs of Eaglehawk, Kangaroo Flat, Golden Square, Strathdale, and Epsom also having shopping districts. The city was home to one of Australia's few provincial stock exchanges, the Bendigo Stock Exchange (BSX), founded in the 1860s. The city is the home of the headquarters of the Bendigo Bank, established in 1858 as a building society. It is now a large retail bank with community bank branches throughout Australia. The bank is headquartered in Bendigo and is a major employer in the city (it also has a regional office at Melbourne Docklands). Manufacturing. The City of Greater Bendigo Community Profile indicated that about 10.2% of the workforce were employed in manufacturing in 2011. After the Victorian gold rush, the introduction of deep quartz mining in Bendigo caused the development of a heavy manufacturing industry. Little of that now remains, but a large foundry (Keech Castings) makes mining, train, and other steel parts and a rubber factory remains (Motherson Elastomers, formerly Empire Rubber). Thales Australia (formerly ADI Limited) is an important heavy engineering company. Australia Defence Apparel is another key defence industry participant making military and police uniforms and bulletproof vests. Intervet (formerly Ausvac) is an important biotechnology company, producing vaccines for animals. Education. The Bendigo Senior Secondary College is the largest VCE provider in the state. Catherine McAuley College follows close after, which ranges from years 7–9 at the Coolock campus and 10–12 at the St Mary's campus. Girton Grammar School, an independent school, provides education to students from years Prep-12. The Bendigo campus of La Trobe University is also a large and growing educational institution with nearly 5,000 undergraduates and postgraduates. Farming and agriculture. The surrounding area, or "gold country", is quite harsh, rocky land with scrubby regrowth vegetation. The box-ironbark forest is used for timber (mainly sleepers and firewood) and beekeeping. Sheep and cattle are grazed in the cleared areas. There are some large poultry and pig farms. Some relatively fertile areas are present along the rivers and creeks, where wheat and other crops such as canola are grown. The area produces premium wines, including Shiraz, from a growing viticulture industry. Salinity is a problem in many valleys, but is under control. A relatively small eucalyptus oil industry operates there. Bendigo provides services (including a large livestock exchange) to a large agricultural and grazing area on the Murray plains to its north. Gold mining. One of the major revolutions in gold mining (during the Victorian gold rush) came when fields such as Bendigo, but also Ballarat, Ararat and the goldfields close to Mount Alexander, turned out to have large gold deposits below the superficial alluvial deposits that had been (partially) mined out. Gold at Bendigo was found in quartz reef systems, hosted within highly deformed mudstones and sandstones or were washed away into channels of ancient rivers. Tunnels as deep as 900 m (3000 ft) (Stawell) were possible. Until overtaken in the 1890s by the Western Australia goldfields, Bendigo was the most productive Australian gold area, with a total production over 622 tonnes (20 million ounces). Over the 100-odd year period from 1851 to 1954, the 3,600-hectare area that made up the Bendigo gold field yielded 777 tonnes (25 million ounces) of gold. A large amount of gold remains in the Bendigo goldfields, estimated to be at least as much again as what has been removed. The decline in mining was partly due to the depth of mines and the presence of water in the deep mines. Infrastructure. Transport. Bendigo is connected via the Calder Freeway to Melbourne, which is fewer than two hours by car. The remaining section of highway nearest Bendigo has been upgraded to dual carriageway standard ensuring that motorists can travel up to speeds of for most of the journey. Many other regional centres are also connected to Melbourne via Bendigo, making it a gateway city in the transport of produce and materials from northern Victoria and the Murray to the Port of Melbourne and beyond. Bendigo acts as a major rail hub for northern Victoria, being at the junction of several lines including the Bendigo line which runs south to Melbourne and lines running north including the Swan Hill, Echuca and Eaglehawk–Inglewood lines. V/Line operates regular VLocity passenger rail services to Melbourne with the shortest peak journeys taking approximately 91 minutes from Bendigo railway station, generally however services take two hours or longer. While there are several rail stations in the urban area, only three other stations currently operated for passengers: Kangaroo Flat railway station on the Bendigo Line, Epsom Railway Station on the Echuca railway line, and Eaglehawk railway station on the Swan Hill railway line. There are also additional train services to and from Swan Hill and Echuca. The Regional rail revival project will upgrade the Swan Hill and Echuca lines and build three new stations. On the Echuca line, Huntly station (for the outer suburb of Huntly), Goornong Station (A town in greater Bendigo) and on the Swan Hill line Raywood station (A town in greater Bendigo) All set to open between 2021 and 2022. Residents celebrated the opening of the new Goornong Railway Station at a community event on the weekend of 11–12 December 2021. Victoria's electronic ticketing system, Myki, was implemented on rail services between Eaglehawk and Melbourne on 17 July 2013. Bendigo is also served by an extensive bus network that radiates mostly from the CBD with the main terminus at the railway station towards the suburbs. The city is also served by several taxi services. Trams in Bendigo have historically operated an extensive network as a form of public transport, but the remains of the network were reduced to a tourist service in 1972. Short trials of commuter tram services were held in 2008 and 2009 with little ridership. The second, "Take a Tram", proved more successful, running twice as long as the previous trial. By the end of the "Take a Tram" program, ridership had increased and was increasing. However, due to lack of government subsidy or backing, the program ended. Bendigo is served by the Bendigo Airport, which is located to the north of the city on the Midland Highway. The Bendigo Airport Strategic Plan was approved in 2010 for proposed infrastructure upgrades including runway extension and buildings to facilitate larger planes and the possibility of regular passenger services from major cities in other states. In 2016, Bendigo Airport was upgraded with a new taxiway system, new lighting, and a new 1.6-km north–south runway. On 10 December 2018, Qantas announced that they would fly between Sydney and Bendigo six times a week, the first of which commenced on 31 March 2019. Health. The Bendigo Base Hospital now known as Bendigo Health is the city's largest hospital, only public hospital, and a major regional hospital. St John of God is the largest private hospital. Bendigo is also served by a privately owned smaller surgical facility, the Bendigo Day Surgery. Utilities. Bendigo is entitled to a portion of the water in Lake Eppalock, an irrigation reservoir on the Campaspe River. Developments have led to the building of a pipeline from Waranga to Lake Eppalock and thence to Bendigo in 2007. In 1858 Bendigo water works hired Joseph Brady as an engineer and he designed nine reservoirs and a channel system called the Coliban main channel which provides water from the Malmsbury reservoir to customers in central Victoria. Notable residents. Arts and entertainment Business Military Politics Religion Science Sport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62579

Blue Mountains (New South Wales)

The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region is considered to be part of the western outskirts of the Greater Sydney area. The region borders on Sydney's main metropolitan area, its foothills starting about west of centre of the state capital, close to Penrith. The public's understanding of the extent of the Blue Mountains is varied, as it forms only part of an extensive mountainous area associated with the Great Dividing Range. As defined in 1970, the Blue Mountains region is bounded by the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers in the east, the Coxs River and Lake Burragorang to the west and south, and the Wolgan and Colo rivers to the north. Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin. The "Blue Mountains Range" comprises a range of mountains, plateau escarpments extending off the Great Dividing Range about northwest of Wolgan Gap in a generally southeasterly direction for about , terminating at . For about two-thirds of its length it is traversed by the Great Western Highway, the Main Western railway line and the soon to be completed, Blue Mountains tunnel. Several established towns are situated on its heights, including Katoomba, Blackheath, , and . The range forms the watershed between Coxs River to the south and the Grose and Wolgan rivers to the north. The range contains the Explorer Range and the Bell Range. The Blue Mountains area includes the local government area of the City of Blue Mountains. Since the early 2010s, the region's biodiversity and infrastructure has been severely affected by massive bushfires of unprecedented size and impact. In 2018 8.4 million people visited the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands Basalt Forests is a prominent forest community within the ecoregion. Etymology. Following European settlement of the Sydney area, the area was named the "Carmarthen and Lansdowne Hills" by Arthur Phillip in 1788. The Carmarthen Hills were in the north of the region and the Lansdowne Hills were in the south. The name "Blue Mountains", however, was preferred and is derived from the blue tinge the range takes on when viewed from a distance. The tinge is believed to be caused by Mie scattering which occurs when incoming light with shorter wavelengths is preferentially scattered by particles within the atmosphere imparting a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds. Volatile terpenoids emitted in large quantities by the abundant eucalyptus trees in the Blue Mountains may cause Mie scattering and thus the blue haze for which the mountains were named. History. Geological history. A sandstone plateau dominated by a landscape of endless eucalyptus forests, the Blue Mountains are located at the top of a 470-million-year-old quartzite. In the Permian period, a shallow sea covered the region, when rivers brought shales, siltstones and mudstones. Then during the Mesozoic period, rivers dumped vast amounts of sand, burying the other sedimentary rocks. By about 1 million years ago during the Pliocene era, the Blue Mountains began to form, carving out deep valleys and steep cliffs, with an elevation of 3,900 feet. Its main distinctive natural feature are the Three Sisters, a formation of triple sandstone peaks scoured by erosion, whose rocks are lit by the glimpse of light at the time of day. Aboriginal inhabitants. The Blue Mountains have been inhabited for millennia by the Gundungurra people, now represented by the Gundungurra Tribal Council Aboriginal Corporation based in Katoomba, and, in the lower Blue Mountains, by the Darug people, now represented by the Darug Tribal Aboriginal Corporation. The Gundungurra creation story of the Blue Mountains tells that Dreaming creatures Mirigan and Garangatch, half fish and half reptile, fought an epic battle which scarred the landscape into the Jamison Valley. The Gundungurra Tribal Council is a nonprofit organisation representing the Gundungurra traditional owners, promoting heritage and culture and providing a support for Gundungurra people connecting back to Country. Gundungurra Tribal Council Aboriginal Corporation has a registered Native Title Claim since 1995 over their traditional lands, which include the Blue Mountains and surrounding areas. Examples of Aboriginal habitation can be found in many places. In the Red Hands Cave, a rock shelter near Glenbrook, the walls contain hand stencils from adults and children. On the southern side of Queen Elizabeth Drive, at Wentworth Falls, a rocky knoll has a large number of grinding grooves created by rubbing stone implements on the rock to shape and sharpen them. There are also carved images of animal tracks and an occupation cave. The site is known as Kings Tableland Aboriginal Place and dates back 22,000 years. Australian Colonial History. Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales, first glimpsed the extent of the Blue Mountains from a ridge at the site of today's Oakhill College, Castle Hill. He named them the Carmarthen Hills, "some forty to sixty miles distant..." and he reckoned that the ground was "most suitable for government stock". This is the location where Gidley King in 1799 established a prison town for political prisoners from Ireland and Scotland. The first documented use of the name "Blue Mountains" appears in Captain John Hunter's account of Phillip's 1789 expedition up the Hawkesbury River. Describing the events of about 5 July, Hunter wrote: "We frequently, in some of the reaches which we passed through this day, saw very near us the hills, which we suppose as seen from Port Jackson, and called by the governor the Blue Mountains." During the nineteenth century the name was commonly applied to the portion of the Great Dividing Range from about Goulburn in the south to the Hunter Valley in the north, but in time it came to be associated with a more limited area. The native Aborigines knew two routes across the mountains: Bilpin Ridge, which is now the location of Bells Line of Road between Richmond and Bell, and the Coxs River, a tributary of the Nepean River. It could be followed upstream to the open plains of the Kanimbla Valley, the type of country that farmers prize. British settlers initially considered that fertile lands lay beyond the mountains; while in the belief of many convicts China lay beyond. However, there was little fear that the mountains might provide a means of escape since they were considered impassable. This idea was, to some extent, convenient for local authorities. An "insurmountable" barrier would deter convicts from trying to escape in that direction. A former convict, John Wilson, may have been the first colonist to cross the Blue Mountains. It is also believed that Mathew Everingham, 1795, may have also been partly successful based on letters he wrote at the time which came to light in the late 1980s. Wilson arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 and was freed in 1792. He settled in the bush, living with the Aborigines and even functioning as an intermediary between them and the settlers. In 1797 he returned to Sydney, claiming to have explored up to a hundred miles in all directions around Sydney, including across the mountains. His descriptions and observations were generally accurate, and it is possible that he had crossed the mountains via the southern aspect at the Coxs River corridor, guided by the Aborigines. Governor Hunter was impressed by Wilson's skills and sent him on an expedition with John Price and others in January 1798. The party crossed the Nepean River and moved southwest towards the present site of Mittagong. There they turned west and found a route along the ridge where today the Wombeyan Caves Road is located. In the process they found a way to go west of the mountains, by going around them instead of across them. In March of the same year, Wilson and Price ventured to the Camden area, and then continued further south until they encountered Thirlmere Lakes, finally almost reaching the present site of Goulburn. It is possible that the accomplishments of this expedition were suppressed by Hunter, who may not have wanted convicts to know that there was a relatively easy way out of Sydney. Wilson was killed by Aborigines after abducting an Aboriginal woman "for his personal use", but he had accomplished much as an explorer. He was never recognised as the first person to cross the mountains, possibly because his Coxs River journey could not be verified, while his route west of Mittagong may have been the "long way around" for a colony that had its eyes fixed on the sandstone fortress west of the Nepean. Between 1798 and 1813, many people explored various parts of the mountains, from the Bilpin Ridge to the southern regions, today the site of the Kanangra-Boyd National Park. Still, they did not find a definite route across the mountains. The 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains by Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth is officially credited as the first successful European crossing. Blaxland set out with Lawson and Wentworth on 11 May 1813 and succeeded in crossing the mountains by 31 May. They ventured as far as to what is now Mount Blaxland, just west of Coxs River. In November 1813, Macquarie sent the surveyor George Evans on an expedition to confirm the apparent discoveries made by Blaxland and his party. He was also told to see if there existed enough arable land to justify settlement. The issue had become more urgent because the colony was in the grips of a drought. Evans and his party reached the Fish and Macquarie rivers, and the site of Bathurst. On 7 July 1814, construction of a road across the mountains was begun by William Cox. The work was at the behest of Governor Macquarie. 30 convict labourers and 8 guards completed the road on 14 January 1815 after 27 weeks of hard work. Since the Blue Mountains are rich in coal and shale, mining for these resources began in Hartley Vale in 1865. J.B. North ran a shale mine in the Jamison Valley in the 19th century, and other operations were set up in several places. Locations for mining activities included the Jamison Valley, the upper Grose Valley, Newnes, Glen Davis and the Asgard Swamp area outside Mount Victoria. Shale mining failed in the long run because it was not profitable. Climate. The climate varies with elevation. At Katoomba, () the summer average maximum temperature is around 22 °C with a few days extending into the 30s (80s–90s °F) although it is quite common to see maximum temperatures stay in the teens when east coast troughs persist. Night-time temperatures are usually in the teens but can drop to single figures at times. During winter, the temperature is typically around 10 to 11 °C in the daytime with −1 °C or so on clear nights and 3 to 4 °C on cloudy nights. Very occasionally it will get down to −3 °C or slightly lower but usually the coldest air drains into the valleys during calm, clear nights. However, the passing of cold fronts can significantly lower the average temperature during the night and the day. The Blue Mountains is not known for particularly cold mornings compared to other areas on the Central Tablelands, such as Oberon, Bathurst and Orange. There are two to three snowfalls per year. Annual rainfall is about in the Upper Blue Mountains with many misty days. Geography. The predominant natural vegetation of the higher ridges is eucalyptus forest. Heath-like vegetation is present on plateau edges above cliffs. The sheltered gorges often contain temperate rainforests. There are also many hanging swamps with button grass reeds and thick, deep black soil. "Wollemia nobilis", the "Wollemi pine", a relict of earlier vegetation of Gondwana, is found in remote and isolated valleys of the Wollemi National Park. Mountain peaks. The Blue Mountains Range contains smaller mountain ranges: the Bell Range near The Bells Line of Road and north of the Grose River; the Explorer Range, south of the Grose River extending west towards Mount Victoria; the Caley Range, Erskine Range, Mount Hay Range, Paterson Range, and the Woodford Range. The major recorded peaks are: The Blue Mountains are a dissected plateau carved in sandstone bedrock. They are now a series of ridge lines separated by gorges up to deep. The highest point in the Blue Mountains, as it is now defined, is an unnamed point with an elevation of , located north-east of . However, the highest point in the broader region that was once considered to be the Blue Mountains is Mount Bindo, with an elevation . A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site, consisting of seven national park areas and a conservation reserve. The Blue Mountains area is a distinct physiographic section of the larger Hunter-Hawkesbury Sunkland province. This is in turn a part of the larger East Australian Cordillera physiographic division. Bushfires. The main natural disasters to afflict the area are bushfires and severe storms. In recent years the lower mountains have been subjected to a series of bushfires which have caused great loss of property but relatively little loss of life. The upper mountains had not had a major fire for some decades until December 2002 (the Blackheath Glen Fire) and November 2006 when an extensive blaze in the Grose Valley threatened several communities including Bell and Blackheath (the Lawsons Long Alley Fire). This latest fire burned for almost a month but was extinguished, mainly due to a change in the weather, without loss of human life or property. A program of winter burning seemed to have been successful in reducing fires in the upper mountains. In recent years, the bushfires have become far more destructive and expansive than before. The region was severely damaged in the 2013 New South Wales bushfires. However, even this was dwarfed by the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, during which the entire mountain range was devastated at a scale never seen before. According to preliminary reports, up to 80% of the World Heritage Area has burned as of January 2020, many of these being areas that had never burned in any previously observed bushfires. These destructive blazes have been linked to accelerating climate change. There have been fears that the blazes may severely reduce the biodiversity of the area and even wipe out some of the threatened species in the area, such as the regent honeyeater. World Heritage listing. The Greater Blue Mountains Area was unanimously listed as a World Heritage Area by UNESCO on 29 November 2000, becoming the fourth area in New South Wales to be listed. The area totals roughly , including the Blue Mountains, Kanangra-Boyd, Wollemi, Gardens of Stone, Yengo, Nattai and Thirlmere Lakes National Parks, plus the Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve. This site was chosen to be included on the World Heritage list because: Fauna. The Greater Blue Mountains Area is inhabited by over 400 different forms of animals. Among them are rare mammal species like spotted-tailed quoll, the koala, the yellow-bellied glider, and long-nosed potoroo. There are also some rare reptiles, like the Blue Mountain water skink. There are also some dingoes in the area, which form the top predators and hunt for grey kangaroos. Recreational activity. The Blue Mountains are a popular destination for rock climbers, mountain bikers and hikers as well as canyoning and other adventure sports. These sports are well catered for by guiding companies and equipment stores located mainly in Katoomba. Popular climbing destinations include the Centennial Glen cliffs near Blackheath and Mount Piddington near the town of Mount Victoria. Climbing is currently banned on The Three Sisters. Mountain biking takes place mainly on the many fire trails that branch away from the main spine of the Great Western Highway, such as Narrow Neck, Anderson's Fire Trail and others. Likewise many of the fire trails are popular with day hikers, though many dedicated walking trails exist away from the fire roads. Canyoning in the Blue Mountains is a popular sport and caters for various skill levels. It carries inherent dangers, yet for those with the appropriate skills or those looking to take a guided trip there are many great opportunities to experience a different view of the Blue Mountains. There are numerous abseiling options available in the Blue Mountains including single and multipitch routes. There are some restrictions though with certain areas being closed for abseiling. Cricket is a popular sport in the Blue Mountains, with the Blue Mountains Cattle Dogs representing the district in the Western Zone Premier League, Country Plate and Presidents Cup competitions. Collapse of the Dog Face Rock cliff face. At 4am on the 28th of January 1931 a cliff face known as "the Dog Face Rock" collapsed into the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains. A second collapse from the same cliff face occurred on the 2nd of May 1931 and it was estimated that millions of tons of rock fell several hundred feet into the valley below. Injuries and deaths. It was reported that "More than 450 incidents resulting in greater than 200 deaths between 1875 and 2021..." have occurred. Every year there are up to 200 people who are lost or injured in the Blue mountains. In 2022 two people died and two were injured when they were on a walking track in Wentworth Falls and a landslide occurred and debris collided with them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62666

Michelle Pfeiffer

Michelle Marie Pfeiffer ( ; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. A prolific performer whose screen career spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as one of the era's most preeminent sex symbols. The recipient of various accolades, she has received a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2007, she was awarded a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Beginning her acting career with minor television and film appearances, Pfeiffer attained her first major leading role in the critically and commercially unsuccessful "Grease 2" (1982). Disillusioned with being typecast in nondescript roles as attractive women, she actively sought more challenging material, earning her breakout role in 1983 as Elvira Hancock in "Scarface". She achieved further success with roles in "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987), "Tequila Sunrise", and "Married to the Mob" (both 1988), for which she was nominated for her first of six consecutive Golden Globe Awards. Her performances in "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988) and "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989) earned her two consecutive Academy Award nominations, for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress respectively, winning a Golden Globe Award for the latter. Cementing herself as one of the highest-paid actresses of the 1990s, Pfeiffer starred in "The Russia House" (1990) and "Frankie and Johnny" (1991). In 1992, she played Catwoman in "Batman Returns" and received her third Academy Award nomination for "Love Field", which she followed with performances in "The Age of Innocence" (1993) and "Wolf" (1994). She also produced several of her own star vehicles under her company Via Rosa Productions, including "Dangerous Minds" (1995). Opting to prioritize her family, she acted sporadically throughout the 2000s, appearing in "What Lies Beneath" (2000), "White Oleander" (2002), "Hairspray," and "Stardust" (both 2007). Following another hiatus during the early 2010s, Pfeiffer returned to prominence with performances in "Where Is Kyra?" (2017), "Mother!" (2017), and "Murder on the Orient Express" (2017), and received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for playing Ruth Madoff in "The Wizard of Lies". In 2020, she received her eighth Golden Globe Award nomination for "French Exit" (2020). Pfeiffer has played Janet van Dyne in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2018, beginning with "Ant-Man and the Wasp". Early life. Michelle Marie Pfeiffer was born on April 29, 1958, in Santa Ana, California, the second of four children of Donna Jean (née Taverna), a housewife, and Richard Pfeiffer, an air-conditioning contractor. She has an older brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Dedee and Lori. Her parents were both originally from North Dakota. Her paternal grandfather was of German ancestry and her paternal grandmother was of English, Welsh, French, Irish, and Dutch descent, while her maternal grandfather was of Swiss-German-Italian descent and her maternal grandmother of Swedish ancestry. The family moved to Midway City, another Orange County community around seven miles (11 km) away, where Pfeiffer spent her early years. Pfeiffer attended Fountain Valley High School, graduating in 1976. She worked as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket, and attended Golden West College where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she decided upon an acting career. She won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978, and participated in the Miss California contest the same year, finishing in sixth place. Following her participation in these pageants, she acquired an acting agent and began to audition for television and films. Career. Late 1970s & 1980s. Pfeiffer made her acting debut in 1978, in a one-episode appearance of "Fantasy Island". Other roles on television series followed, including "Delta House", "CHiPs", "Enos" and "B.A.D. Cats", as well as in the made-for-CBS film "The Solitary Man" (1979). Pfeiffer transitioned to film with the comedy "The Hollywood Knights" (1980), with Tony Danza, appearing as high school sweethearts. She subsequently played supporting roles in "Falling in Love Again" (1980) with Susannah York and "Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen" (1981), none of which met with much critical or box office success. She appeared in a television commercial for Lux soap, and took acting lessons at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, before appearing in three 1981 television movies – "Callie and Son", with Lindsay Wagner, "The Children Nobody Wanted" and "Splendor in the Grass". Pfeiffer obtained her first major film role as the female lead in "Grease 2" (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical film "Grease" (1978). With only a few television roles and small film appearances, the 23-year-old Pfeiffer was an unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role, but according to director Patricia Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect". The film was a critical and commercial failure, but "The New York Times" remarked: "[A]lthough she is a relative screen newcomer, Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast." Despite escaping the critical mauling, her agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn't get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her." On her early screen roles, she asserted: "I needed to learn how to act ... in the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks." Director Brian De Palma, having seen "Grease 2", refused to audition Pfeiffer for "Scarface" (1983), but relented at the insistence of Martin Bregman, the film's producer. She was cast as cocaine-addicted trophy wife Elvira Hancock. The film was considered excessively violent by most critics, but became a commercial hit and gained a large cult following in subsequent years. Pfeiffer received positive reviews for her supporting turn; Richard Corliss of "Time Magazine" wrote, "most of the large cast is fine: Michelle Pfeiffer is better ..." while Dominick Dunne, in an article for "Vanity Fair" titled "Blonde Ambition", wrote, "[s]he is on the verge of stardom. In the parlance of the industry, she is hot." Following "Scarface", she played Diana in John Landis' comedy "Into the Night" (1985), with Jeff Goldblum; Isabeau d'Anjou in Richard Donner's fantasy film "Ladyhawke" (1985), with Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick; Faith Healy in Alan Alda's "Sweet Liberty" (1986), with Michael Caine; and Brenda Landers in a segment of the 1950s sci-fi parody "Amazon Women on the Moon" (1987), all of which, despite achieving only modest commercial success, helped to establish her as an actress. She finally scored a major box-office hit as Sukie Ridgemont in the 1987 adaptation of John Updike's novel "The Witches of Eastwick", with Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Susan Sarandon. The film received positive reviews and grossed over $63.7 million domestically, equivalent to $ million in dollars, becoming one of her earliest critical and commercial successes. Praising their comedic timing, Roger Ebert wrote that Pfeiffer and her female co-stars each "have a delicious good time with their roles", while the "Los Angeles Times" film critic Sheila Benson said Pfeiffer makes her character "a warm, irresistible character." Pfeiffer was cast against type, as a murdered gangster's widow, in Jonathan Demme's mafia comedy "Married to the Mob" (1988), with Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell and Mercedes Ruehl. For the role of Angela de Marco, she donned a curly brunette wig and a Brooklyn accent, and received her first Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, beginning a six-year streak of consecutive Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes. Pfeiffer then appeared as chic restaurateuse Jo Ann Vallenari in "Tequila Sunrise" (1988) with Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell, but experienced creative and personal differences with director Robert Towne, who later described her as the "most difficult" actress he has ever worked with. At Demme's personal recommendation, Pfeiffer joined the cast of Stephen Frears's "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988), with Glenn Close and John Malkovich, playing Madame Marie de Tourvel, the virtuous victim of seduction. Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" saw Pfeiffer's role as "the least obvious and the most difficult. Nothing is harder to play than virtue, and Pfeiffer is smart enough not to try. Instead, she embodies it. Her porcelain-skinned beauty, in this regard, is a great asset, and the way it's used makes it seem an aspect of her spirituality." She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Pfeiffer then accepted the role of Susie Diamond, a hard-edged former call girl turned lounge singer, in "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989), which also starred Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as the eponymous Baker Boys. She underwent intense voice training for the role for four months, and performed all of her character's vocals. The film was a modest success, grossing $18.4 million in the US (equivalent to $ million in dollars ). Her portrayal of Susie, however, drew unanimous acclaim from critics. Critic Roger Ebert compared her to Rita Hayworth in "Gilda" and to Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot", adding that the film was "one of the movies they will use as a document, years from now, when they begin to trace the steps by which Pfeiffer became a great star". During the 1989–1990 awards season, Pfeiffer won as Best Actress at the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association. Pfeiffer's performance as Susie is considered to be the most critically acclaimed of her career. The scene in which her character seductively performs "Makin' Whoopee" atop a grand piano is considered to be a memorable scene in modern cinema. 1990s. In 1990, Pfeiffer formed her own film production company, Via Rosa Productions, with business partner Kate Guinzburg, whom she had met on the set of "Sweet Liberty" (1986). The company was under a picture deal with Touchstone Pictures, a film label of The Walt Disney Studios. That year, Pfeiffer began earning $1 million per film, and took on the part of the Soviet book editor Katya Orlova in the film adaptation of John le Carré's "The Russia House", with Sean Connery, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. Pfeiffer then landed the role of damaged waitress Frankie in Garry Marshall's "Frankie and Johnny" (1991), a film adaptation of Terrence McNally's Broadway play "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune", which reunited her with her "Scarface" co-star, Al Pacino. The casting was seen as controversial by many, as Pfeiffer was considered far too beautiful to play an "ordinary" waitress; Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice. Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]". Pfeiffer was once again nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance. Pfeiffer took on the role of Selina Kyle–Catwoman in Tim Burton's superhero film "Batman Returns" (1992), opposite Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, after Annette Bening dropped out because of her pregnancy. For the role, she trained in martial arts and kickboxing. Pfeiffer received unanimous critical acclaim for her portrayal, which is often referred to as the greatest performance of Catwoman of all time by critics and fans. "Premiere" retrospectively stated: "Arguably the outstanding villain of the Tim Burton era, Michelle Pfeiffer's deadly kitten with a whip brought sex to the normally neutered franchise. Her stitched-together, black patent leather costume, based on a sketch of Burton's, remains the character's most iconic look. And Michelle Pfeiffer overcomes "Batman Returns" heavy-handed feminist dialogue to deliver a growling, fierce performance." "Batman Returns" was a big box office success, grossing over US$267 million worldwide. The first film her company produced was the independent drama "Love Field", which was released in 1992. Reviewers embraced the film and "The New York Times" felt that Pfeiffer was "again demonstrating that she is as subtle and surprising as she is beautiful". For her portrayal of an eccentric Dallas, Texas housewife, she earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. In Martin Scorsese's period drama "The Age of Innocence" (1993), a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel, Pfeiffer starred with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, portraying a Countess in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. For her role, she received the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That year, she was awarded the Women in Film Los Angeles' Crystal Award. Following the formation of her producing company, Via Rosa Productions, Pfeiffer saw a professional expansion as a producer. While she continued to act steadily throughout the decade, she and her producing partner Guinzburg experienced a winning streak of producing back to back films next under their header. She starred with Jack Nicholson in the 1994 horror film "Wolf", portraying the sardonic and willful interest of a writer who becomes a wolf-man at night after being bitten by a creature. The film was released to a mixed critical reception; "The New York Times" wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling." "Wolf" was a commercial success, grossing US$65 million (equivalent to $ million in ) at the domestic box office and US$131 million worldwide (equivalent to $ million). Pfeiffer's next role was that of high school teacher and former United States Marine LouAnne Johnson in the drama "Dangerous Minds" (1995), co-produced by her company. She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, featuring L.V.; the song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video. While "Dangerous Minds" received negative reviews, it was a box office success, grossing US$179.5 million around the globe. In 1996, Pfeiffer portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama "Up Close & Personal", with Robert Redford, took on the titular role in the drama "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday", which was adapted by her husband David Kelley from Michael Brady's play of the same name, and served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parker in the romantic comedy "One Fine Day", with George Clooney. Subsequent performances included Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "A Thousand Acres" (1997) with Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh; Beth Cappadora in "The Deep End of the Ocean" (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago; Titania the Queen of the Fairies in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci; and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy drama "The Story of Us" (1999) with Bruce Willis. Pfeiffer voiced Tzipporah, a spirited shepherdess who becomes the wife of Moses (Val Kilmer), in the animated biblical drama film "The Prince of Egypt" (1998). She starred alongside an all-star voice cast that included Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock and Patrick Stewart. "A Thousand Acres" and "The Deep End of the Ocean" were also produced by Via Rosa Productions. 2000s. Pfeiffer chose to begin the process of dissolving her film production company, Via Rosa Productions, in 1999, and moved into semi-retirement in order to spend more quality time with her children and family, meaning that she would continue to star in films sporadically into the 2000s and beyond. Pfeiffer handed her producing partner Guinzburg one final film to produce under the Via Rosa Productions header. The film was called "Original Sin" (2001). It was originally intended to star Pfeiffer, who later changed her mind as she was looking to work less for a while. The film was produced by her company, but instead starred Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas. In "What Lies Beneath" (2000), a Hitchcockian thriller directed by Robert Zemeckis, Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford starred as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it opened atop at the box office, and went on to gross US$291 million worldwide. She then accepted the role of Rita Harrison, a highly strung lawyer helping a father with a developmental disability, in the drama "I Am Sam" (2001), with Sean Penn. Despite grossing $97.8 million worldwide, the film was unfavourably reviewed by critics; "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever." Meanwhile, "SF Gate" observed: "In one scene, she breaks down in tears as she unburdens herself to him about her miserable life. It's hard not to cringe, watching this emotionally ready actress fling herself headlong into false material." Pfeiffer took on the role of a murderous artist, named Ingrid Magnussen, in the drama "White Oleander" (2002), with Alison Lohman (in her film début), Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright. The film was a critical and commercial success in its arthouse release. Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" wrote that "Ms. Pfeiffer, giving the most complex screen performance of her career, makes her Olympian seductress at once irresistible and diabolical." Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" described her as "incandescent", bringing "power and unshakable will to her role as mother-master manipulator" in a "riveting, impeccable performance". She earned Best Supporting Actress Awards from the San Diego Film Critics Society and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2003, Pfeiffer lent her voice for the character of goddess of chaos Eris in ', an animated film featuring Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad the Sailor. She had struggles with finding the character's villainies. Initially the character was "too sexual", then she lacked fun. After the third rewrite, Pfeiffer called producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and told him "You know, you really can fire me," but he assured her that this was just part of the process. Following the release of the film, she took a four-year hiatus from acting, during which she remained largely out of the public eye to devote time to her husband and children. During this time, she turned down the role of the White Witch in the fantasy film ' (2005), which went to Tilda Swinton. Pfeiffer returned to cinemas in 2007 with villainous roles in two summer blockbusters, "Hairspray" and "Stardust", which was hailed as a successful comeback by the media. In the former, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, she starred alongside John Travolta, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah as Velma Von Tussle, the racist manager of a television station. Although a fan of Pfeiffer's work in the musicals "Grease 2" and "The Fabulous Baker Boys", director Adam Shankman cast Pfeiffer largely based on her performance in "Batman Returns", claiming she was his first and only choice for Velma. Although she had fun with the part, Pfeiffer described Velma as the most difficult role she had played at the time, because of her character's racism; but she was drawn to the film's important message of anti-bigotry, accepting that "in order to do a movie about racism, somebody has got to be the racist". Released to widely positive reviews, "Hairspray" grossed $202.5 million worldwide. Pfeiffer's performance was also critically acclaimed, with film critic David Edelstein of NPR calling her "sublime". The cast of "Hairspray" was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture, and won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast, the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Ensemble Cast. In the fantasy adventure "Stardust", Pfeiffer plays Lamia, an ancient witch who hunts a fallen star (Claire Danes) in search of eternal youth. The film received mostly positive reviews but performed moderately at the box office, earning $135.5 million globally. "The New York Times" film critic Stephen Holden described Pfeiffer as "as deliciously evil a witch as the movies have ever invented", writing that she "goes for broke with the relish of a star who figures she has nothing to lose." Pfeiffer starred in Amy Heckerling's romantic comedy "I Could Never Be Your Woman" (2007), with Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan, portraying Rosie, a 40-year-old divorced mother working as a scriptwriter and producer for a television show who falls in love with a much younger man (Rudd). Her reported salary was US$1 million, with an advance on 15 percent of the gross. However, the film was only distributed on home video markets domestically. Reviews for "I Could Never Be Your Woman" were moderately positive, with critic James Berardinelli finding Pfeiffer and Rudd to "have adequate chemistry to pull off the romance," in what he described as an "enjoyable romantic comedy that has enough going for it to make it worth a recommendation." Pfeiffer starred in "Personal Effects", with Ashton Kutcher, playing two grieving people coping with the pain and frustration of their loss whose bond spawns an unlikely romance. The drama premiered at Iowa City's Englert Theatre in December 2008. Her next film, an adaptation of Colette's "Chéri", reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988). Pfeiffer played the role of aging retired courtesan Léa de Lonval, with Rupert Friend in the title role, with Kathy Bates as his mother. "Chéri" premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the Golden Bear award. "The Times" of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache". Roger Ebert in the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt". Kenneth Turan in the "Los Angeles Times" praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away." 2010s. Following a two-year sabbatical from acting, Pfeiffer made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy "New Year's Eve" (2011), her second collaboration with Marshall after "Frankie and Johnny". The film, also starring Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others, saw her take on the supporting role of Ingrid Withers, an overwhelmed secretary befriending a deliveryman (Efron). While the film was panned by critics, it made US$142 million worldwide. In 2012, she appeared with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in the drama "People Like Us", as the mother of a struggling New York City corporate trader (Pine). "Rolling Stone" found her to be "luminous" in the film, and "The New York Times", positively pointing out Pfeiffer and Banks, noted that their performances "partly compensate for the holes in a story whose timing is hard to swallow". "People Like Us" debuted to US$4.26 million, described as "meager" by Box Office Mojo, and only made US$12 million in North America. Pfieffer reunited with Tim Burton, her "Batman Returns" director, in "Dark Shadows" (2012), based on the gothic television soap opera of the same name. In the film, co-starring Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Chloë Grace Moretz, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch of the Collins family. Critical response towards the film was mixed, but writers acclaimed the actors' performances—most notably Depp and Pfeiffer's. "IGN" found her to be "commanding" in her role and felt that the main characters were "played by one of Burton's best ensemble casts yet". While "Dark Shadows" grossed a modest US$79.7 million in North America, it ultimately made US$245.5 million globally. In Luc Besson's mob-comedy "The Family" (2013), co-starring Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo, she played the "tough mother" in a Mafia family wanting to change their lives under the witness protection program. Although reviews for the film were mixed, "THV11" said on the cast's portrayals: "The core actors of "The Family" were really solid, and the whole film comes together to make a solid movie." Meanwhile, "The Huffington Post" felt that "De Niro, Pfieffer and Jones all brought 100% to their roles." The film grossed US$78.4 million worldwide. Pfeiffer stated that her lack of acting throughout the 2000s was due to several reasons, including family matters and her approach to choosing roles. She stated she was intending to "work a lot" once her children left for college, mentioning that she felt her best performance was "still in her", saying how that's what she felt kept her going. The slew of screen work that would follow in 2017 would prompt the media to dub her career resurgence a "Pfeiffer-sance". In the independent drama "Where Is Kyra?", she starred as a sensitive and fragile woman who loses her mother and "faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover". The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and received a limited release on April 6, 2018, to critical acclaim; Her role as "Kyra" was dubbed the "performance of her life" by "Village Voice"'s Bilge Ebiri, and "the performance of her career", by "Rolling Stone". Pfeiffer landed the role of Ruth Madoff for the HBO Films drama "The Wizard of Lies", based on the book of the same name. The film, directed by Barry Levinson, reunites her with actor Robert De Niro, who played her husband, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. "The Wizard of Lies" premiered on HBO on May 20, 2017, garnering favorable reviews from critics and an audience of 1.5 million viewers, HBO's largest premiere viewership for a film in four years. "Tolucan Times" remarked that Pfeiffer "steals the show as Madoff's wife, Ruth, and is a remarkable lookalike", while "Los Angeles Times" asserted: "As Ruth, Pfeiffer convincingly portrays a pampered woman left with utterly nothing —she's lost her homes, status and, most important, her relationship with her sons." She received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Movie, in addition to a Golden Globe Award nomination. In Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film "Mother!" (2017), Pfeiffer portrayed one of the mysterious guests who interrupt the tranquil life of a couple, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. Although "Mother!" divided critics and audiences, reviewers praised Pfeiffer unanimously, some of whom found her performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. "Vulture" remarked: "Out of the main actors, it's Pfeiffer who is able to root the character in meaning — she bracingly marries the exploration of Biblical creation, mythological overtones, and hellish domestic commentary. There's a gravity to Pfeiffer's performance that allows her to succeed where the other main actors fail, save for brief spurts — she straddles the boundaries between embodying a symbol and granting the character enough interiority to feel like a flesh and blood woman, too." Pfeiffer played a widowed socialite in Kenneth Branagh's "Murder on the Orient Express" (2017), the fourth screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast, the mystery film follows world-renowned detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) attempting to solve a murder, while stranded with several suspects on the Orient Express during the 1930s. She also recorded the original song "Never Forget" for the film's soundtrack. The film grossed US$351.7 million worldwide and received decent reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, but criticism for not adding anything new to previous adaptations. Although some critics found its large cast underused, Pfeiffer's performance was praised, with Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" saying she delivered the film's best performance. "The New Yorker"s Anthony Lane found that only Pfeiffer appears to be enjoying their material, while Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" credited the film with reminding audiences that she is one of the industry's best actresses. David Edelstein of "Vulture" described the actress as "a hoot and a half ... stealing every scene". Pfeiffer debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, in the "Ant-Man" (2015) sequel "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018). Variety"s Owen Gleiberman described her performance as "lovely" and "wistful", while Josh Spiegel of /Film believed the film suffers from a lack of the actress. In 2019, Pfeiffer briefly reprised the role in ', and starred alongside Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in the dark fantasy sequel "", playing the villainous Queen Ingrith. Despite the film earning mixed reviews, "The Plain Dealer"'s Laura DeMarco felt that both Jolie and Pfeiffer "clearly relish their roles." 2020s. Pfeiffer headlined the dark comedy "French Exit" (2020), based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Patrick deWitt, directed by Azazel Jacobs. In the film, which co-stars Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts, Pfeiffer played a widow who moves to Paris, France, with her son (Hedges) and cat, who happens to be her reincarnated husband (Letts). The film premiered at the New York Film Festival, to a positive reception. Peter Debruge of "Variety" remarked that she gave a performance "for which she'll be remembered." Pfeiffer received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her performance. Pfeiffer portrayed former First Lady Betty Ford in the anthology drama television series "The First Lady", which premiered on Showtime in April 2022. The series received mixed reviews and was cancelled after one season. The following year, she reprised the role of Janet van Dyne in "". Pfeiffer is attached to star alongside Annette Bening in the psychological thriller, "Turn of Mind", set to be directed by Gideon Raff. In 2022, she was cast in "Wild Four O'Clocks", penned and directed by Peter Craig, and produced by Marc Platt and Adam Siegel. Acting style and reception. Pfeiffer has never received formal acting training, expressing that she sometimes feels fraudulent as an actor due to her lack of conventional schooling. Instead, she credits director Milton Katselas with teaching her to differentiate between how an actor and their character would behave during the same scene. Vulture.com's Angelica Jade Bastién said Pfeiffer's skill dispels any argument that untrained actors are less capable than their trained peers. In 1992, "Rolling Stone" Gerri Hirshey described Pfeiffer as a character actress comfortable wearing unflattering costumes, while film critics have described her as "a character actress in a screen siren's body". Bastién reviewed her as "a character actress reluctantly placed in Hollywood’s lineage of blonde bombshells". Journalist James Kaplan reported that some critics believe Pfeiffer has sold herself short by choosing character roles that emphasize her talent over her beauty. Drawn towards "imperfect" women, Pfeiffer claims she rarely accepts glamorous roles because she finds few of them compelling. She also prefers dramatic over comedic roles, describing the latter as more challenging. Often commended for masking her true emotions when in character, Pfeiffer frequently uses this trait advantageously in period films, a trademark genre of hers. She has described acting as a "sadomasochistic" profession due to how "brutal" she finds the process at times. During the 1980s, Pfeiffer typically played smart, funny, and independent women, before pursuing a wider range of roles during the 1990s. According to Rachel Syme of "The New Yorker", such characters were often ditzy, wily, high-femme, high-maintenance, and scrappy. Early in her career, Pfeifer typically played working class women whom she found more relatable, aside from the occasional upper class character. Film critic Peter Bradshaw reflected that "She blazed a trail as gangsters’ molls and slinky lounge acts" before returning from hiatus to play witches, comic turns, and grand dames. In a 2021 profile, Lynn Hirschberg of "W" said Pfeiffer's finest performances involve a conflicted "woman at war with herself", finding that she "has a way of pitting her characters' wit and self-awareness against their flaws and trauma". Adam Platt of "New Woman" and journalist Bilge Ebiri agreed that Pfeiffer often plays women who are emotionally detached from their surroundings. "Backstage" contributor Manuel Betancourt observed parallels between Pfeiffer's roles and her own determination to subvert expectations, with the actress confirming that she reviews new scripts for parallels between a character's emotions and her own. "Town & Country" senior editor Adam Rathe finds Pfeiffer dissimilar to most of her characters, but the actress explained that she prepares for any role by discovering relatable aspects about the character, regardless of "how removed it is from your own personality". Known to be highly selective about her roles, IndieWire contributor Kate Erbland believes Pfeiffer chooses unconventional ones to avoid being typecast, a practice film critic Michael Sragow defended. Filmmakers and co-stars agree that Pfeiffer is extremely committed to her work, having developed a reputation for competence and preparedness. In addition to refusing to watch her own work, Pfeiffer does not retain scripts, reviews, news articles, or magazine covers about her career. Pfeiffer is widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her generation, a designation novelist Steve Erickson claims she had already achieved by her thirties. Despite observing that her body of work lacks the prestige of some of her contemporaries, Bastién believes Pfeiffer's filmography to be the most fascinating among her peers, explaining that "No modern actress better evokes the rich tension between understanding the currency that comes with being a great beauty and the distaste with being seen at all". In 2009, "Maclean"'s film critic Brian D. Johnson argued that Pfeiffer had yet to demonstrate her true acting range, believing she could potentially be as respected as Meryl Streep if allowed the same opportunities, while the "San Francisco Chronicle"'s Mick LaSalle remarked that Pfeiffer's humility sometimes causes viewers to overlook her as one of the industry's best actresses. Pfeiffer is particularly renowned for her versatility, having accumulated a diverse repertoire spanning period, romance, fantasy, musical, comedy, and drama films. By 2016, "Salon"'s Charles Taylor declared that no actor of the previous decade had rivaled the actress in terms of versatility, while Adreon Patterson of CinemaBlend dubbed Pfeiffer Hollywood's most versatile actress in 2021. Summarizing her career as eclectic, Erbland believes she has rarely repeated acting choices, with the actress confirming she had always aspired to play the widest possible range of characters, even when her options were limited. One of the most successful and highest-paid actresses of 1980s and 1990s, Pfeiffer typically earned $9–$10 million per film during the latter decade. LaSalle felt she was more deserving of her high salary than other Hollywood actors. According to UPI, Pfeiffer was one of the few actresses whose salary corresponded with their box office appeal as of 1996. Apart from "The Witches of Eastwick", few of the actress' films during the 1980s had been major box office successes, an observation Pfeiffer feared disclosing to film studios. In 1995, "The New York Times" journalist Bernard Weinraub said Pfeiffer belongs to a group of actresses who are respected yet "not considered a big box- office draw". However, her performances consistently garnered acclaim, despite mediocre ticket sales and some films critics found forgettable. By 1999, "Variety" named Pfeiffer "the female movie star most likely to improve a film's box-office appeal". Film critic Robyn Karney wrote that among the several blonde, attractive actresses who debuted during the 1980s, "Pfeiffer seemed the most precisely cut from the cloth of a long Hollywood tradition", likening her to Carole Lombard. However, Karney felt the declining quality of her films towards the end of the century was a sobering reminder that "the great female movie star of the Golden Age is no more". Pfeiffer feels critics have not entirely understood her acting decisions, which Rathe attributes to the "wildcard image" she has maintained throughout her career, and explained she is sometimes surprised by their reviews, whether positive or negative. Despite her reputation as one of the industry's most prolific and acclaimed performers, Pfeiffer has yet to receive top-billing in a blockbuster film. In 2020, the "Kenosha News" voted Pfeiffer America's 26th favorite actress, although she has also been named one of Hollywood's most underrated actresses when compared to her contemporaries, with "The Hollywood Reporter" stating she "is too seldom ranked among the best of her generation"."The Boston Globe"s Mark Shanahan believes Pfeiffer is sometimes overlooked as one of Hollywood's greatest leading actresses due to her perceived on-screen effortlessness. Matthew Jacobs of "HuffPost Canada" hailed her as "one of the great comedic actors of our time, though she is rarely recognized as such". The author identified subtlety as one of her strengths, explaining, her "magnetism never overwhelms the movies she's in. Even when she is the most talented person on-screen". Describing her as "one of the industry's greatest stars during its pre-millennial twilight", ABC Online's Luke Goodsell declared Pfeiffer's comparatively sparse workload "Among the many depressing phenomena of 21st-century Hollywood". She was awarded a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. Public image. Pfeiffer has long been described as one of the world's most beautiful and talented actresses, a designation "The Daily Telegraph"s Mick Brown considers to be both a defining characteristic and curse. After being typecast in early roles largely based on her appearance, Pfeiffer initially struggled to convince directors to take her seriously as an actor because they doubted she was more than simply attractive, which she combated by actively seeking challenging roles in which physical beauty was not an essential characteristic. Journalists Candice Russell of the "Sun-Sentinel" and Rachel Syme of "The New Yorker" observed that, early in her career, critics regularly undermined Pfeiffer's work by focusing on her appearance over her acting. "The Daily Beast"s Elizabeth Kaye recognized Pfeiffer as a rare talent who demonstrates it is indeed possible to be both physically attractive and a serious performer, believing the actress achieves this by combining "the sensibility of a modern woman" with "the glamour of a '30s icon". Both Karen Krizanovich of "The Daily Telegraph" and "Town & Country"s Adam Rathe agree that the same critics who were initially enchanted by her appearance remain captivated by Pfeiffer's performances, intelligence, and humor. According to "The Spokesman-Review" critic Dan Webster, the actress is known as much for her on-screen glamor as she is for her acting talent. The actress has received significant media attention for her appearance, which Turner Classic Movies described "as an example of exceptional Hollywood beauty". Celebrity photographers Nigel Parry and Patrick McMullen cite Pfeiffer among the most beautiful women they have ever photographed. In 2020, "Vogue Paris" listed Pfeiffer as one of the 21 most beautiful American actresses of all time. As one of the most preeminent sex symbols of the 1980s and 1990s, her beauty and fashion choices attracted immense media scrutiny throughout both decades. Ranking her among history's most beautiful actresses, "Glamour" named Pfeiffer "the most perfect face on the silver screen". The same publication recognized the actress as one of the greatest fashion icons of the 1980s, calling her the decade's "go-to girl" and "one of our all-time favorite movie goddesses". Similarly, "Harper's Bazaar" crowned Pfeiffer the fourth most glamorous "beauty icon" of the decade, while "Complex" ranked her the 49th "hottest woman of the '80s". Men's Health ranked Pfeiffer 45th and 67th on their all-time hottest women and sex symbol rankings, respectively. According to Alice Cary of British "Vogue", several costumes worn by the actress "have become hallmarks of popular culture". In 1990, Pfeiffer appeared on the inaugural cover of "People" magazine's annual "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" issue. She was again pictured on the cover in 1999, making her the first celebrity to appear on the cover of the issue twice, and the only celebrity to grace the cover twice during the 1990s. She has been featured in the "Most Beautiful" issue a record-breaking six times throughout the decade (from 1990 to 1993, and in 1996 and 1999). In 2004, the magazine named her one of the most beautiful women of all time. AllMovie biographer Rebecca Flint Marx remarked that Pfeiffer's "rare beauty ... has inspired countless platitudes and an almost-permanent place on "People"'s Fifty Most Beautiful list". Pfeiffer has been famously self-deprecating about her appearance. At least two of her films, "Stardust" (2007) and "Chéri" (2009), explore beautiful, youth-obsessed women struggling to accept aging, themes with which Pfeiffer personally identified. According to several plastic surgeons, she possesses some of the most requested celebrity features among clients. In 2001, plastic surgeon Stephen R. Marquardt declared Pfeiffer the most beautiful face in Hollywood. Nicknamed the "golden ratio", Marquardt claims Pfeiffer's face adheres to a mathematical formula in which he determined a person's ideal mouth is 1.618 times as wide as their nose. Several media publications have commented on Pfeiffer's perceived ability to physically age slowly. Famous for being fiercely private like the characters she plays, Matthew Jacobs of "HuffPost" crowned Pfeiffer Hollywood's prime example of "a movie star who doesn't walk around feeling like a movie star", which benefits her ability to play authentic characters without allowing her fame to affect her talent. Pfeiffer is notorious for disliking press interviews, referring to herself as "the worst interviewee that ever was", and maintaining that it is not an actor's responsibility to promote a film project."The Baltimore Sun" film critic Michael Sragow observed that the actress can at times appear "flustered or elusive" during interviews. Vikram Murthi of "The Nation" believes Pfeiffer's aversion to publicity "has lent her an air of gravitas, of someone who directs a spotlight rather than chases after it." Media commentators noted that Pfeiffer had unexpectedly become a "pop-music muse" in 2014; her name is mentioned in two of the year's most popular songs: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, and "Riptide" by Vance Joy. Joy was particularly inspired by Pfeiffer's transformation from Selina Kyle into Catwoman in "Batman Returns," whereas Ronson cited "The Fabulous Baker Boys" as his favorite Pfeiffer film. Australian cricketers speak of "getting a Michelle" when they take five wickets in an innings. In cricketing parlance, this is referred to as a "five for", a near-homophone for "Pfeiffer", which resulted in the nickname "Michelle". Other ventures. Product and endorsements. In 2005, Pfeiffer served as the face of Giorgio Armani's spring campaign; the designer has often dressed her for public appearances. In 2019, she launched a collection of fine fragrances called Henry Rose. It is the first fine fragrance line to be both Cradle to Cradle Certified and EWG Verified. On December 7, 2022, she promoted the line on The Tonight Show. It was even featured as one of the smells in the game called "Sniff Cup Flip Cup" she played against Jimmy Fallon. Philanthropy. Having been a smoker for ten years, and having a niece who suffered from leukemia for ten years, Pfeiffer decided to support the American Cancer Society. She also supports the Humane Society. In 2016, she attended the Healthy Child Healthy World's L.A. Gala for people who lead organizations for children's environmental health. In December that year, Pfeiffer, who is a vegan, joined the board of directors for Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington. D.C. Personal life. Soon after coming to Hollywood at age 20, Pfeiffer was taken in by a seemingly friendly couple who ran a metaphysics and vegetarian cult. They helped her to cease drinking, smoking and doing drugs. Over time, they took control of her entire life. Much of her money went to the group. "I was brainwashed," she said, "I gave them an enormous amount of money." At an acting class taught by Milton Katselas in Los Angeles, she met fellow budding actor Peter Horton, and they began dating. They married in Santa Monica in 1981, and it was on their honeymoon that she discovered she had won the lead role in "Grease 2". Horton directed Pfeiffer in a 1985 ABC TV special, "One Too Many", where she played the high school girlfriend of an alcoholic student (Val Kilmer); and in 1987, the real-life couple played an on-screen couple in the 'Hospital' segment of John Landis's comedy skit compilation "Amazon Women on the Moon". In 1988, Pfeiffer had an affair with John Malkovich, her co-star in "Dangerous Liaisons", who at the time was married to Glenne Headly. Pfeiffer and Horton decided to separate in 1988, and were divorced two years later. Horton later blamed the split on their devotion to their work rather than their marriage. Pfeiffer then had a three-year relationship with actor/producer Fisher Stevens, whom Pfeiffer met when she was starring in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Twelfth Night", where Stevens played Sir Andrew Aguecheek. In 1993, Pfeiffer married television writer and producer David E. Kelley. She made a brief uncredited cameo appearance in one episode of Kelley's television series "Picket Fences" and played the title character in "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday", for which Kelley wrote the screenplay. She had entered into private adoption proceedings before she met Kelley, and in March 1993 adopted a newborn daughter, Claudia Rose, who was christened on Pfeiffer's and Kelley's wedding day. In 1994, Pfeiffer gave birth to a son, John Henry Kelley II, named for his grandfather and Pfeiffer's father-in-law, United States Hockey Hall of Fame coach John Henry "Jack" Kelley. Acting credits and accolades. According to review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Pfeiffer's most acclaimed films include "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989), "" (2019), "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988), "Hairspray" (2007), "Married to the Mob" (1988), "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018), "The Age of Innocence" (1993), "Batman Returns" (1992), "Scarface" (1983), and "Where Is Kyra?" (2017). Pfeiffer has received three Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress for "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988); and Best Actress for "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989) and "Love Field" (1992). She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama for "The Fabulous Baker Boys", and has been nominated seven more times for her performances in "Married to the Mob" (1988), "The Russia House" (1990), "Frankie and Johnny" (1991), "Love Field", "The Age of Innocence" (1993), "The Wizard of Lies" (2017), and "French Exit" (2020). For "Dangerous Liaisons", she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for "The Wizard of Lies".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62912

Auction

An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exist and are described in the section about different types. The branch of economic theory dealing with auction types and participants' behavior in auctions is called auction theory. The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction and has been used throughout history. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid being higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, while bidders submit bids vocally or electronically. Auctions are applied for trade in diverse contexts. These contexts include antiques, paintings, rare collectibles, expensive wines, commodities, livestock, radio spectrum, used cars, real estate, online advertising, vacation packages, emission trading, and many more. Etymology. The word "auction" is derived from the participle of the Latin "word" "augeō", "auctus" ("I increase"). History. Classical antiquity. Auctions have been recorded as early as 500 BC. According to Herodotus, in Babylon, auctions of women for marriage were held annually. The auctions began with the woman the auctioneer considered to be the most beautiful and progressed to the least beautiful. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside of the auction method. Attractive maidens were offered in a forward auction to determine the price to be paid by a swain, while unattractive maidens required a reverse auction to determine the price to be paid to a swain. Auctions took place in Ancient Greece, other Hellenistic societies, and also in Rome. During the Roman Empire, after a military victory, Roman soldiers would often drive a spear into the ground around which the spoils of war were left, to be auctioned off. Slaves, often captured as the "spoils of war", were auctioned in the Forum under the sign of the spear, with the proceeds of sale going toward the war effort. The Romans also used auctions to liquidate the assets of debtors whose property had been confiscated. For example, Marcus Aurelius sold household furniture to pay off debts, the sales lasting for months. One of the most significant historical auctions occurred in 193 AD when the entire Roman Empire was put on the auction block by the Praetorian Guard. On 28 March 193, the Praetorian Guard first killed emperor Pertinax, then offered the empire to the highest bidder. Didius Julianus won the auction for the price of 6,250 drachmas per guard, an act that initiated a brief civil war. Didius was then beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome. From the end of the Roman Empire to the 18th century, auctions lost favor in Europe, while they had never been widespread in Asia. In China, the personal belongings of deceased Buddhist monks were sold at auction as early as seventh century AD. Modern revival. The first mention of "auction", according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1595. In some parts of England during the 17th and 18th centuries, auctions by candle began to be used for the sale of goods and leaseholds. In a candle auction, the end of the auction was signaled by the expiration of a candle flame, which was intended to ensure that no one could know exactly when the auction would end and make a last-second bid. Sometimes, other unpredictable events, such as a footrace, were used instead of the expiration of a candle. This type of auction was first mentioned in 1641 in the records of the House of Lords. The practice rapidly became popular, and in 1660 Samuel Pepys' diary recorded two occasions when the Admiralty sold surplus ships "by an inch of candle". Pepys also relates a hint from a highly successful bidder who had observed that, just before expiring, a candle-wick always flares up slightly: on seeing this, he would shout his final – and winning – bid. The "London Gazette" began reporting on the auctioning of artwork in the coffeehouses and taverns of London in the late 17th century. The first known auction house in the world was the Stockholm Auction House, Sweden ("Stockholms Auktionsverk"), founded by Baron Claes Rålamb in 1674. Sotheby's, currently the world's second-largest auction house, was founded in London on 11 March 1744, when Samuel Baker presided over the disposal of "several hundred scarce and valuable" books from the library of an acquaintance. Christie's, now the world's largest auction house, was founded by James Christie in 1766 in London and published its first auction catalog that year, although newspaper advertisements of Christie's sales dating from 1759 have been found. Other early auction houses that are still in operation include Göteborgs Auktionsverk (1681), Dorotheum (1707), Uppsala auktionskammare (1731), Mallams (1788), Bonhams (1793), Phillips de Pury & Company (1796), Freeman's (1805) and Lyon & Turnbull (1826). By the end of the 18th century, auctions of art works were commonly held in taverns and coffeehouses. These auctions were held daily, and auction catalogs were printed to announce available items. In some cases, these catalogs were elaborate works of art themselves, containing considerable detail about the items being auctioned. At the time, Christie's established a reputation as a leading auction house, taking advantage of London's status as the major centre of the international art trade after the French Revolution. The Great Slave Auction took place in 1859 and is recorded as the largest single sale of enslaved people in U.S. history — with 436 men, women and children being sold. During the American Civil War, goods seized by armies were sold at auction by the Colonel of the division. Thus, some of today's auctioneers in the U.S. carry the unofficial title of "colonel". Tobacco auctioneers in the southern United States in the late 19th century had a style that mixed traditions of 17th century England with chants of slaves from Africa. Rise of the internet. The development of the internet has led to a significant rise in the use of auctions, as auctioneers can solicit bids via the internet from a wide range of buyers in a much larger variety of commodities than was previously practical. In the 1990s, the multi-attribute auction was invented to negotiate extensive conditions of construction and electricity contracts via auction. Also during this time, OnSale.com developed the Yankee auction as its trademark. In the early 2000s, the Brazilian auction was invented as a new type of auction to trade gas through electronic auctions for Linde plc in Brazil. With the emergence of the internet, online auctions have developed, with eBay being the most typical example. For example, if someone owns a rare item, they can display the item through an online auction platform. Interested parties may place bids, with the highest bidder winning the opportunity to purchase the item. Online auctions allow more people to participate and also make traditional auction theory more complex. Economic significance. By increasing visibility of an item and therefore demand, auctions can make an extremely rare item more likely to sell for a higher price. In 2008, the US National Auctioneers Association reported that the gross revenue of the auction industry for that year was approximately $268.4 billion, with the fastest growing sectors being agricultural, machinery, equipment, and residential real estate auctions. The auctions with the largest revenue for the government are often spectrum auctions (typical revenue is estimated in billions of euros) and quota auctions. In 2019, Russia's crab quota was auctioned for €2 billion. Between 1999 and 2002, the British government auctioned off their gold reserves, raising approximately $3.5 billion. The most expensive item to ever be sold in an auction is Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" in 2017 ($450.3 million). In 2018, the yearly revenues of the two biggest auction houses were $5 billion (Christie's) and $4 billion (Sotheby's). Types. Auctions come in a variety of types and categories, which are sometimes not mutually exclusive. Typification of auctions is considered to be a part of Auction theory. The economists Paul Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for the introduction of new auction types (or formats). Auction types share features, which can be summarized into the following list. Participants. Auctions can differ in the number and type of participants. There are two types of participants: a buyer and a seller. A buyer pays to acquire a certain good or service, while a seller offers goods or services for money or barter exchange. There can be single or multiple buyers and single or multiple sellers in an auction. If just one seller and one buyer are participating, the process is not considered to be an auction. The forward auction is the most common type of auction — a seller offers item(s) for sale and expects the highest price. A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of the buyer and the seller are reversed, with the primary objective to drive purchase prices downward. While ordinary auctions provide suppliers the opportunity to find the best price among interested buyers, reverse auctions and buyer-determined auctions give buyers a chance to find the lowest-price supplier. During a reverse auction, suppliers may submit multiple offers, usually as a response to competing suppliers' offers, bidding down the price of a good or service to the lowest price they are willing to receive. A reverse price auction is not necessarily 'descending-price' — the reverse Dutch auction is an ascending-price auction because forward Dutch auctions are descending. By revealing the competing bids in real-time to every participating supplier, reverse auctions promote "information transparency". This, coupled with the dynamic bidding process, improves the chances of reaching the fair market value of the item. A double auction is a combination of both forward and reverse auctions. A Walrasian auction or "Walrasian tâtonnement" is a double auction in which the auctioneer takes bids from both buyers and sellers in a market of multiple goods. The auctioneer progressively either raises or drops the current proposed price depending on the bids of both buyers and sellers, the auction concluding when supply and demand exactly balance. As a high price tends to dampen demand while a low price tends to increase demand, in theory there is a particular price somewhere in the middle where supply and demand will match. A Barter double auction is an auction where every participant has a demand and an offer consisting of multiple attributes and no money is involved. For the mathematical modelling of satisfaction level, Euclidean distance is used, where the offer and demand are treated as vectors. Price development. Auctions can be categorized into three types of procedures for auctions depending on the occurrence of a price development during an auction run and its causes. Properties of auctioned goods. Multiunit auctions sell more than one identical item at a time, rather than having separate auctions for each. This type can be further classified as either a uniform price auction or a discriminatory price auction. An example for them is spectrum auctions. A combinatorial auction is any auction for the simultaneous sale of more than one item where bidders can place bids on an "all-or-nothing" basis on "packages" rather than just individual items. That is, a bidder can specify that they will pay for items A and B, but only if they get "both". In combinatorial auctions, determining the winning bidder(s) can be a complex process where even the bidder with the highest individual bid is not guaranteed to win. For example, in an auction with four items (W, X, Y and Z), if Bidder A offers $50 for items W & Y, Bidder B offers $30 for items W & X, Bidder C offers $5 for items X & Z and Bidder D offers $30 for items Y & Z, the winners will be Bidders B & D while Bidder A misses out because the "combined" bids of Bidders B & D is higher ($60) than for Bidders A and C ($55). Deferred-acceptance auction is a special case of a combinatorial auction. Another special case of a combinatorial auction is the combinatorial clock auction (CCA), which combines a clock auction, during which bidders may provide their confirmations in response to the rising prices, with a subsequantial sealed bid auction, in which bidders submit sealed package bids. The auctioneer uses the final bids to compute the best value allocation and the Vickrey payments. Generalized first-price auctions and Generalized second-price auctions offer slots for multiple bidders instead of making a single deal. The bidders get the slots according to the ranking of their bids. The second-price ruling is derived from the Vickrey auction and means the final deal sealing for the number one bidder is based on the second bidder's price. Reserve price. A No-reserve auction (NR), also known as an "absolute auction", is an auction in which the item for sale will be sold regardless of price. From the seller's perspective, advertising an auction as having no reserve price can be desirable because it potentially attracts a greater number of bidders due to the possibility of a bargain. If more bidders attend the auction, a higher price might ultimately be achieved because of heightened competition from bidders. This contrasts with a "reserve auction", where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller. In practice, an auction advertised as "absolute" or "no-reserve" may nonetheless still not sell to the highest bidder on the day, for example, if the seller withdraws the item from the auction or extends the auction period indefinitely, although these practices may be restricted by law in some jurisdictions or under the terms of sale available from the auctioneer. A reserve auction is an auction where the item for sale may not be sold if the final bid is not high enough to satisfy the seller; that is, the seller "reserves" the right to accept or reject the highest bid. In these cases, a set 'reserve' price known to the auctioneer, but not necessarily to the bidders, may have been set, below which the item may not be sold. If the seller announces to the bidders the reserve price, it is a public reserve price auction. In contrast, if the seller does not announce the reserve price before the sale, it is a secret reserve price auction. However, potential bidders may be able to deduce an approximate reserve price, if one exists at all, from any estimate given in advance by the auction house. The reserve price may be "fixed" or "discretionary". In the latter case, the decision to accept a bid is deferred to the auctioneer, who may accept a bid that is marginally below it. A reserve auction is safer for the seller than a no-reserve auction as they are not required to accept a low bid, but this could result in a lower final price if less interest is generated in the sale. Price of bidding. An all-pay auction is an auction in which all bidders must pay their bids regardless of whether they win. The highest bidder wins the item. All-pay auctions are primarily of academic interest, and may be used to model lobbying or bribery (bids are political contributions) or competitions such as a running race. Bidding fee auction, a variation of all-pay auction, also known as a penny auction, often requires that each participant must pay a fixed price to place each bid, typically one penny (hence the name) higher than the current bid. When an auction's time period expires, the highest bidder wins the item and must pay a final bid price. Unlike in a conventional auction, the final price is typically much lower than the value of the item, but all bidders (not just the winner) will have paid for each bid placed; the winner will buy the item at a very low price (plus price of rights-to-bid used), all the losers will have paid, and the seller will typically receive significantly more than the value of the item. A senior auction is a variation on the all-pay auction, and has a defined loser in addition to the winner. The top two bidders must pay their full final bid amounts, and only the highest wins the auction. The intent is to make the high bidders bid above their upper limits. In the final rounds of bidding, when the current losing party has hit their maximum bid, they are encouraged to bid over their maximum (seen as a small loss) to avoid losing their maximum bid with no return (a very large loss). Another variation of all-pay auction, the top-up auction is primarily used for charity events. Losing bidders must pay the difference between their bid and the next lowest bid. The winning bidder pays the amount bid for the item, without top-up. In a Chinese auction, bidders pay sealed bids in advance and their probability of winning grows with the relative size of their bids. Structure of a bid. In usual auctions like the English one, bids are prices. In Dutch and Japanese auctions, the bids are confirmations. In a version of the Brazilian auction, bids are numbers of units being traded. Structure elements of a bid are called attributes. If a bid is one number like price, it is a single-attribute auction. If bids consists of multiple-attributes, it is a multi-attribute auction. A Yankee auction is a single-attribute multiunit auction running like a Dutch auction, where the bids are the portions of a total amount of identical units. The amount of auctioned items is firm in a Yankee auction unlike a Brazilian auction. The portions of the total amount, bidders can bid, are limited to lower numbers than the total amount. Therefore, only a portion of the total amount will be traded for the best price and the rest to the suboptimal prices. Visibility of bids. In an English auction, all current bids are visible to all bidders and in a sealed-bid auction, bidders only get to know if their bid was the best. Best/not best auctions are sealed-bid auctions with multiple bids, where the bidders submit their prices like in English auction and get responses about the leadership of their bid. Rank auction is an extension of best/not best auction, where the bidders also see the rank of their bids. Traffic-light auction shows traffic lights to bidders as a response to their bids. These traffic lights depend on the position of the last bid in the distribution of all bids. Buyout option. A buyout auction is an auction with an additional set price (the 'buyout' price) that any bidder can accept at any time during the auction, thereby immediately ending the auction and winning the item. This means that if an item offers its buyout price at the beginning, one participant can stop all other potential participants from bidding at all, or stop the bidding process before the bid price has reached the buyout price. If no bidder chooses to utilize the buyout option before the end of bidding, the highest bidder wins and pays their bid. Buyout options can be either "temporary" or "permanent". In a temporary-buyout auction the option to buy out the auction is not available after the first bid is placed. In a permanent-buyout auction the buyout option remains available throughout the entire auction until the close of bidding. The buyout price can either remain the same throughout the entire auction, or vary throughout according to rules or simply as decided by the seller. Winner selection. The winner selection in most auctions selects the best bid. Unique bid auctions offer a special winner selection. The winner is the bidder with the lowest unique bid. The Chinese auction, as already mentioned, selects a winner partially based on random. The final price for the selected winner is not always conducted according to their final bid. In the case of the second-price ruling as in a Vickrey auction, the final price for the winner is based on the second bidder's price. A Proxy bid is a special case of second-price ruling used by eBay, where a predefined increment is added to the second highest bid in response to a yet higher bid. Auctions with more than one winner are called multi-winner auctions. Multiunit auction, Combinatorial auction, Generalized first-price auction and Generalized second-price auction are multi-winner auctions. Cascading. Auctions can be cascaded, one after the other. For instance, an Amsterdam auction is a type of premium auction which begins as an English auction. Once only two bidders remain, each submits a sealed bid. The higher bidder wins, paying either the first or second price. Both finalists receive a premium: a proportion of the excess of the second price over the third price (at which English auction ended). An Anglo-Dutch auction starts as an English or Japanese auction and then continues as a Dutch auction with a reduced number of bidders. A French auction is a preliminary sealed-bid auction before the actual auction, whose reserve price it determines. A sequential auction is an auction where the bidders can participate in a sequence of auctions. A Calcutta auction is a subtype of sequential auction, where the ordering in the sequence is determined by random. A simultaneous ascending auction is an opposite of a sequential auction, where the auctions are run in parallel. Other features. The is a variant of the English auction in which bids are written on a sheet of paper. At the predetermined end of the auction, the highest listed bidder wins the item. This auction is often used in charity events, with many items auctioned simultaneously and "closed" at a common finish time. The auction is "silent" in that there is no auctioneer selling individual items, the bidders writing their bids on a bidding sheet often left on a table near the item. At charity auctions, bid sheets usually have a fixed starting amount, predetermined bid increments, and a "guaranteed bid" amount which works the same as a "buy now" amount. Other variations of this type of auction may include sealed bids. The highest bidder pays the price they submitted. In private value auctions, every bidder has their own valuation of the auctioned good. A common value auction is opposite, where the valuation of the auctioned good is identical among the bidders. Contexts. The range of auctions' contexts is extremely wide and one can buy almost anything, from a house to an endowment policy and everything in between. Some of the recent developments have been the use of the Internet both as a means of disseminating information about various auctions and as a vehicle for hosting auctions themselves. Human commodity auctions. As already mentioned in the history section, auctions have been used to trade commodified people from the very first. Auctions have been used in slave markets throughout history until modern times in the post-Gaddafi era Libya. The word for slave auction in the Atlantic slave trade was scramble. A child auction is a Swedish and Finnish historical practice of selling children into slavery-like conditions by authorities using a descending English auction. Fattigauktion is a similar Swedish practice involving poor people being auctioned to church organizations. Trade of wives by auctions was also a common practice throughout history. For instance, in the old English custom of wife selling, a wife was divorced by selling her in a public auction for the highest bid. ISIS conducted slave auctions to sell up to 7,000 Yazidi women as reported in 2020. A virginity auction is the voluntary practice of individuals seeking to sell their own virginity to the highest bid. Cricket players are routinely put up for auction, whereby cricket teams can bid for their services. Indian Premier League (IPL) started annual public auctioning of cricket players in 2008 as an entertainment for mass consumption. Also, Bangladesh Premier League conducts cricket player auctions, starting in 2012. Real estate auctions. In some countries, such as Australia, auctioning is a common method for the sale of real estate. Auctions were traditionally used as an alternative to the private sale/treaty method to sell property that, due to their unique characteristics, were difficult to determine a price for. The law does not require a vendor to disclose their reserve price prior to the auction. During the 1990s and 2000s, auctions became the primary method for the sale of real estate in the two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney. This was largely due to the fact that in a private sale the vendor has disclosed the price that they want, and potential purchasers would attempt to low-ball the price, whereas in an auction purchasers do not know what the vendor wants, and thus need to keep lifting the price until the reserve price is reached. The method has been the subject of increased controversy during the twenty-first century as house prices sky-rocketed. The rapidly rising housing market saw many homes, especially in Victoria and New South Wales, selling for significantly more than both the vendors' reserve price and the advertised price range. Subsequently, the auction systems' lack of transparency about the value of the property was brought into question, with estate agents and their vendor clients being accused of "under-quoting". Significant attention was given to the matter by the Australian media, with the government in Victoria eventually bowing to pressure and implementing changes to legislation in an effort to increase transparency. In the UK, historically, auction houses were perceived to sell properties which may have been repossessed - where a home owner fails to make regular mortgage payments - or were probate sales i.e. a family home being sold by the heirs. However, more recently, selling at auction has become an alternative to a normal property sale, due to the speedy nature of the entire process. In China, land auctions are under the sole control of local government officials. Because some developers may use bribes to please government officials to obtain the right to purchase the land, the central government requires that future land auctions be conducted using a spectrum auction in order to prevent the spread of corruption. Although this method cannot completely solve the problem of corruption, it is still a significant contribution to the auction. Auctions by authorities. A government auction is simply an auction held on behalf of a government body generally at a general sale. Items for sale are often surplus needed to be liquidated. Auctions ordered by estate executors enter the assets of individuals who have perhaps died intestate (those who have died without leaving a will), or in debt. In legal contexts where forced auctions occur, as when one's farm or house is sold at auction on the courthouse steps. Property seized for non-payment of property taxes, or under foreclosure, is sold in this manner. Police auctions are generally held at general auctions, although some forces use online sites including eBay, to dispose of lost and found and seized goods. Debt auctions, in which governments issue and sell debt obligations, such as bonds, to investors. The auction is usually sealed and the uniform price paid by the investors is typically the best non-winning bid. In most cases, investors can also place so-called "non-competitive bids", which indicates interest to purchase the debt obligation at the resulting price, whatever it may be. Some states use courts to run such auctions. In spectrum auctions conducted by the government, companies purchase licenses to use portions of the electromagnetic spectrum for communications (e.g., mobile phone networks). In certain jurisdictions, if a storage facility's tenant fails to pay rent, the contents of their locker(s) may be sold at a public auction. Several television shows focus on such auctions, including "Storage Wars" and "Auction Hunters". Commodity auctions. Auctions are used to trade commodities; for example, fish wholesale auctions. In wool auctions, wool is traded in the international market. The wine auction business offers serious collectors an opportunity to gain access to rare bottles and mature vintages, which are not typically available through retail channels. In livestock auctions, sheep, cattle, pigs and other livestock are sold. Sometimes very large numbers of stock are auctioned, such as the regular sales of 50,000 or more sheep during a day in New South Wales. In timber auctions, companies purchase licenses to log on government land. In timber allocation auctions, companies purchase timber directly from the government. In electricity auctions, large-scale generators and distributors of electricity bid on generating contracts. Produce auctions link growers to localized wholesale buyers (buyers who are interested in acquiring large quantities of locally grown produce). Online auctions. Online auctions are a form of E-commerce that relies on the advantages of a digital platform's ability to overcome geographical constraints, provide real-time information and reduce transaction costs, bringing greater convenience to people and allowing more people to participate as bidders, as well as being able to view a greater selection of auctions. Websites like eBay provide a potential market of millions of bidders to sellers. Established auction houses, as well as specialist internet auctions, sell many things online, from antiques and collectibles to holidays, air travel, brand new computers, and household equipment. Private electronic markets use combinatorial auction techniques to continuously sell commodities (coal, iron ore, grain, water, etc.) online to a pre-qualified group of buyers (based on price and non-price factors). Furthermore, online auctions facilitate the process for prospective bidders to discover and evaluate items by enabling searches across numerous auctions and employing filters to refine their selections. On the other hand, an alternative perspective suggests that the format of online auctions could also give rise to collusive conduct and other types of market manipulation, potentially skewing the market and diminishing its efficiency. Firstly, online auctions might enable bidders to obscure their identities, such as utilizing pseudonyms or multiple accounts to maintain anonymity. This concealment could simplify collusion without detection. Secondly, online auctions might ease the implementation of collusive arrangements among bidders. The accessibility of bidding data in online auctions, for instance, allows colluding bidders to monitor each other's bids, guarantee adherence to their agreements, and penalize non-compliance. This enhanced oversight capacity strengthens the stability of collusive agreements. Bidding strategy. By the bidders. Katehakis and Puranam provided the first model for the problem of optimal bidding for a firm that in each period procures items to meet a random demand by participating in a finite sequence of auctions. In this model an item valuation derives from the sale of the acquired items via their demand distribution, sale price, acquisition cost, salvage value and lost sales. They established monotonicity properties for the value function and the optimal dynamic bid policy. They also provided a model for the case in which the buyer must acquire a fixed number of items either at a fixed buy-it-now price in the open market or by participating in a sequence of auctions. The objective of the buyer is to minimize their expected total cost for acquiring the fixed number of items. During an auction, the seller might possess more comprehensive knowledge regarding the item on offer compared to the buyer, creating an information asymmetry. This lack of information could lead the bidder to overvalue the item and consequently pay a higher price, resulting in the winner's curse. Nevertheless, bidders may also choose to employ bid shading as a strategy to circumvent this predicament. Bid shading is placing a bid which is below the bidder's actual value for the item. Such a strategy risks losing the auction but has the possibility of winning at a low price. Bid shading can also be a strategy to avoid the winner's curse. In either case, the allocation of resources may be inefficient, as the product will not ultimately be acquired by the individual who values it the most. Instead, it will go to the person who either overvalues it the most or effectively employs bid shading. Auction cancellation hunters bid minimal amounts on multiple auctions and expect them to be cancelled. If an auction is cancelled by the seller, they will claim for damages in the amount of the difference between the maximum bid at the time of the auction cancellation and the price of a replacement purchase of the offered item in the auction, when the market is in equilibrium, even if the seller has not sold any of the items, the shadow of bidding still exists. This is the self-protection instinct of the auction market. In order to make this transaction fairer. Auction sniping is the practice of placing a bid at the last moment of the auction. According to the analysis of auction data from eBay, in general, experienced bidders are more likely to snipe in auctions, and those who snipe in auctions are more likely to win. Jump bidding is an aggressive tactic of increasing every bid by high amounts. Calor licitantis is also known as "auction fever" and describes the irrational behavior of bidders at auctions. Suicide bidding is practice in reverse auctions, whereby a bidder submits a bid, which ends up in a loss for this bidder. Collusion. Whenever bidders at an auction are aware of the identity of the other bidders there is a risk that they will form a "ring" or "pool" and thus manipulate the auction result, a practice known as collusion or more specially bid-rigging. By agreeing to bid only against outsiders, never against members of the "ring", competition becomes weaker, which may dramatically affect the final price level. After the end of the official auction, an unofficial auction may take place among the "ring" members. The difference in price between the two auctions could then be split among the members. This form of a ring was used as a central plot device in the opening episode of the 1979 British television series "The House of Caradus", 'For Love or Money', uncovered by Helena Caradus on her return from Paris. In the UK, this auction practice is illegal. It jeopardizes competition on the auction and can demotivate other bidders from participating. It robs the seller of the true value of their good and reduces the auctioneer's commission. Beyond explicit collusion, a tacit coordination of bidders to keep bids low is at least theoretically possible. In case of spectrum auctions, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) experimented with precautions restricting visibility of bids, limiting the number of bids, click-box bidding, and anonymous bidding in order to prevent bidders from signalling bidding information by embedding it into digits of the bids. Actions within the auction mechanism serve as a communication channel for collusive behavior, once no other channels are legal. By the auctioneer. Chandelier or rafter bidding. This is the practice, especially by high-end art auctioneers, of raising false bids at crucial times in the bidding in order to create the appearance of greater demand or to extend bidding momentum for a work on offer. To call out these nonexistent bids auctioneers might fix their gaze at a point in the auction room that is difficult for the audience to pin down. The practice is frowned upon in the industry. In the United States, chandelier bidding is not illegal. In fact, an auctioneer may bid up the price of an item to the reserve price, which is a threshold below which the consignor may refuse to sell the item. However, the auction house is required to disclose this information. In the United Kingdom this practice is legal on property auctions up to but not including the reserve price, and is also known as off-the-wall bidding. Collusion involving auctioneer. A ring can also be used to increase the price of an auction lot, in which the owner of the object being auctioned may increase competition by taking part in the bidding themself, but drop out of the bidding just before the final bid. This form of a ring was used as a central plot device in an episode of the British television series "Lovejoy" (series 4, episode 3), in which the price of a watercolour by the (fictional) Jessie Webb is inflated so that others by the same artist could be sold for more than their purchase price. In an English auction, a dummy bid is a bid made by a dummy bidder acting in collusion with the auctioneer or vendor, designed to deceive genuine bidders into paying more. In a first-price auction, a dummy bid is an unfavourable bid designed so as not to become the winning bid. (The bidder does not want to win this auction, but they want to make sure to be invited to the next auction). In Britain and many other countries, rings and other forms of bidding on one's own object are illegal. In Australia, a dummy bid or also a shill is a criminal offence, but a vendor bid or a co-owner bid below the reserve price is permitted if clearly declared as such by the auctioneer. These are all official legal terms in Australia but may have other meanings elsewhere. A co-owner is one of two or several owners (who disagree among themselves). In Sweden and many other countries, there are no legal restrictions, but it will severely hurt the reputation of an auction house that knowingly permits any other bids except genuine bids. If the reserve is not reached this should be clearly declared. In South Africa auctioneers can use their staff or any bidder to raise the price as long as it's disclosed before the auction sale. Rael Levitt's companies "The Auction Alliance" controversy focused on vendor bidding and led to its downfall in 2012. Suggested opening bid (SOB). There will usually be an estimate of what price the lot will fetch. In an ascending open auction it is considered important to get at least a 50-percent increase in the bids from start to finish. To accomplish this, the auctioneer must start the auction by announcing a suggested opening bid (SOB) that is low enough to be immediately accepted by one of the bidders. Once there is an opening bid, there will quickly be several other, higher bids submitted. Experienced auctioneers will often select an SOB that is about 45 percent of the (lowest) estimate. Thus there is a certain margin of safety to ensure that there will indeed be a lively auction with many bids submitted. Several observations indicate that the lower the SOB, the higher the final winning bid. This is due to the increase in the number of bidders attracted by the low SOB. A chi-squared distribution shows many low bids but few high bids. Bids "show up together"; without several low bids there will not be any high bids. Another approach to choosing a SOB: The auctioneer may achieve good success by asking the expected final sales price for the item, as this method suggests to the potential buyers the item's particular value. For instance, an auctioneer is about to sell a $1,000 car at a sale. Instead of asking $100, hoping to entice wide interest, the auctioneer may suggest an opening bid of $1,000; although the first bidder may begin bidding at a mere $100, the final bid may more likely approach $1,000. JEL classification. The "Journal of Economic Literature" (JEL) classification code for auctions is D44.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63125

Veracruz

Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in eastern Mexico, Veracruz is bordered by seven states, which are Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Veracruz is divided into 212 municipalities, and its capital city is Xalapa-Enríquez. Veracruz has a significant share of the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico on the east of the state. The state is noted for its mixed ethnic and indigenous populations. Its cuisine reflects the many cultural influences that have come through the state because of the importance of the port of Veracruz. In addition to the capital city, the state's largest cities include Veracruz, Coatzacoalcos, Córdoba, Minatitlán, Poza Rica, Boca Del Río and Orizaba. Etymology. The full name of the state is Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave. Veracruz was named after the city of Veracruz (From Latin "Vera Crux", "True Cross"), which was originally called the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. The suffix is in honor of Ignacio de la Llave y Segura Zevallos (1818–1863), who was the governor of Veracruz from 1861 to 1862. The state's seal was authorized by the state legislature in 1954, adapting the one used for the port of Veracruz and created by the Spanish in the early colonial days of the 16th century. Yanga was a city formed by enslaved Africans who escaped after being brought here from West Africa by Spanish colonists; they reached the mountains, escaping plantations, and lived with the Indigenous people there. The song "La Bamba" was originally sung by these escapees, who harassed Mexico City with uprisings and attacks on "haciendas". Slavery was abolished in this area, years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in what became the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The enormous mountain range behind Veracruz lowlands was the site of independent communities of refugees, known as maroons, who mixed with the Indigenous peoples in the mountains. In the late 1500s more enslaved people arose and fled to these mountains. The most memorable war, fought by Gaspar Yanga, an enslaved man from Gabon, led to a revolt and a newly developed mountain town. Yanga led raids along the Camino Real pass between Veracruz and Mexico City. In January 1609, the Viceroy of Spain sent royal troops to crush Yanga's rebels. After negotiations and vicious battles, a truce finally was reached. After 300 years, in 1918, during World War I, the Yangans agreed to move to a town closer to the lowlands, and to accept some local authority. They settled the town of "San Lorenzo de los Negros" within Veracruz. It was officially renamed as "Yanga," in 1956 and known as the first free town for formerly enslaved people. Descendants in contemporary Veracruz tend to have visual signs of their African ancestry: "negrito" skin tone and some other physical features. Some Mexicans are unaware or avoid speaking about Afro-descendancy: but terms such as Afro-Mexican, Afro-mestizo or "jarocho," a term used in and outside Veracruz, refer to this blended cultural legacy. It is featured in street names, music and food, all culled from African roots. Geography. Political geography. The state is a crescent-shaped strip of land wedged between the Sierra Madre Oriental to the west and the Gulf of Mexico to the east. Its total area is , accounting for about 3.7% of Mexico's total territory. It stretches about north to south, but its width varies from between , with an average of about in width. Veracruz shares common borders with the states of Tamaulipas (to the north), Oaxaca and Chiapas (to the south), Tabasco (to the southeast), and Puebla, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosí (on the west). Veracruz has of coastline with the Gulf of Mexico. Natural geography. The natural geography can be categorized into nine regions: The Sierra de Zongolica, the Tecolutla Region, the Huayacocotla Region, the Metlac River area, the Tuxtlas Region, the Central Region, the Laguna del Castillo Region, the Pueblo Viejo-Tamiahua Region and the Laguna de Alvarado Region. The topography changes drastically, rising from the narrow coastal plains to the highlands of the eastern Sierra Madre. Elevation varies from sea level to the Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest peak at above sea level. The coast consists of low sandy strips interspersed with tidewater streams and lagoons. Most of the long coastline is narrow and sandy with unstable dunes, small shifting lagoons, and points. The mountains are of the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Mountain ranges include the Sierra de Topila, Sierra de Otontepec, Sierra de Huayacocotla, Sierra de Coxquihui, Sierra de Chiconquiaco, Sierra de Jalacingo, Sierra de Axocuapan, Sierra de Huatusco, Sierra de Zongolica, and the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas. Major peaks include Pico de Orizaba (), Cofre de Perote (), Cerro de Tecomates (), Cerro del Vigía Alta () and Cerro de 3 Tortas (). The Pico de Orizaba is covered in snow year round; the Cofre de Perote is covered in winter. Major valleys include the Acultzingo, Córdoba, Maltrata, Orizaba and San Andrés. More than 40 rivers and tributaries provide water for irrigation and hydroelectric power; they also carry rich silt down from the eroding highlands, which is deposited in the valleys and coastal areas. All of the rivers and streams that cross the state begin in the Sierra Madre Oriental or in the Central Mesa, flowing east to the Gulf of Mexico. The important ones include: Actopan River, Acuatempan river, Río Blanco, Cazones River, Coatzacoalcos River, Río de La Antigua, Ayyappan River, Jamapa River, Nautla River, Pánuco River, Papaloapan River, Tecolutla River, Tonalá River, Tuxpan River and Xoloapa River. The largest in terms of water discharge are the Pánuco, Tuxpan, Papaloapan, Coazocoalcos and Uxpanapa. The Panuco, Tuxpan, Papaloapan and Coatzacoalcos are navigable. Two of Mexico's most polluted rivers, the Coatzacoalcos and the Río Blanco are located in the state. Much of the pollution comes from industrial sources, but the discharge of sewerage and uncontrolled garbage disposal are also major contributors. The state has very few sewage treatment plants, with only 10% of sewage being treated before discharge. The state also has ten major waterfalls and ten major coastal lagoons. There is only one significant lake, called Lake Catemaco. Off the coast are the islands of Isla de Lobos, Isla de los Burros, Isla de Sacrificios, Isla de Salmendina, Isla del Idolo, Isladel Toro, Isla Frijoles, Isla Juan A Ramirez, Isla Pajaros and Isla Terrón and the ocean reefs called Blanquilla, Medio, Tangüillo, Tuxpan, Gualleguilla, Gallega, Anegada de Adento Anegada de Afuera and Cabezo. Climate. The large variation of altitude results in a large mixture of climates, from cold, snow-topped mountain peaks to hot, humid tropical areas on the coast. 32% of the state is classified as hot and humid, 52% as hot and semi humid, 9% is warm and humid, 6% as temperate and humid and 1% is classified as cold. Hot and humid and hot and semi-humid climates dominate from sea level to about above sea level. Average annual temperature ranges from with precipitation varying from to just over per year. Cooler and humid climates are found at elevations between . These have an average temperature of between with precipitation varying between . Temperate climates are found at higher altitudes, between . Temperatures here vary from with precipitation varying more, between . Cold climates are found at the highest elevations, reaching up to the Cofre de Perote and the Pico de Orizaba. There is a small semi arid region around the city of Perote and the west of the Huasteca area. This is due to a rain shadow caused by the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra Madre Oriental, which do not permit the flow of moist Gulf air to this region. Ecosystems. Various types of forest cover the state, but evergreen tropical forest dominate. The state's ecology is of great importance for many plant and animal species. It is a center of plant endemism and has two separate endemic bird areas. The northern part of the state as well as the higher mountain areas, are convergence zones between lowland evergreen tropical forests and more temperate flora and fauna. It is also the northernmost occurrence of subhumid tropical forest in Mexico, although little of this remains, mostly on steep slopes. The tropical forests of the Veracruz moist forests ecoregion are situated in the northeastern coastal plain and extend into southern Tamaulipas state, on the east side of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The soils here are volcanic and shallow, but with rich organic matter. Species that predominate include Mayan breadnut ("Brosimum alicastrum"), sapodilla ("Manilkara zapota"), rosadillo ("Celtis monoica"), "Bursera simaruba", "Dendropanax arboreus", and "Sideroxylon capiri". This ecoregion extends into the central part of the state, with vegetation changing to include mahogany ("Swietenia macrophylla"), sapodilla ("Manilkara zapota"), "Bernoullia flammea", and "Astronium graveolens". In the central part of the state, the Veracruz dry forests extend from the Sierra to the coast, south of the Sierra de Chiconquiaco. The Petén–Veracruz moist forests occupy the southern part of the state, and extend eastwards through neighboring Chiapas and Tabasco states into Guatemala. Veracruz has been described as having one of the richest varieties of wildlife in the western hemisphere. There is an especially diverse array of endemic insects like the conspicuous "Arsenura armida". As well as insects, the state is known for its many arachnids, and features over 25 species of tarantula (Theraphosidae), of which many are endemic. The state is part of Birdlife International’s Endemic Bird Area(EBA) project due to the number of endemic birds here. Some of these include green-cheeked amazon ("Amazona viridigenalis"), Tamaulipas crow ("Corvus imparatus"), Altamira yellowthroat ("Geothlypis flavovelata") and crimson-collared grosbeak ("Rhodothraupis celaeno"). Despite much of the deterioration of the forest areas, it is still an important stopover for migratory birds as well. Many endangered mammal species can be found here including two endemic rodents ("Peromyscus ochraventer" and "Neotoma angustapalata"), the jaguar ("Panthera onca"), ocelot ("Leopardus pardalis"), jaguarundi ("Herpailurus yaguarondi") and white-nosed coati ("Nasua narica"). The endangered Baird's tapir may occasionally be spotted in the state's southern jungle regions, such as Biósfera Los Tuxtlas. This region is also the northernmost extent of the primate "Alouatta palliata", or mantled howler. Most of Veracruz's native forests have been destroyed and replaced by scrub and secondary communities of trees. From 1900 to 1987, over of forest had been logged, resulting in the loss of habitat and biodiversity. Much of the logging is due to commercial timber, search for tropical hardwoods and the clearing of land for local farmers, especially for cattle grazing. Only 20% of Veracruz's original ecosystem remains, with 64% transformed by human exploitation. Despite some efforts at conservation and reclamation, exploitation continues to put pressure on remaining wild areas. The state has 31 environmentally protected areas in 21 different municipalities. Nine are urban parks, three are national parks (Pico de Orizaba, Cofre de Perote and San José de los Molinos). The Cofre de Perote National Park is 11,700 hectares of pine and oyamel forest, which was created in 1937. The Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve covers the municipalities of Ángel R. Cabada, Santiago Tuxtla, San Andres Tuxtla, Catemaco, Soteapan, Mecayapan, Pajapan and Tatahuicapan for a total of . It contains various volcanos such as San Martín and Santa Marta and rich biodiversity as it stretches from sea level to higher elevations, with 16 climate regions groups into four climate types. Forest types range from evergreen tropical rainforest to pine. 75% of species here are also found in Central America and there is a total of 2,368 plant species. Some, such as "Costus dirzoi, Daphnopsis megacarpa, Eugenia sotoesparzae, Inga sinacae, Miconia ibarrae, Mormodes tuxtlensis", and "Thelypteris rachyflexuosa", are native only to this area. Wildlife includes 102 mammal species, 49 amphibian, 109 reptilian, 561 bird species and more. Species in danger of extinction include the jaguar, spider monkey and anteater. The Veracruz Reef System is also considered to be a national park and is mostly off the coast of Veracruz city, Boca del Río and Alvarado. The area includes coral reefs, seaweed beds and other marine vegetation, covering an area of . There are seventeen reefs in total, some of which jut above the surface to form small islands. This system links with the reef systems of Campeche and Yucatán. History. Pre-Columbian. The history of the native peoples of the state of Veracruz is complex. In the pre-Columbian period, the modern-day state of Veracruz was inhabited primarily by four indigenous cultures. The Huastecs and Otomis occupied the north, while the Totonacs resided in the north-center. The Olmecs, one of the oldest cultures in the Americas, became dominant in the southern part of Veracruz. Remains of these past civilizations can be found in archeological sites such as Pánuco, Castillo de Teayo, El Zapotal, Las Higueras, Quiahuiztlán, El Tajín, Cempoala, Tres Zapotes and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. The first major civilization in the territory of the current state was that of the Olmecs. The Olmecs lived in the Coatzacoalcos River region and it became the center of Olmec culture. The main ceremonial center here was San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. Other major centers in the state include Tres Zapotes in the city of Veracruz and La Venta in Tabasco. The culture reached its height about 2600 years ago, with its best-known artistic expression being the colossal stone heads. These ceremonial sites were the most complex of that early time period. For this reason, many anthropologists consider the Olmec civilization to be the mother culture of the many Mesoamerican cultures that followed it. By 300 BCE, this culture was eclipsed by other emerging civilizations in Mesoamerica. Another major group was the Totonacs, who have survived to the present day. Their region, called Totonacapan, is centered between the Cazones River and the Papaloapan River in the north of the state. Pre-Columbian Totonacs lived from hunting, fishing and agriculture, mostly of corn, beans, chili peppers and squash. This is also the native region of the vanilla bean. Clay sculptures with smiling faces are indicative of this culture. The major site is El Tajín, located near Papantla, but the culture reached its apogee in Cempoala (about inland from the current port of Veracruz), when it was conquered by the Aztecs. When the Spaniards arrived in 1519, the territory was still home to a population of about 250,000 people living in fifty population centers and speaking four Totonac dialects. 25,000 were living in Cempoala alone. The Huastecs are in the far north of the Veracruz and extend into parts of Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Puebla. The language and agricultural techniques of these people and the Maya are similar; however, only a few buildings and ceramics remain from the early Huastec culture. This culture also reached its peak between 1200 and 1519, when it was conquered by the Spanish. During the 15th and very early 16th century, the Aztecs came to dominate much of the state and dividing it into tributary provinces, of Tochtepec, Cuetlaxtlan, Cempoallan, Quauhtochco, Jalapa, Misantla, and Tlatlauhquitepec. The Aztecs were interested in the area's vegetation and crops such as cedars, fruit, cotton, cacao, corn, beans and vanilla. However, the Totonacs chafed under Aztec rule, with Aztec rulers from Axayacatl to Moctezuma II having to send soldiers to quell rebellions. The Huastecs were subjugated more successfully by the Aztecs and relegated to the provinces of Atlan and Tochpan. Colonial period, 1519–1821. Veracruz played an important part in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire by Hernán Cortés and his expedition members. They founded Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz on May 18, 1519, as the first Spanish town in what is now Mexico. By doing so, Cortés threw off the authority of the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, claiming authority directly from the Spanish crown. A small contingent of the expedition remained at Veracruz, while the main body of conquerors moved inland. The Totonacs were some of the first people with whom the Spanish had contact on the American mainland. The very first contact was with Captain Juan de Grijalva on the coastline north of the present-day city of Veracruz. Still chafing under Aztec rule, Totonac ruler Tlacochcalcatl welcomed Hernán Cortés and promised 50,000 warriors to help defeat Tenochtitlan. The Spanish helped the Totonacs expel Aztec tribute collectors and seize control of some Aztec outposts. The Spanish founded the port city of Veracruz on the coast, as the first municipality under the direct control of the king of Spain. Cortés then began his march inland to Tenochtitlan. During the Conquest, the rest of the Totonac peoples allied themselves with the Spanish, but the Huastecs, despite also being under Aztec rule, fought against them. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, Cortés sent a regiment to subdue the Huastecs. During the early conquest era, Cortés distributed the labor of indigenous settlements to particular conquerors in an institution known as "encomienda". The indigenous ruler of the settlement was charged with mobilization labor and tribute that was due to the holder of the "encomienda". Veracruz had a number of encomiendas that changed hands a number of times, but early on came under the direct control of the Spanish crown rather than individual "encomenderos". During the colonial era, Veracruz was the main port of entry for immigrants from Spain, African slaves, and all types of luxury goods for import and export. The first group of Franciscans arrived in Veracruz in 1524, walking barefoot to the capital of the Spanish colony of New Spain. The route between Veracruz and the Spanish capital of Mexico City, built on the site of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, was the key trade route during the colonial era. Much of the history of the state is involved with the port city that Cortés founded in 1519. Veracruz became the principal and often only port to export and import goods between the colony of New Spain and Spain itself. To ensure the port's monopoly, it came to have control over almost all of New Spain's Gulf coastline. New Spain's silver and cochineal red dye, were the two most important exports from the port, along with chocolate, vanilla, chili peppers, and much more were exported. Imported were livestock (sheep, cows, goats, horses), wheat and other cultivars. From the Caribbean, slaves, pineapple, and sugar cane were introduced. This made the port a highly prized target for pirates during the colonial period, with attacks and sackings frequent. This led to the building of the fort of San Juan de Ulúa, a site Juan de Grijalva visited in 1518, and the fortification of the city overall. Much of Totonac and Huastec culture have survived the colonial period into the present day. Much of the reason for this is that the north of Veracruz is rugged with thick vegetation and relatively little of the resources the Spanish were looking for. Veracruz is considered to be where the "mestizo" or mixed European/indigenous ethnicities began, which is a large part of Mexican cultural identity. Though the Spaniards had halted the Aztec wars and human sacrifices an unexpected problem arose. European diseases decimated the native population of the province, prompting the importation of African slaves during the colonial period, starting in the 16th century. The Spanish imported between 500,000 and 1,000,000 West African slaves into Mexico between 1535 and 1767 (miscegenation between indigenous and African populations began almost immediately). New Spain did not have any laws prohibiting interracial marriage, hence the correct term is Afro-Mestizo, which includes all 3 ethnicities: Indigenous, African, and Spanish. Runaway slaves ("cimarrones") became problematic to public order since they frequently formed robber bands that attacked travelers on highways. Crown efforts against these groups began in earnest in the late sixteenth century, but a major rebellion broke out in 1606 in the areas of Villa Rica, Nueva Veracruz, Antón Lizardo, and the Rio Blanco area. However, the gravest of these occurred in the Orizaba area, where there were about 500 fugitive slaves. In 1609, a leader named Gaspar Yanga led an insurrection against the Spanish but was defeated in battle. Unrest continued, eventually forcing the government to sign an amnesty pact and giving the Africans the right to form their own community, exacting as a condition that bandits be suppressed. This was called San Lorenzo de Zerral but today it is known as the municipality of Yanga. This was the first time slavery was abolished in the Americas. In the first half of the seventeenth century, cities such as Córdoba, Orizaba, and Xalapa were formed or expanded to protect the trade route between Mexico City and the port of Veracruz. During this time, the Spanish and mixed-ethnicities population increased as the purely indigenous population continued to fall to a fraction of pre-Conquest levels (due now to mixing, rather than disease). Almost all trade in and out of New Spain had to be with Spain except for some limited trade authorized with England and other Spanish colonies. This would stay in place until 1778, when "the Decreto de Libre Comercio", allowing a limited free trade within Spanish-held realms, lifted many of these restrictions on trade with Europe. This would make the port more important than it had been, and led to increased prosperity for the inhabitants. Outside of the port, in other areas of the province, the economy was based on agriculture, livestock, and commerce. In 1720, Xalapa organized the first trade fair, making it the center for trade between inland Mexican goods and those from abroad. This would lead to its eventual status as the capital of the state. In 1746, the state was divided into the civil jurisdictions of Pánuco, Tampico, Huayacocotla, Huauchinango, Papantla, Misantla, Xalapa, Jalacingo, Veracruz, Córdoba, Orizaba, Cosamaloapan, Tuxtla, and Cotaxtla. The port city of Veracruz, and the fort of San Juan de Ulúa, where Cortés landed three hundred years earlier, was where the loyalist soldiers of the Spanish Crown made their last stand against the independence movement in 1824. Independence. During the Mexican War of Independence, there was support for the insurgents in many parts of the state, with skirmishes erupting in various parts as early as 1811. A major conspiracy against the colonial government was discovered in the port in 1812, with rebels taking Ayahualulco and Ixhuacán during the same year. This forced royalist troops to withdraw to Xalapa. Eventually, this city along with the port were cut off from Mexico City. Most of the state remained in rebel hands during the rest of the war although the commercial class of the port did not support the effort. In 1821, Juan de O'Donojú, the last viceroy of New Spain, came to the port to leave for Spain. However, until 1823, Spanish troops continued to occupy San Juan de Ulúa Fort. In 1826, the city would receive the first of its four titles of "heroic city" for confronting these remaining Spanish troops. While the last of the Spanish held on in San Juan de Ulúa, Agustín de Iturbide had been declared the emperor of Mexico in 1822. However, his reign quickly encountered resistance from those favoring a republican form of government, including from Antonio López de Santa Anna from his stronghold in Veracruz state. Months later, Iturbide would go into exile and Santa Anna would eventually hold nine terms as president. The French intervened in Mexico through Veracruz for the first time in the 1838, in what became the Pastry War. The port was blockaded. Efforts to defend the country were coordinated from Xalapa. The port was bombarded, but eventually a settlement was reached. During the Mexican–American War, the port was blockaded again, this time by the Americans. Initial American attempts in 1847 to land in Alvarado were checked, but the Americans then made a plan to land a few miles south of Veracruz, which surrendered after a 20-day siege, defeated General Santa Anna's forces at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, and marched inland through Xalapa towards Mexico City, led by General Winfield Scott. Mexico surrendered shortly after. The municipalities of Tuxpan and belonged to Puebla until 1853, when they were annexed to Veracruz to give the state its final form. In 1855, the State Government Palace was constructed. During the Reform War, the major player was Ignacio de la Llave whose name is part of the state's official designation. In 1858, the port became the site for the liberal government under Benito Juárez after he was forced out of Mexico City during the Reform War. Their control of this port and its customs duties allowed liberal forces to gather resources. Conservative forces attacked the state but were repelled from both the port and Xalapa. The Reform War wrecked Mexico's economy and it found itself unable to pay debts it owed to Europe. As a result, Juárez cancelled Mexico's foreign debt. Spain, Britain and France, all outraged by this action, decided in October 1861 to force repayment of their loans by the occupation of the Mexican Gulf Coast. Normally, this move would have been blocked by the United States under the Monroe Doctrine, however, that nation was occupied with a Civil War at the time, and the European powers believed that the Americans could not act. In December, Spanish troops commanded by general Manuel Gasset occupied the port of Veracruz, without any local resistance, followed a month later by French and British forces. The Spanish and the British withdrew after making deals with Juárez, but the French pushed on to establish the reign of Maximilian I of Mexico. However, this was short-lived and the French were expelled through Veracruz in 1866/67. In 1863, the state was officially named Veracruz-Llave. After the French were expelled, the state government was in the port of Veracruz. In 1878, the capital was transferred to Orizaba. It was later moved to Xalapa in 1885. By the end of the century, many infrastructure improvements, such as roads and railways (especially the Ferrocarril Interoceánico) had been completed with the major cities being Veracruz, Orizaba, Xalapa, Córdoba, Jalacingo, Chicontepec and Tantoyuca. The discovery of oil in the north of the state attracted foreign firms, which brought machinery needed for its extraction. These companies included Huasteca Company Petroleum and El Aguila along with American and English firms. During the same time period, uprisings against the government under Porfirio Díaz in the agricultural south of the state were brutally repressed. 20th century to the present. Unrest against the Díaz regime continued until the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution ousted him from power. The major event leading up to this war in Veracruz was the cigar-makers strike of 1905, when more than 5,000 workers of the "El Valle Nacional" company walked off the job. The governor, Teodora A. Dehesa, unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a settlement. The strike went on for months until the strikers won. This victory encouraged more actions, until strikes at the factories in Rio Blanco, Nogales, Santa Rosa and Contón de Orizaba resulted in dramatic violence in January 1907. No major battles of the Mexican Revolution were fought in the state, though there were skirmishes and attacks on the port. By 1914 rebel Cándido Agular occupied a number of municipalities in the state and in 1917, Venustiano Carranza transferred the federal government here temporarily. On April 21, 1914, an incident involving U.S. sailors in Tampico led President Woodrow Wilson to land American troops in Veracruz, where they remained for six months. Mexico later responded by severing diplomatic relations. After the Revolution, agrarian reform, including the redistribution of land and the creation of ejidos took place here. The oil companies in the north of the state were nationalized and consolidated into PEMEX in the 1930s by Lázaro Cárdenas. In the 1950s, more road construction, such as the Mexico City- Poza Rica, Veracruz-Alvarado- Coatzacoalco and Tinajas-Ciudad Aleman-Tlacoatalpan highways were constructed. The Universidad Veracruzana was expanded as well. In 1960, the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa was inaugurated as well as the Coatzacoalco-Salina Cruz highway. The Veracruz city international airport was opened in the 1970s. In the ten years after 2006, at least 3,600 people have disappeared within the state. Multiple mass graves have been found within the state. This is seen as part of the over 28,000 missing individuals related to the Mexican Drug War. Within the state the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas have battled for control. Additionally, this has led to journalists being targeted and killed within the state. Economy. Veracruz has one of Mexico's leading economies, based on agriculture and petroleum. Using relatively recent night light data and electricity consumption in comparison with Gross County Product, the informal sector of the local economy in Veracruz state is shown to have grown during the period of the Fox Administration though the regional government remained PRI. The assumption that the informal economy of Mexico is a constant 30% of total economic activity is not supported at the local level. The small amount of local spatial autocorrelation that was found suggests a few clusters of high and low literacy rates amongst municipios in Veracruz but not enough to warrant including an I-statistic as a regressor. Global spatial autocorrelation is found especially literacy at the macro-regional level which is an area for further research beyond this study. Improved literacy bolsters both the informal and formal economies in Veracruz indicating policies designed to further literacy are vital for growing the regional economy. While indigenous people are relatively poor, little evidence was found that the informal economy is a higher percentage of total economic activity in a municipio with a high share of indigenous people. While the formal economy might have been expanding relative to the informal economy in 2000, by 2006 this process had been reversed with growing informality. While rural municipios have smaller economies, they are not different from urban municipios in the share of the economy that is informal. Programs in the past that might move economic activity from the informal to the formal sector have not succeeded suggesting public finance issues such as tax evasion will continue to plague the state with low government revenues. Agriculture. The primary sector of the economy (agriculture, forestry and fishing) has been important since pre-Hispanic times and continues to be important both as a source of income as well as culturally. The state has abundant rainfall and extremely fertile soils, as well as a long coastline and forest containing a wide variety of trees and other plants. There is about 1 million hectares of cultivable land, half of which is in private hands and 43% is ejido or communal land. The rest is occupied by human settlements. There are 3,620 ejidos parceled out to 270,000 ejido members. 52.5% of agricultural land is used for the growing of crops or used as pasture and 43.1% is forest or rainforest. Chief agricultural products include coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, tobacco, bananas, coconuts, and vegetables, but local farmers depend mainly on corn and beans. Two corn crops per year are generally produced, planted on 644,936 hectares with a production of 1,114,325 tons. The state is the leading national producer of coffee, sugarcane, corn, and rice. Coffee is grown on 152,993 hectares producing 400,575 tons. Export earnings from this crop are about US$232 million annually. Most coffee is grown in the mountain areas of Córdoba-Huatusco, Coatepec-Teocelo-Cosautlán and Misantla-Tlapacoyan-Atzalan. Sugarcane is cultivated on 254,000 hectares, producing 16,867,958 tons annually. Veracruz is the largest producer of rice with 24,000 hectares producing 120,000 tons. Much is this crop is protected by import bans from Asia. The state grows half of the country's citrus fruit and grows the most kinds. This occupies 180,577 hectares and produces 2,575,140 tons annually. Varieties include oranges, tangerines, mandarins, limes and grapefruit. Most citrus is grown in the north of the state, and much of the lime crop is exported, supporting a packing and shipping industry. Veracruz is the largest mango producer in the country, grown on 31,640 hectares producing 287,000 tons. Most of this is the manila variety, which is preferred in Mexico. 95% of this crop is consumed fresh within Mexico although exports to Canada have begun. Vanilla beans are native to the state, which is the primary producer for Mexico. Most of this crop is grown in an area known as Totonacapan in and around Papantla. Livestock raising is an important activity. There are over 300,000 units of production most of which raise cattle, with Veracruz being the main beef producer for the country at 14% of the total. In addition to beef cattle, dairy cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, domestic fowl, and bees are raised. From the tropical forests of the inland regions come dyewoods, hardwoods, and rubber. About 20% of the state's territory is forested, with 220,000 of temperate forest and 1,200,000 hectares of tropical forests. Logging in the state produces 128,254 m3 of wood products per year. The most exploited species include pine, oyamel, cypress and oak. Some tropical hardwoods are harvested as well. Veracruz's long coastline supports a large fishing industry, producing one-fifth of Mexico's catch. Most of the country's mojarra, oysters and shrimp come from here. Other major fish catches include crab, sea bass and red snapper. Agroindustry focuses on the processing of coffee and sugar products, with citrus packers holding an important position as well. Natural resources. Today, the state of Veracruz, rich in natural resources, is an important component of Mexico's economy. Approximately 35% of Mexico's water supply is found in Veracruz. There are a number of metallic and non-metallic mineral mining but the most important resource is oil. The mountains contain relatively unexploited deposits of gold, silver, iron, and coal. Although Veracruz is an important source of metals such as iron and copper, a great deal of its mining involves non-metallic minerals as sulfur, silica, feldspar, calcium, kaolin and marble. The state is ranked fourth in the nation for this kind of mining production. However, mining only accounts for 1.5% of economic activity for the entire state. Veracruz was a pioneer in both the extraction and refining of petroleum products. The state has about one-fourth of Mexico's petroleum reserves and ranks third in petroleum production. Most of this production is concentrated in the northern part of the state. Approximately of oil are produced each year and of natural gas. Petrochemicals represent 28.1% of the state's manufacturing and ranks first nationally. There are 22 petrochemical plants, with the most important being La Cangrejera, Jáltipan de Morelos, Poza Rica, Cosoleacaque, Pajaritos and Minatitlán. Golden Lane Oil Fields. The "Golden Lane" ("Dos Bocas-Alamo structure" or The Ridge") refers to a series of oil fields aligned in an arc onshore and a symmetrical alignment offshore, forming two sides of a Cretaceous atoll 180 km long. The structure was discovered in 1908 by Weetman Pearson's Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company San diego de la Mar No. 1 well, which flowed 2,500 bbl/day. The Golden Lane oil fields penetrate a massive elliptical reef platform, identified as the Sierra del Abra limestone (consisting of reef, backreef and lagoonal facies), which dips southeast. The site for the discovery well was selected due to the presence of petroleum seeps, just as was Edward Laurence Doheny's La Paz No. well in the Ebano-Panuco petroleum district west of Tampico, Tamaulipas, the first Mexican discovery well in 1904. In 1908, the infamous Dos Bocas oil fire occurred after the San Diego de la Mar No. 3 blowout. This was followed by the Potrero del Llano No. 4 well, flowing 100,000 bbl per day during the three months it was out of control. Doheny's Cerro Azul No. 4 well, located by Ezequiel Ordonez, became the largest daily production record holder in 1916 at 260,000 bbl. Geophysical studies, in particular gravimetry, starting in 1920 led to the discovery of the Poza Rica Field in 1932 and Moralillo Field in 1948, on the west flank of the Golden Lane in the Tamabra forereef facies. Refraction seismography surveys started in 1930, augemented in 1948 with reflection seismography, which led to the discovery of the southern extent of the atoll with the Ezequiel Ordonez No. 1 well in 1952 and additional discoveries through 1968. Marine seismic and magnetometer surveys starting in 1957 showed the extent of the atoll offshore and led to the first offshore well, Isla de Lobos No. 1-B, in 1963. The depths of wells are on the order of 500 m onshore and 2000 m offshore. Industry, transportation and commerce. Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant (LVNPP) in Alto Lucero, Veracruz, produces about 4.5% of Mexico's electrical energy. The manufacturing industry in Veracruz accounts for between 21% and one-third of the state's gross domestic product, and approximately 64% of the manufacturing industry GDP is generated by the chemical and petrochemical sectors. Other products produced include metals, processed foods, beverages, printing and publishing, textiles and machinery. Most of the state's industry takes place in the municipalities of Coatzacoalcos, Minatitlán, Cosoleacaque, Poza Rica, Córdoba, Orizaba, Tuxpan and Veracruz, with over 5,000 establishments. The rest is divided among nearly 11,000 smaller establishments. There are five major industrial parks: Bruno Pagliai, Ixtac, Petroquimico Morelos, Córdoba-Amatlán and Parque 2000. The largest of these is Bruno Pagliai, which covers . Transportation and commerce are important factors in the state, mostly linked to importing and exporting through its four deepwater ports. The focus of most of these activities is the port of Veracruz. It has the most favored position on Mexico's Gulf coast and is extensively used for exports to the United States, Latin America and Europe. Seventy-five percent of all port activity in Mexico takes place in Veracruz. The chief exports of this state are coffee, fresh fruits, fertilizer, sugar, fish and crustaceans. Other ports include those in Tuxpan and Coatzacoalcos. Most highway, rail and air connections link to the port of Veracruz and other ports to the south. The state has 73 companies that have been classified as high-volume exporters and it is ranked sixth in the country for exports. The state contains five major food wholesale markets, 146 government sponsored markets, about 75,000 private stores and 201 supermarkets. Wholesale vendors focus on agricultural products such as wood, livestock and food products. The major focal point for international business is the World Trade Center EXPOVER in Boca del Río. Inaugurated in 1989, the center has facilities to accommodate 5,000 people in , an exhibition hall of , a business center and parking for over 800 vehicles. In the industrial sector, relatively poor municipios are not catching up to relatively rich ones though the latter are not diverging either. A policy of encouraging much more domestic and/or foreign investment is called for if poorer areas are to prosper and the outflow of residents is to stop. Handcrafts. In the more rural and indigenous areas of the state, a number of handicrafts are still made and sold both to local buyers and to tourists. Many of these crafts are produced by communities that specialize in one or more types. Wood furniture and other items are made by the Huasteca people, mostly using cedar and palm trees. The best work comes from the towns of Ozulama and Castillo de Teayo. Teocelo and Monte Blanco are known for bamboo furniture and other items. Musical instruments of wood such as a guitar called "jarana" are constructed in the Los Tuxtlas area, especially in Catemaco, with flutes made in Papantla. Wooden masks are made in Teocelo, and items made with the wood of coffee plants are made in Misantla, Coatepec, Huastusco and Xico. Corn husks are used to make decorative figures, often religious, in Nautla and Naranjos de Amatlán. Palm fronds are woven into fans, shoes and baskets in Jalcomulco, Ozulama and Tlalixcoyan. Ceramics have been made in almost all parts of Veracruz since the Olmecs. One area known for its work is Papantla which also includes life sized representations of folk dancers from the area along with more mundane items of glazed and unglazed pottery. Minatitlán is known for its production of ceramic cooking utensils which are also popular in the neighboring municipalities of Actopan and Naolinco. San Miguel Aguasuelos and Jalcomulco are known for their white clay wares which include water jars, toys, nativity scenes, bells and more. Traditional clothing and embroidery can be most easily found in the La Huasteca area, where elaborately decorated women's blouses can be seen, especially in the El Higo and Tlalixcoyan area. In Totonacalpan, men are still often seen in white shirts and pants with a bag to hold personal items. This dress dates back to the early colonial period and had not changed much since then. Other areas specialize in wool items such as Naranjos de Amatlán, Minatilán and the city of Veracruz where items such as dresses, skirts and jackets. These and other textiles such as tablecloths and napkins are often decorated with cross-stitch. Leather items include shoes, jackets, bags, wallets, belts and boots and are usually made in the La Huasteca region, Teocolo, Citlaltépetl and Naolinco. Culture. Gastronomy. The gastronomy of the state is unique in Mexico and mixed Spanish, indigenous, and Caribbean influences. From the pre-Hispanic period, the cuisine of the state was unique. The staple triumvirate of corn, beans, and squash was supplemented by tropical fruits, vanilla beans, and an herb called acuyo or hoja santa. Another important native contribution is seafood, which is featured in many dishes such as, arroz a la tumbada and caldo de mariscos (seafood soup). After the conquest and during the colonial period, many other spices and ingredients were brought and have had a greater influence in the cooking here than in other parts of the country. From Europe, the Spanish brought saffron, parsley, thyme, marjoram, bay laurel, and cilantro as well Asian spices such as cloves, cinnamon, and black pepper. The Spaniards also brought wheat, rice, almonds, olives and olive oil, garlic, and capers. The latter three are essential ingredients in what is perhaps the most famous specialty of the region, huachinango a la veracruzana, red snapper in a spicy tomato sauce. Caribbean imports such as sugar cane and pineapple were adapted as well as the peanut, brought from Africa by the Portuguese (although the peanut is originally from South America). Veracruz cuisine divides into six regions called Sotavento, Centro Norte, Centro Sur, Sierra, Costa Norte, and Los Tuxtlas. The Sotovento area is in the south of the state, and the dishes here are heavily based on rice. Common dishes include arroz a la tumbada, which is rice cooked with seafood or meat and rice with fried bananas. Seafood dishes are also prominent based mostly on fish and shrimp. A common ingredient in dishes is a herb called "hoja santa" or "hierba Santa," which is a plant of the family Piperaceae. The Centro Norte is centered on Xalapa. Dishes here tend to be more indigenous in nature, heavily flavored with mild chili peppers. Common dishes here include Chilehuates, similar to a tamale, stuffed chile peppers, and enchiladas. Less seafood and more pork and domestic fowl are consumed. The Centro Sur area is mostly indigenous and encompasses the area of, Huatusco, Coscomatepec, Cotaxtla, Orizaba, Amatlán, Huilango y las españolas Córdoba y Fortín de las Flores, la negra Yanga and San Lorenzo de los Negros. Dishes here are similar to Centro Norte, but chayotes appear more often as this region is a major producer of the vegetable. Meats in adobo sauce are common as well. The Sierra and Costa Norte encompass the northern part of the state, such as the Pánuco River area and Totonacapan. This area is noted for a number of unique dishes such as frijoles en achuchutl, made with black beans, pork rind, chayotes, squash seeds, and jalapeño peppers. Bocoles are a kind of filled tortilla made with corn dough, stuffed with black beans, chorizo, eggs, or seafood, which then are fried in lard. Tamales are often made with banana leaves. The area is also known for its breads, especially anise–flavored rolls. The Los Tuxtlas area is centered on the communities of Santiago, San Andrés and Catemaco, which were the center of the Olmec civilization. The cuisine in this area features yucca, "chocos" (a type of edible flower), fish, especially mojarra, and exotic meats such as monkey, and iguana. Museums. The state capital of Xalapa is also home to a number of important museums. The Museum of Anthropology contains the second most important collection of Mesoamerican artifacts in the country. It was built beginning in 1959 over six hectares. The complex is divided into various halls and galleries by theme, focusing on the Olmec and Totonac cultures. The Patio Olmeca contains the colossal head found in 1945 and known as El Rey (The King). Other important artifacts include giant stelae and San Martin Pajapan Monument 1 (at right). The Museum of Science and Technology is in Xalapa. It contains more than 400 exhibitions in eight halls: Life, Ecology, Space, Transportation, Sciences, Energy, Water and Earth. The Pinoteca Diega Rivera was established by the state in the former Monastery of San Francisco in Xalapa. Its primary function is to preserve and display Rivera’s works owned by the state, but it also contains early works by José María Velasco, Jorge Cuesta and Teodoro A. Dehesa. Near the city is the Hacienda del Lencero, which was the home and headquarters of President Antonio López de Santa Anna in the 19th century. It has been preserved and turned into a museum. In Tuxpan is the Regional Museum of Anthropology with more than 400 pieces from pre-Hispanic groups in the region, displayed in four halls. Most of the pieces come from the center of the state and from the Huasteca region.On the edge of the Tuxpan River.The city also has the Mexican-Cuban Museum. It contains a collection of photographs from the Cuban Revolution as well as a statue of José Martí. Other museums are scattered in other parts of the state. The Salvador Ferrando Museum is located in Tlacotalpan and contains many everyday items and art from the 16th to the 19th centuries.The Tuxteco Regional Museum in Santiago de Tuxtla contains Olmec and Totonac artifacts including art objects, farming implements, utensils and more. In the garden area, there are giant stone sculptures from the Tres Zapotes site. The Jardín Central (Central Garden) of the municipality of Tierra Blanca has a number of Totonac archeological pieces on display. The Archeological Museum of Córdoba is in the city of the same name with three exhibition halls containing artifacts from the Maya, Olmec, Toltec and Huastec cultures. There is also a collection of historical photographs of the city. The Veracruz State Art Museum (Museo de Arte del Estado de Veracruz) is located in Orizaba in what was the monastery associated with the Concordia Church. Its collection includes works by Diego Rivera, Ignacio Rosas and Gonzalo Argüelles. It also contains a collection of historical photographs related to Veracruz and art. The Malintzin Archeological Museum is in the municipality of Nogales. It is a small museum with one hall, with photographs and documents. It is located in the church where Malinche and Juan de Jaramillo were supposedly married. Fairs and festivals. The state is noted for its quantity and variety of festivals. The most important of these is Carnival in the city of Veracruz. This city's version of the event begins with the "burning of bad humor," which is represented in effigy. A number of kings and queens are "crowned" including categories for children but the most important is the Rey Feo (Ugly King) and the Reina del Carnaval (Queen of the Carnival). The latter is accompanies by cadets from the Naval Academy during the parade. This celebration is repeated all along the Veracruz coastline with other significant festivities taking place in Alvarado, Coatzacoalcos, San Rafael and Villa José Cardel. Minatitlán's celebration draws people from the nearby states of Oaxaca and Tabasco. Day of the Dead is celebrated in almost all of Mexico from 31 Oct to 2 November but there are local twists in the state. In some places, it is commemorated during the months of August and September. In Papantla, boards or tables are placed on rooftops, which have been adorned with flowers, plant matter and more. In Tantoyuca, it is commemorated with costumes and music, similar to Carnival. The Christian celebration of Candlemas is fused with traditions associated with Chalchiuhtlicua, the goddess of water, rivers, lakes and ocean. She was replaced by the Virgin of Candlemas, the protector of fishermen, making this celebration particularly important on the coast, especially in Tlacotalpan, where it is celebrated with much pomp. In Jáltipan de Morelos, ethnic Nahuas and Popolucas dress in elaborate costumes and arrange their hair in intricate styles. In Santa María Magdalena, on 22 July, bulls are set free to roam the streets. Corn harvest festivals are prominent in the Huasteca region in municipalities such as Chontla, Chicontepec, and Ixhuatlán de Madero. These generally include native dances and foods based on corn. Dance and music. The state is well known in the country for its music and dance. The fandango is a dance brought over from Spanish. Today the state has two varieties: the jarocho and the huasteco. Indigenous and folk dances in the state are most often associated with rituals and religious festivals. These include one called Los Lisceres also called the Tigres from the Los Tuxtlas region. Participants wear Olmec style masks which represent the rain god Tlalóc. Another is Los Guaguas in which the participants pay homage to the sun, and Los Santiagos, which is related to the veneration of Saint James, patron saint of Hernán Cortés. One last one is called Los Negritos (The Little Black Ones) which was created by African slaves. According to tradition, the origin of this dance lies in a story about a boy who was bitten by a snake and the rituals his family held to heal him. However, the state's most famous dance is as much a ritual and daredevil act as movements performed to music. The Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers) is a ceremony/ritual which has its roots in the pre-Hispanic period and presently best known as associated with the town of Papantla, Veracruz. It is believed to have originated with the Nahua, Huastec and Otomi peoples in central Mexico, and then spread throughout most of Mesoamerica. The ritual consists of dance and the climbing of a 30-meter pole from which four of the five participants then launch themselves tied with ropes to descend to the ground. The fifth remains on top of the pole, dancing and playing a flute and drum. According to myth, the ritual was created to ask the gods to end a severe drought. Although the ritual did not originate with the Totonac people, today it is most strongly associated with them, especially those in and around Papantla, as the ceremony has died off in most other places. The ceremony was named an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in order to help the ritual survive and thrive in the modern world. The state's best-known musical style is called the "son". A "son" is a musical variation which traces its origins to Spain and developed during the 17th and 18th centuries. It is the state's most popular musical style shows influences from the many peoples who have lived here such as indigenous groups, Portuguese, Italians, Africans, French and others. The music is generally performed by harps, violins and guitars, with an occasional wind instrument. Son huasteco (also called son huapango) is a variety of son played in the north of the state mostly among the Totonacs. Son jarocho is the better known and more popular variety played in the south of the state. The famous Grammy award-winning song "La Bamba" by Los Lobos is said have its roots in a traditional folk song from Veracruz (hence the reference to the "Marinero" in that song). The state has produced a number of musicians famous in the country. One of the best known is Francisco Gabilondo Soler. Gabilondo Soler is best known for creating a character known as "Cri-cri", a singing cricket for a radio show in the first half of the 20th century. As a musician, he specialized in writing children's songs such as "Abuelito", "Caminito de la escuela", "El baile de los muñecos", "El burrito" and "La negrita Cucurumbé". A number of his works have been translated into other languages. Another famous musician is Agustín Lara, who has had more international fame. Nicknamed "Flaco de oro" (golden skinny one), he always insisted that he was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz and not Mexico City as records show. Lara formed his first band in 1930 called El Son de Marabú and toured almost continuously in Mexico and abroad during his career. His most famous compositions include "Veracruz", "Noche de Ronda" and "Solamente una vez". Other prominent musicians include Toña "La Negra" or María Antonia del Carmen Peregino, Narcisco Serradel, Lorenzo Barcelata and María Greever. Art and architecture. During the colonial era, a movement called the "estilo veracruzano" (Veracruz style) developed mostly focusing on landscapes in the state with a certain amount of indigenous influence although the painters themselves were "criollo" or Mexico-born Spanish. These paintings focus on the mountains, valles, coasts, volcanos and other natural phenomena in the state. Most of the proponents of this were born in Veracruz itself and include José Justo Montiel (1824–1899), Gonzalo Argüelles Bringas (1877–1942), Eugenio Landecio (teacher of José María Velasco), Natal Pesado and Ignacio Rosas. However, most of Veracruz's best-known artists are from the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th century, these include Miguel Mata Reyes, Salvador Ferrando, José María Jara, Enrique Guerra and Alberto Fuster. Miguel Mata Reyes is best known for his contributions to the design of the Palacio de Bellas Artes as well a portrait of Antonio López de Santa Anna. Salvador Ferrando was a portrait and landscape artist from the north of the state. Until recently, most of his work had been hidden in a museum named after him in the Tlacotalpan region. Much of it now is on display at the Museo de Arte de Veracruz in Orizaba. José María Jara is noted for his paintings of Veracruz customs, whose works include "El Velorio", which was presented at the World's Fair in Paris. Enrique Guerra was an important sculptor at the end of the 19th century. His best-known works are bas reliefs and include "Asesinato de César", "Coroliano", "Thais" and "Crisálida". Alberto Fuster was most active at the end of the century and is noted for bringing symbolism painting to Mexico from his stay in Europe. His works include "El progreso", "Safo en el templo de Delfos" and "Nativa con loro". There are three important artists from the 20th century, Carlos Bracho, Norberto Martínez and Teodoro Cano García. Active in the first half of the century, sculptor Carlos Bracho's work has been compared to that of Juan Rulfo. His works have been done in plaster, bronze, terracotta and green onyx and include monumental works which can be found in the cities of Xalapa, Puebla, Pachuca and Mexico City. His best-known works are El abrazo, Cabeza verde and El campesino se apodera de la tierra. Norberto Martínez only lived 45 years but is considered one of the most prolific of Mexican painters who dedicated most of his works to social themes. A number of these are early murals such as El comercio in the Jáuregi de Xalapa market as well as an untitled work in a private home in Córdoba which deals with the fusion of the Spanish, indigenous and African ethnicities in Mexico. Later works include the three murals in the main stairwell of the School of Law at the University of Xalapa and El hombre y el conocimiento at the Universidad Veracruzana. Teodoro Cano García is one of Mexico's most famous muralists of the late 20th century, famous for the promotion of the Totonac culture of his hometown of Papantla. He has created paintings, sculptures, etchings, photography and mixed media works with his murals and sculptures most acclaimed. Examples of his work can be seen in various parts of public buildings in Papantla. Most of Veracruz's older architecture can be found in the inland cities of Xalapa and Córdoba. Despite being the first Spanish settlement, the city of Veracruz lost most its older structures to the various invasions it has suffered. Architecture from the 16th to the 19th century includes colonial Spanish, Moorish, Neo gothic and Neoclassical. From the 20th century on, a number of names stand out. Armando Bravo Ramírez remodeled the State Government Palace and the facade of the Capillas de Ánimas, both in Xalapa. Other prominent names responsible for many projects in the state include Luis González Aparicio, Bernal Lascuraín Rangel and Luis Manuel Tello Deschamps. Literature. The literary arts reached their peak in Veracruz starting in the 19th century and extends to the "Generation of the 1950s." Salvador Díaz Mirón is one of Veracruz's most-distinguished poets. Over his lifetime from the latter 19th to early 20th centuries, he worked as a professor, politician and journalist contributing to periodicals such as El Veracruzano, El Orden, and El Imparcial. His creative works include some of the first Romantic pieces produced in Mexico such as Oda a Víctor Hugo, Ojos verdes, Gloria and Voces interiores. Other works include "Poesías A Tirsa", "Nox" (also known as "Claudia") and his last works such as "Al buen cura" and "La mujer de nieve". He became a member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua and is buried at the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres in Mexico City. María Enriqueta Camarillo was one of a number of women writers to gain prominence in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. While she wrote a number of works such as "Jirón del mundo", "Sorpresas de la vida" and "El Secreto", she is best known for "Rosas de la infancia", with which many Mexicans learned to read. Writers born at the end of the 19th century, such as Gregorio López y Fuentes, Manuel Maples Arce and Jorge Mateo Cuesta Porte-Petit were often concerned with social issues. Works of this type include El Indio by López, Metrópolis by Maples and a poem called "Canto a un dios mineral" by Cuesta. The following generation, born in the first decades of the 20th century, became known as the Generation of the 1950s. During this time Veracruz's literary tradition consolidated and decided to break type. One example is Juan Hernández Ramírez’s writing of poetry in the Nahuatl spoken in the La Huasteca area of Veracruz. One important name from this generation is Emilio Carballido who wrote about 100 plays as well as scripts for radio and television. Some of his works include "Rosalba y los llaveros", "Felicidad" and "Las visitaciones del Diablo". In 1996, he won the Premio Nacional de Literatura and in 2002 he received the Ariel de Oro for his work in cinema. Religion. The Catholic patron saint of Veracruz is Rafael Guízar y Valencia. Education. Public education in the state is supervised by the state Dirección General de Educación Popular and the Dirección General de Educación Media Superior y Superior. The current system is the result of a number of reforms which took place in the 1980s and 1990s. In the late 1990s, 302 new school campuses were created statewide and 257 schools were remodeled. These included new schools for special education, distance learning and technological institutes, giving the state one of the highest number of school campuses in the country. There are a total of 20,479 schools, with nearly 2 million students and about 85,000 teachers. 93% of schools are in the basic education category (preschool, primary and middle schools. Preschools also include those geared towards the indigenous populations, focusing on bilingual and bicultural education in both the indigenous language/culture and Spanish. One major focus of these and other schools is to eliminate illiteracy in indigenous communities. The "Medio Superior" level includes vocational high school and technical colleges. These account for 6.6% of schools in the public system. The Superior level includes teachers’ colleges and universities. There are 166 institutes at this level, with about 68,000 students studying 221 different majors. There are also 63 master's degree programs and six PhDs. These institutions serve about 135,000 students accounting for about 19% of the college-aged population (19- to 24-year-olds), slightly below the national average of 24%. The major state university is the Universidad Veracruzana, with offers 56 bachelor's degrees, 37 masters and 5 PhDs. It is based in the capital of Xalapa and is noted for its large and varied sports programs. There are campuses in fourteen other cities. About 37% of university students attend the main public university, with a student population of 47,000 undergraduates and 2,000 postgraduates. Other important schools include Instituto Tecnologico de Veracruz in Veracruz, Universidad Anáhuac in Xalapa, Universidad de Xalapa in Xalapa, ITESM in Córdoba, Universidad Cristóbal Colón in Veracruz, the Veracruz Naval Academy and the Instituto Tecnológico del Mar. Demographics. Largest cities. The state of Veracruz, especially its port, has been a crossroads for various cultures since the very early colonial period. The port of Veracruz has brought cargo, sailors, seamen, and slaves from various parts of the world, especially from the Caribbean and Europe. The state has indigenous cultural influences mixed with those from Europe, Africa and the Afro-Caribbean. These can be best seen in the music, the culinary traditions and in the people themselves. The number of ethnic communities in the state has been calculated at 2,062. The most numerous include the Nahuas, Totonacs, Huastecs, Popolucs, Zapotecas, Chinantecas, Otomis, Mazatecas, Tepehuas, Mixtecas, Zoques, Mixes, Mayas and Tzotzils, all indigenous groups. The largest are Nahuas, who make up over half of the indigenous population. Most native communities can be found in 68 municipalities especially in Tehuipango, Mixtla de Altamirano, Astacinga, Soledad Atzompa, Atlahuilco, Tequila, Tlaquilpan, Los Reyes, Magdalena, San Andres Tenejapan, Tantoyuca, Zongolica, Chicontepec, Papantla, Ixhuatlán de Madero, Soteapan, Playa Vicente, Mecayapan y Coyutla, Benito Juárez, Coxquihi, Espinal, Filomeno Mata, Ixcatepec, Mecatlán and Zozocolco de Hidalgo. In 1998, about 10% of the population spoke an indigenous language; however, this does not take into account all indigenous peoples. The census of 2005 counted 605,135 as speaking an indigenous language. There are also small immigrant communities of Spaniards, Italians, Basque and Lebanese. Africans were first brought to Mexico through slavery to the Veracruz port. At one point, they outnumbered Europeans and a significant number ran away from haciendas and plantations to form their own communities, sometimes allied with indigenous groups. One such rebellion was led by Yanga, who successfully negotiated a free African community with Spanish authorities in 1609. Like other groups, many of African descent would intermarry with other groups, with the category of "mulatto" existing in the old colonial caste system for those with African blood. Today, the vast majority of Afro-Mexicans in Veracruz and other parts of the country are spread out and intermixed with the rest of the population. According to the 2020 Census, 2.67% of Veracruz's population identified as Black, Afro-Mexican, or of African descent. With a population of 7,110,214 (2005), Veracruz is the third most populous entity in the country, after the Federal District of Mexico City and the State of Mexico. Population growth has slowed in the state in the last decades, due to lower birthrates and the exodus of migrants, mostly men. Women outnumber men. One reason for the decline in birthrates is the elevation of education levels, especially among women. Another is urbanization, with about one-third of the state's population living in urban centers, especially Veracruz, Xalapa, Coatzacoalcos, Minatitlán and Papantla. Most (90%) of the state's communities, outside of municipal seats have fewer than 500 people and contain only 21% of the total population. The migration of men outside the state has put more women into the state's workforce. Approximately 75% of the population is under 45 years of age and 30% under the age of 15. Life expectancy is just under the norm for the rest of the country. The overwhelming majority of people in the state are Catholic, however, there is a significant Protestant minority and a number who profess the Jewish faith. Tourism. Tourism mostly centers on the port city of Veracruz but there are other destinations. There are over 1,000 hotels in the state, over half of which are small, family-owned enterprises. Almost all of the four and five-star establishments are in metropolitan area of Veracruz. Many of the state major historical and cultural monuments are located in the port of Veracruz. Some of these include the Aquarium, the Museum of the city (Museo de la Ciudad), The Agustín Lara Museum, the Santiago Fortress (Baluarte de Santiago) the "Las Atarazanas" Museum and the San Juan de Ulúa Fort. To the north of the port city is the Sierra or Totonacalpan area of the state, home to the Totonac people. This is home to the important pre-Hispanic city of El Tajín and the present-day city of Papantla. The modern city is best known as the home of the Totonac version of the "danza de voladores"; there, the dancers spin from high poles. The area is also the native habitat of the vanilla bean. To the south of the port is on the coast, is Catemaco. This is in a tropical area. The area's two main features are Lake Catemaco, which is located in the crater of an extinct volcano and Isla Tanaxpillo just off the coast. This island is also called the island of the monkeys or baboons due to a group of feral monkeys that escaped and found refuge here. Inland is the coffee-growing region in and around the cities of Coatepec and Xalapa. Orizaba is best known for the volcano nearby but also has a large waterfall called El Elefante and a Cañon (Canyon) de Río Blanco. Archeological sites. The state contains numerous remains of pre-Hispanic Olmec, Totonac, and Huastec cities. El Tajín, a ruined city that reached its apex between the 9th and 13th centuries ad, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. El Zapotal is an archeological site which was discovered in 1971 in a region known at Mixtequlla (between the Blanco and Papaloapan Rivers). This site is noted for its clay figurines with smiling faces, part of an extremely large offering in honor of the god of death Mictlantecuhtli. Cempoala is an archeological site located on the coast between the modern settlements of La Antigua and Ciudad Cardel. It was occupied when Hernán Cortés arrived, and he managed to form an alliance with the Totonacs here against the Aztecs. In the center of the site, there is a large plaza surrounded by temples and the palace of the Totonac chief. The site also has a small museum. Quiahuiztlán is on the coast on a small mountain named Bernal. It is cut into the mountain as a series of terraces. It is located very close to where Cortés founded the initial Spanish settlement of Villa Rica de la Vera-Cruz. The Castillo de Teayo (Teayo Castle) is really a pyramid, whose original name was Zapotitlán. It is located on the border between Huasctec and Totonac lands. It was abandoned in the 19th century. The largest and most important site is El Tajín, located near the city of Papantla. The name is from the Totonac language and means "thunder," but no one knows what the true name of this city was. It is also unknown if the Totonac built it, but since they have dominated the region for centuries, they lay claim to it.The city developed from the end of the Classic period and the beginning of the Post Classic period, between 800 and 1150 C.E. It is divided into five zones, the Plaza del Arroyo Group, the Central Zone, the Gran Xicalcoliuhqui, Tajín Chico and the Column Complex. Its signature building is the Pyramid of the Niches, named after the 365 niches built into the levels of the structure. The site has a large number of Mesoamerican ball game courts, one with details reliefs showing the beheading of a ballplayer and his role in the afterlife. The Tres Zapotes site is located the community of the same name. Covering 1.5 hectares, the main building has a square base, which is surrounded by gardens and trees. The most important find from his is Stele "C" which is on display at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. El Pital is a site in the municipality of Martínez de la Torre. It consists of a mound with a pyramid base and stairs on the east side.The site's culture is considered to be a link between the coastal and highland cultures of the region. Los Idolos is a site in the municipal city of Misantla, and was an important ceremonial site for the Totonacapan region. It consists of four rectangular patios linked by platforms and flat-topped mounds. Many of the structures are decorated with smooth river stone, thought to have come from the Misantla River. The Centro Ceremonial Cuajilote is located on the Bobos River. It consists of a large plaza 400 meters long lined with structures. In the center of the plaza there are three shrines, one of which contains phallic figures. Government. Veracruz became a state in 1824. Its government is headed by a governor, who is elected to a single term of six years. Members of the unicameral legislature, the State Congress, are elected to three-year terms. The state is divided into 212 local governmental units called municipios (municipalities), each of which is headquartered in a prominent city, town, or village. The newest of these are the municipalities of San Rafael and Santiago Sochiapan which were created in 2003. These municipalities are grouped into regions called Huasteca Alta (with ten municipalities), Huasteca Baja (with 23 municipalities), Totonac (with 15 municipalities), Nautla (with 11 municipalities), Capital (with 33 municipalities), Sotavento (with 12 municipalities), De las Montañas (with 57 municipalities), Papaloapan (with 22 municipalities), De los Tuxtlas (with four municipalities) and Olmeca (with 25 municipalities). Freedom of the Press violations According to many journalists' organizations, Veracruz is one of the most dangerous places for journalists especially after governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa came to power in December 2010. Infrastructure. Transport. The road system in the state contains , representing 5.1% of the roads nationwide. For each of territory, there are of roads. are part of the federal highway system. State roads comprise with the rest maintained by local authorities. There are over of rural roads, but only are paved. The state contains of railway. Most of this is conceded by the federal government to private companies, with strategic stretches maintained directly by the government. Some of the private companies include Kansas City Southern de México and Ferrosur. These lines are used almost exclusively for the transportation of freight, which in 1999 added up to 37 million tons. Three rail lines serve the port of Veracruz exclusively. One is dedicated to the port of Coatzacalcos. The ports of Veracruz are Tuxpan, Veracruz, Coatzacoalcos, Pajaritos, Minatitlán-Nanchital, Tecolutla, Nautla, Alvarado and Tlacotalpan. The first three are the ports for heavy cargo ships, with Veracruz the most important of the three. The others are small ports for small ships, fishing boats and tourism. All ports are operated privately with the exception of Pajaritos, which is operated by PEMEX. Port traffic in Veracruz account for 10% of all commercial traffic in the country, 23.4% of the port traffic of Mexico and 21% of all port traffic in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Goods imported through the state reach 16 out of Mexico's 31 states plus Mexico City. The port of Veracruz alone handles over 12 million tons of freight per year. Coatzacoalcos is important for its handling of petroleum products. The state contains three major airports. "El Tajín" in Tihuatlán serving Poza Rica and "Canticas" in Minatitlán provide national service. "Heriberto Jara Corona" in the city of Veracruz provides national and international service. There are also 31 smaller regional airfields in municipalities such as Acayucán, Cazones de Herrera, Córdoba, Cuitlahuac, Juán Rodríguez Clara, Ozuluama, Platón Sánchez, Playa Vicente, Soconusco, Tamalín, Tamiahua, Tecolutla, Temapache, Tempoal and Tierra Blanca. Media. There are 59 local newspapers and 40 magazines published in the state. These include El Dictamen, El Sol del Centro, la Opinión de Minatitlán, "Diario de Xalapa", "El Diario de Minatitlán", "El Mundo de Córdoba", "El Mundo de Orizaba", "El Sol de Córdoba", "El Sol de Orizaba", "Esto de Veracruz", "Imagen de Veracruz", "La Jornada Veracruz", "La Opinión de Poza Rica", "Liberal del Sur", "Milenio El Portal", "Noreste Diario Regional Independiente", and "Sotavento." There are 202 radio stations (57 AM, 35 FM). Most are commercial or private but some are operated by non-profits and governmental agencies. There are 22 television stations; two channels are local, and the rest are repeaters from national broadcasters. Five companies provide cable and satellite television. Telmex controls over 75% of the telephone service in the state. Localities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63229

Bee-eater

The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long down-turned bills and medium to long wings, which may be pointed or round. Male and female plumages are usually similar. As their name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat flying insects, especially bees and wasps, which are caught on the wing from an open perch. The insect's stinger is removed by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect's body, thereby discharging most of the venom. Most bee-eaters are gregarious. They form colonies, nesting in burrows tunnelled into vertical sandy banks, often at the side of a river or in flat ground. As they mostly live in colonies, large numbers of nest holes may be seen together. The eggs are white, with typically five to the clutch. Most species are monogamous, and both parents care for their young, sometimes with assistance from related birds in the colony. Bee-eaters may be killed by raptors; their nests are raided by rodents, weasels, martens and snakes, and they can carry various parasites. Some species are adversely affected by human activity or habitat loss, but none meet the International Union for Conservation of Nature's vulnerability criteria, and all are therefore evaluated as "least concern". Their conspicuous appearance means that they have been mentioned by ancient writers and incorporated into mythology. Taxonomy. The bee-eaters were first named as a scientific group by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, who created the bird subfamily Meropia for these birds in 1815. The name, now modernised as Meropidae, is derived from "Merops", the Ancient Greek for "bee-eater", and the English term "bee-eater" was first recorded in 1668, referring to the European species. The bee-eaters have been considered to be related to other families, such as the rollers, hoopoes and kingfishers, but ancestors of those families diverged from the bee-eaters at least forty million years ago, so any relationship is not close. The scarcity of fossils is unhelpful. Bee-eater fossils from the Pleistocene (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago) have been found in Austria, and there are Holocene (from 11,700 years ago to present) specimens from Israel and Russia, but all have proved to be of the extant European bee-eater. Opinions vary as to the bee-eater's nearest relatives. In 2001, Fry considered the kingfishers to be the most likely, whereas a large study published in 2008 found that bee-eaters are sister to all other Coraciiformes (rollers, ground rollers, todies, motmots and kingfishers). A 2009 book supported Fry's contention, but then a later study in 2015 suggested that the bee-eaters are sister to the rollers. The 2008 and 2015 papers both linked the kingfishers to the New World motmots. The bee-eaters are generally similar in appearance, although they are normally divided into three genera. "Nyctyornis" comprises two large species with long throat feathers, the blue-bearded bee-eater and the red-bearded bee-eater, both of which have rounded wings, a ridged culmen, feathered nostrils and a relatively sluggish lifestyle. The purple-bearded bee-eater is the sole member of "Meropogon", which is intermediate between "Nyctyornis" and the typical bee-eaters, having rounded wings and a "beard", but a smooth culmen and no nostril feathers. All the remaining species are normally retained in the single genus "Merops". There are close relationships within this genus, for example the red-throated bee-eater and the white-fronted bee-eater form a superspecies, but formerly suggested genera, such as "Aerops", "Melittophagus", "Bombylonax" and "Dicrocercus", have not been generally accepted for several decades since a 1969 paper united them in the current arrangement. Species in taxonomic order. The bee-eater family contains the following species. The Asian green bee-eater, African green bee-eater, and Arabian green bee-eater were previously considered to be a single species, and are still treated as such by some authorities. A 2007 nuclear and mitochondrial DNA study produced a possible phylogenetic tree, although the position of the purple-bearded bee-eater seems anomalous, in that it appears amongst "Merops" species. Description. The bee-eaters are morphologically a fairly uniform group. They share many features with related Coraciiformes such as the kingfishers and rollers, being large-headed (although less so than their relatives), short-necked, brightly plumaged and short-legged. Their wings may be rounded or pointed, with the wing shape closely correlated with the species' preferred foraging habitat and migratory tendencies. Shorter, rounder wings are found on species that are sedentary and make typically short foraging flights in denser forests and reed-beds. Those with more elongated wings are more migratory. All the bee-eaters are highly aerial; they take off strongly from perches, fly directly without undulations, and are able to change direction quickly, although they rarely hover. The flight feathers of the wing comprise 10 primaries, the outermost being very small, and 13 secondaries, and there are 12 tail feathers. The bills of bee-eaters are curved, long and end in a sharp point. The bill can bite strongly, particularly at the tip, and it is used as a pair of forceps with which to snatch insects from the air and crush smaller prey. The short legs have weak feet, and when it is moving on the ground a bee-eater's gait is barely more than a shuffle. The feet have sharp claws used for perching on vertical surfaces and also for nest excavation. The plumage of the family is generally very bright and in most species is mainly or at least partially green, although the two carmine bee-eaters are primarily rose-coloured. Most of the "Merops" bee-eaters have a black bar through the eye and many have differently coloured throats and faces. The extent of the green in these species varies from almost complete in the green bee-eater to barely any green in the white-throated bee-eater. Three species, from equatorial Africa, have no green at all in their plumage, the black bee-eater, the blue-headed bee-eater and the rosy bee-eater. Many species have elongated central tail feathers. There is little visible difference between the sexes in most of the family, although in several species the iris is red in the males and brown-red in the females, and in species with tail-streamers these may be slightly longer in males. Both the European and red-bearded bee-eaters have sex-based differences in their plumage colour, and the female rainbow bee-eater has shorter tail streamers than the male, which terminate in a club-shape that he lacks. There may be instances where bee-eaters are sexually dichromatic at the ultraviolet part of the colour spectrum, which humans cannot see. A study of blue-tailed bee-eater found that males were more colourful than females in UV light. Their overall colour was also affected by body condition, suggesting that there was a signalling component to plumage colour. Juveniles are generally similar to adults, except for the two "Nyctyornis" species, in which the young have mainly green plumage. Bee-eaters have calls that are characteristic for each species. Most sound simple to the human ear, but show significant variability when studied in detail, carrying significant information for the birds. Distribution and habitat. The bee-eaters have an Old World distribution, occurring from Europe to Australia. The centre of diversity of the family is Africa, although a number of species also occur in Asia. Single species occur in each of Europe, (the European bee-eater), Australia (the rainbow bee-eater) and Madagascar (the olive bee-eater, also found on mainland Africa). Of the three genera, "Merops", which has the majority of the species, occurs across the entirety of the family's distribution. "Nyctyornis" is restricted to Asia, ranging from India and southern China to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The genus "Meropogon" has a single species restricted to Sulawesi in Indonesia. Bee-eaters are fairly indiscriminate in their choice of habitat. Their requirements are simply an elevated perch from which to watch for prey and a suitable ground substrate in which to dig their breeding burrow. Because their prey is entirely caught on the wing they are not dependent on any vegetation type. A single species, the blue-headed bee-eater, is found inside closed rainforest where it forages close to the ground in poor light in the gaps between large trees. Six other species are also closely associated with rainforest, but occur in edge habitat such as along rivers, in tree-fall gaps, off trees overhanging ravines or on emergent tree crowns above the main canopy. Species that breed in subtropical or temperate areas of Europe, Asia and Australia are all migratory. The European bee-eaters that breed in southern Europe and Asia migrate to West and southern Africa. Another population of the same species breeds in South Africa and Namibia; these birds move northwards after breeding. In Australia the rainbow bee-eater is migratory in the southern areas of its range, migrating to Indonesia and New Guinea, but occurs year-round in northern Australia. Several species of bee-eater, are intra-African migrants; the white-throated bee-eater, for example, breeds on the southern edge of the Sahara and winters further south in equatorial rainforest. The most unusual migration is that of the southern carmine bee-eater, which has a three-stage migration; after breeding in a band between Angola and Mozambique it moves south to Botswana, Namibia and South Africa before moving north to its main wintering grounds in northern Angola, Congo and Tanzania. Behaviour. The bee-eaters are diurnal, although a few species may migrate during the night if the terrain "en route" is unsuitable for stopping or if they are crossing the sea. Bee-eaters are highly social, and pairs sitting or roosting together are often so close that they touch (an individual distance of zero). Many species are colonial in the breeding season and some species are also highly gregarious when not nesting. The social structures of the red-throated bee-eater and the white-fronted bee-eaters have been described as more complex than for any other bird species. The birds exist in colonies located on nesting cliffs, and have a stable structure all year round. These colonies typically contain five to 50 burrows, occasionally up to 200, and are composed of clans of two or three pairs, their helpers, and their offspring. The helpers are male offspring from a previous year. Within the colony, the males alternate between guarding their mate and attempting to make forced copulations with other females. The females in turn attempt to lay eggs in their neighbour's nests, an example of brood parasitism. Some individuals also specialise in kleptoparasitism, stealing prey collected by other colony members. The colony's daily routine is to emerge from the nesting holes or roosting branches soon after dawn, preen and sun themselves for an hour, then disperse to feed. Feeding territories are divided by clan, with each clan defending its territory from all others of the same species, including clans of the same colony. The clans return to the colony before dusk, and engage in more social behaviour before retiring for the night. Colonies are situated several hundred metres apart and have little to do with each other, although young individuals may disperse between colonies. As such these species can be thought to have four tiers of social kinship, the individual pair, the family unit, the clan and the colony as a whole. Bee-eaters spend around 10% of their day on comfort activities. These include sunning themselves, dust bathing and water bathing. Sunning behaviour helps warm birds in the morning, reducing the need to use energy to raise their temperature. It also has a social aspect, as multiple birds adopt the same posture. Finally, it may help stimulate parasites in the feathers, making them easier to find and remove. Due to their hole-nesting lifestyle, bee-eaters accumulate a number of external parasites such as mites and flies. Together with sunning, bouts of dust bathing (or water bathing where available), as well as rigorous preening, keep the feathers and skin in good health. Bathing with water involves making shallow dives into a water body and then returning to a perch to preen. Diet and feeding. The bee-eaters are almost exclusively aerial hunters of insect prey. Prey is caught either on the wing or more commonly from an exposed perch from which the bee-eater watches for prey. Smaller, rounder-winged bee-eaters typically hunt from branches and twigs closer to the ground, whereas the larger species hunt from tree tops or telephone wires. One unusual technique often used by carmine bee-eaters is to ride on the backs of bustards. Prey can be spotted from a distance; European bee-eaters are able to spot a bee away, and blue-cheeked bee-eaters have been observed flying out to catch large wasps. Prey is approached directly or from behind. Prey that lands on the ground or on plants is usually not pursued. Small prey may be eaten on the wing, but larger items are returned to the perch where they are beaten until dead and then broken up. Insects with poisonous stings are first smacked on the branch, then, with the bird's eyes closed, rubbed to discharge the venom sac and stinger. This behaviour is innate, as demonstrated by a juvenile bird in captivity, which performed the task when first presented with wild bees. This bird was stung on the first five tries, but by ten bees, it was as adept at handling bees as adult birds. Bee-eaters consume a wide range of insects; beyond a few distasteful butterflies they consume almost any insect from tiny "Drosophila" flies to large beetles and dragonflies. At some point bee-eaters have been recorded eating beetles, mayflies, stoneflies, cicadas, termites, crickets and grasshoppers, mantises, true flies and moths. For many species, the dominant prey item are stinging members of the order Hymenoptera, namely wasps and bees. In a survey of 20 studies, the proportion of the diet made up by bees and wasps varied from 20% to 96%, with the average being 70%. Of these honeybees can comprise a large part of the diet, as much as 89% of the overall intake. The preference for bees and wasps may have arisen because of the numerical abundance of these suitably sized insects. The giant honeybee is a particularly commonly eaten species. These bees attempt to congregate in a mass defence against the bee-eaters. In Israel, a European bee-eater was documented attempting to eat a small bat that it had caught, which probably could not fit down its throat. Like kingfishers, bee-eaters regurgitate pellets of undigested material, typically long black oblongs. Predation of honey bees. If an apiary is set up close to a bee-eater colony, a larger number of honey bees are eaten because they are more abundant. However, studies show the bee-eaters do not intentionally fly into the apiary, rather they feed on the insects caught on pastures and meadows within a radius of from the colony, this maximum distance being reached only when there is a shortage of food. Observations show that the birds actually enter the apiary only in cold and rainy periods, when the bees do not leave the hive and other insect prey are harder for the bee-eaters to detect. Many bee-keepers believe that the bee-eaters are the main obstacle causing worker bees not to forage, and instead stay inside the hives for much of the day between May and the end of August. However, a study carried out in a eucalyptus forest in the Alaluas region in the Murqub District in Libya, east of Tripoli, showed that the bee-eaters were not the main obstacle to bee foraging; in some cases, the foraging rate was higher in the presence of the birds than in their absence. The average bird meal consisted of 90.8% honey bees and 9.2% beetles. Predation is more likely when the bees are queening or during the peak of migration, from late March till mid-April, and in mid-September. Hives close to or under trees or overhead cables are at increased risk as the birds pounce on flying insects from these perches. Breeding. Bee-eaters are monogamous during a nesting season, and in sedentary species, pairs may stay together for multiple years. Migratory bee-eaters may find new mates each breeding season. The courtship displays of the bee-eaters are rather unspectacular, with some calling and raising of throat and wing feathers. The exception is the performance of the white-throated bee-eater. Their "butterfly display" involves both members of a pair performing a gliding display flight with shallow wing-beats; they then perch facing each other, raising and folding their wings while calling. Most members of the family engage in courtship feeding, where the male presents prey items to the female, and such feeding can account for much, if not all, of the energy females require for egg creation. Like almost all Coraciiformes the bee-eaters are cavity nesters. In the case of the bee-eaters the nests are burrows dug into the ground, either into the sides of earth cliffs or directly into level soil. Both types of nesting site are vulnerable, those on level ground are vulnerable to trampling and small predators, whereas those in cliffs, which are often the banks of rivers, are vulnerable to flash floods, which can wipe out dozens or hundreds of nests. Many species will nest either on cliffs or on level ground but prefer cliffs, although Böhm's bee-eater always nests on level ground. The burrows are dug by both birds in the pair, sometimes assisted by helpers. The soil or sand is loosened with jabs of the sharp bill, then the feet are used to kick out the loose soil. It has been suggested that riverine loess deposits that do not crumble when excavated may be favoured by the larger bee-eaters. There may be several false starts where nests are dug partway before being abandoned; in solitary species this can give the impression of colonial living even when that is not the case. The process of nest building can take as long as twenty days to complete, during which time the bill can be blunted and shortened. Nests are generally used only for a single season and are rarely used twice by the bee-eaters, but abandoned nests may be used by other birds, snakes and bats as shelter and breeding sites. No nesting material is used in the breeding cavity. One white egg is laid each day until the typical clutch of about five eggs is complete. Incubation starts soon after the first egg is laid, with both parents sharing this duty in the day, but only the female at night. The eggs hatch in about 20 days, and the newly hatched young are blind, pink and naked. For most species, the eggs do not all hatch at the same time, so if food is in short supply only the older chicks survive. Adults and young defecate in the nest, and their pellets are trodden underfoot, making the nest cavity very malodorous. The chicks are in the nest for about 30 days. Bee-eaters may nest as single pairs, loose colonies or dense colonies. Smaller species tend to nest solitarily, while medium-sized bee-eaters have small colonies, and larger and migratory species nest in large colonies that can number in the thousands. In some instances, colonies may contain more than one species of bee-eater. In species that nest gregariously, breeding pairs may be assisted by up to five helpers. These birds may alternate between breeding themselves and helping in successive years. Predators and parasites. Bee-eater nests may be raided by rats and snakes, and the adults are hunted by birds of prey such as the Levant sparrowhawk. The little bee-eater and red-throated bee-eaters are hosts of the greater honeyguide and the lesser honeyguide, both brood parasites. The young honeyguides kill the bee-eater's chicks and destroy any eggs. The begging call of the honeyguide sounds like "two" bee-eater chicks, ensuring a good supply of food from the adult bee-eaters. Bee-eaters may be infested by several blood-feeding flies of the genus "Carnus", and the biting fly "Ornithophila metallica". Other parasites include chewing lice of the genera "Meromenopon", "Brueeliaa" and "Meropoecus", some of which are specialist parasites of bee-eaters, and the stickfast flea "Echidnophaga gallinacea". The hole-nesting lifestyle of bee-eaters means that they tend to carry a higher burden of external parasites than non-hole-nesting bird species. Bee-eaters may also be infected by protozoan blood parasites of the genus "Haemoproteus" including "H. meropis". Fly larvae of the genus "Fannia" live in the nests of at least European bee-eaters, and feed on faeces and food remains. Their presence and cleaning activities appear to benefit the developing bee-eaters. Status. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assesses species vulnerability in terms of total population and the rate of any population decline. None of the bee-eaters meet the IUCN vulnerability criteria, and all are therefore evaluated as "Least-concern species". Open country species, which comprise the majority of bee-eaters, have mostly expanded in range as more land is converted to agriculture, but some tropical forest species have suffered declines through loss of habitat, although no species or subspecies gives serious cause for concern. There is some human persecution of bee-eaters, with nest holes being blocked, adults shot or limed, or young taken for food. More generally problematic is the unintended destruction of nests. This can occur through cattle trampling, as with the blue-headed bee-eater in Kenya, or loss of forests, with massive conversion of native forest to oil palm plantations in Malaysia being particularly concerning. A study of the southern carmine bee-eater in Zimbabwe showed that it was affected by deliberate interference and persecution and loss of woodlands, and that nesting sites are lost through poor water management leading to river bank damage, dam construction and panning for gold. Colonies are becoming concentrated into the national parks and the Zambezi Valley. The well-studied European bee-eater is trapped and shot on migration in countries bordering the Mediterranean, an estimated 4,000–6,000 annually being killed in Cyprus alone, but with a global population of between 170,000 and 550,000 pairs even losses on that scale make little overall impact. In culture. Bee-eaters were mentioned by ancient writers such as Aristotle and Virgil, who both advised beekeepers to kill the birds. Aristotle knew that bee-eaters nested at the end of tunnels up to long and the size of their clutch. He said that nesting adults were fed by their own young, based on the observed actual help at the nest by related birds. In Greek mythology, the Theban Botres was fatally struck by his father when he desecrated a ritual sacrifice of a ram to the god Apollo by tasting the victim's brains. The god took pity on him, turning him into a bee-eater. The Ancient Egyptians believed that bee-eaters had medical properties, prescribing the application of bee-eater fat to deter biting flies, and treating the eyes with the smoke from charred bee-eater legs to cure an unspecified female complaint. In Hinduism, the shape of the bird in flight was thought to resemble a bow, with the long bill as an arrow. This led to a Sanskrit name meaning "Vishnu's bow" and an association with archer gods. Scandalmongers were thought to be reincarnated as bee-eaters, because of the metaphorical poison they bore in their mouths. Depictions in classical art are rare for such striking birds. The only known Ancient Egyptian example is a relief, probably of a little green bee-eater, on a wall of Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple, and an early Roman mural depicting blue-cheeked bee-eaters was found in the villa of Agrippina. Bee-eaters have been depicted on the postage stamps of at least 38 countries, the European and Carmine bee-eaters being the most common subjects, with 18 and 11 countries respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63321

Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was an English stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company. In 1959 he made his West End debut in "The Long and the Short and the Tall", and played the title role in "Hamlet" in the National Theatre's first production in 1963. Excelling on the London stage, O'Toole was known for his "hellraiser" lifestyle off it. Making his film debut in 1959, O'Toole achieved international recognition playing T. E. Lawrence in "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) for which he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was nominated for this award another seven times – for playing King Henry II in both "Becket" (1964) and "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), "The Ruling Class" (1972), "The Stunt Man" (1980), "My Favorite Year" (1982), and "Venus" (2006) – and holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for acting without a win (tied with Glenn Close). In 2002, he was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for his career achievements. O'Toole was the recipient of four Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA Award for Best British Actor and one Primetime Emmy Award. Other performances include "What's New Pussycat?" (1965), "How to Steal a Million" (1966), "Supergirl" (1984), and minor roles in "The Last Emperor" (1987) and "Troy" (2004). He also voiced Anton Ego, the restaurant critic in Pixar's "Ratatouille" (2007). Early life and education. Peter Seamus O'Toole was born on 2 August 1932, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (née Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph "Spats" O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player, and bookmaker. O'Toole claimed he was not certain of his birthplace or date, stating in his autobiography that he accepted 2 August as his birth date but had birth certificates from England and Ireland. Records from the Leeds General Registry Office confirm he was born at St James's University Hospital in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 2 August 1932. O'Toole had an elder sister named Patricia and grew up in the south Leeds suburb of Hunslet. When he was one year old, his family began a five-year tour of major racecourse towns in Northern England. He and his sister were brought up in their father's Catholic faith. O'Toole was evacuated from Leeds early in the Second World War, and went to a Catholic school for seven or eight years: St Joseph's Secondary School in Hunslet, Leeds. He later said, "I used to be scared stiff of the nuns: their whole denial of womanhood—the black dresses and the shaving of the hair—was so horrible, so terrifying. [...] Of course, that's all been stopped. They're sipping gin and tonic in the Dublin pubs now, and a couple of them flashed their pretty ankles at me just the other day." Upon leaving school, O'Toole obtained employment as a trainee journalist and photographer on the "Yorkshire Evening Post", until he was called up for national service as a signaller in the Royal Navy. As reported in a radio interview in 2006 on NPR, he was asked by an officer whether he had something he had always wanted to do. His reply was that he had always wanted to try being either a poet or an actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1952 to 1954 on a scholarship. This came after being rejected by the Abbey Theatre's drama school in Dublin by the director Ernest Blythe, because he could not speak the Irish language. At RADA, he was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Brian Bedford. O'Toole described this as "the most remarkable class the academy ever had, though we weren't reckoned for much at the time. We were all considered dotty." Acting career. 1950s. O'Toole began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954. He played a soldier in an episode of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" in 1954. He was based at the Bristol Old Vic from 1956 to 1958, appearing in productions of "King Lear" (1956), "The Recruiting Officer" (1956), "Major Barbara" (1956), "Othello" (1956), and "The Slave of Truth" (1956). He was Henry Higgins in "Pygmalion" (1957), Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1957), Uncle Gustve in "Oh! My Papa!" (1957), and Jimmy Porter in "Look Back in Anger" (1957). O'Toole was Tanner in Shaw's "Man and Superman" (1958), a performance he reprised often during his career. He was also in "Hamlet" (1958), "The Holiday" (1958), "Amphitryon '38" (1958), and "Waiting for Godot" (1958) (as Vladimir). He hoped "The Holiday" would take him to the West End but it ultimately folded in the provinces; during that show he met Sian Phillips who became his first wife. O'Toole continued to appear on television, being in episodes of "Armchair Theatre" ("The Pier", 1957), and "BBC Sunday-Night Theatre" ("The Laughing Woman", 1958) and was in the TV adaptation of "The Castiglioni Brothers" (1958). He made his London debut in a musical "Oh, My Papa". O'Toole gained fame on the West End in the play "The Long and the Short and the Tall", performed at the Royal Court starting January 1959. His co-stars included Robert Shaw and Edward Judd and it was directed by Lindsay Anderson. He reprised his performance for television on "Theatre Night" in 1959 (although he did not appear in the 1961 film version). The show transferred to the West End in April and won O'Toole Best Actor of the Year in 1959. 1960s. O'Toole was in much demand. He reportedly received five offers of long-term contracts but turned them down. His first role was a small role in Disney's version of "Kidnapped" (1960), playing the bagpipes opposite Peter Finch. His second feature was "The Savage Innocents" (1960) with Anthony Quinn for director Nicholas Ray. With his then-wife Sian Phillips he did "Siwan: The King's Daughter" (1960) for TV. In 1960 he had a nine-month season at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, appearing in "The Taming of the Shrew" (as Petruchio), "The Merchant of Venice" (as Shylock) and "Troilus and Cressida" (as Thersites). He could have made more money in films but said "You've got to go to Stratford when you've got the chance." O'Toole had been seen in "The Long and the Short and the Tall" by Jules Buck who later established a company with the actor. Buck cast O'Toole in "The Day They Robbed the Bank of England" (1961), a heist thriller from director John Guillermin. O'Toole was billed third, beneath Aldo Ray and Elizabeth Sellars. The same year he appeared in several episodes of the TV series "Rendezvous" ("End of a Good Man", "Once a Horseplayer", "London-New York"). He lost the role in the film adaptation of "Long and the Short and the Tall" to Laurence Harvey. "It broke my heart", he said later. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) O'Toole's major break came in November 1960 when he was chosen to play the eponymous hero T. E. Lawrence in Sir David Lean's epic "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), after Albert Finney reportedly turned down the role. The role introduced him to a global audience and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received the BAFTA Award for Best British Actor. His performance was ranked number one in "Premiere" magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. In 2003, Lawrence as portrayed by O'Toole was selected as the tenth-greatest hero in cinema history by the American Film Institute. O'Toole played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. He performed in "Baal" (1963) at the Phoenix Theatre. Partnership with Jules Buck Even prior to the making of "Lawrence of Arabia", O'Toole announced he wanted to form a production company with Jules Buck. In November 1961 they said their company, known as Keep Films (also known as Tricolor Productions) would make a film starring Terry-Thomas, "Operation Snatch". In 1962 O'Toole and Buck announced they wanted to make a version of "Waiting for Godot" for £80,000. The film was never made. Instead their first production was "Becket" (1964), where O'Toole played King Henry II opposite Richard Burton. The film, done in association with Hal Wallis, was a financial success. O'Toole turned down the lead role in "The Cardinal" (1963). Instead he and Buck made another epic, "Lord Jim" (1965), based on the novel by Joseph Conrad directed by Richard Brooks. He and Buck intended to follow this with a biopic of Will Adams and a film about the Charge of the Light Brigade, but neither project happened. Instead O'Toole went into "What's New Pussycat?" (1965), a comedy based on a script by Woody Allen, taking over a role originally meant for Warren Beatty and starring alongside Peter Sellers. It was a huge success. He and Buck helped produce "The Party's Over" (1965). O'Toole returned to the stage with "Ride a Cock Horse" at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1965, which was harshly reviewed. He made a heist film with Audrey Hepburn, "How to Steal a Million" (1966), directed by William Wyler. He played the Three Angels in the all-star "" (1966), directed by John Huston. In 1966 at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin he appeared in productions of "Juno and the Paycock" and "Man and Superman". Sam Spiegel, producer of "Lawrence of Arabia", reunited O'Toole with Omar Sharif in "The Night of the Generals" (1967), which was a box office disappointment. O'Toole played in an adaptation of Noël Coward's "Present Laughter" for TV in 1968, and had a cameo in "Casino Royale" (1967). "The Lion in Winter" (1968) He played Henry II again in "The Lion in Winter" (1968) alongside Katharine Hepburn, and was nominated for an Oscar again – one of the few times an actor had been nominated playing the same character in different films. The film was also successful at the box office. Less popular was "Great Catherine" (1968) with Jeanne Moreau, an adaptation of the play by George Bernard Shaw which Buck and O'Toole co-produced. "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969) In 1969, he played the title role in the film "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", a musical adaptation of James Hilton's novella, starring opposite Petula Clark. He was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. O'Toole fulfilled a lifetime ambition in 1970 when he performed on stage in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", alongside Donal McCann, at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. In other films, he played a man in love with his sister (played by Susannah York) in "Country Dance" (1970). O'Toole starred in a war film for director Peter Yates, "Murphy's War" (1971), appearing alongside Sian Phillips. He was reunited with Richard Burton in a film version of "Under Milk Wood" (1972) by Dylan Thomas, produced by himself and Buck; Elizabeth Taylor co-starred. The film was not a popular success. 1970s. "The Ruling Class" (1972) O'Toole received another Oscar nomination for his performance in "The Ruling Class" (1972), done for his own company. In 1972, he played both Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in "Man of La Mancha", the motion picture adaptation of the 1965 hit Broadway musical, opposite Sophia Loren. The film was a critical and commercial failure, criticised for using mostly non-singing actors. His singing was dubbed by tenor Simon Gilbert, but the other actors did their own singing. O'Toole and co-star James Coco, who played both Cervantes's manservant and Sancho Panza, both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. O'Toole did not make a film for several years. He performed at the Bristol Old Vic from 1973 to 1974 in "Uncle Vanya", "Plunder", "The Apple Cart" and "Judgement". He returned to films with "Rosebud" (1975), a flop thriller for Otto Preminger, where O'Toole replaced Robert Mitchum at the last minute. He followed it with "Man Friday" (1975), an adaptation of the Robinson Crusoe story, which was the last work from Keep Films. O'Toole made "Foxtrot" (1976), directed by Arturo Ripstein. He was critically acclaimed for his performance in "Rogue Male" (1976) for British television. He did "Dead Eyed Dicks" on stage in Sydney in 1976. Less well received was "Power Play" (1978), made in Canada, and "Zulu Dawn" (1979), shot in South Africa. He toured "Uncle Vanya" and "Present Laughter" on stage. In 1979, O'Toole starred as Tiberius in the "Penthouse"-funded biopic, "Caligula". 1980s. "The Stunt Man" (1980) In 1980, he received critical acclaim for playing the director in the behind-the-scenes film "The Stunt Man". His performance earned him an Oscar nomination. He appeared in a mini series for Irish TV "Strumpet City", where he played James Larkin. He followed this with another mini series "Masada" (1981), playing Lucius Flavius Silva. In 1980, he performed in "MacBeth" at the Old Vic for $500 a week (), a performance that famously earned O'Toole some of the worst reviews of his career. "My Favorite Year" (1982) O'Toole was nominated for another Oscar for "My Favorite Year" (1982), a light romantic comedy about the behind-the-scenes at a 1950s TV variety-comedy show, in which O'Toole plays an ageing swashbuckling film star reminiscent of Errol Flynn. He returned to the stage in London with a performance in "Man and Superman" (1982) that was better received than his "MacBeth". He focused on television, doing an adaptation of "Man and Superman" (1983), "Svengali" (1983), "Pygmalion" (1984), and "Kim" (1984), and providing the voice of Sherlock Holmes for a series of animated TV movies. He did "Pygmalion" on stage in 1984 at the West End's Shaftesbury Theatre. O'Toole returned to feature films in "Supergirl" (1984), "Creator" (1985), "Club Paradise" (1986), "The Last Emperor" (1987) as Sir Reginald Johnston, and "High Spirits" (1988). He appeared on Broadway in an adaptation of "Pygmalion" (1987), opposite Amanda Plummer. It ran for 113 performances. "Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell" (1989) He won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in "Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell" (1989). His other appearances that decade include "Uncle Silas" (1989) for television. 1990s. O'Toole's performances in the 1990s include "Wings of Fame" (1990); "The Rainbow Thief" (1990), with Sharif; "King Ralph" (1991) with John Goodman; "Isabelle Eberhardt" (1992); "Rebecca's Daughters" (1992), in Wales; "Civvies" (1992), a British TV series; "The Seventh Coin" (1993); ' (1994), for American TV; and "Heavy Weather" (1995), for British TV. He was in an adaptation of "Gulliver's Travels" (1996), playing the Emperor of Lilliput; ' (1997), playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; "Phantoms" (1998), from a novel by Dean Koontz; and "" (1999). He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his role as Bishop Pierre Cauchon in the 1999 mini-series "Joan of Arc". He also produced and starred in a TV adaptation of "Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell" (1999). 2000s. O'Toole's work in the next decade included "Global Heresy" (2002); "The Final Curtain" (2003); "Bright Young Things" (2003); ' (2003) for TV, as Paul von Hindenburg; and ' (2004) as Augustus Caesar. In 2004, he played King Priam in "Troy". In 2005, he appeared on television as the older version of legendary 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in the BBC drama serial "Casanova". The younger Casanova, seen for most of the action, was played by David Tennant, who had to wear contact lenses to match his brown eyes to O'Toole's blue. He followed it with a role in "Lassie" (2005). "Venus" (2006) O'Toole was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film "Venus", directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination. He was in "One Night with the King" (2007) and co-starred in the Pixar animated film "Ratatouille" (2007), an animated film about a rat with dreams of becoming the greatest chef in Paris, as Anton Ego, a food critic. He had a small role in "Stardust" (2007). He also appeared in the second season of Showtime's drama series "The Tudors" (2008), portraying Pope Paul III, who excommunicates King Henry VIII from the church; an act which leads to a showdown between the two men in seven of the ten episodes. Also in 2008, he starred alongside Jeremy Northam and Sam Neill in the New Zealand/British film "Dean Spanley", based on an Alan Sharp adaptation of Irish author Lord Dunsany's short novel, "My Talks with Dean Spanley". He was in "Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage" (2008); and "Iron Road" (2009), a Canadian-Chinese miniseries. O'Toole's final performances came in "Highway to Hell" (2012) and "For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada" (2012). On 10 July 2012, O'Toole released a statement announcing his retirement from acting. A number of films were released after his retirement and death: "Decline of an Empire" (2013), as Gallus; and "Diamond Cartel" (2017). Personal life. Personal views. While studying at RADA in the early 1950s, O'Toole was active in protesting against British involvement in the Korean War. Later, in the 1960s, he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War. He played a role in the creation of the current form of the well-known folk song "Carrickfergus" which he related to Dominic Behan, who put it in print and made a recording in the mid-1960s. Although he lost faith in organised religion as a teenager, O'Toole expressed positive sentiments regarding the life of Jesus Christ. In an interview for "The New York Times", he said "No one can take Jesus away from me... there's no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace." He called himself "a retired Christian" who prefers "an education and reading and facts" to faith. Relationships. In 1959, he married Welsh actress Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters: actress Kate and Patricia. They were divorced in 1979. Phillips later said in two autobiographies that O'Toole had subjected her to mental cruelty, largely fuelled by drinking, and was subject to bouts of extreme jealousy when she finally left him for a younger lover. O'Toole and his girlfriend, model Karen Brown, had a son, Lorcan O'Toole (born 17 March 1983), when O'Toole was fifty years old. Lorcan, now an actor, was a pupil at Harrow School, boarding at West Acre from 1996. Sports. O'Toole played rugby league as a child in Leeds and was also a rugby union fan, attending Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris, Kenneth Griffith, Peter Finch and Richard Burton. He was also a lifelong player, coach and enthusiast of cricket and a fan of Sunderland A.F.C. His support of Sunderland was passed on to him through his father, who was a labourer in Sunderland for many years. He was named their most famous fan. The actor in a later interview expressed that he no longer considered himself as much of a fan following the demolition of Roker Park and the subsequent move to the Stadium of Light. He described Roker Park as his last connection to the club and that everything "they meant to him was when they were at Roker Park". O'Toole was interviewed at least three times by Charlie Rose on his eponymous talk show. In a 17 January 2007 interview, O'Toole stated that British actor Eric Porter had most influenced him, adding that the difference between actors of yesterday and today is that actors of his generation were trained for "theatre, theatre, theatre". He also believes that the challenge for the actor is "to use his imagination to link to his emotion" and that "good parts make good actors". However, in other venues (including the DVD commentary for "Becket"), O'Toole credited Donald Wolfit as being his most important mentor. Health. Severe illness almost ended O'Toole's life in the late 1970s. His stomach cancer was misdiagnosed as resulting from his alcoholic excess. O'Toole underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin-dependent diabetes. In 1978, he nearly died from a blood disorder. He eventually recovered and returned to work. He resided on the Sky Road, just outside Clifden, Connemara, County Galway from 1963, and at the height of his career maintained homes in Dublin, London and Paris (at the Ritz, which was where his character supposedly lived in the film "How to Steal a Million"). In an interview with National Public Radio in December 2006, O'Toole revealed that he knew all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets. A self-described romantic, O'Toole said of the sonnets that nothing in the English language compares with them, and read them daily. In "Venus", he recites Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"). O'Toole wrote two memoirs. "Loitering With Intent: The Child" chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to World War II and was a "New York Times" Notable Book of the Year in 1992. His second, "Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice", is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Death. O'Toole retired from acting in July 2012 owing to a recurrence of stomach cancer. He died on 14 December 2013 at Wellington Hospital in St John's Wood, London, at the age of 81. His funeral was held at Golders Green Crematorium in London on 21 December 2013, where his body was cremated in a wicker coffin. His family stated their intention to fulfil his wishes and take his ashes to the west of Ireland. Legacy. On 18 May 2014, a new prize was launched in memory of Peter O'Toole at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School; this includes an annual award given to two young actors from the School, including a professional contract at Bristol Old Vic Theatre. He has a memorial plaque in St Paul's, the Actors' Church in Covent Garden, London. On 21 April 2017, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin announced that Kate O'Toole had placed her father's archive at the humanities research centre. The collection includes O'Toole's scripts, extensive published and unpublished writings, props, photographs, letters, medical records, and more. It joins the archives of several of O'Toole's collaborators and friends including Donald Wolfit, Eli Wallach, Peter Glenville, Sir Tom Stoppard, and Dame Edith Evans. Awards and honours. O'Toole was the recipient of numerous nominations and awards. He was offered a knighthood but rejected it in objection to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's policies. He received four Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA Award for Best British Actor (for "Lawrence of Arabia") and one Primetime Emmy Award. Academy Award nominations O'Toole was nominated eight times for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but was never able to win a competitive Oscar. In 2002, the Academy honoured him with an Academy Honorary Award for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film. O'Toole initially balked about accepting, and wrote the Academy a letter saying that he was "still in the game" and would like more time to "win the lovely bugger outright". The Academy informed him that they would bestow the award whether he wanted it or not. He told "Charlie Rose" in January 2007 that his children admonished him, saying that it was the highest honour one could receive in the filmmaking industry. O'Toole agreed to appear at the ceremony and receive his Honorary Oscar. It was presented to him by Meryl Streep, who has the most Oscar nominations of any actor or actress (21). He joked with Robert Osborne, during an interview at Turner Classic Movies' film festival that he's the "Biggest Loser of All Time", due to his lack of an Academy Award, after many nominations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63342

P. G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls. Born in Guildford, the third son of a British magistrate based in Hong Kong, Wodehouse spent happy teenage years at Dulwich College, to which he remained devoted all his life. After leaving school he was employed by a bank but disliked the work and turned to writing in his spare time. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction. Most of Wodehouse's fiction is set in his native United Kingdom, although he spent much of his life in the US and used New York and Hollywood as settings for some of his novels and short stories. He wrote a series of Broadway musical comedies during and after the First World War, together with Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern, that played an important part in the development of the American musical. He began the 1930s writing for MGM in Hollywood. In a 1931 interview, his naive revelations of incompetence and extravagance in the studios caused a furore. In the same decade, his literary career reached a new peak. In 1934 Wodehouse moved to France for tax reasons; in 1940 he was taken prisoner at Le Touquet by the invading Germans and interned for nearly a year. After his release he made six broadcasts from German radio in Berlin to the US, which had not yet entered the war. The talks were comic and apolitical, but his broadcasting over enemy radio prompted anger and strident controversy in Britain, and a threat of prosecution. Wodehouse never returned to England. From 1947 until his death he lived in the US, taking dual British-American citizenship in 1955. He died in 1975, at the age of 93, in Southampton, New York, one month after he was awarded a knighthood of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). Wodehouse was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing more than ninety books, forty plays, two hundred short stories and other writings between 1902 and 1974. He worked extensively on his books, sometimes having two or more in preparation simultaneously. He would take up to two years to build a plot and write a scenario of about thirty thousand words. After the scenario was complete he would write the story. Early in his career Wodehouse would produce a novel in about three months, but he slowed in old age to around six months. He used a mixture of Edwardian slang, quotations from and allusions to numerous poets, and several literary techniques to produce a prose style that has been compared to comic poetry and musical comedy. Some critics of Wodehouse have considered his work flippant, but among his fans are former British prime ministers and many of his fellow writers. Life and career. Early years. Wodehouse was born in Guildford, Surrey, the third son of Henry Ernest Wodehouse (1845–1929), a magistrate resident in the British colony of Hong Kong, and his wife, Eleanor (1861–1941), daughter of the Rev John Bathurst Deane. The Wodehouses, who traced their ancestry back to the 13th century, belonged to a cadet branch of the family of the earls of Kimberley. Eleanor Wodehouse was also of ancient aristocratic ancestry. She was visiting her sister in Guildford when Wodehouse was born there prematurely. The boy was baptised at the Church of St Nicolas, Guildford, and was named after his godfather, Pelham von Donop. Wodehouse wrote in 1957, "If you ask me to tell you frankly if I like the name Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, I must confess that I do not... I was named after a godfather, and not a thing to show for it but a small silver mug which I lost in 1897." The first name was rapidly elided to "Plum", the name by which Wodehouse became known to family and friends. Mother and son sailed for Hong Kong, where for his first two years Wodehouse was raised by a Chinese amah (nurse), alongside his elder brothers Peveril (1877–1951) and Armine (1879–1936). When he was two, the brothers were brought to England, where they were placed under the care of an English nanny in a house adjoining that of Eleanor's father and mother. The boys' parents returned to Hong Kong and became virtual strangers to their sons. Such an arrangement was then normal for middle-class families based in the colonies. The lack of parental contact, and the harsh regime of some of those "in loco parentis", left permanent emotional scars on many children from similar backgrounds, including the writers Thackeray, Saki, Kipling and Walpole. Wodehouse was more fortunate; his nanny, Emma Roper, was strict but not unkind, and both with her and later at his different schools Wodehouse had a generally happy childhood. His recollection was that "it went like a breeze from start to finish, with everybody I met understanding me perfectly". The biographer Robert McCrum suggests that nonetheless Wodehouse's isolation from his parents left a psychological mark, causing him to avoid emotional engagement both in life and in his works. Another biographer, Frances Donaldson, writes, "Deprived so early, not merely of maternal love, but of home life and even a stable background, Wodehouse consoled himself from the youngest age in an imaginary world of his own." In 1886 the brothers were sent to a dame-school in Croydon, where they spent three years. Peveril was then found to have a "weak chest"; sea air was prescribed, and the three boys were moved to Elizabeth College on the island of Guernsey. In 1891 Wodehouse went on to Malvern House Preparatory School in Kent, which concentrated on preparing its pupils for entry to the Royal Navy. His father had planned a naval career for him, but the boy's eyesight was found to be too poor for it. He was unimpressed by the school's narrow curriculum and zealous discipline; he later parodied it in his novels, with Bertie Wooster recalling his early years as a pupil at a "penitentiary... with the outward guise of a prep school" called Malvern House. Throughout their school years the brothers were sent to stay during the holidays with various uncles and aunts from both sides of the family. In the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Iain Sproat counts twenty aunts and considers that they played an important part not only in Wodehouse's early life, but, thinly disguised, in his mature novels, as the formidable aunts who dominate the action in the Wooster, Blandings, and other stories. The boys had fifteen uncles, four of whom were clergymen. Sproat writes that they inspired Wodehouse's "pious but fallible curates, vicars, and bishops, of which he wrote with friendly irreverence but without mockery". At the age of twelve in 1894, to his great joy, Wodehouse was able to follow his brother Armine to Dulwich College. He was entirely at home there; Donaldson comments that Dulwich gave him, for the first time, "some continuity and a stable and ordered life". He loved the camaraderie, distinguished himself at cricket, rugby and boxing, and was a good, if not consistently diligent, student. The headmaster at the time was A. H. Gilkes, a respected classicist, who was a strong influence on Wodehouse. In a study of Wodehouse's works, Richard Usborne argues that "only a writer who was himself a scholar and had had his face ground into Latin and Greek (especially Thucydides) as a boy" could sustain the complex sequences of subordinate clauses sometimes found in Wodehouse's comic prose. Wodehouse's six years at Dulwich were among the happiest of his life: "To me the years between 1894 and 1900 were like heaven." In addition to his sporting achievements he was a good singer and enjoyed taking part in school concerts; his literary leanings found an outlet in editing the school magazine, "The Alleynian". For the rest of his life he remained devoted to the school. The biographer Barry Phelps writes that Wodehouse "loved the college as much as he loved anything or anybody". Reluctant banker; budding writer: 1900–1908. Wodehouse expected to follow Armine to the University of Oxford, but the family's finances took a turn for the worse at the crucial moment. Ernest Wodehouse had retired in 1895, and his pension was paid in rupees; fluctuation against the pound reduced its value in Britain. Wodehouse recalled, "The wolf was not actually whining at the door and there was always a little something in the kitty for the butcher and the grocer, but the finances would not run to anything in the nature of a splash". Instead of a university career, in September 1900 Wodehouse was engaged in a junior position in the London office of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. He was unsuited to it and found the work baffling and uncongenial. He later wrote a humorous account of his experiences at the bank, but at the time he longed for the end of each working day, when he could return to his rented lodgings in Chelsea and write. At first he concentrated, with some success, on serious articles about school sports for "Public School Magazine". In November 1900 his first comic piece, "Men Who Missed Their Own Weddings", was accepted by "Tit-Bits". A new magazine for boys, "The Captain", provided further well-paid opportunities, and during his two years at the bank, Wodehouse had eighty pieces published in a total of nine magazines. In 1901, with the help of a former Dulwich master, William Beach Thomas, Wodehouse secured an appointment—at first temporary and later permanent—writing for "The Globe"s popular "By the Way" column. He held the post until 1909. At around the same time his first novel was published—a school story called "The Pothunters", serialised incomplete in "Public School Magazine" in early 1902, and issued in full in hardback in September. He resigned from the bank that month to devote himself to writing full-time. Between the publication of "The Pothunters" 1902 and that of "Mike" in 1909, Wodehouse wrote eight novels and co-wrote another two. The critic R. D. B. French writes that, of Wodehouse's work from this period, almost all that deserves to survive is the school fiction. Looking back in the 1950s Wodehouse viewed these as his apprentice years: "I was practically in swaddling clothes and it is extremely creditable to me that I was able to write at all." From his boyhood Wodehouse had been fascinated by America, which he conceived of as "a land of romance"; he "yearned" to visit the country, and by 1904 he had earned enough to do so. In April he sailed to New York, which he found greatly to his liking. He noted in his diary: "In New York gathering experience. Worth many guineas in the future but none for the moment." This prediction proved correct: few British writers had first-hand experience of the US, and his articles about life in New York brought him higher than usual fees. He later recalled that "in 1904 anyone in the London writing world who had been to America was regarded with awe and looked upon as an authority on that "terra incognita"... After that trip to New York I was a man who counted... My income rose like a rocketing pheasant." Wodehouse's other new venture in 1904 was writing for the stage. Towards the end of the year the librettist Owen Hall invited him to contribute an additional lyric for a musical comedy "Sergeant Brue". Wodehouse had loved theatre since his first visit, aged thirteen, when Gilbert and Sullivan's "Patience" had made him "drunk with ecstasy". His lyric for Hall, "Put Me in My Little Cell", was a Gilbertian number for a trio of comic crooks, with music by Frederick Rosse; it was well received and launched Wodehouse on a career as a theatre writer that spanned three decades. Although it made little impact on its first publication, the 1906 novel "Love Among the Chickens" contained what French calls the author's first original comic creation: Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge. The character, an amoral, bungling opportunist, is partly based on Wodehouse's "Globe" colleague Herbert Westbrook. The two collaborated between 1907 and 1913 on two books, two music hall sketches, and a play, "Brother Alfred". Wodehouse would return to the character in short stories over the next six decades. In early 1906 the actor-manager Seymour Hicks invited Wodehouse to become resident lyricist at the Aldwych Theatre, to add topical verses to newly imported or long-running shows. Hicks had already recruited the young Jerome Kern to write the music for such songs. The first Kern-Wodehouse collaboration, a comic number for "The Beauty of Bath" titled "Mr [Joseph] Chamberlain", was a show-stopper and was briefly the most popular song in London. Psmith, Blandings, Wooster and Jeeves: 1908–1915. Wodehouse's early period as a writer came to an end in 1908 with the serialisation of "The Lost Lambs", published the following year in book form as the second half of the novel "Mike". The work begins as a conventional school story, but Wodehouse introduces a new and strikingly original character, Psmith, whose creation both Evelyn Waugh and George Orwell regarded as a watershed in Wodehouse's development. Wodehouse said that he based Psmith on the hotelier and impresario Rupert D'Oyly Carte—"the only thing in my literary career which was handed to me on a silver plate with watercress around it". Wodehouse wrote in the 1970s that a cousin of his who had been at school with Carte told him of the latter's monocle, studied suavity, and stateliness of speech, all of which Wodehouse adopted for his new character. Psmith featured in three more novels: "Psmith in the City" (1910), a burlesque of banking; "Psmith, Journalist" (1915) set in New York; and "Leave It to Psmith" (1923), set at Blandings Castle. In May 1909 Wodehouse made his second visit to New York, where he sold two short stories to "Cosmopolitan" and "Collier's" for a total of $500, a much higher fee than he had commanded previously. He resigned from "The Globe" and stayed in New York for nearly a year. He sold many more stories, but none of the American publications offered a permanent relationship and guaranteed income. Wodehouse returned to England in late 1910, rejoining "The Globe" and also contributing regularly to "The Strand Magazine". Between then and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he revisited America frequently. Wodehouse was in New York when the war began. Ineligible for military service because of his poor eyesight, he remained in the US throughout the war, detached from the conflict in Europe and absorbed in his theatrical and literary concerns. In September 1914 he married Ethel May Wayman, "née" Newton (1885–1984), an English widow. The marriage proved happy and lifelong. Ethel's personality was in contrast with her husband's: he was shy and impractical; she was gregarious, decisive and well organised. In Sproat's phrase, she "took charge of Wodehouse's life and made certain that he had the peace and quiet he needed to write". There were no children of the marriage, but Wodehouse came to love Ethel's daughter Leonora (1905–1944) and legally adopted her. Wodehouse experimented with different genres of fiction in these years; "Psmith, Journalist", mixing comedy with social comment on slum landlords and racketeers, was published in 1915. In the same year "The Saturday Evening Post" paid $3,500 to serialise "Something New", the first of what became a series of novels set at Blandings Castle. It was published in hardback in the US and the UK in the same year (the British edition being retitled "Something Fresh"). It was Wodehouse's first farcical novel; it was also his first best-seller, and although his later books included some gentler, lightly sentimental stories, it was as a farceur that he became known. Later in the same year "Extricating Young Gussie", the first story about Bertie and Jeeves, was published. These stories introduced two sets of characters about whom Wodehouse wrote for the rest of his life. The Blandings Castle stories, set in an English stately home, depict the attempts of the placid Lord Emsworth to evade the many distractions around him, which include successive pairs of young lovers, the machinations of his exuberant brother Galahad, the demands of his domineering sisters and super-efficient secretaries, and anything detrimental to his prize sow, the Empress of Blandings. The Bertie and Jeeves stories feature an amiable young man-about-town, regularly rescued from the consequences of his idiocy by the benign interference of his valet. Broadway: 1915–1919. A third milestone in Wodehouse's life came towards the end of 1915: his old songwriting partner Jerome Kern introduced him to the writer Guy Bolton, who became Wodehouse's closest friend and a regular collaborator. Bolton and Kern had a musical, "Very Good Eddie", running at the Princess Theatre in New York. The show was successful, but they thought the song lyrics weak and invited Wodehouse to join them on its successor. This was "Miss Springtime" (1916), which ran for 227 performances—a good run by the standards of the day. The team produced several more successes, including "Leave It to Jane" (1917), "Oh, Boy!" (1917–18) and "Oh, Lady! Lady!!" (1918), and Wodehouse and Bolton wrote a few more shows with other composers. In these musicals Wodehouse's lyrics won high praise from critics as well as fellow lyricists such as Ira Gershwin. Unlike his original model, Gilbert, Wodehouse preferred the music to be written first, fitting his words into the melodies. Donaldson suggests that this is the reason why his lyrics have largely been overlooked in recent years: they fit the music perfectly, but do not stand on their own in verse form as Gilbert's do. Nonetheless, Donaldson adds, the book and lyrics for the Princess Theatre shows made the collaborators an enormous fortune and played an important part in the development of the American musical. In the "Grove Dictionary of American Music" Larry Stempel writes, "By presenting naturalistic stories and characters and attempting to integrate the songs and lyrics into the action of the libretto, these works brought a new level of intimacy, cohesion, and sophistication to American musical comedy." The theatre writer Gerald Bordman calls Wodehouse "the most observant, literate, and witty lyricist of his day". The composer Richard Rodgers wrote, "Before Larry Hart, only P.G. Wodehouse had made any real assault on the intelligence of the song-listening public." 1920s. In the years after the war, Wodehouse steadily increased his sales, polished his existing characters and introduced new ones. Bertie and Jeeves, Lord Emsworth and his circle, and Ukridge appeared in novels and short stories; Psmith made his fourth and last appearance; two new characters were the Oldest Member, narrating his series of golfing stories, and Mr Mulliner, telling his particularly tall tales to fellow patrons of the bar at the Angler's Rest. Various other young men-about-town appeared in short stories about members of the Drones Club. The Wodehouses returned to England, where they had a house in London for some years, but Wodehouse continued to cross the Atlantic frequently, spending substantial periods in New York. He continued to work in the theatre. During the 1920s he collaborated on nine musical comedies produced on Broadway or in the West End, including the long-running "Sally" (1920, New York), "The Cabaret Girl" (1922, London) and "Rosalie" (1928, New York). He also wrote non-musical plays, including "The Play's the Thing" (1926), adapted from Ferenc Molnár, and "A Damsel in Distress" (1928), a dramatisation of his 1919 novel. Though never a naturally gregarious man, Wodehouse was more sociable in the 1920s than at other periods. Donaldson lists among those with whom he was on friendly terms writers including A. A. Milne, Ian Hay, Frederick Lonsdale and E. Phillips Oppenheim, and stage performers including George Grossmith Jr., Heather Thatcher and Dorothy Dickson. Hollywood: 1929–1931. There had been films of Wodehouse stories since 1915, when "A Gentleman of Leisure" was based on his 1910 novel of the same name. Further screen adaptations of his books were made between then and 1927, but it was not until 1929 that Wodehouse went to Hollywood where Bolton was working as a highly paid writer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Ethel was taken with both the financial and social aspects of Hollywood life, and she negotiated a contract with MGM on her husband's behalf under which he would be paid $2,000 a week. This large salary was particularly welcome because the couple had lost considerable sums in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The contract started in May 1930, but the studio found little for Wodehouse to do, and he had spare time to write a novel and nine short stories. He commented, "It's odd how soon one comes to look on every minute as wasted that is given to earning one's salary." Even when the studio found a project for him to work on, the interventions of committees and constant rewriting by numerous contract authors meant that his ideas were rarely used. In a 2005 study of Wodehouse in Hollywood, Brian Taves writes that "Those Three French Girls" (1930) was "as close to a success as Wodehouse was to have at MGM. His only other credits were minimal, and the other projects he worked on were not produced." Wodehouse's contract ended after a year and was not renewed. At MGM's request, he gave an interview to "The Los Angeles Times". Wodehouse was described by Herbert Warren Wind as "politically naive [and] fundamentally unworldly", and he caused a sensation by saying publicly what he had already told his friends privately about Hollywood's inefficiency, arbitrary decision-making, and waste of expensive talent. The interview was reprinted in "The New York Times", and there was much editorial comment about the state of the film industry. Many writers have considered that the interview precipitated a radical overhaul of the studio system, but Taves believes it to have been "a storm in a teacup", and Donaldson comments that, in the straitened post-crash era, the reforms would have been inevitable. Wind's view of Wodehouse's naïveté is not universally held. Biographers including Donaldson, McCrum and Phelps suggest that his unworldliness was only part of a complex character, and that in some respects he was highly astute. He was unsparing of the studio owners in his early-1930s short stories set in Hollywood, which contain what Taves considers Wodehouse's sharpest and most biting satire. Best-seller: 1930s. During the 1930s Wodehouse's theatrical work tailed off. He wrote or adapted four plays for the West End; "Leave it to Psmith" (1930), which he adapted in collaboration with Ian Hay, was the only one to have a long run. The reviewer in "The Manchester Guardian" praised the play, but commented: "It is Mr Wodehouse's own inimitable narrative comments and descriptions in his own person of the antics of his puppets that one misses. They cannot be got into a play and they are at least half the fun of the novels." In 1934 Wodehouse collaborated with Bolton on the book for Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" (Porter wrote his own lyrics), but at the last minute their version was almost entirely rewritten by others at the instigation of the producer, who disliked the original script. Concentrating on writing novels and short stories, Wodehouse reached the peak of his productivity in this decade, averaging two books each year, and grossing an annual £100,000. His practice of dividing his time between Britain and America caused Wodehouse difficulties with the tax authorities of both countries. Both the UK Inland Revenue and the US Internal Revenue Service sought to tax him as a resident. The matter was settled after lengthy negotiations, but the Wodehouses decided to change their residential status beyond doubt by moving to France, where they bought a house near Le Touquet in the north. In 1935 Wodehouse created the last of his regular cast of principal characters, Lord Ickenham, otherwise known as Uncle Fred, who, in Usborne's words, "leads the dance in four novels and a short story... a whirring dynamo of misrule". His other books from the decade include "Right Ho, Jeeves", which Donaldson judged his best work, "Uncle Fred in the Springtime", which the writer Bernard Levin considered the best, and "Blandings Castle", which contains "Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend", which Rudyard Kipling thought "one of the most perfect short stories I have ever read". Other leading literary figures who admired Wodehouse were A. E. Housman, Max Beerbohm and Hilaire Belloc; on the radio and in print Belloc called Wodehouse "the best writer of our time: the best living writer of English... the head of my profession". Wodehouse regarded Belloc's plaudit as "a gag, to get a rise out of serious-minded authors whom he disliked". Wodehouse was never sure that his books had literary merit as well as popular appeal, and, Donaldson suggests, must have been overwhelmed when the University of Oxford conferred an honorary doctorate of letters on him in June 1939. His visit to England for the awarding ceremony was the last time he set foot in his native land. Second World War: internment and broadcasts. At the start of the Second World War Wodehouse and his wife remained at their Le Touquet house, where, during the Phoney War, he worked on "Joy in the Morning". With the advance of the Germans, the nearby Royal Air Force base withdrew; Wodehouse was offered the sole spare seat in one of the fighter aircraft, but he turned down the opportunity as it would have meant leaving behind Ethel and their dog. On 21 May 1940, with German troops advancing through northern France, the Wodehouses decided to drive to Portugal and fly from there to the US. Two miles from home their car broke down, so they returned and borrowed a car from a neighbour; with the routes blocked with refugees, they returned home again. The Germans occupied Le Touquet on 22 May 1940 and Wodehouse had to report to the authorities daily. After two months of occupation the Germans interned all male enemy nationals under 60, and Wodehouse was sent to a former prison in Loos, a suburb of Lille, on 21 July; Ethel remained in Le Touquet. The internees were placed four to a cell, each of which had been designed for one man. One bed was available per cell, which was made available to the eldest man—not Wodehouse, who slept on the granite floor. The prisoners were not kept long in Loos before they were transported in cattle trucks to a former barracks in Liège, Belgium, which was run as a prison by the SS. After a week the men were transferred to Huy in Liège Province, where they were incarcerated in the local citadel. They remained there until September 1940, when they were transported to Tost in Upper Silesia (then Germany, now Toszek in Poland). Wodehouse's family and friends had not had any news of his location after the fall of France, but an article from an Associated Press reporter who had visited Tost in December 1940 led to pressure on the German authorities to release the novelist. This included a petition from influential people in the US; Senator W. Warren Barbour presented it to the German ambassador. Although his captors refused to release him, Wodehouse was provided with a typewriter and, to pass the time, he wrote "Money in the Bank". Throughout his time in Tost, he sent postcards to his US literary agent asking for $5 to be sent to various people in Canada, mentioning his name. These were the families of Canadian prisoners of war, and the news from Wodehouse was the first indication that their sons were alive and well. Wodehouse risked severe punishment for the communication, but managed to evade the German censor. On 21 June 1941, while he was in the middle of playing a game of cricket, Wodehouse received a visit from two members of the Gestapo. He was given ten minutes to pack his things before he was taken to the Hotel Adlon, a top luxury hotel in Berlin. He stayed there at his own expense; royalties from the German editions of his books had been put into a special frozen bank account at the outset of the war, and Wodehouse was permitted to draw upon this money he had earned while staying in Berlin. He was thus released from internment a few months before his sixtieth birthday—the age at which civilian internees were released by the Nazis. Shortly afterwards Wodehouse was, in the words of Phelps, "cleverly trapped" into making five broadcasts to the US via German radio, with the Berlin-based correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System. The broadcasts—aired on 28 June, 9, 23 and 30 July and 6 August—were titled "How to be an Internee Without Previous Training", and comprised humorous anecdotes about Wodehouse's experiences as a prisoner, including some gentle mocking of his captors. The German propaganda ministry arranged for the recordings to be broadcast to Britain in August. The day after Wodehouse recorded his final programme, Ethel joined him in Berlin, having sold most of her jewellery to pay for the journey. Aftermath: reactions and investigation. The reaction in Britain to Wodehouse's broadcasts was hostile, and he was "reviled ... as a traitor, collaborator, Nazi propagandist, and a coward", although, Phelps observes, many of those who decried his actions had not heard the content of the programmes. A front-page article in "The Daily Mirror" stated that Wodehouse "lived luxuriously because Britain laughed with him, but when the laughter was out of his country's heart, ... [he] was not ready to share her suffering. He hadn't the guts ... even to stick it out in the internment camp." In the House of Commons Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, regretted Wodehouse's actions. Several libraries removed Wodehouse novels from their shelves. On 15 July the journalist William Connor, under his pen name Cassandra, broadcast a postscript to the news programme railing against Wodehouse. According to "The Times", the broadcast "provoked a storm of complaint ... from listeners all over the country". Wodehouse's biographer, Joseph Connolly, thinks the broadcast "inaccurate, spiteful and slanderous"; Phelps calls it "probably the most vituperative attack on an individual ever heard on British radio". The broadcast was made at the direct instruction of Duff Cooper, the Minister of Information, who overruled strong protests made by the BBC against the decision to air the programme. Numerous letters appeared in the British press, both supporting and criticising Wodehouse. The letters page of "The Daily Telegraph" became a focus for censuring Wodehouse, including one from Wodehouse's friend, ; a reply from their fellow author Compton Mackenzie in defence of Wodehouse was not published because the editor claimed a lack of space. Most of those defending Wodehouse against accusations of disloyalty, including Sax Rohmer, Dorothy L. Sayers and Gilbert Frankau, conceded that he had acted stupidly. Some members of the public wrote to the newspapers to say that the full facts were not yet known and a fair judgment could not be made until they were. The management of the BBC, who considered Wodehouse's actions no worse than "ill advised", pointed out to Cooper that there was no evidence at that point whether Wodehouse had acted voluntarily or under compulsion. When Wodehouse heard of the furore the broadcasts had caused, he contacted the Foreign Office—through the Swiss embassy in Berlin—to explain his actions, and attempted to return home via neutral countries, but the German authorities refused to let him leave. In "Performing Flea", a 1953 collection of letters, Wodehouse wrote, "Of course I ought to have had the sense to see that it was a loony thing to do to use the German radio for even the most harmless stuff, but I didn't. I suppose prison life saps the intellect". The reaction in America was mixed: the left-leaning publication "PM" accused Wodehouse of "play[ing] Jeeves to the Nazis", but the Department of War used the interviews as an ideal representation of anti-Nazi propaganda. The Wodehouses remained in Germany until September 1943, when, because of the Allied bombings, they were allowed to move back to Paris. They were living there when the city was liberated on 25 August 1944; Wodehouse reported to the American authorities the following day, asking them to inform the British of his whereabouts. He was subsequently visited by Malcolm Muggeridge, recently arrived in Paris as an intelligence officer with MI6. The young officer quickly came to like Wodehouse and considered the question of treasonable behaviour as "ludicrous"; he summed up the writer as "ill-fitted to live in an age of ideological conflict". On 9 September Wodehouse was visited by an MI5 officer and former barrister, Major Edward Cussen, who formally investigated him, a process that stretched over four days. On 28 September Cussen filed his report, which states that in regard to the broadcasts, Wodehouse's behaviour "has been unwise", but advised against further action. On 23 November Theobald Matthew, the Director of Public Prosecutions, decided there was no evidence to justify prosecuting Wodehouse. In November 1944 Duff Cooper was appointed British ambassador to France and was provided accommodation at the Hôtel Le Bristol, where the Wodehouses were living. Cooper complained to the French authorities, and the couple were moved to a different hotel. The Wodehouses were subsequently arrested by French police and placed under preventive detention, despite no charges being presented. When Muggeridge tracked them down later, he managed to get Ethel released straight away and, four days later, ensured that the French authorities declared Wodehouse unwell and put him in a nearby hospital, which was more comfortable than where they had been detained. While in this hospital, Wodehouse worked on his novel "Uncle Dynamite". While still detained by the French, Wodehouse was again mentioned in questions in the House of Commons in December 1944 when MPs wondered if the French authorities could repatriate him to stand trial. Eden stated that the "matter has been gone into, and, according to the advice given, there are no grounds upon which we could take action". Two months later, Orwell wrote the essay "In Defence of P.G. Wodehouse", where he stated that "it is important to realise that the events of 1941 do not convict Wodehouse of anything worse than stupidity". Orwell's rationale was that Wodehouse's "moral outlook has remained that of a public-school boy, and according to the public-school code, treachery in time of war is the most unforgivable of all the sins", which was compounded by his "complete lack—so far as one can judge from his printed works—of political awareness". On 15 January 1945 the French authorities released Wodehouse, but they did not inform him, until June 1946, that he would not face any official charges and was free to leave the country. American exile: 1946–1975. Having secured American visas in July 1946, the Wodehouses made preparations to return to New York. They were delayed by Ethel's insistence on acquiring suitable new clothes and by Wodehouse's wish to finish writing his current novel, "The Mating Season", in the peace of the French countryside. In April 1947 they sailed to New York, where Wodehouse was relieved at the friendly reception he received from the large press contingent awaiting his arrival. Ethel secured a comfortable penthouse apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side, but Wodehouse was not at ease. The New York that he had known before the war was much changed. The magazines that had paid lavishly for his stories were in decline, and those that remained were not much interested in him. He was sounded out about writing for Broadway, but he was not at home in the post-war theatre; he had money problems, with large sums temporarily tied up in Britain, and for the first time in his career he had no ideas for a new novel. He did not complete one until 1951. Wodehouse remained unsettled until he and Ethel left New York City for Long Island. Bolton and his wife lived in the prosperous hamlet of Remsenburg, part of the Southampton area of Long Island, east of Manhattan. Wodehouse stayed with them frequently, and in 1952 he and Ethel bought a house nearby. They lived at Remsenburg for the rest of their lives. Between 1952 and 1975 he published more than twenty novels, as well as two collections of short stories, a heavily edited collection of his letters, a volume of memoirs, and a selection of his magazine articles. He continued to hanker after a revival of his theatrical career. A 1959 off-Broadway revival of the 1917 Bolton-Wodehouse-Kern "Leave It to Jane" was a surprise hit, running for 928 performances, but his few post-war stage works, some in collaboration with Bolton, made little impression. Although Ethel made a return visit to England in 1948 to shop and visit family and friends, Wodehouse never left America after his arrival in 1947. It was not until 1965 that the British government indicated privately that he could return without fear of legal proceedings, and by then he felt too old to make the journey. The biographers Benny Green and Robert McCrum both take the view that this exile benefited Wodehouse's writing, helping him to go on depicting an idealised England seen in his mind's eye, rather than as it actually was in the post-war decades. During their years in Long Island, the couple often took in stray animals and contributed substantial funds to a local animal shelter. In 1955 Wodehouse became an American citizen, though he remained a British subject, and was therefore still eligible for UK state honours. He was considered for the award of a knighthood three times from 1967, but the honour was twice blocked by British officials. In 1974 the British prime minister, Harold Wilson, intervened to secure a knighthood (KBE) for Wodehouse, which was announced in the January 1975 New Year Honours list. "The Times" commented that Wodehouse's honour signalled "official forgiveness for his wartime indiscretion... It is late, but not too late, to take the sting out of that unhappy incident." The following month Wodehouse entered Southampton Hospital, Long Island, for treatment of a skin complaint. While there, he suffered a heart attack and died on 14 February 1975 at the age of 93. He was buried at Remsenburg Presbyterian Church four days later. Ethel outlived him by more than nine years; Leonora had predeceased him, dying suddenly in 1944. Writing. Technique and approach. Before starting a book Wodehouse would write up to four hundred pages of notes bringing together an outline of the plot; he acknowledged that "It's the plots that I find so hard to work out. It takes such a long time to work one out." He always completed the plot before working on specific character actions. For a novel the note-writing process could take up to two years, and he would usually have two or more novels in preparation simultaneously. After he had completed his notes, he would draw up a fuller scenario of about thirty thousand words, which ensured plot holes were avoided, and allowed for the dialogue to begin to develop. When interviewed in 1975 he revealed that "For a humorous novel you've got to have a scenario, and you've got to test it so that you know where the comedy comes in, where the situations come in ... splitting it up into scenes (you can make a scene of almost anything) and have as little stuff in between as possible." He preferred working between 4 and 7 pm—but never after dinner—and would work seven days a week. In his younger years, he would write around two to three thousand words a day, although he slowed as he aged, so that in his nineties he would produce a thousand. The reduced speed in writing slowed his production of books: when younger he would produce a novel in about three months, while "Bachelors Anonymous", published in 1973, took around six months. Although studies of language production in normal healthy ageing show a marked decline from the mid-70s on, a study of Wodehouse's works did not find any evidence of a decline in linguistic ability with age. Wodehouse believed that one of the factors that made his stories humorous was his view of life, and he stated that "If you take life fairly easily, then you take a humorous view of things. It's probably because you were born that way." He carried this view through into his writing, describing the approach as "making the thing a sort of musical comedy without music, and ignoring real life altogether". The literary critic Edward L. Galligan considers Wodehouse's stories to show his mastery in adapting the form of the American musical comedy for his writings. Wodehouse would ensure that his first draft was as carefully and accurately done as possible, correcting and refining the prose as he wrote, and would then make another good copy, before proofreading again and then making a final copy for his publisher. Most of Wodehouse's canon is set in an undated period around the 1920s and 1930s. The critic Anthony Lejeune describes the settings of Wodehouse's novels, such as the Drones Club and Blandings Castle, as "a fairyland". Although some critics thought Wodehouse's fiction was based on a world that had never existed, Wodehouse affirmed that "it did. It was going strong between the wars", although he agreed that his version was to some extent "a sort of artificial world of my own creation". The novels showed a largely unchanging world, regardless of when they were written, and only rarely—and mistakenly in McCrum's view—did Wodehouse allow modernity to intrude, as he did in the 1966 story "Bingo Bans the Bomb". When dealing with the dialogue in his novels, Wodehouse would consider the book's characters as if they were actors in a play, ensuring that the main roles were kept suitably employed throughout the storyline, which must be strong: "If they aren't in interesting situations, characters can't be major characters, not even if you have the rest of the troop talk their heads off about them." Many of Wodehouse's parts were stereotypes, and he acknowledged that "a real character in one of my books sticks out like a sore thumb." The publisher Michael Joseph identifies that even within the stereotypes Wodehouse understood human nature, and therefore "shares with [Charles] Dickens and Charles Chaplin the ability to present the comic resistance of the individual against those superior forces to which we are all subject". Much of Wodehouse's use of slang terms reflects the influence of his time at school in Dulwich, and partly reflects Edwardian slang. As a young man he enjoyed the literary works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Jerome K. Jerome, and the operatic works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Wodehouse quotes from and alludes to numerous poets throughout his work. The scholar Clarke Olney lists those quoted, including Milton, Byron, Longfellow, Coleridge, Swinburne, Tennyson, Wordsworth and Shakespeare. Another favoured source was the King James Bible. Language. In 1941 the "Concise Cambridge History of English Literature" opined that Wodehouse had "a gift for highly original aptness of phrase that almost suggests a poet struggling for release among the wild extravagances of farce", while McCrum thinks that Wodehouse manages to combine "high farce with the inverted poetry of his mature comic style", particularly in "The Code of the Woosters"; the novelist Anthony Powell believes Wodehouse to be a "comic poet". Robert A. Hall Jr., in his study of Wodehouse's style and technique, describes the author as a master of prose, an opinion also shared by Levin, who considers Wodehouse "one of the finest and purest writers of English prose". Hall identifies several techniques used by Wodehouse to achieve comic effect, including the creation of new words through adding or removing prefixes and suffixes, so when Pongo Twistleton removes the housemaid Elsie Bean from a cupboard, Wodehouse writes that the character "de-Beaned the cupboard". Wodehouse created new words by splitting others in two, thus Wodehouse divides "hobnobbing" when he writes: "To offer a housemaid a cigarette is not hobbing. Nor, when you light it for her, does that constitute nobbing." Richard Voorhees, Wodehouse's biographer, believes that the author used clichés in a deliberate and ironic manner. His opinion is shared by the academic Stephen Medcalf, who deems Wodehouse's skill is to "bring a cliché just enough to life to kill it", although Pamela March, writing in "The Christian Science Monitor", considers Wodehouse to have "an ability to decliché a cliché". Medcalf provides an example from "Right Ho, Jeeves" in which the teetotal Gussie Fink-Nottle has surreptitiously been given whisky and gin in a punch prior to a prize-giving: <poem>  'It seems to me, Jeeves, that the ceremony may be one fraught with considerable interest.' 'Yes, sir.' 'What, in your opinion, will the harvest be?' 'One finds it difficult to hazard a conjecture, sir.' 'You mean imagination boggles?' 'Yes, sir.' I inspected my imagination. He was right. It boggled. </poem> The stylistic device most commonly found in Wodehouse's work is his use of comparative imagery that includes similes. Hall opines that the humour comes from Wodehouse's ability to accentuate "resemblances which at first glance seem highly incongruous". Examples can be seen in "Joy in the Morning", Chapter 29: "There was a sound in the background like a distant sheep coughing gently on a mountainside. Jeeves sailing into action", or "Psmith", Chapter 7: "A sound like two or three pigs feeding rather noisily in the middle of a thunderstorm interrupted his meditation." Hall also identifies that periodically Wodehouse used the stylistic device of a transferred epithet, with an adjective that properly belongs to a person applied instead to some inanimate object. The form of expression is used sparingly by Wodehouse in comparison with other mechanisms, only once or twice in a story or novel, according to Hall. <poem> "I balanced a thoughtful lump of sugar on the teaspoon." —"Joy in the Morning", Chapter 5 "As I sat in the bath-tub, soaping a meditative foot ..." —"Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit", Chapter 1 "The first thing he did was to prod Jeeves in the lower ribs with an uncouth forefinger." —"Much Obliged, Jeeves", Chapter 4 </poem> Wordplay is a key element in Wodehouse's writing. This can take the form of puns, such as in "Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit", when Bertie is released after a night in the police cells, and says that he has "a pinched look" about him. Linguistic confusion is another humorous mechanism, such as in "Uncle Dynamite" when Constable Potter says he has been "assaulted by the duck pond". In reply, Sir Aylmer, confusing the two meanings of the word "by", asks: "How the devil can you be assaulted by a duck pond?" Wodehouse also uses metaphor and mixed metaphor to add humour. Some come through exaggeration, such as Bingo Little's infant child who "not only has the aspect of a mass murderer, but that of a mass murderer suffering from an ingrown toenail", or Wooster's complaint that "the rumpuses that Bobbie Wickham is already starting may be amusing to her, but not to the unfortunate toads beneath the harrow whom she ruthlessly plunges into the soup." Bertie Wooster's half-forgotten vocabulary also provides a further humorous device. In "Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit" Bertie asks Jeeves "Let a plugugly like young Thos loose in the community with a cosh, and you are inviting disaster and ... what's the word? Something about cats." Jeeves replies, "Cataclysms, sir?" Reception and reputation. Literary reception. Wodehouse's early career as a lyricist and playwright was profitable, and his work with Bolton, according to "The Guardian", "was one of the most successful in the history of musical comedy". At the outbreak of the Second World War he was earning £40,000 a year from his work, which had broadened to include novels and short stories. Following the furore ensuing from the wartime broadcasts, he suffered a downturn in his popularity and book sales; "The Saturday Evening Post" stopped publishing his short stories, a stance they reversed in 1965, although his popularity—and the sales figures—slowly recovered over time. Wodehouse received great praise from many of his contemporaries, including Max Beerbohm, Rudyard Kipling, A. E. Housman and Evelyn Waugh—the last of whom opines, "One has to regard a man as a Master who can produce on average three uniquely brilliant and entirely original similes on each page." There are dissenters to the praise. The writer Alan Bennett thinks that "inspired though his language is, I can never take more than ten pages of the novels at a time, their relentless flippancy wearing and tedious", while the literary critic Q. D. Leavis writes that Wodehouse had a "stereotyped humour ... of ingenious variations on a laugh in one place". In a 2010 study of Wodehouse's few relatively serious novels, such as "The Coming of Bill" (1919), "Jill the Reckless" (1920) and "The Adventures of Sally" (1922), David Heddendorf concludes that though their literary quality does not match that of the farcical novels, they show a range of empathy and interests that in real life—and in his most comic works—the author seemed to lack. "Never oblivious to grief and despair, he opts in clear-eyed awareness for his timeless world of spats and woolly-headed peers. It's an austere, almost bloodless preference for pristine artifice over the pain and messy outcomes of actual existence, but it's a case of Wodehouse keeping faith with his own unique art." The American literary analyst Robert F. Kiernan, defining "camp" as "excessive stylization of whatever kind", brackets Wodehouse as "a master of the camp novel", along with Thomas Love Peacock, Max Beerbohm, Ronald Firbank, E. F. Benson and Ivy Compton-Burnett. The literary critic and writer Cyril Connolly calls Wodehouse a "politicians' author"—one who does "not like art to be exacting and difficult". Two former British prime ministers, H. H. Asquith and Tony Blair, are on record as Wodehouse aficionados, and the latter became a patron of the Wodehouse Society. Seán O'Casey, a successful playwright of the 1920s, thought little of Wodehouse; he commented in 1941 that it was damaging to England's dignity that the public or "the academic government of Oxford, dead from the chin up" considered Wodehouse an important figure in English literature. His jibe that Wodehouse was "English literature's performing flea" provided his target with the title of his collected letters, published in 1953. McCrum, writing in 2004, observes, "Wodehouse is more popular today than on the day he died", and "his comic vision has an absolutely secure place in the English literary imagination." Honours and influence. The proposed nominations of Wodehouse for a knighthood in 1967 and 1971 were blocked for fear that such an award would "revive the controversy of his wartime behaviour and give currency to a Bertie Wooster image of the British character which the embassy was doing its best to eradicate". When Wodehouse was awarded the knighthood, only four years later, the journalist Dennis Barker wrote in "The Guardian" that the writer was "the solitary surviving English literary comic genius". After his death six weeks later, the journalist Michael Davie, writing in the same paper, observed that "Many people regarded ... [Wodehouse] as he regarded Beachcomber, as 'one, if not more than one, of England's greatest men'", while in the view of the obituarist for "The Times" Wodehouse "was a comic genius recognized in his lifetime as a classic and an old master of farce". In September 2019 Wodehouse was commemorated with a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey; the dedication was held two days after it was installed. Since Wodehouse's death there have been numerous adaptations and dramatisations of his work on television and film; Wodehouse himself has been portrayed on radio and screen numerous times. There are several literary societies dedicated to Wodehouse. The P.G. Wodehouse Society (UK) was founded in 1997 and has over 1,000 members as at 2015. The president of the society as at 2017 is Alexander Armstrong; past presidents have included Terry Wogan and Richard Briers. There are also other groups of Wodehouse fans in Australia, Belgium, France, Finland, India, Italy, Russia, Sweden and the US. As at 2015 the "Oxford English Dictionary" contains over 1,750 quotations from Wodehouse, illustrating terms from "crispish" to "zippiness". Voorhees, while acknowledging that Wodehouse's antecedents in literature range from Ben Jonson to Oscar Wilde, writes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63401

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" (1989–1995) and "Jeeves and Wooster" (1990–1993). He has received several awards including nominations for a Golden Globe Award and eleven BAFTA Television Awards. He also starred in the sketch series "Alfresco" (1983–1984) alongside Laurie, Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane, and in "Blackadder" (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011, he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind. Fry's film acting roles include playing his idol Oscar Wilde in the film "Wilde" (1997), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor; Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery "Gosford Park" (2001); and Mr. Johnson in Whit Stillman's "Love & Friendship" (2016). He has also had roles in the films "Chariots of Fire" (1981), "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" (2004), "V for Vendetta" (2005), and "" (2011). He portrays the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland" (2010) and its 2016 sequel, and the Master of Lake-town in the film series adaptation of "The Hobbit". Between 2001 to 2017, he hosted the British Academy Film Awards 12 times. His television roles include Lord Melchett in the BBC television comedy series "Blackadder", the title character in the television series "Kingdom" and "Absolute Power", as well as recurring guest roles as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the American crime series "Bones" and Arthur Garrison MP on the Channel 4 period drama "It's a Sin". He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award-winning "", which saw him explore his bipolar disorder, and the travel series "Stephen Fry in America". He was the longtime host of the BBC television quiz show "QI", with his tenure lasting from 2003 to 2016, during which he was nominated for six British Academy Television Awards. He appears frequently on other panel games, such as the radio programmes "Just a Minute" and "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue". Fry is also known for his work in theatre. In 1984 he adapted "Me and My Girl" for the West End where it ran for eight years and received two Laurence Olivier Awards. After it transferred to Broadway, he received a Tony Award nomination. In 2012 he played Malvolio in "Twelfth Night" at Shakespeare's Globe. The production was then taken to the West End before transferring to Broadway where he received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Fry is also a prolific writer, contributing to newspapers and magazines and has written four novels and three autobiographies. He has lent his voice to numerous projects including the audiobooks for all seven of the "Harry Potter" and Paddington Bear novels. Early life and education. Stephen John Fry was born on 24 August 1957 in the Hampstead area of London, the son of Marianne Eve Fry ("née" Newman) and physicist and inventor Alan John Fry (1930–2019). He has an older brother, Roger, and a younger sister, Joanna. His paternal grandmother, Ella Fry (née Pring), had roots in Cheshire and Kent. The Fry family originates around the Shillingstone and Blandford areas of Dorset; in the early 1800s, Samuel Fry settled in Surrey, with his descendants residing in Middlesex. In his autobiographical writings and elsewhere, Fry has claimed relationship to the Fry family that founded the eponymous chocolate company, John Fry (one of the signatories to the death warrant for Charles I), and the cricketer C. B. Fry. Fry's mother is Jewish, but he was not brought up in a religious family. His maternal grandparents, Martin and Rosa Neumann, were Hungarian Jews who emigrated from Šurany (now in Slovakia) to the UK in 1927. Rosa's parents, who originally lived in Vienna, were sent to a concentration camp in Riga. His mother's aunt and cousins were sent to Auschwitz and Stutthof and never seen again. Fry grew up in the village of Booton, Norfolk, having moved at an early age from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, where he had attended Chesham Preparatory School. He briefly attended Cawston Primary School in Cawston, Norfolk, before going on to Stouts Hill Preparatory School in Uley, Gloucestershire, at the age of seven, and then to Uppingham School in Rutland, where he joined Fircroft house and was described as a "near-asthmatic genius". He took his O-Levels in 1972 at the early age of 14 and passed all except physics, but was expelled from Uppingham half a term into the sixth form. Fry described himself as a "monstrous" child and wrote that he was expelled for "various misdemeanours". He was later dismissed from Paston School, a grant-maintained grammar school that refused to let him progress to study A-Levels. Fry moved to Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, where, after two years in the sixth form studying English, French, and History of Art, he ultimately failed his A-Levels, not turning up for his English and French papers. Over the summer, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen from a family friend. He had taken a coat when leaving a pub, planning to spend the night sleeping rough, but had then discovered the card in a pocket. He was arrested in Swindon and, as a result, spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison on remand. Following his release, he resumed his education at City College Norwich, promising administrators that he would study rigorously and sit the Cambridge entrance exams. In the summer of 1977, he passed two A-Levels in English and French, with grades of A and B. He also received a grade A in an alternative O-Level in the Study of Art and scored a distinction in an S-Level paper in English. Having successfully passed the entrance exams in autumn 1977, Fry was offered a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, for matriculation in autumn 1978, briefly teaching at Cundall Manor School, a preparatory school in North Yorkshire, before taking his place. At Cambridge, he joined the Footlights, appeared on "University Challenge", and read for a degree in English Literature, graduating with upper second-class honours. Fry also met his future comedy collaborator Hugh Laurie (through their mutual friend Emma Thompson) at Cambridge and starred alongside him in the Footlights. Career. 1981–1993: Sketch comedy beginnings. Fry wrote the play "Latin! or Tobacco and Boys" for the 1980 Edinburgh Festival, where it won the Fringe First prize. It had a revival in 2009 at London's Cock Tavern Theatre, directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher. "The Cellar Tapes", the Footlights Revue of 1981, won the Perrier Comedy Award. In 1984, Fry adapted the hugely successful 1930s musical "Me and My Girl" for the West End, where it ran for eight years and received two Laurence Olivier Awards. The show transferred to Broadway and Fry was nominated for a Tony Award for his adaptation. Fry has appeared in numerous advertisements, predominantly on UK television – either on-screen or in voice-over – starting with an appearance as "Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar" in a 1982 advert for Whitbread Best Bitter. Fry has said, in his memoirs, that after receiving his payment for this work – £25,000 – he has never subsequently experienced "what one could call serious money troubles". He has since appeared in adverts for products and companies such as Marks & Spencer, Twinings, Kenco, Vauxhall Motors, Honda, Calpol, Heineken, Alliance & Leicester (a series of adverts which also featured Hugh Laurie), After Eight mints, Direct Line insurance (with Paul Merton), Trebor mints, Virgin Media, Walkers potato crisps (fronting a new flavour), and Sainsbury's supermarket. He filmed a 2016 advertisement where he explains the essence of British culture to foreigners arriving at London's Heathrow Airport. Fry's career in television began with the 1982 broadcasting of "The Cellar Tapes", the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue which was written by Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Tony Slattery. The revue caught the attention of Granada Television, who, keen to replicate the success of the BBC's "Not the Nine O'Clock News", hired Fry, Laurie and Thompson to star alongside Ben Elton in "There's Nothing to Worry About!" A second series, retitled "Alfresco", was broadcast in 1983, and a third in 1984; it established Fry and Laurie's reputation as a comedy double act. In 1983, the BBC offered Fry, Laurie and Thompson their own show, which became "The Crystal Cube", a mixture of science fiction and mockumentary that was cancelled after the first episode. Undeterred, Fry, Laurie and Thompson appeared in "Bambi", an episode of "The Young Ones" from 1984 where they parodied themselves as the "University Challenge" representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge", and Fry also appeared in Ben Elton's 1985 "Happy Families" series. In April 1986, Fry was among the British comedians who appeared in the first live telethon Comic Relief. In 1986 and 1987, Fry and Laurie performed sketches on the LWT/Channel 4 show "Saturday Live". In 1986 the BBC commissioned a sketch show that was to become "A Bit of Fry & Laurie". Following a 1987 pilot, the programme ran for 26 episodes across four series between 1989 and 1995. During this time, Fry starred in "Blackadder II" as Lord Melchett, made a guest appearance in "" as the Duke of Wellington, then returned to a starring role in "Blackadder Goes Forth", as General Melchett. In a 1988 television special, "Blackadder's Christmas Carol", he played the roles of Lord Melchett and Lord Frondo. Between 1990 and 1993, Fry starred as Jeeves (alongside Hugh Laurie's Bertie Wooster) in "Jeeves and Wooster", 23 hour-long adaptations of P. G. Wodehouse's novels and short stories. Fry has appeared in a number of BBC adaptations of plays and books, including a 1992 adaptation of the Simon Gray play "The Common Pursuit" (he had previously appeared in the West End stage production). Having made his film début in the 1985 film "The Good Father", Fry had a brief appearance in "A Fish Called Wanda" (in which he is knocked out by Kevin Kline, who is posing as an airport security man), and then appeared as the eponymous Peter in Kenneth Branagh's "Peter's Friends" in 1992. Fry came to the attention of radio listeners with the 1986 creation of his alter-ego, Donald Trefusis, whose "wireless essays" were broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 programme "Loose Ends". In the 1980s, he starred as David Lander in four series of the BBC Radio 4 show "Delve Special", written by Tony Sarchet, which then became the six-part Channel 4 series "This is David Lander" in 1988. In 1988, Fry wrote and presented a six-part comedy series entitled "Saturday Night Fry". Frequent radio appearances have ensued, notably on panel games "Just a Minute" and "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue". Fry was cast in Simon Gray's "The Common Pursuit" for its first staging in the West End on 7 April 1988, with Rik Mayall, John Sessions, Sarah Berger, Paul Mooney and John Gordon Sinclair, directed by Simon Gray. Fry is a long-standing fan of the anarchic British musical comedy group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and particularly of its eccentric front man, the late Vivian Stanshall. Fry helped to fund a 1988 London re-staging of Stanshall's "Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera", written by Vivian and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall for the Bristol-based Old Profanity Showboat. 1994–2008: Film roles, voice work and "QI". Fry made the publication of his first novel, "The Liar" (1991). Fry has since written three further novels, several non-fiction works and three volumes of autobiography. "Making History" (1996) is partly set in an alternative universe in which Adolf Hitler's father is made infertile and his replacement proves a more effective Führer. The book won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. "The Hippopotamus" (1994) is about Edward (Ted/Tedward) Wallace and his stay at his old friend Lord Logan's country manor in Norfolk. "The Hippopotamus" was later adapted into a 2017 film. "The Stars' Tennis Balls" (2000) is a modern retelling of "The Count of Monte Cristo". Fry's book "" is a guide to writing poetry. When writing a book review for "Tatler", Fry wrote under a pen name, Williver Hendry, editor of "A Most Peculiar Friendship: The Correspondence of Lord Alfred Douglas and Jack Dempsey", a field close to his heart as an Oscar Wilde enthusiast. Once a columnist in "The Listener" and "The Daily Telegraph", he wrote a weekly technology column in the Saturday edition of "The Guardian". His blog attracted more than 300,000 visitors in its first two weeks. Fry was cast in a lead role in Simon Gray's 1995 play "Cell Mates", which he left three days into the West End run, pleading stage fright. He later recalled the incident as a hypomanic episode in his documentary about bipolar disorder, "The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive". He acted in a 1998 Malcolm Bradbury adaptation of the Mark Tavener novel "In the Red", taking the part of the Controller of BBC Radio 2; and in 2000 in the role of Professor Bellgrove in the BBC serial "Gormenghast", which was adapted from the first two novels of Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" series. In the 1994 romantic comedy film "I.Q.", he played the role of James Moreland. Portraying his idol Oscar Wilde (of whom he had been an ardent admirer since the age of 13) in the 1997 film "Wilde", he fulfilled the role to critical acclaim. It earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Drama. In 1997, he also had a cameo in the Spice Girls film "Spice World". A year later, Fry starred in David Yates' small independent film "The Tichborne Claimant", and in 2001, he played the detective in Robert Altman's period costume drama, "Gosford Park". In the same year, he also appeared in the Dutch film "The Discovery of Heaven", directed by Jeroen Krabbé and based on the novel by Harry Mulisch. In 2000, he began starring as Charles Prentiss in the Radio 4 comedy "Absolute Power", reprising the role for three further series on radio, and two on television. In 2002, he played The Minister of Chance in the Doctor Who audio drama "Death Comes to Time". In 2002, Fry was one of the narrators of A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner", in which he voiced Winnie-the-Pooh. He presented a 20-part, two-hour series, "The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music", a "witty guide" to the genre over the past 1,000 years, on Classic FM. In 2004 he was the narrator for an adaptation of "Vanity Fair" on BBC Radio 4. Fry has been the reader for the British versions of all of J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series of audiobooks. He discussed this project in an interview with Rowling in 2005. He has also read for Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" film tie-in edition and has made recordings of his own books, such as "The Stars' Tennis Balls" and "Moab Is My Washpot", and of works by Roald Dahl, Michael Bond, A. A. Milne, Anthony Buckeridge, Eleanor Updale, George Orwell, and Alexander Pushkin. In 2003, Fry began hosting "QI" (Quite Interesting), a comedy panel game television quiz show. "QI" was created and co-produced by John Lloyd, and features permanent panellist Alan Davies. "QI" has the highest viewing figures for any show on BBC Four and Dave (formerly UKTV G2). In 2006, Fry won the Rose d'Or award for "Best Game Show Host" for his work on the series. In October 2015, it was announced that Fry would retire as the host of "QI" after the "M" series, and he was replaced by Sandi Toksvig. Towards the end of 2003, Fry starred alongside John Bird in the television adaptation of "Absolute Power", previously a radio series on BBC Radio 4. Fry's first documentary was the Emmy Award-winning "" in 2006. The same year, he appeared on the BBC's genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?", tracing his maternal family tree to investigate his Jewish ancestry. In 2003, Fry made his directorial début with "Bright Young Things", adapted by him from Evelyn Waugh's "Vile Bodies". In 2001, he began hosting the BAFTA Film Awards, a role from which he stepped down in 2006. Later that same year, he wrote the English libretto and dialogue for Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of "The Magic Flute". Fry continued to make regular film appearances, notably in treatments of literary cult classics. He portrayed the clairvoyant Maurice Woodruff in "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and served as narrator in the 2005 film version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". In 2005, he appeared in "A Cock and Bull Story", based on "Tristram Shandy". In the same year, in "V for Vendetta", he played a closeted TV presenter who challenges a fascist state - the screenwriters, The Wachowskis, pointed out that it was Fry's "normalcy" in the face of the insanity of the censorship of BTV that made his character truly powerful and added a "wholly unexpected dimension to the film". Fry performed several of Stanshall's numbers as part of the Bonzos' 2006 reunion concert at the London Astoria. In 2006, he played the role of gadget-master Smithers in "Stormbreaker", and in 2007, he appeared as himself hosting a quiz in "St Trinian's". In 2007, Fry wrote, for director Peter Jackson, a script for a remake of "The Dam Busters". That year he also appeared in "Eichmann" (2007). Fry narrated "The Story of Light Entertainment", which was shown from July–September 2006. In 2007, he presented a documentary on the subject of HIV and AIDS, "HIV and Me". In 2007, Fry wrote a Christmas pantomime, "Cinderella", which ran at London's Old Vic Theatre. In 2007, he hosted "Current Puns", an exploration of wordplay, and "Radio 4: This Is Your Life", to celebrate the radio station's 40th anniversary. He also interviewed the Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of a series of podcasts released by 10 Downing Street. He also narrated the first four "Harry Potter" games: "Philosopher's Stone", "Chamber of Secrets", "Prisoner of Azkaban", and "Goblet of Fire". From 2007 to 2009, Fry played the lead role in (and was executive producer for) the legal drama "Kingdom", which ran for three series on ITV1. Starting from 2007, he took a recurring guest role as FBI psychiatrist Dr. (later chef) Gordon Wyatt in the popular American drama "Bones". 2008–2014: Return to theatre and documentaries. In February 2008, Fry began presenting podcasts entitled "Stephen Fry's Podgrams", in which he recounts his life and recent experiences. In July 2008, he appeared as himself in "I Love Stephen Fry", an "Afternoon Play" for Radio 4 written by former "Fry and Laurie" script editor Jon Canter. On 7 May 2008, Fry gave a speech as part of a series of BBC lectures on the future of public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, which he later recorded for a podcast. His six-part travel series "Stephen Fry in America" began on BBC One in October 2008, and saw him travel to each of the 50 US states. In the same year, he narrated the nature documentaries "Spectacled Bears: Shadow of the Forest" for the BBC "Natural World" series. In the 2009 television series "Last Chance to See", Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine sought out endangered species, some of which had been featured in Douglas Adams' and Carwardine's 1990 book and radio series of the same name. Fry's voice has been featured in a number of video games, including an appearance as Reaver, an amoral supporting character in Lionhead Studios games "Fable II" (2008) and "Fable III" (2010), and as the narrator of the "LittleBigPlanet" series. He also narrates a section of Bungie's "Destiny 2" (2017) expansion Warmind as the "Concierge"; an AI that, when interacted with at certain points, will give the player background information on Bray Exoscience. In 2008, Fry's narration for Bond's Paddington Bear story "More About Paddington" (1959) saw him receive the Audie Award for Young Listeners' Title from the Audio Publishers Association in the U.S. Since August 2008, he has presented "Fry's English Delight", a series on BBC Radio 4 about the English language. As of 2021, it has been running for ten series and 37 episodes. In the summer 2009 series of "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", Fry was one of a trio of hosts replacing Humphrey Lyttelton (the others being Jack Dee and Rob Brydon). Fry was offered a role in "Valkyrie", but was unable to participate. In May 2009, Fry unveiled "The Dongle of Donald Trefusis", an audiobook series following Donald Trefusis (a fictional character from Fry's novel "The Liar" and from the BBC Radio 4 series "Loose Ends"), set over 12 episodes. After its release, it reached No. 1 on the UK Album Chart list. Ultimately however only three episodes were released, the rest with the note 'exact release date pending'. Fry's use of the word "luvvie" (spelled "lovie" by Fry), in "The Guardian" on 2 April 1988, is given by the "Oxford English Dictionary" as the earliest recorded use of the word as a humorous synonym for "actor". Fry was, at one time, slated to adapt "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole for the big screen. In 2009, Fry provided the voice of St Peter for "Liberace, Live From Heaven" by Julian Woolford at London's Leicester Square Theatre. In 2010, having learned some Irish for the role, he filmed a cameo role in "Ros na Rún", an Irish-language soap opera broadcast in Ireland, Scotland and the US. In 2010, Fry became an investor in Pushnote, a UK tech startup. Similar to Google Sidewiki, Pushnote was a browser add-on that enabled users to leave comments on any site they visit. The following year, Fry announced the Pushnote launch to his then 2 million Twitter followers. Both Pushnote and Sidewiki were discontinued the following year. He also appeared as a shiny New Millennium Bonzo on their post-reunion album, "Pour l'Amour des Chiens", on which he recited a recipe for "Salmon Proust", played a butler in "Hawkeye the Gnu", and voiced ads for the fictitious "Fiasco" stores. Following three one-man shows in Australia, Fry announced a 'sort of stand-up' performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London for September 2010. In 2010, Fry took part in a Christmas series of short films called "Little Crackers". His short was based on a story from his childhood at school. He appeared as the Christian God in 2011's "Holy Flying Circus". In 2011, Fry portrayed Professor Mildeye in the BBC adaptation of Mary Norton's 1952 novel "The Borrowers". In August 2011, "Stephen Fry's 100 Greatest Gadgets" was shown on Channel 4 as one of the "100 Greatest" strand. His choice for the greatest gadget was the cigarette lighter, which he described as "fire with a flick of the fingers". In the same month, the nature documentary series "Ocean Giants", narrated by Fry, premiered. In September 2011, "Fry's Planet Word", a five-part documentary about language, aired on BBC HD and BBC Two. In November 2011, an episode of "Living The Life" featured Fry in an intimate conversation discussing his life and career with The Rolling Stones' bass player Bill Wyman. Fry starred in the Tim Burton version of "Alice in Wonderland", as the voice of the Cheshire Cat. He played Mycroft Holmes in the 2011 film ', directed by Guy Ritchie. He portrayed the Master of Lake-town in two of Peter Jackson's three film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit": the second ', and the third "". In 2011, Fry appeared on Kate Bush's album "50 Words for Snow", featuring on the title track where he recites a list of surreal words to describe snow. In September 2012, Fry made a return to the stage at Shakespeare's Globe, appearing as Malvolio in a production of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", which transferred to the West End in November 2012. He received excellent reviews. The production transferred to Broadway, with Opening Night on 10 November 2013. Fry was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in the Broadway revival. In August 2013, he lent his voice to the title role in Benjamin Britten's operetta "Paul Bunyan" at the Wales Millennium Centre with the Welsh National Youth Opera. In 2012, he appeared as a guest panellist in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show "Wordaholics". In September 2012, he guest-starred as himself in the audio comedy drama "We Are The BBC", produced by the Wireless Theatre Company, written by Susan Casanove. At the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards shown on ITV on 30 October, Fry, along with Michael Caine, Elton John, Richard Branson and Simon Cowell, recited Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—" in tribute to the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In November 2012, Fry hosted a gadgets show called "Gadget Man", exploring the usefulness of various gadgets in different daily situations to improve the livelihoods of everyone. In October 2013, Fry presented "", a two-part documentary in which he explores attitudes to homosexuality and the lives of gay people in different parts of the globe. On Christmas Day 2013, Fry featured with adventurer Bear Grylls in an episode of Channel 4's "Bear's Wild Weekends". Over the course of two days, in the Italian Dolomites, Fry travelled on the skids of a helicopter, climbed down a raging 500-foot waterfall, slept in a First World War trench and abseiled down a towering cliff face. In June 2015, Fry was the guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs". His favourite piece was the String Quartet No. 14 by Beethoven. His book choice was "Four Quartets" by T. S. Eliot and his luxury item was "canvasses, easels, brushes, an instruction manual". Fry narrated the first two seasons of the English-language version of the Spanish children's animated series "Pocoyo". In 2014, he began starring alongside Kiefer Sutherland and William Devane in "" as British Prime Minister Alastair Davies. In July 2014, Fry appeared on stage with Monty Python on the opening night of their live show "Monty Python Live (Mostly)". Fry was the special guest in their "Blackmail" sketch. 2015–present. On 17 September 2015, Fry shared the role of the Narrator in "The Rocky Horror Show" which was staged at London's Playhouse Theatre and broadcast as the "Rocky Horror Show Live". In June 2015, Fry backed children's fairy tale app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF together with other British celebrities Sir Roger Moore, Ewan McGregor, Joanna Lumley, Michael Caine, David Walliams, Dame Joan Collins, Charlotte Rampling, Paul McKenna and Michael Ball. In 2015, Fry made a live audio recording of the winning short story of the annual RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award, "Ms. Featherstone and the Beast" by Bethan Roberts, at a ceremony held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In February 2017, Audible released "Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection", a complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, all read by Fry, who also narrated an introduction for each novel or collection of stories. In 2017, Fry also released his own audiobook on Audible, titled "Mythos", which he both wrote and narrated. In 2018, Fry released a follow-up to "Mythos", titled "Heroes". In June 2020, it was announced that Fry would read J. K. Rowling's children's book, "The Ickabog". Fry is the patron of the audiobook charity Listening Books. Fry said of his patronage, "I'm proud and delighted to be patron of the first audiobook charity to offer downloads to its members and excited about what this will mean for all print impaired people who can now listen on-the-go." In January 2016, it was announced that Fry would be appearing as the character "Cuddly Dick" in Series 3 of the "Sky One" family comedy "Yonderland". In 2016, Fry had a lead role in the American sitcom "The Great Indoors". He portrayed an outdoor magazine publisher helping to ease his best worldly reporter (Joel McHale) into a desk job. The show was cancelled after one season. In November 2019, it was announced that Fry would guest star in "Spyfall", the two-part opening episode of "Doctor Who"s twelfth series, which was broadcast on New Year's Day 2020. Fry also starred in the 2018 heist comedy film "The Con Is On", previously titled "The Brits Are Coming". From May to July 2018, Fry appeared in "Mythos: A Trilogy," a stage version of his book "Mythos", in the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. This comprised a set of three one-man shows (titled "Gods", "Heroes" and "Men"), each two hours in length, which were performed consecutively, multiple times during the show's run. The production received its European premiere in August 2019 at the Edinburgh International Festival. In September 2020, Fry was among the stars to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Noël Coward's West End debut with a stage celebration titled "A Marvellous Party". He reprised his role as (a descendant of) Lord Melchett for "The Big Night In", a 20 April 2020 telethon held during the COVID-19 pandemic, for a skit in which he held a video call with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who made a surprise appearance. In 2022, Fry had a recurring role as biochemist Ian Gibbons in the Hulu miniseries "The Dropout", which dramatizes the scandal involving biotechnology company Theranos. He portrayed Fiddler's Green / Gilbert in the Netflix series "The Sandman" (2022). The same year he starred in two episodes of the Netflix romantic LGBT teen drama "Heartstopper" as headmaster of the main characters school. In 2023 he presented the Channel 4 documentary "" to positive reviews. Awards and honours. Over Fry's career he has received 11 BAFTA Award nominations for his work in television. For his performance as Oscar Wilde in "Wilde" (1998) he earned a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture along with the ensemble of the Robert Altman directed murder mystery "Gosford Park" (2001). For his work on Broadway he received a two Tony Award nominations for Best Book of a Musical for "Me and My Gal" (1987) and Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Malvolio in the revival of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" (2014). In 1995, Fry was presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of Dundee, which named their main Students' Association bar after his novel "The Liar". Fry is a patron of its Lip Theatre Company. He also served two consecutive terms – 1992 to 1995 and 1995 to 1998 – as the student-elected Rector of the University of Dundee. He was awarded the AoC Gold Award in 2004, and was entered into their Hall of Fame. Fry was also awarded an honorary degree from Anglia Ruskin University in 2005. He was made honorary president of the Cambridge University Quiz Society and honorary fellow of his "alma mater" Queens' College, Cambridge. On 13 July 2010, he was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University, and on 28 January 2011, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Sussex, for his work campaigning for people suffering from mental health problems, bipolar disorder and HIV. He is a Patron of the Norwich Playhouse theatre and a Vice-President of The Noël Coward Society. In 2003 Fry was the last person to be named Pipe Smoker of the Year before the award was discontinued. In 2017, Fry became the latest patron of the Norwich Film Festival, and said he was "Very proud now to be a patron of a festival that encourages people from Norfolk, Norwich and beyond to be enchanted, beguiled and entranced by all kinds of film that might not otherwise reach them." In December 2006, he was ranked sixth for the BBC's Top Living Icon Award, was featured on "The Culture Show", and was voted "Most Intelligent Man on Television" by readers of "Radio Times". The "Independent on Sunday" Pink List named Fry the second most influential gay person in Britain in May 2007; he had taken the twenty-third position on the list the previous year. Later the same month, he was announced as the 2007 "Mind Champion of the Year", in recognition of the success of his documentary "The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive" in raising awareness of bipolar disorder. He was also nominated in "Best Entertainment Performance" for "QI" and "Best Factual Series" for "Secret Life of the Manic Depressive" at the British Academy Television Awards 2007. That same year, "Broadcast" magazine listed Fry at number four in its "Hot 100" list of influential on-screen performers, describing him as a polymath and a "national treasure". He was also granted a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards on 5 December 2007, and the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards on 20 January 2010. BBC Four dedicated two nights of programming to Fry on 17 and 18 August 2007, in celebration of his 50th birthday. The first night, comprising programmes featuring Fry, began with a sixty-minute documentary entitled "". The second night was composed of programmes selected by Fry, as well as a 60-minute interview with Mark Lawson and a half-hour special, "Stephen Fry: Guilty". The weekend programming proved such a ratings hit for BBC Four that it was repeated on BBC Two on 16 and 17 September 2007. In 2011, he was the subject of Molly Lewis's song "An Open Letter to Stephen Fry", in which the singer jokingly offers herself as a surrogate mother for his child. In February 2011, Fry was awarded the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, the Harvard Secular Society and the American Humanist Association. In 2012, Fry wrote the foreword to the Union of UEA Students report on the student experience for LGBT+ members. As recognition of his public support for LGBT+ rights and for the Union's report, the Union of UEA Students awarded him, on 18 October 2012, Honorary Life Membership of the Union. In March 2014 Fry beat David Attenborough and Davina McCall to win the Best Presenter award at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. The award was given for his BBC2 programme "". In an episode of "QI", "M-Merriment", originally broadcast in December 2015, Fry was awarded membership of The Magic Circle. In 2017, the bird louse "Saepocephalum stephenfryii" was named after him, in honour of his contributions to the popularization of science as host of "QI". In 2021, he was made a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou for his contribution in enhancing knowledge about Greece in the United Kingdom and reinforcing ties between the two countries. Personal life. Fry married comedian Elliott Spencer, 30 years his junior, in January 2015 in Dereham, Norfolk. Fry lives in West Bilney in Norfolk. He became friends with King Charles III while Charles was Prince of Wales, through his work with The Prince's Trust. He attended the then-Prince's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005. He is also a friend of Rowan Atkinson and was best man at Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City. He was a friend of John Mills. His best friend is Hugh Laurie, whom he met while both were at Cambridge and with whom he has collaborated many times over the years. He was best man at Laurie's wedding and is godfather to all three of his children. A fan of cricket, Fry has stated that he is related to former England cricketer C. B. Fry, and was interviewed for the "Ashes Fever" DVD, reporting on England's victory over Australia in the 2005 Ashes series. Regarding football, he is a supporter of Norwich City FC, and is a regular visitor to their home ground at Carrow Road. He has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital" and claims to have bought the third Macintosh computer sold in the UK (his friend Douglas Adams bought the first two). He jokes that he has never encountered a smartphone that he has not purchased. He counts Wikipedia among his favourite websites "because I like to find out that I died, and that I'm currently in a ballet in China, and all the other very accurate and important things that Wikipedia brings us all". Fry has a long-standing interest in Internet production, including having his own website since 1997. His site "The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry" has existed since 2002 and has attracted many visitors following his first blog in September 2007, which was consisted of a 6,500-word "blessay" on smartphones. In February 2008, he launched his private podcast series, "Stephen Fry's Podgrams" (defunct), and a forum, including discussions on depression and activities in which he is involved. The website content is created by Fry and produced by Andrew Sampson. Fry's weekly gadget column "Dork Talk" appeared in "The Guardian" from November 2007 to October 2008. Fry is also a supporter of GNU and the Free Software Foundation. For the 25th anniversary of the GNU operating system, Fry appeared in a video explaining some of the philosophy behind GNU by likening it to the sharing found in science. When in London, he drives a dark green TX4 London cab. This vehicle has been featured in Fry's production "Stephen Fry in America". On 16 April 2018, Fry released the first episode of a new podcast "Stephen Fry's 7 Deadly Sins" available on his website and other podcasting platforms The first episode of the second series was released on 13 January 2020 and continued to be released over the course of nine weeks. Sexuality. Fry struggled to keep his homosexuality secret during his teenage years at public school, and by his own account did not engage in sexual activity for 16 years until the mid-1990s. When asked when he first acknowledged his sexuality, Fry quipped: "I suppose it all began when I came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother and thought to myself, 'That's the last time I'm going up one of those'." Fry was in a 15-year relationship with Daniel Cohen that ended in 2010. Fry was listed number 2 in 2016 and number 12 in 2017 on the Pride Power list. On 6 January 2015, British tabloid "The Sun" reported that Fry would marry his partner, comedian Elliott Spencer. Fry wrote on Twitter: "It looks as though a certain cat is out of a certain bag. I'm very very happy of course but had hoped for a private wedding. Fat chance!" Eleven days after the news story, Fry married Spencer on 17 January at Dereham in Norfolk. Politics. Fry was an active supporter of the Labour Party for many years and appeared in a party political broadcast on its behalf with Hugh Laurie and Michelle Collins in November 1993. He did not vote in the 2005 general election because of the stance of both the Labour and Conservative parties with regard to the Iraq War. Despite his praise of the Blair/Brown government's work on social reform, Fry was an outspoken critic of the Labour Party's Third Way concept. Fry appeared in campaign literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing members of parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum of 2011. On 30 April 2008, Fry signed an open letter, published in "The Guardian" newspaper by a number of Jewish personalities, stating their opposition to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. Furthermore, he is a signatory member of the British Jews for Justice for Palestinians organisation, which campaigns for Palestinian rights. Fry was among over 100 signatories to a statement published by Sense about Science on 4 June 2009, condemning British libel laws and their use to "severely curtail the right to free speech on a matter of public interest". In August 2013, Fry published an open letter to David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, and the International Olympic Committee calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, due to concerns over the state-sanctioned persecution of LGBT people in Russia under the 2013 anti-"gay propaganda" laws. Cameron stated on Twitter he believed "we can better challenge prejudice as we attend, rather than boycotting the Winter Olympics". Fry said in 2015 that the "Daily Mail" editor Paul Dacre "has done more to damage the Britain I love than any single person". In March 2014, Fry publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign towards press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable." On 18 May 2018, Fry participated in the semi-annual Munk Debates in Toronto, Canada, where he argued against political correctness on the "Con" side of the topic "Be it resolved, what you call political correctness, I call progress..." alongside Jordan Peterson, and in opposition to "Pro" side represented by Michelle Goldberg and Michael Eric Dyson. During the debate, Fry paraphrased a famous sentence from the 1923 essay "I Am Afraid", in which Old Bolshevik-turned-Soviet dissident Yevgeny Zamyatin denounced censorship in the Soviet Union. The original sentence reads, "True literature can exist only when it is created, not by diligent and reliable officials, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels and skeptics." Fry's rendering, however, reads, "Progress is not achieved by preachers and guardians of morality, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and sceptics." On 1 February 2021, Fry supported the petition of two Holocaust survivors, Dorit Oliver-Wolff and Ruth Barnett who were asking to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson regarding the 'genocide amendment' to the trade bill; this amendment would allow an independent parliamentary judicial committee to examine evidence of genocide. In a tweet, Fry highlighted the plight of the Uyghurs. Poland controversy On 6 October 2009, Fry was interviewed by Jon Snow on "Channel 4 News" as a signatory of a letter to British Conservative Party leader David Cameron expressing concern about the party forming a political alliance with the right-wing Polish Law and Justice party in the European Parliament. During the interview, he stated: The remark prompted a complaint from the Polish Embassy in London, an editorial in "The Economist" and criticism from British Jewish historian David Cesarani. Fry has since posted an apology in a six-page post on his personal blog, in which he apologised for his remarks, stating that "I didn't even really at the time notice the import of what I had said, so gave myself no opportunity instantly to retract the statement. It was a rubbishy, cheap and offensive remark that I have been regretting ever since. I take this opportunity to apologise now." and "It detracted from and devalued my argument, such as it was, and it outraged and offended a large group of people for no very good reason." Health. Fry has cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder (considered to be a milder type). Fry has spoken publicly about his experience with the condition, which was depicted in the documentary "". In the programme, he interviewed other people with bipolar disorder including Robbie Williams, Carrie Fisher, Richard Dreyfuss and Tony Slattery. He is involved with the mental health charity Stand to Reason and is president of Mind. In 2013, he revealed that, in the previous year, he had started taking medication for the first time, in an attempt to control his condition. In 2018, alongside Nadiya Hussain and Olly Alexander, Fry was part of Sport Relief's attempt to raise awareness of mental health. In 1995, while appearing in the West End play "Cell Mates", Fry had a nervous breakdown and walked out of the production, causing its early closure and incurring the displeasure of co-star Rik Mayall and playwright Simon Gray. Fry went missing for several days and contemplated suicide. He later said that he would have killed himself if he had not had "the option of disappearing". He abandoned the idea and left the United Kingdom by ferry, eventually resurfacing in Belgium. Fry has attempted suicide on a number of occasions, most recently in 2012. In an interview with Richard Herring in 2013, Fry revealed that he had attempted suicide the previous year while filming abroad. He said that he took a "huge number of pills and a huge [amount] of vodka" and had to be brought back to the UK to be "looked after". In January 2008, Fry broke his arm while filming "Last Chance to See" in Brazil. While climbing aboard a boat, he slipped between it and the dock, and, stopping himself from falling into the water, his body weight snapped his right humerus. The resulting vulnerability to his radial nerve – which affects use of the arm – was not diagnosed until he saw a consultant in the UK. Appearing on the BBC's "Top Gear" in 2009, Fry had lost a significant amount of weight, and explained that he had shed a total of 6 stone (84 lb; 38 kg). He attributed the weight loss to walking while listening to audiobooks. Fry is between and in height. Fry has stated that he is allergic to champagne and bumble bee stings. Fry also has prosopagnosia ("face blindness"). In February 2018, Fry announced that he was recovering from an operation to treat prostate cancer, involving the removal of the prostate and 11 adjacent lymph nodes. He described the cancer as aggressive and said that early intervention had saved his life. In March 2021, Fry hailed the "wonderful moment" at receiving the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID vaccine at Westminster Abbey. The University of Cambridge alumnus joked that he would have to "put petty rivalries behind [him]." Views on religion. Fry has repeatedly expressed opposition to organised religion, and has identified himself as an atheist and humanist, while declaring some sympathy for the ancient Greek belief in capricious gods. In his first autobiography he described how he once considered ordination to the Anglican priesthood, but came to the conclusion that he "couldn't believe in God, because [he] was fundamentally Hellenic in [his] outlook". He has stated that religion can have positive effects: "Sometimes belief means credulity, sometimes an expression of faith and hope which even the most sceptical atheist such as myself cannot but find inspiring." Fry claims to have been expelled from Salt Lake City, Utah, because of a joke made about doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2009, "The Guardian" published a letter from Fry addressing his younger self, explaining how his future is soon to unfold, reflecting on the positive progression towards gay acceptance and openness around him, and yet not everywhere, while warning on how "the cruel, hypocritical and loveless hand of religion and absolutism has fallen on the world once more". Later that year, he and Christopher Hitchens participated in an "Intelligence Squared" debate in which they argued against Ann Widdecombe and Archbishop John Onaiyekan, who supported the view that the Catholic Church was a force for good. Fry and Hitchens argued that the church did more harm than good, and were declared the victors after an audience vote. Fry attacked the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality and denounced its wealth. In 2010, Fry was made a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association, stating: "it is essential to nail one's colours to the mast as a humanist." Later that year, Fry joined 54 other public figures in signing an open letter published in "The Guardian" stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom being a state visit. On 22 February 2011, Fry was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University. When interviewed in 2015 by the Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne, Fry was asked what he would say if he came face-to-face with God, to which he replied: "Bone cancer in children: what's that about? How dare you? How dare you create a world where there is such misery that's not our fault? It's utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?" Within days, the video was viewed over five million times. Fry later stated he did not refer to any specific religion: "I said quite a few things that were angry at this supposed God. I was merely saying things that Bertrand Russell and many finer heads of the mind have said for many thousands of years, going all the way back to the Greeks." "Because the God who created this universe, if it was created by God, is quite clearly a maniac, utter maniac." In May 2017 it was announced that Fry, along with broadcaster RTÉ, were under criminal investigation for blasphemy under the Defamation Act 2009, following a complaint from a member of the public about the broadcast: the case was dropped after Gardaí confirmed that they had not been able to locate a sufficient number of offended people. The following year, in 2018, the article on blasphemy was removed from the Irish Constitution following a referendum. Ventures. Narration. Fry is also known for his extensive voice-over work; he read all seven of the "Harry Potter" novels for the UK audiobook recordings, narrated Paddington Bear audiobooks, narrated the video game series "LittleBigPlanet" and "Birds of Steel", narrated an animated series of explanations of the laws of cricket and narrated a series of animations about humanism for Humanists UK. Twitter. Fry wields a considerable amount of influence through his use of Twitter. He is frequently asked to promote various charities and causes, often inadvertently causing their websites to crash because of the volume of traffic generated by his large number of followers; as Fry notes on his website: "Four thousand hits a second all diving down the pipeline at the same time for minutes on end." He uses his influence to recommend underexposed musicians and authors (who often see large increases in web hits and sales) and to raise awareness of contemporary issues in the world of media and politics, notably the dropping of an injunction against "The Guardian" and public anger over "Daily Mail" columnist Jan Moir's article on the death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately. In November 2009, Fry's Twitter account reached one million followers. He commemorated the million-followers milestone with a humorous video blog in which a 'Step Hen Fry' clone speaks from the year 2034, where MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have combined to form 'Twit on MyFace'. In November 2010, he welcomed his two-millionth follower with a blog entry detailing his opinions and experiences of Twitter. On 11 March 2012, Fry noted his passing of the four-million-followers mark with a tweet: "Lordy I've breasted the 4 million followers tape. Love you all. Yes even YOU. But let's dedicate today to Douglas Adams's diamond jubilee". he had 12.4 million followers. Fry has a history of temporarily distancing himself from the social networking site which began when he received criticism in October 2009. However, he retracted the announcement that he would be leaving the following day. In October 2010, Fry left Twitter for a few days, with a farewell message of "Bye bye", following press criticism of a quote taken from an interview he had given. After returning, he explained that he had left Twitter to "avoid being sympathised with or told about an article" he "would otherwise never have got wind of". In some quarters, the general methods Fry uses on Twitter have been criticised. On 15 February 2016, Fry deleted his Twitter account, after receiving criticism for a tweet about Jenny Beavan and her dress. Fry alluded to this on an April 2016 episode of "The Rubin Report" in which he criticised groupthink mentality and stated that his return to Twitter was a "maybe". He returned to Twitter in August 2016. He left Twitter again in November 2022, joining Mastodon that same month. Sports. In August 2010, Fry joined the board of directors at Norwich City Football Club. A lifelong fan of "the Canaries" and a regular visitor to Carrow Road, he said, on being appointed, "Truly this is one of the most exciting days of my life, and I am as proud and pleased as I could be." Fry stepped down from his Board position in January 2016, to take up a new position as "Norwich City Ambassador". Fry said, "My five years in the role have been an honour and a privilege beyond almost anything I can remember. I wish I could take credit for ushering the club up from League One to the Premiership during that time on the Board. Actually, I'm going to. It was all me. It can't have been a coincidence ... But now I'm so happy to relinquish my seat on the board to Thomas Smith and to engage as fully as I can in the role of ambassador for Norwich City." In February 2014, Fry became the honorary president of Proud Canaries, a new club for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender fans. In May 2022, it was announced that Fry would succeed Clare Connor as the president of Marylebone Cricket Club in October. Business. In 2008, Fry formed SamFry Ltd, with long-term collaborator Andrew Sampson to produce and fund new material and manage his official website. Fry is the co-owner, with Gina Carter and Sandi Toksvig, of Sprout Pictures, an independent film and television company. Charity. In 2008, Fry appeared in a film made by the Free Software Foundation to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the GNU Project to create a completely free operating system. In the film, Fry explains the principles of software freedom central to the development of the Linux and GNU software projects. Fry is a supporter of nature and wildlife conservation. He has been the president of the Great Fen Project since 2006 and vice-president of international NGO Fauna and Flora International since 2009. Fry has also expressed support for action on climate change and activist group Extinction Rebellion, and has criticized climate change denial. In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fry appeared in a sketch alongside Prince William for a charity show titled "The Big Night In" on BBC One. In the lighthearted sketch, Fry reprises his "Blackadder" character Lord Melchett, who is on a Zoom call with the Duke of Cambridge as they talk about television shows such as "EastEnders" and "Tiger King" as well as homeschooling. The sketch had been put together by Comic Relief and Children in Need to raise money and keep people entertained during the lockdown. In March 2021, Fry narrated a short film for Cambridge Children's Hospital. Bibliography. As author. Fiction Non-fiction Autobiography Scripts from "A Bit of Fry and Laurie"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63596

John Cain (41st Premier of Victoria)

John Cain (26 April 1931 – 23 December 2019) was an Australian politician who was the 41st Premier of Victoria, in office from 1982 to 1990 as leader of the Labor Party. During his time as premier, reforms were introduced such as liberalised shop trading hours and liquor laws, equal opportunity initiatives, and occupational health and safety legislation. Early life. Cain was born in Northcote, Victoria, where his father, John Cain, the leader of the Australian Labor Party in Victoria from 1937 to 1957 and three times premier, was the local member. His mother ran a successful chain of millinery stores in the inner north of Melbourne. He lived at 25 James Street Northcote and was educated at Bell Primary School, Northcote High School, Scotch College, Melbourne, and at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in law in 1952. He practised law in suburban Melbourne, and was president of the Law Institute of Victoria in 1972–73. He was also a member of the Law Council of Australia and a member of the Australian Law Reform Commission. Cain was 24 at the time of the 1955 split in the Labor Party that brought down his father's last government. He lost a preselection battle with Frank Wilkes for his father's seat of Northcote after his father died in 1957. During the 1960s, he was a member of the group, known as The Participants, which also included John Button, Richard McGarvie, Frank Costigan and Barry Jones, who opposed the left-wing group which controlled the Victorian Labor Party from 1955 onwards. In 1971 he supported moves by supporters of Gough Whitlam, led by Bob Hawke and others, that in 1971 brought about federal intervention in the Victorian branch and ended left-wing control. He became vice-chairman of the Victorian Labor Party in 1973. That group of Participants later became known as the Independents faction which predominantly voted with the Socialist Left. Political career. In 1976, Cain was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as MP for Bundoora. He became shadow Attorney-General under the leadership of Frank Wilkes. After Wilkes narrowly lost the 1979 election to the Liberal premier, Dick Hamer, Cain challenged him for the leadership, becoming leader in September 1981. Hamer had been forced to resign a few months earlier and was succeeded by deputy premier Lindsay Thompson. However, the Liberals appeared tired and complacent after over a quarter-century in power, and Cain consistently got the better of Thompson. After waiting as long as he could, Thompson called an election for April 1982. At that election, Labor won a sweeping victory on a 17-seat swing—the worst defeat that a non-Labor government has ever suffered in Victoria. Cain took office at the helm of the first Labor government in Victoria since the one led by his father 27 years earlier. First term as premier. During the first term of his government, Cain's government carried out many reforms to Victorian government, particularly in the areas of education, environment, law reform and public administration. The Government brought in nude beaches, legalised brothels, extended Saturday shop trading hours, extended nightclub hours, extended hotel hours and allowed Sunday VFL football and more gambling opportunities. Cain was a Keynesian, opposed to the doctrines of economic rationalism, and he increased government spending in the hope of stimulating growth and investment. Following the lead of New South Wales premier Neville Wran, Cain demanded Government-owned enterprises pay dividends to the treasury, these dividends were increased every year forcing these enterprises to borrow to pay the dividend. Other schemes such as the Victorian Economic Development Corporation, and the Victorian Equity Trust promised good returns. These schemes worked so long as the national economy remained buoyant. Controversially the Government of Victoria refused to approve the plans for the upgrade of VFL Park in 1982/1983 because the upgrade would've threatened the Melbourne Cricket Ground's right to host the VFL Grand Final. Cain, who had played Australian football at Scotch College, made sure Waverley Park had no chance to succeed and the MCG remained the number one venue. Cain said that such a major event must be played in the centre of Melbourne but his real reason for sabotaging Waverley Park was to look after the MCC. He saw his first VFL Grand Final with his father in 1942, and watched every one after that. He also kept the Australian Open in Melbourne by building the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne Park. Cain forced exclusive male-only sporting clubs like the Melbourne Cricket Club and Victorian Racing Club (VRC) – private clubs on public lands – to accept women as full members. The VRC had notorious lines painted on the ground that women were forbidden to cross. He told the VRC that the lines had to go if they were to ever again receive government funding. One of Cain's major achievements was the introduction of Victoria's Freedom of Information laws, making Victoria the first state to pass such laws. Cain was also responsible for the appointment as Governor of Davis McCaughey, then aged 71, who served from 1986 to 1992. A highly respected theologian, McCaughey was a popular choice after the controversy surrounding after the resignation of Rear Admiral Sir Brian Murray, following disputed accusations that he had improperly accepted free air travel. Second term. Historically, Labor had not been very successful in Victoria. However, Cain remained very popular with the Victorian electorate, and was easily elected to a second term in 1985 over the Liberals under Jeff Kennett, the first time a Labor government had been reelected in Victoria. Labor also won the Victorian Legislative Council seat of Nunawading after a tied vote forced the parties to draw from a hat to decide the winner, giving Labor control of the upper house for the first time ever. However, a fresh election was ordered by the Court of Disputed Returns after it was found that the Chief Electoral Officer should have cast deciding vote. The Liberals won the seat, and Labor lost its slim majority. Within a week the chairman of the Victorian Nuclear Disarmament Party lodged an official complaint about a deceptive NDP how to vote card handed out at the booths. It was claimed that Labor members were recognised handing out this card and that the allocation of preferences to the ALP on the card damaged the NDP. During its second term Cain's government began to run into difficulties with the state budget. The stock market crash of 1987 created a crisis which forced the government to cut spending, alienating some trade union supporters. The State Bank of Victoria, in particular its merchant banking arm Tricontinental, ran up a huge portfolio of bad loans, without adequate fiduciary supervision. Progress had created a vast amount of vacant inner-city land, with the introduction of containerisation in the shipping industry, the docks became inadequate for the new container ships. This made the docks within Victoria Dock obsolete as the principal docking area shifted closer to the mouth of the Yarra, and this was seen as a large urban blight by the Cain state government. The size of the Melbourne Docklands area meant that political influences were inescapable. The Docklands was high on the government's agenda, however, the government at the time could not afford to initiate the investment for the project so the Docklands project stayed on the drawing board. There was a bid for the 1996 Olympic Games and another proposal was to turn the Docklands into a technology city known as the Multifunction Polis (MFP). Third term. The Cain government was narrowly re-elected to a third term in 1988. The Liberals actually won a majority of the two-party vote. However, much of the Liberal margin was wasted on large majorities in their heartland. In contrast, Labor only lost one seat in the capital, and won enough marginal urban seats to cling to power by only two seats. Immediately after the election a huge shortfall in the government's workers' compensation scheme, WorkCare, was revealed. The VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Corporation), established by the previous Liberal Government, and its sister, the Victorian Investment Corporation, were created to back new industries to replace outdated smokestack manufacturers. The VEDC collapsed under poor management and an absence of accountability after it had provided $450 million of loan and equity assistance to business. This was followed by a budgetary crisis. The deputy premier, Robert Fordham, took some of the blame and resigned. This led to the elevation of Education Minister Joan Kirner to deputy premier. For 33 days from 1 January 1990, 250 trams were parked in Melbourne's CBD streets by tram drivers. The Cain government wanted to save $24 million a year, by the introduction of a new Met Ticket system – or "scratchies" as they were colloquially known. Scratch tickets were supposed to save money by cutting 550 ticket conductor jobs and 550 train station staff. The trams did not move because the government shut down the power grid. In February 1990, it was rumoured that Pyramid, a privately owned building society, was in difficulties. Ministers in Cain's government accepted assurances from Pyramid directors that the society's position was sound, and passed these assurances on to the public. In fact, it was insolvent. When it failed, causing thousands of investors and depositors to lose their money, the government was blamed by investors and the media. This was followed shortly after by the collapse of Tricontinental Bank, which threatened to bankrupt the Victorian Government-owned State Bank, Victoria's largest financial institution. The bank eventually had to be sold to the Commonwealth Bank, which was shortly thereafter privatised by the federal government. By this time Cain was becoming frustrated at the reluctance of his government's caucus members to approve his plans for tax rises and spending cuts to reduce the growing budget deficit. He issued an ultimatum at the Labor Party Conference – "back me or sack me." When the undermining of his position continued, he resigned on 7 August 1990. During an interview after his resignation, he remarked, "We appointed a few dills but we weren't crook." Kirner was elected Labor leader in Cain's place and became the first female Premier of Victoria. By this time, Labor had bottomed out at 22 percent in opinion polling. Kirner was unable to make up the lost ground, and Labor was heavily defeated at the 1992 Victorian state election. Cain did not run in this election. Life after politics. Cain did not seek publicity after his retirement from politics. He became a professorial fellow in politics at the University of Melbourne in 1991, and completed three books. In 2004 he surfaced in the media with a damning critique of the University of Melbourne's experimentation with what he said were risky financial ventures and what he argued was its departure from its public mission. "Off Course: From Public Place to Marketplace at Melbourne University" attracted a range of critical commentary. He was a regular political commentator on local radio. He remained active in the affairs of the Victorian Labor Party, and in 2011 he was critical of what he saw as the dominance of factions in the party, particularly the Labor Right. John Cain sat on the board of the Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust. He was also a member of the Patrons Council of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria. The John Cain Foundation is a think tank on political affairs of relevance to Victoria Personal life. Cain married Nancye Williams in 1955. He has two sons, John and James and a daughter, Joanne. Cain's son, also named John, is a judge of the County Court and also the State Coroner for Victoria. Cain died on 23 December 2019, aged 88. He had suffered a severe stroke on 10 December and was being cared for at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Cain remains the longest-lived Premier of Victoria. He has a library named in his honour at Northcote High School, of which he was an alumnus. On 3 February 2020, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the Melbourne Multi Purpose Venue would be renamed "John Cain Arena" in recognition of the critical role that Cain played in keeping the Australian Open in Melbourne in the mid-1980s. The new name came into effect in December 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63610

Peafowl

Peafowl is a common name for two bird species in the genera "Pavo" and "Afropavo" within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are referred to as peahens, although peafowl of either sex are often referred to colloquially as "peacocks". The two Asiatic species are the blue or Indian peafowl originally from the Indian subcontinent, and the green peafowl from Southeast Asia; The Congo peafowl is not a true peafowl, native only to the Congo Basin. Male peafowl are known for their piercing calls and their extravagant plumage. The latter is especially prominent in the Asiatic species, which have an eye-spotted "tail" or "train" of covert feathers, which they display as part of a courtship ritual. The functions of the elaborate iridescent colouration and large "train" of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested that they served to attract females, and the showy features of the males had evolved by sexual selection. More recently, Amotz Zahavi proposed in his handicap principle that these features acted as honest signals of the males' fitness, since less-fit males would be disadvantaged by the difficulty of surviving with such large and conspicuous structures. A group of peacocks is called an "ostentation" or a "muster". Description. The Indian peacock ("Pavo cristatus") has iridescent blue and green plumage, mostly metal-like blue and green. In both species, females are a little smaller than males in terms of weight and wingspan, but males are significantly longer due to the "tail", also known as a "train". The peacock train consists not of tail quill feathers, but highly elongated upper tail coverts. These feathers are marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans his tail. All species have a crest atop the head. The Indian peahen has a mixture of dull grey, brown, and green in her plumage. The female also displays her plumage to ward off female competition or signal danger to her young. Male green peafowl ("Pavo muticus") have green and bronze or gold plumage, and black wings with a sheen of blue. Unlike Indian peafowl, the green peahen is similar to the male, but has shorter upper tail coverts, a more coppery neck, and overall less iridescence. Both males and females have spurs. The Congo peacock ("Afropavo congensis") male does not display his covert feathers, but uses his actual tail feathers during courtship displays. These feathers are much shorter than those of the Indian and green species, and the ocelli are much less pronounced. Females of the Indian and African species are dull grey and/or brown. Chicks of both sexes in all the species are cryptically coloured. They vary between yellow and tawny, usually with patches of darker brown or light tan and "dirty white" ivory. Mature peahens have been recorded as suddenly growing typically male peacock plumage and making male calls. Research has suggested that changes in mature birds are due to a lack of estrogen from old or damaged ovaries, and that male plumage and calls are the default unless hormonally suppressed. Iridescence and structural colouration. As with many birds, vibrant iridescent plumage colours are not primarily pigments, but structural colouration. Optical interference Bragg reflections, based on regular, periodic nanostructures of the barbules (fiber-like components) of the feathers, produce the peacock's colours. 2D photonic-crystal structures within the layers of the barbules cause the colouration of their feathers. Slight changes to the spacing of the barbules result in different colours. Brown feathers are a mixture of red and blue: one colour is created by the periodic structure and the other is created by a Fabry–Pérot interference peak from reflections from the outer and inner boundaries. Color derived from physical structure rather than pigment can vary with viewing angle, causing iridescence. Courtship. Most commonly, during a courtship display, the visiting female peahen will stop directly in front of the male peacock – thus providing her the ability to assess the male at 90° to the surface of the feather. Then, the male will turn and display his feathers about 45° to the right of the sun's azimuth which allows the sunlight to accentuate the iridescence of his train. If the female chooses to interact with the male, he will then turn to face her and shiver his train so as to begin the mating process. Evolution. Sexual selection. Charles Darwin suggested in "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex" that peafowl plumage may have evolved through sexual selection: Aposematism and natural selection. It has been suggested that a peacock's train, loud call, and fearless behaviour have been formed by natural selection (with or without sexual selection too), and served as an aposematic display to intimidate predators and rivals. This hypothesis is designed to explain Takahashi's observations that in Japan, neither reproductive success nor physical condition correlates with the train's length, symmetry or number of eyespots. Female choice. Multiple hypotheses involving female choice have been posited. One hypothesis that females choose mates with good genes. Males with more exaggerated secondary sexual characteristics, such as bigger, brighter peacock trains, tend to have better genes in the peahen's eyes. These better genes directly benefit her offspring, as well as her fitness and reproductive success. Runaway selection is another hypothesis. In runaway sexual selection, linked genes in males and females code for sexually dimorphic traits in males, and preference for those traits in females. The close spatial association of alleles for loci involved in the train in males, and for preference for more exuberant trains in females, on the chromosome (linkage disequilibrium) causes a positive feedback loop that exaggerates both the male traits and the female preferences. Another hypothesis is sensory bias, in which females have a preference for a trait in a nonmating context that becomes transferred to mating, such as Merle Jacobs' food-courtship hypothesis, which suggests that peahens are attracted to peacocks for the resemblance of their eye spots to blue berries. Multiple causality for the evolution of female choice is also possible. The peacock's train and iridescent plumage are perhaps the best-known example of traits believed to have arisen through sexual selection, though with some controversy. Male peafowl erect their trains to form a shimmering fan in their display to females. Marion Petrie tested whether or not these displays signalled a male's genetic quality by studying a feral population of peafowl in Whipsnade Wildlife Park in southern England. The number of eyespots in the train predicted a male's mating success. She was able to manipulate this success by cutting the eyespots off some of the males' tails: females lost interest in pruned males and became attracted to untrimmed ones. Males with fewer eyespots, thus with lower mating success, suffered from greater predation. She allowed females to mate with males with differing numbers of eyespots, and reared the offspring in a communal incubator to control for differences in maternal care. Chicks fathered by more ornamented males weighed more than those fathered by less ornamented males, an attribute generally associated with better survival rate in birds. These chicks were released into the park and recaptured one year later. Those with heavily ornamented feathers were better able to avoid predators and survive in natural conditions. Thus, Petrie's work shows correlations between tail ornamentation, mating success, and increased survival ability in both the ornamented males and their offspring. Furthermore, peafowl and their sexual characteristics have been used in the discussion of the causes for sexual traits. Amotz Zahavi used the excessive tail plumes of male peafowls as evidence for his "handicap principle". Since these trains are likely to be deleterious to an individual's survival (as their brilliance makes them more visible to predators and their length hinders escape from danger), Zahavi argued that only the fittest males could survive the handicap of a large train. Thus, a brilliant train serves as an honest indicator for females that these highly ornamented males are good at surviving for other reasons, so are preferable mates. This theory may be contrasted with Ronald Fisher's hypothesis that male sexual traits are the result of initially arbitrary aesthetic selection by females. In contrast to Petrie's findings, a seven-year Japanese study of free-ranging peafowl concluded that female peafowl do not select mates solely on the basis of their trains. Mariko Takahashi found no evidence that peahens preferred peacocks with more elaborate trains (such as with more eyespots), a more symmetrical arrangement, or a greater length. Takahashi determined that the peacock's train was not the universal target of female mate choice, showed little variance across male populations, and did not correlate with male physiological condition. Adeline Loyau and her colleagues responded that alternative and possibly central explanations for these results had been overlooked. They concluded that female choice might indeed vary in different ecological conditions. Plumage colours as attractants. A peacock's copulation success rate depends on the colours of his eyespots (ocelli) and the angle at which they are displayed. The angle at which the ocelli are displayed during courtship is more important in a peahen's choice of males than train size or number of ocelli. Peahens pay careful attention to the different parts of a peacock's train during his display. The lower train is usually evaluated during close-up courtship, while the upper train is more of a long-distance attraction signal. Actions such as train rattling and wing shaking also kept the peahens' attention. Redundant signal hypothesis. Although an intricate display catches a peahen's attention, the redundant signal hypothesis also plays a crucial role in keeping this attention on the peacock's display. The redundant signal hypothesis explains that whilst each signal that a male projects is about the same quality, the addition of multiple signals enhances the reliability of that mate. This idea also suggests that the success of multiple signalling is not only due to the repetitiveness of the signal, but also of multiple receivers of the signal. In the peacock species, males congregate a communal display during breeding season and the peahens observe. Peacocks first defend their territory through intra-sexual behaviour, defending their areas from intruders. They fight for areas within the congregation to display a strong front for the peahens. Central positions are usually taken by older, dominant males, which influences mating success. Certain morphological and behavioural traits come in to play during inter and intra-sexual selection, which include train length for territory acquisition and visual and vocal displays involved in mate choice by peahens. Denial of evolution Pseudoscientific Christian groups such as The Collision and United Church of God have suggested the debate around the evolutionary purposes of the peacock's train refutes the existence of evolution. Behaviour. Peafowl are forest birds that nest on the ground, but roost in trees. They are terrestrial feeders. All species of peafowl are believed to be polygamous. In common with other members of the Galliformes, the males possess metatarsal spurs or "thorns" on their legs used during intraspecific territorial fights with some other members of their kind. In courtship, vocalisation stands to be a primary way for peacocks to attract peahens. Some studies suggest that the intricacy of the "song" produced by displaying peacocks proved to be impressive to peafowl. Singing in peacocks usually occurs just before, just after, or sometimes during copulation. Diet. Peafowl are omnivores and mostly eat plants, flower petals, seed heads, insects and other arthropods, reptiles, and amphibians. Wild peafowl look for their food scratching around in leaf litter either early in the morning or at dusk. They retreat to the shade and security of the woods for the hottest portion of the day. These birds are not picky and will eat almost anything they can fit in their beak and digest. They actively hunt insects like ants, crickets and termites; millipedes; and other arthropods and small mammals. Indian peafowl also eat small snakes. Domesticated peafowl may also eat bread and cracked grain such as oats and corn, cheese, cooked rice and sometimes cat food. It has been noticed by keepers that peafowl enjoy protein-rich food including larvae that infest granaries, different kinds of meat and fruit, as well as vegetables including dark leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, beans, beets, and peas. Cultural significance. Indian peafowl. The peafowl is native to India and significant in its culture. In Hinduism, the Indian peacock is the mount of the god of war, Kartikeya, and the warrior goddess Kaumari, and is also depicted around the goddess Santoshi. During a war with Asuras, Kartikeya split the demon king Surapadman in half. Out of respect for his adversary's prowess in battle, the god converted the two halves into an integral part of himself. One half became a peacock serving as his mount, and the other a rooster adorning his flag. The peacock displays the divine shape of Omkara when it spreads its magnificent plumes into a full-blown circular form. Peacock feathers also adorn the crest of the god Krishna. Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan Empire, was born an orphan and raised by a family farming peacocks. According to the Buddhist tradition, the ancestors of the Maurya kings had settled in a region where peacocks ("mora" in Pali) were abundant. Therefore, they came to be known as "Moriyas", literally, "belonging to the place of peacocks". According to another Buddhist account, these ancestors built a city called Moriya-nagara ("Moriya-city"), which was so called, because it was built with the "bricks coloured like peacocks' necks". After conquering the Nanda Empire and defeating the Seleucid Empire, the Chandragupta dynasty reigned uncontested during its time. Its royal emblem remained the peacock until Emperor Ashoka changed it to a lion, as seen in the Lion Capital of Ashoka, as well in his edicts. The peacock continued to represent elegance and royalty in India during medieval times; for instance, the Mughal seat of power was called the Peacock Throne. The peacock is represented in both the Burmese and Sinhalese zodiacs. To the Sinhalese people, the peacock is the third animal of the zodiac of Sri Lanka. Peacocks (often a symbol of pride and vanity) were believed to deliberately consume poisonous substances in order to become immune to them, as well as to make the colours of their resplendent plumage all the more vibrant – seeing as so many poisonous flora and fauna are so colourful due to aposematism, this idea appears to have merit. The Buddhist deity Mahamayuri is depicted seated on a peacock. Peacocks are seen supporting the throne of Amitabha, the ruby red sunset coloured archetypal Buddha of Infinite Light. India adopted the peacock as its national bird in 1963 and it is one of the national symbols of India. Middle East. Yazidism. Tawûsî Melek (lit. 'Peacock Angel') is one of the central figures of the Yazidi religion, is symbolized with a peacock. In Yazidi creation stories, before the creation of this world, God created seven Divine Beings, of whom Tawûsî Melek was appointed as the leader. God assigned all of the world's affairs to these seven Divine Beings, also often referred to as the Seven Angels or heft sirr ("the Seven Mysteries"). In Yazidism, the Peacock, which Tawûsî Melek is symbolised with, is believed to represent the diversity of the World, and the colourfulness of the Peacock's feathers is considered to represent of all the colours of the nature. The feathers of the peacock also symbolize sunrays, from which comes light, luminosity and brightness, and the peacock opening its feathers of its tail in a circular shape symbolizes the sunrise. Consequently, due to its holiness, Yazidis are not allowed to hunt and eat the peacock, ill-treat it and utter bad words about it. Images of the peacock are also found drawn around the sanctuary of Lalish and on other Yazidi shrines and holy sites, homes, as well as religious, social, cultural and academic centres. Mandaeism. In "The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa", the Mandaean uthra and emanation Yushamin is described as a peacock. Ancient Greece. Ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of peafowl did not decay after death, so it became a symbol of immortality. In Hellenistic imagery, the Greek goddess Hera's chariot was pulled by peacocks, birds not known to Greeks before the conquests of Alexander. Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, refers to it as "the Persian bird". When Alexander saw the birds in India, he was so amazed at their beauty that he threatened the severest penalties for any man who slew one. Claudius Aelianus writes that there were peacocks in India, larger than anywhere else. One myth states that Hera's servant, the hundred-eyed Argus Panoptes, was instructed to guard the woman-turned-cow, Io. Hera had transformed Io into a cow after learning of Zeus's interest in her. Zeus had the messenger of the gods, Hermes, kill Argus through eternal sleep and free Io. According to Ovid, to commemorate her faithful watchman, Hera had the hundred eyes of Argus preserved forever, in the peacock's tail. Christianity. The symbolism was adopted by early Christianity, thus many early Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock. The peacock is still used in the Easter season, especially in the east. The 'eyes' in the peacock's tail feathers symbolise the all-seeing Christian God and – in some interpretations – the Church. A peacock drinking from a vase is used as a symbol of a Christian believer drinking from the waters of eternal life. The peacock can also symbolise the cosmos if one interprets its tail with its many 'eyes' as the vault of heaven dotted by the sun, moon, and stars. By Christian adoption of old Persian and Babylonian symbolism, in which the peacock was associated with Paradise and the Tree of Life, the bird is again associated with immortality. In Christian iconography, the peacock is often depicted next to the Tree of Life. Judaism. Among Ashkenazi Jews, the golden peacock is a symbol for joy and creativity, with quills from the bird's feathers being a metaphor for a writer's inspiration. Renaissance. The peacock motif was revived in the Renaissance iconography that unified Hera and Juno, and on which European painters focused. Contemporary. In 1956, John J. Graham created an abstraction of an 11-feathered peacock logo for American broadcaster NBC. This brightly hued peacock was adopted due to the increase in colour programming. NBC's first colour broadcasts showed only a still frame of the colourful peacock. The emblem made its first on-air appearance on 22 May 1956. The current, six-feathered logo debuted on 12 May 1986. Breeding and colour variations. Hybrids between Indian peafowl and Green peafowl are called "Spaldings", after the first person to successfully hybridise them, Keith Spalding. Spaldings with a high-green phenotype do much better in cold temperatures than the cold-intolerant green peafowl while still looking like their green parents. Plumage varies between individual spaldings, with some looking far more like green peafowl and some looking far more like blue peafowl, though most visually carry traits of both. In addition to the wild-type "blue" colouration, several hundred variations in colour and pattern are recognised as separate morphs of the Indian Blue among peafowl breeders. Pattern variations include solid-wing/black shoulder (the black and brown stripes on the wing are instead one solid colour), pied, white-eye (the ocelli in a male's eye feathers have white spots instead of black), and silver pied (a mostly white bird with small patches of colour). Colour variations include white, purple, Buford bronze, opal, midnight, charcoal, jade, and taupe, as well as the sex-linked colours purple, cameo, peach, and Sonja's Violeta. Additional colour and pattern variations are first approved by the United Peafowl Association to become officially recognised as a morph among breeders. Alternately-coloured peafowl are born differently coloured than wild-type peafowl, and though each colour is recognisable at hatch, their peachick plumage does not necessarily match their adult plumage. Occasionally, peafowl appear with white plumage. Although albino peafowl do exist, this is quite rare, and almost all white peafowl are not albinos; they have a genetic condition called leucism, which causes pigment cells to fail to migrate from the neural crest during development. Leucistic peafowl can produce pigment but not deposit the pigment to their feathers, resulting in a blue-grey eye colour and the complete lack of colouration in their plumage. Pied peafowl are affected by partial leucism, where only some pigment cells fail to migrate, resulting in birds that have colour but also have patches absent of all colour; they, too, have blue-grey eyes. By contrast, true albino peafowl would have a complete lack of melanin, resulting in irises that look red or pink. Leucistic peachicks are born yellow and become fully white as they mature. The black-shouldered or Japanned mutation was initially considered as a subspecies of the Indian peafowl ("P. c. nigripennis") (or even a separate species ("P. nigripennis")) and was a topic of some interest during Darwin's time. Others had doubts about its taxonomic status, but the English naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) presented firm evidence for it being a variety under domestication, which treatment is now well established and accepted. It being a colour variation rather than a wild species was important for Darwin to prove, as otherwise it could undermine his theory of slow modification by natural selection in the wild. It is, however, only a case of genetic variation within the population. In this mutation, the adult male is melanistic with black wings.</ref> Gastronomy. In ancient Rome, peafowl were served as a delicacy. The dish was introduced there in approximately 35 B.C. The poet Horace ridiculed the eating of peafowl, saying they tasted like chicken. Peafowl eggs were also valued. Gaius Petronius in his Satyricon also mocked the ostentation and snobbery of eating peafowl and their eggs. During the Medieval period, various types of fowl were consumed as food, with the poorer populations (such as serfs) consuming more common birds, such as chicken. However, the more wealthy gentry were privileged to eat less usual foods, such as swan, and even peafowl were consumed. On a king's table, a peacock would be for ostentatious display as much as for culinary consumption. From the 1864 "The English and Australian Cookery Book", regarding occasions and preparation of the bird: Instead of plucking this bird, take off the skin with the greatest care, so that the feathers do not get detached or broken. Stuff it with what you like, as truffles, mushrooms, livers of fowls, bacon, salt, spice, thyme, crumbs of bread, and a bay-leaf. Wrap the claws and head in several folds of cloth, and envelope the body in buttered paper. The head and claws, which project at the two ends, must be basted with water during the cooking, to preserve them, and especially the tuft. Before taking it off the spit, brown the bird by removing the paper. Garnish with lemon and flowers. If to come on the table cold, place the bird in a wooden trencher, in the middle of which is fixed a wooden skewer, which should penetrate the body of the bird, to keep it upright. Arrange the claws and feathers in a natural manner, and the tail like a fan, supported with wire. No ordinary cook can place a peacock on the table properly. This ceremony was reserved, in the times of chivalry, for the lady most distinguished for her beauty. She carried it, amidst inspiring music, and placed it, at the commencement of the banquet, before the master of the house. At a nuptial feast, the peacock was served by the maid of honour, and placed before the bride for her to consume.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63656

Quorn, Leicestershire

Quorn () is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, near the university town of Loughborough. Its name was shortened from Quorndon in 1889, to avoid postal difficulties owing to its similarity to the name of another village, Quarndon, in neighbouring Derbyshire. History. The first known evidence of the village is in the Lincoln Episcopal Registers for 1209–1235, as Quernendon. Other variations of the village name over the centuries include Querne, Quendon, Querendon, Quarendon, Qaryndon, Querinden, Querondon, and Quernedon. The quarrying of stone in Quorn began at a very early age at Buddon Wood, on the edge of the parish. Granite millstones were quarried in the early Iron Age, and under the Romans stone was quarried for building in Leicester. Some of the larger millstones can still be seen in the area, however these days they are either used as garden ornaments, or worked into seats or slabs. The village's name is thought to be derived from the Old English "cweorndun", meaning "hill ("dun") where millstones ("cweorn") are obtained". Quorn Hall, off Meynell Road on the eastern edge of the village, was built for the Farnham family in about 1680. It became the home of renowned fox hunter Hugo Meynell in 1753. He established his pack of hounds there, where it continued under later masters until 1905, thus giving a name to the famous Quorn Hunt. Three Royal Navy ships have been named HMS "Quorn" after the hunt. The meat substitute Quorn derives its name from this village, and began production in 1985. World Wars. 96 men from Quorn lost their lives in the two World Wars (77 in World War I and 19 in World War II). A cenotaph in Quorn's Memorial Gardens honours these men. Quorn Camp was established on the grounds of Quorn House during World War II. It was used as a PoW camp and was also host to a number of the United States Army 82nd Airborne Division's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. These paratroopers were involved in liberating the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, in Normandy, France, on the morning of D-Day and included Pvt. John Marvin Steele who famously became caught on the town's church spire. This incident is today commemorated with a dummy paratrooper and parachute attached to the church in Sainte-Mère-Église. A number of American veterans come back to Quorn, particularly every tenth anniversary of the D-Day landings, to remember their time in Quorn and their comrades who did not return. There is a plaque commemorating the lost US servicemen in Quorn's Memorial Gardens, upon which a poppy wreath is placed each year on Remembrance Sunday. There is also an avenue of lime trees in Stafford Orchard (the village park) in remembrance of those American soldiers that died, together with a plaque. Today. Quorn is built around the old A6 road which runs through the centre of the village. On 28 October 1991 a dual carriageway bypass opened taking the A6 away to the north-eastern edge of the village. The village has a railway station called Quorn and Woodhouse, shared with the neighbouring hamlet of Woodhouse, which was on the national Great Central Railway network and is now on the preserved Great Central Railway. Numerous royal visitors have disembarked at the station to take part in the Quorn Hunt, including the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). As well as being a site of historical and cultural interest throughout the year, the station hosts a fireworks display on the Bonfire weekend. The station is also home to a small vintage tea room at the 'bridge-most' end of the platform, and the Butler Henderson Café in the main car park. Sarson Street, running adjacent to Rawlins Community College, features many 19th-century terraced cottages, formerly those of framework knitters. Framework knitting was a major local industry until the onset of major mechanisation, and the cottages along this road display certain features typical of such an activity. Large windows for example were intended to allow in the necessary amount of light by which to work. M. Wright & Sons Ltd have been manufacturing fabrics at Quorn Mill, on Leicester Road, since 1870. Originally producing fabrics for the footwear and corset trades, the factory now produces high technology textiles for various industries including military, aerospace and leisure. "The Banks" area of the village is an ornate paved area with seating, designed to resemble the letter 'Q' when seen from the air. The village prides itself on its green spaces, and more evidence of this can be seen with the opposition to proposed development at Caves field. This is a large cricket pitch with pavilion where Quorn Cricket Club play during the season, near the centre of Quorn, which was the focus of interest from a housing development company. Objection was widespread, not only at the prospect of losing the cricket field but also due to the threat to a neighbouring wetland ecosystem, considered valuable by environmentalists and the village population. The Farley Way Stadium is home to local association football club Quorn F.C. as well as Leicester City W.F.C. In the past few years, efforts have been made to cater for the local young people. These have resulted in a half pipe being built next to the basketball court on Stafford Orchard, and a green shelter erected on the same site. In recent years the half pipe was removed and replaced by ready made ramps. Stafford Orchard is the large park, with a shaded area by the stream, youngster's play area and half pipe now appeals to people of all ages. Examples of how the Stafford Orchard contributes to the village can be seen at the large and successful Mayday celebrations, as well as the local pub football matches occasionally held there. In 2016, Quorn was named as one of the top five places in the UK to bring up a family in a survey conducted by estate agents, Leaders. Notable buildings. The Church of St Bartholomew and Farnham Chapel is a Grade I listed building. Quorn House, off Meeting Street, is a Grade II listed building, built in 1820, and was the seat of the Farnham family from c.1260 until 1993 when it was sold to fitness instructor Rosemary Conley, whose business occupied the building until 2015. Quorn House and the surrounding 120 acres of parkland was then purchased by Tarmac, operators of Mountsorrel Quarry, who have used the building as office space. Education. St Bartholomew's Primary School is a Church of England controlled school for foundation-age children through year 6. In the centre of the village, adjacent to St Bartholomew's Church, is Rawlins Academy, a secondary school which goes from years 7 to Sixth form where they got a good in the 2017 Ofsted report and outstanding in the Sixth form. The school also provides adult education and leisure classes. This is on the site of the Thomas Rawlins Grammar School for Girls. Loughborough Grammar School have a number of sports pitches on the edge of the village. Population. The 2011 census showed Quorn's population to be 5,177 (an increase from 4,961 in 2001), composed of 2,524 males and 2,653 females. Parish and boundaries. The full name, Quorndon, is still the official name of the civil parish. The River Soar forms much of Quorn's eastern boundary with the village of Barrow upon Soar and captures Pilling's Lock and parts of the Grand Union Canal, Midland Main Line railway and A6 dual carriageway. The southern boundary, with the neighbouring villages of Mountsorrel, Rothley and Swithland, encompasses Buddon Wood, Mountsorrel Quarry and part of Swithland Reservoir. The Great Central Railway makes up most of western boundary with the village of Woodhouse. The northern boundary captures Bull in the Hollow Farm and is shared with the hamlet of Woodthorpe and the town of Loughborough. Quorn, Australia. The outback township of Quorn, South Australia, was named in May 1878 by Governor William Jervois of the then Province of South Australia after Quorn, Leicestershire – the birthplace of his private secretary, Mr J. H. B. Warner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63663

Fly

Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- "di-" "two", and πτερόν "pteron" "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics. Diptera is a large order containing an estimated 1,000,000 species including horse-flies, crane flies, hoverflies, mosquitoes and others, although only about 125,000 species have been described. Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large compound eyes, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. Their wing arrangement gives them great maneuverability in flight, and claws and pads on their feet enable them to cling to smooth surfaces. Flies undergo complete metamorphosis; the eggs are often laid on the larval food-source and the larvae, which lack true limbs, develop in a protected environment, often inside their food source. Other species like "Metopia argyrocephala" are ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals. The pupa is a tough capsule from which the adult emerges when ready to do so; flies mostly have short lives as adults. Diptera is one of the major insect orders and of considerable ecological and human importance. Flies are important pollinators, second only to the bees and their Hymenopteran relatives. Flies may have been among the evolutionarily earliest pollinators responsible for early plant pollination. Fruit flies are used as model organisms in research, but less benignly, mosquitoes are vectors for malaria, dengue, West Nile fever, yellow fever, encephalitis, and other infectious diseases; and houseflies, commensal with humans all over the world, spread food-borne illnesses. Flies can be annoyances especially in some parts of the world where they can occur in large numbers, buzzing and settling on the skin or eyes to bite or seek fluids. Larger flies such as tsetse flies and screwworms cause significant economic harm to cattle. Blowfly larvae, known as gentles, and other dipteran larvae, known more generally as maggots, are used as fishing bait and as food for carnivorous animals. They are also used in medicine in debridement to clean wounds. Taxonomy and phylogeny. Relationships to other insects. Dipterans are endopterygotes, insects that undergo radical metamorphosis. They belong to the Mecopterida, alongside the Mecoptera, Siphonaptera, Lepidoptera and Trichoptera. The possession of a single pair of wings distinguishes most true flies from other insects with "fly" in their names. However, some true flies such as Hippoboscidae (louse flies) have become secondarily wingless. The cladogram represents the current consensus view. Relationships between subgroups and families. The first true dipterans known are from the Middle Triassic (around 240 million years ago), and they became widespread during the Middle and Late Triassic. Modern flowering plants did not appear until the Cretaceous (around 140 million years ago), so the original dipterans must have had a different source of nutrition other than nectar. Based on the attraction of many modern fly groups to shiny droplets, it has been suggested that they may have fed on honeydew produced by sap-sucking bugs which were abundant at the time, and dipteran mouthparts are well-adapted to softening and lapping up the crusted residues. The basal clades in the Diptera include the Deuterophlebiidae and the enigmatic Nymphomyiidae. Three episodes of evolutionary radiation are thought to have occurred based on the fossil record. Many new species of lower Diptera developed in the Triassic, about 220 million years ago. Many lower Brachycera appeared in the Jurassic, some 180 million years ago. A third radiation took place among the Schizophora at the start of the Paleogene, 66 million years ago. The phylogenetic position of Diptera has been controversial. The monophyly of holometabolous insects has long been accepted, with the main orders being established as Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera, and it is the relationships between these groups which has caused difficulties. Diptera is widely thought to be a member of Mecopterida, along with Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Trichoptera (caddisflies), Siphonaptera (fleas), Mecoptera (scorpionflies) and possibly Strepsiptera (twisted-wing flies). Diptera has been grouped with Siphonaptera and Mecoptera in the Antliophora, but this has not been confirmed by molecular studies. Diptera were traditionally broken down into two suborders, Nematocera and Brachycera, distinguished by the differences in antennae. The Nematocera are identified by their elongated bodies and many-segmented, often feathery antennae as represented by mosquitoes and crane flies. The Brachycera have rounder bodies and much shorter antennae. Subsequent studies have identified the Nematocera as being non-monophyletic with modern phylogenies placing the Brachycera within grades of groups formerly placed in the Nematocera. The construction of a phylogenetic tree has been the subject of ongoing research. The following cladogram is based on the FLYTREE project. Diversity. Flies are often abundant and are found in almost all terrestrial habitats in the world apart from Antarctica. They include many familiar insects such as house flies, blow flies, mosquitoes, gnats, black flies, midges and fruit flies. More than 150,000 have been formally described and the actual species diversity is much greater, with the flies from many parts of the world yet to be studied intensively. The suborder Nematocera include generally small, slender insects with long antennae such as mosquitoes, gnats, midges and crane-flies, while the Brachycera includes broader, more robust flies with short antennae. Many nematoceran larvae are aquatic. There are estimated to be a total of about 19,000 species of Diptera in Europe, 22,000 in the Nearctic region, 20,000 in the Afrotropical region, 23,000 in the Oriental region and 19,000 in the Australasian region. While most species have restricted distributions, a few like the housefly ("Musca domestica") are cosmopolitan. "Gauromydas heros" (Asiloidea), with a length of up to , is generally considered to be the largest fly in the world, while the smallest is "Euryplatea nanaknihali", which at is smaller than a grain of salt. Brachycera are ecologically very diverse, with many being predatory at the larval stage and some being parasitic. Animals parasitised include molluscs, woodlice, millipedes, insects, mammals, and amphibians. Flies are the second largest group of pollinators after the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and relatives). In wet and colder environments flies are significantly more important as pollinators. Compared to bees, they need less food as they do not need to provision their young. Many flowers that bear low nectar and those that have evolved trap pollination depend on flies. It is thought that some of the earliest pollinators of plants may have been flies. The greatest diversity of gall forming insects are found among the flies, principally in the family Cecidomyiidae (gall midges). Many flies (most importantly in the family Agromyzidae) lay their eggs in the mesophyll tissue of leaves with larvae feeding between the surfaces forming blisters and mines. Some families are mycophagous or fungus feeding. These include the cave dwelling Mycetophilidae (fungus gnats) whose larvae are the only diptera with bioluminescence. The Sciaridae are also fungus feeders. Some plants are pollinated by fungus feeding flies that visit fungus infected male flowers. The larvae of "Megaselia scalaris" (Phoridae) are almost omnivorous and consume such substances as paint and shoe polish. The "Exorista mella (Walker)" fly are considered generalists and parasitoids of a variety of hosts. The larvae of the shore flies (Ephydridae) and some Chironomidae survive in extreme environments including glaciers ("Diamesa" sp., Chironomidae), hot springs, geysers, saline pools, sulphur pools, septic tanks and even crude oil ("Helaeomyia petrolei"). Adult hoverflies (Syrphidae) are well known for their mimicry and the larvae adopt diverse lifestyles including being inquiline scavengers inside the nests of social insects. Some brachycerans are agricultural pests, some bite animals and humans and suck their blood, and some transmit diseases. Anatomy and morphology. Flies are adapted for aerial movement and typically have short and streamlined bodies. The first tagma of the fly, the head, bears the eyes, the antennae, and the mouthparts (the labrum, labium, mandible, and maxilla make up the mouthparts). The second tagma, the thorax, bears the wings and contains the flight muscles on the second segment, which is greatly enlarged; the first and third segments have been reduced to collar-like structures, and the third segment bears the halteres, which help to balance the insect during flight. The third tagma is the abdomen consisting of 11 segments, some of which may be fused, and with the 3 hindmost segments modified for reproduction. Some Dipterans are mimics and can only be distinguished from their models by very careful inspection. An example of this is "Spilomyia longicornis", which is a fly but mimics a vespid wasp. Flies have a mobile head with a pair of large compound eyes on the sides of the head, and in most species, three small ocelli on the top. The compound eyes may be close together or widely separated, and in some instances are divided into a dorsal region and a ventral region, perhaps to assist in swarming behaviour. The antennae are well-developed but variable, being thread-like, feathery or comb-like in the different families. The mouthparts are adapted for piercing and sucking, as in the black flies, mosquitoes and robber flies, and for lapping and sucking as in many other groups. Female horse-flies use knife-like mandibles and maxillae to make a cross-shaped incision in the host's skin and then lap up the blood that flows. The gut includes large diverticulae, allowing the insect to store small quantities of liquid after a meal. For visual course control, flies' optic flow field is analyzed by a set of motion-sensitive neurons. A subset of these neurons is thought to be involved in using the optic flow to estimate the parameters of self-motion, such as yaw, roll, and sideward translation. Other neurons are thought to be involved in analyzing the content of the visual scene itself, such as separating figures from the ground using motion parallax. The H1 neuron is responsible for detecting horizontal motion across the entire visual field of the fly, allowing the fly to generate and guide stabilizing motor corrections midflight with respect to yaw. The ocelli are concerned in the detection of changes in light intensity, enabling the fly to react swiftly to the approach of an object. Like other insects, flies have chemoreceptors that detect smell and taste, and mechanoreceptors that respond to touch. The third segments of the antennae and the maxillary palps bear the main olfactory receptors, while the gustatory receptors are in the labium, pharynx, feet, wing margins and female genitalia, enabling flies to taste their food by walking on it. The taste receptors in females at the tip of the abdomen receive information on the suitability of a site for ovipositing. Flies that feed on blood have special sensory structures that can detect infrared emissions, and use them to home in on their hosts, and many blood-sucking flies can detect the raised concentration of carbon dioxide that occurs near large animals. Some tachinid flies (Ormiinae) which are parasitoids of bush crickets, have sound receptors to help them locate their singing hosts. Diptera have one pair of fore wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, or reduced hind wings, on the metathorax. A further adaptation for flight is the reduction in number of the neural ganglia, and concentration of nerve tissue in the thorax, a feature that is most extreme in the highly derived Muscomorpha infraorder. Some flies such as the ectoparasitic Nycteribiidae and Streblidae are exceptional in having lost their wings and become flightless. The only other order of insects bearing a single pair of true, functional wings, in addition to any form of halteres, are the Strepsiptera. In contrast to the flies, the Strepsiptera bear their halteres on the mesothorax and their flight wings on the metathorax. Each of the fly's six legs has a typical insect structure of coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia and tarsus, with the tarsus in most instances being subdivided into five tarsomeres. At the tip of the limb is a pair of claws, and between these are cushion-like structures known as pulvilli which provide adhesion. The abdomen shows considerable variability among members of the order. It consists of eleven segments in primitive groups and ten segments in more derived groups, the tenth and eleventh segments having fused. The last two or three segments are adapted for reproduction. Each segment is made up of a dorsal and a ventral sclerite, connected by an elastic membrane. In some females, the sclerites are rolled into a flexible, telescopic ovipositor. Flight. Flies are capable of great manoeuvrability during flight due to the presence of the halteres. These act as gyroscopic organs and are rapidly oscillated in time with the wings; they act as a balance and guidance system by providing rapid feedback to the wing-steering muscles, and flies deprived of their halteres are unable to fly. The wings and halteres move in synchrony but the amplitude of each wing beat is independent, allowing the fly to turn sideways. The wings of the fly are attached to two kinds of muscles, those used to power it and another set used for fine control. Flies tend to fly in a straight line then make a rapid change in direction before continuing on a different straight path. The directional changes are called saccades and typically involve an angle of 90°, being achieved in 50 milliseconds. They are initiated by visual stimuli as the fly observes an object, nerves then activate steering muscles in the thorax that cause a small change in wing stroke which generate sufficient torque to turn. Detecting this within four or five wingbeats, the halteres trigger a counter-turn and the fly heads off in a new direction. Flies have rapid reflexes that aid their escape from predators but their sustained flight speeds are low. Dolichopodid flies in the genus "Condylostylus" respond in less than 5 milliseconds to camera flashes by taking flight. In the past, the deer bot fly, "Cephenemyia", was claimed to be one of the fastest insects on the basis of an estimate made visually by Charles Townsend in 1927. This claim, of speeds of 600 to 800 miles per hour, was regularly repeated until it was shown to be physically impossible as well as incorrect by Irving Langmuir. Langmuir suggested an estimated speed of 25 miles per hour. Although most flies live and fly close to the ground, a few are known to fly at heights and a few like "Oscinella" (Chloropidae) are known to be dispersed by winds at altitudes of up to 2000 ft and over long distances. Some hover flies like "Metasyrphus corollae" have been known to undertake long flights in response to aphid population spurts. Males of fly species such as "Cuterebra", many hover flies, bee flies (Bombyliidae) and fruit flies (Tephritidae) maintain territories within which they engage in aerial pursuit to drive away intruding males and other species. While these territories may be held by individual males, some species, such as "A. freeborni", form leks with many males aggregating in displays. Some flies maintain an airspace and still others form dense swarms that maintain a stationary location with respect to landmarks. Many flies mate in flight while swarming. Life cycle and development. Diptera go through a complete metamorphosis with four distinct life stages – egg, larva, pupa and adult. Larva. In many flies, the larval stage is long and adults may have a short life. Most dipteran larvae develop in protected environments; many are aquatic and others are found in moist places such as carrion, fruit, vegetable matter, fungi and, in the case of parasitic species, inside their hosts. They tend to have thin cuticles and become desiccated if exposed to the air. Apart from the Brachycera, most dipteran larvae have sclerotised head capsules, which may be reduced to remnant mouth hooks; the Brachycera, however, have soft, gelatinized head capsules from which the sclerites are reduced or missing. Many of these larvae retract their heads into their thorax. The spiracles in the larva and pupa do not have any internal mechanical closing device. Some other anatomical distinction exists between the larvae of the Nematocera and the Brachycera. Especially in the Brachycera, little demarcation is seen between the thorax and abdomen, though the demarcation may be visible in many Nematocera, such as mosquitoes; in the Brachycera, the head of the larva is not clearly distinguishable from the rest of the body, and few, if any, sclerites are present. Informally, such brachyceran larvae are called maggots, but the term is not technical and often applied indifferently to fly larvae or insect larvae in general. The eyes and antennae of brachyceran larvae are reduced or absent, and the abdomen also lacks appendages such as cerci. This lack of features is an adaptation to food such as carrion, decaying detritus, or host tissues surrounding endoparasites. Nematoceran larvae generally have well-developed eyes and antennae, while those of Brachyceran larvae are reduced or modified. Dipteran larvae have no jointed, "true legs", but some dipteran larvae, such as species of Simuliidae, Tabanidae and Vermileonidae, have prolegs adapted to hold onto a substrate in flowing water, host tissues or prey. The majority of dipterans are oviparous and lay batches of eggs, but some species are ovoviviparous, where the larvae starting development inside the eggs before they hatch or viviparous, the larvae hatching and maturing in the body of the mother before being externally deposited. These are found especially in groups that have larvae dependent on food sources that are short-lived or are accessible for brief periods. This is widespread in some families such as the Sarcophagidae. In "Hylemya strigosa" (Anthomyiidae) the larva moults to the second instar before hatching, and in "Termitoxenia" (Phoridae) females have incubation pouches, and a full developed third instar larva is deposited by the adult and it almost immediately pupates with no freely feeding larval stage. The tsetse fly (as well as other Glossinidae, Hippoboscidae, Nycteribidae and Streblidae) exhibits adenotrophic viviparity; a single fertilised egg is retained in the oviduct and the developing larva feeds on glandular secretions. When fully grown, the female finds a spot with soft soil and the larva works its way out of the oviduct, buries itself and pupates. Some flies like "Lundstroemia parthenogenetica" (Chironomidae) reproduce by thelytokous parthenogenesis, and some gall midges have larvae that can produce eggs (paedogenesis). Pupa. The pupae take various forms. In some groups, particularly the Nematocera, the pupa is intermediate between the larval and adult form; these pupae are described as "obtect", having the future appendages visible as structures that adhere to the pupal body. The outer surface of the pupa may be leathery and bear spines, respiratory features or locomotory paddles. In other groups, described as "coarctate", the appendages are not visible. In these, the outer surface is a puparium, formed from the last larval skin, and the actual pupa is concealed within. When the adult insect is ready to emerge from this tough, desiccation-resistant capsule, it inflates a balloon-like structure on its head, and forces its way out. Adult. The adult stage is usually short, its function is only to mate and lay eggs. The genitalia of male flies are rotated to a varying degree from the position found in other insects. In some flies, this is a temporary rotation during mating, but in others, it is a permanent torsion of the organs that occurs during the pupal stage. This torsion may lead to the anus being below the genitals, or, in the case of 360° torsion, to the sperm duct being wrapped around the gut and the external organs being in their usual position. When flies mate, the male initially flies on top of the female, facing in the same direction, but then turns around to face in the opposite direction. This forces the male to lie on his back for his genitalia to remain engaged with those of the female, or the torsion of the male genitals allows the male to mate while remaining upright. This leads to flies having more reproduction abilities than most insects, and much quicker. Flies occur in large populations due to their ability to mate effectively and quickly during the mating season. More primitive groups mates in the air during swarming, but most of the more advanced species with a 360° torsion mate on a substrate. Ecology. As ubiquitous insects, dipterans play an important role at various trophic levels both as consumers and as prey. In some groups the larvae complete their development without feeding, and in others the adults do not feed. The larvae can be herbivores, scavengers, decomposers, predators or parasites, with the consumption of decaying organic matter being one of the most prevalent feeding behaviours. The fruit or detritus is consumed along with the associated micro-organisms, a sieve-like filter in the pharynx being used to concentrate the particles, while flesh-eating larvae have mouth-hooks to help shred their food. The larvae of some groups feed on or in the living tissues of plants and fungi, and some of these are serious pests of agricultural crops. Some aquatic larvae consume the films of algae that form underwater on rocks and plants. Many of the parasitoid larvae grow inside and eventually kill other arthropods, while parasitic larvae may attack vertebrate hosts. Whereas many dipteran larvae are aquatic or live in enclosed terrestrial locations, the majority of adults live above ground and are capable of flight. Predominantly they feed on nectar or plant or animal exudates, such as honeydew, for which their lapping mouthparts are adapted. Some flies have functional mandibles that may be used for biting. The flies that feed on vertebrate blood have sharp stylets that pierce the skin, with some species having anticoagulant saliva that is regurgitated before absorbing the blood that flows; in this process, certain diseases can be transmitted. The bot flies (Oestridae) have evolved to parasitize mammals. Many species complete their life cycle inside the bodies of their hosts. The larvae of a few fly groups (Agromyzidae, Anthomyiidae, Cecidomyiidae) are capable of inducing plant galls. Some dipteran larvae are leaf-miners. The larvae of many brachyceran families are predaceous. In many dipteran groups, swarming is a feature of adult life, with clouds of insects gathering in certain locations; these insects are mostly males, and the swarm may serve the purpose of making their location more visible to females. Most adult diptera have their mouthparts modified to sponge up fluid. The adults of many species of flies (e.g. "Anthomyia" sp., "Steganopsis melanogaster") that feed on liquid food will regurgitate fluid in a behaviour termed as "bubbling" which has been thought to help the insects evaporate water and concentrate food or possibly to cool by evaporation. Some adult diptera are known for kleptoparasitism such as members of the Sarcophagidae. The miltogramminae are known as "satellite flies" for their habit of following wasps and stealing their stung prey or laying their eggs into them. Phorids, milichids and the genus "Bengalia" are known to steal food carried by ants. Adults of "Ephydra hians" forage underwater, and have special hydrophobic hairs that trap a bubble of air that lets them breathe underwater. Anti-predator adaptations. Flies are eaten by other animals at all stages of their development. The eggs and larvae are parasitised by other insects and are eaten by many creatures, some of which specialise in feeding on flies but most of which consume them as part of a mixed diet. Birds, bats, frogs, lizards, dragonflies and spiders are among the predators of flies. Many flies have evolved mimetic resemblances that aid their protection. Batesian mimicry is widespread with many hoverflies resembling bees and wasps, ants and some species of tephritid fruit fly resembling spiders. Some species of hoverfly are myrmecophilous—their young live and grow within the nests of ants. They are protected from the ants by imitating chemical odours given by ant colony members. Bombyliid bee flies such as "Bombylius major" are short-bodied, round, furry, and distinctly bee-like as they visit flowers for nectar, and are likely also Batesian mimics of bees. In contrast, "Drosophila subobscura," a species of fly in the genus "Drosophila", lacks a category of hemocytes that are present in other studied species of "Drosophila", leading to an inability to defend against parasitic attacks, a form of innate immunodeficiency. Human interaction and cultural depictions. Symbolism. Flies play a variety of symbolic roles in different cultures. These include both positive and negative roles in religion. In the traditional Navajo religion, Big Fly is an important spirit being. In Christian demonology, Beelzebub is a demonic fly, the "Lord of the Flies", and a god of the Philistines. Flies have appeared in literature since ancient Sumer. In a Sumerian poem, a fly helps the goddess Inanna when her husband Dumuzid is being chased by "galla" demons. In the Mesopotamian versions of the flood myth, the dead corpses floating on the waters are compared to flies. Later, the gods are said to swarm "like flies" around the hero Utnapishtim's offering. Flies appear on Old Babylonian seals as symbols of Nergal, the god of death. Fly-shaped lapis lazuli beads were often worn in ancient Mesopotamia, along with other kinds of fly-jewellery. In a little-known Greek myth, a very chatty and talkative maiden named Myia (meaning "fly") enraged the moon-goddess Selene by attempting to seduce her lover, the sleeping Endymion, and was thus turned by the angry goddess into a fly, who now always deprives people of their sleep in memory of her past life. In "Prometheus Bound", which is attributed to the Athenian tragic playwright Aeschylus, a gadfly sent by Zeus's wife Hera pursues and torments his mistress Io, who has been transformed into a cow and is watched constantly by the hundred eyes of the herdsman Argus: "Io: Ah! Hah! Again the prick, the stab of gadfly-sting! O earth, earth, hide, the hollow shape—Argus—that evil thing—the hundred-eyed." William Shakespeare, inspired by Aeschylus, has Tom o'Bedlam in "King Lear", "Whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through ford and whirlpool, o'er bog and quagmire", driven mad by the constant pursuit. In "Antony and Cleopatra", Shakespeare similarly likens Cleopatra's hasty departure from the Actium battlefield to that of a cow chased by a gadfly. More recently, in 1962 the biologist Vincent Dethier wrote "To Know a Fly", introducing the general reader to the behaviour and physiology of the fly. "Musca depicta" ("painted fly" in Latin) is a depiction of a fly as an inconspicuous element of various paintings. This feature was widespread in 15th and 16th centuries paintings and its presence may be explained by various reasons. Flies appear in popular culture in concepts such as fly-on-the-wall documentary-making in film and television production. The metaphoric name suggests that events are seen candidly, as a fly might see them. Flies have inspired the design of miniature flying robots. Steven Spielberg's 1993 film "Jurassic Park" relied on the idea that DNA could be preserved in the stomach contents of a blood-sucking fly fossilised in amber, though the mechanism has been discounted by scientists. Economic importance. Dipterans are an important group of insects and have a considerable impact on the environment. Some leaf-miner flies (Agromyzidae), fruit flies (Tephritidae and Drosophilidae) and gall midges (Cecidomyiidae) are pests of agricultural crops; others such as tsetse flies, screwworm and botflies (Oestridae) attack livestock, causing wounds, spreading disease, and creating significant economic harm. See article: Parasitic flies of domestic animals. A few can even cause myiasis in humans. Still others such as mosquitoes (Culicidae), blackflies (Simuliidae) and drain flies (Psychodidae) impact human health, acting as vectors of major tropical diseases. Among these, "Anopheles" mosquitoes transmit malaria, filariasis, and arboviruses; "Aedes aegypti" mosquitoes carry dengue fever and the Zika virus; blackflies carry river blindness; sand flies carry leishmaniasis. Other dipterans are a nuisance to humans, especially when present in large numbers; these include houseflies, which contaminate food and spread food-borne illnesses; the biting midges and sandflies (Ceratopogonidae) and the houseflies and stable flies (Muscidae). In tropical regions, eye flies (Chloropidae) which visit the eye in search of fluids can be a nuisance in some seasons. Many dipterans serve roles that are useful to humans. Houseflies, blowflies and fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae) are scavengers and aid in decomposition. Robber flies (Asilidae), tachinids (Tachinidae) and dagger flies and balloon flies (Empididae) are predators and parasitoids of other insects, helping to control a variety of pests. Many dipterans such as bee flies (Bombyliidae) and hoverflies (Syrphidae) are pollinators of crop plants. Uses. "Drosophila melanogaster", a fruit fly, has long been used as a model organism in research because of the ease with which it can be bred and reared in the laboratory, its small genome, and the fact that many of its genes have counterparts in higher eukaryotes. A large number of genetic studies have been undertaken based on this species; these have had a profound impact on the study of gene expression, gene regulatory mechanisms and mutation. Other studies have investigated physiology, microbial pathogenesis and development among other research topics. The studies on dipteran relationships by Willi Hennig helped in the development of cladistics, techniques that he applied to morphological characters but now adapted for use with molecular sequences in phylogenetics. Maggots found on corpses are useful to forensic entomologists. Maggot species can be identified by their anatomical features and by matching their DNA. Maggots of different species of flies visit corpses and carcases at fairly well-defined times after the death of the victim, and so do their predators, such as beetles in the family Histeridae. Thus, the presence or absence of particular species provides evidence for the time since death, and sometimes other details such as the place of death, when species are confined to particular habitats such as woodland. Some species of maggots such as blowfly larvae (gentles) and bluebottle larvae (casters) are bred commercially; they are sold as bait in angling, and as food for carnivorous animals (kept as pets, in zoos, or for research) such as some mammals, fishes, reptiles, and birds. It has been suggested that fly larvae could be used at a large scale as food for farmed chickens, pigs, and fish. However, consumers are opposed to the inclusion of insects in their food, and the use of insects in animal feed remains illegal in areas such as the European Union. Fly larvae can be used as a biomedical tool for wound care and treatment. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is the use of blow fly larvae to remove the dead tissue from wounds, most commonly being amputations. Historically, this has been used for centuries, both intentional and unintentional, on battlefields and in early hospital settings. Removing the dead tissue promotes cell growth and healthy wound healing. The larvae also have biochemical properties such as antibacterial activity found in their secretions as they feed. These medicinal maggots are a safe and effective treatment for chronic wounds. The Sardinian cheese casu marzu is exposed to flies known as cheese skippers such as "Piophila casei", members of the family Piophilidae. The digestive activities of the fly larvae soften the cheese and modify the aroma as part of the process of maturation. At one time European Union authorities banned sale of the cheese and it was becoming hard to find, but the ban has been lifted on the grounds that the cheese is a traditional local product made by traditional methods. Hazards. Flies are a health hazard and are attracted to toilets because of their smell. The "New Scientist" magazine suggested a trap for these flies. A pipe acting as a chimney was fitted to the toilet which let in some light to attract these flies up to the end of this pipe where a gauze covering prevented escape to the air outside so that they were trapped and died. Toilets are generally dark inside particularly if the door is closed. External links. General Anatomy Describers

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Northampton

Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is situated on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; the population of its urban area was recorded as 245,899 in the 2021 census. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates to the Bronze Age, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. In the Middle Ages, the town rose to national significance with the establishment of Northampton Castle, an occasional royal residence which regularly hosted the Parliament of England. Medieval Northampton had many churches, monasteries and the University of Northampton, all enclosed by the town walls. It was granted a town charter by Richard I in 1189 and a mayor was appointed by King John in 1215. The town was also the site of two medieval battles, in 1264 and 1460. The town largely supported the Parliamentary Roundheads during the English Civil War, which prompted Charles II to order the destruction of the town walls and most of the castle. The Great Fire of Northampton in 1675 also destroyed much of the historic town. Northampton was soon rebuilt and grew rapidly with the industrial development of the 18th century. The town continued to expand with the arrival of the Grand Union Canal and the railways in the 19th century, becoming a centre for footwear and leather manufacture. Growth was limited following the World Wars until it was designated a New Town in 1968, accelerating development which has continued into the 21st century. Northampton unsuccessfully applied for city status three times; in 2000, 2002 and 2022. History. Etymology. The earliest reference to Northampton in writing occurred in 914 under the name "Ham tune". The prefix "North" was added later to distinguish it from other towns called Hampton, most prominently Southampton. The "Domesday Book" (1086) records the town as "Northantone", which evolved into "Norhamptone" by the 13th century and later "Northampton" by the 17th century. Ancient. Present-day Northampton is the latest in a series of settlements that began in the Bronze Age. Remains found in the Briar Hill district show evidence of a Neolithic encampment within a large circular earthwork where local farmers assembled for tribal ceremonies and seasonal events from approximately 3500 BC to 2000 BC. During the British Iron Age, people typically lived in protected hill forts. Present-day Hunsbury Hill is an example of this settlement; a circular ditch and a bank faced with a wall of timber and enclosing an area of which dates to around 400 BC. In the Roman period, a small rural settlement is thought to have existed in the present-day district of Duston; remains of Roman pottery were found there. Following a Danish invasion, the central area of the town was turned into a stronghold called a "burh" probably by the Anglo-Saxons. By the time of the Peace of Wedmore in 878 the Burgh was in possession of the Danes and became the base for one of the Danish armies. A ditch was dug around the settlement and it was fortified with earth ramparts. Having conquered Mercia, the Danes turned the settlement into a centre for military and administrative purposes, which was part of the Danelaw. The Danish army of Northampton however submitted to Edward the Elder, Saxon King of Wessex (who controlled the southern and western part of the English Kingdom of Mercia) in 921 In the 9th century "Regenhere of Northampton" an East Anglian Saint with localised veneration was buried in Northampton. By 918, Northampton had an earl and an army dependent upon it, whose territory extended to the River Welland. Edward the Elder turned Northampton into the centre of one of the new shires, and it prospered as a river port and trading centre. In 940, it resisted the invading forces of Danish opposition in Northumbria when the Mercians successfully defended the town in a siege by King Olaf of York, but was burnt in 1010 by a Danish army, and again in 1065 by the rebellious northern earls Edwin and Morcar. Despite this, the "Domesday Book" records "Northantone" as possessing 316 houses with a population of 2000 people, ranking between Warwick and Leicester in size. Medieval. With the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the town rose to national significance: its geographical location in the centre of England made Northampton a valuable strategical point for government and as a convenient meeting place for political, social, ecclesiastical and military events. Northampton Castle is thought to have been built by Simon de Senlis, who became the first Earl of Northampton, circa 1084. It was originally an earth and timber stockaded construction which was later rebuilt in stone. The castle became an occasional royal residence from the reign of King Henry I in 1130 until that of King Richard II. King John regularly stayed at the castle and moved The Treasury there in 1205. Some 32 Parliaments were held there. The last Parliament at Northampton was held in 1380. Significant events in the castle's history include the trial of Thomas Becket in 1164, the publication of the Assize of Northampton in 1176, the declaration of peace with Scotland in the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, the passage of the Statute of Northampton in 1328 and the imposition of poll tax in 1380. Royal tournaments and feasts were also held at the castle. Simon de Senlis is also thought to have built the medieval town walls, which enclosed about and had four main gates. Though demolished now, the circular pattern of the main roads surrounding the town centre marks the original position of the walls. de Senlis founded the Cluniac Priory of St Andrew's in the area of Semilong, and built The Church of the Holy Sepulchre – one of four remaining round churches in England – and All Hallows' Church on the current site of All Saints' Church. His son, Simon II de Senlis, built St Peter's Church on a site between a former Anglo-Saxon palace and Northampton Castle. Simon II de Senlis also founded Delapré Abbey – another Cluniac priory – which still stands today. Other priories in medieval Northampton include St James' Abbey, Graye Friers, Blackfriars and Whitefriars. St. John's, a medieval hospital, was situated east of Bridge Street. A network of medieval tunnels remains under the centre of Northampton around All Saints' Church and the Market Square but their purpose, extent and significance have been disputed. The town was originally controlled by officials acting for the King who collected taxes and upheld the law. This changed on 18 November 1189 when King Richard I granted the town its first charter in exchange for money to fund his crusades. The charter allowed the townspeople certain rights and independence in legal and administrative matters. In 1215, King John authorised the appointment of William Tilly as the town's first Mayor and ordered that "twelve of the better and more discreet [residents] of your town" join him as a council to assist him. The importance of Northampton at this time is underlined by the fact that only London, York and King's Lynn had mayors by this date. The mayor later ruled with 24 councillors and 48 freemen in a closed body until 1835. In 1261, the medieval University of Northampton was established by royal charter from King Henry III. Had it survived, it would be the third oldest university founded in England after Oxford and Cambridge. However, after members of the university sided with supporters of Simon de Montfort (who was rebelling against the King) and advisors to The Crown said that Northampton was a threat to Oxford's scholastic hegemony, Henry III dissolved the university in 1265. Markets and fairs were a key element in the town's economy in medieval times. The Market Square came to prominence in 1235 when Henry III ordered that the selling of goods in the churchyard of All Saints should be relocated to the Market Square. Street names in the town give an indication of trades and market centres; Corn Hill, Malt Hill, Mercer Row, Gold Street, Sheep Street and Horse Market. Cloth and wool were very important but these industries declined. In the 13th century, Northampton had a large Jewish population centred on Gold Street. In 1277 – two years after Edward I passed the Statute of the Jewry – some Jewish residents were executed while the remainder were driven out of town. Archaeological sites include a medieval Jewish cemetery and the Northampton Medieval Synagogue. The First Barons' War caused significant destruction to Northampton. The barons besieged Northampton Castle in protest at King John's oppression of his subjects. In retaliation, royalist forces destroyed a large part of the town. When the forces of King Henry III overran the supporters of Simon de Montfort, the Second Barons' War broke out. The First Battle of Northampton took place in 1264 at the site of Northampton Castle where King Henry III and his son Prince Edward attacked with a large army, pillaged the town and took prisoners. In 1349, the Black Death pandemic killed more than half the population of Northampton. In 1377, the population was 2,200. The town was rapidly losing its wealth and its importance as a national centre. In 1460, the Second Battle of Northampton took place during the War of the Roses in the meadows between the River Nene and Delapré Abbey. The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians and King Henry VI was taken prisoner. In 1484, the Mayor declared that Northampton was "in great desolation and ruin". The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 led to further destruction of what remained of the medieval town. Northampton was severely affected by Plague between March and September 1638 when 665 people died. Early modern. The royal connection to Northampton Castle became less significant, and by the time of the English Civil War, Northampton was decidedly pro-Parliament. Though Spencer Compton, Earl of Northampton, was a royalist (Cavalier) and backed King Charles I, the people of Northampton supported Parliament and Oliver Cromwell's republican Roundhead army. The town had a long history of religious dissent from the Lollards and Puritanism gained a strong hold on the town. The corporation of the town, having already refused to provide troops to the King in 1632 or to pay the notorious ship money tax in 1636, petitioned Parliament in 1642 against papists and bishops. When war broke out in 1642, the town willingly became the main Parliamentarian garrison for the south-east Midlands area with the former royal castle as its headquarters. In 1643, Prince Rupert attacked Northampton with approximately 2,000 men, but was beaten back at the North Gate of the town. Oliver Cromwell visited in 1645 and General Fairfax marched from the town to Naseby, where Charles I's Royalist army was decisively defeated. Over 4,000 pairs of leather shoes and 600 pairs of cavalry jack-boots for the Parliamentary armies were manufactured in Northampton during the Civil War, and a further 2,000 for Cromwell's New Model Army in 1648. Until well into the 19th century, the shoe industry boomed in and around the town with small manufacturing workshops set up in the surrounding areas. The War ended with a Parliamentary victory, resulting in England becoming a Commonwealth, which lasted a decade. Following the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, he took revenge on the town by ordering the destruction of its walls and partial demolition of its castle in 1662, since it did not support his father Charles I and his cavaliers. From then on, the castle was used as a court and a jail, but its physical condition worsened. The new council of the town had to pay £200 to have its charter renewed and also required all officials to swear the oath of allegiance and some confirmed by the Crown. The town centre was further destroyed by the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675, caused by sparks from an open fire in a thatched cottage by the castle. The fire spread eastwards by strong westerly winds and consumed three-quarters of the town centre in 24 hours. Matters were worsened because most buildings were chiefly made of wood and covered with thatch. An estimated 600 buildings were destroyed, amounting to £150,000 lost. Very little survived the fire, apart from buildings made of stone, like the Welsh House on Market Square, built in 1595, and Hazelrigg House in Mare Fair, built in 1662. The devastation led to an Act of Parliament for the rebuilding the town. Local people and businesses helped to raise around £25,000 towards the rebuilding of the town centre based around the Market Square. Streets were widened and buildings made of brick and stone and tiled to prevent such devastation again. In an act of reconciliation, King Charles II donated timber from the royal forests of Salcey and Whittlebury to help with the rebuild. In 1678, the Sessions House and what is now County Hall were amongst the first buildings to be completed. A Georgian town with new houses, shops and workshops eventually grew out of the old medieval town destroyed by the fire. In 1742 Edward Cave opened Marvel's Mill, the world's first cotton mill to be driven by a water wheel, on the River Nene. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Gibraltar Barracks in 1797. By the end of the 18th century, Northampton had become a major centre of footwear and leather manufacture. In 1801, the population was 7,020; it more than doubled to 15,351 in 1831, attributed to the fact that there was great demand for footwear caused by the Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A third of the adult males alone were shoemakers at the time. Northampton grew beyond the old town walls and industry grew rapidly with the mechanisation of factories by the middle of the 19th century. The Nene Navigation Company had previously made the River Nene navigable from King's Lynn as far up as Northampton in 1762, allowing cheap transportation of coal and other goods to the town, but in 1815, the Grand Union Canal reached the town, joining the River Nene, giving the town a direct link to the Midlands coalfields and to Birmingham, Manchester and London. The first railway to be built into Northampton was the Northampton and Peterborough Railway, a branch from the main London and Birmingham Railway from Blisworth to Peterborough through Northampton which opened in 1845 along with the town's first railway station, Bridge Street station. This was followed by the opening of Castle station in 1859 on the site of part of the historic Northampton Castle, and later St. John's Street station in 1872. The Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line was built in the late 1870s. Castle station was rebuilt and expanded over the site of Northampton Castle, the remains of which were purchased and demolished in 1880 to make way for the goods shed. Bridge Street Station closed in 1964 and St John's Street closed in 1939, leaving only Castle station serving the town. It is now known simply as Northampton railway station. Tram lines were also laid down in the town in 1881 and electrified in 1903. An early omnibus service ran to Wellingborough, and since 1919 motor omnibus services ran to villages around the town which brought buyers and sellers to the market. There were iron ore quarries in the countryside around the town during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which have left their mark on the landscape. Some of the quarries were in what is now the town area in an arc from Kingsthorpe through Duston and Hunsbury round to Hardingstone beginning in about 1860. Some have now been built over and not all lasted very long. The town area quarries that lasted the longest and closed last were at Hunsbury which began working in 1877 and closed in 1920. There are remains of some of these quarries at Hunsbury Hill. There was an iron works by the river to the west of the town next to the railway that then operated between Northampton and Blisworth. This was called the Hunsbury Ironworks and operated between about 1874 and January 1921 using ore from these quarries and elsewhere. Contemporary. Following World War I, the shoe industry was increasingly in decline, despite the town's factories supplying over 23 million pairs of boots to the armed forces. A total of 1,700 men from the town were lost of the 6,000 killed from the Northamptonshire Regiment. The town expanded further during the 1920s and saw the erection of Northampton Power Station, which supplied electricity to areas as far away as Wolverton, until its closure in 1975. Much council housing was also built largely to the east, north and south of the town, including Abington, Far Cotton, Kingsley, Kingsthorpe and Dallington – areas which had been incorporated within the borough's boundaries in 1901. However, the population growth slowed down as people moved beyond its boundaries. In 1901, the population had expanded to 90,923; in 1931, the population was 92,341. After World War II, Northampton vastly changed. In 1959, the M1 motorway was opened to the south-west of the town; in 1968, Northampton was designated a New Town. Both these events and the rail link helped Northampton's growth as a commuter town for London. The Northampton Development Corporation (NDC) was set up in 1968 to substantially redevelop the town in partnership with the local council, spending £205 million to build new housing and industrial estates, initially in Lumbertubs, Moulton Park and Round Spinney to the east, followed by Briar Hill, Camp Hill and East and West Hunsbury in the south of the town, mainly to accommodate the overflow population of new residents from the London area. In the town centre, older buildings were demolished and replaced or redeveloped for other buildings, including the former Greyfriars bus station, the Grosvenor Centre, Peacock Place (now Market Walk), shops, flats and hotels. Although growth was slower than planned, the population grew from 105,421 in 1961 to 157,217 by 1981, with 15,655 new homes added to the town between 1970 and 1985. The borough boundaries also changed following a split of the Northampton parliamentary constituency into Northampton North and Northampton South in 1974. Northampton was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district which also covered areas outside the former borough boundaries but inside the designated New Town. The town tried for unitary status during the 1990s UK local government reform, but failed and it remained a non-metropolitan district until its abolition in 2021. On Good Friday 1998, Northampton suffered severe flooding, particularly in the areas of Far Cotton and St James; two people were killed and thousands of homes were affected. Since the turn of the Millennium, the town has continued to expand. Northampton applied for city status in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium, in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II and most recently in 2022 to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, but failed on all three occasions and remains a town. In 2006, Northampton became a government expansion zone with new growth promoted by West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC), an unelected quango, which has provoked a series of regeneration schemes across the town. Some have been completed, including the opening of the Radlands Plaza Skatepark and the development of Becket's Park Marina just south of Northampton's town centre, as well as the improvement of the town's Market Square, the building of the new North Gate bus station, the rebuilding of the railway station, the designation of a Cultural Quarter, the building of a new Council headquarters, the restoration of Delapré Abbey, the expansion of Northampton Museum, the resiting and rebuilding of the university on one new campus in town centre and the renovation of both the Grosvenor Shopping Centre and Weston Favell Centre. In 2015, St Giles Street in the town centre was named the "Best British High Street" in a national competition run by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Administration. Politics. Northampton was inaugurated as a constituency in 1295; that is (for many centuries) it returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. Spencer Perceval was elected as one of these in 1796 and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1809, the only Solicitor General and only Attorney General to have done so, but also the only Prime Minister to be assassinated. The murder was by a highly disgruntled business owner John Bellingham in the House of Commons lobby in 1812. By the late 19th century, Northampton had acquired a reputation for political vanguardism. In 1880, radical non-conformist Charles Bradlaugh was elected as one of the MPs. During one of his election cross-candidate hustings a riot broke out in the Market Square. Local figures of authority called military to disperse it. For some decades from the 1918 general election representation was reduced to one MP. February 1974 general election saw the seat replaced by the new constituencies of Northampton North and Northampton South, which as all current ones do elect one MP. From the 2010 general election, new, South Northamptonshire took a southern sector of the borough. Northampton is currently represented by three Conservative MPs: Local government. The town existed as an ancient borough in the medieval period before being one of the 178 boroughs to be reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835, with a democratically elected council replacing the corporation before it. Town government alternated between the Liberals and Conservatives, and the town achieved independence from Northamptonshire in 1888 when it became a county borough. It had 6 electoral wards from 1898, 9 wards from 1900 and 12 wards from 1911. Northampton was granted modern borough status in 1974, when it was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district, a subdivision of its non-metropolitan county (Northamptonshire). From 1974 until 2021, the town had a two-tier structure of local government: the non-metropolitan district of Northampton was administered by both Northampton Borough Council and Northamptonshire County Council. Propositions for the borough to become a unitary authority failed during the 1990s local government reform and again, in 2011, when the motion was voted down by the council. However, in 2016, the borough council and all seven Northamptonshire MPs called for the existing eight Northamptonshire councils be scrapped for new unitary authorities. In March 2018, following suspension of the County Council arising from its becoming insolvent, due to financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers, the then Secretary of State for Local Government, Sajid Javid, sent commissioner Max Caller into the council, who recommended the county council and all district and borough councils in the county be abolished, and replaced by two unitary authorities, one covering the West, and one the North of the county. These proposals were approved in April 2019. It meant that the districts of Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire were merged to form a new unitary authority called West Northamptonshire, whilst the second unitary authority North Northamptonshire consists of Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough districts. These new authorities came into being on 1 April 2021. Elections for the new authorities were due to be held on 7 May 2020, but these were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and took place in May 2021. A year prior to these changes, three new civil parishes were created in Northampton's urban area: a large parish covering the majority of the Northampton urban area was created, allowing Northampton to have a Town (parish) Council. Northampton Town Council is the largest parish level authority in England. In addition, two smaller parishes were created for the suburbs of Far Cotton & Delapre and Kingsthorpe. Policing in the town remains the responsibility of Northamptonshire Police; and firefighting, the responsibility of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service. The Royal Anglian Regiment serves as the county regiment for Northamptonshire, with former county regiments being the Northamptonshire Regiment and the Northamptonshire Yeomanry Civil parishes. The Northampton urban area is covered by 13 civil parishes. The parish councils of these form a local tier of government below West Northamptonshire Council. The largest by far of these is the area covered by Northampton Town Council, which was created in 2020, ten more, covering several outer suburbs were pre-existing, and two (Kingsthorpe and Far Cotton and Delapre) were created concurrently with the town council, these are: Health services. NHS Northampton guides primary care services (general practitioners, dentists, opticians and pharmacists) in the town, directly provides adult social care and services in the community such as health visiting and physiotherapy and also funds hospital care and other specialist treatments. Northampton General Hospital is an NHS trust hospital which founded in 1744 and moved to its present site in 1793, and has continued to provide healthcare to the local community for more than 200 years. The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is responsible for the provision of statutory emergency medical services in Northampton. St Andrew's Hospital, the flagship mental health facility of the private company St Andrew's Healthcare, is also based in Northampton. Originally opened in 1838 to serve Northampton, St Andrew's became a charity and private healthcare provider when the Berrywood Asylum (later the Northampton County Lunatic Asylum, then St Crispin Hospital in 1948, and since 2010 Berrywood Hospital) opened in 1876. Geography. Northampton is formally in the East Midlands region but is also referred to in Government planning as being part of the South Midlands "growth area". The town is south-southeast of Leicester, north-northwest of Milton Keynes, west of Cambridge, northeast of Oxford and southwest of Peterborough. Areas and suburbs. Northampton is subdivided into suburbs, council wards, constituencies, ecclesiastical parishes, and other less formal areas. Suburbs and districts of Northampton include: Concurrent with the abolition of the borough of Northampton in 2021, the unparished area of Northampton became parished with three new parish councils being established: A new Town Council covering the majority of the urban area of Northampton was established, whilst the areas of Kingsthorpe, and Far Cotton and Delapré also gained parish councils. In addition, there are nine registered parish councils which predate the abolition of the borough of Northampton. These are Billing, Collingtree, Duston, Great Houghton, Hardingstone, Hunsbury Meadow, Upton, West Hunsbury and Wootton & East Hunsbury. There are also settlements outside the town boundaries that are sometimes considered suburbs of Northampton, including Boughton, Cogenhoe, Ecton, Grange Park, Harpole, Little Houghton, Moulton, Overstone and Rothersthorpe. Boughton, Grange Park, and Moulton are all part of Northampton's built up area. They are all joined. Overstone and Sywell are almost joined to Northampton Compass. Northampton's nearest towns are Wellingborough, Daventry and Towcester. The nearest cities are Milton Keynes, Leicester, Coventry and Peterborough. Climate. As with the rest of the British Isles, Northampton experiences an oceanic climate with cool summers and mild winters. The official Met Office weather station for Northampton is the Moulton Park Weather Station at the University of Northampton. Situated at an elevation of around above sea level compared to Northampton town centre at , it is one of the highest points in the town, and so may not be a perfect representation of Northampton as a whole. Its hilltop location means less pooling of cold air on calm clear nights, and lower maxima during summer. The absolute maximum recorded is on 3 August 1990. A high of was recorded on 19 July 2006, However, a maximum temperature of was recorded on 19 July 2022 at Pitsford, located from the town centre. The absolute minimum is , recorded during February 1986. It is likely the absolute maximum in the town centre is a degree or so higher owing to the lower elevation, and absolute minimum on the eastern and western edges of the urban area around the Nene valley a couple of degrees colder due to katabatic drainage of cold air allowing a frost hollow effect. Most recently, the temperature fell to on 20 December 2010. Rainfall, at around per year is not high, though is often unpredictable, giving rise to flooding events such as 1998, but also short term droughts. Desborough Weather Station also supplies the public with a local weather service. Demography. The town's population recorded at each census since 1801 was as follows: Since 1991, the population of the town has increased 17.41% from 180,617 to 212,069 in 2011, with a mean age in 2011 of 37.1 years, younger than the English average of 39.3 years. The population breaks down into 104,168 males, and 107,901 females, with a population density of 2,630 per km2. At the 2011 census, there were 91,484 dwellings, 88,731 of which are occupied households. Some 30.5% (27,048) of these were one person households, 61.1% (54,125) contained families, and 8.5% (7,558) fell into the other household type category. Home tenure was reported as 37.5% of 88,731 households mortgaged, 25.1% owned outright, 16.5% privately rented, 12.8% rented from council, 4.3% social rented, 1.3% private (other) rented, 1.3% shared ownership and 1.2% rent free. 75.6% of households had at least one car or van, 22.5% of residents over the age of 16 had no formal qualifications, and 15.8% have at least 5 GCSEs of grade C or above. The median income for all workers (in 2012) was £21,193, slightly below both the county average of £21,560, and the England average of £21,794. Between 2001 and 2011, the greatest nominal population increase was in the White, Other group from 3,780 to 13,825 – an increase of 10,045 – likely due to migration from Eastern Europe. The largest growth relative to their 2001 numbers was in the Black, African group, recording a 376% increase from 1,361 to 6,473. The largest nominal fall in population was in respondents reporting as White, British, there being 8,146 fewer such residents in 2011 than 10 years previous. The largest fall relative to their 2001 numbers was in the White, Irish group, their count falling 20.3% from 3,838 down to 3,060. Ethnicity. In the 2011 census, Northampton was 84.5% White, 6.5% Asian, 5.1% Black, and 3.2% Mixed/multiple. Religion. In terms of religion, 48.7% of residents described themselves as Christian, 35.7% as irreligious, 5.6% as Muslim, 1.9% as Hindu, 0.6% as other religions, 0.5% as Sikh, 0.4% as Buddhist and 0.1% as Jewish. 6.5% failed to report any affiliation. Economy. Northampton was a major centre of shoemaking and other leather industries, although only specialist shoemaking companies such as Barker Shoes, Church's, Crockett & Jones, Edward Green, Tricker's, (formerly located in nearby Earls Barton), and Wildsmith, survive. A large number of old shoe factories remain, mostly now converted to offices or accommodation, some of which are surrounded by terraced houses built for factory workers. Engineering became a major employer in Northampton during the post war years following the establishment of the British Timken tapered roller bearing factory at Duston in 1941 as a "shadow factory" for the main site in Birmingham during the Second World War. The factory which closed in 2002 employed over 4,000 employees at its peak and was a major engineering apprentice training employer. Northampton's main private-sector employers are now in distribution and finance rather than manufacturing, and include Avon Products, Barclaycard, Blacks Leisure Group, Nationwide Building Society (Anglia Building Society was formed by amalgamation of Northampton Town and County Building Society with Leicestershire Building Society in 1966 and subsequently merged with the Nationwide in 1987), Panasonic, Travis Perkins, Coca-Cola, Schweppes, Simply Business, National Grid, Texas Instruments and Carlsberg. In 1974, Princess Benedikte of Denmark opened Northampton's Carlsberg brewery, the first outside Denmark. The University of Northampton is also a major employer, as is St Andrew's Healthcare, a national mental health charity. St Andrew's Hospital, its flagship hospital and the United Kingdom's largest psychiatric hospital, is based in Northampton. In 2014, Experian named Northampton as "the best place in the UK to start and run a business." In 2017, the town's annual economic output, as measured by gross value added, was worth £7.31 billion. Northampton was expected to be affected by the insolvency of Northamptonshire County Council in 2018, as the council implemented significant budget cuts for two years. That was expected to include maintenance of only the "bare legal minimum of service, focused only on the most vulnerable residents". Health inequality in Northampton is high, with the life expectancy gap between the least deprived and most deprived men reaching over a decade. Additionally, the constituency is 'considerably worse than [the] England average' in violent crime, self harm, under 18 conception and GCSE achievement. Northampton's market square is one of Britain's largest and dates back to 1235. The market square is linked to Abington Street, a major shopping area of Northampton. The western part of the street was pedestrianised in 1984. Further east, part was pedestrianised in 1995 and de-pedestrianised in 2014. The east end (beyond York Road) has never been pedestrianised. There are also two indoor shopping centres in the town centre: the Grosvenor Centre, which was built in the 1970s, and Market Walk (previously Peacock Place), which was constructed in 1988. St James Retail Park is also a large shopping precinct just south of the town centre. Other out-of-town retail parks exist: Weston Favell Shopping Centre, built in the 1970s, and Riverside Retail Park in the east of the town, as well as Sixfields in the west. Each precinct has a range of high street shops, department stores and many smaller individual speciality shops. Culture. Leisure. Billing Aquadrome leisure park is on the eastern outskirts. It has a caravan site, marina, funfair, bar, riverside restaurant and converted water mill with original workings. The Northampton Leisure Trust has four leisure centres across Northampton: Danes Camp, Lings Forum, Mounts Baths and Duston Sports Centre. There are also the action centres Benham Sports Arena and King's Park Tennis Centre as well as the Delapré Public Golf Course. Radlands Plaza is a new skatepark that opened in 2012. According to the website of the (former) Northampton Borough Council, there are a total of 170 parks and open spaces around Northampton, which altogether span around . Popular parks include Abington Park, which is the town's oldest, and the Racecourse, which was used for horseracing (until 1904) and as a cricket ground (between 1844 and 1885) in addition to being the original home of Northampton Balloon Festival. Other parks include Becket's Park (which is named after Thomas Becket as are nearby Becket's Well and Thomas á Becket pub), Bradlaugh Fields (named after the Northampton MP Charles Bradlaugh), Dallington Park, Delapré Park, Eastfield Park, Hunsbury Hill (which is built around an Iron Age hillfort), Kingsthorpe Park and Victoria Park. Popular annual events include Northampton Carnival, the Beer Festival, the Dragonboat Race, the Umbrella Fair, Diwali celebrations and St Crispins Fair. Northampton Balloon Festival used to be a major event in Northampton, but since being scaled down, it has been poorly attended. Northampton Music Festival has been celebrated every year since 2007 in the town centre. Entertainment. The Royal & Derngate theatre complex, on Guildhall Road in the Cultural Quarter of the town centre, is one of the main venues for arts and entertainment in Northampton. The Deco, situated in Abington Square in the town centre, is a 900-seat theatre and conference centre, which shares its Art Deco building with the Northampton Jesus Centre. It was restored by the Jesus Army as part of their Jesus Centre project. The Deco used to be a cinema in the 1960s; The Beatles appeared there twice on stage in 1963: firstly as unknowns as part of the Tommy Roe/Chris Montez tour; secondly as part of their own tour in their own right. Smaller theatres include the Northampton Playhouse and the Cripps Theatre, which is part of Northampton School for Boys. The two commercial cinemas in Northampton are Vue at Sol Central in the centre and Cineworld at Sixfields. There is also the subsidised Forum Cinema at Lings Forum, whose film programme is widely varied and includes art-house and non-mainstream films. The Northampton Filmhouse, an independent cinema joined to the side of the Royal & Derngate theatre complex, opened in June 2013. There are also many local entertainment venues which provide events. The Roadmender, which used to be run and funded by the council and later bought by The Purplehaus group, hosts mainstream touring bands and one off-gigs. There are other popular late-night entertainment venues, pubs, bars and clubs in the town centre, and along the Wellingborough and Kettering Roads on the way into the town centre. Northampton also has ten-pin bowling alleys and late night casinos. Libraries, museums and galleries. The Northamptonshire Central Library in town centre is a Grade II listed building which was erected in 1910. There are seven other public libraries that are dotted across Northampton—in Abington, Duston, Far Cotton, Hunsbury, Kingsthorpe, St James, Wootton—all run by Northamptonshire County Council. Northampton Museum and Art Gallery on Guildhall Road in the Cultural Quarter has a collection of historical footwear (one of the world's largest at 13,000), Italian art, glass and ceramics, plus visiting exhibitions and local history. There is also a smaller Grade I listed historical museum in the former Abington Park house which mainly has history on domestic life in the town and the Northamptonshire Regiment. 78 Derngate, the only house in England designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, includes a museum celebrating Mackintosh, an art gallery and a restaurant. The Northampton Arts Collective is homed on a four-storey building entitled NN in the Cultural Quarter, opposite the Northampton Museum and next to the Royal & Derngate theatre complex. They relocated from the Old Fishmarket which was demolished to make way for the North Gate bus station. The Avenue Gallery, is at the Avenue campus of the University of Northampton. The university also spent £3m on its Portfolio Innovation Centre in early 2011, which houses around 60 creative freelancers, digital media developers, and designers. Other art galleries include Collective Collaborations, Artist's Sanctuary, Albus3, Gallery 177 and Primose Gallery. Northamptonshire also runs an annual county-wide Open Studios event celebrating visual arts in which artists' studios are open to the public. Music. The composers Malcolm Arnold, William Alwyn, Trevor Hold, Edmund Rubbra and Robert Walker were born in Northampton. Northampton also boasts one of the oldest community orchestras in the U.K. - the Northampton Symphony Orchestra, which started life in 1896 as Saint Celia's Orchestral Society. Gothic rock band Bauhaus formed in Northampton, often cited as the godfathers of goth, they helped pioneer the genre during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The popular UK rapper Slowthai was born in Northampton and frequently talks about his life growing up there in his music. Sport. The town is home to Premiership rugby union team Northampton Saints, who play at Franklin's Gardens in the St James area. "The Saints" had their greatest moment when they won the Heineken Cup in 2000 at Twickenham, beating Munster 9–8. There are also a number of "Junior" rugby clubs in the area, the most successful of these at producing young players is Northampton Old Scouts RFC who have produced Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson amongst others. Northampton is also home to Northampton Outlaws, its first inclusive rugby team and the 9th gay-friendly team in the United Kingdom. football club Northampton Town, known as "The Cobblers" from the town's shoemaking background, are based at Sixfields Stadium. Established in 1897, in their centenary season of 1997 they reached Wembley through the play-offs and beat Swansea City 1–0 with an injury time winning free kick from John Frain. It was the first club to set up a trust for supporters to work with the club as many have done. Sixfields was also briefly the home of Coventry City for just over one season between August 2013 and August 2014. There are also three non-league clubs in the United Counties Football League: Northampton Spencer; Northampton Sileby Rangers; and Northampton Old Northamptonian Chenecks. Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, known in limited overs cricket as "The Steelbacks" (a reference to the Northamptonshire Regiment which was formed in 1881), is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure. The club was promoted from Division 2 of the County Championship in 2019, and play in Group C of the Clydesdale Bank 40 League and the Midlands/Wales/West group of the revamped Friends Provident T20. They are based at the County Ground, in the Abington area. The Silverstone Circuit, current home of the British Grand Prix, is a few miles south of Northampton. Rockingham Motor Speedway and Santa Pod Raceway are a few miles north and east of Northampton respectively, the latter offering a range of drag racing events. Northampton is also home to Collingtree Park Golf Club, which hosted the British Masters in 1995. There are also many equestrian and country activities, and several water sports centres, such as the Nene Whitewater Centre, which provides an artificial whitewater course for canoes, kayaks and rafts. The Northampton Swimming Club also trained the young Olympic swimmer Caitlin McClatchey. Northampton is also home to Be Military Fit in Abington Park where members can train up to 7 times a week with serving or ex-military fitness instructors. Northampton Greyhound Stadium hosted greyhound racing from 1928 to 1964 and speedway from 1929 to 1930. Media. The "Northampton Chronicle & Echo" (established 1931) is the town's newspaper, published on Thursdays (before 2012, it was published Monday to Saturday) with jobs, property, motors and entertainment supplements. There are other free newspapers circulated within the town. These include "The Mercury" (on Thursdays) and "Northants on Sunday", both from the publishers of the "Chronicle & Echo", and the "Northampton Herald & Post" (on Thursdays). These free papers mostly consist of advertising and have limited news. "The Mercury" was one of the oldest newspapers still in circulation first published in 1720, founded by William Dicey, an ancestor of the public law commentator, A.V. Dicey. It was the fifth-oldest such newspaper in the United Kingdom and the tenth-oldest such in the world. Four radio stations are based in the town, one of which broadcast county-wide. BBC Radio Northampton broadcasts news, topical items and some music, switching to a regional network after 7 pm. Three community radio stations serve the town: Inspiration FM, NLive Radio (Formerly NNBC), Revolution Radio and Embrace Radio. Revolution Radio was awarded a 5-year licence on 16 July 2020, and launched at 2 pm on Saturday 12 June 2021. The first song played was 'Revolution Radio' by Green Day. The transmitter is on top of Northampton Lift Tower and broadcasts on 96.1 FM. Inspiration FM was awarded a 5-year licence in July 2008 and officially launched in July 2010. The station broadcasts on FM 107.8 NNBC launched in September 2016 as a joint venture with the University of Northampton. As of 30 September 2017, the station was re-branded as NLive Radio. The station marked the re-branding with a live broadcast from Market Square on 30 September. Later that same evening, the station ran a live evening of music from a music venue in Northampton. The evening of music was headlined by Hana Brooks and broadcast live on the station under the banner 'Shoetown Sounds'. The station broadcasts on FM 106.9 A new community radio station, Embrace Radio, launched on 5 March 2022. It serves the town on FM 104.7. Regional TV news is broadcast on the BBC East service (terrestrial, satellite and cable) with a main programme, BBC Look East, and on ITV News Anglia. Northampton has also been used as a location for television, film and theatre. Northampton Castle is featured in William Shakespeare's history play "King John" and in "Becket", a play by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The town was the location for the BBC sitcom "Keeping Up Appearances" from 1990 until 1995. Parts of the 2005 film "Kinky Boots" were also made in Northampton and featured shots of the statue outside the Grosvenor Centre in the town centre and inside RE Tricker's shoe factory in St. Michaels Road representing the original factory in Earls Barton. The film was turned into a musical "Kinky Boots", maintaining its Northampton backdrop, which premiered on Broadway in 2013 and won 6 Tony Awards. It transferred to the West End in London in 2015 and won 3 Olivier Awards. In addition, BBC Three shows "Bizarre ER" and "Junior Paramedics" were filmed in Northampton. "Changing Ends" (2023), a semi-autobiographical sitcom based on Alan Carr's childhood, was set in 1980s Northampton. Notable buildings. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is one of the largest and best-preserved round churches in England. It was built in 1100 on the orders of the first Earl of Northampton, Simon de Senlis and based on a plan of the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Simon de Senlis also built Northampton Castle c. 1084, which was for many years one of the country's most important castles. It was a royal residence, held The Parliament of England many times, and was the site of royal tournaments and feasts. Thomas Becket was imprisoned there until he escaped. The castle suffered many fates and was eventually demolished to make way for the railway station in 1879. A postern, dismantled from its original position and rebuilt into a wall by the station, and a part of the keep mound are all that remains. The current All Saints' Church was built on the site of a great Norman church, All Hallows, which was almost completely destroyed by the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675. All that remained was the medieval tower and the fine vaulted crypt, but by 1680 All Saints' had been rebuilt, with the help of donations from all over England, including 1,000 tons of timber from King Charles II, whose statue can be seen above the portico. Famously, the poet John Clare liked to sit beneath the portico of the church. It is home to a choral foundation. Other notable church buildings include Northampton Cathedral, the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton and seat of the Bishop of Northampton; St Peter's (mostly built in Norman times); St Giles' Church; St Matthew's in Phippsville, which was built between 1891 and 1894, has a Henry Moore sculpture of the Madonna. St Edmund's Church (built in 1850) closed in 1978 and was demolished in 1980 (its bells are now in Saint Paul's Cathedral, Wellington). Just south of the town centre Delapré Abbey, a former Cluniac nunnery, the County Records Office and site of the second Battle of Northampton, which was founded by Simon II de Senlis, the son of first Earl of Northampton, in 1145. At the edge of the Abbey, one of the three standing Eleanor crosses still remains, in memory of Eleanor of Castile, whose body rested here on its way to London. The original top of the monument has been knocked off and replaced several times from as early as 1460. St Andrew's Hospital, which opened 1838, and its new building William Wake House, is one of the largest neo-classical structures in England. Northampton & County Club, which was established in 1873, was also the old county hospital before becoming a private members' club; the cellars are medieval. Northampton Guildhall, which is Grade II* listed, was constructed mostly in the 1860s in Victorian Gothic architecture designed by Edward William Godwin, and extended in 1889–92 and in the 1990s. The Clare Street drill hall was completed in 1859. 78 Derngate is a Grade II* listed Georgian Town House remodelled by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1916–17. It contains notable Mackintosh interiors (which have been restored) and is his only major domestic commission outside Scotland. It is open to the public. One of these Derngate buildings was previously home to Northampton High School, an independent Northampton girls' school. The tall National Lift Tower is a dominant feature and visible from most of the town. A Terry Wogan radio phone-in during the 1980s came up with the name "Northampton Lighthouse" as Northampton is one of the furthest places from the sea. It is also known as the "Cobblers' Needle". It was built for testing new lifts at the Express Lifts factory, now closed. Though now redundant, it is a listed building. The former Greyfriars bus station served the town from 1976 until 2014. In the 2000s, it was featured on Channel 4's "Demolition" programme as the ugliest transport station in the United Kingdom and worthy of demolition. Demolition work began in March 2014, following the move of bus services to North Gate bus station. The Greyfriars was completely destroyed on 15 March 2015 by way of a controlled explosion. Memorials. Northampton contains several significant war memorials. The Town and County War Memorial, unveiled in 1926, commemorates casualties of the First World War from all of Northamptonshire; it replaced a temporary cenotaph which stood in Abington Square from 1919. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it consists of two large obelisks and an altar-like stone sited in a small garden behind All Saints' Church. The Town and County memorial is a grade I listed building and part of a national collection of Lutyens' war memorials. As the Town and County memorial does not contain a list of names of the fallen, the Royal British Legion launched a campaign which resulted in the construction of a second memorial, dedicated solely to the town; this memorial, in Abington Square, takes the form of a garden of remembrance with the names of the dead inscribed on the garden walls. A bust of Edgar Mobbs was later moved into the garden; Mobbs was a rugby player for Northampton Saints who was killed while serving in the First World War. Transport. Northampton is served by junctions 15, 15a and 16 of the M1 motorway which connects the town with London at its most southern point and Leeds at its most northern. Both the A45 and A43 link Northampton with the other major towns in Northamptonshire and beyond, and can be accessed by a partially completed ring road. The A14 is close by to the north of Northampton, providing links to East Anglia and a secondary route to the areas of the Midlands which are situated to the north of the town. Northampton railway station is on the Northampton Loop of the West Coast Main Line, and has services southbound to London Euston and northbound to Birmingham and Crewe provided by West Midlands Trains. Avanti West Coast also provide two daily services to London, although these are set-down only. Sywell Aerodrome is the nearest airfield which has recently been upgraded with a concrete runway, however it only caters for private flying, flight training and corporate flights. For international links, the East Midlands Airport and Luton Airport are quickly accessible by the M1 around north-west and south-east, respectively; Birmingham Airport is also around to the north-west of the town via the M1 and M6 motorways, as well as by train. In the town, buses are mainly operated by Stagecoach Midlands from the North Gate bus station with some services from Uno. Stagecoach serves areas within the town and also provides travel to outlying villages and towns within the county, making links to Corby, Daventry, Kettering, Rushden and Wellingborough. They also go as far afield as Bedford, Leicester, Market Harborough, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Rugby. Uno serve the university and Kingsthorpe area as well as Rectory Farm, Abington and Sixfields. National Express also operates in Northampton, covering routes between major towns and cities in the United Kingdom. Buses used to be operated by Northampton Corporation Transport and then, since the privatization of buses in the 1980s. FirstGroup operated them until the 2010s and Arriva operate 2 services around the town (33 and 33x) Northampton is the terminus of an arm of the Grand Union Canal, which connects to the River Nene and from that to the River Great Ouse and the North Sea. No longer used for freight, the waterway is now popular with anglers and narrowboaters. Principal outlying villages on the canal include Gayton, Blisworth, Braunston and Stoke Bruerne. Northampton once had a horse-drawn tramway which opened in 1881. The system was extended in stages and taken over by the council in 1897 and named Northampton Corporation Tramways. It was electrified in 1904, but closed in 1934 mainly as a result of competition from motor buses which were introduced in 1929. Two of the original tram shelters are preserved: one at the Racecourse park and another in Kingsthorpe opposite the Cock Hotel. Education. The first University of Northampton was established by royal charter by King Henry III in 1261, and started to rival the universities in Cambridge and Oxford, with their students migrating to the Northampton establishment. This university was dissolved by King Henry III in 1265, in revenge of its students siding with the rebellious barons in the Battle of Northampton (1264). Henry III was also advised by bishops and magnates that it posed a threat to Oxford, and signed a Royal Decree which banned the establishment of a university in Northampton. This was eventually repealed and the university's name was revived in 2005 when the unconnected University College Northampton, which was founded in 1924, was upgraded to full university status and renamed the University of Northampton. This is the only higher education (HE) establishment in the town and offers courses from foundation and undergraduate levels to postgraduate, professional and doctoral qualifications. The university is made of up six schools: Business, Education, Health, Science and Technology, Social Sciences and The Arts. The university was originally spread over two campuses across the town, but moved to its new £330 million waterside campus by the River Nene in the town centre in 2018. Northampton's only further education (FE) college is Northampton College, one of the largest FE colleges in the South Midlands, which has two campuses across the town, offering vocational courses, GCSEs and A Levels. Moulton College is another FE college just north of Northampton which provides many vocational courses, specialising in land-based subjects, sports and construction. In collaboration with the University of Northampton, both colleges also offer some HE programmes. There are 50 primary schools and 8 secondary schools in the town. Until 2004, Northamptonshire operated a three-tier system in education of lower, middle and upper schools. In 2001, the move to a two-tier system to primary and secondary schools began, aimed at improving educational standards. Some of its successful secondary schools include Northampton School for Boys, which became the top performing comprehensive school in the country in 2007, and Northampton School for Girls, the first school in England to gain Specialist Music College status. An average of 55% of students in Northampton achieved five A*-C grades at GCSE in 2015, above the government's benchmark of 40%. There are also 5 special schools in the town. Northampton High School is an independent school for girls. Twin towns. Northampton is twinned with: Freedom of the Borough. The following people, military units, and organisations have received the Freedom of the Borough of Northampton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63831

Benalla

Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 9,316. It is the administrative centre for the Rural City of Benalla local government area. History. Prior to the European settlement of Australia, the Benalla region was populated by the Taungurung people, an Indigenous Australian people. A 1906 history recounts that prior to white settlement "as many as 400 blacks would meet together in the vicinity of Benalla to hold a corrobboree". The area was first sighted by Europeans during an expedition of Hamilton Hume and William Hovell in 1824 and was noted as an agricultural settlement called "Swampy". The expedition was followed by that of Major Thomas Mitchell in 1834. Rev. Joseph Docker settled in 1838 creating a pastoral run called "Benalta Run", said to be from an Aboriginal word for musk duck. Docker's property was intended to lend its name to the new township (”Benalta“) but through a clerical error in the Sydney Survey department it became known as 'Benalla'. An attack by indigenous people on the camp of sheepherders George and William Faithful became known as the Faithful Massacre; eight settlers were killed in the incident. Following the massacre, in 1839 a police station was established and the name of the settlement became Broken River. The post office opened on 1 December 1844 originally named Broken River. A bridge was built over the Broken River in 1847 and the following year the town was surveyed. In 1861, it was proclaimed a town. It was proclaimed a city in 1965. In 1936, the Benalla Centenary Race was held. Population. According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 9,316 people in Benalla. Geography. Benalla is situated on a mostly flat floodplain of the Broken River catchment situated directly to the north and west of the Great Dividing Range. Lake Benalla is an artificial lake created in 1973 from the Broken River as an ornamental feature for the centre of the city. Broken river forms a green belt along the north–south spine of the city. There are three major crossings of the river at Benalla. The main street in the Central Business District is Bridge Street East. Another large artificial lake, Lake Mokoan, 7 kilometres to the north east, was decommissioned beginning in 2009, with a wetlands area being developed for visitors. To the south of the freeway is the heavily forested Reef Hills State Park. Government. Benalla is the seat of local government and administrative headquarters for the Rural City of Benalla. In the Victorian Legislative Assembly, it is represented by the Electoral district of Euroa. In the Parliament of Australia, it is represented by the Division of Indi in the Australian House of Representatives. Economy. Industries include agricultural support services, tourism, a medium density fibreboard factory, Thales Australia ammunition factory and aviation. As a service economy for the region, Benalla has many large retailers, including a Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and a Mitre 10 Home & Trade. Target Country on Bridge Street closed in April 2021. Education. Benalla has two secondary schools, Benalla P-12 College (which has four campuses comprising Prep-yr 2; yr 3–6; yrs 7–9 and 10–12), FCJ College and three primary schools: Benalla P–12, St. Joseph's Primary School and Australian Christian College - Hume. McCristal's College was a private grammar school that used to exist in Benalla. The Benalla Flexible Learning Centre offers an alternative education model for students up to 22 years old also. The Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE has a campus in Benalla which includes the "Benalla Performing Arts and Convention Centre" opened in 2004 by Lynne Kosky MP, the then Minister of Education and Training. The campus included GRADA, a regional academy of dramatic art offering courses in Acting, Dance and Production and now specializes in Nursing and Engineering courses with direct links to local businesses for work placements. The other GoTafe campuses in the region include at Shepparton, Wangaratta and Seymour. The Centre for Continuing Education also offers pre-employment programs in Benalla plus Aged Care programs with practical work experience at Cooinda Village. Culture. Benalla's cultural facilities include the Benalla Performing Arts and Convention Centre which includes a cinema and theatre. The city also has a major art gallery which forms a landmark perched over Lake Benalla on the site of the original police station. Benalla is fast becoming known as the street art capital of regional Australia with more than 50 major contemporary murals on the CBD Benalla Street Art trail, and beyond including local villages such as Goorambat and Winton Wetlands. The annual Wall to Wall Street Art Festival has been held since 2015, curated by Juddy Roller Studios, usually the week before Easter. Over one long-weekend dozens of world class artists create one giant outdoor gallery in the town. The Wall to Wall Festival also includes workshops, artist talks, live music, markets, street art tours and more. www.benallastreetart.com.au Benalla is also home to an artist's hub known as North East Artisans - an entirely self funded, not for profit community art gallery run by volunteers. It features a shop gallery with the works of local artists, an exhibition space, artist studios and a cafe, with regular exhibitions and live music events featuring local, national and international musicians. North East Artisans recently celebrated its 5th birthday in 2019. The Rose Festival is another annual local garden festival dating from 1967. Now called "The Benalla Festival" it is held over the first two weekends in November with dozens of free and low cost events including the community Street Parade, Music by the Lake and fireworks, and A Day in the Gardens Market held in the Benalla Botanical Gardens. Sport and recreation. The town has an Australian rules football team (Benalla Saints) competing in the Goulburn Valley Football League and a team (Benalla All Blacks) competing in the Ovens & King Football League. Benalla has a horse racing club, the Benalla Racing Club, which schedules around eleven race meetings a year including the Benalla Cup meeting in early October. Benalla Wolfpack play rugby league in NRL Victoria's Murray Cup. Golfers play at the Benalla Golf Club on Mansfield Road, which celebrated its centenary in 2003 or at the course of the Golden Vale Golf Club on Golden Vale Road, Benalla. Benalla is also the closest major centre to Winton Motor Raceway, a privately owned motor racing circuit which holds motor racing event at all levels of domestic competition, including V8 Supercar. Benalla Gardens Oval is the home of the Benalla & District Cricket Association. The ground has hosted touring teams since the 19th century. In the Rural City of Benalla there are numerous cricket grounds. Benalla is also home to the Benalla Bandits Baseball Club who compete in the North East Baseball Association. The team plays out of Racecourse Reserve, Benalla. Benalla is home to the Gliding Club of Victoria at the State Gliding Centre located on the Benalla airfield. This club is the longest continuous operating gliding club in Australia and has played host for the World Gliding Competition in 1987 and 2016. Many of the club's members travel from Europe each summer to enjoy the warm weather and ideal soaring conditions of the region. There is a park and walking track that circumnavigates Lake Benalla, featuring a ceramic sculpture mural community that was created as part of an employment project for local artists. Heritage. The following sites are National Trust sites. Media. Benalla has a local newspaper, the Benalla Ensign, which is published weekly. Healthcare. Health services are provided by Benalla Health, which operates a 42-bed hospital, plus a variety of Allied Health and maternal and Child Health Services. Transport. Benalla is a little over two hours from Melbourne by road or train. The Hume Freeway (National Highway M31) now by-passes Benalla to the south, while the Midland Highway (A300) runs through the city centre. Rail transport includes both passenger rail and freight. Benalla railway station is on the North East railway line, and three Albury V/Line rail services stop at Benalla daily, as does the twice-daily NSW TrainLink XPT service between Melbourne and Sydney. Benalla Bus Lines runs a local service every hour on two routes, serving the west and east sides of the city. The main bus terminal is outside the ANZ Bank in Nunn Street. Benalla Airport YBLA (BLN) began life as a major RAAF training base during World War II. It now also serves as the home of the Gliding Club of Victoria, as well as a ballooning and ultralight centre, and is the home of the Benalla Aviation Museum. Utilities. Water is supplied by North East Water. The main water supply is Loombah Weir and McCall Say Reservoir in the Ryan's Creek Catchment approximately 13 kilometres south of the city with a total 1800 megalitre capacity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63838

Traralgon

Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastest growing city in the greater Latrobe Valley area, which has a population of 77,168 at the 2021 Census and is administered by the City of Latrobe. Naming. The origin of the name Traralgon is unconfirmed. The name was used for the pastoral lease of the Hobson brothers in 1844, centred on Traralgon Creek, and was alternatively rendered 'Tralgon' by Dr Edumund Hobson. The Gippsland Farmers' Journal wrote in 1889 that the town name was originally spelt 'Tarralgon' and that it was the Indigenous name for 'the river of little fish'. However, these words are not reflected in modern linguists' knowledge of Gunai/Kurnai language. Records of the language show that the words or mean 'river', the words or mean 'little', while the words or mean 'fish'. It might be possible to combine words into , which sounds similar to 'Traralgon', but no such compound word was recorded. In 1989, Don Macreadie wrote that Paweł Strzelecki named Traralgon after Taralga, the hometown of Charlie Tarra, but the statement lacks evidence. History. Traralgon is situated on the traditional lands of the Indigenous Gunai/Kurnai nation, which includes the lands of the Braiakaulung clan of Bunjil Kraura, who lived to the north of Latrobe River (called "Durt'yowan" in Gunai language), as well as the clan of Woollum-Woollum, who lived on the hills to the south of the river and were more affiliated with the Brataualung people. Gunai/Kurnai people manufactured stone tools, as long as 5,000 years ago, from silcrete quarries in the Haunted Hills, west of Morwell. Scarred trees and rock sites with axe-grinding grooves are also found in the local area. The Gippsland region was inhabited by the Gunai/Kurnai people for a period in excess of 20,000 years, according to evidence of occupation found at the New Guinea II cave near Buchan, Victoria. In other parts of Victoria evidence of Indigenous occupation has been found for many more thousands of years. Expeditions. The first non-Indigenous visitors to the area of Traralgon included the party of Count Paweł Strzelecki on their journey from the Snowy Mountains in April 1840, after Strzelecki had named Australia's highest peak as Mount Kosciuszko. Charley Tarra, a Burra Burra man from the NSW town of Taralga, was the Indigenous guide for the party, which included Strzelecki; the New South Wales men James MacArthur and James Riley; and their servants, Irish convict James Nolan and African convict John Rent. The party crossed Latrobe River and travelled along Traralgon Creek to a heavily forested area, where the party was forced to abandon their horses and equipment. The location was commemorated by monument at Traralgon Creek, Koornalla, erected in 1927. The team's rations were reduced to a slice of bacon and a biscuit per day, but Tarra hunted for animals to end their hunger. They traversed the headwaters of Morwell River, before making a difficult journey across the heavily forested mountain range. They reached Anderson's run in Western Port in May 1840, then walked to Melbourne. To honour the men, the mountain range was named the Strzelecki Ranges, part of the forest was named Tarra Valley, later merged into Tarra-Bulga National Park, and the river running from the valley to Port Albert was named Tarra River. Strzelecki named the region as Gipps' Land, later becoming Gippsland, in honour of his sponsor NSW Governor George Gipps. In June 1840, a party consisting of Tarra, Riley, John Rutledge and Shoalhaven Indigenous man John Pigeon went on a second expedition to retrieve the lost horses and managed to retrieve one, by travelling through the mountains of West Gippsland, across a path that would roughly trace the present-day Princes Highway. A third expedition was made from Port Albert to Latrobe Valley in March 1841 that included William Brodribb, Alexander Kinghorne, Norman McLeod and Kirsopp with Tarra as their guide. In June 1841, a fourth expedition was made along the same route by William's brother Albert Brodribb, pastoralist Edward Hobson, Dr Edward Barker and four Boon wurrung men. Pastoral leases. The area around Traralgon was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s. Due to the Latrobe Valley having relatively high rainfall, the land is very fertile, and farming was quickly established. As with much of central and western Gippsland, this was mainly dairy farming. In the Gippsland region between 1840 and 1860, the population of settlers grew from a few to 2,000 and the recorded Gunai population fell from 2,000 to a handful. The first Europeans to take land in Traralgon were the brothers Dr Edmund Hobson and Edward Hobson who purchased a 19,000 acre pastoral lease in 1844, which they called Traralgon. In April 1844, Edward to a large mob of cattle out from their station near Arthur's Seat to Traralgon arriving two months later. Albert Brodribb and William Bennett started Hazelwood Station in 1844 and the following year James Rintoul had taken a run in Loy Yang and Thomas Gorringe had taken up a run at Maryvale. Township established. The township was established in the early 1860s, the first Post Office opening on 1 January 1861. In 1877 the Gippsland railway line from Melbourne was completed with a railway station at Traralgon giving the town a major economic boost. Traralgon was part of the area administered by the Rosedale Roads Board, before the Shire of Traralgon was established in 1879. In the latter part of the 19th century the Shire grew strongly. It was not until the 1930s however that Traralgon began to move away from a farming based economy. In 1939, Australian Paper Manufacturers established a paper mill at Maryvale, around from Traralgon. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited on 3 March 1954. The president of the Shire of Traralgon, Cr Clem Little met and welcomed the Queen, who was flown by the Royal Australian Air Force from Sale. She returned to Melbourne by train. In 1961, Traralgon formed its own borough, the Borough of Traralgon following a decade of lobbying to separate the urban areas of Traralgon from the Shire. Traralgon was proclaimed a city in 1964. The old town hall and mechanics institute were demolished in 1973. Further development resulted from the expansion of the power generation industry following World War II, particularly through the now defunct State Electricity Commission of Victoria. This included large expansions at Yallourn and Hazelwood Power Stations and the construction of the massive Loy Yang Power Station in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australian Securities & Investments Commission information processing centre was established in the early 1990s, at the time employing around 400 people. The City of Traralgon and Shire of Traralgon continued a separate existence until they were amalgamated into the Shire of Latrobe in 1994. Completion of the Loy Yang power stations, extensive voluntary departures from the electricity industry and privatisation of the Victorian electricity industry in the early 1990s had devastating effects on the economy of the Latrobe Valley. Traralgon, with a more diversified economy, suffered to a lesser extent than the neighbouring towns of Morwell and Moe both of which relied almost exclusively on the power stations for their livelihood. Traralgon grew strongly in the mid 2000s, with a figure of 2.7% making it the largest and fastest growing city in the Latrobe Valley. Heritage listings. Traralgon contains a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Geography. Traralgon is situated on expansive flat land in the Traralgon Creek valley catchment between the Great Dividing Range in the north and the Strzelecki Ranges in the south. The Traralgon Creek runs through the city's centre and its green belt separates its eastern and western suburban areas. The urban area is hemmed to the south east by the Loy Yang Open Cut. Urban Structure. Traralgon is part of the Latrobe Valley tri-city urban area, a small area of industry and agricultural land separates it from neighbouring Morwell. Traralgon together with adjacent Morwell forms an urban area with an estimated population of 41,984 as at June 2018. In the five years prior, the urban area had experienced a modest average annual growth in population of 0.5%. The Traralgon portion the combined Morwell area had a population of 27,958, also at June 2018. Greater Traralgon includes localities such as Traralgon, the suburb of Traralgon East and the relatively sparsely populated satellite localities of Hazelwood and Traralgon South to the south, and Tyers and Glengarry to the north. The Traralgon central business district is centred around Seymour and Franklin Streets. An indoor shopping mall called Traralgon Centre Plaza was opened in 1985. Commercial and light industry sprawl along most of the eastern stretch of the Princes Highway. Notable heritage buildings include the Post Office and Courthouse erected in 1886 and Ryans Hotel erected in 1914, both in Franklin Street. Climate. Traralgon experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfb"). Nights in Traralgon are about 2 °C colder than in Melbourne From 9 June 2021 Traralgon was one of the hardest-hit towns with 200 homes evacuated when an east coast low weather system caused widespread flash flooding across Gippsland. Economy. The economy is primarily driven by the primary sector, natural resources and the secondary sector including coal mining, processing and fossil-fuel power generation for the National Electricity Market. Along with electricity production, Traralgon benefits from the mining for oil and natural gas in the nearby Bass Strait fields. A significant forestry industry operates including logging of both plantation and natural forest timber, The largest paper mill in Australia is located nearby in Maryvale and provides local employment for over 2,000 people. The local agriculture industry is involved in the production of wool and dairy products, as well as vegetable growing. The tertiary sector of the economy is also important for employment with major government administration offices for the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, Department of Health & Human Services, Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning and Environment Protection Authority. Education. Traralgon features a number of primary and secondary schools, including state, catholic and independent schools. The local primary schools include Grey Street Primary School (formerly Traralgon Primary School), Kosciuszko Street Primary School, Liddiard Road Primary School, Stockdale Road Primary School, St Michaels Primary School, St Gabriels Primary School, Chairo Christian School (formerly Flinders Christian Community College]) and St Pauls Anglican Grammar School. St Paul's Anglican Grammar School and Chairo Christian School are also secondary schools. In addition Traralgon has the Latrobe Special Developmental School catering for students from 4.5 to 18 years of age with an intellectual and physical disability. The local government secondary school, Traralgon College, has two campuses, the junior campus (years 7–9) located on Liddiard Rd in Traralgon's east, with the senior campus (years 10–12) on Grey St in Traralgon's west. There is also a Catholic secondary school, Lavalla Catholic College. Lavalla has two campuses in Traralgon's West end, and a third campus in Newborough. The junior campus, St Paul's, neighbours Traralgon College's senior campus on Grey St. The senior campus, Kildare, is located in Kosciuszko St. Chairo Christian School on Liddiard Rd is a P– 8 school. A number of Traralgon families also send their children to the three independent Anglican grammar schools in the region, two of which are about 40 minutes drive from Traralgon: St. Paul's Anglican Grammar School, which has a campus in Traralgon as well as Warragul, or Gippsland Grammar School in Sale. TAFE and University education is also available within the region. Traralgon is a 15-minute drive from Federation University Australia's Gippsland Campus, located in the neighbouring town of Churchill. Traralgon is also home to one of a number of campuses for the region's TAFE provider, Federation Training. Sport. Australian rules football is popular. There are two senior clubs, the Traralgon Maroons (which briefly competed in the Victorian Football League between 1996–1997) currently competing in the Gippsland Football League and Traralgon-Tyers United competing in the North Gippsland Football League. There is also a junior league, Traralgon and District Junior Football League, with most games played from the West End Sporting Complex. Cricket is also popular, with a local league, the Traralgon and District Cricket Association (TDCA) operating. Soccer is represented by two clubs - Traralgon City and Traralgon Olympians - who both play in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League. The Victorian regional leagues are the eighth level of soccer in Victoria, and the ninth nationally. The home grounds are Harold Preston Reserve and Harold Preston Park respectively. There is a local basketball league, the Traralgon Basketball Association with a stadium at the Traralgon Sports Complex. The Traralgon Sports Stadium played host to preliminary round games of the Basketball competition during the 2006 Commonwealth Games which were held in Melbourne. The local baseball team is the Traralgon Redsox. Traralgon has a horse racing club, the Latrobe Valley Racing Club, which schedules two race meetings a year including the Cup meeting in December. The Traralgon Greyhound Racing Club holds regular greyhound racing meetings at Glenview Park. The first meeting was held on 28 June 1973. Golfers play at the course of the Traralgon Golf Club on the Princes Highway. The Traralgon Harriers are a running club that runs 5 or 6 km races every Thursday night and also organise Victoria's oldest marathon, the Traralgon Marathon, held every June. The Latrobe Valley Cycling club hold road and track racing events on most weeks throughout the year. Traralgon Pistol Club and Traralgon small bore rifle Club also located in the town. Entertainment. The entertainment precinct which spans Kay, Grey and Franklin Streets attracts people from surrounding towns to several nightclubs, bars and restaurants located there. Local media. Newspapers. The weekly "Latrobe Valley Express" newspaper is delivered to all homes on Wednesday nights, in Traralgon, Morwell and Moe. The "Traralgon Record" newspaper has been digitised from 1886 to 1932 as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program. Melbourne Newspapers such as "The Weekly Times", "The Age" and the "Herald Sun" and national newspapers like "The Australian", "The Saturday Paper, and the "Australian Financial Review" are also available. Television. The area was the first in Australia to receive its own regional television station, GLV-10 Gippsland (now Southern Cross 10), when it launched on 9 December 1961. Programs from the three main commercial television networks (Seven, Nine and Ten) are all re-broadcast into Latrobe Valley by their regional affiliates - Prime7 (AMV), WIN (VTV) and Southern Cross Austereo (GLV). All broadcast from the Latrobe Valley transmitter at Mount Tassie. All the commercial stations are based in Traralgon and have local commercials placed on their broadcasts. Local news is available on all three commercial networks: Nine previously produced a local news bulletin branded "Nine News Gippsland" and later "Nine News Local" for a brief period between 2017 and 2021 that aired on the Southern Cross Austereo primary channel when it was previously affiliated with Nine. Both national public broadcasters, ABC (ABC TV) and SBS (SBS TV) are broadcast into the Latrobe Valley as well, via Mount Tassie, as well as from the Dandenong Ranges transmitters located east of Melbourne. Additional digital multi-channels broadcast by all the networks in addition to the ones listed above are available on the digital service called Freeview to viewers in Traralgon and the Gippsland/Latrobe Valley region. These channels include HD simulcasts of the primary channel (available on channels 20, 30, 50, 60 and 80). As well as ABC TV Plus, ABC Me, ABC News, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, 10 Bold, 10 Peach, 10 Shake, 7two, 7mate, 7flix, 7Bravo, 9Gem, 9Go!, 9Life and Sky News Regional. Television transmissions from Mount Dandenong for the Melbourne market (Seven, Nine and Ten) can also be received in digital in Traralgon with a suitable roof-top antenna. Subscription television service Foxtel (previously Austar until 2014) is available via satellite. Radio. There are two radio stations with studios located in Traralgon – TRFM (99.5 MHz) and Gold 1242, both owned by Ace Radio. The FM station is broadcast along with the television channels from Mount Tassie while Gold 1242 is broadcast from an AM transmitter near Sale. Warragul radio stations Triple M (97.9 MHz) and 3GG (531 kHz) also service this region. Most ABC stations are rebroadcast locally and available in Traralgon, along with 774 ABC Melbourne which is able to be received directly from Melbourne and the local ABC Gippsland station (100.7 MHz). Some Melbourne stations both on the AM band and the FM band can be heard in the more elevated parts of Traralgon, however DAB+ is not available without a vertically polarized roof-top antenna. Community radio stations Gippsland FM (104.7 MHz) based in Morwell and Life FM (103.9 MHz) based in Sale are also broadcast into the Latrobe Valley and can be heard in Traralgon. Transport. Road transport and the motor vehicle is the main form of transport. The Princes Highway runs through the city and close to the CBD which received heavy regional traffic (although a Traralgon Bypass road is undergoing planning). The Hyland Highway also originates at Traralgon. Rail transport includes both passenger rail and freight rail. The city's only station is Traralgon railway station which is on the Gippsland railway line served by V/Line services from Melbourne to Bairnsdale. Victoria's electronic ticketing system, Myki, was implemented on rail services between Traralgon and Melbourne on 8 July 2013. Latrobe Valley Buslines provides local services around Traralgon and other cities in the Latrobe Valley. Latrobe Valley Airport is located close to Traralgon in nearby Morwell and provides general aviation. Traralgon has a minimal bicycle infrastructure, with few segregated cycle facilities. An exception is the 63-kilometer-long Gippsland Plains Rail Trail which connects Traralgon to Stratford via Cowwarr, Heyfield, Tinamba and Maffra. A new cycling and walking path was opened in 2020 between Traralgon and Morwell and with a connection to the Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH). Notable people. Sport Other

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64054

Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,186. History. <includeonly>Henley does not appear in Domesday Book of 1086; often it is mistaken for "Henlei" in the book which is in Surrey.</includeonly> There is archaeological evidence of people residing in Henley since the second century as part of the Romano-British period. The first record of Henley as a substantial settlement is from 1179, when it is recorded that King Henry II "had bought land for the making of buildings". King John granted the manor of Benson and the town and manor of Henley to Robert Harcourt in 1199. A church at Henley is first mentioned in 1204. In 1205 the town received a tax for street paving, and in 1234 the bridge is first mentioned. In 1278 Henley is described as a hamlet of Benson with a chapel. The street plan was probably established by the end of the 13th century. As a demesne of the crown it was granted in 1337 to John de Molyns, whose family held it for about 250 years. The existing Thursday market, it is believed, was granted by a charter of King John. A market was certainly in existence by 1269; however, the jurors of the assize of 1284 said that they did not know by what warrant the Earl of Cornwall held a market and fair in the town of Henley. The existing Corpus Christi fair was granted by a charter of Henry VI. During the Black Death pandemic that swept through England in the 14th century, Henley lost 60% of its population. A variation on its name can be seen as "Henley up a Tamys" in 1485. By the beginning of the 16th century, the town extended along the west bank of the Thames from Friday Street in the south to the Manor, now Phyllis Court, in the north and took in Hart Street and New Street. To the west, it included Bell Street and the Market Place. Henry VIII granted the use of the titles "mayor" and "burgess", and the town was incorporated in 1568 in the name of the warden, portreeves, burgesses and commonalty. The original charter was issued by Elizabeth I but replaced by one from George I in 1722. Henley suffered at the hands of both parties in the Civil War. Later, William III rested here on his march to London in 1688, at the nearby recently rebuilt Fawley Court, and received a deputation from the Lords. The town's period of prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries was due to manufactures of glass and malt, and trade in corn and wool. Henley-on-Thames supplied London with timber and grain. A workhouse to accommodate 150 people was built at West Hill in Henley in 1790, and was later enlarged to accommodate 250 as the Henley Poor Law Union workhouse. Prior to 1974 Henley was a municipal borough with a Borough Council comprising twelve Councillors and four Aldermen, headed by a Mayor. The Local Government Act 1972 resulted in the re-organisation of local government in that year. Henley became part of Wallingford District Council, subsequently renamed South Oxfordshire District Council. The borough council was replaced by a town council but the role of mayor was retained. Landmarks and structures. Henley Bridge is a five arched bridge across the river built in 1786. It is a Grade I listed historic structure. During 2011 the bridge underwent a £200,000 repair programme after being hit by the boat "Crazy Love" in August 2010. About upstream of the bridge is Marsh Lock. Henley Town Hall, which maintains a prominent position in the Market Place, was designed by Henry Hare and completed in 1900. Chantry House is the second Grade I listed building in the town. It is unusual in having more storeys on one side than on the other. The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is nearby and has a 16th-century tower. The Old Bell is a pub in the centre of Henley on Bell Street. The building has been dated from 1325: the oldest-dated building in the town. To celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, 60 oak trees were planted in the shape of a Victoria Cross near Fairmile, the long straight road to the northwest of the town. Two notable buildings just outside Henley, in Buckinghamshire, are: Property. Lloyds Bank's analysis of house price growth in 125 market towns in England over the year to June 2016 (using Land Registry data), found that Henley was the second-most expensive market town in the country with an average property price of £748,001. Transport. The town's railway station is the terminus of the Henley Branch Line from Twyford. In the past there have been direct services to London Paddington. There are express mainline rail services from Reading () to Paddington. Trains from High Wycombe () go to London Marylebone. The M4 motorway (junction 8/9) and the M40 motorway (junction 4) are both about () away. Bus routes 800 and 850, both operated by Arriva The Shires on an hourly frequency, run through Henley between Reading and High Wycombe. Institutions and organisations. The River and Rowing Museum, located in Mill Meadows, is the town's one museum. It was established in 1998, and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The museum, designed by the architect David Chipperfield, features information on the River Thames, the sport of rowing, and the town of Henley itself. The University of Reading's Henley Business School is near Henley, as is Henley College. Rupert House School is a preparatory school located in Bell Street. Rowing. Henley is a world-renowned centre for rowing. Each summer the Henley Royal Regatta is held on Henley Reach, a naturally straight stretch of the river just north of the town. It was extended artificially. The event became "Royal" in 1851, when Prince Albert became patron of the regatta. Other regattas and rowing races are held on the same reach, including Henley Women's Regatta, Henley Town and Visitors Regatta, Henley Veteran Regatta, Upper Thames Small Boats Head, Henley Fours and Eights Head, and Henley Sculls. These "Heads" often attract strong crews that have won medals at National Championships. Local rowing clubs include: The regatta depicted throughout "Dead in the Water", an episode of the British detective television series Midsomer Murders, was filmed at Henley. Other sports. Henley has the oldest football team Henley Town F.C. recognised by the Oxfordshire Football Association, they play at The Triangle ground. Henley also has a rugby union club Henley Hawks which play at the Dry Leas ground, a hockey club Henley Hockey Club which play at Jubilee Park, and Henley Cricket Club which has played at Brakspear Ground since 1886. a new club in Henley was started in September 2016 called Henley Lions FC. Media. Newspapers. Henley's local newspaper is the "Henley Standard". Radio. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Berkshire on 94.6 FM, Heart South on 103.4 FM, Reading 107 on 107.0 FM and London's radio stations such as Capital FM and Magic 105.4 along with a few others can also be received. Regatta Radio was broadcast during Henley Royal Regatta for a number of years up to 2014. Television. As Henley is on an overlap of TV regions, it is possible to receive signals from the Crystal Palace (BBC London/ITV London) and Hannington (BBC South/ITV Meridian) transmitters. However, the local relay transmitter for Henley only broadcasts programmes from ITV London and BBC London, making Henley the only part of Oxfordshire included within the London television region. In popular culture. Henley-on-Thames was represented in the 2010 American drama film "The Social Network" as the site of a rowing competition between the US and the Netherlands. Twin towns/Sister cities. Henley is twinned with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64083

Junk food

"Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known as HFSS food (high in fat, salt and sugar). The term "junk food" is a pejorative dating back to the 1950s. Many different kinds of junk food can be easily found in most supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Because of such easy access to it, people are most likely to consume it. Precise definitions vary by purpose and over time. Some high-protein foods, like meat prepared with saturated fat, may be considered junk food. Fast food and fast food restaurants are often equated with junk food, although fast foods cannot be categorically described as junk food. Most junk food is highly processed food. Concerns about the negative health effects resulting from a junk food-heavy diet, especially obesity, have resulted in public health awareness campaigns, and restrictions on advertising and sale in several countries. Current studies indicate that a diet high in junk food can increase the risk of depression, digestive issues, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and early death. Etymology. The term "junk food" dates back at least to the early 1950s, although its coinage has been credited to Michael F. Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in 1972. In 1952, the phrase appeared in a headline in the Lima, Ohio, "News", Junk Foods' Cause Serious Malnutrition", over a reprint of a 1948 article from the Ogden, Utah, "Standard-Examiner", originally titled, "Dr. Brady’s Health Column: More Junk Than Food". In the article, Dr. Brady writes, "What Mrs. H calls 'junk' I call cheat food. That is anything made principally of (1) white flour and or (2) refined white sugar or syrup. For example, white bread, crackers, cake, candy, ice cream soda, chocolate malted, sundaes, sweetened carbonated beverages." The term "cheat food" can be traced back in newspaper mentions to at least 1916. Definitions. In Andrew F. Smith's "Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food", junk food is defined as "those commercial products, including candy, bakery goods, ice cream, salty snacks and soft drinks, which have little or no nutritional value but do have plenty of calories, salt, and fats. While not all fast foods are junk foods, many of them are. Fast foods are ready-to-eat foods served promptly after ordering. Some fast foods are high in calories and low in nutritional value, while other fast foods, such as salads, may be low in calories and high in nutritional value." Junk food provides empty calories, supplying little or none of the protein, vitamins, or minerals required for a nutritious diet. Some foods, such as hamburgers, and tacos, can be considered either healthy or junk food, depending on their ingredients and preparation methods. The more highly processed items usually fall under the junk food category, including breakfast cereals that are mostly sugar or high fructose corn syrup and white flour or milled corn. The United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority, the self-regulatory agency for the UK ad industry, uses nutrient profiling to define junk food. Foods are scored for "A" nutrients (energy, saturated fat, total sugar, and sodium) and "C" nutrients (fruit, vegetable, and nut content, fiber, and protein). The difference between A and C scores determines whether a food or beverage is categorized as HFSS (high in fat, salt and sugar; a term synonymous with "junk food"). In "Panic Nation: Unpicking the Myths We're Told About Food and Health", the junk food label is described as nutritionally meaningless: food is food, and if there is zero nutritional value, then it is not a food. Co-editor Vincent Marks explains, "To label a food as 'junk' is just another way of saying, 'I disapprove of it.' There are bad diets - that is, bad mixtures and quantities of food - but there are no 'bad foods' except those that have become bad through contamination or deterioration." History. According to an article in the "New York Times", "Let Us Now Praise the Great Men of Junk Food", "The history of junk food is a largely American tale: It has been around for hundreds of years, in many parts of the world, but no one has done a better job inventing so many varieties of it, branding it, mass-producing it, making people rich off it and, of course, eating it." Cracker Jack, the candy-coated popcorn-and-peanuts confection, is credited as the first popular name-brand junk food; it was created in Chicago, registered in 1896, and became the best-selling candy in the world 20 years later. Popularity and appeal. Junk food in its various forms is trendy and an integral part of modern popular culture. In the US, annual fast-food sales are in the area of $160 billion, compared to supermarket sales of $620 billion (a figure which also includes junk food in the form of convenience foods, snack foods, and candy). In 1976, "Junk Food Junkie", a US top 10 pop song, described a junk food addict who pretends to follow a healthy diet by day, while at night gorges on Hostess Twinkies and Fritos corn chips, McDonald's and KFC. Thirty-six years later, "Time" placed the Twinkie at #1 in an article titled, "Top 10 Iconic Junk Foods": "Not only...a mainstay on our supermarket shelves and in our bellies, they've been a staple in our popular culture and, above all, in our hearts. Often criticized for its lack of any nutritional value whatsoever, the Twinkie has managed to persevere as a cultural and gastronomical icon." America also celebrates an annual National Junk Food Day on July 21. Origins are unclear; it is one of around 175 US food and drink days, most created by "people who want to sell more food", at times aided by elected officials at the request of a trade association or commodity group. "In honor of the day," "Time" in 2014 published, "5 Crazy Junk Food Combinations". Headlines from other national and local media coverage include: "Celebrate National Junk Food Day With… Beer-Flavored Oreos?" (MTV); "National Junk Food Day: Pick your favorite unhealthy treats in this poll" (Baltimore); "Celebrities' favorite junk food" (Los Angeles); "A Nutritionist's Guide to National Junk Food Day" with "Rules for Splurging" ("Huffington Post"); and "It's National Junk Food Day: Got snacks?" (Kansas City). As for the source of junk food's appeal, there is no definitive scientific answer; both physiological and psychological factors are cited. Food manufacturers spend billions of dollars on research and development to create flavor profiles that trigger the human affinity for sugar, salt, and fat. Consumption results in pleasurable, likely addictive, effects on the brain. At the same time, massive marketing efforts are deployed, creating powerful brand loyalties that studies have shown can trump taste. It is well-established that the poor eat more junk food overall than the more affluent, but the reasons for this are unclear. Few studies have focused on variations in food perception according to socio-economic status (SES); some studies that have differentiated based on SES suggest that the economically challenged do not perceive healthy food much differently than any other population segment. Recent research into scarcity, combining behavioral science and economics, suggests that, faced with extreme economic uncertainty, where even the next meal may not be a sure thing, judgment is impaired and the drive is to the instant gratification of junk food, rather than to make the necessary investment in the longer-term benefits of a healthier diet. Health effects. When junk food is consumed very often, the excess fat, simple carbohydrates, and processed sugar found in junk food contribute to an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and many other chronic health conditions. A case study on the consumption of fast foods in Ghana suggested a direct correlation between consumption of junk food and obesity rates. The report asserts that obesity resulted in related complex health concerns such as an upsurge in the rate of heart attacks. Studies reveal that as early as the age of 30, arteries could begin clogging and lay the groundwork for future heart attacks. Consumers also tend to eat too much in one sitting, and those who have satisfied their appetite with junk food are less likely to eat healthy foods like fruit or vegetables. Testing on rats has indicated negative effects of junk food that may manifest likewise in people. A Scripps Research Institute study in 2008 suggested that junk food consumption alters brain activity in a manner similar to addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin. After many weeks with unlimited access to junk food, the pleasure centers of rat brains became desensitized, requiring more food for pleasure; after the junk food was taken away and replaced with a healthy diet, the rats starved for two weeks instead of eating nutritious fare. A 2007 study in the "British Journal of Nutrition" found that female rats who eat junk food during pregnancy increased the likelihood of unhealthy eating habits in their offspring. Other research has been done on the impact of sugary foods on human emotional health and has suggested that consuming junk food can negatively impact energy levels and emotional well-being. In a study published in the "European Journal of Clinical Nutrition", the frequency of consumption of 57 foods/drinks of 4,000 children at the age of four and a half were collected by maternal report. At age seven, the 4,000 children were given the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), with five scales: hyperactivity, conduct problems, peer problems, emotional symptoms, and pro-social behavior. A one standard deviation increase in junk food was then linked to excessive hyperactivity in 33% of the subjects, leading to the conclusion that children consuming excess junk food at the age of seven are more likely to be in the top third of the hyperactivity scale. There was no significant correlation between junk food and the other scales. Anti-junk food measures. Several countries have taken, or are considering, various forms of legislative action to curb junk food consumption. Eating habits can be influenced by the food environment around us. In 2014, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Anand Grover, released his report, "Unhealthy foods, non-communicable diseases and the right to health", and called for governments to "take measures, such as developing food and nutrition guidelines for healthy diets, regulating marketing and advertising of junk food, adopting consumer-friendly labeling of food products, and establishing accountability mechanisms for violations of the right to health." An early, high-profile, and controversial attempt to identify and curb junk food in the American diet was undertaken by the McGovern Committee (United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, chaired by Senator George McGovern) between 1968 and 1977. Initially formed to investigate malnutrition and hunger in the US, the committee's scope progressively expanded to include environmental conditions that affected eating habits, such as urban decay, then focused on the diet and nutritional habits of the American public. The committee took issue with the use of salt, sugar, and fat in processed foods, noted problems with overeating and the high percentage of ads for junk food on TV, and stated that bad eating habits could be as deadly as smoking. The findings were heavily criticized and rebutted from many directions, including the food industry, the American Medical Association, and the committee itself. In 1977, the committee issued public guidelines under the title, "Dietary Goals for the United States", which became the predecessor to "Dietary Guidelines for Americans", published every five years beginning in 1980 by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Taxation. To reduce junk food consumption through price control, sin taxes have been implemented. Targeting saturated fat consumption, Denmark introduced the world's first fat-food tax in October 2011 by imposing a surcharge on all foods, including those made from natural ingredients, that contain more than 2.3 percent saturated fat, an unpopular measure that lasted a little over a year. Hungary has imposed taxes on foods and beverages high in added sugar, fat, and salt. Norway taxes refined sugar, and Mexico has various excises on unhealthy food. On April 1, 2015, the first fat tax in the US, the Navajo Nation's Healthy Diné Nation Act of 2014, mandating a 2% junk food tax, came into effect, covering the Navajo reservation; the Act targeted problems with obesity and diabetes among the Navajo population. Banning junk food advertisements. In mid-2021, the government of the United Kingdom proposed policies that would call for a ban on online advertisements of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar, in addition to an additional ban on advertising such foods on television before 9:00 pm local time. The bans would not affect advertisements that do not directly promote a junk food product, and promoting these products on company webpages and social media accounts would remain permitted. These bans were intended to come into force in 2023. In October 2021, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs of Spain, under the leadership of minister Alberto Garzón, announced a ban on the advertising of several categories of junk food to children under 16. Such advertising would be forbidden on television, radio, online, in movie theaters, and in newspapers. Affected foods include candy, energy bars, cookies, cake, juice, energy drinks, and ice cream. The ban is to take effect in 2022. Restricting advertising to children. Junk food that is targeted at children is a contentious issue. In "The Impact of Advertising on Childhood obesity", the American Psychological Association reports: "Research has found strong associations between increases in advertising for non-nutritious foods and rates of childhood obesity." Advertising of unhealthy foods to children increases their consumption of the product and positive attitudes (liking or wanting to buy) about the advertised product. Children's critical reasoning (the ability to understand what an advertisement is and the aim of advertising to buy the product) is not protective against the impact of advertising, and does not appear to be fully developed during adolescence. The World Health Organization recommends that governments take action to limit children's exposure to food marketing, stating, "Many advertisements promote foods high in fats, sugar, and salt, consumption of which should be limited as part of a healthy diet. ... Food advertising and other forms of marketing have been shown to influence children’s food preferences, purchasing behaviour and overall dietary behaviour. Marketing has also been associated with an increased risk of overweight and obesity in children. The habits children develop early in life may encourage them to adopt unhealthy dietary practices which persist into adulthood, increasing the likelihood of overweight, obesity and associated health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases." In the United Kingdom, efforts to increasingly limit or eliminate advertising of foods high in sugar, salt, or fat at any time children may be viewing are ongoing. The UK government has been criticized for failing to do enough to stop advertising and promotion of junk food aimed at children. A UK parliamentary select committee recommended that cartoon characters advertising unhealthy food to children should be banned, supermarkets should have to remove unhealthy sweets and snacks from ends of aisles and checkout areas, local authorities should be able to limit the number of fast food outlets in their area, brands associated with unhealthy foods should be banned from sponsoring sports clubs, youth leagues and tournaments, and social media like Facebook should cut down junk food advertising to children—all are currently just recommendations. In Australia, a Wollongong University study in 2015 found that junk food sponsors were mentioned over 1,000 times in a single Australian cricket match broadcast, which included ads and branding worn on players' uniforms and on the scoreboard and pitch. A coalition of Australian obesity, cancer, and diabetes organizations called on Cricket Australia, the sport's governing body, to "phase out sponsorships with unhealthy brands", emphasizing that cricket is a "healthy, family-oriented sport" with children in the audience. Restricting sales to minors. Several states in Mexico banned sales of junk food to minors, starting in August 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64263

St. Albans, Queens

St. Albans is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Jamaica to the northwest, Hollis to the north, Queens Village to the northeast, Cambria Heights to the east, Laurelton to the southeast, Springfield Gardens to the south, and South Jamaica to the southwest. St. Albans is centered on the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of John F. Kennedy International Airport. The small western enclave of Addisleigh Park is a U.S. historic district where many notable African Americans have lived, including Jackie Robinson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Lena Horne, and many jazz musicians such as Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie. St. Albans is located in Queens Community District 12 and its ZIP Code is 11412. It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 113th Precinct. Politically, St. Albans is represented by the New York City Council's 27th and 28th Districts. History. Early settlement. Part of a land grant to Dutch settlers from New Netherland Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1655, the area, like much of Queens, remained farmland and forest for most of the next two centuries. By the 1800s, the lands of four families—the Remsens, Everitts, Ludlums, and Hendricksons—formed the nucleus of this sprawling farm community in the eastern portion of the Town of Jamaica. In 1814, when the Village of Jamaica (the first village on Long Island) was incorporated, its (the village's) boundaries extended eastward to Freeman's Path (now Farmers Boulevard), and south to Lazy Lane (called Central Avenue in 1900, then Foch Boulevard in the 1920s, thus including parts of present-day St. Albans. In 1852, the old mill pond that is now at the center of Baisley Pond Park was acquired by the Brooklyn waterworks for use as a reservoir. Later development. In 1872, the Long Island Rail Road's Cedarhurst Cut-off was built through the area, but no stop appears on the first timetables. In 1892, an area called Francis Farm was surveyed and developed for housing. There were numerous Francis families farming in the eastern portion of the Town of Jamaica in the 1880s. Francis Lewis Boulevard (named for a signer of the Declaration of Independence, from Queens), which does not yet appear on maps from 1909, nor in 1910, is now the eastern boundary of St. Albans. Soon, the first street lights illuminated the crossroads that is now Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard. New shops clustered around August Everitt's lone store. By July 1, 1898, the St. Albans Long Island Rail Road station opened where the tracks crossed Locust Avenue (now Baisley Boulevard). The station was razed and replaced with the current, grade separated station on October 15, 1935. In 1899, a year after Queens became part of New York City (and with the Town of Jamaica and the Village of Jamaica thereby dissolved), the new post office for the 600 residents was named St. Albans, after St Albans in Hertfordshire, England, which itself was named after a Saint Alban, thought to be the first Christian martyred in England. The name had been in use for the area since at least 1894 for the name of the school district, and the LIRR station was named St. Albans when it opened in 1898. A 1909 map also shows a St Albans Avenue and a St Albans Place in the area. The site was originally occupied by the St. Albans Golf Course and Country Club, which was completed in 1915. The club brought rich and famous golfers, including baseball star Babe Ruth, and hosted the 1930 Metropolitan Amateur. The Depression forced the golf course owners to try to sell, but plans for private development fell through. The land was seized by the federal government in 1942, and construction soon began on the St. Albans Naval Hospital, which opened in 1943. After construction was completed in 1950, the hospital had 3000 beds and contained a network of 76 wards. The hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration in 1974, reopening as a VA hospital two years later, and more recently evolved into the Veterans Administration St. Albans Primary and Extended Care Facility. A portion of the hospital site became Roy Wilkins Park in the 1980s. Addisleigh Park subsection. Within St. Albans is the small western enclave of Addisleigh Park, a U.S. historic district that consists of single-family homes built in a variety of styles between the 1910s and 1930s. Though originally intended as a segregated community for white people only, from the late 1930s many notable African Americans have lived there. Today, it remains a predominantly African American & Jamaican enclave that is more upscale than surrounding areas in southeast Queens. Between 1900 and 1940, the village of Addisleigh Park was developed by a handful of eminent white entrepreneurs including Edwin H. Brown, Gerald C. English, and Alexander Rodman. Restrictive covenants were established to prohibit the sale of any of its properties to blacks. A 1926 "New York Times" article insists, "Addisleigh, together with the St. Albans Golf Club, was laid out under the personal direction of Edwin H. Brown, and carries a land and house restriction of the highest type." Two lawsuits were filed successfully by white residents who accused their neighbors of breaking the contractual segregation imposed on the neighborhood by its developers. Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the New York Historic Districts Council, says about this backlash, "It was unpleasant, as it was a case of a number of narrow-minded neighbors trying to fight what they saw as an invasion of unwanted people in their area." Affluent white New York City-based public figures moved into Addisleigh Park to experience the privacy of suburban seclusion. Addisleigh Park boasted well-kept rows of Tudor and Colonial homes. The neighborhood's close proximity to Manhattan allowed for quick and frequent commuting. During the Swing Era, Manhattan's 52nd Street served as the epicenter of Swing Era live entertainment and musical innovation. For this reason, many successful African American jazz musicians began to recognize Addisleigh Park as the newest suburban haven for wealthy, influential artists. In 1948, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racially restrictive covenants violated the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment, though by that year, Addisleigh Park had already become a haven for world-famous African Americans in jazz and sports. The neighborhood was declared a historic district by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2011. Demographics. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of St. Albans was 48,593, a change of -1,453 (-3%) from the 50,046 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of . The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 1% (469) White, 88.6% (43,073) African American, 0.3% (129) Native American, 0.9% (417) Asian, 0% (16) Pacific Islander, 0.5% (258) from other races, and 2.2% (1,085) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.5% (3,146) of the population. The entirety of Community Board 12, which mainly comprises Jamaica but also includes St. Albans and Hollis, had 232,911 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 80.5 years. This is slightly lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of between 0–17, 27% between 25–44, and 27% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 14% respectively. As of 2017, the median household income in Community Board 12 was $61,670. In 2018, an estimated 20% of St. Albans and Jamaica residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (12%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 56% in St. Albans and Jamaica, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , St. Albans and Jamaica are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying. Housing. St. Albans housing consists mostly of detached, one and two-family homes. Linden Boulevard is the major shopping street. In 2011 "The New York Times" reported that many foreclosures were occurring and there was a high level of unemployment. At that time, many black people were moving from St. Albans to the Southern United States. Police and crime. South Jamaica and St. Albans are patrolled by the NYPD's 113th Precinct, located at 167-02 Baisley Boulevard. The 113th Precinct ranked 55th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. The 113th Precinct also has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 86.1% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 5 murders, 28 rapes, 156 robberies, 383 felony assaults, 153 burglaries, 414 grand larcenies, and 138 grand larcenies auto in 2018. Fire safety. St. Albans is served by two New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations: Health. , preterm births and births to teenage mothers are more common in St. Albans and Jamaica than in other places citywide. In St. Albans and Jamaica, there were 10 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 21.4 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). St. Albans and Jamaica have a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 5%, lower than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in St. Albans and Jamaica is , less than the city average. Eight percent of St. Albans and Jamaica residents are smokers, which is lower than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In St. Albans and Jamaica, 30% of residents are obese, 16% are diabetic, and 37% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 22%, 8%, and 23% respectively. In addition, 23% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Eighty-six percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is slightly less than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 82% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," higher than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in St. Albans and Jamaica, there are 20 bodegas. The nearest major hospitals are Jamaica Hospital and Queens Hospital Center, both located in Jamaica. Post offices and ZIP Code. St. Albans is covered by the ZIP Code 11412. The United States Post Office operates two post offices nearby: the Saint Albans Station at 195-04 Linden Boulevard and the Rochdale Village Station at 165-100 Baisley Boulevard. Parks and recreation. There are several public parks in St. Albans, operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. St. Albans Park is bounded by Merrick Boulevard, Sayres Avenue, and Marne Place. It includes facilities for cricket, handball, and tennis, as well as fitness equipment, playground, and spray showers. The land was acquired by the city for use as a park in 1914, and it was slightly expanded in 1968. Roy Wilkins Park is located between 115th Avenue and Merrick and Baisley Boulevards. It contains facilities for baseball, basketball, cricket, handball, swimming, tennis, and track-and-field, as well as a recreation center, fitness equipment, playground, and spray showers. The land, formerly a naval hospital, was given to the city in 1977. It is named for civil rights activist Roy Wilkins. Railroad Park, a nature area, is located on a triangular plot bounded by 129th Avenue, 176th Street, and the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch. The land for this park was acquired in 1962-1963. Daniel M. O'Connell Playground is located between Murdock Avenue, 112th Road, and 197th and 198th Street. It contains basketball and handball courts, fitness equipment, a play area, and spray showers. The playground is named for World War I veteran Daniel M. O’Connell. Liberty Rock is a boulder in Liberty Triangle park at the intersection of Farmers Blvd. and Liberty Ave. The Liberty Rock is a symbol of the history and culture of the African American community in St. Albans. The painting of the rock in red, black, and green, the colors of the Pan-African flag, represents the community's commitment to civil rights, group identity, and fostering ties between all people of African descent. The location of the rock, at the intersection of St. Albans and Hollis neighborhoods in Jamaica, highlights its significance as a shared symbol for the entire community. The Liberty Rock serves as a symbol of resistance and resilience, reminding the community of its rich cultural heritage and ongoing struggle for equality and justice. Education. St. Albans and Jamaica generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . While 29% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 19% have less than a high school education and 51% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of St. Albans and Jamaica students excelling in math rose from 36% in 2000 to 55% in 2011, and reading achievement increased slightly from 44% to 45% during the same time period. St. Albans and Jamaica's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is more than the rest of New York City. In St. Albans and Jamaica, 22% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, higher than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 74% of high school students in St. Albans and Jamaica graduate on time, about the same as the citywide average of 75%. Schools. Public. Public schools are operated by the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE). St. Albans contains the following public elementary schools which serve grades PK-5 unless otherwise indicated: The following public middle schools serve grades 6-8: Eagle Academy for Young Men III, a combined public middle and high school, serves grades 6-12. Private and charter. There are three charter schools: Private schools include: Library. The Queens Public Library operates the branch at 191-05 Linden Boulevard. Transportation. Numerous MTA bus lines run through the neighborhood, including the , and all of which connect to the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) at Jamaica Center and Jamaica, respectively. The LIRR's St. Albans station serves the neighborhood. Notable people. St. Albans was home to many artists of the jazz, hip hop, and rap music genres. The following notable people are known to have lived in the area: Music Sports Other Jazz legacy. Famous stride pianist Fats Waller was the first well-known musician to move into Addisleigh Park at the peak of his career in the late 1930s. Waller had grown up in the Church (his father was a pastor). He subsequently had his home in Addisleigh Park fashioned with a built-in Hammond organ. He died in 1943 from bronchial pneumonia. In 1937, jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie moved his orchestra from Kansas City to New York. Count Basie's orchestra performed at world-famous Manhattan venues including the Roseland Ballroom, the Savoy Ballroom, and the Woodside Hotel. In 1946, Basie and his wife, Katy, bought a home in Addisleigh Park, where the couple lived until 1973 when it was sold to bandleader/singer/pianist, Robert (Bubber) Johnson. Singer, film actress, and Civil Rights Activist Lena Horne also moved into the Addisleigh Park neighborhood in the year 1946. Soon after Horne, jazz trumpeter and bandleader Mercer Ellington, son of jazz great Duke Ellington, moved into Addisleigh Park in 1948. Eight years earlier, he had worked for renowned jazz trumpeter Cootie Williams as his road manager. Cootie Williams bought a home in Addisleigh Park in 1947. While residing in Addisleigh Park, Mercer Ellington employed Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, and Charles Mingus. Throughout the 1940s, Mercer and his father, Duke Ellington, frequently borrowed musicians from one another's ensembles. Saxophonist Earl Bostic moved to Addisleigh Park in 1948, the same year Bostic's sextet hit success with their first single “Temptation”. Bostic was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the early 1930s, he played with Midwestern territory bands before moving to New York City in 1938 to play with Don Redman. Bostic's second hit, “Flamingo,” was produced in 1951, while he was still living in Addisleigh Park. In 1956, Bostic and his wife left Addisleigh Park to settle in Los Angeles. Earl Bostic died onstage from a heart attack in Rochester, New York, in 1965. Bostic's neighbors on Murdock Avenue were Ella Fitzgerald and her then-husband, famous bassist and cellist Ray Brown. Fitzgerald owned her Addisleigh Park home from 1949 until 1956. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Fitzgerald had become one of the most recognizable names of wide-release swing music in the United States. She met Brown in 1946 while on tour with Dizzy Gillespie's band. The couple divorced in 1952. Between the years 1949 and 1956, Fitzgerald sang scat with various bebop bands. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush in 1992. Vicksburg, Mississippi native and famous jazz bassist Milt Hinton moved into Addisleigh Park in 1950. In his younger years, he had lived and worked in Chicago alongside celebrated jazz musicians Art Tatum and Eddie South. He moved to New York City for a job in Cab Calloway's orchestra in 1936. Hinton bought a home on 113th Avenue in Addisleigh Park in 1950. He lived in the neighborhood until his death in 2000. Saxophonist John Coltrane bought a home on Mexico Street in Addisleigh Park in the year 1959. Coltrane had just met tremendous critical success after his collaborations with Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. In January 1960, Coltrane released "Giant Steps", his first album with Atlantic Records. "Giant Steps" is considered to be the album that catapulted Coltrane into jazz legend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64437

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera "Peter Grimes" (1945), the "War Requiem" (1962) and the orchestral showpiece "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (1945). Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the "a cappella" choral work "A Boy was Born" in 1934. With the premiere of "Peter Grimes" in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden, he wrote chamber operas for small forces, suitable for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is "The Turn of the Screw" (1954). Recurring themes in his operas include the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society and the corruption of innocence. Britten's other works range from orchestral to choral, solo vocal, chamber and instrumental as well as film music. He took a great interest in writing music for children and amateur performers, including the opera "Noye's Fludde", a "Missa Brevis", and the song collection "Friday Afternoons". He often composed with particular performers in mind. His most frequent and important muse was his personal and professional partner, the tenor Peter Pears; others included Kathleen Ferrier, Jennifer Vyvyan, Janet Baker, Dennis Brain, Julian Bream, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Osian Ellis and Mstislav Rostropovich. Britten was a celebrated pianist and conductor, performing many of his own works in concert and on record. He also performed and recorded works by others, such as Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos", Mozart symphonies, and song cycles by Schubert and Schumann. Together with Pears and the librettist and producer Eric Crozier, Britten founded the annual Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and he was responsible for the creation of Snape Maltings concert hall in 1967. In his last year, he was the first composer to be given a life peerage. Early years. Britten was born in the fishing port of Lowestoft in Suffolk, on the east coast of England on 22 November 1913, the feast day of Saint Cecilia. He was the youngest of four children of Robert Victor Britten (1877–1934) and his wife Edith Rhoda, "née" Hockey (1874–1937). Robert Britten's youthful ambition to become a farmer had been thwarted by lack of capital, and he had instead trained as a dentist, a profession he practised successfully but without pleasure. While studying at Charing Cross Hospital in London he met Edith Hockey, the daughter of a civil service clerk in the British Government's Home Office. They were married in September 1901 at St John's, Smith Square, London. The consensus among biographers of Britten is that his father was a loving but somewhat stern and remote parent. Britten, according to his sister Beth, "got on well with him and shared his wry sense of humour, dedication to work and capacity for taking pains." Edith Britten was a talented amateur musician and secretary of the Lowestoft Musical Society. In the English provinces of the early 20th century, distinctions of social class were taken very seriously. Britten described his family as "very ordinary middle class", but there were aspects of the Brittens that were not ordinary: Edith's father was illegitimate, and her mother was an alcoholic; Robert Britten was an agnostic and refused to attend church on Sundays. Music was the principal means by which Edith Britten strove to maintain the family's social standing, inviting the pillars of the local community to musical soirées at the house. When Britten was three months old he contracted pneumonia and nearly died. The illness left him with a damaged heart, and doctors warned his parents that he would probably never be able to lead a normal life. He recovered more fully than expected, and as a boy was a keen tennis player and cricketer. To his mother's great delight he was an outstandingly musical child, unlike his sisters, who inherited their father's indifference to music, while his brother, Robert, though musically talented, was interested only in ragtime. Edith gave the young Britten his first lessons in piano and notation. He made his first attempts at composition when he was five. He started piano lessons when he was seven years old, and three years later began to play the viola. He was one of the last composers brought up on exclusively live music: his father refused to have a gramophone or, later, a radio in the house. Education. Lowestoft. When he was seven Britten was sent to a dame school, run by the Misses Astle. The younger sister, Ethel, gave him piano lessons; in later life he said that he remained grateful for the excellence of her teaching. The following year he moved on to a prep school, South Lodge, Lowestoft, as a day boy. The headmaster, Thomas Sewell, was an old-fashioned disciplinarian; the young Britten was outraged at the severe corporal punishments frequently handed out, and later he said that his lifelong pacifism probably had its roots in his reaction to the regime at the school. He himself rarely fell foul of Sewell, a mathematician, in which subject Britten was a star pupil. The school had no musical tradition, and Britten continued to study the piano with Ethel Astle. From the age of ten he took viola lessons from a friend of his mother, Audrey Alston, who had been a professional player before her marriage. In his spare time he composed prolifically. When his "Simple Symphony", based on these juvenilia, was recorded in 1956, Britten wrote this pen-portrait of his young self for the sleeve note: Audrey Alston encouraged Britten to go to symphony concerts in Norwich. At one of these, during the triennial Norfolk and Norwich Festival in October 1924, he heard Frank Bridge's orchestral poem "The Sea", conducted by the composer. It was the first substantial piece of modern music he had ever encountered, and he was, in his own phrase, "knocked sideways" by it. Audrey Alston was a friend of Bridge; when he returned to Norwich for the next festival in 1927 she brought her not quite 14-year-old pupil to meet him. Bridge was impressed with the boy, and after they had gone through some of Britten's compositions together he invited him to come to London to take lessons from him. Robert Britten, supported by Thomas Sewell, doubted the wisdom of pursuing a composing career; a compromise was agreed by which Britten would, as planned, go on to his public school the following year but would make regular day-trips to London to study composition with Bridge and piano with his colleague Harold Samuel. Bridge impressed on Britten the importance of scrupulous attention to the technical craft of composing and the maxim that "you should find yourself and be true to what you found." The earliest substantial works Britten composed while studying with Bridge are the String Quartet in F, completed in April 1928, and the "Quatre Chansons Françaises", a song-cycle for high voice and orchestra. Authorities differ on the extent of Bridge's influence on his pupil's technique. Humphrey Carpenter and Michael Oliver judge that Britten's abilities as an orchestrator were essentially self-taught; Donald Mitchell considers that Bridge had an important influence on the cycle. Public school and Royal College of Music. In September 1928 Britten went as a boarder to Gresham's School, in Holt, Norfolk. At the time he felt unhappy there, even writing in his diary of contemplating suicide or running away: he hated being separated from his family, most particularly from his mother; he despised the music master; and he was shocked at the prevalence of bullying, though he was not the target of it. He remained there for two years and in 1930 he won a composition scholarship at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London; his examiners were the composers John Ireland and Ralph Vaughan Williams and the college's harmony and counterpoint teacher, S P Waddington. Britten was at the RCM from 1930 to 1933, studying composition with Ireland and piano with Arthur Benjamin. He won the Sullivan Prize for composition, the Cobbett Competition for chamber music, and was twice winner of the Ernest Farrar Prize for composition. Despite these honours, he was not greatly impressed by the establishment: he found his fellow-students "amateurish and folksy" and the staff "inclined to suspect technical brilliance of being superficial and insincere." Another Ireland pupil, the composer Humphrey Searle, said that Ireland could be "an inspiring teacher to those on his own wavelength"; Britten was not, and learned little from him. He continued to study privately with Bridge, although he later praised Ireland for "nurs[ing] me very gently through a very, very difficult musical adolescence." Britten also used his time in London to attend concerts and become better acquainted with the music of Stravinsky, Shostakovich and, most particularly, Mahler. He intended postgraduate study in Vienna with Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg's student, but was eventually dissuaded by his parents, on the advice of the RCM staff. The first of Britten's compositions to attract wide attention were composed while at the RCM: the Sinfonietta, Op. 1 (1932), the oboe quartet "Phantasy", Op. 2, dedicated to Léon Goossens who played the first performance in a BBC broadcast on 6 August 1933, and a set of choral variations "A Boy was Born", written in 1933 for the BBC Singers, who first performed it the following year. In this same period he wrote "Friday Afternoons", a collection of 12 songs for the pupils of Clive House School, Prestatyn, where his brother was headmaster. Career. Early professional life. In February 1935, at Bridge's instigation, Britten was invited to a job interview by the BBC's director of music Adrian Boult and his assistant Edward Clark. Britten was not enthusiastic about the prospect of working full-time in the BBC music department and was relieved when what came out of the interview was an invitation to write the score for a documentary film, "The King's Stamp", directed by Alberto Cavalcanti for the GPO Film Unit. Britten became a member of the film unit's small group of regular contributors, another of whom was W. H. Auden. Together they worked on the documentary films "Coal Face" and "Night Mail" in 1935. They also collaborated on the song cycle "Our Hunting Fathers" (1936), radical both in politics and musical treatment, and subsequently other works including "Cabaret Songs", "On This Island", "Paul Bunyan" and "Hymn to St Cecilia". Auden was a considerable influence on Britten, encouraging him to widen his aesthetic, intellectual and political horizons, and also to come to terms with his homosexuality. Auden was, as David Matthews puts it, "cheerfully and guiltlessly promiscuous"; Britten, puritanical and conventional by nature, was sexually repressed. In the three years from 1935 to 1937 Britten wrote nearly 40 scores for the theatre, cinema and radio. Among the film music of the late 1930s Matthews singles out "Night Mail" and "Love from a Stranger" (1937); from the theatre music he selects for mention "The Ascent of F6" (1936), "On the Frontier" (1938), and "Johnson Over Jordan" (1939); and of the music for radio, "King Arthur" (1937) and "The Sword in the Stone" (1939). In 1937 there were two events of huge importance in Britten's life: his mother died, and he met the tenor Peter Pears. Although Britten was extraordinarily devoted to his mother and was devastated at her death, it also seems to have been something of a liberation for him. Only after that did he begin to engage in emotional relationships with people his own age or younger. Later in the year he got to know Pears while they were both helping to clear out the country cottage of a mutual friend who had died in an air crash. Pears quickly became Britten's musical inspiration and close (though for the moment platonic) friend. Britten's first work for him was composed within weeks of their meeting, a setting of Emily Brontë's poem, "A thousand gleaming fires", for tenor and strings. During 1937 Britten composed a "Pacifist March" to words by Ronald Duncan for the Peace Pledge Union, of which, as a pacifist, he had become an active member; the work was not a success and was soon withdrawn. The best known of his compositions from this period is probably "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge" for string orchestra, described by Matthews as the first of Britten's works to become a popular classic. It was a success in North America, with performances in Toronto, New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, under conductors including John Barbirolli and Serge Koussevitzky. America 1939–42. In April 1939 Britten and Pears sailed to North America, going first to Canada and then to New York. They had several reasons for leaving England, including the difficult position of pacifists in an increasingly bellicose Europe; the success that Frank Bridge had enjoyed in the US; the departure of Auden and his friend Christopher Isherwood to the US from England three months previously; hostile or belittling reviews of Britten's music in the English press; and under-rehearsed and inadequate performances. Britten and Pears consummated their relationship and from then until Britten's death they were partners in both their professional and personal lives. When the Second World War began, Britten and Pears turned for advice to the British embassy in Washington and were told that they should remain in the US as artistic ambassadors. Pears was inclined to disregard the advice and go back to England; Britten also felt the urge to return, but accepted the embassy's counsel and persuaded Pears to do the same. Already a friend of the composer Aaron Copland, Britten encountered his latest works "Billy the Kid" and "An Outdoor Overture", both of which influenced his own music. In 1940 Britten composed "Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo", the first of many song cycles for Pears. Britten's orchestral works from this period include the Violin Concerto and "Sinfonia da Requiem". In 1941 Britten produced his first music drama, "Paul Bunyan", an operetta, to a libretto by Auden. While in the US, Britten had his first encounter with Balinese gamelan music, through transcriptions for piano duo made by the Canadian composer Colin McPhee. The two met in the summer of 1939 and subsequently performed a number of McPhee's transcriptions for a recording. This musical encounter bore fruit in several Balinese-inspired works later in Britten's career. Moving to the US did not relieve Britten of the nuisance of hostile criticism: although Olin Downes, the doyen of New York music critics, and Irving Kolodin took to Britten's music, Virgil Thomson was, as the music scholar Suzanne Robinson puts it, consistently "severe and spiteful". Thomson described "Les Illuminations" (1940) as "little more than a series of bromidic and facile 'effects' ... pretentious, banal and utterly disappointing", and was equally unflattering about Pears's voice. Robinson surmises that Thomson was motivated by "a mixture of spite, national pride, and professional jealousy." "Paul Bunyan" met with wholesale critical disapproval, and the "Sinfonia da Requiem" (already rejected by its Japanese sponsors because of its overtly Christian nature) received a mixed reception when Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic premiered it in March 1941. The reputation of the work was much enhanced when Koussevitzky took it up shortly afterwards. Return to England. In 1942 Britten read the work of the poet George Crabbe for the first time. "The Borough", set on the Suffolk coast close to Britten's homeland, awakened in him such longings for England that he knew he must return. He also knew that he must write an opera based on Crabbe's poem about the fisherman Peter Grimes. Before Britten left the US, Koussevitzky, always generous in encouraging new talent, offered him a $1,000 commission to write the opera. Britten and Pears returned to England in April 1942. During the long transatlantic sea crossing Britten completed the choral works "A Ceremony of Carols" and "Hymn to St Cecilia". The latter was his last large-scale collaboration with Auden. Britten had grown away from him, and Auden became one of the composer's so-called "corpses" – former intimates from whom he completely cut off contact once they had outlived their usefulness to him or offended him in some way. Having arrived in Britain, Britten and Pears applied for recognition as conscientious objectors; Britten was initially allowed only non-combatant service in the military, but on appeal he gained unconditional exemption. After the death of his mother in 1937 he had used money she bequeathed him to buy the Old Mill in Snape, Suffolk which became his country home. He spent much of his time there in 1944 working on the opera "Peter Grimes". Pears joined Sadler's Wells Opera Company, whose artistic director, the singer Joan Cross, announced her intention to re-open the company's home base in London with Britten's opera, casting herself and Pears in the leading roles. There were complaints from company members about supposed favouritism and the "cacophony" of Britten's score, as well as some ill-suppressed homophobic remarks. "Peter Grimes" opened in June 1945 and was hailed by public and critics; its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for "La bohème" and "Madame Butterfly", which were staged during the same season. The opera administrator Lord Harewood called it "the first genuinely successful British opera, Gilbert and Sullivan apart, since Purcell." Dismayed by the in-fighting among the company, Cross, Britten and Pears severed their ties with Sadler's Wells in December 1945, going on to found what was to become the English Opera Group. A month after the opening of "Peter Grimes", Britten and Yehudi Menuhin went to Germany to give recitals to concentration camp survivors. What they saw, at Belsen most of all, so shocked Britten that he refused to talk about it until towards the end of his life, when he told Pears that it had coloured everything he had written since. Colin Matthews comments that the next two works Britten composed after his return, the song-cycle "The Holy Sonnets of John Donne" and the Second String Quartet, contrast strongly with earlier, lighter-hearted works such as "Les Illuminations". Britten recovered his "joie de vivre" for "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (1945), written for an educational film, "Instruments of the Orchestra", directed by Muir Mathieson and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent. It became, and remained, his most often played and popular work. Britten's next opera, "The Rape of Lucretia", was presented at the first post-war Glyndebourne Festival in 1946. It was then taken on tour to provincial cities under the banner of the "Glyndebourne English Opera Company", an uneasy alliance of Britten and his associates with John Christie, the autocratic proprietor of Glyndebourne. The tour lost money heavily, and Christie announced that he would underwrite no more tours. Britten and his associates set up the English Opera Group; the librettist Eric Crozier and the designer John Piper joined Britten as artistic directors. The group's express purpose was to produce and commission new English operas and other works, presenting them throughout the country. Britten wrote the comic opera "Albert Herring" for the group in 1947; while on tour in the new work Pears came up with the idea of mounting a festival in the small Suffolk seaside town of Aldeburgh, where Britten had moved from Snape earlier in the year, and which became his principal place of residence for the rest of his life. Aldeburgh; the 1950s. The Aldeburgh Festival was launched in June 1948, with Britten, Pears, and Crozier directing. "Albert Herring" played at the Jubilee Hall, and Britten's new cantata for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, "Saint Nicolas", was presented in the parish church. The festival was an immediate success and became an annual event that has continued into the 21st century. New works by Britten featured in almost every festival until his death in 1976, including the premieres of his operas "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Jubilee Hall in 1960 and "Death in Venice" at Snape Maltings Concert Hall in 1973. Unlike many leading English composers, Britten was not known as a teacher, but in 1949 he accepted his only private pupil, Arthur Oldham, who studied with him for three years. Oldham made himself useful, acting as musical assistant and arranging "Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge" for full orchestra for the Frederick Ashton ballet "Le Rêve de Léonor" (1949), but he later described the teacher–pupil relationship as "beneficial five per cent to [Britten] and ninety-five per cent to me!" Throughout the 1950s Britten continued to write operas. "Billy Budd" (1951) was well received at its Covent Garden premiere and was regarded by reviewers as an advance on "Peter Grimes". "Gloriana" (1953), written to mark the coronation of Elizabeth II, had a cool reception at the gala premiere in the presence of the Queen and the British Establishment "en masse". The downbeat story of Elizabeth I in her decline, and Britten's score – reportedly thought by members of the premiere's audience "too modern" for such a gala – did not overcome what Matthews calls the "ingrained philistinism" of the ruling classes. Although "Gloriana" did well at the box office, there were no further productions in Britain for another 13 years. It was later recognised as one of Britten's finer operas. "The Turn of the Screw" the following year was an unqualified success; together with "Peter Grimes" it became, and at 2013 remained, one of the two most frequently performed of Britten's operas. In the 1950s the "fervently anti-homosexual" Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, urged the police to enforce the Victorian laws making homosexual acts illegal. Britten and Pears came under scrutiny; Britten was visited by police officers in 1953 and was so perturbed that he discussed with his assistant Imogen Holst the possibility that Pears might have to enter a sham marriage (with whom is unclear). In the end nothing was done. An increasingly important influence on Britten was the music of the East, an interest that was fostered by a tour there with Pears in 1956, when Britten once again encountered the music of the Balinese gamelan and saw for the first time Japanese Noh plays, which he called "some of the most wonderful drama I have ever seen." These eastern influences were seen and heard in the ballet "The Prince of the Pagodas" (1957) and later in two of the three semi-operatic "Parables for Church Performance": "Curlew River" (1964), "The Burning Fiery Furnace" (1966) and "The Prodigal Son" (1968). 1960s. By the 1960s, the Aldeburgh Festival was outgrowing its customary venues, and plans to build a new concert hall in Aldeburgh were not progressing. When redundant Victorian maltings buildings in the village of Snape, six miles inland, became available for hire, Britten realised that the largest of them could be converted into a concert hall and opera house. The 830-seat Snape Maltings hall was opened by the Queen at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival on 2 June 1967; it was immediately hailed as one of the best concert halls in the country. The hall was destroyed by fire in 1969, but Britten was determined that it would be rebuilt in time for the following year's festival, which it was. The Queen again attended the opening performance in 1970. The Maltings gave the festival a venue that could comfortably house large orchestral works and operas. Britten conducted the first performance outside Russia of Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony at Snape in 1970. Shostakovich, a friend since 1960, dedicated the symphony to Britten; he was himself the dedicatee of "The Prodigal Son". Two other Russian musicians who were close to Britten and regularly performed at the festival were the pianist Sviatoslav Richter and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Britten composed his cello suites, "Cello Symphony" and Cello Sonata for Rostropovich, who premiered them at the Aldeburgh Festival. One of the best known of Britten's works, the "War Requiem", was premiered in 1962. He had been asked four years earlier to write a work for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, a modernist building designed by Basil Spence. The old cathedral had been left in ruins by an air-raid on the city in 1940 in which hundreds of people died. Britten decided that his work would commemorate the dead of both World Wars in a large-scale score for soloists, chorus, chamber ensemble and orchestra. His text interspersed the traditional Requiem Mass with poems by Wilfred Owen. Matthews writes, "With the "War Requiem" Britten reached the apex of his reputation: it was almost universally hailed as a masterpiece." Shostakovich told Rostropovich that he believed it to be "the greatest work of the twentieth century". In 1967 the BBC commissioned Britten to write an opera specially for television. "Owen Wingrave" was based, like "The Turn of the Screw", on a ghost story by Henry James. By the 1960s Britten found composition much slower than in his prolific youth; he told the 28-year-old composer Nicholas Maw, "Get as much done now as you can, because it gets much, much more difficult as you grow older." He did not complete the score of the new opera until August 1970. "Owen Wingrave" was first broadcast in Britain in May 1971, when it was also televised in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the US and Yugoslavia. Last years. In September 1970 Britten asked Myfanwy Piper, who had adapted the two Henry James stories for him, to turn another prose story into a libretto. This was Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice", a subject he had been considering for some time. At an early stage in composition Britten was told by his doctors that a heart operation was essential if he was to live for more than two years. He was determined to finish the opera and worked urgently to complete it before going into hospital for surgery. His long-term colleague Colin Graham wrote: After the completion of the opera Britten went into the National Heart Hospital and was operated on in May 1973 to replace a failing heart valve. The replacement was successful, but he suffered a slight stroke, affecting his right hand. This brought his career as a performer to an end. While in hospital Britten became friendly with a senior nursing sister, Rita Thomson; she moved to Aldeburgh in 1974 and looked after him until his death. Britten's last works include the "Suite on English Folk Tunes "A Time There Was"" (1974); the Third String Quartet (1975), which drew on material from "Death in Venice"; and the dramatic cantata "Phaedra" (1975), written for Janet Baker. In June 1976, the last year of his life, Britten accepted a life peerage – the first composer so honoured – becoming Baron Britten, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk. After the 1976 Aldeburgh Festival, Britten and Pears travelled to Norway, where Britten began writing "Praise We Great Men", for voices and orchestra based on a poem by Edith Sitwell. He returned to Aldeburgh in August, and wrote "Welcome Ode" for children's choir and orchestra. In November, Britten realised that he could no longer compose. On his 63rd birthday, 22 November, at his request Rita Thomson organised a champagne party and invited his friends and his sisters Barbara and Beth, to say their goodbyes to the dying composer. When Rostropovich made his farewell visit a few days later, Britten gave him what he had written of "Praise We Great Men". Britten died of congestive heart failure on 4 December 1976. His funeral service was held at Aldeburgh Parish Church three days later, and he was buried in its churchyard, with a gravestone carved by Reynolds Stone. The authorities at Westminster Abbey had offered burial there, but Britten had made it clear that he wished his grave to be side by side with that, in due course, of Pears. A memorial service was held at the Abbey on 10 March 1977, at which the congregation was headed by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Personal life and character. Despite his large number of works on Christian themes, Britten has sometimes been thought of as an agnostic. Pears said that when they met in 1937 he was not sure whether or not Britten would have described himself as a Christian. In the 1960s Britten called himself a dedicated Christian, though sympathetic to the radical views propounded by the Bishop of Woolwich in "Honest to God". Politically, Britten was on the left. He told Pears that he always voted either Liberal or Labour and could not imagine ever voting Conservative, but he was never a member of any party, except the Peace Pledge Union. Physically, Britten was never robust. He walked and swam regularly and kept himself as fit as he could, but in his 1992 biography, Carpenter mentions 20 illnesses, a few of them minor but most fairly serious, suffered over the years by Britten before his final heart complaint developed. Emotionally, according to some commentators, Britten never completely grew up, retaining in his outlook something of a child's view of the world. He was not always confident that he was the genius others declared him to be, and though he was hypercritical of his own works, he was acutely, even aggressively sensitive to criticism from anybody else. Britten was, as he himself acknowledged, notorious for dumping friends and colleagues who either offended him or ceased to be of use – his "corpses". The conductor Sir Charles Mackerras believed that the term was invented by Lord Harewood. Both Mackerras and Harewood joined the list of corpses, the former for joking that the number of boys in "Noye's Fludde" must have been a delight to the composer, and the latter for an extramarital affair and subsequent divorce from Lady Harewood, which shocked the puritanical Britten. Among other corpses were his librettists Montagu Slater and Eric Crozier. The latter said in 1949, "He has sometimes told me, jokingly, that one day I would join the ranks of his 'corpses' and I have always recognized that any ordinary person must soon outlive his usefulness to such a great creative artist as Ben." Dame Janet Baker said in 1981, "I think he was quite entitled to take what he wanted from others ... He did not want to hurt anyone, but the task in hand was more important than anything or anybody." Matthews feels that this aspect of Britten has been exaggerated, and he observes that the composer sustained many deep friendships to the end of his life. Controversies. Boys. Throughout his adult life, Britten had a particular rapport with children and enjoyed close friendships with several boys, particularly those in their early teens. The first such friendship was with Piers Dunkerley, who was 13 years old in 1934, when Britten was aged 20. Other boys Britten befriended were the young David Hemmings and Michael Crawford, both of whom sang treble roles in his works in the 1950s. Hemmings later said, "In all of the time that I spent with him he never abused that trust", and Crawford wrote "I cannot say enough about the kindness of that great man ... he had a wonderful patience and affinity with young people. He loved music, and loved youngsters caring about music." It was long suspected by several of Britten's close associates that there was something exceptional about his attraction to teenage boys: Auden referred to Britten's "attraction to thin-as-a-board juveniles ... to the sexless and innocent", and Pears once wrote to Britten: "remember there are lovely things in the world still – children, boys, sunshine, the sea, Mozart, you and me." In public, the matter was little discussed during Britten's lifetime and much discussed after it. Carpenter's 1992 biography closely examined the evidence, as do later studies of Britten, most particularly John Bridcut's "Britten's Children" (2006), which concentrates on Britten's friendships and relationships with various children and adolescents. Some commentators have continued to question Britten's conduct, sometimes very sharply. Carpenter and Bridcut conclude that he held any sexual impulses under firm control and kept the relationships affectionate – including bed-sharing, kissing and nude bathing – but strictly platonic. Cause of death. A more recent controversy was the statement in a 2013 biography of Britten by Paul Kildea that the composer's heart failure was due to undetected syphilis, which Kildea speculates was a result of Pears's promiscuity while the two were living in New York. In response, Britten's consultant cardiologist said that, like all the hospital's similar cases, Britten was routinely screened for syphilis before the operation, with negative results. He described as "complete rubbish" Kildea's allegation that the surgeon who operated on Britten in 1973 would or even could have covered up a syphilitic condition. Kildea continued to maintain, "When all the composer's symptoms are considered there can be only one cause." In "The Times", Richard Morrison praised the rest of Kildea's book, and hoped that its reputation would not be "tarnished by one sensational speculation ... some second-hand hearsay ... presenting unsubstantiated gossip as fact." Music. Influences. Britten's early musical life was dominated by the classical masters; his mother's ambition was for him to become the "Fourth B" – after Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Britten was later to assert that his initial development as a composer was stifled by reverence for these masters: "Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen I knew every note of Beethoven and Brahms. I remember receiving the full score of "Fidelio" for my fourteenth birthday ... But I think in a sense I never forgave them for having led me astray in my own particular thinking and natural inclinations." He developed a particular animosity towards Brahms, whose piano music he had once held in great esteem; in 1952 he confided that he played through all Brahms's music from time to time, "to see if I am right about him; I usually find that I underestimated last time how bad it was!" Through his association with Frank Bridge, Britten's musical horizons expanded. He discovered the music of Debussy and Ravel which, Matthews writes, "gave him a model for an orchestral sound". Bridge also led Britten to the music of Schoenberg and Berg; the latter's death in 1935 affected Britten deeply. A letter at that time reveals his thoughts on the contemporary music scene: "The real musicians are so few & far between, aren't they? Apart from the Bergs, Stravinskys, Schoenbergs & Bridges one is a bit stumped for names, isn't one?" – adding, as an afterthought: "Shostakovitch – perhaps – possibly". By this time Britten had developed a lasting hostility towards the English Pastoral School represented by Vaughan Williams and Ireland, whose work he compared unfavourably with the "brilliant folk-song arrangements of Percy Grainger"; Grainger became the inspiration of many of Britten's later folk arrangements. Britten was also impressed by Delius, and thought "Brigg Fair" "delicious" when he heard it in 1931. Also in that year he heard Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring", which he found "bewildering and terrifying", yet at the same time "incredibly marvellous and arresting". The same composer's "Symphony of Psalms", and "Petrushka" were lauded in similar terms. He and Stravinsky later developed a mutual antipathy informed by jealousy and mistrust. Besides his growing attachments to the works of 20th century masters, Britten – along with his contemporary Michael Tippett – was devoted to the English music of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in particular the work of Purcell. In defining his mission as a composer of opera, Britten wrote: "One of my chief aims is to try to restore to the musical setting of the English Language a brilliance, freedom and vitality that have been curiously rare since the death of Purcell." Among the closest of Britten's kindred composer spirits – even more so than Purcell – was Mahler, whose Fourth Symphony Britten heard in September 1930. At that time Mahler's music was little regarded and rarely played in English concert halls. Britten later wrote of how the scoring of this work impressed him: "... entirely clean and transparent ... the material was remarkable, and the melodic shapes highly original, with such rhythmic and harmonic tension from beginning to end." He soon discovered other Mahler works, in particular "Das Lied von der Erde"; he wrote to a friend about the concluding "Abschied" of "Das Lied": "It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful." Apart from Mahler's general influence on Britten's compositional style, the incorporation by Britten of popular tunes (as, for example, in "Death in Venice") is a direct inheritance from the older composer. Operas. The Britten-Pears Foundation considers the composer's operas "perhaps the most substantial and important part of his compositional legacy." Britten's operas are firmly established in the international repertoire: according to Operabase, they are performed worldwide more than those of any other composer born in the 20th century, and only Puccini and Richard Strauss come ahead of him if the list is extended to all operas composed after 1900. The early operetta "Paul Bunyan" stands apart from Britten's later operatic works. Philip Brett calls it "a patronizing attempt to evoke the spirit of a nation not his own by W. H. Auden in which Britten was a somewhat dazzled accomplice." The American public liked it, but the critics did not, and it fell into neglect until interest revived near the end of the composer's life. Britten's subsequent operas range from large-scale works written for full-strength opera companies, to chamber operas for performance by small touring opera ensembles or in churches and schools. In the large-scale category are "Peter Grimes" (1945), "Billy Budd" (1951), "Gloriana" (1953), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1960) and "Death in Venice" (1973). Of the remaining operas, "The Rape of Lucretia" (1946), "Albert Herring" (1947), "The Little Sweep" (1949) and "The Turn of the Screw" (1954) were written for small opera companies. "Noye's Fludde" (1958), "Curlew River" (1964), "The Burning Fiery Furnace" (1966) and "The Prodigal Son" (1968) were for church performance, and had their premieres at St Bartholomew's Church, Orford. The secular "The Golden Vanity" was intended to be performed in schools. "Owen Wingrave", written for television, was first presented live by the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in 1973, two years after its broadcast premiere. Music critics have frequently commented on the recurring theme in Britten's operas from "Peter Grimes" onward of the isolated individual at odds with a hostile society. The extent to which this reflected Britten's perception of himself, pacifist and homosexual, in the England of the 1930s, 40s and 50s is debated. Another recurrent theme is the corruption of innocence, most sharply seen in "The Turn of the Screw". Over the 28 years between "Peter Grimes" and "Death in Venice" Britten's musical style changed, as he introduced elements of atonalism – though remaining essentially a tonal composer – and of eastern music, particularly gamelan sounds but also eastern harmonies. In "A Midsummer Night's Dream" the orchestral scoring varies to fit the nature of each set of characters: "the bright, percussive sounds of harps, keyboards and percussion for the fairy world, warm strings and wind for the pairs of lovers, and lower woodwind and brass for the mechanicals." In "Death in Venice" Britten turns Tadzio and his family into silent dancers, "accompanied by the colourful, glittering sounds of tuned percussion to emphasize their remoteness." As early as 1948 the music analyst Hans Keller, summarising Britten's impact on 20th-century opera to that date, compared his contribution to that of Mozart in the 18th century: "Mozart may in some respects be regarded as a founder (a 'second founder') of opera. The same can already be said today, as far as the modern British – perhaps not only British – field goes, of Britten." In addition to his own original operas, Britten, together with Imogen Holst, extensively revised Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" (1951) and "The Fairy-Queen" (1967). Britten's Purcell Realizations brought Purcell, who was then neglected, to a wider public, but have themselves been neglected since the dominance of the trend to authentic performance practice. His 1948 revision of "The Beggar's Opera" amounts to a wholesale recomposition, retaining the original melodies but giving them new, highly sophisticated orchestral accompaniments. Song cycles. Throughout his career Britten was drawn to the song cycle form. In 1928, when he was 14, he composed an orchestral cycle, "Quatre chansons françaises", setting words by Victor Hugo and Paul Verlaine. Brett comments that though the work is much influenced by Wagner on the one hand and French mannerisms on the other, "the diatonic nursery-like tune for the sad boy with the consumptive mother in 'L'enfance' is entirely characteristic." After he came under Auden's influence Britten composed "Our Hunting Fathers" (1936), ostensibly a protest against fox-hunting but which also alludes allegorically to the contemporary political state of Europe. The work has never been popular; in 1948 the critic Colin Mason lamented its neglect and called it one of Britten's greatest works. In Mason's view the cycle is "as exciting as "Les Illuminations", and offers many interesting and enjoyable foretastes of the best moments of his later works." The first of Britten's song cycles to gain widespread popularity was "Les Illuminations" (1940), for high voice (originally soprano, later more often sung by tenors) with string orchestra accompaniment, setting words by Arthur Rimbaud. Britten's music reflects the eroticism in Rimbaud's poems; Copland commented of the section "Antique" that he did not know how Britten dared to write the melody. "Antique" was dedicated to "K.H.W.S.", or Wulff Scherchen, Britten's first romantic interest. Matthews judges the piece the crowning masterpiece of Britten's early years. By the time of Britten's next cycle, "Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo" (1942) for tenor and piano, Pears had become his partner and muse; in Matthews's phrase, Britten wrote the cycle as "his declaration of love for Peter". It too finds the sensuality of the verses it sets, though in its structure it resembles a conventional 19th-century song cycle. Mason draws a distinction between this and Britten's earlier cycles, because here each song is self-contained, and has no thematic connection with any of the others. The "Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings" (1943) sets verses by a variety of poets, all on the theme of night-time. Though Britten described the cycle as "not important stuff, but quite pleasant, I think", it was immediately greeted as a masterpiece, and together with "Peter Grimes" it established him as one of the leading composers of his day. Mason calls it "a beautifully unified work on utterly dissimilar poems, held together by the most superficial but most effective, and therefore most suitable symphonic method. Some of the music is pure word-painting, some of it mood-painting, of the subtlest kind." Two years later, after witnessing the horrors of Belsen, Britten composed "The Holy Sonnets of John Donne", a work whose bleakness was not matched until his final tenor and piano cycle a quarter of a century later. Britten's technique in this cycle ranges from atonality in the first song to firm tonality later, with a resolute B major chord at the climax of "Death, be not proud". "Nocturne" (1958) is the last of the orchestral cycles. As in the "Serenade", Britten set words by a range of poets, who here include Shakespeare, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson and Wilfred Owen. The whole cycle is darker in tone than the "Serenade", with pre-echoes of the "War Requiem". All the songs have subtly different orchestrations, with a prominent obbligato part for a different instrument in each. Among Britten's later song cycles with piano accompaniment is the "Songs and Proverbs of William Blake", composed for the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. This presents all its poems in a continuous stream of music; Brett writes that it "interleaves a ritornello-like setting of the seven proverbs with seven songs that paint an increasingly sombre picture of human existence." A Pushkin cycle, "The Poet's Echo" (1965), was written for Galina Vishnevskaya, and shows a more robust and extrovert side of the composer. Though written ostensibly in the tradition of European song cycles, it draws atmospherically on the polyphony of south-east Asian music. "Who Are These Children?" (1969), setting 12 verses by William Soutar, is among the grimmest of Britten's cycles. After he could no longer play the piano, Britten composed a cycle of Robert Burns settings, "A Birthday Hansel" (1976), for voice and harp. Other vocal works. Nicholas Maw said of Britten's vocal music: "His feeling for poetry (not only English) and the inflexions of language make him, I think, the greatest musical realizer of English." One of the best-known works in which Britten set poetry was the "War Requiem" (1962). It intersperses the Latin requiem mass, sung by soprano and chorus, with settings of works by the First World War poet Wilfred Owen, sung by tenor and baritone. At the end the two elements are combined, as the last line of Owen's "Strange meeting" mingles with the "In paradisum" of the mass. Matthews describes the conclusion of the work as "a great wave of benediction [which] recalls the end of the "Sinfonia da Requiem", and its similar ebbing away into the sea that symbolises both reconciliation and death." The same year, he composed "A Hymn of St Columba" for choir and organ, setting a poem by the 6th-century saint. Other works for voices and orchestra include the "Missa Brevis" and the "Cantata academica" (both 1959) on religious themes, "Children's Crusade" to a text by Bertolt Brecht about a group of children in wartime Poland, to be performed by children (1969), and the late cantata "Phaedra" (1975), a story of fated love and death modelled on Handel's Italian cantatas. Smaller-scale works for accompanied voice include the five "Canticles", composed between 1947 and 1974. They are written for a variety of voices (tenor in all five; counter-tenor or alto in II and IV and baritone in IV) and accompaniments (piano in I to IV, horn in III and harp in V). The first is a setting of Francis Quarles's 17th-century poem "A Divine Rapture", and according to Britten was modelled on Purcell's "Divine Hymns". Matthews describes it as one of the composer's most serene works, which "ends in a mood of untroubled happiness that would soon become rare in Britten's music." The was written in 1952, between "Billy Budd" and "Gloriana", on the theme of Abraham's obedience to Divine Authority in the proffered sacrifice of his son Isaac. from 1954 is a setting of Edith Sitwell's wartime poem "Still Falls the Rain", composed just after "The Turn of the Screw" with which it is structurally and stylistically associated. The twelve-note cycle in the first five bars of the piano part of the Canticle introduced a feature that became thereafter a regular part of Britten's compositional technique. "", premiered in 1971, is based on T. S. Eliot's poem "Journey of the Magi". It is musically close to "The Burning Fiery Furnace" of 1966; Matthews refers to it as a "companion piece" to the earlier work. The final Canticle was another Eliot setting, his juvenile poem "Death of Saint Narcissus". Although Britten had little idea of what the poem was about, the musicologist Arnold Whittall finds the text "almost frighteningly apt ... for a composer conscious of his own sickness." Matthews sees Narcissus as "another figure from [Britten's] magic world of dreams and ideal beauty." Orchestral works. The Britten scholar Donald Mitchell has written, "It is easy, because of the scope, stature, and sheer volume of the operas, and the wealth of vocal music of all kinds, to pay insufficient attention to the many works Britten wrote in other, specifically non-vocal genres." Maw said of Britten, "He is one of the 20th century's great orchestral composers ... His orchestration has an individuality, incisiveness and integration with the musical material only achieved by the greatest composers." Among Britten's best-known orchestral works are the "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge" (1937), the "Sinfonia da Requiem" (1940), the "Four Sea Interludes" (1945) and "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (1945). The Variations, an affectionate tribute to Britten's teacher, range from comic parodies of Italian operatic clichés and Viennese waltzes to a strutting march, reflecting the rise of militarism in Europe, and a Mahlerian funeral march; the piece ends with an exuberant fugal finale. The Sinfonia moves from an opening "Lacrymosa" filled with fear and lamentation to a fierce Dies irae and then to a final "Requiem aeternam", described by the critic Herbert Glass as "the most uneasy 'eternal rest' possible". Mason considers the Sinfonia a failure: "less entertaining than usual, because its object is not principally to entertain but to express symphonically. It fails because it is neither picturesquely nor formally symphonic." The "Sea Interludes", adapted by Britten from the full score of "Peter Grimes", make a concert suite depicting the sea and the Borough in which the opera is set; the character of the music is strongly contrasted between "Dawn", "Sunday Morning", "Moonlight" and "Storm". The commentator Howard Posner observes that there is not a bar in the interludes, no matter how beautiful, that is free of foreboding. "The Young Person's Guide", based on a theme by Purcell, showcases the orchestra's individual sections and groups, and gained widespread popularity from the outset. Christopher Headington calls the work "exuberant and uncomplicated music, scored with clarity and vigour [that] fits well into Britten's "oeuvre"." David Matthews calls it "a brilliant educational exercise." Unlike his English predecessors such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams, and composers from mainland Europe whom he admired, including Mahler and Shostakovich, Britten was not a classical symphonist. His youthful "jeux d'esprit" the "Simple Symphony" (1934) is in conventional symphonic structure, observing sonata form and the traditional four-movement pattern, but of his mature works his "Spring Symphony" (1949) is more a song cycle than a true symphony, and the concertante Cello Symphony (1963) is an attempt to balance the traditional concerto and symphony. During its four movements the Cello Symphony moves from a deeply pessimistic opening to a finale of radiant happiness rare for Britten by this point. The composer considered it "the finest thing I've written." The Piano Concerto (1938) was at first criticised for being too light-hearted and virtuoso. In 1945 Britten revised it, replacing a skittish third movement with a more sombre passacaglia that, in Matthews's view, gives the work more depth, and makes the apparent triumph of the finale more ambivalent. The Violin Concerto (1939), finished in the first weeks of the World War, has virtuoso elements, but they are balanced by lyrical and elegiac passages, "undoubtedly reflecting Britten's growing concern with the escalation of world hostilities." Neither concerto is among Britten's most popular works, but in the 21st century the Violin Concerto, which is technically difficult, has been performed more frequently than before, both in the concert hall and on record, and has enthusiastic performers and advocates, notably violinist Janine Jansen. Britten's incidental music for theatre, film and radio, much of it unpublished, was the subject of an essay by William Mann, published in 1952 in the first detailed critical assessment of Britten's music to that date. Of these pieces the music for a radio play, "The Rescue", by Edward Sackville-West, is praised by the musicologist Lewis Foreman as "of such stature and individual character as to be worth a regular place alongside [Britten's] other dramatic scores." Mann finds in this score pre-echoes of the second act of "Billy Budd", while Foreman observes that Britten "appears to have made passing allusions to "The Rescue" in his final opera, "Death in Venice". Chamber and instrumental works. Britten's close friendship with Rostropovich inspired the Cello Sonata (1961) and three suites for solo cello (1964–71). String quartets featured throughout Britten's composing career, from a student work in 1928 to his Third String Quartet (1975). The Second Quartet, from 1945, was written in homage to Purcell; Mason considered it Britten's most important instrumental work to that date. Referring to this work, Keller writes of the ease with which Britten, relatively early in his compositional career, solves "the modern sonata problem – the achievement of symmetry and unity within an extended ternary circle based on more than one subject." Keller likens the innovatory skill of the Quartet to that of Walton's Viola Concerto. The third Quartet was Britten's last major work; the critic Colin Anderson said of it in 2007, "one of Britten's greatest achievements, one with interesting allusions to Bartók and Shostakovich, and written with an economy that opens out a depth of emotion that can be quite chilling. The "Gemini Variations" (1965), for flute, violin and piano duet, were based on a theme of Zoltán Kodály and written as a virtuoso piece for the 13-year-old Jeney twins, musical prodigies whom Britten had met in Budapest in the previous year. For Osian Ellis, Britten wrote the Suite for Harp (1969), which Joan Chissell in "The Times" described as "a little masterpiece of concentrated fancy". "Nocturnal after John Dowland" (1963) for solo guitar was written for Julian Bream and has been praised by Benjamin Dwyer for its "semantic complexity, prolonged musical argument, and philosophical depth". Legacy. Britten's fellow composers had divided views about him. To Tippett he was "simply the most musical person I have ever met", with an "incredible" technical mastery; some contemporaries, however, were less effusive. In Tippett's view, Walton and others were convinced that Britten and Pears were leaders of a homosexual conspiracy in music, a belief Tippett dismisses as ridiculous, inspired by jealousy of Britten's postwar successes. Leonard Bernstein considered Britten "a man at odds with the world", and said of his music: "[I]f you hear it, not just listen to it superficially, you become aware of something very dark." The tenor Robert Tear, who was closely associated with Britten in the latter part of the composer's career, made a similar point: "There was a great, huge abyss in his soul ... He got into the valley of the shadow of death and couldn't get out." In the decade after Britten's death, his standing as a composer in Britain was to some extent overshadowed by that of the still-living Tippett. The film-maker Tony Palmer thought that Tippett's temporary ascendancy might have been a question of the two composers' contrasting personalities: Tippett had more warmth and had made fewer enemies. In any event this was a short-lived phenomenon; Tippett adherents such as the composer Robert Saxton soon rediscovered their enthusiasm for Britten, whose audience steadily increased during the final years of the 20th century. Britten has had few imitators; Brett describes him as "inimitable, possessed of ... a voice and sound too dangerous to imitate." Nevertheless, after his death Britten was lauded by the younger generation of English composers to whom, in the words of Oliver Knussen, he became "a phenomenal father-figure". Brett believes that he affected every subsequent British composer to some extent: "He is a key figure in the growth of British musical culture in the second half of the 20th century, and his effect on everything from opera to the revitalization of music education is hard to overestimate." Whittall believes that one reason for Britten's enduring popularity is the "progressive conservatism" of his music. He generally avoided the avant-garde, and did not challenge the conventions in the way that contemporaries such as Tippett did. Perhaps, says Brett, "the tide that swept away serialism, atonality and most forms of musical modernism and brought in neo-Romanticism, minimalism and other modes of expression involved with tonality carried with it renewed interest in composers who had been out of step with the times." Britten defined his mission as a composer in very simple terms: composers should aim at "pleasing people today as seriously as we can". Pianist and conductor. Britten, though a reluctant conductor and a nervous pianist, was greatly sought after in both capacities. The piano accompanist Gerald Moore wrote in his memoirs about playing at all the main music festivals except for Aldeburgh, because "as the presiding genius there is the greatest accompanist in the world, my services are not needed." Britten's recital partnership with Pears was his best-known collaboration, but he also accompanied Kathleen Ferrier, Rostropovich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, James Bowman and John Shirley-Quirk, among others. Though usually too nervous to play piano solos, Britten often performed piano duets with Clifford Curzon or Richter, and chamber music with the Amadeus Quartet. The composers whose works, other than his own, he most often played were Mozart and Schubert; the latter, in Murray Perahia's view, was Britten's greatest idol. As a boy and young man, Britten had intensely admired Brahms, but his admiration waned to nothing, and Brahms seldom featured in his repertory. Singers and players admired Britten's conducting, and David Webster rated it highly enough to offer him the musical directorship of the Covent Garden Opera in 1952. Britten declined; he was not confident of his ability as a conductor and was reluctant to spend too much time performing rather than composing. As a conductor, Britten's repertory included Purcell, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert, and occasional less characteristic choices including Schumann's "Scenes from Goethe's Faust"; Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius" and "Introduction and Allegro"; Holst's "Egdon Heath" and short pieces by Percy Grainger. Recordings. Britten, like Elgar and Walton before him, was signed up by a major British recording company, and performed a considerable proportion of his output on disc. For the Decca Record Company he made some monaural records in the 1940s and 1950s, followed, with the enthusiastic support of the Decca producer John Culshaw, by numerous stereophonic versions of his works. Culshaw wrote, "The happiest hours I have spent in any studio were with Ben, for the basic reason that it did not seem that we were trying to make records or video tapes; we were just trying to make music." In May 1943 Britten made his debut in the Decca studios, accompanying Sophie Wyss in five of his arrangements of French folk songs. The following January he and Pears recorded together, in Britten's arrangements of British folk songs, and the following day, in duet with Curzon he recorded his "Introduction and Rondo alla burlesca" and "Mazurka elegiaca". In May 1944 he conducted the Boyd Neel string orchestra, Dennis Brain and Pears in the first recording of the "Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings", which has frequently been reissued, most recently on CD. Britten's first operatic recording was "The Turn of the Screw", made in January 1955 with the original English Opera Group forces. In 1957 he conducted "The Prince of the Pagodas" in an early stereo recording, supervised by Culshaw. Decca's first major commercial success with Britten came the following year, with "Peter Grimes", which has, at 2013, never been out of the catalogues since its first release. From 1958 Britten conducted Decca recordings of many of his operas and vocal and orchestral works, including the "Nocturne" (1959), the "Spring Symphony" (1960) and the "War Requiem" (1963). The last sold in unexpectedly large numbers for a classical set, and thereafter Decca unstintingly made resources available to Culshaw and his successors for Britten recordings. Sets followed of "Albert Herring" (1964), the "Sinfonia da Requiem" (1964), "Curlew River" (1965), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1966), "The Burning Fiery Furnace" (1967), "Billy Budd" (1967) and many of the other major works. In 2013, to mark the anniversary of Britten's birth, Decca released a set of 65 CDs and one DVD, "Benjamin Britten – Complete Works". Most of the recordings were from Decca's back catalogue, but in the interests of comprehensiveness a substantial number of tracks were licensed from 20 other companies including EMI, Virgin Classics, Naxos, Warner and NMC. As a pianist and conductor in other composers' music, Britten made many recordings for Decca. Among his studio collaborations with Pears are sets of Schubert's "Winterreise" and "Die schöne Müllerin", Schumann's "Dichterliebe", and songs by Haydn, Mozart, Bridge, Ireland, Holst, Tippett and Richard Rodney Bennett. Other soloists whom Britten accompanied on record were Ferrier, Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya. As a conductor he recorded a wide range of composers, from Purcell to Grainger. Among his best-known Decca recordings are Purcell's "The Fairy-Queen", Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos", Cantata 151, Cantata 102 and "St John Passion", Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius" and Mozart's last two symphonies. Honours, awards and commemorations. State honours awarded to Britten included Companion of Honour (Britain) in 1953; Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Sweden) in 1962; the Order of Merit (Britain) in 1965; and a life peerage (Britain) in July 1976, he took the title "Baron Britten, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk". He received honorary degrees and fellowships from 19 conservatories and universities in Europe and America. His awards included the Hanseatic Goethe Prize (1961); the Aspen Award, Colorado (1964); the Royal Philharmonic Society's Gold Medal (1964); the Wihuri Sibelius Prize (1965); the Mahler Medal (Bruckner and Mahler Society of America, 1967); the Léonie Sonning Music Prize (Denmark, 1968); the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (1974); and the Ravel Prize (1974). Prizes for individual works included UNESCO's International Rostrum of Composers 1961 for "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; and Grammy Awards in 1963 and 1977 for the "War Requiem". The Red House, Aldeburgh, where Britten and Pears lived and worked together from 1957 until Britten's death in 1976, is now the home of the Britten-Pears Foundation, established to promote their musical legacy. In Britten's centenary year his studio at the Red House was restored to the way it was in the 1950s and opened to the public. The converted hayloft was designed and built by H T Cadbury Brown in 1958 and was described by Britten as a "magnificent work". In June 2013 Dame Janet Baker officially opened the Britten-Pears archive in a new building in the grounds of the Red House. The Benjamin Britten Music Academy in Lowestoft, founded in the composer's honour, was completed in 1979; it is an 11–18 co-educational day school, with ties to the Britten-Pears Foundation. A memorial stone to Britten was unveiled in the north choir aisle of Westminster Abbey in 1978. There are memorial plaques to him at three of his London homes: 173 Cromwell Road, 45a St John's Wood High Street, and 8 Halliford Street in Islington. In April 2013 Britten was honoured by the Royal Mail in the UK, as one of ten people selected as subjects for the "Great Britons" commemorative postage stamp issue. Other creative artists have celebrated Britten. In 1970 Walton composed "Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten", based on a theme from Britten's Piano Concerto. Works commemorating Britten include "Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten" an orchestral piece written in 1977 by Arvo Pärt, and Sally Beamish's "Variations on a Theme of Benjamin Britten", based on the second Sea Interlude from "Peter Grimes"; she composed the work to mark Britten's centenary. Alan Bennett depicts Britten in a 2009 play "The Habit of Art", set while Britten is composing "Death in Venice" and centred on a fictional meeting between Britten and Auden. Britten was played in the premiere production by Alex Jennings. Tony Palmer made three documentary films about Britten: "Benjamin Britten & his Festival" (1967); "A Time There Was" (1979); and "Nocturne" (2013). In 2019, Britten's "War Requiem" was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant". In April 2022 a community project was launched, with a special fundraising event, when Lowestoft-born broadcaster and children's author Zeb Soanes and a team of local people in Lowestoft, unveiled a maquette of a statue of Britten as a boy, by sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, to be installed on the sea-front. Centenary. In September 2012, to mark the composer's forthcoming centenary, the Britten-Pears Foundation launched "Britten 100", a collaboration of leading organisations in the performing arts, publishing, broadcasting, film, academia and heritage. Among the events were the release of a feature film "Benjamin Britten – Peace and Conflict", and a centenary exhibition at the British Library. The Royal Mint issued a 50-pence piece, to mark the centenary – the first time a composer has featured on a British coin. Centenary performances of the "War Requiem" were given at eighteen locations in Britain. Opera productions included "Owen Wingrave" at Aldeburgh, "Billy Budd" at Glyndebourne, "Death in Venice" by English National Opera, "Gloriana" by The Royal Opera, and "Peter Grimes", "Death in Venice" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Opera North. "Peter Grimes" was performed on the beach at Aldeburgh, opening the 2013 Aldeburgh Festival in June 2013, with Steuart Bedford conducting and singers from the Chorus of Opera North and the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, described by "The Guardian" as "a remarkable, and surely unrepeatable achievement." Internationally, the anniversary was marked by performances of the "War Requiem", "Peter Grimes" and other works in four continents. In the US the centennial events were described as "coast to coast", with a Britten festival at Carnegie Hall, and performances at the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and Los Angeles Opera. Notes, references and sources. Notes References Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64598

Alan Bush

Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed prolifically across a range of genres, but struggled through his lifetime for recognition from the British musical establishment, which largely ignored his works. Bush, from a prosperous middle-class background, enjoyed considerable success as a student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in the early 1920s, and spent much of that decade furthering his compositional and piano-playing skills under distinguished tutors. A two-year period in Berlin in 1929 to 1931, early in the Nazi Party's rise to power, cemented Bush's political convictions and moved him from the mainstream Labour Party to the Communist Party of Great Britain which he joined in 1935. He wrote several large-scale works in the 1930s, and was heavily involved with workers' choirs for whom he composed pageants, choruses and songs. His pro-Soviet stance led to a temporary ban on his music by the BBC in the early years of the Second World War, and his refusal to modify his position in the postwar Cold War era led to a more prolonged semi-ostracism of his music. As a result, the four major operas he wrote between 1950 and 1970 were all premiered in East Germany. In his prewar works, Bush's style retained what commentators have described as an essential Englishness, but was also influenced by the avant-garde European idioms of the inter-war years. During and after the war he began to simplify this style, in line with his Marxism-inspired belief that music should be accessible to the mass of the people. Despite the difficulties he encountered in getting his works performed in the West he continued to compose until well into his eighties. He taught composition at the RAM for more than 50 years, published two books, was the founder and long-time president of the Workers' Music Association, and served as chairman and later vice-president of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain. His contribution to musical life was slowly recognised, in the form of doctorates from two universities and numerous tribute concerts towards the end of his life. Since his death aged 94 in 1995, his musical legacy has been nurtured by the Alan Bush Music Trust, established in 1997. Life and career. Family background and early life. Bush was born in Dulwich, South London, on 22 December 1900, the third and youngest son of Alfred Walter Bush and Alice Maud, née Brinsley. The Bushes were a prosperous middle-class family, their wealth deriving from the firm of industrial chemists founded by the composer's great-grandfather, W. J. Bush. As a child Alan's health was delicate, and he was initially educated at home. When he was eleven he began at Highgate School as a day pupil, and remained there until 1918. Both of his elder brothers served as officers in the First World War; one of them, Alfred junior, was killed on the Western Front in 1917. The other, Hamilton Brinsley Bush, went into the family business and ran twice as Liberal candidate for Watford in the 1950s. The end of the war in November 1918 meant that Alan narrowly avoided being called up for military service; meantime, having determined on a musical career, he had applied to and been accepted by the RAM, where he began his studies in the spring of 1918. Royal Academy and after. At the RAM, Bush studied composition under Frederick Corder and piano with Tobias Matthay. He made rapid progress, and won various scholarships and awards, including the Thalberg Scholarship, the Phillimore piano prize, and a Carnegie award for composition. He produced the first compositions of his formal canon: Three Pieces for Two Pianos, Op. 1, and Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 2, and also made his first attempt to write opera – a scene from Bulwer Lytton's novel "The Last Days of Pompeii", with a libretto by his brother Brinsley. The work, with Bush at the piano, received a single private performance with family members and friends forming the cast. The manuscript was later destroyed by Bush. Among Bush's fellow students was Michael Head. The two became friends, as a result of which Bush met Head's 14-year-old sister Nancy. In 1931, ten years after their first meeting, Bush and Nancy would marry and begin a lifelong artistic partnership in which she became Bush's principal librettist, as well as providing the texts for many of his other vocal works. In 1922 Bush graduated from the RAM, but continued to study composition privately under John Ireland, with whom he formed an enduring friendship. In 1925 Bush was appointed to a teaching post at the RAM, as a professor of harmony and composition, under terms that gave him scope to continue with his studies and to travel. He took further piano study from two pupils of Leschetizky, Benno Moiseiwitsch and Mabel Lander, from whom he learned the Leschetizky method. In 1926 he made his first of numerous visits to Berlin, where with the violinist Florence Lockwood he gave two concerts of contemporary, mainly British, music which included his own "Phantasy" in C minor, Op. 3. The skill of the performers was admired by the critics more than the quality of the music. In 1928 Bush returned to Berlin, to perform with the Brosa Quartet at the Bechstein Hall, in a concert of his own music which included the premieres of the chamber work "Five Pieces", Op. 6 and the piano solo "Relinquishment", Op. 11. Critical opinion was broadly favourable, the "Berliner Zeitung am Mittag" correspondent noting "nothing extravagant but much of promise". Among the works composed by Bush during this period were the Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello, Op. 5; Prelude and Fugue for piano, Op. 9; settings of poems by Walter de la Mare, Harold Monro and W. B. Yeats; and his first venture into orchestral music, the Symphonic Impressions of 1926–27, Op. 8. In early 1929 he completed one of his best-known early chamber works, the string quartet "Dialectic", Op. 15, which helped to establish Bush's reputation abroad when it was performed at a Prague festival in the 1930s. Music and politics. Bush had begun to develop an interest in politics during the war years. In 1924, rejecting his parents' conservatism, he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP). The following year he joined the London Labour Choral Union (LLCU), a group of largely London-based choirs that had been organised by the socialist composer Rutland Boughton, with Labour Party support, to "develop the musical instincts of the people and to render service to the Labour movement". Bush was soon appointed as Boughton's assistant, and two years later, he succeeded Boughton as the LLCU's chief musical adviser, remaining in this post until the body disbanded in 1940. Through his LLCU work, Bush met Michael Tippett, five years his junior, who shared Bush's left-wing political perspective. In his memoirs Tippett records his first impressions of Bush: "I learned much from him. His music at the time seemed so adventurous and vigorous". Tippett's biographer Ian Kemp writes: "Apart from Sibelius, the contemporary composer who taught Tippett as much as anyone else was his own contemporary Alan Bush". After his 1928 concert tour in Berlin, Bush returned to the city to study piano under Artur Schnabel. He left the ILP in 1929, and joined the Labour Party proper, before taking extended leave from the RAM to begin a two-year course in philosophy and musicology at Berlin's Friedrich-Wilhelm University. Here, his tutors included Max Dessoir and Friedrich Blume. Bush's years in Berlin profoundly affected his political beliefs, and had direct influence on the subsequent character of his music. Michael Jones, writing in "British Music" after Bush's death, records Bush's concern at the rise of fascism and antisemitism in Germany. His association with like-minded musicians such as Hanns Eisler and Ernst Hermann Meyer, and writers such as Bertold Brecht, helped to develop his growing political awareness into a lifelong commitment to Marxism and communism. Bush's conversion to full-blown communism was not immediate, but in 1935 he finally abandoned Labour and joined the British Communist Party. Notwithstanding the uncompromising nature of his politics, Bush in his writings tended to express his views in restrained terms, "much more like a reforming patrician Whig than a proletarian revolutionary" according to Michael Oliver in a 1995 "Gramophone" article. Bush's Grove Music Online biographers also observe that in the politicisation of his music, his folk idioms have more in common with the English traditions of Ralph Vaughan Williams than with the continental radicalism of Kurt Weill. 1930s: emergent composer. In March 1931 Bush and Nancy were married in London, before returning to Germany where Bush continued his studies. In April a BBC broadcast performance of his Dance Overture for Military Band, Op. 12a, received a mixed reception. Nancy Bush quotes two listeners' comments that appeared in the "Radio Times" on 8 May 1931. One thought that "such a medley of fearful discords could never be called music", while another opined that "[we] should not cry for more Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven if modern composers would all give us sheer beauty like this". At the end of summer 1931 the couple returned permanently to England, and settled in the village of Radlett, in Hertfordshire. In the following years three daughters were born. Bush resumed his RAM and LLCU duties, and in 1932 accepted a new appointment, as an examiner for the Associated Board of London's Royal Schools of Music, a post which involved extensive overseas travel. These new domestic and professional responsibilities limited Bush's composing activity, but he provided the music for the 1934 Pageant of Labour, organised for the London Trades Council and held at the Crystal Palace during October. Tippett, who co-conducted the event, later described it as a "high water mark" in Bush's drive to provide workers' choirs with settings for left-wing texts. In 1936 Bush was one of the founders of the Workers' Musical Association (WMA), and became its first chairman. In 1935 Bush began work on a piano concerto which, completed in 1937, included the unusual feature of a mixed chorus and baritone soloist in the finale, singing a radical text by Randall Swingler. Bush played the piano part when the work was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult on 4 March 1938. The largely left-wing audience responded to the work enthusiastically; Tippett observed that "to counter the radical tendencies of the finale ... Boult forced the applause to end by unexpectedly performing the National Anthem". A performance of the concerto a year later, at the 1939 "Festival of Music for the People", drew caustic comments from Neville Cardus in "The Manchester Guardian". Cardus saw little direction and no humour in the music: "Why don't these people laugh at themselves now and then? Just for fun." Bush provided much of the music, and also acted as general director, for the London Co-operative Societies' pageant "Towards Tomorrow", held at Wembley Stadium on 2 July 1938. In the autumn of that year he visited both the Soviet Union and the United States. Back home in early 1939 he was closely involved in founding and conducting the London String Orchestra, which operated successfully until 1941 and again in the immediate postwar years. He also began to write a major orchestral work, his Symphony No. 1 in C. Amid this busy life Bush was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Second World War. When war broke out in September 1939, Bush registered for military service under the National Service (Armed Forces) Act of 1939. He was not called up immediately, and continued his musical life, helping to form the WMA Singers to replace the now-defunct LLCU, and founding the William Morris Music Society. In April 1940 he conducted a Queen's Hall concert of music by Soviet composers which included the British premieres of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, and Khatchaturian's Piano Concerto. William Glock in "The Observer" was disdainful, dismissing the Khatachurian concerto as "sixth-rate", and criticising the inordinate length, as he saw it, of the symphony. Bush was among many musicians, artists and writers who in January 1941 signed up to the communist-led People's Convention, which promoted a six-point radical anti-war programme that included friendship with the Soviet Union and "a people's peace". The BBC advised him that because of his association with this movement, he and his music would no longer be broadcast. This action drew strong protests from, among others, E. M. Forster and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The ban was opposed by the prime minister, Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons, and proved short-lived; it was annulled following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. In November 1941 Bush was conscripted into the army, and after initial training was assigned to the Royal Army Medical Corps. Based in London, he was given leave to perform in concerts, which enabled him to conduct the premiere of his First Symphony at a BBC Promenade Concert in the Royal Albert Hall on 24 July 1942. He also performed regularly with the London String Orchestra, and in 1944 was the piano soloist in the British premiere of Shostakovich's Piano Quintet. His wartime compositions were few; among them were the "Festal Day" Overture, Op. 23, written for Vaughan Williams's 70th birthday in 1942, and several songs and choruses including "Freedom on the March", written for a British-Soviet Unity Demonstration at the Albert Hall on 27 June 1943. Bush's relatively calm war was marred by the death, in 1944, of his seven-year-old daughter Alice in a road accident. As the war in Europe drew to its end, Bush was posted to the Far East despite being well over the normal age limit for overseas service. The matter was raised in Parliament by the Independent Labour member D. N. Pritt, who enquired whether political factors were behind the decision. The posting was withdrawn; and Bush remained in London until his discharge in December 1945. Post-war: struggle for recognition and performance. Persona non grata. Bush's return to composing after the war led to what Richard Stoker, in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", calls "his best period". However, Bush's attempts to secure a place in the concert repertoire were frustrated. A contributory factor may have been what the critic Dominic Daula calls Bush's "intriguingly unique compositional voice" that challenged critics and audiences alike. But the composer's refusal to modify his pro-Soviet stance following the onset of the Cold War alienated both the public and the music establishment, a factor which Bush acknowledged 20 years later: "People who were in a position to promote my works were afraid to do so. They were afraid of being labelled". Stoker comments that "in a less tolerant country he would certainly have been imprisoned, or worse. But he was merely ignored, both politically, and, which is a pity, as a composer". Nancy Bush writes that the BBC considered him "persona non grata", and imposed an almost complete though unofficial broadcast ban that lasted for some 15 years after the war. As well as resuming his teaching routines, Bush embarked on a busy schedule of travel, mainly in Eastern Europe with the WMA choir. While in Czechoslovakia in August 1947, he and the WMA performed his unaccompanied chorus "Lidice" at the site of the village of that name, which had been destroyed by the Nazis in 1942 in a reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. Among Bush's earliest postwar works was the "English Suite", performed by the revived London String Orchestra at the Wigmore Hall on 9 February 1946. The orchestra had suspended its operations in 1941; after the war, Bush's failure to secure funding for it led to its closure, despite considerable artistic success. Critics noted in the work a change of idiom, away from the European avant-garde character of much of his prewar music and towards a simpler popular style. This change was acknowledged by Bush as he responded to the 1948 decree issued by Stalin's director of cultural policy, Andrei Zhdanov, against formalism and dissonance in modern music – although the process of simplification had probably begun during the war years. In 1948 Bush accepted a commission from the Nottingham Co-operative Society to write a symphony as part of the city's quincentennial celebrations in 1949. According to Foreman, "by any standards this is one of Bush's most approachable scores", yet since its Nottingham premiere on 27 June 1949 and its London debut on 11 December 1952 under Boult and the London Philharmonic, the work has been rarely heard in Britain. His Violin Concerto, Op. 32, received its premiere on 25 August 1949, with Max Rostal as soloist. In this work Bush explained that "the soloist represents the individual, the orchestra world society, and the work [represents] the individual's struggles and of his final absorption into society". "The Daily Telegraph"s critic observed that "it was the orchestra, i.e. society, that after a strenuous opening gave up the struggle". In 1947 Bush became chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain for 1947–48. He also produced a full-length textbook, "Strict Counterpoint in the Palestrina Style" (Joseph Williams, London, 1948). On 15 December 1950 the WMA marked Bush's 50th birthday with a special concert of his music at the Conway Hall. Opera ventures. Since his youthful "Last Days of Pompeii", Bush had not attempted to write opera, but he took up the genre in 1946 with a short operetta for children, "The Press Gang (or the Escap'd Apprentice)", for which Nancy supplied the libretto. This was performed by pupils at St Christopher School, Letchworth, on 7 March 1947. The following year he began a more ambitious venture, a full-length grand opera recounting the story of Wat Tyler, who led the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. "Wat Tyler", again to Nancy's libretto, was submitted in 1950 to the Arts Council's Festival of Britain opera competition, and was one of four prizewinners – Bush received £400. The opera was not taken up by any of the British opera houses, and was first staged at Leipzig Opera in 1953. It was well received, retained for the season and ran again in the following year; there was a further performance in Rostock in 1955. "Wat Tyler" did not receive its full British premiere until 19 June 1974, when it was produced at Sadler's Wells; as of 2017, this remains the only professional staging of a Bush opera in Britain. Bush's second opera, "Men of Blackmoor", composed in 1954–55 to Nancy's libretto, is a story of Northumbrian miners in the early 19th century; Bush went down a mine as part of his research. It received its premiere at the German National Theatre, Weimar on 18 November 1956. Like "Wat Tyler" in Leipzig, the opera was successful; after the Weimar season there were further East German productions in Jena (1957), Leipzig (1959) and Zwickau (1960). In Britain there were student performances at Oxford in 1960, and Bristol in 1974. In December 1960 David Drew in the "New Statesman" wrote: "The chief virtue of "Men of Blackmoor", and the reason why it particularly deserves a [professional] performance at this historical point, is its unfailing honesty ... it is never cheap, and at its best achieves a genuine dignity." For his third opera, Bush chose a contemporary theme – the struggle against colonial rule. He intended to collect appropriate musical material from British Guiana, but an attempt to visit the colony in 1957 was thwarted when its government refused him entry. The ban was rescinded the following year, and in 1959 Bush was able to gather and record a great deal of authentic music from the local African and Indian populations. The eventual result was "The Sugar Reapers", premiered at Leipzig on 11 December 1966. "The Times" correspondent, praising the performance, wrote: "One can only hope that London will soon see a production of its own". With Nancy, Bush wrote two more operettas for children: "The Spell Unbound" (1953) and "The Ferryman's Daughter" (1961). His final opera, written in 1965–67, was "Joe Hill", based on the life story of Joe Hill, an American union activist and songwriter who was controversially convicted of murder and executed in 1915. The opera, to a libretto by Barrie Stavis, was premiered at the German Berlin State Opera on 29 September 1970, and in 1979 was broadcast by the BBC. 1953–1975. During his involvement with opera, Bush continued to compose in other genres. His 1953 cantata "Voice of the Prophets", Op. 41, was commissioned by the tenor Peter Pears and sung by Pears at its premiere on 22 May 1953. In 1959–60 he produced two major orchestral works: the "Dorian Passacaglia and Fugue", Op. 52, and the Third Symphony, Op. 53, known as the "Byron" since it depicts musically scenes from the life of the poet. The symphony, a commission from East German Radio, was first performed at Leipzig on 20 March 1962. Colin Mason, writing in "The Guardian", thought the work had a stronger socialist programme than the Nottingham symphony of 1949. The ending of the second movement, a long tune representing Byron's speech against the extension of the death penalty was, Mason wrote, "a splendid piece". The symphony was awarded that year's Händel Prize in the city of Halle. At the end of the 1960s Bush wrote, among other works, "Time Remembered", Op. 67, for chamber orchestra, and "Scherzo for Wind Orchestra and Percussion", Op. 68, based on an original Guyanese theme. In 1969 he produced the first of three song cycles, "The Freight of Harvest", Op. 69 – "Life's Span" and "Woman's Life" would follow in 1974 and 1977. In the 1970s, while maintaining his teaching commitment to the RAM, he continued to perform in the concert hall as conductor and pianist. Bush was slowly being recognised for his achievements, even by those who had long cold-shouldered him. In 1968 he was awarded a Doctor of Music degree by the University of London, and two years later received an honorary doctorate from the University of Durham. On 6 December 1970, just before Bush's 70th birthday, BBC Television broadcast a programme about his life and works, and on 16 February 1971 the RAM hosted a special (late) birthday concert, in which he and Pears performed songs from "Voices of the Prophets". Bush featured in a further television programme, broadcast on 25 October 1975, in a series entitled "Born in 1900". Final years. In old age, Bush continued to lead an active and productive life, punctuated by periodic commemorations of his life and works. In November 1975 his 50 years' professorship at the RAM was marked in a concert there, and in January 1976 the WMA gave a concert to honour his recent 75th birthday. In 1977 he produced his last major piano work, the "Twenty-four Preludes", Op. 84, of which he gave the first performance at the Wigmore Hall on 30 October 1977. A later reviewer described this piece as "music I'd like to have playing beside me as I sprawled on the grass beneath the trees with an ice-cream, watching a county cricket match on a golden afternoon". In 1978 Bush retired from the RAM after 52 years' service. His 80th birthday in December 1980 was celebrated at concerts in London, Birmingham and East Germany, and the BBC broadcast a special birthday musical tribute. In the same year he published "In My Eighth Decade and Other Essays", in which he stated his personal creed that "as a musician and as a man, Marxism is a guide to action", enabling him to express through music the "struggle to create a condition of social organisation in which science and art will be the possession of all". In 1982 Bush visited the Lascaux caves in south-western France, and was inspired by the prehistoric cave paintings to write his fourth and final symphony, Op. 94, subtitled the "Lascaux". This, his last major orchestral work, was premiered by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, under Edward Downes in Manchester, on 25 March 1986. In the late 1980s Bush was increasingly hampered by failing eyesight. His last formal compositions appeared in 1988: "Spring Woodland and Summer Garden" for solo piano, Op. 124, and "Summer Valley" for cello and piano, Op. 125, although he continued to compose privately and play the piano. Nancy's health meanwhile deteriorated, and she died on 12 October 1991. Bush lived on quietly at Radlett for another four years, able to recall the events of his youth but with no memory of the last fifty years and unaware of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. He died in Watford General hospital on 31 October 1995, after a short illness, at the age of 94. Music. General character. Despite undergoing various changes of emphasis, Bush's music retained a voice distinct from that of any of his contemporaries. One critic describes the typical Bush sound as "Mild dominant discords, of consonant effect, used with great originality in uncommon progressions alive with swift, purposeful harmonic movement ... except in [Benjamin] Britten they are nowhere used with more telling expression, colour and sense of movement than in Bush". John Ireland, Bush's early mentor, instilled "the sophisticated and restrained craftsmanship which marked Bush's music from the beginning", introducing him to folksong and Palestrina, both important building blocks in the development of Bush's mature style. Daula comments that "Bush's music does not [merely] imitate the sound-world of his Renaissance predecessors", but creates his unique fingerprint by "[juxtaposing] 16th century modal counterpoint with late- and post-romantic harmony". Bush's music, at least from the mid-1930s, often carried political overtones. His obituarist Rupert Christiansen writes that, as a principled Marxist, Bush "put the requirements of the revolutionary proletariat at the head of the composer's responsibilities", a choice which others, such as Tippett, chose not to make. However, Vaughan Williams thought that, despite Bush's oft-declared theories of the purposes of art and music, "when the inspiration comes over him he forgets all about this and remembers only the one eternal rule for all artists, 'To thine own self be true'." To 1945. According to Duncan Hall's account of the music culture of the Labour Movement in the inter-war years, Bush's youthful music, composed before his Berlin sojourn, already demonstrated its essential character. His "Dialectic for String Quartet" (1929), Op. 15, created a strong impression when first heard in 1935, as "a musical discourse of driving intensity and virile incident". Christiansen highlights its "tightness and austerity" in contrast to the more fashionable lyricism then prevalent in English music. Bush's years in Berlin brought into his music the advanced Central European idioms that characterise his major orchestral compositions of the period: the Piano Concerto (1935–37), and the First Symphony (1939–40). Nancy Bush describes the Piano Concerto as Bush's first attempt to fuse his musical and political ideas. The symphony was even more overtly political, representing in its three movements greed (of the bourgeoisie), frustration (of the proletariat) and the final liberation of the latter, but not, according to Christiansen, "in an idiom calculated to appeal to the masses". Aside from these large-scale works, much of Bush's compositional activity in the 1930s was devoted to pageants, songs and choruses written for his choirs, work undertaken with the utmost seriousness. In his introduction to a 1938 socialist song book, Bush wrote that "socialists must sing what we mean and sing it like we mean it". Under Bush's influence the "music of the workers" moved from the high aesthetic represented by, for example, Arthur Bourchier's mid-1920s pamphlet "Art and Culture in Relation to Socialism", towards an expression with broader popular appeal. Postwar and beyond. Although Bush accepted Zhdanov's 1948 diktat without demur and acted accordingly, his postwar simplifications had begun earlier and would continue as part of a gradual process. Bush first outlined the basis of his new method of composition in an article, "The Crisis of Modern Music", which appeared in WMA's "Keynote" magazine in spring 1946. The method, in which every note has thematic significance, has drawn comparison by critics with Schoenberg's twelve-note system, although Bush rejected this equation. Many of Bush's best-known works were written in the immediate postwar years. Anthony Payne described the "Three Concert Studies for Piano Trio" (Op. 31) of 1947 as exceeding Britten in its inventiveness, "a high-water mark in Bush's mature art". The Violin Concerto (Op. 32, 1948) has been cited as "a work as beautiful and refined as any in the genre since Walton's". Foreman considers the concerto, which uses twelve-tone themes, to be the epitome of Bush's thematic theory of composition, although Bush's contemporary, Edmund Rubbra, thought it too intellectual for general audiences. The "Dorian Passacaglia and Fugue" for timpani, percussion and strings, (Op. 52, 1959), involves eight variations in the Dorian mode, followed by eight in other modes culminating in a final quadruple fugue in six parts. "Musical Opinion"s critic praised the composer's "wonderful control and splendid craftsmanship" in this piece, and predicted that it could become the most popular of all Bush's orchestral works. The postwar period also saw the beginning of Bush's 20-year involvement with grand opera, a genre in which, although he achieved little commercial recognition, he was retrospectively hailed by critics as a master of British opera second only to Britten. His first venture, "Wat Tyler", was written in a form which Bush thought acceptable to the general British public; it was not his choice, he wrote, that the opera and its successors all found their initial audiences in East Germany. When eventually staged in Britain in 1974 the opera, although well received at Sadler's Wells, seemed somewhat old-fashioned; Philip Hope-Wallace in "The Guardian" thought the ending degenerated into "a choral union cantata", and found the music pleasant but not especially memorable. Bush's three other major operas were all characterised by their use of "local" music: Northumbrian folk-song in the case of "Men of Blackmoor", Guyanese songs and dances in "The Sugar Reapers", and American folk music in "Joe Hill" – the last-named used in a manner reminiscent of Kurt Weill and the German opera with which Bush had become familiar in the early 1930s. The extent to which Bush's music changed substantially after the war was addressed by Meirion Bowen, reviewing a Bush concert in the 1980s. Bowen noted a distinct contrast between early and late works, the former showing primarily the influences of Ireland and of Bush's European contacts, while in the later pieces the idiom was "often overtly folklike and Vaughan Williams-ish". In general Bush's late works continued to show all the hallmarks of his postwar oeuvre: vigour, clarity of tone and masterful use of counterpoint. The Lascaux symphony, written when he was 83, is the composer's final major orchestral statement, and addresses deep philosophical issues relating to the origins and destiny of mankind. Assessment. In the 1920s it appeared that Bush might emerge as Britain's foremost pianist, after his studies under the leading teachers of the day, but he turned to composition as his principal musical activity. In Foreman's summary he is "a major figure who really straddles the century as almost no other composer does". He remained a pianist of consequence, with a strong and reliable, if heavy, touch. Joanna Bullivant, writing in "Music and Letters", maintains that in his music Bush subordinated all ideas of personal expression to the ideology of Marxism. The critic Hugo Cole thought that, as a composer, Bush came close to Paul Hindemith's ideal: "one for whom music is felt as a moral and social force, and only incidentally as a means of personal expression". The composer Wilfrid Mellers credits Bush with more than ideological correctness; while remaining faithful to his creed even when it was entirely out of fashion, he "attempt[ed] to re-establish an English tradition meaningful to his country's past, present and future". Hall describes Bush as "a key figure in the democratisation of art in Britain, achieving far more in this regard than his pedagogic, utopian patrons and peers, the labour romantics." The music critic Colin Mason described Bush's music thus:His range is wide, the quality of his music consistently excellent. He has the intellectual concentration of Tippett, the easy command and expansiveness of Walton, the nervous intensity of Rawsthorne, the serene leisureliness of Rubbra ... He is surpassed only in melody, as are the others, by Walton, but not even by him in harmonic richness, nor by Tippett in contrapuntal originality and the expressive power of rather austere musical thought, nor by Rawsthorne in concise, compelling utterance and telling invention, nor by Rubbra in handling large forms well. Legacy. Bush's long career as a teacher influenced generations of English composers and performers. Tippett was never a formal pupil, but he acknowledged a deep debt to Bush. Herbert Murrill, a pupil of Bush's at the RAM in the 1920s, wrote in 1950 of his tutor: "[T]here is humility in his makeup, and I believe that no man can achieve greatness in the arts without humility ... To Alan Bush I owe much, not least the artistic strength and right to differ from him". Among postwar Bush students are the composers Timothy Bowers, Edward Gregson, David Gow, Roger Steptoe, E. Florence Whitlock, and Michael Nyman, and the pianists John Bingham and Graham Johnson. Through his sponsorship of the London String Quartet Bush helped launch the careers of string players such as Norbert Brainin and Emanuel Hurwitz, both of whom later achieved international recognition. Bush's music was under-represented in the concert repertoire in his lifetime, and virtually disappeared after his death. The 2000 centenary of his birth was markedly low key; the Prom season ignored him, although there was a memorial concert at the Wigmore Hall on 1 November, and a BBC broadcast of the Piano Concerto on 19 December. The centenary, albeit quietly observed, helped to introduce the name and music of Bush to a new generation of music lovers, and generated an increase in both performance and recordings. The centenary also heralded an awakening of scholarly interest in Bush, whose life and works were the subject of numerous PhD theses in the early 20th century. Scholars such as Paul Harper-Scott and Joanna Bullivant have obtained access to new material, including documents released since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Bush's MI5 file. This, says Bullivant, enables a more informed assessment of the interrelationships within Bush's music and his communism, and of the inherent conflicting priorities. In October 1997 family members and friends founded The Alan Bush Music Trust "to promote the education and appreciation by the public in and of music and, in particular, the works of the British composer Alan Bush". The trust provides a newsletter, features news stories, promotes performances and recordings of Bush's works, and through its website reproduces wide-ranging critical and biographical material. It continues to monitor concert performances of Bush's works, and other Bush-related events, at home and abroad. At the time of Bush's centenary, Martin Anderson, writing in the British Music Information Centre's newsletter, summarised Bush's compositional career: Bush was not a natural melodist à la Dvorák, though he could produce an appealing tune when he set his mind to it. But he was a first-rate contrapuntist, and his harmonic world can glow with a rare internal warmth. It would be foolish to claim that everything he wrote was a masterpiece – and equally idiotic to turn our backs on the many outstanding scores still awaiting assiduous attention. Recordings. Before Bush's centenary year, 2000, the few available recordings of his music included none of the major works. In the 21st century much has been added, including recordings of Symphonies 1, 2 and 4, the Piano and Violin Concertos, many of the main vocal works, the Twenty-Four Preludes, and the complete organ works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64646

Toronto

Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the fourth-most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by American troops. York was renamed and incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto. It was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation. The city proper has since expanded past its original limits through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of . The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. More than half of residents were born outside of Canada, more than half of residents belong to a visible minority group, and over 200 distinct ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city. The mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city. The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprising 25 councillors since the 2018 municipal election, representing geographical wards throughout the city. Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Its varied cultural institutions, which include numerous museums and galleries, festivals and public events, entertainment districts, national historic sites, and sports activities, attract over 43 million tourists each year. Toronto is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure on land outside of Asia, the CN Tower. The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks, and the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations. Its economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, arts, fashion, aerospace, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism. Toronto is the third-largest tech hub in North America after Silicon Valley and New York City, and the fastest growing. Toponymy. The word "Toronto" has been recorded with various spellings in French and English, including "Tarento", "Tarontha", "Taronto", "Toranto", "Torento", "Toronto", and "Toronton". "Taronto" referred to "The Narrows", a channel of water through which Lake Simcoe discharges into Lake Couchiching where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. This narrows was called by the Mohawk, meaning "where there are trees standing in the water," and was recorded as early as 1615 by Samuel de Champlain. The word "Toronto", meaning "plenty" also appears in a 1632 French lexicon of the Huron language, which is also an Iroquoian language. It also appears on French maps referring to various locations, including Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe, and several rivers. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, known as the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail, led to widespread use of the name. The pronunciation of the city is broadly , which locals realize as or , leaving the second 't' silent. History. Early history. The site of Toronto lay at the entrance to one of the oldest routes to the northwest, a route known and used by the Huron, Iroquois, and Ojibwe. Archaeological sites show evidence of human occupation dating back thousands of years. The site was of strategic importance from the beginning of Ontario's recorded history. In the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon (Bead Hill) on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagon on the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississaugas had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, with most returning to their homeland in present-day New York state. French traders founded Fort Rouillé in 1750 (the current Exhibition grounds were later developed there), but abandoned it in 1759 during the Seven Years' War. The British defeated the French and their indigenous allies in the war, and the area became part of the British colony of Quebec in 1763. During the American Revolutionary War, an influx of British settlers arrived there as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario. The Crown granted them land to compensate for their losses in the Thirteen Colonies. The new province of Upper Canada was being created and needed a capital. In 1787, the British Lord Dorchester arranged for the Toronto Purchase with the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, thereby securing more than a quarter of a million acres (1000 km2) of land in the Toronto area. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto. The first 25 years after the Toronto purchase were quiet, although "there were occasional independent fur traders" present in the area, with the usual complaints of debauchery and drunkenness. In 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) to York, believing the new site would be less vulnerable to attack by the United States. The York garrison was built at the entrance of the town's natural harbour, sheltered by a long sand-bar peninsula. The town's settlement formed at the harbour's eastern end behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street and Front Street (in the "Old Town" area). 19th century. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the town's capture and plunder by United States forces. John Strachan negotiated the town's surrender. American soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation. Because of the sacking of York, British troops retaliated later in the war with the burning of Washington, D.C. York was incorporated as the City of Toronto on March 6, 1834, adopting the Indigenous name. Reformist politician William Lyon Mackenzie became the first mayor of Toronto. Mackenzie would later lead the unsuccessful Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 against the British colonial government. Toronto's population of 9,000 included some African-American slaves, some of whom had been brought by the Loyalists, and Black Loyalists, whom the Crown had freed (most of the latter were resettled in Nova Scotia). By 1834, refugee slaves from America's South were also immigrating to Toronto to gain freedom. Slavery was banned outright in Upper Canada (and throughout the British Empire) in 1834. Torontonians integrated people of colour into their society. In the 1840s, an eating house at Frederick and King Streets, a place of mercantile prosperity in the early city, was operated by a black man named Bloxom. As a major destination for immigrants to Canada, the city grew rapidly through the remainder of the 19th century. The first significant wave of immigrants were Irish, fleeing the Great Irish Famine; most of them were Catholic. By 1851, the Irish-born population had become the largest single ethnic group in the city. The Scottish and English population welcomed smaller numbers of Protestant Irish immigrants, some from what is now Northern Ireland, which gave the Orange Order significant and long-lasting influence over Toronto society. Almost every mayor of Toronto was a member of the Orange Order between 1850 and 1950, and the city was sometimes referred to as the “Belfast of Canada" because of Orange influence in municipal politics and administration. For brief periods, Toronto was twice the capital of the united Province of Canada: first from 1849 to 1852, following unrest in Montreal, and later 1856–1858. After this date, Quebec was designated as the capital until 1866 (one year before Canadian Confederation). Since then, the capital of Canada has remained Ottawa, Ontario. Toronto became the capital of the province of Ontario after its official creation in 1867. The seat of government of the Ontario briefly returned to the same building that hosted the Third Parliament Building of Upper Canada, before moving to the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in 1893. Because of its provincial capital status, the city was also the location of Government House, the residence of the viceregal representative of the Crown in right of Ontario. Long before the Royal Military College of Canada was established in 1876, supporters of the concept proposed military colleges in Canada. Staffed by British Regulars, adult male students underwent a three-month-long military course at the School of Military Instruction in Toronto. Established by Militia General Order in 1864, the school enabled officers of militia or candidates for commission or promotion in the Militia to learn military duties, drill and discipline, to command a company at Battalion Drill, to drill a company at Company Drill, the internal economy of a company, and the duties of a company's officer. The school was retained at Confederation, in 1867. In 1868, Schools of cavalry and artillery instruction were formed in Toronto. In the 19th century, the city built an extensive sewage system to improve sanitation, and streets were illuminated with gas lighting as a regular service. Long-distance railway lines were constructed, including a route completed in 1854 linking Toronto with the Upper Great Lakes. The Grand Trunk Railway and the Northern Railway of Canada joined in the building of the first Union Station in downtown. The advent of the railway dramatically increased the numbers of immigrants arriving, commerce and industry, as had the Lake Ontario steamers and schooners entering port before. These enabled Toronto to become a major gateway linking the world to the interior of the North American continent. Expanding port and rail facilities brought in northern timber for export and imported Pennsylvania coal. Industry dominated the waterfront for the next 100 years. During the late-19th century, Toronto became the largest alcohol distillation (in particular, spirits) centre in North America. By the 1860s, the Gooderham and Worts Distillery operations became the world's largest whisky factory. A preserved section of this once dominant local industry remains in the Distillery District. The harbour allowed for sure access to grain and sugar imports used in processing. Horse-drawn streetcars gave way to electric streetcars in 1891, when the city granted the operation of the transit franchise to the Toronto Railway Company. The public transit system passed into public ownership in 1921 as the Toronto Transportation Commission, later renamed the Toronto Transit Commission. The system now has the third-highest ridership of any city public transportation system in North America. 20th century. The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed a large section of downtown Toronto. The fire destroyed more than 100 buildings. The fire claimed one victim, John Croft, who was an explosive expert clearing the ruins from the fire. It caused in damage (roughly in 2020 terms). The city received new European immigrant groups beginning in the late 19th century into the early 20th century, particularly Germans, French, Italians, and Jews. They were soon followed by Russians, Poles, and other Eastern European nations, in addition to the Chinese entering from the West. As the Irish before them, many of these migrants lived in overcrowded shanty-type slums, such as "the Ward," which was centred on Bay Street, now the heart of the country's Financial District. As new migrants began to prosper, they moved to better housing in other areas, in what is now understood to be succession waves of settlement. Despite its fast-paced growth, by the 1920s, Toronto's population and economic importance in Canada remained second to the much longer established Montreal, Quebec. However, by 1934, the Toronto Stock Exchange had become the largest in the country. In 1954, the City of Toronto and 12 surrounding municipalities were federated into a regional government known as Metropolitan Toronto. The postwar boom had resulted in rapid suburban development and it was believed a coordinated land-use strategy and shared services would provide greater efficiency for the region. The metropolitan government began to manage services that crossed municipal boundaries, including highways, police services, water and public transit. In that year, a half-century after the Great Fire of 1904, disaster struck the city again when Hurricane Hazel brought intense winds and flash flooding. In the Toronto area, 81 people were killed, nearly 1,900 families were left homeless, and the hurricane caused more than in damage. In 1967, the seven smallest municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto were merged with larger neighbours, resulting in a six-municipality configuration that included the former city of Toronto and the surrounding municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, and York. In the decades after World War II, refugees from war-torn Europe and Chinese job-seekers arrived, as well as construction labourers, particularly from Italy and Portugal. Toronto's population grew to more than one million in 1951 when large-scale suburbanization began and doubled to two million by 1971. Following the elimination of racially based immigration policies by the late 1960s, Toronto became a destination for immigrants from all parts of the world. By the 1980s, Toronto had surpassed Montreal as Canada's most populous city and chief economic hub. During this time, in part owing to the political uncertainty raised by the resurgence of the Quebec sovereignty movement, many national and multinational corporations moved their head offices from Montreal to Toronto and Western Canadian cities. On January 1, 1998, Toronto was greatly enlarged, not through traditional annexations, but as an amalgamation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and its six lower-tier constituent municipalities: East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, York, and the original city itself. They were dissolved by an act of the Government of Ontario, and formed into a single-tier City of Toronto (colloquially dubbed the "megacity") replacing all six governments. The merger was proposed as a cost-saving measure by the Progressive Conservative provincial government under premier Mike Harris. The announcement touched off vociferous public objections. In March 1997, a referendum in all six municipalities produced a vote of more than 3:1 against amalgamation. However, municipal governments in Canada are creatures of the provincial governments, and referendums have little to no legal effect. The Harris government could thus legally ignore the results of the referendum, and did so in April when it tabled the "City of Toronto Act". Both opposition parties held a filibuster in the provincial legislature, proposing more than 12,000 amendments that allowed residents on streets of the proposed megacity take part in public hearings on the merger and adding historical designations to the streets. This only delayed the bill's inevitable passage, given the Progressive Conservatives' majority. North York mayor Mel Lastman became the first "megacity" mayor, and the 62nd mayor of Toronto, with his electoral victory. Lastman gained national attention after multiple snowstorms, including the January Blizzard of 1999, dumped of snow and effectively immobilized the city. He called in the Canadian Army to aid snow removal by use of their equipment to augment police and emergency services. The move was ridiculed by some in other parts of the country, fuelled in part by what was perceived as a frivolous use of resources. 21st century. The city attracted international attention in 2003 when it became the centre of a major SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak. Public health attempts to prevent the disease from spreading elsewhere temporarily dampened the local economy. From August 14–17, 2003, the city was hit by a massive blackout which affected millions of Torontonians (it also affected most of Southern Ontario and parts of the United States), stranding some hundreds of people in tall buildings, knocking out traffic lights and suspending subway and streetcar service across the city during those aforementioned days. On March 6, 2009, the city celebrated the 175th anniversary of its inception as the City of Toronto in 1834. Toronto hosted the 4th G20 summit during June 26–27, 2010. This included the largest security operation in Canadian history. Following large-scale protests and rioting, law enforcement conducted the largest mass arrest (more than a thousand people) in Canadian history. On July 8, 2013, severe flash flooding hit Toronto after an afternoon of slow-moving, intense thunderstorms. Toronto Hydro estimated 450,000 people were without power after the storm and Toronto Pearson International Airport reported of rain had fallen over five hours, more than during Hurricane Hazel. Within six months, from December 20 to 22, 2013, Toronto was brought to a near halt by the worst ice storm in the city's history, rivalling the severity of the 1998 Ice Storm (which mostly affected southeastern Ontario, and Quebec). At the height of the storm, over 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers had no electricity or heating. Toronto hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan and Parapan American Games in 2015. The city continues to grow and attract immigrants. A 2019 study by Toronto Metropolitan University (then known as Ryerson University) showed that Toronto was the fastest-growing city in North America. The city added 77,435 people between July 2017 and July 2018. The Toronto metropolitan area was the second-fastest-growing metropolitan area in North America, adding 125,298 persons, compared with 131,767 in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metroplex in Texas. The large growth in the Toronto metropolitan area is attributed to international migration to Toronto. The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada first occurred in Toronto and is among the hotspots in the country. Geography. Toronto covers an area of , with a maximum north–south distance of . It has a maximum east–west distance of and it has a long waterfront shoreline, on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. The Toronto Islands and Port Lands extend out into the lake, allowing for a somewhat sheltered Toronto Harbour south of the downtown core. An Outer Harbour was constructed southeast of downtown during the 1950s and 1960s and it is now used for recreation. The city's limits are formed by Lake Ontario to the south, the western boundary of Marie Curtis Park, Etobicoke Creek, Eglinton Avenue and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north and the Rouge River and the Scarborough–Pickering Townline to the east. Topography. The city is mostly flat or gentle hills and the land gently slopes upward away from the lake. The flat land is interrupted by the Toronto ravine system, which is cut by numerous creeks and rivers of the Toronto waterway system, most notably the Humber River in the west end, the Don River east of downtown (these two rivers flanking and defining the Toronto Harbour), and the Rouge River at the city's eastern limits. Most of the ravines and valley lands in Toronto today are parklands, and recreational trails are laid out along the ravines and valleys. The original town was laid out in a grid plan on the flat plain north of the harbour, and this plan was extended outwards as the city grew. The width and depth of several of the ravines and valleys are such that several grid streets, such as Finch Avenue, Leslie Street, Lawrence Avenue, and St. Clair Avenue, terminate on one side of a ravine or valley and continue on the other side. Toronto has many bridges spanning the ravines. Large bridges such as the Prince Edward Viaduct were built to span wide river valleys. Despite its deep ravines, Toronto is not remarkably hilly, but its elevation does increase steadily away from the lake. Elevation differences range from above sea level at the Lake Ontario shore to above sea level near the York University grounds in the city's north end at the intersection of Keele Street and Steeles Avenue. There are occasional hilly areas; in particular, midtown Toronto has a number of sharply sloping hills. Lake Ontario remains occasionally visible from the peaks of these ridges as far north as Eglinton Avenue, inland. The other major geographical feature of Toronto is its escarpments. During the last ice age, the lower part of Toronto was beneath Glacial Lake Iroquois. Today, a series of escarpments mark the lake's former boundary, known as the "Iroquois Shoreline". The escarpments are most prominent from Victoria Park Avenue to the mouth of Highland Creek where they form the Scarborough Bluffs. Other observable sections include the area near St. Clair Avenue West between Bathurst Street and the Don River, and north of Davenport Road from Caledonia to Spadina Road; the Casa Loma grounds sit above this escarpment. The geography of the lakeshore is greatly changed since the first settlement of Toronto. Much of the land on the north shore of the harbour is landfill, filled in during the late 19th century. Until then, the lakefront docks (then known as wharves) were set back farther inland than today. Much of the adjacent Port Lands on the east side of the harbour was a wetland filled in early in the 20th century. The shoreline from the harbour west to the Humber River has been extended into the lake. Further west, landfill has been used to create extensions of land such as Humber Bay Park. The Toronto Islands were a natural peninsula until a storm in 1858 severed their connection to the mainland, creating a channel to the harbour. The peninsula was formed by longshore drift taking the sediments deposited along the Scarborough Bluffs shore and transporting them to the Islands area. The other source of sediment for the Port Lands wetland and the peninsula was the deposition of the Don River, which carved a wide valley through the sedimentary land of Toronto and deposited it in the shallow harbour. The harbour and the channel of the Don River have been dredged numerous times for shipping. The lower section of the Don River was straightened and channelled in the 19th century. The former mouth drained into a wetland; today, the Don River drains into the harbour through a concrete waterway, the Keating Channel. To mitigate flooding in the area, as well as to create parkland, a second more natural mouth is being built to the south during the early 2020s, thereby creating Villiers Island. Neighbourhoods and former municipalities. Toronto encompasses an area formerly administered by several separate municipalities that were amalgamated over the years. Each developed a distinct history and identity over the years, and their names remain in common use among Torontonians. Former municipalities include East York, Etobicoke, Forest Hill, Mimico, North York, Parkdale, Scarborough, Swansea, Weston and York. Throughout the city, there exists hundreds of small neighbourhoods and some larger neighbourhoods covering a few square kilometres. The many residential communities of Toronto express a character distinct from the skyscrapers in the commercial core. Victorian and Edwardian-era residential buildings can be found in enclaves such as Rosedale, Cabbagetown, The Annex, and Yorkville. The Wychwood Park neighbourhood, historically significant for the architecture of its homes, and for being one of Toronto's earliest planned communities, was designated as an Ontario Heritage Conservation district in 1985. The Casa Loma neighbourhood is named after "Casa Loma", a castle built in 1911 by Sir Henry Pellat, complete with gardens, turrets, stables, an elevator, secret passages, and a bowling alley. Spadina House is a 19th-century manor that is now a museum. Old Toronto. The pre-amalgamation City of Toronto covers the downtown core and also older neighbourhoods to the east, west, and north of it. It is the most densely populated part of the city. The Financial District contains the First Canadian Place, Toronto-Dominion Centre, Scotia Plaza, Royal Bank Plaza, Commerce Court and Brookfield Place. This area includes, among others, the neighbourhoods of St. James Town, Garden District, St. Lawrence, Corktown, and Church and Wellesley. From that point, the Toronto skyline extends northward along Yonge Street. Old Toronto is also home to many historically wealthy residential enclaves, such as Yorkville, Rosedale, The Annex, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Lytton Park, Deer Park, Moore Park, and Casa Loma, most stretching away from downtown to the north. East and west of downtown, neighbourhoods such as Kensington Market, Chinatown, Leslieville, Cabbagetown and Riverdale are home to bustling commercial and cultural areas as well as communities of artists with studio lofts, with many middle- and upper-class professionals. Other neighbourhoods in the central city retain an ethnic identity, including two smaller Chinatowns, the Greektown area, Little Italy, Portugal Village, and Little India, among others. Suburbs. The inner suburbs are contained within the former municipalities of York and East York. These are mature and traditionally working-class areas, consisting primarily of post–World War I small, single-family homes and small apartment blocks. Neighbourhoods such as Crescent Town, Thorncliffe Park, Weston, and Oakwood Village consist mainly of high-rise apartments, which are home to many new immigrant families. During the 2000s, many neighbourhoods have become ethnically diverse and have undergone gentrification as a result of increasing population, and a housing boom during the late 1990s and the early 21st century. The first neighbourhoods affected were Leaside and North Toronto, gradually progressing into the western neighbourhoods in York. The outer suburbs comprising the former municipalities of Etobicoke (west), Scarborough (east) and North York (north) largely retain the grid plan laid before post-war development. Sections were long established and quickly growing towns before the suburban housing boom began and the emergence of metropolitan government, existing towns or villages such as Mimico, Islington and New Toronto in Etobicoke; Willowdale, Newtonbrook and Downsview in North York; Agincourt, Wexford and West Hill in Scarborough where suburban development boomed around or between these and other towns beginning in the late 1940s. Upscale neighbourhoods were built such as the Bridle Path in North York, the area surrounding the Scarborough Bluffs in Guildwood, and most of central Etobicoke, such as Humber Valley Village, and The Kingsway. One of largest and earliest "planned communities" was Don Mills, parts of which were first built in the 1950s. Phased development, mixing single-detached housing with higher-density apartment blocks, became more popular as a suburban model of development. Over the late 20th century and early 21st century, North York City Centre, Etobicoke City Centre and Scarborough City Centre have emerged as secondary business districts outside Downtown Toronto. High-rise development in these areas has given the former municipalities distinguishable skylines of their own, with high-density transit corridors serving them. Industrial. In the 1800s, a thriving industrial area developed around Toronto Harbour and lower Don River mouth, linked by rail and water to Canada and the United States. Examples included the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, Canadian Malting Company, the Toronto Rolling Mills, the Union Stockyards and the Davies pork processing facility (the inspiration for the "Hogtown" nickname). This industrial area expanded west along the harbour and rail lines and was supplemented by the infilling of the marshlands on the east side of the harbour to create the Port Lands. A garment industry developed along lower Spadina Avenue, the "Fashion District". Beginning in the late 19th century, industrial areas were set up on the outskirts, such as West Toronto/The Junction, where the Stockyards relocated in 1903. The Great Fire of 1904 destroyed a large amount of industry in the downtown. Some of the companies moved west along King Street, some as far west as Dufferin Street; where the large Massey-Harris farm equipment manufacturing complex was located. Over time, pockets of industrial land mostly followed rail lines and later highway corridors as the city grew outwards. This trend continues to this day, the largest factories and distribution warehouses are in the suburban environs of Peel and York Regions; but also within the current city: Etobicoke (concentrated around Pearson Airport), North York, and Scarborough. Many of Toronto's former industrial sites close to (or in) downtown have been redeveloped including parts of the Toronto waterfront, the rail yards west of downtown, and Liberty Village, the Massey-Harris district and large-scale development is underway in the West Don Lands. The Gooderham & Worts Distillery produced spirits until 1990, and is preserved today as the "Distillery District", the largest and best-preserved collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America. Some industry remains in the area, including the Redpath Sugar Refinery. Similar areas that retain their industrial character, but are now largely residential are the Fashion District, Corktown, and parts of South Riverdale and Leslieville. Toronto still has some active older industrial areas, such as Brockton Village, Mimico and New Toronto. In the west end of Old Toronto and York, the Weston/Mount Dennis and The Junction areas still contain factories, meat-packing facilities and rail yards close to medium-density residential, although the Junction's Union Stockyards moved out of Toronto in 1994. The brownfield industrial area of the Port Lands, on the east side of the harbour, is one area planned for redevelopment. Formerly a marsh that was filled in to create industrial space, it was never intensely developed — its land unsuitable for large-scale development — because of flooding and unstable soil. It still contains numerous industrial uses, such as the Portlands Energy Centre power plant, some port facilities, some movie and TV production studios, a concrete processing facility and various low-density industrial facilities. The Waterfront Toronto agency has developed plans for a naturalized mouth to the Don River and to create a flood barrier around the Don, making more of the land on the harbour suitable for higher-value residential and commercial development. A former chemicals plant site along the Don River is slated to become a large commercial complex and transportation hub. Architecture. Toronto's buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the early 19th century, while other prominent buildings were just newly built in the first decade of the 21st century. Lawrence Richards, a member of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, has said, "Toronto is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles." Bay-and-gable houses, mainly found in Old Toronto, are a distinct architectural feature of the city. Defining the Toronto skyline is the CN Tower, a telecommunications and tourism hub. Completed in 1976 at a height of , it was the world's tallest freestanding structure until 2007 when it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Toronto is a city of high-rises, and had 1,875 buildings over as of 2011. Through the 1960s and 1970s, significant pieces of Toronto's architectural heritage were demolished to make way for redevelopment or parking. In contrast, since 2000, amid the Canadian property bubble, Toronto has experienced a period of condo construction boom and architectural revival, with several buildings by world-renowned architects having opened. Daniel Libeskind's Royal Ontario Museum addition, Frank Gehry's remake of the Art Gallery of Ontario, and Will Alsop's distinctive OCAD University expansion are among the city's new showpieces. The mid-1800s Distillery District, on the eastern edge of downtown, has been redeveloped into a pedestrian-oriented arts, culture and entertainment neighbourhood. This construction boom has some observers call the phenomenon the Manhattanization of Toronto after the densely built island borough of New York City. Climate. The city of Toronto has a hot summer humid continental climate (Köppen: "Dfa"), though was on the threshold of a warm summer humid continental climate ("Dfb") until the 20th century due to the heat island effect but still found in the metropolitan region, with warm, humid summers and cold winters. According to the classification applied by Natural Resources Canada, the city of Toronto is in plant hardiness zone 7a. Some suburbs and nearby towns have lower zone ratings. The city experiences four distinct seasons, with considerable variance in length. As a result of the rapid passage of weather systems (such as high- and low-pressure systems), the weather is variable from day to day in all seasons. Owing to urbanization and its proximity to water, Toronto has a fairly low diurnal temperature range. The denser urbanscape makes for warmer nights year round; the average nighttime temperature is about warmer in the city than in rural areas in all months. However, it can be noticeably cooler on many spring and early summer afternoons under the influence of a lake breeze, since Lake Ontario is cool relative to the air during these seasons. These lake breezes mostly occur in summer, bringing relief on hot days. Other low-scale maritime effects on the climate include lake-effect snow, fog, and delaying of spring- and fall-like conditions, known as seasonal lag. Winters are cold with frequent snow. During the winter months, temperatures are usually below . Toronto winters sometimes feature cold snaps when maximum temperatures remain below , often made to feel colder by wind chill. Occasionally, they can drop below . Snowstorms, sometimes mixed with ice and rain, can disrupt work and travel schedules, while accumulating snow can fall anytime from November until mid-April. However, mild stretches also occur in most winters, melting accumulated snow. The summer months are characterized by very warm temperatures. Daytime temperatures are usually above , and often rise above . However, they can occasionally surpass accompanied by high humidity. Spring and autumn are transitional seasons with generally mild or cool temperatures with alternating dry and wet periods. Daytime temperatures average around during these seasons. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, but summer is usually the wettest season, the bulk falling during thunderstorms. The average yearly precipitation is about , with an average annual snowfall of about . Toronto experiences an average of 2,066 sunshine hours or 45 percent of daylight hours, varying between a low of 28 percent in December to 60% in July. Parks. Toronto has a diverse array of public spaces, from city squares to public parks overlooking ravines. Nathan Phillips Square is the city's main square in downtown, contains the Toronto Sign, and forms the entrance to City Hall. Yonge–Dundas Square, near City Hall, has also gained attention in recent years as one of the busiest gathering spots in the city. Other squares include Harbourfront Square, on the Toronto waterfront, and the civic squares at the former city halls of the defunct Metropolitan Toronto, most notably Mel Lastman Square in North York. The Toronto Public Space Committee is an advocacy group concerned with the city's public spaces. In recent years, Nathan Phillips Square has been refurbished with new facilities, and the central waterfront along Queen's Quay West has been updated recently with a new street architecture and a new square next to Harbourfront Centre. In the winter, Nathan Phillips Square, Harbourfront Centre, and Mel Lastman Square feature popular rinks for public ice-skating. Etobicoke's Colonel Sam Smith Trail opened in 2011 and is Toronto's first skating trail. Centennial Park and Earl Bales Park offer outdoor skiing and snowboarding slopes with a chairlift, rental facilities, and lessons. Several parks have marked cross-country skiing trails. There are many large downtown parks, which include Allan Gardens, Christie Pits, Grange Park, Little Norway Park, Moss Park, Queen's Park, Riverdale Park and Trinity Bellwoods Park. An almost hidden park is the compact Cloud Gardens, which has both open areas and a glassed-in greenhouse, near Queen and Yonge. South of downtown are two large parks on the waterfront: Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Street Spit, which has a nature preserve, is open on weekends; and the Toronto Islands, accessible from downtown by ferry. Large parks in the outer areas managed by the city include High Park, Humber Bay Park, Centennial Park, Downsview Park, Guild Park and Gardens, Sunnybrook Park and Morningside Park. Toronto also operates several public golf courses. Most ravine lands and river bank floodplains in Toronto are public parklands. After Hurricane Hazel in 1954, construction of buildings on floodplains was outlawed, and private lands were bought for conservation. In 1999, Downsview Park, a former military base in North York, initiated an international design competition to realize its vision of creating Canada's first urban park. The winner, "Tree City", was announced in May 2000. Approximately , or 12.5 percent of Toronto's land base is maintained parkland. Morningside Park is the largest park managed by the city, which is in size. In addition to public parks managed by the municipal government, parts of Rouge National Urban Park, the largest urban park in North America, is in the eastern portion of Toronto. Managed by Parks Canada, the national park is centred around the Rouge River and encompasses several municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area. Demographics. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Toronto had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Toronto CMA had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In 2016, persons aged 14 years and under made up 14.5 per cent of the population, and those aged 65 years and over made up 15.6 per cent. The median age was 39.3 years. The city's gender population is 48 per cent male and 52 per cent female. Women outnumber men in all age groups 15 and older. The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 1,286,145 persons or 46.6% of the total population of Toronto. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were Philippines (132,980 persons or 10.3%), China (129,750 persons or 10.1%), India (102,155 persons or 7.9%), Sri Lanka (47,895 persons or 3.7%), Jamaica (42,655 persons or 3.3%), Italy (37,705 persons or 2.9%), Iran (37,185 persons or 2.9%), Hong Kong (36,855 persons or 2.9%), United Kingdom (35,585 persons or 2.8%), and Portugal (34,360 persons or 2.7%). The city's foreign-born persons made up 47 per cent of the population, compared to 49.9 per cent in 2006. According to the United Nations Development Programme, Toronto has the second-highest percentage of constant foreign-born population among world cities, after Miami, Florida. While Miami's foreign-born population has traditionally consisted primarily of Cubans and other Latin Americans, no single nationality or culture dominates Toronto's immigrant population, placing it among the most diverse cities in the world. In 2010, it was estimated over 100,000 immigrants arrive in the Greater Toronto Area each year. Race and ethnicity. In 2016, the three most commonly reported ethnic origins overall were Chinese (332,830 or 12.5 per cent), English (331,890 or 12.3 per cent) and Canadian (323,175 or 12.0 per cent). Common regions of ethnic origin were European (47.9 per cent), Asian (including Middle-Eastern – 40.1 per cent), African (5.5 per cent), Latin/Central/South American (4.2 per cent), and North American aboriginal (1.2 per cent). In 2016, 51.5 per cent of the residents of the city proper belonged to a visible minority group, compared to 49.1 per cent in 2011, and 13.6 per cent in 1981. The largest visible minority groups were South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan at 338,960 or 12.6 per cent), East Asian (Chinese at 332,830 or 12.5 per cent), and Black (239,850 or 8.9 per cent). Visible minorities are projected to increase to 63 per cent of the city's population by 2031. This diversity is reflected in Toronto's ethnic neighbourhoods, which include Chinatown, Corso Italia, Greektown, Kensington Market, Koreatown, Little India, Little Italy, Little Jamaica, Little Portugal and Roncesvalles (Polish community). Religion. According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Toronto included: Language. English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians with approximately 95 per cent of residents having proficiency in the language, although only 54.7 per cent of Torontonians reported English as their mother tongue. Greater Toronto English, or simply Toronto slang, is a dialect found primarily in Toronto, primarily spoken by youths. English is one of two official languages of Canada, with the other being French. Approximately 1.6 per cent of Torontonians reported French as their mother tongue, although 9.1 per cent reported being bilingual in both official languages. In addition to services provided by the federal government, provincial services in Toronto are available in both official languages as a result of the "French Language Services Act". Approximately 4.9 per cent of Torontonians reported having no knowledge in either of the official languages of the country. Because the city is also home to many other languages, municipal services, most notably its 9-1-1 emergency telephone service, is equipped to respond in over 150 languages. In the 2001 Canadian census, the collective varieties of Chinese and Italian are the most widely spoken languages at work after English. Approximately 55 per cent of respondents who reported proficiency in a Chinese language reported knowledge in Mandarin in the 2016 census. Economy. Toronto is an international centre for business and finance. Generally considered the financial and industrial capital of Canada, Toronto has a high concentration of banks and brokerage firms on Bay Street in the Financial District. The Toronto Stock Exchange is the world's seventh-largest stock exchange by market capitalization. The five largest financial institutions of Canada, collectively known as the Big Five, have national offices in Toronto. The city is an important centre for the media, publishing, telecommunication, information technology and film production industries; it is home to Bell Media, Rogers Communications, and Torstar. Other prominent Canadian corporations in the Greater Toronto Area include Magna International, Celestica, Manulife, Sun Life Financial, the Hudson's Bay Company, and major hotel companies and operators, such as Four Seasons Hotels and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Although much of the region's manufacturing activities take place outside the city limits, Toronto continues to be a wholesale and distribution point for the industrial sector. The city's strategic position along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor within the Great Lakes megalopolis and its road and rail connections help support the nearby production of motor vehicles, iron, steel, food, machinery, chemicals and paper. The completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959 gave ships access to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean. Toronto's unemployment rate was 6.7 percent as of July 2016. According to the website Numbeo, Toronto's cost of living plus rent index was second highest in Canada (of 31 cities). The local purchasing power was the sixth lowest in Canada, mid-2017. The average monthly social assistance caseload for January to October 2014 was 92,771. The number of seniors living in poverty increased from 10.5 percent in 2011 to 12.1 percent in 2014. Toronto's 2013 child poverty rate was 28.6 percent, the highest among large Canadian cities of 500,000 or more residents. Bay Street. The Financial District in Toronto centres on Bay Street, the equivalent to Wall Street in New York. The city hosts the headquarters of all five of Canada's largest banks, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and was ranked as the safest banking system in the world between 2007 and 2014 according to the World Economic Forum. Toronto's economy has seen a steady boom in growth thanks to a large number of corporations relocating their Canadian headquarters into the city, and Canada's growing cultural significance, resulting in a number of companies setting up shop in Toronto. Media and entertainment. Toronto is Canada's largest media market, and has four conventional dailies, two alt-weeklies, and three free commuter papers in a greater metropolitan area of about 6 million inhabitants. The "Toronto Star" and the "Toronto Sun" are the prominent daily city newspapers, while national dailies "The Globe and Mail" and the "National Post" are also headquartered in the city. The "Toronto Star", "The Globe and Mail", and "National Post" are broadsheet newspapers. "StarMetro" is distributed as free commuter newspapers. Several magazines and local newspapers cover Toronto, including "Now" and "Toronto Life", while numerous magazines are produced in Toronto, such as "Canadian Business", "Chatelaine", "Flare" and "Maclean's". Daily Hive, Western Canada's largest online-only publication, opened their Toronto office in 2016. Toronto contains the headquarters of the major English-language Canadian television networks CBC, CTV, Citytv, Global, The Sports Network (TSN) and Sportsnet. Much (formerly MuchMusic), M3 (formerly MuchMore) and MTV Canada are the main music television channels based in the city, though they no longer primarily show music videos as a result of channel drift. Film production. Toronto is one of the centres of Canada's film and television industry, due in part to the lower cost of production in Canada. The city's streets and landmarks are seen in a variety of films, mimicking the scenes of American cities such as Chicago and New York. The city provides a diversity of settings and neighbourhoods to shoot films, with production facilitated by Toronto's Film and Television Office. Toronto's film industry has extended beyond the Toronto CMA into adjoining cities such as Hamilton and Oshawa. Real estate. Real estate is a major force in the city's economy, Toronto is home to some of the nation's—and the world's—most expensive real estate. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), formerly the Toronto Real Estate Board, is a non-profit professional association of registered real estate brokers and salespeople in Toronto, and parts of the Greater Toronto Area. TRREB was formed in 1920. Many large real estate investment trusts are based in Toronto. Technology and biotech. Toronto is a large hub of the Canadian and global technology industry, generating $52 billion in revenues annually. In 2017, Toronto tech firms offered almost 30,000 jobs which is higher than the combination of San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The area bound between the Greater Toronto Area, the region of Waterloo and the city of Hamilton was termed a "digital corridor" by the Branham Group, a region highly concentrated with technology companies and jobs similar to Silicon Valley in California. It is the third largest center for information and communications technology in North America, coming in behind New York City and Silicon Valley, with over 168,000 people and 15,000 companies working in the Toronto technology sector alone. Toronto is also home to a large startup ecosystem. In 2013, the city was ranked as the 8th best startup scene in the world and 3rd when it came to performance and support. Tourism. In 2018, 27.5 million tourists visited Toronto, generating $10.3 billion (~$ in ) in economic activity. The Toronto Eaton Centre receives over 47 million visitors per year. Other commercial areas popular with tourists include the Path network, which is the world's largest underground shopping complex, as well as Kensington Market and St. Lawrence Market. The Toronto Islands are close to downtown Toronto, and do not permit private motor vehicles beyond the airport. Other tourist attractions include the CN Tower, Casa Loma, Toronto's theaters and musicals, Yonge-Dundas Square, and Ripley's Aquarium of Canada. The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history. The Toronto Zoo is home to over 5,000 animals representing over 460 distinct species. The Art Gallery of Ontario contains a large collection of Canadian, European, African and contemporary artwork, and also plays host to exhibits from museums and galleries all over the world. The Gardiner Museum of ceramic art is the only museum in Canada entirely devoted to ceramics, and the Museum's collection contains more than 2,900 ceramic works from Asia, the Americas, and Europe. The city also hosts the Ontario Science Centre, the Bata Shoe Museum, and Textile Museum of Canada. Other prominent art galleries and museums include the Design Exchange, the Museum of Inuit Art, the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada, the Institute for Contemporary Culture, the Toronto Sculpture Garden, the CBC Museum, the Redpath Sugar Museum, the University of Toronto Art Centre, Hart House, the TD Gallery of Inuit Art, Little Canada and the Aga Khan Museum. The city also runs its own museums, which include the Spadina House. The Don Valley Brick Works is a former industrial site that opened in 1889 and was partly restored as a park and heritage site in 1996, with further restoration being completed in stages since then. The Canadian National Exhibition ("The Ex") is held annually at Exhibition Place, and is the oldest annual fair in the world. The Ex has an average attendance of 1.25 million. City shopping areas include the Yorkville neighbourhood, Queen West, Harbourfront, the Entertainment District, the Financial District, and the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood. The Eaton Centre is Toronto's most popular tourist attraction with over 52 million visitors annually. Greektown on the Danforth is home to the annual "Taste of the Danforth" festival which attracts over one million people in days. Toronto is also home to Casa Loma, the former estate of Sir Henry Pellatt, a prominent Toronto financier, industrialist and military man. Other notable neighbourhoods and attractions in Toronto include The Beaches, the Toronto Islands, Kensington Market, Fort York, and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Education. Primary and secondary education. There are four public school boards that provide elementary and secondary education in Toronto, the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). CSV and TDSB are secular public school boards, whereas MonAvenir and TCDSB are separate public school boards. CSV and MonAvenir are French first language school boards, whereas TCDSB and TDSB are English first language school boards. TDSB operates the most schools among the four Toronto-based school boards, with 451 elementary schools, 105 secondary schools, and five adult learning centres. TCDSB operates 163 elementary schools, 29 secondary schools, three combined institutions, and one adult learning centre. CSV operates 11 elementary schools, and three secondary schools in the city. MonAvenir operates nine elementary schools, and three secondary schools in Toronto. Postsecondary education. Five public universities are based in Toronto. Four of these universities are based in downtown Toronto: OCAD University, Toronto Metropolitan University, the Université de l'Ontario français, and the University of Toronto. The University of Toronto also operates two satellite campuses, one of which is in the city's eastern district of Scarborough, while the other is in the neighbouring city of Mississauga. York University is the only Toronto-based university not situated in downtown Toronto, maintaining a primary campus in the northwestern portion of North York and a secondary campus in midtown Toronto. The University of Guelph, based in Guelph, also operates a satellite campus in northwestern Etobicoke together with Humber College, called the University of Guelph-Humber. There are four diploma and degree granting colleges based in Toronto. These four colleges, Centennial College, George Brown College, Humber College, and Seneca College, operate several campuses throughout the city. The city is also home to a satellite campus of Collège Boréal, a French first language college. The city is also home to several supplementary schools, seminaries, and vocational schools. Examples of such institutions include The Royal Conservatory of Music, which includes the Glenn Gould School; the Canadian Film Centre, a media training institute founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison; and Tyndale University, a Christian post-secondary institution and Canada's largest seminary. Human resources. Public health. Toronto is home to twenty public hospitals, including The Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael's Hospital, North York General Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Scarborough General Hospital, Birchmount Hospital, Centenary Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, many of which are affiliated with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. Specialized hospitals are also outside of the downtown core. These hospitals include the Baycrest Health Sciences geriatric hospital and the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital for children with disabilities. Toronto's Discovery District is a centre of research in biomedicine. It is on a research park that is integrated into Toronto's downtown core. It is also home to the MaRS Discovery District, which was created in 2000 to capitalize on the research and innovation strength of the Province of Ontario. Another institute is the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine (MCMM). Toronto is also host to a wide variety of health-focused non-profit organizations that work to address specific illnesses for Toronto, Ontario and Canadian residents. Organizations include Crohn's and Colitis Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and Alzheimer Society of Ontario, all located in the same office at Yonge–Eglinton, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, Cystic Fibrosis Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the ALS Society of Canada. In 2022, 187 homeless people died in Toronto, with 47 percent dying of drug toxicity, the leading cause. Toronto Public Health described it as an "urgent public health issue", and has responded by opening supervised drug consumption sites, and by advocating for the allowance of personal drug possession. Public library. Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making it the largest neighbourhood-based library system in the world. Within North America, it also had the highest circulation and visitors when compared to other large urban systems. Established as the library of the Mechanics' Institute in 1830, the Toronto Public Library now consists of 100 branch libraries and has over 12 million items in its collection. Culture and contemporary life. Toronto's theatre and performing arts scene has more than fifty ballet and dance companies, six opera companies, two symphony orchestras and a host of theatres. The city is home to the National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, and the Canadian Stage Company. Notable performance venues include the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Roy Thomson Hall, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Massey Hall, the Meridian Arts Centre (formerly the Toronto Centre for the Arts), the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, and the Meridian Hall (originally the "O'Keefe Centre" and formerly the "Hummingbird Centre" and the "Sony Centre for the Performing Arts"). Ontario Place features the world's first permanent IMAX movie theatre, the Cinesphere, as well as the Budweiser Stage (formerly Molson Amphitheatre), an open-air venue for music concerts. In spring 2012, Ontario Place closed after a decline in attendance over the years. Although the Budweiser Stage and harbour still operate, the park and Cinesphere are no longer in use. There are ongoing plans to revitalise Ontario Place. Each summer, the Canadian Stage Company presents an outdoor Shakespeare production in Toronto's High Park called "Dream in High Park". Canada's Walk of Fame acknowledges the achievements of successful Canadians, with a series of stars on designated blocks of sidewalks along King Street and Simcoe Street. The production of domestic and foreign film and television is a major local industry. As of 2011, Toronto ranks as the third largest production centre for film and television after Los Angeles and New York City, sharing the nickname "Hollywood North" with Vancouver. The Toronto International Film Festival is an annual event celebrating the international film industry. Another prestigious film festival is the Take 21 (formerly the Toronto Student Film Festival), which screens the works of students 12–18 years of age from many different countries across the globe. Toronto's Caribana (formerly known as Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival) takes place from mid-July to early August of every summer. Primarily based on the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, the first Caribana took place in 1967 when the city's Caribbean community celebrated Canada's Centennial. More than forty years later, it has grown to attract one million people to Toronto's Lake Shore Boulevard annually. Tourism for the festival is in the hundred thousands, and each year, the event generates over $400 million in revenue into Ontario's economy. One of the largest events in the city, Pride Week takes place in late June, and is one of the largest LGBT festivals in the world. Sports. Toronto is represented in five major league sports, with teams in the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), Canadian Football League (CFL), and Major League Soccer (MLS). It was formerly represented in a sixth and seventh; the USL W-League that announced on November 6, 2015, that it would cease operation ahead of 2016 season and the Canadian Women's Hockey League ceased operations in May 2019. The city's major sports venues include the Scotiabank Arena (formerly Air Canada Centre), Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome), Coca-Cola Coliseum (formerly Ricoh Coliseum), and BMO Field. Toronto is one of five North American cities (alongside Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and the New York Tri-state area) to have won titles in its five major leagues (MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS and either NFL or CFL), and the only one to have done so in the Canadian Football League. Historic sports clubs of Toronto include the Granite Club (established in 1836), the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (established in 1852), the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club (established before 1827), the Argonaut Rowing Club (established in 1872), the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club (established in 1881), and the Badminton and Racquet Club (established in 1924). Professional sports. Toronto is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's Original Six clubs, and has also served as home to the Hockey Hall of Fame since 1958. The city had a rich history of hockey championships. Along with the Maple Leafs' 13 Stanley Cup titles, the Toronto Marlboros and St. Michael's College School-based Ontario Hockey League teams, combined, have won a record 12 Memorial Cup titles. The Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League also play in Toronto at Coca-Cola Coliseum and are the farm team for the Maple Leafs. The Toronto Six, the first Canadian franchise in the National Women's Hockey League, began play with the 2020–21 season. The city is home to the Toronto Blue Jays MLB baseball team. The team has won two World Series titles (1992, 1993). The Blue Jays play their home games at the Rogers Centre in the downtown core. Toronto has a long history of minor-league professional baseball dating back to the 1800s, culminating in the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, whose owner first proposed an MLB team for Toronto. The Toronto Raptors basketball team entered the NBA in 1995, and have since earned eleven playoff spots and five Atlantic Division titles in 24 seasons. They won their first NBA title in 2019. The Raptors are the only NBA team with their own television channel, NBA TV Canada. They play their home games at Scotiabank Arena, which is shared with the Maple Leafs. In 2016, Toronto hosted the 65th NBA All-Star game, the first to be held outside the United States. The city is represented in Canadian football by the CFL's Toronto Argonauts, which was founded in 1873. The club has won 18 Grey Cup Canadian championship titles. The club's home games are played at BMO Field. Toronto is represented in soccer by the Toronto FC MLS team, who have won seven Canadian Championship titles, as well as the MLS Cup in 2017 and the Supporters' Shield for best regular season record, also in 2017. They share BMO Field with the Toronto Argonauts. Toronto has a high level of participation in soccer across the city at several smaller stadiums and fields. Toronto FC had entered the league as an expansion team in 2007. The Toronto Rock is the city's National Lacrosse League team. They won five National Lacrosse League Cup titles in seven years in the late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, appearing in an NLL-record five straight championship games from 1999 to 2003, and are first all-time in the number of Champion's Cups won. The Rock formerly shared the Scotiabank Arena with the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, However, the Toronto Rock moved to the nearby city of Hamilton while retaining its Toronto name. The Toronto Wolfpack became Canada's first professional rugby league team and the world's first transatlantic professional sports team when they began play in the Rugby Football League's League One competition in 2017. Due to COVID-19 restrictions on international travel the team withdrew from the Super League in 2020 with its future uncertain. The rugby club's ownership changed in 2021, now 'Team Wolfpack' will play in the newly formed North American Rugby League tournament. Toronto is home to the Toronto Rush, a semi-professional ultimate team that competes in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). Ultimate (disc), in Canada, has its beginning roots in Toronto, with 3300 players competing annually in the Toronto Ultimate Club (League). Toronto has hosted several National Football League (NFL) exhibition games at the Rogers Centre. Ted Rogers leased the Buffalo Bills from Ralph Wilson for the purposes of having the Bills play eight home games in the city between 2008 and 2013. Collegiate sports. The University of Toronto in downtown Toronto was where the first recorded college football game was held in November 1861. Many post-secondary institutions in Toronto are members of U Sports or the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, the former for universities and the latter for colleges. Toronto was home to the International Bowl, an NCAA sanctioned post-season college football game that pitted a Mid-American Conference team against a Big East Conference team. From 2007 to 2010, the game was played at Rogers Centre annually in January. Events. Toronto, along with Montreal, hosts an annual tennis tournament called the Canadian Open (not to be confused with the identically named golf tournament) between the months of July and August. In odd-numbered years, the men's tournament is held in Montreal, while the women's tournament is held in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years. The city hosts the Toronto Waterfront Marathon annually, one of the World Athletics Label Road Races. Toronto also hosts the annual Grand Prix of Toronto car race (officially named Honda Indy Toronto), part of the IndyCar Series schedule, held on a street circuit at Exhibition Place. It was known previously as the Champ Car's Molson Indy Toronto from 1986 to 2007. Both thoroughbred and standardbred horse racing events are conducted at Woodbine Racetrack in Rexdale. Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan American Games in July 2015, and the 2015 Parapan American Games in August 2015. It beat the cities of Lima, Peru and Bogotá, Colombia, to win the rights to stage the games. The games were the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in Canada (in terms of athletes competing), double the size of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Toronto was a candidate city for the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Atlanta and Beijing respectively. Toronto was named as one of 16 cities in North America (and one of two Canadian cities) to host matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Government and politics. Government. Toronto is a single-tier municipality governed by a mayor–council system. The structure of the municipal government is stipulated by the "City of Toronto Act". The mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city. The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprising 25 councillors, since the 2018 municipal election, representing geographical wards throughout the city. The mayor and members of the city council serve four-year terms without term limits. (Until the 2006 municipal election, the mayor and city councillors served three-year terms.) As of 2016, the city council has twelve standing committees, each consisting of a chair (some have a vice-chair), and a number of councillors. The mayor names the committee chairs and the remaining members of the committees are appointed by city council. An executive committee is formed by the chairs of each of standing committee, along with the mayor, the deputy mayor and four other councillors. Councillors are also appointed to oversee the Toronto Transit Commission and the Toronto Police Services Board. The city has four community councils that consider local matters. City council has delegated final decision-making authority on local, routine matters, while others—like planning and zoning issues—are recommended to the city council. Each city councillor serves as a member of a community council. There are about 40 subcommittees and advisory committees appointed by the city council. These bodies are made up of city councillors and private citizen volunteers. Examples include the Pedestrian Committee, Waste Diversion Task Force 2010, and the Task Force to Bring Back the Don. The City of Toronto had an approved operating budget of in 2020 and a ten-year capital budget and plan of . The city's revenues include subsidies from the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario (for programs mandated by those governments), 33 percent from property tax, 6 percent from the land transfer tax and the rest from other tax revenues and user fees. The city's largest operating expenditures are the Toronto Transit Commission at , and the Toronto Police Service, . Crime. The historically low crime rate in Toronto has resulted in the city having a reputation as one of the safest major cities in North America. For instance, in 2007, the homicide rate for Toronto was 3.43 per 100,000 people, compared with Atlanta (19.7), Boston (10.3), Los Angeles (10.0), New York City (6.3), Vancouver (3.1), and Montreal (2.6). Toronto's robbery rate also ranks low, with 207.1 robberies per 100,000 people, compared with Los Angeles (348.5), Vancouver (266.2), New York City (265.9), and Montreal (235.3). Toronto has a comparable rate of car theft to various U.S. cities, although it is not among the highest in Canada. In 2005, Toronto media coined the term "Year of the Gun", because of a record number of gun-related homicides, 52, out of 80 homicides in total. The total number of homicides dropped to 70 in 2006; that year, nearly 2,000 people in Toronto were victims of a violent gun-related crime, about one-quarter of the national total. 86 homicides were committed in 2007, roughly half of which involved guns. Gang-related incidents have also been on the rise; between the years of 1997 and 2005, over 300 gang-related homicides have occurred. As a result, the Ontario government developed an anti-gun strategy. In 2011, Toronto's murder rate plummeted to 51 murders—nearly a 26% drop from the previous year. The 51 homicides were the lowest number the city has recorded since 1999 when there were 47. While subsequent years did see a return to higher rates, it remained nearly flat line of 57–59 homicides in from 2012 to 2015. 2016 went to 75 for the first time in over 8 years. 2017 had a drop off of 10 murders to close the year at 65, with a homicide rate of 2.4 per 100,000 population. The total number of homicides in Toronto reached a record 98 in 2018; the number included fatalities from the Toronto van attack and the Danforth shooting, which gave the city a homicide rate of around 3.6 per 100,000 people. The record year for per capita murders was previously 1991, with 3.9 murders per 100,000 people. The 2018 homicide rate was higher than in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Hamilton, New York City, San Diego, and Austin. Homicides in 2019 dropped to 80 (a rate of 2.9 per 100,000 people) below the rate of most US cities, but still higher than the Canadian average of 1.8. Shooting incidents also increased to an all-time high of 492 in 2019, even outpacing gun incidents that occurred in 2018. 2020 saw another decrease in homicides with the city having a total of 71 murders for the year (a rate of around 2.6 per 100,000 people). However, in 2021, the city saw an increase in homicides, with the city murders increasing to 85, giving Toronto a homicide rate of 3.04 per 100,000 people. 2022 had a decrease in homicides with 71 being reported along with a total of 380 shooting incidents occurring & a 47.3% increase in auto thefts in the year (with a total of 9,767 reports of auto theft). Transportation. Toronto is a central transportation hub for road, rail and air networks in Southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city of Toronto, including highways and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths. Public transportation. Toronto's main public transportation system is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The backbone of its public transport network is the Toronto subway system, which includes three heavy-rail rapid transit lines spanning the city, including the U-shaped Line 1 and east–west Line 2. Line 3 is a light metro line that exclusively serves the city's eastern district of Scarborough. The TTC also operates an extensive network of buses and streetcars, with the latter serving the downtown core, and buses providing service to many parts of the city not served by the sparse subway network. TTC buses and streetcars use the same fare system as the subway, and many subway stations offer a fare-paid area for transfers between rail and surface vehicles. There have been numerous plans to extend the subway and implement light-rail lines, but many efforts have been thwarted by budgetary concerns. Since July 2011, the only subway-related work is the Line 1 extension north of Sheppard West station (formerly named Downsview) to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre in Vaughan, a suburb north of Toronto. By November 2011, construction on Line 5 Eglinton began. Line 5 is scheduled to finish construction by 2022. In 2015, the Ontario government promised to fund Line 6 Finch West which is to be completed by 2023. In 2019, the Government of Ontario released a transit plan for the Greater Toronto Area which includes a new 16-kilometres Ontario Line, Line 1 extension to Richmond Hill Centre and an extension for Line 5 Eglinton to Toronto Pearson Airport. Toronto's century-old Union Station is also getting a major renovation and upgrade which would be able to accommodate more rail traffic from GO Transit, Via Rail, UP Express and Amtrak. Construction on a new Union Station Bus Terminal is also in the works with an expected completion in 2020. Toronto's public transit network also connects to other municipal networks such as York Region Transit, Viva, Durham Region Transit, and MiWay. The Government of Ontario operates a regional rail and bus transit system called GO Transit in the Greater Toronto Area. GO Transit carries over 250,000 passengers every weekday (2013) and 57 million annually, with a majority of them travelling to or from Union Station. Metrolinx is currently implementing Regional Express Rail into its GO Transit network and plans to electrify many of its rail lines by 2030. Intercity transportation. Toronto Union Station serves as a hub for VIA Rail's intercity services in Central Canada and includes services to various parts of Ontario, "Corridor" services to Montreal and national capital Ottawa, and long-distance services to Vancouver and New York City. GO Transit provides intercity bus services from the Union Station Bus Terminal and other bus terminals in the city to destinations within the Golden Horseshoe. Long-distance intercity coach services by multiple companies also operated from the Union Station Bus Terminal, and provide a network of services to further cities in Ontario, neighbouring provinces, and the United States. The Toronto Coach Terminal formerly served as the city's intercity coach hub, from 1931 to 2021, when the terminal was decommissioned. Airports. Canada's busiest airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport (IATA: YYZ), straddles the city's western boundary with the suburban city of Mississauga. The Union Pearson Express (UP Express) train service provides a direct link between Pearson International and Union Station. It began carrying passengers in June 2015. Limited commercial and passenger service to nearby destinations in Canada and the United States is offered from the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (IATA: YTZ) on the Toronto Islands, southwest of downtown. Buttonville Municipal Airport (IATA: YKZ) in Markham provides general aviation facilities. Downsview Airport (IATA: YZD), near the city's north end, is owned by de Havilland Canada and serves the Bombardier Aviation aircraft factory. Within a few hours' drive, Hamilton's John C. Munro International Airport (IATA: YHM) and Buffalo's Buffalo Niagara International Airport (IATA: BUF) serve as alternate airports for the Toronto area in addition to serving their respective cities. A secondary international airport, to be located north-east of Toronto in Pickering, has been planned by the Government of Canada. Streets and highways. The grid of major city streets was laid out by a concession road system, in which major arterial roads are apart (with some exceptions, particularly in Scarborough and Etobicoke, as they used a different survey). Major east-west arterial roads are generally parallel with the Lake Ontario shoreline, and major north–south arterial roads are roughly perpendicular to the shoreline, though slightly angled north of Eglinton Avenue. This arrangement is sometimes broken by geographical accidents, most notably the Don River ravines. Toronto's grid north is approximately 18.5° to the west of true north. Many arterials, particularly north–south ones, due to the city originally being within the former York County, continue beyond the city into the 905 suburbs and further into the rural countryside. There are a number of municipal expressways and provincial highways that serve Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. In particular, Highway 401 bisects the city from west to east, bypassing the downtown core. It is the busiest road in North America, and one of the busiest highways in the world. Other provincial highways include Highway 400 which connects the city with Northern Ontario and beyond and Highway 404, an extension of the Don Valley Parkway into the northern suburbs. The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), North America's first divided intercity highway, terminates at Toronto's western boundary and connects Toronto to Niagara Falls and Buffalo. The main municipal expressways in Toronto include the Gardiner Expressway, the Don Valley Parkway, and to some extent, Allen Road. Toronto's traffic congestion is one of the highest in North America, and is the second highest in Canada after Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64686

Norman Tebbit

Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit (born 29 March 1931) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1983), Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1983–1985), and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative Party (1985–1987). He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1970 to 1992, representing the constituencies of Epping (1970–1974) and Chingford (1974–1992). In 1984, Tebbit was injured in the Provisional Irish Republican Army's bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where he was staying during the Conservative Party Conference. His wife Margaret was left permanently disabled after the explosion. He left the cabinet following the 1987 general election to care for his wife. Tebbit considered standing for the Conservative leadership following Margaret Thatcher's resignation in 1990, but came to the decision not to stand as he had earlier made a commitment to his wife to retire from front-line politics. He did not stand for re-election as MP for Chingford in 1992, and was given a life peerage to sit in the House of Lords as Baron Tebbit, of Chingford. He retired from the House on 31 March 2022. Early life and career before politics. Born in Ponders End, Middlesex, to working-class parents Leonard and Edith Tebbit, he went to Edmonton County Grammar School, which was then an academically selective state school in north London. At the age of 16, Tebbit got a job with the "Financial Times" and had to join NATSOPA. Disliking rules that caused members who criticized union officials to be fined or expelled (and thus lose their jobs), he recalled vowing to "break the power of the closed shop". In November 1950, Tebbit was commissioned into the Royal Air Force for national service in the rank of pilot officer. He was promoted to flying officer in April 1952. During his time in the RAF Tebbit flew Meteor and Vampire jets. In July 1954, at RAF Waterbeach near Cambridge, he had to escape from a burning Meteor 8 by breaking open the canopy, unknowingly fracturing two of his vertebrae in the accident. On leaving the RAF, Tebbit joined BOAC in 1953 as a navigator and pilot, while initially continuing to fly in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force with 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron at North Weald in Essex. Of his airline navigation training, he later said: "In those days it was a considerable academic syllabus. You had to be up to speed on spherical trigonometry to get through it". During his time at BOAC, he was an official in the British Airline Pilots' Association. He flew Avro Yorks, Argonauts, Britannias, DC7Cs and the Boeing 707. Member of Parliament. Tebbit was elected as MP for Epping in 1970 and then for Chingford in February 1974. He is recorded as an MP member of the Conservative Monday Club in 1970. Tebbit's first intervention as an MP was to ask a question of the then Minister at the Board of Trade, Frederick Corfield, on 6 July 1970. His question was on the subject of a crash of a Comet-4 aircraft in Spain on 3 July, which killed all the 112 people on board at the time. In 1975, six men (the 'Ferrybridge Six') were dismissed from their jobs because of the introduction of a closed shop and were denied unemployment benefit. The Secretary of State for Employment, Michael Foot, commented: "A person who declines to fall in with new conditions of employment which result from a collective agreement may well be considered to have brought about his own dismissal". Tebbit accused Foot of "pure undiluted fascism" and affirmed that this "left Mr Foot exposed as a bitter opponent of freedom and liberty". The next day (2 December) "The Times" first leader —titled ""—quoted Tebbit and went on: Mr Foot's doctrine is intolerable because it is a violation of the liberty of the ordinary man in his job. Mr Tebbit is therefore using fascism in a legitimate descriptive sense when he accuses Mr. Foot of it. We perhaps need to revive the phrase "social fascism" to describe the modern British development of the corporate state and its bureaucratic attack on personal liberty. The question is not therefore: "is Mr. Foot a fascist?" but "does Mr. Foot know he is a fascist?" During the Grunwick dispute, when workers went on strike over pay and working conditions, the owner George Ward refused to recognise their trade union, and there was a split in the Conservative Shadow Cabinet between the conciliatory approach of Jim Prior, the Shadow Employment Secretary, and Keith Joseph. Tebbit involved himself in that dispute by making a controversial speech on 12 September 1977, in which he said: Inside Britain there is a ... threat from the Marxist collectivist totalitarians. ... Just to state that fact is to be accused of 'union-bashing'. ... Such people are to be found in the Conservative, Liberal and Labour Parties. Their politics may be different but such people share the morality of Laval and Pétain ... they are willing not only to tolerate evil, but to excuse it. ... Both Jim Prior and Keith Joseph know that George Ward and Grunwick are not perfect, nor was Czechoslovakia perfect in 1938. But if Ward and Grunwick are destroyed by the red fascists, then, as in 1938, we will have to ask, whose turn is it next? Yes, it is like 1938. We can all see the evil, but the doctrine of appeasement is still to be heard. Tebbit was accused of comparing Prior to Laval and at that year's Conservative Party conference, he attempted to avoid personalising the issue, and openly splitting the party, without retracting what he had said. Tebbit said of these differences: "I'm a hawk—but no kamikaze. And Jim's a dove—but he's not chicken". During a debate in Parliament on 2 March 1978, Michael Foot labelled Tebbit a "semi-house-trained polecat" in response to a question from Tebbit asking if he accepted that the legislation being proposed that made it compulsory for people to join a Trade Union was an act of Fascism. When he was made Lord Tebbit in 1992, he chose a polecat as one of the symbols on his coat of arms. Later, in the debate Tebbit asked Foot whether he would "put a bridle on his foul-mouthed tongue". First Thatcher ministry. After the Conservative Party regained power after the general election of 1979, Tebbit was appointed Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Trade. In the September 1981 Cabinet reshuffle, Thatcher appointed Tebbit as Employment Secretary. This was seen as a shift to a 'tougher' approach to the trade unions than had been the case under Tebbit's predecessor, Jim Prior. Tebbit introduced the Employment Act 1982 which raised the level of compensation for those unfairly dismissed from a closed shop and prohibited closed shops unless 80% of relevant workers approved the arrangement in periodic ballots. It also removed trade unions' immunity from liability in tort – i.e. made trade unions liable for civil damages if they committed unlawful acts, and made injunctions possible against such acts. In his memoirs Tebbit said that the 1982 Act was his "greatest achievement in Government". In March 2021 Tebbit was reported by "The Times" to have said, during a Zoom meeting, that Special Branch had regularly spied on union leaders while he was employment secretary. In the aftermath of the 1981 riots in Handsworth and Brixton, Tebbit responded to a suggestion by the Young Conservative National chairman, Iain Picton that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment: I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it. As a result, Tebbit is often misquoted as having directly told the unemployed to "get on your bike", and he was popularly referred to as "Onyerbike" for some considerable time afterwards. The former Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once remarked of Tebbit: "Heard a chap on the radio this morning talking with a cockney accent. They tell me he is one of Her Majesty's ministers". Peter Dorey of Cardiff University wrote that "it was Norman Tebbit... who was perhaps the public face or voice of Essex man, and articulated his views and prejudices". Second Thatcher ministry. The Nuffield study of the 1983 general election found that Tebbit was the second most prominent Conservative on radio and television news broadcasts during the campaign with 81 appearances (after Thatcher's 331 appearances). In the post-election October 1983 reshuffle, Tebbit was moved from Employment to become Trade and Industry Secretary, replacing Cecil Parkinson, who had resigned. Thatcher had actually wanted Tebbit to become Home Secretary, but William Whitelaw vetoed this. Tebbit was injured in the IRA's bombing of the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the 1984 Conservative Party conference. His wife, Margaret, was permanently disabled. In 1985, Tebbit was appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as Thatcher wanted to keep him in the Cabinet. During the Westland affair Tebbit was against the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation taking over Westland Aircraft. In 1986, Tebbit opposed the American bombing raid on Libya from British bases and objected to Thatcher's refusal to consult the Cabinet fully on the matter. However, he did criticise the BBC for its supposedly biased reporting of the raid. During the same year, he disbanded the Federation of Conservative Students for publishing an article, penned by Harry Phibbs, following Nikolai Tolstoy's accusation that former Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was complicit in the forced repatriation of Cossacks in the aftermath of the Second World War. On 13 April 1986, Tebbit and his chief of staff Michael Dobbs visited Thatcher at Chequers to present her with the results of polling by Saatchi & Saatchi which found that with inflation down and the trade unions weakened, "the Prime Minister's combative virtues were being received as vices: her determination was perceived as stubbornness, her single-mindedness as inflexibility, and her strong will as an inability to listen". Tebbit and Dobbs told her this was becoming known as the "TBW factor": TBW standing for "That Bloody Woman". They recommended Thatcher take a lower profile in the forthcoming general election. A few weeks later, Tebbit gave an interview to John Mortimer for "The Spectator" where he said of Thatcher: It's a question of her leadership when our aims aren't clearly defined. When people understand what she's doing there's a good deal of admiration for her energy and resolution and persistence, even from those people who don't agree with her. Now there's a perception that we don't know where we're going so those same qualities don't seem so attractive. Thatcher disagreed and her biographer claims she was suspicious of Tebbit's motives. Furthermore, Thatcher commissioned the firm Young and Rubicam to carry out their own polling, which concluded that Thatcher's leadership was not the problem. Throughout the rest of 1986 and into the 1987 election, Thatcher continued to use Young and Rubicam, which eventually caused tensions with Tebbit during the election campaign. For quite a while, Tebbit was seen as Thatcher's natural successor as Party leader. During early 1986, when Thatcher's popularity declined in the polls, commentators began to suggest that the succession of the Conservative leadership would lie between Michael Heseltine and Tebbit. At the 1986 Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth, Tebbit—along with Saatchi and Saatchi, Dobbs and the Conservatives' Director of Research, Robin Harris—came up with the next party slogan—'The Next Move Forward'. For the first time, the Conservatives employed pre-conference advertising to publicise the new-style conference. Tebbit persuaded Thatcher that ministers would state their objectives that they would achieve in the next three years; Saatchi & Saatchi would use these to design posters, leaflets, and brochures to be deployed as each minister finished their speech. The aim "was that in 1986 the media should reflect the image I wanted—of a Government confident, united, clear in where it was going—and determined to get there". According to Tebbit the conference "was more successful than I had dared to hope ... the opinion polls which had us 7% behind in June and still 5% down in September now put us back into first place—a position we never relinquished from then right through the election campaign. The Prime Minister's ratings were immediately restored". A MORI opinion poll in March 1987 saw Tebbit as second-favourite amongst voters as Thatcher's successor (Heseltine: 24% vs Tebbit: 15%); however, amongst Conservative voters, Tebbit was the front-runner with (Heseltine: 14% vs Tebbit: 21%). In October 1988, MORI asked the same question, with similar results (Heseltine: 22% vs Tebbit: 15%) and (Heseltine: 20% vs Tebbit: 26%) amongst Conservative voters. However, Thatcher apparently once told Rupert Murdoch: "I couldn't get him elected as leader of the Tory party even if I wanted – nor would the country elect him if he was". On 6 January 1987, the journalist Hugo Young published a quote attributed to Tebbit in "The Guardian" newspaper. Tebbit's chief of staff, Michael Dobbs, responded by writing a letter to the newspaper citing Young's dislike of Tebbit, adding "Perhaps this explains the invention of the quotation he [Mr Young] attributed to Mr Tebbit". The quote was "No-one with a conscience votes Conservative". Before this letter was published, however, the words "the invention of" had been removed. Despite publishing this letter "The Guardian" subsequently repeated the quote, and Young again attributed it to him in a letter to "The Spectator". Tebbit feared that if no action was taken against "The Guardian" the Labour Party would use this quote against the Conservatives in the forthcoming general election. With Thatcher's consent Tebbit threatened the newspaper with legal action if they did not retract the quotation and apologise to Tebbit. The case continued until 1988 when "The Guardian" apologised, published a retraction and paid £14,000 in libel damages in an out-of-court settlement. During the 1987 general election, Tebbit and Saatchi & Saatchi spearheaded the Conservative campaign, focusing on the economy and defence. However, when on 'Wobbly Thursday' it was rumoured a Marplan opinion poll showed a 2% Conservative lead, the 'exiles' camp of David Young, Tim Bell and the Young and Rubicam firm advocated a more aggressively anti-Labour message. This was when, according to Young's memoirs, Young got Tebbit by the lapels and shook him, shouting: "Norman, listen to me, we're about to lose this fucking election". In his memoirs, Tebbit defends the Conservative campaign: "We finished exactly as planned on the ground where Labour was weak and we were strong—defence, taxation, and the economy". During the election campaign, however, Tebbit and Thatcher argued. Tebbit had already informed Thatcher at the beginning of the campaign that he would leave the government after the election to care for his wife. Thatcher said to her friend Woodrow Wyatt on the Sunday after polling day in 1987: "He'll carry the scar of that Brighton bombing all his life. I didn't want him to go. Whenever he is away from her he can't even attend to business properly. He's always ringing up to find out if the nurses are looking after his wife all right". In her memoirs, Thatcher said she "bitterly regretted" losing a like-minded person from the Cabinet. On 31 July 1987, Tebbit was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour. Backbenches. As Trade and Industry Secretary, Tebbit had privatised British Telecom in November 1984. He became a director of the company on 3 November 1987; this gave him an additional salary plus shares in the company. In late 1987 and 1988, Tebbit formed a temporary alliance with Michael Heseltine in campaigning for the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority, which they succeeded in achieving through a backbench amendment. Tebbit was also prominent in an unsuccessful Conservative backbench rebellion against a Bill to give 50,000 households (around 250,000 people) from Hong Kong British citizenship. In April 1988, Tebbit caused much controversy when, in front of an audience of South African dignitaries, he accused critics of South African apartheid of cowardice and stinking hypocrisy. He said that, although black critics attacked apartheid in South Africa, they did not speak out against violence among black tribes in South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was visiting London at the time and called on Thatcher to repudiate the remarks; instead, she defended Tebbit. In April 1990, he proposed the "Cricket test", also known as the "Tebbit Test", when he argued that whether people from ethnic minorities in Britain supported the England cricket team (rather than the team from their country of ancestry) should be considered a barometer—but not the sole indicator—of whether they are truly British: "A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?" Tebbit told Woodrow Wyatt in 1991 that he did not think certain immigrant communities would assimilate "because some of them insist on sticking to their own culture, like the Muslims in Bradford and so forth, and they are extremely dangerous". In August 2005, after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, which were carried out by three young men of Pakistani descent and one of Jamaican descent, Tebbit claimed vindication for these views. In a conversation with Woodrow Wyatt on 19 December 1988, Tebbit said he would not go back into politics unless Thatcher "was run over by the proverbial bus and he didn't like the look of the person he thought might get her job and destroy the work they've done". On another occasion (22 February 1990), Tebbit said to Wyatt that he would stand for the Conservative leadership if Thatcher suddenly resigned; but when Alec Douglas-Home suggested that Thatcher would not stand at the next election because she must be tired, Tebbit disagreed: "She has got amazing stamina". Following Geoffrey Howe's resignation from the government in November 1990, Thatcher asked Tebbit to return to the Cabinet as Education Secretary, but he refused on the grounds that he was looking after his disabled wife. During the 1990 Conservative leadership election, Tebbit was on Thatcher's campaign team with the job of assessing her support amongst Conservative MPs. According to Thatcher's biographer John Campbell, Tebbit was "her most visible cheerleader...who characteristically took the fight to Heseltine by holding a cheeky press conference on his Belgravia doorstep". After the first ballot but before the results became known, Tebbit wanted Thatcher to make a clear commitment to fight the second ballot if her vote fell short of the amount needed to win outright. When Tebbit saw Thatcher on 21 November he told her she was the candidate with the best chance of beating Heseltine. However, Thatcher withdrew from the contest the next day. Tebbit wanted to stand, but never did. Tebbit subsequently switched his support to John Major. After Major came back from Maastricht with an opt-out from the Social Chapter and the single currency, Tebbit was one of the few MPs in the debate on 18 December 1991 to criticise the new powers the Community would acquire. He claimed the government had been on the defensive against "federalist follies" and that Maastricht had seen "a series of bridgeheads into our constitution, into the powers of this House, and into the lives of individuals and businesses". After leaving the House of Commons. Tebbit decided not to stand in the 1992 election, to devote more time to caring for his disabled wife. Following the election he was granted a life peerage and entered the House of Lords, having been created Baron Tebbit, of Chingford in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, on 6 July 1992. His former seat of Chingford was aggregated in 1997 with Woodford Green in boundary changes and was held for the Conservative Party by his successor and protégé Iain Duncan Smith. Tebbit famously said: "If you think I'm right-wing, you should meet this guy". Maastricht Treaty and Europe. On 11 August 1992, Woodrow Wyatt noted in his diary: "[Thatcher] also seems to have formed a new alliance with Tebbit who stirs her up and talks a lot of nonsense [about the Treaty]." At the October 1992 Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, Tebbit embarrassed John Major's government when he made a speech attacking the Treaty. As he walked up onto the podium he was applauded by some sections of the audience, described as "young, in t-shirts, aggressively self-confident – the lager louts of our party" in the diary of the Conservative Party chairman of the time, Norman Fowler. Tebbit held aloft a copy of the Treaty and asked the conference a series of questions about the Treaty: did they want to see a single currency or be citizens of a European Union? The audience shouted back "No!" after each question. Tebbit received a tumultuous standing ovation and walked into the centre of the conference hall waving amongst the cheers. Gyles Brandreth, a Conservative whip, wrote in his diary: The talk of the town is Norman Tebbit's vulgar grand-standing barn-storming performance on Europe. He savaged Maastricht, poured scorn on monetary union, patronised the PM...and brought the conference (or a good part of it) to its feet roaring for more. He stood there, arms aloft, acknowledging the ovation, Norman the conqueror. In his memoirs, Major accused Tebbit of hypocrisy and disloyalty because Tebbit had encouraged Conservative MPs to vote for the Single European Act in 1986 but was now campaigning for Maastricht's rejection. In March 2007, Tebbit became patron of the cross-party Better Off Out campaign, which advocated British withdrawal from the EU. Tebbit issued a statement explaining his support: From being a supporter of British membership of the Common Market in 1970 I have come to believe that the United Kingdom would be Better Off Out of the developing European Republic of the 21st century. We British have a thousand year history of self-government. We have been free and democratic longer than any other nation. The European Union is too diverse, too bureaucratic, too corporatist and too centralist to be a functioning democracy. We are happy to trade with our European friends and the rest of the world – but we would prefer to govern ourselves. Involvement with the Conservative Party after 1992. Tebbit privately said of John Major on 17 November 1994: "He has the mulishness of a weak man with stupidity". When asked what would it take for him to support Major, Tebbit responded: "Have an entirely new department, the sole job of which would be to deal with the Brussels machinery in every aspect. I agree that we don't want to leave the EU, but we've got to manipulate it and block every single advance we don't like. No, no, no must be his weapon. Veto everything he disapproves of or that we disapprove of". In 1995, Tebbit publicly backed John Redwood's bid for the Conservative Party leadership, praising his "brains, courage and humour". In an interview for the "New Statesman" magazine in June 2000, Tebbit praised Hague's right-ward shift and said that he had "never been a [Michael] Portillo fan". He also mused on not standing for the Conservative leadership after Thatcher's resignation: "When I look at what happened to the party, I tell myself that perhaps I failed in a duty. I suppose I am one of those who have it on my conscience that I allowed Mr Blair to become Prime Minister". When asked if he regretted also allowing Major to become Prime Minister, Tebbit responded: I helped him. If I'd opposed him, he wouldn't have been on the radar screen. I'd have been opposing Michael Heseltine. I had to make the decision quickly. I didn't want to go back on my word to my wife that I'd retired from front-line politics. How would it all work? Was No 10 suitable for someone in a wheelchair? All these things go through one's mind. Then if Michael had won...he would have had to ask me to join his government, and I didn't want that. I asked myself: why am I risking all this? And I made my decision...I might have been an absolute disaster in the job. It's possible. So I am left there. You can't rewrite it. You can't rerun it. In August 2002, Tebbit called on the then leader of the Conservatives, Iain Duncan Smith, to "clear out" Conservative Central Office of "squabbling children" who were involved with infighting within the Party. He named Mark MacGregor, a former leader of the Federation of Conservative Students which Tebbit disbanded for "loony Right libertarian politics", as one of them. Then, in October the same year, Tebbit accused a group of Conservative "modernisers" called "The Movement" of trying to get him expelled from the Party. Tebbit said that The Movement consisted of a "loose" grouping of thirteen members who had previously supported Kenneth Clarke and Michael Portillo for Party leader. Duncan Smith subsequently denied that Tebbit would ever be expelled and Thatcher publicly said she was "appalled" at attempts to have Tebbit expelled and telephoned him to say that she was "four square behind him". In February 2003, Tebbit gave a speech to an audience of the Chartered Institute of Journalists at London's Reform Club in Pall Mall, urging journalists to reject political correctness in favour of "open, honest and vigorous debate". He blamed "timid" politicians, including members of his own party, for allowing PC language and ideas to take hold in Britain by default. Tebbit backed David Davis for Party leader during the 2005 Conservative leadership election. On 30 January 2006, he accused the Conservative Party of abandoning the party's true supporters on the Right, and opposed the new Leader David Cameron's attempts "to reposition the party on the 'Left of the middle ground'". In an interview with "The Times" in September 2007, Tebbit said the Conservatives lack somebody of the standing of Thatcher, and said that although it did not matter if Cameron's team were educated at Eton, "what a lot of people will suggest is that they don't know how the other half lives. David and his colleagues – the very clever young men they have in Central Office these days – are very intellectually clever, but they have no experience of the world whatsoever. He has spent much of his time in the Conservative Party and as a public relations guy. Well, it's not the experience of most people in the streets. That's the real attack and that's damaging to him, I think". In February 2008, after a magazine article written by shadow education secretary Michael Gove, Tebbit publicly criticised what he characterised as "the poisonous tree of Blairism", which he said had been "planted" in the Conservative Party front bench. Tebbit is the vice-president of the Conservative Way Forward group. He continued his criticism of the Conservative Party's move to a more "centre-right" position by stating that their abandonment of the traditional right vote has created a political vacuum, contributing to the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), including two MP defections, both from the Conservatives. Tebbit retired from the House of Lords on 31 March 2022, under provision in the House of Lords Reform Act 2014. Other political views. Overseas aid. Speaking in the Lords on 26 November 1996, Lord Tebbit criticised aid to Africa, saying that most aid sent to Africa goes down a "sink of iniquity, corruption and violence" and does little to help the poor. A spokesman for the charity Oxfam said Tebbit's view was "simplistic and unhelpful". Later Lord Tebbit defended his statement that most money went "into the pockets" of politicians "to buy guns for warlords". Homosexuality. In a letter to "The Daily Telegraph" in November 1998, Tebbit said homosexuals should be barred from being Home Secretary. A Conservative Party spokesman said Tebbit was "out of touch" and the official spokesman for William Hague, then Conservative Party leader, said Hague disagreed with Tebbit. In 2013, he wrote in his "Telegraph" blog that his views concerning whether a homosexual person could be Home Secretary had changed. In 2004, he opposed the British Government's Civil Partnership Act 2004. In an interview for "The Big Issue" in May 2013, Lord Tebbit said that the coalition government's determination to pass the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill had alienated grassroots Tories. He also speculated that it could mean that a lesbian queen could give birth to a future monarch by artificial insemination, and that the legislation might allow him to marry his own son to escape inheritance tax. In 2018, Tebbit said that he would not attend services at St Edmundsbury Cathedral conducted by new dean Joe Hawes, because of Hawes' civil partnership with another clergyman. Tebbit described Hawes as a "sodomite". Hawes said that he felt "absolutely no ill will" towards Tebbit for his comments and stated: "I have always admired the way in which Lord Tebbit has cared for his wife with such devotion following the Brighton bomb." Northern Ireland. In October 1999, he spoke out against the plans to abolish the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Tebbit said he was against throwing the Constabulary's name and badge "into the modernisation trash can" and that the RUC had been "the thin green line standing between bloody anarchy and the rule of law". Tebbit also mocked Blair's pledge at the Labour conference to "set people free": "He has set them free. More than 250 terrorists, bombers and extortionists. Kneecappers, kidnappers, arsonists and killers have been set free. But their victims remain imprisoned. Some are imprisoned within broken bodies. Some imprisoned in grief for their loved ones. Some imprisoned by death in their graves". Other parties. In an article for "The Spectator" in May 2001 Tebbit said that retired British security service agents from the Foreign Office had infiltrated James Goldsmith's Referendum Party in the 1990s and then later infiltrated UKIP. Tebbit called for an independent enquiry into the matter. Miners' strike. In 2009, Tebbit said he had regrets about the 1984–1985 miners' strike: Those mining communities had good working class values and a sense of family values. The men did real men's heavy work going down the pit. There were also some very close-knit communities which were able to deal with the few troublesome kids. If they had any problems they would take the kid round the back and give them a good clip round the ear and that would be the end of that. Many of these communities were completely devastated, with people out of work turning to drugs and no real man's work because all the jobs had gone. There is no doubt that this led to a breakdown in these communities with families breaking up and youths going out of control. The scale of the closures went too far. The damage done to those communities was enormous as a result of the strike. Immigration. In June 2014, in response to an alleged Islamist plot to infiltrate schools in Birmingham, Tebbit wrote in "The Daily Telegraph", "No one should have been surprised at what was going on in schools in Birmingham. It is precisely what I was talking about over 20 years ago and Enoch Powell was warning against long before that. We have imported far too many immigrants who have come here not to live in our society, but to replicate here the society of their homelands." "Foreigners" speech. In 2017, Lord Tebbit criticised a Lords amendment to the Brexit bill which would guarantee the rights of EU citizens to live and work within the UK after Brexit. He also criticised the Lords for "thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners" and "[looking] after the foreigners and not the British", as Theresa May had hoped to leave this amendment out of the bill to secure the rights of British citizens living in EU countries post-Brexit. His comments produced "loud gasps" from the majority of peers (but gained audible support by a number on the Conservative benches), adding that "Of course we don't have the power to look after our citizens overseas, not in these days when we don't have many gunboats". Personal life. Lord Tebbit currently lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. He is an agnostic. He remarked tongue-in-cheek in a March 2011 interview, when asked whether he thinks God exists, "I'm not sure. He ought to. Things would work better." He has two sons and a daughter. He has been described as a 'keen amateur chef', and has published a book on cooking game. In December 2013, Tebbit suffered from a cardiac incident, praising the NHS for their quick and decisive action. In a May 2014 interview, he talked about discovering he had been suffering from a form of cardiac arrhythmia for more than 40 years: "The suspicion I had a heart problem caused me to puzzle over earlier incidents in my life," he said, reflecting on his RAF jet fighter crash in 1954. "I suspect that, that morning, stressed from the previous day and having had little sleep, I lost consciousness on that take-off run." Tebbit’s wife, Baroness Tebbit, died at home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 19 December 2020 at the age of 86 after having suffered from depression and dementia with Lewy bodies. In the media. In the late 1980s, Tebbit was frequently the target for stand-up comedian Ben Elton, who typically referred to him as "Normo Tebbs". Tebbit was interviewed about the rise of Thatcherism for the 2006 BBC TV documentary series "Tory! Tory! Tory!". In 2011, writing in his "Telegraph" blog, he uncharacteristically praised an article in "The Guardian" by Michael White. Tebbit cited White's article (an account of Pauline Pearce's visit to the 2011 Tory party conference) as being "a perfect illustration of my theory of the common ground of politics." Tebbit was portrayed as a sinister, leather-clad bovverboy beating up fellow cabinet members and keeping order in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, by the satirical TV puppet show, "Spitting Image". The Professor of English at University College London, John Mullan, has written: "In "Spitting Image" and probably the middle-class imagination, Norman Tebbit was given an Essex drag on his vowels which he hardly possessed. He should speak in that way because of what he represented". On 23 February 2010, Tebbit was alleged to have attacked a ceremonial Chinese dragon during a Chinese New Year parade in Bury St Edmunds. He is said to have been unaware it was Chinese New Year and to have "kicked the rear of a child who was dressed in the traditional costume of a dragon". Tebbit later said: "I don't think my reaction was extreme at all. I placed my hand on the drum so I could diminish the noise and asked the drummer what was going on and got a rap on the knuckles for my pain. I was then barged by the dragon. I barged it back and might have done something like kick it. I wasn't sure how to deal with it. I've never been barged by a dragon before". A local Conservative town councillor, Mr Chung, visited Tebbit the day after the incident and received an apology. Chung said: "I said his actions were upsetting. He apologised. He only then understood what he had done". In May 2009, Tebbit urged voters to snub the main three political parties in the upcoming EU Parliament election. Tebbit, who in March 2009 said that he would vote for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), stated: "Local elections, the great British public should just treat as normal", but suggested using the European election to send a message to the implicated parties. Tebbit said that there were a series of smaller parties people could vote for in addition to UKIP, including the Green Party, but he urged against voting for the British National Party. In July 2013, Tebbit was one of the guests on an episode of Peter Hennessy's BBC Radio 4 programme "Reflections" in which he talked about his life and career. Earlier that year he paid tribute to Margaret Thatcher, saying he wished there were "someone like her now". In 2016, Tebbit contributed an interview to the documentary film "". Work as a columnist. Tebbit was a columnist for "The Sun", 1995–7; "The Mail on Sunday", 1997–2001; "The Daily Telegraph" since 2010. Tebbit has also written for "The Guardian" and "New Statesman" in the past.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64962

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, choreographer and presenter. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time". He received numerous accolades including an Honorary Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was honored with the Film Society of Lincoln Center tribute in 1973, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, and AFI Life Achievement Award in 1980. He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1972, and the Television Hall of Fame in 1989. Astaire's career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He starred in more than 10 Broadway and West End musicals, made 31 musical films, four television specials, and numerous recordings. As a dancer, he was known for his uncanny sense of rhythm, creativity, and tireless perfectionism. Astaire's most memorable dancing partnership was with Ginger Rogers, whom he co-starred with in 10 Hollywood musicals during the classic age of Hollywood cinema, including "Top Hat" (1935), "Swing Time" (1936), and "Shall We Dance" (1937). Astaire's fame grew in films like "Holiday Inn" (1942), "Easter Parade" (1948), "The Band Wagon" (1953), "Funny Face" (1957), and "Silk Stockings" (1957). The American Film Institute named Astaire the fifth-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years... 100 Stars. Life and career. 1899–1916: Early life and career. Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz on May 10, 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus; 1878–1975) and Friedrich "Fritz" Emanuel Austerlitz (1868–1923), known in the U.S. as Frederic Austerlitz. Astaire's mother was born in the U.S. to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace. Astaire's father was born in Linz in Upper Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Catholic parents who had converted from Judaism. Astaire's father Fritz Austerlitz arrived in New York City at the age of 25 on October 26, 1893 at Ellis Island. Fritz was seeking work in the brewing trade and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he was employed by the Storz Brewing Company. Astaire's mother dreamed of escaping Omaha by means of her children's talents. Astaire's older sister Adele was an instinctive dancer and singer early in her childhood. Johanna planned a brother-and-sister act, common in vaudeville at the time, for her two children. Although Fred refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sister's steps and learned piano, accordion and clarinet. When their father lost his job, the family moved to New York City in January 1905 to launch the showbusiness careers of the children. They began training at the Alvieni Master School of the Theatre and Academy of Cultural Arts. Fred and Adele's mother suggested that they change their name to Astaire, as she felt that Austerlitz was reminiscent of the Battle of Austerlitz. Family legend attributes the name to an uncle surnamed L'Astaire. The children were taught dance, speaking and singing in preparation for developing an act. Their first act was called "Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty". Astaire wore a top hat and tails in the first half and a lobster outfit in the second. In an interview, Astaire's daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie, observed that he was often given a top hat to make him look taller. In November 1905, the comedic act debuted in Keyport, New Jersey at a "tryout theater." The local paper wrote that "the Astaires are the greatest child act in vaudeville." As a result of their father's salesmanship, Fred and Adele Astaire landed a major contract and played the Orpheum Circuit in the Midwest, West and some Southern cities in the U.S. Soon Adele grew to at least three inches taller than Fred, and the pair began to look incongruous. The family decided to take a two-year break from showbusiness to let time take its course and to avoid trouble from the Gerry Society and the child-labor laws of the time. In 1912, Astaire became an Episcopalian. The career of the Astaire siblings resumed with mixed fortunes, but with increasing skill and polish, as they began to incorporate tap dancing into their routines. Astaire's dancing was inspired by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and John "Bubbles" Sublett. From vaudeville dancer Aurelio Coccia they learned the tango, waltz and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle. Some sources state that the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film titled "Fanchon, the Cricket", starring Mary Pickford, but the Astaires have consistently denied this. By age 14, Astaire had assumed the musical responsibilities for their act. He first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remick's music publishing company, in 1916. Astaire had already been hunting for new music and dance ideas. Their chance meeting was to affect the careers of both artists profoundly. Astaire was always on the lookout for new steps on the circuit and was starting to demonstrate his quest for novelty and perfection. 1917–1933: Stage career on Broadway and in London. The Astaires broke into Broadway in 1917 with "Over the Top", a patriotic revue, and performed for U.S. and Allied troops at this time as well. They followed up with several more shows. Of their work in "The Passing Show of 1918", Heywood Broun wrote: "In an evening in which there was an abundance of good dancing, Fred Astaire stood out ... He and his partner, Adele Astaire, made the show pause early in the evening with a beautiful loose-limbed dance." Adele's sparkle and humor drew much of the attention, owing in part to Fred's careful preparation and sharp supporting choreography. She still set the tone of their act but by this time, Astaire's dancing skill was beginning to outshine his sister's. During the 1920s, Fred and Adele appeared on Broadway and the London stage. They won popular acclaim with the theater crowd on both sides of the Atlantic in shows such as Jerome Kern's "The Bunch and Judy" (1922), George and Ira Gershwin's "Lady, Be Good" (1924), and "Funny Face" (1927) and later in "The Band Wagon" (1931). Astaire's tap dancing was recognized by then as among the best. For example, Robert Benchley wrote in 1930, "I don't think that I will plunge the nation into war by stating that Fred is the greatest tap-dancer in the world." While in London, Fred studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music alongside his friend and colleague Noël Coward;, and in 1926, was one of the judges at the 'Charleston (dance) Championship of the World ' competition at the Royal Albert Hall, where Lew Grade was declared the winner. After the close of "Funny Face", the Astaires went to Hollywood for a screen test (now lost) at Paramount Pictures, but Paramount deemed them unsuitable for films. They split in 1932 when Adele married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, the second son of the 9th Duke of Devonshire. Fred went on to achieve success on his own on Broadway and in London with "Gay Divorce" (later made into the film "The Gay Divorcee") while considering offers from Hollywood. The end of the partnership was traumatic for Astaire but stimulated him to expand his range. Free of the brother-sister constraints of the former pairing and working with new partner Claire Luce, Fred created a romantic partnered dance to Cole Porter's "Night and Day", which had been written for "Gay Divorce". Luce stated that she had to encourage him to take a more romantic approach: "Come on, Fred, I'm not your sister, you know." The success of the stage play was credited to this number, and when recreated in "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), the film version of the play, it ushered in a new era in filmed dance. Recently, film footage taken by Fred Stone of Astaire performing in "Gay Divorce" with Luce's successor, Dorothy Stone, in New York in 1933 was uncovered by dancer and historian Betsy Baytos and now represents the earliest known performance footage of Astaire. 1933–1939: Astaire and Ginger Rogers at RKO. According to Hollywood folklore, a screen test report on Astaire for RKO Radio Pictures, now lost along with the test, is reported to have read: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." The producer of the Astaire–Rogers pictures, Pandro S. Berman, claimed he had never heard the story in the 1930s and that it only emerged years afterward. Astaire later clarified, insisting that the report had read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. "Also dances"." In any case, the test was clearly disappointing, and David O. Selznick, who had signed Astaire to RKO and commissioned the test, stated in a memo, "I am uncertain about the man, but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin line, that his charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched test." However, this did not affect RKO's plans for Astaire. They lent him for a few days to MGM in 1933 for his significant Hollywood debut in the successful musical film "Dancing Lady". In the movie, he appeared as himself dancing with Joan Crawford. On his return to RKO, he got fifth billing after fourth-billed Ginger Rogers in the 1933 Dolores del Río vehicle "Flying Down to Rio". In a review, "Variety" magazine attributed its massive success to Astaire's presence: The main point of "Flying Down to Rio" is the screen promise of Fred Astaire ... He's assuredly a bet after this one, for he's distinctly likable on the screen, the mike is kind to his voice and as a dancer, he remains in a class by himself. The latter observation will be no news to the profession, which has long admitted that Astaire starts dancing where the others stop hoofing. Having already been linked to his sister Adele on stage, Astaire was initially very reluctant to become part of another dance team. He wrote his agent, "I don't mind making another picture with her, but as for this 'team' idea, it's 'out!' I've just managed to live down one partnership and I don't want to be bothered with any more." However, he was persuaded by the apparent public appeal of the Astaire–Rogers pairing. The partnership, and the choreography of Astaire and Hermes Pan, helped make dancing an important element of the Hollywood film musical. Astaire and Rogers made nine films together at RKO: "Flying Down to Rio" (1933), "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Roberta" (1935, in which Astaire also demonstrates his oft-overlooked piano skills with a spirited solo on "I Won't Dance"), "Top Hat" (1935), "Follow the Fleet" (1936), "Swing Time" (1936), "Shall We Dance" (1937), "Carefree" (1938), and "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" (1939). Six out of the nine Astaire–Rogers musicals became the biggest moneymakers for RKO; all of the films brought a certain prestige and artistry that all studios coveted at the time. Their partnership elevated them both to stardom; as Katharine Hepburn reportedly said, "He gives her class and she gives him sex appeal." Astaire received a percentage of the films' profits, something scarce in actors' contracts at that time. Innovations. Astaire revolutionized dance on film by having complete autonomy over its presentation. He is credited with two important innovations in early film musicals. First, he insisted that a closely tracking dolly camera film a dance routine in as few shots as possible, typically with just four to eight cuts, while holding the dancers in full view at all times. This gave the illusion of an almost stationary camera filming an entire dance in a single shot. Astaire famously quipped: "Either the camera will dance, or I will." Astaire maintained this policy from "The Gay Divorcee" in 1934 until his last film musical, "Finian's Rainbow" in 1968, when director Francis Ford Coppola overruled him. Astaire's style of dance sequences allowed the viewer to follow the dancers and choreography in their entirety. This style differed strikingly from those in the Busby Berkeley musicals. Those musicals' sequences were filled with extravagant aerial shots, dozens of cuts for quick takes, and zooms on areas of the body such as a chorus row of arms or legs. Astaire's second innovation involved the context of the dance; he was adamant that all song and dance routines be integral to the plotlines of the film. Instead of using dance as a spectacle as Busby Berkeley did, Astaire used it to move the plot along. Typically, an Astaire picture would include at least three standard dances. One would be a solo performance by Astaire, which he termed his "sock solo". Another would be a partnered comedy dance routine. Finally, he would include a partnered romantic dance routine. Assessment of the Rogers partnership. Dance commentators Arlene Croce, Hannah Hyam and John Mueller consider Rogers to have been Astaire's greatest dance partner, a view shared by Hermes Pan and Stanley Donen. Film critic Pauline Kael adopts a more neutral stance, while "Time" magazine film critic Richard Schickel writes "The nostalgia surrounding Rogers–Astaire tends to bleach out other partners." Mueller sums up Rogers's abilities as follows: Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners not because she was superior to others as a dancer, but because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began ... the reason so many women have fantasized about dancing with Fred Astaire is that Ginger Rogers conveyed the impression that dancing with him is the most thrilling experience imaginable. According to Astaire, "Ginger had never danced with a partner before "Flying Down to Rio". She faked it an awful lot. She couldn't tap and she couldn't do this and that ... but Ginger had style and talent and improved as she went along. She got so that after a while everyone else who danced with me looked wrong." On p. 162 of his book "Ginger: Salute to a Star", author Dick Richards quotes Astaire saying to Raymond Rohauer, curator of the New York Gallery of Modern Art, "Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually, she made things very fine for both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success." In 1976, British talk-show host Michael Parkinson asked Astaire who his favorite dancing partner was on "Parkinson". At first, Astaire refused to answer but, ultimately, he said "Excuse me, I must say Ginger was certainly, [uh, uh,] the one. You know, the most effective partner I ever had. Everyone knows." Rogers described Astaire's uncompromising standards extending to the whole production: "Sometimes he'll think of a new line of dialogue or a new angle for the story ... they never know what time of night he'll call up and start ranting enthusiastically about a fresh idea ... No loafing on the job on an Astaire picture, and no cutting corners." Despite their success, Astaire was unwilling to have his career tied exclusively to any partnership. He negotiated with RKO to strike out on his own with "A Damsel in Distress" in 1937 with an inexperienced, non-dancing Joan Fontaine, unsuccessfully as it turned out. He returned to make two more films with Rogers, "Carefree" (1938) and "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" (1939). While both films earned respectable gross incomes, they both lost money because of increased production costs, and Astaire left RKO, after being labeled "box office poison" by the "Independent Theatre Owners of America". Astaire was reunited with Rogers in 1949 at MGM for their final outing, "The Barkleys of Broadway", the only one of their films together to be shot in Technicolor. 1940–1947: "Holiday Inn", early retirement. Astaire left RKO in 1939 to freelance and pursue new film opportunities, with mixed though generally successful outcomes. Throughout this period, Astaire continued to value the input of choreographic collaborators. Unlike the 1930s when he worked almost exclusively with Hermes Pan, he tapped the talents of other choreographers to innovate continually. His first post-Ginger dance partner was the redoubtable Eleanor Powell, considered the most exceptional female tap-dancer of her generation. They starred in "Broadway Melody of 1940", in which they performed a celebrated extended dance routine to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine". In his autobiography "Steps in Time", Astaire remarked, "She 'put 'em down' like a man, no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff with Ellie. She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself." He played alongside Bing Crosby in "Holiday Inn" (1942) and later "Blue Skies" (1946). But, in spite of the enormous financial success of both, he was reportedly dissatisfied with roles where he lost the girl to Crosby. The former film is memorable for his virtuoso solo dance to "Let's Say it with Firecrackers". The latter film featured "Puttin' On the Ritz", an innovative song-and-dance routine indelibly associated with him. Other partners during this period included Paulette Goddard in "Second Chorus" (1940), in which he dance-conducted the Artie Shaw orchestra. He made two pictures with Rita Hayworth. The first film, "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941), catapulted Hayworth to stardom. In the movie, Astaire integrated for the third time Latin American dance idioms into his style (the first being with Ginger Rogers in "The Carioca" number from "Flying Down to Rio" (1933) and the second, again with Rogers, was the "Dengozo" dance from "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" (1939)). His second film with Hayworth, "You Were Never Lovelier" (1942), was equally successful. It featured a duet to Kern's "I'm Old Fashioned", which became the centerpiece of Jerome Robbins's 1983 New York City Ballet tribute to Astaire. He next appeared opposite the seventeen-year-old Joan Leslie in the wartime comedy "The Sky's the Limit" (1943). In it, he introduced Arlen and Mercer's "One for My Baby" while dancing on a bar counter in a dark and troubled routine. Astaire choreographed this film alone and achieved modest box office success. It represented a notable departure for Astaire from his usual charming, happy-go-lucky screen persona, and confused contemporary critics. His next partner, Lucille Bremer, was featured in two lavish vehicles, both directed by Vincente Minnelli. The fantasy "Yolanda and the Thief" (1945) featured an avant-garde surrealistic ballet. In the musical revue "Ziegfeld Follies" (1945), Astaire danced with Gene Kelly to the Gershwin song "The Babbit and the Bromide", a song Astaire had introduced with his sister Adele back in 1927. While "Follies" was a hit, "Yolanda" bombed at the box office. Always insecure and believing his career was beginning to falter, Astaire surprised his audiences by announcing his retirement during the production of his next film, "Blue Skies" (1946). He nominated "Puttin' on the Ritz" as his farewell dance. After announcing his retirement in 1946, Astaire concentrated on his horse-racing interests and in 1947 founded the Fred Astaire Dance Studios, which he subsequently sold in 1966. 1948–1957: MGM films and second retirement. Astaire's retirement did not last long. He returned to the big screen to replace an injured Gene Kelly in "Easter Parade" (1948) opposite Judy Garland, Ann Miller, and Peter Lawford. He followed up with a final reunion with Rogers (replacing Judy Garland) in "The Barkleys of Broadway" (1949). Both of these films revived Astaire's popularity and in 1950 he starred in two musicals. "Three Little Words" with Vera-Ellen and Red Skelton was for MGM. "Let's Dance" with Betty Hutton was on loan-out to Paramount. While "Three Little Words" did quite well at the box office, "Let's Dance" was a financial disappointment. "Royal Wedding" (1951) with Jane Powell and Peter Lawford proved to be very successful, but "The Belle of New York" (1952) with Vera-Ellen was a critical and box-office disaster. "The Band Wagon" (1953) received rave reviews from critics and drew huge crowds. However, because of its high cost, it failed to make a profit on its first release. Soon after, Astaire, like the other remaining stars at MGM, was let go from his contract because of the advent of television and the downsizing of film production. In 1954, Astaire was about to start work on a new musical, "Daddy Long Legs" (1955) with Leslie Caron at 20th Century Fox. Then, his wife Phyllis became ill and suddenly died of lung cancer. Astaire was so bereft that he wanted to shut down the picture and offered to pay the production costs out of his pocket. However, Johnny Mercer, the film's composer, and Fox studio executives convinced him that work would be the best thing for him. "Daddy Long Legs" did only moderately well at the box office. His next film for Paramount, "Funny Face" (1957), teamed him with Audrey Hepburn and Kay Thompson. Despite the sumptuousness of the production and the good reviews from critics, it failed to make back its cost. Similarly, Astaire's next project – his final musical at MGM, "Silk Stockings" (1957), in which he co-starred with Cyd Charisse – also lost money at the box office. Afterward, Astaire announced that he was retiring from dancing in films. His legacy at this point was 30 musical films in 25 years. 1957–1981: Television specials, serious roles. Astaire did not retire from dancing altogether. He made a series of four highly rated Emmy Award-winning musical specials for television in 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1968. Each featured Barrie Chase, with whom Astaire enjoyed a renewed period of dance creativity. The first of these programs, 1958's "An Evening with Fred Astaire", won nine Emmy Awards, including "Best Single Performance by an Actor" and "Most Outstanding Single Program of the Year". It was also noteworthy for being the first major broadcast to be prerecorded on color videotape. Astaire won the Emmy for Best Single Performance by an Actor. The choice had a controversial backlash because many believed his dancing in the special was not the type of "acting" for which the award was designed. At one point, Astaire offered to return the award, but the Television Academy refused to consider it. A restoration of the program won a technical Emmy in 1988 for Ed Reitan, Don Kent, and Dan Einstein. They restored the original videotape, transferring its contents to a modern format and filling in gaps where the tape had deteriorated with kinescope footage. Astaire played Julian Osborne, a non-dancing character, in the nuclear war drama "On the Beach" (1959). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor award for his performance, losing to Stephen Boyd in "Ben-Hur". Astaire appeared in non-dancing roles in three other films and several television series from 1957 to 1969. Astaire's last major musical film was "Finian's Rainbow" (1968), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Astaire shed his white tie and tails to play an Irish rogue who believes that if he buries a crock of gold in the shadows of Fort Knox the gold will multiply. Astaire's dance partner was Petula Clark, who played his character's skeptical daughter. He described himself as nervous about singing with her, while she said she was worried about dancing with him. The film was a modest success both at the box office and among critics. Astaire continued to act in the 1970s. He appeared on television as the father of Robert Wagner's character, Alexander Mundy, in "It Takes a Thief". In the movie "The Towering Inferno" (1974), he danced with Jennifer Jones and received his only Academy Award nomination, in the category of Best Supporting Actor. He voiced the mailman narrator S.D Kluger in the 1970s Rankin/Bass animated television specials "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and "The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town". Astaire also appeared in the first two "That's Entertainment!" documentaries, in the mid-1970s. In the second compilation, aged seventy-six, he performed brief dance linking sequences with Kelly, his last dance performances in a musical film. In the summer of 1975, he made three albums in London, "Attitude Dancing", "They Can't Take These Away from Me", and "A Couple of Song and Dance Men", the last an album of duets with Bing Crosby. In 1976, Astaire played a supporting role, as a dog owner, in the cult movie "The Amazing Dobermans", co-starring Barbara Eden and James Franciscus, and played Dr. Seamus Scully in the French film "The Purple Taxi" (1977). In 1978, he co-starred with Helen Hayes in a well received television film "A Family Upside Down" in which they played an elderly couple coping with failing health. Astaire won an Emmy Award for his performance. He made a well publicized guest appearance on the science-fiction television series "Battlestar Galactica" in 1979, as Chameleon, the possible father of Starbuck, in "The Man with Nine Lives", a role written for him by Donald P. Bellisario. Astaire asked his agent to obtain a role for him on "Galactica" because of his grandchildren's interest in the series and the producers were delighted at the opportunity to create an entire episode to feature him. This episode marked the final time that he danced on screen, in this case with Anne Jeffreys. He acted in nine different roles in "The Man in the Santa Claus Suit" in 1979. His final film was the 1981 adaptation of Peter Straub's novel "Ghost Story". This horror film was also the last for two of his most prominent castmates, Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Working methods and influence on filmed dance. Astaire was a virtuoso dancer, able when called for to convey light-hearted venturesomeness or deep emotion. His technical control and sense of rhythm were astonishing. Long after the photography for the solo dance number "I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man" was completed for the 1952 feature "The Belle of New York", it was decided that Astaire's humble costume and the threadbare stage set were inadequate and the entire sequence was reshot. The 1994 documentary "That's Entertainment! III" shows the two performances side by side in split-screen. Frame for frame, the two performances are identical, down to the subtlest gesture. Astaire's execution of a dance routine was prized for its elegance, grace, originality, and precision. He drew from a variety of influences, including tap and other black rhythms, classical dance, and the elevated style of Vernon and Irene Castle. His was a uniquely recognizable dance style that greatly influenced the American Smooth style of ballroom dance and set standards against which subsequent film dance musicals would be judged. He termed his eclectic approach "outlaw style", an unpredictable and instinctive blending of personal artistry. His dances are economical yet endlessly nuanced. As Jerome Robbins stated, "Astaire's dancing looks so simple, so disarming, so easy, yet the understructure, the way he sets the steps on, over or against the music, is so surprising and inventive." Astaire further observed: Although Astaire was the primary choreographer of all his dance routines, he welcomed the input of collaborators and notably his principal collaborator Hermes Pan. But dance historian John Mueller believes that Astaire acted as the lead choreographer in his solos and partnered dances throughout his career. He notes Astaire's dance style was consistent in subsequent films made with or without the assistance of Pan. Furthermore, Astaire choreographed all the routines during his Broadway career with his sister Adele. Later in his career, he became a little more amenable to accepting the direction of his collaborators. However, this was almost always confined to the area of extended fantasy sequences, or dream ballets. Occasionally Astaire took joint screen credit for choreography or dance direction, but he usually left the screen credit to his collaborator. This can lead to the completely misleading impression that Astaire merely performed the choreography of others. Later in life, he admitted, "I had to do most of it myself." Frequently, a dance sequence was built around two or three key ideas, sometimes inspired by his steps or by the music itself, suggesting a particular mood or action. Caron said that while Kelly danced close to the ground, she felt like she was floating with Astaire. Many dance routines were built around a "gimmick", like dancing on the walls in "Royal Wedding" or dancing with his shadows in "Swing Time". He or his collaborator would think of these routines earlier and save them for the right situation. They would spend weeks creating all the dance sequences in a secluded rehearsal space before filming would begin. They would work with a rehearsal pianist (often the composer Hal Borne) who in turn would communicate modifications to the musical orchestrators. His perfectionism was legendary, but his relentless insistence on rehearsals and retakes was a burden to some. When time approached for the shooting of a number, Astaire would rehearse for another two weeks and record the singing and music. With all the preparation completed, the actual shooting would go quickly, conserving costs. Astaire agonized during the process, frequently asking colleagues for acceptance for his work. As Vincente Minnelli stated, "He lacks confidence to the most enormous degree of all the people in the world. He will not even go to see his rushes ... He always thinks he is no good." As Astaire himself observed, "I've never yet got anything 100% right. Still, it's never as bad as I think it is." Michael Kidd, Astaire's co-choreographer on the 1953 film "The Band Wagon", found that his own concern about the emotional motivation behind the dance was not shared by Astaire. Kidd later recounted: "Technique was important to him. He'd say, 'Let's do the steps. Let's add the looks later. Although he viewed himself primarily as an entertainer, his artistry won him the admiration of twentieth-century dancers such as Gene Kelly, George Balanchine, the Nicholas Brothers, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Margot Fonteyn, Bob Fosse, Gregory Hines, Rudolf Nureyev, Michael Jackson, and Bill Robinson. Balanchine compared him to Bach, describing him as "", while for Baryshnikov he was "." He concluded, "No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business." Influence on popular song. Extremely modest about his singing abilities (he frequently claimed that he could not sing, but the critics rated him as among the finest), Astaire introduced some of the most celebrated songs from the Great American Songbook, in particular, Cole Porter's: "Night and Day" in "Gay Divorce" (1932); "So Near and Yet So Far" in "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941); Irving Berlin's "Isn't This a Lovely Day?", "Cheek to Cheek", and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" in "Top Hat" (1935); "Let's Face the Music and Dance" in "Follow the Fleet" (1936); and "Change Partners" in "Carefree" (1938). He first presented Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight" in "Swing Time" (1936), the Gershwins' "They Can't Take That Away from Me" in "Shall We Dance" (1937), "A Foggy Day" and "Nice Work if You Can Get it" in "A Damsel in Distress" (1937), Johnny Mercer's "One for My Baby" from "The Sky's the Limit" (1943), "Something's Gotta Give" from "Daddy Long Legs" (1955); and Harry Warren and Arthur Freed's "This Heart of Mine" from "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946). Astaire also co-introduced a number of song classics via song duets with his partners. For example, with his sister Adele, he co-introduced the Gershwins' "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" from "Stop Flirting" (1923), "Fascinating Rhythm" in "Lady, Be Good" (1924), "Funny Face" in "Funny Face" (1927), and, in duets with Ginger Rogers, he presented Irving Berlin's "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket" in "Follow the Fleet" (1936), Jerome Kern's "Pick Yourself Up" and "A Fine Romance" in "Swing Time" (1936), along with the Gershwins' "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from "Shall We Dance" (1937). With Judy Garland, he sang Irving Berlin's "A Couple of Swells" from "Easter Parade" (1948); and, with Jack Buchanan, Oscar Levant, and Nanette Fabray he delivered Arthur Schwartz's and Howard Dietz's "That's Entertainment!" from "The Band Wagon" (1953). Although he possessed a light voice, he was admired for his lyricism, diction, and phrasing—the grace and elegance so prized in his dancing seemed to be reflected in his singing, a capacity for synthesis which led Burton Lane to describe him as "the world's greatest musical performer". Irving Berlin considered Astaire the equal of any male interpreter of his songs—"as good as Jolson, Crosby or Sinatra, not necessarily because of his voice, but for his conception of projecting a song." Jerome Kern considered him the supreme male interpreter of his songs and Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer also admired his unique treatment of their work. And while George Gershwin was somewhat critical of Astaire's singing abilities, he wrote many of his most memorable songs for him. In his heyday, Astaire was referenced in lyrics of songwriters Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart and Eric Maschwitz and continues to inspire modern songwriters. Astaire was a songwriter, with "I'm Building Up to an Awful Letdown" (written with lyricist Johnny Mercer) reaching number four in the Hit parade of 1936. He recorded his own "It's Just Like Taking Candy from a Baby" with Benny Goodman in 1940 and nurtured a lifelong ambition to be a successful popular song composer. In 1952, Astaire recorded "The Astaire Story", a four-volume album with a quintet led by Oscar Peterson. The album, produced by Norman Granz, provided a musical overview of Astaire's career. "The Astaire Story" later won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999, a special Grammy award to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance". Personal life. Astaire married 25-year-old Phyllis Potter in 1933 (formerly Phyllis Livingston Baker [1908–1954]), a Boston-born New York socialite and former wife of Eliphalet Nott Potter III (1906–1981), despite his mother's and sister's objections. Phyllis's death from lung cancer at the age of 46 ended 21 years of marriage and left Astaire devastated. Astaire attempted to drop out of the film "Daddy Long Legs" (1955), offering to pay the production costs to date, but was persuaded to stay. In addition to Phyllis Potter's son, Eliphalet IV (known as Peter), the Astaires had two children, Fred, Jr. (1936), and Ava (1942). Astaire's son appeared with him in the movie "Midas Run". Intensely private, Fred Astaire was rarely seen on the Hollywood social scene. Instead, he devoted his spare time to his family and his hobbies, which included horse racing, playing the drums, songwriting, and golfing. He was good friends with David Niven, Randolph Scott, Clark Gable and Gregory Peck. Niven described him as "a pixie—timid, always warm-hearted, with a penchant for schoolboy jokes." In 1946, his horse Triplicate won the Hollywood Gold Cup and San Juan Capistrano Handicap. He remained physically active well into his eighties. He took up skateboarding in his late seventies and was awarded a life membership in the National Skateboard Society. At 78, he broke his left wrist while skateboarding in his driveway. He also had an interest in boxing and true crime. Astaire was a Republican and a charter member of the Hollywood Republican Committee. Always immaculately turned out, Astaire and Cary Grant were called "the best-dressed actor[s] in American movies". Astaire remained a male fashion icon even into his later years, eschewing his trademark top hat, white tie, and tails, which he hated. Instead, he favored a breezy casual style of tailored sport jackets, colored shirts, and slacks—the latter usually held up by the distinctive use of an old tie or silk scarf in place of a belt. On June 24, 1980, at the age of 81, he married a second time. Robyn Smith was 45 years his junior and a jockey who rode for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr. (she also dated Vanderbilt in the 1970s), and appeared on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" on July 31, 1972. Astaire's life has never been portrayed on film. He always refused permission for such portrayals, saying, "However much they offer me—and offers come in all the time—I shall not sell." Astaire's will included a clause requesting that no such portrayal ever take place; he commented, "It is there because I have no particular desire to have my life misinterpreted, which it would be." On December 5, 2021, Tom Holland announced that he would be portraying Astaire in an upcoming biopic, which attracted criticism due to the clause. Death. Astaire died of pneumonia on June 22, 1987, at the age of 88. His body was buried at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65359

Newquay

Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with a spaceport, and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall, approximately north of Truro and west of Bodmin. The town is bounded to the south by the River Gannel and its associated salt marsh, and to the north-east by the Porth Valley. The western edge of the town meets the Atlantic at Fistral Bay. The town has been expanding inland (south) since the former fishing village of New Quay began to grow in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 2001, the census recorded a permanent population of 19,562, increasing to 20,342 at the 2011 census and 23,600 in 2021. Recent estimates suggest that the total population for the wider Newquay area (Newquay and St Columb Community Network Area) was 27,682 in 2017, projected to rise to 33,463 by 2025. History. Prehistoric period. There are some pre-historic burial mounds and an embankment on the area now known as "The Barrowfields", from Trevelgue. There were once up to fifteen barrows, but now only a few remain. Excavations here have revealed charred cooking pots and a coarse pottery burial urn containing remains of a Bronze Age chieftain, who was buried here up to 3,500 years ago. In 1987, evidence of a Bronze Age village was found at "Trethellan Farm", a site that overlooks the River Gannel. The first signs of settlement in the Newquay region consist of a late Iron Age hill fort/industrial centre which exploited the nearby abundant resources (including deposits of iron) and the superior natural defences provided by Trevelgue Head. It is claimed that occupation of the site was continuous from the 3rd century BC to the 5th or 6th century AD. A Dark Ages house was later built on the head. Medieval period & early mentions of Newquay. The curve of the headland around what is now known as Newquay harbour provided natural protection from bad weather and a small fishing village grew up in the area. When the village was first occupied is unknown but it is not mentioned in the "Domesday Book", although a parcel of land was recorded at Treninnick, which is now part of suburban Newquay. Treninnick was then part of the manor of Coswarth and consisted of one virgate (value 15d) [some 30 acres or 12 hectares] with five sheep. The village of Crantock is the only other recognisable name in the Newquay area also recorded in Domesday, (as "Langoroch"). By the 15th century, a village referred to as "Keye" existed around the present harbour, near "Tewynblustri" (the spelling changed as Cornish evolved and is now rendered as "Towan Blystra"). Towan (or Tewynn) means dune or sand hill in Cornish, but the meaning of "blustri" or "blystra" is unknown. Some sources have suggested in the past that it meant boats, but this claim is not supported by modern authorities and is dismissed by Padel in his dictionary of Cornish place names. The Settlement of Towan & New Keye. Thomas Martyn's map of 1784 (Dedicated to Robert Hoblyn of Nanswhyden) mentions the settlements of which modern day Newquay is within. A small collection of cottages (where the present day Central Inn is located) was known as 'Towan'. This small settlement was some away from 'New Keye' linked to it by a track which has become modern Fore Street. 'New Keye' was referred to the Harbour which was within the Manor of Towan Blystra which is often mistaken as the cornish equivalent of Newquay. There is no record of "Newquay" as a name ever being rendered in Cornish. Although it was sheltered from prevailing westerly winds, the anchorage was exposed to winds from the north east. Funds to build a ‘new quay’. On the 10th January 1439 the local burgesses applied to Edmund Lacey, Bishop of Exeter for leave and funds raised through the mechanism of an indulgence, to build a new quay from which the town would later derive its modern name. However, this appeal did not succeed, and the harbour remained largely undeveloped until the early 17th century, although it is thought to have had a succession of short wooden piers since the 15th century, and possibly before that. Richard Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, published in 1602, includes the lines: “Neyther may I omit newe Kaye, a place in the North coast of this Hundred, so called, because in former times, the neighbours attempted, to supplie the defect of nature, by Art, in making there a Kay, for the Rode of shipping, which conceyt they still retayne, though want of means in themselves, or the place, have left the effect in Nubibus [unfulfilled].” In 1615 Thomas Stuer, who was Lord of the Manor, applied for permission to build a single pier, and the development of the modern harbour then began. The Huer's Hut. The Huer's Hut at Newquay, Cornwall served as a lookout point from which a man known as a huer could keep watch for the arrival of the pilchards. They could be discerned by the water turning a dark reddish-brown and by the flocks of seagulls which dived down to feed on the fish. The huer would announce the arrival by shouting "hevva, hevva" or through the use of a trumpet after which he would direct the townsfolk to the fish by waving tree branches above his head. The word huer has the same derivation as the "hue" in hue and cry, after this action. The Huer's Hut at Newquay has been described as "a particularly fine late mediaeval specimen". The listed building description states that the current structure dates from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, though a plaque on the structure claims 14th-century origins. The plaque also states that the structure may have been used at an earlier time as a hermitage and lighthouse. The structure was restored in 1836, at which point the fireplace may have been significantly altered. It received protection as a listed building (under the name "Huer's House") on 24 October 1951 and is currently categorised as grade II* Dr William Borlase visit in 1755. Dr William Borlase, who was a Cornish antiquarian and the Rector of Ludgvan, visited Towan Blystra in 1755 during a tour of Cornwall. He wrote: "Passed the Ganel and went about a mile further to a place of about twelve houses called Town Blystra, a furlong further to the New Quay in St Columb Parish, here is a little pier, the north point of which is fixed on a rock, the end in a cliff; at the eastern end there is a gap cult [cut] about 25 feet wide into the slaty rock of the cliff: This gap lets small ships into a basin which may hold about six ships of about 80 tons burthen and at spring tides has 18 feet of water in it, upon the brow of the cliff is a dwelling house and a commodious cellar lately built." 1801–1900. The first national British census of 1801 recorded around 1,300 inhabitants in the settlement (enumerated as a village under St Columb Minor parish). In 1832 the London-based entrepreneur Richard Lomax bought the manor of Towan Blystra. This included the small harbour at what was becoming known as New Quay. The proposal included a description of New Quay and Towan and the unpaved track between the settlements. It also showed some buildings including an inn, (this was rebuilt in 1859 and is now known as The Central), cottages along what would become Bank Street and other structures connected with the fishing industry, such as cellars, where the fish were dried and packed in barrels. Lomax began the construction of the north and south quay, but he died in 1837 before his harbour had been completed. The harbour was at its most prosperous in the 25 years following its purchase in the 1870s by the Cornwall Minerals Railway. In 1872 the middle jetty was added to expand capacity. To the north of the harbour there were fish cellars in the 19th century, where pilchards were salted and packed in casks. The two remaining areas are Fly cellars and Active cellars, although the others have disappeared. A mansion called the Tower was built for the Molesworth family in 1835: it included a castellated tower and a private chapel as they were Roman Catholics and no church for that denomination existed in the area. The Tower later became the golf club house. After the arrival of passenger trains in June 1876, the village around the port of Newquay started to grow quickly. Several major hotels were built around the end of the 19th century, the first being the Great Western Hotel which opened in 1879 on Station Road, now Cliff Road. Other early 'grand' hotels included the Victoria (1899), the Atlantic (1892) and the Headland (1900) near Fistral, while many smaller hotels were emerging, many were created around this period by converting large houses, with many originally built by wealthy visitors as holiday homes, particularly along Narrowcliff. 1901–2000. Three churches were built early in the twentieth century, including the present day parish church of St Michael the Archangel, which was consecrated in 1911. Growth of the town eastwards soon reached the area around the railway station: Station Road became Cliff Road around 1930, and the houses beyond, along Narrowcliff, were also converted into hotels. Narrowcliff was known for a while as Narrowcliff Promenade, and then Narrowcliff Road. On some pre-war maps, it is spelt Narrowcliffe. At the time of the First World War the last buildings at the edge of the town were a little further along present-day Narrowcliff. Post-war development saw new houses and streets built in the Chester Road area, accompanied by ribbon development along the country lane which led to St Columb Minor, some away. This thoroughfare was modernised and named Henver Road, also some time in the 1930s. Development continued in this direction until the Second World War, by which time much of Henver Road had houses on both sides, with considerable infilling also taking place between there and the sea. A thriving knitting industry became established in Newquay in the early part of the 20th century. In 1905, Madame Hawke began selling machine-knitted garments in a shop in the centre of the town. Debenhams was sent a sample of her work and commissioned her as a supplier. She opened a factory in Crantock Street, which has since been converted into housing. Several competing knitting companies were also set up in the town in this period. In the early 1950s, the last houses were built along Henver Road. After that, there was a virtually continuous building line on both sides of the main road from the other side of St Columb Minor right into the town centre. The Doublestiles estate to the north of Henver Road was also built in the early 1950s, as the name of Coronation Way indicates, and further development continued beyond, becoming the Lewarne Estate and extending the built up area to the edges of Porth. Other areas also developed in the period between the wars were Pentire (known for a time as West Newquay) and the Trenance Valley. Other streets dating from the 1920s included St Thomas Road, which provided the approach to the town's new cottage hospital at its far end, to be followed by others in the same area near the station, such as Pargolla Road. More recent development has been on a larger scale: until the late 1960s, a passenger arriving by train would not have seen a building by the line (with the exception of Trencreek village) until the Trenance Viaduct was reached. Today, the urban area starts a good inland from the viaduct. Other growth areas have been on the fringes of St Columb Minor and also towards the Gannel. More development beyond Treninnick, south of the Trenance Valley, has taken the urban area out as far as Lane, where more building is now under way. The Trennnick/Treloggan development, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, included not merely housing but also an industrial estate and several large commercial outlets, including a major supermarket and a cash and carry warehouse. Modern period since 2001. One of the UK's worst hotel fires occurred in the town in 2007 in the Penhallow Hotel fire. The first phase of a new Duchy of Cornwall development began to be built in 2012 at Tregunnel Hill, which was sometimes unofficially called Surfbury after the similar Poundbury development in Dorset. It has 174 houses of traditional designs. There is now a similar but much more substantial development in progress inland, and construction on a large site known as Nansledan ('broad valley' in Cornish) is now apparent along the Quintrell Road. Plans were approved for the development of 800 homes at Nansledan in December 2013, but the plan now includes more than 4,000 homes, shops, a supermarket, church and a 14-classroom primary school which opened to its first pupils in September 2019. Following the example set at Tregunnel Hill, the buildings are again of traditional designs and all street names are in Cornish. Places like Trencreek, Porth and St Columb Minor have long since become suburbs of Newquay: it had been reported that it was possible that by the 2030s, should present development trends continue, the south eastern edge of the town could stretch beyond the present boundary set by Nansledan and encompass Quintrell Downs, from the town centre. However, the Newquay Neighbourhood Development Plan, which was approved in a referendum held on 6 April 2019, said it was important to retain a 'green buffer' between Newquay and Quintrell Downs. In April 2012 the Aerohub enterprise zone for aerospace businesses was set up at Newquay Airport. In September 2014, the UK's Homes and Communities Agency and the European Regional Development Fund agreed to fund the construction of a £6 million Aerohub Business Park there. A plan to launch space vehicles from a new spaceport alongside the airport moved ahead in July 2018 when a contract was signed with Virgin Orbit. The first launch from the spaceport, named Spaceport Cornwall, took place on 9 January 2023. The initial launch of the LauncherOne rocket from the carrier aircraft, "Cosmic Girl", was successful but the rocket's second stage suffered an anomaly and the vehicle and payload satellites failed to reach orbit. Local Government. The Borough of Restormel was one of the six administrative divisions that made up the county. It formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of the borough of St. Austell with Fowey, Newquay urban district and St Austell Rural District. The district was abolished as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England on 1 April 2009. Cornwall became a unitary authority and there has been a two-tier structure of local government: Cornwall Council (administers, for example, schools and highways, housing, social services, harbour, refuse and recycling collection, street cleanliness; the town is represented by the Newquay division) In 2010 the St Austell and Newquay Parliament constituency was formed. Steve Double has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Austell and Newquay since 2015. Churches. The first Methodist preaching at Newquay was recorded by Richard Treffy in 1802, an innkeeper, Carter, being the host. In 1810, preacher William O'Bryan came to Newquay and formed the nucleus of the first Methodist Society. The Society, later known as the Bible Christians or 'Bryanites', built a chapel in the Deer Park, now Sydney Road. The Baptists were the first to have a building. The Newquay Baptist Church, formerly the Ebenezer Baptist Chapel founded in 1822, is one of the oldest religious buildings in Newquay. The worshippers at Ebenezer were Strict and Particular, or Calvinistic Baptists. The first Methodist chapel was built in 1833, at a cost of £170. It was originally built as Crantock Street Methodist Chapel in 1833, the second such Methodist building in Newquay. Some members left in 1852, while the rest moved to the Steps Chapel in 1865. Following a visit by General Bramwell Booth in 1924, the building was taken over by the Salvation Army in 1926, just as the mineral railway it overlooked was being closed down. Before the Baptist chapel was built the Strict Baptists formed themselves into a community and met for worship in the old malthouse opposite Primrose House on Beach Road. They had a regular Sunday supply of preachers from Plymouth, Torquay, and Truro. The first Anglican chapel was built in Newquay in 1858 as a chapel-of-ease, in a fine Cornish Perpendicular style; it was known as St Michael's due to the dedication of a side chapel. The parish itself was created in 1882 from part of St Columb Minor parish. By 1896 St Michael's Church had been twice enlarged, a north and a south aisle being added, and its capacity increased to 500. By the turn of the 19th century, however, it was quite inadequate to hold the summer congregation. The cramped and inconvenient site meant that no further enlargement of the chapel was possible, and it seemed inevitable that a new church would have to be built on a different site. The present church, the Newquay Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, was originally designed by Ninian Comper and built in 1910-11, but the tower not completed until the 1960s. Arthur Mee, in his "Cornwall" volume of the King's England series, describes the perpetual light maintained in the church as a memorial to the men of Newquay who died in the First World War. The stained glass windows and rood screen are also described: the main themes are St Michael, the three other archangels, and Jesus Christ and Mary the Blessed Virgin. The St Michael, chapel-of-ease continued to serve the people of Newquay until 1911 when the chapel was sold to the Women's Institute which owned it for a number of years until it was sold again to FW Woolworth for a new store. The chapel was demolished in 1937. The Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity is earlier, having been built in 1903: until 1985 it was dependent on monks from Bodmin but then became part of the Diocese of Plymouth. There have also been Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels in the town, the Wesleyan being a fine (picturesque) building of 1904. Tourism. Newquay has been a major tourist destination for more than a century, principally on account of its coastline and nine long and accessible sandy beaches, including Fistral. Around 25,000 people live in Newquay, but the population can increase to 100,000 or more in the summer because Newquay has a large stock of holiday accommodation. Established in sections throughout the 20th century, Trenance Leisure Gardens are in a wooded, formerly marshy valley on the quieter edge of Newquay, stretching down to the Gannel Estuary. From the Edwardian era it provided recreation for tourists with walks, tennis courts and a bowling green. The gardens are spanned by a stone railway viaduct which was rebuilt just before the Second World War. The boating lake was dug during the depression of the 1930s as a work creation scheme. In the late 1960s, further enterprises were established by the council, including mini-golf, a swimming pool, the Little Western Railway miniature railway which opened in 1968 and Newquay Zoo, which opened in 1969. Newquay was also known for the "Run to the Sun" event, which began on Fistral Beach in 1987 and then took place for many years during the public holiday on the last weekend in May at Trevelgue Holiday Park. People visited the town in Volkswagen camper vans, Volkswagen Beetles and other custom cars. The last RTTS took place in 2014, but it was announced in early 2023 that the event would return on 27 May to a new site at St Mawgan, just outside Newquay. Other events in recent times have included the large Boardmasters music festival, which attracts another 50,000 visitors over one weekend in early August and is held on sites at Watergate Bay (outside the urban area) and Fistral Beach. Cornwall Pride moved to Newquay from Truro in 2017, and this took place in 2018 on the last Saturday in August. The South West Coast Path runs through the town. Town trail. Newquay Discovery Trail is made up of 14 Cornish slate discs, each in diameter, sunk into the ground at strategic points around the town. Each of the discs features a series of 'conundrum' words carved by sculptor Peter Martin. The trail starts in the centre of town at the Killacourt. Education. Newquay currently has one higher education campus, Cornwall College Newquay, which is a member of the Combined Universities in Cornwall Partnership. It offers foundation degree courses in Zoological Conservation, Marine Aquaculture, Animal Science and Wildlife Education and Media. Appropriately, the campus is close to Newquay Zoo in the Trenance Valley. There are also two secondary schools: Newquay Tretherras is a state-funded academy with specialist Technology College status, and Treviglas Academy is a specialist Business and Enterprise College. A new centre of higher education for Newquay was planned to open alongside the Airport and Spaceport (see Transport for details) in 2020, to be known as the International Aviation Academy and attached to RAF St Mawgan. It was hoped to cater for students who wish to gain air- or space-related qualifications. The project has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Second World War. Among many schools evacuated to Cornwall (notably Benenden Girls' School), 240 boys and 20 masters of Gresham's School were evacuated to the town from Holt, Norfolk, during the Second World War, between June 1940 and March 1944. Gresham's occupied the Bay Hotel and the Pentire Hotel. Between 1940 and 1944, the Royal Air Force used hotels in Newquay as a Ground school for aircrew Initial Training Wings No 7, No 8, and No 40. Recruits were taught basic flying theory and service protocols, and were sorted into their likely future RAF trades, such as Pilots, Observers, Navigators, Wireless operators, and air gunners. The training took place in the Highbury Hotel and men were billeted in nearby hotels. Several of the large hotels in Newquay were requisitioned as convalescent hospitals for the Army, Air Force, and Royal Navy. These were the Atlantic Hotel, the Headland Hotel, the Hotel Victoria, the Fistral Bay Hotel and St Rumons (now called the Esplanade). Hospital and emergency services. Devon and Cornwall Constabulary maintains a substantial police station in Tolcarne Road. The modern fire station in Tregunnel Hill is run by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, and is the home of one of the two aerial ladder platforms based in Cornwall. The fire station has 24-hour cover during the summer and is day-staffed in the winter. A separate specialist fire service is maintained at Newquay Airport. Ambulance cover is provided by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust from an Ambulance Station in St Thomas Road. Cornwall Air Ambulance is also based just outside the town, alongside the airport. In addition, the airport at Newquay is one of ten UK bases for the Search and Rescue service, which is run by Bristow Helicopters on behalf of His Majesty's Coastguard. Newquay Hospital is also at the end of St Thomas Road, and is a local hospital catering for both in- and outpatients, with a number of clinics and a minor injuries unit. The nearest general hospital and full A+E department is in Truro. Proposals in recent years for the Newquay Growth Area, east of the present town, have included a new and larger hospital. Newquay also has a 14-person coastguard rescue team based at Treloggan Industrial Park and a Royal National Lifeboat Institution station based in the harbour. Transport. Rail. Newquay railway station is the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Line from Par. The railway was originally built as a mineral line in the 1840s and ran mainly around the fringes of the built-up area, as it was then, to the harbour. A passenger service followed on 20 June 1876, and from then on the town developed quickly as a resort. The station is close to the beaches on the east side of the town centre. Newquay handles daily direct services to and from Plymouth, Exeter and London between May and September. It is the only branch line terminus in Britain still served by scheduled intercity trains. Passenger services are operated under government contract by Great Western Railway, whose owner is FirstGroup. History. The goods line which would be acquired later by the Cornwall Minerals Railway was opened in 1846 from inland mines to the harbour, and was worked by horses. Parts of the old line from the present station to the harbour are still in existence: the most obvious section is a broad footpath from opposite the station in Cliff Road to East Street, known locally as the "tram track", and complete with a very railway-style overbridge. From East Street, the line continued towards the harbour along the present-day Manor Road. The last trains ran through to Newquay Harbour in about 1924, but general goods traffic continued to reach Newquay railway station until 1964. The passenger station and its approaches were enlarged more than once, with additional carriage sidings being built at Newquay in the 1930s. The originally wooden viaduct just outside the station, which crosses the Trenance Valley, was rebuilt in 1874 to allow locomotives to run over the structure and then again just before World War II to carry double track, which extended until 1964 for approximately 1500m (1 mile) to Tolcarn Junction. The line is now single again, but the width of the viaduct is still obvious. Tolcarn Junction was the point where a second passenger route left the Par line between 1906 and 1963. This branch ran to Chacewater, west of Truro, via Perranporth and St Agnes, and provided through trains to Truro and Falmouth. Two of the three former platforms were taken out of use in 1987, but Network Rail had planned to restore one of the disused platforms to improve capacity. Mid Cornwall Metro. The Mid Cornwall Metro, which received provisional approval for government funding worth almost £50 million on 18 January 2023, will involve a number of upgrades to the Newquay branch. A second platform will be restored at Newquay and there will be other improvements to the terminus, including a bus interchange, as well as an additional crossing place at Tregoss Moor, between St Columb Road and Roche stations. The MCM is intended to provide a clockface hourly service between Newquay, Par, St Austell, Truro and Falmouth Docks. Air. Newquay Airport provides links to many other parts of the United Kingdom. It is an HM Customs port because it also handles increasing numbers of foreign flights, both scheduled and chartered. Newquay is the principal airport for Cornwall, although there are several minor airfields elsewhere in the county. Until 2008, Newquay Civil Airport (as it was formerly known) used the runway and other facilities of RAF St Mawgan, but in December 2008 the Ministry of Defence handed over most of the site to the recently formed Cornwall Airport Limited. The first stage of the conversion into a fully commercial airport was completed in 2011, although further substantial development is planned. The handover, which was due to take place at the end of 2008, was delayed for almost three weeks because of problems in obtaining the essential Civil Aviation Authority licence, which was withheld until further work had been carried out. The name has changed several times since 2008, and the airport is now marketed as Cornwall Airport Newquay. However, the IATA code is still NQY. Usage of the airport had been rising sharply until the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-22. On summer Saturdays in 2018 there were almost 50 arrivals and departures, including flights to Germany and other continental countries. Spaceport. Newquay has obtained a licence to operate as a spaceport, called Spaceport Cornwall. A decision had been expected about the sites of UK spaceports in the summer of 2017, but the additional general election in June 2017 delayed necessary legislation for a time. Cornwall's bid was supported by Cornwall Council and Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. The proposal also included the related Cornish space tracking station at Goonhilly, which is near Helston in south Cornwall. On 16 July 2018 a new partnership was announced with Virgin Orbit to create the spaceport, with the intention of launching satellites from Newquay within three years. On the same day, the government confirmed that a grant worth £2 million would be available to developing spaceports. The planned first satellite from Newquay, Kernow Sat 1, was to measure ocean pollution and deforestation and was planned to be launched in summer 2022 (in the end, Kernow Sat 1 was not present on the first launch from Spaceport Cornwall in 2023). On 24 February 2022, the then Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, formally launched the construction of a £5.6m Centre for Space Technologies alongside the Spaceport, and the new Centre is expected to create 150 jobs. The first, unsuccessful, attempt to launch satellites took place on 9 January 2023. Bus. There are regular bus services from Newquay to many parts of central and north Cornwall, including the neighbouring urban centres of St Austell and Truro as well as Falmouth, Fowey, St Columb Major, Padstow, Perranporth, Redruth and Wadebridge. In addition, there are several town services. Buses are operated by First Kernow and Go Cornwall Bus while the town is also served by National Express. The bus station is in Manor Road, which runs parallel to the shopping area in Bank Street. A scheme to upgrade and improve the bus station with the additions of a new enclosed waiting area and accessible toilet began in February 2018 and was completed in July. Further changes occurred in April and May 2020, because Cornwall Council had awarded an eight-year contract to run subsidised services in the county to Go Cornwall, which also operates as Plymouth CityBus and is owned by the Go-Ahead Group. Go Cornwall operates an additional local bus service in the high summer to and from a Park & Ride site by the A392, opposite Hendra Holiday Park. Sport and leisure. Newquay has one non-league association football club - Newquay A.F.C. play at the Mount Wise Stadium. Godolphin Atlantic F.C. used to play on Godolphin Way until the club was dissolved in January 2023. Newquay Hornets rugby football club play at Newquay Sports Centre. Newquay have a successful, four-team cricket club based at the SportsCentre. Their 1st XI currently compete in Cornwall's County One, and at the start of the century were a major power in regional cricket, winning the ECB Cornwall Premier League in 2003, boasting star players such as Ryan Driver, Tim Walton and Barry Purchase. Newquay's academy in the past 15 years has produced four full-Cornwall players — Rob Harrison, Neil Ivamy, Joe Crane and Adam Cocking, in addition to numerous County youth representatives. They have youth teams from age ranges Under 9 - Under 19. In 2016, their overseas professional was former Zimbabwean test match batsman Mark Vermeulen. In 2017, the teams all competed well in their respective Divisions, and have now gone down the route of not having a professional, instead of investing in improving the ground, coaching and infrastructure. Newquay is a prime destination for touring cricket sides and the club specialise in hosting touring teams. Newquay also plays host to the Newquay Road Runners who are based at the sports centre. Surfing. The resort is widely regarded as the surf capital of the UK. Newquay is a centre for the surf industry in Britain, with many surf stores, board manufacturers and hire shops in the town. At the centre of Newquay's surfing status is Fistral Beach which has a reputation as one of the best beach breaks in Cornwall. Fistral is capable of producing powerful, hollow waves and holding a good sized swell. Fistral Beach has been host to international surfing competitions for around 20 years now. The annual Boardmasters Festival takes place at Fistral beach, with a music festival taking place at Watergate Bay. Newquay is also home to the reef known as the Cribbar. With waves breaking at up to , the Cribbar was until recently rarely surfed as it requires no wind and huge swell to break. It was first surfed in September 1965 by Rodney Sumpter, Bob Head and Jack Lydgate and again in 1966, by Pete Russell, Ric Friar and Johnny McElroy and American Jack Lydgate. The recent explosion in interest in surfing large waves has seen it surfed more frequently by South African born Chris Bertish, who during a succession of huge clean swells in 2004, surfed the biggest wave ever seen there. Towan, Great Western and Tolcarne beaches nearer the town and nearby Crantock and Watergate Bay also provide high quality breaks. Twinning. Newquay is twinned with Dinard in Brittany, France. Geography. Climate. As with the rest of the British Isles and South West England, Newquay experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station is St. Mawgan/Newquay Airport, about 3.5 miles to the north east of the town centre. Temperature extremes in the area since 1960 vary from in June 1976 and August 1995 down to during January 1987. Geology. The bedrock underlying Newquay is the Devonian age Meadfoot Group, a succession of interbedded mudstones, siltstones and sandstones, with occasional beds of limestone. Quaternary age deposits of blown sand cover the bedrock in the western part of the town. Some mineralisation associated with the Cornubian granite batholith that intrudes into much of the peninsular is found in the western part of the town near Fistral Beach, in the form of lodes of lead and silver minerals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65610

Tintagel

Tintagel () or Trevena (, meaning "Village on a Mountain") is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surrounding King Arthur and in recent times have become a tourist attraction. Toponymy. Toponymists have had difficulty explaining the origin of 'Tintagel': the probability is that it is Norman French, as the Cornish of the 13th century would have lacked the soft 'g' ('i/j' in the earliest forms: see also Tintagel Castle). If it is Cornish then 'Dun' would mean "Fort". Oliver Padel proposes 'Dun' '-tagell' meaning "narrow place" in his book on place names. There is a possible cognate in the Channel Islands named "Tente d'Agel", but that still leaves the question subject to doubt. The name first occurs in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Britanniae" (c. 1136, in Latin) as "Tintagol", implying pronunciation with a hard [g] sound as in modern English "girl". But in Layamon's "Brut" (MS Cotton Otho C.xi, f. 482), in early Middle English, the name is rendered as "Tintaieol". The letter "i" in this spelling implies a soft consonant like modern English "j"; the second part of the name would be pronounced approximately as "-ageul" would be in modern French. An oft-quoted Celtic etymology in the "Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names", accepts the view of Padel (1985) that the name is from Cornish *"din" meaning "fort" and *"tagell" meaning "neck, throat, constriction, narrow" (Celtic *"dūn", "fort" = Irish "dún", "fort", "cf". Welsh "dinas", "city"; *"tagell" = Welsh "tagell", "gill, wattle"). The modern-day village of Tintagel was always known as Trevena () until the Post Office started using 'Tintagel' as the name in the mid-19th century. Until then, 'Tintagel' had been restricted to the name of the headland and of the parish. Area and population. Treknow is the largest of the other settlements in the Tintagel parish, which also include Bossiney, Truas, Trebarwith, Tregatta, Trenale, Trethevy, Treven, Trevillet, and Trewarmett. The population of the entire parish was 1,725 at the 2021 census, and 1,727 at the 2011 census, down from 1,820 people at the 2001 census, and the area of the parish is . (The population recorded in the 2011 census was 1,782 but this includes Knightsmill in the parish of St Teath.) An electoral ward also exists extending inland to Otterham. The population of this ward at the same census was 3,990. History and government. A small cliff castle was established at Bossiney in Norman times, probably before the Domesday Survey of 1086. In "Domesday Book", there are certainly two manors in this parish (for a probable third see Trethevy). Bossiney and Trevena were established as a borough in 1253 by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall. Bossiney (which included Trevena) was held from the monks of Bodmin by the Earl of Cornwall: there was land for six ploughs and of pasture (before the Conquest it had been held from the monks by Alfwy). The monks of Bodmin held Treknow themselves: there was land for eight ploughs and of pasture. Tintagel was one of the 17 Antiqua maneria of the Duchy of Cornwall. The parish feast traditionally celebrated at Tintagel was 19 October, the feast day of St Denys, patron of the chapel at Trevena (the proper date is 9 October but the feast has moved forward due to the calendar reform of 1752). The market hall and the site of the fair were near the chapel. "Tintagel (Trevena) declined towards the end of the medieval period for it was ill-equipped to take up fishing as an alternative occupation. Paradoxically it now enjoys a temporary prosperity as a result of tourist interest in the castle which was converted so romantically by Geoffrey of Monmouth into an ancient residence of King Arthur." (W. G. V. Balchin 1954) The Tithe Commissioners' survey was carried out in 1840–41 and recorded the area of the parish as , of which arable and pasture land was . The land owned by the largest landowner, Lord Wharncliffe, amounted to , and there was of glebe land. Precise details of the size and tenure of every piece of land are given. Sidney Madge did research into the history of the parish and compiled a manuscript "Records of Tintagel" in 1945. The villages of Trevena and Bossiney were until the early 20th century separated by fields along Bossiney Road. Trebarwith was the scene of the shipwreck of the "Sarah Anderson" in 1886 (all on board perished), but the most famous of the wrecks happened on 20 December 1893, at Lye Rock when the barque "Iota" was driven against the cliff. The crew were able to get onto the rock and apart from a youth of 14 were saved by four men (three of these from Tintagel: one of them, Charles Hambly, received a Vellum testimonial and three medals for bravery afterwards). The story is told in verse in "Musings on Tintagel and its Heroes" by Joseph Brown, 1897; the youth was buried in Tintagel Churchyard and the grave is marked by a wooden cross (his name is given in the bureaucratic Italian usage, surname first: Catanese Domenico). On 6 July 1979, Tintagel was briefly subject to national attention when an RAF Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft crashed into the village following an engine malfunction; the unusual incident caused significant damage and consternation, but no deaths. The borough of Bossiney was given the right to send two MPs to Parliament c. 1552 and continued to do so until 1832 when its status as a borough was abolished. For the purposes of local government, Tintagel is currently a civil parish and councillors are elected every four years. The principal local authority in this area is Cornwall Council, but until March 2009 the parish was in the area of North Cornwall District Council. Parish council minutes can be found on Tintagel Web. From 1894 to 1974, the parish was in the Camelford Rural District. Arthurian legends. As described in Geoffrey's popular "Historia", Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, put his wife Igraine in "Tintagol" while he was at war ("posuit eam in oppido Tintagol in littore maris": "he put her in the "oppidum" Tintagol on the shore of the sea"). Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon as Gorlois so that Uther could enter Tintagel and impregnate Igraine while pretending to be Gorlois; Uther and Igraine's child was King Arthur. This motif became the standard origin story of Arthur in subsequent medieval chronicles and chivalric romances. Some events of the Tristan and Iseult legend are also set at Tintagel. Archaeology and architecture. The Ravenna Cosmography, of around 700, makes reference to Purocoronavis (almost certainly a corruption of Durocornovium), 'a fort or walled settlement of the Cornovii': the location is unidentified, but Tintagel and Carn Brea have both been suggested. If this is correct then it would have been on the site of Tintagel Castle. Excavations around Tintagel Castle have supported the notion of trade goods there, with ships from along the Atlantic Coast and the Mediterranean Sea bringing pots carrying wine or oil, in the Early medieval period. The site appeared to be one of the places where a local king or warlord, perhaps of Dumnonia, and his entourage settled for a time, and traded with ships arriving from those far ports. Excavations. Major excavations beginning with C. A. Ralegh Radford's work in the 1930s on and around the site of the 12th-century castle have revealed that Tintagel headland was the site of either a high status Celtic monastery (according to Ralegh Radford) or a princely fortress as well as trading settlement dating to the 5th and 6th centuries (according to later excavators), in the period immediately following the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain. Finds of Mediterranean oil and wine jars show that Sub-Roman Britain was not the isolated outpost it was previously considered to be, for an extensive trade in high-value goods was taking place at the time with the Mediterranean region. Finds from the excavations are preserved at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. In 1998, excavations discovered the Artognou stone, which has added to Tintagel's Arthurian lore, although historians do not believe the inscription refers to King Arthur. Two seasons of excavation work were undertaken in Tintagel churchyard in the early 1990s. Antiquities. The largest of the Bronze Age barrows is at the highest point in the parish, Condolden, another is at Menadue, and there are a number of others along the cliffs. In the Iron Age there were probably fortifications at Willapark and Barras Head, and inland at Trenale Bury. Two of the Roman milestones found in Cornwall are at Tintagel (the earlier of the two is described under Trethevy: the later one was found in the walls of the churchyard in 1889 and is preserved in the church. The inscription can be read as '[I]mp C G Val Lic Licin' which would refer to the Emperor Licinius (d. 324). There are many other relics of antiquity to be found here such as the so-called King Arthur's Footprint on the Island and a carved rock from Starapark which has been placed outside the Sir James Smith's School at Dark Lane, Camelford. Rodney Castleden has written about these as Bronze Age ritual objects. "King Arthur's Footprint" is a hollow in the rock at the highest point of Tintagel Island's southern side. It is not entirely natural, having been shaped by human hands at some stage. It may have been used for the inauguration of kings or chieftains as the site is known to have a long history stretching back to the Dark Ages. The name is probably a 19th-century invention by the castle guide. Stone crosses, of which there are two, have both been moved from their original positions: the plainer of the two is Hendra cross (see Bossiney). Aelnat's cross which was found at Trevillet and then moved to the Wharncliffe Arms Hotel at Trevena, is finely carved. The inscription can be read as 'Aelnat fecit hanc crucem pro anima sua' (Ælnat made this cross for [the good of] his soul) – the back of the stone has the names of the four evangelists. The name of this man is Saxon, and together with Alfwy mentioned in 1086 he is the only Anglo-Saxon recorded in connection with the area. One of Thomas Hardy's poems, "By the runic stone" (1917) was interpreted by Evelyn Hardy as referring to Aelnat's cross. Notable secular buildings. The village has the Tintagel Old Post Office, which dates from the 14th century. It became a post office during the 19th century, and is now listed Grade I and owned by the National Trust. Tintagel Primary School was built at Treven in 1914 to replace the old church school (founded 1874) and has been extended since. Those who go on to a comprehensive school attend Sir James Smith's School, Camelford. The Gift House was purchased by the Trustees of Tintagel Women's Institute from Catherine Johns and not donated as previously thought. It adjoins the Old Post Office. The former Vicarage was built in the early 17th century and substantial additions were made in the late 18th and mid-19th centuries. In the grounds is Fontevrault Chapel and a columbarium which is one of the best preserved in Cornwall. The site and glebe lands were the home of the vicars as early as the mid-13th century when the benefice came into the hands of the Abbey of Fontevraud in Anjou, France. In 2008, the Diocese of Truro decided to acquire new accommodation for future vicars and to sell the vicarage. King Arthur's Hall at Trevena is a substantial building of the early 1930s. It was built for custard powder manufacturer F. T. Glasscock as the headquarters of the "Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table", behind Trevena House. A variety of Cornish stones are used in the construction and the 73 stained glass windows illustrating the Arthurian tales are by Veronica Whall; there are several paintings of scenes from the life of King Arthur by William Hatherell. In 1927, the "Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table" was formed in Britain by Frederick Thomas Glasscock (a retired London businessman, d. 1934) to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. Glasscock was resident at Tintagel (in the house "Eirenicon" which he had built) and responsible for the building of King Arthur's Hall (an extension of Trevena House which had been John Douglas Cook's residence and had been built on the site of the former Town Hall and Market Hall). The hall is now used as a Masonic Hall, and is home to four Masonic bodies. Hotels. The King Arthur's Castle Hotel (now called Camelot Castle Hotel) opened in 1899; it was an enterprise of Sir Robert Harvey and the architect was Silvanus Trevail. It was originally intended as the terminus hotel for a planned branch railway line from Camelford that was never built. The hotel stands alone on land previously known as Firebeacon. The hotel was built in 1896. The front has battered walls, a central entrance tower rising to five storeys and projecting four-storey corner towers; the towers have machicolations and rise above the three storeys of the rest of the building. The Great Hall on the first floor is designed around a replica of the Winchester Round Table and has Romanesque arcades with Italian marble piers. In 2010, an exposé of the hotel's business practices was broadcast by the BBC television programme "Inside Out South West". There were two hotels on Fore Street, Trevena: the Wharncliffe Hotel and the Tintagel Hotel. The Wharncliffe has now been converted into flats (next to the King Arthur's Hall): the Aelnat Cross (Hiberno-Saxon) stands in the grounds. It is named after the Earl of Wharncliffe who was the largest landowner in the parish until his holdings were sold at the beginning of the 20th century. Opposite the Wharncliffe is the former Tintagel Hotel, once commonly known as Fry's Hotel: this was the terminus for coaches in the days before the railway to Camelford Station and stands on the site of the medieval chapel of St Denys. Near Dunderhole Point on Glebe Cliff stands a building from the former slate quarry that has been used as Tintagel Youth Hostel (managed by YHA) for many years. Churches and chapels. The Church of St Materiana (Tintagel Parish Church) has been Anglican since the English Reformation. It was originally built in Norman times. Writing in 1951, Nikolaus Pevsner was uncertain about the dating and suggests that the Norman work has some Saxon features while the tower may be 13th or 15th century in date. It stands on the cliffs between Trevena and Tintagel Castle and is listed Grade I. The first church on the site was probably in the 6th century, founded as a daughter church of Minster: these are the only churches dedicated to St Materiana though she is usually identified with Madryn, Princess of Gwent. The existing church may be late 11th or early 12th century: the tower is some three centuries later and the most significant change since then was the restoration in 1870 by James Piers St Aubyn. An area of the churchyard was excavated in 1990–91 by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit. There are modern stained glass windows, three modern copies of Old Master paintings, and a Roman milestone (described above under "Antiquities"). The parish war memorial stands at the western end of the churchyard and a modern churchyard cross (c. 1910) near the south entrance. There was a Norman chapel of St Julitta at the castle, now in ruins, which was excavated in Ralegh Radford's excavations. It is a simple rectangular building and the chancel is of a later date than the nave. In the Middle Ages, there was also a chapel of St Denys at Trevena: the annual fair was therefore celebrated in the week of his feast day (19 Oct). From 1925 until 2008 part of the Vicarage outbuildings were also in use as a chapel (the Fontevrault Chapel). The name commemorates the abbey in France which held the patronage of Tintagel during the Middle Ages (the commune is now known as Fontevraud-l'Abbaye), founded by Robert of Arbrissel. The Methodist Church has chapels at Trevena and Bossiney. Formerly there were more chapels of various Methodist sects (Wesleyans, Bible Christians), including at Trenale and Trewarmett: the Methodist Cemetery is at Trewarmett. Wesleyan Methodism in Tintagel began in 1807 at Trenale and over the next sixty years gained many adherents though divided among a number of sects (Wesleyan Methodist, Methodist Association, Bible Christian): chapels were built at Trevena in 1838 and Bossiney in 1860. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Camelford Wesleyan Methodist circuit, which included Tintagel, underwent a secession by more than half the members to the Wesleyan Methodist Association. The various Methodist churches were united again by the agreements of 1907 and 1932. Mary Toms, a Bible Christian from Tintagel, evangelised parts of the Isle of Wight. St Paul's Church, Tintagel has a thirty-thousand piece mosaic of the saint within its walls. Since January 2008, when the church celebrated its 40th anniversary, a modern-day version of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" by local artist Nicholas St John Rosse has hung above the main altar in the church. It has made international headlines due to its use of modern clothing and local people as the apostles. People from many other countries also come to Tintagel to view the names of their babies who have been lost due to miscarriage, stillbirth or other cause. The names are recorded in the Miscarriage & Infant Loss Memorial Book which is kept at the church. At Trethevy is the Anglican St Piran's Chapel. Another Anglican chapel is located in Treknow. Quarrying. The extensive Tintagel Slate Quarries are largely responsible for the jagged coastline south of Tintagel and stretch all the way to Trebarwith Strand. The quarries were worked from the fifteenth until the early twentieth centuries. The slate was mainly used for roofing and the remains of quarry buildings and machinery strong points can be seen from both sea level and the South West Coast Path. Tintagel's youth hostel building formerly housed the office, powerhouse and smithy for Lambshouse quarry. A 19th century engine house still stands above the Prince of Wales quarry and Bowithick quarry is now a waste disposal facility. The only slate quarries in Tintagel that remain operational are Trevillet and Trebarwith Road Rustic Quarry. Geography and nature. Coastline. The coastline around Tintagel is significant because it is composed of old Devonian slate; about a mile southwards from Tintagel towards Treknow the coastline was quarried extensively for this hard-wearing roofing surface. Quarries inland at Trebarwith and Trevillet continued to be worked until the mid-20th century. Apart from the island headlands on the coast include Willapark and Start Point. The turquoise green water around this coast is caused by the slate/sand around Tintagel which contains elements of copper: strong sunlight turns the water a light turquoise green colour in warm weather. The rocks contain various metal ores in small amounts: a few of these were mined in the Victorian period. Though very near the coast the hill of Condolden (or Kingsdown) is among the very few areas in Cornwall outside Bodmin Moor which exceeds 1000 feet. At Trethevy is the waterfall known as St Nectan's Kieve in a wooded valley. The beach at Bossiney Haven is close by and Trebarwith Strand, just half an hour's walk south of Tintagel, is one of Cornwall's finer beaches, boasting clear seas, golden sands, and superb surf. There is also a small beach at Tintagel Haven immediately north of the castle, as well as a cave known as Merlin's Cave under the castle. A stream called the Trerammett River flows from Treven to Tintagel Haven. The cliffs from Backways Cove, south of Trebarwith Strand to Willapark just to the south of Boscastle are part of the Tintagel Cliffs SSSI (a Site of Special Scientific Interest), designated for both its maritime heaths and geological features. There are also four Geological Conservation Review sites. Tintagel lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). National Trust properties include, besides the Old Post Office in Trevena (see above), fine stretches of the cliffs along the coast including Glebe Cliff, Barras Nose and Penhallick Point. The coastal footpaths include part of the South West Coast Path. Birds. The birds of the coast are well worth observing: in 1935 an anonymous writer mentions Willapark as the scene of spectacular flocks of seabirds (eight species); inland he describes the crows (including the Cornish chough and the raven) and falcons which frequent the district. B. H. Ryves mentions the razorbill as numerous at Tintagel (perhaps the largest colony in the county) and summarises reports from earlier in the century. In 1991, a local bird keeper, Jon Hadwick, published "Owl Light" about his experiences keeping ten owls and a buzzard. In the early days of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Charles Hambly (also known for saving shipwrecked sailors) was a correspondent for the Society. A hundred years later Harry Sandercock observed that even modern agricultural changes had not reduced the bird populations. Social and cultural life. Tintagel was the venue for the Gorsedh Kernow in 1964. Social and sporting activities and associations. The Social Hall established by Mrs Ruth Homan and the Old School in Fore Street have been the chief meeting places during most of the 20th century. Both the Women's Institute and the football and cricket teams are well-supported. Tintagel A.F.C. were champions of Cornwall in 1955–56 and have been in existence over a hundred years; goalkeeper Harry Cann also played for Plymouth Argyle F.C. Until the 1930s there were two golf courses and a few tennis courts: neither golf course reopened in the postwar period. Camelford Rugby Football Club was formed in 2008 and plays its home matches at Parc Tremain, Tintagel. The Tintagel Orpheus Male Voice Choir was founded in 1926 by Jack Thomas, a Welshman who worked at Trevillet Quarry. The choir has rehearsed weekly, and performed frequently, ever since. Literary associations. Tintagel is used as a locus for the Arthurian mythos by the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson in the poem "Idylls of the King" and Algernon Charles Swinburne's "Tristram of Lyonesse", a literary version of the Tristan and Iseult legend. Thomas Hardy's "The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse", a one-act play which was published in 1923, is another version of the same legend with events set at Tintagel (the book includes an imaginary drawing of Tintagel Castle at the period). Hardy and his first wife visited Tintagel on various occasions: she drew a sketch of the inside of the church as it was about 1867. It is very prominent in the books in Fay Sampson's "Daughter of Tintagel" series of Arthurian novels (later retitled "Morgan le Fay"). The novelist Dinah Craik visited Tintagel in 1883 and published an informative account of her journey through Cornwall the following year. William Howitt's visit was quite different: his account is called "A day-dream at Tintagel" (in "Visits to Remarkable Places"). Relatively few works of fiction have Tintagel as a setting: these include Anthony Trollope's short story "Malachi's Cove" and the Charles and Alice Muriel Williamson's epistolary novel "Set in Silver" published in 1909. Ernest George Henham was a novelist resident in Devon who used the pseudonym John Trevena for many of his books; it is probable that the surname he chose was derived from the original name for Tintagel, though his writings are concerned mainly with Devon. Tintagel features prominently in Edith Wharton's final, unfinished novel, "The Buccaneers", the protagonist of which, Nan St. George, meets her future husband, the Duke of Tintagel, while exploring the ruins of Tintagel Castle. Wharton styled the characters as Duke and Duchess of Tintagel, while Tintagel actually lies within the Duchy of Cornwall; in the novel, the Duke and Duchess live in a newer, fictional Tintagel Castle, built in approximately the late 18th century. Musical and film associations. Arnold Bax was inspired to compose his symphonic poem "Tintagel" after a visit to the village. Edward Elgar also composed while on a visit to Tintagel. The film "Knights of the Round Table" had some sequences filmed near Tintagel Castle with local people as extras: this was in 1953 though it was not released until 1954. Some other filming has been carried out in Tintagel, e.g. "Malachi's Cove" at Trebarwith. The exterior of the Camelot Castle Hotel was used to portray Dr. Seward's asylum in the 1979 film "Dracula". The Youth Hostel doubled for the coastguard station in the 1981 BBC serial "The Nightmare Man". Notable people. The Earls and Dukes of Cornwall (to whom the castle belonged) were never resident at Tintagel though a few of them are known to have visited. From 1552 to 1832, Tintagel was a parliamentary borough (generally known as the Borough of Bossiney) sending two members to the House of Commons; these included Sir Francis Drake, Sir Simon Harcourt and James Stuart-Wortley, 1st Baron Wharncliffe. During the same period, there were also mayors of the borough of whom the best known is William Wade (fl. 1756–1786). Contemporaries of Mayor Wade were the Rev. Arthur Wade (vicar 1770–1810) and Charles Chilcott (d. 1815) (known for his gigantic stature). The Rev. R. B. Kinsman (vicar 1851–1894) was also honorary constable of the castle. During the 19th century, Tintagel was visited by many writers, including Robert Stephen Hawker, Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, and the mystic philosopher Rudolf Steiner. It was also the occasional residence of John Douglas Cook, founder editor of the "Saturday Review" (d. 1868) who is buried at Tintagel. He bought Trevena House as an occasional residence: it later became the front part of King Arthur's Hall (see ). Henry George White, the village schoolmaster for many years, was also a prolific amateur painter. The Very Rev. Cliff Piper, Dean of Moray, Ross and Caithness was born at Tintagel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65711

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf ( , ; ; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: "Düsseldörp" ; archaic ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne, and the sixth-largest city in Germany, with a population of 653,253. The Düssel, from which the city and the borough of Düsseltal take their name, divides into four separate branches within the city, each with its own mouth into the Rhine. Most of Düsseldorf lies on the right bank of the Rhine, and the city has grown together with Neuss, Ratingen, Meerbusch, Erkrath and Monheim am Rhein. Düsseldorf is the central city of the metropolitan region Rhine-Ruhr, that stretches from Bonn via Cologne and Düsseldorf to the Ruhr (from Duisburg via Essen to Dortmund). The "-dorf" suffix means "village" in German (English cognate: "thorp"); its use is unusual for a settlement as large as Düsseldorf. Linguistically, Düsseldorf is the largest city in the German part of the Low Franconian area, dialects that are closely related to Dutch. Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's fourth-busiest airport, serving as the most important international airport for the population of the densely populated Ruhr, Germany's largest urban area. Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the sixth most livable city in the world. Düsseldorf is an international business and financial centre, renowned for its fashion and trade fairs, and is headquarters to one Fortune Global 500 and two DAX companies. Messe Düsseldorf organises nearly one fifth of premier trade shows. As second largest city of the Rhineland, Düsseldorf holds Rhenish Carnival celebrations every year in February/March, the Düsseldorf carnival celebrations being the third most popular in Germany after those held in Cologne and Mainz. There are 22 institutions of higher education in the city including the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, the university of applied sciences (Hochschule Düsseldorf), the academy of arts (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, whose members include Joseph Beuys, Emanuel Leutze, August Macke, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, and Andreas Gursky), and the university of music (Robert-Schumann-Musikhochschule Düsseldorf). The city is also known for its influence on electronic/experimental music (Kraftwerk) and its Japanese community. Düsseldorf is classified as a GaWC Beta+ world city. History. Early development. When the Roman Empire was strengthening its position throughout Europe, a few Germanic tribes clung on in marshy territory off the eastern banks of the Rhine. In the 7th and 8th centuries, the odd farming or fishing settlement could be found at the point where the small river Düssel flows into the Rhine. It was from such settlements that the city of Düsseldorf grew. The first written mention of Düsseldorf (then called "Dusseldorp" in the local Low Rhenish dialect) dates back to 1135. Under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa the small town of Kaiserswerth to the north of Düsseldorf became a well-fortified outpost, where soldiers kept a watchful eye on every movement on the Rhine. Kaiserswerth eventually became a suburb of Düsseldorf in 1929. In 1186, Düsseldorf came under the rule of the Counts of Berg. 14 August 1288 is one of the most important dates in the history of Düsseldorf. On this day the sovereign Count Adolf VIII of Berg granted the village on the banks of the Düssel town privileges. Before this, a bloody struggle for power had taken place between the Archbishop of Cologne and the count of Berg, culminating in the Battle of Worringen. The Archbishop of Cologne's forces were wiped out by the forces of the count of Berg who were supported by citizens and farmers of Cologne and Düsseldorf, paving the way for Düsseldorf's elevation to city status, which is commemorated today by a monument on the Burgplatz. The custom of turning cartwheels is credited to the children of Düsseldorf. There are variations of the origin of the cartwheeling children. Today the symbol (Der Radschläger) represents the story and every year the Düsseldorfers celebrate by having a cartwheeling contest. After this battle the relationship between the four cities deteriorated, because they were commercial rivals; it is often said that there is a kind of hostility between the citizens of Cologne and Düsseldorf. Today, it finds its expression mainly in a humorous form (especially during the Rhineland "Karneval") and in sports. A market square sprang up on the banks of the Rhine and the square was protected by city walls on all four sides. In 1380, the dukes of Berg moved their seat to the town and Düsseldorf was made regional capital of the Duchy of Berg. During the following centuries several famous landmarks were built, including the . In 1609, the ducal line of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died out, and after a virulent struggle over succession, Jülich and Berg fell to the Wittelsbach Counts of Palatinate-Neuburg, who made Düsseldorf their main domicile, even after they inherited the Electorate of the Palatinate, in 1685, becoming now Prince-electors as Electors Palatine. Under the art-loving Johann Wilhelm II (r. 1690–1716), a vast art gallery with a huge selection of paintings and sculptures, were housed in the "Stadtschloss" (city castle). After his death, the city fell on hard times again, especially after Elector Charles Theodore inherited Bavaria and moved the electoral court to Munich. With him he took the art collection, which became part of what is now the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Destruction and poverty struck Düsseldorf after the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon made Berg a Grand Duchy and Düsseldorf its capital. Johann Devaranne, a leader of Solingen's resistance to Napoleon's conscription decrees, was executed here in 1813. After Napoleon's defeat, the whole Rhineland including Berg was given to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815. The Rhine Province's parliament was established in Düsseldorf. By the mid-19th century, Düsseldorf enjoyed a revival thanks to the Industrial Revolution as the city boasted 100,000 inhabitants by 1882; the figure doubled in 1892. World War I. During World War I the Royal Naval Air Service (RNS) undertook the first Entente strategic bombing missions on 22 September 1914, when it bombed the Zeppelin bases in Düsseldorf. Weimar Republic. In 1920, Düsseldorf became the centre of the General Strike. On 15 April 1920, 45 delegates of the German Miners Union were murdered by the Freikorps. World War II. The Rabbi of the Düsseldorf Jewish Community fled to the Netherlands and died in KZ Auschwitz in 1943. The city was a target of strategic bombing during World War II, particularly during the RAF bombing campaign in 1943 when over 700 bombers were used in a single night. Raids continued late into the war. As part of the campaign against German oil facilities, the RAF raid of 20–21 February on the Rhenania Ossag refinery in the Reisholz district of the city halted oil production there. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Düsseldorf in mid-April 1945. The United States 97th Infantry Division easily captured the city on 18 April 1945, after the local German Resistance group launched Aktion Rheinland. German Federal Republic. In 1946, Düsseldorf was made capital of the new federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and the economic transformation guided Düsseldorf's economic growth. Geography. Physical geography. Düsseldorf lies at the centre of the Lower Rhine basin, where the delta of the Düssel flows into the Rhine. The city lies on the east side of the Rhine, except District 4 (Oberkassel, Niederkassel, Heerdt and Lörick). Across the Rhine, the city of Neuss stands on the delta of the Erft. Düsseldorf lies southwest of the Ruhr urban area, and in the middle of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region. Düsseldorf is built entirely on alluvium, mud, sand, clay and occasionally gravel. The highest point in Düsseldorf is the top of Sandberg in the far eastern part of the city (Hubbelrath borough) at . The lowest point is at the far northern end in Wittlaer borough where the Schwarzbach enters the Rhine, with an average elevation of . Adjacent cities and districts. The following districts and cities border Düsseldorf (clockwise starting from the north): the City of Duisburg, the District of Mettmann (Ratingen, Mettmann, Erkrath, Hilden, Langenfeld, and Monheim), and the District of Neuss (Dormagen, Neuss, and Meerbusch). Climate. The city has an oceanic climate (Köppen: "Cfb", mild in relation to East Germany). Like the rest of the lower Rhineland, Düsseldorf experiences moderate winters with little snowfall and mild to warm summers. The average annual temperature is with an average yearly precipitation of . The dominant wind direction is from the west with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s (7–9 mph), with gusts of 3.5 −4.8 m/s (8–10.7 mph). The wind is calm (defined as being under 2 m/s or 4.5 mph) about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter. Demographics. With a population of 653,253 within the city boundaries (31 December 2022), Düsseldorf is Germany's sixth largest city. Its population surpassed the threshold of 100,000 inhabitants during the height of industrialisation in 1882, and peaked at just over 705,000 in 1962. The city then began to lose residents with many moving into neighbouring municipalities. However, since the late 1990s, the city's population has been slowly rising again. A total of 109,883 (18%) of Düsseldorf's population are foreigners (31 December 2008), the majority of whom come from within Europe (81,742). The largest national minorities are Turks, Greeks, and Poles. Düsseldorf and its surroundings have the third-largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany (about 11,000 people). Düsseldorf has the third-largest Jewish community in Germany, with about 7,000 members. Government. Boroughs. Since 1975, Düsseldorf is divided into ten administrative boroughs. Each borough ("Stadtbezirk") has its own elected borough council (Bezirksvertretung) and its own borough mayor (Bezirksvorsteher). The borough councils are advisory only. Each borough is further subdivided into quarters ("Stadtteile"). There are 50 quarters in Düsseldorf. Mayor. The current Mayor of Düsseldorf is Stephan Keller of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who was elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round ! Votes ! Votes ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 244,322 ! 98.8 ! 211,307 ! 99.3 ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 3,008 ! 1.2 ! 1,571 ! 0.7 ! colspan=3| Total ! 247,330 ! 100.0 ! 212,878 ! 100.0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 470,511 ! 52.6 ! 470,312 ! 45.3 City council. The Düsseldorf city council ("Düsseldorfer Stadtrat") governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! +/- ! Seats ! colspan=2| Valid votes ! 245,271 ! 99.2 ! ! colspan=2| Invalid votes ! 2,085 ! 0.8 ! ! colspan=2| Total ! 247,356 ! 100.0 ! 90 ! 8 ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! 470,511 ! 52.6 ! 3.4 ! Economy. Düsseldorf has become one of the top telecommunications centres in Germany. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone and E-Plus, Düsseldorf leads the German mobile phone market. There are many foreign information and communication technology companies in Düsseldorf such as Huawei, NTT, Ericsson, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. There are 18 internet service providers located in the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. There are two airlines with headquarters in the city: Eurowings and formerly independent LTU International. Many of the internet companies in Düsseldorf have their roots in the world of advertising: there are 400 advertising agencies in Düsseldorf, among them three of the largest in Germany: BBDO Group, Grey Global Group and Publicis. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies deserve mention as well, such as Ogilvy & Mather, Dentsu, Hakuhodo, TBWA, and DDB. There are also about 200 publishing houses in Düsseldorf. Peek & Cloppenburg (fashion); Uniper (electricity generation); L'Oréal Germany (Cosmetics and Beauty); Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Branded Consumer Goods and Industrial technologies); Metro (wholesale, retail); Ceconomy (retail); Esprit Holdings (fashion, headquarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf); BASF Personal Care & Nutrition (formerly Cognis – chemicals, headquarters in Monheim near Düsseldorf, but production mainly in Düsseldorf). Daimler AG builds the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter light commercial vehicles in Düsseldorf. Since the 1960s, there has been a strong relationship between the city and Japan. Many Japanese banks and corporations have their European headquarters in Düsseldorf – so many that Düsseldorf has the third largest Japanese community in Europe, after London and Paris. The "Kö", which stands for Königsallee ("King's Avenue"), is a shopping destination. Some jewellery shops, designer labels, and galleries have their stores here. The Kö has among the highest rents for retail and office space in Germany. Financial center. The city is an important financial center. More than 30,000 people work for the financial and insurance sector in Düsseldorf. There are around 170 national and international financial institutions, and about 130 insurance agencies, and one of Germany's eight stock exchanges. HSBC has its German headquarters in Düsseldorf and employs 3.000 people. NRW.BANK is a development bank of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the largest state development bank in Germany. NRW.BANK was spun off from WestLB in 2002. Today Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have major branches in Düsseldorf with about 2.000 employees. Düsseldorf is also the most important German financial center for Japanese credit institutions. MUFG Bank, SMBC and Mizuho have their German headquarters in Düsseldorf. Also Santander has its German headquarters in the Düsseldorf region. Some major insurance companies like ERGO, a subsidiary of Munich Re, and ARAG are located in the city. Several other major financial service companies have their headquarters in the city. Media. Important newspapers and journals such as "Handelsblatt", "Rheinische Post", "Wirtschaftswoche", "Deutsches Wirtschaftsblatt" and "VDI-Nachrichten" are published in Düsseldorf. Almost all of these papers are available online. Renowned filmmaking companies, such as Germany's biggest cinema enterprise, the Riech Group, and TV channels such as WDR and QVC are located in Düsseldorf. The "Film- und Medienstiftung NRW" foundation supports the production of film and new media. With regard to movies and movie theatres in Düsseldorf, moviegoers are able to view movies in a range of different languages. Many mainstream movies are shown in English, Spanish, French, and German. Transport. Düsseldorf Airport. Düsseldorf Airport, also referred to as Rhein-Ruhr Airport, is located north of the city centre and can easily be reached by train or the S-Bahn urban railway. There is a long-distance train station served by regional and national services, which is linked to the airport by the SkyTrain, an automatic people mover. Another station situated under the terminal building carries the S-Bahn line (S11) to Düsseldorf Central Station, and to Cologne as well as a few selected night services. After those of Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's fourth largest commercial airport, with 25.5 million passengers annually (2019). The airport offers 180 destinations on 4 continents, and is served by 70 airlines. The airport buildings were partly destroyed by a devastating fire caused by welding works in 1996, killing 17 people. It was completely rebuilt and the Skytrain installed. Railway. The city is a major hub in the Deutsche Bahn (DB) railway network. More than 1,000 trains stop in Düsseldorf daily. Düsseldorf Central Station at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is located in Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte. Several Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn lines connect Düsseldorf to other cities of Rhine-Ruhr. Local Düsseldorf Straßenbahn and light rail Düsseldorf Stadtbahn traffic, as well as local bus traffic, is carried out by the city-owned Rheinbahn which operates within the VRR public transport system. The light rail system also serves neighbouring cities and is partially operated underground. The Central Station and the Airport Station (Flughafen-Bahnhof) are connected to the national and European high-speed systems (Intercity/Eurocity, IC/EC and InterCityExpress). Taxi. In Düsseldorf there are 1320 officially licensed Taxis. According to the regulations, the cars are always in ivory colour. On the back window you always find a black number on a yellow patch. Credit card payment has to be accepted at the Taxi stands at Airport of Düsseldorf. The supply of taxis in Düsseldorf is over the German average. Two taxi organisations cover the market. "Taxi-Düsseldorf" offers more than 1180 cabs in different sizes for max. 8 Passengers. The smaller one is "Rhein-Taxi" with more than 120 cabs. It is obligatory to carry out any journeys to destinations in the city and directly neighbouring cities. Carsharing. In addition to stationary car sharing, where vehicles must be returned to their original location after use, one-way carsharing vehicles have also been available for hire since 2012. These vehicles, which can be parked anywhere where parking is normally allowed within Düsseldorf, can be rented from Car2go, Greenwheels, Stadtmobil and DriveNow. Autobahn. North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of autobahns in Germany and Düsseldorf is directly accessible via the A3, A44, A46, A52, A57, A59 and A524. Cycling. Düsseldorf is connected to some national and international cycling paths, including EV15 The Rhine Cycle Route. The city of Düsseldorf is a member of the German North Rhine-Westphalia District, Municipality and City Friends of Pedestrians and Cyclists Working Group, who bestowed upon Düsseldorf the title of "Friend of Cyclists City" in 2007, although the city still has a few gaps in the network of cycle paths in the eyes of many of its citizens. Culture and recreation. Elector Jan Wellem and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici of Tuscany, were patrons of Düsseldorf's first significant cultural activities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Heinrich Heine, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 1997 and who originally had a proposed memorial in the city dedicated to him; Clara and Robert Schumann; and Felix Mendelssohn, are the most prominent artists related to the city, which is home to a distinguished Academy of Fine Arts. The Düsseldorf cultural scene comprises traditional and avant-garde, classical and glamorous. The world-famous state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the highly acclaimed Deutsche Oper am Rhein (opera), and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (theatre), artistic home of Gustaf Gründgens, are major elements of Düsseldorf's reputation as a centre of the fine arts. Beer. Düsseldorf is well known for its Altbier, a hoppy beer which translates as "old [style] beer", a reference to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales. Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer. The name "altbier" first appeared in the 19th century to differentiate the beers of Düsseldorf from the new pale lager that was gaining a hold on Germany. Brewers in Düsseldorf used the pale malts that were used for the modern pale lagers, but retained the old ("alt") method of using warm fermenting yeasts. The first brewery to use the name Alt was Schumacher which opened in 1838. The founder, Mathias Schumacher, allowed the beer to mature in cool conditions in wooden casks for longer than normal, and laid the foundation for the modern alt – amber coloured and lagered. The result is a pale beer that has some of the lean dryness of a lager but with fruity notes as well. There are five pub-breweries in Düsseldorf which brew Altbier on the premises: Füchschen, Schumacher, Schlüssel, Uerige and Brauerei Kürzer. Four of the five are in the historic centre of Düsseldorf (Altstadt); the other (Schumacher), between the Altstadt and Düsseldorf Central railway station (Hauptbahnhof), also maintains an establishment in the Altstadt, Im Goldenen Kessel, across the street from Schlüssel. Each (except Brauerei Kürzer) produces a special, secret, seasonal "Sticke" version in small quantities, though the names vary: Schlüssel spells it "Stike", without the "c", while Schumacher calls its special beer "Latzenbier", meaning "slat beer", possibly because the kegs from which it was poured had been stored on raised shelves. Füchschen's seasonal is its Weihnachtsbier (Christmas beer), available in bottles starting mid-November, and served in the brewpub on Christmas Eve. Music and nightlife. Since the 1950s the "Kom(m)ödchen" has been one of the most prominent political cabarets of Germany. The city's best-known contribution to the culture of modern popular music is the influential avant-garde electronic band Kraftwerk. Formed by a few Düsseldorf-born musicians, Kraftwerk is internationally known as the most significant band in the history of post-war German music and as pioneers in electronic music. Other influential musical groups originating from Düsseldorf include Neu!, formed in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother, after their split from Kraftwerk, and La Düsseldorf, also formed by Dinger in 1976 shortly after Neu! disbanded. Both groups had a significant influence on a variety of subsequent rock, post-punk, and electronic music artists. Internationally known power metal band Warlock was formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. Its frontwoman, Doro Pesch, had a successful solo career in Europe and Asia since Warlock ended. The punk band Die Toten Hosen, which is famous around the world, also the most popular singers in Germany Westernhagen and Heino come from Düsseldorf. The electronic act D.A.F. was formed in the city in 1978, as well as the electronic/industrial pioneers Die Krupps in 1980. Another famous formation is Fehlfarben. Founded in the late 1970s by Peter Hein, Frank Fenstermacher, Kurt Dahlke and Michael Kemner. Düsseldorf appears in several songs, including "Düsseldorf" by the British indie band Teleman and "Wärst du doch in Düsseldorf geblieben" by Danish singer Dorthe Kollo. Fashion. Düsseldorf has been the fashion capital of Germany for decades (it is also a major cultural center for the art and fashion scenes). Berlin, Germany's 'fashion capital' until 1945, lost its position because of its special location within the Soviet occupation zone. After the monetary reform of June 20, 1948, fashionable clothes trends gained importance. Igedo organised fashion shows staged in Düsseldorf starting in March 1949. There are a number of schools dedicated to fashion design in Düsseldorf, among them "Akademie Mode & Design" (), "Design Department", and "Mode Design College". Carnival. One of the biggest cultural events in Düsseldorf is the "Karneval" (also referred to as the "fifth season") which starts every year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m., and reaches its climax on "Rosenmontag" (Rose Monday), featuring a huge parade through the streets of Düsseldorf. "Karneval" ends on "Aschermittwoch" (Ash Wednesday). Düsseldorf's cartwheeler. The "Düsseldorfer Radschläger" ("boy who does cartwheels") is said to be the city's oldest tradition. The symbol of the cartwheeler can be found on souvenirs and various things in Düsseldorf have cartwheelers to thank for their names. Legends of its origin and history. The tradition cannot be linked to one specific historical event. Instead, there are several stories surrounding the beginnings of the Düsseldorf cartwheelers. Probably the most well known version is the Battle of Worringen. In the battle of 1288, Count Adolf devastatingly defeated the Archbishop of Cologne. As a consequence of this victory, Düsseldorf obtained town privileges. Inhabitants, especially children, ran joyfully on the streets and performed cartwheels. Another story talks about a wedding procession during which one of the wheels of the wedding carriage broke. In order to fend off the threat of bad luck, a boy supposedly jumped up to the carriage, took hold of the wheel and thus became a living part of the wheel. Whether the story is about the marriage of Jan Wellem and Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici or the wedding of Margravine Jakobea of Baden and Johann Wilhelm is debatable. Another story gives an account of the wedding between Margrave Jacobe von Baden and Johann Wilhelm, in 1585. According to legend, she felt miserable about her marriage, but the cartwheelers who displayed their skills next to her carriage were able to make her smile. Numerous travelers were attracted to the city by great exhibitions – the forerunner of today's fairs – between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. During this time the children who did cartwheels found out that it was a profitable source of income. The bourgeoisie accepted this in good humour as a symbolic act of local patriotism. In the beginning the lads shouted "för eene Penning schlage ich das Rad“" (a cartwheel for a penny). The Jan Wellem monument returned to Düsseldorf at the end of the Second World War. The procession was accompanied by torches, fanfares and cartwheeling boys. Cartwheelers in the cityscape. Cartwheelers can be found at several fountains within the city and near many small landmarks. The most famous is Cartwheeler's Fountain in "Burgplatz" () with an inscription of a quote by Hans Müller-Schlösser: "Radschläger wolle mer blieve, wie jeck et de Minschen och drieve"" (We will always remain cartwheelers, however crazy it drives people.) The fountain was designed by Alfred Zschorsch in 1954 and donated by "Heimatverein Düsseldorfer Jonges", which is a club devoted to the maintenance of local and regional traditions. There are other cartwheelers that decorate storm drains and the door knocker on the Church of Lambertus, designed by Friedrich Becker. He created the cartwheeler in front of the Schadow Arcades. The tradition has been kept alive by the "Alde Düsseldorfer Bürgergesellschaft von 1920 e. V.", a society founded in 1920, which organized the first cartwheeler competition on 17 October 1937. This event has been held annually since 1971 in cooperation with the "Stadtsparkasse" (a local bank). Formerly held in the "Königsallee", it has taken place since 2006 on the "Rheinwerft", near the old part of town. This is a fixed date in the city's calendar of events. About 500 boys regularly participate in the event and girls have also taken part since 1971. In an art project "Radschläger-Kunst" (Cartwheeler Art) launched in 2001, over 100 cartwheeler sculptures were designed by various artists. The door knocker on the Church of Lambertus served as a model for the sculptures that are high, wide and deep. They were positioned around the city centre. Some of the sculptures have been auctioned off to companies and private owners. Christmas market. Every Christmas, the city of Düsseldorf uses the city centre to host one of the largest Christmas gatherings in Germany. The Christmas festival occurs every year from 17 November until 23 December. This Christmas fest brings Düsseldorf a large portion of tourism every year as many people from nearby areas come to the city to drink mulled wine and hot chocolate and watch craftsman blow glass and create art. The event contains many small wooden buildings all clustered in the middle of the city for all the citizens to enjoy. The event, to many visitors, has an old European feel, but is very lively. Cuisine. Traditional meals in the region are Rheinischer Sauerbraten (a beef roast and sometimes horse marinated for a few days in vinegar and spices served with gravy and raisins) and Heaven and Earth (Himmel und Äd; black pudding with stewed apples mixed with mashed potatoes). In winter the people like to eat Muscheln Rheinischer Art (Rhenish-style mussels) as well as Reibekuchen (fried potato pancake served with apple sauce). Also a special meal: Düsseldorfer Senfrostbraten (Steaks roasted with Düsseldorf mustard on top). Düsseldorf is known for its strong Dijon-like mustard served in a traditional pot called "Mostertpöttche", which was eternalised in a still life by Vincent van Gogh in 1884. The Rhine Metropolis is one of the most diverse areas in terms of culinary diversity. Düsseldorf, with the third largest Japanese community in Europe, not only provides a wide range of culinary cuisine but also has a solid foundation of Authentic Asian food in the city. Düsseldorf's exceptional culinary cuisine has been recognized and visited by the Worldwide leading travel guide of Lonely Planet. Along with a broad range of diverse cultural cuisine, Düsseldorf is also home to various Michelin starred restaurants that are world renowned. Halve Hahn – this dish is made from a half a double rye roll, which is another of the specialties of Düsseldorf, buttered, with a thick slice of aged Gouda cheese, onions, mustard, ground paprika and sour pickles. Himmel un Aad – a dish of mashed potatoes and apples along with slices of blutwurst. Caramelized onions are usually served with this meal. Reibekuchen is another famous dish from Düsseldorf; this dish is usually drizzled with Rübensyrup (beet syrup) and is served on pumpernickel slices along with applesauce. Literature. The "Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf" is a German Literary award donated by the City of Düsseldorf in Northrhine-Westphalia. The Prize for Literature in support of the City of Düsseldorf is awarded since 1972 by the Council of the City due to the decisions of the courts. The "Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf" is given once a year to artists and groups, especially to the areas of poetry, writing, review and translation. Rivalry with Cologne. Düsseldorf and Cologne have had a "fierce regional rivalry". The rivalry includes carnival parades, football, ice hockey and beer. People in Cologne prefer Kölsch while people in Düsseldorf prefer Altbier. Some Waiters and patrons will "scorn" and make a "mockery" of people who order Alt beer in Cologne and Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The rivalry has been described as a "love-hate relationship". Sports and live events. Düsseldorf's main football team Fortuna Düsseldorf won the 1933 German championship, the German Cup in 1979 and 1980, and were finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1979. They currently play in the 2. Bundesliga, after being relegated from the Bundesliga in 2020. They play their matches in the Merkur Spiel-Arena (formerly known as the 'ESPIRIT arena'), a multi-functional stadium with a capacity of 54,500. Düsseldorf was one of nine host cities for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, and will be one of ten venues to stage the 2024 UEFA European Championship. The Rochusclub Düsseldorf has hosted the tennis World Team Cup from 1978 till 2012. Düsseldorf also held the Grand Départ for the Tour de France in July 2017. Other sports in Düsseldorf are ice hockey (the Düsseldorfer EG which play in the PSD Bank Dome) and American football. The Düsseldorf Panther are one of the most successful teams in Germany with six German Bowl titles and the Eurobowl victory in 1995. In addition the Junior-Team is the most successful youth department in Germany with fifteen Junior Bowl victories. Rhine Fire Düsseldorf was an established team of the NFL Europe and won the World Bowl two times in 1998 and 2000. Düsseldorf has a successful rugby union team (Düsseldorf Dragons), who as of 2017/18 play in the western division of the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German rugby. Table tennis is also played (Borussia Düsseldorf – the most successful team in Germany with Timo Boll), as are handball (HSG Düsseldorf), basketball (Düsseldorf Giants), baseball (Düsseldorf Senators) and dancing (Rot-Weiß Düsseldorf). Düsseldorf also has a Cricket team, the Düsseldorf Blackcaps, who play in the regional NRW league. The city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Education. Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf is located in the southern part of the city. It has about 30,000 students and a wide range of subjects in natural sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, philosophy, social sciences, arts, languages, medicine, pharmacy, economy and the law. Other academic institutions include: International primary and secondary schools: Twin towns – sister cities. Düsseldorf is twinned with: Friendship and cooperation. Düsseldorf also cooperates with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65861

Lu Xun

Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Hsun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün, ), was a Chinese writer, literary critic, lecturer, and state servant. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese, he was a short story writer, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, poet, and designer. In the 1930s, he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai during republican-era China (1912–1949). Lu Xun was born into a family of landlords and government officials in Shaoxing, Zhejiang; the family's financial resources declined over the course of his youth. Lu aspired to take the imperial examinations, but due to his family's relative poverty he was forced to attend government-funded schools teaching "foreign education". Upon graduation, Lu went to medical school in Japan but later dropped out. He became interested in studying literature but was eventually forced to return to China because of his family's lack of funds. After returning to China, Lu worked for several years teaching at local secondary schools and colleges before finally finding an office at the Republic of China Ministry of Education. After the 1919 May Fourth Movement, Lu Xun's writing began to exert a substantial influence on Chinese literature and popular culture. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a leftist. He was highly acclaimed by the Chinese government after 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, and Mao Zedong himself was a life-long admirer of Lu Xun's writing. Though sympathetic to socialist ideals, Lu Xun never joined the Chinese Communist Party. Biography. Early life. Lu Xun was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. As was common in premodern China, Lu Xun had many names. His birth name was "Zhou Zhangshou" (). His courtesy name was "Yushan" (), but he later changed that to "Yucai" (). In 1898, before he went to the Jiangnan Naval Academy, he took the given name "Shuren" ()—which means, figuratively, "to be an educated man". The name by which he is best known internationally, "Lu Xun", was a literary pseudonym that he chose when his story "Diary of a Madman" was first published in 1918. By the time Lu Xun was born, the Zhou family had been prosperous for centuries, and had become wealthy through landowning, pawnbroking, and by having several family members promoted to government positions. His paternal grandfather, Zhou Fuqing, was appointed to the Imperial Hanlin Academy in Beijing: the highest position possible for aspiring civil servants at that time. Zhou's mother was a member of the same landed gentry class as Lu Xun's father, from a slightly smaller town in the countryside (Anqiaotou, Zhejiang; a part of Tongxiang City). Because formal education was not considered socially appropriate for girls, she had not received any education, but she still taught herself how to read and write. The surname "Lu (魯)" in Zhou Shuren's pen name, "Lu Xun", was the same as his mother's surname, "Lu". Lu's early education was based on the Confucian classics, in which he studied poetry, history, and philosophy—subjects which, he later reflected, were neither useful nor interesting to him. Instead, he enjoyed folk stories and traditions: local operas, the mythological creatures and stories in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and the ghost stories told to him by an illiterate servant who raised him, Ah Chang (whom he called "Mother Chang"). By the time Lu was born, his family's prosperity had already been declining. His father, Zhou Boyi, had been successful at passing the lowest, county-level imperial examinations (the route to wealth and social success in imperial China), but was unsuccessful in writing the more competitive provincial-level examinations (the "juren" exam). In 1893 Zhou Boyi was discovered attempting to bribe an examination official. Lu Xun's grandfather was implicated, and was arrested and sentenced to beheading for his son's crime. The sentence was later commuted, and he was imprisoned in Hangzhou instead. After the affair, Zhou Boyi was stripped of his position in the government and forbidden to ever again write the civil service examinations. The Zhou family only prevented Lu's grandfather from being executed through regular, expensive bribes to authorities, until he was finally released in 1901. After the family's attempt at bribery was discovered, Zhou Boyi engaged in heavy drinking and opium use and his health declined. Local Chinese doctors attempted to cure him through a series of expensive quack prescriptions, including monogamous crickets, sugar cane that had survived frost three times, ink, and the skin from a drum. Despite these expensive treatments, Zhou Boyi died of an asthma attack at age 35 in 1896. He might have suffered from dropsy. Education. Lu Xun half-heartedly participated in one civil service examination, in 1899, but then abandoned pursuing a traditional Confucian education or career. He intended to study at a prestigious school, the "Seeking Affirmation Academy", in Hangzhou, but was forced by his family's poverty to study at a tuition-free military school, the "Jiangnan Naval Academy", in Nanjing, instead. As a consequence of Lu's decision to attend a military school specializing in foreign education, his mother wept, he was instructed to change his name (to avoid disgracing his family), and some of his relatives began to look down on him. Lu attended the Jiangnan Naval Academy for half a year, and left after it became clear that he would be assigned to work in an engine room, below deck, which he considered degrading. He later wrote that he was dissatisfied with the quality of teaching at the academy. After leaving the school, Lu sat for the lowest level of the civil service exams, and finished 137th of 500. He intended to sit for the next-highest level, but became upset when one of his younger brothers died, and abandoned his plans. Lu Xun transferred to another government-funded school, the "School of Mines and Railways", and graduated from that school in 1902. The school was Lu's first exposure to foreign literature, philosophy, history, and science, and he studied English and German intensively. Some of the influential authors that he read during that period include T. H. Huxley, John Stuart Mill, Yan Fu, and Liang Qichao. His later social philosophy may have been influenced by several novels about social conflict that he read during the period, including "Ivanhoe" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin". He did very well at the school with relatively little effort, and occasionally experienced racism directed at him from resident Manchu bannermen. The racism he experienced may have influenced his later sense of Han Chinese nationalism. After graduating Lu Xun planned to become a foreign doctor. In 1902, Lu Xun left for Japan on a Qing government scholarship to pursue an education in foreign medicine. After arriving in Japan he attended the "Kobun Institute", a preparatory language school for Chinese students attending Japanese universities. After encouragement from a classmate, he cut off his queue (which all Han Chinese were legally forced to wear in China) and practiced jujutsu in his free time. He had an ambiguous attitude towards Chinese revolutionary politics during the period, and it is not clear whether he joined any of the revolutionary parties (such as the Tongmenghui) that were popular among Chinese expatriates in Japan at that time. He experienced anti-Chinese racism, but was simultaneously disgusted with the behaviour of some Chinese who were living in Japan. His earliest surviving essays, written in Classical Chinese, were published while he was attending this school, and he published his first Chinese translations of famous and influential foreign novels, including Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". In 1904, Lu began studying at the Sendai Medical Academy, in northern Honshu, but remained there for less than two years. He generally found his studies at the school tedious and difficult, partially due to his imperfect Japanese. While studying in Sendai he befriended one of his professors, Fujino Genkurō, who helped him prepare class notes. Because of their friendship Lu was accused by his classmates of receiving special assistance from Fujino. Lu later recalled his mentor respectfully and affectionately in an essay, "Mr Fujino", published in "Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk". This essay, today one of his most publicly renowned works, is in the middle school literature curriculum in China. Fujino later repaid Lu's respect in an obituary essay on his death, in 1937. The Sendai Medical Academy is now the medical school of Tohoku University. While Lu Xun was attending medical school, the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) broke out. Part of the war was fought on disputed Chinese land. While the war was being fought it became common for lecturers to show slides of pictures from the war to their students after their classes had ended. After one of his biology classes Lu was shown a scene in which a Japanese soldier was about to behead a Chinese man who had allegedly spied for the Russians, surrounded by Chinese who were apathetic to the scene. In his preface to "Nahan", the first collection of his short stories, Lu explained how viewing this scene influenced him to quit studying foreign medicine, and to become a literary physician to what he perceived to be China's spiritual problems instead: At the time, I hadn't seen any of my fellow Chinese in a long time, but one day some of them showed up in a slide. One, with his hands tied behind him, was in the middle of the picture; the others were gathered around him. Physically, they were as strong and healthy as anyone could ask, but their expressions revealed all too clearly that spiritually they were calloused and numb. According to the caption, the Chinese whose hands were bound had been spying on the Japanese military for the Russians. He was about to be decapitated as a 'public example.' The other Chinese gathered around him had come to enjoy the spectacle. In March 1906, Lu Xun abruptly and secretly terminated his pursuit of the degree and left college. At the time he told no one. After arriving in Tokyo he made sure that the Chinese embassy would not cancel his scholarship and registered at the local German Institute, but was not required to take classes there. He began to read Nietzsche, and wrote a number of essays in the period that were influenced by his philosophy. In June 1906, Lu's mother heard a rumor that he had married a Japanese girl and had a child with her, and feigned illness as a pretext to ask Lu to return home, where she would then force him to take part in an arranged marriage she had agreed to several years before. The girl, Zhu An, had little in common with Lu, was illiterate, and had bound feet. Lu Xun married her, but they never had a romantic relationship. Despite that fact, Lu took care of her material needs for the rest of his life. Several days after the ceremony Lu sailed back to Japan with his younger brother, Zuoren, and left behind his new wife. After returning to Japan he took informal classes in literature and history, published several essays in student-run journals, and in 1907 he briefly took Russian lessons. He attempted to found a literary journal with his brother, "New Life", but before its first publication its other writers and its financial backers all abandoned the project, and it failed. In 1909 Lu and his brother published their translations of Western fiction, including Edgar Allan Poe, as "Tales from Abroad", but the book sold only 41 copies of the 1,500 copies that were printed. The publication failed for many reasons: it was sold only in Tokyo (which did not have a large Chinese population) and a single silk shop in Shanghai; Chinese readers may not have been interested in Eastern European culture; and Lu wrote in Classical Chinese, which was very difficult for ordinary people to read. Early career. Lu intended to study in Germany in 1909, but did not have sufficient funds, and was forced to return home. Between 1909 and 1911 he held a number of brief teaching positions at local colleges and secondary schools that he felt were unsatisfying, partly to support his brother Zuoren's studies in Japan. Lu spent these years in traditional Chinese literary pursuits: collecting old books, researching pre-modern Chinese fiction, reconstructing ancient tombstone inscriptions, and compiling the history of his native town, Shaoxing. He explained to an old friend that his activities were not "scholarship", but "a substitute for 'wine and women'". In his personal letters he expressed disappointment about his own failure, China's political situation, and his family's continuing impoverishment. In 1911 he returned to Japan to retrieve his brother, Zuoren, so that Zuoren could help with the family finances. Zuoren wanted to remain in Japan to study French, but Lu wrote that "French... does not fill stomachs." He encouraged another brother, Jianren, to become a botanist. He began to drink heavily, a habit he continued for the rest of his life. In 1911 he wrote his first short story, "Nostalgia", but he was so disappointed with it that he threw it away. Zuoren saved it, and had it successfully published two years later under his own name. In February 1912, shortly after the Xinhai Revolution that ended the Qing dynasty and nominally founded the Republic of China, Lu gained a position at the national Ministry of Education. He was hired in Nanjing, but then moved with the ministry to Beijing, where he lived from 1912 to 1926. At first, his work consisted almost completely of copying books, but he was later appointed Section Head of the Social Education Division, and eventually to the position of Assistant Secretary. Two of his major accomplishments in office were the renovation and expansion of the Beijing Library, the establishment of the Natural History Museum, and the establishment of the Library of Popular Literature. Together with Qian Daosun and Xu Shoushang he designed the Twelve Symbols national emblem in 1912. Between 1912 and 1917 he was a member of an ineffectual censorship committee, informally studied Buddhist sutras, lectured on fine arts, wrote and self-published a book on the history of Shaoxing, and edited and self-published a collection of folk stories from the Tang and Song dynasties. He collected and self-published an authoritative book on the work of an ancient poet, Ji Kang, and wrote "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction", a work which, because traditional scholars had not valued fiction, had little precedent in China. After Yuan Shikai declared himself the Emperor of China in 1915, Lu was briefly forced to participate in rituals honoring Confucius, which he ridiculed in his diaries. In 1917, an old friend of Lu's, Qian Xuantong, invited Lu to write for "New Youth", a radical populist literary magazine that had recently been founded by Chen Duxiu, which also inspired a great number of younger writers such as Mao Dun. At first Lu was skeptical that his writing could serve any social purpose, and told Qian: "Imagine an iron house: without windows or doors, utterly indestructible, and full of sound sleepers – all about to suffocate to death. Let them die in their sleep, and they will feel nothing. Is it right to cry out, to rouse the light sleepers among them, causing them inconsolable agony before they die?" Qian replied that it was, because if the sleepers were awoken, "there was still hope – hope that the iron house may one day be destroyed". Shortly afterwards, in 1918 Lu wrote the first short story published in his name, "Diary of a Madman", for the April 2, 1918 magazine issue. After the publication of "Diary of a Madman", the story was praised for its anti-traditionalism, its synthesis of Chinese and foreign conventions and ideas, and its skillful narration, and Lu became recognized as one of the leading writers of the New Culture Movement. Lu continued writing for the magazine, and produced his most famous stories for "New Youth" between 1917 and 1921. These stories were collected and re-published in "Nahan" ("Outcry") in 1923. In 1919, Lu moved his family from Shaoxing to a large compound in Beijing, where he lived with his mother, his two brothers, and their Japanese wives. This living arrangement lasted until 1923, when Lu had a falling out with his brother, Zuoren, after which Lu moved with his wife and mother to a separate house. Neither Lu nor Zuoren ever publicly explained the reason for their disagreement, but Zuoren's wife later accused Lu of making sexual advances towards her. Some writers have speculated that their relationship may have worsened as a result of issues related to money, that Lu walked in on Zuoren's wife bathing, or that Lu had an inappropriate "relationship" with Zuoren's wife in Japan that Zuoren later discovered. After the falling out with Zuoren, Lu became depressed. In 1920, Lu began to lecture part-time at several colleges, including Peking University, Beijing Normal University, and Beijing Women's College, where he taught traditional fiction and literary theory. His lecture notes were later collected and published as "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction". He was able to work part-time because he only worked at the Education Ministry three days a week for three hours a day. In 1923 he lost his front teeth in a rickshaw accident, and in 1924 he developed the first symptoms of tuberculosis. In 1925 he founded a journal, "Wilderness", and established the "Weiming Society" in order to support young writers and encourage the translation of foreign literature into Chinese. In the 20 years after the 1911 revolution there was a flowering of literary activity with dozens of journals. The goal was to reform the Chinese language to make universal education possible. Lu Xun was an active participant. His greatest works, such as "Diary of a Madman" and "Ah Q", exemplify this style of "peasant dirt literature" (). The language is fresh and direct. The subjects are country peasants. In 1925, Lu began what may have been his first meaningful romantic relationship, with one of his students at the Beijing Women's College, Xu Guangping. In March 1926 there was a mass student protest against the warlord Feng Yuxiang's collaboration with the Japanese. The protests degenerated into a massacre, in which two of Lu's students from Beijing Women's College were killed. Lu's public support for the protesters forced him to flee from the local authorities. Later in 1926, when the warlord troops of Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu took over Beijing, Lu left northern China and fled to Xiamen. After arriving in Xiamen, later in 1926, Lu began teaching at Xiamen University, but was disappointed by the petty disagreements and unfriendliness of the university's faculty. During the short time he lived in Xiamen, Lu wrote his last collection of fiction, "Old Tales Retold" (which was not published until several years later), and most of his autobiography, published as "Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk". He also published a collection of prose poetry, "Wild Grass". In January 1927, he and Xu moved to Guangzhou, where he was hired as the head of the Zhongshan University Chinese literature department. His first act in his position was to hire Xu as his "personal assistant", and to hire one of his old classmates from Japan, Xu Shoushang, as a lecturer. While in Guangzhou, he edited numerous poems and books for publication, and served as a guest lecturer at Whampoa Academy. He made contacts within the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through his students. After the Shanghai massacre in April 1927, he attempted to secure the release of several students through the university, but failed. His failure to save his students led him to resign from his position at the university, and he left for the Shanghai International Settlement in September 1927. By the time he left Guangzhou, he was one of the most famous intellectuals in China. In 1927 Lu was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature, for the short story "The True Story of Ah Q", despite a poor English translation and annotations that were nearly double the size of the text. Lu rejected the possibility of accepting the nomination. Later, he renounced writing fiction or poetry in response to China's deteriorating political situation and his own poor emotional state, and restricted himself to writing argumentative essays. Late career. In 1929, he visited his dying mother, and reported that she was pleased at the news of Guangping's pregnancy. Xu Guangping gave birth to a son, Haiying, on 27 September 1929. She was in labor with the baby for 27 hours. The child's name meant simply "Shanghai infant". His parents chose the name thinking that he could change it himself later, but he never did so. Haiying was Lu Xun's only child. After moving to Shanghai, Lu rejected all regular teaching positions (though he sometimes gave guest lectures at different campuses), and for the first time was able to make a living solely as a professional writer, with a monthly income of roughly 500 yuan. He was also appointed by the government as a "specially appointed writer" by the national Ministry of Higher Education, which brought him an additional 300 yuan/month. He began to study and identify with Marxist political theory, made contact with local CCP members, and became involved in literary disputes with other leftist writers in the city. In 1930 Lu became one of the co-founders of the League of Left-Wing Writers, but shortly after he moved to Shanghai other leftist writers accused him of being "an evil feudal remnant", the "best spokesman of the bourgeoisie", and "a counterrevolutionary split personality". The League continued in various forms until 1936, when the constant disputes among its members led the CCP to dissolve it. In January 1931, the Kuomintang passed new, stricter censorship laws, allowing for writers producing literature deemed "endangering the public" or "disturbing public order" to be imprisoned for life or executed. Later that month he went into hiding. In early February, less than a month later, the Kuomintang executed twenty-four local writers (including five who belonged to the League) whom they had arrested under this law. After the execution of the "24 Longhua Martyrs" (in addition to other students, friends, and associates), Lu's political views became distinctly anti-Kuomintang. In 1933 Lu met Edgar Snow. Snow asked Lu whether there were any Ah Q's left in China. Lu responded, "It's worse now. Now it's Ah Q's who are running the country." Despite the unfavorable political climate, Lu Xun contributed regularly to a variety of periodicals in the 1930s, including Lin Yutang's humor magazine "The Analects Fortnightly", and corresponded with writers in Japan as well as China. Although he had renounced writing fiction years before, in 1934 he published his last collection of short stories, "Old Tales Retold". In 1935, he sent a telegram to CCP forces in Shaanxi congratulating them on the recent completion of their Long March. The CCP requested that he write a novel about the communist revolution set in rural China, but he declined, citing his lack of background and understanding of the subject. Lu was a heavy smoker, which may have contributed to the deterioration of his health throughout his last year. By 1936 he had developed chronic tuberculosis, and in March of that year he was stricken with bronchitic asthma and a fever. The treatment for this involved draining 300 grams of fluid in the lungs through a puncture. From June to August, he was again sick, and his weight dropped to only 83 pounds. He recovered somewhat, and wrote two essays in the fall reflecting on mortality. These included "Death", and "This Too Is Life". A month before his death, he wrote: "Hold the funeral quickly... do not stage any memorial services. Forget about me, and care about your own life – you're a fool if you don't." Regarding his son, he wrote: "On no account let him become a good-for-nothing writer or artist." Death. At 3:30 am on the morning of 18 October, 1936, the author woke having great difficulty breathing. Dr. Sudo, his physician, was summoned, and Lu Xun was given injections to relieve the pain. His wife was with him throughout that night. Lu Xun died at 5:11 am the next morning, 19 October. Lu's remains were interred in a mausoleum within Lu Xun Park in Shanghai. Mao Zedong later made the calligraphic inscription above his tomb. He was survived by his son, Zhou Haiying. He was posthumously made a member of the CCP for his contributions to the May Fourth Movement. Legacy. Lu Xun has been described by Nobel laureate Kenzaburō Ōe as "the greatest writer Asia produced in the 20th century." Shortly after Lu Xun's death, Mao Zedong called him "the saint of modern China", but used his legacy selectively to promote his own political goals. In 1942, he quoted Lu out of context to tell his audience to be "a willing ox" like Lu Xun was, but told writers and artists who believed in freedom of expression that, because CCP areas were already liberated, they did not need to be like Lu Xun. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, CCP literary theorists portrayed his work as orthodox examples of communist literature, yet every one of Lu's close disciples from the 1930s was purged. Mao admitted that, had Lu survived until the 1950s, he would "either have gone silent or gone to prison". Party leaders depicted him as "drawing the blueprint of the communist future" and Mao Zedong defined him as the "chief commander of China's Cultural Revolution," although Lu did not join the party. During the 1920s and 1930s Lu Xun and his contemporaries often met informally for free-wheeling intellectual discussions, but after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 the Party sought more control over intellectual life in China, and this type of intellectual independence was suppressed, often violently. Finally, Lu Xun's satirical and ironic writing style itself was discouraged, ridiculed, then as often as possible destroyed. In 1942, Mao wrote that "the style of the essay should not simply be like Lu Xun's. [In a Communist society] we can shout at the top of our voices and have no need for veiled and round-about expressions, which are hard for the people to understand." In 2007, some of his bleaker works were removed from school textbooks. Julia Lovell, who has translated Lu Xun's writing, speculated that "perhaps also it was an attempt to discourage the youth of today from Lu Xun's inconveniently fault-finding habits." During the Cultural Revolution, the CCP both hailed Lu Xun as one of the fathers of communism in China, yet ironically suppressed the very intellectual culture and style of writing that he represented. Some of his essays and writings are now part of the primary school and middle school compulsory curriculum in China. Lu completed volumes of translations, notably from Russian. He particularly admired Nikolai Gogol and made a translation of "Dead Souls". His own first story's title, "Diary of a Madman", was inspired by Gogol's story of the same name. As a left-wing writer, Lu played an important role in the development of modern Chinese literature. His books were and remain highly influential and popular today, both in China and internationally. Lu Xun's works appear in high school textbooks in both China and Japan. He is known to Japanese by the name Rojin (ロジン in Katakana or in Kanji). Because of his leftist political involvement and the role his works played in the subsequent history of the People's Republic of China, Lu Xun's works were banned in Taiwan until the late 1980s. He was among the early supporters of the Esperanto movement in China. Lu Xun's importance to modern Chinese literature lies in the fact that he contributed significantly to nearly every modern literary medium during his lifetime. He wrote in a clear lucid style, which was to influence many generations, in stories, prose poems and essays. Lu Xun's two short story collections, "Nahan" ("Call to Arms") and "Panghuang" ("Wandering"), are often acclaimed as classics of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun's translations were important at a time when foreign literature was seldom read, and his literary criticisms remain acute and persuasively argued. The work of Lu Xun has also received attention outside China. In 1986, Fredric Jameson cited "Diary of a Madman" as the "supreme example" of the "national allegory" form that all Third World literature takes. Gloria Davies compares Lu Xun to Nietzsche, saying that both were "trapped in the construction of a modernity which is fundamentally problematic". According to Leonardo Vittorio Arena, Lu Xun cultivated an ambiguous standpoint towards Nietzsche, a mixture of attraction and repulsion, the latter because of Nietzsche's excesses in style and content. Style and thought. Lu Xun was a versatile writer. He wrote using both traditional Chinese conventions and 19th century European literary forms. His style has been described in equally broad terms, conveying both "sympathetic engagement" and "ironic detachment" at different moments. His essays are often very incisive in his societal commentary, and in his stories his mastery of the vernacular language and tone make some of his literary works (like "The True Story of Ah Q") hard to convey through translation. In them, he frequently treads a fine line between criticizing the follies of his characters and sympathizing with those very follies. Lu Xun was a master of irony and satire (as can be seen in "The True Story of Ah Q") and yet could also write impressively direct prose ("My Old Home", "A Little Incident"). Lu Xun is typically regarded by Mao Zedong as the most influential Chinese writer who was associated with the May Fourth Movement. He produced harsh criticism of social problems in China, particularly in his analysis of the "Chinese national character". He was sometimes called a "champion of common humanity". Lu Xun felt that the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 had been a failure. In 1925 he opined, "I feel the so-called Republic of China has ceased to exist. I feel that, before the revolution, I was a slave, but shortly after the revolution, I have been cheated by slaves and have become their slave." He even recommended that his readers heed the critique of Chinese culture in "Chinese Characteristics" by the missionary writer Arthur Smith. His disillusionment with politics led him to conclude in 1927 that "revolutionary literature" alone could not bring about radical change. Rather, "revolutionary men" needed to lead a revolution using force. In the end, he experienced profound disappointment with the new Nationalist government, which he viewed as ineffective and even harmful to China. Bibliography. Lu Xun's works became known to English readers as early as 1926 with the publication in Shanghai of "The True Story of Ah Q", translated by George Kin Leung, and more widely beginning in 1936 with an anthology edited by Edgar Snow and Nym Wales "Living China, Modern Chinese Short Stories," in which Part One included seven of Lu Xun's stories and a short biography based on Snow's talks with Lu Xun. However, there was not a complete translation of the fiction until the four-volume set of his writings, which included "Selected Stories of Lu Hsun" translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. Another full selection was William A. Lyell's "Diary of a Madman and Other Stories" (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990). In 2009, Penguin Classics published a complete translation by Julia Lovell of his fiction, "The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun", which the scholar Jeffrey Wasserstrom said "could be considered the most significant Penguin Classic ever published." "The Lyrical Lu Xun: a Study of his Classical-style Verse"—a book by Jon Eugene von Kowallis (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) – includes a complete introduction to Lu Xun's poetry in the classical style, with Chinese characters, literal and verse translations, and a biographical introduction which summarizes his life in relation to his poetry. "Capturing Chinese: Short Stories from Lu Xun's Nahan", edited by Kevin Nadolny, includes short summaries to Lu Xun's stories, the Chinese text in simplified characters, pinyin, and definitions for difficult vocabulary. In 2017, Harvard University Press published a book of his essays translated by Eileen J. Cheng, titled "Jottings under Lamplight". Short stories. (),1923, translated as "Call to Arms" (Yang and Yang), "Cheering from the Sidelines" (Lyell) and "Outcry" (Lovell): , 1926, translated as "Wandering" (Yang and Yang), "Wondering Where to Turn" (Lyell) and "Hesitation" (Lovell): (1935), translated as "Old Tales Retold" (Yang and Yang) and "Old Stories Retold" (Lovell):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65951

Fielding (cricket)

Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the striking batter, to limit the number of runs that the striker scores and/or to get a batter out by either catching a hit ball before it bounces, or by running out either batter before they can complete their current run. There are a number of recognised fielding positions and they can be categorised into the offside and leg side of the field. Fielding also involves trying to prevent the ball from making a boundary where four "runs" are awarded for reaching the perimeter and six for crossing it without touching the grass. A fielder may field the ball with any part of his/her body. However, if, while the ball is in play, he/she wilfully fields it otherwise (e.g. by using his/her hat) the ball becomes dead and five penalty runs are awarded to the batting side, unless the ball previously struck a batter not attempting to hit or avoid the ball. Most of the rules covering fielders are set out in Law 28 of the "Laws of cricket". Fake fielding is the action caused by a fielder when he/she makes bodily movements to feign fielding to fool batters into making mistakes and is a punishable offence under the ICC rules. Fielding position names and locations. There are 11 players in a team: one is the bowler and another is the wicket-keeper, so only nine other fielding positions can be occupied at any time. Where fielders are positioned is a tactical decision made by the captain of the fielding team. The captain (usually in consultation with the bowler and sometimes other members of the team) may move players between fielding positions at any time except when a bowler is in the act of bowling to a batter, though there are exceptions for fielders moving in anticipation of the ball being hit to a particular area. There are a number of named basic fielding positions, some of which are employed very commonly and others that are used less often. However, these positions are neither fixed nor precisely defined, and fielders can be placed in positions that differ from the basic positions. The nomenclature of the positions is somewhat esoteric, but roughly follows a system of polar coordinates – one word (leg, cover, mid-wicket) specifies the angle from the batter, and is sometimes preceded by an adjective describing the distance from the batter (silly, short, deep or long). Words such as "backward", "forward", or "square" can further indicate the angle. The image shows the location of most of the named fielding positions based on a right-handed batter. The area to the left of a right-handed batter (from the batter's point of view – facing the bowler) is called the "leg side" or "on side", while that to the right is the "off side". If the batter is left-handed, the leg and off sides are reversed and the fielding positions are a mirror image of those shown. Catching positions. Some fielding positions are used offensively. That is, players are put there with the main aim being to catch out the batter rather than to stop or slow down the scoring of runs. These positions include Slip (often there are multiple slips next to each other, designated "First slip", "Second slip", "Third slip", etc., numbered outwards from the wicket-keeper – collectively known as the "slip cordon") meant to catch balls that just edge off the bat; Gully; Fly slip; Leg slip; Leg gully; the "short" and "silly" positions. "Short leg", also known as "bat pad", is a position specifically intended to catch balls that unintentionally strike the bat and leg pad, and thus end up only a metre or two to the leg side. Other positions. Also the bowler, after delivering the ball, must avoid running on the pitch so usually ends up fielding near silly mid on or silly mid off, but somewhat closer to the pitch. Modifiers. Additionally, commentators or spectators discussing the details of field placement will often use the terms for descriptive phrases such as "gully is a bit wider than normal" (meaning he/she is more to the side than normal) or "mid off is standing too deep, he/she should come in shorter" (meaning he/she is too far away and should be positioned closer to the batter). Restrictions on field placement. Fielders may be placed anywhere on the field, subject to the following rules. At the time the ball is bowled: If any of these rules is violated, an umpire will call the delivery a no-ball. Additionally a player may not make any significant movement after the ball comes into play and before the ball reaches the striker. If this happens, an umpire will call and signal 'dead ball'. For close fielders, anything other than minor adjustments to stance or position in relation to the striker is significant. In the outfield, fielders may move in towards the striker or striker's wicket; indeed, they usually do. However, anything other than slight movement off line or away from the striker is to be considered significant. Tactics of field placement. With only nine fielders (in addition to the bowler and wicket-keeper), there are not enough to cover every part of the field simultaneously. The captain of the fielding team must decide which fielding positions to use, and which to leave vacant. The placement of fielders is one of the major tactical considerations for the fielding captain. Attacking and defending. An attacking field is one in which fielders are positioned in such a way that they are likely to take catches, and thus likely to get the batter out. Such a field generally involves having many fielders close to the batter. For a pace bowler, an attacking field will usually include multiple slips (termed a "cordon") and a gully; these are common positions for catching mishit shots. For a spin bowler, attacking positions include one or two slips, short leg or silly point. A defensive field is one in which most of the field is within easy reach of one or more fielders; the batter will therefore find it difficult to score runs. This generally involves having most fielders some distance from, and in front of, the batter, in positions where the ball is most likely to be hit. Defensive fields generally have multiple fielders stationed close to the boundary rope to prevent fours being scored, and others close to the fielding circle, where they can prevent singles. Many elements govern the decisions on field placements, including: the tactical situation in the match; which bowler is bowling; how long the batter has been in; the wear on the ball; the state of the wicket; the light and weather conditions; or the time remaining until the next interval in play. Off- and leg-side fields. Another consideration when setting a field is how many fielders to have on each side of the pitch. With nine fielders to place, the division must necessarily be unequal, but the degree of inequality varies. When describing a field setting, the numbers of fielders on the off side and leg side are often abbreviated into a shortened form, with the off side number quoted first. For example, a "5–4 field" means 5 fielders on the off side and 4 on the leg side. Usually, most fielders are placed on the off side. This is because most bowlers tend to concentrate the line of their deliveries on or outside the off stump, so most shots are hit into the off side. When attacking, there may be 3 or 4 slips and 1 or 2 gullies, potentially using up to six fielders in that region alone. This would typically be accompanied by a mid off, mid on, and fine leg, making it a 7–2 field. Although there are only two fielders on the leg side, they should get relatively little work as long as the bowlers maintain a line outside off stump. This type of field leaves large gaps in front of the wicket, and is used to entice the batters to attack there, with the hope that they make a misjudgment and edge the ball to the catchers waiting behind them. As fields get progressively more defensive, fielders will move out of the slip and gully area to cover more of the field, leading to 6–3 and 5–4 fields. If a bowler, usually a leg spin bowler, decides to attack the batter's legs in an attempt to force a stumping, bowl him behind his/her legs, or induce a catch on the leg side, the field may stack 4–5 towards the leg side. It is unusual to see more than five fielders on the leg side, because of the restriction that there must be no more than two fielders placed behind square leg. Sometimes a spinner will bowl leg theory and have seven fielders on the leg side, and will bowl significantly wide of the leg stump to prevent scoring. Often the ball is so wide that the batter cannot hit the ball straight of mid-on while standing still, and cannot hit to the off side unless they try unorthodox and risky shots such as a reverse sweep or pull, or switch their handedness. The batter can back away to the leg side to hit through the off side, but can expose their stumps in doing so. The reverse tactic can be used, by fast and slow bowlers alike, by placing seven or eight fielders on the off side and bowling far outside off stump. The batter can safely allow the ball to pass without fear of it hitting the stumps, but will not score. If they want to score they will have to try and risk an edge to a wide ball and hit through the packed off side, or try to drag the ball from far outside the stumps to the sparsely-populated leg side. Another attacking placement on the leg side is the "leg side trap", which involves placing fielders near the boundary at deep square and backward square leg and bowling bouncers to try to induce the batter to hook the ball into the air. For slower bowlers, the leg trap fieldsmen tend to be placed within 10–15 m from the bat behind square, to catch leg glances and sweeps. Protective equipment. No member of the fielding side other than the wicket-keeper may wear gloves or external leg guards, though fielders (in particular players fielding near to the bat) may also wear shin protectors, groin protectors ('boxes') and chest protectors beneath their clothing. Apart from the wicket-keeper, protection for the hand or fingers may be worn only with the consent of the umpires. Fielders are permitted to wear a helmet and face guard. This is usually employed in a position such as silly point or silly mid-wicket, where proximity to the batter gives little time to avoid a shot directly at their head. If the helmet is only being used for overs from one end, it will be placed behind the wicket-keeper when not in use. Some grounds have purpose-built temporary storage for the helmet, shin pads etc., in the form of a cavity beneath the field, accessed through a hatch about across flush with the grass. 5 penalty runs are awarded to the batting side should the ball touch a fielder's headgear whilst it is not being worn, unless the ball previously struck a batter not attempting to hit or avoid the ball. This rule was introduced in the 19th century to prevent the unfair practice of a fielder using a hat (often a top hat) to take a catch. As cricket balls are hard and can travel at high speeds off the bat, protective equipment is recommended to prevent injury. There have been a few recorded deaths in cricket, but they are extremely rare, and not always related to fielding. Fielding skills. Fielding in cricket requires a range of skills. Close catchers require the ability to be able to take quick reaction catches with a high degree of consistency. This can require considerable efforts of concentration as a catcher may only be required to take one catch in an entire game, but his/her success in taking that catch may have a considerable effect on the outcome of the match. Infielders field between 20 and 40 yards away from the batter. The ball will often be hit at them extremely hard, and they require excellent athleticism as well as courage in stopping it from passing them. Infield catches range from simple, slow moving chances known as "dollies" to hard hit balls that require a spectacular diving catch. Finally, infielders are the main source of run outs in a game of cricket, and their ability to get to the ball quickly, throw it straight and hard and make a direct hit on the stumps is an important skill. Outfielders field furthest from the bat, typically right on the boundary edge. Their main role is to prevent the ball from going over the boundary and scoring four or six runs. They need good footspeed to be able to get around the field quickly, and a strong arm to be able to make the 50–80-yard throw. Outfielders also often have to catch high hit balls that go over the infield. Fielding specialities. Many cricketers are particularly adept in one fielding position and will usually be found there: However, players are rarely selected purely because of their fielding skills, and all players are expected to win their place in the team as either a specialist batter or bowler (or both). This even applies to wicket-keepers, who are generally expected to be competent middle-order batters (see Wicket-keeper-batter, where more than one wicket-keeper can be selected to play as an on-field substitution). Some wicket-keepers may also be called on to bowl, though this is extremely rare. Throwing a cricket ball. There have been many competitions for throwing a cricket ball the furthest distance, particularly in the earlier years of the game. "Wisden" describes how the record was set around 1882, by one Robert Percival at Durham Sands Racecourse, at 140 yards and two feet (128.7 m). Former Essex all-rounder Ian Pont threw a ball 138 yards (126.19 m) in Cape Town in 1981. There are unconfirmed reports that Jānis Lūsis, the non-cricketer Soviet javelin thrower, who won the Olympic gold medal in 1968, once threw a ball 150 yards. Specialist fielding coaches. The use of specialist fielding coaches has become more prevalent since the turn of the 21st century, following the trend of specialist batting and bowling coaches within professional cricket. According to cricket broadcaster Henry Blofeld, "Dressing rooms were once populated by the team and the twelfth man, one physiotherapist at most, perhaps a selector and the occasional visitor. That was all. Now, apart from the two main coaches, there are 'emergency fielders' galore; you can hardly see yourself for batting, bowling, fielding coaches, psychoanalysts and statistical wizards[,] and a whole army of physiotherapists". Baseball fielding coaches have been sought out for this purpose before. See also. Other sports

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66143

Richard Hadlee

Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours List and knighted in the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to cricket. He is a former chairman of the New Zealand board of selectors. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the second greatest Test bowler of all time. In March 2009, Hadlee was commemorated as one of the Twelve Local Heroes, and a bronze bust of him was unveiled outside the Christchurch Arts Centre. On 3 April 2009, Hadlee was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He is the most prominent member of the Hadlee cricket playing family. Personal life. Hadlee was born on 3 July 1951 at St Albans, Christchurch. He is the son of Walter Hadlee, and the brother of Dayle and Barry. His former wife Karen also played international cricket for New Zealand. Having discovered that he had Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome six months after retiring, he had heart surgery in July 1991. Hadlee had the syndrome since birth and felt some of the effects like irregular heartbeat during his career. Hadlee continues to lead an active life and works with the Heart Foundation. In June 2018, Hadlee was diagnosed with bowel cancer and underwent tumour removal surgery. Test career. A bowling all-rounder, in an 86-Test career he took 431 wickets (at the time the world record), and was the first bowler to pass 400 wickets, with an average of 22.29, and made 3124 Test runs at 27.16, including two centuries and 15 fifties. Hadlee is rated by many experts as the greatest exponent of bowling with the new ball. He was the master of (conventional) swing and was the original "Sultan of Swing". Hadlee was seen as one of the finest fast bowlers of his time, despite the contemporaneous presence of Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Wasim Akram and Malcolm Marshall among others. As one of the four top all rounders of his time, the others being Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham, Hadlee had the best bowling average of the four, but the lowest batting average. Born in Christchurch, Hadlee made his first class debut for Canterbury in 1971/72 and his Test match debut in 1973 – on both occasions, his first delivery was dispatched to the boundary. Hadlee was an inconsistent performer at Test level for several years; however a breakthrough performance against India in 1976 in which he took 11 wickets in a game resulting in a win by New Zealand cemented his place in the side. In 1978, Hadlee helped New Zealand to a historic first win over England by taking 6 for 26 in England's second innings, bowling the visitors out for 64 chasing a target of 137. In 1979/80, New Zealand faced the West Indies in a home Test series at a time when the West Indies were a formidable world cricket power. In the first Test in Dunedin New Zealand achieved a shock 1-wicket win, helped by Hadlee's 11 wickets in the game. In the second Test, Hadlee scored his maiden Test century, helping New Zealand draw the Test and win the series 1–0. The result was the start of a 12-year unbeaten home record for New Zealand in Test match series. Hadlee was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to cricket, in the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours. A tour to England in 1983 saw New Zealand register their first ever Test win on English soil, at Headingley. The match was remarkable for Hadlee's match return of 0 for 89, a very unusual occurrence in a New Zealand victory during his career. England eventually won the 4 Test series 3–1; however, Hadlee topped both batting and bowling averages for New Zealand in the series, and took his 200th Test wicket in the final Test at Nottingham. In the return Test series in New Zealand in 1984, New Zealand completed a remarkable three-day innings victory (including one day lost to rain) over England at Christchurch, in which England were dismissed for less than 100 in both of their innings. The match was also notable for Hadlee's superb all-round performance – he took 8 wickets in the match, and scored a rapid-fire 99 in New Zealand's only innings. These efforts led him to achieve the number 1 ranking in ICC Test Bowling Rankings for the year 1984 (he retained it for the next 4 years, till 1988). 1985/86 was the beginning of a period in which Hadlee developed from a very good fast bowler to a truly great one. In New Zealand's tour to Australia, an outstanding all-round performance helped destroy the home team in the first Test at Brisbane, beginning with a personal Test best 9 for 52 in Australia's first innings. A batting effort of 54 (to complement a fine 188 by Martin Crowe) combined with 6 more wickets in Australia's second innings, helped New Zealand to a crushing innings victory. Hadlee followed this up with 7 wickets in a loss in the second Test, and 11 wickets in a New Zealand victory in the third Test, giving his country their first series win on Australian soil and a personal haul of 33 wickets in 3 Tests. In the first Test of the return series in New Zealand, Hadlee took his 300th Test wicket by trapping Australian captain Allan Border LBW. The series was eventually won 2-1 by New Zealand by way of a victory in the third Test at Eden Park. In 1986 Hadlee helped New Zealand to a 1–0 series win in England, their first over that country in England. Hadlee's outstanding personal performance in the second Test at Nottingham (his county 'home') where he took 10 wickets and scored 68 in New Zealand's first innings powered his team to victory. In this Test Hadlee, often a controversial character, added to this side of his reputation when he felled (and hospitalised) England wicketkeeper and Nottinghampshire teammate Bruce French with a nasty bouncer. During the New Zealand v West Indies Test at Christchurch in March 1987, Hadlee and captain Jeremy Coney had a disagreement in the dressing room prior to the game. It progressed to not talking to each other on the field, communicating through John Wright at mid-on. In April 1987, New Zealand travelled to Sri Lanka where Hadlee recorded his second Test century. His 151 not out in the first Test helped New Zealand to save the game; however, the tour was cut short due to a bomb exploding near the New Zealand team's hotel in Colombo. The terrorist bomb responsible for killing 113 civilians was planted by the Tamil Tigers separatist movement and was not thought to be directed at the touring New Zealand cricket team. Nonetheless, the team voted overwhelmingly to return home after that one Test of the scheduled three-Test tour. Hadlee's appetite for competition against Australia surfaced again in 1987/88, when in the third Test of a 3 match series in Australia he captured 10 wickets and nearly inspired New Zealand to an unlikely series-equalling victory. The Test ended with Australia's number eleven batsman Michael Whitney surviving a torrid last over bowled by an exhausted Hadlee. A wicket in that over would have given New Zealand victory, and Hadlee a world record 374th Test wicket, breaking current holder Ian Botham's record. In the following home series against England, the New Zealand public eagerly anticipated the wicket which would give Hadlee sole possession of the world record. However, Hadlee broke down injured on the first day of the first Test, and was forced to sit out the rest of the series. At an awards dinner at the end of the season, Australian commentator Richie Benaud, upon seeing Hadlee hobble up to the stage on crutches, said later that he thought Hadlee "would never play cricket again." However, after a successful rehabilitation, the next opportunity for Hadlee to claim the Test wicket world record was against India in India in 1988. After touring India in 1976 Hadlee, plagued by stomach troubles, had decided never to play cricket there again, however the opportunity to make history was too strong a lure to pass up. He duly captured the record, and his 374th Test wicket, in the first Test of the series. In the second Test a 10 wicket haul helped New Zealand to a rare Test win in India, although the series was eventually lost 2–1. In a home series against India in 1989/90, Hadlee become the first bowler in history to take 400 Test wickets when he dismissed Sanjay Manjrekar in the second innings of the first Test on his home ground in Christchurch, while a group of Old Boys from his former school sang their school song. Shortly after helping New Zealand to another Test victory over Australia at Wellington by taking his 100th first class 5 wicket haul in an innings, Hadlee announced that he would be retiring after the upcoming tour to England. Shortly before the second Test of the England series at Lord's, the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours were announced and included Hadlee's appointment as a Knight Bachelor, for services to cricket. Hadlee was not invested with his knighthood until 4 October 1990 after the end of his final Test match on 10 July 1990, although he became Sir Richard upon the publication date of the Honours List. Lt.-Col. Sir Maharajkumar Dr. Vijayananda Gajapathi Raju (better known as the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram or Vizzy) was the only other person to be knighted for services to cricket while an active Test cricketer, in 1936. Unlike Hadlee however, Vizzy's knighthood was recognised for his administrative efforts, not his services to cricket as a player. (Alastair Cook was subsequently knighted in 2019 while still a full-time first-class player, but shortly after his final Test match.) Due to most knighted cricketers being batsmen, Hadlee liked to state he was the first bowler to receive a knighthood since Sir Francis Drake. Hadlee celebrated the achievement by scoring 86 in New Zealand's first innings and winning the man of the match award. In the final Test of the series, Hadlee ended his Test career by taking 5 wickets in his final bowling performance, and taking a wicket with the final ball of his Test career. When his father Walter was asked to vote, for the 2000 edition of Wisden, for his choice of the five cricketers of the 20th century, he included Richard, confessing it was "embarrassing ... But there's a job to be done. I will cite the bare facts." He had considered Dennis Lillee for his selection, but found Richard's Test match performance put him marginally ahead. In total, Richard Hadlee received thirteen votes from the 100 electors, coming the equal tenth as player of the century. Nottinghamshire career. For Nottinghamshire, on often overgrassed Trent Bridge pitches, he gained some analyses that are remarkable in an era of covered pitches, notably his eight for 22 against Surrey in 1984. He represented Nottinghamshire between 1978 and 1987, but played only three full seasons due to injuries and Test calls. However, his bowling figures for those three seasons were quite remarkable: In those three seasons he was voted the "PCA Player of the Year" by his peers of the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA). He won The Cricket Society "Wetherall Award for the Leading All-Rounder in English First-Class Cricket" in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1987. In the 1984 county season, Hadlee completed a feat rare in the modern age by doing the county 'double' – scoring 1000 runs and taking 100 wickets in the same season. Hadlee, and his immediate successor at Nottinghamshire Franklyn Stephenson, are the only two players to achieve this feat in English county cricket since the number of county games per season was reduced in 1969. The runs component of the double included Hadlee's highest first class score, 210* in a victory over Middlesex at Lord's. In 1987, his swan song, he narrowly missed the double as Nottinghamshire won the County Championship as they had in 1981. Hadlee's contribution with ball and bat to both and their other triumphs was immense. They next won the championship in 2005 with fellow Kiwi Stephen Fleming in charge. Canterbury career. Because of seasonal differences, Hadlee also played provincial cricket in New Zealand, representing Canterbury. The now-demolished north stand of the earthquake-damaged AMI Stadium was named the Hadlee stand after both Richard Hadlee and other members of the Hadlee family who have made contributions to Canterbury and New Zealand cricket. The Chappell–Hadlee Trophy in which New Zealand and Australia regularly compete in one-day matches is named after the Chappell family of Australia and the Hadlee family of New Zealand. Hadlee was also a competent association football player, playing for southern league team Rangers A.F.C. in Christchurch. Bowling style. Hadlee was a right-arm pace bowler. Initially extremely fast as a young man, as the years progressed he shortened his run-up, gaining improved accuracy and considerable movement off the wicket and in the air. Perhaps his most potent delivery was the outswinger, which became his main weapon in the latter stages of his career. The most influential person as Hadlee developed and through his career was Dennis Lillee, who he saw as the exemplar of the fast bowler. "He was big, strong, fit, confident, aggressive, had marvelous skills, great technique, he intimidated the batsmen with sheer presence and of course he got you out!" In tough situations in a game Hadlee would ask himself what Lillee would do in equivalent circumstances, and would strive to copy his determination. In his book "Menace", Lillee believed that determination was the greatest contribution to his success. Of Hadlee he considers him super skillful, the first true professional he saw in tests with serial away swingers on off stump with the occasional inswinger or cutter, the odd bouncer and a very rare yorker. His economical action was notable for his close approach to the wicket at the bowler's end (to the point where he occasionally knocked the bails off in his approach), a line which meant he was able to trap many batsmen leg before wicket. He broke the Test-wicket taking record with his 374th wicket on 12 November 1988 in Bangalore, India. His 400th Test wicket was claimed on 4 February 1990, and with his final Test delivery, on 9 July 1990, he dismissed Devon Malcolm for a duck. Batting style. Hadlee was an aggressive left-handed middle-order batsman. Though his record was not as strong against top international bowlers, he was effective at punishing lesser attacks. He finished his career scoring 15 Test fifties and two Test centuries, while for Nottinghamshire in 1984, 1986 and 1987 he averaged over 50 (only W.G. Grace and George Herbert Hirst have come comparably close to heading both batting and bowling averages in a season). The Sir Richard Hadlee Sports Trust. In August 1990, Hadlee established The Sir Richard Hadlee Sports Trust. It was opened to help sportsmen and women who were in situations of hardship to strive for success in their chosen sporting or cultural discipline. The criteria for the Sir Richard Hadlee Sports Trust are: the applicant must be under the age of 25, the applicant must be from the region of Canterbury New Zealand, the request for assistance is specifically for sporting or cultural purposes and applicant is disadvantaged, facing hardship or has special circumstances which prevent him or her from pursuing his or her sporting or cultural endeavors. The Sir Richard Hadlee Sports Trust relies on the generosity of the community, as well as its corporate sponsors CTV, Lion Nathan, Newstalk ZB, Pernod Ricard, Pope Print, PR South and Vbase. International record and awards. Sporting awards. Hadlee has received many awards throughout his career, including:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66174

Barn swallow

The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It appears to have the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerines, ranging over 251 million square kilometres globally. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply forked tail. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In Anglophone Europe it is just called the swallow; in northern Europe it is the only common species called a "swallow" rather than a "martin". There are six subspecies of barn swallow, which breed across the Northern Hemisphere. Four are strongly migratory, and their wintering grounds cover much of the Southern Hemisphere as far south as central Argentina, the Cape Province of South Africa, and northern Australia. Its huge range means that the barn swallow is not endangered, although there may be local population declines due to specific threats. The barn swallow is a bird of open country that normally nests in man-made structures and consequently has spread with human expansion. It builds a cup nest from mud pellets in barns or similar structures and feeds on insects caught in flight. This species lives in close association with humans, and its insect-eating habits mean that it is tolerated by humans; this acceptance was reinforced in the past by superstitions regarding the bird and its nest. There are frequent cultural references to the barn swallow in literary and religious works due to both its living in close proximity to humans and its annual migration. The barn swallow is the national bird of Austria and Estonia. Description. The adult male barn swallow of the nominate subspecies "H. r. rustica" is long including of elongated outer tail feathers. It has a wingspan of and weighs . It has steel blue upperparts and a rufous forehead, chin and throat, which are separated from the off-white underparts by a broad dark blue breast band. The outer tail feathers are elongated, giving the distinctive deeply forked "swallow tail". There is a line of white spots across the outer end of the upper tail. The female is similar in appearance to the male, but the tail streamers are shorter, the blue of the upperparts and breast band is less glossy, and the underparts paler. The juvenile is browner and has a paler rufous face and whiter underparts. It also lacks the long tail streamers of the adult. Although both sexes sing, female song was only recently described. (See below for details about song.) Calls include "witt" or "witt-witt" and a loud "splee-plink" when excited or trying to chase intruders away from the nest. The alarm calls include a sharp "siflitt" for predators like cats and a "flitt-flitt" for birds of prey like the hobby. This species is fairly quiet on the wintering grounds. The distinctive combination of a red face and blue breast band renders the adult barn swallow easy to distinguish from the African "Hirundo" species and from the welcome swallow ("Hirundo neoxena") with which its range overlaps in Australasia. In Africa the short tail streamers of the juvenile barn swallow invite confusion with juvenile red-chested swallow ("Hirundo lucida"), but the latter has a narrower breast band and more white in the tail. Taxonomy. The barn swallow was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of "Systema Naturae" as "Hirundo rustica", characterised as "H. rectricibus, exceptis duabus intermediis, macula alba notatîs". "Hirundo" is the Latin word for "swallow"; "rusticus" means "of the country". This species is the only one of that genus to have a range extending into the Americas, with the majority of "Hirundo" species being native to Africa. This genus of blue-backed swallows is sometimes called the "barn swallows". The "Oxford English Dictionary" dates the English common name "barn swallow" to 1851, though an earlier instance of the collocation in an English-language context is in Gilbert White's popular book "The Natural History of Selborne", originally published in 1789: The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means builds altogether in chimnies , but often within barns and out-houses against the rafters ... In "Sweden" she builds in barns, and is called "ladusvala", the barn-swallow. This suggests that the English name may be a calque on the Swedish term. There are few taxonomic problems within the genus, but the red-chested swallow—a resident of West Africa, the Congo Basin, and Ethiopia—was formerly treated as a subspecies of barn swallow. The red-chested swallow is slightly smaller than its migratory relative, has a narrower blue breast-band, and (in the adult) has shorter tail streamers. In flight, it looks paler underneath than barn swallow. Subspecies. Six subspecies of barn swallow are generally recognised. In eastern Asia, a number of additional or alternative forms have been proposed, including "saturata" by Robert Ridgway in 1883, "kamtschatica" by Benedykt Dybowski in 1883, "ambigua" by Erwin Stresemann and "mandschurica" by Wilhelm Meise in 1934. Given the uncertainties over the validity of these forms, this article follows the treatment of Turner and Rose. The short wings, red belly and incomplete breast band of "H. r. tytleri" are also found in "H. r. erythrogaster", and DNA analyses show that barn swallows from North America colonised the Baikal region of Siberia, a dispersal direction opposite to that for most changes in distribution between North America and Eurasia. Behaviour. Habitat and range. The preferred habitat of the barn swallow is open country with low vegetation, such as pasture, meadows and farmland, preferably with nearby water. This swallow avoids heavily wooded or precipitous areas and densely built-up locations. The presence of accessible open structures such as barns, stables, or culverts to provide nesting sites, and exposed locations such as wires, roof ridges or bare branches for perching, are also important in the bird's selection of its breeding range. Barn swallows are semi-colonial, settling in groups from a single pair to a few dozen pairs, particularly in larger wooden structures housing animals. The same individuals often breed at the same site year after year, although settlement choices have been experimentally shown to be predicted by nest availability rather than any characteristics of available mates. Because it takes around 2 weeks for a pair to build a nest from mud, hair, and other materials, old nests are highly prized. This species breeds across the Northern Hemisphere from sea level to , but to in the Caucasus and North America, and it is absent only from deserts and the cold northernmost parts of the continents. Over much of its range, it avoids towns, and in Europe is replaced in urban areas by the house martin. However, in Honshū, Japan, the barn swallow is a more urban bird, with the red-rumped swallow ("Cecropis daurica") replacing it as the rural species. In winter, the barn swallow is cosmopolitan in its choice of habitat, avoiding only dense forests and deserts. It is most common in open, low vegetation habitats, such as savanna and ranch land, and in Venezuela, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago it is described as being particularly attracted to burnt or harvested sugarcane fields and the waste from the cane. In the absence of suitable roost sites, they may sometimes roost on wires where they are more exposed to predators. Individual birds tend to return to the same wintering locality each year and congregate from a large area to roost in reed beds. These roosts can be extremely large; one in Nigeria had an estimated 1.5 million birds. These roosts are thought to be a protection from predators, and the arrival of roosting birds is synchronised in order to overwhelm predators like African hobbies. The barn swallow has been recorded as breeding in the more temperate parts of its winter range, such as the mountains of Thailand and in central Argentina. Migration of barn swallows between Britain and South Africa was first established on 23 December 1912 when a bird that had been ringed by James Masefield at a nest in Staffordshire, was found in Natal. As would be expected for a long-distance migrant, this bird has occurred as a vagrant to such distant areas as Hawaii, Bermuda, Greenland, Tristan da Cunha, the Falkland Islands, and even Antarctica. Feeding. The barn swallow is similar in its habits to other aerial insectivores, including other swallow species and the unrelated swifts. It is not a particularly fast flier, with a speed estimated at about , up to and a wing beat rate of approximately 5, up to 7–9 times each second. The barn swallow typically feeds in open areas above shallow water or the ground often following animals, humans or farm machinery to catch disturbed insects, but it will occasionally pick prey items from the water surface, walls and plants. In the breeding areas, large flies make up around 70% of the diet, with aphids also a significant component. However, in Europe, the barn swallow consumes fewer aphids than the house or sand martins. On the wintering grounds, Hymenoptera, especially flying ants, are important food items. Grasshoppers, crickets, dragonflies, beetles and moths are also preyed upon. When egg-laying, barn swallows hunt in pairs, but otherwise will form often large flocks. The amount of food a clutch will get depends on the size of the clutch, with larger clutches getting more food on average. The timing of a clutch also determines the food given; later broods get food that is smaller in size compared to earlier broods. This is because larger insects are too far away from the nest to be profitable in terms of energy expenditure. Isotope studies have shown that wintering populations may utilise different feeding habitats, with British breeders feeding mostly over grassland, whereas Swiss birds utilised woodland more. Another study showed that a single population breeding in Denmark actually wintered in two separate areas. The barn swallow drinks by skimming low over lakes or rivers and scooping up water with its open mouth. This bird bathes in a similar fashion, dipping into the water for an instant while in flight. Swallows gather in communal roosts after breeding, sometimes thousands strong. Reed beds are regularly favoured, with the birds swirling "en masse" before swooping low over the reeds. Reed beds are an important source of food prior to and whilst on migration; although the barn swallow is a diurnal migrant that can feed on the wing whilst it travels low over ground or water, the reed beds enable fat deposits to be established or replenished. Song. Males sing to defend small territories (when living in colonies, less so in solitary pairs) and to attract mates. Males sing throughout the breeding season, from late April into August in many parts of the range. Their song is made up of a "twitter warble," followed by a rising "P-syllable" in European "H. r. rustica" and the North American "H. r. erythrogaster." In all subspecies, this is followed by a short "Q-syllable" and a trilled series of pulses, termed the "rattle." The rattle is sometimes followed by a terminal "Ω-Note" in some subspecies' populations, and always at the end of "H. r. tytleri" song. Female songs are much shorter than male songs, and are only produced during the early part of the breeding season. Females sing spontaneously, though infrequently, and will also countersing in response to each other. Breeding. The male barn swallow returns to the breeding grounds before the females and selects a nest site, which is then advertised to females with a circling flight and song. Plumage may be used to advertise: in some populations, like in the subspecies "H. r. gutturalis", darker ventral plumage in males is associated with higher breeding success. In other populations, the breeding success of the male is related to the length of the tail streamers, with longer streamers being more attractive to the female. Males with longer tail feathers are generally longer-lived and more disease resistant, females thus gaining an indirect fitness benefit from this form of selection, since longer tail feathers indicate a genetically stronger individual which will produce offspring with enhanced vitality. Males in northern Europe have longer tails than those further south; whereas in Spain the male's tail streamers are only 5% longer than the female's, in Finland the difference is 20%. In Denmark, the average male tail length increased by 9% between 1984 and 2004, but it is possible that climatic changes may lead in the future to shorter tails if summers become hot and dry. Males with long streamers also have larger white tail spots, and since feather-eating bird lice prefer white feathers, large white tail spots without parasite damage again demonstrate breeding quality; there is a positive association between spot size and the number of offspring produced each season. The breeding season of the barn swallow is variable; in the southern part of the range, the breeding season usually is from February or March to early to mid September, although some late second and third broods finish in October. In the northern part of the range, it usually starts late May to early June and ends the same time as the breeding season of the southernmost birds. Both sexes defend the nest, but the male is particularly aggressive and territorial. Once established, pairs stay together to breed for life, but extra-pair copulation is common, making this species genetically polygamous, despite being socially monogamous. Males guard females actively to avoid being cuckolded. Males may use deceptive alarm calls to disrupt extrapair copulation attempts toward their mates. As its name implies, the barn swallow typically nests inside accessible buildings such as barns and stables, or under bridges and wharves. Before man-made sites became common, it nested on cliff faces or in caves, but this is now rare. The neat cup-shaped nest is placed on a beam or against a suitable vertical projection. It is constructed by both sexes, although more often by the female, with mud pellets collected in their beaks and lined with grasses, feathers, algae or other soft materials. The nest building ability of the male is also sexually selected; females will lay more eggs and at an earlier date with males who are better at nest construction, with the opposite being true with males that are not. After building the nest, barn swallows may nest colonially where sufficient high-quality nest sites are available, and within a colony, each pair defends a territory around the nest which, for the European subspecies, is in size. Colony size tends to be larger in North America. In North America at least, barn swallows frequently engage in a mutualist relationship with ospreys. Barn swallows will build their nest below an osprey nest, receiving protection from other birds of prey that are repelled by the exclusively fish-eating ospreys. The ospreys are alerted to the presence of these predators by the alarm calls of the swallows. There are normally two broods, with the original nest being reused for the second brood and being repaired and reused in subsequent years. The female lays two to seven, but typically four or five, reddish-spotted white eggs. The clutch size is influenced by latitude, with clutch sizes of northern populations being higher on average than southern populations. The eggs are in size, and weigh , of which 5% is shell. In Europe, the female does almost all the incubation, but in North America the male may incubate up to 25% of the time. The incubation period is normally 14–19 days, with another 18–23 days before the altricial chicks fledge. The fledged young stay with, and are fed by, the parents for about a week after leaving the nest. Occasionally, first-year birds from the first brood will assist in feeding the second brood. Compared to those from early broods, juvenile barn swallows from late broods have been found to migrate at a younger age, fuel less efficiently during migration and have lower return rates the following year. The barn swallow will mob intruders such as cats or accipiters that venture too close to their nest, often flying very close to the threat. Adult barn swallows have few predators, but some are taken by accipiters, falcons, and owls. Brood parasitism by cowbirds in North America or cuckoos in Eurasia is rare. Hatching success is 90% and the fledging survival rate is 70–90%. Average mortality is 70–80% in the first year and 40–70% for the adult. Although the record age is more than 11 years, most survive less than four years. Barn swallow nestlings have prominent red gapes, a feature shown to induce feeding by parent birds. An experiment in manipulating brood size and immune system showed the vividness of the gape was positively correlated with T-cell–mediated immunocompetence, and that larger brood size and injection with an antigen led to a less vivid gape. The barn swallow has been recorded as hybridising with the cliff swallow ("Petrochelidon pyrrhonota") and the cave swallow ("P. fulva") in North America, and the house martin ("Delichon urbicum") in Eurasia, the cross with the latter being one of the most common passerine hybrids. Parasites and predators. Barn swallows (and other small passerines) often have characteristic feather holes on their wing and tail feathers. These holes were suggested as being caused by avian lice such as "Machaerilaemus malleus" and "Myrsidea rustica", although other studies suggest that they are mainly caused by species of "Brueelia". Several other species of lice have been described from barn swallow hosts, including "Brueelia domestica" and "Philopterus microsomaticus". The avian lice prefer to feed on white tail spots, and they are generally found more numerously on short-tailed males, indicating the function of unbroken white tail spots as a measure of quality. In Texas, the swallow bug ("Oeciacus vicarius"), which is common on species such as the cliff swallow, is also known to infest barn swallows. Predatory bats such as the greater false vampire bat are known to prey on barn swallows. Swallows at their communal roosts attract predators and several falcon species make use of these opportunities. Falcon species confirmed as predators include the peregrine falcon and the African hobby. In Africa, tigerfish "Hydrocynus vittatus" have been recorded to routinely leap out of the water to capture low-flying swallows. Status. The barn swallow has an enormous range, with an estimated global extent of about and a population of 190 million individuals. The species is evaluated as least concern on the 2019 IUCN Red List, and has no special status under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants. This is a species that has greatly benefited historically from forest clearance, which has created the open habitats it prefers, and from human habitation, which have given it an abundance of safe man-made nest sites. There have been local declines due to the use of DDT in Israel in the 1950s, competition for nest sites with house sparrows in the US in the 19th century, and an ongoing gradual decline in numbers in parts of Europe and Asia due to agricultural intensification, reducing the availability of insect food. However, there has been an increase in the population in North America during the 20th century with the greater availability of nesting sites and subsequent range expansion, including the colonisation of northern Alberta. A specific threat to wintering birds from the European populations is the transformation by the South African government of a light aircraft runway near Durban into an international airport for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The roughly square Mount Moreland reed bed is a night roost for more than three million barn swallows, which represent 1% of the global population and 8% of the European breeding population. The reed bed lies on the flight path of aircraft using the proposed La Mercy airport, and there were fears that it would be cleared because the birds could threaten aircraft safety. However, following detailed evaluation, advanced radar technology will be installed to enable planes using the airport to be warned of bird movements and, if necessary, take appropriate measures to avoid the flocks. Climate change may affect the barn swallow; drought causes weight loss and slow feather regrowth, and the expansion of the Sahara will make it a more formidable obstacle for migrating European birds. Hot dry summers will reduce the availability of insect food for chicks. Conversely, warmer springs may lengthen the breeding season and result in more chicks, and the opportunity to use nest sites outside buildings in the north of the range might also lead to more offspring. Relationship with humans. The barn swallow is an attractive bird that feeds on flying insects and has therefore been tolerated by humans when it shares their buildings for nesting. As one of the earlier migrants, this conspicuous species is also seen as an early sign of summer's approach. In the Old World, the barn swallow appears to have used man-made structures and bridges since time immemorial. An early reference is in Virgil's "Georgics" (29 BC), "Ante garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo" (Before the twittering swallow hangs its nest from the rafters). Many cattle farmers believed that swallows spread "Salmonella" infections; however, a study in Sweden showed no evidence of the birds being reservoirs of the bacteria. In literature. Many literary references are based on the barn swallow's northward migration as a symbol of spring or summer. The proverb about the necessity for more than one piece of evidence goes back at least to Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics": "For as one swallow or one day does not make a spring, so one day or a short time does not make a fortunate or happy man." The barn swallow symbolises the coming of spring and thus love in the "Pervigilium Veneris", a late Latin poem. In his poem "The Waste Land", T. S. Eliot quoted the line "Quando fiam uti chelidon [ut tacere desinam]?" ("When will I be like the swallow, so that I can stop being silent?") This refers to the myth of Philomela in which she turns into a nightingale, and her sister Procne into a swallow. In the book of Proverbs, chapter 26:2, it mentions the swallow, alluding to perhaps death by predators such as the falcon when airborne in flight, and thus inferring that there is a distinct cause and effect relationship between risky actions, and negative consequences that result. In culture. Gilbert White studied the barn swallow in detail in his pioneering work "The Natural History of Selborne", but even this careful observer was uncertain whether it migrated or hibernated in winter. Elsewhere, its long journeys were well observed, and a swallow tattoo is traditional among sailors as a symbol of a safe return; the tradition was that a mariner had a tattoo of this fellow wanderer after sailing . A second swallow would be added after at sea. In the past, the tolerance for this beneficial insectivore was reinforced by superstitions regarding damage to the barn swallow's nest. Such an act might lead to cows giving bloody milk, or no milk at all, or to hens ceasing to lay. This may be a factor in the longevity of swallows' nests. Survival, with suitable annual refurbishment, for 10–15 years is regular, and one nest was reported to have been occupied for 48 years. It is depicted as the "martlet", "merlette" or "merlot" in heraldry, where it represents younger sons who have no lands. It is also represented as lacking feet as this was a common belief at the time. As a result of a campaign by ornithologists, the barn swallow has been the national bird of Estonia since 23 June 1960, and is also the national bird of Austria. Barn swallows on postage stamps. Barn swallows are one of the most depicted birds on postage stamps around the world.

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Peshawar

Peshawar (; ; ; ; ) is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a population of over 1.97 million in 2017 census. It is situated in the north-west of the country, lying in the Valley of Peshawar. It is the capital of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it is the largest city. Peshawar is primarily populated by Pashtuns, who comprise the second-largest ethnic group in the country. Situated in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the historic Khyber Pass, Peshawar's recorded history dates back to at least 539 BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in South Asia. Peshawar also remained capital of Gandhara civilization and is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the country. The area encompassing modern-day Peshawar is mentioned in the Vedic scriptures; it was one of the principal cities of ancient Gāndhāra. Peshawer served as the capital of the Kushan Empire during the rule of Kanishka and was home to the Kanishka Stupa, which was among the tallest buildings in the ancient world. Peshawar was then ruled by the Hephthalites, followed by the Hindu Shahis, before the arrival of a variety of Muslim empires. The city was an important trading centre of the Mughal Empire before becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747, after which it served as the Durrani winter capital from 1776 until the capture of the city by the Sikh Empire in 1823. In 1849, the city was captured by the East India Company and subsequently became part of British Raj, under whose rule it remained until the Partition of British India and subsequent independence of Pakistan in 1947. Etymology. The modern name of the city "Peshawar" is possibly derived from the [reconstructed] Sanskrit word "Purushapura" ( "Puruṣapura", meaning "City of Men" or "City of Purusha"). It was named so by Mughal Emperor Akbar from its old name "Parashawar", the meaning of which Akbar did not understand. The ruler of the city during its founding may have been a Hindu raja (king) named Purush; the word "pur" means "city" in Sanskrit. Sanskrit, written in the Kharosthi script, was the literary language employed by the Buddhist kingdoms which ruled over the area during its earliest recorded period. The city's name may also be derived from the Sanskrit name for "City of Flowers," "Poshapura," a name found in an ancient Kharosthi inscription that may refer to Peshawar"." Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang's seventh century account of a city in Gandhara called the city "Po-la-sha-pu-lo" (Chinese: 布路沙布邏, "bùlùshābùló")"," and an earlier fifth century account by Fa-Hien records the city's name as "Fou-lou-sha" (Chinese: 弗樓沙, "fùlóshā")"," the Chinese equivalent of the Sanskrit name of the city, Purushapura. An ancient inscription from the Shapur era identifies a city in the Gandhara valley by the name "pskbvr," which may be a reference to Peshawar. The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid tenth century, the city was known as "Parashāwar". The name was noted to be "Purshawar" and "Purushavar" by Al-Biruni. The city began to be known as "Peshāwar" by the era of Emperor Akbar. The current name is said by some to have been based upon the Persian for "frontier town" or, more literally, "forward city," though transcription errors and linguistic shifts may account for the city's new name. One theory suggests that the city's name is derived from the Persian name "Pesh Awardan", meaning "place of first arrival" or "frontier city," as Peshawar was the first city in the Indian subcontinent after crossing the Khyber Pass. Akbar's bibliographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, lists the city's name as both "Parashāwar", transcribed in Persian as , and "Peshāwar" (). History. Ancient history. Peshawar alongside the modern day Ghandara region were found in the Vedic Scripture as Pushkalavati. Foundation. Peshawar was founded as the city of "Puruṣapura", on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar in 100 CE. It may have been named after a Hindu raja who ruled the city who was known as Purush. The city likely first existed as a small village in the fifth century BCE, within the cultural sphere of ancient India. Puruṣapura was founded near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, near present-day Charsadda. Greek Rule. In the winter of 327–26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of the Indus Valley, as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys. Following Alexander's conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under the suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. A locally-made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles' play "Antigone". Mauryan empire. Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE. Around 300 BCE, the Greek diplomat and historian Megasthenes noted that Purushapura (ancient Peshawar) was the western terminus of a Mauryan road that connected the city to the empire's capital at "Pataliputra", near the city of Patna in the modern-day Indian state of Bihar. As Mauryan power declined, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized ancient Peshawar around 190 BCE. The city was then captured by Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. Gondophares established the nearby "Takht-i-Bahi" monastery in 46 CE. Kushan empire. In the first century of the Common era, Purushapura came under control of Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire. The city was made the empire's winter capital. The Kushan's summer capital at "Kapisi" (modern Bagram, Afghanistan) was seen as the secondary capital of the empire, while Puruṣapura was considered to be the empire's primary capital. Ancient Peshawar's population was estimated to be 120,000, which would make it the seventh-most populous city in the world at the time. As a devout Buddhist, the emperor built the grand "Kanishka Mahavihara" monastery. After his death, the magnificent Kanishka stupa was built in Peshawar to house Buddhist relics. The golden age of Kushan empire in Peshawar ended in 232 CE with the death of the last great Kushan king, Vasudeva I. Around 260 CE, the armies of the Sasanid Emperor Shapur I launched an attack against Peshawar, and severely damaged Buddhist monuments and monasteries throughout the Valley of Peshawar. Shapur's campaign also resulted in damage to the city's monumental stupa and monastery. The Kushans were made subordinate to the Sasanids and their power rapidly dwindled, as the Sasanids blocked lucrative trade routes westward out of the city. Kushan Emperor Kanishka III was able to temporarily reestablish control over the entire Valley of Peshawar after Shapur's invasion, but the city was then captured by the Central Asian Kidarite kingdom in the early 400s CE. White Huns. The White Huns devastated ancient Peshawar in the 460s CE, and ravaged the entire region of Gandhara, destroying its numerous monasteries. The Kanishka stupa was rebuilt during the White Hun era with the construction of a tall wooden superstructure, built atop a stone base, and crowned with a 13-layer copper-gilded "chatra". In the 400s CE, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim "Faxian" visited the structure and described it as "the highest of all the towers" in the "terrestrial world", which ancient travelers claimed was up to tall, though modern estimates suggest a height of . In 520 CE the Chinese monk Song Yun visited Gandhara and ancient Peshawar during the White Hun era, and noted that it was in conflict with nearby "Kapisa". The Chinese monk and traveler Xuanzang visited ancient Peshawar around 630 CE, after "Kapisa" victory, and expressed lament that the city and its great Buddhist monuments had decayed to ruin—although some monks studying Hinayana Buddhism continued to study at the monastery's ruins. Xuanzang estimated that only about 1,000 families continued in a small quarter among the ruins of the former grand capital. Medieval history. Until the mid seventh century, the residents of ancient Peshawar had a ruling elite of Central Asian Scythian descent, who were then displaced by the Hindu Shahis of Kabul. Islam is believed to have been first introduced to the Buddhist, Hindu and other indigenous inhabitants of Puruṣapura in the later seventh century. As the first Pashtun tribe to settle the region, the Dilazak Pashtuns began settling in the Valley of Peshawar, and are believed to have settled regions up to the Indus River by the 11th century. The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid tenth century, the city had become known as "Parashāwar". Ghaznavid empire. In 986–87 CE, Peshawar's first encounter with Muslim armies occurred when Sabuktigin invaded the area and fought the Hindu Shahis under their king, Anandpal. On 28 November 1001, Sabuktigin's son Mahmud Ghazni decisively defeated the army of Raja Jayapala, son of Anandpal, at the Battle of Peshawar, and established rule of the Ghaznavid Empire in the Peshawar region. During the Ghaznavid era, Peshawar served as an important stop between the Afghan plateau, and the Ghaznavid garrison city of Lahore. During the tenth–12th century, Peshawar served as a headquarters for Hindu Nath Panthi Yogis, who in turn are believed to have extensively interacted with Muslim Sufi mystics. Delhi sultanate. In 1179–80, Muhammad Ghori captured Peshawar, though the city was then destroyed in the early 1200s at the hands of the Mongols. Peshawar was an important regional centre under the Lodi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate. The Ghoryakhel Pashtuns Khalil, Muhmands, Daudzai, Chamkani tribes and some Khashi "Khel" Pashtuns, ancestors of modern-day Yusufzai and Gigyani Pashtuns, began settling rural regions around Peshawar in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The Ghoryakhel and Khashi "Khel" tribe pushed the Dilazak Pashtun tribes east of the Indus River following a battle in 1515 near the city of Mardan. Early modern history. Mughal empire. Peshawar remained an important centre on trade routes between India and Central Asia. The Peshawar region was a cosmopolitan region in which goods, peoples, and ideas would pass along trade routes. Its importance as a trade centre is highlighted by the destruction of over one thousand camel-loads of merchandise following an accidental fire at Bala Hissar fort in 1586. Mughal rule in the area was tenuous, as Mughal suzerainty was only firmly exercised in the Peshawar valley, while the neighbouring valley of Swat was under Mughal rule only during the reign of Akbar. In July 1526, Emperor Babur captured Peshawar from Daulat Khan Lodi. During Babur's rule, the city was known as "Begram", and he rebuilt the city's fort. Babur used the city as a base for expeditions to other nearby towns in Pashtunistan. Under the reign of Babur's son, Humayun, direct Mughal rule over the city was briefly challenged with the rise of the Pashtun king, Sher Shah Suri, who began construction of the famous Grand Trunk Road in the 16th century. Peshawar was an important trading centre on Sher Shah Suri's Grand Trunk Road. During Akbar's rule, the name of the city changed from "Begram" to "Peshawar". In 1586, Pashtuns rose against Mughal rule during the Roshani Revolt under the leadership of Bayazid Pir Roshan, founder of the egalitarian Roshani movement, who assembled Pashtun armies in an attempted rebellion against the Mughals. The Roshani followers laid siege to the city until 1587. Peshawar was bestowed with its own set of "Shalimar Gardens" during the reign of Shah Jahan, which no longer exist. Emperor Aurangzeb's Governor of Kabul, Mohabbat Khan bin Ali Mardan Khan used Peshawar as his winter capital during the 17th century, and bestowed the city with its famous Mohabbat Khan Mosque in 1630. Yusufzai tribes rose against Mughal rule during the Yusufzai Revolt of 1667, and engaged in pitched-battles with Mughal battalions nearby Attock. Afridi tribes resisted Mughal rule during the Afridi Revolt of the 1670s. The Afridis massacred a Mughal battalion in the nearby Khyber Pass in 1672 and shut the pass to lucrative trade routes. Mughal armies led by Emperor Aurangzeb himself regained control of the entire area in 1674. Following Aurangzeb's death in 1707, his son Bahadur Shah I, former Governor of Peshawar and Kabul, was selected to be the Mughal Emperor. As Mughal power declined following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, the empire's defenses were weakened. On 18 November 1738, Peshawar was captured from the Mughal governor Nawab Nasir Khan by the Afsharid armies during the Persian invasion of the Mughal Empire under Nader Shah. Durrani empire. In 1747, Peshawar was taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire. Under the reign of his son Timur Shah, the Mughal practice of using Kabul as a summer capital and Peshawar as a winter capital was reintroduced, with the practice maintained until the Sikh invasion. Peshawar's Bala Hissar Fort served as the residence of Afghan kings during their winter stay in Peshawar, and it was noted to be the main centre of trade between Bukhara and India by British explorer William Moorcroft during the late 1700s. Peshawar was at the centre of a productive agricultural region that provided much of north India's dried fruit. Timur Shah's grandson, Mahmud Shah Durrani, became king, and quickly seized Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah Durrani. Shah Shujah was then himself proclaimed king in 1803, and recaptured Peshawar while Mahmud Shah was imprisoned at Bala Hissar fort until his eventual escape. In 1809, the British sent an emissary to the court of Shah Shujah in Peshawar, marking the first diplomatic meeting between the British and Afghans. His half-brother Mahmud Shah then allied himself with the "Barakzai" Pashtuns, and captured Peshawar once again and reigned until the Battle of Nowshera in March 1823. Maratha Empire. The Capture of Peshawar took place in spring of 1758 when Maratha Empire in alliance with the Sikhs, defeated the Durrani Empire. The Marathas and the Sikhs were victorious in battle and Peshawar was captured thereafter. Before that, the fort of Peshawar was being guarded by Durrani troops under Timur Shah Durrani and Jahan Khan. When Raghunathrao, Malhar Rao Holkar and Sikh alliance of Charat Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia left Peshawar, Tukoji Rao Holkar was appointed as the representative in this area of the sub-continent. Tukoji Rao Holkar along with Sardar Santajirao Wable and Khandoji Kadam defeated the Afghan garrison. Peshawar was captured on 8 May 1758 by the Maratha Empire, in alliance with the Sikhs, from the Durrani Empire. The Marathas and Sikhs were victorious in the campaign in the province and Peshawar was captured. After being defeated by the army of Marathas and Sikhs, Durranis with Jahan Khan and Timur Shah Durrani left the fort and fled to Afghanistan meanwhile Marathas captured and took control of the fort. The Marathas' victory extended their rule to the Afghan border, about 2000 km from Pune. Sikh Empire. Ranjit Singh invaded Peshawar in 1818, but handed its rule to Peshawar Sardars as vassals. Following the Sikh victory against Azim Khan at the Battle of Nowshera in March 1823, Ranjit Singh captured Peshawar again and reinstated Yar Mohammed as the governor. By 1830, Peshawar's economy was noted by Scottish explorer Alexander Burnes to have sharply declined, with Ranjit Singh's forces having destroyed the city's palace and agricultural fields. Much of Peshawar's caravan trade from Kabul ceased on account of skirmishes between Afghan and Sikh forces, as well as a punitive tax levied on merchants by Ranjit Singh's forces. Singh's government also required Peshawar to forfeit much of its leftover agricultural output to the Sikhs as tribute, while agriculture was further decimated by a collapse of the dried fruit market in north India. Singh appointed Neapolitan mercenary Paolo Avitabile as administrator of Peshawar, who is remembered for having unleashed a reign of terror. His time in Peshawar is known as a time of "gallows and gibbets". The city's famous Mahabat Khan, built in 1630 in the Jeweler's Bazaar, was badly damaged and desecrated by the Sikh conquerors. The Sikh Empire formally annexed Peshawar in 1834 following advances from the armies of Hari Singh Nalwa—bringing the city under direct control of the Sikh Empire's "Lahore Durbar". An 1835 attempt by Dost Muhammad Khan to re-occupy the city was unsuccessful after being unable to breach the Peshawar fort's defenses. Sikh settlers from Punjab were settled in the city during Sikh rule. The city's only remaining Gurdwaras were built by Hari Singh Nalwa to accommodate the newly-settle Sikhs. The Sikhs also rebuilt the Bala Hissar fort during their occupation of the city. British Raj. Following the defeat of the Sikhs in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845–46 and the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, some of their territories were captured by the British East India Company. The British re-established stability in the wake of ruinous Sikh rule. During the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the 4,000 members of the native garrison were disarmed without bloodshed; the absence of conflict during the rebellion meant that Peshawar was not affected by the widespread devastation that was experienced throughout the rest of British India and local chieftains sided with the British after the incident. The British laid out the vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city in 1868, and made the city its frontier headquarters. Additionally, several projects were initiated in Peshawar, including linkage of the city by railway to the rest of British India and renovation of the Mohabbat Khan mosque that had been desecrated by the Sikhs. British suzerainty over regions west of Peshawar was cemented in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the British Indian government, who collaboratively demarcated the border between British controlled territories in India and Afghanistan. The British built Cunningham clock tower in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and in 1906 built the Victoria Hall (now home of the Peshawar Museum) in memory of Queen Victoria. The British introduced Western-style education into Peshawar with the establishment of Edwardes College and Islamia College in 1901 and 1913, along with several schools run by the Anglican Church. For better administration of the region, Peshawar and the adjoining districts were separated from the Punjab Province in 1901, The North-West Frontier Province was separated from Punjab Province in 1901, after which Peshawar became capital of the new province. Communal riots broke out in the old city of Peshawar during the spring of 1910, when the annual Hindu festival of Holi coincided with Barawafat, the annual Muslim day of mourning, resulting in a considerable loss of life along with hundreds of looted businesses and injuries. A month prior, in February 1910, prominent community religious leaders met with officials and agreed that Holi would be solely celebrated in predominantly Hindu neighbourhoods of the city, notably in Andar Shehr and Karim Pura. On March 21, 1910, however, rumors of musicians from Amritsar and a dancing boy from Haripur being brought into the city for Holi celebrations, led to a group of individuals who were marking Barawafat into forming a mob with the intention of stopping the procession. Despite Muslim and Hindu community leaders calling for calm, both parties ultimately clashed at the Asamai Gate, when the Holi procession was "en route" to Dargah Pir Ratan Nath Jee, with a Hindu procession member stabbing a Muslim individual in the mob. Riots ensued for the following three days, involved individuals from outlying tribal regions who had entered the city, with a mob at Bara Bazar allegedly chanting "Maro Hindu Ko" (Kill the Hindus). Estimates detail the riots resulted in a total of 451 damaged shops and homes, primarily belonging to members of the Hindu community, while at least 4 Muslims and 6 Hindus were killed, alongside hundreds of injuries. Peshawar emerged as a centre for both Hindkowan and Pashtun intellectuals during the British era. Hindko speakers, also referred to as "xāryān" ("city dwellers" in Pashto), were responsible for the dominant culture for most of the time that Peshawar was under British rule. Peshawar was also home to a non-violent resistance movement led by Ghaffar Khan, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. In April 1930, Khan, leading a large group of his followers, protested in Qissa Khwani Bazaar against discriminatory laws that had been enacted by the colonial government; hundreds were killed when a detachment of the British Indian Army opened fire on the demonstrators. Modern era. In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created state of Pakistan, and emerged as a cultural centre in the country's northwest. The partition of India saw the departure of many Hindko-speaking Hindus and Sikhs who held key positions in the economy of Peshawar. The University of Peshawar was established in the city in 1950, and augmented by the amalgamation of nearby British-era institutions into the university. Until the mid-1950s, Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall and sixteen gates. In the 1960s, Peshawar was a base for a CIA operation to spy on the Soviet Union, with the 1960 U-2 incident resulting in an aircraft shot down by the Soviets that flew from Peshawar. From the 1960s until the late 1970s, Peshawar was a major stop on the famous Hippie trail. During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, Peshawar served as a political centre for the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence-trained mujahideen groups based in the camps of Afghan refugees. It also served as the primary destination for large numbers of Afghan refugees. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province, with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981. The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure, and drastically altered the city's demography. Like much of northwest Pakistan, Peshawar has been severely affected by violence from the attacks by the terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban. Local poets' shrines have been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban, a suicide bomb attack targeted the historic All Saints Church in 2013, and most notably the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in which Taliban militants killed 132 school children. Peshawar suffered 111 acts of terror in 2010, which had declined to 18 in 2014, before the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which further reduced acts of violence throughout Pakistan. A large attack on a Shiite mosque in the city killed dozens and injured 200 people on 4 March 2022. In January 2023, another terrorist attack occurred at Peshawar in which 100 people were killed. Geography. Topography. Peshawar is located in the broad Valley of Peshawar, which is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides, with the fourth opening to the Punjab plains. The city is located in the generally level base of the valley, known as the Gandhara Plains. Climate. With an influence from the local steppe climate, Peshawar features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen "BSh"), with very hot, prolonged summers and brief, mild to cool winters. Winter in Peshawar starts in November and ends in late March, though it sometimes extends into mid-April, while the summer months are from mid-May to mid-September. The mean maximum summer temperature surpasses during the hottest month, and the mean minimum temperature is . The mean minimum temperature during the coolest month is , while the maximum is . Peshawar is not a monsoon region, unlike other parts of Pakistan; however, rainfall occurs in both winter and summer. Due to western disturbances, the winter rainfall shows a higher record between the months of February and April. The highest amount of winter rainfall, measuring , was recorded in February 2007, while the highest summer rainfall of was recorded in July 2010; during this month, a record-breaking rainfall level of fell within a 24-hour period on 29 July 2010—the previous record was of rain, recorded in April 2009. The average winter rainfall levels are higher than those of summer. Based on a 30-year record, the average annual precipitation level was recorded as and the highest annual rainfall level of was recorded in 2003. Wind speeds vary during the year, from in December to in June. The relative humidity varies from 46% in June to 76% in August. The highest temperature of was recorded on 18 June 1995, while the lowest occurred on 7 January 1970. Cityscape. Peshawar's urban typology is similar to other ancient cities in South Asia, such as Lahore, Multan and Delhi – all of which were founded near a major river, and included an old walled city, as well as a royal citadel. Historically, the old city of Peshawar was a heavily guarded citadel that consisted of high walls. In the 21st century, only remnants of the walls remain, but the houses and havelis continue to be structures of significance. Most of the houses are constructed of unbaked bricks, with the incorporation of wooden structures for protection against earthquakes, with many composed of wooden doors and latticed wooden balconies. Numerous examples of the city's old architecture can still be seen in areas such as Sethi Mohallah. In the old city, located in inner-Peshawar, many historic monuments and bazaars exist in the 21st century, including the Mohabbat Khan Mosque, Kotla Mohsin Khan, Chowk Yadgar and the Qissa Khawani Bazaar. Due to the damage caused by rapid growth and development, the old walled city has been identified as an area that urgently requires restoration and protection. The walled city was surrounded by several main gates that served as the main entry points into the city — in January 2012, an announcement was made that the government plans to address the damage that has left the gates largely non-existent over time, with all of the gates targeted for restoration. Demographics. Population. The population of Peshawar district in 1998 was 2,026,851. The city's annual growth rate is estimated at 3.29% per year, and the 2016 population of Peshawar district is estimated to be 3,405,414. With a population of 1,970,042 according to the 2017 census, Peshawar is the sixth-largest city of Pakistan. and the largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with a population five times higher than the second-largest city in the province. Language. The primary native language spoken in Peshawar is Pashto, while Hindko is native minority language, though English is used in the city's educational institutions, while Urdu is understood throughout the city – as the national language of the country. The district of Peshawar is overwhelmingly Pashto-speaking, though the Hindko-speaking minority is concentrated in Peshawar's old city, Hindko speakers in Peshawar increasingly assimilate elements of Pashto and Urdu into their speech. Religion. Peshawar is overwhelmingly Muslim, with Muslims making up 98.5% of the city's population in the 1998 census. Christians make up the second largest religious group with around 20,000 adherents, while over 7,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Community live in Peshawar. Hindus and Sikhs are also found in the city − though most of the city's Hindu and Sikh community migrated "en masse" to India following the Partition of British India in 1947. Though the city's Sikh population drastically declined after Partition, the Sikh community has been bolstered in Peshawar by the arrival of approximately 4,000 Sikh refugees from conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; In 2008, the largest Sikh population in Pakistan was located in Peshawar. Sikhs in Peshawar self-identify as Pashtuns and speak Pashto as their mother tongue. There was a small, but, thriving Jewish community until the late 1940s. After the partition and the emergence of the State of Israel, Jews left for Israel. Afghan refugees. Peshawar has hosted Afghan refugees since the start of the Afghan civil war in 1978, though the rate of migration drastically increased following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province, with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981. The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure, and drastically altered the city's demography. During the 1988 national elections, an estimated 100,000 Afghans refugees were illegally registered to vote in Peshawar. With the influx of Afghan refugees into Peshawar, the city became a hub for Afghan musicians and artists, as well as a major centre of Pashto literature. Some Afghan refugees have established successful businesses in Peshawar, and play an important role in the city's economy. In recent years, Peshawar district hosts up to 20% of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In 2005, Peshawar district was home to 611,501 Afghan refugees — who constituted 19.7% of the district's total population. Peshawar's immediate environs were home to large Afghan refugee camps, with Jalozai camp hosting up to 300,000 refugees in 2001 – making it the largest refugee camp in Asia at the time. Afghan refugees began to be frequently accused of involvement with terrorist attacks that occurred during Pakistan's war against radical Islamists. By 2015 the Pakistani government adopted a policy to repatriate Afghan refugees, including many who had spent their entire life in Pakistan. The policy of repatriation was also encouraged by the government of Afghanistan, though many refugees had not registered themselves in Pakistan. Unregistered refugees returning to Afghanistan without their old Afghan identification documents now have no official status in Afghanistan either. Economy. Peshawar's economic importance has historically been linked to its privileged position at the entrance to the Khyber Pass – the ancient travel route by which most trade between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent passed. Peshawar's economy also benefited from tourism in the mid-20th century, as the city formed a crucial part of the Hippie trail. Peshawar's estimated monthly per capita income was ₨55,246 in 2015, compared to ₨117,924 in Islamabad, and ₨66,359 in Karachi. Peshawar's surrounding region is also relatively poor − Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's cities on average have an urban per capita income that is 20% less than Pakistan's national average for urban residents. Peshawar was noted by the World Bank in 2014 to be at the helm of a nationwide movement to create an ecosystem for entrepreneurship, freelance jobs, and technology. The city has been host to the World Bank assisted Digital Youth Summit — an annual event to connect the city and province's youths to opportunities in the digital economy. The 2017 event hosted 100 speakers including several international speakers, and approximately 3,000 delegates in attendance. Industry. Peshawar's Industrial Estate on Jamrud Road is an industrial zone established in the 1960s on 868 acres. The industrial estate hosts furniture, marble industries, and food processing industries, though many of its plots remain underutilized. The Hayatabad Industrial Estate hosts 646 industrial units in Peshawar's western suburbs, though several of the units are no longer in use. As part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, 4 special economic zones are to be established in the province, with roads, electricity, gas, water, and security to be provided by the government. The nearby Hattar SEZ is envisioned to provide employment to 30,000 people, and is being developed at a cost of approximately $200 million with completion expected in 2017. Employment. As a result of large numbers of displaced persons in the city, only 12% of Peshawar's residents were employed in the formalized economy in 2012. Approximately 41% of residents in 2012 were employed in personal services, while 55% of Afghan refugees in the city in 2012 were daily wage earners. By 2016, Pakistan adopted a policy to repatriate Afghan refugees. Wages for unskilled workers in Peshawar grew on average 9.1% per year between 2002 and 2008. Following the outbreak of widespread Islamist violence in 2007, wages rose only 1.5% between 2008 and 2014. Real wages dropped for some skilled craftsmen during the period between 2008 and 2014. Constraints. Peshawar's economy has been negatively impacted by political instability since 1979 resulting from the War in Afghanistan and subsequent strain on Peshawar's infrastructure from the influx of refugees. The poor security environment resulting from Islamist violence also impacted the city's economy. With the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in 2014, the country's security environment has drastically improved. The metropolitan economy suffers from poor infrastructure. The city's economy has also been adversely impacted by shortages of electricity and natural gas. The $54 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor will generate over 10,000 MW by 2018 – greater than the current electricity deficit of approximately 4,500 MW. Peshawar will also be linked to ports in Karachi by uninterrupted motorway access, while passenger and freight railway tracks will be upgraded between Peshawar and Karachi. Poor transportation is estimated to cause a loss of 4–6% of the Pakistani GDP. Peshawar for decades has suffered from chaotic, mismanaged, and inadequate public transportation and the poor public transportation also has been detrimental to the city's economy. Therefore, the government has since a new rapid bus service called BRT Peshawar covering the entire Peshawar. BRT Peshawar is now believed to be one the most advanced BRT of Pakistan Transportation. Road. Peshawar's east–west growth axis is centred on the historic Grand Trunk Road that connects Peshawar to Islamabad and Lahore. The road is roughly paralleled by the M-1 Motorway between Peshawar and Islamabad, while the M-2 Motorway provides an alternate route to Lahore from Islamabad. The Grand Trunk Road also provides access to the Afghan border via the Khyber Pass, with onwards connections to Kabul and Central Asia via the Salang Pass. Peshawar is to be completely encircled by the Peshawar Ring Road in order to divert traffic away from the city's congested centre. The road is currently under construction, with some portions open to traffic. The Karakoram Highway provides access between the Peshawar region and western China, and an alternate route to Central Asia via Kashgar in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The Indus Highway provides access to points south of Peshawar, with a terminus in the southern port city of Karachi via Dera Ismail Khan and northern Sindh. The Kohat Tunnel south of Peshawar provides access to the city of Kohat along the Indus Highway. Motorways. Peshawar is connected to Islamabad and Rawalpindi by the 155 kilometre long M-1 Motorway. The motorway also links Peshawar to major cities in the province, such as Charsadda and Mardan. The M-1 motorway continues onwards to Lahore as part of the M-2 motorway. Pakistan's motorway network links Peshawar to Faisalabad by the M-4 Motorway, while a new motorway network to Karachi is being built as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The Hazara Motorway is being constructed as part of CPEC, and is providing control-access motorway travel all the way to Mansehra and Thakot via the M-1 and Hazara Motorways. Rail. Peshawar Cantonment railway station serves as the terminus for Pakistan's -long Main Line-1 railway that connects the city to the port city of Karachi and passes through the Peshawar City railway station. The Peshawar to Karachi route is served by the "Awam Express", "Khushhal Khan Khattak Express", and the "Khyber Mail" services. The entire Main Line-1 railway track between Karachi and Peshawar is to be overhauled at a cost of $3.65 billion for the first phase of the project, with completion by 2021. Upgrading the railway line will permit train travel at speeds of 160 kilometres per hour, versus the average speed currently possible on existing tracks. Peshawar was also once the terminus of the "Khyber train safari", a tourist-oriented train that provided rail access to Landi Kotal. The service was discontinued as the security situation west of Peshawar deteriorated with the beginning of the region's Taliban insurgency. Air. Peshawar is served by the Bacha Khan International Airport, located in the Peshawar Cantonment. The airport served 1,255,303 passengers between 2014 and 2015, the vast majority of whom were international travelers. The airport offers direct flights throughout Pakistan, as well as to Bahrain, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Public transit. BRT Peshawar is a modern & third generation rapid bus service of Peshawar, which has started its service on 13 August 2020. It has 32 stations and 220 buses, which covers area from Chamkani to Karkhano Market. BRT Peshawar has replaced Peshawar's old, chaotic, dilapidated, and inadequate transportation system. The system has 32 stations and is mostly at grade, with four kilometres of elevated sections. The system also contains 3.5 kilometres of underpasses. BRT Peshawar is also complemented by a feeder system, with an additional 100 stations along those feeder lines. Intercity bus. Peshawar is well-served by private buses (locally referred to as "flying coaches") and vans that offer frequent connections to throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as all major cities of Pakistan. The city's Daewoo Express bus terminal is located along the G.T. Road adjacent to the departure points for several other transportation companies. Administration. Politics. Peshawar has historically served as the political centre of the region, and is currently the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The city and province have been historically regarded to be strongholds of the Awami National Party – a secular left-wing and moderate-nationalist party. The Pakistan Peoples Party had also enjoyed considerable support in the province due to its socialist agenda. Despite being a centre for leftist politics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar is still generally known throughout Pakistan for its social conservatism. Sunni Muslims in the city are regarded to be socially conservative, while the city's Shia population is considered to be more socially liberal. A plurality of voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, elected one of Pakistan's only religiously based provincial governments during the period of military dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf. A ground-swell of anti-American sentiment after the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan contributed to the Islamist coalition's victory. The Islamists introduced a range of social restrictions following the election of the Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition in 2002, though Islamic Shariah law was never fully enacted. Restrictions on public musical performances were introduced, as well as a ban prohibiting music to be played in any public places, including on public transportation – which lead to the creation of a thriving underground music scene in Peshawar. In 2005, the coalition successfully passed the "Prohibition of Use of Women in Photograph Bill, 2005," leading to the removal of all public advertisements in Peshawar that featured women. The religious coalition was swept out of power by the secular and leftist Awami National Party in elections after the fall of Musharraf in 2008, leading to the removal of the MMA's socially conservative laws. 62% of eligible voters voted in the election. The Awami National Party was targeted by Taliban militants, with hundreds of its members having been assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban. In 2013, the centrist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was elected to power in the province on an anti-corruption platform. Peshawar city recorded a voter turnout of 80% for the 2013 elections. Municipal services. 86% of Peshawar's households have access to municipal piped water as of 2015, though 39% of Peshawar's households purchase water from private companies in 2015. 42% of Peshawar households are connected to municipal sewerage as of 2015. Culture. Music. After the 2002 Islamist government implemented restrictions on public musical performances, a thriving underground music scene took root in Peshawar. After the start of Pakistani's Taliban insurgency in 2007–2008, militants began targeting members of Peshawar's cultural establishment. By 2007, Taliban militants began a widespread campaign of bombings against music and video shops across the Peshawar region, leading to the closure of many others. In 2009, Pashto musical artist Ayman Udas was assassinated by Taliban militants on the city's outskirts. In June 2012, a Pashto singer, Ghazala Javed, and her father were killed in Peshawar, after they had fled rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the relative security of Peshawar. Musicians began to return to the city by 2016, with a security environment greatly improved following the Operation Zarb-e-Azb in 2014 to eradicate militancy in the country. In 2016, the provincial government announced a monthly income of $300 to 500 musicians in order to help support their work, as well as a $5 million fund to "revive the rich cultural heritage of the province". Museums. The Peshawar Museum was founded in 1907 in memory of Queen Victoria. The building features an amalgamation of British, South Asian, Hindu, Buddhist and Mughal Islamic architectural styles. The museum's collection has almost 14,000 items, and is well known for its collection of Greco-Buddhist art. The museum's ancient collection features pieces from the Gandharan, Kushan, Parthian, and Indo-Scythian periods. Education. Numerous educational institutes — schools, colleges and universities — are located in Peshawar. 21.6% of children between the ages of 5 and 9 were not enrolled in any school in 2013, while 16.6% of children in the 10 to 14 age range were out of school. Currently, Peshawar has universities for all major disciplines ranging from Humanities, General Sciences, Sciences, Engineering, Medical, Agriculture and Management Sciences. The first public sector university, University of Peshawar (UOP) was established in October 1950 by the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar was established in 1980 while Agriculture University Peshawar started working in 1981. The first private sector university CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences was established in 1986. Institute of Management Sciences started functioning in 1995, which become degree awarding institution in 2005. There are currently 9 Medical colleges in Peshawar, 2 in public sector while 7 in private sector. The first Medical College, Khyber Medical College, was established in 1954 as part of University of Peshawar. The first Medical University, Khyber Medical University while a women only Medical college, Khyber Girls Medical College was established in 2007. At the start of the 21st century, a host of new private sector universities started working in Peshawar. Qurtuba University, Sarhad University of Science and IT, Fast University, Peshawar Campus and City University of Science and IT were established in 2001 while Gandhara University was inaugurated in 2002 and Abasyn University in 2007. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, the first women university of Peshawar, started working in 2009 while private sector IQRA National University was established in 2012. Apart from good range of universities, Peshawar has host of high quality further education (Post School) educational institutes. The most renowned are, Edwardes College founded in 1900 by Herbert Edwardes, is the oldest college in the province and Islamia College Peshawar, which was established in 1913. Islamia College became university and named as Islamia College University in 2008. The following is a list of some of the public and private universities and colleges in Peshawar: The Pakistani military operates Army Public School Peshawar. It was the site of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. Landmarks. The following is a list of other significant landmarks in the city that still exist in the 21st century: Sports. There are hosts of sporting facilities in Peshawar. The most renowned are Arbab Niaz Stadium, and Hayatabad Cricket Stadium, which are the International cricket grounds of Peshawar and Qayyum Stadium, which is the multi sports facilities located in Peshawar Cantonment. Cricket is the most popular sport in Peshawar with Arbab Niaz Stadium as the main ground coupled with Cricket Academy. There is also small cricket ground, Peshawar Gymkhana Ground, which is located adjacent to Arbab Niaz Stadium, a popular club cricket ground. The oldest international cricket ground in Peshawar however is Peshawar Club Ground, which hosted the first ever test match between Pakistan and India in 1955. The Peshawar Zalmi represents the city in the Pakistan Super League. In 1975, the first sports complex, Qayyum Stadium was built in Peshawar while Hayatabad Sports Complex was built in the early 1990s. Both Qayyum Stadium and Hayatabad Sports Complexes are multiple sports complexes with facilities for all major indoor and outdoor sports such as football, Field Hockey ground, Squash, Swimming, Gymnasium, Board Games section, Wrestling, Boxing and Badminton. In 1991, Qayyum Stadium hosted Barcelona Olympics Qualifier Football match between Pakistan and Qatar plus it also hosted National Games in 2010. Hockey and squash are also popular in Peshawar. Twin towns and sister cities. Peshawar is twinned with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66584

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland, and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire to the south, and Warwickshire to the west. Northampton is the largest settlement and the county town. The county has an area of and a population of 747,622. The latter is concentrated in the centre of the county, which contains the county's largest towns: Northampton (243,511), Corby (68,164), Kettering (63,144), and Wellingborough (54,412). The northeast and southwest are rural. The county contains two local government districts, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire, which are both unitary authority areas. The county historically included Market Harborough and the Soke of Peterborough. The county is characterised by low, undulating hills, particularly to the west. They are the source of several rivers, including the Avon and Welland, which form much of the northern border; the Cherwell; and the Great Ouse. The River Nene is the principal river wihin the county, having its source in the southwest and flowing northeast past Northampton and Wellingborough. The highest point is Arbury Hill southwest of Daventry, at . There are Iron Age and Roman remains in the county, and in the seventh century it was settled by the Angles and Saxons, becoming part of Mercia. The county likely has its origin in the Danelaw as the area controlled from Northampton, which was one of the Five Boroughs. In the later Middle Ages and Early Moder Period the county was relatively settled, although Northampton was the location of engagements during the First and Second Barons' Wars and the Wars of the Roses, and during the First English Civil War Naseby was the site of a decisive battle which destroyed the main Royalist army. During the Industrial Revolution Northamptonshire became known known for its footwear, and the contemporary county has a number of small industrial centres which specialise in engineering and food processing. History. Much of Northamptonshire's countryside appears to have remained somewhat intractable as regards early human occupation, resulting in an apparently sparse population and relatively few finds from the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. In about 500 BC the Iron Age was introduced into the area by a continental people in the form of the Hallstatt culture, and over the next century a series of hill-forts were constructed at Arbury Camp, Rainsborough camp, Borough Hill, Castle Dykes, Guilsborough, Irthlingborough, and most notably of all, Hunsbury Hill. There are two more possible hill-forts at Arbury Hill (Badby) and Thenford. In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of the Catuvellauni, a Belgic tribe, the Northamptonshire area forming their most northerly possession. The Catuvellauni were in turn conquered by the Romans in 43 AD. The Roman road of Watling Street passed through the county, and an important Roman settlement, Lactodurum, stood on the site of modern-day Towcester. There were other Roman settlements at Northampton, Kettering and along the Nene Valley near Raunds. A large fort was built at Longthorpe. After the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the pagan king Penda. From about 889 the area was conquered by the Danes (as at one point almost all of England was, except for Athelney marsh in Somerset) and became part of the Danelaw – with Watling Street serving as the boundary – until being recaptured by the English under the Wessex king Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great, in 917. Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the Vikings of York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements. The county was first recorded in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (1011), as "Hamtunscire": the "scire" (shire) of "Hamtun" (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important "Hamtun" further south: Southampton – though the origins of the two names are in fact different. Rockingham Castle was built for William the Conqueror and was used as a Royal fortress until Elizabethan times. In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Northampton took place and King Henry VI was captured. The now-ruined Fotheringhay Castle was used to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots, before her execution. During the English Civil War, Northamptonshire strongly supported the Parliamentarian cause, and the Royalist forces suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Naseby in 1645 in the north of the county. King Charles I was imprisoned at Holdenby House in 1647. George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656. George Washington's ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of Northampton on several occasions and it was he who bought Sulgrave Manor from Henry VIII in 1539. It was George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northamptonshire to Virginia. Before Washington's ancestors moved to Sulgrave, they lived in Warton, Lancashire. In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the surrounding area became industrialised. The local specialisation was shoemaking and the leather industry and became one of Britain's major centres for these crafts by the 19th century. In the north of the county a large ironstone quarrying industry developed from 1850. In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to "[enjoy] a very pure and wholesome air" because of its dryness and distance from the sea. Its livestock were celebrated: "Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes: and many horses of the large black breed are reared." Nine years later, the county was described as "a county enjoying the reputation of being one of the healthiest and pleasantest parts of England" although the towns were "of small importance" with the exceptions of Peterborough and Northampton. In summer, the county hosted "a great number of wealthy families... country seats and villas are to be seen at every step." Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of "spires and squires" because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches. Prior to 1901 the ancient hundreds were disused. Northamptonshire was administered as four major divisions: Northern, Eastern, Mid, and Southern. During the 1930s, the town of Corby was established as a major centre of the steel industry. Much of Northamptonshire nevertheless remains rural. Corby was designated a new town in 1950 and Northampton followed in 1968. the government is encouraging development in the South Midlands area, including Northamptonshire. Peterborough. The Soke of Peterborough was historically associated with and considered part of Northamptonshire and the Church of England Diocese that covers Northamptonshire is centred in Peterborough Cathedral. However, Peterborough had its own courts of quarter sessions and, later, county council. In 1965 the administration was merged with that of neighbouring Huntingdonshire. Under the Local Government Act 1972 the city of Peterborough became a district of Cambridgeshire. Geography. Northamptonshire is a landlocked county located in the southern part of the East Midlands region, which is sometimes known as the South Midlands. The county contains the watershed between the River Severn and The Wash, and several important rivers have their sources in the north-west of the county, including the River Nene, which flows north-eastwards to The Wash, and the "Warwickshire Avon", which flows south-west to the Severn. In 1830, it was boasted that "not a single brook, however insignificant, flows into it from any other district". The highest point in the county is Arbury Hill, at . The boundary with Lincolnshire is England's shortest ceremonial county boundary, at . There are several towns in the county, Northampton being the largest and most populous. At the time of the 2011 census a population of 691,952 lived in the county, with 212,069 living in Northampton. The table below shows all towns with over 10,000 inhabitants. As of 2010 there were 16 settlements in Northamptonshire with a town charter: Climate. Like the rest of the British Isles, Northamptonshire has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification). The table below shows the average weather for Northamptonshire from the Moulton weather station. Governance. Local government. Between 1974 and 2021, Northamptonshire, like most English counties, was divided into a number of local authorities. The seven borough/district councils covered 15 towns and hundreds of villages. The county had a two-tier structure of local government and an elected county council based in Northampton, and was also divided into seven districts each with their own district or borough councils: Northampton itself is the most populous civil parish in England, and (prior to 2021) was the most populous urban district in England not to be administered as a unitary authority (even though several smaller districts are unitary). During the 1990s local government reform, Northampton Borough Council petitioned strongly for unitary status, which led to fractured relations with the County Council. The Soke of Peterborough is within the historic county of Northamptonshire, although it had had a separate county council since 1889 and separate courts of quarter sessions before then. The city of Peterborough has been a unitary authority since 1998, but it forms part of Cambridgeshire for ceremonial purposes. De facto bankruptcy of the county council. In early 2018, Northamptonshire County Council was declared technically insolvent and would be able to provide only the bare essential services. According to The Guardian the problems were caused by "a reckless half-decade in which it refused to raise council tax to pay for the soaring costs of social care" and "partly due to past failings, the council is now having to make some drastic decisions to reduce services to a core offer." Some observers, such as Simon Edwards of the County Councils Network, added another perspective on the cause of the financial crisis, the United Kingdom government austerity programme: "It is clear that, partly due to past failings, the council is now having to make some drastic decisions to reduce services to a core offer. However, we can't ignore that some of the underlying causes of the challenges facing Northamptonshire, such as dramatic reductions to council budgets and severe demand for services, mean county authorities across the country face funding pressures of £3.2bn over the next two years." Structural changes. In early 2018, following the events above, Government-appointed commissioners took over control of the council's affairs. Consequently, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government commissioned an independent report which, in March 2018, proposed structural changes to local government in Northamptonshire. These changes, implemented on 1 April 2021, saw the existing county council and district councils abolished and two new unitary authorities created in their place. One unitary authority, West Northamptonshire, consists of the former districts of Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire; the other, North Northamptonshire, consists of the former East Northamptonshire district and the former boroughs of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough. National representation. Northamptonshire returns seven Members of Parliament (MPs). , all are currently from the Conservative Party. Several of the constituencies have been marginal in the past, including the Northampton seats, Wellingborough, Kettering, and Corby, which were all Labour seats before 2005. In the 2016 EU referendum, all of the Northamptonshire districts voted to Leave, most by a significant margin. Two prominent Brexiteer MPs, Philip Hollobone and Peter Bone represent parts of the county. From 1993 until 2005, Northamptonshire County Council, for which each of the 73 electoral divisions in the county elect a single councillor, had been held by the Labour Party; it had been under no overall control since 1981. The councils of the rural districts – Daventry, East Northamptonshire, and South Northamptonshire – are strongly Conservative, whereas the political composition of the urban districts is more mixed. At the 2003 local elections, Labour lost control of Kettering, Northampton, and Wellingborough, retaining only Corby. Elections for the entire County Council are held every four years – the last were held on 5 May 2005 when control of the County Council changed from the Labour Party to the Conservatives. The County Council uses a leader and cabinet executive system and abolished its area committees in April 2006. Economy. Historically, Northamptonshire's main industry was manufacturing of boots and shoes. Many of the manufacturers closed down in the Thatcher era which in turn left many county people unemployed. Although R Griggs and Co Ltd, the manufacturer of Dr. Martens, still has its UK base in Wollaston near Wellingborough, the shoe industry has deeply declined as manufacturing has moved away from England. There were over 2,000 shoemakers in the region in the mid 19th century, today the number is over 30 left. Large employers include the breakfast cereal manufacturers Weetabix, in Burton Latimer, the Carlsberg brewery in Northampton, Avon Products, Siemens, Barclaycard, Saxby Bros Ltd and Golden Wonder. In the west of the county is the Daventry International Railfreight Terminal; which is a major rail freight terminal located on the West Coast Main Line near Rugby. Wellingborough also has a smaller railfreight depot on Finedon Road, called Nelisons sidings. This is a chart of trend of the regional gross value added of Northamptonshire at current basic prices in millions of British Pounds Sterling (correct on 21 December 2005): The region of Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and the South Midlands has been described as "Motorsport Valley... a global hub" for the motor sport industry. The Mercedes-AMG and Aston Martin Formula One teams have their bases at Brackley and Silverstone respectively, while Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines and, formerly, Cosworth, are also in the county at Brixworth and Northampton respectively. International motor racing takes place at Silverstone Circuit and, formerly, Rockingham Motor Speedway; Santa Pod Raceway is just over the border in Bedfordshire but has a Northamptonshire postcode. A study commissioned by Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd (NEL) reported that Northamptonshire's motorsport sites attract more than 2.1 million visitors per year who spend a total of more than £131 million within the county. Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth area. Northamptonshire forms part of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth area which also includes Milton Keynes, Aylesbury Vale and Bedfordshire. This area has been identified as an area which is due to have tens of thousands additional homes built between 2010 and 2020. In North Northamptonshire (Boroughs of Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and East Northants), over 52,000 homes are planned or newly built and 47,000 new jobs are also planned. In West Northamptonshire (boroughs of Northampton, Daventry and South Northants), over 48,000 homes are planned or newly built and 37,000 new jobs are planned. To oversee the planned developments, two urban regeneration companies have been created: North Northants Development Company (NNDC) and the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation. The NNDC launched a controversial campaign called "North Londonshire" to attract people from London to the county. There is also a county-wide tourism campaign with the slogan "Northamptonshire, Let yourself grow". Education. Schools. Northamptonshire County Council previously operated a comprehensive system of state-funded secondary schools. From May 2021 compulsory education in the county is administered by North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council. The county is home to private schools Oundle, Quinton House School, Wellingborough School, Spratton Hall School, Northampton High School. The county's music and performing arts trust provides peripatetic music teaching to schools. It also supports 15 local Saturday morning music and performing arts centres around the county and provides a range of county-level music groups. Colleges. There are seven colleges across the county, with the Tresham College of Further and Higher Education having four campuses in three towns: Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough. Tresham, which was taken over by Bedford College in 2017 due to failed Ofsted inspections, provides further education and offers vocational courses and re-sit GCSEs. It also offers Higher Education options in conjunction with several universities. Other colleges in the county are: Fletton House, Knuston Hall, Moulton College, Northampton College, Northampton New College and The East Northamptonshire College. University. Northamptonshire has one university, the University of Northampton. It has two campuses apart and 10,000 students. It offers courses for needs and interests from foundation and undergraduate level to postgraduate, professional and doctoral qualifications. Subjects include traditional arts, humanities and sciences subjects, as well as entrepreneurship, product design and advertising. Healthcare. Hospitals. The main acute National Health Service hospitals in Northamptonshire Northampton General Hospital, which also operates Danetre Hospital in Daventry, and Kettering General Hospital. In the south-west of the county, the towns of Brackley, Towcester and surrounding villages are serviced by the Horton General Hospital in Banbury in neighbouring Oxfordshire for acute medical needs. A similar arrangement is in place for the town of Oundle and nearby villages, served by Peterborough City Hospital. In February 2011 a new satellite out-patient centre opened at Nene Park, Irthlingborough to provide over 40,000 appointments a year, as well as a minor injury unit to serve Eastern Northamptonshire. This was opened to relieve pressure off Kettering General Hospital, and has also replaced the dated Rushden Memorial Clinic which provided at the time about 8,000 appointments a year, when open. Water contamination. In June 2008, Anglian Water found traces of "Cryptosporidium" in water supplies of Northamptonshire. The local reservoir at Pitsford was investigated and a European rabbit which had strayed into it, causing the problem, was found. About 250,000 residents were affected; by 14 July 2008, 13 cases of cryptosporidiosis attributed to water in Northampton had been reported. Following the end of the investigation, Anglian Water lifted its boil notice for all affected areas on 4 July 2008. Anglian Water revealed that it would pay up to £30 per household as compensation for customers hit by the water crisis. Transport. The gap in the hills at Watford Gap meant that many south-east to north-west routes passed through Northamptonshire. Watling Street, a Roman Road which is now part of the A5, passes through here, as did canals, railways and major roads in later years. Roads. Major national roads, including the M1 motorway (London to Leeds) and the A14 (Rugby to Felixstowe), provide Northamptonshire with transport links both north–south and east–west. The A43 joins the M1 to the M40 motorway, passing through the south of the county to the junction west of Brackley, and the A45 links Northampton with Wellingborough and Peterborough. The county road network (excluding trunk roads and motorways), managed by West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire Council, includes the A45 west of the M1 motorway, the A43 between Northampton and the county boundary near Stamford, the A361 between Kilsby and Banbury (Oxon) and all B, C and unclassified roads. Since 2009, these highways have been managed on behalf of the county council by MGWSP, a joint venture between May Gurney and WSP. Rivers and canals. Two major canals – the Oxford and the Grand Union – join in the county at Braunston. Notable features include a flight of 17 locks on the Grand Union at Rothersthorpe, the canal museum at Stoke Bruerne and a tunnel at Blisworth which, at , is the third-longest navigable canal tunnel on the UK canal network. A branch of the Grand Union Canal connects to the River Nene in Northampton and has been upgraded to a 'wide canal' in places and is known as the "Nene Navigation". It is famous for its guillotine locks. Railways. Two trunk railway routes, the Midland Main Line and the West Coast Main Line, cross the county. At its peak, Northamptonshire had 75 railway stations. It now has only six, at: Northampton and Long Buckby on the West Coast Main Line; Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby on the Midland Main Line; along with King's Sutton, only a few yards from the boundary with Oxfordshire on the Chiltern Main Line. Before nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and the creation of British Railways, three of the "Big Four" railway companies operated in Northamptonshire: the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and Great Western Railway. Only the Southern Railway was not represented. As of 2019, it is served by Chiltern Railways, East Midlands Railway, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains. Corby was described as the largest town in Britain without a railway station. The railway running through the town from Kettering to Oakham in Rutland was previously used only by freight traffic and occasional diverted passenger trains that did not stop at the station. The line through Corby was once part of a main line to Nottingham through Melton Mowbray, but the stretch between Melton and Nottingham was closed in 1968. In the 1980s, an experimental passenger shuttle service ran between Corby and Kettering but was withdrawn a few years later. On 23 February 2009, a new railway station opened, providing direct hourly access to London St Pancras. Following the opening of Corby Station, Rushden then became the largest town in the United Kingdom without a direct railway station. Railway services in Northamptonshire were reduced by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Closure of the line connecting Northampton to Peterborough by way of Wellingborough, Thrapston, and Oundle left eastern Northamptonshire devoid of railways. Part of this route was reopened in 1977 as the Nene Valley Railway. A section of one of the closed lines, the Northampton to Market Harborough line, is now the Northampton & Lamport heritage railway, while the route as a whole forms a part of the National Cycle Network, as the Brampton Valley Way. As early as 1897, Northamptonshire would have had its own Channel Tunnel rail link with the creation of the Great Central Railway, which was intended to connect to a tunnel under the English Channel. Although the complete project never came to fruition, the rail link through Northamptonshire was constructed, and had stations at Charwelton, Woodford Halse, Helmdon and Brackley. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 (and of British Railways in 1948) before its closure in 1966. In June 2009, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) recommended opening a new station on the former Irchester railway station site for Rushden, Higham Ferrers and Irchester, called Rushden Parkway. Network Rail is electrifying the Midland Main Line north of Bedford, to Kettering and Corby. An open access company has approached Network Rail for services to Oakham in Rutland to London via the county. The Rushden Historical Transport Society, operators of the Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway, would like to see the railway fully reopen between Wellingborough and Higham Ferrers. The route of the planned High Speed 2 railway line (between London and Birmingham) will go through the southern part of the county but without any stations. Buses. Most buses are operated by Stagecoach Midlands. Some town area routes have been named the Corby Star, Connect Kettering, Connect Wellingborough and Daventry Dart; the last three of these routes have route designations that include a letter (such as A, D1, W1, W2). Stagecoach's X4 route provides interurban links across the county, running between Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, Oundle and Peterborough. Airports. Sywell Aerodrome, on the edge of Sywell village, has three grass runways and one concrete all-weather runway. It is, however, only 1000 metres long and therefore cannot be served by passenger jets. Media. Newspapers. The two main newspapers in the county are the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph and the Northampton Chronicle & Echo. Television. Most of Northamptonshire is served by the BBC's East region which is based in Norwich. The regional news television programme, BBC Look East, provides local news across the East of England, Milton Keynes and most of Northamptonshire. An opt-out in "Look East" covers the west part of the region only, broadcast from Cambridge. This area also is covered by the BBC's The Politics Show: East and Inside Out: East. A small part of the north of the county is covered by BBC East Midlands's regional news BBC East Midlands Today, while a small part of South Northamptonshire is covered by BBC Oxford's regional news BBC Oxford News which is part of the BBC South Today programme. Most of Northamptonshire is covered by ITV's Anglia region (which broadcasts Anglia Today/Tonight); in the south-west of the county, primarily Brackley and the surrounding villages, broadcasts can be received from the Oxford transmitter which broadcasts ITV Meridian's Meridian Today/Tonight. Radio. BBC Radio Northampton, broadcasts on two FM frequencies: 104.2 MHz for the south and west of the county (including Northampton and surrounding area) and 103.6 MHz for the north of the county (including Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby). BBC Radio Northampton is situated on Abington Street, Northampton. These services are broadcast from the Moulton Park & Geddington transmitters. There are three commercial radio stations in the county. The former "Kettering and Corby Broadcasting Company (KCBC)" station was called Connect Radio (97.2 and 107.4 MHz FM), following a merger with the Wellingborough-based station of the same name. It is now part of Smooth East Midlands. While both Heart East (96.6 MHz FM) and AM station Gold (1557 kHz) air very little local content as they form part of a national network. National digital radio is also available in Northamptonshire, though coverage is limited. Corby is served by its own dedicated station, Corby Radio (96.3 FM), based in the town and focused on local content. Sport. Rugby union. Northamptonshire has many rugby union clubs. Its premier team Northampton Saints, competes in the Aviva Premiership and won the European championship in 2000 by defeating Munster for the Heineken Cup, 9–8. Saints are based at the 15,249 capacity Franklin's Gardens ground. In 2014 the club won the Aviva Premiership as well as the Challenge Cup. For the 2014/15 campaign the team finished top of the table for the first time in the premiership, eventually losing 24–29 to Saracens in the playoff semi-final. Association football. Northamptonshire has twenty four football clubs operating in the top ten levels of the English football league system. The sport in the area is administered by the Northamptonshire Football Association, which is affiliated with the United Counties League, the Northamptonshire Combination Football League, the Northampton Town Football League, as well as the Peterborough and District Football League in neighbouring Cambridgeshire. Only two clubs in Northamptonshire to have competed in The Football League are Northampton Town and the defunct Rushden & Diamonds. Northampton Town F.C.. The only fully-professional English football league club in the county is Northampton Town, which attracts between 4,000 and 6,000 fans on an average game day and has been part of the Football League since 1920. Their home ground is Sixfields Stadium which opened in 1994. The first match there took place on 15 October against Barnet Football Club. The stadium can hold up to 7,500 people, with provisions for disabled fans. Other clubs. The county also a number of semi-professional sides that compete in levels 6 to 8 of the football pyramid. These are Kettering Town, Brackley Town, AFC Rushden & Diamonds, and Corby Town F.C. Nineteen teams compete in the United Counties League (UCL), a league operating at levels 9 and 10 of the English League system, and which encompasses all of Northamptonshire and parts of neighbouring counties. Cricket. Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is in Division Two of the County Championship; the team (also known as The Steelbacks) play their home games at the County Cricket Ground, Northampton. They finished as runners-up in the Championship on four occasions in the period before it split into two divisions. In 2013 the club won the Friends Life t20, beating Surrey in the final. Appearing in their third final in four years, the Steelbacks beat Durham by four wickets at Edgbaston in 2016 to lift the Natwest t20 Blast trophy for the second time. The club also won the NatWest Trophy on two occasions, and the Benson & Hedges Cup once. Motor sport. Silverstone is a major motor racing circuit, most notably used for the British Grand Prix. There is also a dedicated radio station for the circuit which broadcasts on 87.7 FM or 1602 MW when events are taking place. However, part of the circuit is across the border in Buckinghamshire. Rockingham Speedway, located near Corby, was one of the largest motor sport venues in the United Kingdom with 52,000 seats until it was closed permanently in 2018 to make way for a logistics hub for the automotive industry, hosting its last race in November of that year. It was a US-style elliptical racing circuit (the largest of its kind outside of the United States), and is used extensively for all kinds of motor racing events. The Santa Pod drag racing circuit, venue for the FIA European Drag Racing Championships, is just across the border in Bedfordshire but has a NN postcode. Two Formula One teams are based in Northamptonshire, with Mercedes at Brackley and Aston Martin in Silverstone. Aston Martin also have a secondary facility in Brackley, while Mercedes build engines for themselves, Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams at Brixworth. Cosworth, the high-performance engineering company, is based in Northampton. Swimming and diving. There are seven competitive swimming clubs in the county: Northampton Swimming Club, Wellingborough Amateur Swimming Club, Rushden Swimming Club, Kettering Amateur Swimming Club, Corby Amateur Swimming Club, Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club, and Nene Valley Swimming Club. There is also one diving club: Corby Steel Diving Club. The main pool in the county is Corby East Midlands International Pool, which has an 8-lane 50m swimming pool with a floor that can adjust in depth to provide a 25m pool. The pool is home to the Northamptonshire Amateur Association's County Championships as well as some of the Youth Midland Championships. Northamptonshire is home to 2016 paralympian Ellie Robinson. She was talent-spotted in July 2012 and developed at Northampton Swimming Club, and was selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships. She won there three bronze medals, and one silver medal. Culture. Jane Austen set her 1814 novel "Mansfield Park" mostly in Northamptonshire. Melrose Plant, a prominent secondary protagonist in the Richard Jury series of mystery novels by Martha Grimes, resides in Northamptonshire, and much of the action in the books takes place there. "Kinky Boots", the 2005 British-American film and subsequent stage musical adaptation, was based on the true story of a traditional Northamptonshire shoe factory which, to stay afloat, entered the market for fetish footwear. Rock and pop bands originating in the area have included Bauhaus, Temples, The Departure, New Cassettes, Raging Speedhorn and Defenestration. Richard Coles, an English musician, partnered in the 1980s with Jimmy Somerville to create the band The Communards. They achieved three top ten hits and made the No. 1 in 1986 with a version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way". In 2012, The University of Northampton awarded Coles an honorary doctorate. From 2011 to 2022 he was the vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire. Northampton is the birthplace of composer Malcolm Arnold (born 21 October 1921) and of actor Marc Warren (born 20 March 1967).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66956

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (abbreviated HCMC), commonly known as Saigon, is the most populous city in Vietnam, with a population of around 9.3 million in 2023. Situated in the Southeast region of Vietnam, the city surrounds the Saigon River and covers about . Saigon was the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1902, and again from 1945 until its cessation in 1954. Following the partition of French Indochina, it became the capital of South Vietnam until the fall of Saigon in 1975. The communist government renamed Saigon in honour of Hồ Chí Minh shortly after the fall of Saigon. Beginning in the 1990s, the city underwent rapid modernisation and expansion, contributing to Vietnam's post-war economic recovery. It is known for its well-preserved French colonial architecture, vibrant street life, its varied cultural institutions, which include historic landmarks, walking streets, museums and galleries which attracts over 8 million international visitors each year. Ho Chi Minh City is a major centre for finance, media, technology, education, and transportation. The city generates around a quarter of the country's total GDP, and is home to many multinational companies. It has a Human Development Index of 0.795 (high), ranking second among all municipalities and provinces of Vietnam. Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, the main airport serving the city, is the busiest airport in the country by passenger traffic, accounting for nearly half of all international arrivals to Vietnam. Etymology. The first known human habitation of the area was a Cham settlement called Baigaur. The Cambodians then took over the Cham village of Baigaur and renamed it Prey Nokor, a small fishing village. Over time, under the control of the Vietnamese, it was officially renamed Gia Định (), a name that was retained until the time of the French conquest in the 1860s, when it adopted the name , westernized as , although the city was still indicated as on Vietnamese maps written in chữ Hán until at least 1891. The current name, Ho Chi Minh City, was given after reunification in 1976 to honour Ho Chi Minh. Even today, however, the informal name of remains in daily speech. However, there is a technical difference between the two terms: is commonly used to refer to the city centre in District 1 and the adjacent areas, while "Ho Chi Minh City" refers to all of its urban and rural districts. Saigon. The etymology of "Saigon" is uncertain. The original toponym behind Sài Gòn, was attested earliest as 柴棍, with two phonograms whose Sino-Vietnamese readings are sài and côn respectively, in Lê Quý Đôn's Phủ biên tạp lục (撫邊雜錄 "Miscellaneous Chronicles of the Pacified Frontier", c. 1776), wherein Lê relates that, in 1674, Cambodian prince Ang Nan was installed as uparaja in 柴棍 (Sài Gòn) by Vietnamese forces. 柴棍 also appears later in Trịnh Hoài Đức's Gia Định thành thông chí (嘉定城通志 "Comprehensive Records about the Gia Định Citadel", c. 1820), Nam quốc địa dư giáo khoa thư (南國地輿教科書 "Textbook on the Geography of the Southern Country", 1908), etc. Adrien Launay's Histoire de la Mission de Cochinchine (1688−1823), "Documents Historiques II: 1728 - 1771" (1924: 190) cites 1747 documents containing the toponyms: provincia Rai-gon, Rai-gon thong (for *Sài Gòn thượng "Upper Saigon"), & Rai-gon-ha (for *Sài Gòn hạ "Lower Saigon"). It is probably a transcription of Khmer ព្រៃនគរ (Prey Nokôr), or Khmer ព្រៃគរ (Prey Kôr). The proposal that Sài Gòn is from non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 堤岸 tai4 ngon6 (“embankment”, SV: đê ngạn), the Cantonese name of Chợ Lớn, (e.g. by Vương Hồng Sển) has been critiqued as folk-etymological, as: (1) the Vietnamese source Phủ biên tạp lục (albeit written in literary Chinese) was the earliest extant one containing the local toponym's transcription; (2) 堤岸 has variant form 提岸, thus suggesting that both were transcriptions of a local toponym and thus are cognates to, not originals of, Sài Gòn. Saigon is unlikely to be from 堤岸 since in 南國地輿教科書 Nam Quốc địa dư giáo khoa thư, it also lists Chợ Lớn as 𢄂𢀲 separate from 柴棍 Sài Gòn. Ho Chi Minh City. The current official name, ', was first proclaimed in 1945, and later adopted in 1976. It is abbreviated as TP.HCM, and translated in English as "Ho Chi Minh City", abbreviated as HCMC, and in French as ' (the circumflex is sometimes omitted), abbreviated as HCMV. The name commemorates Ho Chi Minh, the first leader of North Vietnam. This name, though not his given name, was one he favored throughout his later years. It combines a common Vietnamese surname (, ) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese, 志 明; meaning 'will' or 'spirit', and meaning 'light'), in essence, meaning "light bringer". Nowadays, "Sài Gòn" is commonly used to refer to the city's central business districts, "Prey Nokor City" is well known in Khmer, whereas "Hồ Chí Minh City" is used to refer to the whole city. History. Early settlement. The earliest settlement in the area was a Funan temple at the location of the current Phụng Sơn Buddhist temple, founded in the 4th century AD. A settlement called Baigaur was established on the site in the 11th century by the Champa. Baigaur was renamed Prey Nokor after conquest by the Khmer Empire around 1145, Prey Nokor grew on the site of a small fishing village and area of forest. The first Vietnamese people crossed the sea to explore this land completely without the organisation of the Nguyễn Lords. Thanks to the marriage between Princess Nguyễn Phúc Ngọc Vạn - daughter of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên - and the King of Cambodia Chey Chettha II in 1620, the relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia became smooth, and the people of the two countries could freely move back and forth. In exchange, Chey Chettha II gifted Prei Nokor to the Nguyễn lords. Vietnamese settlers began to migrate to the area of Saigon, Đồng Nai. Before that, the Funanese, Khmer, and Cham had lived there, scattered from time immemorial. The period from 1623 to 1698 is considered the period of the formation of later Saigon. In 1623, Lord Nguyen sent a mission to ask his son-in-law, King Chey Chettha II, to set up tax collection stations in Prey Nokor (Sài Gòn) and Kas Krobei (Bến Nghé). Although this was a deserted jungle area, it was located on the traffic routes between Vietnam, Cambodia, and Siam. The next two important events of this period were the establishment of the barracks and residence of Vice King Ang Non and the establishment of a palace at Tân Mỹ (near the present-day Cống Quỳnh–Nguyễn Trãi crossroads). It can be said that Saigon was formed from these three government agencies. Nguyễn Dynasty rule. In 1679, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần allowed a group of Chinese refugees from the Qing dynasty to settle in Mỹ Tho, Biên Hòa and Saigon to seek refuge. In 1698, Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyễn rulers of Huế by sea to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. King Chey Chettha IV of Cambodia tried to stop the Vietnamese but was defeated by Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh in 1700. In February 1700, he invaded Cambodia from An Giang. In March, the Vietnamese expedition under Cảnh and a Chinese general Trần Thượng Xuyên (Chen Shangchuan) defeated the main Cambodian army at Bích Đôi citadel, king Chey Chettha IV took flight while his nephew Ang Em surrendered to the invaders, as the Vietnamese marched onto and captured Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. As a result, Saigon and Long An were officially and securely obtained by the Nguyễn, more Vietnamese settlers moved into the new conquered lands. In 1788, Nguyễn Ánh captured the city, and used it as a centre of resistance against Tây Sơn. Two years later, a large Vauban citadel called Gia Định, or "Thành Bát Quái" ("Eight Diagrams") was built by Victor Olivier de Puymanel, one of the Nguyễn Ánh's French mercenaries. The citadel was captured by Lê Văn Khôi during his revolt of 1833–35 against Emperor Minh Mạng. Following the revolt, Minh Mạng ordered it to be dismantled, and a new citadel, called "Phụng Thành", was built in 1836. In 1859, the citadel was destroyed by the French following the Battle of Kỳ Hòa. Initially called Gia Định, the Vietnamese city became Saigon in the 18th century. French colonial era. Ceded to France by the 1862 Treaty of Saigon, the city was planned by the French to transform into a large town for colonisation. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, construction of various French-style buildings began, including a botanical garden, the Norodom Palace, Hotel Continental, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and Bến Thành Market, among many others. In April 1865, Gia Định Báo was established in Saigon, becoming the first newspaper published in Vietnam. During the French colonial era, Saigon became known as "Pearl of the Orient" (""), or "Paris of the Extreme Orient". On 27 April 1931, a new région called Saigon–Cholon consisting of Saigon and Cholon was formed; the name Cholon was dropped after South Vietnam gained independence from France in 1955. From about 256,000 in 1930, Saigon's population rose to 1.2 million in 1950. Republic of Vietnam era. In 1949, former Emperor Bảo Đại made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam with himself as head of state. In 1954, the Geneva Agreement partitioned Vietnam along the 17th parallel (Bến Hải River), with the communist Việt Minh, under Ho Chi Minh, gaining complete control of the northern half of the country, while the southern half gained independence from France. The State officially became the Republic of Vietnam when Bảo Đại was deposed by his Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in the 1955 referendum, with Saigon as its capital. On 22 October 1956, the city was given the official name, "" ("Capital City Saigon"). After the decree of 27 March 1959 came into effect, Saigon was divided into eight districts and 41 wards. In December 1966, two wards from old An Khánh Commune of Gia Định, were formed into District 1, then seceded shortly later to become District 9. In July 1969, District 10 and District 11 were founded, and by 1975, the city's area consisted of eleven districts, Gia Định, Củ Chi District (Hậu Nghĩa), and Phú Hòa District (Bình Dương). Saigon served as the financial, industrial and transport centre of the Republic of Vietnam. In the late 1950s, with the U.S. providing nearly $2 billion in aid to the Diệm regime, the country's economy grew rapidly under capitalism; by 1960, over half of South Vietnam's factories were located in Saigon. However, beginning in the 1960s, Saigon experienced economic downturn and high inflation, as it was completely dependent on U.S. aid and imports from other countries. As a result of widespread urbanisation, with the population reaching 3.3 million by 1970, the city was described by the USAID as being turned "into a huge slum". The city also suffered from "prostitutes, drug addicts, corrupt officials, beggars, orphans, and Americans with money", and according to Stanley Karnow, it was "a black-market city in the largest sense of the word". On 28 April 1955, the Vietnamese National Army launched an attack against Bình Xuyên military force in the city. The battle lasted until May, killing an estimated 500 people and leaving about 20,000 homeless. Ngô Đình Diệm then later turned on other paramilitary groups in Saigon, including the Hòa Hảo Buddhist reform movement. On 11 June 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself in the city, in protest of the Diệm regime. On 1 November of the same year, Diệm was assassinated in Saigon, in a successful coup by Dương Văn Minh. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, communist forces launched a failed attempt to capture the city. On 30 April 1975, Saigon was captured, ending the Vietnam War with a victory for North Vietnam, and the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army. Post–Vietnam War and today. In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including the Cholon area), the province of Gia Ðịnh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Ho Chi Minh City, in honour of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. At the time, the city covered an area of with eight districts and five rurals: Thủ Đức, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, Bình Chánh, and Nhà Bè. Since 1978, administrative divisions in the city have been revised numerous times, most recently in 2020, when District 2, District 9, and Thủ Đức District were consolidated to form a municipal city. On 29 October 2002, 60 people died and 90 injured in the International Trade Center building fire in Ho Chi Minh City. Today, Ho Chi Minh City, along with its surrounding provinces, is described as "the manufacturing hub" of Vietnam, and "an attractive business hub". In terms of cost, it was ranked the 111th-most expensive major city in the world according to a 2020 survey of 209 cities. In terms of international connectedness, as of 2020, the city was classified as a "Beta" city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Geography. The city is located in the south-eastern region of Vietnam, south of Hanoi. The average elevation is above sea level for the city centre and for the suburb areas. It borders Tây Ninh Province and Bình Dương Province to the north, Đồng Nai Province and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province to the east, Long An Province to the west, Tiền Giang Province and East Sea to the south with a coast long. The city covers an area of 2,095 km2 (809 sq mi or 0.63% of the surface of Vietnam), extending up to Củ Chi District ( from the Cambodian border) and down to Cần Giờ on the Eastern Sea. The distance from the northernmost point (Phú Mỹ Hưng Commune, Củ Chi District) to the southernmost one (Long Hòa Commune, Cần Giờ District) is , and from the easternmost point (Long Bình ward, District Nine) to the westernmost one (Bình Chánh Commune, Bình Chánh District) is . Due to its location on the Mekong Delta, the city is fringed by tidal flats that have been heavily modified for agriculture. Climate. The city has a tropical climate, specifically tropical savanna (Aw), with a high average humidity of 78–82%. The year is divided into two distinct seasons. The rainy season, with an average rainfall of about annually (about 150 rainy days per year), usually lasts from May to November. The dry season lasts from December to April. The average temperature is , with little variation throughout the year. The highest temperature recorded was in April while the lowest temperature recorded was in January. On average, the city experiences between 2,400 and 2,700 hours of sunshine per year. Flooding. The city is considered one of the cities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, particularly flooding. During the rainy season, a combination of high tide, heavy rains, high flow volume in the Saigon River and Đồng Nai River and land subsidence results in regular flooding in several parts of the city. A once-in-100 year flood would cause 23% of the city to suffer flooding. Administration. The city is a municipality at the same level as Vietnam's provinces, which is subdivided into 22 district-level sub-divisions (as of 2020): They are further subdivided into 5 commune-level towns (or townlets), 58 communes, and 249 wards (, see List of HCMC administrative units below). On 1 January 2021, it was announced that District 2, District 9 and Thủ Đức District would be consolidated and was approved by Standing Committee of the National Assembly. City government. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee is a 13-member executive branch of the city. The current chairman is Phan Văn Mãi. There are several vice chairmen and chairwomen on the committee with responsibility over various city departments. The legislative branch of the city is the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council and consists of 105 members. The current chairwoman is Nguyễn Thị Lệ. The judiciary branch of the city is the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court. The current chief judge is Lê Thanh Phong. The executive committee of Communist Party of Ho Chi Minh City is the leading organ of the Communist Party in Ho Chi Minh City. The current secretary is Nguyễn Văn Nên. The permanent deputy secretary of the Communist Party is ranked second in the city politics after the Secretary of the Communist Party, while chairman of the People's Committee is ranked third and the chairman of the People's Council is ranked fourth. Demographics. The population of the city, as of the 1 October 2004 census, was 6,117,251 (of which 19 inner districts had 5,140,412 residents and 5 suburban districts had 976,839 inhabitants). In mid-2007, the city's population was 6,650,942 – with the 19 inner districts home to 5,564,975 residents and the five suburban districts containing 1,085,967 inhabitants. The result of the 2009 Census shows that the city's population was 7,162,864 people, about 8.34% of the total population of Vietnam, making it the highest population-concentrated city in the country. As of the end of 2012, the total population of the city was 7,750,900 people, an increase of 3.1% from 2011. As an administrative unit, its population is also the largest at the provincial level. According to the 2019 census, Ho Chi Minh City has a population of over 8.9 million within the city proper and over 21 million within its metropolitan area. The city's population is expected to grow to 13.9 million by 2025. The population of the city is expanding faster than earlier predictions. In August 2017, the city's mayor, Nguyễn Thành Phong, admitted that previous estimates of 8–10 million were drastic underestimations. The actual population (including those who have not officially registered) was estimated 13 million in 2017. The Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, a metropolitan area covering most parts of the southeast region plus Tiền Giang Province and Long An Province under planning, will have an area of with a population of 20 million inhabitants by 2020. Inhabitants of Ho Chi Minh City are usually known as "Saigonese" in English and "dân Sài Gòn" in Vietnamese. Ethnic groups. The majority of the population are ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) at about 93.52%. Ho Chi Minh City's largest minority ethnic group are the Chinese (Hoa) with 5.78%. Cholon – in District 5 and parts of Districts 6, 10, and 11 – is home to the largest Chinese community in Vietnam. The Hoa (Chinese) speak a number of varieties of Chinese, including Cantonese, Teochew (Chaozhou), Hokkien, Hainanese, and Hakka; smaller numbers also speak Mandarin Chinese. Other ethnic minorities include Khmer with 0.34%, Cham with 0.1%, as well as a small group of Bawean from Bawean Island in Indonesia (about 400; as of 2015), they occupy District 1. Various other nationalities including Koreans, Japanese, Americans, South Africans, Filipinos and Britons reside in Ho Chi Minh City, particularly in Thủ Đức and District 7 as expatriate workers. Religion. As of March 2019, the city recognises 13 religions and 1,983,048 residents identify as religious people. Catholicism and Buddhism are the two predominant religions in Saigon. The largest is Buddhism as it has 1,164,930 followers followed by Catholicism with 745,283 followers, Caodaism with 31,633 followers, Protestantism with 27,016 followers, Islam with 6,580 followers, Hòa Hảo with 4,894 followers, Tịnh độ cư sĩ Phật hội Việt Nam with 1,387 followers, Hinduism with 395 followers, Đạo Tứ ấn hiếu nghĩa with 298 followers, Minh Sư Đạo with 283 followers, Baháʼí Faith with 192 followers, Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương with 89 followers, Minh Lý Đạo with 67 followers, and the rest are the Saigonese who don't believe in God which is Atheism. Economy. The city is the economic center of Vietnam and accounts for a large proportion of the economy of Vietnam. Although the city takes up just 0.6% of the country's land area, it contains 8.34% of the population of Vietnam, 20.2% of its GDP, 27.9% of industrial output and 34.9% of the FDI projects in the country in 2005. In 2005, the city had 4,344,000 labourers, of whom 130,000 are over the labour age norm (in Vietnam, 60 for male and 55 for female workers). In 2009, GDP per capita reached $2,800, compared to the country's average level of $1,042. Sectors. The economy of the city consists of industries ranging from mining, seafood processing, agriculture, and construction, to tourism, finance, industry and trade. The state-owned sector makes up 33.3% of the economy, the private sector 4.6%, and the remainder in foreign investment. Concerning its economic structure, the service sector accounts for 51.1%, industry and construction account for 47.7% and forestry, agriculture and others make up just 1.2%. The city and its ports are part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe. Quang Trung Software Park is a software park situated in District 12. The park is approximately from downtown Ho Chi Minh City and hosts software enterprises as well as dot.com companies. The park also includes a software training school. Dot.com investors here are supplied with other facilities and services such as residences and high-speed access to the internet as well as favorable taxation. Together with the Hi-Tech Park in Thủ Đức, and the 32 ha. software park inside Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone in District 7 of the city, Ho Chi Minh City aims to become an important hi-tech city in the country and the South-East Asia region. This park helps the city in particular and Vietnam in general to become an outsourcing location for other enterprises in developed countries, as India has done. Some 300,000 businesses, including many large enterprises, are involved in high-tech, electronic, processing and light industries, and also in construction, building materials and agricultural products. Additionally, crude oil is a popular economic base in the city. Investors are still pouring money into the city. Total local private investment was 160 billion "đồng" (US$7.5 million) with 18,500 newly founded companies. Investment trends to high technology, services and real estate projects. As of June 2006, the city had three export processing zones and twelve industrial parks, in addition to Quang Trung Software Park and Ho Chi Minh City hi-tech park. Intel has invested about 1 billion dollars in a factory in the city. More than fifty banks with hundreds of branches and about 20 insurance companies are also located inside the city. The Stock Exchange, the first stock exchange in Vietnam, was opened in 2001. There are 171 medium and large-scale markets as well as several supermarket chains, shopping malls, and fashion and beauty centers. Urbanisation. With a population now of 8,382,287 (as of Census 2010 on 1 April 2010) (registered residents plus migrant workers as well as a metropolitan population of 10 million), the city needs increased public infrastructure. To this end, the city and central governments have embarked on an effort to develop new urban centres. The two most prominent projects are the Thủ Thiêm city centre in District 2 and the Phú Mỹ Hưng Urban Area, a new city centre in District 7 (as part of the Saigon South project) where various international schools such as Saigon South International School and Australian Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology are located. In December 2007, Phú Mỹ Hưng's new City Centre completed the 10–14 lane wide Nguyễn Văn Linh Boulevard linking the Saigon port areas, Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone to the National Highway 1 and the Mekong Delta area. In November 2008, a brand new trade centre, Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre, also opened its doors. Other projects include Grandview, Waterfront, Sky Garden, Riverside and Phú Gia 99. Phú Mỹ Hưng's new City Centre received the first Model New City Award from the Vietnamese Ministry of Construction. Shopping. Some of the larger shopping malls and plazas opened recently include: In 2007, three million foreign tourists, about 70% of the total number of tourists to Vietnam, visited the city. Total cargo transport to city's ports reached 50.5 million tonnes, nearly one-third of the total for Vietnam. Cityscape. Architecture. Ho Chi Minh City has many architecturally notable buildings from different styles and time periods. French influence during the colonial era can be seen throughout the city, especially in District 1 where a number of buildings can be found. Notable buildings of French colonial architecture include the Ho Chi Minh City Hall, Saigon Central Post Office, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon and Bến Thành Market. Apart from its French architecture, Ho Chi Minh City is also home to a number of buildings inspired by Chinese architecture. Notable buildings are mostly found in Chợ Lớn, where many Hoa people reside. These include the Thien Hau Temple, which was first built around 1760, making it one of the oldest historic buildings still standing in the city. During the Republic of Vietnam era, Vietnamese modernist architecture began to develop in the city. Prominent buildings which were commissioned during this time include the Independence Palace, replacing the former Independence Palace which was of Baroque Revival architecture. Parks and gardens. Despite the city's high building density, Ho Chi Minh City has a number of large parks. One of the largest and most popular parks is Tao Đàn Park, located next to the Independence Palace in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Other parks in District 1 include the September 23rd Park and 30/4 Park. The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, located on the northern end of District 1, is one of the world's oldest zoos and botanical gardens. It contains a collection of over 600 rare animals and about 4,000 plant species, some of which are over 100 years in age. Pedestrian zones. Nguyễn Huệ Street was the first pedestrian street in Ho Chi Minh City. It opened to the public in April 2015, and is a popular spot for locals and visitors to gather. Many events are held in the precinct throughout the year, including the annual flower festival during Tết. Bui Vien Walking Street is also well-known in Ho Chi Minh City due to its status as a hub for western backpackers and tourists. Transport. Air. The city is served by Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, the largest airport in Vietnam in terms of passengers handled (with an estimated number of over 15.5 million passengers per year in 2010, accounting for more than half of Vietnam's air passenger traffic). Long Thành International Airport is scheduled to begin operating in 2025. Based in Long Thành District, Đồng Nai Province, about east of Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thành Airport will serve international flights, with a maximum traffic capacity of 100 million passengers per year when fully completed; Tân Sơn Nhất Airport will serve domestic flights. Rail. The city is also a terminal for many Vietnam Railways train routes in the country. The Reunification Express (tàu Thống Nhất) runs from Saigon to Hanoi from Saigon Railway Station in District 3, with stops at cities and provinces along the line. Within the city, the two main stations are Sóng Thần and Sài Gòn. In addition, there are several smaller stations such as Dĩ An, Thủ Đức, Bình Triệu, Gò Vấp. However, rail transport is not fully developed and presently comprises only 0.6% of passenger traffic and 6% of goods shipments. Water transport. The city's location on the Saigon River makes it a bustling commercial and passenger port; besides a constant stream of cargo ships, passenger boats operate regularly between Ho Chi Minh City and various destinations in Southern Vietnam and Cambodia, including Vũng Tàu, Cần Thơ and the Mekong Delta, and Phnom Penh. Traffic between Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam's southern provinces has steadily increased over the years; the Đôi and Tẻ Canals, the main routes to the Mekong Delta, receive 100,000 waterway vehicles every year, representing around 13 million tons of cargo. A project to dredge these routes has been approved to facilitate transport, to be implemented in 2011–14. In 2017, the Saigon Waterbus launched, connecting District 1 to Thu Duc City. Public transport. Metro. The Ho Chi Minh City Metro, a rapid transit network, is being built in stages. The first line is under construction, and expected to be fully operational by 2024. This first line will connect Bến Thành to Suối Tiên Park in District 9, with a depot in Long Bình. Planners expect the route to serve more than 160,000 passengers daily. A line between Bến Thành and Tham Lương in District 12 has been approved by the government, and several more lines are the subject of ongoing feasibility studies. Bus. Public buses run on many routes and tickets can be purchased on the bus. The city has a number of coach houses, which house coach buses to and from other areas in Vietnam. The largest coach station – in terms of passengers handled – is the Miền Đông Coach Station in the Bình Thạnh District. Private transport. The main means of transport within the city are motorbikes, cars, buses, taxis, and bicycles. Motorbikes remain the most common way to move around the city. Taxis are plentiful and usually have metres, although it is also common to agree on a price before taking a long trip, for example, from the airport to the city centre. For short trips, "" (literally, "hug vehicle") motorcycle taxis are available throughout the city, usually congregating at a major intersection. You can also book motorcycle and car taxis through ride-hailing apps like Grab and GoJek. A popular activity for tourists is a tour of the city on cyclos, which allow for longer trips at a more relaxed pace. For the last few years, cars have become more popular. There are approximately 340,000 cars and 3.5 million motorcycles in the city, which is almost double compared with Hanoi. The growing number of cars tend to cause gridlock and contribute to air pollution. The government has called out motorcycles as the reason for the congestion and has developed plans to reduce the number of motorcycles and to improve public transport. Expressway. The city has two expressways making up the North-South Expressway system, connecting the city with other provinces. The first expressway is Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Lương Expressway, opened in 2010, connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Tiền Giang and the Mekong Delta. The second one is Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thành - Dầu Giây Expressway, opened in 2015, connecting the city with Đồng Nai, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu and the Southeast of Vietnam. The Ho Chi Minh City - Long Khánh Expressway is under planning and will be constructed in the near future. Healthcare. The health care system of the city is relatively developed with a chain of about 100 government owned hospitals or medical centres and dozens of international facilities, as well as privately owned clinics. The 1,400-bed Chợ Rẫy Hospital, upgraded by Japanese aid and the French-sponsored Institute of Cardiology and City International Hospital are among the top medical facilities in the South-East Asia region. Education. High schools in the city. Notable high schools in the city include Lê Hồng Phong High School for the Gifted, Phổ Thông Năng Khiếu High School for the Gifted, Trần Đại Nghĩa High School for the Gifted, Nguyễn Thượng Hiền High School, Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai High School, , , Marie Curie High School, Võ Thị Sáu High School, Trần Phú High School and others. Though the former schools are all public, private education is also available in Ho Chi Minh City. High school consists of grade 10–12 (sophomore, junior, and senior). Universities in the city. Higher education in Ho Chi Minh City is a burgeoning industry; the city boasts over 80 universities and colleges with a total of over 400,000 students. Notable universities include Vietnam National University, with 50,000 students distributed among six schools; The University of Technology (, formerly Phú Thọ National Center of Technology); The University of Sciences (formerly Saigon College of Sciences); The University of Social Sciences and Humanities (formerly Saigon College of Letters); The International University; The University of Economics and Law; and the newly established University of Information Technology. Some other important higher education establishments include University of Pedagogy, University of Economics, University of Architecture, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Nong Lam University (formerly University of Agriculture, Forestry and Silviculture), University of Law, University of Technical Education, University of Banking, University of Industry, Open University, University of Sports and Physical Education, University of Fine Arts, University of Culture, the Conservatory of Music, the Saigon Institute of Technology, Văn Lang University, Saigon University, and Hoa Sen University. In addition to the above public universities, Ho Chi Minh City is also home to several private universities. One of the most notable is RMIT International University Vietnam, a campus of Australian public research RMIT University with an enrollment of about 6,000 students. Tuition at RMIT is about US$40,000 for an entire course of study. Other private universities include The Saigon International University (or SIU) is another private university run by the Group of Asian International Education. Enrollment at SIU averages about 12,000 students Depending on the type of program, tuition at SIU costs US$5,000–6,000 per year. Tourism. Tourist attractions in the city are mainly related to periods of French colonisation and the Vietnam War. The city's centre has some wide American-style boulevards and a few French colonial buildings. The majority of these tourist spots are located in District 1 and are a short distance from each other. The most prominent structures in the city centre are the Reunification Palace ('), City Hall ('), Municipal Theatre (', also known as the Opera House), City Post Office ('), State Bank Office ('), City People's Court ('), and Notre-Dame Cathedral (""), which was constructed between 1863 and 1880. Some of the historic hotels include the Hotel Majestic, dating from the French colonial era, and the Rex and Caravelle hotels, both of which are former hangouts for American officers and war correspondents in the 1960s & '70s. The city has various museums including the Museum, Museum of Vietnamese History, the Revolutionary Museum, the Museum of south-eastern Armed Forces, the War Remnants Museum, the Museum of Southern Women, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Nhà Rồng Memorial House, and the Bến Dược Relic of Underground Tunnels. The Củ Chi tunnels are north-west of the city in Củ Chi District. The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, in District 1, dates from 1865. The Đầm Sen Tourist and Cultural Park, Suối Tiên Amusement and Culture Park, and Cần Giờ's Eco beach resort are three recreational sites inside the city which are popular with tourists. Aside from the Municipal Theatre, there are other places of entertainment such as the Bến Thành Theatre, Hòa Bình Theatre, and the Lan Anh Music Stage. The city is home to hundreds of cinemas and theatres, with cinema and drama theatre revenue accounting for 60–70% of Vietnam's total revenue in this industry. Unlike other theatrical organisations found in Vietnam's provinces and municipalities, residents of the city keep their theatres active without the support of subsidies from the Vietnamese government. The city is also home to most of the private film companies in Vietnam. Like many of Vietnam's smaller cities, the city boasts a multitude of restaurants serving typical Vietnamese dishes such as phở or rice vermicelli. Backpacking travellers most often frequent the "Backpackers' Quarter" on Phạm Ngũ Lão Street and Bùi Viện Street, District 1. It was approximated that 4.3 million tourists visited Vietnam in 2007, of which 70 percent, approximately 3 million tourists, visited the city. According to the most recent international tourist statistic, Ho Chi Minh City welcomed 6 million tourists in 2017. According to Mastercard's 2019 report, the city is also the country's second most visited city (18th in Asia Pacific), with 4.1 million overnight international visitors in 2018 (after Hanoi with 4.8 million visitors). Culture. Museums and art galleries. Due to its history, artworks have generally been inspired by both Western and Eastern styles. Famous locations for art in Ho Chi Minh City include Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, and various art galleries located on Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa street, Trần Phú street, and Bùi Viện street. Food and drink. Ho Chi Minh City cultivates a strong food and drink culture with lots of roadside restaurants, coffee shops, and food stalls where locals and tourists can enjoy local cuisine and beverages at low prices. It is currently ranked in the top five best cities in the world for street food. Media. The city's media is the most developed in the country. At present, there are seven daily newspapers: "Sài Gòn Giải Phóng" ("Liberated Saigon"), and its Vietnamese, investment and finance, sports, evening, and weekly editions; "Tuổi Trẻ" ("Youth"), the highest circulation newspaper in Vietnam; ' ("Young People"), the second largest circulation in the south of Vietnam; ' ("Labourer"); ' ("Sports"); ' ("Law"); "The Saigon Times Daily", an English-language newspaper; as well as more than 30 other newspapers and magazines. The city has hundreds of printing and publishing houses, many bookstores, and a widespread network of public and school libraries; the city's General Library houses over 1.5 million books. Once called THVN9, the locally based Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) is the first and the second largest television network in the nation, just behind the national Vietnam Television (VTV), broadcasting 24/7 on 7 different channels (using analog and digital technology). Many major international TV channels are provided through two cable networks (SCTV and HTVC), with over one million subscribers. The "Voice of Ho Chi Minh City" is the largest radio station in south Vietnam. Internet coverage, especially through ADSL connections, is rapidly expanding, with over 2,200,000 subscribers and around 5.5 million frequent users. Internet service providers (ISPs) operating in Ho Chi Minh City include the Vietnam Data Communication Company (VDC), Corporation for Finance and Promoting Technology (FPT), Netnam Company, Saigon Post and Telecommunications Services Corporation (Saigon Postel Corporation, SPT) and Viettel Company. The city has more than two million fixed telephones and about fifteen million cellular phones (the latter growing annually by 20%). Mobile phone service is provided by a number of companies, including Viettel Mobile, MobiFone, VinaPhone, and Vietnam Mobile. Sport. , Ho Chi Minh City was home to 91 football fields, 86 swimming pools, and 256 gyms. The largest stadium in the city is the 15,000-seat Thống Nhất Stadium, located on Đào Duy Từ Street, in Ward 6 of District 10. The next largest is Military Region 7 Stadium, located near Tan Son Nhat Airport in Tân Bình district. The Military Region 7 Stadium was of the venues for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals. As well as being a sporting venue, it is also the site of a music school. Phú Thọ Racecourse, another notable sporting venue established during colonial times, is the only racetrack in Vietnam, however, due to poor maintenance, the facilities are not in good condition. The city's Department of Physical Education and Sport also manages a number of clubs, including Phan Đình Phùng, Thanh Đa, and Yết Kiêu. The city is home to a number of association football clubs. One of the city's largest clubs, F.C., is based at Thống Nhất Stadium, formerly as "Cảng Sài Gòn", they were four-time champions of Vietnam's V.League 1 (in 1986, 1993–94, 1997, and 2001–02). Navibank Saigon F.C., founded as "Quân Khu 4", were also based at Thống Nhất Stadium, emerged as champions of the First Division in the 2008 season, and were promoted to the V-League in 2009, the club has since been dissolved during a corruption scandal. The city's police department also fielded a football team in the 1990s, Công An Thành Phố, which won the V-League championship in 1995, the club was dissolved in 2002 as the league become more professional. Since its inception in 2016, Sài Gòn F.C. competed in V.League 1, however, in 2022 they suffered relegation and will complete in V.League 2 in 2023. In 2011, the city was awarded an expansion team for the ASEAN Basketball League. Saigon Heat was the first ever international professional basketball team to represent Vietnam. The team also plays in the domestic basketball league, the Vietnam Basketball Association, and have won the championship on three occasions (2019, 2020 and 2022). In 2016, a second professional basketball team was created, Wings, playing in the domestic Vietnam Basketball Association. The city hosts a number of international sport events throughout the year, such as the AFF Futsal Championship and the Vietnam Vertical Run. Several other sports are represented by teams in the city, such as Irish (Gaelic) Football, rugby, cricket, volleyball, basketball, chess, athletics, and table tennis. International relations. Twin towns – sister cities. The city is twinned with: Cooperation and friendship. In addition to its twin towns, the city is in cooperation with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67260

Boris Karloff

William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film "Frankenstein" (1931) (his 82nd film) established him as a horror icon, and he reprised the role for the sequels "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) and "Son of Frankenstein" (1939). He also appeared as Imhotep in "The Mummy" (1932), and voiced the Grinch in, as well as narrating, the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" (1966), which won him a Grammy Award. Aside from his numerous film roles (174 films), Karloff acted in many live stage plays and appeared on dozens of radio and television programs as well. For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 8 February 1960. Early life. William Henry Pratt was born on 23 November 1887, at 36 Forest Hill Road, Dulwich, Surrey (now in London), England. His parents were Edward John Pratt (1826/7–1897), of the Indian Civil Service, where he worked for the salt revenue service, and Eliza Sara (born 1848), née Millard. Both his parents died when Karloff was young, and he was primarily raised by a half-sister and his elder siblings. His brother, Sir John Thomas Pratt, was a British diplomat. Karloff's father Edward John Pratt was Anglo-Indian, with a British father and Indian mother, meaning that Karloff was at least a quarter Indian, while Karloff's mother also had some Indian ancestry, thus Karloff had a relatively dark complexion that differed from his peers at the time. His mother's maternal aunt was Anna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical "The King and I". Pratt was bow-legged, had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy. He learned how to manage his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable throughout his career in the film industry. Pratt spent his childhood years in Enfield, in the County of Middlesex. He was the youngest of nine children, and following his mother's death was brought up by his elder siblings. After first attending Enfield Grammar School, he received a private education at Uppingham School and Merchant Taylors' School. Following this he attended King's College London, where he took studies aimed at a career with the British Government's Consular Service. However, in 1909, he left university without graduating and drifted, departing England for Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer, truck driver and did various odd jobs until happening upon stage acting, which led to a later film career. He also worked for BC Hydro Electric in Canada. Professional Career. Adoption of His Stage Name. Pratt began appearing in theatrical performances in Canada in 1911 and during this period he chose "Boris Karloff" as his stage name. His presence in Regina Saskatchewan at the Regina Theatre on the night of the Regina Cyclone in 1912 is a commemorated event. Karloff always said he chose the first name "Boris" simply because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name. Karloff's daughter, Sara, publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. It has been speculated by film historians that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character named "Boris Karlov" in the novel "The Drums of Jeopardy" by Harold MacGrath. However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in films. (Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in a film version in 1931.) Another possible influence was thought to be a character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novel "The Rider" which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but as the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to the Pratt family. Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of the British Foreign Service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff apparently worried they felt that way. He did not reunite with his family until he returned to Britain to make "The Ghoul" (1933), extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his brothers jostled for position around him and happily posed for publicity photographs upon their reunion with him. After the photo was taken, Karloff's brothers immediately started asking about getting a copy of their own. The story of the photo became one of Karloff's favorites. Canadian and U.S. stage work. Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Company in 1911 and performed in towns including Kamloops (British Columbia) and Prince Albert (Saskatchewan). After the devastating tornado in Regina on 30 June 1912, Karloff, who was in the midst of an engagement at the Regina Theatre, and other performers helped with clean-up efforts. He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Company that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year in an opera house above a hardware store. While he was trying to establish his acting career, Karloff had to perform years of manual labour in Canada and the U.S. in order to make ends meet. Among this work, he spent one year laying track, digging ditches, shoveling coal, clearing land, and working with surveying parties for the B.C. Electric Railway Company, at the rate of $2.50 per day. From this grueling work with the BCER and other employers, Karloff was left with back problems for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not serve in World War I. During this period, Karloff worked in various theatrical stock companies across the U.S. to hone his acting skills. Some acting companies mentioned were the Harry St. Clair Players and the Billie Bennett Touring Company. By early 1918 he was working with the Maud Amber Players in Vallejo, California, but because of the Spanish flu outbreak in the San Francisco area and the fear of infection, the troupe was disbanded. He was able to find work with the Haggerty Repertory for a while (according to the 1973 obituary of Joseph Paul Haggerty, he and Boris Karloff remained lifelong friends). Early Hollywood career. Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he appeared in small roles in dozens of silent films, but the work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to make ends meet. (According to Karloff, his first film was a Frank Borzage picture at Universal for which he received $5 as an extra; the title of this film has never been traced.) His first confirmed on-screen role was in a film serial, "The Lightning Raider" (1919) with Pearl White. He was in another serial that same year, "The Masked Rider" (1919), the earliest of his film appearances that has survived. Karloff could also be seen in "His Majesty, the American" (1919) with Douglas Fairbanks, "The Prince and Betty" (1919), "The Deadlier Sex" (1920) with Blanche Sweet, and "The Courage of Marge O'Doone" (1920). He played an Indian in "The Last of the Mohicans" (1920) with Wallace Beery and he would often be cast as an Arab or Indian in his early films. Karloff's first major role came in a film serial, "The Hope Diamond Mystery" (1920). He was Indian in "Without Benefit of Clergy" (1921) and an Arab in "Cheated Hearts" (1921) and villainous in "The Cave Girl" (1921). He was a maharajah in "The Man from Downing Street" (1922), a Nabob in "The Infidel" (1922) and had roles in "The Altar Stairs" (1922), "Omar the Tentmaker" (1922) (as an Imam), "The Woman Conquers" (1922), "The Gentleman from America" (1923), "The Prisoner" (1923) and the serial "Riders of the Plains" (1923). Karloff did a Western, "The Hellion" (1923), and a drama, "Dynamite Dan" (1924). He could be seen in "Parisian Nights" (1925), "Forbidden Cargo" (1925), "The Prairie Wife" (1925) and the serial "Perils of the Wild" (1925). Karloff went back to bit part status in "Never the Twain Shall Meet" (1925), directed by Maurice Tourneur, but he had a good support part in "Lady Robinhood" (1925) starring Evelyn Brent in the titular role. Karloff went on to be in "The Greater Glory" (1926), "Her Honor, the Governor" (1926), "The Bells" (1926) (as a mesmerist), "The Nickel-Hopper" (1926) with Mabel Normand, "The Golden Web" (1926), "The Eagle of the Sea" (1926), "Flames" (1926), "Old Ironsides" (1926) with Wallace Beery and Esther Ralston, "Flaming Fury" (1926), "Valencia" (1926), "The Man in the Saddle" (1926) with Hoot Gibson, "Tarzan and the Golden Lion" (1927) (as an African), "Let It Rain" (1927), "The Meddlin' Stranger" (1927), "The Princess from Hoboken" (1927), "The Phantom Buster" (1927) with Buddy Roosevelt, and "Soft Cushions" (1927). Karloff had roles in "Two Arabian Knights" (1927), "The Love Mart" (1927) with Noah Beery Sr., "The Vanishing Rider" (1928) (a serial), "Burning the Wind" (1928), "Vultures of the Sea" (1928), and "The Little Wild Girl" (1928). He was in "The Devil's Chaplain" (1929), "The Fatal Warning" (1929) for Richard Thorpe, "The Phantom of the North" (1929), "Two Sisters" (1929), "Anne Against the World" (1929), "Behind That Curtain" (1929) with Warner Baxter, and "The King of the Kongo" (1929), a serial directed by Thorpe. While one day sitting at the bus stop in the pouring rain, Lon Chaney Sr., 'The Man of a Thousand Faces', spotted Karloff and offered him a ride. Chaney told him "to find something different that will set you apart and is different from anything someone else has done or is willing to do and do it better". Karloff had an uncredited bit part in "The Unholy Night" (1930) directed by Lionel Barrymore, and bigger parts in "The Bad One" (1930),"The Sea Bat" (1930) starring Charles Bickford and directed by Lionel Barrymore and Wesley Ruggles, and "The Utah Kid" (1930) directed by Thorpe. A film which brought Karloff recognition was "The Criminal Code" (1931), a prison drama directed by Howard Hawks in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. In the same period, Karloff had a supporting role as a mob boss in Hawks' gangster film "Scarface" starring Paul Muni and George Raft, but the film was not released until 1932 because of difficult censorship issues. He did another serial for Thorpe, "King of the Wild" (1931), then had support parts in "Cracked Nuts" (1931) with Wheeler and Woolsey, "Young Donovan's Kid" (1931) with Jackie Cooper, "Smart Money" (1931) with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney in their only film together, "The Public Defender" (1931) with Richard Dix, "I Like Your Nerve" (1931) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young, and "Graft" (1931) with Regis Toomey and future agent Sue Carol. Another significant role in the autumn of 1931 saw Karloff play a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in "Five Star Final" with Edward G. Robinson, a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He could also be seen in "The Yellow Ticket" (1931) with Elissa Landi, Lionel Barrymore and Laurence Olivier during Olivier's memorable first round in Hollywood, "The Mad Genius" (1931) with John Barrymore, "The Guilty Generation" (1931) with Robert Young and "Tonight or Never" (1931) with Gloria Swanson. Transition to stardom. Karloff acted in eighty-one films before being discovered by James Whale and cast in "Frankenstein" (1931). Karloff's role as Frankenstein's monster was physically demanding – it necessitated a bulky costume with four-inch platform boots – but the costume and extensive makeup produced an iconic image. The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing each and which further aggravated his back problems. Universal Studios quickly copyrighted the makeup design for the Frankenstein monster that Jack P. Pierce had created. It took a while for Karloff's stardom to be established with the public – he had small roles in "Behind the Mask" (1932), "Business and Pleasure" (1932) and "The Miracle Man" (1932). As receipts for "Frankenstein" and "Scarface" flooded in, Universal gave Karloff third billing in "Night World" (1932), with Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke and George Raft. Karloff was reunited with Whale at Universal for "The Old Dark House" (1932), a horror film based on the novel "Benighted" by J. B. Priestley, in which he finally enjoyed top billing above Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart; he was billed simply as "KARLOFF", a custom that Universal continued for several years. He was loaned to MGM to play the titular role in "The Mask of Fu Manchu" (also 1932), for which he had top billing. Back at Universal, he was cast as Imhotep who is revived in "The Mummy" (1932), an original story inspired by the unsealing of Tutankhamun's tomb—though essentially narratively a remake of "Dracula" set in Egypt—conceived to continue the success of the "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" adaptations. "The Mummy" was as successful at the box-office as his other two films and Karloff was now established as a star of horror films. Like "Frankenstein", "The Mummy" would spawn a line of sequels, although Karloff would not reprise the iconic 1932 role. Karloff returned to England to star in "The Ghoul" (1933), then made a non-horror film for John Ford, "The Lost Patrol" (1934), for which his performance was highly acclaimed. Karloff was third billed in the Twentieth Century Pictures historical film "The House of Rothschild" (1934) with George Arliss, which was highly popular. Horror, however, had now become Karloff's primary genre, and he gave a string of lauded performances in Universal's horror films, including several with Bela Lugosi, his main rival as heir to Lon Chaney's status as the leading horror film star. While the long-standing, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with "The Black Cat" (1934) and continuing with "Gift of Gab" (1934), in which both had cameos. Karloff reprised the role of Frankenstein's monster in "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) for James Whale. Then he and Lugosi were reunited for "The Raven" (1935). Billed only by his last name during this period, Karloff had top billing above Lugosi in all their films together despite Lugosi having the larger role in "The Raven". For Columbia, Karloff made "The Black Room" (1935) then he returned to Universal for "The Invisible Ray" (1936) with Lugosi, more a science fiction film. Karloff was then cast in a Warner Bros. horror film, "The Walking Dead" (1936). Because the Motion Picture Production Code (known as the Hays Code) began to be seriously enforced in 1934, horror films declined in the second half of the 1930s. Karloff worked in other genres, making two films in Britain, "Juggernaut" (1936) and "The Man Who Changed His Mind" (1936) which was released in the U.S. as "The Man Who Lived Again". He returned to Hollywood to play a supporting role in "Charlie Chan at the Opera" (1936), then starred in a crime drama, "Night Key" (1937). At Warners, he did two films with John Farrow, playing a Chinese warlord in "West of Shanghai" (1937) and a murder suspect in "The Invisible Menace" (1938). Karloff went to Monogram to play the title role of a Chinese detective in "Mr. Wong, Detective" (1938), which led to a series. Karloff's portrayal of the character is an example of Hollywood's use of yellowface and its portrayal of East Asians in the earlier half of the 20th century. He had another heroic role in "Devil's Island" (1939). Universal found reissuing "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" led to success at the box-office and began to produce horror films again starting with "Son of Frankenstein" (1939). Karloff reprised his role, with Lugosi also starring as Ygor and top-billed Basil Rathbone as Dr. Frankenstein. This was Karloff's first Universal film since the original "Frankenstein" in which Karloff was not top billed as "KARLOFF", a custom that the studio had used for eight films in a row while Karloff was at the height of his career. Basil Rathbone held top billing for "Son of Frankenstein", and since Rathbone, Karloff and Lugosi were all billed above the title, billing Basil, Boris and Bela was hard to resist. Karloff was never billed by simply his last name again. Regarding "Son of Frankenstein", the film's director Rowland V. Lee said his crew let Lugosi "work on the characterization; the interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected ... when we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he stole the show. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison." After "The Mystery of Mr. Wong" (1939) and "Mr. Wong in Chinatown" (1939) he signed a three-picture deal with Columbia, starting with "The Man They Could Not Hang" (1939). Karloff returned to Universal to make "Tower of London" (1939) with Rathbone, playing the murderous henchman of King Richard III. Karloff made a fourth Mr Wong film at Monogram "The Fatal Hour" (1940). At Warners he was in "British Intelligence" (1940), then he went to Universal to do "Black Friday" (1940) with Lugosi. Karloff's second and third films for Columbia were "The Man with Nine Lives" (1940) and "Before I Hang" (1940). In between he did a fifth and final Mr Wong film, "Doomed to Die" (1940). Karloff appeared at a celebrity baseball game as Frankenstein's monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the monster stomped into home plate. Karloff finished a six picture commitment with Monogram with "The Ape" (1940). He and Lugosi appeared with Peter Lorre in a comedy at RKO, "You'll Find Out" (1941), then he went to Columbia for "The Devil Commands" (1941) and "The Boogie Man Will Get You" (1941). Professional expansion and further success. An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway. The play's producers allowed the film to be made conditionally: it was not to be released until the production closed. (Karloff reprised his role on television in the anthology series "The Best of Broadway" (1955), and with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the "Hallmark Hall of Fame". He also starred in a radio adaptation produced by Screen Guild Theatre in 1946.) In 1944, he underwent a spinal operation to relieve a chronic arthritic condition. Karloff returned to film roles in "The Climax" (1944), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of "Phantom of the Opera" (1943). More liked was "House of Frankenstein" (1944), marking Karloff's "retirement" from playing the Monster, where instead, he comes full circle to play the villainous Dr. Niemann, a mad scientist fixated on life-experiments much like Henry Frankenstein, and pass the torch to actor Glenn Strange, who would play the Monster in subsequent films. Karloff made three films for producer Val Lewton at RKO: "The Body Snatcher" (1945), his last teaming with Lugosi, "Isle of the Dead" (1945) and "Bedlam" (1946). In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the "Los Angeles Times", Karloff discussed his arrangement with RKO, working with Lewton and his reasons for leaving Universal. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course; the entries in the series after "Son of Frankenstein" were B-pictures. Berg wrote that the last installment in which Karloff appeared—"House of Frankenstein"—was what he called a " 'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in—Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg explained that the actor had "great love and respect for" Lewton, who was "the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul." Horror films experienced a decline in popularity after the war, and Karloff found himself working in other genres. For the Danny Kaye comedy, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1947), Karloff appeared in a brief but starring role as Dr. Hugo Hollingshead, a psychiatrist. Director Norman Z. McLeod shot a sequence with Karloff in the Frankenstein monster make-up, but it was deleted from the finished film. Karloff appeared in a film noir, "Lured" (1947), and as an Indian in "Unconquered" (1947). He had support roles in "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" (1947), "Tap Roots" (1948), and "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" (1949). During this period, Karloff was a frequent guest on radio programmes, whether it was starring in Arch Oboler's Chicago-based "Lights Out" productions (including the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with Fred Allen or Jack Benny. In 1949, he was the host and star of "Starring Boris Karloff," a radio and television anthology series for the ABC broadcasting network. He appeared as the villainous Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" in a 1950 stage musical adaptation which also featured Jean Arthur. Karloff returned to horror films with "The Strange Door" (1951) and "The Black Castle" (1952). He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite Julie Harris in "The Lark," by the French playwright Jean Anouilh, about Joan of Arc, which he reprised years later on TV's "Hallmark Hall of Fame." During the 1950s, he appeared on British television in the series "Colonel March of Scotland Yard," in which he portrayed John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March, who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes. Christopher Lee appeared alongside Karloff in the episode "At Night, All Cats are Grey" broadcast in 1955. A little later, Karloff co-starred with Lee in the film "Corridors of Blood" (1958). Karloff appeared in "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1952) and visited Italy for "The Island Monster" (1954) and then returned to Hollywood to appear in "Sabaka" (1954). Karloff, along with H. V. Kaltenborn, was a regular panelist on the NBC game show, "Who Said That?" which aired between 1948 and 1955. Later, as a guest on NBC's "The Gisele MacKenzie Show", Karloff sang "Those Were the Good Old Days" from "Damn Yankees" while Gisele MacKenzie performed the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On "The Red Skelton Show," Karloff guest starred along with actor Vincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, with Red Skelton as "Klem Kadiddle Monster". He served as host and one of the stars of the anthology series "The Veil" (1958), a 12-episode Hal Roach TV series which was never broadcast at all due to financial problems at the producing studio; the complete series was later rediscovered in the 1990s and eventually released on DVD. Karloff made some horror films in the late 1950s: "Voodoo Island" (1957), "The Haunted Strangler" (1958), "Frankenstein 1970" (1958) (this time as the Baron), and "Corridors of Blood" (1958). Karloff donned the Frankenstein Monster make-up for the last time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series "Route 66", which also featured Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. During this period, he hosted and acted in a number of television series, including "Thriller" and Britain's "Out of This World". Spoken word recordings and horror anthologies. He recorded the title role of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" for the Shakespeare Recording Society (Caedmon Audio 1962). He also recorded the narration for Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Mario Rossi. Records he made for the children's market included "Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Stories", "Tales of the Frightened" (volume 1 and 2), Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories" and, with Cyril Ritchard and Celeste Holm, "Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes", and Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark". Karloff was credited for editing several horror anthologies, commencing with "Tales of Terror" (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1943) (compiled with the help of Edmond Speare). This wartime-published anthology went through at least five printings to September 1945. It has been reprinted recently (Orange NJ: Idea Men, 2007). Karloff's name was also attached to "And the Darkness Falls" (Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Co, 1946); and "The Boris Karloff Horror Anthology" (London: Souvenir Press, 1965; simultaneous publication in Canada - Toronto: The Ryerson Press; US pbk reprint NY: Avon Books, 1965 retitled as "Boris Karloff's Favourite Horror Stories"; UK pbk reprints London: Corgi, 1969 and London: Everest, 1975, both under the original title), though it is less clear whether Karloff himself actually edited these. "Tales of the Frightened" (Belmont Books, 1963), though based on the recordings by Karloff of the same title, and featuring his image on the book cover, contained stories written by Michael Avallone; the second volume, "More Tales of the Frightened", contained stories authored by Robert Lory. Both Avallone and Lory worked closely with Canadian editor and book packager Lyle Kenyon Engel, who also ghost-edited a horror story anthology for horror film star Basil Rathbone. Final roles and work. Karloff went to Italy to appear in "Black Sabbath" (1963) directed by Mario Bava. He made "The Raven" (1963) for Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP). When "The Raven" had successfully wrapped shooting with time left in Karloff's contract, Corman conscribed a new story with the same sets to feature Karloff in "The Terror" (1963), with Jack Nicholson in the leading role and Karloff playing a baron who murdered his wife. He made a cameo in AIP's "Bikini Beach" (1964) and had a bigger role in that studio's "The Comedy of Terrors" (1964), directed by Jacques Tourneur, and travelled to England to make "Die, Monster, Die!" (1965) co-starring Nick Adams. British actress Suzan Farmer, who played his daughter in the film, later recalled Karloff was aloof during production "and wasn't the charming personality people perceived him to be", probably because he was in such intense pain in the 1960s. In 1966, Karloff also appeared with Robert Vaughn and Stefanie Powers in the spy series "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.", in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair", Karloff performing in drag as the titular character. That same year, he also played an Indian Maharajah on the installment of the adventure series "The Wild Wild West" titled "The Night of the Golden Cobra". Karloff's last film for AIP was "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" (1966). In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who believes himself to be Don Quixote in a whimsical episode of "I Spy" titled "Mainly on the Plains", which he filmed in Spain. "Cauldron of Blood", shot in Spain around the same time, and co-starring Viveca Lindfors, was only released in 1970 after Karloff's death. In the mid-1960s, he enjoyed a late-career surge in the United States when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and also provided the voice of the Grinch, although the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by the American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. The film was first broadcast on CBS-TV in 1966. Karloff later received a Grammy Award for "Best Recording For Children" after the recording was commercially released. Because Ravenscroft (who never met Karloff in the course of their work on the show) was uncredited for his contribution to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!", his performance of the song was at times misattributed to Karloff. He appeared in "Mad Monster Party?" (1967) and went to England to star in the second feature film of the British director Michael Reeves, "The Sorcerers" (1967). Karloff starred in "Targets" (1968), the first feature film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, featuring two separate plotlines that converge into one. In one, a disturbed young man kills his family, then embarks on a killing spree. In the other, a famous horror-film actor confirms his retirement, agreeing to one last appearance at a drive-in cinema. Karloff starred as the retired horror film actor, Byron Orlok, a thinly disguised version of himself; Orlok (named both for Karloff himself and Count Orlok,) was facing an end of life crisis, which he resolves through a confrontation with the crazed gunman at the drive-in cinema. Around the same time, he played the occult expert Professor Marsh in a British production titled "The Crimson Cult" ("Curse of the Crimson Altar", also 1968), which was the last Karloff film to be released during his lifetime. He ended his career by appearing in four low-budget Mexican horror films: "Isle of the Snake People", "The Incredible Invasion", "Fear Chamber" and "House of Evil". This was a package deal with Mexican producer Luis Enrique Vergara. Karloff's scenes for all four films were directed by Jack Hill and shot back-to-back within one month in Los Angeles in the spring of 1968. The films were later completed in Mexico and theatrically released in the early 1970s. Karloff was originally slated to travel to Mexico to shoot the films, but he had emphysema and crippling arthritis. Only half of one lung was still functioning and he required oxygen between takes, so Hill arranged for Karloff to film his scenes in California. Due to the unexpected sudden death of the producer Vergara, all four Mexican films were embroiled for a while in legal actions and were only released posthumously in 1971, with the last, "The Incredible Invasion", not released until 1972, more than two years after Karloff's death. Death. Upon returning to England to live in 1959, his address was 43 Cadogan Square, London. In 1966, he bought 25 Campden House (in 29 Sheffield Terrace), Kensington W8, and Roundabout Cottage in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. A longtime heavy smoker, he had emphysema which left him with only half of one lung still functioning. He contracted bronchitis in late 1968 and was hospitalised at University College Hospital. He died of pneumonia at the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, in Sussex, on 2 February 1969, at the age of 81. His body was cremated following a requested modest service at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul's, Covent Garden ("the Actors' Church"), London, where there is also a plaque. Personal life. Karloff married six times. His wives included stage actress Grace Harding (married from 1910 to 1913), actress Olive de Wilton (from 1916 to 1919), musician Montana Laurena Williams (from 1920 to 1922) and actress Helen Vivian Soule (from 1924 to 1928). His fifth marriage to Dorothy Stine lasted from 1930 until 1946. This union resulted in Karloff's only child, daughter Sara Karloff, being born on November 23, 1938 (Karloff's own 51st birthday). His sixth and final marriage, to Evelyn Hope Helmore, was in April 1946, immediately after his fifth divorce. They were still happily married 23 years later at the time of his death. In 1958, Karloff's niece Diana Bromley was arrested and charged with murdering her two small children with a razor in Haslemere, England, then attempting to slash her own throat. She was the daughter of Karloff's brother Sir John Thomas Pratt. Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed as Father Christmas every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in a Baltimore hospital. He never legally changed his name to "Boris Karloff". He signed official documents "William H. Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff". He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, and he was especially outspoken due to the long hours he spent in makeup while playing Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy. He was an early member of the Hollywood Cricket Club. Legacy. During the run of "Thriller," Karloff lent his name and likeness to a comic book for Gold Key Comics based upon the series. After "Thriller" was cancelled, the comic was retitled "Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery". An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for more than a decade after his death (he was not involved however in writing or drawing the stories); the comic book lasted until the early 1980s (a Gold Key comic book series based upon "The Twilight Zone" that ran concurrently with Karloff's did the same thing with host Rod Serling's likeness after his death). In 2009, Dark Horse Comics began publishing reprints of "Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery" in a hardcover edition. For his contribution to film and television, Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street for motion pictures, and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard for television. He was featured by the U.S. Postal Service as Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy in its series "Classic Monster Movie Stamps" issued in September 1997. In 1998, an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled in his hometown in London. The British film magazine "Empire" in 2016 ranked Karloff's portrayal as Frankenstein's monster the sixth-greatest horror movie character of all time. A street called Karloff Way, near Rochester, England, is named in his honour. Radio appearances (1932–1968). Appearances on "Lights Out!". Karloff acted in 7 episodes of the "Lights Out!" NBC anthology radio series from 1938 to 1947: Appearances on "Inner Sanctum". Karloff acted in 22 episodes of the "Inner Sanctum" ABC anthology radio series from 1941 to 1952: Appearances on "Creeps By Night". Karloff acted in ten episodes on this 1944 radio anthology series Appearances on "Starring Boris Karloff". Karloff acted in 13 episodes of the "Starring Boris Karloff" anthology TV/ radio series in 1949: this show was broadcast as both a TV show and a radio show simultaneously

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67511

Mammoth Cave National Park

Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park in south-central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. The park's are located primarily in Edmonson County, with small areas extending eastward into Hart and Barren counties. The Green River runs through the park, with a tributary called the Nolin River feeding into the Green just inside the park. The cave system has formally been known as the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System since 1972, when a connection was discovered between Mammoth Cave and the even-longer system under Flint Ridge to the north. As of 2022, more than of passageways had been surveyed, over 1.5 times longer than the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941, after oft-contentious eminent-domain proceedings whose consequences still affect the region. It was named a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981; an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990; and an International Dark Sky Park on October 28, 2021. Park purpose. As stated in the foundation document: Geology. Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of sandstone, which has made the system remarkably stable. It is known to include more than of passageway. New discoveries and connections add several miles to this figure each year. Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave system. The upper sandstone member is known as the Big Clifty Sandstone. Thin, sparse layers of limestone interspersed within the sandstone give rise to an epikarstic zone, in which tiny conduits (cave passages too small to enter) are dissolved by the natural acidity of groundwater. The epikarstic zone concentrates local flows of runoff into high-elevation springs which emerge at the edges of ridges. The resurgent water from these springs typically flows briefly on the surface before sinking underground again at elevation of the contact between the sandstone caprock and the underlying massive limestones. It is in these underlying massive limestone layers that the human-explorable caves of the region have naturally developed. The limestone layers of the stratigraphic column beneath the Big Clifty, in increasing order of depth below the ridgetops, are the Girkin Formation, the Ste. Genevieve Limestone, and the St. Louis Limestone. For example, the large Main Cave passage seen on the Historic Tour is located at the bottom of the Girkin and the top of the Ste. Genevieve Formation. Each of the primary layers of limestone is divided further into named geological units and sub-units. One area of cave research involves correlating the stratigraphy with the cave survey produced by explorers. This makes it possible to produce approximate three-dimensional maps of the contours of the various layer boundaries without the necessity for test wells and extracting core samples. The upper sandstone caprock is relatively hard for water to penetrate: the exceptions are where vertical cracks occur. This protective role means that many of the older, upper passages of the cave system are very dry, with no stalactites, stalagmites, or other formations which require flowing or dripping water to develop. However, the sandstone caprock layer has been dissolved and eroded at many locations within the park, such as the Frozen Niagara room. The contact between limestone and sandstone can be found by hiking from the valley bottoms to the ridgetops: typically, as one approaches the top of a ridge, one sees the outcrops of exposed rock change in composition from limestone to sandstone at a well-defined elevation. At one valley bottom in the southern region of the park, a massive sinkhole has developed. Known as Cedar Sink, the sinkhole features a small river entering one side and disappearing back underground at the other side. Visiting. The National Park Service offers several cave tours to visitors. Some notable features of the cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man's Misery, can be seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length. Two tours, lit only by visitor-carried paraffin lamps, are popular alternatives to the electric-lit routes. Several "wild" tours venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels. The Echo River Tour, one of the cave's most famous attractions, took visitors on a boat ride along an underground river. The tour was discontinued for logistic and environmental reasons in the early 1990s. Mammoth Cave headquarters and visitor center is located on Mammoth Cave Parkway. The park can be accessed directly from I-65 at Exit 48. The parkway connects with Kentucky Route 70 from the north and Kentucky Route 255 from the south within the park. History. Prehistory. The story of human beings in relation to Mammoth Cave spans five thousand years. Several sets of Native American remains have been recovered from Mammoth Cave, or other nearby caves in the region, in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Most mummies found represent examples of intentional burial, with ample evidence of pre-Columbian funerary practice. An exception to purposeful burial was discovered when in 1935 the remains of an adult male were discovered under a large boulder. The boulder had shifted and settled onto the victim, a pre-Columbian miner, who had disturbed the rubble supporting it. The remains of the ancient victim were named "Lost John" and exhibited to the public into the 1970s, when they were interred in a secret location in Mammoth Cave for reasons of preservation as well as emerging political sensitivities with respect to the public display of Native American remains. Research beginning in the late 1950s led by Patty Jo Watson, of Washington University in St. Louis has done much to illuminate the lives of the late Archaic and early Woodland peoples who explored and exploited caves in the region. Preserved by the constant cave environment, dietary evidence yielded carbon dates enabling Watson and others to determine the age of the specimens. An analysis of their content, also pioneered by Watson, allows determination of the relative content of plant and meat in the diet of either culture over a period spanning several thousand years. This analysis indicates a timed transition from a hunter-gatherer culture to plant domestication and agriculture. Another technique employed in archaeological research, at Mammoth Cave, was "experimental archaeology" in which modern explorers were sent into the cave using the same technology as that employed by the ancient cultures whose leftover implements lie discarded in many parts of the cave. The goal was to gain insight into the problems faced by the ancient people who explored the cave, by placing the researchers in a similar physical situation. Ancient human remains and artifacts within the caves are protected by various federal and state laws. One of the most basic facts to be determined about a newly discovered artifact is its precise location and situation. Even slightly moving a prehistoric artifact contaminates it from a research perspective. Explorers are properly trained not to disturb archaeological evidence, and some areas of the cave remain out-of-bounds for even seasoned explorers, unless the subject of the trip is archaeological research on that area. Besides the remains that have been discovered in the portion of the cave accessible through the Historic Entrance of Mammoth Cave, the remains of cane torches used by Native Americans, as well as other artifacts such as drawings, gourd fragments, and woven grass moccasin slippers are found in the Salts Cave section of the system in Flint Ridge. Though there is undeniable proof of their existence and use of the cave, there is no evidence of further use past the archaic period. Experts and scientists have no answer as to why this is, making it one of the greatest mysteries of Mammoth Cave to this day. Earliest written history. The tract known as the "Pollard Survey" was sold by indenture on September 10, 1791 in Philadelphia by William Pollard. of the "Pollard Survey" between the North bank of Bacon Creek and the Green River were purchased by Thomas Lang, Jr., a British American merchant from Yorkshire, England on June 3, 1796, for £4,116/13s/0d (£4,116.65). The land was lost to a local county tax claim during the War of 1812. Legend has it that the first European to visit Mammoth Cave was either John Houchin or his brother Francis Houchin, in 1797. While hunting, Houchin pursued a wounded bear to the cave's large entrance opening near the Green River. Some Houchin Family tales have John Decatur "Johnny Dick" Houchin as the discoverer of the cave, but this is highly unlikely because Johnny Dick was only 10 years old in 1797 and was unlikely to be out hunting bears at such an age. His father John is the more likely candidate from that branch of the family tree, but the most probable candidate for discoverer of Mammoth Cave is Francis "Frank" Houchin, whose land was much closer to the cave entrance than his brother John's. There is also the argument that their brother Charles Houchin, who was known as a great hunter and trapper, was the man who shot that bear and chased it into the cave. The shadow over Charles's claim is the fact that he was residing in Illinois until 1801. Contrary to this story is Brucker and Watson's "The Longest Cave", which asserts that the cave was "certainly known before that time." Caves in the area were known before the discovery of the entrance to Mammoth Cave. Even Francis Houchin had a cave entrance on his land very near the bend in the Green River known as the Turnhole, which is less than a mile from the main entrance of Mammoth Cave. The land containing this historic entrance was first surveyed and registered in 1798 under the name of Valentine Simons. Simons began exploiting Mammoth Cave for its saltpeter reserves. According to family records passed down through the Houchin, and later Henderson families, John Houchin was bear hunting and the bear turned and began to chase him. He found the cave entrance when he ran into the cave for protection from the charging bear. 19th century. In partnership with Valentine Simon, various other individuals would own the land through the War of 1812, when Mammoth Cave's saltpeter reserves became significant due to the Jefferson Embargo Act of 1807 which prohibited all foreign trade. The blockade starved the American military of saltpeter and therefore gunpowder. As a result, the domestic price of saltpeter rose and production based on nitrates extracted from caves such as Mammoth Cave became more lucrative. In July 1812, the cave was purchased from Simon and other owners by Charles Wilkins and an investor from Philadelphia named Hyman Gratz. Soon the cave was being mined for calcium nitrate on an industrial scale, utilizing a labor force of 70 slaves to build and operate the soil leaching apparatus, as well as to haul the raw soil from deep in the cave to the central processing site. A half-interest in the cave changed hands for ten thousand dollars (equivalent to over $150,000 in 2020). After the war when prices fell, the workings were abandoned and it became a minor tourist attraction centering on a Native American mummy discovered nearby. When Wilkins died his estate's executors sold his interest in the cave to Gratz. In the spring of 1838, the cave was sold by the Gratz brothers to Franklin Gorin, who intended to operate Mammoth Cave purely as a tourist attraction, the bottom long having since fallen out of the saltpeter market. Gorin was a slave owner, and used his slaves as tour guides. Stephen Bishop was one of these slaves and would make a number of important contributions to human knowledge of the cave, becoming one of Mammoth Cave's most celebrated historical figures. Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave and a guide to the cave during the 1840s and 1850s, was one of the first people to make extensive maps of the cave, and named many of the cave's features. Stephen Bishop was introduced to Mammoth Cave in 1838 by Franklin Gorin. Gorin wrote, after Bishop's death: "I placed a guide in the cave – the celebrated and great Stephen, and he aided in making the discoveries. He was the first person who ever crossed the Bottomless Pit, and he, myself and another person whose name I have forgotten were the only persons ever at the bottom of Gorin's Dome to my knowledge." "After Stephen crossed the Bottomless Pit, we discovered all that part of the cave now known beyond that point. Previous to those discoveries, all interest centered in what is known as the 'Old Cave' ... but now many of the points are but little known, although as Stephen was wont to say, they were 'grand, gloomy and peculiar'." In 1839, John Croghan of Louisville bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves from their previous owner, Franklin Gorin. Croghan briefly ran an ill-fated tuberculosis hospital in the cave in 1842–43, the vapors of which he believed would cure his patients. A widespread epidemic of the period, tuberculosis would ultimately claim the life of Dr. Croghan in 1849. In 1866, the first photos from within the Mammoth Cave were taken by Charles Waldack, a photographer from Cincinnati, Ohio, using a very dangerous method of flash photography called magnesium flash photography. Throughout the 19th century, the fame of Mammoth Cave would grow so that the cave became an international sensation. At the same time, the cave attracted the attention of 19th century writers such as Robert Montgomery Bird, the Rev. Robert Davidson, the Rev. Horace Martin, Alexander Clark Bullitt, Nathaniel Parker Willis (who visited in June 1852), Bayard Taylor (in May 1855), William Stump Forwood (in spring 1867), the naturalist John Muir (early September 1867), the Rev. Horace Carter Hovey, and others. As a result of the growing renown of Mammoth Cave, the cave boasted famous visitors such as actor Edwin Booth (his brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865), singer Jenny Lind (who visited the cave on April 5, 1851), and violinist Ole Bull who together gave a concert in one of the caves. Two chambers in the caves have since been known as "Booth's Amphitheatre" and "Ole Bull's Concert Hall". Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars. The difficulties of farming life in the hardscrabble, poor soil of the cave-country influenced local owners of smaller nearby caves to see opportunities for commercial exploitation, particularly given the success of Mammoth Cave as a tourist attraction. The "Kentucky Cave Wars" was a period of bitter competition between local cave owners for tourist money. Broad tactics of deception were used to lure visitors away from their intended destination to other private show caves. Misleading signs were placed along the roads leading to the Mammoth Cave. A typical strategy during the early days of automobile travel involved representatives (known as "cappers") of other private show caves hopping aboard a tourist's car's running board, and leading the passengers to believe that Mammoth Cave was closed, quarantined, caved in or otherwise inaccessible. In 1906, Mammoth Cave became accessible by steamboat with the construction of a lock and dam at Brownsville, Kentucky. In 1908, Max Kämper, a young German mining engineer, arrived at the cave by way of New York. Kämper had just graduated from technical college and his family had sent him on a trip abroad as a graduation present. Originally intending to spend two weeks at Mammoth Cave, Kämper spent several months. With the assistance of Ed Bishop, a Mammoth Cave Guide, Kämper produced a remarkably accurate instrumental survey of many kilometers of Mammoth Cave, including many new discoveries. Reportedly, Kämper also produced a corresponding survey of the land surface overlying the cave: this information was to be useful in the opening of other entrances to the cave, as soon happened with the Violet City entrance. The Croghan family suppressed the topographic element of Kämper's map, and it is not known to survive today, although the cave map portion of Kämper's work stands as a triumph of accurate cave cartography: not until the early 1960s and the advent of the modern exploration period would these passages be surveyed and mapped with greater accuracy. Kämper returned to Berlin, and from the point of the 1906 construction of the dam at Brownsville, pointing out that this made a full hydrologic study of the cave impossible. Among his precise descriptions of the hydrogeologic setting of Mammoth Cave, Martel offered the speculative conclusion that Mammoth Cave was connected to Salts and Colossal Caves: this would not be proven correct until 60 years after Martel's visit. In the early 1920s, George Morrison created, via blasting, a number of entrances to Mammoth Cave on land not owned by the Croghan Estate. Absent the data from the Croghan's secretive surveys, performed by Kämper, Bishop, and others, which had not been published in a form suitable for determining the geographic extent of the cave, it was now conclusively shown that the Croghans had been for years exhibiting portions of Mammoth Cave which were not under land they owned. Lawsuits were filed and, for a time, different entrances to the cave were operated in direct competition with each other. In the early 20th century, Floyd Collins spent ten years exploring the Flint Ridge Cave System (the most important legacy of these explorations was the discovery of Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave and exploration in Salts Cave) before dying at Sand Cave, Kentucky, in 1925. While exploring Sand Cave, he dislodged a rock onto his leg while in a tight crawlway and was unable to be rescued before dying of starvation. Attempts to rescue Collins created a mass media sensation; the resulting publicity would draw prominent Kentuckians to initiate a movement which would soon result in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park. The national park movement (1926–1941). As the last of the Croghan heirs died, advocacy grew among wealthy citizens of Kentucky for the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park. Private citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park Association in 1924. The park was authorized May 25, 1926. Donated funds were used to purchase some farmsteads in the region, while other tracts within the proposed national park boundary were acquired by right of eminent domain. Unlike national parks in the sparsely populated American West, thousands of people were forced to move to form Mammoth Cave National Park. Eminent domain proceedings were often bitter, with landowners paid what were considered to be inadequate sums. The resulting acrimony still resonates within the region. For legal reasons, the federal government was prohibited from restoring or developing the cleared farmsteads while the private Association held the land: this regulation was evaded by the operation of "a maximum of four" CCC camps from May 22, 1933 to July 1942. According to the National Park Service, "By May 22, 1936, 27,402 acres of land had been acquired and accepted by the Secretary of the Interior. The area was declared a national park on July 1, 1941, when the minimum of 45,310 acres (over 600 parcels) had been assembled." Superintendent Hoskins later wrote of a summer tanager named Pete who arrived at the guide house on or around every April 20, starting in 1938. The bird ate from food held in the hands of the guides, to the delight of visitors, and provided food to his less-tame mate. Birth of the national park (1941). Mammoth Cave National Park was dedicated on July 1, 1941. The same year saw the incorporation of the National Speleological Society. R. Taylor Hoskins, the second Acting Superintendent under the old Association, became the first official Superintendent, a position he held until 1951. The New Entrance, closed to visitors since 1941, was reopened on December 26, 1951, becoming the entrance used for the beginning of the Frozen Niagara tour. The longest cave (1954–1972). By 1954, Mammoth Cave National Park's land holdings encompassed all lands within its outer boundary with the exception of two privately held tracts. One of these, the old Lee Collins farm, had been sold to Harry Thomas of Horse Cave, Kentucky, whose grandson, William "Bill" Austin, operated Collins Crystal Cave as a show cave in direct competition with the national park, which was forced to maintain roads leading to the property. In February 1954, a two-week expedition under the auspices of the National Speleological Society was organized at the invitation of Austin: this expedition became known as C-3, or the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition. The C-3 expedition drew public interest, first from a photo essay published by Robert Halmi in the July 1954 issue of True Magazine and later from the publication of a double first-person account of the expedition, "The Caves Beyond: The Story of the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition" by Joe Lawrence, Jr. (then president of the National Speleological Society) and Roger Brucker. The expedition proved conclusively that passages in Crystal Cave extended toward Mammoth Cave proper, at least exceeding the Crystal Cave property boundaries. However, this information was closely held by the explorers: it was feared that the National Park Service might forbid exploration were this known. In 1955, Crystal Cave was connected by survey with Unknown Cave, the first connection in the Flint Ridge system. Some of the participants in the C-3 expedition wished to continue their explorations past the conclusion of the C-3 Expedition, and organized as the Flint Ridge Reconnaissance under the guidance of Austin, Jim Dyer, John J. Lehrberger and E. Robert Pohl. This organization was incorporated in 1957 as the Cave Research Foundation. The organization sought to legitimize the cave explorers' activity through the support of original academic and scientific research. Notable scientists who studied Mammoth Cave during this period include Patty Jo Watson (see section on prehistory). In March 1961, the Crystal Cave property was sold to the National Park Service for $285,000. At the same time, the Great Onyx Cave property, the only other remaining private inholding, was purchased for $365,000. The Cave Research Foundation was permitted to continue their exploration through a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Park Service. Colossal Cave was connected by survey to Salts Cave in 1960 and in 1961 Colossal-Salts cave was similarly connected to Crystal-Unknown cave, creating a single cave system under much of Flint Ridge. By 1972, the Flint Ridge Cave System had been surveyed to a length of , making it the longest cave in the world. Flint–Mammoth connection (1972). During the 1960s, Cave Research Foundation (CRF) exploration and mapping teams had found passageways in the Flint Ridge Cave System that penetrated under Houchins Valley and came within of known passages in Mammoth Cave. In 1972, CRF Chief Cartographer John Wilcox pursued an aggressive program to finally connect the caves, fielding several expeditions from the Flint Ridge side as well as exploring leads in Mammoth Cave. On a July 1972 trip, deep in the Flint Ridge Cave System, Patricia Crowther—with her slight frame of —crawled through a narrow canyon later dubbed the "Tight Spot", which acted as a filter for larger cavers. A subsequent trip past the Tight Spot on August 30, 1972, by Wilcox, Crowther, Richard Zopf, and Tom Brucker discovered the name "Pete H" inscribed on the wall of a river passage with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mammoth Cave. The name is believed to have been carved by Warner P. "Pete" Hanson, who was active in exploring the cave in the 1930s. Hanson had been killed in World War II. The passage was named Hanson's Lost River by the explorers. Finally, on September 9, 1972, a six-person CRF team of Wilcox, Crowther, Zopf, Gary Eller, Stephen Wells, and Cleveland Pinnix (a National Park Service ranger) followed Hanson's Lost River downstream to discover its connection with Echo River in Cascade Hall of Mammoth Cave. With this linking of the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems, the "Everest of speleology" had been climbed. The integrated cave system contained of surveyed passages and had fourteen entrances. Recent discoveries. Further connections between Mammoth Cave and smaller caves or cave systems have followed, notably to Proctor/Morrison Cave beneath nearby Joppa Ridge in 1979. Proctor Cave was discovered by Jonathan Doyle, a Union Army deserter during the Civil War, and was later owned by the Mammoth Cave Railroad, before being explored by the CRF. Morrison cave was discovered by George Morrison in the 1920s. This connection pushed the frontier of Mammoth exploration southeastward. At the same time, discoveries made outside the park by an independent group called the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition or CKKC resulted in the survey of tens of miles in Roppel Cave east of the park. Discovered in 1976, Roppel Cave was briefly on the list of the nation's longest caves before it was connected to the Proctor/Morrison's section of the Mammoth Cave System on September 10, 1983. The connection was made by two mixed parties of CRF and CKKC explorers. Each party entered through a separate entrance and met in the middle before continuing in the same direction to exit at the opposite entrance. The resulting total surveyed length was near . On March 19, 2005, a connection into the Roppel Cave portion of the system was surveyed from a small cave under Eudora Ridge, adding approximately three miles to the known length of the Mammoth Cave System. The newly found entrance to the cave, now termed the "Hoover Entrance", had been discovered in September 2003, by Alan Canon and James Wells. Incremental discoveries since then have pushed the total to more than . It is certain that many more miles of cave passages await discovery in the region. Discovery of new natural entrances is a rare event: the primary mode of discovery involves the pursuit of side passages identified during routine systematic exploration of cave passages entered from known entrances. Related and nearby caves. At least two other massive cave systems lie short distances from Mammoth Cave: the Fisher Ridge Cave System and the Martin Ridge Cave System. The Fisher Ridge Cave System was discovered in January 1981 by a group of Michigan cavers associated with the Detroit Urban Grotto of the National Speleological Society. So far, the Fisher Ridge Cave System has been mapped to . In 1976, Rick Schwartz discovered a large cave south of the Mammoth Cave park boundary. This cave became known as the Martin Ridge Cave System in 1996, as new exploration connected the 3 nearby caves of Whigpistle Cave (Schwartz's original entrance), Martin Ridge Cave, and Jackpot Cave. As of 2018, the Martin Ridge Cave System had been mapped to a length of , and exploration continued. Located 7 miles from the visitors center is Diamond Caverns. On display there is a stagecoach used to ferry visitors from the nearby Bells Tavern train stop in Park City, Kentucky to both Diamond Caverns and Mammoth Cave. Climate. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Mammoth Cave National Park has a Humid subtropical climate ("Cfa"). According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the Plant Hardiness zone at Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center at 722 ft (220 m) elevation is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -3.2 °F (-19.6 °C). Biology and ecosystem. The following species of bats inhabit the caverns: Indiana bat ("Myotis sodalis"), gray bat ("Myotis grisescens"), little brown bat ("Myotis lucifugus"), big brown bat ("Eptesicus fuscus"), and the tricolored bat ("Perimyotis subflavus"). All together, these and more rare bat species such as the eastern small-footed bat had estimated populations of 9–12 million just in the Historic Section. While these species still exist in Mammoth Cave, their numbers are now no more than a few thousand at best. Ecological restoration of this portion of Mammoth Cave, and facilitating the return of bats, is an ongoing effort. Not all bat species here inhabit the cave; the red bat ("Lasiurus borealis") is a forest-dweller, as found underground only rarely. Other animals which inhabit the caves include: two genera of crickets ("Hadenoecus subterraneus") and ("Ceuthophilus stygius") ("Ceuthophilus latens"), a cave salamander ("Eurycea lucifuga"), two genera of eyeless cave fish ("Typhlichthys subterraneus") and ("Amblyopsis spelaea"), a cave crayfish ("Orconectes pellucidus"), and a cave shrimp ("Palaemonias ganteri"). In addition, some surface animals may take refuge in the entrances of the caves but do not generally venture into the deep portions of the cavern system. The section of the Green River that flows through the park is legally designated as "Kentucky Wild River" by the Kentucky General Assembly, through the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Wild Rivers Program. According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. Potential natural vegetation Types, Mammoth Cave National Park has an Oak/Hickory ("100") potential vegetation type with an Eastern Hardwood Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ("25") potential vegetation form. Common fossils of the cave include crinoids, blastoids, and gastropods. The Mississippian limestone has yielded fossils of more than a dozen species of shark. In 2020, scientists reported the discovery of part of a "Saivodus striatus", a species comparable in size to a modern great white shark. Name. The cave's name refers to the large width and length of the passages connecting to the Rotunda just inside the entrance. The name was used long before the extensive cave system was more fully explored and mapped, to reveal a mammoth length of passageways. No fossils of the woolly mammoth have ever been found in Mammoth Cave, and the name of the cave has nothing to do with this extinct mammal. Park superintendents. The list is incomplete. Bibliography. Brucker series. Roger W. Brucker has co-authored four nonfiction books and authored one historical novel on the history and exploration of the Mammoth Cave System. They are presented here not in the order of publication, but in the order in which the events of the books' major narratives took place: Archaeology. Carstens, Kenneth C (1980) Archaeological Investigations in the Central Kentucky Karst, 2 vols., Doctoral dissertation, Dep't of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis. Carstens, Kenneth C (1973) Archaeological Reconnaissance in Mammoth Cave National Park. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67930

Lewes

Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider district of the same name and the location of East Sussex County Council at the county hall. A traditional market town and centre of communications, in 1264 it was the site of the Battle of Lewes. The town's landmarks include Lewes Castle, Lewes Priory, Bull House (the former home of Thomas Paine), Southover Grange and public gardens, and a 16th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House. Other notable features of the area include the Glyndebourne festival, the Lewes Bonfire celebrations and the Lewes Pound. Etymology. The place-name 'Lewes' is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter circa 961 AD, where it appears as "Læwe". It appears as "Lewes" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The addition of the <-s> suffix seems to have been part of a broader trend of Anglo-Norman scribes pluralising Anglo-Saxon place-names (a famous example being their rendering of "Lunden" as "Londres", hence the modern French name for London). The traditional derivation of "Læwe", first posited by the Tudor antiquarian Laurence Nowell, derives it from the Old English language word "hlæw", meaning 'hill' or 'barrow', presumably referring to School Hill (on which the historic centre of Lewes stands) or to one of the five ancient burial mounds, all now levelled, in the vicinity of St John sub Castro. However, this etymology has been challenged by the Swedish philologist Rune Forsberg on the grounds that the loss of the initial in "hlæw" would be unlikely phonologically in this context. He suggested that the name "Læwe" instead derives from the rare Old English word "lǣw" ('wound, incision'), and reflects the fact that from the top of School Hill Lewes overlooks the narrow, steep-sided 'gash' where the River Ouse cuts through the line of the South Downs. This theory was endorsed in 2011 by "A Dictionary of British Place Names". A third possibility has been advanced by Richard Coates, who has argued that "Læwe" derives from "lexowia", an Old English word meaning 'hillside, slope' (of which there is no shortage in the Lewes area). This unusual word was borrowed into Old English from Old Welsh, the Modern Welsh spelling being "llechwedd". Another possibility, is that the name is connected to Saint Lewina (or Lewinna, Levinna, Lewine, Leofwynn; 7th century) a British virgin and martyr who was put to death by Saxon heathens. History. Pre-Saxon. Lewes is located at the point where the River Ouse flows through a narrow gap in the east–west line of the South Downs. The immense strategic value of the site, which is able to command traffic between the Channel coast and the Sussex interior, was recognised as early as the Iron Age, when a hill-fort was built on Mount Caburn, the steep-sided hill that overlooks the Ouse (and the modern town of Lewes) from the east. During the Roman period there was an aristocratic villa at Beddingham, at the foot of Mount Caburn, and there have been several finds of Roman coins and pottery sherds in Lewes itself. The Victorian historian Thomas Walker Horsfield therefore reckoned that there must have been a Roman settlement on the site, and he identified it with the otherwise unlocatable town of "Mutuantonis". Another antiquarian, John Elliot, even suggested that central Lewes's distinctive network of twittens was based on the layout of a Roman legionary fortress; however modern historians are rather more cautious about the possibility of a Roman Lewes, as there is as yet no archaeological evidence for a built-up area dating back to the Roman period. Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman. The earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement in Sussex was concentrated between the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere, and Anglo-Saxon finds begin to appear in Lewes from the sixth century. The town of Lewes was probably founded around this time, and it may have been one of the most important settlements in the Kingdom of Sussex, along with Chichester and Hastings, though the evidence for this early period is very sketchy. By the ninth century, the Kingdom of Sussex had been annexed to the Kingdom of Wessex, and in 838 Ecgberht, King of Wessex donated the estate of Malling, on the opposite side of the Ouse from Lewes, to the Archbishop of Canterbury. As a result, the Parish of Malling became a 'peculiar', which means that the parish was directly subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury rather than the Bishop of Chichester like every other parish in Sussex. Malling would retain this anomalous status until as late as 1845. Information about Lewes becomes much more plentiful from the reign of Alfred the Great onward, as it was one of the towns which he fortified as part of the network of "burhs" he established in response to the Viking raids. The peace and stability brought by Alfred and his successors evidently stimulated economic activity in the area, for in the late Anglo-Saxon period Lewes seems to have been a thriving boom town – during the reign of Alfred's grandson Æthelstan it was assigned two royal moneyers, more than any other mint in Sussex, and according to Domesday Book it generated £26 of revenue for the Crown in 1065, almost twice the amount of any other town in the county. After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror rewarded his retainer William de Warenne by making him Earl of Surrey and granting him the Rape of Lewes, a strip of land stretching along the Ouse valley from the coast to the Surrey boundary. De Warenne constructed Lewes Castle within the walls of the Saxon "burh", while his wife Gundreda founded the Priory of St Pancras, a Cluniac monastic house, in about 1081. Battle of Lewes. During the Second Barons' War, King Henry III was ambushed at Lewes by a force of rebel barons led by Simon de Montfort. Henry marched out to fight de Montfort, leading to a pitched battle on the hills above the town (roughly in the area of modern Landport Bottom). The king's son Prince Edward, commanding the right wing of the royal army, succeeded in driving off some of the baronial forces, but he got carried away with the pursuit, which took him as far as Offham. In Edward's absence the remainder of the royal army was attacked by de Montfort and Gilbert de Clare and decisively defeated. The king's brother Richard of Cornwall was captured, and the king himself was forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, a document which does not survive but was probably aimed at forcing Henry to uphold the Provisions of Oxford. Despite this uncertainty about its consequences, the battle is often seen as an important milestone in the development of English democracy. Late Mediaeval and Early Modern. The de Warenne family died out with Earl John in 1347, whereupon lordship of the Rape of Lewes passed to his sororal nephew Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel. Fitzalan preferred to reside at Arundel Castle rather than at Lewes, and the town therefore lost the prestige and economic advantages associated with being the seat of an important magnate. This was only the beginning of a series of misfortunes that struck Lewes, for in 1348 the Black Death arrived in England and later on in the century the Hundred Years War led to a series of French and Castilian raids on Sussex, which badly disrupted trade. On one occasion in 1377 the Prior of St Pancras, John de Charlieu, was abducted by the raiders and held to ransom. Furthermore, after the main branch of the Fitzalan family died out in 1439, the Rape of Lewes was subsequently partitioned between the three sororal nephews of the last earl, namely John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny, and Edmund Lenthall. As a result of this dismemberment the district became even more neglected by its lords, although feudal politics was starting to become less important anyway due to the centralising reforms of the Yorkist and Tudor kings. The English Reformation was begun by one of these Tudor monarchs, Henry VIII, and as part of this process the monasteries of England were dissolved; Lewes Priory was consequently demolished in 1538 and its property seized by the Crown. Henry's daughter Mary I reversed the religious policy of England, and during the resulting Marian Persecutions of 1555–1557, Lewes was the site of the execution of seventeen Protestant martyrs, most of them actually from the Weald rather than Lewes itself, who were burned at the stake in front of the Star Inn (now the site of Lewes Town Hall). Commemoration of the martyrs is one of the main purposes of Lewes Bonfire, and a stone memorial to the martyrs was unveiled on Cliffe Hill in 1901. Lewesian politics was dominated by a strongly Puritan faction in the reign of Charles I, and during the English Civil War it was one of the most important Parliamentarian strongholds in Sussex. As such it became the target of a royalist attack in December 1642, but the royalist army was intercepted and defeated at the Battle of Muster Green by Parliamentarian forces commanded by Herbert Morley, one of the two Members of Parliament (MPs) for Lewes. Lewes recovered relatively quickly after the Civil War, and prospered during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It had always been one of the principal market towns of Sussex, as well as an important port, and by the end of the Georgian era it also had well-developed textiles, iron, brewing, and shipbuilding industries. Modern. The severe winter of 1836–7 led to a large build-up of snow on Cliffe Hill, whose sheer western face directly overlooks the town. On Tuesday 27 December 1836 this snow cornice collapsed, and the resulting Lewes avalanche was the deadliest ever recorded in Britain. The avalanche struck the cottages on Boulters Row (now part of South Street), burying fifteen people, of whom eight died. A pub in South Street is named "The Snowdrop" in memory of the event. In 1846 the town became a railway junction, with lines constructed from the north, south and east to two railway stations. The development of Newhaven ended Lewes's period as a major port. During the Crimean War, some 300 Finns who had served in the Russian army during the Åland War and been captured at Bomarsund were imprisoned in the naval prison at Lewes. Lewes became a borough in 1881. Lewes Town Hall opened in 1893 in premises converted from the former Star Inn and in 1913 Council Offices were added in Arts-and-Crafts style. Lewes Victoria Hospital opened in 1909 in its current premises, as Victoria Hospital and Infirmary, having previously been on School Hill where it opened as the Lewes Dispensary and Infirmary in 1855. In October 2000 the town suffered major flooding during an intense period of severe weather throughout the United Kingdom. The commercial centre of the town and many residential areas were devastated. In a government report into the nationwide flooding, Lewes was officially noted the most severely affected location. As a result of the devastation, the Lewes Flood Action group formed, to press for better flood protection measures. Governance. Local government. There are three tiers of local government covering Lewes, at parish (town), district and county level: Lewes Town Council, Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council. The town council is based at Lewes Town Hall on the High Street. The county council has its headquarters at County Hall on St Anne's Crescent in the town, which is also used by Lewes District Council as its meeting place. Lewes was an ancient borough, although the structure of its early government is obscure. For much of the Middle Ages the town was run by a closed aristocratic organisation known as the "Fellowship of the Twelve", which was gradually eclipsed by a body known as the jury in the seventeenth century, presided over by a constable. The limitations of the town's administration were recognised in 1806 when separate improvement commissioners were established to pave, light and repair the streets and provide a watch. When local government in towns was reformed across the country in the 1830s, Lewes was one of the boroughs left unreformed, and so it continued to be run by its jury and improvement commissioners. The situation was finally regularised in 1881 when the town was made a municipal borough. The town was then run by a corporate body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Lewes", informally known as the corporation or town council. The last constable became the first mayor. In 1890 the town council acquired the former Star Inn at 189 High Street, parts of which date back to the fourteenth century, and the adjoining corn exchange. The buildings were converted and extended to become the town hall, including a new frontage to High Street, which was completed in 1893. The municipal borough of Lewes was abolished in 1974 when the larger Lewes District was established. A successor parish was created covering the area of the former borough, with the parish council taking the name Lewes Town Council. Following the 2023 election the composition of the town council was: The next election is due in 2027. Since 2010 the town has been included within the South Downs National Park. The National Park Authority has therefore taken over some functions from the local councils, notably relating to town planning. Constituency. Lewes gives its name to the Lewes parliamentary constituency. The constituency was held by the Conservatives from the 1870s until 1997 when it was won by Liberal Democrat Norman Baker. He held the seat for 18 years until defeated in 2015 by Conservative Maria Caulfield who retained her seat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. Geography. Lewes is situated on the Greenwich or Prime Meridian, in a gap in the South Downs, cut through by the River Ouse, and near its confluence with the Winterbourne Stream. It is approximately seven miles north of Newhaven, and an equal distance north-east of Brighton. The South Downs rise above the river on both banks. The High Street, and earliest settlement, occupies the west bank, climbing steeply up from the bridge taking its ancient route along the ridge; the summit on that side, distant is known as Mount Harry. On the east bank there is a large chalk cliff, Cliffe Hill that can be seen for many miles, part of the group of hills including Mount Caburn, Malling Down (where there are a few houses in a wooded area on the hillside, in a development known as Cuilfail) and Golf Hill (home to the Lewes Golf Club). The two banks of the river are joined by Willey's Bridge (a footbridge), the Phoenix Causeway (a recent concrete road bridge, named after the old Phoenix Ironworks) and Cliffe Bridge (an 18th-century replacement of the mediaeval crossing, widened in the 1930s and now semi-pedestrianised). The High Street runs from Eastgate to West-Out, forming the spine of the ancient town. Cliffe Hill gives its name to the one-time village of Cliffe, now part of the town. The southern part of the town, Southover, came into being as a village adjacent to the Priory, south of the Winterbourne Stream. At the north of the town's original wall boundary is the St John's or Pells area, home to several 19th-century streets and the Pells Pond. The Pells Pool, built in 1860, is the oldest freshwater "lido" in England. The Phoenix Industrial Estate lies along the west bank of the river and contains a number of light industrial and creative industry uses, as well as car parks and a fire station. A potential regeneration project (formerly "The North Street Quarter", renamed "The Phoenix Project" by the Lewes-based eco-development company Human Nature which took on ownership of the land in December 2020) for the area would be the largest in Lewes since the South Malling residential area was developed in the 1950s and 1960s and in the South Downs since it became a National Park. Malling lies to the east of the river and had 18th- and 19th-century houses and two notable breweries. Road engineering and local planning policy in the 1970s cleared many older buildings here to allow the flow of traffic; the main road route east from the town now goes along Little East Street, across the Phoenix Bridge and through the Cuilfail Tunnel to join the A27. The town boundaries were enlarged twice (from the original town walls), in 1881 and 1934. They now include the more modern housing estates of Wallands, South Malling (the west part of which is a previously separate village with a church dedicated to St Michael), Nevill, Lansdown and Cranedown on the Kingston Road. Countryside walks can be taken starting from several points in Lewes. One can walk on Mount Caburn to the village of Glynde starting in Cliffe, traverse the Lewes Brooks (an RSPB reserve) from Southover, walk to Kingston near Lewes also from Southover, head up Landport Bottom to Mount Harry and Black Cap along the edge of the old Lewes Racecourse, or wander up along the Ouse to Hamsey Place from the Pells. The South Downs Way crosses the Ouse just south of Lewes at Southease and hikers often stop off at the town. A new route reaching the town at the Railway Land – the Egrets Way – initially conceived in 2011 by the Ouse Valley Cycle Network, has been designed as a network of walking and cycling paths linking Lewes and Newhaven with the villages in between. Natural sites. Three Sites of Special Scientific Interest lie within the parish: Lewes Downs, Lewes Brooks and Southerham Works Pit. Lewes Downs is a site of biological interest, an isolated area of the South Downs. Lewes Brooks, also of biological importance, is part of the floodplain of the River Ouse, providing a habitat for many invertebrates such as water beetles and snails. Southerham Works Pit is of geological interest, a disused chalk pit displaying a wide variety of fossilised fish remains. The Railway Land nature reserve is on the east side of the town next to the Ouse, and contains an area of woodland and marshes, which now includes the Heart of Reeds, a sculpted reed bed designed by local land artist Chris Drury. The Winterbourne stream, a tributary of the Ouse, flows through it. This stream flows most winters and dries up in the summer, hence its name. It continues through Lewes going through the Grange Gardens and often travelling underground. The Heart of Reeds is one of the sites in East Sussex and Kent home to the marsh frog, an introduced species. It is popular with pond-dippers and walkers. A centre for the study of environmental change is due to be built at the entrance to the nature reserve. On 21 August 1864, Lewes experienced an earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter magnitude scale. Climate. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate). Religious buildings. Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to St. Pancras in memory of the Priory and is a red-brick building over the street from St Anne's. Demography. In 2001 the service industries were by far the biggest employers in Lewes: over 60% of the population working in that sector. A little over 10% are employed in manufacturing, mostly in the smaller industrial units. The town is a net daytime exporter of employees with a significant community working in London and Brighton whilst it draws in employees of the numerous local government and public service functions on which its local economy is strongly dependent. An important part of the town's economy is based on tourism, because of the town's many historic attractions and its location. As referenced in the governance section, the town is also where three tiers of local government have their headquarters, and the head office of Sussex Police is also in Lewes. Lewes Bonfire. The town's most important annual event is the Lewes Bonfire celebrations on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Night. In Lewes this event not only marks the date of the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, but also commemorates the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs burnt at the stake for their faith during the Marian Persecutions. The celebrations, which controversially involve burning an effigy of Pope Paul V, who was pope during the Gunpowder Plot, are the largest and most famous Bonfire Night celebrations in the country. Economy. The Lewes Chamber of Commerce represents the traders and businesses of the town. The town has been identified as unusually diversified with numerous specialist, independent retailers, counter to national trends toward 'chain' retailers and large corporate retail outlets. Lewes Farmers' Market, one of the first in the UK, was started in the 1990s by Common Cause Co-operative Ltd and is a popular re-invention of Lewes as a market town. The Farmers' Market takes place in pedestrianised Cliffe High Street on the first and third Saturdays of every month, with local food producers coming to sell their wares under covered market stalls. A weekly food market in the Lewes Market Tower was established in July 2010 by Transition Town Lewes to allow traders to sell local produce. Occasionally French traders from the twin town of Blois attend, vending on Cliffe Bridge. From 1794 beers, wines and spirits were distributed from Lewes under the "Harveys" name, and the town is today the site of Harvey & Son's brewery celebrated as one of the finest ale producers in England. In September 2008, Lewes launched its own currency, the Lewes Pound, in an effort to increase trade within the town. One Lewes Pound is equal to £1. Like the similar local currency in Totnes, the initiative is part of the Transition Towns movement. The Lewes Pound and the Transition Towns movement have received criticism for a failure to address the needs of the wider Lewes population, especially lower socio-economic groups. Such local currency initiatives have been more widely criticised in light of limited success stimulating new spending in local economies and as an unrealistic strategy to reduce carbon emissions. The Lewes Pound can be exchanged for the same amount of pounds sterling in several shops in Lewes and can be spent in a wide range of local businesses. Many of the notes were sold on eBay at a higher amount. Early numbers and sequenced notes fetched very high prices from foreign collectors. Landmarks. The town is the location of several significant historic buildings, including Lewes Castle, the remains of Lewes Priory, Bull House (the former home of Thomas Paine), Southover Grange and public gardens, and a 16th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House because it was given to her as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII, though she never lived there. Anne of Cleves House and the castle are owned and maintained by the Sussex Archaeological Society (whose headquarters are in Lewes). The Round House, a secluded former windmill in Pipe Passage, was owned by the writer Virginia Woolf. The steep and cobbled Keere Street is home to many historic buildings, including a timber framed antiquarian bookshop. The gardens of the buildings on the east side of the street border the old Town Walls. The Prince Regent once drove his carriage down the street, and a sign at the bottom commemorates this event. The ancient street pattern survives extensively as do a high proportion of the medieval building plots and oak framed houses, albeit often masked with later facades. The 18th-century frontages are notable and include several, like Bartholomew House at the Castle Gate, that are clad in mathematical tiles which mimic fine brick construction. Numerous streets of 18th- and 19th-century cottages have survived cycles of slum clearance as models of attractive town housing. At the highest point of the old town the Portland stone and Coade stone facade of the Crown Court (1808–12, by John Johnson), the brick Market Tower and florid Lewes War Memorial mark the historic centre, although trade has tended to concentrate on the lower land in modern times. At the lowest part of the town, by the river, Harvey & Son's Brewery, 'The Cathedral of Lewes' is an unspoilt 19th-century tower brewery and is the only one of the town's five original major breweries still in use. Nearby Fitzroy House is a George Gilbert Scott designed building, constructed as a library in memory of Lewes MP Henry FitzRoy in 1862 and now a private residence. The railway station is the other important monument of the industrial era. Southover Grange is a grade II*listed Tudor manor house built in 1572 with Caen limestone taken from the ruins of Lewes Priory. The house and its gardens were bought by Lewes District Council and opened to the public in 1945. The house is now owned by East Sussex County Council, and it is currently being refurbished into a wedding venue, registry office and community facility. The east wing is leased to an art shop and the Window café (open in spring and summer). The Grange gardens are divided by the Winterbourne stream and contain formal bedding displays, a wildflower area, a knot garden and some notable trees, including a large Magnolia grandiflora, a mulberry tree dating perhaps to the 17th century and a tulip tree planted by Queen Elizabeth II. The gardens are open to the public during daylight hours all year round. Pelham House dates back to the 16th century and features architecture of all subsequent eras and a private landscaped garden facing the Downs. It now serves as an independent hotel. The Shelleys, also now a hotel, is likewise of some antiquity with a private garden and family associations with Percy Shelley. The centre of Lewes is notable for a consistently high calibre of regional vernacular architecture and variety of historic construction materials and techniques. A comprehensive survey of all historical plaques was conducted in 2013 by a local civic society, the Friends of Lewes. A distinctive feature of the centre of Lewes is the network of alleyways or 'twittens' which run north–south on either side of the High Street and date back to Anglo-Saxon times. According to the Dictionary of the Sussex dialect and collection of provincialisms in use in the county of Sussex published in Lewes in 1875. "Twitten is a narrow path between two walls or hedges, especially on hills. For example, small passageways leading between two buildings to courtyards, streets, or open areas behind". Some twittens (e.g. Broomans Lane, Church Twitten, Green Lane, Paine's Twitten) remain flint-wall-lined pedestrian thoroughfares, others (e.g. Watergate Lane, St Andrew's Lane and renamed Station Street (formerly St Mary's Lane)) are now narrow usually one-way roads. The most notable of all Lewes' twittens is Keere Street. A weekly Sunday morning run up and down all the twittens on the south side of the High Street – the so-called Twitten Run – has operated in the town since November 2015. Public sculpture. Historic. With Eric Gill's move to Ditchling, the artistic community there gave rise to other sculptors in the Lewes district such as his nephew John Skelton and Joseph Cribb. Skelton's studio in Streat has continued as an educational and artist's workshop since his death in 1999. Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein conceived "a great scheme for doing some colossal figures together" around 1910 for a modern Stonehenge on 6 acres of land at Asheham House, Beddingham, south-east of Lewes. William Rothenstein agreed to buy the lease but the scheme failed. Edward Perry Warren first saw Lewes House in 1889 and with his partner John Marshall they were prodigious collectors of fine antique sculpture there. Eric Gill was introduced to Warren by Roger Fry and the stone carving Ecstasy purchased, which is now in the Tate Gallery collection. William Rothenstein suggested that Warren might like to acquire Rodin's new sculpture "The Kiss" and after several visits, in 1904 the Lewes "Kiss" arrived at Lewes House. In 1906 Rodin requested that Warren lend "The Kiss" to an important exhibition in Regent Street, London. This made it famous in Britain for the first time. "The Kiss" was returned to the stables at Lewes House, where it remained until 1914 until offered to Lewes Town Council. It was placed in the Town Hall, at the South End of the Assembly Room on 2 December 1914. Early in 1915, "The Kiss" was wrapped in canvas and marked off with a guard rail. The Town Council returned the statue, saying only that the room did 'not lend itself to such a noble piece of statuary.' On 26 February 1917, "The Kiss" was once more taken to the stable block where it was to remain until Warren's death in 1928. After a short period on loan to Cheltenham, "The Kiss" was purchased in 1953 by public subscription and is now one of the Tate's most popular attractions. It returned on loan to Lewes in 1999 for the exhibition "Rodin in Lewes". Present day. "The Helmet" (1964), by Enzo Plazzotta, stands in the grounds of Lewes Priory. The "Cuilfail Spiral" (1983) by Peter Randall-Page sits on the roundabout at the north end of the Cuilfail Tunnel; made of 7 pieces of Portland limestone. The "Magnus Inscription" (c. 1200) sits in the East wall of St John Sub Castro on the Junction of Abinger Place and Lancaster Street. The "Janus Head" (1997) by John Skelton and "Lewes Group" (2010) by Jon Edgar sit in Southover Grange Gardens. "Sculpture to Thomas Paine" by Marcus Cornish commissioned as a private donation was unveiled in July 2010 outside the new Lewes Library in Styles Field. Transport. Lewes, from its inception, has been an important transport hub. Its site as a bridging point was probably originally a ford: today the main routes avoid the town centre. The A27 trunk road taking traffic along the south coast between Eastbourne and Southampton passes to the south of the town. The A26 from Maidstone to Newhaven; and the A275 (the London road) both come in from the north. The Brighton & Hove bus company and Compass Travel serve the town. The bus station was closed for a while but reopened in late 2008. Lewes railway station was originally the junction for six routes. The town still enjoys hourly fast trains from London. The two erstwhile rural rail routes to the north, linking to East Grinstead and Uckfield respectively, are both now closed, but the East Coastway Line, connecting Brighton with Eastbourne and Hastings, and the branch to Seaford remain. The Vanguard Way, a long-distance footpath from London to Newhaven, passes through countryside east of the town. The South Downs Way also passes close to Lewes, crossing the Ouse at Southease, some four miles south of the town. The Greenwich Meridian Trail, a long-distance path that follows the Greenwich Meridian from Peacehaven in East Sussex to Sand le Mere in East Yorkshire passes through the middle of the town. A festival celebrating and encouraging walking and cycling, the Lewes Hike and Bike Festival, was created in 2012 but only ran for three years. The Eastbourne and Lewes Walking Festival was created in 2018 to promote walking in the local urban and rural South Downs area. Education. Primary schools. There are many primary schools including: Western Road and Southover School, despite being separate schools, are housed in linked buildings. The original Southover buildings are of red brick in the Queen Anne style, dating back to the early 20th century. The additions to it now forming the Western Road buildings date from after 1945. The two schools share a field. Pells Primary School closed in 2017. The alternative independent primary school, Lewes New School, closed in 2018. Secondary schools. There are two secondary schools in the town and one nearby: Further education. East Sussex College, formerly Sussex Downs College, has one of its campuses in Lewes, and provides a range of courses including A Levels, GCSEs, Functional Skills and Access courses and vocational qualifications such as NVQs and BTECs. Culture. Classical music. Located outside of Lewes is Glyndebourne opera house. Founded in 1934, the venue draws large audiences for its Summer Festival and has attracted a host of international talent throughout its history. Lewes Operatic Society (founded 1911) and New Sussex Opera are also based in the town of Lewes. A number of other local classical music series operate in the town, including the Nicholas Yonge Society; and the baroque and early classical Workshop Series. The Musicians of All Saints is a Lewes-based chamber orchestra founded in 1987 who perform both new works and standard repertoire. A new annual music series, the Lewes Chamber Music Festival, was created in summer 2012. The Lewes Festival of Song was created in 2015 and the Lewes BaroqueFest in 2019. Other local music groups include the Lewes Concert Orchestra founded in 1993; and the Lewes, Glynde & Beddingham Brass Band, founded in 1922. The East Sussex Bach choir is based in Lewes, as well as a number of other active amateur choirs, including Pro Musica Chamber Choir, the Everyman Ensemble, the Paddock Singers, Lewes Vox and East Sussex Community Choir. Orlando Gough's opera "The Finnish Prisoner" is set in Lewes, telling the story of the Finnish prisoners of war held in Lewes after the Crimean War. Museums and galleries. The principal town museum is Barbican House Museum at Lewes Castle, which hosts the Lewes Town Model as well as four galleries of Sussex archaeology. Anne of Cleves House has various collections relating to the history of Lewes. There are several independent art galleries in the town including the Star Brewery Gallery in a former brewery in Market Street; the artist-run Chalk Gallery in North Street and occasional art exhibitions at the Town Hall. Other galleries are listed in Gallery Guide Lewes and Art Map Lewes. Theatre and cinema. Lewes Little Theatre was created in 1939 and is based in dedicated premises on Lancaster Street. It puts on half a dozen or more productions each year. Supporters of the creation of the Theatre include John Maynard Keynes. A new independent three-screen cinema, the Lewes Depot, opened in May 2017 in a multimillion-pound redevelopment of a former Harvey's brewery depot close to Lewes station. The architects were Burrell Foley Fischer and the work was given a Friends of Lewes award, and highly commended in the South Downs National Park design awards. The Lewes Film Club, which also produces short movies (including the recent adaptation of George Orwell's "Animal Farm"), and Film at All Saints' (the Film Club in collaboration with Lewes Town Council), show films based in the All Saints' Centre, a former church. Several scenes in the 1962 film Jigsaw, which was loosely based on the Hillary Waugh novel 'Sleep Long, My Love' and the real-life Brighton trunk murders, were set and filmed in Lewes. Popular music and clubs. Local dance schools and clubs include Lewes Dance Club, East Sussex Dance and ballet groups. Starfish Youth Music is based at Priory School and the young bands who take part regularly perform in local venues such as the Paddock and the All Saints' Centre. Popular music gigs take place at a number of venues and pubs across the town including the Lewes Con Club, the Snowdrop Inn, the Volunteer pub, the Lewes Arms, the John Harvey Tavern, the Pelham Arms, and the Lansdown. The Elephant and Castle hosts the Saturday Folk Club. Union Music Store based in Lewes has become a centre for modern folk, country and Americana, both promoting and hosting live gigs, and recording and producing local musicians. A monthly comedy club based at the Con Club was created in 2010. A new organisation to support local music and musicians, Lewes Ripple, was created in 2018 and as well as online platforms is looking to create live concerts in 2021. A regular local music festival, Lewes Live (previously Rock in the Bog), takes place in the summer. The town of Lewes was also the UK location for the Mumford and Sons' Gentlemen of the Road tour stopover in 2013. A large jazz festival, Love Supreme Festival was founded in 2013 at nearby Glynde Place. Other local festivals include the Brainchild Festival, based just north of Lewes in the grounds of Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum Art, photography, and festivals. Annual arts events include ArtWave and the children's Patina Moving on Parade. An annual Lewes Guitar Festival which started in 1999 has not operated since the late 2000s. The annual Charleston Festival is hosted at nearby Charleston Farmhouse near the village of Firle some 6 miles east of Lewes. An annual festival of light – Lewes Light – was created in 2015 during the UNESCO Year of Light and has run since then as an annual art installation and environmental awareness project. The Reeves Studio, which is thought to be the oldest continuously operated photographic studio in the world, has been running from the same premises in Lewes since 1855. Debate. Lewes has been influenced by its close proximity to the University of Sussex and Brighton University in terms of significant numbers of academics and students living in the town. The Headstrong Club whose notable members include Thomas Paine was relaunched in 1987 and continues to operate. A branch of the popular Skeptics in the Pub movement was created in 2011 in Lewes, based at the Elephant and Castle. Literature and history. The Lewes Literary Society (until 2015 the Monday Literary Society) was founded in Lewes in 1948 by authors Barbara Willard and Frances Howell, chaired by Leonard Woolf from 1954 to 1969, and currently by the poets John Agard and Grace Nichols, who live in the town. The Needlewriters is a co-operative of poets and writers which hosts a quarterly evening of poetry and prose at the Needlemakers Cafe, showcasing writers from across Sussex and Kent. The poetry imprint Frogmore Press, founded in Folkestone in 1983, moved to Lewes in 2010. Lewes Live Literature (LLL) was founded 1995 as a promoter of art and literature events, with an autumn festival which ran 2001–2007 bringing together spoken word with performance, music, film and visual art. Since 2007, LLL has concentrated on live literature production work. Lewes History Group was founded in 2009 and supports an active programme of talks, information and research into the history of the town and surrounding areas. The Lewes Speakers Festival was created in the mid-2010s and brings a range of national speakers to the town each year, on a range of political, literary and historical topics. Gastronomy. Lewes is home to a number of small craft breweries, alongside the renowned Harvey & Son's brewery in the heart of Lewes. These include Abyss Brewing which started life in the Pelham Arms and opened a new brewing base and taproom in 2021 in Daveys Lane in the middle of Lewes inside the old maltings building previously part of the South Downs Brewery, and Beak Brewery, which began as a so-called "gypsy" or nomad brewery before setting up in the town. The renowned craft brewery Burning Sky is based in nearby Firle. Local pub culture. Lewes also has a strong tradition of distinctive local pub games, including Toad in the hole (game) (a local pub league and international competition are held in the town), Dwyle Flunking (the local spelling of Dwile flonking), and the World Pea Throwing Championships. Lewes in literature. With a number of authors having lived in or near Lewes, it features, explicitly or disguised, in a number of books. Possibly the earliest substantial reference in fiction is in "The Wanderer: Or, Female Difficulties", an 1814 novel by Fanny Burney, in which the heroine spends time in Lewes and Brighton. Eve Garnett lived in Lewes and her "The Family from One End Street" series of children's stories are set in 'Otwell-on-the-Ouse'. Matthew de Abaitua's dystopian novel "If Then" is set in a fictionalised Lewes. There are strong parallels with Lewes in the setting of Cliffe House which appears in a story called "Bloody Baudelaire", by R. B. Russell. "The Collector" by John Fowles is set near Lewes with the characters visiting the town, and the Roy Grace crime series by Peter James (writer) based in Brighton has scenes set in Sussex Police HQ based in Lewes. Graham Greene's first novel "The Man Within" has scenes set in Lewes at the Lewes assizes. Three novels by William Nicholson (writer) – "The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life", "All the Hopeful Lovers" and "Golden Hour" – are based in Lewes and surrounding villages. "Three Round Towers" and "Retribution" by Beverley Elphick are set in and around Lewes at the end of the 18th century. Julian Fane wrote a fictionalised version of his experience moving from London to Lewes in the novel "Hope Cottage", which is set in a fictional district of Lewes named "Eastover." Other writers to have set works of fiction in Lewes include Andrew Soutar, Judith Glover, and primatologist Alison Jolly who wrote a series of books for children. The personal diaries of Lewes-based writer Alice Dudeney who wrote popular fiction in the first half of the 20th century were published in 1998 as "A Lewes Diary: 1916–1944" describing her life in Lewes with Henry Dudeney before and during the interwar years. Lewes also features in a range of works of other non-fiction, but notable examples would include "To The River" by Olivia Laing which follows her walk along the River Ouse and "The Old Ways" by Robert Macfarlane (writer) features walks on the South Downs close to Lewes. In 2015, American writer Joseph Cannizzo Jr. published a collection of poetry about Lewes entitled "When in Lewes", () following a brief stay in the town. Media. The "Sussex Express" newspaper (formally the "Sussex Express and County Herald") was established in 1837 in Lewes as the "Sussex Agricultural Express" and merged with the Sussex County Herald in 1938. Now headquartered in Horsham, it serves Lewes and much of East Sussex. It has four editions and includes extensive coverage of the local sports scene. It is part of the Johnston Press network of newspapers. "Viva Lewes" was founded as a weekly web magazine in January 2006 and also as a monthly print handbook in October 2006 covering events and activities in and around the Lewes area. It ceased publication in 2020. In December 2018 a monthly lifestyle publication Town & County Magazine was launched, with coverage of local life, history, and culture, and celebrity interviews, across Lewes district as well as Alfriston & Ditchling. Local television news programmes are BBC South East Today and ITV Meridian. The town's local radio stations are BBC Radio Sussex, Heart South, Seahaven FM and More Radio Mid-Sussex. Lewes has its own RSL radio station, Rocket FM, which broadcasts via FM and the Internet for three weeks in October/November each year, covering the Bonfire period. In November 2012, EE launched a series of advertisements promoting its 4G mobile service. All of the adverts, which featured actor Kevin Bacon, were filmed in Lewes. Sport. In 1694, accounts of Sir John Pelham record 2s 6d paid for a wager concerning a cricket match at Lewes, one of the sport's earliest references. Lewes Priory Cricket Club is based at the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road. The club were Sussex League champions in 1986 and 1990 and Division 2 winners in 1999, 2006 and 2008. The club has active senior, junior and social sections Lewes Rugby Football Club, founded in 1930, runs several rugby teams at various competitive levels, including the senior men's sides, the women's, girls' and junior teams. Lewes RFC's home turf is the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road. Lewes Hockey Club, based at Southdown Sports Club on Cockshut Road, was founded in 1903 and is one of the oldest and largest hockey clubs in Sussex. The local football team is Lewes FC The club was founded in 1885 and play at the Dripping Pan. In July 2017, the club became the first in the world to introduce equal pay to the men's and women's teams. The Lewes FC Women's team were appointed to the second tier of the Women's Super League in May 2018. The town is also home to Lewes Bridge View which has adult teams competing in the Mid Sussex Football League and Lewes and District Sunday League. In 2016 Lewes Bridge View Juniors joined in partnership with Lewes FC to form Lewes FC Juniors – running Under 8s to Under 16s, with boys and girls teams. Lewes Athletic Club caters for junior and senior athletes. The club trains at the all-weather 400m track at the end of Mountfield Road, and other locations in the area. Lewes Swimming Club was reconstituted in 1975 by Commonwealth gold medal-winning swimmer Christine Parfect (née Gosden) and others. The club has 300+ members and organises swimming sessions at Lewes, Ringmer, Newlands School, Newhaven and Seaford Head pools during term-time. Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club was reconstituted in 1950. The club organises regular time trials throughout the summer. Lewes Tennis/Hockey Club (Southdown Sports Club) has 16 tennis courts, four squash courts, two netball courts and a floodlit astro/hockey pitch. Lewes Bowls Club situated behind the Mount on Mountfield Road was founded in 1922. It is affiliated to Bowls England and members play in the Meridian League and the Brighton League, as well as in informal games for pleasure. Between April and September members play on a flat lawn green with six rinks and inside the clubhouse on short mat for the winter season. Lewes Golf Club is set on downland above Cliffe Hill on the east-side of Lewes, where the sport has been played since 1896. The Moyleman, an off-road marathon event over the hills around Lewes, starting and finishing in the town, was created in 2014 and first run in 2015. Lewes Racecourse, located immediately to the west of the town on the slopes of the Downs, operated for 200 years until it closed in 1964. Racehorse training continued at Lewes until 2020 when the area's last trainer, Suzy Smith, moved her base from Lewes to Angmering. Race days are held at nearby Plumpton Racecourse. There are a number of Service Clubs in Lewes, including Lewes Lions Club which is a member of Lions Clubs International. The club runs various events including the Christmas Concert in December each year with the LGB Brass and the annual 'International 'Toad-in-the-Hole' Competition' and holds street collections to raise funds so as to assist people and organisations in and around Lewes. Since the 1960s, the Lewes Rotary Club has hosted its distinctive annual skittles tournament in the gardens of Southover Grange in June each year. Notable people. Among the many notable former residents of Lewes is Thomas Paine (1737–1809), who was employed as an excise officer in the town for a time from 1768 to 1774 when he emigrated to the American colonies. The Paine association sits at the centre of a radical tradition that is represented today by writers working in the town. The sciences and natural enquiry are represented by Gideon Mantell who is credited with the first discovery and identification of fossilised dinosaur (iguanodon) teeth. Lewes doctor Richard Russell popularised the resort of Brighton. Lewes is the birthplace of 16th-century madrigalist Nicholas Yonge. In the 1960s it was home to Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, as it is now to other musicians, including Herbie Flowers, Arthur Brown and Tim Rice-Oxley from Keane. Daisy Ashford lived from 1889 to 1896 at Southdown House, 44 St Anne's Crescent, where she wrote "The Young Visiters". Edward Perry Warren, an eccentric American collector, lived in Lewes House. In 1919 Virginia Woolf briefly owned – but never lived in – the Round House, a windmill in Pipe Passage, before moving to her final home, Monk's House in Rodmell. Diarist John Evelyn spent his boyhood at Southover Grange. Crime. The town is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The fact that Lewes has a Crown Court, and a prison, is reflected by the fact that many notorious people have been connected with the town. During the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland several prominent figures involved in it were in Lewes Prison, including Éamon de Valera (1882–1975); Thomas Ashe (1885–1917); Frank Lawless (1871–1922); and Harry Boland (1887–1922). Others have included George Witton (1874–1942) involved in shooting prisoners during the Boer War. Lewes assizes saw many important trials. In 1949 serial killer John George Haigh was sentenced to death. In 1956 suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams had his committal hearing in Lewes before being sent to the Old Bailey, London for trial. He was subsequently tried and convicted in Lewes in 1957 for fraud, lying on cremation forms and obstructing a police search. An early case was that of Percy Lefroy Mapleton (1860–1881) hanged for murder and the subject of the first composite picture on a wanted poster. Twin towns. Lewes has been twinned with Waldshut-Tiengen since 1974 and with Blois since 1963, although informal links between these two towns began in 1947.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68049

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county borders South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Nottingham (323,632). The county has an area of and a population of 1,154,195. The latter is concentrated in the Nottingham built-up area in the south-west, which extends into Derbyshire and has a population of 729,997. The north-east of the county is more rural, and contains the towns of Worksop (44,733) and Newark-on-Trent (27,700). The county is divided into eight districts; seven are part of Nottinghamshire, a two-tier non-metropolitan county, and the City of Nottingham is a unitary area. The geography of Nottinghamshire is largely defined by the River Trent, which forms a wide valley which crosses the county from the south-west to the north-east. North of this, in the centre of the county, is Sherwood Forest, the remnant of a large ancient woodland. History. Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, and there are Roman settlements in the county; for example at Mansfield, and forts such as at the Broxtowe Estate in Bilborough. The county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, and became part of the Kingdom, and later Earldom, of Mercia. However, there is evidence of Saxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate, Oxton, near Nottingham, and Tuxford, east of Sherwood Forest. The name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568, the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times, the county developed malting and woollen industries. King William I the Conqueror in 1066 made Sherwood Forest a Royal Forest for hunting which was frequently visited by the Mercian and later Kings. King William I the Conqueror's 1086 Domesday Book identified certain areas in Nottinghamshire being under the land of King Edward the Confessor these included Mansfield and Sutton in Ashfield, amongst other places including Skegby, Dunham-on-Trent, East Drayton, East Markham, Farnsfield, Warsop, Carburton, Edwinstowe, Carlton-on-Trent, Budby, Perlethorpe, Walesby. King John's Palace ruin near Kings Clipstone was a royal residence for King John, the area being near to Sherwood Forest. King John's Palace was a place where King William the Lion of Scotland met King Richard I of England to congratulate him on his return from the crusades. John, King of England died at Newark Castle in 1216 During the industrial revolution, the county held much needed minerals such as coal and iron ore, and had constructed some of the first experimental waggonways in the world; an example of this is the Wollaton wagonway of 1603–1616, which transported minerals from bell pitt mining areas at Strelley and Bilborough, this led to canals and railways being constructed in the county, and the lace and cotton industries grew. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened, and mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the 1984–85 miners' strike. Until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes. Sometime between 1610 and 1719, they were reduced to six – Newark, Bassetlaw, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, and Bingham, some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, and Lythe in Thurgarton. Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood. This is also the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places like Sherwood Forest, City of Nottingham, and the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest. To reinforce the Robin Hood connection, the University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the Nottingham Caves Survey, with the goal "to increase the tourist potential of these sites". The project "will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham". Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576; the first fully surveyed map of the county was by John Chapman, who produced Chapman's Map of Nottinghamshire in 1774. The map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale (one statute mile to one inch) to provide basic information on village layout, and the existence of landscape features such as roads, milestones, tollbars, parkland, and mills. Nottinghamshire saw a slight change to its overall boundary in the extreme northern part of the county in 1974, when the villages of Blaxton, Finningley and Auckley (part) were merged into the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. Physical geography. Nottinghamshire, like Derbyshire, and South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to thick, and occurring largely in the north of the county. There is an oilfield near Eakring. These are overlaid by sandstones and limestones in the west, and clay in the east. The north of the county is part of the Humberhead Levels lacustrine plain. The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancient oak woodland. Principal rivers are the Trent, Idle, Erewash, and Soar. The Trent, fed by the Soar, Erewash, and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging at Misterton. A point just north of Newtonwood Lane, on the boundary with Derbyshire is the highest point in Nottinghamshire; at , while Silverhill, a spoil heap left by the former Silverhill colliery, a human-made point often cited as the highest, reaches . The lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level; the Trent is tidal below Cromwell Lock. Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the Pennines to the west, so receives relatively low rainfall at annually. The average temperature of the county is 8.8–10.1 degrees Celsius (48–50 degrees Fahrenheit). The county receives between 1321 and 1470 hours of sunshine per year. Green belt. Nottinghamshire contains one green belt area, first drawn up from the 1950s. Completely encircling the Nottingham conurbation, it stretches for several miles into the surrounding districts, and extends into Derbyshire. Politics. Nottinghamshire is represented by eight members of parliament. The Nottinghamshire seats are represented by Conservative MPs. Following the 2017 County Council elections, the County Council is controlled by a coalition of Conservatives and Mansfield Independent Forum, having taken control from the Labour administration. The seats held are 31 Conservatives, 23 Labour, 11 Independents, 1 Liberal Democrat. In the previous 2013 election, the County Council was Labour controlled, a gain from the Conservatives. Local government is devolved to seven local borough and district councils. Ashfield is Ashfield Independents controlled; Bassetlaw, Gedling, and Mansfield are Labour controlled; while Broxtowe, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe are Conservative controlled. Political control. Nottinghamshire is a non-metropolitan county, governed by Nottinghamshire County Council and seven non-metropolitan district councils. Elections to the county council take place every four years, with the first election taking place in 1973. Following each election, the county council has been controlled by the following parties: Economy and industry. The regional economy was traditionally based on industries such as coal mining in the Leen Valley, and manufacturing. Since the invention of the knitting frame by local William Lee, the county, in particular Nottingham, became synonymous with the lace industry. In 1998, Nottinghamshire had a gross domestic product (GDP) per-capita of £12,000, and a total GDP of £12,023 million. This is compared to a per-capita GDP of £11,848 for the East Midlands, £12,845 for England, and £12,548 for the United Kingdom. Nottingham had a GDP per-capita of £17,373, North Nottinghamshire £10,176, and South Nottinghamshire £8,448. In October 2005, the United Kingdom had 4.7% unemployment, the East Midlands 4.4%, and the Nottingham commuter belt area 2.4%. Education. Secondary education. The county has comprehensive secondary education with 47 state secondary schools, as well as 10 private schools. The City of Nottingham local education authority (LEA) has 18 state schools and six independent schools, not including sixth form colleges. A total of 9,700 pupils took GCSEs in the Nottinghamshire LEA in 2007. The best results were from the West Bridgford School, closely followed by Rushcliffe Spencer Academy and the Minster School in Southwell. In Nottingham, the best results came from the Trinity Catholic School and the Fernwood School in Wollaton. At A-level, the highest performing institution was The Becket School, followed by the West Bridgford School. Some of Nottingham city best results tend to come from Nottingham High School, closely followed by the all-female Nottingham High School for Girls, both of which are privately run. Worksop College is another private school near to Worksop. Higher education. The University of Nottingham is a Russell Group university and well-renowned, offering one of the broadest selections of courses in the UK. Nottingham Trent University is one of the most successful post-1992 universities in the UK. Nottingham is home to a campus of the University of Law. All three of these institutions combine to make Nottingham one of England's largest student cities. Nottingham Trent University also has an agricultural college near Southwell, while the University of Nottingham has one at Sutton Bonington. Culture. Nottinghamshire is home to the Sherwood Forest, known for its association with the legend of Robin Hood. Nottinghamshire contains the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, Newstead Abbey, which he sold in 1818. It is now owned by Nottingham City Council, and is open to the public. The acclaimed author D. H. Lawrence was from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. Toton was the birthplace and home of English folk singer-songwriter Anne Briggs, well known for her song "Black Waterside". The north of the county is also noteworthy for its connections with the Pilgrim Fathers. William Brewster, for example, came from the village of Scrooby, and was influenced by Richard Clyfton, who preached at Babworth. Thoresby Hall was formally owned by Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull acquired the Thoresby lands in 1633, but was killed in the Civil War in 1643. His son Henry Pierrepont, the 2nd Earl, built the first grand house, attributed to the architect Talman, about 1670. Thoresby Hall is now a hotel but the park is open to visitors. Rufford Abbey was formally built (between 1560 and 1590) and owned by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who was Bess of Hardwick Countess of Shrewsbury’s husband. Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club (NCCC) are a first class county cricket club who play at Trent Bridge in West Bridgford. They won the County Championship in 2010. The most successful football team within Nottinghamshire is Nottingham Forest, a Premier League club that won the 1978 English championship, and followed it up with winning the 1979 and 1980 European Cup titles. Mansfield Town and Notts County are the other professional teams in the country, both in League Two. Other notable sporting teams are the Nottingham Rugby Football Club, and the Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey Club. Nottinghamshire has international twinning arrangements with the province of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) in western Poland, and with the province's capital city, Poznań. In 2002, "Crocus nudiflorus" (Autumn crocus) was voted by the public as the county flower of Nottinghamshire. BBC East Midlands is based in Nottingham and broadcasts news around the county; ITV Central also covers regional news in the county. BBC Radio Nottingham is the local public radio station, while Gem, Capital Midlands, Gold and Smooth East Midlands, are the local commercial stations. Northern parts of the county such as Worksop and Retford in the Bassetlaw area receive a better signal from the Emley Moor TV transmission so the area is covered by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire. Districts and boroughs. Settlements and features. The traditional county town, and the largest settlement in the historic and ceremonial county boundaries, is the City of Nottingham. The city is now administratively independent, but towns including Arnold, Carlton, West Bridgford, Beeston, and Stapleford are still within the administrative county, and West Bridgford is where the county council are based. There are several market towns in the county. Newark-on-Trent is a bridging point of the Fosse Way and River Trent, but is actually an Anglo-Saxon market town with a now ruined castle. Mansfield, the second-largest settlement in the county after Nottingham, sits on the site of a Roman settlement, but grew after the Norman Conquest. Worksop, in the north of the county, is also an Anglo-Saxon market town which grew rapidly in the industrial revolution, with the arrival of canals and railways and the discovery of coal. Other market towns include Arnold, Bingham, Hucknall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Tuxford, Retford and Sutton-in-Ashfield. The main railway in the county is the Midland Main Line, which links London to Sheffield via Nottingham. The Robin Hood Line between Nottingham and Worksop serves several villages in the county. The East Coast Main Line from London to Doncaster, Leeds, York, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Scotland serves the eastern Nottinghamshire towns of Newark and Retford. The M1 motorway runs through the county, connecting Nottingham to London, Leeds, and Leicester by road. The A1 road follows for the most part the path of the Great North Road, although in places it diverges from the historic route where towns have been bypassed. Retford was by-passed in 1961, and Newark-on-Trent was by-passed in 1964, and the A1 now runs between Retford and Worksop past the village of Ranby. Many historic coaching inns can still be seen along the traditional route. East Midlands Airport is just outside the county in Leicestershire, while Doncaster Sheffield Airport lies within the historic boundaries of Nottinghamshire. These airports serve the county and several of its neighbours. Together, the airports have services to most major European destinations, and East Midlands Airport now also has services to North America and the Caribbean. As well as local bus services throughout the county, Nottingham and its suburbs have a tram system, Nottingham Express Transit. Nottingham and its surrounding areas form part of the Nottingham Urban Area while Bassetlaw is a non-constituent part of the Sheffield City Region.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68074

Incheon

Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. Today, about 3 million people live in the city, making it South Korea's third-most-populous city after Seoul and Busan. The city's growth has been assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city and its proximity to the South Korean capital. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province, forming the world's fourth-largest metropolitan area by population. Incheon has since led the economic development of South Korea by opening its port to the outside world, ushering in the modernization of South Korea as a center of industrialization. In 2003, the city was designated as South Korea's first free economic zone. Since then, large local companies and global enterprises have increasingly invested in the Incheon Free Economic Zone, including Samsung which chose Songdo International City as its new investment destination for its bio industry. As an international city, Incheon has held numerous large-scale international conferences, such as the Incheon Global Fair & Festival in 2009. The 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014 was also held in Incheon on 19 September 2014. Incheon has established itself as a major transportation hub in northeast Asia with the Incheon International Airport and Incheon Port. The large volume of port traffic makes Incheon a Large-Port Metropolis using the Southampton System of Port-City classification. History. The first historical record of the Incheon area dates back to 475 CE, during the reign of King Jangsu of Goguryeo, by the name of Michuhol, which is supposed to be located on today's Munhak Hill (). The area underwent several name changes with successive kingdoms and dynasties. In Goryeo era, Incheon was called Gyeongwon () or Inju (). The current name was turned to Incheon in 1413. Later, Incheon County became Incheon Metropolitan Prefecture (dohobu, ). Old Incheon consisted of today's southern Incheon (i.e. Jung-gu, Dong-gu, Nam-gu, Yeonsu-gu, and Namdong-gu) and the northern part of Siheung City. The city center was Gwangyo-dong, where the prefecture office () and the local academy (hyanggyo, ) were located. The "original" two remaining buildings of the Incheon prefecture office are located in Munhak Elementary School, while the newly built (in 2001) prefecture office buildings are right across from Munhak Baseball Stadium. Modern history. Another historical name of the city, Jemulpo (alternatively Romanized as Chemulpo), was not widely used until the opening of the port in 1883. It was frequently used until the Japanese annexation. After the opening of the Incheon port, the city center moved from Gwangyo to Jemulpo. Today, either Jemulpo or Gwangyo-dong is considered "Original Incheon" (). It was internationally known as Jinsen during Japanese rule, based on the Japanese pronunciation of Incheon's Chinese name. In 1914, the Japanese colonial government merged outer parts of old Incheon (including the former center of Gwangyo) with Bupyeong County, forming Bucheon County. Between 1936 and 1940, some part of Bucheon County was recombined into Incheon City, by which some part of "old" Bupyeong was annexed into Incheon. Incheon was originally part of Gyeonggi Province, but was granted "Directly Governed" (now Metropolitan) City status on 1 July 1981; the city officially separated from the province. In 1989, neighboring islands and Gyeyang township of Gimpo County were ceded to Incheon and in 1995 Geomdan township of Gimpo Country and two counties of Ganghwa and Onjin were annexed to Incheon Metropolitan City. Incheon was known as Inchon prior to South Korea's adoption of a new Romanization system in 2000. Major events. The city was the site of the Battle of Chemulpo Bay, where the first shots of the Russo-Japanese War were fired. During the Korean War, Incheon was occupied by North Korean troops on 4 July 1950. Incheon was the site of the Battle of Inchon when the United States troops landed to relieve pressure on the Pusan Perimeter and to launch a United Nations offensive northward. The result was a decisive UN victory and it was recaptured on 19 September 1950. was named after the tide-turning battle that ensued. Prior to and during the June Democratic Movement in 1987, Incheon was the site of several pro-democracy protests. Incheon has also hosted a series of major international events. The Global Fair & Festival 2009 Incheon was held in the Songdo District in August 2009. It was open from 7 August to 25 October for a period of 80 days. It was a comprehensive international event with global institutions and corporations as participants. Various musicians and artists performed during the event. The city hosted a meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers in February 2010. Incheon was the site of the third Global Model United Nations Conference, held from 10 to 14 August 2011. It first hosted the Incheon Women Artists' Biennale in 2004 which expanded into welcoming international artists in its subsequent 2007, 2009 and 2011. Incheon hosted the Asian Games in 2014. It hosted the 6th OECD World Forum in 2018. Incheon was designated as the World Book Capital for the year 2015 by UNESCO. Education. On 27 February 2007, Incheon declared itself an "English City," and inaugurated the "Incheon Free English Zone" program. The goal of the program is to make the city as proficient in English as Singapore. This is for the ultimate purpose of establishing Incheon as a commercial and business hub of northeast Asia (see Free Economic Zone below). The official slogan of the program is "Smile with English." Higher education. Incheon is home to a number of colleges and universities: Climate. Incheon has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: "Cwa"), and humid continental climate (Köppen "Dwa", respectively). Like other metropolitan cities, incheon has a strong urban heat island effect. Incheon's climate is about average compared to the rest of Korea, with 8 locations being cooler and 10 locations being warmer, and with 9 locations being wetter and 9 locations being drier. Incheon experiences each of its four seasons, distinctly feeling the rise and fall of temperature and humidity. The temperature however, never rises to an extreme, and the climate of the city is essentially mild. Incheon is swept by the seasonal winds as the northwesterly winds strike the city in the winter and the summer in Incheon is affected by gusts of the warm southwesterly winds. Economy. Incheon forms the heart of Capital Industrial Region. During the industrialization of South Korea, several industrial complexes were built throughout the city, and as a result, the city was largely dependent on manufacturing industry. But with the designation of Incheon Free Economic Zone in 2003, the city is now making an effort to foster new growth industries. Major industrial parks include Bupyeong industrial complex, which hosts GM Incheon plant(formerly a GM Daewoo Incheon plant), Juan industrial complex, and Namdong Industrial complex. In recent years, bio industry is emerging as a new growth industry of the city. Currently, with the total production capacity of 330kℓ per year, the city ranks 2nd in the world by production capacity along with San Francisco, United States. The capacity is under expansion, and after completion in 2018, the city will rank 1st with the production capacity of 510kℓ. Also, logistics industry is also experiencing a rapid growth, thanks to Incheon Airport, which was ranked fourth in the world by cargo traffic, and the expansion of Incheon Port. Transportation. Incheon is a major domestic and international transport hub for Korea. Air. Incheon International Airport is South Korea's primary international airport and a regional air hub. In 2015, it was the world's 22nd busiest airport by passenger traffic, with 49,412,750 passengers. There were a total of 305,446 flights (300,634 international, 4,812 domestic) to and from Incheon International Airport in 2015, an average of 837 flights (824 international, 13 domestic) daily. Korea's two main carriers, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, serviced 50.9% of flights, while low-cost and foreign carriers serviced the remaining 49.1% of flights. The airport is experiencing a rapid increase in passengers, and the opening of Terminal 2 in December 2017 spurred additional traffic. The airport was also featured in the Korean drama series, "Air City." Incheon International Airport ranked "5th in the world" among international airports. Sea. Incheon's sea port is the second largest port in Korea after Busan Port. The International Passenger Terminal located at the port offers ferries to five cities in China: Dalian, Qingdao, Tianjin, Dandong, and Weihai. There are also ferries to Incheon's outlying islands as well as Baengnyeong Island inside of the Northern Limit Line. Bus. Incheon Bus Terminal, located at its eponymous subway stop, offers express bus transportation to all parts of Korea. Many city bus lines offer transportation within city limits as well as to the neighboring cities of Bucheon, Gimpo, Seoul, and Siheung. Many intercity buses offer transportation between Seoul and Incheon. Train. Local service to Guro, Seoul, Cheongnyangni, Uijeongbu and Soyosan is offered by Seoul's subway Line 1. The line has 11 stations within Incheon and connects to the Incheon Subway at Bupyeong and Juan stations. Rapid service on the same line to Yongsan Station in Seoul depart from Dongincheon station and stops at major stations. The Airport Express (AREX) line runs from Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station via Gimpo International Airport. The Incheon-Gimpo section was opened in March 2007 and was extended to Seoul station in December 2010. Passengers can choose a high-speed service stopping only at Incheon airport and Seoul, which takes 43 minutes but departs only every half-hour; or the all-station service which takes 53 minutes but leaves every six minutes. KTX service was introduced on the AREX line on 30 June 2014, with stops at Incheon International Airport Station and Geomam Station. There are additional plans to use the newly built Suin Line to bring KTX service to Incheon Station by 2021. Subway. The Incheon Subway has two subway lines serving the city. The first line connects to the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system at Bupyeong Station (Seoul Subway Line 1), and AREX line at Gyeyang Station. It connects International Business District Station in Songdo to Gyeyang Station. The line has 28 stations on of track. The line also has transfer stations with the Suin Line at Woninjae Station, with the Incheon Subway Line 2 at Incheon City Hall Station, and with Seoul Subway Line 7 at Bupyeong-gu Office Station. Incheon Subway Line 2 opened in July 2016 and runs from Geomdan Oryu Station to Unyeon Station. The automated line is long, and has 27 stations, including transfer stations at Geomam station with the AREX line, Juan Station with Seoul Subway Line 1 and Incheon Subway Line 2 at Incheon City Hall Station. The Incheon subway is operated by the Incheon Rapid Transit Corporation (IRTC). There are additional plans for a third subway line in Incheon. Korail has also constructed a new commuter rail line named Suin Line. The line opened in 2012 from Oido Station in Siheung to Songdo Station in Incheon. It was then extended in 2016, and now reaches Incheon Station where passengers can transfer to Seoul Subway Line 1. In 2020, the line was extended from Oido Station to Suwon Station. SMRT (one of three operating companies of Seoul Metropolitan Subway) has extended Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 7 to Bupyeong-gu office by 2011 and provided transfers to the Incheon Subway system. It has 3 stations within Incheon. By 2020, the line will further be extended westwards to Seoknam Station where it will be possible to transfer to Incheon Subway Line 2. Free Economic Zone. The Incheon Free Economic Zone consists of the three regions of Songdo, Cheongna, and the island of Yeongjong, and has a total area of . The goal of IFEZ is to transform these three areas into hubs for logistics, international business, leisure, and tourism for the Northeast Asian region. The term 'Free Economic Zone' applies to the development in these three areas with the aim of improving the business environment for foreign-invested enterprises and the living conditions for foreigners. The zone is a specially designated area to create the most favorable business and living environment where foreign nationals can live and invest freely and conveniently. Incheon's Free Economic Zone, the first in Korea, was officially designated by the Korean government in August 2003. IFEZ is planned to be a self-contained living and business district featuring air and sea transportation, a logistics complex, an international business center, financial services, residences, schools and hospitals, and shopping and entertainment centres. New Songdo City. Songdo International City began development in 1994 and is being built on reclaimed land. It is designated to become a center of diverse international businesses, a hub for international trade, an area for knowledge-based technologies, and a place for eco-friendly urban living. Construction is due to be completed in 2020. Yeongjong Island. , Yeongjong International City's centering on the Incheon International Airport is being developed as an eco-friendly airport city scheduled to be completed by 2020. Paradise Co, a South Korean casino operator, said in October 2013 that it will build the country's largest casino on Yeongjong Island. Cheongna. The Cheongna district, on the mainland adjacent Yeongjong Island, will focus on entertainment and will feature a world class theme park. It will also be a residential area with sports facilities, a floriculture complex, and a business area specially designed for international finance. Administrative divisions. Incheon is divided into 8 districts ("gu") and 2 counties ("gun"). Demographics. According to the 2015 census, 32.6% of the population follow Christianity (23.1% Protestantism and 9.5% Catholicism) and 8.7% follow Buddhism. 57.9% of the population is irreligious. 0.8% of the population follow other religions including Islam, Muism, and Confucianism. Sports. Incheon is home to the following professional and semi professional sports teams: Association football: The K League 1 team Incheon United FC. The Incheon team was known to have a popular rivalry against former Bucheon SK (now Jeju United), due to the teams' close geographical relationship. The K4 League team FC Namdong is based in the Namdong District of Incheon. The WK League team is named Hyundai Steel Red Angels. Baseball: The KBO League team SSG Landers. The first Incheon-based professional baseball team were Sammi Superstars. Basketball: The WKBL team Incheon Shinhan Bank S-Birds is based in Incheon. Between 1997 and 2021, Incheon hosted the KBL team Incheon Electroland Elephants. Volleyball: The V-League teams are Incheon Korean Air Jumbos (men's) and Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders (women's). Munhak Sports Complex: The Munhak Sports Complex houses both a football stadium and a baseball stadium. The football stadium was Incheon's venue for the 2002 Football World Cup, and is also the home venue for Incheon United. The baseball stadium is the home venue for the SSG Landers. In April 2007, Incheon was selected as the host city for the 2014 Asian Games, beating out New Delhi. Yeonhui Cricket Ground: Yeonhui Cricket Ground is a purpose-built cricket stadium in Incheon built for cricket events at the 2014 Asian Games. The 2014 Asian Games featured cricket for both the men's and the women's event and this ground was used for the scheduled cricket matches played at the games. It is the first cricket stadium in South Korea. Incheon Football Stadium (Sungui Arena): Incheon Football Stadium is the first football-only stadium in Incheon. It was built in 2012 with a capacity for 20,891 spectators. Points of interest. A number of Korea's western islands, including Ganghwa Island, Yeongjong Island, and Baengnyeong Island are also administered by Incheon. Baengnyeong Island is South Korea's westernmost point. International relations. Incheon is twinned with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68198

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has played its home matches in the 62,850-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since April 2019, replacing their former home of White Hart Lane, which had been demolished to make way for the new stadium on the same site. Founded in 1882, Tottenham's emblem is a cockerel standing upon a football, with the Latin motto "Audere est Facere" ("to dare is to do"). The club has traditionally worn white shirts and navy blue shorts as their home kit since the 1898–99 season. Their training ground is on Hotspur Way in Bulls Cross, Enfield. After its inception, Tottenham won the FA Cup for the first time in 1901, the only non-League club to do so since the formation of the Football League in 1888. Tottenham were the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960–61 season. After successfully defending the FA Cup in 1962, in 1963 they became the first British club to win a UEFA club competition – the European Cup Winners' Cup. They were also the inaugural winners of the UEFA Cup in 1972, becoming the first British club to win two different major European trophies. They collected at least one major trophy in each of the six decades from the 1950s to 2000s, an achievement only matched by Manchester United. In domestic football, Spurs have won two league titles, eight FA Cups, four League Cups, and seven FA Community Shields. In European football, they have won one European Cup Winners' Cup and two UEFA Cups. Tottenham were also runners-up in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Arsenal, with whom they contest the North London derby. Tottenham is owned by ENIC Group, which purchased the club in 2001. The club was estimated to be worth £1.9 billion ($2.35 billion) in 2022, and it was the ninth-highest-earning football club in the world, with an annual revenue of £442.8 million in 2022. History. Formation and early years (1882–1908). Originally named Hotspur Football Club, the club was formed on 5 September 1882 by a group of schoolboys led by Bobby Buckle. They were members of the Hotspur Cricket Club and the football club was formed to play sports during the winter months. A year later the boys sought help with the club from John Ripsher, the Bible class teacher at All Hallows Church, who became the first president of the club and its treasurer. Ripsher helped and supported the boys through the club's formative years, reorganised and found premises for the club. In April 1884 the club was renamed "Tottenham Hotspur Football Club" to avoid confusion with another London club named Hotspur, whose post had been mistakenly delivered to North London. Nicknames for the club include "Spurs" and "the Lilywhites". Initially, the north London side played games between themselves and friendly matches against other local clubs. The first recorded match took place on 30 September 1882 against a local team named the Radicals, which Hotspur lost 2–0. The team entered their first cup competition in the London Association Cup, and won 5–2 in their first competitive match on 17 October 1885 against a company's works team called St Albans. The club's fixtures began to attract the interest of the local community and attendances at its home matches increased. In 1892, they played for the first time in a league, the short-lived Southern Alliance. The club turned professional on 20 December 1895 and, in the summer of 1896, was admitted to Division One of the Southern League (the third tier at the time). On 2 March 1898, the club also became a limited company, the Tottenham Hotspur Football and Athletic Company. Soon after, Frank Brettell became the first ever manager of Spurs, and he signed John Cameron, who took over as player-manager when Brettell left a year later. Cameron would have a significant impact on Spurs, helping the club win its first trophy, the Southern League title in the 1899–1900 season. The following year Spurs won the 1901 FA Cup by beating Sheffield United 3–1 in a replay of the final, after the first game ended in a 2–2 draw. In doing so they became the only non-League club to achieve the feat since the formation of The Football League in 1888. Early decades in the Football League (1908–1958). In 1908, the club was elected into the Football League Second Division and won promotion to the First Division in their first season, finishing runners-up. In 1912, Peter McWilliam became manager; Tottenham finished bottom of the league at the end of the 1914–15 season when football was suspended due to the First World War. Spurs were relegated to the Second Division on the resumption of league football after the war, but quickly returned to the First Division as Second Division champions of the 1919–20 season. On 23 April 1921, McWilliam guided Spurs to their second FA Cup win, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 in the Cup Final. Spurs finished second to Liverpool in the league in 1922, but would finish mid-table in the next five seasons. Spurs were relegated in the 1927–28 season after McWilliam left. For most of the 1930s and 40s, Spurs languished in the Second Division, apart from a brief return to the top flight in the 1933–34 and 1934–35 seasons. Former Spurs player Arthur Rowe became manager in 1949. Rowe developed a style of play, known as "push and run", that proved to be successful in his early years as manager. He took the team back to the First Division after finishing top of the Second Division in the 1949–50 season. In his second season in charge, Tottenham won their first ever top-tier league championship title when they finished top of the First Division for the 1950–51 season. Rowe resigned in April 1955 due to a stress-induced illness from managing the club. Before he left, he signed one of Spurs' most celebrated players, Danny Blanchflower, who won the FWA Footballer of the Year twice while at Tottenham. Bill Nicholson and the glory years (1958–1974). Bill Nicholson took over as manager in October 1958. He became the club's most successful manager, guiding the team to major trophy success three seasons in a row in the early 1960s: the Double in 1961, the FA Cup in 1962 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963. Nicholson signed Dave Mackay and John White in 1959, two influential players of the Double-winning team, and Jimmy Greaves in 1961, the most prolific goal-scorer in the history of the top tier of English football. The 1960–61 season started with a run of 11 wins, followed by a draw and another four wins, at that time the best ever start by any club in the top flight of English football. The title was won on 17 April 1961 when they beat the eventual runner-up Sheffield Wednesday at home 2–1, with three more games still to play. The Double was achieved when Spurs won 2–0 against Leicester City in the final of the 1960–61 FA Cup. It was the first Double of the 20th century, and the first since Aston Villa achieved the feat in 1897. The next year Spurs won their consecutive FA Cup after beating Burnley in the 1962 FA Cup Final. On 15 May 1963, Tottenham became the first British team to win a European trophy by winning the 1962–63 European Cup Winners' Cup when they beat Atlético Madrid 5–1 in the final. Spurs also became the first British team to win two different European trophies when they won the 1971–72 UEFA Cup with a rebuilt team that included Martin Chivers, Pat Jennings, and Steve Perryman. They had also won the FA Cup in 1967, two League Cups (in 1971 and 1973), as well as a second place league finish (1962–63) and runners-up to the 1973–74 UEFA Cup. In total, Nicholson won eight major trophies in his 16 years at the club as manager. Burkinshaw to Venables (1974–1992). Spurs went into a period of decline after the successes of the early 1970s, and Nicholson resigned after a poor start to the 1974–75 season. The team was then relegated at the end of the 1976–77 season with Keith Burkinshaw as manager. Burkinshaw quickly returned the club to the top flight, building a team that included Glenn Hoddle, as well as two Argentinians, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, which was unusual as players from outside the British Isles were rare at that time. The team that Burkinshaw rebuilt went on to win the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 and the UEFA Cup in 1984. The 1980s was a period of change that began with a new phase of redevelopment at White Hart Lane, as well as a change of directors. Irving Scholar took over the club and moved it in a more commercial direction, the beginning of the transformation of English football clubs into commercial enterprises. Debt at the club would again lead to a change in the boardroom, and Terry Venables teamed up with businessman Alan Sugar in June 1991 to take control of Tottenham Hotspur plc. Venables, who had become manager in 1987, signed players such as Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker. Under Venables, Spurs won the 1990–91 FA Cup, making them the first club to win eight FA Cups. Premier League football (1992–present). Tottenham was one of the five clubs that pushed for the founding of the Premier League, created with the approval of The Football Association, replacing the Football League First Division as the highest division of English football. Despite a succession of managers and players such as Teddy Sheringham, Jürgen Klinsmann and David Ginola, for a long period in the Premier League until the late 2000s, Spurs finished mid-table most seasons with few trophies won. They won the League Cup in 1999 under George Graham, and again in 2008 under Juande Ramos. Performance improved under Harry Redknapp with players such as Gareth Bale and Luka Modrić, and the club finished in the top five in the early 2010s. In February 2001, Sugar sold his shareholding in Spurs to ENIC Sports plc, run by Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy, and stepped down as chairman. Lewis and Levy would eventually own 85% of the club, with Levy responsible for the running of the club. They appointed Mauricio Pochettino as head coach, who was in the role between 2014 and 2019. Under Pochettino, Spurs finished second in the 2016–17 season, their highest league finish since the 1962–63 season, and advanced to the UEFA Champions League final in 2019, the club's first, where they ultimately lost to Liverpool 2–0. Pochettino was subsequently sacked after a poor start to the 2019–20 season, in November 2019, and was replaced by José Mourinho. Mourinho was sacked in April 2021, while Nuno Espírito Santo lasted just four months as his successor. The next manager, Antonio Conte, guided Spurs to fourth during the 2021–22 season and back to a Champions League place. Following a poor run of form, Conte criticised the players and management of the club in press conferences; after exiting both the Champions League and FA Cup, he departed the club by mutual agreement in March 2023. Ange Postecoglou took over as head coach on 1 July 2023. Stadiums. Early grounds. Spurs played their early matches on public land at the Park Lane end of Tottenham Marshes, where they had to mark out and prepare their own pitch. Occasionally fights broke out on the marshes in disputes with other teams over the use of the ground. The first Spurs game reported by the local press took place on Tottenham Marshes on 6 October 1883 against Brownlow Rovers, which Spurs won 9–0. It was at this ground that, in 1887, Spurs first played the team that would later become their arch rivals, Arsenal (then known as Royal Arsenal), leading 2–1 until the match was called off due to poor light after the away team arrived late. As they played on public parkland, the club could not charge admission fees and, while the number of spectators grew to a few thousand, it yielded no gate receipts. In 1888, the club rented a pitch between numbers 69 and 75 Northumberland Park at a cost of £17 per annum, where spectators were charged 3d a game, raised to 6d for cup ties. The first game at the Park was played on 13 October 1888, a reserve match that yielded gate receipts of 17 shillings. The first stand with just over 100 seats and changing rooms underneath was built at the ground for the 1894–95 season at a cost of £60. However, the stand was blown down a few weeks later and had to be repaired. In April 1898, 14,000 fans turned up to watch Spurs play Woolwich Arsenal. Spectators climbed on the roof of the refreshment stand for a better view of the match. The stand collapsed, causing a few injuries. As Northumberland Park could no longer cope with the larger crowds, Spurs were forced to look for a larger ground and moved to the White Hart Lane site in 1899. White Hart Lane. The White Hart Lane ground was built on an unused plant nursery owned by the Charrington Brewery and located behind a public house named the White Hart on Tottenham High Road (the road White Hart Lane actually lies a few hundred yards north of the main entrance). The ground was initially leased from Charringtons, and the stands they used at Northumberland Park were moved here, giving shelter for 2,500 spectators. Notts County were the first visitors to 'the Lane' in a friendly watched by 5,000 people and yielding £115 in receipts; Spurs won 4–1. Queens Park Rangers became the first competitive visitors to the ground and 11,000 people saw them lose 1–0 to Tottenham. In 1905, Tottenham raised enough money to buy the freehold to the land, as well as land at the northern (Paxton Road) end. After Spurs were admitted to the Football League, the club started to build a new stadium, with stands designed by Archibald Leitch being constructed over the next two and a half decades. The West Stand was added in 1909, the East Stand was also covered this year and extended further two years later. The profits from the 1921 FA Cup win were used to build a covered terrace at the Paxton Road end and the Park Lane end was built at a cost of over £3,000 some two years later. This increased the stadium's capacity to around 58,000, with room for 40,000 under cover. The East Stand (Worcester Avenue) was finished in 1934 and this increased capacity to around 80,000 spectators and cost £60,000. Starting in the early 1980s, the stadium underwent another major phase of redevelopment. The West Stand was replaced by an expensive new structure in 1982, and the East Stand was renovated in 1988. In 1992, following the Taylor Report's recommendation that Premier League clubs eliminate standing areas, the lower terraces of the south and east stand were converted to seating, with the North Stand becoming all-seater the following season. The South Stand redevelopment was completed in March 1995 and included the first giant Sony Jumbotron TV screen for live game coverage and away match screenings. In the 1997–98 season the Paxton Road stand received a new upper tier and a second Jumbotron screen. Minor amendments to the seating configuration were made in 2006, bringing the capacity of the stadium to 36,310. By the turn of the millennium, the capacity of White Hart Lane had become lower than other major Premier League clubs. Talks began over the future of the ground with a number of schemes considered, such as increasing the stadium capacity through redevelopment of the current site, or using of the 2012 London Olympic Stadium in Stratford. Eventually the club settled on the Northumberland Development Project, whereby a new stadium would be built on a larger piece of land that incorporated the existing site. In 2016, the northeast corner of the stadium was removed to facilitate the construction of the new stadium. As this reduced the stadium capacity below that required for European games, Tottenham Hotspur played every European home game in 2016–17 at Wembley Stadium. Domestic fixtures of the 2016–17 season continued to be played at the Lane, but demolition of the rest of the stadium started the day after the last game of the season, and White Hart Lane was completely demolished by the end of July 2017. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In October 2008, the club announced a plan to build a new stadium immediately to the north of the existing White Hart Lane stadium, with the southern half of the new stadium's pitch overlapping the northern part of the Lane. This proposal would become the Northumberland Development Project. The club submitted a planning application in October 2009 but, following critical reactions to the plan, it was withdrawn in favour of a substantially revised planning application for the stadium and other associated developments. The new plan was resubmitted and approved by Haringey Council in September 2010, and an agreement for the Northumberland Development Project was signed on 20 September 2011. After a long delay over the compulsory purchase order of local businesses located on land to the north of the stadium and a legal challenge against the order, resolved in early 2015, planning application for another new design was approved by Haringey Council on 17 December 2015. Construction started in 2016, and the new stadium was scheduled to open during the 2018–19 season. While it was under construction, all Tottenham home games in the 2017–18 season as well as all but five in 2018–19 were played at Wembley Stadium. After two successful test events, Tottenham Hotspur officially moved into the new ground on 3 April 2019 with a Premier League match against Crystal Palace which Spurs won 2–0. The new stadium is called Tottenham Hotspur Stadium while a naming-rights agreement is reached. Training grounds. An early training ground used by Tottenham was located at Brookfield Lane in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. The club bought the 11-acre ground used by Cheshunt F.C. in 1952 for £35,000. It had three pitches, including a small stadium with a small stand used for matches by the junior team. The ground was later sold for over £4 million, and the club moved the training ground to the Spurs Lodge on Luxborough Lane, Chigwell in Essex, opened in September 1996 by Tony Blair. The training ground and press centre in Chigwell were used until 2014. In 2007, Tottenham bought a site at Bulls Cross in Enfield, a few miles south of their former ground in Cheshunt. A new training ground was constructed at the site for £45 million, which opened in 2012. The 77-acre site has 15 grass pitches and one-and-a-half artificial pitches, as well as a covered artificial pitch in the main building. The main building on Hotspur Way also has hydrotherapy and swimming pools, gyms, medical facilities, dining and rest areas for players as well as classrooms for academy and schoolboy players. A 45-bedroom players lodge with catering, treatment, rest and rehabilitation facilities was later added at Myddleton Farm next to the training site in 2018. The lodge is mainly used by Tottenham's first team and Academy players, but it has also been used by national football teams – the first visitors to use the facilities at the site were the Brazilian team in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Crest. Since the 1921 FA Cup Final the Tottenham Hotspur crest has featured a cockerel. Harry Hotspur, after whom the club is named, was said to have been given the nickname Hotspur as he dug in his spurs to make his horse go faster as he charged in battles, and spurs are also associated with fighting cocks. The club used spurs as a symbol in 1900, which then evolved into a fighting cock. A former player named William James Scott made a bronze cast of a cockerel standing on a football at a cost of £35 (), and this figure was then placed on top of the West Stand the end of the 1909–10 season. Since then the cockerel and ball emblem has become a part of the club's identity. The club badge on the shirt used in 1921 featured a cockerel within a shield, but it was changed to a cockerel sitting on a ball in the late 1960s. Between 1956 and 2006 Spurs used a faux heraldic shield featuring a number of local landmarks and associations. The castle is Bruce Castle, 400 yards from the ground and the trees are the Seven Sisters. The arms featured the Latin motto "Audere Est Facere" (to dare is to do). In 1983, to overcome unauthorised "pirate" merchandising, the club's badge was altered by adding the two red heraldic lions to flank the shield (which came from the arms of the Northumberland family, of which Harry Hotspur was a member), as well as the motto scroll. This device appeared on Spurs' playing kits for three seasons 1996–99. In 2006, in order to rebrand and modernise the club's image, the club badge and coat of arms were replaced by a professionally designed logo/emblem. This revamp displayed a sleeker and more elegant cockerel standing on an old-time football. The club claimed that they dropped their club name and would be using the rebranded logo only on playing kits. In November 2013, Tottenham forced non-league club Fleet Spurs to change their badge because its new design was "too similar" to the Tottenham crest. In 2017, Spurs added a shield around the cockerel logo on the shirts similar to the 1950s badge, but with the cockerel of modern design. The shield was however removed the following season. Kit. The first Tottenham kit recorded in 1883 included a navy blue shirt with a letter H on a scarlet shield on the left breast, and white breeches. In 1884 or 1885, the club changed to a "quartered" kit similar to Blackburn Rovers after watching them win in the 1884 FA Cup Final. After they moved to Northumberland Park in 1888, they returned to the navy blue shirts for the 1889–90 season. Their kit changed again to red shirt and blue shorts in 1890, and for a time the team were known as 'the Tottenham Reds'. Five years later in 1895, the year they became a professional club, they switched to a chocolate and gold striped kit. In the 1898–99 season, their final year at Northumberland Park, the club switched colours to white shirts and blue shorts, same colour choice as that for Preston North End. White and navy blue have remained as the club's basic colours ever since, with the white shirts giving the team the nickname "The Lilywhites". In 1921, the year they won the FA Cup, the cockerel badge was added to the shirt for the final. A club crest has featured on the shirt since, and Spurs became the first major club to have its club crest on the players shirt on every match apart from the war years. In 1939 numbers first appeared on shirt backs. In the early days, the team played in kits sold by local outfitters. An early supplier of Spurs' jerseys recorded was a firm on Seven Sisters Road, HR Brookes. In the 1920s, Bukta produced the jerseys for the club. From the mid-1930s onwards, Umbro was the supplier for forty years. In 1959, the V-neck shirt replaced the collared shirts of the past, and then in 1963, the crew neck shirt appeared (the style has fluctuated since). In 1961, Bill Nicholson sent Spurs players out to play in white instead of navy shorts for their European campaign, starting a tradition which continues to this day in European competitions. In 1977, a deal was signed with Admiral to supply the team their kits. Although Umbro kits in generic colours had been sold to football fans since 1959, it was with the Admiral deal that the market for replica shirts started to take off. Admiral changed the plain colours of earlier strips to shirts with more elaborate designs, which included manufacturer's logos, stripes down the arms and trims on the edges. Admiral was replaced by Le Coq Sportif in the summer of 1980. In 1985, Spurs entered into a business partnership with Hummel, who then supplied the strips. However, the attempt by Tottenham to expand the business side of the club failed, and in 1991, they returned to Umbro. In 1991, the club was the first to wear long-cut shorts, an innovation at a time when football kits all featured shorts cut well above the knee. Umbro was followed by Pony in 1995, Adidas in 1999, Kappa in 2002, and a five-year deal with Puma in 2006. In March 2011, Under Armour announced a five-year deal to supply Spurs with shirts and other apparel from the start of 2012–13, with the home, away and the third kits revealed in July and August 2012. The shirts incorporate technology that can monitor the players' heart rate and temperature and send the biometric data to the coaching staff. In June 2017, it was announced that Nike would be their new kits supplier, with the 2017–18 kit released on 30 June, featuring the Spurs' crest encased in a shield, paying homage to Spurs' 1960–61 season, where they became the first post-war-club to win both the Football League First Division and the FA Cup. In October 2018, Nike agreed a 15-year deal reportedly worth £30 million a year with the club to supply their kits until 2033. Shirt sponsorship in English football was first adopted by the non-league club Kettering Town F.C. in 1976 despite it being banned by the FA. FA soon lifted the ban, and this practice spread to the major clubs when sponsored shirts were allowed on non-televised games in 1979, and then on televised games as well in 1983. In December 1983, after the club was floated on the London Stock Exchange, Holsten became the first commercial sponsor logo to appear on a Spurs shirt. When Thomson was chosen as kit sponsor in 2002 some Tottenham fans were unhappy as the shirt-front logo was red, the colour of their closest rivals, Arsenal. In 2006, Tottenham secured a £34 million sponsorship deal with internet casino group Mansion.com. In July 2010, Spurs announced a two-year shirt sponsorship contract with software infrastructure company Autonomy said to be worth £20 million. A month later they unveiled a £5 million deal with leading specialist bank and asset management firm Investec as shirt sponsor for the Champions League and domestic cup competitions for the next two years. Since 2014, AIA has been the main shirt sponsor, initially in a deal worth over £16 million annually, increased to a reported £40 to £45 million per year in 2019 in an eight-year deal that lasts until 2027. In 2023, Tottenham provisionally agreed a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with South Africa Tourism (SAT) starting in 2023/24 and ending in the 2026/27 season. Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors. 1 Only appeared in the Premier League. Investec Bank appeared in the Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League. 2 Aurasma is a subsidiary of the Autonomy Corporation. 3 Hewlett-Packard is the parent company of the Autonomy Corporation and only appeared in the Premier League. AIA appeared in the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League. Ownership. Tottenham Hotspur F.C. became a limited company, the Tottenham Hotspur Football and Athletic Company Ltd, on 2 March 1898 so as to raise funds for the club and limit the personal liability of its members. 8,000 shares were issued at £1 each, although only 1,558 shares were taken up in the first year. 4,892 shares were sold in total by 1905. A few families held significant shares; they included the Wale family, who had association with the club since the 1930s, as well as the Richardson and the Bearman families. From 1943 to 1984, members of these families were chairmen of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. after Charles Robert who had been chairman since 1898 died. In the early 1980s, cost overruns in the construction of a new West Stand together with the cost of rebuilding the team in previous years led to accumulating debts. In November 1982, a fan of the club Irving Scholar bought 25% of Tottenham for £600,000, and together with Paul Bobroff gained control of the club. In order to bring in funds, Scholar floated Tottenham Hotspur plc, which wholly owns the football club, on the London Stock Exchange in 1983, the first European sports club to be listed in a stock market, and became the first sports company to go public. Fans and institutions alike can now freely buy and trade shares in the company; a court ruling in 1935 involving the club ("Berry and Stewart v Tottenham Hotspur FC Ltd") had previously established a precedent in company law that the directors of a company can refuse the transfer of shares from a shareholder to another person. The share issue was successful with 3.8 million shares quickly sold. However, ill-judged business decisions under Scholar led to financial difficulties, and in June 1991 Terry Venables teamed up with businessman Alan Sugar to buy the club, initially as equal partner with each investing £3.25 million. Sugar increased his stake to £8 million by December 1991 and became the dominant partner with effective control of the club. In May 1993, Venables was sacked from the board after a dispute. By 2000, Sugar began to consider selling the club, and in February 2001, he sold the major part of his shareholding to ENIC International Ltd. The majority shareholder, ENIC International Ltd, is an investment company established by the British billionaire Joe Lewis. Daniel Levy, Lewis's partner at ENIC, is Executive Chairman of the club. They first acquired 29.9% share of the club in 1991, of which 27% was bought from Sugar for £22 million. Shareholding by ENIC increased over the decade through the purchase of the remaining 12% holding of Alan Sugar in 2007 for £25m, and the 9.9% stake belonging to Stelios Haji-Ioannou through Hodram Inc. in 2009. On 21 August 2009 the club reported that they had issued a further 30 million shares to fund the initial development costs of the new stadium project, and that 27.8 million of these new shares had been purchased by ENIC. The Annual Report for 2010 indicated that ENIC had acquired 76% of all Ordinary Shares and also held 97% of all convertible redeemable preference shares, equivalent to a holding of 85% of share capital. The remaining shares are held by over 30,000 individuals. Between 2001 and 2011 shares in Tottenham Hotspur F.C. were listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM index). Following an announcement at the 2011 AGM, in January 2012 Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that the club had delisted its shares from the stock market, taking it into private ownership. Lewis' shares are owned by the Lewis Family Trusts. In October of 2022, Lewis ceased to be a person with significant control of the club, following a reorganisation of the Trusts. The club continues to be owned by Levy and the Lewis trusts and, in the summer of 2022, ENIC intended to inject up to £150 million into the club by the issuing of new shares. Only £100 million of shares were subscribed for and this took ENIC's shareholding up to 86.58%. Support. Tottenham has a large fan base in the United Kingdom, drawn largely from North London and the Home counties. The attendance figures for its home matches, however, have fluctuated over the years. Five times between 1950 and 1962, Tottenham had the highest average attendance in England. Tottenham was 9th in average attendances for the 2008–09 Premier League season, and 11th for all Premier League seasons. In the 2017–18 season when Tottenham used Wembley as its home ground, it had the second-highest attendance in the Premier League. It also holds the record for attendance in the Premier League, with 83,222 attending the North London derby on 10 February 2018. Historical supporters of the club have included such figures as philosopher A.J. Ayer. There are many official supporters' clubs located around the world, while an independent supporters club, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust, is officially recognised by the club as the representative body for Spurs supporters. Historically, the club had a significant Jewish following from the Jewish communities in east and north London, with around a third of its supporters estimated to be Jewish in the 1930s. Due to this early support, all three chairmen of the club since 1984 have been Jewish businessmen with prior history of supporting the club. The club no longer has a greater Jewish contingent among its fans than other major London clubs (Jewish supporters are estimated to form at most 5% of its fanbase), though it is nevertheless still identified as a Jewish club by rival fans. Antisemitic chants directed at the club and its supporters by rival fans have been heard since the 1960s, with words such as "Yids" or "Yiddos" used against Tottenham supporters. In response to the abusive chants, Tottenham supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, began to chant back the insults and adopt the "Yids" or "Yid Army" identity starting from around the late 1970s or early 1980s. Some fans view adopting "Yid" as a badge of pride, helping defuse its power as an insult. The use of "Yid" as a self-identification, however, has been controversial; some argued that the word is offensive and its use by Spurs fans "legitimis[es] references to Jews in football", and that such racist abuse should be stamped out in football. Both the World Jewish Congress and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have denounced the use of the word by fans. Others, such as former Prime Minister David Cameron, argued that its use by the Spurs fans is not motivated by hate as it is not used pejoratively, and therefore cannot be considered hate speech. Attempts to prosecute Tottenham fans who chanted the words have failed, as the Crown Prosecution Service considered that the words as used by Tottenham fans could not be judged legally "threatening, abusive or insulting". Fan culture. There are a number of songs associated with the club and frequently sung by Spurs fans, such as "Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur". The song originated in 1961 after Spurs completed the Double in 1960–61, and the club entered the European Cup for the first time. Their first opponents were Górnik Zabrze, the Polish champions, and after a hard-fought match Spurs suffered a 4–2 reverse. Tottenham's tough tackling prompted the Polish press to write that "they were no angels". These comments incensed a group of three fans and for the return match at White Hart Lane they dressed as angels wearing white sheets fashioned into togas, sandals, false beards and carrying placards bearing biblical-type slogans. The angels were allowed on the perimeter of the pitch and their fervour whipped up the home fans who responded with a rendition of "Glory Glory Hallelujah", which is still sung on terraces at White Hart Lane and other football grounds. The Lilywhites also responded to the atmosphere to win the tie 8–1. Then manager of Spurs, Bill Nicholson, wrote in his autobiography: There had been a number of incidents of hooliganism involving Spurs fans, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. Significant events include the rioting by Spurs fans in Rotterdam at the 1974 UEFA Cup Final against Feyenoord, and again during the 1983–84 UEFA Cup matches against Feyenoord in Rotterdam and Anderlecht in Brussels. Although fan violence has since abated, the occasional incidence of hooliganism continues to be reported. Rivalries. Tottenham supporters have rivalries with several clubs, mainly within the London area. The fiercest of these is with north London rivals Arsenal. The rivalry began in 1913 when Arsenal moved from the Manor Ground, Plumstead to Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, and this rivalry intensified in 1919 when Arsenal were unexpectedly promoted to the First Division, taking a place that Tottenham believed should have been theirs. Tottenham also share notable rivalries with fellow London clubs Chelsea and West Ham United. The rivalry with Chelsea is secondary in importance to the one with Arsenal and began when Tottenham beat Chelsea in the 1967 FA Cup Final, the first ever all-London final. West Ham fans view Tottenham as a bitter rival, although the animosity is not reciprocated to the same extent by Tottenham fans. Social responsibility. The club through its Community Programme has, since 2006, been working with Haringey Council and the Metropolitan Housing Trust and the local community on developing sports facilities and social programmes which have also been financially supported by Barclays Spaces for Sport and the Football Foundation. The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation received high-level political support from the prime minister when it was launched at 10 Downing Street in February 2007. In March 2007 the club announced a partnership with the charity SOS Children's Villages UK, whereby player fines would go towards this charity's children's village in Rustenburg, South Africa to support of a variety of community development projects in and around Rustenburg. In the financial year 2006–07, Tottenham topped a league of Premier League charitable donations when viewed both in overall terms and as a percentage of turnover by giving £4,545,889, including a one-off contribution of £4.5 million over four years, to set up the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. In contrast, they have successfully sought the reduction of section 106 planning obligations connected to the redevelopment of the stadium in the Northumberland Development Project. Initially the development would incorporate 50% affordable housing, but this requirement was later waived, and a payment of £16m for community infrastructure was reduced to £0.5m. This is controversial in an area which has suffered high levels of deprivation as Spurs had bought up properties for redevelopment, removing existing jobs and businesses for property development but not creating enough new jobs for the area. The club however argued that the project, when completed, would support 3,500 jobs and inject an estimated £293 million into the local economy annually, and that it would serve as the catalyst for a wider 20-year regeneration programme for the Tottenham area. In other developments in Tottenham, the club has built 256 affordable homes and a 400-pupil primary school. London Academy of Excellence. As part of the development of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the club built an elite educational facility to sit alongside its club offices. The London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET) is a state-funded Sixth Form, sponsored by the Club and Highgate School - the principle academic sponsors who deliver expert teaching. LAET was named the Sunday Times Sixth Form College of the Year, 2020 by Parent Power, The Sunday Times School Guide. In 2022, LAET achieved an 'Outstanding' Ofsted rating across all areas. Environmental sustainability. Spurs are one of the high profile participants in the project, which they joined in 2009. In a year, the carbon emissions were reduced by 14%, an estimated 400 tonnes of carbon. The club further said it is dedicated to minimising the environmental impact of its activities across all operations, setting targets to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and become net-zero by 2040. In September 2021, the club partnered with Sky Sports to host the world's first net-zero carbon top-level football game. The initiative won in the Sustainability category at the 2022 Football Business Awards. In 2023, the club was ranked top in Premier League's "Sustainability Rankings" for fourth year running. Statistics and records. Steve Perryman holds the appearance record for Spurs, having played 854 games for the club between 1969 and 1986, of which 655 were league matches. Harry Kane holds the club goal scoring record with 280 goals scored. Tottenham's record league win is 9–0 against Bristol Rovers in the Second Division on 22 October 1977. The club's record cup victory came on 3 February 1960 with a 13–2 win over Crewe Alexandra in the FA Cup. Spurs' biggest top-flight victory came against Wigan Athletic on 22 November 2009, when they won 9–1 with Jermain Defoe scoring five goals. The club's record defeat is an 8–0 loss to 1. FC Köln in the Intertoto Cup on 22 July 1995. The record home attendance at White Hart Lane was 75,038 on 5 March 1938 in a cup tie against Sunderland. The highest recorded home attendances were at their temporary home, Wembley Stadium, due to its higher capacity – 85,512 spectators were present on 2 November 2016 for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen, while 83,222 attended the North London derby against Arsenal on 10 February 2018 which is the highest attendance recorded for any Premier League game. The club is ranked No. 21 by UEFA with a club coefficient of 80.0 points . Managers and players. Club hall of fame. The following players are noted as "greats" for their contributions to the club or have been inducted into the club's Hall of Fame: The most recent additions to the club's Hall of Fame are Steve Perryman and Jimmy Greaves on 20 April 2016. Tottenham Hotspur Women. Tottenham's women's team was founded in 1985 as Broxbourne Ladies. They started using the Tottenham Hotspur name for the 1991–92 season and played in the London and South East Women's Regional Football League (then fourth tier of the game). They won promotion after topping the league in 2007–08. In the 2016–17 season they won the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division and a subsequent playoff, gaining promotion to the FA Women's Super League 2. On 1 May 2019 Tottenham Hotspur Ladies won promotion to the FA Women's Super League with a 1–1 draw at Aston Villa, which confirmed they would finish second in the Championship. Tottenham Hotspur Ladies changed their name to Tottenham Hotspur Women in the 2019–20 season. Tottenham Hotspur Women announced the signing of Cho So-hyun on 29 January 2021. With her Korean men's counterpart Son Heung-min already at the club it gave Spurs the rare distinction of having both the men's and women's Korean National Team captains at one club. Formula racing. Tottenham Hotspur competed in Superleague Formula for three seasons from 2008 to 2010. Duncan Tappy was the main driver in the first season racing 10 times with 3 podium finishes. In 2010 Tottenham won the trophy with driver Craig Dolby. Through its partnership with F1, the club will also introduce Go Karting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68203

Hove

Hove ( ) is a seaside resort. It is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex, England. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in response to the development of its eastern neighbour Brighton; by the Victorian era it was a fully developed town with borough status. Neighbouring parishes such as Aldrington and Hangleton were annexed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The neighbouring urban district of Portslade was merged with Hove in 1974. In 1997, as part of local government reform, the borough merged with Brighton to form the Borough of Brighton and Hove; this unitary authority was granted city status in 2000. Name and etymology. Old spellings of Hove include Hou (Domesday Book, 1086), la Houue (1288), Huua (13th century), Houve (13th and 14th centuries), Huve (14th and 15th centuries), Hova (16th century) and Hoova (1675). The etymology was disputed at length during the 20th century as academics offered several competing theories. Suggestions included an Old Norse word meaning "hall", "sanctuary" or "barrow", in reference to the Bronze Age barrow near the present Palmeira Square; an Old English phrase "æt þæm hofe" meaning "at the hall"; the Old English "hufe" meaning "shelter" or "covering"; and the Middle English "hofe" meaning "anchorage". No other places in Britain are called Hove, and single-syllable names as a whole are rare in Sussex. The modern name was originally pronounced "Hoove" (). The present pronunciation () "is comparatively recent". Geography and topography. Northern parts of Hove are built on chalk beds, part of the White Chalk Subgroup found across southeast England. There are also extensive areas of clay and sandy soil: areas of Woolwich Formation and Reading Formation clay, pockets of clay embedded with flint, and a large deposit of brickearth in the Aldrington area. Hove's beaches have the characteristics of a storm beach, and at high tide are entirely shingle, although low tide exposes sand between the sea-defence groynes, varying in extent from beach to beach. The water is then very shallow and suitable for paddling. On spring tides a greater expanse of sand is exposed beyond the end of the sea defences. The mean height above sea level of land in the old parish of Hove varied between and . After Hove became a borough and expanded to incorporate land from neighbouring parishes, the highest point was approximately above sea level. There are no rivers in Hove, but Westbourne Gardens at the western boundary of the old parish is named after the "West Bourne", which was still visible in the 19th century but which now runs underground, and a map of 1588 shows another stream called East Brook. Until the 19th century the parish was mostly agricultural. Three farms—Wick, Goldstone and Long Barn—dominated the area and owned most of the land, which was of good quality: agricultural writer Arthur Young described it as "uncommonly rich". Crops including oats, barley, corn and various vegetables were grown. Only in the 1870s were the last of the market gardens near Hove Street built over, and barley was grown near Eaton Road until the county cricket ground was built. Water was provided by wells west of Hove Street and between the coast road and the sea (the latter was destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703). The chalybeate spring on the Wick Farm estate was also used, especially by shepherds who drove their sheep between Hove, the South Downs and nearby villages along ancient drove roads. Some local shepherds supplemented their income by catching larks and northern wheatears and selling them for their meat; the latter were popular among fashionable visitors to Brighton. The birds were common on the hills and valleys around Hove, such as Goldstone Bottom. The practice died out when wheatears became a protected species in the late 18th century. The urban growth of Hove has shifted sheep-farming to more isolated parts of the South Downs, but several drove roads survive today as roads or footpaths. Hove Street and its northward continuation Sackville Road were originally known as "Hove Drove" and led on to the Downs. A long west–east route which crossed West Blatchington, Hove and Preston parishes on its way to Lewes now bears the names The Droveway, The Drove and Preston Drove. The section called The Droveway, on which the Goldstone Waterworks was built in the 1860s, had to be maintained as a right of way when Hove Park was built. A long diagonal footpath once known as Dyer's Drove runs for several miles from Portslade-by-Sea on to the Downs, and Drove Road in Portslade village may have been used since Roman times. A large Sarsen stone called the Goldstone stood on farmland northwest of the village, now part of Hove Park. Links with druids were claimed; and some 19th-century sources stated it was part of a ring of stones similar to Stonehenge, and that the others were buried in a pond at Goldstone Bottom, one of the coombes (small dry valleys) between the Downs and the sea. The Goldstone was dug up and buried by a farmer, but was unearthed and re-erected in a new position in the park in 1906. Hove has little ancient woodland. Only two small areas survive: one in St Ann's Well Gardens, and The Three Cornered Copse in the Tongdean area. The latter covers and belonged to the Marquess of Abergavenny until Hove Borough Council bought it in January 1935. Trees in the copse include ash, beech, elm and sycamore, although more than 120 mature beech trees were blown down in the Great storm of 1987. Much of Hove is urbanised, but in 1994 there were of downland—about 37.5% of the total acreage of the then borough. In common with other parts of the South Downs, much of land has been used as sheep pasture, but crop farming also takes place and large areas of land were claimed for military training during World War II. Toads Hole Valley, a triangular site south of the Brighton Bypass, is "the last piece of unspoiled downland in Hove". It has been privately owned since 1937 and has been proposed for urban development for many years: in 2002 it was stated that "controversy rages over the future use of this land". Climate. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate). History and development. Pre-Roman evidence. Fossilised remains from the Pleistocene era have been found in three locations in Hove: an molar from "Elephas antiquus", excavated from the garden of a house in Poplar Avenue; teeth from a juvenile elephant deep in the soil at Ventnor Villas; and a prehistoric horse's tooth in the soil near Hove Street. During building work near Palmeira Square in 1856–57, workmen uncovered a substantial burial mound. A prominent feature of the landscape since 1200 BC, the -high tumulus yielded, among other treasures, the Hove amber cup. Made of translucent red Baltic amber and approximately the same size as a regular china tea cup, the artefact can be seen in the Hove Museum and Art Gallery. Only one other has been found in Britain. Also buried in the coffin in which the amber cup was found were a stone battle-axe, a whetstone and a bronze dagger whose appearance is characteristic of the Wessex culture. Domesday Book. There are entries for Brighton and Portslade (Bristelmestune and Porteslage) and small downland settlements like Hangleton (Hangetone), but nothing for the location of Hove itself. Middle Ages and Renaissance. The first known settlement in Hove was around the 12th century when St Andrew's Church was established. Hove remained insignificant for centuries, consisting of just a single street running north–south some 250 m from the church, which by the 16th century was recorded as being in ruins. Hangleton Manor is a well-preserved 16th-century flint manor building. It is believed to have been built for Richard Bel(l)ingham, twice High Sheriff of Sussex, whose initials are carved into a fireplace, and whose coat of arms adorns a period plaster ceiling. The Manor is currently serving as a pub-restaurant and whilst it was once on open downland, it is now surrounded by the 20th-century Hangleton housing estate. 18th century. In 1723 a traveller, the antiquary John Warburton, wrote, 'I passed through a ruinous village called Hove which the sea is daily eating up and is in a fair way of being quite deserted; but the church being quite large and a good distance from the shore may perhaps escape'. Nevertheless, in around 1702 The Ship Inn had been built at the seaward end of the main street, and was therefore vulnerable to erosion of the coast. In 1724, Daniel Defoe wrote in reference to the south coast, 'I do not find they have any foreign commerce, except it be what we call smuggling and roguing; which I may say, is the reigning commerce of all this part of the English coast, from the mouth of the Thames to the Land's End in Cornwall." The fertile coastal plain west of the Brighton boundary had significant deposits of brickearth and by c.1770 a brickfield had been established on the site of what would become Brunswick Square. Later, other brickfields were established further west, remaining until displaced by housing development. Regency and Victorian developments. The census of 1801 recorded only 101 residents to Brighton's 7,339. By 1821, the year the Prince Regent was crowned George IV, the population had risen to 312, Brighton's too had trebled to 24,429 with the dwellings still clustered on Hove Street, surrounded by an otherwise empty landscape of open farmland. This relative isolated location of Hove, compared to Brighton, was ideal for smuggling and there was considerable illicit activity. Hove smugglers became notorious, with contraband often being stored in the now partially repaired St. Andrew's Church. Tradition has it that The Ship Inn was a favourite rendezvous for the smugglers, and in 1794 soldiers were billeted there. In 1818 there was a pitched battle on Hove beach between revenue men and smugglers, from which the latter emerged as the victors. As part of the concerted drive by Parliament to combat smuggling, a coastguard station was opened at the southern end of Hove Street in 1831, next to The Ship Inn. Bull-baiting took place on Saint Andrew's Day and on the Tuesday after Easter Sunday, but the practice ceased after 1810 when a bull broke free and ran through the crowd. The bullring was between the coast road and the beach, southwest of Hove Street, and the fights were promoted by the Ship Inn—which also organised cockfighting matches, even after this activity was made illegal. In the years following the Coronation of 1821 the Brunswick estate of large Regency houses with a theatre, riding schools and their own police was developed on the seafront near the boundary with Brighton. Although within Hove parish the residents of these elegant houses avoided the name of the impoverished village a mile to the west as an address. Straggling development along the coast loosely connected the estate to fashionable Brighton, so that name was used instead. Dating from 1822, the Brighton to Shoreham turnpike crossed the north of Hove parish along the route of the present Old Shoreham Road. The Brighton and Hove Gas Company was established in 1825 and built a gasworks next to St Andrew's Church in 1832. Houses in Brunswick Terrace were the first to be lit by gas. Production moved to a new gasworks at Portslade in 1871 and the Hove works became a storage facility. The site at Portslade was close to Shoreham Harbour, so coal could be transported to it directly. Increasing demand for gas meant a new gasholder, one of the largest in Sussex, was built on the Hove site in 1877. Of novel construction for the time, it was used until September 1994. By 1831 the development of the eastern end of the parish had increased the population to 1,360 but this brought few economic benefits to Hove village itself, with the historian Thomas Horsfield describing it in 1835 as 'a mean and insignificant assemblage of huts'. St Andrew's Church was reconstructed and enlarged to its present form in 1836, to the design of the architect George Basevi (1794–1845), and features prominently in the background of paintings of the period. About this time, a very substantial and tall wall was built between the churchyard and adjoining gasworks, remaining in place to this day. The flat coastal plain was useful for sport as from 1848 to 1871 England's oldest county club, Sussex County Cricket Club, used the Royal Brunswick Ground in Hove, situated roughly on the site of present-day Third and Fourth Avenues. In 1872 the club moved to the present County Cricket Ground, Hove. Two further large estates were developed between Hove village and Brunswick, and both avoided using the name Hove: Cliftonville was designed, laid out and initially developed under Frederick Banister from the late 1840s; and West Brighton Estate in the 1870s. West of Brunswick, the seafront of West Brighton Estate forms the end of a series of avenues, in numerical order beginning with First Avenue, mostly composed of fine Victorian villas built as another well-integrated housing scheme featuring mews for artisans and service buildings. Grand Avenue, The Drive, and the numbered avenues were developed through the 1870s and 1880s, with many of the buildings constructed by William Willett. Hove's wide boulevards contrast with the bustle of Brighton, although many of the grand Regency and Victorian mansions have been converted into flats. Marlborough Court was once the residence of the Duchess of Marlborough, aunt of Winston Churchill. The Irish nationalist leader and Home Rule MP Charles Stewart Parnell used to visit his lover, the already married Kitty O'Shea at the house she rented in 1883 in Medina Villas, Hove. In the subsequent divorce action the cook alleged that Captain O’Shea returned home unexpectedly and Parnell beat a hasty retreat by climbing over the balcony and down a rope ladder. Parnell died at Hove in 1891 after marrying Kitty following her divorce. The Hove Club, a private members' club located at 28 Fourth Avenue, was founded in 1882. Twentieth Century. In the 1910s eleven cottages were built on the beach on the Western Esplanade between Hove Lagoon and Portslade. Named Seaside Villas, these houses have attracted a number of famous residents. War poets David Jones and Robert Graves spent time there, as did the playwright Joe Orton. More recently it has been home to celebrities such as Adele, David Walliams, Zoe Ball and Heather McCartney. Another resident, DJ Fat Boy Slim, owns the nearby Big Beach Cafe. In 1966 Hove Town Hall designed by eminent architect Alfred Waterhouse burned down. It was replaced by a Brutalist building designed by local architect John Wells-Thorpe. First World War. Over 600 men from Hove were killed in the First World War. After the armistice, the town established a war memorial committee to decide on commemoration of the dead. The committee commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect responsible for the Cenotaph on London's Whitehall which became the focus of national remembrance services. Lutyens proposed a similar cenotaph for Hove and went as far as constructing a wooden mock-up which was displayed on Hove Lawns but the committee rejected the design. The eventual result was a statue of Saint George atop a column, situated in the centre of Grand Avenue. The memorial does not contain the names of the fallen, which are instead recorded on a bronze plaque in Hove Library. Second World War. At the outbreak of war, the recently completed Hove Marina leisure centre was immediately requisitioned as a training base for new officers of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) and was given the title . The establishment opened on 11 September 1939 and later expanded into Lancing College. By the end of the war, the base had trained 22,508 British, Commonwealth and allied officers for active sea service. On 22 September 1939, the second Anglo-French Supreme War Council was held at Hove Town Hall to discuss the progress of the war and define future strategy. The British delegation included the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain and the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, while the French party was led by the Minister of Defence and Prime Minister of France, Édouard Daladier and Commander-in-Chief of the Armies, Maurice Gamelin. Also present was Sir Alexander Cadogan who related that the town hall staff had only been told to expect some government officials, with the result that the prime minister was greeted with the exclamation; "Chamberlain! !". The Brighton and Hove area was subjected to heavy bombing by the "Luftwaffe" between 1940 and 1944, known collectively as the "Brighton Blitz", which resulted in the deaths of 198 civilians. Governance and politics. Former Hove borough. The ancient parish of Hove originally consisted of only and in 1801 had a population of just 101. In 1829, local landowners petitioned parliament for powers to improve the Brunswick Town area of Hove with paving, lighting and drainage, resulting in the appointment of a body known as the Brunswick Commissioners in the following year. Subsequently, further commissioners were appointed for West Hove and to administer the Hove Police, all three bodies being united by the Hove Commissioners Act of 1873. In 1893 the civil parish of Aldrington was joined to Hove and in 1894, the Hove Commissioners were replaced by an Urban District Council. Finally in 1898 the Municipal Borough of Hove received its royal charter. This was enlarged in 1927 by the addition of the parishes of Preston Rural and Hangleton along with parts of West Blatchington and Patcham. The corporation consisted of a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors, elected from ten wards. The first town hall was built in 1882. On 1 April 1997 Brighton Borough Council and Hove Borough Council were merged to form Brighton and Hove City Council. Coat of arms. While it was still a separate entity, Hove had its own coat of arms. The escutcheon's official heraldic description is "Tierced in pairle: 1. Or a saltire azure voided argent; 2. Gules two pairs of leg-irons interlaced argent; 3. Checky or and azure three martlets or, all in a border ermine charged with six martlets or". The design incorporates several features relevant to Hove's history. The ships of the French raiders who repeatedly attacked the coast in the Brighton and Hove area in the 16th century are represented by the crest. The saltire of Saint Andrew and the leg-shackles of Leonard of Noblac refer to the ancient parish churches of Hove and Aldrington, St Andrew's and St Leonard's respectively. William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey held land in the Rape of Lewes at the time of the Norman Conquest including the territory covered by Hove; his colours were blue and gold, represented by the chequerboard pattern in the background of the shield. Commercial. The town centre received substantial renovation in the late 1990s when the popular George Street was pedestrianised. Some concern about the pedestrianisation and its impact (supposedly killing trade) was expressed by residents, the local newspaper "The Argus", and small locally owned shops. However these fears proved unfounded. In 2003 these small shops were joined by the centre's first large supermarket (a Tesco), built on the site of a former gasometer. Landmarks and attractions. Places of worship. Ecclesiastically, Hove was part of a joint parish with Preston between 1531 and 1879. The newly separate parish of Hove was then split several times in the late 19th and 20th centuries as the population grew and more Anglican churches were built. St Andrew's Church near the top end of Hove Street was the ancient parish church but was in ruins by the 1830s, when it was rebuilt in a Neo-gothic style. St Helen's Church at Hangleton, lightly restored in the 1870s, retains the style of a simple Sussex downland church. St Peter's Church was abandoned and fell to ruins in the 17th century when West Blatchington became depopulated, but it was rebuilt in the 1890s. St Leonard's, the parish church of Aldrington, was also ruinous until 1878 when local population growth necessitated its restoration. A second church dedicated to St Andrew opened on the Brunswick estate in 1828. St John the Baptist's was built on Palmeira Square in 1852, followed by St Patrick's nearby in 1858 and Holy Trinity in central Hove in 1864. St Barnabas served the poorer areas around Sackville Road from 1883; All Saints on Eaton Road dates from 1889 to 1891; St Philip's was built in 1895 as a second church for Aldrington, and opened a mission hall (now Holy Cross Church) in the Poets' Corner area in 1903; St Thomas the Apostle opened on Davigdor Road in 1909; St Agnes was built north of Hove station in 1913; Bishop Hannington Memorial Church opened in West Blatchington in 1939; and The Knoll estate has been served by St Richard's Church since 1961, replacing an 1930s church hall. Four of these churches have closed: St Agnes in 1977, St Andrew's in Brunswick Town in 1990, St Thomas in 1993 and Holy Trinity in 2007. All Saints Church, a Grade I-listed building by John Loughborough Pearson, became the parish church of Hove in 1892. The Church of the Sacred Heart was Hove's first Roman Catholic church. It was founded in 1876 by St Mary Magdalen's Church in Brighton, whose first priest left money in his will for a church in Hove. Work was delayed by disputes over the site, but after land on Norton Road was secured construction started in 1880 and the west end was finished in 1887. The Sacred Heart in turn founded a mission church in 1902 to serve the Aldrington and Portland Road areas of Hove. St Peter's Hall was used until the "startling" basilica-style red-brick St Peter's Church was opened in 1915. Mass was said in Hangleton from the 1940s in a hall and at the Grenadier pub, but in the 1950s land on Court Farm Road was bought for a church and St George's Church opened in 1968. It serves West Blatchington and Hangleton, and is now part of a joint parish with Southwick and Portslade. Hove was included in the Lewes and Brighton Methodist Circuit from 1808, although at times during the 19th century no Methodists (Wesleyan, Primitive or Bible Christian) lived in the area. A secondhand tin tabernacle was erected on Portland Road for Wesleyans in 1883, and the present Hove Methodist Church was built on the site in 1896. A Bible Christian chapel was built in 1905 on Old Shoreham Road but never thrived; it closed in 1947 and was sold to a charity. Primitive Methodists worshipped at a large chapel on Goldstone Villas from 1878 until 1933. It was converted into offices in 1968. Hove's General Baptist congregation developed in the 1870s and met in a gymnasium and a tin tabernacle until Holland Road Baptist Church opened in 1887. A deacon from the church started holding Baptist meetings in a new church building on the Hangleton estate in 1957. It now has the name Oasis Church. A former Congregational mission hall in Aldrington, built in 1900, is home to the Baptist-aligned New Life Christian Church. Stoneham Road Baptist Church was founded in 1904 by the Holland Road church to serve the Poets' Corner area. It closed and was demolished in 2008. Baptists also met in Connaught Terrace from 1879, and Strict Baptists worshipped at Providence Chapel on Haddington Street from 1880 until 1908. A Congregational chapel was built on Ventnor Villas in 1870, and 41 years later St Cuthbert's Presbyterian Church opened on Holland Road. After the two denominations merged in 1972 to form the United Reformed Church, the congregations came together in 1980 at the Ventnor Villas premises. These were renamed Central United Reformed Church and continue to serve as the main centre for that denomination in Hove. St Cuthbert's was demolished in 1984. In 1938 trustees of the Congregational chapel founded another on the Hangleton estate. Hounsom Memorial Church is also now part of the United Reformed Church. The Salvation Army have worshipped in Hove since 1882 and occupy a citadel built in 1890 on Sackville Road. Jehovah's Witnesses meet in Aldrington at a Kingdom Hall which was built in 1999 to replace a hall of 1950. A non-denominational gospel hall stands on Edward Avenue in the Goldstone Valley area. The Christian Arabic Evangelical Church meets in a converted bungalow on Old Shoreham Road in Aldrington. A former Anglican church of 1909 on Davigdor Road has served Coptic Orthodox Christians from a wide area since 1994, when it was rededicated as St Mary and St Abraam Church by Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria. Buddhists have a cultural centre and place of worship at a former convent near Furze Hill. Other former churches in Hove include an Elim Pentecostal chapel (in use 1929–1994) on Portland Road, the Seventh-day Adventist chapel on Hove Place, whose congregation now meet at Hove Methodist Church, and a former mission hall in the Poets' Corner area which was used until 1981 as a chapel for the local Society of Dependants sect. Hove Museum of Creativity. Hove Museum of Creativity houses a permanent collection of toys, contemporary crafts, fine art and local history artefacts, as well as holding temporary exhibitions of contemporary crafts. Education. Hove's primary schools are: West Blatchington Primary and Nursery School, St. Andrew's CE School, Hove Junior School, Benfield Junior School, Goldstone Primary School, Hangleton Junior School, Cottesmore St Mary's Catholic School, Mile Oak Primary School, Bilingual Primary School, Brunswick Primary School and Aldrington CE School. There are four secondary schools serving the area: Blatchington Mill School, Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove Park School and King's School. Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC), formerly Brighton, Hove & Sussex Grammar School, is a dedicated place of further education, along with the Connaught Centre, Hove Park Sixth Form Centre and Blatchington Mill Sixth Form College. Brighton is also the location of private colleges such as Hove College. Founded in 1977, Hove College is a non-profit private higher education institution and offers courses accredited by OCN London. Hove has a number of private schools including Deepdene School, Lancing College Preparatory School (formerly Mowden School) The Montessori Place, The Drive Prep School and St Christopher's School (now part of Brighton College). There are also language schools for foreign students. Sport and leisure. The home of Sussex County Cricket Club is at County Cricket Ground, Hove. It is used for county, national and international matches, music concerts, fireworks displays, and has found resurgent popularity with the introduction of Twenty20. Until 1997 Hove was home to the Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.'s Goldstone Ground. In September 2007, planning permission was confirmed for the club's new ground, at Falmer, still within the city limits but on the Brighton side. The new stadium started development in late 2008, with the first game being played in August 2011. Brighton & Hove Hockey Club is a field hockey club and its home ground is based in Hove. There are a number of parks in Hove including Hove Park and St. Anne's Well Gardens. The King Alfred Centre which is currently a leisure centre with swimming pool and a couple of gyms on the seafront. In March 2007 Brighton and Hove City Council gave planning permission for a £290 million pound development designed by Frank Gehry. This project was scrapped in January 2009 when the developer pulled out. Hove Promenade parkrun, situated by Hove Lawns started in July 2015 and is one of five such free, timed 5 km runs across the city. The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath threads south-eastwards across the town from the Downs, before heading west along the seafront towards its terminus at Shoreham-by-Sea. "Hove, Actually". A well-known reply by residents of Hove, usually humorous, when asked if they live in Brighton is "Hove, actually" thus maintaining a distinction with their less genteel neighbour. One source has identified the locally resident actor Laurence Olivier (who lived in Brighton) as the origin of the phrase. In the 1990s the Hove borough council used the slogan "Hove, actually" to promote the town for tourism. Transport. Hove has several A-roads. The A259 runs along Kingsway, forming the main seafront road in Hove. The A270 Old Shoreham Road, another major west–east route further north, was originally part of the A27 trunk road before the Brighton bypass was built. The A2023 runs north from the A259 through central Hove and West Blatchington, meeting the A2038 on the edge of Hangleton and continuing to a junction with the A23 London–Brighton road. Other main routes, all with B-road status, include Grand Avenue and The Drive (B2185), Cromwell Road and Davigdor Road (B2120) and New Church Road, Church Road and Western Road (B2066). There were of roads in Hove borough in 1906, rising to in 1948. Even in the latter year some were still paved with wood. Buses. Many bus routes serve central Hove, and Church Road/New Church Road and Blatchington Road/Portland Road are important bus corridors. Most services are operated by Brighton & Hove, a bus company which has been owned by the Go-Ahead Group since November 1993. Routes include the 1 and 1A to Whitehawk and Mile Oak, the 2 to Shoreham-by-Sea, Steyning and Rottingdean, the 5, 5A and 5B to the Hangleton estate and the Hollingbury and Patcham estates in Brighton, the 6 to Brighton railway station, the 7 to Brighton Marina, the 21 to the Goldstone Valley estate and Brighton Marina, the 25 to the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, the 46 to Southwick and Hollingbury and the 49 to Moulsecoomb. The Big Lemon operates a circular route serving Portslade, the Knoll Estate and Hangleton and another serving Knoll Estate and Hangleton and continuing to Brighton railway station, central Brighton, Brighton Marina, Rottingdean and Saltdean. Stagecoach South operates the Coastliner 700 route through Hove, serving Brighton to the east and Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing and Littlehampton to the west, with connections to Bognor Regis, Chichester and Portsmouth. Several National Express coaches on route 025 (Worthing–London) serve Hove each morning, calling at a stop on the A259 near the King Alfred Leisure Centre. Hove's first bus service ran from the Ship Inn on Hove Street to Black Rock near Rottingdean and started on 11 May 1853. Seven return journeys ran daily. Local businessman A.C. Elliott became a licensed bus operator in 1879 with ten vehicles, 12 conductors and 13 drivers, running services between Hove and central Brighton. Other operators soon started running buses in competition, and the Hove Commissioners "[kept] a tight rein on things" by issuing and renewing licences once a year. From 1901, horse-drawn buses began to be replaced with petrol-driven vehicles and, from 1908, by experimental electric buses as well. Thomas Tilling became a major operator in Hove after gaining licences for Portslade–Brighton routes in 1912. He operated from premises on Holland Road until new garages and offices were built on Conway Street in 1916. The company was renamed the Brighton, Hove and District Omnibus Company in 1935, and the Conway Street premises were rebuilt in 1939–40 to the design of H.R. Starkey. By 1927 Southdown Motor Services was another major local operator: Hove Council licensed 100 of its vehicles for local and longer-distance work, and the company's main works was at Portslade. It became part of the National Bus Company in 1968 along with the Brighton, Hove and District Omnibus Company. As a result, the latter's works at Conway Street closed in 1969. The companies separated again in 1986 and the former Tilling operations became the Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company, now the city's main operator. The Conway Street premises were retained as a bus garage. Railways. The first railway station named Hove opened at the top of Holland Road on 12 May 1840 on the Brighton to Shoreham-by-Sea line (now the West Coastway line). It closed on 1 March 1880, but a new station named Holland Road Halt opened on approximately the same site on 3 September 1905. Its two timber platforms were still in place when it closed permanently on 7 May 1956. The present Hove railway station, west of Brighton station, opened at the top of Goldstone Villas on 1 October 1865 with the name Cliftonville; it was renamed West Brighton in 1879, Hove and West Brighton in 1894, and received its present name in 1895. Further west, from Brighton, Aldrington railway station opened with the name Dyke Junction Halt on 3 September 1905, taking the name Aldrington Halt from 17 June 1932 when the platforms were resited and rebuilt. Portslade railway station, serving Aldrington and West Hove as well as Portslade village and Portslade-by-Sea, opened with the line on 12 May 1840 but was closed between 1847 and 1857. Its original station buildings survive, but goods facilities were withdrawn in 1968. It is west of Brighton. There is a level crossing at the west end. All three stations are managed and served by Southern. Immediately west of Aldrington station, the Brighton and Dyke Railway branched off and headed north through West Blatchington and Hangleton to a terminus at Devil's Dyke on the South Downs. Golf Club Halt opened in 1891 to serve Brighton and Hove Golf Course, and Rowan Halt opened in 1933 on Rowan Avenue to serve the Hangleton and West Blatchington areas. The branch line opened on 1 September 1887; it closed permanently on 31 December 1938, having already been closed for three years from 1917. The Cliftonville Curve opened in 1879 to connect the West Coastway line with the Brighton main line, allowing trains to travel between the lines without reversing at Brighton station. It passes through a tunnel. There is also a tunnel between Brighton and Hove stations. Taxis. The first Hackney carriage licences were issued by the Hove Police Commissioners in 1859. Within 30 years passengers could choose between a wide range of vehicles, including first- and second-class cabs, hand-pulled invalid carts, goat-drawn chaises, landaus and broughams. The first motor cab was licensed in 1908, but horse-drawn carriages persisted until after 1925. Hackney carriages are now licensed by the city council are coloured white and aqua. Fares are also regulated by the council. There are 17 taxi ranks in Hove, including two which operate at night only.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68392

Harry Flashman

Sir Harry Paget Flashman is a fictional character created by Thomas Hughes (1822–1896) in the semi-autobiographical "Tom Brown's School Days" (1857) and later developed by George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008). Harry Flashman appears in a series of 12 of Fraser's books, collectively known as "The Flashman Papers", with covers illustrated by Arthur Barbosa and Gino D’Achille. Flashman was played by Malcolm McDowell in the Richard Lester 1975 film "Royal Flash". In "Tom Brown's School Days" (1857), Flashman is portrayed as a notorious Rugby School bully who persecutes Tom Brown and is finally expelled for drunkenness, at which point he simply disappears. Fraser decided to write the story of Flashman's later life, in which the school bully would be identified as an "illustrious Victorian soldier", experiencing many of the 19th-century wars and adventures of the British Empire and rising to high rank in the British Army, to be acclaimed as a great warrior, while still remaining "a scoundrel, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a coward—and, oh yes, a toady." In the papers – which are purported to have been written by Flashman and discovered only after his death – he describes his own dishonourable conduct with complete candour. Fraser's Flashman is an antihero who often runs away from danger. Nevertheless, through a combination of luck and cunning, he usually ends each volume acclaimed as a hero. Flashman's origins. Fraser gave Flashman a lifespan from 1822 to 1915 and a birth-date of 5 May. He also provided Flashman's first and middle names, as Hughes's novel had given Flashman only one, using the names to make an ironic allusion to Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey. Paget was one of the heroes of Waterloo, who cuckolded the Duke of Wellington's brother Henry Wellesley and later—in one of the period's more celebrated scandals—married Lady Anglesey, after Wellesley had divorced her for adultery. In "Flashman", Flashman says that his great-grandfather, Jack Flashman, made the family fortune in America, trading in rum, slaves and "piracy too, I shouldn't wonder". Despite their wealth, the Flashmans "were never the thing"; Flashman quotes the diarist Henry Greville's comment that "the coarse streak showed through, generation after generation, like dung beneath a rosebush". Harry Flashman's equally fictional father, Henry Buckley Flashman, appears in "Black Ajax" (1997). Buckley, a bold young officer in the British cavalry, is said to have been wounded in action at Talavera in 1809, and then to have gained access to "society" by sponsoring bare-knuckle boxer Tom Molineaux (the first black man to contend for a championship). The character subsequently marries Flashman's mother Lady Alicia Paget, a fictional relation of the real Marquess of Anglesey. Buckley, it is related, also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) but was "sent to the knacker's yard at Reform". Beside politics, the older Flashman character has interests including drinking, fox hunting (riding to hounds), and women. Character. Flashman is a large man, tall and close to 13 stone (about 180 pounds or 82 kg). In "Flashman and the Tiger", he mentions that one of his grandchildren has black hair and eyes, resembling him in his younger years. His dark colouring frequently enabled him to pass (in disguise) for a Pashtun. He claims only three natural talents: horsemanship, facility with foreign languages, and fornication. He becomes an expert cricket-bowler, but only through hard effort (he needed sporting credit at Rugby School, and feared to play rugby football). He can also display a winning personality when he wants to, and is very skilled at flattering those more important than himself without appearing servile. As he admits in the Papers, Flashman is a coward, who will flee from danger if there is any way to do so, and has on some occasions collapsed in funk. He has one great advantage in concealing this weakness: when he is frightened, his face turns red, rather than white, so that observers think he is excited, enraged, or exuberant—as a hero ought to be. After his expulsion from Rugby School for drunkenness, the young Flashman looks for an easy life. He has his wealthy father buy him an officer's commission in the fashionable 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons. The 11th, commanded by Lord Cardigan, later involved in the Charge of the Light Brigade, has just returned from India and are not likely to be posted abroad soon. Flashman throws himself into the social life that the 11th offered and becomes a leading light of Canterbury society. In 1840 the regiment is converted to Hussars with an elegant blue and crimson uniform, which assists Flashman in attracting female attention for the remainder of his military career. A duel with another officer over a French courtesan leads to his being temporarily stationed in Paisley, Scotland. There he meets and deflowers Elspeth Morrison, daughter of a wealthy textile manufacturer, whom he has to marry in a "shotgun wedding" under threat of a horsewhipping by her uncle. But marriage to the daughter of a mere businessman forces his transferral from the snobbish 11th Hussars. He is sent to India to make a career in the army of the East India Company. Unfortunately, his language talent and his habit of flattery bring him to the attention of the Governor-General. The Governor does him the (very much unwanted) favour of assigning him as aide to General Elphinstone in Afghanistan. Flashman survives the ensuing retreat from Kabul (the worst British military debacle of Victoria's reign) by a mixture of sheer luck and unstinting cowardice. He becomes an unwitting hero: the defender of Piper's Fort, where he is the only surviving white man, and is found by the relieving troops clutching the flag and surrounded by enemy dead. Of course, Flashman had arrived at the fort by accident, collapsed in terror rather than fighting, been forced to stand and show fight by his subordinate, and is 'rumbled' for a complete coward. He had been trying to surrender the colours, not defend them. Happily for him, all inconvenient witnesses had been killed. This incident sets the tone for Flashman's life. Over the following 60 years or so, he is involved in many of the major military conflicts of the 19th century—always in spite of his best efforts to evade his duty. He is often selected for especially dangerous jobs because of his heroic reputation. He meets many famous people, and survives some of the worst military disasters of the period (the First Anglo-Afghan War, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Siege of Cawnpore, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and the Battle of Isandlwana), always coming out with more heroic laurels. The date of his last adventure seems to have been around 1900, being involved in the Boxer Rebellion alongside US Marines. He dies in 1915. Despite his admitted cowardice, Flashman is a dab hand at fighting when he has to. Though he dodges danger as much as he can, and runs away when no one is watching, after the Piper's Fort incident, he usually controls his fear and often performs bravely. Almost every book contains one or more incidents where Flashman has to fight or perform some other daring action, and he holds up long enough to complete it. For instance, he is ordered to accompany the Light Brigade on its famous charge and rides all the way to the Russian guns. However, most of these acts of 'bravery' are performed only when he has absolutely no choice and to do anything else would result in his being exposed as a coward and losing his respected status in society, or being shot for desertion. When he can act like a coward with impunity, he invariably does. Flashman surrenders to fear in front of witnesses only a few times, and is never caught out again. During the siege of Piper's Fort, in the first novel, Flashman cowers weeping in his bed at the start of the final assault; the only witness to this dies before relief comes. He breaks down while accompanying Rajah Brooke during a battle with pirates, but the noise drowns out his blubbering, and he recovers enough to command a storming party of sailors (placing himself right in the middle of the party, to avoid stray bullets). After the Charge of the Light Brigade, he flees in panic from the fighting in the battery—but mistakenly charges into an entire Russian regiment, adding to his heroic image. In spite of his numerous character flaws, Flashman is represented as being a perceptive observer of his times ("I saw further than most in some ways"). In its obituary of George MacDonald Fraser, "The Economist" commented that realistic sharp-sightedness ("if not much else") was an attribute Flashman shared with his creator. Relationships. Flashman, an insatiable lecher, has sex with many different women over the course of his fictional adventures. His size, good looks, winning manner, and especially his splendid cavalry-style whiskers win over women from low to high, and his dalliances include famous ladies along with numerous prostitutes. In "Flashman and the Great Game", about halfway through his life, he counted up his sexual conquests while languishing in a dungeon at Gwalior, "not counting return engagements", reaching a total of 478 up to that date (similar—albeit not equal—to the tally made by Mozart's "Don Giovanni" in the famous aria of Giovanni's henchman, Leporello). Passages in "Royal Flash", "Flashman and the Mountain of Light", "Flashman and the Dragon", "Flashman and the Redskins", and "Flashman and the Angel of the Lord" suggest that Flashman was well endowed. He was a vigorous and exciting (if sometimes selfish and rapacious) lover, and some of his partners became quite fond of him—though by his own admission, others tried to kill him afterwards. The most memorable of these was Cleonie, a prostitute Flashman sold into slavery in "Flashman and the Redskins". He was not above forcing himself on a partner by blackmail (e.g., Pheobe Carpenter in "Flashman and the Dragon"), and at least twice raped women (Narreeman, an Afghan dancing girl in "Flashman", and an unnamed harem girl in "Flashman's Lady"). Flashman's stories are dominated by his numerous amorous encounters. Several of them are with prominent historical personages. These women are sometimes window dressing, sometimes pivotal characters in the unpredictable twists and turns of the books. Historical women Flashman bedded included: He also lusted after (but never bedded): His fictional amours included: As well as bedding more or less any lass available, he married whenever it was politic to do so. During a posting to Scotland, he was forced to marry Elspeth to avoid "pistols for two with her fire-breathing uncle". He is still married to her decades later when writing the memoirs, though that does not stop him pursuing others. Nor does it prevent marrying them when his safety seems to require it; he marries Duchess Irma in "Royal Flash" and in "Flashman and the Redskins" he marries Susie Willnick as they escape New Orleans, and Sonsee-Array a few months later. He was also once reminded of a woman that Elspeth claimed he flirted with named Kitty Stevens, though Flashman was unable to remember her. He had a special penchant for royal ladies, and noted that his favourite amours (apart from his wife) were Lakshmibai, Ci Xi and Lola Montez: "a Queen, an Empress, and the foremost courtesan of her time: I dare say I'm just a snob." He also noted that, while civilized women were more than ordinarily partial to him, his most ardent admirers were among the savage of the species: "Elspeth, of course, is Scottish." And for all his raking, it was always Elspeth to whom he returned and who remained ultimately top of the list. His lechery was so strong that it broke out even in the midst of rather hectic circumstances. While accompanying Thomas Henry Kavanagh on his daring escape from Lucknow, he paused for a quick rattle with a local prostitute, and during the battle of Patusan, he found himself galloping one of Sharif Sahib's concubines without even realizing it but nonetheless continued to the climax of the battle and the tryst. Flashman's relations with the highest-ranking woman of his era, Queen Victoria, are warm but platonic. He first meets her in 1842 when he receives a medal for his gallantry in Afghanistan and reflects on what a honeymoon she and Prince Albert must have enjoyed. Subsequently, he and his wife received invitations to Balmoral Castle, to the delight of the snobbish Elspeth. For his services during the Indian Mutiny, Victoria not only approved awarding Flashy the Victoria Cross, but loaded the KCB on top of it. Appearances. Film. In 1975, Malcolm McDowell played Harry Flashman in "Royal Flash", directed by Richard Lester.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68489

Durham, England

Durham ( , locally ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the county of Durham, England. It is the county town and contains the headquarters of Durham County Council, the unitary authority which governs the district of County Durham. It had a population of 48,069 at the 2011 Census. The city was built on a meander of the River Wear, which surrounds the centre on three sides and creates a narrow neck on the fourth. The surrounding land is hilly, except along the Wear's floodplain to the north and southeast. Durham was founded in 995 by Anglo-Saxon monks seeking a place safe from Viking raids to house the relics of St Cuthbert. The church the monks built lasted only a century, as it was replaced by the present Durham Cathedral after the Norman Conquest; together with Durham Castle it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the 1070s until 1836 the city was part of the County Palatine of Durham, a semi-independent jurisdiction ruled by the bishops of Durham which acted as a buffer between the kingdoms of England and Scotland. In 1346 the Battle of Neville's Cross was fought immediately outside the city, resulting in an English victory, and in 1650 the cathedral was used to house Scottish prisoners after the Battle of Dunbar. During the Industrial Revolution the Durham coalfield was heavily exploited, and there were several collieries close to the city; although the pits have closed, the annual Durham Miners' Gala continues. Historically, Durham was also known for the manufacture of hoisery, carpets, and mustard. The city is the home of Durham University, which was founded in 1832 and therefore has a claim to be the third-oldest university in England. The university is a significant employer, alongside the local and national government and the University Hospital of North Durham, and the city has a significant tourism sector. HM Prison Durham is also located close to the city centre. Toponymy. The name "Durham" comes from the Brythonic element , signifying a hill fort and related to -ton, and the Old Norse , which translates to island. The Lord Bishop of Durham takes a Latin variation of the city's name in his official signature, which is signed ""N." Dunelm". Some attribute the city's name to the legend of the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who in legend guided the monks of Lindisfarne carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert to the site of the present city in 995 AD. Dun Cow Lane is said to be one of the first streets in Durham, being directly to the east of Durham Cathedral and taking its name from a depiction of the city's founding etched in masonry on the south side of the cathedral. The city has been known by a number of names throughout history. The original Nordic "Dun Holm" was changed to "Duresme" by the Normans and was known in Latin as . The modern form "Durham" came into use later in the city's history. The north-eastern historian Robert Surtees chronicled the name changes in his "History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham" but states that it is an "impossibility" to tell when the city's modern name came into being. Durham is likely to be in Armes Prydein, derived from Brittonic "cajr" meaning "an enclosed, defensible site" ("cf." Carlisle; Welsh ) and the river-name "Wear". History. Early history. Archeological evidence suggests a history of settlement in the area since roughly 2000 BC. The present city can clearly be traced back to AD 995, when a group of monks from Lindisfarne chose the strategic high peninsula as a place to settle with the body of Saint Cuthbert, that had previously lain in Chester-le-Street, founding a church there. City origins, the Dun Cow story. Local legend states that the city was founded in A.D. 995 by divine intervention. The 12th-century chronicler Symeon of Durham recounts that after wandering in the north, Saint Cuthbert's bier miraculously came to a halt at the hill of Warden Law and, despite the effort of the congregation, would not move. Aldhun, Bishop of Chester-le-Street and leader of the order, decreed a holy fast of three days, accompanied by prayers to the saint. During the fast, Saint Cuthbert appeared to a certain monk named Eadmer, with instructions that the coffin should be taken to Dun Holm. After Eadmer's revelation, Aldhun found that he was able to move the bier, but did not know where Dun Holm was. The legend of the Dun Cow, which is first documented in "The Rites of Durham", an anonymous account about Durham Cathedral, published in 1593, builds on Symeon's account. According to this legend, by chance later that day, the monks came across a milkmaid at Mount Joy (southeast of present-day Durham). She stated that she was seeking her lost dun cow, which she had last seen at Dun Holm. The monks, realising that this was a sign from the saint, followed her. They settled at a wooded "hill-island" – a high wooded rock surrounded on three sides by the River Wear. There they erected a shelter for the relics, on the spot where Durham Cathedral would later stand. Symeon states that a modest wooden building erected there shortly thereafter was the first building in the city. Bishop Aldhun subsequently had a stone church built, which was dedicated in September 998. This no longer remains, having been supplanted by the Norman structure. The legend is interpreted by a Victorian relief stone carving on the north face of the cathedral and, more recently, by the bronze sculpture 'Durham Cow' (1997, Andrew Burton), which reclines by the River Wear in view of the cathedral. Medieval era. During the medieval period the city gained spiritual prominence as the final resting place of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede the Venerable. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert, situated behind the High Altar of Durham Cathedral, was the most important religious site in England until the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury in 1170. Saint Cuthbert became famous for two reasons. Firstly, the miraculous healing powers he had displayed in life continued after his death, with many stories of those visiting the saint's shrine being cured of all manner of diseases. This led to him being known as the "wonder worker of England". Secondly, after the first translation of his relics in 698 AD, his body was found to be incorruptible. Apart from a brief translation back to Holy Island during the Norman Invasion the saint's relics have remained enshrined to the present day. Saint Bede's bones are also entombed in the cathedral, and these also drew medieval pilgrims to the city. Durham's geographical position has always given it an important place in the defence of England against the Scots. The city played an important part in the defence of the north, and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle keep never to have suffered a breach. In 1314, the Bishopric of Durham paid the Scots a 'large sum of money' not to burn Durham. The Battle of Neville's Cross, took place near the city on 17 October 1346 between the English and Scots and was a disastrous loss for the Scots. The city suffered from plague outbreaks in 1544, 1589 and 1598. Bishops of Durham. Owing to the divine providence evidenced in the city's legendary founding, the Bishop of Durham has always enjoyed the title "Bishop by Divine Providence" as opposed to other bishops, who are "Bishop by Divine Permission". However, as the north-east of England lay so far from Westminster, the bishops of Durham enjoyed extraordinary powers such as the ability to hold their own parliament, raise their own armies, appoint their own sheriffs and Justices, administer their own laws, levy taxes and customs duties, create fairs and markets, issue charters, salvage shipwrecks, collect revenue from mines, administer the forests and mint their own coins. So far-reaching were the bishop's powers that the steward of Bishop Antony Bek commented in 1299 AD: "There are two kings in England, namely the Lord King of England, wearing a crown in sign of his regality and the Lord Bishop of Durham wearing a mitre in place of a crown, in sign of his regality in the diocese of Durham". All this activity was administered from the castle and buildings surrounding the Palace Green. Many of the original buildings associated with these functions of the county palatine survive on the peninsula that constitutes the ancient city. From 1071 to 1836 the bishops of Durham ruled the county palatine of Durham. Although the term "prince bishop" has been used as a helpful tool in the understanding the functions of the bishops of Durham in this era, it is not a title they would have recognised. The last bishop to rule the palatinate, Bishop William Van Mildert, is credited with the foundation of Durham University in 1832. Henry VIII curtailed some of the bishop's powers and, in 1538, ordered the destruction of the shrine of Saint Cuthbert. A UNESCO site describes the role of the bishops in the "buffer state between England and Scotland":From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England’s northern frontier. Legal system. The bishops had their own court system, including most notably the Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge. The county also had its own attorney general, whose authority to bring an indictment for criminal matters was tested by central government in the case of "R" v "Mary Ann Cotton" (1873). Certain courts and judicial posts for the county were abolished by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873. Section 2 of the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 and section 41 of the Courts Act 1971 abolished others. Civil War and Cromwell (1640 to 1660). The city remained loyal to King Charles I in the English Civil War – from 1642 to the execution of the king in 1649. Charles I came to Durham three times during his reign of 1625–1649. Firstly, he came in 1633 to the cathedral for a majestic service in which he was entertained by the Chapter and Bishop at great expense. He returned during preparations for the First Bishops' War (1639). His final visit to the city came towards the end of the civil war; he escaped from the city as Oliver Cromwell's forces got closer. Local legend stated that he escaped down the Bailey and through Old Elvet. Another local legend has it that Cromwell stayed in a room in the present Royal County Hotel on Old Elvet during the civil war. The room is reputed to be haunted by his ghost. Durham suffered greatly during the civil war (1642–1651) and Commonwealth (1649–1660). This was not due to direct assault by Cromwell or his allies, but to the abolition of the Church of England and the closure of religious institutions pertaining to it. The city has always relied upon the Dean and Chapter and cathedral as an economic force. The castle suffered considerable damage and dilapidation during the Commonwealth due to the abolition of the office of bishop (whose residence it was). Cromwell confiscated the castle and sold it to the Lord Mayor of London shortly after taking it from the bishop. A similar fate befell the cathedral, it being closed in 1650 and used to incarcerate 3,000 Scottish prisoners, who were marched south after the Battle of Dunbar. Graffiti left by them can still be seen today etched into the interior stone. At the Restoration in 1660, John Cosin (a former canon) was appointed bishop (in office: 1660–1672) and set about a major restoration project. This included the commissioning of the famous elaborate woodwork in the cathedral choir, the font cover and the Black Staircase in the castle. Bishop Cosin's successor Bishop Lord Nathaniel Crewe (in office: 1674–1721) carried out other renovations both to the city and to the cathedral. 18th century. In the 18th century a plan to turn Durham into a seaport through the digging of a canal north to join the River Team, a tributary of the River Tyne near Gateshead, was proposed by John Smeaton. Nothing came of the plan, but the statue of Neptune in the Market Place was a constant reminder of Durham's maritime possibilities. The thought of ships docking at the Sands or Millburngate remained fresh in the minds of Durham merchants. In 1758, a new proposal hoped to make the Wear navigable from Durham to Sunderland by altering the river's course, but the increasing size of ships made this impractical. Moreover, Sunderland had grown as the north east's main port and centre for shipping. In 1787 Durham infirmary was founded. The 18th century also saw the rise of the trade-union movement in the city. 19th century. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 gave governing power of the town to an elected body. All other aspects of the Bishop's temporal powers were abolished by the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 and returned to the Crown. The Representation of the People Act 2000 and is regarded as the second most senior bishop and fourth most senior clergyman in the Church of England. The Court of Claims of 1953 granted the traditional right of the bishop to accompany the sovereign at the coronation, reflecting his seniority. The first census, conducted in 1801, states that Durham City had a population of 7,100. The Industrial Revolution mostly passed the city by. However, the city was well known for carpet making and weaving. Although most of the mediaeval weavers who thrived in the city had left by the 19th century, the city was the home of Hugh MacKay Carpets’ factory, which produced the famous brands of axminster and tufted carpets until the factory went into administration in April 2005. Other important industries were the manufacture of mustard and coal extraction. The Industrial Revolution also placed the city at the heart of the coalfields, the county's main industry until the 1970s. Practically every village around the city had a coal mine and, although these have since disappeared as part of the regional decline in heavy industry, the traditions, heritage and community spirit are still evident. The 19th century also saw the founding of Durham University thanks to the benevolence of Bishop William Van Mildert and the Chapter in 1832. Durham Castle became the first college (University College, Durham) and the bishop moved to Auckland Castle as his only residence in the county. Bishop Hatfield's Hall (later Hatfield College, Durham) was added in 1846 specifically for the sons of poorer families, the Principal inaugurating a system new to English university life of advance fees to cover accommodation and communal dining. The first Durham Miners' Gala was attended by 5,000 miners in 1871 in Wharton Park, and remains the largest socialist trade union event in the world. 20th century. Early in the 20th century coal became depleted, with a particularly important seam worked out in 1927, and in the following Great Depression Durham was among those towns that suffered exceptionally severe hardship. However, the university expanded greatly. St John's College and St Cuthbert's Society were founded on the Bailey, completing the series of colleges in that area of the city. From the early 1950s to early 1970s the university expanded to the south of the city centre. Trevelyan, Van Mildert, Collingwood, and Grey colleges were established, and new buildings for St Aidan's and St Mary's colleges for women, formerly housed on the Bailey, were created. The final 20th century collegiate addition came from the merger of the independent nineteenth-century colleges of the Venerable Bede and St Hild, which joined the university in 1979 as the College of St Hild and St Bede. The 1960s and 70s also saw building on New Elvet. Dunelm House for the use of the students' union was built first, followed by Elvet Riverside, containing lecture theatres and staff offices. To the southeast of the city centre sports facilities were built at Maiden Castle, adjacent to the Iron Age fort of the same name, and the Mountjoy site was developed, starting in 1924, eventually containing the university library, administrative buildings, and facilities for the Faculty of Science. Durham was not bombed during World War II, though one raid on the night of 30 May 1942 did give rise to the local legend of 'St Cuthbert's Mist'. This states that the Luftwaffe attempted to target Durham, but was thwarted when Cuthbert created a mist that covered both the castle and cathedral, sparing them from bombing. The exact events of the night are disputed by contemporary eyewitnesses. The event continues to be referenced within the city, including inspiring the artwork 'Fogscape #03238' at Durham Lumiere 2015. 'Durham Castle and Cathedral' was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Among the reasons given for the decision were 'Durham Cathedral [being] the largest and most perfect monument of "Norman" style architecture in England', and the cathedral's vaulting being an early and experimental model of the gothic style. Other important UNESCO sites near Durham include Auckland Castle, North of England Lead Mining Museum and Beamish Museum. Geography. General. The River Wear flows north through the city, making an incised meander which encloses the centre on three sides to form Durham's peninsula. At the base of the peninsula is the Market Place, which still hosts regular markets; a permanent indoor market, Durham Indoor Market, is also situated just off the Market Place. The Market Place and surrounding streets are one of the main commercial and shopping areas of the city. From the Market Place, the Bailey leads south past Palace Green; The Bailey is almost entirely owned and occupied by the university and the cathedral. Durham is a hilly city, claiming to be built upon the symbolic seven hills. Upon the most central and prominent position high above the Wear, the cathedral dominates the skyline. The steep riverbanks are densely wooded, adding to the picturesque beauty of the city. West of the city centre, another river, the River Browney, drains south to join the Wear to the south of the city. There are three old roads out of the Market Place: Saddler Street heads south-east, towards Elvet Bridge, the Bailey and Prebends Bridge. Elvet Bridge leads to the Elvet area of the city, Durham Prison and the south; Prebends Bridge is smaller and provides access from the Bailey to south Durham. Heading west, Silver Street leads out of the Market Place towards Framwellgate Bridge and North Road, the other main shopping area of the city. From here, the city spreads out into the Framwelgate, Crossgate, Neville's Cross and viaduct districts, which are largely residential areas. Beyond the viaduct lie the outlying districts of Framwellgate Moor and Neville's Cross. Heading north from the Market Place leads to Claypath. The road curves back round to the east and beyond it lie Gilesgate, Gilesgate Moor and Dragonville. Green belt. As part of the wider Tyne and Wear Green Belt area, Durham's portion extends beyond its urban area extents of Framwellgate Moor/Pity Me, Elvet and Belmont, it being completely surrounded by green belt. This primarily helps to maintain separation from Chester-le-Street, and restrain expansion of the city and coalescence with nearby villages such as Bearpark, Great Lumley and Sherburn. Landscape features and facilities within the green belt area include Raintonpark Wood, Belmont Viaduct, Ramside Hall, Durham City Golf Course, the River Wear, Browney and Deerness basins, and Durham University Botanic Gardens. It was first drawn up in the 1990s. Historical. The historic city centre of Durham has changed little over 200 years. It is made up of the peninsula containing the cathedral, palace green, former administrative buildings for the palatine and Durham Castle. This was a strategic defensive decision by the city's founders and gives the cathedral a striking position. So much so that Symeon of Durham stated: To see Durham is to see the English Sion and by doing so one may save oneself a trip to Jerusalem. Sir Walter Scott was so inspired by the view of the cathedral from South Street that he wrote "Harold the Dauntless", a poem about Saxons and Vikings set in County Durham and published on 30 January 1817. The following lines from the poem are carved into a stone tablet on Prebends Bridge: The old commercial section of the city encompasses the peninsula on three sides, following the River Wear. The peninsula was historically surrounded by the castle wall extending from the castle keep and broken by two gatehouses to the north and west of the enclosure. After extensive remodelling and "much beautification" by the Victorians the walls were removed with the exception of the gatehouse which is still standing on the Bailey. The medieval city was made up of the cathedral, castle and administrative buildings on the peninsula. The outlying areas were known as the townships and owned by the bishop, the most famous of these being Gilesgate (which still contains the mediaeval St Giles Church), Claypath and Elvet. The outlying commercial section of the city, especially around the North Road area, saw much change in the 1960s during a redevelopment spearheaded by Durham City Council; however, much of the original mediaeval street plan remains intact in the area close to the cathedral and market place. Most of the mediaeval buildings in the commercial area of the city have disappeared apart from the House of Correction and the Chapel of Saint Andrew, both under Elvet Bridge. Georgian buildings can still be found on the Bailey and Old Elvet most of which make up the colleges of Durham University. Climate. The table below gives the average temperature, rainfall and sunshine figures taken between 1981 and 2010, and extreme temperatures back to 1850 for the Met Office weather station in Durham: Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Durham has a temperate climate. At the average annual rainfall is lower than the national average of . Equally there are only around 122 days where more than of rain falls compared with a national average of 154.4 days. The area sees on average 1445.4 hours of sunshine per year, compared with a national average of 1125.0 hours. There is frost on 51.5 days compared with a national average of 55.6 days. Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures are compared with a national averages of respectively. The highest temperature recorded at Durham was during July 2022. Demography. The county town of County Durham, until 2009 Durham was located in the City of Durham local government district, which extended beyond the city, and had a total population of 87,656 in 2001, covering 186.68 square kilometres in 2007. In 2001, the unparished area of Durham had a population of 29,091, whilst the built-up area of Durham had a population of 42,939. Many of the inner city areas are now inhabited by students living in shared housing. Governance. The ancient borough covering Durham was Durham and Framwelgate, which was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1974 it was merged with Durham Rural District and Brandon and Byshottles Urban District to form the City of Durham district of County Durham. The district was abolished in 2009 with its responsibilities assumed by Durham County Council, a unitary authority. Since April 2009 city status has been held by charter trustees, who are the Durham County Councillors for the area of the former district. The trustees appoint the Mayor of Durham. The creation of the new City of Durham Parish Council has not affected the charter trustees. Durham's Member of Parliament (MP) is Mary Foy (Labour). Durham Town Hall is located on the west side of the Market Place. The earliest part of the complex of buildings is the guildhall which dates from 1665. The town hall, at the rear, was opened in 1851 (at the same time as the indoor market, which extends beneath and either side of the hall). A local referendum was held on creating a parish council for unparished areas of Durham City in February and March 2017, in which 66% of voters supported the proposal. The County Council approved the plans in September 2017. The City of Durham Parish Council was created on 1 April 2018, with the first elections for the 15 council seats taking place on 3 May 2018. The parish council is divided into three electoral wards, electing a total of 15 councillors. These councillors are responsible for burial grounds, allotments, play areas and some street lighting. Elections to the town council are held every four years and the most recent elections were held in May 2019. Economy. This is a table of trend of regional gross value added of County Durham at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by "Office for National Statistics" with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Landmarks. The whole of the centre of Durham is designated a conservation area. The conservation area was first designated on 9 August 1968, and was extended on 25 November 1980. In addition to the Cathedral and Castle, Durham contains over 630 listed buildings, 569 of which are located within the city centre conservation area. Particularly notable properties include: Grade II listed. Durham has multiple grade II listed buildings, including: Durham Castle. The castle was originally built in the 11th century as a projection of the Norman power in Northern England, as the population of England in the north remained rebellious following the disruption of the Norman Conquest in 1066. It is an excellent example of the early motte and bailey castles favoured by the Normans. The holder of the office of Bishop of Durham was appointed by the King to exercise royal authority on his behalf and the castle was the centre of his command. It remained the Bishop's Palace for the Bishops of Durham until the Bishop William Van Mildert made Bishop Auckland their primary residence. A founder of Durham University, Van Mildert gave the castle as accommodation for the institution's first college, University College. The castle was famed for its vast Great Hall, created by Bishop Antony Bek in the early 14th century. It was the largest great hall in Britain until Bishop Richard Foxe shortened it at the end of the 15th century. However, it is still 46 feet high and over 33 yards long. The castle is still the home of University College, Durham (which is, as a result, known informally as "Castle"). It has been in continuous use for over 900 years. Religious buildings. The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly referred to as Durham Cathedral was founded in its present form in AD 1093 and remains a centre for Christian worship today. It is generally regarded as one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe and the rib vaulting in the nave marks the beginning of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. The cathedral has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with nearby Durham Castle, which faces it across Palace Green, high above the River Wear. The cathedral houses the shrine and related treasures of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, and these are on public view. It is also home to the head of St Oswald of Northumbria and the remains of the Venerable Bede. The city also has other listed churches, some have been repurposed: Education. Results relate to the 2008 examination series. Primary. Primary schools include: Secondary. Durham is served by four state secondary schools: College or sixth form. New College Durham is the city's largest college of further education. It was founded in 1977 as a result of a merger between Neville's Cross College of Education and Durham Technical College. The college operated on two main sites near the city of Durham: Neville's Cross and Framwellgate Moor. The site at Framwellgate Moor opened in 1957 and has subsequently been rebuilt. The Neville's Cross Centre, which used to be housed in the county's former asylum has been sold for development into houses. Durham Sixth Form Centre specialises in sixth form courses, while East Durham College has sites just to the east of the city. Independent. There are three independent schools: University. Durham is home to Durham University. It was founded as the University of Durham (which remains its official and legal name) by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837. It was one of the first universities to open in England for more than 600 years, and is claimed to be England's third oldest after the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Durham University has an international reputation for excellence, as reflected by its ranking in the top 150 of the world's universities. Local media. Television. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees from the Pontop Pike TV transmitter. Radio. The city's local radio stations are BBC Radio Newcastle, Smooth Radio North East, Greatest Hits Radio North East, Heart North East, Metro Radio, Durham On Air, Sun FM, Purple Radio which broadcasts from Durham University and Durham Hospitals Radio which has been broadcasting from the University Hospital of North Durham (previously Dryburn Hospital) since 1963. Transport. Rail. station is situated on the East Coast Main Line between and . From the south, trains enter Durham over a Victorian viaduct, high above the city. A second station, , had also served the city. It opened in 1893, serving passengers until 1931, goods until 1954. Road. By road, the A1(M), the modern incarnation of the ancient Great North Road, passes just to the east of the city. The road's previous incarnation (now numbered A167) passes just to the west. Durham Market Place and its peninsula form the UK's first (albeit small) congestion charging area, which was introduced in 2002. Park and Ride. Durham City Park and Ride consists of three sites (Belmont, Howlands and Sniperley), which are located around the outskirts of the city centre. The Belmont site is closest to the A1(M). Frequent, direct bus services operate up to every 10 minutes between 7am and 7pm (Monday–Saturday). Car parking is free, with a return bus journey costing £2 per person (as of June 2020). Bus station. Durham Bus Station was located off North Road, a short walk from the cathedral, university and railway station. It was managed and owned by the county council. In February 2021, the bus station was demolished to make way for a £10m redevelopment, due to take 18 months to complete. Currently, scheduled buses run from temporary stands on North Road and Milburngate. The former station was served by Arriva North East and Go North East's local bus services, with frequent routes running in and around the North East England region. The bus station had 11 departure stands (lettered A–L), each of which was fitted with seating, next bus information displays, and timetable posters. Air. Durham's nearest airports are Teesside Airport within the county to the south-east and Newcastle Airport to the north, both of which are located from the city by road. Sport. Archery. Durham hosts several archery clubs who shoot at various locations in the city, members of these clubs shoot for the region and individually at national events, as well as many who shoot for recreation. In 2014, the regional Durham And Northumberland Archery Team won the National Intercounty Team Event at Lilleshall NSC, this event saw 260 archers from 19 counties competing over two days for the title. Cricket. Durham City Cricket Club plays at Green Lane Cricket Ground near the River Wear. Formed in 1829, Durham City was one of the founder members of the Durham Senior Cricket League upon its creation in 1903 and the First XI have been champions on thirteen occasions. Football. The town's football club Durham City A.F.C. was a member the Football League between 1921 and 1928, but has long been a non-league club, currently playing in the Northern League. Their home ground was New Ferens Park. However, after a dispute with the landlord, Durham left New Ferens Park and made a deal to groundshare at Willington F.C. Durham is also home to FA Women's Championship team Durham Women's F.C., a team founded in 2014, they are a collaboration between South Durham and Cestria Girls and Durham University, the team are nicknamed The Wildcats, who are coached by Lee Sanders and play their Home games at Maiden Castle, part of Durham University. Ice rink. Durham Ice Rink was a central feature of the city for some 60 years until it closed in 1996. It was home to the Durham Wasps, one of the most successful British ice hockey clubs during the 1980s and early 1990s. Durham Ice Rink's demolition began in May 2013. On the location of the former ice rink now stands Freemans Reach which houses the Durham Passport Office Rowing. The River Wear provides some 1800 m of river that can be rowed on, stretching from Old Durham Beck in the east () to the weir next to Durham School Boat Club's boathouse in the west (). This includes the 700 m straight used for most of the Durham Regatta races and includes navigation through the arches of Elvet Bridge, reputed to be the narrowest row through bridge in Europe, and the bends of the river round the peninsula. There is a path running alongside the river's south bank (i.e. the Cathedral side) for the entire length of the stretch available for rowing, the concrete section between Hatfield College boathouse and Elvet Bridge being completed in 1882. For sport rowing there are a number of boating clubs operating on this stretch, Durham Amateur Rowing Club, the Durham University Boat Club, the 14 university college clubs of the Durham campus, Durham Constabulary and the school clubs – Durham School Boat Club and St Leonard's who row regularly in their own colours out of their own boathouses and Durham High School for Girls who may row out of Durham Amateur Rowing Club. Durham Amateur Rowing Club. Durham Amateur Rowing Club, DARC, operates out of a purpose-built community clubhouse on the River Wear which opened in 2007: The club takes part in the government scheme playing for success where it uses sport to combine rowing, science, computers and video to help boost literacy and numeracy. Durham University rowing. Durham University rowing is divided into two sections: Durham University Boat Club and Durham College Rowing, the latter comprises 16 college boat clubs. Regattas and head races. The River Wear is host to a number of regattas and head races throughout the year. These include: the Novice Cup, Wear Long Distance Sculls and Senate Cup in November and December; Durham Small Boats Head in February; Durham City Regatta in May; Durham Regatta and Admiral's Regatta in June; and Durham Primary Regatta in September. Durham Regatta. Durham Regatta has been held on the River Wear in Durham since 1834. It is the second oldest regatta in Britain and is often referred to as 'the Henley of the North'. Durham Regatta in its current form dates back to 1834, when only a handful of trophies were competed for over a period of three days. Today, the regatta takes place over a period of two days, at which dozens of trophies are competed for. Durham University, Durham School and Durham Amateur Rowing Club have competed regularly since the early days. Pleasure boats. In addition to the competitive rowing and sculling of the boat clubs mentioned above, there is also hire of public pleasure boats from April to October. Rugby. Durham City Rugby Club has its headquarters on Green Lane: Durham City RFC, the second oldest club in the county, was founded in 1872 with navy and gold playing colours and Durham Cathedral's sanctuary knocker as the club's crest. City's Hollow Drift home has been developed into a facility which includes two floodlit pitches and a training area. At present, City run four senior sides, a Veteran's XV, a Ladies' XV and mini and junior teams from aged 6 to 17. Twin towns. Durham has a number of twin towns: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Durham County council revoked the twinning arrangements with the Russian city of Kostroma, which had been in place since 1968. Freedom of the City. The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Durham.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68685

Bobby Robson

Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. He is widely considered to be one of the best English managers of all time. Robson's professional playing career as an inside forward spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for three clubs: Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, and, briefly, Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals. After his playing career, he found success as both a club and international manager, winning league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which remained the national team's best run in a World Cup since 1966 until they reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Republic of Ireland national team, while his final official club job was at boyhood club Newcastle United, whom he left in 2004. He held several managerial positions outside of England, most notably one year at Barcelona in 1996–97, as well as stints at PSV, Sporting CP and Porto. Robson was created a Knight Bachelor in 2002, was inducted as a member of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003, and was the honorary president of Ipswich Town. From 1991 onwards, he had recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in March 2008, put his name and efforts into the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a cancer research charity which had raised over £12 million as of March 2018. In August 2008, his lung cancer was confirmed to be terminal; he said, "My condition is described as static and has not altered since my last bout of chemotherapy... I am going to die sooner rather than later. But then everyone has to go sometime and I have enjoyed every minute." He died just under a year later. Early life. Bobby Robson was born in Sacriston, County Durham, the fourth of five sons of Philip and Lilian Robson (née Watt). When he was a few months old, Robson's family moved to the nearby village of Langley Park where his father was a coal miner. Their two-bedroom house had no bath and an outside toilet. As a boy, he was often taken by his father to watch Newcastle United play at St James' Park on Saturday afternoons, requiring a 34-mile round trip. Robson described Jackie Milburn and Len Shackleton as his childhood heroes. Both played for Newcastle in the inside-forward position, the position Robson would later assume during his playing career. Robson attended Langley Park primary school and then Waterhouses secondary modern school, after failing his eleven-plus but the headmaster did not allow the school football team to join a league. Instead, he began to play for Langley Park Juniors on Saturday mornings at age 11, and by the time he was 15, he was representing the club at under-18 level. Robson played football whenever he possibly could but left school aged 15 to start work as an electrician's apprentice for the National Coal Board in the Langley Park colliery. In May 1950, Bill Dodgin, the manager of Fulham, made a personal visit to the Robson household to offer Bobby a professional contract. Despite being offered a contract by nearby Middlesbrough, the offer made by Dodgin was too attractive to turn down, so he signed for Fulham and moved to London, playing as a wing half and inside forward. Robson had also interested his beloved Newcastle, but he opted to join Fulham as, in his opinion, "Newcastle made no appreciable effort to secure [my] signature." He also thought he stood a better chance of breaking into the first team at Fulham. Robson had partial deafness in one ear, which rendered him ineligible to be called up for national service. Playing career. Club playing career. Although Robson had signed professionally, his father insisted he continue to work as an electrician. He spent the day working at the Festival of Britain site and trained three nights a week at Fulham. Eventually, this took its toll on Robson and he gave up his trade for full-time professional football. In 1950, Robson made his first-team debut for Fulham, recently promoted to the First Division, in a match against Sheffield Wednesday. He came to regard Fulham as "a nice club, a social club...", but "never... a serious, championship-challenging club". Indeed, he and Fulham were relegated from the top-flight in the 1951–52 season, but he made his return to the First Division, four years later, when he signed for Vic Buckingham's West Bromwich Albion in March 1956. The transfer fee of £25,000 was a club record for West Brom at the time. He made his West Brom debut in a 4–0 home defeat to Manchester City on 10 March 1956. In 1957–58, he was the club's top league goalscorer; his tally of 24 goals included four in a 5–1 win against Burnley. Often playing as a midfielder, he went on to play 257 matches and score 61 goals for West Brom, and he captained the team for the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons. However, in August 1962, he returned to Fulham after a disagreement with West Brom vice-chairman Jim Gaunt over his salary. The ongoing dispute over both minimum and maximum wages in the game, instigated by Robson's teammate Jimmy Hill and the Professional Footballers' Association, combined with the birth of Robson's second son, prompted Robson to demand a higher salary. Gaunt refused to negotiate Robson's contract, so Robson placed a transfer request and was sold to Fulham for £20,000 in a deal which doubled his salary. Soon after Robson joined Fulham, the club sold Alan Mullery and Rodney Marsh, meaning Robson's chances of securing any significant honour there were substantially reduced. Robson himself stated, "In all my time as a footballer, I didn't win a thing." Despite press reports of interest from Arsenal, and the offer of a player-manager role by Southend United, Robson left Fulham in 1967 and accepted a three-year deal with Canada's Vancouver Royals. He was to be player-manager in their inaugural 1968 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and believed it "was a chance too good to miss". He began scouting and holding tryout camps for the new team in late 1967. The position proved difficult; a long-distance joint-ownership agreement gave the Hungarian footballer Ferenc Puskás control over the San Francisco section of the squad, while Robson took care of the Vancouver squad. Robson was dissatisfied by this situation and when, in January 1968, Fulham offered him a contract as their manager, he accepted the position at Craven Cottage. International playing career. During his first spell at Fulham, Robson participated in two ambassadorial Football Association tours in the West Indies in 1955 and South Africa in 1956. However, it was during his time at West Bromwich Albion that he graduated to the full England squad, with his first call-up in 1956. His manager, Vic Buckingham, advocated the "push and run" approach to the game, a precursor to "total football", and playing this, Robson graduated to the full England squad in 1956, It was also at West Brom when Robson met future England international and assistant coach Don Howe. Robson went on to make 20 appearances for the England national team, making his debut in a November 1957 victory against France, scoring twice in a 4–0 victory. Although he made a successful debut, he was dropped for England's next match, against Scotland, in favour of Bobby Charlton. However, Robson was selected for the 1958 FIFA World Cup squad, ahead of Nat Lofthouse and Stanley Matthews, but returned from host nation Sweden disappointed after England were defeated by the Soviet Union in a group play-off match. Following the World Cup, Robson became an established member of the England squad, enjoying considerable success in a period between October 1960 and March 1961 when he played in six England victories, including scoring a goal in the record 9–3 defeat of Scotland at Wembley Stadium. He was selected for the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile, but an injury to his ankle sustained in a pre-tournament friendly against a Chilean club side ruled him out of most of the tournament. As Robson recalled, "I never played for England again... my international career was unfulfilled." His place in the England team was taken by Bobby Moore. Managerial career. Early club management. In 1959, the then England manager and the Football Association (FA) director of coaching, Walter Winterbottom, suggested to Robson that he take a coaching course at Lilleshall. He obtained coaching qualifications during his second spell at Fulham, and coached Oxford University A.F.C. Robson made his debut as a manager in January 1968 at his former club Fulham, against Macclesfield Town, then in the Cheshire County League, in the third round of the FA Cup. Fulham were struggling with 16 points from 24 matches. Despite the acquisition of the young Malcolm Macdonald, Robson could not save the club from relegation to the Second Division, and he left them in November with the club sitting eighth in the Second Division. He discovered he had been sacked not from the club itself, but from the headline "Robson sacked" on an "Evening Standard" placard outside Putney station. Ipswich Town. Robson moved on to Ipswich Town in 1969 and it was there that he established his reputation as a successful manager, supported by the club chairman John Cobbold and then later by his brother Patrick Cobbold. He was offered the vacant job at the Suffolk club after a chance encounter with Town director Murray Sangster while scouting at Portman Road for Chelsea manager Dave Sexton. After four mediocre seasons, Robson led Ipswich to fourth place in the First Division and success in the Texaco Cup in the 1972–73 season. In the following nine seasons, Ipswich finished lower than sixth place in the First Division only once, in the 1977–78 season. However, that season was a success with a 1–0 victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup final. His reign at Ipswich lasted 13 years, during which time the club twice finished as League runners-up, and made regular appearances in European competitions, winning the UEFA Cup in 1981 with a 5–4 aggregate victory over Dutch side AZ 67 Alkmaar. About that team, Robson said: "We played with two strikers, no wingers, Eric Gates sitting off the front two, two semi-wide midfield players in Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen and Johnny Wark sitting in the holding role". During his 13-year tenure, he brought in only 14 players from other clubs, most notably Allan Hunter, Bryan Hamilton and Paul Mariner, relying instead on players developed through Ipswich's youth programmes, including Terry Butcher, George Burley, John Wark, Mick Mills, Colin Viljoen, Alan Brazil, Trevor Whymark, Brian Talbot, Kevin Beattie and Eric Gates, who all went on to play international football. His imports included Dutch players Frans Thijssen and Arnold Mühren. Robson "was not a tactical genius" but he "showed a talent for developing new players, with his good interpersonal skills, caring attitude, hard work and enthusiasm helping them to achieve their best". In 2002, in recognition of his achievements with the club, a life-size statue of Robson was unveiled opposite the Cobbold Stand of Ipswich Town's ground, Portman Road. On 7 July 2006, Robson was named as honorary president of Ipswich Town Football Club, the first since Lady Blanche Cobbold who had died in 1987. England manager. Robson's achievements with Ipswich earned him a job offer from the Football Association for the position of national coach, and he declined an offer of a ten-year contract extension and increased salary from Ipswich director Patrick Cobbold. On 7 July 1982, two days after England were knocked out of the 1982 World Cup, he succeeded Ron Greenwood as coach of the England national team, selecting former West Bromwich Albion teammate Don Howe as his chief coach. Robson's first match in charge saw immediate controversy, as he dropped Kevin Keegan for the match against Denmark. On 21 September 1983, Robson suffered his only loss in the 28 qualifying matches he was to undertake as England manager. The defeat, again to Denmark, ultimately led to England's failure to qualify for the 1984 European Championships and resulted in Robson offering to resign in favour of Brian Clough. The resignation was rejected by FA chairman Bert Millichip (primarily down to his and the FA's disdain for Clough), and Robson went on to lead the England team to qualify for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. England began the competition poorly and captain Bryan Robson was injured with a recurrence of a dislocated shoulder. Bobby Robson changed the team's tactics for the final match of the first round, selecting Peter Beardsley ahead of Mark Hateley as a striking partner for Gary Lineker. The team won its next two matches, against Poland and Paraguay, 3–0, and qualified for the quarter-finals. England were defeated in the last eight by Argentina with a brace of goals from Diego Maradona, the infamous "Hand of God" goal and the "Goal of the Century" he scored five minutes later. Robson was unimpressed by Maradona's claim of divine intervention: Robson's England dropped only one point in qualifying for Euro 1988, which included an 8–0 victory over Turkey. However, this was followed by failure at the tournament itself, held in West Germany, where England were eliminated in the group stage. They finished bottom of their group, succumbing to defeats against the Republic of Ireland, the eventual winners, the Netherlands, and the eventual runners-up, the Soviet Union. Robson was vilified by the British press, and after a draw in a friendly with Saudi Arabia, one newspaper demanded, "In the name of Allah, go." Again Robson submitted his resignation, and again it was rejected by Millichip (again Brian Clough is often cited as a reason). Robson led England without conceding a goal through the six-match qualification for the 1990 World Cup where they were one of six seeded teams. Again they were placed in a group with the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, with Egypt the fourth side. As in the 1986 World Cup, Robson was denied the service of his captain, Bryan Robson, who injured his achilles tendon which prevented him playing in the latter stages of the tournament. England topped their qualifying group, accumulating four points from their three matches. However, their progress was not without controversy. England changed formation from their traditional 4–4–2 to 5–3–2 incorporating a sweeper, with some sources suggesting this was due to player revolt after the 1–1 draw in the first match with the Republic of Ireland. Robson denied this claim: This was followed by victories over Belgium and Cameroon in the knock-out stages, to set up a semi-final with West Germany. England lost the match on a penalty shoot-out, after the score had been tied at 1–1 following extra time. Robson said afterwards, "[N]ot a day goes by when [he] does not think about the semi-final and other choices [he] might have made." Robson was the second coach, after Alf Ramsey, to take England to a World Cup semi-final, and the first coach to do so on foreign soil, an achievement not equalled until Gareth Southgate's team reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. Robson's final game in charge of England was the third-place play off against hosts Italy, which England lost 2–1. Continental management. Before the 1990 World Cup, the FA told Robson it would not renew his contract as England manager, so he moved on to the Netherlands to coach PSV Eindhoven, succeeding manager Guus Hiddink, who had left the team after leading them to European Cup victory and four consecutive Eredivisie titles. PSV sought a manager capable of instilling discipline into a fractious squad, much as Hiddink had done previously. Robson described the move as "a culture shock" but felt "a sense of adventure". News of Robson's new position in the Netherlands became public before the start of the 1990 World Cup, leading to tabloid stories impugning Robson's patriotism; he sued "Today" for calling him a "traitor". The Dutch penchant for tactical debate surprised Robson. In an interview with "Voetbal International", he lamented, "An English pro accepts the manager's decision. After every match here, the substitutes come and visit me." Another of his challenges at PSV was handling the Brazilian international Romário. Robson became frustrated with the Brazilian's work ethic, although admitted "in some matches he would be scintillating". Robson arranged showdown talks with Romário, with Frank Arnesen, Robson's assistant, acting as a translator. The talks proved unsuccessful, with Romário unwilling to change his lifestyle. Despite this, PSV won the Eredivisie in both the 1990–91 and 1991–92 seasons. However, the team did not make the progress expected by the board in European competitions and Robson was informed he would be leaving the club at the end of the 1991–92 season. Robson moved to Sporting CP in July 1992, where his Portuguese interpreter was a young José Mourinho, future Porto, Chelsea, Internazionale, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Roma manager. Robson guided the club to a third-place finish in his first season in charge while admitting the club was in "a terrible state". He described the club's president as a "loose cannon" who frequently signed players without Robson's consent. Robson was sacked in December 1993 with the club sitting at the top of the league table. Club president Sousa Cintra cited the club's early exit from the UEFA Cup, at the hands of Casino Salzburg, as the reason for his dismissal. Sporting CP's rivals Porto quickly hired Robson, with Mourinho appointed as his assistant manager. Living in the same apartment block at the time was another future Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager, the young André Villas-Boas, who, aged 16, introduced himself to Robson. Robson subsequently appointed Villas-Boas to work in the Porto observation department and helped him gain his UEFA "C" coaching badge in Scotland, despite him technically being ineligible as he was aged 17. Porto were in a poor state when Robson arrived and the average attendance had dwindled to 10,000. The club promptly went on to beat Robson's former club, Sporting CP, in the Taça de Portugal final, following that achievement with successive League titles in the 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons. Such was the impact of Robson at Porto, he became known to the locals as "Bobby Five-O" in honour of the number of matches Porto won 5–0, and he signed a new contract with the club in 1995. Robson had malignant melanoma and missed the first few months of the 1995–96 season. He still successfully led Porto in defence of their league title. A phone call during the summer of 1996 from Barcelona vice-president Joan Gaspart to discuss Luís Figo resulted in an offer of employment with the Spanish club. Robson took over in July 1996, where again his assistant was Mourinho; Robson had made Mourinho's move with him to the Camp Nou a condition of his employment. One of the key decisions Robson made during his brief tenure at Barcelona was the US$19.5 million signing of Ronaldo, who was influential in a season when Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Robson himself was voted European Manager of the Year for 1996–97, while Ronaldo stated, "as a trainer without doubt [Robson] is one of the greatest in the world". The 1997–98 season saw Robson moved "upstairs" to the general manager position, with Louis van Gaal taking over as manager, but Robson stayed in this position for only one season before returning to manage PSV on a short-term deal for the 1998–99 season. PSV missed out on the league title, finishing third behind Feyenoord and Willem II, but Robson still led the club to victory in the Johan Cruyff Shield and also qualification for the UEFA Champions League on the last day of the season. Return to England. After Robson's contract expired, he returned to England to take up a position in the Football Association's technical department, but following the resignation of Ruud Gullit at Newcastle United, Robson moved to St James' Park in September 1999. Robson was disappointed with the club's opening salary offer, stating, "[I]t was miles below the going rate," but negotiated a one-year, £1 million deal. In Robson's first home match in charge, bottom-placed Newcastle faced second bottom Sheffield Wednesday, thrashing them 8–0. In his first season in charge, 1999–2000, Robson led the club to an 11th-place finish, with 14 wins from his 32 matches in charge. In late 2000, following the resignation of ex-"Magpies" boss Kevin Keegan as England manager, the FA asked Newcastle club chairman Freddy Shepherd to permit Robson to take over in a part-time caretaker capacity, but the request was refused. Robson guided Newcastle from bottom of the Premier League to a fourth-place finish in the 2001–02 season. The following season, Newcastle finished third, ensuring qualification for the UEFA Champions League for the second consecutive year. However, Robson was unable to guide Newcastle through the Champions League qualifying rounds, and the club was dropped to participate in the UEFA Cup for the 2003–04 season. At the end of the 2003–04 season, Newcastle finished fifth in the table, five points short of the Champions League qualifying fourth place but reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup before losing to Marseille. Robson held the Newcastle post until 30 August 2004, when he was dismissed by Freddy Shepherd, after a poor start to the Premier League season and alleged discontent in the dressing room. Robson's dismissal followed publication of his off the record observation of his disappointment that only 5,000 fans stayed to see the traditional lap of honour made by the players at St James' Park at the end of the previous season. However, he remains held in the highest esteem by some fans; he was granted the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne on 2 March 2005. Robson's autobiography, entitled "Bobby Robson: Farewell but not Goodbye" was released in 2005. The title is based on one of his quotes upon leaving the England job in 1990: "I'm here to say goodbye—maybe not goodbye but farewell." In the book, Robson was critical of Shepherd, claiming that while manager he was denied information regarding the players' contracts and transfer negotiations. He also criticised Shepherd and the club's deputy chairman Douglas Hall, for their focus on the first team and St James' Park, causing them to neglect less glamorous issues, such as the training ground, youth development and talent scouts. The club's training ground was later blamed by Graeme Souness, Robson's successor, for a series of injuries to first team players. Football consultant for Republic of Ireland and retirement. On 7 June 2005, Robson declined the invitation to become director of football of Heart of Midlothian because he wanted to stay in the Newcastle area. On 13 January 2006, Steve Staunton was appointed manager of the Republic of Ireland national team, with Robson named in a support role as "international football consultant". Robson stepped down from his role of consultant on 17 November 2007 following the nation's final match in their unsuccessful qualifying campaign for Euro 2008. Robson was a former vice president of the League Managers Association, a non-executive role. Life outside football. Personal life. Robson met Elsie Gray on a trip back to his parents' home in Langley Park. Gray was a student nurse, and later a teacher. They were married on 25 June 1955 with Fulham teammate Tom Wilson as Robson's best man. After 1991, Robson was repeatedly diagnosed with cancer. He had several operations and in 2006 was operated on for a brain tumour. This, on occasion, affected his work; while at Porto, for example, Robson had malignant melanoma, which resulted in his missing the first few months of the 1995–96 season. On 17 October 2006, it was revealed that Robson had been given the all-clear and was set to see out his contract as consultant to the Irish team. Robson revealed on 7 May 2007 he had been diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time. On 17 May 2008, Robson was the guest of honour at the 2008 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium when Portsmouth defeated Cardiff City 1–0. He presented the trophy to the victorious captain, Sol Campbell. Other activities. Robson made a number of product endorsements, including an appearance in Carlsberg's "Best Pub Side" television commercial. He also acted as a pundit for ITV during the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. Bobby Robson Foundation. Robson defeated bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995, and a tumour in his right lung and a brain tumour, both in 2006. Treatment of these conditions had left him partially paralysed due to a stroke caused by the brain tumour, and also with a partially prosthetic upper jaw after the melanoma was surgically removed. His fifth diagnosis of cancer in 2007, consisting of cancerous nodules in both lungs, was diagnosed as terminal in February 2007, and as of December 2008, was being controlled through bouts of chemotherapy. After these experiences, and following his fifth diagnosis with cancer, Robson devoted the remaining years of his life to helping fight the disease. On 25 March 2008, he launched the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. The Foundation raised over £1 million, which funded equipment for the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre, in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne, and would go on to fund other cancer projects in the North East of England. In aid of the Foundation, Robson's 1990 World Cup semi-final 4–3 loss after penalties against West Germany was replayed on 26 July 2009 as the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match at St James' Park, featuring players from the original 1990 World Cup squads and other special guests. Robson was given a guard of honour before the match, which finished 3–2 to the England side. At the time of Robson's death, the Foundation had raised £1.6 million. Donations totalling £156,000 were received by the Foundation in the 18 days following his death, and on 15 October 2009, it was announced the Foundation had raised over £2 million, and that at the request of Robson's family, Alan Shearer would take over Robson's role as the Foundation's patron. It passed the £2.5 million mark in September 2010. Three other patrons were added in 2010, Steve Gibson, Mick Mills and Niall Quinn. Death. On 31 July 2009, Robson died of lung cancer at his home in County Durham, aged 76, after a long battle with the disease. After the news of his death, leading figures from the world of football and politics paid tribute to him. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson called him a "great friend, a wonderful individual and tremendous football man". UEFA president Michel Platini said, "He will be remembered not only for his playing career and his outstanding managerial career at both club and international level, but also because he was a truly warm and passionate human being." Gary Lineker said, "It is a sad day and a great loss. He was a wonderful man and will be deeply missed by everybody in the country. I never played for a more enthusiastic man. He gave so much to the game." Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair described Robson as a "real Geordie gentleman". According to the then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Robson "epitomised everything that is great about football in this country". His friend, the broadcaster Michael Parkinson, said, "Robson will be remembered long after the present lot are old bones. By his decency, his humour, his love of the game's traditions and origins and confusion at what it had become, he made present day football look what it is – shabby by comparison. I can think of no more fitting epitaph." Robson's funeral, a private family ceremony, took place on 5 August 2009. The location remained undisclosed at the request of his family until the funeral had taken place. It was later revealed to be Esh, County Durham. A thanksgiving service for Robson was held on 21 September 2009 at Durham Cathedral. One thousand invited guests attended the service, which was also broadcast live on national television, and to Newcastle United's St James' Park, Ipswich Town's Portman Road ground and Fulham's Craven Cottage. Robson was survived by his wife and their three sons: Andrew, Paul and Mark. Achievements. Robson was awarded a number of honours for his contributions to football. In 1990, at the end of his eight-year reign as England manager, he was appointed a CBE in 1991 and in 2002, he was knighted; both awards were for services to football. In 2002 (during his time as Newcastle manager), the 69-year-old Robson was awarded the freedom of Newcastle upon Tyne and the UEFA President's Award for "services to football". He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his impact as a manager. Following his time as Newcastle United manager in 2005, Robson was made an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle, which, in his autobiography, he described as being "the proudest moment of my life". Robson also won the 1992 Football Writers' Association Tribute Award for an outstanding contribution to the national game, and the 2001 British Sports Writers' Association Pat Besford Trophy for Outstanding Achievement. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Sports Coach UK Awards, and was also awarded the Eircom International Personality of the Year in 2006. On 9 December 2007, Robson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year show in recognition of "his contribution as both player and manager in a career spanning more than half a century". On 5 May 2008, during the 30th anniversary celebrations of Ipswich Town's 1978 FA Cup win, Robson was granted the Freedom of Ipswich by the Lady Mayor. On 8 December 2008, he earned another such accolade when he was given the Freedom of the City of Durham. In March 2009, UEFA awarded Robson the Emerald UEFA Order of Merit award, awarded to "individuals who have dedicated their talents to the good of the game". The award was presented to Robson at St James' Park on 26 July 2009, prior to the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, and just five days before his death. Posthumous honours. In December 2009, Robson was posthumously awarded the FIFA Fair Play Award, for the "gentlemanly qualities he showed throughout his career as a player and coach". All English football league matches held a one minute's applause in his memory at the beginning of the 2009–10 season. The Football League gave Newcastle United and Ipswich Town special dispensation to wear special commemorative kits for their Championship match on 26 September 2009 at Portman Road, in aid of Sir Bobby's Foundation. At half-time during this match, the North Stand of Portman Road was renamed the Sir Bobby Robson Stand. The first anniversary of Robson's death on 31 July 2010 was marked with a ceremony and pre-season friendly match at Newcastle's St James' Park, between two of his former clubs Newcastle United and PSV Eindhoven, involving Robson's PSV captain Stan Valckx presenting a PSV shirt to the club. In July 2010, plans were unveiled for a memorial garden to Robson to be built in Newcastle. It was to be created by the city council in partnership with the regeneration company NE1Ltd, and located on Gallowgate street close to the Newcastle United stadium St James' Park. Work began on the site in November 2010, which was completed by Spring 2011. The garden covers 400 square meters, and features a tiered seating area and sculpted stone plinths reflecting aspects of his life and work. The area also hosts 400 square metre memorial garden to Sir Bobby Robson. With a keen interest in cricket as well as football, Robson was to have replaced Mike Gatting as president of the Lord's Taverners charity and cricket club in 2007, but this was prevented by his ill-health. After his death, the club held a dinner in his honour, as "The best President we never had". In March 2011, the East Coast train operating company named one of its Class 91 electric locomotives "Sir Bobby Robson", unveiled at Newcastle station by his widow Elsie and Alan Shearer. Similarly, in December 2011, the Port of Tyne Authority named its new work boat the "Sir Bobby Robson". On 6 May 2012, a statue of Robson created by sculptor Tom Maley was unveiled at St James' Park before a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Manchester City. On 16 July 2013, marking the 150th anniversary celebrations of the FA, the FA designated 10 August as the Sir Bobby Robson National Football Day, celebrated as a day to celebrate the national game. In 2018, "", a feature-length British film about Robson's career and cancer diagnosis, was released to critical acclaim. In September 2020 the Sir Bobby Robson School opened in Ipswich. The school will serve children aged 8–16 with social, emotional and mental health needs. Honours. Player. England Manager. Ipswich Town PSV Eindhoven Porto Barcelona Newcastle United England Individual

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68736

Glasgow

Glasgow ( ; or ; ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the third-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2022, it had an estimated population as a defined locality of and anchored an urban settlement of . The city was made a county of itself in 1893, prior to which it had been in the historic county of Lanarkshire (or Clydesdale). The city now forms the Glasgow City Council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and is administered by Glasgow City Council. Glasgow has the largest economy in Scotland and the third-highest GDP per capita of any city in the UK. Glasgow's major academic and cultural institutions enjoy international reputations including the Glasgow School of Art founded in 1845, University of Glasgow founded in 1451, University of Strathclyde with its origins in 1796, Glasgow Caledonian University, City of Glasgow College, Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow founded in 1599, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Burrell Collection, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera. The city was the European Capital of Culture in 1990 and is notable for its architecture, culture, media, music scene, sports clubs and transport connections. It is the fifth-most visited city in the United Kingdom. The city hosted the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) at its main events venue, the SEC Centre. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the first European Championships in 2018, and was one of the host cities for UEFA Euro 2020. The city is also well known in the sporting world for football, particularly for the Old Firm rivalry. Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement close to Glasgow Cathedral and descending to the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Scotland, and tenth largest by tonnage in Britain. Expanding from the medieval bishopric and episcopal burgh (subsequently royal burgh), and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow in the 15th century, it became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century onwards, the city also grew as one of Britain's main hubs of oceanic trade with North America and the West Indies; soon followed by the Orient, India, and China. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the population and economy of Glasgow and the surrounding region expanded rapidly to become one of the world's pre-eminent centres of chemicals, textiles and engineering; most notably in the shipbuilding and marine engineering industry, which produced many innovative and famous vessels. Glasgow was the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Glasgow's population grew rapidly, reaching a peak of 1,127,825 people in 1938 (with a higher density and within a smaller territory than in subsequent decades). The population was greatly reduced following comprehensive urban renewal projects in the 1960s which resulted in large-scale relocation of people to designated new towns, such as Cumbernauld, Livingston, East Kilbride and peripheral suburbs, followed by successive boundary changes. Over 1,000,000 people live in the Greater Glasgow contiguous urban area, while the wider Glasgow City Region is home to over 1,800,000 people, equating to around 33% of Scotland's population. The city has one of the highest densities of any locality in Scotland at 4,023/km2. Etymology. The name Glasgow is Brittonic in origin. The first element "glas", meaning "grey-green, grey-blue" both in Brittonic, Scottish Gaelic and modern day Welsh and the second "*cöü", "hollow" (cf. Welsh "glas-cau"), giving a meaning of "green-hollow". The green-hollow may refer to the ravine to the east of Glasgow Cathedral. It is often said that the name means "dear green place" or that "dear green place" is a translation from Gaelic "Glas Caomh". "The dear green place" remains an affectionate way of referring to the city. The modern Gaelic is "Glaschu" and derived from the same roots as the Brittonic. The settlement may have an earlier Brittonic name, Cathures; the modern name appears for the first time in the Gaelic period (1116), as "Glasgu". It is also recorded that the King of Strathclyde, Rhydderch Hael, welcomed Saint Kentigern (also known as Saint Mungo), and procured his consecration as bishop about 540. For some thirteen years Kentigern laboured in the region, building his church at the Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, and making many converts. A large community developed around him and became known as "Glasgu". History. Origins and development. The area around Glasgow has hosted communities for millennia, with the River Clyde providing a natural location for fishing. The Romans later built outposts in the area and, to protect Roman Britannia from the Brittonic speaking (Celtic) Caledonians, constructed the Antonine Wall. Items from the wall, such as altars from Roman forts like Balmuildy, can be found at the Hunterian Museum today. Glasgow itself was reputed to have been founded by the Christian missionary Saint Mungo in the 6th century. He established a church on the Molendinar Burn, where the present Glasgow Cathedral stands, and in the following years Glasgow became a religious centre. Glasgow grew over the following centuries. The Glasgow Fair reportedly began in 1190. A bridge over the River Clyde was recorded from around 1285, where Victoria Bridge now stands. As the lowest bridging point on the Clyde it was an important crossing. The area around the bridge became known as Briggait. The founding of the University of Glasgow adjoining the cathedral in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the town's religious and educational status and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe and the Mediterranean. By the fifteenth century the urban area stretched from the area around the cathedral and university in the north down to the bridge and the banks of the Clyde in the south along High Street, Saltmarket and Bridgegate, crossing an east-west route at Glasgow Cross which became the commercial centre of the city. Following the European Protestant Reformation and with the encouragement of the Convention of Royal Burghs, the 14 incorporated trade crafts federated as the Trades House in 1605 to match the power and influence in the town council of the earlier Merchants' Guilds who established their Merchants House in the same year. Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. Glasgow's substantial fortunes came from international trade, manufacturing and invention, starting in the 17th century with sugar, followed by tobacco, and then cotton and linen, products of the Atlantic triangular slave trade. Daniel Defoe visited the city in the early 18th century and famously opined in his book "A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain", that Glasgow was "the cleanest and beautifullest, and best built city in Britain, London excepted". At that time the city's population was about 12,000, and the city was yet to undergo the massive expansionary changes to its economy and urban fabric, brought about by the Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. Trading port. After the Acts of Union in 1707, Scotland gained further access to the vast markets of the new British Empire, and Glasgow became prominent as a hub of international trade to and from the Americas, especially in sugar, tobacco, cotton, and manufactured goods. Starting in 1668, the city's Tobacco Lords created a deep water port at Port Glasgow about down the River Clyde, as the river from the city to that point was then too shallow for seagoing merchant ships. By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on the River Clyde, with over of tobacco being imported each year at its peak. At the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton. From the mid-eighteenth century the city began expanding westwards from its medieval core at Glasgow Cross, with a grid-iron street plan starting from the 1770s and eventually reaching George Square to accommodate much of the growth, with that expansion much later becoming known in the 1980s onwards as the Merchant City. The largest growth in the city centre area, building on the wealth of trading internationally, was the next expansion being the grid-iron streets west of Buchanan Street riding up and over Blythswood Hill from 1800 onwards. Industrialisation. The opening of the Monkland Canal and basin linking to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas in 1795, facilitated access to the extensive iron-ore and coal mines in Lanarkshire. After extensive river engineering projects to dredge and deepen the River Clyde as far as Glasgow, shipbuilding became a major industry on the upper stretches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as Robert Napier, John Elder, George Thomson, Sir William Pearce and Sir Alfred Yarrow. The River Clyde also became an important source of inspiration for artists, such as John Atkinson Grimshaw, John Knox, James Kay, Sir Muirhead Bone, Robert Eadie and L.S. Lowry, willing to depict the new industrial era and the modern world, as did Stanley Spencer downriver at Port Glasgow. Glasgow's population had surpassed that of Edinburgh by 1821. The development of civic institutions included the City of Glasgow Police in 1800, one of the first municipal police forces in the world. Despite the crisis caused by the City of Glasgow Bank's collapse in 1878, growth continued and by the end of the 19th century it was one of the cities known as the "Second City of the Empire" and was producing more than half Britain's tonnage of shipping and a quarter of all locomotives in the world. In addition to its pre-eminence in shipbuilding, engineering, industrial machinery, bridge building, chemicals, explosives, coal and oil industries it developed as a major centre in textiles, garment-making, carpet manufacturing, leather processing, furniture-making, pottery, food, drink and cigarette making; printing and publishing. Shipping, banking, insurance and professional services expanded at the same time. Glasgow became one of the first cities in Europe to reach a population of one million. The city's new trades and sciences attracted new residents from across the Lowlands and the Highlands of Scotland, from Ireland and other parts of Britain and from Continental Europe. During this period, the construction of many of the city's greatest architectural masterpieces and most ambitious civil engineering projects, such as the Milngavie water treatment works, Glasgow Subway, Glasgow Corporation Tramways, City Chambers, Mitchell Library and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum were being funded by its wealth. The city also held a series of International Exhibitions at Kelvingrove Park, in 1888, 1901 and 1911, with Britain's last major International Exhibition, the Empire Exhibition, being subsequently held in 1938 at Bellahouston Park, which drew 13 million visitors. The 20th century witnessed both decline and renewal in the city. After World War I, the city suffered from the impact of the Post–World War I recession and from the later Great Depression, this also led to a rise of radical socialism and the "Red Clydeside" movement. The city had recovered by the outbreak of World War II. The city saw aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe during the Clydebank Blitz, during the war, then grew through the post-war boom that lasted through the 1950s. By the 1960s, growth of industry in countries like Japan and West Germany, weakened the once pre-eminent position of many of the city's industries. As a result of this, Glasgow entered a lengthy period of relative economic decline and rapid de-industrialisation, leading to high unemployment, urban decay, population decline, welfare dependency and poor health for the city's inhabitants. There were active attempts at regeneration of the city, when the Glasgow Corporation published its controversial "Bruce Report", which set out a comprehensive series of initiatives aimed at turning round the decline of the city. The report led to a huge and radical programme of rebuilding and regeneration efforts that started in the mid-1950s and lasted into the late 1970s. This involved the mass demolition of the city's infamous slums and their replacement with large suburban housing estates and tower blocks. The city invested heavily in roads infrastructure, with an extensive system of arterial roads and motorways that bisected the central area. There are also accusations that the Scottish Office had deliberately attempted to undermine Glasgow's economic and political influence in post-war Scotland by diverting inward investment in new industries to other regions during the Silicon Glen boom and creating the new towns of Cumbernauld, Glenrothes, Irvine, Livingston and East Kilbride, dispersed across the Scottish Lowlands to halve the city's population base. By the late 1980s, there had been a significant resurgence in Glasgow's economic fortunes. The "Glasgow's miles better" campaign, launched in 1983, and opening of the Burrell Collection in 1983 and Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in 1985 facilitated Glasgow's new role as a European centre for business services and finance and promoted an increase in tourism and inward investment. The latter continues to be bolstered by the legacy of the city's Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988, its status as European Capital of Culture in 1990, and concerted attempts to diversify the city's economy. However, it is the industrial heritage that serves as key tourism enabler. Wider economic revival has persisted and the ongoing regeneration of inner-city areas, including the large-scale Clyde Waterfront Regeneration, has led to more affluent people moving back to live in the centre of Glasgow, fuelling allegations of gentrification. In 2008, the city was listed by Lonely Planet as one of the world's top 10 tourist cities. Despite Glasgow's economic renaissance, the East End of the city remains the focus of social deprivation. A Glasgow Economic Audit report published in 2007 stated that the gap between prosperous and deprived areas of the city is widening. In 2006, 47% of Glasgow's population lived in the most deprived 15% of areas in Scotland, while the Centre for Social Justice reported 29.4% of the city's working-age residents to be "economically inactive". Although marginally behind the UK average, Glasgow still has a higher employment rate than Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. In 2008 the city was ranked at 43 for Personal Safety in the Mercer index of top 50 safest cities in the world. The Mercer report was specifically looking at Quality of Living, yet by 2011 within Glasgow, certain areas were (still) "failing to meet the Scottish Air Quality Objective levels for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10)". Sanitation. With the population growing, the first scheme to provide a public water supply was by the Glasgow Company in 1806. A second company was formed in 1812, and the two merged in 1838, but there was some dissatisfaction with the quality of the water supplied. The Gorbals Gravitation Water Company began supplying water to residents living to the south of the River Clyde in 1846, obtained from reservoirs, which gave 75,000 people a constant water supply, but others were not so fortunate, and some 4,000 died in an outbreak of cholera in 1848/1849. This led to the development of the Glasgow Corporation Water Works, with a project to raise the level of Loch Katrine and to convey clean water by gravity along a aqueduct to a holding reservoir at Milngavie, and then by pipes into the city. The project cost £980,000 and was opened by Queen Victoria in 1859. In the early 19th century an eighth of the people lived in single-room accommodation. The engineer for the project was John Frederick Bateman, while James Morris Gale became the resident engineer for the city section of the project, and subsequently became Engineer in Chief for Glasgow Water Commissioners. He oversaw several improvements during his tenure, including a second aqueduct and further raising of water levels in Loch Katrine. Additional supplies were provided by Loch Arklet in 1902, by impounding the water and creating a tunnel to allow water to flow into Loch Katrine. A similar scheme to create a reservoir in Glen Finglas was authorised in 1903, but was deferred, and was not completed until 1965. Following the 2002 Glasgow floods, the waterborne parasite cryptosporidium was found in the reservoir at Milngavie, and so the new Milngavie water treatment works was built. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 2007, and won the 2007 Utility Industry Achievement Award, having been completed ahead of its time schedule and for £10 million below its budgeted cost. Good health requires both clean water and effective removal of sewage. The Caledonian Railway rebuilt many of the sewers, as part of a deal to allow them to tunnel under the city, and sewage treatment works were opened at Dalmarnoch in 1894, Dalmuir in 1904 and Shieldhall in 1910. The works experimented to find better ways to treat sewage, and a number of experimental filters were constructed, until a full activated sludge plant was built between 1962 and 1968 at a cost of £4 million. Treated sludge was dumped at sea, and Glasgow Corporation owned six sludge ships between 1904 and 1998, when the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive ended the practice. The sewerage infrastructure was improved significantly in 2017, with the completion of a tunnel long, which provides of storm water storage. It will reduce the risk of flooding and the likelihood that sewage will overflow into the Clyde during storms. Since 2002, clean water provision and sewerage have been the responsibility of Scottish Water. Heraldry. The coat of arms of the City of Glasgow was granted to the royal burgh by the Lord Lyon on 25 October 1866. It incorporates a number of symbols and emblems associated with the life of Glasgow's patron saint, Mungo, which had been used on official seals prior to that date. The emblems represent miracles supposed to have been performed by Mungo and are listed in the traditional rhyme: St Mungo is also said to have preached a sermon containing the words "Lord, Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the word and the praising of thy name". This was abbreviated to "Let Glasgow Flourish" and adopted as the city's motto. In 1450, John Stewart, the first Lord Provost of Glasgow, left an endowment so that a "St Mungo's Bell" could be made and tolled throughout the city so that the citizens would pray for his soul. A new bell was purchased by the magistrates in 1641 and that bell is still on display in the People's Palace Museum, near Glasgow Green. The supporters are two salmon bearing rings, and the crest is a half length figure of Saint Mungo. He wears a bishop's mitre and liturgical vestments and has his hand raised in "the act of benediction". The original 1866 grant placed the crest atop a helm, but this was removed in subsequent grants. The current version (1996) has a gold mural crown between the shield and the crest. This form of coronet, resembling an embattled city wall, was allowed to the four area councils with city status. The arms were re-matriculated by the City of Glasgow District Council on 6 February 1975, and by the present area council on 25 March 1996. The only change made on each occasion was in the type of coronet over the arms. Government and politics. Local government. Although Glasgow Corporation had been a pioneer in the municipal socialist movement from the late-nineteenth century, since the Representation of the People Act 1918, Glasgow increasingly supported left-wing ideas and politics at a national level. The city council was controlled by the Labour Party for over thirty years, since the decline of the Progressives. Since 2007, when local government elections in Scotland began to use the single transferable vote rather than the first-past-the-post system, the dominance of the Labour Party within the city started to decline. As a result of the 2017 United Kingdom local elections, the SNP was able to form a minority administration ending Labour's thirty-seven years of uninterrupted control. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the German Revolution of 1918–19, the city's frequent strikes and militant organisations caused serious alarm at Westminster, with one uprising in January 1919 prompting the Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, to deploy 10,000 soldiers and tanks on the city's streets. A huge demonstration in the city's George Square on 31 January ended in violence after the Riot Act was read. Industrial action at the shipyards gave rise to the "Red Clydeside" epithet. During the 1930s, Glasgow was the main base of the Independent Labour Party. Towards the end of the twentieth century, it became a centre of the struggle against the poll tax; which was introduced in Scotland a whole year before the rest of the United Kingdom and also served as the main base of the Scottish Socialist Party, another left-wing political party in Scotland. The city has not had a Conservative MP since the 1982 Hillhead by-election, when the SDP took the seat, which was in Glasgow's most affluent area. The fortunes of the Conservative Party continued to decline into the twenty-first century, winning only one of the 79 councillors on Glasgow City Council in 2012, despite having been the controlling party (as the Progressives) from 1969 to 1972 when Sir Donald Liddle was the last non-Labour Lord Provost. Glasgow is represented in both the House of Commons in London, and the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. At Westminster, it is represented by seven Members of Parliament (MPs), all elected at least once every five years to represent individual constituencies, using the first-past-the-post system of voting. In Holyrood, Glasgow is represented by sixteen Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), of whom nine are elected to represent individual constituencies once every four years using first-past-the-post, and seven are elected as additional regional members, by proportional representation. Since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Glasgow is represented at Holyrood by 9 Scottish National Party MSPs, 4 Labour MSPs, 2 Conservative MSPs and 1 Scottish Green MSP. In the European Parliament, the city formed part of the Scotland constituency, which elected six Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) prior to Brexit. Central government. Since Glasgow is covered and operates under two separate central governments, the devolved Scottish Parliament and UK Government, they determine various matters that Glasgow City Council is not responsible for. Scottish Parliament. The Glasgow electoral region of the Scottish Parliament covers the Glasgow City council area, a north-western part of South Lanarkshire and a small eastern portion of Renfrewshire. It elects nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituency members and seven of the 56 additional members. Both kinds of member are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The system of election is designed to produce a form of proportional representation. The first past the post seats were created in 1999 with the names and boundaries of then existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies. In 2005, the number of Westminster Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Scotland was cut to 59, with new constituencies being formed, while the existing number of MSPs was retained at Holyrood. In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the boundaries of the Glasgow region were redrawn. Currently, the nine Scottish Parliament constituencies in the Glasgow electoral region are: At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, all nine of these constituencies were won by Scottish National Party (SNP) candidates. On the regional vote, the Glasgow electoral region is represented by four Labour MSPs, two Conservative MSPs and one Green MSP. UK Parliament. Following reform of constituencies of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (Westminster) in 2005, which reduced the number of Scottish Members of Parliament (MPs), the current Westminster constituencies representing Glasgow are: Following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, in which 53.49% of the electorate of Glasgow voted in favour of Scottish independence; the SNP won every seat in the city at the 2015 general election, including a record-breaking 39.3% swing from Labour to SNP in the Glasgow North East constituency. At the 2017 snap general election, Glasgow was represented by 6 Scottish National Party MPs and 1 Labour MP; the Glasgow North East constituency which had a record 39.3% swing from Labour to SNP at the previous general election, was regained by Paul Sweeney of the Labour Party, who narrowly defeated sitting SNP MP Anne McLaughlin by 242 votes. Since the 2019 general election, Glasgow has been represented by 7 Scottish National Party MPs; the Glasgow North East constituency, was regained by Anne McLaughlin of the Scottish National Party, resulting in the same clean sweep like 4 years previously. Referendums. In the Scottish independence referendum, Glasgow voted "Yes" by a margin of 53.5% to 46.5%. In the Brexit referendum, results varied from constituency to constituency. Glasgow North recorded the biggest remain vote with 78% opting to stay in the EU whilst in Glasgow East this figure dropped to 56%. The city as a whole voted to remain in the EU, by 66.6% to 33.3%. Voter turnout. Voter turnout has often been lower in Glasgow than in the rest of the United Kingdom. In the Referendum of 2014 turnout was 75%, the lowest in Scotland; in the Brexit referendum the city's voters, while joining the rest of Scotland in voting to remain part of the EU, again had a low turnout of 56.2%, although SNP MP Angus Robertson placed this in the historical context of traditional low turnout in Glasgow. In the 2015 general election, the six Scottish constituencies with the lowest turnout were all in Glasgow; turnout further decreased in the 2017 election, when five of the city's seven seats reported a lowered turnout. Geography. Glasgow is located on the banks of the River Clyde, in West Central Scotland. Another important river is the Kelvin, a tributary of the River Clyde, whose name was used in creating the title of Baron Kelvin the renowned physicist for whom the SI unit of temperature, Kelvin, is named. The burgh of Glasgow was historically in Lanarkshire, but close to the border with Renfrewshire. When elected county councils were established in 1890, Glasgow was deemed capable of running its own affairs and so was excluded from the administrative area of Lanarkshire County Council, whilst remaining part of Lanarkshire for lieutenancy and judicial purposes. The burgh was substantially enlarged in 1891 to take in areas from both Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire where the urban area had grown beyond the old burgh boundary. In 1893, the burgh became its own county for lieutenancy and judicial purposes too, being made a county of itself. From 1975 to 1996 the city was part of Strathclyde Region, with the city's council becoming a lower-tier district council. Strathclyde was abolished in 1996, since when the city has again been responsible for all aspects of local government, being one of the 32 council areas in Scotland. Location. Glasgow is located in the central belt of Scotland. Climate. Despite its northerly latitude, similar to that of Moscow, Glasgow's climate is classified as oceanic (Köppen "Cfb"). Data is available online for 3 official weather stations in the Glasgow area: Paisley, Abbotsinch and Bishopton. All are located to the west of the city, in neighbouring Renfrewshire. Owing to its westerly position and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Glasgow is one of Scotland's milder areas. Winter temperatures are usually higher than in most places of equal latitude away from the UK, due to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream. However, this results in less distinct seasons as compared to continental Western Europe. At Paisley, the annual precipitation averages . Glasgow has been named as the rainiest city of the UK, having an average of 170 days of rain a year. Winters are cool and overcast, with a January mean of , though lows sometimes fall below freezing. Since 2000 Glasgow has experienced few very cold, snowy and harsh winters where temperatures have fallen much below freezing. The most extreme instances have however seen temperatures around in the area. Snowfall accumulation is infrequent and short-lived. The spring months (March to May) are usually mild and often quite pleasant. Many of Glasgow's trees and plants begin to flower at this time of the year and parks and gardens are filled with spring colours. During the summer months (June to August) the weather can vary considerably from day to day, ranging from relatively cool and wet to quite warm with the odd sunny day. Long dry spells of warm weather are generally quite scarce. Overcast and humid conditions without rain are frequent. Generally the weather pattern is quite unsettled and erratic during these months, with only occasional heatwaves. The warmest month is usually July, with average highs above . Summer days can occasionally reach up to 27 °C (81 °F), and very rarely exceed 30 °C (86 °F). Autumns are generally cool to mild with increasing precipitation. During early autumn there can be some settled periods of weather and it can feel pleasant with mild temperatures and some sunny days. The official Met Office data series goes back to 1959 and shows that there only have been a few warm and no hot summers in Glasgow, in stark contrast to areas further south in Great Britain and eastwards in Europe. The warmest month on record in the data series is July 2006, with an average high of and low of . Even this extreme event only matched a normal summer on similar parallels in continental Europe, underlining the maritime influences. The coldest month on record since the data series began is December 2010, during a severe cold wave affecting the British Isles. Even then, the December high was above freezing at with the low of . This still ensured Glasgow's coldest month of 2010 remained milder than the isotherm of normally used to determine continental climate normals. Temperature extremes have ranged from , at Abbotsinch in December 1995 to at Bishopton in June 2018. Demographics. In the 1950s, the population of the City of Glasgow area peaked at 1,089,000. Glasgow was then one of the most densely populated cities in the world. After the 1960s, clearances of poverty-stricken inner city areas like the Gorbals and relocation to "new towns" such as East Kilbride and Cumbernauld led to population decline. In addition, the boundaries of the city were changed twice during the late-twentieth century, making direct comparisons difficult. The urban area continues to expand beyond the city council boundaries into surrounding suburban areas, encompassing around of all adjoining suburbs, if commuter towns and villages are included. There are two distinct definitions for the population of Glasgow: the Glasgow City Council Area which lost the districts of Rutherglen and Cambuslang to South Lanarkshire in 1996, and the Greater Glasgow Urban Area which includes the conurbation around the city (however in the 2016 definitions the aforementioned Rutherglen and Cambuslang were included along with the likes of Paisley, Clydebank, Newton Mearns, Bearsden and Stepps but not others with no continuity of populated postcodes – although in some cases the gap is small – the excluded nearby settlements including Barrhead, Erskine and Kirkintilloch plus a large swathe of Lanarkshire which had been considered contiguous with Glasgow in previous definitions: the 'settlements' named Coatbridge & Airdrie, Hamilton and Motherwell & Wishaw, each containing a number of distinct smaller localities). Glasgow's population influx in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was related to economic expansion as well as internally generated growth with the vast majority of newcomers to the city from outside Scotland being from Ireland, especially the north western counties of Donegal, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry. In the 1881 UK Census, 83% of the population was born in Scotland, 13% in Ireland, 3% in England and 1% elsewhere. By 1911, the city was no longer gaining population by migration. The demographic percentages in the 1951 UK census were: born in Scotland 93%, Ireland 3%, England 3% and elsewhere 1%. In the early twentieth century, many Lithuanian refugees began to settle in Glasgow and at its height in the 1950s; there were around 10,000 in the Glasgow area. Many Italian Scots also settled in Glasgow, originating from provinces like Frosinone in Lazio and Lucca in north-west Tuscany at this time, many originally working as "Hokey Pokey" men. In the 1960s and 1970s, many Asians also settled in Glasgow, mainly in the Pollokshields area. These number 30,000 Pakistanis, 15,000 Indians and 3,000 Bangladeshis as well as Chinese people, many of whom settled in the Garnethill area of the city. Since 2000, the UK government has pursued a policy of dispersal of asylum seekers to ease pressure on social housing in the London area. The city is also home to some 8,406 (1.42%) Poles. Since the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population decline has been reversed. The population was static for a time; but due to migration from other parts of Scotland as well as immigration from overseas, the population has begun to grow. The population of the city council area was 593,245 in 2011 and around 2,300,000 people live in the Glasgow travel to work area. This area is defined as consisting of over 10% of residents travelling into Glasgow to work and is without fixed boundaries. The population density of London following the 2011 census was recorded as 5,200 people per square kilometre, while 3,395 people per square kilometre were registered in Glasgow. In 1931, the population density was , highlighting the "clearances" into the suburbs and new towns that were built to reduce the size of one of Europe's most densely populated cities. In 2005, Glasgow had the lowest life expectancy of any UK city at 72.9 years. Much was made of this during the 2008 Glasgow East by-election. In 2008, a World Health Organization report about health inequalities, revealing that male life expectancy varied from 54 years in Calton to 82 years in nearby Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire. Areas and suburbs. City centre. The city centre is bounded by High Street up to Glasgow Cathedral at Castle Street, Glasgow Cross, Saltmarket including Glasgow Green and St Andrew's Square to the east; Clyde Street and Broomielaw (along the River Clyde) to the south; and Charing Cross and Elmbank Street, beyond Blythswood Square to the west. The northern boundary (from east to west) follows Cathedral Street to North Hanover Street and George Square. Retail and theatre district. The city centre is based on a grid system of streets on the north bank of the River Clyde. The heart of the city is George Square, site of many of Glasgow's public statues and the elaborate Victorian Glasgow City Chambers, headquarters of Glasgow City Council. To the south and west are the shopping precincts of Argyle Street, Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street, the last featuring more upmarket retailers and winner of the Academy of Urbanism "Great Street Award" 2008. The collection of shops around these streets accumulate to become known as "The Style Mile". The main shopping areas include Buchanan Street, Buchanan Galleries, linking Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street, and the St. Enoch Centre linking Argyle Street and St Enoch Square), with the up-market Princes Square, which specifically features shops such as Ted Baker, Radley and Kurt Geiger. Buchanan Galleries and other city centre locales were chosen as locations for the 2013 film Under the Skin directed by Jonathan Glazer. Although the Glasgow scenes were shot with hidden cameras, star Scarlett Johansson was spotted around town. The Italian Centre in Ingram Street also specialises in designer labels. Glasgow's retail portfolio forms the UK's second largest and most economically important retail sector after Central London. The city centre is home to most of Glasgow's main cultural venues: the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow City Hall, Theatre Royal (performing home of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet), the Pavilion Theatre, the King's Theatre, Glasgow Film Theatre, Tron Theatre, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Mitchell Library and Theatre, the Centre for Contemporary Arts, McLellan Galleries and the Lighthouse Museum of Architecture. The world's tallest cinema, the eighteen-screen Cineworld, is situated on Renfrew Street. The city centre is also home to four of Glasgow's higher education institutions: the University of Strathclyde, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow Caledonian University, and to the largest college in Britain the City of Glasgow College in Cathedral Street. Merchant City. This is the commercial and part-residential district of the Merchant City, a name coined by the historian Charles Oakley in the 1960s. This had started as a residential district of the wealthy city merchants involved in international trade and the textile industries in the 18th and early 19th centuries, with their warehouses nearby, including the Tobacco Lords from whom many of the streets take their name. With its mercantile wealth, and continuing growth even before the Industrial Revolution, the city expanded by creating the New Town around George Square, soon followed by the New Town of Blythswood on Blythswood Hill which includes Blythswood Square. The original medieval centre around Glasgow Cross and the High Street was left behind. Glasgow Cross, situated at the junction of High Street, leading up to Glasgow Cathedral, Gallowgate, Trongate and Saltmarket was the original centre of the city, symbolised by its Mercat cross. Glasgow Cross encompasses the Tolbooth Steeple, all that remains of the original Glasgow Tolbooth, which was demolished in 1921. Moving northward up High Street towards Rottenrow and Townhead lies the 15th century Glasgow Cathedral and the Provand's Lordship. Due to growing industrial pollution levels in the mid-to-late 19th century, the area fell out of favour with residents. From the 1980s onwards, the Merchant City has been rejuvenated with luxury city centre flats and warehouse conversions. This regeneration has supported an increasing number of cafés and restaurants. The area is also home to a number of high end boutique style shops and some of Glasgow's most upmarket stores. The Merchant City is one centre of Glasgow's growing "cultural quarter", based on King Street, the Saltmarket and Trongate, and at the heart of the annual Merchant City Festival. The area has supported a growth in art galleries, the origins of which can be found in the late 1980s when it attracted artist-led organisations that could afford the cheap rents required to operate in vacant manufacturing or retail spaces. The artistic and cultural potential of the Merchant City as a "cultural quarter" was harnessed by independent arts organisations and Glasgow City Council, and the recent development of Trongate 103, which houses galleries, workshops, artist studios and production spaces, is considered a major outcome of the continued partnership between both. The area also contains a number of theatres and concert venues, including the Tron Theatre, the Old Fruitmarket, the Trades Hall, St. Andrew's in the Square, Merchant Square, and the City Halls. International Financial Services District. To the western edge of the city centre, occupying the areas of Blythswood Hill and Anderston, lies Glasgow's financial district, known officially as the International Financial Services District (IFSD), although often irreverently nicknamed by the contemporary press as the "square kilometre" or "Wall Street on Clyde". Since the late 1980s the construction of many modern office blocks and high rise developments have paved the way for the IFSD to become one of the UK's largest financial quarters. With a reputation as an established financial services centre, coupled with comprehensive support services, Glasgow continues to attract and grow new business. Of the 10 largest general insurance companies in the UK, 8 have a base or head office in Glasgow – including Direct Line, Esure, AXA and Norwich Union. Key banking sector companies have also moved some of their services to commercial property in Glasgow – Resolution, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays Wealth, Tesco Personal Finance, Morgan Stanley, Lloyds Banking Group, Clydesdale Bank, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Santander and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Ministry of Defence have several departments and Clydeport, the Glasgow Stock Exchange, Student Loans Company, Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department, BT Group, Scottish Friendly. Scottish Qualifications Authority and Scottish Enterprise also have their headquarters in the district. Royal Dutch Shell also have one of their six worldwide Shared Business Centres located in the IFSD. Hilton has a corporate office based in the area. West End. Glasgow's West End grew firstly to and around Blythswood Square and Garnethill, extending then to Woodlands Hill and Great Western Road. It is a district of elegant townhouses and tenements with cafés, tea rooms, bars, boutiques, upmarket hotels, clubs and restaurants in the hinterland of Kelvingrove Park, the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Botanic Gardens and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, focused especially on the area's main thoroughfares of Argyle Street (Finnieston), Great Western Road and Byres Road. The area is popular with tourists and students. The West End includes residential areas of Hillhead, Dowanhill, Kelvingrove, Kelvinside, Hyndland, Broomhill, Scotstoun, Jordanhill, Kelvindale, Anniesland and Partick. The name is also increasingly being used to refer to any area to the west of Charing Cross. The West End is bisected by the River Kelvin, which flows from the Campsie Fells in the north and confluences with the River Clyde at Yorkhill Quay. The spire of Sir George Gilbert Scott's Glasgow University main building (the second largest Gothic Revival building in Great Britain) is a major landmark, and can be seen from miles around, sitting atop Gilmorehill. The university itself is the fourth oldest in the English-speaking world. Much of the city's student population is based in the West End, adding to its cultural vibrancy. The area is also home to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Kelvin Hall museums and research facilities, stores, and community sport. Adjacent to the Kelvin Hall was the Museum of Transport, which reopened in 2010 after moving to a new location on a former dockland site at Glasgow Harbour where the River Kelvin flows into the Clyde. The new building is built to a design by Zaha Hadid. The West End Festival, one of Glasgow's largest festivals, is held annually in June. Glasgow is the home of the SECC, Great Britain's largest exhibition and conference centre. On 30 September 2013, a major expansion of the SECC facilities at the former Queen's Dock by Foster and Partners officially opened – the 13,000-seat Hydro arena. Adjacent to the SECC at Queen's Dock is the Clydeside distillery, a Scotch whisky distillery that opened in 2017 in the former dock pump house. East End. The East End extends from Glasgow Cross in the City Centre to the boundary with North and South Lanarkshire. It is home to the Glasgow Barrowland market, popularly known as "The Barras", Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow Green, and Celtic Park, home of Celtic FC. Many of the original sandstone tenements remain in this district. The East End was once a major industrial centre, home to Sir William Arrol & Co., James Templeton & Co and William Beardmore and Company. A notable local employer continues to be the Wellpark Brewery, home of Tennent's Lager. The Glasgow Necropolis Garden Cemetery was created by the Merchants House on a hill above the cathedral in 1831. Routes curve through the landscape uphill to the statue of John Knox at the summit. There are two late 18th century tenements in Gallowgate. Dating from 1771 and 1780, both have been well restored. The construction of Charlotte Street was financed by David Dale, whose former scale can be gauged by the one remaining house, now run by the National Trust for Scotland. Further along Charlotte Street there stands a modern Gillespie, Kidd & Coia building of some note. Once a school, it has been converted into offices. Surrounding these buildings are a series of innovative housing developments conceived as "Homes for the Future", part of a project during the city's year as UK City of Architecture and Design in 1999. East of Glasgow Cross is St Andrew's in the Square, the oldest post-Reformation church in Scotland, built in 1739–1757 and displaying a Presbyterian grandeur befitting the church of the city's wealthy tobacco merchants. Also close by is the more modest Episcopalian St Andrew's-by-the-Green, the oldest Episcopal church in Scotland. The Episcopalian St Andrew's was also known as the "Whistlin' Kirk" due to it being the first church after the Reformation to own an organ. Overlooking Glasgow Green is the façade of Templeton On The Green, featuring vibrant polychromatic brickwork intended to evoke the Doge's Palace in Venice. The extensive Tollcross Park was originally developed from the estate of James Dunlop, the owner of a local steelworks. His large baronial mansion was built in 1848 by David Bryce, which later housed the city's Children's Museum until the 1980s. Today, the mansion is a sheltered housing complex. The new Scottish National Indoor Sports Arena, a modern replacement for the Kelvin Hall, is in Dalmarnock. The area was the site of the Athletes' Village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, located adjacent to the new indoor sports arena. The "East End Healthy Living Centre" (EEHLC) was established in mid-2005 at Crownpoint Road with Lottery Funding and City grants to serve community needs in the area. Now called the "Glasgow Club Crownpoint Sports Complex", the centre provides service such as sports facilities, health advice, stress management, leisure and vocational classes. To the north of the East End lie the two large gasometers of Provan Gas Works, which stand overlooking Alexandra Park and a major interchange between the M8 and M80 motorways. South Side. Glasgow's South Side sprawls out south of the Clyde. The adjoining urban area includes some of Greater Glasgow's most affluent suburban towns, such as Newton Mearns, Clarkston, and Giffnock, all of which are in East Renfrewshire, as well as Thorntonhall in South Lanarkshire. Newlands and Dumbreck are examples of high-value residential districts within the city boundaries. There are many areas containing a high concentration of sandstone tenements like Shawlands, which is considered the "Heart of the Southside", with other examples being Battlefield, Govanhill and Mount Florida. The large suburb of Pollokshields comprises both a quiet western part with undulating tree-lined boulevards lined with expensive villas, and a busier eastern part with a high-density grid of tenements and small shops. The south side also includes some post-war housing estates of various sizes such as Toryglen, Pollok, Castlemilk and Arden. The towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen were included in the City of Glasgow district from 1975 to 1996, but are now in the South Lanarkshire council area. Although predominantly residential, the area does have several notable public buildings including, Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Scotland Street School Museum and House for an Art Lover; the Burrell Collection in Pollok Country Park; Alexander "Greek" Thomson's Holmwood House villa; the National Football Stadium Hampden Park in Mount Florida (home of Queens Park FC) and Ibrox Stadium (home of Rangers FC). The former docklands site at Pacific Quay on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the SECC, is the site of the Glasgow Science Centre and the headquarters of BBC Scotland and STV Group (owner of STV), in a new purpose built digital media campus. In addition, several new bridges spanning the River Clyde have been built, including the Clyde Arc known by locals as the Squinty Bridge at Pacific Quay and others at Tradeston and Springfield Quay. The South Side also includes many public parks, including Linn Park, Queen's Park, and Bellahouston Park and several golf clubs, including the championship course at Haggs Castle. The South Side is also home to the large Pollok Country Park, which was awarded the accolade of Europe's Best Park 2008. The southside also directly borders Rouken Glen Park in neighbouring Giffnock. Pollok Park is Glasgow's largest park and until the early 2000s was the only country park in the city's boundary. In the early 2000s the Dams to Darnley Country Park was designated, although half of the park is in East Renfrewshire. As of 2021 the facilities at the still new park are quite lacking. Govan is a district and former burgh in the south-western part of the city. It is situated on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite Partick. It was an administratively independent Police Burgh from 1864 until it was incorporated into the expanding city of Glasgow in 1912. Govan has a legacy as an engineering and shipbuilding centre of international repute and is home to one of two BAE Systems Surface Ships shipyards on the River Clyde and the precision engineering firm, Thales Optronics. It is also home to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the country, and the maintenance depot for the Glasgow Subway system. The wider Govan area includes the districts of Ibrox, Cessnock, Kinning Park and Kingston. North Glasgow. North Glasgow extends out from the north of the city centre towards the affluent suburbs of Bearsden, Milngavie and Bishopbriggs in East Dunbartonshire and Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire. The area also contains some of the city's poorest residential areas. This has led to large-scale redevelopment of much of the poorer housing stock in north Glasgow, and the wider regeneration of many areas, such as Ruchill, which have been transformed; many run-down tenements have now been refurbished or replaced by modern housing estates. Much of the housing stock in north Glasgow is rented social housing, with a high proportion of high-rise tower blocks, managed by the North Glasgow Housing Association trading as NG Homes and Glasgow Housing Association. Maryhill consists of well maintained traditional sandstone tenements. Although historically a working class area, its borders with the upmarket West End of the city mean that it is relatively wealthy compared to the rest of the north of the city, containing affluent areas such as Maryhill Park and North Kelvinside. Maryhill is also the location of Firhill Stadium, home of Partick Thistle F.C. since 1909. The junior team, Maryhill F.C. are also located in this part of north Glasgow. The Forth and Clyde Canal passes through this part of the city, and at one stage formed a vital part of the local economy. It was for many years polluted and largely unused after the decline of heavy industry, but recent efforts to regenerate and re-open the canal to navigation have seen it rejuvenated, including art campuses at Port Dundas. Sighthill was home to Scotland's largest asylum seeker community but the area is now regenerated as part of the Youth Olympic Games bid. A huge part of the economic life of Glasgow was once located in Springburn, where the Saracen Foundry, engineering works of firms like Charles Tennant and locomotive workshops employed many Glaswegians. Glasgow dominated this type of manufacturing, with 25% of all the world's locomotives being built in the area at one stage. It was home to the headquarters of the North British Locomotive Company. Today part of the Glasgow Works continues in use as a railway maintenance facility, all that is left of the industry in Springburn. It is proposed for closure in 2019. Culture. The city has many amenities for a wide range of cultural activities, from curling to opera and ballet and from football to art appreciation; it also has a large selection of museums that include those devoted to transport, religion, and modern art. Many of the city's cultural sites were celebrated in 1990 when Glasgow was designated European Capital of Culture. The city's principal municipal library, the Mitchell Library, has grown into one of the largest public reference libraries in Europe, currently housing some 1.3 million books, an extensive collection of newspapers and thousands of photographs and maps. Of academic libraries, Glasgow University Library started in the 15th century and is one of the oldest and largest libraries in Europe, with unique and distinctive collections of international status. Most of Scotland's national arts organisations are based in Glasgow, including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Youth Theatre. Glasgow has its own "Poet Laureate", a post created in 1999 for Edwin Morgan and occupied by Liz Lochhead from 2005 until 2011, when she stood down to take up the position of Scots Makar. Jim Carruth was appointed to the position of Poet Laureate for Glasgow in 2014 as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy. In 2013, PETA declared Glasgow to be the most vegan-friendly city in the UK. Recreation. Glasgow is home to major theatres including the Theatre Royal, the King's Theatre, Pavilion Theatre(Glasgow) and the Citizens Theatre and home to many museums and art galleries, the largest and most famous being the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Burrell Collection, and the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). Most of the museums and galleries in Glasgow are publicly owned and free to enter. The city has hosted many exhibitions over the years from the 1888 International Exhibition and 1901 International Exhibition to the Empire Exhibition 1938, including more recently The Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988, being the UK City of Architecture 1999, European Capital of Culture 1990, National City of Sport 1995–1999 and European Capital of Sport 2003. Glasgow has also hosted the National Mòd no less than twelve times since 1895. In addition, unlike the older and larger Edinburgh Festival (where all Edinburgh's main festivals occur in the last three weeks of August), Glasgow's festivals fill the calendar. Festivals include the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, Glasgow International Jazz Festival, Celtic Connections, Glasgow Fair, Glasgow Film Festival, West End Festival, Merchant City Festival, Glasgay, and the World Pipe Band Championships. Music scene. The city is home to numerous orchestras, ensembles and bands including those of Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and related to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the Universities and Colleges. Choirs of all type are well supported. Glasgow has many live music venues, pubs, and clubs. Some of the city's more well-known venues include the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, The OVO Hydro, the SECC, Glasgow Cathouse, The Art School, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (where Oasis were spotted and signed by Glaswegian record mogul Alan McGee), the Queen Margaret Union (who have Kurt Cobain's footprint locked in a safe), the Barrowland, a ballroom converted into a live music venue as well as The Garage, which is the largest nightclub in Scotland. More recent mid-sized venues include ABC, destroyed in the art school fire of 15 June 2018, and the O2 Academy, which play host to a similar range of acts. There are also a large number of smaller venues and bars, which host many local and touring musicians, including Stereo, 13th Note and Nice N Sleazy. Most recent recipient of the SLTN Music Pub of the Year award was Bar Bloc, awarded in November 2011. In 2010, Glasgow was named the UK's fourth "most musical" city by PRS for Music. Glasgow is also the "most mentioned city in the UK" in song titles, outside London according, to a chart produced by PRS for music, with 119, ahead of closest rivals Edinburgh who received 95 mentions Since the 1980s, the success of bands such as The Blue Nile, Gun, Simple Minds, Del Amitri, Texas, Hipsway, Love & Money, Idlewild, Deacon Blue, Orange Juice, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Teenage Fanclub, Belle and Sebastian, Camera Obscura, Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai, Travis, and Primal Scream has significantly boosted the profile of the Glasgow music scene, prompting "Time" magazine to liken Glasgow to Detroit during its 1960s Motown heyday. More recent successes include The Fratellis, Chvrches, Rustie, Vukovi, Glasvegas and Twin Atlantic. The city of Glasgow was appointed a UNESCO City of Music on 20 August 2008 as part of the Creative Cities Network. Glasgow's contemporary dance music scene has been spearheaded by Slam, and their record label Soma Quality Recordings, with their Pressure club nights attracting DJs and clubbers from around the world; these nights were hosted by The Arches but moved to Sub Club after the closure of the former in 2015, also taking place at the SWG3 arts venue. The Sub Club has regularly been nominated as one of the best clubs in the world. The MOBO Awards were held at the SECC on 30 September 2009, making Glasgow the first city outside London to host the event since its launch in 1995. On 9 November 2014, Glasgow hosted the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards at The OVO Hydro, it was the second time Scotland hosted the show since 2003 in Edinburgh and overall the fifth time that the United Kingdom has hosted the show since 2011 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The event was hosted by Nicki Minaj and featured performances from Ariana Grande, Enrique Iglesias, Ed Sheeran, U2 and Slash. Media. There have been hundreds of films made about Glasgow or in Glasgow. Both BBC Scotland and STV have their headquarters in Glasgow. Television programs filmed in Glasgow include "Rab C. Nesbitt", "Taggart", "Tutti Frutti", "High Times", "River City", "City Lights", "Chewin' the Fat", "Still Game", "Limmy's Show" and "Lovesick". Most recently the long-running series "Question Time" and the early evening quiz programme "Eggheads" moved its production base to the city. Most National Lottery game shows are also filmed in Glasgow. children's game show "Copycats" is filmed there, and the Irish/UK programme "Mrs. Brown's Boys" is filmed at BBC Scotland. The Scottish press publishes various newspapers in the city such as "The Evening Times ", "The Herald", "The Sunday Herald", the "Sunday Mail" and the "Daily Record". Scottish editions of Trinity Mirror and News International titles are printed in the city. STV Group is a Glasgow-based media conglomerate with interests in television, and publishing advertising. STV Group owns and operates both Scottish ITV franchises (Central Scotland and Grampian), both branded STV. Glasgow also had its own television channel, STV Glasgow, which launched in June 2014, which also shows some of Glasgow's own programs filmed at the STV headquarters in Glasgow. Shows included "The Riverside Show", "Scottish Kitchen", "City Safari", "Football Show" and "Live at Five". STV Glasgow merged with STV Edinburgh to form STV2 in April 2017 which eventually closed in June 2018. Various radio stations are also located in Glasgow. BBC Radio Scotland, the national radio broadcaster for Scotland, is located in the BBC's Glasgow headquarters alongside its Gaelic-language sister station, which is also based in Stornoway. Bauer Radio owns the principal commercial radio stations in Glasgow: Clyde 1 and Greatest Hits Radio Glasgow & The West, which can reach over 2.3 million listeners. In 2004, STV Group plc (then known as SMG plc) sold its 27.8% stake in Scottish Radio Holdings to the broadcasting group EMAP for £90.5 million. Other stations broadcasting from Glasgow include Smooth Scotland, Heart Scotland, which are owned by Global. Global Radio's Central Scotland radio station Capital Scotland also broadcasts from studios in Glasgow. Nation Radio Scotland, owned by Nation Broadcasting, also broadcasts from the city. The city has a strong community radio sector, including Celtic Music Radio, Subcity Radio, Radio Magnetic, Sunny Govan Radio, AWAZ FM and Insight Radio. Religion. Glasgow is a city of significant religious diversity. The Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church are the two largest Christian denominations in the city. There are 147 congregations in the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Glasgow (of which 104 are within the city boundaries, the other 43 being in adjacent areas). Within the city boundaries there are 65 parishes of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow and four parishes of the Diocese of Motherwell. The city has four Christian cathedrals: Glasgow Cathedral, of the Church of Scotland; St Andrew's Cathedral, of the Roman Catholic Church; St Mary's Cathedral, of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and St Luke's Cathedral, of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Baptist Church and Salvation Army are well represented. The Protestant churches are the largest in number, including Baptist, Episcopalian, Methodist and Presbyterian. 32% of the population follow the Protestant Church of Scotland whilst 29% following the Roman Catholic Church, according to the 2001 census (Christians overall form 65%). Much of the city's Roman Catholic population are those of Irish ancestry. The divisions between the two denominations and their respective communities play a major part in sectarianism in Glasgow, in a similar nature to that of Northern Ireland, although not segregated territorially as in Belfast. Biblical unitarians are represented by three Christadelphian ecclesias, referred to geographically, as "South", "Central" and "Kelvin". The Sikh community is served by four Gurdwaras. Two are situated in the West End ("Central Gurdwara Singh Sabha" in Sandyford and "Guru Nanak Sikh Temple" in Kelvinbridge) and two in the Southside area of Pollokshields ("Guru Granth Sahib Gurdwara" and "Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara"). In 2013, Scotland's first purpose-built Gurdwara opened in a massive opening ceremony. Built at a cost of £3.8M, it can hold 1,500 worshippers. Central Gurdwara is currently constructing a new building in the city. There are almost 10,000 Sikhs in Scotland and the majority live in Glasgow. Glasgow Central Mosque in the Gorbals district is the largest mosque in Scotland and, along with twelve other mosques in the city, caters for the city's Muslim population, estimated to number 33,000. Glasgow also has a Hindu mandir. Glasgow has seven synagogues, including the Romanesque-revival Garnethill Synagogue in the city centre. Glasgow currently has the seventh largest Jewish population in the United Kingdom after London, Manchester, Leeds, Gateshead, Brighton and Bournemouth but once had a Jewish population second only to London, estimated at 20,000 in the Gorbals alone. In 1993, the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art opened in Glasgow. It is believed to be the only public museum to examine all the world's major religious faiths. Language. Glasgow is Scotland's main locus of Gaelic language use outside the Highlands and Islands. In 2011, 5,878 residents of the city over age 3 spoke Gaelic, amounting to 1.0% of the population. Of Scotland's 25 largest cities and towns, only Inverness, the unofficial capital of the Highlands, has a higher percentage of Gaelic speakers. In the Greater Glasgow area there were 8,899 Gaelic-speakers, amounting to 0.8% of the population. Both the Gaelic language television station BBC Alba and the Gaelic language radio station BBC Radio nan Gàidheal have studios in Glasgow, their only locations outside the Highlands and Islands. Architecture. Very little of medieval Glasgow remains; the two main landmarks from this period being the 15th-century Provand's Lordship and 13th-century St. Mungo's Cathedral, although the original medieval street plan (along with many of the street names) on the eastern side of the city centre has largely survived intact. Also in the 15th century began the building of Cathcart Castle, completed with a view over the landscape in all directions. It was at this castle Mary Queen of Scots supposedly spent the night before her defeat at the Battle of Langside in May 1568. The castle was demolished in 1980 for safety reasons. The vast majority of the central city area as seen today dates from the 19th century. As a result, Glasgow has a heritage of Victorian architecture: the Glasgow City Chambers; the main building of the University of Glasgow, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott; and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, designed by Sir John W. Simpson, are notable examples. The city is notable for architecture designed by the Glasgow School, the most notable exponent of that style being Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Mackintosh was an architect and designer in the Arts and Crafts Movement and the main exponent of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom, designing numerous noted Glasgow buildings such as the Glasgow School of Art, Willow Tearooms and the Scotland Street School Museum. A hidden gem of Glasgow, also designed by Mackintosh, is the Queen's Cross Church, the only church by the renowned artist to be built. Another architect who has had an enduring impact on the city's appearance is Alexander Thomson, with notable examples including the Holmwood House villa, and likewise Sir John James Burnet, awarded the R.I.B.A.'s Royal Gold Medal for his lifetime's service to architecture. The buildings reflect the wealth and self-confidence of the residents of the "Second City of the Empire". Glasgow generated immense wealth from trade and the industries that developed from the Industrial Revolution. The shipyards, marine engineering, steel making, and heavy industry all contributed to the growth of the city. Many of the city's most impressive buildings were built with red or blond sandstone, but during the industrial era those colours disappeared under a pervasive black layer of soot and pollutants from the furnaces, until the Clean Air Act was introduced in 1956. There are over 1,800 listed buildings in the city, of architectural and historical importance, and 23 Conservation Areas extending over . Such areas include the Central Area, Dennistoun, the West End, Pollokshields – the first major planned garden suburb in Britain – Newlands and the village of Carmunnock. Modern buildings in Glasgow include the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and along the banks of the Clyde are the Glasgow Science Centre, The OVO Hydro and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, whose Clyde Auditorium was designed by Sir Norman Foster, and is colloquially known as the "Armadillo". In 2006 Zaha Hadid won a competition to design the new Museum of Transport. Hadid's museum opened on the waterfront in 2011 and has been renamed the Riverside Museum to reflect the change in location and to celebrate Glasgow's rich industrial heritage stemming from the Clyde. Glasgow's historical and modern architectural traditions were celebrated in 1999 when the city was designated UK City of Architecture and Design, winning the accolade over Liverpool and Edinburgh. Economy. Glasgow has the largest economy in Scotland and is at the hub of the metropolitan area of West Central Scotland. The city itself sustains more than 410,000 jobs in over 12,000 companies. Over 153,000 jobs were created in the city between 2000 and 2005 – a growth rate of 32%. Glasgow's annual economic growth rate of 4.4% is now second only to that of London. In 2005, over 17,000 new jobs were created, and 2006 saw private-sector investment in the city reaching £4.2 billion, an increase of 22% in a single year. 55% of the residents in the Greater Glasgow area commute to the city every day. Once dominant export orientated manufacturing industries such as shipbuilding and other heavy engineering have been gradually replaced in importance by more diversified forms of economic activity, although major manufacturing firms continue to be headquartered in the city, such as Aggreko, Weir Group, Clyde Blowers, Howden, Linn Products, Firebrand Games, William Grant & Sons, Whyte and Mackay, The Edrington Group, British Polar Engines and Albion Motors. Glasgow was once one of the most significant cities in the UK for manufacturing, which generated a great deal of the city's wealth; the most prominent industry being shipbuilding based on the River Clyde. Among the historic vessels constructed there were the famed tea clipper "Cutty Sark", the Royal Navy battlecruiser , and the transatlantic luxury liners Aquitania, , , and . Although Glasgow owed much of its economic growth to the shipbuilding industry, which still continues today in the form of Ferguson Marine and BAE Systems Maritime - Naval Ships' two shipyards, the city has its roots in the tobacco trade and is noted to have "risen from its medieval slumber" from trade in tobacco, pioneered by figures such as John Glassford. The city was also noted for its locomotive construction industryled by firms such as the North British Locomotive Companywhich grew during the 19th century before entering a decline in the 1960s. Whilst manufacturing has declined, Glasgow's economy has seen significant relative growth of tertiary sector industries such as financial and business services (centred around the International Financial Services District on the Broomielaw, once a stretch of riverside warehouses replaced by modern office blocks), communications, biosciences, creative industries, healthcare, higher education, retail and tourism. Glasgow is now the second most popular foreign tourist destination in Scotland (fifth in the UK) and offers Scotland's largest retail centre. Between 1998 and 2001, the city's financial services sector grew at a rate of 30%, making considerable gains on Edinburgh, which has historically been the centre of the Scottish financial sector. Glasgow is now one of Europe's sixteen largest financial centres, with a growing number of Blue chip financial sector companies establishing significant operations or headquarters in the city. The 1990s and first decade of the 21st century saw substantial growth in the number of call centres based in Glasgow. In 2007 roughly 20,000 people, a third of all call centre employees in Scotland, were employed by Glasgow call centres. This growth and its high use of recruitment agencies to hire graduates as temporary workers has led to accusations of exploitative practices such as long hours, poor pay and lack of job security by the TUC and other union bodies. The city's main manufacturing industries include companies involved in; shipbuilding, engineering, construction, brewing and distilling, printing and publishing, chemicals and textiles as well as newer growth sectors such as optoelectronics, software development and biotechnology. Glasgow forms the western part of the Silicon Glen high tech sector of Scotland with consumer electronics companies such as RHA Technologies headquartered. Transport. Public transport. Glasgow has a large urban transport system, mostly managed by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). The city has many bus services; since bus deregulation almost all are provided by private operators, though SPT part-funds some services. The principal bus operators within the city are: First Glasgow, McGill's Bus Services, Stagecoach West Scotland and Glasgow Citybus. The main bus terminal in the city is Buchanan bus station. Glasgow has the most extensive urban rail network in the UK outside London, with rail services travelling to a large part of the West of Scotland. Most lines were electrified under British Rail. All trains running within Scotland, including the local Glasgow trains, are operated by ScotRail, which is owned by the Scottish Government. Central station and Queen Street station are the two main railway terminals. Glasgow Central is the terminus of the long West Coast Main Line from London Euston, as well as TransPennine Express services from Manchester and CrossCountry services from Birmingham, Bristol, Plymouth and various other destinations in England. Glasgow Central is also the terminus for suburban services on the south side of Glasgow, Ayrshire and Inverclyde, as well as being served by the cross city link from Dalmuir to Motherwell. Most other services within Scotland – the main line to Edinburgh, plus services to Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and the Western Highlands – operate from Queen Street station. The city's suburban network is currently divided by the River Clyde and the Crossrail Glasgow initiative has been proposed to link them; it is currently awaiting funding from the Scottish Government. The city is linked to Edinburgh by four direct railway links. In addition to the suburban rail network, SPT operates the Glasgow Subway. The Subway is the United Kingdom's only completely underground metro system and is generally recognised as the world's third oldest underground railway after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro. Both railway and subway stations have a number of park and ride facilities. As part of the wider regeneration along the banks of the River Clyde, a bus rapid transit system called Clyde Fastlink is operational between Glasgow City Centre to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Shipping. Global-ship-management is carried out by maritime and logistics firms in Glasgow, in client companies employing over 100,000 seafarers. This reflects maritime skills over many decades and the training and education of deck officers and marine engineers from around the world at the City of Glasgow College, Nautical Campus, from which graduate around one third of all such graduates in the United Kingdom. The main operational dock within Glasgow operated by Clydeport is the King George V Dock, near Braehead. Since the advent of containerisation, most other facilities, such as Hunterston Terminal, are located in the deep waters of the Firth of Clyde, which together handle some 7.5 million tonnes of cargo each year. Longer distant commercial sea shipping from Glasgow occurs regularly to many European destinations, including Mediterranean and Baltic ports via passage through the Sea of the Hebrides. Leisure and tourist sailing is important, at marinas and towns of the Clyde, including the PS "Waverley", the world's last operational seagoing paddle-steamer. Roads. The main M8 motorway passes around the city centre and connects with the M77, M74, M73 and M80 motorways, all of which pass within the city's boundaries. The A82 connects Glasgow to Argyll and the western Highlands. The M74 runs directly south towards Carlisle. Other strategic roads in the city include the East End Regeneration Route, which provides easier access to areas of the East End, linking the M8 to the extended M74. Airports. There are three international airports within 45 minutes travel of the city centre, as well as a centrally located seaplane terminal. Two airports are dedicated to Glasgow, and Edinburgh International airport, situated on the west side of Edinburgh, is not far from Glasgow. These airports are Glasgow Airport (GLA) ( west of the city centre) in Renfrewshire, Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) ( southwest) in Ayrshire, Edinburgh Airport (EDI), ( east) in Edinburgh and Glasgow Seaplane Terminal, by the Glasgow Science Centre on the River Clyde. There are also several smaller, domestic and private airports around the city. There is a heliport, Glasgow City Heliport, located at Stobcross Quay on the banks of the Clyde. All of the international airports are easily accessible by public transport, with GLA and EDI directly linked by a bus routes from the main bus station and a direct rail connection to PIK from Glasgow Central Station. A series of proposals to provide a direct rail link to Glasgow International Airport have ended unsuccessfully, beginning with the Glasgow Airport Rail Link in 2009. As of 2019, local authorities have approved plans for a "Glasgow Metro", including a connection to the International Airport. Housing. Glasgow is known for its tenements; the red and blond sandstone buildings are some of the most recognisable features of the city. These were the most popular form of housing in 19th- and 20th-century Glasgow, and remain the most common form of dwelling in Glasgow today. Tenements are commonly bought by a wide range of social types and are favoured for their large rooms, high ceilings and original period features. The Hyndland area of Glasgow became the first tenement conservation area in the UK and includes some tenement houses with as many as six bedrooms. Like many cities in the UK, Glasgow witnessed the construction of high-rise housing in tower blocks in the 1960s, along with large overspill estates on the periphery of the city, in areas like Pollok, Nitshill, Castlemilk, Easterhouse, Milton and Drumchapel. These were built to replace the decaying inner-city tenement buildings originally built for workers who migrated from the surrounding countryside, the Highlands, and the rest of the United Kingdom, particularly Ireland, to feed the local demand for labour. The massive demand at that time outstripped the pace of new building, and many originally fine tenements often became overcrowded and unsanitary. Many degenerated into infamous slums, such as the Gorbals. Efforts to improve this housing situation, most successfully with the City Improvement Trust in the late 19th century, cleared the slums of the old town areas such as the Trongate, High Street and Glasgow Cross. Subsequent urban renewal initiatives, such as those motivated by the Bruce Report, entailed the comprehensive demolition of slum tenement areas, the development of new towns on the periphery of the city, and the construction of tower blocks. The policy of tenement demolition is now considered to have been short-sighted, wasteful and largely unsuccessful. Many of Glasgow's worst tenements were refurbished into desirable accommodation in the 1970s and 1980s and the policy of demolition is considered to have destroyed many fine examples of a "universally admired architectural" style. The Glasgow Housing Association took ownership of the housing stock from the city council on 7 March 2003, and has begun a £96 million clearance and demolition programme to clear and demolish many of the high-rise flats. Healthcare. Medical care is mainly provided by NHS Scotland and is directly administered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Major hospitals, including those with Accident & Emergency provision, are: the Western Infirmary, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Dental Hospital in the city Centre, Stobhill Hospital in the North and the Victoria Infirmary and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in the South Side. Gartnavel Royal Hospital and The Priory are the two major psychiatric hospitals based in Glasgow. The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) Campus is a 1,677-bed acute hospital located in Govan in the south-west of Glasgow. The hospital is built on the site of the former Southern General Hospital and opened at the end of April 2015. The hospital comprises a newly built 1,109-bed adult hospital, a 256-bed children's hospital and two major A&E departments, one for adults and one for children in addition to buildings retained from the former hospital. The QEUH is the Regional Major Trauma Centre for the west of Scotland and is also the largest hospital campus in Europe. There is also an emergency telephone service provided by NHS 24 and 24-hour access to general practitioners through out-of-hours centres. Paramedic services are provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service and supported by voluntary bodies like the St. Andrew's Ambulance Association. A strong teaching tradition is maintained between the city's main hospitals and the University of Glasgow Medical School. All pharmacies provide a wide range of services including minor ailment advice, emergency hormonal contraception, public health advice, some provide oxygen and needle exchange. There are private clinics and hospitals at the Nuffield in the west end and Ross Hall in the south side of the city. Education. Glasgow is a major centre of higher and academic research, with the following universities and colleges within of the city centre: In 2011 Glasgow had 53,470 full-time students aged 18–74 resident in the city during term time, more than any other city in Scotland and the fifth-highest number in the United Kingdom outside London. The majority of those who live away from home reside in Shawlands, Dennistoun and the West End of the city. The City Council operates 29 secondary schools, 149 primary schools and three specialist schools – the Dance School of Scotland, Glasgow School of Sport and the Glasgow Gaelic School ("Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu"), the only secondary school in Scotland to teach exclusively in Gaelic. Outdoor Education facilities are provided by the city council at the Blairvadach Centre, near Helensburgh. Jordanhill School is operated directly by the Scottish Government. Glasgow also has a number of Independent schools, including The High School of Glasgow, founded in 1124 and the oldest school in Scotland; Hutchesons' Grammar School, founded in 1639 and one of the oldest school institutions in Scotland; and others such as Craigholme School (closed 2020), Glasgow Academy, Kelvinside Academy and St. Aloysius' College. Glasgow is part of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. Sport. Football. The world's first international football match was held in 1872 at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's Hamilton Crescent ground in the Partick area of the city. The match, between Scotland and England finished 0–0. Glasgow was the first city (since joined by Liverpool in 1985, Madrid in 1986, 2014, 2016 and 2018, Milan in 1994 and London in 2019) to have had two football teams in European finals in the same season: in 1967, Celtic competed in and won the European Cup final, with rivals Rangers competing in the Cup Winners' Cup final. Rangers were the first football club from the United Kingdom to reach a European final, doing so in 1961. They have also won more domestic top-tier league titles than any other football club in the world (currently 55). Celtic were the first non-Latin club to win the European Cup, under the management of Jock Stein in 1967, before Manchester United the following year. Celtic also went on to reach another European Cup Final in 1970, losing to Feyenoord, and also the final of the UEFA Cup in 2003, where they lost an enthralling match which finished 3–2 to Portuguese club Porto. Rangers also reached the final of the same competition in 2008, where they lost to Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia. Hampden Park, which is Scotland's national football stadium, holds the European record for attendance at a football match: 149,547 saw Scotland beat England 3–1 in 1937, in the days before leading British stadia became all-seated. Hampden Park has hosted the final of the UEFA Champions League on three occasions, most recently in 2002 and hosted the UEFA Cup Final in 2007. Celtic Park (60,411 seats) is located in the east end of Glasgow, and Ibrox Stadium (50,817 seats) on the south side. Glasgow has four professional football clubs, who all play in the SPFL: Celtic, Rangers, Partick Thistle, and Queen's Park (after their move from amateur status in November 2019). Prior to this, Glasgow had two other professional teams: Clyde (now playing in Hamilton) and Third Lanark (liquidated in 1967), plus four others active in the league in the 19th century: Thistle, Cowlairs, Northern and Linthouse. There are a number of West of Scotland Football League clubs within the city as well, such as Pollok, Maryhill, Benburb, Ashfield, Glasgow Perthshire F.C., Glasgow United (formerly Shettleston Juniors), and Petershill, plus numerous amateur teams. The history of football in the city, as well as the status of the Old Firm, attracts many visitors to football matches in the city throughout the season. The Scottish Football Association, the national governing body, and the Scottish Football Museum are based in Glasgow, as are the Scottish Professional Football League, Scottish Junior Football Association and Scottish Amateur Football Association. The Glasgow Cup was a once popular tournament, which was competed for by Rangers, Celtic, Clyde, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park. The competition is now played for by the youth sides of the five teams. Glasgow is also home to six women's football teams. Currently, Glasgow City are the champions of the Scottish Women's Premier League. Other local teams include Glasgow Girls and the women's sections of the men's clubs: Celtic and Rangers play in the top division. Rugby union. Glasgow has a professional rugby union club, the Glasgow Warriors, which plays in the European Rugby Champions Cup and Pro14 alongside teams from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy and South Africa. The Warriors current home is Scotstoun Stadium and has been since 2012, previously they played at Firhill Stadium. They have won the Melrose 7s in both 2014 and 2015 and were also crowned champions of the Pro12 at the end of the 2014/15 season after beating Irish side Munster in Belfast. In the Scottish League, Glasgow Hawks RFC was formed in 1997 by the merger of two of Glasgow's oldest clubs: Glasgow Academicals and Glasgow High Kelvinside (GHK). Despite the merger, the second division teams of Glasgow Academicals and Glasgow High Kelvinside re-entered the Scottish rugby league in 1998. South of Glasgow, in East Renfrewshire, in the suburb of Giffnock, is based another of Glasgow area's most prominent clubs Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians RFC (GHA). GHA was formed in 2002 with the merger of two of Glasgow's leading clubs at the time, Glasgow Southern RFC and Hutchesons Aloysians RFC. Cartha Queen's Park play at Dumbreck, within the city. Glasgow was also home to one of the oldest rugby clubs in Scotland, West of Scotland F.C., which was formed in 1865, and was a founding member of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club was originally based in Partick at Hamilton Crescent but is now based outside the city, at Burnbrae, Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire. Rugby league. The Easterhouse Panthers based in the East End of Glasgow are a rugby league team who play in the Rugby League Conference Scotland Division. Ice hockey. From 1966 to 1986, the Glasgow Dynamos played at Crossmyloof Ice Rink. Since October 2010 a team called the Glasgow Clan based in the nearby Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire has played in the professional Elite Ice Hockey League alongside two other Scottish teams, the Fife Flyers and the Dundee Stars. Swimming. The Arlington Baths Club was founded in 1870. It is situated in the Woodlands area of the city and is still in use today. It is believed the club's first Baths Master William Wilson invented water polo at the club. The Arlington inspired other Swimming Clubs and the Western Baths, which opened in 1876, is also still in existence in nearby Hillhead. Basketball. Glasgow hosts Scotland's only professional basketball team, the Caledonia Gladiators, who compete in the British Basketball League. Previously based in Renfrewshire's Braehead Arena and the 1,200-seat Kelvin Hall, the team has been based at the Emirates Arena since the 2012/13 season. Other sports. Major international sporting arenas include the Kelvin Hall and Scotstoun Sports Centre. In 2003 the National Academy for Badminton was completed in Scotstoun. In 2003, Glasgow was also given the title of European Capital of Sport. Glasgow is also host to many cricket clubs including Clydesdale Cricket Club who have been title winners for the Scottish Cup many times. This club also acted as a neutral venue for a One Day International match between India and Pakistan in 2007, but due to bad weather it was called off. Smaller sporting facilities include an abundance of outdoor playing fields, as well as golf clubs such as Haggs Castle and artificial ski slopes. Between 1998 and 2004, the Scottish Claymores American football team played some or all of their home games each season at Hampden Park and the venue also hosted World Bowl XI. Glasgow Green and the Gorbals are home to a number of rowing clubs, some with open membership the rest belonging to universities or schools. Historically, rowing races on the River Clyde here attracted huge crowds of spectators to watch regattas in the late 19th century and early 20th century; before football caught the public imagination. Two of Glasgow's rowing clubs separately claim that it was their members who were among the founders of Rangers Football Club. Motorcycle speedway racing was first introduced to Glasgow in 1928 and is currently staged at Ashfield Stadium in the North of the city. The home club, Glasgow Tigers, compete in the SGB Championship, the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Britain. Glasgow is also one of five places in Scotland that hosts the final of the Scottish Cup of Shinty, better known as the Camanachd Cup. This is usually held at Old Anniesland. Once home to numerous Shinty clubs, there is now only one senior club in Glasgow, Glasgow Mid-Argyll. Glasgow bid to host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics but lost to Buenos Aires in the 4 July 2013 vote. Glasgow was the host of the 2018 European Sports Championships along with Berlin (hosts of the 2018 European Athletics Championships). 2014 Commonwealth Games. On 9 November 2007, Glasgow was selected to be the host city of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The games were held at a number of existing and newly constructed sporting venues across the city, including a refurbished Hampden Park, Kelvingrove Park, Kelvin Hall, and the OVO Hydro at the SECC. The opening ceremony was held at Celtic Park. 2014 was the third time the Games have been held in Scotland. Namesake area on Mars. There is an area on Planet Mars which NASA has named Glasgow, after Scotland's largest city. The Mars rover Curiosity, which landed on the planet in August 2012, has drilled at the site. Twin towns and sister cities. Glasgow is twinned with various cities. Partnerships. The city is also in a partnership with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69219

Tranmere Rovers F.C.

Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adopted their current name in 1885. Tranmere's regular kit is an all-white strip with blue, or occasionally blue and green trim, their main colours since 1962. The club moved to its current home, Prenton Park, in 1912. In 1995, the ground had a major redevelopment in response to the Taylor Report. It now seats 16,567 in four stands: the Main Stand, the Kop, the Johnny King Stand and the Cowshed. Tranmere played in regional leagues until they were invited to become a founder member of Football League Third Division North in 1921. They finished as champions for the 1937–38 season, though were relegated out of the Second Division the following year. They dropped into the Fourth Division in 1961, before winning promotion back to the third tier at the end of the 1966–67 season. Relegation in 1975 was followed by an immediate promotion in 1975–76 under the stewardship of manager John King, and this time they survived for just three seasons in the third tier until being relegated once again in 1979. During the 1980s, they were beset by financial problems and, in 1987, went into administration. However John King returned to manage the club for a second spell and guided Rovers to promotion in 1988–89, which they followed up by winning the Associate Members' Cup in 1990 and then promotion out of the play-offs in 1991. The 1990s would prove to be the most successful period in the club's history as Tranmere remained in the second tier, and came close to reaching the Premier League with three consecutive play-off campaigns at the start of the decade. Under King's successor, John Aldridge, Tranmere experienced a number of cup runs, most notably reaching the 2000 League Cup final. They were finally relegated in 2001 and then spent 13 seasons in the third tier, before two successive relegations saw them drop out of the Football League after an 84-year stay. Tranmere spent three seasons in the National League and then returned to the third tier of the Football League via successive play-off campaigns in 2018 and 2019. They were relegated from League One in 2020 after clubs voted to end the season early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. History. Formative years. Tranmere Rovers were, initially, formed as Belmont Football Club when the football arms of two cricket clubs – Lyndhurst Wanderers and Belmont – came together in 1884. On 15 November 1884, they won their first game 4–0 against Brunswick Rovers. This was a friendly match, as there were no leagues until 1888. Under the presidency of James McGaul, the team had a successful inaugural season, losing only one of their fifteen matches. An unrelated, disbanded side had played under the name "Tranmere Rovers Cricket Club (Association football section)" in 1881–82. On 16 September 1885, before their second season began, Belmont F.C. adopted this name Tranmere Rovers. Tranmere is historically a large village that was subsumed within the later expansion of the town of Birkenhead. Tranmere played their first matches at Steeles Field in Birkenhead. In 1887, they bought Ravenshaws Field from Tranmere Rugby Club. In 1895, their ground was renamed Prenton Park, although it was 25 years later that the team moved into the current stadium of the same name. Tranmere first wore a kit of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks. In 1889 they adopted orange and maroon shirts, but in 1904 returned to wearing their original kit. In 1886, Tranmere entered their first competition: the Liverpool and District Challenge Cup; in 1889, they entered the West Lancashire League. They joined the Combination, a much stronger league, in 1897, and won the championship in 1908. In 1910, continuing their movement through the leagues, they entered the Lancashire Combination and in 1912 they showed their ambition by moving to the present Prenton Park site, with an 800-seat stand. Tranmere won the Lancashire Combination Championship in 1914 and Stan Rowlands became the first Tranmere player to receive an international cap when he was selected to play for Wales. Rovers continued to play throughout the First World War, although their players were criticised for avoiding military service, despite being employed in the local shipyards. Inter-war years. Following the expulsion of Leeds City Reserves in 1919, Tranmere were able to enter the Central League. Their timing was excellent as the following season, four Central League clubs – including Tranmere – were invited to join the new Division Three North. On 27 August 1921, as founder members of the division, they won their first Football League match 4–1 against Crewe Alexandra at Prenton Park. At this time the team were managed by Bert Cooke, who did so for 23 years in total, the club record for longest serving manager. In 1924, local youngster Dixie Dean made his debut aged 16 years 355 days. He played 30 games for Rovers, scoring 27 goals, before being transferred to Everton for £3,000. In the 1927–28 season, Dean scored a record 60 League goals for Everton. After Dean's departure, a string of talented youngsters also left for Division One clubs, leading to Cooke's reputation as a shrewd businessman. Among those sold was Pongo Waring who – having scored six goals in the 11–1 victory over Durham City – went to Aston Villa for £4,700. Waring retains the record of scoring most goals for Villa in a single season. In 1934, an FA Cup tie between Rovers and Liverpool was watched at Anfield by 61,036 fans, then a record crowd for a game involving Rovers. One year later, Bunny Bell netted 57 goals during the 1933–34 season, and nine goals in the 13–4 Boxing Day 1935 victory over Oldham Athletic. As of 2011, the aggregate of 17 goals in one game remains a league record. During this same period, Tranmere made several appearances in the Welsh Cup, reaching the Final on two occasions. In 1934, they lost 3–0 to Bristol City in a replay, after a 1–1 draw. The following season, they went one better by beating local rivals Chester 1–0 to win their first silverware since joining the Football League. Rovers won their first championship in the Football League in 1938 with victory in Division Three North and, hence, promotion to Division Two for the first time. It is still Rovers' only championship in the Football League. However, they were relegated the next season winning six matches – the record for the worst performance of any team in Division Two. Creation of the Superwhites. Prenton Park emerged from the Second World War largely unscathed. Tranmere rejoined the peacetime Football League in Division Three North and stayed there until the 1958 restructuring of the football league's lower divisions. Manager Peter Farrell led Tranmere to finish 11th in the final season of the Northern Section, securing a place in the new national Division Three where they were, again, founder members. The final match against Wrexham, also fighting for a place in the higher league, attracted a crowd of 19,615, which remains the highest ever attendance at a Prenton Park league match. In 1961, Tranmere's inspirational captain Harold Bell left the club. Bell had been picked in the first game after the Second World War in the 1946 season and did not miss a match until he was dropped on 30 August 1955, a total of 459 consecutive appearances for a British team, a record which held until 2011. Rovers certainly missed their captain, and were relegated to Division Four for the first time in 1961. The club brought in Dave Russell as manager who made some revolutionary changes. Tranmere had worn a kit of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks since 1904 – the same colours as local rivals, Division One club Everton. Russell introduced an all-white strip to set the teams apart; these have been Tranmere's usual colours since. Russell also developed a successful youth policy which included England international Roy McFarland among its graduates. Russell guided Rovers back to Division Three in 1967, a year before a new 4,000-seater main stand was opened, and Rovers reached the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time. Three years later the club's record attendance at Prenton Park was established as 24,424 supporters witnessed Rovers draw 2–2 with Stoke City in the FA Cup. In 1972, Ron Yeats was installed as player/manager. He strengthened Tranmere's connections with local rivals Liverpool by recruiting several former teammates such as Ian St John, and bringing in Bill Shankly in a consultancy role. This team saw one of the most memorable Rovers results of all time when, in a League Cup tie in 1973, Tranmere beat First Division Arsenal 1–0 at their former Highbury home. However, Tranmere returned to the Fourth Division in 1975. The following decade was among the bleakest times in the club's history, with the team usually in the lower reaches of the Fourth Division, beset by financial problems, and attaining crowds of less than 2,000. In 1979, Steve Mungall joined Tranmere from Motherwell. He went on to make more than 500 league appearances for Rovers in a 17-year period. This spell saw Rovers rise up the league and make several appearances at Wembley. He remained with the club on the coaching staff before leaving in October 2000 to pursue business interests. 1980s. Another relegation to Division Four in 1979 put the club in financial difficulties. Debts mounted throughout the 1980s, with insolvency forestalled through a series of friendly fixtures, contributions from fans and a £200,000 loan from Wirral Council. This partnership proved an enduring one, as Wirral's logo still appeared on the shirts until 2011. In July 1984 the club was sold to a Californian attorney, making Tranmere one of the first English clubs bought by a foreign owner. Nonetheless, in 1987 the club went into administration, with local businessman Peter Johnson taking over control and ownership. This proved to be a turning point in Tranmere's history, the club under his ownership enjoying by far the most successful period in its history, in which manager John King took the team from the bottom of Division Four to the brink of English football's top league. King's first task was to avoid the team finishing bottom of Division Four, which would have resulted in their relegation from the football league. Safety was guaranteed on the last game of the season with a 1–0 home win over Exeter City. The first full season (1987–88) of King's second managerial spell in charge saw Tranmere make their first appearance at Wembley stadium when a good mid-season run of form saw them qualify for the Football League Centenary Tournament. Tranmere were the surprise stars of the event, beating Division One Wimbledon and Newcastle United before losing on penalties to eventual winners Nottingham Forest. The following season, King guided Tranmere to promotion as Division Four runners-up. Their final game played to clinch promotion was against Crewe Alexandra, and was notable for the fact that both teams needed a point to gain promotion. The first half was contested as usual, but the second half, with the score at 1–1, both teams failed to attack each other's goals, leading to combined celebrations at the final whistle. In the same season, they achieved a string of cup successes including beating Division One Middlesbrough. Promotion was almost achieved in their first season in Division Three, losing 2–0 in the Play-off Final to Notts County., a week after Tranmere's 2–1 victory over Bristol Rovers at Wembley in the final of the Leyland DAF Trophy had clinched the club's first trophy. A key element in Tranmere's success during this period was the form of striker Ian Muir. He joined the club in 1985 and scored 180 goals in eleven seasons. He is the club's record scorer, and the first inductee to their hall of fame. Fellow hall of fame member John Morrissey joined the club in 1986. The winger spent 14 seasons at the club, making 585 appearances. Wembley years. In the 1990–91 season, Tranmere won promotion to Division Two for the first time since the 1930s, with a 1–0 play-off win over local rivals Bolton Wanderers. Once again, Rovers made an appearance in the Leyland DAF Trophy final, this time losing 3–2 to Birmingham City. This made the play-off victory over Bolton Wanderers Tranmere's fourth appearance in a Wembley final in just over a year. Former Liverpool player John Aldridge joined the club in summer of 1991, signing from Spain's Real Sociedad for £250,000; he would remain on the club's payroll for the next 10 years, scoring 170 times to put him behind only Ian Muir in the all-time scoring charts. Aldridge also received 30 caps for the Republic of Ireland, and was the first Tranmere player to score at a World Cup. In 1993, Scotland international Pat Nevin joined the team, forming a four-man attack alongside Aldridge, Malkin and Morrissey. Tranmere reached the play-offs in three successive seasons missing out on promotion to the newly formed Premier League through defeat to Swindon Town in 1993, Leicester City in 1994, and Reading in 1995. 1994 also saw Tranmere progress to the League Cup semi-final, where they faced Aston Villa over two legs. The home leg was won 3–1 by Tranmere, with Villa scoring their only goal in the 94th minute. The away leg was 2–1 to Villa until the 88th minute with Villa finally winning 3–1, so the match went to extra time and penalties. Tranmere were one kick away from the final but Liam O'Brien's sudden death penalty was saved by Mark Bosnich and they eventually lost 5–4. A reconstructed Prenton Park was opened in March 1995, with the all seater stadium now holding just under 17,000 supporters. One year later, John Aldridge was appointed player/manager and held that position for five years; he retired from playing in 1999. 2000 and beyond. In the 1999–2000 season, despite severe financial constraints, victories over a succession of Premiership sides led not only to a place in the sixth round of the FA Cup but a place in the 2000 Football League Cup Final against Leicester City – the first time Rovers had ever reached a major final. Matt Elliott scored Leicester's opening goal, before Tranmere's Clint Hill was sent off for a second bookable offence. Despite being reduced to ten men, David Kelly equalised; but Elliot soon netted Leicester's second goal and Tranmere lost the match 2–1. It was the last League Cup game to be played at the original Wembley stadium. In 2000, the all-white kit was reintroduced and is still used in 2014. That season they enjoyed yet another run in Cup competitions beating local Premier League rivals Everton 3–0 at Goodison Park, then Southampton 4–3 (after being 0–3 down), before finally bowing out to Liverpool. They nevertheless struggled in League matches; Aldridge quit before Tranmere's relegation to Division Two ended a spell of ten years in Division One. Brian Little was appointed as manager in 2003. He took Rovers to a play-off semi final in 2004–05 and a best ever 6th round replay in the 2004 FA Cup where they lost to eventual finalists, Millwall. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Little left the club and was replaced by former player Ronnie Moore. In Moore's three seasons in charge, the club finished 9th, 11th and 7th, just missing out the play-offs in the final season. Despite this, he was sacked in 2009 and replaced by former England winger John Barnes, whose only previous domestic managerial experience was with Celtic 10 years earlier. It was whilst Barnes was manager that long serving Kitman, Mark Trevor, ended his 12-year 'Labour of Love' washing the kit of his local team. Having been at the club since 1997, he washed his last kit in August 2009 ready for the home game with Charlton Athletic. Barnes' reign lasted considerably less, it was a mere five months before long-serving club physiotherapist Les Parry was given temporary charge. Rovers finished the season in 19th place in League One, avoiding relegation on the final day of the season thanks to a 3–0 victory at Stockport County. In June 2010, Parry was given the manager's job on a permanent basis. He was sacked on 4 March 2012, after a 1–0 defeat by Chesterfield left them only one point above the relegation zone, and replaced by Ronnie Moore for the remainder of the season. Moore won six of his thirteen games in charge at the end of the season, guiding Tranmere to a comfortable mid-table position, as they finished the season in the top half for the first time in several years. Moore then signed a new one-year deal with Tranmere, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2012–13 season. Towards the end of the 2013–14 season, Moore admitted breaking the Football Association's betting rules, and was sacked by Tranmere when the club were just outside the relegation zone. Assistant John McMahon took over as caretaker manager, but Tranmere were relegated to League Two on the final game of the season. Rob Edwards was subsequently appointed as new manager. On 11 August 2014, it was announced that former player and Football Association chief executive Mark Palios and his wife Nicola were taking a controlling interest in the club from outgoing chairman Peter Johnson. Mark Palios would become Executive Chairman of the club, with Johnson becoming Honorary President. After a poor start to the season, the home loss to Plymouth Argyle on 11 October 2014 saw Tranmere in last place in the Football League for the first time since 27 August 1987 after they had lost their first two matches of that season. Edwards was sacked as manager on 13 October. Mickey Adams took over a week later, with the aim of saving the club from relegation to the Conference. However, on 25 April 2015 Tranmere were relegated from the Football League after another defeat to Plymouth Argyle in the reverse fixture, ending their 94-year stay in the leagues. Non-league years. Gary Brabin was appointed as manager on 5 May 2015. It was a season of ups and downs, with home form suffering while away form was much more successful. It took a while for Rovers to adjust to life in the non-league, with erratic form during the season. Tranmere finished sixth, one place outside the play-off zone, in Gary Brabin's first season. Tranmere started the 2016–17 season brightly, ranking at the top of the table at the end of August, gaining Gary Brabin the manager of the month. Form later dipped which resulted in one goal scored in the next four games, with the 1–0 defeat to Sutton United on BT Sport resulting in Brabin being sacked on 18 September 2016. Assistant manager, ex-Southport boss Paul Carden took the reins on an interim basis. On 6 October 2016, former Tranmere player Micky Mellon was appointed permanent manager. His first game in charge was against cross-border rivals Wrexham, and a 2–0 victory for Tranmere. Despite a 2nd-place finish and a club record 95 point haul, this still was not enough to gain automatic promotion back to the league. Tranmere faced Aldershot Town in the play-offs. A goal from James Norwood and a brace from Cole Stockton in the first leg away at the Recreation Ground saw Rovers take a 3–0 lead back to Prenton Park for the second leg, which ended in a 2–2 draw, Norwood and Stockton once again on the scoresheet. This gave Tranmere a 5–2 aggregate win and their first Wembley appearance in 17 years. On 14 May 2017, Tranmere suffered a 3–1 defeat in the National League play-off Final at the hands of Forest Green, Connor Jennings with Rovers first goal at Wembley since the 2000 League Cup Final. Tranmere's 2017–18 season got off to a poor start, with 3 wins from the first 12 games. Tranmere slipped to 18th in the league, their lowest ever league position. A spectacular winter turnaround saw Tranmere move into the play-offs, where they would find themselves for the remainder of the season. This turnaround included a record breaking run of 9 consecutive home league wins. This record breaking stint was ended in February by a 4–1 defeat at the hands of eventual title winners Macclesfield Town. Tranmere responded to this defeat by winning 8 out of their next 9 games, finishing the season as National League runners-up for the second time in as many years, qualifying for the play-offs. In the play-off semi-final, Tranmere met Ebbsfleet United at home. Tranmere came from behind twice to take the game to extra time, the full-time score being 2–2, James Norwood with the first goal and Burnley loannee Josh Ginnelly with the second. An extra time free kick from James Norwood, followed by a goal from Larnell Cole saw Tranmere run out 4–2 victors after extra time, sending Tranmere to Wembley for the National League play-off Final. On 12 May 2018, a crowd of 16,306 were at Wembley for the Final against Boreham Wood. Tranmere were 2–1 victors, their first trophy in 27 years, and were promoted back to the Football League. Return to the Football League. Under the chairmanship of Mark Palios and the management of Micky Mellon, Tranmere played in League Two for the 2018–19 season and finished 6th, thereby reaching the play-offs. On 25 May 2019, Tranmere secured back-to-back promotions, beating Newport County 1–0 at Wembley, with a goal from Connor Jennings in the 119th minute, thus securing their spot in League One for the 2019–20 season. By March 2020, the team were within the relegation zone, but with a game in hand on their nearest rivals and on a run of three successive victories. The cancellation of fixtures due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the season could not be completed, and a vote was taken by League One clubs on 9 June to resolve promotion and relegation issues on a points per game (PPG) basis. This meant that Tranmere would be demoted to League Two for the 2020–21 season. Club chairman Mark Palios said that the decision was unfair and that he was considering legal action as a result. He also announced that 20 members of staff would have to be made redundant. With the team back in League Two, Mike Jackson was named as manager of Tranmere on 18 July 2020. He was sacked on 31 October 2020. Keith Hill succeeded temporary manager Ian Dawes on 21 November 2020. He was sacked on 11 May 2021, after the side reached the play-offs but before the play-off matches had started. Tranmere were defeated by Morecambe in the play-off semi-final. At the end of May 2021, it was announced that Micky Mellon was returning to the club, after spending the season apart managing Dundee United. Despite a strong start to the season, Mellon was sacked by Tranmere on 19 March 2023 following a string of results that included only six wins since mid-October 2022. Dawes managed seven games as caretaker manager then became the permanent manager, but was sacked in early September 2023 after a run of six successive defeats; Rovers' technical director Nigel Adkins was appointed interim manager. Colours and crest. Belmont F.C., the forerunners of today's Rovers, wore blue shirts and white shorts, as did the early Rovers, until a radical change in 1889, when a combination of maroon and orange shirts and navy blue shorts was introduced to "dazzle" their opponents in the West Lancashire League. These were abandoned in 1904 in favour of the earlier blue and white colours which have, in some form or other, remained until the present day. In 1962, Dave Russell introduced a white strip with blue trim, saying "Tranmere Rovers should have a specific identity of its own, so on Merseyside there's now Liverpool's Red, Everton's blue and Tranmere's white". Since then, the team have worn varying combinations of blue and white, moving back towards a more predominantly white kit in 2000. The team's colours are reflected in their nickname of the "Superwhites". Tranmere first introduced a badge on their shirt in 1962, wearing the coat of arms of the borough of Birkenhead, along with adopting their motto "Ubi fides ibi lux et robur", meaning "Where there is faith there is light and strength". The crest was replaced in 1972 by a monogram, and in 1981 by a simplified blue and white shield. In 1987, a complex heraldic crest was introduced, adapting the Birkenhead crest through the inclusion of a football and a TRFC logo. The simpler badge was adopted in 1997, and modified slightly in 2009 to mark the club's 125-year anniversary. The blue and white crest incorporated simplified elements of the Birkenhead civic coat of arms: the crosier and lion originally formed part of the Birkenhead Priory seal; the oak tree was a symbol of the Tranmere Local Board; the star or starfish represents Bebington; the two lions represent Oxton; and the crescents may represent the Laird family. For the 2021–22 season, Tranmere reverted to their pre-1997 badge. Stadium. Rovers played their first matches at Steeles Field in Birkenhead but, in 1887, they bought a new site from Tranmere Rugby Club. The ground was variously referred to as the "Borough Road Enclosure", "Ravenshaw's Field" and "South Road". The name "Prenton Park" was adopted in 1895 as a result of a suggestion in the letters page of the Football Echo. Because the land was required for housing and a school, Tranmere were forced to move and the name went with them. The present Prenton Park was opened on 9 March 1912. There were stands (also known as bleachers) on both sides of the pitch, a paddock and three open terraces, the general format which remained until 1994. Many improvements to the ground were driven by changes in legislation. The biggest change of all took place during 1994 and 1995. The Taylor Report suggested that all stadia in the top two divisions of English football should no longer permit standing. The club's response was to redevelop three sides of the ground with entirely new all-seater stands created – the Borough Road Stand (now the Johnny King Stand), the Cowshed and the new Kop, in addition to the existing Main Stand. Capacity in the ground thus increased from 14,200 to the 16,567 of today. On 11 March 1995, the new ground was officially opened at a cost of £3.1 million. Attendances at the ground have fluctuated over its hundred-year history. Around 8,000 visitors watched the first game at the stadium, as Tranmere beat Lancaster Town 8–0. Prenton Park's largest-ever crowd was 24,424 for a 1972 FA Cup match between Tranmere and Stoke City. In 2010, an average of 5,000 fans attended each home game. Supporters and rivalries. Tranmere Rovers had an average home attendance of 6,552 during the 2018–19 season, making them the 4th best supported club in League Two and 42nd in The Football League as a whole. The club has a number of supporters' groups, including the Tranmere Rovers Supporters Trust; in 2010, the trust raised £12,500 for the club to sign Andy Robinson on loan. In 2011, they raised £200,000 and plan to purchase a controlling interest in Tranmere. TSB (Tranmere Stand Boys) is the hooligan firm associated with the club. The club has been the subject of an independent supporters' fanzine "Give Us an R" since the 1990s. Despite being geographically closest to Everton and Liverpool, Tranmere's time in the lower leagues has meant that they have rarely met either club and have built up traditional rivalries with near neighbours Wrexham, Chester, and Southport, the latter two of which are now non-league clubs. According to a survey entitled 'The League of Love and Hate' conducted in August 2019, Tranmere fans listed the more distant Bolton Wanderers and Oldham Athletic as their biggest rivals, followed by Everton, Liverpool and Crewe Alexandra, although the results open to debate as the census does not contain non-league clubs. Tranmere also had a fierce rivalry with Wallasey-based near neighbours New Brighton until the latter club failed to be re-elected to the Football League in 1951. As of the end of the 2021–22 season, Tranmere had met the following teams most times in the Football League: Tranmere Rovers Ladies. Tranmere Rovers Ladies Football Club were founded in 1990. Based in the Wirral, they are affiliated with the men's team, and play home games at Villa Park, the home of Ashville F.C., in Wallasey. Between 1996 and 2004 they competed in the FA Premier League National Division, then the top tier of the English women's football pyramid. Since 2011, they have played in the North West Regional League, Premier Division. As of the start of the 2011–12 season, they have won the Cheshire Cup a record 11 times. Players. Former players. As part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations in 2010, a hall of fame was announced, initially honouring seven former players and managers: Ian Muir, John Aldridge, John King, Ray Mathias, Steve Mungall, John Morrissey, and Pat Nevin. Harold Bell holds the record for the most consecutive league appearances for a British team. He was picked for the first game after the Second World War in the 1946–47 season and did not miss a match until 30 August 1955, a total of 401 consecutive matches in the Third Division North. Officials. Managers. By the start of the 2020–21 season, the club had employed 30 managers. The first man to hold this position was Bert Cooke, appointed in 1912. He oversaw the club's entry into the Football League and remained in charge for 23 years, the longest spell of any manager at the club. Major changes were not seen until businessman Dave Russell took over in 1961. His introductions included the team's current all-white kit and regularly arranged floodlit home fixtures on Friday evenings rather than the usual Saturday afternoon. Rock band and Tranmere fans Half Man Half Biscuit described the practice in their song "Friday Night And The Gates Are Low". Tranmere's most successful period came at the end of the twentieth century. John King returned for his third spell at the club in 1987, having previously both played and managed the team. He led them to a victory in the League Trophy, and from the bottom of the Fourth Division to reach the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League on three occasions. Success continued under King's replacement, John Aldridge, including an appearance in the 2000 Football League Cup Final. From 2009, they were managed by former club physiotherapist, Les Parry, until he was sacked on 4 March 2012, and replaced by Ronnie Moore. In February 2014 it was reported that Moore was under investigation by The Football Association, for breaching its rules against betting on competitions in which his club were involved. Three days later, he was suspended, and after admitting the FA's charges he was sacked on 9 April 2014. On 27 May 2014, the club announced that Rob Edwards had been appointed as their new manager. He was sacked on 13 October 2014. Moving quickly to arrest the decline which had seen Tranmere slump to the bottom of League Two, former Port Vale manager Micky Adams' appointment was announced on 16 October 2014. He left the club by mutual consent on 19 April 2015, when the club were bottom of the league with two matches remaining. He was replaced by Gary Brabin, whose contract was in turn ended in September 2016. Micky Mellon was appointed manager the following month, going on to lead the team to two consecutive play-off Final victories in the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons and a return to League One. After four years at Tranmere, Mellon moved to Dundee United on 6 July 2020. On 18 July 2020, Mellon's former assistant manager Mike Jackson was appointed as manager, however his tenure was short-lived. After only two league wins in his first 10 games Jackson was sacked on 31 October 2020 following a 1–0 home defeat to Morecambe. He was replaced as first team manager on 21 November by Keith Hill. Hill opened his reign with a 1–0 victory against play-off hopefuls Carlisle United. His side were top of the form table (after 20 games) in February, the team's spine spearheaded by Scott Davies, Peter Clarke, Manny Monthé, Jay Spearing, Paul Lewis and finally, James Vaughan, who is still the youngest ever Premier League goalscorer since 2005. Hill was sacked in May 2021, after the team had reached the League Two play-offs but before the play-off matches took place. At the end of May 2021, Micky Mellon returned to Tranmere for a second spell as manager. Full time managers are shown below (excluding caretaker managers). Honours and achievements. League Cup Minor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69328

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ), or simply the Emirates ( ), is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East. It is located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and shares borders with Oman and Saudi Arabia, while also having maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran. Abu Dhabi is the nation's capital, while Dubai, the most populous city, is an international hub. The United Arab Emirates is an elective monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates, consisting of Abu Dhabi (the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a ruler and together the rulers form the Federal Supreme Council. The members of the Federal Supreme Council elect a president (as of 14 May 2023, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan) and vice president (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan) from among their members. In practice, the ruler of Abu Dhabi serves as president while the ruler of Dubai is vice president and also prime minister. In 2013, the country had a population of 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million were Emirati citizens and 7.8 million were expatriates. , the United Arab Emirates has an estimated population of roughly 10.2 million. Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language. The United Arab Emirates' oil and natural gas reserves are the world's sixth and seventh-largest, respectively. Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the country's first president, oversaw the development of the Emirates by investing oil revenues into healthcare, education, and infrastructure. The United Arab Emirates has the most diversified economy among the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In the 21st century, the country has become less reliant on oil and gas and is economically focusing on tourism and business. The UAE is considered a middle power. It is a member of the United Nations, Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OPEC, Non-Aligned Movement, World Trade Organization and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The UAE is also a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It is among the first Arab countries expected to join BRICS on 1 January 2024 (along with Egypt and Saudi Arabia). Human rights organisations consider the UAE substandard on human rights, citing reports of government critics being imprisoned and tortured, families harassed by the state security apparatus, and cases of forced disappearances. Individual rights such as the freedoms of assembly, association, the press, expression, and religion are also severely repressed. History. Antiquity. Stone tools recovered reveal a settlement of people from Africa some 127,000 years ago and a stone tool used for butchering animals discovered on the Arabian coast suggests an even older habitation from 130,000 years ago. In time lively trading links developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia, Iran and the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley. This contact persisted and became wider, probably motivated by the trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, which commenced around 3,000 BCE. Sumerian sources talk of the Magan civilisation, which has been identified as encompassing the modern UAE and Oman. There are six periods of human settlement with distinctive behaviours in the region before Islam, which include the Hafit period from 3,200 to 2,600 BCE, the Umm Al Nar culture from 2,600 to 2,000 BCE, and the Wadi Suq culture from 2,000 to 1,300 BCE. From 1,200 BCE to the advent of Islam in Eastern Arabia, through three distinctive Iron Ages and the Mleiha period, the area was variously occupied by the Achaemenids and other forces, and saw the construction of fortified settlements and extensive husbandry thanks to the development of the "falaj" irrigation system. In ancient times, Al Hasa (today's Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia) was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman (today's UAE and Oman). From the second century CE, there was a movement of tribes from Al Bahreyn towards the lower Gulf, together with a migration among the Azdite Qahtani (or Yamani) and Quda'ah tribal groups from south-west Arabia towards central Oman. Islam. The spread of Islam to the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula is thought to have followed directly from a letter sent by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, to the rulers of Oman in 630 CE. This led to a group of rulers travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids, who dominated the coast at the time. Following the death of Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory (the Ridda Wars) with the Battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost. This assured the integrity of the Caliphate and the unification of the Arabian Peninsula under the newly emerging Rashidun Caliphate. In 637, Julfar (in the area of today's Ras Al Khaimah) was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sasanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tu'am and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, an extensive monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island and which dates back to the seventh century. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 CE, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 CE. It forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity, which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 CE following trade routes. Certainly, by the fifth century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 CE. Portuguese era. The harsh desert environment led to the emergence of the "versatile tribesman", nomadic groups who subsisted due to a variety of economic activities, including animal husbandry, agriculture and hunting. The seasonal movements of these groups led not only to frequent clashes between groups but also to the establishment of seasonal and semi-seasonal settlements and centres. These formed tribal groupings whose names are still carried by modern Emiratis, including the Bani Yas and Al Bu Falah of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Liwa and the west coast, the Dhawahir, Awamir, Al Ali and Manasir of the interior, the Sharqiyin of the east coast and the Qawasim to the North. With the expansion of European colonial empires, Portuguese, English and Dutch forces appeared in the Persian Gulf region. By the 18th century, the Bani Yas confederation was the dominant force in most of the area now known as Abu Dhabi, while the Northern Al Qawasim (Al Qasimi) dominated maritime commerce. The Portuguese maintained an influence over the coastal settlements, building forts in the wake of the bloody 16th-century conquests of coastal communities by Albuquerque and the Portuguese commanders who followed him – particularly on the east coast at Muscat, Sohar and Khor Fakkan. The southern coast of the Persian Gulf was known to the British as the "Pirate Coast", as boats of the Al Qawasim federation harassed British-flagged shipping from the 17th century into the 19th. The charge of piracy is disputed by modern Emirati historians, including the current ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi, in his 1986 book "The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf". British expeditions to protect their Indian trade routes led to campaigns against Ras Al Khaimah and other harbours along the coast, including the Persian Gulf campaign of 1809 and the more successful campaign of 1819. The following year, Britain and a number of local rulers signed a maritime truce, giving rise to the term Trucial States, which came to define the status of the coastal emirates. A further treaty was signed in 1843 and, in 1853 the Perpetual Maritime Truce was agreed. To this was added the 'Exclusive Agreements', signed in 1892, which made the Trucial States a British protectorate. Under the 1892 treaty, the trucial sheikhs agreed not to dispose of any territory except to the British and not to enter into relationships with any foreign government other than the British without their consent. In return, the British promised to protect the Trucial Coast from all aggression by sea and to help in case of land attack. British maritime policing meant that pearling fleets could operate in relative security. However, the British prohibition of the slave trade meant an important source of income was lost to some sheikhs and merchants. In 1869, the Qubaisat tribe settled at Khawr al Udayd and tried to enlist the support of the Ottomans. Khawr al Udayd was claimed by Abu Dhabi at that time, a claim supported by the British. In 1906, the British Political Resident, Percy Cox, confirmed in writing to the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan ('Zayed the Great') that Khawr al Udayd belonged to his sheikhdom. British era and discovery of oil. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the pearling industry thrived, providing both income and employment to the people of the Persian Gulf. The First World War had a severe impact on the industry, but it was the economic depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s, coupled with the invention of the cultured pearl, that wiped out the trade. The remnants of the trade eventually faded away shortly after the Second World War, when the newly independent Government of India imposed heavy taxation on imported pearls. The decline of pearling resulted in extreme economic hardship in the Trucial States. In 1922, the British government secured undertakings from the rulers of the Trucial States not to sign concessions with foreign companies without their consent. Aware of the potential for the development of natural resources such as oil, following finds in Persia (from 1908) and Mesopotamia (from 1927), a British-led oil company, the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), showed an interest in the region. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC, later to become British Petroleum, or BP) had a 23.75% share in IPC. From 1935, onshore concessions to explore for oil were granted by local rulers, with APOC signing the first one on behalf of Petroleum Concessions Ltd (PCL), an associate company of IPC. APOC was prevented from developing the region alone because of the restrictions of the Red Line Agreement, which required it to operate through IPC. A number of options between PCL and the trucial rulers were signed, providing useful revenue for communities experiencing poverty following the collapse of the pearl trade. However, the wealth of oil which the rulers could see from the revenues accruing to surrounding countries remained elusive. The first bore holes in Abu Dhabi were drilled by IPC's operating company, Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) Ltd (PDTC) at Ras Sadr in 1950, with a bore hole taking a year to drill and turning out dry, at the tremendous cost at the time of £1 million. The British set up a development office that helped in some small developments in the emirates. The seven sheikhs of the emirates then decided to form a council to coordinate matters between them and took over the development office. In 1952, they formed the Trucial States Council, and appointed Adi Al Bitar, Dubai's Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum's legal advisor, as secretary general and legal advisor to the council. The council was terminated once the United Arab Emirates was formed. The tribal nature of society and the lack of definition of borders between emirates frequently led to disputes, settled either through mediation or, more rarely, force. The Trucial Oman Scouts was a small military force used by the British to keep the peace. In 1953, a subsidiary of BP, D'Arcy Exploration Ltd, obtained an offshore concession from the ruler of Abu Dhabi. BP joined with Compagnie Française des Pétroles (later Total) to form operating companies, Abu Dhabi Marine Areas Ltd (ADMA) and Dubai Marine Areas Ltd (DUMA). A number of undersea oil surveys were carried out, including one led by the famous marine explorer Jacques Cousteau. In 1958, a floating platform rig was towed from Hamburg, Germany, and positioned over the Umm Shaif pearl bed, in Abu Dhabi waters, where drilling began. In March, it struck oil in the Upper Thamama rock formation. This was the first commercial discovery of the Trucial Coast, leading to the first exports of oil in 1962. ADMA made further offshore discoveries at Zakum and elsewhere, and other companies made commercial finds such as the Fateh oilfield off Dubai and the Mubarak field off Sharjah (shared with Iran). Meanwhile, onshore exploration was hindered by territorial disputes. In 1955, the United Kingdom represented Abu Dhabi and Oman in their dispute with Saudi Arabia over the Buraimi Oasis. A 1974 agreement between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia seemed to have settled the Abu Dhabi-Saudi border dispute, but this has not been ratified. The UAE's border with Oman was ratified in 2008. PDTC continued its onshore exploration away from the disputed area, drilling five more bore holes that were also dry. However, on 27 October 1960, the company discovered oil in commercial quantities at the Murban No. 3 well on the coast near Tarif. In 1962, PDTC became the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company. As oil revenues increased, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, undertook a massive construction program, building schools, housing, hospitals and roads. When Dubai's oil exports commenced in 1969, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, was able to invest the revenues from the limited reserves found to spark the diversification drive that would create the modern global city of Dubai. Independence. By 1966, it had become clear the British government could no longer afford to administer and protect the Trucial States, what is now the United Arab Emirates. British Members of Parliament (MPs) debated the preparedness of the Royal Navy to defend the sheikhdoms. On 24 January 1968, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced the government's decision, reaffirmed in March 1971 by Prime Minister Edward Heath, to end the treaty relationships with the seven trucial sheikhdoms. Days after the announcement, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, fearing vulnerability, tried to persuade the British to honour the protection treaties by offering to pay the full costs of keeping the British Armed Forces in the Emirates. The British Labour government rejected the offer. After Labour MP Goronwy Roberts informed Sheikh Zayed of the news of British withdrawal, the nine Persian Gulf sheikhdoms attempted to form a union of Arab emirates, but by mid-1971 they were still unable to agree on terms of union even though the British treaty relationship was to expire in December of that year. Fears of vulnerability were realised the day before independence. An Iranian destroyer group broke formation from an exercise in the lower Gulf, sailing to the Tunb islands. The islands were taken by force, civilians and Arab defenders alike allowed to flee. A British warship stood idle during the course of the invasion. A destroyer group approached the island of Abu Musa as well. But there, Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi had already negotiated with the Iranian shah, and the island was quickly leased to Iran for $3 million a year. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia laid claim to swathes of Abu Dhabi. Originally intended to be part of the proposed Federation of Arab Emirates, Bahrain became independent in August, and Qatar in September 1971. When the British-Trucial Sheikhdoms treaty expired on 1 December 1971, both emirates became fully independent. On 2 December 1971, six of the emirates (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain) agreed to enter into a union named the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah joined later, on 10 January 1972. In February 1972, the Federal National Council (FNC) was created; it was a 40-member consultative body appointed by the seven rulers. The UAE joined the Arab League on 6 December 1971 and the United Nations on 9 December. It was a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council in May 1981, with Abu Dhabi hosting the first GCC summit. Post-Independence period. The UAE supported military operations by the US and other coalition nations engaged in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan (2001) and Saddam Hussein in Ba'athist Iraq (2003) as well as operations supporting the Global War on Terror for the Horn of Africa at Al Dhafra Air Base located outside of Abu Dhabi. The air base also supported Allied operations during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and Operation Northern Watch. The country had already signed a military defence agreement with the U.S. in 1994 and one with France in 1995. In January 2008, France and the UAE signed a deal allowing France to set up a permanent military base in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The UAE joined international military operations in Libya in March 2011. On 2 November 2004, the UAE's first president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, died. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as the president of the UAE. In accordance with the constitution, the UAE's Supreme Council of Rulers elected Sheikh Khalifa as president. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan succeeded Sheikh Khalifa as crown prince of Abu Dhabi. In January 2006, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai, died, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum assumed both roles. The first ever national elections were held on 16 December 2006. A number of voters chose half of the members of the Federal National Council. The UAE has largely escaped the Arab Spring, which other countries have experienced; however, 60 Emirati activists from Al Islah were apprehended for an alleged coup attempt and the attempt of the establishment of an Islamist state in the UAE. Mindful of the protests in nearby Bahrain, in November 2012 the UAE outlawed online mockery of its government or attempts to organise public protests through social media. On 29 January 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the UAE. Two months later, in March, the government announced the closure of shopping malls, schools, and places of worship, in addition to imposing a 24-hour curfew, and suspending all Emirates passenger flights. This resulted in a major economic downturn, which eventually led to the merger of more than 50% of the UAE's . On 29 August 2020, the UAE established normal diplomatic relations with Israel and with the help of the United States, they signed the Abraham Accords with Bahrain. On 9 February 2021, the UAE achieved a historic milestone when its probe, named Hope, successfully reached Mars' orbit. The UAE became the first country in the Arab world to reach Mars, the fifth country to successfully reach Mars, and the second country, after an Indian probe, to orbit Mars on its maiden attempt. On 14 May 2022, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as the UAE's new president after the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Geography. The United Arab Emirates is situated in the Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, between Oman and Saudi Arabia; it is in a strategic location slightly south of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit point for world crude oil. The UAE lies between 22°30' and 26°10' north latitude and between 51° and 56°25′ east longitude. It shares a border with Saudi Arabia on the west, south, and southeast, and a border with Oman on the southeast and northeast. The land border with Qatar in the Khawr al Udayd area is about in the northwest; however, it is a source of ongoing dispute. Following Britain's military departure from the UAE in 1971, and its establishment as a new state, the UAE laid claim to islands resulting in disputes with Iran that remain unresolved. The UAE also disputes claim on other islands against the neighboring state of Qatar. The largest emirate, Abu Dhabi, accounts for 87% of the UAE's total area (. The smallest emirate, Ajman, encompasses only . The UAE coast stretches for nearly along the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, briefly interrupted by an isolated outcrop of the Sultanate of Oman. Six of the emirates are situated along the Persian Gulf, and the seventh, Fujairah is on the eastern coast of the peninsula with direct access to the Gulf of Oman. Most of the coast consists of salt pans that extend 8–10 km inland. The largest natural harbor is at Dubai, although other ports have been dredged at Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and elsewhere. Numerous islands are found in the Persian Gulf, and the ownership of some of them has been the subject of international disputes with both Iran and Qatar. The smaller islands, as well as many coral reefs and shifting sandbars, are a menace to navigation. Strong tides and occasional windstorms further complicate ship movements near the shore. The UAE also has a stretch of the Al Bāţinah coast of the Gulf of Oman. The Musandam Peninsula, the very tip of Arabia by the Strait of Hormuz, and Madha are exclaves of Oman separated by the UAE. South and west of Abu Dhabi, vast, rolling sand dunes merge into the Rub al-Khali (Empty Quarter) of Saudi Arabia. The desert area of Abu Dhabi includes two important oases with adequate underground water for permanent settlements and cultivation. The extensive Liwa Oasis is in the south near the undefined border with Saudi Arabia. About to the northeast of Liwa is the Al-Buraimi oasis, which extends on both sides of the Abu Dhabi-Oman border. Lake Zakher in Al Ain is a human-made lake near the border with Oman that was created from treated waste water. Prior to withdrawing from the area in 1971, Britain delineated the internal borders among the seven emirates in order to preempt territorial disputes that might hamper formation of the federation. In general, the rulers of the emirates accepted the British interventions, but in the case of boundary disputes between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and also between Dubai and Sharjah, conflicting claims were not resolved until after the UAE became independent. The most complicated borders were in the Western Hajar Mountains, where five of the emirates contested jurisdiction over more than a dozen enclaves. Biodiversity. The UAE contains the following terrestrial ecoregions: Al Hajar montane woodlands and shrublands, Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert, and Al-Hajar foothill xeric woodlands and shrublands. The oases grow date palms, acacia and eucalyptus trees. In the desert, the flora is very sparse and consists of grasses and thorn bushes. The indigenous fauna had come close to extinction because of intensive hunting, which has led to a conservation program on Sir Bani Yas Island initiated by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in the 1970s, resulting in the survival of, for example, Arabian Oryx, Arabian camel and leopards. Coastal fish and mammals consist mainly of mackerel, perch, and tuna, as well as sharks and whales. Climate. The climate of the UAE is subtropical-arid with hot summers and warm winters. The climate is categorized as desert climate. The hottest months are July and August, when average maximum temperatures reach above on the coastal plain. In the Hajar Mountains, temperatures are considerably lower, a result of increased elevation. Average minimum temperatures in January and February are between . During the late summer months, a humid southeastern wind known as Sharqi (i.e. "Easterner") makes the coastal region especially unpleasant. The average annual rainfall in the coastal area is less than , but in some mountainous areas annual rainfall often reaches . Rain in the coastal region falls in short, torrential bursts during the winter months, sometimes resulting in floods in ordinarily dry wadi beds. The region is prone to occasional, violent dust storms, which can severely reduce visibility. On 28 December 2004, there was snow recorded in the UAE for the first time, in the Jebel Jais mountain cluster in Ras al-Khaimah. A few years later, there were more sightings of snow and hail. The Jebel Jais mountain cluster has experienced snow only twice since records began. Government and politics. The UAE is an authoritarian federal monarchy. According to "The New York Times", the UAE is "an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state". The UAE has been described as a "tribal autocracy" where the seven constituent monarchies are led by tribal rulers in an autocratic fashion. There are no democratically elected institutions, and there is no formal commitment to free speech. According to human rights organisations, there are systematic human rights violations, including the torture and forced disappearance of government critics. The UAE ranks poorly in freedom indices measuring civil liberties and political rights. The UAE is annually ranked as "Not Free" in Freedom House's annual "Freedom in the World" report, which measures civil liberties and political rights. The UAE also ranks poorly in the annual Reporters without Borders' Press Freedom Index. Bertelsmann transformation Index describes the UAE as a "moderate monarchy". The country got ranked 91 out of 137 states and is far below the average scoring for development towards a democracy. Government. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federal constitutional monarchy made up from a federation of seven hereditary tribal monarchy-styled political system called Sheikhdoms. It is governed by a Federal Supreme Council made up of the ruling Sheikhs of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Quwain. All responsibilities not granted to the national government are reserved to the individual emirate. A percentage of revenues from each emirate is allocated to the UAE's central budget. The United Arab Emirates uses the title Sheikh instead of Emir to refer to the rulers of individual emirates. The title is used due to the sheikhdom styled governing system in adherence to the culture of tribes of Arabia, where Sheikh means leader, elder, or the tribal chief of the clan who partakes in shared decision making with his followers. The president and vice president are elected by the Federal Supreme Council. Usually, the Head of the Al Nahyan family, who are based in Abu Dhabi, holds the presidency and the Head of the Al Maktoum family, based in Dubai, the prime ministership. All prime ministers but one have served concurrently as vice president. The federal government is composed of three branches: The UAE e-Government is the extension of the UAE federal government in its electronic form. The UAE's Council of Ministers () is the chief executive branch of the government presided over by the prime minister. The prime minister, who is appointed by the Federal Supreme Council, appoints the ministers. The Council of Ministers is made up of 22 members and manages all internal and foreign affairs of the federation under its constitutional and federal law. In December 2019, the UAE became the only Arab country, and one of only five countries in the world, to attain gender parity in a national legislative body, with its lower house 50 per cent women. The UAE is the only country in the world that has a Ministry of Tolerance, a Ministry of Happiness, and a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence. The UAE also has a virtual ministry called the Ministry of Possibilities, designed to find solutions to challenges and improve quality of life. The UAE also has a National Youth Council, which is represented in the UAE cabinet by the Minister of Youth. The UAE legislative is the Federal National Council which convenes nationwide elections every four years. The FNC consists of 40 members drawn from all the emirates. Each emirate is allocated specific seats to ensure full representation. Half are appointed by the rulers of the constituent emirates, and the other half are elected. By law, the council members have to be equally divided between males and females. The FNC is restricted to a largely consultative role. Foreign relations. The UAE has broad diplomatic and commercial relations with most countries and members of the United Nations. It plays a significant role in OPEC, and is one of the founding members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The UAE is a member of the United Nations and several of its specialized agencies (ICAO, ILO, UPU, WHO, WIPO), as well as the World Bank, IMF, Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Non-Aligned Movement. Also, it is an observer in the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Most countries have diplomatic missions in the capital Abu Dhabi with most consulates being in UAE's largest city, Dubai. Emirati foreign relations are motivated to a large extent by identity and relationship to the Arab world. The United Arab Emirates has strong ties with Bahrain, China, Egypt, France, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Following the British withdrawal from the UAE in 1971 and the establishment of the UAE as a state, the UAE disputed rights to three islands in the Persian Gulf against Iran, namely Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb. The UAE tried to bring the matter to the International Court of Justice, but Iran dismissed the notion. Pakistan was the first country to formally recognise the UAE upon its formation. The UAE alongside multiple Middle Eastern and African countries cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June 2017 due to allegations of Qatar being a state sponsor of terrorism, resulting in the Qatar diplomatic crisis. Ties were restored in January 2021. The UAE recognized Israel in August 2020, reaching a historic Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement and leading towards full normalization of relations between the two countries. An investigation, Abu Dhabi Secrets revealed that a private Swiss intelligence company, Alp Services, ran a smear campaign in Europe, particularly France, on behalf of the UAE to target Emirati opponents like Qatar and Muslim Brotherhood. Alp Services provided the UAE with a list of over 1,000 individuals and 400 organizations in Europe, falsely linking them to radical Islam. The list included politicians, journalists, and public institutions. The agency conducted operations to discredit these Emirati opponents through press campaigns and false Wikipedia entries. The UAE paid Mario Brero, founder of Alp Services, over €5.7 million for his services. In June 2023, a flight carrying humanitarian aid landed at Entebbe airport in Uganda for Sudanese refugees. Ugandan officials said instead of the food and medical supplies, the cargo plane was filled with ammunition, assault rifles, and other small arms. As per the Ugandan officials, they were ordered to not inspect the Emirati flights. The aircraft was allegedly carrying arms for Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo's Rapid Support Forces, via Chad. However, the UAE government denied the allegations. Military. The United Arab Emirates military force was formed in 1971 from the historical Trucial Oman Scouts, long a symbol of public order in Eastern Arabia and commanded by British officers. The Trucial Oman Scouts were turned over to the United Arab Emirates, as the nucleus of its defence forces in 1971, with the formation of the UAE, and was absorbed into the Union Defence Force. Although initially small in number, the UAE armed forces have grown significantly over the years and are presently equipped with some of the most modern weapon systems, purchased from a variety of western military advanced countries, mainly France, the US and the UK. Most officers are graduates of the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, with others having attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Australia, and St Cyr, the military academy of France. France and the United States have played the most strategically significant roles with defence cooperation agreements and military material provision. Some of the UAE military deployments include an infantry battalion to the United Nations UNOSOM II force in Somalia in 1993, the 35th Mechanised Infantry Battalion to Kosovo, a regiment to Kuwait during the Iraq War, demining operations in Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, American-led intervention in Libya, American-led intervention in Syria, and the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. The active and effective military role, despite its small active personnel, has led the UAE military to be nicknamed as "Little Sparta" by United States Armed Forces Generals and former US defense secretary James Mattis. The UAE intervened in the Libyan Civil War in support of General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army in its conflict with the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). Examples of the military assets deployed include the enforcement of the no-fly-zone over Libya by sending six UAEAF F-16 and six Mirage 2000 multi-role fighter aircraft, ground troop deployment in Afghanistan, 30 UAEAF F-16s and ground troops deployment in Southern Yemen, and helping the US launch its first airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria. The UAE has begun production of a greater amount of military equipment, in a bid to reduce foreign dependence and help with national industrialisation. Example of national military development include the Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding company (ADSB), which produces a range of ships and is a prime contractor in the Baynunah Programme, a programme to design, develop and produce corvettes customised for operation in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. The UAE is also producing weapons and ammunition through Caracal International, military transport vehicles through Nimr LLC and unmanned aerial vehicles collectively through Emirates Defence Industries Company. The UAE operates the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon F-16E Block 60 unique variant unofficially called "Desert Falcon", developed by General Dynamics with collaboration of the UAE and specifically for the United Arab Emirates Air Force. The United Arab Emirates Army operates a customized Leclerc tank and is the only other operator of the tank aside from the French Army. The largest defence exhibition and conference in the Middle East, International Defence Exhibition, takes place biennially in Abu Dhabi. The UAE introduced a mandatory military service for adult males, since 2014, for 16 months to expand its reserve force. The highest loss of life in the history of UAE military occurred on Friday 4 September 2015, in which 52 soldiers were killed in Marib area of central Yemen by a Tochka missile which targeted a weapons cache and caused a large explosion. Administrative divisions. The United Arab Emirates comprises seven emirates. The Emirate of Dubai is the most populous emirate with 35.6% of the UAE population. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has 31.2%, meaning that over two-thirds of the UAE population lives in either Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Abu Dhabi has an area of , which is 86.7% of the country's total area, excluding the islands. It has a coastline extending for more than and is divided for administrative purposes into three major regions. The Emirate of Dubai extends along the Persian Gulf coast of the UAE for approximately . Dubai has an area of , which is equivalent to 5% of the country's total area, excluding the islands. The Emirate of Sharjah extends along approximately of the UAE's Persian Gulf coastline and for more than into the interior. The northern emirates which include Fujairah, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah, and Umm al-Qaiwain all have a total area of . There are two areas under joint control. One is jointly controlled by Oman and Ajman, the other by Fujairah and Sharjah. There is an Omani exclave surrounded by UAE territory, known as Wadi Madha. It is located halfway between the Musandam peninsula and the rest of Oman in the Emirate of Sharjah. It covers approximately and the boundary was settled in 1969. The north-east corner of Madha is closest to the Khor Fakkan-Fujairah road, barely away. Within the Omani exclave of Madha, is a UAE exclave called Nahwa, also belonging to the Emirate of Sharjah. It is about on a dirt track west of the town of New Madha. It consists of about forty houses with its own clinic and telephone exchange. Law. The UAE has a federal court system, and the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah also have local court systems. The UAE's judicial system is derived from the civil law system and Sharia law. The court system consists of civil courts and Sharia courts. Sharia courts have exclusive jurisdiction in Muslim family law matters, while civil courts deal with all other legal matters. Since September 2020, corporal punishment is no longer a legal form of punishment under UAE federal law. Under the decree, legal forms of punishment are retribution and blood money punishments, capital punishment, life imprisonment, temporary imprisonment incarceration, detention, and fines. Article 1 of the Federal Penal Code was amended in 2020 to state that Islamic Law applies only to retribution and blood money punishments; previously the article stated that "provisions of the Islamic Law shall apply to the crimes of doctrinal punishment, punitive punishment and blood money." Before 2020, flogging, stoning, amputation, and crucifixion were technically legal punishments for criminal offences such as adultery, premarital sex, and drug or alcohol use. In recent history, the UAE has declared its intention to move towards a more tolerant legal code, and to phase out corporal punishment altogether in favor of private punishment. With alcohol and cohabitation laws being loosened in advance of the 2020 World Expo, Emirati laws have become increasingly acceptable to visitors from non-Muslim countries. Sharia courts have exclusive jurisdiction over Muslim family law matters such as marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Muslim women must receive permission from a male guardian to marry and remarry. This requirement is derived from Sharia law and has been federal law since 2005. It is illegal for Muslim women to marry non-Muslims and is punishable by law. Non-Muslim expatriates were liable to Sharia rulings on marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, however, federal law was changed to introduce non-Sharia personal status law for non-Muslims. Recently, the emirate of Abu Dhabi opened a civil law family court for non-Muslims and Dubai has announced that non-Muslims can opt for civil marriages. Apostasy is a technically capital crime in the UAE, however, there are no documented cases of apostates being executed. Blasphemy is illegal; expatriates involved in insulting Islam are liable for deportation. Sodomy is illegal and is punishable by a minimum of 6-month imprisonment or a fine or both, but the law does not apply "except on the basis of a complaint from the husband or legal guardian", but the penalty may be suspended if the complaint is waived. In 2013, an Emirati man was on trial for being accused of a "gay handshake". Due to local customs, public shows of affection in certain public places are illegal and could result in deportation, but holding hands is tolerated. Expats in Dubai have been deported for kissing in public. In several cases, the courts of the UAE have jailed women who have reported rape. Federal law in the UAE prohibits swearing on social media. Dancing in public is illegal in the UAE. In November 2020, UAE announced that it decriminalised alcohol, lifted the ban on unmarried couples living together, and ended lenient punishment on honor killing. Foreigners living in the Emirates were allowed to follow their native country's laws on divorce and inheritance. Human rights. The annual Freedom House report on Freedom in the World has listed the United Arab Emirates as "Not Free" every year since 1999, the first year for which records are available on their website. The UAE has escaped the Arab Spring; however, more than 100 Emirati activists were jailed and tortured because they sought reforms. Since 2011, the UAE government has increasingly carried out forced disappearances. Many foreign nationals and Emirati citizens have been arrested and abducted by the state. The UAE government denies these people are being held (to conceal their whereabouts), placing these people outside the protection of the law. According to Human Rights Watch, the reports of forced disappearance and torture in the UAE are of grave concern. The Arab Organization for Human Rights has obtained testimonies from many defendants, for its report on "Forced Disappearance and Torture in the UAE", who reported that they had been kidnapped, tortured and abused in detention centres. The report included 16 different methods of torture including severe beatings, threats with electrocution and denying access to medical care. In 2013, 94 Emirati activists were held in secret detention centres and put on trial for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government. Human rights organizations have spoken out against the secrecy of the trial. An Emirati, whose father is among the defendants, was arrested for tweeting about the trial. In April 2013, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail. The latest forced disappearance involves three sisters from Abu Dhabi. Repressive measures were also used against non-Emiratis in order to justify the UAE government's claim that there is an "international plot" in which UAE citizens and foreigners were working together to destabilize the country. Foreign nationals were also subjected to a campaign of deportations. Foreign nationals subjected to forced disappearance include two Libyans and two Qataris. Amnesty International reported that the Qatari men have been abducted by the UAE government and the UAE government has withheld information about the men's fate from their families. In recent years, many Shia Muslim expatriates have been deported from the UAE. Lebanese Shia families in particular have been deported for their alleged sympathy for Hezbollah. According to some organizations, more than 4,000 Shia expatriates have been deported from the UAE in recent years. The issue of sexual abuse among female domestic workers is another area of concern, particularly given that domestic servants are not covered by the UAE labour law of 1980 or the draft labour law of 2007. Worker protests have been suppressed and protesters imprisoned without due process. In its 2013 Annual Report, Amnesty International drew attention to the United Arab Emirates' poor record on a number of human rights issues. They highlighted the government's restrictive approach to freedom of speech and assembly, their use of arbitrary arrest and torture, and UAE's use of the death penalty. The state security apparatus in the UAE has been accused of a series of atrocities and human rights abuses including enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrests and torture. Freedom of association is also severely curtailed. All associations and NGOs have to register through the Ministry of Social Affairs and are therefore under de facto State control. About twenty non-political groups operate on the territory without registration. All associations have to be submitted to censorship guidelines and all publications have first to be approved by the government. Migrant workers. Migrant workers in the UAE are not allowed to join trade unions or go on strike. Those who strike may risk prison and deportation, as seen in 2014 when dozens of workers were deported for striking. The International Trade Union Confederation has called on the United Nations to investigate evidence that thousands of migrant workers in the UAE are treated as slave labour. In 2019, an investigation performed by "The Guardian" revealed that thousands of migrant construction workers employed on infrastructure and building projects for the UAE's Expo 2020 exhibition were working in an unsafe environment. Some were even exposed to potentially fatal situations due to cardiovascular issues. Long hours in the sun made them vulnerable to heat strokes. A report in January 2020 highlighted that the employers in the United Arab Emirates have been exploiting the Indian labor and hiring them on tourist visas, which is easier and cheaper than work permits. These migrant workers are left open to labor abuse, where they also fear reporting exploitation due to their illegal status. Besides, the issue remains unknown as the visit visa data is not maintained in both the UAE and Indian migration and employment records. In a 22 July 2020 news piece, "Reuters" reported human rights groups as saying conditions had deteriorated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many migrant workers racked up debt and depended on the help of charities. The report cited salary delays and layoffs as a major risk, in addition to overcrowded living conditions, lack of support and problems linked with healthcare and sick pay. Reuters reported at least 200,000 workers, mostly from India but also from Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal, had been repatriated, according to their diplomatic missions. On 2 May 2020, the Consul General of India in Dubai, Vipul, confirmed that more than 150,000 Indians in the United Arab Emirates registered to be repatriated through the e-registration option provided by Indian consulates in the UAE. According to the figures, 25% applicants lost their jobs and nearly 15% were stranded in the country due to lockdown. Besides, 50% of the total applicants were from the state of Kerala, India. On 9 October 2020, "The Telegraph" reported that many migrant workers were left abandoned, as they lost their jobs amidst the tightening economy due to COVID-19. Various human rights organisations have raised serious concerns about the alleged abuse of migrant workers by major contractors organising Expo 2020. UAE's business solution provider German Pavilion is also held accountable for abusing migrant workers. Media. The UAE's media is annually classified as "not free" in the Freedom of the Press report by Freedom House. The UAE ranks poorly in the annual Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders. Dubai Media City is the UAE's main media zone. The UAE is home to some pan-Arab broadcasters, including the Middle East Broadcasting Centre and Orbit Showtime Network. In 2007, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum decreed that journalists can no longer be prosecuted or imprisoned for reasons relating to their work. At the same time, the UAE has made it illegal to disseminate online material that can threaten "public order", and hands down prison terms for those who "deride or damage" the reputation of the state and "display contempt" for religion. Journalists who are arrested for violating this law are often brutally beaten by the police. According to UAE Year Book 2013, there are seven Arabic newspapers and eight English language newspapers, as well as a Tagalog newspaper produced and published in the UAE. New media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram are used widely in the UAE by the government entities and by the public as well. The UAE government avails official social media accounts to communicate with public and hear their needs. Economy. The UAE has developed from a juxtaposition of Bedouin tribes to one of the world's wealthiest states in only about 50 years, boasting one of the highest GDP (PPP) per capita figures in the world. Economic growth has been impressive and steady throughout the history of this young confederation of emirates with brief periods of recessions only, e.g. in the global financial and economic crisis years 2008–09, and a couple of more mixed years starting in 2015 and persisting until 2019. Between 2000 and 2018, average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth was at close to 4%. It is the second largest economy in the GCC (after Saudi Arabia), with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of US$414.2 billion, and a real GDP of 392.8 billion constant 2010 USD in 2018. Since its independence in 1971, the UAE's economy has grown by nearly 231 times to 1.45 trillion AED in 2013. The non-oil trade has grown to 1.2 trillion AED, a growth by around 28 times from 1981 to 2012. Supported by the world's seventh-largest oil reserves and aided by prudent investments coupled with a resolute commitment to economic liberalism and strong governmental oversight, the UAE has witnessed its real GDP increase by more than three times over the past four decades. Presently, the UAE is among the wealthiest countries globally, with GDP per capita nearly 80% higher than the OECD average. As impressive as economic growth has been in the UAE, the total population has increased from just around 550,000 in 1975 to close to 10 million in 2018. This growth is mainly due to the influx of foreign workers into the country, making the national population a minority. The UAE features a unique labour market system, in which residence in the UAE is conditional on stringent visa rules. This system is a major advantage in terms of macroeconomic stability, as labour supply adjusts quickly to demand throughout economic business cycles. This allows the government to keep unemployment in the country on a very low level of less than 3%, and it also gives the government more leeway in terms of macroeconomic policies – where other governments often need to make trade-offs between fighting unemployment and fighting inflation. Between 2014 and 2018, the accommodation and food, education, information and communication, arts and recreation, and real estate sectors over performed in terms of growth, whereas the construction, logistics, professional services, public, and oil and gas sectors underperformed. Business and finance. The UAE offers businesses a strong enabling environment: stable political and macroeconomic conditions, a future-oriented government, good general infrastructure and ICT infrastructure. Moreover, the country has made continuous and convincing improvements to its regulatory environment and is ranked as the 26th best nation in the world for doing business by the Doing Business 2017 Report published by the World Bank Group. The UAE are in the top ranks of several other global indices, such as the World Economic Forum's (WEF), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), the World Happiness Report (WHR) and 31st in the Global Innovation Index in 2022. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), for example, assigns the UAE rank two regionally in terms of business environment and 22 worldwide. From the 2018 Arab Youth Survey the UAE emerges as the top Arab country in areas such as living, safety and security, economic opportunities, and starting a business, and as an example for other states to emulate. The weaker points remain the level of education across the UAE population, limitations in the financial and labour markets, barriers to trade and some regulations that hinder business dynamism. The major challenge for the country, though, remains translating investments and strong enabling conditions into innovation and creative outputs. UAE law does not allow trade unions to exist. The right to collective bargaining and the right to strike are not recognised, and the Ministry of Labour has the power to force workers to go back to work. Migrant workers who participate in a strike can have their work permits cancelled and be deported. Consequently, there are very few anti-discrimination laws in relation to labour issues, with Emiratis – and other GCC Arabs – getting preference in public sector jobs despite lesser credentials than competitors and lower motivation. In fact, just over eighty per cent of Emirati workers hold government posts, with many of the rest taking part in state-owned enterprises such as Emirates airlines and Dubai Properties. Western nations, including the UK, were also warned by the Emirati Trade Minister, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi to keep politics separate from trade and the economy, as it dilutes the agreements' main objectives. In 2023, Al Zeyoudi indicated that these countries should “tone down” the human and workers' rights provisions in the trade deals, in order to gain greater market access and business opportunities. The UAE's monetary policy stresses stability and predictability. The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) keeps a peg to the US Dollar (USD) and moves interest rates close to the Federal Funds Rate. According to Fitch Ratings, the decline in property sector follows risks of progressively worsening the quality of assets in possession with UAE banks, leading the economy to rougher times ahead. Even though as compared to retail and property, UAE banks fared well. The higher US interest rates followed since 2016 – which the UAE currency complies to – have boosted profitability. However, the likelihood of plunging interest rates and increasing provisioning costs on bad loans, point to difficult times ahead for the economy. Since 2015, economic growth has been more mixed due to a number of factors impacting both demand and supply. In 2017 and 2018 growth has been positive but on a low level of 0.8 and 1.4%, respectively. To support the economy the government is currently following an expansionary fiscal policy. However, the effects of this policy are partially offset by monetary policy, which has been contractionary. If not for the fiscal stimulus in 2018, the UAE economy would probably have contracted in that year. One of the factors responsible for slower growth has been a credit crunch, which is due to, among other factors, higher interest rates. Government debt has remained on a low level, despite high deficits in a few recent years. Risks related to government debt remain low. Inflation has been picking up in 2017 and 18. Contributing factors were the introduction of a value added tax (VAT) of 5% in 2018 as well as higher commodity prices. Despite the government's expansionary fiscal policy and a growing economy in 2018 and at the beginning of 2019, prices have been dropping in late 2018 and 2019 owing to oversupply in some sectors of importance to consumer prices. The UAE has an attractive tax system for companies and wealthy individuals, making it a preferred destination for companies seeking tax avoidance. The NGO Tax Justice Network places them in 2021 in the group of the ten largest tax havens. In 2023, the UAE's legal system fell under international scrutiny, as the members of the British Parliament opened an inquiry into how the foreign business executives are treated in the country, in case of accusations of breaking the law. VAT. The UAE government implemented value added tax (VAT) in the country from January 1, 2018 at a standard rate of 5%. Oil and gas. The UAE leadership initiated economic diversification efforts even before the oil price crash in the 1980s, resulting in the UAE having the most diversified economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region at present. Although the oil and gas sector continues to be significant to the UAE economy, these efforts have yielded great resilience during periods of oil price fluctuations and economic turbulence. In 2018, the oil and gas sector contributed 26% to overall GDP. The introduction of the VAT has provided the government with an additional source of income – approximately 6% of the total revenue in 2018, or 27 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) – affording its fiscal policy more independence from oil- and gas-related revenue, which constitutes about 36% of the total government revenue. While the government may still adjust the exact arrangement of the VAT, it is not likely that any new taxes will be introduced in the foreseeable future. Additional taxes would destroy one of the UAE's main enticements for businesses to operate in the country and put a heavy burden on the economy. The UAE's carbon dioxide emissions per capita are high, ranking sixth among countries globally. The Barakah nuclear power plant is the first on the Arabian peninsula and expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the country. Tourism. Tourism acts as a growth sector for the entire UAE economy. Dubai is the top tourism destination in the Middle East. According to the annual MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index, Dubai is the fifth most popular tourism destination in the world. Dubai holds up to 66% share of the UAE's tourism economy, with Abu Dhabi having 16% and Sharjah 10%. Dubai welcomed 10 million tourists in 2013. The UAE has the most advanced and developed infrastructure in the region. Since the 1980s, the UAE has been spending billions of dollars on infrastructure. These developments are particularly evident in the larger emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The northern emirates are rapidly following suit, providing major incentives for developers of residential and commercial property. The inbound tourism expenditure in the UAE for 2019 accounted for 118.6 per cent share of the outbound tourism expenditure. Since 6 January 2020, tourist visas to the United Arab Emirates are valid for five years. It has been projected that the travel and tourism industry will contribute about 280.6 billion United Arab Emirati dirham to the UAE's GDP by 2028. Transport. Dubai International Airport became the busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic in 2014, overtaking London Heathrow. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and Ras Al Khaimah are connected by the E11 highway, which is the longest road in the UAE. In Dubai, in addition to the Dubai Metro, The Dubai Tram and Palm Jumeirah Monorail also connect specific parts of the city. There is also a bus, taxi, abra and water taxi network run by RTA. T1, a double-decker tram system in Downtown Dubai, were operational from 2015 to 2019. Salik, meaning "open" or "clear", is Dubai's electronic toll collection system that was launched in July 2007 and is part of Dubai's traffic congestion management system. Each time one passes through a Salik tolling point, a toll is deducted from the drivers' prepaid toll account using advanced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. There are four Salik tolling points placed in strategic locations in Dubai: at Al Maktoum Bridge, Al Garhoud Bridge, and along Sheikh Zayed Road at Al Safa and Al Barsha. A country-wide railway is under construction which will connect all the major cities and ports. The Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula. The major ports of the United Arab Emirates are Khalifa Port, Zayed Port, Port Jebel Ali, Port Rashid, Port Khalid, Port Saeed, and Port Khor Fakkan. The Emirates are increasingly developing their logistics and ports in order to participate in trade between Europe and China or Africa. For this purpose, ports are being rapidly expanded and investments are being made in their technology. The Emirates have historically been and currently still are part of the Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the south via the southern tip of India to Mombasa, from there through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region and the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the North Sea. Telecommunications. The UAE is served by two telecommunications operators, Etisalat and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company ("du"). Etisalat operated a monopoly until du launched mobile services in February 2007. Internet subscribers were expected to increase from 0.904 million in 2007 to 2.66 million in 2012. The regulator, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, mandates filtering websites for religious, political and sexual content. 5G wireless services were installed nationwide in 2019 through a partnership with Huawei. Culture. Emirati culture is based on Arabian culture and has been influenced by the cultures of Persia, India, and East Africa. Arabian and Arabian inspired architecture is part of the expression of the local Emirati identity. Arabian influence on Emirati culture is noticeably visible in traditional Emirati architecture and folk arts. For example, the distinctive wind tower which tops traditional Emirati buildings, the "barjeel" has become an identifying mark of Emirati architecture and is attributed to Arabian influence. This influence is derived both from traders who fled the tax regime in Persia in the early 19th century and from Emirati ownership of ports on the Arabian coast, for instance the Al Qassimi port of Lingeh. The United Arab Emirates has a diverse society. Dubai's economy depends more on international trade and tourism, and is more open to visitors, while Abu Dhabi society is more domestic as the city's economy is focused on fossil fuel extraction. Major holidays in the United Arab Emirates include "Eid al Fitr", which marks the end of "Ramadan", and National Day (2 December), which marks the formation of the United Arab Emirates. Emirati males prefer to wear a kandura, an ankle-length white tunic woven from wool or cotton, and Emirati women wear an abaya, a black over-garment that covers most parts of the body. Ancient Emirati poetry was strongly influenced by the eighth-century Arab scholar Al Khalil bin Ahmed. The earliest known poet in the UAE is Ibn Majid, born between 1432 and 1437 in Ras Al-Khaimah. The most famous Emirati writers were Mubarak Al Oqaili (1880–1954), Salem bin Ali al Owais (1887–1959) and Ahmed bin Sulayem (1905–1976). Three other poets from Sharjah, known as the Hirah group, are observed to have been heavily influenced by the Apollo and Romantic poets. The Sharjah International Book Fair is the oldest and largest in the country. The list of museums in the United Arab Emirates includes some of regional repute, most famously Sharjah with its Heritage District containing 17 museums, which in 1998 was the Cultural Capital of the Arab World. In Dubai, the area of Al Quoz has attracted a number of art galleries as well as museums such as the Salsali Private Museum. Abu Dhabi has established a culture district on Saadiyat Island. Six grand projects are planned, including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Dubai also plans to build a Kunsthal museum and a district for galleries and artists. Emirati culture is a part of the culture of Eastern Arabia. Liwa is a type of music and dance performed locally, mainly in communities that contain descendants of Bantu peoples from the African Great Lakes region. The Dubai Desert Rock Festival is also another major festival consisting of heavy metal and rock artists. The cinema of the United Arab Emirates is minimal but expanding. Cuisine. The traditional food of the Emirates has always been rice, fish and meat. The people of the United Arab Emirates have adopted most of their foods from other West and South Asian countries including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India and Oman. Seafood has been the mainstay of the Emirati diet for centuries. Meat and rice are other staple foods, with lamb and mutton preferred to goat and beef. Popular beverages are coffee and tea, which can be complemented with cardamom or saffron to give them a distinctive flavour. Popular cultural Emirati dishes include "threed", "machboos", "khubisa", "khameer" and "chabab" bread among others while lugaimat is a famous Emirati dessert. With the influence of western culture, fast food has become very popular among young people, to the extent that campaigns have been held to highlight the dangers of fast food excesses. Alcohol is allowed to be served only in hotel restaurants and bars. All nightclubs are permitted to sell alcohol. Specific supermarkets may sell alcohol, but these products are sold in separate sections. Likewise, pork, which is haram (not permitted for Muslims), is sold in separate sections in all major supermarkets. Although alcohol may be consumed, it is illegal to be intoxicated in public or drive a motor vehicle with any trace of alcohol in the blood. Sports. Formula One is particularly popular in the United Arab Emirates, and a Grand Prix is annually held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The race takes place in the evening, and was the first ever Grand Prix to start in daylight and finish at night. Other popular sports include camel racing, falconry, endurance riding, and tennis. The emirate of Dubai is also home to two major golf courses: the Dubai Golf Club and Emirates Golf Club. In the past, child camel jockeys were used, leading to widespread criticism. Eventually, the UAE passed laws banning the use of children for the sport, leading to the prompt removal of almost all child jockeys. Recently robot jockeys have been introduced to overcome the problem of child camel jockeys which was an issue of human rights violations. Ansar Burney is often praised for the work he has done in this area. Football. Football is a popular sport in the UAE. Al Nasr, Al Ain, Al Wasl, Sharjah, Al Wahda, and Shabab Al Ahli are the most popular teams and enjoy the reputation of long-time regional champions. The United Arab Emirates Football Association was established in 1971 and since then has dedicated its time and effort to promoting the game, organising youth programmes and improving the abilities of not only its players, but also the officials and coaches involved with its regional teams. The UAE qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1990, along with Egypt. It was the third consecutive World Cup with two Arab nations qualifying, after Kuwait and Algeria in 1982, and Iraq and Algeria again in 1986. The UAE has won the Gulf Cup Championship twice: the first cup won in January 2007 held in Abu Dhabi and the second in January 2013, held in Bahrain. The country hosted the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The UAE team went all the way to the semi-finals, where they were defeated by the eventual champions, Qatar. Cricket. Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the UAE, largely because of the expatriate population from the SAARC countries, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The headquarters of the International Cricket Council (ICC) have been located in the Dubai Sports City complex since 2005, including the ICC Academy which was established in 2009. There are a number of international cricket venues in the UAE, which are frequently used for international tournaments and "neutral" bilateral series due to the local climate and Dubai's status as a transport hub. Notable international tournaments hosted by the UAE have included the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, and three editions of the Asia Cup (1984, 1995 and 2018). Notable grounds include the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in Sharjah, Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, and Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) became a member of the ICC in 1990. The UAE national cricket team has qualified for the Cricket World Cup on two occasions (1996 and 2015) and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup on one occasion (2014). The national women's team is similarly one of the strongest associate teams in Asia, notably participating in the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier. Following the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team, the UAE served as the "de facto" home of the Pakistan national cricket team for nearly a decade, as well as hosting the Pakistan Super League. The UAE has also hosted one full edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2020 and two partial editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2014 and 2021. Education. The education system through secondary level administered by the Ministry of Education in all emirates except Abu Dhabi, where it falls under the authority of the Department of Education and Knowledge. Public schools are divided into primary schools, middle schools and high schools. The public schools are government-funded and the curriculum is created to match the United Arab Emirates' development goals. The medium of instruction in the public school is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language. There are also many private schools which are internationally accredited. Public schools in the country are free for citizens of the UAE, while the fees for private schools vary. The higher education system is monitored by the Ministry of Higher Education. The ministry also is responsible for admitting students to its undergraduate institutions. The adult literacy rate in 2015 was 93.8%. The UAE has shown a strong interest in improving education and research. Enterprises include the establishment of the CERT Research Centres and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and Institute for Enterprise Development. According to the QS Rankings, the top-ranking universities in the country are the United Arab Emirates University (421–430th worldwide), Khalifa University (441–450th worldwide), the American University of Sharjah (431–440th) and University of Sharjah (551–600th worldwide). United Arab Emirates was ranked 33rd in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 36th in 2019. Demographics. According to an estimate by the World Bank, the UAE's population in 2020 was 9,890,400. Immigrants accounted for 88.52% while Emiratis made up the remaining 11.48%. This unique imbalance is due to the country's exceptionally high net migration rate of 21.71, the world's highest. UAE citizenship is very difficult to obtain other than by filiation and only granted under very special circumstances. The UAE is ethnically diverse. The five most populous nationalities in the emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman are Indian (25%), Pakistani (12%), Emirati (9%), Bangladeshi (7%), and Filipino (5%). Immigrants from Europe, Australia, North America and Latin America make up 500,000 of the population. More than 100,000 British nationals live in the country. The rest of the population are from other Arab states. About 88% of the population of the United Arab Emirates is urban. The average life expectancy was 76.7 in 2012, higher than for any other Arab country. With a male/female sex ratio of 2.2 males for each female in the total population and 2.75 to 1 for the 15–65 age group, the UAE's gender imbalance is second highest in the world after Qatar. Religion. Islam is the largest and the official state religion of the UAE. The government follows a policy of tolerance toward other religions and rarely interferes in the religious activities of non-Muslims. There are more Sunni than Shia Muslims in the United Arab Emirates, and 85% of the Emirati population are Sunni Muslims. The vast majority of the remainder 15% are Shia Muslims, who are concentrated in the Emirates of Dubai and Sharjah. Although no official statistics are available for the breakdown between Sunni and Shia Muslims among noncitizen residents, media estimates suggest less than 20% of the noncitizen Muslim population are Shia. Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi is the largest mosque in the country and a major tourist attraction. Ibadi is common among Omanis in the UAE, while Sufi influences exist as well. Christians account for 9% of the total population of the United Arab Emirates, according to the 2005 census; estimates in 2010 suggested a figure of 12.6%. Roman Catholics and Protestants form significant proportions of the Christian minority. The country has over 52 churches in 2023. Many Christians in the United Arab Emirates are of Asian, African, and European origin, along with fellow Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. The United Arab Emirates forms part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia and the Vicar Apostolic Bishop Paul Hinder is based in Abu Dhabi. There is a small Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates. Before 2023, there was only one known synagogue in Dubai, which has been open since 2008 and the synagogue also welcomes visitors. Another synagogue, Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue was completed in 2023 as part of the Abrahamic Family House complex in Abu Dhabi. As of 2019, according to Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, it is estimated that there are about 150 families to 3,000 Jews who live and worship freely in the UAE. South Asians in the United Arab Emirates constitute the largest ethnic group in the country. Over 2 million Indian migrants (mostly from the southern states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Coastal Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) are estimated to be living in the UAE. There are currently three Hindu temples in the country. Other religions also exist in the United Arab Emirates, including Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Baháʼís and Druze. The UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Abdullah bin Zayed, announced in 2019 the design and construction plan of the Abrahamic Family House, which will serve as an interfaith complex that houses a synagogue, mosque, and a church on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. Languages. Arabic is the national language of the United Arab Emirates. The Gulf dialect of Arabic is spoken natively by Emirati people. Health. The life expectancy at birth in the UAE is at 76.96 years. Cardiovascular disease is the principal cause of death in the UAE, constituting 28% of total deaths; other major causes are accidents and injuries, malignancies, and congenital anomalies. According to World Health Organisation data from 2016, 34.5% of adults in the UAE are clinically obese, with a body mass index (BMI) score of 30 or more. In February 2008, the Ministry of Health unveiled a five-year health strategy for the public health sector in the northern emirates, which fall under its purview and which, unlike Abu Dhabi and Dubai, do not have separate healthcare authorities. The strategy focuses on unifying healthcare policy and improving access to healthcare services at reasonable cost, at the same time reducing dependence on overseas treatment. The ministry plans to add three hospitals to the current 14, and 29 primary healthcare centres to the current 86. Nine were scheduled to open in 2008. The introduction of mandatory health insurance in Abu Dhabi for expatriates and their dependents was a major driver in reform of healthcare policy. Abu Dhabi nationals were brought under the scheme from 1 June 2008 and Dubai followed for its government employees. Eventually, under federal law, every Emirati and expatriate in the country will be covered by compulsory health insurance under a unified mandatory scheme. The country has benefited from medical tourists from all over the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. The UAE attracts medical tourists seeking cosmetic surgery and advanced procedures, cardiac and spinal surgery, and dental treatment, as health services have higher standards than other Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69438

Crewe Alexandra F.C.

Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of the town's links with the rail industry, and also commonly known as 'The Alex', they have played at Gresty Road since 1906. The supporters' fiercest rivalry is with Staffordshire-based side Port Vale. The club was formed in 1877 as the football division of Crewe Alexandra Cricket Club, named after Princess Alexandra. Crewe reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1888 and were then a founding member of the Football League Second Division in 1892. In 1921, the club was invited to join the newly created Football League Third Division North, where they stayed for the next 37 years before being placed in the new Fourth Division in 1958. The team achieved their first promotion after finishing third in 1962–63. Crewe were immediately relegated but were promoted again in 1967–68; they again lasted just one season in the Third Division. Crewe spent 20 years struggling in the fourth tier before their fortunes were revived under Dario Gradi, manager for 24 years from 1983. He twice led the team to promotion to the third tier, and after two unsuccessful play-off campaigns, won the 1997 Second Division play-off final to win a place in the Football League First Division. After an absence of 101 years, they played at this second tier level―renamed the Football League Championship before the start of the 2004–05 season―for eight of the following nine seasons. Gradi encouraged Crewe to play attractive, technical football and built a reputation for developing young players, with future England internationals David Platt, Danny Murphy, Seth Johnson and Dean Ashton all emerging at the club. After Crewe dropped down to the fourth tier again in 2009, Steve Davis led the club to promotion to the third tier via the play-offs in 2012. In 2013, the club won its first and only Football League Trophy. Under David Artell, manager from January 2017, Crewe returned to third tier League One in 2020 and finished 12th in the 2020–21 season, but were relegated in 2022. History. Formation and early years. Crewe Alexandra Football Club was formed in 1877 as an offshoot of Crewe Alexandra Cricket Club (established in September 1866 by Thomas Abraham and other workers at Crewe locomotive works), and named after Princess Alexandra. They were based at the Alexandra Recreation Ground in Crewe, adjacent to Crewe railway station, and played their first match against a side from Basford in North Staffordshire on 1 December 1877, drawing 1–1. In 1883, Crewe Alexandra's first match in the FA Cup was against Scottish club Queen's Park of Glasgow, losing 10–0. In February 1886, William Bell became the first Crewe player to win an international cap, playing for Wales against Ireland in Wrexham. In 1887–88, the club reached the FA Cup semi-finals, defeating Swifts, Derby County and Middlesbrough en route, before going out to Preston North End. In 1891, the football club split away from the cricket club—a step that was condemned by Francis Webb, chief engineer of the town's London and North Western Railway works, who supported the exclusion of professional sportsmen; following the schism, Webb and the LNWR said the company would 'refuse to find employment in the Crewe Works for any professional football player'. Consequently, "the football section of the Alexandra Club owed little to the LNWR..., despite the teams being closely linked to the local railway industry." On 5 March 1892, John Pearson became the first Crewe player to win an England cap, playing against Ireland in Belfast; he remains the only Crewe player capped for the full England side while playing for the club. Crewe secretary J.G. Hall helped found the unsuccessful Combination (launched at Crewe's Royal Hotel in early 1889) and then the Football Alliance (1889–1892). When the latter merged with the Football League, Crewe were a founding member of the Football League Second Division in 1892, but lost their league status in 1896 after only four seasons—finishing third from bottom, fourth from bottom, then bottom twice—possibly due to a player budget that was a quarter of that of other clubs. The club left the Alexandra Recreation Ground shortly before the end of the 1895–96 season, and after playing at a number of different venues, including in nearby Sandbach, they moved to the first Gresty Road ground in 1897 (in 1906 the current Gresty Road ground was rebuilt to the west of the original site). Incorporated as a limited company on 29 May 1899, Crewe spent two further seasons in the second incarnation of the Combination from 1896 followed by three seasons in the Lancashire League, before competing in the Birmingham & District League for ten years. They also won the Cheshire Senior Challenge Cup in 1907 and 1910. The team spent the 1910s in the Central League, finishing second in 1913–14 and 1920–21. Crewe rejoined the Football League in 1921; they finished 6th in their first two seasons in the Third Division North but did not finish as high again until 1931–32 and 1935–36. In October 1932, defender Fred Keenor's last Wales appearance marked Crewe's first international cap of the 20th century. Crewe's first major honours were Welsh Cup wins in 1936 and 1937; Crewe is not in Wales but English clubs, usually from border areas, participated by invitation. In 1936, Bert Swindells scored his 100th League goal for Crewe, going on to score 128 League goals for the club, a record that still stands, as well as goals in both Welsh Cup finals. Post-World War II. From the 1950s to the early 1980s, Crewe enjoyed only occasional success. Looking over Gresty Road, Michael Palin, in the 1980 BBC "Great Railway Journeys of the World" series, described Crewe as "like those other railway towns, Swindon and Doncaster, possessed of a football team which is perpetually propping up the bottom of the Fourth Division". Between 1894 and 1982, Crewe finished last in the Football League eight times, more than any other league club. On 25 December 1954, Crewe embarked on a sequence where they did not win away from home for 56 matches; the run ended with a 1–0 win at Southport on 24 April 1957. Crewe finished bottom of Division Three North three times in a row from 1955–56 to 1957–58, tallying just 28, 21 and 23 points from 46 games in each respective season. The club was placed into the newly formed Fourth Division in 1958–59. All-time records were set against First Division Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fourth round in 1960. A new record Gresty Road attendance of 20,000 saw Crewe hold Spurs to a 2–2 draw on 30 January. On 3 February, Tottenham convincingly won the replay 13–2, Crewe's record defeat. The following year, however, Jimmy McGuigan's Crewe side defeated another First Division club, Chelsea, 2–1 in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge on 7 January 1961. Chelsea's side included former Crewe player Frank Blunstone—who scored Chelsea's goal—as well as England internationals Peter Bonetti, Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables. Crewe were then again drawn against the eventual double-winning Spurs side, who won 5–1 in the fourth round at White Hart Lane. 1960s promotions and relegations. In 1963, Crewe secured their first promotion to the Third Division, winning the season's final game against Exeter City, with Frank Lord scoring the only goal in front of a crowd of 9,807 at Gresty Road. Lord holds the record for most hat-tricks for the club with eight. The club finished in third place, behind champions Brentford and Oldham Athletic, but were relegated back to Division Four the following season. In the 1964–65 season, Terry Harkin scored a record 34 league goals for Crewe. Managed by Ernie Tagg, the club achieved promotion for a second time in 1967–68, but again spent just one season in the Third Division. 1970s and early 1980s. From 1969, Crewe spent 20 years in Division Four, finishing bottom in 1971–72, 1978–79 and 1981–82, and not achieving a top half finish until 1985. In 1974, they came within two minutes of taking Aston Villa into extra time in a League Cup third round replay at Villa Park. In 1977, Tommy Lowry played his record-setting 475th and last game for the Railwaymen; he had earlier passed Peter Leigh's total of 430 appearances between 1960 and 1972. From February to September 1979, the club went a record 16 matches (15 league, one League Cup tie) without winning at Gresty Road. In December 1979, manager Tony Waddington signed the goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar who kept eight clean-sheets in his 24 matches played, and, on 5 May 1980, scored a penalty—his only professional goal—to seal a 2–0 victory over York City. Gradi years (1983–2011). In June 1983, after Crewe finished second from bottom at the end of the 1982–83 season, the then club chairman Norman Rowlinson appointed Milan-born Dario Gradi as manager. Gradi looked to build an academy structure to develop players that could be sold to help fund the player development programme. Among his early transfer successes were Geoff Thomas and John Pemberton (both signed from Rochdale and sold to Crystal Palace, in 1987 and 1988 respectively), and former Manchester United apprentice David Platt, signed in 1985 and sold to Aston Villa for £200,000 in February 1988. Under Gradi, and despite some Crewe fans' initial reservations, Crewe played attractive, technical football and gained a reputation for developing young talent. Steve Walters became Crewe's youngest player, aged just 16 years and 119 days when he played against Peterborough United on 7 May 1988. In 1989, Crewe won their third promotion, a 1–1 draw at Tranmere Rovers enough to take both teams into the Third Division. Meanwhile, on 7 January 1989, Crewe had hosted Aston Villa—and Platt—at Gresty Road in the FA Cup third round, taking a 2–0 lead before the visitors rallied to secure a 3–2 win, with Platt netting the winner but refusing to celebrate against his former club. A year later, on 6 January 1990, Crewe were again drawn away at Chelsea in the third round; Walters gave Crewe a first-half lead at Stamford Bridge before Chelsea equalised in the 82nd minute to force a replay which they won 2–0. In March 1990, Crewe defender Paul Edwards was sold to Coventry City for £350,000; he was later named in the 1989-1990 Third Division PFA Team of the Year, Crewe's first player to feature in the awards. Crewe were relegated in 1991. However, despite further player sales―defender Rob Jones joined Liverpool for £300,000, then Craig Hignett was sold for a club record £500,000 to Middlesbrough―the club reached the 1993 Third Division play-off final but lost against York City at Wembley. Crewe then gained promotion in 1994 after a final day victory at Chester City. In the same year, Neil Lennon became the first Crewe player to win an international cap since Fred Keenor in 1932 when he was selected to play for Northern Ireland against Mexico. Crewe twice lost in play-off semi-finals, to Bristol Rovers in 1995 and Notts County in 1996, then returned to Wembley in the 1997 Division Two play-off final, securing a 1–0 victory over Brentford to put the club back in the second tier for the first time since 1896. Second tier survival. Crewe achieved their highest finishing position, 11th, in the 1997–98 First Division season. Gradi kept his team in the division until 2002, despite a matchday income on which many more lowly clubs could not survive. Boosting the finances, notable player sales included Lennon (to Leicester City for £750,000), Danny Murphy (to Liverpool for an initial fee of £1.5m), and Seth Johnson (to Derby County for £3m). Gradi celebrated his 1,000th game in charge of Crewe on 20 November 2001. After one season in the Division Two the team were promoted back to Division One at the end of the 2002–03 season, having finished in second place—Crewe's first runner-up position—with Rob Hulse scoring 22 league goals, and being named in the PFA Team of the Year, ahead of a £750,000 transfer to West Bromwich Albion. Crewe retained their Division One place in the 2003–04 season, during which assistant manager Neil Baker took temporary charge between 22 September and 17 October 2003 while Gradi underwent heart surgery. At the start of the 2004–05 season, Crewe were rated one of the teams most likely to be relegated from the newly renamed 'Championship'. In the event, they put in a good showing in the first half of the season, but after selling Dean Ashton to Norwich City for £3 million in the January 2005 transfer window, Crewe failed to win until the final match of the season, when they defeated Coventry City 2–1 to avoid relegation on goal difference. However, they were relegated to League One (level three) the following season. Nonetheless, Crewe were named the "Most Admired Club" in the 2006 Football League Awards. Stepping back. By the summer of 2007, Gradi was the longest-serving manager in English league football, having completed 24 years in sole charge of the club. Crewe announced that, from 1 July 2007, Gradi would take up a new role as the club's technical director while gradually allowing newly appointed first-team coach Steve Holland control of the team. Holland's first season was a disappointment as the club narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 20th with 50 points. Ahead of his second season, he spent half a million pounds on new signings, while striker Nicky Maynard joined Bristol City for £2.25 million. However, despite a positive pre-season, Crewe took only nine points from their first 16 games. The board sacked Holland as first team coach in November 2008, and re-appointed Gradi as caretaker manager. On 24 December 2008, former Stoke City manager Gudjon Thordarson was appointed as Holland's successor. He made a promising start, and received the February 2009 Manager of the Month award (the first Crewe manager to win the award), but the team suffered a poor end-of-season run, not winning for 10 games, and were relegated to League Two. On 2 October 2009, after nine months in charge and another poor run of results, Thordarson was sacked, and Gradi was reinstated as caretaker manager. Despite lingering close to the playoff places for the majority of the season, another run of poor form saw the club finish 18th. Crewe improved to 10th in the 2010–11 season, during which Gradi won the January 2011 Manager of the Month. In November 2011, Gradi finally stepped down as manager and returned to his previous role as director of football focusing on youth development. 2011 to present day. Steve Davis was appointed manager in the same month. Previously manager of nearby Nantwich Town, Davis had been appointed assistant manager in June 2009, replacing former assistant Neil Baker. Davis immediately led the team to a 16-match unbeaten run in early 2012 up to 7th position, earning the club a play-off place. Crewe defeated Southend United in the two-legged semi-final, extending the unbeaten run to a club record 18 matches and securing a play-off final against Cheltenham Town at Wembley on 27 May 2012 which they won 2–0; the goalscorers were academy graduates Nick Powell and Byron Moore. Before the 2012–13 season, Crewe sold Powell to Manchester United, and on transfer deadline day captain Ashley Westwood joined Aston Villa. However, with new Academy players coming into the first team, Crewe returned to Wembley to win the Football League Trophy, beating Southend United 2–0 in the final in April 2013. In the league, Crewe finished in mid-table; they ended the season by fielding a team whose starting line-up were all Crewe Academy graduates. In March 2014, John Bowler, Crewe chairman since 1988, was honoured with the Contribution to League Football Award at The Football League Awards. Dario Gradi had earlier won the same award, in 2011. In the 2015 New Year Honours, Bowler was awarded an MBE for services to football; Gradi was presented an MBE in January 1998. Crewe retained their place in League One in the 2013–14 season, but started the following season poorly, gaining four points from the first 11 League games. Some sustained runs of better results pulled the club out of the relegation places. The team needed at least a home draw against Bradford City to secure safety but lost 1–0 and had to rely on results elsewhere to ensure League One football for another year, finishing two points above the bottom four in 20th. The 2015–16 season started in a similar pattern, with the team winning just two of their first 15 league games. They also crashed out of the FA Cup in the first round against non-league Eastleigh, forcing Davis to defend his position as the 'right man' for the job. Crewe's relegation to League Two was confirmed following a 3–0 defeat at local rivals Port Vale, with five games remaining. After an initially promising start to the following season, Crewe's form slumped during the final months of 2016, and on 8 January 2017, Davis was sacked as Crewe manager. Former Crewe defender and Academy operations manager David Artell replaced Davis. Artell maintained the flow of Academy players and, as Crewe improved to 15th at the end of the 2017–18 season, he emulated Davis in selecting another starting line-up who were all Crewe Academy graduates. After 36 years involvement with the club, Gradi, 78, announced his retirement from all positions at Crewe Alexandra on 7 October 2019. In February 2020, further changes to the club's board were announced with local businessman Stuart Whitby and former Nantwich Town chairman Tony Davison joining the board following a £1.75m buy-out of majority shareholder Norman Hassall. The Railwaymen Supporters Society also raised £250,000, to earn the right for a Crewe fans' representative on the club's new board. On the pitch, Artell's progress since 2017 culminated in Crewe vying for promotion for much of the 2019–20 season, with the club top of the table (ahead of Swindon Town on goal difference) when the football season was suspended in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On 9 June, Crewe's promotion to League One was confirmed, but Swindon were crowned League Two champions on the basis of average points per game. Artell was selected as League Two Manager of the Year in the League Managers Association Awards—becoming the first Crewe manager to win such an annual award—and two Academy graduates, Perry Ng and Charlie Kirk, were named in the PFA League Two Team of the Year. Crewe finished 12th in League One at the end of the 2020–21 season – the club's highest finish since relegation from the Championship in 2006. However, the following season was "one of the worst" seasons in Crewe's modern history; the club was relegated with four games still to play after a 2-0 defeat at Doncaster Rovers on 9 April 2022. Two days later, Crewe parted company with Artell; assistant manager Alex Morris was appointed interim manager, becoming the permanent manager on 28 April 2022. However, just over six month later, on 4 November 2022, Morris, winless in nine games, stepped down as manager "for compassionate reasons" and reverted to assistant manager. Lee Bell became interim manager and on 1 December 2022 was given the job on a permanent basis, managing the side to 13th place at the end of the 2022–23 season. Stadiums. Alexandra Recreation Ground. Until 1896, Crewe played at the Alexandra Recreation Ground, located just to the north of the modern-day Gresty Road. After playing at various venues in 1896 and 1897, including in nearby Sandbach, the club returned to the same area of Crewe, adjacent to Crewe railway station, to play at the first Gresty Road ground, located to the south-east of the original stadium. In 1906 the ground was demolished to make way for some new railway lines, and a new Gresty Road stadium was built on a site directly to the west. Gresty Road. The pitch runs approximately east to west, with teams playing either west towards Gresty Road or east towards the railway station. The main stand has always been situated on the south side of the ground. Until the 1990s, the main stand was a wooden structure, built in 1932 after a fire destroyed the original stand, offering the ground's only (wooden) seating plus a standing area―'The Paddock'―while the other three sides were all standing terraces. This configuration saw the club's record attendance when 20,000 people watched the FA Cup third round tie against Spurs in 1960. During the 1990s, phased modernisation saw open terracing at the "Railway End" (at one time a roughly formed "ash bank" terraced with sleepers) replaced by a new family stand in 1993. The "Gresty Road End" (then the main away supporters area) was also replaced by an all-seater stand in 1995; and the partially-covered northern stand (the home supporters' "Pop Side") was replaced by an all-seater stand in 1996–97. Completion of the final phase in 2000, including construction of a new £5.2 million main stand, saw some reorganisation of seating allocations. Away fans are currently accommodated in the stand along the northern touchline, with the option of additional capacity in the family stand for particularly large visiting contingents; Crewe hosted its first crowd of over 10,000 in the now all-seater stadium in 2000 with the record attendance of 10,092 when Crewe played Manchester City on 12 March 2002. The Gresty Road End and main stand are solely for home supporters. In June 2021, the club agreed a £0.5m naming rights deal with long-term shirt sponsor Mornflake; the ground will be called the "Mornflake Stadium" until 2023–24. Also known as the Alexandra Stadium, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. It features four stands: Should the ground require expansion, the most likely change will be redevelopment of the Ice Cream Van Stand to become a two-tiered stand. Club identity. Since the late 1890s, the main (home) Crewe playing strip has featured a red or predominantly red top, usually with white shorts (though red and black shorts have also been briefly adopted) and red socks. The team played in white shirts and blue shorts from 1886 to 1896, but have since played mainly in red and white. The red shirts earned the early nickname of the "Robins", though the club is more commonly referred to as the "Alex" or the "Railwaymen" (reflecting the club's railway works founders, the town's associations with the railway industry, and the club's proximity to Crewe railway station). Crewe's away colours have varied. Blue, white or blue-and-white shirts have been the most commonly adopted, but during the 21st century, the club has also occasionally played in other colours; black with a gold trim was adopted for the 2021–2022 season, then light and dark blue vertical stripes the following season. The town's crest appeared on the team's shirts in the 1958–59 season. This included a lion―associated with the Marquess of Crewe―holding a cogged wheel, a larger six-spoked railway wheel, and two wheatsheaves reflecting south Cheshire's agricultural connections. This was replaced in 1975 by a simpler badge with a lion holding a railway wheel―a motif borrowed from British Railways―on a circle containing the words 'Crewe Alexandra Football Club' arranged around a football. The current badge, adopted in 1998, features a lion perched on a football, encircled by a laurel and the club's name; it dropped the railway wheel, prompting some Crewe fans to demand the club "bring back the wheel". The club's mascot is also a lion: Gresty the Lion appears on matchdays and in other community activities. The current shirt sponsor is cereals supplier Mornflake―also based in Gresty Road―whose logo has appeared on the shirts since 2005, and is set to continue through to 2023–24. Supporters and rivalries. Attendances. Crewe is the third largest town in Cheshire: its built-up area had a total population of 76,437 in 2021. Founded by employees of the railway works, the club drew many of its supporters from the works, as well as residents from more rural areas surrounding the town. The club's location next to Crewe railway station has also helped supporters travel to and from games at Gresty Road. From the 1920s through to the 1960s, attendances typically averaged around 6,000, but local derbies could more than double crowds: the visit of Stoke City on 26 October 1926 attracted 15,102, for example, while Port Vale drew 17,883 on 21 September 1953, Crewe's record league crowd. Cup matches against major clubs such as Spurs also drew large crowds (a record 20,000 in 1960). However, league attendances dwindled in the 1970s and 1980s, when seasonal averages of under 2,000 were recorded four times, with 1986-87 being lowest: 1,817; just 1,009 watched a 1–1 draw with Peterborough United on 4 February 1986. Crewe's resurgence from the mid-1980s under Gradi boosted local interest, with 5,000-plus attendances increasingly common, even as Gresty Road's transition to an all-seater stadium began to restrict numbers in the late 1990s; average attendance peaked at 7,741 in 2004 during Crewe's years in the Championship. League Two crowds before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in 2020 averaged 4,580, just above their all-time average, 4,576. Ticket prices at Gresty Road are broadly in line with other clubs' rates for all-seated areas. In the BBC's 2017 Price of Football survey, Crewe's tickets for individual League Two games cost a maximum of £22 (15 other clubs charged higher prices); the most expensive Crewe season ticket cost £325 (only one other club, Accrington Stanley, charged less for its most expensive season tickets), and its lowest priced season ticket (£280) was in the mid-range for the division. For the 2021–2022 season in League One, matchday tickets cost a maximum of £25. Rivalries. Crewe's main rivals are fellow English Football League team Port Vale. As of June 2023, the clubs have played 81 games since 1892 (8 games against Burslem Port Vale); overall, Crewe have won 20 games, Port Vale have won 38, with the teams drawing 23 games. The rivalry (known by some since the 1980s as the A500 Derby) intensified after the millennium, when both clubs were in Leagues One and Two, with close encounters sometimes resulting in violence and arrests. On 22 February 2014, Crewe beat Vale 3–1, at Vale Park and there was trouble before, during and after the game, with several arrests made and flares thrown on the pitch. In January 2015 at Vale Park, Crewe won 1–0 to seal their first league double over Port Vale, and two arrests were made at the game, with minor disturbances between rival fans after the match. Six arrests were made at Gresty Road during the 22 September 2018 meeting between the two sides. A 2019 study ranked the Port Vale-Crewe Alexandra rivalry as the 14th biggest rivalry in English professional football. Crewe also maintain smaller rivalries with Wrexham, Shrewsbury Town, Stoke City and traditional local Cheshire derbies with Macclesfield, Chester City, Stockport County and Tranmere Rovers. The Railwaymen's rivalry with Stockport intensified somewhat in 2009 when Stockport all but relegated Crewe from League One, after beating them 4–3 at Edgeley Park. Crewe then returned the favour on 30 April 2011, when they beat County 2–0 at Gresty Road, confirming County's relegation to non-League football. Songs and music. Crewe's fans were the first to sing the song "Blue Moon"―also sung by fans of Manchester City―(with lyrics that do not quite match the Rodgers and Hart original) and said to be a response to the gloomy days of the 1950s and 1960s, or reflecting an old joke that the team only wins 'once in a blue moon', ie, rarely. During the 1990s, one Crewe supporter, classically trained musician Richard Sutton, was known for taking a trumpet to games, playing occasional fanfares such as the theme from "Star Wars" during matches. The Crewe-based dance trio Dario G were named after Dario Gradi. Railwaymen Supporters Society. Crewe supporters often sing a song featuring the line "We are the Railwaymen". Aggregating and formalising several former Crewe supporters groups, and supported by the national Football Supporters' Association, the independent Railwaymen Supporters Society was established in 2018, and incorporated as a community benefit society on 8 July 2019. Initiatives have included a campaign, Project250, to raise £250,000 to invest in club shares and gain representation on the club's board (achieved in February 2020), and the establishment of an Ex-Players Association (Gareth Whalley is its president). Reputation. Player development. As an early professional club in the late 19th century, several Crewe players achieved international selection, particularly for Wales. During the 20th century, however, Crewe had few stars. Welsh international Fred Keenor played his final league games for the club and his last international cap in 1932 was Crewe's first of the century. Some players started or developed their careers at Crewe before achieving fame elsewhere. For example, forward Frank Blunstone played 48 League games for Crewe in the early 1950s before a move to Chelsea and five England caps, Stan Bowles scored 18 Crewe goals in 51 games in the early 1970s and went on to play for Queens Park Rangers and England, and goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar played 24 Crewe matches at the start of the 1980s before moving to Liverpool. Crewe's conscious investment in young players began in the late 1980s when then manager Dario Gradi and club chairman John Bowler got the local council to contribute towards the costs of an all-weather pitch at Gresty Road. This formed the starting point for a youth coaching facility, which by the early 1990s was coaching 120 youngsters every week. In 1995, Crewe leased a 20-acre site at Reaseheath, near Nantwich, planning a £750,000 training and player development facility largely funded by transfer sales. In 1996, Crewe received a lottery grant to develop a youth coaching facility in nearby Shavington. By 2015, player sales had generated over £20 million which had contributed to modernising Gresty Road and developing Crewe's Academy, making it the only club outside the top two divisions to have a Category Two academy club; in 2022, it was ranked in the top 10 academies in England and Wales. Players who passed through the ranks since establishment of the Academy include England internationals Geoff Thomas and David Platt, Wales international Robbie Savage, and Northern Ireland's Neil Lennon and Steve Jones. These were all youngsters signed from other clubs, but the Academy also nurtured Crewe's own trainees – most notably England internationals Rob Jones, Danny Murphy, Seth Johnson and Dean Ashton, plus Wales midfielder David Vaughan. Sexual abuse scandal. On 16 November 2016, former Crewe defender Andy Woodward revealed that he had been the victim of child sexual abuse by former football coach Barry Bennell (convicted as a paedophile in the US in 1994) at the club in the 1980s. By the time club chairman John Bowler responded to the revelations, on Monday 21 November, six other individuals had contacted the police, with Woodward's Crewe teammate Steve Walters alleging he was another of Bennell's victims. Woodward criticised Crewe for failing to apologise. On 27 November 2016, a third former Crewe player, Anthony Hughes, revealed that he too had been abused by Bennell, as did Crewe trainee, later Wimbledon and Northern Ireland international Mark Williams. Bennell was tried at Liverpool Crown Court in early 2018, and convicted of 50 offences of sexual abuse against 12 boys (and on 20 February 2018 was sentenced to 30 years in prison). After the guilty verdicts on 15 February, victims including Andy Woodward and Steve Walters read statements outside court. Crewe Alexandra expressed its "deepest sympathies" to Bennell's victims, saying it was not aware of any sexual abuse by Bennell nor had it received any complaint about sexual abuse by him before or during his employment with the club, though this has been disputed. Walters accused Crewe of "victim blaming" in a bid to avoid compensation payouts. He and at least one other former Crewe player launched High Court damages claims of upwards of £200,000 against the club; an eight-week trial was listed to start in October 2021. On 19 March 2019, the "Guardian" reported Crewe Alexandra planned to contest victims' claims, but later (27 March 2019), reported an apparent U-turn in Crewe's approach; it had agreed an out-of-court financial settlement with one of Bennell's victims. Andy Woodward had unsuccessfully sued Crewe for damages in 2004. Crewe were additionally criticised for not holding an independent review into how they dealt with historical child sex abuse allegations. In March 2018, the said that, as it had fully co-operated with police investigations, it did "not intend to commission a further independent investigation," and the police's report had also been supplied to the FA review headed by Clive Sheldon. This decision was criticised by local MP Laura Smith, by MP Damian Collins, chair of the DCMS select committee, by Crewe Town Council, and by the Professional Footballers Association's Gordon Taylor. In his final report, Sheldon said he "liaised with the Club and its lawyers with a view to suggesting other lines of enquiry that could usefully be followed up by the Club. Ultimately, the Club agreed to conduct those further enquiries, and provided me with a report setting out its conclusions." The FA's 710-page report, published on 17 March 2021, identified failures to act adequately on complaints or rumours of sexual abuse at eight professional clubs including Crewe. Considering whether senior Crewe people knew about Bennell, Sheldon concluded they had not received specific reports of abuse. However, directors had discussed concerns about inappropriate behaviour, and the club "should have done more to check on the well-being of the boys". Following publication of the report, Crewe Alexandra apologised to all survivors of Bennell's abuse, expressing "wholehearted regret" about their ignorance of his crimes, and Gradi also apologised. With Gradi "effectively banned for life" from football for safeguarding reasons, Crewe chairman John Bowler was pressed to resign and did so on 25 March 2021. Awarded an MBE in 1998, Gradi was stripped of the award in August 2023 following a professional disbarment for failing to protect children from sexual abuse. Honours and achievements. League Cup Crewe Alexandra have never won a division title, and have only been division runners-up twice. In addition to play-off promotions, the club also achieved four promotions, all from the fourth tier, by third place finishes in 1962–63 and 1993–94 and by fourth place finishes in 1967–68 and 1988–89. Crewe's highest finishing league position was 11th in the second tier, the First Division in 1997–98. In the major cup competitions, Crewe reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1888. They have reached the third round of the League Cup ten times (1960, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008), losing 1–0 to Aston Villa in a replay at Villa Park in 1974, and taking cup holders Manchester United into extra time at Gresty Road in 2006 before losing 2–1. While Crewe is not in Wales, English clubs, usually from border areas, have participated by invitation in the Welsh Cup, which Crewe won twice, in 1936 and 1937. The club won the Cheshire Senior Cup 19 times up to 1998, and have won it a further three times, most recently in 2017. Records. Crewe's biggest league victory came against Rotherham United on 1 October 1932 in the Third Division North when they won 8–0. In the FA Cup, their biggest win was 9–1 over Northwich Victoria on 16 November 1889. The club's heaviest defeat was in the FA Cup in 1960 when they were beaten 13–2 by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on 30 January 1960, a game watched by 64,365: the largest crowd for a match involving Crewe. In the league, Crewe's worst performance saw them beaten 11–1 at Lincoln City on 29 September 1951 in the Third Division North. Tommy Lowry made the most first team appearances in all competitions for Crewe: 482 between 1965 and 1977. Bert Swindells holds the record for most Crewe goals: 128, scored from 1927 to 1937, while Terry Harkin scored the most Crewe goals in a single season: 34 in 1964–65. Best match return was five goals, scored by Tony Naylor in Crewe's 7–1 league defeat of Colchester United at Gresty Road on 24 April 1993. William Bell was the first Crewe player to win an international cap, playing for Wales against Ireland in Wrexham in February 1886. Clayton Ince, with 31 caps for Trinidad and Tobago, has won most caps while playing for Crewe. Efe Sodje is the only Crewe player to play in a World Cup Finals tournament, for Nigeria against Argentina, on 2 June 2002, and then against England on 12 June 2002, both in Japan. Crewe's most expensive player was Rodney Jack, signed from Torquay United in August 1998 for £650,000. Crewe were reported to have received £3 million for Nick Powell when he moved to Manchester United on 2 July 2012, with options for the fee to grow to £6 million depending on appearances. Crewe also received £3 million for Seth Johnson's 1999 move to Derby County, and for Dean Ashton's move to Norwich City in 2005. Players. Current squad. "(on loan from Newcastle United)" Former players. In 2004 the BBC's "Football Focus" asked fans of all professional football clubs in England and Scotland to vote for their cult hero. For Crewe, Seth Johnson won with 59% of the vote; Danny Murphy came second with 33%, and Craig Hignett third with 8%. Full international players. William Bell was the first Crewe player to win an international cap, playing for Wales against Ireland in Wrexham in February 1886. On 15 March 1890, three Crewe players – Alfred Davies (also Wales captain), Dick Jones and Billy Lewis – played in Wales's 3–1 defeat by England in Wrexham; Lewis scored Wales's goal, the first international goal scored by a Crewe player. John 'Jackie' Pearson became the first Crewe player to win an international cap for England, playing against Ireland in Belfast on 5 March 1892. He remains the only Crewe player capped for England while playing at the club. Donervon Daniels was the most recent Crewe player to win a full international cap; he played for Montserrat in their FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifier against US Virgin Islands on 2 June 2021. Management. Managerial history. Since 1892, 27 men have managed Crewe. Dario Gradi holds the record for the most games: 1,359 first team games. Two Crewe managers have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame: Gradi in 2004 and Harry Catterick, posthumously, in 2010. "As of 24 September 2023. Only competitive matches are counted." 1 2 3 4 5 6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69452

Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove ( ) is a unitary authority with city status in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administered by Brighton and Hove City Council, which is currently under Labour majority control. The two resorts, along with Worthing and Littlehampton in West Sussex, make up the second most-populous built-up area of South East England, after South Hampshire. In 2014, Brighton and Hove City Council and other nearby councils formed the Greater Brighton City Region local enterprise partnership area. Unification. In 1992, a government commission was set up to conduct a structural review of local government arrangements across England. In its draft proposals for East Sussex, the commission suggested two separate unitary authorities be created for the towns of Brighton and Hove, with the latter authority to include Hove, Worthing and the Adur District. Support within Brighton for its own unitary authority was high, however respondents in Hove expressed reservations towards a merger with Worthing and Adur. A report following consultation noted that more than 25% of respondents in both Brighton and Hove had "unprompted, indicated support for a merger of those two areas." Although this option had not been included in the draft proposals, subsequent polling indicated that the merger was the most popular option among residents. Nevertheless, the proposal of a merger proved controversial, particularly in Hove. Hove Borough Council opposed the move on the grounds that Brighton would dominate affairs in the city, and the commission acknowledged that residents of Hove "have significant negative feelings towards Brighton" and greater identification towards Sussex. Ultimately, the view was taken that support for a single tier of government in both towns outweighed opposition to unification, and as a result the commission recommended that the borough councils of Brighton and Hove be made a single unitary authority independent of East Sussex County Council. In 1997, Brighton and Hove Borough Council was formed, and assumed responsibility for all matters of local government across both towns. Twenty years earlier, as part of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations, Brighton had been shortlisted as a candidate for city status, though eventually lost out to larger Derby. Following unification of the towns, Brighton and Hove applied for city status again as part of the Millennium City Status Competition, and was subsequently granted city status on 31 January 2001. As a result, the borough council became a city council. Although the city now operates as a single entity, locals generally still consider Brighton and Hove to be separate settlements with different identities. Hove is largely residential and has its own distinct seafront and established town centre located around George Street, while Brighton has a higher profile as the country's most popular seaside resort, a significant digital economy, and hosts several festivals of national prominence. Recognition of the city's twin identities is evident from the continued popularity of the local saying "Hove, actually", a phrase which long predates unification. Some organisations such as the local football club, Brighton and Hove Albion, and the bus company Brighton & Hove, predate the unification of the towns by several decades. In 2014, Brighton and Hove formed the Greater Brighton City Region with neighbouring local authorities. Areas. The City of Brighton and Hove consists of many districts, a stretch of coast and some downland areas. Just to the south of Brighton and Hove in the English Channel is the Rampion Wind Farm, which provides renewable energy to the country. Brighton. Brighton has been the most populous settlement in Sussex since at least the 17th century, and a town hall and evidence of citizen's control over town affairs predates 1580. The original parish of Brighton covered what is today much of central Brighton. The parish border ran from Little Western Street and Boundary Passage in the west, to Whitehawk Road in the east, and roughly followed the Old Shoreham Road and Bear Road to the north. The Great Reform Act of 1832 created the parliamentary constituency of Brighton. Brighton obtained a royal charter for incorporation in 1854 and was organised into six wards: Park, Pavilion, Pier, St Nicholas, St Peter, and West. The ward of Preston was added in 1873, expanding Brighton to the north. In 1889 Brighton attained county borough status. The Brighton Corporation Act of 1927 added the settlements of Ovingdean and Rottingdean, as well as western parts of Falmer, Patcham and West Blatchington. These reforms expanded the Brighton the north and west dramatically. Between 1920 and 1950 housing estates were developed in Woodingdean, Moulsecoomb, Bevendean, and Whitehawk increasing the population of the town substantially. As a result, the number of wards had by now increased to 19. The rest of Falmer, Coldean and the parish of Stanmer were added to Brighton by the Brighton Extension Act 1951, completing the northward extension of the town. A final expansion of the town's boundaries was approved in 1968, incorporating reclaimed land from the sea for the Brighton Marina project. Brighton was split into two parliamentary constituencies in 1950. The first, Brighton Pavilion, covers the centre and north of the town. The second, Brighton Kemptown, covers the east of the town. The latter has since expanded further east to include the neighbouring towns of East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs, and Peacehaven, all of which are administratively within the adjacent Lewes District. Brighton became a municipal borough as a result of the 1972 Local Government Act, losing unitary control of town affairs to East Sussex County Council. This reform was later followed by a reduction of wards to 16 in 1983. Brighton Borough Council remained under this structure until unification with Hove. Hove. A small parish at the end of the 18th century, Hove began to expand in the early 19th century alongside the westward development of Brighton, and in 1832 became incorporated into the parliamentary constituency of Brighton. In 1873 commissioners from Hove, West Hove and Brunswick were amalgamated as means to guard against the dominance of Brighton. The first public buildings were completed in the late 19th century, including the original town hall in 1882. The parish of Aldrington was annexed by Hove in 1893. A municipal borough of Hove was formed by royal charter in 1889, granting Hove administrative autonomy. Further expansion took place in 1927, with the addition of the parishes of Preston Rural and Hangleton and westerly sections of West Blatchington and Patcham. Hove gained its own parliamentary constituency in 1950. The Local Government Act 1972 abolished the remaining parishes of Hove, Aldrington and Hangleton and West Blatchington to form the unparished non-metropolitan district of Hove. It also incorporated the nearby town of Portslade-by-Sea into the new district. The new boundaries established by the Act remained largely the same until unification with Brighton a quarter of a century later. Portslade, Portslade Village, and Mile Oak. To the west of Brighton and Hove is Portslade. The area has three distinct centres with different histories, and includes Portslade-by-Sea, Portslade Village and Mile Oak. Each is quite different in character. Portslade-by-Sea is largely an industrial port, with a busy canal area that opens up to the River Adur and the English Channel. It has a long history of human settlement and the name came from the Roman port, Novus Portus. Portslade Village has kept more of its antiquity and retains many elements of the downland village it once was. Many of the buildings have their original flint walls, and there are some early manor house ruins, tree-lined parks, a landmark church and a former convent. Mile Oak is a newer development. Until the 1920s it was only a small group of farm buildings with surrounding corn fields, sheep downs and market gardens. Then, suburban housing started to be built, and there was considerable further development in the 1960s with the construction of bungalows and other private housing. In the 1990s, after the construction of the new A27 road, Mile Oak's access to the Downs was largely blocked, stopping the spread of development. Portslade downland. To the north of Mile Oak, on the other side of the A27, are a number of downland areas that are still in the Brighton and Hove area. These include the ancient chalk grassland slopes of Cockroost Hill, Cockroost Bottom and Mount Zion. They are all special areas because of the remarkable wildlife still surviving there, including rare downland flowers, orchids, butterflies and rare insects. There is a lot of history on the slopes, including a large 4000 year old Bronze Age settlement, a possible 'henge' (as in Stonehenge), now lost under the A27 bypass, and evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British field systems. To the north of the city boundary is Fulking parish. The final stretch of the Monarch's Way passes through Mile Oak and Porstlade. It is a long-distance footpath that runs from Worcester to Shoreham. Aldrington, Hangleton and West Blatchington. Aldrington sits between Portslade-by-Sea to its west and Hove to its east. For centuries Aldrington was largely countryside, with very few people living there for most of the Middle Ages, but it is now a residential area. Like Aldrington, West Blatchingham was once primarily down and sheep grazing area, but is now built up. West Blatchington manor had various lords over the centuries, but unlike Adrington and Hangleton, it was always associated with lords in the east such Lewes, Falmer, and Patcham. It is now known for its windmill and secondary school. To the east of West Blatchington is Westdene. Hangleton is to the north of Aldrington and sits between Portslade Village and West Blatchington. The manors of Hangleton and Aldrington formed part of the Fishersgate Half Hundred, together with the neighbouring manor of Portslade. The lords of the Hangleton manor from 1291 to 1446 were the de Poynings, a Sussex gentry family that gave their name to the present parish of Poynings. Hangeton was a medieval downland village in the 13th century, and by the early 14th century it had a population of about 200. Later, the village was abandoned for around six hundred years. It started to grow again in the 1950s with other areas of Brighton and is now popular for its views of the sea and green spaces. Hangleton and West Blatchingham downland. Between Hangleton and Westdene, south of the A27, is Toads Hole Valley. Its west slope, below Downland Drive, was once an unspoilt place for wildlife and still home to threatened species such as dormice, hedgehogs, and adders. The valley has been unmanaged for many years and the area has turned to scrub. It has now been designated for development and up to three hundred homes are planned to be built on the site. To the north of the A27 are two golf courses, the West Hove and Brighton and Hove Golf courses. The two are divided by the Old Dyke Railway Trail which follows part of the route taken by the old Dyke Railway Branch Line. The line opened in September 1887 and took people from Hove to the popular downland beauty spot of Devil's Dyke. When the railway closed in December 1938, the line lay unused until the Dyke Railway Trail was created in 1988. There are a number of ways through Hangleton to a bridge over the A27 bypass where the trail begins, but the original route took you from Aldrington railway station and above the Hove cemetery. Much of the trail across the Downs is on a hard surface. There are many archaic Down pastures in the area. To the west is Benfield Hill (), a Local Nature Reserve which is famous for its glowworm displays on midsummer evenings. On the steep east side of the hill there is large thyme, autumn gentian and many butterflies. Bee orchids can be also found in some years. To the north of this area is the Poynings parish and the impressive geography of Devil's Dyke. To the east is Round Hill where there are many signs of the past from different periods of human history. There are several old barrows in the area. There is an old flint barn () called the Skeleton Hovel which is thought to commemorate a prehistoric burial site. Round Hill's eastern slope () is the richest chalk grassland site in Hangleton, though it desperately needs grazing management for its many downland flowers such as field fleawort, chalk milkwort, orchids, cowslips, hairy violet, rockrose, crested hair-grass, and devil's bit scabious. There are two rare Forester moth species, fox moth and heath moth, purse-web spider, moss, and pygmy snails. To the north of Round Hill is the Newtimber parish. Westdene, Withdean, and Patcham. Patcham, Westdene, and Withdean are divided by the London Road. Of the three, Patcham (), has much the longest history of human settlement and retains much from its agricultural past. It was one of the bigger settlements in Sussex at the time of Domesday book, with 10 shepherds and six slaves and a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury came from the village. The area still has many old flint cottages, big allotment sites and winding twittens. There is Patcham Place and Park. The best cluster of buildings comprise its Norman church (which has kept part of its medieval wall paintings) and the old buildings of Patcham Court Farm, with a 17th-century flint farmhouse and dovecot. The areas of Withdean and Westdene were historically farmland but have been developed, mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, with a mix of detached, semi-detached and mid-rise flats. The Withdean manor was originally the property of the great Cluniac Priory of St. Pancras at Lewes, until 1537. This was then given to Anne of Cleves in 1541 by Henry VIII. The manor was demolished in 1936. Westdene sits to the north of Brighton, east of West Blatchington and north of Withdean. Withdean Park is to the east of the London Road, and is home to the national collection of lilacs with over 250 varieties. Collections of berberis, cotoneaster and viburnum can also be found here. Withdean Woods is next to Withdean stadium and is a wooded hillside nature reserve approximately 2.47 acres (1 ha) in size. It is the home of several woodland birds including the great spotted woodpecker, tawny owl, goldcrest, firecrest, and in winter the stinking hellebore. Waterhall downland. To the west of the A23 and north of Westdene and the A27 is Waterhall (), and its lost 18th century farm is now the site of football and rugby pitches. The Waterhall Golf Course has just been given over to a version of rewilding which involves the restoration of species-rich chalk grassland There is still a significant population of adders. By the bridlepath just downhill of the old clubhouse there are the damaged remains of a Bronze Age round barrow () which has long acted as a marker on the old parish boundaries. Since the cessation of golf play harebell, scabious, cowslip, rockrose, betony, Sussex rampion and horseshoe vetch have flowered ebulliently. There are large old anthills and chalkhill, small and adonis blue and brown argus butterflies, and all three species of Forester moth. At the corner of the Saddlescombe Road and the turn-off to the golf clubhouse, there is a sarsen stone () marking this point in the medieval boundary between Patcham and West Blatchington parishes. To the north is Varncombe Hill, which borders the Newtimber parish. Its south-west facing slope() is heavily scrubbed-up, though lovely old pasture glades survive. Rockrose is one of the commonest flowers here, with some of its associated fungi. The west facing slopes of Varncombe Hill () were sold by Brighton Council with the rest of Saddlescombe Farm to the National Trust, but the Trust did not dedicate them as Access land, though they qualified and the National Trust had the power to do so. To the east of Waterhall is Sweet Hill. The Hill has a flowery bank on its western slope (), a bushy lynchet and an old dewpond site on its brow. The Sussex Border Path takes you north to Pangdean Bottom and the Pyecombe parish. Pangdean Bottom is the west of the A23 and is rented by a tenant farmer from Brighton and Hove City Council, who have owned it since 1924. It includes ancient chalk grassland slopes where there are still chalkland flowers and butterflies. In late summer, the valley's north side has one of the largest populations of autumn ladies-tresses orchid has been recorded, together with a large population of the white variety of the self heal violet. The scrub at the head of the valley is old and diverse, with wayfaring tree, old man's beard, honeysuckle, hazel, and gorse. In July 2021 the Sussex-based 'Landscapes of Freedom' group, together with Nick Hayes and Guy Shrubsole of the 'Right to Roam' network, organised a mass trespass in protest against the lack of public access to this valley and its management for game bird shooting, which has badly affected its chalk grassland wildlife. Over 300 people walked from Waterhall, Brighton, to Pangdean Bottom in protest. The public are actively discouraged from walking in the area and scrub has been allowed to grow on the pristine downland, whilst other parts have been ploughed out. To the north of the city boundary in this area is the Pycombe parish. Patcham downland. The Downland to the north of Patcham leads up to Ditchling Beacon and the western end of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment. Tegdown Hill is the next hill to the west of the downland Ditchling Road. A remarkable "ring barrow" survives () on its brow, together with the slight mounds of two other bowl barrows. Tegdown ring barrow has been described as "probably the best of this type in the county". It consists of a circular bank with a ditch and a flattish interior. It lies just south of a big dried up dew pond. From Tegdown you can see the three Iron Age camps of Hollingbury Castle, Ditchling Beacon, and the Devil's Dyke. To the north of the city boundary is the long Ditchling parish. The Mid Sussex track of the Sussex Border Path starts at the A27 roundabout and the eastern track takes you up Ewebottom Hiil leaving Scare Hill to its west, passing the Chattri to the east and on to Holt Hill and the Pyecombe parish. The western track takes you to Waterhall across the A23. Those walking from Patcham towards Standean farm descend the hill into Ewe Bottom and have the pleasure of the intact, old Tegdown pastures to their right, where the steepest slope and the lynchets have fine chalk downland flowers. Opposite the slope is the mouth of Deep Bottom (), the southerly slope of which is a colourful old pasture site with abundant rockrose and which rises up to the Chattri. In autumn there are boletes and several old meadow waxcaps and a fairy club fungus. To the south of the A27 and on the western edge of Patcham is Ladies Mile Down (), which has designated as a Local nature reserve. The area is a remarkable survival of plateau chalk grassland on Downland, where almost all such flattish sites have been destroyed by modern farming. The ancient turf has preserved lots of odd linear banks, which are surviving fragments of an Iron Age and Romano-British lynchetted field system. The banks once stretched across the line of the A27 bypass, beyond which one or two more fragments also survive. At the eastern end of the Down, is a Bronze Age burial mound recognisable as a low, grassy tump. The area is rich with summer flowers. Harebell, Sussex rampion flower, rockrose, and yellow rattle are enjoyed by locals here and at midsummer there are still good numbers of glowworms. Later in the summer months, the violet-blue of devil's-bit scabious and the powder-blue lesser scabious radiate. The Chattri. The Chattri () is a place of memorial and a destination for walks. It can be accessed from the Sussex Border Path to its west or by scrambling through the thickets of Deep Bottom. It is a solemn place where the bodies of First World War Indian Sikh and Hindu soldiers who died from wounds whilst being nursed at the Brighton Pavilion "passed through the fire", for this was their "ghat", or place of cremation. Its white Sicilian marble dome is in good condition, but the surrounding memorial garden is often unkept. Hollingbury and Hollingdean. What is now considered to be Hollingbury is the slope facing west, east of Patcham and north of Fiveways. However, old Hollingbury was the crest of the hill by the hillfort, Hollingbury Park and even the east-facing slope. Until the 1930s the area was open downland with farms, small-holdings and piggeries. After World War Two, Hollingbury was used for a factory estate with the housing for the workforce. Hollingdean is in the combe east of Ditchling Road and rising up to the north-facing slope to Roedale allotments, the golf course and hillfort. It is now mainly a residential area, with many council houses to the east and low-rise flats in the central part, with late 19th- and early 20th-century terraced houses towards Fiveways. Hollingbury Castle, Hollingbury Woods, and Wild Park. There is an oasis of undeveloped green space at the peak of the Down between Hollingbury, Hollingdean, and Coldean. At its centre is Hollingbury Castle or Hillfort ().This Iron Age hillfort is a scheduled ancient monument, of Iron Age date, whilst the four mounded round barrows within its ramparts are made by Bronze Age people, who held this place sacred. There are thickets of gorse which shine yellow in spring and are home to linnets and goldfinch. European stonechat is a familiar bird, too, and the rarer whinchat and redstart are seen regularly on passage to and from their breeding grounds. The soil within and around the camp has a layer of superficial acidity, with sorrel, bent-grass, and tormentil growing there. To the south is Hollingbury Golf Course, the Roedale allotments and Hollingbury Park (). The park was originally part of the golf course. Its Edwardian pavilion was the original (circa 1908) clubhouse. East of the Park is the two-century-old Hollingbury Woods, now full of the rotting carcasses of beech giants toppled in the 1987 gale. It is a popular walk, with Fittleworth Stone walks, glades, and benches. It has received the loving care of a local "Friends" group for many years now. To the west of Moulsecoombe is Wild Park (). The park is a valley/coombe which runs down from Hollingbury Castle and was opened in 1925. In the 1850s the valley, then known as Hollingbury Coombe, was one of the most famous of Sussex sites for lepidopterists (butterfly and moth experts), but dark green and silver-washed fritillary and silver-spotted skipper, once present in numbers, are rarely seen there now. Despite this, there are parts which are still rich in diversity and it is still good for butterflies. In spring one may still see the green hairstreak or orange-tip or find the wacky small bloody-nosed beetle and there are still adonis, chalkhill and common blues and brown argus and glowworms in midsummer. There are also orchids, harebells, sheets of rockrose, Sussex rampion, devil's-bit, and carline thistle. In autumn there are fungi too, including penny-bun bolete, collared earthstar, stinkhorn, and shaggy inkcap in the circling woods. Coldean, Moulsecoomb, and Bevendean. Coldean, Moulsecoomb, and Bevendean are suburbs developed by Brighton Corporation in the 1950s necessitated by the acute housing shortage in the area after World War II. The districts are all in beautiful downland areas. Coldean occupies a deep valley on the historic boundary of Falmer and Stanmer parishes and is only separated from Hollingbury Hillfort by Wild Park. It has recently been approved to build over two hundred new homes in green land adjoining the South Downs and Stanmer Estate that ten years ago had been proposed to be a Local Nature Reserve. Bevendean is in a valley nestled between Bevendean Down and Heath Hill. Moulsecoomb is on the other side of the Lewes Road and backs on to Falmer Hill, and is home to the University of Brighton's Moulsecoomb campus and Moulsecoomb Place. North of Moulsecoomb is the Falmer train station, University of Brighton's Falmer campus, and Falmer Stadium. Stanmer village and Stanmer park. In this area to the north east of Coldean are two further valleys. The first is occupied by Stanmer village (), a village with much historical value. The upper village street has eighteen flint cottages, with colourful gardens. The church was reconstructed in 1838, but the date of the original church can be guessed from the two huge and knotty yews in the churchyard. Next to the church is a pond, which although often unkempt, is probably the reason why Stanmer is so called, as "stan mere" is likely to derive from the Saxon "stony pool".:312 Between the church and the barn is a Tudor well 252 feet deep and a wooden donkey wheel, like that at Saddlescombe, contained within a flint well-house. The well was in use until mains water was installed in 1900. Stanmer Woods were transformed in the 18th century after the Pelhams, later Earls of Chichester, had bought them. They planted a circle of woods along the hill-tops surrounding the dry valley in which the village lay and more shaws and clumps were scattered within. In 2007 the City Council took the initiative after the recent retirement of the Park's farming tenant and opened up all the closed woods and pasture fields to public access. The paths, gates and benches the council made are all popular with Brighton residents and beyond. The largest plantation is called the Great Wood () and has acquired many of the plants of ancient woodland, some by planting and some have made their own way there. Under the council's control there has been much imaginative new planting too: "The trees are laid out alphabetically, with Acer and Betula at the lower east end and Ulmus and Zelkova high up to the west"., and on the lawns behind the House is a gigantic Blue Atlas Cedar with several slighter companions. The next valley is occupied by the University of Sussex, which opened in 1961. In 2021, it is the place of study of over 16,000 students. The Brighton and Hove City border is surrounded by the large Falmer parish in this area. Bevendean Down and Falmer Hill. Bevendean Down () is a local nature reserve. Its hot, south-facing slopes and as a result is home to lizards and many butterflies. The area is well looked after by local people in cooperation with the tenant farmer and the Council rangers. There is a dew pond where swallows and house martins skim the water. Chalkhill and adonis blue and brown argus butterflies are found in numbers in the area. Hogtrough Bottom () has a mixture of taller grassland, short sheep's fescue turf, and scrub. On the shorter ground some years are large swarms of autumn ladies tresses. There are lots of scarce species such as bastard toadflax, waxcap, and webcap fungi, four-spot orb-weaver and purseweb spiders, but the tapestry of summer colours is the main delight which come from the purple knapweed and felwort, blue scabious, yellow hawkbit, and rockrose. On the southern side of Bevendean is Heath Hill which runs up to Warren Road and two horse pasture smallholdings, Southdown Riding Stables () and Inglesíde Stables to the east. Neither receive any agro-chemicals and consequently have gathered rich wildlife in the past half century. Swallows and swifts, bats and dung beetles, rooks and woodpecker and the hornet robberfly all survive on the rich supply of insects attracted by the pony dung. Both the farmsteads of Southdown's and Ingleside Stables are targeted for housing development within Brighton and Hove City Council's draft City Plan Part 2. The loss of these two farmsteads, which organise the grazing of these nature-rich pastures, would put them at risk. Falmer Hill () gives great views across to Hollingbury Castle and Stanmer Park and the higher Downs beyond. The Hill's top remained unploughed till the last World War. It had a cluster of about ten probably Saxon barrows and a couple of round barrows. Nothing remains now except white smears of chalk and flint on the ploughed earth, where the barrows were. To the west of the Hill is City boundary which borders the Kingston near Lewes parish. Kemptown, Whitehawk and Roedean. Kemp Town is a district to east of Brighton. It was designed by Thomas Read Kemp (1782–1844). It includes the elegant Grade I listed buildings such as those of Sussex Square, Lewes Crescent, Arundel, and Chichester Terraces, and the less prestigious areas such as Rock Gardens to the east. The area includes the Royal Sussex Hospital. The beach south of Kemp Town is known as Black Rock. To the east of Kemp Town is Roedean gap. There is some housing and Roedean school, a public girls school that faces the sea. To the north of Kemp Town is Whitehawk, a district of Brighton that has been built since 1931. On the saddle between Whitehawk Hill and Race Hill is Whitehawk Camp which is a Neolithic causewayed camp, one of eight causewayed camps known to have existed in the Sussex Downs. The camp is a scheduled ancient monument. To the northwest of Whitehawk is Brighton Race Course. Horse racing started on the Hill in the late 18th century next to the causewayed camp. Whitehawk Hill, Sheepcote Valley, and East Brighton Golf Course. Whitehawk Hill's lower slopes have large allotment sites, and there is a transmitting station on its top. To the north of the hilltop is the neolithic Whitehawk Camp. To the east of Whitehawk is Sheepcote Valley (). Here over are open to the public. In the 1870s there was a rifle range for volunteer soldiers sited here. The park was acquired in 1913 and laid out with plants and sports pitches in 1925. The northern part of the Valley served for many years as a municipal rubbish dump. When that purpose was completed, however, a kilometre and more of the upper Valley was terraced with six giant steps, which have now softened further with the cover of grass and low scrub. Now many birds breed in the area and many more pass through and stop extended periods on migration. Uncommon bird species are often seen there, such as rare warblers, wryneck, and redstarts. Sheepcote's lower valley has a caravan park where the first municipal site in the country was opened in 1938. There are playing fields embraced by the valley slopes and a café in East Brighton Park. To its east is East Brighton Golf Course () with extensive roughs, scrub thickets, and woodland. In winter, short-eared owls often reside in the area. Below the course is Roedean Bottom (). It sits between Roedean School and a pitch and putt golf course. On the east slope of the Bottom there is a little piece of aboriginal Downland turf, where in late summer autumn ladies tresses orchid grow, with carline thistle and hairy violet. Tiny moss snail in the turf demonstrates the site's antiquity. East again from the Golf Course (and southwest of Woodingdean) is Wick Bottom (). This peaceful dean takes its name from the medieval farm on the Falmer Road, now long-gone. The name 'wick' may denote a far more ancient, perhaps Roman, farmstead. In modern times it has been a place of arable stubbles, but there be a good array of chalk loving plants such as night flowering catchfly, henbit deadnettle, field madder, round-leaved fluellen, and common fumitory. Woodingdean, Ovingdean, and Rottingdean. Ovingdean () is east of Brighton and slightly set back from the sea. It is a historic settlement that has existed since at least the Iron Age about 600 BC. In ancient documents, the area is described as "Ofamn-inge-denu" or "the valley of the enclosure of Ofa's people". The Domesday book of 1086 records that the manor of 'hovingedene'. At that time the population of Ovingdean was about 90 people who included the lord of the manor and his family. By 2020 there were nearer 1,200 inhabitants and many new buildings, but the old core of Ovingdean still exists and many flint walls, old cottages, barns (converted) and gentry houses have been retained. The Norman church of St Wulfran's is the oldest surviving building in the village and has lots of surviving early details. North of the church the stonewalled paddock is full of humps and hollows that mark where a Saxon thane had his manor house. To the south of the village in front of the sea is one of Blind Veterans UK's rehabilitation centres. On the beach is a cafe and beach for rock pooling at low tide. Rottingdean is east of Ovingdean and has more history still. The first settled inhabitants of Rottingdean were the Neolithic people, arriving around 2500 BC. It later became famed for sea faring activities and primarily a centre for smuggling. Rottingdean is its own parish despite being with the Brighton and Hove boundary. Beacon Hill is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) set up because of its pristine chalk grassland and archaeological features. A historic windmill is at the centre of the nature reserve. Woodingdean is north of Ovingdean and east of the Brighton Racecourse. It was extensively developed during the 1950s and 1960s when most of the roads in the north-eastern and southern ends of the village were built. The name Woodingdean came from Woodendean (i.e. wooded valley) Farm which was situated in the south end of what is now Ovingdean. This farm existed from before 1714 until 1979. Perhaps the earliest farming settlement to be identified in the area was situated in Wick Bottom. It was here that the Wick Farm, later Warren Farm was situated. East Brighton Downland and undercliff path. Between the Brighton Marina and Saltdean is the undercliff path. It passes cafes at Ovingdean and Rottingdean. Many people use the path to walk, run or cycle either for amusement or to reach their destinations avoiding the up and down of the busy road above. The entire stretch of beach provides excellent home to rock pool loving species and sea and wading birds take advantage. Fulmars, peregrine falcons, ravens and rock pipits are just some of the bird life that nest in the chalk cliffs. This area is the only place on these southern cliffs that sea stock is native. Sea lavender also clings to the cliff ledges. Occasionally one can find samphire, too. To the west of the Falmer Road from Woodingdean is Happy Valley (), a bushy, cattle-grazed slope with old Down pasture herbs, bits of gorse, and thorn. Further south is Mount Pleasant (). The west slope looks over Wick Bottom and is a small triangle of rich chalk grassland. It's rough and derelict, but special wildlife clings on. There's big swarms of Pride of Sussex rampion, dropwort, horseshoe vetch, and hairy violet. European stonechat frequent its thorn and bramble. Just east of Woodingdean, is the Bostle barrow field (). There is a cluster of at least twenty-seven small low grassy mounds, which are probably Saxon, and three larger, probably Bronze Age barrows on the top of the hill just south of the bridleway fence line. The barrow field is a 'precious fragment' of antiquity surrounded by agricultural fields. The Bostle combe slope () is an ancient Down pasture slope with the softest sheep's fescue turf, just south of the barrow field. East a little further there is one of the most special natural sites in the Brighton area, Castle Hill (). The area is known for its early spider orchids, Roesel's bush-cricket, wart-biter grasshopper, and dramatic butterfly displays that include dark green fritillary, adonis blue, and thousands of chalkhill blues. The Brighton and Hove boundary. From west to east the administrative boundary of Brighton and Hove begins on the coast at Gate 4 of Shoreham Port. It crosses the Southwick Ship Canal and the A259 between Brambledean Road and St Richard's Road in Portslade. From here, the border joins Eastbrook Road, and runs north up St Aubrey's Crescent. It then runs along the Sussex Border Path, through Fishersgate Station, separating Portslade from the neighbouring town of Southwick. Running west of Mile Oak, the border crosses the A27 skirting Mile Oak Farm and continues towards Devil's Dyke, before turning east over the Downs. The border then extends north from Tydell Farm to the outskirts of Pyecombe – its most northerly point. It crosses the A23 at the Patcham Pylons, which signifies the border for incoming traffic. Continuing east, the border runs north of the Chattri and Standean Farm, before crossing Ditchling Road at the Upper Lodges and running along the northerly limits of Stanmer Park and Stanmer Village. At this point, the border turns south and runs to the eastern edge of the University of Sussex campus, re-crossing the A27 along The Drove and passing east of Falmer Stadium. It continues along The Drove and Falmer Road to Woodingdean. Running north of Woodingdean, the border then heads southeast through Balsdean before adjoining to a footpath which enters Saltdean at the top of Longridge Avenue. The border runs down Longridge Avenue to the junction with Lynwood Road, where it turns south over houses and back across the A259 before returning the coastline at the eastern end of Saltdean Beach. Governance. As a unitary authority, Brighton and Hove City Council provides local government services, combining the functions of a non-metropolitan county and district council. Elections to the council are held every four years, with the most recent taking place in 2019. Councillors annually elect a Mayor of Brighton and Hove – a ceremonial position. The current mayor is Councillor Jackie O’Quinn. A proposal to introduce a directly elected mayor to the city was rejected by referendum in 2001. As a result, the council uses a cabinet system to form its executive. Geoff Raw is the current chief executive. Both Brighton Town Hall in The Lanes, and Hove Town Hall on Church Road are used as meeting places for council. The council was under Labour majority control until 2003, when it fell into no overall control until 2023. During this period the council has been controlled by minority administrations of all three major parties in Brighton and Hove: Labour, the Conservatives and the Greens. The first Green administration, elected in 2011, was the first time any Green Party had run a council in the UK, highlighting the city as the party's primary area of support. A Labour administration was elected in 2015, and the party narrowly retained a plurality in 2019, however expulsions from the Labour group led to the Greens regaining control of the administration in 2020. At the 2023 local elections, Labour regained control of the council. Bella Sankey is the current Leader of the council. Three constituencies cover Brighton and Hove in the UK Parliament. Hove is represented by Labour MP Peter Kyle. Brighton Pavilion, which covers central and northern Brighton, is represented by Green MP Caroline Lucas – the UK's first and only MP from the Green Party. Brighton Kemptown, which covers East Brighton, as well as areas outside of Brighton and Hove, such as Telscombe Cliffs and Peacehaven, is represented by Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle. Economy and demography. The economy of the city is service-based with a strong emphasis on creative, digital and electronic technologies. Tourism and entertainment are important sectors for the city, which has many hotels and amusements, as well as Brighton Pier and Shoreham/Portslade Harbour. The United Kingdom Census 2011 showed a substantial fall in the proportion of the population claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Income Support, from 10.1% of the resident population in 2001, to 4.5% of the resident population in 2011"." Demography. The first census of Brighton was in 1801. The resident population of Brighton and Hove at the 2011 census was 273,369 persons, 50% male and 50% female. The 2011 census found the ethnic composition of Brighton and Hove to be 89.1% white (80.5% white British, 1.4% white Irish, 7.1% other white), 4.1% Asian (1.1% Chinese, 1.1% Indian, 0.5% Bangladeshi, 1.2% other Asian), 3.8% mixed race (1.5% mixed black/white, 1.2% mixed white/Asian, 1.0% other mix), 1.5% black, and 0.8% Arab. The 2011 census found the religious composition to be 42.90% Christian, 42.42% nonreligious, 2.23% Muslim, 1.00% Buddhist, and 0.98% Jewish. 1.66% were adherents of some other religion, while 8.81% did not state their religion. In the 2001 census, Brighton and Hove had the highest percentage of citizens indicating their religion as Jedi among all principal areas of England and Wales. Freedom of the City. The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Brighton and Hove.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69553

Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includes the historic townsite of Boulder and the local government area is the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder. Kalgoorlie–Boulder lies on the traditional lands of the Wangkatja group of peoples.The name "Kalgoorlie" is derived from the Wangai word "Karlkurla" or "Kulgooluh", meaning "place of the silky pears". The city was established in 1893 during the Western Australian gold rushes. It soon replaced Coolgardie as the largest settlement on the Eastern Goldfields. Kalgoorlie is the ultimate destination of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme and the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail. The nearby Super Pit gold mine was Australia's largest open-cut gold mine for many years. During August 2021, Kalgoorlie–Boulder had an estimated urban population of 29,068, a slight decline from the recent peak of 32,966 in 2013. History. Kalgoorlie-Boulder lies on the traditional lands of the Wangkatja people. Languages including Wangkatja, part of the Wati language family, continue to be spoken there today. In the winter of 1893, prospectors Patrick (Paddy) Hannan, Tom Flanagan, and Dan Shea were travelling to Mount Youle, when one of their horses cast a shoe. During the halt in their journey, the men noticed signs of gold in the area around the foot of what is now the Mount Charlotte gold mine, located on a small hill north of the current city, and decided to stay and investigate. On 17 June 1893, Hannan filed a Reward Claim, leading to hundreds of men swarming to the area in search of gold, and Kalgoorlie, originally called Hannan's Find, was born. The population of the town was 2,018 (1,516 males and 502 females) in 1898. The mining of gold, along with other metals such as nickel, has been a major industry in Kalgoorlie ever since, and today employs about one-quarter of Kalgoorlie's workforce and generates a significant proportion of its income. The concentrated area of large gold mines surrounding the original Hannan's find is often referred to as the Golden Mile, and was sometimes referred to as the world's richest square mile of earth.In 1901, the population of Kalgoorlie was 4,793 (3,087 males and 1,706 females) which increased to 6,790 (3,904 males and 2,886 females) by 1903. The narrow-gauge Government Eastern Goldfields Railway line reached Kalgoorlie station in 1896, and the main named railway service from Perth was the overnight sleeper train "The Westland", which ran until the 1970s. In 1917, a railway line was completed, connecting Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta, South Australia, across of desert, and consequently the rest of the eastern states. The standardisation of the railway connecting Perth (which changed route from the narrow-gauge route) in 1968 completed the Sydney–Perth railway, making rail travel from Perth to Sydney possible; the "Indian Pacific" rail service commenced soon after. During the 1890s, the Goldfields area boomed as a whole, with an area population exceeding 200,000, composed mainly of prospectors. The area gained a reputation for being a "wild west", notorious for its bandits and prostitutes. This rapid increase in population and claims of neglect by the state government in Perth led to the proposition of the new state of Auralia, but with the sudden diaspora after the Gold Rush, these plans fell through. Places, famous or infamous, for which Kalgoorlie is noted include its water pipeline, designed by C. Y. O'Connor and bringing in fresh water from Mundaring Weir near Perth, its Hay Street brothels, its two-up school, the goldfields railway loopline, the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, the Paddy Hannan statue/drinking fountain, the Super Pit, and Mount Charlotte lookout. Its main street is Hannan Street, named after the town's founder. One of the infamous brothels also serves as a museum and is a major national attraction. Kalgoorlie and the surrounding district were served by an extensive collection of suburban railways and tramways, providing for both passenger and freight traffic. In 1989, the Town of Kalgoorlie and Shire of Boulder formally amalgamated to create the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, adjoining the two towns into what is now the fifth most populous city in Western Australia. On 20 April 2010, Kalgoorlie was shaken by an earthquake that reached 5.0 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was 30 km north east of the town. The quake caused damage to a number of commercial hotels and historic buildings along Burt Street in Boulder. The entire Burt St. precinct was evacuated until 23 April. Work in the Superpit and many other mines around Kalgoorlie was stopped. Two people suffered minor injuries as a result of the quake. Population. According to the 2016 census, there were 29,873 people in the Kalgoorlie - Boulder Significant Urban Area: Geography. Climate. Kalgoorlie has a semi-arid climate (BSk) with hot summers and mild winters. The average annual rainfall is on an average of 68 days and, while the average rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, there is considerable variation from year to year. January is the hottest month, with an average maximum temperature of , but temperatures above occur nearly once a week when hot, dry, north to northeasterly winds arrive. Such high temperatures are usually followed by a cool change from the south, and occasionally with a thunderstorm. By contrast, winters are cool, with July average maximum and minimum temperatures being and , respectively. Cold, wet days with a maximum below occur about once every winter. The lowest maximum temperature recorded is , on 19 July 1961. Overnight temperatures fall below freezing about four times in a typical winter. Such events occur on clear nights following a day of cold southerly winds. Industry and commerce. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is a regional centre and has a Chamber of Commerce and a Chamber of Minerals and Energy. Mining. Since 1992, Kalgoorlie has been home to the Diggers & Dealers conference, held annually in August. It is Australia's premier international mining conference. The Fimiston Open Pit (Super Pit) is an open-cut gold mine about long, wide, and over deep. Originally consisting of a large number of underground mines, including the Paringa, Oroya, Brown Hill, Chaffers, and Hainault mines, they were consolidated into a single open pit mine in 1989. A visitor centre overlooks the mine, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The mine blasts at 1:00 pm every day, unless winds would carry dust over the town. Each of the massive trucks carries 225 tonnes of rock and the round trip takes about 35 minutes, most of that time being the slow uphill haul. Employees must live in Kalgoorlie; there's no fly-in, fly-out operation. The current life of mine plan covers operation until 2035, with investigations for mine extension ongoing. Culture. Kalgoorlie-Boulder has a dynamic and diverse cultural scene. Arts. Kalgoorlie-Boulder has many arts organisations and practising artists. Sports. Kalgoorlie-Boulder's location, being roughly 600 km from Perth, enjoys high levels of participation in Australian rules football (the Goldfields Football League), netball, basketball, rugby league, soccer, field hockey, and cricket. Other popular sports in Kalgoorlie include tennis, lawn bowls, roller derby, rugby union, and swimming. Kalgoorlie also has an international squash tournament held every year at the YMCA. In a statewide sense, the semiprofessional Goldfields Giants basketball team competes in the State Basketball League, and were league champions in 2007 and 2008. The Goldfields Titans play in the Western Australia Rugby League Harvey Norman Premiership state rugby league competition. Home games are at the Oasis playing fields on Saturday afternoons. Horse racing is also very popular in the city, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder is home to the internationally recognised annual "Race Round". Attractions. Given the wealth of its yesteryear, Kalgoorlie features many elaborate heritage buildings that have been retained. Kalgoorlie-Boulder – the largest settlement for many hundreds of kilometres, with many employees at the Super Pit – is the centre of the area's social life. Of particular interest is the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racecourse, a horse racing venue. Two grass sports ovals and a cinema showing recent international releases are in the area. Well known in the area are the Kalgoorlie,<ref name="griffithreview/kalgoorlie"></ref> Geraldton,<ref name="geraldtonguardian/skimpy"></ref> Perth,<ref name="independent/skimpy-cover"></ref> and Albany<ref name="albanyadvertiser/skimpies"></ref> skimpy barmaids,<ref name="thewest/kalgoorlie-too-skimpy"></ref> mostly flown in,<ref name="smh/skimpy-debate"></ref> employed by pubs like Exchange Hotel,<ref name="watoday/overpriced-kalgoorlie"></ref> who walk around "scantily clad"<ref name="nzherald/skimpies-return"></ref> in bikini, lingerie<ref name="theguardian/skimpies-nights"></ref> or burlesque outfits to attract punters and who expect a fee<ref name="time/Treasure"></ref> in return. Historic hotels. Kalgoorlie has historical hotels still in operation: Many hotels have been put to private use, including: Hotels that have disappeared from the city include: Suburbs. The Kalgoorlie-Boulder metropolitan area consists of the following suburbs: Known as the home of the Super Pit, it is one of Kalgoorlie-Boulder's historical suburbs featuring many buildings and landmarks dating as far back as 1882. It was once the central business district for the Town of Boulder, but since amalgamation with Kalgoorlie, it is now more of a historical local centre. Boulder has its own post office, town hall and many hotels along its main thoroughfare, Burt Street. A significant refurbishment has been commenced as part of the 'Royalties for Regions' initiative. A new housing suburb located next to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport, which was recently expanded. This area derives its name from the golf course that once occupied the area. It was released to provide affordable property to a growing population in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Fairways features a private primary school, church, caravan park and small business. Adeline was originally constructed around 1970 by the State Housing Commission. The suburb was built on the "Radburn concept", with houses facing away from the street and common pathways linking homes. The area has been plagued by antisocial problems. In 2003, a significant urban renewal project was commenced, including the renaming of the suburb to "Golden Grove" and re-aligning of homes. The project has seen some success but has yet to fully eliminate antisocial problems within the area. See Broadwood. Located in Kalgoorlie's far north. Hannans was the first suburb to have its own independent shopping centre ("Hannans Boulevard") which includes a Coles Supermarket. The area also has a primary school and an 18-hole golf course. The original course was not formally grassed but was recently refurbished. Several surrounding golf clubs joined together to form one club known as 'The Goldfields Golf Club'. A dam has been constructed to service what is now a luxury desert golf course and club. Alongside the golf course project has been the development and release of Greenview estate. It lies on the western border of Hannans. This ongoing project has been designed as an environmentally friendly estate, and will eventually consist of over 2000 homes, apartments and facilities such as parks and schools. As one of Kalgoorlie's highest growth areas there has been a proposal for a new alternative route, out of the suburb onto the Kalgoorlie Bypass, to avoid traffic problems on the already heavily used Graeme Street which is a direct route to the city centre. Other developments include 'Karkurla Rise' and 'Karkurla View' which have added an additional 400 homes to the area. The central business district. Hannan Street, named after Paddy Hannan, is Kalgoorlie's main street and stretches the length of the suburb. The western side of the suburb consists of housing and some light industry. The eastern side contains retail chains, banks, the police station, court house, restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, schools, university, and a TAFE. One of Kalgoorlie's oldest suburbs. Much like other older suburbs, almost every street is parallel with Hannan Street in Central Kalgoorlie. Streets are noticeably wide. It houses North Kalgoorlie Primary School, small businesses, a medical practice, a hotel, tavern and a non-maintained 18-hole golf course. Much smaller today than it originally was before the Super Pit expansion, Mullingar is located at the far east end of Lamington, between the northern Goldfields railway and Goldfields Highway. Officially O'Connor is the south-east section of the suburb of Somerville. Much of the area is increasingly now known as O'Connor. It is home to a primary school (O'Connor Primary School), a private high school (Goldfields Baptist College), and shopping facilities. It also houses the city's only recreation centre. A narrow suburb following Piccadilly street between Central Kalgoorlie and Lamington. It features the city's regional hospital, small businesses, a hotel, sporting arena and two grassed ovals. Somerville marks the end of Great Eastern Highway that stretches between Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Perth. Much of the area is now referred to locally as O'Connor. Somerville contains a residential area, schools, retail shops, light industry and some horse stables. In the past it also contained market gardens. Stretching from Boundary Street, Kalgoorlie to Holmes Street, Golden Grove and bordering with Central Kalgoorlie, O'Connor and Golden Grove, South Kalgoorlie is mostly residential but also contains the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racecourse, schools, some light industrial and small businesses. The suburb was expanded in the mid-1990s to include a sub-division named "Sport of Kings" on Maxwell Street, using a surplus of land from the racecourse. A residential-only subdivision within Fairways estate along Burt Street. Kalgoorlie's main industrial area, it is the first suburb as you approach Kalgoorlie on the Great Eastern Highway. It features the city's airport, as well as small, medium, and heavy industrial areas. Currently under expansion further west (ANZAC Drive Industrial Estate). The western tip of Lamington was built in the 1980s. It includes one shop, sporting facilities and an arboretum nature reserve. This small existing area features mostly housing with one small primary school. It is also home to the Mount Charlotte gold mine (past production of about 5,000,000 ounces of gold), the Cassidy Shaft and Nanny Goat Hill (Mt Gleddon). Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, owner of the Super Pit to the south on the Golden Mile, from 2015 mined the "Hidden Secret" orebody, between and below the surface of Williamstown, using Mount Charlotte's Cassidy Shaft as access. Transport. Rail. The town is located on the main East-West rail corridor across Australia. The "Transwa Prospector" operates once to twice daily passenger train services from Kalgoorlie to Perth. The "Indian Pacific" train also stops here, operating weekly in each direction. Buses. Town bus services are provided by TransGoldfields, there are three town routes as well as school services. Transwa also operates road coaches that service the town. Air. Commercial air services connect Kalgoorlie-Boulder with Melbourne and Perth, operating out of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport. Airlines that provide regular flights include Alliance Airlines, Qantas, QantasLink and Virgin Australia. There is a locally owned and operated charter company with a flight school, Goldfields Air Services. Road. Kalgoorlie is linked to Perth by the Great Eastern Highway, and is also on the Goldfields Highway. Media. Radio Radio Services available in Kalgoorlie: Television Television services available include: The programming schedule is mainly the same as the Seven, Nine and Ten stations in Perth with variations for news bulletins, sport telecasts such as the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, children's and lifestyle programs and infomercials or "paid programming". Seven maintains a newsroom in the city. The Seven bureau provides coverage of the surrounding area for the station's nightly 30-minute news program, "Seven News", at 5:30pm on weeknights. A Foxtel subscription television service is available via satellite. Newspapers The local newspaper for the Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Goldfields region is "The Kalgoorlie Miner". Newspapers from Perth, including "The West Australian" and "The Sunday Times", are also available, as well as national newspapers such as "The Australian" and the "Australian Financial Review". Education. There are 10 primary schools, four high schools and one university in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area. Notable people. Notable people from or who have lived in Kalgoorlie include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69772

Bedford

Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton. Bedford is also the historic county town of Bedfordshire and is now the seat of the Borough of Bedford, a unitary authority that includes other settlements and a significant rural area. Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse and is thought to have been the burial place of King Offa of Mercia, who is remembered for building Offa's Dyke on the Welsh border. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224. Bedford was granted borough status in 1166 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is known for its large population of Italian descent. History. The name of the town is believed to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a market town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Ages. The Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia was buried in the town in 796; this is believed to be in his new minster, now the Church of St Paul, or on the banks of the Great Ouse where his tomb was soon lost to the river. In 886 it became a boundary town separating Wessex and Danelaw. It was the seat of the Barony of Bedford. In 919 Edward the Elder built the town's first known fortress, on the south side of the River Great Ouse and there received the area's submission. This fortress was destroyed by the Danes. William II gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp, who built a new, strong castle. Bedford traces its borough charter in 1166 by Henry II and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons. The new Bedford Castle was razed in 1224 and today only a mound remains. From the 16th century Bedford and much of Bedfordshire became one of the main centres of England's lace industry, and lace continued to be an important industry in Bedford until the early 20th century. In 1660 John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years in Bedford Gaol. It was here that he wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress". The River Great Ouse became navigable as far as Bedford in 1689. Wool declined in importance with brewing becoming a major industry in the town. The 19th century saw Bedford transform into an important engineering hub. The northern part of the town was badly damaged in the Great Fire of Bedford in 1802, which destroyed 72 properties in the St Loyes area. 21 years later, the Great Flood of Bedford swamped most of the town when the River Ouse burst its banks. The former Phoenix public house in St Johns Street has a stone marker in its wall almost two metres above ground level, representing the maximum height of the floodwater in 1823. In 1832 gas lighting was introduced, and the railway reached Bedford in 1846. The first corn exchange was built 1849, and the first drains and sewers were dug in 1864. Bedford's first woman town councillor was Mary Milligan who, in 1919, was also the secretary of the local Women's Citizens League. Governance. Bedford is the largest settlement in Borough of Bedford. The borough council is led by a directly elected mayor who holds the title 'Mayor of Bedford', an office which was first held by Frank Branston, until his death in 2009. The current Mayor of Bedford is Tom Wootton from the Conservative Party. The Bedford built-up area is divided into 10 wards: Brickhill, Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Putnoe, Queens Park, Kempston East and Kempston West. Brickhill elects its own parish council, while the rest (and majority) of the town of Bedford is not part of a civil parish. Bedford is served by Bedfordshire Police. The Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner of that force is Festus Akinbusoye. Bedford forms part of the Bedford constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament. The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford is Mohammad Yasin, who is a member of the Labour Party. Geography. Bedford is miles north-northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, west of Cambridge and east-southeast of Northampton. The town of Kempston is part of Bedford's built-up area, as is the village of Biddenham. Other villages adjacent to the town include Elstow, Renhold and Ravensden. Wixams is a new town which is being developed to the south of Bedford. Villages in the Borough of Bedford with populations of more than 2,000 (as of 2005) are Biddenham, Bromham, Clapham, Elstow, Oakley, Sharnbrook, Shortstown, Wilstead, and Wootton. There are also many smaller villages in the borough. The villages in the borough are popular with commuters to Bedford itself, and also with people who commute to Milton Keynes, London and towns in Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. Climate. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Bedford has a maritime climate, with a limited range of temperatures, and generally even rainfall throughout the year. The nearest Met Office weather station to Bedford is Bedford (Thurleigh) airport, about north of Bedford town centre at an elevation of . Temperature extremes at the site have ranged from in July 2022, down to in January 1982. However, such extremes would likely be superseded if longer-term records were available – Historically, the nearest weather station to Bedford was Cardington about south south east of the town centre with an elevation of . This location recorded a minimum of during January 1963. Rainfall averages around a year, with an excess of falling on 109 days. Sunshine at around 1,500 hours a year is typical of inland areas of southern-central England. Demography. Bedford is home to one of the largest concentrations of Italian immigrants in the United Kingdom. According to the 2001 census, almost 30% of Bedford's population were of at least partial Italian descent. This is mainly as a result of labour recruitment in the early 1950s by the London Brick Company from Southern Italy. From 1954 to 2008 Bedford had its own Italian vice-consulate. At the 2011 Census, the ethnic mix of the Bedford urban area was 74.4% white, 4% mixed, 15% Asian/Asian British, 5% Black/African/Caribbean/Black British, and 1% "other ethnic group". In terms of national identity, just over 50% identified as English only, 24% as British only and 15% only as a non-UK identity; just over 8% had a "British and other" identity. In terms of religious affiliation, 56% were Christian, almost 8% were Muslim, almost 3% Sikh and 2% Hindu; almost 30% had no religion or declined to answer. Landmarks. Bedford Park is the town's largest urban park and is located directly to the north of the town centre. The park retains many original features from its Victorian design and construction, including a cricket pavilion and bandstand which are both still in use. Priory Country Park is a large country park located on the northern bank of the River Great Ouse in eastern Bedford. Both parks have been awarded Green Flag status. Bedford's principal church is St Paul's, in the square of the same name at the historic centre of the town. It is the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and County of Bedfordshire and has a tall, iconic spire which is one of the dominant features of the town. There was an early Minster church on the site by 1066 and work on the present structure began in the early 13th century, but little remains from that period. John Bunyan and John Wesley both preached in the church. In 1865–1868 the tower and spire were completely rebuilt and the two transepts added and lesser alterations have been made since. From 1941 to the end of the Second World War the BBC's daily service was broadcast from St Paul's. Another notable local church is St Peter's, on St Peter's Street, which contains some of the oldest architectural remains in Bedford, the most ancient being the two monoliths. St Paul's Church also hosts the town's Visitor Information Centre. Just outside the town lie the Cardington airship hangars. The hangars have been used to shoot scenes for movies such as "Star Wars", "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight", and "Inception". The hangars can be seen from the Bedford Bypass. Despite being far upriver from the sea, seals have occasionally been reported as swimming as far inland as Bedford. The Old Town Hall dates back to 1550 and the building was originally constructed as a school. River Great Ouse. The River Great Ouse passes through the town centre and is lined with gardens known as the Embankment. Within these gardens, opposite Rothsay Road, stands a war memorial to the men of the town killed in the First World War. The memorial was designed in 1921 by the sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger and depicts the Anglo Saxon Lady Athelflaed, who ruled Mercia, killing a dragon. The inscription reads Bedford Castle. Bedford Castle Mound is the remnant of Bedford's medieval castle, located close to the centre of the modern town, less than a hundred yards from Bedford Bridge and the High Street. In around 2000, Bedford Borough Council built a sloping retaining wall on the south side, facing the river. Although almost completely modern, the wall does incorporate a few pieces of historic masonry. A paved path leads round the side of the mound up to the top, which is a flat circular grassy area. A small wooden structure of the same date at the top of the wall, much like a bus shelter, protects tourists from the rain while they view the river embankment. Transport. Railway. There are two stations in Bedford. The main Bedford railway station is on the Midland Main Line, providing inter-city services to London St Pancras and the East Midlands, operated by East Midlands Railway. Stopping services, operated by Thameslink, run through London to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. Bedford's other lesser used station is Bedford St John's which in on the Marston Vale Line. Services are operated by London North Western Railway and run between Bletchley and Bedford's main station. Road. Road access to and from the town is provided by the A6 and A421 roads; the former connects the town with Kettering to the north-west, and Luton to the south, whilst the latter connects the town with Milton Keynes and the M1 (at Junction 13) to the west, and the A1 to the east (near St Neots) via a bypass, with both being around away. Other roads that serve or skirt the town include the A422, which runs westwards into Milton Keynes (also connecting to the M1 at Junction 14 via the A509), and the A428, which runs between Coventry and Cambridge. The new Greyfriars surface car park and the refurbished Allhallows multi-storey car park both implement a pay on foot system. Greyfriars occupies 142 parking spaces, including 7 designated disabled spaces, although there is a 2-hour per day parking limit. Buses. Bedford bus station serves the town and was reopened on 29 March 2015, after undergoing £8.8million regeneration which began in 2013. The main operators in and around the town are Stagecoach East and Stagecoach Midlands. Education. Bedford previously operated a three-tier education system, which was arranged into lower, middle and upper schools, as recommended in the Plowden Report of 1967. The arrangement was put to the vote in 2006 with a view to moving to the two-tier model, but was rejected. On 17 November 2009, borough councillors voted 19 to 17 in favour of a two tier system, which would then be phased in. However, following the defeat of the Labour Government in 2010, the new coalition government announced that the funding necessary for the switch to a two-tier system would no longer be available. As a result, the switch proceeded on a school by school basis as national funding was due to cover most of the cost. However, in July 2015, the council announced the intention to support the transition to a system of two tier education across the whole Borough in a coordinated way. At the time, only the Wootton cluster of schools chose not to transition. As of September 2018 all of the towns schools have converted to two-tier. The secondary schools currently operating in the area are Bedford Academy, Bedford Free School, Biddenham International School, Castle Newnham School, Goldington Academy, Mark Rutherford School and St Thomas More Catholic School. Bedford is home to four private schools run by the Harpur Trust charity, endowed by Bedfordian Sir William Harpur in the 16th century. These are: Smaller private institutions include Bedford Greenacre Independent School (boys and girls aged 3–18), and Polam School (boys and girls aged 12 months to 9 years), neither of which are part of the Harpur Trust. Bedford hosts a campus of the University of Bedfordshire, which prior to a merger with the University of Luton in 2006 had been a campus of De Montfort University (itself now solely based in Leicester). For further education, the town is served by Bedford College and The Bedford Sixth Form. Additionally, Stella Mann College is a private college, which offers a range of further education courses relating to the performing arts. Religious sites. The town has a high number of Christian churches, including the Civic and County Church of St Paul's and the Church of St Peter's, both already noted above. There are three from the Newfrontiers network, as well as Polish, Arab, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian Roman Catholic churches, LDS (Mormon) meeting houses, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Anglican churches and various independent churches and other places of worship that cater to the different ethnic and language groups. There are four mosques in the town. There are also Buddhist and Hindu temples in the town. Bedford has the largest Sikh gurdwara in the United Kingdom outside London, alongside two other Sikh gurdwaras; one of which is in Kempston. Bedford has Guru Ravidass and Valmiki temples. There are Quaker, Jehovah's Witness and Wiccan communities who meet and have their own places of worship in the town. There is no longer a synagogue in Bedford, but Bedfordshire Progressive Synagogue, based in Luton, meets in Bedford once a month for the town's Jewish community. The nearest Orthodox synagogue is the Luton United Synagogue, a Lubavitch synagogue in Luton. Bedford is the former headquarters of the Panacea Society, founded in 1919, who believed that the town would have an important role in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and that Bedford was the original location of the Garden of Eden. Culture. The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford is housed in the recreated Victorian home of the Higgins family of Victorian brewers and in a modern extension. The museum has local history collections, while the galleries have notable collections of watercolours, prints and drawings, ceramics, glass and lace. Bedford contains several works of public art, most notably the Statue of John Bunyan, the Statue of John Howard, and Reflections of Bedford, a statue by British sculptor Rick Kirby. The Panacea Museum tells the story of the Panacea Society, a religious community formed in the early twentieth century. The Bedford Corn Exchange is the largest entertainment venue in the town and plays host to a variety of performances, meetings, conferences, concerts and private functions. The venue has been host to many great entertainers such as Glenn Miller and Bob Hope. The University of Bedfordshire Theatre is the largest theatre in Bedford and hosts many larger productions as well as projects from the university. There is an active amdram (community theatre) scene, with groups such as the Swan Theatre Company, Bedford Drama Company (formerly Bedford Dramatic Club), Bedford Marianettes and ShowCo Bedford producing plays and musicals in venues like the Place Theatre and the Corn Exchange. The Bedford Pantomime Company produces a traditional pantomime at the Bedford Corn Exchange each Christmas. Esquires (one of the town's premier live music venues) regularly plays host to many notable bands and acts from all over the United Kingdom as well as showcasing local live music. Every two years, an event called the "Bedford River Festival" is held near the river in Bedford during early July. The event lasts for two days and regularly attracts about 250,000 visitors. The event includes sports, funfairs and live music. It is the second-largest regular outdoor event in the United Kingdom, beaten in numbers only by the Notting Hill Carnival. The Bedford Regatta each May is Britain's largest one-day river rowing regatta. Other annual events include "Bedford by the Sea" (when large quantities of sand are deposited in the town centre), the "Bedford International Kite Festival" and "Bedford Festival of Motoring" in June. "Proms in the Park", held in early August, is a popular musical event. Bedford's special brand of the ordinary has resulted in regular small TV and radio appearances, for instance the upbeat episode of Mark Steel's in Town contrasting with the less enthusiastic treatment in "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". The "Bedford of Bedfordshire's Community Calendar" segment of this US show featured Bedford born John Oliver. Media. Television. Local news and televisions programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Radio. Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio on 95.5 FM, Heart East on 96.9 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts on 96.2 FM, In2beats on 106.5 FM and Bedford Radio which is a community based radio station. Newspaper. The local newspaper is Times & Citizen. Sport. There is a long-standing sporting heritage in the Bedford borough with long-established rugby and football clubs. The town has four rugby union teams called Bedford Blues, Bedford Queens, Bedford Swifts and Bedford Athletic. Since 2004, Bedford also has a rugby league team, Bedford Tigers, who compete one tier below the National Conference. Taking into account the size of its overall urban area, Bedford is one of the largest towns in England without a fully professional football team. Bedford Town F.C. currently plays at the eighth level of the English football league system and Real Bedford F.C. play at the 11th level. Rowing is also a major part of the sports scene with a number of regatta events hosted throughout the year from February to October; the most significant of these being Bedford Regatta which, in terms of numbers of crews participating, is the second largest in the country. It was on Bedford's River Great Ouse that Olympic rower, Tim Foster, honed his skills as a student of Bedford Modern and member of star club; indeed the borough has produced many other champions of sport past and present including Stephanie Cook, Gail Emms, Liz Yelling and Paula Radcliffe who is Life Vice-President of Bedford & County Athletic Club Viking Kayak Club organise the Bedford Kayak Marathon with canoe racing held along the Embankment on Bedford's riverside and organise national ranking canoe slalom events at the Cardington Artificial Slalom Course (CASC), which was the first artificial whitewater course in the United Kingdom. CASC is also the venue each year for the United Kingdom's National Inter Clubs Slalom Finals, the largest canoe slalom event by participation in the United Kingdom. Etienne Stott – 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist's Club. Bedford and the surrounding borough was a major host of national teams preparing for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The Maldives National Olympic Committee based its competing athletes in the town and borough, while Paralympic athletes from Angola, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Lesotho, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda were also be based in the area. With the exception of Weymouth (which hosted various sailing events) Bedford accommodated more Olympic teams in 2012 than any other town or borough in the United Kingdom. Public services. Bedford Hospital is a district general hospital that operates from two sites in the town, providing a wide range of services, although patients requiring advanced health services are referred to specialist units elsewhere, particularly Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, which has a partnership with Bedford Hospital. Bedford Hospital's catchment area is based on the Borough of Bedford and parts of Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire Police is responsible for policing in Bedford, and operates a main police station in the town centre. Fire and rescue services in Bedford are coordinated by the Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. Bedford's fire station is in the Newnham area of the town, and is staffed 24 hours a day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69811

Lillie Langtry

Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer. Born on the island of Jersey, upon marrying she moved to London in 1876. Her looks and personality attracted interest, commentary, and invitations from artists and society hostesses, and she was celebrated as a young woman of great beauty and charm. During the aesthetic movement in England she was painted by aesthete artists, and in 1882 she became the poster-girl for Pears Soap, becoming the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product. In 1881, Langtry became an actress and made her West End debut in the comedy "She Stoops to Conquer", causing a sensation in London by becoming the first socialite to appear on stage. She would go on to star in many plays in both the United Kingdom and the United States, including "The Lady of Lyons", and Shakespeare's "As You Like It", eventually running her own stage production company. In later life she performed "dramatic sketches" in vaudeville. From the mid-1890s until 1919 Langtry lived at Regal Lodge at Newmarket in Suffolk, England, where she maintained a successful horse racing stable; the Lillie Langtry Stakes horse race is named after her. One of the most glamorous British women of her era, Langtry was the subject of widespread public and media interest. Her acquaintances in London included Oscar Wilde, who encouraged Langtry to pursue acting. She was known for her relationships with royal figures and noblemen, including the future King Edward VII, Lord Shrewsbury, and Prince Louis of Battenberg. Biography. Born in 1853 and known as Lillie from childhood, she was the daughter of the Very Reverend William Corbet Le Breton and his wife, a recognised beauty, Emilie Davis (née Martin). Lillie's parents had eloped to Gretna Green in Scotland, and, in 1842, married at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, London. The couple lived in Southwark, London, before William was offered the post of rector and dean of Jersey. Emilie Charlotte (Lillie) was subsequently born at the Old Rectory, St Saviour, on Jersey. She was baptised in St Saviour on 9 November 1853. Lillie was the sixth of seven children and the only girl. Her brothers were Francis Corbet Le Breton (1843–1872), William Inglis Le Breton (1846–1924), Trevor Alexander Le Breton (1847–1870), Maurice Vavasour Le Breton (1849–1881), Clement Martin Le Breton (10 January 1851 – 1 July 1927), and Reginald Le Breton (1855–1876). Purportedly, one of their ancestors was Richard le Breton, allegedly one of the assassins in 1170 of Thomas Becket. Lillie's French governess was reputed to have been unable to manage her, so Lillie was educated by her brothers' tutor. This education was of a wider and more solid nature than that typically given to girls at that time. Although their father held the respectable position of Dean of Jersey, he earned an unsavoury reputation as a philanderer, fathering illegitimate children by various of his parishioners. When his wife Emilie finally left him in 1880, he left Jersey. From Jersey to London. On 9 March 1874, 20-year-old Lillie married 26-year-old Irish landowner Edward Langtry, a widower, who had previously been married to Jane Frances Price. She had been the sister of Elizabeth Ann Price, who had married Lillie's brother William. Lillie and Edward held their wedding reception at The Royal Yacht Hotel in St. Helier, Jersey. Langtry was wealthy enough to own a large sailing yacht called "Red Gauntlet", and Lillie insisted that he take her away from the Channel Islands. In 1876 they rented an apartment in Eaton Place, Belgravia, London, and early in 1878 they moved to 17 Norfolk Street off Park Lane to accommodate the growing demands of Lillie's society visitors. In an interview published in several newspapers (including the "Brisbane Herald") in 1882, Lillie Langtry said: It was through Lord Raneleigh and the painter Frank Miles that I was first introduced to London society ... I went to London and was brought out by my friends. Among the most enthusiastic of these was Mr Frank Miles, the artist. I learned afterwards that he saw me one evening at the theatre, and tried in vain to discover who I was. He went to his clubs and among his artist friends declaring he had seen a beauty, and he described me to everybody he knew, until one day one of his friends met me and he was duly introduced. Then Mr Miles came and begged me to sit for my portrait. I consented, and when the portrait was finished he sold it to Prince Leopold. From that time I was invited everywhere and made a great deal of by many members of the royal family and nobility. After Frank Miles I sat for portraits to Millais and Burne-Jones and now Frith is putting my face in one of his great pictures. In 1877 Lillie's brother Clement Le Breton married Alice, an illegitimate daughter of Thomas Heron Jones, 7th Viscount Ranelagh, who was a friend of their father; Ranelagh, following a chance meeting with Lillie in London, invited her to a reception attended by several noted artists at the home of Sir John and Lady Sebright at 23 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, which took place on 29 April 1877. Here she attracted notice for her beauty and wit. Langtry was in mourning for her youngest brother, who had been killed in a riding accident, so in contrast to the elaborate clothes of most women in attendance wore a simple black dress (which was to become her trademark) and no jewellery. Before the end of the evening, Frank Miles had completed several sketches of her that became very popular on postcards. Another guest, Sir John Everett Millais, also a Jersey native, eventually painted her portrait. Langtry's nickname, the "Jersey Lily", was taken from the Jersey lily flower ("Amaryllis belladonna"), a symbol of Jersey. The nickname was popularised by Millais' portrait, entitled "A Jersey Lily". (According to tradition, the two Jersey natives spoke Jèrriais to each other during the sittings.) The painting caused great interest when exhibited at the Royal Academy and had to be roped off to avoid damage by the crowds. Langtry was portrayed holding a Guernsey lily ("Nerine sarniensis") in the painting rather than a Jersey lily, as none of the latter was available during the sittings. A friend of Millais, Rupert Potter (father of Beatrix Potter), was a keen amateur photographer and took pictures of Lillie whilst she was visiting Millais in Scotland in 1879. She also sat for Sir Edward Poynter and is depicted in works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. She became much sought-after in London society, and invitations flooded in. Her fame soon reached royal ears. Royal mistress. The prince of Wales, Albert Edward (later Edward VII), arranged to sit next to Langtry at a dinner party given by Sir Allen Young on 24 May 1877. (Lillie's husband Edward was seated at the other end of the table.) Although the Prince was married to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and had six children, he was a well-known philanderer. He became infatuated with Langtry, and she soon became his mistress. She was presented to the Prince's mother, Queen Victoria. Princess Alexandra chose to never display any jealousy about her husband's infidelities and accepted and acknowledged Lillie. Lillie's liaison with the Prince lasted from late 1877 to June 1880. Although remaining friends with the Prince, Lillie Langtry's physical relationship with him ended when she became pregnant. The father was probably her old friend Arthur Jones, who accompanied her to Paris for the birth of the child, Jeanne Marie, in March 1881. In July 1879, Langtry began an affair with Lord Shrewsbury; in January 1880, Langtry and the earl were planning to run away together. In the autumn of 1879, scandal-mongering journalist Adolphus Rosenberg wrote in "Town Talk" of rumours that her husband would divorce her and cite, among others, the Prince of Wales as co-respondent. Rosenberg also wrote about Patsy Cornwallis-West, whose husband sued him for libel. At this point, the Prince of Wales instructed his solicitor George Lewis to sue also. Rosenberg pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to two years in prison. For some time, the Prince saw little of Langtry. He remained fond of her and spoke well of her in her later career as a theatre actress; he used his influence to help and encourage her. With the withdrawal of royal favour, creditors closed in. The Langtrys' finances were not equal to their lifestyle. In October 1880, Langtry sold many of her possessions to meet her debts, allowing Edward Langtry to avoid a declaration of bankruptcy. Daughter. In April 1879, Langtry had had a short affair with Prince Louis of Battenberg, but also had a longer relationship with Arthur Clarence Jones (1854–1930), the brother of her sister-in-law and another illegitimate child of Lord Ranelagh. In June 1880, she became pregnant. Her husband was not the father; she led Prince Louis to believe that he was. When the prince told his parents, they had him assigned to the warship . The Prince of Wales gave her a sum of money, and Langtry went into her confinement in Paris, accompanied by Arthur Jones. On 8 March 1881, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Jeanne Marie. The discovery in 1978 of Langtry's passionate letters to Arthur Jones and their publication by Laura Beatty in 1999 support the idea that Jones was the father of Langtry's daughter. Prince Louis' son, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, however, had always maintained that his father was the father of Jeanne Marie. In 1902, Jeanne Marie married the Scottish politician Sir Ian Malcolm at St Margaret's, Westminster. They had four children, three sons and a daughter. Jeanne Marie died in 1964. Her daughter Mary Malcolm was one of the first two female announcers on the BBC Television Service (now BBC One) from 1948 to 1956. She died on 13 October 2010, aged 92. Jeanne Marie's second son, Victor Neill Malcolm, married English actress Ann Todd. They divorced in the late 1930s. Victor Malcolm remarried in 1942, to an American, Mary Ellery Channing. Acting career and manager. In 1881, Langtry was in need of money. Her close friend Oscar Wilde suggested she try the stage, and Langtry embarked upon a theatrical career. She first auditioned for an amateur production in the Twickenham Town Hall on 19 November 1881. It was a comedy two-hander called "A Fair Encounter", with Henrietta Labouchère taking the other role and coaching Langtry in her acting. Labouchère had been a professional actress before she met and married Liberal MP Henry Labouchère. Following favourable reviews of this first attempt at the stage, and with further coaching, Langtry made her debut before the London public, playing Kate Hardcastle in "She Stoops to Conquer" at the West End's Haymarket Theatre in December 1881. Critical opinion was mixed, but she was a success with the public. She next performed in "Ours" at the same theatre. Although her affair with the Prince of Wales was over, he supported her new venture by attending several of her performances and helping attract an audience. Early in 1882, Langtry quit the production at the Haymarket and started her own company, touring the UK with various plays. She was still under the tutelage of Henrietta Labouchère.<ref name="Dudley 1958 Chapters 6/7/8"></ref> American impresario Henry Abbey arranged a tour in the United States for Langtry. She arrived in October 1882 to be met by the press and Oscar Wilde, who was in New York on a lecture tour. Her first appearance was eagerly anticipated, but the theatre burnt down the night before the opening; the show moved to another venue and opened the following week. Eventually, her production company started a coast-to-coast tour of the US, ending in May 1883 with a "fat profit." Before leaving New York, she had an acrimonious break with Henrietta Labouchère over Langtry's relationship with Frederick Gebhard, a wealthy young American. Her first tour of the US (accompanied by Gebhard) was an enormous success, which she repeated in subsequent years. While the critics generally condemned her interpretations of roles such as Pauline in "The Lady of Lyons" or Rosalind in "As You Like It", the public loved her. After her return from New York in 1883, Langtry registered at the Conservatoire in Paris for six weeks' intensive training to improve her acting technique. In 1889, she took on the part of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's "Macbeth." In 1903, she starred in the US in "The Crossways", written by her in collaboration with J. Hartley Manners, husband of actress Laurette Taylor. She returned to the US for tours in 1906 and again in 1912, appearing in vaudeville. She last appeared on stage in America in 1917. Later that year, she made her final appearance in the theatre in London. From 1900 to 1903, with financial support from Edgar Israel Cohen, Langtry became the lessee and manager of London's Imperial Theatre, opening on 21 April 1901, following an extensive refurbishment. On the site of the theatre is now the Westminster Central Hall. In a film released in 1913 directed by Edwin S. Porter, Langtry starred opposite Sidney Mason in the role of Mrs Norton in "His Neighbor's Wife" in what would be her only film appearance. Thoroughbred racing. For nearly a decade, from 1882 to 1891, Langtry had a relationship with an American, Frederick Gebhard, described as a young clubman, sportsman, horse owner, and admirer of feminine beauty, both on and off the stage. Gebhard's wealth was inherited; his maternal grandfather Thomas E. Davis was one of the wealthiest New York real estate owners of the period. His paternal grandfather, Dutchman Frederick Gebhard, came to New York in 1800 and developed a mercantile business that expanded into banking and railroad stocks. Gebhard's father died when he was 5 years old and his mother died when he was about 10. He and his sister, Isabelle, were raised by a guardian, paternal uncle William H Gebhard. With Gebhard, Langtry became involved in horse racing. In 1885, she and Gebhard brought a stable of American horses to race in England. On 13 August 1888, Langtry and Gebhard travelled in her private carriage attached to an Erie Railroad express train bound for Chicago. Another railcar was transporting 17 of their horses when it derailed at Shohola, Pennsylvania, at 1:40 am. Rolling down an embankment, it burst into flames. One person died in the fire, along with Gebhard's champion runner Eole and 14 racehorses belonging to him and Langtry. Two horses survived the wreck, including St. Saviour, full brother to Eole. He was named for St. Saviour's Church in Jersey. This was where Langtry's father had been rector and where she chose to be buried at her death. Despite speculation, Langtry and Gebhard never married. In 1895, he married Lulu Morris of Baltimore; they divorced in 1901. In 1905 he married Marie Wilson; he died in 1910. In 1889, Langtry met "an eccentric young bachelor, with vast estates in Scotland, a large breeding stud, a racing stable, and more money than he knew what to do with": this was George Alexander Baird or Squire Abington, as he came to be known. He inherited wealth from his grandfather, who with seven of his sons, had developed and prospered from coal and iron workings. Baird's father had died when he was a young boy, leaving him a fortune in trust. In addition, he inherited the estates of two wealthy uncles who had died childless. Langtry and Baird met at a racecourse when he gave her a betting tip and the stake money to place on the horse. The horse won and, at a later luncheon party, Baird also offered her the gift of a horse named Milford. She at first demurred, but others at the table advised her to accept, as this horse was a very fine prospect. The horse won several races under Langtry's colours; he was registered to "Mr Jersey" (women were excluded from registering horses at this time). Langtry became involved in a relationship with Baird, from 1891 until his death in March 1893. When Baird died, Langtry purchased two of his horses, Lady Rosebery and Studley Royal, at the estate dispersal sale. She moved her training to Sam Pickering's stables at Kentford House and took Regal Lodge as a residence in the village of Kentford, near Newmarket, Suffolk. The building is a short distance from Baird's original racehorse breeding establishment, which has since been renamed Meddler Stud. Langtry found mentors in Captain James Octavius Machell and Joe Thompson, who provided guidance on all matters related to the turf. When her trainer Pickering failed to deliver results, she moved her expanded string of 20 horses to Fred Webb at Exning. In 1899 James Machell sold his Newmarket stables to Colonel Harry Leslie Blundell McCalmont, a wealthy racehorse owner, who was Langtry's brother-in-law, having married Hugo de Bathe's sister Winifred in 1897. He was also related to Langtry's first husband, Edward, whose ship-owning grandfather George had married into the County Antrim Callwell family, being related in marriage to the McCalmonts. Told of a good horse for sale in Australia called Merman, she purchased it and had it shipped to England; such shipments were risky and she had a previous bad experience with a horse arriving injured (Maluma). Merman was regarded as one of the best stayers; he eventually went on to win the Lewes Handicap, the Cesarewitch, Jockey Club Cup, Goodwood Stakes, Goodwood Cup, and Ascot Gold Cup (with Tod Sloan up). Langtry later had a second Cesarewitch winner with Yentoi, and a third place with Raytoi. An imported horse from New Zealand called Uniform won the Lewes Handicap for her. Other trainers used by Langtry were Jack Robinson, who trained at Foxhill in Wiltshire, and a very young Fred Darling, whose first big success was Yentoi's 1908 Cesarewitch. Langtry owned a stud at Gazely, Newmarket. This venture was not a success. After a few years, she gave up attempts to breed blood-stock. Langtry sold Regal Lodge and all her horse-racing interests in 1919 before she moved to Monaco. Regal Lodge had been her home for twenty-three years and received many celebrated guests, notably the Prince of Wales. In honour of her contributions to thoroughbred racing, since 2014 the Glorious Goodwood meeting has held the Group 2 Lillie Langtry Stakes. William Gladstone. During her stage career, she became friendly with William Gladstone (1809–1898), who was the Prime Minister on four occasions during the reign of Queen Victoria. In her memoirs, Langtry says that she first met Gladstone when she was posing for her portrait at Millais' studio. They were later friends and he became a mentor to her. He told her, "In your professional career, you will receive attacks, personal and critical, just and unjust. Bear them, never reply, and, above all, never rush into print to explain or defend yourself." In 1925, Captain Peter Emmanuel Wright published a book called "Portraits and Criticisms". In it, he claimed that Gladstone had numerous extramarital affairs, including one with Langtry. Gladstone's son Herbert Gladstone wrote a letter calling Wright a liar, a coward and a fool; Wright sued him. During the trial, a telegram, sent by Langtry from Monte Carlo, was read out in court saying, "I strongly repudiate the slanderous accusations of Peter Wright." The jury found against Wright, saying that the "gist of the defendant's letter of 27 July was true" and that the evidence vindicated the high moral standards of the late Gladstone. American citizenship and divorce. In 1888, Langtry became a property owner in the United States when she and Frederick Gebhard purchased adjoining ranches in Lake County, California. She established a winery with an area of in Guenoc Valley, producing red wine. She sold it in 1906. Bearing the Langtry Farms name, the winery and vineyard are still in operation in Middletown, California. During her travels in the United States, Langtry became an American citizen and on 13 May 1897, divorced her husband Edward in Lakeport, California. Her ownership of land in America was introduced in evidence at her divorce to help demonstrate to the judge that she was a citizen of the country. In June of that year Edward Langtry issued a statement giving his side of the story, which was published in the "New York Journal." Edward died a few months later in Chester Asylum, after being found by police in a demented condition at Crewe railway station. His death was probably the result of a brain haemorrhage after a fall during a steamer crossing from Belfast to Liverpool. He was buried in Overleigh Cemetery; a verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest. A letter of condolence later written by Langtry to another widow reads in part, "I too have lost a husband, but alas! it was no great loss." Langtry continued to have involvement with her husband's Irish properties after his death. These were compulsorily purchased from her in 1928 under the Northern Ireland Land Act, 1925. This was passed after the Partition of Ireland, with the purpose of transferring certain lands from owners to tenants. Hugo Gerald de Bathe. After the divorce from her husband, Langtry was linked in the popular press to ; they shared time together and both had an interest in horse-racing. However, in 1899, she married 28-year-old Hugo Gerald de Bathe (1871–1940), son of Sir Henry de Bathe, 4th Baronet, and Charlotte Clare. Hugo's parents had initially not married, because of objections from the de Bathe family. They lived together and seven of their children were born out of wedlock. They married after the death of Sir Henry's father in 1870, and Hugo was their first son born in wedlock – making him heir to the baronetcy. The wedding between Langtry and de Bathe took place in St Saviour's Church, Jersey, on 27 July 1899, with Jeanne Marie Langtry being the only other person present, apart from the officials. This was the same day that Langtry's horse Merman won the Goodwood Cup. In December 1899, de Bathe volunteered to join the British forces in the Boer War. He was assigned to the Robert's Horse Mounted brigade as a lieutenant. In 1907, Hugo's father died; he became the 5th Baronet, and Langtry became Lady de Bathe. When Hugo de Bathe became the 5th Baronet, he inherited properties in Sussex, Devon and Ireland; those in Sussex were in the hamlet of West Stoke near Chichester. These were Woodend, with 17 bedrooms and set in 71 acres; Hollandsfield, with 10 bedrooms and set in 52 acres; and Balsom's Farm of 206 acres. Woodend was retained as the de Bathe residence whilst the smaller Hollandsfield was let. Today the buildings retain their period appearance, but modifications and additions have been made, and the complex is now multi-occupancy. One of the houses on the site is named Langtry and another Hardy. The de Bathe properties were all sold in 1919, the same year Lady de Bathe sold Regal Lodge. Final days. During her final years, Langtry, as Lady de Bathe, resided in Monaco whilst her husband, Sir Hugo de Bathe, lived in Vence, Alpes Maritimes. The two saw one another at social gatherings or in brief private encounters. During World War I, Hugo de Bathe was an ambulance driver for the French Red Cross. Langtry's closest companion during her time in Monaco was her friend Mathilde Marie Peat. Peat was at Langtry's side during the final days of her life as she was dying of pneumonia in Monte Carlo. Langtry left Peat £10,000, the Monaco property known as Villa le Lys, clothes, and her motor car. Langtry died in Monaco at dawn on 12 February 1929. She had asked to be buried in her parents' tomb at St. Saviour's Church in Jersey. Blizzards delayed the journey, but her body was taken to St Malo and across to Jersey on 22 February aboard the steamer "Saint Brieuc". Her coffin lay in St Saviour's overnight surrounded by flowers, and she was buried on the afternoon of 23 February. Bequests. In her will, Langtry left £2,000 to a young man of whom she had become fond in later life, named Charles Louis D'Albani; the son of a Newmarket solicitor, he was born in about 1891. She also left £1,000 to A. T. Bulkeley Gavin of 5 Berkeley Square, London, a physician and surgeon who treated wealthy patients. In 1911 he had been engaged to author Katherine Cecil Thurston, who died before they could marry; she had already changed her will in favour of Bulkeley Gavin. Cultural influence and portrayals. Langtry used her high public profile to endorse commercial products such as cosmetics and soap—an early example of celebrity endorsement. She used her famous ivory complexion to generate income, being the first woman to endorse a commercial product when she began advertising Pears Soap in 1882. The aesthetic movement in England became directly involved in advertising, and Pears (under advertising pioneer Thomas J. Barratt) recruited Langtry—who had been painted by aesthete artists—to promote their products, which included putting her "signature" on the advertisements. In the 1944 Universal film "The Scarlet Claw", Lillian Gentry, the first murder victim, wife of Lord William Penrose and former actress, is an oblique reference to Langtry. Langtry has been portrayed in two films. Lilian Bond played her in "The Westerner" (1940), and Ava Gardner in "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" (1972). Bean was played by Walter Brennan in the former, and by Paul Newman in the latter film. In 1978, Langtry's story was dramatised by London Weekend Television and produced as "Lillie", starring Francesca Annis in the title role (Annis received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress). Annis previously played Langtry in two episodes of ATV's "Edward the Seventh". Jenny Seagrove played her in the 1991 television film "Incident at Victoria Falls". Langtry is a featured character in the fictional "The Flashman Papers" novels of George MacDonald Fraser, in which she is noted as a former lover of arch-cad Harry Flashman, who, nonetheless, describes her as one of his few true loves. Langtry is suggested as an inspiration for Irene Adler, a character in the Sherlock Holmes fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In "A Scandal in Bohemia", Adler bests Holmes, perhaps the only woman to do so. Langtry is used as a touchstone for old-fashioned manners in Preston Sturges's comedy "The Lady Eve" (1941), in a scene where a corpulent woman drops a handkerchief on the floor and the hero ignores it. Jean (Barbara Stanwyck) begins to describe, comment, and anticipate the events that we see reflected in her hand mirror: "The dropped kerchief! That hasn't been used since Lillie Langtry ... you'll have to pick it up yourself, madam ... it's a shame, but he doesn't care for the flesh, he'll never see it." Lillie Langtry is the inspiration for The Who's 1967 hit single "Pictures of Lily", as mentioned in Pete Townshend's 2012 memoir "Who I Am". Dixie Carter portrays Langtry as a "songbird" and Brady Hawkes' love interest in Kenny Rogers' 1994 "", the last of the Gambler series for CBS that started in 1980. Langtry is depicted as a singer, not an actress, and Dixie Carter's costuming appears closer to Mae West than anything Langtry ever wore. In "The Simpsons" 1994 episode "Burns' Heir", the auditions are held in the Lillie Langtry Theater on Burns' estate. Langtry is a featured character in the play "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily" by Katie Forgette. In this work, she is blackmailed over her past relationship with the Prince of Wales, with intimate letters as proof. She and Oscar Wilde employ Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to investigate the matter. Places connected with Lillie Langtry. When first married (1874), Edward and Lillie Langtry had a property called Cliffe Lodge in Southampton, Hampshire. Langtry lived at 21 Pont Street, London, from 1890 to 1897, and had with her eight servants at the 1891 census. Although from 1895 the building was operated as the Cadogan Hotel, she would stay in her former bedroom there. A blue plaque (which erroneously states that she was born in 1852) on the hotel commemorates this, and the hotel's restaurant is named 'Langtry's' in her honour. A short walk from Pont Street was a house at number 2 Cadogan Place where she lived in 1899. From 1886 to 1894, she owned a house in Manhattan at 362 West 23rd Street, a gift from Frederick Gebhard. In 1938 the new owners of the Red House at 26 Derby Road, Bournemouth, which had been built in 1877 by the widowed women's rights campaigner and temperance activist Emily Langton Langton, converted the large house into a hotel, the Manor Heath Hotel, and advertised it as having been built for Lillie Langtry by the Prince of Wales, believing that the inscription 'E.L.L. 1877' in one of the rooms related to Lillie Langtry. A plaque placed on the hotel by Bournemouth Council confirmed the connection and in the late 1970s the hotel was renamed Langtry Manor. However, despite the hotel's claims and local legend, no actual association between Langtry and the house ever existed and the Prince never visited it. On 2 April 1965 the "Evening Standard" reported an interview with the former actress Electra Yaras (died 2010, aged 88) who, in the 1950s, had bought the lease of Leighton House, 103 Alexandra Road, South Hampstead, and who now claimed that Langtry had lived in the house and been regularly visited there by the Prince of Wales. Yaras claimed that she had herself several times been visited in the house by Langtry's ghost. On 11 April 1971 "The Hampstead News" said that the house had been built for Langtry by Lord Leighton. These claims, made to suggest an historical importance for the house and support its preservation, were supported by the actress Adrienne Corri and publicised in "The Times" of 8 October 1971 and "The Daily Telegraph" of 9 October 1971. They were given further publicity by Anita Leslie in 1973. The house was, however, demolished in 1971 to make way for the Alexandra Road Estate. In 2021 research revealed that the house had been built in the 1860s by Samuel Litchfield and probably named after his wife's birthplace of Leighton Buzzard, and lengthy work in local records by Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms has revealed no connection whatever with Lillie Langtry. Langtry is, however, further 'remembered' in the area in the names of Langtry Road, off Kilburn Priory; Langtry Walk in the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate, and by the Lillie Langtry public house at 121 Abbey Road (built in 1969 to replace The Princess of Wales and briefly called The Cricketers in 2007–11) as well as The Lillie Langtry at 19 Lillie Road in Fulham (though the road originally took its name from a local landowner John Scott Lillie). Langtry's London address from 1916 until at least 1920 was Cornwall Lodge, Allsop Place, Regent's Park. She gave this address when sailing on the liner "St Paul" across the Atlantic in August 1916, and the 1920 London electoral register has de Bathe, Emilie Charlotte (Lady), listed at the same address. A letter sold at auction in 2014 from Langtry to Dr. Harvey dated 1918 is also headed with this address. Langtry was a cousin of local politician Philip Le Breton, pioneer for the preservation of Hampstead Heath, whose wife was Anna Letitia Aikin. There are two bars in New York City devoted to the memory of Lillie Langtry, operating under the title Lillie's Victorian Establishment. Judge Roy Bean named the saloon The Jersey Lilly, which also served as the judge's courthouse, for her, in Langtry, Texas (named after the unrelated engineer George Langtry). Steam yacht "White Ladye". Langtry owned a luxury steam auxiliary yacht called "White Ladye" from 1891 to 1897. The yacht was built in 1891 for Lord Asburton by Ramage & Ferguson of Leith, Scotland, from a design by W. C. Storey. She had three masts, was 204 feet in length and 27 feet in breadth and was powered by a 142 hp steam engine. She had originally been named "Ladye Mabel". In 1893, Ogden Goelet leased the vessel from Langtry and used it until his death in 1897. Langtry put the "White Ladye" up for auction in November 1897 at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, London. It was sold to Scottish entrepreneur John Lawson Johnston, the creator of Bovril. He owned it until his death on board in 1900. From 1902 to 1903, the yacht was recorded in the Lloyd's Yacht Register as being owned by shipbuilder William Cresswell Gray, Tunstall Manor, West Hartlepool, and remained so until 1915. Following this the Lloyd's Register records that she became adapted as French trawler "La Champagne" based in Fécamp; she was broken up in 1935.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69894

Wales

Wales ( ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the southwest and the Bristol Channel to the south. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 3,107,494. It has a total area of and over of coastline. It is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was briefly united under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055. Wales is regarded as one of the Celtic nations. After over 200 years of war, the conquest of Wales by King Edward I of England was completed by 1283, though Owain Glyndŵr led the Welsh Revolt against English rule in the early 15th century, and briefly re-established an independent Welsh state with its own national parliament (). In the 16th century the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a nationalist party, , was formed in 1925, and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. A governing system of Welsh devolution is employed in Wales, of which the most major step was the formation of the (Welsh Parliament, formerly the National Assembly for Wales) in 1998, responsible for a range of . At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial one; the South Wales Coalfield's exploitation caused a rapid expansion of Wales's population. Two-thirds of the population live in South Wales, including Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and the nearby valleys. The eastern region of North Wales has about a sixth of the overall population, with Wrexham being the largest northern city. The remaining parts of Wales are sparsely populated. Now that the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, the economy is based on the public sector, light and service industries, and tourism. Agriculture in Wales is largely livestock based, making Wales a net exporter of animal produce, contributing towards national agricultural self-sufficiency. The country has a distinct national and cultural identity and from the late 19th century onwards Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the "eisteddfod" tradition and rousing choir singing. Both Welsh and English are official languages. A majority of the population in most areas speaks English whilst the majority of the population in parts of the north and west speak Welsh, with a total of 538,300 Welsh speakers across the entire country. Etymology. The English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same Old English root (singular , plural ), a descendant of Proto-Germanic , which was itself derived from the name of the Gauls known to the Romans as Volcae. This term was later used to refer indiscriminately to inhabitants of the Western Roman Empire. Anglo-Saxons came to use the term to refer to the Britons in particular; the plural form evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. Historically in Britain, the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the Welsh but were used to refer to anything that Anglo-Saxons associated with Britons, including other non-Germanic territories in Britain (e.g. Cornwall) and places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons (e.g. Walworth in County Durham and Walton in West Yorkshire). The modern Welsh name for themselves is , and is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced ) are descended from the Brythonic word "combrogi", meaning "fellow-countrymen", and probably came into use before the 7th century. In literature, they could be spelt or , regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of these names, "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cambria", survive as names such as the Cambrian Mountains and the Cambrian geological period. History. Prehistoric origins. Wales has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 29,000 years Continuous human habitation dates from the end of the last ice age, between 12,000 and 10,000 years before present (BP), when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from Central Europe began to migrate to Great Britain. At that time, sea levels were much lower than today. Wales was free of glaciers by about 10,250 BP, the warmer climate allowing the area to become heavily wooded. The post-glacial rise in sea level separated Wales and Ireland, forming the Irish Sea. By 8,000 BP the British Peninsula had become an island. By the beginning of the Neolithic () sea levels in the Bristol Channel were still about lower than today. The historian John Davies theorised that the story of Cantre'r Gwaelod's drowning and tales in the "Mabinogion", of the waters between Wales and Ireland being narrower and shallower, may be distant folk memories of this time. Neolithic colonists integrated with the indigenous people, gradually changing their lifestyles from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering, to become settled farmers about 6,000 BP – the Neolithic Revolution. They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land, developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production, and built cromlechs such as Pentre Ifan, Bryn Celli Ddu, and Parc Cwm long cairn between about 5,800 BP and 5,500 BP. Over the following centuries they assimilated immigrants and adopted ideas from Bronze Age and Iron Age Celtic cultures. Some historians, such as John T. Koch, consider Wales in the Late Bronze Age as part of a maritime trading-networked culture that included other Celtic nations. This "Atlantic-Celtic" view is opposed by others who hold that the Celtic languages derive their origins from the more easterly Hallstatt culture. By the time of the Roman invasion of Britain the area of modern Wales had been divided among the tribes of the Deceangli (north-east), Ordovices (north-west), Demetae (south-west), Silures (south-east) and Cornovii (east), centuries. Roman era. The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 48 and took 30 years to complete; the occupation lasted over 300 years. The campaigns of conquest were opposed by two native tribes: the Silures and the Ordovices. Caractacus or "Caradog", leader of the Ordovices, had initial success in resisting Roman invasions of north Wales but was eventually defeated. Roman rule in Wales was a military occupation, save for the southern coastal region of south Wales, where there is a legacy of Romanisation. The only town in Wales founded by the Romans, Caerwent, is in south east Wales. Both Caerwent and Carmarthen, also in southern Wales, became Roman "civitates". Wales had a rich mineral wealth. The Romans used their engineering technology to extract large amounts of gold, copper and lead, as well as lesser amounts of zinc and silver. No significant industries were located in Wales in this time; this was largely a matter of circumstance as Wales had none of the necessary materials in suitable combination, and the forested, mountainous countryside was not amenable to industrialisation. Latin became the official language of Wales, though the people continued to speak in Brythonic. While Romanisation was far from complete, the upper classes came to consider themselves Roman, particularly after the ruling of 212 that granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the Empire. Further Roman influence came through the spread of Christianity, which gained many followers when Christians were allowed to worship freely; state persecution ceased in the 4th century, as a result of Constantine I issuing an edict of toleration in 313. Early historians, including the 6th-century cleric Gildas, have noted 383 as a significant point in Welsh history. In that year, the Roman general Magnus Maximus, or Macsen Wledig, stripped Britain of troops to launch a successful bid for imperial power, continuing to rule Britain from Gaul as emperor, and transferring power to local leaders. The earliest Welsh genealogies cite Maximus as the founder of several royal dynasties, and as the father of the Welsh Nation. He is given as the ancestor of a Welsh king on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected nearly 500 years after he left Britain, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales. Post-Roman era. The 400-year period following the collapse of Roman rule is the most difficult to interpret in the history of Wales. After the Roman departure in AD 410, much of the lowlands of Britain to the east and south-east was overrun by various Germanic peoples, commonly known as Anglo-Saxons. Some have theorized that the cultural dominance of the Anglo-Saxons was due to apartheid-like social conditions in which the Britons were at a disadvantage. By AD 500 the land that would become Wales had divided into a number of kingdoms free from Anglo-Saxon rule. The kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, Dyfed, Caredigion, Morgannwg, the Ystrad Tywi, and Gwent emerged as independent Welsh successor states. Archaeological evidence, in the Low Countries and what was to become England, shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain reversed between 500 and 550, which concurs with Frankish chronicles. John Davies notes this as consistent with a victory for the Celtic Britons at Badon Hill against the Saxons, which was attributed to Arthur by Nennius. Having lost much of what is now the West Midlands to Mercia in the 6th and early 7th centuries, a resurgent late-7th-century Powys checked Mercian advances. Aethelbald of Mercia, looking to defend recently acquired lands, had built Wat's Dyke. According to Davies, this had been with the agreement of king Elisedd ap Gwylog of Powys, as this boundary, extending north from the valley of the River Severn to the Dee estuary, gave him Oswestry. Another theory, after carbon dating placed the dyke's existence 300 years earlier, is that it was built by the post-Roman rulers of Wroxeter. King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this initiative when he created a larger earthwork, now known as Offa's Dyke (). Davies wrote of Cyril Fox's study of Offa's Dyke: "In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east, leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh; near Rhiwabon, it was designed to ensure that Cadell ap Brochwel retained possession of the Fortress of Penygadden." And, for Gwent, Offa had the dyke built "on the eastern crest of the gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the River Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent." However, Fox's interpretations of both the length and purpose of the Dyke have been questioned by more recent research. In 853, the Vikings raided Anglesey, but in 856, Rhodri Mawr defeated and killed their leader, Gorm. The Celtic Britons of Wales made peace with the Vikings and Anarawd ap Rhodri allied with the Norsemen occupying Northumbria to conquer the north. This alliance later broke down and Anarawd came to an agreement with Alfred, king of Wessex, with whom he fought against the west Welsh. According to , in 894, "Anarawd came with the Angles and laid waste Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi." The southern and eastern parts of Great Britain lost to English settlement became known in Welsh as (Modern Welsh ), which may have referred to the kingdom of Mercia originally and which came to refer to England as a whole. The Germanic tribes who now dominated these lands were invariably called , meaning "Saxons". The Anglo-Saxons called the Romano-British , meaning 'Romanised foreigner' or 'stranger'. The Welsh continued to call themselves (Brythons or Britons) well into the Middle Ages, though the first written evidence of the use of and is found in a praise poem to (, by ) . In , believed to be written around 930–942, the words and are used as often as 15 times. However, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement onwards, the people gradually begin to adopt the name over . From 800 onwards, a series of dynastic marriages led to 's ( 844–77) inheritance of and . His sons founded the three dynasties of ( for , for and for ). 's grandson (r. 900–50) founded out of his maternal and paternal inheritances of and in 930, ousted the dynasty from and and then codified Welsh law in the 940s. High to late middle ages. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the only ruler to unite all of Wales under his rule, described by one chronicler after his death as king of Wales. In 1055 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn killed his rival Gruffydd ap Rhydderch in battle and recaptured . Originally king of Gwynedd, by 1057 he was ruler of Wales and had annexed parts of England around the border. He ruled Wales with no internal battles. His territories were again divided into the traditional kingdoms. John Davies states that was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of . For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor." Owain Gwynedd (1100–70) of the Aberffraw line was the first Welsh ruler to use the title (prince of the Welsh), a title of substance given his victory on the Berwyn Mountains, according to Davies. During this time, between 1053 and 1063, Wales lacked any internal strife and was at peace. Within four years of the Battle of Hastings (1066), England had been completely subjugated by the Normans. William I of England established a series of lordships, allocated to his most powerful warriors, along the Welsh border, their boundaries fixed only to the east (where they met other feudal properties inside England). Starting in the 1070s, these lords began conquering land in southern and eastern Wales, west of the River Wye. The frontier region, and any English-held lordships in Wales, became known as , the Welsh Marches, in which the Marcher lords were subject to neither English nor Welsh law. The extent of the March varied as the fortunes of the Marcher lords and the Welsh princes ebbed and flowed. 's grandson (the Great, 1173–1240), received the fealty of other Welsh lords in 1216 at the council at , becoming in effect the first prince of Wales. His grandson secured the recognition of the title "Prince of Wales" from Henry III with the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. Subsequent disputes, including the imprisonment of 's wife Eleanor, culminated in the first invasion by King Edward I of England. As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of Aberconwy exacted 's fealty to England in 1277. Peace was short-lived, and, with the 1282 Edwardian conquest, the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With 's death and his brother prince 's execution, the few remaining Welsh lords did homage to Edward I. The Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 provided the constitutional basis for a post-conquest government of the Principality of North Wales from 1284 until 1535/36. It defined Wales as "annexed and united" to the English Crown, separate from England but under the same monarch. The king ruled directly in two areas: the Statute divided the north and delegated administrative duties to the Justice of Chester and Justiciar of North Wales, and further south in western Wales the King's authority was delegated to the Justiciar of South Wales. The existing royal lordships of Montgomery and remained unchanged. To maintain his dominance, Edward constructed a series of castles: Beaumaris, , Harlech and . His son, the future Edward II, was born at in 1284. He became the first English prince of Wales in 1301, which at the time provided an income from northwest Wales known as the Principality of Wales. After the failed revolt in 1294–95 of – who styled himself Prince of Wales in the Penmachno Document – and the rising of (1316), the last uprising was led by , against Henry IV of England. In 1404, was crowned prince of Wales in the presence of emissaries from France, Spain (Castille) and Scotland. went on to hold parliamentary assemblies at several Welsh towns, including a Welsh parliament () at . The rebellion was eventually defeated by 1412. Having failed went into hiding and nothing was known of him after 1413. The penal laws against the Welsh of 1401–02 passed by the English parliament made the Welsh second-class citizens. With hopes of independence ended, there were no further wars or rebellions against English colonial rule and the laws remained on the statute books until 1624. Henry Tudor (born in Wales in 1457) seized the throne of England from Richard III in 1485, uniting England and Wales under one royal house. The last remnants of Celtic-tradition Welsh law were abolished and replaced by English law by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 during the reign of Henry VII's son, Henry VIII. In the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, Wales became unified with the kingdom of England; the "Principality of Wales" began to refer to the whole country, though it remained a "principality" only in a ceremonial sense. The Marcher lordships were abolished, and Wales began electing members of the Westminster parliament. Early modern period. In 1536 Wales had around 278,000 inhabitants, which increased to around 360,000 by 1620. This was primarily due to rural settlement, where animal farming was central to the Welsh economy. Increase in trade and increased economic stability occurred due to the increased diversity of the Welsh economy. Population growth however outpaced economic growth and the standard of living dropped. Prior to the Industrial Revolution in Wales, there were small-scale industries scattered throughout Wales. These ranged from those connected to agriculture, such as milling and the manufacture of woollen textiles, through to mining and quarrying. Agriculture remained the dominant source of wealth. The emerging industrial period saw the development of copper smelting in the Swansea area. With access to local coal deposits and a harbour that connected it with Cornwall's copper mines in the south and the large copper deposits at Parys Mountain on Anglesey, Swansea developed into the world's major centre for non-ferrous metal smelting in the 19th century. The second metal industry to expand in Wales was iron smelting, and iron manufacturing became prevalent in both the north and the south of the country. In the north, John Wilkinson's Ironworks at Bersham was a major centre, while in the south, at Merthyr Tydfil, the ironworks of Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Plymouth and Penydarren became the most significant hub of iron manufacture in Wales. By the 1820s, south Wales produced 40 per cent of all Britain's pig iron. By the 18th century, lawyers, doctors, estate agents and government officials formed a bourgeoisie with sizeable houses. In the late 18th century, slate quarrying began to expand rapidly, most notably in North Wales. The Penrhyn Quarry, opened in 1770 by Richard Pennant, was employing 15,000 men by the late 19th century, and along with Dinorwic Quarry, it dominated the Welsh slate trade. Although slate quarrying has been described as "the most Welsh of Welsh industries", it is coal mining which became the industry synonymous with Wales and its people. Initially, coal seams were exploited to provide energy for local metal industries but, with the opening of canal systems and later the railways, Welsh coal mining saw an explosion in demand. As the South Wales coalfield was exploited, Cardiff, Swansea, Penarth and Barry grew as world exporters of coal. By its height in 1913, Wales was producing almost 61 million tons of coal. Modern period. Historian Kenneth Morgan described Wales on the eve of the First World War as a "relatively placid, self-confident and successful nation". The output from the coalfields continued to increase, with the Rhondda Valley recording a peak of 9.6 million tons of coal extracted in 1913. The First World War (1914–1918) saw a total of 272,924 Welshmen under arms, representing 21.5 per cent of the male population. Of these, roughly 35,000 were killed, with particularly heavy losses of Welsh forces at Mametz Wood on the Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele. The first quarter of the 20th century also saw a shift in the political landscape of Wales. Since 1865, the Liberal Party had held a parliamentary majority in Wales and, following the general election of 1906, only one non-Liberal Member of Parliament, Keir Hardie of Merthyr Tydfil, represented a Welsh constituency at Westminster. Yet by 1906, industrial dissension and political militancy had begun to undermine Liberal consensus in the southern coalfields. In 1916, David Lloyd George became the first Welshman to become Prime Minister of Britain. In December 1918, Lloyd George was re-elected at the head of a Conservative-dominated coalition government, and his poor handling of the 1919 coal miners' strike was a key factor in destroying support for the Liberal party in south Wales. The industrial workers of Wales began shifting towards the Labour Party. When in 1908 the Miners' Federation of Great Britain became affiliated to the Labour Party, the four Labour candidates sponsored by miners were all elected as MPs. By 1922, half the Welsh seats at Westminster were held by Labour politicians—the start of a Labour dominance of Welsh politics that continued into the 21st century. After economic growth in the first two decades of the 20th century, Wales's staple industries endured a prolonged slump from the early 1920s to the late 1930s, leading to widespread unemployment and poverty. For the first time in centuries, the population of Wales went into decline; unemployment reduced only with the production demands of the Second World War. The war saw Welsh servicemen and women fight in all major theatres, with some 15,000 of them killed. Bombing raids brought high loss of life as the German Air Force targeted the docks at Swansea, Cardiff and Pembroke. After 1943, 10 per cent of Welsh conscripts aged 18 were sent to work in the coal mines, where there were labour shortages; they became known as Bevin Boys. Pacifist numbers during both World Wars were fairly low, especially in the Second World War, which was seen as a fight against fascism. Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925, seeking greater autonomy or independence from the rest of the UK. The term "England and Wales" became common for describing the area to which English law applied, and in 1955 Cardiff was proclaimed as Wales's capital. "Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg" (The Welsh Language Society) was formed in 1962, in response to fears that the language might soon die out. Nationalist sentiment grew following the flooding of the Tryweryn valley in 1965 to create a reservoir to supply water to the English city of Liverpool. Although 35 of the 36 Welsh MPs voted against the bill (one abstained), Parliament passed the bill and the village of Capel Celyn was submerged, highlighting Wales's powerlessness in her own affairs in the face of the numerical superiority of English MPs in Parliament. Separatist groupings, such as the Free Wales Army and "Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru" were formed, conducting campaigns from 1963. Prior to the investiture of Charles in 1969, these groups were responsible for a number of bomb attacks on infrastructure. At a by-election in 1966, Gwynfor Evans won the parliamentary seat of Carmarthen, Plaid Cymru's first Parliamentary seat. By the end of the 1960s, the policy of bringing businesses into disadvantaged areas of Wales through financial incentives had proven very successful in diversifying the industrial economy. This policy, begun in 1934, was enhanced by the construction of industrial estates and improvements in transport communications, most notably the M4 motorway linking south Wales directly to London. It was believed that the foundations for stable economic growth had been firmly established in Wales during this period, but this was shown to be optimistic after the recession of the early 1980s saw the collapse of much of the manufacturing base that had been built over the preceding forty years. Devolution. The Welsh Language Act 1967 repealed a section of the Wales and Berwick Act and thus "Wales" was no longer part of the legal definition of England. This essentially defined Wales as a separate entity legally (but within the UK), for the first time since before the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 which defined Wales as a part of the Kingdom of England. The Welsh Language Act 1967 also expanded areas where use of Welsh was permitted, including in some legal situations. In a referendum in 1979, Wales voted against the creation of a Welsh assembly with an 80 per cent majority. In 1997, a second referendum on the same issue secured a very narrow majority (50.3 per cent). The National Assembly for Wales ("Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru") was set up in 1999 (under the Government of Wales Act 1998) with the power to determine how Wales's central government budget is spent and administered, although the UK Parliament reserved the right to set limits on its powers. The governments of the United Kingdom and of Wales almost invariably define Wales as a country. The Welsh Government says: "Wales is not a Principality. Although we are joined with England by land, and we are part of Great Britain, Wales is a country in its own right." The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c 32) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the National Assembly for Wales and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system of government with a separate executive drawn from and accountable to the legislature. Following a successful referendum in 2011 on extending the law making powers of the National Assembly it is now able to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all matters in devolved subject areas, without needing the UK Parliament's agreement. In the 2016 referendum, Wales voted in support of leaving the European Union, although demographic differences became evident. According to Danny Dorling, professor of geography at Oxford University, votes for Leave may have been boosted by the large proportion (21 per cent) of retired English people living in Wales. After the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020, the National Assembly was renamed "" (in Welsh) and the "Welsh Parliament" (in English), which was seen as a better reflection of the body's expanded legislative powers. In 2016, YesCymru was launched. A non party-political campaign for an independent Wales which held its first rally in Cardiff in 2019. An opinion poll in March 2021 showed a record 39 per cent support for Welsh independence when excluding don't knows. Welsh language. The Welsh language () is an Indo-European language of the Celtic family; the most closely related languages are Cornish and Breton. Most linguists believe that the Celtic languages arrived in Britain around 600 BCE. The Brythonic languages ceased to be spoken in England and were replaced by the English language, which arrived in Wales around the end of the eighth century due to the defeat of the Kingdom of Powys. The Bible translations into Welsh and the Protestant Reformation, which encouraged use of the vernacular in religious services, helped the language survive after Welsh elites abandoned it in favour of English in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Successive Welsh Language Acts, in 1942, 1967 and 1993, improved the legal status of Welsh. The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 modernised the 1993 Welsh Language Act and gave Welsh an official status in Wales for the first time, a major landmark for the language. The Measure also created the post of Welsh Language Commissioner, replacing the Welsh Language Board. Following the referendum in 2011, the Official Languages Act became the first Welsh law to be created in 600 years, according to the First Minister at the time, Carwyn Jones. This law was passed by Welsh Assembly members (AMs) only and made Welsh an official language of the National Assembly. Starting in the 1960s, many road signs have been replaced by bilingual versions. Various public and private sector bodies have adopted bilingualism to a varying degree and (since 2011) Welsh is the only official ("de jure") language in any part of Great Britain. Government and politics. Wales is a country that is part of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom. Constitutionally, the UK is a "de jure" unitary state, with a parliament and government in Westminster. Wales has a devolved, unicameral legislature known as the Senedd (Senedd Cymru - Welsh Parliament) which holds devolved powers from the UK Parliament via a reserved powers model. For the purposes of local government, Wales has been divided into 22 council areas since 1996. These "principal areas" are responsible for the provision of all local government services. In the House of Commons – the 650-member lower house of the UK Parliament – there are 40 members of Parliament (MPs) who represent Welsh constituencies. At the 2019 general election, 22 Labour and Labour Co-op MPs were elected, along with 14 Conservative MPs and 4 Plaid Cymru MPs from Wales. The Wales Office is a department of the UK government responsible for Wales, whose minister, the secretary of state for Wales (Welsh secretary), sits in the UK cabinet. Devolved Government. Following devolution in 1997, the Government of Wales Act 1998 created a Welsh devolved assembly, the National Assembly for Wales, with the power to determine how Wales's central government budget is spent and administered. Eight years later, the Government of Wales Act 2006 reformed the National Assembly for Wales and allowed further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act also created a system of government with a separate executive, the Welsh Government, drawn from and accountable to the legislature, the National Assembly. Following a successful referendum in 2011, the National Assembly was empowered to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all matters in devolved subject areas, without requiring the UK Parliament's approval of legislative competence. It also gained powers to raise taxes. In May 2020, the National Assembly was renamed "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament", commonly known as the Senedd in both English and Welsh. Devolved areas of responsibility include agriculture, economic development, education, health, housing, local government, social services, tourism, transport and the Welsh language. The Welsh Government also promotes Welsh interests abroad. Law. By tradition, Welsh Law was compiled during an assembly held at Whitland around 930 by Hywel Dda, king of most of Wales between 942 and his death in 950. The 'law of Hywel Dda' (), as it became known, codified the previously existing folk laws and legal customs that had evolved in Wales over centuries. Welsh Law emphasised the payment of compensation for a crime to the victim, or the victim's kin, rather than punishment by the ruler. Other than in the Marches, where March law was imposed by the Marcher Lords, Welsh Law remained in force in Wales until the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. Edward I of England annexed the Principality of Wales following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and Welsh Law was replaced for criminal cases under the Statute. Marcher Law and Welsh Law (for civil cases) remained in force until Henry VIII of England annexed the whole of Wales under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 (often referred to as the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1543), after which English law applied to the whole of Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales (and the Anglo-Scottish border town of Berwick) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise; this Act was repealed with regard to Wales in 1967. English law has been the legal system of England and Wales since 1536. English law is regarded as a common law system, with no major codification of the law and legal precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. The court system is headed by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which is the highest court of appeal in the land for criminal and civil cases. The Senior Courts of England and Wales is the highest court of first instance as well as an appellate court. The three divisions are the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, and the Crown Court. Minor cases are heard by magistrates' courts or the County Court. In 2007 the Wales and Cheshire Region (known as the Wales and Cheshire Circuit before 2005) came to an end when Cheshire was attached to the North-Western England Region. From that point, Wales became a legal unit in its own right, although it remains part of the single jurisdiction of England and Wales. The Senedd has the authority to draft and approve laws outside of the UK Parliamentary system to meet the specific needs of Wales. Under powers approved by a referendum held in March 2011, it is empowered to pass primary legislation, at the time referred to as an Act of the National Assembly for Wales but now known as an Act of Senedd Cymru in relation to twenty subjects listed in the Government of Wales Act 2006 such as health and education. Through this primary legislation, the Welsh Government can then also enact more specific subordinate legislation. Wales is served by four regional police forces: Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, North Wales Police, and South Wales Police. There are five prisons in Wales: four in the southern half of the country, and one in Wrexham. Wales has no women's prisons: female inmates are imprisoned in England. Geography and natural history. Wales is a generally mountainous country on the western side of central southern Great Britain. It is about north to south. The oft-quoted "size of Wales" is about . Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in all other directions: the Irish Sea to the north and west, St George's Channel and the Celtic Sea to the southwest and the Bristol Channel to the south. Wales has about of coastline (along the mean high water mark), including the mainland, Anglesey and Holyhead. Over 50 islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest being Anglesey, in the north-west. Much of Wales's diverse landscape is mountainous, particularly in the north and central regions. The mountains were shaped during the last ice age, the Devensian glaciation. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia (), of which five are over . The highest of these is Snowdon (), at . The 14 Welsh mountains, or 15 if including Carnedd Gwenllianoften discounted because of its low topographic prominenceover high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s and are located in a small area in the north-west. The highest outside the 3000s is Aran Fawddwy, at , in the south of Snowdonia. The Brecon Beacons () are in the south (highest point Pen y Fan, at ), and are joined by the Cambrian Mountains in Mid Wales (highest point Pumlumon, at ). Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, and Pembrokeshire Coast (). It has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Anglesey, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, the Gower Peninsula, the Llŷn Peninsula, and the Wye Valley. The Gower Peninsula was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956. As of 2019, the coastline of Wales had 40 Blue Flag beaches, three Blue Flag marinas and one Blue Flag boat operator. Despite its heritage and award-winning beaches, the south and west coasts of Wales, along with the Irish and Cornish coasts, are frequently blasted by Atlantic westerlies/south-westerlies that, over the years, have sunk and wrecked many vessels. In 1859 over 110 ships were destroyed off the coast of Wales in a hurricane that saw more than 800 lives lost across Britain. The greatest single loss occurred with the sinking of the "Royal Charter" off Anglesey in which 459 people died. The 19th century saw over 100 vessels lost with an average loss of 78 sailors per year. Wartime action caused losses near Holyhead, Milford Haven and Swansea. Because of offshore rocks and unlit islands, Anglesey and Pembrokeshire are still notorious for shipwrecks, most notably the "Sea Empress" oil spill in 1996. The first border between Wales and England was zonal, apart from around the River Wye, which was the first accepted boundary. Offa's Dyke was supposed to form an early distinct line but this was thwarted by Gruffudd ap Llewellyn, who reclaimed swathes of land beyond the dyke. The Act of Union of 1536 formed a linear border stretching from the mouth of the Dee to the mouth of the Wye. Even after the Act of Union, many of the borders remained vague and moveable until the Welsh Sunday Closing act of 1881, which forced local businesses to decide which country they fell within to accept either the Welsh or English law. Geology. The earliest geological period of the Palaeozoic era, the Cambrian, takes its name from the Cambrian Mountains, where geologists first identified Cambrian remnants. In the mid-19th century, Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick used their studies of Welsh geology to establish certain principles of stratigraphy and palaeontology. The next two periods of the Palaeozoic era, the Ordovician and Silurian, were named after ancient Celtic tribes from this area. Climate. Wales lies within the north temperate zone. It has a changeable, maritime climate and is one of the wettest countries in Europe. Welsh weather is often cloudy, wet and windy, with warm summers and mild winters. Flora and fauna. Wales's wildlife is typical of Britain with several distinctions. Because of its long coastline, Wales hosts a variety of seabirds. The coasts and surrounding islands are home to colonies of gannets, Manx shearwater, puffins, kittiwakes, shags and razorbills. In comparison, with 60 per cent of Wales above the 150m contour, the country also supports a variety of upland-habitat birds, including raven and ring ouzel. Birds of prey include the merlin, hen harrier and the red kite, a national symbol of Welsh wildlife. In total, more than 200 different species of bird have been seen at the RSPB reserve at Conwy, including seasonal visitors. Larger mammals, including brown bears, wolves and wildcats, died out during the Norman period. Today, mammals include shrews, voles, badgers, otters, stoats, weasels, hedgehogs and fifteen species of bat. Two species of small rodent, the yellow-necked mouse and the dormouse, are of special Welsh note being found at the historically undisturbed border area. The pine marten, which has been sighted occasionally, has been reintroduced in parts of Wales since 2015, having previously not been officially recorded since the 1950s. The polecat was nearly driven to extinction in Britain, but hung on in Wales and is now rapidly spreading. Feral goats can be found in Snowdonia. In March 2021, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) granted a licence to release up to six beavers in the Dyfi Valley, the first official beaver release in Wales. Believed to be home to some of Wales's rarest land invertebrates, some 2,500 disused coal tips are the subject of study by the Welsh Government; the tips are home to a wide variety of other wildlife. The waters of south-west Wales of Gower, Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay attract marine animals, including basking sharks, Atlantic grey seals, leatherback turtles, dolphins, porpoises, jellyfish, crabs and lobsters. Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, in particular, are recognised as an area of international importance for bottlenose dolphins, and New Quay has the only summer residence of bottlenose dolphins in the whole of the UK. River fish of note include char, eel, salmon, shad, sparling and Arctic char, whilst the gwyniad is unique to Wales, found only in Bala Lake. Wales is known for its shellfish, including cockles, limpet, mussels and periwinkles. Herring, mackerel and hake are the more common of the country's marine fish. The north facing high grounds of Snowdonia support a relict pre-glacial flora including the iconic Snowdon lily – "Gagea serotina" – and other alpine species such as "Saxifraga cespitosa", "Saxifraga oppositifolia" and "Silene acaulis". Wales has a number of plant species not found elsewhere in the UK, including the spotted rock-rose "Tuberaria guttata" on Anglesey and "Draba aizoides" on the Gower. Economy. Over the last 250 years, Wales has been transformed from a predominantly agricultural country to an industrial, and then to a post-industrial economy. In the 1950s, Wales's GDP was twice as big as Ireland’s; by the 2020s, Ireland's economy was four times that of Wales. Since the Second World War, the service sector has come to account for the majority of jobs, a feature typifying most advanced economies. in 2018, according to OECD and Eurostat data, gross domestic product (GDP) in Wales was £75 billion, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2017. GDP per head in Wales in 2018 was £23,866, an increase of 2.9 per cent on 2017. This compares to Italy’s GDP/capita of £25,000, Spain £22,000, Slovenia £20,000 and New Zealand £30,000. In the three months to December 2017, 72.7 per cent of working-age adults were employed, compared to 75.2 per cent across the UK as a whole. For the 2018–19 fiscal year, the Welsh fiscal deficit accounts for 19.4 per cent of Wales's estimated GDP. In 2019, Wales was a net exporter of electricity. It produced 27.9 TWh of electricity while only consuming 14.7 TWh. In 2021, the Welsh government said that more than half the country's energy needs were being met by renewable sources, 2 per cent of which was from 363 hydropower projects. By UK law, Wales contributes to items that do not directly benefit Wales e.g. over £5 billion for HS2 "which will damage the Welsh economy by £200m pa", according to the UK and Welsh Government's transport adviser Mark Barry. Wales also pays more in military costs than most similar-sized countries e.g. Wales pays twice the amount Ireland spends on the military. The UK government spends £1.75bn per year on the military in Wales, which is almost as much as Wales spends on education every year (£1.8 billion in 2018/19) and five times as much as the total amount spent on the police in Wales (£365 million). From the middle of the 19th century until the post-war era, the mining and export of coal was the dominant industry. At its peak of production in 1913, nearly 233,000 men and women were employed in the South Wales coalfield, mining 56 million tons of coal. Cardiff was once the largest coal-exporting port in the world and, for a few years before the First World War, handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool. In the 1920s, over 40 per cent of the male Welsh population worked in heavy industry. According to Phil Williams, the Great Depression "devastated Wales", north and south, because of its "overwhelming dependence on coal and steel". From the mid-1970s, the Welsh economy faced massive restructuring with large numbers of jobs in heavy industry disappearing and being replaced eventually by new ones in light industry and in services. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wales was successful in attracting an above average share of foreign direct investment in the UK. Much of the new industry was essentially of a "branch (or "screwdriver") factory" type where a manufacturing plant or call centre is in Wales but the most highly-paid jobs in the company are elsewhere. Poor-quality soil in much of Wales is unsuitable for crop-growing, so livestock farming has been the focus of farming. About 78 per cent of the land surface is used for agriculture. The Welsh landscape, with its three national parks and Blue Flag beaches, attracts large numbers of tourists, who bolster the economy of rural areas. Wales, like Northern Ireland, has relatively few high value-added employment in sectors such as finance and research and development, attributable in part to a comparative lack of "economic mass" (i.e. population) – Wales lacks a large metropolitan centre. The lack of high value-added employment is reflected in lower economic output per head relative to other regions of the UK: in 2002 it stood at 90 per cent of the EU25 average and around 80 per cent of the UK average. In June 2008, Wales made history by becoming the first nation to be awarded Fairtrade status. The pound sterling is the currency used in Wales. Numerous Welsh banks issued their own banknotes in the 19th century: the last bank to do so closed in 1908. Since then the Bank of England has had a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in Wales. The Commercial Bank of Wales, established in Cardiff by Sir Julian Hodge in 1971, was taken over by the Bank of Scotland in 1988 and absorbed into its parent company in 2002. The Royal Mint, which issues the coinage circulating through the whole of the UK, has been based at a single site in Llantrisant since 1980. Since decimalisation, in 1971, at least one of the coins in circulation emphasises Wales such as the 1995 and 2000 one pound coin (above). As at 2012, the last designs devoted to Wales saw production in 2008. During 2020, and well into 2021, the restrictions and lockdowns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors of the economy and "tourism and hospitality suffered notable losses from the pandemic" across the UK. As of 6 April 2021, visitors from "red list" countries were still not allowed to enter unless they were UK residents. Restrictions will "likely be in place until the summer", one report predicted, with June being the most likely time for tourism from other countries to begin a rebound. On 12 April 2021, many tourist facilities were still closed in Wales but non-essential travel between Wales and England was finally permitted. Wales also allowed non-essential retail stores to open.  Transport. The M4 motorway running from West London to South Wales links Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. Responsibility for the section of the motorway within Wales, from the Second Severn Crossing to Pont Abraham services, sits with the Welsh Government. The A55 expressway has a similar role along the North Wales coast, connecting Holyhead and Bangor with Wrexham and Flintshire. It also links to northwest England, principally Chester. The main north-south Wales link is the A470, which runs from Cardiff to Llandudno.Rail transport in Wales includes the Wales & Borders franchise, which is overseen by the Welsh Government with most passenger services operated by Transport for Wales Rail. The Cardiff region has its own urban rail network. Beeching cuts in the 1960s mean that most of the remaining network is geared toward east-west travel connecting with the Irish Sea ports for ferries to Ireland. Services between north and south Wales operate through the English cities of Chester and Hereford and towns of Shrewsbury, Gobowen for Oswestry and along the Welsh Marches Line, with trains on the Heart of Wales Line from Swansea to Llandovery, Llandrindod and Knighton connecting the Welsh March Line in Craven Arms. Trains in Wales are mainly diesel-powered but the South Wales Main Line branch of the Great Western Main Line used by services from London Paddington to Cardiff is undergoing electrification, although the programme has experienced significant delays and costs-overruns. A North-South railway has been suggested to better link North and South Wales. Cardiff Airport is the international airport of Wales. Providing links to European, African and North American destinations, it is about southwest of Cardiff city centre, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Intra-Wales flights used to run between Anglesey (Valley) and Cardiff, and were operated since 2017 by Eastern Airways., those flights are no longer, as of 2022, available. Other internal flights operate to northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales has four commercial ferry ports. Regular ferry services to Ireland operate from Holyhead, Pembroke Dock and Fishguard. The Swansea to Cork service was cancelled in 2006, reinstated in March 2010, and withdrawn again in 2012. Education. A distinct education system has developed in Wales. Formal education before the 18th century was the preserve of the elite. The first grammar schools were established in Welsh towns such as Ruthin, Brecon and Cowbridge. One of the first successful schooling systems was started by Griffith Jones, who introduced the circulating schools in the 1730s; these are believed to have taught half the country's population to read. In the 19th century, with increasing state involvement in education, Wales was forced to adopt an education system that was English in ethos even though the country was predominantly Non-conformist, Welsh-speaking and demographically uneven because of the economic expansion in the south. In some schools, to ensure Welsh children spoke English at school, the Welsh Not was employed as corrective punishment; this was much resented, although the extent of its use is difficult to determine. State and local governmental edicts resulted in schooling in the English language which, following the 1847 Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales – an event subsequently referred to as the Treachery of the Blue Books () – was seen as more academic and worthwhile for children. The University College of Wales opened in Aberystwyth in 1872. Cardiff and Bangor followed, and the three colleges came together in 1893 to form the University of Wales. The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 created 95 secondary schools. The Welsh Department for the Board of Education followed in 1907, which gave Wales its first significant educational devolution. A resurgence in Welsh-language schools in the latter half of the 20th century at nursery and primary level saw attitudes shift towards teaching in the medium of Welsh. Welsh is a compulsory subject in all of Wales's state schools for pupils aged 5–16 years old. While there has never been an exclusively Welsh-language college, Welsh-medium higher education is delivered through the individual universities and has since 2011 been supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh National College) as a delocalised federal institution. In 2021–2022, there were 1,470 maintained schools in Wales. In 2021–22, the country had 471,131 pupils taught by 25,210 full-time equivalent teachers. Healthcare. Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales (), through seven local health boards and three all-Wales trusts. It was originally formed as part of the NHS structure for England and Wales by the National Health Service Act 1946, but with powers over the NHS in Wales coming under the Secretary of State for Wales in 1969. Responsibility for NHS Wales passed to the Welsh Assembly under devolution in 1999, and is now the responsibility of the Minister for Health and Social Services. Historically, Wales was served by smaller 'cottage' hospitals, built as voluntary institutions. As newer, more expensive, diagnostic techniques and treatments became available, clinical work has been concentrated in newer, larger district hospitals. In 2006, there were seventeen district hospitals in Wales. NHS Wales directly employs over 90,000 staff, making it Wales's biggest employer. The National Survey for Wales in 2021–22 reported that 72 per cent of adults surveyed had good or very good general health, 19 per cent had fair general health and 8 had bad or very bad general health. The survey recorded that 46 per cent of Welsh adults had a long-standing illness, such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes or heart disease. The survey also reported that 13 per cent of the adult population were smokers, 16 per cent admitted drinking alcohol above weekly recommended guidelines, while 56 per cent undertook the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity each week. According to the survey, 30 per cent of adults in Wales reported to have eaten at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables the previous day and 36 per cent reported a healthy weight. Demography. Population history. The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of the increase came in the coal mining districts, especially Glamorganshire, which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and 1,122,000 in 1911. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution, as death rates dropped and birth rates remained steady. However, there was also large-scale migration into Wales during the Industrial Revolution. The English were the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish and smaller numbers of other ethnic groups, including Italians, who migrated to South Wales. Wales also received immigration from various parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and Asian communities add to the ethnocultural mix, particularly in urban Wales. Many of these self-identify as Welsh. The population in 1972 stood at 2.74 million and remained broadly static for the rest of the decade. However, in the early 1980s, the population fell due to net migration out of Wales. Since the 1980s, net migration has generally been inward, and has contributed more to population growth than natural change. The resident population of Wales in 2021 according to the census was 3,107,500 (1,586,600 female and 1,521,000 male), an increase of 1.4 per cent over 2011. A decreased change from the 5 per cent increase between 2001 and 2011. Wales accounted for 5.2 per cent of the population of England and Wales in 2021. Wales has seven cities, those being Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and Wrexham, with the communities of Bangor, St Asaph and St Davids also having city status in the United Kingdom. Wrexham, north Wales's largest settlement, became Wales's newest and seventh city in September 2022. Language. Welsh is an official language in Wales as legislated by the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. Both Welsh and English are also official languages of the Senedd. The proportion of the Welsh population able to speak the Welsh language fell from just under 50 per cent in 1901 to 43.5 per cent in 1911, and continued to fall to a low of 18.9 per cent in 1981. The results of the 2001 Census showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21 per cent of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7 per cent in 1991 and 19 per cent in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century. In the 2011 census it was recorded that the proportion of people able to speak Welsh had dropped from 20.8 per cent to 19 per cent (still higher than 1991). Despite an increase in the overall size of the Welsh population this still meant that the number of Welsh speakers in Wales dropped from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011. However this figure was still much higher than 508,000 or 18.7 per cent of people who said they could speak Welsh in the 1991 census. According to the 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 17.8 per cent (538,300 people) and nearly three quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 29.7 per cent (899,500) of people aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in June 2022. English is spoken by almost all people in Wales and is the main language in most of the country. Code-switching is common in all parts of Wales and is known by various terms, though none is recognised by professional linguists. "Wenglish" is the Welsh English language dialect. It has been influenced significantly by Welsh grammar and includes words derived from Welsh. Northern and western Wales retain many areas where Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population, and English learnt as a second language. Although monoglotism in young children continues, life-long monoglotism in Welsh no longer occurs. Since Poland joined the European Union, Wales has seen a significant increase in Polish immigrants. This has made Polish the most common main language in Wales after English or Welsh, at 0.7 per cent of the population. Religion. Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the Wales for more than 1,400 years. The 2021 census recorded 46.5 per cent had "No religion", more than any single religious affiliation and up from 32.1 per cent in 2011. The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 43.6 per cent of the population describing themselves as Christian in the 2021 census. The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (), with Saint David's Day () celebrated annually on 1 March. The early 20th century saw a religious revival, the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival, which started through the evangelism of Evan Roberts and brought large numbers of converts, sometimes whole communities, to non-Anglican Christianity. The Church in Wales with 56,000 adherents has the largest attendance of the denominations. It is a province of the Anglican Communion, and was part of the Church of England until disestablishment in 1920 under the Welsh Church Act 1914. The first Independent Church in Wales was founded at Llanvaches in 1638 by William Wroth. The Presbyterian Church of Wales was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811. The second largest attending faith in Wales is Roman Catholic, with an estimated 43,000 adherents. Non-Christian religions are small in Wales, making up approximately 2.7 per cent of the population. Islam is the largest, with 24,000 (0.8 per cent) reported Muslims in the 2011 census. There are also communities of Hindus and Sikhs, mainly in the south Wales cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea, while the largest concentration of Buddhists is in the western rural county of Ceredigion. Judaism was the first non-Christian faith to be established in Wales since Roman times, though by 2001 the community had declined to approximately 2,000 and as of 2019 only numbers in the hundreds. Ethnicity. The 2021 census showed that 93.8 per cent of the population of Wales identified as "White", compared to 95.6 per cent in 2011. 90.6 per cent of the population identified as "White: Welsh, English, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" in 2021. The second-highest ethnicity in 2021 was "Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British" at 2.9 per cent of the population, compared to 2.3 per cent in 2011. 1.6 per cent of the population identified as "Mixed or multiple ethnic groups", compared to 1.0 per cent in 2011; 0.9 per cent of the population identified as "Black, Black Welsh, Black British, Caribbean or African", compared to 0.6 per cent in 2011; and 0.9 per cent identified as "Other ethnic group" compared to 0.5 per cent in 2011. The local authorities with the highest proportions of "high-level" ethnic groups other than "White" were mainly urban areas including Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. 5.3 per cent of households in Wales were multiple ethnic group households, up from 4.2 per cent in 2011. In 2021, the first statue of a named, non-fictional woman outdoors was raised for Wales's first black headteacher, Betty Campbell. In 2023, Patti Flynn (a contemporary of Shirley Bassey, both of Tiger Bay, Cardiff) became the first black Welsh woman to be awarded a purple plaque. National identity. The 2021 census showed that 55.2 per cent identified as "Welsh only" and 8.1 per cent identified as "Welsh and British", giving the combined proportion of 63.3 per cent for people identifying as Welsh. The Welsh Annual Population Survey showed that the proportion of people who identified as Welsh versus another identity was 62.3 per cent in 2022, compared to 69.2 per cent in 2001. A 2022 YouGov poll found that 21 per cent considered themselves Welsh not British, 15 per cent more Welsh than British, 24 per cent equally Welsh and British, 7 per cent more British than Welsh, 20 per cent British and not Welsh, and 8 per cent other; a total of 67 per cent thus considered themselves Welsh to some degree. Culture. Wales has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, holidays and music. There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales: The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd; Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal; the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape; and The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. Mythology. Remnants of native Celtic mythology of the pre-Christian Britons was passed down orally by the "cynfeirdd" (the early poets). Some of their work survives in later medieval Welsh manuscripts: the Black Book of Carmarthen and the Book of Aneirin (both 13th-century); the Book of Taliesin and the White Book of Rhydderch (both 14th-century); and the Red Book of Hergest (c. 1400). The prose stories from the White and Red Books are known as the "Mabinogion". Poems such as "Cad Goddeu" (The Battle of the Trees) and mnemonic list-texts like the "Welsh Triads" and the "Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain", also contain mythological material. These texts include the earliest forms of the Arthurian legend and the traditional history of post-Roman Britain. Other sources of Welsh folklore include the 9th-century Latin historical compilation "Historia Britonum" (the History of the Britons) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century Latin chronicle (the History of the Kings of Britain), and later folklore, such as "The Welsh Fairy Book" by W. Jenkyn Thomas. Literature. Wales has one of the oldest unbroken literary traditions in Europe going back to the sixth century and including Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales, regarded as among the finest Latin authors of the Middle Ages. The earliest body of Welsh verse, by poets Taliesin and Aneirin, survive not in their original form, but in much-changed, medieval versions. Welsh poetry and native lore and learning survived the Dark Ages, through the era of the Poets of the Princes (c. 1100–1280) and then the Poets of the Gentry (c. 1350–1650). The former were professional poets who composed eulogies and elegies to their patrons while the latter favoured the cywydd metre. The period produced one of Wales's greatest poets, Dafydd ap Gwilym. After the Anglicisation of the gentry the tradition declined. Despite the extinction of the professional poet, the integration of the native elite into a wider cultural world did bring other literary benefits. Renaissance scholars such as William Salesbury and John Davies brought humanist ideals from English universities. In 1588 William Morgan became the first person to translate the Bible into Welsh. From the 16th century the proliferation of the 'free-metre' verse became the most important development in Welsh poetry, but from the middle of the 17th century a host of imported accentual metres from England became very popular. By the 19th century the creation of a Welsh epic, fuelled by the eisteddfod, became an obsession with Welsh-language writers. The output of this period was prolific in quantity but unequal in quality. Initially excluded, religious denominations came to dominate the competitions, with bardic themes becoming scriptural and didactic. Developments in 19th-century Welsh literature include Lady Charlotte Guest's translation into English of the Mabinogion, one of the most important medieval Welsh prose works of Celtic mythology. 1885 saw the publication of "Rhys Lewis" by Daniel Owen, credited as the first novel written in the Welsh language. The 20th century saw a move from the verbose Victorian Welsh style, with works such as Thomas Gwynn Jones's "Ymadawiad Arthur". The First World War had a profound effect on Welsh literature with a more pessimistic style championed by T. H. Parry-Williams and R. Williams Parry. The industrialisation of south Wales saw a further shift with the likes of Rhydwen Williams who used the poetry and metre of a bygone rural Wales but in the context of an industrial landscape. The inter-war period is dominated by Saunders Lewis, for his political and reactionary views as much as his plays, poetry and criticism. The careers of some 1930s writers continued after World War Two, including those of Gwyn Thomas, Vernon Watkins, and Dylan Thomas, whose most famous work "Under Milk Wood" was first broadcast in 1954. Thomas was one of the most notable and popular Welsh writers of the 20th century and one of the most innovative poets of his time. The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales differs from the previous generation, with greater sympathy for Welsh nationalism and the Welsh language. The change is linked to the nationalism of Saunders Lewis and the burning of the Bombing School on the Llŷn Peninsula in 1936. In poetry R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) was the most important figure throughout the second half of the twentieth century. He "did not learn the Welsh language until he was 30 and wrote all his poems in English". Major writers in the second half of the twentieth century include Emyr Humphreys (born 1919), who during his long writing career published over twenty novels, and Raymond Williams (1921–1988). Museums and libraries. Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales was founded by royal charter in 1907 as the National Museum of Wales. It operates at seven sites: National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National History Museum, Big Pit National Coal Museum, National Wool Museum, National Slate Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, and the National Waterfront Museum. Entry to all sites is free. The National Library of Wales, based in Aberystwyth, houses important collections of printed works, including the Sir John Williams Collection and the Shirburn Castle collection, as well as art collections including portraits and photographs, ephemera and Ordnance Survey maps. Visual arts. Works of Celtic art have been found in Wales. In the Early Medieval period, the Celtic Christianity of Wales was part of the Insular art of the British Isles. A number of illuminated manuscripts survive, including the 8th-century Hereford Gospels and Lichfield Gospels. The 11th-century Ricemarch Psalter (now in Dublin) is certainly Welsh, made in St David's, and shows a late Insular style with unusual Viking influence. Some Welsh artists of the 16th–18th centuries tended to leave the country to work, moving to London or Italy. Richard Wilson (1714–1782) is arguably the first major British landscapist; although more notable for his Italian scenes, he painted several Welsh scenes on visits from London. By the late 18th century, the popularity of landscape art grew and clients were found in the larger Welsh towns, allowing more Welsh artists to stay in their homeland. Artists from outside Wales were also drawn to paint Welsh scenery, at first because of the Celtic Revival. An Act of Parliament in 1857 provided for the establishment of a number of art schools throughout the United Kingdom, and the Cardiff School of Art opened in 1865. Graduates still very often had to leave Wales to work, but Betws-y-Coed became a popular centre for artists, and its artists' colony helped to form the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1881. The sculptor Sir William Goscombe John made works for Welsh commissions, although he had settled in London. Christopher Williams, whose subjects were mostly resolutely Welsh, was also based in London. Thomas E. Stephens and Andrew Vicari had very successful careers as portraitists, based respectively in the United States and France. Welsh painters gravitated towards the art capitals of Europe. Augustus John and his sister Gwen John lived mostly in London and Paris. However, the landscapists Sir Kyffin Williams and Peter Prendergast lived in Wales for most of their lives, while remaining in touch with the wider art world. Ceri Richards was very engaged in the Welsh art scene as a teacher in Cardiff and even after moving to London; he was a figurative painter in international styles including Surrealism. Various artists have moved to Wales, including Eric Gill, the London-Welshman David Jones, and the sculptor Jonah Jones. The Kardomah Gang was an intellectual circle in Swansea, centred on the poet Dylan Thomas and the poet and artist Vernon Watkins, which also included the painter Alfred Janes. South Wales had several notable potteries, one of the first important sites being the Ewenny Pottery in Bridgend, which began producing earthenware in the 17th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, with more scientific methods becoming available, more refined ceramics were produced: this was led by the Cambrian Pottery (1764–1870, also known as "Swansea pottery"), and later Nantgarw Pottery near Cardiff, which was in operation from 1813 to 1820 making fine porcelain, and then utilitarian pottery from 1833 until 1920. Portmeirion Pottery, founded in 1960 by Susan Williams-Ellis (daughter of Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion, Gwynedd) is based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. National symbols and identity. Wales is regarded as a modern Celtic nation which contributes to its national identity, with Welsh artists regularly appearing at Celtic festivals. The red dragon is the principal symbol of national identity and pride, personifying the fearlessness of the Welsh nation. The dragon is first referenced in literature as a symbol of the people in the Historia Brittonum. Vortigern (), King of the Celtic Britons, is interrupted whilst attempting to build a fort at Dinas Emrys. He is told by Ambrosius to dig up two dragons beneath the castle. He discovers a red dragon representing the Celtic Britons, and a white dragon representing Anglo-Saxons. Ambrosius prophesies that the Celtic Britons will reclaim the island and push the Anglo-Saxons back to the sea. As an emblem, the red dragon of Wales has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd from around 655AD, and is present on the national flag of Wales, which became an official flag in 1959. The banner of Owain Glyndŵr is associated with Welsh nationhood; it was carried into battle by Welsh forces during Glyndŵr's battles against the English, and includes four lions on red and gold. The standard is similar to the arms of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last), the last Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England. The design may also be influenced by the arms of Glyndwr's parents, both of whom had lions in their arms. Owain Glyndŵr Day is celebrated on 16 September in Wales and there have been calls to make it a national bank holiday. The Prince of Wales's feathers is also used in Wales: it consists of three white feathers emerging from a gold coronet, and the German motto "Ich dien" (I serve). Several Welsh representative teams, including the Welsh rugby union, and Welsh regiments in the British Army, including the Royal Welsh, use the badge or a stylised version of it. On 1 March, Welsh people celebrate St David's day, commemorating the death of the country's patron saint in 589. It is not a recognised Bank holiday although there have been calls to make it so. The day is celebrated by schools and cultural societies across Wales, and customs include the wearing of a leek or a daffodil, which are two national emblems of Wales. Children also wear the national costume. The origins of the leek can be traced to the 16th century, while the daffodil became popular in the 19th century, encouraged by David Lloyd George. This is attributed to confusion (or association) between the Welsh for leek, "cenhinen", and that for daffodil, "cenhinen Bedr" or St. Peter's leek. A report in 1916 gave preference to the leek, which has appeared on British pound coins. Other Welsh festivals include Mabsant when parishes would celebrate the patron saint of their local church, although this is now rarely observed, and a more modern celebration, Dydd Santes Dwynwen (St Dwynwen's Day), observed on 25 January in a similar way to St Valentine's Day. ""Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" ()" is the National Anthem of Wales, and is played at events such as football or rugby matches involving the Wales national team, as well as the opening of the Senedd and other official occasions. "" ("Wales forever") is a popular Welsh motto. Another Welsh motto "Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn" ("the red dragon inspires action") has been used on the Royal Badge of Wales when it was created in 1953. Sport. More than 50 national governing bodies regulate and organise their sports in Wales. Most of those involved in competitive sports select, organise and manage individuals or teams to represent their country at international events or fixtures against other countries. Wales is represented at major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Rugby League World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. At the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete alongside those of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland as part of a Great Britain team. Wales has hosted several international sporting events. These include the 1958 Commonwealth Games, the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the 2010 Ryder Cup and the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. Although football has traditionally been the more popular sport in North Wales, rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Wales national rugby union team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and has also competed in every Rugby World Cup, hosting the tournament in 1999. The five professional sides that replaced the traditional club sides in major competitions in 2003 were replaced in 2004 by the four regions: Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The Welsh regional teams play in the United Rugby Championship, the Heineken Champions Cup if they qualify and the European Rugby Challenge Cup, again dependent on qualification. Rugby league in Wales dates back to 1907. A professional Welsh League existed from 1908 to 1910. Wales has had its own football league, the Welsh Premier League, since 1992. For historical reasons, five Welsh clubs play in the English football league system: Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, and Merthyr Town. The country has produced a considerable number of footballers who have played at international level. At UEFA Euro 2016, the Wales national team achieved their best ever finish, reaching the semi-finals. In international cricket, Wales and England field a single representative team, administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), called the England cricket team, or simply 'England'. Occasionally, a separate Wales team play limited-overs competitions. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only Welsh participant in the England and Wales County Championship. Wales has produced notable participants of individual sports including snooker, track and field, cycling, and boxing. Media. Wales became the UK's first digital television nation in 2010. BBC Cymru Wales is the national broadcaster, producing both television and radio programmes in Welsh and English. It has also produced programmes such as "Life on Mars", "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" for BBC's network audience across the United Kingdom. ITV, the UK's main commercial broadcaster, has a Welsh-orientated service branded ITV Cymru Wales. S4C began broadcasting in 1982. Its output was mostly in Welsh at peak hours, but shared English-language content with Channel 4 at other times. Since the digital switchover the channel has broadcast exclusively in Welsh. BBC Radio Cymru is the BBC's Welsh-language radio service, which broadcasts throughout Wales. A number of independent radio stations broadcast in the Welsh regions, predominantly in English. In 2006, several regional radio stations broadcast in Welsh: output ranged from two two-minute news bulletins each weekday (Radio Maldwyn) to over 14 hours of Welsh-language programmes weekly (Swansea Sound) to essentially bilingual stations such as Heart Cymru and Radio Ceredigion. Most of the newspapers sold and read in Wales are national newspapers available throughout Britain. The "Western Mail" is Wales's only print national daily newspaper. Wales-based regional daily newspapers include the "Daily Post" (which covers North Wales), the "South Wales Evening Post" (Swansea), the "South Wales Echo" (Cardiff), and the "South Wales Argus" (Newport). "Y Cymro" is a Welsh-language newspaper, published weekly. "Wales on Sunday" is the only Welsh Sunday newspaper that covers the whole of Wales. The Books Council of Wales is the Welsh-Government-funded body tasked with promoting Welsh literature in Welsh and English. The BCW provides publishing grants for qualifying English- and Welsh-language publications. Around 650 books are published each year, by some of the dozens of Welsh publishers. Wales's main publishing houses include Gomer Press, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Honno, the University of Wales Press and Y Lolfa. Journals with a Welsh focus include "Cambria" (a Welsh affairs magazine published bi-monthly in English), "Planet," and "Poetry Wales". Welsh-language magazines include the current affairs titles "Golwg" ("View"), published weekly, and "Barn" ("Opinion"), published monthly. "Y Wawr" ("The Dawn") is published quarterly by "Merched y Wawr", the national organisation for women. "Y Traethodydd" ("The Essayist"), a quarterly publication by the Presbyterian Church of Wales, first appeared in 1845 and is the oldest Welsh publication still in print. Cuisine. Traditional Welsh dishes include laverbread (made from "Porphyra umbilicalis", an edible seaweed), bara brith (fruit bread), cawl (a lamb stew), cawl cennin (leek soup), and Welsh cakes. Cockles are sometimes served as a traditional breakfast with bacon and laverbread. Although Wales has its own traditional food and has absorbed much of the cuisine of England, Welsh diets now owe more to the countries of India, China and the United States. Chicken tikka masala is the country's favourite dish, while hamburgers and Chinese food outsell fish and chips as takeaways. Performing arts. Music and festivals. Wales, "the land of song", is notable for its solo artists, its male voice choirs and its harpists. The annual "National Eisteddfod" is the country's main performance festival. The "Llangollen International Eisteddfod" provides an opportunity for the singers and musicians of the world to perform. The Welsh Folk Song Society publishes collections of historical songs and tunes. Traditional instruments of Wales include the "telyn deires" (triple harp), fiddle, "crwth" (bowed lyre) and the "pibgorn" (hornpipe). Male voice choirs emerged in the 19th century, formed as the tenor and bass sections of chapel choirs, and embraced the popular secular hymns of the day. Welsh congregations and choirs were known for singing in a rousing four-voice style, becoming characteristic of the country. Many of the historic choirs survive in modern Wales, singing a mixture of traditional and popular songs. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs in Wales and internationally. The Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, while the National Youth Orchestra of Wales was the first of its type in the world. Wales has a tradition of producing notable singers in both the classical and pop arenas, as well as some popular bands. The Welsh folk music scene has enjoyed a resurgence in the 21st century. Drama. The earliest surviving Welsh plays are two medieval miracle plays, "Y Tri Brenin o Gwlen" ("The three Kings from Cologne") and "Y Dioddefaint a'r Atgyfodiad" ("The Passion and the Resurrection"). A recognised Welsh tradition of theatre emerged during the 18th century, in the form of an interlude, a metrical play performed at fairs and markets. Drama in the early 20th century thrived, but the country established neither a Welsh National Theatre nor a national ballet company. After the Second World War, the substantial number of amateur theatre companies reduced by two thirds. Competition from television in the mid-20th century led to greater professionalism in the theatre. Plays by Emlyn Williams and Alun Owen and others were staged, while Welsh actors, including Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins, were establishing international reputations. Wales has also produced some well-known comedians. Dance. Traditional dances include Welsh folk dancing and clog dancing. The first mention of dancing in Wales is in a 12th-century account by Giraldus Cambrensis, but by the 19th century traditional dance had all but died out due to religious opposition. In the 20th century a revival was led by Lois Blake (1890–1974). Clog dancing was preserved and developed by Hywel Wood (1882–1967) and others who perpetuated the art on local and national stages. The Welsh Folk Dance Society was founded in 1949. Contemporary dance grew out of Cardiff in the 1970s. The National Dance Company Wales, formed in 1983, is now resident at the Wales Millennium Centre. References. Citations Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69973

Ooty

Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a town and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore, 100 km (65 mi) north west of Tirupur, south of Mysore and is the headquarters of the Nilgiris district. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. It is popularly called the "Queen of Hill Stations". It was the summer capital of the Madras Presidency. Originally occupied by the Badaga and Toda people, the area came under the rule of the East India Company at the end of the 18th century. The economy is based on tourism and agriculture, along with the manufacture of medicines and photographic film. The town is connected by the Nilgiri ghat roads and Nilgiri Mountain Railway. Its natural environment attracts tourists and it is a popular summer destination. In 2011, the town had a population of 88,430. Etymology. The origin of the name is obscure. The first known written mention of the place is given as "Wotokymund" in a letter of March 1821 to the "Madras Gazette" from an unknown correspondent. In early times it was called "Ottakal Mandu." The name probably changed under British rule from Udhagamandalam to Ootacamund, and later was shortened to Ooty. The first part of the name ("Ootaca") is probably a corruption of the local name for the central region of the Nilgiri Plateau. "Otha-Cal" is derived from Tamil, meaning "single stone." This is perhaps a reference to a sacred stone revered by the local Toda people. "Mund" is the anglicised form of the Toda word for a village, "Mandu". Ooty is in the Nilgiri hills, meaning the "blue mountains", so named due to the Kurunji flower which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes a bluish tinge. History. Udhagamandalam was originally a tribal land occupied by the Badaga, Toda, Kota, Irula and Kurumba people. The Toda in Nilgiris are first referenced in a record belonging to Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana and his general Punisa, dated 1117 CE. The Toda people were known for raising water buffalo. The people known for farming activities. Nilgiris was ruled by various dynasties like Satavahanas, Gangas, Kadambas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, the Vijayanagara empire and the Rajas of Ummattur (on behalf of Wodeyars of Mysuru). Tipu Sultan captured Nilgiris in the eighteenth century and extended the border by constructing a hideout cave-like structure. The Nilgiris came into possession of British East India Company as part of the ceded lands, held by Tipu Sultan, by the treaty of Srirangapatnam in 1799. In 1818, J. C. Whish and N. W. Kindersley, assistants to John Sullivan, then Collector of Coimbatore, visited Ooty and submitted a report to him. Sullivan camped at Dimbhatti, north of Kotagiri in January 1819 and was enthralled by the beauty of the place. He wrote to Thomas Munro, " ... it resembles Switzerland, more than any country of Europe... the hills beautifully wooded and fine strong spring with running water in every valley." The Badagas of Dimbhatti ceded that part of the town to Sullivan and in May 1819, he began to build his bungalow at Dimbhatti. He also started work on a road from Sirumugai to Dimbhatti that year. The road was completed in May 1823, and extended up to Coonoor by 1830–32. Aranmore Palace in Ooty, served as the summer capital of the Madras Presidency; it was visited by British officials during the colonial days as a popular summer resort. Soldiers were sent to nearby Wellington to recuperate. Wellington is the home of the Madras Regiment of the Indian Army. After Independence, it developed into a popular hill resort. Geography and climate. Location. Ooty is situated in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Many of the forested areas and water bodies are off-limits to most visitors in order to protect this fragile ecosystem. Some areas of the Biosphere Reserve have been earmarked for tourism development, and steps are being undertaken to open these areas to visitors whilst conserving the area. It is situated at an altitude of above sea level. Climate. Ooty features a subtropical highland climate ("Cwb") under Köppen climate classification. Despite its location in the tropics, in contrast with most of South India, Ooty generally features mild conditions and is spring-like throughout the year. However, night time in the months of January and February is typically cold. Temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the year; with average high temperatures ranging from about and average low temperatures between approximately . The highest temperature ever recorded in Ooty was , which by South Asian standards is very low for an all-time record high temperature. The rainy season in Ooty is extremely cold and windy with high humidity. The wind chill may fall to as low as during the day time. Wind is always high throughout the year causing Ooty to feel cold throughout the year. The lowest temperature was . The city sees on average about of precipitation annually, with a marked drier yet colder season from December through March. Places of interest. Ooty is a popular tourist attraction with many places of interest in and around the town. Gardens and parks. The Government Rose Garden (formerly Centenary Rose Park) is the largest rose garden in India. It is situated on the slopes of the Elk Hill in Vijayanagaram of Ooty town. at an altitude of . Today this garden has one of the largest collection of roses in the country with more than 20,000 varieties of roses of 2,800 cultivars. The collection includes hybrid tea roses, Miniature Roses, Polyanthas, Papagena, Floribunda, Ramblers, Yakimour and roses of unusual colours like black and green. The Ooty Botanical Gardens was laid out in 1847 and is maintained by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Botanical Garden is lush, green, and well-maintained. A flower show along with an exhibition of rare plant species is held every May. The gardens have around a thousand species, both exotic and indigenous, of plants, shrubs, ferns, trees, herbal and bonsai plants. The garden has a 20-million-year-old fossilised tree. Deer Park is located on the edge of Ooty Lake. It is the highest altitude zoo in India aside from the zoo in Nainital, Uttarakhand. This park was formed to house a number of species of deer and other animals. Lakes and dams. Ooty lake covers an area of . The boat house established alongside the lake, which offers boating facilities to tourists, is a major tourist attraction in Ooty. It was constructed in 1824 by John Sullivan, the first collector of Ooty. The lake was formed by damming the mountain streams flowing down Ooty valley. The lake is set among groves of Eucalyptus trees with a railway line running along one bank. During the summer season in May, boat races and boat pageantry are organised for two days at the lake. Pykara is a river located from Ooty. The Pykara is considered very sacred by the Todas. The Pykara river rises at Mukurthi peak and passes through a hilly tract, generally keeping to the north and turns to the west after reaching the plateau's edge. The river flows through a series of cascades; and the last two falls of and are known as Pykara falls. The falls are approximately from the bridge on the main road. A boat house by the Pykara falls and dam is an added attraction to tourists. Kamaraj Sagar Dam (also known as Sandynalla reservoir) is located from the Ooty bus stand. It is a picnic spot and a film shoot location on the slopes of the Wenlock Downs. The various tourist activities at the dam include fishing and studying nature and the environment. Parsons Valley Reservoir is the primary water source for the town and is mainly in a reserved forest and thus largely off-limits to visitors. Emerald Lake, Avalanche Lake and Porthimund Lake are other lakes in the region. Tribal huts and museum. There are a few traditional Toda (known as Dogles) on the hills above the Botanical Garden, where Todas still dwell. There are other Toda settlements in the area, notably Kandal Mund near Old Ooty. Although many Toda have abandoned their traditional distinctive huts for concrete houses, a movement is now afoot to build tradition barrel-vaulted huts, and during the last decade forty new huts have been built and many Toda sacred dairies renovated. The Tribal Museum is part of the campus of Tribal Research Centre which is in Muthorai Palada ( from Ooty town). It is home to rare artifacts and photographs of tribal groups of Tamil Nadu as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and anthropological and archaeological primitive human culture and heritage. The Tribal Museum also displays houses belonging to Toda, Kota, Paniya, Kurumba, and Kanikarans. Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was built by the British in 1908, and was initially operated by the Madras Railway Company. The railway still relies on its fleet of steam locomotives. NMR comes under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Salem Division. In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the site then became known as "Mountain Railways of India." after it satisfied the necessary criteria, thus forcing abandonment of the modernisation plans. For the past several years diesel locomotives have taken over from steam on the section between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam. Local people and tourists have led a demand for steam locos to once again haul this section. Historical buildings. Stone House is the first bungalow constructed in Ooty. It was built by John Sullivan and was called "Kal Bangala" by the tribals ("Kal" means "stone" in local tribal language). John Sullivan started building Stone House in 1822, acquiring land from the Todas at ₹. Today, it is the official residence for the principal of the Government Arts College, Ooty St Stephen's Church is located on the road to Mysore in Ooty, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the oldest churches in the Nilgiris district. The church dates back to the 19th century. Stephen Rumbold Lushington, the then governor of Madras, who keenly felt the need for a cathedral in Ooty which was exclusively for the British, laid the foundation stone for the church on 23 April 1829, to coincide with the birthday of King George IV. St Stephen's Church was consecrated by John Matthias Turner, Bishop of Calcutta, on 5 November 1830. It was thrown open to public communion on Easter Sunday 3 April 1831. It came under the Church of South India in 1947. The architect in charge was John James Underwood, Captain, Madras Regiment. St. Thomas Church, a parish in the Anglican diocese of Ooty, was begun in 1867, with the foundation stone being laid on 1 May by Lt. Gen. Howard Dowker. Construction was completed 20 October 1870, and its first service was held in 1871. Among the famous graves in the churchyard are those of Josiah John Goodwin, the British stenographer of Swami Vivekananda, and William Patrick Adam, the British governor of Madras, whose grave is topped by the stunning pillar monument dedicated to St. Thomas, the tallest structure in Ooty. The church's graveyard was used as a setting in David Lean's 1984 movie, "A Passage to India", which was based on E. M. Forster's novel of the same name. In 1882, the rules of the game of snooker were first drafted and codified in the "Ooty Club" by Sir Neville Chamberlain (not the Prime Minister). The club still houses the billiards table that was used. Tea Factory. Spread over an area of nearly of land, the Ooty Tea Factory is situated close to Ooty town. Visitors can learn about the origin of different kinds of tea leaves all across the globe and the history of tea in India. In the factory, the process of tea processing by Cut, Twist and Curl (CTC) machines is clearly displayed. At the end of the visit, one can taste different types of tea and buy tea souvenirs. Other nearby tea factories include Doddabetta Tea factory and Bench Mark Tea Factory. Radio Telescope. The Ooty Radio Telescope was completed in 1970. It is part of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), which is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Atomic Energy. Demographics. According to the 2011 census, Udhagamandalam had a population of 88,430 with a sex-ratio of 1,053 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 7,781 were under the age of six, constituting 3,915 males and 3,866 females.The average literacy of the city in 2011 was 90.2%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The city had a total of 23,235 households. There were a total of 35,981 workers, comprising 636 cultivators, 5,194 agricultural labourers, 292 in household industries, 26,411 other workers, 3,448 marginal workers, 65 marginal cultivators, 828 marginal agricultural labourers, 56 marginal workers in household industries and 2,499 other marginal workers. As per the religious census of 2011, Udhagamandalam had 64.36% Hindus, 21.25% Christians, 13.37% Muslims, 0.03% Sikhs, 0.3% Buddhists, 0.4% Jains, 0.28% following other religions and 0.02% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference. Tamil is the official language of Udhagamandalam. Languages native to the Nilgiris including Badaga, Paniya, Irula and Kurumba. Due to its proximity to the neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka and being a tourist destination, Malayalam, Kannada and English are also spoken and understood to an extent. According to the 2011 census, the most widely spoken languages in Udhagamandalam taluk were Tamil, spoken by 88,896, followed by Badaga with 41,213 and Kannada with 27,070 speakers. Administration and politics. Ooty is the district headquarters of the Nilgiris district. The Ootacamund assembly constituency is part of the Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency. Culture. Recreation. Snooker originated on the billiard tables of the Ootacamund Club, invented by an army officer Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain. There was also a cricket ground with regular matches played between teams from the Army, the Indian Civil Service and the business sector. Visiting teams would come from various parts of India as well as from the island of Ceylon. There were riding stables and kennels at Ooty and the Ootacamund Hounds hunted across the surrounding countryside and the open grasslands of the Wenlock Downs, named after Beilby Lawley, 3rd Baron Wenlock. Horse races are held at Ooty Racecourse. The diverse landscape of Ooty offers an opportunity to explore a number of adventure sports and recreational activities, including hang gliding. Located around from Ooty, Kalhatty in the mountain ranges of Nilgiris is a site for hang gliding. Kalhatty has a launch area that can be reached by jeep. Ooty Golf Course is located in Ooty town. The golf course is at an altitude of 7600 feet. It is owned by the Gymkhana club in Ooty. The course extends over and comprises 18 holes. The England cricket captain Colin Cowdrey was born in Ooty. In media. Ooty is a popular destination for cinema shooting, especially a large number of tamil movies were shot in Ooty. Some of the movies are Ooty Varai Uravu, Moondram Pirai,Gentleman ,Ullathai Allitha,Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu,Rajadhi Raja, Roja, Rhythm,Amaravathi, Kadhal Kottai, Minsara Kanna,Vishnu,Jodi, Thalapathi,Lesa Lesa, Miruthan are some of the notable films which were shot in Ooty. Apart from these there are few notable Hindi films which were taken in Ooty. Economy and infrastructure. Ooty is a market town for the surrounding area which is still largely dependent on agriculture, including the cultivation of "English vegetables" and "English fruits" grown locally. This primarily consists of potato, carrot, cabbage and cauliflower and the fruits being peaches, plums, pears and strawberries. There is a daily wholesale auction of these products at the Ooty Municipal Market. Dairy farming has long been present in the area and there is a cooperative dairy manufacturing cheese and skimmed milk powder. As a result of the local agricultural industry, certain research institutes are based in Ooty. These include a soil conservation centre, livestock farm and a potato research farm. Efforts are being made to diversify the range of local crops with Floriculture and Sericulture being introduced in the local area, as well as the cultivation of mushrooms. Hindustan Photo Films manufactures photo films in Ooty. Human Biologicals Institute, which manufactures human rabies vaccine is present in Ooty near Pudumand. Other manufacturing industries are located in the outskirts of Ooty. The most significant of these are in Ketti (manufacture of needles); Aruvankadu (manufacture of cordite) and Coonoor (manufacture of rabies vaccine). Cottage industries in the area including chocolate, pickle manufacture, and carpentry. Home-made chocolates are popular among the tourists and the locals. The local area is known for tea cultivation and is economically grown in Ooty, Coonoor, Kotagiri and across Nilgiris district. The elevation is about above the sea level. Soil conditions, elevation, and climatic conditions give flavour to the tea grown here. Transport. Road. Ooty is well connected to the road network. It is: from Coimbatore, from Bengaluru (via Mysore, Bandipur, Mudumalai, Masinagudi and Kallatti), from Mysuru, from Chennai (via Salem, Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore), and from Mysore (Via Gudalur), from Malappuram, from Kannur, from Calicut and nearly from Wayanad. Ooty is situated on NH 181 and is connected by road via the five main accepted Nilgiri Ghat Roads. Bus services operated by TNSTC, KSRTC (Karnataka) and KSRTC (Kerala) connect major towns in the state, nearby towns in the district such as Coonoor about , Kotagiri about 26 km (16 mi), and Gudalur about and nearby cities to Coimbatore, Tirupur , Erode, Mysore, Malappuram, Wayanad. Rail. Udhagamandalam railway station is connected with Mettupalayam by NMR metre gauge service. It comes under Salem division of Southern Railways. In 1882, a Swiss engineer named Arthur Riggenbach came to the Nilgiri Hills on an invitation from Government of India and he submitted an estimate for a line costing £132,000. The Nilgiri Railway Company was formed in 1885 and planning work commenced in 1886. The work on the line commenced in August 1891 and the Mettupalayam-Coonoor section of the track was opened for traffic on 15 June 1899. In January 1903, the Indian Government purchased the line, and took over the construction of the extension from Coonoor to Ooty. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was operated by the Madras Railway until 31 December 1907 on the behalf of the Government. In January 1908, the railway line was handed over to South Indian Railway. The line from Coonoor to Ooty was completed in 1908. On 15 October, Arthur Lawley, Governor of Madras opened the new railway to traffic. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) is one of the oldest mountain railways in India and was declared by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in July 2005. It is the only rack railway in India, and uses the Abt system. Air. The nearest airport is Coimbatore, around away. Mysore Airport is away, Calicut International Airport is away and Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport is away. Ooty has three helipads, one at Theettukal and two at Kodanad. The Theettukal helipad was approved by Airports Authority of India for defence and VIP services. Pawan Hans was supposed to start its service with Bell 407, but being surrounded by farmland, disruption of the farm animals there has put the operations on hold for commercial activities. Biodiversity and wildlife. Ooty mostly contains Temperate Rainforests. It is also part of the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion. Doddabetta is the highest peak () in the Nilgiris, about from Ooty. It lies at the junction of the Western Ghats surrounded by dense "Sholas". The pine forest situated between Ooty and Thalakunda is a small downhill region where pine trees are arranged in an orderly fashion. Wenlock Downs is a grassland area typical of the original bioscape of the Nilgiris with gently undulating hills. Mudumalai National Park and tiger reserve lies on the north western side of the Nilgiri Hills, about from Ooty. Mudumalai is a haven for animals and birds, including elephants and tigers. The tiger population in Mudumalai is 103. Mukurthi National Park is a protected area located in the south-eastern corner of the Nilgiris Plateau about west of Ooty. The park was created to protect its keystone species, the Nilgiri tahr. The Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (), including all of Mudumalai National Park, is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site. Education. The Government Arts College is one of the oldest institutions in Ooty. It offers various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in arts and science streams. It is affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. A premiere pharmacy institute ranked 7th in India, the JSS College of Pharmacy is located in a lush land on Elkhill, Ooty. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes. It is affiliated with Pharmacy Council of India, AICTE approved programmes. The college has an NBA certified B Pharm programme and ACPE-USA certified Pharm.D programme. It's a constituent college of JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysuru which is a 'A+' UGC accredited Deemed to be University in India. Some other notable colleges are the JSS School of Life Sciences, the Monarch Institution of Hotel Management, and the CSI Engineering College, Ketti. Boarding schools such as the Blue Mountains School have been a feature of Ooty since the days of the British Raj. They offer a significant contribution to the local economy. The facilities and standards of education are considered amongst the highest in India, and so these schools are popular amongst the elite of India and some of the neighbouring countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70023

Mysore

Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a metropolitan city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the third-most populous and third-largest city in the state, and is one of the cleanest cities in India. It is the seat of the Wadiyar dynasty and was the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore for almost six centuries, from 1399 until 1947. It is currently the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. Known for its heritage structures and palaces, including the famous Mysore Palace, and noted for its culture, Mysore is popularly known as the "City of Palaces", the "Heritage City", and the "Cultural Capital of Karnataka". For its pristine and calm ambience, it is also known as "Pensioners' Paradise". Mysore is situated at the foothills of the Chamundi Hills. At an altitude of above mean sea level, the city of Mysore is geographically located at 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is about southwest of the state's capital, Bangalore, and spreads across an area of (City + neighbouring census towns). The population of the city combined with its neighbouring towns in its metropolitan area is about 12,88,000 in 2023 Most of the city's development during modern times could be attributed to the maharajas of Mysore and the Wadiyar dynasty, who were patrons of art and culture. Hyder Ali and Tipu, when they were briefly in power in succession, also contributed significantly to the economic growth of the city and the kingdom by planting mulberry trees and silk in the region, and fighting four wars against the British. In present days, the Mysore City Corporation is responsible for the civic administration of the city. During the Dasara festivals, Mysore receives hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world. The city is also the namesake to various art forms and culture, such as Mysore Dasara and Mysore painting; eateries such as the sweet delicacy Mysore Pak, breakfasts like Mysore Dosa and Mysore Masala Dosa; brands such as Mysore Sandal Soap, Mysore Paints; and styles and cosmetics such as Mysore Peta, a traditional silk turban, and the Mysore silk saris. Mysore is also known for betel leaves and its own special variety of jasmine flower fondly referred to as "Mysore Mallige". Tourism is a lifeline industry for the city alongside the traditional industries. Mysore's intracity public transportation includes bus and intercity public transportation includes rail, bus, and air. Etymology. The name "Mysore" is an anglicised form of "Mahiṣūru", which means "the abode of "Mahiṣa"" in the vernacular Kannada. The common noun "Mahiṣa," in Sanskrit, means buffalo; in this context, however, "Mahiṣa" refers to Mahishasura, a mythical demon who could assume the form of either a human or a buffalo, and who, according to Hindu mythology, ruled the ancient parts of Mysore Kingdom, known in Sanskrit as "Mahiṣaka", centred at "Mahiṣapura". He was killed by the goddess Chamundeshwari, whose temple is situated atop the Chamundi Hills, after whom it is named. 'Mahishapura' later became "Mahisūru" (a name which, even now, the royal family uses), and finally came to be rendered as "Mysore" by the British and "Maisūru" (Mysuru) in the vernacular Kannada language. In December 2005, the Government of Karnataka announced its intention to change the English name of the city to "Mysuru". This was approved by the Government of India in October 2014, and Mysore was officially renamed, along with twelve other cities, on 1 November 2014. History. The site where Mysore Palace now stands was occupied by a village named Puragere at the beginning of the 16th century. The Mahishūru Fort was constructed in 1524 by Chamaraja Wodeyar III (1513–1553), who passed on the dominion of "Puragere" to his son Chamaraja Wodeyar IV (1572–1576). Since the 16th century, the name of "Mayashūru" has commonly been used to denote the city. The Kingdom of Mysore, governed by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire. With the decline of that empire after the Battle of Talikota in 1565, the Mysore Kingdom gradually achieved independence, and by the time of King Narasaraja Wodeyar (1637), it had become a sovereign state. Seringapatam, near Mysore, the present-day Srirangapatna, was the capital of the kingdom beginning in 1610. The 17th century saw a steady expansion of its territory and, under Narasaraja Wodeyar I and Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar, the kingdom annexed large areas of what is now southern Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu, to become a powerful state in the southern Deccan. The kingdom reached the height of its military power and dominion in the latter half of the 18th century, under the de facto rulers Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. The latter demolished parts of Mysore to remove legacies of the Wodeyar dynasty. During this time, the kingdom of Mysore came into conflict with the Marathas, the British, and the Nizam of Hyderabad, leading to the four Anglo-Mysore wars, success in the first two of which was followed by defeat in the third and fourth. After Tipu Sultan's death in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, the capital of the kingdom was moved back to Mysore from Seringapatam, and the kingdom was distributed by the British to their allies of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Part of the kingdom was annexed into the Madras Presidency, another to the Nizam of Hyderabad. The landlocked interior of the defeated kingdom of Mysore was turned into a princely state under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with the five-year-old Wodeyar Krishnaraja III as titular ruler and with Purnaiah, who had served under Tipu, as chief minister or "Diwan" and Lt. Col. Barry Close as Resident. The British took control of Mysore's foreign policy and insisted on an annual tribute for maintaining a standing British army at Mysore. Purnaiah is credited with improving Mysore's public works. In 1831, claiming there was maladministration, the British took direct control of the princely state. For the next fifty years, the kingdom of Mysore was under the direct rule of British Commissioners, and in 1831 the city of Mysore lost its status as the administrative centre, when the British Commissioner moved the capital to Bangalore. In 1876–77, towards the end of the period of direct British rule, Mysore suffered from the Great Famine of 1876–1878, in which nearly a fifth of the population died. In 1881, Maharaja Chamaraja Wadiyar X was given control of Mysore, in a process called rendition, but with a resident British officer and a diwan to handle the Maharaja's administration, and the city of Mysore regained its status as the capital. The Mysore municipality was established in 1888 and the city was divided into eight wards. In 1897 an outbreak of bubonic plague killed nearly half of the population of the city. With the establishment of the City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) in 1903, Mysore became one of the first cities in Asia to undertake planned urban development. Public demonstrations and meetings were held there during the Quit India movement and other phases of the Indian independence movement. Until the independence of British India (which did not include Mysore) in 1947, Mysore remained a Princely State within the British Indian Empire, with the Wodeyars continuing their rule. After Indian Independence, Mysore city remained as part of the Mysore State, now known as Karnataka. Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, then king of Mysore, was allowed to retain his titles and was nominated as the "Rajapramukh" (appointed governor) of the state with a £20,000 payment. He died in September 1974 and was cremated in Mysore. Over the years, Mysore became well known as a centre for tourism; the city remained largely peaceful, except for occasional riots related to the Kaveri River Water Dispute. Among the events that took place in Mysore and made national headlines were a fire at a television studio that claimed 62 lives in 1989, and the sudden deaths of many animals at the Mysore Zoo. Geography. Area and extent. Mysore is located at and has an average altitude of . It is spread across an area of at the base of the Chamundi Hills in the southern region of Karnataka. Mysore is the southernmost city of Karnataka and is a neighbouring city of the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, flanked by the state cities Madikeri, Chamarajanagara, and Mandya. People in and around Mysore extensively use Kannada as a medium of language. Mysore has several lakes, such as the Kukkarahalli, the Karanji, and the Lingambudhi lakes. Mysore has The Biggest 'Walk-Through Aviary' called Karanji Lake in India. In 2001, total land area usage in Mysore city was 39.9% residential, 16.1% roads, 13.74% parks and open spaces, 13.48% industrial, 8.96% public property, 3.02% commercial, 2.27% agriculture and 2.02 water. The city is located between two rivers: the Kaveri River that flows through the north of the city and the Kabini River, a tributary of the Kaveri, that lies to the south. Climate. Mysore has a tropical savanna climate ("Aw") bordering on a hot semi-arid climate ("BSh") under the Köppen climate classification. The main seasons are Summer from March to May, the monsoon season from June to October and winter from November to February. The highest temperature recorded in Mysore was on 4 April 1917, and the lowest was on 16 January 2012. The city's average annual rainfall is . Rainfall. As per Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Mysore taluk has been divided into 4 hoblis. In 2022, the rainfall received by these hoblis are as follows: Overall, Mysore taluk received 67% of excess rainfall in the year 2022. Administration and utilities. The civic administration of the city is managed by the Mysore City Corporation, which was established as a municipality in 1888 and converted into a corporation in 1977. Overseeing engineering works, health, sanitation, water supply, administration and taxation, the corporation is headed by a Mayor, who is assisted by commissioners and council members. The city is divided into 65 wards and the council members (also known as "corporators") are elected by the citizens of Mysore every five years. The council members, in turn, elect the mayor. The annual budget of the corporation for the year 2011–2012 was . Among 63 cities covered under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Mysore City Corporation was adjudged the second best city municipal corporation and was given the "Nagara Ratna" award in 2011. Urban growth and expansion is managed by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which is headed by a commissioner. Its activities include developing new layouts and roads, town planning and land acquisition. One of the major projects undertaken by MUDA is the creation of an Outer Ring Road to ease traffic congestion. Citizens of Mysore have criticised MUDA for its inability to prevent land mafias and ensure lawful distribution of housing lands among city residents. The Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation is responsible for electric supply to the city. Drinking water for Mysore is sourced from the Kaveri and Kabini rivers. The city got its first piped water supply when the Belagola project was commissioned in 1896. , Mysore gets of water per day. Mysore sometimes faces water crises, mainly during the summer months (March–June) and in years of low rainfall. The city has had an underground drainage system since 1904. The entire sewage from the city drains into four valleys: Kesare, Malalavadi, Dalavai and Belavatha. In an exercise carried out by the Urban Development Ministry under the national urban sanitation policy, Mysore was rated the second cleanest city in India in 2010 and the cleanest in Karnataka. The citizens of Mysore elect five representatives to the Legislative assembly of Karnataka through the constituencies of Chamaraja, Krishnaraja, Narasimharaja, Hunsur and Chamundeshwari. Mysore city, being part of the larger Mysore Lok Sabha constituency, also elects one member to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. The politics in the city is dominated by three political parties: the Indian National Congress (INC), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS). Demographics. , Mysore city had an estimated population of 920,550 consisting of 461,042 males and 459,508 females, making it the third most populous city in Karnataka Mysore urban agglomeration is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state and is home to 1,060,120 people, consisting of 497,132 males and 493,762 females. According to 2011 census, Mysore was the largest non-metropolitan city in India and had the highest basic infrastructure index of 2.846. Mysore is estimated to have crossed 1 million in 2017 making it a Metropolitan city. For the year 2022, the projected population of Mysuru Metropolitan Area, which includes Mysore City Corporation, Hootagalli City Municipal Council, and Bogadi, Srirampura, Rammanahalli and Kadakola Town Panchayats is 1,261,000, as per the United Nation's World Urbanization Prospects - 2018. The gender ratio of the city is 1000 females to every 1000 males and the population density is . According to the census of 2001, 73.65% of the city population are Hindus, 21.92% are Muslims, 2.71% are Christians, 1.13% are Jains and the remainder belong to other religions. The population exceeded 100,000 in the census of 1931 and grew by 20.5 per cent in the decade 1991–2001. , the literacy rate of the city is 86.84 per cent, which is higher than the state's average of 75.6 per cent. Kannada is the most widely spoken language in the city. Approximately 19% of the population live below the poverty line, and 9% live in slums. According to the 2001 census, 35.75% of the population in the urban areas of Karnataka are workers, but only 33.3% of the population of Mysore are. Members of Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes constitute 15.1% of the population. According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, the number of cognizable crime incidents reported in Mysore during 2010 was 3,407 (second in the state, after Bangalore's 32,188), increasing from 3,183 incidents reported in 2009. The residents of the city are known as "Mysoreans" in English and "Mysoorinavaru" in Kannada. The dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of Kaveri river water often leads to minor altercations and demonstrations in the city. Growth in the information technology industry in Mysore has led to a change in the city's demographic profile; likely strains on the infrastructure and haphazard growth of the city resulting from the demographic change have been a cause of concern for some of its citizens. Education. Before the advent of the European system of education in Mysore, "Agraharas" (Brahmin quarters) provided Vedic education to Hindus, and "madrassas" provided schooling for Muslims. Modern education began in Mysore when a free English school was established in 1833. Maharaja's College was founded in 1864. A high school exclusively for girls was established in 1881 and was later renamed "Maharani's Women's College". The "Industrial School", the first institute for technical education in the city, was established in 1892; this was followed by the Chamarajendra Technical Institute in 1913. While the modern system of education have made inroads, colleges such as the "Mysore Sanskrit Pāthaśhāla", established in 1876, still continue to provide Vedic education. The education system was enhanced by the establishment of the University of Mysore in 1916. This was the sixth university to be established in India and the first in Karnataka. It was named "Manasagangotri" ("fountainhead of the Ganges of the mind") by the poet Kuvempu. The university caters to the districts of Mysore, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar in Karnataka. About 127 colleges, with a total of 53,000 students, are affiliated with the university. Its alumni include Kuvempu, Gopalakrishna Adiga, S. L. Bhyrappa, U. R. Ananthamurthy and N.R. Narayana Murthy. Engineering education began in Mysore with the establishment in 1946 of the National Institute of Engineering, the second oldest engineering college in the state. The Mysore Medical College, founded in 1924, was the first medical college to be started in Karnataka and the seventh in India. National institutes in the city include te Central Food Technological Research Institute, the Central Institute of Indian Languages, the Defence Food Research Laboratory, and the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing. The city houses a campus multi-campus, multi-disciplinary private deemed university, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Economy. Tourism and IT are the major industries in Mysore. The city attracted about 3.15 million tourists in 2010. Mysore has traditionally been home to industries such as weaving, sandalwood carving, bronze work and the production of lime and salt. It has many big IT companies like Infosys and Wipro. The planned industrial growth of the city and the state was first envisaged at the "Mysore economic conference" in 1911. This led to the establishment of industries such as the Mysore Sandalwood Oil Factory in 1917 and the Sri Krishnarajendra Mills in 1920. Mysore has emerged as an industrial hub in Karnataka next to Bangalore. Mysore is part of the Bidar-Mysore Industrial Corridor. Major drivers of the economy are tourism, finance, manufacturing and industry which includes chemicals, petrochemicals, machinery, automobile, engineering, textiles and food processing sectors. A new industrial corridor plan is underway between Mysore and Bangalore. For the industrial development of the city, the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has established four industrial areas in and around Mysore, in the Belagola, Belawadi, Hebbal and Hootagalli areas. One of the major industrial areas near Mysore is Nanjangud which will be a satellite town to Mysore. Nanjangud industrial area hosts a number of industries like AT&S India Pvt Ltd, Nestle India ltd, Reid and Taylor, Jubiliant, TVS, and Asian Paints. Nanjangud Industrial area also boasts being 2nd highest VAT / Sales Taxpayer which is more than after Peenya which is in state capital Bangalore. JK Tyre has its manufacturing facility in Mysore. The city has emerged as a hub of automobile industries in Karnataka. The major software companies in Mysore are Infosys, ArisGlobal, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Excelsoft Technologies and Triveni Engineering. The growth of the information technology industry in the first decade of the 21st century has resulted in the city emerging as the second largest software exporter in Karnataka (), next to Bangalore. Mysore also has many shopping malls, including the Mall of Mysore which is one of the largest malls in India and Karnataka. Retail is also a major part of the economy in Mysore. Mysore also hosts many central government organizations like CFTRI, DFRL, CIPET, BEML, RMP (Rare Material Project), RBI Note printing Press and RBI Paper Printing Press. Culture. Referred to as the "cultural capital" of Karnataka, Mysore is well known for the festivities that take place during the period of "Dasara"; the state festival of Karnataka. The "Dasara" festivities, which are celebrated over a ten-day period, were first introduced by King Raja Wodeyar I in 1610. On the ninth day of "Dasara", called "Mahanavami", the royal sword is worshipped and is taken on a procession of decorated elephants, camels and horses. On the tenth day, called "Vijayadashami", the traditional "Dasara" procession (locally known as "Jumboo Savari") is held on the streets of Mysore which usually falls in the month of September or October. The idol of the goddess Chamundeshwari is placed on a golden "mantapa" on the back of a decorated elephant and taken on a procession, accompanied by tabla, dance groups, music bands, decorated elephants, horses and camels. The procession starts from the Mysore Palace and culminates at a place called Bannimantapa, where the "banni" tree ("Prosopis spicigera") is worshipped. The "Dasara" festivities culminate on the night of "Vijayadashami" with a torchlight parade, known locally as "Panjina Kavayatthu". Mysore is called the "City of Palaces" because of several ornate examples in the city. Among the most notable are Amba Vilas, popularly known as Mysore Palace; Jaganmohana Palace, which also serves as an art gallery; Rajendra Vilas, also known as the summer palace; Lalitha Mahal, which has been converted into a hotel; and Jayalakshmi Vilas. The palace of Mysore burned down in 1897, and the present structure was built on the same site. Amba Vilas palace exhibits an Indo-Saracenic style of architecture on the outside, but a distinctly Hoysala style in the interior. Even though the Government of Karnataka maintains the Mysore palace, a small portion has been allocated for the erstwhile royal family to live in. The Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion was constructed by Sri Chamaraja Wodeyar for his daughter Jayalakshammanni. It is now a museum dedicated to folk culture and artifacts of the royal family. The Mysore painting style is an offshoot of the Vijayanagar school of painting, and King Raja Wodeyar (1578–1617 CE) is credited with having been its patron. The distinctive feature of these paintings is the "gesso" work, to which gold foil is applied. Mysore is known for rosewood inlay work; around 4,000 craftsmen were involved in this art in 2002. The city lends its name to the Mysore silk sari, a women's garment made with pure silk and gold "zari" (thread). "Mysore Peta", the traditional indigenous turban worn by the erstwhile rulers of Mysore, is worn by men in some traditional ceremonies. A notable local dessert that traces its history to the kitchen in the Mysore palace is "Mysore pak". Mysore is the location of the International Ganjifa Research Centre, which researches the ancient card game "Ganjifa" and the art associated with it. The Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA) offers education in visual art forms such as painting, graphics, sculpture, applied art, photography, photojournalism and art history. The Rangayana repertory company performs plays and offers certificate courses in subjects related to theatre. Kannada writers Kuvempu, Gopalakrishna Adiga and U. R. Ananthamurthy were educated in Mysore and served as professors at the Mysore University. R. K. Narayan, a popular English-language novelist and creator of the fictional town of Malgudi, and his cartoonist brother R. K. Laxman spent much of their life in Mysore. Transport. Road. Mysore is connected by National Highway NH-212 to the state border town of Gundlupet, where the road forks into the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. State Highway 17, which connects Mysore to Bangalore, was upgraded to a four-lane highway in 2006, reducing travel time between the two cities. A project was planned in 1994 to construct a new expressway to connect Bangalore and Mysore. After numerous legal hurdles, it remains unfinished . State Highway 33 and National Highway 275 which connect Mysore to H D Kote and Mangalore respectively. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and other private agencies operate buses both within the city and between cities. A new division of KSRTC called Mysore City Transport Corporation (MCTC) has been proposed. Within the city, buses are cheap and popular means of transport, auto-rickshaws are also available and "tongas" (horse-drawn carriages) are popular with tourists. Mysore also has a long ring road that is being upgraded to six lanes by the MUDA. Mysore has implemented Intelligent Transport System (ITS) to manage its city buses and ferrying commuters. Trin Trin PBS. A public bicycle-sharing system, Trin Trin, funded partially by the United Nations is popular mode of transport. It is a government project. It is the first public bike-sharing system throughout India. The key objective of Trin Trin is to encourage local commuters, as well as visitors, to use the bicycle in preference to motorized modes of travel and thereby help scale down the multifarious environmental and road-traffic hazards, enhance conveyance convenience, and make local daily commutes economical for the common citizen. Rail. Mysore railway station has three lines, connecting it to Bangalore, Mangalore, and Chamarajanagar. The first railway line established in the city was the Bangalore–Mysore Junction metre gauge line, which was commissioned in 1882. Railway lines that connect the city to Chamarajanagara and Mangalore are unelectrified single track and the track that connects to Bengaluru is electrified double track. Mysore Railway Junction comes under the jurisdiction of South Western Railway Zone. Within the city limits of Mysore, there are two small stations in the line which connects Chamarajanagara. They are Ashokpuram and Chamarajapuram. The fastest train to serve the city is the Shatabdi Express which goes to Chennai via Bangalore. A satellite terminal is planned at Naganahalli to reduce congestion in the main railway station. On 20 June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation to upgrade the present city railway junction with , to construct another three platforms, four pit lines and four stabling line to make nine platforms in the city junction and Naganahali station to build a coach complex and MEMU hub and two more platforms to solve congestion in the city railway junction. Air. Mysore Airport is a domestic airport and is located near the village of Mandakalli, 10 kilometres south of the centre of the city. It was built by the kings of Mysore in early 1940s. Mysore Airport currently serves the city of Mysore and is connected to multiple domestic locations including Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Hubli, Hyderabad, Kochi and Mangalore. The current runway is not able to handle big flights and hence a runway expansion is about to take place expanding the runway from 1.7 km to 2.8 km and will be upgraded to international airport after the expansion. The nearest International airport is Bangalore Airport. Media. Newspaper publishing in Mysore started in 1859 when Bhashyam Bhashyacharya began publishing a weekly newspaper in Kannada called the "Mysooru Vrittanta Bodhini", the first of a number of weekly newspapers published in the following three decades. A well-known Mysore publisher during Wodeyar rule was M. Venkatakrishnaiah, known as the father of Kannada journalism, who started several news magazines. Many local newspapers are published in Mysore and carry news mostly related to the city and its surroundings, and national and regional dailies in English and Kannada are available, as in the other parts of the state. Sudharma, the only Indian daily newspaper in Sanskrit, is published in Mysore. Mysore was the location of the first private radio broadcasting station in India when "Akashavani" (voice from the sky) was established in the city on 10 September 1935 by M.V. Gopalaswamy, a professor of psychology, at his house in the Vontikoppal area of Mysore, using a 50-watt transmitter. The station was taken over by the princely state of Mysore in 1941 and was moved to Bangalore in 1955. In 1957, "Akashvani" was chosen as the official name of All India Radio (AIR), the radio broadcaster of the Government of India. The AIR station at Mysore broadcasts an FM radio channel at 100.6 MHz, and Gyan Vani broadcasts on 105.6. BIG FM, Radio Mirchi and Red FM are the three private FM channels operating in the city. Mysore started receiving television broadcasts in the early 1980s, when Doordarshan (public service broadcaster of the Indian government) started broadcasting its national channel all over India. This was the only channel available to Mysoreans until Star TV started satellite channels in 1991. Direct-to-home channels are now available in Mysore. Sports. The Wodeyar kings of Mysore were patrons of games and sports. King Krishnaraja Wodeyar III had a passion for indoor games. He invented new board games and popularised the "ganjifa" card game. Malla-yuddha (traditional wrestling) has a history in Mysore dating back to the 16th century. The wrestling competition held in Mysore during the "Dasara" celebrations attracts wrestlers from all over India. An annual sports meeting is organised there during the "Dasara" season too. In 1997 Mysore and Bangalore co-hosted the city's biggest sports event ever, the National Games of India. Mysore was the venue for six sports: archery, gymnastics, equestrianism, handball, table tennis and wrestling. Cricket is by far the most popular sport in Mysore. The city has five established cricket grounds. Javagal Srinath, who represented India for several years as its frontline fast bowler, comes from Mysore. Other prominent sportsmen from the city are Prahlad Srinath, who has represented India in Davis Cup tennis tournaments; Reeth Abraham, a national champion in the heptathlon and a long jump record holder; Sagar Kashyap, the youngest Indian to officiate at the Wimbledon Championships; and Rahul Ganapathy, a national amateur golf champion. The Mysore race course hosts a racing season each year from August through October. India's first youth hostel was formed in the Maharaja's College Hostel in 1949. Tourism. Mysore is a major tourist destination in its own right and serves as a base for other tourist attractions in the vicinity. The city receives many tourists during the ten-day "Dasara" festival. One of the most visited monuments in India, the Amba Vilas Palace, or Mysore Palace, is the centre of the "Dasara" festivities. The Jaganmohana Palace, The Sand Sculpture Museum the Jayalakshmi Vilas and the Lalitha Mahal are other palaces in the city. Chamundeshwari Temple, atop the Chamundi Hills, and St. Philomena's Church, Wesley's Cathedral are notable religious places in Mysore. The Mysore Zoo, established in 1892, the Karanji, Kukkarahalli and the Blue Lagoon Lake are popular recreational destinations. Blue Lagoon is a lake with a mini island located behind the KRS water dam, from which it is mesmerising to watch the sunset and sunrise. Mysore has the Regional Museum of Natural History, the Folk Lore Museum, the Railway Museum and the Oriental Research Institute. The city is a centre for yoga-related health tourism that attracts domestic and foreign visitors, particularly those who, for years, came to study with the late Ashtanga vinyasa yoga guru K. Pattabhi Jois. A short distance from Mysore city is the neighbouring Mandya District's Krishnarajasagar Dam and the adjoining Brindavan Gardens, where a musical fountain show is held every evening. Places of historic importance close to Mysore are Mandya District's Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangapatna. And other historical places are Somanathapura and Talakad. B R Hills, Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta hill and the hill stations of Ooty, Sultan Bathery and Madikeri are close to Mysore. Popular destinations for wildlife enthusiasts near Mysore include the Nagarahole National Park, the wildlife sanctuaries at Melkote, Mandya and B R Hills and the bird sanctuaries at Ranganathittu, Mandya and Kokrebellur, Mandya. Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu, which are sanctuaries for gaur, chital, elephants, tigers, leopards and other threatened species, lie between to the south. Other tourist spots near Mysore include the religious locations of Nanjanagud and Bylakuppe and the waterfalls at neighbouring districts of Mandya's Shivanasamudra.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70576

Orthoptera

Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshoppers, locusts, and close relatives; and Ensifera – crickets and close relatives. More than 20,000 species are distributed worldwide. The insects in the order have incomplete metamorphosis, and produce sound (known as a "stridulation") by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps. The tympanum, or ear, is located in the front tibia in crickets, mole crickets, and bush crickets or katydids, and on the first abdominal segment in the grasshoppers and locusts. These organisms use vibrations to locate other individuals. Grasshoppers and other orthopterans are able to fold their wings (i.e. they are members of Neoptera). Etymology. The name is derived from the Greek ὀρθός "orthos" meaning "straight" and πτερόν "pteron" meaning "wing". Characteristics. Orthopterans have a generally cylindrical body, with elongated hindlegs and musculature adapted for jumping. They have mandibulate mouthparts for biting and chewing and large compound eyes, and may or may not have ocelli, depending on the species. The antennae have multiple joints and filiform type, and are of variable length. The first and third segments on the thorax are larger, while the second segment is much smaller. They have two pairs of wings, which are held overlapping the abdomen at rest. The forewings, or tegmina, are narrower than the hindwings and hardened at the base, while the hindwings are membranous, with straight veins and numerous cross-veins. At rest, the hindwings are held folded fan-like under the forewings. The final two to three segments of the abdomen are reduced, and have single-segmented cerci. Life cycle. Orthopterans have a paurometabolous lifecycle or incomplete metamorphosis. The use of sound is generally crucial in courtship, and most species have distinct songs. Most grasshoppers lay their eggs in the ground or on vegetation. The eggs hatch and the young nymphs resemble adults, but lack wings and at this stage are often called 'hoppers'. They may often also have a radically different coloration from the adults. Through successive moults, the nymphs develop wings until their final moult into a mature adult with fully developed wings. The number of moults varies between species; growth is also very variable and may take a few weeks to some months depending on food availability and weather conditions. Evolution. This order evolved with a division into two suborders - Caelifera and Ensifera - occurring . Phylogeny. The Orthoptera are divided into two suborders, Caelifera and Ensifera, that have been shown to be monophyletic. Taxonomy. Taxonomists classify members of the Caelifera and Ensifera into infraorders and superfamilies as follows: Relationships with humans. As pests. Several species of Orthoptera are considered pests of crops and rangelands or seeking warmth in homes by humans. The two groups of Orthoptera that cause the most damage are grasshoppers and locusts. Locust are historically known for wiping out fields of crops in a day. Locust have the ability to eat up to their own body weight in a single day. Individuals gather in large groups called swarms, these swarms can range up to 80 million individuals that stretch 460 square miles. Grasshoppers can cause major agricultural damage but not to the documented extent as locust historically have. These insects mainly feed on weeds and grasses, however, during times of drought and high population density they will feed on crops. They are a known pest in soybean fields and will likely feed on these crops once preferred food sources have become scarce. As food. Most orthopterans are edible, making up 13% of all insects including some 80 species of grasshoppers being regularly consumed worldwide. In Madagascar and Oaxaca, grasshoppers and locusts are usually collected early in the morning when it is cooler as the orthopterans are less mobile due to being cold-blooded. In Thailand, house crickets are commonly reared and eaten; as of 2012, around 20,000 cricket farmers had farms in 53 of their 76 provinces. In the second century BCE in Ancient Greece, Diodorus Siculus is known to have called people from Ethiopia "Acridophagi", meaning "eaters of locusts." In Judaism, the Orthoptera include the only insects considered kosher. The list of dietary laws in the book of Leviticus forbids all flying insects that walk, but makes an exception for certain locusts. The Torah states the only kosher flying insects with four walking legs have knees that extend above their feet so that they hop. As creators of biofuel. With new research showing promise in locating alternative biofuel sources in the gut of insects, grasshoppers are one species of interest. The insect's ability to break down cellulose and lignin without producing greenhouse gases has aroused scientific interest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70740

Betty Cuthbert

Elizabeth Alyse Cuthbert, (20 April 1938 – 6 August 2017), was an Australian athlete and a four-time Olympic champion. She was nicknamed Australia's "Golden Girl". During her career, she set world records for 60 metres, 100 yards, 200 metres, 220 yards and 440 yards. Cuthbert also contributed to Australian relay teams completing a win in the 4 × 100 metres, 4 × 110 yards, 4 × 200 metres and 4 × 220 yards. Cuthbert had a distinctive running style, with a high knee lift and mouth wide open. She was named in 1998 an Australian National Treasure and was inducted as a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2000. Early life. Cuthbert was born to Leslie and Marion alongside her nonidentical twin sister, Marie 'Midge'. She also had another sister, Jean and a brother, John. Cuthbert was born 20 minutes before Marie. According to Midge, the twins were not alike, but very special to each other. The daughter of nursery owners, Cuthbert was born in Merrylands, New South Wales, and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Ermington, where she attended Ermington Public School. Of her upbringing, Cuthbert stated "My parents always encouraged me and I had a good home life. We were always taught to respect things and other people." Marion attended church and sent her four children to Sunday school. As a teenager, Cuthbert attended Parramatta Home Science School. She left school at the age of 16 to work in the family nursery. Athletic career. Cuthbert was a member of the Western Suburbs Athletic Club. At the age of 18, with the 1956 Summer Olympics to be held in Melbourne, Cuthbert set a World Record in the 200 metres, making her one of the favourites for a gold in that event. Cuthbert first reached the finals of the 100 metres, setting an Olympic record of 11.4 seconds in her heat (also her personal best), while the Australian world record holder Shirley Strickland was eliminated. Cuthbert won the final and was then the big favourite for the 200 metres title. She lived up to the expectations and became the Australian "Golden Girl". A third gold medal for Cuthbert came when she ran the final leg on in the 4 × 100 metres final, which the Australian team won in a new world record. During 1958 Cuthbert set world records for 100 and 220 yards but was beaten in both events by arch-rival and double-Olympic bronze medallist Marlene Mathews at the Australian Championships. Later in the year, at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, Cuthbert could only place fourth in the 100y and second in the 220y, again behind Mathews. She set a world record at 440 yards, which was broken in September 1959 by Maria Itkina of the Soviet Union. In the lead-up to the 1960 Summer Olympics, in Rome, Cuthbert set a world 220 yards and 200 metres record of 23.2 seconds in winning the Australian championships. At the Rome Games, she suffered from injury and was eliminated from the quarterfinals of the 100 metres. Subsequently, she retired from the sport of track and field. Her retirement did not last long, though, for she returned at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia, helping Australia to a gold medal in the sprint relay. Afterwards, she concentrated on the 400 metres, and she competed in that event in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, when it was on the Olympic program for women for the first time. Though not impressive in the heats, Cuthbert won the title for her fourth Olympic gold medal, beating Ann Packer of Great Britain in an Olympic record of 52.01. She is the only Olympian, male or female, to have won a gold medal in all sprint (running) events: 100, 200 and 400 metres. She subsequently verified her retirement for good after Tokyo. Also in 1964 she received the Helms Award for her sporting contributions. She was coached by June Ferguson, who was her physical education teacher in high school. Personal life. Cuthbert had multiple sclerosis from 1969 and in 2002 had a severe brain haemorrhage. She stated that, despite her MS, she never once asked God 'Why me?', and instead "knew that God wanted her to use it to help other people." In 1985, Cuthbert became a born-again Christian at the age of 47. Always believing she was a Christian, the speaker at a public rally said there were private-practising Christians present. She felt compelled to publicly declare her faith in Jesus. From then on, Cuthbert tried to share the good news of Jesus with as many people as possible. She did, however, initially want to be healed of her MS, and someone encouraged her to go to church where she could be healed. She claimed she went, looking for healing, instead of the Healer. In her own words: "I found out about the healer, and then I couldn't care less about the healing. That's the best thing. I get so much joy out of it and I want to tell other people about it. I think that's why I was meant to come back to the Olympics in 1964 because now I'm well known and it helps me to tell people about Jesus." Following her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, Cuthbert became a dedicated advocate for the disease and was an important player in the creation of MS Research Australia, attending the organisation's 2004 inauguration alongside then-PM John Howard. She was a tireless campaigner for national awareness of the disease, and, following her death in 2017, was credited by CEO of MS Research Australia, Dr. Matthew Miles, as having had an incredible impact on Australia's recognition and understanding of MS. In 1991, Cuthbert left her home state, New South Wales, for Western Australia, where she settled in Mandurah. Cuthbert was one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sitting in a wheelchair and accompanied by Raelene Boyle, she carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, as one of the runners for the final segment, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame by Cathy Freeman. Cuthbert died in 2017, aged 79, in Mandurah. Cuthbert never married or had children. Rhonda Gillam, a 78-year-old West Australian mother-of-three, devoted the last 26 years of her life to caring for Cuthbert. Gillam stated that Cuthbert's MS also took her hearing. Cuthbert's twin sister, Midge Johnston, stated that Betty had been struggling with dementia in recent years, worrying that Betty would not remember her, but Betty always said "Midge, of course I remember you." Post-death. The day after her death, there was a minute's silence before the start of competition at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, and Australian athletes were granted permission by the International Association of Athletics Federations to wear black armbands in competition. Cuthbert was the only Australian among the 10 inaugural inductees to the IAAF Hall of Fame in 2012. There were many tributes to Cuthbert's career and life from significant Australians: Cuthbert's funeral was held on 16 August 2017 in Mandurah and her body was cremated at Fremantle Cemetery. Several hundred were present, including Margaret Court, Raelene Boyle, and Marjorie Jackson. Dawn Fraser (whom Cuthbert handed the Olympic Torch to during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics) gave a speech. Her twin sister, Midge, lit a candle of remembrance; and niece and nephew, Louise and Peter, also gave speeches. A public memorial service for Cuthbert was held on 21 August 2017, at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Tributes were led by broadcaster Alan Jones and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Also in attendance were former athletes Norma Fleming and Marlene Matthews. World records. Cuthbert achieved 14 world records during her career comprising 10 individual and four relays. In addition she set a number of world best, including unclaimed records, and metric distance bests. Books. There are two books on Cuthbert's life: "Golden girl" as told to Jim Webster (1966) and "Golden girl : an autobiography" by Betty Cuthbert (2000).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70829

The Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio ( ; , i.e. "The Adventures of Pinocchio. Story of a Puppet"), commonly shortened to Pinocchio, is a children's fantasy novel by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio and his creator and father figure, a poor woodcarver named Geppetto. It was originally published in serial form as "The Story of a Puppet" () in the , one of the earliest Italian weekly magazines for children, starting from 7 July 1881. The story stopped after nearly 4 months and 8 episodes at Chapter 15, but by popular demand from readers, the episodes were resumed on 16 February 1882. In February 1883, the story was published in a single book. Since then, "Pinocchio" has been one of the most popular children's books and been critically acclaimed. A universal icon and a metaphor of the human condition, the book is considered a canonical piece of children's literature and has had great impact on world culture. Philosopher Benedetto Croce considered it one of the greatest works of Italian literature. Since its first publication, it has inspired many works of fiction, such as Walt Disney's animated version, and commonplace ideas such as a liar's long nose. According to extensive research by the and UNESCO sources in the late 1990s, the book has been translated into as many as 260 languages worldwide, making it one of the world's most translated books. While it is likely one of the best-selling books ever published, the actual total sales since its first publication are unknown due to the many reductions and different versions. The story has been a public domain work in the U.S. since 1940. According to Viero Peroncini: "some sources report 35 million [copies sold], others 80, but it is only a way, even a rather idle one, of quantifying an unquantifiable success". According to Francelia Butler, it also remains "the most translated Italian book and, after the Bible, the most widely read". Plot. In Tuscany, Italy, a carpenter named Master Antonio finds a block of wood that he plans to carve into a table leg. However, after being frightened when the log cries out, he gives it to his neighbor Geppetto, an old man. Upon seeing the log, he plans to carve a puppet from it and make a living as a traveling puppeteer. He carves the block into a boy and names him "Pinocchio". Once the puppet is finished and Geppetto teaches him to walk, Pinocchio runs out the door and into the town, where he is caught by a Carabiniere, who assumes Pinocchio has been mistreated and imprisons Geppetto. Left alone, Pinocchio heads back to Geppetto's house to get something to eat, where a talking cricket warns him of the perils of disobedience and laziness. In retaliation, Pinocchio throws a hammer at the cricket, accidentally killing it. Pinocchio gets hungry and tries to fry an egg, but a chick hatches from the egg and he has to leave to find food. He knocks on a neighbor's door, but they fear he is pulling a prank and dump water on him. Cold and wet, Pinocchio goes home and lies down on a stove, and upon waking he finds his feet have burned off. Luckily, Geppetto is released from prison and makes Pinocchio a new pair of feet. In gratitude, he promises to attend school, and Geppetto makes him a suit of clothing consisting of a dress made from flowered paper, tree bark shoes, and a cap made of dough, and sells his only coat to buy him a school book. On his way to school the next morning, Pinocchio encounters the Great Marionette Theatre and sells his school book to buy a ticket for the show. During the performance, the puppets Harlequin, Pulcinella and Signora Rosaura call out to Pinocchio; this angers the puppet master Mangiafuoco, and he decides to use Pinocchio as firewood. However, after Pinocchio pleads for his and Harlequin's salvation and he learns of Geppetto's poverty, Mangiafuoco releases him and gives him five gold pieces. On his way home, Pinocchio meets a fox and a cat. The Cat pretends to be blind, and the Fox pretends to be lame; a white blackbird tries to warn Pinocchio of their lies, but the Cat eats it. The two convince Pinocchio that if he plants his coins in the Field of Miracles outside the city of Acchiappacitrulli, they will grow into a tree with gold coins. They stop at an inn, where they trick Pinocchio into paying for their meals and flee after telling the innkeeper to tell Pinocchio they would meet him at the Field of Miracles in the morning. As Pinocchio sets off for Catchfools, the ghost of the Talking Cricket appears and tells him to go home and give the coins to his father. Pinocchio ignores his warnings again and as he passes through a forest, the Fox and Cat, disguised as bandits, ambush and rob him. After biting off the Cat's paw, he escapes to a white house, where he is greeted by a young fairy with turquoise hair who says she is dead and waiting for a hearse. Unfortunately, the Fox and the Cat catch Pinocchio and hang him in a tree, and leave after getting tired of waiting for him to suffocate. The Fairy has Pinocchio rescued and calls in three doctors to evaluate him - the Owl says he is alive, the Crow says he is dead, and the Ghost of the Talking Cricket says he is fine, but has been disobedient and hurt his father. The Fairy administers medicine to Pinocchio, which he takes when several Undertaker rabbits appear to collect his body. Now recovered, Pinocchio lies to the Fairy when she asks what happened to the gold coins and his nose grows. The Fairy explains that Pinocchio's lies are causing his nose to grow and calls in a flock of woodpeckers to chisel it down to size. She then sends for Geppetto to come and live with them in the forest cottage. As Pinocchio heads out to meet his father, he once again encounters the Fox and the Cat, who remind him of the Field of Miracles, and he agrees to go with them and plant his gold. Once there, Pinocchio buries his coins and leaves to wait twenty minutes for it to grow; during this time, the Fox and the Cat dig up the coins and run away. Once Pinocchio returns, a parrot mocks him for falling for the Fox and Cat's tricks. Pinocchio rushes to the Catchfools courthouse, where he reports the theft of the coins to a gorilla judge. Although he is moved by Pinocchio's plea, the gorilla judge sentences him to four months in prison for the crime of foolishness. Fortunately, all criminals are released early when the Emperor of Catchfools declares a celebration following his army's victory over the town's enemies. As Pinocchio heads back to the forest, he finds an enormous snake with a smoking tail blocking the way. He asks the serpent to move, but it remains completely still, and he assumes it is dead. He begins to step over it, but it suddenly rises up and hisses at him, toppling him over onto his head. Struck by Pinocchio's fright and comical position, the snake laughs so hard he bursts an artery and dies. Pinocchio then heads back to the Fairy's house in the forest, where he sneaks into a farmer's yard to steal some grapes. He is caught in a weasel trap and encounters a glowworm, where the farmer finds him and ties him up in his doghouse. When Pinocchio foils the chicken-stealing weasels, the farmer frees him as a reward. Pinocchio finally returns to the cottage, but there he finds nothing but a gravestone and believes the Fairy has died. A friendly pigeon sees Pinocchio mourning the Fairy's death and offers to give him a ride to the seashore, where Geppetto is building a boat to search for Pinocchio. Pinocchio is washed ashore when he tries to swim to his father, who is swallowed by The Terrible Dogfish. Pinocchio accepts a ride from a dolphin to the nearest island, the Island of Busy Bees. Upon arriving on the island, Pinocchio offers to carry a lady's jug home in return for food and water, and upon arriving at her house, he recognizes the lady as the Fairy, now old enough to be his mother. She says she will act as his mother, and he will begin going to school. She hints that if he does well in school and is good for one year, then he will become a real boy. Pinocchio studies hard and rises to the top of his class, making the other boys jealous. They trick Pinocchio into playing hookey by saying they saw a large sea monster at the beach, the same one that swallowed Geppetto. However, they were lying, and a fight breaks out, during which Pinocchio is accused of injuring another boy. He escapes, and along the way saves a drowning Mastiff named Alidoro. In exchange, Alidoro later saves Pinocchio from The Green Fisherman, who was going to eat him. After meeting the Snail that works for the Fairy, she gives him another chance. Pinocchio does excellently in school, and the Fairy promises that he will be a real boy the next day, saying he should invite all his friends to a party. He goes to invite everyone, but he is sidetracked after meeting his closest friend from school, a boy nicknamed Candlewick. He is heading to a place called The Land of Toys, where everyone plays all day and never works or studies. Pinocchio goes along with him, and they have a wonderful time for the next five months. One morning in the fifth month, Pinocchio and Candlewick awake with donkeys' ears. A marmot tells Pinocchio that he has gotten donkey fever, as boys who play and never study turn into donkeys. Soon, both Pinocchio and Candlewick are fully transformed, and Pinocchio is sold to a circus where he is trained to do tricks, until he falls and sprains his leg after seeing the Fairy in one of the box seats. The ringmaster then sells Pinocchio to a man who wants to skin him and use his hide to make a drum, and throws him into the sea to drown him. But when he goes to retrieve the corpse, he finds Pinocchio, who explains that the fish ate all the donkey skin off him and he is now a puppet again. Pinocchio dives back into the water and swims out to sea, where the Terrible Dogfish appears and swallows him. Inside the Dogfish, Pinocchio unexpectedly finds Geppetto, and they escape with help from a large tuna and look for a new place to live. Pinocchio and Geppetto encounter the Fox and the Cat, who are now impoverished and lame and blind respectively. They plead for food and money, but Pinocchio rebuffs them and tells them that they have earned their misfortune. Geppetto and Pinocchio then arrive at a small house, which is home to the Talking Cricket. The Talking Cricket says they can stay and reveals that he got his house from a little goat with turquoise hair. Pinocchio gets a job doing work for a farmer, and recognizes their dying donkey as his friend Candlewick. After long months of working for the farmer and supporting the ailing Geppetto, Pinocchio goes to town with the forty pennies he has saved to buy himself a new suit. He discovers that the Fairy is ill and needs money, and gives the Snail he met back on the Island of Busy Bees all of his money. That night, he dreams that he is visited by the Fairy, who kisses him. When he wakes up, he is a real boy, with his puppet body lying lifeless on a chair. The Fairy has also left him a new suit, boots, and a bag which contains 40 gold coins. Geppetto also returns to health. History. "The Adventures of Pinocchio" incorporates elements similar to that of fairy tales, as it is a story about an animated puppet and boys who turn into donkeys. The story is set in the Tuscan area of Italy, and features Italian language peppered with Florentine dialect features, such as the protagonist's Florentine name. As a young man, Collodi joined the seminary. However, the cause of Italian unification ("Risorgimento") usurped his calling, as he took to journalism as a means of supporting the Risorgimento in its struggle with the Austrian Empire. In the 1850s, Collodi began to have a variety of both fiction and non-fiction books published. Once, he translated some French fairy-tales so well that he was asked whether he would like to write some of his own. In 1848, Collodi started publishing "Il Lampione", a newspaper of political satire. With the founding of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, Collodi ceased his journalistic and militaristic activities and began writing children's books. Collodi wrote a number of didactic children's stories for the recently unified Italy, including "Viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino" ("Little Johnny's voyage through Italy"; 1876), a series about an unruly boy who undergoes humiliating experiences while traveling the country, and "Minuzzolo" (1878). In 1881, he sent a short episode in the life of a wooden puppet to a friend who edited a newspaper in Rome, wondering whether the editor would be interested in publishing this "bit of foolishness" in his children's section. The editor did, and the children loved it. "The Adventures of Pinocchio" was originally published in serial form in the "Giornale per i bambini", one of the earliest Italian weekly magazines for children, starting from 7 July 1881. In the original, serialized version, Pinocchio dies a gruesome death: hanged for his innumerable faults, at the end of Chapter 15. At the request of his editor, Collodi added chapters 16–36, in which the Fairy with Turquoise Hair rescues Pinocchio and eventually transforms him into a real boy, when he acquires a deeper understanding of himself, making the story more suitable for children. In the second half of the book, the maternal figure of the Blue-haired Fairy is the dominant character, versus the paternal figure of Geppetto in the first part. In February 1883, the story was published in a single book with huge success. Children's literature was a new idea in Collodi's time, an innovation in the 19th century. Thus in content and style it was new and modern, opening the way to many writers of the following century. International popularity. "The Adventures of Pinocchio" is the world's third most translated book (240-260 languages), and was the first work of Italian children’s literature to achieve international fame. The book has had great impact on world culture, and it was met with enthusiastic reviews worldwide. The title character is a cultural icon and one of the most reimagined characters in children's literature. The popularity of the story was bolstered by the powerful philosopher-critic Benedetto Croce, who greatly admired the tale and reputed it as one of the greatest works of Italian literature. Carlo Collodi, who died in 1890, was respected during his lifetime as a talented writer and social commentator, and his fame continued to grow when "Pinocchio" was first translated into English by Mary Alice Murray in 1892, whose translation was added to the widely read Everyman's Library in 1911. Other well regarded English translations include the 1926 translation by Carol Della Chiesa, and the 1986 bilingual edition by Nicolas J. Perella. The first appearance of the book in the United States was in 1898, with publication of the first US edition in 1901, translated and illustrated by Walter S. Cramp and Charles Copeland. From that time, the story was one of the most famous children's books in the United States and an important step for many illustrators. Together with those from the United Kingdom, the American editions contributed to the popularity of Pinocchio in countries more culturally distant from Italy, such as Iceland and Asian countries. In 1905, Otto Julius Bierbaum published a new version of the book in Germany, entitled "Zapfelkerns Abenteuer" (lit. "The Adventures of Pine Nut"), and the first French edition was published in 1902. Between 1911 and 1945, translations were made into all European languages and several languages of Asia, Africa and Oceania. In 1936, Soviet writer Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy published a reworked version of Pinocchio titled "The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino" (originally a character in the commedia dell'arte), which became one of the most popular characters of Russian children's literature. The first stage adaptation was launched in 1899, written by Gattesco Gatteschi and Enrico Guidotti and directed by Luigi Rasi. Also, Pinocchio was adopted as a pioneer of cinema: in 1911, Giulio Antamoro featured him in a 45-minute hand-coloured silent film starring Polidor (an almost complete version of the film was restored in the 1990s). In 1932, Noburō Ōfuji directed a Japanese movie with an experimental technique using animated puppets, while in the 1930s in Italy, there was an attempt to produce a full-length animated cartoon film of the same title. The 1940 Walt Disney version was a groundbreaking achievement in the area of effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles, machinery and natural elements such as rain, lightning, smoke, shadows and water. Literary analysis. Before writing "Pinocchio", Collodi wrote a number of didactic children's stories for the recently unified Italy, including a series about an unruly boy who undergoes humiliating experiences while traveling the country, titled "Viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino" ("Little Johnny's voyage through Italy"). Throughout "Pinocchio", Collodi chastises Pinocchio for his lack of moral fiber and his persistent rejection of responsibility and desire for fun. The structure of the story of Pinocchio follows that of the folk-tales of peasants who venture out into the world but are naively unprepared for what they find, and get into ridiculous situations. At the time of the writing of the book, this was a serious problem, arising partly from the industrialization of Italy, which led to a growing need for reliable labour in the cities; the problem was exacerbated by similar, more or less simultaneous, demands for labour in the industrialization of other countries. One major effect was the emigration of much of the Italian peasantry to cities and to foreign countries, often as far away as South and North America. Some literary analysts have described Pinocchio as an epic hero. According to Thomas J. Morrissey and Richard Wunderlich in "Death and Rebirth in Pinocchio" (1983) "such mythological events probably imitate the annual cycle of vegetative birth, death, and renascence, and they often serve as paradigms for the frequent symbolic deaths and rebirths encountered in literature. Two such symbolic renderings are most prominent: re-emergence from a journey to hell and rebirth through metamorphosis. Journeys to the underworld are a common feature of Western literary epics: Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Dante all benefit from the knowledge and power they put on after such descents. Rebirth through metamorphosis, on the other hand, is a motif generally consigned to fantasy or speculative literature [...] These two figurative manifestations of the death-rebirth trope are rarely combined; however, Carlo Collodi's great fantasy-epic, "The Adventures of Pinocchio", is a work in which a hero experiences symbolic death and rebirth through both infernal descent and metamorphosis. Pinocchio is truly a fantasy hero of epic proportions [...] Beneath the book's comic-fantasy texture—but not far beneath—lies a symbolic journey to the underworld, from which Pinocchio emerges whole." The main imperatives demanded of Pinocchio are to work, be good, and study. And in the end Pinocchio's willingness to provide for his father and devote himself to these things transforms him into a real boy with modern comforts. "as a hero of what is, in the classic sense, a comedy, "Pinocchio" is protected from ultimate catastrophe, although he suffers quite a few moderate calamities. Collodi never lets the reader forget that disaster is always a possibility; in fact, that is just what Pinocchio's mentors —Geppetto, the Talking Cricket, and the Fairy— repeatedly tell him. Although they are part of a comedy, Pinocchio's adventures are not always funny. Indeed, they are sometimes sinister. The book's fictive world does not exclude injury, pain, or even death—they are stylized but not absent. [...] Accommodate them he does, by using the archetypal birth-death-rebirth motif as a means of structuring his hero's growth to responsible boyhood. Of course, the success of the puppet's growth is rendered in terms of his metamorphic rebirth as a flesh-and-blood human." Adaptations. The story has been adapted into many forms on stage and screen, some keeping close to the original Collodi narrative while others treat the story more freely. There are at least fourteen English-language films based on the story, Italian, French, Russian, German, Japanese and other versions for the big screen and for television, and several musical adaptations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70887

Culture of Sydney

The cultural life of Sydney, Australia is dynamic and multicultural. Many of the individual cultures that make up the Sydney mosaic are centred on the cultural, artistic, ethnic, linguistic and religious communities formed by waves of immigration. Sydney is a major global city with a vibrant scene of musical, theatrical, visual, literary and other artistic activity. History. Sydney has a long rich cultural history. It is located in the traditional custodian lands of the Gadigal people who originally settled in the area at least 60,000 years ago. After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, a series of cultures emerged and adapted from European and American influences in needs of a modern-class city. Following the end of World War I, new forms of culture processed a mix of cultural diversity, on bases of ethnicity, age and gender. Currently, Sydney endures a vibrant arts scene in distinction to multicultural heritage and provides dozens of institutions, including its world heritage-listed opera house. Arts and entertainment. Performing arts. The Sydney Festival, held each year in January, is Sydney's and Australia's biggest performing arts festival, incorporating classical and contemporary music, theatre, visual arts, and new media. The Sydney Theatre Company shows a regular roster of Australian (by authors such as noted playwright David Williamson), classic, and international plays. Their productions occasionally incorporate the return to the live stage of famous Australian screen actors such as Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush, etc. The Wharf Theatre, the Sydney Theatre, the Drama Theatre of the Opera House and the Belvoir St Theatre (the home of Company B) are some of the main live theatre venues. The Bell Shakespeare Company, directed by John Bell, specializes in Shakespearean drama, with forays into modern plays such as Heiner Müller's 'Titus Andronicus'. Sydney has several independent theatres for productions throughout the city centre including the Capitol Theatre (est. 1928, 2000 seats), the Lyric Theatre (2000 seats), the Theatre Royal (Est. 1827, 1200 seats) and the State Theatre (est. 1929, 2000 seats but stage not big enough for large productions). From the 1940s to the 1970s the Sydney Push, an intellectual subculture of authors and activists questioning of authority, including Germaine Greer, was active. The Sydney Dance Company under the leadership of Graeme Murphy has put on contemporary productions since the late 20th century. The Australian Ballet, whose headquarters are in Melbourne, performs regularly in Sydney. Every May at the anniversary of the Concordia German Club, which was founded in 1883 and every Christmas the Concordia German Choir performs at the German Club in Tempe. The Choir specializes in German folk songs. Music. "'O! Sydney I Love You"' was the winner of a song writing competition organized by "The Sun" newspaper. Emily Harris studio dance recorded the song in 1927. "Sydney" was recorded by Maurice Chenoweth around the same time. "My City of Sydney" was performed by Tommy Leonetti on Channel 9 during the 1970s as the station shut down for the evening. The Sydney Symphony is internationally renowned and regularly performs in the Concert Hall (2,600 seats) of the Sydney Opera House under Chief Conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy (until 2013) and, as of 2014, David Robertson. City Recital Hall is dedicated mainly to chamber music and chamber orchestra concerts, featuring many famous international artists as well as concert series by local groups such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Sydney's foremost Baroque orchestra, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Opera Australia, as at 2015 the world's third-busiest opera company, has its headquarters in Sydney and performs a busy program of mainly classical and occasionally contemporary operas at the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House. New experimental and avant-garde music is performed by Ensemble Offspring, Halcyon, The Noise and others, at the recently refurbished Carriageworks and many small inner-city cafes, warehouses, theatres etc. Liquid Architecture, What Is Music and The NOW now are annual festivals and ongoing series of contemporary music and sound art. Jazz and alternative music (such as Sydney-based The Necks) are played at The Basement and Jazz at 72, and formerly at the now defunct Harbourside Brasserie. The Sound Lounge (SIMA), Jazzgroove, 505 and Red Rattler host regular jazz and alternative music events. Many well-known Australian rock bands and solo artists began their careers in Sydney. Various Sydney inductees into the ARIA Hall of Fame include Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joye (& The Joy Boys), Billy Thorpe (the original Aztecs formed in Sydney), The Easybeats, Sherbet, Richard Clapton, John Paul Young, AC/DC, Radio Birdman, Midnight Oil, Rose Tattoo, Mental As Anything, INXS, Icehouse and Divinyls. Other notable acts include early rockers Lonnie Lee & the Leemen, Dig Richards & The R'Jays and Johnny Rebb & The Rebels, surf group The Atlantics, beat groups Ray Brown & The Whispers, The Missing Links and The Throb. The 1970s saw "progressive" acts like Tamam Shud, Tully and Blackfeather emerge, followed by glam groups Hush & Ted Mulry Gang. Sydney is famous for its alternative rock scene, with such names as The Celibate Rifles, indie rockers The Clouds, The Vines and The Crystal Set, to electronic music pioneers Severed Heads, Single Gun Theory, The Lab, Itch-E and Scratch-E and local favourites Sneaky Sound System. Sydney is the original home of the now national alternative rock festival the Big Day Out, which began in Sydney in 1992 featuring local bands such as You Am I and The Clouds and international groups like Nirvana. Other notable bands from the Sydney music scene are Angelspit, Wolfmother, Thy Art Is Murder, and 5 Seconds of Summer. Sydney has a prominent indie or lo-fi scene which features many rising, internationally touring bands such as Royal Headache, Circle Pit, Electric Flu and Raw Prawn. While not as widespread as Melbourne's 'scene', Sydney tends to have a mass of tight-knit groups of bands that will tour together, most of which are on the same record label(s). Film. Sydney is Australia's centre for commercial film and media. Many of the landmarks in Sydney have been referenced, shown and been the setting for countless films and television programs. Many films have been set in the city, including "Finding Nemo", which was set in Sydney Harbour. The city was used as downtown "Angel Grove" in 20th Century Fox's "" "(1995)". The Matrix was also filmed in Sydney. The international Sydney Film Festival takes place each year in June at various venues in the CBD. Other film festivals in Sydney include the renowned short film festivals Tropfest and Flickerfest. Children's entertainment. A large portion of Australia's children's entertainment originates in Sydney including highly successful musical groups The Wiggles and Hi-5 and television programs "Play School", "Bananas in Pyjamas", "Saturday Disney", "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo", "Mr. Squiggle" and many others. Museums. Sydney has been home to many visual artists, from the lush pastoralism of Lloyd Rees depictions of Sydney Harbour to Jeffrey Smart's portraits of bleak urban alienation, from the psychedelic visions of Brett Whiteley to a plethora of contemporary artists. Sydney has a range of museums including those based on visual art such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, White Rabbit Gallery, Carriageworks, and the Brett Whiteley Studio; science and technology such as the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Observatory, Sydney Tramway Museum, Australian National Maritime Museum and Australian Museum; and history such as the Museum of Sydney. The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), alongside major collections of Australian colonial and 20th-century art and some works by European masters, has the largest and most important collection of Aboriginal art anywhere in the world. The Archibald Prize for portraiture (Australia's most prestigious art prize), the Sulman Prize for subject/genre painting and the Wynne Prize for landscape painting are awarded each year by the trustees of the AGNSW. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) at West Circular Quay is Australia's foremost contemporary art museum, featuring a mixture of exhibitions from the museum's permanent collection and visiting shows by major international artists. The Biennale of Sydney is an important festival dedicated to the contemporary visual arts, held bi-annually at the MCA and at various other venues around the city and often spilling into the streets. Another visual arts festival held at the MCA each spring is Primavera, a festival focusing on young, up-and-coming Australian artists. A huge wrap-around mural by renowned American artist Sol LeWitt can be seen in the foyer of Australia Square Tower on the corner of George, Bond and Pitt Streets. Outside the tower, facing George Street, there is a large abstract steel sculpture by American sculptor Alexander Calder. There are many commercial galleries focusing mainly on cutting-edge contemporary art all around the inner city suburbs of Woollahra, Newtown, Surry Hills, Paddington, Darlinghurst, Camperdown etc. Graffiti and street art thrive in Sydney. The Newtown, Surry Hills and Glebe areas in particular have many innovative examples of murals and other street art. A recent addition is Art Month Sydney, a month-long festival of the visual arts held throughout March and the annual Art & About Sydney Festival. Literature and libraries. The Sydney Writers' Festival based in Walsh Bay, is held each year in May, featuring readings and discussions by Australian and international writers. An array of novels have used Sydney as a setting, notably Ruth Park's "The Harp in the South", which charts the slums of 1930s–40s Sydney, Christina Stead's "Seven Poor Men of Sydney" which addresses a similar theme of life in the poor neighbourhoods, and Elizabeth Harrower's "Down in the City"–set in a King's Cross apartment in the late 1950s. More contemporary examples include Melina Marchetta's "Looking for Alibrandi", J. M. Coetzee's "Diary of a Bad Year", Peter Carey's "30 Days in Sydney", Patrick White's "The Eye of the Storm" and Kate Grenville's "The Secret River". Prolific writers from the city include Geraldine Brooks, Jackie French, Kathy Lette, Phillip Knightley and Richard Neville. The largest library in Sydney is the State Library of New South Wales, which holds over 4.7 million items, including 2 million books, and hosts free exhibitions in its gallery spaces. Most local government areas within Sydney have local libraries including the City of Sydney Library with eight local branches, the Bankstown City Library, the Max Webber Library in Blacktown and many others. Tourism. Many of the tourist attractions are scattered all over the city, the most famous and visited being the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Other attractions include the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art, White Rabbit Gallery and Sydney Tower. Sydney's nightlife has declined since the introduction of lockout laws, which call for 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks. Prior to the introduction of the laws, Kings Cross was known as the city's red-light district. There are huge celebrations for New Year's Eve and Australia Day in Sydney, including a fireworks display that features the Harbour Bridge. Many festivals are held in Sydney, including the Sydney Festival, a celebration of partly free performances throughout January; Vivid Sydney, a festival of light and music held annually in May–June; the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (see below); the annual Sydney Film Festival and many smaller festivals such as Tropfest. There are also several music festivals including Big Day Out, Homebake, The Great Escape, and Stereosonic. Sport. Sport is an important part of the culture in Sydney. New South Wales has attracted many international multi-sport events including the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney. Sydney was also the host of the 1938 British Empire Games. The Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium, is the scene of the annual NRL Grand Final. It also regularly hosts rugby league State of Origin as well as rugby union and soccer internationals. It hosted the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the memorable soccer World Cup qualifier between Australia and Uruguay. The Sydney Cricket Ground traditionally hosts the 'New Year' cricket test match from 2–6 January each year. The annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race begins in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, whilst the climax of Australia's touring car racing series is the Bathurst 1000, held at the Mount Panorama Circuit near the city of Bathurst in the Western Plains. The Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival features the richest two-year-old horse race in the world, the Golden Slipper Stakes, which is run in April every year. The Medibank International tennis tournament is held in January prior to the Australian Open. The City to Surf foot race is held every August and is one of the largest timed foot races in the world. Rugby. Rugby league football has a place with some Sydneysiders, as a sporting and a tradition within the city. This stems back from the earlier colonial days of the city where the city and its cultural were largely dictated by wealthy Englishmen whom traditionally played and were supporters of the Rugby code of football, which was largely advertised and passed on to the people of Sydney, including the working class who in back in England largely played soccer. The game quickly grew a working-class following, and has been a Sydney tradition ever since. The headquarters of the Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League (NRL) are in Sydney, which is home to nine of the 16 NRL football clubs (Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels, Cronulla Sharks, Wests Tigers, Penrith Panthers, Bulldogs and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles), as well as being the northern home of the St George Illawarra Dragons, which is half-based in Wollongong. Sydney has a local club rugby union competition (the Shute Shield), and a Super Rugby team the NSW Waratahs, who play their games in the city and represent the entire state of New South Wales. They were represented in the defunct Australian Rugby Championship by Sydney Fleet, and Central Coast Rays. The National Rugby Championship has four NSW teams: Sydney Stars, Greater Sydney Rams, North Harbour Rays and NSW Country Eagles. The Australian Rugby Union headquarters are located in Sydney. The Waratahs play out of the Sydney Football Stadium, and when in Sydney the Wallabies play out of Stadium Australia. Australian rules football. Australian rules football, commonly known as Australian Football League (AFL), is a developing game in most of NSW with increasing popularity. In Sydney, local competitions established in 1880 and again in 1903 competed with rugby union football and then rugby league football. The AFL has two teams from Sydney, the Sydney Swans and the Greater Western Sydney Giants. Formerly South Melbourne, the Swans moved up to Sydney in 1982, after hitting financial trouble. The Swans have won two premierships since moving to Sydney (in 2005 and 2012). Attendance for Swans matches has slowly risen since their relocation. The Giants, based in Western Sydney and Canberra, joined the AFL in 2012. The inaugural AFL Women's in 2017 included a GWS Giants team. Soccer. Whilst having a strong sporting tradition in the field of Rugby League, Sydney also has a long and strong tradition in association football. Early football clubs in Sydney were relatively small, and did not have very large followings, and like the general population of Sydney in the late 1800s the clubs were largely English in nature, but when the Australian government began its immigration policy in years closely following World War II, many immigrants left Europe in search of new homes in Sydney, and Australia in general. These migrant groups who were subject to racism from the existing population took it upon themselves to found their own football clubs, celebrating their particular ethnic communities. The three largest such clubs were founded by the three largest post war immigration groups respectively, they are: Marconi Stallions Football Club (Italian), Sydney Olympic Football Club (Greek), and Sydney United Football Club (Croatian). Along with these larger clubs, there are also many smaller clubs formed by ethnic groups, who also bare suburban names, such as Bankstown City Lions Football Club (Macedonian), Bonnyrigg White Eagles (Serbian), Parramatta Eagles (Maltese), and St. George Saints Football Club (Hungarian). These "ethnic" clubs soon began to dominate football in Sydney, drawing large crowd support from their given ethnic groups, and having their fair share of on field success too. In 2005, a new club was founded in Sydney called Sydney FC, who were to be based in central Sydney as opposed to being based at a small suburban stadium, and were founded specifically to attract a multicultural following. They were entered in a new league to be known as the A-League, this would act as the show piece national football competition, contested by similarly formed clubs from other large cities around Australia. In the first 6 years of their existence, Sydney FC have been relatively successful building up a solid support base of around 10,000 members, and sometimes attracting crowds of up to 40,000. Cricket. The NSW Blues are by far the most successful domestic cricket side in Australia having won the First-class competition 44 times and the One-Day Domestic cup nine times. They occasionally play first-class matches against touring International sides. The team's main home ground is the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the Twenty20 Big Bash League and Women's Big Bash League, the state is represented by the Sydney Sixers, playing at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Sydney Thunder, playing at the Sydney Showground. Basketball and netball. The Sydney Kings and Wollongong Hawks are the state's representatives in the National Basketball League (NBL). These teams have all featured in the finals series since 2002–03, the Kings winning 3 consecutive premierships in 2002–03, 2003–04 & 2004–05. There are 12 teams in the New South Wales conference of the Australian Basketball Association, the Waratah League. The Sydney Uni Flames play in the Women's National Basketball League. Giants Netball were formed when the Greater Western Sydney Giants football club were given one of the three licenses for new teams for the first season of the Super Netball league in 2017. Communities and subcultures. Multicultural communities. Areas with a large proportion of people born overseas and with non-English speaking backgrounds include Auburn, Fairfield, Liverpool, and Bankstown. Generally Western European and North American born people have settled around the Lower North Shore, eastern suburbs and Sutherland Shire, the Portuguese in Surry Hills, Arab people around the Lakemba-Auburn region, Indo-Chinese in the south-western suburbs, South Asians around Parramatta and the south east, and North East Asians in major nodes such as Hurstville, Burwood, Strathfield, Chatswood, Eastwood, Campsie and Haymarket. LGBT community. Sydney has a significant gay and lesbian community, centred on Oxford Street, and holds the annual The Sydney lesbian community, though still active around Oxford Street, is well established and visible in Newtown and Enmore in Sydney's Inner West. There is also a history of lesbian community congregating in Leichhardt, and other inner west suburbs. There are two magazines available in Sydney and one website with detailed information on Sydney's lesbian community and night-life. "LOTL" and "Cherry" magazines are free, monthly, Australia wide, publications which can be found around Oxford Street, Glebe and Newtown. The Sapphic Sydney website was a resource which detailed events and community groups as well as featuring a local business directory. There is also a thriving independent queer publishing community in Sydney publishing magazines such as "Slit", "Dirty Queer", and "Spunk".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71070

Derbyshire

Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south and west, and Cheshire to the west. Derby is the largest settlement, and Matlock is the county town. The county has an area of and a population of 1,053,316. The east of the county is more densely populated than the west, and contains the county's largest settlements: Derby (261,400), Chesterfield (88,483), and Swadlincote (45,000). Several towns near the Nottinghamshire border are part of Nottingham built-up-area. For administrative purposes Derbyshire is divided into nine districts, eight of which are part of a two-tier county governed by eight borough councils and Derbyshire County Council; the ninth is the City of Derby, governed by the unitary Derby City Council. The north of Derbyshire is hilly and contains the southern end of the Pennines, most of which are part of the Peak District National Park. They include Kinder Scout, at the highest point in the county. The River Derwent is the longest in the county, at , and flows south until it meets the River Trent just south of Derby. Church Flatts Farm at Coton in the Elms, near Swadlincote, is the furthest point from the sea in the UK. History. The area that is now Derbyshire was first visited, probably briefly, by humans 200,000 years ago during the Aveley interglacial, as shown by a Middle Paleolithic Acheulean hand axe found near Hopton. Further occupation came with the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers roamed the hilly tundra. Evidence of these nomadic tribes has been found in limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Deposits left in the caves date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE. Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county. These chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region. There are tombs at Minninglow and Five Wells that date back to between 2000 and 2500 BCE. Three miles west of Youlgreave lies the Neolithic henge monument of Arbor Low, which has been dated to 2500 BCE. It is not until the Bronze Age that real signs of agriculture and settlement are found in the county. In the moors of the Peak District signs of clearance, arable fields and hut circles were found after archaeological investigation. However this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are all that have been found. During the Roman conquest of Britain, the invaders were attracted to Derbyshire for its lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county, with forts built near Brough in the Hope Valley and near Glossop. Later they settled round Buxton, famed for its warm springs, and set up a fort near modern-day Derby in an area now known as Little Chester. Several kings of Mercia are buried in the Repton area. Following the Norman Conquest, much of the county was subject to the forest laws. To the northwest was the Forest of High Peak under the custodianship of William Peverel and his descendants. The rest of the county was bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers, a part of it becoming Duffield Frith. In time the whole area was given to the Duchy of Lancaster. Meanwhile, the Forest of East Derbyshire covered the whole county to the east of the River Derwent from the reign of Henry II to that of Edward I. Geography. The terrain of Derbyshire mostly consists of uplands to the north and centre of the county, and lowlands to the south and east. The southern foothills and uplands of the Pennines extend from the north of the Trent Valley throughout the Peak District and into the north of the county, reaching the county's highest point at Kinder Scout. The terrain is relatively low-lying across the lower Dove Valley, from the Trent Valley and southwards, and near its eastern borders with Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. The main rivers in the county are the River Derwent and the River Dove which both join the River Trent in the south. The River Derwent rises in the moorland of Bleaklow and flows throughout the Peak District and county for the majority of its course, while the River Dove rises in Axe Edge Moor and forms a boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire for most of its length. Landscape character. The varied landscapes within Derbyshire have been formed mainly as a consequence of the underlying geology, but also by the way the land has been managed and shaped by human activity. The county contains 11 discrete landscape types, known as National Character Areas, which have been described in detail by Natural England and further refined, mapped and described by Derbyshire County Council and the Peak District National Park. The 11 National Character Areas found within Derbyshire are: Geology. Derbyshire's solid geology can be split into two very different halves. The oldest rocks occur in the northern, more upland half of the county, and are mostly of Carboniferous age, comprising limestones, gritstones, sandstones and shales. In its north-east corner to the east of Bolsover, there are also Magnesian Limestone rocks of Permian age. In contrast, the southern and more lowland half of Derbyshire contains much softer rocks, mainly mudstones and sandstones of Permo-Triassic age, which create gentler, more rolling landscapes with few rock outcrops. Across both regions can be found drift deposits of Quaternary age – mainly terrace and river gravel deposits and boulder clays. Landslip features are found on unstable layers of sandstones and shales, with Mam Tor and Alport Castles being the best-known. Cemented screes and tufa deposits occur very rarely in the limestone dales and rivers, whilst cave systems have been created naturally in the limestone since Pleistocene times. A recently discovered cave chamber near Castleton, named Titan, is the deepest shaft and biggest chamber of any cave in Britain. The oldest rocks are Lower Carboniferous limestones of Dinantian age, which form the core of the White Peak within the Peak District National Park. Because northern Derbyshire is effectively an uplifted dome of rock layers that have subsequently eroded to expose older rocks in the centre of the Derbyshire Dome, these are encircled by progressively younger limestone rocks, until they in turn give way on three sides to Upper Carboniferous shales, gritstones and sandstones of Namurian age. Younger still are the sandstones, shales and coal deposits found on the eastern flank of Derbyshire, forming the coal measures, which are of Westphalian age. All these rock layers disappear south of a line drawn between Ashbourne and Derby under layers of clays and sandstones (Mercia Mudstone Group and Sherwood Sandstones) of Permo-Triassic age. Small amounts of carboniferous limestones, gritstones and coal measures reappear in the far south of Derbyshire from Ticknall (limestone) to Swadlincote (coal measures). Some areas of the White Peak exhibit contemporaneous basalt flows (e.g. Ravens Tor at Millers Dale), as well as subsequent dolerite sill intrusion at a much later stage (e.g. near Tideswell Dale), whilst mineralisation of the carboniferous limestone in a subsequent period created extensive lead and fluorite deposits which have formed a significant part of Derbyshire's economy, as did coal mining. Lead mining has been important here since Roman Times. The more recent river gravels of the Trent valley remain a significant extractive industry today in south Derbyshire, as does the mining of limestone rock in central and northern parts of the county. Coarse sandstones were once extensively quarried both for local building materials and for the production of gritstone grinding wheels for use in mills, and both former industries have left their mark on the Derbyshire landscape. Green belts. As well as the protections afforded to the Peak District area under national and local policies, there are several green belts within the county, aimed at preserving the landscape surrounding main urban areas. There are four such areas, the first three being portions of much larger green belts that extend outside the county and surround large conurbations: Ecology. Because of its central location in England and altitude range from 27 metres in the south to 636 metres in the north, Derbyshire contains many species at the edge of their UK distribution ranges. Some species with a predominantly northern British distribution are at the southern limit of their range, whilst others with a more southern distribution are at their northern limit in Derbyshire. As climate change progresses, a number of sensitive species are now being seen to be either expanding or contracting their range as a result. For the purposes of protecting and recording the county's most important habitats, Derbyshire has been split into two regions, each with its own Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), based around National Character Areas. The Peak District BAP includes all of Derbyshire's uplands of the Dark Peak, South-West Peak and White Peak, including an area of limestone beyond the national park boundary. The remaining areas are monitored and recorded in the Lowland Derbyshire Biodiversity Action Plan, which subdivides the landscape into eight smaller Action Areas. The Derbyshire Biological Records Centre was formerly based at Derby Museum and Art Gallery, but since 2011 has been managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. Two of Englands 48 Local Nature Partnerships (LNP) also cover Derbyshire; these are the Peak District LNP and the Lowland Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire LNP. Botany. Since 2002, the county flower for Derbyshire has been Jacob's-ladder ("Polemonium caeruleum"), a relatively rare species, and characteristic of certain limestone dales in the White Peak. Derbyshire is known to have contained 1,919 separate taxa of vascular plants (including species, hybrids and micro-species) since modern recording began, of which 1,133 are known to be either native or archaeophyte, the remainder being non-native species. These comprise 336 established species, 433 casuals and 17 unassigned. It is known that 34 species of plants once native here have been lost from Derbyshire (i.e. become locally extinct) since modern plant recording began in the 17th century. Derbyshire contains two endemic vascular plants, found nowhere else in the world: "Rubus durescens", a bramble occurring in central Derbyshire, and Derby hawkweed ("Hieracium naviense"), still known only from Winnats Pass. One endemic species of moss, Derbyshire Feather Moss, occurs in one small 3-metre patch in just one Derbyshire limestone dale, its sole world location intentionally kept confidential. The distribution and status of vascular plants in Derbyshire have been recorded over the last 120 years in a series of four major botanical works, each by different authors between 1889 and 2015, all entitled "The Flora of Derbyshire". Plant recording is mainly undertaken locally by volunteers from the Derbyshire Flora Group, and by staff at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and the Peak District National Park. The Dark Peak is marked by heathlands, bogs, gritstone edges and acid grasslands containing relatively few species, with plants such as heather ("Calluna vulgaris"), crowberry ("Empetrum nigrum"), bilberry ("Vaccinium myrtillus") and hare's-tail cotton grass ("Eriophorum vaginatum") being dominant on the high moors. The dales of the White Peak are known for habitats such as calcareous grassland, ash woodlands and rock outcrops in all of which a much greater richness of lime-loving species occurs than elsewhere in the county. These include various orchids (such as early purple orchid ("Orchis mascula"), dark-red helleborine ("Epipactis atrorubens") and fly orchid ("Ophrys insectifera")), common rockrose ("Helianthemum nummularium"), spring cinquefoil ("Helianthemum nummularium") and grass of parnassus ("Parnassia palustris"). Specialised communities of plants occur on former lead workings, where typical metallophyte species include spring sandwort ("Minuartia verna"), alpine penny-cress ("Thlaspi caerulescens") (both known locally in Derbyshire as Leadwort), as well as mountain pansy ("Viola lutea") and moonwort ("Botrychium lunaria"). In 2015, Derbyshire contained 304 vascular plant species now designated as of international, national or local conservation concern, for their rarity or recent declines, and collectively listed as Derbyshire Red Data plants. Work on recording and publishing a bryophyte flora for Derbyshire still continues: by 2012 a total of 518 bryophyte species had been recorded for the county. Botanical recording in the UK predominantly uses the unchanging vice-county boundary system, which results in a slightly different map of Derbyshire from the modern geographic county. Zoology. A number of specialist organisations protect, promote and monitor records of individual animal groups across Derbyshire. The main ones are Derbyshire Ornithological Society; Derbyshire Mammal Group; Derbyshire Bat Group, Derbyshire Amphibian and Reptile Group, and the Derbyshire & Nottingham Entomological Society. All maintain databases of wildlife sightings, whilst some such as the Derbyshire Ornithological Society provide alerts of rare sightings on their websites or social media pages and also publish major works describing the status and distribution of species. Economy. Derbyshire has a mixture of a rural economy in the west, with a former coal-mining economy in the north-east (Bolsover district), the Erewash Valley around Ilkeston and in the south around Swadlincote. The rural landscape varies from arable farmland in the flatlands to the south of Derby, to upland pasture and moorland in the high gritstone uplands of the southern Pennines. Derbyshire is rich in natural mineral resources such as lead, iron, coal, and limestone, which have been exploited over a long period. Lead, for example, has been mined since Roman times. The limestone outcrops in the central area led to the establishment of large quarries to supply the industries of surrounding towns with lime for building and steelmaking, and latterly in the 20th-century cement manufacture. The Industrial Revolution also increased demand for building stone, and in the late 19th and early 20th-century, the arrival of the railways led to a large number of stone quarries being established. This industry has left its mark on the countryside, but is still a major industry: a lot of the stone is supplied as crushed stone for road building and concrete manufacture, and is moved by rail. Derbyshire's relative remoteness in the late 18th century and an abundance of fast-flowing streams led to a proliferation of the use of hydropower at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, following the mills pioneered by Richard Arkwright. Derbyshire has been said to be the home of the Industrial Revolution, and part of the Derwent Valley has been given World Heritage status in acknowledgement of this historic importance. Nationally famous companies in Derbyshire include Rolls-Royce, one of the world's leading aerospace companies, based since before World War I in Derby, Thorntons just south of Alfreton and Toyota, who have one of the UK's largest car manufacturing plants at Burnaston. Ashbourne Water used to be bottled in Buxton by Nestlé Waters UK until 2006 and Buxton Water still is. Derbyshire is one of only three counties permitted to make cheese that is labelled as Stilton cheese. The others are Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. The smallest of six companies making this product is Hartington Creamery at Pikehall. As of March 2021, Hartington Stilton was marketing within the UK but also exporting to the US, EU and Canada. The company director told the BBC that they had "a surge in interest and consumer sales from the US". Governance. The county is divided into eleven constituencies for the election of members of parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. As of December 2019, nine constituencies are represented by Conservative MPs, whilst the remaining two are represented by Labour MPs. The results of the 2019 United Kingdom general election in Derbyshire (including the city of Derby) are as follows: Derbyshire has a three-tier local government since the local government reorganisation in 1974. It has a county council based in Matlock and eight district councils and since 1997, a unitary authority area of the City of Derby. Derby remains part of Derbyshire only for ceremonial purposes. Derbyshire has become fractionally smaller during government reorganisation over the years. The Sheffield suburbs Woodseats, Beauchief, Handsworth, Woodhouse, Norton, Mosborough, Totley, Bradway and Dore were previously parts of the county, but were lost to Sheffield between 1900 and 1933; Mosborough was transferred in 1967. However, Derbyshire gained part of the Longdendale valley and Tintwistle from Cheshire in 1974. The current area of the geographic/ceremonial county of Derbyshire is only 4.7 square kilometres less than it was over 100 years ago. At the third tier are the parish councils, which do not cover all areas. The eight district councils in Derbyshire and the unitary authority of Derby are shown in the map above. These district councils are responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. Education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning are the responsibility of the County Council. Although Derbyshire is in the East Midlands, some parts, such as High Peak (which incorporated former areas of Cheshire after boundary changes in 1974), are closer to the northern cities of Manchester and Sheffield and these receive services more affiliated with northern England; for example, the North West Ambulance Service, Granada Television and United Utilities serve the Glossop area and the NHS Trusts here are governed by the Greater Manchester Health Authority. Outside the main city of Derby, the largest town in the county is Chesterfield. Derbyshire is also part of multiple combined authorities. High Peak is not part of Greater Manchester Combined Authority but is connected to the county both by rail and sharing a close area with Tameside at Glossop and Hadfield. The Erewash, Amber Valley and Derby districts are part of the D2N2 partnership with neighbouring Nottinghamshire. The Derbyshire Dales, Bolsover, North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield districts are part of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (as non constituent members). Education. The Derbyshire school system is comprehensive with no selective schools. The independent sector includes Repton School, Trent College and The Elms School. Settlements. There are several towns in the county, with Derby the largest and most populous. At the time of the 2011 census, a population of 770,600 lived in the county with 248,752 (32%) living in Derby. The table below shows all towns with over 10,000 inhabitants. Historic areas. Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, South Yorkshire, and Staffordshire: Media. Because of the size of the county, southern parts of Derbyshire such as Derby, Matlock, Ashbourne and Bakewell are covered by BBC East Midlands and ITV Central in Nottingham, broadcast from Waltham. Northeast Derbyshire, Chesterfield, the eastern High Peak (Hope Valley) and northern area of the Derbyshire Dales (Tideswell and Hathersage) are covered by ITV Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire from Emley Moor, with their ITV News Calendar and "Look North" programmes, both from Leeds. The western area of the High Peak (Buxton, Glossop, New Miils and Chapel-en-le-Frith) is covered by BBC North West from Winter Hill and ITV Granada, both based in Salford. BBC Local Radio for the county is provided by BBC Radio Derby, BBC Radio Sheffield (covering Chesterfield and Bolsover) and BBC Radio Manchester (covering Glossop, New Miils and Chapel-en-le-Frith). County-wide commercial radio stations are Capital Midlands, Gem, Greatest Hits Radio Midlands and Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire (for Chesterfield, Matlock and Bakewell). Sport. Derbyshire has one Football League team, Derby County, which plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. The next highest-placed team is Chesterfield, which participates in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. There are also many non-league teams playing throughout the county, most notably Alfreton Town, which plays in the National League North. The county is currently home to the world's oldest football club, Sheffield F.C., which plays in Dronfield in north-east Derbyshire. Glossop was the smallest town in the country to have a football team in the top tier of English football, Glossop North End. Derbyshire has a cricket team based at the County Cricket Ground. Derbyshire County Cricket Club currently plays in Division Two of the County Championship. There are also rugby league clubs based in the north of the county, the North Derbyshire Chargers and in Derby (Derby City RLFC). The county has numerous rugby union clubs, including Derby, Chesterfield Panthers, Matlock, Ilkeston, Ashbourne, Bakewell and Amber Valley. The county is a popular area for a variety of recreational sports such as rock climbing, hill walking, hang gliding, caving, sailing on its many reservoirs, and cycling along the many miles of disused rail tracks that have been turned into cycle trails, such as the Monsal Trail and High Peak Trail. The town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire is known for its Royal Shrovetide Football, described as a "medieval football game", played annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Derbyshire is host to one of the only community Muggle quidditch teams in the country, known as Derby Union Quidditch Club. The Club recruits players from the age of 16 upwards from all over Derby, and has representatives from most local sixth forms and the University of Derby. The team has competed against both the Leeds Griffins and the Leicester Lovegoods in the past and is part of the vibrant UK quidditch scene. It is also an official International Quidditch Association team. Local attractions. The county of Derbyshire has many attractions for tourists and local people. It offers Peak District scenery such as Mam Tor and Kinder Scout, and more urban attractions such as Bakewell, Buxton and Derby. Such places include Bolsover Castle, Castleton, Chatsworth House, National Tramway Museum at Crich, Peak Rail steam railway, Midland Railway steam railway, Dovedale, Haddon Hall, the Heights of Abraham and Matlock Bath. In the north of the county, three large reservoirs, Howden, Derwent and Ladybower, were built in the early part of the 20th century to supply the rapidly growing populations of Sheffield, Derby and Leicester with drinking water. The moorland catchment area around these is part of the Peak District National Park and extensively used for leisure pursuits such as walking and cycling. There are many properties and lands in the care of the National Trust that are open to the public, such as Calke Abbey, Hardwick Hall, High Peak Estate, Ilam Park, Kedleston Hall, Longshaw Estate near Hathersage, and Sudbury Hall on the Staffordshire border. Notable gardens in Derbyshire include the formal ones in 17th–18th-century French style at Melbourne Hall south of Derby, the listed garden at Renishaw Hall near Eckington, Lea Rhododendron Gardens near Matlock, the Royal Horticultural Society recommended Bluebell Arboretum near Swadlincote, and the extensive gardens at Chatsworth House. Ardotalia, also known as Melandra, or Melandra Castle, is an ancient Roman fort built in the north-west of the county. The ruins and foundations are open free of charge to the public. County emblems. As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Jacob's-ladder as the county flower. In September 2006, a proposal for a county flag was introduced, largely on the initiative of BBC Radio Derby. It consists of a white-bordered dark green cross encompassing a golden Tudor rose (a historical symbol of the county) all set in a blue field. The blue field represents the many waters of the county, its rivers and reservoirs, while the cross is green to mark the great areas of countryside. The flag was subsequently registered with the Flag Institute in September 2008. In 2015, BBC Radio Derby commissioned a Derbyshire anthem entitled "Our Derbyshire", including lyrics suggested by its listeners. It received its first performance on 17 September 2015 at Derby Cathedral. Demographics. In 1801 the population was 147,481 According to the UK Census 2001 there were 956,301 people spread over the county's 254,615 hectares. This was estimated to have risen to 990,400 in 2006. The county's population grew by 3.0 per cent from 1991 to 2001 which is around 21,100 people. This figure is higher than the national average of 2.65 per cent, but lower than the East Midlands average of 4.0 per cent. The county as a whole has an average population density of 2.9 people per hectare, making it less densely populated than England as a whole. The density varies throughout the county, with the lowest being in the region of Derbyshire Dales at 0.88 per hectare, and the highest outside the main cities in the region of Erewash, which has 10.04 people per hectare. In literature and popular culture. In Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice", Pemberley, the country house of Fitzwilliam Darcy, is in Derbyshire. Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is named as one of the estates Elizabeth Bennet visits before arriving at Pemberley. In the 2005 film adaptation of the novel, Chatsworth House itself represents Pemberley. In one scene characters discuss visits to Matlock and Dovedale. Sir Walter Scott's 1823 novel "Peveril of the Peak" is partly set in Derbyshire. The events of Tom Stoppard's play "Arcadia" take place in the fictional country house of Sidley Park in Derbyshire. Georgette Heyer's detective/romance novel "The Toll-Gate" is set in 1817 around a fictional toll-gate in Derbyshire. The 1969 film "Women in Love" by Ken Russell had scenes filmed in and around Elvaston Castle, notably the Greco-Roman wrestling scene, which was filmed in the castle's Great Hall. The 1986 film "Lady Jane" by Trevor Nunn, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes, has scenes filmed at Haddon Hall. The 1987 film "The Princess Bride" by Rob Reiner, starring Robin Wright and Cary Elwes, was partly filmed in Derbyshire. It included scenes at Haddon Hall and in the White Peak and Dark Peak. The 1988 film "The Lair of the White Worm" by Ken Russell, starring Hugh Grant, was filmed in Derbyshire. The opening title sequence is of Thor's Cave in the Manifold valley. The 2008 film "The Duchess" includes scenes filmed at Chatsworth House and at Kedleston Hall. The 1993–2002 TV series "Peak Practice" was set in Crich and Fritchley, except for the twelfth and final series, and originally starred Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton. In 2003 an unrelated and less successful medical TV drama, "Sweet Medicine", was mostly filmed in the historic market town of Wirksworth. Other Derbyshire locations in which British TV scenes have been filmed include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71432

2000 Summer Olympics

The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: "Gadigal 2000"), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It marked the second time the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, and in the Southern Hemisphere, the first being in Melbourne, in 1956. Sydney was selected as the host city for the 2000 Games in 1993. Teams from 199 countries participated in the 2000 Games, which were the first to feature at least 300 events in its official sports program. The Games' cost was estimated to be A$6.6 billion. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch before the arrival of his successor Jacques Rogge. The 2000 Games were the last of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantly English-speaking country following the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. The final medal tally at the 2000 Summer Olympics was led by the United States, followed by Russia and China with host Australia in fourth place overall. Cameroon, Colombia, Latvia, Mozambique, and Slovenia won a gold medal for the first time in their Olympic histories, while Barbados, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam won their first-ever Olympic medals. Australia will host the Summer Olympics again in 2032 at Brisbane, Queensland making it the first Oceanic country to host the Olympics three times. The 2000 Games received universal acclaim, with the organization, volunteers, sportsmanship, and Australian public being lauded in the international media. Bill Bryson of "The Times" called the Sydney Games "one of the most successful events on the world stage", saying that they "couldn't be better". James Mossop of the "Electronic Telegraph" called the Games "such a success that any city considering bidding for future Olympics must be wondering how it can reach the standards set by Sydney", while Jack Todd of the "Montreal Gazette" suggested that the "IOC should quit while it's ahead. Admit there can never be a better Olympic Games, and be done with it," as "Sydney was both exceptional and the best". These games would provide the inspiration for London's winning bid for the 2012 Olympic Games in 2005; in preparing for the 2012 Games, Lord Coe declared the 2000 Games the "benchmark for the spirit of the Games, unquestionably", admitting that the London organizing committee "attempted in several ways to emulate what the Sydney Organising Committee did." Host city selection. Sydney won the right to host the Games on 24 September 1993, after being selected over Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul, and Manchester in four rounds of voting, at the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The Australian city of Melbourne which also hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics had lost out to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics three years earlier. Beijing would later be selected to host the 2008 Summer Olympics eight years later on 13 July 2001 and the 2022 Winter Olympics twenty-two years later on 31 July 2015. Beijing's loss to Sydney was seen as a "significant blow" to an "urgent political priority" of the Chinese Communist Party leadership having mounted the most intense and expensive candidacy campaign at the date so far (this includes the Summer and Winter Games). Although it is unknown as two members of the International Olympic Committee voted for Sydney over Beijing in 1993, it appears that an important role was played by Human Rights Watch's campaign to "stop Beijing" because of China's human rights record and international isolation following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Many in China were angry at what they saw as U.S.-led interference in the vote, and the outcome contributed to rising anti-Western sentiment in China and a new phase in the tensions in Sino-American relations. The Games. Costs. The "Oxford Olympics Study 2016" estimates the outturn cost of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics at US$5 billion in 2015 dollars and cost overrun at 90% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) "operational costs" incurred by the organizing committee to stage the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) "direct capital costs" incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are "not" included, such as for road, rail, airport infrastructure, hotel upgrades, or other business investments incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Sydney 2000 compares with a cost of US$4.6 billion for Rio 2016, US$40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and US$51 billion for Sochi 2014, the most expensive Olympics in history. The average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion, average cost overrun is 176%. In 2000, the Auditor-General of New South Wales reported that the Sydney Games cost A$6.6 billion, with a net cost to the public between A$1.7 and A$2.4 billion. In the years leading up to the games, funds were shifted from education and health programs to cover Olympic expenses. It has been estimated that the economic impact of the 2000 Olympics was that A$2.1 billion has been shaved from public consumption. Economic growth was not stimulated to a net benefit and in the years after 2000, foreign tourism to NSW grew by less than tourism to Australia as a whole. A "multiplier" effect on broader economic development was not realized, as a simple "multiplier" analysis fails to capture that resources have to be redirected from elsewhere: the building of a stadium is at the expense of other public works such as extensions to hospitals. Building sporting venues does not add to the aggregate stock of productive capital in the years following the Games: "Equestrian centers, softball compounds, and man-made rapids are not particularly useful beyond their immediate function." Many venues that were constructed in Sydney Olympic Park failed financially in the years immediately following the Olympics to meet the expected bookings to meet upkeep expenses. It was only the 2003 Rugby World Cup that reconnected the park back to citizens. In recent years, infrastructure costs for some facilities have been of growing concern to the NSW Government, especially facilities in Western Sydney. Proposed metro and light rail links from Olympic Park to Parramatta have been estimated to cost in the same order of magnitude as the public expenditure on the games. Stadium Australia had been considered for demolition in 2017 by then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, citing that the stadium was "built for an Olympics" but not for modern spectators. The plan was scrapped in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Dunc Gray Velodrome has also struggled to keep up its $500,000 per year maintenance costs, although it is still used for track cycling events. Chronological Summary of the 2000 Summer Olympics. Although the Opening Ceremony was not scheduled until 15 September, the football competitions began with preliminary matches on 13 September. Among the pre-ceremony fixtures, host nation Australia lost 1–0 to Italy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was the main stadium for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Day 1: 15 September. Cultural display highlights. The opening ceremony began with a tribute to the Australian pastoral heritage of the Australian stockmen and the importance of the stock horse in Australia's heritage. It was produced and filmed by the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation and the home nation broadcaster Channel 7. This was introduced by lone rider Steve Jefferys and his rearing Australian Stock Horse "Ammo". At the cracking of Jefferys' stockwhip, a further 120 riders entered the stadium, their stock horses performing intricate steps, including forming the five Olympic Rings, to a Special Olympics version of the theme, which Bruce Rowland had previously composed for the 1982 film "The Man from Snowy River". The Australian National Anthem was sung in the first verse by Human Nature and the second by Julie Anthony. The ceremony continued, showing many aspects of the land and its people: the affinity of the mainly coastal-dwelling Australians with the sea that surrounds the "Island Continent". The indigenous occupation of the land, the coming of the First Fleet, the continued immigration from many nations, and the rural industry on which the economy of the nation was built, including a display representing the harshness of rural life based on the paintings of Sir Sidney Nolan. Two memorable scenes were the representation of the "Heart" of the country by 200 Aboriginal women from Central Australia who danced up "the mighty spirit of God to protect the Games" and the overwhelmingly noisy representation of the construction industry by hundreds of tap-dancing teenagers. Because Bibi Salisachs (the wife of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch) was seriously ill and unable to accompany her husband to the Olympics, Dawn Fraser, former Australian Olympic Champion swimmer and member of the Parliament of New South Wales, accompanied Samaranch during the Australian cultural display, explaining to him some of the cultural references that are unfamiliar to non-Australians. Formal presentation. A record 199 nations entered the stadium, with a record 80 of them winning at least one medal. The only missing IOC member was Afghanistan, who was banned due to the extremist rule of the Taliban's oppression of women and its prohibition of sports. The ceremony featured a unified entrance by the athletes of North and South Korea, using a specially designed unification flag: a white background flag with a blue map of the Korean Peninsula. Four athletes from East Timor also marched in the parade of nations as individual Olympic athletes and marched directly before the host country. Although the country-to-be had no National Olympic Committee then, they were allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag with country code IOA. The Governor-General, Sir William Deane, opened the games. The Olympic Flag was carried around the arena by eight former Australian Olympic champions: Bill Roycroft, Murray Rose, Liane Tooth, Gillian Rolton, Marjorie Jackson, Lorraine Crapp, Michael Wenden and Nick Green. During the raising of the Olympics Flag, the Olympic Hymn was sung by the Millennium Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in Greek. Following this, Tina Arena sang a purpose-written pop song, "The Flame". The opening ceremony concluded with the lighting of the Olympic Flame, which was brought into the stadium by former Australian Olympic champion Herb Elliott. Then, celebrating 100 years of women's participation in the Olympic Games, former Australian women Olympic medalists Betty Cuthbert and Raelene Boyle, Dawn Fraser, Shirley Strickland (later Shirley Strickland de la Hunty), Shane Gould and Debbie Flintoff-King brought the torch through the stadium, handing it over to Cathy Freeman, who lit the flame in the cauldron within a circle of fire. The choice of Freeman, an Aboriginal woman, to light the flame was notable given the history of human rights abuses against Aboriginal people in Australia. Following her lighting, Freeman was the subject of racial abuse from some Australians. The planned spectacular climax to the ceremony was delayed by the technical glitch of a computer switch which malfunctioned, causing the sequence to shut down by giving a false reading. This meant that the Olympic flame was suspended in mid-air for about four minutes rather than immediately rising up a water-covered ramp to the top of the stadium. When the cause of the problem was discovered, the program was overridden and the cauldron continued its course, and the ceremony concluded with a fireworks display. Day 2: 16 September. The first medals of the Games were awarded in the women's 10 metre air rifle competition, which was won by Nancy Johnson of the United States. The Triathlon made its Olympic debut with the women's race. Set in the surroundings of the Sydney Opera House, Brigitte McMahon representing Switzerland swam, cycled and ran to the first gold medal in the sport, beating the favoured home athletes such as Michelie Jones who won silver. McMahon only passed Jones in sight of the finish line. The first star of the Games was 17-year-old Australian Ian Thorpe, who first set a new world record in the 400-metre freestyle final before competing in an exciting 4 × 100 m freestyle final. Swimming the last leg, Thorpe passed the leading American team and arrived in a new world record time, two-tenths of a second ahead of the Americans. In the same event for women, the Americans also broke the world record, finishing ahead of the Netherlands and Sweden. Samaranch had to leave for home, as his wife was severely ill. Upon arrival, his wife had already died. Samaranch returned to Sydney four days later. The Olympic flag was flown at half-staff during the period as a sign of respect to Samaranch's wife. Day 3: 17 September. Canadian Simon Whitfield sprinted away in the last 100 metres of the men's triathlon, becoming the inaugural winner in the event. On the cycling track, Robert Bartko beat fellow German Jens Lehmann in the individual pursuit, setting a new Olympic Record. Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel set a world record in the semi-finals the same event for women. In the swimming pool, American Tom Dolan beat the world record in the 400-metre medley, successfully defending the title he won in Atlanta four years prior. Dutchwoman Inge de Bruijn also clocked a new world record, beating her own time in the 100 m butterfly final to win by more than a second. Day 4: 18 September. The main event for the Australians on the fourth day of the Games was the 200 m freestyle. Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband had broken the world record in the semi-finals, taking it from the new Australian hero Ian Thorpe, who came close to the world record in his semi-final heat. As the final race finished, Van den Hoogenband's time was exactly the same as in the semi-finals, finishing ahead of Thorpe by half a second. China won the gold medal in the men's team all-around gymnastics competition after being the runner-up in the previous two Olympics. The other medals were taken by Ukraine and Russia, respectively. Zijlaard-van Moorsel lived up to the expectations set by her world record in cycling in the semis by winning the gold medal. Day 7: 21 September. During the Women's Gymnastics All-Around, female athletes suffered damning scores and injuries due to improperly installed gymnastics equipment. Gymnasts performing on the vault gave uncharacteristically poor performances and fell. Officials blamed the series of falls and low scores on performance anxiety. It wasn't until Australian gymnast Allana Slater and her coach, Peggy Liddick, voiced concerns about the equipment that officials discovered the apparatus was five centimetres, or almost two inches, lower than it should've been. While athletes were given the opportunity to perform again, for some of them, the damage to their mental or physical health caused by the vault was irreparable. Chinese gymnast Kui Yuanyuan and American gymnast Kristen Maloney both injured their legs while attempting to stick their landings, with Kui needing to be carried to an examination area and Maloney damaging a titanium rod that had recently been implanted in her shin. Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan ultimately took gold while her teammates, Simona Amânar and Maria Olaru took silver and bronze, respectively. Day 9: 23 September. By rowing in the winning coxless four, Steve Redgrave of Great Britain became a member of a select group who had won gold medals at five consecutive Olympics. The swimming 4 x 100-metre medley relay of B.J. Bedford, Megan Quann (Jendrick), Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres became the first women's relay under 4-minutes, swimming 3:58 and setting a world record, claiming the gold medal for the United States. Day 10: 24 September. Rulon Gardner, never an NCAA champion or a world medalist, beat Alexander Karelin of Russia to win gold in the super heavyweight class, Greco-Roman wrestling. Karelin had won gold in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta. Before this fight, he had never lost in international competition, had been unbeaten in all competitions in 13 years, and had not surrendered a point in a decade. Day 11: 25 September. Australian Cathy Freeman won the 400-metre final in front of a jubilant Sydney crowd at the Olympic Stadium, ahead of Lorraine Graham of Jamaica and Katharine Merry of Great Britain. Freeman's win made her the first competitor in Olympic Games history to light the Olympic Flame and then go on to win a Gold Medal. The attendance at the stadium was 112,524 – the largest attendance for any sport in Olympic Games history. In a men's basketball pool match between the United States and France, the USA's Vince Carter made one of the most famous dunks in basketball history. After getting the ball off a steal, the 6'6"/1.98 m Carter drove to the basket, with 7'2"/2.18 m centre Frédéric Weis in his way. Carter jumped, spread his legs in midair, scraped Weis' head on the way up, and dunked. The French media dubbed the feat "le dunk de la mort" ("the dunk of death"). Day 14: 28 September. The Canadian flag at the athletes' village was lowered to half-mast as Canadian athletes paid tribute to the former prime minister Pierre Trudeau after hearing of his death in Montreal (because of the time zone difference, it was 29 September in Sydney when Trudeau died). The Canadian flag was flown at half-mast for the remainder of the Olympics, on orders from both IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, as the state funeral did not take place until 3 October, two days after the closing ceremony, and the Canadian athletes subsequently rushed back to attend his funeral after 1 October.  Day 16: 30 September. Cameroon won a historic gold medal over Spain in the Men's Olympic Football Final at the Olympic Stadium. The game went to a penalty shootout, which was won by Cameroon 5–3. Day 17: 1 October. The last event of the games was the Men's Marathon, contested on a course that started in North Sydney. The event was won by Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera, with Kenyan Erick Wainaina second, and Tesfaye Tola, also of Ethiopia, third. It was the first time since the 1968 Olympics that an Ethiopian won the gold medal in this event. The closing ceremony commenced with Christine Anu performing her version of the Warumpi Band's song "My Island Home", with several Aboriginal dancers atop the Geodome Stage in the middle of the stadium, around which several hundred umbrella and lamp box kids created an image of Aboriginal Dreamtime. The Geodome Stage was used throughout the ceremony, which was a flat stage mechanically raised into the shape of a Geode. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared at the Closing Ceremony, Subsequent Summer Olympics held in Athens, Beijing and London have been described by Samaranch's successor Jacques Rogge as "unforgettable, dream Games", "truly exceptional" and "happy and glorious games" respectively – the practice of declaring games the "best ever" having been retired after the 2000 Games. Sports. The 2000 Summer Olympic programme featured 300 events in the following 28 sports: Although demonstration sports were abolished following the 1992 Summer Olympics, the Sydney Olympics featured wheelchair racing as exhibition events on the athletics schedule. Special quarantine conditions were introduced to allow entry of horses into Australia to participate in equestrian events, avoiding the need for such events to take place elsewhere as had happened at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Calendar. <section begin="Calendar"/> <section end="Calendar"/> Participating National Olympic Committees. 199 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Sydney Games, two more than in the 1996 Summer Olympics; in addition, there were four Timorese Individual Olympic Athletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Eritrea, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau made their Olympic debut this year. Democratic Republic of the Congo was once again designated under that name, after it participated as Zaire from 1984 to 1996. Afghanistan was the only 1996 participant (and the only existing NOC) that did not participate in the 2000 Olympics, having been banned due to the Taliban's totalitarian rule in Afghanistan, their oppression of women, and its prohibition of sports. Medal count. These are the top ten nations that won medals in the 2000 Games. The ranking in this table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee. Some other sources may be inconsistent due to not taking into account all later doping cases. Host nation (Australia) Organization. Organisations responsible for the Olympics. A number of quasi-government bodies were responsible for the construction, organisation and execution of the Sydney Games. These included: These organisations worked closely together and with other bodies such as: These bodies are often collectively referred to as the "Olympic Family". Organisation of the Paralympics. The organisation of the 2000 Summer Paralympics was the responsibility of the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC). However, much of the planning and operation of the Paralympic Games was outsourced to SOCOG such that most operational programmes planned both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other Olympic events. The organisation of the Games included not only the actual sporting events, but also the management (and sometimes construction) of the sporting venues and surrounding precincts, the organisation of the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, and the Olympic torch relay, which began in Greece and travelled to Australia via numerous Oceania island nations. Phases of the Olympic project. The staging of the Olympics were treated as a project on a vast scale, broken into several broad phases: SOCOG organisational design. The internal organisation of SOCOG evolved over the phases of the project and changed, sometimes radically, several times. In late 1998, the design was principally functional. The top two tiers below the CEO Sandy Hollway consisted of five groups (managed by Group General Managers and the Deputy CEO) and twenty divisions (managed by divisional General Managers), which in turn were further broken up into programmes and sub-programmes or projects. In 1999, functional areas (FAs) broke up into geographic precinct and venue teams (managed by Precinct Managers and Venue Managers) with functional area staff reporting to both the FA manager and the venue manager. SOCOG moved to a matrix structure. The Interstate Football division extant in 1998 was the first of these geographically based venue teams. Volunteer program. The origins of the volunteer program for Sydney 2000 dates back to the bid, as early as 1992. On 17 December 1992, a group of Sydney citizens interested in the prospect of hosting the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games gathered for a meeting at Sports House at Wentworth Park in Sydney. In the period leading up to 1999, after Sydney had won the bid, the small group of volunteers grew from approximately 42 to around 500. These volunteers became known as Pioneer Volunteers. The Pioneer Volunteer program was managed internally by SOCOG's Volunteer Services Department in consultation with prominent peak groups like The Centre for Volunteering (Volunteering and TAFE. Some of the Pioneer Volunteers still meet every four months, an unseen legacy of the games which brought together a community spirit not seen before. During the Olympic games, tens of thousands of volunteers (the official figure placed at 46,967) helped everywhere at the Olympic venues and elsewhere in the city. They were honoured with a parade like the athletes had a few days before. Marketing. Official logo. The bid logo was introduced in 1992 and created by architect and designer Michael Bryce. It featured a colourful, stylised image of the Sydney Opera House which is a possible reference to the motif of the rainbow serpent. The official logo was revealed in 1996, and is also referred to as the "Millennium Man". It incorporated similar curves to the bid logo and combined them with a stylised image of a runner to form a torchbearer in motion. The image of the runners composed of two small yellow boomerangs for arms and a larger red boomerang for legs. Over the runner's head is a trail of smoke that represents the arches of the Sydney Opera House. The design process of the official logo, as well as all other aspects of the Olympic Games' visual design identity, was awarded to Melbourne design studio FHA Image Design. The Sydney Olympics brand identity project officially started in 1993, and lasted 7 years. It was also up to FHA Design to prepare the visual identity of the Paralympic Games and this also absorbed some elements as the identification signals and the pictograms. Mascots. The official mascots chosen for the 2000 Summer Olympics were Syd the platypus, Millie the echidna, and Olly the kookaburra, designed by Matthew Hattan and Jozef Szekeres and named by Philip Sheldon of agency Weekes Morris Osborn in response to the original SOCOG recommendation of Murray, Margery, and Dawn after famous Australian athletes. There was also Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat, an unofficial mascot popularised by comedy team Roy Slaven and HG Nelson on the TV series "The Dream with Roy and HG". Roy and HG also frequently disparaged the official mascots on their television program. Medals and bouquets. A total of 750 gold, 750 silver and 780 bronze medals were minted for the Games. The gold and silver medals contained 99.99 percent of pure silver. The bronze medals were 99 percent bronze with one percent silver, they were made by melting down Australian one-cent and two-cent coins, which had been removed from circulation from 1992 onward. The bouquets handed to medal recipients incorporated foliage from the Grevillea baileyana, also known as the white oak. Awards and commendations. The International Olympic Committee awarded Sydney and its inhabitants with the "Pierre de Coubertin Trophy" in recognition of the collaboration and happiness shown by the people of Sydney during the event to all the athletes and visitors around the world. After the games' end, the New South Wales Police Force was granted use of the Olympic Rings in a new commendation and citation as the IOC consideration after having staged the "safest" games ever. Mo Awards. The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. (wins only) In popular culture. In F.J. Campbell's 2018 novel "No Number Nine", the last part of the book is set at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. In Tom Clancy's thriller "Rainbow Six" and its video game adaptation, the 2000 Olympic Games are the setting of a plot by eco-terrorists who plan to spread a deadly biological agent through Stadium Australia's cooling system. In Morris Gleitzman's children's book "Toad Rage", a cane toad travels to Sydney in a bid to become the Olympic mascot. "The Games" was a mockumentary television series run on the ABC network, with two seasons that ran in 1998 and 2000. The series satirized corruption and cronyism in the Olympic movement, bureaucratic ineptness in the New South Wales public service, and unethical behaviour within politics and the media. An unusual feature of the show was that the characters shared the same name as the actors who played them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71791

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon, first published in 1928 by Faber and Faber. It won both the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, being immediately recognised as a classic of English literature. In the years since its first appearance, it has regularly been a set text for British schoolchildren. Background. Prior to its publication, Siegfried Sassoon's reputation rested entirely on his poetry, mostly written during and about World War I. Only ten years after the war ended, after some experience of journalism, did he feel ready to branch out into prose. So uncertain was he of the wisdom of this move that he elected to publish "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" anonymously. It is a depiction of his early years presented in the form of an autobiographical novel, with false names being given to the central characters, including Sassoon himself, who appears as "George Sherston". Sassoon was motivated to write the work by a war incident, when a fox was loose in the trenches and one of his friends shot and killed it. However, the book draws heavily on his pre-war life, with riding and hunting being among the favourite pastimes of the author. Much of the material for the novel came from Sassoon's own diaries. He said he was inspired by the work of Marcel Proust, saying, "A few pages of Proust have made me wonder whether insignificant episodes aren't the most significant". In particular, his relationship with "Aunt Evelyn", a fictionalised representation of his mother Theresa, is revealed as having been a major influence in his upbringing. Plot. The story is a series of episodes in the youth of George Sherston, ranging from his first attempts to learn to ride to his experiences in winning point-to-point races. The title is somewhat misleading, as the book is mainly concerned with a series of landmark events in Sherston/Sassoon's childhood and youth, and his encounters with various comic characters. "The Flower-Show Match", an account of an annual village cricket match – an important fixture for those involved – in which young Sherston plays a significant part, was later published separately by Faber as a self-contained story. The book as a whole is a frequently humorous work, in which fox-hunting, one of Sassoon's major interests, comes to represent the young man's innocent frame of mind in the years before war broke out. The book ends with his enlistment in a local regiment, the Sussex Yeomanry, and his subsequent transfer, with a commission, to the Flintshire Fusiliers, a battalion of the Royal Welsh which was sent to France. The story is continued in two sequels: "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" and "Sherston's Progress".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71812

Accrington F.C.

Accrington Football Club was an English football club from Accrington, Lancashire, who were one of the founder members of The Football League. History. Accrington F.C. was formed following a meeting at a local public house in 1878. The "Owd Reds" played at Accrington Cricket Club's ground in Thorneyholme Road, still in use for that sport today. The club was part of the revolt against the Football Association in 1884 over professionalism, after being expelled from the FA the previous year for paying a player. They were one of the original twelve teams forming the Football League on 17 April 1888. Accrington's best season was in 1889–90, when they finished sixth in the table. However, in the 1892–93 season the team finished fifteenth (of 16) and was relegated after losing a test match 1–0 against Sheffield United at Trent Bridge. Accrington then resigned from the league rather than play in the Second Division, becoming the first of the founding Football League clubs to leave the League permanently (Stoke had failed re-election in 1890, but rejoined the league a year later). After its first season in the Lancashire League, Accrington unsuccessfully applied for re-election to the Football League. Shortly afterwards, Accrington F.C. suffered financial problems, which eventually led to its demise. The club continued outside the league until 1896, when it finally folded following a 12–0 defeat on 14 January against Darwen in the Lancashire Senior Cup. Accrington did not have a Football League team again until in 1921–22 the Lancashire Combination league's Accrington Stanley (formerly a local rival), became a member as part of a major expansion of the league. International players. During its short life, the club had three players selected for the England national team:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71978

Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, across from hills between the Derwent and Wye valleys, amid parkland backed by wooded hills that rise to heather moorland. The house holds major collections of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures and books. Chosen several times as Britain's favourite country house, it is a Grade I listed property from the 17th century, altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2011–2012 it underwent a £14-million restoration. The owner is the Chatsworth House Trust, an independent charitable foundation formed in 1981, on behalf of the Cavendish family. History. 11th–16th centuries. The name 'Chatsworth' is a corruption of "Chetel's-worth", meaning "the Court of Chetel". In the reign of Edward the Confessor, a man of Norse origin named Chetel held lands jointly with a Saxon named Leotnoth in three townships: Ednesoure to the west of the Derwent, and Langoleie and Chetesuorde to the east. Chetel was deposed after the Norman Conquest, and in the Domesday Book of 1086 the Manor of Chetesuorde is listed as the property of the Crown in the custody of William de Peverel. Chatsworth ceased to be a large estate, until the 15th century when it was acquired by the Leche family who owned property nearby. They enclosed the first park at Chatsworth and built a house on the high ground in what is now the south-eastern part of the garden. In 1549 they sold all their property in the area to Sir William Cavendish, Treasurer of the King's Chamber and the husband of Bess of Hardwick, who had persuaded him to sell his property in Suffolk and settle in her native county. Bess began to build the new house in 1553. She selected a site near the river, which was drained by digging a series of reservoirs, which doubled as fish ponds. Sir William died in 1557, but Bess finished the house in the 1560s and lived there with her fourth husband, George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1568 Shrewsbury was entrusted with the custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, and brought his prisoner to Chatsworth several times from 1570 onwards. She lodged in the apartment now known as the Queen of Scots rooms, on the top floor above the great hall, which faces onto the inner courtyard. An accomplished needlewoman, Bess joined Mary at Chatsworth for extended periods in 1569, 1570, and 1571, during which time they worked together on the Oxburgh Hangings. Bess died in 1608 and Chatsworth was passed to her eldest son, Henry. The estate was purchased from Henry by his brother William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, for £10,000. 17th century. Few changes were made at Chatsworth until the mid-17th century. William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, was a staunch Royalist, expelled from the House of Lords in 1642. He left England for the safety of the continent and his estates were sequestered. Chatsworth was occupied by both sides during the Civil War, and the 3rd Earl did not return to the house until The Restoration of the monarchy. He reconstructed the principal rooms in an attempt to make them more comfortable, but the Elizabethan house was outdated and unsafe. The famed political philosopher Thomas Hobbes spent the last four or five years of his life at Chatsworth Hall, then owned by William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire. He had been a friend of the family for nearly 70 years, having taken a job tutoring the 2nd Earl shortly after graduating from St John's College, Cambridge in 1608. Hobbes died at another Cavendish family estate, Hardwick Hall, in December 1679. After his death, many of Hobbes' manuscripts were found at Chatsworth House. William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire, who became the 1st Duke in 1694 for helping to put William of Orange on the English throne, was an advanced Whig. He was forced to retire to Chatsworth during the reign of King James II. This called for rebuilding the house, which began in 1687. Cavendish aimed initially to reconstruct only the south wing with the State Apartments and so decided to retain the Elizabethan courtyard plan, although its layout was becoming increasingly unfashionable. He enjoyed building and reconstructed the East Front, which included the Painted Hall and Long Gallery, followed by the West Front from 1699 to 1702. The North Front was completed in 1707 just before he died. The 1st Duke also had large parterre gardens designed by George London and Henry Wise, who was later appointed by Queen Anne as Royal Gardener at Kensington Palace. 18th century. William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire, and William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, made no changes to the house or gardens, but both contributed much to the collection found at Chatsworth at the time. Connoisseurs of the arts, they included in the collection paintings, Old Master drawings and prints, ancient coins and carved Greek and Roman sculptures. Palladian furniture designed by William Kent was commissioned by the 3rd Duke when he had Devonshire House in London rebuilt after a fire in 1733. When Devonshire House was sold and demolished in 1924, the furniture was transferred to Chatsworth. The 4th Duke made great changes to the house and gardens. He decided the approach to the house should be from the west. He had the old stables and offices as well as parts of Edensor village pulled down so they were not visible from the house, and replaced the 1st Duke's formal gardens with a more natural look, designed by Capability Brown, which he helped bring into fashion. In 1748, the 4th Duke married Lady Charlotte Boyle, the sole surviving heiress of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. Lord Burlington was an accomplished architect in his own right with many works to his name including Chiswick House. With his death, his important collection of architectural drawings and Inigo Jones masque designs, Old Master paintings and William Kent-designed furniture were transferred to the Dukes of Devonshire. This inheritance also brought many estates to the family. In 1774, William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, married Georgiana Spencer famous as a socialite who gathered around her a large circle of literary and political friends. Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds would paint her; the Gainsborough painting would be disposed of by the 5th Duke and be recovered much later, after many vicissitudes. The film "The Duchess" portrayed their life together. Georgiana was the great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales; their lives, centuries apart, have been compared in tragedy. 19th century. The 6th Duke (known as "the Bachelor Duke") was a passionate traveller, builder, gardener and collector, who transformed Chatsworth. In 1811 he inherited the title and eight major estates: Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, Devonshire House, Burlington House and Chiswick House in London, Bolton Abbey and Londesborough Hall in Yorkshire, and Lismore Castle in Ireland. These covered of land in England and Ireland. The Duke was a collector especially of sculpture and books. When he built the North Wing to the designs of Sir Jeffry Wyatville, it included a purpose-built Sculpture Gallery to house his collection. He took over several rooms in the house to contain the entire libraries he was purchasing at auction. The 6th Duke loved to entertain, and the early 19th century saw a rise in popularity of country-house parties. In addition to a sculpture gallery, the new north wing housed an orangery, a theatre, a Turkish bath, a dairy, a vast new kitchen and numerous servants rooms. In 1830 the Duke increased the guest accommodation by converting suites of rooms into individual guest bedrooms. People invited to stay at Chatsworth spent their days hunting, riding, reading and playing billiards. In the evening formal dinners would take place, followed by music, charades and billiards or conversation in the smoking room for the men. Women would return to their bedroom many times during the day to change their outfits. The guest bedrooms on the east front at Chatsworth are the most complete set from the period to survive with their original furnishings. There is much eastern influence in the decoration, including hand-painted Chinese wallpapers and fabrics typical of Regency taste, which developed in the reign of George IV (1762–1830). Those who stayed at Chatsworth included Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens. In October 1832, Princess Victoria (later Queen Victoria) and her mother, the Duchess of Kent, visited Chatsworth, where the Princess had her first formal adult dinner at the age of 13, in the new dining room. The 6th Duke had another chance to welcome Victoria in 1843, when the Queen and Prince Albert returned to enjoy an array of illumination in the gardens, in the conservatory and on the fountains, forming a scene of "unparalleled display and grandeur", according to one guest. The Duke spent 47 years transforming the house and gardens. A Latin inscription over the fireplace in the Painted Hall translates, "William Spencer, Duke of Devonshire, inherited this most beautiful house from his father in the year 1811, which had been begun in the year of English liberty 1688, and completed it in the year of his bereavement 1840." The year 1688 was that of the Glorious Revolution, supported by the Whig dynasties including the Cavendishes. The year 1840 brought the death of the Duke's beloved niece Blanche, who was married to his heir, the future 7th Duke. In 1844, the 6th Duke privately printed and published a book called "Handbook to Chatsworth and Hardwick", giving a history of the Cavendish family's two main estates. It was praised by Charles Dickens. 20th century. Social change and taxes in the early 20th century began to affect the Devonshires' lifestyle. When the 8th Duke died in 1908 over £500,000 of death duties became due. This was a small charge compared with that of 42 years later, but the estate was already burdened with debt from the 6th Duke's extravagances, the failure of the 7th Duke's business ventures at Barrow-in-Furness, and the depression in British agriculture apparent since the 1870s. In 1912 the family sold 25 books printed by William Caxton and a collection of 1,347 volumes of plays acquired by the 6th Duke, including four Shakespeare folios and 39 Shakespeare quartos, to the Huntington Library in California. Tens of thousands of acres of land in Somerset, Sussex and Derbyshire were also sold during or just after the First World War. In December 1904, King Charles I of Portugal and Queen Maria Amélia stayed at Chatsworth House during their visit to Britain. It snowed almost constantly while they were there and the King reportedly started a snowball fight, in which the assembled ladies joined enthusiastically, when he met the Marquis of Soveral, the Portuguese Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St James's. In 1920 the family's London mansion, Devonshire House, which occupied a site in Piccadilly, was sold to developers and demolished. Much of its contents went to Chatsworth and a much smaller house at 2 Carlton Gardens near The Mall was acquired. The Great Conservatory in the garden at Chatsworth was demolished, as it needed 10 men to run it, huge quantities of coal to heat it and all the plants had died during the war, when no coal had been available for non-essential purposes. To reduce running costs further, there was talk of pulling down the 6th Duke's north wing, which was then seen as having no aesthetic or historical value, but nothing came of it. Chiswick House – the celebrated Palladian villa in the suburbs of West London that the Devonshires inherited when the 4th Duke married Lord Burlington's daughter – was sold in 1929 for £80,000 to Middlesex County Council and Brentford and Chiswick Urban District Council. Nonetheless, life at Chatsworth continued much as before. The household was run by a comptroller and domestic staff were still available, although more so in the countryside than the cities. The staff at Chatsworth at the time consisted of a butler, an under-butler, a groom of the chambers, a valet, three footmen, a housekeeper, the Duchess's maid, 11 housemaids, two sewing women, a cook, two kitchen maids, a vegetable maid, two or three scullery maids, two still-room maids, a dairy maid, six laundry maids and the Duchess's secretary. All these 38 or 39 people lived in the house. Daily staff included the odd man, an upholsterer, a scullery maid, two scrubbing women, a laundry porter, a steam boiler man, a coal man, two porter's lodge attendants, two night firemen, a night porter, two window cleaners, and a team of joiners, plumbers and electricians. The Clerk of Works supervised the maintenance of the house and other properties on the estate. There were also grooms, chauffeurs and gamekeepers. The number of garden staff was somewhere between 80 in the 6th Duke's time and the 20 or so in the early 21st century. There was also a librarian, Francis Thompson, who wrote the first book-length account of Chatsworth since the 6th Duke's handbook. Most of the UK's country houses were put to institutional use in the Second World War. Some of those used as barracks were badly damaged, but the 10th Duke, thinking that schoolgirls would make better tenants than soldiers, arranged for Chatsworth to be occupied by Penrhos College, a girls' public school in Colwyn Bay, Wales. The contents were packed away in 11 days, and in September 1939, 300 girls and their mistresses moved in for a six-year stay. The whole house was used, including the state rooms, which were turned into dormitories. Condensation from the breath of the sleeping girls caused fungus to grow behind some of the pictures. The house was not very comfortable for so many people, with a shortage of hot water, but there were compensations, such as skating on the Canal Pond. The girls grew vegetables in the garden as a contribution to the war effort. In May 1944 Kathleen Kennedy, sister of John F. Kennedy, married William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, elder son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. However, he was killed in action in Belgium in September 1944 and Kathleen died in a plane crash in 1948. His younger brother Andrew became the 11th Duke in 1950. He was married to Deborah Mitford, one of the Mitford girls, sister to Nancy Mitford, Diana Mitford, Pamela Mitford, Unity Mitford and Jessica Mitford. The modern history of Chatsworth begins in 1950. The family had yet to move back after the war. Although the 10th Duke had transferred his assets to his son during his lifetime in the hope of avoiding death duties, the Duke died a few weeks too early for the lifetime exemption to apply and tax was charged at 80 per cent on the estate. The amount due was £7 million (£ as of ). Some of the family's advisors considered the situation irretrievable and there was a proposal to transfer Chatsworth to the nation as a Victoria and Albert Museum of Northern England. Instead, the Duke decided to retain his family's home if he could. He sold tens of thousands of acres of land, transferred Hardwick Hall to the National Trust in lieu of tax, and sold some major works of art from Chatsworth. The family's Sussex house, Compton Place was lent to a school. The effect of the death duties was mitigated to an extent by the historically low value of art in the post-war years and the increase in land values after 1950, during the post-war agricultural revival, and so on the face of it the losses were much less than 80 per cent in terms of physical assets. In Derbyshire were retained out of . The Bolton Abbey estate in Yorkshire and the Lismore Castle estate in Ireland remained in the family. Still, it took 17 years to complete negotiations with the Inland Revenue, interest being due in the meantime. The Chatsworth Estate is now managed by the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, established in 1946. The 10th Duke was pessimistic about the future of houses like Chatsworth and made no plans to move back in after the war. After Penrhos College left in 1945, the only people who slept in the house were two housemaids, but over the winter of 1948–1949 the house was cleaned and tidied for reopening to the public by two Hungarian women, who had been Kathleen Kennedy's cook and housemaid in London, and a team of their compatriots. The house was Grade I listed in 1951 after the passage of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. In the mid-1950s, the 11th Duke and Duchess began to think about moving in. The pre-war house had relied wholly on a large staff for its comforts, and lacked modern facilities. The building was rewired, the plumbing and heating were overhauled, and six self-contained staff flats created to replace the small staff bedrooms and communal servants' hall. Including those in the staff flats, 17 bathrooms were added to the existing handful. The 6th Duke's cavernous kitchen was abandoned and a new one was created closer to the family dining room. The family rooms were repainted, carpets were brought out of store and curtains were repaired or replaced. The Duke and Duchess and their three children moved across the park from Edensor House in 1959. In 1981, the trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, owners of the house, created a new Chatsworth House Trust. The aim was to preserve the house and its setting for "the benefit of the public". The new trust was granted a 99-year lease of the house, its main contents, its grounds, its precincts and adjacent forestry, a total of . To legalise this, the Chatsworth House Trust pays a token rent of £1 a year. To facilitate the arrangement and build up a sufficient multi-million-pound endowment fund, the trustees sold works of art, mostly old masters' drawings, which had not been on regular display. The Cavendish family is represented on the House Trust's Council of Management, but most of the directors are not family members. The Duke pays a market rent for use of his private apartments in the house. The cost of running the house and grounds is about £4 million a year. Film of Chatsworth in 1945 is held by the Cinema Museum in London. Ref HM0365. 21st century. The 11th Duke died in 2004 and was succeeded by his son, the current Duke, Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire. The 11th Duke's widow, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, died on 24 September 2014. Until then she was active in promoting the estate and increasing its visitor income. She made many additions to the gardens, including the maze, the kitchen, the cottage gardens and several commissions of modern sculpture. As Deborah Mitford, she wrote seven books on various aspects of Chatsworth and its massive property. A structural survey in 2004 showed that major renovation was required. A £32 million programme of works was undertaken, including restoration of stonework, statues, paintings, tapestries and water features. The work, the most extensive for 200 years, took ten years and was completed in 2018. According to the Estate website, Chatsworth remains home to the 12th Duke and Duchess. They are involved in the operation through the Charitable Trust. The Devonshire Collection Archives stored at Chatsworth include 450 years of documents about the family and their two main estates. In 2019, the Duke and Duchess visited Sotheby's to view "Treasures From Chatsworth: art and artifacts from Chatsworth House" that would be displayed in New York. During the 2022 European heatwaves, a section of the Great Parterre that formerly occupied Chatsworth's South Lawn was revealed as the grass and soil dried out, showing the patterns of earthworks that had been used to construct it. As the lawn's grass has shorter roots, it dried out faster, creating a contrast that allows the structure to be viewed with the naked eye. Architecture. Chatsworth House is built on sloping ground, lower on the north and west sides than on the south and east sides. The original Tudor mansion was built in the 1560s by Bess of Hardwick in a quadrangle layout, about from north to south and from east to west, with a large central courtyard. The main entrance was on the west front, which was embellished with four towers or turrets, and the great hall in the medieval tradition was on the east side of the courtyard, where the Painted Hall remains the focus of the house to this day. The south and east fronts were rebuilt to the designs of William Talman and completed by 1696 for William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire. The 1st Duke's Chatsworth was a key building in the development of English Baroque architecture. According to the architectural historian Sir John Summerson, "It inaugurates an artistic revolution which is the counterpart of the political revolution in which the Earl was so prominent a leader." The design of the south front was revolutionary for an English house, with no attics or hipped roof, but instead two main stories supported by a rustic basement. The façade is dramatic and sculptural with ionic pilasters and a heavy entablature and balustrade. The existing heavy and angular stone stairs from the first floor down to the garden are a 19th-century replacement of an elegant curved double staircase. The east front is the quietest of the four on the main block. Like the south front it is unusual in having an even number of bays and no centrepiece. The emphasis is placed on the end bays, each highlighted by double pairs of pilasters, of which the inner pairs project outwards. The west and north fronts may have been the work of Thomas Archer, possibly in collaboration with the Duke himself. The west front has nine wide bays with a central pediment supported by four columns and pilasters to the other bays. Due to the slope of the site, this front is taller than the south front. It is also large, with many other nine-bay three-storey façades little more than half as wide and tall. The west front is very lively with much carved stonework, and the window frames are highlighted with gold leaf, which catches the setting sun. The north front was the last to be built. It presented a challenge, as the north end of the west front projected nine feet (3 m) further than the north end of the east front. The problem was overcome by building a slightly curved façade to distract the eye. The attic windows on this side are the only ones visible on the exterior of the house and are set into the main façade, rather than into a visible roof. Those in the curved section were originally oval, but are now rectangular like those in the end sections. The north front was altered in the 19th century, when William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, and the architect Jeffry Wyatville, built the North Wing, doubling the size of the house. Most of the wing has only two storeys, as opposed to the three of the main block. It is attached to the north-east corner of the house and around 400 feet (120 m) long. At the end of the North Wing is the North, or Belvedere, Tower. The work was carried out in an Italianate style that blends smoothly with the elaborate finish of the baroque house. The 6th Duke built a gatehouse at this end of the house with three gates. The central, largest gate led to the North Entrance, then the main entrance to the house. This is now the entrance used by visitors. The north gate led to the service courtyard, while the matching south gate led to the original front door in the west front, which was relegated to secondary status in the Duke's time, but is now the family's private entrance again. The façades of the central courtyard were also rebuilt by the 1st Duke. The courtyard was larger than it is now, as there were no corridors on the western side and the northern and southern sides only had enclosed galleries on the first floor, with open galleries below. In the 19th century, new accommodation was built on these three sides on all three levels. The only surviving baroque façade is that on the eastern side, where five bays of the original seven remain, and are largely as built. There are carved trophies by Samuel Watson, a Derbyshire craftsman who did much work at Chatsworth in stone, marble and wood. Interiors. The 1st and 6th Dukes both inherited an old house and tried to adapt to the lifestyle of their time without changing the fundamental layout, which in this way is unique, full of irregularities, and the interiors are decorated by a diverse centuries-old collection of different styles. Many of the rooms are recognisable as of one main period, but in nearly every case, they have been altered more often than might be supposed at first glance. State apartments. The 1st Duke created a richly appointed Baroque suite of state rooms across the south front when expecting a visit from King William III and Queen Mary II, which never occurred. The State Apartments are approached from the Painted Hall, decorated with murals of scenes from the life of Julius Caesar by Louis Laguerre, and ascend by the cantilevered Great Stairs to an enfilade of rooms that controlled how far a person could progress into the presence of the King and Queen. The Great Chamber is the largest in the State Apartments, followed by the State Drawing Room, the Second Withdrawing Room, the State Bedroom and finally the State Closet, each room being more private and ornate than the last. The Great Chamber has a painted ceiling of a classical scene by Antonio Verrio. The Second Withdrawing Room was renamed the State Music Room when the 6th Duke brought the violin door from Devonshire House in London. It has a convincing "trompe-l'œil" of a violin and bow "hanging" on a silver knob, painted about 1723 by Jan van der Vaart. About the time Queen Victoria decided that Hampton Court, with state apartments in the same style, was uninhabitable, the 6th Duke wrote that he was tempted to demolish the State Apartments to make way for new bedrooms. However, sensitive to his family heritage, he left the rooms largely untouched, making additions rather than changing the existing spaces of the house. Changes to the main baroque interiors were restricted to details such as stamped leather hangings on the walls of the State Music Room and State Bedroom, and a wider, shallower, but less elegant staircase in the Painted Hall, which was itself later replaced. The contents of the State Apartments were rearranged in 2010 to reflect the way they had looked in the 17th and 18th centuries. 18th-century alterations. In the 1760s, William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, redirected the approach to Chatsworth. He converted the kitchen in the centre of the north front into an entrance hall, from which guests walked through an open colonnade in the courtyard, through a passage past the cook's bedroom and the back stairs, and into the Painted Hall. He then built a neoclassical service wing for his kitchens that was a forerunner of the 6th Duke's north wing. William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, had some of the family's private rooms redecorated and some partition walls moved, but there are few traces of the mid and late 18th century in the public rooms. 19th-century alterations. The 6th Duke modified much of Chatsworth to meet 19th-century standards of comfort, suiting a less formal lifestyle than that of the 1st Duke's time. The corridors round the courtyard were enclosed and given a multicoloured marble floor, so that rooms could be easily reached from indoors, and there were more shared living rooms to replace individual guest apartments. The cook's bedroom and the back stairs made way for the Oak Stairs, topped by a glass dome and built at the north end of the Painted Hall to improve internal communications. Along the staircase hang portraits of the first 11 Dukes and some of their family members. The Duke made a library of the long gallery, originally created by the 1st Duke. He was a great lover of books and purchased entire libraries. The Ante-Library in the adjoining room was originally used by the 1st Duke as a dining room and then a billiard room, before the 6th Duke used it for his growing collection of books. This was just one of the rooms where the Duke installed a single-pane window, which he saw as the "greatest ornament of modern decoration". The window in the Ante-Library is the only one preserved. Much of the scientific library of Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) is in this room. The most notable addition by the 6th Duke to Chatsworth was the Wyatville-designed North Wing. Plans for a symmetrical wing to the south were begun, but later abandoned. The entire ground floor of the North Wing was occupied by service rooms, including a kitchen, servants' hall, laundry, butler and housekeeper's rooms. On the first floor, facing west, were two sets of bachelor bedrooms called "California" and "The Birds". The main rooms in the new wing face east and were accessed from the main house through a small library called the Dome Room. The first room beyond is a dining room, with a music gallery in the serving lobby where the musicians played. Next is the sculpture gallery, the largest room in the house, and then the orangery. The Belvedere Tower contains a plunge bath, using marble from the 1st Duke's bathroom, and a ballroom that was later turned into a theatre by the 8th Duke. Above the theatre is the belvedere itself, an open viewing platform below the roof. Private rooms. Chatsworth has 126 rooms, with nearly 100 of them closed to visitors. The house is well adapted to allow the family to live privately in their apartments while the house is open to the public. Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, described the family rooms in detail in her book "Chatsworth: The House". She lived at Edensor until her death in 2014; the present (12th) Duke and Duchess live at Chatsworth. The family occupies rooms on the ground and first floors of the south front, all three floors of the west front, and the upper two floors of the north front. Staircases in the north-east corner of the main block and in a turret in the east front enable them to move about without crossing the public route. The main family living rooms are on the first floor of the south front. The family dining room is in the south-east corner and has the same dimensions as the State Dining Room directly above. This has been the usual location of the family dining room; the Bachelor Duke's dining room in the north wing took over that role for an interlude of little over a hundred years. Both Bess of Hardwick's house and the 1st Duke's house had a hierarchy of three dining rooms in this corner, each taller and more lavishly decorated than the one below. A common parlour on the ground floor was used by the gentlemen of the household, and later for informal family meals. Above it was the main family dining room, and at the top the Great Chamber, which was reserved for royalty, although the 6th Duke wrote that to his knowledge, it had never been used. The yellow drawing room is next to the dining room and directly beneath the State Drawing Room. The Dowager Duchess wrote that the house is so solidly built that the crowds passing above are imperceptible. The trio of reception rooms here is completed by the blue drawing room, below the State Music Room. This was created in the 18th century by knocking together the 1st Duke's bedroom and dressing room, and has a door to his private gallery at the upper level of the chapel. It has also served as a billiard room and a school room. Charity events are sometimes held in this part of the house. Both drawing rooms have access to the garden through the South Front's external staircase. Three corridors called the Tapestry Gallery, Burlington Corridor and Book Passage are wrapped round the south, west and north passages at this level and give access to family bedrooms. There is a sitting room in the north-west corner — one of the few rooms in the house with outside views in two directions. There are more family bedrooms on the second floor facing west and north. The Scots and Leicester bedrooms in the east wing are still used when there is a large house party, which is why they are sometimes available as a separately charged optional extra in the tour of the house and sometimes not. This suite now contains the 11th Duke's Exhibition. Visitors bypass the first floor on their way down the West Stairs from the state rooms to the chapel. The private north stairs lead down to more private rooms on the ground floor of the West Front. In the centre is the West Entrance Hall, which is, once again, the family entrance. To the right on entering is a passage room known as the mineral room, which leads through to a study. To the left there is the Leather Room with walls of leather. Its great many books make it one of at least six libraries in the house. The next room is the Duke's Study, which has two windows, many more books and floral decoration painted for the Bachelor Duke by, in his own words, "three bearded artists in blouses imported from Paris". The corner room on the ground floor is the former "little dining room". These rooms are all very high, as the ground level in the west wing is lower than that of the Painted Hall and the ground floor corridors round the courtyard. Steps from the West Entrance Hall lead up to the west corridor. The other family living rooms are in the eastern half of the ground floor of the South Front. They are reached through the Chapel Corridor on the public route or the turret staircase from the dining room. The room in the south-east corner was once the Ducal bathroom, until the Bachelor Duke built his new plunge bath in the North Wing, and is now a pantry where the family china is kept. This connects to the modern kitchen, which is under the library and made out of the steward's room and linen room. Next to the pantry in the south front are offices. Park and landscape. The garden attracts about 300,000 visitors a year. It has a complex blend of features from six different centuries, covering . It is surrounded by a wall 1.75 miles (2.8 km) long. It sits on the eastern side of the valley of the Derwent River and blends into the surrounding park, which covers . The woods on the moors to the east of the valley form a backdrop to the garden. There is a staff of some 20 full-time gardeners. Average rainfall is some 33.7 inches (855 mm) a year, with an annual average of 1,160 hours of sunshine. Most of the main features of the garden were created in five main phases of development. Elizabethan garden. The house and garden were first constructed by Sir William Cavendish and Bess of Hardwick in 1555. The Elizabethan garden was much smaller than the garden today. There were terraces to the east of the house where the main lawn is now, ponds and fountains to the south, and fishponds to the west by the river. The main visual remnant of the time is a squat stone tower known as Queen Mary's Bower on account of a legend that Mary, Queen of Scots was allowed to take the air there while a prisoner at Chatsworth. The bower is now outside the garden wall in the park. Some of the retaining walls of the West Garden also date from this era, but they were reconstructed and extended later. 1st Duke's garden (1684–1707). While rebuilding the house, the 1st Duke also created Baroque gardens. It featured numerous parterres cut into the slopes above the house, and many fountains, garden buildings and classical sculptures. The main surviving features of that time are: 4th Duke's garden (1755–64). The 4th Duke commissioned the landscape architect, Lancelot "Capability" Brown to transform the garden in the fashionable naturalistic landscape style of the day. Most of the ponds and parterres were turned into lawns, but as detailed above several features were spared. Many trees were planted, including various American species imported from Philadelphia in 1759. The main aim of the work was to improve integration of the garden and park. Brown's 5.5 acre (22,000 m2) Salisbury Lawns still form the setting of the Cascade. 6th Duke's garden (1826–58). In 1826 a 23-year-old named Joseph Paxton, who had trained at Kew Gardens, was appointed head gardener at Chatsworth. The 6th Duke had inherited Chatsworth 15 years earlier and till then shown little interest in improving the neglected garden, but he soon formed a productive and extravagantly funded partnership with Paxton, who proved to be the most innovative garden designer of his era, and remains the greatest single influence on Chatsworth's garden. Features that survive from that time include: Two significant features from the period have been lost: Modern garden (1950–present). The 7th–10th Dukes made few changes to the garden, which suffered in the Second World War, but the 11th Duke and his wife were keen gardeners and oversaw a revival. Gardening personality Alan Titchmarsh wrote in 2003, "Chatsworth's greatest strength is that its owners have refused to let the garden rest on its Victorian laurels. It continues to grow and develop, and that is what makes it one of the best and most vibrant gardens in Britain." Many historical features have been immaculately restored, and unusually for a modern country-house garden, many new features have been added, including: Stables. The stable block at Chatsworth is prominent on the rising ground to the north-east of the house. Its entrance gate features four Doric columns with rustic banding, a pediment with a huge carving of the family coat of arms, two life-size stags embellished with real antlers, and a clock tower topped by a cupola. This was designed by James Paine for the 4th Duke and was built in 1758–1767. It is about square and two storeys tall. There are low towers in the corners and one over the entrance gate. The stables originally had stalls for 80 horses and all necessary equine facilities including a blacksmiths shop. The first floor was taken by granaries and accommodation for the many stable staff. According to the Dowager Duchess's "Chatsworth: The House", one room still has "Third Postillion" painted on the door. The 6th Duke added a carriage house behind the stables in the 1830s. The last horses left the stables in 1939, when the building became a store and garage. The grooms' accommodation was turned into flats for Chatsworth employees and pensioners. When the house reopened after the war, "catering" was limited to an outdoor tap, which has since been relabelled "water for dogs". In 1975 a tea bar was set up with an investment of £120. The first attempt at a café opened in 1979. It seated 90 in some old horse stalls in the stables and was unsatisfactory to customers and from a commercial point of view. In 1987 the Duke and Duchess's private chef, a Frenchman named Jean-Pierre Béraud who was also a leading light in the success of the Chatsworth Farm Shop and Chatsworth Foods, took charge. After a failed attempt to gain planning permission for a new building incorporating the old ice house in the park, a 250-seat restaurant was created in the carriage house. The 19th-century coach used by the Dowager Duchess and the late Duke at the Queen's Coronation is on display there. Other facilities include The Cavendish Rooms, which also serves refreshments, a shop, and three rooms for hire. The stables cater for 30,000 people a month in the visitor season. Park, woods and farmyard. Chatsworth park of about is open to free of charge all year round, except for the south-east section, the Old Park, which is used for breeding by herds of red and fallow deer. The stance of the Dukes on wider access rights has changed much. On the 11th Duke's death in 2004, the Ramblers Association praised him for enlightened championing of open access and his apologies for the attitude of the 10th Duke, who had restricted access to much estate land. Even under the 11th Duke, disputes arose: when the definitive rights of way were being compiled in the 1960s and 1970s, the footpath to the Swiss Cottage (an isolated house by a lake in the woods) was contested, and the matter went to the High Court, making Derbyshire one of the last counties to settle its definitive maps. Farm stock also graze in the park, many belonging to tenant farmers or smallholders, who use it for summer grazing. Bess of Hardwick's park was wholly on the east side of the river and only extended as far south as the Emperor Fountain and as far north as the cricket ground. Seven fish ponds were dug to the north-west of the house, where the large flat area is used now for events such as the annual Chatsworth Horse Trials and the Country Fair, typically held near the end of August. The bridge over the river was at the south end of the park and crossed to the old village of Edensor, which was by the river in full sight of the house. Capability Brown did at least as much work in the park as he did in the garden. The open, tree-flecked landscape admired today is man-made. Brown straightened the river and put a network of drainage channels under the grass. The park is fertilised with manure from the estates farms; weeds and scrub are kept under control. Brown filled in most of the fishponds and extended the park to the west of the river. Meanwhile James Paine designed a new bridge to the north of the house, set at an angle of 40 degrees to command the best view of the West Front of the house. Most of the houses in Edensor were demolished and the village was rebuilt out of sight of the house. The hedges between the fields on the west bank of the river were grubbed up to create open parkland and woods were planted on the horizon. These were arranged in triangular clumps, so that a screen of trees could be maintained when each planting had to be felled. Brown's plantings reached their peak in the mid-20th century and are gradually being replaced. The 5th Duke had an elegant red-brick inn built at Edensor to cater to a growing number of well-to-do travellers coming to see Chatsworth. It is now the estate office. In 1823 the Bachelor Duke acquired the Duke of Rutland's land around Baslow to the north of Chatsworth in exchange for land elsewhere. He extended the park about half a mile (800 m) north to its present limits. He had the remaining cottages of Edensor inside the park demolished, apart from the home of one old man who did not wish to move, which still stands in isolation today. The houses in Edensor were rebuilt in picturesque pattern-book styles. In the 1860s the 7th Duke had St Peter's Church, Edensor, enlarged by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The church spire embellishes the views from the house, garden and park. Inside there is a remarkable monument to Bess of Hardwick's sons Henry Cavendish and William, 1st Earl of Devonshire. St Peter's in Edensor is where the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Dukes and their wives are buried, not in a vault inside the church, but in individual graves marked by simple headstones, in the Cavendish family plot overlooking the churchyard. On the hills of the eastern side of the park is Stand Wood. The Hunting Tower there was built in 1582 by Bess of Hardwick. At the top is a plateau of several square miles of lakes, woods and moorland. There are public paths through the area and Chatsworth offers guided tours with commentary in a 28-seater trailer pulled by a tractor. The area is the water source for the gravity-fed waterworks in the garden. The Swiss Lake feeds the Cascade and the Emperor Lake the Emperor Fountain. The Bachelor Duke had an aqueduct built, over which water tumbles on its way to the cascade. The late Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, was a keen advocate of rural life. In 1973 a Chatsworth Farmyard exhibit was opened in the old building yard above the stables at explaining how food was produced. There are milking demonstrations and displays of rare breeds. An adventure playground was added in 1983. A venue for talks and exhibitions called Oak Barn was opened by the television gardener Alan Titchmarsh in 2005. Chatsworth also runs two annual rural-skills weeks, in which demonstrations of agricultural and forestry are given to groups of schoolchildren on the estate farms and woods. In 2001, the ashes of Air Vice Marshal James Edgar Johnson , DL, a Second World War flying ace, were scattered on the Chatsworth estate. There is a bench dedicated to his memory at his favourite fishing spot on the estate; the inscription reads "In Memory of a Fisherman". Estate. Chatsworth is the hub of a agricultural estate. This, together with around Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire (mostly moorland) and some land in Eastbourne and Carlisle belongs to The Trustees of Chatsworth Settlement, a family trust established in 1946. The Duke and other members of the family are entitled to the income. The family's Lismore Castle estate in Ireland is held in a separate trust. The estate includes dozens of tenanted farms and over 450 houses and flats. There are five sub-estates scattered across Derbyshire: The Chatsworth Settlement has a range of sources of income in addition to agricultural rents. Several thousand acres, mostly round Chatsworth and on the Staveley estate, are farmed in hand. Several properties can be rented as holiday cottages, including Bess of Hardwick's Hunting Tower in the park. Several quarries produce limestone and other minerals. The 11th Duke and Duchess did not opt for a "theme park" approach to modernising a country estate. They eschewed the traditional aristocratic reluctance to participate in commerce. The Chatsworth Farm Shop is a large enterprise employing over a hundred. A 90-seat restaurant opened at the Farm Shop in 2005. From 1999 to 2003 there was also a shop in the exclusive London district of Belgravia, but it was unsuccessful and closed down. The Settlement runs the four shops and the catering operations at Chatsworth, paying a percentage of turnover to the charitable Chatsworth House Trust in lieu of rent. It also runs the Devonshire Arms Hotel and the Devonshire Fell Hotel & Bistro on the Bolton Abbey estate and owns the Cavendish Hotel at Baslow, on the edge of Chatsworth Park, which is let to a tenant. The old kitchen garden at Barbrook on the edge of the park is let to the Caravan Club; a paddock at the south end of the park where bucks were fattened for Chatsworth's table is a tenanted garden centre. In both cases the Settlement receives a percentage of turnover as rent. There is a line of Chatsworth branded foods endorsed with the Dowager Duchess's signature and available by mail order. She also established Chatsworth Design to exploit intellectual property rights to the Devonshire collections, and a furniture company called Chatsworth Carpenters, but the latter has now been licensed to an American company. In popular culture. Chatsworth House has been referenced in literature and used as a location set for films, television and for music videos including: "Pride and Prejudice" (1813); "Maiden Voyage" (1943); "Barry Lyndon" (1975); "The Bounty" (1984); "Interceptor" (1989); "Pride and Prejudice" (1995); "Pride & Prejudice" (2005); "Face to Face"; "The Duchess" (2008); "The Wolfman" (2009); "Rivers with Griff Rhys Jones" (2009); "Chatsworth" (2012); "Death Comes to Pemberley" (2013); "Austenland" (2013); "Secrets of The Manor House" (2014); "Breathless Beauty, Broken Beauty" (2014); "The Crown" (2016) and "Peaky Blinders". See also. Other properties owned by the Dukes of Devonshire, currently or in the past, include: