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'Nude Descending A Staircase' is perhaps the most famous painting by which 20th century artist?

Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (French: Nu descendant un escalier n° 2) is a 1912 painting by Marcel Duchamp. The work is widely regarded as a Modernist classic and has become one of the most famous of its time. Before its first presentation at the Parisian 1912 Salon des Indépendants, it was rejected by the Cubists as too Futurist. Yet the work was exhibited with the same group at Galeries J. Dalmau, Exposició d'Art Cubista, in Barcelona, 20 April–10 May 1912, and subsequently caused a huge stir during its exhibition at the 1913 Armory Show in New York. The painting was reproduced in Les Peintres Cubistes, Méditations Esthétiques by Guillaume Apollinaire, published in 1913. Nude Descending a Staircase is in the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Description The work, an oil painting on canvas with dimensions of 147 cm × 89.2 cm (57.9 in × 35.1 in) in portrait, seemingly depicts a figure demonstrating an abstract movement in its ochres and browns. The discernible "body parts" of the figure are composed of nested, conical and cylindrical abstract elements, assembled together in such a way as to suggest rhythm and convey the movement of the figure merging into itself. Dark outlines limit the contours of the body while serving as motion lines that emphasize the dynamics of the moving figure, while the accented arcs of the dotted lines seem to suggest a thrusting pelvic motion. The movement seems to be rotated counterclockwise from the upper left to the lower right corner, where the gradient of the apparently frozen sequence corresponding to the bottom right to top left dark, respectively, becomes more transparent, the fading of which is apparently intended to simulate the "older" section. At the edges of the picture, the steps are indicated in darker colors. The center of the image is an amalgam of light and dark, that becomes more piqued approaching the edges. The overall warm, monochrome bright palette ranges from yellow ochre to dark, almost black tones. The colors are translucent. At the bottom left Duchamp placed the title "NU DESCENDANT UN ESCALIER" in block letters, which may or may not be related to the work. The question of whether the figure represents a human body remains unanswered; the figure provides no clues to its age, individuality, character, or sex. Background The painting combines elements of both the Cubist and Futurist movements. In the composition, Duchamp depicts motion by successive superimposed images, similar to stroboscopic motion photography. Duchamp also recognized the influence of the stop-motion photography of Étienne-Jules Marey, particularly Muybridge's Woman Walking Downstairs from his 1887 picture series, published as The Human Figure in Motion. Duchamp submitted the work to appear with the Cubists at the 28th exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, Paris, 25 March through 16 May 1912. It appeared under the number 1001 of the catalogue, entitled simply Nu descendant l'escalier, not Nu descendant un escalier n° 2. This catalogue revealed the title of the painting to the general public for the first time, even though the painting itself would be absent from the exhibition. It has been noted disquisitively that the number 1001 of Duchamp's entry at the 1912 Indépendants catalogue also happens to represent in the form 10.01 the integer 2 in the Golden ratio base, related to the golden section, something of much interest to the Duchamps and others of the Puteaux Group. This, of course, was by chance—and it is not known whether Duchamp was familiar enough with the mathematics of the golden ratio to have made such a connection—as it was by chance too the relation to Arabic Manuscript of One Thousand and One Nights dating back to the 14th century. Duchamp's brothers, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, sent by the hanging committee, asked him to voluntarily withdraw the painting, or paint over the title and rename it something else. According to Duchamp, Cubists such as Albert Gleizes found that his nude wasn't quite in line with what they had already investigated [tracée]. The hanging committee objected to the work, Duchamp stressed, on the grounds that it had "too much of a literary title", and that "one doesn't paint a nude descending a staircase, that's ridiculous... a nude should be respected". It was also believed that the descending nude came too close to the influences of Italian Futurism. Although the Section d'Or Cubists tolerated and even enjoyed the presence of foreign artists (e.g., Constantin Brâncuși, František Kupka, Alexander Archipenko, Amedeo Modigliani and Joseph Csaky), the French Cubists kept the door firmly closed to the influence of foreign trends. During the month of February 1912, a large Futurist exhibition was held in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. Duchamp later denied the Futurist influence, claiming that the distance between Paris and Italy was too large for any tenable influences to occur. In an interview with the museum curator Katherine Kuh, Marcel Duchamp spoke about his Nude Descending a Staircase and its relation to Futurism and the photographic motion studies of Muybridge and Marey: In 1912 ... the idea of describing the movement of a nude coming downstairs while still retaining static visual means to do this, particularly interested me. The fact that I had seen chronophotographs of fencers in action and horse galloping (what we today call stroboscopic photography) gave me the idea for the Nude. It doesn't mean that I copied these photographs. The Futurists were also interested in somewhat the same idea, though I was never a Futurist. And of course the motion picture with its cinematic techniques was developing then too. The whole idea of movement, of speed, was in the air. Duchamp later recalled of the relation between motion and his nude: My aim was a static representation of movement, a static composition of indications of various positions taken by a form in movement—with no attempt to give cinema effects through painting. The reduction of a head in movement to a bare line seemed to me defensible. And with regard to the petition by the hanging committee of the Indépendants: I said nothing to my brothers. But I went immediately to the show and took my painting home in a taxi. It was really a turning point in my life, I can assure you. I saw that I would not be very much interested in groups after that. Despite the controversy—whether it was seen as such at the time or not—the work was shown with its original title at the Salon de la Section d'Or, Galerie de la Boétie, October 1912, and with the same group of artists that exhibited at the Indépendants. His work also appeared in the illustrations to Du "Cubisme", and he participated in the La Maison Cubiste (Cubist House), organized by the designer André Mare for the Salon d'Automne of 1912 (a few months after the Indépendants). "The impression is", writes art historian Peter Brooke, "it was precisely because he wished to remain part of the group that he withdrew the painting; and that, far from being ill treated by the group, he was given a rather privileged position, probably through the patronage of Picabia". It has been claimed (by others) that Duchamp never forgave his brothers and former colleagues for censoring his work. Duchamp subsequently submitted the painting to the 1913 Armory Show in New York City where Americans, accustomed to naturalistic art, were scandalized. The painting, exhibited in the 'Cubist room', was submitted with the title Nu descendant un escalier, was listed in the catalogue (no. 241) with the French title. A postcard printed for the occasion showed the painting for the first time with the English translation Nude Descending a Staircase. Julian Street, an art critic for the New York Times wrote that the work resembled "an explosion in a shingle factory," and cartoonists satirized the piece. It spawned dozens of parodies in the years that followed. A work entitled Food Descending a Staircase was exhibited at a show parodying the most outrageous works at the Armory, running concurrently with the show at The Lighthouse School for the Blind. In American Art News, there were prizes offered to anyone who could find the nude. After attending the Armory Show and seeing Marcel Duchamp's nude, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote (using his own, also valid translation): "Take the picture which for some reason is called 'A Naked Man Going Down Stairs'. There is in my bathroom a really good Navajo rug which, on any proper interpretation of the Cubist theory, is a far more satisfactory and decorative picture. Now, if, for some inscrutable reason, it suited somebody to call this rug a picture of, say, 'A Well-Dressed Man Going Up a Ladder', the name would fit the facts just about as well as in the case of the Cubist picture of the 'Naked Man Going Down Stairs'. From the standpoint of terminology each name would have whatever merit inheres in a rather cheap straining after effect; and from the standpoint of decorative value, of sincerity, and of artistic merit, the Navajo rug is infinitely ahead of the picture." Provenance During the Armory Show the painting was bought by the San Francisco lawyer and art dealer Frederic C. Torrey, who hung it in his home in Berkeley. In 1919, after commissioning a full-size copy of the work, Torrey sold the original to Louise and Walter Conrad Arensberg. In 1954 it entered the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a bequest from the Arensbergs. There it is displayed as part of the permanent collection alongside preliminary studies and a later copy by Duchamp. Homage * The stroboscopic photograph "A Nude Descends a Staircase" by Gjon Mili (1942). * The painting "Ema" by Gerhard Richter. * The painting Femme nue montant l'escalier by Joan Miró conserved at his foundation in Barcelona. * The cover and title of Dude Descending a Staircase (2003), a music album by Apollo 440. * The same-titled instrumental on Bruce Cockburn's music album Life Short Call Now (2006). * The play Interrogating the Nude by Doug Wright * The play Artist Descending a Staircase by Tom Stoppard. * The poem Nude Descending a Staircase by X.J. Kennedy. * The painting Nude Duck Descending a Staircase by Chuck Jones. * The Dudley Do-Right cartoon "Stolen Art Masterpiece" features a painting title "Newt Descending a Staircase". * The song "Naked Girl Falling down the Stairs" by the Cramps. * In the 1933 screwball comedy Three-Cornered Moon, when a struggling artist dating Claudette Colbert is evicted, his landlord slides a Duchamp-esque painting down the front stairs of the building. * A 2004 painting by Paul Roberts titled Nude Descending. * In the poem "Journey: The North Coast" by Australian poet "Robert Gray", the line "Down these slopes move, as a nude descends a staircase,/ slender white gum trees" is an allusion to this artwork. * A same-titled choral work for men's voices composed in 1980 by Allen Shearer and recorded by Chanticleer on their album, Out of This World (1994). * Stephanie Caloia nude descending a staircase, 1981, a photograph by Patricia Monaco. * A Calvin and Hobbes strip in which Calvin reenacts the painting, first published Nov. 3, 1993. * Nude Descending a Staircase, video sculpture by Shigeko Kubota (1976). ================================================== 20th-century art—and what it became as modern art—began with modernism in the late 19th century. Nineteenth-century movements of Post-Impressionism (Les Nabis), Art Nouveau and Symbolism led to the first twentieth-century art movements of Fauvism in France and Die Brücke ("The Bridge") in Germany. Fauvism in Paris introduced heightened non-representational colour into figurative painting. Die Brücke strove for emotional Expressionism. Another German group was Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider"), led by Kandinsky in Munich, who associated the blue rider image with a spiritual non-figurative mystical art of the future. Kandinsky, Kupka, R. Delaunay and Picabia were pioneers of abstract (or non-representational) art. Cubism, generated by Picasso, Braque, Metzinger, Gleizes and others rejected the plastic norms of the Renaissance by introducing multiple perspectives into a two-dimensional image. Futurism incorporated the depiction of movement and machine age imagery. Dadaism, with its most notable exponents, Marcel Duchamp, who rejected conventional art styles altogether by exhibiting found objects, notably a urinal, and too Francis Picabia, with his Portraits Mécaniques. Parallel movements in Russia were Suprematism, where Kasimir Malevich also created non-representational work, notably a black canvas. The Jack of Diamonds group with Mikhail Larionov was expressionist in nature. Image:Matisse-Woman-with-a-Hat.jpg|Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat, 1905 Image:Derain CharingCrossBridge.png|André Derain, Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Image:Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.jpg|Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907 File:Georges Braque, 1908, Le Viaduc de L'Estaque (Viaduct at L'Estaque), oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm, private collection.jpg|Georges Braque, Le Viaduc de L'Estaque (Viaduct at L'Estaque), 1908 File:Jean Metzinger, Le goûter, Tea Time, 1911, 75.9 x 70.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Jean Metzinger, Le goûter (Tea Time), 1911, Philadelphia Museum of Art. André Salmon dubbed this painting "The Mona Lisa of Cubism" Image:Recoveredgleizes.jpg|Albert Gleizes, Le Chemin, Paysage à Meudon, Paysage avec personnage, 1911 File:Duchamp - Nude Descending a Staircase.jpg|Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Art File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Composition 7.jpg|Wassily Kandinsky Composition VII, 1912 Image:František Kupka, 1912, Amorpha, fugue en deux couleurs (Fugue in Two Colors), 210 x 200 cm, Narodni Galerie, Prague.jpg|František Kupka, Amorpha, Fugue in Two Colors, 1912 Image:Robert Delaunay, 1913, Premier Disque, 134 cm, 52.7 inches, Private collection.jpg|Robert Delaunay, Le Premier Disque, 1912–13 Image:De Chirico's Love Song.jpg|Giorgio de Chirico, Love Song 1914, Museum of Modern Art File:Kazimir Malevich, 1915, Black Suprematic Square, oil on linen canvas, 79.5 x 79.5 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.jpg|Kasimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915 Dadaism preceded Surrealism, where the theories of Freudian psychology led to the depiction of the dream and the unconscious in art in work by Salvador Dalí. Kandinsky's introduction of non-representational art preceded the 1950s American Abstract Expressionist school, including Jackson Pollock, who dripped paint onto the canvas, and Mark Rothko, who created large areas of flat colour. Detachment from the world of imagery was reversed in the 1960s by the Pop Art movement, notably Andy Warhol, where brash commercial imagery became a Fine Art staple. Warhol also minimised the role of the artist, often employing assistants to make his work and using mechanical means of production, such as silkscreen printing. This marked a change from Modernism to Post-Modernism. Photorealism evolved from Pop Art and as a counter to Abstract Expressionists. Subsequent initiatives towards the end of the century involved a paring down of the material of art through Minimalism, and a shift toward non-visual components with Conceptual art, where the idea, not necessarily the made object, was seen as the art. The last decade of the century saw a fusion of earlier ideas in work by Jeff Koons, who made large sculptures from kitsch subjects, and in the UK, the Young British Artists, where Conceptual Art, Dada and Pop Art ideas led to Damien Hirst's exhibition of a shark in formaldehyde in a vitrine. Some important movements *Symbolism (arts) *Divisionism *Fauvism *Cubism *Futurism *Cubo-Futurism *Orphism *Purism *Synchromism *Surrealism *Suprematism *Bauhaus *Dadaism *De Stijl *Social Realism *American Regionalism *Butoh *Biomorphism *Abstract Expressionism *Tachisme *Lyrical Abstraction *Informalism *COBRA *Outsider art (art brut) *Fluxus *Neo-Dada *Rayonism *Art Deco *Color Field painting *Arte Povera *Zero Group *Pop Art *Photorealism *Minimalism *Conceptual art *Neo-expressionism *Appropriation art *Installation art *Digital art *Op Art *Modernism *Late Modernism *Remodernism

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In astrology the constellation Leo represents the Lion slain by whom?

Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac, lying between Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east. Its name is Latin for lion, and to the ancient Greeks represented the Nemean Lion killed by the mythical Greek hero Heracles (known to the ancient Romans as Hercules) as one of his twelve labors. Its symbol is (Unicode ♌). One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, Leo remains one of the 88 modern constellations today, and one of the most easily recognizable due to its many bright stars and a distinctive shape that is reminiscent of the crouching lion it depicts. The lion's mane and shoulders also form an asterism known as "the Sickle," which to modern observers may resemble a backwards "question mark." Notable features Stars Leo contains many bright stars, many of which were individually identified by the ancients. There are four stars of first or second magnitude, which render this constellation especially prominent: * Regulus, designated Alpha Leonis, is a blue-white main-sequence star of magnitude 1.34, 77.5 light-years from Earth. It is a double star divisible in binoculars, with a secondary of magnitude 7.7. Its traditional name (Regulus) means "the little king". * Beta Leonis, called Denebola, is at the opposite end of the constellation to Regulus. It is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.23, 36 light-years from Earth. The name Denebola means "the lion's tail". * Algieba, Gamma Leonis, is a binary star with a third optical component; the primary and secondary are divisible in small telescopes and the tertiary is visible in binoculars. The primary is a gold-yellow giant star of magnitude 2.61 and the secondary is similar but at magnitude 3.6; they have a period of 600 years and are 126 light-years from Earth. The unrelated tertiary, 40 Leonis, is a yellow-tinged star of magnitude 4.8. Its traditional name, Algieba, means "the forehead". * Delta Leonis, called Zosma, is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.58, 58 light-years from Earth. * Epsilon Leonis is a yellow giant of magnitude 3.0, 251 light-years from Earth. * Zeta Leonis, called Adhafera, is an optical triple star. The brightest and only star designated Zeta Leonis, is a white giant star of magnitude 3.65, 260 light-years from Earth. The second brightest, 39 Leonis, is widely spaced to the south and of magnitude 5.8. 35 Leonis is to the north and of magnitude 6.0. * Iota Leonis is a binary star divisible in medium amateur telescopes; they are divisible in small amateur telescopes at their widest in the years 2053–2063. To the unaided eye, Iota Leonis appears to be a yellow-tinged star of magnitude 4.0. The system, 79 light-years from Earth, has components of magnitude 4.1 and 6.7 with a period of 183 years. * Tau Leonis is a double star visible in binoculars. The primary is a yellow giant of magnitude 5.0, 621 light-years from Earth. The secondary is a star of magnitude 8. 54 Leonis is a binary star 289 light-years from Earth, divisible in small telescopes. The primary is a blue-white star of magnitude 4.5 and the secondary is a blue-white star of magnitude 6.3. The other named stars in Leo are Mu Leonis, Rasalas (an abbreviation of "Al Ras al Asad al Shamaliyy," meaning "The Lion's Head Toward the South"); and Theta Leonis, Chertan or Coxa ("hip"). Leo is also home to one bright variable star, the red giant R Leonis. It is a Mira variable with a minimum magnitude of 10 and normal maximum magnitude of 6; it periodically brightens to magnitude 4.4. R Leonis, 330 light-years from Earth, has a period of 310 days and a diameter of 450 solar diameters. The star Wolf 359 (CN Leonis), one of the nearest stars to Earth at 7.8 light-years away, is in Leo. Wolf 359 is a red dwarf of magnitude 13.5; it periodically brightens by one magnitude or less because it is a flare star. Gliese 436, a faint star in Leo about 33 light years away from the Sun, is orbited by a transiting Neptune-mass extrasolar planet. The carbon star CW Leo (IRC +10216) is the brightest star in the night sky at the infrared N-band (10 μm wavelength). The star SDSS J102915+172927 (Caffau's star) is a population II star in the galactic halo seen in Leo. It is about 13 billion years old, making it one of the oldest stars in the Galaxy. It has the lowest metallicity of any known star. Modern astronomers, including Tycho Brahe in 1602, excised a group of stars that once made up the "tuft" of the lion's tail and used them to form the new constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice's hair), although there was precedent for that designation among the ancient Greeks and Romans. Deep-sky objects Leo contains many bright galaxies; Messier 65, Messier 66, Messier 95, Messier 96, Messier 105, and NGC 3628 are the most famous, the first two being part of the Leo Triplet. The Leo Ring, a cloud of hydrogen and helium gas, is found in orbit of two galaxies found within this constellation. M66 is a spiral galaxy that is part of the Leo Triplet, whose other two members are M65 and NGC 3628. It is at a distance of 37 million light-years and has a somewhat distorted shape due to gravitational interactions with the other members of the Triplet, which are pulling stars away from M66. Eventually, the outermost stars may form a dwarf galaxy orbiting M66. Both M65 and M66 are visible in large binoculars or small telescopes, but their concentrated nuclei and elongation are only visible in large amateur instruments. M95 and M96 are both spiral galaxies 20 million light-years from Earth. Though they are visible as fuzzy objects in small telescopes, their structure is only visible in larger instruments. M95 is a barred spiral galaxy. M105 is about a degree away from the M95/M96 pair; it is an elliptical galaxy of the 9th magnitude, also about 20 million light-years from Earth. NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It is very similar in size and shape to the Milky Way and is located 25 million light-years from Earth. In its core, NGC 2903 has many "hotspots", which have been found to be near regions of star formation. The star formation in this region is thought to be due to the presence of the dusty bar, which sends shock waves through its rotation to an area with a diameter of 2,000 light-years. The outskirts of the galaxy have many young open clusters. Leo is also home to some of the largest structures in the observable universe. Some of the structures found in the constellation are the Clowes–Campusano LQG, U1.11, U1.54, and the Huge-LQG, which are all large quasar groups; the latter being the second largest structure known (see also NQ2-NQ4 GRB overdensity). Meteor showers The Leonids occur in November, peaking on November 14–15, and have a radiant close to Gamma Leonis. Its parent body is Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which causes significant outbursts every 35 years. The normal peak rate is approximately 10 meteors per hour. The January Leonids are a minor shower that peaks between January 1 and 7. History and mythology Leo was one of the earliest recognized constellations, with archaeological evidence that the Mesopotamians had a similar constellation as early as 4000 BCE. The Persians called Leo Ser or Shir; the Turks, Artan; the Syrians, Aryo; the Jews, Arye; the Indians, Simha, all meaning "lion". Some mythologists believe that in Sumeria, Leo represented the monster Humbaba, who was killed by Gilgamesh. In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was called UR.GU.LA, the "Great Lion"; the bright star Regulus was known as "the star that stands at the Lion's breast." Regulus also had distinctly regal associations, as it was known as the King Star. In Greek mythology, Leo was identified as the Nemean Lion which was killed by Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) during the first of his twelve labours. The Nemean Lion would take women as hostages to its lair in a cave, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress, to their misfortune. The Lion was impervious to any weaponry; thus, the warriors' clubs, swords, and spears were rendered useless against it. Realizing that he must defeat the Lion with his bare hands, Hercules slipped into the Lion's cave and engaged it at close quarters. When the Lion pounced, Hercules caught it in midair, one hand grasping the Lion's forelegs and the other its hind legs, and bent it backwards, breaking its back and freeing the trapped maidens. Zeus commemorated this labor by placing the Lion in the sky. The Roman poet Ovid called it Herculeus Leo and Violentus Leo. Bacchi Sidus (star of Bacchus) was another of its titles, the god Bacchus always being identified with this animal. However, Manilius called it Jovis et Junonis Sidus (Star of Jupiter and Juno). Astrology , the Sun appears in the constellation Leo from August 10 to Sept 10. In tropical astrology, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Leo from July 23 to August 27, and in sidereal astrology, from August 16 to September 17. Visualizations Leo is commonly represented as if the sickle-shaped asterism of stars is the back of the Lion's head. The sickle is marked by six stars: Epsilon Leonis, Mu Leonis, Zeta Leonis, Gamma Leonis, Eta Leonis, and Alpha Leonis. The lion's tail is marked by Beta Leonis (Denebola) and the rest of his body is delineated by Delta Leonis and Theta Leonis. H.A. Rey has suggested an alternative way to connect the stars, which graphically shows a lion walking. The stars delta Leonis, gamma Leonis, eta Leonis, and theta Leonis form the body of the lion, with gamma Leonis being of the second magnitude and delta Leonis and theta Leonis being of the third magnitude. The stars gamma Leonis, zeta Leonis, mu Leonis, epsilon Leonis, and eta Leonis form the lion's neck, with epsilon Leonis being of the third magnitude. The stars mu Leonis, kappa Leonis, lambda Leonis, and epsilon Leonis form the head of the lion. Delta Leonis and beta Leonis form the lion's tail: beta Leonis, also known as Denebola, is the bright tip of the tail with a magnitude of two. The stars theta Leonis, iota Leonis, and sigma Leonis form the left hind leg of the lion, with sigma Leonis being the foot. The stars theta Leonis and rho Leonis form the right hind leg, with rho Leonis being the foot. The stars eta Leonis and Alpha Leonis mark the lion's heart, with alpha Leonis, also known as Regulus, being the bright star of magnitude one. The stars eta Leonis and omicron Leonis form the right front foot of the Lion. Namesakes USS Leonis (AK-128) was a United States Navy Crater class cargo ship named after the Latin version of this constellation name.

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qb_6235

The Star of ‘who’ appears on the National flag of Israel?

The flag of Israel (Hebrew: דגל ישראל Degel Yisra'el, Arabic: علم إسرائيل 'Alam Isra'īl) was adopted on October 28, 1948, five months after the establishment of the State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizontal blue stripes. The blue colour is described as "dark sky-blue",Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs publication [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern%20History/Israel%20at%2050/The%20Flag%20and%20the%20Emblem The Flag and the Emblem] by art historian Alec Mishory, wherein he quotes "The Provisional Council of State Proclamation of the Flag of the State of Israel" made on October 28, 1948 by Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker. and varies from flag to flag, ranging from a hue of pure blue, sometimes shaded almost as dark as navy blue, to hues about 75% toward pure cyan and shades as light as very light blue. The flag was designed for the Zionist Movement in 1891. The basic design recalls the Tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, which is white with black or blue stripes. The symbol in the center represents the Star of David ("Magen David"), a Jewish symbol dating from late medieval Prague, which was adopted by the First Zionist Congress in 1897. In 2007, an Israeli flag measuring 660 x and weighing was unfurled near the ancient Jewish fortress of Masada, breaking the world record for the largest flag. Origin of the flag The blue stripes are intended to symbolize the stripes on a tallit, the traditional Jewish prayer shawl. The portrayal of a Star of David on the flag of the State of Israel is a widely acknowledged symbol of the Jewish people and of Judaism. The Israelites used a blue colored dye called tekhelet; this dye may have been made from the marine snail Murex trunculus. This dye was very important in both Jewish and non-Jewish cultures of this time, and was used by royalty and the upper class in dyeing their clothing, sheets, curtains, etc. (The dye from a related snail can be processed to form Tyrian purple called argaman.) In the Bible, the Israelites are commanded to have one of the threads of their tassels (tzitzit) dyed with tekhelet; "so that they may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them (Num 15:39)." Tekhelet corresponds to the colour of the divine revelation (Midrash Numbers Rabbah xv.). Sometime near the end of the Talmudic era (500–600 CE) the industry that produced this dye collapsed. It became more rare; over time, the Jewish community lost the tradition of which species of shellfish produced this dye. Since Jews were then unable to fulfil this commandment, they have since left their tzitzit (tallit strings) white. However, in remembrance of the commandment to use the tekhelet dye, it became common for Jews to have blue or purple stripes woven into the cloth of their tallit. The idea that the blue and white colours were the national colour of the Jewish people was voiced early on by Ludwig August Frankl (1810–1894), an Austrian Jewish poet. In his poem, "Judah's Colours", he writes: When sublime feelings his heart fill, he is mantled in the colors of his country. He stands in prayer, wrapped in a sparkling robe of white. The hems of the white robe are crowned with broad stripes of blue; Like the robe of the High Priest, adorned with bands of blue threads. These are the colours of the beloved country, blue and white are the colours of Judah; White is the radiance of the priesthood, and blue, the splendors of the firmament. In 1885, the agricultural village of Rishon LeZion used a blue and white flag designed by Israel Belkind and Fanny Abramovitch in a procession marking its third anniversary. In 1891, Michael Halperin, one of the founders of the agricultural village Nachalat Reuven flew a similar blue and white flag with a blue hexagram and the text "" (Nes Ziona, "a banner for Zion": a reference to Jeremiah 4:6, later adopted as the modern name of the city). A blue and white flag, with a Star of David and the Hebrew word "Maccabee", was used in 1891 by the Bnai Zion Educational Society. Jacob Baruch Askowith (1844–1908) and his son Charles Askowith designed the "flag of Judah," which was displayed on July 24, 1891, at the dedication of Zion Hall of the B'nai Zion Educational Society in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Based on the traditional tallit, or Jewish prayer shawl, that flag was white with narrow blue stripes near the edges and bore in the center the ancient six-pointed Shield of David with the word "Maccabee" in gilt letters. In Herzl's 1896 Der Judenstaat, he stated: Wir haben keine Fahne. Wir brauchen eine. Wenn man viele Menschen führen will, muss man ein Symbol über ihre Häupter erheben. Ich denke mir eine weisse Fahne, mit sieben goldenen Sternen. Das weisse Feld bedeutet das neue, reine Leben; die Sterne sind die sieben goldenen Stunden unseres Arbeitstages. Denn im Zeichen der Arbeit gehen die Juden in das neue Land. We have no flag, and we need one. If we desire to lead many men, we must raise a symbol above their heads. I would suggest a white flag, with seven golden stars. The white field symbolizes our pure new life; the stars are the seven golden hours of our working-day. For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying the badge of honor. David Wolffsohn (1856–1914), a businessman prominent in the early Zionist movement, was aware that the nascent Zionist movement had no official flag, and that the design proposed by Theodor Herzl was gaining no significant support, wrote: At the behest of our leader Herzl, I came to Basle to make preparations for the Zionist Congress. Among many other problems that occupied me then was one that contained something of the essence of the Jewish problem. What flag would we hang in the Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We have a flag—and it is blue and white. The talith (prayer shawl) with which we wrap ourselves when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this Talith from its bag and unroll it before the eyes of Israel and the eyes of all nations. So I ordered a blue and white flag with the Shield of David painted upon it. That is how the national flag, that flew over Congress Hall, came into being. While this flag emphasizes Jewish religious symbols, Theodor Herzl wanted the flag to have more universal symbols: 7 golden stars symbolizing the 7-hour working quota of the enlightened state-to-be, which would have advanced socialist legislations. In 1897, the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland, to consider re-establishing a homeland for Jews in Palestine. [http://www.flag-of-israel.org Morris Harris], a member of New York Hovevei Zion, used his awning shop to design a suitable banner and decorations for the reception, and his mother Lena Harris sewed the flag. The flag was made with two blue stripes and a large blue Star of David in the center, the colours blue and white chosen from the design of the tallit. The flag was ten feet by six feet—in the same proportions as the flag of the United States—and became known as the Flag of Zion. It was accepted as the official Zionist flag at the Second Zionist Congress held in Switzerland in 1898, and the State of Israel later adopted the design as the official flag, upon declaration of Israel as an independent state in 1948. A flag with blue and white stripes and a Magen David in the center flew with those of other nationalities from one of the buildings at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. It flew there in relation to large meetings of Zionists. That expo was the World's Fair hosting the 1904 Summer Olympics. Interpretation of colours Criticism From Israeli Arabs Some Israeli Arab politicians, as well as the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel have requested a re-evaluation of the Israeli flag, arguing that the Star of David at the flag's centre is an exclusively Jewish symbol. From Orthodox Jews The Hasidim in particular were vociferous in their opposition to early Zionism and often protested against the Zionists. They even went as far as banning the Star of David, originally a religious symbol appearing only in the synagogue, which had now become "defiled" by the Zionists. Rabbi Moses Feinstein called the Israeli flag "a foolish and meaningless object" and discouraged its display in synagogues. The Chazon Ish wrote that praying in a synagogue decorated with an Israeli flag should be avoided even if there was no other synagogue in the area. Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Ovadia Yosef, also forbade the flying of the Israeli flag in synagogues, calling it "a reminder of the acts of the evil-doers." Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum referred to the flag as the "flag of heresy" and viewed it as an object of idol worship. Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel never display the Israeli flag and there are some fringe groups who resort to burning it on Israel’s independence day. "Nile to Euphrates" conspiracy It is a popular conspiracy in the Arab World that the blue stripes on the Israeli flag actually represent the rivers Nile and Euphrates as the boundaries of Eretz Yisra'el, the land promised to the Jews by God according to the Bible. Those making this allegation insist that the flag "secretly" represents the desire of Jews to conquer all of the land between the Nile and Euphrates rivers, which would involve conquering and ruling over much of Egypt, all of Jordan, most of Syria, and part of Iraq. Yasser Arafat, Iran and Hamas also made the allegation,[http://www.webcitation.org/query?urlhttp://www.geocities.com/Heartland/9766/arafat.htm&date 2009-10-25+07:30:29 Playboy Interview: Yasir Arafat], Playboy, September 1988.ARAFAT: Yes, because they don't want it. Look at the slogans they use: that the land of Israel is from the Euphrates to the Nile. This was written for many years over the entrance to the Knesset, the parliament. It shows their national ambition—they want to advance to the Jordan River. One Israel for them, what's left for us... Do you know what the meaning of the Israeli flag is? PLAYBOY: No. ARAFAT: It is white with two blue lines. The two lines represent two rivers, and in between is Israel. The rivers are the Nile and the Euphrates. and repeatedly tied this notion to the stripes on the Israeli flag. Rubinstein, Danny. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo 501543&contrassID=1 Inflammatory legends], Haaretz, November 15, 2004. Accessed April 3, 2006. Both Zionist and anti-Zionist authors have debunked the claim that the stripes on the flag represent territorial ambitions. Daniel Pipes notes "In fact, the blue lines derive from the design on the traditional Jewish prayer shawl", and Danny Rubinstein points out that "Arafat ... added, in interviews that he gave in the past, that the two blue stripes on the Israeli flag represent the Nile and the Euphrates .... No Israeli, even those who demonstrate understanding for Palestinian distress, will accept the ... nonsense about the blue stripes on the flag, which was designed according to the colours of the traditional tallit (prayer shawl)". Persistent critic of Israel and Zionism Israel Shahak is equally explicit. In his The Zionist Plan for the Middle East he states: ...the persistent, and completely false declarations, which were made by some of the most important Arab leaders, that the two blue stripes of the Israeli flag symbolize the Nile and the Euphrates, while in fact they are taken from the stripes of the Jewish praying shawl (Talit). Saqr Abu Fakhr, an Arab writer, has also spoken out against this idea. He writes that the "Nile to Euphrates" claim regarding the flag is one of seven popular misconceptions and/or myths about Jews which, despite being unfounded and having abundant evidence refuting them, continue to circulate in the Arab world. Nevertheless, the Hamas Covenant states "After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates," and as recently as January 29, 2006, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar issued a demand for Israel to change its flag, citing the "Nile to Euphrates" argument. Reference in the Nuremberg Laws Paragraph 4 in "The Laws for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour", part of the infamous Nazi Nuremberg Laws of 1935, states that 1. "Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the [German] national colours. 2. On the other hand, they are permitted to display the Jewish colours. The exercise of this right is protected by the State." Paragraph 5.3 described the penalty for infringing "1": up to one year's imprisonment plus fine, or one of these. The "Jewish colours" referred to in this article were blue and white. Famous Israeli flags * The "Ink Flag" of 1949, which was raised during the War of Independence near present-day Eilat. This homemade flag's raising on a pole by several Israeli soldiers was immortalized in a photograph that has been compared with the famous photograph of the United States Flag being raised atop Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima in 1944. Like the latter photograph, the Ink Flag raising has also been reproduced as a memorial. * The Israeli flag that stayed flying throughout the siege of Fort Budapest during the Yom Kippur War, which is currently preserved in the Israeli Armored Corps memorial at Latrun. Fort Budapest was the only strongpoint along the vaunted Bar-Lev Line to remain in Israeli hands during the war. * The 2007 World Record Flag, which was unveiled at an airfield near the historic mountain fortress of Masada. The flag, manufactured in the Philippines, measured 660 x and weighed , breaking the previous record, measured and verified by representatives for the Guinness Book of Records. It was made by Filipino entrepreneur and Evangelical Christian Grace Galindez-Gupana as a religious token and diplomatic gesture of support for Israel.

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sfq_17164

The song Burning Bridges by the Mike Curb Congregation is sung over the opening credits of which film?

Michael "Mike" Curb (born December 24, 1944, Savannah, Georgia, United States) is an American musician, record company executive, and NASCAR car owner. A Republican, he served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979 to 1983 under Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr. He was acting governor of California while Brown spent time outside of California pursuing presidential ambitions. He is also the founder of Curb Records as well as an inductee of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. He is of Mexican heritage. Early music career As a freshman at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University at Northridge), while working in the practice rooms of the Department of Music, Curb wrote the song "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda (Go Little Honda)" which the company selected for its ad campaign. Dropping out of college in 1963 at the age of 19, Curb formed his first record company, Sidewalk Records (a predecessor of Curb Records) and helped launch the careers of West Coast rock and roll artists such as the Stone Poneys (featuring Linda Ronstadt), The Arrows (featuring Davie Allan) and the Electric Flag (featuring Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles). Curb scored the music for the short film, Skaterdater (1965), as well as The Wild Angels (1966), Thunder Alley (1967), Devil's Angels (1967), The Born Losers (1967) - the first of the Billy Jack films, Maryjane (1968), The Wild Racers (1968), The Savage Seven (1968), The Big Bounce (1969), The Sidehackers (1969) and Black Water Gold (1970). In 1969, he merged his company with MGM and became President of MGM Records and Verve Records. Curb composed or supervised over 50 film scores and wrote over 400 songs. Curb organized his own musical group, The Mike Curb Congregation in the 1960s; they had a Top 40 pop hit in early 1971 with the title cut from their album Burning Bridges (written and composed by Lalo Schifrin and Mike Curb) which was used as the theme of Clint Eastwood's film Kelly's Heroes. They had an adult contemporary chart hit in 1970 with the song "Sweet Gingerbread Man" from the film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart and had a minor hit in 1973 with the Sherman Brothers composition "It's A Small Small World". The group was featured on Sammy Davis, Jr.'s number-one Billboard Hot 100 hit of 1972, "The Candy Man" (the Aubrey Woods version was featured in the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and in 1978, the Mike Curb Congregation was featured in the musical The Magic of Lassie, starring James Stewart. They recorded "Together, a New Beginning" in 1980, the theme song for Ronald Reagan's successful presidential bid that year. The Mike Curb Congregation were weekly regulars on Glen Campbell's CBS' National Network Television Show. In 1969, Curb signed Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman to Capitol Records. In the 1970s, Curb wrote for and produced Roy Orbison, the Osmond Family, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Solomon Burke; he also signed artists such as the Sylvers, Eric Burdon, War, Richie Havens, the Five Man Electrical Band, Gloria Gaynor, Johnny Bristol, Exile and The Four Seasons. Curb ran a short-lived country music subsidiary label for Motown called Hitsville Records. Curb composed "It Was a Good Time" for Liza Minnelli's Emmy Award winning Liza with a Z. He also received BMI awards for composing "Burning Bridges" for Clint Eastwood's Kelly's Heroes, and for composing "All for the Love of Sunshine", which was Hank Williams, Jr.'s first #1 Record. MGM anti-drug controversy In 1970, Billboard reported that "MGM Records president Mike Curb has dropped 18 acts who, in his opinion, promote and exploit hard drugs through music." Billboard reported that Curb was alarmed by the drug-related deaths of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Alan Wilson of Canned Heat. Among the groups thought to be included in the purge were The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa. However Zappa spoke out against drug use throughout his career and by early 1969 had fulfilled his MGM/Verve contract and moved to his own Bizarre Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Curb claimed he had industry support, but the only record company official he cited, Bill Gallagher, the president of Paramount Records, contradicted him. Columbia Records president Clive Davis said Curb was "grandstanding," and that his anti-drug stance had made him "a minor hero of the Nixon administration." In 1997, Curb said the affair had happened at a time when "you were considered a freak if you spoke out against drugs." Throughout Mike Curb's career he has helped artists through drug and substance abuse issues through numerous charities. Political career Encouraged to enter politics in part by Ronald Reagan, Curb was elected lieutenant governor of California in 1978, defeating the incumbent Democrat, Mervyn M. Dymally. Democratic candidate Jerry Brown was re-elected governor in the same year. During much of Brown's 1979–1980 bid to become the Democratic presidential candidate, Curb served as acting governor, vetoing legislation, issuing executive orders and making appointments; actions the California's Supreme Court upheld as Curb's constitutional prerogative. Curb worked with Harvey Milk on the campaign against the Briggs Initiative and persuaded Reagan to oppose it, leading to its defeat. Curb has been a leading conservative supporter of gay rights ever since. Curb lost the 1982 Republican gubernatorial nomination to California attorney general George Deukmejian. In 1986, Curb ran again for lieutenant governor as the Republican nominee against the incumbent Democrat Leo T. McCarthy in a bitterly contested race that largely centered around punishment for drug trafficking and violent crimes. A vocal opponent of drug use, Curb advocated extension of the death penalty to include drug pushers whose narcotics trafficking resulted in a death. In 1980 Curb served as the National Co-Chairman of Ronald Reagan’s successful presidential campaign. Curb also served as the Chairman of the convention program in Detroit and was later appointed by President Reagan, to be chairman of the national finance committee in Washington DC. Involvement in car racing A motorsport enthusiast, Curb is a co-owner of the Curb Agajanian Performance Group, a team that has won 10 national championships. His sponsorship and ownership have included three of NASCAR's most celebrated drivers: he previously owned Richard Petty's famed #43 in 1984 and 1985, including the 199th and 200th career wins for Petty. Curb was also a sponsor for Dale Earnhardt during his 1980 Winston Cup championship winning season, and sponsored Darrell Waltrip's #12 Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Joey Miller in 2006. Curb-Agajanian also ran cars for many years in the Indianapolis 500 with drivers including Billy Boat and Dan Wheldon with whom he won the 2011 Indianapolis 500. Curb was the only car owner to win in all 10 NASCAR auto racing series in the United States – the Sprint Cup (formerly Nextel and Winston Cup), the Xfinity Series (formerly the Nationwide series and Busch Series), the Camping World Truck Series (formerly the Craftsman Truck Series), the Grand-Am Rolex Daytona Prototype National Sports Car Series (now the United Sports Car Series merged with American Le Mans), the IMSA GT Series (formerly IMSA Camel GT), Continental Series (formerly IMSA GTS), the Late Model All American Series, the Modifieds and the K&N East and West Series. Curb became the only car owner/entrant who has won in the ten different series. Curb was also the co-owner with Richard Childress of the #98 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon. Curb is also a long-time sponsor of ThorSport Racing in the Camping World Truck Series, being part-owner of the team's #98 Toyota driven by Rico Abreu. Since 2012, he has maintained a similar partnership with Phil Parsons Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, which also runs the #98. The Curb Racing team have cars in United States Automobile Club (USAC) competition. Their drivers Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu won the 2013 and 2014 USAC National Midget tours. Public honors In Nashville, Curb has become a civic leader and benefactor of Belmont University, where his donation toward the construction of a new arena resulted in it being named the Curb Event Center. The University also runs "The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business." He also endowed the Curb Center and the Curb Creative Campus program at Vanderbilt University and the Mike Curb Institute of Music at Rhodes College in Memphis. In 2001, Curb was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. In 2003, Curb was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Curb was next inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009. In August 2006, Curb pledged $10 million to California State University, Northridge (in Los Angeles) to endow his alma mater's arts college and provide a lead gift for the university's planned regional performing arts center that will serve as a "learning laboratory" for students. Of the $10 million gift, $5 million will support CSUN's College of Arts, Media, and Communication, one of the university's largest colleges that offers degree and certificate programs for more than 4,400 students. Four million of that will go into a general endowment for the college, and $1 million will endow a faculty chair specializing in music industry studies. As a result, the college was named in his honor. On June 29, 2007, Curb was honored with the 2,341st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On October 21, 2010, CSU Channel Islands dedicated the Mike Curb Studio in Napa Hall on the Camarillo, California university campus. The studio provides a new film and video production and post-production facility to the campus. Curb has also endowed numerous other colleges and programs for the underserved communities. In 2014 Curb was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. Discography Albums Collaboration albums Singles Guest singles

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dpql_3539

All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least how many years?

Scotch whisky, often simply called Scotch, is malt whisky or grain whisky made in Scotland. Scotch whisky must be made in a manner specified by law. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distilleries began introducing whisky made from wheat and rye in the late 18th century. Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: single malt Scotch whisky, single grain Scotch whisky, blended malt Scotch whisky (formerly called "vatted malt" or "pure malt"), blended grain Scotch whisky, and blended Scotch whisky. All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years. Any age statement on a bottle of Scotch whisky, expressed in numerical form, must reflect the age of the youngest whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed-age whisky. The first written mention of Scotch whisky is in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1495. A friar named John Cor was the distiller at Lindores Abbey in the Kingdom of Fife. Many Scotch whisky drinkers will refer to a unit for drinking as a dram. Regulations and labelling Legal definition As of 23 November 2009, the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 (SWR) define and regulate the production, labelling, packaging as well as the advertising of Scotch whisky in the United Kingdom. They replace previous regulations that focused solely on production. International trade agreements have the effect of making some provisions of the SWR apply in various other countries as well as in the UK. The SWR define "Scotch whisky" as whisky that is: * Produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (to which only whole grains of other cereals may be added) all of which have been: ** Processed at that distillery into a mash ** Converted at that distillery to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems ** Fermented at that distillery only by adding yeast ** Distilled at an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 94.8% (190 US proof) * Wholly matured in an excise warehouse in Scotland in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 L for at least three years * Retaining the colour, aroma, and taste of the raw materials used in, and the method of, its production and maturation * Containing no added substances, other than water and plain (E150A) caramel colouring * Comprising a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40% (80 US proof) Labelling A Scotch whisky label comprises several elements that indicate aspects of production, age, bottling, and ownership. Some of these elements are regulated by the SWR, and some reflect tradition and marketing. The spelling of the term "whisky" is often debated by journalists and consumers. Scottish, Australian and Canadian whiskies use "whisky", Irish whiskies use "whiskey", while American and other styles vary in their spelling of the term. The label always features a declaration of the malt or grain whiskies used. A single malt Scotch whisky is one that is entirely produced from malt in one distillery. One may also encounter the term "single cask", signifying the bottling comes entirely from one cask. The term "blended malt" signifies that single malt whisky from different distilleries are blended in the bottle. The Cardhu distillery also began using the term "pure malt" for the same purpose, causing a controversy in the process over clarity in labelling – the Glenfiddich distillery was using the term to describe some single malt bottlings. As a result, the Scotch Whisky Association declared that a mixture of single malt whiskies must be labelled a "blended malt". The use of the former terms "vatted malt" and "pure malt" is prohibited. The term "blended malt" is still debated, as some bottlers maintain that consumers confuse the term with "blended Scotch whisky", which contains some proportion of grain whisky. The brand name featured on the label is usually the same as the distillery name (for example, the Talisker Distillery labels its whiskies with the Talisker name). Indeed, the SWR prohibit bottlers from using a distillery name when the whisky was not made there. A bottler name may also be listed, sometimes independent of the distillery. In addition to requiring that Scotch whisky be distilled in Scotland, the SWR require that it also be bottled and labelled in Scotland. Labels may also indicate the region of the distillery (for example, Islay or Speyside). Alcoholic strength is expressed on the label with "Alcohol By Volume" ("ABV") or sometimes simply "Vol". Typically, bottled whisky is between 40% and 46% ABV. Whisky is considerably stronger when first emerging from the cask—normally 60–63% ABV. Water is then added to create the desired bottling strength. If the whisky is not diluted before bottling, it can be labelled as cask strength. A whisky's age may be listed on the bottle providing a guarantee of the youngest whisky used. An age statement on the bottle, in the form of a number, must reflect the age of the youngest whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed age whisky. Scotch whisky without an age statement may, by law, be as young as three years old. In the early 21st century, such "No age statement" whiskies became more common, as distilleries responded to the depletion of aged stocks caused by improved sales. A label may carry a distillation date or a bottling date. Whisky does not mature once bottled, so if no age statement is provided, one may calculate the age of the whisky if both the distillation date and bottling date are given. Labels may also carry various declarations of filtration techniques or final maturation processes. A Scotch whisky labelled as "natural" or "non-chill-filtered" has not been through a filtration process during bottling that removes compounds that some consumers see as desirable. Whisky is aged in various types of casks—and often in used sherry or port casks—during distinct portions of the maturation process, and will take on characteristics, flavour and aromas from such casks. Special casks are sometimes used at the end of the maturation process, and such whiskies may be labelled as "wood finished", "sherry/port finished", and so on. Types There are two basic types of Scotch whisky, from which all blends are made: * Single malt Scotch whisky means a Scotch whisky produced from only water and malted barley at a single distillery by batch distillation in pot stills. * Single grain Scotch whisky means a Scotch whisky distilled at a single distillery but, in addition to water and malted barley, may involve whole grains of other malted or unmalted cereals. "Single grain" does not mean that only a single type of grain was used to produce the whisky—rather, the adjective "single" refers only to the use of a single distillery (and making a "single grain" requires using a mixture of grains, as barley is a type of grain and some malted barley must be used in all Scotch whisky). Excluded from the definition of "single grain Scotch whisky" is any spirit that qualifies as a single malt Scotch whisky or as a blended Scotch whisky. The latter exclusion is to ensure that a blended Scotch whisky produced from single malt(s) and single grain(s) distilled at the same distillery does not also qualify as single grain Scotch whisky. Three types of blends are defined for Scotch whisky: * Blended malt Scotch whisky means a blend of two or more single malt Scotch whiskies from different distilleries. * Blended grain Scotch whisky means a blend of two or more single grain Scotch whiskies from different distilleries. * Blended Scotch whisky means a blend of one or more single malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single grain Scotch whiskies. The five Scotch whisky definitions are structured in such a way that the categories are mutually exclusive. The 2009 regulations changed the formal definition of blended Scotch whisky to achieve this result, but in a way that reflected traditional and current practice: before the 2009 SWR, any combination of Scotch whiskies qualified as a blended Scotch whisky, including for example a blend of single malt Scotch whiskies. As was the case under the Scotch Whisky Act 1988, regulation 5 of the SWR 2009 stipulates that the only whisky that may be manufactured in Scotland is Scotch whisky. The definition of manufacture is "keeping for the purpose of maturation; and keeping, or using, for the purpose of blending, except for domestic blending for domestic consumption". This provision prevents the existence of two "grades" of whisky originating from Scotland, one “Scotch whisky” and the other, a "whisky – product of Scotland" that complies with the generic EU standard for whisky. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, allowing non-Scotch whisky production in Scotland would make it difficult to protect Scotch whisky as a distinctive product. Single grain The majority of grain whisky produced in Scotland goes to make blended Scotch whisky. The average blended whisky is 60%–85% grain whisky. Some higher-quality grain whisky from a single distillery is bottled as single grain whisky. Blended malt Blended malt whisky—formerly called vatted malt or pure malt (terms that are now prohibited in the SWR 2009)—is one of the least common types of Scotch: a blend of single malts from more than one distillery (possibly with differing ages). Blended malts contain only malt whiskies—no grain whiskies—and are usually distinguished from other types of whisky by the absence of the word "single" before "malt" on the bottle, and the absence of a distillery name. The age of the vat is that of the youngest of the original ingredients. For example, a blended malt marked "8 years old" may include older whiskies, with the youngest constituent being eight years old. Johnnie Walker Green Label and Monkey Shoulder are examples of blended malt whisky. Starting from November 2011, no Scotch whisky could be labelled as a vatted malt or pure malt, the SWR requiring them to be labelled blended malt instead. Blended Blended Scotch whisky constitutes about 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland. Blended Scotch whiskies contain both malt whisky and grain whisky. Producers combine the various malts and grain whiskies to produce a consistent brand style. Notable blended Scotch whisky brands include Bells, Dewar's, Johnnie Walker, Whyte and Mackay, Cutty Sark, J&B, The Famous Grouse, Ballantine's and Chivas Regal. Independent bottlers Most malt distilleries sell a significant amount of whisky by the cask for blending, and sometimes to private buyers as well. Whisky from such casks is sometimes bottled as a single malt by independent bottling firms such as Duncan Taylor, Master of Malt, Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenhead's, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Murray McDavid, Berry Brothers & Rudd, Douglas Laing, and others. These are usually labelled with the distillery's name, but not using the distillery's trademarked logos or typefaces. An "official bottling" (or "proprietary bottling"), by comparison, is from the distillery (or its owner). Many independent bottlings are from single casks, and they may sometimes be very different from an official bottling. For a variety of reasons, some independent brands do not identify which facility distilled the whisky in the bottle. They may instead identify only the general geographical area of the source, or they simply market the product using their own brand name without identifying their source. This may, in some cases, be simply to give the independent bottling company the flexibility to purchase from multiple distillers without changing their labels. History According to the Scotch Whisky Association, Scotch whisky evolved from a Scottish drink called uisge beatha, which means "water of life". The earliest record of distillation in Scotland occurred as long ago as 1494, as documented in the Exchequer Rolls, which were records of royal income and expenditure. The quote above records eight bolls of malt given to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae over the previous year. This would be enough for 1,500 bottles, which suggests that distillation was well-established by the late 15th century. Whisky production was first taxed in 1644, causing a rise in illicit whisky distilling in the country. Around 1780, there were about eight legal distilleries and 400 illegal ones. In 1823, Parliament eased restrictions on licensed distilleries with the "Excise Act", while at the same time making it harder for the illegal stills to operate, thereby ushering in the modern era of Scotch production. Two events helped to increase whisky's popularity: first, the introduction in 1831 of the column still; the whisky produced with this process was generally less expensive to produce and also less intense and smoother, because a column still can perform the equivalent of multiple distillation steps in a continuous distillation process. Second, the phylloxera bug destroyed wine and cognac production in France in 1880. Regions Scotland was traditionally divided into four regions: The Highlands, The Lowlands, The Isle of Islay, and Campbeltown. Due to the large number of distilleries found there, the Speyside region is now also recognized by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) as a distinct region. The whisky-producing islands other than Islay are not recognised as a distinct region by the SWA, which groups them into the Highlands region. * The Lowlands: The southernmost region of Scotland. **There are 5 distilleries that remain in operation: Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, Glenkinchie, Annandale and Ailsa Bay from the Girvan Distillery plus three more—Daftmill, Eden Mill, and Kingsbarns—are currently pending their first releases. * Speyside: Speyside gets its name from the River Spey, which cuts through this region and provides water to many of the distilleries. **It has the largest number of distilleries, which includes: Aberlour, Balvenie, Cardhu, Cragganmore, Dalwhinnie, Glenfarclas, Glenglassaugh, Glenfiddich, Speyburn, The Macallan, The Glenlivet, and The Glenrothes. **Encompassing the area surrounding the River Spey in north-east Scotland, once considered part of the Highlands, has almost half of the total number (approx. 105 as of 2013) of distilleries in Scotland within its geographic boundaries; consequently it is officially recognized as a distinct region. * The Highlands: The Highlands is by far the largest region in Scotland both in area and in whisky production. **Some Highland distilleries: Aberfeldy, Balblair, Ben Nevis, Dalmore, Glen Ord, Glenmorangie, Oban, Glendronach, Old Pulteney and Tomatin. ** The Islands, an unrecognised sub-region includes all of the whisky-producing islands (but excludes Islay): Arran, Jura, Mull, Orkney, and Skye: with their respective distilleries: Arran, Jura, Tobermory, Highland Park and Scapa, and Talisker. * Campbeltown, once home to over 30 distilleries, currently has only three distilleries operating: Glen Scotia, Glengyle, and Springbank. * Islay: has eight producing distilleries: Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig. Although only five regions are specifically described, any Scottish locale may be used to describe a whisky if it is distilled entirely within that place; for example a single malt whisky distilled on Orkney could be described as Orkney Single Malt Scotch Whisky instead of as a Highland whisky.

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What does a seismologist study?

Seismology (; from Greek σεισμός "earthquake" and -λογία "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake environmental effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes (such as explosions). A related field that uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleoseismology. A recording of earth motion as a function of time is called a seismogram. A seismologist is a scientist who does research in seismology. History Scholarly interest in earthquakes can be traced back to antiquity. Early speculations on the natural causes of earthquakes were included in the writings of Thales of Miletus (c. 585 BCE), Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 550 BCE), Aristotle (c. 340 BCE) and Zhang Heng (132 CE). In 132 CE, Zhang Heng of China's Han dynasty designed the first known seismoscope. In 1664, Athanasius Kircher argued that earthquakes were caused by the movement of fire within a system of channels inside the Earth. In 1703, Martin Lister (1638 to 1712) and Nicolas Lemery (1645 to 1715) proposed that earthquakes were caused by chemical explosions within the earth. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755, coinciding with the general flowering of science in Europe, set in motion intensified scientific attempts to understand the behaviour and causation of earthquakes. The earliest responses include work by John Bevis (1757) and John Michell (1761). Michell determined that earthquakes originate within the Earth and were waves of movement caused by "shifting masses of rock miles below the surface." From 1857, Robert Mallet laid the foundation of instrumental seismology and carried out seismological experiments using explosives. He is also responsible for coining the word "seismology". In 1897, Emil Wiechert's theoretical calculations led him to conclude that the Earth's interior consists of a mantle of silicates, surrounding a core of iron. In 1906 Richard Dixon Oldham identified the separate arrival of P-waves, S-waves and surface waves on seismograms and found the first clear evidence that the Earth has a central core. In 1910, after studying the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Harry Fielding Reid put forward the "elastic rebound theory" which remains the foundation for modern tectonic studies. The development of this theory depended on the considerable progress of earlier independent streams of work on the behaviour of elastic materials and in mathematics. In 1926, Harold Jeffreys was the first to claim, based on his study of earthquake waves, that below the crust, the core of the Earth is liquid. In 1937, Inge Lehmann determined that within the earth's liquid outer core there is a solid inner core. By the 1960s, earth science had developed to the point where a comprehensive theory of the causation of seismic events had come together in the now well-established theory of plate tectonics. Types of seismic wave Seismic waves are elastic waves that propagate in solid or fluid materials. They can be divided into body waves that travel through the interior of the materials; surface waves that travel along surfaces or interfaces between materials; and normal modes, a form of standing wave. Body waves There are two types of body waves, P-waves and S-waves. Pressure waves or Primary waves (P-waves), are longitudinal waves that involve compression and rarefaction (expansion) in the direction that the wave is traveling. P-waves are the fastest waves in solids and are therefore the first waves to appear on a seismogram. S-waves, also called shear or secondary waves, are transverse waves that involve perpendicular motion to the direction of propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves. Therefore, they appear later than P-waves on a seismogram. Fluids cannot support this perpendicular motion, or shear, so S-waves only travel in solids. P-waves travel in both solids and fluids. Surface waves The two primary types of surface waves are the Rayleigh waves,which has some compressional motion, and the Love wave, which does not. Rayleigh waves can be explained theoretically in terms of interacting P- and S-waves of vertical polarization that are required to satisfy the boundary conditions on the free surface. Love waves can exist in the presence of a subsurface layer, and they are formed by S-waves of horizontal polarization only. Surface waves travel more slowly than P-waves and S-waves; however, because they are guided by the surface of the Earth (and their energy is thus trapped near the Earth's surface) they can be much larger in amplitude than body waves, and can be the largest signals seen in earthquake seismograms. They are particularly strongly excited when their source is close to the surface of the Earth, as in a shallow earthquake or explosion. Normal modes Both body and surface waves are traveling waves; however, large earthquakes can also make the Earth "ring" like a bell. This ringing is a mixture of normal modes with discrete frequencies and periods of an hour or shorter. Motion caused by a large earthquake can be observed for up to a month after the event. The first observations of normal modes were made in the 1960s as the advent of higher fidelity instruments coincided with two of the largest earthquakes of the 20th century - the 1960 Valdivia earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. Since then, the normal modes of the Earth have given us some of the strongest constraints on the deep structure of the Earth. Earthquakes One of the first attempts at the scientific study of earthquakes followed the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Other notable earthquakes that spurred major advancements in the science of seismology include the 1857 Basilicata earthquake, 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1964 Alaska earthquake, the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. Controlled seismic sources Seismic waves produced by explosions or vibrating controlled sources are one of the primary methods of underground exploration in geophysics (in addition to many different electromagnetic methods such as induced polarization and magnetotellurics). Controlled-source seismology has been used to map salt domes, anticlines and other geologic traps in petroleum-bearing rocks, faults, rock types, and long-buried giant meteor craters. For example, the Chicxulub Crater, which was caused by an impact that has been implicated in the extinction of the dinosaurs, was localized to Central America by analyzing ejecta in the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, and then physically proven to exist using seismic maps from oil exploration. Detection of seismic waves Seismometers are sensors that sense and record the motion of the Earth arising from elastic waves. Seismometers may be deployed at the Earth's surface, in shallow vaults, in boreholes, or underwater. A complete instrument package that records seismic signals is called a seismograph. Networks of seismographs continuously record ground motions around the world to facilitate the monitoring and analysis of global earthquakes and other sources of seismic activity. Rapid location of earthquakes makes tsunami warnings possible because seismic waves travel considerably faster than tsunami waves. Seismometers also record signals from non-earthquake sources ranging from explosions (nuclear and chemical), to local noise from wind or anthropogenic activities, to incessant signals generated at the ocean floor and coasts induced by ocean waves (the global microseism), to cryospheric events associated with large icebergs and glaciers. Above-ocean meteor strikes with energies as high as 4.2 × 1013 J (equivalent to that released by an explosion of ten kilotons of TNT) have been recorded by seismographs, as have a number of industrial accidents and terrorist bombs and events (a field of study referred to as forensic seismology). A major long-term motivation for the global seismographic monitoring has been for the detection and study of nuclear testing. Mapping the earth's interior Because seismic waves commonly propagate efficiently as they interact with the internal structure of the Earth, they provide high-resolution noninvasive methods for studying the planet's interior. One of the earliest important discoveries (suggested by Richard Dixon Oldham in 1906 and definitively shown by Harold Jeffreys in 1926) was that the outer core of the earth is liquid. Since S-waves do not pass through liquids, the liquid core causes a "shadow" on the side of the planet opposite of the earthquake where no direct S-waves are observed. In addition, P-waves travel much slower through the outer core than the mantle. Processing readings from many seismometers using seismic tomography, seismologists have mapped the mantle of the earth to a resolution of several hundred kilometers. This has enabled scientists to identify convection cells and other large-scale features such as the large low-shear-velocity provinces near the core–mantle boundary. Seismology and society Earthquake prediction Forecasting a probable timing, location, magnitude and other important features of a forthcoming seismic event is called earthquake prediction. Various attempts have been made by seismologists and others to create effective systems for precise earthquake predictions, including the VAN method. Most seismologists do not believe that a system to provide timely warnings for individual earthquakes has yet been developed, and many believe that such a system would be unlikely to give useful warning of impending seismic events. However, more general forecasts routinely predict seismic hazard. Such forecasts estimate the probability of an earthquake of a particular size affecting a particular location within a particular time-span, and they are routinely used in earthquake engineering. Public controversy over earthquake prediction erupted after Italian authorities indicted six seismologists and one government official for manslaughter in connection with a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy on April 5, 2009. The indictment has been widely perceived as an indictment for failing to predict the earthquake and has drawn condemnation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union. The indictment claims that, at a special meeting in L'Aquila the week before the earthquake occurred, scientists and officials were more interested in pacifying the population than providing adequate information about earthquake risk and preparedness. Engineering seismology Engineering seismology is the study and application of seismology for engineering purposes. It generally applied to the branch of seismology that deals with the assessment of the seismic hazard of a site or region for the purposes of earthquake engineering. It is, therefore, a link between earth science and civil engineering. There are two principal components of engineering seismology. Firstly, studying earthquake history (e.g. historical and instrumental catalogs of seismicity) and tectonics to assess the earthquakes that could occur in a region and their characteristics and frequency of occurrence. Secondly, studying strong ground motions generated by earthquakes to assess the expected shaking from future earthquakes with similar characteristics. These strong ground motions could either be observations from accelerometers or seismometers or those simulated by computers using various techniques. Tools Seismological instruments can generate large amounts of data. Systems for processing such data include: * CUSP (Caltech-USGS Seismic Processing) * RadExPro seismic software * SeisComP3 Notable seismologists * Aki, Keiiti * Don L. Anderson * Bolt, Bruce * Claerbout, Jon * Dziewonski, Adam Marian * Ewing, Maurice * Galitzine, Boris Borisovich * Gamburtsev, Grigory A. * Gutenberg, Beno * Hough, Susan * Jeffreys, Harold * Jones, Lucy * Kanamori, Hiroo * Keilis-Borok, Vladimir * Knopoff, Leon * Lehmann, Inge * Mallet, Robert * Mercalli, Giuseppe * Milne, John * Mohorovičić, Andrija * Oldham, Richard Dixon * Fusakichi Omori * Sebastião de Melo, Marquis of Pombal * Press, Frank * Richards, Paul G. * Richter, Charles Francis * Sekiya, Seikei * Sieh, Kerry * Paul G. Silver * Tucker, Brian * Vidale, John * Wen, Lianxing * Winthrop, John * Zhang Heng

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Milo's dog, The Phantom Tollbooth's 'watchdog'?

The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, published in 1961 by Random House (USA). It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car, transporting him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, once prosperous but now troubled. There, he acquires two faithful companions and goes on a quest to restore to the kingdom its exiled princesses—named Rhyme and Reason—from the Castle in the Air. In the process, he learns valuable lessons, finding a love of learning. The text is full of puns and wordplay, and many events, such as when Milo unintentionally jumps to Conclusions, an island in Wisdom, explore the literal meanings of idioms. In 1958, Juster had received a Ford Foundation grant for a children's book about cities. Unable to make progress on that project, he turned to writing what became The Phantom Tollbooth, his first book. His housemate, Feiffer, a cartoonist, interested himself in the project. Jason Epstein, an editor at Random House, bought the book and published. It has received strong acclaimed reviews and has sold in excess of three million copies, unexpectedly more than its predictions. It has been adapted into a film, opera, and play, and translated into many languages. Though the book is on its face an adventure story, a major theme is the need for a love of education; through this, Milo applies what he has learned in school, advances in his personal development, and learns to love the life that previously bored him. Critics have compared its appeal to that of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and to L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Plot Milo is a boy bored by the world around him; every activity seems a waste of time. He arrives home from another boring day at school to find a mysterious package. Among its contents are a small tollbooth and a map of "the Lands Beyond", illustrating the Kingdom of Wisdom (which will also guide the reader from its place on the endpapers of the book). Attached to the package is a note "For Milo, who has plenty of time". Warned by an included sign to have his destination in mind, he decides without much thought to go to Dictionopolis, assuming this is a pretend game to be played on the floor of his room. He maneuvers through the tollbooth in his electric toy car, and instantly finds himself driving on a road that is clearly not in his city apartment. Milo begins with Expectations, a pleasant place where he starts on Wisdom's road. In Expectations, he seeks directions from the Whether Man, who is full of endless talk. As Milo drives on, he daydreams and soon is paying no attention at all, and gets lost in the Doldrums, a colorless place where nothing ever happens. Milo is soon joining the inhabitants, the Lethargarians, in killing time there, a pastime angrily interrupted by the arrival of Tock, an oversize talking dog with an alarm clock on each side (a "watchdog"), who tells Milo that only by thinking can he get out of the Doldrums. Head abuzz with unaccustomed thoughts, Milo is soon back on his road, and the watchdog joins him on his journey through Wisdom. Milo and Tock travel to Dictionopolis, one of two capital cities of the divided Kingdom of Wisdom, and home to King Azaz the Unabridged. They meet King Azaz's cabinet officials and visit the Word Market, wherein are bought and sold the words and letters that empower the world. A fight between the Spelling Bee and the blustering Humbug breaks up the market, and Milo and Tock are arrested by the very short Officer Shrift. In prison, Milo meets the Which (not to be confused with Witch), also known as Faintly Macabre, long in charge of which words should be used in Wisdom. She tells him how the two rulers, King Azaz and his brother, the Mathemagician, had two adopted younger sisters, Rhyme and Reason, to whom everyone came to settle disputes. All lived in harmony until the rulers disagreed with the princesses' decision that letters (championed by Azaz) and numbers (by the Mathemagician) were equally important. They banished the princesses to the Castle in the Air, and since then, the land has had neither Rhyme nor Reason. Milo and Tock leave the dungeon. King Azaz hosts them at a banquet where the guests literally eat their words, served to them on plates. After the meal, King Azaz lets Milo and Tock talk themselves into a dangerous quest to rescue the princesses. Azaz flatters the Humbug into being their guide, and boy, dog and insect set off for the Mathemagician's capital of Digitopolis as they must gain his approval before they can begin their quest. Along the way, they meet such characters as Alec Bings, a little boy suspended in the air who sees through things and who will grow down until he reaches the ground. Milo then loses time in substituting for Chroma the Great, a conductor whose orchestra creates the colors of the world. In Digitopolis, they meet the Mathemagician, who is still angry at Azaz, and who will not give his blessing to anything that his brother has approved. Milo maneuvers him into saying he will permit the quest if the boy can prove the two have concurred on anything since they banished the princesses. To the number wizard's shock, Milo proves that the two have agreed to disagree, and the Mathemagician gives his reluctant consent. In the Mountains of Ignorance, the journeyers contend with demons like the Terrible Trivium and the Gelatinous Giant. After overcoming testing obstacles and their own fears, they reach the Castle in the Air. Princesses Rhyme and Reason welcome Milo and agree to return to Wisdom. Unable to enter the castle, the demons cut it loose, letting it drift away, but Milo realizes Tock can carry them down because time flies. The demons pursue, but the armies of Wisdom repel them. Rhyme and Reason heal the divisions in the old Kingdom of Wisdom, Azaz and the Mathemagician are reconciled, and all enjoy a three-day celebration. Milo says goodbye and drives back through the tollbooth. Suddenly he is back in his own room, and discovers he has been gone only an hour, though his journey seemed to take weeks. He awakens the next day with plans to return to the kingdom, but finds the tollbooth gone when he gets home from school. A note instead is there, "For Milo, who now knows the way." The note states that the tollbooth is being sent to another child who needs help finding his direction in life. Milo is somewhat disappointed but agrees and looks at a now-interesting world around him, concluding that even if he found a way back, he might not have time to go, for there is so much to do right where he is. Writing Architect Norton Juster was living in his hometown of Brooklyn, after three years in the navy. In June 1960, he gained a $5,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to write a children's book about cities. Juster argued that the young baby boomers would soon have responsibility for the cities, and many lived in the suburbs and did not know them. In his proposal, he said he wanted "to stimulate and heighten perception – to help children notice and appreciate the visual world around them – to help excite them and shape their interest in an environment they will eventually reshape." Beginning with great enthusiasm, he ground to a halt with too many notes and too little progress. He took a weekend break with friends at Fire Island, and came back determined to put aside the cities book and seek inspiration in another writing project. Juster's guilt over his lack of progress on the cities book had led him to write pieces of stories about a little boy named Milo, which he began to develop into a book. Juster quit his job so that he could work on the book. His imagination fired by a boy who approached him on the street and with whom he discussed the nature of infinity, Juster wanted to finish the story about "a boy who asked too many questions" before returning to the book on cities. Juster shared his house in Brooklyn Heights with cartoonist Jules Feiffer whose bedroom was immediately below, and who could hear him pacing in the night. Feiffer was surprised to learn that his friend's insomnia was not caused by the cities book, but by a book about a boy. Juster showed Feiffer the draft to date, and, unbidden, the artist began sketching illustrations. Feiffer knew Judy Sheftel, who put deals together in the publishing trade and was his future bride. Sheftel got Jason Epstein, an innovative editor at Random House with a deep appreciation for children's literature, to agree to review the manuscript. Some at Random House considered the book's vocabulary too difficult: at the time, educators advised against children's literature containing words the target audience did not already know, fearing the unfamiliar would discourage young learners. Based on seven chapters of manuscript, plus a three-page outline of the rest of the story, Epstein bought the book. Since Juster did the cooking for the housemates, if Feiffer wanted to eat, he had to do the drawings. Feiffer quickly realized the book would require illustrations of the type and quality that John Tenniel had created for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and although a nationally-known artist, doubted his competence to do the text justice. Feiffer considers the double-spread illustration of demons late in the book to be a success and one of his favorites. It differs from his usual style (which would involve a white background), and instead uses Gustave Doré's drawings as an inspiration. It became a game, with Feiffer trying to draw things the way he wanted, and Juster trying to describe things that were impossible to sketch. These included the Triple Demons of Compromise—one short and fat, one tall and thin, and the third exactly like the first two. Feiffer got his revenge by depicting the author as the Whether Man, clad in a toga. Repeated edits altered the protagonist's name (originally Tony), removed his parents entirely from the book, and deleted text attempting to describe how the tollbooth package had been delivered. Milo's age was removed from the text—early drafts have him aged eight or nine—as Juster decided not to state it, lest potential readers decide they were too old to care. Themes Since no one has ever bothered to explain the importance of learning to Milo, he regards school as the biggest waste of time in his life. Juster intended that the book speak to the importance of learning to love learning. Teaching methods that might bore children, by memorization for example, are mocked in the book, as in the case of the Spelling Bee. Like the Bee, the Humbug's insult to his fellow insect goes over Milo's head, but possibly not the reader's: "A slavish concern for the composition of words is the sign of a bankrupt intellect." According to Mary Liston in her journal article on law in fantasy realms, "The Phantom Tollbooth concerns the difference between education and wisdom and what processes are conducive to synthesizing both, so as to encourage an attitude of engagement, alertness, and responsibility within an increasingly autonomous individual." Another theme is the need for common sense to back up rules. Milo journeys through a land where, without Rhyme or Reason, the art of governance has been lost, leading to bizarre results. Milo repeatedly meets characters to whom words are more important than their meaning. The Whether Man, for all his talk, is unable to provide Milo with the information or guidance the boy wants, while Officer Shrift's investigation of the overturning of the Word Market contains the forms of law, without justice. The denizens around Digitopolis are little better; the twelve-faced Dodecahedron, named for what he is, turns the logic of his naming on its head when he asks if everyone with one face is called Milo. The attitudes now displayed by the adherents of both brothers are summed up by the Dodecahedron, "as long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong?" As Milo struggles with words and begins the process of making himself their master, he also has difficulty with numbers, especially when he speaks with .58 of a child, who with parents and two siblings (whom Milo does not meet) makes up an average family. Milo has had problems in school with mathematics and problem solving; his reaction to this encounter is to protest that averages are not real. The partial child enlightens Milo that there is beauty in math beyond the tedium of learning an endless set of rules, "one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are". Late in the book, Princess Reason counsels Milo, who has much learning ahead of him, not to be discouraged by its complexity, "You must never feel badly about making mistakes ... as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons". An index card in the Juster papers sets forth the germ of the princess' "memorable" counsel to Milo, "Quite often the road to Rhyme + Reason is through the right mistakes." Although Milo is bored with learning, that does not mean he knew nothing before his journey. He exhibits characteristics of a well-schooled child of his time; his speech is polite and peppered with "please" and "thank you", and when he unexpectedly encounters the partial child, he requests pardon for staring. He can count to a thousand, though his tact in bringing up the subject in the presence of the numbers-hating King Azaz is not the best. Mindful of his mother's admonition to eat lightly when a guest, he initially orders a light meal at the banquet, only to find the waiters bringing in insubstantial light beams. Not realizing he will be asked to eat his words, he then makes a plausible start at a speech before being interrupted by the king. The Phantom Tollbooth displays Milo's growth; Leonard S. Marcus in his notes to its annotated edition writes that the boy learns to think in the abstract, pledging after his unintentional jump to Conclusions that he will not make up his mind again without a good reason. Milo does not accept the word of the demon of insincerity that he is a threat and is rewarded by learning he is not. Just for a moment, Milo is able to float in the air beside Alec Bings and see things from the perspective he will have as an adult, allowing the young reader to contemplate what it will be like to do the same. According to Liston, Milo "transforms himself from an unthinking and compliant Lethargarian to a young adult with greater consciousness, a firmer sense of self, and a newly found set of responsibilities". Even though the day is won by Milo and his fellow questers, it is a great but not a permanent victory, as he hears the kingly brothers begin to argue again as he departs. Juster has written that it was his intent to get Milo out of there as quickly as possible, and that "the fight would have to be won again and again". Milo's trip through the lands beyond the tollbooth teaches the previously bored child to appreciate both journey and destination. This is a lesson that had been unlearned by the citizens of Wisdom, as exemplified by the described fate of the twin cities of Reality and Illusions. Although the city of Illusions never actually existed, Reality was lost as its residents concentrated on getting to their destination as quickly as possible, and, unappreciated, the city withered away, unnoticed by the busy people who still hasten along its former streets. Milo meets his trials by defining himself as different from the kingdom's inhabitants, who either demand or accept conformity, as enforced by the kingdom's laws, which discourage (and even outlaw) thought. Milo cannot accept such laws, beginning when, in the Doldrums, he thinks, thus violating a local ordinance and separating himself from the thoughtless inhabitants. Liston opined that because the Kingdom of Wisdom's "laws require the impossible, they contradict what it means to be fully human". Influences and comparisons The Phantom Tollbooth contains allusions to many works, including those loved by Juster in his own upbringing. Some of Juster's favorite books as a child, including The Wind in the Willows, had endpaper maps; Juster insisted on one for his over Feiffer's opposition, going so far as to sketch one and require that his collaborator reproduce it in his own style. Juster was also inspired by his father Samuel's love of puns, with which the book is more than sprinkled. In his childhood, Juster spent much time listening to the radio. According to Juster, the need to envision the action when listening to radio serials helped inspire The Phantom Tollbooth, as well as yielding the character of Tock, based on sidekick Jim Fairfield from Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. Jim gave Tock his wisdom, courage, and adventurous spirit. As a child, Juster had synesthesia, and could only do arithmetic by making associations between numbers and colors. He remembered that the condition affected word associations. "One of the things I always did was think literally when I heard words. On the Lone Ranger [radio serial] they would say, 'Here come the Injuns!' and I always had an image of engines, of train engines." Some of the incidents in the book stem from Juster's own past. In Digitopolis, the Numbers Mine, where gemlike numerals are dug for, recalled one of Juster's architecture professors at the University of Pennsylvania, who compared numbers and equations to jewels. The Marx Brothers films were a staple for Juster as a child and his father would quote lengthy passages from the movies; this inspired the unending series of straight-faced puns that fills the book. Growing up in a Jewish-American household where the parents demanded high achievement, Juster was intimately familiar with expectations, though in his case many of his parents' hopes were centered on his older brother, an academic star. The Terrible Trivium, the well-dressed, polite demon who sets the questers to mindless tasks, was Juster's way of representing his own tendency to avoid what he should be doing in favor of a more congenial occupation, such as his evasion of the grant project to write The Phantom Tollbooth. Juster drew on Feiffer's life experiences as well; the Whether Man's adage "Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens" was a favorite of the cartoonist's mother. Juster had not read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when he wrote The Phantom Tollbooth, but the two books, each about a bored child plunged into a world of absurd logic, have repeatedly been compared. According to Daniel Hahn in his 2012 article on the Juster book, "Alice is clearly Milo's closest literary kin". Milo's conversation with the Whether Man, which leaves him no more comprehending than when he came, recalls that of Alice with the Cheshire Cat. The questions of authority (something omnipresent for a child) and of justice run through both books; the Queen of Hearts' arbitrary justice is echoed, though with less violence, by Officer Shrift. Alice's sovereigns, representing the authority figures of Victorian childhood life, rule absolutely (though not necessarily effectively); a child of the post-World War II world, Milo journeys through a more bureaucratic realm. His quest is far more purposeful than the frustrating journey Alice experiences, and the outcome differs as well—Milo restores his kingdom while Alice overturns hers. Carroll leaves us uncertain if Alice has learned anything from her adventures, but Juster makes it clear that Milo has acquired tools he will need to find his way through life. Publication and reception The Phantom Tollbooth was published in September 1961. Its competition among new books for the minds and hearts of children included Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. The Bronze Bow, set in Biblical times, was newly available, and would bring Elizabeth George Speare her second Newbery Award in three years. Neither publisher nor first-time author expected many sales for The Phantom Tollbooth, but Juster was nevertheless disappointed not to find his work on store shelves. His mother, Minnie, did her part, as her son put it, "terrorizing" bookstore owners into displaying it. Juster says the book was rescued from the remainders table when Emily Maxwell wrote a strong review of it in The New Yorker. Maxwell wrote, "As Pilgrim's Progress is concerned with the awakening of the sluggardly spirit, The Phantom Tollbooth is concerned with the awakening of the lazy mind." Hers was far from the only positive piece; children's author Ann McGovern reviewed it for The New York Times, writing "Norton Juster's amazing fantasy has something wonderful for anyone old enough to relish the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland and the pointed whimsy of The Wizard of Oz ". John Crosby wrote for the New York Herald Tribune, "In a world which sometimes seems to have gone mad, it is refreshing to pause and consider for a moment a book for children which contains a character called 'Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which.' The name of the book is The Phantom Tollbooth and it was written by a bearded elf named Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, who is the cleverest of the young neurotics". Dissenting was the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, which in March 1962 deemed the book an "intensive and extensive fantasy, heavily burdened with contrivance and whimsy". In 1962, the book was published in Britain. Siriol Hugh-Jones wrote for The Times Literary Supplement, "The Phantom Tollbooth is something every adult seems sure will turn into a modern Alice ... The obvious guess is that the appeal of this sort of writing is directed towards just the sort of adults who derive a perfectly grown-up pleasure from regularly rereading the Alices. As one might expect, it is illustrated by every grown-up's favourite child-like pictures with the built-in sad sophistication, the work of Jules Feiffer." Jennifer Bourdillon reviewed it for The Listener, "This is the story of an imaginary journey, a sort of Pilgrim's Progress of a little boy in his car ... One would hardly have thought from the sound of this that it would have so magnetic an appeal, but the brilliant verbal humour and the weird and wonderful characters (the Dodecahedron. the Watchdog, Faintly Macabre) make it that rare delight, a book which parents and children can share." It reached Australia in 1963; The Canberra Times reviewer, J.E.B., deemed it memorable, causing readers to quote from it and leaf through its pages again. Later history, editions and adaptations After publication, Juster sent a copy of the book to the Ford Foundation, with an explanation of how the projected book on cities had transformed into The Phantom Tollbooth. He never heard back from them, and learned years later that they were delighted by the turn of events. With the book having become an unexpected hit, Juster found himself answering letters from young readers, and a few parents. He found that children understood the wordplay at different ages, and heard from the occasional college student as well. Some students wrote a second time after a gap of years "and they'll talk to me about a whole different book, normally. But now they've got a lot more of the words right. A lot more of the fun kind of crazy references". He learned too that readers were capable of more than he had intended, as in the case of the letter sent by the Mathemagician to King Azaz. Composed entirely of numbers, some readers assumed it was a code and set about breaking it, only to appeal to Juster for help when they were not successful. The numbers were not intended to have any meaning, and were used to convey that the Mathemagician's letter could not have been understood by Azaz or his advisors. As the book became acclaimed as a modern classic, it began to be used in the classroom, and Juster corresponded with some teachers. After the book's readers attained adulthood, they wrote of its influence on them. Novelist Cathleen Schine recalled, "it was as if someone had turned on the lights. The concepts of irony, of double entendre, of words as play, of the pleasure and inevitability of intellectual absurdity, were suddenly accessible to me. They made sense to me in an extremely personal way." British fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones read her copy so often it fell apart: "it didn't occur to us that it might be about something. It struck us as a little like The Wizard of Oz, only better." One reader, signing himself "Milo", wrote to Rolling Stone in 1970, "If you want to get freaked out of your undernourished head, pick up The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. They tell you it's a kids' book, but take my word for it, no one who reads it is ever the same. No hype." The book continued to garner positive reviews and comments. In 1998, Amanda Foreman wrote for The Sunday Times of London, "I want to shout about The Phantom from the rooftops. I want to stand in Waterloo and press copies into people's hands. This is a book that should be in every home. ... Whether you are 8 or 88 Juster's mixture of allegorical wisdom and logical whimsy will take you on a journey of the spirit. The Phantom is a mappa mundi of our hearts, proving once again that in laughter and simplicity lies the truth of life". In a 2011 article written for the book's fiftieth anniversary, Adam Gopnik wrote, "The book is made magical by Juster's and Feiffer's gift for transforming abstract philosophical ideas into unforgettable images." The book has been translated into many foreign languages, including Chinese, Croatian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai, Turkish and three different Spanish editions: one for Spain, one for Latin America, and one for Spanish speakers in the United States. Juster states that he does not know if the wordplay of the original carries through to the translated works. In 1970, Chuck Jones made it into a musical film of the same name, with Milo's room in live action, and animation beyond the tollbooth. Juster dislikes the film, describing it as "drivel". In February 2010, director Gary Ross began development of a remake of The Phantom Tollbooth, with the first draft of the script written by Alex Tse. In 2011, The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth was published, which includes sketches and copies of Juster's handwritten drafts and word lists, Feiffer's early drawings, and an introduction and annotations by Leonard S. Marcus. A fiftieth anniversary edition was also published, with appreciations by Maurice Sendak, Michael Chabon and Philip Pullman. More than three million copies have been sold of the original book in the U.S. alone. It has been adapted into a small-scale opera with music by Arnold Black, and book by Juster and Sheldon Harnick, produced by Opera Delaware in 1995. It was then revamped into a musical that had its debut to strong reviews at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and then made a national tour. The Phantom Tollbooth remains acknowledged as a classic of children's literature. Based on a 2007 online poll, the U.S. National Education Association named it one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012, it was ranked number 21 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal. Juster feels that his book still has relevance today, although children's lives have changed since 1961:

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odql_10567

Who is the husband of the actress and model Summer Phoenix?

Summer Joy Phoenix (born Summer Joy Bottom; December 10, 1978) is an American actress, model and designer. She is the youngest sibling of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and the late River Phoenix and married to actor Casey Affleck. Early life Phoenix was born in Winter Park, Florida. Her mother, Arlyn Sharon (née Dunetz), was born in The Bronx, New York, to Jewish parents from Hungary and Russia.[http://draven.ifrance.com/ames/s-press.html Summer Phoenix : articles (part 1)][http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173161,00.html FOXNews.com - 'Walk the Line' Star Won't Campaign for Oscar - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment][http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/363/16489_celebrities.html Ten American showbiz celebrities of Russian descent - Pravda.Ru] Her father, John Lee Bottom, was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California.[http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id 8397 JewishJournal.com] In 1968, Phoenix's mother left The Bronx and moved to California, meeting Phoenix's father while hitch-hiking. They married in 1969 and joined the religious cult the Children of God, working as missionaries and fruit pickers in South America. Phoenix has four siblings: two brothers, actors Joaquin (Leaf) and the late River, and two sisters, Rain and Liberty. She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but left before graduating to pursue a career in film. Career Phoenix was a child actor, working with agent Iris Burton along with her brothers and sister at the age of two, and went on to have guest roles in Murder She Wrote, Growing Pains and Airwolf. She appeared in the TV movie Kate's Secret and in Russkies, playing the younger sister of real life brother Joaquin. Phoenix later appeared in Wasted, The Laramie Project, SLC Punk!, Dinner Rush, The Believer, and The Faculty. She played leads in Esther Kahn (2000) and Suzie Gold (2004). In 2002, Phoenix starred in a three-month run of This is Our Youth at the Garrick Theatre alongside Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. She was a member of the rock band The Causey Way with her sister Rain. She later made guest appearances on albums by Rain's band, the Papercranes. Personal life Phoenix is a vegan.[http://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/feb/15/features.magazine Summer Phoenix: Coping with Hollywood | Film | The Observer] She is an avid supporter of several environmental and animal rights causes and charities, including PETA. She became engaged to Casey Affleck on December 25, 2003, and gave birth to a son, Indiana August, on May 31, 2004, in Amsterdam. Phoenix and Affleck married on June 3, 2006 in Savannah, Georgia, and had a second son, Atticus, on January 12, 2008. In March 2016, Affleck and Phoenix announced they were separating. In 2003, she and friends Odessa Whitmire and Ruby Canner opened the vintage clothing boutique Some Odd Rubies on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It closed in 2012. Filmography

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wh_213

Pop music - which one hit wonder group had a number one hit with 'Something in the Air' in 1969?

"Something in the Air" is a song recorded by Thunderclap Newman, written by Speedy Keen who also sang the song. It was a number 1 single for three weeks in the UK Singles Chart in July 1969. The song has been used for films, television and adverts, and has been covered by several artists. The track was also included on Thunderclap Newman's only album release Hollywood Dream over a year later. Background In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, was the catalyst behind the formation of the band. The concept was to create a band to perform songs written by drummer and singer Speedy Keen, who had written "Armenia City in the Sky", the first track on The Who Sell Out. Townshend recruited jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman (a friend from art college), and 15-year-old Glaswegian guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, who subsequently played lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977 and died of a heroin overdose in 1979 aged just 26. Keen played the drums and sang the lead. Production Townshend produced the single, arranged the strings, and played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains. Originally titled Revolution but later renamed to avoid confusion with the Beatles' 1968 song of that name, "Something in the Air" captured post-flower power rebellion, marrying McCulloch's sweeping acoustic and glowing electric guitars, Keen's powerful drumming and yearning falsetto, and Newman's felicitous piano solo. The song, beginning in E major, has three key changes, its second verse climbing to F-sharp major, and, via a roundabout transition, goes down to C major for Newman's barrelhouse piano solo. Following this, the last verse is, like the second, a tone above the previous verse, closing the song in A-flat major. Reception The single reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart just three weeks after release, holding off Elvis Presley in the process. The scale of the song's success surprised everyone and there were no plans to promote Thunderclap Newman with live performances. Eventually a line-up - augmented by Jim Pitman-Avory on bass and McCulloch's elder brother Jack on drums - played a handful of gigs. Personal records say the band played live only five times, although Keen referred to a two-month tour, playing "everywhere". In the UK, a follow-up single, "Accidents", came out only in May 1970 and charted at No. 44 for a week. An album, Hollywood Dream, peaked in Billboard at No. 163. Thus, the song and the band were forever linked as a one hit wonder. Labelle recorded an emotional cover of it alongside "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron for their 1973 album, Pressure Cookin'. Personnel *Speedy Keen - double-tracked lead vocal, drums *Jimmy McCulloch - lead and rhythm guitars *Pete Townshend - bass guitar (credited to "Bijou Drains"), orchestral arrangement *Andy Newman - piano, lead vocals on "Wilhelmina" Chart performance (Thunderclap Newman version) Usage in film soundtracks "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman appeared on the soundtracks of several films, such as The Magic Christian (1969), which helped the single reach No. 37 in the United States, and The Strawberry Statement (1970), which prompted a reissue of the single that "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 120. It later appeared in Kingpin (1996), Almost Famous (2000), The Dish (2000), and The Girl Next Door (2004). It also appeared on and was the title of the second disc in the Deluxe Edition of the Easy Rider soundtrack. "Something in the Air" has been used extensively in television, most notably on an advertisement for British Airways which featured PJ O'Rourke. The song also appeared in a retro TV advert for the Austin Mini in the early 1990s, featuring 1960s fashion model Twiggy. More recently, a version of the song was used in the advertisements for the mobile phone service provider TalkTalk. (A similar advert for TalkTalk shown at the beginning of advert breaks during Big Brother features the opening bars). The song was featured in a number of episodes of 1960s-set UK police series Heartbeat. It is also used as the 'on hold' music for The Carphone Warehouse, of which Talk Talk is a part. The song was also featured in the pilot episode of the American television show Aliens in America and in the third season episode Bad Earl of My Name Is Earl. A version of the song recorded by Ocean Colour Scene was previously used by telephone provider Ionica. In 2008, this song appeared in a Coca-Cola commercial in Taiwan. Musical quotation "Something in the Air" features a short burst of La Marseillaise - the national anthem of France. The revolution reference in the songs lyrics has subtly been hinted at in the synthesised brass arrangement from 3'30". La Marseillaise also features in the 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and in the opening of the Beatles' 1967 single All You Need Is Love. Covers The song has been covered by a number of artists, including: * Phil Collins in 1981 * The Mandrake Memorial in 1969 * Labelle in 1973 * Herbie Mann in 1974 * Simon Park in 1974 * Gamma in 1980 * Eurythmics in 1985 * Fish in 1991 * The Lightning Seeds and Trip Shakespeare in 1992 * Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1994 * U.K. Subs in 2000 * The Superjesus in 2001 * Elbow and Wellwater Conspiracy in 2003 * Hayley Sanderson in 2006 * Donald Fagen with the Dukes of September * Polyphonic Spree live since 2010 Tom Petty's version

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qz_3072

Comedian Steve Coogan provided the voice for which animal in the 1996 film Wind In The Willows?

Stephen John "Steve" Coogan (born 14 October 1965) is an English actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, writer, and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, working as a voice artist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and providing voiceovers for television advertisements. In the early 1990s, he began creating original comic characters, leading him to win the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions. While working with Armando Iannucci on On the Hour and The Day Today, Coogan created his most developed and popular character: Alan Partridge, a socially awkward and politically incorrect regional media personality. He featured in several television series, which earned him three BAFTA nominations and two wins for Best Comedy Performance. A feature-length film, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, was released in 2013, and opened at number one at the British box office. Coogan grew in prominence within the film industry in 2002, after starring in The Parole Officer and 24 Hour Party People. He portrayed Phileas Fogg in the 2004 remake Around the World in 80 Days and co-starred in The Other Guys, Tropic Thunder, In the Loop, Hamlet 2, Our Idiot Brother, Ruby Sparks and the Night at the Museum films, as well as collaborating with Rob Brydon in The Trip and A Cock and Bull Story. He was also a voice actor in the animated comedy films Despicable Me 2 and its prequel Minions, and played Hades in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Coogan has also branched out into more dramatic roles, with What Maisie Knew, and portrayed Paul Raymond in the biopic The Look of Love. He co-wrote, produced, and starred in the film adaptation Philomena, which earned him a Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination, and two Academy Award nominations (for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture). He has been cast in the lead role for the ABC television pilot Doubt and the Showtime drama Happyish. On 22 November 2011, Coogan, along with Hugh Grant, gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on phone hacking, favouring regulation of the press. Early life Coogan was born in Middleton, Lancashire. He is the fourth of seven children born to Kathleen (née Coonan), a housewife, and Anthony Coogan, an IBM engineer. He was raised Roman Catholic, in a working class family. His mother is Irish-born, from Mayo, and his father is of Irish descent. He attended Cardinal Langley Roman Catholic High School. He has stated that he had a happy childhood, and in addition to having four brothers and two sisters, his parents fostered children on a short-term basis. Coogan had a talent for impersonation, and wanted to go to drama school, despite being advised by a teacher that it could lead to a precarious profession. After five failed applications to various drama schools within London, he received a place at the theatre company New Music before gaining a place at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre, where he met future collaborator John Thomson. Career Coogan began his career as a comic and impressionist, performing regularly in Ipswich, before working as a voice artist for television advertisements and the satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In 1992, Coogan won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his performance with long-time collaborator John Thomson, and starred alongside Caroline Aherne and John Thomson in a one-off Granada TV sketch show The Dead Good Show. His most prominent characters developed at this time were Paul Calf, a stereotypical working class Mancunian, and his sister Pauline, played by Coogan in drag. Alan Partridge While working with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris on the Radio 4 comedy On the Hour, Coogan conceived his most popular and developed character, a socially awkward and politically incorrect regional media personality. He appeared as a sports presenter on the television comedy The Day Today, before hosting his own chat show, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge. In 1997, Partridge returned in the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge, which was followed by a second series in 2002, and received five BAFTA nominations. Partridge featured in Coogan's 2008 stand-up tour. He revisited the character in two one-off Sky Atlantic specials, including Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life, which received a further two BAFTA nominations, as well as the mockumentary Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, which has been renewed for a second season. A feature-length film, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, was released in 2013. TV roles Paul Calf first began as a character named 'Duncan Disorderly' in Coogan's early stand-up routines. Calf first came to wider public notice in 1993, with several appearances on Saturday Zoo, a late-night variety show presented by Jonathan Ross on Channel 4. Paul has appeared in two video diaries, an episode of Coogan's Run, and in various stand-up performances. He is an unemployed Mancunian wastrel with a particular hatred of students. His catchphrase is "Bag o' shite". Paul lives in a council house in the fictional town of Ottle with his mother and his sister, Pauline Calf (also played by Coogan). His father, Pete Calf (played by Coogan in Coogan's Run) died some time before the first video diary was made. For a long time he was obsessed with getting back together with his ex-girlfriend, Julie. Paul's best friend is "Fat" Bob (played by John Thomson), a car mechanic who eventually married Pauline. Paul supports Manchester City and is very partial to Wagon Wheels. He wears Burton suits, sports a bleached mullet and drives a Ford Cortina. Other Coogan creations include Tommy Saxondale, Duncan Thicket and Portuguese Eurovision Song Contest winner Tony Ferrino. Duncan Thicket has appeared in a tour of live shows. Other TV shows he has starred in include Coogan's Run, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, Monkey Trousers and Saxondale. Coogan has provided voices for the animated series I Am Not an Animal and Bob and Margaret, two Christmas specials featuring Robbie the Reindeer, and an episode of the BBC Radio Four spoof sci-fi series Nebulous. He played the Gnat in the 1998 TV adaptation of Alice Through the Looking Glass starring Kate Beckinsale, and also starred in BBC2's The Private Life of Samuel Pepys in 2003, and Cruise of the Gods in 2002. In 2006, he had a cameo in the Little Britain Christmas special as a pilot taking Lou and Andy to Disneyland. In 2007, Coogan played a psychiatrist on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, and in 2008, starred in the BBC1 drama Sunshine. In 2010, he reunited with actor Rob Brydon and director Michael Winterbottom (both of whom he had worked with on the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People and 2006's A Cock and Bull Story), for the partially improvised BBC2 sitcom The Trip, in which he and Brydon do a tour of northern restaurants, which he is writing up for The Observer. The Trip was nominated for a 2011 Television BAFTA for Best Situation Comedy, and Coogan won Best Male Performance in a Comedy Role. He provided the voices of Philip Masterson-Bowie (a horse) and Mark Andrews (a sparrow) for the animated comedy series I Am Not an Animal. He was also the voice of Satan on Neighbors from Hell. In December 2011, Coogan voiced Roger Mellie and Tracey Tunstall of The Fat Slags in three Viz Comedy Blaps for Channel 4. He voiced a cruise-ship director in The Simpsons episode "A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again". Coogan co-stars in Moone Boy, along with Johnny Vegas and Chris O'Dowd, who also wrote the show. The series is a co-production between Sprout Pictures, who produced the original Little Crackers short, Baby Cow Productions, Hod Cod Productions and Grand Pictures, and began filming in early 2012 on location in Boyle and Dublin, Ireland. He also returned with his character Alan Partridge, in Alan Partridge – Welcome to the Places of My Life, which aired on Sky Atlantic. It was stated, by several critics and news papers, that the show has been highly anticipated, and was generally well received. Film roles Notable film roles include Factory Records boss Tony Wilson in the film 24 Hour Party People, Mole in Terry Jones' The Wind in the Willows, Phileas Fogg in a comical version of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days from Disney, with Jackie Chan, Ambassador Mercy in Marie Antoinette, Bruce Tick in Sweet Revenge, and Octavius in Night at the Museum (a role he reprised in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb). He has also played himself four times on screen. First, in one of the vignettes of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes, alongside Alfred Molina. Second, in 2006 Coogan starred with Rob Brydon in Michael Winterbottom's A Cock and Bull Story, a self-referential film of the "unfilmable" self-referential novel Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. In the film, Coogan plays a fictional, womanising version of himself. Thirdly he played himself in the 2010 film The Trip. He worked again with director Winterbottom in The Look Of Love, about '50s porn-king Paul Raymond. His fourth time playing himself on screen was in the 2014 film The Trip to Italy, a film about him and Rob Brydon taking a food-tasting trip through Italy. The first film which he co-wrote with Henry Normal was The Parole Officer, in which he also acted alongside Ben Miller and Lena Headey. Coogan has an uncredited cameo in Hot Fuzz, scripted by Shaun of the Dead writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Coogan's most acclaimed work to date is the drama-comedy Philomena, which he co-wrote, produced, and starred in with Judi Dench. This performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination, among many other nominations (and some wins). Philomena was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Awards Coogan's show Steve Coogan in character with John Thomson was winner of the Perrier Award for best show at the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe. He has won numerous awards for his work in TV including British Comedy Awards, BAFTAs and The South Bank Show award for comedy. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2005, a poll to find the Comedians' Comedian saw him being voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Stand-up comedy comeback tour In March 2008, it was confirmed that Coogan would return to doing stand-up comedy as part of his first stand-up tour in ten years. The tour, named "Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge and other less successful characters", saw the return of some of his old characters including Paul Calf and Alan Partridge. Reviews of the tour were mixed. Much of the criticism focused on the apparent unrehearsed quality of some of the performances and nervous stage presence of Coogan's. Chortle comedy guide described it as "most definitely a show of two halves: the superlative Alan Partridge plus a collection of characters that are not only less successful, but woefully less funny". As the tour progressed and the problems were ironed out, reviews were very positive. Dominic Maxwell of the Times described the show as [http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/oct/06/steve.coogan.alan.partridge "twice as entertaining as most other comedy shows this year."] Brian Logan of the Guardian awarded it four stars and described it as [http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/oct/06/comedy "shamelessly funny."] Reviews such as [http://www.nottinghampost.com/Review-Steve-Coogan-Trent-FM-Arena/story-12262916-detail/story.html the one from Nottingham Arena] exemplified how much the show had improved after dealing with the glitches on its first few dates; "When Steve Coogan first brought this show to Nottingham last month, the reviews were poor... the intervening weeks have made a big difference, and last night's audience at the Trent FM Arena went home happy. More please, and soon." In 2009, Coogan was featured, alongside Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and Julia Davis, in the spoof documentary TV film Steve Coogan – The Inside Story. Production work Coogan, along with his writing partner Henry Normal, founded Baby Cow Productions in 1999. Together, they have served as executive producers for shows such as The Mighty Boosh, Nighty Night, Marion and Geoff, Gavin and Stacey, Human Remains and Moone Boy, as well as the Alan Partridge feature film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. They have also produced Where Are the Joneses?, an online sitcom which uses wiki technology to allow the audience to upload scripts and storyline ideas. In the media Coogan said he "liked to keep himself private", adding; "I have never wanted to be famous, as such – fame is a by-product". He has been a popular target of the British tabloid press since 1996, who he stated have subjected him to entrapment and blackmail, printed obvious falsehoods about him, also targeting his family and friends in attempts to extract stories from them. Coogan in some cases gave a strong denial to allegations, but in others did not contest them because he wanted to shield vulnerable friends from adverse publicity. The tabloids also published intrusive information about his relationships and the schooling of his child. Coogan has also been critical of the broadsheet press, saying they have colluded with the tabloids in the interests of selling newspapers. In 2005 he said "The Guardian tends to have its cake and eat it. It waits for the tabloids to dish the dirt and then it talks about the tabloids dishing the dirt while enjoying it themselves." However, Coogan later gave credit to the same newspaper for its investigation of the phone hacking scandal. Coogan said that because of the persistent intrusion into his private life, the press had effectively made him "immune" to further attack, as his "closet is empty of skeletons". Phone hacking Coogan became a prominent figure in the News International phone hacking scandal as one of the celebrities who took action against the British tabloids in light of these events. He was made aware by his phone service provider of "possible anomalies" on his phone in 2005 and 2006. In 2010, Coogan's legal firm obtained a partially redacted version of Glenn Mulcaire's hacking notebook by a court order which showed Coogan had been targeted and his personal information was in the possession of Mulcaire. Mulcaire was forced by the High Court of Justice to disclose to Coogan's legal team who amongst the staff at the News of the World ordered him to hack phones. This information was obtained by Coogan's lawyers on 26 August 2011. Interviewed on Newsnight on 8 July 2011, Coogan said he was "delighted" by the closure of the News of the World and said it was a "fantastic day for journalism". He said the idea of press freedom was used by the tabloids as a "smokescreen for selling papers with tittle-tattle" and said the argument against press regulation was "morally bankrupt" Coogan provided an eight-page witness statement to the Leveson Inquiry and appeared at the inquiry on 22 November 2011 to discuss the evidence. He said he was there reluctantly representing a lot of celebrities who felt they could not speak out for fear of reprisals from the tabloid press. Personal life Coogan's younger brother, Brendan, is a former Top Gear presenter, and his elder brother, Martin, was the lead singer of the early 1990s band the Mock Turtles. All three attended the Cardinal Langley Roman Catholic High School in Middleton, Greater Manchester. Although brought up Catholic, Coogan now describes himself as an atheist. Coogan married Caroline Hickman in 2002, and divorced in 2005. Coogan entered rehab for personal issues. He dated model China Chow for three years. In March 2011 Coogan was guest editor for lads mag Loaded, where he met and began dating glamour model Elle Basey. As of 2013, he and Basey are still together. He has a daughter from a previous relationship with solicitor Anna Cole. Coogan supports the Labour Party. He believes that Conservatives think "people are plebs" and that "they like to pat people on the head". In August 2014, Coogan was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue. A noted motoring enthusiast, he has owned a succession of Ferrari cars, but stopped buying them after realising that the depreciation and running costs were greater than hiring a private plane. In February 2016, Coogan was fined £670 and banned from driving for 28 days after being caught speeding in Brighton. Coogan's autobiography, Easily Distracted, was published in October 2015. Filmography Feature films Television Awards and nominations Stand-up releases ================================================== The Wind in the Willows (released on home video in the US as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride), is a loose 1996 adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic novel of the same name, starring Steve Coogan, Eric Idle and Terry Jones (who also directed and wrote this version). Plot Mole's (Steve Coogan) underground home is knocked in when the field above it is bulldozed by the Weasels; the field was owned by Mr. Toad (Terry Jones), who has sold it to finance his latest fad: caravanning. Mole flees to the river and meets the Water Rat (Eric Idle), who is preparing to embark on a picnic. Seeing Mole's distress, Rat decides to take Mole to see Toad. Toad encourages them to travel with him on the open road, in his newly bought canary-coloured cart. Disaster strikes when a pair of joyriders in a motor car knock over the cart. Rat calms Toad's horse instead of Mole. Toad, however, instantly discards the cart and becomes obsessed with motoring. He is a reckless driver, however, and ends up needing more money from the Weasels. Their volatile Chief (Antony Sher) tries to persuade him to sell Toad Hall. The Chief has three main cronies. Clarence (Keith-Lee Castle) and Geoffrey (Richard James) are his henchmen, though Clarence and Geoffrey passionately hate each other; and St. John (Robert Bathurst) attempts to suck up to the Chief, but his bumbling stupidity always rubs the Chief the wrong way. During a crazy drive into the Wild Wood, resulting in the destruction of another car, all Toad, Rat, and Mole are lost in the inhospitable lair of the Weasels. The Weasels attempt to coerce Mole into stopping his friends from interfering with their plans. Toad, after fleeing when Rat, arrives and also runs into the Weasels. Toad, Rat, and Mole end up in Mr. Badger's underground abode. Badger (Nicol Williamson), a close friend of Toad's late father who feels responsible for Toad's reckless conduct regarding his inheritance, decides to end Toad's obsession with motor cars. However, Toad refuses to listen to Badger and continues his reckless behavior which ultimately gets him arrested for stealing and crashing a motor-car outside a pub. Toad proceeds to call the policeman a 'nincompoop' (which Badger called him earlier). During his trial, Toad's defense lawyer (John Cleese) proves to be more of a problem than the prosecution is. Furthermore, the Weasels are dominating the public box. The Chief Weasel poses as one of the rabbits in the Jury and coerces the terrified creatures into finding Toad guilty. The Judge (Stephen Fry) initially orders Toad to be hanged, but after being told by the clerk that he can no longer hang prisoners, he sentences Toad to twenty years in prison. After Toad insults the Court and makes a botched escape attempt, the enraged Judge gradually increases the sentence, eventually resulting in a hundred-year sentence. Toad is then dragged by bodyguards to the castle's dungeon. Back in Toad Hall, while feeling sorry for Toad, Rat and Mole are confronted by the Weasels, who throw them out and annex Toad Hall for themselves. Knowing they have no choice but to drive the Weasels out of Toad Hall, Rat and Mole dig underground to the castle to free Toad. Meanwhile, Toad cries and realizes that he has paid dearly for his obsession with motor-cars. With the help of the sympathetic Jailer's Daughter (Julia Sawalha) and her reluctant Tea Lady Aunt (a cameo from Victoria Wood), Toad escapes, disguised as the latter, despite Rat suggesting that Toad escapes through a tunnel he and Mole built underneath Toad's cell. Having realized Toad left his wallet in his cell, Toad, Rat, and Mole climb aboard a train engine. During the course of the journey, the police, who have stowed away on the train, demand it be stopped; Toad confesses who he is and begs the driver (Bernard Hill) to help him evade his captors. If only to protect his train, the driver agrees to help. He tosses coal lumps at the police, but gets caught in a mail catcher. Toad takes control of the train and is separated. He eventually crashes the engine, though he miraculously survives. Toad sets off again but only to get caught again by the Weasels. The full extent of their twisted plans are revealed: they have built a dog-food factory over the remains of Mole's house and are planning to blow up Toad Hall and build a huge slaughterhouse in its place, with which they will turn all of the peaceful Riverbank dwellers into dog food. Their activities have also damaged Badger's home, which provokes him into taking decisive action against them. Badger and Rat attempt to break into Toad Hall disguised as weasels, but are unmasked. Along with Toad, they are placed in the factory's mincing machine under the orders of the Chief Weasel. The Chief, Clarence and Geoffrey return to Toad Hall to prepare the victory celebration, leaving St. John in charge of the machine. Mole, who has broken into the factory, disables the machine, enabling Toad, Badger, and Rat to escape. Lulled by a premature sense of victory, the Chief Weasel's henchmen turn traitor and attempt to blow him up using a Toad Hall-shaped birthday cake. Clarence and Geoffrey begin quarreling among themselves for leadership, with the other Weasels drunkenly taking sides. This distraction allows the protagonists to stage a raid on the house, leaving all of the weasels incapacitated in the ensuing fight. However, the Chief is revealed to still be alive and on the run. Toad attempts to stop him from reaching the factory, which contains the detonator to blow up Toad Hall, to no avail. Unbeknownst to both of them, the explosives are actually in the factory (Rat had switched the labels on the explosive's containers earlier in the film, leading the Weasels to believe the explosives were actually bone supplies for the factory), and as such the Chief blows up himself along with the factory, leaving Toad Hall untouched and Toad's friends alive and well. Afterwards, Toad makes a public speech swearing off motor cars and promising to be wiser and less prideful in the future. Toad then sneaks off during a song with Mole, Rat and Badger, and is seen speaking to an airplane salesman, showing that he has simply moved on to a new craze. Toad flies over the crowd in the plane, causing mass hysteria and resulting in Badger swearing to never help Toad again. Toad, however, has finally found a craze which suits him- during the end credits, he is seen flying all over the country and eventually over the sea. Cast * Steve Coogan as Mole * Eric Idle as Rat * Terry Jones as Mr. Toad * Nicol Williamson as Mr. Badger * Antony Sher as The Chief Weasel * Stephen Fry as The Judge * John Cleese as Mr. Toad's Lawyer * Michael Palin as The Sun * Bernard Hill as The Engine Driver * Nigel Planer as The Car Salesman * Julia Sawalha as The Jailer's Daughter * Victoria Wood as The Tea Lady * Don Henderson as The Sentry * Robert Bathurst as St John Weasel * Richard James as Geoffrey Weasel and Mole's Clock * Keith-Lee Castle as Clarence Weasel * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as The Prosecution Counsel * Richard Ridings as The Guard * John Boswall as the Elderly Gentleman * Nick Gillard as a stunt double Songs featured in the film * "Messing About On The River" (Tony Hatch) – sung at the beginning by Rat, as he and Mole set out for a picnic on the river * "Secret of Survival" – sung by the Weasels, explaining that they're only out for themselves * "Mr. Toad" – sung by Toad, with lyrics taken directly from the novel, split into three sections (one covering his escape from Toad Hall, one during his trial and one after the train crash) * "Friends Is What We Is" – sung by Toad, Badger, Mole and Rat, as they drive the Weasels out of Toad Hall and during the party at the end * "Miracle of Friends" – the song played during the end credits Production The Wind in the Willows was produced by Allied Filmmakers in the UK and was then distributed by Columbia Pictures (1997 /USA), Columbia TriStar, Pathé and Walt Disney Home Video (2004 /USA). Terry Jones (who plays Mr. Toad), one of the legendary Monty Python cast, teamed up with some of the remaining Pythons to bring the classic tale up to date for another generation to enjoy. Eric Idle as Rat, plays a major role, but John Cleese and Michael Palin have only small roles. John Cleese plays Toad's inept defence lawyer, and Michael Palin plays a sardonic talking Sun, who occasionally chastises Toad for his reckless behaviour, and briefly speaks to Ratty and Mole. Terry Gilliam was asked to voice "The River" but busy filming schedules with 12 Monkeys kept him from joining the cast . "The River" only has one instance of dialogue in the entire film- he is shown with a mouth and sings a couple of lines of the first song. Filming and locations * The filming was done mostly during sunset, and the colours were then readjusted. * Filming for the railway scenes were shot on the Bluebell Railway, disguised as part of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (the Bluebell is home to a number of SE&CR locomotives, and as part of the old London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the neighbouring railway to the SE&CR the disguise was not difficult to complete effectively). This is the first film to use the SE&CR for the Wind in the Willows - the railway in most adaptations of the story is the Great Western Railway (although the book itself does not specify this). * The scenes of the outside of Toad Hall were shot at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk. * The external scenes of the Gaol are Dover Castle in Kent. * The Old School, now the post office in Chiddingstone features as the Welcome Inn where Toad dines before stealing and crashing a motorcar. Distribution problems in the U.S. When the film first appeared in the U.S. under its original title, it got pushed aside due to distributors' problems and very little promotional material was published. Takings in the UK had been low because the film had largely been shown only in the afternoon.[http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/arts-in-wales/2011/03/05/the-life-and-times-of-monty-python-s-terry-jones-91466-28274298/ The life and times of Monty Python’s Terry Jones by Nathan Bevan, Western Mail at walesonline.co.uk] Subsequently, New York papers wondered why such a wonderful children's film was dumped by distributors. The New York Times published a very positive review by Lawrence Van Gelder. Yet, to add to the confusion, Walt Disney Home Video, in their video release changed its name to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, to tie into their theme park ride (the Walt Disney World version of which closed in 1998). At the time of the film's US release Terry Jones, who was working on a documentary in New York, was told by telephone that the film was being shown in a cinema on Times Square. Jones rushed down to the square only to discover that the film was showing at "one of those seedy little porno theatres." Reception Box office In the UK, the film sub-totaled £1.303 million and $72,844 in the U.S. Critical response The film holds a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and holds three stars out of five on the film critic website AllMovie.com. Film critic Mike Hertenstein wrote a positive critical review of the film. The films won the Best of the Fest award at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival in 1998 and the WisKid Award at the Wisconsin International Children's Film Festival in 2000.

B

odql_12000

Which town is the birthplace of Wordsworth and the home of Jennings brewery?

Jennings Brewery was established as a family concern in 1828 in the village of Lorton, between Buttermere and Cockermouth in the Lake District, England. The brewery was started by John Jennings Snr, son of William Jennings (a maltster). Jennings brewed exclusively in Lorton until 1874 when its present home, the Castle Brewery in Cockermouth, was purchased. The Lorton brewery closed some five years later. Jennings Brewery brew a range of ales using lakeland water drawn from the brewery's own well, malted Maris Otter barley from Norfolk and Goldings, Fuggles and Challenger hops from Kent, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The malt used by Jennings brewery is screened and crushed rather than ground into a flour to keep the husks as whole as possible. The hops used are flaked rather than the increasingly popular hop pellets available nowadays. In May 2005 Jennings Brewery was purchased by the national brewer, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, renamed Marston's PLC in January 2007. The purchase was opposed by the Campaign for Real Ale, which feared W&DB would close the Cockermouth brewery. These fears seem to have been unfounded, however, as in June 2005 W&DB announced it would invest £250,000 to expand fermenting and cask racking capacity in Cockermouth, this work had been completed before the end of October 2008 Following the takeover by W&DB, the brewery's distribution centre in Workington was closed and its tied estate of 127 pubs absorbed by the W&DB pub company. Due to the takeover and subsequent name change, Marston's Pedigree is becoming more common in Jennings pubs. Jennings beers are available across the North of England and are increasingly seen in W&DB pubs in the Midlands as well as being sold in free trade outlets throughout the country. List of brewed ales All year round ales by Jennings are: * Cumberland Ale (4.0% abv) - Cumberland Ale (or a pint of sausage). The brewery's biggest selling ale. * Bitter (3.5% abv) - The original beer from the Jennings brewery in Cockermouth and the brewery's biggest seller in west Cumbria. * Sneck Lifter (5.1% abv) - Launched in 1990 as a winter beer and moved into all year round in 1995. "Sneck" is a northern word for door latch. A sneck lifter is a man's last sixpence, allowing him to lift the pub's door latch and purchase a pint, whereupon he hopes to make enough friends that they may offer to buy him further rounds. * Cocker Hoop (4.6% abv) - Launched in 1995 as "September Ale". Cock-a-hoop is the old custom of removing the cork from a barrel and resting it on the cask before the brewer adds his winnits to the brew. Its name was changed to Cocker Hoop as a reminder of the breweries location on the banks of the River Cocker. * Bitter Smooth (3.5% abv) - Launched in 1996; formerly named Old Smoothy * Cumberland Cream (4.0% abv) This all malt brew, is flavoured with Styrian Golding hops. * Jennings Dark Mild (3.1% abv) - A very dark, malty mild, which is characteristically sweet, but well balanced and extremely drinkable. Seasonal Ales: * Red Breast (4.5% abv Dec 2014 and Dec 2015) - named from a line in The Redbreast Chasing the Butterfly by William Wordsworth, who was born in Cockermouth * Cockle Warmer (4.2% abv Jan 2015) - Not to be confused with Laal Cockle Warmer * Bloomin Marvellous (4.0% abv Apr 2015) * Cocky Blonde(4.0% abv Jun 2015) * Summit Else(4.2% abv Sep 2015) * Bull's Eye (3.9% abv Oct 2015) * Pigs Might Fly (3.9% abv Nov 2015) Currently not in production: * Laal Cockle Warmer (6.5% abv) - Winter seasonal ale from 1995 after former winter ale, Sneck Lifter went to all year round. "La'al" is the Cumbrian word for little and, due to the strength of this ale, it may sometimes be drunk in half pints. Cockle Warmer was last brewed in December 2005. * Amber Ale (3.7% abv) * Classic Pale Ale (4.2% abv) * Porter (4.5% abv) * Rye Beer (4.0% abv) * Winter Ale (4.5% abv) * Crag Rat (4.3% abv Mar-Apr) - Launched in May 2001. Named for slang for rock climbers. Has been found available out of season. * Golden Host (4.3% abv Mar-Apr) - named from a line in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth, who was born in Cockermouth * Tom Fool (4.0% abv) - Thomas Skelton of Muncaster Castle in the Lake District was known for his pranks or "Tomfoolery". Part of his will reads: "And when I’m bury’d then my friends may drink, but each man pay for his self, yt’s best I thinke!" * Fish King (4.3% abv) - Launched in 2005 when it was brewed as a celebration of the Lake District Osprey Project. * World's Biggest Liar (4.3% abv) - Jennings are sponsoring the 2008 World's Biggest Liar competition held in Searton Bridge. * Mountain Man (4.3% abv) * Honey Bole (4.5% abv) * Yan T'yan Tethera (3.8% abv) - Named for the Cumbrian dialect of "One, Two, Three" (shepherds counting sheep). Label on pump has sheep imaged. * Swan's Lake (4.2% abv Oct-Nov) - Launched in 2008 and named after the Lakeside-Bowness ferry which has been running 70 years. * Cross Buttock (4.5% abv) * 1828 (3.8% abv) * Stickle Pike (3.8 abv) Awards * [http://www.lakestay.co.uk/brewers.html Great British Beer Festival 1999] Cocker Hoop received Best Bitter * [http://www.brewingawards.org/html/winners2005.html Drinktec 2005] International Milds, Stouts and Porters, class 2, Sneck Lifter received bronze

A

bt_4023

What is the last letter of the Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet,[http://www.arcalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Near-Eastern-Chronology-and-the-development-of-the-Greek-Alphabet.pdf The Development of the Greek Alphabet within the Chronology of the ANE] (2009), Quote: "Naveh gives four major reasons why it is universally agreed that the Greek alphabet was developed from an early Phoenician alphabet.1 According to Herodutous “the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus... brought into Hellas the alphabet, which had hitherto been unknown, as I think, to the Greeks.”2 The Greek Letters, alpha, beta, gimmel have no meaning in Greek but the meaning of most of their Semitic equivalents is known. For example, ‘aleph’ means ‘ox’, ‘bet’ means ‘house’ and ‘gimmel’ means ‘throw stick’.3 Early Greek letters are very similar and sometimes identical to the West Semitic letters.4 The letter sequence between the Semitic and Greek alphabets is identical. (Naveh 1982)" and was the first alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. It is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Apart from its use in writing the Greek language, in both its ancient and its modern forms, the Greek alphabet today also serves as a source of technical symbols and labels in many domains of mathematics, science and other fields. In its classical and modern forms, the alphabet has 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega. Like Latin and Cyrillic, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter; it developed the letter case distinction between upper-case and lower-case forms in parallel with Latin during the modern era. Sound values and conventional transcriptions for some of the letters differ between Ancient Greek and Modern Greek usage, because the pronunciation of Greek has changed significantly between the 5th century BC and today. Modern and Ancient Greek use different diacritics. The traditional orthography, which is used for Ancient Greek and sometimes for Modern Greek, has many diacritics, such as accent marks for pitch accent ("polytonic"), the breathing marks for the presence and absence of the initial sound, and the iota subscript for the final historical sound. In standard Modern Greek spelling, orthography has been simplified to the monotonic system, which uses only two diacritics: the acute accent and diaeresis. Letters Sound values In both Ancient and Modern Greek, the letters of the Greek alphabet have fairly stable and consistent symbol-to-sound mappings, making pronunciation of words largely predictable. Ancient Greek spelling was generally near-phonemic. For a number of letters, sound values differ considerably between Ancient and Modern Greek, because their pronunciation has followed a set of systematic phonological shifts that affected the language in its post-classical stages. Among consonant letters, all letters that denoted voiced plosive consonants (/b, d, g/) and aspirated plosives (/pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/) in Ancient Greek stand for corresponding fricative sounds in Modern Greek. The correspondences are as follows: Among the vowel symbols, Modern Greek sound values reflect the radical simplification of the vowel system of post-classical Greek, merging multiple formerly distinct vowel phonemes into a much smaller number. This leads to several groups of vowel letters denoting identical sounds today. Modern Greek orthography remains true to the historical spellings in most of these cases. As a consequence, the spellings of words in Modern Greek are often not predictable from the pronunciation alone, while the reverse mapping, from spelling to pronunciation, is usually regular and predictable. The following vowel letters and digraphs are involved in the mergers: Modern Greek speakers typically use the same, modern, sound-symbol mappings in reading Greek of all historical stages. In other countries, students of Ancient Greek may use a variety of conventional approximations of the historical sound system in pronouncing Ancient Greek. Digraphs and letter combinations Several letter combinations have special conventional sound values different from those of their single components. Among them are several digraphs of vowel letters that formerly represented diphthongs but are now monophthongized. In addition to the three mentioned above () (and in some cases the ancient Greek υι, for example ), there is also , pronounced /u/. The Ancient Greek diphthongs , and are pronounced [av], [ev] and [iv] respectively in voicing environments in Modern Greek (or alternatively as [af], [ef] and [if] respectively in devoicing environments). The Modern Greek consonant combinations and stand for [b] and [d] (or [mb] and [nd]) respectively; stands for [dz] and stands for [t͡s]. In addition, both in Ancient and Modern Greek, the letter , before another velar consonant, stands for the velar nasal [ŋ]; thus and are pronounced like English . (Analogously to and , is also used to stand for [g].) There are also the combinations and . Diacritics In the polytonic orthography traditionally used for ancient Greek, the stressed vowel of each word carries one of three accent marks: either the acute accent (), the grave accent (), or the circumflex accent ( or ). These signs were originally designed to mark different forms of the phonological pitch accent in Ancient Greek. By the time their use became conventional and obligatory in Greek writing, in late antiquity, pitch accent was evolving into a single stress accent, and thus the three signs have not corresponded to a phonological distinction in actual speech ever since. In addition to the accent marks, every word-initial vowel must carry either of two so-called "breathing marks": the rough breathing (), marking an sound at the beginning of a word, or the smooth breathing (), marking its absence. The letter rho (ρ), although not a vowel, also carries a rough breathing in word-initial position. If a rho was geminated within a word, the first ρ always had the smooth breathing and the second the rough breathing (ῤῥ) leading to the transiliteration rrh. The vowel letters carry an additional diacritic in certain words, the so-called iota subscript, which has the shape of a small vertical stroke or a miniature below the letter. This iota represents the former offglide of what were originally long diphthongs, (i.e. /aːi, ɛːi, ɔːi/), which became monophthongized during antiquity. Another diacritic used in Greek is the diaeresis (), indicating a hiatus. In 1982, a new, simplified orthography, known as "monotonic", was adopted for official use in Modern Greek by the Greek state. It uses only a single accent mark, the acute (also known in this context as tonos, i.e. simply "accent"), marking the stressed syllable of polysyllabic words, and occasionally the diaeresis to distinguish diphthongal from digraph readings in pairs of vowel letters. The polytonic system is still conventionally used for writing Ancient Greek, while in some book printing and generally in the usage of conservative writers it can still also be found in use for Modern Greek. Although it is not a diacritic the Comma has in a similar way the function as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing (ó,ti, "whatever") from (óti, "that").Nicolas, Nick. "[http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/punctuation.html Greek Unicode Issues: Punctuation]". 2005. Accessed 7 Oct 2014. Romanization There are many different methods of rendering Greek text or Greek names in the Latin script. The form in which classical Greek names are conventionally rendered in English goes back to the way Greek loanwords were incorporated into Latin in antiquity. In this system, is replaced with , the diphthongs and are rendered as and (or ) respectively; and and are simplified to and respectively. In modern scholarly transliteration of Ancient Greek, will usually be rendered as , and the vowel combinations as respectively. The letters and are generally rendered as and ; as either or ; and word-initial as . For Modern Greek, there are multiple different transcription conventions. They differ widely, depending on their purpose, on how close they stay to the conventional letter correspondences of Ancient Greek-based transcription systems, and to what degree they attempt either an exact letter-by-letter transliteration or rather a phonetically based transcription. Standardized formal transcription systems have been defined by the International Organization for Standardization (as ISO 843), by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, by the Library of Congress, and others. History Origins During the Mycenaean period, from around the 16th century to the 12th century BC, Linear B was used to write the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known as Mycenaean Greek. This writing system, unrelated to the Greek alphabet, last appeared in the 13th century BC. In the late 9th century BC or early 8th century BC, the Greek alphabet emerged. The period between the times of the two writing systems, from which no Greek texts are attested, is called the Greek Dark Ages. The Greeks adopted the alphabet from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, one of the closely related scripts used for the West Semitic languages. When the Phoenician alphabet was adopted for writing Greek, certain Phoenician consonant letters were adopted to write vowels. This feature makes Greek the first alphabet in the narrow sense, as distinguished from the abjads used for the Semitic languages, which only have letters for consonants. Greek initially took over all of the 22 letters of Phoenician. Five of them were reassigned to denote vowel sounds: the glide consonants (yodh) and (waw) were used for [i] (Ι, iota) and [u] (Υ, upsilon) respectively; the glottal stop consonant ('aleph) was used for [a] (Α, alpha); the pharyngeal (ʿayin) was turned into [o] (Ο, omicron); and the letter for (he) was turned into [e] (Ε, epsilon). A doublet of waw was also borrowed as a consonant for [w] (Ϝ, digamma). In addition, the Phoenician letter for the emphatic glottal (heth) was borrowed in two different functions by different dialects of Greek: as a letter for /h/ (Η, heta) by those dialects that had such a sound, and as an additional vowel letter for the long (Η, eta) by those dialects that lacked the consonant. Eventually, a seventh vowel letter for the long (Ω, omega) was introduced. Greek also introduced three new consonant letters for its aspirated plosive sounds and consonant clusters: Φ (phi) for, Χ (chi) for and Ψ (psi) for. In western Greek variants, Χ was instead used for and Ψ for The origin of these letters is a matter of some debate. Three of the original Phoenician letters dropped out of use before the alphabet took its classical shape: the letter Ϻ (san), which had been in competition with Σ (sigma) denoting the same phoneme /s/; the letter Ϙ (qoppa), which was redundant with Κ (kappa) for /k/, and Ϝ (digamma), whose sound value /w/ dropped out of the spoken language before or during the classical period. Greek was originally written predominantly from right to left, just like Phoenician, but scribes could freely alternate between directions. For a time, a writing style with alternating right-to-left and left-to-right lines (called boustrophedon, literally "ox-turning", after the manner of an ox ploughing a field) was common, until in the classical period the left-to-right writing direction became the norm. Individual letter shapes were mirrored depending on the writing direction of the current line. Archaic variants There were initially numerous local variants of the Greek alphabet, which differed in the use and non-use of the additional vowel and consonant symbols and several other features. A form of western Greek native to Euboea, which among other things had Χ for /ks/, was transplanted to Italy by early Greek colonists, and became the ancestor of the Old Italic alphabets and ultimately, through Etruscan, of the Latin alphabet. Athens used a local form of the alphabet until the 5th century BC; it lacked the letters Ξ and Ψ as well as the vowel symbols Η and Ω. The classical 24-letter alphabet that became the norm later was originally the local alphabet of Ionia; this was adopted by Athens in 403 BC under archon Eucleides and in most other parts of the Greek-speaking world during the 4th century BC. Letter names When the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet, they took over not only the letter shapes and sound values, but also the names by which the sequence of the alphabet could be recited and memorized. In Phoenician, each letter name was a word that began with the sound represented by that letter; thus ʾaleph, the word for "ox", was used as the name for the glottal stop, bet, or "house", for the sound, and so on. When the letters were adopted by the Greeks, most of the Phoenician names were maintained or modified slightly to fit Greek phonology; thus, ʾaleph, bet, gimel became alpha, beta, gamma. The Greek names of the following letters are more or less straightforward continuations of their Phoenician antecedents. Between Ancient and Modern Greek they have remained largely unchanged, except that their pronunciation has followed regular sound changes along with other words (for instance, in the name of beta, ancient /b/ regularly changed to modern /v/, and ancient /ɛː/ to modern /i/, resulting in the modern pronunciation vita). The name of lambda is attested in early sources as besides ; in Modern Greek the spelling is often , reflecting pronunciation. Similarly, iota is sometimes spelled in Modern Greek ( is conventionally transcribed word-initially and intervocalically before back vowels and). In the tables below, the Greek names of all letters are given in their traditional polytonic spelling; in modern practice, like with all other words, they are usually spelled in the simplified monotonic system. In the cases of the three historical sibilant letters below, the correspondence between Phoenician and Ancient Greek is less clear, with apparent mismatches both in letter names and sound values. The early history of these letters (and the fourth sibilant letter, obsolete san) has been a matter of some debate. Here too, the changes in the pronunciation of the letter names between Ancient and Modern Greek are regular. In the following group of consonant letters, the older forms of the names in Ancient Greek were spelled with , indicating an original pronunciation with -ē. In Modern Greek these names are spelled with . The following group of vowel letters were originally called simply by their sound values as long vowels: ē, ō, ū, and. Their modern names contain adjectival qualifiers that were added during the Byzantine period, to distinguish between letters that had become confusable. Thus, the letters and , pronounced identically by this time, were called o mikron ("small o") and o mega ("big o") respectively. The letter was called e psilon ("plain e") to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph , while, similarly, , which at this time was pronounced, was called y psilon ("plain y") to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph . Some dialects of the Aegean and Cypriot have retained long consonants and pronounce and; also, has come to be pronounced in Cypriot. Letter shapes Like Latin and other alphabetic scripts, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter, without a distinction between uppercase and lowercase. This distinction is an innovation of the modern era, drawing on different lines of development of the letter shapes in earlier handwriting. The oldest forms of the letters in antiquity are majuscule forms. Besides the upright, straight inscriptional forms (capitals) found in stone carvings or incised pottery, more fluent writing styles adapted for handwriting on soft materials were also developed during antiquity. Such handwriting has been preserved especially from papyrus manuscripts in Egypt since the Hellenistic period. Ancient handwriting developed two distinct styles: uncial writing, with carefully drawn, rounded block letters of about equal size, used as a book hand for carefully produced literary and religious manuscripts, and cursive writing, used for everyday purposes. The cursive forms approached the style of lowercase letter forms, with ascenders and descenders, as well as many connecting lines and ligatures between letters. In the 9th and 10th century, uncial book hands were replaced with a new, more compact writing style, with letter forms partly adapted from the earlier cursive. This minuscule style remained the dominant form of handwritten Greek into the modern era. During the Renaissance, western printers adopted the minuscule letter forms as lowercase printed typefaces, while modelling uppercase letters on the ancient inscriptional forms. The orthographic practice of using the letter case distinction for marking proper names, titles etc. developed in parallel to the practice in Latin and other western languages. Derived alphabets The Greek alphabet was the model for various others: * The Latin alphabet, together with various other ancient scripts in Italy, adopted from an archaic form of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Greek colonists in the late 8th century BC, via Etruscan * The Gothic alphabet, devised in the 4th century AD to write the Gothic language, based on a combination of Greek and Latin models * The Glagolitic alphabet, devised in the 9th century AD for writing Old Church Slavonic * The Cyrillic script, which replaced the Glagolitic alphabet shortly afterwards It is also considered a possible ancestor of the Armenian alphabet, which in turn influenced the development of the Georgian alphabet. Other uses Use for other languages Apart from the daughter alphabets listed above, which were adapted from Greek but developed into separate writing systems, the Greek alphabet has also been adopted at various times and in various places to write other languages. For some of them, additional letters were introduced. Antiquity * Most of the alphabets of Asia Minor, in use c. 800–300 BC to write languages like Lydian and Phrygian, were the early Greek alphabet with only slight modifications – as were the original Old Italic alphabets. * Some Paleo-Balkan languages, including Thracian. For other neighboring languages or dialects, such as Ancient Macedonian, isolated words are preserved in Greek texts, but no continuous texts are preserved. * The Greco-Iberian alphabet was used for writing the ancient Iberian language in parts of modern Spain. * Gaulish inscriptions (in modern France) used the Greek alphabet until the Roman conquest * The Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Bible was written in Greek letters in Origen's Hexapla. * The Bactrian language, an Iranian language spoken in what is now Afghanistan, was written in the Greek alphabet during the Kushan Empire (65–250 AD). It adds an extra letter for the sh sound. * The Coptic alphabet adds eight letters derived from Demotic. It is still used today, mostly in Egypt, to write Coptic, the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians. Letters usually retain an uncial form different from the forms used for Greek today. Middle Ages * An 8th-century Arabic fragment preserves a text in the Greek alphabet. * An Old Ossetic inscription of the 10-12c AD found in Arxyz, the oldest known attestation of an Ossetic language. * The Old Nubian language of Makuria (modern Sudan) adds three Coptic letters, two letters derived from Meroitic script, and a digraph of two Greek gammas used for the velar nasal sound. * Various South Slavic dialects, similar to the modern Bulgarian and Macedonian languages, have been written in Greek script. The modern South Slavic languages now use modified Cyrillic alphabets. Early modern * Turkish spoken by Orthodox Christians (Karamanlides) was often written in Greek script, and called Karamanlidika. * Tosk Albanian was often written using the Greek alphabet, starting in about 1500. The printing press at Moschopolis published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. It was only in 1908 that the Monastir conference standardized a Latin orthography for both Tosk and Gheg. Greek spelling is still occasionally used for the local Albanian dialects (Arvanitika) in Greece. * Aromanian (Vlach) has been written in Greek characters. There is not yet a standardized orthography for Aromanian, but it appears that one based on the Romanian orthography will be adopted. * Gagauz, a Turkic language of the northeast Balkans. * Surguch, a Turkic language spoken by a small group of Orthodox Christians in northern Greece. * Urum or Greek Tatar. * Pomak language in Western Thrace. In mathematics and science Greek symbols are used as symbols in mathematics, physics and other sciences. Many symbols have traditional uses, such as lower case epsilon (ε) for an arbitrarily small positive number, lower case pi (π) for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, capital sigma (Σ) for summation, and lower case sigma (σ) for standard deviation. Astronomy Greek letters are used to denote the brighter stars within each of the eighty-eight constellations. In most constellations the brightest star is designated Alpha and the next brightest Beta etc. For example, the brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus is known as Alpha Centauri. For historical reasons, the Greek designations of some constellations begin with a lower ranked letter. International Phonetic Alphabet Several Greek letters are used as phonetic symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Several of them denote fricative consonants; the rest stand for variants of vowel sounds. The glyph shapes used for these letters in specialized phonetic fonts is sometimes slightly different from the conventional shapes in Greek typography proper, with glyphs typically being more upright and using serifs, to make them conform more with the typographical character of other, Latin-based letters in the phonetic alphabet. Nevertheless, in the Unicode encoding standard, the following three phonetic symbols are considered the same characters as the corresponding Greek letters proper: On the other hand, the following phonetic letters have Unicode representations separate from their Greek alphabetic use, either because their conventional typographic shape is too different from the original, or because they also have secondary uses as regular alphabetic characters in some Latin-based alphabets, including separate Latin uppercase letters distinct from the Greek ones. The symbol in Americanist phonetic notation for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is the Greek letter lambda , but in the IPA. The IPA symbol for the palatal lateral approximant is , which looks similar to lambda, but is actually an inverted lowercase y. Additionally, Unicode contains ẟ that is not used in IPA. Unicode 8.0 will add Ꭓ, Ꞵ, ꞵ, Ꞷ, and ꞷ for use in German and African languages. Use as numerals Greek letters were also used to write numbers. In the classical Ionian system, the first nine letters of the alphabet stood for the numbers from 1 to 9, the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 10, from 10 to 90, and the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 100, from 100 to 900. For this purpose, in addition to the 24 letters which by that time made up the standard alphabet, three otherwise obsolete letters were retained or revived: digamma for 6, koppa for 90, and a rare Ionian letter for [ss], today called sampi , for 900. This system has remained in use in Greek up to the present day, although today it is only employed for limited purposes such as enumerating chapters in a book, similar to the way Roman numerals are used in English. The three extra symbols are today written as , and respectively. To mark a letter as a numeral sign, a small stroke called keraia is added to the right of it. Use in naming student fraternities and sororities In North America, many college fraternities and sororities are named with combinations of Greek letters, and are hence also known as "Greek letter organizations". This naming tradition was initiated by the foundation of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in 1776. Glyph variants Some letters can occur in variant shapes, mostly inherited from medieval minuscule handwriting. While their use in normal typography of Greek is purely a matter of font styles, some such variants have been given separate encodings in Unicode. * The symbol ϐ ("curled beta") is a cursive variant form of beta (β). In the French tradition of Ancient Greek typography, β is used word-initially, and ϐ is used word-internally. * The letter epsilon can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped \epsilon\,\! ('lunate epsilon', like a semicircle with a stroke) or \varepsilon\,\! (similar to a reversed number 3). The symbol ϵ (U+03F5) is designated specifically for the lunate form, used as a technical symbol. * The symbol ϑ ("script theta") is a cursive form of theta (θ), frequent in handwriting, and used with a specialized meaning as a technical symbol. * The symbol ϰ ("kappa symbol") is a cursive form of kappa (κ), used as a technical symbol. * The symbol ϖ ("variant pi") is an archaic script form of pi (π), also used as a technical symbol. * The letter rho (ρ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the descending tail either going straight down or curled to the right. The symbol ϱ (U+03F1) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol. * The letter sigma, in standard orthography, has two variants: ς, used only at the ends of words, and σ, used elsewhere. The form ϲ ("lunate sigma", resembling a Latin c) is a medieval stylistic variant that can be used in both environments without the final/non-final distinction. * The capital letter upsilon (Υ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the upper strokes either straight like a Latin Y, or slightly curled. The symbol ϒ (U+03D2) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol. * The letter phi can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped as \textstyle\phi\,\! (a circle with a vertical stroke through it) or as \textstyle\varphi\,\! (a curled shape open at the top). The symbol ϕ (U+03D5) is designated specifically for the closed form, used as a technical symbol. Computer encodings For the usage in computers, a variety of encodings have been used for Greek online, many of them documented in RFC 1947. The two principal ones still used today are ISO/IEC 8859-7 and Unicode. ISO 8859-7 supports only the monotonic orthography; Unicode supports both the monotonic and polytonic orthographies. ISO/IEC 8859-7 For the range A0–FF (hex) it follows the Unicode range 370–3CF (see below) except that some symbols, like ©, ½, § etc. are used where Unicode has unused locations. Like all ISO-8859 encodings it is equal to ASCII for 00–7F (hex). Greek in Unicode Unicode supports polytonic orthography well enough for ordinary continuous text in modern and ancient Greek, and even many archaic forms for epigraphy. With the use of combining characters, Unicode also supports Greek philology and dialectology and various other specialized requirements. Most current text rendering engines do not render diacritics well, so, though alpha with macron and acute can be represented as U+03B1 U+0304 U+0301, this rarely renders well: . There are two main blocks of Greek characters in Unicode. The first is "Greek and Coptic" (U+0370 to U+03FF). This block is based on ISO 8859-7 and is sufficient to write Modern Greek. There are also some archaic letters and Greek-based technical symbols. This block also supports the Coptic alphabet. Formerly most Coptic letters shared codepoints with similar-looking Greek letters; but in many scholarly works, both scripts occur, with quite different letter shapes, so as of Unicode 4.1, Coptic and Greek were disunified. Those Coptic letters with no Greek equivalents still remain in this block (U+03E2 to U+03EF). To write polytonic Greek, one may use combining diacritical marks or the precomposed characters in the "Greek Extended" block (U+1F00 to U+1FFF). Combining and letter-free diacritics Combining and spacing (letter-free) diacritical marks pertaining to Greek language: Encodings with a subset of the Greek alphabet IBM code pages 437, 860, 861, 862, 863, and 865 contain the letters ΓΘΣΦΩαδεπστφ (plus β as an alternate interpretation for ß).

C

sfq_25001

Who was killed in Mexico by Ramon Mercador in 1940?

Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río (7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978), more commonly known as Ramón Mercader, was a Spanish communist and KGB agent who assassinated the Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky in 1940, in Mexico. He served 20 years in Mexican prison for the murder. Joseph Stalin presented him with an Order of Lenin in absentia. Mercader was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union after his release in 1961. Life Mercader was born in 1913 in Barcelona to Eustaquia María Caridad del Río Hernández (b. 1892), the daughter of a Cantabrian merchant who had become affluent in Spanish Cuba, and Pau Mercader i Marina (b. 1885), the son of a Catalan textiles industrialist from Badalona. Mercader grew up in France with his mother after their divorce. Caridad was an ardent Communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War and served in the Soviet international underground. As a young man, Ramón embraced Communism, working for leftist organizations in Spain during the mid-1930s. He was briefly imprisoned for his activities, but was released in 1936 when the left-wing coalition Popular Front won in the elections of that year. During the Spanish Civil War, Mercader was recruited by KGB (Committee for State Security) officer Nahum Eitingon and trained in Moscow as a Soviet agent. His half-sister, the actress Maria Mercader, was the second wife of Italian film director Vittorio De Sica. Mercader's contacts with and befriending of Trotskyists began during the Spanish Civil War. George Orwell's biographer Gordon Bowker relates how English communist David Crook, ostensibly a volunteer for the Republican side, was sent to Albacete where he was taught Spanish and also given a crash course in surveillance techniques by Mercader.[http://bestof.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2013/06/13/the-guardians-prism-revelations-orwell-and-the-spooks/ "The Guardian's Prism revelations, Orwell and the spooks"] by Richard Keeble, University of Lincoln, 13 June 2013 Crook then, on orders from the NKVD, used his job as war reporter for the News Chronicle to spy on Orwell and his Independent Labour Party comrades in the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) militia. Assassination of Trotsky In 1938, while he was a student at the Sorbonne, Mercader, with the help of the KGB agent Mark Zborowski, befriended Sylvia Ageloff, a young Jewish American intellectual from Brooklyn and a confidante of Trotsky in Paris, and assumed the identity "Jacques Mornard", supposedly the son of a Belgian diplomat. A year later, Mercader was contacted by a representative of the "Bureau of the Fourth International." Ageloff returned to her native Brooklyn in September that same year, and Mercader joined her, assuming the identity of Canadian "Frank Jacson". He was given a passport which had originally belonged to a Canadian citizen named Tony Babich, a member of the Spanish Republican Army who died fighting during the Spanish Civil War. Babich's photograph was removed and replaced by one of Mercader. Mercader claimed to Ageloff that he purchased forged documents to avoid military service. In October 1939, Mercader moved to Mexico City and persuaded Ageloff to join him there. The Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky was living with his family in Coyoacán, then a village on the southern fringes of Mexico City, after being exiled from the Soviet Union, following the power struggle against Stalin's authority that he lost. Trotsky had already been the object of an armed attack against the house where he was living, mounted by allegedly Soviet-recruited locals, including the Stalinist muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros.Patenaude, Bertrand Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky, Faber & Faber, London UK, 2009, p. 138 The attack was organised and prepared by Pavel Sudoplatov, deputy director of the foreign department of the NKVD. In his memoirs, Sudoplatov claimed that, in March 1939, he had been taken by his chief, Lavrenti Beria, to see Stalin in person. Stalin told them that "if Trotsky is finished the threat will be eliminated" and gave the direct order, "Trotsky should be eliminated within a year." After the attack failed to eliminate Trotsky, a second team was sent, headed by Eitingon, formerly the deputy GPU agent in Spain and also allegedly involved in the kidnap, torture and murder of Andreu Nin, with the plan of using a lone assassin. The team included Mercader and his mother, Caridad. Sudoplatov claimed in his autobiography, Special Tasks, that he personally selected Ramón Mercader for the task of carrying out the assassination. Through his lover Sylvia Ageloff's access to the Coyoacán house, Mercader, as Jacson, began to meet with Trotsky personally, posing as a sympathizer to his ideas, befriending his guards and doing small favors. On 20 August 1940, Mercader was alone with Trotsky in the exiled Russian's study, under the pretext of showing him a document. Mercader struck from behind and fatally wounded Trotsky on the head with an ice axe while the exiled Russian was looking at the document. The blow failed to kill Trotsky instantly; he got up and grappled with Mercader. Hearing the commotion, Trotsky's guards burst in the room and nearly beat Mercader to death, but Trotsky, heavily wounded but still conscious, ordered them to spare his attacker's life and let him speak. Caridad and Eitingon were waiting outside the compound in separate cars to provide a getaway; but when Mercader did not return they left and fled the country. Trotsky was taken to a hospital in the city and operated on but died the next day, as a result of severe brain injuries. Mercader was turned over by Trotsky's guards to the Mexican authorities, to whom he refused to give his real identity. He would only identify himself as "Jacques Mornard". Mercader claimed to the police he had wanted to marry Ageloff, but Trotsky had forbidden the marriage. He alleged that a violent quarrel with Trotsky had led to him wanting to murder Trotsky. He stated: In 1940, "Jacques Mornard" was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Sixth Criminal Court of Mexico. His true identity as Ramón Mercader was eventually confirmed by the Venona project. Ageloff was initially arrested by the Mexican police as an accomplice, as she had lived together with Mercader on and off for about two years up to the time of the assassination, but charges were eventually dropped. Release and honors Shortly after the assassination, Joseph Stalin presented Mercader's mother Caridad with the Order of Lenin for her part in the operation. After the first few years in prison, Mercader requested to be released on parole, but the request was denied by the Mexican authorities, represented by Dr. Jesús Siordia and the criminologist Alfonso Quiroz Cuarón. After almost 20 years in prison, he was released from Mexico City's Palacio de Lecumberri prison on 6 May 1960 and he moved to Havana, Cuba, where Fidel Castro's new revolutionary government welcomed him. In 1961, Mercader moved to the Soviet Union and was subsequently presented with the country's highest decoration, Hero of the Soviet Union, by the head of the KGB Alexander Shelepin personally. He divided his time between Cuba and the Soviet Union for the rest of his life. Ramón Mercader died in Havana in 1978 of cancer. He is buried under the name "Ramón Ivanovich Lopez" (Рамон Иванович Лопес) in Moscow's Kuntsevo Cemetery. Accusations amongst followers Joseph Hansen, who was, at the time of the assassination, a guard of the Mexican house where Trotsky lived, and subsequently became a leader of the Socialist Workers Party, the main Trotskyist party in the U.S., was accused in the 1970s by the rival Workers' League and its British sister organization, the Workers Revolutionary Party of being "a double agent of the FBI and the GPU," as well as having assisted Mercader to penetrate Trotsky's inner circle of friends and acquaintances. Hansen, in a lengthy pamphlet he published, denied the charge. Decorations and awards * Order of Lenin, 1940 (in absentia) * Hero of the Soviet Union, 1961 In popular culture * In 1967, West German television presented L. D. Trotzki – Tod im Exil ("L. D. Trotsky - Death in exile"), a play in two parts, directed by August Everding, with Peter Lühr in the role of Trotsky. * Joseph Losey directed The Assassination of Trotsky, a film released in 1972, featuring Alain Delon as Frank Jacson/Mercader and Richard Burton as Trotsky. * David Ives' play Variations on the Death of Trotsky is a comedy based on Mercader's assassination of Trotsky. * A Spanish documentary about Mercader's life called Asaltar los cielos ("Storm the skies") was released in 1996, while a Spanish-language documentary, El Asesinato de Trotsky, was co-produced in 2006 by The History Channel and Anima Films, and directed by Argentinian director Matías Gueilburt. * The Trotsky assassination is depicted in the film Frida (2002), with Mercader portrayed by Antonio Zava (uncredited) and Trotsky by Geoffrey Rush. * Trotskyist veteran Lillian Pollak depicted her friendship with Mercader, then known as Frank Jacson, and his eventual assassination of Trotsky in her 2008 novel The Sweetest Dream. * A 2009 novel by U.S. writer Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna, includes an account of Trotsky's assassination by "Jacson". * Cuban author Leonardo Padura Fuentes' novel El hombre que amaba a los perros ("The Man Who Loved Dogs"), Tusquets, Barcelona, 2009, refers to the lives of both Trotsky and Mercader, exploring the motivations and historical context of the assassination.

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